Ep. 1069: Previewing MSU football vs. Youngstown State, talkin' MSU hoops and AP poll hysteria

We opened with a conversation with Youngstown State football writer Neel Madhavan ahead of the Penguins' game at Michigan State (6:00). Then what's behind the AP poll hysteria (21:00) and what to make of MSU basketball's non-conference schedule (30:00). Plus, leftover listener takes on MSU football, the Lions and more (36:00).

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Full of.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
All love. Wow, Hello, oh oh oh.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
What do you get when you cross a know it
all newspaper columnist with an awkward, unsophisticated every man.

Speaker 4 (01:41):
Yeah, well, I'm just not sure about that right now.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Welcome Couch and the Room.

Speaker 5 (01:59):
Welcome to Couch in the Robe, our Wednesday afternoon show
presented by our friends at Front forty three neighborhood Pub
and Cask and Company Kitchen and Bar that is just
north of Frandor on East Saginaw and Lansing near the
Lance East Lansing border. Was just there yesterday. Just an
incredible vibe, incredible place. Great place to chill in the
middle of the afternoon, by the way, good happy hour spot.

(02:20):
Great obviously to watch a game and make a reservation
at Cask Andcompany dot com one of the great reservation systems.
They get busy on the weekends Thursday nights on. If
you want a date night, just go to caskin Coompany
dot com make a reservation and also, you know, type
in a request you want to booth, you want anything
like that, They've got it there for you. Front forty
three in caskin Company dot com. Jason, how you doing, brother,

(02:46):
that's the take. Really good pianist, that's crazy.

Speaker 6 (02:52):
What's up? I'm not I'm waiting for the best. I know,
I know. Sometimes you got a double click, triple click
to say anyway, what's up man? I'm good? How are
you all right? Yeah? Yeah, Tigers h raised my spirits
last night. I thought that was going to be a
bad one. It's nice to see another team fall apart. Absolutely,
it is really great to see the Yankees fall apart.
And absolutely, I just absolutely like that. Last night was

(03:13):
so fun because Nick Nick Deturo, Do you know who
that guy is? The actor was on like NYPD Blue. Yeah,
he's like a gigantic Yankees fan and whatever they are.
You know, I follow him so whenever they lose, and
it just happens to be, you know, the Tigers, So
I definitely want to check it out. He has full
video meltdowns. He was at like a Costco flipping his
ship about how bad the Yankees were.

Speaker 5 (03:34):
You know who else is on the n y PD
Blue My friend Sharon Lawrence. I've heard about that.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (03:39):
Yeah, So anyway, have you guys been texting lately? You know,
not not lately, but we'll get we'll get a bad
going here. She's I hear she's got a new Hallmark
movie coming out this year. So yeah, I know you
want to come on and promote it. I will ask,
because that would I wouldn't be able to. It would
be like having Ron Banks on. No, it would be
a just a gigantic kiss as fest. It would be hilarious,

(04:00):
would be it would be beyond anything with Brendan Quinn.

Speaker 6 (04:04):
No, it's it was.

Speaker 5 (04:05):
It was h It's just cathartic to watch the Yankees
fall apart and have it happening.

Speaker 6 (04:10):
It's a Tiger.

Speaker 5 (04:11):
It's a reminder that, like, I think it was a
needed reminder I think a lot of Tigers fans probably
felt this way that like, stuff just goes wrong sometimes
for really good teams, and that could happen in the
playoffs for the other you know, against to the other
team against the.

Speaker 6 (04:24):
Tigers, So who knows. Yeah, And then Scott Harris is
on a podcast with Jason Bennetti and Dan Dickerson telling
everybody they need to be paid. I know it's one
of my favorite words of all times. Not your favorite? Yeah, Like, Scott,
can we just not use the word patience? You're a
smart guy. What's the other word for patients. We have
what I think it's going to be a good show today.
Not hearing a lot of people previewing the Michigan State

(04:46):
Youngstown State game. We are going to do so with
somebody who covers Youngtown State football. You found someone absolutely
does a good job with it. Yeah. Yeah, Neil Modavan
and uh a tough one. I know.

Speaker 5 (04:59):
I put it's his name correctly. I asked for it phonetically,
so I just want to make sure I have it
correct And we're gonna talk with him momentarily.

Speaker 6 (05:06):
We are.

Speaker 5 (05:06):
We've got a couple other topics we want to get
into as well after that, and then we are going
to do leftover takes from Monday lest over listener takes
and get into those as well well.

Speaker 6 (05:17):
So don't worry, Jay Hawkins, we're getting deers. We're getting Yes,
it's your own segment today. We'll do that. We'll do that.

Speaker 5 (05:22):
We'll probably do Harry on Friday. We're hoping to do
Harry on Friday today didn't didn't work for him, and
so we're going to try and do that with the
with the Groovy Donut Twitter questions on Friday, Uh, do
you want to get our friend Neil on the phone
and we'll uh, we'll get to that while while he's
doing that. You know, I mentioned Front forty three and
Casking Company, But if you are looking for a place
to watch a game any weekend, I don't know that

(05:42):
they'll be open for the USC Michigan State game, which
starts at eleven pm local time, but any other game
they are there for you. Also a great place to
watch the Tigers, and I love their menu. It's a
modern Asian American menu like great sushi, great sushi bowls,
good burgers, flatbreads, all sorts of great stuff. They're good
beer selection, including non alcoholic beers. That's an ever increasing

(06:05):
option at a lot of places in Front forty three and
Casking Company is no different. So another reason to check
about Underrated Patio. Just a good vibe and a place
that I recommend to people when they're in town and
always feel good about recommending it. The other thing I
would say is the guy who runs the place top notch,

(06:26):
and he'll always take care of you. And if I
don't know, he's always taking care of us. And by
showing them appreciation, you're you're showing us that you like
the show. And We always appreciate that. All right, very
pleased now to have on Nea Motavan. Did I get
that correct, Neil?

Speaker 4 (06:42):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, pretty good chance.

Speaker 6 (06:46):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (06:46):
Excellent excellent sports reporter at the Tribune, Chronicle and Vindicator
covers Youngstown State football and want to get a sense
of this team from you exactly. You know, we hear
a little bit about Bo Brungard, the quarterback, and you know,
obviously he put up some big numbers, but it's well,

(07:07):
what I'm trying to get a sense of is what
this team is, what their identity is, and how you
see this matchup. Give me sort of a ten thousand
foot view of this particular Youngstown State team.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
So this team is coming off a pretty you know,
depressing year for what they would hope work, what they
were hoping for last year when they went for and
as especially on the defensive side of the ball, there
were teams that could was giving up just about anything
that anybody wanted, points wise and redwise. Defensively, last year,

(07:42):
I think they were near the bottom of the FDS,
if not dead last in the FDS and the yards
allowed for play, So.

Speaker 4 (07:49):
That was a big focus this.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
Offseason for them and through these first two couple of games,
we've seen how their last defenses kind of been one
of the focal points of that unit, and they've been
able to kind of take away thosing teams' run game,
uh and kind of forced them to become one dimensional
in the past game. And obviously, uh, you know, they

(08:12):
made an offensive coordinator change on that side of the
ball this off season as well, brought in Mike Yosich,
a guy who a name that might resonate with some
of your listeners because of his past time at both
Penn State and Ohio State.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
But that was a kind of a splash.

Speaker 1 (08:30):
Hire for the for the Penguins. I mean, you don't
necessarily see a big name FPS coordinators kind of going
down to the FPS level, and you know, that was
something that this team is excited about in the off season,
especially that they wanted to be more what they called
multiple in their run game, which is why they brought
in Utice. And obviously, judging by bonnard success these first

(08:54):
couple of games with his legs, that's something that has
you know, had some success the first couple of games.
So obviously his stats, his numbers are the things that
jump out the biggest for this team, and that's going
to be the case for anybody. And a defense like
Michigan's story, the program like Michigan State, but a team,
you know, with the front seven that they have, I mean,

(09:16):
obviously their number one task is going to be to
try to slow down his legs and make him his
one dimensional as possible, try to make him have to
beat them in the air, which is something that this
team struggled a lot with last year when teams were
able to successfully take away to run and forced him
to have to throw the ball. One of the things

(09:36):
that they struggled with last year was having a true
deep down to your threat that was almost non existent
last year and it forced everything to be almost underneath
and in the intermediate routes. They've wrapped in guys in
that they hoped to provide that deep threat. We haven't
necessarily seen them go to it very much so his
first couple of games, I haven't really needed to because

(09:57):
of their success.

Speaker 4 (09:58):
On the ground.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
So good to see on Saturday. If Michigan State is
able to successfully take away wise these run games, whether
or not they're able to move the ball down field
through the air, I think that could be you know,
a total chin as to how far this team is
Timon could end up playing the role and how this
the outcome of this game unfolds.

Speaker 6 (10:21):
Yeah, I mean sort of.

Speaker 5 (10:21):
My My history of these sort of matchups is if
they're going to be competitive, it takes some dynamic plays
in the passing team, right, because you don't often win
at the line of scrimmage. Is quite as much the
the mercy Hurst score, Like, you know, you see the
initial score early in you know, over Robert Morris, and
you know, Robert Morris is a program in a rough

(10:43):
spot right now, so that's that's sort of expected. Was
the Mercy Hert score alarming at all? Like what's the vibe?
Like I remember in the off season going through some
Youngstown state message boards because that's what I like to
do in my off seasons, and and just like it
seemed like people were pretty down at the best, They
were cautious in their predictions for this year. And I'm

(11:04):
just wondering, what was the mercy Hurst game? Did that
trigger any of that.

Speaker 4 (11:09):
From the fan base.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
You could probably see some of that ees just by
you know, obviously they expected to win that game by
a more significant margins, being that you know this is
Mercy Hearst second year on the Division one on the
FDS level, But if you look that that you could
obviously make that argument on paper. But the thing about

(11:32):
Mercy Hurst is how offensively they are very, very talented
in the past game and that was something while if
you completely pick away their run games and made them
pretty much throw the ball the entire game.

Speaker 4 (11:46):
Uh. And you know, obviously when a team with a talented.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
Senior veteran quarterbacks who you know were the preseason conference
offensive player of the year, you can, you know, things
open up them and you know, the game gets closer
than it needs to be. But a lot of that
had to do with the fact that, you know, after
the offense had success in the first half, they just

(12:10):
weren't able to move the ball with the same success
in the second half. Now, there was probably a multitude
of reasons for that. A lot of them had to
do with some of the penalties that they had. They
were putting themselves behind the scenes and they weren't.

Speaker 4 (12:23):
Able to kind of catch after that.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
So that have played a ball and the offense not
being able to sustain drives and add to its point total,
which allowed murcy Hurst to score some touchdowns in that
second half to kind of claw back and close that
deficit a little bit with their passing attack.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
But you could also chalk it up to, you know, first.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Game of the season. You know, teams you don't necessarily
know exactly what you have coming because mostly hearts for
the team that had a lot of turnover this offseason
roster wise, I think maybe fifty or sixty new players
on that team from Division two level, even some from
the FDS and FBS level transferring to most of the

(13:03):
hearst as well.

Speaker 4 (13:04):
So you know the combination of factors.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
But yeah, i'd say on paper, that was probably not
the results that they were hoping for in the opening week.
But I think they kind of you know, fixed a
Suedede Summers though fan bases concerns last week against Robert Morris.
But honestly, if I were to take Mercy Hurst and
Robert Morris right now head to head, I'd say Mostyhurst
probably wins that pretty handily. So just between those two teams,

(13:31):
you know, that's obviously uh, you know, those I believe
those two teams the conference team's results, so they might
playloaded this year, But yeah, I do kind of agree
with what you're saying, but you know that first game,
obviously at multitude of packers went into went.

Speaker 5 (13:45):
Into affect their what does success look like for Youngstown
State this week? Like what what would make them fee
And obviously you know obviously the dream upsets there. But
but ultimately, and you know, having covered the other side
of these sort of games too, you know it payday.
Everybody's doing. Everybody understands why it's happening. What what does

(14:06):
what would a successful Saturday be for Youngstown State this week?
What does the score look like? What does the game
look like?

Speaker 1 (14:13):
So obviously you want to come out of this week healthy,
that's first and foremost. This is a team that thinks
they have a chance to get back to the FDS
playoffs this year. What that would look like recordwise at
the end of the year could be anything from seven
to five to eight and four or you know better

(14:34):
more than likely. So obviously getting out of this game
healthy is the first ting. But uh, you know this
is the this is why of two first through road
games of the season, both of their first two games
gravity at home, and you know, playing on the road
in the conference in the FDS, the toughest FCS conference,

(14:55):
the majority value football conference. They have to make some
long road trips doing in the conference season, and so
this is kind of a you know, dressful whosal for that,
so to speak, going into a hostile environment, kind of
getting used to that experience and getting used to that
kind of environment playing on the road.

Speaker 4 (15:15):
And you know, they also want to.

Speaker 1 (15:16):
Just continue to kind of work on the things they've
been working on these first couple of weeks, continue to
do what they want to do with the front seven,
try to limit the running game as much as possible.
But also I would imagine they probably want to also
try to open up the offensive playbook a little bit,
maybe do some of the things that they didn't have
to do necessarily in the first two weeks. Offensively, you

(15:36):
might see Youngstown States try to open things up a
little bit offensively in the playbook, see what works, see
what doesn't.

Speaker 4 (15:43):
But also I.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
Could also see them maybe hold back a little bit
offensively because they don't necessarily want to put on film,
you know, some of those things that you know, these
conference proponents will get a chance to look at on
film for later in the season. So a couple of.

Speaker 4 (15:59):
Things and not guard but I mean, ultimately, this is.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
A team that wants to try to continue to grow
and improve, you know, on a week two week faces.

Speaker 5 (16:08):
Neil, I appreciate it, man. I've appreciated your coverage of this,
and uh, thanks for giving us a snapshot of of
what Michigan State is facing this weekend.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
You got no problem, guys.

Speaker 4 (16:19):
I appreciate your time.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 5 (16:22):
That is, uh, Neil Modovin, try it confidently? Should I
do it again? Do it confidently?

Speaker 6 (16:29):
It sucks.

Speaker 5 (16:30):
I wrote it out phonetically, and I should be better
at this. I mean, it's it's just I need.

Speaker 6 (16:34):
To say it with confidence, to say. It's like me
talking to a girl in middle school. You're not gonna
get it wrong, dude, say Neil, that was the best. Yes,
that's exactly what it was. Tribune, Chronicle and Vindicator. By
the way, did he say that Youngstown State's gonna withhold
some plays against State? It sounds is that what he was.
I mean, I couldn't get beyond that in Mercy Hurst
to break down.

Speaker 5 (16:54):
But what I thought was interesting about what he said
there is it tells you what these games are like.
They are there understanding for both sides. What you're trying
to get out of this. One team is paying for
a win, right the other team is coming to play
for a payday, and neither team views the game as
something that is Neither team wants an injury in this week,

(17:16):
neither team wants to show too much. It's why I
don't think these games should be played anymore, right, I
really don't, because it used to be, and to mention,
it's always been this way, though now it used to
be a little different because you didn't before the transfer
portal and the one time transfer rule and now the
ability to transfer as many times as you want. The
only way for a lot of players to do that

(17:37):
was to go down a level, so you would get
guys who did not want to sit out. You would
get more pros at that level. You still get pros
at that level, but what I mean is you would
get guys who were pros talent wise already trans who
were in a bad situation, got booted out of school,
whatever I mean. It's how Randy Moss winds up at Marshall.
They moved to the MAC right at the end of that,
but that was a one double, a school that allowed

(17:57):
him not to sit out right, That's that's what used
to happen. And Brandon Jacobs, who is the running back
for the Giants forever transferred to SIU. There used to
be a lot of that sort of stuff that you
don't get anymore because those guys can just transfer to
another another FBS program now, so that that's changed. And
then you have the scholarship difference, and then you have
the fact that one school has not only got twenty

(18:19):
two more scholarships sometimes more now, but they're also now
paying their roster fifteen million dollars and the other school
is not, like so the gap is even widening. And
I just don't think it's it's it doesn't make sense.
It doesn't make sense for Michigan State. It may make
sense make sense financially for Youngstown State. And if the
you know, ecosystem of college football to exist for some

(18:41):
of these programs requires these matchups to some degree, then fine.
I just think you could get away from the ones
that were FCS level.

Speaker 6 (18:48):
And how about Robert Morris, I mean, should we get
money on West Liberty this week? Well, they're saying that.

Speaker 5 (18:53):
Robert Morris is the school that's going down to D
three right after this year, so I think they're sort
of in a transition out of relevant. You can also
argue why these games are being played West Liberty at
Robert Morris Saturday at six.

Speaker 6 (19:07):
Let's go road trip. We need a bookie to book
our bets for us. Let's do it the if Mercy
Hurst could hammer them anyway. Yeah, so what did we learn?
Weschigan State's going to cover this spread? Easy? We don't
know the spread is yet because that comes out late
in the week. Right is forty? I don't know.

Speaker 5 (19:28):
The danger for I would tell people is the lines
usually come out late for these games against FCS opponents.
The danger, I would tell somebody into the line will
be probably around there.

Speaker 6 (19:35):
Why is that though? Are they waiting for injury updates?
I mean, we know Youngstown is just not the same level.
Some places don't even offer these lines, like some books won't.
You know, it's just because you're not playing the same
It's a hard thing for Vegas to negotiate. They don't
know a lot about the FCS teams.

Speaker 5 (19:49):
They don't know. It's just a hard thing for them
to negotiate. Well, yeah, no, I'm so bad. I'm with you.
I mean, I got all sorts of tennis in Asia
that I can bet at three in the morning. I
don't understand why they can't get this line out.

Speaker 6 (19:59):
But total bases bet that I needed yesterday and walks
don't count, of course i'd winzel Perez.

Speaker 5 (20:05):
It's just stupid. Yeah, no sports book's whining. But the
one thing I would be a little careful about. And
Michigan State's subs should be good too, a relative to
to relative to Youngstown State. But you probably will see
some subs, so you're not gonna you know, you don't
get Aiden Chiles maybe in the fourth quarter of this
sort of game. And I think that's good for a

(20:25):
guy like Alessio, the backup who's only experiences so far
like pick sixes, you know, so he needs to get
him some reps. He needs a game where it just
feels a little bit better.

Speaker 6 (20:35):
What if he throws a pick six against Youngstown when
that's his only pass g and you have to just
walk off the field like that's it, right, Like you
just go, I guess this is not for me. I'm
gonna play baseball, do something anything. Yeah, yeah, I.

Speaker 5 (20:47):
Mean three pick six is in a row out of
three passes. I think you make sure that passes not
a pick six. Even if you throw Marsh, throw it up.

Speaker 6 (20:54):
Check leave Marsh in the game when comes.

Speaker 5 (20:59):
Make sure this, Make sure this goes. Make sure this goes,
uh goes well. Another story that I wanted to get
to UH and the College Football Front is yesterday there
was a little bit of AP poll hysteria. Oh yeah,
a beat writer I think covers USC or maybe a

(21:22):
South Carolina.

Speaker 6 (21:23):
Haley Hailey Sawyer. Yeah, but what does she uh? She
but she anyway, she she didn't. I get it. It's
what does she do? Uh USC sports for so called
news group.

Speaker 5 (21:36):
Yeah, that's right, that's right. And and anyway, there are
a lot of new AP voters this year because my
company getting.

Speaker 6 (21:42):
That picture of herself holding a football.

Speaker 5 (21:44):
By the way, Avatar, our company no longer allows us
to do the poll because we don't we don't subscribe
to AP anymore as a service.

Speaker 6 (21:51):
So I'm smart. So anyway, there are a lot of
new voters all at once. Number one, they got fooled
by the Howard Stern thing, the prank the other day
firing out. I was like, apeek, come out anyway.

Speaker 5 (22:03):
But that's I mean, so that doesn't help but what
ultimately is what we've talked about this as a as
a problem for a long time, is it you know,
writers like myself, beat writers were covering one game for
twelve hours on a Saturday, don't don't have a good
sense of the game. Most listeners here to our show.
You certainly have a better feel for college football overall

(22:26):
than I do, because I just don't see as much
on Saturday. Now, it doesn't mean you can't work Sunday,
And if you're going to do the poll right, it
should take It should take you four to six hours
because you have to look at every resume that's in
the top twenty five and some that are outside it
and re evaluate the entire resume every week if you're
doing it right, and a lot of people don't do
it right, but then they're making a joke of it anyway.
That's why her response, Hailey's response to it was not

(22:48):
great because she sort of dismissed it, and I think
she was just trying to like get out of a
sticky situation and she played it poorly. But she was
trying to say, oh, it's not that big a deal there,
you know, it's kind of fun to study yeah, right,
And that's not what she's right though. But the Josh
Pates and the Danny Canell's of the world who are
passionate about this stuff, they do not like that, and
nor do the fan bases and and so. And that's

(23:10):
what what Danny Canel has to know is if you
were to put together uh and like I think it
should be people like gabbling, it should be you know,
people who are have time to watch Warren Doug Good.

Speaker 6 (23:22):
Warren was the guy that should be on that committee.
That guy is you want was a diary. You want
divorced people. You want people have saturdays off, people without hobbies? Right,
how many loved ones do you have? Can he count
it on one hand?

Speaker 5 (23:33):
Because you to do this right, but you can find
people really wanted to do this and do it well
and take it seriously. And and to what degree the
a people matters is debatable. Now there is the point
that people are saying that it does feed the perception
that leads to the initial polls by the College Football
Playoff Committee, and so there is some import I guess
to that.

Speaker 6 (23:51):
Your Josh Pate interaction was one for the ages, though
I love how you started because he tweeted out something
like a video, a two minute video about this. Yeah,
and then Couch is like, love your stuff. This is
a bad take like way to start it, Like, how
could you get into someone's good great like, no matter
what you're even if you made a great point, if
you're Josh paid which I don't know who Josh like,

(24:11):
I know who he is, but I mean, you know
he wears those tight shirts. Is he a tool? I
don't know, but it's funny, just like Graham has to
start it off with I love your love your stuff.
But I do like his stuff, I know, But I mean, you,
why don't you just say your point? You don't really
need to fire that off first, so I then he goes,
you couldn't possibly be more wrong. That's what Josh Pate
replied with. And then I told him why he was wrong,

(24:32):
and I replied again, I guess we'll just disagree. Well,
and I got into it the worst point ever, Yeah,
I guess we're just gonna have to agree, and he
he Because what I like Josh Payte's story too. He
was like a guy who was not in the business
and sort of self made, and I liked that, and
I think he largely has God how did he make
it with all of these apps and YouTube? What a grinder?

Speaker 5 (24:53):
He largely has good, good opinions and interesting opinions, and
he does He's smooth on air, and everything's done well
from something. Yeah, so I you know, no issue with them.
But one of the things that I've always sense from
him a little bit, and it just it's undertone, right,
is there's a little bit of a guy like him
who resents the gatekeepers in the business, right they there's

(25:15):
a resentment towards the old guard a little bit, and
even in sports writing because one of the things he said,
he didn't really say that, the tone I got was
that he was also saying that, like, sports writers do
this because you know, as a gateway to get in
the news and politics, and like, I mean a couple
of things. One, it is harder to get into sports,

(25:37):
or was for a long time than news. Right, That's
just the way it is. In two thousand and two,
to get a job in Freeport, Illinois, making ten dollars
an hour, there were one hundred and thirty applications for
the three open sports trading jobs. There were a couple
of people left in row twenty were interviewed three of us,
got it. I'm not saying we're brilliant, and I'm not
saying all one hundred and thirty those people are serious applicants.
But I do know that when the news job was

(25:59):
open there they were like seven applications, right, And this
is a different era, but it's just it was.

Speaker 6 (26:04):
It's always been. It was a competitive thing to get into.
So and then some of the best and news was
easier to get into though it was especially if you're
like a local TV angle, right, like a sports guy.
There was only three of them and you got a
certain amount of time, correct, I mean, there's so many different.

Speaker 5 (26:18):
Stories people want to be in sports right initially, and
I do think that the industry has changed to some degree,
and so I'm not saying it hasn't, but a lot
of the people who got into the business, you know,
back when it was really hard to get into it.

Speaker 6 (26:30):
Like yourself, yep, twenty years vet, I saw you drop that. Yeah, Well,
what you used to do is you worked in a
place like Freeport for a couple of years. You hope
to get a college beat, you hope to move up
and if you wanted to cover maybe a probat maybe
your mid thirties you cover the Red Sox or something
like that. That stuff now happens a lot earlier for
people you see mid twenties pro beats and so it
has changed to some degree. But a lot of the

(26:50):
people got into the business are still in the business.
And a lot of the best reporters I know who
are sports reporters would be great at covering politics, religion, anything,
and they'd be better at it than I mean, they're
more equipped to it because there are a lot of
skills you have to learn and covering sports in terms
of deadlines and variety of topics you have to deal with.
I'm not saying there aren't some some duds. We all
know that there are some old well I'm just talking

(27:12):
to mon sophisticated, old school sports guys who you know,
do what they do. There's the there's the stereotypical sports guy,
like the the guy who's you know, the old guy
on the show of the paper right now that's running
on Peacock. You like that show? I do. Every time
we see that, I'm like, I got to ask Couch,
I do I do?

Speaker 5 (27:28):
Because I was worried it was going to try and
capture too much of the romantic side of a newsroom
and get things wrong. There's romance, and so that's where
I met my wife, but uh, and everybody have ever dated.

Speaker 6 (27:38):
But the uh, it's also uh yeah, it's it's it
is real to some degree. It's it's a chricature of
a situation, but how far things have fallen is not.
And what newsrooms look like and what they can be
next to a toilet paper company or whatever is very real.
So I don't, I don't hate it, but I did
so I did. I just think Josh comes from an

(28:00):
area where he resents the old guard. But my feeling
about the old guard is always, like, you know, it's
not gatekeeping. As much as people work really hard at
a time, it was hard to get into the business
to get certain jobs, and they shouldn't be mocked for
that either. But some of you guys need to adapt though,
as I agree with you. Also a lot of these

(28:21):
guys never adapt and just become old.

Speaker 5 (28:23):
You have to a miserable but most of us. Dude,
Joe Rexro the guy who's going you know, six AM
radio show working for The Athletic covering college football. He
was a columnist for a while he's done, he's adapted.
He's a really talented guy. Right, That's a guy who
is fifty years old, who's been in this business thirty years.
And there are a lot of guys who who adapted. Anyway,
I just I think the you you wouldn't hire if

(28:45):
you were to do the AP pole, you wouldn't bring
in a lot of the people are complaining about it. Anyway,
I do think there's a better way to do it.
I do think she handled it poorly. But the biggest
thing is this is on the AP, Like, if you
have beat writers do it, it's on you. You're making
a mockery the whole thing. And people should not take
it seriously because, let me just tell you, they don't
have time to do it. There's like nobody less qualified. Well,

(29:06):
I'm nobody. My mother would screw this up, but there is.
But she would try and she put the time in
and she's got the time. But there's nobody less qualified
really who would be considered than a beat writer. And
the fact that the AP continues to have beat writers
do football. Basketball is a little different because there are
more days a week of games, but.

Speaker 6 (29:26):
Is absolutely when you reply to somebody and you see
that they don't have an avatar. You just I saw
that you reply to some dude named Russell and he
doesn't even have an avatar. I don't, you know, I
even reply to someone like I see that that right,
people are that serious. If people are respectful, I usually
try to reply sometimes it's fair. Yeah, it's just the
right way to do it. Yeah, if you if you
come at me like blocked, yeah, I don't do. I

(29:49):
don't block. I have like two or three people block total.
That's it. I don't and I don't even know for
sure who they are. Pretty much mute muting is like
a block, just they can't see it, right, right, you
have some people muted. There is a there's a three
people blocked seventy four hundred muted. Well, yeah there is.

Speaker 5 (30:06):
There are some Michigan fans that come at you, and
some of it's been my fault because I go at
them and then I'm like, all right enough for this
mute mute. But so there are a few a few
of those out there. The other story to get into
before we get into the leftover, listener takes Michigan State's
non conference basketball schedule came out Tuesday and.

Speaker 6 (30:25):
Back to the white elephant in the room. They don't
want to deal with the white elephant in the room.

Speaker 5 (30:30):
I feel good for MSU fans and that it's been
a while since they've had a home schedule quite this
good to have Arkansas, which should be a top twenty
five team at home, to have Duke at home, like
true home games, not neutral site games, and then even
the non marquee games to get you know, a rivalry
with Detroit that used to be a staple of the
schedule until the mid nineties, until Detroit started beating his

(30:53):
though every year and Perry Watson was there, and he
didn't like Perry Watson because Perry Watson to recruit of
the Fab five, and he thought he had cheated to
do so, and so that whole thing went away for
a long time. Now Mark Montgomery's the head coach at Detroit,
that rivalry is back on. I think that can be
something like Oakland right, a fun little secondary rivalry. Those
in state things. Detroit should be a game Michigan State
plays regularly. Love that love Toledo Regional game. Love San

(31:15):
Jose State. Our friend Tim Miles is the head coach
of San Jose State. He comes in a great quote,
it'll be a fun matchup, Like there's a bunch of
that stuff. It's a great schedule. They don't have a
true road game, which you know my feelings on that.
But the Big Ten since like twenty eighteen is sort
of taken care of that by playing two conference games
in early December, including one on the road. So they'll

(31:38):
play a conference game on the road in December. So
when you put it in the aggregate, they'll play six
high major teams in November and December, and they'll play
a true road game, and they'll play, you know, three
blue bloods. And I mean to have North Carolina also
on the schedule, and to have whom I'm missing to

(31:58):
do North Carolina, Arkansas.

Speaker 6 (32:01):
And it's the American way, except America has gotten soft.

Speaker 5 (32:05):
Oh far knockers, who's the other? Give me one second, Jesus,
this is ridiculous.

Speaker 6 (32:17):
I am in the pass. I mean I felt all
of fred humans ride through the sit.

Speaker 5 (32:27):
Oh yeah, Kentucky Champions Classic, Kentucky Champions Classic. Sorry put
that in front of me. I thought I just had
the whole thing memorized. Sorry, apologized for that. Kentucky and
the Champions Classic, which is a little later, you get
the Yukon game on the road and an exhibition. They'll
return that next year, and people really enjoyed that a
year ago when a few years ago and Tennessee played
one of those Bowling Green with Tom tum Nairn and

(32:48):
Todd Simon coming in. I just don't think you could
have a more enjoyable, challenging, telling schedule for a team,
Like you're gonna find out real quick if this team
is is legit. And the other thing is it's also
spread out enough that there will be some growth. Like
there's a month between the Arkansas game and the Duke game.
Right who they are on that second game of the year,

(33:11):
and they will have played Yukon in an exhibition, But
who they are when they play Arkansas November eight it
may not be who they grow into by the time
Duke visits on December sixth. There will be multiple chances
for you know, resume wins and big games, and those
are also there are also games on there's some games
on here. If you lose, they're not going to kill you.
I'm not going to kill you. Obviously, losing the Kentucky
in the neutral court, the North Carolina neutral court don

(33:32):
in for Myers so great schedule. I just I love
what they put together there, and obviously I would love
if they had some mid major true road game, you know,
I feel about that, But that's not likely to happen,
and I think people should be be pretty excited about it.

Speaker 6 (33:49):
Should we take a break and then come back and
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Couching the Roub.

Speaker 5 (36:38):
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That's near the Lansing East Lansing border. And if you're
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Go to cast Company dot com to make a reservation.
All right, We did not get to all of your
listener takes on Monday, and so I know we always
promise to do that and then usually don't come through.
So today we wanted to come through for once. You're
welcome and we are going to to dig in. And
I think there's some good discussions still to have on

(37:19):
MSU football and the Lions and elsewhere.

Speaker 6 (37:23):
So Jason Captain Sparti first last week, I said our
MSU fan base is soft, and Couch responded by telling
me not to criticize Michigan. That's being soft. Our media
is the reason we are soft. Michigan State is making
the playoff. I'm not talking about Michigan.

Speaker 5 (37:41):
I don't think the media told them not to criticize Michigan.
I don't even remember it, did I I mean, I
don't remember that Welcome to the blue Wall. I don't
think I said it. Certainly wasn't phrase like that. I
wouldn't tell you not to do something. Well not, I
don't think so, Yeah, I don't.

Speaker 6 (37:59):
I don't think.

Speaker 5 (38:00):
What would it take for you to start to think
Michigan State could be a playoff team?

Speaker 6 (38:05):
Uh? They gotta win ten games probably to be a
playoff easily. You mean like the next couple of games? Yeah?
Like yeah, what would it would I mean, I don't know.
Some a pass rush would be one. Yeah. I would
need to see a sack of a quarterback, an opponent
opponent's quarterback to make me ever believe that we're going
to be a playoff team. Is it possible to playoff?

(38:26):
You could make the playoffs without having one sack all season?

Speaker 5 (38:30):
Well, they had sacked. They had sax against Western Michigan. Okay,
but again against a high major opponent.

Speaker 6 (38:38):
Yeah, yeah, I don't think so. I don't think I
did ye cheap against BC No, no, no, yeah no,
But I mean like more of the eight child's, like
the scrambling, not turning over the ball, showing plays that
you know, yeah, but more it's more of the d which,
by the way, the d did look decent the second half.

Speaker 5 (38:56):
So when I think they probably have to go win
a game like at USC and look good doing it
the way they look good, you know, because you.

Speaker 6 (39:03):
Think, I mean, look at the Tigers. I mean they
got one of the better records in Major League Baseball.
They beat the Yankees and Yankee Stadium last night, and
I still don't believe that they can do anything in
the playoffs. Well that's all with Michigan State. I'm just
I don't see it yet out right now, because you
remember in twenty twenty one, nobody saw it until even
though the Northwestern game in the run by Walker was
invigorating for people, it was what that Miami game where

(39:25):
they were just the better team in the fourth quarter
and you know, as e Mel Tucker said, dragged him
into the deep water or whatever.

Speaker 4 (39:31):
I don't we don't have enough time for all of that.

Speaker 6 (39:33):
That was.

Speaker 5 (39:34):
That was a moment where you went, huh, that's different,
you know, like they need that moment. They need Beating
Boston College is incredibly important. It's a vibe changer. It's
a game that could have gone either way. Boston College
might or not might not be really good. I think
their quarterback is pretty good. But ultimately that's not a game.
It's a game. You go, boy, they needed that. That's

(39:54):
a big program win. That showed some things. But in
terms of showing that next gear, that's surprise using season
gear where you're not just you know, thinking seven and
five is probably more realistic, and you're gonna be in
a lot of games and you're gonna win, someone lose
some They're gonna have to go somewhere and impress and
do something you really don't expect.

Speaker 6 (40:11):
And then we need some Jonathan Smith like swag level.
I mean, like after the BC game, this is an
absolutely fucking ball game. You know, it's like, dude, I
don't I don't think he's gonna have way No, you
can't eat swag. I don't think he's gonna don't yeah,
tack his hat to the side after a win or something.
I don't know. It's a really good ball game. Well fought.
You know, that's I get it. You sounds like, uh Jimmy,

(40:34):
uh what's his name from? Uh Jimmy Conner. So wonderful life.
I got a reference from this decade at all? Or no,
we do only I know what you're talking about. But
hold on, hold on, hold on, Jimmy U J. J.
Wager On, Uh, hold on. I know I'm really trying

(40:56):
to actually help you on this one. I can't, you know,
guy Jimmy Stewart.

Speaker 5 (41:03):
Jimmy Stewart, Yeah, yeah, he's great in Anatomy of a
Murder too. By the way, which is it filmed in
Marquette nineteen fifty nine? They probably need a new movie
in Marquet because they're still giving tours.

Speaker 6 (41:12):
What a year fifty nine? Ye, fifty nine, great, great year,
mister Benjen Greetings from Turin.

Speaker 5 (41:18):
Man's where's turn? Well, there's an Olympics in Turn. I'm
not sure where what country is, but I know there
was a special Olympics or winter like a winterline. Oh uh.

Speaker 6 (41:28):
Number one MSU had a lot of unforced errors, but
showed a massive amount of resilience. The d for the
most part, looks great up front in the middle, but man,
are they missing speed on the edges? And two that
porno entrance music is sadly really catchy. Thanks for the earwork,
you know, I just wanted to get you in the mood.
It has a copyright on it too. That's the best

(41:48):
Perdon He wrote this ship got it struck on YouTube.
Good oh man. Yeah, I know. Look the the speed
on the edges that we just talked about that it's
it's it's gonna be a big Like. The problem with
this weekend too, is that I don't think whatever they
do against Youngstown State like they need to sack the quarterback.

(42:11):
They need to look good there. But you can't trust
anything there. It's a different level. It's just it's gonna
look it should look good. And so that's one of
those things you want to you want to start to
look like a team that could really do something beyond expectations.
You gotta win the USC and Nebraska or USC or Nebraska,
and you gotta get the quarter You gotta do things
we're not seeing. Jordan Villa Reale next number one. The

(42:32):
last time Spartan Stadium was that electric was beating Scum
in twenty twenty one. Great showing by the student section
for staying late and too. This win prove that coach
Smith is what the Spartans need with incremental consistent improvement. Well,
it was a good win to get the fans on board.
I saw Doctor Jamo today. He came in, he goes,

(42:53):
I actually stayed for the whole game. Yeah, like the
people are into it, and he was so excited that
he stayed a little time. Does he usually not? I
guess I don't know. I just figured I'm like, why
would you leave?

Speaker 4 (43:03):
Though?

Speaker 5 (43:03):
You know Doc anyway, Yeah, my mother usually stays, which
is amazing, Like every once in a while should be like,
we just couldn't do it, you know. And I feel
especially these last couple of years and they were just
getting battered. How's mo I'm gonna do with usc though
he's not going to see that, shook it up and
watch the next day. A lot of people I've seen
are going to do that. A lot of people. I
can't do that. I'm not somebody, even if I'm obviously
not state, not a Michigan State Lion something like that. Yeah,

(43:25):
I can't do it obviously for work. But I couldn't
do it even if like if I have an agree, Hey,
bosst just one in the morning.

Speaker 6 (43:32):
When I do the quick takes when I get up
at six and just watch them through if you don't
mind what voice is that You've never sounded like that.

Speaker 5 (43:38):
That's my old school newspaper guy from the Yeah the newsboys.

Speaker 6 (43:44):
Yeah, I don't buy that rag across the street? Yeah
buy ours? Are we done with? I want to say
Daniel Patterson. MSU didn't control the line of scrimmage and
the past d was full of holes, but loud home
fans boosted MSU's grit all game to win. Spartan fans
get the w MSU will go seven and five. The
uppity Lions were unprepared, slow and weak. Why are they uppity?

(44:07):
We are your uppity, slow and weak golf laid down
to eat more grass than my dog. What's your dog
eating gras? What is happening playing Dan Campbell? Lions will
go nine to eight. There's a big, weird dog eats grass.
Though we haven't talked since the Chicago game. Vikings game,
did you leave? Like at one point in that game,
I was like, God, these are two awful teams quarterback

(44:29):
wise in the division. The Packers lines be way ahead
of them, so you don't worry about anything. Then JJ
McCarthy looked like a guy I found himself a little bit.
And the offensive line's pretty good. The Bears, though, I man,
I don't. I just don't see it offensively with them.
The did you leave that game after seeing the Bears
feeling pretty confident about the Lions this week or no, Honestly,

(44:50):
it didn't have anything to do with that game. I
just know what the Lions have to do and what
they do when they lose a game, they bounce back,
and I just didn't know. I didn't honestly, the Bears
could have won that game have felt the same way
going into Sunday is like, you know, with a short
week for the Bears. But yeah, I mean, obviously obviously
with J J McCarthy. You got to give that Kig
credit though, because that first half on Twitter, people were

(45:12):
shipped out of I mean, and rightfully so, because that's
what everybody has to do. But to come back and
have the confidence. I mean, the kid is a definite gamer.

Speaker 5 (45:18):
So what I would remind people My my favorite things
about times like that is your tweets sometimes live, some
people delete them, but and like you can look really dumb,
like an hour later, like don't say things that are
in fact. You can say somebody looks bad right now,
right but to say somebody sucks, looks really stupid, Like
an hour later, like you make this, you know, definidh.

Speaker 6 (45:37):
I don't think that you need to go back and
de lead it, because if you're someone that's firing shit
like that off, I mean, people really come into you
for your kind of takes. I get what you're saying.
It did look dire when you were watching him in
the first half.

Speaker 5 (45:48):
I do know that last touchdown costs me an in
game under bet because I was, like I was saying,
at one point, I was like, these two quarterbacks are awful.
Thirty eight and a half under boom. Yeah, and then
it did not did not hold.

Speaker 6 (45:57):
The brutal Skyler for hot take. A lot of people
assumed Hutch was one of, if not the best, defensive
end because of his start last year. Most of those
stats he racked up were against backup tackles, though at
a minimum, Hutch is a good pass rusher, but he
might not be a top five game wrecking type guy.
The Lions fans are hoping for.

Speaker 5 (46:18):
First game back off an injury.

Speaker 6 (46:21):
He's got a steal rod in his leg, and yeah
he was I mean the pressures too he was getting
last year. While I get it, they were inflated, and
you know, Veleni goes over over and over again about
they were against backup tackles and shit. But he's still
I don't know. He's a guy that can definitely get
to the quarterback, but you got to give him some
sort of help, right, Could Miles Garrett do it? Okay?
But is Hutch Miles Garrett? I don't think so. I

(46:44):
don't think so. That's okay too. But I mean that
that's sort of the Lions problem, not giving up on
Hutch yet.

Speaker 5 (46:50):
No, no, no, I think he's a really good player.
He just may not be elite elite, like he might
not be a Bosa, you know, in the prime. But
the the thing that's a little scary about the Lions
is if you have too many guys who are like,
it's okay, they're just good. Jared Goff, it's okay, they're
just good. Your top pass rusher, it's okay, they're just good.
And so if you're if you're if your top pass
rusher and your only real pass rusher and your quarterback

(47:11):
are just good and not elite, you know what I mean,
like everything around you has to be elite. It's like
it's like branch is elite. His position to me, like,
he's an elite player easily. Yeah, and and they have
you know, and and uh Sam Brown is I don't
he's elite at what he does.

Speaker 6 (47:28):
He's elite. Yeah, he's elite. He's elite. And so I
think the past. The receivers is a core in the
tight ends, the pass catching group is elite, and the
running that offensive line, man, you can't trust it. It
looks so bad. How did you How did they let
that happen? I don't. I don't know. I because I
just think Holmes, Brad Holmes, like we talked about on Monday,
he's just too loyal. Loyal loyalty will get you fired

(47:51):
in today's like especially the NFL. Do you have to
have no friends in this this kind of thing? Do
you make the call the rag?

Speaker 1 (47:57):
Now?

Speaker 6 (47:57):
Is he to be serious? And if he's been working,
I would call him every day or you know what
I mean, or send something. I don't know what the
severity of his injuries are. Obviously, if he's too bad
or to go, I guess that's but can we hear it?
I would like to hear it.

Speaker 5 (48:09):
You make that Kawhi Leonard type offer you know whatever, Yeah,
you know, it doesn't have to hit the salary cap can.

Speaker 6 (48:14):
Be completely off the books. Give him a Ford dealership.
I'd give a shit Crypto. It can be a free
cure auto insurance for the rest of your life. Whatever
the Lions do. That m effort away from the Lions
if they lose it his fault. By the way, I
they don't make the playoffs as Erico a little bit
to you, and then it's Eric Pofe Okay, that cur
auto insurance rich Sirie Number one. The good running game

(48:34):
is better, Giles makes better decisions. We have a kicker
to the bad Ramil has a real hard time past blocking,
athletic ends Tallas doesn't block a soul. And three, the
ugly defensive backfield is ass still no pass rush. He's
will be hard to fix mid season and will cost
us big in the long run.

Speaker 5 (48:52):
I'm still not out on the pass rush or not
the past rush. The defensive backfield, I think they might
be okay there. They've got some guys that really, like
you know, they're down, they had an injury in the game.
They're down one guy. But I just think it's hard
to look good as a defensive backfield and you have
no pass rush. I think that's the bigger issue. There
aren't many college defensive backfields. Be like, those guys are great.

(49:14):
They can sit back there for seven seconds. It's just
hard to.

Speaker 6 (49:16):
Do neurotic pants with just one hear. There is a
story behind MSU special teams prowess. Their success up until
now is a glaring contradiction to the inferior teams they
were a part of. Oh it's two too. The one
hundred and sixty six dollars for MSU exhibition hockey games
is pissing on the notion of a land grant college. Wait,

(49:37):
that's a single Is that that's a lot?

Speaker 4 (49:40):
A lot?

Speaker 6 (49:40):
That's two tickets?

Speaker 5 (49:41):
Yeah, that doesn't make sense because there's no way that's Yeah,
I've seen the prices for regular season games are like
twenty four bucks. So I mean there's first season ticket holders.
There are now seat license deals. But but I'm curious
to know what you're you know it, Look, it's gotten
more expensive and it does suck. The one thing I
would tell people about MSU hockey that you want and
there has to be a fine line. You can't price

(50:03):
people out because it's always been the community sport, the
common man's sport here, but it also is a sport
that needs it to pay for itself, and it's a
sport that can only really in other words, you don't
make money on hockey. You hope to break even, but
in this landscape, you really need to break even. If
you can break even on hockey, and then includes you know,
enough to have some piece of rev share and all

(50:24):
that stuff like it makes it easier on your basketball
and football programs. It's an expensive sport. People brought up
the idea of where they ever bring a women's hockey
program in Michigan State. I think ten years ago that
would have been an interesting idea because they have the
facility and you know that sort of thing. There's just
no way that's a really expensive sport they're not going
to add. If they do wherever to add a sport,
it would be a women's sport. But if they were

(50:45):
to add a sport, it would not be hockey. There's
just unless somebody, a big donor, said this is what
I want and I'm going to fund it separately, it
would not happen.

Speaker 6 (50:52):
I have a big donor right.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
Here, pound the boyshes Tomios.

Speaker 6 (50:57):
Ryan Schultz I miss some gameplay, not because of a lot,
but because the old lady who said she was covering
for the person running the Melting Moment stand didn't know
the code to unlock the payment device. If you don't
know how to collect payment, then you aren't covering for anybody.
Shake my head. You're just watching the stand that nobody
can get into. Anyway. I'd start handing those out for

(51:18):
free before I started telling people that shit.

Speaker 5 (51:20):
Man late at night, so it's after the press conference,
was chatting with somebody right next to a Melting Moment
stands Jaybatt, right after Slauri and I did our video,
and I just thought, you know, we could wheel one
of these things out of here. And I just like,
sit there in my back patio with a Melting Moment thing.

Speaker 6 (51:34):
They're still in there or some in there. Ah, that's
a good question. I wish you would wheel it away
and then find out that nothing that did it. Yeah,
I would check first. Yeah, Yeah that was smart. Yeah
I could see you doing that, Thomas. I think other
MSU fans would be disappointed going six and six, but
a season defined by progress like we saw a bit
against BC would ultimately be wildly successful. Considering where the

(51:56):
program is right now, and bonus sports with running should
not be allowed to host tournaments near unpaved parking lots.
Yeah that's scary. Yeah, and that's not good.

Speaker 5 (52:07):
A bunch of gravel, Yeah no, it's uh. I'm trying
to think like there used to be a lot of
unpaid like gravel tracks. I remember those back in the day,
Like Charlotte High School.

Speaker 6 (52:17):
Back in my day didn't even have just dirt wait
to walk on ilayed Man. I put on some soccer
fields that had some holes in them, you know, back
in the night God played some golf courses. At least
you're walking on a golf course. You're not like running
into a gopher hole. That's true, Chris. While not great,

(52:38):
MSU's pass rush has been better than it will be,
giving credit for doing large part to the lack of
coverage in the middle of the field. It's unfair to
blame a pass rush for not hitting home when the
quarterback can get the ball out of his hands at
the at his earliest convenience. And bonus. People say that
Smith isn't a culture fit for MSU, But I hung
around the stadium to watch the band post game and

(53:00):
I've never seen a more suburban Midwestern dad in my life.
He just oozes middle aged white guy energy and is
exactly what we need. Is that what white guy entered
middle aged white guy energy is we're middle aged white
or the same. I know, I feel like I'm wow,
all right, Yeah I don't. That was a great ball game.
Give those guys creight over there to that blocker room

(53:21):
over there. Well, now you're going southern. I know it happens.
It's it's when you go too long with a bit. Yeah,
I know. I look.

Speaker 5 (53:29):
I think I think Smith can be a fit at MSU.
The question will be does he want to be a
fit long term? And you know, do they win enough
for it? Because I don't think he's somebody where it's
not a fit automatically. I think, you know, he's not
a Midwest guy. But there's a lot of things about
him that work. Like John L. Smith, Well, the first
John Smith. One of the reasons that didn't work is
he believed in something that went against the foundation of

(53:51):
what MSU fans wanted to be. He came in right
away and said, you're not going to be able to
compete with Ohio State and Michigan physically, so you got
to have sort of a gimmick of an off and
that's you know, they had that spread offense, which back
then was still relatively new and and and the unique.
But it it pissed people off because number one, it
wasn't true and number two, you don't want to hear

(54:12):
that you can't do something your chief rivals can do,
so you have to have a work around. The other
problem is, like three years earlier, Nick Saban's final team
was every bit physical enough to you know, go toe
to toe with anybody in the country. And so it
just wasn't wasn't the case. So that was a bad fit, right,
you get you get bad fits. I don't know that
mil Tucker would have been an awful fit for Michigan

(54:33):
State's dreams. If he had been, you know, able to
behave and then you know, uh and been a few
years earlier before the nil deal, I think that would
have been interesting. I don't maybe it wouldn't have worked.

Speaker 6 (54:43):
Maybe.

Speaker 5 (54:44):
I think fit is sometimes because you know you win,
people will find the fit. The question is the people
like you enough when you don't, And and that's that's
always always a question too to your first point, though, Chris,
I do think on the pass rush and and I
think one of the things that Boston College their offense
was sophisticated in the quick passing and it was that

(55:05):
was something that I think. I mean, they got the
best of Rossi's defense a lot. Now some of that
got better in the second half, but like I said,
that was like the Indiana game in twenty nineteen with
a young Michael PENNOCKX of Kalin the bore. It was,
it was a great counter. It was just a really
good game plan.

Speaker 6 (55:20):
Corey Ostrom next number one. I was more encouraged about
MSU's pass rush than I should have been. The BC
pass offense is designed to get the ball out of
the quarterback's hand quickly. I saw the edges getting close
and the interior push the O line to close the
pocket at times. And two. That was a program win Saturday.
But there's no reason for them to get ahead of themselves.

(55:41):
There's a lot of work needed from both the roster
and coaching staff. Just get better every week.

Speaker 5 (55:49):
The thing about that win though, that was sometimes you say, Okay,
that win's only good for a week, and you know
if they lose next week, people are going to be
down on them. That win was more than that, though,
because number one, you have an auto win this coming
week against you Sound State, and then now you also
you'll be three and zero and the pressure is so
different going in the USC than if you were two
and one to the USC. And I mean, people won't

(56:11):
be happy if you lose both those games. Those are
tough games. You could argue as tough as any game
other than Penn State on the schedule, given they're both
on the road, and those teams are hoping to be
good and it's early, you know, I but it feels
like you got two chances to take a swing and
you're hoping to get one of them. You're hoping a
lot of the things you saw offensively, especially in the
second half carry over. I do think that win. I mean,

(56:33):
there's a ton of room to improve, but that win
has more staying power than a lot of times a
win like that would.

Speaker 6 (56:40):
Couch on fire. Since Oklahoma is my other alma mater,
that Michigan game was two wins for me and bonus
not to be a what is that a panickin? A
panikin like panicking? Yeah, panic, that's a thing that's a
real thing. Not to be a panikin yet, but the
Lions team looked more like a playoff version of last
year than the regular season. Almost same yardage and green

(57:01):
Bay found fourteen more points. Offense, had no imagination and
bonus bonus schooble gym Friday.

Speaker 5 (57:08):
It's coming Friday. I think you pitched before that, right,
maybe it was last Friday, last last Friday.

Speaker 6 (57:13):
The Yeah.

Speaker 5 (57:16):
I mean, look, it was a discouraging Lions game, it felt.
But it also to your point when you talk about
the playoff. I don't always believe in sports hangovers because
sometimes it's like, well, how does that happen? It's like
eight months later, six months later, Like that doesn't make
any sense that you guys have gone on vacations, they've
you know, changed the roster, like you've gone through training.

Speaker 6 (57:32):
With different people. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (57:34):
Yeah, but it did have that sort of hangover game, right,
It didn't feel like I don't know, it didn't.

Speaker 6 (57:38):
They mostly just got beat. Yeah, there's no hangover. You
just got your ass beat and it just nothing worked.
It was a shit show.

Speaker 5 (57:43):
I think the real key for the Lions is that
green Bays not can't actually be that much better than them,
and it was a bigger game for green Bay than
it was for the Lions. There's no question they put
tons into this offseason. If the Lions had come out
and won that game, I think it would have been
disheartening for Green Bay.

Speaker 6 (57:57):
Mike Scott number one. Seven to ten for the Lions
seems reasonable with this clown car of an offensive line
and non mobile quarterback, perfect for their delusional GM who
hasn't proven to have a good draft in two years,
ignored the offensive line and free agency and the defensive
end altogether, and believes he is the smartest guy in
the room. And two at least, the Spartans might be

(58:18):
entertaining cut down on the penalties and they could get
to eight wins, but pass rush is non existent. Again,
they might be a top three run defense and a
bottom two pass defense and the big ten let's hope
for seven to five the.

Speaker 5 (58:37):
Brad Holmes. You still trust in Bradholmes entirely? Yes, Okay,
that's what I entirely.

Speaker 6 (58:43):
I don't know. Entirely, I don't know. I don't trust
him to not be loyal. That's the thing. That's the
one thing I don't trust him to do and make
moves that would ruffle some feathers here, I think, but
I have to trust him. He is kind of I mean,
depends on what room he's in, but he is the
smartest guy in the room. A lot of the times.
Wasn't happy with his interview he did on ninety seven
to one when he was kind of asking like, does

(59:03):
this happen in every you know, radio market like this
or something like that. He said something like that, but anyway,
you know, no one's perfect. Yeah, but you know, some
of these guys like Zadarius Smith and Zeitler, like why
didn't we resign them? Why can't we just you know,
let talk about it. Yeah, And then I've been I've
appreciated his drafts and and you know, if not given

(59:24):
up yet, it's one game, given game.

Speaker 5 (59:26):
James and Williams has a fifteen hundred yard season and
that becomes a huge part of why they're dynamic this year.
And they you know, then then that made sense to do,
and that made sense to be a priority original.

Speaker 6 (59:37):
Dark Mantonio not too concerned with Michigan's defense, but Sharon
should be the O line coach. Get Newsome and Lindsay
out of there, which means Michigan needs a new head
coach and offensive coordinator. I bet Michigan has more talent
than most of those other sixty point scoring teams, but
there's no way this Michigan team could ever score sixty.
And bonus, I didn't watch any games, but saw a

(59:59):
highlight on morning news. And the NFL has to be
happy with that. Opening weekend look to be some awesome
games and Baltimore fans right now are telling Lions fans
to pipe down.

Speaker 5 (01:00:10):
You got the this is down. The Sunday night and
Monday night games were outstanding finishes. There's there's no doubt
like that year that was in bed for both of
us to have. Were you really to have two games
that flip like that?

Speaker 6 (01:00:25):
Or I didn't? I'm sorry, I need I just I
appreciate a good night changing Like what transitioning? What do
you mean? You used to love like I do, Sunday
night games, and I do love the Sunday night games,
but I've got addicted to going to bed around ten,
ten fifteen around there, like getting ready for bed, and
I just it's a healthy way to live. I understand, Yeah,
And it's just like you know, yeah, yeah, maybe you

(01:00:48):
know when the season progresses. Maybe I like going to
bed early. I don't know why. B Crow next shout
out to downtown Lancing. Wow, hell yeah, why didn't you
put this up top here on Monday? Lancy looking sharp
after all of these years. East Lancing, though, feels like
Star Wars post George Lucas. A couple of good moments,
but overall no direction or vision and kind of a mess.

Speaker 5 (01:01:11):
It's kind of in the eye in the beauty of
the beholder. I'm a Lancing guy, and although I see
Lancing towards as well, But yeah, East Lanting is a
place that I don't know. Having grown up around here,
you know, I have a nostalgia for what I actually
I like parts of it now I don't. It does
seem a little over built at times right now, but yeah,

(01:01:31):
big time. Yeah, but I don't know.

Speaker 6 (01:01:33):
That's just because we're old. And that's what happens when
you get old, is that it? Yeah, Okay, you complain
about things going higher and bigger and just sucks, and
you go to bed at ten fifteen missing great football action.

Speaker 5 (01:01:45):
I can just see you in your picture of you,
like in a onesie going to bed with the little
cap on it.

Speaker 6 (01:01:50):
Ten feods. No, that's my wife. Okay, No, I just
wear normal shit. TC brunsy BC quarterback had a big
day without being sacked. Once he's pass rush will ruin
the season unless fixed MSU Kicker A revelation and the
last one here. Lancing feels like one big Applebee's in
a dying st in a dying strip mall has all

(01:02:14):
the charm of a bowling alley next to a nail salad.

Speaker 5 (01:02:17):
First of all, I like a bowling alley next to
a nail salon. Understand that Lansing's got plenty of charm,
whichwends where you're at.

Speaker 6 (01:02:24):
Were you technically in Lancing or were you out? And
you know once you pass, go into the underpass in
your pass where the old GM plants were. That's not
lancing at Lancing. Lancing ends a bowling alley next to
a nail slat out or a nail salon next to
a bowling alley. Let me take your pick. I guess
Richard Kaine, that was great ship. Elon Musk named three

(01:02:45):
of his kids X I don't even know what that
is an A twelve? Oh wait that one name two
of them x A E A twelve that's one. Yeah,
ex a dark sider reel and techno mechanicus. Musk is
infinitely weirder than Graham. Oh, and he's released a fragrance
called Burnt Hair. I think I went and Bonus best pizza.

(01:03:08):
Out of towners might not know Crunchies. Interesting. Interesting, I've
never had Crunches pizza. I don't think I have. At
least I like Crunches good Spot, like the owner two.
Musk doesn't have you beat by much though. I look
at that. Can you imagine me? But he's smart, he's
a he's like one of those genius guys, and.

Speaker 5 (01:03:24):
He's not weird. Can you imagine me going to Lisbon
saying I want to name a child. You know, I
don't know Marmaduke. I don't know some weird ass nat.

Speaker 6 (01:03:35):
What a difference between Elon and Couch. Elon comes up
with X A E A twelve. Couch comes up with
Marma Duke. Dude, Couch just moved back up to weirder
than Musk Marmaduke. It's a fucking cartoon from nineteen fifty.
Holy shit, it's still been in the comics recently. I

(01:03:57):
think it's still goes right, Yeah, yeah, no, yeah, no,
I'm sorry, I'm crying. Uh crunchies, huh all right, Hans
Jurgen number one. I'm not an expert, but I think
it maybe might be to our advantage to get the
ball to Nick marsh to our punter belongs in the
Hall of Fame and Graham belongs in the whole of shape.

Speaker 5 (01:04:16):
Oh yeah, this one's yeah, you know Sparty Barbs. Yeah, sorry,
Sarty Barb. Oh God, call back three our pass rush
it does nothing.

Speaker 6 (01:04:23):
Yeah, hole of shame. That's where I belong. How you
put that for hers? And I feel so bad for Barb.
I could have fixed it today too. That's the worst
part I forgotten. I didn't go back through. And actually,
you know, let's do that. Let's before we get a Jake,
because we're gonna end with Jake. I think it's only
right that we get Sparty Barb's correct takes because they
might have been brilliant. And I just screwed it up.
I started. Actually, I went back to the Mac. I'm

(01:04:43):
using it a computer pretty much without an r It's
just better than a PC. Beer off. This is really awkward. Sorry,
you had it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:07):
Under glass.

Speaker 6 (01:05:09):
He's got a stupid looking face. That's crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
Hollows got over the cities rip gone.

Speaker 6 (01:05:25):
Oh, I think I know it is. I think sparty
barbs off quit quint and I think she's on blue
I think she's not a blue sky.

Speaker 5 (01:05:35):
Sorry, I'm the worst. I'm the worst. You imagine people
still listening. Oh man, is it gonna happen?

Speaker 6 (01:05:49):
Yes? I did, I found it. Okay, here we go.
If I'm sparty barb, I don't want them red now
because it's all this, the build up, build up. Here
go ahead, yeah, I mean we put on you. Do
you have your music for the golf bets? Maybe that
would help if you hurry up.

Speaker 5 (01:06:00):
Okay, sorry, sorry, I'll just read these, okay. Ryan Eckley
is is MSU's best defensive player, number one, Number two
Child's proved he can be a clutch QB number three.
Bryce Underwood's performance in Norman was quote just fine and bonus.
That freakish NFL float commercial was generated by the same
deep fake AI that creates Maga fake news and Taylor

(01:06:23):
Swift porn photos.

Speaker 6 (01:06:24):
Gross, I'm so glad we got those. Thank you, Thank you,
bar I apologize for the other day, all right, And
finally to Jayhawk and sorry, Jake had to sit through
that to get to years number one. Great MSU win
Saturday night was an absolute must win. A loss would
have got had me a lot less sold on Jonathan
Smith as a head coach. Nice to see MSU wake

(01:06:47):
up in the second half, but penalties that killed offensive
drives and defense not getting any sacks or turnovers can't
be happening. And to college rafts sure keep getting worse
and worse. They've becomes stinking ass. It takes a fresh
crap while you're using the toilet would be much more
pleasant and probably smell better. Then again, Nah, thank you, Jake,

(01:07:09):
it's a word for work. Three. After the way last
season ended, along with a mediocre off season, the Lions
were definitely in for an awakening and humble outing. No
Frank Ragnow or Ali McNeil, new offensive guards and coordinators,
along with Micah Parsons playing for Green Bay frustrating but
honestly not surprising.

Speaker 5 (01:07:27):
And the question is is it something that's lasting that's
what really matters? Well, No, Sunday so must win. Will
we know everything Sunday everything? I think the FDA will
be solvet everything small Sunday Sunday's a big day.

Speaker 6 (01:07:38):
Yea.

Speaker 5 (01:07:39):
We appreciate all of you, especially those of you produce
our show and uh and didn't have your takes read
and we didn't have this. We enjoy discussing them and
when we're grateful to uh, we're grateful to you. UH.
We appreciate our friend Neil talking to Youngstown State football.
We appreciate our friends at Casting Company and Front forty three.
Great place to spend a day watching football, spend a

(01:08:01):
date night. We will be back on Friday with groovey
done at Twitter questions. Hopefully have Harry and pick some
games as well. Good job man, yeah me touching the
group