3 & Out - John Canzano and Dari Nowkhah join the podcast - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
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Speaker 2 (01:37):
What is going on? Everybody? It's your boy, John middle Coff,
that'd be me three and out podcast is here a
rockin and uh Now we talk about college football today
because it's here and it's obviously a much different world
than you and I grew up on.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
The the amount of con conference realignment is never ending,
and I thought, well, let's focus on the Big ten
of the SEC. So John Cazano, who lives up in Portland,
has a huge sub stack. The Bald Truth Bald Brother
dialed in with Oregon knows these guys, well knows college football,

(02:18):
especially on the West coast, really well. We're gonna talk
to him about the hype surrounding Oregon this conference realignment,
with the PAC twelve schools going to the Big Ten,
what's gonna happen with Oregon State in Washington State, and
just the overall vibe of college football moving forward, and
he talked to a bunch of coaches what they foresee

(02:39):
happening in the very near future because it's a different world.
I missed the Pac twelve. I'm not gonna lie, but
you can't hold onto the past forever because we're not
going back. It is what it is. Obviously doesn't even
exist anymore. Texas and Oklahoma in the SEC, and the
hype on the SEC this year pretty strong, So I thought,
let's have someone from the SEC network, darry No Noka

(03:02):
ESPN guy who is the lead anchor for the SEC network.
He's an Oklahoma guy, so he's fired up. Oklahoma's in
the SEC. We'll talk Texas, Bama, Georgia. It's a lot
going on in college football. It's kind of turned into
the haves and the have nots, and we just got
to embrace it. We got a college football Playoff, which

(03:22):
is gonna be interesting, the vibe of the season. Do
the games mean as much, knowing you have a little
room for error, but this is where we're at, so
we just got to embrace it, enjoy it, and don't
get me wrong, I'm gonna watch I mean, probably more
college football this year than I ever have in my life,
and I've watched a lot of college football, so I

(03:43):
love Saturdays. I would imagine many whople listening love Saturdays
as well, especially if you went to a school, a
Power five school. It's hard not to get just immersed
in that culture, in that vibe. So John Cazano talk
a little Oregon, talk, a little Washington, talk a little
Big ten, Darry Noka will talk some SEC and we'll

(04:03):
be off and running. So make sure you subscribe to
the podcast three and Out podcast if you listen on
Collins Feed. Also the YouTube channel. We got all this
content up on the YouTube channel and exciting times. Football
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(05:11):
Very very excited to have on a fellow bald man
and a guy that knows one of the best college
football programs in the country better than anyone. Longtime Oregonian
and now just a Big ten guy. Who would have
thought John Cazano, who is crushing it on substack? John,
How you doing?

Speaker 4 (05:32):
I'm doing well, man. Rick new Heisel told me at
Big Ten Media Day, He's like, who knew?

Speaker 5 (05:36):
I'm a Big Ten alum now you know?

Speaker 4 (05:38):
And they're claiming everybody. So I think it's gonna be
fun to see some new cities though in some new matchups.
Certainly there's a lot happening in college sports. You've been
talking about a lot, a lot.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, But before we dive into Oregon and just college
football coming up. You know, I have a lot of
admiration for anyone started kind of in the old school
traditional media and who's transitioned your sub stack. The bald
truth is just is big time and you have to
be one of the bigger sports substacks in America. So

(06:09):
I want to say congrats because that's awesome, and just
you know, your your journey over the last how many
years now a couple of your entrepreneurial journey.

Speaker 5 (06:18):
Yeah, you know, you know Mike Leach.

Speaker 4 (06:20):
I talked to Mike Leach when I was making the
jump and he said, he said, you're going to be
amazing without the structure of traditional media around you. And
to some respects, it has been amazing. And I fashioned
the thing like it's a pirate ship in honor of
Mike Leach, but it you know, I had been at
six different newspapers and I had worked in that structure,
and I everything I learned at those newspapers I still

(06:43):
use and it was valuable to me. So I get
young people going, hey, can I just go right out
on my own and I say, no, don't do that.
Go into mainstream media and pick up that sourcing and
learn what you need to learn. But I had sort
of hit a ceiling, and you know, I'm hosting a
radio show that's afternoon drive radio show that across the state.
And I was writing a column forever at the state's

(07:03):
biggest newspaper, and I'd been there twenty years, and you know,
everyone knows what's happening to newspapers. The newsroom was down
to like nine reporters that had sixty eight when I
got there twenty years ago, and I was being asked
to do a bunch of things that had nothing to
do with my job. And so it was scary though,
to take that actual leap where you leave like a
secure situation that you could stay at forever.

Speaker 5 (07:26):
It was kind of a scary thing.

Speaker 4 (07:27):
And I'd talked to a lot of entrepreneurs and small
business owners about kind of the exhilaration of waking up
every day knowing it's on you, knowing you have to create,
you know that you know that pressure. It Really it's
been good for me, and it's been a lot of fun.

Speaker 5 (07:43):
And the readers.

Speaker 4 (07:44):
I think readers are now conditioned with Hulu and Netflix
and YouTube and everything that they consume. I think their
conditioned to kind of go and seek out the information
and subscribe here and subscribe there and kind of piecemeal
together what they're reading these days. So the readers have
been fantastic. It's been really cool to see the reaction

(08:05):
from sources, like, you know, I with the Big ten
credential me for Media Day and yeah, they did, you know,
they they recognized me as a you know, as a
as a nation, so to speak. So I think it's
just been a lot of fun, and you know, it's
I get to go now where the stories are and
the readers have been great.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
You know, I'm from northern California, born and raised and
I was a PAC twelve diehard. I used to go
to games at Calavinmorial Stadium with my dad in the nineties.
But it's safe to say, you know, the way the
SEC and now the Big ten, those programs, is it
safe to say you were kind of uniquely suited because
the Ducks are your bread and butner. But even Oregon State,

(08:44):
Washington and Washington State have a pretty rabid fan base
for West Coast college football, which in the Bay the
Niners trump everything. I mean, Stanford was top five program.
They couldn't get ten thousand people there. That is just
not the case with obviously Oregon, but even now that
Washington good Oregon statan Washington State.

Speaker 5 (09:03):
Yeah, I mean just look at it.

Speaker 4 (09:04):
You know, we talk about the stadium sizes and the
sec of the Big ten and they're huge. But you know,
you start piecing together the fan bases at Oregon, Oregon State, Washington,
Washington State, you start going through the PAC twelve. I
grew up in the Bay Area too. My last job
before coming to the State of Oregon was at the
Mercury News. I was, you know, I've been immersed in
the PAC twelve for you know, since a kid like

(09:24):
I wore a col jacket to school as a kid,
you know, and rooted for Stanford. I was a Bay
Area guy, and so I think, you know, watching one
hundred and eight years get blown up was really sad.

Speaker 5 (09:35):
And there's a lot of tradition.

Speaker 4 (09:36):
And I thought about the eucalyptus trees in the in
the parking lot at Stanford and going to see an
East West Shrine game and going to you know, see
a Cal football game, and you know, having those experiences
and then you know, kind of contrasting it with what
was going on from the business standpoint in major college
athletics was really sad.

Speaker 5 (09:54):
But yes, like I left.

Speaker 4 (09:56):
The newspaper in like February and here came or you know,
by summer, UCLA and USC in June said we're leaving.
And so all of a sudden, I was kind of
in a fortunate position to be like, Okay, I'm sourced
with all these schools and all these presidents. There's a
lot going on. And so the last twenty five months

(10:17):
or so, john have just been absolutely you know, NonStop,
there's no off season. All the reported the Washington State
and Oregon State fans are anxious. The Oregon fans are
excited but also kind of lamenting the loss of like
some tradition. The Washington fans are in the same boat.
And you know, I think still there's a lot of
you know, readers and listeners in the PAC twelve footprint

(10:39):
who are still kind of following all the teams to
see what happens, what happens to Utah in the Big twelve,
what happens to Arizona, Arizona State, and Colorado. But you know,
certainly I was in a fortunate position to kind of
be sourced and connected to all those schools were with
all the drama going on.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
That date between you know, this specific timeline, but between
you see in UCLA being announced going which kind of
came maybe you knew, but for most of us out
of nowhere, and then to win Oregon in Washington. What
was that like a year less than a year? Yeah,
it was.

Speaker 4 (11:11):
It was June thirtieth of twenty two that USC and
UCLA announced, and I'll tell you everyone was surprised. Oregon's
athletic director, Rob Mullins was in a meeting when it happened,
and it was like a what He had no clue.
Nobody had any clue. Nobody had Oregon, nobody anywhere had
any clue. And so they tried to downplay that and
be like, oh yeah, yeah, okay, we saw science but no,

(11:33):
and everybody got blindsided by that, and then it became
what do we do? They were already kind of reaching
out to consultants to be like, hey, where's our value,
where's the future college athletics going to be? So you know,
Oregon hired their firms, Oregon State and Washington State, everybody
kind of kind of hired their firms, their consulting firms,
to figure out what was happening. But for that next year, John,

(11:53):
it was largely six or nine months of the schools
saying we have solidarity, we're in this together, we're negotiating,
and in the end, you know, Colorado leaving in July,
you know eleven, you know what, twelve, thirteen months after.

Speaker 5 (12:09):
USC and UCLA left, Colorado left.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
And then came that August fourth, where you know, I
think everybody went to bed on the night before thinking
Oregon and Washington were in because that's what Oregon and
Washington was telling everybody else. They were telling the president,
and Oregon told the president of Oregon State, we're staying.
The only way we would leave for the Big ten
is if they offer us a full share. And then

(12:33):
came the following morning, you know, Oregon State and Washington
State signed the grant of rights. But Oregon and Washington
didn't show up to the Zoom.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
Meeting, and they only got a half share, right, They got.

Speaker 4 (12:42):
A half share for a time, and then they'll eventually
be you know, transitioned into a full share. Clearly they
were negotiating, yeah, and you know publicly and privately they
wanted the PAC twelve as a fallback. But I put
a lot of this on PAC twelve presidents. I put
it on PAC twelve commissioners that stuff's all been done.
But you know, it's just a total face leadership because
the PAC twelve was a good conference.

Speaker 5 (13:02):
We saw them in football a year ago. They were
good teams.

Speaker 4 (13:05):
They played in the National Championship, they had Heisman Trophy candidates.
They you know, they're gonna all those teams are gonna
go off into their new conferences now, and you know
the best teams are gonna compete at the top of
those news conferences. So this is really just market consolidation.
And unfortunately the PAC twelve got got picked.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
Yeah, I mean, to me, Oregon and Washington had no
choice but to try to join the party. And who
got screwed were Washington State takes football seriously with Mike Leech.
I mean, that was a real program, and obviously Oregon State.
Jonathan Smith, I'm sure you agree as a star, those
two programs really really got screwed. Now, inevitably, I'm a

(13:41):
little confused. I understand. You know, you go to ESPN
dot com, they're just by themselves. Yeah, Inevitably, they're a
Mountain West program. Now, but it's it does suck for
those two programs. There's no way around.

Speaker 5 (13:53):
Yeah, I'll stop push back on that a little bit.

Speaker 4 (13:56):
I met with Oregon State's president on Friday, and what
I got out of that meeting was they are not
ready to accept relegation.

Speaker 5 (14:04):
And I think what they're thinking about.

Speaker 4 (14:07):
You know, a source told me too, there'll be two
bites of the apple for Oregon State and Washington State.
And we hear that term legal in legal courtrooms, where
they say you can only take one bite of the apple. Well,
I think for twenty twenty five and twenty twenty six,
they're going to try to play a better schedule. They're
going to try to put together some kind of alliance
or partnership with the Big twelve acc where they play

(14:28):
some football games that are higher profile football games that
kind of move them away from the narrative of hey,
they belong in the Mountain West. So I'm looking for
that in twenty twenty five. And then they think there's
going to be a fracture again in college athletics, and
I think, you know, Kyle Whittingham told me, the Utah
coach told me that he expects that it's going to
be forty or fifty teams. It'll happen anywhere from twenty

(14:51):
months to four years from now.

Speaker 5 (14:53):
They're going to break off. It'll be a super conference.

Speaker 4 (14:56):
So what Oregon State and Washington State are both trying
to do is they're trying to say, hey, we want
to be as well positioned as we can when that happens.

Speaker 5 (15:04):
So if you see.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
Them in twenty six except relegation or reverse merger, I
would view that as a complete fallback position for them
that something went wrong as they tried to forge forward
with this ACC or Big twelve plan. Because they've got
the attention of the CW right now, and the CW president,
Dennis Miller told me that he's looking to expand that relationship.

(15:27):
They're already broadcasting ACC games and then the two Pac
twelve teams this season. I wouldn't be surprised if the
CW comes in and says to the ACC, hey, do
what the Mountain West is doing. Have Oregon State and
Washington State play your schools in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 5 (15:41):
Work them into the schedule.

Speaker 4 (15:42):
You don't have to put them into the conference, but
work him in as a non conference opponent, and we'll
buy those games.

Speaker 5 (15:48):
It gives the ability of the ACC to.

Speaker 4 (15:49):
Sprinkle a little more cash over those members who are
all disgruntled. So keep an eye on that. Is like
the BTE one and then Byte two is like, hey,
can you do enough in the next two years to
position yourself much the way Oregon and Washington did over
twenty years, you know, to position themselves as hey, we're
on the right side of that line when that division comes.

Speaker 5 (16:09):
Utah is a great example of this.

Speaker 4 (16:11):
Look, they came from the Mountain West, came into the
Pac twelve and had success.

Speaker 5 (16:15):
Now they're in the Big twelve. They're gonna win the
Big twelve this year.

Speaker 4 (16:17):
Yeah, and then when that division comes, I have no
doubt that Utah is gonna end up on the right
side of the line.

Speaker 5 (16:22):
So sure, Oregon State Washington State have to win games
and stay visible.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
So when you talk to all these guys and you're
plugged in as anybody and we you know, we guess
about this because it feels inevitable. But like almost like
the NFL AFC NFC, which was essentially be this Big
ten and add some teams, this SEC add some teams Clemson,
Florida State, Miami already won in whoever else from the

(16:49):
west coast of Washington State, Oregon state, a Stanford you know, join,
Notre Dame joins. It's it's pretty clear where this is
all headed, like the way you've alluded to, right.

Speaker 4 (16:58):
Yeah, And I think everyone sees it, and you know,
it really comes down to TV. We all know TV
is running this, and so what does Fox? What does
ESPN want? Will the CW or someone else get in
on this? And if there is an upper division, let's
say there is Super Conference, and let's say it's not
forty or fifty, let's say it's only thirty two. Is
there a possibility here that there's a relegation model and

(17:20):
a promotion model where there's a second division, which would
be pretty sweet, Like it would really incentivize those teams
in the middle to continue to fight, you know, because
it would be pretty demoralizing. Let's say let's say you
are Utah and they say, hey, you're school thirty three.
You know, we just couldn't get you into the top
thirty two, and you know, we love you, but you're

(17:41):
you know, if Utah wins that lower division, do they
move up and do they play? You know, and then
the lower teams move down. I mean it could be
a really interesting model that could add a little twist
because I think the college football still has to be
different than the NFL. And I think what we're really
risking here is we're risking going Okay, well, the NFL
is the best of the Like, why are we tuning

(18:01):
in to see Alabama Georgia if you didn't go.

Speaker 5 (18:04):
To school there? If it just looks like the NFL.

Speaker 4 (18:06):
So I think they have to think about some differences
between these two things and stay to that.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
Okay, let's talk about Oregon. Who's really thrown their hat
in the ring over these last would you say, twenty
five years of being a blue blood and you know,
growing up in the Sacramento area Ontario Smith Grant High School,
Ballotti my cousin, played at Fresno State. They used to
have some battles. Got to know Jeff Schwartz that that
Ballotti run was awesome. Then Chip took it to another
level Helfrich in the year with Marcus. But now Dan

(18:36):
Lanning right is just has this thing rolling. You know,
Mario had some issues as a head coach, but could
really recruit Dan. Looks like the combination of both can
recruit and not the hype on this individual season as
big as any over the last twenty five years up
there with a Chip season.

Speaker 5 (18:55):
Yeah, I think so.

Speaker 4 (18:56):
I think maybe, you know, the Chip season kind of
snuck up on people a little bit because you know,
he had taken over. Remember he lost his first game
to Boise State, and you know there were Lugarrett bunch,
blood punch and all that happened, and so there was
a little bit of you know, how good can this be?
Where's the ceiling? And will Chip leave? This landing thing

(19:17):
feels like it's got real legs to it, and the
anticipation combined with joining the Big Ten and getting that
Ohio State game. Ohio State's coming to auntsin Stadium, They're
gonna play. They're already standing room only seats they're selling,
you know, for ridiculous amounts of money, Like this will
be the largest attended.

Speaker 5 (19:36):
Sporting event in the state's history.

Speaker 4 (19:38):
Like there'll be more people at that game than any
other sporting event ever. So there is unprecedented excitement. But
you know, you hit on it, Like I think that
ascension from Brooks to Belotti, Rich Brooks to Mike Blotti
to Chip Kelly that really accelerated. Mark Helfrich was just
there long enough. And then there was you could kind
of see a decision that was made by Phil Knight

(20:01):
and the university administration like, Okay, we've been with our
guys for like thirty years, and those assistant coaches that
were there even during the Helfrich era had been there
for thirty years, like all of them, and so we've
done our thing. Do we need to go outside the
family and go get recruiters, because if we're really going
to accelerate, do we need to get recruiters. And so

(20:22):
even the hire of Willie Taggart was a diversion from
we're promoting our own guy or we're you know, promoting
from within and we're keeping our assistants and keeping that momentum.
So it was kind of greeted with some anxiety. And
then Mario Christobaul, Yes, you're right, I mean unprecedented recruiting,
and he left the place better than he found it.
It was a really tumultuous time. And then Landing comes in.

(20:43):
It's clear they're recruiting at a level they've never seen. You
look at their offense. You know they've got six transfers
they're probably going to start on offense, including three wide
outs that are going to be transfers. In the quarterback,
right guard, right tackle, transfers defense, they're going to start
seven transfers. These are players and this is depth that
they've never had before.

Speaker 5 (21:04):
And size and the spring game.

Speaker 4 (21:06):
I'm on the field, John and I'm watching these guys,
and it's a size thing that it's just not Oregon,
Like even Oregon in twenty eleven when they played in
the National title game.

Speaker 5 (21:16):
In twenty fifteen, in the National Title Game, they weren't big.
They were built like those forty nine.

Speaker 4 (21:22):
Ers teams you grew up watching that had, you know,
Randy Cross, you know, playing guard right. It was these
were very athletic offensive linemen. The guys they have now
make Dylan Gabriel look small and you know, and he's
not a real tall guy, but he's not like five
nine five ten, and that's how he looks back there.
And so I initially thought, gosh, how small is Dylan Gabriel?

(21:42):
And then I stood next to Gabriel and I was like,
that's not it. It's his offensive line is bigger than ever.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
Well, when you look at Dan Lanning, I looked at
his five losses. One to Kirby Smart in the first
game of his career, which he was a heavy underdog. Yeah,
he's lost to Debor three times and two of them
could have gone either way, and de bores at Alabama,
so that one age pretty well. And two years ago
to Jonathan Smith, who I think would be the Washington coach. Right,

(22:09):
do you agree with that if everything hadn't happened Jonathan
Smith's stud So, I mean those I would say those
five losses are pretty good losses. The pressure on him clearly,
Bama sniffed around. He's making a ton of money. I mean,
I looked at the odds. They have the third best
odds to win the national championship behind Ohio State. They
have the second best odds to win the conference they have,

(22:31):
I mean, they have better odds than Michigan obviously going
through a little transition with Harball leaving and Penn State,
who's a consistent nine to ten winner. I mean, it's
pretty strong going to this conference is viewed as not
quite an equal to Ohio State, but pretty darn close.
So the pressure on this coach seems pretty high.

Speaker 5 (22:49):
Yeah, it's set up that way. Isn't it.

Speaker 4 (22:51):
And and it's funny that you mentioned the coaches, and
those are good losses, right, but we kind of look
at them differently because he got out coached in that
game at Washington, that first game where he went for
it and went for it and went for it and
didn't get anything. And you know what, I saw him
in the hallway after that game. He looked sick. I mean,
he just he looked like he knew. But I also
think that's kind of his brand and it's kind of

(23:14):
what makes him a good recruiter. The kids love that
he's a little bit of a gunslinger and a little
bit you know, out He's a fun guy to be around,
and he'll go for it and he believes in his guys.
But you know, I talked to him this offseason and
he said, you know, he's really he knows now. He knows,
like the decisions he makes have huge impact on what
happens to Oregon and football. And you're not at a

(23:34):
blackjack table like deciding to double down here. You gotta
be within reason, take the points when it's there. And
then the Oregon State game, Jonathan Smith just out foxed him.
I mean, Oregon State at halftime, was down two scores
in that game. Third quarter, they're down two scores in
that game, and Oregon State figured something out and they
ran the ball like seventeen straight times and Oregon couldn't
stop him.

Speaker 5 (23:54):
And it was just it was Oregon.

Speaker 4 (23:56):
State's run game and Jonathan Smith knowing, Hey, when I've
got something, I just go back to it. And so
it's I think Dan Lannings had, you know, he's if
he were a first year head coach with this kind
of expectation in this roster, I would think differently. But
I'm seeing a guy who's more locked in, seems to
have the program buttoned up in ways that he didn't
before his off season I think was very busy. He

(24:18):
knows that there's a little bit of a team chemistry,
team culture question. When you have as many as maybe
thirteen transfers starting among your twenty two, you've got to
really work hard and fast to get them kind of
all on the same page and make them real teammates.
And so, you know, the offense went off to the
Oregon Coast and the defense went off on a retreat,

(24:41):
and Dylan Gabriel took the receivers down to Southern Oregon
kind of did a retreat. They're trying to do some
things to really kind of get some cohesion. And I
don't think they're alone. I think that's a question with
the Portal in general, if you're taking that many transfers. Hell,
I've seen it with the Trailblazers back in the day.
Like you can't just assemble like all the best players,
regardless of character, regardless of personality. You gotta have some cohesion.

(25:05):
So I think Oregon's trying to find that pretty rapidly.
And here comes October twelfth in Ohio State.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
Well, he hit a Grand Slam taking bow Knicks, which
at the time was not viewed as some can't miss
transfer portal guy. And I'm sure you've seen him play
for Denver. He looks pretty darn good now. Dylan Gabriel,
who I knew he played well last year, but looking
at the stats, Oklahoma was good and he was really good.
So he was available, not because he can't play. Partly,

(25:33):
they have this super hype guy Jack Arnold at Oklahoma.
He comes here. He's been playing a lot like bo
Nicks for a long time. I mean it's college career
started in twenty eighteen. So the hype on Dylan Gabriel
trying to fill in bo Nix's shadow, it's kind of
a tough spot. Though this guy, older player, had a lot,
played a ton of games, had a lot of success.

(25:55):
Coming from Oklahoma has to make it a much easier
transition for him.

Speaker 4 (25:59):
Yeah, and he you know, he got here early, even
though he's only got eight months to make this happen.
I mean, bo Nickx took two years, and Knicks was
a better player that second season than he was the
first one.

Speaker 5 (26:09):
And I think that's that's a real interesting distinction.

Speaker 4 (26:12):
Is Gillan Gables got to do it, and he's got
one year of eligibility. So but you know, Nicks set
the all time NCAA record for starts by a college quarterback,
you know, And I wrote when he was leaving, Hey,
nobody will ever do this again. And Dan Lanning told
me on media day he goes bad take because here
comes Dylan Gabriel, who's going to break that record if
he stays healthy.

Speaker 5 (26:33):
So it's no secret what they're doing.

Speaker 4 (26:35):
They're finding an experienced, older quarterback who's got a ton
of snaps, and they're putting him in an offense where
he's got great receivers, great backs, great offensive line. Will
Stein's a real creative offensive coordinator. And I think it
was interesting to watch Knicks in Denver in that last
preseason game because you know, by the way, you know,
out of the gates after the draft, he was sixteen
to one to be the rookie offensive Rookie of the year.

(26:57):
Caleb Williams was two to one. Probably a pretty good
best at BO Nicks at sixteen to one. But it
was interesting to me because it didn't look like Nix
was unprepared for anything. And it was the same at Oregon.
You know, he went from two offensive coordinators. Kenny Dillingham,
who's now at Arizona State was his first coordinator, then
will Stein. Both of those guys had him just distributing, distributing, distributing.

(27:19):
I expect the same for Gabriel, And it's probably unfair
because you know, to put Bo Nix's numbers and project them,
you know, you talk about Gabriel would be in the
Heisman conversation.

Speaker 5 (27:29):
He might be a finalist, he might win it.

Speaker 4 (27:32):
But you know, I think that's kind of the stakes
right now, and a lot of pressure on landing a
lot of pressure on Dylan Gabriel to perform.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Can we go on bo Nicks really quick? Because I
was scouting actually when Mariota was playing, and clearly he's
from a character standpoint, I mean, like a twelve out
of ten just physically doesn't quite have the talent. But
he was the number two overall pick. Herbert, who physically
is much more gifted but was nitpicked in weird ways,
went six bo Nix was. I mean, it was a

(28:00):
historic quarterback draft, six guys in the top twelve, and
he was last. And it like, I'm not trying to
overreact to two preseason games, but looks like he's a
pretty good spot and gonna work. Do you see similarities
in those three guys? Obviously super high character guys, hard workers,
love football, people love him, But you know, bo Nick's
a little like Herbert, little underlooked and just nitpicked in

(28:24):
ways like are we sure that we're not overthinking this one? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (28:28):
And I remember when the questions about Herbert were there
about you know he is he's too soft spoken and
like gosh, he's yeah, too nice of a guy. But
the thing that I loved about Herbert was, you know,
he played for Mark Helfritch, he played for Willie Taggert,
he played for Mario Christobal. It was like all of
this transition. He's gone to the NFL, and what's happened
Transition transition, transition, and.

Speaker 5 (28:49):
With his head coaches.

Speaker 4 (28:50):
That's why I'm looking at Jim Harbaugh and Herbert together
and I'm like, this is the first time justin Herbert
has had a guy who he knows is going to
be there. It's gonna be kind of cool to see
what he can do. But I think the common thread was,
you know, you look at the maturity of Herbert. He
was at Oregon for all those years and played for
all those coaches and dealt with it. You look at Nicks,
he goes from Auburn to you know where he was

(29:13):
boot out of town. He goes to Oregon, plays for
multiple coordinators, very mature. Mariota had a real maturity about
him right when he arrived, even as a freshman. You know,
he was out handing out granola bars to homeless people
and doing things like, you know, really just had a
great heart, you know, And so I.

Speaker 5 (29:30):
Think there's a maturity to those guys.

Speaker 4 (29:33):
And then when you combine that and you know this like, look,
I covered the NFL before coming to the state of Oregon.
I was around the Niners and Raiders a lot. And
Rich Gannon was the quarterback in Oakland when I was there,
and Jeff Garcia was in San Francisco.

Speaker 5 (29:46):
Neither one of those guys were high draft picks.

Speaker 4 (29:49):
They had lived a little, they had flown under the radar,
and they were the highest rated passers.

Speaker 5 (29:53):
That season for the AFC in the NFC. And I
asked Bill Walsh, I said, what is this about?

Speaker 4 (29:58):
And he goes, so much of being success well as
a quarterback is being mature and the system you're in
and the opportunity and the coaching staff coming together. So
when I saw Sean Payton draft bow Knicks, I immediately
went to DraftKings and looked at the odds and went, Okay,
what are the odds here on bow.

Speaker 5 (30:14):
Knicks as the rookie of the year. And I was
like sixteen to one. Not a dumb bet.

Speaker 4 (30:19):
Like you know, Caleb Williams has got a lot of
weapons around him, but I don't You don't know what's
gonna happen. But I just think it was Sean Payton
bow Knicks together. And then when even when the in
the preseason, when he was put on the third team
depth chart, I thought, what a smart thing for Sean
Payton to do. There's there's no downside and putting your
rookie and saying I'm taking all the pressure off him

(30:41):
until I need to put the pressure on him. And
so even at this point, you know you got bow Nix,
who will turn twenty five this NFL season. It's not
like having a very young, inexperienced quarterback.

Speaker 5 (30:54):
I'll look at comparison.

Speaker 4 (30:56):
I like to make his brock Purty, who started like
forty eight games at Iowas. By the time brock Perty
got into the forty nine ers offense, it wasn't his
first thing, like he had been a starter for like
four years. Bow Knicks has that experience between Auburn and Oregon.
I think there's something too. I've started, I've played, I've
seen some stuff.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
Well, one thing I think we learned with bo Nicks
and Penix when they showed up two years ago to
Washington Oregon. Not a soul if I would have said
one guy's gonna go eight and the other guy's gonna
go twelve, and they're both gonna be pretty damn good,
no one would have believed you. So when you look
at Dylan Gabriel, who's on this loaded team, will Stein
to me is a name I have circled that if

(31:36):
they have a big year, he's gonna be interviewing everywhere.
A young offensive genius. I mean, could we be looking
at a first round pick? I mean a Heisman Trophy winner.
You talk about odds, I mean, this guy's gonna put
up stupid numbers, is he not? If he stays on
the field.

Speaker 5 (31:50):
Yeah, And you know, I got I spend a little
bit of time with Dylan.

Speaker 4 (31:53):
You know in Indianapolis during the Big Ten media day.

Speaker 5 (31:57):
He's very He's just chill.

Speaker 4 (31:59):
I mean, and he's from Hawaii and he kind of
has that island vibe to him, and.

Speaker 5 (32:04):
I just I left that going.

Speaker 4 (32:06):
It's far more impressed with him because you watch him
play and you kind of go, okay, but who is
he really? And Kenny Handle to transition, Kenny Handle kind
of the glow that Oregon's gonna have this season, and
particularly look, you know, as much as you want to
circle October twelfth, it's like the way that Oregon season
schedule unfolds, they play a big Sky opponent in week one.

(32:26):
Then they get Boise State, who could be the Group
of five champion who goes to the playoff. Like that's
gonna be a really interesting test that comes in week
two for Oregon, and I like that that game's position there,
and then you know, it becomes the Oregon State game
the Civil War.

Speaker 5 (32:41):
They should they should blow Oregon State off the field.

Speaker 4 (32:44):
They have far more talent, even though the game's at
Oregon State. Then you get UCLA as a conference opener.
That's a very manageable first Big Ten Conference game, weird
Big Ten game at the Rose Bowl. Then it's Michigan
State and Jonathan Smith back at home. It's like Dan
Lanny's getting to avenge some of the ghosts of his past.
And then you get the October twelfth game with Ohio State,

(33:05):
and I kind of think there's gonna be such a
frenzy around that game. Rick Neuheisel told me he thinks
Oregon's gonna win that game because just because the electricity
and the enthusiasm around it, and they're at home and
they're talented. But that'll be the biggest game in Oregon's history.
Like you look back to the late eighteen hundreds. They
haven't played a game that is going to be that

(33:26):
exciting in that big they had.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
Were they both top five? Maybe it was David Shaw's
first or second year in Oregon. I think David Shaw
beat him. They're both pretty highly ranked. But if both
these two teams are undefeated come into that game, I
guess if George is undefeated, two, it'd be one or
two verse three, which now with the playoff has a

(33:51):
little different meaning, it's not like this could chock you out.
But yeah, I mean it's really exciting. On the quarterback thing,
Is it safe to say that Oregon moving forward is
just going to play in this free agency thing every
year and try to get one of these plug and
play players or is that something you talked to Dan Lanning?
Would they like to just have like their red Schert freshman,

(34:12):
be a three year starter Eventually?

Speaker 4 (34:15):
I think eventually they would. He doesn't want to close
the door on that. He was real careful when I
talked to him about that the last time, because I
look at his quarterback room and I can tell you, like,
it's not just Dylan Gabriel.

Speaker 5 (34:26):
You've got Dante More.

Speaker 4 (34:27):
Who was highly recruited out of high school, went to
UCLA and you got Austin nova Sad, And they continue
to kind of chase high school quarter the best high
school quarterbacks that they can sign. But I think there
is a little bit of a pushback from the high
school guys who were looking at Oregon and going, hey,
wait a minute, do I want to go there? Or
can I get there by going to somewhere else first?

(34:47):
I want to play right away, and so it'll be
interesting to see. Like, you know, I asked Dan Lanning
about the room and I said, okay, how do you
keep those guys happy? And he said, you have to
really sell the idea that they see the long play.
The Austin Novasad in the spring game was the best
passer of the three quarterbacks. Mike Riley, the former Oregon
State coach you know, snuck over to the Oregon spring game.

(35:10):
He watched it. I said, what'd you think of the qbs?
He said, I kind of think Novasad's the best pure thrower.
And so, I, you know, I could see spots.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
Well see a high school recruit, yeh, Like did they
get him out of high school?

Speaker 1 (35:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (35:22):
And so they you know, they've got him in there,
But I could see spots like if they're trying to
keep Dante Moore or Austin novasad kind of feeling like
they're part of it. I could see like they're going
to get some playing time in the early part of
the season, particularly because look at this, I mean, there's
the potential that you're going to play sixteen or seventeen
games if you get to the National Championship, and.

Speaker 5 (35:42):
You need to have depth, and you don't want to
have Dylan.

Speaker 4 (35:44):
Gabriel out there, you know, in a game you're leading
against you know, your Big Sky opponent or Boise State
or Oregon State for the whole game. And so I
think it'll be really interesting to see how they manage
that room in the early part of the season and
then games that kind of get away. Do they leave
Gabriel in there to kind of pile up numbers the
way LSU did with you know, Jayden Daniels, or you know,

(36:05):
do they kind of pull the reins back a little?
And I know, I think bo Nix came out at
halftime last year of their game against Portland State, and
I kind of expect that's what they'll continue to do.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
You've been around these programs for a long time. Obviously,
the change of when you lost out on a huge
recruit to USC or to Texas or to whatever he
was gone. I mean, I don't fall high school recruiting
that closely, but I remember Dante Moore. I mean that
was a big deal. They wanted him. Goes to u
c l A, Plays up and down, Chipley's boom. He's

(36:35):
right to Oregon. So you could argue, now, when you
lose out on a big recruit, you keep that relationship
because that thing can change, and it can change fast.

Speaker 4 (36:45):
Yeah, and the kids are aware of it, and you
can kind of see the way that you know when
they when they choose a school. Now it's almost like
you know, you don't you don't close that door ever,
you don't blow the bridge up behind you. Degan rose Is,
you know, a highly recruited quarterback, came out of Central California.
He's playing at Clovis High School this season. He had

(37:07):
offers from Auburn, Oregon, Utah.

Speaker 5 (37:12):
You know, all these schools wanted him. He's committed to
Oregon State.

Speaker 4 (37:16):
He wants to play and he knows he can go
to Oregon State and he can play right away.

Speaker 5 (37:20):
Now, Oregon State's.

Speaker 4 (37:21):
Job is to try to retain that kid, and everybody
else's job is to see what he turns into in
a year or two and see if they can try
to get him in the portal.

Speaker 5 (37:29):
And that's the game, the name of the game.

Speaker 4 (37:30):
And Jonathan Smith, who's at Michigan State, now he's got
Aiden Childs. I asked him, I said, kind of to
your earlier point, is this just gonna be how it is?

Speaker 5 (37:38):
And he said yes.

Speaker 4 (37:39):
He said, you're going to see the major programs that
are going to kind of look around and try to
cherry pick lower college football, the mid majors, the group
of five schools. You know, you're gonna see a lot
of activity in the portal, and then you're going to
see other schools that are going to go out, like
you know, Washington State did something interesting, you know, twenty
three of the twenty five signees and we're high school seniors.

Speaker 5 (38:02):
It was strange because everybody else is going in the portal.

Speaker 4 (38:04):
And Jake Dickard said, hey, I can get him now,
and I can get him and I can try to
sell them on the idea that this is where they
need to be, you know, and if I recruit out
of the portal.

Speaker 5 (38:14):
I'm never gonna see those kids. I'm never going to
get him.

Speaker 4 (38:16):
At least I get a year or two with them
to try to convince them this is the right place.
And he got a kid from your old neighborhood out
of the Sacramento area.

Speaker 5 (38:25):
Way.

Speaker 4 (38:25):
Shawn Parker is a fresh true freshman running back who
is going to be a star. And he was electric
in the spring game. He may start for Washington State,
but now the job is can you keep that kid?

Speaker 2 (38:36):
Yeah? See to me what gets tough? And I was
a ga at Fresno State. I mean, how do these
programs that guy? What Cal did with their running back?
They got pretty lucky, right, He's they obviously paid him,
but he was pretty loyal to them. I would imagine
everyone was calling him. And so this running back that
goes to Washington State, let's say he has a huge year, Well,
who do you thinks on the phone with him? Washington, Oregon,

(38:58):
Hell Texas? Who knows the old country is fault. It's
like you have these scouting departments. I don't know if
you saw the story Debores guy that he took his
GM is making eight hundred and twenty five thousand dollars.
So because he and he probably has fifteen twenty people
working for him, So it becomes very, very challenging, which
is I'm a huge Jonathan Smith guy. I mean, I

(39:20):
just think he's I was a Pat Hill guy. He
reminds me of that old school slammed the ball. He's
a throwback for being a younger guy. Clearly, he freaked out,
which I don't blame him. The move and he goes
to Michigan State, who paid him a lot of money,
but he coached at Washington under Peterson. He's a Pasadena guy,
UCLA Washington's do you think he said, oh my god,

(39:43):
I mean it was hard to turn down whatever he
got eighty million dollars. But do you think he regrets that.

Speaker 5 (39:49):
One hundred percent?

Speaker 4 (39:49):
He's not gonna say it, but you know, I talked
to him at Big ten media day, and I've I
talked to him after, you know, before and after he left.
And it was interesting, two or three days before he
had that he was going to Michigan State, I asked him,
are you in contact with other schools?

Speaker 5 (40:04):
As your agent? In contact with other schools?

Speaker 4 (40:06):
He was on my radio show and he did something
that no coach would have ever done. He said, my
agent better be on the phone talking to other schools.
That's what I'm paying him for. And he said, I'm
not trying to be like you know, tried about this.
He goes, but that's the guy's job to get out
and see what opportunities.

Speaker 5 (40:24):
There are for me.

Speaker 4 (40:25):
But I think he got scared and he took that
kind of any port in a storm mentality, and he
chose the Michigan State job because it was safe and secure.
I think if he doesn't go to Michigan State, probably
Michigan State goes after Jake Dickard at Washington State.

Speaker 5 (40:39):
So you know, I think, you.

Speaker 4 (40:40):
Know, those two schools were left in a lurch, so
to speak. But if Smith waits, he either gets Washington
or UCLA. And he was a Pasadena kid who you know,
grew up going to USC games. Those two jobs were
better jobs than the job he took because he's in
the Big ten. Much like at Oregon State, it's not
going to be Ohio State or Michigan. It's got Oregon

(41:01):
and USC and Washington to deal with. Now, you know,
what's a good season at Michigan State anymore like his
best season is it, you know, being third or fourth
in that conference.

Speaker 5 (41:11):
So I do think he probably regrets it. He'll never
say it.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
Do you think it's safe to say that Washington's just
a better job in this current landscape than Ucla?

Speaker 5 (41:20):
Yes, a better football job for sure.

Speaker 4 (41:22):
Yeah, it's you know, even look back when was you know,
UCLA's last success and like you look, I worked at
the Fresno b many moons ago, Okay, so I was
covering those Pat Hill teams. Those Fresno State kids wanted
to play Ucla. They had a chip on their shoulder
because they said, you didn't recruit me.

Speaker 5 (41:38):
I was good enough. You didn't even drive to my
house to see me.

Speaker 4 (41:41):
And you know they play him in a Freedom Bowl
or you know, or a conference game, that Reggie Bush
game where Presno State throw haymakers and so you know
there was a chip on your shoulder mentality there. But
look look at UCLA football historically, when have they ever
really in the last twenty years had success. They're a
basketball school going into the Big Ten Conference. They're gonna

(42:01):
get their teeth kicked in. That could be a three
or four win season for Deshaun Foster. But two I'm
looking at Washington and I'm going look even in a rebuild,
even with the Boar leaving, you know, they're gonna have
a nice start to their season. I think in about
week five or six it'll turn on them because their
schedule gets tough. But you know, I'm not gonna be

(42:22):
surprised if Washington wins seven in a transition year and
UCLA also in a transition year.

Speaker 5 (42:28):
I think is looking at three or four.

Speaker 4 (42:29):
I think they needed a guy like Jonathan Smith to
kind of who knows how to kind of overcome. And
you know, Oregon State hadn't had real success except for
Dennis Erickson one season and Mike Riley had a little
run where there was an uptick.

Speaker 5 (42:43):
Jonathan Smith kind of.

Speaker 4 (42:44):
Brought some stability there and was doing things that nobody
really before him had consistently done.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
You know what's funny is when I was at frisone State,
we played Rick new Heisel's UCLA team, and Pat Hill
on the Sunday of that week hit the way he
opened the meeting, He said, raise your hand if you
had a skull off from this school. Ryan Matthews was
the only guy that raises and then we beat him.
And you know, I think Washington State, Oregon State, Fresno State,
Boise State always had that mentality and it served them

(43:11):
for a lot of success, and they've had a chip
on their shoulder Washington. You know, I'm from Davis, so
that that Ballatti, Chris Peterson, that group, my dad always
took a lot of pride in he was a UC
Davis guy. I was texting with a scouting buddy who
was at Washington within the last week and a half,
and he said, Steve Belichick the practice I was at,
Bill was right by the side the entire practice, and

(43:34):
Brendan Carroll Pete was right by the side the entire practice.
So major transition year. I think I read was it
three or four guys from the too Deep returning? But
they do have some star power in name, even if
it's the kids. The dads aren't working. And if you
ask me, do you think Bill Belichick is advancing every

(43:54):
opponent for them, I would say I would bet he does.
So they do have an advantage of those two guys
being around.

Speaker 4 (44:00):
Yeah, I mean, they've got some master chess players in
the room and you can talk all you want about
hey who has extra assistance and who has extra analysts.
But if you give me Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick
in the room, you're gonna figure some stuff out and
you're gonna you're gonna do some things that others aren't
thinking about. And it's just what Jedfish needs, right, I mean,
he's an offensive guy, he's an offensive mind. Their offense

(44:22):
at Arizona was dynamic because of Jedfish.

Speaker 5 (44:25):
I just love that he's kind of.

Speaker 4 (44:27):
Leaning into his weakness and then he's selling, like with
no shame, the idea that we've got NFL experience, you know,
come here and you can be part of an NFL program.

Speaker 5 (44:37):
And by the way, these guys are at practice, and
so I.

Speaker 4 (44:40):
Don't blame him for doing that. And I think they're
gonna have a real nice.

Speaker 5 (44:43):
Start to their year. Week three is dicey.

Speaker 4 (44:46):
They have to play that Apple Cup game against a
very ticked off chip on your shoulder Washington State team
that's got a lot of returners, So that one's gonna
be a little dicey. But beyond that, I could see
them being like five and one to start the year
and having, you know, maybe be ranked at bottom of
the top twenty five.

Speaker 5 (45:02):
But you look at their back into their schedule.

Speaker 4 (45:04):
It's brutal and it finishes with Oregon, but the back
end of their schedule has them at Penn State. There's
Oregon in there. I think it's going to unravel for
them down the stretch. But I think Jed will be
able to sit, you know, stand tall and go, hey,
we won seven or we won eight, and we feel
good about year one, and that's a that's not a
bad place to be after your first year.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
Do you think as this obviously the Civil War now
is going to be moved up. It was clearly a
huge rivalry if you went to Oregon or you went
to Washington played there, you live in that area. Do
you think nationally this rivalry is going to get put
on steroids over the next decade, given that it's going
to be at the end of the year now and
has a chance to really really grow and be something
cool on a bigger picture scale. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (45:46):
And I think you know, the Oregon fans would would
always say, you know, they that Oregon State's their rival
in state, but it was the Washington game that had
a little extra for them because for a while their
Oregon State wasn't competitive. And I think this year's game
with Oregon State's not going to competitive. Everyone's pointing to
end of the year and Fox is gonna blow.

Speaker 5 (46:04):
That thing up.

Speaker 4 (46:05):
I mean that is going to be Yeah, it's they're
gonna They're gonna do everything that the Pac twelve should
have done to make that game bigger than ever.

Speaker 5 (46:13):
And they they'll understand them mart they're invested in it.

Speaker 4 (46:16):
They'll understand how to market and how to brand that
game and how to make it feel and look bigger
than than ever.

Speaker 5 (46:21):
But I know, you know, Oregon fans.

Speaker 4 (46:24):
Are I think interested and excited to try to finally
win that game. I mean, Landing has not won that game,
and I think Washington's going, hey, if we can go
and go to uh Ottson Stadium and win that game, well,
Dan Lanning ever beat us? Like you know, I think
there's just a lot of intrigue at the end of
the season. And by the way, with the expanded playoff,

(46:45):
that could be a pretty pivotal game from seating standpoint,
or you know, does Oregon already have a loss? You know,
I think the expanded playoff because it's lowered the bar
for how you know, how many losses you can have.
It is gonna create all this interesting kind of of
down the stretch appeal with jocking for position, jocking for seeding.

(47:05):
Who are in those top four seeds that don't have
to play that first playoff game on a campus or
do you want to play that first playoff game.

Speaker 5 (47:12):
On your campus because you know it's bigger. I just
think it's going to be really funky.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
Let's end on this. When the news was announced they
gave one hundred and twenty million dollars and they stole
Lincoln Riley away, it was like, geez, USC is back,
and then you watch him last year, You're like, can
Lincoln build a defense? Can he build a tough team?
He inherited a pretty good thing from Bob Stoops in Oklahoma.
I'm not sure they're going to be very good relative

(47:40):
to the expectation. Just your thoughts being around these programs.
Obviously Oregan's rolling now the way that they're discussed when
it comes to the USC because it feels, I don't
want to say irrelevant, but nowhere near where they thought
they would be three years into Lincoln Riley getting one
hundred and twenty million dollars and getting them back to
I would say national prominence, that that was the mindset

(48:01):
and giving the guy all that money, right.

Speaker 4 (48:03):
Yeah, when his ad introduced him, he said, we're going
to change the landscape of college football with this hire.
And you know, the song girls were there and the
band was there, and Mario Christbaul told me at the
time and he said, not so fast, he goes. You know,
he he hasn't be us. He hasn't been able to
recruit the big guys. Remember, Oregon was recruiting the biggest,
baddest players out of the LA market. Oregon was going

(48:25):
to the coliseum and beating USC with you know, southern
California kids, and so it was, you know, can Lincoln
Riley get those guys? And then oh, by the way,
Caleb Williams comes in. Dynamic player, probably the MVP of
college football in the last two seasons. Really, if you
look at everything he did, like, you know, how much
how many deficiencies at USC did he cover up by
just running around and you know, playing techmobile back there.

Speaker 5 (48:48):
I mean, it was phenomenal to watch him play.

Speaker 4 (48:50):
But now he doesn't have him and so I'm kind
of I'm in an interesting position with this because I
talked to Lincoln Riley in Indianapolis Big Ten Media Day.
He seemed a little humbled, and that were me because
I thought, you know, if we don't need him humbled,
we need you know, the rest of this conference needed
Lincoln Riley walking around thinking like he was the best
thing ever. But suddenly, you know, he was getting beat
up a little bit by the questioning people were saying.

Speaker 5 (49:12):
Are you an upper tier team?

Speaker 4 (49:13):
You know, these were questions USC doesn't get and so
you know, they didn't pay him one hundred and twenty
million dollars to go in there and win seven or
eight games, So there's a lot of pressure on him.
And I'll be really interested to see the new defensive coordinator.
Can anybody put a defense together with the way that
offense plays.

Speaker 5 (49:31):
It's a little Mike Leech like can you you know,
can you?

Speaker 4 (49:33):
Or Chip Kelly like even too, because they put a
lot of pressure in your defensive coordinator when you play
the way they play on offense. But here's the thing, like,
there's something about this season, John where I'm a little
looking at USC going could they be a little bit
of a surprise like ooh, now that.

Speaker 5 (49:48):
We're not directing anything, you know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (49:51):
Like the trend is usually your friend, but every once
in a while it'll bite you. So I kind of
look at this and I go, is this the year
the USC is sneaky good all of a sudden when
we don't nobody's expecting them. I don't know, they still
have some talent. I think Lincoln Riley can coach offense
like crazy. He's just about as good as anybody. If
they find anything on defense, could they be a little

(50:13):
more balanced, and therefore could they be better?

Speaker 5 (50:15):
I don't know. Will they sneak up on anybody?

Speaker 2 (50:17):
You know? I always have the theory in college football
pre transfer portal that you know the head coach if
he's from that overall region. It's much easier when you
look at the West Coast Jeff Tedford COW West Coast Guy,
Pete Carroll, LA Guy, USC, Chris Peterson, UC Davis Boise,
you know, Oregon ballatty West Coast guy. Maybe now with

(50:37):
transfer portal it doesn't matter as much. I mean, Dan
Lanning is a good example. I do think the Lincoln fit,
though small town Texas guy Oklahoma is a little weird.
In LA. Yeah, I'm sorry, it just is.

Speaker 4 (50:50):
I saw, you know, not to be stockersh But I
saw like a picture of his house, and you know
that Lincoln Riley buys a house was the headline, and
here's the photos of the and I was looking at
all the bedrooms and the backyard had a pool, and
I was like, this is not kind of what he
came up in and it's not at all him. And

(51:11):
you bring up Mike Leach, like, you know, he was
a fit at you know, Texas Tech, and he was
a fit at Washington State, and he was a fit
at Mississippi State.

Speaker 5 (51:18):
Like Mike Leach at Oregon, you know wouldn't have worked.

Speaker 4 (51:22):
And so I do kind of wonder if that is
a little bit of the problem. The identity of the
school doesn't fit the identity of the coach. Lanning is
another example though, too. He's a Kansas City guy, rural
Kansas City guy.

Speaker 5 (51:35):
He went to William Jewell College. He doesn't have an
alma mater calling him home.

Speaker 4 (51:39):
He you know, I think a lot of people believe
he'll stay at Oregon unless it's the NFL. Like if
the Kansas City chiefs call him ten years from now,
and maybe he goes like but you know, Lanning grew
up on like five acres and is kind of a
country kid and now he's at Oregon, but there's enough
of the woods in Eugene and kind of like it's
you know, still beautiful country. Like he's not completely you know,

(52:03):
out of out of his element there, and so I
think it works to a certain extent. Jonathan Smith pointed out,
like when I was telling him, hey, Michigan State, like
he goes, it's really just Oregon State in the Big Ten,
he goes with a lot like Oregon State, the fan base,
you know, And I was like, you would have looked
so much.

Speaker 5 (52:17):
Better at UCLA, but you know, who knows.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
Man.

Speaker 4 (52:21):
But I think it's a good point on Lincoln Riley,
like maybe maybe the act just doesn't fit the stage.

Speaker 2 (52:26):
Yeah, I mean I got that thing just red flagged,
especially if it gets weird this year. So I'll end
on this. Actually, what's a successful season for Oregon? Do
they have to win the national championship? Can they make
the final four? If they are in the Big Ten
Championship game against Ohio State, Like, how would you view
it to be? Like, you know what, that was his
third year that went well?

Speaker 4 (52:49):
Yeah, I think look he won ten games in year
one he won, you know, went to a bowl game.
I think he won twelve last year with the postseason
in the championship game involved. But I the expectation right
now is that they're a top three, top four team. So,
you know, even though making the playoff would be nice,
I think he's got to get to the semifinal and
show that like there's a shot in another year or

(53:11):
two that they could win a national championship. Phil Knight
put a billion dollars into the University of Oregon. He
and his wife have donated a billion dollars in you know,
tutoring center and a library and a law school and
the Ottson Stadium and the football offices. And you don't
put a billion dollars into something to you know, see
your team just make the playoff or you know, play
in a holiday Bowl or whatnot. So I think the

(53:34):
disappointment would set in if they're not playing in that
semi final weekend. They've got to play in that semi
final weekend. If they get to the title game, great,
they win the national championship. Phil and I will have
everything that you know he's invested in. He's never gonna
say it, but I think Oregon really wants to get
him a national title. So I'll say this, if they
don't get to the final four, it's a disappointment.

Speaker 5 (53:54):
Tell everyone where they can find you, John Canzano dot com.
If you want to read me, get a free subscripe
or a paid subscription.

Speaker 4 (54:01):
So I tell people and you can find uh find
me on the radio or a podcast or the radio show.

Speaker 5 (54:06):
Just just google me, and I'd love to hear from people.

Speaker 2 (54:08):
John, You're the man and uh exciting times in the
Pacific Northwest because I can't I think like most people
can't wait to watch this Oregon team play. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (54:18):
Well, I'm a big fan of your work over the years,
so I appreciate you having me on.

Speaker 5 (54:21):
It was I was excited to do this one. Thanks John,
talk to you soon.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
Okay. John Cazano is the man. Now to the lead
anchor for the SEC Darry Noka. Okay, very very excited
to have the lead dog over at the SEC Network,

(54:46):
which is a channel that I watch a lot. I've
watched more SEC Baseball than I have Major League Baseball
over the last couple of years. You turn it on,
there's twenty five thousand people at these games, Darry Nokau,
Who's Who's Oklahoma? Sooners are are joining the big boys
and coming to the SEC. So how's everything going, Darry?

Speaker 1 (55:07):
It's great, man, It's it's great. Hey, you're listen. You're
right about SEC baseball too. It's I I fell out
of love years ago with with Major League baseball. It's
just too many games and frankly, SEC baseball is so
dog on exciting and it feels like there's something on
the line all the time. So I'm glad you're watching, man,
I'm glad you're watching. But yeah, everything's good. It's funny.

(55:27):
I actually literally we just taped an interview with Brent
Vennables and it was the first one we've had with
him on SEC now and it'll be on a little
bit later. But he's fired up. I'm fired up. But
we just, you know, finally we're less than two weeks out.
It feels like it's been a long time coming. But
we say that every August.

Speaker 2 (55:45):
You know, well, obviously it just means more. And you know,
from Texas, East college football has always been a really
big deal. And listen, I'm a West Coast guy, so
I remember when those rumors about Texas and Oklahoma joining
the past, which obviously did not happen back twelve doesn't exist.
But what's you know, being an SEC media days now

(56:07):
that Venables has really kind of settled into his job, obviously,
sark last year, does it feel even bigger? The twelve
team playoff has changed college football? But it feels like
this conference is in the peak of its powers, does
it not?

Speaker 1 (56:20):
Yeah? And I think like where we're gonna see it
and maybe feel it the most is every single Saturday,
especially when you get into conference play because with those
two teams, we just have one more big game, you know,
Mississippi State Texas is a big game that we didn't
have before. You know, I'm using anybody and anybody against

(56:41):
anybody in this league. It feels like we've got one more,
you know, big game. So you know, it's not just
the Red River game in October. That's gonna be huge, obviously,
and it's awesome that you know, it's that's an SEC
game now, But it's just it's just it adds to
the depth. Right We're in a sport where depth is important.
Depth in the difference is important, and we're going four

(57:02):
or five, six seventy in regular season games that you
don't want to miss. So I think every single Saturday
we're going to feel it. Every single Friday night when
we do our SEC Now show, we're going to feel
it because we got one more big game to preview,
we got one more big game to talk about. So
Saturdays are going to be pretty amazing around here.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
You know, before we dive into some specific questions about
obviously the high end of the conference, I kind of
have a theory with the SEC. Obviously football has always
been a really big deal in that region, but Nick
Saban to me made the conference cool nationally, and obviously
the finances of the success and listen, I'm from the

(57:43):
Sacramento area and I can't tell you how many parents
of family friends I know that have sent their kids
to ole Miss, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida. I mean, these kids
that historically would have gone to San Diego State or
Arizona State are now going to the South. Obviously, financially,
I'm a big golf guy. I'm sure you guys have
talked about that Alabama golf facility. The other programs that

(58:05):
the money they're paying college basketball coaches separate from just Kentucky,
right and so Saban the money that he's brought in,
but the coolness factor of making it like NFL light
it's kind of not really debatable at this point, is it.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
No? No, And it's just like I think that it's
a league that, Yeah, there's a coolness factor for sure.
I mean, and anybody that ever wanted to complain about
the amount of money that Alabama played paid him John
over the years is out of their mind because what
he's brought the University of Alabama and the state in
itself is one hundredfold what they've paid him. But it

(58:42):
isn't it. It's a league that's full of really kind
of fun, cool characters. And it's not just football, you know,
you talk about that influx from the West coast here,
look at softball, Look at baseball rosters in the SEC,
especially softball, mean used to be the Kings or the
Queens of college softball. And now not only is the

(59:05):
pack gone, but that hasn't been applicable for a decade
or more. It's here now. And you look at rosters
and you see all of these great players from the
state of California and Arizona and so on and so
forth that have made their way here. One of my
best friends, cayleb Brow, is an assistant at Alabama. She
was an analyst with us on the SEC Network for
a number of years after she was a three time

(59:26):
All American at Bama. She's from Eugene, Oregon, and the
Shipman's sisters, Maddie and Ali both ended up one at
Tennessee and then one at Tennessee and then Alabama. They're
Southern Californians. Like it's a cool place to come play sports.
It is because the coaches are great, the characters in
this league are great. The weather doesn't suck, not that

(59:46):
it does on the West Coast either, I understand that,
but there's a level of importance. And I mean they
put so much into this, like the resource or just
it seems infinite, even in sports like baseball and softball.
Why wouldn't you come? And then, oh, by the way,
if I can like toot our own horn just a

(01:00:08):
wee little bit, you can leave mom and dad in
Orange County. They'll still see every damn one of your
games because of ESPN, the SEC Network, SEC Network Plus
or ESPN Plus. They're not gonna miss you. They won't
be here in person all the time. But you're gonna
get to see mom and dad are gonna get to
see you play whatever sport it is nine times out

(01:00:30):
of every ten games you play because they can find it.
So there's a lot of reasons I think people are
coming this way.

Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
Well, obviously, you know the yell fan in the room
in this conference of Saban retires du Bore. His resume
speaks for itself. I mean, the guy's like less than
fifteen career losses, but he's not from the South. You
know that. I've known Jim mcawain for a long time.
He was a non Southern guy, went to Florida, was winning,

(01:00:57):
and got run out of town. You want to be
the guy following the legend, they say, But do Bor
just wins everywhere he goes. You've talked to him, obviously,
follow that program closely at the SEC network. What's the
I saw a picture of the two offices, Saban's office.
He completely remodeled it. Did you see that door's new office?

(01:01:18):
It's you know, Saban had this kind of regal, old
school just like mob look in office. Do Bores is
like modern. It just looks completely different and it's just
clearly a different vibe he's a different person, but he
can coach. So that's at the end of the day
what matters most down there, right, Can you win?

Speaker 1 (01:01:36):
Yeah? Oh yeah, And if he wins, it'll be fine.
I don't. Yeah, I don't necessarily, but I think, you know,
we thought the fit was weird. Look Dan Mullen at
Mississippi state number one in the country at one point,
and the dudes from New Hampshire.

Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
Brian but he had coached at Florida for a while.

Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
He that's true, No, he did, he did. Uh, you know,
I don't think anybody in Baton Rouge is running Brian
Kelly out because he's a Northeastern or you know, from
Massachusetts or wherever. Like I understand to some degree the
idea of fit, but Nick Saban's West Virginia by way
of Kent State, Ohio, and so on and so forth,
and so he wasn't necessarily from this neck of the woods.

(01:02:13):
I get why people would say that, but ultimately, if
you win, you win. I don't think that'll be an issue.
And look to Boor, I think became a fan Alabama's
became a fan of Kaln de Boer, the second Jalen
Milrose stayed the second he kind of slammed the brakes
on the departures. He got a whole bunch of people
to decide to stay. And when you look at you,

(01:02:34):
like you said, twelve losses in ten years, it's just
I don't care where you are. You're still beating your
own peers at whatever level you are. It's no. The
record is accomplishment speak for itself. He'll be just fine
as long as he wins, and I don't have any
reason to think he won't. I mean, I don't know
about you, Like, were you surprised at all that Alabama's
sitting in the top five in the AP polls? That

(01:02:55):
they were what third in the in the preseason SEC
standard Like expectations haven't really diminished at all, and they shouldn't.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
I mean, they're just hiring a guy that, you know,
beat Texas in a final four games, beat Dan Lanning
three straight times. I think the question from a football
standpoint is at Fresno State is last year he had
Jay Hayner, who's an NFL guy, throws the ball, you
go Obviously Penni's prototypical pocket passer. Jalen's not really that.
So the question is how he's run his offense. Ryan Grubb,

(01:03:26):
who was a huge part obviously gets stolen away from Seattle.
Now he had a guy that was also with him.
They kind of took that spot, I think, But that
to me is the question mark, at least on this
specific season. I think big picture he'll be fine. What
are there some question marks with him and Jalen Milroe
From a just an on the field standpoint, I don't
think so.

Speaker 1 (01:03:45):
I think I mean it's you know, it's crazy. When
Milroe came out of high school, he was considered a
quote unquote pocket passer. If you look at the ratings,
you know it's it's PP it's I didn't, which surprised
me a little bit when I looked at that. Obviously,
what he does with his legs is what makes him Jalen.
But I do think Milroe can be a very good passer.
He's a very accurate long ball passer. You know, the

(01:04:06):
question is going to be a lack of experience in
some ways at receiver with Isaiah Bond obviously at Texas,
but there is talent galore in that receiver room offensive line.
I don't necessarily get overly concerned about I think I
think Alabama's going to I think defensively, they're probably going

(01:04:27):
to be a little bit ahead of the offense for
you know, in the early part of the season. But
I think they can win games with Jalen Milroe. And
I think they win games because of Jalen Milroe. And
and you know, Jalen had the opportunity to leave, Jalen
could have very well gone somewhere else. But he met Kaylen.
He liked Kaylan. He had made the determination, like I've
told my parent, my mom, I'm going to get a

(01:04:49):
degree from Alabama. Obviously that fluctuated a little bit with
Saban's retiring, But the second he met Caylen to Boor,
he said, I'm gonna give a sky a chance, and
they're really really tight now. And no, I think he'll
thrive in his system.

Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
You know, with Sabing gone, with Dabbo hitting a little
bit of a lull. As clear, Kirby's kind of the
king of college football. And it was crazy. I was
looking Carson Beck in this modern day football, you know,
sat behind Sets and Bennett for a couple of years. Guys,
that doesn't really happen as much anymore, and a lot
of people think he can be the number one quarterback Georgia.
It's weird. Obviously they were either two national title teams

(01:05:26):
that the NFL players speak for themselves, but the schedule
sometimes wasn't great. This year open with Clemson at Bama,
at Texas at all miss Uh. I mean, there's a
decent chance they're damn good still could lose a couple
of games, right, what's your what's your what's your thoughts
on the program and their their vibes headed in as
the preseason number one.

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
Yeah, I mean I I I totally get them being
number one, you know, and that goes into what Kurt Obviously,
when you have a quarterback that could be the number
one pick in the draft and he's he looks the
part of a of an NFL of a really successful
NFL quarterback, and he's got the of a successful NFL
quarterback and he proved himself a year ago. I have
no doubt that they're that they're capable of winning a

(01:06:07):
national demperonship again. But it's not gonna be easy. Like
if they if if Georgia runs the table, that's the
best season in the history of college football. I mean,
you know, they got to go to ole Miss. I
think they're gonna see ole Miss twice, like I got
ole Miss in Atlanta this year, right, could you imagine
like if if Georgia has to play them twice and
Texas on the road and Alabama on the road, it's

(01:06:29):
almost unfair. So but they're really really good. And again,
twelve team playoff, if they go ten and two, do
you keep them out? I don't think anybody would keep
them out. And once they're in, look out right, I
mean they could get in as a ten seed that
lost two games and you know, and and and run
the table. So yeah, I would expect I don't. I

(01:06:52):
don't think they run the table this year. I think
they lose a game or two, but I still think
in the end they're one of the last two standing.

Speaker 2 (01:06:58):
What you guys talk about this a lot? I mean
over under between the Big ten and the SEC. To
me's like eight teams, but specifically on the seced you
if you had the preseason gal, you're going four? Do
you think five's inconceivable? Seeds? Four is more likely than three? Right?

Speaker 1 (01:07:14):
I feel four is the right number to guess at
this point. I mean it's hard for five. One I
think the committee would have a hell of a hard
time putting five in because I don't think they want
to hear it from everybody else. That seems, you know, tough.
But I think four is a good number. It also depends,

(01:07:35):
like does the Big twelve just eat each other alive?
Like a lot of people think they would, right, I mean,
how many how many Big twelve teams with three losses
could you put in?

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
Well? To me, the Big twelve preseason is getting one.
I have been chocked for one.

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
Okay, so then you've got acc what are you looking
at there?

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
Best case two?

Speaker 1 (01:07:53):
Two? So now you've got nine spots open. You give
a group of five to one. Now you've got eight
spots between those two leagues. I'd have a hard time
not thinking it would be four and four. But if
that's the case, Like, if there are eight spots between
those two leagues, then five becomes very conceivable. I don't
think want it, but it becomes conceivable.

Speaker 2 (01:08:12):
Yeah, the four right now? Obviously Georgia, everyone would put
in Ole, miss very sexy team to put in Bama,
LSU kind of that group, Tennessee, potential Missouri. Like if
you're picking a four h yeah, Texas. Yeah, I would say, yeah,
Georgia and Texas. Most people would put in Yeah. Then
it's kind of the group of that three or four teams, right,
I kind of.

Speaker 1 (01:08:31):
Like Georgia, Texas, Old miss Missouri. Missouri's got this incredibly
manageable schedule, but one that they'll they'll be highly punished
if they lose more than two ballgames. Yeah, because it's
a schedule that they should absolutely be able to make
their way through with ten or eleven wins. So I
think Georgia, Texas, Old miss and Missouri would be the
if I had to pick four, now, those would be

(01:08:53):
the four Alabama on the on that cusp LSU. I
don't know how much I buy them yet. I'd like
to see them play de first, and I think Blake
Baker was a great hire, and we know they've got
personnel over there Tennessee. Let's see. I kind of think
they get popped in Norman in their first conference game,
and we'll we'll see, we'll see. I know people love Nico.

(01:09:14):
I'd like to see a little bit more Nico before
I start anointing them a playoff team.

Speaker 2 (01:09:19):
Won't BK take a little shit if he's not in
this twelve. I mean, this is what you're going into
year three. They're paying him ninety five million dollars. They
hired him and he said to win national championships. He
can't make a twelve team playoff at LSU.

Speaker 1 (01:09:33):
That How big is that game in Vegas on that
Sunday night.

Speaker 2 (01:09:37):
I don't think it's that big because I think they're.

Speaker 1 (01:09:38):
Gonna kill him. Okay, all right, they should. They better
kill him or kill him.

Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
I mean, you win it, win it by fifteen to twenty,
you know, well that's care.

Speaker 1 (01:09:47):
If they win it by one, yeah, I think they
win there. Stings in a big, big way. I think
a win there. I mean, neither team has shown us
that they're going to play defense. I like LSU's personnel better.
But you got two unproven quarterbacks, you know, and Miller
Moss on one side and Nuss on the other who's

(01:10:08):
been waiting his turn like Carson Beck did a lot
of people in this league, like Garrett us Meyer a lot.
I think they are mirror images of one another, with
maybe a little bit more depth on the LSU side.
But I think it could I think it could go
either way. Like I mean, I'd like to think like
you do that. LSU kind of goes in and wins
by two three touchdowns. But I don't know if they

(01:10:30):
can't stop anybody, and they've got this scoring pressure with
Garrett nus Meyer having to produce on every drive. I
don't know if I'm ready to say that yet.

Speaker 2 (01:10:37):
Well, I was texting with a scouting buddy today. He
likes nuss I mean, he's been a practice. I think
there's a lot of positive vibes. I mean, Lincoln bagged
out of that game and Brian said no, which I
think is I mean, is that a substantiated story that
sounds that sounds in a lane. I was texting when
I was texting the scouting buddy about the SEC, knowing

(01:10:57):
you were coming on, I said, to my talented team
in the SEC or beside Georgia in Texas, and he said,
Ole Miss is right up there. You know, Jackson Dart
a lot of people like him, obviously the transfer portal king.
I'm pretty sure the stat right. First time in Old
Miss history back to back double digit win seasons. Lane
beat Brian Kelly last year, and I thought one of
the more entertaining games of the year. It almost feels

(01:11:19):
like is there too much hype behind the squad. You
like me, like most people like Ole miss playoffs.

Speaker 1 (01:11:24):
I love them. I love them, I love them, I
love them, I love them in the playoff. I love
him getting to Atlanta for the very first time. I
love them.

Speaker 2 (01:11:30):
I love they win the SEC.

Speaker 1 (01:11:34):
I think they could. I absolutely think they could. Let's
see when Georgia plays them in the regular season. That's
gonna tell us everything we need to know. I think,
I think. I think Old miss is I love like.
I love Dart's demeanor, his relationship with Lane. Like you know,
Trey Harris is a stud on the outside. I know
it hurts losing his stud tail back to Columbus, but

(01:11:56):
I think Bentley is more than capable of being the
lead guy there on that side. I like the offensive line. Defensively,
you talked about the portal and the additions that he's
made all over the defensive front and that front seven.
I think they're really, really, really good. And this isn't
like you know I would. They're more talented than Missouri.

(01:12:17):
They've got a tougher schedule than Missouri. I put it
both in the playoff. The difference is Ole Miss to
me has been tested and Lane has been tested for
years now and understands what it's like to go week
in and week out and have a level of success
in this league. Drink hasn't yet. Last year, they kind
of came out of nowhere. So for that reason, I

(01:12:38):
like Old Miss a little bit more if I'm kind
of comparing two schools with high expectations that they've never
really had before. But it's also why I think Old
Miss is a conference and frankly national championship contender because
Lane understands that grind Lane has been there, He's lived it,
he gets it. I think Dark has lived it and
gets it. And it's a team that isn't back in

(01:13:00):
from anybody. They're not nobody's gonna walk in there just
because you know you have that G on your helmet.
They don't. They couldn't care less if you got a
number on your helmet. They don't really care. Like they
know they're good. And I feel like Ole Miss is
that team that I wouldn't be shocked at the end
of the year if they're raising a droke.

Speaker 2 (01:13:18):
You know, me and Coward were talking about it. He's
kind of established himself as a top five coach and
he has a lot of success. To me, he wins
ten plus games and they're in the playoffs, it won't
even be you can't even argue it. And then the
question starts. Weirdness already going on in Florida. There's just
you know, who knows how that thing plays out. The
Arkansas situation. Clearly they got a lot of money. Do

(01:13:39):
they get to a position or now all these schools
have so much money that if he feels comfortable there
he can stay or is just gonna be start being
a conversation because it feels like school's not scared off.
But you know, clearly not been super aggressive based on
his resume. Does that change if he just hammers an
eleven win season, he's in the playoffs, and it's just
he's gonna fend people Ole Miss got to fend people

(01:14:01):
off to keep them.

Speaker 1 (01:14:02):
I think they're always going to have to. I mean,
I think they're always going to have to write. I mean,
his his track record says he's kind of always kind
of looking maybe for that next thing. I hope not
man like I you know, fun at Ole Miss. What's that?

Speaker 2 (01:14:15):
It's fun at Ole Miss with him?

Speaker 1 (01:14:17):
Man, he's got he's got everything. He could ever want there.
He's got Clearly, they've got resources. They clearly are better
positioned in ANIL than maybe people assumed that they were.
I don't know the numbers, I don't know where they
rank in the SEC. But they've got more than enough
to get the job done clearly. Right, that's a special place,

(01:14:37):
like it really is that that has never experienced what
they could potentially experience now. I hope he never goes
anywhere like I hope he never goes anywhere. It's hard
to understand. It's hard to really know like the level
of interest of other places. When Auburn was looking right
and they ended up with Freeze and there was all
this talk about laying this and laying that. I don't know,

(01:14:58):
Like I talked to a lot of like people in
that Auburn program and decision makers, and they were never
really as interested in Lane as the as we were
made to believe. So, you know, are people scared about
a lack of loyalty? Are people just kind of being told, look,
I'm not going anywhere. I don't know what the answer is,
but I'd love to see Lane stay there for ten

(01:15:18):
years and get them to six six playoff berths and
make them nationally relevant every year because he's a lot
of fun in that place. He'd be fun anywhere, but
that's a pretty cool place to have Lane Kiffin.

Speaker 2 (01:15:29):
I think I would agree. Okay, I get you out
of here on this Texas and Oklahoma. We'll start with Texas.
You know, obviously with the money they have support in
that program and sar if they've been recruited. I mean,
their rosters loaded, but they come into this conference kind
of with a bullseye on their back of like okay,
let's see guys, and they're going to get everyone. It's
like almost I mean obviously they were right there to

(01:15:50):
win a national championship last year right till the end
in the final four. How do you think that's going
to go? Because there's a ton of hype that the
rosters loaded, but they are going to get even the
random teams they play on their schedule in the SEC's
best shot and the the atmospheres on the road for
them is gonna be bananas.

Speaker 1 (01:16:06):
Right well, I think they they probably should be a
playoff team. I'm real careful to to have some national
championship expectations for them. They are really talented, but man
oh Man John like this grind in this league. They've
never seen it. Same with OU, They've just never ever
experienced what they're gonna get week in and week out.

(01:16:27):
And yeah, the game in ann Arbor in week two,
Michigan might have the best defense in America. So like,
that's not gonna be a walk in the park. Are
they going to have a loss on their schedule before
they can get into conference play? They certainly could. But
it's just it's it's just a grind, Like I need
to see Texas navigate it before I anoint them too much.

(01:16:48):
I need to see OU navigate this first, you know.
And that's that's the that's the you know. You remember
when when Utah was in the Mountain West and they
made a transition to the PAC twelve. And we know
where Utah left the PAC twelve. They were obviously the
most consistent program over probably the last three or four seasons,
but it took some time the Mountain West to the

(01:17:12):
PAC twelve. Then I'm not gonna sit here and say
that that's not what I see in the Big twelve
to the SEC. I think it's a similar type move
and there's just some I just think it's going to
take a little bit of time to navigate it to
the point where we say sark is a net where
Texas is going to be a national championship team this year.

(01:17:33):
I'm just not ready to go there. But they have
all thes and they have all the resources, and they
have all the talent, and I get that, it's just
something else that it takes to be able to navigate this.

Speaker 2 (01:17:42):
I completely agree with you. And that's where I think
on the flip side, Oklahoma kind of gets to fly
in under the radar, not everyone's anointing them, and they
get to kind of come with a little chip on
their shoulder. You know, Oregon so high right now on
Dylan Gabriel, but didn't Oklahoma kind of tell them we're
gonna go to Jackson Arnold now, you know anytime you
get a first year quarterback. But I think Oklahoma, listen,

(01:18:04):
you go eight and four, but you knock someone off
or on the way, Like that's kind of what I expect.
Where everyone's gunning for Texas, Oklahoma kind of gets to
cruise in like their Mississippi state or something.

Speaker 1 (01:18:14):
They're really good, Like they're really good. They Oklahoma might
have a top three group of receivers in the SEC.
They've got a quarterback that nobody talks about because he's
relatively unproven, but he's got as much talent as anybody
in this league that plays that position. And defensively, like
you know, this isn't Lincoln Riley, Alex Grinch defense. Brent

(01:18:37):
has done a wonderful job through the portal and in
just in general high school recruiting, but mostly through the
portal of building a unit that is going to be
I think top half of this SEC. And you want
chip on the shoulder. When was the last time OU
was picked eighth in a conference? I was in college
there in the late nineties when they were got awful
with John Blake as a coach, like they have not.

(01:19:00):
He had sixteenth in the country in the AP. It's
pretty wild to see that. But they're really talented, Like they'll, oh,
they'll beat a couple of teams they're not supposed to beat.
I don't know if it'll be in Oxford early in
the season. I don't know if it'll be in Dallas
against Texas, but they certainly could. They've beaten Texas teams
that are better than them on paper. Dozens of times.

(01:19:22):
So yeah, and they know you. I think is going
to be better than people think for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
So on that quarterback, Carson back obviously, Jackson Dharr, Jalen Milroe,
a lot of hype. We've seen Oklahoma rattler, a ton
of hype, didn't live up to it. Caleb opposite ton
of hype. Clear he was a star. Yeah, kind of
feel somewhat similar of hype machine behind this young guy.
You follow the program closely. I think you were there.
I saw some on YouTube. You were at the program.

(01:19:47):
What are your thoughts on the hype machine behind this
young quarterback?

Speaker 1 (01:19:52):
Well, he's I think one thing is he doesn't buy
into the hype. That dude's really humbled, Like, he's really humble.
He will work, he's in early out late. He has
an incredible relationship with his receivers. Watch for a guy
Dion Burks Purdue transfer that that's at Oklahoma. Now that
guy is he could be an all he could be
a first team All SEC guy. He and Jackson have

(01:20:14):
a really good relationship to this particular point. You know,
the question is can he get the protection he's going
to need? And the offensive line is probably their biggest
outstanding question right now. But that dude himself that he
has grown. He's really really smart, he works really really hard,
and he's as accurate as you know. I've heard people

(01:20:37):
compare him in his accuracy to Sam Bradford, who to
me is the most accurate quarterback that ever went through
that program, but one of the most accurate I've ever seen.
So I think he's got all the tools and all
the makings, and he's in the right head space. So
I like him a lot. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:20:51):
I mean, I was thinking about going to a big
time college football game this year and the easiest one,
you know, in the SEC can be hard to get
to coming from Scottsdale, but the Red River rivalry in Dallas, Yeah,
I would imagine you'd recommend that game, wouldn't you?

Speaker 1 (01:21:02):
Anytime I would recommend that I you know, in this league,
in the SEC, there's a little bit of arrogance, you know,
like I should be observed. There's the Iron Bowl, there's
the Egg Bowl, and there's Georgia, Florida, and in many ways,
people don't think there's anything else. There's gonna be real awakening,
I think to people when they get a good up
close look at Oklahoma Texas. I think it's awesome. Yes,

(01:21:24):
I would say go to U Texas. You know what,
you want to go experience something in Norman. I'm sure
you probably have before. But the first conference game with
Tennessee coming in and Josh Heipel coming back to Norman,
that's gonna be special, man, like that. That's one on
the schedule. I'd put a little circle around.

Speaker 2 (01:21:40):
To Okay, Darry. I appreciate your time and exciting times
you know in the SEC, so enjoy it and watch
Oklahoma take down some people along the way.

Speaker 1 (01:21:51):
I would love to John good talking to you man.
I appreciate you reaching out.

Speaker 2 (01:21:54):
Oh, no problem, have a good one. See if

Speaker 1 (01:22:00):
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