July 23, 2025 • 36 mins
Ohio State has the only unanimous selection for the Big Ten's Preseason Honors in 2025. RJ takes on SMU coach Rhett Lashlee's assertion that the SEC is top-heavy and just how many teams can win the national title in 2025.
--13:32 how many teams can win the national title?
--26:33 Is Rhett Lashlee right about the SEC?
--RJ gives his strong opinions on the biggest topics in college football, sports and entertainment every week.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:21):
What's up Ken folk, it's RJ Young.
I am not on a step mill. If this is your first time
watching adapt and respond. Thank you for joining us here.
We talk college football year round.
If that is something you're into, go ahead and hit that
subscribe button. Like this video and answer the
question in the comments below. Do you think Rhett Lashley is
right about the SEC? Do you think the Big 10 can 3
(00:44):
peat with a third consecutive national champion in as many
years? Do you also think there should
be more than one unanimous selection to the All Big 10
preseason honors, which I think we're calling A-Team everywhere
else? I find this to be a rather
fascinating time in college football.
I find this to be a really fun time in college football as we
(01:08):
have so much movement and we have so many things going on and
nobody seems to agree on any of it.
It's going to get sorted out because it had to get sorted
out. But you got to see this with
Tony TD beginning Big 10 media days with what felt to me like
much more of a defensive posturefor the Big 10 as he was
(01:31):
receiving questions. Even going so far as to say we
think conference games are more important right then what the
selection committee is going to value for picking the playoff.
We want to know that you can go six and three in the Big 10 and
still have an opportunity to make the playoffs in that large
berth. The only way to ensure something
like that is to use that 4 + 4 +2 + 2 + 1 model that they are
(01:53):
touting. But I think you and I would
disagree with what that means for fan.
Now, I think he's right about one thing.
He believes that there's fan sentiment that would enjoy
seeing a playoff format that many of us have said we'd we'd
rather see this other one. Well, if you force it down to
throats, yeah, we're going to enjoy it because it's playoff
football. But I kind of want to tip a hat
(02:16):
to Brett Bielema on this point. 12 teams is great.
It is amazing. 16 teams is better.
Do we want to do the Eli drink with thing of 30?
Maybe not. But we're getting closer and
closer to understanding that there's an appetite for college
football's postseason to be bigger, broader, better that
(02:36):
playing in November. For what, for lack of a better
term, turns out to be a wild card spot is a lot of fun.
And I realized that people believe that this is going to
undervalue the non conference games and we probably won't see
as many or as many cool non conference games do we have in
the past. I think that's poppycock.
I think that's garbage. I don't agree at all.
(02:59):
I think that as long as fans want to see Texas play Ohio
State, we're going to schedule Texas versus Ohio State.
As long as fans want to see Michigan at Oklahoma, we're
going to see Michigan at Oklahoma.
I don't think if anything you'regoing to take away from those
non conference games. I think you're going to enhance
the sport because we're going tocompare conference to
conference. It's another thing we're going
to do later in this show, frankly.
(03:22):
Take on Rhett Lashley thought that the SEC is top heavy.
But as we continue to have theseconversations, I think it's more
important than ever that people understand the sport is healthy,
even if it seems disjointed. College football is never been
more popular and is only growingin popularity.
And you're getting to see the volatility lead to some really
(03:45):
cool things like Indiana making the College Football Playoff
last year ahead of USC, Florida,Wisconsin, other teams that you
would expect, they have already made this thing going into its
11th year just weren't able to put it together.
But because you can turn over the roster so quickly and
because we have money you can put behind this both privately
(04:06):
and publicly in the revenue sharing, you're going to see
more Boise State's, more Indiana's get into this thing.
You're going to see more teams like Tennessee get into this
thing. But you also get to see Ohio
state-run the table. One of the things that we
thought was going to happen is no team from the first round
would make it to the national championship game.
Turns out, no, that was wrong from the jump.
Just like in 2014 when Ohio State got a jump on everybody
(04:27):
else to win the national championship, They did it again
when we expanded the playoff. Very good at operating chaos
like yours truly really enjoy operating at a space of chaos.
I really like it when other people on the back foot because
it feels like I'm on I'm on goodterms anytime we got upheaval, I
feel comfortable. I am a wartime soldier.
(04:48):
I am not a peacetime soldier. I'm not good at it.
I'm not good at sitting still. I'm not good at status quo.
I'm very good in a fight. That's where I want to be.
Make it a fight. Make it something where
everybody has to suffer and I'm going to be there, right?
That's what it is. I to worship at the altar of
Steve Prefontaine. If it's an all guts race, then
(05:08):
I'm the only person that can winit.
If it's your Bron versus my Bron, probably not, right?
But this is also for those of y'all that follow me on the on
the other socials kind of takingup cycling here.
And I have come to really love the pain.
I really love working at threshold.
That's why I ran the 400 in college at TUI.
Like it when everybody else's face starts to scrunch up
(05:30):
because then you're in my world.And we know pain that is KNOW
pain. We know what that leads to bring
more pain. Don't don't make these automatic
qualifiers the way to go in. If you can go get it, then go
get it. And that's what the show is.
Adapt and respond. You will adapt to what the
environment is and then you willhave to respond or you'll quit,
(05:52):
in which case, cool, I'll take it from you.
And as long as there are more people out here that are willing
to take it from you, then quit. OK, we're in good spot and I
think we are football, the Okit,the ultimate I'm going to take
it from you game. I'm going to tackle you to the
ground. I'm going to throw you to the
ground. I'm going to take this football
from you. Takeaways, right, scoring
(06:12):
touchdowns, playing defense. Love this stuff.
If you're listening on the audiopodcast, thank you so much for
doing that. Leave a five star review on
Apple and Spotify. If that's what you're doing.
It really does help the show getdiscovered.
And right now there really aren't anything but some, some
ads that you know, you've you'veheard, but nothing spectacular.
(06:35):
I've tried to keep the audio podcast as clean as it possibly
can. And as far as you enjoy
listening to me talk about college football, we're going to
try to keep that up ad free as long as we can.
But it's looking more and more like you are demanding that more
people listen to the show. And one of the ways we do that
is with advertising and pay the staff and continue to do cool
(06:55):
things like what you're seeing here, which is full shows, full
episodes. I know how much this has been
wanted by many and we're trying to make this a really regular
thing. And as long as we got college
football to talk about, we'll continue to try.
Might even talk about some otherstuff like Formula One from time
to time. So let's talk about the All Big
10 preseason team, which features a couple of
(07:16):
quarterbacks, right? Neither which goes to Ohio State
or Michigan, which is, you know,as I think it should be.
You got new starters there in both cases, whether it's Bryce
Underwood at Michigan or what wethink is going to be Julian Sam
at Ohio State. But the list goes like this.
Luke Altmeyer, quarterback, Illinois coming off A10 win
season. People expect Illinois to be in
that Indiana spot next this yearwhere they can make a bid to the
(07:40):
College Football Playoff. Gabe Jockus at Illinois, also
outside linebacker. Seventeens represented among the
18 Big 10 teams here. Michael Kamara out of Indiana.
D'Angelo Pons out of Indiana. Jennings Dunker out of Iowa,
which is 1 hell of a football name.
Logan Jones out of Iowa. Koi Parrich out of Minnesota.
Mateo Uyongole out of Oregon. Dylan Fenneman out of Oregon.
(08:03):
Dylan Fenneman who goes from oneBig 10 school to another Big 10
school, Purdue to Oregon. It's wild, right?
That's the world we live in where Oregon is a Big 10 school.
Fascinating. Caleb Downs.
Ohio State. I'm going to come back to this
one, right? Jeremiah Smith unanimous
selection at wide receiver, Sonny Styles, linebacker, Ohio
State denied Dennis Sutton, linebacker Penn State.
(08:25):
I mentioned Drew Aller or did I?I don't know.
Did Drew Aller win a big game yet?
Nicholas Singleton out of Penn State and then unanimous
selections on all caps. So you can't see it, but I'm
going to tell you Jeremiah Smithis the only unanimous selection
to the All Big 10 pre season honors, what again we're calling
teams. I think Caleb Downs should have
(08:47):
been in a unanimous selection. I would love to know who didn't
put him number one on their ballot as the best safety in
this league, if not the best safety in the entire country and
if not the best defense player in the entire country.
There aren't a whole lot of players that I believe in more
than Caleb Downs and Jeremiah Smith.
(09:09):
They have shown it as true freshman and in as Caleb Downs
as a sophomore. Remember in his first year as a
college football player, Caleb Downs showed up to Alabama to
play for Nick Saban, who basically coaches the defensive
backs at Bama because he was 1. And that's how he came up and
proceeded to start him as safetyas a true freshman.
(09:33):
That is not an easy thing to do.As a matter of fact, I wish
there was a banner for this because breaking into Nick Saban
starting at 11 as an underclassman is one thing.
Doing it as true freshman is something else entirely.
OK then he proceeded to have 107tackles on a team that won the
SEC championship over Georgia and made the College Football
(09:54):
Playoff in Year 1. No true freshman in Alabama had
recorded 107 tackles since 1970.I mean, we basically since the
sport integrated, which is what I think of as the modern era of
college football. Transfers to Ohio State, wins a
starting job there, among other things.
Returns a punt for a touchdown, also Formula punt and leads that
(10:16):
team to a national championship alongside Jeremiah Smith, who
had one of the best breakout seasons of any skilled player
that we've ever seen. I realized that there are a
number of Ohio State fans that are listening, watching that
say, hey, RJ, you ever heard this dude named Maurice Claret?
I understand what you mean, dog.I do.
I understand. But you also need to recognize
(10:37):
that Ohio State didn't make a habit of throwing the football
until about the last seven years.
This is a running school. Only two time Heisman winner
Archie Griffin, running back Eddie George, Heisman winner,
running back MO Clarett playing in Jim Tressels.
We're just going to run the balldown your throat and Oh yeah,
Craig Krenzel might make a play every now and again.
Then you get to this present erawhere Bryant Hartline had built
(11:00):
out a kind of wide receiving corps that puts Garrett Wilson
and Garrett and Chris Olave intothe NFL first round first, the
first first rounders at wide receiver at Ohio State since
2007. Talk about Tegan junior and
Anthony Gonzalez. Andy Gonzalez is a politician
now. Guys like that's how long ago
(11:20):
that was and keeps doing it. Marvin Harrison Junior, Jackson
Smith and Jigba, we keep going down the line here.
You've set the groundwork for a guy like Jeremiah Smith to show
up and play right away. And then, as many people are
fond of pointing out, first passthat is thrown his way is first
started. He drops it all right now do the
rest of the season. They saw it, right?
(11:40):
That's why he's unanimous, all the unanimous selection to this
Big 10 team. That dude put this team on his
back against Tennessee, against Oregon, forced Texas to throw
bracket coverage at him. Watch Carnell Tate run wild and
then the last play of the season, he catches the
(12:01):
game-winning for him, right lastplay of the season for him,
game-winning touchdown more than50 yards.
Will Howard said, I'm going to throw it up to 4 because we got
him and you do not. And that's what it's going to be
what it is. I think between Caleb Downs and
Jeremiah Smith, you've got two of the best college football
players in the country, let alone in the Big 10.
So I, I would I would like to see I would like to see Caleb
(12:23):
Downs have been in a unanimous election here, but it's
preseason. We haven't played games.
It's still July, we're going to figure out what the 2025 Ohio
State Buckeyes are made of in man.
Just over a month's time. By the way, I'm going to point
it out again. Today is July 22nd and that's
Tuesday. I turned 38 in nine days and I
(12:45):
am excited about it. Got the white coming into the
beard. Single, no kids.
I'm about to have a real good time this weekend.
We're also about to have a really good time talking about
this Ohio State 2025 version andwhether or not it can be in the
conversation for winning the national championship and or
make it a third consecutive for the Big 10.
(13:06):
But first, I'm going to take a break.
(13:32):
Back on adapt and respond with me, RJ Young again, if you are
new to the show or you just haven't subscribed to the show
on YouTube, go ahead and do thatand subscribe to the show on
Apple and Spotify where you can listen to it on your commute to
work. If you're riding a bike, you're
taking the train or you driving into work.
I hope you're having a really great day.
(13:52):
This is the first day of Big 10 Media days and because it's the
first day of Big 10 Media Days, I wanted to ask this question in
earnest. Do we think the Big 10 10/3 peat
as national champs for the firsttime since we started adopting
this thing called, you know, playing for a national
(14:13):
championship with the BCS, the College Football Playoffs and so
forth? Because I think it can.
Now, I'm going to go ahead and point out the SEC has kind of
made this a habit, right? Because you think about what
they've been able to do. I mean, I think about 2020-2021,
2022, Alabama, Georgia, right? Or you could even go four in a
row, 2019-2020, 2021-2022, LSU, Alabama, Georgia, Georgia.
(14:40):
It's kind of is getting to the Brit lashing point that I'm
going to make here a little bit later on in the show.
But as I see it, I was asking this question, how many teams
from the Big 10 do we believe can really win the whole damn
thing? And that is not just make the
playoff, that is make it to the national championship game and
win it along with the other Power 4 conferences.
(15:02):
How many teams do they have thatwe believe can go win the
national championship right now?So let's go ahead and start with
the Big 12 and say 0 because you're looking at the Big 12.
You see great football. You see outstanding tradition.
You also do not see a clear cut favorite to make the College
Football Playoff, which is to say win the Big 12 championship.
(15:23):
And you certainly don't see one that could probably go up
against these other teams and beexpected to run the gauntlet.
That is at least three games against the best competition
you're going to face all year towin the national championship.
In January. I realized that there are people
that believe that this is the year for Oklahoma State, Kansas,
(15:43):
Kansas State, Iowa State, Colorado, Texas Christian, and
some of those teams have gotten close.
Notably, Texas Christian makes it all the way to the national
title game and then gets outclassed by that 2022 Georgia
team, which beat them 65 to 7. Baylor feels like a a Comer,
right? Texas Tech feels like a Comer,
but Arizona State's the defending Big 12 champion.
(16:06):
They feel like a Comer, but nobody in that league feels like
the team that can go win that conference's first national
championship since 2005. Like that's how long ago it has
been. And it's not as if the Big 12
has gotten stronger at the top. It's gotten stronger through the
middle, at the bottom. And that is not helping as much
(16:28):
as we thought it would. And that's why, Brett, your mark
is stomping on the table for 5 +11 and the Big 10.
The SEC are saying tough titty, we don't care.
So if I look at the ACC, I'm really talking about one team,
right? And I'm not Clemson, because
they've already shown that they can do it.
They have won the national championship with Diablo
Sweeney. He is the best head coach in
(16:49):
that conference and one of the best head coaches in the sport.
After him, you really got to start talking about teams like
Miami, right? Mario Cristobal has shown that
he can make a team ten wins. He can get a team to a New Year
6 bowl game, but something's going to get in the way, either
their ball security or his coaching acumen, depending on
how you want to look at this. With Carson back at quarterback,
(17:09):
do you feel like Miami can make a run at the national
championship? Not particularly, right?
I think they could win the conference championship.
But if Clemson is there at the end like they were last year,
they've shown they can outclass you.
And they did that against Southern Methodists right in the
big, excuse me, in the ACC Championship game.
I also really enjoy Cade Klubnikon one side and Peter Woods on
(17:31):
the other. Like, those are two of the
better players in all the college football, and they're
certainly capable of leading that team to a national
championship. There's a lot of Trevor Lawrence
in Cade Klubnik's game. It's not Trevor Lawrence, but
he's very, very good at playing this thing called quarterback.
Florida State, we don't know if they're coming or going.
Georgia Tech is decent. Syracuse is decent.
(17:52):
North Carolina, we don't know ifthey're coming or going.
North Carolina State's going to be 7-8 wins.
Virginia sucks. Like I just don't see it past
Clemson. I would love for somebody to put
up a a really good argument. Like, maybe Duke gets through
November and we're talking aboutthem being 8 and O, 9 and O,
maybe having a shot at this thing.
But nobody believes that even anundefeated Duke going into the
(18:15):
College Football Playoff is going to win you the national
championship against these otherteams that make up the SEC and
the Big 10. So let's talk about the SEC.
How many teams do we think can make and win the national
championship right now? Georgia has to factor into
everybody's calculus because Georgia has demonstrated, hey,
(18:37):
we can do this our way. We will run the football down
your throat, we will play great defense, and we will be
unbeatable at home, OK. I also think they benefit from
the SEC championship game being played in Atlanta, right?
Which is a de facto home game for them.
They play at Sanford, where theyhave not lost, by the way, since
(18:58):
October 2019. It's a team that doesn't need
1000 yard receiver. It's a team that doesn't need
1000 yard rusher. It is a team that platoons on
defense like you read about. So everybody's fresh at the end.
You have to factor Georgia into any national championship
conversation. They have earned that wrote this
column last week. The SEC belongs to Georgia.
Until somebody can take it from them, OK, I don't I don't care
(19:19):
that Alabama beat them in September last year, who was
playing in December, who was playing for the championship in
December? It was Georgia, the other teams
Texas team that just hasn't beenable to get past Georgia.
And that's going to be the real tell this year.
They get a tough game at Ohio State, OK.
(19:40):
It's going to be a new Ohio State team, a very talented Ohio
State team. Will it be the one that looks
like the one we had last year, 2024?
Not even a little bit, But we'lltalk about them here in a bit.
What I mean by that is Texas, they can beat that team, but
we're going to judge them by do you roll into Sanford and do you
go get AW because that has been a fortress again for the past
(20:01):
six years and you are Owen 2 andyour last two opportunities to
play against this team, one of them with the backup quarterback
coming in late in the game, still couldn't do much with
that. Now we expect.
Texas to look a lot like 2024 Ohio State.
They're seasoned. They got a lot of guys coming
back that you know about. They have managed to keep the
core of their coaching staff intact and they got a really
(20:23):
talented guy playing quarterback.
They can get CJ Baxter back frominjury.
Haven't carried a football in earnest since the Washington
game in 2023. We're going to see this team be
good, right? Be seasoned, be ready to play.
That's why you give them the benefit of the doubt.
That's also why you think perhaps they can win the
national championship. They're deep enough, they're
strong enough. It's do they have the maturity
(20:45):
and experience enough to go beatA-Team like Georgia to win it?
All right? Can they beat A-Team like Notre
Dame? Yes.
Can they beat A-Team like Michigan?
Yes. Penn State, Oregon.
These are the answer's yes. Teams we're not so sure about.
LSU, Alabama, Florida, Ole Miss,keep going down here, right?
(21:06):
I think that with LSU, you show me that Harold Perkins and
Witweeks are leading a defense that is mauling people.
Yeah. All right.
We can have that conversation because I know the offense is
going to put up points with Garrett Nussmeyer, Barry
Brownie, Nick Anderson. They're going to be fast on the
outside. Kaden Durham's going to be
outstanding to run the ball. I don't know what Alabama's
going to be. I hope that Ryan Grubb makes
them better offensively. We'll see if Ty Simpson is
(21:27):
better taking care of the football than Jalen Melro, but
he won't be as dynamic when the play breaks down.
OK, I think that we talked aboutFlorida, it's DJ Lagway or bust.
If DJ Lagway is playing at a Heisman level for 10 weeks,
we'll begin to talk about them because they are experienced.
They have the kind of experiencethe Texas had.
They had to, they had a lot of guys get injured, a lot of guys
(21:48):
get hurt. A lot of guys have stepped up in
the back end and when DJ has started and finished the game
for Florida, they have won everysingle game.
They're just six and one. They're one loss is Georgia, a
game that they probably would have won if he didn't go down
with the hammy injury. Now he's had his injuries and
he's right now in the same bucket as Quinn.
Yours for me. You got to show me you can play
(22:10):
a full year healthily before I start talking about you as a
team that could play for the national championship.
So we're just not sure. Ole Miss, they got a new signal
caller in Austin. Simmons, who seems to be very
talented, LED a 75 yard scoring drive in Jackson darts absence
against Georgia. Do you see how all roads run
through Georgia, which I'm showing you once again that it
(22:32):
begins and ends with Sanford. If you can't beat Georgia or if
you played well against Georgia,we tend to think that you have
what it takes to not just win inthe SEC, but win at a high
level. That's one of the reasons I
really want to see South Carolina and Georgia play.
Same thing is true of a Tennessee.
Just don't know what they got. And Joey Aguilar, lot of
variables, a lot of new faces, alot of new ideas, having to come
(22:53):
into what is going to be a straight seeded College Football
Playoff for the first time with 12 teams.
And then last, let's talk about the Big 10, Big 10.
I think you got three teams thatmost people believe got a shot
here. I'm only going to talk about one
of them actually being able to do this, OK?
People believe Penn State is thebest team in the Big 10.
(23:16):
I think they're wrong about that.
Oregon is the defending Big 10 champion.
They're in very much that spot of we still have to show we can
win the whole damn thing. We got to get to the game and
win it right. Dan Landing has been building a
monster. They're 25 and three over the
last two years since Will Stein is taking over calling the
plays. They've been outstanding.
(23:37):
They just can't seem to win the bowl game.
That matters for them to get into the game.
Excuse me, win the bowl game right against Ohio State, to get
into that semi final. And then before that, we got to
talk about them winning the conference championship in the
PAC 12, winning the conference championship.
Well, they didn't win the Pack conference championship in the
back 12. That'd be Caitlin de Boer
(23:57):
winning the conference championship in the Big 10 / a
Penn State team that felt like it was in a game that it
shouldn't have been in with DrewAller.
But you drag that team in the deep water, you win.
Then you get shafted by the by the seating structure.
I think right, the idea that yougot to play Ohio State out the
box and even in the Rose Bowl, it just kind of diabolical when
you think about it, because that's how the seating worked
out because you had to put Arizona State in that game
(24:19):
against Texas and you had to putBoise State in that game against
Penn State. Say nothing.
This other method is being there.
Ohio State right now feels like your best opportunity to three
peat. They are talented enough, they
have backing enough and they have a a team of players that
have been to the mountaintop andknow how to get there and know
what it is to play. With their backs against the
(24:41):
wall, they dug deep, they found a way.
Penn State hasn't beaten more than one top five team in its
last 16 opportunities with Janice Franklin as head coach,
and they are O and seven combined the last seven times
that they played. Ohio State, Michigan, the two
teams that have won the nationalchampionship the last couple of
years, but 1/3 national championship for this conference
(25:05):
really does put them into the spot of taking away this moniker
of the best team or excuse me, the best league in the sport.
Greg Sankey gets to say that. You count the championships, you
count the teams that they get inthere.
Nobody's made more appearances in the College Football Playoff
than the SEC. No team has made more College
Football Playoffs appearances than in Alabama, albeit in Nick
(25:26):
Saban era. And Alabama has 3 College
Football Playoff national championships, right?
That's three to that's three forAlabama.
That's three for the Big 10 so far right.
Trying to get a fourth year and a third straight.
I need to see Penn State get to a top five opponent and win and
I need to see them do it with Drew Allert quarterback.
(25:47):
OK, till then, I don't want to talk about it.
I'm really not going to crown a team that hasn't beaten anybody,
which is really the argument that Rhett Lashley is given
about the SEC, and I want to unpack that and talk about just
how right or wrong he is. But first, I'm going to take a
(26:08):
break. Back on adapt and respond with
(26:34):
me, RJ Young again, if you are new to the show, go ahead and
hit that subscribe button and follow the show on Apple and
Spotify where you can listen to the audio version of this.
And if you're watching me on theYoutubes, I appreciate that.
It's very cool of you trying to do more of these longer half
hour 40 minute shows that many of you have asked for and as the
(26:54):
subscriber count for this channel has gone over 137,000,
which is ridiculous guys, you guys are amazing.
I'm trying to give you more of what you asked for here on Adapt
and Respond. Rhett lastly came out firing at
ACC Media Days, which I, you know what, I enjoy it.
I, I like spicy. I like it when coaches got
(27:15):
something to say and they got anargument to raise because all of
a sudden they talk to their Sid and their Sid is full of these
stats that they need to know andthey think, hey, you know what,
that's a good point. I'll put that in my opening
statement. Red Lashley didn't mince words
at ACC media day. The quote was the SEC has had
the same 6 schools win the championship since 1964.
(27:40):
Not a single one has been different since 1964.
That's top heavy to me. That's not depth in quote.
All right, first, let's mention here that SMU is not one of
these teams we're talking about winning the national
championship in 2025. So that's something to do with
it. And I think if you're talking
about the present makeup of the SEC, right, you're, you're not,
(28:03):
you know, I mean, I guess you'retalking about Oklahoma and Texas
as well in here. But I don't think he's being
fair on this one. I, I really don't.
Because if you take a look at what he means here, I mean, we
talk about go hogs Arkansas, no disrespect to Arkansas.
Arkansas, y'all know I love y'all, y'all around the corner
here. But we're not talking about
(28:24):
y'all being in the national championship conversation, the
SEC. But we are talking about you
making up the strength of this conference because Arkansas is a
tough cookie for everybody else but the SEC because the SEC is
just that good. We're also not talking about you
in Missouri. Even though you got a sweetheart
schedule, we don't think you're going to be playing for a
national championship this year.Same thing is true of
(28:45):
Vanderbilt. Kentucky A&M hadn't won a
conference championship of any kind since 98.
Had Johnny Manzo win the frigginHeisman.
Still can't play for the national championship.
OK, we're talking about Florida during the Urban Meyer years,
talking about Georgia. Kirby Smart, talking about
Tennessee with Phil Fulmer in 1998.
Bama. OK, Nick Saban.
(29:07):
You going now? Auburn.
Gus Malzahn? Gene Chizik?
Cam Newton. Cam Newton.
The greatest college football player who ever lived, Because
it's him putting that offense onhis back and Nick fairly playing
a defensive tackle. They win the national friggin
championship. Get out of here, man.
The close of comp that you wouldhave to something like that
today would be Lenore Sellers leading South Carolina to the
(29:28):
national championship. And you know what?
We just don't see it. We don't think that's how it's
going to go. OK.
I don't think that's how it's going to go.
I'm not willing to bet on that. LSU Ed Orgeron, 2019 Les Miles,
Nick Saban. Yeah, OK, They got it.
And then Oklahoma, Texas, depending on how you want to
talk about, you know, them beingBig 12 schools when they won
(29:50):
this national championship, but I don't think they much count.
And then you take a look around,look at the Big 10 who has had
let's just start with Ohio State, Michigan last two, right?
Penn State not since 86 MichiganState not since 66 SC it's a PAC
(30:11):
12 school, but OK, Nebraska Big 8 school, but OK, Washington PAC
10 school ain't won it since thesince the 1990s.
So I mean, if we're talking about we're talking about
Washington, OK, let's talk aboutthe Big 12, then let's talk
about Colorado in 1990. What are we doing here with
this, Rhett? Like, this is one of these
(30:33):
things that I think works when you are trying to tease a
segment. I don't think it works when
you're at the daze trying to saythat the ACC is deep,
particularly when I'm going to point the finger at the ACC and
go. Florida State is the only team
outside of Clemson that has won a College Football Playoff
national championship in that conference.
(30:54):
Then you got to take it back to Miami.
But it ain't Mario Cristobal's Miami, it's Ed Reed's Miami.
It's Ken Dorsey's Miami's later Coker's Miami, All right?
It's a different kind of you back then.
It's a you that you feared. It's a you that I I remember
this vividly, man. So many people want to talk
about how much I like Ohio Stateon this show.
(31:14):
It's really, I like Ohio State fans.
But in 2002, I wouldn't know. Ohio State fan.
I was a fan of Miami. I wanted Miami to win that damn
thing. I wanted it in the worst
frigging way because that O1 team meant the world to me.
I, I, I was living in Florida atthe time too.
I was living in Panama City. So you were watching Florida
State, you were watching Miami. That's what you were doing.
(31:34):
I didn't really watch SEC football because SEC football
wasn't that good. It was 3 yards in a cloud of
dust. I mean, when I got to see St.
Spurriers fun and gun, it was cool.
But outside of that, no, it justwasn't that much fun.
There was nothing fun about Alabama.
There was nothing fun about Georgia.
You're just watching teens clashagainst each other.
When you're a child, you want tosee people throw the ball all
over the yard, and you want to see deliciously savage hits.
(31:58):
I didn't know what targeting wasthen.
Nobody knew what targeting was then.
We just knew that there was a safety out there.
It was looking to decapitate somebody, and there was a
linebacker out there trying to make sure that you couldn't walk
the next day. Yeah, that was my football.
OK, I love that. That ain't the football we got
today, Doc. That ain't, that ain't what it
is. That ain't what it is.
(32:19):
I tend to think if you're looking at this the way that
Rhett Lashley's looking at this,you're trying to say we like
brand names. That's what you're saying.
Because one of the things that Rhett Lashley is conveniently
leaving out of this calculus is we used to vote.
We used to hold a vote on who the national champion was, and
that was about popularity and density.
(32:42):
What in too many teams going to vote for NO10 win Ole Miss in
the 1950s, even though the the the Johnny Vought years are
ridiculous, they're amazing, they're great.
They're voting for Texas, they're voting for Michigan
State, and we're going to share this thing right there.
I can't imagine playing Little League baseball and then going
(33:06):
undefeated and having somebody vote US third place.
You know how many parents come out of the stands wanting to
kill somebody? No, no, no, no, no, no, no,
That's not it. So you're taking that into
account. So let's just go with the BCS
where we had something like a computer and a human pole really
picking these things out. You're talking about, once
again, Florida State, Miami College Football Playoff things
(33:27):
a little bit more fair. So if you're talking about teams
that are winning the national championship to College Football
Playoff era, maybe you got a case here.
But taking it back to night C64 so so one year after Kennedy was
assassinated, that's that's where you want to start this
conversation. I don't think so dog.
You got players that were born when I graduated high school.
(33:47):
Now 2006 dog, they don't care nothing about no 1964.
I know this because LSU was a power.
LSU wasn't nobody when I was a child.
Garbage. Actually.
We didn't watch LSU like that because LSU didn't recruit good
players, because LSU didn't wantto recruit good players.
So Nick Saban got there, said we're all the good players.
He said they don't come here, said BS, they don't come here.
(34:08):
Put a fence up around the boot and said, Nah, everybody come in
the Baton Rouge now. Man, I wondered how like would
Arch Manning have made it to Texas if Nick Saban was the head
coach at LSUI? Submit to you.
Probably not. Probably not.
All things that I think are important and need to be figured
out. I want parity in college
(34:31):
football, but I only want it in so far as people are willing to
watch it. I think Southern Methodist has
got a ways to go before you can convince the rest of us that you
deserve to be in this conversation.
However, when Indiana can make the playoff and SMU can make the
playoff, you're going to have story programs like the ones
that I've mentioned to you. Go wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait. What you mean what you mean
(34:52):
they're in a row for a nine win?USC to get into this thing, and
I went Alabama to get into this thing.
We got to change that quick, fast.
And a hurricane. Historically, we've been the
team that you've chosen. So we need to figure out a way
for you to choose us or we're going to get chosen by somebody
else, which is the 4 + 4 + 4 automatic qualifying, and we're
going to do it that way. I don't like it.
(35:14):
I think you should have to fight.
I think you'd have to have a fistfight.
And this is what we did with Cincinnati.
We voted them in. Alabama beat the brakes off of
them. Texas Christian, we voted to
them. Georgia beat the brakes off of
them. That's what people don't want to
see. They want to see a competitive,
fun football game. If every game is 2016, Texas
(35:35):
Tech, Oklahoma, everybody's having a good time.
It's going to be so much fun. But ain't that that ain't how it
goes. What what usually happens is the
team that you expect to beat thetar out of the other team
usually does because they're bigger, they're faster, they're
stronger. Because the brand is bigger, the
brand is faster, the brand is stronger.
The brand, to use the catch phrase of my favorite podcast of
(36:00):
all time that no longer goes, the brand is strong.
Kylie Desus Mero do that damn show again, man, that is going
to do it for this episode of adapt and respond to me.
RJ Young again, thank you for joining us here talking college
football year round. If you like the show, subscribe
(36:22):
like this video, subscribe on the podcast and let me know what
else you would like to hear us discuss as we get into the nitty
gritty of college football season.
It's going to be it for me. Doses.
What's up Ken folk, it's RJ Young.
I am not on a step mill. If this is your first time
watching adapt and respond. Thank you for joining us here.
We talk college football year round.
If that is something you're into, go ahead and hit that
subscribe button. Like this video and answer the
question in the comments below. Do you think Rhett Lashley is
right about the SEC? Do you think the Big 10 can 3
(00:44):
peat with a third consecutive national champion in as many
years? Do you also think there should
be more than one unanimous selection to the All Big 10
preseason honors, which I think we're calling A-Team everywhere
else? I find this to be a rather
fascinating time in college football.
I find this to be a really fun time in college football as we
(01:08):
have so much movement and we have so many things going on and
nobody seems to agree on any of it.
It's going to get sorted out because it had to get sorted
out. But you got to see this with
Tony TD beginning Big 10 media days with what felt to me like
much more of a defensive posturefor the Big 10 as he was
(01:31):
receiving questions. Even going so far as to say we
think conference games are more important right then what the
selection committee is going to value for picking the playoff.
We want to know that you can go six and three in the Big 10 and
still have an opportunity to make the playoffs in that large
berth. The only way to ensure something
like that is to use that 4 + 4 +2 + 2 + 1 model that they are
(01:53):
touting. But I think you and I would
disagree with what that means for fan.
Now, I think he's right about one thing.
He believes that there's fan sentiment that would enjoy
seeing a playoff format that many of us have said we'd we'd
rather see this other one. Well, if you force it down to
throats, yeah, we're going to enjoy it because it's playoff
football. But I kind of want to tip a hat
(02:16):
to Brett Bielema on this point. 12 teams is great.
It is amazing. 16 teams is better.
Do we want to do the Eli drink with thing of 30?
Maybe not. But we're getting closer and
closer to understanding that there's an appetite for college
football's postseason to be bigger, broader, better that
(02:36):
playing in November. For what, for lack of a better
term, turns out to be a wild card spot is a lot of fun.
And I realized that people believe that this is going to
undervalue the non conference games and we probably won't see
as many or as many cool non conference games do we have in
the past. I think that's poppycock.
I think that's garbage. I don't agree at all.
(02:59):
I think that as long as fans want to see Texas play Ohio
State, we're going to schedule Texas versus Ohio State.
As long as fans want to see Michigan at Oklahoma, we're
going to see Michigan at Oklahoma.
I don't think if anything you'regoing to take away from those
non conference games. I think you're going to enhance
the sport because we're going tocompare conference to
conference. It's another thing we're going
to do later in this show, frankly.
(03:22):
Take on Rhett Lashley thought that the SEC is top heavy.
But as we continue to have theseconversations, I think it's more
important than ever that people understand the sport is healthy,
even if it seems disjointed. College football is never been
more popular and is only growingin popularity.
And you're getting to see the volatility lead to some really
(03:45):
cool things like Indiana making the College Football Playoff
last year ahead of USC, Florida,Wisconsin, other teams that you
would expect, they have already made this thing going into its
11th year just weren't able to put it together.
But because you can turn over the roster so quickly and
because we have money you can put behind this both privately
(04:06):
and publicly in the revenue sharing, you're going to see
more Boise State's, more Indiana's get into this thing.
You're going to see more teams like Tennessee get into this
thing. But you also get to see Ohio
state-run the table. One of the things that we
thought was going to happen is no team from the first round
would make it to the national championship game.
Turns out, no, that was wrong from the jump.
Just like in 2014 when Ohio State got a jump on everybody
(04:27):
else to win the national championship, They did it again
when we expanded the playoff. Very good at operating chaos
like yours truly really enjoy operating at a space of chaos.
I really like it when other people on the back foot because
it feels like I'm on I'm on goodterms anytime we got upheaval, I
feel comfortable. I am a wartime soldier.
(04:48):
I am not a peacetime soldier. I'm not good at it.
I'm not good at sitting still. I'm not good at status quo.
I'm very good in a fight. That's where I want to be.
Make it a fight. Make it something where
everybody has to suffer and I'm going to be there, right?
That's what it is. I to worship at the altar of
Steve Prefontaine. If it's an all guts race, then
(05:08):
I'm the only person that can winit.
If it's your Bron versus my Bron, probably not, right?
But this is also for those of y'all that follow me on the on
the other socials kind of takingup cycling here.
And I have come to really love the pain.
I really love working at threshold.
That's why I ran the 400 in college at TUI.
Like it when everybody else's face starts to scrunch up
(05:30):
because then you're in my world.And we know pain that is KNOW
pain. We know what that leads to bring
more pain. Don't don't make these automatic
qualifiers the way to go in. If you can go get it, then go
get it. And that's what the show is.
Adapt and respond. You will adapt to what the
environment is and then you willhave to respond or you'll quit,
(05:52):
in which case, cool, I'll take it from you.
And as long as there are more people out here that are willing
to take it from you, then quit. OK, we're in good spot and I
think we are football, the Okit,the ultimate I'm going to take
it from you game. I'm going to tackle you to the
ground. I'm going to throw you to the
ground. I'm going to take this football
from you. Takeaways, right, scoring
(06:12):
touchdowns, playing defense. Love this stuff.
If you're listening on the audiopodcast, thank you so much for
doing that. Leave a five star review on
Apple and Spotify. If that's what you're doing.
It really does help the show getdiscovered.
And right now there really aren't anything but some, some
ads that you know, you've you'veheard, but nothing spectacular.
(06:35):
I've tried to keep the audio podcast as clean as it possibly
can. And as far as you enjoy
listening to me talk about college football, we're going to
try to keep that up ad free as long as we can.
But it's looking more and more like you are demanding that more
people listen to the show. And one of the ways we do that
is with advertising and pay the staff and continue to do cool
(06:55):
things like what you're seeing here, which is full shows, full
episodes. I know how much this has been
wanted by many and we're trying to make this a really regular
thing. And as long as we got college
football to talk about, we'll continue to try.
Might even talk about some otherstuff like Formula One from time
to time. So let's talk about the All Big
10 preseason team, which features a couple of
(07:16):
quarterbacks, right? Neither which goes to Ohio State
or Michigan, which is, you know,as I think it should be.
You got new starters there in both cases, whether it's Bryce
Underwood at Michigan or what wethink is going to be Julian Sam
at Ohio State. But the list goes like this.
Luke Altmeyer, quarterback, Illinois coming off A10 win
season. People expect Illinois to be in
that Indiana spot next this yearwhere they can make a bid to the
(07:40):
College Football Playoff. Gabe Jockus at Illinois, also
outside linebacker. Seventeens represented among the
18 Big 10 teams here. Michael Kamara out of Indiana.
D'Angelo Pons out of Indiana. Jennings Dunker out of Iowa,
which is 1 hell of a football name.
Logan Jones out of Iowa. Koi Parrich out of Minnesota.
Mateo Uyongole out of Oregon. Dylan Fenneman out of Oregon.
(08:03):
Dylan Fenneman who goes from oneBig 10 school to another Big 10
school, Purdue to Oregon. It's wild, right?
That's the world we live in where Oregon is a Big 10 school.
Fascinating. Caleb Downs.
Ohio State. I'm going to come back to this
one, right? Jeremiah Smith unanimous
selection at wide receiver, Sonny Styles, linebacker, Ohio
State denied Dennis Sutton, linebacker Penn State.
(08:25):
I mentioned Drew Aller or did I?I don't know.
Did Drew Aller win a big game yet?
Nicholas Singleton out of Penn State and then unanimous
selections on all caps. So you can't see it, but I'm
going to tell you Jeremiah Smithis the only unanimous selection
to the All Big 10 pre season honors, what again we're calling
teams. I think Caleb Downs should have
(08:47):
been in a unanimous selection. I would love to know who didn't
put him number one on their ballot as the best safety in
this league, if not the best safety in the entire country and
if not the best defense player in the entire country.
There aren't a whole lot of players that I believe in more
than Caleb Downs and Jeremiah Smith.
(09:09):
They have shown it as true freshman and in as Caleb Downs
as a sophomore. Remember in his first year as a
college football player, Caleb Downs showed up to Alabama to
play for Nick Saban, who basically coaches the defensive
backs at Bama because he was 1. And that's how he came up and
proceeded to start him as safetyas a true freshman.
(09:33):
That is not an easy thing to do.As a matter of fact, I wish
there was a banner for this because breaking into Nick Saban
starting at 11 as an underclassman is one thing.
Doing it as true freshman is something else entirely.
OK then he proceeded to have 107tackles on a team that won the
SEC championship over Georgia and made the College Football
(09:54):
Playoff in Year 1. No true freshman in Alabama had
recorded 107 tackles since 1970.I mean, we basically since the
sport integrated, which is what I think of as the modern era of
college football. Transfers to Ohio State, wins a
starting job there, among other things.
Returns a punt for a touchdown, also Formula punt and leads that
(10:16):
team to a national championship alongside Jeremiah Smith, who
had one of the best breakout seasons of any skilled player
that we've ever seen. I realized that there are a
number of Ohio State fans that are listening, watching that
say, hey, RJ, you ever heard this dude named Maurice Claret?
I understand what you mean, dog.I do.
I understand. But you also need to recognize
(10:37):
that Ohio State didn't make a habit of throwing the football
until about the last seven years.
This is a running school. Only two time Heisman winner
Archie Griffin, running back Eddie George, Heisman winner,
running back MO Clarett playing in Jim Tressels.
We're just going to run the balldown your throat and Oh yeah,
Craig Krenzel might make a play every now and again.
Then you get to this present erawhere Bryant Hartline had built
(11:00):
out a kind of wide receiving corps that puts Garrett Wilson
and Garrett and Chris Olave intothe NFL first round first, the
first first rounders at wide receiver at Ohio State since
2007. Talk about Tegan junior and
Anthony Gonzalez. Andy Gonzalez is a politician
now. Guys like that's how long ago
(11:20):
that was and keeps doing it. Marvin Harrison Junior, Jackson
Smith and Jigba, we keep going down the line here.
You've set the groundwork for a guy like Jeremiah Smith to show
up and play right away. And then, as many people are
fond of pointing out, first passthat is thrown his way is first
started. He drops it all right now do the
rest of the season. They saw it, right?
(11:40):
That's why he's unanimous, all the unanimous selection to this
Big 10 team. That dude put this team on his
back against Tennessee, against Oregon, forced Texas to throw
bracket coverage at him. Watch Carnell Tate run wild and
then the last play of the season, he catches the
(12:01):
game-winning for him, right lastplay of the season for him,
game-winning touchdown more than50 yards.
Will Howard said, I'm going to throw it up to 4 because we got
him and you do not. And that's what it's going to be
what it is. I think between Caleb Downs and
Jeremiah Smith, you've got two of the best college football
players in the country, let alone in the Big 10.
So I, I would I would like to see I would like to see Caleb
(12:23):
Downs have been in a unanimous election here, but it's
preseason. We haven't played games.
It's still July, we're going to figure out what the 2025 Ohio
State Buckeyes are made of in man.
Just over a month's time. By the way, I'm going to point
it out again. Today is July 22nd and that's
Tuesday. I turned 38 in nine days and I
(12:45):
am excited about it. Got the white coming into the
beard. Single, no kids.
I'm about to have a real good time this weekend.
We're also about to have a really good time talking about
this Ohio State 2025 version andwhether or not it can be in the
conversation for winning the national championship and or
make it a third consecutive for the Big 10.
(13:06):
But first, I'm going to take a break.
(13:32):
Back on adapt and respond with me, RJ Young again, if you are
new to the show or you just haven't subscribed to the show
on YouTube, go ahead and do thatand subscribe to the show on
Apple and Spotify where you can listen to it on your commute to
work. If you're riding a bike, you're
taking the train or you driving into work.
I hope you're having a really great day.
(13:52):
This is the first day of Big 10 Media days and because it's the
first day of Big 10 Media Days, I wanted to ask this question in
earnest. Do we think the Big 10 10/3 peat
as national champs for the firsttime since we started adopting
this thing called, you know, playing for a national
(14:13):
championship with the BCS, the College Football Playoffs and so
forth? Because I think it can.
Now, I'm going to go ahead and point out the SEC has kind of
made this a habit, right? Because you think about what
they've been able to do. I mean, I think about 2020-2021,
2022, Alabama, Georgia, right? Or you could even go four in a
row, 2019-2020, 2021-2022, LSU, Alabama, Georgia, Georgia.
(14:40):
It's kind of is getting to the Brit lashing point that I'm
going to make here a little bit later on in the show.
But as I see it, I was asking this question, how many teams
from the Big 10 do we believe can really win the whole damn
thing? And that is not just make the
playoff, that is make it to the national championship game and
win it along with the other Power 4 conferences.
(15:02):
How many teams do they have thatwe believe can go win the
national championship right now?So let's go ahead and start with
the Big 12 and say 0 because you're looking at the Big 12.
You see great football. You see outstanding tradition.
You also do not see a clear cut favorite to make the College
Football Playoff, which is to say win the Big 12 championship.
(15:23):
And you certainly don't see one that could probably go up
against these other teams and beexpected to run the gauntlet.
That is at least three games against the best competition
you're going to face all year towin the national championship.
In January. I realized that there are people
that believe that this is the year for Oklahoma State, Kansas,
(15:43):
Kansas State, Iowa State, Colorado, Texas Christian, and
some of those teams have gotten close.
Notably, Texas Christian makes it all the way to the national
title game and then gets outclassed by that 2022 Georgia
team, which beat them 65 to 7. Baylor feels like a a Comer,
right? Texas Tech feels like a Comer,
but Arizona State's the defending Big 12 champion.
(16:06):
They feel like a Comer, but nobody in that league feels like
the team that can go win that conference's first national
championship since 2005. Like that's how long ago it has
been. And it's not as if the Big 12
has gotten stronger at the top. It's gotten stronger through the
middle, at the bottom. And that is not helping as much
(16:28):
as we thought it would. And that's why, Brett, your mark
is stomping on the table for 5 +11 and the Big 10.
The SEC are saying tough titty, we don't care.
So if I look at the ACC, I'm really talking about one team,
right? And I'm not Clemson, because
they've already shown that they can do it.
They have won the national championship with Diablo
Sweeney. He is the best head coach in
(16:49):
that conference and one of the best head coaches in the sport.
After him, you really got to start talking about teams like
Miami, right? Mario Cristobal has shown that
he can make a team ten wins. He can get a team to a New Year
6 bowl game, but something's going to get in the way, either
their ball security or his coaching acumen, depending on
how you want to look at this. With Carson back at quarterback,
(17:09):
do you feel like Miami can make a run at the national
championship? Not particularly, right?
I think they could win the conference championship.
But if Clemson is there at the end like they were last year,
they've shown they can outclass you.
And they did that against Southern Methodists right in the
big, excuse me, in the ACC Championship game.
I also really enjoy Cade Klubnikon one side and Peter Woods on
(17:31):
the other. Like, those are two of the
better players in all the college football, and they're
certainly capable of leading that team to a national
championship. There's a lot of Trevor Lawrence
in Cade Klubnik's game. It's not Trevor Lawrence, but
he's very, very good at playing this thing called quarterback.
Florida State, we don't know if they're coming or going.
Georgia Tech is decent. Syracuse is decent.
(17:52):
North Carolina, we don't know ifthey're coming or going.
North Carolina State's going to be 7-8 wins.
Virginia sucks. Like I just don't see it past
Clemson. I would love for somebody to put
up a a really good argument. Like, maybe Duke gets through
November and we're talking aboutthem being 8 and O, 9 and O,
maybe having a shot at this thing.
But nobody believes that even anundefeated Duke going into the
(18:15):
College Football Playoff is going to win you the national
championship against these otherteams that make up the SEC and
the Big 10. So let's talk about the SEC.
How many teams do we think can make and win the national
championship right now? Georgia has to factor into
everybody's calculus because Georgia has demonstrated, hey,
(18:37):
we can do this our way. We will run the football down
your throat, we will play great defense, and we will be
unbeatable at home, OK. I also think they benefit from
the SEC championship game being played in Atlanta, right?
Which is a de facto home game for them.
They play at Sanford, where theyhave not lost, by the way, since
(18:58):
October 2019. It's a team that doesn't need
1000 yard receiver. It's a team that doesn't need
1000 yard rusher. It is a team that platoons on
defense like you read about. So everybody's fresh at the end.
You have to factor Georgia into any national championship
conversation. They have earned that wrote this
column last week. The SEC belongs to Georgia.
Until somebody can take it from them, OK, I don't I don't care
(19:19):
that Alabama beat them in September last year, who was
playing in December, who was playing for the championship in
December? It was Georgia, the other teams
Texas team that just hasn't beenable to get past Georgia.
And that's going to be the real tell this year.
They get a tough game at Ohio State, OK.
(19:40):
It's going to be a new Ohio State team, a very talented Ohio
State team. Will it be the one that looks
like the one we had last year, 2024?
Not even a little bit, But we'lltalk about them here in a bit.
What I mean by that is Texas, they can beat that team, but
we're going to judge them by do you roll into Sanford and do you
go get AW because that has been a fortress again for the past
(20:01):
six years and you are Owen 2 andyour last two opportunities to
play against this team, one of them with the backup quarterback
coming in late in the game, still couldn't do much with
that. Now we expect.
Texas to look a lot like 2024 Ohio State.
They're seasoned. They got a lot of guys coming
back that you know about. They have managed to keep the
core of their coaching staff intact and they got a really
(20:23):
talented guy playing quarterback.
They can get CJ Baxter back frominjury.
Haven't carried a football in earnest since the Washington
game in 2023. We're going to see this team be
good, right? Be seasoned, be ready to play.
That's why you give them the benefit of the doubt.
That's also why you think perhaps they can win the
national championship. They're deep enough, they're
strong enough. It's do they have the maturity
(20:45):
and experience enough to go beatA-Team like Georgia to win it?
All right? Can they beat A-Team like Notre
Dame? Yes.
Can they beat A-Team like Michigan?
Yes. Penn State, Oregon.
These are the answer's yes. Teams we're not so sure about.
LSU, Alabama, Florida, Ole Miss,keep going down here, right?
(21:06):
I think that with LSU, you show me that Harold Perkins and
Witweeks are leading a defense that is mauling people.
Yeah. All right.
We can have that conversation because I know the offense is
going to put up points with Garrett Nussmeyer, Barry
Brownie, Nick Anderson. They're going to be fast on the
outside. Kaden Durham's going to be
outstanding to run the ball. I don't know what Alabama's
going to be. I hope that Ryan Grubb makes
them better offensively. We'll see if Ty Simpson is
(21:27):
better taking care of the football than Jalen Melro, but
he won't be as dynamic when the play breaks down.
OK, I think that we talked aboutFlorida, it's DJ Lagway or bust.
If DJ Lagway is playing at a Heisman level for 10 weeks,
we'll begin to talk about them because they are experienced.
They have the kind of experiencethe Texas had.
They had to, they had a lot of guys get injured, a lot of guys
(21:48):
get hurt. A lot of guys have stepped up in
the back end and when DJ has started and finished the game
for Florida, they have won everysingle game.
They're just six and one. They're one loss is Georgia, a
game that they probably would have won if he didn't go down
with the hammy injury. Now he's had his injuries and
he's right now in the same bucket as Quinn.
Yours for me. You got to show me you can play
(22:10):
a full year healthily before I start talking about you as a
team that could play for the national championship.
So we're just not sure. Ole Miss, they got a new signal
caller in Austin. Simmons, who seems to be very
talented, LED a 75 yard scoring drive in Jackson darts absence
against Georgia. Do you see how all roads run
through Georgia, which I'm showing you once again that it
(22:32):
begins and ends with Sanford. If you can't beat Georgia or if
you played well against Georgia,we tend to think that you have
what it takes to not just win inthe SEC, but win at a high
level. That's one of the reasons I
really want to see South Carolina and Georgia play.
Same thing is true of a Tennessee.
Just don't know what they got. And Joey Aguilar, lot of
variables, a lot of new faces, alot of new ideas, having to come
(22:53):
into what is going to be a straight seeded College Football
Playoff for the first time with 12 teams.
And then last, let's talk about the Big 10, Big 10.
I think you got three teams thatmost people believe got a shot
here. I'm only going to talk about one
of them actually being able to do this, OK?
People believe Penn State is thebest team in the Big 10.
(23:16):
I think they're wrong about that.
Oregon is the defending Big 10 champion.
They're in very much that spot of we still have to show we can
win the whole damn thing. We got to get to the game and
win it right. Dan Landing has been building a
monster. They're 25 and three over the
last two years since Will Stein is taking over calling the
plays. They've been outstanding.
(23:37):
They just can't seem to win the bowl game.
That matters for them to get into the game.
Excuse me, win the bowl game right against Ohio State, to get
into that semi final. And then before that, we got to
talk about them winning the conference championship in the
PAC 12, winning the conference championship.
Well, they didn't win the Pack conference championship in the
back 12. That'd be Caitlin de Boer
(23:57):
winning the conference championship in the Big 10 / a
Penn State team that felt like it was in a game that it
shouldn't have been in with DrewAller.
But you drag that team in the deep water, you win.
Then you get shafted by the by the seating structure.
I think right, the idea that yougot to play Ohio State out the
box and even in the Rose Bowl, it just kind of diabolical when
you think about it, because that's how the seating worked
out because you had to put Arizona State in that game
(24:19):
against Texas and you had to putBoise State in that game against
Penn State. Say nothing.
This other method is being there.
Ohio State right now feels like your best opportunity to three
peat. They are talented enough, they
have backing enough and they have a a team of players that
have been to the mountaintop andknow how to get there and know
what it is to play. With their backs against the
(24:41):
wall, they dug deep, they found a way.
Penn State hasn't beaten more than one top five team in its
last 16 opportunities with Janice Franklin as head coach,
and they are O and seven combined the last seven times
that they played. Ohio State, Michigan, the two
teams that have won the nationalchampionship the last couple of
years, but 1/3 national championship for this conference
(25:05):
really does put them into the spot of taking away this moniker
of the best team or excuse me, the best league in the sport.
Greg Sankey gets to say that. You count the championships, you
count the teams that they get inthere.
Nobody's made more appearances in the College Football Playoff
than the SEC. No team has made more College
Football Playoffs appearances than in Alabama, albeit in Nick
(25:26):
Saban era. And Alabama has 3 College
Football Playoff national championships, right?
That's three to that's three forAlabama.
That's three for the Big 10 so far right.
Trying to get a fourth year and a third straight.
I need to see Penn State get to a top five opponent and win and
I need to see them do it with Drew Allert quarterback.
(25:47):
OK, till then, I don't want to talk about it.
I'm really not going to crown a team that hasn't beaten anybody,
which is really the argument that Rhett Lashley is given
about the SEC, and I want to unpack that and talk about just
how right or wrong he is. But first, I'm going to take a
(26:08):
break. Back on adapt and respond with
(26:34):
me, RJ Young again, if you are new to the show, go ahead and
hit that subscribe button and follow the show on Apple and
Spotify where you can listen to the audio version of this.
And if you're watching me on theYoutubes, I appreciate that.
It's very cool of you trying to do more of these longer half
hour 40 minute shows that many of you have asked for and as the
(26:54):
subscriber count for this channel has gone over 137,000,
which is ridiculous guys, you guys are amazing.
I'm trying to give you more of what you asked for here on Adapt
and Respond. Rhett lastly came out firing at
ACC Media Days, which I, you know what, I enjoy it.
I, I like spicy. I like it when coaches got
(27:15):
something to say and they got anargument to raise because all of
a sudden they talk to their Sid and their Sid is full of these
stats that they need to know andthey think, hey, you know what,
that's a good point. I'll put that in my opening
statement. Red Lashley didn't mince words
at ACC media day. The quote was the SEC has had
the same 6 schools win the championship since 1964.
(27:40):
Not a single one has been different since 1964.
That's top heavy to me. That's not depth in quote.
All right, first, let's mention here that SMU is not one of
these teams we're talking about winning the national
championship in 2025. So that's something to do with
it. And I think if you're talking
about the present makeup of the SEC, right, you're, you're not,
(28:03):
you know, I mean, I guess you'retalking about Oklahoma and Texas
as well in here. But I don't think he's being
fair on this one. I, I really don't.
Because if you take a look at what he means here, I mean, we
talk about go hogs Arkansas, no disrespect to Arkansas.
Arkansas, y'all know I love y'all, y'all around the corner
here. But we're not talking about
(28:24):
y'all being in the national championship conversation, the
SEC. But we are talking about you
making up the strength of this conference because Arkansas is a
tough cookie for everybody else but the SEC because the SEC is
just that good. We're also not talking about you
in Missouri. Even though you got a sweetheart
schedule, we don't think you're going to be playing for a
national championship this year.Same thing is true of
(28:45):
Vanderbilt. Kentucky A&M hadn't won a
conference championship of any kind since 98.
Had Johnny Manzo win the frigginHeisman.
Still can't play for the national championship.
OK, we're talking about Florida during the Urban Meyer years,
talking about Georgia. Kirby Smart, talking about
Tennessee with Phil Fulmer in 1998.
Bama. OK, Nick Saban.
(29:07):
You going now? Auburn.
Gus Malzahn? Gene Chizik?
Cam Newton. Cam Newton.
The greatest college football player who ever lived, Because
it's him putting that offense onhis back and Nick fairly playing
a defensive tackle. They win the national friggin
championship. Get out of here, man.
The close of comp that you wouldhave to something like that
today would be Lenore Sellers leading South Carolina to the
(29:28):
national championship. And you know what?
We just don't see it. We don't think that's how it's
going to go. OK.
I don't think that's how it's going to go.
I'm not willing to bet on that. LSU Ed Orgeron, 2019 Les Miles,
Nick Saban. Yeah, OK, They got it.
And then Oklahoma, Texas, depending on how you want to
talk about, you know, them beingBig 12 schools when they won
(29:50):
this national championship, but I don't think they much count.
And then you take a look around,look at the Big 10 who has had
let's just start with Ohio State, Michigan last two, right?
Penn State not since 86 MichiganState not since 66 SC it's a PAC
(30:11):
12 school, but OK, Nebraska Big 8 school, but OK, Washington PAC
10 school ain't won it since thesince the 1990s.
So I mean, if we're talking about we're talking about
Washington, OK, let's talk aboutthe Big 12, then let's talk
about Colorado in 1990. What are we doing here with
this, Rhett? Like, this is one of these
(30:33):
things that I think works when you are trying to tease a
segment. I don't think it works when
you're at the daze trying to saythat the ACC is deep,
particularly when I'm going to point the finger at the ACC and
go. Florida State is the only team
outside of Clemson that has won a College Football Playoff
national championship in that conference.
(30:54):
Then you got to take it back to Miami.
But it ain't Mario Cristobal's Miami, it's Ed Reed's Miami.
It's Ken Dorsey's Miami's later Coker's Miami, All right?
It's a different kind of you back then.
It's a you that you feared. It's a you that I I remember
this vividly, man. So many people want to talk
about how much I like Ohio Stateon this show.
(31:14):
It's really, I like Ohio State fans.
But in 2002, I wouldn't know. Ohio State fan.
I was a fan of Miami. I wanted Miami to win that damn
thing. I wanted it in the worst
frigging way because that O1 team meant the world to me.
I, I, I was living in Florida atthe time too.
I was living in Panama City. So you were watching Florida
State, you were watching Miami. That's what you were doing.
(31:34):
I didn't really watch SEC football because SEC football
wasn't that good. It was 3 yards in a cloud of
dust. I mean, when I got to see St.
Spurriers fun and gun, it was cool.
But outside of that, no, it justwasn't that much fun.
There was nothing fun about Alabama.
There was nothing fun about Georgia.
You're just watching teens clashagainst each other.
When you're a child, you want tosee people throw the ball all
over the yard, and you want to see deliciously savage hits.
(31:58):
I didn't know what targeting wasthen.
Nobody knew what targeting was then.
We just knew that there was a safety out there.
It was looking to decapitate somebody, and there was a
linebacker out there trying to make sure that you couldn't walk
the next day. Yeah, that was my football.
OK, I love that. That ain't the football we got
today, Doc. That ain't, that ain't what it
is. That ain't what it is.
(32:19):
I tend to think if you're looking at this the way that
Rhett Lashley's looking at this,you're trying to say we like
brand names. That's what you're saying.
Because one of the things that Rhett Lashley is conveniently
leaving out of this calculus is we used to vote.
We used to hold a vote on who the national champion was, and
that was about popularity and density.
(32:42):
What in too many teams going to vote for NO10 win Ole Miss in
the 1950s, even though the the the Johnny Vought years are
ridiculous, they're amazing, they're great.
They're voting for Texas, they're voting for Michigan
State, and we're going to share this thing right there.
I can't imagine playing Little League baseball and then going
(33:06):
undefeated and having somebody vote US third place.
You know how many parents come out of the stands wanting to
kill somebody? No, no, no, no, no, no, no,
That's not it. So you're taking that into
account. So let's just go with the BCS
where we had something like a computer and a human pole really
picking these things out. You're talking about, once
again, Florida State, Miami College Football Playoff things
(33:27):
a little bit more fair. So if you're talking about teams
that are winning the national championship to College Football
Playoff era, maybe you got a case here.
But taking it back to night C64 so so one year after Kennedy was
assassinated, that's that's where you want to start this
conversation. I don't think so dog.
You got players that were born when I graduated high school.
(33:47):
Now 2006 dog, they don't care nothing about no 1964.
I know this because LSU was a power.
LSU wasn't nobody when I was a child.
Garbage. Actually.
We didn't watch LSU like that because LSU didn't recruit good
players, because LSU didn't wantto recruit good players.
So Nick Saban got there, said we're all the good players.
He said they don't come here, said BS, they don't come here.
(34:08):
Put a fence up around the boot and said, Nah, everybody come in
the Baton Rouge now. Man, I wondered how like would
Arch Manning have made it to Texas if Nick Saban was the head
coach at LSUI? Submit to you.
Probably not. Probably not.
All things that I think are important and need to be figured
out. I want parity in college
(34:31):
football, but I only want it in so far as people are willing to
watch it. I think Southern Methodist has
got a ways to go before you can convince the rest of us that you
deserve to be in this conversation.
However, when Indiana can make the playoff and SMU can make the
playoff, you're going to have story programs like the ones
that I've mentioned to you. Go wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait. What you mean what you mean
(34:52):
they're in a row for a nine win?USC to get into this thing, and
I went Alabama to get into this thing.
We got to change that quick, fast.
And a hurricane. Historically, we've been the
team that you've chosen. So we need to figure out a way
for you to choose us or we're going to get chosen by somebody
else, which is the 4 + 4 + 4 automatic qualifying, and we're
going to do it that way. I don't like it.
(35:14):
I think you should have to fight.
I think you'd have to have a fistfight.
And this is what we did with Cincinnati.
We voted them in. Alabama beat the brakes off of
them. Texas Christian, we voted to
them. Georgia beat the brakes off of
them. That's what people don't want to
see. They want to see a competitive,
fun football game. If every game is 2016, Texas
(35:35):
Tech, Oklahoma, everybody's having a good time.
It's going to be so much fun. But ain't that that ain't how it
goes. What what usually happens is the
team that you expect to beat thetar out of the other team
usually does because they're bigger, they're faster, they're
stronger. Because the brand is bigger, the
brand is faster, the brand is stronger.
The brand, to use the catch phrase of my favorite podcast of
(36:00):
all time that no longer goes, the brand is strong.
Kylie Desus Mero do that damn show again, man, that is going
to do it for this episode of adapt and respond to me.
RJ Young again, thank you for joining us here talking college
football year round. If you like the show, subscribe
(36:22):
like this video, subscribe on the podcast and let me know what
else you would like to hear us discuss as we get into the nitty
gritty of college football season.
It's going to be it for me. Doses.
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