August 31, 2025 • 31 mins
The hype was real, but Arch Manning just got handed his first big test, and Ohio State wasn’t messing around. John reacts to Texas-OSU as he breaks down every angle of the Longhorns’ loss, what this means for Arch moving forward, and how Texas stacks up after getting punched in the mouth by the Buckeyes. Credit where it’s due, Ohio State looked pretty solid, and that defense showed up.
We also take a look around the college football world, including Deion Sanders’ rough debut at Colorado, and why the Buffaloes looked completely unprepared.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on? Everybody happy College football
Week one. Like many people, I've been anticipating. I've been
(00:24):
fired up for this game for months. I was laying
in bed this morning at like five am, just staring
at the ceiling, so excited, pacing around the house. And
then the game happened and we can just start. Let's
not even waste any time. Let's just dive right in
to the arch Manning experience. I mean that was leading
my I would say, excitement, anticipation, and just overall juice
(00:51):
leading into this game was to watch this guy play.
And I've been saying it over and over and listen,
I'm not trying to pat myself on the back. He's
got a long way to go. Your career is not
defined by one game. But the hype has been insane. Honestly,
it's been beyond over the top. I say this about
all these quarterbacks right in basketball. Sometimes the hype, Hey,
(01:12):
this guy's gonna be the number one pick. He's an
incredible player for the most part. It just that's what happens.
Right He's in college for six months and he's the
number one pick or he's the number two pick. Happens
all the time. So honestly, a lot of hype when
it comes to that sport, like kind of know when
you're fifteen, sixteen years old. Football's kind of the opposite.
We see all the time. These guys like camp Miss
quarterback prospect end up on three schools in two years.
(01:36):
Camp Miss quarterback prospect never lives up to the hype
in his bench by year two, never ends up starting.
How many five stars in the NFL? How any position
or guys that were top ten, top twenty recruits go
on when Draft day comes, like, I can't believe this
guy's an undrafted free agent. He was the most hyped
recruit of all time. Now sometimes Julio Jones, Jadevion, you know,
(02:03):
Caleb Williams. Like obviously we see it with guys hype
out of colle or out of high school, go on
to college, dominate, win the Heisman, be top picks. But
I've said this for a long time, the hype on
arch Manning was fucking insane. He is and I don't
I mean, I know what you're doing, Like you're in
(02:23):
the business. I always hate the word like it's for clicks. Well, yeah,
that's the business they're in. Like the business Ryan days
in is to win games. If you do something for
the Internet, in terms of writing, your job is to
get people to click on it and look right. It's
why Bronnie James a couple of years ago was mocked
as a top ten pick. It's why Arch Manning this
year is being I mean, most people are talking about it,
and it's not just one person's universal. I hope the
(02:45):
Saints suck so they can get arch Manning with the
number one overall pick where his granddaddy Archie played the
Cowboys trade Michael Parsons. Maybe this is to suck and
to get arch Manning to come play for the Cowboys.
And who knows if Brian Schottenheimer sucks, take Sark two.
It's like, guys, can he just play a game? Because,
unlike most sports, baseball guys are drafted out of high
(03:07):
school on pure hype and potential. Basketball it happens all
the time in football. To get drafted number one overall,
you gotta be pretty freaking good, Like you gotta be
like this guy is a can't missplayer on the field.
You obviously have to have the physical characteristics, but you
gotta do it on the field. You can't fake it
in football, those twelve games those two years, they speak
(03:30):
for themselves, and it's like, can arc just like I
don't know, throw some touchdowns in the SEC play some
real opponents, and there's no way around it. Today was
not great, not great at all, And up until a
couple throws at the end, the touchdown pass was nice.
The ball on the last drive down the sideline was nice,
But overall I thought today was really bad. He missed
(03:53):
countless throws that should be considered layups. And to be
a can't misplay. To be a high level quarterback in
high school, college or the pros, you have to hit
basic passes. So on that final drive, when the dude
streaking across the field five or six yards away from you,
you don't need to throw a ninety mile an hour
(04:14):
fastball behind him. You just lob it right there. And listen,
I can't even imagine how the nerves, the excitement, just
the intensity on him as an individual leading into the game.
I wasn't gonna judge him for the first several drives.
Like listen, I can't even imagine how hyped up he
is right how hard it is to calm himself down.
(04:37):
And you thought as the game went on he would
kind of settle down. And I watched the guy that
missed easy throw after easy throw after easy throw. This
game does not define his career, So two things can
be true. I thought he was mostly atrocious today. And
the reason we're reacting to this, it's one game. If
this was Joe Blow starting for if this was Quinn
Yours a couple of years ago, we wouldn't have these takes.
(05:00):
But these people, over and over, these people that covered
the NFL draft, these people that covered the NFL have
been telling me he's the greatest fucking thing since l Spread.
It's like I've been watching football for thirty years. I
worked in college football. I've scouted guys at these major universities.
You gotta be very careful about hype because hype in
football doesn't last long because eventually you got to play
the game. So whether you're a five star, whether you're
(05:22):
a two star. You know who had no stars next
to his name, Ashton Genty. Then what happened? He gets
drafted six overall and almost breaks Berry Sanders record, And
we'll get into boys. He stayed here in a second,
But like you gotta do it, and you watched him
playing Ohio State kind of getting manhandled. Now you can say,
Matt Patricia, you know you overqualified defensive coordinator when it
(05:43):
comes to college, and give him credit. He's taken that
jab and he's lost probably one hundred pounds. Looks good physically,
and they had a bunch of new players. But I
thought they punked them. And one thing I saw on
the internet was that Sark was not doing a good job.
I think it's very hard as a play caller when
your quarterback can't make easy throws. Two call plays, and
(06:04):
you could tell throughout the game he was very hesitant
to call back to back passes. He only had thirty
attempts and they were down the whole game. Now, granted
they were down seven points, fourteen points, it's not like
they had a huge lead. But the play caller, like
starts established he's a good play caller. He knows what
he's doing. As a play caller. We can nitpick individual plays,
(06:25):
but overall the course of the game, like he's done
enough to get the benefit of doubt, Like he knows
what he's doing and he knows the evan flow of
a game. We've seen enough guys that have no skills
when it comes to calling plays. And today I saw
a guy who early on could tell his quarterback was
pretty rattled for whatever reason, could not get comfortable was
(06:45):
holding onto the ball. Listen, we crushed Caleb Williams for
holding onto the ball too long, not even us Hell,
his own coach does get rid of the football countless
times today. Arch held held held. It's one thing if
it's you know, a roll out play where you're holding, holding,
and then you can tell off. Some of these plays
are clearly pocket passes where you got a couple seconds.
You're playing a bunch of guys that are gonna get
(07:06):
drafted high. You got to get rid of the rock.
And he held, he Hell, he held, and then he
would kind of run into a sack or like run
in for a couple of yards. It's like, you can't
really function like that. And it's not gonna matter when
you're playing Sam Houston State or San Jose. But when
you're playing Florida, when you're playing Georgia, when you're playing
Texas A and M, it's going to really matter. They're
(07:26):
gonna be so much more talented than I would say
eight of their opponents, but they are gonna be a
couple more games. For the talent is semi even today.
The talent, like you remove the quarterbacks, that's an even game.
These are elite players everywhere. This has become like that's
Target and that's Walmart. These teams have unlimited money. They
can buy any fucking player they want, which I'm all for, Like,
(07:48):
have at it now. You could argue they've been doing
that forever, but now the numbers are so big, huge
advantage to programs like Ohio State and Texas. So the
separating factors now, to me are two things more than ever.
It's a lot like the NFL coaches and quarterback Well, listen,
I've been critical actually of both guys. Hell, I'm probably
one of the last guys who's very critical of Sark.
(08:10):
He's done a really good job at Texas, unlike Ryan Day,
and this is just a reality. When he took over Texas,
it was a joke. It was a dumpster farm, and
he's turned that program around. They've been in the Final
four the last two years. Right, Ryan Day win the
national championship last year, no one can take that away
from that was really really impressive, especially after the embarrassing
(08:30):
lost to Michigan. They're both really good coaches, they're both
great recruiters. The talent on their rosters speak for themselves.
It's elite. But if their quarterback's good, they're gonna be excellent.
Their quarterbacks meant they're gonna again when they're playing equal opponents,
they're gonna have issues. And today we saw Julian saying
who I didn't know that much about. When you see
him interviewed at the end of the game, he looks
like he's ten years old. Obviously hype guy from southern
(08:54):
California goes to Bama, Saban retires, he goes to Ohio State.
I'm sure making a ton of coin, like this guy's
really talented player as well. But unlike the you know,
the outside, like not everyone has given the kid to
reach around. Hell, the narrative coming out of Ohio State
is like, listen, he won the job, but it was
not easy. Whoever the other kid isn't I don't even
(09:15):
forget his name, But like Urban Meyer when I was
on Coward Show, was like this, This was a little
closer than you think. And clearly everybody knows Ryan Days's
guy where everyone's like arch Manning, arch Manning, arch Manning.
I bought into the hype. How could you not? Sometimes
you say stuff enough, it's like, Eah, it's gotta be true.
This guy's gonna be really good, because I, like most people,
was like, hey, how could he not just at minimum
(09:35):
be a really good player, maybe not like the best
player we've ever seen, maybe not John Elway or Andrew
Locker's uncle Peyton, but just be a really good college player.
And you saw a guy today who was swimming, who
was honestly over his head beside a couple of plays late,
was mostly atrocious. And if that guy was named quinn Ewers,
if that was not arch Manning, if that was quinn
(09:57):
Ewers who just played that game, everyone would be like,
this guy sucks. Why don't they bench him for arch Manning.
That would have been one hundred percent the conversation. And listen,
they get a couple layup games before going on the
road to the swamp here in a couple of weeks.
But they got to figure out a way to calm
him down. When you're throwing a wheel route or a
quick out route, or just something a basic route that
(10:20):
essentially runs or operates like a run in the passing game,
which gets you five yards seven yards, might not get
you an explosive play and might not even get you
a first down, but goes from first and ten to
second and four or second and eight to third and
two right and just helps you breathe. They could not
do that today, and nothing was more Uh. That sums
(10:43):
that up more and symbolizes his day than that final
second to last row when their star receivers coming across
that's not very far away from any slink shots a
fastball where all he needs, Like if you got a
high level NFL quarterback, Lamar Jackson, you got Josh Allen,
you got any top fifteen quarterback in the NFL, that's
(11:07):
just a lob pass. That's a lob pass to the guy.
That's a touch pass where you throw them even if
it's not perfect, right in front of him, hits them
in the bread basket, heaps going arts, throws this high
rocket behind him where this guy's such a good athlete,
puts his hand behind him, hits the ball, still almost
catches it, but it was like that that can't happen,
And that pass consistently happened throughout the day. And if
(11:30):
I would have told Sark and the Texas fans and
the Texas administration that Ohio State would score fourteen points
and you would you control Jeremiah Smith again in him
of forty three yards no touchdowns. Every single person Matthew
led by Matthew McConaughey, would have signed up for that. Wait,
they're gonna score fourteen points and Jeremiah Smith is gonna
(11:52):
have forty three yards total and no touchdowns, we're in.
You would have to take that first case scenario. We
play like shit, TI game, We're going overtime. But even
if I'm confident in hey, there's a good team, we
win twenty four to fourteen, It's like no. Honestly, it
took a crazy second to last drive to even make
it fourteen to seven. So Ohio State, like, I'm pro SEC,
(12:18):
and I think the SEC has proven over the last
Sabing era they were clearly the best conference. Their top
four or five teams were better than every other conference.
Ohio State, once Urban got there, turned into an SEC program.
He's talked about this. Their big thing was to cruit everyone.
We're gonna go into Florida and we're gonna get elite players.
We will get whoever we want, wherever we want. That's
(12:39):
how we'll offerate. And they've morphed into an SEC team
now they are like listen, is Texas the best team
in the SEC? Well, they were right there last year, right,
only Georgia was better. They lost to him twice. But
like Ohio State, I thought the gap today, if that's
how art is gonna play, was pretty wide. You know,
Texas got really good players, so they can control Jeremiah Smith.
(13:00):
Most teams do not, like I'll have big Day for
the Big ten. That that was a big moment, in
a big moment for Ryan Day because I was thinking
about this watching. You know, you got urban Meyer with Fox,
you got Nick Saban with ESPN. And the reason these
two coaches, the reason Ryan Day is at Ohio State
is because urban Meyer gave him the job. Essentially the
reason Steve Sarkisian is at Texas because Nick Saban changed
(13:23):
his life, changed his career. Like, those two guys are
in those positions because of urban Meyer and Nick Saban,
who are obviously way better than those two guys. And
that's no slight of those two guys. Nick Saban's the
greatest college coach of all time, and Urban Meyer is
one of them. I mean, they're both all time greats, right,
but like these are two guys. Ryan Day now has
a championship. A lot of people like myself think Sark
(13:44):
can get one when you're coaching at Texas, But it's
it all comes down to, like how good your quarterback.
Like the reason that Ryan Day and that team got
hot those last four games. Will Howard turned into Peyton Manning.
He dominated, He was elite. This is not the days
of ten, fifteen, twenty, definitely when I was a kid,
(14:05):
where you could have some complete scrub and your roster
would be so good and you win the Natty. Because
now to win the Natty you gotta win countless playoff games.
Even if you get a bye, you gotta win three.
That's really really hard. And they got a long way
to go for arch I mean a long way to go.
And I'm not going to correct and change my opinion
(14:26):
these next couple days. But what we learned today is
hype is just that doesn't mean a goddamn thing. I
can tell you it's the greatest restaurant of all time.
I can tell you she's the most beautiful girl I've
ever seen, but if she walks through that door and
she's a four, he'n be like middle cough, what are
you talking about? If you walk into that restaurant and
there's hair in your rice and your steak is overcooked,
(14:48):
you're gonna be like, this place sucks. Like we can
only go off what we see. We're just reacting to this,
which is one of the most hype games of all time.
And he's easily, easily to me, the most hype college
football player of my lifetime. Now, there have been guys
who became more famous as they played t Bow, Reggie Bush,
(15:09):
Cam whoever, Joe Burrow, Caleb Williams. They had to do
it by games. So like Joe Burrow's hype became when
we watched him play, Cam Newton became this legend when
he dragged a team of randoms to the Natty, Reggie Bush,
when he dominated everyone he played, they did it. There
has never been a guy ever with this much hype
(15:29):
who has not played and then does play and everyone's like,
wait what, and I want him to be good. It's interesting,
it's a fascinating story, it's it's exciting, it's entertaining. But
that was not I mean that that was rough to
watch as a lover of football, as a level lover
of high level quarterback play. That was rough. And I
(15:50):
think now, and this is why these guys get paid
so much money, because how could you, if you were Arch,
not be head down a little bit? Right? And I understand,
And he's high level cat and you know, doesn't like
let the press clippings go to his head and not
dialed in on social media twenty four to seven, three
sixty five. We're all human beings. How could he not
(16:12):
have his tail between his legs a little bit? And
this is on sark Over these next couple of weeks
to kind of build him back up, because there are
gonna be a lot of people around the program, a
lot of people in Austin, Texas, a lot of people
in the SEC. You're no longer in the Big twelve.
You're in the SEC who like are gonna be like
the fuck is this? What the hell's going on? There?
(16:33):
So props Ohio State, massive, massive win, big win for
Ryan Days. What a lot of big games recently? Right,
just has Texas Notre Dame beat the shit out of Tennessee,
beat Texas again? Gotta be feeling good. You know, he's
gotta be feeling good. My band portinoay from coming in
(16:54):
the stadium, but wins a lot of games. And last
but not least, you know, you look at Ohio State schedule.
Their team is just gonna be so good on defense
and offensively. Most people are not gonna have the athletes
to do what Texas just did to them. They are
gonna dominate. Now, are they the best team in the
(17:14):
Big Ten? I don't know. We'll see how Penn State
and some of these teams look as time goes on,
but they're gonna be really, really good, like they're gonna
be in the playoffs. You look at Texas like they're
gonna need a lot more at arch if they're gonna
beat A and M, if they're gonna beat Florida, if
they're gonna beat Georgia. Maybe you know, we saw last
year with a twelve team playoff, you're no lock if
you go nine and three. I think you've got to
(17:35):
feel pretty good about yourself going ten and two so
you can afford more losses. And people love saying this
like your season is not over after one game. That
is true, but your margin ferreer gets really really slim
really really fast when you have big time opponents. Now,
when you're playing something like if you play in the ACC,
if Clemson were to lose to Night little less unfazed.
(17:57):
But their schedule is a lot easier than playing SEC opponents.
It just is. That's where to me, I stand by
when it comes to supporting the SEC, like, it's way
harder to play their average teams than it is to
play a lot of these conference average teams not want
a given year. Maybe the Big Ten has a more
room for argument there, but these other conferences simply do not.
(18:21):
They just don't. But yes, I'll start for the Big Ten.
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see DKNG dot co. Slash audio quick thing on Dion.
I know he lost, but I was really impressed watching
them play. I mean, their quarterback's not very good, and
(19:56):
I would guess over the course of the next couple
weeks they transitioned their young, highly touted guy definitely split
snaps in regular season games and potentially.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Just go with the other guy. And I get, you know,
Dion's old school. You have a guy who's been in
your program, who probably does things the right way. You
want to give the benefit of deutrity. It's not how
I'm wired. I would just go with the more talented guy.
But like old school people, especially people that you know
grew up with football in the eighties and nineties when
he played kind of the way it worked. But that guy,
your team is actually pretty solid. You're not gonna win
(20:29):
games with that guy what he has done at Colorado.
Like I was thinking this last night, over the course
of the last ten to fifteen years, pre Dion, you
couldn't have paid me to give my Friday night to
Colorado Georgia Tech and I have worked in football and
now talked about football for a living for almost two decades.
And there's not enough money you could have paid me
(20:51):
to made me care about that game, knowing that no
one else gives a shit. I didn't budge for three
plus hours. I was glued. Now. Part of it is
like I like the Georgia Tech coach Haynes King's a
fun player, But that was like the atmosphere in Boulder
was awesome. That place was rocking. Deon Sanders took a
(21:12):
dogshit dead dead football brand irrelevant didn't matter and made
them matter again. So whatever they're paying Deon, he'd be like, well,
as he's only twelve and thirteen, his value to that
program making them not only relevant, brought on the Heisman Trophy.
They're gonna be I don't know, you know, they depending
on their quarterback play, they could probably win anywhere from
(21:33):
six to nine games this year. I think Georgia Tech,
most people think, are gonna be It's gonna be pretty solid.
Like that was a real football team they played and
they were going to to toe with them as their
quarterback a little like arch Manning throwing balls over guys heads,
skipping balls, but their physicality. They're just well coached and
that city and area knows it, and that place was
(21:55):
sold out rocking Foxes there. It just felt big. It
really did. So we can argue like should should Door's
number have been retired immediately? Like I get people to
be like, it's kind of ridiculous, because it is kind
of crazy when you see shaud Door Sanders and Travis Hunter.
I'd have no Travis Hunter just won the Heisman, you
want to retire. I get where people are like, this
(22:17):
is pretty nuts, But just in terms of Dion's impact
to that program, again irrelevant, did not matter at all
in a sport that really matters. That's the number two
sport in America. I bet that game this morning had
well over ten million people watching. Up until Game seven
of this NBA Finals, they weren't sniffing nine million. If
(22:38):
you told me fifteen million people in the peak were
watching Ohio State texts. I believe twenty's on the table.
Who knows the number's gonna be huge. College football really matters.
I bet last night Dion will get five or six
million people watching Friday Night on Fox. But they wouldn't
have four or five years ago, not with that program,
because they would have been unwatchable. They would have been terrible.
And I just think what Dion's done from a business
(22:59):
stand point. Football will see how many games he wins.
I already think he's proven watching him last night, like
good coach, like he's solid, like knows what he's doing.
He's not gonna be a Colorado along, but he resurrected
and saved that program because it was better than a
door nail. I got my start in football. Many of
you know this, but at Fresno State. You know when
(23:21):
I go on with coward. I think he thinks I
went to Fresno State. I techically went to cal Poly.
I got. I was a GA at Presno State. I
got a you know, master's degree. No big deal, pretty
meaningless and irrelevant, and I don't even remember really going
to class. But I did get it. I got it
framed in my closet. But I take a lot of
pride in Coach Hill. I love the guy and people
I worked with there, the players that were basically the
(23:43):
same age as me when I went there right after college.
Still friends with a bunch, friends with a lot of
people from the Fresno area. I love Fresno State football.
My cousin played there before I went to work there.
I've rooted for the program for a long time, and
going to work for that program then I got. I
saw Boise State in their heyday had a front row seat.
So I have a lot of respect for smaller non
(24:06):
I get power Power five forever, but Power four programs
that aren't at that level but consistently beat those teams
in a really good year in year out. It's hard
because you don't have the budgets Ohio State and Texas
of just like random Power four programs. You have no
business competing with them. And for a long time, Boise
(24:27):
could beat anybody, And there were years where I thought,
legitimately they could compete for a national championship. The one
year Kaepernick beat him in Nevada at night when I
think Boise missed a couple field goals, I thought, that's
Boise's best team ever. I thought they could have won
the national championship. And fres though I don't think we
were ever quite good enough on defense, but NFL players
(24:47):
constantly guys drafted in the first, second round, guys drafted
in a bunch of different rounds. It was a legitimate
NFL program. It pains me to say this. The days
of those type programs are done. It's over. Nil killed
them a couple weeks ago, when I was flying to
Hawaii Week zero, Fresno State got their teeth kicked in
by Kansas. Twenty four hours ago, Boise got worked by
(25:12):
the University of South Florida got destroyed. And last year
you saw Boise in the playoffs. And obviously an enormous
reason that they made it that far and had an
excellent team was their star running back, who had a
season that paralleled Barry Sanders Well, I didn't know this,
but right at the beginning of the year last year
(25:33):
there was an athletic article on it, and coach Dickert,
who actually is at Wake Forest now it came on
this podcast, had given interviews as well the Boise program
and the boosters in the NAL. The most money they
could pay the kid was three hundred thousand dollars, which
was by far the most money given to a guy
(25:56):
in the Mountain West. I think it's called the Pac twelve.
None of us know, none of us give a shit.
Bottom line, that group of teams right the San Diego States,
the New Mexico's, Oregon State, Washington State. Highest paid guy
was three hundred thousand dollars. Ashton genty Well, he turned
down to stay at Boise because he was very loyal.
He's like a military brat. He was offered seven figures
(26:18):
by multiple programs and he turned him down because he
had loyalty to Boise and then had this historic season.
That is an outlier situation. The equivalent of Austin genty
at those type programs are gone one hundred percent of
the time. Moving forward, when I was at Fresleo State.
We had Ryan Matthews who was drafted I think twelfth overall.
Who's our running back? He replaced led Dani and Thomlinson
(26:41):
with the Chargers. They literally cut him and drafted Ryan
to replace him. Didn't go well. He got injured a lot,
but Ryan was like a freak down. There is no
way on God's green Earth if the nil existed, Ryan
would have been on the Fresleo State team his junior
year that we couldn't afford it to keep him despite
his loyalty. Because there gets dual points like Texas or
(27:01):
USC or whoever is offering me one point four million
dollars and the most you can pay me is one
hundred and seventy five thousand dollars in free sandwiches. These
teams cannot compete. And listen, you could argue that's the
way the world works in a capitalistic society with the economics.
The way this world operates from Target to Walmart has
been knocking out the little guy forever. That's the way
(27:23):
we operate in the business world. Why is football any different?
And it's not. And I'm not saying that that's wrong
because if I was one of these kids. And I
was at San Diego State and Ohio State got on
the horn and said, this happened to Josh Simmons. The dude,
the Chiefs just drafted thirty first. I didn't know this.
(27:44):
I assumed, like, oh, this is a five star left tackle.
He started his career at San Diego State. So when
you have an elite talent, when you have a blue
chip guy that for whatever reason, maybe his grades, maybe
he was an underachiever in high school, maybe he was
just a late bloomer. The moment you become bloom like,
you become good like, it's clear, like there's no denying
(28:06):
how talented a guy is. He's gonna go to Oregon,
he's gonna go to Ohio State, he's gonna go to Alabama,
he's gonna go to LSU. And I don't blame any
of these guys, because those guys out of high school
would have gone to those places if they were offered
a scholarship. But it's over the little guy. And this
we saw this in college basketball last year. The reason
that the number one seeds are all gonna consistently be
(28:27):
making huge runs the number one and two seeds is
because the butlers of the world had a chance back
in the day Vcus. They will never have those players
on the team their senior year. Why because they would
be bought and paid for by their sophomore year. And
that's definitely happening in college football. So the top brands
in college football have always had a big advantage. The
(28:47):
same teams have been winning most of my life. In
the nineties, it was like Nebraska, Florida State, Miami. Over
the last twenty five years in Florida, it's been Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia,
right those teams the top. The cream of the crop
has been the cream of the crop, give or take
a team or two for a long period of time.
(29:09):
But it is never going to be less fair moving
forward for the little guy. And this is what I
said when they created the playoffs, I didn't understand why
they gave an automatic bid to the non power for conference.
Then a bunch of people in the college football world said, well,
it's because of like litigation. They don't want to get sued.
I get it, but I don't think they deserve a
(29:30):
spot like last year. If you want to give Boise
State because they have this great player, but for the
most part, like just give James Madison a spot because
they went twelve and zero, Like I'm sorry that they shouldn't.
And hopefully as time goes on that changes and we
stop worried about getting sued in terms of like we
just want the best teams in the dance. But when
(29:51):
it comes, if you're a fan of those programs, if
you went to school those programs and it was always
cool knowing like we could take on the big dog,
you can't anymore, and you won't even have the players
on your team by the time they come into their
own as star players, because they will be picked off,
they will be bought, and they will be stolen to
other players. My wife was like, what's the transfer portal?
(30:14):
And I started to explain it. She's like, so kind
of like a dating app. I'm like, kind of like
a dating app where you put in your information, but
then whoever would quote unquote be on you know, the
other side, who wanted to date you, basically has to
buy you. So if you're a good player and you
throw your name in the transfer portal, you get bought.
And the reason typically you put your name in there,
(30:37):
obviously some people's like I'm not playing, but a lot
of people go like Minnesota. I think today they were saying,
Ohio State's one of their offensive linemen is from Minnesota. Well,
clearly what happened. Ohio State's watching this kid in Minnesota, going, God,
this guy's really good. He would start for us. So
whether he will the back channel or hell they maybe
(30:58):
they just text them or DM directly. You want to
start at for a house state and the answer is
gonna be this guy's at Minnesota. This is a powerful program,
like a good year in the Big Ten, But fuck you,
I'd like to play at a host state. Would you
would you rather throw a party for winning eight games
or try to win a national championship. I don't even
I don't blame any of these guys. Hell you could
argue it's the money is secondary. Like who's turned down
(31:19):
going to Oregon, going to Texas, going to Ohio State
if they had the opportunity from a smaller program. But
that opportunity didn't really used to exist because like no
one was gonna sit out a year. It's like I'll
just play all ball out here and I'll be a
second round pick. Well now it's like I'll just ball
out here until they call me, and then I'll go
there and I'll ball out even more with more people
watching and make more money and then be a second
round pick. So that's clearly what's happening right now, and
(31:41):
in a weird way, it saddens me a little. The
volume
The volume. What is going on? Everybody happy College football
Week one. Like many people, I've been anticipating. I've been
(00:24):
fired up for this game for months. I was laying
in bed this morning at like five am, just staring
at the ceiling, so excited, pacing around the house. And
then the game happened and we can just start. Let's
not even waste any time. Let's just dive right in
to the arch Manning experience. I mean that was leading
my I would say, excitement, anticipation, and just overall juice
(00:51):
leading into this game was to watch this guy play.
And I've been saying it over and over and listen,
I'm not trying to pat myself on the back. He's
got a long way to go. Your career is not
defined by one game. But the hype has been insane. Honestly,
it's been beyond over the top. I say this about
all these quarterbacks right in basketball. Sometimes the hype, Hey,
(01:12):
this guy's gonna be the number one pick. He's an
incredible player for the most part. It just that's what happens.
Right He's in college for six months and he's the
number one pick or he's the number two pick. Happens
all the time. So honestly, a lot of hype when
it comes to that sport, like kind of know when
you're fifteen, sixteen years old. Football's kind of the opposite.
We see all the time. These guys like camp Miss
quarterback prospect end up on three schools in two years.
(01:36):
Camp Miss quarterback prospect never lives up to the hype
in his bench by year two, never ends up starting.
How many five stars in the NFL? How any position
or guys that were top ten, top twenty recruits go
on when Draft day comes, like, I can't believe this
guy's an undrafted free agent. He was the most hyped
recruit of all time. Now sometimes Julio Jones, Jadevion, you know,
(02:03):
Caleb Williams. Like obviously we see it with guys hype
out of colle or out of high school, go on
to college, dominate, win the Heisman, be top picks. But
I've said this for a long time, the hype on
arch Manning was fucking insane. He is and I don't
I mean, I know what you're doing, Like you're in
(02:23):
the business. I always hate the word like it's for clicks. Well, yeah,
that's the business they're in. Like the business Ryan days
in is to win games. If you do something for
the Internet, in terms of writing, your job is to
get people to click on it and look right. It's
why Bronnie James a couple of years ago was mocked
as a top ten pick. It's why Arch Manning this
year is being I mean, most people are talking about it,
and it's not just one person's universal. I hope the
(02:45):
Saints suck so they can get arch Manning with the
number one overall pick where his granddaddy Archie played the
Cowboys trade Michael Parsons. Maybe this is to suck and
to get arch Manning to come play for the Cowboys.
And who knows if Brian Schottenheimer sucks, take Sark two.
It's like, guys, can he just play a game? Because,
unlike most sports, baseball guys are drafted out of high
(03:07):
school on pure hype and potential. Basketball it happens all
the time in football. To get drafted number one overall,
you gotta be pretty freaking good, Like you gotta be
like this guy is a can't missplayer on the field.
You obviously have to have the physical characteristics, but you
gotta do it on the field. You can't fake it
in football, those twelve games those two years, they speak
(03:30):
for themselves, and it's like, can arc just like I
don't know, throw some touchdowns in the SEC play some
real opponents, and there's no way around it. Today was
not great, not great at all, And up until a
couple throws at the end, the touchdown pass was nice.
The ball on the last drive down the sideline was nice,
But overall I thought today was really bad. He missed
(03:53):
countless throws that should be considered layups. And to be
a can't misplay. To be a high level quarterback in
high school, college or the pros, you have to hit
basic passes. So on that final drive, when the dude
streaking across the field five or six yards away from you,
you don't need to throw a ninety mile an hour
(04:14):
fastball behind him. You just lob it right there. And listen,
I can't even imagine how the nerves, the excitement, just
the intensity on him as an individual leading into the game.
I wasn't gonna judge him for the first several drives.
Like listen, I can't even imagine how hyped up he
is right how hard it is to calm himself down.
(04:37):
And you thought as the game went on he would
kind of settle down. And I watched the guy that
missed easy throw after easy throw after easy throw. This
game does not define his career, So two things can
be true. I thought he was mostly atrocious today. And
the reason we're reacting to this, it's one game. If
this was Joe Blow starting for if this was Quinn
Yours a couple of years ago, we wouldn't have these takes.
(05:00):
But these people, over and over, these people that covered
the NFL draft, these people that covered the NFL have
been telling me he's the greatest fucking thing since l Spread.
It's like I've been watching football for thirty years. I
worked in college football. I've scouted guys at these major universities.
You gotta be very careful about hype because hype in
football doesn't last long because eventually you got to play
the game. So whether you're a five star, whether you're
(05:22):
a two star. You know who had no stars next
to his name, Ashton Genty. Then what happened? He gets
drafted six overall and almost breaks Berry Sanders record, And
we'll get into boys. He stayed here in a second,
But like you gotta do it, and you watched him
playing Ohio State kind of getting manhandled. Now you can say,
Matt Patricia, you know you overqualified defensive coordinator when it
(05:43):
comes to college, and give him credit. He's taken that
jab and he's lost probably one hundred pounds. Looks good physically,
and they had a bunch of new players. But I
thought they punked them. And one thing I saw on
the internet was that Sark was not doing a good job.
I think it's very hard as a play caller when
your quarterback can't make easy throws. Two call plays, and
(06:04):
you could tell throughout the game he was very hesitant
to call back to back passes. He only had thirty
attempts and they were down the whole game. Now, granted
they were down seven points, fourteen points, it's not like
they had a huge lead. But the play caller, like
starts established he's a good play caller. He knows what
he's doing. As a play caller. We can nitpick individual plays,
(06:25):
but overall the course of the game, like he's done
enough to get the benefit of doubt, Like he knows
what he's doing and he knows the evan flow of
a game. We've seen enough guys that have no skills
when it comes to calling plays. And today I saw
a guy who early on could tell his quarterback was
pretty rattled for whatever reason, could not get comfortable was
(06:45):
holding onto the ball. Listen, we crushed Caleb Williams for
holding onto the ball too long, not even us Hell,
his own coach does get rid of the football countless
times today. Arch held held held. It's one thing if
it's you know, a roll out play where you're holding, holding,
and then you can tell off. Some of these plays
are clearly pocket passes where you got a couple seconds.
You're playing a bunch of guys that are gonna get
(07:06):
drafted high. You got to get rid of the rock.
And he held, he Hell, he held, and then he
would kind of run into a sack or like run
in for a couple of yards. It's like, you can't
really function like that. And it's not gonna matter when
you're playing Sam Houston State or San Jose. But when
you're playing Florida, when you're playing Georgia, when you're playing
Texas A and M, it's going to really matter. They're
(07:26):
gonna be so much more talented than I would say
eight of their opponents, but they are gonna be a
couple more games. For the talent is semi even today.
The talent, like you remove the quarterbacks, that's an even game.
These are elite players everywhere. This has become like that's
Target and that's Walmart. These teams have unlimited money. They
can buy any fucking player they want, which I'm all for, Like,
(07:48):
have at it now. You could argue they've been doing
that forever, but now the numbers are so big, huge
advantage to programs like Ohio State and Texas. So the
separating factors now, to me are two things more than ever.
It's a lot like the NFL coaches and quarterback Well, listen,
I've been critical actually of both guys. Hell, I'm probably
one of the last guys who's very critical of Sark.
(08:10):
He's done a really good job at Texas, unlike Ryan Day,
and this is just a reality. When he took over Texas,
it was a joke. It was a dumpster farm, and
he's turned that program around. They've been in the Final
four the last two years. Right, Ryan Day win the
national championship last year, no one can take that away
from that was really really impressive, especially after the embarrassing
(08:30):
lost to Michigan. They're both really good coaches, they're both
great recruiters. The talent on their rosters speak for themselves.
It's elite. But if their quarterback's good, they're gonna be excellent.
Their quarterbacks meant they're gonna again when they're playing equal opponents,
they're gonna have issues. And today we saw Julian saying
who I didn't know that much about. When you see
him interviewed at the end of the game, he looks
like he's ten years old. Obviously hype guy from southern
(08:54):
California goes to Bama, Saban retires, he goes to Ohio State.
I'm sure making a ton of coin, like this guy's
really talented player as well. But unlike the you know,
the outside, like not everyone has given the kid to
reach around. Hell, the narrative coming out of Ohio State
is like, listen, he won the job, but it was
not easy. Whoever the other kid isn't I don't even
(09:15):
forget his name, But like Urban Meyer when I was
on Coward Show, was like this, This was a little
closer than you think. And clearly everybody knows Ryan Days's
guy where everyone's like arch Manning, arch Manning, arch Manning.
I bought into the hype. How could you not? Sometimes
you say stuff enough, it's like, Eah, it's gotta be true.
This guy's gonna be really good, because I, like most people,
was like, hey, how could he not just at minimum
(09:35):
be a really good player, maybe not like the best
player we've ever seen, maybe not John Elway or Andrew
Locker's uncle Peyton, but just be a really good college player.
And you saw a guy today who was swimming, who
was honestly over his head beside a couple of plays late,
was mostly atrocious. And if that guy was named quinn Ewers,
if that was not arch Manning, if that was quinn
(09:57):
Ewers who just played that game, everyone would be like,
this guy sucks. Why don't they bench him for arch Manning.
That would have been one hundred percent the conversation. And listen,
they get a couple layup games before going on the
road to the swamp here in a couple of weeks.
But they got to figure out a way to calm
him down. When you're throwing a wheel route or a
quick out route, or just something a basic route that
(10:20):
essentially runs or operates like a run in the passing game,
which gets you five yards seven yards, might not get
you an explosive play and might not even get you
a first down, but goes from first and ten to
second and four or second and eight to third and
two right and just helps you breathe. They could not
do that today, and nothing was more Uh. That sums
(10:43):
that up more and symbolizes his day than that final
second to last row when their star receivers coming across
that's not very far away from any slink shots a
fastball where all he needs, Like if you got a
high level NFL quarterback, Lamar Jackson, you got Josh Allen,
you got any top fifteen quarterback in the NFL, that's
(11:07):
just a lob pass. That's a lob pass to the guy.
That's a touch pass where you throw them even if
it's not perfect, right in front of him, hits them
in the bread basket, heaps going arts, throws this high
rocket behind him where this guy's such a good athlete,
puts his hand behind him, hits the ball, still almost
catches it, but it was like that that can't happen,
And that pass consistently happened throughout the day. And if
(11:30):
I would have told Sark and the Texas fans and
the Texas administration that Ohio State would score fourteen points
and you would you control Jeremiah Smith again in him
of forty three yards no touchdowns. Every single person Matthew
led by Matthew McConaughey, would have signed up for that. Wait,
they're gonna score fourteen points and Jeremiah Smith is gonna
(11:52):
have forty three yards total and no touchdowns, we're in.
You would have to take that first case scenario. We
play like shit, TI game, We're going overtime. But even
if I'm confident in hey, there's a good team, we
win twenty four to fourteen, It's like no. Honestly, it
took a crazy second to last drive to even make
it fourteen to seven. So Ohio State, like, I'm pro SEC,
(12:18):
and I think the SEC has proven over the last
Sabing era they were clearly the best conference. Their top
four or five teams were better than every other conference.
Ohio State, once Urban got there, turned into an SEC program.
He's talked about this. Their big thing was to cruit everyone.
We're gonna go into Florida and we're gonna get elite players.
We will get whoever we want, wherever we want. That's
(12:39):
how we'll offerate. And they've morphed into an SEC team
now they are like listen, is Texas the best team
in the SEC? Well, they were right there last year, right,
only Georgia was better. They lost to him twice. But
like Ohio State, I thought the gap today, if that's
how art is gonna play, was pretty wide. You know,
Texas got really good players, so they can control Jeremiah Smith.
(13:00):
Most teams do not, like I'll have big Day for
the Big ten. That that was a big moment, in
a big moment for Ryan Day because I was thinking
about this watching. You know, you got urban Meyer with Fox,
you got Nick Saban with ESPN. And the reason these
two coaches, the reason Ryan Day is at Ohio State
is because urban Meyer gave him the job. Essentially the
reason Steve Sarkisian is at Texas because Nick Saban changed
(13:23):
his life, changed his career. Like, those two guys are
in those positions because of urban Meyer and Nick Saban,
who are obviously way better than those two guys. And
that's no slight of those two guys. Nick Saban's the
greatest college coach of all time, and Urban Meyer is
one of them. I mean, they're both all time greats, right,
but like these are two guys. Ryan Day now has
a championship. A lot of people like myself think Sark
(13:44):
can get one when you're coaching at Texas, But it's
it all comes down to, like how good your quarterback.
Like the reason that Ryan Day and that team got
hot those last four games. Will Howard turned into Peyton Manning.
He dominated, He was elite. This is not the days
of ten, fifteen, twenty, definitely when I was a kid,
(14:05):
where you could have some complete scrub and your roster
would be so good and you win the Natty. Because
now to win the Natty you gotta win countless playoff games.
Even if you get a bye, you gotta win three.
That's really really hard. And they got a long way
to go for arch I mean a long way to go.
And I'm not going to correct and change my opinion
(14:26):
these next couple days. But what we learned today is
hype is just that doesn't mean a goddamn thing. I
can tell you it's the greatest restaurant of all time.
I can tell you she's the most beautiful girl I've
ever seen, but if she walks through that door and
she's a four, he'n be like middle cough, what are
you talking about? If you walk into that restaurant and
there's hair in your rice and your steak is overcooked,
(14:48):
you're gonna be like, this place sucks. Like we can
only go off what we see. We're just reacting to this,
which is one of the most hype games of all time.
And he's easily, easily to me, the most hype college
football player of my lifetime. Now, there have been guys
who became more famous as they played t Bow, Reggie Bush,
(15:09):
Cam whoever, Joe Burrow, Caleb Williams. They had to do
it by games. So like Joe Burrow's hype became when
we watched him play, Cam Newton became this legend when
he dragged a team of randoms to the Natty, Reggie Bush,
when he dominated everyone he played, they did it. There
has never been a guy ever with this much hype
(15:29):
who has not played and then does play and everyone's like,
wait what, and I want him to be good. It's interesting,
it's a fascinating story, it's it's exciting, it's entertaining. But
that was not I mean that that was rough to
watch as a lover of football, as a level lover
of high level quarterback play. That was rough. And I
(15:50):
think now, and this is why these guys get paid
so much money, because how could you, if you were Arch,
not be head down a little bit? Right? And I understand,
And he's high level cat and you know, doesn't like
let the press clippings go to his head and not
dialed in on social media twenty four to seven, three
sixty five. We're all human beings. How could he not
(16:12):
have his tail between his legs a little bit? And
this is on sark Over these next couple of weeks
to kind of build him back up, because there are
gonna be a lot of people around the program, a
lot of people in Austin, Texas, a lot of people
in the SEC. You're no longer in the Big twelve.
You're in the SEC who like are gonna be like
the fuck is this? What the hell's going on? There?
(16:33):
So props Ohio State, massive, massive win, big win for
Ryan Days. What a lot of big games recently? Right,
just has Texas Notre Dame beat the shit out of Tennessee,
beat Texas again? Gotta be feeling good. You know, he's
gotta be feeling good. My band portinoay from coming in
(16:54):
the stadium, but wins a lot of games. And last
but not least, you know, you look at Ohio State schedule.
Their team is just gonna be so good on defense
and offensively. Most people are not gonna have the athletes
to do what Texas just did to them. They are
gonna dominate. Now, are they the best team in the
(17:14):
Big Ten? I don't know. We'll see how Penn State
and some of these teams look as time goes on,
but they're gonna be really, really good, like they're gonna
be in the playoffs. You look at Texas like they're
gonna need a lot more at arch if they're gonna
beat A and M, if they're gonna beat Florida, if
they're gonna beat Georgia. Maybe you know, we saw last
year with a twelve team playoff, you're no lock if
you go nine and three. I think you've got to
(17:35):
feel pretty good about yourself going ten and two so
you can afford more losses. And people love saying this
like your season is not over after one game. That
is true, but your margin ferreer gets really really slim
really really fast when you have big time opponents. Now,
when you're playing something like if you play in the ACC,
if Clemson were to lose to Night little less unfazed.
(17:57):
But their schedule is a lot easier than playing SEC opponents.
It just is. That's where to me, I stand by
when it comes to supporting the SEC, like, it's way
harder to play their average teams than it is to
play a lot of these conference average teams not want
a given year. Maybe the Big Ten has a more
room for argument there, but these other conferences simply do not.
(18:21):
They just don't. But yes, I'll start for the Big Ten.
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see DKNG dot co. Slash audio quick thing on Dion.
I know he lost, but I was really impressed watching
them play. I mean, their quarterback's not very good, and
(19:56):
I would guess over the course of the next couple
weeks they transitioned their young, highly touted guy definitely split
snaps in regular season games and potentially.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Just go with the other guy. And I get, you know,
Dion's old school. You have a guy who's been in
your program, who probably does things the right way. You
want to give the benefit of deutrity. It's not how
I'm wired. I would just go with the more talented guy.
But like old school people, especially people that you know
grew up with football in the eighties and nineties when
he played kind of the way it worked. But that guy,
your team is actually pretty solid. You're not gonna win
(20:29):
games with that guy what he has done at Colorado.
Like I was thinking this last night, over the course
of the last ten to fifteen years, pre Dion, you
couldn't have paid me to give my Friday night to
Colorado Georgia Tech and I have worked in football and
now talked about football for a living for almost two decades.
And there's not enough money you could have paid me
(20:51):
to made me care about that game, knowing that no
one else gives a shit. I didn't budge for three
plus hours. I was glued. Now. Part of it is
like I like the Georgia Tech coach Haynes King's a
fun player, But that was like the atmosphere in Boulder
was awesome. That place was rocking. Deon Sanders took a
(21:12):
dogshit dead dead football brand irrelevant didn't matter and made
them matter again. So whatever they're paying Deon, he'd be like, well,
as he's only twelve and thirteen, his value to that
program making them not only relevant, brought on the Heisman Trophy.
They're gonna be I don't know, you know, they depending
on their quarterback play, they could probably win anywhere from
(21:33):
six to nine games this year. I think Georgia Tech,
most people think, are gonna be It's gonna be pretty solid.
Like that was a real football team they played and
they were going to to toe with them as their
quarterback a little like arch Manning throwing balls over guys heads,
skipping balls, but their physicality. They're just well coached and
that city and area knows it, and that place was
(21:55):
sold out rocking Foxes there. It just felt big. It
really did. So we can argue like should should Door's
number have been retired immediately? Like I get people to
be like, it's kind of ridiculous, because it is kind
of crazy when you see shaud Door Sanders and Travis Hunter.
I'd have no Travis Hunter just won the Heisman, you
want to retire. I get where people are like, this
(22:17):
is pretty nuts, But just in terms of Dion's impact
to that program, again irrelevant, did not matter at all
in a sport that really matters. That's the number two
sport in America. I bet that game this morning had
well over ten million people watching. Up until Game seven
of this NBA Finals, they weren't sniffing nine million. If
(22:38):
you told me fifteen million people in the peak were
watching Ohio State texts. I believe twenty's on the table.
Who knows the number's gonna be huge. College football really matters.
I bet last night Dion will get five or six
million people watching Friday Night on Fox. But they wouldn't
have four or five years ago, not with that program,
because they would have been unwatchable. They would have been terrible.
And I just think what Dion's done from a business
(22:59):
stand point. Football will see how many games he wins.
I already think he's proven watching him last night, like
good coach, like he's solid, like knows what he's doing.
He's not gonna be a Colorado along, but he resurrected
and saved that program because it was better than a
door nail. I got my start in football. Many of
you know this, but at Fresno State. You know when
(23:21):
I go on with coward. I think he thinks I
went to Fresno State. I techically went to cal Poly.
I got. I was a GA at Presno State. I
got a you know, master's degree. No big deal, pretty
meaningless and irrelevant, and I don't even remember really going
to class. But I did get it. I got it
framed in my closet. But I take a lot of
pride in Coach Hill. I love the guy and people
I worked with there, the players that were basically the
(23:43):
same age as me when I went there right after college.
Still friends with a bunch, friends with a lot of
people from the Fresno area. I love Fresno State football.
My cousin played there before I went to work there.
I've rooted for the program for a long time, and
going to work for that program then I got. I
saw Boise State in their heyday had a front row seat.
So I have a lot of respect for smaller non
(24:06):
I get power Power five forever, but Power four programs
that aren't at that level but consistently beat those teams
in a really good year in year out. It's hard
because you don't have the budgets Ohio State and Texas
of just like random Power four programs. You have no
business competing with them. And for a long time, Boise
(24:27):
could beat anybody, And there were years where I thought,
legitimately they could compete for a national championship. The one
year Kaepernick beat him in Nevada at night when I
think Boise missed a couple field goals, I thought, that's
Boise's best team ever. I thought they could have won
the national championship. And fres though I don't think we
were ever quite good enough on defense, but NFL players
(24:47):
constantly guys drafted in the first, second round, guys drafted
in a bunch of different rounds. It was a legitimate
NFL program. It pains me to say this. The days
of those type programs are done. It's over. Nil killed
them a couple weeks ago, when I was flying to
Hawaii Week zero, Fresno State got their teeth kicked in
by Kansas. Twenty four hours ago, Boise got worked by
(25:12):
the University of South Florida got destroyed. And last year
you saw Boise in the playoffs. And obviously an enormous
reason that they made it that far and had an
excellent team was their star running back, who had a
season that paralleled Barry Sanders Well, I didn't know this,
but right at the beginning of the year last year
(25:33):
there was an athletic article on it, and coach Dickert,
who actually is at Wake Forest now it came on
this podcast, had given interviews as well the Boise program
and the boosters in the NAL. The most money they
could pay the kid was three hundred thousand dollars, which
was by far the most money given to a guy
(25:56):
in the Mountain West. I think it's called the Pac twelve.
None of us know, none of us give a shit.
Bottom line, that group of teams right the San Diego States,
the New Mexico's, Oregon State, Washington State. Highest paid guy
was three hundred thousand dollars. Ashton genty Well, he turned
down to stay at Boise because he was very loyal.
He's like a military brat. He was offered seven figures
(26:18):
by multiple programs and he turned him down because he
had loyalty to Boise and then had this historic season.
That is an outlier situation. The equivalent of Austin genty
at those type programs are gone one hundred percent of
the time. Moving forward, when I was at Fresleo State.
We had Ryan Matthews who was drafted I think twelfth overall.
Who's our running back? He replaced led Dani and Thomlinson
(26:41):
with the Chargers. They literally cut him and drafted Ryan
to replace him. Didn't go well. He got injured a lot,
but Ryan was like a freak down. There is no
way on God's green Earth if the nil existed, Ryan
would have been on the Fresleo State team his junior
year that we couldn't afford it to keep him despite
his loyalty. Because there gets dual points like Texas or
(27:01):
USC or whoever is offering me one point four million
dollars and the most you can pay me is one
hundred and seventy five thousand dollars in free sandwiches. These
teams cannot compete. And listen, you could argue that's the
way the world works in a capitalistic society with the economics.
The way this world operates from Target to Walmart has
been knocking out the little guy forever. That's the way
(27:23):
we operate in the business world. Why is football any different?
And it's not. And I'm not saying that that's wrong
because if I was one of these kids. And I
was at San Diego State and Ohio State got on
the horn and said, this happened to Josh Simmons. The dude,
the Chiefs just drafted thirty first. I didn't know this.
(27:44):
I assumed, like, oh, this is a five star left tackle.
He started his career at San Diego State. So when
you have an elite talent, when you have a blue
chip guy that for whatever reason, maybe his grades, maybe
he was an underachiever in high school, maybe he was
just a late bloomer. The moment you become bloom like,
you become good like, it's clear, like there's no denying
(28:06):
how talented a guy is. He's gonna go to Oregon,
he's gonna go to Ohio State, he's gonna go to Alabama,
he's gonna go to LSU. And I don't blame any
of these guys, because those guys out of high school
would have gone to those places if they were offered
a scholarship. But it's over the little guy. And this
we saw this in college basketball last year. The reason
that the number one seeds are all gonna consistently be
(28:27):
making huge runs the number one and two seeds is
because the butlers of the world had a chance back
in the day Vcus. They will never have those players
on the team their senior year. Why because they would
be bought and paid for by their sophomore year. And
that's definitely happening in college football. So the top brands
in college football have always had a big advantage. The
(28:47):
same teams have been winning most of my life. In
the nineties, it was like Nebraska, Florida State, Miami. Over
the last twenty five years in Florida, it's been Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia,
right those teams the top. The cream of the crop
has been the cream of the crop, give or take
a team or two for a long period of time.
(29:09):
But it is never going to be less fair moving
forward for the little guy. And this is what I
said when they created the playoffs, I didn't understand why
they gave an automatic bid to the non power for conference.
Then a bunch of people in the college football world said, well,
it's because of like litigation. They don't want to get sued.
I get it, but I don't think they deserve a
(29:30):
spot like last year. If you want to give Boise
State because they have this great player, but for the
most part, like just give James Madison a spot because
they went twelve and zero, Like I'm sorry that they shouldn't.
And hopefully as time goes on that changes and we
stop worried about getting sued in terms of like we
just want the best teams in the dance. But when
(29:51):
it comes, if you're a fan of those programs, if
you went to school those programs and it was always
cool knowing like we could take on the big dog,
you can't anymore, and you won't even have the players
on your team by the time they come into their
own as star players, because they will be picked off,
they will be bought, and they will be stolen to
other players. My wife was like, what's the transfer portal?
(30:14):
And I started to explain it. She's like, so kind
of like a dating app. I'm like, kind of like
a dating app where you put in your information, but
then whoever would quote unquote be on you know, the
other side, who wanted to date you, basically has to
buy you. So if you're a good player and you
throw your name in the transfer portal, you get bought.
And the reason typically you put your name in there,
(30:37):
obviously some people's like I'm not playing, but a lot
of people go like Minnesota. I think today they were saying,
Ohio State's one of their offensive linemen is from Minnesota. Well,
clearly what happened. Ohio State's watching this kid in Minnesota, going, God,
this guy's really good. He would start for us. So
whether he will the back channel or hell they maybe
(30:58):
they just text them or DM directly. You want to
start at for a house state and the answer is
gonna be this guy's at Minnesota. This is a powerful program,
like a good year in the Big Ten, But fuck you,
I'd like to play at a host state. Would you
would you rather throw a party for winning eight games
or try to win a national championship. I don't even
I don't blame any of these guys. Hell you could
argue it's the money is secondary. Like who's turned down
(31:19):
going to Oregon, going to Texas, going to Ohio State
if they had the opportunity from a smaller program. But
that opportunity didn't really used to exist because like no
one was gonna sit out a year. It's like I'll
just play all ball out here and I'll be a
second round pick. Well now it's like I'll just ball
out here until they call me, and then I'll go
there and I'll ball out even more with more people
watching and make more money and then be a second
round pick. So that's clearly what's happening right now, and
(31:41):
in a weird way, it saddens me a little. The
volume
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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