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[♪ music ♪

0:52

Welcome to The Audible, presented by

0:54

Trader Joe's. I'm Stuart

0:56

Mandell, joined as always by Bruce

0:58

Feldman. I am still

1:00

in Detroit, waiting for a flight

1:03

home.

1:04

Bruce left right after the game. So

1:06

we were there, the game we'd all been waiting for,

1:09

Ohio State-Michigan. Michigan

1:11

wins 30-24.

1:13

I've got impressions,

1:15

you've got impressions. What was your biggest takeaway? You

1:18

know, it was an awesome game. I thought

1:20

it was a fun atmosphere. It was

1:22

the most intense game that I've been at this

1:24

year.

1:25

Obviously, there was a lot of drama swirling

1:28

with all the stuff with Michigan and Jim Harbaugh

1:30

going into the game. It was a lot

1:33

of back and forth. The thing I

1:35

felt, Stu, was, you

1:39

know, to me, Marvin Harrison Jr. was

1:42

the best option Ohio State had.

1:44

There were times when I wondered, especially after Will Johnson,

1:47

who was a really good cornerback, had been matched up on

1:49

him for much of the game until he got

1:51

hurt, that, man, why

1:53

are they not going, you know, just feeding him as much

1:55

as possible? But

1:58

then at the end of the day, And

2:00

today, you know, what she's looked at is Michigan

2:03

is so committed to grinding an opponent

2:06

out and they are, they are playing

2:08

the long game with it. They're going to wear you down and

2:10

wear you down. And then there was that moment

2:13

where, and just being on the field for

2:16

it, when the crowd goes silent,

2:18

Zach Zinter, who's a standout offensive

2:20

lineman for Michigan.

2:23

And one of the guys who came back who could have gone to the NFL

2:25

last winter, um,

2:26

it's a gruesome injury. He's

2:29

down, all the players are really emotionally,

2:32

um,

2:33

you know, really moved and reeling

2:36

from this. And when he leaves the

2:38

field, you know, he, he

2:40

puts his fist up and gets carted off

2:43

up the tunnel. The very next play, Blake

2:45

Corum breaks the longest run he has of the game,

2:47

scores a touchdown. And I felt

2:49

like at that point it was like Michigan,

2:53

whether, whether they, it just

2:55

kind of zapped a lot of the energy

2:57

I felt like out of Ohio state. Cause

2:59

it wasn't that long before that it was maybe five

3:01

minutes before I went over to see Tom

3:04

Rinaldi on the Ohio state sideline and they

3:06

had just scored and they had really run it down

3:08

Michigan's throats on the previous series and

3:11

Michigan, you know, then came back in

3:14

and basically took the game.

3:16

And that's, that's just how it felt to me.

3:18

Um, it would have been interesting to watch

3:21

that game, I guess outside we were inside

3:23

the press box and it's one of those press boxes that

3:25

kind of seals

3:27

the sound out a little bit. So

3:29

it was hard to tell. I'm sure it was very loud. It was

3:31

hard to tell from in the press box, but it

3:33

is kind of crazy that, I mean,

3:36

Ohio state had the ball with a chance to drive for

3:38

the win.

3:39

And I just didn't

3:40

think it was going to happen because I thought Michigan

3:43

was the better team all day because

3:45

I didn't have confidence. Kyle McCord could

3:47

do that. And he did end up throwing interception.

3:50

You know, the theme to me and I wrote

3:52

about it was

3:54

for all the, for all the,

3:58

you know, the fact that. Jim

4:00

Harbaugh being suspended was initially viewed

4:02

by Michigan as such a huge punishment

4:04

that they were going to take them to court.

4:07

Sharon Moore aced, if this was an

4:09

audition, I mean, he aced it. Biggest

4:12

game of the year. He just flat

4:14

out coached Ryan Day. Michigan

4:17

played loose and confident. He

4:20

had trick plays. He had, I'm

4:22

guessing he waited all year to break out

4:24

the freshman quarterback who ran for 20 yards.

4:27

And Ohio State punning on fourth and

4:30

one and kicking a 52 yard

4:32

field goal before the half instead of trying

4:34

to get another first down.

4:36

It just, you know,

4:37

it's like the rivalry has flipped completely

4:39

from those years when Ohio State

4:42

seemed to be in Jim Harbaugh's head

4:44

and they just couldn't handle them in those games.

4:47

I mean, I think it's flipped. Ryan Day

4:49

played scared. Michigan played

4:51

loose and confident and aggressive and

4:55

did what they needed to do to win. You

4:57

know, it's 30 to 24 is the final score. It's a close game,

4:59

no doubt. They didn't blow

5:02

them off the field like they did at the end of the game last

5:04

year. You know, I just think that's in

5:06

large part because Ohio State's defense is a lot better.

5:09

But Michigan never trailed. They're the better team.

5:12

They're going to go on to the playoff because they're going to just

5:14

crush Iowa. And

5:16

Ohio State is going to probably go to the Orange

5:18

Bowl. And you know,

5:21

talking to people before the game, it kind of dawned

5:23

on me that we will never

5:25

have another Ohio State-Michigan

5:27

game with as high a stakes as that one, right?

5:30

The one-team season is over.

5:34

If this same exact game happened next

5:36

year, I mean, think about

5:38

we're going to spend the next 365 days, right? Ryan

5:41

Day can't beat Michigan. He

5:43

wins all his other games. What is he going to do? If

5:46

this were next year, well, he

5:48

could try again the next week. They'd already be,

5:50

we'd already know they're playing in Indianapolis, which

5:53

is probably a flaw in the system that needs to

5:55

be addressed. That's a really good point,

5:58

Stu.

5:59

First on Chiron Moore, I think

6:02

he's a guy that people inside the program there

6:04

have raved about for a long time now. He's

6:07

done a really good job as an offensive line coach. I

6:09

thought

6:10

they

6:12

feed off Jim, to be honest.

6:14

I mean, I really think they do. And

6:18

he gets it. And

6:20

you saw the emotion just

6:22

pouring out of him when they beat Penn

6:24

State on the road.

6:25

And I think

6:27

what I saw just from observing him.

6:29

Well, let me take one little step back. So

6:32

just

6:33

being on the field for a lot of games over the

6:35

last 10 years kind of stuff.

6:37

Sometimes you have this kind

6:40

of

6:40

sort of interaction with players

6:43

right before the game. It could be

6:45

people you may have interviewed or people you may have

6:47

covered.

6:49

So I

6:50

was leaving. I was going down to the

6:52

field for I had a TV hit at like 930

6:54

30 Eastern. So

6:57

I'm walking down to go down on

6:59

the field. And at some point

7:01

I had come back and I saw Blake Corum

7:04

coming up and Blake Corum was locked

7:06

in. Now I've interviewed him. I don't think he knows

7:08

me or

7:09

remembers me or whatever. But like

7:11

we're the only people up in the tunnel. I could see somebody coming

7:14

from in the distance following him, you know,

7:16

probably 20 feet past.

7:18

And here

7:20

comes JJ McCarthy.

7:21

And he is loose as can be. You

7:24

know, he makes eye contact. He's like

7:27

smiles. He's like all

7:29

fired up, you know, but like it's

7:31

almost like this

7:33

is like he played really

7:36

well. I thought, you know, he's really efficient.

7:38

He's never going to be in this system going

7:41

to put up Oh, Nick's numbers. But

7:43

he makes plays with his legs. He had been hobbled,

7:46

you know, against Penn State and then last week

7:48

certainly and looked better. But he made

7:51

some key throws. And ultimately

7:53

that would to me was

7:55

where I thought that they had the best chance to win

7:57

was I thought they now last year. DA

8:00

Shroud was fantastic, was the guy there,

8:02

and JJ was the first time starter and it

8:04

was on the road. This time,

8:08

JJ was the one that you're looking

8:10

at going, oh, there's a big edge there. And

8:12

it wasn't to say Kamikord didn't make some good throws because

8:14

he did, but there were some other ones that

8:17

cost them. But I thought you

8:19

have such

8:22

a confidence there with

8:24

those guys who come

8:27

through it. But I think also JJ's a really

8:29

good fit for the leadership

8:32

by proxy without Jim there. And

8:37

our buddy Ari Wasserman did an interesting

8:39

column. I saw it this morning.

8:41

I didn't see it. Yeah. Ari

8:44

wants to rile people up, that's for sure. Yeah,

8:46

and it was basically about the recruiting decision

8:49

that Ryan Day in Ohio State made four

8:51

years ago when it came down to

8:53

not taking JJ McCarthy who grew

8:55

up wanting to be a Buckeye and instead going

8:58

with Kamikord. And

9:01

no doubt, if you're looking

9:03

at that decision now, you'd be like, ooh,

9:05

they picked wrong on that. Yes,

9:08

but I'm

9:09

going to give Kamikord a little bit of slack.

9:11

It's his first season as the starter. He

9:15

will come back next year. He may be a lot

9:18

more polished, a lot better. Most impressive

9:20

player on Ohio State for me yesterday. I realize

9:22

Marvin Harrison is their best player, but

9:24

Kate Stover. I

9:26

think you said on this podcast a while back, you

9:29

might be the best tight end other than Brock Bowers. Yeah.

9:32

And I'm inclined to agree with you after that. The

9:34

other thing I would just say is there's such a difference.

9:36

This has always been the case for

9:41

when you live online and on Twitter,

9:43

it's so different than in real life.

9:46

Don't do that, Stu. Don't

9:48

do that. What do you mean?

9:49

Don't live on Twitter.

9:51

I wish I didn't.

9:55

Best conference afterward with the coat, with more,

9:57

with the players.

9:59

They did get ass a lot.

9:59

little bit about the scandal,

10:02

but it's like it's not happening there. You know, we

10:04

online on the comment, everybody's been obsessed

10:06

with this story for weeks. There,

10:09

you would never even know it's happening. And I

10:11

don't fault them for that. You

10:14

know, it's certainly not the players problem. But

10:16

I

10:17

asked you off that though, like,

10:19

they've had this for three weeks.

10:22

Yeah, I think they're over it.

10:23

I think this is in some

10:25

regard. And I'd love to get your thoughts

10:28

on this. Because it's like, you know, Max and

10:30

I did that extensive survey with all the coaches,

10:32

you know, like the week this stuff started

10:35

to, not the week after it started

10:37

to really pull up. And I

10:39

think if you ask a lot of people at Michigan,

10:42

and I'm sure this is a biased opinion, but

10:44

I'm talking about not just the people inside the program,

10:46

like, you know, I've gotten to know a bunch of former

10:48

players from there. And one of the things I

10:50

suspect they will, they

10:52

will say now and they I talked

10:54

to one of them right after the game on the field is

10:58

all that talk about this. There

11:00

was no signal stealing, no Connor Stein's though, none

11:02

of this, we didn't even have gym, we still

11:04

won. Right. He Penn State

11:06

at Penn State. And

11:09

we handled Ohio

11:11

State. Like it's three in a row. You

11:14

want to say whatever you want to say about the other two? Now, what

11:16

do you say about this one?

11:17

I don't think anybody will ever be able to

11:19

say quantify what advantage

11:22

if any all that gave them all we know is that it was

11:24

a rules violation.

11:25

I get it. But I'm saying you go like in retrospect,

11:28

the fact that they

11:30

won and

11:32

won this game and beat

11:34

Penn State and did it without Jim Harbaugh.

11:36

I get it. You know, it's

11:38

like this is this is a specific rule.

11:40

But the fact that this

11:42

happened,

11:43

do you think it makes you look

11:46

at, you know, the chatter about the advantage

11:48

of this differently?

11:51

No, because I've never been throughout

11:53

this. I've just never really been focused

11:56

on that.

11:56

If anything, who said that they should they

11:58

should that they should ban the

11:59

players at one. Yeah, but it's possible to have

12:02

these pots at once. Like,

12:04

they broke the rules, they did something in

12:06

direct violation of the rules

12:09

that affected the integrity of the game. But

12:11

I have no idea what kind of advantage. I mean, certainly

12:14

the games earlier this season where they were blowing people

12:16

out, I don't think that was because of sign stealing. Did

12:19

it help them in, let's say,

12:22

last year's Michigan game or last

12:24

year's Illinois game, which was really close, possibly,

12:27

but we'll never be able to quantify that. But it also kind of doesn't

12:29

matter, right? The rule is the rule. So I asked

12:32

the other thing I would just say is one thing that's

12:34

very unique about this Michigan team is

12:37

it's like all seniors. You don't see

12:39

that in college football anymore with the

12:41

transfer portal. Their entire starting

12:44

offense, basically, maybe with one exception

12:46

is seniors.

12:48

Defense has a couple underclassmen

12:50

like Will Johnson. They have more than Will Johnson,

12:52

Grant is underclassed. Yeah, they have

12:54

a bunch of guys. They have a bunch of seniors too.

12:56

So I think that maybe something like this might

12:59

have

12:59

affected a younger team more. But like these

13:02

guys have been playing for four years or more.

13:04

They've been through Ohio

13:06

State games. They've been through playoffs, big 10 championships.

13:09

Like they just it doesn't seem like much

13:11

of anything phases them. So, you know,

13:15

they seem like at this point, the team that we

13:17

can go ahead and pencil into the college

13:20

football playoffs with some,

13:23

you know, uncertainty in the other spots,

13:25

though, yet again, and I thought yesterday was the most

13:27

exciting Saturday of the season so far.

13:30

But it still ended with no major upsets.

13:32

Now, with one play

13:35

left to go, fourth and forever,

13:37

you know, I'm like, okay, I guess

13:39

the big upset we've been waiting for was Alabama

13:42

losing to an Auburn team that

13:44

got crushed by New Mexico State the week before

13:46

like it only at Jordan hair stadium

13:49

kind of, you know, fluky thing.

13:52

And then

13:53

Jalen O'Roe to Isaiah Bond,

13:56

just

13:57

an astounding play. I

13:59

mean, And kind of Alabama's

14:02

answer to the kick six, ten years later,

14:04

and now they

14:06

go into the SEC Championship game with

14:08

their playoff hopes intact. I

14:10

had a very unique vantage point. Can I tell you where I watched that

14:13

from? Sure. So across from

14:16

Michigan Stadium is Pioneer High School,

14:18

which is where thousands

14:21

of people parked. Yeah, the big noon

14:24

set was there. And when I parked my car,

14:26

it was daylight, and it seemed very obvious.

14:28

So I'm right behind the baseball field. No

14:30

problem. But of course, when I got back at night,

14:33

it was pitch black. Almost

14:35

all the cars that already left, I could

14:37

not find my car. I wandered around that

14:39

place for an hour. And

14:41

while I did, I had the iron behind

14:44

my phone. And when it happened, I

14:46

just kind of assumed I was on a delay, right? Because

14:49

I'm on my phone and I'm like,

14:51

oh my God, you know, this already happened.

14:53

And then I look on Twitter and it's like, no, everybody else is seeing

14:55

it in real time, too. And it's

14:58

one of those plays that you'll always, I mean, I'll always

15:00

remember that play. That is, that

15:02

was legendary. And how

15:05

cool for Jalen Monroe, the guy that got benched

15:07

earlier in the season that he's now, you know,

15:10

he's going to forever be an iron ball hero. You

15:12

know what my vantage point for that play was? Airplane.

15:15

Sitting on a plane across from Rob

15:18

Stone and Clat and a couple of our

15:20

producers. But you were able to see it? No.

15:23

No. We'll see

15:26

it. They, you know, we, I don't know

15:28

if we had wifi yet. So they, one

15:30

of them said, Oh, you know,

15:32

it's trying to fill in. So I, I, you know, for

15:35

four and a half hours, there was not a lot of football.

15:37

I saw. Um, but that

15:39

entire, so that entire sequence

15:42

was crazy. The fumbled snap,

15:46

the fumbled, that's why I'm filling you in Bruce. Here's what

15:48

happened

15:49

on second and 11, the snap went

15:51

flying past Jalen Monroe and not

15:53

second 11 second and goal. You

15:56

know, and then on third down, the legal force. pass,

16:00

he crossed the line, which backed them up

16:02

to fourth in goal from the 31. Like,

16:06

that's never, you're never going to complete that,

16:08

but they did.

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Uh, you know, look, this thing just keeps

17:12

playing to chalk and if the season

17:15

ended today, it would be about as clean as it gets for

17:17

the committee with four undefeated Power Five teams.

17:19

But we have one week left for potential

17:22

chaos and the most chaotic scenario

17:24

at this point would be Alabama

17:26

beating Georgia and Florida State

17:29

winning. I think a lot of people watching

17:31

the Florida State-Florida game last night were just waiting

17:35

for them to either lose or to play so

17:37

badly that we could just write them off. Well, they're

17:39

not one of the four best teams without Jaylen Milra, I mean, without

17:41

Jordan Travis, who by

17:43

the way, they kept showing him up there all

17:46

alone. Like why was nobody watching the game with him?

17:50

But they took the game in the end

17:52

and I don't see

17:55

how they can leave them out if they beat a 10-2

17:57

Louisville team next week to finish 13-0. However, I

18:00

also don't see how they can leave Georgia out as

18:03

a 12 and one team that lost to an 11 and

18:06

one team

18:07

at the end of the season. And there might be room

18:10

for folks. You can't leave an undefeated team

18:12

out from a power conference that also, by

18:14

the way, would have beaten maybe

18:16

the third best team in your conference by like 30

18:18

points.

18:19

I'm with you. But if it's

18:22

Michigan, let's say Washington

18:24

wins, they're in. That's true. That's

18:27

true. Alabama, obviously, if they win, the game

18:29

will be in.

18:30

Sorry, Georgia. You're saying Georgia's

18:32

going to fall from one to five.

18:35

Like yes. So here's the

18:37

problem with that. Stu, again, we're not talking about a one

18:39

loss team versus a one loss team. We're talking about a

18:41

power five champ

18:44

and that is undefeated. But like,

18:46

here's the thing that, again, correct me if

18:48

I'm wrong and I'm doing this right now. The

18:52

best win Georgia has

18:54

is home against Ole Miss. Now

18:56

they did beat Missouri. That's

18:58

Missouri's... Those are good

19:01

teams. Those teams

19:03

both finished 10 and two. I get it. Tennessee

19:07

finished eight and four.

19:10

Again, this is not your typical one loss team in this scenario.

19:13

It

19:16

would be the two time defending champions. I

19:18

get it, Stu. There's no way to predict. I

19:20

mean, they've never faced a situation like this. Never.

19:24

You

19:26

know, on the one hand, like let's say Florida

19:29

State beats Louisville 10 to nine. Then

19:31

that might be an out. They'll say they're just not one

19:34

of the four best teams anymore. Sorry, guys.

19:36

But I don't think the committee...

19:39

I don't think they'd have the stones to do that. I

19:41

think they would say this team went 13 and 0. They

19:44

earned a spot in the playoffs. So

19:47

now there's a lot of scenarios that the playoffs would render

19:49

this moot, obviously. I would think

19:52

the committee would really

19:54

like Louisville to win this week so they can avoid

19:56

that scenario. Although if Georgia beats Alabama,

19:58

you also avoid that scenario.

19:59

If Georgia beats Alabama

20:02

and Louisville beats

20:05

Florida State, so then

20:07

we have assuming Michigan wins, assuming

20:10

Texas wins, assuming Georgia

20:12

wins, that's three. Washington would

20:14

be four, right?

20:16

Yeah, it gets more complicated. Oregon beats Washington.

20:19

No, where would it get complicated

20:21

to me? Let's say

20:23

what a Pac-12 champ is going,

20:26

the big 10, Michigan is going, Georgia

20:28

is going. And this is a big

20:30

if, but if somehow Texas

20:33

loses, who

20:35

is that team? Is it Ohio State falls

20:37

back into it? I am missing something. Texas

20:40

is so squeezed out right now. I'm failing to see the

20:42

scenario where if Texas loses,

20:44

that's a problem for them. No, I'm saying

20:46

this.

20:49

Texas and Florida State lose?

20:51

Yes, I'm sorry. So Florida State loses

20:53

and Texas loses.

20:56

Then you're sitting there with a Pac-12 champ, a big 10 champ

20:58

and a SEC champ. Does

21:01

Ohio State end up going?

21:05

So let's see, who would the choices be at that

21:07

point? To

21:10

Los, Alabama, neither one I think would go.

21:13

Did Washington or Oregon win in this scenario? Because

21:15

if Oregon won, you'd have 12-1 Washington. Yeah,

21:18

they would have had a win over that. Yeah,

21:21

I mean, that's, I'm thinking

21:23

aloud as it seems like you are. I think

21:25

if Ohio State makes it, people are going to be like,

21:28

I'm done with this. They

21:30

won one game of consequence. I don't know what they're getting. They're

21:32

done with it. It's like they're moving on from

21:34

four anyway with different talents. Yeah, it's true.

21:37

But like they got in last year

21:39

because there just weren't any other good options. After

21:41

this season where we've had so many, you know,

21:44

this top eight just keeps winning. But

21:46

I guess if chaos finally rains in the

21:48

last weekend, yeah,

21:50

a spot could open up for them. It

21:52

just hasn't been that kind of season. I

21:54

don't think Texas, Texas is here's the thing.

21:56

Texas is really good. And if they get left out,

21:59

which it looks like they will right now. That

22:02

might be the best team that's

22:05

gotten left out of a playoff. I know everybody points to 2015 Ohio

22:07

State because they were loaded, but

22:10

that team didn't

22:11

really do anything to earn it. Texas would at

22:13

least,

22:13

Texas would have beaten Alabama

22:15

on the road

22:17

and a couple top 25

22:19

teams in the Big 12

22:21

and just

22:22

miss out because there's just

22:24

not room for them. I know Texas

22:27

fans are saying, hey, why is Oregon

22:29

above us? Oregon

22:31

whooped Oregon State the other night and we'll

22:33

get into the Jonathan Smith situation in a second.

22:37

Oregon is so dominant

22:39

and so highly respected that this jumped out at

22:41

me.

22:42

Jimmy Shapiro is the PR

22:44

guy for the sports books who always hits us up

22:46

with the opening lines and I've opened

22:48

my email Sunday morning. Oregon

22:51

is a nine and a half point favorite.

22:53

No, nine point favorite against Washington

22:56

who they lost to earlier in the season,

22:58

who is undefeated. I

23:00

do think Oregon will win. I think they're

23:02

the better team. I think Michael Pennix has not been

23:04

as strong

23:05

a quarterback

23:08

over the second half of the season, but

23:10

nine points is a lot. Yeah, I

23:13

don't know. I

23:15

think because Washington has

23:18

sputtered so much, it's

23:20

so hard to beat somebody twice. I don't

23:24

know. I won't

23:26

be shocked if Washington beats them. I

23:29

know I wouldn't be shocked. I'll be a little

23:31

surprised to be honest. But I think that

23:33

Washington

23:35

deserves all the props in the world. They are the first

23:38

team to go undefeated in Pac-12 play

23:41

since Oregon in 2010.

23:43

This is in a year where we all think

23:45

that the Pac-12 was pretty strong.

23:48

They had to face some really good quarterbacks

23:50

along the way to do it. But they have felt

23:53

like they've been a little bit charmed over the back

23:55

half of the season. If

23:57

you saw the game yesterday or the end of the

23:59

game, game yesterday. First of all, Washington

24:01

State's five and six. If Washington

24:04

is one of the four best teams in the country, they really have

24:06

no business being in a close game with these guys right down

24:08

till the end.

24:09

But what is it for later on? But

24:12

we just saw an Auburn team that lost

24:15

New Mexico State handling and

24:17

they had Alabama on the ropes. So how do you think? Well,

24:19

you know what? That's, you're right. Like,

24:22

that's rivalry games. Like,

24:24

though, it's a cliche, but the throw out the records thing

24:26

really does hold up in a lot of these rivalry games.

24:28

And especially, I mean, wazoo, you know,

24:32

this is this was their Super Bowl, given what's

24:34

been happening with the expansion. Anyway, it's

24:36

fourth and one. And

24:38

you know, Kalin DuBois is one of these guys who goes

24:40

for the goes for the wind. And it's fourth and one

24:43

in deep in their own territory.

24:44

The point where if they don't get it, they're just

24:47

handing Washington State the game winning field goal. And

24:49

they break out one of the best play calls I've ever

24:52

seen, where, you

24:54

know, PennX fakes the handoff to Dylan Johnson.

24:57

And if you weren't watching closely, you didn't notice that

24:59

Roman Dunsey

25:00

was

25:02

running a sweep behind

25:04

it. PennX twists his body

25:06

around. Also that the him nobody's

25:09

anywhere near him. And of course, they marched down and

25:11

kick the game winning field goal. So look,

25:13

they keep getting it done. They they they

25:16

it's close games, but they keep winning. But

25:18

now they're running into an Oregon team that is just we talked

25:20

about them last week, like, just

25:22

hitting on all cylinders in every aspect,

25:25

and have been ever since the first Washington game.

25:28

Bonyx's stats are insane. They're

25:30

also number three in the country in rushing

25:33

average. And

25:35

they are rushing guards per play, I should say.

25:37

And they are 12th in the country in defense.

25:40

I

25:40

mean, this, this to me is the team that

25:42

if they can get in the playoffs,

25:44

I would give the best chance if you

25:46

say who other than Georgia has the best chance to win at

25:48

all, I would actually say Oregon more eat

25:50

more so even than Michigan, but they got to win

25:53

this game. And

25:55

then there will be a little bit of uncertainty, but

25:57

I think the committee made it pretty clear they think Oregon

25:59

better than Texas,

26:01

Oregon's got a chance to beat a 12 and 0 team, whereas

26:03

Texas gets 9 and 3

26:06

Oklahoma State who needed

26:08

a brand to come back to be a

26:10

bad team yesterday. So it

26:12

is what it is. Texas is just

26:14

a barring chaos that's

26:16

going to get squeezed out here. Yeah.

26:18

I'll be honest too, as we're talking about some of

26:21

these games, because

26:23

I missed so much of yesterday,

26:25

especially, as you said, the iron bowl,

26:28

the apple cup. There was just a lot. I

26:31

was curious, was anything, because we

26:33

focused a lot on what happened yesterday,

26:36

anything get your attention from Friday games?

26:39

Well, the end of the Iowa Nebraska

26:41

game was

26:43

like comically entertaining. It

26:45

was also like so

26:47

vintage, those two teams right

26:49

now. There was moments I'm sitting there with

26:52

Boleka in our truck

26:54

on Friday. We had a production meeting and

26:58

you're watching this where like, just don't

27:00

throw it, just go play for overtime. And

27:02

then there's a pick and then there's another

27:04

pick and you're like, as soon as it was clear, he was actually

27:07

going to throw down field. I mean, I was

27:09

like, he's going to get intercepted and he did.

27:12

And then as soon as he passed, I'm like, he's going

27:14

to get intercepted.

27:15

And he did.

27:16

I mean, the big 10 title

27:18

game is going to be like they need to,

27:21

they might have to call it at halftime. And I know you're going to say,

27:23

or somebody was going to say, but they have such a great defense. Well,

27:26

they do have a good defense. They do have a good defense, but

27:28

they have no offense. Like it's almost like, you know,

27:31

if you could rank them in the negative

27:33

category, you would. And what's crazy

27:35

about Iowa is they win all these close games. So

27:38

anybody who watched that game would say those were two

27:40

very similarly matched evenly matched teams,

27:42

even lay matched teams. And somehow I was 10 and

27:45

two and Nebraska is five and seven.

27:47

And I would say that about the whole, I

27:49

mean, I, the big 10 West in

27:51

general, like there was just a bunch

27:53

of, you know, middling teams, Northwestern

27:56

actually ended up going seven and five, if you can believe

27:58

it,

27:58

after beating Illinois. But Iowa

28:01

just always finds a way. They beat Northwestern 10 to 7.

28:04

They beat Illinois 15 to 13. They beat

28:07

Nebraska 13 to 10. Like,

28:09

these are all games that could have gone the other way. And

28:11

so when they run into a team that

28:13

is decidedly better than them, like,

28:16

they're not going to beat Michigan 12 to 10. Like,

28:19

they're

28:19

just not. What about you? Anything else from the

28:21

Thursday Friday games? Just

28:24

the spectacle of Iowa.

28:26

Like, it is such

28:28

a 10-win team. It

28:30

is a 10-win team. It is like,

28:32

I'm

28:32

glad we have like a great, we have truly a great,

28:35

I know I took issue with you using

28:37

the word great, but we truly have a great Iowa

28:39

reporter Scott document on this. But

28:42

watching Brian Farrance, and I

28:44

think I've said this to you before, like, I do have,

28:47

having covered Kirk Farrance and done a bunch

28:49

of his TV games, you

28:50

know, a lot of

28:52

respect for him. And

28:55

there is got to be something to be said for winning

28:58

so many close games. Like, how

29:00

emotionally strong must

29:03

those kids be consistently?

29:05

I mean, they're a 10-win team. There are

29:07

very few, and I don't know how many, because I know there's certainly

29:09

four in the box. So there's certainly four in the Big 10. But

29:12

there are not a lot of 10-win teams in power

29:14

five football right now. There's not. It's

29:16

an absolutely crazy phenomenon that they've

29:18

managed to win 10 games with the worst offense

29:21

in the country.

29:23

It defies like any analytics

29:25

or logic or anything you want to say. And

29:28

I saw

29:30

somebody after, but, you know, people got a little

29:32

caught up in the moment Friday, and I saw a couple of mentions on

29:35

Twitter of Kirk Farrance, who would Big 10 coach

29:37

of the year. Sorry, no, you don't

29:39

get to win Big 10 coach of the year because

29:42

you overcame your own miserable

29:45

offense that you assembled.

29:47

This was not some external adversity. This

29:50

was your own self-inflicted

29:52

adversity. But 10 wins is a great

29:55

season. Iowa fans don't have

29:57

anything to apologize for. I don't think it's going

29:59

to go well in the next few years. but then they're going to go to the citrus

30:01

bowl and maybe be, you

30:03

know, an old miss or a Tennessee

30:05

and that'd be a phenomenal season for them.

30:08

So this weekend

30:11

is when it gets very chaotic. I know for

30:13

you in particular, somebody who chases

30:15

the coaching carousel because these

30:17

things are going on simultaneously.

30:19

We're covering a high state. During the Ohio State

30:21

Michigan game, Michigan State announces

30:24

they've hired Jonathan Smith, which

30:28

is kind of the worst kept secret at that point. I

30:30

mean, it was basically lingering over the Civil

30:32

War Friday night. It was, yeah, for like three

30:34

days. It was pretty much something

30:37

people knew that they were targeting him.

30:39

I think they're going higher for Michigan State because he,

30:41

you know, Mark D'Antonio's whole

30:44

thing was, okay, we're not going to out

30:46

recruit Ohio State Michigan. So we're going to find

30:49

the hidden gems or in develop them into NFL

30:51

players. So guess what? Oregon

30:53

State who won 10 games last year, eight

30:55

and four this year, Damian

30:57

Markeena is one of the best running backs in the country.

31:01

Same deal if not more. They

31:04

don't,

31:04

what do they sign? Top 50 recruiting classes

31:07

and compete with the top teams in the Pac-12. So

31:10

in that sense,

31:14

it makes a lot of sense. I just feel so depressed

31:16

for Oregon State fans. I really do.

31:19

I mean, over the span since August, just

31:23

everything you assumed would always

31:25

be hold true about your program, right? You're a

31:27

Pac-12 program. You could be like,

31:30

your conference falls apart. You're one of the only

31:32

two schools that doesn't find a new home. And

31:35

Johnson Smith is your former star quarterback.

31:38

And maybe it was never realistic

31:40

that they were going to hold on to him forever because, you

31:44

know, even if the Pac-12 had stayed together, these

31:46

big 10 SEC schools have more money. But

31:49

I just think it hurts real bad

31:51

for them right now. And now the portal is going to open.

31:54

And I just think by this time next year,

31:56

Oregon State is going to be in

31:58

rough, rough, rough shape.

31:59

I think a week or so

32:02

ago, I talked to one of the coaches on the Washington State staff

32:04

and I was like,

32:05

hey, because obviously they had this long

32:08

losing streak after they start out

32:10

fast. And one

32:12

of the things that came up was they

32:14

had a bye week after they beat Oregon

32:17

State and they were rolling. They were 4-0, Cameron

32:19

Ward was playing lights out,

32:21

and then it all fell apart. And

32:24

one of the coaches I talked to said, you know, when

32:26

the bye week happened, I think a lot of the

32:29

uncertainty and the craziness

32:31

of all this Pac-12 stuff really landed

32:34

with those kids and they were all

32:36

over the place emotionally. And

32:39

not only that, like, it was

32:41

if you look at what happened to Washington

32:44

State, it was like one week the defense

32:46

was terrible. Another week, it was

32:48

like it was take your turn

32:51

at screwing it up. And

32:53

I think it's a good, you know, we've had

32:56

a bunch of good reminders of

32:58

there's still college kids. And I think

33:00

this, and again, as you said,

33:02

feel for the, you know, I get why Jonathan Smith

33:04

would do it. Jonathan Smith is like, I haven't

33:07

gotten to know him over the last, you know, five

33:09

years, especially.

33:12

West Coast guy grew up in LA,

33:14

you know, like the big Dodgers

33:16

fan who still tries to watch him, still tries

33:18

to have something like he's one of the

33:20

more normal coaches. I feel

33:22

like I've gotten to know in terms of like still

33:25

tries to find time to watch his kid play

33:27

high school sports when he can, can work the

33:29

schedule around. And I feel like in Corvallis,

33:32

he probably was able to manage that pretty well. I

33:35

don't know if it'll be, I imagine it'll be harder to

33:37

do that in the big 10 at Michigan

33:39

State. What I think definitely,

33:43

you know, I would like if I was a Michigan State

33:45

fan about this is

33:48

he took that program out of the ditch.

33:51

And that's what Gary Anderson left it in and,

33:53

you know, go from like a one win team to

33:55

a 10 win team and not, it didn't take that

33:58

long. They also did it in the shadows of a. much

34:00

more resourced big

34:02

brand school at Oregon, which is like

34:05

less than an hour away. You have

34:07

a similar dynamic. The only thing is Michigan

34:09

State obviously has been in the playoff and has had

34:11

a lot more success and a lot stronger

34:14

history. And I

34:16

just think it's like, okay, this guy should

34:19

be a really good fit here. So I think

34:22

like you, I think this is a really good hire for

34:24

Michigan State. I do

34:26

want to pivot back to into

34:29

Texas A&M. I want to ask you this because this is something

34:31

that I had reported Saturday morning

34:34

on big noon and on the athletic as well. You

34:37

know, one of the like big swings

34:39

that A&M search was

34:41

going to try to take was just to see would

34:44

Ryan Day actually consider it? You

34:46

know, would he consider leaving

34:49

that? Because in one sense, you're sitting

34:51

there thinking,

34:52

why? You know, like you have a better

34:54

job in a conference, which,

34:57

yes, they are,

35:00

life could be pretty, pretty miserable

35:02

if you're in the middle of your 39 and three

35:05

in the conference, except

35:07

the three losses all came to your hated arch rival.

35:12

With Texas A&M search as it's gone,

35:14

they have some good choices in them, you know,

35:16

you're already in there in terms of Mike Elko,

35:19

Lance Leipold, Chris Kliman

35:21

from K-State. But

35:23

then it's like, okay, it's Texas A&M, we

35:25

need bigger names. We knew that Mark Stoops

35:27

was going to be a candidate. Well, then Mark Stoops

35:29

becomes a candidate, people think he's

35:31

going to take it. And then it's like it goes

35:34

up the flagpole in Texas A&M, you

35:36

know,

35:37

board is basically not.

35:39

Yeah, let's address that. Because,

35:41

you know, yes, you went on

35:43

the in the morning reported there and I go after

35:45

Ryan Day, but it seemed like by that evening, they

35:48

had decided on their coach, and it was

35:50

Mark Stoops.

35:51

And, and I think everybody

35:54

found that to be very underwhelming. I

35:56

don't think they had decided. I think there were people there

35:58

who were like, okay, let's.

35:59

let's do it, but clearly they hadn't decided

36:02

that. I think that was one of those where I

36:04

think it got a little too far, maybe

36:08

with like, oh, he's definitely taken, he's definitely leaving.

36:10

And then it was like, okay, they weren't all on

36:12

board on that. Well, yeah, you got a, you

36:14

know,

36:16

these coaching carousels, it's not done until

36:18

it's done. And you know, you'll see reporting

36:20

to the effect of something's done and it's not yet done. And

36:22

that was clearly the case there. But I

36:25

don't necessarily buy Mark Stoops' statement that

36:27

he was like, ah, you know, people mentioned my

36:29

name and I just couldn't leave this place

36:31

after such a big win over Louisville.

36:33

Like,

36:34

if A&M really, really wanted Mark

36:36

Stoops,

36:37

Mark Stoops would be there. I think John Sumrall would

36:40

be the coach at Kentucky right now. Yeah.

36:43

So, so, so my point is, everybody

36:46

assumes they want to make a big splash,

36:48

but... They do want to make a big splash.

36:50

They, I mean, I know this.

36:53

They have reached, you know, like the

36:55

question is, you

36:57

know, I don't know how real trying

36:59

to get Dabo Sweeney is. I

37:02

think that at least on the Texas

37:04

A&M side, they were going to try to swing for the fences

37:06

now and they have, you know, like once the Saturday

37:08

games were over, question is the

37:12

balance of who really wants that job

37:14

compared to who wants, you know, wants them.

37:16

You know, if you're Ryan Day,

37:18

even if life is, you know, is,

37:22

has gotten a lot harder with losing the

37:24

third time to this,

37:26

just feel like you're, you'd,

37:27

even if he really considered it, you'd be

37:30

trading new, you'd be trading old

37:32

problems for new problems kind of deal.

37:34

If Ryan Day left now, I

37:37

mean, wouldn't he look like a

37:39

coward? Like, I just couldn't beat

37:41

these guys so I'm getting out. Like,

37:44

he has won a lot of games. Like he has beaten

37:46

Michigan before, so like he hasn't beaten them. No,

37:48

but he, I mean,

37:50

look, it's, it can't be that fun to be him right

37:52

now. He, you know, he's

37:54

two years in a row started 11 and 0,

37:57

which is,

37:58

you know, something to be celebrated.

37:59

And then all anybody's gonna talk about is that he can't

38:02

beat Michigan. So I

38:04

guess I could see him wing like I

38:07

Don't want to deal with this anymore. But then you know,

38:09

let's say you did go to Texas A&M

38:11

Oh now you're gonna be measured by whether or not you beat Texas

38:13

like wherever you are. There's a rival

38:15

that

38:16

Everybody's gonna you're not even measured by that

38:18

those two like

38:20

if like yeah I guess we get

38:22

they're gonna play them You're ultimately gonna be

38:24

measured like it if you go to Texas A&M

38:27

You still have to you have to do stuff. Nobody's

38:29

done there before you have to play

38:31

off and eventually Probably within five

38:33

years you probably have to win it But you

38:36

think you're underestimating how much

38:38

that access rivalry is gonna matter now that they're

38:40

in the same conference I think it's gonna matter

38:42

Stu. I'm not underestimating. I'm just saying I

38:45

don't think it's the diet It's this

38:48

exact same dynamic that What's

38:51

hard? I think what has made it harder

38:53

for Ryan day Is that Urban

38:55

Meyer wants seven and oh and everybody

38:57

connected to that knows it

39:00

and then all of a sudden You know Ryan,

39:03

you don't want one woman then the last

39:05

three years have gone the way they've gone and

39:07

I think it's really hard

39:09

if you're Head coach

39:12

with a pretty young family in the middle of that

39:14

fishbowl, you

39:15

know, and so I guess

39:17

this is this Yeah I don't I don't know if I want

39:19

to bring this comparison into it But remember like her

39:22

first she lived in Columbus and he's from there and then he ended

39:24

up moving because it's it's such an intense

39:27

Yeah

39:28

Yeah,

39:28

I'm having it.

39:30

Well

39:31

what I would say though is

39:33

And I said this I think on the podcast last week

39:36

Wait a year

39:38

Michigan just mentioned like Michigan is gonna turn

39:40

over

39:41

probably 80% of its starting lineup

39:43

Who knows a parball will still

39:45

be there You know Austin Meeke wrote a great column

39:48

off the game or Michigan writer where he kind of referred to it as

39:50

the end of an era I'm not saying

39:52

they're gonna fall apart, but You

39:54

know, you might have a much better chance than next year's game

39:57

and also with the 12-team playoff I mean,

39:59

I don't think we're gonna really know until we get into

40:01

it, how much this is going to change

40:03

how people perceive

40:05

their season. Like if you were to talk to an Ohio

40:07

State fan today, I'm sure they would say, season

40:08

was a failure. We didn't beat Ohio State.

40:11

We didn't make the playoffs. We don't think at least

40:13

failure. Next year,

40:16

same thing happens. But then what if they

40:18

get in the playoff and win some games? You know,

40:20

they're always going to want to beat Michigan. That's never

40:23

going to stop being important. But it's not

40:25

going to be, it's not going to

40:27

necessarily ruin your whole season anymore. Like,

40:30

and almost didn't last year, they almost turned around and won

40:32

the national championship. But

40:34

I think that they're still, assuming

40:37

Ryan Day is still Ohio State's ghost next year, I

40:39

think he's got to figure out like, what is our identity?

40:42

I feel like

40:43

Michigan got in his head and we

40:46

saw it with the Lou Holtz rant. People

40:48

are saying we're not tough, we're going to be tough.

40:50

So they

40:52

played a kind of a different style this

40:54

year and ended in the same result.

40:57

Like, I get it. He didn't have Justin

41:00

Fields or CJ Stroud, so you weren't going to throw it 50

41:02

times a game. But at

41:04

least in those days, I knew what Ohio State's identity was.

41:07

He's the quarterback guru. They've got these great

41:10

receivers.

41:11

I don't know what it is now. So he's

41:14

going to have to figure that out going forward.

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right.

42:12

This Sunday morning, we're

42:14

recording this Sunday morning Pacific

42:16

Time. It's almost 2 p.m. Eastern Time and

42:18

there's been a flurry of firings already today.

42:21

Tom Allen out at Indiana. Can't

42:23

say I'm surprised about that one. Dana Holgersen

42:26

out at Houston.

42:28

What else?

42:30

Dana Dimmel out at UTEP. There's some

42:32

small ones. We won't get into

42:34

that one.

42:36

So there's

42:37

a couple names now that you're seeing

42:40

get mentioned for any time one of these jobs opens

42:42

up, right? Lance Leifold, especially

42:44

with these Texas jobs.

42:46

Jeff

42:48

Traylor, UTSA.

42:51

We're just recirculating these names now.

42:54

Like

42:56

just early, early leanings here.

42:58

Let's just focus on the Power 5 ones.

43:01

Indiana and Houston.

43:04

So let's

43:06

talk about India.

43:09

So I think this will be one of the jobs

43:11

that you could get some like

43:14

intriguing names that are that

43:17

are coordinators have a

43:19

shot at this, right? Tom

43:22

Allen, defensive guy. The thing

43:25

is, he had a couple of good seasons. We think

43:27

of it as only the one season where the

43:29

pandemic year where they finished 12th in the country. But

43:32

they were like 11 and 5 in back to back years

43:34

in the Big 10. And then NIL

43:36

came in and they didn't have

43:38

a plan. And that program sunk.

43:41

You know, they still played hard, but it just

43:43

sunk. Now the guys I've heard

43:45

who could be in play here. So

43:48

we mentioned Sharon Moore before. I think,

43:51

you know, Sharon Moore has proven to

43:53

people if they didn't know already that

43:55

he's capable to taking over a program.

43:59

make a lot of sense for them. The thing

44:02

is, if he waits two months, I

44:04

think there's a decent chance he could be the head coach

44:07

at Michigan. If

44:08

you're sitting there wondering if

44:12

he's ready for it, he just beat

44:14

Penn State of Penn State and beat Ohio

44:16

State. I don't think he's going to be able

44:19

to show them that they're going to be much more ready for that

44:22

job. No, it's Michigan. If it does come open,

44:24

they're going to swing big. But he's a guy

44:26

I think is a real

44:28

name that they would consider.

44:30

Ryan Grubb, who I believe is also

44:32

a candidate for San Diego State, he's the Washington

44:35

offense coordinator, by the way, his

44:36

mentor is Kalen DeBore, who was a really

44:38

good OC at Indiana.

44:41

Justin Frye from Ohio State,

44:43

he's their associate head coach.

44:46

He played at Indiana,

44:48

he's very connected there. I think he's

44:51

a guy who will interview well. I think he

44:53

will get consideration. Then another name that

44:55

I know you're really familiar with and have some mixed

44:57

feelings on, Tommy Reese, who

45:00

has done a really good job leading the aforementioned

45:02

Jalen Milrow

45:04

into

45:05

a really starring role there

45:08

at Alabama in his first year. He's only 31 years

45:10

old. Because I think once you get

45:12

past that group of names of assistants,

45:17

he started getting into some solid

45:19

group of five guys. Whether

45:21

it's Jason

45:23

Candel at Toledo, Kane Womack,

45:26

who had been at Indiana to DC, at

45:28

South Alabama, even Chris Creighton

45:30

at Eastern Michigan. I'm

45:33

not sure. If you're

45:34

Indiana, I think they're going

45:36

to, as much as they would want head coaching

45:39

experience, I think they have to be open to who

45:41

do we think can really jumpstart this program and get people

45:43

excited again.

45:45

About Kane Womack, he was there.

45:46

Yeah, no, I'd mentioned him.

45:49

He did a good job. Last year,

45:51

they won 10 games. That's a program that never

45:54

had a winning season.

45:55

South Alabama got it going. They

45:57

obviously whipped Oklahoma State earlier.

45:59

this year in Stillwater. They didn't have a great

46:02

season beyond that. There were six and six, and

46:04

I feel like JMU and John

46:06

Summerall and Troy have kind of taken a lot

46:09

of that conference's energy. But

46:11

he's a good coach. I think

46:13

he will get looked at. He's only 36, but people in Bloomington

46:17

liked him. To me,

46:19

he'd be one of the more attractive,

46:22

reasonable options for them if

46:24

they're going to try to take a group of five head coach.

46:27

You said an interesting thing there about the NIL

46:29

situation in Indiana. There

46:31

was a reaction

46:33

to the fact that Indiana is paying $20.8

46:35

million to buyouts on Allen. It's

46:38

the third highest buyout on record.

46:41

And look, we all know the

46:43

model is broken, and these schools

46:45

waste money left and right. The point is made like,

46:47

well, if they could have just

46:49

taken some of that money and put it toward NIL

46:51

to actually get some players, that would be a much better

46:54

use of that money.

46:56

Get that. But

46:58

even if Indiana suddenly had $12

47:01

million in their collective to spend on NIL,

47:04

does anybody really think that five stars would

47:06

suddenly start walking to Bloomington? Like

47:09

people, when they talk about NIL, talk

47:11

about it like every Recruit in America

47:14

is just going to go to whoever makes

47:16

them the highest offer.

47:18

They're still

47:19

putting strong consideration on

47:22

who's going to put me in the league or am I going to have a chance

47:24

to win championships. I

47:26

just think that Indiana job, whoever gets it, is

47:29

going to be it's always been a hard job. And I think it's about

47:31

to get even harder in the expanded Big 10. Houston

47:36

is an intriguing one because they have had

47:38

success there at the Group of Five level. And

47:41

this is

47:44

exactly what I saw coming before the season. Like people

47:47

want to amp up for this new Big 12.

47:51

I would think that'll be a desirable job. Oh, heck

47:53

yeah, it will be. You have a lot of talent. You

47:56

have improved facilities.

47:58

The thing that's tricky about that.

47:59

that place, you have like wildly

48:04

unpredictable leadership there. It is

48:06

a really volatile leadership

48:09

group. They ran Tony Levine

48:11

out of there after three years

48:14

and they ran major op-ed out faster

48:16

and Dana Holgerson won 20 games

48:18

the previous two years. And

48:20

they still ate a big buyout. Um,

48:23

I think there's some bigger

48:25

names on this. Now I'd heard Willie Fritz is

48:27

a guy. They're going to make a, make a quick call

48:29

to, he's

48:30

done really well at, uh, Tulane,

48:33

you know, I think he's last year, 12 and two

48:35

this year, 11 and one spent a lot

48:37

of time in the state of Texas

48:39

and he's 63, but I don't think

48:42

that should be a deterrent to them. Um,

48:45

Jeff trailer, a

48:46

Texas high school coach who's done really well

48:49

at UTSA. trailer does

48:51

have a $7 million buyout. Somebody had mentioned

48:53

this to me on Friday where they wondered if

48:55

that could be scare off

48:58

Houston, which surprised me a little just cause they, you

49:00

know, spending around 15 million

49:02

to get rid of Dana.

49:04

But you

49:04

know, is that combination tough?

49:06

There's

49:06

a big name out there who wants to get back

49:09

in and that's Gary Patterson.

49:11

Uh, I'd love to get your, like, let

49:13

me go through a couple of names. Then you come back to Gary Patterson

49:15

for me, but, uh, Barry Odom, we've

49:18

talked about him a lot this fall, great first

49:20

season at Vegas. He's

49:22

from Oklahoma. There were nine in three to place. It

49:24

only had one winning season. I think he would

49:26

be a reasonable option.

49:29

Um, of the guys who have head coaching, and then

49:31

there's DJ Kenny at Texas state.

49:33

Is this is his second, you know,

49:36

two years ago, he goes to incarnate word,

49:38

goes to wins 12 this year, Texas

49:41

state. Good first year wins seven in a place that hadn't

49:43

been winning.

49:44

I just don't, I, as much as I think

49:46

he's respected, I just don't know if,

49:49

if they would think, all right, we're going to take him over some

49:51

of these other guys. Let me ask you first

49:53

about Gary Patterson.

49:56

If you, do you think that would be a good move for Houston? No,

49:59

I don't, I don't.

49:59

I don't think it would and I have all the respect for what Gary

50:02

Patterson achieved at TCU.

50:04

But, you know, how far removed

50:06

is he at this point from his last

50:09

good season at TCU? Since he's

50:11

been out of it for a couple of years

50:13

now. I... No,

50:18

I get that. I get why there'd be interest, but

50:20

I don't see it. Of the names you said, I think

50:22

if they can get Willie Fritz, go get Willie Fritz.

50:25

He's a great coach. I mean,

50:27

Tulane for so long

50:29

didn't go to any bowls. And

50:31

now they're playing this weekend for their second straight New

50:33

Year's sixth bowl.

50:36

You know, he could be... Frankly, he could be their

50:38

landslide poll there, Chris Kliman.

50:41

He doesn't need to be their landslide poll because

50:43

Houston's been good. Yeah. And

50:46

this was awful. Yeah, no, I mean, just

50:48

a guy who he's not going to be flashy.

50:51

He's not going to come in and,

50:52

you know,

50:55

win the press conference. He's just a

50:57

really good coach. There was a guy you mentioned back

50:59

when we were talking about Indiana that I... I

51:01

don't understand why Chris Creighton never, ever,

51:03

ever gets in contention

51:05

for these jobs, because that's another one where Eastern

51:09

Michigan, just terrible for

51:11

two decades. And they're a regular bowl

51:13

team now, and they... Every... Seems like every year

51:15

or every other year, they knock off a Big Ten team. Surprises

51:19

me that his name never... I feel like everybody wants

51:22

the up and com... The young up and comer with

51:24

the flashy offense. And so some of these

51:26

guys who've been around the block for a little while get overlooked.

51:30

The other coaching thing that I'm keeping an eye

51:32

on... So

51:34

two weeks ago, it was the first time I started

51:37

thinking, is Chip Kelly in trouble at UCLA?

51:39

Then he goes out and VQSC. OK,

51:42

he's won everybody back. They laid

51:44

an egg Saturday night. They

51:46

lost 30 to 7 to Cal, who

51:50

gets bowl eligible from that. He

51:53

finishes his... The season having

51:55

gone exactly 500 in six years at UCLA.

52:01

There's not a lot of excitement around that program and they're

52:03

about to go to the Big Ted.

52:06

At this point, and I hate to say this because we

52:08

both love Chip, but I don't

52:11

see how they can bring him back and

52:13

have the fan base be excited about that.

52:16

That would be a major domino if that comes open.

52:18

I don't think this program is committed to... It's

52:22

not operating the same way as a lot of other programs

52:24

we're talking about though. I

52:27

mean, are they going to pay a buyout that's

52:30

still not small by UCLA standards? You have

52:32

a chancellor who's going to be leaving there soon.

52:34

They

52:36

don't

52:37

operate in the same way. I mean, ultimately

52:40

with UCLA, and I

52:42

think I didn't realize, didn't really sink in until

52:44

last night. When UCLA

52:47

has Garbers playing, they're pretty good.

52:49

When they don't,

52:50

they're struggle. Yeah, not anymore just

52:52

wasn't ready to play. Yeah,

52:54

it's struggling right now.

52:57

There's that. They didn't have College

53:00

Lee, so they basically had to ride

53:02

it. It's a good one for Cal,

53:04

by the way, for Justin Wilcox to get

53:06

full eligible. They almost beat USC, but that's

53:08

a good one.

53:11

I just don't think if you're

53:13

a UCLA, and they go seven and

53:15

five, they did beat USC pretty handily.

53:18

I'm not sure if the expectations of

53:21

what

53:21

the UCLA brass wants

53:24

compared to what we in

53:25

the media think they are going

53:28

to be.

53:30

There's a disconnect there. Nobody's

53:33

exciting the fans anymore at UCLA. Even

53:37

when they started to win, I don't know if there was that much

53:39

buzz around it. I know

53:41

you talk to guys who coach there, and

53:43

it's just

53:45

they're not committed to football that much.

53:49

I think it gets further and further from that when

53:51

they're going to be going into the Big They're

53:53

certainly not committed to it like the way Oregon is. Well,

53:55

if they aren't committed to football and they're going into the Big 10,

53:59

be prepared for them. to go three and nine a

54:01

lot. I mean, why

54:02

do you... I think

54:04

people will be committed to,

54:07

like you still have half the big 10, which

54:09

was the schools in the big 10 West.

54:12

So everything you're saying is correct

54:14

about that administration and the

54:16

just general apathy there,

54:19

but

54:20

why did you go through all that, right? You're blowing

54:23

up rivalries. You didn't do it yourself,

54:25

but you led to the end of the PAC 12.

54:28

You're going to send your, you know, all these great non-revenue

54:30

teams across the country, why do

54:32

all that and settle then just settle

54:34

for mediocrity of football, like if you're going to do

54:37

all that, you should

54:39

go all in and try to be a contender

54:41

in the big 10. And it just

54:43

seems like a lot of trouble to be like, seven

54:46

and five feet,

54:47

you know, going to the LA

54:50

bowl sounds good to me. Yeah, I don't

54:52

know. I hear you. I definitely

54:54

hear you. That was a dud of a performance.

54:57

And it's like,

55:00

I don't know. I think after they got past USC,

55:03

I think people were like, okay, this job and, you

55:05

know, the people I talked to, you know, in USC

55:07

leadership or UCLA leadership felt like

55:09

that.

55:10

And so I don't,

55:11

I don't think they pivot back to that at this point.

55:14

No, you may be right. Um,

55:16

you probably are right to be honest, just because it's

55:18

such a unique place, but for a guy

55:20

to be in, not a lot of places, a guy can go 500 over six

55:23

seasons. And,

55:26

and keep that job. Um,

55:29

any other dominoes we should be on the lookout

55:31

for here in the next week? A good question.

55:33

I mean, there's a handful of smaller things that I

55:35

think could pop open. There's going to be a lot of coordinator

55:38

moves that are going to happen now too.

55:40

But, um, I don't

55:42

know. I think the big thing everybody's keeping an eye

55:44

on is what happens with, in college

55:46

station with Texas A&M. And then the other

55:48

thing is if we don't already have enough going on

55:50

with the

55:51

last week of the season, the championship, uh,

55:53

picture, the coach and carousel, the portal

55:56

opens a week from today.

55:58

Uh, our friend Andy Staples was. at the Michigan

56:01

game and he's going to be doing a live show

56:03

all day on December 4th. That's

56:06

what this is now. And this is the opening of free agency

56:09

or trade deadline or whatever you want to call it. And

56:12

I think that first day we are going to

56:14

see, you just can't predict, right? Like transfers

56:18

used to be, guys not getting enough

56:20

length. Like nobody's

56:22

going to be shocked if Malik Murphy enters the portal,

56:24

right? The Texas quarterback who's kind

56:26

of stuck between Quinn Ewers

56:29

and Archman. There's going to be some established

56:32

players who just get

56:34

a great NIL deal and go on the portal and shock

56:36

everybody. So we think they're getting a great

56:39

NIL deal. Don't you think at this point,

56:41

like we know tampering goes on.

56:43

Don't you think these guys know what they're getting when they enter?

56:46

They're really good players. I

56:48

think and I know this now, I think

56:50

there are guys who think they know what they're getting and sometimes

56:52

they're not getting it.

56:54

That's what's going on. I think that's absolutely

56:56

true of like mid-level

56:58

players who somebody's

57:00

in their ear saying, oh, go to this place, you know, some like

57:02

low level agent, go to this place, you'll get $200,000. But

57:06

for instance, from last year, Sam Hartman, somebody

57:08

like that, has a pretty good idea

57:10

what they're going to get. Like that's what we're going to keep

57:12

an eye on is the quarterbacks. And you had said a while

57:16

back, you know, last year,

57:18

a lot of big name quarterbacks entered the portal and

57:20

some of them ended up having huge effects

57:23

on the season that there just might not

57:25

be like so many

57:27

because of that, so many of the great quarterback from the season

57:29

are done with college. But

57:31

one of the one of the names

57:33

that I think there will be a big bidding

57:35

war over and they're probably where he is going

57:38

on, to be honest, is

57:40

the aforementioned Washington State Cougars quarterback

57:42

Cameron Ward.

57:44

You know, he's

57:46

he started out his career at incarnate word with Eric

57:48

Morris, then moved to Pullman. And he was

57:50

really good this year. I mean, through for almost 4000 yards, 25

57:53

touchdowns, seven interceptions was up and down

57:55

at times, no doubt. But I suspect

57:58

he is a guy who is going to

58:00

be getting a lot of offers

58:02

into the seven figures to come there because he will

58:05

be one of the top names at the market.

58:07

This is also by the way why you're hearing like for

58:09

instance Dave Dorn who by the way I got to give

58:11

props to. He did

58:13

a great job this night in three. At one

58:15

point he changed quarterbacks and then the quarterback decided

58:18

to redshirt. So he had to go back to Brennan

58:20

Armstrong. They beat UNC again. Anyway,

58:23

he made a comment last night where

58:26

he was encouraging fans to donate $1,000 to the

58:28

NIL Collective

58:29

because or

58:31

else the roster is going to get poached.

58:33

I think there's a lot of that going on out there where if

58:36

you're at an NC State, a

58:38

Kentucky, certainly Washington

58:41

State in its own Oregon State

58:43

in their own dilemma of like

58:46

you better have the funds ready to re-sign

58:48

your roster. Here's a good example. Somebody

58:51

is going to come after you know last year Arizona

58:53

lost a bunch of their

58:55

best players due to USC. Is

58:58

somebody going to come after Noah Fafita now

59:00

that he's established? Sure they will. Sure they

59:03

will. But I think it's Arizona have the NIL

59:05

money of it ready to

59:06

basically re-sign him. Yeah, I think if

59:08

you're him, I think if you're Jed

59:11

Fish, I think you really try to sell,

59:13

hey, we are developing. We're the ones who believed

59:15

in you and

59:17

go from there.

59:18

His best

59:20

friend is the star receiver who is actually

59:22

the big get who came

59:25

first or came part of the

59:27

big one who came and

59:29

blew up first. Now it's his turn and they've

59:31

been a really good story. So

59:33

are we doing a podcast on Wednesday? Mailbag

59:36

in.

59:37

I don't know why we wouldn't. I

59:41

am getting back my original computer when

59:43

I get back to town. So

59:47

I can tell the story now of what happened. On

59:50

the flight here to, I'm sorry, on the

59:52

flight to St. Louis for Thanksgiving,

59:54

I spilled coke on my keyboard.

59:56

You know what that does to a laptop?

59:59

it immediately. What kind of coke did you spill on there, by the way?

1:00:02

Regular coke. And I don't want

1:00:04

to throw this woman under the bus completely, but I guess

1:00:06

I'm going to. I mean, it was the flight attendant

1:00:08

handed me one of, you know, they think they're doing you this great

1:00:11

favor by filling it all the way to the top. But

1:00:13

I didn't realize that. And I think I grabbed it a little

1:00:15

too hard. But it wasn't even that much. It wasn't

1:00:18

like I spilled a whole cup of coke. I spilled like, I

1:00:20

would say, less than 10 drops.

1:00:23

That does it. Like, that's enough. Do you think she

1:00:25

was a Michigan fan who'd read some of your

1:00:27

work and seen some of your tweets that was like,

1:00:30

I'm getting this? No, because that was the flight to St.

1:00:32

Louis, not the flight to Detroit.

1:00:33

So anyway, then I land in

1:00:36

St. Louis, I immediately run to the Apple store,

1:00:39

which miraculously had an appointment available.

1:00:41

And they're like, well, it's a good thing you have AppleCare because

1:00:44

this is a fortune to repair. We have to

1:00:46

ship it out to somewhere. But

1:00:50

we can do it. When I get back to California, I will go

1:00:52

back to my old computer where I can.

1:00:55

Oh, but you know what? It's going to reset everything.

1:00:59

Well,

1:01:01

I'll figure out the password at some point. We'll

1:01:03

get those emails back. I'll get those emails back in time for

1:01:05

Wednesday. It can't be that hard. Send

1:01:07

them to the audible pod at gmail.com and hopefully

1:01:10

they don't go into a black hole somewhere. And

1:01:13

we'll see you next time.

1:01:26

I gave my brother a New York

1:01:29

Times subscription. She sent

1:01:31

me a year long subscription so I have access to all the

1:01:33

games. We'll do Wordle, Mini, Spelling

1:01:36

Bee. It has given us a personal

1:01:38

connection. We exchange articles.

1:01:41

And so having read the same article, we can

1:01:43

discuss it. The coverage, the options,

1:01:45

it's not just news.

1:01:46

Such a diversified desk. I

1:01:48

was really excited to give him a

1:01:50

New York Times cooking subscription so that we

1:01:52

could share recipes. And we even just shared

1:01:54

a recipe the other day. The

1:01:56

New York Times contributes to our quality

1:01:59

time together.

1:01:59

You have all of that information at your

1:02:02

fingertips. It enriches our relationship,

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broadening our horizons. It was such

1:02:06

a cool and thoughtful gift. We're

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reading the same stuff, we're making the

1:02:10

same food, we're on the same

1:02:13

page.

1:02:14

Connect even more with someone you care about.

1:02:17

Learn more about giving a New York Times subscription

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1:02:20

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1:02:25

1st.