December 22, 2025 • 21 mins
Ben Criddle talks BYU sports every weekday from 2 to 6 pm.
Today's Co-Hosts: Ben Criddle (@criddlebenjamin)
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(01:00):
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Hit them up today. Let her know why, Sanchum. Let's
get out to the hot line. Welcome in former BA
great Super Bowl champion. We got Brady Papinga on the line.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Be Pop. How you living?
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Good morning, fellas, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Doing fantastic man, appreciate you hopping on to discuss the
college football world. What did you make of the first
weekend of the college football Playoff?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
What stood out to you?
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Well, we obviously need a bigger field. I think that's
the biggest thing because as it continues to evolve, my
mind in my back of my head is always like, well,
you know, Miami did a good job. Obviously they beat
Texas A and m Notre Dame played Miami pretty tough.
You know, Notre Dame was kind of hitting this shine
at the end of the year. Who knows, you just
you know, also as BYU other teams that were on
(01:47):
the bubble there that you think, man, if they get hot,
play the right teams, matchups or everything we know about
that you just never know, you just never know, and
so it just to me it's if we want to
really have a system that can determine it dispute a champion,
you have to make it to where it's we've got
more teams in there. So you get to a point
when you get to probably say twenty teams, to where
(02:08):
it's like, you know, if you're twenty one, twenty two,
you're probably so far out of that, then'll win it,
you know what I'm saying. But you've got a big
enough net there where you catch the teams from probably
that twelve to a twenty mark that they probably could
depending on health, depending on matchups, and it makes it
more exciting. And then you can still include, you know,
the G five teams because they're obviously out matched. The
(02:29):
G five division itself is by nature becoming more and
more of its own division outside of P four, just
because if you have any really good G five players,
the most likely gone the next year. So the talent
discrepancy is huge. Obviously, they don't have the resources to
get the kind of coaching that the P four levels do.
So you see all these coaches stepping up to the
(02:49):
P four level most ca and so the reality is
is it's it's its own league, and so I would
probably say, hey, maybe have their own tournament with the
G five league, you know, and can it incorporate with
the P four tournament Maybe but most likely not, you know.
And I'm including, you know, into this P four thinking
the team like Boise State and some other these borderline
(03:13):
G five teams are right there to becoming P four's,
but it's it's to me, it's creating a natural divide
to where we are just gonna see I believe it,
you know, twenty team field at least, and the field
would be amongst the P four teams. Also, you know,
additional G four teams that are are pretty much there anyway,
like Boise State, and then you know you'll have your
G five kind of like an FCS, you know. So
(03:34):
I think I think it's already kind of happening, you know,
where we're seeing this divide and things evolved, but it's
it shows that there is a lot yet to still
be changed.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
If it was a twenty team playoff, the first team
out or that the team out would be Virginia. It
looks like it would have been if we if we
allowed the top six, right conference champions. They're they're the
out of it. So let's say jam you and Tulane
both get in. The first team out would have been Virginia.
(04:02):
Virginia wouldn't have got in. And then you know, obviously Houston, Georgia, Tech, Iowa,
North Texas, those guys are all out.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
But that's a good feel.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah, yeah, but you're you're right, you know, we're not
We're not complaining. I wouldn't think anybody would Neil like,
oh wow, Virginia's you know there, they could maybe win
the whole thing, you know it could They lost obviously
their championship games. So that's what solves it. Because to me,
I always go back to two thousand and four Ben,
where we played USC, who's supposedly voted as like one
(04:32):
of the greatest college football teams ever, and then we
followed up, you know, that year we played Utah and
I left the game against Utah fan like Utah would
absolutely own USC, you know what I mean. And now
whether that happens or not, whether that's true or not,
we'll never know. But the problem is is that I
had that thought and it never had any time to
(04:52):
be put them out, you know, put it to the
test on the field, and that's the whole point of
a playoff, is that you wanted to spit out or
produce an undisputed champion. And so you go back two
thousand and four, that to me is not you know,
whoever won, I don't even think. I think USC might
even have split it, by the way, But I look,
there's even you know, an undisputed champion, and they say
they're the best team ever. We don't know they didn't
(05:14):
play the best teams, you know, because you tell they
never had a chance to face. And so that's what
we're trying to avoid here, and we're getting closer to it,
and I believe there's some more tweaks that's eventually going
to make that tournament like a legit tournament. But you
know what, we're we're still a ways away. And but
the fact that Uyu, for example, was a game or
a win away for being there, I think right there,
you're you're you're excited if you're you're Byu, because you're
(05:36):
right in the thick of it. You just got to
go out and win the games in front of you
and and you're gonna be in that tournament. And then
when you're in the tournament. You just never know.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Was Texas A and M the most overrated team in
college football this year?
Speaker 4 (05:48):
I don't know about that. I believe every week every
team is different. There's dynamics of injuries and player improvement
and development that take place, some some digress because the
progressions that linear. And we can say that also about
head coaches and offensive coordinators and defensive coordinators. They're they're
also on this, you know, trajectory, whether they're improving or
(06:09):
getting worse, or evolving or not. And so there was
a time where, for sure, I believe Texas A and
M was playing at a very high level. They re
deserve the kind of hype they were getting, and then
they just fell off for whatever reason, and they just
have locked the consistency. They've locked the ability to play
well against good teams. They obviously locked the ability in
the playoffs to really stand up against the Miami team
(06:30):
that came in hungry, and they just didn't get it done.
So I don't think there's an issue of a hype there.
I just look at it as an issue of where's
your team at week after week? And they kind of
peaked at the beginning in the middle of the season
and then just tel.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Off as far as the other games, right, everyone's talking
about how tou Lane in JM you didn't deserve to
be in No Cinderella is everyone wants to get rid
of Cinderella's now. But there's plenty of data points to
show that there's been blowouts, like ten blowouts P four
(07:04):
versus P four. You can go down the list of teams.
I think I was Ohio State was skunked once. I mean,
Tennessee lost big last year. What do you what's your
retort to that? Do you agree or disagree with the
No Cinderella movement?
Speaker 4 (07:20):
I'm not sure that's what they mean. What I mean
I think their meaning is there is a distinct, like
when you look at Tulane James Madison, when I'm watching them,
there's an absolute difference in the level of football being played.
And you know, like, for example, when you go to
the NFL, there's the Jets is one of the worst team.
I actually think, well, who's got the first pick? I
(07:41):
think maybe it's the rag Giants. I don't know. But
let's say, like you look at the Jets, when the
Jets come walking out and you see their raw ability
versus the Eagles, Let's say who's probably the top team. Sure,
the Eagles are going to have some more between quotations
raw talent, but that's because they've developed that talent. They
have good schemes around that talent. That's good organization. So
but it's really not raw talent wise, there's not a difference.
(08:05):
And you can almost say that about every NFL team
raw talent if you just broke down you know their
speed and movement skills. It's all pretty much the same
across the board. Now, when you look at Tulane versus Oh,
Miss James Madison versus Oregon, there's a discrepancy, and it's
like and so there's already this inherent disadvantage because you
just don't have the inherent physical talent you know, if
(08:29):
you're these G five teams. I explained already wise because
when you get guys you developed at that level, because
everybody's on a different director, everybody's on a kind of
a different growth curve. Those guys leave and they go
to P fours. So it's just the system matter where
you just don't have the talent level. And I'm talking
physical raw talent. I'm not talking football talent that now
has made these two leagues very different. And that's the
(08:49):
discrepancy I think everybody's seeing. And that's what's kind of
annoying because it's like unless Tulane just either played out
of their minor James Madison or the opposite was either
one of those teams just acts, you know, Wills fell off,
they get cocky, and they just you know, completely disaster.
There's really not a good game. Now if it's P
four versus P four and it's a blowout, well heck,
now we're talking about scheme discrepancy, strategy discrepancy. You know,
(09:11):
we're talking about other things than just the inherent ability
to show up to be part of the table. Is
the is the big I think problem and people see that.
It's not hard to see you when you see teams
go against each other where one team just by far
has more speed, more strength, more power than the other team,
and it's like it's like it is literally watching two
(09:32):
different levels. And that's I think the problem.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
So the top twenty five rankings, I mean JMU would
be out, tu Lane was I think right there in
the top twenty per the College Football Playoff, maybe just
one of those teams gets in maybe one type of
Cinderellas story could maybe get into the playoff.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Yeah yeah, because if you put it into twenty But
like I said, I don't even know as we continue
forward through this this era where now, I mean, there's
more of a priority now and a an emphasis a
necessity would even be a good word of running in
a for profit operation, a football or even an athletic
(10:19):
department that makes a profit than there's ever been. I mean,
that's why you have Gillingham in Arizona soliciting for twenty
million dollars, you know publicly, is because they can't run
a profitable operation unless somebody floats them and lends the money.
You tall, you know, they're getting the private equity money
a five hundred million dollars, which is not bad. These
aren't bad things. But the point I'm bringing up is
this not like it used to be, where the money
(10:40):
was at a point where yeah, you could have a
donor come in and write a check. It would be
a probably a million dollar check and okay, that covered
your your expenses, and that covered your loss because you
went over your budget. Now you have to operate with
profit in mind. You have to at least spend what
you make. You know, if you're spending more than you may, okay,
then you gotta go get debt. And now if you
get debt, got to pay off their debt plus interest. Okay.
(11:01):
That makes even more incumbent that you find and made
a way to make revenue. And if the money is
so big now you don't have the ability to go
to most donors, probably ninety five percent of them now,
especially if you're talking you know, and some places in
the country that used to really you know, have these
donors and say hey, we need your help, because not
these donors don't have enough money to do that. That's
how big the money is getting. And so my point
(11:22):
is is that is exponentially growing, and these G five
are exponentially leaving the other way. The natural happening here
is the Super Conference. Well, we're going to have G
five pretty much be FCS. It'll be you know, P
four G five Division one double A FC. I think
the FCSA Division one double A are the same. Then
it becomes its own division. And I already see that
right now. It's very clear that just like I said,
(11:44):
based off of raw talent, is its own division, and
it's very easy to see that. And again it's it's
very easy to see that because any player that develops
to be really good at that level is gone the
next year because these these P four teams are offering
them bigger money.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Here on ESPN.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
The frame B baby Brady, excuse me, we want to
talk BYU Notre Dame. Now they didn't play in the
pop dars ball Notre Dame. He's no longer the fighting
ares of their quitting irish. But they they try to
redeem themselves. They schedule a home at home with BYU
and USC. The USC game essentially is essentially canceled. The
(12:22):
lunch standing Notre Dame USC game is canceled BYU Notre Dame.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Your reaction to the news love it.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Like like you just use the word redemption. I lost
a lot of respect for Notre Dame for their unwillingness
to want to play. I thought that was not good
for the younger guys that need that extra time, want
that extra time. I mean, you only get to play
football once and when it's over, it's over. But one
thing that you can do to kind of redeem yourself is, yeah,
(12:52):
a schedule, good team, you know, and I think that's
a heck of a heck of a deal for us,
you know, to get Notre Dame, because it's shows also
where Notre Dame sees us. You know, years past, Notre
Dame would not have taken an equal home and home.
They would have said, Okay, if we're going to you,
then you got to come to us twice, right, And
then they didn't even want to come to us, and
they had a neutral sidea in Vegas where they were
(13:14):
allowing seventy five percent of the tickets to the fans
of Notre Dame. But so yeah, I mean the fact
that they're willing to come and they know that that's
going to help their resume and ability to rank where
they need to rank to qualify for the playoffs. That
shows we're at with the whole landscape of P four
and power football. We're one of them right now, you know,
So that that Notre Dame sees that. So I look
(13:35):
at that and say thank you for the respect and
the opportunity, and then at the same time, yeah, I
mean it goes to show you. I think there's you know,
I know Marcus Freeman, I know, I don't know him directly,
but I know guys around him, like James Laarnidis, a
j Hawk, who are good buddies of mine that I
play in the NFL with. One was aj was my
roommate who had played with Marcus Freeman Ohio State. And
I know how those guys think, and I know based
(13:58):
off of that that it looked like they were running
from us from BYU, So it makes sense that they
want to show No, we weren't running away from you.
We're trying to prove a point boom so much so
we're going to put you on the schedule and we'll
come to you next year to start us off. So
great thing to happen twenty two years later, finally come
aback to Provo. Sure it's going to be electric, great game,
(14:18):
great opponent. And yeah, they kind of redeemed themselves, although again,
like I said, I really still fell back for those
younger guys on Notre Dame that don't have extra practices,
don't have an extra game to show themselves.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
The college football cabal, the cartel that I how I
deem it they're trying to pressure Notre Dame into joining
a conference. Joey McGuire, Big twelve, Texas Tech head coach said, hey,
if you're in a conference Notre Dame, he said that today,
then you're in the playoff. Do you think Notre Dame
(14:49):
acquiesces and follows suit and falls in line with the
college football cabal and joins a conference eventually.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
If they're smart, they would. Now here's the big nuance
that I think we have to understand a lot of
times when you say independence Notre Dame, what that means
is is they control all their revenue income. They don't
share it because they don't have to. And that is
a fact. The Notre Dame brand, the following their cachet
is enough to where they don't need a conference to
(15:22):
try to profit. They don't need a conference to generate
hundreds of millions of dollars billions of dollars in revenue.
They don't need that. And so a lot of people,
I think, you know, from the Notre Dame side, when
people are telling them, like you said, coach Griver, say
hey you need to during a conference, they look at like, well, hey,
we don't need to join your conference to get these
revenue streams. Sure, and that's not what we're saying. What
we're saying is is you need to join a conference
(15:44):
to clarify where you sit in terms of the rankings,
either qualify for the playoffs or not. And the best
way to do that is, yeah, go and play a
P four conference schedule with similar opponents than your other
teams that you're facing. Because he's right. I mean, if
you would have had them in the ACC this last year,
it's probably you know, they're in the championship game at
(16:05):
the very least, right and then then they probably went in.
I mean, they're they're better than both Virginia and Duke.
I mean, I don't know what happened to the tie
breakers where Miami couldn't get in there, but but yeah,
I mean it's it creates a very clear path. Like
I said, with here we are here, we are BYU,
kind of the same thing happened to us as Notre Dame.
But I don't feel like Notre Dame. I don't feel
like we got yanked at all. I feel like we
(16:26):
had our chance. We put it in the lap of
the the you know, the committee, and that's on us.
You know, we shouldn't be putting it in their lab.
We had every every opportunity by just winning games, and
especially the championship game to get in and we didn't
do it. So hey, that's just how it goes. You
gotta win the games in front of you to qualify
for whatever you got to get done. We didn't do that,
and so it actually helps sort to day. That's I
(16:48):
think the thing that they need to realize that help.
They're helping themselves by getting in a conference, but you're
going to have to get into a conference and negotiat it.
Do when you basically tell every other member of that conference, like, hey,
we're going to be a part of your conference, but
we're not going to share revenue. And that might be
the sticking point and if imm they don't need a
conference to make money. But then at the same time,
(17:09):
that conference, just by having Notre Dame in there without
any revenue share, without Notre Dame, you know, funneling any
dollars into the conference, that is a huge asset and
a huge value add So I can even see if
you have a smart you know, some smart business people
working together and finding that middle ground to where it
will make sense for everybody. So I hope it works
out that way. Uh, but we'll see if you know,
(17:32):
and things kind of move slowly, but we'll see if
you know, all these good minds can get together and
make everything work for everybody.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Ready.
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Speaker 2 (18:58):
Contact Brady for being you today. Brady always appreciate our time. Man,
thanks for hopping on.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Oh it's a pleasure, fellow us go coops, they go.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
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Big Cougar Ward everyone that joined us, Ronald the Three Man,
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Beat college football conversation.
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Hit them up today. Let her know why, Sanchum. Let's
get out to the hot line. Welcome in former BA
great Super Bowl champion. We got Brady Papinga on the line.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Be Pop. How you living?
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Good morning, fellas, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Doing fantastic man, appreciate you hopping on to discuss the
college football world. What did you make of the first
weekend of the college football Playoff?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
What stood out to you?
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Well, we obviously need a bigger field. I think that's
the biggest thing because as it continues to evolve, my
mind in my back of my head is always like, well,
you know, Miami did a good job. Obviously they beat
Texas A and m Notre Dame played Miami pretty tough.
You know, Notre Dame was kind of hitting this shine
at the end of the year. Who knows, you just
you know, also as BYU other teams that were on
(01:47):
the bubble there that you think, man, if they get hot,
play the right teams, matchups or everything we know about
that you just never know, you just never know, and
so it just to me it's if we want to
really have a system that can determine it dispute a champion,
you have to make it to where it's we've got
more teams in there. So you get to a point
when you get to probably say twenty teams, to where
(02:08):
it's like, you know, if you're twenty one, twenty two,
you're probably so far out of that, then'll win it,
you know what I'm saying. But you've got a big
enough net there where you catch the teams from probably
that twelve to a twenty mark that they probably could
depending on health, depending on matchups, and it makes it
more exciting. And then you can still include, you know,
the G five teams because they're obviously out matched. The
(02:29):
G five division itself is by nature becoming more and
more of its own division outside of P four, just
because if you have any really good G five players,
the most likely gone the next year. So the talent
discrepancy is huge. Obviously, they don't have the resources to
get the kind of coaching that the P four levels do.
So you see all these coaches stepping up to the
(02:49):
P four level most ca and so the reality is
is it's it's its own league, and so I would
probably say, hey, maybe have their own tournament with the
G five league, you know, and can it incorporate with
the P four tournament Maybe but most likely not, you know.
And I'm including, you know, into this P four thinking
the team like Boise State and some other these borderline
(03:13):
G five teams are right there to becoming P four's,
but it's it's to me, it's creating a natural divide
to where we are just gonna see I believe it,
you know, twenty team field at least, and the field
would be amongst the P four teams. Also, you know,
additional G four teams that are are pretty much there anyway,
like Boise State, and then you know you'll have your
G five kind of like an FCS, you know. So
(03:34):
I think I think it's already kind of happening, you know,
where we're seeing this divide and things evolved, but it's
it shows that there is a lot yet to still
be changed.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
If it was a twenty team playoff, the first team
out or that the team out would be Virginia. It
looks like it would have been if we if we
allowed the top six, right conference champions. They're they're the
out of it. So let's say jam you and Tulane
both get in. The first team out would have been Virginia.
(04:02):
Virginia wouldn't have got in. And then you know, obviously Houston, Georgia, Tech, Iowa,
North Texas, those guys are all out.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
But that's a good feel.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah, yeah, but you're you're right, you know, we're not
We're not complaining. I wouldn't think anybody would Neil like,
oh wow, Virginia's you know there, they could maybe win
the whole thing, you know it could They lost obviously
their championship games. So that's what solves it. Because to me,
I always go back to two thousand and four Ben,
where we played USC, who's supposedly voted as like one
(04:32):
of the greatest college football teams ever, and then we
followed up, you know, that year we played Utah and
I left the game against Utah fan like Utah would
absolutely own USC, you know what I mean. And now
whether that happens or not, whether that's true or not,
we'll never know. But the problem is is that I
had that thought and it never had any time to
(04:52):
be put them out, you know, put it to the
test on the field, and that's the whole point of
a playoff, is that you wanted to spit out or
produce an undisputed champion. And so you go back two
thousand and four, that to me is not you know,
whoever won, I don't even think. I think USC might
even have split it, by the way, But I look,
there's even you know, an undisputed champion, and they say
they're the best team ever. We don't know they didn't
(05:14):
play the best teams, you know, because you tell they
never had a chance to face. And so that's what
we're trying to avoid here, and we're getting closer to it,
and I believe there's some more tweaks that's eventually going
to make that tournament like a legit tournament. But you
know what, we're we're still a ways away. And but
the fact that Uyu, for example, was a game or
a win away for being there, I think right there,
you're you're you're excited if you're you're Byu, because you're
(05:36):
right in the thick of it. You just got to
go out and win the games in front of you
and and you're gonna be in that tournament. And then
when you're in the tournament. You just never know.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Was Texas A and M the most overrated team in
college football this year?
Speaker 4 (05:48):
I don't know about that. I believe every week every
team is different. There's dynamics of injuries and player improvement
and development that take place, some some digress because the
progressions that linear. And we can say that also about
head coaches and offensive coordinators and defensive coordinators. They're they're
also on this, you know, trajectory, whether they're improving or
(06:09):
getting worse, or evolving or not. And so there was
a time where, for sure, I believe Texas A and
M was playing at a very high level. They re
deserve the kind of hype they were getting, and then
they just fell off for whatever reason, and they just
have locked the consistency. They've locked the ability to play
well against good teams. They obviously locked the ability in
the playoffs to really stand up against the Miami team
(06:30):
that came in hungry, and they just didn't get it done.
So I don't think there's an issue of a hype there.
I just look at it as an issue of where's
your team at week after week? And they kind of
peaked at the beginning in the middle of the season
and then just tel.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Off as far as the other games, right, everyone's talking
about how tou Lane in JM you didn't deserve to
be in No Cinderella is everyone wants to get rid
of Cinderella's now. But there's plenty of data points to
show that there's been blowouts, like ten blowouts P four
(07:04):
versus P four. You can go down the list of teams.
I think I was Ohio State was skunked once. I mean,
Tennessee lost big last year. What do you what's your
retort to that? Do you agree or disagree with the
No Cinderella movement?
Speaker 4 (07:20):
I'm not sure that's what they mean. What I mean
I think their meaning is there is a distinct, like
when you look at Tulane James Madison, when I'm watching them,
there's an absolute difference in the level of football being played.
And you know, like, for example, when you go to
the NFL, there's the Jets is one of the worst team.
I actually think, well, who's got the first pick? I
(07:41):
think maybe it's the rag Giants. I don't know. But
let's say, like you look at the Jets, when the
Jets come walking out and you see their raw ability
versus the Eagles, Let's say who's probably the top team. Sure,
the Eagles are going to have some more between quotations
raw talent, but that's because they've developed that talent. They
have good schemes around that talent. That's good organization. So
but it's really not raw talent wise, there's not a difference.
(08:05):
And you can almost say that about every NFL team
raw talent if you just broke down you know their
speed and movement skills. It's all pretty much the same
across the board. Now, when you look at Tulane versus Oh,
Miss James Madison versus Oregon, there's a discrepancy, and it's
like and so there's already this inherent disadvantage because you
just don't have the inherent physical talent you know, if
(08:29):
you're these G five teams. I explained already wise because
when you get guys you developed at that level, because
everybody's on a different director, everybody's on a kind of
a different growth curve. Those guys leave and they go
to P fours. So it's just the system matter where
you just don't have the talent level. And I'm talking
physical raw talent. I'm not talking football talent that now
has made these two leagues very different. And that's the
(08:49):
discrepancy I think everybody's seeing. And that's what's kind of
annoying because it's like unless Tulane just either played out
of their minor James Madison or the opposite was either
one of those teams just acts, you know, Wills fell off,
they get cocky, and they just you know, completely disaster.
There's really not a good game. Now if it's P
four versus P four and it's a blowout, well heck,
now we're talking about scheme discrepancy, strategy discrepancy. You know,
(09:11):
we're talking about other things than just the inherent ability
to show up to be part of the table. Is
the is the big I think problem and people see that.
It's not hard to see you when you see teams
go against each other where one team just by far
has more speed, more strength, more power than the other team,
and it's like it's like it is literally watching two
(09:32):
different levels. And that's I think the problem.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
So the top twenty five rankings, I mean JMU would
be out, tu Lane was I think right there in
the top twenty per the College Football Playoff, maybe just
one of those teams gets in maybe one type of
Cinderellas story could maybe get into the playoff.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Yeah yeah, because if you put it into twenty But
like I said, I don't even know as we continue
forward through this this era where now, I mean, there's
more of a priority now and a an emphasis a
necessity would even be a good word of running in
a for profit operation, a football or even an athletic
(10:19):
department that makes a profit than there's ever been. I mean,
that's why you have Gillingham in Arizona soliciting for twenty
million dollars, you know publicly, is because they can't run
a profitable operation unless somebody floats them and lends the money.
You tall, you know, they're getting the private equity money
a five hundred million dollars, which is not bad. These
aren't bad things. But the point I'm bringing up is
this not like it used to be, where the money
(10:40):
was at a point where yeah, you could have a
donor come in and write a check. It would be
a probably a million dollar check and okay, that covered
your your expenses, and that covered your loss because you
went over your budget. Now you have to operate with
profit in mind. You have to at least spend what
you make. You know, if you're spending more than you may, okay,
then you gotta go get debt. And now if you
get debt, got to pay off their debt plus interest. Okay.
(11:01):
That makes even more incumbent that you find and made
a way to make revenue. And if the money is
so big now you don't have the ability to go
to most donors, probably ninety five percent of them now,
especially if you're talking you know, and some places in
the country that used to really you know, have these
donors and say hey, we need your help, because not
these donors don't have enough money to do that. That's
how big the money is getting. And so my point
(11:22):
is is that is exponentially growing, and these G five
are exponentially leaving the other way. The natural happening here
is the Super Conference. Well, we're going to have G
five pretty much be FCS. It'll be you know, P
four G five Division one double A FC. I think
the FCSA Division one double A are the same. Then
it becomes its own division. And I already see that
right now. It's very clear that just like I said,
(11:44):
based off of raw talent, is its own division, and
it's very easy to see that. And again it's it's
very easy to see that because any player that develops
to be really good at that level is gone the
next year because these these P four teams are offering
them bigger money.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Here on ESPN.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
The frame B baby Brady, excuse me, we want to
talk BYU Notre Dame. Now they didn't play in the
pop dars ball Notre Dame. He's no longer the fighting
ares of their quitting irish. But they they try to
redeem themselves. They schedule a home at home with BYU
and USC. The USC game essentially is essentially canceled. The
(12:22):
lunch standing Notre Dame USC game is canceled BYU Notre Dame.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Your reaction to the news love it.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Like like you just use the word redemption. I lost
a lot of respect for Notre Dame for their unwillingness
to want to play. I thought that was not good
for the younger guys that need that extra time, want
that extra time. I mean, you only get to play
football once and when it's over, it's over. But one
thing that you can do to kind of redeem yourself is, yeah,
(12:52):
a schedule, good team, you know, and I think that's
a heck of a heck of a deal for us,
you know, to get Notre Dame, because it's shows also
where Notre Dame sees us. You know, years past, Notre
Dame would not have taken an equal home and home.
They would have said, Okay, if we're going to you,
then you got to come to us twice, right, And
then they didn't even want to come to us, and
they had a neutral sidea in Vegas where they were
(13:14):
allowing seventy five percent of the tickets to the fans
of Notre Dame. But so yeah, I mean the fact
that they're willing to come and they know that that's
going to help their resume and ability to rank where
they need to rank to qualify for the playoffs. That
shows we're at with the whole landscape of P four
and power football. We're one of them right now, you know,
So that that Notre Dame sees that. So I look
(13:35):
at that and say thank you for the respect and
the opportunity, and then at the same time, yeah, I
mean it goes to show you. I think there's you know,
I know Marcus Freeman, I know, I don't know him directly,
but I know guys around him, like James Laarnidis, a
j Hawk, who are good buddies of mine that I
play in the NFL with. One was aj was my
roommate who had played with Marcus Freeman Ohio State. And
I know how those guys think, and I know based
(13:58):
off of that that it looked like they were running
from us from BYU, So it makes sense that they
want to show No, we weren't running away from you.
We're trying to prove a point boom so much so
we're going to put you on the schedule and we'll
come to you next year to start us off. So
great thing to happen twenty two years later, finally come
aback to Provo. Sure it's going to be electric, great game,
(14:18):
great opponent. And yeah, they kind of redeemed themselves, although again,
like I said, I really still fell back for those
younger guys on Notre Dame that don't have extra practices,
don't have an extra game to show themselves.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
The college football cabal, the cartel that I how I
deem it they're trying to pressure Notre Dame into joining
a conference. Joey McGuire, Big twelve, Texas Tech head coach said, hey,
if you're in a conference Notre Dame, he said that today,
then you're in the playoff. Do you think Notre Dame
(14:49):
acquiesces and follows suit and falls in line with the
college football cabal and joins a conference eventually.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
If they're smart, they would. Now here's the big nuance
that I think we have to understand a lot of
times when you say independence Notre Dame, what that means
is is they control all their revenue income. They don't
share it because they don't have to. And that is
a fact. The Notre Dame brand, the following their cachet
is enough to where they don't need a conference to
(15:22):
try to profit. They don't need a conference to generate
hundreds of millions of dollars billions of dollars in revenue.
They don't need that. And so a lot of people,
I think, you know, from the Notre Dame side, when
people are telling them, like you said, coach Griver, say
hey you need to during a conference, they look at like, well, hey,
we don't need to join your conference to get these
revenue streams. Sure, and that's not what we're saying. What
we're saying is is you need to join a conference
(15:44):
to clarify where you sit in terms of the rankings,
either qualify for the playoffs or not. And the best
way to do that is, yeah, go and play a
P four conference schedule with similar opponents than your other
teams that you're facing. Because he's right. I mean, if
you would have had them in the ACC this last year,
it's probably you know, they're in the championship game at
(16:05):
the very least, right and then then they probably went in.
I mean, they're they're better than both Virginia and Duke.
I mean, I don't know what happened to the tie
breakers where Miami couldn't get in there, but but yeah,
I mean it's it creates a very clear path. Like
I said, with here we are here, we are BYU,
kind of the same thing happened to us as Notre Dame.
But I don't feel like Notre Dame. I don't feel
like we got yanked at all. I feel like we
(16:26):
had our chance. We put it in the lap of
the the you know, the committee, and that's on us.
You know, we shouldn't be putting it in their lab.
We had every every opportunity by just winning games, and
especially the championship game to get in and we didn't
do it. So hey, that's just how it goes. You
gotta win the games in front of you to qualify
for whatever you got to get done. We didn't do that,
and so it actually helps sort to day. That's I
(16:48):
think the thing that they need to realize that help.
They're helping themselves by getting in a conference, but you're
going to have to get into a conference and negotiat it.
Do when you basically tell every other member of that conference, like, hey,
we're going to be a part of your conference, but
we're not going to share revenue. And that might be
the sticking point and if imm they don't need a
conference to make money. But then at the same time,
(17:09):
that conference, just by having Notre Dame in there without
any revenue share, without Notre Dame, you know, funneling any
dollars into the conference, that is a huge asset and
a huge value add So I can even see if
you have a smart you know, some smart business people
working together and finding that middle ground to where it
will make sense for everybody. So I hope it works
out that way. Uh, but we'll see if you know,
(17:32):
and things kind of move slowly, but we'll see if
you know, all these good minds can get together and
make everything work for everybody.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Ready.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Last thing for those that are looking to build out
a gym get gym equipment, how can they reach out?
Can they contact you there at the XPT XPT dot com?
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Yeah, just call or text my cell phone. You know,
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how that piece of equipment is going to be with
the other pieces already in there free service. And then
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Speaker 2 (18:58):
Contact Brady for being you today. Brady always appreciate our time. Man,
thanks for hopping on.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Oh it's a pleasure, fellow us go coops, they go.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
That was Brady papinga and that segment was brought to
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Speaker 3 (19:44):
All right, guys, that's our show. We're sticking to it.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
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(20:08):
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Speaker 5 (20:15):
I give a shout out to them if that's okay,
of course, yeah, But I just want to give a
shot at the game day. Men's Health first of all,
went in earlier earlier this morning, shout out to Jason
Lane Alo, guys that do a great job. I found
out where I was at. I've been telling you needed
to find out where I was at. Set a plan up.
Great people were very welcome and Gracie at the front desk,
Lane's wife.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
I figured the name.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
I apologized, great people there, and then Jared blets up.
You know, took care of my family as well. You
taught protective film. So guys, look you're gonna get. You
get when you mentioned Ben, when you mentioned ESPN the fan,
you get the VIP products of the app service. Like
my wife was very impressed, you know, with the car
service today and everything and how she was taken care
of and she's very happy. She's like, man, you know, everybody,
(20:56):
really we got a great return on investment with that.
So look, you can't beat fifteen percent off Ben. You
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Speaker 2 (21:03):
All I have to say, yes, indeed, they're gonna take
care of you know, if sands or butts about it.
So give our sponsors an opportunity to earn your business.
Whenever you hear the commercials, whenever you hear the endorsements,
whenever you hear us talk about them.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Let them earn your business. We appreciate it when you do.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Big Cougar Ward everyone that joined us, Ronald the Three Man,
we were, Brett always bringing the hammer, Brady papinga great
segment with him, Pete Mundo in a little bit of
a Cougar.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Beat college football conversation.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Jonathan Tavernari joined us to talk some BYU basketball brand
and Gurney the g Man. Love and appreciate him. We
had Colonia Sodad case shown. We recapped the college football
playoff and talk to BYU and Notre Dame. So download
the podcast and consume it a la carte kugarnation.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
We appreciate you, we love you. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
From all of us here at ESPN the Fan, we
wish you a very good night, have a wonderful and
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back tomorrow as always here on your Utah ESPN Radio Network,
one of the three nine ninety eight point three
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