The Kyle Bailey Show: Ryan McGee

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Well, it was a rather tame Week two in college football,
certainly relative to Week one, but some great storylines still,
some really fun games, and we got coaches squarely on
the hot seat after a couple of upsets. We got
to talk about it all and Denny Hamlin's win out
in Saint Louis with our good friend and weekly conversation
Ryan McGee of ESPN, senior writer one half of Marty

(00:36):
and McGee. We got to talk about his Lane Kiffin
piece as well the documentary. We got to talk about that.
Ryan McGee is back with us on the hotline for
his Tuesday conversation, Ryan, I appreciate brother, I appreciate you.
How are you this week?

Speaker 2 (00:49):
I'm good. Yeah, I was just I mean recorded the
tradition for this week's Coyle of Game Day SA and
and it's week three. I feel like it's sneaked up
on us, right, I mean we're already, I mean we're
almost three games into this thing. If your Week zero team,
you're already three games into the season. And that's just

(01:10):
Tom is flying. But it's been two great weeks, so
let's get it up. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
No, you're making me sad as you say that, because
it sneaks up on us every single year. But hey,
just SEC related a good good ways from home. But
obviously it impacts the national picture and you cover the
SEC quite closely. Billy Napier and the Gators upset this
week by a very good USF team. We've learned that
at this point, but we understand what the expectations are
in Florida. I was a huge Billy Napier fan a

(01:36):
couple of years ago when he got hired there. I
wanted him in Blacksburg, full disclosure, but I did think
he would work out in Florida. Not working out right now,
and I believe they faced top sixteen teams in the
rankings each of the next four weeks. How does this
end and why did that happen over the weekend?

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Well, I don't I think the end is inevitable and
I don't think it's I don't think it's right and Honeso.
I don't think it's fair, you know, so I think
people don't. They do not understand what a disaster Billy
took over that. You know, my former coworker Dann mang
left for him. It was a mess. And last year

(02:13):
we Marty m McGee and SEC Nation in Gainesville week
one in week three, and they lost both of those
games Miami and Texas A and M and I I mean,
we had to go to dinner at that Larry Director's
house on a Friday night, and all those boosters were like, well,
if we lose A and M he'll be out Monday.
We'll have Lane Kiffin here by any the next week.
And then what Billy did was he lost that game,

(02:35):
but he ended up having a great season. And I'll
say this too, it was disappointing the way they lost
because it was two personal fouls. You know, the spit
gets to the headlines, but it was two personal fouls
on that last drive that kept USF moving. But us
that's also really good. I mean they're two for two
now playing talk twenty five teams. Boys State was in

(02:56):
playoff last year, got to buy and they lost, you
know to USTEF and now USF could beat Miami this weekend.
So it was a wasn't as bad a loss as
it looked like. It just was an ugly loss. And
the problem is Florida's schedule is ridiculous, and so you're
exactly right, I don't I don't know that Billy can
get out of this. I've known Billy since is a

(03:17):
quarterback at Ferman. He's a great human being. He'll be
fine whether he stays at Florida or whether he moves
on somewhere else. But it's just tough to watch because
I like him personally. Yeah, And you.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Know I mentioned a second ago that I wanted him
in Blacksburg a couple of years ago. I want to
go there for a second because I know you've been
there a lot. We talked about your relationship with Shane
last week. You understand the place I really was rooting
for Brent Prye. I liked the guy a lot. I
wanted it to work out. I think he's a great
human he recruits pretty well, he gets the place. I
think he badly wants to deliver. But I mean his
record in one score games, trailing going into the fourth quarter,

(03:52):
all of it, and then after being dismantled in the
second half by Vanderbilt a couple of nights ago. Ryan,
I don't take any joy in saying this, but I'm
left with no evidence that Brent Price is a good
head football coach. And I think you know we're on
a very loud ticking clock until he's removed from his post.
What do you think about what Vanderbilt did to them
in the second half on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
No, I just was saying, I think, I think Diego Pobby,
this should be on everyone's highs and short list. And
so to get run over by him is I mean,
he did at Alabama last year. But I'm with you,
and you sound you know who you sound like. You
sound like Marty Smith because Marty, you know Marty, Marty
grew up in in in you know, Western Virginia. Yeah, yeah,

(04:32):
he's He's a hokey throw and through you know, he
talks about it all the time. You know, on our
SEC show we had Pride, we had Brent Prye on
Marty McGee just a couple of weeks ago. And I'm
with you. I love him and no one loves the
place more than he does. And I love the fact
that he told us the story about the desk that
he has. That's Frank Biemer's desk. And whenever Coach Biemer

(04:54):
comes by to see him, which is at least once
a week, he said, he just gets up and says,
coach you on instead at your desk. That's how much.
He loves the place and he was there for the
glory days. But it's tough, man, because it's it's it's
a program that's struggling, and it was struggling before he
got there. And I think they're still kind of trying
to find their way on a lot of things. And

(05:15):
and I think Brent, unfortunately is I'm with you. It
feels like they should be more over the hump than
they are, and everybody up there is getting pretty impatient. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
Ryan McGee with us on the hotline is weekly Tuesday conversation.
What did you make of the way Clemson looked against
Troy on Saturday with a rain delay in the middle
and all the Dabo said after the fact, but also
with this Georgia Tech and presumably a healthy Haines King
coming up this weekend.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Well, I mean, I guess the question is, you know,
you know, what do we like? What's the grading scale?
Because it's the grading scales that whatever that was that
Debo handed us the week before about fifty eights and
sixties and may Brian Kelly so mad. You know, then
it's then you know, I guess they get like a
twenty five. But you know, but it's the great go Listen,
the same thing happened in Columbia between the rain and

(06:04):
the delay and all those things that happened to so
many games throughout the Southeast. It was a lethargic, feeling game.
And you know South Conin did the same thing with
South Krona State. It just it was hard to get going.
But that being said, it didn't look very inspired. I
don't think that really affects how Clemson's going to be
ready this weekend. I think that they, you know, they

(06:25):
would treated Troy like a bye week, and they should have,
but they need to be careful because I think Georgia
Tech is a wrecking ball team. I don't believe that
they're good enough to win the Atlantic Coast Conference, but
they are certainly good enough to ruin it for a
bunch of other people. And so yeah, I'm with you.
If if the guy, if the man is healthy, then
they were gonna be tough anyway, but I think they're

(06:47):
particularly gonna be tough now because they're kind of feeling
themselves down at Atlanta right now.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
How surprised are you if at all that Joey Aguilar
has gotten off to the start that he's gotten off
to in Tennessee. That kid is quickly becoming a fan
favorite down there.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
You know, I was in the building in Knoxville back
in April, and it was right after all that went
down with the spring game where or you know, Nico
was gone, and you know that they're in the locker
room before the game and coaches, hey, by the way,
quarterback's gone. But talking to the people in the building

(07:20):
all summer long about Aguilar and about him his preparation
and about the way he plays. And let's talking to
the guys at that state. They were all like, listen,
if they let him do his thing, he's going to
be great. And he looks like a guy that's been
handed a ferrari. And the reality is, I like Nico personally.
I think that he learned from what happened. Every time

(07:42):
I ever had a conversation with him, I liked him
a lot, But al Lark's better than he was. The
reality of Nico was was that when he looked great,
he looked great, but most of the time he looked
pretty pedestrian. And I thought that Tennessee succeeded, you know, honestly,
in spite of Nico A lot of times. Last year
they had the best running back in the in my opinion,
and so that's why they play as well as they did.

(08:03):
So I think it's great. I'm not I'm not surprised
based on what the people at app State told me
and what the people in Knoxville were telling me. But
I am surprised that it's happened as quickly as it has.
And he better be on it this weekend because the
Bulldogs are playing angry and uh and they also have
won eight in a row against Tennessee. I'm so old
when I was in school at Tennessee. We're in the

(08:25):
middle of a nine year winning streak against or against Georgia,
and now Georgia has a chance to tie what was
the what is the longest winning streak in the history
of that series.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
Looking ahead to this weekend a little bit, Alabama Wisconsin,
What what does that matchup look like to you? Wisconsin
comes into and Oh, I still think Alabama's got the
better players and the better roster, but I don't know.
I don't know what that means going into this week
as Kaylyn debor figured some things out or are they
in trouble this weekend.

Speaker 2 (08:52):
I talked to those guys middle of last week and
they were not concerned. Like you know, sounded like coach speak.
And I like Kaylin a lot, but a lot of
times everything that he says sounds like coach speak. But
I believed him when he said, listen, that was learning experience.
Our goal now is to never play that lethargic again.

(09:12):
They certainly didn't last weekend. I mean, they weren't playing
against a top opponent. But it's funny because I was
talking Marty about this earlier. Alabama Wisconsin is the non
sexiest sexy game this weekend, you know what I mean,
Like nothing on paper years guy, I mean it's Wisconsin.
It's kind of a story of was Consint football, which
is like, you know, all they ever do is win

(09:33):
nine games a year and play on New Year's Day,
but no one really clamors to watch them, right, And
I think that Alabama has a chance to make a
statement if they take care of what I think is
a pretty good Wisconsin team. Again, I don't know that
Wisconsin can win Big Ten, but I think they can
certainly be in a position to play in the championship game,
and they can be in a position to ruin it
for someone else, and if Alabama beats them and Wisconsin's

(09:58):
big and strong and physical, kind of setting the tone
for further SEC schedule.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
What did you make of, speaking of Alabama your college
game day colleague, Nick Saban, What did you make of
his comments late last week about the SEC losing its
geographic advantage in recruiting because of the NIL and the
Big Ten's ability to outspend that conference. Now for some
of these recruits, your thoughts on that?

Speaker 2 (10:20):
Now, Listen, you look at the rosters of the Ohio
State team that won the national championship and the Michigan
team that won the National championship, and you know who
do you see? I mean, you see all these guys
that weren't just recruited out of Florida and out of
Georgia and out of Louisiana. They played football at universities

(10:40):
in those states and then transferred. I mean, you know
I was I'm always on the field during the postgame
celebration in the National championship game last year. And there's
there's Quinton Junkins that I hadn't talked to sisters at
old myth and he's a hero in the nation championship
game and so and you know, he grew up in
Atlanta and played at Old Myth and everybody believed he

(11:01):
was gonna be an All SEC running back. He went
to a highest state because it gave a lot of money,
and guess what he got a ring. So I don't
think that sav savings usually not wrong, and I don't
think he's wrong about that, And so the question is
how do you counter that? And you know, I think
about Jim Harball taking Michigan on his shirtless, you know,

(11:21):
carpetbager tour, remember that where he was doing all these
camps and all the Southern states and all and stuff.
Everybody kind of made fun of it. But next thing,
you know, you take the momentum of that and add
it to nil, and we all kind of rolled our eyes, like, okay, Harball,
good luck with this. Totally worked. So, yeah, you you
got to figure out a way to a get the
money to spend, which they have. But b the days

(11:45):
of just when I played high school baseball, our coach
once said we were playing the defending state champions, and
he said, we're not just going to lay down because
they throw their jocks on the field, which is a
really crude way of saying. You can't just show up
and be the guy and just expect everybody to not
pay attention. So just showing up and saying I'm Georgia,
I'm Alabama, I'm Tennessee, and you play in Memphis, in

(12:08):
Atlanta and Florida. You know whatever, If Ohio State shows
up and they hand me a check for eight hundred
thousand dollars, I'm going to Columbus.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
I played with you in a media softball game a
couple of years ago. You're pretty good. What position did
you play in high school?

Speaker 2 (12:22):
I was an outfielder, and I was a left handed
pitcher who had natural fastball movements but did not have
a lot of natural curveball movement. So that was a problem.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
Oh as a left to you, I can see that.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
All right.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
Let's go back to the weekend real quick. In Saint Louis,
Denny Hamlin got a big win, a couple of really
timely pit stops overtakes Brad Kazlowski on the restart, fifty
ninth career win for Denny Hamlin. Of course, there's a
lot of talk about the next gen Carr and the
lapse lad and everything else once again. But your thoughts
on Denny Hamlin's win Sunday.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Man, that's really inconvening you from NASCAR, isn't it. It's just,
you know, it's one of the I cannot wait for
us to get like five years down the road to
look back on this charter thing and the lawsuits and
all that, and and Denny Hammlon continues to win, and
the reality is he is in such rarefied air. You

(13:17):
you hit fifty wins, you are next level. You hit
sixty wins, you you whatever is above Mount Rushmore is
where you're headed. And so for what he's done, I
don't care if he want a championship or not. But man,
if he were to win the championship in November and
they're going back to Homestead and do it in the

(13:37):
middle of all this that's going on with the lawsuit
and Michael Jordan and all that other stuff, it would
be I'm already working on my treatment for a thirty
for thirty.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
Oh man, all right, I love it. By the way,
did you killed the Lane Kiffin thing? Just before I
let you go? I encourage everybody to go watch it.
But what if, folks, is there something that you learned
about him, or you do something you think folks should
know about Lane Kiffin that we don't already know.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah, and what would drop was the trailer. I mean,
you don't even know. I was actually on a meeting today.
The one hour documentary premieres on the twenty fourth September
on ESPN, and it's yeah, you know, I've known Lane
since we were kids when his dad, Monty Kiffin, which
is a big part of the peace, when his dad,
Money Kiffin, was at mc state. You know, I grew
up in Raleigh and my dad was an a STC referee,

(14:23):
couldn't work state games because we lived in Raleigh, and
so my brother and I would play like pick up
football with Lane Kiffin and the other coaches kids, and
he's calling DPIs and holding and all this stuff. And
fast forward twenty years. My brother caught it because I
think that little Malley, six year old from Empty State
just got the Raiders job. And so I've known Lane
a long time. But I think that what people are

(14:43):
going to learn about him, and this is kind of
the name of the show is the many lives of
Lane Kiffin. He's not the guy you think he is now.
He was the guy you thought he was at Tennessee
and at USC and you know, when he was getting
chewed out by saving and even when he first started
the job at all Miss. But he's fifty years old
now and he has evolved as a person. And so

(15:05):
what's going to be interesting now is to see if
the perception of him evolves. And you know, based on
the reaction to the trailer, people still really don't like him.
So I'm curious to see how they feel when they
watch the whole one hour documentary. I take it back.
They either really don't like him or they really really
love him. Yeah, And so I'm curious to see what
people's perception is why when they watched the whole show.

(15:29):
But he the interview we did with him was that
was That was a good interviews I've ever been a
part of in my career. So I'm excited to work
to get out there.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah, the trailer's awesome. Rian McGee, ESPN Senior writer. You
can see him on College Game Day SEC Nation. Of course,
his colleague and our buddy Roman Harper back tomorrow for
his Wednesday conversation, and he told me to tell everybody
he did not duck us. Last week because of the
Alabama loss, So I forgot to mention that.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
Ryan.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
I appreciate you, buddy. Fans love you, We appreciate your time.
We'll talk to you next week.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
Hey, ask Harp about him leading yoga.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
Oh I saw, dude, I saw the It was incredible.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
No no, no, no no. It was all these ladies,
all these co eds from Missouri were doing downward Dog.
And I look and there's there's Rose Harp leading the class.
That you need to ask him about that. Tell him.
Make sure you say I said to ask him about it.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
Oh listen, I laughed at him. I saw the video.
I sent him a message laughing at him. It was amazing. Ryan,
Thank you, brother. We'll talk to you next week.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Appreciate it. Thanks