CFB Chaos Scenarios + Diego Pavia Slanders Pate State

Josh Pate’s College Football Show Ep 640 features Josh Pate discussing potential chaos scenarios this season. Could Oklahoma exit their showdown with Texas 6-0 while Steve Sarkisian’s team is reeling? What if FSU, Miami, and Florida collectively stumble this season? Bold prediction season has returned with you calling your shot including UGA winning every home game, Michigan and USC making the CFP while Texas and Ohio State miss it, TCU defeating Texas Tech in the Big12 title game and more. What are the best weight rooms Josh has worked out in on the Pate State Speaker Series Tour? All that plus discussion about Texas A&M and Penn State.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Ooh. Look, because of the nature of my job, I
have to be on the Internet a lot. I have
to be on social platforms a lot. I don't know
about you, but before you, section of my socials are
an abject disaster right now, which reminds me of a
great meme a quote I'm gonna drop on you as
we start the show tonight. It went something like this,

(00:36):
if I can't trust your opinion on the playoff, I'm
certainly not interested in your opinion on geopolitical issues. I
think she said that somewhere around nineteen ninety eight. We
didn't even have a playoff yet, but she said it,
and I agree every bit is true, if not more
true today then back then. So I'm not talking about
those sorts of things on the show tonight, but I

(00:56):
am talking about many college football related matters. Were jamp
hi atop a humid, steamy downtown Nashville, Tennessee, on this Sunday,
June twenty second, the Year of Our Lord twenty twenty five,
proudly brought to you by Academy Sports and Outdoors. But
in the nature of calamity from coast to coast and beyond,

(01:16):
it's time for a little chaos on the show. Things
have gotten too comfortable around here, so it's time for
a little chaos. I have identified I think several potential
pivot points in the season this year.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
You know, things that everyone thinks will go one way, but.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
If they go the other way, and they may very
well go the other way, it could spell disaster for
your team, it could spell disaster for a conference, and
everywhere in between. So I've got that, I've got bold predictions.
I've got big questions. I had one of you ask
about the best weight rooms that we've worked out in
in college football facilities, and it's gonna be a big upset.

(01:53):
The winner is like a four touchdown underdog in this competition.
But I'm going to tell you my favorite weight room
that I've worked out in, and it's been pretty much
all of them, at most of them, at the very least.
It's gonna be an interesting twist. I'm not doing it
to gain style points or I'm not doing it to
curry favor. I'm gonna be dead honest with you. It's
not one that you would expect. Diego Pavia is dead

(02:15):
to me. Many things that we're gonna broach on tonight's show.
They're watching us in the lake Butler, Florida, Vancouver, British Columbia, Burke, Virginia,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Hey, look, we can't show favoritism when
it comes to football, but we are an LSU baseball show.
We've got, as far as I know, we've got one
friend of the program that is a head college baseball

(02:36):
coach and it happens to be Jay Johnson, and he
happens to have just won another national championship down at LSU.
So good on the Tigers. Good on Tigers.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
We'll see what football season brings.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
But they just locked up what number eight I think
in college baseball. And good for ESPN mixing in some
of the baseball game in between shots of t Bob
a bear and Ben Menz not knocking him. That's the
same way I would have covered it from a production standpoint.
But yeah, congrats to LSU. Okay, let's jump into the
show tonight. So I am. I'm sitting around scrolling and

(03:11):
I'm trying to find, you know, a good way to
lead the show off tonight. And we could have done rankings,
and we could have done more you know this, and
that from a listical standpoint, but I figured Clint from
ann Arbor, Michigan had a good idea. He said, what
are some chaos scenarios for the twenty twenty five season
that are and listen to his words here unlikely to happen,

(03:33):
But could, I think he meant, but could let's get
crazy in June. I like it, and I've got one
for you. I can't take full credit for it, but
I think there's maybe some there's maybe something to it.
And I was on Next Round Live the other day,
which emanates out of Birmingham, but you can watch it anywhere,
and I'm on in Lance Taylor just throws a scenario

(03:56):
at me, Clint, So I'm gonna pose it to you
and everyone here. Texas is like one of the favorites
to win the national title this year. Oklahoma, meanwhile, is
in some people's estimation not even favor to make a
bowl game. I think that's harsh, but some people think
Oklahoma will suck, and some other people who think Oklahoma
will be okay, they think that they got a tough

(04:18):
schedule though okay, So needless to say, the general public perception,
I think we all agree is that Texas will be
better than Oklahoma this year. And of course they play
that's in Dallas. You would expect Texas to be a
healthy favorite in that game. Well what if Texas is
three and two going into that game against an undefeated Oklahoma.

(04:40):
So this is what Lance throws at me the other day.
And I reacted the same way most of you just reacted.
And I reacted, oh wow, okay, well that'll get some clicks,
so oh oh, that'll raise the antenna plural of antenna.
But then he lays it out to me. He didn't
even laugh, he didn't smile. He said, no, no, I'm serious.
I think this is gonna happen. So I pull out

(05:01):
the stats and info packet here, and you know what,
not that it's likely to happen, as Clint said, But
oh you you know, I think highly of them. I've
got them in my preseason top ten from a rankings standpoint,
but I got Texas up there as well, Texas eighty
second in returning production, Oklahoma top ten.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
So yeah, it's going to be a more experienced team.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
Of course, the sarcastic trade off there is, well, if
you were bad last year, do you really want to
return a lot of production case by case, Yes, you do, so,
I like a lot of the production that OU does return.
But let's just think this through for a second. I
don't expect you to have all these schedules memorized, but
I don't need it. That's why I got the paper
in front of me. It's not absolutely crazy to think

(05:45):
Texas could be a two loss team when they go
into the Red River Shootout known by no other name
on this show. Texas plays Ohio State in week one. Okay,
they are a three and a half point dog in
that game. They also play at Florida a few weeks later,
and look, I know a lot of you who just
believe you are what your record says you are from
last year, and it's rent repeat.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
You think Florida and also Texas skull.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
Drug Florida last year with that lagway, so you think
that's a layup, That's not a layup. Texas will be
favored very slightly as it stands right now in that
game at Florida.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
That's a tough, tough game.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
That's the week before they play oh you by the way, Yeah,
Texas could lose both of those.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
They could certainly win both of those.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
But look on the Oklahoma side, Bradley, show me Oklahoma
schedule right quick. So there's at least a case to
be made that Texas not much returning production, new starting quarterback,
they could stumble a couple of times on the road,
Oklahoma will it have not even been on the road. Ironically,
by the time they played Texas, the only road game
Oklahoma will have played is Temple. I have pressed Jokistiglion

(06:50):
on this when I have been in Norman and he
just laughed. So, you know what, no one's that bothered
by it there. But listen, they play Michigan at home,
I expect Oklahoma to be favored in that game, by
the way. And they play Auburn at home, I expect
Oklahoma to be favored in.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
That game, by the way.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
So for everybody who kind of like I did, when
this is first presented to you, thinks to yourself, oh,
that's crazy, Oh, you should be favored in every game
until they play Texas, Texas will have at least two games.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Where they're either a dog or a very slight favorite.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
And so what if we do get to red River,
and what if it is undefeated Oklahoma versus three and
two Texas. Well, that kind of underscores the reason why
extended success is so important, like sustained high level performance
in college football or anything else is so impressive because

(07:40):
it's really, really, really hard to do. The tightrope walk
is really hard to do. In every step further that
you take it gets more and more difficult. So in
this sport, you know, everyone just looks and says, well,
if you recruit at a high level and you spend
a lot of money, well that's it. You know that
it's that easy.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
It's put the.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Key in the ignition to earn it. It's on you
drive away. Well, it's a lot tougher than that. And
so that's why like Texas for example, is now set
up where everyone.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
Just looks me included.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
Although I have an appreciation for how tough it isn't
I just think every single year man they're there. But
it involves a lot of close calls along the way,
even for the ones who do sustain that success Bama
under Saban, Georgia Kirby Smart, they're close games here and
there that you say to yourself, well, if this or
that would have gone the other way, well this would

(08:32):
be an example of this and that going the other way.
So not only not only could Texas be three and
two going into red River, but you know, there is
also the small matter of playing the game that Saturday
shamefully a three point thirty two thirty Central kickoff instead
of an eleven am kickoff.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
But I digress.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
You know they could lose that game. They could lose
it and be three and three, and you want to
know how quickly goodwill and equity.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Just evaporates in this sport.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
Texas is currently the favorite to win the SEC Jesse
Are they the favorite to win the national title or
are they right there with Ohio State? They're either they
are favorite, Texas favorite to win the national title. Okay,
so they go from that to five hundred coming out
of red River in week six. Think about the talk

(09:20):
around arch Manning. If that were to happen, you want
to talk about chaos. Think about the talk around him,
and think about the talk around Steve Sarkisian. Because as
much as people are high on Steve Sarkisian right now,
Texas fans very high on Steve's Sarkisian right now, everybody
should be very quickly here's how this happens. This goes
from Sart got us right to the doorstep last year,

(09:42):
and yeah, we lost to Georgia a couple of times,
but hey, it's Kirby and Georgia. That's like the last
I mean, we lost in the National Champs in the
playoff and we played them tougher than anyone else played him.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
So we're right there on the doorstep. We're stacking recruiting.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
Classes, and we got our quarterback that we've built towards
being able to feature, and we got all that. So
it sounds like that now six week tend of the season,
it could be, you know, we keep getting there, but
we got the talent. And yet we ran into Georgia
twice buzz saw, including getting handled at home, and then
we got beat by a backup and they came from

(10:15):
behind with a backup to beat us in the second
half in Atlanta. And then we got beat by Ohio
State in the playoff. And now we're barely about five hundred.
We're five hundred coming out of Red River.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
That's how that changes.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
People go from praising you to doubting you really quickly.
And then of course you got the flip side of the coin,
where well, I mean, if Oklahoma's at six and oh
or five and over whatever it is going into red River,
whether they win it or not, they're a contender. But
here's what's funny. Oh you after that game, half their
season is done. Oh you could be perfect through that

(10:47):
Texas game. You know who? They still have to play.
They still got it. Sounds like a joke, but it's not.
They've still got to go to South Carolina. They got
old mess at home. They go to Tennessee, they go
to Alabama, they got Missouri, they got LSU. Point being
ou could be six and oh, be a really good
team and still finish no better than nine and three.

(11:08):
That's why many, including people on this block, are claiming that,
oh you may very well play the toughest schedule in
the country this year, if not one of the very
toughest schedules. But look, we wanted to bring chaos. The
chaos is the name of the game on the global
stage right now. I wanted to bring chaos to the
show tonight because every preview magazine looks nice and neat

(11:28):
right now.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
Those fan duel odds look.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
Nice and neat right now. Huge gap perceptionally between Texas
and O You man, what if it's not there though, well,
it's the beauty of it.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
Now.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
The Oklahoma folks think they got screwed on the scheduling
the first two years in the SEC, and they should
think that they did.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
But they get to play Texas.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
So if they're sitting there with a gauntlet of a
schedule and they look at Texas right or wrong, and
think they got the easy draw, and then Texas is
three and two coming into Dallas, and you're undefeated, and
then you hand it to them, you're talking about let
down spot of the century. The next game Oklahoma plays.
Academy Sports and Outdoors will be there for you, though.
You got to gear up no matter what your record is.

(12:13):
You may not always be what your record says you are.
But you've got friends at Academy Sports no Outdoors, and
they're ready to outfit you. They're ready to hook you
up with grilling equipment or just a grill itself. They
are ready to get you some footwear. They are ready
to set you up with a basketball hoop outside your door. Basically,
what I'm doing is I'm just I'm just picturing myself

(12:34):
in an academy right now. First off, it smells good.
Everyone's friendly in here. Love it. There's big leak chew
over there. Even though my eyes are closed, I can
still see it. You know, this is strangely calming. I
may just do the show like this anyway. If you
can't be here in person, and I hope you can
make it here in person. Academy dot com. Academy dot

(12:56):
com has everything that you see here if you're you know,
walking on this imaginary journey with me. Academy, the presenting
partner of this show, had a great meeting with those
guys last week, all kinds of ideas for this upcoming season.
There's a lot coming this upcoming season. Man, there's a
lot of change, all for the better. A lot of
change is going to happen around here. But I would

(13:16):
expect one of the constant pieces to be Academy.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
All right, let us move on. It's not over. It's
not over.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
You want chaos scenarios in college football this year? Let
me go right to what I think has been the
biggest hidden key the last ten years in this sport.
That's the state of Florida. And so a chaos scenario
would sound like this, What if Miami, Florida State and
Florida all finished below expectation level this year. I have
told you many, many, many times on this show that

(13:47):
although the landscape has changed with nil slash portal, the
state of Florida has been the most important sort of fulcrumb,
if you will, in college football because what I've watched
is I've watched nobody really put a death grip on
the state from a talent acquisition standpoint, because none of
those teams have won consistently enough, and because of that,

(14:10):
a lot of the end state talent has left. So
whether it's Ohio State winning a title, or Georgia winning
a title, or Bama winning a title, the rosters are
littered with players from the state of Florida. That Bama team,
the twenty twenty team, I think their entire defensive backfield
was from the state of Florida. So my observation has been,

(14:30):
if anyone could get their act together down there, or
you know, God forbid two or three of them at
the same time and keep a lion's share of the
end state talent at home, not only does it boost them,
but think about what it does. You just take you
just take one or two elite players.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
Off of those other rosters.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
What happens well anyway in the aforementioned chaos scenario. This year,
we've got all three finishing below expectation level. So the
first thing I think about at Florida State is if
Florida State's below XP expectation level, is norvel gone And
I would think the answer would be yes. Now, mind you,
this is not some prediction or a wish. It's just

(15:08):
in the interest of the glass half empty possibilities out there,
I would think that would happen. And I would also think,
is it the kind of season where it falls apart
late or is it the kind of season where in
Week one, you know, they played Bama to start the season,
So did they get blown out in Week one and

(15:30):
the entire rest of the season kind of feel dead
on arrival? Or did they play competitively in Week one
but then you know falter down the stretch, they play Clemson, VOTEC,
n C State, and Florida.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
To finish the season. Three of those four are on
the road.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
So either way, if they finished below expectation level, I've
got to think there are changes at the head coaching
position down there.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
Now at Florida.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
It's a little bit different because Napier got rid of
a lot of the hot seat talked at the end
of last year because they won, and there's a lot
of hype around the team. Of course, they got a
tough schedule. I think they've got the toughest in the
country this year, right there them in Oklahoma. But if
Florida finishes below expectation level, well that could mean they

(16:16):
won seven games. They're over underwent total seven and a half,
So Florida could go seven and five. And I got
to know a few things. Did they lose a bunch
of close games? Was their injury to lagway at any
point in the year, kind of like there was last year.
Did schedule slash injury luck play a predominant role in it?

(16:36):
Or did they just play poorly?

Speaker 2 (16:38):
Did they get blown out several times? I would need
to know that.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
Now Florida sitting there four and eight, then the bottom
fell out, and then that's a whole different ballgame. But
I'm not quite as sure about what the after effects
would be with Florida as I am with Florida State.
And then with Miami. Look, if Miami finishes below expectation
or I can't say the word expectation level tonight. If
they finished below expectation level, I don't know, the conversation

(17:07):
sounds the same as it would at Florida State, only
because there's way more leash for Mario at Miami, rightfully so,
than there is to this point with Mike Norvell at
Florida State.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
But here would be the facts.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
The facts would be that's four years in the can
and no appearance in the ACC Championship game and no
appearance in the playoff. If Miami finishes below expectation level,
I would say that's probably finishing eight wins or less.
I would assume in this scenario, the whole Carson Beck

(17:43):
experiment didn't play out, and that would underscore a lot
of the criticism that people would have there, and that
is we didn't have any of our homegrown guys ready
to step up. That's the entire reason we had to
go get Carson Beck. That would be a lot of
the talk was if the guys that you went and
got out of the portal, say at the receiver position,

(18:06):
didn't pan out, a lot of the criticism would be, well,
why didn't we have guys just in the pipeline ready
to go? Now? I don't think it would be hot
seat talk at all, so it'd be way different than
Florida State. But here would be the point. The point
would be not if one, two, but all three. If
all three of those finished below expectation level, you've still

(18:26):
got the same problem quote unquote that you've had for
a while, and that is players in the state of
Florida are not looking around and seeing a viable opportunity
to play for a national championship in their home state
should they choose to stay home, which is kind of
a shame. So you know, let's well, if you're a

(18:48):
fan down there's selfishly root against this, but that would
be pretty chaotic too. I would say, let's move on.
We got a lot of questions we have. I mean,
I asked last week, give me some question questions, and
we got like thousands of replies. So we're stocked up
with questions. We keep on rolling through them. Most of
them are football, some of them are so I told

(19:08):
Jesse and Bradley mix in some of the other stuff.
Like Sam from Oklahoma City. He said, hey, help me
remember what show you were talking about a lot last
year with the band. I want to watch it, but
I can't find it. The name of the show is
Daisy Jones and the Six Sam. It is a phenomenal show.

(19:28):
I could not recommend it strongly enough. It is on
Amazon Prime. It's a really really good series. I really
really hope there's a season two. The way it ends
not to spoil anything, would lead you to believe there
wouldn't be a season two. But then again, if you're
familiar with the story of Fleetwood Mac, which this show

(19:49):
takes a lot from, Fleetwood Mac did some of their
best work beyond nineteen ninety seven, so well, their live
work was probably at its best beyond nineteen ninety seven,
and they had the reunion. Anyway, I've got storyline ideas
for the people who write this show, but forget about that.
Daisy Jones and the Six. If you guys are out
there looking for a new show, I'm telling you I

(20:10):
cannot recommend that strongly enough. There's nothing in the title
that gives away what the show's about, because I thought
it sounded I didn't actually know what to expect just
from here in the title.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
But man, if you love.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
Music at all, but especially if you're fascinated by the
era of the seventies eighties bands and the music industry
and what it was like. And I'm a big Fleetwood
Mac fan, So like a lot of the Fleetwood Mac
storylines are sort of woven into this fictitious fan not
to mention, not to mention the original music that's just

(20:46):
written for the band in the show, Like these songs
were never real, they didn't actually exist.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
Are phenomenal.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
Two of them, what is it called Jesse let Me
Down Easy? And then the other one the River. Those
are great songs, and I don't even think they're like
available to chart on Billboard or anything like that. So yeah,
I'm a big fan Daisy Jones and the six. Next up,
we swerved back onto the road talk about college football.

(21:14):
Oh hey, you know what we got to get back to.
We got to get back to telling the truth. Not
that we ever got away from it, some would disagree,
not that we ever got away from it on the show,
but we were doing the Truth Teller series and I
don't know why, because it was going really well. We
just kind of got got distracted with a lot of
other things. But Bradley, here's a good endpoint. When you

(21:36):
cut the video. What's the truth about Kirby Smart? What
is the truth about Kirby Smart. Well, to me, the
truth about him is he is the top head coach
in the game today, point blank. That's my opinion on him.
Twenty twenty four. For those of you who disagree, is
prime evidence. You said, well, what were you talking about.

(21:58):
They didn't win the national title last year. I know,
I know it was viewed as a down year, and
yet they won their conference. That's the standard that Kirby
Smart has said at Georgia. It was never like that
at Georgia before, and I don't think it's ever been
like that virtually anywhere other than where he used to
work before he took the head job at Georgia. It

(22:20):
just insane to think about the vibe around Georgia last year.
Half of your buddies who really loved college football would
tell you George sutt last year, Yeah, but they won
the SEC.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
That's a down year for them.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
Now, he's the only guy to even remotely come close
to duplicating what Saban had at Alabama, and he was
there for a long time. You could make a good
argument that those defenses were never as good once he
left as they were when he was there. There's a
little bit I think to be said about how offenses

(22:57):
sort of evolved simultaneous to Kurr believing. But I would
counter with, well, look at how good his defenses were
when he got to Georgia. Like Georgia's defenses were buying
large better than Bama's. Once he got to Georgia, they
had trouble beating Bama. But strictly defensively speaking, Kirby wasn't
his really good. I had someone tell me one time.

(23:21):
I've heard people say this about Belichick, and I've heard
him say it about Kirby smart, and that is, he
could be a position coach in any room and be
the best position coach on the staff, offensive or defensive.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
And I certainly believe that.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
Defensively, and they're probably not wrong about him offensively either.
He was like a running backs coach for one year
at Georgia, by the way, it's just memory hold. No
one remembers that. But when he was an assistant there,
I think he was a running backs coach one year.
So I always had a theory about when he left Bama.

(23:56):
Maybe he'll tell this story one day. I don't think
Saban would tell this story. It's not like the other
rumors about him. Leaving there, you know, the recruiting boards
and whatnot, which is absolutely true, by the way, but
it's not that. It's the fact that I'm a believer.
Nick Saban never worried about any of his other assistants

(24:17):
leaving and ever being able to match what he did
at Alabama, because Saban knew how hard it was to
do what he did at Alabama and how perfect the
machine has to be built in all aspects, and so
he looked around and said, it doesn't even matter if
any of these guys are clones of me, They're never
going to go anywhere and get it set up the
way I got it here. However, I do believe he

(24:39):
always thought, deep down, if there's anyone who's close to
being like me, it's Kirby. And then if he were
to ever look out across the horizon and see programs
that if the right guy landed at at the right time,
it could match Alabama, Georgia was one of them. So
Kirby takes Georgian always always believed Saban looked at it
as not being threatened per se, but there was a

(25:02):
little bit of an uh oh factor there, and he
was right to feel that way. Now, he still rattled
off a five to one record against him. But I
think it's a huge testament that that was the only
one out of all these assistants Saban lost, still up
in the air on Sark, But out of all those
other assistants that Saban lost, all of them got head
coaching jobs. Kirby was the only one where he even

(25:22):
came close to looking and saying, man, he's built Alabama.
He's built a replica of Alabama. But that's not the
big takeaway to me, and it's not the time, you know,
for history to tell this story, but the big story,
you know, like the the first thing I think about
when I think of Kirby Smart is it's tough to
properly state the impact he's had on Georgia if you're

(25:45):
not from the state of Georgia. Everybody knows he's won
a lot. Everybody knows he's won a conference titles, couple
of national titles. But you got to understand, I grew
up in Georgia and I watched for a long time.
Georgia was bad for a little part of my childhood,
and then they got pretty good, and then at any

(26:05):
given point they may have been the best team in
the league under Mark Richt, But there was this feeling.
Was the same way with the Atlanta Braves versus the
likes of maybe the New York Yankees. They were good enough,
but there was not a willingness to go over the cliff.
There was not like a rabid willingness just cut your
head off to get ahead, the way that the Northern

(26:27):
teams played in baseball, or the way maybe some other
teams were playing in college football. But Georgia folks didn't
know any better. Georgia folks kind of never had the
scale of greatness in their past against which to measure
their present self. They won a title with Vince Dooley

(26:49):
in the early eighties, many of them either weren't around
or had long forgotten that era. The sport had changed entirely,
so like you didn't have greatness in your recent past
to measure yourself against. So all you had to go
on was, hey, we got Mark Rick, We're winning a
lot of games. Let's go bark in. Some folks' faces
were great, but they weren't great. And then Urban Meyer

(27:11):
came into Florida, and Urban was great for a short
period of time, and Florida was and they won championships,
and then Saban came to Alabama and that was a
prolonged period of greatness versus the very good that was
in Athens. And so I think the big takeaway was
when Kirby got that job. Not only did he take
the job, and not only did he eventually start winning,

(27:34):
but before he did that, he convinced Georgia that good
enough was not enough, and that will pay dividends long
after he's gone from there, because he showed them that
there were rungs above them on the ladder that they
had never thought to try and reach. And not only
did he do that, he had the gravitaze, he had
the name recognition and the reputation at that point to

(27:58):
be able to walk in and say you're not what
you can be. I'm the right guy to get you there,
and here's what I need. And unlike his predecessor, he
got yeses when Mark Rick ted gotten know's, or maybe
Rick hadn't even known to ask for certain things. And
so not only did Kirby build the machine, he got

(28:18):
the pieces that it took to build the machine, and
then he did that, and that impact matters because once
he leaves that could be next year or next decade,
But whenever he leaves, he leaves behind a program that
is like much much more equipped to be a turnkey winner,

(28:38):
no matter who's there than it was prior to his arrival.
That will always be the pig takeaway with him. That'll
always be the truth about him in my mind. No
matter what else he does there. He could win another
title or five, or never win another one. His legacy
has already secured there the past few years.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
I think also another truth here.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
I think the past few years for him have been
a much bigger struggle than he had ever admit publicly,
or that ever let on because he understands how good
they have it there. But I think.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
I don't know the best way to put this.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
There are non negotiables he has that are negotiables for
a lot of other people. The way you practice, the
way you recruit, the critical factors.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
That define your program.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
I think a lot of places out there have bent
on some of those out of perceived necessity because of
how the sport has changed around him, And Kirby Smart
has tried as best he can to not bend on
any of those. And so you still try and practice
the same way you always have, but you don't necessarily
have the quality depth that you used to have. You

(29:47):
try and hold yourself to the same competitive standard. You
try and run the same thing defensively, fairly complex. Well,
you know, a few years ago you were looking at
a first guy coming in and unless he's a true superstar,
it's going to be a couple of years before he
is in a starting role for Georgia. Well, now their
first year players are littering there too deep.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
So what do you do.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
Do you sacrifice the principles and values of what you
want to do defensively and do you simplify things so
that you flatten the learning curve a little bit? Or
do you just say this is the way we do it,
and if we go down, we're going to go down
doing it the way we do it. Are we still
going to practice the way we practice? Are we still
going to recruit the way we recruit? Are we still

(30:32):
going to hold guys to the same standard? I mean,
is this place going to be an absolute nightmare for
you Monday through Friday so that you play the way
we want you to on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
I think it's been a struggle. He's not the only one.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
I think he's just probably in the highest profile of positions,
and he's a guy who's who's had to deal with
crying on the yacht a little bit, as he would
put it.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
I think that's a big truth.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
Now, the next chapter of that is, well, what are
these changes across college football mean for a program like Georgia.
I don't know, but I kind of along those lines.
This is nothing I haven't told him privately, so I'll
say it publicly. I strongly think Kirby Smart's voice is

(31:16):
one that we need to hear a whole lot more of.
He's extremely wise, He's well versed in a lot of
the critical issues that face this sport. That doesn't mean
you'll always agree with him, It doesn't even mean I
would always agree with him. But when he speaks, he
speaks from an informed place. He has seen it done

(31:36):
a lot of different ways. He's built a monster at Georgia.
But also because of that, he's like one of the
Apex faces and one of the Apex programs, And so
we have what we call consequences of success on the show,
a lot that you only ever deal with once you're
a high level winner.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
And he's dealt with him.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
But he also you know, he's on the rules committee,
so he's intimately involved in a lot of converce stations
on that front. He's one of the most respected voices
in the sport. And the thing about it is, for
a long time, everyone just looked at Nick Saban, Oh
what's he gonna say? And Saban was like the godfather
that spoke for everybody. But he's not a head coach anymore.
So even if he speaks, it doesn't carry the same

(32:17):
weight that it used to. So one of the questions
I have when he retired is which voices fill that vacuum. Frankly,
I think a lot of guys have been very hesitant
to accept that role. And it's not in their contract
that they're required to, but I do view it as
their responsibility to grab some of that rope because here's
what happens. In the absence of people like Kirby Smart

(32:38):
speaking up for the sport, clowns speak up instead. In
the absence of you know, strong informed leadership, whether it
be head coaches or otherwise, you see what can happen
when the wrong hands get on the wheel and the
wrong voices get close to the microphone. So the truth
about him from my perspective is also I just I

(33:00):
wish you'd speak up a lot more about things that
extend beyond just Georgia. Now, he'd look at you and
he'd say, I got enough on my plate here, and
he's not wrong about that.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
I just don't.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
I don't think it does anything but help the sport
for guys like him to speak up more on big
picture issues. They're watching us in spring Hill, Tennessee, Tempe, Arizona, Olympia, Washington.
We appreciate you guys so much. All right, it is
question answering season. Well, you ask him, I answer him.

(33:34):
I put this out last week. I think I asked
a couple of things a couple of calls to action
last week, and one of them that we got was
about quarterbacks in and around the country. Will Howard enthusiast
hit us. He said, Hey, one of the biggest questions
in college football this year is the performance of new
quarterbacks at the perceived powers of college football who are

(33:57):
expected to compete for titles. You're Ohio, States and Texas,
in Georgia, Obama, Oregon. Uh Yeah, obviously this may be
the biggest question in the sport.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
This year.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
From an on field standpoint is, look at all those
teams there. Those are basically a hoops hoops of the
favorites to win at all, and yet none of them
have proven production at quarterback. So I guess the multi
million dollar question is are any of them gonna be
A level players this year? Now, my theory on this

(34:27):
show has always been, if you're a new quarterback, it's
very possible that you could be instantly elite. You could
just instantly be a Heisman contender, All American. That's possible.
It's far more likely you're gonna have a lot of
ups and downs. You're gonna be inconsistent because that positions
really hard to play, even if you are experienced, it's very,

(34:47):
very very hard to play if you're not. So I've
always said, give me a first year starter at quarterback.
I am going to assume the best of them are
going to play at a B level for me B
level performance, and I'll be happy as a bonus if
I get anything above and beyond. Well, look at those players,
or think about those players. If you're listening on podcasts

(35:09):
that I just listed. What happens if we get B
level play from say Arch manning Well. First thing I
think about is how many tough road games Texas has
At Texas, Texas doesn't have it. It's not like a
gauntlet the likes of which Florida or OU play, but
they're tough games are on the road. So if Arch
is a B level player, nothing more, nothing less, and

(35:32):
there's not a ton of returning, proven production around him,
and I'm thinking about him going on the road at Florida,
they play OU in Dallas, so that's at least away
from home. They've got to go to Georgia, They've got
to go to Ohio State to start the year. You
could lose two, three, four of those games for all
I know. And look, he could play at a solid level,

(35:54):
but B level QB play involves some inconsistency, It involves
some turnover issues here and there.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
If that's the case, who knows not.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
On the flip side, you think about Texas as a team,
and they could have the best pass rush in the country.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
So like, there are a lot of game.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
Script scenarios in my mind where you know that pass
rush puts Texas in a position where or maybe Arch
puts Texas in a position where they're scoring early Texas
first quarters are so important this year because if they
can grab early leads, force the other dude to have
to throw a lot, and that pass rush gets to
tee off like it can way different season. First quarters

(36:34):
for Texas very important this year. Ohio State and Oregon obviously,
we're calling Dante Moore a first year starter. I know
he started at UCLA, but we're calling him a first
year starter, and certainly Julian saying at Ohio State fits
the same description. So let's go with the working theory
there B level play from them.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
B level play. Is that good enough?

Speaker 1 (36:54):
Is that good enough for Ohio State or Oregon to
win the Big Ten? They I don't think they play
each other in the regular season. Is that good enough
for them to meet in the Big Ten title game?
Or I know a team with a ton of returning
production at quarterback that plays both of them? That's Penn State.
Isn't the lack of returning production for Ohio State and

(37:16):
Oregon sort of part of the reason people are high
on Penn State. I'll tell you for me, that's baked
into my theory on Penn State. And we'll talk about
them a little bit later in the show. But Dante
Moore going into Happy Valley Week five, I think it
is tough Penn State. We had a bold prediction on
the show the other night, what if Penn State rushes

(37:37):
for two hundred against Ohio State. Well, if they do
that and Julian Saying goes off, it probably still equals
an Ohio State win. But if Julian Saying is inconsistent,
you know, let's say they spot Penn State at ten
o lee like they did last year's game. Maybe it's
a different outcome and it's the same down in the SEC.
Bama Ty Simpson first year starter, Georgia gun or Stockton

(37:59):
first your starter. I kind of I kind of view
these guys. Whether I'm right or wrong about this, I
view those guys and I say, all right, if you
guaranteed me B level quarterback play from either one of
them right now, would those fan bases accept it? Would
you roll the dice or would you take the guaranteed
B level play? Translation, do you trust the team built

(38:23):
around them? And whether it's Bama or Georgia. There's a
lot of uncertainty around them. Talent, yes, but a lot
of uncertainty around them. They play each other in Athens
this year. I'm just interested, like what the identities end
up being of Alabama or Georgia this year. And also,
you know, take all that throw that no blender, this

(38:43):
is unlikely. But what if we just go full on
craziness and none of those teams end up having elite
quarterback play. Well, that's how a team like Texas A
and M makes a run to the national title. That's
how like Nebraska ends up winning ten or eleven game.
That's just how all kinds of crazy stuff can end

(39:03):
up happening. Because if none of the big boys have
a level quarterback play, you're talking about an anomaly the
likes of which we rarely see in college football. The
big boys have inexperienced rosters and they don't have high
level quarterback play. The door is just wide open for
all kinds of craziness to happen. So yeah, that's that it.

(39:25):
I think it's the biggest question collectively. I think it's
the biggest question about sport this year. Next question, I
just assume skip this. Let me let me crack open
the ZVA right quick. Oh oh, you want some breaking news.
I am addressing the country right now with breaking news.
They made orange cream sickle ZVA, and I'm told it's

(39:49):
only available at Sprout's supermarket right now, but I get
the stuff mailed to me, you know, because that's the
perk of having ZV as a partner on the show.
This is the best flavor of Zvia I have ever tasted.
It has surpassed cream soda. Cream soda has dropped to
number two in the Power ratings. That's how serious I

(40:11):
am about this. I have inhaled the stuff all weekend.
I don't care if you can't get the Sprouts. I've
never advocated for shopping for zero sugar soda on the
black market, but if you ever do it, this is
the time to do it. This stuff is delicious, old please,
three SIPs consecutively didn't even.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
Come up for air.

Speaker 1 (40:35):
That, however, you think zero sugar orange cream sickle soda
should taste.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
That's it right there, all right now. From something that's
great in the world today to something that's pathetic.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
Neil, hit me up.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
Do you have anything to say about Diego Pavia throwing
you under the bus and slandering your name?

Speaker 2 (40:59):
Who's Diego Pavia?

Speaker 1 (41:02):
That's what I have to say, Neil, who whom's Diego?
Never heard of her? So apparently local quarterback Diego Pavia.
Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia is on busting with the Boys
friends of the program there for reasons that I'll show

(41:23):
you in just a second, and some innocuous conversations going
on there. They're getting ready to tee up the upcoming
season and basking in the glory of the Alabama upset
from last year. And look, I don't need to tell
you what happened. Many of you have already seen it.
But for those of you who have not seen or

(41:43):
heard this, this is a snippet from Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia.
Whoever that is on busting with the Boys this.

Speaker 3 (41:52):
Week, expect Josh Pate to be talking about this. Yeah, yeah,
who's Josh Pate? Oh my god, what do you do?
Almost the brightest mind in college football. Actually he's a
future commissioner of college football. He's got a show.

Speaker 1 (42:10):
Oh I've seen this guy. I know.

Speaker 3 (42:12):
His name is Josh Pate. Very put together, ripped, well spoken,
definitely wears true classic bright mind.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
He loves you.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
Hey, my bad Josh Pate. Nope, not good enough, not
good enough? Now big hat Tip will Compton, Taylor Lawe.
They saw an injustice happening in real time and they
did what real ones do. They stood up for someone
who could not defend himself. And can you can imagine, Jesse,

(42:42):
We went to a Vanderbilt game last year.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
First off, we went to.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
A Vanderbilt game because we support our local teams. Contrary
to what Barton Simmons may suggest, we support our local teams.
And we put Diego Pavia in our SEC quarterback power
rankings the other day at the expense of Georgia and
Alabama's starting quarterback. Did we not? And what's the thanks
that we get? We get blindsided by treachery, not even

(43:10):
on our show. At least come on my show and
ask who are you? He goes on another show, who
is Josh Pape? Well, let me tell you something I
don't forget, and in this case, I don't even forgive,
but I do appreciate. I do appreciate our friends down
there are the boys on the bus. They at least

(43:31):
held up their end of the social contract. Diego Pavia
apparently not quite ready to do the same. What kind
of program is Clark Lee running when his players are
not exposing themselves to the noise outside the program. What
kind of operation are they running down there? That's just
the NCAA needs to be on that. That's what they

(43:52):
need to be on. Take time out from ann arbor. Well, actually,
you probably need to deal with that. It's pretty serious.
But I look, we don't ask for much. We don't
ask for much. New quarterback rankings for the SEC coming
this week, by the way, all right, let's move along
more big questions. Kendall from Boston, Massachusetts. Hey, what if

(44:13):
Alabama repeats what they did last year? They go nine
to three, they missed the playoff into Boor's second year,
does the panic level go through the roof? Uh? Yeah, absolutely,
it's through the roof. The truth is, the fan base
will lose it if they go nine to three, if
they missed the playoff, fan base will lose it. Should
they Well, that's not what he asked. The reality is

(44:35):
this is well within the cluster of possibilities. If we
simulate the season one hundred times, you know, and it's
little dots on the wall, we call it a cluster.
There are a lot of nine and threes in there.
There's some ten and two's, there's some eight and fours
believing or not, There are a lot of nine and
threes in there.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
It's not even all that unreasonable.

Speaker 1 (44:52):
You know. One of the great mysteries, the great unknowns
that will forever be an unknown, is what would have
happened if Saban never left? He did at the right
time he did, But what would have happened if he
never left? See this kind of question and the freak
out that will happen if Bama only goes nine to three.

(45:13):
That's the Sabin tax. The Saban tax was always going
to be there. Whoever takes over for him is gonna
have gigantic shoes to fill. You know, this is not
a concept that is foreign to most. But I wonder
if he never left, if Chris Low best in the business,
if Chris Low never breaks the news Nick Saban's retiring

(45:36):
and Saban's just there last year, what's their record? If
he's there this year, what's their record? You know, history
will remember Saban is the best to ever do it
rightfully so and they'll remember that he was dominant number
one program or number one A program right up until
the end. In fact, his.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
Final game was in the College Football Playoff.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
You know, Bama never fell off, which is true, but
Bama did come back down to earth. In the latter
stages of Saban's tenure, they were a heavily penalized team,
but also they played a ton of close games. And
the reason I'm mentioning that is not to take anything
away from Nick Saban. My point is, how do we

(46:17):
know if Saban was still there, he wouldn't have gone
nine and three last year too? How do we know
if he wasn't there that he may not go nine
and three this year too. And I want to take
you back to twenty twenty three, because they had a
bunch of close games.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
Then they lost to Texas.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
They had probably the worst game I've ever seen them
play under him against South Florida ended up winning seventeen
to three. They beat A and M by six, They
beat Arkansas by three, They needed the fourth and thirty
one miracle to win the Iron Bowl.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
They were the equivalent.

Speaker 1 (46:49):
Of a three or four lost team in terms of
one hundred games simulation that year. So it's not crazy.
And yet Nick Saban's won half a dozen national tie Alabama,
so he had all the equity built up in the world.
Kaylen de Bor's brand new he has no equity built up,
and so if he goes nine and three two years
in a row, it's an existential crisis and mark my words,

(47:11):
it will be I'm.

Speaker 2 (47:12):
Not even fighting that. Okay, it's a losing battle.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
If he goes nine to three again, Wayne from Wa Tumka,
he's at the door. He wants answers Greg Byrn, what
are you gonna do? And Greg Burn's like huh, he said, yeah,
who are you gonna go higher?

Speaker 2 (47:28):
Well for what a new football coach?

Speaker 1 (47:32):
Yes, yes, that would be the tenor that would be
the tone in the state of Alabama. Now what it
would do also is it would kill the aura of
Alabama football. Like right now it is reasonable to say
Saban's gone. Kaylen de bors here, Yeah, they missed the
playoff last year, but man, there's there's still something that

(47:52):
is extra special about that script day. It's a different
vibe when they walk in your building. It's a different
vibe when coaches walk in my high school. And they
got that logo on the polo here that still exists.
If they missed the playoff a second straight year, it's
it's not that Bama's a poverty program, but that aura

(48:15):
is probably gone and they're just another of the really
good programs out there. That's how quick I think that
can happen. So what I'm looking at with them is
all the indicators are there pointing up. They're recruiting very well,
they have got an extremely good staff.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
And they got the quarterback of the future.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
In Keelon Russell. So if they go nine to three
this year, it would be a crisis for a lot
of people. I wouldn't look at it that way, but
I mean, I'm not necessarily prone to thinking that way.
What I was most worried about for their sake when
Saban left before we ever knew who was going to
take over for him, was is recruiting going to fall

(48:59):
off a cliff?

Speaker 2 (49:01):
Is everybody gonna leave?

Speaker 1 (49:04):
Is the staff that replaces Saban and his staff gonna
be half what they were? Well, a lot of those
concerns are more than erased. The opposite's true. They're still
getting really good players, they're still a really good portal destination.
But more importantly, do that staff's really good, really good

(49:24):
coaching staff. So the results should work downstream of that
is my point. So I'm not really worried about them
in fact, I think Bama will be a playoff team
this year. But if they're not, if they're nine and three,
then yeah, I don't know how else to put it.
It will be it will be perceived as a crisis,
even if it's not. Several quick trips across the state

(49:46):
of Alabama, including I believe two of them in Tuscal Looser,
there's one on Farland, there's one of a little ways
down the interstate there. I have stopped it both personally.
I don't play favorites either one of them will do.
When we're stormchasing down in that part of the country,
I tend to leave the vehicle that we're not chasing
in at one of those quick trips because no quick

(50:08):
trip has ever been hit by a tornado. It's a
fact that I just made up. But a quick trip,
I'll tell you, they are the place to go beyond
storm chasing. Just if you need gas, you know, good
old fashioned topping off of one's tank, they'll do that
for you. But also emotionally they could top off the tank.
You need some cold brew, they got it on tap literally,

(50:29):
but I mean any kind of cuisine that you could
put on a roller grill. You can find it there,
and they're the exclusive fuel.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
Provider of our tour.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
So still I keep saying this every show we do.
I keep saying, we need to replay the commitment video
from last year because we got a lot of n
got it probably like our numbers say, hundreds of thousands
of new viewers from this time last year, So we
probably need to play that for you, not tonight, but
I will assume.

Speaker 2 (51:01):
Let's move along.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
A lot of good questions, a lot of suspense, a
lot of mystery and intrigue in the show tonight, so
why not continue? I asked you what your biggest questions
in college football this year were? Phil says, well, how
good will Penn State really be? So I went to
producer Jesse and I said, all right, what is success
for y'all this year? Last year, you went to the

(51:25):
Big Ten title, you went to the playoff, you won
two games in the playoff, you got to the semi finals.
So what is success this year? And this is official
from producer Jesse? He says, they have to win a
big game in the regular season. So that's Oregon at home,
it's Ohio State on the road. They need to win

(51:46):
one of those and they need to win either the
Big Ten title or they need to win the whole thing. Now,
I asked Jesse, all right, what happens if you beat
Oregon at home but you lose to Ohio State? You
win the Big Ten title, so kind of like Oregon
did last year, but you get smoked in the first
game you play in the playoff. And he dismissed it.

(52:07):
He doesn't think that's going to happen. So, look, I
really believe in this team. I believe in Penn State.
Sort of one of those if it doesn't happen, now,
when is it ever going to happen? I'm talking about
winning a national title. I'm talking about competing for the
Big Ten and competing for a national championship. That's my
expectation for them this year. I've got dependability at the

(52:30):
quarterback position. You notice when you say that, people say
Drew Aller's not elite, Hey, what if he's not? What
if he just plays solid and dependably? What if he
does that? And they got those tailbacks two thousand yard
caliber tailbacks, got a really good offensive line. I think
they made some pivotal moves at the wide receiver position
in the portal went and got Jim Knowles as their DC.

(52:53):
That should be a top ten fifteen caliber defensive unit. Honestly,
the profile of that team may be a little bit
more offensively slanted than people expect.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
Wouldn't surprise me.

Speaker 1 (53:05):
But they don't even have to rev their engine until
week five, like their schedule. If you're worried that all
of the preseason hype will go to their head, it
doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because their first losable game
is September twenty seventh against Oregon at home, not at noon.
By the way, that is a primetime kickoff, So my wish,

(53:30):
our wish has finally become a reality. But they're playing
Nevada FIU and Villan Nova, then a bye before they
play Oregon. I mean, it's an Ohio State vibe. This
last year, Ohio State had the vibe of we're all
in on twenty twenty four. And that didn't mean they

(53:52):
were gonna, you know, disappear as a program beyond that.
But I mean, I remember I remember being up at
Ohio State sitting in Mark Pantoni's office and he said,
it is twenty twenty four, We're all in on it.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
And they won the national title.

Speaker 1 (54:05):
But what if they didn't, I mean, how draining does
that feel? Well, Penn State even more so because I
don't know that I can just blindly count on Penn
State to reload like I can sort of count on
Ohio State to So this is really, really really all in.
We're all in on twenty twenty five. It it just
here's the thing. Okay, so it's very weird. You got

(54:28):
to be a college football fan to understand this. There
were a lot of doubters going into last year. James
Franklin and Penn State had a lot of doubters. And
the doubters would say, they can't win big games, they
can't get over the hump. They're just good, but they'll
never be great, and so you would look at that
and you would say, wait. But then they went to
the Big Ten title game and they made it all

(54:50):
the way to the semi finals of the playoffs. So
clearly that silenced the doubters, right, It did not at all.
The doubters still have every bit of am that they
they used to have because they would look at that
and say, okay, yeah, but but our critiques were that
you can't win the big games, and you can't get
over the hunk. And all you did last year was

(55:12):
lose to Ohio, stayed at home again. You went to
the Big Ten title game.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
And you lost to Oregon.

Speaker 1 (55:18):
So you got two shots against the big boys. You lost. Yeah,
you made the playoff, and yeah you won a couple
of games. Who'd you beat? You beat Boise and SMU
you absolutely should beat them. And then you got paired
against the equal competitor and Notre Dame and you lost.
So you didn't do anything last year that you have
been criticized of not being able to do before. That's

(55:40):
what a hater, That's what a dobter would say. There
is merit to it. By the way, I don't necessarily
even disagree. So this is the year, more so than
any year in recent history, that I can recall that
Penn State should be geared up to silence, that forget
about doubters. It prove it to yourself. It's there, it's
there at the end of the world. If you don't

(56:01):
do it. James Franklin doesn't just retire if they don't
do it. But it is a failure if they're not
competing for a national championship this year. That is my
humble opinion. Oh boy, what a pressing question up next?

Speaker 2 (56:18):
Got a big crowd?

Speaker 1 (56:20):
Did you hear that allegedly they were playing Game seven
of the NBA Finals tonight. Don't tell our live audience that.
Who I'm sure our friend, our friends. We got a
lot of friends in Oklahoma City, So I'm not hating
on the thunder. But a lot of those guys are
at the game tonight, But a lot more people are

(56:40):
watching the show too. Michael in Greer, South Carolina, Hey,
what's the best weight room you've gotten to use on
your tours? Now this I could go for twenty minutes on,
but I won't. Immunity. My answer is not what you're
gonna think it is. So first, let me say there
are type weight rooms out there Georgia. I mean a

(57:05):
lot of the dude, I'm just telling you, these places
are like NASA when you go to some of the
big SEC and big ten places like Coach Sinclair down
at Georgia. They let us in there. Worked out at
Georgia several times day. Blew over to Alabama, work out
there every time we're there. Man, So Florida's really good, Tennessee.

(57:27):
Every time I go there, they'll let us work out there.
That's a really good weight room. A lot of these
are adjoined to the indoor, so if you want to
get like cardio in, you can do sets and then
go to the indoor.

Speaker 2 (57:37):
Penn State's awesome. Penn State.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
Man, you got to be careful up there. Penn State.
No pictures, no videos. You gotta watch yourself up there.
Ohio State, good weight room.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
Been in there.

Speaker 1 (57:50):
LSU worked out down there when we were there this
past year. None of them are bad. Texas yes, Oregon yes,
but you notice I'm knocking down a lot of them.
But I'm not telling you any of these are my favorites.
So I have not worked out at Michigan. I know
they got a good one, but I'm knocking a lot

(58:11):
of them down. At Arizona State. I love Arizona State
because of the staff out there too. Coach Connelly, you
watching this tonight. But my favorite weight room, I kid
you not that I have worked out in is West Virginia.
West Virginia does not have the biggest per like square

(58:31):
footage space in the country by any stretch of the imagination.
West Virginia's weight room if you can work out in there,
by yourself, Like I got to has more equipment than
any other program I've ever seen. They have got equipment
from all eras stacked in there. They got equipment, They
got machines I've never seen anywhere else. Now, a lot

(58:52):
of them. You need to be an offensive lineman to
fully take advantage of. But West Virginia when I went
up there a few months ago and I got to
work out there, ended up being my favorite weight room
I've ever worked out in.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
Now.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
I was not in there for team workouts. I would
imagine it gets very cramped in there for team workouts.
So that's not my problem though, because I got to
work out in there alone. So working out in there alone,
it was great. Man. I couldn't believe it. I could
not believe it. I love being on the road in
the spring because we get to be well, you get

(59:25):
one on one time with coaches and staffs and stuff.

Speaker 2 (59:28):
But you get to use the weight room.

Speaker 1 (59:30):
But also you could just go like you go run
stadium steps and there's nobody there.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
There's nobody in there.

Speaker 1 (59:37):
Just you're so used to those places being packed and
you're watching it on TV or you're there in person,
and it's deafening, But there's a little something to be
said about being there when you can just hear the
birds chirping in the spring, a little breeze blowing through
the concourse, you could hear it. It's like sitting on
your back porch in the late afternoon, except it's a
football stadium and hardly anyone gets that vantage point. We

(01:00:01):
get it. But yeah, West Virginia, of all places, West
Virginia's weight room has been my favorite out of all
the ones we've been to. Never would have seen it
coming in a million years. Now. What are the Mountaineers
odds to win the Big twelve? Not great, but if
you believe in them, you can you can go bet
that at FanDuel right now. Exclusive odds provider of the show.

(01:00:23):
After tonight's show, I've got some prop bet opportunities than
I want to throw fanduels a way. Yeah, they're Vanderbilt related.
It's personal. It is personal right now.

Speaker 2 (01:00:34):
But whether you're interested in that or not.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
There are a lot of teams we've talked about on
the show tonight, a lot of playoff contenders we've talked
about on the show tonight. But see, you could be
listening and you could say, I don't think that team's
even going to make the playoff. Your luck because you
can go to FanDuel right now and bet them to
miss the playoff. It's the most beautiful part of the
summer odds market that they offer over there. Anyone can

(01:01:00):
offer odds to make the playoff. Anyone can do that,
the odds to miss the playoff. It's just pure toxicity,
but it's in it's most beautiful form, and you can
do that over at FanDuel right now. Exclusive odds provider
of the show. We appreciate them so so much. Sign
up for FanDuel at FanDuel dot com backslash CFB promotion
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(01:01:23):
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(01:01:47):
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four to seven support in Massachusetts. Or call one eight

(01:02:08):
seven seven eight hope n why or text hop E
n Y in New York. Okay, let's get out of
here with bold predictions. Bold predictions. What do you believe
that you're willing to put your name behind? You'll let
me read these predictions on the show, and if it
goes wrong, you're willing to suffer the utter humiliation. Well,

(01:02:30):
let's check in in Athens, Georgia. Average Georgia fan predicts
that Georgia goes through the entire regular season they win
every home game, which would make them thirty nine straight
at home if they win all their home games this year.
Trivia Quick paper popper trivia question, what was Georgia's last

(01:02:51):
home loss? Quick trip logo. There in the background if
you're watching on YouTube, that would be South Carolina in
an overtime win against Georgia in twenty nineteen. That's the
they haven't lost a home game in the post COVID era,
so they've been pretty good.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:03:10):
The good news is they have Marshall, Austin, p and
Charlotte at home this year. The bad news, or the
less good news is they do also play Ole Miss
in Alabama and Texas, and you can put Kentucky wherever
you want. Georgia barely beat Kentucky last year, so let's
not overlook them. I think this is a nine. Georgie's
got a tough, tough home slate this year. It's a

(01:03:32):
great year to be a home season ticket holder at Georgia,
but I'm gonna make that one a nine. I think
the odds are far greater than not that they drop
at least one of those games. Next up, this one's
really bold. Thomas from Chicago said, Michigan and USC make
the playoff, Texas and Ohio State missed the playoff. So

(01:03:54):
just right off the bat, if you're betting Texas and
Ohio State to miss the playoff entirely, you're betting the
numbernumber one and number two odds teams in FanDuel's National
Title odds to just miss entirely. That's already really bold.
Texas is minus three hundred to make it. Ohio State's

(01:04:15):
minus three to twenty five to make it. Now on
the other side, you're saying Michigan and USC are gonna
make it. Michigan's plus two ten, USC is plus five
seventy to make the playoff. UH. Texas and Ohio State
do play each other in Week one, but Michigan and
USC play each other, so one of them is guaranteed

(01:04:35):
to lose that game. Obviously, Michigan also has to go
to OU in out of conference play. USC plays Notre
Dame on the road in out of conference play. You
cannot parlay these at FanDuel right now, but if you did,
our odds are roughly that a one hundred dollars bet
would return about twenty four grand. So that's a nine

(01:04:56):
point seventy five on the boldness scale. Next up, let's
head the Big Twelve, where I'm told we never go
on this show. By the way, shame on us, Big Twelve.
When's the last time we talked about them other than
every show? Jace says, TCU takes down Texas Tech in
the Big twelve championship game. So just to give you

(01:05:17):
an idea of how irrelevant odds are in the Big Twelve.
Arizona State was fifteenth in the preseason last year and
they won the thing. Having said that, I think that's
evidence of how unpredictable the Big Twelve is. Not only
are you picking the champ, you're picking the exact matchup.

Speaker 2 (01:05:34):
That's a nine point five to me.

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
Texas Tech has the second best odds to win this league.
TCU has the sixth best odds to win this league.
TCU also, we think plays the toughest strength of schedule
in the conference this year. So we're gonna make that
one a solid nine point five. And I'll tell you
another nine point five to wrap the show up here.

(01:05:56):
It's color coded too. These are always really really good
color coding. James says that five or more orange teams
make the college football Playoff. Now, there was heavy debate
James in the control room about whether Boise is an

(01:06:16):
orange team, and I say no. And there was debate
about whether Auburn is an orange team or Miami. I
say no. Auburn is a predominantly blue team. Miami's green,
Boise's blue. So no, I'm not counting those, but I
do count Texas and Clemson in Tennessee and Illinois and
Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Syracuse. Here's the problem. I don't

(01:06:41):
think five of them are going to make the playoff. Texas, Okay, Clemson,
but you quickly get into Tennessee.

Speaker 2 (01:06:48):
That's very iffy.

Speaker 1 (01:06:50):
Illinois a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure for
a program not used to it. I don't think five
of them are gonna make it. Syracuse got no shot
this year. They got quite the toughest schedule this side
of like the SEC. So I'm gonna put a nine.
It may even be a nine point seven five, I'm
gonna put let me give a nine point five.

Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
Let me give a nine.

Speaker 1 (01:07:09):
Point five on that one. Colors those color coded questions
can be really, really tricky. Plus you never know what
Mike Gundy's gonna do. All right, we appreciate you guys
so much. Good viewership tonight, NBA Finals, geopolitical chaos all
over the place, just humming merrily along.

Speaker 2 (01:07:26):
Hey, we're inside.

Speaker 1 (01:07:28):
We're inside ten weeks now until kickoff, not of some teams,
but of every team. So it's on the horizon. We're
just about there. I appreciate it so much. Let's have
a great solid start to the week for director Bradley,
producer Jesse. I'm Josh Bate. Take care. We'll see you
here Thursday night. Until then, God bless. Sign Up for

(01:08:00):
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