October 11, 2024 • 58 mins
On this episode of College Football Apostles, George Wrighster and Ralph Amsden talk about a week that was filled with more storylines off the football field than on it.
First, the NCAA defined the new transfer portal windows, and eliminated the need for Letter of Intent in recruiting, and then Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey held a summit to plot the future and flex their power over the rest of college football.
The guys also talk about Alabama fans being unable to process their loss to Vanderbilt, and blaming it on Kalen DeBoer's wardrobe, as well as Connor Stallions' suggestion on the Bussin' with the Boys podcast that a team has been illegally using bluetooth communication from coach to quarterback for years.
Finally, George and Ralph make their picks in Texas vs Oklahoma, USC vs Penn State, Oregon vs Ohio State, Colorado vs Kansas State and LSU vs Ole Miss.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Unafraid Show, College Football Apostles, and we got a lot
to talk about today, and there's so much going on
outside of the field. Everything from Kaylin de Boord shirt
is being criticized, and that's the way it goes. When
you Alabama's quarterback, well they're head coach and you taken
l There is Connor Stallions was on the Busting with
(00:22):
the Boys podcast and he is out here spilling the
beans and I need Connor Stallions on the Unafraid Show.
We will be hitting this man up. The NCAA has
now changed the rules again, So if you were tired
of all the changes of college football, be ready to
be tired again because the national letter of Intent up
(00:45):
out of there. We ain't having no more of it.
And of course we gotta make our picks talk about
games this week and a whole bunch more. And you guys,
make sure that you like, subscribe, tell a friend about
The Unafraid Show and College foot All Apostles. You can
listen to it on iTunes, on Spotify, wherever you want
(01:06):
to listen to it. Just make sure that you are
listening to it and most importantly, share with a friend. So,
but we will start today with the NCAA and some
of the new moves that they made Ralph and one
of them is they have now shortened the transfer portal
window in the winter from forty five days to thirty days.
(01:32):
And there was talk about eliminating the spring window, but
the but the winter window is smaller. Is this good
or bad?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
It's probably bad for the for the late window, right,
it's gonna One of the most annoying things for I
think both you and me is people calling players quitters when, uh,
what choice do they have if they're going into both season,
which is almost always outside of the educational semester, So
(02:04):
we're talking about them being students first, it's almost always
outside the educational semester. And if they're looking for a
new place to go, or if their coach leaves, or
if their assistance on the fence, so there's been some transition,
then you got to get jump into the portal. Almost
all the animosity always goes to the players, and so
(02:25):
you know, I'm sure, I'm sure at the end of
the day, the players are going to get the short
end of the stick on this. But at the same time,
with modern college football, what else are you supposed to do?
Like limiting it to actual windows for people to get
in and out is probably best case scenario right now.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Well, Milley, thing is all right. I believe that you're
right about a lot of that, but I don't understand
how this benefits the players at all. That now, I
do understand what the system. It's like, we need some
rules in place. We gotta find a way to put
something in place, But how does that help? Because coaches
(03:10):
they move all year around. Coaches are gonna get fired
starting in the next couple of weeks, and then you're
gonna have them move around. Look at what happened last
year with Nick Saban retiring so late, so he retires
and then you have Kaylin de Boor move and then
that set off if you read the articles, like another
(03:31):
one hundred and plus moves around the world of college football,
because head coaches got taken to be linebackers coaches and
dB coaches and coordinators, and then you have to find
new head coaches for them, new wide receiver coaches, new
tight end coaches to replace those guys at other schools.
So it's set off a chain reaction of events, and
(03:53):
putting the kids in such a small window doesn't make
any sense to me. Now, the one thing that people
don't always factor into transfers is the is the academic calendar,
because at some point in time, you can't get into
college at that point in time, particularly if you're on
(04:14):
the quarter system like you might have at Washington, Oregon,
UCLA and various other schools, which is they're gonna start
the week after some time after immediately the first Monday
after what do you call after New Year's that's when
they're gonna start, basically, and after they get two weeks
(04:36):
into a ten week quarter, it's too late to get
kids into classes, and classes are full, so now you're
messing with the graduation rates and kids graduate. So in
a thing that's in a system that's supposed to be
academics and student first, ain't nothing about this student first,
nothing about it at all. And maybe there has to
(04:59):
be some go guard rails and some protections for players.
Now granted, there is some in terms of that if
your coach leaves, then you can hop into portal, but
that doesn't have help your academic life. So this is
still a system even with these new rules, which is
still imperfect at best. But another rule that came out
(05:22):
that coincides with this is the elimination of the national
letter of Intent. This one, I think is going to
have more catastrophic effects than anything else that has been
put in place outside of the transfer portal all by itself.
I mean, this is the only one, because now kids,
instead of in December signing a national letter of intent
(05:45):
and being locked into a school and the school being
locked in with them, now they'll sign financial agreements. And
from what I've read about it, Ralphin you tell me
if I'm wrong, is that this appears to be a
not to be non binding agreements, which means that the
schools can then on the back end, if they do
(06:08):
a late flip of a five star kid or something
else and now they're over the scholarship limit, they can say, hey, yo, Johnny,
three star, I know you were supposed to be coming here,
but uh yeah, you know, sorry, sorry, not sorry, and
they're not going to care how the pri is on it.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I always thought that the financial aid agreements were the
only thing that benefited the athlete because it finds the
school to the athlete, but not necessarily the athlete to
the school. But I'm I'm not sure on how it's
gonna work in the future, and I don't think they
are either. I don't think the NCAA hasn't answered. They're
(06:50):
not a forward thinking organization. They're almost primarily a reactive organization,
and so I don't really see the need for a
letter of intent. I talked to rich Rodriguez at a
Packed twelve media day. I think it was the one
hundredth anniversary of the PAC twelve. He spent the whole
(07:13):
time making fun of the fact that the PAC twelve
was celebrating itself, and he had a scrum with reporters
outside after his session, and he got real deep in
the weeds on the whole letter of intent thing. And
the thing that he said he's never understood is if
you offer a kid, because so many offers are lip service,
(07:34):
they're fake, they're pr they're marketing for the school or
for the kid or their favors. And we can get
moreed into that anytime you want to, but for right now,
just sticking on the topic, he said, if a school's
going to offer a kid, that kid should be able
to commit right then and there. And if the coach
changes position coach, head coach, something like that, fine, But
(07:58):
if you give the kid the ability to commit on
the spot. That's going to limit the amount of offers
that you put out there, and it's also going to
limit the amount of tampering that goes on once a
kid decides to commit. The solution to this seems to
have always been, let a letter of intent come whenever
somebody wants to sign it whenever, and that that if
(08:21):
you want.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
To sign it in in June, so be it. Or
if you want to sign it in August or September
or December, so so be it.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
You started, if your junior year of high school is
over and you want to sign with somebody, why not.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I'm not I'm actually not mad at that bit because
that actually goes to colleges and closing deals right that.
And but the only problem is is that if it's
non binding for the player, then if you're a school
now right, because there's there's two parts of this, and
we have been very proactive about protecting the athletes and
(09:05):
everything else. But if you're a school and you think
your recruiting class looks one way, but there's nothing binding
the kid to your school after they sign a financial agreement,
I think that that can create a whole nother can
of can of worms. And this is not to protect
the schools, because the schools don't need protecting. But but
(09:26):
just the reality of it is is that he who
has the gold makes the rules, and the gold makers
they are not gonna want this thing to be one sided.
They already have a ridiculous one sided relationship with the
coaches as it comes to their contracts and the buyouts
and everything else. They're definitely not gonna want the players
(09:48):
in that sort of position where they can hold the
school hostage, where they're like, Yo, I signed, but you know, ah,
I got offered a better deal, and you know I'm
thinking about taking it. Bro signed your financial agreement, you
agreed to come here already, Yeah, but I'm a head
on over to Miami instead. I want some of that
LifeLock money.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
I just it's never been about school. It's never been
about school. Earlier this week, there was an athlete Arizona
State was thinking about quitting school, decided to go to leave.
The team went into the transfer portal and his name's
Tristan Monday.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Okay, it's like the third one that we've already had
this year already, which is highly surprised.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, and it'll keep happening, right, because people want to
preserve their red shirts. And in this case, I think
he was thinking about not playing football anymore altogether. But
you want to keep your options open, right, So the
right thing to do would be to enter the transfer portal.
And if you don't play anymore, you don't play anymore.
But if you get an opportunity that that's too good
to pass up, and you take the time to get
(10:53):
your studies right or whatever. Cool. But it My point
is this, it's never been It's never been about the
student athlete. It's never been because if it was, then
there would be a mandate that a certain amount of
your scholarships actually go to people who can further the
university academically. That it would look a lot more like
(11:15):
the way the IVY leagues have to recruit. And you've
been through this, You've had your kid recruited by IVY
League schools who technically technically can't offer these athletic scholarships
though they will find money, but at the same time,
it's also about furthering the reputation of that institution. Therefore,
they are always on the lookout for student athletes who
(11:36):
are going to first and foremost do that, right. So
you know, it's not like the NCAA has said, Alabama,
you need to use ten of your twenty five scholarships
every single year on people who have a four point
zero and robust community service experience.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
It's never been they do that. They like yo, yo,
This dude has a lot of community service experience. It
is on Friday nights he brings the community together for
excitement and in a joyous occasion every time that they
watch him play play football. That's only community service that
they worried about in recruiting exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Then, these schools want to win, and it is what
it is. We're you know, I'm not trying to pitch
some civilization that's different than the one that we live in.
The truth of the matter is these schools want to win.
And the second biggest lie in college football recruiting. Second
biggest lie now is well, let's get in the number
one real quick. If you're good enough, they'll find you.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Lies, that's definitely lie. The second one is commit to
the coach or commit to the school. No coach, right,
this this idea, this overarching idea that people commit to
an institution and not the people the institution is paying
a lot more than they pay their most tenured faculty
to be assistant coaches on the football team.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Ralph, I've talked to multiple kids and we put out
a video about this about why the kids actually hopping
the transfer a portal to begin with, the overwhelming majority
of them are pushed in the portal by their coaches.
That's the number one reason players hopping the transfer portal
because when new coaches come in, especially, they're like, uh, yeah,
(13:24):
I don't want that guy. Think about what what happened
at Arizona State with their quarterback Levitt right now? Wait? Yeah,
Levitt and Jaden Rashada was there, Trenton Borgay was there,
and the other and then they had who else was there?
Emory Jones? No, who was it Emry Jones?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
The year before they had Jeff Sims come in after everything.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, so you have those kids in the building, but
but specifically Rashada and Trenton Borgay. You get a new
offensive coordinator to come in, Marcus Arroyo. And when we
had to interview in, one of the things that he
said was we got a chance to you know, where
there's not a lot of evaluation on these guys. We
haven't had a chance to see him all this stuff,
(14:10):
and it was there was plenty of evaluation because there
was plenty of other coaches that were there already on
those two players. But the whole point is is that
he wanted his guy in. That's what it boiled down
to in Sam Levitt, and that's who's starting right now.
And it just so happens that Arizona State is winning
(14:30):
and coaches want their own guys in there regardless of
whether the people that were there or not are good.
There's an automatic assumption. Like Dion Sanders when he went
to Colorado, he was like, Yo, this team was one
and eleven last year. All the players they must suck
so so and even if they don't, maybe they're not
(14:51):
our culture guys or whatever. And then there were some
kids who stayed that tried to fight it out. Some
of them made it, some of them didn't. But there's
an automatic bias against them, regardless of whether you really
want there to be or not. So it doesn't have
to be malice on the coaching point, like that's in
that that's inherent, Like if you buy a house, Ralph,
(15:14):
if you go buy a new house. When you moved
out there to Charlotte, you bought a house from somebody
who who was previously living there. How much of the
furniture did you keep that they left?
Speaker 2 (15:30):
It all went to the dump or I put some
of their cabinets in my backyard and I used them
as planters.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Exactly, exactly, so exactly, so the stuff you did keep
is out in the yard for your planters, for the
stuff you grow for your guard. So you kept a
little bit of it, but it wasn't getting used the
same way that they were using it. No, exactly. That's
the same way with coaches.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah, and so we you know, we we lie to
these kids and we say, hey, you need to pick
a school because it's forty years not four or whatever,
while the school then turns around and pays a wide
receivers coach seven hundred and eighty thousand dollars a year
come on it for their ability to recruit. Of course,
(16:18):
you're committing to the coaches. So the idea that the
kids and the coaches didn't have to follow the same
rules for such a long time is completely absurd, and
like it, we just need to be honest with ourselves
at this point, Like dairy Queen has a salad menu.
Do you know this?
Speaker 1 (16:34):
No, dairy Queen.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
You can go to dairy Queen and you could get
a salad. How many people you think go to Dairy
Queen to get the salad?
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Not very many.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
I'm sure it gets purchased. It's on the menu for
a reason. And I think of that. I think of
Dairy Queen having a salad menu every single time. Because
I'm I was a recruiting reporter. I'm around recruiting reporters.
You hear them call and be like, oh, you know, hey,
what about Universe and Memphis?
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Did you really love? Was that our business program?
Speaker 2 (17:00):
And then you got like you got a seventeen year
old kid like yeah, they yeah, the business.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
There's like one in a hundred kids that that matters
to that much that they that they choose a university
or not. It ain't that many.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Everybody's got a business program. They're there to play football, Like, uh,
who's the who's the Ohio State quarterback? The satur of.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Cardialo Jones, I'm not here to play school. He told
the truth.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Most of these kids are not there to play school.
I heard Jay Cutler tell a recruiting story recently.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Where Vanderbilt, right, yeah, and he didn't know anything about Nashville.
He didn't know where Vanderbilt was. They were accidentally recruiting
him as a tight end. They didn't know who he
was either. But then at the they offered him and
his dad was like, yeah, you have to accept that.
The end, there was no other discussion.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
It wasn't like, oh, I got a visit first, or like, oh,
there's such an academically strenuous institution. For some kids, that
is absolutely how this works. But those are kids with
a lot of options and then they have to go
into pro con list. But now that money is factored in,
some of those options are going to get less and
less because it's really gonna come down to the fact
(18:12):
that everyone out here has a business school, even though
a lot of these guys are just REX Studies majors, Like,
everybody's got the same accredited degree programs.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Who is going to make sure that.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
You're able to take care of yourself and your bills
and learn financial responsibility and build your brand. I'm talking
about the highest of high level players. Money is going
to be much more of a factor than anything an
institution has to offer, which is what it has been
for coaches forever. It is very new and far between
that a coach is looking around and saying, man, I
(18:49):
want to be somewhere, even Lincoln Riley, Even Lincoln Riley
when you're like, well, the difference between La and Norman
is pretty stark, right, USC gave him the most money
that by far.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
And speaking of the most money though, so the Big
Ten and the SEC, they make the most money in
terms of the conferences. And now for a second time,
they're commissioners. Put Petiti and Greg Sanki are meeting Tony
Pettiti and Greg Sankie are meeting up to discuss college
(19:24):
football and they're not including the ACC. They not including
the Big twelve. So they are letting everybody know that
we are the big dogs. We will make the decisions
and then y'all will follow suit. And they have been
approached by many different groups, like there's a group of
(19:44):
ex Disney employees that are pitching a super conference. There's
another by homeboy that owns the Cleveland Browns, the Tennessee
guy what's his.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Name, Yeah, we talked about We talked about Jimmy Haslam last.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Year year and so exactly so he is trying to
start a super league too. So they met and one
of the comments that came out of the SEC Big
Ten meeting was, we have not seen a pitch that
we can't do ourselves already. That led me to go
(20:24):
back down the same path that we have been on
this entire time route, which is the Big Ten and
the SEC have zero Super Conference intentions because they have
the power right now and they don't care if Vanderbilt
never has a chance to win a national championship, they
don't care if Rutgers can never be fully competitive like
(20:48):
Oregon and Ohio State and Penn State, they don't care.
And in fact, Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, they don't give
a damn about anybody else. Neither does Alabama, Georgia and
anybody else in the SEC that's at the top of
the SEC. As long as they get to stay at
(21:08):
the top, that is all that matters. And we've talked
about it that the actual system that would work best
is collectively bargaining their media rights because they would get
more money. But the problem is is that would create
more parody. When you create salary caps and rules and
all of that stuff. It creates more parody like the
(21:30):
NFL model, and that will be better for college football
because you would have more teams that could win on
a weekend and week out basis, which creates a better product,
which is why the NFL product does the numbers that
it does comparative comparatively to college football. However, though, it
(21:51):
is a major issue when you have the biggest power
brokers with the SEC and the Big Ten, who are
not doing what's best for college football and they're doing
what's best for their own conference, which I understand because
that's what their commissioners are tasked to do. And if
you end up with a super conference, if Greg Sanki
(22:14):
or Tony Pettiti is not the the commissioner, where do
they go? Ralph. So this is self preservation as much
as it is conference preservation, because if somebody else gets
to be the college football commissioner, you ain't the commissioner
no more. That means the million dollar salaries are gone,
(22:36):
the private jets are gone, all the perks and all
the power are gone. So no, they're not going to
sign up for that, right. This is forced.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
This is about the preservation of power and a lot
has gone into and I don't mean to be like
a super cynic on this, but a lot has gone
into getting the SEC in the Big Ten to where
they're at right now, more specifically the SEC because Greg
Sanki has been in the driver's seat for a lot
of this. Greg Sanki does not care about the health
(23:09):
of college football on the whole. No, he cares about
the SEC and by extension himself, you've already explained this
right this meeting that they had, and Nicole Ayraback was
there and she was tweeting out some of the quotes
from it, and one of which was that nobody has
(23:31):
brought them anything as far as the Super League that
they can't do themselves, And that was actually Tony Petiti
that said it. I'd yet see a single thing in
any plan that contains things we couldn't do ourselves with
our colleagues. Right, these meetings that they're meant to kind
of be a flex on everybody else, like an acknowledgment
(23:53):
that like, hey, we're here, we're in charge. This is
us saluting us, and they're doing it right in the
middle of this season, but it also is meaningless. In
March twenty twenty two, the ACC, Big ten and PAC
twelve all got together to form an alliance.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Alliance that's hilarious. Do you galize how stupid that that looks?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Now?
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yes, it was dumb.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
They got made fun of at the time, but amazingly
it looks even worse further down the road. And I
think you bring up a really important point, because every
administrator can be replaced, everything can be pared down, can
be scaled down. In fact, isn't that how venture capitalism
(24:36):
essentially works? Like venture capital comes into a profitable situation
and they say, like, how can we streamline and pair
this down into pure profit? Right? Pure profit would look
a lot like scaling most of college football down and back.
I have yet to have one person explain to me
(25:01):
how it is possible that athletic departments were able to
run on pre twenty first century budgets, because they did
when you played college football. Were the bills getting paid?
Hell yeah, okay, so now they have fifty x the
(25:25):
money that they had then and they come to us
crying poor, No, you have the ability to run a
scale back version of all of this. And what a
college football commissioner probably means is a lot of this
stuff gets scaled back.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
I talked about that, and we talked about that with
that private equity money. You do not want private equity
money in college football. It will change everything and not
for the better.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Would you agree that the one way to get Greg
Sank out of any position of power is for somebody
to come in the biggest threat to these administrators right
now is unionization of the players.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yep. That's the biggest threat to like yours, the biggest
threat to them, biggest threat to Amazon, biggest threat to
a bunch of companies.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Buddy, your wife's third g wagon, like San's relationship status.
But like if if whoever he's dating likes her lifestyle,
then you got better hope these kids don't unionize.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Yep. Yeah, that's what keeps him up at night. You
know what's keeping Alabama fans up at night, Kaitlin di
bors uniform. They hate it. They're like, oh, look at
him out there with his fucking T shirt. He's out
there looking sloppy and disheveled, and how dare he? You
know what, Ralph, they didn't give a damn about that
(26:55):
T shirt when they was playing against Georgia. When they
beat Georgia, they didn't give a damn about that T shirt.
But the fact that they've given up sixty seven points
in like three billion yards in the last six quarters. Now,
all of a sudden, it's it's little things that are
mattering again now or el little things. And I listened
(27:16):
to Pine to Paul fine Bomb on Monday because I
knew it was gonna be gold. I listened to him
a little bit yesterday. And Alabama fans they are mad
about two things. They are mad about his outfit. Well, sorry,
three things. They're mad about his outfit, but that's third
(27:36):
on the list. And then the second thing on the
list is the Malaki Moore situation where they said he
absolutely must punish this kid, like you can't kick the
damn ball, slam the quarterback's head in the ground, and
(27:57):
throw your mouthpiece, refuse to come out the game. And
I talked to a bunch of former players about this,
and a current coach in the SEC. I was like,
what would you do if your player, if your wide
receiver refused to come out of the game. So, yes,
it's a wide receiver. Coach, he was like, number one,
(28:19):
my kid coming out the game first and foremost. But
the second thing is, our head coach would have called
time out if need be, or taking a penalty, walked
out on the field and told the kid, either you
come off this field right now, or you will never
step back on it. So you can stay out here
if you want to. If you stay out here, you
(28:41):
will never put this uniform back on again. And honestly,
I'm not a rule by an iron fist, but this
is a symptom that something is going on at Alabama
because yes, he did the apology tour, but the but
the issue is is that Kaylen de Boor and their
(29:02):
defensive coordinator got up there and just, oh listen, Malachi.
He's had our back since we got here. He's a
model citizen, he's a captain. Nobody cares more than him.
None of that matters, Ralph. He screwed up. He screwed up,
and we're not asking nobody's asking, well, not reasonable people
aren't asking him to get kicked off the team. But
(29:24):
to keep your team together, you have to have some
sort of display of a little bit of power, bro
because what they did is unacceptable. It is it is it,
and I'm not sure how it's gonna play in that
locker room. But if that locker room does not feel
that it was handled adequately, somebody else will act out
(29:45):
and then Kaylen de Bor will have to deal with
it the same way. Or if he comes down with
an iron fist, then everybody can be like, oh, why
you ain't do Malachi like that? Yeah? I mean, do
you remember Makai Brown? That name sounds very familiar.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
He played for Alabama. He got taken out because he
lost his mind during the National Championship back in twenty eighteen.
After the twenty seventeen season, and the next year he
was not at Alabama. He says he wasn't kicked off
the team, but that I mean, so, I don't know.
(30:28):
I sometimes I look at it, you know, I see
people saying, like, what would Saban have done? And I
want to answer, like Leaf, he left, he saw this coming.
The type of kids they're coaching have changed, the level
of accountability has changed.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Coaches. I don't think that would have happened with Nick
Saban either. They wouldn't have tried him like that.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Yeah maybe not, maybe not, But I but you know,
it's not like his the first issue Alabama's ever out
on the sideline. It's a very passionate sideline. So you know,
maybe they know him really, really well, and it just
comes down to the fact that, like they they were
getting embarrassed and he reacted the way that he reacted.
Time will tell who he is as a person. You
(31:18):
shouldn't it shouldn't all be earned. In one instance, for
people who were watching that game, especially people who tuned
into the end of that game to see if van
Bilt was gonna pull it off, this is the only
impression of him they'll ever have. But at the same time,
like coaches complained about a million different things, but I
do believe that they're right about this. The type of
kid out there in the world is a little.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Bit different now.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Kids haven't changed, And Kenny Dillingham said this, The kids
haven't changed, the adults have. And I believe that. I
believe what kids have been allowed to do is what
contributed to them changing. The standards, the level of adversity,
the ease of movement to get away from things that
are that are really really hard, like the fact that
(32:05):
you do have to be very intentional with a kid
that you're raising in today's day and age, and you
know this, George, you gotta wake your kid up in
the morning and say let's go do something hard today.
You have to opt into hard because I gotta be honest, man,
there are so many better options for these kids just
to spend their day than football.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Like some of these video games. You just step into
the game.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
It's open world and you could just live there and
it's a better life than the one you live in
your house, and you don't have to sweat, and you
don't have to get cussed at. Though someone's twelve year
old son on there will be on there calling you
racial epithets, for sure, but you don't have to be
cussed at by anybody who has any power over you,
and you could just have fun like that. We've reached
(32:47):
kind of a level, and not to dump on kids,
but we've reached the level where the things that they
have access to, they have to choose what's hard, and
it gets harder and harder. And Nick Saban walked away
from it, and I think it was a confluence of things.
But just to go back to Alabama fans, they're not
used to Hart either, they're not used to losing to Vanderbilt.
To complain about Kaylen deborus shirt, that's the most relatable
(33:11):
thing in the world to me, and I.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Goes South Carolina this week. If they lose to South
Carolina two, Kaylen Debor is gonna be Oh I do,
They're gonna have to put him in witness protection in Tuscaloosa.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
He actually like he might have to wear a suit
because it will be his funeral casket. Like, I've never
been able to relate to Alabama fans more than I
have over this freak out about Kaylen de Bor's shirt, though,
because I like, just think about think about your life, George, Like,
think about all the things you have going on. I
(33:48):
think about all the things that I have going on.
I got four kids who're in three sports, three of
them are teenagers. We're in the middle of you know,
this is a very fun job, but the most stressed
part of our year with everything we do with Unafraid Show.
You know, we're out here putting in sixteen seventeen hour
days on this. You know, our wives are both very accomplished,
(34:09):
very busy people with a lot going on. Not everything
goes great at their work all the time. Not everything
goes great to our work all the time. Not everything
goes great with our kids all the time. Not everything
goes great with our extended family all the time, stuff
in our homes is falling apart. There's a lot going on,
right and at the end of the day, at the
end of the day, if the one thing that I
can control is getting mad at my wife for leaving
(34:32):
a wine glass next to the bed on the bedside table,
and the thing that she can control is getting mad
at me for not ever once putting my socks in
the hamper in twenty years of our marriage, then that's
gonna be the one place where our frustration comes out,
like that's gonna be the only thing that we even
know to like. Life is overwhelming right now, Please put
(34:53):
your socks away like that. That's and that's what Alabama
fans are going through right now. And I just it.
It's funny to me because I get it. I'm not
mad at them at all. Keep yelling him about his shirt.
There's nothing you do about the fact that Diego Pavia
shredded you lost to Vanderbilt in the Cumberland River.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
You guys. And there's a video about uh Diego Pavia
and who he is and how he got here. Bruh.
It is crazy, crazy, cool story, including the Mama that
wouldn't even talk to him after he lost. Connor Stallions
was on Busting with the Boys, and out of all
(35:36):
the things that he said, because it was a very interesting,
uh interview, I want him here on Unafraid show. I
will be hitting Connor Stallions up because we need to
talk to the man. I do not like he acute. Well,
he levied an allegation, but in such casual terms that
(35:58):
the way he said it, it wasn't like yo, I know
some No. He said that there has been a a
school that has been using bluetooth technology to talk to
their quarterback for a while. And mind you, this is
the first year that in helmet communication is legal. Do
you believe him? Ralph? Do you believe good old Connor?
Speaker 2 (36:29):
If you had just given me this information and said
there's a team, not a Big ten team, that for
years has been using helmet communication with their quarterbacks, I
would say I could see that. I could see that,
especially after all like the Houston Astros. Yeah, allegations and
(36:51):
like yeah, but sure like that that could be possible.
I wouldn't. If you get caught, you get a lot
of trouble, But like I could see someone trying to
use that to their advantage, and then you tell me
Connor Stallion said it, and like something in me is
like no, like I don't know why. I can't explain
(37:12):
to you what it is. I can't explain you what
it is. And it's not that he's not believable, it's
just that there when he does stuff like this, it
makes it you know that there's been a lot of
stuff said about him that's not true, Like the legend
of Connor Stallion's like, you know, sure the manifesto is real.
(37:35):
Sure he was able to do.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Of George Washington and Paul Bunyan and.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Yes, yes, And when he says stuff like this, it
makes me feel like he's in on his own.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Yes, dude, it's legends, dragon catches bullets with his teeth.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
It's it's getting to be very like Americans. And like,
I know that there's a lot of people who like
look at Chris Kyle as a hero. But if we
get into all of the claims about Chris Kyle, there's
some wild stuff in there.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Yes, you got, We're like bo Jackson. Bo Jackson is
the sports equivalent of that. I tell people all the time,
the legend of boj I'm talking about pro Bo Jackson,
not not college that the legend of Bo Jackson is
greater than Bo Jackson, because it is people out here
that believe that Bo Jackson is a Hall of Famer
(38:32):
or should have been a Hall of Famer, And you're like, no,
there's nothing about his career that that should have been
a Hall of Famer. And the fact that he got
hurt that's actually the best thing for the legend of
Bo Jackson, because he would have had to be a
godlike figure to live up to the legend that is
Bo Jackson. And the tall tales that are sad about him.
(38:55):
I mean, think about like the Dion Sanders story. They
talk about his forty yard dash like he was Willie
Mays Hayes from Jajor League, Like he walked out of
the limo in his sweats and just ran up to
the line, ran a forty at the combiny, and ran
right back out the door. That's the way they tell
the Deon Sanders story too. And this is the way
(39:17):
that the Connor Stallions stories are are growing. And Ralph
I do believe that he is in on the plot,
that he is in on the script writing, or that
he sees the script writing. He like, oh, yeah, baby,
if I grow this is marketing. If I grow the
legend now, because somebody is going to employ Connor Stallions
(39:41):
at some point in time after his punishments come out,
and he served him, oh, he will be somebody's consultant,
and then I book it. Ralph Connor Stallions will be
a college football head coach at some point in what
in top I would bet anything on that.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
I just immediately start doing division in my head, though,
Like now, because if you said that and so, like
I hear Connor Stallion said that a non Big Ten
team has been using bluetooth for helmet communication four years.
And and when I say that out loud, what I
actually like, strip it down to its common denominator. I'm like, Okay,
(40:25):
six years ago, Connor Stallion talked to a coach who said,
I bet you could use bluetooth for helmet communications for
a quarterback. Wow, like that that's how I like, I'm
imagining that. It's probably some version of that, Like it's not.
There's so many people involved, and I just there's so
(40:46):
many people involved in college football that it is extraordinarily
hard to keep things covered up. Over time, we went
through this with the Antonio Pierce story last last week,
like you, you would have to be so focused and
not everybody in that that you work with that has
the same logo on their polo is for you. A
(41:08):
lot of these people, even your grad assistants, are gunning
for your job. Even your even position coaches are looking
at decoordinators in the middle of the season in a
one in five season saying like, if they get fired,
I wonder how I can position myself to get.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Like.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
It's not like everybody's on some big team and if
they know that you're doing something wrong, they will use
it against you.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
You are one hundred percent right about that. But Ralph,
we got to get to the picks this week. We
got to get to the picks this week in the
world of college football. And it looks like, Ralph, last
week I was two and three, you were four and one,
(41:52):
and some kind of way you are ahead right now
at twenty and eleven, I am seventeen and fourteen.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
My wife asked me to start using real money, and
I'm like, that will ruin it.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
Why would that ruin it?
Speaker 2 (42:09):
If I start actually like betting on first of all,
I don't think it would be these games that I
bet on. I think I would be more like in
the Weeds on the ones that I thought were sure things,
because we talk about a lot of the high stakes games,
right Yeah, but yeah, she was like, no, just like
you're if you're on a heater, just put money on it.
And I'm like, that will be the thing.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
That that knocks you off the heater.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
Yeah, because like twenty and eleven is not it's not bad.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
No, that's no, that's beyond not bad. That's very good, Ralph,
that is very good. All right, So let's talk about it.
Let's talk about these these games. We got Texas at Oklahoma,
and this is a game that I am super excited
about the Red River rivalry. This is gonna be a
(43:00):
special game. This is an opportunity for Texas to keep
it going. I'm excited about this Red River rivalry. You
have Texas, they are what plus fifteen? Oh no, yo, sorry,
Texas is minus fifteen. They're at Oklahoma technically, even though
this game is going to be played in the Cotton Bowl. Ralph,
(43:22):
I could not be any more excited. Who are you
taking in this football game?
Speaker 2 (43:30):
I think I have to go with Oklahoma. I think
it would be probably irresponsible to not go with Oklahoma
if you just stacked talent against talent. If you took
all Oklahoma's players and you put them at Iowa State
or something like that, then I think you might take
(43:51):
that minus fifteen because Oklahoma can't run the ball, They're
starting a freshman at quarterback, and they're just they're awesome,
awesome on defense, but it hasn't really worked this complimentary football,
but this is the Red River rivalry.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Everything goes out the window there, bro and then quinn
Ewer's first game back live reps for the first time
in over a month, so he could be a little
bit rusty time, he could be a little bit off,
and that could throw things off. I am going to
take Oklahoma plus fifteen as well.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
And you should too if you're listening to this. Ten
out of the last eleven of these games were decided
by less than twelve points. Almost all of those were
one score.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Yes, and both of these teams have been extremely close
in recruiting rankings over the last few years. And everything else.
So even though Texas is the sexy pick, don't fall
in love I know sex sales, but don't fall in
love with it all right. Next game up, we got
Penn State minus five and a half at USC, And
(44:58):
on one hand, it looks like you USC has improved
on defense. But this five and a half points Ralph
where Penn State is favorite, give me the Nitney Lions.
I think that USC falls to three and three and
everything starts coming apart at the seams out there in
trojan Land, because they're already I've been on their message board.
(45:22):
They are not real happy right now.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
Well, you pointed out five and seven over the last twelve, yep.
And Clay Helton was what over his last twelve before
he got fired.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Eight and four? I believe, right, and that is correct. Yep.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
So this is I don't imagine USC fans having the
same reaction to the name Lincoln Riley that most of
college football does. There are names in college football where
the shine stays shiny, except for the people who are
(46:00):
closest to it.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
Right, And ask people about Cliff Kingsbury, you know, and so,
and Lincoln Riley is one of them that you know.
There's a lot of people in Norman right now who
are who are loading up the biggest fattest I told
you so. In the history of the world and getting
ready to just package it and ship it to l A.
(46:23):
I love Penn State in this game and has nothing
to do with USC.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
USC.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
Actually, I think they're on the right path and they
deserve respect for the progress they've made. They don't want respect,
they want to win, that's fair. But USC has improved
so much over over last year. And I actually think
offensively what they're doing is pretty cool because Miller Moss
doesn't move a lot and they're still scoring. But this
(46:48):
Penn State team is like the exact It's like Superman Kryptonite,
but like not Superman, because USC is not Superman.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
It's like they are Minnesota but a little better on offense.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
But they average giving up two and a half yards
of rush and they themselves averaged like seven yards of rush.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
Yeah, yeah, dude, this but this is the kind of
game that us. He can win though, Like, this is
the way their season has been, so upset is possible
and that would get them back ranked. But if they
lose this game, boy oh boy. I went on their
message board. They were like, if we lose three games
after six games, the season's overweight. We're never making the playoffs.
(47:34):
And they're right about that. Next game up number two
versus number three, the Ohio State Buck guys head out
to you, Jean baby, and Ohio State is a three
point favorite, as they had to Auton Stadium. People don't
think them sixty thousand folks at Aunton Stadium are gonna
be loud, Ralph, but you've been there. It is one
(47:57):
of that, and people have been like, listen, they've been
to the Big House, they've been down to Tusco Little So,
they've been to this and that. They've played in front
of one hundred thousand people in Beaver Stadium and Penn State, Like,
you don't understand the actual math. The science says it
is the second loudest recorded outdoor college football stadium that
(48:20):
has ever been recorded, one hundred and twenty seven decibels.
So so I don't care how many people are in there.
It is set up. Acoustics matter that the science. Do
not let your thoughts and your ideas get it in
the way of what is verifiable, verifiable. Bring your own decibel.
(48:43):
I will be in the stadium. Give me my ducks
plus three. Actually I don't even want no damn points.
We win it out right. Ralph's biggest game of the
year so far because it's the next game, according to
coach Landy.
Speaker 2 (48:58):
So I was I was visiting some high school players
that I used to cover and they lived in They
played for Oregon State, so they lived in Corballis and
one of them was a backup quarterback who I think
was moved to safety or wide Receiver's name is Mason Moran,
and I hope I'm not diamond him out on this
because it's a funny story. So I'm visiting Mason Moran
(49:19):
and he is like an emergency backup quarterback and he
got in against Oregon in Aunsen and I was like,
how was it? And he said I couldn't hear my thoughts.
And I've heard that phrase before, right, like it's I
couldn't hear myself think. So I asked him. I was like,
so that's not just an expression, and he's like, no, man,
(49:43):
it was too loud to think. Yes, too loud to think,
and so I always think about it. He's like, he's
like you can't let He's like, you can't let onto
the rest.
Speaker 1 (49:54):
Of your team.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
But like he's like, I didn't know what was going on.
He said it was real bad and that was for
a civil war game that was probably already out of reach.
Speaker 1 (50:04):
At that point.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
So you know, I I don't know I'm anybody who
is arguing with the science of that is just part
of the course of the age we live in. I
guess I would stick with arguing who is gonna cover
a mecca like Buka and.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
Bukah and Jeremiah Smith.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Yeah, like, will you tell me who.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Mohammet is? One guy? But the and and he'll do
well the other corner. You better pick it up, buddy.
I hope he ate tweedies. You You're gonna have a
long day. But but a lot of it is going
to depend on Will Howard because he is not He's
(50:53):
not as good of a passer as cal McCord is
who was there last year. And if Oregon's defensive line
can get pressure, make him make some throws. All right?
Next game up Kansas State State.
Speaker 2 (51:05):
By the way, I just want to say I'm on
Ohio State.
Speaker 1 (51:08):
Yuck. What a look, sir? Colorado? Kansas State at Colorado
plus four and a half. So Colorado is a four
and a half point underdog, and Ralph I am taking Colorado.
There are multiple people who asked me. They were like, George, please,
don't pick Colorado. You're a jinx for Colorado. Don't do it.
(51:30):
I'm picking Colorado. I believe that Dion Sanders, I might believe.
Now I might. I believe if they win this damn
football game against Kansas State, because Kansas State I think
has the inside track aside from BYU, to win the
conference or at least make the conference championship game. So
(51:51):
give me them. Give me Colorado. They're they're able to
their defense is able to get a few more stops.
They're doing much much better. Give me the Buffaloes.
Speaker 2 (52:03):
Okay, So of when I'm twenty and eleven, I think
you're seventeen and fourteen. Yeah, and I think we're both
zero and three on Colorado. So this has nothing to
do with how I actually feel we're gonna find out
which one of us it is, because I do think
(52:25):
I think Colorado is a pretty good shot in this game.
But I'm gonna take Kansas State. I'm gonna take DJ Giddons.
I don't think he gets the ball enough, but he's
been fantastic for them for Kansas State. But I do
think this game sets up so nicely for Colorado to
(52:47):
do something special, considering they're playing in North Dakota State
defense and they've already played North Kota State YEP this year.
Considering that Kansas State's three teams they've played that can
pass all passed on them. But I'm very curious, Like
I'm just I've been wrong every time, and I feel
like Colorado is gonna win YEP. So I'm gonna pick
(53:07):
Kansas State.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
You see what one of us will be? Right? All right?
Last game up Old Miss at LSU plus three and
a half Ralph, So this is our fifth game. Brian
Kelly is on thin ice with the LSU folks, and
losing this game would be bad. But Old Miss. I
(53:31):
still don't know everything about Old Miss. That South Carolina
game didn't teach me anything, didn't teach me anything. So
I'm going to go with LSU. And this game is
in Death Valley, oh boy. And if Ole Miss loses
this game, this sends the SEC into chaos because they're
(53:55):
gonna want to get you know, Old Miss into the
college football playoffs. Like like they are having a hard
time the AP voters dropping SEC teams, but as they
continue to drop games, they ain't gonna have a choice,
and one of these two teams is taking a tumble
and I am I think that if ole Miss doesn't
(54:17):
lose this game, they're gonna end up at eleven and one,
ten and two at the worst. But if they lose
this game, this is a nine to three season aiding
for coming up. I'm taking lsu.
Speaker 2 (54:32):
Ole Miss has to be careful because I mean, there
are a lot of teams that are that are transfer heavy,
but ole Miss is like not just transfer heavy, but
like the best mercenaries play at ole Miss.
Speaker 1 (54:45):
YEP.
Speaker 2 (54:46):
And the last time we saw a team not really
live up to expectations with a lot of people who
are there for the for the extra athletic opportunities that
are afforded to them was Texas A and M. And
that was a twenty twenty one recruiting class YEP. When
(55:07):
that fell apart pretty quick. So I think ole Miss
has put themselves in a situation where they kind of
have to win or implode. I think those are the
only two options because right now, Lane Kiffen already is
getting his name bantied about for other jobs. He earned
that with the life he's lived in college football. Yeah,
(55:30):
but when you have to deal with people talking about
your head coach getting taken away when you have to
deal with a bunch of people who are at your
school that might not have as much school pride, It
might not have drank as much of the kool aid.
They might have champagne instead because they could afford champagne.
You know, like it's it's a volatile situation. So I
(55:55):
don't want to see that happen. But let's he's coming
off of bye week. Brian Kelly, for all his faults,
is very good at coaching football. This game is super
super important. What's the line again?
Speaker 1 (56:08):
Plus four and a half? So no, sorry, excuse me,
L s U plus three and a half?
Speaker 2 (56:18):
Gosh, give me LSU. What Someone's gonna be mad?
Speaker 1 (56:29):
Yes, yes, some fan base is going to be extremely upset.
And you guys make sure that you guys did you
take Oh L s U? L s U? Easy? Easy
work for me.
Speaker 2 (56:43):
Can I ask you one more question before we go
because I want to get this I'm gonna clip this one.
Do LSU fans have a like a rite based on
what's happened recently? Should Should they be more patient with
Brian Kelly?
Speaker 1 (56:57):
No, they should not be more patient with Brian Kelly.
They are a team that doesn't rebuild, they reload, and
the fact that this defense is not and he's a
defensive guy, is not been consistent and good. That's been
a problem. So yes, they have a right to hold
(57:18):
his feet to the fire. I wouldn't be talking about
firing him and under that stuff, but he should be
under significant pressure at this point in time in his
career at LSU.
Speaker 2 (57:30):
All right. I mean they have two seasons since twenty
ten where they lost less than three games. One of
them they won a national championship and the other they
lost in the National championship. The rest of the time,
it's not they lose sometimes.
Speaker 1 (57:47):
Yeah, yeah, well listen, with all the talent in Louisiana,
the thing that they struggled with at times was offense.
It's the defense that is an issue. So it's not
that everything's going to be perfect. I think the fans
just want to see a more consistent brand of football,
(58:08):
especially on the defensive end.
Speaker 2 (58:10):
They would let they rather lose thirteen to seven than
than forty five thirty eight. Yes, they'd rather go nine
and three in a bunch of rock fights.
Speaker 1 (58:21):
Yes, and where their defense is stoning people. Yes, all right,
and you guys, that's the Unafraid Show. I'm George reis Er.
He's Ralph Ampton. Likes, subscribe, Share, tell a friend and
catch us next week.
Unafraid Show, College Football Apostles, and we got a lot
to talk about today, and there's so much going on
outside of the field. Everything from Kaylin de Boord shirt
is being criticized, and that's the way it goes. When
you Alabama's quarterback, well they're head coach and you taken
l There is Connor Stallions was on the Busting with
(00:22):
the Boys podcast and he is out here spilling the
beans and I need Connor Stallions on the Unafraid Show.
We will be hitting this man up. The NCAA has
now changed the rules again, So if you were tired
of all the changes of college football, be ready to
be tired again because the national letter of Intent up
(00:45):
out of there. We ain't having no more of it.
And of course we gotta make our picks talk about
games this week and a whole bunch more. And you guys,
make sure that you like, subscribe, tell a friend about
The Unafraid Show and College foot All Apostles. You can
listen to it on iTunes, on Spotify, wherever you want
(01:06):
to listen to it. Just make sure that you are
listening to it and most importantly, share with a friend. So,
but we will start today with the NCAA and some
of the new moves that they made Ralph and one
of them is they have now shortened the transfer portal
window in the winter from forty five days to thirty days.
(01:32):
And there was talk about eliminating the spring window, but
the but the winter window is smaller. Is this good
or bad?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
It's probably bad for the for the late window, right,
it's gonna One of the most annoying things for I
think both you and me is people calling players quitters when, uh,
what choice do they have if they're going into both season,
which is almost always outside of the educational semester, So
(02:04):
we're talking about them being students first, it's almost always
outside the educational semester. And if they're looking for a
new place to go, or if their coach leaves, or
if their assistance on the fence, so there's been some transition,
then you got to get jump into the portal. Almost
all the animosity always goes to the players, and so
(02:25):
you know, I'm sure, I'm sure at the end of
the day, the players are going to get the short
end of the stick on this. But at the same time,
with modern college football, what else are you supposed to do?
Like limiting it to actual windows for people to get
in and out is probably best case scenario right now.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Well, Milley, thing is all right. I believe that you're
right about a lot of that, but I don't understand
how this benefits the players at all. That now, I
do understand what the system. It's like, we need some
rules in place. We gotta find a way to put
something in place, But how does that help? Because coaches
(03:10):
they move all year around. Coaches are gonna get fired
starting in the next couple of weeks, and then you're
gonna have them move around. Look at what happened last
year with Nick Saban retiring so late, so he retires
and then you have Kaylin de Boor move and then
that set off if you read the articles, like another
(03:31):
one hundred and plus moves around the world of college football,
because head coaches got taken to be linebackers coaches and
dB coaches and coordinators, and then you have to find
new head coaches for them, new wide receiver coaches, new
tight end coaches to replace those guys at other schools.
So it's set off a chain reaction of events, and
(03:53):
putting the kids in such a small window doesn't make
any sense to me. Now, the one thing that people
don't always factor into transfers is the is the academic calendar,
because at some point in time, you can't get into
college at that point in time, particularly if you're on
(04:14):
the quarter system like you might have at Washington, Oregon,
UCLA and various other schools, which is they're gonna start
the week after some time after immediately the first Monday
after what do you call after New Year's that's when
they're gonna start, basically, and after they get two weeks
(04:36):
into a ten week quarter, it's too late to get
kids into classes, and classes are full, so now you're
messing with the graduation rates and kids graduate. So in
a thing that's in a system that's supposed to be
academics and student first, ain't nothing about this student first,
nothing about it at all. And maybe there has to
(04:59):
be some go guard rails and some protections for players.
Now granted, there is some in terms of that if
your coach leaves, then you can hop into portal, but
that doesn't have help your academic life. So this is
still a system even with these new rules, which is
still imperfect at best. But another rule that came out
(05:22):
that coincides with this is the elimination of the national
letter of Intent. This one, I think is going to
have more catastrophic effects than anything else that has been
put in place outside of the transfer portal all by itself.
I mean, this is the only one, because now kids,
instead of in December signing a national letter of intent
(05:45):
and being locked into a school and the school being
locked in with them, now they'll sign financial agreements. And
from what I've read about it, Ralphin you tell me
if I'm wrong, is that this appears to be a
not to be non binding agreements, which means that the
schools can then on the back end, if they do
(06:08):
a late flip of a five star kid or something
else and now they're over the scholarship limit, they can say, hey, yo, Johnny,
three star, I know you were supposed to be coming here,
but uh yeah, you know, sorry, sorry, not sorry, and
they're not going to care how the pri is on it.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I always thought that the financial aid agreements were the
only thing that benefited the athlete because it finds the
school to the athlete, but not necessarily the athlete to
the school. But I'm I'm not sure on how it's
gonna work in the future, and I don't think they
are either. I don't think the NCAA hasn't answered. They're
(06:50):
not a forward thinking organization. They're almost primarily a reactive organization,
and so I don't really see the need for a
letter of intent. I talked to rich Rodriguez at a
Packed twelve media day. I think it was the one
hundredth anniversary of the PAC twelve. He spent the whole
(07:13):
time making fun of the fact that the PAC twelve
was celebrating itself, and he had a scrum with reporters
outside after his session, and he got real deep in
the weeds on the whole letter of intent thing. And
the thing that he said he's never understood is if
you offer a kid, because so many offers are lip service,
(07:34):
they're fake, they're pr they're marketing for the school or
for the kid or their favors. And we can get
moreed into that anytime you want to, but for right now,
just sticking on the topic, he said, if a school's
going to offer a kid, that kid should be able
to commit right then and there. And if the coach
changes position coach, head coach, something like that, fine, But
(07:58):
if you give the kid the ability to commit on
the spot. That's going to limit the amount of offers
that you put out there, and it's also going to
limit the amount of tampering that goes on once a
kid decides to commit. The solution to this seems to
have always been, let a letter of intent come whenever
somebody wants to sign it whenever, and that that if
(08:21):
you want.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
To sign it in in June, so be it. Or
if you want to sign it in August or September
or December, so so be it.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
You started, if your junior year of high school is
over and you want to sign with somebody, why not.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I'm not I'm actually not mad at that bit because
that actually goes to colleges and closing deals right that.
And but the only problem is is that if it's
non binding for the player, then if you're a school
now right, because there's there's two parts of this, and
we have been very proactive about protecting the athletes and
(09:05):
everything else. But if you're a school and you think
your recruiting class looks one way, but there's nothing binding
the kid to your school after they sign a financial agreement,
I think that that can create a whole nother can
of can of worms. And this is not to protect
the schools, because the schools don't need protecting. But but
(09:26):
just the reality of it is is that he who
has the gold makes the rules, and the gold makers
they are not gonna want this thing to be one sided.
They already have a ridiculous one sided relationship with the
coaches as it comes to their contracts and the buyouts
and everything else. They're definitely not gonna want the players
(09:48):
in that sort of position where they can hold the
school hostage, where they're like, Yo, I signed, but you know, ah,
I got offered a better deal, and you know I'm
thinking about taking it. Bro signed your financial agreement, you
agreed to come here already, Yeah, but I'm a head
on over to Miami instead. I want some of that
LifeLock money.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
I just it's never been about school. It's never been
about school. Earlier this week, there was an athlete Arizona
State was thinking about quitting school, decided to go to leave.
The team went into the transfer portal and his name's
Tristan Monday.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Okay, it's like the third one that we've already had
this year already, which is highly surprised.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, and it'll keep happening, right, because people want to
preserve their red shirts. And in this case, I think
he was thinking about not playing football anymore altogether. But
you want to keep your options open, right, So the
right thing to do would be to enter the transfer portal.
And if you don't play anymore, you don't play anymore.
But if you get an opportunity that that's too good
to pass up, and you take the time to get
(10:53):
your studies right or whatever. Cool. But it My point
is this, it's never been It's never been about the
student athlete. It's never been because if it was, then
there would be a mandate that a certain amount of
your scholarships actually go to people who can further the
university academically. That it would look a lot more like
(11:15):
the way the IVY leagues have to recruit. And you've
been through this, You've had your kid recruited by IVY
League schools who technically technically can't offer these athletic scholarships
though they will find money, but at the same time,
it's also about furthering the reputation of that institution. Therefore,
they are always on the lookout for student athletes who
(11:36):
are going to first and foremost do that, right. So
you know, it's not like the NCAA has said, Alabama,
you need to use ten of your twenty five scholarships
every single year on people who have a four point
zero and robust community service experience.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
It's never been they do that. They like yo, yo,
This dude has a lot of community service experience. It
is on Friday nights he brings the community together for
excitement and in a joyous occasion every time that they
watch him play play football. That's only community service that
they worried about in recruiting exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Then, these schools want to win, and it is what
it is. We're you know, I'm not trying to pitch
some civilization that's different than the one that we live in.
The truth of the matter is these schools want to win.
And the second biggest lie in college football recruiting. Second
biggest lie now is well, let's get in the number
one real quick. If you're good enough, they'll find you.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Lies, that's definitely lie. The second one is commit to
the coach or commit to the school. No coach, right,
this this idea, this overarching idea that people commit to
an institution and not the people the institution is paying
a lot more than they pay their most tenured faculty
to be assistant coaches on the football team.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Ralph, I've talked to multiple kids and we put out
a video about this about why the kids actually hopping
the transfer a portal to begin with, the overwhelming majority
of them are pushed in the portal by their coaches.
That's the number one reason players hopping the transfer portal
because when new coaches come in, especially, they're like, uh, yeah,
(13:24):
I don't want that guy. Think about what what happened
at Arizona State with their quarterback Levitt right now? Wait? Yeah,
Levitt and Jaden Rashada was there, Trenton Borgay was there,
and the other and then they had who else was there?
Emory Jones? No, who was it Emry Jones?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
The year before they had Jeff Sims come in after everything.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, so you have those kids in the building, but
but specifically Rashada and Trenton Borgay. You get a new
offensive coordinator to come in, Marcus Arroyo. And when we
had to interview in, one of the things that he
said was we got a chance to you know, where
there's not a lot of evaluation on these guys. We
haven't had a chance to see him all this stuff,
(14:10):
and it was there was plenty of evaluation because there
was plenty of other coaches that were there already on
those two players. But the whole point is is that
he wanted his guy in. That's what it boiled down
to in Sam Levitt, and that's who's starting right now.
And it just so happens that Arizona State is winning
(14:30):
and coaches want their own guys in there regardless of
whether the people that were there or not are good.
There's an automatic assumption. Like Dion Sanders when he went
to Colorado, he was like, Yo, this team was one
and eleven last year. All the players they must suck
so so and even if they don't, maybe they're not
(14:51):
our culture guys or whatever. And then there were some
kids who stayed that tried to fight it out. Some
of them made it, some of them didn't. But there's
an automatic bias against them, regardless of whether you really
want there to be or not. So it doesn't have
to be malice on the coaching point, like that's in
that that's inherent, Like if you buy a house, Ralph,
(15:14):
if you go buy a new house. When you moved
out there to Charlotte, you bought a house from somebody
who who was previously living there. How much of the
furniture did you keep that they left?
Speaker 2 (15:30):
It all went to the dump or I put some
of their cabinets in my backyard and I used them
as planters.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Exactly, exactly, so exactly, so the stuff you did keep
is out in the yard for your planters, for the
stuff you grow for your guard. So you kept a
little bit of it, but it wasn't getting used the
same way that they were using it. No, exactly. That's
the same way with coaches.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah, and so we you know, we we lie to
these kids and we say, hey, you need to pick
a school because it's forty years not four or whatever,
while the school then turns around and pays a wide
receivers coach seven hundred and eighty thousand dollars a year
come on it for their ability to recruit. Of course,
(16:18):
you're committing to the coaches. So the idea that the
kids and the coaches didn't have to follow the same
rules for such a long time is completely absurd, and
like it, we just need to be honest with ourselves
at this point, Like dairy Queen has a salad menu.
Do you know this?
Speaker 1 (16:34):
No, dairy Queen.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
You can go to dairy Queen and you could get
a salad. How many people you think go to Dairy
Queen to get the salad?
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Not very many.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
I'm sure it gets purchased. It's on the menu for
a reason. And I think of that. I think of
Dairy Queen having a salad menu every single time. Because
I'm I was a recruiting reporter. I'm around recruiting reporters.
You hear them call and be like, oh, you know, hey,
what about Universe and Memphis?
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Did you really love? Was that our business program?
Speaker 2 (17:00):
And then you got like you got a seventeen year
old kid like yeah, they yeah, the business.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
There's like one in a hundred kids that that matters
to that much that they that they choose a university
or not. It ain't that many.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Everybody's got a business program. They're there to play football, Like, uh,
who's the who's the Ohio State quarterback? The satur of.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Cardialo Jones, I'm not here to play school. He told
the truth.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Most of these kids are not there to play school.
I heard Jay Cutler tell a recruiting story recently.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Where Vanderbilt, right, yeah, and he didn't know anything about Nashville.
He didn't know where Vanderbilt was. They were accidentally recruiting
him as a tight end. They didn't know who he
was either. But then at the they offered him and
his dad was like, yeah, you have to accept that.
The end, there was no other discussion.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
It wasn't like, oh, I got a visit first, or like, oh,
there's such an academically strenuous institution. For some kids, that
is absolutely how this works. But those are kids with
a lot of options and then they have to go
into pro con list. But now that money is factored in,
some of those options are going to get less and
less because it's really gonna come down to the fact
(18:12):
that everyone out here has a business school, even though
a lot of these guys are just REX Studies majors, Like,
everybody's got the same accredited degree programs.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Who is going to make sure that.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
You're able to take care of yourself and your bills
and learn financial responsibility and build your brand. I'm talking
about the highest of high level players. Money is going
to be much more of a factor than anything an
institution has to offer, which is what it has been
for coaches forever. It is very new and far between
that a coach is looking around and saying, man, I
(18:49):
want to be somewhere, even Lincoln Riley, Even Lincoln Riley
when you're like, well, the difference between La and Norman
is pretty stark, right, USC gave him the most money
that by far.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
And speaking of the most money though, so the Big
Ten and the SEC, they make the most money in
terms of the conferences. And now for a second time,
they're commissioners. Put Petiti and Greg Sanki are meeting Tony
Pettiti and Greg Sankie are meeting up to discuss college
(19:24):
football and they're not including the ACC. They not including
the Big twelve. So they are letting everybody know that
we are the big dogs. We will make the decisions
and then y'all will follow suit. And they have been
approached by many different groups, like there's a group of
(19:44):
ex Disney employees that are pitching a super conference. There's
another by homeboy that owns the Cleveland Browns, the Tennessee
guy what's his.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Name, Yeah, we talked about We talked about Jimmy Haslam last.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Year year and so exactly so he is trying to
start a super league too. So they met and one
of the comments that came out of the SEC Big
Ten meeting was, we have not seen a pitch that
we can't do ourselves already. That led me to go
(20:24):
back down the same path that we have been on
this entire time route, which is the Big Ten and
the SEC have zero Super Conference intentions because they have
the power right now and they don't care if Vanderbilt
never has a chance to win a national championship, they
don't care if Rutgers can never be fully competitive like
(20:48):
Oregon and Ohio State and Penn State, they don't care.
And in fact, Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, they don't give
a damn about anybody else. Neither does Alabama, Georgia and
anybody else in the SEC that's at the top of
the SEC. As long as they get to stay at
(21:08):
the top, that is all that matters. And we've talked
about it that the actual system that would work best
is collectively bargaining their media rights because they would get
more money. But the problem is is that would create
more parody. When you create salary caps and rules and
all of that stuff. It creates more parody like the
(21:30):
NFL model, and that will be better for college football
because you would have more teams that could win on
a weekend and week out basis, which creates a better product,
which is why the NFL product does the numbers that
it does comparative comparatively to college football. However, though, it
(21:51):
is a major issue when you have the biggest power
brokers with the SEC and the Big Ten, who are
not doing what's best for college football and they're doing
what's best for their own conference, which I understand because
that's what their commissioners are tasked to do. And if
you end up with a super conference, if Greg Sanki
(22:14):
or Tony Pettiti is not the the commissioner, where do
they go? Ralph. So this is self preservation as much
as it is conference preservation, because if somebody else gets
to be the college football commissioner, you ain't the commissioner
no more. That means the million dollar salaries are gone,
(22:36):
the private jets are gone, all the perks and all
the power are gone. So no, they're not going to
sign up for that, right. This is forced.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
This is about the preservation of power and a lot
has gone into and I don't mean to be like
a super cynic on this, but a lot has gone
into getting the SEC in the Big Ten to where
they're at right now, more specifically the SEC because Greg
Sanki has been in the driver's seat for a lot
of this. Greg Sanki does not care about the health
(23:09):
of college football on the whole. No, he cares about
the SEC and by extension himself, you've already explained this
right this meeting that they had, and Nicole Ayraback was
there and she was tweeting out some of the quotes
from it, and one of which was that nobody has
(23:31):
brought them anything as far as the Super League that
they can't do themselves, And that was actually Tony Petiti
that said it. I'd yet see a single thing in
any plan that contains things we couldn't do ourselves with
our colleagues. Right, these meetings that they're meant to kind
of be a flex on everybody else, like an acknowledgment
(23:53):
that like, hey, we're here, we're in charge. This is
us saluting us, and they're doing it right in the
middle of this season, but it also is meaningless. In
March twenty twenty two, the ACC, Big ten and PAC
twelve all got together to form an alliance.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Alliance that's hilarious. Do you galize how stupid that that looks?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Now?
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yes, it was dumb.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
They got made fun of at the time, but amazingly
it looks even worse further down the road. And I
think you bring up a really important point, because every
administrator can be replaced, everything can be pared down, can
be scaled down. In fact, isn't that how venture capitalism
(24:36):
essentially works? Like venture capital comes into a profitable situation
and they say, like, how can we streamline and pair
this down into pure profit? Right? Pure profit would look
a lot like scaling most of college football down and back.
I have yet to have one person explain to me
(25:01):
how it is possible that athletic departments were able to
run on pre twenty first century budgets, because they did
when you played college football. Were the bills getting paid?
Hell yeah, okay, so now they have fifty x the
(25:25):
money that they had then and they come to us
crying poor, No, you have the ability to run a
scale back version of all of this. And what a
college football commissioner probably means is a lot of this
stuff gets scaled back.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
I talked about that, and we talked about that with
that private equity money. You do not want private equity
money in college football. It will change everything and not
for the better.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Would you agree that the one way to get Greg
Sank out of any position of power is for somebody
to come in the biggest threat to these administrators right
now is unionization of the players.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yep. That's the biggest threat to like yours, the biggest
threat to them, biggest threat to Amazon, biggest threat to
a bunch of companies.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Buddy, your wife's third g wagon, like San's relationship status.
But like if if whoever he's dating likes her lifestyle,
then you got better hope these kids don't unionize.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Yep. Yeah, that's what keeps him up at night. You
know what's keeping Alabama fans up at night, Kaitlin di
bors uniform. They hate it. They're like, oh, look at
him out there with his fucking T shirt. He's out
there looking sloppy and disheveled, and how dare he? You
know what, Ralph, they didn't give a damn about that
(26:55):
T shirt when they was playing against Georgia. When they
beat Georgia, they didn't give a damn about that T shirt.
But the fact that they've given up sixty seven points
in like three billion yards in the last six quarters. Now,
all of a sudden, it's it's little things that are
mattering again now or el little things. And I listened
(27:16):
to Pine to Paul fine Bomb on Monday because I
knew it was gonna be gold. I listened to him
a little bit yesterday. And Alabama fans they are mad
about two things. They are mad about his outfit. Well, sorry,
three things. They're mad about his outfit, but that's third
(27:36):
on the list. And then the second thing on the
list is the Malaki Moore situation where they said he
absolutely must punish this kid, like you can't kick the
damn ball, slam the quarterback's head in the ground, and
(27:57):
throw your mouthpiece, refuse to come out the game. And
I talked to a bunch of former players about this,
and a current coach in the SEC. I was like,
what would you do if your player, if your wide
receiver refused to come out of the game. So, yes,
it's a wide receiver. Coach, he was like, number one,
(28:19):
my kid coming out the game first and foremost. But
the second thing is, our head coach would have called
time out if need be, or taking a penalty, walked
out on the field and told the kid, either you
come off this field right now, or you will never
step back on it. So you can stay out here
if you want to. If you stay out here, you
(28:41):
will never put this uniform back on again. And honestly,
I'm not a rule by an iron fist, but this
is a symptom that something is going on at Alabama
because yes, he did the apology tour, but the but
the issue is is that Kaylen de Boor and their
(29:02):
defensive coordinator got up there and just, oh listen, Malachi.
He's had our back since we got here. He's a
model citizen, he's a captain. Nobody cares more than him.
None of that matters, Ralph. He screwed up. He screwed up,
and we're not asking nobody's asking, well, not reasonable people
aren't asking him to get kicked off the team. But
(29:24):
to keep your team together, you have to have some
sort of display of a little bit of power, bro
because what they did is unacceptable. It is it is it,
and I'm not sure how it's gonna play in that
locker room. But if that locker room does not feel
that it was handled adequately, somebody else will act out
(29:45):
and then Kaylen de Bor will have to deal with
it the same way. Or if he comes down with
an iron fist, then everybody can be like, oh, why
you ain't do Malachi like that? Yeah? I mean, do
you remember Makai Brown? That name sounds very familiar.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
He played for Alabama. He got taken out because he
lost his mind during the National Championship back in twenty eighteen.
After the twenty seventeen season, and the next year he
was not at Alabama. He says he wasn't kicked off
the team, but that I mean, so, I don't know.
(30:28):
I sometimes I look at it, you know, I see
people saying, like, what would Saban have done? And I
want to answer, like Leaf, he left, he saw this coming.
The type of kids they're coaching have changed, the level
of accountability has changed.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Coaches. I don't think that would have happened with Nick
Saban either. They wouldn't have tried him like that.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Yeah maybe not, maybe not, But I but you know,
it's not like his the first issue Alabama's ever out
on the sideline. It's a very passionate sideline. So you know,
maybe they know him really, really well, and it just
comes down to the fact that, like they they were
getting embarrassed and he reacted the way that he reacted.
Time will tell who he is as a person. You
(31:18):
shouldn't it shouldn't all be earned. In one instance, for
people who were watching that game, especially people who tuned
into the end of that game to see if van
Bilt was gonna pull it off, this is the only
impression of him they'll ever have. But at the same time,
like coaches complained about a million different things, but I
do believe that they're right about this. The type of
kid out there in the world is a little.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Bit different now.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Kids haven't changed, And Kenny Dillingham said this, The kids
haven't changed, the adults have. And I believe that. I
believe what kids have been allowed to do is what
contributed to them changing. The standards, the level of adversity,
the ease of movement to get away from things that
are that are really really hard, like the fact that
(32:05):
you do have to be very intentional with a kid
that you're raising in today's day and age, and you
know this, George, you gotta wake your kid up in
the morning and say let's go do something hard today.
You have to opt into hard because I gotta be honest, man,
there are so many better options for these kids just
to spend their day than football.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Like some of these video games. You just step into
the game.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
It's open world and you could just live there and
it's a better life than the one you live in
your house, and you don't have to sweat, and you
don't have to get cussed at. Though someone's twelve year
old son on there will be on there calling you
racial epithets, for sure, but you don't have to be
cussed at by anybody who has any power over you,
and you could just have fun like that. We've reached
(32:47):
kind of a level, and not to dump on kids,
but we've reached the level where the things that they
have access to, they have to choose what's hard, and
it gets harder and harder. And Nick Saban walked away
from it, and I think it was a confluence of things.
But just to go back to Alabama fans, they're not
used to Hart either, they're not used to losing to Vanderbilt.
To complain about Kaylen deborus shirt, that's the most relatable
(33:11):
thing in the world to me, and I.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Goes South Carolina this week. If they lose to South
Carolina two, Kaylen Debor is gonna be Oh I do,
They're gonna have to put him in witness protection in Tuscaloosa.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
He actually like he might have to wear a suit
because it will be his funeral casket. Like, I've never
been able to relate to Alabama fans more than I
have over this freak out about Kaylen de Bor's shirt, though,
because I like, just think about think about your life, George, Like,
think about all the things you have going on. I
(33:48):
think about all the things that I have going on.
I got four kids who're in three sports, three of
them are teenagers. We're in the middle of you know,
this is a very fun job, but the most stressed
part of our year with everything we do with Unafraid Show.
You know, we're out here putting in sixteen seventeen hour
days on this. You know, our wives are both very accomplished,
(34:09):
very busy people with a lot going on. Not everything
goes great at their work all the time. Not everything
goes great to our work all the time. Not everything
goes great with our kids all the time. Not everything
goes great with our extended family all the time, stuff
in our homes is falling apart. There's a lot going on,
right and at the end of the day, at the
end of the day, if the one thing that I
can control is getting mad at my wife for leaving
(34:32):
a wine glass next to the bed on the bedside table,
and the thing that she can control is getting mad
at me for not ever once putting my socks in
the hamper in twenty years of our marriage, then that's
gonna be the one place where our frustration comes out,
like that's gonna be the only thing that we even
know to like. Life is overwhelming right now, Please put
(34:53):
your socks away like that. That's and that's what Alabama
fans are going through right now. And I just it.
It's funny to me because I get it. I'm not
mad at them at all. Keep yelling him about his shirt.
There's nothing you do about the fact that Diego Pavia
shredded you lost to Vanderbilt in the Cumberland River.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
You guys. And there's a video about uh Diego Pavia
and who he is and how he got here. Bruh.
It is crazy, crazy, cool story, including the Mama that
wouldn't even talk to him after he lost. Connor Stallions
was on Busting with the Boys, and out of all
(35:36):
the things that he said, because it was a very interesting,
uh interview, I want him here on Unafraid show. I
will be hitting Connor Stallions up because we need to
talk to the man. I do not like he acute. Well,
he levied an allegation, but in such casual terms that
(35:58):
the way he said it, it wasn't like yo, I know
some No. He said that there has been a a
school that has been using bluetooth technology to talk to
their quarterback for a while. And mind you, this is
the first year that in helmet communication is legal. Do
you believe him? Ralph? Do you believe good old Connor?
Speaker 2 (36:29):
If you had just given me this information and said
there's a team, not a Big ten team, that for
years has been using helmet communication with their quarterbacks, I
would say I could see that. I could see that,
especially after all like the Houston Astros. Yeah, allegations and
(36:51):
like yeah, but sure like that that could be possible.
I wouldn't. If you get caught, you get a lot
of trouble, But like I could see someone trying to
use that to their advantage, and then you tell me
Connor Stallion said it, and like something in me is
like no, like I don't know why. I can't explain
(37:12):
to you what it is. I can't explain you what
it is. And it's not that he's not believable, it's
just that there when he does stuff like this, it
makes it you know that there's been a lot of
stuff said about him that's not true, Like the legend
of Connor Stallion's like, you know, sure the manifesto is real.
(37:35):
Sure he was able to do.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Of George Washington and Paul Bunyan and.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Yes, yes, And when he says stuff like this, it
makes me feel like he's in on his own.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Yes, dude, it's legends, dragon catches bullets with his teeth.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
It's it's getting to be very like Americans. And like,
I know that there's a lot of people who like
look at Chris Kyle as a hero. But if we
get into all of the claims about Chris Kyle, there's
some wild stuff in there.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Yes, you got, We're like bo Jackson. Bo Jackson is
the sports equivalent of that. I tell people all the time,
the legend of boj I'm talking about pro Bo Jackson,
not not college that the legend of Bo Jackson is
greater than Bo Jackson, because it is people out here
that believe that Bo Jackson is a Hall of Famer
(38:32):
or should have been a Hall of Famer, And you're like, no,
there's nothing about his career that that should have been
a Hall of Famer. And the fact that he got
hurt that's actually the best thing for the legend of
Bo Jackson, because he would have had to be a
godlike figure to live up to the legend that is
Bo Jackson. And the tall tales that are sad about him.
(38:55):
I mean, think about like the Dion Sanders story. They
talk about his forty yard dash like he was Willie
Mays Hayes from Jajor League, Like he walked out of
the limo in his sweats and just ran up to
the line, ran a forty at the combiny, and ran
right back out the door. That's the way they tell
the Deon Sanders story too. And this is the way
(39:17):
that the Connor Stallions stories are are growing. And Ralph
I do believe that he is in on the plot,
that he is in on the script writing, or that
he sees the script writing. He like, oh, yeah, baby,
if I grow this is marketing. If I grow the
legend now, because somebody is going to employ Connor Stallions
(39:41):
at some point in time after his punishments come out,
and he served him, oh, he will be somebody's consultant,
and then I book it. Ralph Connor Stallions will be
a college football head coach at some point in what
in top I would bet anything on that.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
I just immediately start doing division in my head, though,
Like now, because if you said that and so, like
I hear Connor Stallion said that a non Big Ten
team has been using bluetooth for helmet communication four years.
And and when I say that out loud, what I
actually like, strip it down to its common denominator. I'm like, Okay,
(40:25):
six years ago, Connor Stallion talked to a coach who said,
I bet you could use bluetooth for helmet communications for
a quarterback. Wow, like that that's how I like, I'm
imagining that. It's probably some version of that, Like it's not.
There's so many people involved, and I just there's so
(40:46):
many people involved in college football that it is extraordinarily
hard to keep things covered up. Over time, we went
through this with the Antonio Pierce story last last week,
like you, you would have to be so focused and
not everybody in that that you work with that has
the same logo on their polo is for you. A
(41:08):
lot of these people, even your grad assistants, are gunning
for your job. Even your even position coaches are looking
at decoordinators in the middle of the season in a
one in five season saying like, if they get fired,
I wonder how I can position myself to get.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Like.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
It's not like everybody's on some big team and if
they know that you're doing something wrong, they will use
it against you.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
You are one hundred percent right about that. But Ralph,
we got to get to the picks this week. We
got to get to the picks this week in the
world of college football. And it looks like, Ralph, last
week I was two and three, you were four and one,
(41:52):
and some kind of way you are ahead right now
at twenty and eleven, I am seventeen and fourteen.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
My wife asked me to start using real money, and
I'm like, that will ruin it.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
Why would that ruin it?
Speaker 2 (42:09):
If I start actually like betting on first of all,
I don't think it would be these games that I
bet on. I think I would be more like in
the Weeds on the ones that I thought were sure things,
because we talk about a lot of the high stakes games,
right Yeah, but yeah, she was like, no, just like
you're if you're on a heater, just put money on it.
And I'm like, that will be the thing.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
That that knocks you off the heater.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
Yeah, because like twenty and eleven is not it's not bad.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
No, that's no, that's beyond not bad. That's very good, Ralph,
that is very good. All right, So let's talk about it.
Let's talk about these these games. We got Texas at Oklahoma,
and this is a game that I am super excited
about the Red River rivalry. This is gonna be a
(43:00):
special game. This is an opportunity for Texas to keep
it going. I'm excited about this Red River rivalry. You
have Texas, they are what plus fifteen? Oh no, yo, sorry,
Texas is minus fifteen. They're at Oklahoma technically, even though
this game is going to be played in the Cotton Bowl. Ralph,
(43:22):
I could not be any more excited. Who are you
taking in this football game?
Speaker 2 (43:30):
I think I have to go with Oklahoma. I think
it would be probably irresponsible to not go with Oklahoma
if you just stacked talent against talent. If you took
all Oklahoma's players and you put them at Iowa State
or something like that, then I think you might take
(43:51):
that minus fifteen because Oklahoma can't run the ball, They're
starting a freshman at quarterback, and they're just they're awesome,
awesome on defense, but it hasn't really worked this complimentary football,
but this is the Red River rivalry.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Everything goes out the window there, bro and then quinn
Ewer's first game back live reps for the first time
in over a month, so he could be a little
bit rusty time, he could be a little bit off,
and that could throw things off. I am going to
take Oklahoma plus fifteen as well.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
And you should too if you're listening to this. Ten
out of the last eleven of these games were decided
by less than twelve points. Almost all of those were
one score.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Yes, and both of these teams have been extremely close
in recruiting rankings over the last few years. And everything else.
So even though Texas is the sexy pick, don't fall
in love I know sex sales, but don't fall in
love with it all right. Next game up, we got
Penn State minus five and a half at USC, And
(44:58):
on one hand, it looks like you USC has improved
on defense. But this five and a half points Ralph
where Penn State is favorite, give me the Nitney Lions.
I think that USC falls to three and three and
everything starts coming apart at the seams out there in
trojan Land, because they're already I've been on their message board.
(45:22):
They are not real happy right now.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
Well, you pointed out five and seven over the last twelve, yep.
And Clay Helton was what over his last twelve before
he got fired.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Eight and four? I believe, right, and that is correct. Yep.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
So this is I don't imagine USC fans having the
same reaction to the name Lincoln Riley that most of
college football does. There are names in college football where
the shine stays shiny, except for the people who are
(46:00):
closest to it.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
Right, And ask people about Cliff Kingsbury, you know, and so,
and Lincoln Riley is one of them that you know.
There's a lot of people in Norman right now who
are who are loading up the biggest fattest I told
you so. In the history of the world and getting
ready to just package it and ship it to l A.
(46:23):
I love Penn State in this game and has nothing
to do with USC.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
USC.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
Actually, I think they're on the right path and they
deserve respect for the progress they've made. They don't want respect,
they want to win, that's fair. But USC has improved
so much over over last year. And I actually think
offensively what they're doing is pretty cool because Miller Moss
doesn't move a lot and they're still scoring. But this
(46:48):
Penn State team is like the exact It's like Superman Kryptonite,
but like not Superman, because USC is not Superman.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
It's like they are Minnesota but a little better on offense.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
But they average giving up two and a half yards
of rush and they themselves averaged like seven yards of rush.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
Yeah, yeah, dude, this but this is the kind of
game that us. He can win though, Like, this is
the way their season has been, so upset is possible
and that would get them back ranked. But if they
lose this game, boy oh boy. I went on their
message board. They were like, if we lose three games
after six games, the season's overweight. We're never making the playoffs.
(47:34):
And they're right about that. Next game up number two
versus number three, the Ohio State Buck guys head out
to you, Jean baby, and Ohio State is a three
point favorite, as they had to Auton Stadium. People don't
think them sixty thousand folks at Aunton Stadium are gonna
be loud, Ralph, but you've been there. It is one
(47:57):
of that, and people have been like, listen, they've been
to the Big House, they've been down to Tusco Little So,
they've been to this and that. They've played in front
of one hundred thousand people in Beaver Stadium and Penn State, Like,
you don't understand the actual math. The science says it
is the second loudest recorded outdoor college football stadium that
(48:20):
has ever been recorded, one hundred and twenty seven decibels.
So so I don't care how many people are in there.
It is set up. Acoustics matter that the science. Do
not let your thoughts and your ideas get it in
the way of what is verifiable, verifiable. Bring your own decibel.
(48:43):
I will be in the stadium. Give me my ducks
plus three. Actually I don't even want no damn points.
We win it out right. Ralph's biggest game of the
year so far because it's the next game, according to
coach Landy.
Speaker 2 (48:58):
So I was I was visiting some high school players
that I used to cover and they lived in They
played for Oregon State, so they lived in Corballis and
one of them was a backup quarterback who I think
was moved to safety or wide Receiver's name is Mason Moran,
and I hope I'm not diamond him out on this
because it's a funny story. So I'm visiting Mason Moran
(49:19):
and he is like an emergency backup quarterback and he
got in against Oregon in Aunsen and I was like,
how was it? And he said I couldn't hear my thoughts.
And I've heard that phrase before, right, like it's I
couldn't hear myself think. So I asked him. I was like,
so that's not just an expression, and he's like, no, man,
(49:43):
it was too loud to think. Yes, too loud to think,
and so I always think about it. He's like, he's
like you can't let He's like, you can't let onto
the rest.
Speaker 1 (49:54):
Of your team.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
But like he's like, I didn't know what was going on.
He said it was real bad and that was for
a civil war game that was probably already out of reach.
Speaker 1 (50:04):
At that point.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
So you know, I I don't know I'm anybody who
is arguing with the science of that is just part
of the course of the age we live in. I
guess I would stick with arguing who is gonna cover
a mecca like Buka and.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
Bukah and Jeremiah Smith.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Yeah, like, will you tell me who.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Mohammet is? One guy? But the and and he'll do
well the other corner. You better pick it up, buddy.
I hope he ate tweedies. You You're gonna have a
long day. But but a lot of it is going
to depend on Will Howard because he is not He's
(50:53):
not as good of a passer as cal McCord is
who was there last year. And if Oregon's defensive line
can get pressure, make him make some throws. All right?
Next game up Kansas State State.
Speaker 2 (51:05):
By the way, I just want to say I'm on
Ohio State.
Speaker 1 (51:08):
Yuck. What a look, sir? Colorado? Kansas State at Colorado
plus four and a half. So Colorado is a four
and a half point underdog, and Ralph I am taking Colorado.
There are multiple people who asked me. They were like, George, please,
don't pick Colorado. You're a jinx for Colorado. Don't do it.
(51:30):
I'm picking Colorado. I believe that Dion Sanders, I might believe.
Now I might. I believe if they win this damn
football game against Kansas State, because Kansas State I think
has the inside track aside from BYU, to win the
conference or at least make the conference championship game. So
(51:51):
give me them. Give me Colorado. They're they're able to
their defense is able to get a few more stops.
They're doing much much better. Give me the Buffaloes.
Speaker 2 (52:03):
Okay, So of when I'm twenty and eleven, I think
you're seventeen and fourteen. Yeah, and I think we're both
zero and three on Colorado. So this has nothing to
do with how I actually feel we're gonna find out
which one of us it is, because I do think
(52:25):
I think Colorado is a pretty good shot in this game.
But I'm gonna take Kansas State. I'm gonna take DJ Giddons.
I don't think he gets the ball enough, but he's
been fantastic for them for Kansas State. But I do
think this game sets up so nicely for Colorado to
(52:47):
do something special, considering they're playing in North Dakota State
defense and they've already played North Kota State YEP this year.
Considering that Kansas State's three teams they've played that can
pass all passed on them. But I'm very curious, Like
I'm just I've been wrong every time, and I feel
like Colorado is gonna win YEP. So I'm gonna pick
(53:07):
Kansas State.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
You see what one of us will be? Right? All right?
Last game up Old Miss at LSU plus three and
a half Ralph, So this is our fifth game. Brian
Kelly is on thin ice with the LSU folks, and
losing this game would be bad. But Old Miss. I
(53:31):
still don't know everything about Old Miss. That South Carolina
game didn't teach me anything, didn't teach me anything. So
I'm going to go with LSU. And this game is
in Death Valley, oh boy. And if Ole Miss loses
this game, this sends the SEC into chaos because they're
(53:55):
gonna want to get you know, Old Miss into the
college football playoffs. Like like they are having a hard
time the AP voters dropping SEC teams, but as they
continue to drop games, they ain't gonna have a choice,
and one of these two teams is taking a tumble
and I am I think that if ole Miss doesn't
(54:17):
lose this game, they're gonna end up at eleven and one,
ten and two at the worst. But if they lose
this game, this is a nine to three season aiding
for coming up. I'm taking lsu.
Speaker 2 (54:32):
Ole Miss has to be careful because I mean, there
are a lot of teams that are that are transfer heavy,
but ole Miss is like not just transfer heavy, but
like the best mercenaries play at ole Miss.
Speaker 1 (54:45):
YEP.
Speaker 2 (54:46):
And the last time we saw a team not really
live up to expectations with a lot of people who
are there for the for the extra athletic opportunities that
are afforded to them was Texas A and M. And
that was a twenty twenty one recruiting class YEP. When
(55:07):
that fell apart pretty quick. So I think ole Miss
has put themselves in a situation where they kind of
have to win or implode. I think those are the
only two options because right now, Lane Kiffen already is
getting his name bantied about for other jobs. He earned
that with the life he's lived in college football. Yeah,
(55:30):
but when you have to deal with people talking about
your head coach getting taken away when you have to
deal with a bunch of people who are at your
school that might not have as much school pride, It
might not have drank as much of the kool aid.
They might have champagne instead because they could afford champagne.
You know, like it's it's a volatile situation. So I
(55:55):
don't want to see that happen. But let's he's coming
off of bye week. Brian Kelly, for all his faults,
is very good at coaching football. This game is super
super important. What's the line again?
Speaker 1 (56:08):
Plus four and a half? So no, sorry, excuse me,
L s U plus three and a half?
Speaker 2 (56:18):
Gosh, give me LSU. What Someone's gonna be mad?
Speaker 1 (56:29):
Yes, yes, some fan base is going to be extremely upset.
And you guys make sure that you guys did you
take Oh L s U? L s U? Easy? Easy
work for me.
Speaker 2 (56:43):
Can I ask you one more question before we go
because I want to get this I'm gonna clip this one.
Do LSU fans have a like a rite based on
what's happened recently? Should Should they be more patient with
Brian Kelly?
Speaker 1 (56:57):
No, they should not be more patient with Brian Kelly.
They are a team that doesn't rebuild, they reload, and
the fact that this defense is not and he's a
defensive guy, is not been consistent and good. That's been
a problem. So yes, they have a right to hold
(57:18):
his feet to the fire. I wouldn't be talking about
firing him and under that stuff, but he should be
under significant pressure at this point in time in his
career at LSU.
Speaker 2 (57:30):
All right. I mean they have two seasons since twenty
ten where they lost less than three games. One of
them they won a national championship and the other they
lost in the National championship. The rest of the time,
it's not they lose sometimes.
Speaker 1 (57:47):
Yeah, yeah, well listen, with all the talent in Louisiana,
the thing that they struggled with at times was offense.
It's the defense that is an issue. So it's not
that everything's going to be perfect. I think the fans
just want to see a more consistent brand of football,
(58:08):
especially on the defensive end.
Speaker 2 (58:10):
They would let they rather lose thirteen to seven than
than forty five thirty eight. Yes, they'd rather go nine
and three in a bunch of rock fights.
Speaker 1 (58:21):
Yes, and where their defense is stoning people. Yes, all right,
and you guys, that's the Unafraid Show. I'm George reis Er.
He's Ralph Ampton. Likes, subscribe, Share, tell a friend and
catch us next week.
Host
George Wrightster
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