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Preseason Buy or Sell · Reign of Troy Radio on USC Football

0:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Rain a short hot line, at least you know Michael what's going on.
0:05
[SPEAKER_00]: We know you have takes, we have takes.
0:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm back to surprise that you're a rant line, rape line, whatever it is, it's completely full.
0:13
[SPEAKER_01]: What can't we just win a game?
0:14
[SPEAKER_03]: Can I blame Michael Cassfield for this?
0:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Can I blame Bob Connelly for this?
0:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Can I put on a zebra shirt and just go out there?
0:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Scratch, claw, up against the wall.
0:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Can I explain that one feeling right now, guys?
0:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't believe it.
0:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's open up that raised ball.
0:31
[SPEAKER_03]: or can't believe, U.S.C.
0:34
[SPEAKER_03]: is undefeated in the SEC.
0:36
[SPEAKER_03]: Wait, we're in the big tent.
0:39
[SPEAKER_00]: What the record, oh no!
0:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Hello everybody, welcome back to Renfer radio episode 646 coming to you on Thursday July 23rd We're going to play some buyer sell about the 20 26 USC football season.
0:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you all in on Jade and my avar?
0:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you all in on King Miller?
1:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Lincoln Riley, Gary Patterson, James Stewart, we're going to run through some names here on this episode.
1:08
[SPEAKER_00]: As always, you can follow us on social media right in front of email us, ranoffrayfense.com at our phone number 818-643-7227-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-2217-
1:30
[SPEAKER_00]: We've talked about this at nausea of every single year.
1:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Media days, upon us, big 10 media days, believe next week, SEC media days this week.
1:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I saw some stuff on TikTok of Lane Kiffin.
1:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Apparently his daughter is dating a linebacker on the team.
1:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you see this?
1:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I had heard about this, but the only thing I saw from Lane Kiffin today was him having an apparently existential crisis and talking about how we're all going to die, so freezing cold takes took a note of it, and I thought that was pretty funny.
2:09
[SPEAKER_00]: There we go.
2:10
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see what comes of Big Ten Media Day when that happens.
2:15
[SPEAKER_00]: But at least you were playing by yourself.
2:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we just get right into it.
2:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's start with the first by yourself of the year.
2:25
[SPEAKER_00]: At least if 1,000 yard rushers are hard to come by.
2:30
[SPEAKER_00]: By or sell, you see, having two of them this season, I would assume that this means King Miller and...
2:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Wave in Jordan.
2:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Wave in Jordan.
2:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
2:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I would love to buy this.
2:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I, I, everything in my heart tells me screams by it, by it, by it, and the reality is that I can't.
2:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I have to sell this.
2:55
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not anything against women Jordan and King Miller if two running backs at USC could do it.
3:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I certainly think it's them, but I think there are two major,
3:05
[SPEAKER_01]: major barriers to USC have to what having to 1,000 yard rushers this year and their names are injuries and Lincoln Riley.
3:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Number one being is that USC most teams generally just deal with running back injuries.
3:21
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just a very
3:22
[SPEAKER_01]: very injured injury prone position, and I think that in order to have two 1,000 yard rushing seasons, the season you would have to have to healthy runners from start to finish, or at least maybe only missing one game a piece, and I just don't see that happening.
3:40
[SPEAKER_01]: The track records just not good enough for me to to me to go with that.
3:44
[SPEAKER_01]: And even if you did have a healthy king
3:50
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't necessarily trust Lincoln Riley to run the ball off and enough for them to reach that necessary threshold to both have a thousand yards.
3:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's much more likely to say that you could, the U.S.E.
4:03
[SPEAKER_01]: will probably max out at a one thousand yard receiver and Russia and let's say a seven or eight hundred yard Russia.
4:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I would love to buy this.
4:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is a sell for me grant in the chat to sell that SC will have one.
4:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, it just comes down to history for me.
4:22
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to go all the way back to 2005, to find the most recent time in which SC had two 1,000 yard rushers.
4:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Regivors and lend their white.
4:32
[SPEAKER_00]: They both were damn good in 2005.
4:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, 2015 SEA 2 900 yard guys, uh, Ronald Jones and Justin Davis, uh, 2022 SEA 2 700 yard guys in Travis die and Austin Jones, but the the Diane Jones thing, they are not both that 700 100 if Travis die doesn't get hurt.
4:56
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and so to me, that, that is the, the holdup.
5:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, Wayman Jordan last year played half season, had 576 yards, King Miller flirted with the thousand, struggled in the Alamo Bowl ended up with 873.
5:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Both of those guys, their yardage was dictated by injuries, right?
5:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, for King Miller, he had more yards because the guys in front of him got hurt.
5:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Eli Sanders and William and Jordan, William and Jordan.
5:30
[SPEAKER_00]: His yardage wasn't as much as it could have been because he missed half the season with an ankle injury, right?
5:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So like,
5:38
[SPEAKER_00]: all of that stuff i think makes it difficult and i think sell is the the odds on pick here even though i love this backfield for the drugs i really do i'm i'm in the same boat i would i will be happy to see all of the above prove me wrong yeah absolutely all right so by yourself this being linkan rallies last year at the colosseum as u.s. he's had kept
6:04
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a big ol' cell.
6:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, it's for two reasons.
6:08
[SPEAKER_01]: One of them is named Lincoln Riley, and one of them is named By-out.
6:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that the reality is is Lincoln Riley can afford to have an eight and four season, maybe even a seven and five season.
6:24
[SPEAKER_01]: and not get fired and it's because of the size of that buyout it's going to be in the area of fifty million dollars I just don't see USC in the event that there is a that it that it's a rough season short of like us talking about bullilgability Lincoln Riley's probably going to be able to survive this season will there be hot seat talk will things get pretty ugly if USC
6:50
[SPEAKER_01]: doesn't manage to win nine games at least.
6:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think there will be certainly but the track record shows us that USC isn't a Texas A&M and isn't going to have some oil magnet or whatever come in swinging and and foot that bill.
7:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you also have to remember it's not just the buyout for Lincoln Riley.
7:09
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the buyout for Lincoln Riley plus buying out his assistance.
7:13
[SPEAKER_01]: But
7:13
[SPEAKER_01]: plus hiring a new head coach plus hiring new assistance, it would be extremely extremely expensive to move on from Lincoln Riley this year and and aside from all of that all of the logistical reasons, I just don't think that Riley and this team are going to perform poorly enough.
7:34
[SPEAKER_01]: to open that door.
7:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that it is most likely that this team does get to aid in for, which I think would be absolutely keep him safe.
7:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I would even go as far as to say that I expect this team to be much closer to 9 or even 10 wins, assuming that Gary Patterson is able to work some, works of magic on defense.
7:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So,
7:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't see, I just don't see this being Lincoln Riley's final season at USC, whether it's because he succeeds and we're not having this conversation or because he doesn't succeed, but it's just not going to be to the level that would trigger the kind of desperation that USC would need to pull that trigger.
8:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that, you know, the buyout stuff is becoming less and less of a thing for me because we're talking about your five halfway through the contract.
8:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Most likely, usually the way that these kind of things work that means the buyout is halfway through at least two.
8:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And so.
8:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I worry less about that from the SEC side of things and more so about I think this team got over a lot of things last year.
8:44
[SPEAKER_00]: They got over losing the games that they shouldn't lose.
8:47
[SPEAKER_00]: They got over making the mistakes that they shouldn't make.
8:50
[SPEAKER_00]: They got over winning tough games, winning close games, beating everybody you should.
8:57
[SPEAKER_00]: They did that last year with a chalk season.
9:00
[SPEAKER_00]: That was a good step forward.
9:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Now you're going to schedule where a chalk season is really good is the schedule which SC has to play three teams who easily could be ranked in the top five when SC plays them in Oregon or Ohio State in Indiana.
9:20
[SPEAKER_00]: You can go 9 and 3 this year and I don't think it's the fireball offense that 9 and 3 2 3 years ago was.
9:30
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that
9:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm with you, unless things are strictly down to whether or not S.C. will go bowl eligible, be bowl eligible, I have a hard time seeing that there's actually a move here to put S.C. in the market for a new head coach.
9:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Next one.
9:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about Jade and my avas, a heisman finalist by or sell him as a heisman finalist come into your three as a starter for the Trojans 3,400 yards last year 23 touchdowns Your three as a starter in Lincoln Riley system as well Could he find his way to New York?
10:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he absolutely could find his way to New York.
10:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the country going into this season based on just rankings that I've seen.
10:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the athletic just did like a tier ranking and he was not in tier one, which I think is rough, especially for considering the season he had last year in terms of efficiency and considering he's coach by Lincoln Riley.
10:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that my Ava has much more to his game than I think people are giving are willing to give him credit for.
10:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And I've long been stating that if USC had a problem last year, it most certainly was not the quarterback.
10:54
[SPEAKER_01]: My Ava was good if not great for most of the season and had he had a better defense and a better offense of line and
11:03
[SPEAKER_01]: not an injury crisis at running back, everything about U.S. team would have gone more smoothly and by extension, his perception would be much stronger because U.S. would have won more games and they would have won more games going away.
11:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, having said that, I'm not sure I'm buying the Heisman finalist thing.
11:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And it is not, to me, that's not about my own necessarily except for one element, which is I still think that there is a, like, the, the interception question, the turnover question is still significant, especially in,
11:41
[SPEAKER_01]: the big games against better defenses.
11:44
[SPEAKER_01]: So teams like Indiana and Ohio State and Oregon, those are the marquee games that a Heisman finalists needs to step up and have that Heisman moment.
11:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Not just like the Heisman moment that wins you the Heisman moment that gets people talking about you.
12:00
[SPEAKER_01]: And I worry about...
12:02
[SPEAKER_01]: his performance in games against better defenses like that, without a go to guy like McIleman or Jacoby Lane, we'll see what tonight fine does, but I think he will be one of the best quarterbacks in the country.
12:16
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm going to actually go ahead and sell him being a husband finalist because we're talking about guys that are like the best quarterbacks in the country on the best teams in the country.
12:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And I still don't think that USC will qualify in that particular regard.
12:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And it will weigh my office perception down.
12:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think I agree.
12:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that I
12:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I would feel a lot better about my oven going in the season if it wasn't for the almo bowl.
12:45
[SPEAKER_00]: The flip side of it is, you talk about the big games and he's gonna have big game opportunities this year, Ohio State Oregon and Indiana.
12:52
[SPEAKER_00]: The big games last year were not the games that he struggled in.
12:57
[SPEAKER_00]: The games he struggled in were at Nebraska and TCU in the almo bowl.
13:05
[SPEAKER_00]: was he a incredible against Oregon?
13:07
[SPEAKER_00]: No, but he wasn't, he wasn't what he was against Nebraska.
13:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Up in Eugene last year.
13:15
[SPEAKER_01]: He threw four of his ten interceptions against Notre Dame in Oregon.
13:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, one of those against Notre Dame is in the last minute on Desperation Drive.
13:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care about that one.
13:24
[SPEAKER_00]: But I guess what I'm saying, he also made some incredible throws against Notre Dame as well.
13:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
13:32
[SPEAKER_00]: what I'm saying is he's not someone who vanishes in the big games does he step up in the big games that's something you need to do to get to New York and you're right I don't think it has to be necessarily in a winning effort when you look at like look at the canvas for uh... oh mislast year how i feel like people were raving about him in that playoff game against was my amy
14:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So Miami that you played in, yeah, it was Miami.
14:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, they lost to Miami, but like, people raven about how he, you know, surprised them one in over and everything.
14:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously, they had nothing to do with the Heisman, but like, that's the kind of stuff where you can do that in a loss as a quarterback and still turn hands.
14:22
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to go sell, but I will be happy to buy this.
14:29
[SPEAKER_00]: a couple months from now, especially after the Oregon game, if even if S.C. falters, he puts in a really damn good game in that game.
14:38
[SPEAKER_03]: If.
14:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
14:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So I reserve the buy here.
14:43
[SPEAKER_01]: the the problem for the the question for my other uh... as alien in the traces thing about my other those really bad games like the bullet still sort of lingering you know he just needs in addition to performing well throughout the season he can't have one of those kinds of quarters in those games because that will that will bury him that that will bury his his national perception yes uh... i don't know that it was necessarily buried the season no but it will bury his national perception
15:13
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
15:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go to the next one.
15:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about freshman.
15:18
[SPEAKER_00]: All American Mark Bowman question mark.
15:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you buying or selling Mark Bowman as a All American a freshman all American not an all American a freshman all American on the freshman all American team is Mark Bowman on that team for you
15:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Screw the freshman.
15:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's get all American mark bobbin when he says oh my god.
15:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, I don't know about that.
15:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I but I will be buying freshman all American mark bobbin.
15:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Number one because Here's the thing about all American freshman all American teams a lot of times so long as you are starting as a freshman
15:56
[SPEAKER_01]: You're just going to be sort of involved in that conversation regardless of how well you play.
16:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And aside from that, I think Mark Bowen is going to play really well in USC's offense doing the job that I think that I expect USC to ask of him.
16:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And in that sense, he's going to be tailor-made.
16:14
[SPEAKER_01]: for a freshman all-american nod because I think he will be productive first and foremost he's going to be a freshman starter and and and I think that he has obviously the talent to go out and have those moments that sort of put him on the map so yeah I feel really really good about Mark Bowman
16:33
[SPEAKER_01]: having the necessary productivity and playing time to get involved in those in those freshman all-american questions.
16:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it would be really, really fun if we were talking about Mark Bowman all big 10, sort of, you know, even if it's second team or whatever, at the end of the season, I wouldn't even roll that out and not that I want to get ahead of myself here.
16:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Sure.
16:56
[SPEAKER_01]: But I like this way.
16:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Big 10 is a good, kind of in conference.
16:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't want to get ahead of ourselves that way,
17:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So I crunched the numbers here.
17:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm by, by the way, I'm buying this majorly.
17:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I ran the numbers.
17:12
[SPEAKER_00]: The average, first team, freshman, all-American, tight ends.
17:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Since 2001 is averaging 27 catches, 355 yards and 3.7 touchdowns.
17:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's more than doable, is that not?
17:33
[SPEAKER_00]: That the all-American, like, all-American, no, that the freshman, all-American, first-team freshman, all-American from the AP, since 2001 is averaging 27.3 catches, 355 yards, and 3.7 touchdowns.
17:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's super reasonable.
17:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's super reasonable.
17:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Considering if you look back, it's, I looked up all these,
17:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Good, the good U.S.E.
17:58
[SPEAKER_00]: tied end seasons, and aside from Fred Davis winning the Mackey in 2007 when he had 62 catches, 350, sorry, it was more than 352 yards, it was a typo in my notes here.
18:12
[SPEAKER_00]: 62 catches, I think it was like 800 yards.
18:15
[SPEAKER_00]: He had 352 in 2006.
18:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Only two other guys caught 30 passes ever.
18:25
[SPEAKER_00]: in our lifetime as a tyrant and that's Dominic burden 2005 or 37 and it's literally late by crey last year with exactly 30 so if you told it like if you were asked do you think that he can match if if Mark Bowman this season can match what Alex Holmes did in 2002 or what
18:56
[SPEAKER_00]: would you say yes I think that that's I don't think that's a crazy ask we're not like I think that you could get crazy in like compare him to Brock Bowers.
19:07
[SPEAKER_00]: We had 56 catches there's a true freshman at Georgia.
19:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not I don't think you need to go that crazy at all right.
19:14
[SPEAKER_00]: 30 catches 30 catches and he has one of the all-time best tight-and-seasons at U.S.E.
19:21
[SPEAKER_00]: and is ahead of the averages for what a freshman all-American first teamer looks like.
19:28
[SPEAKER_00]: It's wild when you look at the numbers.
19:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Xavier Grimble's best season 29 catches.
19:40
[SPEAKER_01]: his best season seventeen catches two hundred fifty yards i mean that was in i mean uh... that's basically that was injury it injuries were playing a huge role in it and all of that but but yes absolutely and that's the what's game against minnesota yes and as the the the the g ramp productions or grand
20:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I want to note, too, that Lake McCree had 30 catches for 50 yards.
20:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Walker Lions had 20 catches, 223 yards.
20:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And the two of them combined had six touchdowns.
20:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, do I think that Mark Bowman is going to take on the productivity of both of those players combined?
20:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Probably not.
20:23
[SPEAKER_01]: but he is the primary guy at tight end, and U.S. he doesn't really have a unless, uh, Nella Tupoi, uh, sorry, Tupu comes in and, um, and breaks into that line up a little bit, unless Tucker Ashcraft has more,
20:40
[SPEAKER_01]: receiving ability that I think he does.
20:42
[SPEAKER_01]: There aren't really that many names in there that I'm looking at as a contender for Mark Bowman's past-catching targets the way that the U.S. he will want to target him specifically, but the tight end in general.
20:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
21:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is definitely a buy for me.
21:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and I think that's a reasonable high expectation without being crazy.
21:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
21:09
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
21:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I don't think that you should sit here and say, oh, he's going to run the back of you.
21:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, that's getting way, way ahead of everything.
21:17
[SPEAKER_00]: But like a season in which he catches 25 to 30 passes.
21:22
[SPEAKER_00]: A couple of touchdowns like I think that's more than reasonable and if he does that on a team like S.C. who's going to play a ton of prime time games against prime time opponents, you can be a freshman all American, especially when you come into a season with freshman hype like Mark Bowman, like that all that all plays in to get in votes, you know what I mean?
21:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Mm-hmm.
21:46
[SPEAKER_00]: All plays in there.
21:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go to the next one.
21:50
[SPEAKER_00]: By yourself, USC's defense in year one of the Gary Patterson Defense.
21:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, I'm gonna very optimistically buy, but with the caveat of like that this defense will not make me want to curl myself off of a bridge.
22:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Sure.
22:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
22:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I don't know that USC is going to have a top 20 defense, but I feel like Gary Patterson should be capable of feeling.
22:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's call it a middle of the road big 10 defense.
22:27
[SPEAKER_01]: uh... is that asking too much i'm i'm looking at them that defense u.s.e.
22:34
[SPEAKER_01]: uh... in twenty twenty five was eleven in the big ten with twenty three points per game which is a was a massive improvement by the way uh... in terms of points per game um... i i'd certainly i think we're all looking for u.s.c.
22:48
[SPEAKER_01]: to
22:49
[SPEAKER_01]: not just improve in terms of metrics but also improve in terms of like oh my god that was the worst defense of performance i've ever seen for a quarter or a half yeah kind of stuff i think u.s.c.
23:00
[SPEAKER_01]: will probably level that out as well which will only improve the production so you know maybe u.s.c.
23:06
[SPEAKER_01]: isn't
23:08
[SPEAKER_01]: holding teams below 20 points, but like if you, if they can get around where Michigan was last year 20.4 points for game 7th in the big 10, I think they'd be doing pretty pretty damn pretty well so.
23:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'll buy this just because Gary Patterson, yes, he's been out of college football for a little while, yes, his heyday at TCU is now a little bit of a ways away, but if nothing else, he is somebody who understands how to use the talent that's available to him and I think that has been proven to understand
23:49
[SPEAKER_01]: tactical sort of shifts that his players can understand in a way that it seems that every defensive coordinator at USC in the last 10 years has really struggled with.
23:58
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, I like the Gary Patterson higher and I'm optimistic here and I think he'll make a difference.
24:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I believe in the chances, I actually have no idea if the D will be good and Grant says by purely unvibes, no evidence.
24:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, there you go.
24:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
24:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
24:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm of like eight different minds here.
24:20
[SPEAKER_00]: On the one hand, Gary Patterson has not been on the field calling defense in years and years.
24:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And given the way scheme ramps up and gets better and involves on a year to year basis, that's an
24:43
[SPEAKER_00]: On the flip side, what constitutes?
24:47
[SPEAKER_00]: a successful season for this defense.
24:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you think?
24:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I would argue that it's successful season for this defense in year one of a completely new system when you have a roster that is deployed of playmaking linebackers and in which you lost one all-american safety and another one that could have been an all-american level player in Kamari Ramsey.
25:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, you bring in a defensive line that
25:15
[SPEAKER_00]: not very productive last year, but it's incredibly deep and talented this year.
25:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it successful season for Gary Patterson, not just running back what this defense did last year?
25:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, bar for bar, almost.
25:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that could be it.
25:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I would, I think, again, it goes back to
25:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you want and you want a defense that looks a little bit more sturdy and run in run defense, yeah, but I do think I think if you were going to if you were going to give me like
25:48
[SPEAKER_01]: bar for bar, let's say, if you give me USC, it has is 23 points for game.
25:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And what was the total defense was a 350 yards per game.
26:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I'd want to be better than that.
26:06
[SPEAKER_01]: That was 13th in the big 10.
26:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Just say this though, go under your head, defense, exact same as last year down to every
26:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I guess that means I'm getting the, that means I'm getting the, the vented second half end in Lindy offense, which I can share live with.
26:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Sure.
26:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Certainly.
26:25
[SPEAKER_00]: But like, your, your overall production and output is the same, but the offense.
26:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Now you know that you have an offensive line that's more seasoned.
26:35
[SPEAKER_00]: You have two really good running backs.
26:37
[SPEAKER_00]: The only reason you have a quarterback in year three, like, do you just take that deal?
26:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think so.
26:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I do just like that in, or do you hope that the defense takes a full step and a half forward, whether the offense takes a step forward?
26:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I want the defense to take a step forward.
26:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Simply for the fact that the defense
27:03
[SPEAKER_01]: has just had some massive lapses over the years, certainly had massive lapses last year, that you just, I don't think you can have those while being a competitive football team.
27:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And for all the progress they made in those late season games, we still saw that with TCU.
27:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And obviously, you know, the bowl game is what it is.
27:25
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't matter all that much, but like there were still those lapses that I just simply don't want to see for my defense.
27:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And if they cut out those lapses,
27:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you take everything else being the same, cut out the lapses and then simply put you must be better in run defense.
27:44
[SPEAKER_01]: You simply must.
27:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think there's any universe where we're running it back this year and we're happy with last year's run defense.
27:50
[SPEAKER_01]: So in that sense, I do think you still need to take a step forward, but it doesn't have to be a transformation, Allah, Dantanlin, taking over UCLA in 2020, three, you hope it is.
28:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that would be that would be wonderful, but they're just little thing, there need to be incremental improvements in so many different areas, but I don't want to run back the linebackers.
28:16
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, I don't want to run back the the edge rusher's I don't want to run back the the run defense, you know, so yeah, yeah, I I will buy the defense, um,
28:28
[SPEAKER_00]: feel free to let me take that back if we get into the season, and then it's like, oh, yeah, Gary Patterson definitely has not been on the field in five years, but also there's a chance that like, you know, he was mining defensive skin in a lab for five years.
28:48
[SPEAKER_01]: And we know he was working with with college football teams.
28:50
[SPEAKER_00]: We know that he was Baylor and Texas.
28:52
[SPEAKER_01]: He was talking to those teams.
28:54
[SPEAKER_01]: We know he hasn't been we know he's wanted to get back into the game So I don't think he's been sitting on a beach for five years.
28:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's been paying attention and He's ready to be back at it.
29:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Hope he's not sitting on a beach in Texas.
29:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean that would be pretty
29:16
[SPEAKER_00]: It became Stuart's fire cell going into year two as a sophomore last year, seven and half tackles for loss.
29:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Had big moments, also was sort of sporadic and out of the lineup, but when you saw him put everything together, you're like, damn, I absolutely see why he is as hyped up as he is.
29:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Fire cell.
29:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, this is going to be my most controversial opinion.
29:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's not that I'm selling Jekim Stewart as as an athlete or as a player who can contribute for USC.
29:55
[SPEAKER_01]: But if we're talking about a breakout season where Jekim Stewart is a, you know, first on the team sheet starter, undeniably like a star, somebody who's competing for all big ten honors,
30:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm selling that to be honest.
30:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And the reason is less to do with Joaquim Stewart and more to do with everything that's going on around him.
30:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't like him positionally.
30:26
[SPEAKER_01]: If you had told me that Joaquim Stewart was being put on the end and that that's where he was going to play this year than sign me up.
30:33
[SPEAKER_01]: But USC seems to still want him playing at defensive tackle and I just don't know that I'm there for him.
30:41
[SPEAKER_01]: yet.
30:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know that I believe that that is the right spot for him yet.
30:47
[SPEAKER_01]: The other thing is I'm just like, I still need to see something from USC's coaches in that in that front seven that tells me that this is different, that that, that, you know,
31:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Skyler Jones comes in and can do something that can elevate somebody.
31:08
[SPEAKER_01]: At this point, we haven't really seen the development enough.
31:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll take GDAB a series.
31:16
[SPEAKER_01]: As an example, GDAB a series doesn't have the ceiling that your came steward does.
31:20
[SPEAKER_01]: But it still took three day, you know, he's he's now coming into his junior year and we're hoping for him to have that breakout season.
31:28
[SPEAKER_01]: He still had his flaws as a sophomore that we're holding him back.
31:32
[SPEAKER_01]: So I sort of expect those same things to be the same with with Stewart as far as being playing that role of defensive tackle.
31:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I will be very curious to see how USC deploys Stewart specifically and whether or not they can unlock something a little bit more from him in that.
31:52
[SPEAKER_01]: But in terms of the breakout kind of season that he would need to have to say like, he has started.
31:57
[SPEAKER_01]: He is on the field for USC in every big moment.
32:00
[SPEAKER_01]: He's starting.
32:01
[SPEAKER_01]: He has not a liability, the run game, all of those kinds of questions are still hanging over him.
32:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And in that sense,
32:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I've just got to sell the sophomore break out season.
32:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's still quite early for that, considering the track record of everything else that's gone on with this defensive line for years now.
32:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I question for you.
32:26
[SPEAKER_00]: You can put him in any defense that you want.
32:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Where are you?
32:31
[SPEAKER_00]: What former SC player are you plugging him in for as a one for one?
32:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm never good with these no I don't mean like like a like a comp I mean like positionally like You said you'd want him as an end.
32:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
32:48
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll do you want him as an end in a low jack sort of way or do you want him as an end in a
32:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Leonard Williams, you know, like, see, but five technique, I think that's the terminology, like, of a run stopping guy, like a run stopping defense in an on-man front.
33:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, see, and that's where, like, where I don't necessarily see his, um, I don't know, I don't know if he can do that job yet.
33:22
[SPEAKER_01]: the way that Leonard the letter Williams was there from the get-go doing that job.
33:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
33:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
33:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I would rather have him in the in the low jack roll.
33:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I would rather have him pinning his ears back and just getting at the quarterback and having less to do with, you know, establishing a that front where the where the run game is involved.
33:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Like obviously he still no matter where he's going to play, he's going to have to work out those.
33:47
[SPEAKER_01]: those elements of his game.
33:49
[SPEAKER_01]: But at this stage, like we saw how effective he could be as a as a past Russia as somebody who gets into the backfield.
33:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just where they were lining him up last season, I just, if that's exactly the same where he lines up again this season, like I just, I think we will continue to see the same thing from him in terms of those flashes,
34:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'm I'm I'm going to take the buy and I'm taking the buy because even when he didn't get a million snaps last year and there is the uncertainty about what position does this guy play and all of those question marks all the ones that you've laid out.
34:35
[SPEAKER_00]: he still had seven and a half tackles for loss last year and was easily one of if you not the best playmaker in the front seven last year on a team that like struggled for production in the front seven and so absolutely I will buy if he had success in those conditions under and I mean with uncertainty
35:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I like him to continue to to improve.
35:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And even if it is flawed in the sense of like he's in a position that you're not happy with him being in or whatever, I think he can still be productive.
35:16
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm taking the buy.
35:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And as Elym points out in the chat, he was dealing with an injury for most of the last year.
35:22
[SPEAKER_01]: So maybe we see the more full healthy version of him in that role and he thrives.
35:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I just.
35:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I just, I'd love to buy in more, but I, and honestly, it's not, it's not, it's not your came steward guys.
35:35
[SPEAKER_01]: It's straight up.
35:35
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not him.
35:37
[SPEAKER_01]: It's my skepticism about USC's development of defensive linemen.
35:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I, I hear you, but like, I've been on the Gda have a series trained for two years now.
35:50
[SPEAKER_00]: He had four tackles for Lost Lester, and I am big on G-Day coming in this season, and to keep Stewart had seven and a half in less time.
36:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but you came had had 1.5 sacks to G-Day's 3.5 sacks.
36:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
36:07
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's go to the next one.
36:12
[SPEAKER_00]: By yourself, John Tedz Williams, USC's incoming transfer cornerback from Iowa State's transfers from Iowa State coming off of an injury, believe it was an ACL or Achilles, one of those two.
36:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Early last season ended up missing the rest of the season.
36:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Very good player two years ago.
36:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Can he get back to that level by yourself for you?
36:38
[SPEAKER_01]: This is another one where I really want to buy my worry is that injury and how long it's going to take him to get back to full confidence.
36:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that by the end of the season he will be that, but I don't know that I can say for the full season.
37:01
[SPEAKER_01]: that I can, that I can buy this specifically, uh, it's again, uh, disaster in jazz, skeptical elisia.
37:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I'm, I'm not trying to be like pessimistic or anything here.
37:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I just think you have to be realistic about players come back from injury, and John Tas Williams is coming back from a significant injury.
37:20
[SPEAKER_01]: He's still rehabbing that injury, and it just takes time, not not just to get back physically, but
37:26
[SPEAKER_01]: But to get back mentally, to get to the true trust in your knee after an ACL, so I think that the good news for John Tas Williams is that USC season kind of
37:39
[SPEAKER_01]: works out very well for him rebuilding some of that confidence in those first four four so games until the the really really tough tests.
37:49
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't know that it's going to like my selling that he will be the next McIblac bin plug in and suddenly I've shut down corner is not a reflection of whether or not I think he will be a an effective corner for USC by the end of the season and be that he like.
38:06
[SPEAKER_01]: that he's going to be another DJ Harvey.
38:07
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think that's going to be the case.
38:10
[SPEAKER_01]: That would be bad.
38:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think if you're asking me if the question is, is he the next DJ Harvey?
38:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm selling that.
38:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Is he going to be able to have the start to finish impact that Mackay Blackman did?
38:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm selling that.
38:26
[SPEAKER_01]: But I do think that he's going to be able to come in and become an important piece for USC.
38:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I just think it's you I think there has to be patience with him that I that that makes me think you know what let's not put let's not expect him to come in and be the shut down corner from you know Book and book and ending the season on that front like I think it will probably take him half a season to get truly
38:52
[SPEAKER_01]: settled back in.
38:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Can believe different player because Williams is a corner and Christian Roland Wallace was a nickel at times, but you're you're expecting the impact of a Christian Roland.
39:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I could see that actually yeah.
39:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
39:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I got you.
39:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Good, good not great, veteran presence, but also wasn't the McKi-Blackman impact.
39:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, but I do think John Tas Williams is much his talent level is higher than Chris from Roland Wallace.
39:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that he, by the end of the season, we will start to see that, which I think could be really, really important for USC considering the back end of the season.
39:34
[SPEAKER_01]: But I just don't, I think it will probably take half as a season before you start to actually see what his level is.
39:41
[SPEAKER_00]: How much does Jeremiah Smith, being guarded by John Tasmanly, I'm scary?
39:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean...
39:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, there isn't you could, you could have named anything on the roster and my, my, my, my worry level would be greater than would be greater than it is with John by the time you see plays on Ohio state.
40:02
[SPEAKER_01]: John says by that point, I am much more confident in him being able to do that job.
40:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Then literally you could have named any other player on the roster.
40:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I'm going to do the, I'm going to do the, I'm going to take the bar here and it's because.
40:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe I'm a, I'm a hopeless romantic for transfers.
40:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
40:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I, you know, DJ Harvey, we were all on the board on board of DJ Harvey is the next McCuy Blackman last year.
40:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Day one, the guy got number two.
40:34
[SPEAKER_00]: He, like, he got be stowed an elite jersey number.
40:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And immediately wrote the poem.
40:46
[SPEAKER_00]: I just can't see that with John to the, he can't be, he can't be that's on by him.
40:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm by him.
40:51
[SPEAKER_01]: He's rocking the, rock in the zero.
40:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Sounds the zero.
40:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
40:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Shut down corner with the zero.
40:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I dig in.
40:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Dig up.
40:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it works.
41:00
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
41:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So no kinds as U.S.E.'
41:03
[SPEAKER_00]: 's wide receiver one by or sell 444 receiving yards, 2 TDs, 28 catches last year.
41:13
[SPEAKER_00]: The legend says the true freshman comes in, the true software now by herself.
41:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I am buying this.
41:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I have a lot of faith in Tuna Kines.
41:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe in him taking that next step that U.S.E.
41:24
[SPEAKER_01]: needs him to take.
41:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he showed a ton of ability as a freshman.
41:32
[SPEAKER_01]: He clearly took to the offense very quickly.
41:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think one of the big things for Tuna Kines.
41:39
[SPEAKER_01]: is that I don't think his productivity as a freshman was just down to Mikai and Jacoby being on the field.
41:49
[SPEAKER_01]: We saw, what was the game that they...
41:54
[SPEAKER_01]: that they were out for.
41:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to say that I never felt like he was benefiting specifically from the other receivers taking attention away from him.
42:05
[SPEAKER_01]: It felt like he was making the catches that he was going to make in the big moments regardless of sort of whatever one else on offense was doing.
42:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And it really matters to me too that his biggest game of
42:20
[SPEAKER_01]: that's an organ team that had a good secondary last year six hatches a hundred forty one year he he yeah looked good five five catches sixty seven yards against the other name uh... he he took to the it took to being one receiver one against tc u with six catches a hundred sixty three yards in that game
42:38
[SPEAKER_01]: he just feels like a player that lives up to the it lives up to to to what is needed of him and the more opportunities he was given the more he showed out uh... so i think that he's gonna he's gonna bloom in this in this watershiver one roll
42:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm very, very little doubt that he will be the guy for U.S., my questions are really about who are the other people catching passes.
43:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm quite certain that he will have a thousand yards.
43:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm actually, I would push that to quite certain he will have closer to 1200 yards, if not, you know, pushing the 1500 yard.
43:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I actually think this is a case of optimistically defending on who else emergence and how how thoroughly they emerge as receiving in the receiving core, but yeah, he could he could have a huge huge season for USC.
43:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm taking the buying even if he is not white or safer one by the end of the year.
43:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it will not be because of him.
43:35
[SPEAKER_00]: It will be because
43:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Terrell Anderson or Trent Mosley is awesome to you know what I mean like if he's not wide receiver one it he's the second one thousand guard receiver in that team yeah I I I really like to know kind I thought last year he was so good at just like you so nonchalant like you see guys who play very hard and you can tell that they're playing hard
44:02
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't look like a guy that's playing hard, but he is.
44:05
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
44:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, he's just so effortless and smooth with what he's doing.
44:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it makes him sneaky and sneaky good.
44:14
[SPEAKER_00]: So give me the buy there as well.
44:15
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, last one.
44:16
[SPEAKER_00]: You are seeing the play off.
44:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Buy or so?
44:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Play off.
44:18
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't talk about play off?
44:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
44:32
[SPEAKER_00]: somewhere.
44:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, well, you're fine.
44:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe, maybe, there you go.
44:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Playoffs.
44:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't talk about playoffs.
44:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You kidding me.
44:38
[SPEAKER_00]: There you go.
44:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm, I'm going to sell.
44:43
[SPEAKER_01]: You see in the playoff.
44:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And that is simply because.
44:48
[SPEAKER_01]: while i think this team should be aspiring to play off i think this team has the talent uh... to if they keep their heads on for the whole season i think they could steal a game against one of those uh... the big three opponents and get to ten and two and get in uh... i i think that uh... the playoff is certainly possible
45:12
[SPEAKER_01]: However, I don't think it's probable.
45:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's just because USC, under this coaching staff, I just, I can't,
45:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't assume that everything will go right.
45:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't assume that the staff will have everything ready to go and not have scrubs that drive us all crazy and in the moments where USC needs to win the tough games, I'm just
45:53
[SPEAKER_01]: that Lincoln Riley will be able to to get USC to that 10 win threshold.
46:01
[SPEAKER_01]: That is my skepticism of Riley and and my opinion on on what he can what what is possible for him at USC is what it is.
46:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's just that's just my healthy skepticism in my view.
46:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not trying to be like a downer or whatever.
46:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I just expect that like even if USC does manage
46:24
[SPEAKER_01]: like the lose it was constant, you know, or at Penn State, or, or, and it makes us schedule difficult, right?
46:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, because those road even Rutgers is is is is is a tough is a tough game and it's for me to go away from home.
46:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Exactly for me to say that for sure that USC will be able to to not trip up in those moments.
46:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm looking at UCLA at the end of the season as of very, very
46:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Potential, massive test depending on how Chesney does in his first season with UCLA and I'm on the record of saying that that was a really really good higher for them.
46:59
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, I just, I don't think that USC will play clean enough throughout the season to get to 10 wins.
47:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Does that mean I think this season will be a failure?
47:09
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I don't think the season's a failure if you're 9 and 3 and you play Oregon and Indiana and Ohio State tough.
47:18
[SPEAKER_01]: all of that, but but to answer the question from Jessica do you think they make the playoff with three losses?
47:22
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I don't think so.
47:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's just because I guess I suppose there's the universe where it could happen, but it that relies on so many other teams.
47:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
47:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Sort of things falling into place.
47:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm just not going to assume that those things will fall into place the way that they need to.
47:38
[SPEAKER_01]: There were too many two loss teams.
47:40
[SPEAKER_01]: probably that if you see where I'm at right now is if USC is nine and three and we're having a conversation about whether or not they deserve to be in the playoff like I take that right now I think maybe so I feel like a broken record about the chock thing but there were nine and three chock team last year they won all the games that they should have
48:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a little annoying except Illinois, but also Illinois at the time was a ranked team on the road Teams lose the ranked teams on the room especially at 90.
48:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Like yes, they should have won that game absolutely should have won that game I'm not saying they shouldn't have but That is not the same as losing to Minnesota the year before you know what I mean yeah, um, anyways I think that SC
48:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm selling the playoff for all the reasons mentioned here.
48:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the schedule is weirdly, if you were going to draw up a schedule to make the playoff as a three-lost team, this is it.
48:49
[SPEAKER_00]: This is 100% it, like if you go 9 and 3, and you take Oregon, Ohio State, and Indiana, all to swiggy bum time, and every single one of those games.
49:06
[SPEAKER_00]: then yeah, like I think going to the playoff isn't crazy, but as you said, it depends on what the landscape of the college football at the time is, right?
49:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Having said that, they were perfect last year in all the games that were manageable.
49:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Can they do that?
49:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean,
49:35
[SPEAKER_00]: can they do that another season is difficult?
49:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's where like to your point like you be an organ at home.
49:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, in theory you should win all your other games and be 10 and 2 at that point at least, right?
49:53
[SPEAKER_00]: But realistically like
49:55
[SPEAKER_00]: It's extremely hard to be perfect against all the teams that are not Ohio State and Indiana and Oregon still.
50:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And until we see like it was nice that S.E.
50:07
[SPEAKER_00]: was a talk team last year, but like Penn State took years to get to that to be in the win everybody you should and lose the teams you shouldn't.
50:17
[SPEAKER_00]: They needed years to prove that that was the case before people believed that that was the case.
50:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think SC still needs to prove that that would be the case, even if so.
50:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So see what the test is.
50:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to grade in a curve nine wins to tears like 10 years with 10 with the schedule.
50:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think I think that's basically it.
50:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that I think I am buying SC looking better in the eye test than last year.
50:44
[SPEAKER_00]: But that doesn't mean play off.
50:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Whereas last year, if they were just a little bit better, they're in the play off.
50:52
[SPEAKER_00]: because if you beat it all annoying, you're probably in the playoff, or you're at least on the bubble to be in the playoff.
51:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And so a little bit better, and you're in the playoff.
51:04
[SPEAKER_00]: This year, you could still be a little bit better and maybe not have the record to show for it.
51:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So.
51:10
[SPEAKER_01]: It would be very fun if USC lost to, let's see, USC wins the games they should, and then they lose to,
51:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Oregon in overtime at home and then they take Ohio State to the final minute at home and then they lose to Indiana on a last second field goal and it's a nine and three U.S.C.
51:33
[SPEAKER_01]: team with those losses, it would be a very fascinating playoff playoff conversation.
51:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Does S.C. get the Georgia discussion?
51:44
[SPEAKER_00]: the all these teams too good you can't can't have a playoff without Georgia.
51:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think USC gets that decision.
51:52
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's because USC is USC and Georgia is Georgia.
51:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but like that was the Georgia argument, wasn't it?
51:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, yeah, you know, yeah.
52:01
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's get to some, we got a super chat that I wanted to get to.
52:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, Superchats, it comes in from fighting on MC, I keep missing your life shows.
52:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have a set day and time for the pod?
52:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I think right now we're looking at Thursdays at 7 p.m. Pacific.
52:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's the plan.
52:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I say this and there's a chance that next week that we have to move that up.
52:38
[SPEAKER_00]: potentially.
52:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but it also we might do one of those things where it's a pre-recorded show and it still goes live at that time anyway.
52:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So we might end up doing that.
52:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So either way, keep keeping eye on on those things.
52:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Thursdays at 7 is the hope and then once we get into the season, I think we sort of divert back to the normal schedule.
53:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the only thing is we're
53:08
[SPEAKER_00]: at the old barn over here.
53:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we don't know exactly what that's going to look like it or or.
53:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, more so last year we were doing pods at four o'clock, right?
53:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
53:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't think a four o'clock pod is doable.
53:24
[SPEAKER_01]: now.
53:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think they will have to be later like this one is at 7 p.m. Pacific, which is the with the light show if you're on these coasts.
53:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
53:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
53:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And apologies to our East Coast viewers, but yeah, if you're curious, curious, I would even later.
53:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
53:42
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
53:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Then we got a
53:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Big shout out to Sean from beautiful Austin, Texas for continuing to support the rot supporter's club.
53:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Cheers.
53:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Sean's the best.
53:57
[SPEAKER_00]: We love Sean.
53:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Beautiful Austin, Texas.
54:00
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
54:03
[SPEAKER_01]: We also got an email from Tony in the NORPA.
54:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Go for it.
54:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Go for it.
54:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Go for it.
54:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Michael Alicia, this is Tony from GenRPA.
54:15
[SPEAKER_01]: It's great to see the both of you and the podcast has returned.
54:18
[SPEAKER_01]: This season is getting closer.
54:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm very excited about this team.
54:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Fight on.
54:23
[SPEAKER_01]: There's Tony.
54:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Fight on, Tony from GenRPA.
54:25
[SPEAKER_01]: We love, we love Tony in the North here.
54:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
54:28
[SPEAKER_00]: It's Tony in the NorthPA.
54:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Going.
54:31
[SPEAKER_00]: To the Penn State game, I think it's a question.
54:34
[SPEAKER_01]: One can only hope.
54:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I have not looked up the NorrPA, by the way.
54:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe they're, I figured you know where it was.
54:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I usually do.
54:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I'm a good geography man.
54:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I, to NorrPA.
54:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Does that feel like it's just, or, or West PA to you?
54:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I have no sense of any Pittsburgh or more silly uh it looks like it is east far far east uh Washington County uh It's kind of like Liay Valley uh it is south of Pittsburgh along the monon that's west it's west Pittsburgh is west well it oh sorry
55:23
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the map, the map was not of pencil, it's, yeah, it was very far west in Pennsylvania.
55:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I was looking at the wrong map.
55:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
55:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
55:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah.
55:33
[SPEAKER_01]: So far west Pennsylvania.
55:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
55:36
[SPEAKER_01]: But in the, in Washington County, it's east.
55:40
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah.
55:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm, yeah.
55:42
[SPEAKER_01]: She, she, she, she.
55:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I am geographically challenged.
55:45
[SPEAKER_01]: So no, um.
55:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it, it.
55:51
[SPEAKER_01]: It takes its name for a portman toe of tin plate and steel magnate William Donner and Norah Melton, Norah Mellon, wife of banker Andrew Mellon.
56:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
56:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Any relation to John Cooper, Melon, can.
56:06
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
56:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Hmm.
56:07
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the home of champions, because of a large number of famous athletes who called the Norah their home, including baseball Hall of Fame Outfielders, Stan, Musiol and Ken Griffey, Jr. Stan, the man, Musiol.
56:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Mutual?
56:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Mutual.
56:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it Mutual?
56:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought it was Mutual.
56:26
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
56:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm thinking of Mutual, I'm sorry.
56:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyways, it's getting hot in here.
56:35
[SPEAKER_00]: The glasses are fogging.
56:37
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to have to wrap up.
56:40
[SPEAKER_00]: We didn't get a comment by the way about your big old cup.
56:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, my, my, my Los Angeles Stadium, June 15th, 2026 World Cup collector's edition, it's a great cup.
56:55
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a great cup.
56:56
[SPEAKER_01]: This was, this was because Michael got a die at Coke at the game and then behind me.
57:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Somebody asked earlier if we would ever do like a, what's behind us thing.
57:05
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's, we're going to do a show and tell.
57:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh wait.
57:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Wait, you want this?
57:12
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, oh, that's the McDonald's, but no, I'm trying to look for it.
57:15
[SPEAKER_00]: It's one of your nine, your mom.
57:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm nine, them all.
57:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Here's it is.
57:20
[SPEAKER_01]: this is the middle of ultra cup that also says uh... there was a pool no it just has the fee for logo and it doesn't but like this one has the actual date and the game the match number and and all of that kind of stuff so that's pretty cool but this was because i ordered a beer um... i got a what i i was drinking mango carts and this is because michael ordered a um... a cook so we've kept those as our souvenirs yeah and yes uh...
57:49
[SPEAKER_01]: We've gotten, we've gone to McDonald's to get their world cup cups and have like, what is it?
57:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Three?
57:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me in your malls now?
57:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I might be four.
57:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's four or five.
58:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you get a little more, you mall every single time.
58:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was an omin to be honest.
58:08
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we should have seen.
58:09
[SPEAKER_01]: We was, it was a, it was a marker that that Spain was going to win it because we kept getting them.
58:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Didn't do much in the world cup, but it was an omin.
58:20
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're your mall, by the way, how great was that workup?
58:25
[SPEAKER_01]: You got the first one out of the way.
58:27
[SPEAKER_01]: You got the first one out of the way.
58:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You did, like, not your greatest, not the greatest world cap.
58:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to speak up for Lamal because
58:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Lammal didn't have rainous because the expectations are ridiculous because he didn't score like he is statistically he didn't have a big a big world cup, but I think that we saw in the Cape Bird game when he wasn't on the field how much more limited Spain's attack looked.
58:53
[SPEAKER_01]: We saw in the World Cup final it's his run down the side and then pass inside to Poro that
59:01
[SPEAKER_01]: The he brings defenders with him opens up space for Poro to make that pass and you know He doesn't get a hockey assist or even like a hockey hockey assist, but he is part of the goal that wins Spain the World Cup.
59:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm not saying he was dog ass in the World Cup.
59:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, more so like the way the toxic
59:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, all discussions are about like whether or not you've won a World Cup or whatever and in individual performance and all that stuff and team performance, it is great for him that he got he got one out of the way and then in 2030 where he can go in the Golden Ball in 2030 won't even need to win the the the World Cup because he's already wanted to win.
59:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
59:48
[SPEAKER_01]: even though they will because spain looks unbeatable so i mean it's very very early we were talking about you know the Atlanta brave to be unbeatable just few years ago and then and then stuff happened so you know
1:00:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not getting ahead of myself.
1:00:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I just, I need to get my second star, Spain jersey, and then I'll be happy.
1:00:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, Trojan fight, it says you guys went to a World Cup game, pricey.
1:00:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, it was, but we got the cheapest possible seats we could find.
1:00:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And we were very, somehow got face value tickets.
1:00:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Face value tickets in the second to last row.
1:00:22
[SPEAKER_01]: The very top.
1:00:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
1:00:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I was, I was, I was two, two days before the match.
1:00:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I was skimming online.
1:00:29
[SPEAKER_01]: It was Iran, New Zealand, and looking at the FIFA official ticket reselling thing to try and find anything that we could justify.
1:00:39
[SPEAKER_01]: And I had told Michael when the world cup started that if we could get in, if we could get tickets that were anywhere close to $200,
1:00:47
[SPEAKER_01]: then we would just go.
1:00:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And, and so we eventually found tickets that were that were within our price range and and we're very I'm so grateful that we got to go so, so grateful.
1:00:58
[SPEAKER_01]: It was an incredible experience even as neutrals at that game.
1:01:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
1:01:03
[SPEAKER_01]: It was incredible as parents.
1:01:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Incredible game, incredible atmosphere, all that kind of stuff.
1:01:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And
1:01:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, 200 plus bucks for a ticket, a piece.
1:01:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that expensive to go to a game?
1:01:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it is, is it expensive for a once in a lifetime opportunity to go to a World Cup game?
1:01:18
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
1:01:21
[SPEAKER_00]: because it was $200 and that $900, you know what I mean?
1:01:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we wouldn't have done the $900 bucks.
1:01:26
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, we wouldn't have done the $300, you know?
1:01:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So, Trojan Desk starts as Latton said, you might have played well for coming out of an injury.
1:01:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, that's fair, I think that's totally fair.
1:01:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just, I'm being a hard ass mostly, like, comparing him to, like, I think there were people who thought, who's expectations,
1:01:47
[SPEAKER_00]: of you mall going into the tournament where that of messy and emboppies in terms of production and everything and that was not the case.
1:01:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but you didn't need to be.
1:01:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Spain didn't need to be that guy anyways.
1:01:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's why everyone.
1:02:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
1:02:00
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
1:02:01
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll go wrap up there.
1:02:03
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll be back next week.
1:02:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Next Thursday.
1:02:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully life.
1:02:07
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a chance it won't be life.
1:02:08
[SPEAKER_00]: But hey, let's see us.
1:02:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Until then, you will see.
1:02:13
[SPEAKER_00]: See ya.