November 25, 2024 • 35 mins
This week on Weekend Warriors, Anish and Tom praise how Bryce Young responded to being benched, highlight Young's terrific performance against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, recap the craziness that ensued in college football on Saturday and so much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Weekend Warriors up to episode thirteen an e Shrof Tom
Logan bill. This one almost never made it on the air.
We had this radical idea we would start the show
and start the taping fifteen minutes earlier, and producer Matt
Hogan was on the group chat with us and then
wildly just disappeared.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I mean literally, I thought I always put a bolo
out on him.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Started getting alerts on my phone.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yeah, me too. Next thing, you know, there's a digital
thing over a freeway overpass saying look for this license plate.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
People don't use milk cartons anymore, but if they still
Either way, we found Matt.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
We can start the show, Ladies and gentlemen the Weekend.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Close to the episode talk by Feeling Touchdown Carolina.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Weekend Warriors, Lucas.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I'm gonna kind of go a little round about here
because we'll start with the Panthers and the Chiefs. An
incredible game on Sunday and really a growth moment I
thought for a quarterback, a team in a franchise. But
sometimes the way we view football, it's so skewered by hyperbole.
When you look at baseball, the best team every year
(01:11):
loses sixty games right, the best team in baseball were
to lose to the worst team three out of ten times,
you don't bat an eyelash.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
In the NBA, they play an eighty two game regular season,
and over the course of eighty two games, if the
worst team has an off shooting night or the best
team as an off shooting night, yeah, they get got
by a bad team or a mediocre team.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
It happens. And because the sample.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Size is so large, you just sort of accept it. Yeah,
that's going to happen over the course of a long season.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
But when it.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Comes to football college NFL got a twelve game regular
season in one sport, seventeen in another. Are reactions to
wins and losses? There is no nuance to it. We
always just push it to the extreme.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Why because there are so few opportunities in this sport
each and every weekend. There's only what twelve opportunities in
the sport of college football, okay, And the margin of
error is razor thin, and so a loss can become
(02:28):
ridiculously over magnified. While the win doesn't seem to create
the same attention, it doesn't seem to carry as much weight.
And I don't know why that is, but I do
believe it's the select number versus the NBA, Major League
Baseball as you reference. I mean, even in the National
(02:49):
Football League, you have so few teams and the talent
level and the discrepancy is all about the quarterback position.
And so I think what we do is we have
knee jerk reactions. We become prisoners of a moment, and
then we immediately dismiss a team's ability to just have
(03:10):
an off day to respond the next week. We think
the sky is falling, especially in college football if somebody loses,
because you're looking at it from such a perspective of
we couldn't afford to do that, and in you in
what you're talking about with baseball and basketball, they can.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Because you play the next day, or yes, keep a
day and then you play two days later.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I say that because I was thinking of a great
line from the pilot episode of Breaking Bad. Matt goe ahead,
play the clip.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Chemistry is the study of matter, but I prefer to
see it as the study of change. Not just think
about this electron.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
They change their energy levels.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Molecules change their bonds, elements they combine and change into compounds. Well,
that's that's all of life, right. I mean, it's just
it's the constant, it's the cycle. It's solution, this solution,
just over and over and over. It is growth, then decay,
(04:21):
then transformation.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
When you hear that, I think of the arc of
Let's take the Panthers season. Got a new coach, you
got a new GM. Dan Morgan was the assistant GM
promoted but his first time as at GM. Ice Young
is going in a year two. Everybody feels good in
July and August that this thing is going to be better. Hey,
(04:43):
it can't get worse than two and fifteen, and you
feel that there's real growth. The starters don't play for
much of the preseason. The one drive they play against Buffalo,
they look pretty good, even though it was the Buffalo
backups who were in there, right, and people are genuinely
excited about the season. They look at the first ten
games before the bye week and you say, that's a
(05:05):
manageable schedule. The month of October, you're playing three rookie quarterbacks.
There's a chance here to make some Hey, if Bryce
can get better and the offensive line should be improved,
then the first two games happen. So you go from
that growth to decay, and you lose thirty seven to
ten in the opener, a game that's over after one quarter.
Bryce Young, on the first offensive snap of the season,
(05:28):
throws an interception. Right the following week against the Chargers,
you'll lose twenty six to three. Everybody is questioning the coach,
everybody is questioning the roster construction. Brice is a bust.
He's done. It's catastrophic. And then week three happens, Andy
Dalton comes in. They go to Las Vegas. Well, hold
(05:49):
on a second, hey, wait a minute, there might be
something here, what's going on?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
And Dalton saves the day.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
So ready to write off Bryce, Okay, we got to
move off of him. He's done, he's benched. Well, he
gets his second chance now, Okay against Denver, probably not great,
but again, first start back against a very good defense,
played well, I wouldn't say great, well enough, and manage
(06:19):
the game against the Saints and the Giants they win,
and always Sunday against Kansas City. Again, it's one game,
and I don't want to do what we talked about
in the open and use that jump to conclusions.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Matt.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
But that felt, no, it did, Lucas that felt like transformation.
I've watched every single one of his starts as a pro,
by far the best he's looked, the decision making, the
quickness of those decisions, making plays downfield. Even had a
couple of balls downfield. There was one late in the
game Xavier Leaguett just dropped it and that would have
been That was.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
A throw, by the way, a great throw, bread basket throw.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
And you're watching this guy and he's going toe to
toe essentially with Mahome. And again at the end, I
said it on the radio when they had a first
and goal at the one yard line, I said, listen,
I know there's a buck fifty or so left here.
I know you got to score and you need a
two point conversion. But when you look who's on the
when you look on the other side, there's a part
of you. It's in the back of your head. Don't
(07:17):
score too quickly. This guy only needed what nineteen seconds.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
In that playoff game a few years ago.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
But again you got beat by an all time player
who made a great play, and Kansas City wins the game.
But I'm watching that and I'm going, man, that felt
like a moment. And again, if he goes backwards. Next
week we're back to doom and gloom and catastrophe. But
to do it against Kansas City and Kansas City Lukes.
(07:44):
You mean you watch the game. They didn't play poorly.
They scored on their first five drives, they didn't turn
it over. That's the gold standard in the NFL. And
a team that nobody thought had any business being in
that game went toe to toe with them for pretty
much the entire duration of that sixty minute game.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, you know, and I've actually thought about this as
watching it last night, and again, credit to the Black Helmets.
The Black Helmets are doing it. They're doing it for me,
that should be doing it for everybody, because those things
are freaking awesome. I think that the word that comes
to mind when we've watched, as you referenced, the evolution here,
(08:27):
the change, and you know what potential transformation that could
lead to another phrase, redemption. Yeah right, but before we
get from transformation to redemption, somewhere in the middle of
their lives perspective perspective on behalf of the fans, perspective
on behalf of the organization, perspective on behalf of the
(08:50):
of the coaching staff, but maybe more importantly the perspective
of Bryce Young himself stepping back watching it from afar,
this time seeing things move at a different pace when
you're not on the field, and all of a sudden,
because this is what I think he's done. And again
(09:12):
not to put the cart in front of the horse,
or the horse for of the car.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
However that damn phrase goes is.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I think that he went to work when he got benched,
as opposed to went in the tank. His study habits
likely didn't change, his time in the building didn't change.
He took it upon himself from a maturity standpoint, to say,
all right, I can go one of two directions here,
(09:38):
and if I go the direction that's going to allow
me to have a chance to succeed. If I'm given
another opportunity, what does that do long term? Because the
opposite dooms your whole career. It's over and then word
starts to get around right. So for me, I think
what he's done is shown an incredible amount of maturity,
(10:00):
a thick skin, a short memory, and those are all
traits that you that you really can't coach. Guys either
can do that, or they have that or not. Now
I'm gonna say another thing here in relationship.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
I want to stop you real quick.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I have a question for you because you watched this
kid since he was in high school and he was
lighting it up. And yeah, physical limitations, whatever you want
to call it.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
We know he's not a tall guy.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
He doesn't have a huge arm, but he was always
able to compensate for that. But that intangible aspect that
you just talked about, Okay, i got benched, took my medicine,
I'm going to go to work. How much of that
showed up from a young age when you looked at
him in high school.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Well, to be honest with you, that's a tough question
to answer because the one thing about him is he's
rarely had to face or deal with losing. He went
to modern day where they basically beat up on everybody
his entire career. Then he gets to Alabama, doesn't have
to play right away, works himself into a rotation, developed matures,
a little bit, becomes a guy, doesn't have to deal
(11:02):
with failure right and so quite honestly that but what
might make this most impressive about him is this is
the real first tell tale sign for him as an
athlete at this age in his career to actually have
to deal with and figure out a way of how
to crawl yourself out of failure. And I don't know
(11:25):
what he would have done as a young player. You know,
sometimes when you think it's becoming easy because you become
so accustoming condition to expect to win, that it can
be easy to not be a worker, or not put
as much time in, or skip this workout or what
have you. I don't think that's ever been in his makeup.
I really don't, and I think it's why he has
(11:47):
put himself in the position he's put himself in for
the last few weeks. And that leads me to my
last thing in regard to him. The quarterback position in
the National Football League as a whole circumstance and environment
is a real thing when it comes to quarterback development.
I'm going to use Kurt Warner here as a prime example.
(12:11):
Timing right place at the right time, right staff, right organization,
right personnel, all of the stars aligning at one time.
If Kurt Warner would have come out of NFL Europe
and been with any of the other thirty one teams
in the NFL when it happened, would we have had
(12:33):
the ninety nine and two thousand Rams, because you're talking
about a guy that stepped into a moment where every
single piece of the puzzle was in place to help
him succeed. Bryce Young has stepped into a scenario from
an organizational standpoint where not all of those pieces are
(12:54):
in place yet, and that does matter. It matters foundationally,
it matters from a maturity standpoint, It matters just having help,
not feel like you got to do it all and
getting beat up and getting crushed sometimes. I asked the question,
where would David carb be in the in the anals
of of the NFL quarterback position had he gone anywhere
(13:14):
else but Houston.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yeah, where he had no offensive line. She took a beating.
And you're right, Kurt Warner stepped into a spot with
the Rams where you had Isaac Bruce and Tory Holt
and AzaC Keem and Balk walk Ken Carter and London
Fletcher on defense.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
You had a team, You had.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
A team, and you had elite players at the time
where you actually had to have it for that quarterback
to have a chance. Now, that's not to diminish Kurt's
ability level. I've been around him since he was in
the AID Football League. He's talented, but that needed to happen.
And I think, you know, if you're if you're a
Panthers fan and you're a quarterback fan and you want
to root for Bryce young you should as an organization.
(13:59):
If they're a glimmer there, you got to surrounding with people,
and if you do, I think you're gonna have a shot.
You know, look at Sam Donald right now, circumstance, environment,
personnel around the player like it's real.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
And Sam Donald is still only twenty seven years old,
and I think we forget that age component. Brice is
twenty three. He turned twenty three over the summer. For context,
you and I cover college football. We've done a lot
of games over the last few years where there are fifth, sixth,
(14:37):
even seventh year quarterbacks yep twenty three, twenty four to
twenty five. Cherry picking quarterbacks off of current top ten teams.
Just for an example, Dylan Gabriel for number one, Oregan
Couns twenty four next month. He's older than Bryce Younger.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Will Howard for Ohio State Kansas State transfer turned to
twenty three and September. Yeah, Riley Leonard at Notre Dame
is twenty two. Carson Beckett Georgia is twenty three. Urgus
Rourke at Indiana who started at Ohio four, ham Ward
(15:15):
is twenty two. Brice is still only twenty three years old.
We have done games with guys. I've got ECU Navy
this week. The punter for ECU is thirty two years old.
Oh my goodness, he's two years younger than his offensive coordinator.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
By the way, let me bring up two other names
further proves your point. Do you remember bo Nicks at
Auburn and Bonis at Oregon?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Two different players.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Boenick, there was a guy who came in with the
specter of what his dad had done at Auburn, and
there was all this pressure I had to get out
of there. And when he went to Oregon became a
real quarterback. And I think we saw his potential unlocked.
And you know, I hate to do it as a
Panthers guy. Credit to Sean Payton, where bo Nicks might
(16:08):
be the offensive rookie of the year right now, right.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Now, give you the other one, same deal, long shelf
life in college. Our guy at the Washington Commanders, Jayden Daniels.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
So you and I remember we did his first spring
game at LSU. Correct, and he had that fantastic first
season at Arizona State. Ye, and then slow yours as
a sophomore when he came to LSU, Initially there was
no guarantee he'd be the starting quarterback. And we walked
away from that game going, yeah, I'm not sure he
(16:44):
didn't look all that good. And that was a spring game,
a controlled environment.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, And on that day, I remember Miles Brennan and
Garrett Nussmeyer looked like they were viable options. And then
two years removed from it, here he is with a
Heisman Trophy and and and and a selection. But but
age and maturity in experience is part of that. You know,
Bryce was a three and out guy, you know, I
(17:10):
mean those you know what, would Bryce Young have been
better prepared for the National Football League had he taken
Bo Nixon's path, Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Right, if you know one.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Joe Burrow at Ohio State was what a guy, a
backup yep steer at LSU, he didn't really move the needle.
Nobody looked at Joe Burrow going into his Heisman season
as even a guy on the short list of dark
horse Heisman candidates, nobody, nobody, and all of a sudden
(17:43):
you're watching and you're going, whoa, whoa, wait, wait a minute.
Now he had Justin Jefferson, and he had Jamar Chase,
and he had again players around him, one of the
circumstances we've seen circumstances. But to his credit, his IQ
level in terms of understanding the game went up exponentially
in his time at LSU, and we saw him turn
(18:04):
himself from.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Just a guy.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
I hate to use that term because it should be
more complimentary than it is game manager to game changer.
And by the time his senior year was done, there
was not even a real debate as to who the
number one pick should be.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Right, right, And again we're pointing out numerous examples here
that flatly our direct correlation to success or failure at
that level, right, And to me, that's why I think
with these little glimmers that we're seeing with Bryce Young
and to your point, can it go from transformational to
(18:43):
redemption potentially? Who knows what progress is being made? Noticeable
progress And I think that's important.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah, and it bodes well, and there's some tough tests
the rest of the way, But you're a Panthers fan,
and you saw that game Sunday, Kansas City. Final score
may say l but boy, there were a lot of
wins that were made, a lot of small victories that
have a chance to pay dividends down the road to
borrow from Walker and Texas Rangers of rookie Bobby. You
(19:17):
know what I'm about to say, anarchy. I don't even
know what it means, but I like it this past
weekend in college football, you bet, I mean pure, unadulterated anarchy,
and it was beautiful.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
And it's what's made this twelve team expanded Playoff so
much fun because we are having discussions with teams in
the month of November that we would never normally be
talking about, which is great. This is what we all wanted.
I think the other thing too with that is because
(19:54):
this sport has become so transactional through the transfer portal,
through name, image and lightness, that it's thinning out rosters
across the board.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Nobody's got depth, nobody's got debt.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Nobody nobody, And as a result, what happens is your
works start rearing their ugly head and if you don't
bring your a game, you are more susceptible than ever
to go down to somebody that would normally never have
a shot to beat you. And I think that's what's
made for great football. It's what's made for what we've
(20:28):
seen out of LSU, what we've seen out of Alabama,
what we just saw out of Old Miss. All Right,
the Big Twelve has literally crumbled under its own weight.
Of four or five teams were all expected to potentially
win it, right, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, JUMPA, that's it, right,
(20:50):
And maybe there were some rumblings about Texas Tech. But
those four and all four of those went right in
the tank.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
And then here we are sitting and talking about BYU Colorado.
I would state in Arizona State, and if I was
state in Arizona State, both win. That is your Big
Twelve championship game. And Arizona State was picked to finish
last in the Big Twelve. All right, so this is
freaking awesome, right, And then we've got SMU in the
(21:16):
a SEC Championship game. And with all of the chaos
that just took place, I think the ACC is, unless
they screw it up, we'll get two teams in because
I think the loser of the a SEC Championship game
is getting in and what's going to be very interesting
as we go forward, because listen, if this season taught
us anything in each the chaos may not be over.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Which boats wall for the playoff? I look at totally
if we're surveying the scene, right, what's neat about the
Big Twelve? You mentioned those four teams at the top.
If they all win and they all don't play each other,
which is even more hilarious. I know they can all
go out and win. You're right, it would be Iowa
State and Arizona State. I don't expect that to happen.
I expect a little bit of carnage. So the Big
(21:59):
Twelve is in full on armageddon mode. Go play the
Aerosmith song, because that's where they're at. They're only getting
one team. I look at the ACC.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
I'm with you.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
I think Miami, assuming they take care of business against Syracuse.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
By the way, they got to be there.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
They gotta be careful there and if they win it fine,
If they don't, I think the Clemson SMU game would
be every bit as intriguing. If Clemson can well, it
wouldn't matter if they beat South Carolina or not. But
if they did beat South Carolina, I think if it
was Clemson or SMU, they both get in. If it's
(22:36):
Miami or SMU, they both get in.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
So assume this scenario for a minute, because I know
you're in the ACC, cover the ACC, you do the
primetime game on ACC network. Let's say SMU goes into
the ACC Championship, They've already punched their ticket, They're in
there as a one loss team. They play Miami as
a one loss team.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I'm with you.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
I think the loser of that game gets into the playoff.
But if Clemson we're to beat South Carolina, which is
a good win right.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Now, absolutely second team in the NCC.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Clemson moves into the periphery of that conversation and maybe
even into that conversation where the ACC. I think you're
looking at two teams and there is a possibility, a possibility.
I'm not saying a strong possibility, but I would say
probably somewhere in the thirty to fifty percent range. It's
a broad swath that you could get a third team
(23:28):
in Clemson. Yes, to me, is going to be fascinating
because I do think that the caliber of these teams
in the depth of this league. It is real and
I know sometimes you and I even say it. The
propaganda that comes out of the league can be nauseating
at times, right, But there are much better and deeper
league top to bottom than the Big Ten. The Big
(23:49):
Ten is aided by the fact that outside of the
top four there's no meat on the boat. I think
it's a bad league.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
And each I'll go I've said, when you look at
how underwhelmed the Pac twelve new teams have been. You
look at Iowa with nineteen stars back did not materialize,
Michigan regressed, right. And here's the other component to this,
And it's not just a Big Ten. It's all conferences.
When you went away from divisions, not all schedules are
(24:16):
created equal.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Nope.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
So your luck to the draw and who you get
is it plays a huge role. I mean we've seen
that with Indiana. Now could that hurt them or help them?
Probably a little bit of both somewhere in there. But
while we're having this discussion, we can't have this discussion
without talking about Notre Dame. And the reason why I
say that is I don't think people have examined enough
(24:42):
just how bad their schedule is. I could make the
argument that the worst team at the Power five level
right now in college football is Perdue on Notre Dame schedule.
The second worst team in Power five football is Florida
State on Notre Dame schedule. The third worst team potential
Power five football is Stanford on Notre Dame schedule. You
(25:04):
have a Georgia Tech that they played without Haines King,
a Virginia that's improved but not a good football team.
They had the Northern Illinois loss. They beat Miami of
Ohio which sent them to zero to three. All right,
and you have a pedestrian sc team coming up here.
Those two service academies would be three quarters of the
(25:27):
teams on Notre Dame schedule. And I and I say that,
and now I'm going to follow it with this. I
love their eye tests for two reasons. They can run
the football and they can play defense. And I think
in the college football playoff format where there's potential weather involved,
those things travel.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
It's funny that you say that because sometimes we lose
sight of what happened way back when. But early in
the year neutral side game. No, they went to College Station.
College Station that was not a neutral side team. They
go to Kyle Field, a tough place to win. Is
Texas will find out once again this weekend. I thought
Notre Dame up front, the way they handled Texas A
(26:09):
and M in that game. I remember watching that and going, oh, okay, yeah,
we didn't know how good A and M was going
to be at that point. They were friends top twenty five,
and you know, up until a few weeks ago, they
were right there at the top of the SEC. Still
have a chance to get to the SEC title game.
But that's a win where if A and M beats
Texas and gets to the SEC championship game, it's gonna
(26:32):
boost Notre Dame. They had a Louisville win, but again
Louisville is going off too.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
I'm with you. I like Notre Dame.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
I think they're going to create some problems for people
to me, just the way this SEC race shaped.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Soup Texas, I think the.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Number three are but they're going to be but yeah,
the committee doesn't know what to do with them. They
look at the horns on the helmet, they realize it's Texas,
and you watch them and you're saying they're best win
is Vanderbilt. By the way, they're they're a huge recipient
of a favorable schedule.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Huge, right, But begin and Oklahoma, none of those teams
were ranked right last weekend right exactly.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
And so but here's a question for you that I've
asked a lot of people because of the comments that
Greg Sanky made about participation in a conference championship game.
What if A and M beats Texas, loses to Georgia
and has four losses.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
You can't put them in too many scars, too many stars.
I agree.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Do you see a scenario where a three loss Alabama team,
assuming BAMA beats Auburn, do you see a scenario where
Alabama gets in?
Speaker 3 (27:52):
No?
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Absolutely not, you don't. I think I think they're going
to get in. I don't see the committee leaving Allen
Obama out.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Well, my thing with that is they have failed miserably
at the I test. They're so sloppy either so undisciplined,
and they have a lack of consistency that we haven't
seen in seventeen years.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
There's a lot of truth to that, and Kaylin de
Boor has in a lot of ways the job with
the most resources and also the job with the most
unrealistic expectations, which is to follow the guy who for
the entirety of his Alabama career had his team either
playing and winning a national championship or at worst, in
(28:37):
the conversation, for a national championship and a playoff spot.
I think the fear factor is gone without Saban. I
also think Jalen Milroe had some games early and we
talked about this on some of our earlier podcasts where
you feel like you're watching the second coming of Lamar
Jackson and then there are moments where it's more Anthony
(29:00):
Richardson and you say to yourself, Okay, I know he's
got a lot of people in his ears. I know
he's probably gonna go pro because he will be a
first round pick. Somebody will look at the tantalizing potential. Yeah,
but man, if he had one more year, if he
came back for one more year, right, just the earlier
point that we had about quarterbacks and development, isn't Jalen
(29:22):
milroll a guy? And again, with the nil money that
Alabama has, they can make it worth his while.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yeah, isn't he a guy with some of the inconsistency
that we've seen one more year? Or is that crazy talk?
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Oh, I think, to be honest with you, I think
when he turns his papers into the NFL, they're going
to tell him to go back. I just don't think
he has been fundamentally sound enough to be a consistently
accurate passer, which in the National Football League, along with
decision making, is the two most important traits in all
of football at the quarterback position. And listen, here's another
(30:00):
that a lot of people may not consider. Alabama may
say time for you to go somewhere else, or it's
time for you to enter the NFL draft, because they
may be done.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
I was having this conversation with a couple of guys
on our college football crew, Andre Wear Paul Karkatera, and
I'll bring it to you. You know, the last point
here is in this age of the portal, in this
age where college athletes are essentially Hessians the mercenaries, sure
have we seen the last of dynasties. And I'm not
(30:33):
saying that Georgia and Ohio State and these big teams
that have all the resources won't be able to buy
players and collect talent. But as you know, year to year,
there's a locker room dynamic and chemistry, and it changes.
And the basketball example is Kentucky, right, you went one
and done, one and done, and you're getting all these
(30:54):
best recruits. Sometimes the mix doesn't work. And when the
mix doesn't work, it doesn't matter how talented those guys are.
When you're constantly hitting reset on personnel, which means you're
constantly hitting reset and having to rebuild your culture correct
and you can't stack those bricks the way you used
to year by year. I think it makes sustaining success
(31:14):
doesn't matter who you are. I think it makes sustaining
success exponentially tougher.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
I could not agree with you more. There are no
more foundational pillars. There is no more player development. Long term,
there are going to be very few rosters that will
be playing with red shirt juniors and red shirt seniors
as the vast majority of their two d the threes
in the fours that are elite level recruits that in
(31:40):
Georgia a Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama will not stay within
the program because if they can go off to Mississippi
State or NC State or wherever and be an impact
player right away.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
They're going to leave.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
There's just no way to develop competitive depth and listen,
the only thing I'll say that would keep the Ohio States,
the Texas, Texas, A and M the usual suspects ahead
of the nerve money and resources. It will keep them
in the head of the curve. The difference is now
in the twelve team playoff is we've kind of become
(32:16):
accustomed to saying, Okay, here's our top four or five
teams every year. Right now, you're gonna look and you're
going to say, okay, here's our top eight to twelve
teams every year. But the top four to five may
not always be the.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Ones that have been.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
They'll be in that top eight to twelve, doesn't necessarily
mean they'll be in the top four, though, And that's
where it gets spread thin.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
And again, the way you're allocating those resources. Right it
used to be if you were Bama and you did
all the recruiting rankings, you were stockpiling five stars and
four stars, and okay, you lose one every now and
then we got three more waiting in the wings. That's
not the case anymore, because if you want those guys
and you're not playing right away, you're getting blown up
(32:58):
by coaches, you're getting hit up, getting tampered with. It's
the wild West, Come play for us. We'll give you
this much money and you're going to play, and by playing,
you're going to have more exposure to name, image and
likeness deals.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Think about how many schools in the country right now
have what you would call a viable backup quarterback or
a developmental guy waiting in the wings.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Very few, very few, very very few. I would say,
Ohio State does if you have one? That comes to
mind with Julian saying, uh, but that's a different stach Manning, Yeah,
that's a different that's a different story. But no, there's
there's no question. Maybe Alabama with Tye Simpson and Dylan
Long again, but you're you're right. I mean where is like,
(33:43):
like all asked this question, how in the world is
NC State going to keep T J. Bailey?
Speaker 3 (33:49):
Right?
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Yeah, I mean who's to say, c. J. Bailey, who
went to Shamanad in South Florida, ain't playing at Miami
next year. So it's just it's this constant cycle of
rent player.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
How many times has a coach on a production call
said to you, guys, yeah you know or worry in
a game like this is if people are watching this
game because it's on a bigger platform and they see
this guy, they're going to try to steal them.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
That's where we are. That's where we are early in
the year. If you're doing a power.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
School against a smaller school and you see a guy
flash from the smaller school, Hey, this guy can play,
and we start talking him up because he's playing well.
The coaches on the other staff are freaking out because
and we're seeing it. Then everybody else is seeing it,
and they're saying, why are you playing at directional fcs?
(34:43):
Why aren't you playing in the Big ten or the
SEC or the ACC or the Big.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Twelve, no doubt, And on top of all of that,
if they've got two or more years of eligibility, gone gone, gone,
gone crazy, we're gone too. Well, yeah, we're going.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
To Matt Hogan. You can end the show. Now, we're
going to leave. Well, you can stay, but we're leaving.
Weekend Warriors up to episode thirteen an e Shrof Tom
Logan bill. This one almost never made it on the air.
We had this radical idea we would start the show
and start the taping fifteen minutes earlier, and producer Matt
Hogan was on the group chat with us and then
wildly just disappeared.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I mean literally, I thought I always put a bolo
out on him.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Started getting alerts on my phone.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yeah, me too. Next thing, you know, there's a digital
thing over a freeway overpass saying look for this license plate.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
People don't use milk cartons anymore, but if they still
Either way, we found Matt.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
We can start the show, Ladies and gentlemen the Weekend.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Close to the episode talk by Feeling Touchdown Carolina.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Weekend Warriors, Lucas.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I'm gonna kind of go a little round about here
because we'll start with the Panthers and the Chiefs. An
incredible game on Sunday and really a growth moment I
thought for a quarterback, a team in a franchise. But
sometimes the way we view football, it's so skewered by hyperbole.
When you look at baseball, the best team every year
(01:11):
loses sixty games right, the best team in baseball were
to lose to the worst team three out of ten times,
you don't bat an eyelash.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
In the NBA, they play an eighty two game regular season,
and over the course of eighty two games, if the
worst team has an off shooting night or the best
team as an off shooting night, yeah, they get got
by a bad team or a mediocre team.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
It happens. And because the sample.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Size is so large, you just sort of accept it. Yeah,
that's going to happen over the course of a long season.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
But when it.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Comes to football college NFL got a twelve game regular
season in one sport, seventeen in another. Are reactions to
wins and losses? There is no nuance to it. We
always just push it to the extreme.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Why because there are so few opportunities in this sport
each and every weekend. There's only what twelve opportunities in
the sport of college football, okay, And the margin of
error is razor thin, and so a loss can become
(02:28):
ridiculously over magnified. While the win doesn't seem to create
the same attention, it doesn't seem to carry as much weight.
And I don't know why that is, but I do
believe it's the select number versus the NBA, Major League
Baseball as you reference. I mean, even in the National
(02:49):
Football League, you have so few teams and the talent
level and the discrepancy is all about the quarterback position.
And so I think what we do is we have
knee jerk reactions. We become prisoners of a moment, and
then we immediately dismiss a team's ability to just have
(03:10):
an off day to respond the next week. We think
the sky is falling, especially in college football if somebody loses,
because you're looking at it from such a perspective of
we couldn't afford to do that, and in you in
what you're talking about with baseball and basketball, they can.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Because you play the next day, or yes, keep a
day and then you play two days later.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I say that because I was thinking of a great
line from the pilot episode of Breaking Bad. Matt goe ahead,
play the clip.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Chemistry is the study of matter, but I prefer to
see it as the study of change. Not just think
about this electron.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
They change their energy levels.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Molecules change their bonds, elements they combine and change into compounds. Well,
that's that's all of life, right. I mean, it's just
it's the constant, it's the cycle. It's solution, this solution,
just over and over and over. It is growth, then decay,
(04:21):
then transformation.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
When you hear that, I think of the arc of
Let's take the Panthers season. Got a new coach, you
got a new GM. Dan Morgan was the assistant GM
promoted but his first time as at GM. Ice Young
is going in a year two. Everybody feels good in
July and August that this thing is going to be better. Hey,
(04:43):
it can't get worse than two and fifteen, and you
feel that there's real growth. The starters don't play for
much of the preseason. The one drive they play against Buffalo,
they look pretty good, even though it was the Buffalo
backups who were in there, right, and people are genuinely
excited about the season. They look at the first ten
games before the bye week and you say, that's a
(05:05):
manageable schedule. The month of October, you're playing three rookie quarterbacks.
There's a chance here to make some Hey, if Bryce
can get better and the offensive line should be improved,
then the first two games happen. So you go from
that growth to decay, and you lose thirty seven to
ten in the opener, a game that's over after one quarter.
Bryce Young, on the first offensive snap of the season,
(05:28):
throws an interception. Right the following week against the Chargers,
you'll lose twenty six to three. Everybody is questioning the coach,
everybody is questioning the roster construction. Brice is a bust.
He's done. It's catastrophic. And then week three happens, Andy
Dalton comes in. They go to Las Vegas. Well, hold
(05:49):
on a second, hey, wait a minute, there might be
something here, what's going on?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
And Dalton saves the day.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
So ready to write off Bryce, Okay, we got to
move off of him. He's done, he's benched. Well, he
gets his second chance now, Okay against Denver, probably not great,
but again, first start back against a very good defense,
played well, I wouldn't say great, well enough, and manage
(06:19):
the game against the Saints and the Giants they win,
and always Sunday against Kansas City. Again, it's one game,
and I don't want to do what we talked about
in the open and use that jump to conclusions.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Matt.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
But that felt, no, it did, Lucas that felt like transformation.
I've watched every single one of his starts as a pro,
by far the best he's looked, the decision making, the
quickness of those decisions, making plays downfield. Even had a
couple of balls downfield. There was one late in the
game Xavier Leaguett just dropped it and that would have
been That was.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
A throw, by the way, a great throw, bread basket throw.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
And you're watching this guy and he's going toe to
toe essentially with Mahome. And again at the end, I
said it on the radio when they had a first
and goal at the one yard line, I said, listen,
I know there's a buck fifty or so left here.
I know you got to score and you need a
two point conversion. But when you look who's on the
when you look on the other side, there's a part
of you. It's in the back of your head. Don't
(07:17):
score too quickly. This guy only needed what nineteen seconds.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
In that playoff game a few years ago.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
But again you got beat by an all time player
who made a great play, and Kansas City wins the game.
But I'm watching that and I'm going, man, that felt
like a moment. And again, if he goes backwards. Next
week we're back to doom and gloom and catastrophe. But
to do it against Kansas City and Kansas City Lukes.
(07:44):
You mean you watch the game. They didn't play poorly.
They scored on their first five drives, they didn't turn
it over. That's the gold standard in the NFL. And
a team that nobody thought had any business being in
that game went toe to toe with them for pretty
much the entire duration of that sixty minute game.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, you know, and I've actually thought about this as
watching it last night, and again, credit to the Black Helmets.
The Black Helmets are doing it. They're doing it for me,
that should be doing it for everybody, because those things
are freaking awesome. I think that the word that comes
to mind when we've watched, as you referenced, the evolution here,
(08:27):
the change, and you know what potential transformation that could
lead to another phrase, redemption. Yeah right, but before we
get from transformation to redemption, somewhere in the middle of
their lives perspective perspective on behalf of the fans, perspective
on behalf of the organization, perspective on behalf of the
(08:50):
of the coaching staff, but maybe more importantly the perspective
of Bryce Young himself stepping back watching it from afar,
this time seeing things move at a different pace when
you're not on the field, and all of a sudden,
because this is what I think he's done. And again
(09:12):
not to put the cart in front of the horse,
or the horse for of the car.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
However that damn phrase goes is.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I think that he went to work when he got benched,
as opposed to went in the tank. His study habits
likely didn't change, his time in the building didn't change.
He took it upon himself from a maturity standpoint, to say,
all right, I can go one of two directions here,
(09:38):
and if I go the direction that's going to allow
me to have a chance to succeed. If I'm given
another opportunity, what does that do long term? Because the
opposite dooms your whole career. It's over and then word
starts to get around right. So for me, I think
what he's done is shown an incredible amount of maturity,
(10:00):
a thick skin, a short memory, and those are all
traits that you that you really can't coach. Guys either
can do that, or they have that or not. Now
I'm gonna say another thing here in relationship.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
I want to stop you real quick.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I have a question for you because you watched this
kid since he was in high school and he was
lighting it up. And yeah, physical limitations, whatever you want
to call it.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
We know he's not a tall guy.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
He doesn't have a huge arm, but he was always
able to compensate for that. But that intangible aspect that
you just talked about, Okay, i got benched, took my medicine,
I'm going to go to work. How much of that
showed up from a young age when you looked at
him in high school.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Well, to be honest with you, that's a tough question
to answer because the one thing about him is he's
rarely had to face or deal with losing. He went
to modern day where they basically beat up on everybody
his entire career. Then he gets to Alabama, doesn't have
to play right away, works himself into a rotation, developed matures,
a little bit, becomes a guy, doesn't have to deal
(11:02):
with failure right and so quite honestly that but what
might make this most impressive about him is this is
the real first tell tale sign for him as an
athlete at this age in his career to actually have
to deal with and figure out a way of how
to crawl yourself out of failure. And I don't know
(11:25):
what he would have done as a young player. You know,
sometimes when you think it's becoming easy because you become
so accustoming condition to expect to win, that it can
be easy to not be a worker, or not put
as much time in, or skip this workout or what
have you. I don't think that's ever been in his makeup.
I really don't, and I think it's why he has
(11:47):
put himself in the position he's put himself in for
the last few weeks. And that leads me to my
last thing in regard to him. The quarterback position in
the National Football League as a whole circumstance and environment
is a real thing when it comes to quarterback development.
I'm going to use Kurt Warner here as a prime example.
(12:11):
Timing right place at the right time, right staff, right organization,
right personnel, all of the stars aligning at one time.
If Kurt Warner would have come out of NFL Europe
and been with any of the other thirty one teams
in the NFL when it happened, would we have had
(12:33):
the ninety nine and two thousand Rams, because you're talking
about a guy that stepped into a moment where every
single piece of the puzzle was in place to help
him succeed. Bryce Young has stepped into a scenario from
an organizational standpoint where not all of those pieces are
(12:54):
in place yet, and that does matter. It matters foundationally,
it matters from a maturity standpoint, It matters just having help,
not feel like you got to do it all and
getting beat up and getting crushed sometimes. I asked the question,
where would David carb be in the in the anals
of of the NFL quarterback position had he gone anywhere
(13:14):
else but Houston.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yeah, where he had no offensive line. She took a beating.
And you're right, Kurt Warner stepped into a spot with
the Rams where you had Isaac Bruce and Tory Holt
and AzaC Keem and Balk walk Ken Carter and London
Fletcher on defense.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
You had a team, You had.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
A team, and you had elite players at the time
where you actually had to have it for that quarterback
to have a chance. Now, that's not to diminish Kurt's
ability level. I've been around him since he was in
the AID Football League. He's talented, but that needed to happen.
And I think, you know, if you're if you're a
Panthers fan and you're a quarterback fan and you want
to root for Bryce young you should as an organization.
(13:59):
If they're a glimmer there, you got to surrounding with people,
and if you do, I think you're gonna have a shot.
You know, look at Sam Donald right now, circumstance, environment,
personnel around the player like it's real.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
And Sam Donald is still only twenty seven years old,
and I think we forget that age component. Brice is
twenty three. He turned twenty three over the summer. For context,
you and I cover college football. We've done a lot
of games over the last few years where there are fifth, sixth,
(14:37):
even seventh year quarterbacks yep twenty three, twenty four to
twenty five. Cherry picking quarterbacks off of current top ten teams.
Just for an example, Dylan Gabriel for number one, Oregan
Couns twenty four next month. He's older than Bryce Younger.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Will Howard for Ohio State Kansas State transfer turned to
twenty three and September. Yeah, Riley Leonard at Notre Dame
is twenty two. Carson Beckett Georgia is twenty three. Urgus
Rourke at Indiana who started at Ohio four, ham Ward
(15:15):
is twenty two. Brice is still only twenty three years old.
We have done games with guys. I've got ECU Navy
this week. The punter for ECU is thirty two years old.
Oh my goodness, he's two years younger than his offensive coordinator.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
By the way, let me bring up two other names
further proves your point. Do you remember bo Nicks at
Auburn and Bonis at Oregon?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Two different players.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Boenick, there was a guy who came in with the
specter of what his dad had done at Auburn, and
there was all this pressure I had to get out
of there. And when he went to Oregon became a
real quarterback. And I think we saw his potential unlocked.
And you know, I hate to do it as a
Panthers guy. Credit to Sean Payton, where bo Nicks might
(16:08):
be the offensive rookie of the year right now, right.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Now, give you the other one, same deal, long shelf
life in college. Our guy at the Washington Commanders, Jayden Daniels.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
So you and I remember we did his first spring
game at LSU. Correct, and he had that fantastic first
season at Arizona State. Ye, and then slow yours as
a sophomore when he came to LSU, Initially there was
no guarantee he'd be the starting quarterback. And we walked
away from that game going, yeah, I'm not sure he
(16:44):
didn't look all that good. And that was a spring game,
a controlled environment.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, And on that day, I remember Miles Brennan and
Garrett Nussmeyer looked like they were viable options. And then
two years removed from it, here he is with a
Heisman Trophy and and and and a selection. But but
age and maturity in experience is part of that. You know,
Bryce was a three and out guy, you know, I
(17:10):
mean those you know what, would Bryce Young have been
better prepared for the National Football League had he taken
Bo Nixon's path, Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Right, if you know one.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Joe Burrow at Ohio State was what a guy, a
backup yep steer at LSU, he didn't really move the needle.
Nobody looked at Joe Burrow going into his Heisman season
as even a guy on the short list of dark
horse Heisman candidates, nobody, nobody, and all of a sudden
(17:43):
you're watching and you're going, whoa, whoa, wait, wait a minute.
Now he had Justin Jefferson, and he had Jamar Chase,
and he had again players around him, one of the
circumstances we've seen circumstances. But to his credit, his IQ
level in terms of understanding the game went up exponentially
in his time at LSU, and we saw him turn
(18:04):
himself from.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Just a guy.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
I hate to use that term because it should be
more complimentary than it is game manager to game changer.
And by the time his senior year was done, there
was not even a real debate as to who the
number one pick should be.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Right, right, And again we're pointing out numerous examples here
that flatly our direct correlation to success or failure at
that level, right, And to me, that's why I think
with these little glimmers that we're seeing with Bryce Young
and to your point, can it go from transformational to
(18:43):
redemption potentially? Who knows what progress is being made? Noticeable
progress And I think that's important.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah, and it bodes well, and there's some tough tests
the rest of the way, But you're a Panthers fan,
and you saw that game Sunday, Kansas City. Final score
may say l but boy, there were a lot of
wins that were made, a lot of small victories that
have a chance to pay dividends down the road to
borrow from Walker and Texas Rangers of rookie Bobby. You
(19:17):
know what I'm about to say, anarchy. I don't even
know what it means, but I like it this past
weekend in college football, you bet, I mean pure, unadulterated anarchy,
and it was beautiful.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
And it's what's made this twelve team expanded Playoff so
much fun because we are having discussions with teams in
the month of November that we would never normally be
talking about, which is great. This is what we all wanted.
I think the other thing too with that is because
(19:54):
this sport has become so transactional through the transfer portal,
through name, image and lightness, that it's thinning out rosters
across the board.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Nobody's got depth, nobody's got debt.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Nobody nobody, And as a result, what happens is your
works start rearing their ugly head and if you don't
bring your a game, you are more susceptible than ever
to go down to somebody that would normally never have
a shot to beat you. And I think that's what's
made for great football. It's what's made for what we've
(20:28):
seen out of LSU, what we've seen out of Alabama,
what we just saw out of Old Miss. All Right,
the Big Twelve has literally crumbled under its own weight.
Of four or five teams were all expected to potentially
win it, right, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, JUMPA, that's it, right,
(20:50):
And maybe there were some rumblings about Texas Tech. But
those four and all four of those went right in
the tank.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
And then here we are sitting and talking about BYU Colorado.
I would state in Arizona State, and if I was
state in Arizona State, both win. That is your Big
Twelve championship game. And Arizona State was picked to finish
last in the Big Twelve. All right, so this is
freaking awesome, right, And then we've got SMU in the
(21:16):
a SEC Championship game. And with all of the chaos
that just took place, I think the ACC is, unless
they screw it up, we'll get two teams in because
I think the loser of the a SEC Championship game
is getting in and what's going to be very interesting
as we go forward, because listen, if this season taught
us anything in each the chaos may not be over.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Which boats wall for the playoff? I look at totally
if we're surveying the scene, right, what's neat about the
Big Twelve? You mentioned those four teams at the top.
If they all win and they all don't play each other,
which is even more hilarious. I know they can all
go out and win. You're right, it would be Iowa
State and Arizona State. I don't expect that to happen.
I expect a little bit of carnage. So the Big
(21:59):
Twelve is in full on armageddon mode. Go play the
Aerosmith song, because that's where they're at. They're only getting
one team. I look at the ACC.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
I'm with you.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
I think Miami, assuming they take care of business against Syracuse.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
By the way, they got to be there.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
They gotta be careful there and if they win it fine,
If they don't, I think the Clemson SMU game would
be every bit as intriguing. If Clemson can well, it
wouldn't matter if they beat South Carolina or not. But
if they did beat South Carolina, I think if it
was Clemson or SMU, they both get in. If it's
(22:36):
Miami or SMU, they both get in.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
So assume this scenario for a minute, because I know
you're in the ACC, cover the ACC, you do the
primetime game on ACC network. Let's say SMU goes into
the ACC Championship, They've already punched their ticket, They're in
there as a one loss team. They play Miami as
a one loss team.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I'm with you.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
I think the loser of that game gets into the playoff.
But if Clemson we're to beat South Carolina, which is
a good win right.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Now, absolutely second team in the NCC.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Clemson moves into the periphery of that conversation and maybe
even into that conversation where the ACC. I think you're
looking at two teams and there is a possibility, a possibility.
I'm not saying a strong possibility, but I would say
probably somewhere in the thirty to fifty percent range. It's
a broad swath that you could get a third team
(23:28):
in Clemson. Yes, to me, is going to be fascinating
because I do think that the caliber of these teams
in the depth of this league. It is real and
I know sometimes you and I even say it. The
propaganda that comes out of the league can be nauseating
at times, right, But there are much better and deeper
league top to bottom than the Big Ten. The Big
(23:49):
Ten is aided by the fact that outside of the
top four there's no meat on the boat. I think
it's a bad league.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
And each I'll go I've said, when you look at
how underwhelmed the Pac twelve new teams have been. You
look at Iowa with nineteen stars back did not materialize,
Michigan regressed, right. And here's the other component to this,
And it's not just a Big Ten. It's all conferences.
When you went away from divisions, not all schedules are
(24:16):
created equal.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Nope.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
So your luck to the draw and who you get
is it plays a huge role. I mean we've seen
that with Indiana. Now could that hurt them or help them?
Probably a little bit of both somewhere in there. But
while we're having this discussion, we can't have this discussion
without talking about Notre Dame. And the reason why I
say that is I don't think people have examined enough
(24:42):
just how bad their schedule is. I could make the
argument that the worst team at the Power five level
right now in college football is Perdue on Notre Dame schedule.
The second worst team in Power five football is Florida
State on Notre Dame schedule. The third worst team potential
Power five football is Stanford on Notre Dame schedule. You
(25:04):
have a Georgia Tech that they played without Haines King,
a Virginia that's improved but not a good football team.
They had the Northern Illinois loss. They beat Miami of
Ohio which sent them to zero to three. All right,
and you have a pedestrian sc team coming up here.
Those two service academies would be three quarters of the
(25:27):
teams on Notre Dame schedule. And I and I say that,
and now I'm going to follow it with this. I
love their eye tests for two reasons. They can run
the football and they can play defense. And I think
in the college football playoff format where there's potential weather involved,
those things travel.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
It's funny that you say that because sometimes we lose
sight of what happened way back when. But early in
the year neutral side game. No, they went to College Station.
College Station that was not a neutral side team. They
go to Kyle Field, a tough place to win. Is
Texas will find out once again this weekend. I thought
Notre Dame up front, the way they handled Texas A
(26:09):
and M in that game. I remember watching that and going, oh, okay, yeah,
we didn't know how good A and M was going
to be at that point. They were friends top twenty five,
and you know, up until a few weeks ago, they
were right there at the top of the SEC. Still
have a chance to get to the SEC title game.
But that's a win where if A and M beats
Texas and gets to the SEC championship game, it's gonna
(26:32):
boost Notre Dame. They had a Louisville win, but again
Louisville is going off too.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
I'm with you. I like Notre Dame.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
I think they're going to create some problems for people
to me, just the way this SEC race shaped.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Soup Texas, I think the.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Number three are but they're going to be but yeah,
the committee doesn't know what to do with them. They
look at the horns on the helmet, they realize it's Texas,
and you watch them and you're saying they're best win
is Vanderbilt. By the way, they're they're a huge recipient
of a favorable schedule.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Huge, right, But begin and Oklahoma, none of those teams
were ranked right last weekend right exactly.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
And so but here's a question for you that I've
asked a lot of people because of the comments that
Greg Sanky made about participation in a conference championship game.
What if A and M beats Texas, loses to Georgia
and has four losses.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
You can't put them in too many scars, too many stars.
I agree.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Do you see a scenario where a three loss Alabama team,
assuming BAMA beats Auburn, do you see a scenario where
Alabama gets in?
Speaker 3 (27:52):
No?
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Absolutely not, you don't. I think I think they're going
to get in. I don't see the committee leaving Allen
Obama out.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Well, my thing with that is they have failed miserably
at the I test. They're so sloppy either so undisciplined,
and they have a lack of consistency that we haven't
seen in seventeen years.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
There's a lot of truth to that, and Kaylin de
Boor has in a lot of ways the job with
the most resources and also the job with the most
unrealistic expectations, which is to follow the guy who for
the entirety of his Alabama career had his team either
playing and winning a national championship or at worst, in
(28:37):
the conversation, for a national championship and a playoff spot.
I think the fear factor is gone without Saban. I
also think Jalen Milroe had some games early and we
talked about this on some of our earlier podcasts where
you feel like you're watching the second coming of Lamar
Jackson and then there are moments where it's more Anthony
(29:00):
Richardson and you say to yourself, Okay, I know he's
got a lot of people in his ears. I know
he's probably gonna go pro because he will be a
first round pick. Somebody will look at the tantalizing potential. Yeah,
but man, if he had one more year, if he
came back for one more year, right, just the earlier
point that we had about quarterbacks and development, isn't Jalen
(29:22):
milroll a guy? And again, with the nil money that
Alabama has, they can make it worth his while.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yeah, isn't he a guy with some of the inconsistency
that we've seen one more year? Or is that crazy talk?
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Oh, I think, to be honest with you, I think
when he turns his papers into the NFL, they're going
to tell him to go back. I just don't think
he has been fundamentally sound enough to be a consistently
accurate passer, which in the National Football League, along with
decision making, is the two most important traits in all
of football at the quarterback position. And listen, here's another
(30:00):
that a lot of people may not consider. Alabama may
say time for you to go somewhere else, or it's
time for you to enter the NFL draft, because they
may be done.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
I was having this conversation with a couple of guys
on our college football crew, Andre Wear Paul Karkatera, and
I'll bring it to you. You know, the last point
here is in this age of the portal, in this
age where college athletes are essentially Hessians the mercenaries, sure
have we seen the last of dynasties. And I'm not
(30:33):
saying that Georgia and Ohio State and these big teams
that have all the resources won't be able to buy
players and collect talent. But as you know, year to year,
there's a locker room dynamic and chemistry, and it changes.
And the basketball example is Kentucky, right, you went one
and done, one and done, and you're getting all these
(30:54):
best recruits. Sometimes the mix doesn't work. And when the
mix doesn't work, it doesn't matter how talented those guys are.
When you're constantly hitting reset on personnel, which means you're
constantly hitting reset and having to rebuild your culture correct
and you can't stack those bricks the way you used
to year by year. I think it makes sustaining success
(31:14):
doesn't matter who you are. I think it makes sustaining
success exponentially tougher.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
I could not agree with you more. There are no
more foundational pillars. There is no more player development. Long term,
there are going to be very few rosters that will
be playing with red shirt juniors and red shirt seniors
as the vast majority of their two d the threes
in the fours that are elite level recruits that in
(31:40):
Georgia a Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama will not stay within
the program because if they can go off to Mississippi
State or NC State or wherever and be an impact
player right away.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
They're going to leave.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
There's just no way to develop competitive depth and listen,
the only thing I'll say that would keep the Ohio States,
the Texas, Texas, A and M the usual suspects ahead
of the nerve money and resources. It will keep them
in the head of the curve. The difference is now
in the twelve team playoff is we've kind of become
(32:16):
accustomed to saying, Okay, here's our top four or five
teams every year. Right now, you're gonna look and you're
going to say, okay, here's our top eight to twelve
teams every year. But the top four to five may
not always be the.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Ones that have been.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
They'll be in that top eight to twelve, doesn't necessarily
mean they'll be in the top four, though, And that's
where it gets spread thin.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
And again, the way you're allocating those resources. Right it
used to be if you were Bama and you did
all the recruiting rankings, you were stockpiling five stars and
four stars, and okay, you lose one every now and
then we got three more waiting in the wings. That's
not the case anymore, because if you want those guys
and you're not playing right away, you're getting blown up
(32:58):
by coaches, you're getting hit up, getting tampered with. It's
the wild West, Come play for us. We'll give you
this much money and you're going to play, and by playing,
you're going to have more exposure to name, image and
likeness deals.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Think about how many schools in the country right now
have what you would call a viable backup quarterback or
a developmental guy waiting in the wings.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Very few, very few, very very few. I would say,
Ohio State does if you have one? That comes to
mind with Julian saying, uh, but that's a different stach Manning, Yeah,
that's a different that's a different story. But no, there's
there's no question. Maybe Alabama with Tye Simpson and Dylan
Long again, but you're you're right. I mean where is like,
(33:43):
like all asked this question, how in the world is
NC State going to keep T J. Bailey?
Speaker 3 (33:49):
Right?
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Yeah, I mean who's to say, c. J. Bailey, who
went to Shamanad in South Florida, ain't playing at Miami
next year. So it's just it's this constant cycle of
rent player.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
How many times has a coach on a production call
said to you, guys, yeah you know or worry in
a game like this is if people are watching this
game because it's on a bigger platform and they see
this guy, they're going to try to steal them.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
That's where we are. That's where we are early in
the year. If you're doing a power.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
School against a smaller school and you see a guy
flash from the smaller school, Hey, this guy can play,
and we start talking him up because he's playing well.
The coaches on the other staff are freaking out because
and we're seeing it. Then everybody else is seeing it,
and they're saying, why are you playing at directional fcs?
(34:43):
Why aren't you playing in the Big ten or the
SEC or the ACC or the Big.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Twelve, no doubt, And on top of all of that,
if they've got two or more years of eligibility, gone gone, gone,
gone crazy, we're gone too. Well, yeah, we're going.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
To Matt Hogan. You can end the show. Now, we're
going to leave. Well, you can stay, but we're leaving.
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