August 2025: Open Practice Thoughts, Roster Questions, Schedule Check

Chip Scoggins, Ryan Burns and Justin Gaard are back to start the preseason hype and overreactions now that the guys have been to a few Gopher practices. What questions do they still have about the 2025 roster? They also do a quick run through of the schedule and give some first predictions about final records for the year.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you, PJ.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
It is time for another edition of the Parent of
Spare Podcast. We are presented as always by our great
partners at Jack's Cafe. Make your reservations at Jaxcafe dot com.
If you're watching on the YouTube channel, you can see
The Parent of Spare Podcast is presented by Jack's Cafe.
Make your reservations at Jackscafe dot com. I'm justin Guard
from the fan, Ryan Burns from Gopher Illustrated dot com,

(00:22):
Chips Goggins from the Minnesota Star Tribune, and we're joined
by very special guests this week on the podcast. Burns's
cats Colly, who just decided that they have a voice.
They've heard their father podcasting and doing interviews for the
last what six months, Burnsy, since you grabbed this batch
and now the cats are going to sporadically pop into

(00:43):
the show, which is I think a nice edition.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
I think people are going to enjoy this.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Yeah, it's all those kittens I was talking about in
the last episode have now figured out that they can
me ow. I have the door closed matter. It doesn't.
It truly doesn't, because I was telling you guys in
the pre production meeting here, which is so official, like
their room we have them in is directly above my bedroom,

(01:10):
and it just sounds like four four year olds just
running around all night. So the good part is most
of them have been adopted, of which by the time
people listen to this, maybe they've all been adopted, so
hopefully we can get them to their final stops and
the destination. But if you hear me, how's in the
background and you're thinking to yourself.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Today, I don't even have a cat. What was that?

Speaker 3 (01:32):
That's just the four hundred animals I have in my
upstairs right now.

Speaker 4 (01:36):
So you still have the dog too, I still.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Got the mastiff. Yeah, the mastiff's the full time or
he's almost ten now my ten year old mastiff?

Speaker 4 (01:44):
Is he just filling tortured at this point? Like, how's
that going?

Speaker 3 (01:48):
He is very nonchalant with all them, which we're grateful for,
but I mean he's I don't know if I've ever
told you what a walk is like with a with
a mastiff. I go one block over, one block up,
one block over, and I'm back in my house and
he's gassed. Yeah, when we adopted him, like he is also.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
My fitness routine.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
By the way, anybody's.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Familiar Yeah, what I've done this summer.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
It's like a quarter mile to a half mile walk
of where you don't go any faster than a slow stroll,
i'll call it. But when we adopted him, he already
had arthritis and all four legs.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
I mean, it's.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
It's it's a whole thing over here right now. So
I'm I'm glad that football season's almost here so I
can get the upstairs cleared out now that we have uh,
I think these will be the time they all get adopted.
I think we'll have nine cats that got adopted through
us this summer.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
So that's all reel. Well, it's nice that you do that.
In all seriousness, it's nice that you do that. Yeah,
they're dogs. At some point, they're opposite of human. You know,
when like dogs get when humans get older, they get
crankier and they get annoyed by things. Yeah, my experience
is when dogs just stop giving a bleep about anything
when they reach a certain age, Like this isn't going
to bother me. You know, I'm fine, I'm getting fed,

(03:03):
I'm getting my four block walk in.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
I'm fine. You know, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 4 (03:06):
I can sleep through anything.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
Ten cats going crazy.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
And your your house chipper is the exact opposer, right,
I mean being the empty nester. Basically, it's just like, yeah,
there's no sounds coming from your house. You you worry
about every sound because they're so rare.

Speaker 4 (03:20):
Yeah, we have a we have a four year old
dog that still thinks it's nine months old.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
So that's great.

Speaker 4 (03:27):
And we've had the uh the youngest home for summer.
So take it in back to school on on Sunday.
So it is gonna be back to empty nesters.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
So you'll have time. Yeah, you'll be you'll be available.
All right, Well, how was it burnsy or how were they?
I should say, let's start the pod? How were they?

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Who's they?

Speaker 2 (03:47):
The two opportunities you've had to watch go for football practice?
The cat the two opportunities you've gotten to watch go
for football practice.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
You've been waiting.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
We haven't talked since the Saturday night practice, since last
two Tuesday, every week the last six weeks in Vegas.
You're wondering when am I going to get to see practice.
I gotta go see practice. Dan Owen needs to take
pictures of practice. I gotta go see house and Greeter
and Randy Johnson and I'll chip you saw there too.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
How was there one?

Speaker 1 (04:15):
I'm going tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
I have not not yet been, but I know Burnsy,
let's you.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
You asked for it, you wanted it. How was it?

Speaker 3 (04:23):
Well, I'll be the first to say I'm very grateful
for our listeners, of which I've learned through these experiences
that there's a lot of in the University of Minnesota
apparel that walk the sidelines during these practices, of which
they know my rhetoric with things around this. So I
just want to say so blessed and highly favored once
again to be able to cover as such an elite

(04:45):
go for football program. But it's it's life change and stuff,
being able to go out there and actually watch practice
as we see Wisconsin just as everything open at Plattfell
and then Iowa opens one a year.

Speaker 4 (04:58):
But he's not bitter. He's not bitter at all about this.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
I'm always better.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah, I know I'm more better than all your I
p as that you two drink.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
But I had some good ones this weekend. But go ahead. Yeah,
well here's what I'll say.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Let me, let let me stop you, Let me stop you,
because we do need to We need to flesh this
out a little bit. So yeah, college coaches, Yeah, don't
really fair on anybody to do anything right. We get
to go to like every vikings practice and great terrific.
I don't know if I know anything more about the
team than I did. You know before August eleventh, whatever

(05:32):
it is, Chip or This is what I always tell Burnsy.
I always tell Burnsy you don't need the access. You're
Ryan Burns. You are the product people. People are going
to go for Illustrated dot com for you.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
You and Burnsy.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
By the way, Burnsy knows all these coaches better than
their wives do.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
He knows everything that's going on with the program. You
don't need practice, Burnsy, so stop complaining about practice.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
What do you think, Chip, I think that was.

Speaker 4 (05:59):
Very well said, I will say in Burnsy's defense, and
I was talking the house about this. You like to
have content, You like to talk to the athletes to
get to know them. Yeah, a little bit better the
personalities for someone like me, who you know, follows the program,
but not as intensely obviously as burns Y. There's so
many new guys.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
I just want to see, Yeah, what.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
What they look like?

Speaker 1 (06:22):
Now?

Speaker 4 (06:22):
Burnsy? You know he knows it like the bag of
his hand. But right helped me at practice the other day, like, yeah,
who are these guys?

Speaker 3 (06:28):
You know it's more content related or content related consternation.
If we're going to get all about three to six
thirty verbiage here with uh.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
I just say, you are the content in my opinion,
I said that the house too. I go, you guys
are the content. You don't need them. Okay, stop acting
like you need them. You don't need them.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
I like quote I don't know journalist part of.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Me about have availabilities and things like that. I know,
but anyway, I just like busting you because it bothers
you so much. And like you say, though, Iowa opens
up one right.

Speaker 3 (07:01):
If I've learned anything from this program, it's comparison.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
Steal your joy. So while I know.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
That Wisconsin gets to go to everything, Iowa gets to
go to nothing. Very different media markets. That's a whole
different tobaccle and discussion. But again, I just love talking
about this program and I like to have things to
like write about outside and again talking about it on
podcasts like these, it's helpful for me. But I think
this is such an interesting twenty twenty five team because

(07:29):
they're just they have talent, but it's inexperienced and you
don't know how it's going to translate to Thursdays, Fridays
or Saturdays at this point. But then you also look
at the schedule and you think to yourself, there's avenues
for a ceiling, but they're very thin at positions, which
tells you that there's a lot I think missing a

(07:50):
bowl game floor if they get injuries at certain positions.
It's a fascinating kind of team to look at, and
with all the wide range of outcomes, chip it's I
don't know, I feel like i've I've I've seen a
lot of it, and I'm excited to see one last
one tomorrow to try and figure it out one last
time before we got to put our pencils down and

(08:10):
actually really give the fans what an accurate prediction to
me would be.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
But what do you think?

Speaker 4 (08:17):
Yeah, it's hard because, like you know, I get to
watch one practice and they're not going to show a
ton in the one practice we get to see, obviously,
So but I did, Hey, guardsy, I got my notebook.
I made some notes from my one practice appearance. I
believe ye, I'll just I'll ramble, I'll show. I'll wrote
down some names of guys that jumped out me. Obviously,

(08:40):
the what was that last week we went Burnsey?

Speaker 1 (08:42):
Was that?

Speaker 4 (08:44):
Yeah, that's today that Drake Lindsay Really I thought showed
off his arm with the deep balls to uh Jalen
Smith at two deep passes like what sixty yards? Maybe
we didn't see a lot of you know, team stuff,
but Jalen Smith really jumps out at you. I mean

(09:05):
his speed, his athleticism, He's gonna be hard to keep.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
Off the field.

Speaker 4 (09:09):
I think, Uh, that's kid, right, yeah, Mankato West what
right West? Yeah, the defensive kid that really jumped out
to me. Parish, how do you pronounce his first name?
The corner. Somebody was telling me that he at that
he came from a blue blood, premier high school football program,

(09:31):
like set the record for interceptions and he had a
I think the one that Corey Parrish slipped on. But
he picked off an interception off the ground basically and
his shoes shoe tops and returned it for what would
have been a pick sick. He just he looks comfortable.
He looks like a playmaker, right, I mean he he
jumped out.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
Well, It's like a constant rhetoric from defensive coaches over
the years is you find guys that get around the ball,
that are seemingly always around the ball. I remember Cody
Lenneberg was somebody that the staff always talked about in
that regard. And we've seen true freshman play at corner before,
guys like Justin Wally among others.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
So It'srell Smith.

Speaker 4 (10:10):
Yeah, I asked Danny Collins because I mean, obviously the
kid's talented, but like being talented and being ready to
contribute as a true freshman in the Big ten's to
you know, two totally different conversations. But he said it helped.
He was a spring kid, so you know, he's been
here through springball. He's it's not like you just show
up the fall camp, so he's had, you know, a

(10:31):
little more extra time and that probably helped him. And
I thought A J. Turner, you can tell he has
some bursts as as a running back.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
He h.

Speaker 4 (10:40):
I mean, obviously Darius Taylor is the league guy, but
Turner his speed jumped out. And then I think at
least their starting defensive line with eastern And and Anthony
Smith and Logan Reading, I mean those guys are good.
They really Devin Eastern just looks like he You know
how I feel about Anthony Smith. I think he's been

(11:01):
a superstar in waiting and I think he just has
everything you want from that position. But Devin Eastern looks
like he He looks like he's gonna have a big year,
I think. But I think that I think that first
team defensive line has a chance to be really good.

Speaker 3 (11:15):
Yeah, they were just very thin at defensive line. Yeah,
like their top group is great, Like for Minnesota standards,
it is great. I think it's a good to potentially
very good starting defensive line. I just think it drops
off a cliff.

Speaker 4 (11:30):
They gotta be healthy, yeah, I mean they got to
be healthy. There are some of these other guys are
gonna have to step up and really show that they
can be trusted.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Well, that's where you just have so much inexperience and
you don't know what to think about certain guys, Like
we talk about it. Even a guy like Jackson howard
Or hasn't played a lot of football. Carter menz Than,
former number one player in North Dakota, hasn't played a
lot of football. Rushawn Lawrence hasn't played any Big ten
football you even get to the offensive side of the
ball where Drake Lindsay holds the keys to this whole thing.

(11:59):
And I know that they think the world of him.
I think he's going to be a good player, but
we all recognize from game one to Game thirteen that
thing ain't gonna be linear. And what does it look
like starting seventeen days from now against Buffalo Now it's
so it's it's interesting, Chip.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
I did find it pretty interesting. After after that practice
the cordier's talking, Greg Harbo said that he how did
he phrase it?

Speaker 3 (12:26):
He's he has one of my favorite phrases that I
get shastised for.

Speaker 4 (12:30):
It's uh, the plate, not the play.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
Yeah, it's the plate pit.

Speaker 4 (12:33):
But he basically said he's has more installed or he's given.

Speaker 1 (12:37):
More, put more on the plate.

Speaker 4 (12:39):
Chip, put more on the plate than he did Max
Brosmer at this time last year, which I don't know
if that's.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
I don't believe. I don't believe. I don't believe you, Greg, Yeah, I.

Speaker 4 (12:53):
It's nott me too. I was like, really, because I
felt like Max Rosey was new the entire offense by
you know, but like the back of his hand, by
this time. So, but it I think it does eternally.
They are doing nothing to lower expectations for this guy.
I mean, PJ. Harbow, there's no like easing into it.

(13:14):
I mean you're talking about they you know, they expect
him to hit the ground running and not have to
say we're gonna kind of nurture this along. No, I
mean they're they're they're raising the expectations big time for
him publicly.

Speaker 3 (13:29):
Well, the I think that's even a great topic to
get your guys opinions on itself, is Drake Lindsay expectations
because national wise, everybody thinks Drake Lindsay stinks. Now I
understand there's again just a handful of people that cover
this program. You look at any like Big ten quarterback
power rankings, Drake's usually eighteenth, and I get it, and

(13:50):
he hasn't done anything.

Speaker 4 (13:51):
Those things are based on experience.

Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yeah, they're based on the stinks.

Speaker 2 (13:55):
They just don't know what he is like, You couldn't
how could you put him top ten?

Speaker 1 (13:59):
Right?

Speaker 4 (14:00):
You think about who han't haven't played it down yet
right as.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
Start played a few Yeah, but your points well taken.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
So that's where I actually went back and looked at
first year quarterback performances, and I picked Tanner Morgan eighth
and Calliac Manus. I think it was Mitch Leidner and
Adam Weber. Like four again, you can pick and chain,
pick and choose. I should say, your data sets here,

(14:28):
But do you guys want to guess of those four
quarterbacks what the highest completion percentage was? Of those four? Again,
Adam Weber's first year is the starter, Tanner Morgan eighth
and Calliac Manus and the Pride of Lakeville Mitch Leidner.

Speaker 1 (14:44):
I'd say, yeah, I listened to go for Gridiron Radio.

Speaker 4 (14:50):
When you're cheating, you're cheating, Okay, I do mine.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
I was gonna stay, but I was in and out
of sleep and I p as and so I don't
remember exactly, but it was in the fifties.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
It was in the high fifties.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
I want to say, yeah, the best was I think
it was fifty eight percent, which I think was Tanner. Yes,
so that's where Max Brosemer. Last year, Chipper completed sixty
six percent.

Speaker 1 (15:16):
Of his balls.

Speaker 3 (15:17):
Now I set the over under for Drake Lindsey completed
percentage at around sixty one sixty two percent maybe, which
again that would be three percent higher than any other
recent Gopher quarterback who is worth much or at least
started for multiple years in the Big Ten. Now, the
other thing is, you look at Brosemer last year, rosemur

(15:40):
four Minnesota eighteen passing touchdowns, six interceptions. You want to
guess kind of what it looked like for those other
guys in their first years as a starter.

Speaker 4 (15:53):
Was it fifty to fifty tds interceptions?

Speaker 3 (15:55):
It was a little better than that, but you had
everything from Adam Weber throwing twenty four passing touchdowns that
also came with nineteen interceptions, which I think by the
eleventh interception PJ. Fleck would lose his mind and just
run the ball sixty nine times a game here.

Speaker 4 (16:13):
That that's that is the to me, the whole uh
conversation about what Drake is gonna do is to me,
can they run the ball better? Is that offensive line
going to be better equipped to run the ball? You know,
I think they got really good running backs. I mean,

(16:34):
obviously Darres, Taylor Turner, the other transfer Burns Davis. Yeah,
So it's not the question of running backs, and I
don't think it's a question of whether PJ is going
to be committed to. It's just it was hard for
me to get a real true sense in that one

(16:55):
practice of the offensive line kind of where they're at
and all those things. But they've got to run the ball.
I mean, if you're if you're if you can't run
the ball, and you're putting more pressure on him to
throw the ball, there's gonna be interceptions, you know, I mean,
because it's I think they want to be able to
go back to maybe not all the way back to
where they were, but I think they're gonna have to
lean on that running game a lot more than they

(17:15):
did last.

Speaker 3 (17:15):
Year, which all right, Max Brosmer threw the ball like
four hundred, four hundred five times last year. Okay, I
want to guess what I would tell you. I think
the over under is for Drake Lindsay pass attempts period, Yeah, five.

Speaker 4 (17:29):
So I looked it up the other day, Max or
they they averaged thirty one attempts pass attempts per game
last year, which was that was like fifty ath fifty
I actually fifty seven Nashally after being at the bottom Nashally, Yeah,
that was that was air raid. That was DJ going
air raid thirty one. I think it's thirty one point
seven attempts. If you asked me how many attempts, uh,

(17:55):
twenty three to twenty five?

Speaker 1 (17:57):
Was twenty five? Well, I think Drake not.

Speaker 3 (18:03):
I'd have to do my Tartan education math. In my head,
I'd set the over under at like three hundred and
forty five pass attempts, which again I can do the math.
I can't do the math, but I think it's like
twenty seven ish. So if you do three forty five
by thirteen, it's like twenty six twenty seven. Because I
think they're still going to throw the ball, they would

(18:25):
want to run the ball more. I think Harbo referred
to it, referred to it as a young quarterback's best friend. Again,
I think there's gonna be a lot of similarities with
the way that Kevin O'Connell wants to do it with
JJ McCarthy and Greg Harbo wants to do it with
Drake Lindsay, Now, if Minnesota can't run the ball or

(18:45):
is incredibly mind numbingly inconsistent like they were last year
from week to week where they could pound it against
USC and then couldn't do anything against UCLA to pound
it against Illinois, to can't run it against Rutgers, then
you're going to see it a little bit more. But
they're also I mean, running the football is going to

(19:06):
come down to do they have enough tackles? To me,
because they're already without Nathan Roy.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
That's where I wanted to go next. Tell us about
the injuries.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
Tell us about the injuries along the the revamped offensive line.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
Well, it's even defensive line wise too, where they brought
in a transfer at defensive tackle name I'm going to
get the last name wrong because mo Anomone from who
was supposed to come in and give two hundred three
hundred snaps at one technique, Well he can't even walk
right now from a back injury that he sustained at Purdue,

(19:39):
of which I would love to be a fly on
the wall now knowing what they know, because I don't
expect him to play anytime soon, if at all this season.
And then there guy who is.

Speaker 4 (19:49):
Going to be lately he showed up with that.

Speaker 3 (19:53):
They took him knowing that he had a back injury
that forced him. Now why did they do that? Well,
they have the former Purdue defensive coordinator on staff and
Kevin Kine, who I'm going to imagine knew more about
the medicals and the situation about this than everybody. Plus
I would imagine the go for training staff also signed
off on it. Well, it turns out they were wrong.

(20:14):
I mean, it is what it is. But the issue
is the guy who is going to be behind him,
THEO Randall is now it sounds like has a broken
foot of some kind and he's going to be out
for at least the first month. They're just so thin there,
and they were already thin at defensive tackle, but you
took a transfer of which if they could go back
in time, they would take another one. Yeah, but tackle

(20:37):
is another spot where they have a lot of interior
bodies as you saw ship, but they don't have a
lot of tackle bodies. Now, why don't they have a
lot of tackle bodies? I would encourage you to go
look at the twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two
recruiting classes, of which none of them are essentially here anymore.
Ariante is about the only great case there. The other

(20:58):
ones have not panned out at all, and that's why
you're looking at a red shirt freshman potentially at left
tackle and Nathan Roy but he's now injured.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
He's now missed.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
Over a week of time, which the more time that passes,
the more time that means. The Washington kid Khalid to
Phi is going to get a long look at left tackle.
You've also got a guy at right tackle and Dylan
Ray from Kentucky who played primarily guard when he was
in the SEC. Stop me if you've heard this before,

(21:28):
but PJ. Fleck and Brian Callahan are probably going to
be playing a guy at right tackle who should be
a guard. Does that sound familiar?

Speaker 4 (21:36):
Yep, the Washington that's seventy one, right.

Speaker 3 (21:40):
Yes, that is seventy one who missed the entire spring
recovering from shoulder deal. But he's now healthy getting in
I think for him it's just is he in shapeape.
I think he's got a lot of talent, But I mean,
these are your options here. You have a red shirt
freshman who's got prospect pedigree galore in Nathan Roy, but
he's injured. And then you've Kalide to Fi who's getting

(22:03):
back into shape but started games at left tackle for
Washington last year down the stretch, and then at right tackle.
Dylan Ray is probably a guard playing tackle in the
Big ten. Can they protect Drake, can they open passing lanes.
Plus you've got Greg Johnson moving off of center, Ashton
Beer's moving to center, Marcellis Marshall another transfer. They're plugging

(22:23):
in there, and we've seen historically Brian Callahan offensive lines
start slow.

Speaker 1 (22:29):
Right.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
So yeah, that's where I think that Buffalo game. I
looked at it yesterday just to see what Vegas thinks
the spread is in that game, of which the only
context they'll give you two before you guess is I
think Buffalo was picked.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
Fourth for the matt Yeah, you want to guess what
the depending on who you've asked. There's some people that
think they can win it, which I agree, which has
got me all paranoid.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
I'm gonna say you've.

Speaker 4 (22:54):
Been worried about this from a month if you watch
film or something.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
Yeah, I was breaking down the all twenty two from
a year ago.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
You're a big Kobe Stewart guy.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
There.

Speaker 3 (23:03):
I love them all, Mac Edge Rusher. That's gonna give
Minnesota troubles.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
I'm the point spread.

Speaker 4 (23:10):
I'm game one. They're always rushed.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
Go ahead, Chip, I'm so bad at this.

Speaker 4 (23:17):
I am too. I'm not a game.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
See. This is why I love it because you guys.

Speaker 4 (23:21):
This is so far eleven.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
I was going to say thirteen and a half.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
It opened as Gophers were eighteen and a half point favorites.
It's now been bet down to sixteen.

Speaker 1 (23:33):
And a half. Yeah, okay, I'm here to tell you
this is.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
I think a team that's going to go to a
bowl game for Minnesota.

Speaker 1 (23:40):
YEP.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
I feel pretty confident in saying that if Drake Lindsay
plays in thirteen games. But to your guys's point, the
last two years it has been a slog in the
opening game where it was Nebraska two years ago, last
year in North Carolina, I have famously coined it the
sloppiest game of the PJ. Flec tenure. And I don't
even think it's particular.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
Lily close, especially tackling.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
I mean, you missed your offense.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
Brozemer was off like there were just it was just sloppy,
bad penalties, Like for a team that is historically one
of the cleanest teams in terms of penalty wise, they had,
I mean they're jumping off sides, fall starts, YadA, YadA.
Now I'm not telling everybody to expect Bowling Green to
come in here and have something like that. But Buffalo

(24:26):
is a respectable team, so.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
It's I don't know, maybe let me give you this sure,
thank you, Phil Steele. Gophers are zero to two against
the spread versus Buffalo historically forty one to seventeen. Back
in two thousand and two, Chip was there, I was there,
and then twenty seventeen. The last time these two teams
played it was seventeen seven. They are four and six

(24:49):
against the spread versus Mac teams, including that Bowling Green
loss in twenty twenty one. By the way, in openers,
head coach PJ. Fleck Gophers are five and one against
the spread. Three have gone under the total the undertos,
so yeah, sixteen and a half. I wouldn't see. I never.

(25:11):
If I was a better I would never. Going back
to when I first started here, I wouldn't. I could
have retired years ago if I would have bet the
Gophers to not cover his favorites and to cover as underdogs.
That's how I would have bet. I should do that
sometime and see how much money I could have made,
because they always to me seem to cover when they're
the dogs, and especially you know the way PJ used

(25:32):
to play, you know, just run the ball and shut
it down in the third quarter. I feel like I
feel like they haven't covered a lot. I guess those
numbers would tell me that that's true, covered his favorites,
So I would be very nervous about that sixteen and
a half.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
Well, it's where there're I just think this team has
so much to learn about itself. Now. Yeah, I think
they would tell you through two weeks of camp they
know themselves pretty well, and heading into this final week,
they're got to figure out just some niche at that point.
But also you think you know what you know, and
then you got to go do it under the lights
on Thursday night at eight pm against another team that's

(26:08):
not wearing roon and gold, and you gotta find out
what Drake Lindsay looks like under pressure, What does the
defense look like the pressure. Is Jalen Smith ready for
time as a receiver in the Big ten or does
he needs more seasoning? Is your offensive line any good?
Can you cover anyone at corner without Justin Wally and
Ethan Robinson back there? I don't know right Like, there
are things I think I know and then there's things.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
That we have to find out.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
And I feel like, that's the difficult part about this
twenty twenty five team is what I think I know
versus what is actually going to happen. There's as big
of a discrepancy as we've seen in some time, just
because of the inexperience everywhere outside of like two three
positions on this entire team.

Speaker 4 (26:50):
Yeah, it's interesting because they have high end players with
coy Darius Smith, Darius Anthony Smith, I mean just some
you know, all big tinton in some cases all American talent.
But it is I mean it it's is. Ah different

(27:12):
doesn't mean worse or anything, you know, bad, It's just
we don't know, Like we have no idea how Drake
Lindsay's going to play, or how this offensive line is
gonna hold up, or you know what their depth, you know,
these death guys look like. But if you were to
rank your area concerns going in, would you put offensive

(27:36):
line one?

Speaker 3 (27:38):
I think I put defensive line one. Yeah, And that's
because of the That's the tricky part is because I
don't I wouldn't disagree with anybody who would say Anthony Smith,
Devon Eastern jayln Logan reading like put that three against
essentially any three in the Fleck era. I get it,
but it's the drop off to guys after them.

Speaker 4 (27:58):
You got to rotate, you got to play. Well, that's
you know, you have to.

Speaker 1 (28:03):
Years ago they did and.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yeah, well that's where I don't want Devin Eastern to
be gassed by Iowa. That gives me, no, there's no
value in that. You have to figure out if it's
going to be Nate Becker, the super senior from from
Maple Grove, is it going to be as someone else?
Like you have to get Jackson Howard's feet wet, you
have to get Carter Menz's feet wet. You have to

(28:26):
get a lot of guys' feet wet behind them, and
with that comes ups and downs or even linebacker like
I think Maverick Bereanowski is fine. I think he can
be a good big ten linebacker, but we have to
see him take that next step. And how much is
a guy like Emmanuel Krmo going to play? Of which
I want to be the high guy in the room

(28:47):
on Emmanuel Carmo because he is I mean he is
as in the football verbiage speak, he is as twitched
up as a front seven Gopher defender as a true
freshman as I've seen now. The fascinating part about the
Robinsdale Cooper kid, former number one player in the state

(29:07):
from last year's class, is I think he is if
you want to get really into the weeds here, like
he's a three four outside linebacker and a four to
three defense which.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (29:21):
I don't think you can call him a linebacker, and
that be true. I think he is just like a
front seven defender, of which you're gonna see him line
up at linebacker, You're going to see him line up
in the a gap standing up. You're going to see
him outside outside of a tackle try to rush the passer,
and that's where I think he is going to be.
I almost think on a Coy perritsh type of plan

(29:42):
where you saw him that in September last year.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
As Koy.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
Got better and better with the roles that he had,
say it, they added more to his plate. Say it, yep,
he ate his mashed potatoes, and they gave him a keeping.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
The gave they gave him some stuff in.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
I'm also I'm open to other cliches and euphemisms with
stuff like this, and I know people love to tell me,
so please feel free to tell me what other things
I should work into, because I know that is an
analogy that is getting very old.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
Yeah, tweet us, tweet us or drop him in the
YouTube channel comments. That would be great. I think you've
nailed the concerns that both lines and then corner. I'm
curious because.

Speaker 3 (30:24):
I'm worried about because you're just replacing a lot of guys.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
I just don't see how you can replace Justin Wally,
of which so unfortunate for him his ecl tear here, Yeah,
since we recorded last because it sounded like he was
in competition to potentially start for the Colts and yep,
it's a brutal break for him. But you're replacing a
four year starter and then a guy like Ethan Robinson,
who is I think in above average Big ten corner

(30:49):
very much, and Zekwon Bryan is the most experienced guy
you have in the room and he's played two hundred
dish snaps, right, So the question is are you going
to go to a guy like Naim Parish is a
true freshman. Is it gonna be the Iowa transfer John Nester,
Is it gonna be another freshman like Mike Gerald. I
just don't see how you can cover as well as

(31:11):
those two did because of the inexperience there. So yeah,
I think those would be my top three concerns would
be offensive, defensive line, corner. And I think the thing
that people might think is interesting is we don't put
quarterback in that top three.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
Right, Well, I mean because you just have the guy
that you turned well, and you know, the guy that
they've invested heavily in, Like we're gonna just have to
wait and see on that, Like, yeah, we think he's
gonna be good. Obviously, because I've been asked about Drake
almost daily, you know, going around uh and people say
what do they think of the quarterback? And my response
I probably said it here, was well, in twenty twenty five,

(31:52):
you don't have to turn it over to a freshman quarterback.
You can if you have any concerns about it or
worry about it. There's othernes to go get somebody like
they did a year ago. Right, Not that everybody's gonna
be Max Prosmer, but you don't have to do it
this way in twenty twenty five if you're at all
concerned about it. And like I think you said earlier,
Chip in the pod, they don't appear concerned about it,

(32:15):
like they've been ready to turn this thing over to him.
That was the plan since they got him, right, it
was go learn from Max for a year and we're
gonna give it to you and we'll see. So I
kind of got to go with their with their faith
in this until proven otherwise.

Speaker 4 (32:28):
Yeah, And I also think along those lines, their confidence
in him probably comes with the realization that there are
gonna be bumps in a rows. But of course, sure,
sure the heck would be nice to have a three
or four year starting quarterback or you know, multiple year
starting quarterback versus constantly having to go into the portal
and find somebody and year to year to year to

(32:48):
year to year. And if you find a guy in recruiting,
and they obviously targeted him and went hard at him
throughout that they felt like, this is their guy that
can be here multiple years. And yeh, you look at
a like physical skills, the maturity and all those things.
There's no concerns. There's he he has to go prove it, right,
I mean, that's we just have to see what it

(33:10):
looks like. And so, you know, we had the same
They said positive things about Max last year. But what
do we all say, Well, he's coming from New Hampshire,
this is a big jump. How's he going to assimilate
to a bigger, higher level. Well, he did pretty damn good,
you know, so he's have to go see it. So
But I I agree that just the inexperience at those

(33:34):
key positions. And again it's a different team, and different
doesn't necessarily mean worse. I keep saying that, but it's
just we don't know like how these guys are going
to perform until they do, and it you know, I
think it Uh, obviously not the most challenging non conference

(33:54):
scheduled to schedule.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
I think, yeah, the break in schedule, I agree with,
you do have two difficult role games and house state
in Oregon and going into play at Kinnick is never
easy as well. I think any Gopher fan of our
lifetimes would tell you that. But I mean, it could
be always, it always can be worse. Well, you boys
have taught me that now in my thirty three years
of age, you can look at Wisconsin's schedule and be like, yeah,

(34:19):
sweet Moses of Mary.

Speaker 4 (34:20):
And my theory is, if you're gonna play Ohio State
Oregon two top ten teams play them on the road. Yeah, right,
you know, play them on the road because you're gonna
be underdogs at home on the road wherever. So i'd
rather play those. Yeah, it's a manageable schedule, I mean,
for sure, and so, but it's interesting and Pj's always
up beat. He's never like he's gonna be you know,

(34:43):
Debbie Downer about anything. But you don't get even the
sense of that like uneasiness about the the uh, the
newness or the inexperience or the unknowns from him when
you hear him talk at all.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
I don't think so either. Yeah, I think they're excited.
I think they're excited about the group.

Speaker 3 (35:03):
Yeah, it's like I'm worried about quarterback too, whether that's
but that's all magic.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
I mean that's always the case, right, especially now when you.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
Get their expectations change and we can spend so many
weeks talking about stuff like that. But you know, the
other thing guards the and I think I don't know
if you heard me say this here recently, you know
what I'm actually kind of excited about after watching two practices.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
I'm gonna guess because of your eye kicking special teams,
all of it that's what I'm gonna guess.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
Their punting game looks much improved, which be still my
beating heart. I'm going to have to get shocked out
of apheb here because the new Australian kids, specifically Tom
Weston from I think he played at something crazy called
like Whack a Hatchie Christian Academy down in Oklahoma, a

(36:00):
D two somewhere like that kid's got a leg and
we've seen them for years. Hemorrhage field position. It's true
with Look, I love Mark Crawford, I see him at
Gopher practices still, but it would be thirty eight yards
in a cloud of dust if you needed twenty eight,
thirty eight, forty eight or fifty eight. And if Weston

(36:21):
can flip the field for them for someone who I'm
gonna read off a guardsy tweet from the back of
my head here, just like PJ. Fleck did at his
opening press conference at Big ten Media Days, played a
little trestle ball. It's just gonna run the clock out, right.
So if we have a head coach that we cover
in PJ. Fleck who likes that type of thing, if

(36:42):
you actually can gain yards and field position with a punter. Heck, yeah, man,
I mean I'm for that, plus your return game of
koy Perrich Aj Turner, who is an All Sun Belt guy,
or even Logan Loya like you have. You have re Turners,
you have a punting I don't know if your kicking
game is going to be much good yet, whether it's

(37:04):
the Alexandria true freshman and Daniel Jackson or if it's
the Syracuse kid and Brady Deniburgh. But I mean, I'm
I've heard it now for eight months, Fleck talking about
one possession games.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
Exactly where I was going to go. Yep. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (37:19):
In twenty nineteen they were six and one in one
possession games and that's how they won double digit games.
Last year they were seven and five. I would tell
you now, I think as hindsight continues to grow, they
underachieved with that team with all the talent that they had.
Why because they were three and five in one possession
games last year. If you now they won some they

(37:42):
shouldn't have won potentially, And you can talk about that
with the USC and the UCLA games, but the North
Carolina game, the Rutgers game, I think they'd love to
have that Penn State game.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Back.

Speaker 3 (37:52):
But so much of it comes down to kicking. We
saw them lose the opener, not just it's not only
on dra Goncassidge, it's not. But he missed two kicks right,
like two kicks within like forty five yards, I believe.
So if you're going to hit a ceiling season, your
kicking game better be I mean again, last year they

(38:13):
went from I look this up. When Dragan Kessidge won
Big Ten Kicker of the Year in twenty twenty three,
he was second in the Big Ten in field goal
percentage makes.

Speaker 1 (38:25):
Last year he was eleventh.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
That's crazy, Like I mean, he missed eight kicks, which
was tied for the most among any in the Big
Ten for any kicker in the Big Ten. Now, Fleck
loves to throw him out there, and I don't know
what he will do if it's a true freshman. Now
we've seen a true freshman do it before in nineteen
when Michael Lance was the guy, but he only kicked
eleven times compared to Kessage, who had twenty eight field

(38:50):
goal attempts last year. Right now, twenty nineteen, they also
were the greatest show on TCF Bank Stadium turf at
the time and we're just scoring points left and right.
But they better have a kicking game because it's if
you want them to win again. I believe the over
under for this season is still at six and a half,

(39:10):
maybe seven and a half in some places, depending upon
where you look. But if you want them to hit
the over, they better have a kicker.

Speaker 4 (39:17):
Well. And I always said that because at least the
way they played, they're not gonna be as conservatives been.
You're not gonna blow doors off teams with that kind
offense where you're just kind of methodical, and so you're
gonna be in those close games more often than not.
And so if you're indeficient and u inefficient in the

(39:40):
kicking game, if you're if it's a negative, if you're
not maximizing that, well, now you're putting even more pressure
on yourself. And so you're right. I mean, I don't
you know, I don't know much about these kickers. I
think they have the returners and yep, they're gonna break one,
but they need to be better. And you're right, because

(40:03):
it's it's hard to win close games if you if
you're unreliable in the kicking.

Speaker 3 (40:07):
I mean, just well, it's a team that like has
to win on the margins is the fleck teams are
great at not committing penalties. They're one of the most
least penalized team every single year across college football. And
if they're going to sneak a game or two or
win a game they're not supposed.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
To or too.

Speaker 3 (40:27):
That's where it's the hidden yards, it's the field position,
it's the kicking game, it's different things like that. It's
not committing stupid penalties to to either advance to get
an automatic first dount or whatever it may be. And
so it's if they can continue to be what flex
identity has been historically, which again very disciplined teams, and

(40:48):
then be an upgrade and somewhere like the kicking game
and the punting game, that's where you can start to
dream on a little bit of a ceiling with a
team like this.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
Well, we always talk about every business talks about areas
for oath. Right, we've all sat in a boardroom somewhere
like the Minnesota Star Tribune identified high school coverage as
an area.

Speaker 4 (41:06):
For coming today. You'll be shared a rollout today.

Speaker 1 (41:10):
Right, you're going hard.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
Everybody now has quit their beat and they're not even
covering the pro teams anymore. They're just doing high school
Dinah High School, Minnetaka hockey. My Mike Fork a kid, Uh,
he's got a beat writer that wants to he wants
to sit down with him before he enters third grade.
Area for growth with special teams, like just we always
talk about the twenty nineteen team like they were so

(41:34):
good at everything except special teams. And I'm sure I've
told the story on the pod, like you know, watching
Northwestern with Fitzgerald, obviously watching Iowa, you know where they
just weaponized field position, like field position.

Speaker 1 (41:48):
Was their weapon.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
We're gonna pin you inside the five, you're not gonna
move it regardless of enzone at Kinnick, and then we're
gonna get it at the fifty. And we're gonna have
scoring drives that are like three plays minus five yards
kick a field goal because that's just how we're gonna
do it. But like to be able to weaponize that
for the Gophers when like Chip said, they've got the returners,
hopefully they have the punter, like it would just open

(42:08):
so many doors. I feel like, especially because these one
possession games are not going away in the new Big Ten,
Like you have to have every every week, you know,
and maybe we'll go through the schedule here quickly in
a few minutes, but like there's a few on there. Bernsy,
I know, you always like to do the you know
two that they're probably gonna lose, two that they're probably
gonna win, and then you know the eight coin flip

(42:29):
games whatever they are. Like field position's gonna matter. And
I always remember Jerry Kill's first year being in the
locker room at Northwestern and they played really well against Northwestern.
Wasn't a very good Gopher team. It was even when
they played, but Northwestern had like three kick returns that
got to like the forty Gophers were starting at like
the twelve, and that was the game. And Kill went

(42:51):
on this long thing about special teams gonna are going
to be important and we have to figure this whole
thing out, and it's just such a difference maker.

Speaker 4 (42:59):
Well, and that's why the cap of a guy like
koy Can, I mean, you know, he can give you
short fields in the as returner. I mean having the
guy like that, you know, whereas I always had the
punter or you know in Cooper Dezine. Yeah, it just
takes a special punter, a special returner, you know, a

(43:21):
special kicker, and that can change things dramatically like that.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
I was about to say, it's the Kirk Farence. It's
just they it's death by a thousand cuts of field
position where it's just they start winning the field position
games slowly over time, and they eventually get you backed
up against your own end. Something stupid happens and it's.

Speaker 4 (43:40):
Turnover and that's it.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
Yeah, and they have Yeah, they have seventy eight yards
of total offense and they just beat.

Speaker 4 (43:49):
And they're winning.

Speaker 3 (43:49):
Yeah, and they score seventeen points with ninety yards of
total offense because their defense and special teams just Yeah,
death by a thousand cuts. I would maybe that's going
to be the identity of this year's team. That's the thing.
I don't know. I mean, we're forty five minutes into
this thing. I don't know what the identity of this

(44:11):
team is going to be. And to me, that's exciting
and fascinating to kind of try to parse through and
figure out yet. But is it going to be more
of an offensive laden team with Darius Taylor and Drake
Lindsay or is it going to be the defense with
all these new names and new faces? Is it going
to be special teams being I mean, I'll have to

(44:34):
put like a sign behind me for Bob Lgoshewski if
that's the case. But like, there's so many things about
this team that I find fascinating to try and figure out,
especially prior to that first bye week.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
So, last thing before we take a quick break, was
is Dimitrius Douglas The last punt return for a touchdown
was Winfields against New Mexico State or whoever that was.
Was that the same season twenty eight yeah, so either way,
we're talking eighteen or nineteen.

Speaker 1 (45:02):
Right, twenty eighteen?

Speaker 2 (45:04):
Yeah, So but you think about how that Demitrius Douglas
punt return at Camp Randall changed everything in that game,
like went from right before the half, right, I mean
it went before and we've all been at Camp Randa
where the Gophers like played a pretty solid first half,
but Wisconsin was kind of in striking distance with a
couple of West titles on the line, I think at

(45:25):
least one, and next thing you know, you come out
of halftime, Wisconsin gets back in it and you lose.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
Right, it happened fifteen years in a row.

Speaker 2 (45:33):
Whatever it was, Demitrius Douglas with that punt return blew
the game wide open and made it almost impossible to lose.
And then guess what PJ got to do? PJ ball
The rest of the way, it was, we're gonna hand
it off. Tanner Morgan as a retrofreshman is gonna throw
you know, a couple of third down conversions and we're
gonna win the Acts for the first time ever. And
that shifted kind of everything, right, I mean, that went

(45:53):
right into twenty nineteen. So, I mean, what a devastating
play that was in that game, Demitrius Douglas who went
on to be known for third and thirty the next
year against Georgia Southern. So it's just it's time to
weaponize it. It's time to weaponize the special teams. I
think we can all agree on that. All right, Well,
let's go through the schedule real quick when we come back.

(46:13):
But let's talk about Jack's Cafe. Our great partners are law.
I think we can say longtime partners. Now, yeah, I
think longtime partners is the way to go. Jaxcafe dot com.
Make your reservations a great opportunity, you know, before games,
after games, even if there are no games. Just go
to a great dinner, go for a great date night,
go for a great brunch. The beautiful thing about Jax

(46:34):
Burns is no matter what you're in the mood for,
just a couple of drinks and some apps, anniversary, family brunch,
It's all there for you, Jacks. You don't have to decide.
It's whatever you're in the mood for that day. Jack's
Cafe has your back.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
Well, I'm just glad that people are listening to us,
because when Chip and I were at the most recent
Gopher practice, there were some gentlemen up from Rochester and
I had a couple of them come up to me
and say, guess where we went?

Speaker 1 (46:59):
Jack's Cafe.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
Hey, and Jack'scafe dot com. I love a standing meal. Look,
we can lead horses to water, but we can't make
them drink. Okay, people are listening. People are listening, and
they're finally figuring out to your point, whatever you want
it to be, whether it's going to grab a drink
with a coworker after work, whether it's going for an
anniversary or a birthday meal, whatever it may be. They

(47:23):
it's such a versatile place. And I will continue to
say this. Now, as we get closer and closer to
the fall, you're gonna want to earn some brownie points
with the missus or your significant other. That patio is
top three in Minneapolis and they will love it.

Speaker 4 (47:40):
Chip and they're not third. Yeah, I was gonna mention
the I was gonna mention the the gentleman that we
met from Rochester and I apologize for not remembering his name,
but thanks for being loweral listeners. But you know, he
told me that the thing that blew them away. He's like,
we couldn't get over the service, Like how friendly and
accommodating everybody, like they're always coming up, Can I help

(48:02):
you there? Whatever? He said, The service was just incredible,
And I was like, that's that's how Bill runs it, right,
That's yeah. As I said, you don't survive ninety plus
years by having bad service. You have to have impeccable service.
And that's what you're gonna get from.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
Jack's exactly right, every little details from you when you
walk into the match books, if you make reservations. I
love the match books because to me, it's just so classy,
you know, whether it's the parent of spare that they
put on it, for us or when you go and
it says guard Family or you know, Chipskoggins or Ryan
Burns or Randy burn it's just magical. So don't take

(48:37):
our word for it. Take the you know, hundreds, if
not thousands of parent of spare people listeners that have
gone there over the last few years that have maybe
forgotten about it or learned about it for the first time,
and it's it's worth the trip. It's worth the trip
every single time. Make your reservations at Jack'scafe dot com.

Speaker 3 (48:55):
I have to interrupt you here quick because we do
need to do a quick update on the whole Randy
Burn SOAKA, because I have an actual update for one
of our listeners.

Speaker 1 (49:04):
Remind people who Randy Byrn is real quickly. People are
to be fair.

Speaker 3 (49:10):
You'll remember back to an episode we did after the
Michigan game last year where there was a credential snaff
who and I got a credential for Randy Byrn instead
of Ryan Burns.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
Now, by the way, quick amendment, this is a little scary.
It's the day that then vice presidential candidate Tim Walls
is going to the Big House, right, so you'd like
to think security is pretty locked in and everybody knows
who everybody is. That's not the case. So thankfully nothing
happened that day. But that's what I always take from

(49:42):
it is Governor Walls was there as a vice presidential
candidate and you didn't have the right pass and we're
just meandering around the big house.

Speaker 3 (49:50):
Well the bit that makes it great.

Speaker 1 (49:51):
I was like, who is this?

Speaker 3 (49:53):
And so I put him into Google and it's like
chip with trying to make a credit card transaction online.
There was no oh data available, nothing, even as of
last week. I had put in this man's name and
his alleged.

Speaker 4 (50:10):
What was the affiliation was the media.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
Sports Byline USA, correct of which I don't know how
you can have that.

Speaker 3 (50:18):
And I googled that and I tweeted it out and
I had a listener. I won't out them because I
think they want to remain anonymous, but they're like, I
know Randy Byrne.

Speaker 1 (50:28):
I don't believe them.

Speaker 3 (50:29):
And then they sent me a photo of him that
is actually Randy Byrne and they're like, yeah, he works
for this and I'm like, how does he not have
Like why is there no digital footprint of this journalist?

Speaker 4 (50:42):
So they said that's an actual media. Wait a sec,
that's the actual media, Sports Byline dot com sports.

Speaker 3 (50:51):
I don't pretend to know much more outside of that,
but I do. All I know is we have a
listener who knows that this gentleman is actually real and
not a false.

Speaker 4 (51:01):
Get him on as a guest. Let's get him on
as a guest Burns.

Speaker 3 (51:04):
He'd be so confused and I would love every part
of it.

Speaker 1 (51:08):
Well, what I have so many questions?

Speaker 2 (51:10):
So what does he do for Sports Byline USA if
we can't find any examples of his work anywhere? Look,
you needed to ask more questions of your of this
deep throat listener. Come on, journalists, you need.

Speaker 4 (51:22):
Why was he covering this game? Was he covering the
Michigan He's the.

Speaker 3 (51:25):
Only other time. Again, I don't want to like ruin
this man's life, because see, I'm sure he's worked hard
to not have a digital footprint at this point. But
I've been told he played football at Iowa State, graduated
from this person's high school in nineteen eighty five, And
they're like, what is happening? And I'm like, look, all
I can tell you.

Speaker 1 (51:45):
Whose past did he have that day? If you had his?

Speaker 3 (51:48):
Who knows but I just want to give that update
for those of you who are way deep in the
weeds with parentis spare lore Uh, Randy Byrn is still
alive and well and as an actual journalist for Sports
Byline USA and not a faux secret service agent of
some kind.

Speaker 4 (52:04):
Do you think there's a chance that he was Ryan
Burns that day and he's telling all his buddies like,
who's Ryan Burns? Like I was Ryan Burns for a day?
It might have been a mix up.

Speaker 3 (52:15):
Be me and I get that.

Speaker 4 (52:17):
I mean, it's hard being you. It's hard being you.

Speaker 3 (52:19):
Well, well, if you often come up to me and
say you do have a face for radio and you
have a body for podcasting, and I will tell you, Chip,
I have worked hard to lose some weight to try
and get like you, mister thin and skinny.

Speaker 2 (52:32):
Those walks with your mastuff. I'm looking at Cyclone letterwinners
dot com or dot org. Randy burn did win. He
was a red shirt freshman in nineteen eighty five, eighty five,
eighty six, eighty seven, eighty eight, eighty nine. He was
d Lineman of the Year for the Cyclones in nineteen
eighty nine. Let's click on his linked in here because

(52:52):
it has a link to.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
A poor guy.

Speaker 4 (52:54):
Oh boy, oh boy.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
Let's see if anything comes up. Is that but that
this does. It's a different Randy Byrn. This has to
be a different Randy Burrn, because this is not the
picture that was on your credential. He's the president and
owner of a company in the Des Moines area. That
guy is not running to He's not doing Sports Byline USA,

(53:16):
you know, just popping in on that. Like, I think
there's a different I think this is a different Randy Burrn.
I think the mystery remains. I don't think we've solved anything.

Speaker 4 (53:23):
No, Now you.

Speaker 3 (53:24):
Have me looking at the photo I was sent in
the photo on my credential.

Speaker 1 (53:28):
And different guy, right, unless.

Speaker 3 (53:32):
That Randy burn has really aged. Yeah, goll it, Look
now I'm just throwing more gas on the fire of
this thing.

Speaker 2 (53:42):
Yeah, we have solved nothing here respect to the listener
who knows this Randy Burrn, who's obviously very successful. He's
the president and CEO of a utility company. Okay, that
guy's not going to string for Sports Byline USA at
the Big House in October.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
I don't know how to break it to you. This
is the mystery remains. We have not.

Speaker 2 (54:02):
We are nowhere near any resolution on who this Randy
burn is.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
Classic dtour on my end, I took us down a
road and there's no destination in sight.

Speaker 2 (54:13):
But I feel like we're closer now because we're eliminating
Randy Burns. Uh, we're eliminating different Randy Burns to find
the one that that you know or that that you
were that day.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
Yeah, I don't.

Speaker 2 (54:27):
Uh, Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna keep taking. We're gonna
keep but good that guy. If if the listener wants
to call back, if the president and CEO of that
company wants to sponsor the podcast, we definitely take it.
Looks like they looks like they do work in Minnesota.
It's a Midwest steal, so we'll definitely do that. But
I don't think we're any closer to solving the mystery
of who you were that day or what Sports Byline

(54:49):
USA is because we can't even find that right, Like,
if you google sports Byline USA, nothing comes up.

Speaker 4 (54:56):
So something was like that, like something a guy just said,
who you for? Hell, I don't know Sports Bylines USA,
and it just he created in a thin air so
that he actually included a photo on the credential.

Speaker 1 (55:09):
Yes, yeah, I wonder if that's.

Speaker 4 (55:11):
A real photo or is that was that someone he
just found off the of the internet.

Speaker 3 (55:18):
I also will say this in case somebody is listening
to this on Monday night or early Tuesday morning. Apparently
tomorrow's practice, Chipper is open to the public. That's news.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
Come says, yeah, I did see that in the most
recent release about the practice. So yeah, we'll all be there.
You gonna be there tomorrow, Chipper, for sure, I'll be
there too. I'll be there too, And we know Burnsy
will be because if you can plain as publicly as
he does, show you gotta show up, all right, should
we do it? Let's and we got about what five

(55:50):
minutes lefter, so let's run through. Well, we might do
a deeper dive on the season preview as we get
to it, but as we after, we just spent fifty
minutes and Burnsy essentially said, we don't know anything about
this team, which, by the way, I think is somewhat
fair because we don't know what they're going to be.
Right a year ago this time, we didn't know that
Max Brosmer was going to be as good as he was,
and that they were going to turn into this passing

(56:12):
offense that we hadn't seen in the seven previous seasons
of PJ Flex. So all right, do we all feel
good about the Buffalo game besides me? Yes, because we
have no idea what.

Speaker 1 (56:22):
We're are you doing? Win?

Speaker 4 (56:23):
Loss here? Then win?

Speaker 1 (56:25):
Let's do it. Let's do let's do it.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
Let's do a win loss, and then we'll see if
anything changes by the time we get to that.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
First Buffalo game.

Speaker 4 (56:31):
All right?

Speaker 2 (56:32):
Should we all keep track of our own to make
it easy, because I'll screw it up, all right, get
a pen. Yeah, we'll prepare one of these days for
the podcast. One of these days we'll prepare, all right.
So I'm going win with Buffalo, Okay, so we'll do that.
We'll do losses here, all right. Northwestern State. The only
thing I know about Northwestern State is their basketball team
beat Iowa in a fourteen to three matchup in like

(56:55):
two thousand and six in the NCAA Tournament, possibly ceiling
Steve Alford's fate to the universe even New Mexico.

Speaker 1 (57:01):
So I think they're gonna win that one. I have
them two to oz. After that, any.

Speaker 3 (57:05):
Western State was an zero to twelve FCS team last year.

Speaker 2 (57:09):
Yeah, okay, I think enough said. As we say on
Fox nine at California, I'm very intrigued by it's a
road game, it's a late kickoff. They're not very good.
They weren't a year ago. They lost a bunch of
running backs. I think right Burnsey.

Speaker 3 (57:22):
They lost their entire offense.

Speaker 2 (57:24):
But they've got two quarterbacks. They actually had two quarterbacks
that like played at some schools that are I think
jostling for QB one run about.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
The Ohio State guy.

Speaker 3 (57:33):
But they lost their stud quarterback to I think he's
at Indiana now. They lost running backs that were really
talented to power two teams. It's a game in which
at least me five six weeks out is telling you,
if the Gopher offense can score twenty one points, that's
a game in which the Gopher defense should not allow

(57:54):
twenty or more.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
All right, I've got them at three and oh, chip,
I got them at three and oh.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
Three and oh all right, so we're all score through
September twentieth, which is a bye. Here's another interesting one.
Now here's where let's hope they find the answers to
all these questions. Because We've talked about this. Their home
schedule is extremely inviting. Not that there's not you know,
tricky games are tough games on here, but it's an
inviting home schedule. It's an opportunistic home schedule. I would say,

(58:19):
if you want to have a really good, you know,
perhaps mythic season, and it starts with Burnsy's favorite game,
the Rutgers game September twenty seventh. The Gophers obviously lost
a year ago in perplexing fashion, given that Kyle mamnung
I didn't even play right, their best running back.

Speaker 3 (58:38):
No and qubacks ran for like one hundred and forty
yards and your offensive line imploded in the fourth quarter
in spectacular fashion.

Speaker 2 (58:46):
They have I think a lot of pieces back. They
are obviously, you know, building like Shiana wants to build.
They still have a than cali Acmanus as the QB.
What do we think Gophers Rutgers for the Big Ten
home opener?

Speaker 3 (59:01):
It's also, I mean, I don't the other thing that
I'm we didn't say there was like what is Ahin
going to look like? And his return to Minneapolis, because
say what you will about the young man, like he's
either going to come out on fire or it's going
to be a disaster from the first throw. I don't
know where his well, I don't know where his headspace
is going to be.

Speaker 2 (59:21):
Last year, they had some big plays in the offense
in that first half that gave them the lead, and
I thought three of them should have been intercepted. I
mean there were balls played as poorly as they possibly could,
including I think Justin Wally who never did that, So
there should have been two or three picks I thought
in the first half a year ago.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Didn't end up that way. And then we know how
the game finished.

Speaker 4 (59:42):
And they didn't really bring much pressure on him, if
I remember correctly right, They just let.

Speaker 3 (59:46):
Him rhythm or Heatherman game plane, remember of not throwing
the kitchen think at a thin Cali ak manis. But
we'll see if Danny Collins deems that after a bye week,
because I think Rutgers the week before.

Speaker 1 (59:59):
Had I would home on a Friday night or something
like that.

Speaker 4 (01:00:03):
This is a tricky one for me, guys, because they
do m hm. This is a tricky one because there's
a number of these games where I don't know if
you call them toss ups, but whatever, I don't think
they're gonna win them all. I don't either, and so
you got to figure out which ones they're not gonna win,

(01:00:24):
but I will. I will say win here.

Speaker 1 (01:00:29):
All right. So we're all at four and oh I'll
say win for Naya. All right. Then it's Ohio State.
We can give that one the l.

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
Although I'm gonna talk myself into it the week of
how they figure it out.

Speaker 3 (01:00:43):
I have no idea how they're gonna cover Jeremiah Smith
and Max Clayer.

Speaker 4 (01:00:50):
You're not changing my mind on that one.

Speaker 1 (01:00:51):
Guard.

Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
You know how how with Havoc, they're gonna they're gonna
that week. They're just gonna let Cooy parrots shot him
the whole week. They're gonna go, we got nine safeties,
we're just gonna put Koy on them. Purdue Homecoming night game,
I think we got to say that's a win. I'm
putting that one as a win. And here's the interesting
one Friday night in the city, a weekend the possibly undefeated.

(01:01:17):
If you're to believe the offseason hype, Nebraska Cornhuskers come to town.
This could be a sneaky, sneaky, big time I guess
build up game right because Nebraska's schedule, we talked about
it a few weeks ago, extremely forgiving, and they could
legitimately be undefeated if they're worth anything right coming into
that game on Friday Night, They've got Cincinnati, Akron, Houston,

(01:01:41):
Christian Michigan at home. Michigan stayed at home at Maryland
before they come to Minneapolis.

Speaker 3 (01:01:48):
Yeah, this is one of those where again coin flip,
toss up whatever. I mean, this is going to dictate
the ceiling of your season now. I think, for the
purposes of at least this podcast seventeen days out, I'll
say it's a loss. I was.

Speaker 4 (01:02:01):
I was going into this as debate and Rutgers in
Nebraska as one of the teams that they lose.

Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
I think those are two fair ones.

Speaker 4 (01:02:08):
I don't know which one. So I don't think, as
I said, I don't think they're gonna win all them.
So I'm gonna put this as a loss just because
I think there's gonna be a game where they don't
play well and they just don't win the close game,
and I'll say it's this one.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
But it's it's the thing of Nebraska just is a
team that flex teams always seem to play well against,
and Nebraska never seems to play their even c game
against Minnesota. So I mean, I think this when we
get to this week, it's going to be the Dylan
Ryola versus Drake Lindsay.

Speaker 1 (01:02:40):
Said quarterback one.

Speaker 3 (01:02:43):
I'm already drumming up narrative.

Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
Yeah, I know that's what I should have done instead
of win loss. Just what Burnsy's narrative is going to be. Yeah,
So that's five and one against potentially six and oh
that week, and I'm just I'm gonna go glass half full.

Speaker 1 (01:02:57):
On all these to see what the ranges are.

Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
So I'm gonna say the Gophers win that one, then
they go So I have them six to one, you
guys have them five and two. Then they go to
Iowa City, where we all know what happened last time
at Kennick. Yeah, I think that's fair. I think you'd
definitely say. And we'll see what Mark Gronowski looks like.
Is Max Brozmer two point zero down there? He looks healthy.

(01:03:20):
I know you had an injury that he was dealing
with in the spring, and we know their defense is
probably going to be good. We know they're going to
run the ball, and we'll see what else they have.
But that's yeah, when you've won one there since two thousand.

Speaker 3 (01:03:32):
This the two game stretch for Iowa before this is
at Wisconsin, of which, if I have to read another
Wisconsin hates Iowa and they've been doing push ups to
the amount of points that Iowa yeah on them. Like
plus the week before they have the number one team
in the country at home, which is Penn State.

Speaker 1 (01:03:52):
Penn State. Yeah, so it's it's.

Speaker 3 (01:03:54):
Not easy for the Hawkeys. But I agree with you guys.
I'd have this one as a loss right now.

Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
I'd say this. I'm excited to get down there.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
I'm excited to I think if the Gophers are having
the season we think they're gonna have here just you know,
to this point.

Speaker 3 (01:04:09):
And again, I think this is going to be a
two thirty or six on like NBC or something like that.
This feels like this will be the NBC slot for
the Big Ten.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
All right, get your narrative out for November. First, go ahead, Burnsey.

Speaker 3 (01:04:23):
Joe Rossi gets to come back to Huntington Bank Stadium.
Danny Collins gets to go his predecessor. We seen this
all before. Stop me if this sounds familiar with anything.
Here's the one that I think will surprise you if
we're gonna say, because this will be the sixth game

(01:04:45):
in a row for Minnesota, like I could see this
as being.

Speaker 1 (01:04:49):
A loss, whereas I I think.

Speaker 3 (01:04:51):
Michigan State is better than Minnesota and Michigan State is
going to be coming off. I mean, this will be
their fifth game in a row before both teams have
bye weeks, I think, but correct, correct, it's I don't
sleep on Michigan State, and I just I want to
know with as I've talked about previously on this episode,

(01:05:13):
Minnesota is very thin at certain positions and if they
are even thinner by the game, six straight Big Ten
game like this is one I think is sneaky that again,
Aiden Chiles is as big of a wild card of
a quarterback as you were going to find in the
Big Ten year. But for the purposes of this podcast,

(01:05:36):
at least, I will say this is a loss and
that would be the third straight.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
Loss, first touchdowns, eleven turnovers a year ago for your
guy Chiles.

Speaker 4 (01:05:43):
No, I've always said, and it's kind of been the cliche,
you know, especially when like Mace in those early years
when I was covering Michigan State always looked as good
as anybody when they were warming up. I mean, they
had athletes town, it's just you know, they just weren't
the most disciplined group in the world. I think this

(01:06:03):
is a win. It's another one of those coin flip
games for me. But I just don't three straight losses.
I don't feel like that's gonna happen. And maybe they
lose this one to win Nebraska. But because I picked
a Nebraska loss, I will say a win here. But again,
it is one of those I do wonder about when
you play that many games in a row depth where

(01:06:26):
you're at physically without having a break. But I'm going
to say win here.

Speaker 2 (01:06:32):
Fifteen returning starters from Michigan State, and they have a
bunch of transfers as well. Now I got to pull
back to my schedule here, so it's a bye week
and then the Friday night at Oregon.

Speaker 3 (01:06:42):
Like you could go again to your point you already
talked about the home schedule, guardsy, like the Rutgers game,
the Michigan State game, like we'll get to one here
in a second, two with the Wisconsin game, the Nebraska game,
like there are so many of these where I know
the fan, the casual fan is like, this isn't a
great homeslate per se. But if you are like I

(01:07:03):
think there's gonna be some great entertaining second halfway.

Speaker 2 (01:07:05):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, if you're a football sicco like
these should all be I mean, these are all gonna
be one one touchdown spreads, right. Rutgers, Nebraska, Michigan State. Again,
we have no idea injuries and how the season actually
plays out. But if you had, if everything just played
to form, which it never does, they all of these,
you know, Gophers will probably be like five and a

(01:07:25):
half point favorites or four point favorites since in you know,
a couple of these games and it's probably a field
goal and maybe the you know, you know, Nebraska's probably
gonna be favorite coming up here because that's how it works,
especially if they start six to oh.

Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
All right, so Oregon on the Roads.

Speaker 3 (01:07:40):
I could lose all these, but in reality will be
always somewhere in between.

Speaker 1 (01:07:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
Correct, at Oregon Eugene, first trip to Eugene since nineteen
seventy five, when I think Steve Prefontaine did, let's play
hockey before they kicked it off.

Speaker 4 (01:07:57):
Yeah, that'll be a.

Speaker 1 (01:07:58):
Loss, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:07:59):
So we'll give it that one at Wrigley Field. Are
you coming to that one, Chipper, No, I think Lambelle
told me he's got that one.

Speaker 4 (01:08:05):
Well, it's a weird deal because the Vikings played the
Packers the next day in Lambeau.

Speaker 1 (01:08:09):
You could get there.

Speaker 4 (01:08:10):
Still trying to figure that out, but imis say win there, yep.

Speaker 2 (01:08:13):
I think they'll win at Wrigley Field. Look forward to
that trip for sure, Burnsy.

Speaker 1 (01:08:18):
Yeah, that's a win.

Speaker 3 (01:08:19):
I look at even that Northwestern slate before that Minnesota game,
it's Penn State, Purdue, Nebraska at USC and then they
get Michigan the week before, which.

Speaker 1 (01:08:32):
David Brown godspeed.

Speaker 2 (01:08:35):
And then we go with Wisconsin the battle for Paul
bunyan ZATX where the Gophers have won it what three,
the last four, three, last five, whatever it is for
the last eight, and the series this will come up
is deadlocked. It's sixty three, sixty three and eight.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
That's the first I've heard of it.

Speaker 4 (01:08:52):
YEA, thank you, I got him at a win. As
a win, I think they're a better team. I think
Nebras is going to be demoralized having navigated Desk. Their
schedule is brutal, so I have him as a win there.

Speaker 3 (01:09:04):
Yeah, Wisconsin, that is just that schedule for Wisconsin, those
five games prior to Minnesota, Ohio State, Oregon, Washington, Indiana, Illinois.

Speaker 1 (01:09:17):
Oh yeah, could be.

Speaker 3 (01:09:19):
I mean from the third game of the season on.
There is just nothing on that schedule where you look
at and say this.

Speaker 1 (01:09:28):
This is a pencil then win again.

Speaker 3 (01:09:30):
I don't think Luke Fickle makes a Bowl game and
he's going to be saved by that, in my opinion,
forty million dollars golden parachute that he has because Wisconsin
missing back to back bowl games after what was it
twenty two straight.

Speaker 1 (01:09:42):
Years something like that.

Speaker 3 (01:09:44):
That they made a bowl is.

Speaker 1 (01:09:47):
I yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:09:48):
So I if you add that up, I'm at seven
and five, which is right in line with Vegas. Again,
depending upon your favorite sports book of choice, six and
a half, seven and a half. They have the opportunity
to win more, have the opportunity to lose more. Yeah,
like this is you can you can talk to oh
oh for those of us yeah's are not staring at

(01:10:10):
justin guard what do.

Speaker 2 (01:10:12):
You have in your hand? I've got my ore here. Well,
I mean, you guys are going seven and five. I
had to find the third loss just to make it
somewhat fair. Nine and three. I'm thinking, yo, I'm trying
to figure out, are we hosting a playoff game or
do we have to go on the road as a
ten and two squad?

Speaker 1 (01:10:29):
Just remember where you go?

Speaker 4 (01:10:31):
Yeah, roller boat?

Speaker 1 (01:10:32):
Right?

Speaker 4 (01:10:32):
Yeah? I got him at eight and four, and that's
what I've said all along. Eight and four.

Speaker 1 (01:10:35):
I think that's fair.

Speaker 4 (01:10:36):
I think to me, it really comes down to Rutgers, Nebraska,
Michigan State. If you win, I think those are the
three where I'm the most indecisive on. I think those
are the three where you're there's probably a the smallest
variance between the teams. If you win one of them, uh,

(01:10:58):
seven and five, if you win two, eight and four,
or if you win all three of them nine and three.
I think I had him winning two of them, so
I will say eight and four.

Speaker 1 (01:11:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:11:08):
In all, honestly, I think all of those are fair.
It could be seven and five, eight and four, nine
and three, five and seven, six and six, who the
hell knows. But it's a fun exercise and I got
to pull the or out. You know, what else can
you want here? What else can you want?

Speaker 1 (01:11:23):
Oh? Sorry, go ahead, No.

Speaker 4 (01:11:25):
I was gonna say, how many of these games you
think are gonna be one score games?

Speaker 1 (01:11:29):
Seven? I mean all of them game at the end
of the year.

Speaker 3 (01:11:32):
It's not a rivalry between the two of them where
it's like you throw out the records, especially at the
end of the season, and you're just like, yep, you
show up.

Speaker 4 (01:11:42):
I think of the twelve games, I think, uh, eight
of them will be one score games.

Speaker 2 (01:11:51):
Yeah, I was gonna say eight, seven or eight. That
seems about right. So it'll be fun. Not for Chip
because he has deadlines, but fun for me, fun for Burnsy.

Speaker 4 (01:12:00):
Eleven o'clock kickoffs, Give me eleve o'clock kickoffs, boys.

Speaker 1 (01:12:03):
No rewrites for us. All right, well, that's fun.

Speaker 2 (01:12:06):
Maybe we'll do that in a couple of weeks once
we learn more about some of these other teams as
well and deal with training camp, injuries for everybody and
all of that. But I think we're good. We'll try
to do this again next week. Chipper's got a family
vacation coming up, and then he's got to take a
kid back to school. Burnsy's got to find homes for
the last couple of cats.

Speaker 1 (01:12:23):
Appreciate them.

Speaker 2 (01:12:24):
They were pretty quiet, I think for this entire episode,
and I'm going back to playing uber driver. I gotta
go pick up a kid here in a minute. Anything
else we need to discuss.

Speaker 3 (01:12:32):
See you practice boys seventeen days, gentlemen.

Speaker 1 (01:12:35):
That's right, all right?

Speaker 2 (01:12:36):
For Ryan Burns and Randy Byrne and all the various
cats that are floating around his wife's house and chips
Goognin's from the Minnesota Star Tribune. I'm justin guard. Please
subscribe if you haven't, whether it's on the YouTube channel,
I might do some giveaways on the YouTube channel during
the football season, whether it's the pod, please hit subscribe
before you head out. Please tell a Go for fan friend,
a big ten fan friend in your life that we

(01:12:58):
are here every single week pretty much January now, and
we will talk to you next week on the Pair
and a Spear podcast