December 31, 2024 • 25 mins
This week on Weekend Warriors, Anish and Tom discuss the future structure of college football, NIL, the quarterfinals of the college football playoffs and so much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This used to be the happiest time of the year
when it came to college football. It was ball season,
even back in the day BCS Championship right two teams playing.
It still is, but the innocence is long gone. This
is a straight up business now. It's a business for players,
for coaches, really for everybody involved because of the money
in the game. The problem is you have two trains
(00:22):
moving in opposite directions. What's best for the players financially
and what's best for the health of the game. There
is no alignment right now at all. And my issue
right now is there is nobody in a position to
make a decision or to come to some consensus, to
(00:44):
find some kind of common ground where it's either Frontier World,
Wild Wild West, or what you had before, which was, yeah,
these kids would get in trouble for an assistant coach
buying them lunch because they didn't have any money. There's
got to be some kind of happy medium here. But
it doesn't even feel like we're anywhere near a solution,
(01:07):
and this problem is just going to continue to get
worse and worse and worse. At some point the market
corrects and then the money ties up and there is
a tipping point and then it's bad for everybody.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, so, Anish and I've had very very strong feelings
on this, and many of them aren't overly popular, and
that's fine, and I understand it's a hot button topic
and it's it's there's a lot of debate involved in this.
But essentially, what we've done with intercollegiate athletics is we've
taken what was already a very complicated, in many instances irrational,
(01:45):
outdated model under the NC double A, and then we
made the most transformative legislation maybe in the history of
the NC DOUBLEA, and we did so without a single
care in the world as to how in the world
it was going to be implemented orchestrated, executed, policed, governed, administered.
(02:12):
We took this and we dumped it on the laps
of everybody with no plan of how to manage it.
So what have we seen happen? Most notably in the
last two two and a half years. Chip Kelly walks
away from a head coaching job at UCLA, Gus Malzon
walks away from a head coaching job at UCF. Dave
(02:32):
Clausen just walked away and was very very clear as
to why he just did it. Most recently this week,
Jim Larrenega and his comments were very very impactful about
where we are at right now in Eeter Collegian Athletics.
And I will say this because I always pushed back
hard on this because people say, well, you're only pro coaches,
(02:52):
you're only pro coaches. No, no, no, no, I'm not If
a player can go out there and make money, great.
If if we're not allowed for player movement, fine, But
if you ask every one of the coaches, and I
know you've had these conversations with them when you've met
with them, they're not anti this, that and the other.
What they are is pro structure. They're saying, Okay, if
(03:14):
this is what this is gonna be, tell us what
the rules are and make sure that they are governed,
policed and that there are penalties and that everybody knows
where they stand. But this this isn't sustainable, you know.
And there's it's I don't until this thing somehow gets
on the right track, it's gonna get worse and worse
and worse. Because you said the most important thing in
(03:36):
all of this is the market will course correct and
when somebody says, Oh, well, I want four million dollars
and all this and that, and you go out and
you don't play, well, it ain't gonna be four million
dollars for the next guy, right, So can you imagine
if we ran the NFL the way the college football's
run ran back?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I I was just.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Gonna bring that to you. Let's say everybody in the
NFL was on a one year contract. Sure, how many
jerseys would you see at an NFL game on Sunday?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Oh, John, you know what you'd see. You'd see jerseys
from somebody who'd already bought one from a player that
wasn't even in that stadium that day.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Right, So again I ask you this, Right, Hey, you
can make money off your name, your likeness, jersey.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Sales, all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
You're a high school kid, you can command a dollar
amount to go to a school, certainly if you're a
quarterback or a marquee position. So now, Tom Lougan, Bill,
you're a booster and school X comes to you, Hey,
we need a million dollars to go get this guy,
program changer. He's going to be the quarterback. He's going
to lead us into a brand new frontier of success. Okay,
(04:39):
here's a billion dollars. Let's go get this guy. You
bring him in. Well, one year goes by and he
has a pretty good season. Then he says, if you
want me to stay, that million now needs to be
three million. So you say, okay, well here's three million.
Well guess what school why is offering me four million?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
See you later? Yep?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
How invested are you going to be now going forward
saying I'm gonna give my hard earned money to go
get one of these kids. When that happens again, the
people that you're asking, they are the money people in
all this.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Right, billionaires.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
These are billionaires in some instances. They don't just throw
money away.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
They don't get rich by losing money.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
By losing money.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
That's exactly right, and this is exactly why. The only
way to correct this, and it's gonna take time, and
it is gonna take a lot of courtroom drama, is
we're gonna have to collectively bargain because right now, the
players want everything and they think they're entitled to it,
(05:42):
and they want to give nothing. The coaches in the
institutions want structure and rules. They want a free agent period.
If we're gonna have one they want to transfer period
if we're gonna have one. They want to have a
structure and a salary cap structure for name, image and likeness.
They want everything to be public with what everybody else
is doing. So for example, if player be for an
(06:05):
NFL team is a running back and he's coming into
his free agent year, the rest of the teams out
there know what every running back is making, what the
structure of the contract looks like. So you create what
the market value is, and then it's up for opinion
to say, well, we actually think you fall in here.
Okay for us, but maybe out there on the market,
somebody may think you fall in there. But everybody knows
(06:28):
what the numbers are and it's transparent. So the only way.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
To salary cap salary cap.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, and again, listen, I get some people will say, oh,
that's that's communist, right, salary cap.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
We all have a little communist in us when it
comes to sports. I've been doing this for a long time.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
But it was agreed.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
But it turns into a communist when it comes to sports.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Right, right, But it was agreed upon, right, So that's
what's collective bargaining. They collectively came together and bargained as
to what was going to be acceptable on this side
and protect this side, accept the ball on this side,
protect this side, and not everybody wins. Everybody gives up
a little gear.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
It's kind of like the art of the deal, right,
And that's how that's how Green Bay competes with New York.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
And if you didn't have that, the thing would come
crumbling down in less than a year. Right. And so
now we're functioning like this, And and what makes it
even worse is you have thirty two NFL teams, right,
and you don't have the wide, wide gaps between organizations
between teams that you have in college football. You know,
(07:31):
Kansas State's never gonna be competing with Georgia with resources, right.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Okay, So I'm glad you brought that up, because here's
where I think the crux of this lies.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Okay, if you're Ohio State, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Oregon with the Phil Knight Nike money, Sure, what impetus
do you have in changing a system where the advantages
are inherently yours?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Zero? You have zero, That's exactly right. And that's where
whether it's commissioner, whether it's athletic directors, whether it's coaches,
what have you. You know, you've got the SEC out here,
You've got the big ten out here. Obviously they're driving
the sport right now. And if I'm just referencing football,
but even in basketball now, when all of a sudden,
these floodgates open guests who started getting really good in
(08:16):
basketball in the last two years, the SEC. Guess who's
down right now in basketball as a result of it?
The ACC Okay, so, but you're right, there is not
incentive to do that, which may mean that as we
further widen the gap of the haves and have nots,
you might have to have you know, just like we
(08:36):
have the FCS, you might have to have the group
of five be its own thing. And then you have
the power for be its own thing and only have
those who can compete with one another on the same
level in the same basket. And so listen, it's competent.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Yeah, dude, you start to do that, you start to
do that, markets correct.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
I'm a big believer. Yeah, it always corrects. And again,
these two trains, I don't blame the players. If you're
going to tell Darien Mensa, who is the starter at
two win, Yeah, million, dollars from duke. Hey, if we're
in his shoes twenty years old, twenty one years old,
and somebody's offering us that while we're in college, Okay, bye,
We're gone. I don't blame the kids for taking the money,
(09:20):
the temptation, it is all there. It's really hard to
say no, and the system allows it. But we got
to find a way.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
All right.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
We could spend all show on those, but we actually
want to talk a little bit about the football that.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Matters ladies and gentlemen. The Weekend Crose to the.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Episode Caught Bite Falin Touchdown Carolina.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Weekend Warriors.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
College football playoff quarter final round. Let's start with the
Verbo Fiesta. Bl Penn State, Boise State. You'll be calling
that game. You're out in Arizona right now. Ashton Genty
For the folks who have not seen him, I was
watching a little bit of tape on him earlier today. Man,
the contact balance, low center of gravity, old school running back.
(10:14):
In terms of the amount of carries and punishment, this
guy can absorb it. Nobody ever seems to get a
clean hit on him either.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Right, He's Emmett Smith with top end speed. That's what
he is he's Emmett Smith with top end speed, and
right now, Boise State's averaging about sixty five offensive plays
a game, and he's going to get at least thirty
of them. He's going to get at least thirty of them.
And as a team, statistics have proven that if you
(10:42):
are able to accumulate forty carries a game, which is
a huge number, forty carries a game, you ain't losing.
And that's kind of Boise State's formula. So if you're
looking at this game and you're handicapping this thing, and
you're the defensive coordinator, Tom Allen, the former Indiana A coach,
head coach, the defensive cord now at Penn State, and
(11:02):
you're James Franklin, the head coach, you've got to be
sitting there on defense, going, okay, Number one, we have
personnel advantages, right, We're deeper, probably more talented. Number two.
I don't care who's over there on that offensive side
of this football. Number three, number nine, number four, number seven,
give them, give them ball to any of those guys.
(11:23):
But at the end of the day, number two is
not beating us. So I listen, I would not be
surprised if Penn State lines up and loads the box,
single high safety presses the corners and says, we dare
you to throw it to beat us. Because seventy percent
of college football right now could not tell you the
(11:43):
name of Boise State's quarterback.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
You don't have to. But here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Every team has tried some version of that against Boise State,
and Ashton Jens still gets his I know, I understand
they haven't seen a defense.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Yeah, State, abdul car Or can fly around.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
But again, when you have great pass rushers, you run
at them, you can take them out of the game.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You can utilize them.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
That is gonna be my big question. You've kind of
done a deep dive into this game. Can Boise State
offensively hold up in the trenches against that defensive front?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
No question? And when you talk to Boise staff, the
favorite part of their football team is their front on
both sides of the ball, Like they really believe that's
the core unit that is driven this whole thing. Ashton
Gentyet gets all the hype and the accolades and deservedly sell,
but up front, they seem to feel very very good
(12:38):
about this matchup. And again it's boys. They thrive in
these moments. Right, this is the little old Boisee chip
on the shoulder, we're not supposed to be here element
that they basically cook in. And on the other side,
you've got a program in Penn State that has been
remarkably stable, remarkably consistent, sustaining success. But what's eluded them
(13:00):
getting that big marquee win, right, And whether that is
in the regular season against a Michigan or Ohio State,
or it's in the quarterfinal of a college football playoff,
I don't care who the opponent is. This is a
big game for ben State.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I think if boise can hang and remember they had
their best winning school history in the Fiesta Bowl against
Oklahoma many years Ian Johnson, the girlfriend and the cheerleader
proposal and all that we all remember at the statue.
It was all there, So you know both Boyse's got
the sling shot. I'm glad we spoke trenches. I've got
Texas Arizona State on ESPN Radio on Wednesday. I'm in Atlanta,
(13:36):
Chick fil A, peach Ball, I'm here all week, Panthers
Falcons Sunday. I look at this game really as trench
four pair. I start with Arizona State, which has been
one of the great stories in all of college football.
You're down in the valley right now, you're in the desert.
Kenny Diltonham has transformed that program in two years. Texas
up front, I think is as good as it gets
(13:57):
on both sides of the ball. Their offensive line, you
got three pros. You got a first round pick at
left tackle, probably a top ten pick at left tackle.
How does Arizona State handle that? How does Arizona State
handle Texas in the trenches? To me, it comes down
to that. We know they're going to try to run
Camp Scataboo, but Texas is also really good on the
(14:19):
defensive line. Their secondary might be better than anybody. So
to your point, if Texas is going to take the
Penn State approach, Okay, you've got Scataboo, We're to load
the box and guess what. Go try to beat Jade Baron.
Go throw it into our secondary where we got Makuba.
Go try to beat Antonio Hill sidelines. Doesn't happen. Hasn't
(14:44):
happened very much. The only team that's been able to
do it is Georgia because George is equally good in
the trenches. To me, that's the big challenge. Camp Scataboo
is a guy who is really hard to bring down.
He is going to have to think break tackles in
the backfield, make things happen, and make the kind of
plays to be fair he's been making all season where
yeah he makes two to three guys miss, he breaks
(15:06):
two three ankle tackles, He twists, he whirlly gigs and
somehow you know, only the right hand touches the ground,
the elbow, the knee, don't go down anything. Yeah, yards,
this is gonna be a big challenge for Arizona State.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah he's John Riggins, That's who he reminds me of.
I know I'm dating myself there, but listen, I think
that you need if you're Arizona State, you need the
great equalizer to be the fact that you earned a
buy while Texas had to play a very physical football
game a week ago. Because I've been of the belief
(15:40):
that sometimes when you are a scorching hot of a team,
as Arizona State was going into the Big Twelve championship
game and then certainly coming out, I'm not so sure
the buye helps you because it's hard to carry over
all that momentum and wait for two weeks, right, you
almost want to get right back on the field to play.
So now you've got to rely on the fact that
you had some health, you had some rest, and you
(16:01):
need to utilize that to the best of your ability. Listen,
this is a complete mismatch from a talent profile standpoint.
You know what, I know, Arizona State knows it. The
twos and the threes and the fours are the problem
for Arizona State because they're so thin beyond their starters
that over the course of four quarters, it's just I
just think it's gonna wear on them, and it's gonna
wear on them, and it's gonna wear on them. I
(16:24):
do think knowing Kenny Dillingham, he's gonna have some tricks
in the bag. He's gonna have a card up his sleeve.
As you know. You reference that that Boise State, Oklahoma
Fiesta Bowl in two thousand and seven. Remember they had
a couple of trick plays, a couple of things here
and there. And I think going into a matchup where
you know that you're out manned, you better have some
of that stuff in your back pocket because you're gonna
(16:46):
you're gonna need it. You're you're gonna get to that
game in the fourth quarter. But you're right, Sam, there's
gonna be a lot on Sam Levin.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yeah, because there I think the biggest X factor a
state has a chance. I don't think people realize how
well he's played. A whole calendar turned in November. He
has been a top five quarterback in college football. Yep,
over the last two months. Yeah, you watched the Big
twelve championship game. You're like, Jesus, no wonder, these guys
just won the death And because you didn't realize how
(17:13):
good he was and how good he's going to be,
and he's young, and what a great foundational pillar for
the program.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I just this is one of those matchups that's not
a good matchup. Is I've often felt when they're the
talent discrepancy that's fairly wide. In order for you to
have a chance to win the game, you have to
play your best football and you need texts to screw
it up, like they need to do something uncharacteristic to
their nature, and if they do, ASU has to capitalize.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
The thing that impressed me the most about Texas Clemson's
pretty good team that's recruited well under Davos Sweeney. Yeah,
the way Texas just owned the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
That doesn't happen against them.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
You don't see Clemson get pushed around right in that
way against anybody.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
No, Right, I.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Think Sam Levitt his ability to run, move the pocket,
extend plays is going to be critical. And then the
one thing I'm watching for when you go back and
see teams that have been able to get quin viewers
to make some mistakes, they hit them early in games.
You can get pressure on Quein viewers rattle him. There
(18:20):
are times, and I'm not saying it happens every time,
but sometimes there's a little bit of a snowball effect. Yeah,
you can hit him a couple of times early. I
go back to the great Al Davis line, first ten
to fifteen plays of the game.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
The quarterback must go down and he must go down hard. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
If Arizona State can get a couple of hits on Queen,
viewers get to the quarterback early and they're not a
big blitz team, again, maybe you force him into some mistakes.
Arizona State is one of the best in terms of
turnover margin. They have to win the turnover margin, But
you're right, they're outmanned at most positions. Most teams are
against Texas. Talent Texas is right up there with anybody.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
We can pooh poo the schedule which we have and
who did you would you play? Not the rouble that
it's fair game, talent deniable. But again we'll see if
Texas again. Pedigree of being here in the playoff last year,
the only team to come back being the twelve team
playoff that was in the fourteen playoff last year Ohio
State Oregon. The one advantage Oregon is going to have
(19:19):
as long as they play. They got the best quarterback
going yep.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
The most sustainable, successful, high level performer of any position
in the college football playoff field is Dylan Gabriel. And
I think when you the further you get, you're going
to have to have your quarterback win the game for you, right,
And you feel like he's the one member of this
(19:44):
remaining pool that you have the most confident in being
able to do that. And I think the question that
everybody has that watched the Tennessee Ohio State game is
how come we haven't seen Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Do that too?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Two weeks in a row or three weeks in a row, right,
And that would be my question. If that team shows up,
they're a problem. I mean, they could win the national
championship and maybe beat Oregon by a touchdown or ten points, right,
But we haven't seen that yet from them, and I'm very,
very curious to see how they come out the gate
(20:20):
this time, the.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Last game, Notre Dame and Georgia. And this is the
one game where talk about the quarterback position. Gunner stocked it. Man,
you talk about being thrown into it. He was thrown Yeah,
when Carson Beck got hurt in the SEC Championship, held
his own. Now he's had all the practices leading up
to it. Beck is out for the playoffs. Whatever season
(20:45):
he had, maybe he didn't live up to expectations. Still,
Carson Beck is a really good college quarterback and counter stack.
Stockton's a young guy. This will be what his first
career start. Yeah, the playoff quarterfinal. To me, if I'm
Notre Dame, I'm trying to find a way to force
this kid into mistakes.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Again.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
This goes back to load the box, take away the runs.
See if he can beat you, see if he makes mistakes. Yeah,
because to me, that's how Georgia loses. Georgia doesn't need
to be great on offense. They just have to be
mistake free on offense.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Don't screw it up. That's exactly right, you know. And
the one thing I thought was interesting because I thought
it showed a lot of confidence in belief in Gunner Stockton,
was that when he went in the game, nothing changed.
They didn't alter the offense, they didn't change the approach,
they didn't get conservative. They turned him loose, right, and
then he made some plays with his arm. He started
(21:38):
to make some plays with his legs, and you're like, whoa,
wait a minute. This guy brings a dimension that Carson
Beck doesn't have, and that's to create when things break down.
That could be potentially problematic because when you're dealing with
that type of quarterback, that's different than dealing with somebody
that's just sitting there in the pocket. You don't have
to worry about him movement. And so, you know, Notre
Dame I think as a legit national championship contender. They
(21:58):
can run the football, they can stop run, and they
don't beat themselves. And talking about quarterback play, Riley Leonard
has gotten better and better and better every single week
and just keeps ascending, I think. And right now, at
this time of the season, anisse, you know, another thing
gets glossed over and all of this, all of these
teams are embarking on the longest college football season their
(22:22):
institutions have ever had. Sooner or later, somebody's gonna run
out of gas. Sooner or later, somebody's gonna get the
wrong guy injured. I mean, we're only in the quarter files, dude,
So like what it's going to take to pull this
off or some really special things, and I think both
Georgia and Notre Dame have those types of special things.
But you hit the nail on the head. You got
a pressure gunners stocked in early to see how he responds,
(22:45):
and then change the picture post snap to see if
you can bait him into a mistake something, because he
won't have seen all the things that Carson Beck has
seen and let's see how he responds to that.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yeah, a Notre Dame is capable of doing that. Al
Golden of the top defensive minds out there.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
No doubt. We're going to have time.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
And you know, you got a few extra days to
cook something up for a quarterback who again hasn't played
a whole lot. What kind of player was he coming
out of high school understaff? The big time recruit. Oh yeah,
top five.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Player at his position in the pocket passing category. We
didn't even have him in the dual create category because
he wasn't utilized like that. I think what we saw
in the SEC Championship game was a bit of a
surprise to everybody in terms of the athleticism. So yeah,
a high profile recruit that's kind of just been waiting
its turn. And again another one of those guys that
you know when he got there. Brock Vandergriff was there,
(23:35):
Carson Beck was there. Obviously he came into the fold,
but he can just up and transfer because he didn't
play right away. I love that about him.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Before we go, what is the cutoff day to say
Happy New Year?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
To say Happy New Year, I'd say the fifteenth of January.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Fifteenth of January.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah, yeah, you got to get it out of the
way area, get it out of your system. You know,
you run into somebody, oh hey, Happy New Year. But
then we get past two weeks in January and nobody's
happy and it's not New Year anymore.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
I was gonna go March first, were you really?
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yeah, so you've been in the middle of February and
encountered somebody and said Happy New Year.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
I hadn't seen you since the calendar turned Happy New Year.
If I don't see you until March and rend okay,
in downtown Charlotte, Uptown Charlotte of the Blakeney Shopping Center,
Valentine wherever. Hey, Luke's Happy New Year.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
I never get involved. But March first is egregious. That
is so late. I'm going to hop off and listen.
But that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Just joined us.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
It's the brains behind this whole operation. Well, I think
this is the last show. The bonus episode next week
that is TBD. But if it is Happy New Year,
Happy New Year.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
To you, and when I see you in June, I'll
be sure to reiterate that.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Well, it depends.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
June fifteenth technically is the cutoff, because then you're in
the back end of the year, so it's not really
a new year anymore.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Now that was kind of an old year. Okay, I
did there. Yeah, you've extended it to June. Now, nice work.
This used to be the happiest time of the year
when it came to college football. It was ball season,
even back in the day BCS Championship right two teams playing.
It still is, but the innocence is long gone. This
is a straight up business now. It's a business for players,
for coaches, really for everybody involved because of the money
in the game. The problem is you have two trains
(00:22):
moving in opposite directions. What's best for the players financially
and what's best for the health of the game. There
is no alignment right now at all. And my issue
right now is there is nobody in a position to
make a decision or to come to some consensus, to
(00:44):
find some kind of common ground where it's either Frontier World,
Wild Wild West, or what you had before, which was, yeah,
these kids would get in trouble for an assistant coach
buying them lunch because they didn't have any money. There's
got to be some kind of happy medium here. But
it doesn't even feel like we're anywhere near a solution,
(01:07):
and this problem is just going to continue to get
worse and worse and worse. At some point the market
corrects and then the money ties up and there is
a tipping point and then it's bad for everybody.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, so, Anish and I've had very very strong feelings
on this, and many of them aren't overly popular, and
that's fine, and I understand it's a hot button topic
and it's it's there's a lot of debate involved in this.
But essentially, what we've done with intercollegiate athletics is we've
taken what was already a very complicated, in many instances irrational,
(01:45):
outdated model under the NC double A, and then we
made the most transformative legislation maybe in the history of
the NC DOUBLEA, and we did so without a single
care in the world as to how in the world
it was going to be implemented orchestrated, executed, policed, governed, administered.
(02:12):
We took this and we dumped it on the laps
of everybody with no plan of how to manage it.
So what have we seen happen? Most notably in the
last two two and a half years. Chip Kelly walks
away from a head coaching job at UCLA, Gus Malzon
walks away from a head coaching job at UCF. Dave
(02:32):
Clausen just walked away and was very very clear as
to why he just did it. Most recently this week,
Jim Larrenega and his comments were very very impactful about
where we are at right now in Eeter Collegian Athletics.
And I will say this because I always pushed back
hard on this because people say, well, you're only pro coaches,
(02:52):
you're only pro coaches. No, no, no, no, I'm not If
a player can go out there and make money, great.
If if we're not allowed for player movement, fine, But
if you ask every one of the coaches, and I
know you've had these conversations with them when you've met
with them, they're not anti this, that and the other.
What they are is pro structure. They're saying, Okay, if
(03:14):
this is what this is gonna be, tell us what
the rules are and make sure that they are governed,
policed and that there are penalties and that everybody knows
where they stand. But this this isn't sustainable, you know.
And there's it's I don't until this thing somehow gets
on the right track, it's gonna get worse and worse
and worse. Because you said the most important thing in
(03:36):
all of this is the market will course correct and
when somebody says, Oh, well, I want four million dollars
and all this and that, and you go out and
you don't play, well, it ain't gonna be four million
dollars for the next guy, right, So can you imagine
if we ran the NFL the way the college football's
run ran back?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I I was just.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Gonna bring that to you. Let's say everybody in the
NFL was on a one year contract. Sure, how many
jerseys would you see at an NFL game on Sunday?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Oh, John, you know what you'd see. You'd see jerseys
from somebody who'd already bought one from a player that
wasn't even in that stadium that day.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Right, So again I ask you this, Right, Hey, you
can make money off your name, your likeness, jersey.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Sales, all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
You're a high school kid, you can command a dollar
amount to go to a school, certainly if you're a
quarterback or a marquee position. So now, Tom Lougan, Bill,
you're a booster and school X comes to you, Hey,
we need a million dollars to go get this guy,
program changer. He's going to be the quarterback. He's going
to lead us into a brand new frontier of success. Okay,
(04:39):
here's a billion dollars. Let's go get this guy. You
bring him in. Well, one year goes by and he
has a pretty good season. Then he says, if you
want me to stay, that million now needs to be
three million. So you say, okay, well here's three million.
Well guess what school why is offering me four million?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
See you later? Yep?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
How invested are you going to be now going forward
saying I'm gonna give my hard earned money to go
get one of these kids. When that happens again, the
people that you're asking, they are the money people in
all this.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Right, billionaires.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
These are billionaires in some instances. They don't just throw
money away.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
They don't get rich by losing money.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
By losing money.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
That's exactly right, and this is exactly why. The only
way to correct this, and it's gonna take time, and
it is gonna take a lot of courtroom drama, is
we're gonna have to collectively bargain because right now, the
players want everything and they think they're entitled to it,
(05:42):
and they want to give nothing. The coaches in the
institutions want structure and rules. They want a free agent period.
If we're gonna have one they want to transfer period
if we're gonna have one. They want to have a
structure and a salary cap structure for name, image and likeness.
They want everything to be public with what everybody else
is doing. So for example, if player be for an
(06:05):
NFL team is a running back and he's coming into
his free agent year, the rest of the teams out
there know what every running back is making, what the
structure of the contract looks like. So you create what
the market value is, and then it's up for opinion
to say, well, we actually think you fall in here.
Okay for us, but maybe out there on the market,
somebody may think you fall in there. But everybody knows
(06:28):
what the numbers are and it's transparent. So the only way.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
To salary cap salary cap.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, and again, listen, I get some people will say, oh,
that's that's communist, right, salary cap.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
We all have a little communist in us when it
comes to sports. I've been doing this for a long time.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
But it was agreed.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
But it turns into a communist when it comes to sports.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Right, right, But it was agreed upon, right, So that's
what's collective bargaining. They collectively came together and bargained as
to what was going to be acceptable on this side
and protect this side, accept the ball on this side,
protect this side, and not everybody wins. Everybody gives up
a little gear.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
It's kind of like the art of the deal, right,
And that's how that's how Green Bay competes with New York.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
And if you didn't have that, the thing would come
crumbling down in less than a year. Right. And so
now we're functioning like this, And and what makes it
even worse is you have thirty two NFL teams, right,
and you don't have the wide, wide gaps between organizations
between teams that you have in college football. You know,
(07:31):
Kansas State's never gonna be competing with Georgia with resources, right.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Okay, So I'm glad you brought that up, because here's
where I think the crux of this lies.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Okay, if you're Ohio State, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Oregon with the Phil Knight Nike money, Sure, what impetus
do you have in changing a system where the advantages
are inherently yours?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Zero? You have zero, That's exactly right. And that's where
whether it's commissioner, whether it's athletic directors, whether it's coaches,
what have you. You know, you've got the SEC out here,
You've got the big ten out here. Obviously they're driving
the sport right now. And if I'm just referencing football,
but even in basketball now, when all of a sudden,
these floodgates open guests who started getting really good in
(08:16):
basketball in the last two years, the SEC. Guess who's
down right now in basketball as a result of it?
The ACC Okay, so, but you're right, there is not
incentive to do that, which may mean that as we
further widen the gap of the haves and have nots,
you might have to have you know, just like we
(08:36):
have the FCS, you might have to have the group
of five be its own thing. And then you have
the power for be its own thing and only have
those who can compete with one another on the same
level in the same basket. And so listen, it's competent.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Yeah, dude, you start to do that, you start to
do that, markets correct.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
I'm a big believer. Yeah, it always corrects. And again,
these two trains, I don't blame the players. If you're
going to tell Darien Mensa, who is the starter at
two win, Yeah, million, dollars from duke. Hey, if we're
in his shoes twenty years old, twenty one years old,
and somebody's offering us that while we're in college, Okay, bye,
We're gone. I don't blame the kids for taking the money,
(09:20):
the temptation, it is all there. It's really hard to
say no, and the system allows it. But we got
to find a way.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
All right.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
We could spend all show on those, but we actually
want to talk a little bit about the football that.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Matters ladies and gentlemen. The Weekend Crose to the.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Episode Caught Bite Falin Touchdown Carolina.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Weekend Warriors.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
College football playoff quarter final round. Let's start with the
Verbo Fiesta. Bl Penn State, Boise State. You'll be calling
that game. You're out in Arizona right now. Ashton Genty
For the folks who have not seen him, I was
watching a little bit of tape on him earlier today. Man,
the contact balance, low center of gravity, old school running back.
(10:14):
In terms of the amount of carries and punishment, this
guy can absorb it. Nobody ever seems to get a
clean hit on him either.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Right, He's Emmett Smith with top end speed. That's what
he is he's Emmett Smith with top end speed, and
right now, Boise State's averaging about sixty five offensive plays
a game, and he's going to get at least thirty
of them. He's going to get at least thirty of them.
And as a team, statistics have proven that if you
(10:42):
are able to accumulate forty carries a game, which is
a huge number, forty carries a game, you ain't losing.
And that's kind of Boise State's formula. So if you're
looking at this game and you're handicapping this thing, and
you're the defensive coordinator, Tom Allen, the former Indiana A coach,
head coach, the defensive cord now at Penn State, and
(11:02):
you're James Franklin, the head coach, you've got to be
sitting there on defense, going, okay, Number one, we have
personnel advantages, right, We're deeper, probably more talented. Number two.
I don't care who's over there on that offensive side
of this football. Number three, number nine, number four, number seven,
give them, give them ball to any of those guys.
(11:23):
But at the end of the day, number two is
not beating us. So I listen, I would not be
surprised if Penn State lines up and loads the box,
single high safety presses the corners and says, we dare
you to throw it to beat us. Because seventy percent
of college football right now could not tell you the
(11:43):
name of Boise State's quarterback.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
You don't have to. But here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Every team has tried some version of that against Boise State,
and Ashton Jens still gets his I know, I understand
they haven't seen a defense.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Yeah, State, abdul car Or can fly around.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
But again, when you have great pass rushers, you run
at them, you can take them out of the game.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You can utilize them.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
That is gonna be my big question. You've kind of
done a deep dive into this game. Can Boise State
offensively hold up in the trenches against that defensive front?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
No question? And when you talk to Boise staff, the
favorite part of their football team is their front on
both sides of the ball, Like they really believe that's
the core unit that is driven this whole thing. Ashton
Gentyet gets all the hype and the accolades and deservedly sell,
but up front, they seem to feel very very good
(12:38):
about this matchup. And again it's boys. They thrive in
these moments. Right, this is the little old Boisee chip
on the shoulder, we're not supposed to be here element
that they basically cook in. And on the other side,
you've got a program in Penn State that has been
remarkably stable, remarkably consistent, sustaining success. But what's eluded them
(13:00):
getting that big marquee win, right, And whether that is
in the regular season against a Michigan or Ohio State,
or it's in the quarterfinal of a college football playoff,
I don't care who the opponent is. This is a
big game for ben State.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I think if boise can hang and remember they had
their best winning school history in the Fiesta Bowl against
Oklahoma many years Ian Johnson, the girlfriend and the cheerleader
proposal and all that we all remember at the statue.
It was all there, So you know both Boyse's got
the sling shot. I'm glad we spoke trenches. I've got
Texas Arizona State on ESPN Radio on Wednesday. I'm in Atlanta,
(13:36):
Chick fil A, peach Ball, I'm here all week, Panthers
Falcons Sunday. I look at this game really as trench
four pair. I start with Arizona State, which has been
one of the great stories in all of college football.
You're down in the valley right now, you're in the desert.
Kenny Diltonham has transformed that program in two years. Texas
up front, I think is as good as it gets
(13:57):
on both sides of the ball. Their offensive line, you
got three pros. You got a first round pick at
left tackle, probably a top ten pick at left tackle.
How does Arizona State handle that? How does Arizona State
handle Texas in the trenches? To me, it comes down
to that. We know they're going to try to run
Camp Scataboo, but Texas is also really good on the
(14:19):
defensive line. Their secondary might be better than anybody. So
to your point, if Texas is going to take the
Penn State approach, Okay, you've got Scataboo, We're to load
the box and guess what. Go try to beat Jade Baron.
Go throw it into our secondary where we got Makuba.
Go try to beat Antonio Hill sidelines. Doesn't happen. Hasn't
(14:44):
happened very much. The only team that's been able to
do it is Georgia because George is equally good in
the trenches. To me, that's the big challenge. Camp Scataboo
is a guy who is really hard to bring down.
He is going to have to think break tackles in
the backfield, make things happen, and make the kind of
plays to be fair he's been making all season where
yeah he makes two to three guys miss, he breaks
(15:06):
two three ankle tackles, He twists, he whirlly gigs and
somehow you know, only the right hand touches the ground,
the elbow, the knee, don't go down anything. Yeah, yards,
this is gonna be a big challenge for Arizona State.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah he's John Riggins, That's who he reminds me of.
I know I'm dating myself there, but listen, I think
that you need if you're Arizona State, you need the
great equalizer to be the fact that you earned a
buy while Texas had to play a very physical football
game a week ago. Because I've been of the belief
(15:40):
that sometimes when you are a scorching hot of a team,
as Arizona State was going into the Big Twelve championship
game and then certainly coming out, I'm not so sure
the buye helps you because it's hard to carry over
all that momentum and wait for two weeks, right, you
almost want to get right back on the field to play.
So now you've got to rely on the fact that
you had some health, you had some rest, and you
(16:01):
need to utilize that to the best of your ability. Listen,
this is a complete mismatch from a talent profile standpoint.
You know what, I know, Arizona State knows it. The
twos and the threes and the fours are the problem
for Arizona State because they're so thin beyond their starters
that over the course of four quarters, it's just I
just think it's gonna wear on them, and it's gonna
wear on them, and it's gonna wear on them. I
(16:24):
do think knowing Kenny Dillingham, he's gonna have some tricks
in the bag. He's gonna have a card up his sleeve.
As you know. You reference that that Boise State, Oklahoma
Fiesta Bowl in two thousand and seven. Remember they had
a couple of trick plays, a couple of things here
and there. And I think going into a matchup where
you know that you're out manned, you better have some
of that stuff in your back pocket because you're gonna
(16:46):
you're gonna need it. You're you're gonna get to that
game in the fourth quarter. But you're right, Sam, there's
gonna be a lot on Sam Levin.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yeah, because there I think the biggest X factor a
state has a chance. I don't think people realize how
well he's played. A whole calendar turned in November. He
has been a top five quarterback in college football. Yep,
over the last two months. Yeah, you watched the Big
twelve championship game. You're like, Jesus, no wonder, these guys
just won the death And because you didn't realize how
(17:13):
good he was and how good he's going to be,
and he's young, and what a great foundational pillar for
the program.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I just this is one of those matchups that's not
a good matchup. Is I've often felt when they're the
talent discrepancy that's fairly wide. In order for you to
have a chance to win the game, you have to
play your best football and you need texts to screw
it up, like they need to do something uncharacteristic to
their nature, and if they do, ASU has to capitalize.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
The thing that impressed me the most about Texas Clemson's
pretty good team that's recruited well under Davos Sweeney. Yeah,
the way Texas just owned the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
That doesn't happen against them.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
You don't see Clemson get pushed around right in that
way against anybody.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
No, Right, I.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Think Sam Levitt his ability to run, move the pocket,
extend plays is going to be critical. And then the
one thing I'm watching for when you go back and
see teams that have been able to get quin viewers
to make some mistakes, they hit them early in games.
You can get pressure on Quein viewers rattle him. There
(18:20):
are times, and I'm not saying it happens every time,
but sometimes there's a little bit of a snowball effect. Yeah,
you can hit him a couple of times early. I
go back to the great Al Davis line, first ten
to fifteen plays of the game.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
The quarterback must go down and he must go down hard. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
If Arizona State can get a couple of hits on Queen,
viewers get to the quarterback early and they're not a
big blitz team, again, maybe you force him into some mistakes.
Arizona State is one of the best in terms of
turnover margin. They have to win the turnover margin, But
you're right, they're outmanned at most positions. Most teams are
against Texas. Talent Texas is right up there with anybody.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
We can pooh poo the schedule which we have and
who did you would you play? Not the rouble that
it's fair game, talent deniable. But again we'll see if
Texas again. Pedigree of being here in the playoff last year,
the only team to come back being the twelve team
playoff that was in the fourteen playoff last year Ohio
State Oregon. The one advantage Oregon is going to have
(19:19):
as long as they play. They got the best quarterback
going yep.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
The most sustainable, successful, high level performer of any position
in the college football playoff field is Dylan Gabriel. And
I think when you the further you get, you're going
to have to have your quarterback win the game for you, right,
And you feel like he's the one member of this
(19:44):
remaining pool that you have the most confident in being
able to do that. And I think the question that
everybody has that watched the Tennessee Ohio State game is
how come we haven't seen Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Do that too?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Two weeks in a row or three weeks in a row, right,
And that would be my question. If that team shows up,
they're a problem. I mean, they could win the national
championship and maybe beat Oregon by a touchdown or ten points, right,
But we haven't seen that yet from them, and I'm very,
very curious to see how they come out the gate
(20:20):
this time, the.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Last game, Notre Dame and Georgia. And this is the
one game where talk about the quarterback position. Gunner stocked it. Man,
you talk about being thrown into it. He was thrown Yeah,
when Carson Beck got hurt in the SEC Championship, held
his own. Now he's had all the practices leading up
to it. Beck is out for the playoffs. Whatever season
(20:45):
he had, maybe he didn't live up to expectations. Still,
Carson Beck is a really good college quarterback and counter stack.
Stockton's a young guy. This will be what his first
career start. Yeah, the playoff quarterfinal. To me, if I'm
Notre Dame, I'm trying to find a way to force
this kid into mistakes.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Again.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
This goes back to load the box, take away the runs.
See if he can beat you, see if he makes mistakes. Yeah,
because to me, that's how Georgia loses. Georgia doesn't need
to be great on offense. They just have to be
mistake free on offense.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Don't screw it up. That's exactly right, you know. And
the one thing I thought was interesting because I thought
it showed a lot of confidence in belief in Gunner Stockton,
was that when he went in the game, nothing changed.
They didn't alter the offense, they didn't change the approach,
they didn't get conservative. They turned him loose, right, and
then he made some plays with his arm. He started
(21:38):
to make some plays with his legs, and you're like, whoa,
wait a minute. This guy brings a dimension that Carson
Beck doesn't have, and that's to create when things break down.
That could be potentially problematic because when you're dealing with
that type of quarterback, that's different than dealing with somebody
that's just sitting there in the pocket. You don't have
to worry about him movement. And so, you know, Notre
Dame I think as a legit national championship contender. They
(21:58):
can run the football, they can stop run, and they
don't beat themselves. And talking about quarterback play, Riley Leonard
has gotten better and better and better every single week
and just keeps ascending, I think. And right now, at
this time of the season, anisse, you know, another thing
gets glossed over and all of this, all of these
teams are embarking on the longest college football season their
(22:22):
institutions have ever had. Sooner or later, somebody's gonna run
out of gas. Sooner or later, somebody's gonna get the
wrong guy injured. I mean, we're only in the quarter files, dude,
So like what it's going to take to pull this
off or some really special things, and I think both
Georgia and Notre Dame have those types of special things.
But you hit the nail on the head. You got
a pressure gunners stocked in early to see how he responds,
(22:45):
and then change the picture post snap to see if
you can bait him into a mistake something, because he
won't have seen all the things that Carson Beck has
seen and let's see how he responds to that.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yeah, a Notre Dame is capable of doing that. Al
Golden of the top defensive minds out there.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
No doubt. We're going to have time.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
And you know, you got a few extra days to
cook something up for a quarterback who again hasn't played
a whole lot. What kind of player was he coming
out of high school understaff? The big time recruit. Oh yeah,
top five.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Player at his position in the pocket passing category. We
didn't even have him in the dual create category because
he wasn't utilized like that. I think what we saw
in the SEC Championship game was a bit of a
surprise to everybody in terms of the athleticism. So yeah,
a high profile recruit that's kind of just been waiting
its turn. And again another one of those guys that
you know when he got there. Brock Vandergriff was there,
(23:35):
Carson Beck was there. Obviously he came into the fold,
but he can just up and transfer because he didn't
play right away. I love that about him.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Before we go, what is the cutoff day to say
Happy New Year?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
To say Happy New Year, I'd say the fifteenth of January.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Fifteenth of January.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah, yeah, you got to get it out of the
way area, get it out of your system. You know,
you run into somebody, oh hey, Happy New Year. But
then we get past two weeks in January and nobody's
happy and it's not New Year anymore.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
I was gonna go March first, were you really?
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yeah, so you've been in the middle of February and
encountered somebody and said Happy New Year.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
I hadn't seen you since the calendar turned Happy New Year.
If I don't see you until March and rend okay,
in downtown Charlotte, Uptown Charlotte of the Blakeney Shopping Center,
Valentine wherever. Hey, Luke's Happy New Year.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
I never get involved. But March first is egregious. That
is so late. I'm going to hop off and listen.
But that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Just joined us.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
It's the brains behind this whole operation. Well, I think
this is the last show. The bonus episode next week
that is TBD. But if it is Happy New Year,
Happy New Year.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
To you, and when I see you in June, I'll
be sure to reiterate that.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Well, it depends.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
June fifteenth technically is the cutoff, because then you're in
the back end of the year, so it's not really
a new year anymore.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Now that was kind of an old year. Okay, I
did there. Yeah, you've extended it to June. Now, nice work.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!