September 23, 2025 • 26 mins
This week on Weekend Warriors, Anish and Tom recap the Panthers 30-0 win over the Atlanta Falcons, detail how to deal with a "village idiot", discuss Mike Gundy's future with Oklahoma State, and so much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know what we need to bring back, Lukes, talk
to me. We need to bring back the label of
village idiot. Think about it in the old days. Do
you know why they had the village idiot? Do you
know why somebody was specifically branded the village idiot?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
No?
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Why lean in on this?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
And this applies in so many different spaces in the
world because the village didn't want him to be the
flag bearer, and they needed everybody else to know that's
the village idiot. He's not the guy who represents the
rest of the village.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Do you feel where I'm going with this?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Yes, please elaborate. I cannot wait to hear more.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
We need that now because I feel, and especially on
social media, you see this a lot right where it's
the village idiots who have now become the flag bearers
for a lot of different enterprises. And you can take
this and whatever direction you want, but I think we've
become so scared of shaming them that we can't call
(01:08):
them the village idiot anymore.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
So the village knows that they're the idiot, but the
other villagers don't know that said person is the village idiot. Right,
So they think he's representing the village. And I always say,
I said, you know, there was a reason that Moniker
came about. You're the village idiot, You're not the village.
I think we have to go back to finding that
(01:32):
person and letting people know when it's the village idiot
and when it's the guy actually representing the village.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
It's a big distinction, and being unapologetic about it.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I think we have to. I think we have to.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Well, I actually think our society is starting to swing
back that way, little by little.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Bring back the village Idiot's all I'm asking for.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I'm in, I will join your team.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
How many times have you said it's the one guy
who roomed it for everybody. Well, it used to be
they couldn't do that because everybody knew like this guy
just wasn't capable of making good decisions or doing the
right thing, or representing the best interests of his group.
(02:17):
And so it's like, let's not take the outlier and
turn him into something that is full on representative everybody, Like,
let's call it what it is. Hey, that's that's our
village idiot. Okay, we may still love him, but let's
not get carried away with who he is. That's all
I'm in. I'm in, I'm down. You know you see that.
(02:41):
I mean, listen, you see that with fan bases and sports,
right the one guy, I'll give you a good example,
Baseball Karen in Philadelphia.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Ooh, that's right, right, Like, if.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
You're a Phillies fan, all of a sudden, the lady
who took a ball away from a kid and rob
the dad and his son of a great moment, she
now embodies your fan base.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Yes, and she's the outlier, but everybody looks at it
as she being the core of the base.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
But then you think about it with Philly, like this
is the same fan base that boots Santa Claus through
batteries at opposing baseball player. So maybe that's the one
where Philly Karen may be representative. Let's move on, ladies
and gentlemen.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
The weekend.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Yet by somebody Richardson who walks in it.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
From weekend war years, who saw thirty to nothing coming
against Atlanta, I'm not sure many of us did.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
But the Panthers played about as well as they've played
in a long time, probably since that Christmas Eve game
against the Lions a few years ago Atlanta with Jean
Robinson and it's Bjeon again, not Jon emerging, Michael Pennix,
Drake London, Kyle Pitts. This is a pretty good offense
and for a team that had spent so and resources
(04:15):
on bolstering their defense. I think we've talked about this before.
When you can put that evidence on paper, Tom Logan,
Bill and you can say, look, we're tangibly better. And
it's not just words in a locker room. It's not
just a narrative that you're giving to the media. But
you can see these results when you're building a team
(04:37):
and you have that to point too, and then you
can say why it happened, and you really dive into
the film and the x's and o's and you're able
to do this, and you were able to do this,
didn't have a lot of sacks, but you're able to
get to the quarterback and disrupt the pass or get
him out of rhythm. To me, it now gives you
a blueprint for success going forward.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Well, when you mentioned something, I think it's really important.
You know, everybody focuses on sacks when they need to
be focusing on affecting the quarterback. Now you'll hear coaches
use that phrase all the time, right, getting him off platform,
getting his eyes somewhere where they're not supposed to be
because he's seeing ghosts. Next thing you know, you're behind
the chains on offense. Next thing you know, you're throwing
(05:15):
a ball up for grabs. And you know, the biggest
thing to me in that is you won the turnover
battle because you forced him into bad decisions, because you
affected the quarterback. And yeah, we all love to have
sack numbers and this and that, but if you've got
people around his feet, you got people in his face,
it doesn't matter if it's Michael Penicks, it could be anybody.
(05:36):
Affecting the quarterback changes the entire makeup of the game.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
What was you a read on Penix coming out of college?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
So I absolutely loved him coming out of college. And
I have a kind of a unique story. And it's
fascinating because if you go back to when Kaylen DeVore
was the offensive coordinator at Indiana, that where they opened
the season and they beat Penn State. Do you remember that?
And they had that they had that unbelievable year versus
(06:06):
with with Tom Allen and Michael Pennix was just lights
out and then he had that horrific knee injury. Okay,
the next year our broadcast crew had them twice. And
I'm not kidding when I say this. He was the
worst quarterback we saw the entire season, the worst. His
(06:33):
confidence was rocked. He was consumed by not being back
to full health, so he wasn't focusing on football. He
was focusing on not feeling right and not feeling normal,
and he just I think it played mind games on
him and he couldn't perform right. So you know, time
goes by and time passes, and Calyn de borgets the
(06:55):
Fresno State job, and then you know, things start going
downhill at Indiana. Caylen de Boer takes the Washington job
and then takes Michael Pennix. And I don't know if
I've ever seen a quarterback performance turnaround ever in college football.
(07:17):
From the time I saw him in person on the
sideline at Indiana to those two years at Washington, I've
never seen anything like that. It was like two entirely
different people. The uniform hadn't just changed, the entire person changed.
Now we can give credit to whoever we want for that.
Ryan Grubb, the offensive coordinator Kaylen de boor maybe just
(07:40):
time passing and allowing for Michael Penix to get right
and then get back with the people that truly believed
in him and he knew he would fit in what
they did. It could be a variety of things, in
my opinion. Had he not had the history of injury
in his background and been the age that he was
a niche he might have been a top five overall pick.
(08:01):
He might have been the number one overall pick.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah, and he still went in the top ten.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah. And and so that tells you how talented people
thought he was because they were willing to overlook the
injury background and the age component of it and still
take him. And you know, listen that at the time,
my dad was working for the Raiders in personnel, and
had he not gotten taken, that's who they were taken.
And they ended up taking. They ended up taking brock
(08:27):
Bauers obviously, So it worked out well for him. But
I think he's got a chance to be really, really good.
You guys got the better of him. Obviously. He hasn't
played a lot in the National Football League, but he's
an older guy that's mature that's seen a ton of football,
very similar to like a Jayden Daniels or a Bo Nicks,
and those guys that have played a lot obviously are
better prepared to make an impact sooner rather than later.
(08:48):
But I think he's going to be a really good player.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yeah. It's interesting because we've now seen him twice live
with the Panthers Week eighteen last year and then this
past Sunday. You see the arm strength he can sling it.
That's never been a question. The injury history is real
until he proves otherwise, and he's going to be healthy
for a number of years to prove that injury is
not something that's going to bother him long term. Is
(09:13):
it a concern, Yes, But the one thing I will
say is there are some throws that he makes that
I think he probably gets away with in college that
he's not going to get away with in the NFL. Right,
and listen, there are guys who did this. Marino did this,
Brett Favre did this right, and they did it because
more often than not they could make the throw, yeah,
and they could fit it into windows where other guys
(09:33):
wouldn't even try to attempt.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
L L Way is another guy like that.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Elway was another guy like that, Right, I can fit
it in there, So I'm going to and good luck
and if you pick it off, your hands are going
to be sore. That that's just the reality. Pennix has
that kind of ball, but at times he can be
a erratic and to me, I don't see him as
a guy who necessarily is going to be in the
(09:58):
high sixties in terms of completion percentage, probably in the
lower sixties. But the trade off is he's going to
hit you with shots downfield. Yeah, it was erratic going
downfield against the Panthers.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Which is which is weird for his strength. That's that's
his strength. You're right, And if you watched him in college,
you were like, there's nobody that throws a better vertical
ball in all college football than this guy.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
I mean, and let's not forget I mean he had
you know, Polk and McMillan. He had some receivers at Washington.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Yeah, no question. And so but I agree with you,
and I think that's part of the adjustment of understanding. Hey,
I gotta I gotta dial it back here a little bit,
and maybe there's some things I could get away with
that I can't. And that's going to come with maturity
and and experience, and he's going to learn off of
those things. And but I do think over time he's
got the goods on.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
The panther side of things. So there was one big change,
And I talked to Dave Canalis yesterday and he said
it was entirely game situation and score related, and that
was the use of going under center much more so.
First two weeks, seventeen percent of the snaps under center
the shotgun more than eighty percent of the time. Right
this past week, fifty five percent of the snaps under
(11:11):
center shotgun less than half the time. Yeah, And I
asked Dave canal say, what prompt of the change. He goes,
we were down twenty to three at halftime the first
two weeks. Yeah. Takes you out of balance. Yeah, takes
you out of using the run. You're in the gun
because you got to throw, and you got to throw quickly.
They're going to come after you. They're pinning your ears back.
But when you talk to some of these other guys,
(11:33):
especially the running backs, think of it this way. If
you're running out of the shotgun right inside zone wide zone,
like there's only so much you can do. Sure, Oh yeah,
like the menu to run the football out of the
gun shrinks, which is why it drives us nuts when
we're watching college football and teams are running out of
the shotgun on fourth and one. There's only so much
(11:53):
you can do.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
You're snopping the ball back five yards to run it
to game six exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
But you played the position going under center. Start with
a run game and go to the quarterback. What does
that open up for an offense?
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Well, first off, let's start with what it does for
the running back, because the running back likes to ideally
be setting back there at you know, heals at seven
and a half yards, and they would love to approach
the line of scrimmage with their shoulders square right. Where
when you're in the shock, now, unless you're in the pistol,
that's a little bit different, but when you're off set,
(12:30):
you're often taking the snap and you're taking it at
a more of a lateral angle. Right. So when you're
under center, whether it's inside zone or the outside stretch,
that back is going and he is running downhill and
it's the quarterback's job to get the ball to his
aiming point right, whether let's just say, okay, our aiming
(12:51):
point on outside zone for the running back at seven
and a half yards is going to be the outside
hip of the tackle or whatever the landmarks are that
the coaches are teaching. And you know as a quarterback,
that guy's gonna be there whether you like it or not,
so it's your job to get that ball to him.
And that creates some strange in this net. But what
it also does it I think it really opens up
(13:14):
your play action game because all of the motion and
all of the action, which now includes the quarterback, is
going in one direction, and then things come off of that.
When you're doing it out of the shotgun, it's a
little bit different because everything in the backfield mesh is
happening so quickly. It's hard to sell things in the
same manner you're telegraphing. You're telegraphing you are to some degree,
(13:37):
it's hard to have any type of mystery on who
might have the ball or where. Let's just say, if
the quarterback's gonna end up with the ball like that
happens quickly. That doesn't happen under center because you see
all this flow first, and then it might happen so
I do think it opens some things up in the
play action passing game. I think you can do more
(13:58):
with the naked and the bootleg stuff. Moving the quarterback.
You get out really wide and you're stretching that ball
and then all of a sudden you peel back and
you're naked and you're out and there's a lot of
field in front of end, and you've got not only
the options to throw it, but maybe there's some grass
there you can tuck it and get four. There's value
in that, man. But I totally agree with coach Canalis.
He's right. When you get off schedule and you get behind,
(14:22):
it takes you out of being what you absolutely want
to be, and that is a team that dictates terms offensively,
not as relegated to having to do something one way
because of what the scoreboard is telling you.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
And I think that was the big thing that Canal said.
That's who we are, that's who we want to be.
We want to be balanced. We want to give the
defense many things to think about on their menu when
you're und your center. And again, think about how many
different options that you can play off of in the
run game. In the past game, with play action, you
(14:55):
have the luxury of a quarterback who likes it when
he can move the pocket and get out and look
and you know it's funny. I wouldn't call Bryce a
dual threat quarterback, but I wouldn't call him a pocket
passer either. This is a guy we saw him run
for his score in the first quarter on the first drive.
He can get out, he can make things happen with
(15:15):
his feet. I don't want him running the way Lamar
Jackson runs, and he's never going Jackson. It's not as
fast as Lamar Jackson. But I think he can move
the pocket. He can do some things with the defense,
and three four times a game you give him an opportunity,
he's liable to break off a fifteen yard run well.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
And now defensively, you are constantly aware of that, like
you're saying, Okay, this guy's not a statue. He's not
going to be in the same place all the time.
The way I would describe him, he's athletic. He's got
really nimble feet, so that allows him the ability to
avoid pressure and create a second chance. Now, whether that
(15:56):
second chance is to throw the ball off platform or
to your point, all of a sudden, something's there and
let's just say people are running, they're playing man on you,
and their backs are turned and there's nothing in front
of you, and that front door opens and you take
off and take it, slide down and gain eight or ten.
Like you said, get twelve to fifteen. That's gonna happen
(16:17):
two to three times a game. And then you incorporate
the movement of the pocket, so you don't always have
a feel for where the quarterback's gonna be. It's really important, man.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yeah, and we'll see how that continues. They go to
New England this weekend and then got the Dolphins, Cowboys, Jets.
There's a real chance to get on a run here
for the Panthers. Now that they've banked that first win,
let's turn our attention to college football. We are going
into the last weekend of September, and this is exciting
(16:48):
because I'm looking at the top twenty five in front
of me. We don't have the college football rankings yet.
That doesn't come out for a while, but you know,
we're getting close to like the midway point of the season,
and you know what's neat. I can't remember a year
where there are so many teams that you could legitimately,
legitimately make a case for that they could play for
(17:11):
a championship.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
They win the title.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Usually, you know, there might be a dozen teams in
it right now that think have a shot, but realistically
it's it's three or four. That's kind of the way
it's been, right y. I look at the college football
playoff era, in the four team era, I don't know
if there was more than one or two occasions where
you looked and said, yeah, a team that didn't get
(17:36):
into the field may have had a chance to win it.
I look this year, for example, Texas Tech at twelve,
Texas Tech might have a shot.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Yeah, especially after last week what they did?
Speaker 1 (17:49):
I mean, come on, I mean, now, listen, they spent
a lot of money on their team, Indiana and Kurt
Signetti when they got blown out in their playoff game
last year, chatter about whether they belonged and who they
played and their schedule. Again, they haven't played world beaters yet.
But Indiana is a team sixty three to ten against
(18:12):
the top ten Illinois team. Like, that's a little bit
of a you know what to the hater crowd. Okay, yeah,
Illinois came in as a top ten team, sixty three
to ten. Like Kurt Signetty can coach ye. They got
Oregon coming up in a couple of weeks, which I
think is going to be a massive game. It's gonna
be a massive game. They win that game all of
(18:34):
a sudden, whoa, we're talking about Indiana. Let's not forget Oregon.
LSU seems to be a lot better. Miami's off to
a good start. You know, again, the usual suspects, Georgia,
Ohio State, I know, the Arts Manning struggles. Texas is
in there, Florida State's back. Oklahoma, you got a quarterback
who might be your Heisman favorite in John Mattier. The
(18:56):
thing that's impressed me and I watched that Michigan game defensively,
the defense and what they did Auburn. I mean, this
is a really good Oklahoma defense. Wasn't this good last
couple of years.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
No, they've completely revamped it, and I think it's been
smart for Brent Vennables to take it back over because
I think that puts him in his natural habitat. But
you you could make an argument that no team in
college football through the first month of the season made
better choices than the transfer portal than Oklahoma did, no doubt.
And now you know they're gonna have to play on
the road. Obviously they've had the friendly confines at home
to this point. My only concern on Oklahoma is they
(19:31):
literally cannot run the football without John Mattier. They ran
for thirty two yards against Now, I will say this,
that was two defensive football teams that are pretty darn good.
Auburn's pretty darn good on defense too, But no, I
agree with you. You know you've got Texas A and
m in there. You talked about Texas Tech. For my money,
(19:51):
When you look at the schedule and look at how
they played, I think it was right for Miami to
move over. Penn State, like Penn State has played nobody
and has not looked great doing it. I mean, their quarterbacks,
their quarterbacks QBR against those three teams is one of
the worst in college football.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Change this weekend. That's about to change this weekend.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Or it's exactly right. And so you know, and there's
a lot riding on Penn State because of the narrative.
They can't beat the best teams on their schedule. They
don't schedule outside of the conference to set up any
primers and so there's a lot of question marks about them,
and I think that's more than fair. LSU. You mentioned
the reason why they're different is because right now on defense,
(20:36):
they are a totally different team to your point about
Oklahoma than they were a year ago. And so it
still comes down to the same things, doesn't it. Who's
built up front and who has a quarterback?
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Well, you get past that too. Look at Tennessee, right
they lose their quarterback to u C.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
L A.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
They upgrade Joey Aguilar regular looks like one of the
best quarterbacks in the country. They're three and one and
they could have been four to Oh they came this
close to beating Georgia.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Alabama, I know, has the lost of Florida State, which
actually starts to look better. Yeah, they have to turn
the ball over. You know, I'm not gonna count Bama out.
I'm not going to count a team like Iowa stayed out.
They've got one of the best coaches in college football
and Matt Campbell. They banked a couple of good wins.
Then you don't even look further down. I mean, everybody
who's talking about Lincoln Riley being on the hot seat
(21:30):
USC they're playing better now, the schedule to travel, that's
real for those West Coast Big ten teams.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
How about Missouri Missouri two? Yeah, I know it, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
I'm in a handicap top five title contenders right now.
What does that look like?
Speaker 3 (21:52):
I think Miami, LSU, Oregon Off of performance, I'd say Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
I don't want to leave out a team like Ohio
State and Georgia because obviously they've got the personnel to
do it. But they're also breaking in some new pieces
and that's fine, and they've broken them in nicely. But
I you know, I'm so the first I'm glad you
brought this topic up because you mentioned, you know, when
(22:29):
it was a four team playoff, and then you mentioned
Indiana getting blown out. Well, people have a short memory
about the college football Playoff. Every single semi final during
the four team playoff, I believe, except for two years,
the semifinal games were all blowouts.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Horrible.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
So what did you think was gonna happen when you
added more teams?
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Right?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
And so I but now what's happened, And I think
a lot of it is because of the transient nature
of what's happened with the transfer portal. We've dispersed the town.
We spread it out over more regions and conferences and
teens and rosters that we're putting again. My dogs are
not happy for right now. You hear those guys are mad.
They got some there's some deer outside. I don't know
(23:12):
if you hear that where we go. So anyway, I
think that that has created say what you want about
the trains closed the.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Door behind you too, so she doesn't want to hear
your She doesn't want to I know.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
So the the say what you want about the transfer
portal and an il it's created this, it's created this
top down competitiveness.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Well, the hardest thing, what's the hardest thing to have
right now? Depth? Because you have quality players who aren't playing,
they're gonna go somewhere else. And then quarterback depth go
back to I think it would have been the first
college football playoff when Ohio State one. How many quarterbacks
did they go through? Right, like great killer J T.
Barrett and then Cardile Jones yep or third string quarterback.
(23:52):
Guess what if you have a Cardile Jones sitting on
your bench is QB three? He ain't sitting on your bench? Nope,
he's gone gone that luxury. So now there's more quarterback
talent dispersed across the nation, and in college football, if
you have a quarterback, you got a chance. It starts there. Ye,
So that's one piece of it, and there's more depth.
And I think the teams that have embraced and adjusted
(24:15):
to this new portal era are reaping the fruits. But
I also think that there's a little bit of a
shoots and ladders at play where you know, Florida State
is a great example. Right two years ago, they go
into the portal, they hit on everything. It's a great
day at the blackjack table. And then the following year
it was miss Miss Miss Bust, Bus Bust and they
creater And so you're gonna have that too. Teams are
(24:37):
gonna go on year, They're gonna be down one year
based on the kind of guys they go get in
the portal. But in this year, I got a feeling
like this twelve team playoff and again we're a long
ways away. Injuries, a lot can happen. Sure it's got
a chance to be epic. It's got a chance to
be maybe one of the best things for college football
(24:57):
to ever happen. We have a chance to have an
incredible field. This could be a year where like Team
fourteen and fifteen, they get left out and we're going, yeah,
they could have won a game or two.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Yeah. Yeah. I think that's the thing is we're gonna
have the most competitive games to begin the first round,
the quarterfinals, and and and winding down to the top four.
Those games will be more competitive than we had in
years past.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Have you seen the schedule, by the way for this week.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Yes, it's epic, oh, oh, epic, LSU Old Miss Georgia, Alabama.
Uh I know, Arkansas State, Washington, Auburn, A and m Oregon,
Penn State Yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
BYU Colorado. If you're up late, I'll be watching. Imagine
if you've got a fall wedding at this Saturday.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Well, first of all, you should be eliminated from society.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
If you Villaginia, that's village idiot territory.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Absolutely it is. Who are those clowns?
Speaker 1 (26:03):
But if you've got a full wedding on Saturday, I'm
going to guess, like anybody who is even a casual
college football fan, they're not dancing, they're not socializing.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Or sitting at the table on their phone.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
They're on their phones.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Yeah, during the ceremony too.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
And I'll allow it.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
I'd promote it.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
I would too. I would to we go back to
the concept of village idiot. You chose week five to
have your wedding bull circle
You know what we need to bring back, Lukes, talk
to me. We need to bring back the label of
village idiot. Think about it in the old days. Do
you know why they had the village idiot? Do you
know why somebody was specifically branded the village idiot?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
No?
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Why lean in on this?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
And this applies in so many different spaces in the
world because the village didn't want him to be the
flag bearer, and they needed everybody else to know that's
the village idiot. He's not the guy who represents the
rest of the village.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Do you feel where I'm going with this?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Yes, please elaborate. I cannot wait to hear more.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
We need that now because I feel, and especially on
social media, you see this a lot right where it's
the village idiots who have now become the flag bearers
for a lot of different enterprises. And you can take
this and whatever direction you want, but I think we've
become so scared of shaming them that we can't call
(01:08):
them the village idiot anymore.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
So the village knows that they're the idiot, but the
other villagers don't know that said person is the village idiot. Right,
So they think he's representing the village. And I always say,
I said, you know, there was a reason that Moniker
came about. You're the village idiot, You're not the village.
I think we have to go back to finding that
(01:32):
person and letting people know when it's the village idiot
and when it's the guy actually representing the village.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
It's a big distinction, and being unapologetic about it.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I think we have to. I think we have to.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Well, I actually think our society is starting to swing
back that way, little by little.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Bring back the village Idiot's all I'm asking for.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I'm in, I will join your team.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
How many times have you said it's the one guy
who roomed it for everybody. Well, it used to be
they couldn't do that because everybody knew like this guy
just wasn't capable of making good decisions or doing the
right thing, or representing the best interests of his group.
(02:17):
And so it's like, let's not take the outlier and
turn him into something that is full on representative everybody, Like,
let's call it what it is. Hey, that's that's our
village idiot. Okay, we may still love him, but let's
not get carried away with who he is. That's all
I'm in. I'm in, I'm down. You know you see that.
(02:41):
I mean, listen, you see that with fan bases and sports,
right the one guy, I'll give you a good example,
Baseball Karen in Philadelphia.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Ooh, that's right, right, Like, if.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
You're a Phillies fan, all of a sudden, the lady
who took a ball away from a kid and rob
the dad and his son of a great moment, she
now embodies your fan base.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Yes, and she's the outlier, but everybody looks at it
as she being the core of the base.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
But then you think about it with Philly, like this
is the same fan base that boots Santa Claus through
batteries at opposing baseball player. So maybe that's the one
where Philly Karen may be representative. Let's move on, ladies
and gentlemen.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
The weekend.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Yet by somebody Richardson who walks in it.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
From weekend war years, who saw thirty to nothing coming
against Atlanta, I'm not sure many of us did.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
But the Panthers played about as well as they've played
in a long time, probably since that Christmas Eve game
against the Lions a few years ago Atlanta with Jean
Robinson and it's Bjeon again, not Jon emerging, Michael Pennix,
Drake London, Kyle Pitts. This is a pretty good offense
and for a team that had spent so and resources
(04:15):
on bolstering their defense. I think we've talked about this before.
When you can put that evidence on paper, Tom Logan,
Bill and you can say, look, we're tangibly better. And
it's not just words in a locker room. It's not
just a narrative that you're giving to the media. But
you can see these results when you're building a team
(04:37):
and you have that to point too, and then you
can say why it happened, and you really dive into
the film and the x's and o's and you're able
to do this, and you were able to do this,
didn't have a lot of sacks, but you're able to
get to the quarterback and disrupt the pass or get
him out of rhythm. To me, it now gives you
a blueprint for success going forward.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Well, when you mentioned something, I think it's really important.
You know, everybody focuses on sacks when they need to
be focusing on affecting the quarterback. Now you'll hear coaches
use that phrase all the time, right, getting him off platform,
getting his eyes somewhere where they're not supposed to be
because he's seeing ghosts. Next thing you know, you're behind
the chains on offense. Next thing you know, you're throwing
(05:15):
a ball up for grabs. And you know, the biggest
thing to me in that is you won the turnover
battle because you forced him into bad decisions, because you
affected the quarterback. And yeah, we all love to have
sack numbers and this and that, but if you've got
people around his feet, you got people in his face,
it doesn't matter if it's Michael Penicks, it could be anybody.
(05:36):
Affecting the quarterback changes the entire makeup of the game.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
What was you a read on Penix coming out of college?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
So I absolutely loved him coming out of college. And
I have a kind of a unique story. And it's
fascinating because if you go back to when Kaylen DeVore
was the offensive coordinator at Indiana, that where they opened
the season and they beat Penn State. Do you remember that?
And they had that they had that unbelievable year versus
(06:06):
with with Tom Allen and Michael Pennix was just lights
out and then he had that horrific knee injury. Okay,
the next year our broadcast crew had them twice. And
I'm not kidding when I say this. He was the
worst quarterback we saw the entire season, the worst. His
(06:33):
confidence was rocked. He was consumed by not being back
to full health, so he wasn't focusing on football. He
was focusing on not feeling right and not feeling normal,
and he just I think it played mind games on
him and he couldn't perform right. So you know, time
goes by and time passes, and Calyn de borgets the
(06:55):
Fresno State job, and then you know, things start going
downhill at Indiana. Caylen de Boer takes the Washington job
and then takes Michael Pennix. And I don't know if
I've ever seen a quarterback performance turnaround ever in college football.
(07:17):
From the time I saw him in person on the
sideline at Indiana to those two years at Washington, I've
never seen anything like that. It was like two entirely
different people. The uniform hadn't just changed, the entire person changed.
Now we can give credit to whoever we want for that.
Ryan Grubb, the offensive coordinator Kaylen de boor maybe just
(07:40):
time passing and allowing for Michael Penix to get right
and then get back with the people that truly believed
in him and he knew he would fit in what
they did. It could be a variety of things, in
my opinion. Had he not had the history of injury
in his background and been the age that he was
a niche he might have been a top five overall pick.
(08:01):
He might have been the number one overall pick.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah, and he still went in the top ten.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah. And and so that tells you how talented people
thought he was because they were willing to overlook the
injury background and the age component of it and still
take him. And you know, listen that at the time,
my dad was working for the Raiders in personnel, and
had he not gotten taken, that's who they were taken.
And they ended up taking. They ended up taking brock
(08:27):
Bauers obviously, So it worked out well for him. But
I think he's got a chance to be really, really good.
You guys got the better of him. Obviously. He hasn't
played a lot in the National Football League, but he's
an older guy that's mature that's seen a ton of football,
very similar to like a Jayden Daniels or a Bo Nicks,
and those guys that have played a lot obviously are
better prepared to make an impact sooner rather than later.
(08:48):
But I think he's going to be a really good player.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yeah. It's interesting because we've now seen him twice live
with the Panthers Week eighteen last year and then this
past Sunday. You see the arm strength he can sling it.
That's never been a question. The injury history is real
until he proves otherwise, and he's going to be healthy
for a number of years to prove that injury is
not something that's going to bother him long term. Is
(09:13):
it a concern, Yes, But the one thing I will
say is there are some throws that he makes that
I think he probably gets away with in college that
he's not going to get away with in the NFL. Right,
and listen, there are guys who did this. Marino did this,
Brett Favre did this right, and they did it because
more often than not they could make the throw, yeah,
and they could fit it into windows where other guys
(09:33):
wouldn't even try to attempt.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
L L Way is another guy like that.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Elway was another guy like that, Right, I can fit
it in there, So I'm going to and good luck
and if you pick it off, your hands are going
to be sore. That that's just the reality. Pennix has
that kind of ball, but at times he can be
a erratic and to me, I don't see him as
a guy who necessarily is going to be in the
(09:58):
high sixties in terms of completion percentage, probably in the
lower sixties. But the trade off is he's going to
hit you with shots downfield. Yeah, it was erratic going
downfield against the Panthers.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Which is which is weird for his strength. That's that's
his strength. You're right, And if you watched him in college,
you were like, there's nobody that throws a better vertical
ball in all college football than this guy.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
I mean, and let's not forget I mean he had
you know, Polk and McMillan. He had some receivers at Washington.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Yeah, no question. And so but I agree with you,
and I think that's part of the adjustment of understanding. Hey,
I gotta I gotta dial it back here a little bit,
and maybe there's some things I could get away with
that I can't. And that's going to come with maturity
and and experience, and he's going to learn off of
those things. And but I do think over time he's
got the goods on.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
The panther side of things. So there was one big change,
And I talked to Dave Canalis yesterday and he said
it was entirely game situation and score related, and that
was the use of going under center much more so.
First two weeks, seventeen percent of the snaps under center
the shotgun more than eighty percent of the time. Right
this past week, fifty five percent of the snaps under
(11:11):
center shotgun less than half the time. Yeah, And I
asked Dave canal say, what prompt of the change. He goes,
we were down twenty to three at halftime the first
two weeks. Yeah. Takes you out of balance. Yeah, takes
you out of using the run. You're in the gun
because you got to throw, and you got to throw quickly.
They're going to come after you. They're pinning your ears back.
But when you talk to some of these other guys,
(11:33):
especially the running backs, think of it this way. If
you're running out of the shotgun right inside zone wide zone,
like there's only so much you can do. Sure, Oh yeah,
like the menu to run the football out of the
gun shrinks, which is why it drives us nuts when
we're watching college football and teams are running out of
the shotgun on fourth and one. There's only so much
(11:53):
you can do.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
You're snopping the ball back five yards to run it
to game six exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
But you played the position going under center. Start with
a run game and go to the quarterback. What does
that open up for an offense?
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Well, first off, let's start with what it does for
the running back, because the running back likes to ideally
be setting back there at you know, heals at seven
and a half yards, and they would love to approach
the line of scrimmage with their shoulders square right. Where
when you're in the shock, now, unless you're in the pistol,
that's a little bit different, but when you're off set,
(12:30):
you're often taking the snap and you're taking it at
a more of a lateral angle. Right. So when you're
under center, whether it's inside zone or the outside stretch,
that back is going and he is running downhill and
it's the quarterback's job to get the ball to his
aiming point right, whether let's just say, okay, our aiming
(12:51):
point on outside zone for the running back at seven
and a half yards is going to be the outside
hip of the tackle or whatever the landmarks are that
the coaches are teaching. And you know as a quarterback,
that guy's gonna be there whether you like it or not,
so it's your job to get that ball to him.
And that creates some strange in this net. But what
it also does it I think it really opens up
(13:14):
your play action game because all of the motion and
all of the action, which now includes the quarterback, is
going in one direction, and then things come off of that.
When you're doing it out of the shotgun, it's a
little bit different because everything in the backfield mesh is
happening so quickly. It's hard to sell things in the
same manner you're telegraphing. You're telegraphing you are to some degree,
(13:37):
it's hard to have any type of mystery on who
might have the ball or where. Let's just say, if
the quarterback's gonna end up with the ball like that
happens quickly. That doesn't happen under center because you see
all this flow first, and then it might happen so
I do think it opens some things up in the
play action passing game. I think you can do more
(13:58):
with the naked and the bootleg stuff. Moving the quarterback.
You get out really wide and you're stretching that ball
and then all of a sudden you peel back and
you're naked and you're out and there's a lot of
field in front of end, and you've got not only
the options to throw it, but maybe there's some grass
there you can tuck it and get four. There's value
in that, man. But I totally agree with coach Canalis.
He's right. When you get off schedule and you get behind,
(14:22):
it takes you out of being what you absolutely want
to be, and that is a team that dictates terms offensively,
not as relegated to having to do something one way
because of what the scoreboard is telling you.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
And I think that was the big thing that Canal said.
That's who we are, that's who we want to be.
We want to be balanced. We want to give the
defense many things to think about on their menu when
you're und your center. And again, think about how many
different options that you can play off of in the
run game. In the past game, with play action, you
(14:55):
have the luxury of a quarterback who likes it when
he can move the pocket and get out and look
and you know it's funny. I wouldn't call Bryce a
dual threat quarterback, but I wouldn't call him a pocket
passer either. This is a guy we saw him run
for his score in the first quarter on the first drive.
He can get out, he can make things happen with
(15:15):
his feet. I don't want him running the way Lamar
Jackson runs, and he's never going Jackson. It's not as
fast as Lamar Jackson. But I think he can move
the pocket. He can do some things with the defense,
and three four times a game you give him an opportunity,
he's liable to break off a fifteen yard run well.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
And now defensively, you are constantly aware of that, like
you're saying, Okay, this guy's not a statue. He's not
going to be in the same place all the time.
The way I would describe him, he's athletic. He's got
really nimble feet, so that allows him the ability to
avoid pressure and create a second chance. Now, whether that
(15:56):
second chance is to throw the ball off platform or
to your point, all of a sudden, something's there and
let's just say people are running, they're playing man on you,
and their backs are turned and there's nothing in front
of you, and that front door opens and you take
off and take it, slide down and gain eight or ten.
Like you said, get twelve to fifteen. That's gonna happen
(16:17):
two to three times a game. And then you incorporate
the movement of the pocket, so you don't always have
a feel for where the quarterback's gonna be. It's really important, man.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yeah, and we'll see how that continues. They go to
New England this weekend and then got the Dolphins, Cowboys, Jets.
There's a real chance to get on a run here
for the Panthers. Now that they've banked that first win,
let's turn our attention to college football. We are going
into the last weekend of September, and this is exciting
(16:48):
because I'm looking at the top twenty five in front
of me. We don't have the college football rankings yet.
That doesn't come out for a while, but you know,
we're getting close to like the midway point of the season,
and you know what's neat. I can't remember a year
where there are so many teams that you could legitimately,
legitimately make a case for that they could play for
(17:11):
a championship.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
They win the title.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Usually, you know, there might be a dozen teams in
it right now that think have a shot, but realistically
it's it's three or four. That's kind of the way
it's been, right y. I look at the college football
playoff era, in the four team era, I don't know
if there was more than one or two occasions where
you looked and said, yeah, a team that didn't get
(17:36):
into the field may have had a chance to win it.
I look this year, for example, Texas Tech at twelve,
Texas Tech might have a shot.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Yeah, especially after last week what they did?
Speaker 1 (17:49):
I mean, come on, I mean, now, listen, they spent
a lot of money on their team, Indiana and Kurt
Signetti when they got blown out in their playoff game
last year, chatter about whether they belonged and who they
played and their schedule. Again, they haven't played world beaters yet.
But Indiana is a team sixty three to ten against
(18:12):
the top ten Illinois team. Like, that's a little bit
of a you know what to the hater crowd. Okay, yeah,
Illinois came in as a top ten team, sixty three
to ten. Like Kurt Signetty can coach ye. They got
Oregon coming up in a couple of weeks, which I
think is going to be a massive game. It's gonna
be a massive game. They win that game all of
(18:34):
a sudden, whoa, we're talking about Indiana. Let's not forget Oregon.
LSU seems to be a lot better. Miami's off to
a good start. You know, again, the usual suspects, Georgia,
Ohio State, I know, the Arts Manning struggles. Texas is
in there, Florida State's back. Oklahoma, you got a quarterback
who might be your Heisman favorite in John Mattier. The
(18:56):
thing that's impressed me and I watched that Michigan game defensively,
the defense and what they did Auburn. I mean, this
is a really good Oklahoma defense. Wasn't this good last
couple of years.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
No, they've completely revamped it, and I think it's been
smart for Brent Vennables to take it back over because
I think that puts him in his natural habitat. But
you you could make an argument that no team in
college football through the first month of the season made
better choices than the transfer portal than Oklahoma did, no doubt.
And now you know they're gonna have to play on
the road. Obviously they've had the friendly confines at home
to this point. My only concern on Oklahoma is they
(19:31):
literally cannot run the football without John Mattier. They ran
for thirty two yards against Now, I will say this,
that was two defensive football teams that are pretty darn good.
Auburn's pretty darn good on defense too, But no, I
agree with you. You know you've got Texas A and
m in there. You talked about Texas Tech. For my money,
(19:51):
When you look at the schedule and look at how
they played, I think it was right for Miami to
move over. Penn State, like Penn State has played nobody
and has not looked great doing it. I mean, their quarterbacks,
their quarterbacks QBR against those three teams is one of
the worst in college football.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Change this weekend. That's about to change this weekend.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Or it's exactly right. And so you know, and there's
a lot riding on Penn State because of the narrative.
They can't beat the best teams on their schedule. They
don't schedule outside of the conference to set up any
primers and so there's a lot of question marks about them,
and I think that's more than fair. LSU. You mentioned
the reason why they're different is because right now on defense,
(20:36):
they are a totally different team to your point about
Oklahoma than they were a year ago. And so it
still comes down to the same things, doesn't it. Who's
built up front and who has a quarterback?
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Well, you get past that too. Look at Tennessee, right
they lose their quarterback to u C.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
L A.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
They upgrade Joey Aguilar regular looks like one of the
best quarterbacks in the country. They're three and one and
they could have been four to Oh they came this
close to beating Georgia.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Alabama, I know, has the lost of Florida State, which
actually starts to look better. Yeah, they have to turn
the ball over. You know, I'm not gonna count Bama out.
I'm not going to count a team like Iowa stayed out.
They've got one of the best coaches in college football
and Matt Campbell. They banked a couple of good wins.
Then you don't even look further down. I mean, everybody
who's talking about Lincoln Riley being on the hot seat
(21:30):
USC they're playing better now, the schedule to travel, that's
real for those West Coast Big ten teams.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
How about Missouri Missouri two? Yeah, I know it, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
I'm in a handicap top five title contenders right now.
What does that look like?
Speaker 3 (21:52):
I think Miami, LSU, Oregon Off of performance, I'd say Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
I don't want to leave out a team like Ohio
State and Georgia because obviously they've got the personnel to
do it. But they're also breaking in some new pieces
and that's fine, and they've broken them in nicely. But
I you know, I'm so the first I'm glad you
brought this topic up because you mentioned, you know, when
(22:29):
it was a four team playoff, and then you mentioned
Indiana getting blown out. Well, people have a short memory
about the college football Playoff. Every single semi final during
the four team playoff, I believe, except for two years,
the semifinal games were all blowouts.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Horrible.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
So what did you think was gonna happen when you
added more teams?
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Right?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
And so I but now what's happened, And I think
a lot of it is because of the transient nature
of what's happened with the transfer portal. We've dispersed the town.
We spread it out over more regions and conferences and
teens and rosters that we're putting again. My dogs are
not happy for right now. You hear those guys are mad.
They got some there's some deer outside. I don't know
(23:12):
if you hear that where we go. So anyway, I
think that that has created say what you want about
the trains closed the.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Door behind you too, so she doesn't want to hear
your She doesn't want to I know.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
So the the say what you want about the transfer
portal and an il it's created this, it's created this
top down competitiveness.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Well, the hardest thing, what's the hardest thing to have
right now? Depth? Because you have quality players who aren't playing,
they're gonna go somewhere else. And then quarterback depth go
back to I think it would have been the first
college football playoff when Ohio State one. How many quarterbacks
did they go through? Right, like great killer J T.
Barrett and then Cardile Jones yep or third string quarterback.
(23:52):
Guess what if you have a Cardile Jones sitting on
your bench is QB three? He ain't sitting on your bench? Nope,
he's gone gone that luxury. So now there's more quarterback
talent dispersed across the nation, and in college football, if
you have a quarterback, you got a chance. It starts there. Ye,
So that's one piece of it, and there's more depth.
And I think the teams that have embraced and adjusted
(24:15):
to this new portal era are reaping the fruits. But
I also think that there's a little bit of a
shoots and ladders at play where you know, Florida State
is a great example. Right two years ago, they go
into the portal, they hit on everything. It's a great
day at the blackjack table. And then the following year
it was miss Miss Miss Bust, Bus Bust and they
creater And so you're gonna have that too. Teams are
(24:37):
gonna go on year, They're gonna be down one year
based on the kind of guys they go get in
the portal. But in this year, I got a feeling
like this twelve team playoff and again we're a long
ways away. Injuries, a lot can happen. Sure it's got
a chance to be epic. It's got a chance to
be maybe one of the best things for college football
(24:57):
to ever happen. We have a chance to have an
incredible field. This could be a year where like Team
fourteen and fifteen, they get left out and we're going, yeah,
they could have won a game or two.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Yeah. Yeah. I think that's the thing is we're gonna
have the most competitive games to begin the first round,
the quarterfinals, and and and winding down to the top four.
Those games will be more competitive than we had in
years past.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Have you seen the schedule, by the way for this week.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Yes, it's epic, oh, oh, epic, LSU Old Miss Georgia, Alabama.
Uh I know, Arkansas State, Washington, Auburn, A and m Oregon,
Penn State Yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
BYU Colorado. If you're up late, I'll be watching. Imagine
if you've got a fall wedding at this Saturday.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Well, first of all, you should be eliminated from society.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
If you Villaginia, that's village idiot territory.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Absolutely it is. Who are those clowns?
Speaker 1 (26:03):
But if you've got a full wedding on Saturday, I'm
going to guess, like anybody who is even a casual
college football fan, they're not dancing, they're not socializing.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Or sitting at the table on their phone.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
They're on their phones.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Yeah, during the ceremony too.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
And I'll allow it.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
I'd promote it.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
I would too. I would to we go back to
the concept of village idiot. You chose week five to
have your wedding bull circle
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