December 19, 2025 • 27 mins
A perfect Ohio finish and a messy national picture collide as we break down Olentangy Orange’s 15–0 march to the Division I championship, Hamilton High’s gritty season with real upside, and a college football playoff field that has fans shaking their heads. We start on the home front—how the Pioneers closed with authority and why Hamilton’s narrow losses, improved QB flashes, and coaching stability hint at a breakout. Then we pivot to Columbus, unpacking Ohio State’s 13–10 stumble against Indiana and the simple truth it exposes: when you have an elite defense, you can win small if you take the points and manage the margins.
From there, we go straight at the playoff controversy. Why does a three-loss Alabama get a berth over two-loss contenders like Notre Dame or a battle-tested BYU? Why do conference champions such as JMU and Tulane get treated like afterthoughts? We make the case for underdog legitimacy with the receipts—Boise State over Oklahoma, Appalachian State in the Big House—and argue that expanding access is how you bring back the sport’s magic. The fixes are simple and overdue: restore regional conferences with round-robin schedules and automatic bids, follow the FCS blueprint with a 24-team playoff and byes for champions, require true home-and-home series, move bowl games to August as marquee season openers, release rankings after we have data, and stop giving seeding credit for FBS vs FCS tune-ups.
If you care about competitive balance, Cinderella stories, and meaningful conference titles, this one will hit home. You’ll get clear solutions, bold predictions for Oklahoma vs Alabama, and a roadmap to make every Saturday matter again. Listen, subscribe, and leave a review to tell us your ideal playoff format—and which underdog you’re riding with next.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:56):
And welcome to a special WDYM sports episode of
the podcast.
How's everybody doing?
Hope everybody's doing great.
My name is Michael Gillespie.
And today we're talking aboutthe conclusion of Ohio High
School Sports and the beginningor the start of SFBS playoffs.
(01:21):
Keyword BS.
Starting tomorrow with Alabamaand Oklahoma playing in the FBS
playoffs.
But first and foremost, we haveto conclude high school sports
with a Division I championshipthat happened a couple weeks
ago.
The Olin Tenji Orange Pioneersare the Division I champions of
(01:46):
football here in the great stateof Ohio.
Finishing 15-0, beating St.
X, the bombers of St.
Xavier here in Cincinnati 28-14.
From the clips I saw, it was avery dominating performance by
the Pioneers and everything.
Props to them.
(02:07):
Going undefeated is hard nomatter what you do.
So give them the props that theydeserve.
Congratulations.
Now me as a as a Hamilton highguy, I'm going to go ahead and
review the year that Hamiltonhad.
(02:55):
It says a lot about thecompetition you're facing every
week and the ability to playfootball.
To say four and seven is alittle disappointing.
And the reason why is becauselast year we were riding such
highs last year with the teamand everything.
(03:15):
I believe they finished 9-3 lastyear, playoff appearance and
everything.
I think last year the playoffsended for us in Princeton, like
the previous year.
And if you know your GMChistory, a lot of GMC dreams end
in at Princeton.
That is nothing to hang yourhead out, hang your head down
(03:36):
about.
Princeton's been a staple in GMCfootball, uh, Korain in the
2000s, and now it seems like,especially now, it's up for
grabs.
And Hamilton, hey, we just, youknow, hit a hit a hit a hit a
roadblock, but we're going inthe right direction.
Um it all started with with ourinner city rivals again uh
(03:59):
playing the Baiton Rams.
I always when I when I go towatch these games, especially um
the Hamilton Baiton games, Ialways look for something to
stand out.
Let's use last year, forexample, the game was in
Fairfield, which is the citynext over and everything.
That's a standout.
You know, that's um somethingthat stands out about this game
(04:21):
because this game, while yes, ithas been played in different
cities before, modern dayplaying at Fairfield, it's a
little weird.
However, think something stoodout about that, and it was a
Hamilton win in 2024.
And you would think that thekids that are playing JV,
because JV, I believe, thatyear, 2024, only lost one game.
(04:45):
So you you do the math, you say,hey, last year's talent plus
this year's JV, it's like, whoa,we we might be talking about not
on wood, some a GMCchampionship.
Because we haven't had a GMCchampionship in Hamilton since
1997 or 1998.
(05:06):
Don't quote me on the on theyear exactly, but it's one of
those years.
It's been a long time since wehad a GMC championship, and
coming into the Baiting game,something just struck me wrong.
I'm gonna just be real, it's theblack jerseys, man.
What are we doing here?
We get out there and Baiton'sthere, and their little clean
white jerseys and everything,and we're wearing black, and our
(05:27):
nickname is the big blue.
I don't know.
It's just minor things likethat.
That's like, hey, we wesomething ain't right about
this.
And it's just me as a fantalking, you know, as crazy as
that may sound.
But yeah, and then the openingplay uh was a kickoff return
from by Baton on us, andeventually we we eventually go
(05:50):
on and lost that game.
I've already talked about that,so we're not really here to talk
about that that gamespecifically.
I'm looking forward to nextyear, though, when Hamilton
actually goes to Baton's newstadium and play him there.
But I will say this, and like Isaid before, I think there's
(06:10):
talent in Hamilton.
I believe, I believe that thisyear was a little asterisks, an
asterisk mark because it was itwas weird.
It was weird.
And the reason why I say that isbecause Hamilton could play
ball.
I mean, if you put it together,some of the losses that we had
were real close and everythingand everything, minus the Lakota
West stuff.
(06:31):
Some of the losses were justclose.
And, you know, it's like it'sthat the game of inches, and
when it comes to football, it'sa game that could be won and
lost by inches.
And I I believe that Hamiltonwas on the on the edge of
success, and they still are.
And the reason why I say that isbecause they played Middletown
(06:53):
for a while.
They were struggling withMiddletown, and then eventually
we beat Middletown.
And why is that why is that athing?
Because Middletown played in theI believe the state semifinals
against who went to the statefinals.
So that's a win in the overallgrand scheme of things, right?
Uh Hamilton can play with thebest, they just got to believe
(07:17):
they could do this week in andweek out.
The work is there, and you know,I've had conversations with the
coach briefly, and hismotivation for the team, it
speaks volumes to the team.
So we're on the right path.
And mind you, if you look at thehistory of Hamilton, we've had
ups and downs with coaches.
(07:37):
Coach Crouch knows what he'sdoing.
Okay, so it's just a belief hehas to the players have to
believe in what they're doing,and hopefully we can get that
GMC championship.
But if they could playMiddletown and beat Middletown
and beat Fairfield and playedall these close games in GMC,
(07:57):
we're just we're almost there.
I will say this the quarterbackfor the Big Blue this past year,
there is so much raw potentialin him.
And I again I I I'm a big bluefanatic.
I I love Hamilton, I love BigBlue football.
To see this quarterback and tosee like the potential in him is
(08:21):
through the roof, man.
Mind you, when we played Baton,it was a close game.
And him being the JV starter tobeing now the varsity starter,
there's going to be a learningcurve.
And that's what that wasexpected, right?
We expected him to struggle alittle bit, but adapt.
And so I'm waiting.
I'm waiting.
(08:41):
And I can't wait.
It's gonna happen.
I believe in him, and just bythe little the little flashes of
brilliance.
I see a little flash here.
There was, ooh, there was atouchdown pass he did in
Middletown.
It looked so crispy.
It looked so good.
That like that's that's thethat's the flash I'm talking
(09:02):
about.
And I believe, I believe, Ibelieve in him.
I'm sorry.
And I hope next year is thebreakout year for him because
it's due.
It is due for Hamilton to dosome really good work.
2024, we did really good work.
2025 was the slump.
2026, we'll see.
We'll see.
I'm not I'm not gonna do I'm notgonna do that.
I'm not gonna place, put myexpectations high, even though I
(09:26):
have them.
I don't know if you can hear it.
You can hear it.
I can hear it.
I can I can hear the smile on myface, the excitement I have for
big blue football coming to2026.
There should be a chip on theshoulder for some of the players
because, you know, they mightnot have, you know, the players
that are on the team and thepeople that are there working
out now and getting ready for,you know, football next season,
(09:47):
there might be a little chip ontheir shoulder.
Like, hey, look, we we couldhave had a better year this
year.
And I'm pretty sure a coach hassaid this to him already.
But next year, let's come outwith that fire.
And there's no better openingthan opening with Baton at Baden
for the first time.
Oh, I I just got I just gotgoosebumps for that.
(10:10):
So I'm looking forward to nextyear.
And uh let's go big blue.
So, as I was saying, we arestarting the college FBS
playoffs tomorrow.
It's a group of 12 this year.
So 2025, the college footballplayoffs, is starting tomorrow,
(10:31):
and we have we have thefollowing teams: Miami, Florida,
the Hurricanes, Texas AM,Tulane, Old Miss, Ohio State,
Georgia, Texas Tech, JamesMadison University, Oregon, and
tomorrow, Oklahoma, Alabama, andthey get to play the number one
(10:56):
team is Ohio oh, nope, isIndiana.
So before we go to the playoffs,let's talk about the Ohio State
and Indiana game, which Indianawon 13 to 10.
I'm gonna flash back quickly tolast year's game where the loss
to Michigan, ironically, 13 to10, um, sparked something in
(11:19):
Ohio State.
The Indiana game, it was it wasit was kind of weird because it
felt like the Michigan-OhioState game from 2024.
Ohio State didn't do its fullrepertoire of weapons.
That's my feeling when I saw it,okay?
(11:39):
Like Jeremiah Smith was anon-factor, Justin Sane was
pressured, uh, Bo Jackson wasgood.
Bo Jackson was good.
It just felt like we weren't, orOhio State was not fully
equipped to play Indiana.
And that's no excuse.
And I don't want to make noexcuses and all that.
Indiana, they look marvelous,they looked great, they look,
(12:02):
they look excellent andwell-deserved win, right?
But there's some things thatthat I asterisks about the game,
right?
Number one, and this is thisgoes back to watching, you know,
but the buckeyes for all theseyears, you need to you need to
use that Jim Trestle way ofthinking.
(12:23):
Don't leave points on the field.
Um, there was one time we wentfor it on fourth down, and we
didn't get the fourth down.
We left three, it would havebeen an easy three-point, a
chipper, a chip shot, and wewent for it and didn't get it.
Jim Trestle would never leavepoints on the board.
That's what, and it annoyed mebecause he would go for a field
goal on third down.
That's the type of mentality JimTrestle had.
(12:44):
And I feel like, you know, wesay all this explosiveness and
this, that, and the other.
But don't forget, you haveprobably, arguably, one of the
greatest defenses in collegefootball history.
So you don't need that manypoints to win a game.
So we did leave points on theboard, and unfortunately, we
(13:05):
couldn't recover from that.
And then at the end of the game,the kicker missed the field goal
to tie the game.
Football, ladies and gentlemen.
That's what happens.
That's what happens.
So Ohio State will be the numbertwo seed, and they will face the
winner of the Texas CM andMiami, Florida game.
We got Alabama and Oklahoma,which are now SEC teams, playing
(13:31):
each other again.
But before we go that, thequestion is: where's Notre Dame?
Notre Dame only lost two gamesthis season.
Well, Alabama's lost three.
And some of the people weresaying, well, the com you can't
get penalized for making yourchampionship game, this, that,
and the other.
My thing is that, granted, NotreDame's schedule was kind of
soft, like putting andeverything, but they only lost
(13:54):
two games.
So did BYU.
They only lost two games, too.
And I don't know how manyVanderbilt lost, but I'm pretty
sure they lost two games aswell.
How, how does Alabama get inbefore any of those teams?
And, you know, when you keepseeing the same teams over and
over again, it starts to getboring, right?
(14:14):
It starts to get a little dullwhen you keep seeing the same
teams over and over again.
Alabama, for example, theyshould not have been in the
playoffs this year.
I don't care.
You lose three games, youshouldn't be in the playoffs.
And my prediction is Oklahoma'sgonna stomp them tomorrow.
Because one, the game's inOklahoma.
Two, I think that crowd's gonnabe out of control.
(14:37):
And I think Oklahoma alreadybeat Alabama this year.
So, yeah, I that's anotherthing.
We keep getting the rep the repthe repetitive matchups that
it's starting to make collegefootball boring.
You can make a case for BYU whohave one of the hardest
schedules this year, and theydon't make the playoffs.
You could say Vanderbilt couldhave made the playoffs.
(15:01):
And there's something wrong withcollege football, especially
with NILs and everything goingon.
But not to get the right teamsin the playoffs is a problem.
But there's a solution to it.
And you might ask yourself, whatis the solution?
It's quite simple.
Do what the division below youis doing, right?
(15:22):
The FCS has been doing playoffsfor a long time.
I want to say since 1979.
And they have done it correctly,they've increased when needed
and everything.
Right now they have 24 teams inthe playoffs.
So college football needs a fix,right?
The fix is one, theseconferences are absolutely
(15:46):
bloated right now.
The Big Ten has what threeteams, Oregon, USC, UCLA, from
the West, the West Coast,Stanford and Cowan ACC, and it's
just a it's just a jumble.
It's just a jumble of who'swhat, where, why, and the
matchups just are not what weall thought they would be.
(16:09):
The West Coast looks trash rightnow.
Looks absolutely terrible.
USC is garbage.
UCLA is garbage.
Oregon, they're doing theirthings.
We can't talk bad about Oregon.
But we need to get balance init.
So we need to bring back thePac-10, Pac-12, whatever you
want to call it, and the Big 12and everything.
(16:31):
Um, with the right teams and andand everything, right?
So we need to have conferenceswhere teams like UCLA and all of
them, the the Big 12, like withTexas and Oklahoma, not in the
SEC, because they're bloated.
ACC is absolutely bloated withteams.
They need to be, they need to bein their own conference.
Conference champions need tomean something.
(16:53):
And that's what a lot of peopleare saying about JMU, James
Madison University, and Tulane,where they're like, they don't
belong in the playoffs.
And then it that blows my mindthat I'm hearing that.
Because guess what?
They did everything they weresupposed to do.
They won, they won a lot ofgames, and they're conference
(17:14):
champions.
And then I hear a lot of peoplesaying, nobody in America wants
to see JMU and Tulane.
And I think that's the most BSline I've ever heard.
Let me take you back in time touh a time when Boise State
played Oklahoma in if I believeit was the Fiesta Bowl in the
early 2000s.
Nobody thought Boise Stateshould one play Oklahoma, let
(17:38):
alone beat Oklahoma.
Arguably, one of the greatestgames in college football.
Let me take you to one personalone Appalachian State.
At this time, FCS school goes tothe big house and beats, I
think, number five at the time,a number five Michigan team.
(17:58):
Arguably, get made one of thegreatest college football games
ever.
How it ended up and everything.
Great game.
So to say that people don't wantto see it, I believe is rubbish.
Right?
They have done everythingthey're supposed to do.
How does a team like JMU, howdoes a team like Tulane get in
(18:21):
the SEC?
They're not gonna let them in.
Beginning to Big Ten, they'renot gonna let them in.
They're not gonna do that.
Because that's not the way thecollege system is set up.
And it needs to be fixed.
You're mad at these teams forwinning their conference
championship, but they uh whatelse are they supposed to do?
It's wild to me that all thesebig wigs, uh Paul Feinbaum,
(18:42):
whatever his name is.
And then Joe Clatt saidsomething stupid the other day,
talking about he hated theformat of the NCAA basketball
tournament where nobody wants tosee George Mason win.
Why not?
Those are great stories.
That's what sports is.
Sports is a great story thatpeople, when somebody's given an
opportunity, can we at least seeit.
(19:03):
And I'm hoping, I am hoping thatJMU and Tulane play a great
game.
I'm pulling I'm pulling forTulane to be Ole Miss.
Definitely.
And I'm pulling for JMU, eventhough I think, I think
personally they don't have achance, but the game has to be
played.
A la Boise State.
(19:24):
A la Appalachian State.
And I could go on with otherupsets that's happened from
either the FCS level or thegroup of five and the power
four.
It's ridiculous that we one,that we're divided, and there's
no way for a team than a groupof five to move up.
Liberty a couple years ago, theyhad a great season.
(19:47):
You're trying to tell me Libertycouldn't beat a Purdue or
Northwestern given theopportunity.
Let's let's let's think aboutit.
If there's a way to relegate andpromote, just like how they do
in English football, we might betalking about something
different.
We might be having opportunitiesfor a James Madison to move up
(20:08):
to a Big Ten division.
That should be something that weshould that we should be
thinking about and considering.
Let's be fair.
So going forward, how do we fixcollege football?
Because some people want bowlsand everything, and some people
want just a uh two, like onegroup.
Of five playoff and one powerfour playoff.
(20:29):
And let me remind you that thesepower four conferences, they
play grouper fives all the time.
Right?
But they don't ever do a home inhome, right?
For example, let's just keepusing the Appalachian State,
Michigan game.
Every time that you play one ofthese groups, it should be one
at Michigan, one at AppalachianState.
(20:51):
Why not?
If you're so big and bad, youcome down to Appalachian State
and let's play the football gamethere.
Give these small quote-unquotegroup of fives an opportunity to
play.
What's wrong with that?
So here's some things that Iwould like to get fixed in
college football.
Number one, if you still want abowl season at the end of this
(21:13):
season, like right now at theend of the season, the other
thing we should be focused on isthe playoffs.
Still have a bowl selection andhave those bowl games played at
the beginning of the season nextyear.
Right?
So you got the matchups, andthen there's some matchups
where, hey, a group of five getsto play a power four.
(21:34):
I hate even saying that.
Have them play at the beginningof the season and then have
that, you know, either at thebowl site or somewhere else.
Yeah, have it at the bowl siteand have them play.
So therefore, the group of fivegets the opportunity to play
these power four conferencesinstead of being a home game at
a power four conference.
That should be fixed.
(21:56):
Number two, there should be norankings until the second week.
Looking back, do you think Texaswas the number one team at the
beginning of the season?
No, it shouldn't.
That puts a burden on Texas andeverything.
It should be done after thefirst week.
So therefore, you know bywatching who's the real number
(22:20):
one team out there.
That should be that should be athing.
Right.
Number, let's see, that's numbertwo.
Number three.
I did, and I mentioned itbriefly.
Home and home.
There should always be a homeand home.
Unless, like, let's just useMiami of Ohio takes on Penn
State.
The next year, Penn State needsto come to Miami, Ohio.
(22:41):
Unless they want to sign it up.
Hey, we'll give you a check.
We'll give you a check for youto come to instead of us going
to Miami of Ohio, we can, youknow, you come back here the
next year at Penn State.
That should be, that should be athing.
So therefore, Miami of Ohio isgenerating revenue, because you
know, Penn State people like totravel and people are coming to
(23:04):
the stadium and everything.
That should be a thing.
Another thing we need to we needto consider is, I don't know, I
touched on it briefly, is bringback conferences.
Like, like I said, the Big 12,as they are, the Mountain West,
uh, the Big East that's beeneliminated, the Pac-12, that's
(23:25):
been eliminated, and give them10 teams, play each other.
And if you are at the top of theconference, you're automatically
into the playoffs.
How hard is this?
If the FCS can do it, the FBScan do it.
What's the problem?
Really?
What is the problem?
We need to bring backconferences, 10 teams, have
(23:46):
everybody play each other.
If you're at the top, you're in.
And the playoffs, again, touchedon it briefly, 24 teams.
Conference champs or whoever's,whatever you want to do,
conference champs, automaticallyin.
It's just what the FCS does.
Conference champs, well, let'sjust use this for example.
Let's just say there's eightconferences, conference champs
(24:06):
all top eight, get a bye.
So nine through 24 have to play.
Why is this why is this nothard, ladies and gentlemen?
That's the way it should be.
And my final thing, my finalthing is promotion relegation.
Give these JMUs, these twolanes, a chance to move to a
different conference based onregion.
(24:30):
Give them a chance, right?
So let's just use the Sunbeltand Georgia Southern, undefeated
season.
Takes on who was Boo-Boo inMississippi State in SEC.
Winner swaps conferences.
Give them an opportunity to playand see what happens.
Therefore, you can't have thisgroup of five, power four, all
(24:56):
that stuff goes away.
It's just why not?
Why not?
Let's let's quit quit makingthis difficult because it's not
difficult.
That being said.
So, uh tomorrow, Alabama,Oklahoma, and I really think
Oklahoma's gonna beat the beatBama, and I hope so, and I hope
(25:16):
this proves to these people thatmade these uh playoffs to select
Alabama over Notre Dame, provethem wrong.
Or prove them, yeah, prove themwrong that Notre Dame should
have been in there.
And I'm not even mad at NotreDame for doing that.
If someone invited me to a bowland I'm Notre Dame, I would have
(25:37):
done the same thing.
I ain't going.
What's the point?
What's the point?
I mean, if if I'm playing, andif I'm playing, now if I was a
senior, oof, maybe, but youknow, what's the point?
What's the point?
I'm not mad at them all.
If someone invites you, hey,we're having a tupwear party,
Michael.
Do you want to go?
I have a right to say no.
Same thing with Notre Dame.
(25:57):
Notre Dame had every right tosay no.
And I'm not mad at them one bitfor it.
Now, do I think they should joina conference?
Absolutely.
They should join a conference.
Period.
Why do you get to be independentjust because you play a soft
schedule?
You automatically get in.
No, that should not be the case.
But I'm not mad at them forsaying nah.
I think you should join aconference.
(26:20):
Period.
You have to.
And one last thing, and justaside, just a bonus as we head
out for today for the sportsepisode is.
No, you can't.
If you're an FBS, you shouldn'tbe playing FCS.
That game should not even count.
Like Ohio State, you you playedGrambling.
(26:42):
Why?
Why?
That's that game should not evencount.
Against in your seating andeverything.
Number one team didn't play thisweek.
They had Grambling.
So you don't even get credit forthat.
What's wrong with that?
Play a real team.
You trying to tell me Ohio,Kent, Akron, they weren't
(27:02):
available?
Come on, man.
That's your sports episode.
Enjoy tomorrow's games and we'llsee what happens.
I'm the host of the WDYM.
My name is Michael Gillespie,and I'm out.
Girl Scout, Boy Scout.
Peace.
And welcome to a special WDYM sports episode of
the podcast.
How's everybody doing?
Hope everybody's doing great.
My name is Michael Gillespie.
And today we're talking aboutthe conclusion of Ohio High
School Sports and the beginningor the start of SFBS playoffs.
(01:21):
Keyword BS.
Starting tomorrow with Alabamaand Oklahoma playing in the FBS
playoffs.
But first and foremost, we haveto conclude high school sports
with a Division I championshipthat happened a couple weeks
ago.
The Olin Tenji Orange Pioneersare the Division I champions of
(01:46):
football here in the great stateof Ohio.
Finishing 15-0, beating St.
X, the bombers of St.
Xavier here in Cincinnati 28-14.
From the clips I saw, it was avery dominating performance by
the Pioneers and everything.
Props to them.
(02:07):
Going undefeated is hard nomatter what you do.
So give them the props that theydeserve.
Congratulations.
Now me as a as a Hamilton highguy, I'm going to go ahead and
review the year that Hamiltonhad.
(02:55):
It says a lot about thecompetition you're facing every
week and the ability to playfootball.
To say four and seven is alittle disappointing.
And the reason why is becauselast year we were riding such
highs last year with the teamand everything.
(03:15):
I believe they finished 9-3 lastyear, playoff appearance and
everything.
I think last year the playoffsended for us in Princeton, like
the previous year.
And if you know your GMChistory, a lot of GMC dreams end
in at Princeton.
That is nothing to hang yourhead out, hang your head down
(03:36):
about.
Princeton's been a staple in GMCfootball, uh, Korain in the
2000s, and now it seems like,especially now, it's up for
grabs.
And Hamilton, hey, we just, youknow, hit a hit a hit a hit a
roadblock, but we're going inthe right direction.
Um it all started with with ourinner city rivals again uh
(03:59):
playing the Baiton Rams.
I always when I when I go towatch these games, especially um
the Hamilton Baiton games, Ialways look for something to
stand out.
Let's use last year, forexample, the game was in
Fairfield, which is the citynext over and everything.
That's a standout.
You know, that's um somethingthat stands out about this game
(04:21):
because this game, while yes, ithas been played in different
cities before, modern dayplaying at Fairfield, it's a
little weird.
However, think something stoodout about that, and it was a
Hamilton win in 2024.
And you would think that thekids that are playing JV,
because JV, I believe, thatyear, 2024, only lost one game.
(04:45):
So you you do the math, you say,hey, last year's talent plus
this year's JV, it's like, whoa,we we might be talking about not
on wood, some a GMCchampionship.
Because we haven't had a GMCchampionship in Hamilton since
1997 or 1998.
(05:06):
Don't quote me on the on theyear exactly, but it's one of
those years.
It's been a long time since wehad a GMC championship, and
coming into the Baiting game,something just struck me wrong.
I'm gonna just be real, it's theblack jerseys, man.
What are we doing here?
We get out there and Baiton'sthere, and their little clean
white jerseys and everything,and we're wearing black, and our
(05:27):
nickname is the big blue.
I don't know.
It's just minor things likethat.
That's like, hey, we wesomething ain't right about
this.
And it's just me as a fantalking, you know, as crazy as
that may sound.
But yeah, and then the openingplay uh was a kickoff return
from by Baton on us, andeventually we we eventually go
(05:50):
on and lost that game.
I've already talked about that,so we're not really here to talk
about that that gamespecifically.
I'm looking forward to nextyear, though, when Hamilton
actually goes to Baton's newstadium and play him there.
But I will say this, and like Isaid before, I think there's
(06:10):
talent in Hamilton.
I believe, I believe that thisyear was a little asterisks, an
asterisk mark because it was itwas weird.
It was weird.
And the reason why I say that isbecause Hamilton could play
ball.
I mean, if you put it together,some of the losses that we had
were real close and everythingand everything, minus the Lakota
West stuff.
(06:31):
Some of the losses were justclose.
And, you know, it's like it'sthat the game of inches, and
when it comes to football, it'sa game that could be won and
lost by inches.
And I I believe that Hamiltonwas on the on the edge of
success, and they still are.
And the reason why I say that isbecause they played Middletown
(06:53):
for a while.
They were struggling withMiddletown, and then eventually
we beat Middletown.
And why is that why is that athing?
Because Middletown played in theI believe the state semifinals
against who went to the statefinals.
So that's a win in the overallgrand scheme of things, right?
Uh Hamilton can play with thebest, they just got to believe
(07:17):
they could do this week in andweek out.
The work is there, and you know,I've had conversations with the
coach briefly, and hismotivation for the team, it
speaks volumes to the team.
So we're on the right path.
And mind you, if you look at thehistory of Hamilton, we've had
ups and downs with coaches.
(07:37):
Coach Crouch knows what he'sdoing.
Okay, so it's just a belief hehas to the players have to
believe in what they're doing,and hopefully we can get that
GMC championship.
But if they could playMiddletown and beat Middletown
and beat Fairfield and playedall these close games in GMC,
(07:57):
we're just we're almost there.
I will say this the quarterbackfor the Big Blue this past year,
there is so much raw potentialin him.
And I again I I I'm a big bluefanatic.
I I love Hamilton, I love BigBlue football.
To see this quarterback and tosee like the potential in him is
(08:21):
through the roof, man.
Mind you, when we played Baton,it was a close game.
And him being the JV starter tobeing now the varsity starter,
there's going to be a learningcurve.
And that's what that wasexpected, right?
We expected him to struggle alittle bit, but adapt.
And so I'm waiting.
I'm waiting.
(08:41):
And I can't wait.
It's gonna happen.
I believe in him, and just bythe little the little flashes of
brilliance.
I see a little flash here.
There was, ooh, there was atouchdown pass he did in
Middletown.
It looked so crispy.
It looked so good.
That like that's that's thethat's the flash I'm talking
(09:02):
about.
And I believe, I believe, Ibelieve in him.
I'm sorry.
And I hope next year is thebreakout year for him because
it's due.
It is due for Hamilton to dosome really good work.
2024, we did really good work.
2025 was the slump.
2026, we'll see.
We'll see.
I'm not I'm not gonna do I'm notgonna do that.
I'm not gonna place, put myexpectations high, even though I
(09:26):
have them.
I don't know if you can hear it.
You can hear it.
I can hear it.
I can I can hear the smile on myface, the excitement I have for
big blue football coming to2026.
There should be a chip on theshoulder for some of the players
because, you know, they mightnot have, you know, the players
that are on the team and thepeople that are there working
out now and getting ready for,you know, football next season,
(09:47):
there might be a little chip ontheir shoulder.
Like, hey, look, we we couldhave had a better year this
year.
And I'm pretty sure a coach hassaid this to him already.
But next year, let's come outwith that fire.
And there's no better openingthan opening with Baton at Baden
for the first time.
Oh, I I just got I just gotgoosebumps for that.
(10:10):
So I'm looking forward to nextyear.
And uh let's go big blue.
So, as I was saying, we arestarting the college FBS
playoffs tomorrow.
It's a group of 12 this year.
So 2025, the college footballplayoffs, is starting tomorrow,
(10:31):
and we have we have thefollowing teams: Miami, Florida,
the Hurricanes, Texas AM,Tulane, Old Miss, Ohio State,
Georgia, Texas Tech, JamesMadison University, Oregon, and
tomorrow, Oklahoma, Alabama, andthey get to play the number one
(10:56):
team is Ohio oh, nope, isIndiana.
So before we go to the playoffs,let's talk about the Ohio State
and Indiana game, which Indianawon 13 to 10.
I'm gonna flash back quickly tolast year's game where the loss
to Michigan, ironically, 13 to10, um, sparked something in
(11:19):
Ohio State.
The Indiana game, it was it wasit was kind of weird because it
felt like the Michigan-OhioState game from 2024.
Ohio State didn't do its fullrepertoire of weapons.
That's my feeling when I saw it,okay?
(11:39):
Like Jeremiah Smith was anon-factor, Justin Sane was
pressured, uh, Bo Jackson wasgood.
Bo Jackson was good.
It just felt like we weren't, orOhio State was not fully
equipped to play Indiana.
And that's no excuse.
And I don't want to make noexcuses and all that.
Indiana, they look marvelous,they looked great, they look,
(12:02):
they look excellent andwell-deserved win, right?
But there's some things thatthat I asterisks about the game,
right?
Number one, and this is thisgoes back to watching, you know,
but the buckeyes for all theseyears, you need to you need to
use that Jim Trestle way ofthinking.
(12:23):
Don't leave points on the field.
Um, there was one time we wentfor it on fourth down, and we
didn't get the fourth down.
We left three, it would havebeen an easy three-point, a
chipper, a chip shot, and wewent for it and didn't get it.
Jim Trestle would never leavepoints on the board.
That's what, and it annoyed mebecause he would go for a field
goal on third down.
That's the type of mentality JimTrestle had.
(12:44):
And I feel like, you know, wesay all this explosiveness and
this, that, and the other.
But don't forget, you haveprobably, arguably, one of the
greatest defenses in collegefootball history.
So you don't need that manypoints to win a game.
So we did leave points on theboard, and unfortunately, we
(13:05):
couldn't recover from that.
And then at the end of the game,the kicker missed the field goal
to tie the game.
Football, ladies and gentlemen.
That's what happens.
That's what happens.
So Ohio State will be the numbertwo seed, and they will face the
winner of the Texas CM andMiami, Florida game.
We got Alabama and Oklahoma,which are now SEC teams, playing
(13:31):
each other again.
But before we go that, thequestion is: where's Notre Dame?
Notre Dame only lost two gamesthis season.
Well, Alabama's lost three.
And some of the people weresaying, well, the com you can't
get penalized for making yourchampionship game, this, that,
and the other.
My thing is that, granted, NotreDame's schedule was kind of
soft, like putting andeverything, but they only lost
(13:54):
two games.
So did BYU.
They only lost two games, too.
And I don't know how manyVanderbilt lost, but I'm pretty
sure they lost two games aswell.
How, how does Alabama get inbefore any of those teams?
And, you know, when you keepseeing the same teams over and
over again, it starts to getboring, right?
(14:14):
It starts to get a little dullwhen you keep seeing the same
teams over and over again.
Alabama, for example, theyshould not have been in the
playoffs this year.
I don't care.
You lose three games, youshouldn't be in the playoffs.
And my prediction is Oklahoma'sgonna stomp them tomorrow.
Because one, the game's inOklahoma.
Two, I think that crowd's gonnabe out of control.
(14:37):
And I think Oklahoma alreadybeat Alabama this year.
So, yeah, I that's anotherthing.
We keep getting the rep the repthe repetitive matchups that
it's starting to make collegefootball boring.
You can make a case for BYU whohave one of the hardest
schedules this year, and theydon't make the playoffs.
You could say Vanderbilt couldhave made the playoffs.
(15:01):
And there's something wrong withcollege football, especially
with NILs and everything goingon.
But not to get the right teamsin the playoffs is a problem.
But there's a solution to it.
And you might ask yourself, whatis the solution?
It's quite simple.
Do what the division below youis doing, right?
(15:22):
The FCS has been doing playoffsfor a long time.
I want to say since 1979.
And they have done it correctly,they've increased when needed
and everything.
Right now they have 24 teams inthe playoffs.
So college football needs a fix,right?
The fix is one, theseconferences are absolutely
(15:46):
bloated right now.
The Big Ten has what threeteams, Oregon, USC, UCLA, from
the West, the West Coast,Stanford and Cowan ACC, and it's
just a it's just a jumble.
It's just a jumble of who'swhat, where, why, and the
matchups just are not what weall thought they would be.
(16:09):
The West Coast looks trash rightnow.
Looks absolutely terrible.
USC is garbage.
UCLA is garbage.
Oregon, they're doing theirthings.
We can't talk bad about Oregon.
But we need to get balance init.
So we need to bring back thePac-10, Pac-12, whatever you
want to call it, and the Big 12and everything.
(16:31):
Um, with the right teams and andand everything, right?
So we need to have conferenceswhere teams like UCLA and all of
them, the the Big 12, like withTexas and Oklahoma, not in the
SEC, because they're bloated.
ACC is absolutely bloated withteams.
They need to be, they need to bein their own conference.
Conference champions need tomean something.
(16:53):
And that's what a lot of peopleare saying about JMU, James
Madison University, and Tulane,where they're like, they don't
belong in the playoffs.
And then it that blows my mindthat I'm hearing that.
Because guess what?
They did everything they weresupposed to do.
They won, they won a lot ofgames, and they're conference
(17:14):
champions.
And then I hear a lot of peoplesaying, nobody in America wants
to see JMU and Tulane.
And I think that's the most BSline I've ever heard.
Let me take you back in time touh a time when Boise State
played Oklahoma in if I believeit was the Fiesta Bowl in the
early 2000s.
Nobody thought Boise Stateshould one play Oklahoma, let
(17:38):
alone beat Oklahoma.
Arguably, one of the greatestgames in college football.
Let me take you to one personalone Appalachian State.
At this time, FCS school goes tothe big house and beats, I
think, number five at the time,a number five Michigan team.
(17:58):
Arguably, get made one of thegreatest college football games
ever.
How it ended up and everything.
Great game.
So to say that people don't wantto see it, I believe is rubbish.
Right?
They have done everythingthey're supposed to do.
How does a team like JMU, howdoes a team like Tulane get in
(18:21):
the SEC?
They're not gonna let them in.
Beginning to Big Ten, they'renot gonna let them in.
They're not gonna do that.
Because that's not the way thecollege system is set up.
And it needs to be fixed.
You're mad at these teams forwinning their conference
championship, but they uh whatelse are they supposed to do?
It's wild to me that all thesebig wigs, uh Paul Feinbaum,
(18:42):
whatever his name is.
And then Joe Clatt saidsomething stupid the other day,
talking about he hated theformat of the NCAA basketball
tournament where nobody wants tosee George Mason win.
Why not?
Those are great stories.
That's what sports is.
Sports is a great story thatpeople, when somebody's given an
opportunity, can we at least seeit.
(19:03):
And I'm hoping, I am hoping thatJMU and Tulane play a great
game.
I'm pulling I'm pulling forTulane to be Ole Miss.
Definitely.
And I'm pulling for JMU, eventhough I think, I think
personally they don't have achance, but the game has to be
played.
A la Boise State.
(19:24):
A la Appalachian State.
And I could go on with otherupsets that's happened from
either the FCS level or thegroup of five and the power
four.
It's ridiculous that we one,that we're divided, and there's
no way for a team than a groupof five to move up.
Liberty a couple years ago, theyhad a great season.
(19:47):
You're trying to tell me Libertycouldn't beat a Purdue or
Northwestern given theopportunity.
Let's let's let's think aboutit.
If there's a way to relegate andpromote, just like how they do
in English football, we might betalking about something
different.
We might be having opportunitiesfor a James Madison to move up
(20:08):
to a Big Ten division.
That should be something that weshould that we should be
thinking about and considering.
Let's be fair.
So going forward, how do we fixcollege football?
Because some people want bowlsand everything, and some people
want just a uh two, like onegroup.
Of five playoff and one powerfour playoff.
(20:29):
And let me remind you that thesepower four conferences, they
play grouper fives all the time.
Right?
But they don't ever do a home inhome, right?
For example, let's just keepusing the Appalachian State,
Michigan game.
Every time that you play one ofthese groups, it should be one
at Michigan, one at AppalachianState.
(20:51):
Why not?
If you're so big and bad, youcome down to Appalachian State
and let's play the football gamethere.
Give these small quote-unquotegroup of fives an opportunity to
play.
What's wrong with that?
So here's some things that Iwould like to get fixed in
college football.
Number one, if you still want abowl season at the end of this
(21:13):
season, like right now at theend of the season, the other
thing we should be focused on isthe playoffs.
Still have a bowl selection andhave those bowl games played at
the beginning of the season nextyear.
Right?
So you got the matchups, andthen there's some matchups
where, hey, a group of five getsto play a power four.
(21:34):
I hate even saying that.
Have them play at the beginningof the season and then have
that, you know, either at thebowl site or somewhere else.
Yeah, have it at the bowl siteand have them play.
So therefore, the group of fivegets the opportunity to play
these power four conferencesinstead of being a home game at
a power four conference.
That should be fixed.
(21:56):
Number two, there should be norankings until the second week.
Looking back, do you think Texaswas the number one team at the
beginning of the season?
No, it shouldn't.
That puts a burden on Texas andeverything.
It should be done after thefirst week.
So therefore, you know bywatching who's the real number
(22:20):
one team out there.
That should be that should be athing.
Right.
Number, let's see, that's numbertwo.
Number three.
I did, and I mentioned itbriefly.
Home and home.
There should always be a homeand home.
Unless, like, let's just useMiami of Ohio takes on Penn
State.
The next year, Penn State needsto come to Miami, Ohio.
(22:41):
Unless they want to sign it up.
Hey, we'll give you a check.
We'll give you a check for youto come to instead of us going
to Miami of Ohio, we can, youknow, you come back here the
next year at Penn State.
That should be, that should be athing.
So therefore, Miami of Ohio isgenerating revenue, because you
know, Penn State people like totravel and people are coming to
(23:04):
the stadium and everything.
That should be a thing.
Another thing we need to we needto consider is, I don't know, I
touched on it briefly, is bringback conferences.
Like, like I said, the Big 12,as they are, the Mountain West,
uh, the Big East that's beeneliminated, the Pac-12, that's
(23:25):
been eliminated, and give them10 teams, play each other.
And if you are at the top of theconference, you're automatically
into the playoffs.
How hard is this?
If the FCS can do it, the FBScan do it.
What's the problem?
Really?
What is the problem?
We need to bring backconferences, 10 teams, have
(23:46):
everybody play each other.
If you're at the top, you're in.
And the playoffs, again, touchedon it briefly, 24 teams.
Conference champs or whoever's,whatever you want to do,
conference champs, automaticallyin.
It's just what the FCS does.
Conference champs, well, let'sjust use this for example.
Let's just say there's eightconferences, conference champs
(24:06):
all top eight, get a bye.
So nine through 24 have to play.
Why is this why is this nothard, ladies and gentlemen?
That's the way it should be.
And my final thing, my finalthing is promotion relegation.
Give these JMUs, these twolanes, a chance to move to a
different conference based onregion.
(24:30):
Give them a chance, right?
So let's just use the Sunbeltand Georgia Southern, undefeated
season.
Takes on who was Boo-Boo inMississippi State in SEC.
Winner swaps conferences.
Give them an opportunity to playand see what happens.
Therefore, you can't have thisgroup of five, power four, all
(24:56):
that stuff goes away.
It's just why not?
Why not?
Let's let's quit quit makingthis difficult because it's not
difficult.
That being said.
So, uh tomorrow, Alabama,Oklahoma, and I really think
Oklahoma's gonna beat the beatBama, and I hope so, and I hope
(25:16):
this proves to these people thatmade these uh playoffs to select
Alabama over Notre Dame, provethem wrong.
Or prove them, yeah, prove themwrong that Notre Dame should
have been in there.
And I'm not even mad at NotreDame for doing that.
If someone invited me to a bowland I'm Notre Dame, I would have
(25:37):
done the same thing.
I ain't going.
What's the point?
What's the point?
I mean, if if I'm playing, andif I'm playing, now if I was a
senior, oof, maybe, but youknow, what's the point?
What's the point?
I'm not mad at them all.
If someone invites you, hey,we're having a tupwear party,
Michael.
Do you want to go?
I have a right to say no.
Same thing with Notre Dame.
(25:57):
Notre Dame had every right tosay no.
And I'm not mad at them one bitfor it.
Now, do I think they should joina conference?
Absolutely.
They should join a conference.
Period.
Why do you get to be independentjust because you play a soft
schedule?
You automatically get in.
No, that should not be the case.
But I'm not mad at them forsaying nah.
I think you should join aconference.
(26:20):
Period.
You have to.
And one last thing, and justaside, just a bonus as we head
out for today for the sportsepisode is.
No, you can't.
If you're an FBS, you shouldn'tbe playing FCS.
That game should not even count.
Like Ohio State, you you playedGrambling.
(26:42):
Why?
Why?
That's that game should not evencount.
Against in your seating andeverything.
Number one team didn't play thisweek.
They had Grambling.
So you don't even get credit forthat.
What's wrong with that?
Play a real team.
You trying to tell me Ohio,Kent, Akron, they weren't
(27:02):
available?
Come on, man.
That's your sports episode.
Enjoy tomorrow's games and we'llsee what happens.
I'm the host of the WDYM.
My name is Michael Gillespie,and I'm out.
Girl Scout, Boy Scout.
Peace.
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