# Missing Pieces: What Your College Football Team Can't Seem To Fix

An episode of [The Solid Verbal College Football Show](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/270037732), 26 Mar 2026, 1 h 20 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/21437ee1-47d9-4b16-8696-b30d011a2c26/a9a3684b-7afc-46a9-9d0e-b418014d02f2/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=51c7e0eb-425c-4d93-b5a8-b30d011a2c46

What's the one thing your college football team just can't figure out? In this episode, we work through listener submissions on the recurring issues that haunt fan bases year after year. From Arkansas's defensive drought to Mizzou's glass ceiling under Eli Drinkwitz, from Florida's institutional lag, to Oregon's quest to close out the biggest games. Plus, what gnaws at Texas, Michigan, Georgia, and USC fans despite all the talent those programs have stockpiled. We also riff on Iowa, Wisconsin, Alabama, and whether some coaches are simply hardwired to win one specific way. Timecodes: 0:00 - Intro 8:18 - Arkansas 16:43 - Georgia Tech 22:42 - Missouri 30:02 - Florida 40:08 - Oregon 48:07 - Texas 53:46 - Michigan 58:45 - Georgia 1:03:12 - USC 1:07:44 - Wisconsin 1:09:33 - Rapid Fire (Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Iowa, Alabama) Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal hull.
[0:05] Speaker 2: For me, I'm a man, I'm forty. I've heard so
[0:08] Speaker 2: many players say, well, I want to be happy. You
[0:10] Speaker 2: want to be happy for day Edith State is that
[0:13] Speaker 2: whoo whoom?
[0:14] Speaker 1: And Dan and Tie.
[0:18] Speaker 3: Denn Ruben Steam welcome back to the show.
[0:23] Speaker 2: Thank you for having me, thy God, It's nice to
[0:25] Speaker 2: be here with you. This is the time of year.
[0:27] Speaker 2: You always like to say, oh, this is the bottom
[0:30] Speaker 2: of the off season, and like spring practice isn't in
[0:32] Speaker 2: full swing, it's not the draft yet, the seasons in
[0:35] Speaker 2: the rear view mirror.
[0:36] Speaker 1: Excuse me, have you.
[0:37] Speaker 3: Seen the numbers? The numbers tell me this is the
[0:40] Speaker 3: bottom of the off season right now.
[0:42] Speaker 2: This is what we find our people today, you it is.
[0:47] Speaker 2: I love this time of year. It gives us time
[0:49] Speaker 2: to explore and reflect and get a little bit weird
[0:53] Speaker 2: and figure out. Like a lot of the shows we
[0:56] Speaker 2: do around now tap into I think the psyches and
[1:00] Speaker 2: emotions of the college football fan experience right that we're
[1:04] Speaker 2: talking of. I don't even remember what we did earlier
[1:06] Speaker 2: in the week. We did something with emotion, right, We
[1:10] Speaker 2: do these things like it was the Ralph Wigham and
[1:12] Speaker 2: Wiggams Break right, And I just I love that kind
[1:15] Speaker 2: of stuff because I love exploring the you know, why
[1:19] Speaker 2: you're ready to be heard again? What is getting people excited?
[1:22] Speaker 2: And then what you fear once again won't be solved
[1:26] Speaker 2: by Eli Drinkwitz or whoever. I don't know. I mean,
[1:29] Speaker 2: I guess we are going to talk about Eli drink
[1:31] Speaker 2: with some But there is something that is sort of permanent.
[1:36] Speaker 2: As much as everything changes in this sport, right that
[1:39] Speaker 2: you know, transfers and assistants and nil rules and conferences
[1:43] Speaker 2: and postseason. Sometimes it spans multiple coaches, three four coaches.
[1:48] Speaker 2: Sometimes it's just one coach who can't solve the same
[1:50] Speaker 2: thing year over year over year. But if there's anything
[1:54] Speaker 2: consistent about this sport that has no consistency whatsoever, is
[1:59] Speaker 2: there's that what is the hard drive called tie that
[2:02] Speaker 2: you can't it's like an SSD right, solid state, Right,
[2:06] Speaker 2: there is something that is permanently etched in all of
[2:09] Speaker 2: our hearts and our brains and our souls when it
[2:12] Speaker 2: comes to college football fandom, where you're like, yes, our
[2:15] Speaker 2: team has taken strides moving forward in all of these
[2:18] Speaker 2: different places, but they can't seem to write over this
[2:23] Speaker 2: little bit of data. Ever, and I always like educating
[2:28] Speaker 2: myself on how again a Mazoo fan feels, a Washington
[2:32] Speaker 2: fan feels, a Calfan fields, a Mississippi State fans feels.
[2:37] Speaker 2: And this helps me if I'm going to be selfish here,
[2:40] Speaker 2: but I think it helps all of us understand each
[2:42] Speaker 2: other better. And isn't that the point in this turbulent
[2:46] Speaker 2: world tie to understand each other just a little bit
[2:51] Speaker 2: better as a human society.
[2:54] Speaker 3: Yes, you really took that on a journey. You were
[3:01] Speaker 3: talking about hardros. I was thinking of, like, because we
[3:04] Speaker 3: had this discussion recently about, yeah, trying to free up
[3:07] Speaker 3: space in your iPhone and when you plug it in
[3:09] Speaker 3: or when you like load up the settings, you see
[3:12] Speaker 3: that gray bar, that like unspecified gray bar that's taking
[3:16] Speaker 3: up eighty gig and you can't. It doesn't matter what
[3:19] Speaker 3: you do, you can't get rid of it. You got
[3:21] Speaker 3: to buy programs, sometimes you gotta call out me. You
[3:24] Speaker 3: can never actually get rid of that whatever that's supposed
[3:26] Speaker 3: to be.
[3:26] Speaker 1: I still don't know. And I'm supposed to be the
[3:27] Speaker 1: techie between the two of us.
[3:29] Speaker 3: Yeah, but in effect, that is sort of what today's
[3:32] Speaker 3: episode is about, is it not?
[3:33] Speaker 2: It is? Oh? It absolutely is you know what. It
[3:36] Speaker 2: didn't directly give me the idea, but I saw something
[3:40] Speaker 2: that told us it was the off season in a
[3:43] Speaker 2: very specific way this past week in like three different places,
[3:47] Speaker 2: and it got me excited for the season because it
[3:50] Speaker 2: doesn't really fully feel like we're looking forward to the
[3:54] Speaker 2: next college football season until I see I don't know, man,
[3:58] Speaker 2: USC might have something special here, Like there might be
[4:03] Speaker 2: something different about this US the most.
[4:05] Speaker 3: Talented roster BLANK has ever had at Blank.
[4:09] Speaker 2: There is something like, yes, they lost that all conference
[4:14] Speaker 2: duo of linebackers, but this might be my most athletic
[4:17] Speaker 2: pairing of linebackers or safeties or receivers I've had here. Now,
[4:23] Speaker 2: Kyle Whittingham is generally guilty of that at Utah, so
[4:25] Speaker 2: he can't really say that about Michigan. He can say
[4:29] Speaker 2: that about like a specific grouping, but not here. Yeah,
[4:33] Speaker 2: there are those certain checkpoints of the offseason. I did
[4:36] Speaker 2: see a couple of like this is the year US
[4:40] Speaker 2: see is a little bit more, is a little bit different.
[4:43] Speaker 2: It's a different kind of USC under Lincoln Riley this year.
[4:46] Speaker 3: Like, Okay, it's also Phil Steele a clock or getting
[4:51] Speaker 3: close to Phil Steel a clock where if we just
[4:53] Speaker 3: want to use USC as an example. Jacoby Lane, McKayle,
[4:57] Speaker 3: Lemon both gone, but the receip room has a chance
[5:02] Speaker 3: to be better than ever. There's no like added step
[5:05] Speaker 3: of explaining that logic. It's just a lot of sunshine pumping,
[5:10] Speaker 3: a lot of getting People are at no disrespect to
[5:12] Speaker 3: Phil We love his work, we have for an eternity.
[5:16] Speaker 3: But it is that time of year right where we
[5:19] Speaker 3: start looking forward, we start perhaps overlooking some of what
[5:24] Speaker 3: left last season in the name of being excited about
[5:27] Speaker 3: what's to come in twenty twenty six. So we got
[5:29] Speaker 3: a lot to look forward to. I would contend, yes,
[5:32] Speaker 3: it is the bottom of the off season, but we
[5:34] Speaker 3: are on the slow climb out of that hole now
[5:37] Speaker 3: because spring football has started up, and of course because
[5:41] Speaker 3: they get to be back here with you and Verballerhood
[5:44] Speaker 3: and we get to talk through some of the pressing issues. So,
[5:47] Speaker 3: as is usually the case with that long preamble, you
[5:52] Speaker 3: and I had what I would describe as a rather
[5:55] Speaker 3: panicked slack conversation earlier today. I'm never panicked, not panicked
[6:00] Speaker 3: because we've had it so many times before, yeah, but
[6:04] Speaker 3: panicked in a sense where we didn't really know where
[6:07] Speaker 3: to go with today's episode. So we both went off
[6:11] Speaker 3: to our separate corners of the universe and you came
[6:13] Speaker 3: back with this idea here today of missing pieces, Dan.
[6:17] Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's not even just a missing piece for
[6:19] Speaker 2: this season, and it's what we'll talk about, how teams
[6:23] Speaker 2: are trying to address something that they've tried to address
[6:27] Speaker 2: over and over to no full avail. But yeah, it's
[6:32] Speaker 2: this year is okay, what's this year's stab at it?
[6:35] Speaker 2: Whether it's through the portal, whether it's through hiring a
[6:37] Speaker 2: new assistant, or maybe this issue won't be exposed because
[6:41] Speaker 2: the schedule is X, Y and Z this season, or
[6:44] Speaker 2: because this coach. I just have a hint, I have
[6:46] Speaker 2: a feeling that this coach has learned from the errors
[6:49] Speaker 2: of his ways, you know, whether it's just a gut feel,
[6:53] Speaker 2: whatever it is. But we asked listeners to say, like,
[6:57] Speaker 2: what haunts you not just a one season thing, what
[7:00] Speaker 2: haunts you as a blank fan that my team can't
[7:04] Speaker 2: figure Whether it's a situational thing, whether it's a position
[7:07] Speaker 2: group thing, whether it's a specific team, you know, whatever
[7:11] Speaker 2: it is, or kind of like a ranked team or
[7:13] Speaker 2: road games or something like that. That what can't my
[7:17] Speaker 2: program seem to figure out annually. That haunts me. And
[7:23] Speaker 2: you know, I'm optimistic about the season, but I don't
[7:25] Speaker 2: know about this whole thing. Yeah, like that's the that's
[7:28] Speaker 2: the I think the core of what we're talking about.
[7:30] Speaker 2: Where are Yeah, everybody's searching.
[7:33] Speaker 1: Everybody is searching.
[7:34] Speaker 3: As you said, we put out a call atverballers dot com.
[7:38] Speaker 3: That is our Patreon. If you go there, if you
[7:40] Speaker 3: sign up as a paid member. You didn't have to
[7:42] Speaker 3: be a paid member to respond to this, by the way,
[7:44] Speaker 3: we open this to everybody, but if you do choose
[7:46] Speaker 3: to support us as either a five or ten dollars subscriber,
[7:51] Speaker 3: that money goes directly to us. It helps us fund
[7:54] Speaker 3: our operations here. We so greatly appreciate it. If you
[7:58] Speaker 3: are new here, if you may through that intro, Hello, welcome,
[8:02] Speaker 3: you're one of us. Now follow or subscribe so that
[8:04] Speaker 3: you do not miss any of our episodes. We're doing
[8:07] Speaker 3: two a week until we get a little bit closer
[8:10] Speaker 3: to the regular season, at which point we'll flip.
[8:12] Speaker 1: The switch, throw the throttle fully.
[8:15] Speaker 3: Ahead, go to three episodes per week. In Yes, give
[8:19] Speaker 3: me that sound one more time, let's dive in.
[8:21] Speaker 2: What's up, Tom? Where are you?
[8:23] Speaker 1: Thank you? Tom?
[8:24] Speaker 3: All right, let's start with Michael, who writes in for Arkansas. Again,
[8:32] Speaker 3: we're talking about things that teams have not fully figured
[8:35] Speaker 3: out year after year. For Arkansas, it's got to be
[8:39] Speaker 3: general stability, which I'll attribute to overall lack of talent,
[8:43] Speaker 3: especially when it comes to having the horses on defense.
[8:46] Speaker 3: There's typically playmakers on offense here over year, but lackluster
[8:50] Speaker 3: defenses and coaches have kept the program from stringing together
[8:54] Speaker 3: more than a couple respectful seasons in a row. So
[8:58] Speaker 3: arkansaw defense is what I saw when I read Michael's
[9:03] Speaker 3: response here, Dan, I found some mind blowing stats about
[9:10] Speaker 3: Arkansas on defense, notably that they have not produced a
[9:14] Speaker 3: first round defensive draft pick since the year of Our
[9:18] Speaker 3: Lord two thousand and seven.
[9:19] Speaker 1: I believe that was Jamal Anderson with two a's.
[9:22] Speaker 3: Okay, you got to go back what is that seventeen
[9:24] Speaker 3: years now whatever to try I guess it's longer than that.
[9:27] Speaker 3: You got to go back a great ways to find
[9:30] Speaker 3: the last guy that was a first round defensive pick
[9:33] Speaker 3: from Arkansas, which is a big deal and on its own,
[9:37] Speaker 3: you know, not really indicative of anything. But I think
[9:40] Speaker 3: symbolic of what Michael is referencing here. There have been
[9:44] Speaker 3: several instances over the course of the last however many years,
[9:49] Speaker 3: Sam Pittman otherwise, where it just feels like they have
[9:53] Speaker 3: gone through coordinator after coordinator. Their peak defensive showing I
[9:58] Speaker 3: think was in twenty twenty one under Barry oh him,
[10:00] Speaker 3: but then he left and they cratered, and since then
[10:03] Speaker 3: it's sort of been like this constant musical cheers situation
[10:07] Speaker 3: at defensive coordinator. They have not, to Michael's point, gotten
[10:11] Speaker 3: any kind of real fix on this. The offense has
[10:13] Speaker 3: been good, but defensively they just have not kept up.
[10:17] Speaker 2: No and there, Yeah, to your point, there has been.
[10:21] Speaker 2: There have been years where they've been able to field
[10:24] Speaker 2: a good if not very good. You got to go back.
[10:26] Speaker 2: You probably over a decade now, and so that's a
[10:28] Speaker 2: different era of the sport. Unfortunately. I think it was
[10:30] Speaker 2: twenty fourteen under probably was Brett Bielima when they were
[10:35] Speaker 2: when they had that stretch where they were shutting teams
[10:37] Speaker 2: out where they was like a thirteen twelve loss. I
[10:39] Speaker 2: want to say to Alabama like they had dudes on
[10:42] Speaker 2: that team, especially upfront, but it really is like when
[10:45] Speaker 2: they have the defense, they don't have the offense, and
[10:47] Speaker 2: vice versa. And you go back, what'd you say twenty
[10:48] Speaker 2: twenty three when they had like a pretty decent offense,
[10:51] Speaker 2: pretty decent defense at the same time, and just couldn't
[10:53] Speaker 2: put it together consistently in the win column. So, yeah,
[10:57] Speaker 2: if you're Arkansas, you're haunted by this, especially because Arkansaw
[11:00] Speaker 2: hasn't always been willing to pay to retain when they
[11:04] Speaker 2: have quality dudes, especially it seems a linebacker these past
[11:07] Speaker 2: few years. So it's a money thing. And we'll see
[11:11] Speaker 2: what that looks like moving forward now under yet another
[11:13] Speaker 2: new coach. And you can find dudes. You can find
[11:17] Speaker 2: dudes in the South. It's retaining dudes. It's being smart
[11:21] Speaker 2: about evaluating, and everybody's you know, everybody's looking for value
[11:26] Speaker 2: in the portal obviously. You know, these teams are bringing
[11:29] Speaker 2: in dozens of players every year that are just looking for, uh,
[11:32] Speaker 2: some kind of support to help things. So I don't
[11:36] Speaker 2: think there is an excellent reason why Arkansas can't do this.
[11:41] Speaker 2: Arkansas should have enough money playing in the SEC, having
[11:45] Speaker 2: the Rabbit fan base it does. I believe they just
[11:48] Speaker 2: won the SEC basketball tournament, did they not sixteen, and
[11:52] Speaker 2: I have them in my final four.
[11:53] Speaker 1: Not to give too much away, but okay, so.
[11:57] Speaker 2: Athletics are important to Arkansas and Arkansas fen that's not crazy.
[12:02] Speaker 2: So it's a matter of getting everybody on the same page,
[12:05] Speaker 2: hiring well on defense, and being able to talk to
[12:10] Speaker 2: the money behind the scenes into retaining you know, there's
[12:15] Speaker 2: very little you can do if the culture is bad
[12:17] Speaker 2: and the scheme is bad and the relationships with coaches
[12:19] Speaker 2: is bad. But if you're able to check those boxes,
[12:24] Speaker 2: I don't see a compelling reason why Arkansas, even though
[12:27] Speaker 2: it is behind a number of teams in its own
[12:29] Speaker 2: conference in terms of prestige and money and whatever, there's
[12:34] Speaker 2: no reason Arkansas. And I'm looking at their schedule right now.
[12:37] Speaker 2: It's not great in terms of the quarterback ceilings they
[12:40] Speaker 2: face and Devin Dan Pierre and Gunner Stockton, Marcel Reid,
[12:43] Speaker 2: whatever happens at Tennessee. You know, I think Alex Golis
[12:47] Speaker 2: is gonna have a good offense with Byron Brown at Auburn,
[12:49] Speaker 2: especially by the time they play in November. South Carolina
[12:51] Speaker 2: should have Lenora Sellers operating. He's been there seventy three years,
[12:55] Speaker 2: and Arch Manning and Sam Levitt like it's an uphill battle.
[12:58] Speaker 2: It's year one, so there can't be a crazy expectation.
[13:02] Speaker 2: But if different coaches are having the same problems more
[13:05] Speaker 2: often than not on defense, then it's a look in
[13:09] Speaker 2: the mirror thing, and it's a are we paying top
[13:12] Speaker 2: dollar for a defensive coordinator Arkansas this year? Most certainly yes,
[13:16] Speaker 2: right is Ron Roberts taking over their defense? Top dollar
[13:20] Speaker 2: for Ron Roberts.
[13:21] Speaker 3: A whole new defensive staff now under Ryan Silverfield. They
[13:25] Speaker 3: went really hard after the transfer portal. They brought over
[13:29] Speaker 3: a bunch of defensive starters.
[13:31] Speaker 1: So it's rebuild.
[13:32] Speaker 3: It hurts if you're an Arkansas fan that it's another
[13:34] Speaker 3: rebuild from scratch on defense. And you know, I jotted
[13:38] Speaker 3: down a couple of games here that I think are
[13:40] Speaker 3: are sort of emblematic of where Arkansas has been on
[13:43] Speaker 3: defense over these last couple of years. But I think
[13:46] Speaker 3: what's most frustrating, and we've heard this time and again,
[13:48] Speaker 3: you know this from people who have written in Michael included,
[13:52] Speaker 3: whenever you're kind of trapped in that purgatory of being
[13:55] Speaker 3: a half team where the talent that you're putting out
[13:58] Speaker 3: on offense is genuinely excited genuinely good drafty talent on office.
[14:03] Speaker 2: This is a number one rushing offense in America last
[14:06] Speaker 2: year by certain sort of efficiency metrics.
[14:08] Speaker 3: I believe if memory served, they lost six one score
[14:11] Speaker 3: games and on the season they were outscored m HM.
[14:15] Speaker 3: So they were nothing if not interesting. Also very frustrating
[14:18] Speaker 3: if you're a fan of the Razorbacks. Yeah, I think that.
[14:21] Speaker 2: Part they had not saying they had get off problems. Tie,
[14:24] Speaker 2: you can you can google that. Yeah, the issues getting
[14:27] Speaker 2: off the field us for that one. Yeahah, using cognito mode.
[14:31] Speaker 2: But look, they're they're doing what seemed I mean, they're
[14:34] Speaker 2: bring in forty two new transfers, which is not unusual
[14:36] Speaker 2: with a new coach, and they are they seem to
[14:40] Speaker 2: be turning over every rock looking for answers. Now, if
[14:44] Speaker 2: I can be honest, Tie, because this show is at
[14:47] Speaker 2: least fifty percent Dan, I kind of treasure the fact
[14:50] Speaker 2: that Arkansas has never really had a consistently good defense
[14:54] Speaker 2: because we get consistently could Arkansas games we win or lose,
[14:59] Speaker 2: like you talk about twenty twenty three, that was the
[15:01] Speaker 2: fifty two to fifty fifty two to fifty one loss
[15:04] Speaker 2: to Ole miss Or Lane Kiffin, like on Mike on
[15:08] Speaker 2: camera after the game, was like that just took eight
[15:10] Speaker 2: and a half years off of my life. We get
[15:13] Speaker 2: those kinds of games, which is why I like to
[15:15] Speaker 2: say Arkansas is the most college football team in college football.
[15:18] Speaker 2: So selfishly, I kind of love that Arkansas never really
[15:22] Speaker 2: has a defense because they make for great TV. But
[15:24] Speaker 2: if I were an Arkansas fan, I would be losing
[15:26] Speaker 2: my absolute mind. So I get.
[15:27] Speaker 1: It wasn't there. There was a game in there where.
[15:31] Speaker 3: I guess two years ago now, the old Miss Arkansas
[15:35] Speaker 3: game where Ole Miss almost got the seven hundred yards
[15:37] Speaker 3: of offense.
[15:38] Speaker 2: That's what I'm talking about. That was twenty twenty three.
[15:40] Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, that was a game crazy back, like five
[15:43] Speaker 3: hundred yards.
[15:44] Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, all right, good question for Michael.
[15:49] Speaker 3: Hopefully things turn around for the Arkansas defense, but it
[15:53] Speaker 3: has definitely been a bit of an uphill climb here.
[15:56] Speaker 2: What was the old CJ McCollum tweet where somebody tweeted
[16:00] Speaker 2: at him that they were like they just can't get
[16:03] Speaker 2: over the hump and CJ McCollum responded to the woman
[16:06] Speaker 2: with like, I'm trying Jennifer, So Arkansas is trying Jennifer Okay.
[16:12] Speaker 1: They are.
[16:13] Speaker 3: They are, and I mean the time was right. The
[16:15] Speaker 3: time was right to move away from Sam Pittman. I
[16:17] Speaker 3: think they like Sam Pittman. I think that's part of
[16:20] Speaker 3: what made it so difficult, But the time was right.
[16:23] Speaker 1: I don't know. Silverfield's the guy.
[16:24] Speaker 3: It seems as if, at least initially he won over
[16:27] Speaker 3: some of the donor class. But gotta see what he
[16:30] Speaker 3: can do out there. He's obviously been very successful in
[16:31] Speaker 3: his time at Memphis.
[16:32] Speaker 2: So Jennifer said, win a playoff game, then talk, and
[16:38] Speaker 2: CJ McCollums says, I'm trying, Jennifer.
[16:41] Speaker 1: I'm trying Jennifer. So Arkansas is trying Jennifer, continue me,
[16:44] Speaker 1: gimme this sound. Give me Tom.
[16:45] Speaker 2: Where are you?
[16:47] Speaker 1: Where you want to go next?
[16:49] Speaker 2: I don't know where do you want to go next?
[16:51] Speaker 2: You want to go to one of your teams you
[16:53] Speaker 2: want to go to? I mean Georgia Tech has that
[16:54] Speaker 2: similar issue, but they're also trying Jennifer. Matthew talks about
[16:59] Speaker 2: Georgia Tech and defense. They had the advantage for a
[17:04] Speaker 2: long time of playing a very defense friendly system with
[17:08] Speaker 2: the option because they were able to possess the ball
[17:10] Speaker 2: so much. The transition went horribly with Jeff Collins. They
[17:15] Speaker 2: found their dude a couple of years ago at defensive
[17:18] Speaker 2: coordinator and they took strides and then what the new
[17:21] Speaker 2: one is Blake Gideon as of last year, and you
[17:26] Speaker 2: got sort of shelled by the end of the season.
[17:30] Speaker 2: But the thing I like about the potential of Georgia Tech,
[17:34] Speaker 2: and we'll see what happens with a new offensive coordinator
[17:37] Speaker 2: and a new quarterback this season, is they have still
[17:40] Speaker 2: played a ball control friendly system. They've run the ball
[17:45] Speaker 2: very well, They've converted in big moments very well because
[17:49] Speaker 2: of how savvy Haines King has been at quarterback. But
[17:53] Speaker 2: playing where they play, even with the advantage of playing
[17:56] Speaker 2: in Georgia and maybe some of the disadvantages of Georgia tech'sdemics,
[18:01] Speaker 2: that they haven't been able to build up a really
[18:04] Speaker 2: strong defense over the years. Even in the ACC They've
[18:08] Speaker 2: really struggled to find depth and game changers to the
[18:12] Speaker 2: point where you know, if the offense is off, that
[18:14] Speaker 2: they can win a game fourteen twelve or something, right,
[18:17] Speaker 2: and that that just hasn't been Georgia Tech in a
[18:20] Speaker 2: long time.
[18:21] Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you buried the lead a little bit here.
[18:23] Speaker 3: Matthew said, Georgia Tech, which ef in shade of gold
[18:26] Speaker 3: to wear and use.
[18:27] Speaker 1: Oh yeah, well, and then also.
[18:29] Speaker 3: Defense, I'm surprised you didn't lead with the uniform thing, but.
[18:33] Speaker 2: I just know you'd have troubles with, you know, different
[18:35] Speaker 2: shades of color, so I didn't want to lean on
[18:37] Speaker 2: you for that part of the conversation.
[18:39] Speaker 1: I don't do color. Yeah, that's not my thing.
[18:42] Speaker 3: That was one of the conditions of the marriage. Here
[18:44] Speaker 3: Kate gets to pick all the colors. And okay, you
[18:46] Speaker 3: know I can handle cleaning out dreams and things of
[18:49] Speaker 3: that nature. But yeah, all right, let's go to another
[18:53] Speaker 3: one here.
[18:53] Speaker 2: You know, Georgia Tech thoughts, No, we just acknowledge their pain.
[18:57] Speaker 1: Well, I feel it.
[18:59] Speaker 3: I mean, Georgia Tech's been one of the more interesting
[19:02] Speaker 3: stories to follow, I think from this chair over the
[19:04] Speaker 3: last couple of years under Brent Key, especially in Haines
[19:07] Speaker 3: King another Haines in the backfield this year, by the way,
[19:10] Speaker 3: that's true, and I saw that Justice Justice Haines this
[19:14] Speaker 3: time around. But yeah, I mean, it's been cool to
[19:18] Speaker 3: watch that program get better, and it feels like it's
[19:22] Speaker 3: taken forever for them to switch systems and be successful
[19:26] Speaker 3: from the old Paul Johnson era where they were running
[19:28] Speaker 3: the option to however many years it took to get
[19:31] Speaker 3: to where they're at now, which is like they're a
[19:33] Speaker 3: legitimate ACC contender.
[19:36] Speaker 1: At least they have.
[19:37] Speaker 3: Been over the last two seasons. We'll see where it
[19:39] Speaker 3: goes this year. But that has been a fun arc
[19:42] Speaker 3: I think to track. But the defensive side of things
[19:45] Speaker 3: has definitely left us all a bit wanting.
[19:47] Speaker 2: Matthew included, it wasn't It didn't take a terrible step
[19:50] Speaker 2: back by the way this past season. I mean, the
[19:53] Speaker 2: offense was very good once again, eighty third in defensive
[19:57] Speaker 2: points per drive allowed in Tyler Santucci's year two years ago,
[20:01] Speaker 2: seventy ninth the two so relative to the sport. But
[20:05] Speaker 2: if there is something, and look george Tech inarguably its
[20:08] Speaker 2: biggest game, not biggest, but against its best opponent arguably
[20:12] Speaker 2: last year against Georgia showed up. The Georgia Tech defense
[20:14] Speaker 2: played well. It was a low scoring game. They had
[20:17] Speaker 2: opportunities to win a game like that and it didn't happen.
[20:21] Speaker 2: So we have seen Georgia Tech flirt with dramatic improvement.
[20:26] Speaker 2: It just doesn't seem to last. And so what they
[20:29] Speaker 2: do moving forward now with what it's Alberto Mendoza breaks
[20:32] Speaker 2: over this offense and perhaps adds more of a passing
[20:35] Speaker 2: threat with his time in a more pass happy offense. TBD.
[20:41] Speaker 2: We'll see what Georgia Tech actually has out wide. But
[20:43] Speaker 2: I think the recruiting has been pretty good and obviously
[20:46] Speaker 2: they've built out the offensive line up front, so I
[20:50] Speaker 2: think there's reason for optimism. But there is still a
[20:53] Speaker 2: lot new at Georgia Tech, so I'm hopeful.
[20:56] Speaker 1: By the way.
[20:57] Speaker 3: Yeah, speaking of Alberto Mendoza, please Alberta Mendoza.
[21:02] Speaker 1: Transfers down from Indiana.
[21:04] Speaker 3: He transfers down from Indiana because Josh Hoover is transferring
[21:07] Speaker 3: up to Indiana from TCU. And though I haven't seen
[21:10] Speaker 3: the full clip, you sent it to.
[21:12] Speaker 1: Me earlier that.
[21:15] Speaker 3: That Sonny Dike's went on a podcast and mentioned something
[21:18] Speaker 3: to the effect of, yeah, Josh Hoover played thirty one
[21:20] Speaker 3: games for US and turned the ball over forty two times.
[21:23] Speaker 2: Yeah. To be clear, I have not seen the full
[21:26] Speaker 2: clip of I just that was what was isolated, and
[21:30] Speaker 2: I would assume there's probably some version of like, we're
[21:33] Speaker 2: so grateful for all of the time that Josh Hoover
[21:35] Speaker 2: spent here. You know, there are always pluses and minuses
[21:38] Speaker 2: with every but maybe maybe he qualified that he did
[21:42] Speaker 2: note and he didn't say like he said, didn't say
[21:46] Speaker 2: he started with we turn he goes, he turned the
[21:49] Speaker 2: ball over, he corrected himself. Should mention with Georgia Tech
[21:56] Speaker 2: in terms of what we perceive the offenses might be
[22:00] Speaker 2: this season that Georgia Tech faces. It's not horrible. No Colorado, Tennessee,
[22:07] Speaker 2: Tennessee che have good offense, Yeah, Stanford, Duke, Virginia Tech,
[22:11] Speaker 2: Boston College, pitt Louisville, louisvilleche have a pretty good offense. Clemson,
[22:15] Speaker 2: who knows, Wake needs work. And Georgia should be good.
[22:19] Speaker 2: There's not a ton like. It's very easy to say
[22:22] Speaker 2: in late March, but in terms of obvious killers, this
[22:27] Speaker 2: could be a year in which Georgia Tech has like
[22:29] Speaker 2: the fifty third best defense and is really still around seventy.
[22:34] Speaker 2: So you know, there's some some wiggle room for improvement,
[22:36] Speaker 2: even if the opponent offenses aren't as crazy, you know, dynamic.
[22:42] Speaker 1: Give me Tom, play Tom.
[22:44] Speaker 2: Where are you all right? What are we looking for?
[22:46] Speaker 1: Let's talk about Miszoo.
[22:48] Speaker 3: We got two here, one from man DT another from Davis.
[22:53] Speaker 3: Davis says, sometimes, and I mean usually, Drinkwitz gives late
[22:58] Speaker 3: game James Franklin, and I think it gets masked by
[23:02] Speaker 3: the other team's mistakes more often than not. It's partially
[23:05] Speaker 3: why he can't win the big game so far, and
[23:07] Speaker 3: I don't see that changing. DT adds Miszoo needs to
[23:12] Speaker 3: get the ball to their best players. They have not
[23:14] Speaker 3: figured out how to do that. So there are also
[23:17] Speaker 3: some mind bending stats about Eli Drinkwitz, who is getting
[23:23] Speaker 3: paid a ton, is going to be at Miszoo for
[23:26] Speaker 3: I think a good long time. They certainly wanted to
[23:29] Speaker 3: keep him. He has definitely helped build that program up.
[23:32] Speaker 3: A lot of that stuff is all very very positive
[23:35] Speaker 3: about drink but the late game James Franklin thing is
[23:40] Speaker 3: worth mentioning, as is the fact that I did not
[23:43] Speaker 3: realize this. He is one in twelve in his career
[23:48] Speaker 3: at Miszoo against SMP plus top ten teams.
[23:53] Speaker 1: That is a.
[23:54] Speaker 3: Nearly eight percent winning percentage against SMP plus top ten teams.
[24:03] Speaker 3: That is worse than Gary Pinkel, who was four and
[24:06] Speaker 3: twenty five at time of recording. Eli Drinkwitz is also
[24:11] Speaker 3: just seven and nineteen versus ranked teams at the time
[24:15] Speaker 3: of the game, so ranked at the time. That is
[24:18] Speaker 3: from our friends over at rock m Nation. I was
[24:19] Speaker 3: going through an article a little bit before we hit
[24:21] Speaker 3: go here. So the one thing I will say that
[24:25] Speaker 3: sort of undercuts the whole late game James Franklin thing.
[24:30] Speaker 3: In one score games, he hasn't been horrible sixty percentage.
[24:35] Speaker 2: If we've had weird freak losses, we had weird freakm
[24:39] Speaker 2: necessarily on him.
[24:40] Speaker 3: But yes, I've had some weird freak losses for sure.
[24:44] Speaker 3: I don't think it's quite apples to apples. And I
[24:47] Speaker 3: like the fact that Drink has built Miszoo into a
[24:50] Speaker 3: consistent winner. He has a winning record in the SEC,
[24:55] Speaker 3: the best home record in program history, and they've got
[24:59] Speaker 3: a contract with him now through Your of Our Lord
[25:02] Speaker 3: twenty thirty one, so they're clearly happy with what he
[25:05] Speaker 3: has done there. But I do think there is a
[25:07] Speaker 3: comparison to be made, not necessarily with the late game
[25:12] Speaker 3: James Franklin's side of this, but there is this sense
[25:15] Speaker 3: of how do we get over the hump? How do
[25:19] Speaker 3: we get over the hump? Because the talent's there, right,
[25:22] Speaker 3: They've got talent. Maybe it's partially what DT brought up
[25:27] Speaker 3: about trying to figure out a way to get the
[25:28] Speaker 3: ball to your best players, Like Luther Burden's production dropped
[25:33] Speaker 3: significantly from one year to the next, and that was
[25:36] Speaker 3: like an ongoing thing of like, where's Luther Burden?
[25:39] Speaker 1: Why can't we get him the ball more?
[25:40] Speaker 3: But beyond that, I just think Maszoo is sort of
[25:45] Speaker 3: trapped in this weird gray area between being really good
[25:49] Speaker 3: and a perennial contender and being just like sort of
[25:54] Speaker 3: above average eight and four in a really good conference,
[25:57] Speaker 3: and notable because they can always sneak up and get
[25:59] Speaker 3: you and because you never know what to expect from
[26:02] Speaker 3: a drink Witz team, But at the same time sort
[26:04] Speaker 3: of frustrating because it just feels like there's a glass ceiling.
[26:07] Speaker 3: Does that compute for you?
[26:09] Speaker 2: It does? There is something that just strikes me as
[26:12] Speaker 2: a little bit off about Miszoo right now. They brought
[26:14] Speaker 2: in thirty transfers right in year six, right he started
[26:19] Speaker 2: and ELI started in a twenty twenty. That feels like
[26:24] Speaker 2: too high a number. That feels like this team should
[26:28] Speaker 2: have more continuity year to year. They could be starting
[26:31] Speaker 2: what eight nine guys who've transferred in on this defense
[26:34] Speaker 2: and defense has not been the issue. Like this Misszoo program,
[26:38] Speaker 2: if nothing else, has had a pretty high floor. Now
[26:41] Speaker 2: in a conference this big, there're gonna be years where
[26:43] Speaker 2: perhaps they win more games than they should because of
[26:46] Speaker 2: a schedule that you're like, oh, you know, the seven
[26:49] Speaker 2: of the eight games they're playing against their teams that
[26:51] Speaker 2: are five hundred or less in the SEC something like that,
[26:55] Speaker 2: they are gonna be those seasons. I feel like they've
[26:57] Speaker 2: had just inconsistent quarterback too often, and you know, Brady
[27:02] Speaker 2: Cook dealing with injuries. For some reason, they brought and
[27:04] Speaker 2: Drew Pine at a certain point into that room.
[27:07] Speaker 1: And for some reason they brought in Drew Pine. Yeah.
[27:09] Speaker 2: Like, if you're going to bring in a backup quarterback
[27:13] Speaker 2: from the broader tie hilden Brent multiverse, yeah, be it
[27:17] Speaker 2: Bo Pribula or Drew Pine, I don't know if your
[27:20] Speaker 2: program's in great shape at this moment. And so that's
[27:22] Speaker 2: the thing. It's quarterback evaluation slash consistency. And I don't
[27:26] Speaker 2: blame Eli drink Witz for health, but offensive line has
[27:29] Speaker 2: been up and down. But look, last year they were
[27:32] Speaker 2: a team that I think was ranked fairly late into
[27:35] Speaker 2: the season, led almost exclusively because they had the SEC's
[27:39] Speaker 2: best running back and a really good defense, and yet
[27:44] Speaker 2: we're still talking about a team that can't do it
[27:47] Speaker 2: for four straight quarters and finish strong against the better
[27:51] Speaker 2: teams on their schedule. And I think a lot of
[27:53] Speaker 2: that is quarterback inconsistency, scheme inconsistently inconsistency. They lose Kirby
[27:59] Speaker 2: Moore and they bring in what Chip lindsay doesn't feel
[28:03] Speaker 2: crazy inspired to me, and I don't know, it just
[28:10] Speaker 2: feels like there's too much rotating in and out in
[28:14] Speaker 2: Como for me to feel good about everybody being on
[28:18] Speaker 2: the same page, practicing like they want to finish these
[28:20] Speaker 2: big games, you know, having the confidence to finish these
[28:23] Speaker 2: big games like they're in positions so often and come
[28:28] Speaker 2: up just short, which kind of tells me that there
[28:31] Speaker 2: is something about confidence in preparation that is not fully
[28:36] Speaker 2: there at MISSOO.
[28:38] Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean so again, maybe not late game James,
[28:42] Speaker 3: but certainly big game James, right would be the comparison here.
[28:46] Speaker 3: If the more I think about this, right, just not
[28:48] Speaker 3: being able to beat the elite teams, that's a ceiling problem.
[28:52] Speaker 3: That's not a closing problem. That's a ceiling problem. We'll see,
[28:56] Speaker 3: I don't know. I like Austin Simmons transfer from Ole Miss.
[29:00] Speaker 2: I do too a little bit.
[29:01] Speaker 3: Last year obviously lost that job Trinidad Chambliss, who who
[29:05] Speaker 3: kind of went off. But you know, if Austin Simmons
[29:08] Speaker 3: hits a Mott, Hardy is back this year, so they
[29:13] Speaker 3: should have. Yeah, I was gonna say, he'll be the
[29:15] Speaker 3: centerpiece of the offense and hopefully take some of the
[29:18] Speaker 3: pressure off Simmons to come in there and be all
[29:20] Speaker 3: rolled everything right away.
[29:21] Speaker 2: They should have the first month or so to figure
[29:25] Speaker 2: things out on offense and look, Kayden Lee amat Hardy
[29:28] Speaker 2: Austin Simmons. If Austin Simmons is the better version of himself,
[29:32] Speaker 2: it seems, should give them a leg up on the
[29:36] Speaker 2: average teams on their schedule. The problem is there are
[29:40] Speaker 2: not too many, especially in that back half. The back
[29:43] Speaker 2: half of the season is A and M at Ole Miss,
[29:45] Speaker 2: Texas at Georgia and Oklahoma just in terms of that,
[29:49] Speaker 2: so they have time to figure it out and work
[29:52] Speaker 2: out some kinks with a new offensive coordinator and you
[29:55] Speaker 2: know a little bit of reshuffling of the offensive line.
[29:57] Speaker 2: But again I go back to like thirty new players
[30:00] Speaker 2: in year six. I don't love that.
[30:03] Speaker 1: Give me tom I want to hear Tommyhaan, where are you?
[30:07] Speaker 2: What are we looking for? And where are we?
[30:08] Speaker 3: This is a longer one from our friend Raoul, who
[30:11] Speaker 3: always has very thoughtful questions, and I wanted to read
[30:14] Speaker 3: this one and I wanted to give it it's due
[30:16] Speaker 3: because I think it's well thought out.
[30:19] Speaker 1: He says.
[30:20] Speaker 3: Florida's biggest issue has not been scheme or any one
[30:24] Speaker 3: position group. It's been institutional lag. Since Urban left, Florida
[30:29] Speaker 3: has struggled administratively in two main ways. First, they have
[30:33] Speaker 3: not pushed hard enough in the gray area where programs
[30:36] Speaker 3: find advantages. Dan has talked about it before how important
[30:40] Speaker 3: it is to understand the gray area of the sport
[30:42] Speaker 3: and exploit it, whether in recruiting, roster management, staffing, or
[30:45] Speaker 3: general ruthlessness required to compete at the top. Florida has
[30:50] Speaker 3: too often seemed reluctant to engage at the level that
[30:52] Speaker 3: the real powers do. Secondly, they have consistently chased yesterday's
[30:58] Speaker 3: problem administratively and hired reactively. They hired well mush Champ
[31:03] Speaker 3: after saban It exposed them late in the urban era.
[31:06] Speaker 3: They hired McElwain after mush Champs offense stalled, and as
[31:10] Speaker 3: Florida was trying to catch up in the facilities arms race,
[31:13] Speaker 3: they hired Mullin to fix scheme just as Alabama, Georgia
[31:17] Speaker 3: and Ohio State were using massive recruiting infrastructures to clean
[31:22] Speaker 3: out the state of Florida of elite talent. And they
[31:25] Speaker 3: gave Napier the giant staff model just as the sport
[31:29] Speaker 3: was shifting towards nil portal economics and GM style roster building.
[31:34] Speaker 1: That has been the pattern.
[31:36] Speaker 2: Florida ninety half other than an offense, of course, other than.
[31:38] Speaker 3: An offense coordinator, right which he would insisted on doing himself. Now,
[31:42] Speaker 3: Florida keeps addressing the last problem right as the sport
[31:46] Speaker 3: moves to the next one, more than any on field issue.
[31:49] Speaker 3: And that is why they have not figured this whole
[31:52] Speaker 3: thing out. Thank you, Raoel, Very good question, good context.
[31:56] Speaker 3: I could not have set it better myself, Rowell, obviously
[31:58] Speaker 3: as a more intimate college of the Gators than both
[32:01] Speaker 3: you and I, but I think that pretty much sums
[32:04] Speaker 3: it up with where they are at right now. And
[32:06] Speaker 3: now they moved on to John Sumrall and we'll see
[32:09] Speaker 3: if that bears any.
[32:10] Speaker 1: Fruit what's interesting to me?
[32:12] Speaker 3: And I mean he kind of talked through it a
[32:13] Speaker 3: little bit here if you want to feel old, Florida
[32:17] Speaker 3: is now on its fifth coach since Urban Meyer Urban
[32:21] Speaker 3: left twenty ten. John Sumrall is now coach number five
[32:25] Speaker 3: in that span of time, just fifteen or sixteen years,
[32:28] Speaker 3: whatever it is, that's a lot. It feels like it's
[32:32] Speaker 3: been an eternity since Florida was more of a mainstay
[32:37] Speaker 3: on the national stage.
[32:39] Speaker 2: Well, okay, look if Florida had been aggressive, I mean, look,
[32:44] Speaker 2: Florida was aggressive and pursued Lane Kiffin and ended up
[32:48] Speaker 2: with John Sumrall. And so they in some ways aren't
[32:52] Speaker 2: looking at Billy Napier's path as something to avoid this
[32:57] Speaker 2: time around because they hired a smaller school coach from
[33:00] Speaker 2: State Louisiana and so it's a similar path. So maybe
[33:03] Speaker 2: they view John Sumrall. I suppose they definitely view John
[33:09] Speaker 2: Sumrall as different enough from a personality and vision standpoint
[33:14] Speaker 2: from Billy Napier to say we are ignoring the similarities
[33:17] Speaker 2: and path because we think there's enough of a difference
[33:20] Speaker 2: in vision and approach that we feel great about hiring
[33:24] Speaker 2: John Sumrall, somebody who obviously was a name that was
[33:29] Speaker 2: interesting to a lot of teams making highers this past offseason.
[33:33] Speaker 2: So there is something about John sumral if he is
[33:37] Speaker 2: the guy what Florida has desperately needed, which I think
[33:41] Speaker 2: Raoul is right about, is not just the right guy
[33:45] Speaker 2: for Florida, but the right guy for understanding college football
[33:50] Speaker 2: in twenty twenty nine, twenty twenty eight. And for Florida,
[33:55] Speaker 2: you're already starting ahead of most people because of location
[33:59] Speaker 2: and because of conference prestige, and because of obviously program prestige.
[34:05] Speaker 2: You're not going all that. You're not going that far
[34:08] Speaker 2: back in time to see a good Florida team. Dan
[34:11] Speaker 2: Mullen made the SEC championship game. So it's restoring the brand,
[34:16] Speaker 2: it's selling the brand. And really it's what Florida has
[34:20] Speaker 2: needed all this time is a true head coach, right
[34:24] Speaker 2: that somebody who has the ability to hire in a
[34:27] Speaker 2: savvy way, somebody able to recruit, somebody able to retain,
[34:31] Speaker 2: somebody able to build culture, so that Florida isn't that
[34:35] Speaker 2: place that is just a turnstile roster wise. Because I've
[34:40] Speaker 2: said this before that at least the currency in the
[34:42] Speaker 2: sport right now seems to be stability, right, so many
[34:45] Speaker 2: dudes are moving around that if you can convince people
[34:49] Speaker 2: to stay and thrive where you are, you're ahead of
[34:53] Speaker 2: basically everybody. Like you're not trying to hire the next
[34:57] Speaker 2: Kurt Signetti. You're trying to hire the next guy who
[35:00] Speaker 2: who can at least approximate some of what Kurt Signetti
[35:03] Speaker 2: has done once he's been at Indiana, because a lot
[35:05] Speaker 2: of that, you know, it's bringing in the right guys,
[35:07] Speaker 2: it's bringing in his guys from James Madison, whatever, it's
[35:11] Speaker 2: John Somemral building Gainesville into a place that's attractive to
[35:14] Speaker 2: the right transfers, but maintaining and establishing a culture at
[35:19] Speaker 2: Florida where people want to stick around and people want
[35:22] Speaker 2: to buy in over the course of and this sounds
[35:24] Speaker 2: crazy to say, two years, right, three years like not
[35:29] Speaker 2: time out a long time, but yeah, I can understand
[35:33] Speaker 2: that from a Florida fans perspective where you're just like
[35:37] Speaker 2: always just a little bit behind, comparing yourself to the
[35:41] Speaker 2: very top of the sport in Georgia, and I guess
[35:44] Speaker 2: now more so Miami in state after having gone to
[35:47] Speaker 2: a national championship game and so it's the patience and
[35:52] Speaker 2: the savvy nature to say we're building this thoughtfully, and
[35:59] Speaker 2: we're going to comute, and we're going to find people
[36:01] Speaker 2: who fit that. I hope it works out for Florida,
[36:05] Speaker 2: because you know, they're the opposite of Arkansas, Like Florida
[36:09] Speaker 2: games have not been consistently fun for a long time. No,
[36:13] Speaker 2: that's my read on it, and I think Rull's onto something.
[36:16] Speaker 3: Yeah, I do too. I mean, I'm hesitant to claim
[36:23] Speaker 3: that I like this hire of John Somemroll. I like
[36:27] Speaker 3: John Sumrall as a coach. I like his track record.
[36:30] Speaker 3: I feel like every time Florida has hired a new coach,
[36:32] Speaker 3: I've come on the air here and said I love
[36:34] Speaker 3: this hire. Right, it is definitely gonna wears a slam dunk.
[36:37] Speaker 3: I was all in on Billy Napier, Dan, I know,
[36:40] Speaker 3: I was all in on Napier, and I wasn't the
[36:42] Speaker 3: only one.
[36:43] Speaker 1: I think a lot of people were.
[36:44] Speaker 3: You know, there were a lot of things to like
[36:45] Speaker 3: about Billy Napier from his previous stops as well. But
[36:52] Speaker 3: it is not fair to John Somerall to compare him
[36:55] Speaker 3: one to one with Billy Napier. They're different guys different.
[36:59] Speaker 3: I guess m's altogether, and I think it's too soon
[37:03] Speaker 3: to say the bigger question. I think now if you're
[37:05] Speaker 3: a Florida fan, and I think we can say this
[37:08] Speaker 3: just from the national level, how to summer all fairs
[37:12] Speaker 3: over these first two maybe three seasons, I think is
[37:15] Speaker 3: going to be compared heads up against what Lane Kiffin
[37:18] Speaker 3: does at LSU, because Kiffen was one of the other
[37:21] Speaker 3: big names that they were at least in the running
[37:23] Speaker 3: for for some period of time.
[37:25] Speaker 2: Yep.
[37:26] Speaker 3: So if Kiffin goes off and starts winning things at LSU,
[37:29] Speaker 3: and if it is a little bit slower to start
[37:31] Speaker 3: up at Florida, I can imagine there'll be some Florida
[37:33] Speaker 3: fans sort of looking in the rear view mirror like
[37:36] Speaker 3: maybe we made a wrong turn back there at the
[37:38] Speaker 3: end of the twenty twenty five season.
[37:40] Speaker 1: That remains to be seen.
[37:42] Speaker 3: I do like what they did via the transfer portal, though,
[37:45] Speaker 3: and I recognize that there's probably more talent going out
[37:49] Speaker 3: than coming in if you make anything of star rankings
[37:52] Speaker 3: and transfer portal star rankings and that type of thing.
[37:55] Speaker 2: But I like that the.
[37:57] Speaker 3: Head of this portal class is too Georgia Tech guys
[38:02] Speaker 3: formerly now Georgia Tech guys and Eric Singleton Junior and
[38:05] Speaker 3: Aaron Filo, and they are reuniting with their offensive coordinator,
[38:09] Speaker 3: Buster Faulkner, who also comes down from Georgia Tech. I
[38:13] Speaker 3: think these are the types of moves that in theory
[38:16] Speaker 3: could be really really interesting because they're not spending a
[38:21] Speaker 3: ton to get the quarterback. You know, we talked through
[38:23] Speaker 3: the Aaron file thing a couple episodes ago. This could
[38:26] Speaker 3: represent and could be sort of a bell Weather for
[38:29] Speaker 3: just being really smart in the transfer portal, getting the
[38:32] Speaker 3: right guys, assembling the right personnel around the scheme and
[38:36] Speaker 3: that sort of thing. Perhaps it's a more responsible approach
[38:39] Speaker 3: than we've seen thus far. I don't think they've been irresponsible,
[38:42] Speaker 3: but to Rale's point, it does feel like they're chasing
[38:44] Speaker 3: ghosts a little bit.
[38:45] Speaker 2: By the way they get ole Miss in an enormous
[38:50] Speaker 2: letdown spot after the LSU spot for ole Miss. Florida
[38:54] Speaker 2: does yep so to to sort of see how John
[38:57] Speaker 2: Summer all starts out. It's Auburn's first SEC games, It's
[39:00] Speaker 2: Florida's first SEC game under John SUMMERL and Alex Golish, respectively.
[39:06] Speaker 2: It's Texas the week after and it's in Austin, but
[39:09] Speaker 2: it's Texas the week after red River. So Florida's situational
[39:14] Speaker 2: plays are not the worst over the course of John
[39:17] Speaker 2: Summerl's first year. But I don't know. I like the
[39:21] Speaker 2: Hires a lot, I really do.
[39:23] Speaker 3: So yeah, and I mean the other thing to monitor,
[39:26] Speaker 3: I think on the Florida front, and then we'll move on.
[39:30] Speaker 3: They do have a GM now that's also former GM,
[39:33] Speaker 3: and Dave Caldwell, who was doing his thing for a
[39:36] Speaker 3: while in the NFL, was formerly the general manager for
[39:39] Speaker 3: the Jags for you know, a couple of seasons, was
[39:43] Speaker 3: most recently with the Eagles for a couple of seasons
[39:45] Speaker 3: as one of the executives just.
[39:48] Speaker 1: Next door to me.
[39:49] Speaker 3: So we'll see what they can do now with that
[39:51] Speaker 3: guy in place. Obviously, the sport has moved in that direction.
[39:55] Speaker 3: The cautionary tale, though, is that they have paid out
[39:57] Speaker 3: forty six million dollars or something in the neighborhood in buyouts,
[40:02] Speaker 3: So they need to get try and get past that
[40:05] Speaker 3: if they want to move forward.
[40:06] Speaker 2: Here, yep, next team, give me Tom, what are we
[40:11] Speaker 2: looking for?
[40:13] Speaker 1: Let's go to Oregon.
[40:15] Speaker 2: Oh you want to go to Oregon. Okay, a couple
[40:18] Speaker 2: of answers.
[40:19] Speaker 3: I'm gonna leave out the part about Nike. Okay, Okay,
[40:23] Speaker 3: that's fine, but I will go to the pot the
[40:25] Speaker 3: spot here from Dan the follies of youth.
[40:30] Speaker 2: M I don't hate this, the.
[40:31] Speaker 3: Follies of youth. Dan Lanning needs more experience managing situations
[40:36] Speaker 3: and staff that only come in time. Well Stein was
[40:41] Speaker 3: also young, and you saw it every time he got
[40:43] Speaker 3: cute with play calls or did not adjust quick enough
[40:46] Speaker 3: when things like Indiana's pass rush just kept coming. So
[40:50] Speaker 3: the broader theme here I would say with Dan Lanning
[40:54] Speaker 3: is we all know Oregon's good agreed, Yeah, agreed, agree,
[41:00] Speaker 3: perennially now a contender both in the conference and in
[41:03] Speaker 3: the College Football Playoff. I think that goes without saying
[41:06] Speaker 3: the talent is there. They have recruited at an elite level.
[41:09] Speaker 3: It is clearly a transfer portal destination, at least in
[41:12] Speaker 3: terms of talent acquisition. Oregon has done everything right. The
[41:15] Speaker 3: next step now for Oregon is not even winning more games, right.
[41:19] Speaker 3: They're winning a lot of games already. It is winning
[41:21] Speaker 3: the biggest games is winning some of those rematches that
[41:24] Speaker 3: they have found themselves in and it is obviously advancing
[41:27] Speaker 3: a little bit deeper in the playoff. Now they went
[41:28] Speaker 3: to the semi final. It's pretty good, right, It was
[41:31] Speaker 3: a good season. They ran into a buzzsaw. We know
[41:34] Speaker 3: this Indiana killed everybody for the most part this season,
[41:37] Speaker 3: So I don't even think it's a black eye to
[41:40] Speaker 3: lose that game. But I understand the question because if
[41:43] Speaker 3: you're an Oregon fan, certainly if you're a Phil Knight
[41:46] Speaker 3: watching the progress of this team, it feels like every
[41:49] Speaker 3: year gets a little bit closer. I'd imagine if you
[41:52] Speaker 3: are Dan Rubinstein, you're wondering, all right, well, when is
[41:54] Speaker 3: when are we finally going to get over this hump
[41:56] Speaker 3: and get back into a national championship game and actually wins.
[42:00] Speaker 3: They have something to show for all of this time
[42:03] Speaker 3: and energy and resources that.
[42:04] Speaker 1: Have been poured into this football program.
[42:06] Speaker 3: So I get the question. I'm curious to get your
[42:08] Speaker 3: reaction to it.
[42:09] Speaker 2: Yeah. From a micro I think it's there's no position
[42:14] Speaker 2: group that jumps out at me other than maybe linebacker
[42:18] Speaker 2: that I feel like they've developed and found via portal.
[42:23] Speaker 2: Enough dudes who've been drafted high, who've been big time contributors.
[42:27] Speaker 2: Excuse me, that's just a throat clear to be clear. Yeah,
[42:31] Speaker 2: linebacker has been the one place and you look at
[42:34] Speaker 2: the Ohio State the second Ohio State game from two
[42:36] Speaker 2: years ago, the way that those dudes were exploited both
[42:39] Speaker 2: in the run and passing games with big plays. They've
[42:44] Speaker 2: They've had weird circumstances, but everybody has weird circumstances. It
[42:48] Speaker 2: was particularly weird this year with both coordinators accepting power
[42:52] Speaker 2: for head coaching jobs ahead of the College Football Playoff
[42:56] Speaker 2: and the travel and distraction and basically two full time
[43:00] Speaker 2: jobs at the same time, ahead of some of Oregon's
[43:03] Speaker 2: biggest games. That's a big deal. But it's Oregon trying
[43:08] Speaker 2: to navigate what everybody's trying to navigate, which is a
[43:11] Speaker 2: chaotic December and January for literally every team either playing
[43:15] Speaker 2: or trying to build a roster to someday play in
[43:17] Speaker 2: January once again. So yeah, that's really what it is.
[43:21] Speaker 2: It's if there's anything nagging at Oregon, Oregon since joining
[43:24] Speaker 2: the Big Ten twenty six and three, seventeen and one
[43:29] Speaker 2: in Big Ten games, so we're really nitpicking. I know
[43:33] Speaker 2: that I may lose in non impressive fashion to excellent
[43:38] Speaker 2: teams in January, and if I'm gonna come up with
[43:41] Speaker 2: condescending nicknames for other coaches and other teams, maybe we
[43:45] Speaker 2: start calling it January. I don't know, ty.
[43:48] Speaker 3: Look, Dan Lanning has won ten games, twelve games, thirteen games,
[43:54] Speaker 3: and thirteen games in his time in his four seasons
[43:58] Speaker 3: at Oregon, he is a total forty eight and eight.
[44:01] Speaker 1: That is very very good.
[44:03] Speaker 2: He is far and away. He is Katie Ledeki the
[44:07] Speaker 2: field in terms of the best young college football coach. Right,
[44:12] Speaker 2: is there any other name that is in that conversation
[44:15] Speaker 2: in terms of like guys under forty or forty two?
[44:17] Speaker 1: Freeman's in there.
[44:19] Speaker 3: He hasn't won as many games, but Freeman's in that
[44:22] Speaker 3: conversation as well. But there's a reason everybody wants Dan Lanning.
[44:28] Speaker 2: Yeah, anytime big is not fully led decied, okay, fair.
[44:32] Speaker 3: Yeah, but anytime there is an opening, there is a
[44:34] Speaker 3: reason that Landing and Freeman are in that conversation.
[44:37] Speaker 1: Everybody wants them.
[44:38] Speaker 3: They're young guys, they're dogged recruiters, and they're clearly having
[44:42] Speaker 3: a lot of success. So I think that stands for something.
[44:46] Speaker 3: I would also add, I know it doesn't necessarily translate
[44:49] Speaker 3: to wins on the field to playoff victories to national
[44:53] Speaker 3: championships or anything like that. But I I think the
[44:56] Speaker 3: fact that somebody like a Dylan Royola or before him,
[44:59] Speaker 3: Dante or would be willing to transfer to Oregon knowing
[45:02] Speaker 3: full well they're going to city year, right, I think
[45:05] Speaker 3: that is that is meaningful with where that program is
[45:09] Speaker 3: at right now. That is meaningful in terms of culture.
[45:12] Speaker 3: That is meaningful in terms of what Oregon represents to
[45:15] Speaker 3: some of the young talent out there that.
[45:17] Speaker 1: Just wants to go.
[45:18] Speaker 3: But this is almost atypical if you think about college football,
[45:22] Speaker 3: with where we're at now with the sport, Guys are
[45:24] Speaker 3: not transferring elsewhere to go and sit. We've seen it
[45:28] Speaker 3: now with two really high profile quarterback prospects doing it
[45:33] Speaker 3: in you know, almost consecutive cycles to go and sit
[45:36] Speaker 3: behind somebody else, wait their turn, learn, and then hopefully
[45:40] Speaker 3: come out there and thrive. So that stands for something,
[45:43] Speaker 3: and I think it's really symbolic for what Landing has built.
[45:46] Speaker 3: They will win something on the national stage before long.
[45:49] Speaker 3: I feel very confident in saying that. But I understand
[45:53] Speaker 3: the question, you know, I understand.
[45:55] Speaker 1: It for sure.
[45:55] Speaker 2: I think the youth thing is interesting because when you
[45:58] Speaker 2: look at his assistance as well. Though. That's where like
[46:01] Speaker 2: when they played against Ohio State and Ohio State has, however,
[46:04] Speaker 2: millions of dollars poured into Chip Kelly and Jim Knowles,
[46:07] Speaker 2: who have seen it all right, They've responded to every
[46:12] Speaker 2: kind of chess move thrown against their offense or their defense,
[46:16] Speaker 2: whereas Oregon is throwing out Will Stein and Tosh Lupoy
[46:20] Speaker 2: and Chris Hampton, like these are guys that are I
[46:23] Speaker 2: don't know if any of them are forty five, if
[46:26] Speaker 2: not forty two whatever, like these are young like so
[46:29] Speaker 2: that that would be the thing to me. I think
[46:31] Speaker 2: of all their assistants, maybe it's only their defensive line
[46:33] Speaker 2: coach who's a little bit older and Tony Tuioti, so
[46:36] Speaker 2: like there would be something to me, And they obviously
[46:39] Speaker 2: didn't do it this past offseason when Tosh Lupoy left
[46:42] Speaker 2: for the cow job. Where they do go after Ron
[46:45] Speaker 2: Roberts or Phil Snow or one of those, I don't
[46:48] Speaker 2: know what kind of role if it's a full defensive
[46:49] Speaker 2: coordinator or co DC where you just say I want
[46:53] Speaker 2: that encyclopedia on my or in my booth, on my
[46:57] Speaker 2: sideline whatever, and it's a young man's game. It's a
[47:00] Speaker 2: young man's grind. I get why they're doing what they're
[47:02] Speaker 2: doing again, twenty six and three since joining the Big Ten.
[47:05] Speaker 2: They're doing something right. But in that very specific spot,
[47:10] Speaker 2: I wouldn't hate that, like grizzled dude wearing a headset
[47:13] Speaker 2: and like, Okay, I see what they're going for. These
[47:17] Speaker 2: have traditionally been my six and a half answers for that.
[47:20] Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know, And you know, I even failed
[47:23] Speaker 3: to mention that Dante Mor decided he wanted to forego
[47:26] Speaker 3: the NFL draft. Yeah, this is true and stick around.
[47:28] Speaker 3: So it's not just a guy transferring in to wait.
[47:31] Speaker 3: It is also some Now there's financial incentive for doing that,
[47:35] Speaker 3: of course, but there's a pretty good chance that Dante
[47:37] Speaker 3: Mor could have been the first quarterback off the board.
[47:40] Speaker 3: Even with Fernando Mendoz's success. There was a lot of
[47:43] Speaker 3: hype around Dante more leaving and potentially being a top
[47:47] Speaker 3: five pick at worst. The fact that he would want
[47:49] Speaker 3: to come back and I think he made the right
[47:50] Speaker 3: decision also speaks volumes about what they're building. So look,
[47:55] Speaker 3: the recruiting is there. Clearly it's a portal destination. They're
[47:59] Speaker 3: right there. Every year they are right there. They're going
[48:01] Speaker 3: to be right there again this year. It's a loaded roster,
[48:04] Speaker 3: so they'll happen more than enough opportunities this coming season.
[48:07] Speaker 2: Can I ask you about a school that nobody has
[48:09] Speaker 2: mentioned unless you have anything else to say about Oregon,
[48:11] Speaker 2: no goohead If you had to diagnose what ales Texas
[48:16] Speaker 2: fans about their program under Steve Sarkisian where the talent
[48:22] Speaker 2: acquisition has been strong to very strong, that they've spent
[48:27] Speaker 2: on coordinators obviously Pete Kwaikowski didn't work out for whatever reason,
[48:30] Speaker 2: they bring in Will must Champ. That the offense, when
[48:35] Speaker 2: working well, has been balanced and developed NFL players at
[48:39] Speaker 2: a bunch of different position groups, that they've had high
[48:42] Speaker 2: profile quarterbacks, that they've had all American caliber players on defense?
[48:47] Speaker 2: What is it about Texas that you feel like their
[48:50] Speaker 2: fans are still searching for despite the huge steps forward
[48:55] Speaker 2: that sark has taken there.
[48:58] Speaker 3: It feels to me, and I'm just being a bit
[49:01] Speaker 3: of a prisoner of the moment here based on what
[49:02] Speaker 3: we saw this past season, but it feels to me
[49:06] Speaker 3: like they have not been able to sync up at
[49:09] Speaker 3: least on the same.
[49:10] Speaker 1: Level both sides. Of the football.
[49:12] Speaker 3: Okay, you know, because like this year, just as the
[49:15] Speaker 3: offense and specifically arch Manning was coming into his own,
[49:18] Speaker 3: we saw the defense take a step back.
[49:22] Speaker 1: You know.
[49:23] Speaker 3: The year before that, the defense was incredible, but offensively
[49:29] Speaker 3: it was inconsistency that we saw from guys like Quinn Ewers,
[49:33] Speaker 3: and so it just feels to me like they've been
[49:35] Speaker 3: a bit out of sync. The talent acquisition's been there,
[49:38] Speaker 3: and it was there again this offseason with what they
[49:41] Speaker 3: did in the transfer portal. I mean, they are another
[49:43] Speaker 3: team that seems loaded for bear coming into twenty twenty six.
[49:47] Speaker 3: So they're not that far off, right, not even close
[49:50] Speaker 3: to being far off. I mean, this is a team
[49:52] Speaker 3: that's going to be right there again. But being slightly
[49:57] Speaker 3: out of sync in a gauntlet like the SEC, yeah,
[50:02] Speaker 3: gives you ample opportunities to drop games. And I just
[50:06] Speaker 3: feel like Texas has been very, very good, and even
[50:10] Speaker 3: when you look at the advanced stats and things of
[50:12] Speaker 3: that nature, we're not talking about a catastrophically bad performance
[50:16] Speaker 3: on either side of the football. They're right there, they're fine,
[50:20] Speaker 3: but it's just momentary lapses, the inability to be fully
[50:26] Speaker 3: synced up the full year through I think has really
[50:29] Speaker 3: been in their crawl.
[50:31] Speaker 2: I think that's all reasonable. The thing that I would add,
[50:34] Speaker 2: and it has not played Texas as much recently because
[50:39] Speaker 2: they've come away with wins. But you look at early
[50:42] Speaker 2: on in Sark's tenure in the Big Twelve, and then
[50:45] Speaker 2: maybe you look at a little bit last year. I
[50:48] Speaker 2: don't know if you have the Kramer TCB sound, Yeah,
[50:52] Speaker 2: well I have.
[50:53] Speaker 1: That's a lot of potatoes. Can we use that?
[50:55] Speaker 2: It's TCB taking care of business that one? But that's okay,
[50:58] Speaker 2: I'll dig it out, keep going. It does make the
[51:00] Speaker 2: show any better better arguably, it might even make it worse. Sure,
[51:05] Speaker 2: there seems to be something about Texas in those not
[51:09] Speaker 2: really trap games, but there is not a sharpness to
[51:13] Speaker 2: Texas week in and week out. Now, winning is better
[51:16] Speaker 2: than losing, win your clunkers, et cetera, et cetera. But
[51:19] Speaker 2: you look at last year, the Kentucky game, the Mississippi
[51:22] Speaker 2: State game, even the sloppiness early on in the non
[51:24] Speaker 2: conference schedule. I'm not talking about Ohio State because everybody's
[51:28] Speaker 2: going to struggle against Ohio State's twenty twenty five defense,
[51:32] Speaker 2: but you know, you look at early on and the
[51:34] Speaker 2: games they would lose, you know, the first year with
[51:36] Speaker 2: like I want to say, was Iowa State and losing
[51:41] Speaker 2: to Texas Tech in that overtime game. Where Texas has
[51:44] Speaker 2: more talent, Texas has more ways to win. But I
[51:48] Speaker 2: don't know if it's a preparation thing. I don't know,
[51:49] Speaker 2: if it's an emotion thing. I don't know, if it's
[51:51] Speaker 2: a focus thing. I don't know if it's a teaching thing.
[51:54] Speaker 2: There still seems to be a little bit of residue
[51:58] Speaker 2: from the Big twelve tenure portion of you know, Sark's
[52:01] Speaker 2: career of Like, is this team locked in every week
[52:05] Speaker 2: under Sark? I thought in twenty three and twenty four
[52:08] Speaker 2: they obviously did a better job of that going to Alabama,
[52:11] Speaker 2: But that's not the kind of game I'm talking about. Like,
[52:13] Speaker 2: are they up for the fifth most difficult game, the
[52:16] Speaker 2: eighth most difficult game on their schedule year in and
[52:19] Speaker 2: year out, That to me would still not at me
[52:22] Speaker 2: because now the sixth most dangerous game on their schedule
[52:26] Speaker 2: is more difficult in the SEC than it was in
[52:29] Speaker 2: the Big Twelve. And so especially with Arch having you know,
[52:33] Speaker 2: already been in the system and it was his third
[52:35] Speaker 2: year there in Austin last year like that that still
[52:39] Speaker 2: eats at me a little. If I'm a Texas fan
[52:42] Speaker 2: that you know last year there was you know, look
[52:44] Speaker 2: the secondary injuries, the offensive line was not up to snuff.
[52:47] Speaker 2: But I don't know, they just seemed there was like
[52:50] Speaker 2: this weird every fifth game they were flat and the
[52:55] Speaker 2: flatness would bother me still or early scare me about
[52:59] Speaker 2: Texas moving forward until maybe proven otherwise.
[53:03] Speaker 3: TCB no takeing care of business, Thank you shall deliver.
[53:07] Speaker 2: Hold on, Let's do something real quick here, TCB coal,
[53:12] Speaker 2: I no, no, okay, I.
[53:16] Speaker 3: Tried Baja blast. People seem to like that.
[53:21] Speaker 2: I just a disease of not TCB. TCB coal, I
[53:25] Speaker 2: all right, I'll keep it.
[53:26] Speaker 3: Yeah, now you can keep you can keep workshopping that.
[53:30] Speaker 3: Let's do maybe one or two more. Okay, let's go
[53:34] Speaker 3: to uh, let's go to Michigan.
[53:39] Speaker 2: Okay, there's actually you can spread across a number of teams.
[53:42] Speaker 2: But continue we.
[53:44] Speaker 1: We can.
[53:47] Speaker 3: A lot here on Michigan and the scandal swamp. As
[53:51] Speaker 3: Brington called it, the search for stability, search for stability.
[53:54] Speaker 3: I'm not going to go there with this, but Nicholas, hold.
[53:57] Speaker 2: On, hold on, hold on, hold on, I think it's
[53:59] Speaker 2: worthwhile to least acknowledge even when they were winning big,
[54:03] Speaker 2: this was not a stable place.
[54:06] Speaker 3: It would appear in hindsight that, no, it was.
[54:09] Speaker 2: Not vacuum salesmen, et cetera. Yeah, it would appear I
[54:12] Speaker 2: want to be my vacuum salesman. Yeah.
[54:15] Speaker 3: So Brandon's comment here definitely has some credence. But Nicholas
[54:19] Speaker 3: points out wide receiver. Yeah, wide receiver. Even our best teams,
[54:25] Speaker 3: which have been solid but never great, last year, wide
[54:29] Speaker 3: receiver was an achilles heel until Andrew Marsh broke out.
[54:33] Speaker 3: So he lists a couple of names here, wide receiver
[54:36] Speaker 3: at Michigan.
[54:38] Speaker 1: Gosh.
[54:38] Speaker 3: I remember Michigan teams when I was considerably younger and
[54:43] Speaker 3: had less gray that those teams were pretty awesome in
[54:48] Speaker 3: terms of what they put out there on the on
[54:51] Speaker 3: the outside from the wide receiver position. So, of course,
[54:54] Speaker 3: it feels like it has been a minute since we
[54:58] Speaker 3: got back to that level. I don't know if we
[55:01] Speaker 3: will get there with Kyle Whittingham. It's not necessarily what
[55:04] Speaker 3: Kyle Whittingham is known for, right, but it would certainly
[55:07] Speaker 3: serve them well at this point, given that they've got
[55:11] Speaker 3: Bryce Underwood, they do have. Andrew marsh did have a
[55:14] Speaker 3: good breakout season last year, and it feels like there's
[55:17] Speaker 3: at least enough around him. I know you like some
[55:20] Speaker 3: of what they've done in the transfer.
[55:21] Speaker 1: Portal as well.
[55:23] Speaker 3: So we'll see if that changes at all under Whittingham,
[55:27] Speaker 3: maybe with more of a of a power identity that
[55:30] Speaker 3: could play off that to try and stretch the field.
[55:34] Speaker 3: We'll see what Jason Beck has in store for Bryce Underwood.
[55:37] Speaker 3: But I was thinking back when I saw this comment
[55:40] Speaker 3: from Nicholas and I was like, Damn, that's a good
[55:43] Speaker 3: one that it hadn't really considered.
[55:46] Speaker 2: I couldn't even like, who is the last like Michigan
[55:50] Speaker 2: has had good receivers for stretches? Yeah, who is the
[55:53] Speaker 2: last great Michigan receiver? Is it Braylan Edwards in the
[55:57] Speaker 2: early two thousands, Jeremy, I don't know the answer. They've
[56:04] Speaker 2: had stretch guys, They've had Ronnie Bell. We can have
[56:10] Speaker 2: a Roy Rountree conversation if you really. I don't know
[56:13] Speaker 2: how much we can talk about Roy Roger, but it's
[56:18] Speaker 2: a fair thing, and winning how they did despite that
[56:22] Speaker 2: is something I'm not sure I would look at Michigan's
[56:29] Speaker 2: current receivers room as good as it looks on paper,
[56:33] Speaker 2: and say, all right, who's the guy to fully weaponize
[56:37] Speaker 2: these names? Kyle witting Ham, So yeah, I know, because
[56:46] Speaker 2: I don't think when you look at some of these
[56:48] Speaker 2: schools that have had issues finding and developing receivers, at
[56:52] Speaker 2: least recently, both of your schools, Notre Dame in Penn State.
[56:56] Speaker 2: Penn State has found that guy maybe a little bit
[56:58] Speaker 2: more often recently, and Notre Dame has found those guys
[57:01] Speaker 2: I think more often than Michigan perhaps, But it's it's
[57:06] Speaker 2: not just finding those guys because the position, it's okay,
[57:09] Speaker 2: who's the quarterback, who's the offensive coordinator? How do you
[57:12] Speaker 2: keep these guys engaged if you're running a system that
[57:15] Speaker 2: doesn't feature them a lot, so that when they are engaged,
[57:18] Speaker 2: they're really popping right? Last year was a youth thing
[57:22] Speaker 2: at quarterback and the raw nature of Bryce Underwood going
[57:25] Speaker 2: downfield confidently and some of the turnovers he had, and
[57:30] Speaker 2: I just I wonder if there's a complete package in
[57:34] Speaker 2: place that again as good as these receivers at Michigan
[57:38] Speaker 2: or at Notre Dame or take your pick. Look on paper,
[57:42] Speaker 2: I think CJ. Car is at a better place than
[57:44] Speaker 2: Bryce Underwood, Bryce under Underwar, Bryce Underwood. I keep saying world,
[57:51] Speaker 2: but I just there there are those factors where it's
[57:54] Speaker 2: just like, are we a school, are we a program?
[57:56] Speaker 2: Are we an offense that is going to trust, that
[57:59] Speaker 2: is going to take chances, that is going to get creative?
[58:02] Speaker 2: Or are we going to service our defense? Are we
[58:05] Speaker 2: going to try to establish the ground game, and you know,
[58:07] Speaker 2: at what costs? And so until we see that flip
[58:11] Speaker 2: switched for Michigan, I'm not fully gonna believe it no
[58:15] Speaker 2: matter who the coach is, because they go from two
[58:19] Speaker 2: coaches who wanted to slam into people four and a
[58:23] Speaker 2: half yards at a time, six yards at a time
[58:26] Speaker 2: to another coach who loves destroying teams on the ground
[58:31] Speaker 2: and featuring tight ends. And it's TBD for me. I
[58:37] Speaker 2: hope it works out, but I would imagine this should
[58:39] Speaker 2: still nagget people, even with Andrew Marsh's you know, explosion
[58:43] Speaker 2: at times his freshman year.
[58:46] Speaker 3: Give me Tom, I want to hear Tom again. We're
[58:49] Speaker 3: looking coming up to the end of this episode. You
[58:53] Speaker 3: wanted to, as you said, spread around a couple different schools. Yeah,
[58:57] Speaker 3: what's on your mind here?
[59:00] Speaker 2: Some we talked about Georgia and explosive plays, which the
[59:03] Speaker 2: Georgia thing is interesting to me because they've had good
[59:07] Speaker 2: quarterback play at the very least, if not very good
[59:09] Speaker 2: at times. They've had good receivers two at times very
[59:13] Speaker 2: good receivers. To me, the Georgia thing has been an
[59:16] Speaker 2: offensive coordinator thing that if you were just to list
[59:22] Speaker 2: me a bunch of head coaches in terms of like,
[59:25] Speaker 2: who would you really feel confident in in selecting a
[59:29] Speaker 2: new offensive coordinator, scouring the market to find a guy
[59:33] Speaker 2: who fits, is creative, has good relationships with quarterbacks as
[59:37] Speaker 2: a track history like track record Kirby with Jim Cheney
[59:42] Speaker 2: and James Coley, Mike Bobo again, like the Todd Mounkin thing.
[59:48] Speaker 1: Was awesome, Yeah, but great to your run.
[59:52] Speaker 2: I'm not sure the vision is there for Kirby and saying, Okay,
[59:58] Speaker 2: this is what I want out of my offense. Like
[1:00:02] Speaker 2: he had a five star quarterback commit to him twice
[1:00:04] Speaker 2: this this past cycle and as that ended up at Vandy.
[1:00:09] Speaker 2: I'm not here to question George's excellence. George's excellence is
[1:00:12] Speaker 2: beyond question because all they do is when twelve games
[1:00:16] Speaker 2: a season or whatever, go to the playoff and they're
[1:00:19] Speaker 2: just the top of the sport basically. But there is
[1:00:23] Speaker 2: something with the I think the general vision that would
[1:00:26] Speaker 2: not eat at me if I were a Georgia fan,
[1:00:29] Speaker 2: but sort of, you know, pinch at me.
[1:00:32] Speaker 1: Well, I don't know, you think of.
[1:00:36] Speaker 3: The contrast here between when Monkin was there. I guess
[1:00:40] Speaker 3: I'm thinking specifically of that twenty twenty two campaign where
[1:00:46] Speaker 3: they were crazy explosive, crazy explosive, like over five hundred
[1:00:50] Speaker 3: yards a game explosive. Now to where they are at now,
[1:00:54] Speaker 3: which is the reason we're getting the question, and now
[1:00:57] Speaker 3: bear of mine, Mike Bobo is going to be back
[1:01:00] Speaker 3: twenty twenty six. Bear in mind that it is a
[1:01:04] Speaker 3: receiver room that is to some extent starting over. They
[1:01:07] Speaker 3: lose their most explosive talent out wide in Zachariah Branch.
[1:01:11] Speaker 3: What is this season going to look like? Doesn't mean
[1:01:13] Speaker 3: George is not gonna fine guy. Georgia always finds guys,
[1:01:15] Speaker 3: but how will they utilize them and will they have
[1:01:21] Speaker 3: any more explosion than we have seen as of late.
[1:01:23] Speaker 3: I think that's a key component that they need to
[1:01:26] Speaker 3: add back into that offense if they want to get
[1:01:28] Speaker 3: back on you know, the stage they were on previously
[1:01:31] Speaker 3: where they were beating TCU, you know, sixty five to
[1:01:35] Speaker 3: seven in the Natty, whatever it was. We have seen
[1:01:39] Speaker 3: a pretty big drop off from those days. And I
[1:01:43] Speaker 3: don't know if it's a hiring thing. I don't know
[1:01:45] Speaker 3: if it's a scheme thing. I don't know if it's
[1:01:46] Speaker 3: just the style of offense that Kirby Smart wants to run.
[1:01:49] Speaker 3: But the proof is pretty much in the putting that
[1:01:52] Speaker 3: it's not as good as it was before. And those
[1:01:55] Speaker 3: big plays, gosh, we talked about them time and again. Now,
[1:01:59] Speaker 3: we had Bill on the show last year and I
[1:02:03] Speaker 3: remember asking him that question about the Georgia offense. What
[1:02:07] Speaker 3: is holding this offense back? And almost within a millisecond,
[1:02:12] Speaker 3: Bill responded, offensive line. The line play just hasn't been there. Yeah,
[1:02:17] Speaker 3: And when the line play isn't there and they can't
[1:02:20] Speaker 3: get it going on the ground to the extent that
[1:02:21] Speaker 3: we're used to from a Kirby Smart team, that sort
[1:02:24] Speaker 3: of makes the whole thing breakdown. So maybe if they
[1:02:26] Speaker 3: can get that back on track or at least a
[1:02:30] Speaker 3: little bit more efficient, that could unlock other aspects of
[1:02:33] Speaker 3: that offense. But you know, we've seen it too. We've
[1:02:36] Speaker 3: talked about this for a couple of years running.
[1:02:38] Speaker 2: Yeah, the transfer receivers haven't always been you know, Zachari
[1:02:43] Speaker 2: Branch was great, but behind him, there wasn't a ton
[1:02:46] Speaker 2: of consistent pop. Look obviously not because this was like
[1:02:49] Speaker 2: the one hundred and twenty eighth most explosive offense in
[1:02:52] Speaker 2: America this past year, and they're winning despite that because
[1:02:55] Speaker 2: of really good defensive prowess and because you know, they've
[1:02:58] Speaker 2: been able to just out the yards and they scored
[1:03:01] Speaker 2: in the playoff, they did enough to win that game
[1:03:03] Speaker 2: offensively against Ole Miss. But yeah, that to me is
[1:03:09] Speaker 2: is still a nagging thing with with Georgia. I mean,
[1:03:13] Speaker 2: the last team that I would talk about would just
[1:03:15] Speaker 2: to be full circle. Like if you're a USC fan, it's,
[1:03:19] Speaker 2: I guess, on a positional it's a positional standpoint. It's
[1:03:24] Speaker 2: why are our large dudes not as good as the
[1:03:28] Speaker 2: large the grouping of large dudes for every other good
[1:03:31] Speaker 2: team we play, right that the offensive line just fully
[1:03:39] Speaker 2: doesn't do its job too often. You know, you look
[1:03:41] Speaker 2: at the highlights of Caleb Williams when he was there
[1:03:44] Speaker 2: and how they were eaten alive, and more recent defensive
[1:03:47] Speaker 2: lines giving up what they've given up on the ground
[1:03:49] Speaker 2: and the better in the games against the better teams
[1:03:51] Speaker 2: that they've faced, it looks like they've attacked that pretty well.
[1:03:58] Speaker 2: I mean, there's a ton of experience coming back on
[1:03:59] Speaker 2: both these lines. It should be a strength compared to
[1:04:03] Speaker 2: other parts of their roster. But it's again they have
[1:04:06] Speaker 2: you know, look at who they're playing this year and
[1:04:08] Speaker 2: you know Oregon and Ohio State.
[1:04:10] Speaker 1: It's a tough schedule.
[1:04:11] Speaker 2: It's a tough schedule. They're gonna have to prove it
[1:04:13] Speaker 2: up front basically for the first time on both sides
[1:04:16] Speaker 2: of the ball, and struggled with it last year. And
[1:04:18] Speaker 2: you couple that with their struggles on the road under
[1:04:20] Speaker 2: Lincoln Riley. So it's line play slash road play for USC.
[1:04:26] Speaker 2: That if you're a Trojan fan, there's a ton to
[1:04:30] Speaker 2: be encouraged about past couple of years USC. You look
[1:04:33] Speaker 2: at quarterback development, receiver development, the safeties, how they've developed,
[1:04:39] Speaker 2: but it's still a rotating cast of coaches on defense
[1:04:42] Speaker 2: and another year of like, Okay, it looks like they'll
[1:04:46] Speaker 2: be better upfront. Can they be for twelve straight games?
[1:04:51] Speaker 1: Right?
[1:04:52] Speaker 2: And if I were a USC fan, I wouldn't feel
[1:04:55] Speaker 2: confident until I you know, looked at my tea, watch
[1:05:00] Speaker 2: my TV on like October ninth, something like that.
[1:05:03] Speaker 3: It's from like, it's not frustrating for me as somebody
[1:05:07] Speaker 3: who roots for Notre Dame and certainly rooted against USC
[1:05:12] Speaker 3: in those rivalry games.
[1:05:13] Speaker 1: Now the rivalry's gone, I'm not going to root against USC.
[1:05:16] Speaker 3: Yeah, it is frustrating from afar if I put myself
[1:05:21] Speaker 3: in the shoes of a fan looking at this deef.
[1:05:25] Speaker 3: I have some really good friends who are USC fans,
[1:05:27] Speaker 3: and they are beside themselves that the team isn't better
[1:05:31] Speaker 3: because all we've heard about at least this most recent
[1:05:34] Speaker 3: offseason cycle with recruiting and whatnot, is it's a number
[1:05:38] Speaker 3: one recruiting class, right it was. It was a really
[1:05:41] Speaker 3: good cycle for Lincoln.
[1:05:42] Speaker 2: Riley brought in.
[1:05:43] Speaker 1: A ton of talent.
[1:05:45] Speaker 3: Talent acquisition is not necessarily the issue, but translating that
[1:05:48] Speaker 3: into wins, Translating that into more of a physical brand
[1:05:51] Speaker 3: of football, which they have to play at some point
[1:05:54] Speaker 3: if they want to go anywhere with this that just
[1:05:57] Speaker 3: hasn't been there. We've seen momentary glimpses of it. Dant
[1:06:00] Speaker 3: Linn's first year. I think we saw a pretty big
[1:06:02] Speaker 3: jump on defense, no, but it hasn't been anything that's
[1:06:06] Speaker 3: been super sustainable and definitely not consistent enough that you can.
[1:06:10] Speaker 1: Rely on it.
[1:06:11] Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know what that is.
[1:06:13] Speaker 3: I mean, the common thread is Lincoln Riley, right, and
[1:06:18] Speaker 3: so he definitely has to assume some blame for this.
[1:06:20] Speaker 3: But how you go about fixing that? It seems like
[1:06:23] Speaker 3: it's more nuanced than oh, just bringing more talent, because
[1:06:26] Speaker 3: they've had talent, How do you make this better year
[1:06:28] Speaker 3: in a year out. I'm not going to ACTI likeck
[1:06:31] Speaker 3: I know the answer to that. All I know is
[1:06:33] Speaker 3: we've been covering this story now for what feels like
[1:06:35] Speaker 3: an eternity, and it's not just a Lincoln thing at USC.
[1:06:38] Speaker 3: It goes back to his time in Oklahoma as well,
[1:06:40] Speaker 3: specifically on defense.
[1:06:42] Speaker 2: Yeah. I agree, And look, some of their guys have
[1:06:44] Speaker 2: left and gotten better. Yeah, after they've left USC, right,
[1:06:47] Speaker 2: you look at the two guys who went to Oregon
[1:06:49] Speaker 2: last year and bar Alexander and Emmanuel Pregnan that I
[1:06:54] Speaker 2: don't know what it.
[1:06:55] Speaker 3: Is, and it's so frustrating, especially and you consider the
[1:06:59] Speaker 3: talent that they have an offense. There's part of me
[1:07:02] Speaker 3: that feels bad for guys like Jade mayava m hm.
[1:07:06] Speaker 3: Bad for guys like Cale Williams when he was there,
[1:07:08] Speaker 3: because a lot of it feels like it's on his arm.
[1:07:11] Speaker 3: The running game has, you know, had moments, but we
[1:07:14] Speaker 3: don't necessarily think of USC as being like this behemoth
[1:07:18] Speaker 3: in terms of rushing the football. It's a pass happy
[1:07:21] Speaker 3: offense that is definitely advantageous to quarterbacks, and so it's
[1:07:25] Speaker 3: no shocker that good quarterbacks and.
[1:07:27] Speaker 1: Receivers want to go and play there. They're very, very
[1:07:28] Speaker 1: good at that.
[1:07:29] Speaker 3: Agree, it is maddening to know that there is still
[1:07:33] Speaker 3: something of a half team situation with these Lincoln Riley programs,
[1:07:38] Speaker 3: and if you're root for the team, I you know,
[1:07:40] Speaker 3: again we've been asking this question now for a while.
[1:07:43] Speaker 1: I don't know what the answer is.
[1:07:45] Speaker 2: There's I mean, look, this is this is across the
[1:07:47] Speaker 2: entire sport. If you're a Wisconsin fan, you're like, I'm sorry,
[1:07:50] Speaker 2: we went from being Wisconsin to I don't know what's happening?
[1:07:55] Speaker 2: What is offense? And that quarterback? Every year? Yeah, it's injuries,
[1:08:00] Speaker 2: whether it's coordinators whatever, Like some things you could count
[1:08:04] Speaker 2: on to just be completely automatic and then wake up
[1:08:09] Speaker 2: and it's all gone.
[1:08:10] Speaker 3: I mean, if you went, if you took a straw
[1:08:13] Speaker 3: pole of like a hundred was constant fans. Diehard was
[1:08:17] Speaker 3: constant fans. Yeah, and you told them that if you
[1:08:19] Speaker 3: snap your fingers, you could have Scott Tolzen back on
[1:08:23] Speaker 3: the roster, who I would add when he was in
[1:08:26] Speaker 3: college was not viewed as like a Heisman contender or anything.
[1:08:28] Speaker 3: He was a good serviceable quarterback who was just pretty solid.
[1:08:33] Speaker 2: He was very accurate in an advantageous system for that
[1:08:36] Speaker 2: asked a quarterback to make not easy throws, but relatively
[1:08:41] Speaker 2: conservative throws.
[1:08:42] Speaker 3: Yeah, out of those hundred fans, what percentage of them
[1:08:45] Speaker 3: would say, yep, sign me up, I'll take I'll take
[1:08:47] Speaker 3: him on the one hundred out of a hun even
[1:08:49] Speaker 3: over Colton Joseph, who has a lot of promise, I
[1:08:51] Speaker 3: think it'd be one hundred out of a hundre wouldake
[1:08:53] Speaker 3: Scott TOLZENI.
[1:08:54] Speaker 2: Well, it's it's a question of like, Okay, does he
[1:08:56] Speaker 2: get those offensive lines in front of him, right? Does
[1:08:59] Speaker 2: he get the systems? Does he get those running backs
[1:09:02] Speaker 2: and tight ends? That I guess is the open question.
[1:09:07] Speaker 2: But yes, you you look at some of the Wisconsin
[1:09:11] Speaker 2: quarterbacks who have thrived and other than Russell Wilson. We're
[1:09:14] Speaker 2: not talking about NFL dudes, but we're talking about guys
[1:09:18] Speaker 2: who understood responsibilities, didn't try to play outside of themselves,
[1:09:21] Speaker 2: and leaned on what worked. And it's that first part
[1:09:26] Speaker 2: that has escaped Wisconsin unfortunate, leaning on what works, because
[1:09:30] Speaker 2: nothing seems to be doing so consistently.
[1:09:34] Speaker 1: You got any any other ones on your list?
[1:09:36] Speaker 2: Any other teams that like what specifically? I mean, Look,
[1:09:39] Speaker 2: all of these teams, even the good ones. Oklahoma made
[1:09:43] Speaker 2: the playoff last year. Ask any Oklahoma fan about how
[1:09:45] Speaker 2: happy they are about their offense from last year or
[1:09:48] Speaker 2: what their offensive front moving forward?
[1:09:51] Speaker 1: Right?
[1:09:54] Speaker 2: I don't know, Like you felt great as a Texas
[1:09:56] Speaker 2: Tech fan until the playoff game, and now you're just like, Okay,
[1:10:00] Speaker 2: what does the absolute ceiling of quarterback look like in
[1:10:03] Speaker 2: the most difficult games that Texas Tech could possibly play
[1:10:06] Speaker 2: this year?
[1:10:07] Speaker 1: I don't think.
[1:10:08] Speaker 3: I don't think it's fair to even consider Texas Tech
[1:10:11] Speaker 3: as part of this whole concept.
[1:10:14] Speaker 2: I don't that's fair.
[1:10:15] Speaker 1: I don't think.
[1:10:16] Speaker 3: I don't think it's fair because Texas Tech is and
[1:10:20] Speaker 3: I'm not saying this to be mean to the Texas
[1:10:22] Speaker 3: Tech fans are right in, but they're sort of new
[1:10:26] Speaker 3: to this stage of college football. Texas Tech has been
[1:10:28] Speaker 3: a fun program for an eternity. We've loved Texas Tech
[1:10:31] Speaker 3: on this program, but it's just been very recent that
[1:10:34] Speaker 3: we've been talking about. Texas Tech is a big spender
[1:10:36] Speaker 3: and a legitimate playoff contender. So they had one bad year,
[1:10:40] Speaker 3: one shutout, after a first round by they obviously went out.
[1:10:45] Speaker 3: They spent again. It is clear that they're going to
[1:10:47] Speaker 3: be around. But if we see a recurring trend, then
[1:10:50] Speaker 3: I think we can talk. But I don't think it's
[1:10:52] Speaker 3: fair to ask at this point, like what's the missing piece?
[1:10:56] Speaker 3: Offense has not been the missing piece for the vast
[1:10:58] Speaker 3: majority of the time that we have done this.
[1:10:59] Speaker 1: Shit.
[1:11:00] Speaker 3: Oh, they've been crazy good on offense. It's always been
[1:11:02] Speaker 3: a defensive question. This year it was sort of flipped.
[1:11:05] Speaker 3: We'll see if that continues, or you know, if Brendan
[1:11:08] Speaker 3: Sourzy can give them a little bit more balance on
[1:11:10] Speaker 3: both sides.
[1:11:12] Speaker 2: I think Iowa is still a want to issue. What
[1:11:14] Speaker 2: do you want to do?
[1:11:16] Speaker 1: Iowa?
[1:11:16] Speaker 2: How do you want to do it? Because they can
[1:11:20] Speaker 2: find good tight ends, they can find good offensive linemen,
[1:11:23] Speaker 2: they can find a coordinator, and I think they have
[1:11:25] Speaker 2: found a coordinator who's willing to be creative. They haven't
[1:11:28] Speaker 2: found quarterbacks that have at least given them the confidence
[1:11:32] Speaker 2: to take a bunch of chances downfield consistently. Do they
[1:11:37] Speaker 2: want to? I'm sure they want to in practice. Do
[1:11:41] Speaker 2: they want to? Maybe in actual games in high leverage situations.
[1:11:46] Speaker 2: Then it becomes like, Wow, let's not do that. Let's
[1:11:50] Speaker 2: you know what this reminds me of.
[1:11:51] Speaker 3: And I was thinking about this a little bit too,
[1:11:53] Speaker 3: because I had Iowa jodded downa melist as well. Yeah,
[1:11:56] Speaker 3: what was the last time you played fantasy sports, seriously
[1:11:59] Speaker 3: fantasy sports.
[1:12:02] Speaker 2: Over a decade ago? Probably?
[1:12:04] Speaker 3: What was did you have like a formula, a system,
[1:12:07] Speaker 3: a tendency when it came to picking players or putting
[1:12:11] Speaker 3: your teams together?
[1:12:12] Speaker 1: Because I did.
[1:12:14] Speaker 2: Yeah, I would go for younger players in football, and
[1:12:17] Speaker 2: I would go for receivers that I think were slotted
[1:12:20] Speaker 2: to be like number three type receivers who would get
[1:12:23] Speaker 2: it like You'romani tumor types who get a disproportionate amount
[1:12:26] Speaker 2: of looks maybe because of you know, another receiver on
[1:12:30] Speaker 2: that team getting a ton of attention. Baseball wise, I
[1:12:33] Speaker 2: would just try to outwork everybody I would try to
[1:12:35] Speaker 2: outwork the waiver.
[1:12:36] Speaker 1: War, try to work the waiver war.
[1:12:37] Speaker 2: Well, yeah, like, okay, this the Pirates have named a
[1:12:40] Speaker 2: new closer At ten forty four am on a Tuesday.
[1:12:43] Speaker 3: Oh, I was all, I'm there, yeah, yeah, what's it's
[1:12:46] Speaker 3: closer Monkey was the name of the newsletter.
[1:12:49] Speaker 2: I think the Oh I didn't have that.
[1:12:50] Speaker 3: That was great if you're if you play fantasy baseball,
[1:12:53] Speaker 3: I'm sure he still has it closer Monkey, like they
[1:12:56] Speaker 3: send out a notice immediately after somebody changes over with
[1:13:00] Speaker 3: the within the.
[1:13:01] Speaker 2: Bull clutch is that.
[1:13:02] Speaker 1: Oh, it was awesome. But my point was this.
[1:13:04] Speaker 3: When I played, and it didn't matter if it was
[1:13:06] Speaker 3: football or baseball, but my formula was always because I
[1:13:10] Speaker 3: was doing auction drafts at the time, it was always
[1:13:13] Speaker 3: to go out and get the lowest priced.
[1:13:14] Speaker 1: Guys that I thought had upside.
[1:13:15] Speaker 3: And a lot of times, especially in football, those were rookies, yep.
[1:13:19] Speaker 3: And I stuck by that formula and I never won,
[1:13:23] Speaker 3: but when one of the guys hit, of course, or
[1:13:26] Speaker 3: or when I did win, I felt like the smartest
[1:13:28] Speaker 3: person in the room. It was more of an ego
[1:13:32] Speaker 3: thing than it was a winning thing. Yeah, I stuck
[1:13:35] Speaker 3: to that formula until the very last team that I
[1:13:38] Speaker 3: played on, which at this point was a couple of
[1:13:41] Speaker 3: years ago. My point here is this, I feel like
[1:13:44] Speaker 3: Iowa and Kirk Farrens do the same thing. I feel
[1:13:46] Speaker 3: like they just want to win the way Kirk ference
[1:13:48] Speaker 3: wants to win. Yes, and though they have made some changes, right,
[1:13:53] Speaker 3: they have made some changes with how they run that offense,
[1:13:56] Speaker 3: and the defense has continued playing at a really high level.
[1:13:59] Speaker 3: It just feels like Kirk Farrens has his brand that
[1:14:02] Speaker 3: he wants to.
[1:14:02] Speaker 1: Play and though he might wander a little bit from.
[1:14:07] Speaker 3: It, it is still going to be the same formula
[1:14:09] Speaker 3: year and in Europe, and that's just what you're going
[1:14:11] Speaker 3: to get. A couple of years, he's going to get lucky.
[1:14:14] Speaker 3: Most years he's going to be solid. Iowa just is
[1:14:17] Speaker 3: solid playing their branded defense and you know, putting.
[1:14:22] Speaker 1: Along on it.
[1:14:22] Speaker 2: I think that's under selling them.
[1:14:24] Speaker 1: Well.
[1:14:25] Speaker 2: I think one hundred and twenty eight teams would love
[1:14:27] Speaker 2: to have the last day. Of course they would buy,
[1:14:29] Speaker 2: of course they would. But you see my point, he
[1:14:31] Speaker 2: just wants to win with his formula. What he've viewsed
[1:14:34] Speaker 2: is winning football, and that's what they're going to be.
[1:14:37] Speaker 2: I don't think a lot of Iowa fans are upset
[1:14:40] Speaker 2: at this point, like you're just sort of screaming at
[1:14:43] Speaker 2: the wins. You're just like you have to accept it.
[1:14:46] Speaker 2: We did a whole show about this, and you know
[1:14:48] Speaker 2: why they haven't done it, and the changes in how
[1:14:50] Speaker 2: games are called and rules are enforced with chop blocks
[1:14:54] Speaker 2: and stuff.
[1:14:55] Speaker 3: I just I don't think it's going to get to
[1:14:57] Speaker 3: the next level, whatever that is for Iowa football. I
[1:15:00] Speaker 3: don't think it's going to get their Under Kirk ference,
[1:15:02] Speaker 3: not in this day and age.
[1:15:03] Speaker 2: I think another want to, by the way, is Alabama
[1:15:05] Speaker 2: and running the ball. If Alabama wanted to run the ball,
[1:15:08] Speaker 2: they'd run the ball successfully, if they truly wanted to,
[1:15:12] Speaker 2: if that's suit, if that truly were a point of
[1:15:15] Speaker 2: pride in Tuscaloosa to manhandle teams on the ground. Very
[1:15:21] Speaker 2: few teams are as advantaged as Alabama in terms of
[1:15:24] Speaker 2: talent acquisition, coaching acquisition, and prioritizing putting the you know,
[1:15:30] Speaker 2: an element of their roster in a place to succeed.
[1:15:34] Speaker 2: So if Alabama truly wanted to, they could control games
[1:15:37] Speaker 2: on the ground, right I don't. I think it's a
[1:15:40] Speaker 2: want to issue that Kaylen Debor wants to similarly win
[1:15:44] Speaker 2: in a very specific way that the proof of concept
[1:15:48] Speaker 2: with Michael Pennix at Washington is absolutely there that if
[1:15:50] Speaker 2: you have that level of you know, receiving core, you know,
[1:15:53] Speaker 2: those three receivers at Washington, the success he had at
[1:15:56] Speaker 2: Fresno State with Jake Hayner, That's who it was at Fresno, right,
[1:15:58] Speaker 2: Jake hayntere that and look, Cale DeVore is won a
[1:16:04] Speaker 2: crap ton of games. But if Alabama truly wanted to
[1:16:08] Speaker 2: run the ball and become a more advanced, not advanced,
[1:16:12] Speaker 2: a more balanced offense, they could.
[1:16:16] Speaker 1: Well we'll see this year.
[1:16:17] Speaker 3: I mean, they went out they got the top running
[1:16:20] Speaker 3: back in the recruiting cycle in EJ.
[1:16:22] Speaker 1: Crowell.
[1:16:23] Speaker 3: They went out hard after offensive lineman. I think between
[1:16:26] Speaker 3: transfers and what they're bringing in sure this recruiting cycle,
[1:16:31] Speaker 3: it's like ten new offensive linemen. They've got a new
[1:16:34] Speaker 3: offensive line coach and Adrian Klem they're trying. I think
[1:16:38] Speaker 3: they're trying in earnest to fix this. But to the
[1:16:43] Speaker 3: point is that is that who Calen.
[1:16:47] Speaker 1: Debor wants this offensive I don't know. I don't know.
[1:16:49] Speaker 3: By the way, Alabama's got a six to seven quarterback.
[1:16:51] Speaker 3: It's been a minute since we had a six to
[1:16:53] Speaker 3: seven quarterback that we can talk about. John Gazaniga is
[1:16:56] Speaker 3: not going to play, Okay, I do not believe he
[1:17:00] Speaker 3: will be the starting quarterback. It seems as if that's
[1:17:02] Speaker 3: going to be between Austin Back and Keelon Russell. But
[1:17:05] Speaker 3: he is on the roster at a time of recording.
[1:17:07] Speaker 3: I believe six seven, two forty five. He's a big dude. So, uh,
[1:17:13] Speaker 3: it's been a minute. We like our six seven quarterbacks
[1:17:15] Speaker 3: here in the show. Is that because you're like the
[1:17:17] Speaker 3: like a fourteen year old who goes six to seven?
[1:17:19] Speaker 2: Is that a thing?
[1:17:19] Speaker 1: No, I don't, I don't. I don't even know what
[1:17:21] Speaker 1: that means.
[1:17:21] Speaker 2: Or you just want Alabama to start a new run
[1:17:24] Speaker 2: of Andrew Walter, Rudy Carpenter, Brackos Wilds. That's exactly gigantic,
[1:17:29] Speaker 2: you know, on the low block type quarterbacks, right, That's
[1:17:32] Speaker 2: exactly right. Sam Keller was he in that as run?
[1:17:36] Speaker 1: He was in the run. He wasn't six seven.
[1:17:38] Speaker 2: He wasn't six seven, But I need I'm talking.
[1:17:40] Speaker 1: About the six seven quarterback.
[1:17:43] Speaker 2: Okay, now bring up as you did have a run
[1:17:46] Speaker 2: of those dudes. To be clear, he did hit did it?
[1:17:49] Speaker 1: Okay?
[1:17:50] Speaker 2: That's all all right? I think where are ye?
[1:17:53] Speaker 1: I think we covered a lot.
[1:17:54] Speaker 2: Of we're all searching.
[1:17:56] Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we covered a lot of ground here.
[1:17:58] Speaker 3: We had a bunch that came in. Maybe we can
[1:18:00] Speaker 3: address some of those on the bonus episode about Clemson.
[1:18:03] Speaker 1: We want from Ball.
[1:18:04] Speaker 3: State from Brian about ball Stay have some ball State thoughts,
[1:18:07] Speaker 3: Maybe I'll share that on the bonus episode. But Penn
[1:18:11] Speaker 3: State and TCU and Utah and Syracuse. We had a
[1:18:14] Speaker 3: couple more come in as we were recording this from
[1:18:16] Speaker 3: about Purdue and and some other programs, So maybe we'll
[1:18:21] Speaker 3: sit on those and we'll bring those back out here
[1:18:22] Speaker 3: as part of our bonuskay wait. Thank you to one
[1:18:26] Speaker 3: and all for downloading, for listening, for supporting. Hopefully you
[1:18:29] Speaker 3: hit follow or subscribe if you had yet to do
[1:18:31] Speaker 3: so at the start of this episode. Verballers dot Com
[1:18:36] Speaker 3: is what we've been doing as of late here when
[1:18:38] Speaker 3: it comes to these listener feedback style shows we just
[1:18:42] Speaker 3: posted out there, we collect our feedback.
[1:18:44] Speaker 1: It makes it a lot easier for.
[1:18:45] Speaker 3: Us than going out to all the social platforms trying
[1:18:47] Speaker 3: to collect everything.
[1:18:48] Speaker 1: This is. These are where our people are at.
[1:18:50] Speaker 3: So you like the show forballers dot Com, you can
[1:18:53] Speaker 3: sign up for free if you want. On occasion, we'll
[1:18:56] Speaker 3: make some of these open to the public where you
[1:18:58] Speaker 3: can respond. But obviously, if you want to help support
[1:19:01] Speaker 3: what Dan and I do, you can sign up as
[1:19:03] Speaker 3: a certified or premium verballer for five or ten bucks
[1:19:07] Speaker 3: a month.
[1:19:07] Speaker 1: Again, that really goes a long way towards helping the
[1:19:10] Speaker 1: cause here.
[1:19:11] Speaker 3: So thank you so much for your ongoing support in
[1:19:14] Speaker 3: whatever form that takes. Please know that Dan and I
[1:19:17] Speaker 3: really appreciate it.
[1:19:18] Speaker 2: I am currently just speaking of for Ballers. It looks
[1:19:21] Speaker 2: like I'm in the eighteenth percentile of the Tournament Challenge
[1:19:25] Speaker 2: bracket pool.
[1:19:26] Speaker 3: My big one is Arkansas. If Arkansas makes the final four,
[1:19:30] Speaker 3: I think I'm going to get a little.
[1:19:31] Speaker 1: Bit of a boost.
[1:19:31] Speaker 2: How did you land on Arkansas, John cal Party, Oh
[1:19:36] Speaker 2: all right.
[1:19:37] Speaker 3: I think I saw something that they score a lot
[1:19:39] Speaker 3: of points, but maybe I got them confused with Alabama,
[1:19:43] Speaker 3: because as I was watching the most recent Alabama game,
[1:19:46] Speaker 3: I think I saw the stat that they're the highest
[1:19:48] Speaker 3: scoring basketball team in the nation, and I think I
[1:19:52] Speaker 3: might have gotten that mix up with Arkansas when I
[1:19:54] Speaker 3: made my pick, so.
[1:19:55] Speaker 2: Love to hear it. Yeah, all right, fair enough.
[1:19:58] Speaker 3: For that guy with the and Dan Rubinstein for myself,
[1:20:01] Speaker 3: Tie Hildebrand. Stop on back on Thursday. Uh it is Thursday,
[1:20:05] Speaker 3: as many of you are listening to this. We're recording
[1:20:07] Speaker 3: on Wednesday. But stop on back at verballers dot com
[1:20:09] Speaker 3: and catch our bonus episode. As I said, we'll go
[1:20:12] Speaker 3: through some of these and talk through a few other
[1:20:14] Speaker 3: odds and ends. Verballers dot com again is where you
[1:20:18] Speaker 3: can go support the show. Hit follow, hit subscribe, Have
[1:20:20] Speaker 3: a good weekend, Talk to you next week.
[1:20:22] Speaker 2: Peace,

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