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Know the Enemy: Cal · Boundary Corner Podcast

1:35
Music. And welcome back to the Boundary
1:49
Corner podcast, a part of the College Huddle Network along my
1:53
partner, Brian Siegler. I'm Curtis Wilson and as always,
1:56
we are brought to you by Count Stand the pharmacy and Doctor
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Jeremy Counts down at three O 1 S Main St. in Plattsburgh, your
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he's listening out there tonight, if he ever wants to
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jump on, he's allowed to jump on just like Jeremy is.
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Check out the link in the comments section or Instagram
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moments on the party. What is going on?
2:45
See. Man, it's been a busy week, but
2:48
I'm here already. It's been a busy week, but it
2:50
you know, it's Tuesday. We're here.
2:51
It's Tuesday night. It's it's only Tuesday.
2:55
It's only Tuesday. But you know what?
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I'm I'm living the dream, man. We all are living the dream,
3:00
whether we know it or not, whether how busy we are with our
3:04
normal lives. Clearly Shelton and Tally not
3:07
here tonight lot going on in their lives as well.
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So, you know, sometimes we got to throw it back, kick it old
3:14
school two men style. And that's what we're going to
3:17
do tonight. Just me and Brian here to we're
3:20
not telling the truth about anything.
3:21
We can tell some lies maybe later on in the program.
3:24
We're going to tell a little lies after.
3:25
We can tell some lies later on in the.
3:27
Program. But we're going to start
3:29
obviously tonight with Know the Enemy as the Cal Bears roll into
3:35
Blacksburg on Friday night. 730 ESPN.
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So pretty big national game spotlighting us in the two and
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five season. Wonderful show.
3:46
Us what we wanted, exactly how we threw it.
3:49
Up exactly. So yeah, let's let's talk a
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little bit about these Cal Bears and getting to know them a
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little bit more. And I'm going to say some real
3:59
quick Brown before we get into offense or defense.
4:02
I keep. Hearing everybody saying, well,
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they ain't played nobody, ain't played nobody and they're five
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and two. They ain't played nobody though.
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Y'all we played Whopper, Old Dominion, Wake Forest and NC
4:14
State and we're two and five. Don't say this whole they ain't
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played nobody. They're five and two.
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I wouldn't give anybody part right now to be 5:00 and 2:00,
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but you know, I'd shave my head or something to be 5 and 2.
4:28
Hey, Curtis, you could probably throw USC East in there in that
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haven't played anybody category at this point.
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So. I mean, the way the way their
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season's going, they're not stacking up to be much better
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than Wake Forest. Oh, oh, maybe not, but either
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way, y'all, your record is what you say you are.
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They're five and two, and Justin Wilcox, who's been there for
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eight seasons, it does not seem like he's been there for eight
4:56
seasons. I feel like it's like yesterday
4:58
he was at Boise State, right in Boise State for.
5:01
Yeah. Only in Boise State they feel
5:03
like he was Boise State. Like right there sounds right.
5:05
It sounds right. Correct us if we're wrong.
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Yeah, if we're wrong, please correct us.
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But you know, he counted off a six and seven season last year.
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He made some changes to his coaching staff and probably the
5:19
biggest and the most noteworthy name was he hired Brian Larson,
5:23
another former Boise coach. He'd been down at Auburn.
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Harson was an offensive guy back then or, or has always been an
5:30
offensive guy. Now he's EOC and you know,
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Brian, just I know you, you do your research, you you figure it
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out, but what what do you feel is different or what do you just
5:44
from reading and maybe watching a game or two?
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I tried to stay up last Friday night.
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That just won't happen. I saw the highlight of what
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happened at the end of that game.
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But, you know, what do you think he's brought to the table for
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Justin Wilcox to, you know, to be playing pretty good at 5:00
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and 2:00? Yeah.
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I mean the big thing that you that you're seeing, I mean that
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this is, you know, Harsens offense is always kind of a
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physical downhill run game, very prostyle passing attack.
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Lots likes to use a lot of quick passes and then take some shots
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downfield. They've just been, you know,
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pretty efficient, especially having a freshman quarterback.
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You know, you get you get a little headaches going along
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with that, but you brought in a guy that's really good to run
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that type of system and you got a a pretty solid elusive back in
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the backfield. And they do a lot of good job
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using using motion and things like that play action to to
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really create some mismatches in the secondary.
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So it's definitely a a pretty dynamic offense that you got to
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kind of keep under wraps here. Yeah, and real quick on Justin
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Wilcox, he was at Boise from O 6 to 9 stops at Tennessee,
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Washington, USC and Wisconsin before he got the cow job.
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So it has been a long ass time since he's been to Boise State.
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People get certain stigmas and Harson was obviously there back
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before he got the Auburn job and he had been there for quite a
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while. But you know, 14 to 20s when he
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was there, then went to Auburn. That was a cluster.
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God, Eric. Eric, you let me down, man.
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I think if I had an adult beverage right now, I might doze
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out on you, Brian. It's been been one of those long
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weeks already. But let's say a few of the the
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key players on that offensive side of the ball and and the
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first one I want to talk about is the quarterback, the true
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freshman. Yes, that's right Y'all I said
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true freshman Jerome. I'm not trying to pronounce any
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other part of his name. I'm not there you go.
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So first of all, his reading up on him this week and maybe I can
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remember from last year. It was crazy.
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So his back story is he was committed to Cal for it seemed
8:01
like forever committed to Cal Way on July of 2024.
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Stuck with it basically until signing day.
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What's his commitment to Oregon? OK, makes sense, right?
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Oregon's bigger Nike Landing coming off a great season.
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He enrolls December 27th, he entered the portal January 3rd
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of 2025, and then he commits to Cal two days later, January 5th
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of 2025. Little indecisiveness from the
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young man, but you know what Brian statistically was, he's
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absolutely balled out so far this year in in multiple
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different things. You know, you just look at him
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in general to be a true freshman, he's already right at
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1700 yards, 10 TDs, 7 picks, right over 61% passing and hold
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on, where's Sheldon? Sheldon made me a little note of
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some of the offensive stuff. Appreciate it.
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Shelton, it helps out man. And if you look at his like PFF
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grade, his passing grade is a 77 to be a true freshman, to be
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bordered on that 80s. You know, Sean's always telling
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y'all where it is. When you start getting to the
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higher 70s, you're proving yourself pretty damn good.
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Now 63 good size 2O5 Brian just from looking research and
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reading what, what what do we what do we know about it?
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Well, the the first thing that I'm thinking is that, you know,
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he did all his visits when it was not a Eugene OR winner and
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he got up there and he's like, fuck this, I'm going to
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Berkeley. That's the only thing that I
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could think could happen there. But yeah, I mean, this is AI
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mean, as you stated, man. Highly touted guy, elite arm
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strength, ability to throw from a lot of different platforms.
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Really good deep ball, got a quick release, good touch.
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You know, really the only thing you got to work on.
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I mean, he's a freshman, so mechanics, especially lower
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body, could get better. You know, really inconsistent
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with that. And, you know, will occasionally
10:14
make a mistake here or there with the football, but there's
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not really a whole lot to critique as far as his overall
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ability. This guy can sling it.
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And and for the most part this season, with the exception
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really of that San Diego State game, which seems like an
10:29
anomaly now for them in the Duke game, but Dukes played pretty
10:32
solid this year. He's had a pretty good season.
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And and and The thing is, he was highly counted.
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Brian. I mean, he was the number seven
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quarterback in 247 rankings last year.
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He was just about a five star like.
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And and then so let's get upset real quick, hokey fans.
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How did Cal Gomez get a five star other than he's from Hawaii
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and it's the closest one of the closest universities.
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But for real, like the question is how long do they keep him?
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Is it a Francisco Mendoza thing where next year he's not a Cal?
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I mean, very likely it could be. I mean, this is a guy that's I
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think showing all of the ability in the world in year 1,
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definitely showing the potential where he could lead a College
11:19
Football Playoff team with the right pieces around them.
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So I can definitely see him making a big jump after this
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year. I mean, he's put it on wax at
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this point what his abilities are.
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He's definitely not holding them back at all.
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Obviously at 5:00 and 2:00, that's a good record, you know,
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even before you start digging into who they played.
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But yeah, I think I think he's shown the ability there.
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We'll see how how things kind of wrap up down the stretch here as
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he gets into a few more heavy hitters on the defensive side.
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But, you know, he's done everything I think he can to
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kind of prove himself as a potential to make that big jump.
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Yeah, and and they do after the tech game this weekend.
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It's UVA, it's Louisville, it's Stanford, and then it's SMU.
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So really after this week, it's three of four pretty tough
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games. Stanford's always rivalry game,
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always a great game, so going to see a lot more about him.
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All right, let's flip it over. Let's talk about it because you
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mentioned it with Harsens on offense, downhill Russian attack
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and they found them something that is a East Coast product in
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Kendrick Raphael, former member of the NC State Wolfpack out of
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Naples, FL class of 2023. Right out of four-star when he
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came out and even at NC State kind of being in a supplementary
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role the last few years before he came down to Cal had been
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very solid. You know, averaging over 4 1/2
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his first season, averaging almost 5 1/2 his second season.
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And you know some, you know, 20 receptions, give or take a few
13:01
there. But he decided to transfer to
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Cal and he is, there is no one even close.
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And I say that very honestly, Brown, there is no one even
13:11
close getting the workload he is.
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He's already at 115 carries, almost 500 yards through seven
13:18
games. What are you seeing on tape from
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Kendrick there? Yeah, I mean, they really kind
13:26
of have a, you know, they got a couple guys that kind of do a
13:27
little bit different things. But I mean, when you look at
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Raphael, he's the home run guy. He's the speed guy really quick
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as well. You might describe him as Cat
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like can, can, can shift real quick, make people miss, but
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also has some breakaway speed to finish those long runs.
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Dynamic guy, you know, he can do, he can do a little bit out
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of the backfield in the passing game.
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Pretty decent blocker for a smaller back.
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So he really does a whole lot to make that offense hum and and
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kind of fill in the gaps when they're when they're not able to
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throw the football down the field.
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Yeah, and and you talk about the the pass blocking is not the
14:05
greatest, but again, you start looking at it, he's really only
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out of the game. What, maybe 1015 * a game?
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Not like there's not. Effectively.
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He's a good enough pass block even though the grades are out
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there. It's below A50 in PFF.
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He's good enough at his size and can catch the ball well enough.
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They're not They don't. Just if you see him come off the
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field, it doesn't mean guaranteed it's going to be a
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shot play. Yeah, it's not an absolute
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liability there, you know, on that front.
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And like I said, because he's on the field, he gives you another
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potential gadget in the offense that a defense has to be aware
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of in those passing situations. Yeah, and if y'all are
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wondering, in those first two seasons at NC State, 20
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receptions, 137 yards and he's already got 10 reception this
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year, right at 50. Good for you 5423.
15:02
Good for you. It's best for dear 2024.
15:06
Best seats I ever sat in. Could hear people screaming spit
15:11
coming out of mouths when you're that close.
15:13
It's unbelievable. But but he's already, again,
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he's already shown the dynamic that he can catch it out of the
15:23
backfield. He's not quite at the yard per
15:25
catch he was at NC State. But I think that's just maybe
15:29
more of a Brian Parson thing, not necessarily a Kendrick
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Raphael thing. Yeah, I think the way you know,
15:37
Harsens dialing it up as far as getting the the ball to the
15:40
running back a little bit different.
15:42
It's it's a little bit more schemed versus kind of a
15:46
consistent just like dump off and let the running back do its
15:49
thing. So he's not getting a ton of
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targets there, but he's doing doing a decent amount with with
15:55
the ones that he's getting. Right before we get the wide
15:58
out, Brian, tell me what you saw from the line because again,
16:02
Shelton shipped over some grades to us and it seems like their
16:06
tackles little bit better than their guards, especially when it
16:10
comes to run blocking. Yeah, I mean, and, and some of
16:14
that's kind of a product of I think the the style of Harsens
16:18
run game. But yeah, the, the tackles
16:20
definitely carry there. And and you can kind of see it
16:22
when you when you look at the 2 running backs and you, you
16:25
seeing that the, the shift to your guys get a lot more
16:28
carries, a lot more yards that they're getting outside a little
16:31
bit more. They're not necessarily rammed
16:32
it in there between the tackles pretty consistently.
16:36
So that's where they're going to have most of their success is
16:39
kind of at the edges kind of off tackle that type of deal.
16:42
And then with with Raphael's run style, obviously you're not
16:45
going to be pounding him inside zone every day sometimes
16:48
obviously, but you, you, you're not renewing what?
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You're you're mixing it up. You're you're you're keeping a
16:53
pretty steady mix of inside and outside.
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And you know, I think he he does OK inside, especially for that
16:59
frame, but he really can, you know, make guys miss with that
17:03
off tackle one cut type deal. All righty.
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So a little bit on the other line there.
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Let's talk about the two weapons because or the two wide receiver
17:12
weapons because to me these two guys really stood out and they
17:16
are polar opposites of what they do.
17:19
The first one is Jacob the Jesus, basically a JUCO product.
17:26
He's like 5 foot, maybe 5 foot 8 if they count him when he's in
17:31
the 9 inch, the 9 inch spikes a few little bit there.
17:37
He's like 175 lbs, but you know what, you need to get the ball
17:42
out quick on an outlet, get a couple yards up field.
17:45
He's your guy. He's already at 47 receptions.
17:48
He's only averaging like like right at 8.
17:53
So not big. But you know what, sometimes you
17:57
just need to get the ball out and get 3 or 4 yards versus
18:00
taking a sack. And it seems like that's what he
18:02
does, Brian. Yeah, man, when you think of a
18:05
like college football slot receiver, like that undersized
18:09
slot receiver kind of a gadget player, this this is that guy.
18:14
You know, versatility is definitely the defining trait.
18:18
Use them a lot on jet sweeps. They, they, they've got him, you
18:22
know, running a lot of those short routes, you know, setting
18:25
up some of the deeper shots downfield and, and he really
18:28
eats in in, in those ranges. He's he's also really good as a
18:31
return specialist as well. So he does a little bit of
18:33
everything and, and he's kind of the the motor, he's the guy that
18:37
kind of gets those chains moving, gets the sticks moving
18:40
and gives defenses something extra to think about.
18:44
And I'll say this real quick, he was a JUCO product when he first
18:46
came out. He went to UNLV for two years
18:49
before he transferred to Cal this year.
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So you know, you've got that. The other guy, his name is
18:56
Trond. I've never heard of that name.
18:59
Tron. Tron Whistle.
19:01
Tron, Aaron. Nobody's seen it this week.
19:04
But no we'll. See, we'll see.
19:05
Tron for sure. Tron grizzle.
19:09
Tron Grizzle. That's an all time college
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football. Name that is an all time college
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football name. It's not even the joke.
19:16
Man. Basically unrecruited unheralded
19:21
out of Utah when he came out. Cal was it.
19:25
So probably a smart guy if he wasn't got good at football to
19:29
get into Cal. But as far as build goes, I mean
19:33
64205 big guy and I mean definitely they're downfield
19:39
threat averaging almost 17 per catch, 24 receptions, 400 yards.
19:46
He's almost got to pace his feet with almost half of the near
19:50
reception. So what?
19:52
What is? What's his deal when he gets out
19:54
there? As you've already figured it
19:55
out, he is the downfield threat. He is catching the ball
19:59
downfield. He is the guy that is stretching
20:01
the defenses. And when you look at him, I
20:04
mean, he's not. A speed demon, but he's one of
20:07
those guys with those long strides that kind of just walk
20:10
away from you, even if they're only running like a like a 4546
20:15
and, you know, uses that big body to to get position, come
20:19
down with jump balls and and been really effective deep down
20:24
the field for the for the Cal offense this year.
20:27
Yeah, but the crazy thing is Carolina, he was shut out for
20:30
the first time all year. But up to that point, though, he
20:34
was roughly a four or five every game, averaging somewhere
20:38
between 15 and 20 plus yards a game.
20:40
So, you know, that was a funky Friday night game.
20:46
And basically they should have lost.
20:49
They should have, I mean, couldn't happen to a better
20:54
school or, you know, better head coach did that ball just went
20:58
through the back of the end zone.
20:59
But they did shut him down from that perspective.
21:04
So it was kind of interesting to see that.
21:09
Anything else, anybody else that caught your eye?
21:11
I know I wanted to hit those guys because it seems like if if
21:14
those guys are going Cal summon. Yeah, man, you hit all the high
21:18
points there, man. Yeah, those are the guys that we
21:21
got to slow down. If if we don't slow those guys
21:24
down, it's going to be a long day for the Hokies.
21:25
And obviously when you look at what we've lost on defense and
21:29
what we haven't been doing well most of the year, it's kind of
21:33
spooky because we lost most of our elite pass rushers or, or
21:37
our best pass rushers and we lost probably our three best,
21:40
you know, cover guys. So you lose your three best pass
21:44
rushers and three best cover guys.
21:45
That's going to be a long day for the coverage unit on on
21:48
defense there. So not great at all.
21:52
Let's flip over to the defensive side of the ball where Brian
21:56
Brian Parson was brought in. He took place of Mike.
22:02
I butchered this guy's last name a few months ago, but y'all
22:05
know, that's kind of something I always do.
22:08
But basically Parson came in as a new OC and the long standing
22:13
DC who had been with Wilcox, Peter Sermon departed and went
22:20
to the New Orleans Saints as a linebackers coach.
22:22
And with that being said, he promoted Terrence Brown, right
22:29
and then brought in big DeSoto as Co defensive coordinators for
22:34
their first year. And Brian, I watched a little
22:37
bit of, I couldn't stay away for the whole thing, for the
22:40
Carolina game. And the craziest thing I saw, so
22:45
I probably watched the first quarter and I saw five man
22:48
fronts. I saw a two man front with stand
22:51
up edges, outside linebackers. I saw a traditional 4 and I saw
22:56
at 1.3 down line. I'm saying they're multiple.
23:02
They're they're going to mix it up.
23:03
I mean it's a it's a 425 base, but they're going to kind of mix
23:07
up the fronts they're throwing at you.
23:09
They'll go with that three man front on, you know, nickel dime
23:12
packages, you know, long yardage downs there.
23:15
But you know, primarily it's going to be a base 425.
23:19
The ends can can have a little flexibility there as far as
23:22
whether they they drop them back in coverage, whether they're
23:24
stand up handed, the dirt, things like that.
23:27
But I mean, this is a, it's a scheme built on being
23:31
aggressive, being physical and, and they want to attack and
23:35
force turnovers and. They are forcing turnovers
23:39
because the first guy, and this is another all name team,
23:41
they've got multiple all name team guys.
23:46
He was a transfer and before he decided to make his way all the
23:51
way to Cal, he was at Florida International.
23:55
Hezekiah Masses this season so far has four interceptions, 9
24:01
past deflections on top of 26 tackles.
24:05
He's basically, I think if I can get it up here, he's like he's
24:09
your average 61195 corner, but he's Hawking balls and getting
24:16
to the spots in just about every game this year.
24:20
Yeah, I mean, he had he had a good year last year with with
24:23
FIU and I mean, he's just come over and kept it moving, man.
24:28
Yeah, a lot of breakups, a lot of interceptions and and he's
24:32
just a guy that's going to attack the football.
24:35
You know, sometimes he gets a little aggressive that that can
24:38
happen, that can get him out of position.
24:40
But he's he's very sound for the most part in his technique and
24:44
he does a really good job of driving on the ball and making
24:48
big plays in the secondary. Yep and like like I said, 9 past
24:53
deflections already. He had a couple against UNC, did
24:57
not get a pick against UNC, but it's got a pick in four other
25:01
games this year. You know where we are
25:05
offensively right now. Like I wouldn't be shocked if he
25:09
got one Friday night. Yeah, it's it's wild because
25:12
every every time this year so far, you know, knock on wood,
25:15
every time we've highlighted a corner that is a ball hawk, they
25:19
haven't hurt us. So maybe maybe the maybe
25:21
fortunes going our way a little bit here.
25:23
Now, we did get hurt by some other guys in some of those
25:25
games, but the ball hawk that we highlighted did not hurt us in
25:28
those games. But you know, hopefully we'll
25:31
we'll we'll not see masses take over this game and make what's
25:35
already going to be a struggle bus for our defense even harder
25:38
by giving that offense a short field.
25:42
Got to take care of the football paramount in this game because
25:48
that offense is going to score some points.
25:50
We know the state of our defense and how quality that of the
25:53
opponent that they are. Offensively, they're going to
25:56
score some points. So we've got to be efficient on
25:58
offense. We got to control time
25:59
possession and we can't give the ball to masses. 100 percent,
26:05
100%. Well, let's flip over.
26:08
Talk about the middle of that defense and let's talk about
26:11
Kaylee Kade Ulabe. First of all, I I again, it's
26:16
because it's most interesting in my mind.
26:19
UNC poor running back quarterback just left him and
26:23
just got him murdered. A new lab A was the individual
26:26
coming downhill on that little swing pass and popping the shit
26:29
out of him. So the lab a a Utah kid when he
26:34
came out had offers Cal Boise, Duke, Fresno.
26:38
So not a terrible offer list. And in his time at Cal,
26:45
basically, if you take a look, pretty much in a starting role
26:50
this season. So for 62 tackles, 7 1/2 for
26:54
loss, 5 past deflections, a sack.
26:58
I mean, it seems like you kind of need to do it all linebacker
27:03
and especially 1. That's mean and good.
27:06
He's a guy. Yeah, man, I I was doing some
27:09
some research on him and like they talk about, you know, NFL
27:14
comps and and like drew tranquil come up.
27:16
It's like I can I can I can work in yeah, 4334.
27:21
Obviously he's running in a four two, just a range.
27:24
You guys sideline to sideline. Good.
27:27
Chase can cover running backs and tight ends one-on-one with
27:32
ease, comfortable in man end zone coverage.
27:36
So he's got good flexibility that he'll never be in a
27:39
position where he feels uncomfortable or out of position
27:42
and things like that. So and when he hits you, he hits
27:45
you, you know you've been hit. Yeah, like that, that was a
27:50
highlight. Like, that was one of the things
27:52
I woke up Saturday morning and saw was that hit more than a few
27:57
times. I mean, and I'm sure there were
27:59
probably some other plays where he laid it on.
28:01
But you know, again, he's doing his part in that defense.
28:05
There's a reason that I mean, they're not that bad of a
28:08
defense, y'all? Like they're like 52nd overall,
28:12
so slightly above average, 44th against a run, like 56 against
28:16
the past. They're what doesn't stand out
28:20
just from looking at tape and stats and data is they're not
28:24
really a big sack team because even with a new system, some
28:31
different schemes up front, I mean they have roughly, I was
28:36
doing math here like maybe 10 1/2 sacks and go get that exact
28:41
data. So if they don't have that, it
28:45
takes ball Hawking, it takes disciplined linebackers, and it
28:50
takes the last guy we're going to talk about here, which is
28:53
again, yeah, I should have got pronunciations on everybody but
28:58
didn't make that thought. Aiden Keanaya, so close, 63320,
29:07
definitely interior defensive lineman.
29:10
Originally went to Notre Dame back in the class of 2020.
29:16
So he was a COVID class guy and transferred to Cal back in.
29:22
Get the exact year here. Transferred to Cal in 2024 and
29:28
last year 2024. Not this year.
29:31
He was the 4th highest rated PFF defensive tackle in the ACC and
29:37
last year as we know from having a ME as peoples, there were some
29:40
damn good defensive tackles in the ACC this year.
29:45
Kind of carrying it on 24 tackles, not a 90 TF, LS or
29:50
sacks. But I think he's got a job to do
29:53
Brian, right? Yeah, man, he's he's taken up
29:57
the middle man. He is the strength of that, that
30:00
front and he controls the line of scrimmage.
30:03
He's got really good technique, great gap integrity, wins
30:08
one-on-one matchups consistently sheds blocks.
30:12
Well, you know, he's really got all the tools you want for an
30:17
interior lineman and, and, and he's really showed out.
30:21
I mean, I, I know he came off an ACL, was recovering from that.
30:24
And yeah, he's really, really showed out so far this year.
30:29
He really only weakness in his game.
30:31
Sometimes he can lunge and overextend, you know, take
30:34
himself out of a play. But you know, there's not a ton
30:37
of things to critique with him. He does a lot of things really
30:39
well. Yeah.
30:42
And and the one thing that I can say just it's, it's about Cal in
30:47
general, because Cal was six and seven last year.
30:51
Seems familiar, right? And Wilcox had been there for
30:54
eight years. He kind of made overhaul changes
30:57
to his entire staff too, brought in Harson, experienced offensive
31:02
guy, former head coach, seems like a lot.
31:06
Brought in a defensive coordinator.
31:08
He's took someone on staff and then brought in another guy from
31:11
outside. And so far for them, it, it
31:14
seems to be working out where they finished the season.
31:18
I don't know what me and Brown were mentioning.
31:21
Well, they got UVA after Tech. They get Virginia's
31:24
back-to-back. Well, that game's going to be on
31:26
the West Coast. I told Brown I got a sneaking
31:29
suspicion that's going to be an 11:00 PM kick.
31:35
So but but like Brian, just just looking, why is it working?
31:41
Is it just Wilcox? I mean, Wilcox is a good head
31:43
coach. There's I don't even doubt about
31:45
that. He may not be top tier, but he
31:48
knows how to coach. Well, I think you benefit a
31:51
little bit with promoting Terrence Brown, Co defensive
31:56
coordinator. He is the one that's calling the
31:57
plays there. So you got a guy with that that
32:02
limited some of the potential friction with that coordinator
32:09
leaving on the other side of the ball.
32:11
You bring in a very proven offensive coordinator, guy with
32:15
head coach and experience, guy who knows how to be a
32:18
professional, knows how it's done, knows how it's done at the
32:20
SEC level. So it's it's, it's really, it's
32:25
really interesting that a guy like Harsen would end up, you
32:31
know, at Cal and, you know, you know, we ended up with what we
32:35
got. I mean, it is what it is.
32:37
But you know, they seem to got the better of that exchange
32:40
there. And like I said, keeping the the
32:44
continuity on defense I think was definitely a big benefit for
32:48
them because there was a good amount of things that were
32:50
working somewhat well for them last year.
32:52
And I mean, as it stands right now, if you look at their
32:54
schedule, there's no reason this team shouldn't at least
32:57
replicate their final record from last year, if not improve
33:01
upon it. Yeah, with us still on the
33:02
schedule, a couple other winnable games still on the
33:06
schedule. A. 100 percent, 100%.
33:09
So it, it's, it's going to be a tough one on Friday night for
33:14
the Hokies. Let's talk about the keys,
33:17
Brian. You know, you know, you
33:19
obviously looked at some Cal tape.
33:21
You know what we are, what's your key?
33:24
How? How can the Hokies come out on
33:26
top, regardless of what you think's going to happen?
33:30
The Hokies can come out on top by controlling the time
33:32
possession and being efficient in the red zone offensively
33:39
because they are going to be able to go up and down the
33:42
field. I don't have a doubt about that.
33:46
So we need to shorten this game. We need to win the turnover
33:50
battle and we need to be efficient and scoring touchdowns
33:53
and not kicking field goals when we get in the red zone.
33:57
Sounds like your Wake Forest game.
34:00
Plan pretty much not it's not it's not a lot different I mean
34:04
at this point, you know we we know what we are and we know
34:09
that this defense is picked apart at this point from a
34:13
talent standpoint overall, especially in the areas that
34:16
matter the most, which is getting after the passer
34:19
covering the wide receivers. So I think we can hold up OK in
34:24
the run game, but if we let Jaron take over this game
34:29
throwing the football, it's going to be a long day.
34:32
We got to shorten the game when we have the football by running
34:36
the football. Run it early, run it often.
34:38
Lean on your running game, lean on your running game.
34:43
I will say it one more time, lean on your running game.
34:46
It's been the most efficient part of this offense.
34:48
You've got a quarterback that can run the run well.
34:50
You got 2 solid running backs, as long as both of them are
34:54
coming off the bye week healthy run the day in football.
34:58
Run the day in football. I like that, Brian, I do.
35:03
But I'll also say something else.
35:05
The the other thing that's happened for this team and it's
35:08
few and far between, are explosives.
35:10
I know that's one of Shelton's biggest things is explosive.
35:13
We're not an explosive team and I think that's what hurts
35:17
because we can't get big plays when we get down into the 20
35:23
yard line inside the red zone. That's where our struggles are
35:26
because so many times this year, how many times have we scored?
35:30
But it's been like 10/12/13 play drives and eventually we can't
35:36
get that done 3 to 5 * a game for touchdowns so.
35:41
Pop. Pop a couple explosives defense
35:45
just I mean I spent it a couple weeks ago and it's still there
35:50
it's red zone defense. It red zone defense is just bad.
35:56
When we get down there when they get down there like in some way
36:01
shape or form, we have to stop them and right now again, we're
36:06
the worst in the country, but at least limited to three.
36:10
I like what Steven says here, yet we're some turnovers.
36:14
I would say we've got to be +2 to have a shot at this game.
36:18
Got to be +2 even does not. I just don't feel good about
36:22
even them if they have plus 1 + 2 lights out, lights out.
36:30
I'm I'm lucky all every game on Saturday is in the afternoon
36:35
this week. So you know, there's also a
36:39
World Series game one to watch. So I'm saying I won't have the
36:43
game on, but clearly, oh, look at that, look at that, right,
36:47
Like that, like that. Right.
36:48
Hey, hey, yeah. So yeah, but what are you?
36:52
What are you thinking? Brian?
36:53
What's your prediction for this week?
36:56
I like Cal to pull this one off. I'm hoping it's not going to be
37:01
as ugly as I think it could be. I'm gonna, I'm gonna lean
37:06
quietly optimistic in that I'm going to give us a 3624 loss to
37:16
Cal all. Right.
37:19
I'm, I'm kind of not far behind you in that case.
37:23
I do think Cal's going to win this as well.
37:26
I, I do have to. I think they're more cohesive
37:28
because I think they're playing well together again, five and
37:32
two and again, for those who say they play no one, we take five
37:38
wins in a heartbeat. We would, and I think.
37:43
Some of us thought we'd have five wins at this point of the
37:45
season. Yeah, a lot of people thought
37:47
the discussion was when we get here, can we do big things or
37:51
can we just sneak into a bowl again?
37:53
Well, to sneak into a bowl this year, you got to win this one.
37:57
And then basically, well, one of those games is looking more
38:02
winnable every week, every single week that goes by that,
38:08
that game in three weeks looks a lot more winnable.
38:11
But it looks a lot more winnable, but it's still a whole
38:14
lot more talent on that side of the football than what we're
38:17
working with. The only, the only thing that's
38:19
working in our favor and even that is the history against the
38:22
quarterback. True, but he got his ass knocked
38:26
out against against Stanford last weekend so we'll see.
38:30
But 3121, 10 points, it'll be, I think it should be an
38:35
entertaining game, but I just right now, unless significant
38:40
changes have been made, especially on offense, because I
38:45
think defense you're they're just, they're working with what
38:47
they've got offense, there's some things they could do.
38:54
You don't take that as an interpretation of whatever you
38:56
want to take it as, but there's some things they could do that
39:00
they have not done yet. So we shall see with that.
39:03
All right, real quick, Brian, the the busy week last week and
39:09
we didn't get to talk about it because we were talking about a
39:11
coach and search. But what, what, what was your
39:15
thought on the NDA? My initial thought is that we
39:20
somehow figured out how to lose the bye week.
39:24
That that was my initial thought and the more I'm hearing maybe
39:28
maybe the more it makes a little more sense as far as maybe we're
39:32
a little bit further into this thing than I think some of us
39:34
think we are. Yeah.
39:36
Or at least a little bit further along than I think a lot of
39:39
folks think we are in this search.
39:43
So it kind of makes sense to go a little radio silent as you
39:45
kind of work through things you don't you want to be as
39:48
transparent as you can, especially as far as the money
39:52
and the process, which I think we're still struggling with.
39:55
I think that's, that's still a, a problem on that front, but as
39:59
far as what is happening, I, I don't, I don't need play by play
40:04
updates of who you called and who you talked to.
40:06
Like we're never going to get that.
40:08
That's that's an unreasonable situation.
40:09
Also, it gives other people a way to basically, you know, go
40:16
against you potentially, you know, other people can get
40:18
information that you don't want them to have.
40:21
They can leverage that offerings and shit like that.
40:23
So. The point being, I, I think if
40:25
we were, if we'd had a little bit more insight into how the
40:29
committee, what their process was going to be like, how the
40:34
money was being raised, not having wit go on different,
40:39
different platforms and saying things that I'm not sure he
40:44
should have been saying. And I'm not sure that he
40:47
verbalized in a way that made sense because it just led to
40:51
more questions. But yeah, I, I, I think the
40:56
NBA's aren't necessarily bad news, but I'm, I'm not convinced
41:00
they're good news either. I think at first I was like, you
41:04
like, Oh my God, what? Why does this have to happen?
41:07
But then the week goes on and then it's like, I think it's
41:11
what you said. I think it's a lot further.
41:18
The reason I think it's needed is a it's a committee approach.
41:21
That's the first thing. Because when it's not one person
41:24
making the hires. First of all, why is he still
41:27
the AD? Y'all answer that one?
41:30
Yeah. We, we, we can definitely have
41:31
that conversation, which I think we've talked about enough at
41:33
this point. We have it's we've.
41:34
Beaten the dead horse. If if you know, on our opinion,
41:39
he should have been fired when pride was fired and we'd be
41:42
hiring an AD and then hiring a coach.
41:44
But we didn't do that. We're stuck in this purgatory of
41:49
it's kind of the AD of everything, but he's not really
41:52
doing anything other than the final sign off on football shit
41:56
at this point. So, so stupid.
41:59
You know, we're we're in this Gray area.
42:00
So until he decides to move on, which hopefully is sometime very
42:06
soon. Yeah, the the quicker he goes,
42:08
the quicker you can actually maybe get not, I'm not going to
42:12
say resolution, but maybe more clarity on situations.
42:15
But I, I think the problem the, the problem I have is that it's,
42:21
it's, it's a selling point of to, to a degree if wits not here
42:27
for a long haul. The problem that you have is
42:30
that you're selling a current situation that could change in
42:34
the future and you don't know who your new boss is going to
42:37
be. But they're not going to.
42:38
That's not going to be their boss.
42:40
I, I get there's going to be a structure there, but ultimately
42:43
everyone is going to at some point be reporting to the AD,
42:46
correct? That's.
42:48
Not what I heard. The way I felt it is there's
42:50
going to be two separate silos AD for everything model.
42:54
You got a football. You got a football GM that's
42:55
reporting the sands. Yeah, I can live with that, if
43:00
that, if that's exactly what they're going to do.
43:02
But again, we haven't been communicated with enough to know
43:05
that that's what the plan is. Until he's gone, John Belen's
43:10
gone and probably to a sense Tim Sands gone.
43:13
I think we're going to probably be more angry than anything.
43:15
Yes, Wing Sol's all, but when you see the way it's mismanaged,
43:22
where's your confidence level? And I think Bill got on here 2
43:25
weeks last week and that's what his thing was.
43:28
There's no confidence. I don't trust anybody up there.
43:31
Well, yeah, if I'm a head coach, if I'm a head coach looking for
43:34
a job and this is the situation that I'm walking into, the money
43:39
is nice and the money will help. And the money, you know, answers
43:43
the questions. It fixes a lot of things.
43:46
But I really hope that behind the scenes they have a much
43:49
better plan than what has been made public. 100% and you hope
43:53
maybe that's why the NDA's had to happen as well because if
43:57
somebody when somebody gets hired is going to go bye bye,
44:01
well, let's keep that quiet. We don't need to let that leak
44:04
out and potentially AD higher going behind.
44:07
But I think it's what you said, I think it happened because I
44:11
think we are moving a lot quicker to the head coaching
44:15
higher than probably they didn't think of.
44:20
And again, with that being said, probably more people hopefully.
44:26
Crossing my fingers, I roll my eyes that the structures, that
44:30
this is how everything's going to happen.
44:32
Here's how all the dominoes will fall.
44:35
Yep, there you go, athletics president.
44:37
It's two silos now. 2 silos. Truly, the AD here is not
44:42
responsible for football anymore.
44:43
Therefore you're not going to get the elite level AD because
44:49
every AD wants football on their resume.
44:51
Once again, I don't care as long as it's winning.
44:56
So there you go. Good point, gentlemen.
45:01
Let's talk about this though. So I like this structure in
45:05
theory. I like this structure in theory.
45:08
The problem that I have is that at what point does the football
45:15
coach become accountable? Because if the football coach is
45:18
working it to bring in the GM they want, right?
45:23
And now you've got a situation where your president has to be
45:26
plugged in enough to make the decision to fire the head coach
45:29
if he isn't getting the job done.
45:31
Because that's ultimately what what's going to have to happen
45:34
there. Because if you got the the GM in
45:36
the pocket of the coach either, I mean, obviously the GM could
45:40
lose his job as well. If if if the coach isn't going,
45:43
but you kind of have them kind of hand in glove in the
45:47
president of the university, Tim Sands is going to have to make
45:49
that decision if the time comes where something isn't getting
45:53
the getting getting done the way.
45:55
And I don't think I trust Tim Less.
45:57
Name. Trump's the wit.
46:00
So yeah. I think the the, the problem
46:03
with Tim is that I think Tim is going to be happy with getting
46:07
to a bowl and, you know, beating UVA.
46:12
As long as long as we're selling out, he's probably not going to
46:16
give a shit beyond that. So it's really going to come
46:20
down to pressure from the outside to keep him accountable
46:23
and keep the coach accountable. There's some, I see some
46:28
theories going off here in the chat.
46:31
Sandy Barber, Penn State. You see that from?
46:37
Yeah, that's if it's James Franklin.
46:43
So, you know, I know we went through that last week.
46:45
A lot of people were given their opinions on that.
46:50
So we shall see how that works. I'm just I'm just trying to put
46:56
put some things out. There.
46:57
Oh, no, no. Think about man, I'm not
47:00
necessarily, like I said, I'm not necessarily like I don't, I,
47:05
I think we could still get the right outcome, but I, I don't
47:09
have trust in the process through this point.
47:11
So I guess that's kind of where I'm at.
47:14
So yeah, the the whole thing that if we don't fuck it up, it
47:18
won't be for. Lack of trying.
47:23
If, if the next coach wins eight games this first year, like
47:26
it'll be a miracle, It'll be a miracle real quick.
47:31
I think we missed this last week. 2 Christians Evans in the
47:33
portal got us four games got us highlight.
47:36
Thanks for your service. And, and, and that window is now
47:41
closed. So really only five guys.
47:49
That's it. Five guys.
47:51
Kind of shocking, right? Yeah, a lot of other guys.
47:54
Injured and it's all on defense and it's all in positions that
47:59
we didn't really have a lot of depth at to begin with.
48:03
So that's the unfortunate side of it is that now UK you've got,
48:09
you know, two of your three best pass rushers in the portal.
48:15
You got probably between injury and portal, you got, you know,
48:19
three or four of your best secondary players in the portal.
48:25
And it it, it starts to compound on you a little bit.
48:29
I mean, yeah, you got Dante Lovett in there.
48:32
Obviously you got Jonkum and Burgos.
48:33
Now you've got Christian Evans. I know Thomas Williams has been
48:37
banged up a little bit. So like, we're we're we're
48:41
thinning the secondary and we're thin rushing the passer.
48:44
And, you know, at the end of the day, Tucker Holloway and Michael
48:48
Short didn't necessarily move the needle a ton.
48:51
But they were bodies. But they were bodies.
48:54
They were bodies. They were bodies.
48:57
They were bodies who could play at a Division One level and.
49:01
Exactly. And there are some guys out
49:03
there, they're younger guys and I think they're given full
49:06
effort and they're probably not quite there.
49:09
But I think the guys behind them are in the same ballpark as a
49:13
short or a Holloway, especially just looking at for Holloway
49:17
from a wide receiver perspective.
49:19
Yeah. 100% on that. All right, what what you want to
49:23
do next, Brian? You want to do a little more
49:24
coach talk or you want to get the big screeners up?
49:27
Let throw your carousel out there man.
49:30
Well, the carousel, the the biggest domino got reset with
49:35
Florida going there because Florida is the best job.
49:39
Even though they're insane down there.
49:41
They're insane. They are.
49:45
You go back to when they fired Mullen and then from Mullen,
49:49
they hired Billy Napier. Billy Napier never got off the
49:52
ground. And, and, and I've said this on
49:58
this program, I've said it in chats, I've said it to people
50:00
outside. Wayne Kippen's going to Florida
50:05
for one reason. Brian, you, I think you watched
50:08
this Saturday afternoon. I know we did here when we got
50:10
back from baseball and from a birthday party.
50:15
He put points on Georgia's defense in Athens without much
50:22
of a problem. He's missing one thing and that
50:27
is elite defensive players. I don't think you can get those
50:31
at all, Miss. I think if he goes to Florida,
50:34
that's funny. That's funny, Steven.
50:37
If he goes to Florida, I think he gets the elite defensive
50:40
players. And I think the way Lane coaches
50:43
offense and how he recruits, I think he could win a national
50:48
title there. And that's that's the first
50:50
domino that calls is is that that means Ole Miss opens up and
50:57
is Ole Miss ahead of us? I think so.
50:59
Do you agree with that? Yeah.
51:03
I don't think anybody's going to disagree with that at this
51:05
point. I mean, basically anyone in the
51:09
top third of the SEC is going to be ahead of us.
51:12
Yeah. Now I, I do believe the only
51:17
other one ahead of us at this time, at this time, because the
51:21
talks are going all over the place.
51:23
You know, the Norbell stuff that happened, they ain't got $60
51:28
million is what the issue is. Because not only are you going
51:32
to pay that old coach 60 million to leave, you're going to have
51:36
to pay the new coach. My assumption's going to be
51:39
somewhere in the neighborhood, Florida State about 10.
51:41
So 10 million upfront to say $78 million.
51:48
How are you going to pay for NIL?
51:49
Because everybody keeps screaming these guys are going
51:52
to be fired. They're going to be fired.
51:53
You've got to have the money to pay NIL next year and most of
51:57
these coaches in these contracts, example Mark Stoops,
52:01
which no one wants. I think Mark Stoops is a good
52:03
coach. They can't buy him out of
52:05
Kentucky. You know why they can't buy him
52:06
out of Kentucky? They owe him $40 million within
52:09
60 days of getting fired. If you have $40 million gone,
52:13
guess what you don't have in 2026 if you're Kentucky and the
52:16
brand new coach. It's a lot of nil man.
52:19
You don't have an NIL budget and people can say, Oh no, the the
52:25
money's there. The money's there.
52:26
Not when you have to literally take a chunk of your budget and
52:29
pay an old coach who's not. I think you could probably get,
52:33
you know, one rich donor to front 1/3 of that. 1/3 you.
52:38
Know maybe 1/3 of that, but nobody's going to drop 40
52:41
million. So you can use the money you
52:43
already have as you expected to use it on an IO, Yeah.
52:47
And I think that's that's hindering a lot of people's
52:50
decision to getting fired. I don't think it was Napier's.
52:53
I think they were trying to legitimately give Napier a
52:55
chance. Even though they're crazy at
52:57
Florida. I still say that, but his I
53:00
think his was like, what was it, 18?
53:02
I was building Napier buyout. Somewhere in that realm, I I
53:06
believe. I mean, it's like he freezes, he
53:08
freezes is only like 16, so 21 million that that's a few
53:18
million way, but. I don't think Florida State,
53:21
half of Kentucky. Half of Kentucky, 1/3 of Florida
53:25
State. Yeah. 1/3 of Florida State.
53:29
Florida State's in a, in a bad spot.
53:31
And it's, it's not even to say like, you know, money's funny
53:34
over there. Like it's, it's not that the
53:36
money's funny, it's that the money's high.
53:38
And you, you, you kind of boxed yourself into a situation where
53:44
it's going to be hard to make the case to front that money,
53:50
have to go out and get another coach at about a 12 million a
53:53
pop. Yeah.
53:54
And then still be able to pay enough players to come in to
53:57
keep your neck above water in the next season.
54:03
The other thing with Napiers he's only owed 10 million within
54:08
the 1st 30 days. The other one is the remainder
54:12
is an equal annual installments is probably three years.
54:16
So he's going to get 10 mil up front like 3 point something to
54:18
pop versus Stoops. And I'm assuming Nord Bells is
54:23
way up there because I think if it was half and they could make
54:27
the other payments in three to four years, they would.
54:30
Yeah. So, but back back to what we
54:33
were talking about there. But if you say like Penn
54:38
State's, the next domino has to fall, right?
54:42
Yeah, I mean, and you can. Say Florida.
54:43
And Penn State are on equal equal footing.
54:45
I'd say Florida edges them out. Edges them out SCC and
54:49
recruiting territory. But let let me ask you, you read
54:53
you, you, you think who's Penn State target because Penn
54:57
State's in the in a worse situation in Florida, because
55:01
when you say, hey, Penn State, go hire somebody better.
55:06
Who? Who?
55:10
I don't know man. So who?
55:12
So who? So give me a name right now if
55:14
you say this guy would make sense.
55:22
That's one I haven't really thought a ton about as far as
55:25
who the next guy could be. I mean, maybe rule maybe, but I
55:31
mean, rule has has he's still shown the ability to be
55:37
absolutely slightly better than mid.
55:40
And I'm not. And I'm not sure if like if his
55:44
ceiling is significantly higher at Penn State than it is in
55:47
Nebraska. I don't.
55:49
Think it is the whole thing with rule is he had the one season at
55:54
Baylor and he has now made an NFL job out of that and he's
55:59
made Nebraska out of that. It's pretty impressive. 6 years
56:03
ago, the 11 and two season got an NFL job and then got a
56:06
Nebraska. I like this rules the safety
56:11
net. Can I can I tell you who I think
56:14
would be their number one And Pitt State fans may not like it.
56:18
It's my number one for us because I think that from a
56:21
different. Culture there yeah.
56:25
I mean that that's an interesting one to throw out
56:27
there. I mean, I feel like, you know,
56:29
to the point with rule being a safety net, I feel like rule is
56:32
like been the guy that's kind of kept like failing up a little
56:36
bit. I mean it's kind of crazy.
56:41
He was kind of pulling a a Cliff Kingsbury there for a while.
56:45
Like, you know, all right, we failed here.
56:47
All right, get get this better job.
56:49
All right, fail here, all right, get this better job.
56:51
And, you know, the wheels finally fell off of that.
56:53
But you know, he he he had a pretty soft landing.
56:55
But I can see rule kind of being in the same situation here where
56:59
he gets that Penn State job. What about drink wits?
57:03
Drink Wits is a really good suggestion there, Jim.
57:07
Jim is on it there, I think. I think that's something that I
57:14
think could be a, a, a good move for Penn State overall.
57:20
It's interesting to see like how he would compare with a rule
57:25
from a, from a culture standpoint at Penn State.
57:28
Like obviously I think we know, yeah, rule kind of knows the the
57:32
lay of the land there. Yeah, that is that's the thing
57:36
why to me Hammer Campbell fit better and drink what's although
57:39
drink what's. I mean, last three years
57:41
coaching his ass off 11:00 and 2:00 what 10 and three last
57:45
year, six and one so far this year and the only loss was to
57:48
Bama. Maybe.
57:52
But again that I think Drakewood stays one more year later.
57:59
But but where can he go better? There's only a handful of places
58:03
and the question is does his where he because I think he's
58:08
Arkansas. I think he's more SWAT.
58:12
I'm all start doing things like that.
58:18
Lamar, Lamar, I love you. That ain't happening.
58:22
That ain't happening. That ain't happening at all.
58:24
I'll say this, could you see Dionne making a move for an NFL
58:29
job regardless of who it is? No, I don't.
58:37
With the only NFL job he take be wherever Shudoor is.
58:41
It would, but who's going to hire?
58:44
I agree, but I mean that would be the.
58:45
Browns have done some funnier stuff.
58:48
It's. True.
58:48
It's true, you know. They they draft, they drafted 2
58:51
quarterbacks this year. They did draft 2 quarterbacks
58:53
while I already. Had one on the roster.
58:56
Well, they got rid of it one and then that go goes out and
59:01
torches on Thursday night, so I think.
59:04
The Browns are a criminally broken franchise, and until they
59:09
figure out how to actually build a roster, consistently invest in
59:13
their program, invest in what they have and not be OK with
59:20
just being average, it's always going to be like that.
59:23
It's 100%. So back to where we were.
59:26
We go down and I'm going to skip us.
59:29
And so again, I've said Kippen's open.
59:33
Yep. And they're above us.
59:36
I think they're going to swing at one of those two young guys
59:38
from the AAC. Put whoever you want to put on
59:41
there. All right.
59:45
And where do you lean, Silverfield or Summerfield or
59:47
Summerall for Ole Miss? I think Silverfield kind of
59:54
matches what they're doing pretty well.
59:57
I think you could come in and be kind of grab what they already
1:00:02
have and kind of continue riding the wave.
1:00:06
You you could probably say the same thing with Summerall, but I
1:00:08
think I think Silverfield probably has that by just a
1:00:11
little bit. Yeah, I can.
1:00:15
I can see some you either of them kind of landing in that Ole
1:00:18
Miss Arkansas duo. Yeah.
1:00:22
See, I think Arkansas, there are people putting Arkansas above
1:00:27
us. I just don't, like you said, the
1:00:30
top third. Yes, we're somewhere in the
1:00:32
middle third of especially with the, with the new proposed
1:00:36
budget and everything. And to be Arkansas's bottom
1:00:40
third, it just is. They don't have the budget, they
1:00:45
don't have the resources. If you think about who are they
1:00:47
recruiting against? So if you think about who
1:00:51
they're recruiting against, well, they're recruiting against
1:00:54
LSU and Louisiana. They're never going to beat LSU.
1:00:56
No. They're recruiting in Texas.
1:00:58
Where where are they? Like 7th?
1:01:01
Probably the pecking order in that area, 7th or 8:00.
1:01:06
And then you look back east, well, it's Tennessee, Tennessee
1:01:09
that's being Alabama, Tennessee. Everybody in the surrounding
1:01:15
areas reaches into Tennessee. So they're not like, that's not
1:01:18
like their second place to reach.
1:01:20
Like we just go here and get somebody that's it's an SEC,
1:01:24
it's an SEC school. If the SEC could cook them out,
1:01:29
would they? They kick him in Mississippi
1:01:30
State out in 2 seconds. Yeah.
1:01:35
Say I'm wrong, you know, they they kicked him out and be like
1:01:38
all right, y'all good? Yeah, I agree.
1:01:41
We we good. So yeah.
1:01:43
But it's it is probably in our lifetime because of the
1:01:49
potential of Auburn coming up and then the fallout of where
1:01:56
other coaches come from. It's probably going to be one of
1:02:00
the more insane carousels we've ever seen because I do think
1:02:06
sitting, I think at least, and I'm not saying G5, I think at
1:02:12
least. Well, I mean, look what happens,
1:02:19
Gilbert. We talk about Ndas on Monday,
1:02:23
and UNLV looks the worst they've looked all season against Boise
1:02:26
State. Yeah.
1:02:30
And I mean, if we're talking about that, I mean, you know,
1:02:33
Memphis goes and, and loses to UAB and I, I will say this
1:02:37
there, there's got to be something studied on, on, on
1:02:42
situations where an interim coach is coaching in their first
1:02:45
game and they get a huge upset win because it feels like it
1:02:50
happens 9 times out of 10. It's true.
1:02:53
It's wild. NC stayed with us, I mean.
1:02:58
Yeah, yeah, they, they were rolling.
1:03:01
They were rolling before the end and we, we messed them all up.
1:03:06
I mean, yeah, I but I think that, you know, we're we're
1:03:10
going to get closer. As we get closer, more things
1:03:13
will Clark coming to fruition. I still think we're third.
1:03:18
I still think we're third in the pecking order and I think y'all
1:03:24
were great last week. Everybody that came on, I know
1:03:26
we're not. We don't have a bigger crowd
1:03:28
tonight. A We're coming off a bye week.
1:03:32
Y'all were playing B, we're playing Cal.
1:03:36
B we're playing Cal. Yeah.
1:03:45
Listen, if James Franklin wanted to come here, you can't say no.
1:03:49
Yeah, I'm at the point now where like people keep bringing up the
1:03:52
big game thing, like we, we need to start just being able to win
1:03:55
the games we should win. We haven't done that.
1:03:58
We got to get, we got to get back to playing in big games
1:04:02
and, and, and I mean that in we got to be able to get ourselves
1:04:05
on a platform where we're ranked against another ranked opponent.
1:04:09
Whether they're ranked higher than us in that game actually
1:04:10
fucking matters. And not just yeah, we're, we're,
1:04:13
we're, you know, four and three and playing a ranked opponent
1:04:17
like nobody gives a shit about that.
1:04:18
We we've got to actually there's got to be some skin in the game
1:04:21
in that match up for it to be a true big game.
1:04:23
And we haven't been in a ton of those in the last 10 years.
1:04:25
No, we have not. Not at all.
1:04:27
All right, so I'm going to close down the coaching conversation
1:04:29
because I could go on for hours and hours on that.
1:04:33
And let's get to picking some games this weekend because
1:04:36
again, it's another fun weekend of games.
1:04:41
If you keeping up with this. Me and Brian are very happy.
1:04:45
We went 500 last weekend. That hadn't happened in weeks.
1:04:49
The hook got. I did.
1:04:50
Have a good week, yeah? Two weeks ago, yeah.
1:04:52
Yeah, yeah, I was. I've been.
1:04:55
I've been above 500 the last two weeks.
1:04:58
Yeah, so the hook got me on the Notre Dame game.
1:05:04
That game was 10 late, got 9 1/2.
1:05:07
It will kill you every time. But again, another fun weekend.
1:05:11
It was a lot of good games all over the place.
1:05:15
So let's fire it up. Brian, where are we going first?
1:05:18
Yeah, man. Going to Oklahoma, baby.
1:05:21
Ole Miss heading into Oklahoma, man.
1:05:26
And it's a 4 1/2 line for the Sooners.
1:05:32
And I was looking at this and I'm like, I've liked what I'm
1:05:36
seeing from this team, so I'm going to ride with the Sooners
1:05:39
here. I think they're going to win by
1:05:40
a touchdown. I I don't really trust Ole
1:05:43
misses defense after what I saw and I think the Sooners are
1:05:47
going to keep. It going, yeah, I'm with you.
1:05:50
I think Oklahoma wins this game because I think Lane knows.
1:05:55
I think his agent gave him a call about 1:15 on Sunday.
1:05:59
Hey, just just just look at your phone.
1:06:03
Yep. You see what just came open?
1:06:04
Yep, Matisse back getting healthier every week.
1:06:10
Venables has that defense going exactly like we thought he would
1:06:17
eventually get them going, right?
1:06:21
I don't think anybody ever questioned that.
1:06:23
Venables always been a damn good defensive coach.
1:06:27
So for me, you know, you think about them this year, if I'm not
1:06:33
mistaken. Unbeaten, right?
1:06:36
Unbeaten. I'm not losing my mind, am I?
1:06:38
Oklahoma. Yeah.
1:06:41
Oklahoma's unbeaten. No, they lost Texas.
1:06:44
They lost the Texas and the team was out.
1:06:48
But I think Oklahoma wins this game.
1:06:50
What Shelton and Dallas say. They are riding with Ole Miss.
1:06:57
Bounce back, bounce back. That's.
1:06:59
Right, this is Tally's game. Tally is basically before until
1:07:06
Shane is either not hired by us or hired by us, he is picking
1:07:10
South Carolina's game every single week.
1:07:14
The upside for him is that he they, they're playing a pretty
1:07:17
decent opponent every fucking week for the.
1:07:18
Rest they are. They are.
1:07:21
Although when we get to when they play coastal, he's going to
1:07:23
pick coastal. Yeah.
1:07:26
But what did what did tally say? Laying 12 1/2, he says take Bama
1:07:31
Roll Tide. I'm right there with him, man.
1:07:34
I don't trust that offense. Zero and.
1:07:38
And and they're not going to have enough defense for the fact
1:07:41
that I don't trust that offense. 100% this is a clean sweep
1:07:48
across the board. Lay the 12 1/2.
1:07:51
Alabama wins by at least 20. I don't say similar to last
1:07:56
week. They'll get to 10 though. 3110
1:08:03
There we go. Curtis, it's you.
1:08:07
What you what did you say when I threw this to you all this
1:08:09
afternoon? I was like, what the fuck are
1:08:13
you doing? I saw the when I saw the line
1:08:16
pop, I was like, all right, I think you picked this online
1:08:20
vibes. Alone online vibes alone.
1:08:23
I picked this because I watched even though we were in the man
1:08:26
cave here watching a movie on Friday night.
1:08:29
You know, I'm always, I watch a movie in this room or television
1:08:32
shows. There is some sort of sports
1:08:34
going on. Brian's been here.
1:08:35
Brian knows how it works playing video games, watching the movie
1:08:39
and I'm watching that Miami game and it's like, how do you turn
1:08:43
the ball over 4 times and only lose by three?
1:08:48
That's impressive. Both have you turned the ball
1:08:51
over 4 times? Whether you're a good team or a
1:08:53
bad team, you're losing by double digits.
1:08:56
I think they're going to come back and I think they're going
1:08:58
to absolutely obliterate Stanford because Stanford's
1:09:01
feeling good about themselves. But they got to travel all the
1:09:04
way from this side of the country all the way to this side
1:09:06
of the country for a night dream.
1:09:10
I think, I think, I think 4815. Shelton is going with.
1:09:21
Later points. Cardinal Baby.
1:09:24
Points point. Talent and you know what you're
1:09:28
riding solo, baby, you're riding solo.
1:09:31
You know what if if it was 27 and a hook, I would, I would
1:09:35
have said, you know what I'll. Bite they can win my 4
1:09:37
touchdowns they they can't win the by the way my put my it's
1:09:42
kind of funny all look at the letters there SUSS yeah my pick
1:09:45
on this is SUS, but I think Miami dumps is back in a big,
1:09:48
big way a suspect here. There we go.
1:09:51
All right. Shelton went way off the map.
1:09:55
FCA. FCF although a damn good FCS
1:10:00
game the. FCS game, if we're talking about
1:10:05
it, North Dakota State, South Dakota State.
1:10:11
Bison Jack rabbits Baby Jack rabbits are getting a 4 1/2 at
1:10:17
home. Shelton's riding with the bison.
1:10:21
What? About Tally.
1:10:23
Tally as well you I'm going with the Jack Rabbits fan.
1:10:29
I think that I think the home cooking is going to be the
1:10:31
difference in this one. I think these are two teams that
1:10:35
are as closely matched as you can get and I think that home
1:10:40
cooking is going to be just enough.
1:10:42
I think it's going to be about a six point win for the Jack
1:10:45
Rabbits. By the way, just so everyone
1:10:50
knows, this is #1 versus #2 in the FCS.
1:10:56
Both are undefeated. The game, I was hoping it was
1:11:01
going to be somewhere, it's going to be on ESPNU, but I, I
1:11:09
North Dakota State is always too much of A monster and they're
1:11:12
only laying 4 1/2 And I know South Dakota State have beaten
1:11:15
them in the last few years, but big game in the FCS.
1:11:20
Glad Sheldon pulled it out because he messaged us says, ah
1:11:23
man, maybe we should choose another game.
1:11:24
And I'm like, no, I found a line.
1:11:25
We're picking this game. Yeah, if we got a line on it and
1:11:28
it's. We can find a line we're.
1:11:28
Picking it, we're going to put it out there.
1:11:30
We're going to put it out there. So there you go.
1:11:32
Built the big screen, Brian. Big screeners.
1:11:37
Always fun. Always fun.
1:11:40
Brian, I told you we won't go that long tonight.
1:11:42
You know what you get to do? It's not even 10:30.
1:11:45
Man. Opening night of the NBA, man,
1:11:48
and your Late Show is playing here in the next few minutes.
1:11:51
Yeah, about to put that bad boy on while I'm falling asleep
1:11:55
because I will not make it through that one.
1:11:58
Actually, it it was a 10/15 tip. Excuse me?
1:12:01
It's already started, so they just want to throw it up.
1:12:03
Five. Minutes ago, yeah, yeah, I will
1:12:05
not make it through that when I can guarantee.
1:12:07
You. We don't do that.
1:12:08
No more. Not anymore.
1:12:11
It's, it's the, it's the struggles of supporting a West
1:12:14
Coast team. I know you know it and, and, and
1:12:16
you get it at least on a more consistent basis than I do
1:12:20
because following NBA is a little bit different than NFL
1:12:23
because at least NFL stays on a pretty consistent schedule
1:12:26
regardless of whether it's East Coast or West Coast.
1:12:28
My only hope is it's when I look at the schedule is they're not
1:12:32
doing double headers on Monday nights because then I know it's
1:12:35
a 10:00 kick and it's like, well, my first thing to check
1:12:39
the work schedule can I take off Tuesday because I will want to
1:12:42
stay up, but I will be suffering for it.
1:12:45
But appreciate everybody in the chat tonight chiming in as
1:12:48
usual. Brian, anything to add before we
1:12:51
take it home? I'm.
1:12:52
Ready to kick it, man? Let's do it.
1:12:54
That wraps up this episode of the Boundary Corner podcast,
1:12:57
brought to you by Counts Family Pharmacy in Blacksburg and
1:13:00
Moments on the Morgue in Lexington, VA I'm Curtis Wilson.
1:13:04
I'm. Brian.
1:13:05
Siegler, Check out boundarycornerbg.com to listen
1:13:08
to all the episodes. Go back last week everybody, so
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