December 18, 2025 • 24 mins
Bucky Brooks and Rhett Lewis are joined by The Athletic and Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman to take stock of the world of College Football as we head into the playoffs.
Bruce shares what he’s hearing about what’s next for Michigan Football post scandal, before previewing a few of this weekend’s most intriguing CFP matchups. Then the guys provide their thoughts on the 2026 NFL Draft QB class and determine whether Fernando Mendoza is the consensus QB1.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And now Move the Sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hey, it's up, friends, welcome back another episode of Move
the Sticks. Right here, Red Lewis, Bucky Brooks in for
DJ today, but we get to welcome our good pal
Bruce Feldman here with us. Bruce, of course does great
work for Fox throughout the college football season. I see
him on the desk throughout college Football Saturdays, and of
(00:30):
course bringing great info and analysis throughout Bruce. Welcome man.
No shortage of storylines through college football over the last
couple of weeks since we last spoke.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
How you doing Man, I'm doing good.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
You're right, it's you know, we have to play off
about to start, but Michigan has taken over the stage
with a lot of dysfunction and craziness.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well let's start right there, I mean right, I mean,
let's just let's get that thing out of the way.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Here.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Where do we stand right now? I know there's been
multiple coaches, big name coach which is that I have
reportedly been taking swings at with Kenny Dillingham and Kaylin
de Boor, And as of now, those coaches remain at
their school. So where's Michigan going at this point.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, I think there's a couple of things that are
going on right now. You have an investigation into what happened,
not just who knew what when. But I also think
there's part of the question is how come people higher
up didn't know what was going on or to that
point until it really exploded into a really ugly, ugly story.
So there's that. I don't know if that means the
(01:32):
AD word manual is going to be the AD that
much longer. From what I've heard is his situation is
very tenuous, to be honest, So we'll see where that goes.
There is a search that's already started. The timing's never good, right,
but like you mentioned Calin de Boor, I mean Caleen
(01:53):
Boor's team is playing in the playoff in less than
thirty six hours from when we're taping or so, if
I do my math right, you know he's not leaving
right now. I think the question is going to be
if they make an early exit, would it make some
sense for him to go? You know what, maybe this
isn't the right spot for me. Maybe I want a
(02:13):
different start, and maybe I go back to the Midwest.
He's a South Dakota guy coached in the Big Ten
that you're alma mater. He was off the Twitter right
in Indiana. So really good coach. We'll see, I mean,
we'll see how that plays out. And from talking to
people close to him, they've said that, you know, his
family likes it there. He knew what that job was
going to be. Like, he knew he was replacing Nick Saban.
(02:34):
It wasn't like he didn't think there was going to
be massive amounts of pressure. So we'll see. On that
Dillingham situation, I feel like, is this I think from
what I understand, there's some interest on both sides. I
don't know how much interest on the Michigan piece of it.
But you know, if you're Kenny Dillingham, you're looking at
(02:54):
it going, Okay, you have a good job at your
alma mater. You've done really well in a short amount
of time. But also the resources are way different. I mean, look,
his quarterback, who was impressive last year said love it
in helping lead them to the playoff with Scataboo, and
they did well in the playoff, they almost knocked Texas out.
But he's in the portal. He didn't go to like
(03:15):
their captain's banquet or whatever a couple of weeks ago.
And I think that's kind of significant, intelligent maybe where
the state of college football is to some degree, and
also probably where the state of what Arizona State football
is too And I think that if you're Kenning Gilliam,
you probably got to listen if Michigan is interested. There's
also the interim there, Biff Pogi, who has a lot
(03:37):
of respect from the current Michigan players as well as
really key people involved in Michigan football. They know how
integral he was, how Jim Harball leaned on him more
than anybody else to get that program turned around. So
you know, if they're looking at it saying, hey, after
what we just had, we need an adult in the room,
(03:57):
I think Biff Pogi might be a sensible, you know,
shorter term option for them, depending on where it goes.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Bruce, what habits of the players that just signed, like
the guys that just signed on signing day to just
committed to Michigan. Now this blows up. What happens to
this class that was regarded as a highly tuted class
coming in.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah, you're talking about arguably the best running back recruit
in the country, you know, signed into that group. I'm
interested to see how it plays out, because I think,
you know, we're in the stage right now. I did
this story for The Athletic earlier this week on talking
to a lot of coaches for a college football confidential piece,
and one of the things that came up was a
lot of these guys who are not in, you know,
(04:38):
in the playoffs. They were pretty free. I was like,
what are you doing right now? And they're like, it's
basically the portal has opened up, but it's not officially
opened up. I'm watching a ton of film on guys
that we hear are going in, and I think that's
the part that you know right now they're scrambling to
keep whoever they can keep. But I don't know how
you how you tell players now it's Michigan. It's obviously
(05:00):
it's a blue blood school that won a national title
a few years ago and obviously a great education, but
you do not know who the coaches are going to be,
So how do you feel about committing to that right
you know? I think if you're especially certain positions, you know,
maybe if you're an alignment, you're like, okay, I know Michigan,
like whoever's been there. Even when they've been bad, they've
(05:21):
had really good offensive lines. You know, they're going to
be physical. It's kind of in the DNA, I think defensively,
but if you're a skill guy, if you're a receiver,
if you're a running back, or definitely if you're a quarterback.
And they got Bryce Underwood, a former five star who
had a up and down freshman year, you know what
does that look like? Because they were terrible on offense
last year and they were not that good on offense
(05:41):
this year.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Okay, so one more here and then I want to
get into some college football playoff stuff here with you.
But are we really at a point where Calen de
Borr in year two we're talking about a win or
a loss away from maybe deciding to up and leave
the arguably the best job in college football. That's that's
like part one of the questions. And then part two
is like, is Michigan is it more of he us
(06:07):
he could view Michigan as a better fit, or like
Michigan truly presents a better opportunity than sitting here at
Alabama considering I guess the shadow of Nick Saban.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
I think it would be more of is Michigan a
better fit than Alabama? Is you know? I Calendibor is
a smart guy. He's obviously a phenomenal coach. But I
think you can go in thinking, Okay, I get it,
I'm replacing the greatest coach in the history of the sport.
I'm in the sec There's this hotbed of passion and
(06:38):
energy and maybe paranoia. But until you're in it, I
don't know if you can really really grasp what that
feels like, right, you know, I mean, you know, and again,
two years of it, I think he would have gotten
a pretty good dose of it. And you know, like
(06:59):
struggles bring out out the worst in people, right And
so I think if they didn't lose to Oklahoma twenty
four to three last year, you know, they're a playoff team,
and I don't know if the heat is as high
when they then they lose to to Pretty, which are
not have to be a pretty you know, average at
best mediocre Florida State team. You know, they kind of
(07:20):
lost to him handling the opener and then they you know,
he did. He has some good wins.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
He won in.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Athens earlier this year, he beat Georgia last year. It's
not like he hasn't done anything. I mean, they are
in the playoff, but I think the way they sputtered
down the stretch barely beat Auburn. You know, you talk
to some people around there, and I'm not talking about
the ad or anybody really really matters, but they're like, man,
if he lost to Auburn, you know, it would have
been really bad because any doesn't make the playoff.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
So to answer your question on the first part, Red,
we'll see, we will see. I mean, I hope it. Yeah,
it's just crazy, but it's college football.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah, and that that is crazy, right Buck? So let's
get into the playoff such a time? Yeah, uh so,
look at these matchups A and M. Miami obviously starts
with Oklahoma and Alabama for the right to play Indiana
in the Rose Bowl, and then we go into Saturday
with the tripleheader A and M in Miami. What we're
(08:19):
before we before we get into the Saturday stuff, And
I know Bucky's got some some guests there on Friday.
Since we're talking about debor Alabama and Oklahoma. You know, again,
how do we see this match up? This what intrigue
you most about the way that these two teams will
go at it.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Uh In this one, for me, it's really ken Alabama
established some semblance of a run game to take some
heat off Ty Simpson. I think ty Simpson has been
terrific this year. He's been a little streaky, but it's
been a long season and he you know, they lose
jam Miller early in the season and again late in
the season. I think the optimism is a deep back,
(08:57):
but and he's their best running back right And I
think what we know is Ryan Grubb, who had been
the Seahawks offense corneer last year and before that he
was he was the guy who ran the show for
Debor when Washington and Pennex who were playing for the
national title. He's a really good offensive coach, but he
you know, he's not all in on the run game.
(09:18):
He loves to throw it. And I think they have
some really good concepts. And the question to me is
going to be can they get some similars of a
run game and can they protect tys Simpson because Oklahoma
has a you know, excellent defense, And that's the thing
to me, because if this game is under twenty you
know has played under twenty one, meaning like the winner
(09:42):
has twenty one. I think that's a bad sign for Alabama.
They have to find a way to the They can't
afford mistakes. They had a bunch of turnovers and allowed
him to get pressure a lot. And I think they
got to take advantage of the big plays when they're there.
If it's a higher scoring game, I don't think Oklahoma
can keep up.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yeah, brew Simmons really quick. What do you think about
Brant Vinibles in the turnaround job that he has done.
What has been the biggest difference in Oklahoma this year
compared to the previous years where they struggle to kind
of make the mark as blue book.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, I think Bucky. I think it's a couple of things. One,
he is a really good play caller on the defensive
side of the ball. I think he has a good
feel for it. He has a really good defensive line.
He has a lot of you know, playmakers in the
front seven. I think that's a big thing. It's one
of the one of the best college defenses out there.
The other thing, I think, you know, when John Mattier
(10:36):
was healthy in the early part of the year, he
gave them something they didn't have, which was a real
run game because he was such a threat. You know,
I don't want to say he's Baker Mayfield, that's unfair.
I feel like he's probably closer to Riley Leonard, you know,
in terms of he's probably more of a threat consistently
with his legs than he is with his arm. The
(10:57):
one playmaker outside Isaiah Satanna, who's a former guy who
will we'll bust some big plays. And he did that
a couple of times when they desperately needed it. But
Matier got hurt right before, you know, like a week
or two before the Red River game. I guess it
was a couple of weeks before he came back and
played in that game. He really didn't have many practice
(11:17):
reps before that. He was really rusty. I think he
got picked off three times. They looked bad, and it
felt like he never got back. You know, God is
kind of rhythm back. We'll see if he if he
has that now that he's had a couple of weeks off.
Because if he's not a true dual threat, I think
they're going to struggle to score more than fourteen points
(11:38):
unless the defense gets them points.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
That's an interesting point to consider here when we get
into Saturday. Obviously we'll see two group of five team
or whatever we want to call him now, Tulane and
James Madison going on the road to Lane to Ole
Miss to Oxford and then James Madison up to Audson
Stateium to battle Oregon. Also had the the texasay and
in Miami game.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
It's gonna be a great one there.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Do you have any sense of a potential upset on Saturday, Bruce, I.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Think the better chance for the upset is the game
that's already happened, which was Tulane got smashed in Oxford
like two months ago. I think Tulane, and it's not
just because Lane's not there and there's been a lot
of distraction. I think Tulane will give them a much
better game. They don't. They have some good players, they
don't have the depth Ole Miss has. I think what
(12:31):
hurt them in that first time is Jake Rutzlov is
a pretty good duel threat quarterback. He's got good speed,
good wheels. They couldn't get anything in the run game
and he's streaky, and then because of that, I think
they were just kind of stuck. They couldn't get anything
going at all. If he gets off to a fast
start and can make some plays with his legs. I
(12:53):
think he will present some problems. Like I said, he's
really streaky, but there are times when you watch him,
you're like, Okay, he's not gonna scared. He's going to
give you everything he's got. And I'm curious how Old
Miss reacts if this game is tight in the second half,
if it gets into the second half and they and
it's not a blowout, because again, this is the same
(13:14):
Old Miss team that barely survived against Washington State and
two Lane's better than Washington State. I get it. Maybe
they were looking ahead. It was it was Washington State,
but there wasn't like a lot of fluky stuff about that.
Washington State I think had a really good plan for them.
I feel like their their quarterbacks a lesser version of
a dual threat guy, but he can run, and I
(13:35):
think that gave I think that gave Peak Golding and
that Old Miss defense some problems. And again, now Peak
Golding's the full time head coach. I just think it's
going to be interesting to see how Old Miss handles it.
I know the place is going to be wild because
they're going to show Lane Kiffin or want to show
Lane Kiffin you know we're you know, we're much better
(13:57):
better off without you, and this place isn't going anywhere,
And it's going to be interesting if Tulane can keep
it a game into the second half, when that energy
might kind of start to go in the other direction. Hey,
you brought it up. Pete Golding.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
A lot of people don't know who he is because
he's been on the sideline, he's bounced around.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Look, he's life. He's a really good defensive coordinator. What
do you know because I know you've had interactions with him. Yeah,
I mean I remember doing a story on him a
long time ago when Saban had hired him in Tuscaloosa.
And it's ironic because Frank Wilson, longtime New Orleans high
school coach who's bounced around the SEC's the interim head coach.
Yeah now at LSU, but he's going to go to
(14:40):
go back to Ole miss to go work for Pete Golding.
And Frank Wilson just raved about Pete Golding to me
about like if Saban interviews him, he's going to hire him.
He's as savvy as there it comes when it comes
to getting on the board. And players want to play
for him. He's old Ron Roberts. Ron Roberts, I think
(15:02):
he's originally from California, but spent a lot of time
in the Deep South and worked his way up. Was
Florida's defensive coordinators bounced around. But he has a pretty
good coaching tree of guys, including Dave Randa, Pete Golden,
Bee Brown, who's probably going to be the defensive coordinator
now with Golden moving up. There's a bunch of guys
who fit in that tree, who started out at like
Delta State and these really small schools, And you know,
(15:26):
I think there's a lot of people feel really good
for Pete Golding that he got this job, but it's
big shoes to fill right now without Laye Kiffin there,
and I don't you know, I know the players are
going to want to want to kind of stick it
back in Kiffin's face because we heard from some of
them about, you know, what they thought about Lane saying
some stuff that apparently wasn't true about how they felt.
(15:46):
And it's going to be really interesting, especially if that
game gets close, how he stays close, how how it
starts to feel.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Okay, so awaiting we talked about awaiting the of Oklahoma
and Alabama is number one Indiana And speaking of number one,
that certainly feels like we're Fernando Mendoza's position when we
get to the draft in terms of QB one. Is
that consensus from what you've heard as well? And then
how do you see the quarterback class outside of Mendoza
(16:17):
following that?
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Bruce, Yeah, that's the early returns is That's what I've
heard too. And I think there's a couple of things
Mendoza has going for him. He's really really smart. Coaches
I've talked to think he makes you know, great post
snap decisions. He's got good size.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
You know, he's not a.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Plus plus athlete, but we've seen him, you know, run
around and make some plays to extend plays and get
first downs. I mean, I don't think he's the athlete
like Joe Burrow is much less you know, guys who
are you know or Josh Allen or you know, never
bring you know Lamar's name in this, but like he's
a decent athlete. I think the things that that I
like most about him are he threw a pick six
(16:58):
at Oregon in the second half and I'm like, oh,
this is it, and he responded to lead them to
a win that was big the last drive against Penn State.
Penn State has some NFL dudes, by the way on
that defense. Yeah, and it's not an easy place to play,
no matter how how bad they got in his face.
(17:19):
I mean credit to Omar Cooper junior. You know, he
looked like what he was a former high school basketball
star on the game winning touchdown catch. But I thought
that was another time we're like, okay, we got you know,
you got some in him. And then I thought, you know,
a couple of weeks ago they played in the Big
tun title game. There's a ton of NFL talent on
that defense. Like there's I think the best defensive players
(17:41):
in the back on the back in the secondary are
at Ohio State. You know, I think there's three there
that are There's no team that has has even won
as good as those three. I'm talking about Reese downs
and Sunny Styles. I mean, those guys are elite, elite athletes,
elite players, and he buckle. You know, I thought that
(18:01):
was He's impressive. After him, you know, I could talk
myself into Ty Simpson. The part that would scare me
is Ty Simpson, even though he's like twenty three years old,
are about to be I forget what you know where
his birthday's coming up. He didn't play that much, right,
you know, And but the arm is good. He's a
I think he's a better, much better runner, certainly than
(18:23):
than Mendoza. He's streaky. But you know, they've had a
bunch of drops. I mean, Ryan Williams does not look
like the Ryan Williams we saw last year.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
I don't you know.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
I think that's been a little bit issue. They don't
have a running game, or consistent running game. He's playing
against the SEC defenses a lot. I you know, I
would put Ty Simpson in there, and then after that,
I don't know where you know, Dante Moore. The feeling
I got earlier in the year was there were no
rush to go. When I say that, I mean like
him and his family were no rush to jump into
(18:55):
the end because he hadn't played very much at all either.
And I think they know more is probably better. I
think even if somebody told him, hey, you're going to
be a top five pick, Oregon can pay him a
lot of money. I'm not saying they can pay him
NFL NFL money. But if it's if it's the long
term play to stay and get more seasoning, assuming he
(19:16):
buys into you, Will Stein the offense coordinators moved on,
gonna move on to be the head coach of Kentucky
Drew Marranger as a tight ends coach. Now he's taken over.
Assuming they feel good about that, then I would think
he would lean to staying. But obviously there's a lot
of football left to be played over the next month,
and who knows, maybe somebody else will emerge. But like
when you look at the beginning of this, I feel
(19:37):
like we've probably talked about this over the summer. The
guys who a lot of people were rejecting, Drew Aller,
Garrett Nussmeyer, Cade Club Nick not there anymore?
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Righteah, Bruce, I got a wal Court name for you.
How about Darren Mensa from Duke two lane transfer. There's
some conversation about him kind of being a guy that
is interesting.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yeah, yeah, I could see him be an interesting I
would be surprised if he was in the first round discussion.
You know, to me, the biggest issues with him is
a ball security. You know, he had a lot of
fumbles in big games. He throws it, you know, he
throws it well, he's accurate. I don't think. I don't
know if there's anything elite about him. You know, he's
(20:22):
a decent athlete. He's not a great runner. I don't know.
From what I had heard, I don't think he was
exactly a willing, you know runner, which you know, look,
he's smart, so maybe that's part of it. I don't
think i'd be surprised if he was in the first
round discussion, no matter how weak this quarterback class turns
out to be beyond mensa, I would be surprised if
(20:45):
people evaluate him and say, oh, he's going to be
a first round guy. Now, Kenny Pickett was a first
round guy, you know, because it depends on need.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
But yeah, I don't know, right, yeah, yeah, I mean,
you know, it's like you just look at to.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Me, Jackson Dart, there was a lot to like and
a little bit to be like, eh on, but you know,
he was a higher level athlete than these guys. I
feel like he had more juice in his arm. The
thing I worry about Jackson Dart, if I was a
Giants fan, I'd really worry about it is it's not
just like a hit count. It's literally like, don't play
like this because you're I mean, you're not in college
(21:27):
football anymore, right, these guys are going to knock your
head off, right, and you know so.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
But but he was.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
He physically had tools that were like, oh, you could
see him as a first round pick. I don't know
about some of these other guys at this point, and
you start to say, Okay, maybe next year's draft will
be better, but I just don't for quarterbacks, I just
don't see it as being that deep of a group.
If you're looking at like, oh, is this guy getting
to be a first round quarterback? That might be third
round guys.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
But right, yeah, yeah, you know, look we've seen Tyler
Shuck is the second rounder you know, from this year's
class start to really kind of go up here late
season for the New Orleans Saints actually has the most
wins out of any rooky quarterback starter right now as
we go into the final three weeks of the season.
But you know, one of the other things to think about,
and we'll we'll address this in another episode, Bruce, but
(22:14):
guys like Dante Moore, I mean, the class is going
to be more crowded next year, and so you know,
you wonder how that kind of factors intoto the decision
making process too.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
So we'll see how I'll play that. Yeah. The only
thing with that, right, I think we thought this class
was going to be crowded. I know, all of a
sudden we should look, yeah, Club Nick, like like, I
don't know what what the second act for, especially Club
Nick and Nusswear. I know they played each other in
the first game, Like, I really like both guys from
(22:43):
a from a makeup standpoint. But when you watch Club
Nick early on, he had a pretty experienced offensive line.
I know they were missing probably their best receiver for
a bunch of the year, but he didn't look like
he was a three year starter, right. And with Garrett,
you know, obviously son of an NFL coach and former
NFL quarterback, and everybody loves him and there's still some gunslinger.
(23:05):
And I just felt like the whole year started out
bad for it, you know, beyond the winning at Clemson
in the turn I was a Clemson thing, Like, it
just felt like something's off. It doesn't mean that if
somebody takes him in the third round, he might be
sure might say, oh, you know, if you bring him along.
He may have starter ability in there, but just it
(23:26):
was a bad combination of things in Baton Rouge this year.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah, I think the coaches are gonna love Garrett Nutsmeyer.
He's such a technician and we'll see how that ends
up factoring into the entire decision. But Bruce always a
pleasure man. Appreciate all your great work on Fox and
obviously the work you do writing for the Athletic as well.
We always appreciate you here on Move the Sticks.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
I always pleasure guys. You guys have my favorite football podcast.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
So let's go.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Let's go right there. We'll just keep DJ out of it.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
So as long as as long as it's being buck yet,
I appreciate you saying it.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Thank you very much. It's fine. DJ gets all his
love from wherever he needs to get it from. We
know this. So I see him popping up on my
feet every other day. It seems like for.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Sure, all right, that's going to do it for this
episode of Move the Stick. Appreciate you guys for joining us.
Obviously appreciate Bruce. We'll catch you next time right here,
Unmoving the Sticks
And now Move the Sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hey, it's up, friends, welcome back another episode of Move
the Sticks. Right here, Red Lewis, Bucky Brooks in for
DJ today, but we get to welcome our good pal
Bruce Feldman here with us. Bruce, of course does great
work for Fox throughout the college football season. I see
him on the desk throughout college Football Saturdays, and of
(00:30):
course bringing great info and analysis throughout Bruce. Welcome man.
No shortage of storylines through college football over the last
couple of weeks since we last spoke.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
How you doing Man, I'm doing good.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
You're right, it's you know, we have to play off
about to start, but Michigan has taken over the stage
with a lot of dysfunction and craziness.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well let's start right there, I mean right, I mean,
let's just let's get that thing out of the way.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Here.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Where do we stand right now? I know there's been
multiple coaches, big name coach which is that I have
reportedly been taking swings at with Kenny Dillingham and Kaylin
de Boor, And as of now, those coaches remain at
their school. So where's Michigan going at this point.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, I think there's a couple of things that are
going on right now. You have an investigation into what happened,
not just who knew what when. But I also think
there's part of the question is how come people higher
up didn't know what was going on or to that
point until it really exploded into a really ugly, ugly story.
So there's that. I don't know if that means the
(01:32):
AD word manual is going to be the AD that
much longer. From what I've heard is his situation is
very tenuous, to be honest, So we'll see where that goes.
There is a search that's already started. The timing's never good, right,
but like you mentioned Calin de Boor, I mean Caleen
(01:53):
Boor's team is playing in the playoff in less than
thirty six hours from when we're taping or so, if
I do my math right, you know he's not leaving
right now. I think the question is going to be
if they make an early exit, would it make some
sense for him to go? You know what, maybe this
isn't the right spot for me. Maybe I want a
(02:13):
different start, and maybe I go back to the Midwest.
He's a South Dakota guy coached in the Big Ten
that you're alma mater. He was off the Twitter right
in Indiana. So really good coach. We'll see, I mean,
we'll see how that plays out. And from talking to
people close to him, they've said that, you know, his
family likes it there. He knew what that job was
going to be. Like, he knew he was replacing Nick Saban.
(02:34):
It wasn't like he didn't think there was going to
be massive amounts of pressure. So we'll see. On that
Dillingham situation, I feel like, is this I think from
what I understand, there's some interest on both sides. I
don't know how much interest on the Michigan piece of it.
But you know, if you're Kenny Dillingham, you're looking at
(02:54):
it going, Okay, you have a good job at your
alma mater. You've done really well in a short amount
of time. But also the resources are way different. I mean, look,
his quarterback, who was impressive last year said love it
in helping lead them to the playoff with Scataboo, and
they did well in the playoff, they almost knocked Texas out.
But he's in the portal. He didn't go to like
(03:15):
their captain's banquet or whatever a couple of weeks ago.
And I think that's kind of significant, intelligent maybe where
the state of college football is to some degree, and
also probably where the state of what Arizona State football
is too And I think that if you're Kenning Gilliam,
you probably got to listen if Michigan is interested. There's
also the interim there, Biff Pogi, who has a lot
(03:37):
of respect from the current Michigan players as well as
really key people involved in Michigan football. They know how
integral he was, how Jim Harball leaned on him more
than anybody else to get that program turned around. So
you know, if they're looking at it saying, hey, after
what we just had, we need an adult in the room,
(03:57):
I think Biff Pogi might be a sensible, you know,
shorter term option for them, depending on where it goes.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Bruce, what habits of the players that just signed, like
the guys that just signed on signing day to just
committed to Michigan. Now this blows up. What happens to
this class that was regarded as a highly tuted class
coming in.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah, you're talking about arguably the best running back recruit
in the country, you know, signed into that group. I'm
interested to see how it plays out, because I think,
you know, we're in the stage right now. I did
this story for The Athletic earlier this week on talking
to a lot of coaches for a college football confidential piece,
and one of the things that came up was a
lot of these guys who are not in, you know,
(04:38):
in the playoffs. They were pretty free. I was like,
what are you doing right now? And they're like, it's
basically the portal has opened up, but it's not officially
opened up. I'm watching a ton of film on guys
that we hear are going in, and I think that's
the part that you know right now they're scrambling to
keep whoever they can keep. But I don't know how
you how you tell players now it's Michigan. It's obviously
(05:00):
it's a blue blood school that won a national title
a few years ago and obviously a great education, but
you do not know who the coaches are going to be,
So how do you feel about committing to that right
you know? I think if you're especially certain positions, you know,
maybe if you're an alignment, you're like, okay, I know Michigan,
like whoever's been there. Even when they've been bad, they've
(05:21):
had really good offensive lines. You know, they're going to
be physical. It's kind of in the DNA, I think defensively,
but if you're a skill guy, if you're a receiver,
if you're a running back, or definitely if you're a quarterback.
And they got Bryce Underwood, a former five star who
had a up and down freshman year, you know what
does that look like? Because they were terrible on offense
last year and they were not that good on offense
(05:41):
this year.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Okay, so one more here and then I want to
get into some college football playoff stuff here with you.
But are we really at a point where Calen de
Borr in year two we're talking about a win or
a loss away from maybe deciding to up and leave
the arguably the best job in college football. That's that's
like part one of the questions. And then part two
is like, is Michigan is it more of he us
(06:07):
he could view Michigan as a better fit, or like
Michigan truly presents a better opportunity than sitting here at
Alabama considering I guess the shadow of Nick Saban.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
I think it would be more of is Michigan a
better fit than Alabama? Is you know? I Calendibor is
a smart guy. He's obviously a phenomenal coach. But I
think you can go in thinking, Okay, I get it,
I'm replacing the greatest coach in the history of the sport.
I'm in the sec There's this hotbed of passion and
(06:38):
energy and maybe paranoia. But until you're in it, I
don't know if you can really really grasp what that
feels like, right, you know, I mean, you know, and again,
two years of it, I think he would have gotten
a pretty good dose of it. And you know, like
(06:59):
struggles bring out out the worst in people, right And
so I think if they didn't lose to Oklahoma twenty
four to three last year, you know, they're a playoff team,
and I don't know if the heat is as high
when they then they lose to to Pretty, which are
not have to be a pretty you know, average at
best mediocre Florida State team. You know, they kind of
(07:20):
lost to him handling the opener and then they you know,
he did. He has some good wins.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
He won in.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Athens earlier this year, he beat Georgia last year. It's
not like he hasn't done anything. I mean, they are
in the playoff, but I think the way they sputtered
down the stretch barely beat Auburn. You know, you talk
to some people around there, and I'm not talking about
the ad or anybody really really matters, but they're like, man,
if he lost to Auburn, you know, it would have
been really bad because any doesn't make the playoff.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
So to answer your question on the first part, Red,
we'll see, we will see. I mean, I hope it. Yeah,
it's just crazy, but it's college football.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah, and that that is crazy, right Buck? So let's
get into the playoff such a time? Yeah, uh so,
look at these matchups A and M. Miami obviously starts
with Oklahoma and Alabama for the right to play Indiana
in the Rose Bowl, and then we go into Saturday
with the tripleheader A and M in Miami. What we're
(08:19):
before we before we get into the Saturday stuff, And
I know Bucky's got some some guests there on Friday.
Since we're talking about debor Alabama and Oklahoma. You know, again,
how do we see this match up? This what intrigue
you most about the way that these two teams will
go at it.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Uh In this one, for me, it's really ken Alabama
established some semblance of a run game to take some
heat off Ty Simpson. I think ty Simpson has been
terrific this year. He's been a little streaky, but it's
been a long season and he you know, they lose
jam Miller early in the season and again late in
the season. I think the optimism is a deep back,
(08:57):
but and he's their best running back right And I
think what we know is Ryan Grubb, who had been
the Seahawks offense corneer last year and before that he
was he was the guy who ran the show for
Debor when Washington and Pennex who were playing for the
national title. He's a really good offensive coach, but he
you know, he's not all in on the run game.
(09:18):
He loves to throw it. And I think they have
some really good concepts. And the question to me is
going to be can they get some similars of a
run game and can they protect tys Simpson because Oklahoma
has a you know, excellent defense, And that's the thing
to me, because if this game is under twenty you
know has played under twenty one, meaning like the winner
(09:42):
has twenty one. I think that's a bad sign for Alabama.
They have to find a way to the They can't
afford mistakes. They had a bunch of turnovers and allowed
him to get pressure a lot. And I think they
got to take advantage of the big plays when they're there.
If it's a higher scoring game, I don't think Oklahoma
can keep up.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yeah, brew Simmons really quick. What do you think about
Brant Vinibles in the turnaround job that he has done.
What has been the biggest difference in Oklahoma this year
compared to the previous years where they struggle to kind
of make the mark as blue book.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, I think Bucky. I think it's a couple of things. One,
he is a really good play caller on the defensive
side of the ball. I think he has a good
feel for it. He has a really good defensive line.
He has a lot of you know, playmakers in the
front seven. I think that's a big thing. It's one
of the one of the best college defenses out there.
The other thing, I think, you know, when John Mattier
(10:36):
was healthy in the early part of the year, he
gave them something they didn't have, which was a real
run game because he was such a threat. You know,
I don't want to say he's Baker Mayfield, that's unfair.
I feel like he's probably closer to Riley Leonard, you know,
in terms of he's probably more of a threat consistently
with his legs than he is with his arm. The
(10:57):
one playmaker outside Isaiah Satanna, who's a former guy who
will we'll bust some big plays. And he did that
a couple of times when they desperately needed it. But
Matier got hurt right before, you know, like a week
or two before the Red River game. I guess it
was a couple of weeks before he came back and
played in that game. He really didn't have many practice
(11:17):
reps before that. He was really rusty. I think he
got picked off three times. They looked bad, and it
felt like he never got back. You know, God is
kind of rhythm back. We'll see if he if he
has that now that he's had a couple of weeks off.
Because if he's not a true dual threat, I think
they're going to struggle to score more than fourteen points
(11:38):
unless the defense gets them points.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
That's an interesting point to consider here when we get
into Saturday. Obviously we'll see two group of five team
or whatever we want to call him now, Tulane and
James Madison going on the road to Lane to Ole
Miss to Oxford and then James Madison up to Audson
Stateium to battle Oregon. Also had the the texasay and
in Miami game.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
It's gonna be a great one there.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Do you have any sense of a potential upset on Saturday, Bruce, I.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Think the better chance for the upset is the game
that's already happened, which was Tulane got smashed in Oxford
like two months ago. I think Tulane, and it's not
just because Lane's not there and there's been a lot
of distraction. I think Tulane will give them a much
better game. They don't. They have some good players, they
don't have the depth Ole Miss has. I think what
(12:31):
hurt them in that first time is Jake Rutzlov is
a pretty good duel threat quarterback. He's got good speed,
good wheels. They couldn't get anything in the run game
and he's streaky, and then because of that, I think
they were just kind of stuck. They couldn't get anything
going at all. If he gets off to a fast
start and can make some plays with his legs. I
(12:53):
think he will present some problems. Like I said, he's
really streaky, but there are times when you watch him,
you're like, Okay, he's not gonna scared. He's going to
give you everything he's got. And I'm curious how Old
Miss reacts if this game is tight in the second half,
if it gets into the second half and they and
it's not a blowout, because again, this is the same
(13:14):
Old Miss team that barely survived against Washington State and
two Lane's better than Washington State. I get it. Maybe
they were looking ahead. It was it was Washington State,
but there wasn't like a lot of fluky stuff about that.
Washington State I think had a really good plan for them.
I feel like their their quarterbacks a lesser version of
a dual threat guy, but he can run, and I
(13:35):
think that gave I think that gave Peak Golding and
that Old Miss defense some problems. And again, now Peak
Golding's the full time head coach. I just think it's
going to be interesting to see how Old Miss handles it.
I know the place is going to be wild because
they're going to show Lane Kiffin or want to show
Lane Kiffin you know we're you know, we're much better
(13:57):
better off without you, and this place isn't going anywhere,
And it's going to be interesting if Tulane can keep
it a game into the second half, when that energy
might kind of start to go in the other direction. Hey,
you brought it up. Pete Golding.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
A lot of people don't know who he is because
he's been on the sideline, he's bounced around.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Look, he's life. He's a really good defensive coordinator. What
do you know because I know you've had interactions with him. Yeah,
I mean I remember doing a story on him a
long time ago when Saban had hired him in Tuscaloosa.
And it's ironic because Frank Wilson, longtime New Orleans high
school coach who's bounced around the SEC's the interim head coach.
Yeah now at LSU, but he's going to go to
(14:40):
go back to Ole miss to go work for Pete Golding.
And Frank Wilson just raved about Pete Golding to me
about like if Saban interviews him, he's going to hire him.
He's as savvy as there it comes when it comes
to getting on the board. And players want to play
for him. He's old Ron Roberts. Ron Roberts, I think
(15:02):
he's originally from California, but spent a lot of time
in the Deep South and worked his way up. Was
Florida's defensive coordinators bounced around. But he has a pretty
good coaching tree of guys, including Dave Randa, Pete Golden,
Bee Brown, who's probably going to be the defensive coordinator
now with Golden moving up. There's a bunch of guys
who fit in that tree, who started out at like
Delta State and these really small schools, And you know,
(15:26):
I think there's a lot of people feel really good
for Pete Golding that he got this job, but it's
big shoes to fill right now without Laye Kiffin there,
and I don't you know, I know the players are
going to want to want to kind of stick it
back in Kiffin's face because we heard from some of
them about, you know, what they thought about Lane saying
some stuff that apparently wasn't true about how they felt.
(15:46):
And it's going to be really interesting, especially if that
game gets close, how he stays close, how how it
starts to feel.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Okay, so awaiting we talked about awaiting the of Oklahoma
and Alabama is number one Indiana And speaking of number one,
that certainly feels like we're Fernando Mendoza's position when we
get to the draft in terms of QB one. Is
that consensus from what you've heard as well? And then
how do you see the quarterback class outside of Mendoza
(16:17):
following that?
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Bruce, Yeah, that's the early returns is That's what I've
heard too. And I think there's a couple of things
Mendoza has going for him. He's really really smart. Coaches
I've talked to think he makes you know, great post
snap decisions. He's got good size.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
You know, he's not a.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Plus plus athlete, but we've seen him, you know, run
around and make some plays to extend plays and get
first downs. I mean, I don't think he's the athlete
like Joe Burrow is much less you know, guys who
are you know or Josh Allen or you know, never
bring you know Lamar's name in this, but like he's
a decent athlete. I think the things that that I
like most about him are he threw a pick six
(16:58):
at Oregon in the second half and I'm like, oh,
this is it, and he responded to lead them to
a win that was big the last drive against Penn State.
Penn State has some NFL dudes, by the way on
that defense. Yeah, and it's not an easy place to play,
no matter how how bad they got in his face.
(17:19):
I mean credit to Omar Cooper junior. You know, he
looked like what he was a former high school basketball
star on the game winning touchdown catch. But I thought
that was another time we're like, okay, we got you know,
you got some in him. And then I thought, you know,
a couple of weeks ago they played in the Big
tun title game. There's a ton of NFL talent on
that defense. Like there's I think the best defensive players
(17:41):
in the back on the back in the secondary are
at Ohio State. You know, I think there's three there
that are There's no team that has has even won
as good as those three. I'm talking about Reese downs
and Sunny Styles. I mean, those guys are elite, elite athletes,
elite players, and he buckle. You know, I thought that
(18:01):
was He's impressive. After him, you know, I could talk
myself into Ty Simpson. The part that would scare me
is Ty Simpson, even though he's like twenty three years old,
are about to be I forget what you know where
his birthday's coming up. He didn't play that much, right,
you know, And but the arm is good. He's a
I think he's a better, much better runner, certainly than
(18:23):
than Mendoza. He's streaky. But you know, they've had a
bunch of drops. I mean, Ryan Williams does not look
like the Ryan Williams we saw last year.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
I don't you know.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
I think that's been a little bit issue. They don't
have a running game, or consistent running game. He's playing
against the SEC defenses a lot. I you know, I
would put Ty Simpson in there, and then after that,
I don't know where you know, Dante Moore. The feeling
I got earlier in the year was there were no
rush to go. When I say that, I mean like
him and his family were no rush to jump into
(18:55):
the end because he hadn't played very much at all either.
And I think they know more is probably better. I
think even if somebody told him, hey, you're going to
be a top five pick, Oregon can pay him a
lot of money. I'm not saying they can pay him
NFL NFL money. But if it's if it's the long
term play to stay and get more seasoning, assuming he
(19:16):
buys into you, Will Stein the offense coordinators moved on,
gonna move on to be the head coach of Kentucky
Drew Marranger as a tight ends coach. Now he's taken over.
Assuming they feel good about that, then I would think
he would lean to staying. But obviously there's a lot
of football left to be played over the next month,
and who knows, maybe somebody else will emerge. But like
when you look at the beginning of this, I feel
(19:37):
like we've probably talked about this over the summer. The
guys who a lot of people were rejecting, Drew Aller,
Garrett Nussmeyer, Cade Club Nick not there anymore?
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Righteah, Bruce, I got a wal Court name for you.
How about Darren Mensa from Duke two lane transfer. There's
some conversation about him kind of being a guy that
is interesting.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yeah, yeah, I could see him be an interesting I
would be surprised if he was in the first round discussion.
You know, to me, the biggest issues with him is
a ball security. You know, he had a lot of
fumbles in big games. He throws it, you know, he
throws it well, he's accurate. I don't think. I don't
know if there's anything elite about him. You know, he's
(20:22):
a decent athlete. He's not a great runner. I don't know.
From what I had heard, I don't think he was
exactly a willing, you know runner, which you know, look,
he's smart, so maybe that's part of it. I don't
think i'd be surprised if he was in the first
round discussion, no matter how weak this quarterback class turns
out to be beyond mensa, I would be surprised if
(20:45):
people evaluate him and say, oh, he's going to be
a first round guy. Now, Kenny Pickett was a first
round guy, you know, because it depends on need.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
But yeah, I don't know, right, yeah, yeah, I mean,
you know, it's like you just look at to.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Me, Jackson Dart, there was a lot to like and
a little bit to be like, eh on, but you know,
he was a higher level athlete than these guys. I
feel like he had more juice in his arm. The
thing I worry about Jackson Dart, if I was a
Giants fan, I'd really worry about it is it's not
just like a hit count. It's literally like, don't play
like this because you're I mean, you're not in college
(21:27):
football anymore, right, these guys are going to knock your
head off, right, and you know so.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
But but he was.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
He physically had tools that were like, oh, you could
see him as a first round pick. I don't know
about some of these other guys at this point, and
you start to say, Okay, maybe next year's draft will
be better, but I just don't for quarterbacks, I just
don't see it as being that deep of a group.
If you're looking at like, oh, is this guy getting
to be a first round quarterback? That might be third
round guys.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
But right, yeah, yeah, you know, look we've seen Tyler
Shuck is the second rounder you know, from this year's
class start to really kind of go up here late
season for the New Orleans Saints actually has the most
wins out of any rooky quarterback starter right now as
we go into the final three weeks of the season.
But you know, one of the other things to think about,
and we'll we'll address this in another episode, Bruce, but
(22:14):
guys like Dante Moore, I mean, the class is going
to be more crowded next year, and so you know,
you wonder how that kind of factors intoto the decision
making process too.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
So we'll see how I'll play that. Yeah. The only
thing with that, right, I think we thought this class
was going to be crowded. I know, all of a
sudden we should look, yeah, Club Nick, like like, I
don't know what what the second act for, especially Club
Nick and Nusswear. I know they played each other in
the first game, Like, I really like both guys from
(22:43):
a from a makeup standpoint. But when you watch Club
Nick early on, he had a pretty experienced offensive line.
I know they were missing probably their best receiver for
a bunch of the year, but he didn't look like
he was a three year starter, right. And with Garrett,
you know, obviously son of an NFL coach and former
NFL quarterback, and everybody loves him and there's still some gunslinger.
(23:05):
And I just felt like the whole year started out
bad for it, you know, beyond the winning at Clemson
in the turn I was a Clemson thing, Like, it
just felt like something's off. It doesn't mean that if
somebody takes him in the third round, he might be
sure might say, oh, you know, if you bring him along.
He may have starter ability in there, but just it
(23:26):
was a bad combination of things in Baton Rouge this year.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah, I think the coaches are gonna love Garrett Nutsmeyer.
He's such a technician and we'll see how that ends
up factoring into the entire decision. But Bruce always a
pleasure man. Appreciate all your great work on Fox and
obviously the work you do writing for the Athletic as well.
We always appreciate you here on Move the Sticks.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
I always pleasure guys. You guys have my favorite football podcast.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
So let's go.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Let's go right there. We'll just keep DJ out of it.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
So as long as as long as it's being buck yet,
I appreciate you saying it.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Thank you very much. It's fine. DJ gets all his
love from wherever he needs to get it from. We
know this. So I see him popping up on my
feet every other day. It seems like for.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Sure, all right, that's going to do it for this
episode of Move the Stick. Appreciate you guys for joining us.
Obviously appreciate Bruce. We'll catch you next time right here,
Unmoving the Sticks
Hosts And Creators
Daniel Jeremiah
Bucky Brooks
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