2024 Week Five Review: Randy Berns/Offsides?/Koi Perich

Chip Scoggins, Ryan Burns and Justin Gaard review the Gophers 27-24 loss to Michigan on the pod this week. They start by introducing a new member that joined from Michigan Stadium (Randy Berns) before discussing the Big Ten all but admitting the refs screwed up the offsides on the onside kick. There were many things that led to the loss that are also part of the conversation. We wrap it up with some Alabama/Georgia talk and thoughts on the Big Ten/SEC meetings coming up this month. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Glenn Mason said a long time ago at the University
of Minnesota.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
You need a Pair and a Spare.

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Thank you, PJ. It is time for another edition of
the Pair and a Spare podcast. We are presented as
always by our great friends at Jack's Cafe. Make your
reservations for a goodfall brunch at Jackscafe dot com Jaxcafe
dot com. I'm justin guard from the fan. We've got
Chipscoggins from Football across America. And do we have Ryan
Burns or do we have Randy burn Randy Byrne from

(00:29):
Golpher Illustrated dot com. Who is this man? Randy Burn?
I covered up Chip's face. I got to bring it
back down. I was looking for the picture of you, Burnsy.
I guess I didn't take a picture of you on
Saturday when I discovered that you were not masquerading around
as Ryan Burns, but you were Randy Byrne.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
His face for everybody on you we created, but I
didn't have a picture of you again. Yeah, put the
picture back up. Let me see if I can't make
his face here. Just so, we got to go.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
One of those hats, so it looks like a sharp
looking hat in that credential.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
But go ahead, how did that? What happened there?

Speaker 3 (01:10):
So as you well, guardian, did you go through a
ton of extra security because of walls?

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Actually, no, we can talk about that in a second. Okay,
we went through the regular security. But remember we get
there really early. We were there at like seven in
the morning. They check our bags, they do the dog bit.
We're wearing Gopher radio stuff. And actually it was like
the greatest Michigan is so good for hospitality, it's unbelievable
how well they take care of their visitors.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
But go ahead. So I actually found out from the
Michigan media. Did you know as of like two three
years ago, they didn't have like a like a metal
detector that they walked through. No dogs. They just walked in.
The media just walked in. Never didn't have anything. But
for this one with walls there. First of all, my
flight out was half half the plane was either Gopher

(02:01):
cheer squad or it was secret secret service or extra security.
But we get there, we're waiting, and then it's the body.
They take your bag, get the you have the dog,
and then you got to go through a couple of
extra security layers, including an extra wand an extra. There's
a few different things. There's guys sitting there with like ars,

(02:22):
and I'm like, what are we doing? Like which one
of us do you look? I get it, but goodness gracious,
so then we get inside.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
There's been two assassination attempts on a former president, Like
what do you mean?

Speaker 3 (02:36):
What are we doing? Like we even came up to
the media level. It's the perfect plan. Go ahead, give
the lady my thing. I don't even She's like, I
give her my license. She goes through, hands me the credential.
I don't even look at it, never really take pay
one mind to it until I see you and you're like,
what what the hell is that? I look down Obviously

(03:01):
my initials are rand Burn, Ryan Burns, Randy Burn. She
was flustered. Let me tell you, she was flustered. There
wasn't even a line yet. So I never did go
and find Randy BYRN. I actually googled him. I don't
know that he exists. That's what I'm a digital footprint.
This whole thing is fraught with danger.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Like I'm first of all the fact that I saw
it before you did. As people might know, I basically
go up to Burnsey's navel. He's a tall man, so
to look, when I stand right next to Burnsy, I'm
basically like, you know, mid drift area on him, and
I'm just so that's right at my eye level. But
aren't we a little concerned that you've got a vice
presidential candidate in there? You don't get the right pass.

(03:45):
You get a pass for a man that I don't
think exists.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
I'm telling you he does this. You can't find Goggins
type of digital digital footprint where he doesn't exist. I
tried to find him. I can't find him.

Speaker 4 (03:57):
Remember this is the home of Connor Stallions.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
Why know That's what I mean.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
No, they didn't have metal detectors and stuff because if
Michigan was doing their own stuff, they wanted there. They
don't want any digital footprint on anybody. I just the
day that the vice presidential candidate is making a big
public appearance, you've got people just wandering around with random credentials, like,
come on, Michigan, let's go, let's change.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
Our best here.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
The photo was the best.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
Like, I feel like that should be your photo for
every go. I feel like enough people know you around
that you could do that. There's our guy Randy Byrne.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
It says no field access.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
Sports Byline USA, which I've never heard of that in
my entire life. I've heard of that.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, that's a reputable that's a reputable outlet, I think.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
Really, Yeah, it's like a stream. Yeah, I've heard of it.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
It's like I would think it's kind of like an
Associated Press or up or something like that.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
Well, the even funnier story with that is after we
get done, Andy and I had to sprint to cot
Andy Grider from the Pioneer Press, so they had they
held the elevators for a half hour after the game
and delayed the press conferences to let walls of security
and motorcade get out. Yep. And so Andy and I
are late getting down to pj's press conference. We have
to go sixty flights down all the way to the

(05:18):
field where the band is performing. Yeah, and so we
have to hop over. So I hand some obscure Michigan
fan my laptop so I can hop over the fence
and then he hands it back. We sprint across the field. Anyways,
we come back, Andy has lost his credential. Oh yeah,
and I have Randy Byrne on mine. So We're trying
to get back into the media area and Andy walks in.

(05:41):
First the guys where's your credential? And Andy's trying to
explain it fell off and he's like, he's not buying it.
And I'm like, no, I put my thumb over the picture.
I go, no, he's with me, I swear. Can you
imagine if he was like, no, let me see the
photo and it's Randy Byrn and this guy with.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Me Randy Byrn step aside, Like.

Speaker 4 (06:00):
That is not the most convenience setup either, because no,
I remember when.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
I remember when, because you.

Speaker 4 (06:05):
Have to go down through the stands, right, and yep,
I remember the year that Jason Janini kicks the fit,
you know, the winning field goal, and you know you're
going down through one hundred thousand people.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
They're going the other way. They're angry, like I'm going.

Speaker 4 (06:22):
To get killed before I get to the bottom of
this staircase, you know. And then you got to go
across the field and it's not the you know, nobody's
crying for us. But it's not the easiest place to to.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
Get a locker room act.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
It is surprising, though, like I'm always surprised because they
do a really good job with everything. Obviously, the stadium
has had millions and millions of dollars of upgrades. The
press box is great, the club levels are great. Everything
about it is great. The hospitality is great. Like we
checked in at the tunnel entrance, Burnsy, the media entrance
really wasn't even open yet. We checked in at the
tunnel entrance because that's what we had done in the past,

(06:57):
and someone there said, well, you're gonna have to go
on the other side. He said, no problem, we've done
that before. We just walked down the tunnel. You'll see
the you know, everyone who stays will be champions bit
and the Rose Bowl stuff that's in the tunnel. It's
one tunnel right at Michigan and then you then you
do have to walk up all those stairs. There's a
service elevator you can take on that side that'll take
you to the concourse and then walk over. But yeah,

(07:19):
you also have to at some point have a little
pride and go I can take.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
The stairs exactly exactly, yell.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
I didn't post game, by the way, I did wait
for the service elevator. I said, I'm not doing it.
It's been a long day. But they grabbed a golf
cart for us and took us all the way around
Michigan Stadium, which I thought was very nice, Like they
take a lot of pride in making it a good,
hospitable experience, which which I appreciate.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
But so you're changing your tune on Michigan.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Huh what a little bit on that. Yeah, but they've
always been good on that. But in part part of
it though, and I think I've talked about this on
the pod. Part of it though, is they're arrogance that
you should feel so lucky that you're here and you
get to experience what we get to experience every day
just being Michigan men and women, that we're going to
show you how special it is here. And in that

(08:04):
is a lot of niceties, but also they'll do kind
of like Notre Dame Chipper, you've been there.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
They'll say, yeah, yeah, welcome to Notre Dame. Your life.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
Can you believe your life worked out this way that
you got to come here on this Saturday. No, welcome
to Michigan. Welcome to Michigan, you lucky bastards. So many
people would trade with you right now. But it is
amazing that their locker room I'm sure Michigan's locker room
is awesome. Their locker room is very small, right, it's
under the bleachers. PJ and I have to do the

(08:34):
postgame interview like basically in the training room, which is
not ideal, especially because the head coach doesn't like people
around when we're doing it, like most of them don't.
And so that's like a secret service clear out too.
When I'm back there and the fifty managers are grabbing
their laptops and all the stuff that they've got to
get downloaded for the plane ride and everything, it's not
a very easy place to get around, which is surprising.

(08:57):
I don't know what you can do about it, but
given that everything else is so first class, it's amazing
that that is so beyond or below what other like
Huntington Bank, for example, the greatest place to work ever
in the Big ten for us. At least you got
the elevator goes right down, you go right where you
need to go right there.

Speaker 4 (09:14):
Well, and you have the band marching by. The band
march is up that same donaldsp you can hear, you
can hear the interviews.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
Well. Roycey always tells a story back when he covered
a game there. He was young in his career and is.

Speaker 4 (09:27):
When Bo shimbacker, he was there and.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
Somehow he was there.

Speaker 4 (09:32):
You know, they let you on the field early, and
he's there with the team and he got swept up into.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
The locker room. So he's sitting there in the locker room.

Speaker 4 (09:40):
Why Bo's giving his post game speech, He's just kind
of like standing there. And then after his over, Boki
looks at him, like, who's this guy in our locker room? Right?

Speaker 1 (09:50):
That tight security there A lot a lot of times
I lost my credential to for a minute. It fell
off because of the rain and given I've you know,
had a few issues on sidelines the Big Ten over
the years.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
I was very worried about that. I was very worried
about that.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
Well, anyway, Randy, it's great to have you on the show.
I think from here on out you gotta be Randy Burns.
I can still call you Ryan Burns. He still works out.
It's just b E r N S I E this
time around. It's so good and you had no idea.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
You're just walking around like an.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Idiot with Randy Burns credence bill, just going about your life.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
The idiots, do you think Randy Burns showed up and
he was Ryan Burns for the day.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
Yeah, I want to know if he got in, and
if he did get in, was he wearing my credential?
I have so many questions.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
It's not good when the vice president's coming in. They're
just letting they're just and they were hyped to by
the way, the riff raft like me. Every time I
went through that media entrance, because I I had to
go back and forth a couple of times, there there
was a buzz from the security like did he come
through yet?

Speaker 3 (10:52):
Is he coming through yet? What's it like? And have
you guys ever been around secret service?

Speaker 1 (10:57):
No, it's a it's a it's a vibe, like there's
a quiet intensity about, like you guys all better do
what we're telling you to do.

Speaker 4 (11:06):
Or did Wall stay for the whole game and then
left and they had to hold up traffic because of that?

Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (11:12):
Yeah, And they made an announcement in the third quarter
that one exit was going to be shut down. And
at this point it was like twenty one to three
or twenty four to three, and that was and I
said even said on the radio broadcast, this is the
only thing Michigan fans have had to complain about all
day because they started booing basically that they weren't going
to be able to go out their normal eight And
that is I mean, it's nice when people come, Like

(11:33):
I've been to Army Navy games and President Trump went
to a couple of them, and it's I always think
it's cool, like the US Open. I remember a couple
of presidents went through when I was their Air ex presidents.

Speaker 3 (11:44):
But it adds a layer. I mean, it just does.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
It is a It is a pain in the ass
when you've got a high profile public figure and you
do have to make because the world does not the
world revolves around them straight up that day. Yeah, Like
I even remember when President Trump was at Army Navy
and Nordo and I Eric nord Chuis from the fan
were walking down to go on the field because you
can do it for like the last ten minutes.

Speaker 3 (12:06):
At Army Navy, which is ridiculous, it's so cool.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, And we noticed that the motorcade was in like
the loading dock area, and so we sat there and
it was ready to roll and we're like, well, I
think he's probably gonna walk by here, Like we should
stay like this would be cool to see the president
just roll right by, and within like eight seconds, some
plain closed guy just comes over and goes and you
guys are just gonna go around the corner and stand here,

(12:31):
And Eric and I are like, yep, yes, sir, no problem,
We do not need to. But that's how they talk like,
they just very sternly tell you nicely, this is what
you're gonna.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Do on a conversation.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
F around and find out they're not looking for a response.
They are not looking for a response. So it's it's
just funny that on that day Beavis up there in
the top right is walking around.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
Brandy Burr, all right, what do you guys? What's the
headline of the game? Guys? Where do we want to start? With?

Speaker 1 (13:02):
The Gophers a furious fourth quarter rally. I thought for
a minute we were going to be talking about one
of the most ridiculous comebacks and Gopher victories in history
of the program. And it looked that way for really
look that way for about nine seconds. But what was
your main takeaway or what should we be discussing about

(13:22):
this game? Randy will start with you.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
Well, I know Chip wants to lead with everybody's favorite
on side kick that wasn't offsides, but it wasn't an
off sides to the point now Chip where Fleck got
the Big Ten to change something mid stream, which I
can't remember the last time the Big Ten rectified something
in season. I think you guys that have a better
recollection than me.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
A week after something no, no, that is a sign
they missed it.

Speaker 4 (13:53):
You know, there'll be so much focus about that, and
you hate to say it's a missed opportunity at Michigan,
but I felt like that was a missed opportunity because
if you don't self destruct in the first half, that
Michigan team was dying to lose because they don't have
a quarterback. And I texted you guys during the game,
book it, they will lose two or three more games

(14:14):
that you can't win.

Speaker 3 (14:18):
Big.

Speaker 4 (14:18):
You're not gonna beat good, great teams with that offense.
That quarterback, he's not a quarterback, and he single handedly
changed that game with that throw that got picked off.
I mean that game would have wound up if he
doesn't throw that and he keep running, that game would
have wound up being thirty five, thirty one ten, something
like that. I just don't think the Gophers will come

(14:40):
back if they if he doesn't throw that interception.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
So the the.

Speaker 4 (14:46):
Off sides is unfortunate because to make that call in
that situation, you want the guy to be three yards
over the line, not where you can't even see it.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
And I know Michigan.

Speaker 4 (14:56):
I've gotten bombarded by Michigan tweets like every tweeted Burns snapshot,
and well it would look at the legal touching and
there's another guy penalty. But man, if they don't have
the block pont and the you know, the fumbled there
early on in the first half, that that could have
been a different game.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
Yeah, I mean it's they continue to have these self
inflicted wounds. But I want to stay on the on
side kick for a moment. Is to your point. I
said this after the game. I wrote it. We talked
about on Gopher Football Sunday with GUARDSI is, if you're
going to throw the flag, Itt, it's got to be egregious,
it's got to be three yards off. It's easy. It's
an easy flag, and that certainly was anything but easy.

(15:40):
Now in hindsight, when you look at the play under
a microscope, you're able to see that Minnesota's blocking before
the ball reaches ten yards and the way I understand
it is that is reviewable if you're already reviewing something
on it, which they would have been, probably for clear
possession or whatever it may be. But just imagine in

(16:01):
that world that the Gophers do recover it like they do.
You got the ball thirty eight yard line, when ninety
seconds left, you're down three, he got a time out.
You're already playing with all of the house's money. The
Big House is money at that you're going to be
going for the touchdown, yes, but it's unfortunate that the
flag was thrown. And now it's the point where the

(16:22):
Big Ten has approved to modify their officiating on on sidekicks,
where the headline judge and the line judge I believe
are going to be kind of switching positions. And that's
where Fleck issued a statement after he talked to the
Big Ten yesterday and said the Big Ten coordinative officials
informed us the play was too tight to flag. We

(16:44):
credit the Conference for recognizing need to make the change
to ensure future, to ensure accurate calls in the future,
which great. Forty eight hours later, you got your validation,
but it doesn't change anything about the outcome.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
Isn't it amazing that that hasn't come up previously to where.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
They felt so compelled to make the change now that
for them to make that change, they would have to say,
we have a fundamental flaw in how we look at
this play or how we line up and position our officials.
That's a pretty significant change for them to say, you know,
we're gonna take this lead headlines and we're gonna put
them here so they get a better accurate, more accurate thing.

(17:31):
You'd have thought that that would been something like throughout
all their discussions off season, like is there things we
can improve, things we can tweak about where we're at
that that hasn't come up before.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
And the fact that they did it three days two days.

Speaker 4 (17:43):
After yeah, two, it was day right, it tells you
that privately they're like, yeah, we got this one wrong,
like this is and we would continue to get it
wrong if we don't make this change.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
Well, it just doesn't happen very often. That's probably why
it had never come up because on side kicks in
general are rare. Onside kick recoveries are rare, so when
these things don't so when the other team gets it
even if there isn't off side. Nobody really cares. I'm
sure they're not double checking to go, Hey, we threw
the flag for offside, but they recovered.

Speaker 3 (18:15):
It anyway, Do we even need to look at it again?
Like after the game? Right?

Speaker 1 (18:19):
And I said it, somebody tweeted at me after the
game because I started this maybe a month or two
ago when the NBA announced that you could now review
when you go back to review who the ball went
off of in the last couple of minutes, if there's
a clear foul on the play, you can now call that,
which was in direct correlation to Jaden McDaniels getting hacked

(18:43):
by Kyrie Irving Game two, and so I went through
this whole thing on the fan of the only time
rules get changed is when they screw over a Minnesota
team and they changed it in the offseason, and my
twitter line lieber, Yeah, the overtime stuff with the Saints
we talked about, or things get changed that that screw
up a team like the Minnesota Wild signed guys to
thirteen year contracts and then you change the cap and

(19:05):
they can't do anything. Or even the Wolves right now
you say their new collective bargaining agreement comes after they
make the trade for Rudy Gobert. So my timeline was flooded,
like I can't wait for them to change this in
the off season, and so I'm like yesterday it was
like they couldn't even wait.

Speaker 3 (19:22):
It was so bad. They couldn't even wait.

Speaker 1 (19:25):
To you know, when they're when they're all doing Big
ten meetings at Laguna Beach, they couldn't even wait to
do it. Then they had to do it like the
first business day back. It was probably right in the
eight to fifteen meeting in the Big ten office, they're
all there and they say, hey, guys, we blew that one.
We got to change it. I agree like everything you said.
Burnsy's right. I don't know if you can review on

(19:45):
side kicks. I don't know if you can go back
and you know, and actually, you know, check out if
a guy was blocking it's but you know, so we
would we would have had to live with that, like
that would have been our version of the invalid fair
catch probably where Gopher fans would have been defending it
forever if if it was shown that, oh, by the way,
there were these two penalties on the Gophers that didn't
get called, but to me, it was kind of a

(20:06):
continuation of you know, they have a ridiculous spot in
the third quarter where PJ wasted time out and they
never even look at it that they call it. That
Daniel Jackson's touchdown was called incomplete, Like what are what
are we watching?

Speaker 3 (20:20):
Guys?

Speaker 1 (20:21):
It just seemed like the whole day they were I
think they fell asleep like Michigan did.

Speaker 3 (20:25):
I honestly did.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
I think they kind of said, this game's over, We're
just gonna kind of keep We're just gonna punch our
clock and hope to get out of here before the
Vice President heads to the ipsul Any Airport.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
They just seemed out to lunch on a lot of
stuff on Saturday.

Speaker 4 (20:38):
Well, I saw fans were mad that on the Jackson
you know, when he stripped it out of his hands,
that they didn't blow the play Dad.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
For if that was the NFL, the whistle would have
been blown. Yeah, they could have.

Speaker 4 (20:47):
But if you watched it, those officials let some of
those Michigan runs too, like they just went forever.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
It's like blow the whistle like that was how they were.
That's how they were all day. Yeah, they were just
slow to blow.

Speaker 4 (20:59):
It played dead where I feel like Michigan part second
half they got like some extra yards just because pile
just kept moving. You know.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
Well, even the one that Fleck challenged, I still my
my biggest thing isn't even the reps from this game,
it's how did you It was a big noon game.
You were the biggest game on the slate. In some
of these camera angles, it's like, that's the best you had.
But the one Fleck challenged, it seemed pretty clear that
if there's a better camera angle on the Gopher sideline
alex Orgy's it's he's out and it's second and thirteen.

(21:28):
Instead the spot is somehow second and eight, second nine there,
and Fleck was losing his mind on the sidelines. Even
the interception, I'm pretty convinced his heel was out. But
because the call in the field wasn't interception and there
wasn't a better camera angle, they couldn't overturn it. I mean,
there were some things in that game where I just
want to know was it the rain that caused them

(21:51):
to not have as many camera angles, because I couldn't
understand why it just happened to be that some of
these plays were on the Gopher sideline and they just
didn't have, for whatever reason, the cameras. Yeah, it was.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
So it's too bad because I was just fascinated to
see what would have happened. I would have just if
they recovered it, because I had a great view of
it going down the because, as you guys know, the
ramp kind of goes up, and for a five to
nine guy like me that stares right at Burnsy's Naval,
it's great to be able to see everything.

Speaker 3 (22:21):
And I see these dudes just running in.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
The ball go there, and I'm like, holy s, like
they're actually gonna have the ball at the thirty seven,
and I'm one convinced. Was I think they had a
time out right at the time, Like there's no chance
they're playing for three there. I mean they might they
might have taken it. Obviously they might have had to,
but it just would have been a fascinating story.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
You've already s it's in a quarter, which either you've
scored twenty one points. That's the first time in offense
has scored twenty one points in a quarter against Michigan
since twenty eighteen. Ohio State did that. Yeah, I mean
they were the ball pretty pretty good in that quarter.

Speaker 2 (22:59):
I'd say that's it.

Speaker 4 (23:00):
The way they were rolling and Michigan was gassed on defense.
I mean, they that tempo really got to them, and
we should talk about their offense. I mean, it seems
like this year, when it's looked the best is when
they go tempo and I hate to say abandoned the run,
but just at.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
Some point, do you say.

Speaker 4 (23:24):
We're not a good running team for whatever reason, we
don't run the ball that Well, let's go tempo. Let's
try it, you know, Let's get Max Brosner in a rhythm,
get their receivers in the rhythm.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
Because it's just whether it's Carolina.

Speaker 4 (23:40):
That game, it just seems like they click offensively. In
their best is when they're going tempo and they put
the ball in the quarterback's hands.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
Well, Bernsy said the same thing that you just said,
and I think that was the smirk that we saw
from from random.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
Oh sorry, no, but no, no, no.

Speaker 3 (23:53):
He said it on Sunday with me.

Speaker 1 (23:54):
I was sitting in this very spot and I just
grabbed the stat sheet from that game and my response
to Burns was, Darius Taylor ran it thirteen times. Mangham
had one nice run and I think he got banged up.
Marcus Major had two. They've already abandoned the run. They've
abandoned yeah, I mean fifteen carries. And why did Darius
Taylor have so many touches because they threw it to

(24:16):
him fourteen times and he had ten catches.

Speaker 3 (24:18):
I think that's the new handoff. I really do.

Speaker 1 (24:21):
They've pretty much abandoned the run here and so, which
is fine. If that's how you have to move the ball,
you have to do that's how you have to move
the ball, because for whatever the reason, they haven't been able.
You know, Darius's longest run was six yards, Mangums was
sixteen in the first half. That was a nice run,
might have been one of their longest of the year,
besides Taylor's eighty yarder. But they have abandoned the run

(24:41):
if I'm looking at the stat sheet right, Yeah, I.

Speaker 3 (24:44):
Mean they have. And I know that tempo was the
talk and Fleuck was asked about hy yesterday, and I
agree with the theory of Brosmer looks better in tempo.
I'd also say the thing I think that I've learned
about Max Brosmer is he's streaky. But when he's hot,
he is lightning hot. But when he's cold, it's not

(25:05):
like he's ice cold. Because we're still talking about a
guy where you look at the stats, he's completing sixty
six percent of his throws. Yeah, Like, it's not like
Ethan where he just completely falls off a cliff and
he's missing guys twenty yards high. But when he is
lightning hot, like you saw in that fourth quarter, I
know all the attentions on the Daniel Jackson grab, which

(25:26):
was a sensational catch, one of the best you'll see
all year. That was a hell throw. Yeah, yeah, that
was an unbelievable throw. So as much as it is
about tempo, I would say I still think the number
one thing that fixes this offense is in tempo. It's
have the offensive line figured their s out, because they
have more penalties. The offensive line is fifteen penalties in

(25:50):
five games. That's more than the entire team of Iowa.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
Problem.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
I understand I always had a bye week, but that's
what I took away from that game is five offensive
line penalties. Why Why did the offense struggle to move
the ball in the first half Because they're first in
fifteen their first sixteen and when you're first in fifteen
and sixteen plus, you have huge drops in there. I mean,
it's all just self inflicted wounds offensively, and that's the

(26:17):
thing that I'm sure has to be maddening if you're
the offensive coordinator or even PJ.

Speaker 4 (26:21):
Fleck Well, in the first half, he saw that. I mean,
the line was just getting pushed back into Brozemer so
many times.

Speaker 3 (26:27):
One time they were just lost in four sacks in
the first half. And then they changed some things over halftime,
which we've all been trust me. I hear the fans emails,
smoke signals, twitter messages. They want to see second half adjustments.
Second half. It's not like Brozemer was clean in the pocket,
but he wasn't sacked at any point, right.

Speaker 4 (26:45):
But that's why I think that's where I think. I mean,
you're you're after this here this week. You're halfway through
your season, right correct? At some points, just this is
who you are, right ye. And that's why I say tempo,
get get your running backs involved.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
I mean the fact that they was he targeted fourteen
times or had you know.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
Ten catches or target catches.

Speaker 4 (27:06):
So that's how you that's how you mitigate your offensive
line problems. You slow the defense down by getting it
out of your hands quick and go tempo, and so
I thought Michigan just didn't adjust to it. I don't
know whether they got worred down or tired, but it's
hard for a defense when you're you know, you're going
quick like that, and you're getting the ball out quick
to your playmakers, and you're there's a variety of who

(27:26):
you're throwing it to. As much as we say the
offensive line needs to figure themselves out, we might have
to say this is sort of who they are, and
they're not going to be what we at the level
that we thought they were. Now that you still want
to see them improve and get better and more consistent
and all that. I'm not saying you just give it,
throw up your hands all that, but I think you

(27:47):
have to adjust to what you're seeing in these games too,
and I thought they did that in the second half.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
That part of that is are so far behind and
you got.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
The place, you're down three score exactly, you have to
abandon the run.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
But do you start that from from the from the
get go.

Speaker 4 (28:00):
It you come out against USC and say, you know what,
we're not gonna even gonna try to really run the ball.
We're gonna use Darius Taylor as a receiver, We're gonna
go tempo, We're just gonna play that way.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
Well, the irony is it's the softest run defense they've
seen in a few weeks. So it's like, you have
to here's my thing is in each one of these
games coming up, you say the two before the buy
USC and UCLA, you have to try to run the ball.
And I think you're gonna find a little bit more
success in running the ball, and if you can, great,
go to it. But if you find early that you can't,

(28:31):
pull the plug earlier and earlier to where you can
run the ball in the red zone and in short
yardage like we saw Darius Taylor's two touchdowns well executed.
He's into the end zone. But it has to be
more of a focus point on the on the passing
game at that point between the twenties, because for whatever
the reason, this veteran offensive line is just I can't

(28:54):
figure it out. And to your point, Chip this week
after the USC game, you're half way through the season.
You are who you are at this point. Unless you're
gonna make more personnel changes up front, which I would,
but I'm not Brian Callahan and PJ. Pleck. You are
who you are. You can't pass protect that well, you can't.
You certainly can't run the ball, and you've got fifteen

(29:15):
penalties as a group. You are who you are, and
then you got a receiving corps who is Max Brosmer
has had more passes dropped than any other Big ten quarterback.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
Yeah, that's where that's where I want to go next,
because I don't think the first half was not a
sterling first half for the receivers. And it's not that
I'm watching it and I can see the All twenty two.
I'm watching what's going on on the sideline and Matt
Simon's on their ass right basically bringing them up multiple times.
And I don't know what he said, but I can
imagine is what are we doing here, guys? Max Brosmer

(29:45):
coming over at least once basically to rally the troops,
and to their credit, they responded because Daniel Jackson wasn't
the only one that made tough catches. L Mechi made
a couple of nice grabs. Elijah Spencer, who I think
got a little bit banged up, had a couple of
nice catches as well fighting for extree yards. I think
the first half, to use one of your favorite lines, Chipper,

(30:06):
was the total systems failure where the offensive line was
not protecting and it didn't appear to me like the
receivers were a getting open or be catching the ball
when it got there. And then when you factor in
you have a blocked punt and a turnover inside your
own twenty, there's fourteen points and that's why you're in
the meat grinder the rest of the game. But it
didn't seem like We've talked about this for years Burnsey

(30:26):
on Go for Football Sunday. It's not always one thing
with the passing game. It hasn't always been it's all in.
PJ said it too. It's a combination of a lot
of different things. And their credit, the receivers stepped up,
I thought really big time in the second half. It
made some tough catches. But games started at noon Eastern.
You know, you gotta be ready to go, like you
just have to be ready to go.

Speaker 3 (30:47):
And that's where on the opening drive you have your
tight end drop a second and seven that would have
been a first down, and then if you get behind
the sticks against Wink Martindale and Michigan's defense, which their
offense stinks, but that defense does not. And you have
an offensive line in that camp pass protect, that's where
it just all can pounds upon itself. Heck, we saw
one that slipped between Darius Taylor's hands, hit him in

(31:08):
the face mask, went up in the air, Daniel Jackson
tries to catch it, puts it back up in the air.
It's almost an interception, and it hit the guy in
the face mask, right, but it was almost caught twice
an interceptive.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
Yeah, So that's where with this receiving corps. It was
last year I believe they were top three in the
Big Ten and drops, just the pass catching corps in
general via Pro Football Focus, and then this year, like
I said, they're number one in the Big Ten and drops.
So you're dropping passes, you're struggling to pass protect, you're
struggling to run the ball. And oh, by the way,
that offensive line's got fifteen penalties in five games. That's

(31:42):
the biggest thing with this offense. That's how you fix it.
Stop shooting yourself in the foot constantly. If you just
catch the football, don't flinch, ot don't have your center flinch,
don't get these false starts, stop holding, like stop being
in fun in fifteen sixteen, and this thing gets so
much easier. And I'm sure that's got to be the

(32:02):
frustrating part about this thing is like, defensively, we'll get
to it. Minnesota's on a six game Big Ten losing streak.
They've allowed twenty seven or more points in every single
one of those games. But offensively, it's just self inflicted
wounds and they just can't stop compounding upon themselves, which
also leads me to I asked Fleck yesterday, I go,

(32:26):
it was the third quarter against Iowa. It was the
second quarter against Michigan when you guys start bleeding, and
he really didn't like the bleeding. He wanted to make
sure on the record that people knew when he is
using my bleeding analogy, that was my analogy, not his,
because apparently he thinks he's going to get some emails

(32:46):
or thoughts and feelings on that. But I'm like, how
do you stop the bleeding before offense, defense, and special
teams just compound upon themselves so much that then you
spend the rest of the game trying to get out
of it, and you know you get a you guys
know this, I mean guards, you're about to go to
a show with him. You know you got him. When
he kind of thinks and then he says your name

(33:07):
a few different times, he's like, Ryan, if I knew,
I'd have stopped it by now. And it's like, yeah,
I mean that's that's the answer, that that's the truth.
But it's to your point, Chipper, it's you're all big.
Ten receiver loses the ball. Yeah, Michigan gets it first,
first and ten in the red zone. The defense can't

(33:29):
bow up, touchdown, your punter has one blocked defense, get
put in a tough spot again. Yeah, one play later,
it's a touchdown and that's fourteen points. And that's the game.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
And it's well, that's it.

Speaker 4 (33:40):
They're not good enough to gift many teams fourteen points,
much less at the big house, Michigan correct And that
that to me is frustrating because it's like you're gifting
a bad offense or an offense that's so one dimensional
fourteen points, right, Whereas imagine if you had to make
Michigan play from behind with that all rights right, and

(34:01):
if you just play a clean game and the drops.
I didn't realize they were number one and drops in
the Big ten again this year, which these.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
Are not like, not all of them, but these are
not like spectacular drops. They're just like a guy's opening.
You hit them in where it should be any drops.

Speaker 4 (34:16):
It's like, those are the ones that are maddening because
to me, that's a focus thing because we can see
that you watch the receiver core flip it and then
make tough catches and may be reliable in the second half,
and we've seen it at different times this year, so
it's just like they have they're striving for that consistency
where they don't continuously put themselves in a hole where

(34:39):
they have to dig out of it because, uh, you know,
they're just not good enough really to play that way.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
I mean not many teams are, but no, not many are,
especially kind of at the level that they're at. We
talk about all these coin flip games, like you can't
be giving up that stuff, and this wasn't technically seen
as a coin flip game before the season, but I
think having watched it, it was there for the taking.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
Right, we all agree, this is not Michigan last year.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
This is not last year, and I think Saturday is
another one of those games. This Michigan team just beat
this USC team that's coming to Huntington Bank Stadium. It's
obviously different, it's a different challenge. We'll talk about it.
But yeah, when your margin for air is what it is,
you just you can't afford that stuff. It's it's really
not complicated. You just can't afford to have those cataclysmic
critical errors in the first half that make you have

(35:26):
to do everything right in the second half.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
And they almost did. They almost did.

Speaker 1 (35:30):
They they took the gift of the Michigan interception and
ran with it, actually through with it, and found themselves,
you know, within a fuel goal of tying it or
maybe winning it at the end. Anything else offensively go ahead.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
No, I'm just curious.

Speaker 4 (35:45):
Again, I will leave that, but I'm just I'm curious
to see the approach and if if PJ is more
quick to pivot to that tempo offense than if they
get behind by you know, fourteens seventeen points, if it
becomes more kind of a staple of.

Speaker 3 (36:02):
Who they are, well, that was part of his answer
yesterday when I asked about tempo. Is we had to
go to Temple because we were down three scores, and
that point within that is we can't have our defense
continually put us in some spots, which, look, I'm not
here to tell you the defense was even close to
the biggest issue from this game. But you'd like to

(36:23):
see them bow up in the red zone, is my thing.
Or they have forced one turnover now in two games,
or they're fourteenth in the Big ten of getting off
the field on third down after Like, there's so many
little things within that to where even the opening drive
for Michigan, it's third and nine, you put seven beyond
the sticks, no one spies the running back at quarterback, Yeah,

(36:46):
runs for a first down. You have Jalen Logan reading
with a John Cena swwe takedown of alex Orgy from
the head, and then a twenty seven yard untouched touchdown run.
It's like, okay, we need the defense has to be
good early, all right, we're down a touchdown. Now they
bow up in between the second and third quarters. But
even the Gopher offense scores two touchdowns, makes it a game.

(37:10):
Fourteen plays, seven minutes come off the clock, all runs
and who was the to make a play here? Boys?

Speaker 2 (37:19):
You guys didn't see it, but was it Clatt? Joe
Klatt said, who was the guy?

Speaker 4 (37:24):
He was losing his mind over the defensive approach on
that on that last drive where I tweeted it up
before that drive, was like, if this quarterback beat you
at the pass, tip your hat, but you cannot get
beat by the run. This kid can't pass Like there's
no threat of a pass. They're going to run the
ball after he threw that interception. They were not going

(37:44):
to throw the ball. And Clatt was like, I don't
understand what they're doing. They got two safeties, they're way
too far flying. Bring everybody up into the box. That's
the only way this this offense can function, and they
just stayed back.

Speaker 3 (37:56):
It was.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
He was right.

Speaker 4 (37:58):
I mean the approach wasn't just kind of methodically went
down and ran the ball. And it's like that was
the only way they were going to win that game
is if you allowed them to run it because they
were not going to beat you at the pass.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
Yeah, I mean you didn't allow a ton of rushing yards.
But it's still there's twenty seven points on the board.
Like I understand, you get put in two really tough spots,
but imagine if one of those touchdowns is a field goal.
How that game changes and it's the self inflicted wounds
to an extent. Again, that's the story of this season
is you get these three games of North Carolina, Iowa,

(38:33):
and now Michigan, and you just can't get out of
your way enough to where I think Fleck has said
this before, like more teams in college football will lose
games than other teams will win them. Yep, it's been
the story of the last twelve months for Go for Football.
Think about the Northwestern game, the Illinois game, all these
Power four games that they're on a now seven game
power for losing streak. At some point something has to

(38:54):
change or else you're going to continue on this negative trajectory.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
All Right, when we come back, we're going to take
a quick break because we're gonna talk about an unbelievable
finish in the Alabama Georgia game. We're gonna talk about
some big ten SEC meetings that are happening I think
in one of Chip's favorite towns, Nashville here in the
next week or so. And we're gonna take a quick
break so that Chip can collect his thoughts to talk

(39:18):
about Koy Parritch's returns on Saturday. We want to make
sure he gets his mind in the right spot to
tell us exactly what he was thinking and feeling. All
of that coming up. But first, our friends at Jack's Cafe,
great sponsor of the show, have been for three years now.
We get weekly tweets and texts from people that take
our advice and do a date night, or do a

(39:40):
happy hour, or do a family brunch at Jack's Cafe,
a Minneapolis institution for decade after decade after decade. They've
got the babbling brook that burns he loves in the
back and one of the great patios and all of
the Upper Midwest, and just a good vibe and a
good experience. The food is great, the service is tremendous.
You make a reservation, you're gonna get a match book
with your party's name on it, whether it's the Randy

(40:02):
Burns family, the Chipschoggin's family, the Pair and a spare podcast.
We have matchbooks made there that we still use to
light candles for the aura around the house. It's just
a wonderful place and we hope that all of you
take our advice and head to Jack's Cafe.

Speaker 4 (40:16):
Chip, speaking of the matchbook. We used ours this weekend.
My wife had gotten out a candle for the kitchen
and she, uh, like, I need some matches, and there
it was the the Scoggins family for the last time
we went there. One other restaurant in Minnesota anywhere is
going to give you engraved, personalized matchbooks when you come

(40:36):
in and you make a resume.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
I mean, come on the details. That's even where I'm
looking at a tweet from one of our listeners. Steven
Madison and his son went and they have the matchbook.
You know what they put on it, because I'm assuming
that's what was in the reservation pair and a spare
So we got Steven and his son going out to dinner.
We have another couple of Gopher fans who tweeted us
over the last week. They went to the bar there

(40:59):
and watched the football games. People are taking our advice, Chipper.
They're trying a week.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
One a week at least, that's a minimum. That's the
bare minimum. More than one, right, come on, well, we
love it.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
And you'll know if you go, you'll see a fellow
pair and a spare listener. If you look at their
phone and you see that it's charged to one hundred
percent because people have been giving us that advice. Chip's
been giving us that advice for the last couple of years,
and you people have have gone about it. So we
appreciate Bill. We appreciate Jack's Cafe. If you've got a
group party and holiday seasons right around the corner. It
feels like fall today for the first time, so certainly

(41:33):
we're gonna have some holiday gatherings and holiday dining coming up.
They can do that for your family, for your business,
whatever you want. From fifteen to four hundred, they've got
room for you at Jack's Cafe. Make your reservations at
Jaxcafe dot com. So it was one of the stops
that the Gophers got. I don't remember the sequence, but
I said up to our engineer Dan Robot, them here

(41:56):
comes COI, here comes Coy. I'm just gonna say I
want full credit. I felt it just watching him earlier
in the game, his first punt return, which was twenty
plus right, twenty two yards whatever it was. There was
an overthrow on third down that Paris was on the
field for and he was flying up and if that
throw was anywhere close, I think he picks it off

(42:17):
like he was Again, I haven't watched they all twenty two,
but from where I was standing, he was right there.
That throw is accurate, He's still running, you are, yeah,
And he came off the field with such a vibe,
with such a I know exactly what the hell I'm
doing out here vibe and confidence and then bounced his
way back to go pick up the punt like you
can just feel his confidence at least I can growing

(42:39):
on the sideline, And as I said on this podcast,
the team knows it too. The team knows who they're
dealing with here. It just it feels different to me
than other teammates that are on the field historically in
my time on the sidelines, and so it just that
game had a feeling that Cooy Parrish was going to
do something there right, and he did a remarkable sixty
plus yard return.

Speaker 3 (42:59):
That's the final touchdown. Chip. How did you process all?

Speaker 4 (43:05):
Well, there's a reason I've been saying from day one
I would have put the ball in that kid's hands,
because you know, I drove up to Esco in the
winter to spend a day with him, and.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
It was after the is it the Army All American
Game that he was the MVP. Yeah, the Army All
American Game, and I'm like, I was, you know, that's surprised.

Speaker 4 (43:25):
You know, you're Northern Minnesota and you're done with the
best players in the country and you know you're the MVP.
And he's like, not not really. I mean I think
I'm the best athlete. And then I watched him played
basketball that night and he and he's and he's windmilling.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
And the confidence. No, it's two things.

Speaker 4 (43:41):
The athletic arrogance, that burnsy that you talk about, which
is a great trait to have, but just the explosiveness.
And I remember texting, uh some people, I was like,
this kid is just so explosive, the way he bounces
off the floor when he jumped, And I think there's
some things that are you know, transition over. You watch
a kid play basketball, You're like, you know what, you

(44:03):
can see that on the football. He's just an explosive kid.
He just has a presence about him that if you're
a teammate you followed, You're like, yeah, I'm gonna follow
that dude, like he's gonna make like you know, and
so it doesn't I said it before the season, said
he's gonna return one this year, and it may be
multiple because he's just that he has that good of

(44:26):
athletic ability, instincts, feel, and just the bravado to try
to go make a play. So it was cool to
see that's what they've been missing. I don't it won't
be his last long return. I think he returns one
at some point this year, and I would start playing

(44:47):
him on defense too, because I just think the more
you can put him on the field, he can handle
it and he's gonna make plays for you.

Speaker 3 (44:53):
If you just give him some blocking like they did
on two punts. You see the ability and the explosiveness
and how as Fleck would say, he's very dense where
you know he is six foot one, six foot two,
two hundred pounds, but he's a very dense. So while
he is explosive, can make you miss in a phone
both he also runs through more tackles than you think
because of that. Yep, you just need to give him

(45:15):
a crease. You need to give him some blocking. And
that was the difference between he returns two kicks and
he's in terms of kickoffs, he's tackled by a guy
both times that was never touched coming down the field.
That's an issue. But then you see what happens when
you block it correctly. Give him a scene. He is
not afraid to field a punt with a guy two

(45:35):
yards in front of him bearing down. He thinks he
can make a miss right now. We'll find out if
that ever comes back to bite him. But yes, sixty
yards I know that. When he was streaking down the
Michigan sideline ship, my watch goes, oh, great, looks like
you started a workout. Good job, And that's the longest
punt return they've had since Dimitrius Douglas in twenty eighteen,

(45:56):
So they need more of that. It would be a
welcome change to have your offense be able to have
better field position because of your returner. So I mean,
I'm all for it.

Speaker 4 (46:06):
We talk about you need your special teams to change
the game.

Speaker 2 (46:11):
That changed the game. They allowed them to score a touchdown.

Speaker 4 (46:13):
Now all of a sudden, hey, this is a ball game,
all of sudd Now Michigan has out. You have to
they have to be able to the way Iowa's done forever,
change games with your special teams. And they have a
guy now that can do that.

Speaker 3 (46:26):
Now it's now they just got to do it in
the kicking game, where your punter head one blocked, your
kicker misses another fifty yarder, which, look, it's a fifty
yard field goal. He's a college kicker, but he's now
missed five kicks and every single one of them have
been to the right while Michigan's kicker makes his fifty yarder.
I still think one of the funniest random things from
this season is Michigan's kicker won Special Teams Player of

(46:50):
the Week for his two of two performance. And it's
like every time, poor dragon he misses a kick, the
opposing kicker, like against North Carolina won the lou Grow
and then last week the Michigan kicker wins the Big
Ten Special Teams Player of the Week. Or now it's
back to back weeks where the opposing running back has
won Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. It's just like,

(47:12):
we know it's an issue. Guys.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
Now you're compounding on itself by but the kicker upstair game.
They know they're going up against the Big Ten kicker.

Speaker 3 (47:20):
Of the year. Yeah, everybody knows up game man.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
Yeah, you gotta you gotta te it is. Yeah, I
get it's too bad. He's had such an issue from
fifty because as we know a year, it's like the
leg is not the problem.

Speaker 3 (47:33):
I mean three or four from fifty plus last year,
he's now two to five and now flex said Yesterday's
gonna keep trotting him out there because yeah, what else?
But also what what is he gonna say?

Speaker 4 (47:43):
Right?

Speaker 3 (47:43):
It isn't another great option on the roster. But again,
think about in the flip side, if your kicker hits
the fifty yarder, Michigan's doesn't like at some point, it's
gonna it's gonna get there with special teams. I believe it.
We got coin. Now we're gonna see if they can
just get out of their own freaking way with some

(48:03):
of these things. Everything is something different every bleep in
a week.

Speaker 1 (48:08):
Yeah, at some point it'd be nice to just see
everything kind of click for I'm not even gonna say sixty,
I'll take like forty eight minutes, you know, or fifty
two minutes and just just to see because you're right,
it's all even like another illegal procedure.

Speaker 3 (48:21):
I think on one of the punts to block punt,
they had an illegal procedure penalty the third one yeapeah, Yeah,
that's the stuff where it's just you gotta fix that
stuff like that's the stuff that has never been an
issue with a Fleck team. And that's why it's disheartening
because you wonder what's going on there. It's not like
his practices have been any different. You know, you've guys

(48:42):
Burns that you've been to some as many as you want.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
Yeah, you've been to more than me, that's for sure,
But I could confirm their practicing. He's the same guy
that he was in twenty seventeen when they couldn't do anything,
but they never had any penalties, right, Like, it's so
I don't know what. I don't know why this year
all of a sudden, these Deidrow penalties are popping up,
especially on special teams. Like shouldn't be that complicated to
line up for a punt. I mean, everybody kind of

(49:06):
knows where you're going. I don't think a lot of
things are that exotic. But maybe I don't know ball.
Maybe I just don't know ball, but it does help,
Like to have a guy who can change a game
for you, You're going to need that, whether it's this
year next year, hopefully he's here a while, yeah, because
he could have one of the all time great careers
here just in that let alone, what he what we
think he's going to do defensively in.

Speaker 4 (49:27):
An amazing like the h charge that he puts into
the stadium. Yes, like fans, fans get it, like.

Speaker 1 (49:37):
They they read football across Minnesota last year, They've been
reading about this guy.

Speaker 4 (49:42):
Yeah, and it's like, you know that there's a quality
about this guy that is different and fans it's just
a it's a excitement that he puts in that stadium.
And so I play him as much as he can
handle it, you know, and I think he can handle
a lot. I know it's mentally there's coaches have to
worry about that and and all that processing. But I

(50:02):
just think he has a I think he has an
athletic intelligence. I just think he's a guy who you know,
I always I'm not going to compare it to that, but.

Speaker 3 (50:13):
Go ahead.

Speaker 4 (50:14):
No, I was just it's not it's not I'm not
comparing him to Maroney. But I was thinking about this,
like I remember we went to fall camp Maroni's freshman
year and there was barber to pay Terry Jackson. You know,
the veterans always go first in the East drill, they
get the first raps, then they work their way down
to the freshman whatever. You'd watch the drills and you're like, huh,

(50:36):
gets different, Like it's not gonna be long before he's
on the field, And you know, it's one of those
things you just don't want to put a freshman out
there day one and say and annoying them. But at
some point, you know, the talent rises to the top
and you have to play him. And I think we're
seeing that with with with parents, that he's good enough
that he can handle this.

Speaker 3 (50:55):
The only thing I want to mention goer Wise before
you got now you got USC coming into town, number
eleven team in the country, the best passing offense you
have certainly faced all season. But I want to I'm
hoping that this time next week, on this next episode
we're not talking about is this Gopher team for whatever reason,
just not capable of playing sixty minutes of football. If

(51:17):
they play sixty minutes of football, that's why this spread
against the number eleven team in the country is only
eight and a half. Right, they're capable until they're not capable,
and at some point you have to say, if they
can't do it, again this weekend. At what point do
we think that they're going to be able to so again,
USC is a very difficult team to the most explosive

(51:39):
team that the Gophers are faced all year, and if
you let Miller Moss sit in the pocket, it's going
to be a long day. Plus their defense is much improved.
They got the number one third down defense in the
entire Big Ten. But another six to thirty kick only
night games this year, especially with UCLA. I know we'll
all be out there, and I know guards we've gotten
some tweets about it. Yep. It's a six pm kick

(52:02):
Pacific time, so you'll get to see the sun set
over the mountains and I'll be great. Have we decided
what we're doing for that Friday yet? Yeah? Well, I
think and we can talk it out right here.

Speaker 1 (52:12):
And I was actually just you just jogged my memory
because I did want to click on this and just
get to details. We're basically gonna we're not going to
try to siphon anybody away from what the University of
Minnesota has already established, because there's a million planes going out,
there's a million fan groups going out, there's a million
people that already live in Los Angeles, but I think

(52:33):
that's what we want to do, right Burnsy is and
Tipper is and I just wanted to get all the
details because they are having a soda social on Friday,
and I'm coming out early just for this, just for
you people, parent of spare listeners. I'm coming out and
I don't know if I'm coming Thursday night or Friday,
but I'll be there for this and pulling up to details.

(52:54):
It's at Barney's Beanery Colorado Boulevard, which if you've ever
been to the Rose per it is on the Rose
Parade route, Barney's Beanery in Pasadena from three to six
I assume California time Friday, October eleventh, So Barney's Beanery
three to six, Pasadena, Colorado Avenue. We will be there.

(53:16):
Our phones will be at one. We will get Burnsey,
some mulk. We will have a rum runner. And so
Barney's Beanery is they have them like they're having them
all over kind of the Los Angeles area for people
that are staying in Santa Monica that don't want to
drive up to Pasadena. They've got a couple different auxiliary ones,
but the main one is up in Pasadena. Barney's Beanery

(53:37):
on Colorado. See you guys there. Yeah, I'll be there
with the I will not be there.

Speaker 3 (53:45):
You haven't any people anymore? What happened to you?

Speaker 4 (53:48):
I will?

Speaker 2 (53:49):
I will tell you.

Speaker 4 (53:50):
Friday night, I'm going to watch the future Gopher quarterback play.

Speaker 3 (53:55):
You're going.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
It's actually a pretty good excuse. But hold on, you
can come from three to four.

Speaker 2 (54:02):
Come on, I'll look out.

Speaker 4 (54:05):
Let me let me see what time I land. Maybe,
but it's it's you know.

Speaker 1 (54:09):
You know, l A traffic, you know, l Relax, You'll
be fine. Let's not do this, but you'll talk. You
have to go to Laguna, right, Yeah, yeah, that's that's different. Yeah,
that's different. But well that's devastating. But that's a great idea.
What a what a good reporter you are. That's a
hell of an idea.

Speaker 3 (54:27):
That's like you.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
You may you may read about that in a future fam.

Speaker 3 (54:32):
Well that's football across California, isn't it.

Speaker 4 (54:34):
Fat Well, you're also going to see a football across
Minnesota London edition next week.

Speaker 3 (54:41):
What a life you live? What a life is to
go to London this weekend? California next weekend, the Minnesota
starts your beuting, must be doing awfully well. Guard well.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
Maybe because it is a night game, maybe we'll try
to throw something together Saturday for people that are going
to be in the area. Maybe we'll be good. Maybe
because Chip will be at the Rose Bowl. I'm guessing
about nine o'clock for a six thirty six o'clock kickoff
Pacific time, he'll be parked ready to go.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
Yeah all right, so Bern, Yeah, me too, How can
you not?

Speaker 1 (55:08):
So I'll be doing a live shot for Fox nine
at like six am Local time, seven am Local time,
I guess. So it's gonna be so I'm hitting three
to six. Then I'm probably going to bed burnsy, So
you're you're on your own after that. I gotta get
I gotta get up early. But that's where we're gonna be,
not Chip. That's a great idea. And if anybody's flying
into Orange County they should probably they should probably handle

(55:30):
that with you. Anything else you want to talk about.
We got a couple of minutes we gotta fly about.
We got to talk Alabama, Georgia, and then these meetings
at the Big ten and SEC are coming up. I
was I was kind of tired because you know, I
got home at like seven or eight o'clock on Saturday night,
and you know it's a long day, a game day, right,
and so I'm up early and I'm doing the rain
and the sideline bit, but I'm watching Alabama Georgia as

(55:52):
I'm kind of falling asleep in my bed and I
just keep getting woken up by Chris Fowler like screaming
at me. And when I I was kind of headed
on in the background because on my drive home, Alabama
was up what thirty one, seven, thirty one three, whatever
it was. Georgia amounts of furious comeback and then they
have back to back bombs. Georgia takes the lead. Then

(56:14):
Alabama with Serena Williams's nephew or cousin, takes the lead. Unbelievable,
unbelievable game. Basically from start to finish. It was crazy.

Speaker 2 (56:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (56:25):
I was in Wassaw, Wisconsin, uh, staying there at night
for the Green Bay game. That's where we always stay
and watch the first halfway having dinner. It's like, ah,
game's out that boring anything, It's gonna be a blowout,
and you get back in second half. And my favorite
part of the whole thing is when Georgia makes his
unbelievable come back and they score and they take the
lead for the first time. The crowd shots of Bama

(56:45):
was like a funeral. I mean, these people were dins everywhere.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
It was just you couldn't help.

Speaker 4 (56:53):
But it's like feel their pain, like this is gonna
be one of the worst collapses ever.

Speaker 2 (56:58):
And then the very next play go seventy five yards.

Speaker 4 (57:01):
I don't know that you can see a the way
that it did to a stadium change in a matter
of a minute, whenever long it took for two minutes
for that to happen.

Speaker 2 (57:12):
It was unbelievable Game of the year for sure. And man,
there's just.

Speaker 4 (57:19):
I love watching those games because you just see so
much talent on the field and you're thinking, these are
a bunch of future NFL guys.

Speaker 2 (57:25):
Just really and just a scene year old seventeen year
olds I know.

Speaker 3 (57:31):
I mean, one of the best catches and touchdowns you'll
see all year. And then the best part for our
older listeners, did you see him hit the dirty bird? Afterwards?
It's like, you're seventeen years old, he don't even know
what that's about. What that's was watching the dirty Bird?

Speaker 4 (57:49):
Yeahs as I traded, man, college football is undefeated. I
mean it is, I said, just a couple of weeks
ago in here, you know, we complain about and I
and transfer portal and how everything's going to hill in
a hand basket.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
Then you get a game like that and you reminded
why you love the sport so much.

Speaker 4 (58:07):
Man.

Speaker 3 (58:07):
Yeah, that's where the NFL is probably a better product.
But the college game, it's just it's as much as
it is the fans where they those fan bases down
there will die for those teams. They just live, breathe
and die for it. And you love to see the
passion within it. Again, we even saw that as the
Gophers were mounting their furious comeback. And that's what makes

(58:29):
college sports so great.

Speaker 1 (58:30):
Guards it does. Yeah, it was fun and then I
couldn't sleep. I was all fired up. Next lot Fowler,
you know, I got more shots of Herb Street's dog.
It's like it's you know, but it was cool.

Speaker 3 (58:42):
It was worth it.

Speaker 1 (58:43):
Speaking of the Big Ten of the SEC, we'll probably
talk about this as we get more details out, but
it's worth noting that the two power conferences are going
to meet in Nashville, kind of neutral territory. I know
that's SEC country until you know, we jump in and
grab like Middle Tennessee State for the Big Ten or
something like that. Or they'll probably go to the Mountain
West because the Mountain West is going through a whole
thing that we probably should spend some time on at

(59:05):
some point. But they're gonna meet, and apparently they're going
to try to talk about some kind of scheduling model
that keeps it consistent. Big Ten is still pushing the
SEC to go to a ninth game conference game so
that everything can be apples and apples. They're also, I think,
trying to get a united front on just how much
are we going to control the playoff? We know that
we're going to control it, but how much are we
going to control We're going to get four teams each,

(59:26):
how's that going to go with our friends and our
allies and the rest of the power for But it's interesting,
and I even said this with Mark Coyle on Saturday.
This meeting is being presented as this might be the
meeting that changes everything or it's really not that big
a deal, depending on who you are.

Speaker 4 (59:41):
Well, I don't think that there's ever the way college
sports are now when you have the big two meeting,
I think it's always a big deal.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
And I'm of the mindset, who knows they might get
in here and say, let's break away.

Speaker 4 (59:55):
That's a former own thing, and you think it's outlandish
that that would I'm up in some back, you know,
over some bourbon. I should we break away and create
our own set of rules and break away from the NCAA.
I think anything is possible, and I think it. You know,
SEC has resisted going to the nine game for a
long time, but I think it probably is a lot

(01:00:16):
of the playoffs and how can they get you know,
maximize that and get the most revenue and those teams
into it. So but the way college sports have changed,
it wouldn't surprise me if anything's on the table in
those meetings.

Speaker 3 (01:00:29):
I just don't want it to be automatic bids. I
want nothing to do with say the big ten in
the SEC get four automatic bids each. I want you
to go out every single season and earn them.

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
Good luck man, that that might be where it's going.
It might not be four, but they might give them two,
and you can get it at large too.

Speaker 4 (01:00:47):
I just because one of the they hold all the power, well,
the other conferences go say no.

Speaker 3 (01:00:53):
Well again, you're seeing even all the Mountain West Pac
twelve stuff that's going around right now, with teams changing around,
I just think, I don't I want. I My hope
is as a college football fan, I hope that the
automatic bid thing doesn't get out of control, because that's
you know, that's where I'll put my flag in the
ground of will there always be multiple SEC and Big

(01:01:15):
Ten teams in the College Football playoff ninety nine percent likelihood? Yes, yeah,
But for that one percent that maybe ever happens. I want.
I want the best twelve teams in there, and that's
where the automatic bids thing. Then you get a little
It just makes it a little bit more complicated to me.

Speaker 4 (01:01:33):
Well, in the idea of going to twelve, you want
the most representation of the country as you can in
conferences and fan bases. So yeah, you don't want it
to be the Big Ten versus SEC challenge, right right.

Speaker 3 (01:01:50):
So?

Speaker 4 (01:01:50):
But but as we know, TV and dollars control everything.

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
So which is how the Gophers have four night games
in their first seven compared to maybe eleven AM kicks
for some of these is the Big Ten controls all
of that now, and so did the TV networks more
than them. So that's how you get four night games
in your first seven.

Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
All right, guys, well look forward to seeing you at
the USC game, a four thirty pregame show on Kfan
the Fox nine shows at nine o'clock Central as it
usually is, and then a six thirty kick against the
USC Trojans, first time they've been in Minneapolis in fifteen years.
Twenty ten predates my side Mac Shortell back in the day,
the no he played.

Speaker 3 (01:02:31):
There at twenty got there.

Speaker 1 (01:02:32):
Yeah, yeah, that was my first game on the sideline USC.
Maybe maybe next week I'll regale you with how it
took a whole It took a whole quarter for me
to get the right pass. I think I've told you
that before. Yeah, because it was coming and it was
coming off of the Pete Carroll era Chipsky lane.

Speaker 3 (01:02:48):
Kiffen was coaching.

Speaker 1 (01:02:49):
You know, they're coming off having Snoop Dogg and Will
Ferrell on the sideline and got Things got a little
loose at USC, so they had to tighten some things
up and I just had the wrong pass. But so
the security guy's credit couldn't have been nicer about it.
He's like you're wearing kind of like we were saying Burnsey,
like when Greeter forgets his pass, like you're carrying your
laptop in Michigan Stadium. I'm pretty sure you're not going

(01:03:11):
in there to steal anything. I'm standing there with a
microphone in the headset. It's pretty obvious what I'm here for,
right So anyway, we'll maybe we'll maybe we'll regale you.

Speaker 3 (01:03:19):
With some of those other stories a little bit later.

Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
But go to jackscafe dot com to make your reservations
for fall dining, holiday dining, happy hours, brunches, the whole bit.
We'll say by to Chip, we'll say bye to Ryan,
and one last time, we'll say by to Randy. Randy,
have a great day, Randy, thanks for covering us for
Sports Byline USA or whoever the hell you work for,
even if you are a real person, we appreciate you.

Speaker 3 (01:03:44):
Randy.

Speaker 1 (01:03:44):
Byrne for making the appearance on the Parentis Spare podcast,
Stay on sides, everybody, We'll talk to you next week
on The Pair and a Spare Podcast.