Latest / Bottom Line on Sports / Dodger Ticket Prices, Troy Aikman Contract, College Football's Expensive Unranked Teams & Ohio State

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Dodger Ticket Prices, Troy Aikman Contract, College Football's Expensive Unranked Teams & Ohio State · Bottom Line on Sports

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_03: What's up everybody?
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to yet another episode of the bottom line on sports.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_03: He's Jeremy Peak.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_03: I'm John Jacques Taylor, and this is our show about the intersection of sports and money.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_03: Now, you know how we get down.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_03: Before we get started with our number of the day, we need you to subscribe, rate, review, make it real easy for you.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_03: Hit the button.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: It's down there somewhere right around.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's it's it's five stars only.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, take care of that, and we'll be friends for life.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_03: Now, now we got that out of the way.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the number this week is what, bro?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: It is uh$97.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: That's kind of a low number for us.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's a low number, and it is so we're taping this in the middle of game three of the Brewers Dodgers uh NL Championship series.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: And so I checked ticket prices at Dodger Stadium, you know, a few hours before the game started, just curious to see if I were in LA and I wanted to go to the game, could I get a ticket and for how much?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: And you could get a seat for as low as$97, and you could get pretty decent seats for between$150 and$200 for tonight's game.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: More interestingly, is that if you were to look at the prices about a week ago, they're about probably down about 40-50% from what they were about a week ago.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_03: That makes sense.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, although surprise it down that much.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_03: Even though the Brewers won the first two games of the series, I'd have thought the two-time defending champs fan base would go, hey, we're back at Chavez Ravine, we'll get it cranked up, let's get it going.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_03: But maybe because Shohei Otani has not been has been uh nothing close to his usual self for the last month.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_03: He's heard, yeah.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um, maybe people think it's it's it's really a rap and they don't want to spend the money.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I would be opportunistic.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: I'd be in Chavez Ravine tonight, having some extra garlic fries because I don't have the dollars.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_03: Dude, I went out there once for training camp and the garlic fries.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: I can't tell you what else what else out there was good, but the garlic fries.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: That's really good.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, the the thing is though that the Dodgers fans, as you know, I'm I'm out in LA all the time, and Dodgers, uh, I would have gone if I was there this week, I absolutely would have gone because that's that's a that's a great price.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: But the issue with the Dodgers right now is that they've won two World Series in a row.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's not, you know, it's it's nothing that special anymore for the, you know, it really isn't.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's you kind of get spoiled after a while.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: And and it's a very fickle fan, LA's a very fickle fan base anyway, although they're they're they're very, you know, they're very loyal to the Dodgers and they're very loyal to the Lakers, but you know, you're still in LA and there's still a lot to do.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, it's they're gonna based on at least what we've seen for the first two and a half games, the Dodgers aren't gonna win this series.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: No, and that's uh and that leads for to a very easy segue.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_03: We've talked about it again, but now that we're in the in the championship series, three of the four teams are on the very uh are 19th or lower on payroll.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: Dodgers are obviously number one, and two of the four are small markets with Tampa Bay and uh well, I don't know if Cleveland's really a small market, but they're not big markets.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: Milk is a small market, they're they're mid-sized markets at best, yeah.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: So here's the deal.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_03: Now I just saw something today that uh MLB owners say we don't care.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_03: We want we want the salary cap, regardless of if the small teams are are are winning game, playoff games, or even if they win the World Series.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_03: I know they want it.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_03: How do they justify it?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_03: Other than saying we won.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, what they've said also, apparently, what they're trying to negotiate is we don't just want a salary cap, we want a salary floor too, trying to appease the players.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: But the salary cap, the number that I saw was about 250 to 260 million, which that's not gonna get them anywhere, you know.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_03: So the players make that with one contract.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the player player is let me ask you this because it's a non-starter, I think, for the players.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: If you said, if baseball said, if the player said, you know what, Jeremy Pence representing us, tell him we'll accept a fair salary cap, even though no salary cap is fair.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: What would what would be a number that you'd say, hmm, uh, you know, I don't want a salary cap, but they're they're just insisting on one.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: So here's a legitimately fair number.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's it's hard to pick a specific number, but what I would say is that I would do an average of the top five payrolls and say that's what salary cap number should be.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: Something along those lines.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: I would, I would use, I would derive it based on at least some data and something that's out there, and then I would have an annual escalator to that.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, as well as that's what now and that's what the NFL does.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I'm not a big fan of the NFL cap, any cap, because it caps your ability to make as much as you can make.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: But the NFL cap at least goes up.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's tied to uh gross revenues.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: It is, yeah, and the way the league works, the gross revenues get expensive exponentially bigger every year.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_03: And so their cap has consistently gone up, like I don't know what the percent is, but it goes up, seems like 20 million every year.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: It goes up, it goes up every year.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't impact if you you know this better than me.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't appear to impact the roster construction because a quarterback is still going to account for the same percentage of a lot of people.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_03: That's where it is, yeah.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and so so you still have a quarterback who's making a lot of money still in a predicament where he might have to take less than what he wants in order to field a better team.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's wrong.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: That doesn't make any sense.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: Why should I why should I get less money if I'm the best player?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what the market is telling me what I can earn, but I'm the one who has to sacrifice.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: Doesn't make sense.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I'm gonna take a very quick exit ramp on that same topic, and you can appreciate this because it's going on in New York right now.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: Carl Anthony Times, why won't you take a$76 million hit so that we can have a better team?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_03: And Carl Anthony is like, I'm willing to sacrifice a little bit for uh to keep the band together, but 76 million?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, willing to sacrifice that?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: He's he's he's 100% right.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: Now, unfortunately, the precedent uh that uh Jalen Brunson set that's why you don't want uh players setting precedence.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's exactly right.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: And this is what in what other world would anybody take less money?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_03: You know, and I I've done this a lot in my career talking to fans and stuff, and I ask fans all the time, so to get the top salesman at your at your company, right?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_03: You're willing to you're willing to take a pay cut and take less so that we can bring in salesman A because he's going to make the company stronger because he's by far the best salesman out there.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_03: You would look at me like I was drunk and be like, well, they make so much money, dude.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_03: Once again, uh Bocelli is coming to town and doing a supposed one of his final concerts, opera concerts, uh in a couple of months.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I know Bocelli was not on your bingo card tonight.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but guess what he makes, man?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_03: The tickets are outrageous.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: Why?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: I have no idea.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: Because he's one, he's a one percenter.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: He's no, he's one of he's basically one of one.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_03: So whether it's a Tom Cruise movie and he's making 65 million from the movie, or quarterback making 60 million.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_03: If you are a one percenter in your field, you make what most of us common everyday people would think is outrageous money.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: Well, basically, in almost every market, talent co-opts the value, right?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: So, in other words, talent is the value of almost anything is going to be your talent.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's in in in a lot of media related businesses and and such, or and you even look at like you even look at stand-up comedians these days, they make more money by doing direct to uh to direct to consumer sales.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: They make more money doing that.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: And if you are able to draw a big enough crowd, why wouldn't you do it that way?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and that's so there they they are working, but Celli is working, everybody's working to maximize their market value.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: Salary cap completely distorts that and it punishes the top players.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's uh and so that's why I understand why management always wants a salary cap, but I understand why players never want one.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: I never understand why fans, you you you why do fans always say with management?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh just better PR.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, you know, probably probably better PR.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think there is just an overall jealousy, or not jealousy, there's an overall thing.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_02: If I were to say, you know what?
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you can earn 55 million next year or 60 million, you say, come on, man, what's the difference between 55 and 60 million?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and you and you and and I think you throw the argument back to them and say, okay, if somebody said that to you and said at your current job, you know, you can make uh you know, you're you're capped out, your your you can make 120,000 though you can make 130,000.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, there's there are some sort of sales incentives that do cap earnings, you know, on sales incentives.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: But um, but you they they are the they usually are at a point where they're so difficult to attain that it they're they're very rarely hit.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um but that's the only other time that I've seen a cap on earnings specifically, or if there's some sort of board directive of a public company to limit earnings or keep keep salaries within a given band, I think that's also you know, there's a there's you know, there's different rule, you know, labor laws in order to ensure that salary banding is appropriate and fair across the board, that sort of thing.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: But this is crazy.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, salary cap uh you you said one thing, which is sort of the best way to put it, and you've said this many times, which is what a salary cap does for owners is oh, it just stops them from making fools of themselves.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_03: That's exactly right.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: That's exactly right.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_03: No, uh, bottom line for me, that's been$150, got some good seats at Chavez Ravine uh for game three of the uh NLCS.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_03: Had I been given that opportunity, yeah.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: But bottom line for me, I hope there's a game six at Chavez Ravine.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think so this year.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, wow, yeah.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, moving on to uh a very I find this an interesting topic.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_03: And it's Troy Aikman, Joe Buck, the longest running tandem uh football announcing broadcast team.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_03: 25 years together this year.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_03: They'll do the Super Bowl uh in LA this year.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um Aikman is a free agent.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_03: Joe Buck recently signed, if I got the numbers right, something like a six-year, 108 million dollar contract extension, I suppose, because he's in his last year uh to stay with ESPN.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_03: And people, when it came out, people kind of gave it the side eye.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_03: I'm talking about the general public or people who follow these things because they're like now Aikman is the star, but you took care of the second guy first.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_03: Interesting.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_03: Now he got Aikman is making is already making 90 million.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_03: I think his was six years, 90 million.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_03: And so if you look at Joe Buck, I mean, we're not quibbling over 108 million, but it's only 18 million more than Aikman.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_03: So clearly Aikman's going to surpass that when he gets it.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_03: He's making, I think, what is that, 18 a year?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think it's 18 a year, yeah.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_03: The top broadcaster out there is uh Tom Brady, 10 years, like 37 a year.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but that that's that's a total Tom Brady premium.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a Deshaun Watson contract.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: Nobody's getting that one, right?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so that was like that.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_03: Don't even count that one out.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_03: Because nobody's getting that.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: So if the top, if the top of the market has been 18 with Aikman, he probably won't, and I'm just surmising because I haven't talked to him about it.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: He probably wants somewhere around 21, 22 a year.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: And now you you cover Troy Aikman.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yes, I've covered him for uh, you know, since 1995.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: So you have some idea of what his mind.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: I know you haven't spoken to him, but you have some idea of what is, I'm sure you haven't spoken to him about this, but I uh of what his mindset you would surmise what his mindset might be.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_03: Well, here's what I know, and I tweeted this out as soon as Buck got the deal because there's a lot of talk about it.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_03: I go, I don't know what Aikman wants, but I do know this.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_03: Aikman's entire personality, persona, who he is, is built off of respect.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_03: And so if he thinks, and I and it comes into play with negotiations.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_03: So if he thinks that you're not respecting him through the negotiating process, then you know it's it's gonna be hard to get a deal done.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um you know, he's very demanding, he's got a quest for perfection, and because he works hard, he wants what he feels is a fair and equitable project.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_03: And now this is my interpretation of Aikman.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_03: That's why I said Tom, he's he's smart enough to understand, okay, I'm not getting, I'm not getting Brady's deal.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: He does, he owns several businesses and he's involved in it.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's not just his name.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_03: And I say that to say in his head, he has what he considers a fair number.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_03: Like, not a I want to break the bank number, but a I want to be well paid.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: People say I'm the best, I want to be paid like the best.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_03: I think this is a fair number.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_03: Now, obviously, he knows you got to negotiate against that number, but to him, and I did this one time with my with my own negotiations uh when I was going to ESPN.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um person handling negotiation called me and said, Okay, we really want you.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_03: What do you want?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_03: And I did something like this.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: I said something like, Hey, I don't have we're changing the names to protect the innocent.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_03: But I go, hey, I don't have to be in Aikman's uh um cul-de-sac, but I need to be in the subdivision.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: Right, you need to be in you need to be in the neighborhood.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and so I think if you if he gives you a number, it's you ain't gotta be in the cul-de-sac, but you gotta be in the neighborhood.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I he's probably looking around too and saying, okay, let's look, let's look at the the top analysts that are out there.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: Tony Romo is no longer with CBS.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: His it's unclear how his replacement's gonna do or if his replacement's gonna stay.
• 15:05
  unknown: Right.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Brady's kind of solidified at uh at Fox.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Herbstreet is Herb Street just signed an interesting contract to remain at Amazon.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_02: He's basically re-signed, but Amazon, if they sign a few people, including Sean McVeigh, he can be kicked out of his contract.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: So well, I think that's that's a response.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: Well, McVeigh was a hot commodity, and it looked like he might have been doing Thursday night football a few years ago.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: But I think one of the things not to underestimate is uh Mike Tomlin is fantastic.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Mike Tomlin, now I I don't watch studio shows or pregame shows, but I do I do watch clips of Tomlin.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and he's by far the best, he's by far the best analyst that I've seen come out in a long time.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and so I think that Aikman might be might be in a tricky spot here because it may it may matter more for studio analysts than and it may either maybe a premium more on studio analysts or or maybe a premium on coaches, maybe not on former players.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um but that could just be that's just that's just a guess.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_02: I I also think that when it comes down to it, ESPN's trying to cut costs.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: And they might say, look, if we have a if we have the premier one of the premier play-by-play broadcasters, which I would argue Buck is one of like the three or four best ones, um you know, if you find a decent analyst, Buck can probably carry that person.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_03: Or, you know, you could to take a step further, if you go, if Buck is making whatever he's making, 18 a year, 16 a year, and we hire Greg Olson, who's currently, and I'm just throwing this out there, I don't know what he makes.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_03: If he's making 10 a year, and we move him to 17, the same a million and less than we're paying Aikman, we have the booth locked up for 27 as opposed to having to pay Aikman 25 by himself.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_03: So we're really paying 43, you know, for the team instead of you know, so I can see a scenario like that where they go, yeah, we love Aikman, but we just as soon not pay his his sticker price.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, or or Aikman could actually become uh the top analyst at CBS.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_02: That's also possible.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: That's uh and that's what I mean.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's pride and respect for him.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_03: He's a very, very prideful person.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's why I said if he thinks that you're not respecting the work that he's done and his accomplishment and those things, because again, remember, he's Hall of Fame Troy Aikman, he's three-time Super Bowl winner, Troy Aikman.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_03: He's a dude who is obsessed with perfection and being the best at whatever he does, um, then he'll he doesn't he won't have any problems bouncing.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_03: He won't it won't it won't even be hard for him.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: He'll be the same way he left Fox to go to ESPN.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_03: Just like, because why?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_03: He didn't like the way they did contract negotiations, and he was like, I'm out.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the thing, the the reason what makes him there's many things that make him a good analyst, but one of the main things is that he's appropriately critical.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: He calls he calls things out, but he does it in a very respectful, thoughtful way, but he says negative things in in a way that's that's appropriate and useful for the viewer.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's what that's one of the reasons he he excels.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_03: And so I could see I could very easily see, and you've kind of alluded to it, I could very easily see Greg Olson with uh Joe Buck.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: I could very easily see Aikman with uh Jim Nance easily, and uh that'd probably be a good team because again, he'd have the play-by-play guy who knows how to set him up uh to do, you know, to make it do what it do.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh you know, and then you know, you go from there and see and see what's what's left because Nance is getting to the age where his replacement will be there in the next two or three years anyway.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_03: If not, you know, four or five years, whatever, whatever it is.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_03: Nance is uh getting up there in age, and so it's only a matter of time until uh, you know, he uh bids adieu to the business.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I remember I met him when they were doing, did I meet him at I think I met him at an Ohio State game.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: Really?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: In 19 in the 1980s, when they were covering an Ohio State game.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uh bottom line for me, I don't think Troy Aikman and Joe Buck are going to work together in 2027 after the Super Bowl, and I don't think that's breaking news anymore.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh bottom line for me, uh, there's definitely going to be a shakeup among the top analysts that are that are in in the next two to three years.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I think uh the first domino to fall is gonna be Troy Aikman, and I agree with you, that's probably not gonna be at ESPN.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um now this is an interesting topic.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_03: We spend so much time, and it really comes up this year.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_03: College football um comes up this year because one of the biggest busts in college football is your boy at uh your quarterback in Michigan.
• 20:36
  unknown: Mr.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: Understand.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: Well and well, in fairness, one of the biggest busts is the is the team.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_02: I I'm I'm not a bit I'm not as big of a Bryce Underwood blamer as I am, sort of a broader blamer of the whole the whole kind of situation there.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_02: I think if he was in a different situation, he would be much he'd be a much uh he would be a much different player.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but he's the reason they cost the roster so yeah.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um uh I wouldn't disagree with that.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_03: I think he needs to be a dual threat and uh let him, you know, just I say the same thing about Arch Mag.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_03: Let him go play football and win games.
• 21:17
  unknown: Right.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_03: Let the pros figure out how to develop his ability to read coverages and all that.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we're trying to win games here at this level.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_03: And the reason it came up is he has a a I believe it's a$12 million deal.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not sure how it's broken up, but we came across what I find fascinating, the most expensive unranked rosters in college football.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: Number one, I'm laughing, is the underachiever whiny ass Texas and MI.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_03: And the reason I call him whiny ass.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I have lots of friends who went to AN and they get upset with me.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: It's because they they get very upset when you say they're Texas' little brother.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_03: Okay?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_03: The same way Michigan State fans, graduates, get upset when you say they're Michigan's little brother.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_03: I can't speak for what Michigan State does.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_03: But Texas AM gets upset when you say you're acting like Texas's little brother.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_03: But then they act like a little brother.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_03: They whine, they cry.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_03: Their entire fight song is built around TU, the tech University of Texas.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_03: Texas's fight song is not built around AM.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_03: All their traditions are horns down.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_03: Texas doesn't have a, well, let's not gig them sign.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, everything about them says anti-Texas Long Horns.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my goodness.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_03: Don't have anything that says anti-AM.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_03: And then when you point it out that that's why people say you're acting like somebody's little brother, then they get all mad and upset and want to call you all kind of derogatory, ugly names.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_03: But they have the highest payroll of an unranked team at$2.3 million.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's amazing.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_02: And we can call them Texas AM can stand for average and mid, right?
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: So that's that's Texas AM these days, right?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: They're just not, they're a mid-level program these days, the way I look at them.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_03: And can I tell you something, man?
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_02: What's that?
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_03: Texas AM wants so badly to be an elite football program, and that's fine.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'm 99% sure of this.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_03: I'm too lazy to look it up and get the other one percent.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_03: But I looked it up a few weeks ago because I was cracking jokes on one of my Aggie friends.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_03: I believe, I believe, in the history of Texas AM football, they've had four seasons with 10 wins or more.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_03: Ohio State has had, I think, 20.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: This century.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, so so anyway, when NIL became a thing, people immediately turned to Texas and Texas AM and said, oh, they're going to be a problem because they basically have unlimited resources.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like literally, they have basically unlimited resources.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: Same with Texas Tech.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_03: Although Texas Tech got theirs from a billionaire.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_02: One dude, really.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_03: One dude.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_03: Whereas Texas and AM, don't get me talking, but they got something in terms of this land and the school and endowments.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_03: That's like a billion dollars.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_03: But anyway, they spent the money, they just haven't got the wins to go with it.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_03: Their ROI will get you fired from any financial firm.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: So you you look at you look, I'm just looking at the uh the most expensive unranked rosters: Texas AM, your Wolverines, Oklahoma, Auburn, Penn State.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: Vanderbilt.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Vanderbilt was six.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: That that that kind of surprised me.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, Vanderbilt wants to be a player in the FCC, and they've had, you know, some success.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then Clemson, Arkansas, South Carolina, Florida State, Nebraska.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, it's a lot of the programs that have had decent programs or national championship contenders over the last 40 to 50 years, but they're not consistent.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_02: And that's that's that's what I see with most of these programs, with the exception of, well, with the except well, maybe with the exception, well, yeah, I think that's what you see with most of these programs is they don't really have uh, you know, they're not as consistently a top program over the 20 to 30 years.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_03: They've been basically, and they get upset when you say they basically, for the most part, they've been tier two, right up under the big boys.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they're next in line.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: And and they'll pop like, you know, Auburn popped one year with uh uh Cam Newton, right?
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: They popped on the national title.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the Wolverines popped a few years ago with you know off the back of some you know dubious cheating scandals, but they popped a couple years ago.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_03: They're like the Houston Astros.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they're the Houston Astros.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: So that's you know, again, as I say, the Big Tens won the last two national championships.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: The one prior to that doesn't count.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um the uh Clemson was Clemson actually is an interesting case because they're number seven, they're the seventh most expensive unranked roster.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's just a that's a function more of Clemson not adapting to the transfer portal and the new NIL rules more than anything else.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um but that program was was was excellent for a number of years up until that point.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_03: I would say the the common denominator amongst the majority of these teams, AM quarterback Marcel Reese has been awful this year.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Blake, uh, what's his name?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_03: Underwood.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_03: He's been awful.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: Uh John Mateir at Oklahoma.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_03: Bryce Underwood.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_03: Uh John Matir at uh Oklahoma's been awful.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_03: Penn State's quarterback transfer.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_03: I think he's from Iowa State.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_03: He came with the program.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_03: He's been awful.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_03: Vanderbilt hadn't been able to replace uh their crazy quarterback.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_03: The little dude, yeah.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_03: Diego.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's what I mean by you can look at it and see the quarterback century.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_03: Even Lenore Sellers at South Carolina has not been great this year.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_03: Although he played good in a win over uh Florida.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_02: But I think that's the story of the college football season this year, is even if you look at the ranked teams, has there really been there, there's some good quarterbacks, don't get me wrong, but there hasn't been sort of one standout quarterback like you know, like Joe Burrow from a few years ago.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and there just there just hasn't been.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: So, um, which is why, and we'll talk about him later, which is why Jeremiah Smith is now uh has the opportunity to be the you know is is well uh is well in the lead as a Heisman Trophy favorite right now.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_03: I heard um RG3 make a really good point, and it's rare that it happens to be.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it really is most times again, another Texas guy, Baylor's RG3.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um, he was talking about Arch Manning and should he come back or should he go to the league or whatever?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_03: And he was like, I really think he should come back.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_03: And he goes, and this is this was the point, and I hadn't thought about it this way, but it's exactly right.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_03: He says, when you look back at the recent history, five, ten, fifteen years, whatever, anytime you were trying to the best quarterbacks in college football dominate it, they make it look easy, and it's like you can't stop them.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_03: Whether it's Matt Leonard or CJ Stroud or you know, any of the quarterbacks in Georgia when they were winning, Deshaun Watson, the Alabama, they just look like we have no chance today because the quarterback's too good, right?
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_03: He goes, Arch is never Arch is everything looks hard for Arch.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_03: So if it looks hard for you in college football, what do you think is going to look like in the other point?
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, so he should stay until it looks easy.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_03: And I thought about it, I go, that's a really good point.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_03: That's a good way to articulate it because he's right.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_03: Like, um, and so then you start thinking about the quarterbacks this year, it doesn't look easy for any of them.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_02: I was gonna say the same thing.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's it looks easy for them against diminished competition, but against good competition, it looks it looks hard for them.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what I will say about Mendoza from last year is he played, you know, when when he was under, you know, when he was in a pressure situation, when he was- He delivered.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he delivered.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_02: And that's and that was the you know, and that's that's the the main reason why, not the main reason, but that's a that's a huge reason why they won the national championship last year.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's gonna determine there's gonna be a quarterback or two that are going to emerge by the end of this season, and those are gonna end up being the national championship favorites or the national championship winners, yeah.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_03: And that's why you better keep an eye on Alabama, because uh Keelan Russell, first year as a starter, he's going to be better at the end of the year.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_03: He's really, really good right now, but as he plays another four or five games, he's going to be even better at the end of the year than he is at the beginning.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, Alabama, their defense is always gonna be pretty good.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, they they went toe-to-toe with Georgia.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_03: And so that, and I think Georgia's probably the ranked number one.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_03: I think they probably are the best team right now.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_03: And so they went toe-to-toe with them.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, that's uh that's gonna be uh that's gonna be interesting to watch.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I think the SEC is better than the Big Ten this year.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I thought the Big Ten was better last year.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_03: I think the SEC is better this year.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's probably right.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_02: I think, you know, and you talk about Alabama.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_02: If there was ever a loss that was actually good for a program, yeah, Alabama loss last last week was good for Alabama.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it it was uh they should have won the game.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_02: They had a terrible call against them at the end.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_02: De Boer showed uh some emotion and some fight for the first time that you know he's seen.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_02: I I actually think that loss uh did more for Alabama than uh than a win might have, you know.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_03: So uh bottom line for me, it's the quarterback play will determine next year who makes the list of the biggest payrolls uh that aren't ranked because it's always about the quarterback.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but but bottom line for me, I just hope Ohio State doesn't appear on this list anytime soon.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_03: Speaking of Ohio State, huge game for the Buckeye this week at Indiana.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I think it's a huge game.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_03: And I talked to some friends today uh while I was out at the Cowboys uh today working.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_03: I talked to some friends about it because they were asking me, I go, huge game.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_03: I said, hey man, the reality of it is they've all been fourth quarter games Indiana, Miami, Texas.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_03: We've lost our last three games against the big boys.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um they need a win against one of the big boys.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_03: And if you go to Indiana, I'm not style pointing it.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_03: You go to Indiana and you figure out a way to leave with a W, it's a big win.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_03: Iowa was a good game, but we all expected them to beat Iowa.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_03: Iowa's on another tier.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_03: This is a real big boy, even if they're not as good as last year.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_03: They believe they are.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_03: And they're gonna play a certain way, yeah, and you have to match their physicality and go win the game because they're not gonna give it to you with a bunch of mistakes and a bunch of bad players.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta go win it.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I I always, you know, I was texting you, I think, this weekend, where I always look at any game that Ohio State plays, I immediately spot the opposing team, with the exception of Penn State, I immediately spot the opposing team between three to five points because of the mental errors that you see Ohio State make.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_02: And you saw it again last year, you see it every week, right?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um and that's one thing that Indiana doesn't make, to your point, any of those kind of sort of egregious mental errors that Ohio State will make almost on almost in a very predictable way.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that's number one.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_02: Number two is I've been actually very impressed with Signetti, uh, how he's handled uh how he's handled the media, how he's talked about his team, how he's talked about other teams.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: Very impressed by how he's handled everything, how how how he's you know, he's he's developed just an excellent program.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's um the difference between the programs is that I think Ohio State's talent is better.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think they have uh it's just it's just longer, you know, it's it's just been around longer, so it's more of a machine.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but Indiana's getting there, and it's it's it's very impressive.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I'm of the opinion that what will happen, the the Ohio State game will play out in a very similar way to the Indiana-Nebraska game, uh, I think, which will be that Ohio State will dominate, but instead of like scoring a touchdown, they'll kick a field goal.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, or they'll go for fourth down and miss it.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_02: So they'll dominate the game, they'll be up going to your point, going into the fourth quarter, and then they'll lose.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_02: That's how I see the game.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's it it reminds and that number one.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_02: Number two is they're also the defense is good this year, but they are subject to explosive plays, and these are the two, these are the second and third best receivers in the Big Ten, uh, besides Jeremiah Smith.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: And so they're gonna be this can be tough.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_02: They're gonna be tough for Ohio State.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_03: No, uh, but you know, it's uh that's what's required.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_03: If uh if you want to play with the big boys, you got to beat the big boys.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um they got USC, Oregon coming up.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_03: So this is a defining stretch for them.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_03: It is.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and you'll have their full attention, and so it'll be um it'll be uh it'll be fun.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_03: It'll be a great game, great atmosphere.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_02: The the only outcome that I don't see, and this is probably the outcome that will happen, is Indiana blowing out Ohio State.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_02: That's the one outcome I don't see.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think we get blown out.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we're we got a great team, so yeah, it's usually a four-quarter game.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's yeah, you know, and again, I don't trust kickers.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_03: So I uh you know, you line him up for anything in the fourth quarter, I assume he misses it.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's when he makes it, I'm shocked.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's also but but but there's there's you know there's a chance that if Ohio State plays well, doesn't make a lot of errors, they could have a game like they had against Oregon in the college football playoff a couple of years ago where they just came out and they were they just blew the team out, you know, even though that was considered, you know, probably that was considered the number one team in the country.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_02: They were they were the number one seed, right?
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_02: And that's that I see as a uh a possibility, a small possibility, but certainly a possibility.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and that leads us to Jeremiah Smith, who's just what do we say, making it look easy when it's time for you.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_03: Man's dominating college football, and uh he's making big plays.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_03: And what I'm encouraged by from their usage, because somebody from Indiana, one of their defensive players, said we're not gonna let him beat us like he's beating everybody else this year.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_03: And uh that sounds fine in theory.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_03: I don't have any problem with that.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_03: But I like the way Arthur Smith is using.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, they throw him on some deep routes, they throw some hitches to him.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_03: I've seen him, I think I've seen him in the backfield flare out and catch it.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_03: I've seen him run mesh concepts.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I'm a big fan of those.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, for a while when they had Dwayne Haskins, it looked like every play they ran was a mesh concept, and they just waited.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_03: You know, they ran 12 times a game.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_03: You mess it up three times, somebody's catching an eight-yard pass and turning it into the four-year pass.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_03: So I I like the fact that they're moving them around, making it hard to lock on.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_03: But I also like the fact that somebody said somebody other than uh Jeremiah Smith's gonna have to have a big game and contribute uh for them to really make it happen.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I I think this is it, I think this is a it's it's a really good point.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_02: It goes back to your point earlier about college football quarterbacks.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_02: This, and I hadn't really thought about it, this is a very important game for Julian Sane, I think.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it it's it's an important game for Julian Sand, it's an and it's an important game for the overall Ohio State passing game, because they're gonna get, I don't know, if you know, Jeremiah Smith had almost, I think, 150 yards, roughly.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_02: He had a pretty good game against Indiana last year, but Ohio State couldn't score because they couldn't move the ball one yard, and they couldn't uh you know, they couldn't do anything else in the passing game other than get it to get it to Smith.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so if they can extend the passing game, if some other receiver steps up, whether that's McEwen or whether that is Chris Henry or whoever.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_03: I really like the I like Chris Henry, and I'm telling you, man, Brock Boyd.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_03: I think he's only caught like two passes, but he's lived up to whatever hype Ryan Day gave him in the spring.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_03: And uh he's from right outside of Dallas because that dude because they'll show the clip sometime.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_03: He's running open.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_03: He's just not, you know, the the play is not designed for him, or he's not getting the ball, or whatever.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, he's the kind of guy who could have two or three catches that are impactful uh this week.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_03: If uh, you know, I think the one thing Saiyan's gotta worry about is uh I've got other receivers here.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_03: I don't have to lock on, even though it's easy.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_03: I don't have to lock on to Jeremiah every play.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_03: I can let other guys do something.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh they're not playing with uh Siegfried, I think their best offensive lining.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_03: I think he's out.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_03: And uh Indiana's got a really good defensive line, and so you got to be able to run the ball some.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_03: I would use the pass to set up the run.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not gonna try to start running, you know.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_03: I hate when teams do this.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_03: Hacked up crowd, Indiana.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_03: You get the ball first, they're whipped up into a frenzy, and you want to go off tackle for one yard.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, first down, yeah, off left tackle for a yard, on third down, set up third and eight, incomplete, you're out.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I would uh take advantage of their aggressiveness early with some misdirection or some mesh or some things to loosen them up a little bit and then try to run it.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and also this is gonna be the biggest regular season game at Indiana.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe, maybe, maybe ever.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_02: I was gonna say, maybe ever, bro.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and for Ohio State, it's gonna be another game.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_02: Another game.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's another game.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and so that can work, that can cut both ways.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but yeah, like that's why I say I don't I would be shocked if we got blown out because the Texas atmosphere was a difficult thing.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, they're used to playing in these difficult atmospheres.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was really, if you think back about it, anything gonna be more difficult than that road game at uh Oregon and week whatever it was.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_02: No, Will Smith had the mental fart at the end of the game.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_03: And then what was that?
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_03: That was a one-point game.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_03: 32 to 31.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_03: So what I mean is the crowd is not going to bother them.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_03: You know, they're going to play, they're gonna do what they do.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_03: It's a matter of whether they can stop these big plays and whether they can run the ball on third and short.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_03: To me, that's it.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_02: And and you know what?
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's been Ohio State for the last five years.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_03: I hate the fact they can't run the ball on third and short.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's ridiculous.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's insane.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_02: The only, not the only, a very positive thing is how they have been able to have some level of a running game that they kind of they kind of pounded Iowa at the end of the game with running game.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that was good.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_02: They they you know, they they they pounded now, it's only Maryland, but they pounded Maryland at the end of the game with a running game.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um I like the fact that Legend Bay got back on the field last week.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_03: Means he's doing whatever he's supposed to be doing on the room.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_02: Well, they're gonna need a they're gonna need, I think you're right.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_02: I think they're gonna need somebody other than Jeremiah Smith to emerge as a as a legitimate threat.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, and and maybe maybe this lights a fire under Saiyan.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe Saiyan has, you know, you know, he it flips a switch at him because he had one of the worst games that I've seen him play last weekend.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_02: I think he hit him.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_03: He's just gotta be decisive, and um, you know, he's running more this year, which is good.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_03: But this is like any other game against a good opponent.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_03: You're going to get two or three shots to make a play because they're gonna bust the coverage, and one of your guys is gonna be running free.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_03: He missed a guy against Texas, which would have won the game.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_03: Can you make the throw and get the ball to your guy when that opportunity presents itself?
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_02: And he missed he missed a few open uh open shots against Maryland, also.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so yeah, it's a uh here we are like nitpicking a guy who threw for 250 yards and four touchdowns.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_03: That's because we're we're trying to uh we're nitpicking to see if they are championship caliber.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_03: We know they're good, but we're trying to see if they're championship caliber.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_03: And they probably they probably are because there's not a dominant team this year.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_03: There's a bunch of really good teams.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think there's maybe seven teams that can win this year.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_03: So are you one of those?
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_03: And if you are, if you fix this flaw, you have a real shot to do it.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, bottom line for me, I'm going to go with my heart.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_03: Ohio State wins 24-20.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_02: But bottom line for me is I just don't trust Ohio State in the fourth quarter, unfortunately.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think uh and I can't, I just can't get it out of my head.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_02: But again, people should know, every the viewers should know that Jacques and I are very different.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_02: I grew up in Columbus.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_02: I have a very my my my uh my Ohio State fandom is you know, since I was probably five or six years old, I have a totally different mindset, and I'm one of the you know, you know, as Ohio State fans are you my expectations are totally ridiculous.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so I have to take that for what it's worth.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_02: I do think though, bottom line for me is I do think Ohio State will probably lose in the fourth quarter.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_02: But but if Ohio State blows out if Ohio when I say blood, if Ohio State beats Indiana by you know 10 to 14 points, that wouldn't surprise me either.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_03: So you're picking them to lose unless they win by 10 to 14 points.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_02: No, I think I think if Ohio State plays, if Ohio State plays the way it can play, um they should they should win the game comfortably.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um I just I just think I think the atmosphere is tough.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_02: I think uh it's a huge game for Indiana.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I think Ohio State has two issues.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_02: One is they can't run on third and short, and two is they they've kind of fumbled the game away in the fourth quarter uh three times recently.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_03: That's why it's a big game.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_03: They gotta they gotta overcome that mental hurdle of what's up when the uh when the fourth quarter rolls.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so he's Jeremy Pink.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_03: I'm John Jack Taylor.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for hanging out for uh the bottom line on sports.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_03: Don't forget to subscribe, rate, review.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_03: We'll talk to you guys next week.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_02: All right, we'll see everybody next week.