Best CFP Format + SEC & Big Ten vs Everyone

Josh Pate’s College Football Show Ep 636 features Josh Pate looking at the SEC Spring Meetings and a ton of heat being thrown at the conference and Commissioner Greg Sankey. Should the SEC have as much power as it does to call the shots? Bold prediction season has returned with you calling your shot including Florida going 10-2, Indiana winning a CFP game, the SEC and Big Ten getting every at-large bid, and Syracuse making the CFP. Which head coaches are facing make-or-break seasons this year? We also take a look at the truth about SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. That plus a ton of conversation about National Signing Day and what happened to the importance of the first Wednesday in February.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
All I'm saying is, I think if we're going to
care about the sanctity of the regular season, maximizing the
urgency on regular season games, I think the time to
do that was several years ago. But yet I'm hearing
people all.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Of a sudden do it now.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
We're high a top lively downtown Nashville, Tennessee, on this
Tuesday night, May twenty seventh, the year World Lord twenty
twenty five, proudly brought to you by Academy Sports and Outdoors.
There's so much going on right now, college Football City
Council meeting. That's basically what it is. Nobody's happy, everybody's yelling.
The rest of the casual world doesn't even know what's happening.

(00:49):
And that's what we are right now. That's where we
are right now.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
But that's okay, that's what we're here for. After all.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
I haven't talked to you about my preference, at least
at length. I haven't talked to you about my preference
on which playoff model out of all the ones that
they're throwing around, that I think we should go with.
But that drought ends tonight, mainly because many of you
asked for it, so I will do that. I don't
think they're going to go the direction I want to go.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
They never do, but I will talk about it.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
I've got head coaches in door die seasons now, some
of them, like spoiler alert, Lincoln Riley is not in
a do.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Or die season.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
I think he's in a do or die adjacent season.
I don't even know what it means. I just think
he's in one of those. But there are some head
coaches that just flat out have to win a certain
amount of games this year or someone else will have
their job next year. I have to circle back to
the huge, huge firestorm at hand in the college football universe.

(01:42):
I've got Greg Sanki on the show tonight, not Live
mind you. I've got some thoughts the truth right here
in the stack of papers, the truth about SEC Commissioner
Greg Sanki.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Everyone thinks they know it. Why not?

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Why not me? Also add my thoughts to the bonfire
fire metaphors and why not keep it rolling? Bold predictions
on the show tonight as well. So we are jam
packed as jam packed could be. They're watching us in Crestview, Florida,
San Antonio, Texas, Warren, Ohio, Olympia Washington.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Thank you guys so much.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Now, the next show we do will be a week
from tonight because I have sort of part two, part dych,
as the French would say, of my wedding festivities this weekend,
the reception slash ceremony portion of it, if you will,
So I'm not going to be back up here in
Nashville until next Tuesday, so you will have to excuse me.

(02:37):
And then I'm told there's a honeymoon portion coming. So
I haven't taken a vacation day five years around here.
I am going to have to regrettably ring the vacation.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Bell for a little bit.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Won't be long, but for a little bit, but not tonight. Tonight,
we've got matters, pressing matters at hand, so let's dive in.
So there's a lot of angst and bitterness about what's
happening with a lot in college football right now. The
playoff's going to change, and there's a lot of throwing

(03:12):
of the weight around by two conferences, in particular. I
think we all know who they are, but if you're
new to the college football landscape.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
The SEC and the Big Ten, you see.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Their logos here on the bottom of the screen. They're good,
and they know they're good. They are the modern day
Globo Gems of college football. They're better than you, and
they know it, and they want to crystallize that, sort
of codify it, if you will, in the structure of
whatever the new playoff format is that we end up
rolling with.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
Now.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
I'll talk about the playoff format itself later in the show,
but I did want to get to hundreds and hundreds
of questions we got throughout the past two days about
what the SEC and the Big Ten are having the
audacity to do. So, to be very clear, in some shape,
form or fashion, it seems that they're looking to bake
in a certain guaranteed amount of spots for themselves at

(04:04):
the playoff table. Now we're not kidding ourselves here. Whether
they're guaranteed or not, the SEC and the Big Ten
are going to get a lot of teams in any
playoff because they are by far and away the deepest
and most talented conferences in America. No one disputes that
the dispute mainly is in what should and shouldn't be guaranteed,
what should and shouldn't be given to them.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Before Toe meets Leather in Week one, and.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
That is valid, and even if reasonable minds can disagree,
it's still a valid concern because it's not something that
we've really done before.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
So I do need to ask you to do one
thing for me.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
I'm not gonna have Colin put the TVMA up in
the top of the screen, but I do need us
to be adults tonight. It's going to be a very
adult themed start to the show. Not that the kids
can't listen. Okay, the substance itself will not be laced
with profanity. I don't think we're even going nudity or
partial nudity.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
I didn't give them.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Any graphics, so we're not gonna have that kind of
adult theme on the show. But we have to have
adult conversation. We all know what we want. We all
know in an idealistic format what we would want. You
may differ from me, but we all got the unicorn
and rainbow slash sunshine version of college football that we'd want.
But we also know that doesn't exist. So I need

(05:22):
you to be an adult, and I need you to
take your idealistic view, your utopian view if you will,
of how you think this should all go, and I
need you to not throw it away. I mean, what's
life if you don't have dreams?

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Right?

Speaker 1 (05:36):
But I do need you to set them over here.
That's why we have this table. Listen to that the
ring on the wood for the first time immunity. So
I need you to set your dreams over here to
the side, and I need you to just be real
because I'm gonna be real with you. None of us
are really getting what we want. So I'm not asking
you to like what the reality is. I'm asking you

(05:59):
when the Big ten in the SEC are seeking certain
guarantees for themselves, I'm asking you not to like it.
I'm asking you what is illogical about it? That's what
I'm asking you because I hate that they even expanded.
I hate that USC is even in the Big ten.
I hate that Texas and know You are even in
the SEC.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
But they're there. So they've got a vast.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
Majority of the highest caliber properties, assets, brands, whatever you
want to call them, since that's how we refer to
teams now in college athletics. They've got all of them
that they know they're gonna litter the playoff landscape no
matter what. But they also know that they've got a
disproportionate amount of weight that they can throw around, and
there's no central governing body to rain them in.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
So, like, what did you expect them to do?

Speaker 1 (06:46):
Not in your utopian world, but in the realistic world.
What's illogical about them asking for that? I don't like it,
I'm gonna say for a third time, But what's illogical
about it? Because here's the thing, the byproduct, if you want,
will of an already tilted landscape becoming tilted even further
with realignment.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
It's just a power.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
Too world with a few exception brands out there. Clemson's
not in the SEC or the Big ten, you know,
notre name is an independent. There are a few exceptions
to the rule. The caliber of program out there that's
not in one of those big two conferences that could
reasonably compete for a national championship, ninety plus percent of

(07:26):
them are in those two conferences.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Everyone knows that.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Okay, So the reality is they could just as soon
go off on their own right now and not miss anyone.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
That's really what they could do. I don't want that.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
I would actually like to go back in time where
we had the PAC ten or twelve, whichever. I would
love to have regionality and territoriality. But that's my utopian view.
The rewind button doesn't exist on the college football remote.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
But I know what the criticism is.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
So the SEC, the Big Ten, they got the audacity
to be seeking four automatic qualifier spots per in the
new playoff format. Maybe we'll see if it goes that direction.
And the obvious rebuttal from anyone who hates that is
not whether they're good enough to make four teams per
in the field. Most of you know they're probably gonna

(08:15):
have four in the field, especially if it expands to sixteen.
But your rebuttal, and i'll speak it for you since
you're not here, is well, if they're so good, why
do they need the guarantees? And it's completely valid. Now
I don't even push back on the logic of that.
I guess my follow up if I were to go
full on Devil's Advocate in the most literal sense of
the phrase, I would speak for them and I would say, well, okay,

(08:39):
why do.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
We even need to participate with you period?

Speaker 1 (08:41):
You know, because it wouldn't be beyond the realm of comprehensibility,
if you will, for the SEC and the Big Ten
to just lob that back at you.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
Ok, well, then what do you do.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
They just don't exist anymore and you're forced to try
and subsidize your own existence.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Like, that's the attitude they would have.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
Again, absent a central authority that forces them and reins
them in and has them act as a citizen in
the greater overall interest of the community, that's not happening here.
So in the absence of that, that's the attitude they
very well could have. They also could say, Hey, we're
doing you a favor. Now, this is really really where

(09:20):
you get bent out of shape. This is really where
the word audacity gets thrown around. But you know what,
if they said that, it wouldn't be without merit, it
wouldn't be without reason behind it.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
Showed me.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
The McMurphy tweet. Bret McMurphy good close personal friend of
the show. He put this out. Is it the twenty
seventh Yeah, he put this out earlier today. Let's just
say we did wipe that format clean. Let's say there
were no guarantees and you just take the top sixteen teams.
McMurphy went back over the past few years. He said,
this is.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
What the playoff would look like.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
Teams per conference based on current alignment so Oregon, their
results count for the Big ten, Texas, their results count
for the SEC, etc.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
He said, this is what it would have looked like.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
This is where the teams would have qualified for the
past eleven CFPS if only the top sixteen seeded teams
received bids. The Big Ten would have been averaging over
five teams per year. The SEC would be averaging just
under five teams per year. And the point there is
they already would be averaging more than they're asking for

(10:20):
in guarantee.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
But the follow up to that is I could argue.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
In addition to the McMurphy tweet, here, the landscape has
become even more tilted. The balance of power has become
even more heavily tilted towards the SEC and the Big Ten.
To where I kid you not, if you were to
just go straight seating, no qualifiers, just straight seating over
the next five years, it would not surprise me if
any given year seventy five percent of the field was

(10:46):
made up of SEC and Big Ten teams. And that
is if you were just straight up taking the sixteen
best teams in the country, because remember, they're gonna recalibrate
the way they define strength of schedule. They're gonna recalibrate
that stuff. I'm telling you that's coming. So you are
what your record says you are. It's probably not going
to become a thing of the past, but it will

(11:06):
be far lesser a thing than it was. You can't
just go load up four Tomato cans for you're out
of conference, play two tough semi tough conference games, go
ten to two and count on that to be the
end all, be all and get you in past the
nine and three sec or big ten. That's not the
way it's necessarily going to happen. So if they're just
flat out taking the sixteen best, I am telling you

(11:27):
more times than not eleven or twelve of those I
could easily see be an sec or big ten. So
my point there is, Hey, if you're comfortable with that,
you're comfortable with that. I'm just trying to suggest this
may be the best shot. The format they're tossing around
maybe the best shot you have to actually gain inclusion
for other brands, other conferences, et cetera. That's at least

(11:49):
something they could lob back at you. But it's a
power to world recruiting bears it out. I mean, the
last four years, we went back and looked at this today.
The last four years, on average, all of the top
seven classes were from the Big ten.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
In the SEC.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
Twenty one of the top twenty five classes average over
the last four years were from one of those two conferences.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
The NFL Draft.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
The last three years, the SEC has sent two hundred
guys in the NFL Draft. The ACC and the Big
twelve combined to send seven more than that. And the
portal is the final hammer. And you've only just started
to feel this. See this is where I get in
a big argument with the G five types because the
other day, like a week or so ago, I did

(12:34):
a show where I said, I wish the G five
had their own playoff because the gap is growing wider
and wider and wider between the G five and the
power power level of major college football.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
And they are a feeder system.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
And it used to be that that was kind of
the case, but it's totally the case now. It used
to be that if you were a G five, if
you were Too Lane, if you're Boise State, if you're whatever,
you may be a preme evaluator of talent and you
may be able to go find two and three star
kids that the big boys pass on, and you say,
we can take two years develop this guy and that guy,

(13:09):
and we can have a collection of those guys, and
when they're juniors and seniors, we may be able to compete.
We may be able to do it boys he did
any given year. That used to be the case. That
is not the case anymore. Even if you're good at
evaluating and projecting and then getting those guys in house
and developing them, the portal just lets the Alabamas of
the world or the USC's of the world come and

(13:31):
take a second and third swipe at the ones they
missed originally.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
They didn't see them originally.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
So all that happened is you just developed them on
your dime, invested your time and energy and resources into him,
for Oregon to come and say two years later, yeah,
we didn't think that kidould pan out, but he did
at Idaho, so we'll take him.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
So point being, the gap is growing.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
I wish it wasn't that way, and I wish that
the realignment spree never would have happened. And I don't
know that you can do much about that, but it's
a power too world. So while we're talking about audacity, audacity, audacity,
I can't tell you how many times I saw that word. Today,
I'm up in arms about it. But I'm up in
arms for a different reason.

Speaker 2 (14:13):
Their logic has a lot of like merit to it.
To me, I'm not so sure.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
I wouldn't think the same way if my job was
just to drive the SEC boat or the big ten boat. Now,
I wish there was a harbor master that didn't just
let me drive any which way I wanted. That would
be great, but we don't have that right now. Did
you see Sankei's quote? By the way, I'm gonna talk
about him later in the show. Look, I don't think
Greg Sanky is necessarily satan like some of you do.

(14:42):
But man, sometimes some of these quotes. Someone asked them
if if we should have a college football tzar, what
do you say, Jesse? It didn't work too well for
Russia to have a czar. He mentioned the drug trade
in the eighties. Like, what do we just say next question?
Just say no comment, Please, just say no comment. I

(15:02):
can't defend this. Academy sports and outdoors, I can defend them.
They are the presenting partner of this show. They are
candidly where I got this shirt and many more things
odds and ends in my closet.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
But you know what, You get a bike there, you
get a glove there, you can get a tent.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
You could get grilling equipment or you know, a grill,
big league chew, probably a water in the checkout line.
You can do it all at Academy and you can
go to Academy dot com if you can't get there
in person, because we have not built one in every
town yet.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
You know, give it a couple months.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
But we appreciate them because long before everyone wanted to
advertise on this show, Academy came and they said, yeah,
we think that thing's gonna take off and we want
to align ourselves with it. And I said you do
and they said, yeah, why are you so surprised? And
I said, oh, I just had something stuck in my throat.
And man, they signed a piece of paper and they
have never left ourself since then. We appreciate that so much,

(16:02):
and you will too, because you know, they actually have
things that you need in your life. It's not just
it's not just someone who wrote us a check. Academy's
got a lot of stuff that you need, and I
encourage you to stop by improve it all right. I
noticed when we were having our production meeting, whatever version
of that we have earlier today, I noticed that if

(16:24):
we just stacked all the news topics from the past
forty eight hours together, I'd end up talking an hour
about stuff I don't really care an hour's worth of
talking about. So I'm gonna break it up throughout the show.
Like I've got my ideal playoff format coming up, but
I'm not doing it right now. I got the truth
about Greg Sankie, I'm not doing that right now, So

(16:45):
it's gonna be scattered throughout the show. In the meantime,
I think we got some head coaches that are approaching
make or break seasons. I really mean, like Dean hit
Us from Fort Lauderdale. Dean said, which coaches have make
or break seasons in twenty twenty five. I feel like
a bunch of high profile names could be out the
door with bad seasons. I don't disagree with you, Dean,

(17:07):
and I think Hugh Freeze is one of them.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
At Auburn.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
I think he had time, okay. I think the fan
base there, while they're rabid and they do want results.
I think Auburn fans were pretty understanding of the Harson effect.
I mean, Hugh Freeze came in and he just did
not have a lot to work with. And they went
six and seven the first year, and those people didn't
freak out. And they went five and seven last year

(17:30):
and they mildly freaked out. But even now they're totally
willing to back him, and they're totally aware that the
talent profile is there. They've done a good job bringing
players in both recruiting and through the portal. Last year,
if you did nothing more than flip their turnover fortune,
they had a good offense statistically. It's just that they

(17:52):
shot themselves in the foot nine ways from Saturday. So
if you flip the turnover, look, I mean there's a
shot they win eight.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
Or nine games.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
I think I say eight or nine, not that that's
the maximum they're capable of. I think that's the range
they need to be in. Anything less than that and
I think you could be in trouble. And I think
he is well aware of that there. So I think
Hugh Freeze is one of them. Think about this with Auburn,
by the way, the last time they won eight or
more games was twenty nineteen. They've had six wins, six wins,

(18:22):
five wins, six wins, five wins. So even though all
of that wasn't Hugh Freeze, it's recent Auburn history and
he is now the face of Auburn football. So we
got to be better. Mike Norvell. You still can't believe
that this is a real thing. Mike won the acc
during an undefeated regular season two years ago, and we

(18:44):
are now talking about him in do or die territory.
They were minus eleven drop off last year.

Speaker 2 (18:52):
So I gave this stat on the show a couple
of weeks ago.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
That's the only time that's ever happened at the Power
four level where a team won eleven few games the
next year than they did the year before. Southern Miss,
the fabled Ellis Johnson's Southern Miss team is the only
other one that has won eleven fewer games or more
than they did the year before. It's almost mathematically impossible.
So new coordinators this year, there's the reset vibe. We

(19:20):
were down there recently. I say this with no smile
on my face because like, I really like Mike Norvell
and I really think that they believe in the moves
they've made. It's just that I'm not in there, like
I can't blindly.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
Believe in it.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
But they do have the vibe, they do have the
energy around the building that you know they've pressed all
the right buttons, and I don't know.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
Maybe they have.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
They did two years ago, so maybe they have. Again,
here's the one somewhat of a problem. Unlike Auburn, Unlike.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
You know, even USC.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
I'm going to talk about Lincoln Riley kind of in
a second. I just talked about Auburn. Unlike those places
where there's a ton of recruit momentum, there's not at
Florida State. So three of their past four classes have
been outside the top fifteen, So there's not this like
foundational bedrock of homegrown talent that were just freshmen last year,

(20:15):
so you couldn't rely on them like they don't have
that in as plentiful as supply there as you may elsewhere.
But they still got to get it done this year.
They opened with Alabama, like I said, so they'll be
on your radar week one. Luke Fickle, you talk about
one that hasn't gone the way I.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
Thought it would.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
I loved Luke fickles higher at Wisconsin, but as it
turns out, he probably did not hire properly underneath himself
at the outset, and now the hire has not produced.
They've won twelve games the last two years. This is Wisconsin.
So the last time Wisconsin had a worse two year

(20:53):
stretch was ninety four and ninety five. The long time
ago seven and six to five and seven. They've had
bad portal luck. Last year Van Dyke got hurt. I
think in the one of the first couple of games
of the year. Recruiting in portal has improved a little bit,
so they're getting better players. Like, they're not void of talent,

(21:15):
it's just what's the identity of Wisconsin. And consequently, when's
the last time you asked that? Even in the down years,
you knew what the identity was. Here's the problem. They're
over under win totals five and a half. And you
may think, oh, Vegas must know they're gonna suck this year. Hey,
they may, or they may not. I'll tell you what
Vegas knows. I'll tell you what FanDuel knows. I'll tell

(21:38):
you what we think.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
We know.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
We think they play the hardest schedule in the Big
Ten this year by far. These folks play at Alabama,
at Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State, at Oregon, Ohio State, Oregon
are back to back, by the way. Then they play Washington,
then they go to Indiana Illinois. Do you do you
know there's stretch there all right? So Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State, Oregon, Washington, Indiana,

(22:06):
Illinois all in a row. All of those teams could
theoretically compete for the Big Ten. Washington I expect probably
to be a little bit Tier two in that conversation.
But and then they go to Minnesota to end the
year that there is no break. They play Miami, Ohio
and Middle Tennessee to start the year. After that it
is blow after blow after blow. My point is they

(22:28):
could be an improved team this year and win four
or five games, and at that point no one really cares.
So that could be a problem. At Oklahoma, Brent and
Venables extremely volatile. It looked like they were off to
the races after that ten win season in year two.
In twenty twenty three, I'm a believer in Oklahoma this year,
like clearly anyone who exposed themselves to my post Spring

(22:51):
top twenty understands. I'm higher on Oklahoma the most Oklahoma
fans are. But I believe the talent's there, and I
believe in the quarterback move. I believe in the court move.
I believe in the defense just continuing to be what
they've been. But do you think about the pressure on
a college football quarterback. John Matteer's coming in there, and
think about the pressure man. There are millions of Oklahoma fans,

(23:14):
there are dozens of people in that building on staff.
You've got a roster full of players, and yet every
one of their potential or expectation levels depend on whether
you perform.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
That's why it's the most important position in sports.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
I mean, you're nineteen twenty twenty one years old and
you're sitting in your dorm room on a random Tuesday
evening and look in the mirror.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
All that's on you.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
The pressure of the quarterback position in college football and
the NFL obviously, but even in college football is just amazing.
I mean, in the NFL, everyone's a pro. In college
you've got that expectation level being put on a guy that,
for all we know, will never start a down on Sundays,
and yet he's every bit as per professional in terms

(24:01):
of expectation level and pressure as anybody playing the Sunday game.
I would also say Lincoln Riley's kind of in this discussion,
but I think it's more complicated with him.

Speaker 2 (24:13):
We looked at it.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
I just think the recruiting momentum out there, if they
maintain it, which is its own segment conversation, I know
because we've had it. If they maintain that, if they're
an eight or nine win team this year, they'll be fine.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
He'll be fine.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
Mike Gundhy went three and nine last year after so
many years of winning three and nine, A lot of shakeup,
a lot of inner turmoil.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
At least that's what the rumor on the street is.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
Would one more sub five hundred year cost him his job?

Speaker 2 (24:41):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
Would he retire. I don't think Mike Gundy would even want.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
To let himself be fired. Maybe he would.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
Here's a big difference in retirement versus buyout money.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
Sam Pittman just feels like there's not a lot of.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
Juice around the program. Three wins, nine wins, seven wins,
four wins, seven wins.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
Recruiting's been kind of stagnant.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
I just I don't know.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
We'll see Brent Pry at Virginia Tech may belong in
this category as well. They've gone three wins, seven wins,
six wins. They get their seventy second in returning production
this year average recruiting ranking is kind of where.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
You would expect it.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
So yeah, those guys could be on the periphery of
this conversation. But I think Freeze, Norvelle, fickle venables, they
are smack dab in the middle of that conversation.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Let me take a sip of Zvia right quick.

Speaker 1 (25:38):
I mean, I've got the water, but why hydrate with
water when you can hydrate with good old fashioned zero
sugar ZBA cream soda.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
Of course, on a Tuesday night.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
I did the two SIPs there at one time, because
time is of the essence. Tonight on the show We
Appreciate ZVA. I am looking at a piece of paper.
I hesitate to even introduce what it says, but I'm
going to too tall Sam from Well let me say

(26:11):
that again. Too tall Sam from ann Arbor, Michigan hit us.
He said, he said, do you just still want to
defend your golden boy? Greg SANKI after the last couple
of days. I'm sure, as the SEC homer in the
college football space, you will how much does he pay you?

(26:32):
You know, when you try and crack your knuckles on
air and only one cracks, it's going to be a
bad night.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
He doesn't pay me anything.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
I don't have a personal relationship with Greg SANKEI to
my knowledge, I've never had a conversation with Greg. I'm
maybe like in a press conference maybe, and I don't
I don't recall that. So he's not my boy. I
would encourage anyone to go find me evidence otherwise. Here's
what's happening this week. They're having their spring meetings down

(26:58):
in Destin. For some reason, I always say I'm going
to go to him, and then I proceed to never
go to them, but everybody else in the college football
media does. So I'm hanging out here in Nashville and
Greg Sankie's doing his media availabilities down there, and he's
saying pretty much exactly what the SEC commissioner would be
expected to say. And what's crazy is he's painted Colin.

(27:22):
You might as well put devil horns on the picture
we have of him. Because Greg Sakie has been confirmed
as basically satan this week.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
And here's what's wild.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
Tony Pettiti and the Big Ten are pushing every bit
as hard for this stuff.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
Behind the scenes.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
And I don't even think I've heard Tony Pettitti's name
this week.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
And that's not a knock.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
That is smart business on the part of the Big
Ten lobby, just as hard behind the scenes. But push
that mic towards Sanki. Let him talk. So Greg Sanki,
obviously the commissioner of the SEC. He is talking about
all this stuff that has people up in arms, and
I'm just thinking to myself, Okay, what's the truth here.

(28:03):
It's college football City council season. By that, I mean
only die hard college football fans are actively talking about
the sport this time of year.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
Casuals are tuned out.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
So diehard college football fans are the first people to
find a problem with anything, which is okay.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
I'm one.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
I have a lot of problems with the sport. I
talk about them in this microphone all the time. But
if you ever watch a city council meeting on local
Access TV, you know what I mean. There is no
praise for city council at those things. It's only criticism
and blame. And you could be in a town where
there's ninety five percent approval rating, but if you only
watch the city council meeting where the five percent show up,

(28:42):
you would think that place is terrible. Likewise, if you
were to look at the collective outrage around Greg Sanki
or the SEC or college football in general right now,
you would think it's terrible. It's not terrible. There's just
some stuff that's wrong. It's not terrible. A lot of
its preference that would are you some of us more
than preference.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
But nevertheless, my question about Greg Sanki, my boy, Greg Sanki.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
My golden boy, what do you think his job is?
That's a pause, intentional. I'm asking the dude who sent
us that, or anyone else, what do you think.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
His job is? Hold it?

Speaker 1 (29:21):
Hold it, hold it. I'm going to lean forward for
effect here. I think what you heard me ask is
what do you want his job to be? I didn't
ask that, I asked you what do you think his
job is?

Speaker 2 (29:33):
Because I think his job is.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
To be the commissioner of a conference, the SEC, and uh,
that's what he's doing now. A lot of you don't
like what he's doing fair enough. He doesn't hit one
hundred percent approval with me either. I'm very specific, point
by point when I have a problem with what he's
done or what he said and whatnot. But I'm not

(29:56):
the one airing the grievance now you are. So I
would ask you this, Sam or anyone el else specifics.
What is it Greg Sainkie is doing right now that
you would have him do different? I don't need ad
hominem attacks.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
I asked this earlier today.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
Some dude said he needs to stop whinding as much,
even throughout the B word. Can you imagine? So I
don't need that. That's not constructive. I need you to
give me specifics. What is he doing that you would
have him do different? Again, specifics. I tried this on
some of my buddies earlier today, because, believe it or not,
even in the group text on the eye Josh, Greg

(30:33):
Sinki gets trashed, and so I asked.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
Well, what would you have him do?

Speaker 1 (30:37):
And someone said, well, first off, I wish he wasn't
as greedy.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
As he is.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
I said, interesting, go on, I'm anti greed. Go on,
let me hear, let me hear what you have to
say is that they should have never gone and poached
Ou in Texas. I also wish the SEC would not
have grabbed Ou in Texas. But see, that's the utopian
world which I asked you earlier in the show to
set over here. Let's just say you're Greg Sanki five

(31:06):
years ago. I hope you all heard the knock on
the door there. That's oh you in Texas. So two knocks,
Oh you in Texas are at the door. You're Greg Sanki.
You answer, they say, we're leaving, We're leaving the Big twelve.
We want to come to your party. You're telling me

(31:27):
that you would have him say sorry, we're not open,
knowing full well their next call is the Big ten. Like,
it's not whether they're gonna leave, it's where are they
gonna land? And by the way, you answer to university presidents,
not just the mirror. So you're telling me you would
have had him slam the door in their face. I'm

(31:48):
telling you he would have been on the street the
next day looking for a new job.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
So while there is the idealistic.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
World where the realignment never happens, I'm just trying to
let you know there is no where oh you in Texas,
knock on your door, you say no, and you're still
the commissioner of your conference. So if there was an
overall commissioner, an overall ZAR that oversaw such things, it
wouldn't have happened, period.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
But we don't have that.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
So Greg Sankie like, you're presenting a scenario that's not realistic.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
So then the next thing is, well.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
He shouldn't be he shouldn't be beating the drum for
all of this AQ nonsense. He shouldn't be mandating that
they get four guaranteed spots.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
Well, here's the thing about that.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
We can disagree or agree on that, but at the
very least I get your point on that.

Speaker 2 (32:37):
I fully respect that.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
But I would also say this, this is where the
big multimillion dollar.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
Follow up question comes in. Who do you think he
answers to himself?

Speaker 1 (32:51):
Tony Petiti's the same way in the big ten, Sankie
is the same way. This is the great wool that
is collectively pulled over the eyes of most people who
cover this sport, much less the people who are.

Speaker 2 (33:04):
Fans of this sport.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
The NFL's done it a long time with Roger Goodell
College University presidents have done it a long time with
their commissioners. Greg Saki doesn't wake up in the morning,
look at his personal to do list and say, let's
see what I'm gonna do today. Greg Saki answers to
what is it, fourteen or sixteen whatever university presidents that

(33:25):
are his bosses in the SEC. You think he just
looked around and said, I think I'm gonna go grab
more money for the sake of grabbing more money.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
I think I'm gonna welcome O you in.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
Texas in I'll just let the league presidents know they're
coming later. No, that's quite the opposite. That works quite
the other way. So again they meet with him. His
bosses look at him. What do you think they say.
Do you think they tell him go look out for
the greater good of college football. These people care even

(33:57):
less about the greater good of college football.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Then you and I do.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
And you and I are looking at it with differences
of opinions about what's best.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
For college football.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
But if you think these commissioners aren't looking at for
the best interest, imagine what the random like president of
Florida or president of LSU or.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
A and M is telling him.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
Do you think they give a crap about the best
interest of college football. They care about their best interest
then the best interest of the league in that order,
and he has given marching orders to that tune. That's
Greg SANKI that's his job. I think he's really smart.
I think he's really cerebral. But I think a lot
of what you've seen now is no different than watching

(34:37):
Roger Goodell. Do you think Roger Goodell moves freely, like
with just full autonomy to do whatever he wants to
with the NFL? Does anybody think that's how that works? No,
he gets paid a lot of money to take all
the arrows to be the shield.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
For the shield, if you will.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
On Sundays, Greg Sankie's doing the same thing. Because you
know what I haven't heard this week. I've heard a
million and one people slam Greg sink Ye. I have
not heard a single mention of the president of the
University of Tennessee, the president of Auburn University, or the
University of Alabama. And that's exactly the way they want it.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
That's your job.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
If you're the conference commissioner of any league, that's your job. Now.
Having said that, that guy right there is the most powerful.
He is the most powerful of them all, and I
think a lot of them look to him for answers,
and I think his voice carries a metric ton of weight.
But I also think that if you were to this

(35:36):
is not gonna happen. So I can't prove a counterfactual.
But if I could ever get people, including myself, in
a room with him or Petity, any of these guys
and air my own personal beefs, my instinct is there's
a lot I don't know. My instinct is he would
probably listen and then he would have a rebuttal for me,

(35:57):
and there would be two or three angles. I never
considered that would probably with most of my grievances, make
me go, oh okay, now that's my instinct. I could
be dead wrong. He is my golden boy after all.
You know, close personal friend of mine, Greg Sankie.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
The check that we cash.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
From the SEC, you would not believe the amount of zeros.
In fact, it's only zeros this year. The check they
sent us was only it was just zero. That's what
they sent us this year. But you know that's a
year to your thing. Who knows quick trip dots the
landscape of the sec but beyond they have no favoritism.

(36:36):
They're loyal to you. You, in many cases, are their
golden boy. Now, you may just need a quick top
off of the fuel tank and that's okay. They're here
for you. But you also may be a little hungry,
at which case they're also here for you. You may be
a little drowsy, in which case they're also here for you.
Coldbrew on tap, pizza, all the snacky snacks in the world,

(37:00):
and friendly customer service. I don't mention that enough. The
Quick Trip folks are on point. And the added benefit,
since we're so synonymous with the brand, is a lot
of them recognize us when we walk in.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
Now, do we use that cloud to get free product?

Speaker 1 (37:16):
Yes, we do, but I'm not allowed to talk about
that on air because I don't think that you could do.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
The same per se.

Speaker 1 (37:21):
But I will tell you this, even if you have
to pay for it, it's worth it. Just go check
it out Quick Trip. Tell them we sent you. It
may or may not get you anything, but tell them
we sent you.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
Let's move on.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
We still got a lot to get to. Let me
take a simple water. It's the kind of show I
know it's going to get criticism. I know our show
tonight's going to get clipped out of context. All I'm
asking is for logic based rebuttals. Many of you have
them all the time. Okay, it is true that reasonable
minds can disagree, but a lot of it is going
to be miscontextualized or just flat out stuff I didn't say,

(38:00):
and that just gets deleted. Not by me, but I
have Jesse just combed the comments. No, it's me, I
promise you it's me. We had a question about the
Big Ten shocker right. I don't want to say the
guy's name, but he's from Maryland. Could this be the

(38:20):
strongest the second tier of the Big Ten has been
in a while? It could be. It could be this
has been a glaring weakness for the Big Ten. Ohio
State has been a mainstay Michigan for the past several years.
They've been there. Oregon is now in the Big Ten,
so Oregon like from this point forward, they're going.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
To be a main staate. They won the conference last year.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
I would say for our purposes here, Penn State has
been sort of part of that Tier one. They haven't
won the league, but they've been a dependable like ten
win caliber brand every year, and they're the ones that
are going to push the big boys at the very least,
so we've had them. Outside of that, there has not
been a solid tier two that's what the SEC's had

(39:04):
that the Big Ten hasn't had. Like the SEC, they'll
go like four or five deep with solid second tier
teams like a South Carolina any given year. Alabama was
Tier two in the SEC last year. Just to like
give you a flavor. So I'm telling you who it
should be. Wisconsin should perennially be tier two. Iowa has been,

(39:25):
so they've kind of held up their end of the deal.
Michigan State should absolutely, just judging based off history, be
perennially in tier two. Wisconsin and Michigan State have dropped
the ball for the Big Ten for a few years now.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
But think about this year. What could happen.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
Iowa, I would assume we'll be right back there in
that tier two range. But Illinois, Illinois, absolutely there. Indiana
if last year's in the indication, they're right back in
that conversation. Then you start talking about Nebraska, You're three
under Matt rule, Yes, yes, they could absolutely fit. Thatory, Washington.

(40:01):
I'm kind of a little bit higher on as a
sleeper team. In year two hundred, Jet Fish, they could
be in there. USC under Lincoln could absolutely be in there.
So you've got a lot of tests. Obviously, all of
these are conference games, like Ohio State goes to Washington,
Ohio State goes to Illinois. USC plays at Illinois. Illinois's
got huge opportunity early portion of the season. Penn State

(40:24):
plays at Iowa, they play Indye, they play Nebraska, Michigan
goes to Nebraska and to USC they play Washington. So
what we got to have is you've got to have
a situation where in November you don't look at the
Big Ten and just say, look at the tip of
that iceberg. Man, that is impressive, but there's not really
anything under the surface. You need to be looking at

(40:45):
the tip of the iceberg and saying, yeah, but just
beneath the surface you ought to see it's that's conference depth.
That's the way it should be there, and I think
it's lacked over the past few years, but they've made
the coaching moves. The thing about the Big Ten is
there was an understanding around the league at least. This
is my theory, is that when the bigger TV money
started getting pumped into the league. There was an unspoken

(41:07):
understanding from the tier two, tier three type programs, we
got to get our act together. Like at Wisconsin they
looked around and said what Paul christ is doing is
not enough.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
We need a superstar coach. They went and got Luke Fickle.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
It has not paid off immediately, but it wasn't because
they weren't aggressive. Nebraska, Ditto with Matt Ruhle Michigan State,
Diddo with Jonathan Smith. So Signetti at Indiana. I don't
think immediately people expected it, but boom, he delivered it anyway,
So they've gotten the depth of quality and coaching that
programs just have to mirror that.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
The teams this year just have to mirror that.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
And I think there's a good chance that, Yeah, the
answer to the question ends up being, yes, they're watching
us in Big ten country Stockbridge.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
Michigan, Erie, Pennsylvania.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
And I'm not sure Sharpsburg, Georgia is Big ten country,
but I'm sure there's some transplants down there. Sure they
are Big tensa nationwide conference after all.

Speaker 2 (42:03):
Let's move along. Hello to the live chat.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
By the way, help the audience here on a Tuesday
night in May.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
Very healthy audience. Okay, now this is gonna be a
complicated segment.

Speaker 1 (42:17):
I don't know that I've ever done one like this,
and I wasn't planning on it, but too many of
you asked about it. So normally, when you guys are asking,
like in the dozens, that means thousands are wanting it.
So we're gonna do this, and I'll just try not
to be scatterbrained. Tyler up in Tacoma, Washington, he said,
I know your heart lies with the BCS. Hand to heart,

(42:39):
yes it does. But out of all the formats that
have been discussed, which one is the best for the
sport and everyone involved? He's talking about the playoff formats.
So what Tyler said is true if you're new to
the show, I don't even need a playoff. My personal
preference is I want the regular season and I want
Bowl season, and I don't even care if it's just

(43:01):
the AP one versus two.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
Like they did way back in the day.

Speaker 1 (43:04):
I wouldn't mind if it were the BCS all over again,
but obviously that's not gonna happen. So out of all
the formats I've seen floating around, I do have a favorite.

Speaker 2 (43:15):
It doesn't sound like it's the one they're gonna go with.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
But out of all the proposed models, I've just been
asking myself selfishly, how do I get what I want?

Speaker 2 (43:25):
So what I want is.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
Just maximum urgency on every regular season game, and I
want conference games to have maximum meaning, and I want
the conference races to have maximum meaning. So I like
the fourteen team model, but I like it with the
AQ format, baked him. Now, I've always been anti automatic

(43:47):
qualifier when the fields were smaller, like when they were
talking about going to six or they were talking about
I thought they were talking about going to eight. In reality,
they just hoodwinked us all. But when they were talking
about that, I didn't want any automatic qualifiers because those
fields are still small enough to where every regular season
game matters, because whether it's four or six, Like, you

(44:09):
lose a game, you could be out. You lose two games,
you probably are out. And I looked at it and
I said, okay, well, at that point, I don't want
any automatic qualifiers. I just want the best six or
the best eight, and I almost done with it. But
when you're talking about fourteen or sixteen, I'm talking about
fourteen here, but if they go to sixteen, I feel
the same way. There's no way to crystallize the urgency

(44:31):
of the regular season. If you're just taking the top
fourteen or sixteen. You were talking about knowing ahead of time,
you can lose a quarter of your games. If you're
in the SEC or the Big Ten especially, you can
lose a quarter of your games and make the thing.
So what I want is, I want to remove the
committee as much as possible. I want to remove as

(44:53):
much guarantee as possible. Now you're listening to that, and
you're saying, Josh, that's very hypocritical because you're advocating for
the model where the conference is know how many teams
they're going.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
To get in.

Speaker 1 (45:03):
That's true, but there's a way to eliminate the guarantees
team specific while also maintaining that the Big Ten knows
they're going to get four in. So here's how that
model sounds. That model would be the four four two
two one one. Someone get the acronym for that. I
was on with Chris Hassel on CBSHQ earlier today and

(45:26):
we made an acronym for that. It is every bit
as ridiculous as it sounds, but for real, follow me here.
Fourteen teams with the AQ format. So that means the
SEC gets four, the Big ten gets four, the ACC
gets two, the Big twelve gets two, the G five
gets one, and then there's a spot where either Notre

(45:46):
Dame takes it or it's one at large. Because there's
one thing that separates me from I think a lot
of folks who prefer the sixteen team model. I don't
really like there being a bunch of at large spots
because if we're going with this big a field, I
absolutely want that first Saturday in December to be reimagined.

(46:06):
And I like the idea of those conference play in
sort of mini brackets, but I want those to be
real play in games. I don't want you to be
able to play a three versus six game in the
Big ten. But know all the while, even if we
lose this game, we weren't good enough playing our conference
title game. But even if we lose this game, we'll

(46:26):
just fall to one of the at large spots. I
want them to be real play in games. So I
am in favor of the fourteen team over the sixteen
team for that very reason. This is how you eliminate
the committee as well, because there are no really at
large spots. Like all the committee's doing is determining what
the G five spot and then they would see the
thing after conference championship weekend. But like the committee has

(46:50):
minimum involvement, minimum involvement here, that first Saturday in December
is the key. And I know that there are a
lot of people watching right now who are repulsed at
the idea of the AQ structure. But I'm telling you, guys,
the reasons that your repulse by it are the reasons
I used to be but have flipped. This is actually

(47:12):
how you crystallize value in the regular season. Follow me
here that first Saturday in December. To be clear, what
they're talking about and what I would support is the
SEC and the Big Ten. You're not just taking the
top four teams. What you're doing is you're taking their
top two teams and they go to Atlanta, and they
go to Indianapolis and they play their conference championship game.
The only guarantees for the SEC going into that weekend

(47:38):
is that their top two teams are going to make
the playoff, one of them will win their conference championship game,
and they'll probably go get one of the two buys,
but those one and two's, those two teams are gonna go.
That's the reward you get from making your conference championship game.
And you'll get an added reward of probably a first
round by if you win.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
That conference championship game. But outside of that, I want
no guarantees.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
So you got that conference championship game, SEC and Big ten,
and then three versus six and four versus five. I
would love those games to be on campuses, on CAMPI
and so I would love six to go play at three,
and I would love five to go play at four.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
And you know what, if you lose.

Speaker 1 (48:17):
A home playoff game and you fall out of the playoff,
then you fall out of the playoff. But for all
the talk about it, it's so sideways and backwards to
guarantee the SEC and the Big ten spots. It's true
that it's valid to feel that way, but there's only
two guarantees in this format. The rest of it is
folks playing themselves into a spot. So I prefer that.

(48:40):
And then in the ACC and the Big twelve, this
is where I have to bend because it probably does
a way with the idea of the ACC Championship Game
and the Big Twelve Championship Game. There is no perfect
format out there, but in the ACC I would prefer
to do their two play in games to decide their

(49:02):
two spots four versus one at number one's home stadium,
three versus two at number two's home stadium.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
Same thing in the Big Twelve.

Speaker 1 (49:13):
If the ACC Championship Game means that much to you,
if the Big Twelve Championship Game means that much to you,
I would just say this format's probably not for you.

Speaker 2 (49:23):
Candidly. I don't ever remember.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
A huge, huge, huge deal being made about those games,
and if you know you've got two guaranteed spots at
the table, I think this is a more preferable way
to do it. Just personal preference, but that's where I am.
The G five pretty straightforward. The highest ranked G five
team gets the G five spot. If Notre Dame's in
the top fourteen, they take the other spot. If Notre

(49:47):
Dame's not in the top fourteen, that is the only
at large spot. I've gotten this thing. If Notre Dame
had a bad year, there is one at large spot
because they didn't take the other one to where Okay,
one of the Big Ten teams is probably going to
get in. One of the SEC teams are probably going
to get in. But that is a very very narrow
window that most years won't even be available. So the

(50:09):
playoff arrives at that point. And just I want you
to I don't want to skip past this that Saturday,
that first Saturday in December. I want you to think
about what your mentality has been leading up to this,
why I prefer this, whereas I never would have preferred
the automatic qualifier structure before. Nobody has focused on committee rankings.

(50:33):
If you're an Ole Miss fan, you have not been
worried one second about where the committee has you ranked.
The only thing you've been focused on is what are
the league standings. We play Tennessee this week. We got
to make sure we beat Tennessee so that we remain
one of the top six teams in this conference, because

(50:53):
that's how we get into that.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
Play in week the first Saturday in December.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
Ditto for Iowa fans or Michigan fans in the Big Ten,
doesn't matter what the committee thinks about you, because you're
going to determine if you play your way in, and
once you play your way in, where you fall like,
that's how that works. But I also think it takes
the maximum focus possible and places it on conference games,

(51:19):
conference races, and regular season games because also remember this,
there is no guarantee. The only guarantee, even for SEC
and Big Ten teams in this format to make the
playoff is being in the top two. Even the number
three team knows, hey, we're going to get a home
game the first Saturday in December. But if we lose

(51:40):
that thing, we're out. We don't even make the playoff,
We're out. That's the maximum amount of urgency I could
possibly put on a fourteen team playoff format that deep
in November in the Power two conferences. It's the most
you could possibly hope for. Whereas if you just take
the top fourteen or the top sixteen, I know the
lodge behind that. I'm telling you it totally and completely

(52:05):
erodes and saturates the value of those regular season games
in the urgency of those regular season games. And what
it also does is it brings that ratchet committee back
into the equation and Tuesday nights in the fall become
the focal point where are twelve ads who you know
good and well, don't watch this sport like you and

(52:26):
I do.

Speaker 2 (52:26):
Gonna rank my team.

Speaker 1 (52:28):
I'm so tired of that, so tired of it, and
so I would love to do away with that. So
when the playoff arrives, the committee does not really rank
the teams anymore. They just they're not selecting them. They're
just kind of placing them. They would seed the thing.
That's really all we would need them for. They're gonna
tell us which G five team's coming, and then after
the dust settles on that first Saturday, they're gonna seed

(52:49):
the playoff and the number one and number two teams
are gonna get buys, which again crystallizes the importance of
winning your conference. Probably gonna be the SEC in the
Big Ten champ it's not guaranteed, though. If Clemson goes
and runs through the ACC, it's very likely they would
be one of the top two seeds. So it's not
like those spots are locked in for the SEC and

(53:10):
the Big Ten, although I would guess more than likely
it would be those two. But you'd have six games
in that first round. I mean, I think you can
pretty well envision how that bracket would play out. But
one thing some of you sent me a clip from
Klatt the other day that he said, and I've agreed
with this. Klatt said it the other day, so I'll
agree with.

Speaker 2 (53:29):
It as well.

Speaker 1 (53:30):
He is of the opinion as am I that once
you get past that first round, we ought to receive
the whole thing, so that if you are the true
number one overall seed or even the number two overall
seed in this playoff, not only have you been rewarded
with a first round by because you won your conference,
but you also know you're not locked in to a

(53:51):
static bracket. They're going to play the first round games.
And then if you're the number one seed, not only
did you not have to play that first week, but
you're guaranteed to play the lowest remaining seed in the
second round, and you should get them on your home campus,
because the first two rounds, not just the first round,
should be on home campuses.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
That's how I would prefer for that to work.

Speaker 1 (54:14):
The ACC and the big twelve flaw, I think one
of the biggest areas of pushback I'm going to get
on this, aside from the people who just think it
should be no automatic qualifiers, which is its own thing,
I think a lot of people are going to push
back and say, so, you want to keep the SEC
in the Big ten title game, but you're okay doing
away with the ACC and the Big twelve title game.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
I'm not okay with any of it.

Speaker 1 (54:34):
You asked me what I thought the best format was
out of the possible available formats, and I think this
is it. There is no plan that's void of some
collateral damage. But if I have to trade the ACC
Championship Game and the Big Twelve Championship Game still getting
two teams from those conferences. But if I have to

(54:55):
trade that in exchange for the urgency that I know
this place is on the reg season, then you get
a yes vote from me on that. Now, I do
know that at the SEC spring meetings, the coaches today
were presented with a model that was five automatic qualifiers

(55:15):
and then eleven at larges. You will be not so
surprised to learn that most of the SEC coaches were
in favor of that. Well, of course they are. Of
course they are because they then know they can probably
lose three games per season and make it in I mean,
Kaitlin de Born knows last year's team makes it in
the playoff. If you're going five aqs and eleven at

(55:39):
large spots. Of course they do. I don't think that's
best for the game. That's me personally, So if we
were doing a six team field or an eighteen field,
I wouldn't want any automatic qualifiers. But if we're going
fourteen or sixteen deep, you do understand you will have
a four lost team that makes that playoff. If you
just go top sixteen, that will eventually happen. So I

(56:02):
am and several three lost teams. So in principle, I
already hate all playoff expansion, but out of the available
remaining formats that they're seriously looking at, I like fourteen
with automatic qualifier, the best with the entire reimagined first
Saturday in December. Okay, crushed me in the comments. Now

(56:26):
it's time to get a little nostalgic. It's sad, it's
kind of happy. It's kind of sad, but I think
it's important. So we had a question, Well, I had
several questions the other day, and then I said something
about it and it made it to Twitter, mainly because
I posted it, but man, I got so much.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
Feedback on this. So I was scrolling.

Speaker 1 (56:52):
This hurts Steven speak about I'm looking around I saw
a graphic little chalkboard there. It says has gradually disappeared
over the last ten years without people really noticing. And
I said National Signing Day. Oh, and then the emotions
just poured out in the replies. Do you think about
what they took from us? Every now and then I

(57:15):
think about this. I'll just be driving down the road
like Hillsboro Pike or you know, down in Brentwood somewhere
like that, and I think, because this is how my
mind works. By the first Wednesday in February used to
be my Christmas. There's Isaiah Crowell, that Gabe Wright sitting
nuts to him at Carver High School down there in Columbus.

(57:37):
I just I know many of you were plenty old
enough to remember, because National Signing Day has not disappeared
that long ago, like it's a fairly recent thing. National
Signing Day a decade ago was Christmas. Many of us
looked more forward to it than Christmas. Once you get

(57:58):
to a certain age, you kind of know what you're
getting for Christmas. You have no clue what you were
getting on National Signing Day.

Speaker 2 (58:02):
But I kid you not.

Speaker 1 (58:03):
I would start if I was in school, I would
start planning how I was going to fake sickness to
get out of school, and then when I got out
into the real world and I got a job, I
perfected the soft cough, as we call it.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
When you came back from lunch.

Speaker 1 (58:19):
That Tuesday, you started soft coughing around the office and
you were laying the groundwork to be outsick the next day.
Because there's no way I'm going to work on National
Signing Day. I'll be there every other day. I'll work overtime,
I'll work holidays. You will not see me. I will
be a ghost on National Signing Day. It was everything
to college football that the NFL Draft is to the NFL, and.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
It just disappeared.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
It still exists, of course, guys still sign on a day,
but a couple of things happened. The first thing that
happened was the calendar shifted. You remember when you heard
that we were going to have an early signing day.
I think Georgia and Kirby just killed because remember the
first year, everyone was kind of wondering, well, how many
people are going to sign in December and how many

(59:06):
people are going to wait until February, And Kirby said, no,
We're going to go get our whole class in December.
I think they signed the number one class in the
country that year, and then everyone the following year.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
Signed in December.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
So the thing about December is it's in this weird
time where you're after the Army Navy game, You're the
week before Christmas, and the playoffs are coming up and
bowl seasons about to start, and it doesn't have that
standalone feel to it. And then not too long after

(59:37):
that you realized, well, that's kind of irrelevant because here
comes unrestricted movement in the portal attached to NIL. So
not only are we going to have unrestricted free agency,
but we're going to do it every year. And rational
people looked around and said, well, wait, if commitments don't
actually mean anything, if vast portions of the roster are

(01:00:00):
going to overturn every year, why should I care what
a guy does on National Signing Day. I felt the
same way. I hate I hate it, man, I really
hate it because I loved recruiting. Man.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
I followed recruiting religiously.

Speaker 1 (01:00:15):
I could not tell you anything about recruiting these past
few years. We talked about it, what would you say, Jesse,
like five times these past few years. I just don't
see the value in it, and I think to really underdiscussed,
underreported part of what has changed for the worst about
the sport. Really, at the end of the day, it's

(01:00:37):
about connective tissue. I am a huge college football fan.
There's not just one thing that attracts me to the sport.
There are several layers. But one of the critical connective
tissue layers that have connected fans to college football for
a long time, aside from the games themselves, has been
following recruiting. It's no different than the NFL. You watch

(01:00:58):
the games on Sunday. Nothing could ever replace that, but
Mott Draft season is a huge thing. The NFL Draft
is a massive part of the connective tissue of NFL fans.
To product, imagine the draft just kind of not disappearing,
but completely waning in importance, no one taking it really

(01:01:21):
seriously anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
The NFL will.

Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
Still exist, a lot of people would still watch it,
the connectivity wouldn't be there. Now. Imagine if the NFL
also did away with contracts and everyone just moved around
whenever they wanted to.

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
People would still watch. Would they be as connected, No,
they would not.

Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
That in a microcosm is what's happened with college football recently.
You've you had fifteen years ago. This is not that
long ago. Fifteen years ago, ten years ago, whatever, when
recruiting was on fire, you really started following the kids
their junior years in high school.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
And I mean, I'm talking.

Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
About a lot of people did this, Like this was
the norm for hardcore recruiting fans.

Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
Most people were.

Speaker 1 (01:02:03):
If they were hardcore college football fans, you got a
good sense of them in junior high school year, and
then by their senior year, you know, like, Okay, Oklahoma's
got a shot at this guy, Florida's battling USC for
that guy, like.

Speaker 2 (01:02:15):
Bama, Georgia, Tennessee for this guy.

Speaker 1 (01:02:17):
And not only are you following your team, but you're
aware of the whole landscape. Then they commit, and statistically
it's a high likelihood they're going to be there as
freshmen and sophomores and juniors and seniors. And by the
time those guys are seniors and they are like the
nucleus of your team, You've known them over half a decade.

(01:02:38):
You've got six plus years of emotional attachment vested in
that player wearing that uniform that you've got a lifetime's
worth of emotional attachment invested in and it meant something.

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
Man, it meant a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
And it doesn't mean that when you have the absence
of that that everyone leaves. But it does mean what
you used to be a rock solid connection.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
It just loosens a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
That's only one aspect that is eroded at the connective
tissue between some fans and the way they view the sport.
Now that's the bad news. The good news is it
is very, very rectifiable, and I think we're not too
far away from that. Now. They could screw this up,
but if you think about what revenue sharing is about
to do, money's never leaving the sport.

Speaker 2 (01:03:26):
But I'll tell you what could be about to happen.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
You could be if revenue sharing is handled the right
way and rules are able to be enforced, you could
be looking at the dawning of a new era of
roster retention rates returning to their previous levels, and therefore
you could be looking at a return to somewhat normalcy.
In what a commitment means. I was always of the

(01:03:50):
belief that we should never have used the word commitment,
But for college football purposes, let's use the word commitment.
If you do the revenue sharing era the right way,
Clemson could be going after a guy that Texas wants,
that Florida wants, that Ohio State wants. But if revenue
sharing is set up the right way, no one is
vastly outbidding anyone else for that player.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
So what does that mean? Though?

Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
It means if you're offering him two seventy as a
freshman and I'm offering him two forty five as a freshman,
but I have the better connection with the kid, and
we form the better relationships, and we sell him on
fit and culture better, thirty five thousand dollars forty thousand
dollars not gonna be the difference that decides that recruitment. Plus,
he knows, no matter where he goes, if he takes

(01:04:34):
care of business and he goes to the place that
can develop him the best, the incentive structure and the
retention structure of the way those contracts should be written
at the school's level and at the league level are
such that he knows his earnings are gonna skyrocket second.

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
Third, fourth year.

Speaker 1 (01:04:50):
Therefore, he is incentivized to stay on the same roster
and in the recruiting process. He is incentivized for the
things that should matter to matter the most, relationship, returning
to the forefront of mattering, the most fit culture development,
those things mattering the most. Well, if you have that
and then you start to retrain your mind to think that, hey,

(01:05:12):
wherever a guy commits looks like they're going to stick
around for a while, well, then National Signing Day. I'm
not saying it ever returns to fully what it was,
but man, it returns a lot closer to what it
was than what it is right now. FanDuel has no
such odds on this sort of thing. But you can
go bet on who's going to win the Big twelve
this year. You can go do that right now. FanDuel

(01:05:33):
the exclusive odds provider of the show. We appreciate them
so much. A lot of stuff you can go look at.
You can go look at NBA Playoff odds over there.
You can just look at odds period and not bet
if you don't want to, there's a lot to see it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
FanDuel, we appreciate them.

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
They are as always the exclusive odds provider of the show.
Sign up for FanDuel at FanDuel dot com. Backslash CFB
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(01:06:09):
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Speaker 2 (01:06:14):
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Speaker 1 (01:06:16):
If so, call one eight hundred gambler or visitfanduel dot
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(01:06:37):
or call eight hundred three two seven fifty fifty for
twenty four seven support in Massachusetts. Or call one eight
seven seven eight Hope n Y. Or text h op
E n Y in New York. Now, we like to
wrap up every show with bold predictions. What are the
bold predictions? So bold that you're okay with me reading

(01:06:57):
on the air at the possible expense of your humiliation.

Speaker 2 (01:07:00):
Well, let's dive in tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:07:03):
Who Gainesville will love the first bold prediction from man Ovedo.
I think I think it's Ovedo Florida from Florida. Florida
finishes ten and two, beats the breaks off Miami and FSU. Okay, well,
we're just gonna for the sake of argument, say they
beat Miami in FSU. I think this may be a

(01:07:24):
little bit of a correlated prediction. And by that I
mean if Florida is good enough to go ten and two,
it's highly likely they beat Miami in Florida state in
route to ten and two. Not definite. I could see
him losing to Miami and going on a run. But
you get my point there. This is a nine point
twenty five on the boldness scale. Their win total is
seven and a half. They have got our number two

(01:07:46):
strength of schedule in the country in the P four,
so in the country, I am high on Florida. Ten
and two is a little lofty for me. I'm gonna
make that a nine point twenty five. Next up, and
this is certainly building off.

Speaker 2 (01:08:01):
Last year.

Speaker 1 (01:08:04):
College football with Sam hit us up, he said, Kurt
Signetti takes Indiana back to the playoff, except this time
he wins at least a game, advancing to the quarterfinals
or better. Nine point five for me on this one.
They got the ninth best odds to win the Big Ten,
but who cares. They didn't have high odds last year.
Their top forty in returning production.

Speaker 2 (01:08:25):
That's good.

Speaker 1 (01:08:26):
They went and got Mendoza, the quarterback out of California.
They got NFL guys on defense. There is a certain energy, obviously,
an attitude that team played with last year. I would
expect that to carry over. Here is a potential snag.
Last year they played seven of the bottom eight teams
in the Big Ten.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
This year they played.

Speaker 1 (01:08:47):
Illinois, at Iowa, at Oregon, at Penn State. So if
they make the playoff, then they've done something more impressive
from a scheduling standpoint than they did last year, which
means they've got a better shot at winning a game
once they make the playoff.

Speaker 2 (01:09:04):
That's still a nine.

Speaker 1 (01:09:05):
Point five for me, though that's not an easy draw
this year for them. Next up, Yeah, this is a
nine point five two.

Speaker 2 (01:09:13):
Let's see.

Speaker 1 (01:09:14):
Brock from Austin said an sec or Big Ten school
will get every at large playoff bid. Okay, so Notre
Dame alone could wreck this. Like if Notre Dame makes it,
this is done. If the ACC Championship game loser makes it,
or the Big Twelve Championship game.

Speaker 2 (01:09:31):
Loser makes it, this is done.

Speaker 1 (01:09:33):
So what you need is you need some separation in
the SEC and the Big Ten, Like you need some
elite teams to form in both those conferences and then
a little bit of room where they just beat up
on the inferior teams and you got a bunch of
ten and twos, Cause if you got a bunch of
nine and threes, I'm not sure they're all going to
be able to overcome whatever else is out there. And also,

(01:09:55):
like think about the Big twelve. What if there's separation there.
What if Texas Tech and Arizon the State are clearly
the best two teams. They play each other in Tempe,
and let's say Arizona State wins, but then they face
off twelve to zero versus eleven and one in the
Big twelve championship game in Texas Tech wins. Well, both
of them are going to the playoff. So you're gonna

(01:10:16):
be wrecked.

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
There.

Speaker 1 (01:10:16):
Too many scenarios couldrect this. I'm gonna make it a
nine and a half. And then the boldest of the
night comes to us by way of Dawsonville, Georgia, home
of Bill Elliott. Danny said, fran Brown leads Syracuse to
the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:10:32):
This season.

Speaker 1 (01:10:34):
Nine point seventy five bordering on ten, Jesse, make it
a ten. This is a ten for me, I am,
I'm going to scratch through that on my own paper. Yeah,
this is a ten. So they made a huge leap
last year. They won nine games. There's a reason their
win totals five and a half this year. It's because
their ninety eighth in returning production. They got hit in

(01:10:55):
the portal. They lost their star wide receiver, their star
defensive tackle. But the real problem is the schedule. We
got them playing the number one strength of schedule in
the ACC. They go to Clemson, they go to SMU,
they go to Georgia Tech, they go to Miami. They
also go to Notre Dame and out of conference play
they play Tennessee to start the season. Making a bowl

(01:11:18):
game this year is a big win for them all
things considering, So they're not I mean, fran Brown can
use this all he wants to forget about the playoff
talk with Syracuse like that.

Speaker 2 (01:11:30):
Is a tough tough draw this year. So that's a ten.
For me.

Speaker 1 (01:11:33):
We got to get out of here, good solid show,
a lot of meat on the bones night. We'll be
back a week from tonight, So next Tuesday. I hope
you're okay that long without me. I will not be
okay that long without you, but I'll make you. Or
Producer Jesse, director Colin, I'm Josh baby. Have a great
rest of your week. Take care and God bless you.

(01:12:06):
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Speaker 2 (01:12:31):
Do you have a gambling problem?

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Speaker 2 (01:12:49):
In Maryland. Hope is here.

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