2025 Week Seven Review: Gophers Rally, Nebraska Preview, James Franklin, Wisconsin Down Bad

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Glenn Mason said a long time ago at the University
of Minnesota, you need a.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Pair and a Spare. Thank you, PJ. It is time
for another edition of the Pair and a Spare podcast.
I'm justin Guard from Kfan. We've got Chips Goggins from
the Minnesota Star Tribune and Ryan Burns from Gopher Illustrated
dot com. We are presented as always by our great
partners at Jack's Cafe. If you're watching on the YouTube channel,
which I hope you are, please tell a friend that
we're on YouTube. Please subscribe to the YouTube channel if

(00:23):
you haven't, and you can see it right there at
the bottom Jackscafe dot com. Make your reservations at Jaxcafe
dot com. We got a lot to get to today.
It's gonna be one of those no BS shows. We're
not gonna catch up with each other. We're not gonna
see how the cats are doing. For Burns, we're not
gonna see how Chips family all over the country in
New York are doing. We don't care about any of that.
We're here to talk about football right now. Maybe at

(00:45):
the end we'll get some nonsense in. But the Gophers,
somehow boys beat Purdue on Saturday night homecoming Huntington Bank Stadium.
There's so much we want to get to about this game.
It was ugly, it was choppy, and thankfully I said
this after the Vikings beat the Bears to open the season.

(01:06):
I don't know if there's three teams that the Vikings
would have beaten in the NFL that that week and
that night, but lucky for them, they were playing the Bears.
I kind of felt the same way about the Gophers
because Purdue put that one on a nice holiday Jack's
Cafe platter in the fourth quarter and said, look, I
know you guys haven't played that well. I know your
offensive sputtered, I know your defense has been getting gashed,

(01:28):
and we've been running the ball at you at will
again for like the third straight year.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
But we'd really like you to have this.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Do you accept our gift? And the Gophers, to their
credit Burnsey did finally in the fourth quarter accept the gift,
the homecoming gift from Purdue.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
That was the strangest game I think I've seen in
hunting In Bank Stadium, where Minnesota wins and the postgame
win expectancies for all you whatever advance that analytics sites
that you want to use. I think Minnesota was somewhere
between twenty five and thirty percent. I believe it. But
they finally seized the moment in the fourth quarter. And
that was even with the gifts from Purdue, with extending

(02:07):
different two different plays in the drive, with face mass
penalties on Drake Lindsay, you get a takeaway, you get
some huge tackles in space. You were just the more
the think what I came to the conclusion of, and
Chip knows this. I came up to Chip after that
game and I went, what do you even write? I
don't even know what the right like. You won and

(02:28):
that's great, and that's the most important part. We don't
judge PJ. Fleck by anything other than wins and lotses
at the end of the day. But the thing I
came to the conclusion of was you were the more
disciplined team where Purdue was self imploding with penalties. They
had nine of them, including three huge ones in the
fourth quarter. They were dropping passes, they were stepping out

(02:51):
of bounds and coming back in, and they were putting
the ball in harm's way. You were the more disciplined team.
And the takeaways that I have been praying to the
Gopher football over lords. Four came in bunches, and you
win the take give by the amount that you did, Chip,
you're gonna come away with a football game.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Well, Guardian to your question, they would probably be Wisconsin
playing that poorly. But that's about it. Yeah, they played terrible.
I'm sorry. That was a bad game. And Purdue is horrible.
Like the things that they did. There's like fifteen things
they had to do to lose that game and they

(03:30):
checked every box to do it. That is not a
template to being a good team. And PJ said they
have a really good team. My Burnie came to me's like,
what are you gonna write? Said, I'm gonna write that.
This season is halfway over and I have no idea
what to make of this team the Gophers, like, I
don't know what they do well. I think the quarterback's good. Yep,

(03:51):
I don't know what they do well. At this point,
I really don't give them credit. You never apologize for winning.
It's hard to win in college football. As I wrote,
Franklin would have loved an ugly win Saturday. But they
have a lot to figure out because I just don't
know what they do well right now.

Speaker 4 (04:10):
I don't think produced terrible. I don't think I do.
I think they're incredibly undisciplined. They just shot themselves in
the foot all the time.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Okay, when when you dropped a million passes, when you
have undisciplined penalties, when you do the things that, I
don't think they're a good team. But it's already interrupt Yeah.

Speaker 4 (04:30):
I mean the thing that you wrote, though, is is
very true of what do we make of this team
halfway through the season. I even asked the head coach yesterday,
what have you learned about your team? And what do
you still have yet to learn? Because I feel like
there's a lot we still don't know yet. There's just
a lot that we do. And I think offensively, and

(04:50):
I know the head coach and I certainly see this
differently if I learned anything yesterday at Monday. He doesn't
believe the offensive line personnel is and issue. And I
feel like I'm watching I feel like I'm watching college
football and he's watching European soccer. We're both watching the
same game of football technically, but I don't know how

(05:12):
you can go and watch this offensive line have missed
assignment after missed assignment with the same five guys up
front and look me that in the eye and say,
I think it's either Greg Harbo's scheme or Brian Callahan's
coaching that is more of an issue. Now. He loves

(05:32):
to talk about coaching versus personnel versus scheme, and I'm
here to tell you there's issues with all three. I
just put the most golf balls in the bucket of
I want to just see them change guys up front,
and we saw them flip the tackles again. But the
tackles aren't the problem. It's the interior of the offensive line.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Boys, No, doesn't

(05:54):
believe it.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
I agree because I just didn't see anywhere for Darius
Taylor rung. When you run for thirty yards against do
and there was nowhere to go, I'm sorry, it's a problem,
and I just think it's putting way too much pressure
on on Drake to carry the everything. And he's good,
I mean he I think he got a little bit.
I don't know if rattled is the right word, but

(06:16):
the pressure from the pressure sped up, that's the right word.
The pressure got him his accuracy off. I mean he
he missthrows that he we've seen him make. And I
think the pressure he felt early on he was rushing
things is his accuracy just went, you know, left him
a little bit. But I think he's good. But it's
just it's putting way too much pressure on him. And
I just didn't see a lot for Darius Taylor or
whoever is running the ball to go there there's nothing there,

(06:39):
or they're not creating holes or not moving guys. I
just feel like so many of these runs or he's
getting hit at the line or behind the line, and
you're asking him to break tackles, and yeah, that's part
of the job, but it's it's I I don't I
don't know if it's the personnel, if they got the
guy he's on the wrong spot, if it's Schemer, but

(07:00):
I it's not the Minnesota offensive line that we're customed to.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Well, here's what I would ask, Burnsy, what do you
do you expect PJ to just bury the guys like
you want him to and go, yeah, you're right, these
guys suck, but it's who we have. Like he's gonna
talk his way around all of it. I would think
and say, we got to find better ways to do it,
whether it's switching guys. It also, I think tells you
about what he thinks about the people behind the starters, right,

(07:24):
because I'm sure he sees what we all see. But
he's not going to go out there and say kind
of like Luke Fickles did and said, yeah, we're so
far away right now, We're so far away, we're like
a different planet from where we need to be. I
just don't think he's going to say that. I just
don't think it's very realistic. I at least appreciate that
they're not trying to run very much, right, I mean,

(07:45):
Varius Taylor had one carry in the third quarter, was
the first play of the third and let me see.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
The second time we've done we seen him do that too, right,
I mean where they just abandoned the run he.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
Finished, Yeah, he gained three yards. It was the second
play of the third that was an explosive for Saturday night.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
A three yard run.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
He gave three yards, and then they threw like thirty
straight passes and I didn't count it up, but I
just remember it. But you're right, that's the biggest issue
is because Darius is so good and so dynamic. He
doesn't really need all that much, and they're finding you know,
the screen pass in the first half was the one
explosive play that actually got them going. That was a
nicely timed call to get something going offensively. But they

(08:24):
got to find a way to just do something different
and figure out some way to get just three yards
of carry. They're not even at three yards of carry
for the season, right, Yeah, because Drake is that good,
I think that you can rely on him a lot.
But even if you gave him a little bit of help,
they're doing play action passes in the in the second half.
It's like, who's buying that? Yeah, no one's biting on that.

(08:47):
It's great, but we're not, you know, we're not. So anyway, well,
go ahead, That's what.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
I thought hard about. Did a nice job. But on
the one where they got going, it's like he had
to slow that rush down somehow. So, you know, they
did the screen to Darius and I think they came
back with another screen and then the tunnel screen for
the Yeah, it's like they got to slow this rush
down because they can't hold up against it. So it's
it's not just the run, you know, running the ball
and create holes. It's like they were all over the

(09:15):
drake there and he was I felt like he was
just ready to bail out every time because he knew
it was coming. So yeah, I I I don't know
what the answer is, Burns. You're more of the football
personnel guy than I am in terms of scheing what
they're doing. But it's just it's not good enough right now.
I don't think because I mean, okay, we can say

(09:37):
they get overwhelmed by Ohio State, Okay, we get it.
You should not get overwhelmed by Purdue. I'm sorry. I mean,
it's just you're going to face better defenses than this,
and they've got to figure this out.

Speaker 4 (09:48):
So that's where Darius Taylor rushed for thirty two yards
on Saturday, PFF had him with thirty eight yards after contact.
What does that tell you, mister Minnetonka and Woodbury math.
The Royal Blue is thick over there, just like it
is for my Tartan education. But that tells me he
earned everything. Plus he had to get hit behind the

(10:08):
line even more to get everything in your ear. He's
not missing. I don't think that Darius Taylor was the
Darius Taylor of old where I think there was a
little rust coming off the long layoff, and I think
he can be better. But if i'm harbo this week
against against Nebraska, I'm throwing the entire kitchen sink plus
about force batulas to say, all right, if you think

(10:31):
we're easy to defend up front, and we can talk
about the short shirt, short yardage things, but there's only
so many ways to get two yards besides just lining
it up and go mono imano. And they we didn't
even talk about Drake Lindsay's little hesitation pump fake. And
I say, this is someone who's six foot four two
and forty pounds. I haven't won many foot races in

(10:53):
my life, and my man won the foot race of
the coroner to extend a huge part of the drive,
and I know that's a moment he won't soon. Fore,
I just think they need to help Drake. And it's
not just the running game. I asked about it yesterday too.
Your pass catchers, we got it against Ohio State. You
just got blanketed by those guys. Purdue is blanketing you
all night in man coverage to the point where you

(11:15):
were one for thirteen in contested catch situations. Tells me
two things. You struggle in fifty to fifty balls, that
they're almost ten to ninety, and you're also not getting
separation against Purdue boiler Maker defensive backs who had been
hemorrhaging explosive plays.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, the separation was a big thing. I just didn't
see a lot of guys running open. Felt like they
had guys all over me and I know the size.
They were growing increasingly adamant about the pis and there
was two obvious ones. I felt like they missed early,
right the first leave that Pjan.

Speaker 4 (11:48):
I've seen PJ that that exuberant first two.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
They build on each other. When you don't get the
obvious ones, then then you think you're getting screwed on
every play. Yeah, the ones again, like the Malachi Coleman one,
I can't because it's like it's just and literally he's
the only guy they're really running out there, and like
and so I'm always, you know, I'm standing right next

(12:14):
to the bench at that point, and so a lot
of times I can hear them because they all know
what the play is, they all know what they're looking for,
and I can hear them say, you know, like got them,
like here, it is and then he gets dragged in
the wide open field and there's no call.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
You're just like, what what are we doing? So you're right.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
So but let's even say burnsy because let's say let's
say there were four pass interference calls that they didn't call.
That's still five of thirteen. I can do that Minotonka
math like, that's still probably not as good as you
need to be, right, So that's a problem. That's definitely
a problem too.

Speaker 4 (12:50):
It is so it can't just be the Drake show.
And that's what they need to figure out. As an offense.
Is Drake has been much better than advertised. If I
were to have told you Bowl before the season, we're
halfway through his first six career starts and he's completing
sixty percent of his passes with a three to one
touchdown interception ratio, we'd all be saying, boy, they must

(13:12):
be doing pretty well as an offense. It's the Drake, lindsay.
And then what because Darius has been hurt, The receivers
have been an absolute roller coaster, so as the offensive line,
and I get ranked Nebraska team coming to town. So yeah,
it's like, if.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
You ask me to rank who's been their best player
this year. Offensive defense to me is Drake and is
not even close. For sure, He's been their best player.
He just has. And so yeah, I mean, when when
you're having that many contested catches, you're not going to
throw for hygh percentage. I mean, your receivers have to
get open more open. I mean, as you're asking a

(13:50):
lot to you know, to put the you know, contested catch,
he's got to be a perfect accuracy probably, you know.
I mean you got to give him a little opportunity
to complete some of those passes too. So yeah, I
just it. That was such a weird game, and you
give them credit. You know, they made the plays when

(14:10):
they needed to get the help. Obviously. The first face
mask penalty was atrocious. I mean, he's gonna get sacked
by two guys and then a third guy grabs. It's
just that was absurd. It's what third and eleven.

Speaker 4 (14:24):
Yep, that's my favorite play from the night because it
was a three man rush. And I took a screenshot
of when Drake is getting his face mask yanked off.
Marcellus Marshall and Ashton Beers are blocking each other. Well,
Drake's getting his face mass yanked top.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
It's who won the rat burns?

Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah? Who won it? Which one of them had the
other one? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (14:47):
Again, undisciplined team for Purdue Minnesota was more disciplined and
then defensively too. Four one hundred and fifty six yards
and only twenty points. It's quite an accomplishment if you're
Danny Collins for the one.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Well I treated this out. Purdue came in one hundred
and eleventh nationally and rushing at one hundred and fifteen
yards per game. They had one hundred and seventy eight
at halftime, and you know forty by the backup quarterback
right up the gut on a on a keeper and
did you I didn't check PFF to see how many
miss tackles they had, but it felt like a lot

(15:20):
again at thirteen.

Speaker 4 (15:22):
So they've got fifty eight in their last four games.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, I mean, and it's it's you know, Anthony Smith
has a sack opportunity in the hole and he doesn't
make it, and Brown gets out for a first down.
Cooy missed one and you know he had to run
at the uh he came on the blitz and at
three run on the blitz and he stumbles it wasn't
a misstackle, but it was you know, it could have

(15:47):
been a sack. It's just, you know we talked about
last week. I don't know how you clean it up
because you're not going to practice tackling in practice. But
it's just it's way too They're giving up so much
extra yardage on plays and you're not gonna make every tackle. No,
no team's gonna I mean, I know they did the
first game, but you're gonna have miss tackles. But thirteen fifteen,

(16:10):
that's just think about how many extra yards they're giving
up and extra drives and whether those lead to points
by just not being fundamental. You know, tackles, tacklers.

Speaker 4 (16:22):
Guys are in the spots to make plays and they
just refuse to make them. At times where Ryan Brown,
the Purdue quarterback, drop back to pass I think forty
six times yep, and he was not sacked one time.
They they had him surrounded multiple times, and you think
about the touchdown he had third and twelve. They collapse
the pocket on him, nobody gets a hand on him,

(16:43):
wins a foot race to the pylon. They just the
Gopher defense can make plays, but then they also can
get bullied in the trenches. And that's the worrisome part
to me, is you give up two hundred and fifty
six rushing yards to Purdue. I know Devin mackab he
turns into Mike Allstatt reincarnated against the Gophers, and I'm
glad you never see forty five play the Gophers again

(17:06):
because he only just gashes them. But that was one
of the other takeaways I had was Yeah, they couldn't
run the ball, but they also couldn't stop the run
against Purdue like Perdue could do whatever they wanted in
that game. So it's I think that's when I look
to the back half of the season, that's almost the
biggest thing I want to see is if Minnesota is

(17:28):
gonna find a way to go get seven wins still
and beat their Vegas over under win total for the season.
It starts up front. This is Big ten football. The
rest of the way. You already got your little taste
of it. Well, guess what, you get a lot more
coming up. And if you're not physical upfront against Nebraska
in Iowa and Michigan State before the bye here, it's

(17:48):
gonna be some tough sledding.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
What do you thinks think they're best at to my
original just letting Drake carry him, just.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
Letting Drake drop back, can throw. And even the fourth
down there the final drive. Obviously they get the pass interferences,
but he converts the fourth.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
And two just by making a play right.

Speaker 2 (18:11):
And then probably two of his better throws were on
the other two third downs, right, the one to Jalen
Smith and the one to Javon Tracy.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
That that was that was the one third that was
a contested catch, right, Jalen or.

Speaker 4 (18:20):
Was that wasted catch?

Speaker 2 (18:22):
That was the one huge because Tracy was open? You
know that however he got open. That was good over
the middle.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
Right.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
That one was on third and ten, and it's a
sixteen yard pass that gets them down to the eight.
And that's in a have to have it drive, right,
you know, That's why they went for it on fourth down.
Like they obviously got the penalties to keep it going,
but when they had a couple other third downs on
that in that situation, and Lindsay was good in those moments,
Like he obviously likes those moments. He he obviously doesn't

(18:50):
shy away from it. I loved his reactions after he
picked up the fourth down after they got the touchdowns.
Like that's what I mean, that's who they are right now. Really,
it's how far can Drake get them? Can the defense
hang in enough? Can the defense hanging enough and get
turnovers when they needed or force you know, missfield goals
when they need it, or just live to see another

(19:11):
day because coaches refuse to do what they're what what
got them down there? And they're perfectly happy letting a
backup quarterback throw a thirty five yard moonshot on second
and long to keep the clock running, which is I'm
still baffled.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
We should spend a few minutes on that.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
But basically it's hang around, hang around, hang around, make
enough plays like we saw that in Rutgers too. Right,
they're getting carved up. Then they finally they tweak some things,
they get some pressure, they get some turnovers, and they go.
But right now, I mean, it's it's Drake, Lindsay, it's
the quarterback. That's what they're good. What do you think
of this? Like they I don't know if they have

(19:47):
a lot of good good players like stud studs, but
like there their studs are like saving them, right, like
Carry Brown saves them, Coy Parritch saves them, you go back,
Drake obviously saves them like they've those guys have because
that's what you need, right, I mean, you need guys
at some point to just go make something happen. And

(20:09):
they've done that, so they're not consistent, but they've been
covered up by a couple of really good players doing things,
which counts.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
But it's it's hard to count on that every time.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah, m PG. I think alluded to that as reading
the quotes I was Upstads writing, but from this postgame
press conference, well, as you're saying, you live in a
comic book comic book world, and you keep waiting for
a Superman and Spider Man and these superheroes to come
save the day, and and that's really kind of what's happening.
It's like, don't play well, play and consistent, and then

(20:39):
you know, Drake gets on fire or Gooig has a
pick six. You're right, it's it's that's not the formula
you want. I mean, it's great that your your your
best players step up when you absolutely need a play,
but man, that's that's you just want more consistency, you know,
I mean, you just want the things be crisper. And cleaner,

(21:02):
and so I agree with you guard. You mean to
me if you ask me what they do well right now,
I think it's the quarterback can throw the ball.

Speaker 4 (21:13):
And they've got good players on defense, Anthony Smith, Kerry Brown, Koy.
I think Maverick Bearanowski and the linebackers have been largely good.
But that's the thing defensively is you have some good
players on all three levels, but I don't know what
you do well as a defense.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
Now.

Speaker 4 (21:29):
They benefited from those takeaways and the Koy Parritge one.
He just just sitting there, sitting there waiting for this RPO,
and we have been standing at the pulpit banging, banging it,
saying catch the ones they throw to you. Cooy Parridge
finally caught the one they throw to him and it
changed the entire game. Or carry Brown on the John

(21:49):
Nester one. If that, if that ball is not tipped
by Devin Williams, Carry Brown runs into the end zone
in about one point two seconds for another pick six.
It's just counting on the Gopher defense to get three
four takeaways every week. When we talked about coming into
that game, they had two in their last seven. It's

(22:10):
a very tough. It's a it's a very tough place
to live, and so chip we're trying to be a
solutions driven podcast even with pards these.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
Negativity, my negativity, your negativity. I feel like I have
to pick you guys up today by seven points.

Speaker 4 (22:30):
I just don't know what you take from that game
and say this is what we can project forward to
the back half of the schedule. Even the short week
here against Nebraska is well, I'll say the low hanging fruits.
So you guys don't have to If they play like
that against Nebraska, they're not going to win, obviously. That's
that is the easiest statement that a media jackal has

(22:51):
ever told you. I just reserve the right to know.
Minnesota plays Nebraska incredibly well for whatever reason, and I
asked about it yesterday. He's six and one and he's
five and zero in his last five and that's three
straight one possession wins. So yes, they cannot play that
poorly again if they want to win another football game

(23:13):
in the Big Ten. But they're also reserved the right
to now in a short week and Nebraska comes up
also improve.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
I will say my one my quick reaction to why
do they play well? Against Nebraska, and just as I
sit here and think about it, I think they've dominated
the trenches a lot when they've played Nebraska, Like, they've
been really good up front, and they've just kind of
been the better team near.

Speaker 3 (23:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
I mean that's why it was a tricky game to write,
because we see college football's crazy. You know, teams lose,
they play bad, nobody plays or you know, very few
teams can play at their A level all the time.
There's you know, it happens. I just don't The Gopher
has been so inconsistent in showing the flashes of being good.

(24:00):
I mean when you know, we saw I think some
against Rutgers, but also defensively they had issues. They didn't
against Cal, didn't against Ohio State. They didn't play particularly
you know, they didn't we didn't see their A game
or what is their A game. That's what I guess

(24:22):
I'm trying to a game look like because I don't
know that we've seen this team really click and be
consistent for long stretches. So that's why I'm trying to
figure out, like how good this team is and where
how do they build on or how do they get
better at the areas that they're deficient in right now
and tackling. I still think they can be. That's something

(24:45):
you think you can clean up, right because I don't
know that it's necessarily a talent thing. They're just not
finishing the offensive line. I just wonder how how are
they going to get to that next gear and be
and be a dominant physical group like we've seen, like
we've seen him against Nebraska in those years where they
really you know, I thought they won the trenches. How

(25:07):
are they gonna get to that spot?

Speaker 4 (25:09):
So you mentioned inconsistencies, and I think it's even a
good reminder for someone like myself when I hear Chips
say that is think about the amount of players they
lost last year. They lost we talked about lamenting the
receiver corps. Well, Daniel Jackson and Elijah Spencer ain't here,
and there's a bunch of new guys trying to figure.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
It out Alumni line. On Saturday night, they.

Speaker 4 (25:30):
Lost four starters on their offensive line. They've been They've
trotted out three different offensive line combinations in the last
three weeks. They're trying to figure it out. Lost John Joyner,
Danny Stregou in the defensive end spots, outside of Anthony
Smith ain't been too good. They're trying to figure.

Speaker 3 (25:45):
It out too, right.

Speaker 4 (25:47):
Lindenburgh yep, yep, Cody Linnenberg, justin Wally Ethan Robinson.

Speaker 3 (25:52):
They lost a lot.

Speaker 4 (25:54):
The thing I've taken away from this season too, is
last year's team underachieved significantly. If these two teams both
in the year seven and five in the regular season,
this team would overachieve, and last year's team underachieved certainly.
To me, now that doesn't really mean anything, and you
don't get any awards or I don't go get a

(26:15):
participation trophy for that. But for the next few games,
especially starting on Friday night, they have to start to
find more solutions to the things that ail them. You
could get the excuse of we're playing new guys in
the first half of the season. Well, all those guys
got like two hundred snaps underneath them. So now it's
time to see if they can make the jump to

(26:37):
become inconsistent on each one of these units that have
been struggling Burnsie.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
Is there anything schematically they can do differently to get
the run game going.

Speaker 4 (26:46):
If I'm Greg Harbo on Saturday, I'm throwing two back
looks I'm throwing. I mean, we've seen tosses. I'm throwing
everything out there to say maybe we are easy to defend.
And I don't disagree, especially, but there's only so many
and short yardage to get two yards besides just lining
it up and running it into mass like yeah. So

(27:08):
if I'm looking at Nebraska's defense specifically, and I'm not
going to pretend to get all Daniel House on the bit,
they got two really good defensive ends, I'm not trying
to let them wreck the game. And Nebraska's allowed some
rushing yards against them here in Big Ten play. But
if I'm harbo, I'm trying everything I possibly can to

(27:29):
try and give Nebraska a different look. I know what
the interior of the offensive line struggles to execute. Let's
find out if they are a little bit better at
something else, like some more outside zone, some toss sweeps,
some two back looks, some they I expect to see
some different wrinkles. On Saturday or Friday night.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
I should say, can we spend ninety seconds on the
produce side of this?

Speaker 4 (27:55):
Yes, I'd be so so mad.

Speaker 2 (27:59):
I was mad for them, Say, or on Saturday night.

Speaker 1 (28:03):
Were you screaming into your mic on the sideline.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
I was a little bit and I told Burnsy this
and we talked about it on Gopher Football Sunday. I
said it on the radio when after they missed the
field goal, after you know they I'll just read you
the play by play from the third quarter. The end
of the third quarter, the drive starts at their own
thirty one per Due short pass, Mackuby eight yard run,

(28:28):
Mackuby three yard run, Singleton three yard run. Then the
last play of the third Singleton rushes left for eighteen
yards to the Minnesota thirty two.

Speaker 3 (28:37):
So they've got it.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
To start the fourth quarter, first and ten from the
Gophers thirty two, they are up twenty to thirteen. Right
Singleton two yard rush, Singleton passing complete to Tuggle.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
That's the deep shot to the left side.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
And then they let their regular quarterback throw that's a
novel concept incomplete. So that took about forty two seconds.
They missed the forty seven yard field goal, and then
the next drive the Gopher score. And at that point
I basically said to or Andrew, I said, throw it
down at me, please? Can we throw it down at me?
I'm just like guys. The Gophers have to win this game.

(29:18):
They just we have to be blunt. They have to
win this game with what Purdue is doing here. That
just bothered me so much how they handled it. First
of all, the earlier play the fourth and two where
they kick a field goal fourth and goal from the
two to go back up seven. You're winless, You're lifeless.
You've got all the momentum. You've got Devin Makabee, who

(29:39):
if he just like breathes, has guarded, has garnered two
yards of care. Right, and if you don't get it,
I didn't have a lot of faith that the Golphers
were about to line it up and go ninety nine
yards for a touchdown, right, I cannot believe. For how
as how a great you want to talk about no identity,
For how weirdly aggressive they were in the fourth quarter,

(30:01):
how ridiculously conservative, Like if if I'm the Gophers, I
was breathing a sigh relief when they didn't go for it,
right yeah, on fourth and two. So I was already
annoyed by that, And then the way they handled the
fourth quarter, I just had to I said, guys, if
the Gophers don't win this game, they should They they
should haunt them forever because Purdue is asking them to
just take a homecoming victory. To their credit, they did.

(30:23):
They found a way and they got it done, and
their playmakers made plays and Drake was good on that drive.
But I was so bothered by I'm still bothered by
how they handled that Guardian.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
I must have said fifty times during that game, how
are they losing to this team? And I'm never They
dropped so many wide open passes, like we just just
drop them in and I know Dean already covers them.
Is I guess it's become a season long theme because they.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
They had like thirteen going into the game, right, bir Yeah,
thirteen or fourteen drops?

Speaker 1 (30:54):
In what planet and modern football? Do you take a
field goal from the two yard line.

Speaker 2 (31:00):
When you're the road team just trying to find a
win and playing great. I couldn't believe it.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
Yeah, I mean, what do you have to lose? I mean,
you're kicking a field goal from the two?

Speaker 3 (31:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
They did some of the most baffling things. And then
on top of the you know, the the face mask
penalties and just.

Speaker 3 (31:19):
It was.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
If I was a fan of them, I would be like,
what is this coaching staff doing like it is and
the players just the drops. I don't know, it was.
It was maddening. And you know, you know, I don't
have rootin interesting anything, but it's manning to watch a
team make those kind of mistakes and those kind of
decisions where you're just like, are you trying to give
the game away? Or are you trying to win? Here? What
are you doing?

Speaker 2 (31:42):
They got what they deserved. They got what they deserve.
They let the Gophers find their footing. It took a
long time, but they they got with after putting themselves
in a great position, and obviously good for them, they
were ready to go. They were ready to play like
they had a good plan that could be obviously was good.
Like all that's true, But man, I would I would
have been sick. I would have been sick if I
was those guys.

Speaker 4 (32:02):
Guards you What did I text you at about one
forty five in the morning.

Speaker 3 (32:06):
I can't remember. I was. I was probably a little sleepy.

Speaker 4 (32:10):
So I hit them with chip. We're talking about how
they just abandoned the run in these key spots when
you're gashing them all night. Yeah, yeah, Like reminded me
of the USC game last year.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
Right, yeah, yeah, and then you.

Speaker 4 (32:22):
Go and look and produce offensive coordinator. For the last
three seasons before this one, was the offensive coordinator for
the Southern California Trophanes. And so while Lincoln Riley make
all the plays out there, certainly Josh Henson learned that, oh,
we're running the football really well in Huntington Bank Stadium.
Let's go away from that and find a way to
lose a football game. Just baffling, absolutely baffling.

Speaker 2 (32:45):
Yeah, by the way, you know why USC is winning
right now? They're running the football. Yeah, it's like they're
they're running it down people's throats. Anyway, Yeah, I was,
because I was saying to some people after the game.
The one thing that you know, you know, you'll never
say about PJ is he just didn't run enough clock.
He just didn't He just didn't know the situation, right, Like, like,

(33:07):
can you imagine PJ doing that, Like up seven into
the fourth quarter, you've just you just went right down
the field to start the fourth he just did the
sprint down to the other side.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
He probably did a sideline interview.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
Can you imagine him going, hey, let's get Max Chikinjanski
in there and let's throw one deep like it's just
but that's he always says, more games are to me.
I thought that was a perfect example of what he
always says, more games are lost than one where it's
okay and you take it when you come. And I
think the Viking like I say that about Kevin O'Connell too,

(33:40):
Like say what you want about you know, the fact
that he throws the ball too much, or there's things
you don't like about what Kaos does. Like the reason
why koc is so good in close games is he
doesn't blow things like that, like he finds like he
doesn't screw up like the Bears did before the two
minute time out right, Like he doesn't make the clerical
errors and Pj's like that, you know, and people might

(34:02):
not like it how he runs clock sometimes we've certainly,
but you know, they score going into the half right
this time, which they needed. Like I think he's pretty
good at all that stuff, and he does have at
least a handle and some thought on it. But what
Purdue did on Saturday, I bet billions of dollars that PJ.
Fleck would never do in a million years. Give them

(34:25):
the opportunity to come back in a game that they
have no business of winning.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
I just don't, So I.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
Think that needs to be brought up from time to
time when you see because everybody kind of gets microwed
in on their own coach and the flaws and things
they don't like. It's like, I mean, these guys are like,
I just can't believe you spent eighty hours a week
and get paid millions of dollars and then at the
moment of truth, it's like, you know what we should
do if you thought about this. Devin Makabee does look
like Mike Alstott to your point, Pernsey, He's having another

(34:53):
great game. They can't stop us. He gets seven yards
of carry doing nothing, but they'll never see this coming.
We'll never see our a thirty yard bomb on second
and eight. So it's like the football God said, no,
we're not gonna let you make this field goal. Sorry,
I know you haven't made one all year, but that
was It was just insane behavior and just drives me crazy.

(35:13):
It's like, it's just the game is right there for you,
because you know who I feel bad for. I feel
bad for the Purdue players because you these I never
like teams that never win right, because you guys all
know how much time these dudes put into it, right,
And I know now they're all getting paid and blah
blah blah, but it's like they give up a lot
to do this, and they work really hard to do this,

(35:33):
and a lot of it probably sucks, like the six
am workouts that we never see. And you get twelve
Saturdays and you're playing well enough to give yourself an opportunity,
and then your coach goes second and eight, let's take
a shot. We're up seven, like backup, cornerback. It's just
just And that's why I was so frustrated on the broadcast.

(35:54):
I had to say, guys, the Gophers have to win
this game. This is ridiculous what people's doing right now.
They have to win this. Fourth and two, Bring on
the kicker, let's kick it, let's go it. Three guys,
let's three. Like, oh, it's so frustrated.

Speaker 4 (36:09):
So Fleck was running the ball for six seven yards
of carry. Oh my god, never he would have run
it thirty five straight times in the second.

Speaker 3 (36:17):
Half exactly as he should have.

Speaker 4 (36:19):
Yea, because it's working like this whole podcast would have
been Darius Taylor fifty nine carries for three hundred yards.
How can he damage to come back against Nebraska?

Speaker 2 (36:30):
Yeah, exactly, nice to see egypt boy with a couple explosives.
Right yeah, like you You're You're one hundred percent right, Burnsey.
It's like, man, I just don't know. I just it's baffling.
It's just baffling to me. But you take it. Games
were lost, not one.

Speaker 4 (36:44):
You're two and one in the Big ten when I
know a handful of different teams that would kill to
be two and one in the Big ten.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
All right, let's talk about a little bit about Friday
night's game with Nebraska, and then we've got a bunch
to get to in the Big Ten, including the James
Franklin firing Indie, a legit national title contender Iowa, Wisconsin,
completely one sided. Burnsey wants to get his push ups
cheap shot in. We'll definitely do that, and in a
shocking development, Greg Chiano thinks that their defensive issues might

(37:13):
be coming down to coaching. Who would have ever seen
that coming? But first, let's let's pause and talk about
our great friends at Jack's Cafe Jaxcafe dot com and
we mentioned on social media and a few weeks ago
that they were part of the Restaurant Legends Bracket challenge
at Minnesota Monthly Magazine Minnesota Monthly dot com. Let me

(37:35):
give you some of the high the the the high
earners or the high achievers. The places. Cassetta third place,
Great Spot, Murray's Restaurant second place in the Restaurant Legends
Bracket Challenge.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
Murray's.

Speaker 2 (37:51):
I went to Murray's for the first time, like two
months ago. I'd never been there before. I know, I'm
barely in Minnesota people, I know, I know it's a
good spot. They got second because the Jugger, not known
as Jack's Cafe, wins the Minnesota Monthly Restaurant Legends bracket.
Ex Cafe hanging a banner. Put the banner by the brook,

(38:14):
Put the banner by the fireplace. Put the banner by
the piano. Put it by the lobsters, put it by
the original menus, put it by the bar where cal
Stall brought the jug in nineteen seventy seven. Well earned,
not surprising, and hopefully parents Barelisters helped get him across
the finish line. Chip a nice honor, yet another honor

(38:34):
for Jack's Cafe.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
All we do is win championships. And hang banners.

Speaker 4 (38:38):
Right.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
I'm happy for Bill, That's right. I'm happy for Bill.
I'm not surprised. I mean, if you've been there, this
is not a surprise, right. When you're great in you're
a legend, this is what happens, right. So, and I
am happy for my friend Tim Murray. He's a buddy
of mine. And I'm glad they got that far too.
But Jack's Cafe, congrats Bill. Thank you to our listeners

(39:02):
who I think probably voted in that and uh and
deserve some praise for for showing their support for Bill
and Jackson. Uh. They need a banner. I hope Bill, Bill,
if you're listening, get a banner hanging it up somewhere
because you you absolutely earned it and you deserve it.

Speaker 4 (39:18):
Just made a reservation in Jack's Cafe last night, so
I'm excited to head back over there and celebrate my
buddy's birthday. And what do you think, Chip, should I
get the steak or the pan crusted Walleye.

Speaker 3 (39:32):
I'd get both and then bring the rest home.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
I've had both. They're both terrific. I think I go
the Walleye. That Walleye is outstanding.

Speaker 4 (39:42):
Don't tent me with a good time chipper.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
So if you want to be like Burnsy, make your
reservation at Jackscafe dot com, Jaxcafe dot com.

Speaker 3 (39:50):
Don't forget about the Hunter's Dinner, go ahead and tickets.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
Yeah, so that's confirmed. Yeah, he confirmed Friday night tickets.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Bill's giving texted me as we're talking today, and I
think I'll send it to you to perfect give away
again this week.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
All right, Burnsy will have to come up with some
idea to give those tickets away this week for the
Nebraska game Friday night in Erotic City mea weekend. We'll
have to find out a way. But yeah, Jackson the
Parents Spare Podcast, we have season tickets now. I don't
even consider them Jack's Cafes tickets anymore. I just consider
them our tickets because Bill's so generous with them, and
we've sent so many people to the games this season,

(40:25):
which is always fun. They're great seats right in the
end zone, perfect seats to bring your kids to which
people have taken advantage of. Don't forget about the Hunter's Dinner.
You can learn about that at the website as well.
Jackscafe dot com. You have to call about that. That's
coming up in November and support those that support us,
and nobody has supported us more than Bill and the
entire team at Jack's Cafe. Learn more at jackscafe dot com.

(40:47):
All right, guys, So Nebraska's ranked, no surprise, I predicted
that they would be ranked coming into Huntington Bank Stadium.
They're five and one, I believe is their record. I
thought they would be five and one or six and
zero given their schedule. And the Gophers are underdogs, I
believe as well, by a couple of couple of points.

Speaker 4 (41:05):
So that's the most interesting part about this. It's not
that they're underdogs. It's that the line opened at I
believe five and a half, and the last I saw
here it's up to Nebraska minus nine and there's no
Gopher injury news.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
Yeah, yes, boy, that's interesting.

Speaker 3 (41:22):
I take people because here's my thing.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
I'm fascinated to see how good Nebraska is in person
because I'm looking at it. And their best win is Maryland, right,
their best win is Marinady this last weekend or Cincinnati
in the opening game. I threw that one in there
as well. But in their biggest, high profile game at
home against Michigan, they lost, and I think I said

(41:46):
this last week. I was not impressed with Michigan against Wisconsin.
I watched most of that game while we were in Columbus,
and I was not overwhelmed by what I saw from
the Wolverines, and then they essentially got run out of
the coliseum this past weekend by USC. Who knows, Like, again,
you can't do the transitive property of college football. I
think we've all learned that. But just my eye test

(42:09):
of Michigan, I'm like, man, I I'm just not necessarily
seeing it here against a Wisconsin team that just got
run out of their own gym against Iowa and their
coach was basically in tears after the game. So I'm
I'm fascinated to see Nebraska because we all know about
their quarterback. Everybody here knows how much I love Matt Rule.
I think you guys are there too, Like year three,
he always does well. But all of this is surprising

(42:32):
to me. The line is like that because I I
just don't know if I see it yet from Nebraska
when you know their best win is Maryland.

Speaker 3 (42:42):
Who's fine, They're good, but I don't know, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
I don't know how good they are, and I don't
know how good to Gopher tsar. Yeah, yeah, I'm curious
to see the quarterback and how how the Gophers defend
their past defense. He threw what three picks?

Speaker 4 (43:00):
Last four touchdowns and three picks? Is about? What was
Riola line? I've seen?

Speaker 3 (43:04):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (43:05):
Was it one of no? One?

Speaker 3 (43:06):
Was a pick six? That was?

Speaker 1 (43:07):
Uh? Or was it he threw a pick six? I
can't Yeah, but so you know he can throw one
to you. Are the Gophers gonna be able to generate
some turnovers?

Speaker 3 (43:18):
Maybe this?

Speaker 1 (43:19):
You know what we saw Saturday, carries over and they
get a couple of picks from it. But to me,
that's what it comes down to. Can they get pressure
on him to force him into some bad throws? Because
if he gets comfortable, he can obviously put up some
big numbers. So that to me is what this game
is gonna boil down to. Can they get him? Can
I get enough pressure on him that he makes some

(43:40):
mistakes for him?

Speaker 3 (43:43):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (43:43):
The stats are gaudy for Riola. I think he's got
fifteen touchdowns, He's completing something crazy like seventy something percent
of his passes. But then you look behind the curtain,
everything is close to the line scrimmage. I think he's
got the second lowest eight out of all Big Ten
starting quarterbacks. So what does that mean. That means he's
just throwing the ball quickly to his playmakers in space.

(44:04):
And the playmakers in space give me a lot of pause,
because we've spent a lot of time talking about mistackles
for them from the Gopher defense, and I know that
these Nebraska skill athletes of Nazaiah Hunter, Dane Key, and
then we get to see Emma Johnson, the Holy Angels
kid make his return. I think all three of us
would agree the Gophers whifted on that one. He would

(44:25):
look pretty good in maroon and gold if they would
have ended up deciding to offer him late like Nebraska did.
But if they don't tackle well and you don't get
pressure on Riola, because Ryola really struggles when he gets pressure.
But if he doesn't get pressure, he can just get
the ball out in space to these guys and they
can go do it now. Defensively, I don't know what
to think in Nebraska defensively, to be quite honest, because

(44:48):
the stats would tell you they're a good pass defense,
but the two pass defense or the two quarterbacks with
a pulse that they've played in the Maryland kid last week,
and then the Cincinnati kid and the opener, they moved
the ball pretty good. Like Bryce Underwood's going to be
really good one day for Michigan, but I don't know
that he is what Drake lindsay is right now. So

(45:10):
there's going to be opportunities to move the ball if
you're Minnesota at times. It's just the whole crux.

Speaker 3 (45:17):
Of this game.

Speaker 4 (45:17):
And I still can't believe that Nebraska, at about multiple
places now seventy two hours out from this game is
almost a ten point road favorite. That surprises me. Now,
if you think Minnesota is going to play like they
did last week, sure, yeah, that line makes a whole
lot of sense to all three of us. But I
just continue to come down to Nebraska does not play Minnesota. Well,

(45:40):
I saw the stat that was asked to Matt Rule
today or yesterday. Nebraska has not won back to back
road games in the Big Ten since I believe two
thousand and six, two thousand and six.

Speaker 5 (45:53):
Like in conference play. Yeah, then yeah, that's right, that's
crazy Big Ten. Yeah, Like just they don't play well.

Speaker 4 (46:05):
It's a short week after going to Maryland, and Maryland
finds another way to lose and Nebraska's finding ways to
win one possession games, which is why Matt rule is
candidate number one for Penn State, among many other reasons
which we'll get into.

Speaker 3 (46:17):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (46:18):
But if Minnesota doesn't play well, they're going to get
run out because Nebraska's skilled position guys will make a
miss and then the Gopher offense will be down fourteen
to nothing. Again, we haven't We didn't really mention it.
By the way, they have now come back from two
double digit point home deficits to win games.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
Right, so right, which rarely happens, by the way, very
rarely happens. Yeah, But just to coach the show, I said,
as you said something like, you know, we accelerated in
the middle and we finished strong. And I'm like, like,
you still you still do the start fast thing, right,
start fast, accelerating the middle and finished strong, Una, I go,

(46:58):
you're still doing to start fast. Yeah, we're not really
getting it. I just wanted to make sure because yeah,
the accelerate in the middle has been pretty good. Fit
is strong, Yeah, solid. The whole starting fast thing, that
one's not clicking. Coach, I know, I know we're trying.

Speaker 3 (47:14):
To do it. I was going to have a little
fun with that.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
When you have a quarterback that can throw the ball,
you can make up some ground for sure. Previously they
weren't built to do that. You know, they would have
to still try to run the ball.

Speaker 3 (47:24):
You can score off turnovers that Hell, you have.

Speaker 1 (47:26):
Quarterbacks that can get you back into a game. Right,
so this feels like a high scoring game again, you
know it. Maybe you have to get the thirty.

Speaker 4 (47:35):
Drake Lindsay needs help. If the Gopher defense tackles well,
this thing will be fun. I'll say this. I looked
into because I was curious myself what it looks like
for these Big Ten teams who play post six pm kickoffs,
and because it feels like the home team dominates in
most of these aspects. So if a Big Ten team

(47:56):
has played another power for opponent this season post six
pm kickoff, the home team heading into Friday night is
eight and three. So it's a short week for Nebraska
just like Minnesota. They've got to travel again. I agree
that Nebraska should be favored in this game. I think
if we're just talking about Johnny's and Joe's, Nebraska's got

(48:19):
better Johnny's and Joe's. But I've seen that not matter
in this game. So I'm going to be very curious
to see how Minnesota responds to the way that they
played and how Nebraska responds to We're ranked top twenty five.
We have expectations. Can we win another one possession game?
Can we go win on the road in a place
that has been a house of horrors for us? It's

(48:41):
a big game for both teams. I'm excited to see
the Riola versus Lindsay matchup.

Speaker 2 (48:45):
Well, just remember that this game, if you missed it
a few years ago, is about culture versus skill.

Speaker 3 (48:52):
Just remember that. I'll never hoodies.

Speaker 4 (48:55):
Do you think we'll be on the sidelines on.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
A lot of hoodies? This game is culture versus bill.
Just google PJ. Fleck Press conference two thousand. That was
twenty twenty one culture versus Skill, And what preceded the
culture versus skill rant in the press conference was an
all time postgame interview with PJ. Fleck that when I

(49:17):
write my book, I'll give you the backstory on all
of that, But I can't tell you about that when.

Speaker 3 (49:22):
I have Chips that one.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
When I have Chip write my book in about fifteen years,
I will I will tell that story because it's maybe
one of my favorites of all time. That led to
the culture versus skill. How many times did you say culture?
Like seventy two in the post game present?

Speaker 1 (49:39):
Yeah, yeah, he got it, he got his point across
this place.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
Yeah exactly right? If yeah, exactly right. So that coach
is no longer there for Nebraska. I know he loves
Matt Rules, so I'd be surprised if we had any
of that. They went to a Kenny Chesney concert this summer,
great time, I guess at the Spear in Las Vegas.
So and they're like the same guy, Matt Rule and PJ. Fleck, Like,
I don't know how you can watch a Matt Rule thing,
Like if you just the transcripts of how they talk,
you wouldn't know who's who.

Speaker 3 (50:04):
And I love them both. No surprise, all right.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
The biggest news in college football is that two and
a half weeks ago, James Franklin was preparing for the
epic Whiteout game in a Top ten matchup against the
Oregon Ducks. State College Pennsylvania College game Day was there.
I think big noon kickoff was there too. Everybody was there.
I don't know if they were doesn't matter. They should
have been That was like seventeen days ago. Now at

(50:28):
this point, why is it relevant that he was undefeated
and hosting a top ten Oregon team and I'll lay
lost in double overtime. James Franklin now basically is one
of us. He could be a podcaster if he wants to.
He's no longer a college football coach. He was let
go on Sunday after Penn State lost their third game
in a row, this time a home lost to Northwestern, who,

(50:49):
by the way, is one three in a row. How
that happened? You need to check in on that. But
a forty nine million dollar buyout, there's some offset contract
language we can talk about, but let's just talk prize
level first. Guys, we know it wasn't going well for
Penn State after they lost to Oregon, they lost to
UCLA and then obviously Northwestern. But are we surprised Chip

(51:10):
that they ended up pulling the trigger to the tune
of nearly fifty million dollars for a coach that was
in the College Football semi Finals less than a year ago.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
Yeah, I I I. When you have back to back
clunkers like that against teams that you can't lose to
if you're Penn State. I'm not surprised because when you're
at a program like that and you lose your fan base,
you're done. After that, you knew you were he was
not going to be back next year, So if you're

(51:43):
gonna wait till the end of the year to get
rid of him, might as well just do it now.
The forty nine million, Yes, Penn State has more money
than ninety nine percent of the schools in this country,
but are athletic departments. But forty millions is not You're
not just pulling that out of your wallet. That is
a lot of money for a buyout, and for them

(52:08):
to be willing to eat that money mid season tells you, uh,
the level of anger that the a D and the
President was hearing from their their top boosters to willing
to do that to get rid of them. So nobody's

(52:31):
gonna cry for James Franklin because I would gladly take
a forty nine billion dollars buyout to go somewhere. But
he he just became increasingly felt like he was the
excuse making for why they weren't taking that next step.
It was either the runway or the runway wasn't longer runway.

(52:54):
We got to travel or we you know.

Speaker 4 (52:57):
Or why are we all out in Las Vegas for
Big ten?

Speaker 1 (53:00):
Why are we going to Yeah, it was just it
just felt like the complaining about you know, it's like
you're a Penn State. Go somewhere that doesn't have resources
and tell me how. I mean, I know he played,
he coached at Vanderbilt, so he has been at places
that don't have the resources. But I guess I'm not
surprised he's not gonna be the coach. I'm surprised they

(53:22):
did it midseason, I guess. But when you have the
it just felt like we walked off the field that
day it was over. And if you're gonna why put
off a decision you're gonna make, just go ahead and
make it.

Speaker 4 (53:35):
I don't know that I've seen a college football team
is talented at Penn State take a loss harder than
what they did in the White Out where they get
Oregon to overtime, double overtime and lose, and then you
lose to an owned Force UCLA team. You become the
first team to do that as a top ten ranked
team since nineteen eighty five. And then you turn around

(53:56):
and lose to a Northwestern team that is not good.
I know, guards he just said that they won three
in a row. I mean they beat UCLA when it
was Deshaun Foster. They is the hottest team in Paul Like,
does Northwestern deserve credit for believing in themselves that they
could go in there and do it.

Speaker 3 (54:14):
It's kind of hung with Oregon for a minute. I
just I I owe.

Speaker 4 (54:20):
My mind also drifts back to twenty sixteen. I knew
you'd go here where it felt like they were on
the cuss back then. And then we got Jalen Waters
fighting the Penn State kicker. And then we also had
kunle ayende versus Saquon Barkley in space. I'm never going
to feel bad for a man who's going to get
paid forty nine million dollars to go away. It's the

(54:43):
best job in arguably America is to be a head
football coach and college scene.

Speaker 3 (54:48):
Now.

Speaker 4 (54:49):
The interesting part of his contract is they wrote into
the language he has to seek work.

Speaker 3 (54:55):
Now.

Speaker 4 (54:56):
The question I have for you, boys is how spiteful
would you want to be? Do you want to come
a podcaster and go make I don't know A couple
hundred bucks a month because within the language, Penn State
has to he has to seek work. But whatever he
doesn't make up because this I think the buyouts paid
through twenty thirty one, it was eight million a year,

(55:20):
so you're gonna go make you know, one thousand dollars,
so they got to send you the check for eight
point nine to nine or whatever that would be. Math wise. Yep,
it's very very interesting, but it makes a lot of
sense because even I mean, this also just shows you
if you're a blue blood in college football and you
have more money than you know what to do with,
and you have the donors that Penn State has, no

(55:41):
one is safe. You were just in the semi finals
of the College Football Playoff last year and he lost
three games in a row, and now you're gone. And
it is going to be fascinating to see because this
coaching can we do? We saw on I think Sunday alone,
three coaches, including James Franklin, were fired, like Order State,

(56:03):
UAB and Penn State. Plus we're waiting on to see
what Wisconsin does with Fickle Belichick. They just had to
release a statement from the ad and Belichick of one
sentence because that always goes well, that shows how well
things are going. Like this is setting up to be
one of the craziest coaching carousels. And I'll say that
it's a it's a really good year to have a

(56:25):
good year if you're a college football coach somewhere.

Speaker 1 (56:28):
Did you guys read the Yahoo Calmness? I think it
was it was Dan Wilkin that did it. I wrote
it yesterday about the buyouts, these massive biots that coaches
and their agents have have basically pushed ads into a
corner and forced them to give him and like, why
are they doing this?

Speaker 3 (56:44):
Like I agree, why is this?

Speaker 1 (56:47):
When did this become a thing? And why are they
continued to every year have these rollover clauses and these
so where you're paying jimbal Fisher seventy five million dollars
and James Franklin fifty million dollars when it's probably and
he's right, And I've always thought this, I've said this,
and Burns. You may disagree with me on this because

(57:08):
you're in the recruiting world, but when coaches get there,
we've got to have the five years for recruiting. We've
got to have a recruit does not know or care
how many years a coach has on his contract? I
do not that. I don't believe that in a second.
But it's always been the excuse, right oh, recruiting purposes.
We got to show the recruits stability, we're gonna be here.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I bet if you asked for

(57:29):
a hundred recruits. How many years does a coach have
a contract on him? How many are real? How many
years does a coach have on this contract? How many
really you're gonna know if the coach hasn't told him.
Are they doing that level of you know, investigation, I
don't know, but I wonder. I don't know if this
will cause a slowdown or or people to reevaluate these

(57:50):
massive buyouts that coaches are getting. I think ads are
always feared that someone is gonna come and take their coach,
you know, as if that's as Dan said, as if
that's the only coach in the world that can coach
at your school. It did a good job.

Speaker 2 (58:05):
Well, especially these big blue bloods, like they're never going
to have problems attracting a coach. So I don't understand
how they get that done. How how these buyouts get
to be that level either because a lot of people
want to coach at Penn State, a lot of people
want to coach at Texas State. Yes, and those are
jobs that you have to really screw up for them
to go very very badly, right, And it didn't even
go very very badly with James Frankton, like I think, honestly,

(58:28):
I think it's ludicrous that they fired him. What's was
driving me crazy is now you never no coach can
ever just like go through go through it, like I
just think, especially now in twenty twenty five, we always
talk about it's unrealistic now for people to think that,
you know, a ten to two season should always be
attainable at some of these places, right, Like we've said

(58:49):
eight and four is a new ten and two because
no one really sucks. Besides, you know, a couple teams
in each conference, everybody's just kind of okay, right, and
then there's some good teams.

Speaker 3 (58:59):
So then this is like.

Speaker 1 (59:03):
Wayed with it and rolled out, even though how bad
it is.

Speaker 2 (59:06):
I I don't know if I would have eaten the
fifty because you know, we're about to get this billion
two billion dollar infusion of cash for the Big ten.
Like all these schools are crying poor and oh, now
we got to pay the players, and you guys don't
like the money we're getting has already been spent. And
like I've always been like, I just think it's it's
such a bad look to and I know nothing's connected

(59:28):
between school and academics, but I do think it's just
a crap look when you know you do, you know,
like Penn State had to close a bunch of campuses
and I'm sure they've had to cut some stuff. And
it's like then you're like, oh, but by the way,
our coach who was just in the semi finals year ago,
we don't like him anymore, so we're gonna pay him
fifty million dollars to go like when he's in. Part
of it too, is he's been there a long time.
He's been there twelve years too, so there is so

(59:50):
I understand that perspective, and but I just but the
buyout thing, It's like, I they do have to get
a handle on this buyout stuff, because I think they
are going to disillusion some people if they keep they're
asking for money for us to pay the players now, right, yeah,
and like they if we don't get some from our fans,
we're just not going to keep up. Well, you just
had fifty million, apparently, and you just gave it to Like,

(01:00:11):
that's where I think they are going to.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
I don't know, maybe i'm reading it rog No, No, you're.

Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
Right, you're I mean, it's a perception game, it is.
I mean, it's it's tuition's going up, whether you like
it or not. Student fees are being hit with them, right,
and now we're going to pay a football coach who
we don't like, probably you know, because he lost games
and maybe his personality and you know, or we just

(01:00:37):
he's been here for a long time. We want to
see who else can come in here. Fifty million dollars.
That's that's hard, you know, when you're when you're constantly
beaten fans and donors over the head. We need more money.
We're broke. We get this new world that we live,
and we got to have your money. It's it's a
perception problem. And I go back to what trev Albert said,
college sports have a spending problem. They don't have a

(01:01:02):
revenue problem. They have a spending problem.

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
Right, just thinking about how many coaches Nebraska are still
paying basketball and football. Yea, you know, just and like
I say, like especially now with the way that the
Big ten and SEC are separating, like every coach wants
to go there, right, Every coach that's good wants to
be in the Big ten or the SEC because of

(01:01:24):
the resources, because of the funding, because of the TV deals,
because they're basically going to run this thing in a
couple of years.

Speaker 3 (01:01:30):
Right, and they're gonna have the most allies and the salaries. Right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
So I guess my point is you shouldn't have to
feel like you need to protect yourself to that extreme
level if you're a Big ten program because you're you're als.
Like even you know people and we're going to talk
about Kurt Signetti. People are always like, well, he's gonna
go to a bigger program. Well, first of all, there
aren't that many bigger ones in Indiana right now because
of the Big ten stuff. It's not like even fifteen

(01:01:57):
years ago when you had to go somewhere else because
you didn't feel like you could win because you weren't
invested financially. They're invested financially. His Burnsy's favorite topic assistant
salary pool. His is right up there with Ohio State, right,
which is insanity, but he's being supported. So there's not
a lot of places that are better than big ten
jobs where people are going to leave anymore. So I

(01:02:20):
just don't think they should feel the need to protect
themselves this way.

Speaker 3 (01:02:23):
So they don't.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
But I don't see stopping though. I don't see the
crazy buyout stopping because you have one good year, you
sign a huge contract extension with a crazy buyout, and
here we are.

Speaker 4 (01:02:36):
I would love to know when you guys talk about
how do these contracts get signed and we're talking agents,
I wonder how many of these coaches agents are also
the agents for the athletic directors because some of these
athletic directors also got the same agent. I'm just gonna
be the one to tell you right now. So I
think the thing that I will be very curious to

(01:02:57):
see going forward is the same thing you both talked
about is even when you look at this Penn State
search specifically, is how much better of a job do
we think Penn State is than Indiana or Nebraska at
this stage? Because that is the Signetti thing is. I
don't want to take anything away from Signetti. I think
he has his team playing better than about anybody in

(01:03:20):
the country. Especially with the level of talent that they have.
I think they embody the personality of that head coach,
and I think they play incredibly well. But the thing
I haven't been able to put together of why people
think this is the way that it is, because I
see the tweets and the emails and the smoke signals,
is why do people think Indiana is poor?

Speaker 3 (01:03:42):
Like?

Speaker 4 (01:03:42):
Why do people think that Minnesota and Indiana are in
the same level of NIL? Because Guardian Chip, you know
this better than I do. Indiana basketball is what in
NIL they're number one or two or two? Yeah, Mike
freaking Woodson to coach their basketball team like they had
so if they're always one or two and have been

(01:04:04):
for the last couple of years in basketball in IL
and guards, he notes that what they're paying their assistance,
why are we assuming that they aren't, say seventh or
eighth in the Big Ten at least in an aisle
for them like they have money in Indiana, which is
part of why I don't think Signetti leaves if Penn
State does come a knocking. But it's just, uh, I

(01:04:26):
don't know, guys. I think the days of fifty million
dollars buyouts are going to be soon behind us.

Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
Yeah, I think with Indianaia's perception because they haven't been good.
I mean we went through last time we were there.
What what year was.

Speaker 3 (01:04:38):
At twenty twenty.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
Twenty one is after they lost that Iowa game, right,
I mean admittedly I get there early, but we got there.
I was like, we got the right stadium, whereas nobody
was tailgating there. I mean, it was a gold run day.
But it's like, you know, it's perception. They haven't been good.

(01:05:01):
There wasn't a lot of fan interest there, and so
you assume, wow, they don't you know, they don't have
any money. No, you know, they're no success. Why would
that's that case? I mean, we know Indian basketball. I
hope Signetti stays there watching them against Oregon. They are
damn good. I mean the way that how physical they are, physical,

(01:05:23):
how fast they are, how mentally and emotionally tough they are.
When when they throw a pick six to tie the game,
I'm thinking, Okay, here here comes Oregon's gonna, you know,
pour it on the crowds. They came right back and
scored ten, score a touchdown, drive right back they kick it,
you know, they go up ten after that with the
field goal. They're tough. So, I mean, think of what

(01:05:45):
he's done. He took over an Indiana program that was
nothing right, and I know he brought in a lot
of transfers, but.

Speaker 3 (01:05:54):
Too.

Speaker 1 (01:05:55):
I mean, they go to a playoffs and they're, you know,
one of the two or three best teams this year.
I mean, that guy can flat out coach. And if
I'm Penn State, I'd try like hell to get him there. Now,
you say, is it Penn State a better job? When
you see that wide out man hundred, it's hard.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
H That's a special place. It's a special place, for sure.
I don't think he's going there now. I think he
might get career caprice off money to stay in Bloomington now, Like, yeah,
he's got to love the fact that that job is open, right, Yeah,
for sure, because even though he's sixty four years old,
I think he's got enough to get him to the grave.
He can always set up the rest, right, Yeah. I

(01:06:32):
just if I'm him, I'm not leaving. If I'm Matt Rule,
I'm not leaving. Even though it's his alma mater and
he loves it. And he bugged me when he said that,
you know, my wife decides where we live. It's like, okay,
well that's the yesterday but yeah, exactly, and she and
she and of all the places, she said, let's go
to Lincoln. All right, Now, I did commercials for Omaha.
I love Omaha, so he might have to be there.

Speaker 4 (01:06:53):
But the commercials for.

Speaker 2 (01:06:57):
Uh, there's a few spots, there's a few outposts. But
that bugs me when he does the Yeah, Julie decides
where we live. Oh that's interesting, yeah, interesting. Yeah, so
she decided Waco in Philadelphia and now Lincoln. Those were
the three on her bucket list. And Carolina. Come on,
get serious. But I don't think either one of those
guys goes there. But then I also wonder guys and

(01:07:18):
you both know the coaching search world so much. Do
you make this move right now if you don't have
a great idea of who you can get or are
going to get, because.

Speaker 1 (01:07:28):
It might be state arrogance. We can get who we want.

Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
Yeah that's true, that's true. But you pay fifty million
in the middle of the season coming off a playoff,
like you better have a pretty good plan, right because
you don't want this thing to be going I mean,
you would assume people think this is going to be
the first domino in a coaching search who gets that
job right, and then other things move on like people
are going to be after it, but you better make

(01:07:51):
sure you've got the guy you want before you make
this swing.

Speaker 3 (01:07:54):
I would think, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:07:55):
Yeah, because Florida, Florida State, Wisconsin won't supersede pennst certainly
in this instance. I think I'm more intrigued to see
what Matt Rule does than you do Guardzie. You mentioned
and he grew up there, he played there, He was
with the athletic director at Penn State at Temple. They
know each other incredibly. Well. You look at the theory,

(01:08:17):
and the theory really makes a lot of sense if
you want to go with your theory of you don't
make this move unless you know what you're doing. Well,
if you know what you're doing, it's going to be
Matt Rule. Now, if it's not Matt Ruler Kirk Signetti,
then do they want to go back to the Vanderbilt pipeline.
I don't know how that fan base would take that,
even though I don't think that matters at all, and.

Speaker 3 (01:08:37):
Clerkly like Jerry Kill going to State College.

Speaker 4 (01:08:41):
Or it does Matt Campbell finally do so, I don't
know what they would do if it's not going to
be Matt rule here. Now, we still got two months
to figure this out because they're not going to hire
anybody until December, but the Matt Rule thing is going
to be hanging over this Nebraska program for the rest
of the season now until or us Chip Sky Trev
Alberts can get an extension done here, which I'm sure

(01:09:04):
we just spent the entire last twenty minutes talking about
these buyouts and insanity. Well, guess what in the world.
Leverage matters, And now both Kirk Signetti and then Matt
Rule have all the leverage in the world to do
whatever they want with buyouts if they want to stay.
So let's see how these two guys leverage it.

Speaker 1 (01:09:22):
Yeah, I mean to me, I mean, as you said,
Guardy Penn State, you're going to get a good coach.
You should, right, you don't have to take flyers, And
I would think this guy might you know, know, you
should get a good coach. To me, there's two Grand Slams.
If you said who you could get anyone, I'm taking
Kurt Signetti. I think he's just he would be one

(01:09:42):
for me, Matt Rulby two.

Speaker 4 (01:09:45):
And the last time was a Big ten coach left
his Big ten school for another Big ten school for football.

Speaker 2 (01:09:51):
By the way, Oh, let me think, let's try to
figure this out. Big ten coach, big ten school for
another Big ten football program. Oh this, we should know this,
We should know this. What decade?

Speaker 4 (01:10:06):
I wasn't even alive yet. It was in the eighties,
the eighties. I don't know that I know. I believe
it was Northwestern's coach left for Purdue or produced coach
left for Northwestern. But my point being, it has been
forty years since this has happened. If it does happen,
so it's it's truly unprecedented. But I also think it

(01:10:29):
points to the even within the Big Ten, things are
tiered and becoming more and more tiered. So I will
be very curious to see if it is Signetty or Rule.
I mean, that would be a streak that I wasn't
even alive the last time this happened.

Speaker 2 (01:10:43):
Yeah, I'd be surprised if it was either one of them,
quite frankly, quite honestly, but I've been surprised before.

Speaker 3 (01:10:51):
I've been surprised before.

Speaker 1 (01:10:52):
They I just read. Yeah, sorry, I was just reading
my Buddydnist Dodd, former CBS longtime college football you're on
tweet today. It's not that hard. Penn State's football's best
candidate replaced James Franklin is rested, ready and accomplished. Ladies
and gentlemen.

Speaker 2 (01:11:08):
Pat Fitzgerald, Oh, that's an interesting name, because I bet
he gets back in this year. I bet he gets
back in this year because he's his things, his lawsuit's done,
He's clearly got a lot of football left. That's an
interesting one.

Speaker 4 (01:11:26):
Well does he take that one? Or we should talk Wisconsin?
Or is this the last year of Farence because I
think ference is or I think Fitzgerald's kid is a quarterback.

Speaker 2 (01:11:38):
Quarterback he is, Yes, the Fitzgerald That is a great
I'd forgotten about that, and I'm embarrassed because I I've
thought about that the second that suit got signed. Like
there are a lot of really good fit for him.
I Pat Fitzgerald, that Wisconsin makes a lot of sense.

(01:11:58):
Hat Fitzgerald, that iowall make a lot of sense. Like
that is interesting because he was thirty five when he
got the job at Northwestern, so he's only mid fifties. Now,
I mean he's got he's got some ball left and
I'm sure he wants to get back in it. That
is an interesting one. I thought you were gonna go
with Urban Meyer.

Speaker 4 (01:12:17):
John.

Speaker 2 (01:12:19):
I don't think they can go John Gruden. No, and
nor should they. I don't think I want John Gruden
to stay with Barstool. I need I need the unboxing
videos to keep going.

Speaker 1 (01:12:29):
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, you guys mentioned Wisconsin. You think
it's a done deal.

Speaker 4 (01:12:34):
He's done there, so thirty seven and nothing and to
Justin guards and you sent me this because this is
how I saw it. The Hawkeye Twitter account is trolling
Wisconsin by it's Bucky doing pushups for each one of
the thirty seven points that they scored in that thirty

(01:12:54):
seven and nothing loss. That needed to be the game
where Luke Fickles team showed up, because now they get
Ohio State and Oregon.

Speaker 3 (01:13:03):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (01:13:03):
I it just seems like the writing on the wall
is there if you're if you're there at this point
for the Badger fans, I know I have thoughts, but
are we just essentially waiting to see there that Macintosh
is gonna let Luke Fickle eat it these next couple
of weeks, because like I said, they gotta go play
Ohio State, they gotta go play Oregon. Oh by the way,

(01:13:25):
they get a five and one Washington team Indiana Illinois
and then the Gophers. Do you just let him eat
it here the next couple of weeks and then pull
the plug or what do you do with that twenty
five million dollar bio chip?

Speaker 1 (01:13:37):
You know? I kept thinking they need a win in
the worst way where it just says, okay, not only
you need just to stop to lose streak to feel
good about yourself, but just like, okay, there's we see
signs of, you know, or a competitive game where like
some games where they're they're not necessarily maybe not winning,
but okay, you're getting better defensively, or this quarterback is

(01:13:58):
doing something something that shows, okay, this is trending towards something.
How can you say right now trending towards anything? Can
you know? I I don't. I mean, that's a big buyout.
I mean, obviously their financial situation is different than Penn States.

Speaker 3 (01:14:16):
It's not great. It's not as good as you think
it should be.

Speaker 1 (01:14:20):
It was a third stadium. I mean, it's not you
know they're not selling. I don't know, I I I.
My gut says they're making coach and change after season.
I don't know they're gonna do it mid season, but
my gut says they make a change after a season.

Speaker 4 (01:14:38):
I know that they've had quarterback injury issues for the
entire Loop Fickle era, and they're starting from southern Illinois.
But you just you don't have any identity anywhere, and
you just lost thirty seven nothing to Iowa. Where the
stat line from Mark Gronowski at the end of the
day where they scored thirty seven points as a team

(01:14:58):
was one hundred and seven pound sing yards and a pick.
That's not a particularly I don't think this is a
world beating Iowa team. Now, Iowall can certainly do what
Iowa does to you, and we'll see them in a
couple of weeks. But I just think when you do
pull the plug, I would look at guys like Jason Eck,
who is worked his way up as a Wisconsin native,

(01:15:20):
is doing some really good things in New Mexico. You
look at potentially, does Lance Leipol want to get out
of Kansas and come back where he is already a
legend in the UW athletics system and has won a
lot of games. But does either one of those hires
inspire a lot more confidence than what Luke Fickle did
because you're going to be paying him twenty something million
dollars to go away, and then you got to give

(01:15:43):
whoever the next guy is more money. I don't know
what you do if you're Macintosh, because you've also got
Barry Alvarez talking about how spoiled rout in this fan
base is. And I always will say, anger is not
what you should be worried about if you're an athletic department.
The only thing worse than that his apathy. And to
see the amount of open seats at Camp randall Right

(01:16:05):
for an Iowa Wisconsin game was I think that was
the biggest sign to me that they're just not going
to have a choice at this point.

Speaker 3 (01:16:13):
I think that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:16:14):
There comes a point where it's more expensive to bring
him back than it would be to keep him, and
even though you have to pay him that much. Now
with Christ, if you remember they negotiated a lower buyout.
They basically had a meeting Macintosh and Christ and basically
work together to say this isn't going to work. Like

(01:16:34):
his buyout I think was almost cut in half or
maybe like by a third. I don't know if Luke
Fickle is going to be that accommodating. I don't know
why I would be, but to me, I just can't.
It's amazing to me, I would love you know, I've
always I've always referenced the Rick tellenderbook Reading to Ross
about the Barry Alvarez era and how that's like, to me,

(01:16:56):
the greatest education in college sports, that if you follow it,
everybody should read it because it just it went through
exactly how everything changed with Barry Alvarez. And this was
written in the mid nineties, but so they even sustained
it for two decades after that. There needs to be
a book or an athletic oral history written about the
reverse how quickly they screwed this thing up with I

(01:17:19):
think so. And to me, it starts with firing Paul
christ I mean the guy. The guy had one average
year at like seven and five coming out of COVID,
which I do think matters, by the way, like we
do have to remember that happened, so like they didn't
have a great year in COVID. Then he has like
a seven and five season, he's like two and two
or three and two right the next year, and they

(01:17:40):
fire him and think, well, because they have this illusion that,
like you look back, Barry Alvarez had dips, Brett Bilima
had dips right, seven and six is we're talking about.
It wasn't just you know, now they had They had
a great run with with Beilama and then with Gary
Anderson for the two years, and then with Chris where

(01:18:00):
they were nine to ten eleven pretty consistently right. But
they didn't even allow the dude to have a dip,
and they fired him. And you bring in this guy
that wants to change everything and they completely forget who
they are. They completely go you know, kind of like
when Brew came in here chip and did the spread
right and basically even still goes. Offense wasn't the problem.

(01:18:22):
You know, we were running for five hundred yards a game,
and so you forget who you are. You have immediate
pushback from alumni, which is never helpful. Again, guys, that
won't close to your book. I know we've had this
conversation over and over, but I just can't imagine screwing
up a great situation quicker and more completely than Wisconsin has.

(01:18:46):
And now you are going to have to You're gonna
have to financially shock the system to get it back,
because negative momentum is just as hard to stop as
positive momentum.

Speaker 3 (01:18:56):
Right, it's really hard to stop.

Speaker 2 (01:18:58):
And I don't see any other way, Like, I don't
see how Fickle can drag his way out of this
and why it's surprising that they made the move.

Speaker 3 (01:19:06):
And I know I've gone way too long here.

Speaker 1 (01:19:07):
No, like.

Speaker 2 (01:19:10):
Greg Guard, they wanted fired two or three times, right,
And I even talked to him about it at the
final four after I asked him what his favorite restaurant
in Lakeville was, and of course he said Culvers, which
it's like branch out a little bit.

Speaker 3 (01:19:23):
Greg.

Speaker 2 (01:19:23):
It was a great line. He's like, there's a Culver's
right off the interstate. I hit that and go to
the airport, like Greg Guard was. I remember, I'm old
enough to remember right before the pandemic, when Richard Patino's
Gopher team just ran the Badgers out of the gym
at Williams A. Rena's, the last time they beat Wisconsin.
And I remember talking to some people to my family

(01:19:45):
that are influential in Wisconsin athletics. And I said, is
Greg gonna survive this? This does not look good? And
he's like, I hope, So, I hope he does.

Speaker 3 (01:19:51):
He's a good guy. Blah blah blah blah blah.

Speaker 2 (01:19:53):
Well, they won like eight games in a row to
finish the season, shared the Big Ten title, and they've
been pretty good since then. Right, they've been top of
the tent. Yeah right, I mean yeah, tournament teams. Now,
I know they haven't had the tournament success that they've wanted,
you know that they got used to. But again, it's
like they let him work through some stuff and now

(01:20:13):
they're a preseason ranked top twenty five team again, right,
Like they're in a good spot. And I'm just stunned
that that Chris did not get that same opportunity and
here they are, and it's just amazing how quickly the
whole thing has fallen.

Speaker 1 (01:20:28):
Yeah, you get you in whatever hour is called it
spoiled or whatever, but you get tricked into believing that
Rose bowls are expected and it's the goal. But when
you go three times or whatever four times, you know,
and and Barry created such a you know, such a

(01:20:57):
uh momentum and brand with how they played and the
jump around and and and all the things that were
happening with Wisconsin football in that era, and beelam maht it.
If there's any slippage, you know, fans are like, wait,

(01:21:17):
whoa wait, you know, this is not how it's supposed
to be. We're supposed to be going the Rose Bowls,
We're supposed to be doing all these great things at
a time when college football was changing itself, not just
your program, but college football was changing. And there gets
this impatient that drives decisions, and I you know, I thought,

(01:21:42):
you know, I thought Chris is a good coach. I
really think he's a good coach.

Speaker 2 (01:21:47):
And Orange Bowl he won sevent his Big ten games.

Speaker 1 (01:21:50):
But when they made the decision and they brought Fickle in,
I thought, you know what, that's a pretty good hire.
Like that's a guy who's established, who's won. He's gonna
win there. He's going to get them back to, you know,
being eight nine ten wins. His fundamental flaw was bringing
in that air raid and thinking that that was gonna
and and it just didn't fit. The personnel didn't fit,

(01:22:14):
the style didn't fit. I don't know about his recruiting burns.
You know that more than me, but you're right that
I think they're the much like Franklin when you lose
your fans and they stop going to games and they
stopped donating money because they don't believe in the coach

(01:22:34):
or the direction you have to. I mean, at that point,
your hands are it's being the decision is being made
for you by your fans, you know, because it's hard
to if they run. If they run this out and
don't win another game, what is your message going forward?
If you stay put? Like how are you going to

(01:22:55):
get fans to buy into what you're doing? I mean,
I don't how you do it.

Speaker 4 (01:23:01):
I just I don't know what they're waiting for because
it's not getting any better, Like you're not gonna you
can't come up for air when Ohio State, Oregon or
the next two teams on the with everybody in lining
up for the coaching carousel that we've already seen. And
as I said, three teams fired their coaches on Sunday,
Penn State, Oregon State, and UA B and we're still

(01:23:21):
waiting to see what other teams do. Why what are
you waiting for? At this point? It can't get any worse.
You're going to lose those games. So I'm gonna be
very curious to see what this whole thing when they're
with Wisconsin ends up being.

Speaker 1 (01:23:35):
Well, and you know that I do. I mean, you
always say make the move so you can get ahead
of the line in the recruiting or in when you're
talking to coaches. Ads are talking to ages behind the scenes.
They know so that that.

Speaker 2 (01:23:49):
Drawn, the numbers have already been drawn. They're waiting for
their number to be called.

Speaker 1 (01:23:53):
Yeah, these you know, these ads know who they want
to target, that they're talking to them already if they
if they decide to make a move. So that's it's
not like you're gonna like it doesn't surprise him. It
doesn't just come out of nowhere, you know. So the
Fifthzgerald want to you know that isn't it's it's he

(01:24:13):
I'm guessing will be a popular candidate, probably right for
these these jobs.

Speaker 4 (01:24:21):
I'll be curious to know what the settlement was or
what the language is, and we don't know that, and
I don't'm sure we'll never know that with Northwestern and
him in terms of does he get the full settlement
if and when he takes another job, because I think
that'll have to Yeah, it's no idea.

Speaker 3 (01:24:37):
Wrongfully fired and.

Speaker 1 (01:24:38):
Yeah, that's it's not offset language in a contract. I
mean it's a lawsuit.

Speaker 3 (01:24:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:24:43):
I think he whatever they settle, and I think he
gets it, Yeah, because because he's not going to take
a settlement if you can't coach again, if it's going
to mess it up, right, I wouldn't.

Speaker 4 (01:24:50):
Think I've learned. Look, I'm not as old and as
wise as you two, but I've learned through my ears,
never underestimate the power of whatever random lawyer count or
which is within anything.

Speaker 3 (01:25:02):
Some of it.

Speaker 4 (01:25:02):
It's like, why when the world is that in there?
That's a great question everyone. I'm just telling you. I'm
not a lawyer.

Speaker 2 (01:25:09):
All right, Well, we should probably wrap this up. We
went along on Wisconsin, which we should have. We went
long on Franklin, which we should have. We got more
good games to talk about next week. We'll preview Iowa
next week. We don't have the kick time for that yet.
We know it won't be a night game though, so
Burnsy's very excited about that. We've got that figured out,
But anything else in our final minute or so that

(01:25:29):
we want to cover guys, anything we need to discuss.

Speaker 3 (01:25:32):
Are we good?

Speaker 4 (01:25:33):
I'm excited to be able to watch some college football
again on Saturday, because you got I mean Washington Michigan
at eleven am. You've got some pretty nice two thirty
slates across the board, and then you get to end
with USC Notre Dame that night. Yeah, that'll be a
good one Friday night game is while we were, we

(01:25:53):
will all be trying to get some brownie points.

Speaker 1 (01:25:56):
Saturday in October.

Speaker 3 (01:25:57):
It must be Tennessee, Alabama.

Speaker 1 (01:26:00):
And I'm going to be in Des Moines. My youngest
is putting his head down. He trained, he's going to
run the Des Moines Marathon on Sunday. All right, living
in a house and living in a frat house and
training for a marathon, I don't think those two things
lined up. But he he has done. He's been diligent,
and he's running his first marathon on Sunday. So I'm
driving down Saturday to support him. I'm going to cheer
him on Sunday. But don't think I won't find a

(01:26:22):
bar in Des Moines. If you have any good recommendations
for third Saturday in October, baby.

Speaker 2 (01:26:28):
I actually do have a good recommendation. I can't remember
it's downtown.

Speaker 1 (01:26:31):
I can't remember stand downtown.

Speaker 2 (01:26:33):
Yeah, I was there the night before the Gophers played
Louisville on the NCAA tournament Richard Patino the Gabe Calcier game,
seven to three, eleven am. Let's just say that eleven
am tip came up pretty quickly on your boy after
his night, after his night in Moine. So I will
remember what it's called. I will text you. It's a

(01:26:53):
great little dive bar spot. Looks like it's got if
I remember correctly. It has plenty of TVs, and I
definitely know it has IPAs, so that will be the
one that will be the one for you. But that
eleven eleven o'clock tip with Kevin Harlan and Reggie Miller
ally the force on the call CBS, that was a
tough one for me.

Speaker 3 (01:27:10):
I'm just gonna say.

Speaker 4 (01:27:11):
That, who's your flu game down there?

Speaker 2 (01:27:14):
It pretty much was. Then I had to drive home
after the game. Yeah, that was quite a night, quite
a weekend, all right. Congratulations to our friends at Jack's
Cafe for the Legends Restaurant Bracket Challenge Championship. Minnesota Monthly Magazine,
Minnesota monthly dot com. If you if you don't believe us,
check it out because it's right there. Don't forget about
the Hunter's Dinner. You can learn more about it the

(01:27:34):
Jackscafe dot com. Check out the social media channel the
parent of Spare twitter handle for details on how we're
going to give away the Jack's Cafe tickets for Friday
night against Nebraska. Have a great MBA weekend if you
want to come do anything in Minnetaka or you dine
to do it this weekend because all the residents go
to Cabo and Santa Bell, which wasn't a thing when
I was a kid. I just want everyone to know, Okay,

(01:27:55):
we did not do that. The guards did not participate
in that nonsense, because that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard,
is a it's NBA, We're going to Cabo, stay at
Grandma and Grandpa's timeshare, get lost, tell a friend about
a subscribe, hit the YouTube channel and we'll talk to
you next week on the parentis Bear podcast

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