January 19, 2024 • 45 mins
Penn State Greats OJ McDuffie and Ki-Jana Carter talk all things Penn State football! The guys close out the 2023 season by looking back on the year that was for the Nittany Lions. The guys give their thoughts on the Peach Bowl loss and break down what this means for the program moving forward. Plus, the guys highlight and analyze the major additions and subtractions we will see from the roster and coaching staff ahead of the 2024 season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Are you ready? We are Key and Juice, two Penn
State legends. Keep Joanna Carter and Oj mcduffy are breaking
down Penn State football like no one else. We are
Key and Juice and we are right now.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
What is going on Nitney Nation? I am oj mcduffy,
and he, of course is one and only Carter and
welcome to the final We are Key and Juice Podcast.
As we get ready for I know, Key, don't don't
be all sad, bro. You know usually I ask you, Key,
(00:46):
what's happening? Trade due? So what's happening?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Trade du I'm good man, I can't believe this is
this is the last one for this year. It's a
loves happening, uh, the last nine nine months or four months?
So I guess no. I'll see me at an additional
part to the family. And no, we had ups and
downs obviously with the football season, and oh hopefully look
(01:12):
forward to better things in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Had no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Man.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
We all want you to make sure that you please
be sure to check out the Happy Value United website
as Keith John and I are always excited to talk
about Penn Sate football, always, always it's great to have
this platform to do so, man, So let's jump into
trade duce. Ready, let's do it all right. So the
Lions finished with a lopsided loss Old Miss and the
(01:38):
Peach Bowl thirty eight twenty five. Of course I went
to Atlanta for that game. It's a lot colder there
than I wanted to be.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I was.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, it was, I mean it was. It might have
been one of the worst Bowl trips i've been. Oh yeah, yeah,
yeah it was. It was cold. The team didn't play
very well then. They didn't look good at all, man,
But you know, obviously there were quite a few opt
outs in the game. But same time, though, man, it
(02:08):
was I probably could have said a couple of grandbout
fifteen hundred I think total by not going to Atlanta
for that weekend and spending most of my time inside
because I was I'm soft, key, Johnna, I'm soft, bro.
Let's just keep it one hundred, man, got.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
That, damn blood, man, You're not You've been afforded too long.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah, what do you what are your thoughts on that
performance in the in the BOWLGA and the Peachball in Atlanta?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Now, you know, it's obviously it's tough. You know, It's
it's funny because obviously the first series, no our defense
up there, quarterback gets hurt. I mean, obviously you don't
want to ever see anybody get hurt. But he tweets
his ankle, and we know we were putting some heat
on him and putting them things on them. And then
(02:52):
it seems like after that drive, he had all day
to throw and I'm thinking, like, he's like a wounded
dunk if I if I'm a short and I see
blood in the water. No, I'm trying to feed. I'm
trying to eat, and I don't know what it was,
but we couldn't get to him. And then after that, man,
(03:16):
he got house. He got a little adrenaline going after
a while, no little confidence, and then he was a
new quarterback. But no, I don't know if you could
tell you being in the stands when he did get hurt,
but they would show him on the sideline and he
was like some truly pain and limping. I'm like, oh,
we're gonna get to him. We gonna get to him,
but we wasn't able to. And then obviously, uh, you know,
(03:39):
lane coach Kiffin did a great job with scheming and
you know, justin plays and maybe adjusting the protections in
this offensive scheme when he was hurt to protect him.
But it was tough. It was It was tough to
see from a defensive standpoint. And one other thing, we
made her tight end look like damn there Gronkowski or
(04:00):
or Travis Kelcey out there giving us the work. So no,
obviously from a defense standpoint, it was tough, you know,
seeing that. But again, you know how ball we're offensive
guys in. And then I think I'm gonna take more
blame on the offense because we had all those damn
three and outs. It had our defense on the on
(04:21):
the on the field all the time, and eventually, just
like a damn no that it starts cracking and the
next day, you know, the water starts flowing in the
damn break. So I wasn't I wasn't happy with our
offensive output. I think I'm sorry for rambling, but the
(04:42):
backsis so well, No Singleton caught the ball the backfield well, uh,
Madeson made some big plays. I'm glad to see that
and hopefully that continues going into the to the next season.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
But just as an offense, it seemed like there was
just no continuity. And I guess it always obviously, you know,
it always gonna start with number fifteen because he's our
leader on our offense, and just seemed like we were
out of sync. I don't know if it was him
or the scheme. And you know, it's tough no.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Know.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
When we hired obviously a new OC, are they trying
to implement those plays or are they trying to do
more evaluation. I don't know. It just seemed like from
from the TV that we were out of sink. What
about you?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah, I mean I thought they appeared to me this
went out there to have a little bit of fun.
You know, you talk about some of the guys that
opted out. Uh you know, you said defense first, defense,
you know, you and Chop Robinson and guys like that
aren't playing well automatically, it's gonna be tough on us.
He's so dynamic as a player. And then on offense,
you know, I thought they would play better because we
(05:46):
had so many guys that were out. All our skill
guys were there. You know. Of course Olu Fashanu he
was not in there, uh, you know, but other otherwise,
you know, I thought we had a good opportunity to
go out there and show well on offense. Steve Johnson
actually opted in, you know and played pretty well, and
you know the tied end situation. But you know, it
(06:07):
was it was frustrating to say the league started off good.
Of course, I'm sitting in fun and some people from
all miss and you're talking to SEC crap behind me.
You know, when they started playing, well, you know it
just I'm glad the Big ten won the national championship.
How about that? Because all them does talking all that
trash about the SEC. It's about time we broke in
(06:28):
and uh interrupted what they were trying to do. Man.
Uh So it was, uh, it was frustrating, but more
importantly key I was there to have fun. I think
they were there to have fun. I think I might
have spent you know a couple of trips to the
to the bar to get a beer and some popcorn,
you know, indoors in Atlanta, Mercedes Bens. It's amazing stadium.
Bro it was chill. I was just chilling for for
(06:48):
the most part, and so were they.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
It seemed like about ask you, well, one thing before
I asked you about the stadium, but another thing about
the defense, not to make excuses. But you know what,
Kaylen king uh and our other dbs. We're out and
we had some guys playing for the first time, not
making any excuses. But no, I think the number five
(07:09):
then they held their own. They did what they could
and just like it just you know, eventually after a while. No,
it just no caught up with them. But I think
it just gave him some uh some good playing time
and learning on the run and take it into the
next year. But past that, I want to know about
(07:31):
that arena because I know, driving up to it, that
thing looks sweet.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah, it definitely, uh, it definitely is sweet. Man. It's
it's kind of ominous when you go in because it's
like dark, you know what I mean, and black where
you go inside it though. Man, the kaleidoscope type of
roof that can open up, I'm glad they didn't open
it up on the jumbo trons or you know around
that ring up top. It was really really dope, man,
It's really really comfortable. I mean, they they did a
(07:59):
really good job with that. That stadium. You can tell
the newer stadiums, man, because they're all state of the art.
Everything about it was uh was state of the art
and it was it was cool. It's a cool experience
for kids. You know, I call them kids of course,
because they're all half my age or less be able
to play in a pro pro stadium like that and
see what it's all about. And also, you know dream
(08:21):
we play on big fields, man. You know as a kid,
remember you played on big fields as a kid. You're like, oh,
I can't wait so I can play on this one
for real. You know, we played in Giant Stadium back
in the day and like the kick all different things
that we do. Even though obviously our stadium holds a
lot more people, it's still a lot of fun to
hang out in pro stadiums.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Absolutely, And the one thing I would say about no,
obviously you was there one of the seventy thousand around
how many seats? But I can tell you like on TV,
you know, it's tough nowadays with all these kids opting
out a lot of time, these Bowl games don't have
the good crowds. You can look on TV and see
like a lot of seats are empty in the stands
(09:03):
because people are just you know, it said, why waste
our time going? But you really on TV that thing
was packed and it was good to see you obviously
white on our side and the red on their side.
It was a well attended game and didn't looked like
it was any empty seats that there was. Maybe the
red blends in with the Old Miss colors, but uh,
(09:23):
it was good to see one of those bowl games
where two fan bases came out to support their teams
and watch football.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
So it was yeah, Old Miss brought it, man, Man,
I guess it's a shorter trip obviously for Old Miss
fans to come, but there was a lot of red
bro I mean they they definitely brought it. We brought
it to Penn State always. You know, we do what
we do, man, both season comes around. We got a
lot of people that definitely want to show up. Now,
Coach Franklin, he had a little different take, you know,
(09:53):
on the game. I mean he took a little heat
for not giving Old Miss the credit and even playing
in the refs a little bit in that game about
you know what was going on, and you know, I
thought we were flat the whole game and we didn't
tackle very well. But real quick, here's what here's what
Coach Franklin had to say specifically to the game.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
Just too many moving parts with the staff and with
the players against a good team.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Too many moving.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Parts staff and players to have the type of success
that we wanted to have today. I won't get into
all the details. I thought the officiating was was less
than desirable.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah, I don't I don't know, kay, John. I thought
honestly that, like you said, we have some young guys
out there trying to make plays. Old Miss had a
lot of their veteran guys out there trying to win
a football game. And it's nice to go up against
SEC teams and you know, and and see what happens
coming up next year. As we know, we'll talk about
a little bit later. Man, it's gonna be a whole
different ball game when it comes to these playoffs. But
(11:02):
you know, when you got guys opting out because there's
nothing else to play for, and you got Old Miss
who brought all their guys and they all went out
there and played, it could be a difference out there,
you know. And then if you got a little coach things,
just a little help on the other side, the guys
with the stripes on. Uh, it was a perfect storm
to have a bad game. And that's what we had.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Yeah, as we know, those people in those stripes, those
almost like jail bars. Uh, then they're never they're never
gonna be right, and that's no. Unfortunately, that's a part
of the game. You know, if you're an Old Miss person,
the rest are great. You No, obviously on our side,
there's a lot of things we could complain about because
we lost. Unfortunately, that's you know, that's a part of
the game, and that's always going to happen until they
(11:40):
do some kind of replays, uh, some foreign fashion. I
think that's going to happen. But the key thing you
mentioned is say, yeah, Old Miss no credit to them
and their coach. They was able to get all their
players to uh playing the game, even though in yeah
running Back he transferred after the game. Uh out after
(12:02):
the game. But you know, you know, with us, you know,
we had some key guys and key positions that did
opt out and respect do I mean we talked of
it before. Well, we can't use as an excuse. And
if we're one of those type of programs, you know, obviously,
you know, when you get to those higher bowl games,
the people on the other side are good too, but
(12:23):
it's got to be the next man up and like
I said, we just looked flat the first drive. I
thought we were could come at it from a defense standpoint,
but from an office standpoint, we didn't look like we
had any pizazz or anything from the first step of
the ball.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, no doubt about it, man. I mean, it is
what it is. And you know, I just I just
want to see guys go out there and compete. At
times I didn't. I didn't feel that they were going
out there to compete. Man, anytime you be an opportunity
to play a game, a game we're talking about the game,
you know, you got to go out there and show
and prove and you know, and honestly, it's kind of
(13:00):
like a hell, you know, a glorified spring game for
these guys. Go out there and show what they're doing.
They can run into the spring season, off season with
a leg up. They go out there and play well
in those games. But I didn't see that type of
approach from a lot of guys. And you know what
I mean, we had a lot of things going on. Obviously,
we we'll talk about a little bit later too. You know,
Manny Diaz is not in there as a defense coordinator
(13:22):
for this one. We already changed offense coordinator midseason, making
another change in other positions. But you know, no excuses. Man,
go out there and you know, and you know and
perform like you're supposed to as a Penn stador in
Penn State uniform.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
No, I agree. I mean, it's just I guess nowadays
because with the playoffs, it's a little different. The bowl
luster has lost, as I guess, playing in a bowl
game has lost. As Lester, I just remember, no, like
you were saying before, I've always played on New Year's Day,
but just playing a bowl game it was fun to do.
It was something he had excited to do. One like
(13:59):
you were saying before, it's the end of the season,
like it helped propel you into the all season for
the winter conditioning and spring ball and going in and
give you conference in the next season. But now it's
almost like, yeah, well if you're not in the playoffs.
Everybody was like, man, I gotta play another game. Where
I was excited one, get to go to a warm climate. Well,
(14:21):
Atlanta's warm, but for the most part we go to
you know, for a week or two, go play in
a warm climate, get to go out socialized pretty girls,
ain't no, we ain't gonna lie on that and have
a little fun. And then you get to play against
a team that you might not always face and like
this was the SEC. Now. I remember when you was
(14:42):
a freshman. You know, they was talking about Tennessee this,
Tennessee that, and they never gave us any credit. And
then you molly waped them your freshman year. And then
the same thing my softomare when we played them in
the Citrus Bowl. We were at ten point underdogs and
it was like one of those things where you know
we had a little chip on the shoulder, but we
were excited to play, to go and try and prove ourselves.
(15:02):
Because now when it comes to a bowl game, you're
always on the national on on that TV. So these
kids for opting out or not excited to play. But
if you go out there and have a breakout game, one,
if you're coming back for the next year, it's gonna
help propel you and get your name out there for
next year. And if you're not coming back, well, we're
(15:24):
not going to have an outstanding game. So when you
go by, open up eyes from one of the pro
teams and then can help your draft status. So I
always look forward to bowl games and that was always
a goal mine. You know, what I decided was schools
to play for because I always knew that that we
always had a chance to play those big bowl games,
and that was the bowl season was a big part
(15:46):
of the college football tradition.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah, it really is, man, And these guys like you
talk about these opt outs. You know, not only get
some of these pro teams looking at you, but you
got some fan bases like saying, now I want that
kid on my team. I want that guy on my team.
And you know, all these these these websites are these
uh these uh you know, these these groups, these like
Penn State football groups, these people that are on like
(16:10):
social media. Hell, they started talking about a certain guy,
a certain player, and it gets exciting for everybody once
drafted comes around, like wow, you see they might not
have ever seen Top Robinson play and then he had
a chance to play. I'm not saying he shouldn't opt out.
I'm not That's not what I'm saying. But I'm just saying,
these guys get an opportunity to get everybody in every
city like fired up about the potential of them playing
(16:32):
for their professional team. So you know, those opportunities are
out there. But but I understand guys feel like they
can get it done. The off season workout program, combine
the individual workouts at Penn State. You know, that's that's
another thing. But I always thought it'd be great to
get one more time to showcase my talents in front
of a whole bunch of people. You know, injury, I'm
not you can't be worried about injury because that could
(16:52):
happen even in the off season program in my opinion.
But I'm not trying to tell anybody how to headle
their money. Right.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yeah, and with those ball games, you can have one
of those outstanding wild games, and that's gonna be something
that's always gonna be impregnated in somebody's mind when they're
thinking about when it comes into the draft. But no,
Nowaday got all these different bowl games, not bowl games,
but the like Senior Bowl. Now juniors be in it
and this and that, and maybe they're looking at opportunities.
(17:19):
And again, I'm not, like you said, I'm not knocking
anybody for what they're doing where I'm just saying how
these games can help propel a player to help raise
his stock potentially in those things. But we'll see what happens.
And like I said, hopefully it's a wake up call.
Sometimes with a bowl game we lose, you don't feel
(17:42):
as good. Like when we won Rose Bow last year.
We was feeling ourselves all Rose Bowl champs going to
the season. We had a great season ntil we lost
to Ohio State. But no, sometimes when you have a loss,
it kind of exposes some of your weaknesses and say, hey,
this is something we need to work on and hopefully
we get those things dress during the off season.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah, let's go to that real quick. Hey, let's talk
about how, you know, how we felt about the season
as a whole for Penn State. You know, he talked
about the you know, the Ohio State lost. Team was
off to a six and oh start until that game,
uh twenty to twelve defeat at Ohio State and then
the loss later to Michigan at home twenty four fifteen.
We're just unable to get over those two humps again, Bro,
and fantasy season ten and two? Does that work for you?
(18:26):
I mean it doesn't work for me, But does ten
and two? I get Ohio State. Obviously Michigan ends up
winning it all. Ohio State solid obviously a really good
team as well, but that ten and two it seems
like the Groundhog Day.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
For It's like a double edged stores like ten and
two is a good season, and probably ninety of the
programs out there would take ten and two all day.
And No, I kind of alluded in a couple of
podcasts before. It's obviously where we came from, unfortunately, what
(19:03):
the whole scandal in our program was. To where we
are now, it is good, and I mean even when
we played we went undefeated, and no, I think the tenant.
But the thing is the Tenant two this year just
seems different. It seems like a different Tenant two. I
don't I don't know. No, obviously we lost to the
(19:23):
National Chances Michigan kudos, but the thing is we had
the chance in those games to win it, you know,
and then obviously with a highest state, I mean, we
we we've been ssuking about that almost half the year
and we had We're right there, and it's like, okay,
you know, you got your elite teams. You know, there's
(19:45):
four or five six teams and we're like six and
a half, seven, eight, and we got to get to
get to that point. You got to overcome and you know,
and get one of those wins. And no, if you
tell me, okay, each year go ten to two, we're
gonna lose those teams. I said, almost like I'd rather
beat those teams and have it have a game we
(20:05):
lost to, like a Michigan State or something that we
got over confident or something and let it slip versus know,
them being our arch nemesis and you know they're always
beating us. Do want I consider the season of success
in one sense, yeah, I mean again, we were able
to get to a New Year six game. But me,
(20:27):
as a competitor and a alpha and use pretitor, was like, no,
I don't accept anything else besides going undefeated and the
fact that the games that we did lose, it wasn't
like we got blown out. We had great opportunities to
do so that is a is a frustrating part. So
it's kind of a hate to be politician on this,
(20:48):
but it's it's like a double sword. I feel you
being upset and not happy about the the season and
how it came out, but at the same time, it's
winning ten games. I don't care who you are, it's
a it's a compliment in itself.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yeah, it really is. Man, what were you what were
your biggest surprises this year? I mean I'm trying to think,
you know, my biggest surprise was, Yeah, I didn't know
how the young'ins would be. I didn't know how Drew
Allen would be. You know, I knew the running backs
is true freshman last year were gonna be pretty good.
But I thought for the most part they were. They
(21:25):
were solid and obviously just room to improve. Man, But
what were your biggest surprises this last year?
Speaker 3 (21:31):
I will say my biggest surprises is more of an
is forcunate to be more of a negative way that
our run game wasn't our line and a domination up
front wasn't as dominant as everybody said coming into the season. No,
we had a lot of returning starters, obviously a first
team All American and on tackle. But again I loot
(21:57):
every game. It just seems like we did not dominate
even it was like the inferior team. We didn't dominate
the line of scrimmagers like we were supposed to.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Right.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Yeah, it really show forward know in our progress as
an offense. So I think my biggest surprise is how well,
or how well we didn't dominate the line of scrimmage,
or how much our line didn't improve over the last
few years.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Yeah, that was truly, truly a disappointment, the inability to
get k Tron and Nick going. I mean, we had
very very few explosive plays compared to last year. Those
guys were, you know, breaking long runs all the time.
You know. As a matter of fact, we opened up
that West Virginia game with a seventy two yard bomb
to Country Lambert Smith, and I'm like, Okay, it's gonna
be an explosive year because you know, if we can
(22:47):
get that in the passing game. I knew the run
game would you know, would have some because of what
we experienced as those guys are true freshmen, right, But
that that never materialized, and it was weeks gets down.
It was weeks before we had another explosive play. I mean,
that was that was tough to deal with. Months Yeah
it went, Yeah, it was yeah, well you had them.
(23:08):
If you had up enough weeks, you can probably get
a couple of months out, you know what I mean. Yeah,
So what about Drew? What do you think about Drew
his first year as a you know, as a play call.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
W don't put you on the seat. What's your biggest surprise?
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Well, that that was it. I was on the same
thing with you, the fact that my biggest surprise was
also the disappointment that the run game never got going.
I thought, this is our best year as a run
team with those guys in that offensive line. This is
supposed to be the best offensive line since your team. Key,
that was that was not true. It did not It
did not happen that way. And what is it scheme?
(23:44):
Is it? Play call? Is the execution? But this is
supposed to be the most talented offensive line since you know,
you know, half the first round as you had on
your team. Yeah, I just thought it was. It was
just it was just frustrating because I thought that could
be our bread. We knew we had a great defense,
we had great backs. He had a young quarterback. That's
the recipe for a successful season in college football, and
(24:05):
it didn't materialize that right, and.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Push him to shove rely rely on those big road
graders up front until Drew and the quarterback in the
passing game can pick up. Uh no, they're they're head
of steam. So yeah, all right, so we're on the
same pacin.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well, if you had to pick an
offensive m v P, then key, because you have to
pick one and we have a banquet at the end
of the year. Who who would have been?
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Had many diz.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Offensive I'll tell you mine first and you can think
about yours. I think our offensive MVP is definitely Drew Aller.
You know, it's a true sophomore season. I thought the
solid numbers didn't do anything crazy good. But at the
(24:57):
same time though that the experiences out there, he didn't
really uh, he didn't do anything spectacular. But who else
would you pick on offense other than Drew Allen when
you're thinking about the offense side of football. I mean
he and I just look forward to seeing what he
does in the next year. So I think the growth
that he had, you know, being the first time starter
obviously in big time football, Drew had to be the
(25:20):
guy that I would choose our offensive MVP. What about you,
that's a that's.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
A good valid point. Was Yeah, Now after you came
up with your nice soliloquy.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Oh soliloquy, that's a big word, like Ray would say,
like man.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
I would say, Drew, I mean, and I guess we
will talk about the minute, but it's not notice But
I'm not saying y'all say he's an MVP, but it's
not saying much because if you look at his stats,
it wasn't like, oh my gosh, man, he did crazy
number yards, crazy number touchdowns, this and that. But like
you said, the one thing as a quarterback it's very
(25:58):
important you want your quarterback to do is don't turn
over the ball. One thing he did do I would
have to admit and kudos to him, is he did
a great job of not trying to force things. Sometimes
he did, but for the most part, don't try to
force things to create a turnover and always protect the
ball to give us more opportunities to score. So I
(26:20):
I like that. I like Drew as your MVP. I
like that.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Well, you know he went twelve and two's you know
in his first year as a regular season starter. You know,
only a couple of people have a record, you know,
you know what your record was at Penn State as
a because you don't really have one. Right, we have records,
but they're not individual to us. But quarterbacks have an
individual record. Head coaches have an individual record. So to
(26:46):
go ten and two basically in his first start ten
and three after the bowl game. That's a pretty good
start to a career, man. So that's that's the one
thing I would say about what Drew did. He was
he was a game manager. I expect to and we'll
talk a little bit more about the changes on offense
coming up, but I expect him to get even better
and better, you know, in his junior year, and then
(27:07):
hopefully we get him for a senior year and he'll
be even better. So that's that's my What about a
defensive side, key, who do you think defensive MVP of
this year was? I'll give you mine again if you
want me to. You want me to give you mine first,
and then you can go from there.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
I mean, you're the older statement, you the o G
So go ahead, man.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Well, my defensive MVP is Chop Robinson. And you can
tell when Chop was hurt how our defense wasn't as good.
And you can tell in that bowl game how our
defense wasn't as good. And you can tell that this
guy's gonna be a Day one or Day two draft
pick in the NFL because he brought something special to
the football field when he wasn't there and you look
(27:46):
at some of the games. We watch some games, I mean,
he's getting some double teams or they're they're running away
from him, they're trying to they're trying to they're scheming
against a guy like top Robinson. That tells you how
valuable he is for a defense.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
Yeah, I like that one. I'm a couple different one,
but I agree with Chopp obviously when he got knocked,
uh sorry, but we got missed a couple of games.
It was a concussion, you definitely can see, but there
was some guys behind him, No that was there. But
he is definitely explosive, and that dude's like he is
(28:20):
like a little pit bull, explosive, relentless. He's gonna be
a good pro. Oh good pro. He's gonna be in
there for a long time. I was to go over
that dude, Carter. I like that because I mean, and.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
No bias there at all.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Right, all right, but I know it's funny I speaking
to him going back when we're talking about old miss.
You can see how much effect he has on the
field when he played when he's healthy, and I thought
we kind of did a disservice to him and to
the defense when we let him stay in the old
(29:00):
miss game because he could barely walk now. Correct to him,
he wanted to be out there with his guys and
try to play all his can. But I just think
his limitations from his ankle really was, you know, kind
of hurting the team. But when you see him at
his full he could do everything. He he can do everything,
and he's everywhere around the ball and people people have
(29:24):
to scheme against him, and he's able to cover a
lot of field. And so I would say my m
VP would probably be him because of how he was
able to influence and change the game and be relentless
and being around a lot of times, almost like Micah
no uh no when he's at Penn Staateium even like
(29:46):
in the pros. He's always around the ball, always around
the ball. And that's that's what you want to see
from your uh from your one of your top players
on the defense.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Yeah, I feel on that. That's why that won two
points was so impressive for us. Man and you can
tell that, you know, Manny Diaz when he was making
those calls. Man, trust those guys get out there and
make a lot of things happen, and they definitely did.
Man and that leads me to my next point, like,
you know what really defined what really defined this past season, man,
(30:21):
And one thing that I would say is that defense
was so good, but the offense just could not hold up.
It's into the bargain at times. You know, they hold
Ohio State to you know, the twenty points and we
scored twelve. You know, field goals, field goals, field good,
whatever it might have been we were doing. Then, you
know you said it earlier, our defense. Our offense didn't
(30:43):
give the defense the chance, honestly to get any rests.
Look in the Michigan game, you know, they were worn out,
and the Michigan just kept wearing them out, you know,
running the ball through the ball one time, got a
pass interference in the second half, and then it ran
at the rest of the time. But the offense couldn't
couldn't do anything to match that stuff. So I think
that you know what defiance the team for me is
(31:04):
that the defense I thought was outstanding, the offense did
not hold up there end of the bargain, and that
it showed in those big games.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
No, I agree, And again for like a broken record
and guy getting flowers of defense this whole year, our
defense was our best offense, and I'm gonna keep it
one hundred is I mean, if you look at every
game throughout the season, No, West Virginia is pretty good.
But our defense was able to get our offense short
(31:35):
fields by either turnovers or three and outs and pushing
people back. But they gave our offense every opportunity to
go out there and be successful. You know, very rarely
did you see like our offense say, you know what,
We're gonna take the ball from our twenty and drive
eighty yards and you know, do like a three minute,
four or five minutes drive or I mean, or even
(31:57):
just a exposive play like I said, we have those. No,
every time that we scored, I'm not saying every time,
but a lot of times when we scored, it was
because of a turnal for the defense, and next thing,
you know, we're a short side of field, and it's
just unfortunate because it's like one of those things, like
God Lee, if we even had like a smidgeon of
(32:18):
what our defense was doing where we could be at
because they did play so well to sometimes you know,
the lines that things don't align perfectly at the right moment,
and we had a great defense. Our offense was, like
you said, right racist Mayonn's is playing like mayonnaise. But
(32:41):
we wasn't excited. We didn't have no big plays, exposive plays,
and those are the type of things that you need
to propel yourself to that next level because when you
play those High States and Michigans, everybody's gonna butt heads.
But who is at one person or where is that
one play where you can have that forty yr game
or staying eight a long drive of twelve play seventy
(33:05):
five yards to help change the time, possession and uh
and the momentum the game to do that, And we didn't.
We didn't have that.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Yeah, yeah, no doubt about it. Well, definitely didn't have that.
And you know, looking forward to changing that around a
little bit next year too, you know, to see what happens.
So speaking of next year, man, you know, we talked
about a few guys that opted out and are headed
to the NFL. What are your expectations and hopes from
next year? I mean, based on some of the returning
(33:36):
players and staff, we should be in pretty good shape.
I mean, we did really well in the in the
transfer portal, you know, getting the likes of you know,
Julian Fleming from Ohio State, you know, needed to you know,
playmaker wide receiver because we didn't have that. We also
added Nolan Roucci, you know, big offensive line for Wisconsin.
You know I played with his dad, Todd.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
I did too when I was a fresh.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Yeah, barely barely. Yeah, I about to say very I
just think that, you know, what we did in the
transfer portal is what we needed, you know, bringing some
guys in there to help out in some places that
were losing guys in the draft. Penn State, you know,
they they're okay a lot of times in portal, but
I thought this time they did a hell of a job.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
Yeah. I mean, if you look at one, uh like it.
We'll talk about the portal first. I mean the people
you brought in. One character guys, I mean like Rouchie.
His dad played there, and I think he would probably
would have came there the first time, but he was
I think he's a little salty because his brother didn't
get recruited.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Who was he went to be with his brother Wisconsin.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
He's a legacy guy, four or five star, uh, you know,
a great player coming from a good program Wisconsin. And
then Fleming obviously player of the year in Pennsylvania, I
think the top receiver in the country. And it's between
us in a high state. And I can understand, you know,
beyond I love my school, but I mean, look at
(34:57):
the track record of High Saints put out in receivers.
So he said, you know what, I want to go
there because he wants to propel himself to try to
get to the next level. But having those two guys
can instantly create aspart because one is respect. Everybody knows
who those players are because they come from good programs
and they were good players at those programs and the
programs that they played for. So if they see certain
(35:19):
work ethics, there are certain things I thinks will help guys,
you know something. They might flip a switch on some
guys to do so. But if you look at the
college game for me, and then obviously let me know
your thoughts, every team that was in the playoffs, besides
I guess Alabama, they all have returning quarterbacks from the
(35:44):
year before and they and they and were good.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
You know.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
McCarthy from Michigan, Poenix from Wisconsin, Viewers from Texas so
and the track workers of all the past champions and
good teams. They've allays have returning starters. Very rarely you
see like a new guy come in and play, well, well,
now we have Drew and sometimes you forget, Okay, he's young,
(36:10):
he's a sophomore, but you know you expect him to
be great and do this and that. But now say, hey,
you know what, he has a year under his belt.
He kind of has the system. Well, there'd be a
new system, but just the facer game people, hasta environments,
be in front of our stands, our crowd. He knows
(36:32):
what expects now. So now he's gonna take the next step.
And when you always can have a returning starter, that's
gonna give confidence to your team too, because now it's
gonna make that team much better. So I'm excited. I mean,
if you always have a cowbird like him, you always
have your returning quarterback, because now he's gonna be able
to look at and say, look, maybe I didn't extend
(36:54):
plays enough, I didn't run the ball enough. Now if
I do those do that in these type of situations,
I can help out my team too. So he can
hold some accountability and then the younger guys can see
him as a leader too, coming to next season. So
I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
To it.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
The OC from Kansas, Uh look at what Kansas. The
ain't been the tourists for football. And he was able
to really develop and get a lot out of his
players from an offense standpoint at Kansas. So you got that,
and then you got coach Allen from Indiana form a
head coach. You can get a lot of out a
(37:33):
lot of effort out of his kids too on the
defensive side. So I think it's a great opportunity to
play college playoff is a whole different setup.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Now.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
It's almost like, no, just get the top ten and
you're in. But we don't want I don't want to
think like that. But I think it's gonna do added
motivation for a lot of kids because, like I said,
once you get in and you can get to those
top twelve spots, anything can happen.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Yeah, no doubt about it. You talk about that turnover man,
you know, talk about Tom Allen, you talk about Andy.
I want to I don't mess the name of Colton
Nikki offense coordinator, Tom Allen defense coordinators replacing Manny Diaz.
He did an incredible job, and of course the announcement
of Justin Lustig takes over as the special teams coordinator.
A lot of toneover around there, A lot of times.
(38:23):
You know, people want your coach. I mean, something's going
right in your coaching staff. Of course, an offense was
a different story. We were replacing guys, but you bringing
in new guys because other teams want your old guys,
which is a a what is a good thing? Man?
You mentioned a little bit key about you know, the
new playoffs has been coming out, but you know it's
gonna be a new era in Big ten uh in
twenty twenty four. I mean there's a hell of a
(38:45):
shake up getting you know, getting rid of the divisions completely,
adding USC, U c l A, Washington, Oregon. I mean,
we won't have Michigan this year, but we will get
Ohio State, Washington, U c l A at home, and
now you USC on the road. I mean, it's no
easy's sledding when it comes to this. Man, and you
talked about the new twelve team playoffs system, I mean
I expect us to make the dance? Could John? Even
(39:08):
with this schedule and all these great teams coming in,
I expect us to make the dance. And of course
I'm saving my pennies as we speak, and I'm counting
them over here. I got seventy five. I got a
little I got a little work to do before I
can get my ball money together because I expect to
go to at least two games. Could John at least two?
Speaker 3 (39:24):
Yeah, I mean there's a lot of play. Yeah. The
new setup of the Big Ten is obviously had no divisions.
Everybody just play each other. It just sucks because obviously,
you know us growing in a Big ten country and
obviously pass being in the Big ten for the last
thirty years almost I can't believe.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Say that it's about there's thirty Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
Playing certain teams and you know, playing a high state Michigan,
we're always in the Satan division. That's not gonna happen
every year. You might play Michigan one year. You won't
play a HoTT eight. You might play Highset one year,
but you want to play Michigan. So that's gonna be
get something used to. But like I said, the addition
of the teams that are coming from the West Coast,
it's gonna be very interesting because you know, obviously usc
(40:14):
NO had a subpar year, but you know the first
half year they were clicking, and then obviously injuries and
things happen, and U c l A is always formidable
and Oregon no year and year out doing it. And
then Washington was in the Corse Playoff and Oregon got
knocked out because from Washington. It's gonna be interesting to see.
(40:35):
But at the same time, I'm excited because obviously we
always say like the other division of the Big Ten
was always easy, where Iowa and Wisconsin and Nebraska and
all them. That seemed like that was the easier division
versus our side. So now it's kind of free for
all and it's just the best records, well, we'll go
play each other. So I liked the round robin in
(40:59):
that sense, and it's excited. It's almost seemed like the
playoffs this year is gonna be either the Big Ten,
the SEC or the Big twelve because all the teams,
all the schools are going there.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Right right, Well, it's going It's crazy that you see
those teams we just talked about coming in and all
of them are losing quarterbacks, USC and Williams bow Knicks
out of Oregon and of course Pennis out of Washington.
I mean, that's not a good time. To be trying
to join the big ten. But hey, come on, come
on in with some first year starters at quarterback, we'll
(41:30):
take it. We'll take it all. When we got a
third year starter when it comes to Drew Aller. So
it's it's all good, it's all good, man, All right,
keep now, let's get up out of here. Keep man,
it's been a pleasure this whole year. Man, it's so
much fun. I'm gonna thank you. Take what's that? Yeah,
I hope. So I'm just gonna say that, man, you know,
thank you, and thank LeVar and Veto and Ryan and
(41:51):
of course Seth for we had a fun ass season man,
And like you just said, let's be sure to do
it again next year.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
Yeah. Like I said, I'm just gonna put uh to
speak on top of what you just said. It's like, no,
thanks to everybody levard opportunity to give us a platform
to talk and veat on and Ryan you know, holding
my hand and helping us out with the rundowns and
and everything and the juice. You know, you as be brilliant. Know,
I love you, and I also you did a great
job hosting and you know spearheading, you know, each week
(42:21):
and uh make it easy for me to just sit
back and just really talk the game. So I appreciate you,
uh uh doing this. And obviously you're family me, so
I enjoyed talking talking to my family, uh, speaking about
the teams.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
That we love.
Speaker 3 (42:37):
So it's it was easy and I loved it.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Yeah. And of course, man, we want to thank all
you for joining us on the We Are Key and
Juice podcast and please please please check out Have You
Value United website. This nil stuff is real, man. We
need everybody's help, and you know, and securing some of
these great athletes, these great student athletes there, they're not
just athletes, but the student athletes. And you know, we
could have had NIL deals coming out Key, we'd have
(43:02):
been a lot happier in college and we'd have been
a lot more Well I don't know how much more
successful you could have been being the number one overall pick,
but that's a whole different story, you know what I mean,
uh huh. But we do check it out, man, and
see how much you can contribute. If it's just five
dollars a dollar, whatever it might be, Man, contribute to
the nil These kids need it. I know I needed it.
Ka JOHNA. Needed it, and uh, it's tough for us
(43:25):
to compete to Johanna until we can, you know, anting
up because a lot of a lot of these other
schools are adding enough for these kids. And I get it.
They have such hardships that they have to make a
financial decision over football and educational decisions.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
Sometimes we got two ways. Either you could complain about
it and people keep on moving forward, or you join,
You join the pack, And I get it. I can
see why people disappointed, upset in this. Why why why?
But it is what it is. It's here, and you
got to adapt. And just like with everything, just like
with the cars back in the day or iPhone with
(43:59):
tech analogy, you gotta adapt. And this is the way
college sports is going, not one just football, but college
sports in general. And if we want our program, football
program and our school programs because have Valu United is
all our all our sports, Uh, we gotta you know,
we gotta do it. Adapt and just show your support.
(44:21):
And like you said, any way you can it's time,
or if it's just five hours a month or whatever
it is, it is, it's gonna help and it wants
to help out the kids. But then at the same time,
you help out a program and really show your loyalty
to the school.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
Yeah enough saying right there, big homie, I mean I
appreciate it exactly. That's exactly what it is.
Speaker 4 (44:41):
Man.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
With that, we're gonna get up out of here. Yeah
you know, but you always say he is Carter and
I am O. J McDuffie because we are Penn State.
I love it all day, every day, all day, every
day with you guys.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
Next year, so yeah, puck pop dock, put pup tuck
tuck tup.
Are you ready? We are Key and Juice, two Penn
State legends. Keep Joanna Carter and Oj mcduffy are breaking
down Penn State football like no one else. We are
Key and Juice and we are right now.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
What is going on Nitney Nation? I am oj mcduffy,
and he, of course is one and only Carter and
welcome to the final We are Key and Juice Podcast.
As we get ready for I know, Key, don't don't
be all sad, bro. You know usually I ask you, Key,
(00:46):
what's happening? Trade due? So what's happening?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Trade du I'm good man, I can't believe this is
this is the last one for this year. It's a
loves happening, uh, the last nine nine months or four months?
So I guess no. I'll see me at an additional
part to the family. And no, we had ups and
downs obviously with the football season, and oh hopefully look
(01:12):
forward to better things in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Had no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Man.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
We all want you to make sure that you please
be sure to check out the Happy Value United website
as Keith John and I are always excited to talk
about Penn Sate football, always, always it's great to have
this platform to do so, man, So let's jump into
trade duce. Ready, let's do it all right. So the
Lions finished with a lopsided loss Old Miss and the
(01:38):
Peach Bowl thirty eight twenty five. Of course I went
to Atlanta for that game. It's a lot colder there
than I wanted to be.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I was.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, it was, I mean it was. It might have
been one of the worst Bowl trips i've been. Oh yeah, yeah,
yeah it was. It was cold. The team didn't play
very well then. They didn't look good at all, man,
But you know, obviously there were quite a few opt
outs in the game. But same time, though, man, it
(02:08):
was I probably could have said a couple of grandbout
fifteen hundred I think total by not going to Atlanta
for that weekend and spending most of my time inside
because I was I'm soft, key, Johnna, I'm soft, bro.
Let's just keep it one hundred, man, got.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
That, damn blood, man, You're not You've been afforded too long.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah, what do you what are your thoughts on that
performance in the in the BOWLGA and the Peachball in Atlanta?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Now, you know, it's obviously it's tough. You know, It's
it's funny because obviously the first series, no our defense
up there, quarterback gets hurt. I mean, obviously you don't
want to ever see anybody get hurt. But he tweets
his ankle, and we know we were putting some heat
on him and putting them things on them. And then
(02:52):
it seems like after that drive, he had all day
to throw and I'm thinking, like, he's like a wounded
dunk if I if I'm a short and I see
blood in the water. No, I'm trying to feed. I'm
trying to eat, and I don't know what it was,
but we couldn't get to him. And then after that, man,
(03:16):
he got house. He got a little adrenaline going after
a while, no little confidence, and then he was a
new quarterback. But no, I don't know if you could
tell you being in the stands when he did get hurt,
but they would show him on the sideline and he
was like some truly pain and limping. I'm like, oh,
we're gonna get to him. We gonna get to him,
but we wasn't able to. And then obviously, uh, you know,
(03:39):
lane coach Kiffin did a great job with scheming and
you know, justin plays and maybe adjusting the protections in
this offensive scheme when he was hurt to protect him.
But it was tough. It was It was tough to
see from a defensive standpoint. And one other thing, we
made her tight end look like damn there Gronkowski or
(04:00):
or Travis Kelcey out there giving us the work. So no,
obviously from a defense standpoint, it was tough, you know,
seeing that. But again, you know how ball we're offensive
guys in. And then I think I'm gonna take more
blame on the offense because we had all those damn
three and outs. It had our defense on the on
(04:21):
the on the field all the time, and eventually, just
like a damn no that it starts cracking and the
next day, you know, the water starts flowing in the
damn break. So I wasn't I wasn't happy with our
offensive output. I think I'm sorry for rambling, but the
(04:42):
backsis so well, No Singleton caught the ball the backfield well, uh,
Madeson made some big plays. I'm glad to see that
and hopefully that continues going into the to the next season.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
But just as an offense, it seemed like there was
just no continuity. And I guess it always obviously, you know,
it always gonna start with number fifteen because he's our
leader on our offense, and just seemed like we were
out of sync. I don't know if it was him
or the scheme. And you know, it's tough no.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Know.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
When we hired obviously a new OC, are they trying
to implement those plays or are they trying to do
more evaluation. I don't know. It just seemed like from
from the TV that we were out of sink. What
about you?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah, I mean I thought they appeared to me this
went out there to have a little bit of fun.
You know, you talk about some of the guys that
opted out. Uh you know, you said defense first, defense,
you know, you and Chop Robinson and guys like that
aren't playing well automatically, it's gonna be tough on us.
He's so dynamic as a player. And then on offense,
you know, I thought they would play better because we
(05:46):
had so many guys that were out. All our skill
guys were there. You know. Of course Olu Fashanu he
was not in there, uh, you know, but other otherwise,
you know, I thought we had a good opportunity to
go out there and show well on offense. Steve Johnson
actually opted in, you know and played pretty well, and
you know the tied end situation. But you know, it
(06:07):
was it was frustrating to say the league started off good.
Of course, I'm sitting in fun and some people from
all miss and you're talking to SEC crap behind me.
You know, when they started playing, well, you know it
just I'm glad the Big ten won the national championship.
How about that? Because all them does talking all that
trash about the SEC. It's about time we broke in
(06:28):
and uh interrupted what they were trying to do. Man.
Uh So it was, uh, it was frustrating, but more
importantly key I was there to have fun. I think
they were there to have fun. I think I might
have spent you know a couple of trips to the
to the bar to get a beer and some popcorn,
you know, indoors in Atlanta, Mercedes Bens. It's amazing stadium.
Bro it was chill. I was just chilling for for
(06:48):
the most part, and so were they.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
It seemed like about ask you, well, one thing before
I asked you about the stadium, but another thing about
the defense, not to make excuses. But you know what,
Kaylen king uh and our other dbs. We're out and
we had some guys playing for the first time, not
making any excuses. But no, I think the number five
(07:09):
then they held their own. They did what they could
and just like it just you know, eventually after a while. No,
it just no caught up with them. But I think
it just gave him some uh some good playing time
and learning on the run and take it into the
next year. But past that, I want to know about
(07:31):
that arena because I know, driving up to it, that
thing looks sweet.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah, it definitely, uh, it definitely is sweet. Man. It's
it's kind of ominous when you go in because it's
like dark, you know what I mean, and black where
you go inside it though. Man, the kaleidoscope type of
roof that can open up, I'm glad they didn't open
it up on the jumbo trons or you know around
that ring up top. It was really really dope, man,
It's really really comfortable. I mean, they they did a
(07:59):
really good job with that. That stadium. You can tell
the newer stadiums, man, because they're all state of the art.
Everything about it was uh was state of the art
and it was it was cool. It's a cool experience
for kids. You know, I call them kids of course,
because they're all half my age or less be able
to play in a pro pro stadium like that and
see what it's all about. And also, you know dream
(08:21):
we play on big fields, man. You know as a kid,
remember you played on big fields as a kid. You're like, oh,
I can't wait so I can play on this one
for real. You know, we played in Giant Stadium back
in the day and like the kick all different things
that we do. Even though obviously our stadium holds a
lot more people, it's still a lot of fun to
hang out in pro stadiums.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Absolutely, And the one thing I would say about no,
obviously you was there one of the seventy thousand around
how many seats? But I can tell you like on TV,
you know, it's tough nowadays with all these kids opting
out a lot of time, these Bowl games don't have
the good crowds. You can look on TV and see
like a lot of seats are empty in the stands
(09:03):
because people are just you know, it said, why waste
our time going? But you really on TV that thing
was packed and it was good to see you obviously
white on our side and the red on their side.
It was a well attended game and didn't looked like
it was any empty seats that there was. Maybe the
red blends in with the Old Miss colors, but uh,
(09:23):
it was good to see one of those bowl games
where two fan bases came out to support their teams
and watch football.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
So it was yeah, Old Miss brought it, man, Man,
I guess it's a shorter trip obviously for Old Miss
fans to come, but there was a lot of red
bro I mean they they definitely brought it. We brought
it to Penn State always. You know, we do what
we do, man, both season comes around. We got a
lot of people that definitely want to show up. Now,
Coach Franklin, he had a little different take, you know,
(09:53):
on the game. I mean he took a little heat
for not giving Old Miss the credit and even playing
in the refs a little bit in that game about
you know what was going on, and you know, I
thought we were flat the whole game and we didn't
tackle very well. But real quick, here's what here's what
Coach Franklin had to say specifically to the game.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
Just too many moving parts with the staff and with
the players against a good team.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Too many moving.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Parts staff and players to have the type of success
that we wanted to have today. I won't get into
all the details. I thought the officiating was was less
than desirable.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah, I don't I don't know, kay, John. I thought
honestly that, like you said, we have some young guys
out there trying to make plays. Old Miss had a
lot of their veteran guys out there trying to win
a football game. And it's nice to go up against
SEC teams and you know, and and see what happens
coming up next year. As we know, we'll talk about
a little bit later. Man, it's gonna be a whole
different ball game when it comes to these playoffs. But
(11:02):
you know, when you got guys opting out because there's
nothing else to play for, and you got Old Miss
who brought all their guys and they all went out
there and played, it could be a difference out there,
you know. And then if you got a little coach things,
just a little help on the other side, the guys
with the stripes on. Uh, it was a perfect storm
to have a bad game. And that's what we had.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Yeah, as we know, those people in those stripes, those
almost like jail bars. Uh, then they're never they're never
gonna be right, and that's no. Unfortunately, that's a part
of the game. You know, if you're an Old Miss person,
the rest are great. You No, obviously on our side,
there's a lot of things we could complain about because
we lost. Unfortunately, that's you know, that's a part of
the game, and that's always going to happen until they
(11:40):
do some kind of replays, uh, some foreign fashion. I
think that's going to happen. But the key thing you
mentioned is say, yeah, Old Miss no credit to them
and their coach. They was able to get all their
players to uh playing the game, even though in yeah
running Back he transferred after the game. Uh out after
(12:02):
the game. But you know, you know, with us, you know,
we had some key guys and key positions that did
opt out and respect do I mean we talked of
it before. Well, we can't use as an excuse. And
if we're one of those type of programs, you know, obviously,
you know, when you get to those higher bowl games,
the people on the other side are good too, but
(12:23):
it's got to be the next man up and like
I said, we just looked flat the first drive. I
thought we were could come at it from a defense standpoint,
but from an office standpoint, we didn't look like we
had any pizazz or anything from the first step of
the ball.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, no doubt about it, man. I mean, it is
what it is. And you know, I just I just
want to see guys go out there and compete. At
times I didn't. I didn't feel that they were going
out there to compete. Man, anytime you be an opportunity
to play a game, a game we're talking about the game,
you know, you got to go out there and show
and prove and you know, and honestly, it's kind of
(13:00):
like a hell, you know, a glorified spring game for
these guys. Go out there and show what they're doing.
They can run into the spring season, off season with
a leg up. They go out there and play well
in those games. But I didn't see that type of
approach from a lot of guys. And you know what
I mean, we had a lot of things going on. Obviously,
we we'll talk about a little bit later too. You know,
Manny Diaz is not in there as a defense coordinator
(13:22):
for this one. We already changed offense coordinator midseason, making
another change in other positions. But you know, no excuses. Man,
go out there and you know, and you know and
perform like you're supposed to as a Penn stador in
Penn State uniform.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
No, I agree. I mean, it's just I guess nowadays
because with the playoffs, it's a little different. The bowl
luster has lost, as I guess, playing in a bowl
game has lost. As Lester, I just remember, no, like
you were saying before, I've always played on New Year's Day,
but just playing a bowl game it was fun to do.
It was something he had excited to do. One like
(13:59):
you were saying before, it's the end of the season,
like it helped propel you into the all season for
the winter conditioning and spring ball and going in and
give you conference in the next season. But now it's
almost like, yeah, well if you're not in the playoffs.
Everybody was like, man, I gotta play another game. Where
I was excited one, get to go to a warm climate. Well,
(14:21):
Atlanta's warm, but for the most part we go to
you know, for a week or two, go play in
a warm climate, get to go out socialized pretty girls,
ain't no, we ain't gonna lie on that and have
a little fun. And then you get to play against
a team that you might not always face and like
this was the SEC. Now. I remember when you was
(14:42):
a freshman. You know, they was talking about Tennessee this,
Tennessee that, and they never gave us any credit. And
then you molly waped them your freshman year. And then
the same thing my softomare when we played them in
the Citrus Bowl. We were at ten point underdogs and
it was like one of those things where you know
we had a little chip on the shoulder, but we
were excited to play, to go and try and prove ourselves.
(15:02):
Because now when it comes to a bowl game, you're
always on the national on on that TV. So these
kids for opting out or not excited to play. But
if you go out there and have a breakout game, one,
if you're coming back for the next year, it's gonna
help propel you and get your name out there for
next year. And if you're not coming back, well, we're
(15:24):
not going to have an outstanding game. So when you
go by, open up eyes from one of the pro
teams and then can help your draft status. So I
always look forward to bowl games and that was always
a goal mine. You know, what I decided was schools
to play for because I always knew that that we
always had a chance to play those big bowl games,
and that was the bowl season was a big part
(15:46):
of the college football tradition.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah, it really is, man, And these guys like you
talk about these opt outs. You know, not only get
some of these pro teams looking at you, but you
got some fan bases like saying, now I want that
kid on my team. I want that guy on my team.
And you know, all these these these websites are these
uh these uh you know, these these groups, these like
Penn State football groups, these people that are on like
(16:10):
social media. Hell, they started talking about a certain guy,
a certain player, and it gets exciting for everybody once
drafted comes around, like wow, you see they might not
have ever seen Top Robinson play and then he had
a chance to play. I'm not saying he shouldn't opt out.
I'm not That's not what I'm saying. But I'm just saying,
these guys get an opportunity to get everybody in every
city like fired up about the potential of them playing
(16:32):
for their professional team. So you know, those opportunities are
out there. But but I understand guys feel like they
can get it done. The off season workout program, combine
the individual workouts at Penn State. You know, that's that's
another thing. But I always thought it'd be great to
get one more time to showcase my talents in front
of a whole bunch of people. You know, injury, I'm
not you can't be worried about injury because that could
(16:52):
happen even in the off season program in my opinion.
But I'm not trying to tell anybody how to headle
their money. Right.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yeah, and with those ball games, you can have one
of those outstanding wild games, and that's gonna be something
that's always gonna be impregnated in somebody's mind when they're
thinking about when it comes into the draft. But no,
Nowaday got all these different bowl games, not bowl games,
but the like Senior Bowl. Now juniors be in it
and this and that, and maybe they're looking at opportunities.
(17:19):
And again, I'm not, like you said, I'm not knocking
anybody for what they're doing where I'm just saying how
these games can help propel a player to help raise
his stock potentially in those things. But we'll see what happens.
And like I said, hopefully it's a wake up call.
Sometimes with a bowl game we lose, you don't feel
(17:42):
as good. Like when we won Rose Bow last year.
We was feeling ourselves all Rose Bowl champs going to
the season. We had a great season ntil we lost
to Ohio State. But no, sometimes when you have a loss,
it kind of exposes some of your weaknesses and say, hey,
this is something we need to work on and hopefully
we get those things dress during the off season.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah, let's go to that real quick. Hey, let's talk
about how, you know, how we felt about the season
as a whole for Penn State. You know, he talked
about the you know, the Ohio State lost. Team was
off to a six and oh start until that game,
uh twenty to twelve defeat at Ohio State and then
the loss later to Michigan at home twenty four fifteen.
We're just unable to get over those two humps again, Bro,
and fantasy season ten and two? Does that work for you?
(18:26):
I mean it doesn't work for me, But does ten
and two? I get Ohio State. Obviously Michigan ends up
winning it all. Ohio State solid obviously a really good
team as well, but that ten and two it seems
like the Groundhog Day.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
For It's like a double edged stores like ten and
two is a good season, and probably ninety of the
programs out there would take ten and two all day.
And No, I kind of alluded in a couple of
podcasts before. It's obviously where we came from, unfortunately, what
(19:03):
the whole scandal in our program was. To where we
are now, it is good, and I mean even when
we played we went undefeated, and no, I think the tenant.
But the thing is the Tenant two this year just
seems different. It seems like a different Tenant two. I
don't I don't know. No, obviously we lost to the
(19:23):
National Chances Michigan kudos, but the thing is we had
the chance in those games to win it, you know,
and then obviously with a highest state, I mean, we
we we've been ssuking about that almost half the year
and we had We're right there, and it's like, okay,
you know, you got your elite teams. You know, there's
(19:45):
four or five six teams and we're like six and
a half, seven, eight, and we got to get to
get to that point. You got to overcome and you know,
and get one of those wins. And no, if you
tell me, okay, each year go ten to two, we're
gonna lose those teams. I said, almost like I'd rather
beat those teams and have it have a game we
(20:05):
lost to, like a Michigan State or something that we
got over confident or something and let it slip versus know,
them being our arch nemesis and you know they're always
beating us. Do want I consider the season of success
in one sense, yeah, I mean again, we were able
to get to a New Year six game. But me,
(20:27):
as a competitor and a alpha and use pretitor, was like, no,
I don't accept anything else besides going undefeated and the
fact that the games that we did lose, it wasn't
like we got blown out. We had great opportunities to
do so that is a is a frustrating part. So
it's kind of a hate to be politician on this,
(20:48):
but it's it's like a double sword. I feel you
being upset and not happy about the the season and
how it came out, but at the same time, it's
winning ten games. I don't care who you are, it's
a it's a compliment in itself.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yeah, it really is. Man, what were you what were
your biggest surprises this year? I mean I'm trying to think,
you know, my biggest surprise was, Yeah, I didn't know
how the young'ins would be. I didn't know how Drew
Allen would be. You know, I knew the running backs
is true freshman last year were gonna be pretty good.
But I thought for the most part they were. They
(21:25):
were solid and obviously just room to improve. Man, But
what were your biggest surprises this last year?
Speaker 3 (21:31):
I will say my biggest surprises is more of an
is forcunate to be more of a negative way that
our run game wasn't our line and a domination up
front wasn't as dominant as everybody said coming into the season. No,
we had a lot of returning starters, obviously a first
team All American and on tackle. But again I loot
(21:57):
every game. It just seems like we did not dominate
even it was like the inferior team. We didn't dominate
the line of scrimmagers like we were supposed to.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Right.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Yeah, it really show forward know in our progress as
an offense. So I think my biggest surprise is how well,
or how well we didn't dominate the line of scrimmage,
or how much our line didn't improve over the last
few years.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Yeah, that was truly, truly a disappointment, the inability to
get k Tron and Nick going. I mean, we had
very very few explosive plays compared to last year. Those
guys were, you know, breaking long runs all the time.
You know. As a matter of fact, we opened up
that West Virginia game with a seventy two yard bomb
to Country Lambert Smith, and I'm like, Okay, it's gonna
be an explosive year because you know, if we can
(22:47):
get that in the passing game. I knew the run
game would you know, would have some because of what
we experienced as those guys are true freshmen, right, But
that that never materialized, and it was weeks gets down.
It was weeks before we had another explosive play. I mean,
that was that was tough to deal with. Months Yeah
it went, Yeah, it was yeah, well you had them.
(23:08):
If you had up enough weeks, you can probably get
a couple of months out, you know what I mean. Yeah,
So what about Drew? What do you think about Drew
his first year as a you know, as a play call.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
W don't put you on the seat. What's your biggest surprise?
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Well, that that was it. I was on the same
thing with you, the fact that my biggest surprise was
also the disappointment that the run game never got going.
I thought, this is our best year as a run
team with those guys in that offensive line. This is
supposed to be the best offensive line since your team. Key,
that was that was not true. It did not It
did not happen that way. And what is it scheme?
(23:44):
Is it? Play call? Is the execution? But this is
supposed to be the most talented offensive line since you know,
you know, half the first round as you had on
your team. Yeah, I just thought it was. It was
just it was just frustrating because I thought that could
be our bread. We knew we had a great defense,
we had great backs. He had a young quarterback. That's
the recipe for a successful season in college football, and
(24:05):
it didn't materialize that right, and.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Push him to shove rely rely on those big road
graders up front until Drew and the quarterback in the
passing game can pick up. Uh no, they're they're head
of steam. So yeah, all right, so we're on the
same pacin.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well, if you had to pick an
offensive m v P, then key, because you have to
pick one and we have a banquet at the end
of the year. Who who would have been?
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Had many diz.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Offensive I'll tell you mine first and you can think
about yours. I think our offensive MVP is definitely Drew Aller.
You know, it's a true sophomore season. I thought the
solid numbers didn't do anything crazy good. But at the
(24:57):
same time though that the experiences out there, he didn't
really uh, he didn't do anything spectacular. But who else
would you pick on offense other than Drew Allen when
you're thinking about the offense side of football. I mean
he and I just look forward to seeing what he
does in the next year. So I think the growth
that he had, you know, being the first time starter
obviously in big time football, Drew had to be the
(25:20):
guy that I would choose our offensive MVP. What about you,
that's a that's.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
A good valid point. Was Yeah, Now after you came
up with your nice soliloquy.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Oh soliloquy, that's a big word, like Ray would say,
like man.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
I would say, Drew, I mean, and I guess we
will talk about the minute, but it's not notice But
I'm not saying y'all say he's an MVP, but it's
not saying much because if you look at his stats,
it wasn't like, oh my gosh, man, he did crazy
number yards, crazy number touchdowns, this and that. But like
you said, the one thing as a quarterback it's very
(25:58):
important you want your quarterback to do is don't turn
over the ball. One thing he did do I would
have to admit and kudos to him, is he did
a great job of not trying to force things. Sometimes
he did, but for the most part, don't try to
force things to create a turnover and always protect the
ball to give us more opportunities to score. So I
(26:20):
I like that. I like Drew as your MVP. I
like that.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Well, you know he went twelve and two's you know
in his first year as a regular season starter. You know,
only a couple of people have a record, you know,
you know what your record was at Penn State as
a because you don't really have one. Right, we have records,
but they're not individual to us. But quarterbacks have an
individual record. Head coaches have an individual record. So to
(26:46):
go ten and two basically in his first start ten
and three after the bowl game. That's a pretty good
start to a career, man. So that's that's the one
thing I would say about what Drew did. He was
he was a game manager. I expect to and we'll
talk a little bit more about the changes on offense
coming up, but I expect him to get even better
and better, you know, in his junior year, and then
(27:07):
hopefully we get him for a senior year and he'll
be even better. So that's that's my What about a
defensive side, key, who do you think defensive MVP of
this year was? I'll give you mine again if you
want me to. You want me to give you mine first,
and then you can go from there.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
I mean, you're the older statement, you the o G
So go ahead, man.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Well, my defensive MVP is Chop Robinson. And you can
tell when Chop was hurt how our defense wasn't as good.
And you can tell in that bowl game how our
defense wasn't as good. And you can tell that this
guy's gonna be a Day one or Day two draft
pick in the NFL because he brought something special to
the football field when he wasn't there and you look
(27:46):
at some of the games. We watch some games, I mean,
he's getting some double teams or they're they're running away
from him, they're trying to they're trying to they're scheming
against a guy like top Robinson. That tells you how
valuable he is for a defense.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
Yeah, I like that one. I'm a couple different one,
but I agree with Chopp obviously when he got knocked,
uh sorry, but we got missed a couple of games.
It was a concussion, you definitely can see, but there
was some guys behind him, No that was there. But
he is definitely explosive, and that dude's like he is
(28:20):
like a little pit bull, explosive, relentless. He's gonna be
a good pro. Oh good pro. He's gonna be in
there for a long time. I was to go over
that dude, Carter. I like that because I mean, and.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
No bias there at all.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Right, all right, but I know it's funny I speaking
to him going back when we're talking about old miss.
You can see how much effect he has on the
field when he played when he's healthy, and I thought
we kind of did a disservice to him and to
the defense when we let him stay in the old
(29:00):
miss game because he could barely walk now. Correct to him,
he wanted to be out there with his guys and
try to play all his can. But I just think
his limitations from his ankle really was, you know, kind
of hurting the team. But when you see him at
his full he could do everything. He he can do everything,
and he's everywhere around the ball and people people have
(29:24):
to scheme against him, and he's able to cover a
lot of field. And so I would say my m
VP would probably be him because of how he was
able to influence and change the game and be relentless
and being around a lot of times, almost like Micah
no uh no when he's at Penn Staateium even like
(29:46):
in the pros. He's always around the ball, always around
the ball. And that's that's what you want to see
from your uh from your one of your top players
on the defense.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Yeah, I feel on that. That's why that won two
points was so impressive for us. Man and you can
tell that, you know, Manny Diaz when he was making
those calls. Man, trust those guys get out there and
make a lot of things happen, and they definitely did.
Man and that leads me to my next point, like,
you know what really defined what really defined this past season, man,
(30:21):
And one thing that I would say is that defense
was so good, but the offense just could not hold up.
It's into the bargain at times. You know, they hold
Ohio State to you know, the twenty points and we
scored twelve. You know, field goals, field goals, field good,
whatever it might have been we were doing. Then, you
know you said it earlier, our defense. Our offense didn't
(30:43):
give the defense the chance, honestly to get any rests.
Look in the Michigan game, you know, they were worn out,
and the Michigan just kept wearing them out, you know,
running the ball through the ball one time, got a
pass interference in the second half, and then it ran
at the rest of the time. But the offense couldn't
couldn't do anything to match that stuff. So I think
that you know what defiance the team for me is
(31:04):
that the defense I thought was outstanding, the offense did
not hold up there end of the bargain, and that
it showed in those big games.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
No, I agree, And again for like a broken record
and guy getting flowers of defense this whole year, our
defense was our best offense, and I'm gonna keep it
one hundred is I mean, if you look at every
game throughout the season, No, West Virginia is pretty good.
But our defense was able to get our offense short
(31:35):
fields by either turnovers or three and outs and pushing
people back. But they gave our offense every opportunity to
go out there and be successful. You know, very rarely
did you see like our offense say, you know what,
We're gonna take the ball from our twenty and drive
eighty yards and you know, do like a three minute,
four or five minutes drive or I mean, or even
(31:57):
just a exposive play like I said, we have those. No,
every time that we scored, I'm not saying every time,
but a lot of times when we scored, it was
because of a turnal for the defense, and next thing,
you know, we're a short side of field, and it's
just unfortunate because it's like one of those things, like
God Lee, if we even had like a smidgeon of
(32:18):
what our defense was doing where we could be at
because they did play so well to sometimes you know,
the lines that things don't align perfectly at the right moment,
and we had a great defense. Our offense was, like
you said, right racist Mayonn's is playing like mayonnaise. But
(32:41):
we wasn't excited. We didn't have no big plays, exposive plays,
and those are the type of things that you need
to propel yourself to that next level because when you
play those High States and Michigans, everybody's gonna butt heads.
But who is at one person or where is that
one play where you can have that forty yr game
or staying eight a long drive of twelve play seventy
(33:05):
five yards to help change the time, possession and uh
and the momentum the game to do that, And we didn't.
We didn't have that.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Yeah, yeah, no doubt about it. Well, definitely didn't have that.
And you know, looking forward to changing that around a
little bit next year too, you know, to see what happens.
So speaking of next year, man, you know, we talked
about a few guys that opted out and are headed
to the NFL. What are your expectations and hopes from
next year? I mean, based on some of the returning
(33:36):
players and staff, we should be in pretty good shape.
I mean, we did really well in the in the
transfer portal, you know, getting the likes of you know,
Julian Fleming from Ohio State, you know, needed to you know,
playmaker wide receiver because we didn't have that. We also
added Nolan Roucci, you know, big offensive line for Wisconsin.
You know I played with his dad, Todd.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
I did too when I was a fresh.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Yeah, barely barely. Yeah, I about to say very I
just think that, you know, what we did in the
transfer portal is what we needed, you know, bringing some
guys in there to help out in some places that
were losing guys in the draft. Penn State, you know,
they they're okay a lot of times in portal, but
I thought this time they did a hell of a job.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
Yeah. I mean, if you look at one, uh like it.
We'll talk about the portal first. I mean the people
you brought in. One character guys, I mean like Rouchie.
His dad played there, and I think he would probably
would have came there the first time, but he was
I think he's a little salty because his brother didn't
get recruited.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Who was he went to be with his brother Wisconsin.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
He's a legacy guy, four or five star, uh, you know,
a great player coming from a good program Wisconsin. And
then Fleming obviously player of the year in Pennsylvania, I
think the top receiver in the country. And it's between
us in a high state. And I can understand, you know,
beyond I love my school, but I mean, look at
(34:57):
the track record of High Saints put out in receivers.
So he said, you know what, I want to go
there because he wants to propel himself to try to
get to the next level. But having those two guys
can instantly create aspart because one is respect. Everybody knows
who those players are because they come from good programs
and they were good players at those programs and the
programs that they played for. So if they see certain
(35:19):
work ethics, there are certain things I thinks will help guys,
you know something. They might flip a switch on some
guys to do so. But if you look at the
college game for me, and then obviously let me know
your thoughts, every team that was in the playoffs, besides
I guess Alabama, they all have returning quarterbacks from the
(35:44):
year before and they and they and were good.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
You know.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
McCarthy from Michigan, Poenix from Wisconsin, Viewers from Texas so
and the track workers of all the past champions and
good teams. They've allays have returning starters. Very rarely you
see like a new guy come in and play, well, well,
now we have Drew and sometimes you forget, Okay, he's young,
(36:10):
he's a sophomore, but you know you expect him to
be great and do this and that. But now say, hey,
you know what, he has a year under his belt.
He kind of has the system. Well, there'd be a
new system, but just the facer game people, hasta environments,
be in front of our stands, our crowd. He knows
(36:32):
what expects now. So now he's gonna take the next step.
And when you always can have a returning starter, that's
gonna give confidence to your team too, because now it's
gonna make that team much better. So I'm excited. I mean,
if you always have a cowbird like him, you always
have your returning quarterback, because now he's gonna be able
to look at and say, look, maybe I didn't extend
(36:54):
plays enough, I didn't run the ball enough. Now if
I do those do that in these type of situations,
I can help out my team too. So he can
hold some accountability and then the younger guys can see
him as a leader too, coming to next season. So
I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
To it.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
The OC from Kansas, Uh look at what Kansas. The
ain't been the tourists for football. And he was able
to really develop and get a lot out of his
players from an offense standpoint at Kansas. So you got that,
and then you got coach Allen from Indiana form a
head coach. You can get a lot of out a
(37:33):
lot of effort out of his kids too on the
defensive side. So I think it's a great opportunity to
play college playoff is a whole different setup.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Now.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
It's almost like, no, just get the top ten and
you're in. But we don't want I don't want to
think like that. But I think it's gonna do added
motivation for a lot of kids because, like I said,
once you get in and you can get to those
top twelve spots, anything can happen.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Yeah, no doubt about it. You talk about that turnover man,
you know, talk about Tom Allen, you talk about Andy.
I want to I don't mess the name of Colton
Nikki offense coordinator, Tom Allen defense coordinators replacing Manny Diaz.
He did an incredible job, and of course the announcement
of Justin Lustig takes over as the special teams coordinator.
A lot of toneover around there, A lot of times.
(38:23):
You know, people want your coach. I mean, something's going
right in your coaching staff. Of course, an offense was
a different story. We were replacing guys, but you bringing
in new guys because other teams want your old guys,
which is a a what is a good thing? Man?
You mentioned a little bit key about you know, the
new playoffs has been coming out, but you know it's
gonna be a new era in Big ten uh in
twenty twenty four. I mean there's a hell of a
(38:45):
shake up getting you know, getting rid of the divisions completely,
adding USC, U c l A, Washington, Oregon. I mean,
we won't have Michigan this year, but we will get
Ohio State, Washington, U c l A at home, and
now you USC on the road. I mean, it's no
easy's sledding when it comes to this. Man, and you
talked about the new twelve team playoffs system, I mean
I expect us to make the dance? Could John? Even
(39:08):
with this schedule and all these great teams coming in,
I expect us to make the dance. And of course
I'm saving my pennies as we speak, and I'm counting
them over here. I got seventy five. I got a
little I got a little work to do before I
can get my ball money together because I expect to
go to at least two games. Could John at least two?
Speaker 3 (39:24):
Yeah, I mean there's a lot of play. Yeah. The
new setup of the Big Ten is obviously had no divisions.
Everybody just play each other. It just sucks because obviously,
you know us growing in a Big ten country and
obviously pass being in the Big ten for the last
thirty years almost I can't believe.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Say that it's about there's thirty Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
Playing certain teams and you know, playing a high state Michigan,
we're always in the Satan division. That's not gonna happen
every year. You might play Michigan one year. You won't
play a HoTT eight. You might play Highset one year,
but you want to play Michigan. So that's gonna be
get something used to. But like I said, the addition
of the teams that are coming from the West Coast,
it's gonna be very interesting because you know, obviously usc
(40:14):
NO had a subpar year, but you know the first
half year they were clicking, and then obviously injuries and
things happen, and U c l A is always formidable
and Oregon no year and year out doing it. And
then Washington was in the Corse Playoff and Oregon got
knocked out because from Washington. It's gonna be interesting to see.
(40:35):
But at the same time, I'm excited because obviously we
always say like the other division of the Big Ten
was always easy, where Iowa and Wisconsin and Nebraska and
all them. That seemed like that was the easier division
versus our side. So now it's kind of free for
all and it's just the best records, well, we'll go
play each other. So I liked the round robin in
(40:59):
that sense, and it's excited. It's almost seemed like the
playoffs this year is gonna be either the Big Ten,
the SEC or the Big twelve because all the teams,
all the schools are going there.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Right right, Well, it's going It's crazy that you see
those teams we just talked about coming in and all
of them are losing quarterbacks, USC and Williams bow Knicks
out of Oregon and of course Pennis out of Washington.
I mean, that's not a good time. To be trying
to join the big ten. But hey, come on, come
on in with some first year starters at quarterback, we'll
(41:30):
take it. We'll take it all. When we got a
third year starter when it comes to Drew Aller. So
it's it's all good, it's all good, man, All right,
keep now, let's get up out of here. Keep man,
it's been a pleasure this whole year. Man, it's so
much fun. I'm gonna thank you. Take what's that? Yeah,
I hope. So I'm just gonna say that, man, you know,
thank you, and thank LeVar and Veto and Ryan and
(41:51):
of course Seth for we had a fun ass season man,
And like you just said, let's be sure to do
it again next year.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
Yeah. Like I said, I'm just gonna put uh to
speak on top of what you just said. It's like, no,
thanks to everybody levard opportunity to give us a platform
to talk and veat on and Ryan you know, holding
my hand and helping us out with the rundowns and
and everything and the juice. You know, you as be brilliant. Know,
I love you, and I also you did a great
job hosting and you know spearheading, you know, each week
(42:21):
and uh make it easy for me to just sit
back and just really talk the game. So I appreciate you,
uh uh doing this. And obviously you're family me, so
I enjoyed talking talking to my family, uh, speaking about
the teams.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
That we love.
Speaker 3 (42:37):
So it's it was easy and I loved it.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Yeah. And of course, man, we want to thank all
you for joining us on the We Are Key and
Juice podcast and please please please check out Have You
Value United website. This nil stuff is real, man. We
need everybody's help, and you know, and securing some of
these great athletes, these great student athletes there, they're not
just athletes, but the student athletes. And you know, we
could have had NIL deals coming out Key, we'd have
(43:02):
been a lot happier in college and we'd have been
a lot more Well I don't know how much more
successful you could have been being the number one overall pick,
but that's a whole different story, you know what I mean,
uh huh. But we do check it out, man, and
see how much you can contribute. If it's just five
dollars a dollar, whatever it might be, Man, contribute to
the nil These kids need it. I know I needed it.
Ka JOHNA. Needed it, and uh, it's tough for us
(43:25):
to compete to Johanna until we can, you know, anting
up because a lot of a lot of these other
schools are adding enough for these kids. And I get it.
They have such hardships that they have to make a
financial decision over football and educational decisions.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
Sometimes we got two ways. Either you could complain about
it and people keep on moving forward, or you join,
You join the pack, And I get it. I can
see why people disappointed, upset in this. Why why why?
But it is what it is. It's here, and you
got to adapt. And just like with everything, just like
with the cars back in the day or iPhone with
(43:59):
tech analogy, you gotta adapt. And this is the way
college sports is going, not one just football, but college
sports in general. And if we want our program, football
program and our school programs because have Valu United is
all our all our sports, Uh, we gotta you know,
we gotta do it. Adapt and just show your support.
(44:21):
And like you said, any way you can it's time,
or if it's just five hours a month or whatever
it is, it is, it's gonna help and it wants
to help out the kids. But then at the same time,
you help out a program and really show your loyalty
to the school.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
Yeah enough saying right there, big homie, I mean I
appreciate it exactly. That's exactly what it is.
Speaker 4 (44:41):
Man.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
With that, we're gonna get up out of here. Yeah
you know, but you always say he is Carter and
I am O. J McDuffie because we are Penn State.
I love it all day, every day, all day, every
day with you guys.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
Next year, so yeah, puck pop dock, put pup tuck
tuck tup.
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