Latest / The Mike Blitz Show / THE OFFSEASON, PART II: Offseason Storylines of CFB 2024 & "Fine Dining"

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THE OFFSEASON, PART II: Offseason Storylines of CFB 2024 & "Fine Dining" · The Mike Blitz Show

• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like working at a gym.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta get back the muscle memory back, you know?
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: This will be better than the last episode.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Mike Blitz.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Mike Wade, my co-host coming from a little cubby somewhere, Mike White.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: What's up, dude?
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Happy Wednesday.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: Happy Wednesday, my man.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: Happy uh episode two of season four.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Season four.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: This is our fourth season.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: I thought it was our third.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: This is our fourth.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: We've been doing this for a while.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's that rules.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's great to hear your voice on a little bit.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: You'd think we'd be better at it.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: You'd think, but that would be foolish of you.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: You should not think that, but we are not better at it.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh welcome back today.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: We're talking about uh part two of our off-season storylines.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: We are talking about um uh off-season storylines, which is part two of our three-part uh kind of off-season series to get you primed for college football, which starts in four days.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: First game is actually Georgia Tech uh Florida State in Ireland at noon and a couple other less interesting appeals.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then week one, which we'll talk about in a minute, is the week after.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: So we are like right on the doorstep.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: We're 10 days away from your vols, 11 days from my tigers.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're we're getting there.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: We're on the cusp.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: We are on the cusp.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: So today, here's the kind of running show.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: What we're gonna do today.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk about kind of off-season storylines, things that have happened the last nine months.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Some of these things are still developing, some of these things started during the off-season or pre-years previous.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: This has kind of been dominant in the conversation college football sphere for the last eight or nine months.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: We're kind of gonna hit them all.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we're gonna do them in small storylines, main storylines, sorry, small storylines, medium storylines, main storylines, and then a little home over time.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk about each.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: We're actually gonna do it kind of like a four-course meal.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Mike, close your eyes and imagine you are somewhere beautiful, the rolling hills of Goochlin County, and you are sitting at somewhere nice, like a nice restaurant, something like a carabas or like cheesecake factory and we are or an olive garden.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: Or an olive garden.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: We are having a really nice meal, and obviously, you know, the Italians they like to have multiple courses and they like to play the candles, light the candles, play a little music.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm wearing a nice we are in a nice that's right.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm wearing a button up, not right now, but just picture that.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: So we're going to serve you tonight's podcast, you the listener, like a four-course Italian meal.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: So let's go ahead and jump right into this.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: The first thing when you're getting Italian food, you gotta get drinks.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: You're starting with drinks, Mike.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Italian restaurant.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not I'm not a wine guy.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: I know you're not a wine guy.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Are you drinking wine?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Are you drinking Italian beer?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: What's what's your what's your go-to drink for are you splitting a bottle with the missus?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: What are you doing?
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: Well, in this case, I'm gonna have a nice deep red, maybe a cab salve, something to really complement the bread.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I'm actually the exact same.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's my answer as well.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think my brother said a long time ago is like, figure out one wine you really like and go with that.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: And for me, that was Cabernet Sauvignon.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: So yes, for you, it's Francia.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Franzia, nothing wrong with nothing wrong with uh wine in a box.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yes, love me some Cabernet Sauvignon.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: We are uh both of you are drinking some nice, full-bodied, low residual sugar reds.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Love it.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's get those coming out.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll start with the small storyline.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Small storyline number one, uh, I think we're gonna talk about a little bit about uh Sharon Moore.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Sharon Moore uh is taking over for Michigan head coach, and there's been some real controversy around sign stealing.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: There's a documentary coming out next week.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: They're gonna talk about the sign stealing saga.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what's happening with that?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Will Michigan be punished?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Will Harbaugh be punished?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: They just won the national championship.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, give me your give me your quick hits on that.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think the main thing is that it it didn't go away.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: It hasn't yet gone away.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it felt like with Harbaugh and uh, you know, a little slap on the wrist, a little media coverage, and and some downplaying, to be honest, quite a bit of downplaying, that that was it.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um moving on, you know, the next season, here we come.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the Netflix documentary has kind of brought everything back up uh to the surface.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it sounds like, from what it sounds like, the NCAA is trying to go hard in the paint.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so I don't know where this is going, but it does, it's definitely not gone away.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: It feels like it has a little bit more teeth than usual stuff.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes NCA will make a big bark and then it'll kind of fade away.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm cautiously, I'm not gonna say optimistic or pessimistic because I'm kind of indifferent on this situation.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if it's gonna go anywhere, but something to pay pay attention to.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's uh obviously they are involved, Michigan won the national championship.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: How will that impact the game?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Which is actually a perfect segue for our next small storyline: the headgear.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: So, those of you who don't know, if you ever watched an NFL game on Sunday, there is a quarterback usually covering his ears.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: He's got a microphone talking to somebody up in the box.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: They've got radio technology.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: College football has not had this technology for the duration of college football.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, obviously, the technology evolved since football's first started being played in the 18 whatever's.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's really expensive, so some teams couldn't have it.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: So for years, uh, they had all these like guys holding up signs on the sideline with like Rodney Dangerville, a fuzzy rice and a donut, or they had all the guys in the color schemed uniforms all doing the different like airplane signals.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like there was all kinds of uh technology and methods of signaling plays in.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: All of that's over.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this new technology.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: My question for you, blah, blah, blah.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's what happened.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: Is this, oh, did we lose something, or is this, oh, this should have happened a long time ago?
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: Well, they've been doing this in high school football.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: So anytime you're behind the times, you know, uh from the lower level standpoint, you got to catch up.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: I think it'll change things, uh, uh, especially with some of the up tempo offenses, but I don't think it will be a major change.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, it'll allow them to get calls to one specific guy on the field, both defense and offense.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: They're still gonna have um audio issues, you know, that happens in the NFL, some miscommunications.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the only thing it might do is it it might make up-tempo offenses faster, and it may um allow for smoother, quicker uh reaction times by the defense.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but that that being said, the you know, whoever it is, your middle linebacker still has to get that call over to the rest of the defense.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: So there's still a lot of communication happening, and um, I think one of the things that you have to be careful of is not overloading the player on the field with too much information.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, so it'll be interesting to manage that from a coaching standpoint.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: My understanding of the rules is the coach can talk to one person on offense and one person on defense.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously the quarterback and I guess the middle linebacker, whoever's calling the defense for that team.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's gonna cut down way down on um delay of games.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I think hurry up offenses are gonna obviously go faster, but I also think defenses will be better.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: What's gonna happen is they're gonna say, play 29, play 29.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Dude's gonna look at card, he's gonna have it right then and there.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: Then it's just a matter of how fast you can get in the huddle.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think, and I said I think your answer is no, but do you think we're missing anything or losing anything fun or competitive or unique to college football without the goofy signs and the signaling and any of that?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Are you do you have any any No, not at all.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: I I think this is the rare instance where introducing uh technology uh into a sport has no real fundamental um impact on like the tradition or kind of the the way the game is played.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's just that it's just one more tool.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, they've got iPad, they're gonna have iPads on the sidelines now as part of this.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so it doesn't really change a whole lot for me uh because they already do it in high school, they do it in the NFL.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so it's not it's not a huge deal.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I tend to agree.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: It does make for a funny picture on the sideline where you're seeing those guys holding up those goofy signs, but in general, no, I'm gonna I agree.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh small storyline number three.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: After a couple of years of pretty lame week ones, week one is back.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I think week one this year is four, five, maybe six games deep.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Notre Date, Texas, Texas AM, uh, Florida, Miami, Clemson, Georgia, Colorado, North Dakota State might be sneaky good.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, my beloved LSU Tigers, USC, and a sneaky game that's not getting much talk about.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, Penn State going to West Virginia in Morgantown.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I this has been obviously offseason.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: We all talk about when's the season gonna start.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: The season's gonna start with a bang.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: In the last couple years, it really hasn't.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm more excited for next Saturday, slash Sunday, slash Thursday, and Friday too, than I have been in a while.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: What's your what's your week one takes going in 2024?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think um there are a lot of games that will impact the the kind of the way we view teams moving forward.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and you get that sometimes, but not across the the entire landscape of college football.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna know quite a bit about teams um from the from the get-go, from the jump, which is nice because usually, you know, I've always been an advocate for not having any um any numbers by the names, any sort of rankings until you know, probably midway through the college football season.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: October, sure.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's yeah, it's all based on what happened last year.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: There's very little actual um ranking going on, other than trying to use those numbers to hype up the games that you're seeing with your eyes.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: So in this case, um, we're gonna know we're gonna know early about a lot of teams, which is gonna be sweet.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: Agree to agree.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: All right, it is time for the medium storyline.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: So it's time for some appetizers.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Mike, you're the waiters here.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's we're at a nice Italian restaurant, it rhymes with um the schmallowsmart.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: What is it?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: What are you getting for an appetizer?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: What do you what's your what do you what's your go-to?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: Oof.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: Probably some mozzarella sticks.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, fry me up some cheese.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a bit I'm a big fan of brosciutto, which is that like uh chopped up tomato stuff on the bread.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, wifey appreciates a nice caprice salad.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know why they call it salad, it's just cheese and sauce, just like drizzled on a plate.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: They're really playing fast and loose with the word salad, I feel like.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's okay.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: That's a word you can play pretty fast and loose with.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: I agree.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so medium storyline number one.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, Colorado is trying to reinvent how they do college football with the transfer portal.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: Historically speaking, college football teams are built through high school and they are pretty much exclusively built through high school.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: You might see a transfer or a grad transfer every now and then.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Colorado has gone full other side of the spectrum.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: They're bringing in 50, 60 kids.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: They did it last year as well.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh really trying to go against the grain on how successful teams build successful programs and do it all through the transfer portal.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: On the other side, you got Dabo, who is one of get this one of four schools in this country that didn't accept a single transfer.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: Can you tell me who the other three are, Mike?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I don't know.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: Army?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: You're on the right.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Amy.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't know.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: The Citadel.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the Air Force.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: I forgot about the Air The Air Force.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: The three service academies.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: I really just wanted to mention the Citadel.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: I know we'd love to pick up Citadel.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Only four teams in the country that did not.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so Transfer Portal, the NIL, big story.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, how teams use it.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: The most teams, I think like conventional wisdom is you build through high school, you supplement through Transfer Portal, fill holes, LSU and Tennessee have been doing a really good job doing this recently.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what's your take on the Clemsons and the Colorados of the of the of the world?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, well, we'll see how this year goes.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: I think um Dabo will need to adapt.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: I think um you have to, right?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: It like recruiting high school is never never gonna go away.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: You've got to build long term and utilize the portal for plug-and-play, you know, fill roster spots as guys leave, um, you know, plug in guys that that really can can help you immediately.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: And the high school's not meant for that.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but Dion is is doing it to the extreme, and we'll see how it works out.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: But so far, there's been a lot of noise around um a bad culture, around locker room issues, um, getting things to to gel and mesh on the field.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't know that I think both of those are two very extreme circumstances, and I don't really think there's a recipe for success with either.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's my take as well.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think both of them are doing it wrong, objectively.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think we're gonna figure out that pretty quickly.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think the ones off to the pros.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think his talent's gonna drop off is gonna be substantial next year, and I think I don't think there's going to be another team that's going to say, even if let's say, I mean, God, let's say Colorado goes seven and five or eight and four this year, or something crazy like nine and three.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, are do we think this would be another coach or two, another, another NFL superstar is gonna drop into some mid-le mid-major P4 school and say, give me 80 transfers, all you have to go?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think so.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: And where I know for a fact that nobody's gonna do what Dabo's doing.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Dabo's won two national championships, which is the only reason he could even get away with this from now on.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of think Dabo's gonna come around.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's got too much at stake.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: His he is still considered top three coach in college football, but that's gonna keep that's gonna quickly deteriorate if he doesn't uh get the get Clemson winning back to 10 win seasons.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, which is gonna be a good thing.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: If he has a down year this year, then yeah, I think it's gonna the conversations uh are gonna get a little more uncomfortable.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I think he's going to evolve on his on his no transfer policy, but he's got to do it soon.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh next next next storyline.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so this is the big the college football expansion.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: It went from uh the 14 playoff, had a good run.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was exactly 10 years, 2014 to 2023, something like that.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: I thought it was overall not perfect, but for the most point, did a pretty good job of crowning champions.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: This year is the 12, and we could talk a whole episode just about that.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: But Mike, I got one question for you.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: Give me the impact that you foresee happening on the regular season.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I want to talk about.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, it's pretty simple.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: The individual games matter less.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: There's much there's a much greater margin for error.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_02: You don't have to be um, you know, Ohio State, Michigan, um, Georgia, Alabama, and and go undefeated or or lose one or even two games.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there it totally changes how much each game matters.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: And uh that sucks.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm not gonna argue with you there.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: I there's I think it's better.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think the college I think college football, proper playoff, which is what we do in pretty much every major competitive sports in the United States at every level, high school, college, and pro has always existed.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: I always thought college football was kind of wonky.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: It had some quirks that are interesting, but I think a proper playoff, which we will have for the first time, is a good thing.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: That said, I think a clear downside is exactly what you're talking about.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: And the game I think about immediately, I think a lot of people do, is the Ohio State Michigan game.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: There's a good chance they're gonna play that again the following week.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a game that's supposed to be once a year, much like the Iron Bowl, much like the third Saturday in October, much like um, you know, LSU Arkansas, LSU Florida, whatever, like battle in the swamp, but these games are all supposed to be significant.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: The Commonwealth Cup, UVA, Virginia Tech.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we're gonna be seeing these perennial powers probably battle two times.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: There's a world they play three times, um, if you could if you consider the conference championship with no divisions this year.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I think the downside is real, but I'm happy to take it because I think the upside, expanded playoff, I think, will be better.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of where I'm driving at.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: But I think I agree with you.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna hurt.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think I'm in wait and see mode.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, uh part of what made college football so unique and special is that those games, every single one of them, matter.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I I tell the story all the time.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I remember leaving Nealand Stadium as a as a college freshman after a loss and being like, well, there goes the national championship, and that just is not that that way anymore.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: What he's talking about specifically is back back then, even before the playoff, it was really a two-team BCS system.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: And it was true.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: If you were a perennial top 10 team and you lost to, let's say, to your Tennessee team and you're ranked top five and you lost to Florida, you were sunk more likely.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you could battle back if everything goes your way.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: We saw it happen a couple times, but we saw a lot of teams' national championship hoax were over well before September 30th, which I don't care how bad you play instead of.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's not true for anybody this year.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I mean the the the flip side of that is you know, there is there's still that hope, you know, your season isn't done in September.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: So we'll see how it plays out.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_02: There's goods and bads.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: There's goods and bads.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's it's exciting to see the new formula.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna see how it plays out, and we're gonna see it impact a lot of other things as well.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's true.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: There's gonna be a lot of unforeseen consequences, absolutely.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: All right, main story, medium story size storyline number three transfer quarterbacks.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: This is football.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Quarterbacks are the most important position on the field.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody knows that.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, with the transfer portal and il, the amount of players moving is obviously this is all old news, everybody knows this, has increased tremendously.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, here are five starting quarterbacks that are complaining that are gonna be that are going to a new school and are gonna be leading their team potentially to a playoff spot.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: Cam Ward in Miami, Will Howard, Ohio State, Riley Leonard at Notre Dame, Dylan Gabriel at Oregon, DJU at Florida State.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: Is there any one of these guys that you think is a sure fire, will be awesome, is going to ball at the next level, take their team to the playoff, whatever.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: And is there anybody who you're like, this is not gonna work out?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: This is gonna go sideways.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: Well, my immediate answer is Dylan Gabriel.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh because Oregon, Oregon is set up for such success that he is.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, he we know that he can do it, and he's super talented, and Oregon is in a perfect spot to come in and and make huge waves and make a run for a national championship.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, so that's my first answer.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: What word, what do you got?
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, for my I was uh that that was I'll I was between him and Cam Ward.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: I love what I saw out of Cam Ward at a Washington State.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think Miami, I think he's the best Miami.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: I said this last podcast, I think he's the best Miami roster that they've had in 10 years.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I think he's got a ton of weapons, got outstanding running backs, receivers, offensive line is good.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's going to.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the upgrade of surrounding talent, not talking about Mario Crystal Ball.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: The upgrade of surrounding talent on offense is gonna be so tremendous from Washington State.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: I think we're gonna see Cam Ward kick next level.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: So he's my upside guy.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Who's your downside guy?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: Who's transferring and who's not gonna work out?
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's tough.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: I already know your answer, so I'm not gonna go down.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: We haven't talked about this, but I already know what it is.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, so I kind of want to say Tyler Van Dyke, who I don't think is a guy that you mentioned, but you've seen type around him at Miami.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: You've been sandbagging, you've been sandbagging my boy TVD for too long, man.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: Well, he he just hasn't put it together.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: And while I do think that if he can play well, Wisconsin could be a little bit of a sleeper team.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, who knows?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe a new environment, things start to click for him.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: He's obviously got the physical tools.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but that's that's my answer.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think he's enough of a difference maker this year for Wisconsin.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_02: I actually hope that he is.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so my default answer is DJU, which I'm sure Mike is gonna tell you.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really out on that guy, and I will be in so for this for the sake of this storyline, I won't say DJU, so I'll have plenty of time to poo-poo him later.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go with this kind of little rogue, might be I might look bad on this one.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say Will Howard.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: Will Howard uh lost his job at Kansas State to Avery Johnson, who's a better quarterback.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: The backup at Kansas State, no disrespect to the Wildcats, typically not the best, the best quarterback.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: He is going, uh, he is stepping into Ohio State.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Ohio State has a ton of weapons, their receivers are great, their running backs are great.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Offensive line, a little bit of a question mark.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: Chip Kelly's system.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: We were talking about you know, Oregon, all those goofy signs, the high speeding stuff.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: There is a world where Will Howard, because he's got they've got tremendous pressure on them.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: Ohio State is national championship this year, or bless, and we'll talk more about that later.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: There's a chance it doesn't work out.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: He's only been there like three months, and yeah, Chip Kelly's new offensive coordinator.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Their offensive line is probably the biggest, and really only well, him and obviously, and will how the quarterback outside of quarterback, their offensive line's probably their biggest question mark.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's a world where this goes a little sideways, and I say a little sideways, I mean like nine and three, ten and two at worst.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: Ohio State's gonna win a lot of football games this year.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, can they be where they want to be if he plays uh good?
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: No, because I think they want to be the national championship.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: They have to win the national champion.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think they can do it unless he turns out to be excellent.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: The good news is he is gonna have all the opportunities in the world to get to be really, really excellent, given the weapons he has disposable.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I really do think Chip Kelly is an awesome, awesome coach.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I just think it takes a little time to kind of figure out.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, maybe some Oregon listeners could chime in on this, but like I just think it takes time to kind of blend or UCLA figure out what he's doing and how to do it and do it at a high level.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: So it's gonna be interesting because that we're gonna see those two guys play head to head, Dylan Gabriel, uh and the Oregon's gonna be hosting.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, that's right.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's gonna be a sick game.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: Look forward to that.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: All right, very nice.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Enough of the calamari and the cheesesteaks and the red wine's all great, but I'm hungry, Mike.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: I want to talk about big storylines.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: I want some I want some real sustenance.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm hungry, Mike.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: What are you ordering?
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: What's your go-to Italian entree?
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm a huge sucker for lasagna.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I love lasagna.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um give me some give me some lasagna all day, every day.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: Can't beat it.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: I can't beat it.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm obviously more Italian food, it's Italian.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: I just I'm gonna I'm gonna get pasta too.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I feel like it's kind of a go-to.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't get Italian food enough to get anything else.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna get pasta.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: I like a little seafood pasta.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like a little shrimp scampi, uh, something some situation like that.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: I anything where I can get some carbs and some seafood kind of in the same situation.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: I like them.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: Give me the mix up.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Give me the mix up.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: I really like that.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'll see what as soon as I go home.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: I want to go home and take a nap.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: I've drank red wine.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: I had some Caprici salad.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: I've got some shrimp scampi.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to go take a nap after all this.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: So the three big storylines, uh, at least that Mike and I came up with for this offseason.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: The biggest one is RIP to the Pac-12.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: The Pac-12 effectively folded.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: It does still exist.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's the Pac 2, Oregon State and Washington State.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: Stand up.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: Keep fighting the good fight, brothers.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate you.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: But it's effectively gone.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: It is no longer, it was power five.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's power four.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um and obviously the Big Ten got bigger, the Big 12 got bigger.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: The ACC is on the precipice of getting blown up bigger.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: We're not really sure.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: Realignment stuff.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't really have, I don't really have a other, I don't really have a realignment take other than I don't think we're done yet.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have a do you have anything you don't you want to talk about, say about realignment given how much it's happening?
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're definitely not done yet.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: The death the dust has not settled.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um Florida State was desperately trying to leave the ACC.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, yeah, and they were basically told, you know, cool your jets by other conferences, we don't want you right now.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um there's a lot of there's a lot happening in the ACC, a lot of teams looking to jump ship.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so that's one of the big ones to watch.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, I just I don't know where this is going.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's hard to keep track of.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: I don't like that we're losing, you know, some of the traditions, some of the traditional robberies, the yeah, the regional footprint of a lot of this.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think what we need and what the sport would benefit from uh would be you know a commissioner type, one voice to kind of stand up and lead and and and make good decisions for for the sport and not just making decisions per conference and what's good for your team and your conference based on money deals.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_02: That's all this is about.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so that's my quick take on that.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's where I think we're going to, and honestly, I agree, I agree a thousand percent.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: I every conference is playing like it's its own league.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's like the NFL trying to blend with the major league baseball.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't make any sense.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: And they're and the conferences are acting that way.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: Now that the NIL bubble has popped, now that the transfer bubble has popped, we're and we are at the point now where it's pretty soon soon enough we are going to have effective super leagues, and you can cover you can already see the the the framework, the foundation being laid with the Big Ten and the SEC.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: They're gonna have they're gonna collective bargain and we're gonna ultimately get to commission, and we're gonna have we're not gonna have fans paying for football teams anymore.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're we're gonna go to a revenue sharing situation.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: My take is it's coming, it's happening.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm happy for the players because obviously they're getting more equitable share.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really bummed out for Oregon State and Washington State, which are two really good schools, just kind of the you know, the innocent parties in all this.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm my opinions are all over the place, as you can probably tell.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in wait and see mode as well.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: In a year from now, it's gonna be completely different.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: We were gonna have this conversation again in a year, and so big storyline, kind of boring because nobody really knows what's happening and still evolving.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: Is that fair?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think for the cat the the casual fan, you know, the the the or the fan that really only watches their team, there's gonna be a lot of like, wait, that's a conference game, or like yes, wait, wait, they're they're playing like there's still a lot of that, even for you and I sometimes like reminding ourselves who went where and what the impact is.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and how and and and with that comes a whole lot of new new scheduling and losing of of traditional rivalries and rotational schedules, and um there's just a lot of change to try to keep track of.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, you're gonna hear me talk a lot about ACC perennial power SMU this year.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: So that's right.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: Mustangs.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: Mustangs, ride them.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, I'm excited for I'm bit I'm bullish on SMU this year.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: If you can't tell already, um, it's the A uh the Big 12 with Arizona State is new.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, UW and Oregon, the Big Ten, uh conference groom conference game, which is gonna be Boston College hosting Stanford at some point.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's going to be an adjustment period, and we're gonna do it all again.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna adjust again in two years.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: So don't get used to it because what's the point?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh all right, that's enough about realignment.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, number two, the college football video game is back.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so those of you don't know, uh, in 2014 they stopped making EA college football because of uh there's a loss.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: For those of you who aren't nerds, nerds, uh, those of you who don't live under a rock, they stopped making the video game essentially because the play were using the player's name, image, and likeness, and really image and likeness was specifically, they got sued, they lost.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: They could no longer do this, they stopped making it.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: After 11 years of change and technology improvements and lawsuits, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: The game is back, and it came out about a month ago.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I am the owner of the game, it rules.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: I have played with my six-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, just the other day, Axel, we were I was going for it.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: I've taught them so much about college football, just through the context of this video game.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: It was like we were, I was it was a fourth and goal play the other day on the seven-yard line.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: I was LSU playing against Georgia or something, and he was like, Axel said to me, Dad, you're not gonna make it.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: Kick the kick the three, take the three points.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: You're not gonna, there's no way you're gonna convert.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, I went for it.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: I did not get it.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: I should have listened to my six-year-old's advice, but I can't believe just by playing with him how much I've learned.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: So that's been the major joy for me.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know you don't have the game yet.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: Any takes though on the game?
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: What it means?
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_02: No, I'm super salty.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_02: I don't have the game, I don't have an updated system, and I don't have enough time or or or bandwidth to to play it or invest in it.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it sucks because I used to love, I mean, I would just wore that game out, and I was really good at it.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: And now if I picked it up, I would probably suck.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: That's a beat by your six-year-old son.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, I play yeah, I play online and those.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: I get I get smoked by some internet nerds.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: They they work, I play, I play like the medium level and I get cooked.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: The good news is your boys are gonna they're gonna grow up pretty soon.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: They'll be they'll be old enough, they'll have the sticks in their hands.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: You'll be able to shake off the old dust and kind of work them.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'll say this just because we're talking about it.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Tennessee has one of the funnest playbooks in the game.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: UNLV and Tennessee.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: Tennessee does this out wide thing, which I know you know about.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: It actually makes uh play calling really, really fun.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's easy to find guys on slants, even overload zones.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: I use I found myself using Tennessee's offensive playbook uh a fair amount.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_02: So I think SEC defensive coordinators would agree with you that um it's it opens things up and uh makes it tough to defend for people.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's given me a it's actually given me a it's helped me understand what Tennessee's offense does better.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm literally calling the plays.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh, that is a huge advantage.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: That guy's way out there.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Look at all that space in the secondary.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's easier to read um the run defense and so you can make those calls at the line a little bit easier.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and the best the best thing is it's helped me like my preseason download, like, oh, who are the star players?
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: Who are the guys?
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I've been able to learn a lot more college football players a lot quicker because I'm playing with them as the actual video game.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll say the game, the game is not perfect, have a bunch of bugs, a bunch of patches, blah, blah, blah.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: This is all boring.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's still a great game.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so glad it's back.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's been a real pleasure playing with my kids.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: So if you if you have a new Xbox or a new PlayStation, check it out.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and they're gonna make ones in the future years.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: So if you don't get this one, you'll get next year's.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: Anything else on video games?
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, on to our next review of Mario Kart.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: So last major storyline of the day.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so uh we're gonna talk about coaches.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: So two absolute titans in the sport moved on this year, one being Nick Saban, arguably the greatest college football coach of all time.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: And uh also somewhere down that list, but not too far, Jim Hardball moved on to San Diego Chargers, excuse me, Los Angeles Chargers as the NFL coach.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: Anybody who's been watching college football or game day or consuming ESPN or really any college football anywhere knows that college football coaches are the kings, the most the most important personalities, they get all kinds of media attention, and there is a massive vacuum now in the sport with with uh Saban and Harbaugh gone.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um Mike, I got a I got a fun trivia question for you.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: Okay can you tell me the three college football coaches currently in college football who have won national championship?
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Head coaches currently in college football.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: Who have won a national championship?
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_02: There are only three Dabo Kirby and third one's a little tricky.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, too much dead dead airtime.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: Mac Brown, Mac Brown, uh yeah, uh current UNC coach, he won the 2005 enough championship in Texas.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: There's my point is there's a like with Harbaugh and Saban, that was like eight more national championships.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, there's there is I mean, I think everyone looks at Kirby and looks at Dabo as these two kind of kings, and like who is gonna fill in the ranks?
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: Is it going to be uh Dan Lanning?
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: Is it going to be Josh Heipel?
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: Is it gonna be Brian Kelly?
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, who is going to be the next Titans of college football?
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: Who are going to be the names and personalities that we're gonna be paying attention to the next 10 years, Mike?
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the personality you'll be paying attention to is Deion Sanders because he'll be on your TV all the time.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know how much he'll do for the game, but he'll be out there.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_02: He's coaching visible.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: He's gonna be coaching the Cleveland Browns next year or something.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think he's gonna be in college that long.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um go ahead.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_02: No, I was just gonna say, uh, you know, I think Kirby is the logical answer.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: Dabo, uh very opinionated, uh, very outspoken as well.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, I think you know, if Ryan Day were to win a national championship this year, he's not uh, you know, he's he would have the platform and and and kind of the the the the pull to to kind of step into that.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_02: But um yeah, uh that's it's a good question.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_02: There is a gap there.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_02: I mean Saban's still around, he's uh filling in a different capacity, he's he's doing a lot of commentating and um you know hosting and things, so he'll he isn't gone away, but uh he's definitely not filling in that same role.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's true.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: But every time one of the things I like to do during the offseason is I like to look at these lists, like who are the top 10 best coaches in college football?
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: And usually it's guys who are decorated who have won national championships.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: And if you look at these lists, it's one, it's two, Dabo, and and and you can honestly the way Dabo's trending down, given his transfer port policy, you can see him slipping.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's a bunch of guys that have won nothing.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: James Franklin, Steve Sarkeesian, uh Luke Fickle, Dan Lanning, Brian Kelly, like all good coaches, teams uh Lincoln Riley, you know, big names, big coaches on heads of big programs, but really haven't done it yet.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm really interested to see who's going to win the next five or six or seven national championships and who are going to be those next super A-list megastar hardball saban guys.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think the sport right now is kind of missing that a little bit.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like who is going to backfill and kind of be those guys?
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that'll be interesting.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: I do think that the kind of the dynasty era may be coming to an end a little bit with with the 12-team playoff, a little more parity showing up every year um with the transfer portal teams able able to flip rosters a little bit quicker.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, we'll see.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: We'll see.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: So we have had our drinks, we've had our appetizers, we have had our lovely, we are so stuffed.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the waiters come by, Mike.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want to check yet.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's time for a little round of dessert.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: Nice Italian dinner.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna go buy some little sweet for you and the missus.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what are you ordering?
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: What's your what's your what is your Italian dessert that you and the missus?
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_02: Give me a little slice of cheesecake.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: Not bad, not bad.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: Might be a little rich, but if you have a little room best in your belly, I like a less cannoli.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if I when I was a kid, I always I always got the uh the creme brulee.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: They brought that the little flame gun.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: I like that's Italian, really.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a nice dessert.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I don't know anything about food.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_01: And they would they would do a little crisping right there in front of you, like that.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you could buy like a nine-year-old mind that like exploded.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: I can see that super into creme brulee.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: So also flames are exciting.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I really like cheesecake as well.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go with creme brulee or cannoli.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're an Italian place, probably good cannoli.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: Tiramisu?
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's Italian, right?
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a good one.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, deal with that.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's actually Italian.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: I know Tiramisu is Italian.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, we'll go with Tiramisu.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: Very cool.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: So for dessert, we're going to have a we're doing this tonight's version of Homer Time.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk very quickly about our four favorite teams, UVA, Virginia Tech, LSU, and Tennessee.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of give you one main storyline about those four schools, kind of what's dominated um the offseason.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, Mike, you want to start with Tennessee?
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Tennessee is a fun one this year because we've got a lot of new pieces.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, when you're when you're when you're an outsider looking in, uh, what you know, what what do you want to know about Tennessee?
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_02: Everyone knows about Nico Iamaliava, five star, one of the best players in the country.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_02: He he sat last year, you know, he learned the system.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: So this will be his first real action after the uh the bowl game last year, decimating Iowa's vaunted uh Big Ten defense.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, that defense did okay.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: It was the offense, it was so bad.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: Defense did not do okay.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um anyway, so everyone knows about Nico, right?
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_02: The the big thing that that I think people are gonna be looking at, and and maybe it's flying under the radar a little bit, is Tennessee has one of the best and deepest D lines in the country, uh, highlighted by James Pierce coming off the edge.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_02: So keep a lookout for the D-line, gonna be wreaking havoc in backfields all season long to complement a very questionable secondary.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of new pieces at secondary, um, had an injury at the star position.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_02: So um potentially Book Carter, uh true freshman coming in at the star position to put in a lot of meaningful playing time.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_02: Secondary needs to play just good, just average.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_02: And um, if we're gonna find out early, week two against NC State, who should have a really good passing offense.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: Mike, and I will be there, by the way.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_01: Go ahead.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_02: We don't have tickets, but we're going.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_02: We're going.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna try to be there.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, if if the D line can get home and the secondary can hold up a little bit, the offense is gonna be shades of the 2022 offense.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we're gonna see a lot of fireworks.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be better.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna we're better.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_02: This is the best defense that that Josh Heipel has had in under his tenure.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and if the secondary can just be good, we're uh we should make some noise.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: Nice, nice.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think you're giving uh James Pearson flowers.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: He's a perennial like top five NFL pick next year.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like he is so good, he's gonna have a lot of people's really attention.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: I know Tennessee's got a deep defensive line, but um, that guy's absolutely a headline grapper, one of the most elite players in college football this year.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, lucky to have him on your team.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously, Nico, the five star plus, you know, Hen and Hooker was awesome.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: Milton was good, he had skills, but neither of those guys have the upside at least of Nico's.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: Very excited for that.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, very cool.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, for LSU, I've um we had a very exciting season last year, 10 and 4, won the Heisman, two first round receivers.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: Offense is going to be good again.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: The Garrett Nussmeyer will probably have the best offensive line in the country, top three most places you look.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: We also fired our entire defensive staff.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: Defense was historically the worst in LSU history, kind of based on whatever parameters you want to look at, but in general, it's just truly, truly awful.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: LSU's defense has been their calling car for 25 years.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: So most LSU fans have been really being a panic.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: The whole offseason has been about that.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: The good news is they brought in Blake Baker, uh, LSU's former linebacker coach.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_01: He was he was a DC at Missouri, now LSU's DC.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: Bo Davis, defensive line coach in Texas, who just turned um Sweat and Murphy into first round defensive tackles.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: Corey Raymond, um, longtime tenured uh uh SEC defensive back coach, put a bunch of LSU guys in the first round.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_01: He's back on staff, blah, blah, blah.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: The offense is going to be good.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: LSU's offense with Brian Kelly is always gonna be good.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: Brian Kelly does really well.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: The question is, can LSU's defense get back to where it is?
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_01: And kind of like Mike was saying with the question mark, we need to be uh, we were like a 120th somewhere, we need to be about 50th this year for this for LSU really to compete.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: And the defense has to be has to get off the bat, has to get off the fields, has to be middle of the pack, middle of the SEC.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: And LSU can do a lot.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: They could make a playoff, they could make some noise, it would happen.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: But all eyes, all attention, all offseason, all recruiting has all been about what are we gonna do about the defense.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: So gotta get them ready.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll see what that.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, we're gonna get massive tests here in 11 days with USC.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: I think USC's defense is trash.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think we're gonna push them around, but I also think they're gonna score a lot.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna find out literally week one, um, what LSU's defense looks like.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, let's move on to the uh the teams in the great state of Virginia.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you want to talk about them, Hokie birds?
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the Hokies uh are bringing a lot back and could really uh be a sneaky good team this year, especially when you look at their schedule.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_02: They've got two really tough tasks and should really win the rest of their games.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_02: So potential to be a playoff party crasher.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't think they're getting talked about very much nationally.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I think they're gonna cruise to like five and oh, and then people are gonna start really taking a look at that roster and taking a look at what they have.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, everyone knows about Cameron Drones.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the big thing that they have done in the offseason is uh upgrade their front seven, uh, specifically their D line.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: Curtis Perry is a former uh five-star D lineman with huge upside.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, came from Bama, and he's gonna be a plug and play guy.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um two other big time guys, big time gets.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um Aeneas Peebles from Duke is a defensive tackle, huge, huge get for them.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um he's gonna be a plug and play, had five sacks last year, 43 tackles.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then Kamari Copeland, which is a uh Iowa Western community college guy, again, we'll probably sleep on Iowa community college, folks.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: Well, he's he's gonna be a he's gonna be a player, he's gonna add some depth, and um they've got a lot of pieces, and and so if they can get a couple hits on the on the transfer portal there, um it's gonna be big.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_02: So they were already a good defense last year.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_02: Their secondary is really strong.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_02: And so um, yeah, I think when you when you look at that, and then the addition of uh Sam Brunfeld from middle Tennessee State.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh he's a big time plug-in at the linebacker position.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_02: Their defense is gonna be salty.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_02: I think so too.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's been nice to kind of see Brent Pry do it the way he did it.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_01: Year one was ugly.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: Year two didn't start out so well.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, the Virginia Tech Purdue game you guys were at, we thought not we wanted to see.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: Second half of that season, they riddled off five out of six wins.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: This they Brent Pry has been methodical about upgrading his team, getting them better, getting them playing.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I think this year, with addition, like exactly like you said, addition to all the talent he brought back, he did a really good job plugging holes.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_01: And uh this look to me as a team bringing back that pretty much production, very much a dark horse team in the ACC.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_01: So it's gonna be interesting to see if uh running back to Bashall Tutan uh can hold up.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's been an absolute workhorse for them, he's gonna carry the ball a ton.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_01: Kyron Jones is gonna take up he's gonna carry the carry the ball a lot.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_01: They had some health issues on their wide receivers uh last year.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_01: All those guys are back, and you could argue probably the deepest wide receiver room, the ACC, assuming they're all healthy.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so no, I'm with you.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of really, I think what we're trying to say, there's a lot of really good reason to be really optimistic about uh the hokies this offseason, and now it's just a matter of putting on the field and getting started.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: The top the bad news is they have to take on the mighty Vanderbilt Commodores in the week one, and you know, they're they're they're tough.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_01: So there's something.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: There's something.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's SEC team.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one of those teams is not like the other.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: All right, moving on.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh UVA.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_01: So last of the homers.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so UVA, uh, year one, this is year three of Tony Elliott.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_01: Year one was uh awful, not only on the win on the win-loss scene that the season was cut short due to the horrific tragedy.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: UVA players being uh fatally killed.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh year two saw some signs of life, although it was riddled with injuries.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: The defense, which was supposed to kind of be the better unit, uh, fell apart.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of guys were forced to play.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, uh Tony Musket, Star quarterback, went down.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_01: True freshman uh Anthony Calandria stepped up.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_01: The main storyline is kind of two splits for UVA.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_01: One is uh they're bringing everybody back, they've got some healthy guys, their defense actually should be back to where it was.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: Jeff Rodinsky, the former Air Force defensive coordinator, is a solid coach.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_01: Defense should be better.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: But the main storyline, obviously, is Calandria and Musket, who's going to start.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'll be, I just saw a Twitter press release a couple days ago.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's not now, that is no longer an off-season storyline.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_01: That is an on-season storyline.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_01: They he still has not announced his guy.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_01: I think conventional wisdom around Charlottesville is that Tony Musket is probably more better prepared to play and win now.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_01: But Calandria, given the youth, given the his ability to go off script, scramble, make plays, younger is the higher upside guy.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'd like to see them uh start to roll out Calandria.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think he's gonna I think he has the higher upside of UVA, and I think UVA has got to make a bowl for Tony Elliott to stick around.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_01: So what will he do with the quarterback is obviously I think the determining question for them.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_01: I hope it's uh Calandria.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh got any thoughts about them Wahoos and Michael?
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we've seen both of those guys play well at times, and they've both been pretty serviceable.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's hard to know exactly what the upside is of each.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, you would if you're if you're a UVA fan, you would have probably liked to have seen them name somebody already, because that means somebody clearly stepped up and won the job.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you never know how coach every coach plays this game a little bit differently, you know, when they're saying, like, you know, maybe he's got a feeling, but he's gonna he's not gonna let them get comfortable.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_02: He wants to push them to the very end and then name the guy.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um now the backfire of that is um, you know, maybe your team is looking around for a leader and they don't know who the who the clearly defined leader is.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_02: You hope that is not the case, but less snaps with the ones.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, obviously, um, they probably know they'll probably know much sooner than than we do.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe that decision's already been made, and this is all for not, but um definitely interesting.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh fun little fun fact, they're opening with um our hometown Richmond Spiders.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: So, right here in Richmond are the spars are taking on.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think that game is in Charlottesville.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_01: If that game was actually, if that game was actually in town, we should go to that game.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's like five minutes that way.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_01: That'd be kind of cool.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that would have been fun.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: Almost positive in Charlottesville, though.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, very cool.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, this has been lovely.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so are you pick are you pick up the check?
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_01: Do I pick up the check?
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_01: Are we still are we going Dutch?
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: I guess uh we should we should have talked about this, uh, I guess before.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: This is awkward.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_01: This is I don't know what we're gonna pay for the meal.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, folks, that is the end of our offseason storyline uh podcast.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's been fun.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for doing this.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening, everybody.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we'll come at you later this week with our part three, which is our bold predictions.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to throw out some big picture, what's gonna happen in college football.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_01: We're also gonna make a bunch of predictions.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_01: Heisman National Championship, playoff, conference winners, stuff like that.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_01: Just to come just come put some stakes in the ground, some flags in the ground, call our shots, and that way we can either um we can either tell you all we're geniuses in December, or you can obviously um dunk on us and dismember our dignity for all of our terrible takes.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: Either way, it's gonna be a lot of fun.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: So that'll come up later this week.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_01: Anything else for the good of the order, Mike?
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_02: No, what a lovely dinner.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you to the Olive Garden and all of the lovely folks there for hosting.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know what?
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_01: I usually we usually go back to J.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: Cole for a close up.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna take us out with some Italian music because this has just been really lovely tonight.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_01: That'd be nice.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's been nice and relaxing, folks.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's the end, Mike Blitz.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for coming.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_01: See you guys later.