Michigan At Media Days: Bryce Underwood, Connor Stalions, and NCAA Sanctions

Buckeye Weekly Podcast: Big Ten Media Days Recap & Michigan Preview with Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr

In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, hosts Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr preview the third day of Big Ten Media Days with a focus on Michigan. They discuss Michigan's coaching staff, player representatives, and the dynamics of the team's upcoming season. The hosts also touch on other Big Ten teams, the implications of conference scheduling, and potential NCAA sanctions for Michigan. Dive deep into the latest Big Ten football insights and join the conversation! 

00:00 Introduction and Welcome 
00:24 Big 10 Media Days Overview 
01:04 Today's Schedule and Key Speakers 
02:10 Focus on Michigan's Representation 
02:47 Michigan's Offensive Concerns 
04:00 Quarterback Dilemma: Bryce Underwood vs. Mikey Keene
07:08 Michigan's Schedule Analysis 
09:10 Comparing Freshman Quarterbacks 
14:37 Michigan's Road Game Challenges 
27:53 NCAA Sanctions and Potential Impact 
29:40 Navigating Press Conferences 
30:32 Michigan's NCAA Infractions 
32:32 Speculations and Predictions 
33:38 Impact on College Football 
44:46 Playoff Scenarios and Implications 
49:51 SEC vs Big Ten Debate 
56:03 Breaking News and Reflections 
59:07 Wrapping Up and Final Thoughts

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. I'm Tony
Gerdaman here as always with Tom or Tom. How's it
going here?

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Sitting at this exact table for probably the next two
last time this week? Question mark?

Speaker 1 (00:18):
I hope so, I think, so we'll see how's it going?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good? Good, third and final day of Big Ten media days.
This week is just always such a grind because there's
so much stuff and everyone, I'm sure hears me say
that and they're like, oh, those boys have been out
having fun and vagas. No, no, we're having the most
the most video editing week of our lives. But it's

(00:46):
been It has been a lot of fun to talk
to all these different folks. I'll get some different perspectives
on not just you know, this is always kind of
the who's gonna beIN the Big ten kind of time
of year, but it's all this year. There's so much
other stuff to talk about that's been really interesting to
get some different perspectives on.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yep. And then so today the show again begins if
you're watching on Big ten Network, begins at two thirty
Eastern with the outstanding Kirk Farrence Perdue, new Purdue head
coach Barry otom Deshaun Foster, the UCLA head coach. Where
is that located Los Angeles? Also USC is located in

(01:26):
Los Angeles. Jonathan Smith from Michigan State will follow him,
then Lincoln Riley and then Sharon Moore at three forty
five today.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
It's very smart to have Lincoln Riley between Jonathan Smith
and Sharon Moore, so you don't have an issue in
the tunnel.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well, you know, he's not great a defense, so he
might actually be like a gasoline and a fire type
of thing. So so that's what you guys have for
today if you're watching along on the television, And then
of course Tom and I will be back around eight
pm Eastern for Buckey Tomorrow Morning live show. There, so

(02:01):
we'll wrap up what we saw today, heard from the
Michigan folks, and maybe just some overall thoughts from the event.
But today we're gonna be talking about Michigan because this
is the Michigan Show in terms of the actual third
day stuff. Sharan More will be here of course, full

(02:22):
back Max Bredeson, linebacker Ernest Housman, and defensive end Derek Moore.
And so my first thought on what I'm looking at
this if the guy you have representing your offense is
a full back slash tight end, is that a good
sign for your offense or is this just I mean

(02:44):
it's not a good sign. Is it a bad sign
for the offense because none of the offensive lineman, certainly
no quarterback because they've got a transfer and a true
freshman transfer running back and a sophomore running back. Basically
the receivers average eight yards to catch not going to
be necessarily the guys representing him. Is this a default?
But also Max Bredeson is a very good and hard

(03:09):
nosed players. Maybe he's the best representative of the offense.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, that may be a Here's what here's how we
view ourselves as a program. And you know that has
been Sean Moore as an offensive line guy at heart, obviously,
and so I was a little surprised that it wasn't
an offensive lineman. But this is also teams have a
little bit of a different approach to who they send here.
And sometimes it's traditionally it has been, you know, a

(03:36):
reward for the fifty year senior who's such a you know,
always been such a great warrior for your team, and
that kind of stuff that was not the approach to
Ohio State took this year. Ohio State brought three guys
who literally could not check themselves into a hotel because
they were not twenty one years old yet. But it
was kind of three of the biggest names, maybe the
three biggest names on this year's team. Max Bredeston is

(03:57):
probably not one of the three biggest names on this
year's team. Maybe maybe this time next year. Bryce Underwood
is the one who's here for representing the Michigan offense.
But you're not going to bring a true freshman. I
don't know that I've ever seen a true freshman at
one of these events, So, you know, I I'm hesitant
to read too much into it in terms of what
it really means for the Michigan offense more than yeah,

(04:19):
it's a veteran guy and he's gonna he's gonna hit
all the talking points. You also sort of invite the
questions based on who the person is, and the questions
you're inviting based you know, I'm based on bringing a
tight end and full back. Here is toughness questions, line
of scrimmage questions, you know, establishing you know, establish it,
kind of run the damn ball, kind of questions. So

(04:42):
that's probably part of it as well, because that's that's
what Michigan has built its brand on for decades.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, and I don't know who else they would bring, frankly,
because again the receivers have really struggled and Colston Loveland
has gone. There's no like next, just no established I
and Marlin Klein played a bunch, but this guy, Max Prettiston,
is probably the most most obvious. We have seen transfer
quarterbacks be the representative like their first year, like they

(05:13):
have not played a game yet, but I'm going to
represent the team. So it's interesting that Mikey Keene, who
was I think banged up in the.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Spring, which yeah, he was banged up in the spring,
didn't really play. I don't think he played it all
in the spring game, and I don't know how much
he really played during the spring in I don't know
how much I'm really expecting him to play this fall.
We'll see the transfer guy who didn't play in the
spring and who may not be your starter, is probably
not the guy who I'd expect. That is though, one

(05:40):
of the really interesting questions is who's going to start,
because this is in some ways, this is not a
one to one for reasons that will you know, potentially
become a parent. But twenty eleven Ohio State, when they
had true freshman Braxton Miller and returning starter Joe Bowserman,
not returning starter and returning rosters returning roster participant Joe Bowserman,

(06:06):
you know, you you kind of had Braxton Miller as
a super elite true freshman, but is he ready to go?
And you have the veteran guy there, and you know,
there were there were certainly other other things at play
during that twenty eleven season that may or may not
apply to this year's Michigan team. But it's gonna it's
it's a you know, it's a team that it's it's

(06:28):
a situation where you've got some uncertainty around the quarterback position.
And my sense with this is we've generally kind of
been able to tell what they're probably going to do.
And you know, when it was Cave McNamara and JJ McCarthy,
it was like, they want to start JJ McCarthy, They're
going to eventually start JJ McCarthy, they might as well
just start him right away, and that's where sort of
things ended up. I think you might be in that

(06:52):
mode here. You know, maybe you start Mikey Keane to
get through week two at Oklahoma, to have just a
veteran guy and have Underwood kind of coming in to
supplement that. Maybe, but ultimately this feels like mid October,
this is Bryce Underwood's team.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yeah. And with Michigan schedule the road games that they
have like every other week, basically I think leads to
a couple of losses. So if they wanted to start
off with Mikey Kean and there's some losses in there,
it's a very easy transition and like, well we're we're
going to make that step to move forward. Trell Pryor
as a true freshman, started with game.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Four after the US started in Detroit.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
It's like that was an established Todd Beckman who took
them to the national title game of the year before.
But in terms of the expectations for Bryce Underwood, if
if you're going to start him, are they you could
just start in week one. That way he has a
week to prepare, a game to prepare under his belt

(07:52):
before Oklahoma. Is the safer step for them to mix
him in in those first few games until it's it's
his turn, or just just let him go and but
I guess it also depends on is he really that good?
Like how good is he? How good is he in
this offense? Do these receivers need a more veteran quarterback?

(08:14):
You know, doesn't you know? Does the offense need a
more veteran quarterback with these these receivers? Now, they did
go and get Donovan McAuley, former former Indianic quarterback and
receiver who's who's a big guy, who's a productive has
been a productive receiver, though he transferred out after the
fourth game last year because the ball was going to
other players, other transfers, and so he was kind of

(08:36):
shut out. And so he's at Michigan. Now he's going
to give them some size and you would assume a
more consistent target than they had last year. I'm just
I can be uh swull either way on what the
best course of action is. Do you protect him early
on or do you just ride or die with this
guy that you twelve million dollars or whatever? Do you

(08:58):
start getting your investment that first year, that first month.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, it's you're trying to strike a balance being so
many different things, because this is not a Michigan team
that has a incredible offensive line. I think there are
concerns at tackle, which can cut one of two different ways.
One you want the guy who's more elusive to be
able to, you know, make something happen with his feet
if the pocket kind of breaks down. So that's one

(09:22):
side of it. The other side of it is, do
you want the veteran guy who has who's had to
deal with pass rush the pocket breaking down before, who
maybe is a little going to be able to process
things a little quicker just because you know that's that's
not a Bryce Underwood specific thing. That's a every time
you talk to a true freshman and then you talk
to them next year, they say, Hey, the game's moving
a lot slower for me. Now. Everything was kind of

(09:42):
going a million miles an hour as a true freshman.
Now that I have a year under my belt, everything's
moving a little slower. Week one week two. Things have
been going a trillion miles an hour in his head.
And that's true of every true freshman that's not specific
to him. That was true of Dylan Roolo last year
for Nebraska. He finished with thirteen touchdowns and eleven interceptions.

(10:02):
And we saw Underwood during the spring game and everyone
saw the one play that was the long and ninety
whatever yard touchdown pass. But you know, other than that,
it was there wasn't a whole lot of there there
with with you know, with the spring game, and that's
just one practice. But I didn't get the sense listening

(10:24):
to Michigan people talked that that was necessarily out of
the ordinary either, and it's just there's gonna be a
learning curve. Ultimately, you're probably better off trying to work
him into a certain degree, not just like throwing him
into the fire, because if you throw him into the
fire and then he gets hurt because the offensive line
is issued, then that's really a you know, really a

(10:48):
you know, a problem.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yeah, I think the offensive line is maybe the answer
there in terms of why it would be Mikey Keane
to start, assuming again, we don't know how camp is
gonna go. This is a if it's neck and that
type of thing, who do you go with? Now? If
it's clearly bright underwhere are clearly like a key, then
that answer is easy. But then there's also you get
past the Oklahoma game and then those are the two

(11:11):
games where Michigan, Michigan would like to suspend their head coach. Yes, four,
do you want a true freshman quarterback starting in games
where your head coach isn't there to maybe call them down?
But is how at Ohio State the head coach gets
involved a quarterbacks Sharan Moore is an offensive line guy,
so he's not necessarily good to be as involved. But
is that something where maybe the head coach doesn't want

(11:36):
a freshman if he's not there. Yeah?

Speaker 2 (11:39):
Well, and then the other piece of this is where
does Michigan honestly believe they are in terms of the
college football playoff this year? Do they honestly feel that
they're a legitimate contender. They're probably going to be ranked
in an area in the rankings where I think what
a fourth and the Big Ten prediction something like that,
maybe something something along those lines where you're probably in

(12:03):
the college football conversation playoff conversation, but you're not necessarily
a prohibitive favorite to make the college football playoff And
you know, internally, yeah, this is this is a time
of year when there's lots of optimistic talk. Internally, where
do they really think they are and when they look
at their schedule do they think they're going to be able.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
To go.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
So they were their fifth so yeah, behind Penn State,
Ohio State, Oregon, and Illinois.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
But they did have a first place vote.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
They did have a first place vote. Yes, can I
guess which beat that vote came from. It is you're
going to approach the season two different ways. One if
you feel this is a team that, by the end
of the season could be a you know, make a
run in the college football playoff kind of team, which,

(12:50):
as you see a true freshman quarterback grow over the
course of the year, you could be. But then also
with the way the schedule lays out, do you have
time to sort of let him work through some of
those those bumps and bruises and learning curve. You know,
this is kind of to me a little bit the
Cade McNamara versus JJ McCarthy conversation, where Michigan's not winning
the national championship this year. But maybe you just sort

(13:13):
of ride it out with Bryce Underwood as much as
you can. Maybe that's not week one, week two, but
you ride it out with him as much as you can.
Take your bumps and bruises, except that, yeah, true freshman
quarterback is going to lose you a game at some point.
But you know, you go through the you go through
the schedule at Oklahoma, at Nebraska, home for Wisconsin, at USC,
home for Washington, at Michigan State, and then they've got Purdue,

(13:36):
and then you get into November and you know, I
don't got to scroll down here at Northwestern, at Maryland
and Ohio State. I mean, you've got there are none
of those games are unwinnable games. Really, you know, there's
lots of those teams have questions, but none of those
games are. You know, you're gonna beat Purdue at home. Yes,

(13:56):
you're probably gonna beat Northwestern at Wrigley Field. You're probably
gonna win at Maryland. But there's you know, you could
lose to Wisconsin at home. I don't think you're going to,
but you could. You could lose at USC, you could
lose to Washington this year, I mean you're playing a
lot of kind of like middle of the Big ten games.
You could lose in Nebraska, like absolutely, So this is it.

(14:17):
You know you're going to have You've got your your
gimme's non conference, You've got a couple in conference that
you're going to win. But that looks to me like
you got five games you're going to win another, and
then like seven that you are somewhere between could win,
too likely to win, but not guaranteed to win.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
Well, I see the because the first four games is
an opportunity for Michigan to go to and too and
then have the off week and then start Bryce Underwood,
you know, and get him going. And that's that's kind
of what I'm expecting to see. Where you've got Michigan
loses at Oklahoma, they went, they obviously beat Central Michigan,

(14:58):
and then they are they lose at Nebraska. I mean this,
that's done an easy road trip, and then it's like, okay, well,
you know, we've got a week off, let's get the
freshman quarterback in there that let's just move on and
make the next step. And I think that if I
were to throw some money down, that's kind of how
I see it going for them now. If any of

(15:19):
those quarterbacks win any of those road games and that,
you know, that's also a good answer for Michigan because
I think they've found something there.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yeah, and I would I would probably take the over
on two wins in the first four games there, but
there there are a couple of losable games. You're not
losing all of your losible games, unless you're Scott Frost
era at Nebraska and you're not winning all of your
losible games for the most part, you know you're going
to fall somewhere in the middle there. And you know,

(15:46):
this is the time of year when you can look
at anyone's schedule and go, yeah, they could go anywhere
between thirteen to oho and five and seven, and you know,
the truth is generally going to fall somewhere in between.
And you know this is this is also the time
of year when if you pull fans from every team
within Big Ten play, the Big Ten is going to
go forty seven games above five hundred because everyone's everyone's

(16:08):
going nine and three or better this year. So we'll see.
And this, you know, this is this is a if it.
You know, let's let's talk about the att Nebraska game.
If you have a true freshman starter in Bryce Underwood
potentially going up against a second year in Dylan Riola,

(16:29):
I don't think Nebraska's gonna be amazing this year, but
I think Nebraska's gonna be better. And Michigan is Michigan
has questions. And you know, I see the folks in
the comments talking about you know, Michigan's quarterback last year,
and yeah, they had they had a bad quarterback situation
last year. Mason Graham is not on this year's team.
Kenneth Grant is not on this year's team. And yeah,

(16:50):
I know they've got other guys there. I know, you know,
I know they like Rayshewan Benny in the middle of
the defensive line. The offensive line has questions. I mean,
and and you're they have new running backs, and I
know they like Jordan Marshall line. I know they like
Justice Hands. But you don't have Colston Loveland this year.
You have. I mean, there's just there's a lot of turnover,
and I you know, this is the time of year
that everyone wants to talk with great certainty. I don't

(17:13):
have a total grasp on what Ohio State is going
to be this year. I don't have a total grass
band what Michigan is going to be this year. This
is this is the time of year where I mean,
Oregon this year, like there's questions about Oregon when you
know they're replaced a bunch of guys. Penn State's the
team that I feel like you have the most certainty
about among kind of that top tier of the Big
Ten and Illinois might be the second behind that in

(17:34):
just in terms of the margin, you know, the error
bars there. The margin for errs is not quite as
big on them. But you know, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon,
I think those are all teams that you don't have
the huge veteran core returning like Michigan had in twenty three,
Ohio State had in twenty four. That's Penn State this year,
and everyone else. You have hopes, you have dreams, you

(17:58):
have thoughts on how this is going to go. But
this is the time of year when you can make
lots of real, real uh you know, certain predictions and
then go back and go, wow, I was way off
on that.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yeah. I mean, Michigan beat Ohio State last year without
a quarterback. They also lost four Big Ten team to
you know, four Big Ten games, washing at Washington, Illinois
at Indiana, and of course Oregon at home. So like
they struggled on the road. And that's kind of what
I foresee this year again until until the the Bryce

(18:30):
Underwood thing is fully fleshed out and he's got some experience,
which he very well could and it probably will. What
Ohio State gets to town, he's not going to be
the same quarterback in September that he is in November,
as we keep saying. So I think the idea that
Michigan loses a couple of games early it's not out

(18:50):
of I mean they did last year of course that
was Texas. But I'm interested to see what they are
on the road because I don't expect them to be
very explosive, going to be as good defensively. They lost
some most scoring games last year. It doesn't I mean
they scored seven points at Illinois, seventeen points at Washington,
seventeen points at Oregon against Oregon, fifteen points at Indiana,

(19:12):
Like you don't. You don't need to give up many
points to lose. When you're only scoring ten to seventeen points.
It can just swing on one play, and on the road,
anything can happen. And having two road games early on
I think is not good news for them. And if
they come out of it, then great, and then they
could take a rest and then you know, it's their

(19:33):
schedule is interesting just because it's a home game, it's
a road game. It's a home game, it's a road game.
But once they get through this, you know, get past
Michigan State, and again I think Michigan State, they better
watch out for that one because that's rivalry on the road.
And I know that Michigan fans are going crazy right now,
probably with me, like just beware Michigan. You might have
some tough games like Ohio State schedule. We're telling people

(19:55):
watch out. You've got at Washington, at Illinois, at Wisconsin
at Michigan. Like these are all scary games that can
go either way on any given day. So if I'm saying,
like nor at Northwestern at Maryland, I think you're gonna
be fine, but there are some legitimate concerns USC should

(20:15):
have got them last year an arbor, and I think
this is a this is this a better Michigan team
this year.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
It's a different this year. It's the they we don't
really know that we we don't really know. It's it's
a Michigan team that's gonna be better at the end
of the year than they were in the middle of
the year last year. Because I do think assuming Bryce

(20:45):
Underwood stays healthy, you're going to see at least more
dynamic play from the quarterback position. They're gonna be pros
and cons. They're gonna be They're gonna be throws that
he will make this year that will make everyone pull
their hair out, and there will be plays that he
makes you this likes. I go back to like the
Terrell freshman year at Ohio State, where you know, same thing,
top top, top, top five star quarterback, a little you know,

(21:09):
a little bit raw, and Underwood's probably a better passer
than Pryor was. Pryor was probably a little bit more
dynamic with his legs than Underwood was. But you're gonna
you know that was that was an Ohio State team
that was not loaded at wide receiver by any means,
and had, you know, some questions I think on the
offensive line, and you know had probably I think I'd

(21:29):
take Beanie Wells over Jordan Marshall and Justice Haynes. So
you've got you know, it's it's not a dissimilar situation.
And I remember that that Trurell prior two thousand and
eight season where you know, he threw four touchdowns against
Troy and it was like, wow, you look at those stats.
That's amazing in his first career start, and it was like, boy,
that game was not a that was not a good game.

(21:51):
And they had a what they lose to Penn State
that you're thirteen to six or something like that, and
he had a fumble they got run back I think
for a touchdown. That was a like a real backbreaker
for a house. It's a freshman quarterback. He's gonna make mistakes.
You've seen this over the years. This is not specific
the price Underwood. This is just it's a freshman quarterback.

(22:13):
I think you know they've lost. Michigan has built itself
around the trenches for so long, and they have good
pieces in the trenches. But I don't know that they're
going to be quite as strong in the trenches. I
don't know the offensive lines can be quite as good
this year. The defensive line, you just you lost a
top five pick in Mason Graham. That's that's not an

(22:33):
easy thing to replace. And like I said, I know
they've got ray Seon Benny and who's the other defensive
well brought in They brought in the transfer right Yeah, yeah,
but I'm blanket on his name right now. Derek Moore
is a heck of a player off the edge. But
you do still have questions then that this is not
a you know, fully formed twenty twenty three. Look at

(22:56):
all the veteran guys we've got back coming off of
a college football playoff run kind of team. They have
questions and so I'm gonna say they're going to be
better than they were most of twenty twenty four. But
I also think that the people who are just doing
the disco stew You know, if these trends continue for

(23:19):
beating Ohio State and beating Alabama, like, well, they'll be
beating the Chicago Bears by week three and then you know,
is it time to take on God himself by mid season?
I don't know. Well, guess we'll find out that's not
really how this works. I think they're going to be
probably better than they were like for the bulk of
the season. I think it'd be better than they were

(23:40):
last season. But they lost every road game they played
before Thanksgiving last year, So yeah, they'll be better than that.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
You think they should. You mentioned Dylan Raiola or the
freshman quarterback like costing you a game at some point.
Dylan Raiola was it the Illinois game where he hit
three three touchdowns, but at the end he made some
bad plays on a drive to tie the game, and
it's just like you never know when that's gonna happen.

(24:10):
And so regarding Dylan Rella, if I say he threw
for twenty eight hundred nineteen yards last year, if that's
the over under for Bryce Underwood twenty one hundred yards,
because that was a true freshman last year for Nebraska
thirteen games, he started every game.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
How many yards did JJ McCarthy throw for in various seasons,
Probably not loud. I mean, I think this is a
Michigan team that is still going to be a run heavy.
I'll take the under on twenty eight hundred yards first. Yes, sure,
for him, it's this is still a Michigan team whose
identity is based on winning in the trenches. If you

(24:47):
have a former offensive line guy as your head coach,
your identity is going to be based on winning in
the trenches. And that has worked for them, that has
worked for them for decades. That's Sharon Moore's identity, that's
the program's identity. That that is they are going to
be a run first team. Yeah. JJ McCarthy in twenty
twenty three, twenty nine hundred and ninety one yards, and
that was in fifteen, so you know, and that was

(25:08):
not a season where he split right he was, so, yeah,
I will definitely take the under on that. If you
look at it, Dylan Raila's numbers on the whole last year,
I think I'll take thirteen touchdowns eleven interceptions, right, it
was the number. So I'll take the under on interceptions

(25:30):
for sure. I'll take the over on touchdowns, but I'll
definitely take the under on yardage. I think he's gonna,
you know, I think bresh Run's going to make some
exciting plays. He's gonna he's gonna make He's gonna have
the uh no no no no no no no yes plays.
You'll you'll have a few of those, but you're also
gonna have the no no, no, no no no plays
sometimes too, because that's what a talented true freshman quarterback is.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
I wonder about the completion percentage. Dilanrail is sixty seven
point one under. Well, I mean Michigan throws a lot
of short passes because that's what they're receivers. That's true
can handle. But yeah, I sixty It used to be
really good. Now it's like, well, I mean that's kind
of the baseline. That's weird because all of the screen
game and the short passes and the past offenses. But

(26:16):
I'm with you under on yards just because even if
you started every game, they are so just they are
what they are offensively, and I don't expect them to
start cranking it up and so they get more skill
around him and then maybe they can.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
But I gotta say, I'm just watching the comments and
the Ohio State fans and Michigan fans go absolutely going
at it in the comments, and I just the phrase
nature is healing keeps coming to mind. It's just you know,
you know how I know college football season is right
around the corner.

Speaker 1 (26:46):
I mean, although Ohio State Michigan fans in the comments,
that's that's like a year round crop, like you can
it just grows.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
And that that's your cover crop over the winter. Yeah,
and just just I absolutely love this. I have to
punch us up. Franklin fanatic. We are twenty twenty six
national championship. God bless James Franklin, the Penn State fan
logging on you know what. I love it.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
Absolutely, let us super chat you.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yes, yes, And we spent a ton of time talking
about Penn stance people saying we're obsessed that we're talking
about Michigan today. Like, yeah, it's Michigan. Daate big ten
media days. We're big TiO media days. Like when it
was Penn State Day yesterday. You'll never guess who we talked.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
About all day.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
So yeah, that's that's uh, that is how the conference
has set things up. So yeah, that's the topic of
the day, the topic du jore. I'll take that. That
sounds good.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
So just be kind to each other. When you're insulting
each other, just do it in a nice way with
a smiley emoji after you tell somebody to go, you know,
jump off a cliff.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
So yes, Antoine doing a great job using the laughing emoji.
So good. Glad glad to have you guys slugging you
out in the comments, something that I'm sure will calm
everyone else down, Tony. One of the topics that I'm
sure is going to come up today, I don't know
how much it's going to be addressed today is the
question of NCAA sanctions from Michigan. There's been a lot

(28:06):
of you know, someone asked, I think at one point,
you know, what if the odds the NCUBLEA drops the sanctions,
Like fifteen minutes before Sharon Moore gets in the podium
close to zero is I think the answer to that
because it's that's a sixty to ninety day process, So
that's that's gonna be. That's more of an August thing,
almost certainly, rather than a July thing like August what
August seventh or something like that is sixty days, give

(28:28):
or take. So I'm not expecting that. I'm also not
expecting Sharon. I'm expecting Shuran Moore to get asked about
it in various ways. I'm not expecting Searon More to
address it in any real detail.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
Tom I cannot comment on an ongoing can say, an investigation,
so I you know, you can ask the questions if
you want. I can't say anything about them other than
you know.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
Well, I would be interested in his thoughts, and I
bet he probably could talk about his thoughts on Tony
Pettiti writing a letter supporting Michigan. That might that might
be something he's able slash willing to discuss. Maybe maybe yeah,
that that is on the spectrum of possible things that
are going to get you a key. I can't talk

(29:13):
about that.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
Smile.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
Uh. You know, the cam cam Newton is, as they say,
it's an ongoing investigation. Smile gift. You know you're going
to get that. On a lot of stuff you might
be able to get him. I mean, Petit has talked
about it. Obviously, it got leaked to Dan Wets. Also,
Michigan is in favor of this being a topic of conversation,
so that might be something you might be able to
get an answer on.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
Then I would like, so you can talk about investigation now.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
That now that everything has changed. Yes, I and I
know everyone in our comments is going to say, ask
about ask about this, ask about that, and you can.
The way these events work is it's a big group
of people standing around and you have something you want
to ask about, and it's like, well you ask about that,

(29:58):
Well he's not going to answer that. It doesn't matter.
I just want to see and look uncomfortable, like that's
not what we're here to do. We're here to get information.
Like I can tell you, the information is that he's
not gonna answer that question. That's we're better off asking
about Mikey Keane or Bryce Underwood or the offensive line
situation or you know where they are stand at tight

(30:20):
end with Colston Loveling gone. I mean what you know,
you're better off asking questions like that.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
It is interesting because that's the information I want to
hear from him, because those are the questions that I
have because I know he's done.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Yeah right, yeah, yeah, his.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
Power regarding the NCAA is he has done like that,
that's all he's He's just waiting like the rest of us,
to find out what's going to happen. I would like
to have questions answered about his football team at this point.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yeah right, That's that's what the main topic of conversation
for this is going to be, and there will be
time to have those conversations. I see people like definitively
saying like they're done, They're not gonna get any more punishments,
like if it feels like if that was true, Michigan
wouldn't be things and floating stories about like and you know,

(31:05):
there are folks out there who can't wait to tell
you that they have all sorts of secret sources on
the Committee on Infractions and that they know exactly what's
going to come.

Speaker 1 (31:12):
I'm on the committee. Oh well, if I can't talk
about it, though, Oh don't ask.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
If i'm again, ask, remind me to talk to you
about that this after we're done. Yeah, and they want
to they want to tell you that they know exactly
what's coming, and we are not in that group of people.
And we're not you know, I think we have been
pretty consistently in the camp of it's going to be
more than nothing, and it's going to be less than
the end of the you know, the entire entirety of

(31:37):
Washingtonaw County, Michigan. Like it's it's going to fall somewhere
in the middle there. We'll see where it well, we'll
see where it falls. The Tony Petiti letter. We've talked
about this before, but the Tony Petiti letter, there's you know,
people were looking at that and going, aha, this is
so now. Now one of the most powerful men in
football says that nothing more should happen. There's a similar

(31:59):
headline about Jim Delaney sending a letter to the NCAA
in two thousand and eleven for the Tatgate Ohio state investigation,
like almost word for word, verbatim headline, and you saw
how much good that did. So this is this is
just sort of like, yeah, this is what you do.
This is when you were in this position, you sent
you know, you get a gift to your wedding, you

(32:21):
send a thank you note. A team of your conference
gets in trouble with the NCAA, you send a please
please serve, They're so kind, please be gentle.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
Well, this is a stop all your head type of thing,
where if they weren't going to get anything else, they
wouldn't be taking this to a committee on infractions. Like
the NCAA is going to tell Michigan, you're fine, we're
not going to do anything else, and Michigan's like, I
want to argue this. I want to take this to
the Committee on infractions, like no, stop all of your head.
So clearly that's not the situation. Yeah, And if they're

(32:51):
already on probation for what were lesser things, do you
think that they're not going to We talked about this
on the previous show, like it's crazy, it's ludicrous to
think that there's not going to be further NCAA penalties
for what this was and what happened under Jim Harbaugh's
watch and suspending Sharon Moore two games has nothing to

(33:14):
do with what was going on with Michigan. That's a
deleting text thing. That's a Michigan thing that the NCAA
may do what they want to do with him, but
there's still more coming, Like there's no way that the
NCA is going to be like, yeah, no, we're good,
you made a solid argument. We were completely wrong every
step of the way. Yeah, our apologies. We will revoke

(33:35):
the previous probation just because we feel that.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
Yeah, And I don't have any real strong sense for
will this be some kind of a backwards facing thing
in terms of vacating wins, in terms of vacating titles,
in terms of whatever, is this going to be a
forward facing thing in terms of, hey, you have a postseason,
you know, you see people making extremely confident ideas that

(34:02):
you know, I know exactly what's going to happen, and
here's exactly, you know, citing this precedent. It's like, there's
not a case that's direct precedent for this. Normally, sometimes
you can look at thet NCAA case law and go,
in this case, this person did this thing and or
they played an ineligible player, and that's what this. You know,
there was this violation, the player is eligible, and so
this is what happened. There's not a direct precedent here
for that. So that that's why I feel like, you know,

(34:26):
saying I know exactly what's going to be is probably
not a smart way to approach, just because I don't
think you really do. But this is also one of
those things where you know, I think this is this
is like you know, you've done the coverall in Bingo,
like everyone has, someone somewhere has postulated whatever exactly the
punishment is can be, yeah, the exact denomination of things,

(34:47):
and it's like, oh, look, obviously I knew it the
whole time. It's like, well, yeah, okay, you tweeted forty
seven things, you deleted forty six of them, and congratulations.
Like it's like the people who are like super Bowl
rigged because they tweet seven thousand different comp nations of
scores and then delete them all and they're like, oh see,
I knew ten.

Speaker 1 (35:03):
Days ago the I saw somebody asked if kind of
stallions was going to be here. I don't believe so.
But he may have gotten credentialed through Fox, through Barstool Sports,
you know, So there's I'm not saying I'm not saying
that he is. I'm just saying he's got a couple
of like one degree of separation from getting credential from

(35:23):
this place because of Fox.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
With as much as I guess. Okay, let's let's frame
this this way. Which does he love more at the
University of Michigan's football program or attention because I know.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
No Michigan.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
Okay, well, then what do you think Michigan wants him
to do? How close would you do you? How close
would they like him to be to this event? To
turn this into a circus. A matter of weeks before
the Committee on in Fraction Results releases a.

Speaker 1 (35:59):
You make a fair because he has spoken out and
clearly Michigan would not like him to do that. So,
but he is If you wanted attention more than he
loved Michigan, then maybe we would hear him talking more.
But he shirt seems to like attention. But no, I
don't expect him to be here. I do think he
loves I know he loves Michigan. I think he may

(36:22):
love Michigan. Well, Tom, if you have a manifesto like
that's kind of an emotional connection to uh, you know.
And granted, his manifesto is on like the way he
sees football in the world, but he applied it to Michigan,
so he basically gave Michigan his baby, you know, like

(36:43):
this is he loves Michigan. I think he's a selfless guy,
a good guy. Please stop me. He's not going to
be here.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
No, no, yeah, he's not. He's not going to be here.
If he is, boy, that would make for some fascinating,
fascinating now there.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
I did see some guy in the Central Michigan.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
Polo sunglasses inside was a weird choice.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
But Las Vegas.

Speaker 2 (37:09):
Yeah, so that's uh, that's that. So, you know, I
don't I'm not expecting a lot of answers on that today,
which fine, you did not come out here with the
expectation of that. Like someone will ask, it won't be answered,
and everyone will move on with life until two to
four weeks from now when there's an actual answer.

Speaker 1 (37:28):
So and then will he talk like It'll be interesting
to see what what he says when he can finally
talk about it, or will he just like, well, that's
that's in the past. Now, I'm not talking about.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
The past one hundred percent. You know, the that will
be the you know, it'll just be you know, you know,
this is what this is what they said, and we
don't like it, We don't agree with it, but it is,
you know, and now we've got to Now we're got
to move forward, and so you know, and you're you're
also going to have the folks who were absolutely insistent
that you couldn't have a rush to judgment two years

(37:57):
ago and you had to let take time that the
process play out. There the exact same people are going
to be telling you that whatever it is is unfair
because it punishes players who had nothing to do with anything.
And so you know, this is this is old news,
like you know, and that's one of those go back
and find the show two years ago where we're saying

(38:18):
you have to you have to pick one. You can't.
You can't say you can't punish us now and you
can't punish us later if there's findings of violations, you
got you got to pick one, and you can't punish
us now. Was the you know, So okay, like that's fine.
So now you let the process play out and the
result is gonna be whatever the result is. But that's
uh that is to come in a month or so.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
Are there any question.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
There are There's been a lot of very definitive statements
in the comments, a lot of a lot of yeah,
a lot of very definitive statements.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
There is a lot of emojis and explanation for you,
a lot.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
Of emojis yet and you know, I mean, here's here's
one from sir. You know. The argument isn't Michigan shouln't
get punshed because they did nothing wrong, but they won't
be punished because too many people lose money. And that's
that's a Follow the money is a long time rule
in journalism, whether in political or in college football, and

(39:21):
follow the money has been a decent barometer for Okay,
what is how you know what is going to change
in the sport? Over the years, You've seen a lot
of changes that were not necessarily driven by tradition or
geographic convenience or any of that, but driven by TV.
And so I do understand that argument. I don't know
how much, you know, I don't think that changes what

(39:43):
the TV ratings for this year's Ohio State Michigan game are,
if you know, hypothetically, and I'm not predicting this, hypothetically,
Michigan gets a postseason ban this year or two year
ban or whatever it is, and so Michigan's ineligible for
college football playoff. I don't think that changes the view
numbers on the Ohio State Michigan game by one person

(40:03):
this year versus you know, if Michigan is ten and
two or Michigan with you know, nine and two or
ten and one, whatever it is, entering that game and
they're eligible or they're not eligible. I don't think that
changes the viewing numbers whatsoever, because it's just that game
draws incredible numbers every singular year, one of, if not

(40:24):
the highest rated regular season game every single year. You know,
Ohio State is you know, High State's probably not going
to be exactly what they were last year, but they should.
You know, they're in that probably top five ten is conversation.
They're certainly going to be in the college Football playoff
conversation entering that game one way or the other. Michigan's
probably in that conversation one way or the other. But

(40:44):
just you know, if if Michigan is not eligible this
year for whatever reason, then that's a conversation Like the
twenty twenty three when Jim Harbaugh wasn't there, that almost
brought more attention to that game. So you know, I
don't I don't think you know, and this is not
this is not a league where they have one good

(41:05):
team and it's Michigan and if they're not eligible, then
you're gonna have to take a completely in qualified team.
The Big Ten is going to get four teams in
this year, probably, you know, some combination of Ohio State, Michigan,
Penn State, Oregon, Indiana, Illinois, like whatever. Like. There are
going to be other quality eligible teams that will get
in this year. So you know, I don't know that

(41:26):
it is. I don't know that this is like, well,
definitely nothing's going to happen because you know, Gus Johnson's
going to call the NCAA and say, listen, we need
we need viewers.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
Well, I think it also depends on how good are
both teams in terms of the ratings. I was just
looking up the twenty twelve Michigan Ohio State game, which
was actually second that week behind Notre Dame in USC,
which was Notre Dame US. He was the prime time
and of course, yeah, Ohio State Michigan is the twelve
noon on ABC. Nine point five million for the Michigan game,

(41:57):
sixteen point one for the Notre Dame USC and the
other game.

Speaker 2 (42:00):
Was that was not a good Michigan team though, right, And.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
In Notre Dame twenty twelve they played for the national
title and that was at USC So that's where again,
if Michigan is on probation and they don't have and
they have a postseason ban and they come into that
game seven and four like that was, I don't know
if it's going to win the week. I know we'll see.
But if both teams are twelve or eleven and oh

(42:25):
and one team doesn't have a postseason hope. I don't
know that that necessarily impacts anything, because you're still gonna
want to see, like is the other what is Ohio
State going to get upset and lose finally or get
knocked out of the playoffs or whatever. But I also
like the playoffs were fine last year without Michigan. The
playoffs are fine without Ohio State. The playoffs are always going.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
To be in the playoffs, right, Yeah, that's there's there's
plenty of big brands, and you know that you're you're
almost I think what we saw Ohio State and Notre
Dame had big, big, you know, enormous maybe maybe the
two biggest fan bases in the country, but you didn't
have the record breaking view numbers for that National Championship
game because it was not a big TEN versus SEC

(43:10):
kind of thing where you sort of draw in the
two different regions. I do also think that the gap
between when most teams are done with their college football
seasons and when people sort of think about, Okay, the
college football season goes this long and then it's the
and then there's another week after that. Yeah, I do
think that. You know, I saw Michigan fans basically saying, oh,
no one even cares about this, no one even knows

(43:31):
this is going on. I can tell you when Michigan
was in the National Championship game. I think a lot
of people in Columbus felt that way, but other people
as well, where it's not just we're not paying attention
because it's our rivals, it's you're used to the college
football season being done and your team is in off
season mode, so it's like, oh, right, that's still going on.

(43:52):
I don't know how you solve that problem without moving
the season up a couple of weeks or a week.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
Or two, but I think somebody here yesterday may have
that suggestion.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
Yeah, and I've seen that before. That is that I
think is maybe where you have more of an issue,
but also, what is the most college football day of
the year. It's New Year's Day and having you know,
the one quarterfinal game on New Year's Eve and then
a day full of fantastic, super important do or die

(44:22):
college football games. That was you know, we didn't get
it this year because of the tragedy of the Sugar Bowl.
But if you get that where you have the one
New Year's Eve game and then you have boom boom
boom on on New Year's Day, that I think is
going to do really really good TV numbers.

Speaker 1 (44:39):
I always get excited when you look at the possibilities
of just not that we get to watch them. You
always get to watch one basically, but the day fill
the playoffs and talking to the coaches yesterday about the
possibility of playing games. Luke Fickel, if you ever want
to see a coach happy, go watch. I don't have
any of the videos, but like when they're talking about

(45:00):
lut Fickle, Jetfish, PJ Flag, David Brown talking about the
possibility of play in games and they lut Fickle called
it the wild card weekend. He's like, yes, give that
to me, give us, give everybody. So most teams in
the Big ten hope of the playoffs through November. And
it's I think the things that we talked about with

(45:23):
New Year's Day and looking forward to that, I think
the play and weekend would become such a huge, huge thing.
It's like the AFC NFC Championship game weekend. Yeah, where
it will become one of those big things. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (45:37):
And that's the thing that has kind of changed my
view a little bit on the four four two two,
one one or one three or whatever. The combination of
letter numbers is that you have you end up with
more teams having a meaningful chance at the national championship,
like a direct path national championship going into November. That's

(45:57):
just it's more meaningful games on championship weekend. It's more
meaningful games in the week's leading up to conference championship
game weekend. And you know, I've seen a lot of
people say, look that the argument against it is, well,
you know, Iowa was you know two years ago, Iowa
would have been in the game in the sixth place
game in Iowa was eight and four and they didn't

(46:18):
beat a team better than the seven and five Minnesota team.
All year, and it's like, do they deserve a chance
at the national Championship? Well, what are the odds that
they're going to run the table and win the national Championship?
I mean, like, and was it two years ago that
Ole Miss was the lowest seed in the college football
in the College World Series in the NCAA tournament, Like,

(46:40):
they got the last team in the field and they
won the College World Series? Like, was that a terrible
terrible outcome? Did that you know, ruin college baseball? No?
But you're also I was not going to do that, Like,
you know, that's a very easy, you know, sort of
straw man to pick at. But was South Carolina win
the national championship year if they got in? No, of

(47:01):
course not. But that was not you know, that was
not a thing that kept people from lobbying for South Carolina.
In fact, many of the same people who are now
making the argument about Iawall.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
Yeah, Boise State wasn't going to win it, but but
there was a place for them. The the play in
the coaches wanting this and having that opportunity also helps
with the recruiting and all of that. I'm interested to
see if at some point Greg Sankie's like, yeah, okay,
like as this all been posturing this five plus eleven

(47:32):
because the other thing is the coaches, all of them
are saying, settle it on the field, which there's this
there's the irony of we want automatic qualifiers, but we
also want to settle it on the field. Yeah, it's
like the automatic qualifying allows things to be settled on
the field because they they they're tired of basically giving

(47:53):
way to the committee on all of these things. And
so yes, if you have the three verses six and
the four verses five, that's sixth seed is oftentimes in
the Big Ten going to have three losses, maybe even
four conference losses. I was looking there's there's several years,
but that's also a product of playing nine conference games.
You're not gonna find that in the SEC, where they

(48:14):
only play eight, where it's like, yeah, you're not gonna
probably have the number six seed have four losses because
there's fewer losses in the conference because there are fewer games.
And that's another thing. I think it was Jetfish talking
about the fact that there's uneven things. Basically they want
everything to be uniform, but if it's not gonna be

(48:34):
going to be uniform, then they definitely want to have
these playing games so that they're not leaving stuff up
to the committee, because the resumes in the SEC will
look prettier because they have one fewer tough game, whereas
the resume the beauty pageant of the Big Ten is
but you got a lot of bruises, you kind of
you know you got this. Yeah, your hair is all

(48:54):
must up. And then in terms of the like the
Big Ten coaches getting guff for not wanting to play,
like if I don't have to play a tenth Power
four team in non conference, Like if I don't have
to play a power four team at non conference and
I don't want to do it, and people are like
on Twitter like do you you cowards? You cowards. Meanwhile,
there are only three of the sixteen SEC teams that

(49:15):
play ten Power four conference conference teams, and twelve of
the eighteen Big Ten teams play ten Power four conference games.
So the SEC, I think it's Alabama, it's Georgia and
South Carolina are the only three teams this year playing
no not Georgia because they have they only have Georgia Tech.

(49:36):
And then they have the softest schedule you've ever seen
outside of that, so South Carolina, Alabama, and one other
team in Florida because they played Miami in Florida State.
So that's it. Those three teams are the only teams
that does do what sixty seven percent of the Big
Ten does.

Speaker 2 (49:51):
And you know, you make some interesting points there, However,
how many SEC teams play at least eight SEC teams
versus how many non SEC teams too? Because I think
the answer to that is zero, so all and zero,
So checkmate.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
You know how I was on the committee on the fractions,
you are on the.

Speaker 2 (50:06):
Siluxiks hypothetically, Tony, I think the SEC would go undefeated
in SEC play if only the officials let them do it.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
Yeah. I can't argue with that because as we know,
they have never lost an hypothetical game other than to
an SEC team. And then even then you're not supposed
to talk about right.

Speaker 2 (50:28):
Yeah. And one of the interesting points that was made
this week was you think you hear nine conference game
versus eight and you think, well, yes, everyone has. You know,
there's there's going to be nine more losses in the conference.
So that means that Ohio State has one more chance
to lose to a Big Ten team Morgan has one
more chance to lose, Michigan, Penn State, Illinois, Indiana, whoever
it is you're going to have, you are going to

(50:49):
have one more chance to play and lose to a
Big Ten team. That's all true. The secondary impact there
that I think people don't necessarily think about is when
you're looking at your resume, every team you play, like
half of them is going to have another loss. So
if your win over the third place Big Ten team
under an eight game schedule might be a team that

(51:11):
had a eight or a seven and one non conference
or the conference record in under an eight game thing
might be a seven and two non comfort r And
then it's like, well, how good can they be? They're
they're you know, with the way the committee looks at it,
they generally will kind of sort start their ranking by
sort by number of losses. So the unbeaten teams have

(51:32):
to be at the top because they're unbeaten, and then
you get the number one teams and the one loss teams,
and then you get the two loss teams. Go back
and look at through the history of the college football
Playoff Committee, it's you know, the order of teams will change,
but generally you don't have a lot of two loss
teams above unbeaten teams, you know, outside of the power
you know, within the power conferences. So then your resume

(51:56):
is going to be slightly worse because just because these
teams are going to some one has to take the loss.
So you're going to it's going to hurt you directly,
but it's also going to hurt you indirectly. And like
people have figured this out, this is not a big
This is not a big, you know, controversial thing like
all the Big ten coaches have been talking about this
year and that's it's just like it's math. This is
how this works. You are going to have one more

(52:17):
loss and then you know, the SEC side of this
has generally been well yeah, but I mean, your ninth
game is Perdue. Everyone's ninth game is Purdue. To me,
it's like, oh, congratulations, you're playing Purdue. Oh very big.
Like someone's ninth game is Ohio State, someone's ninth game
is Penn State, someone's ninth game is Michigan. Like this
is not not everyone gets to play Perdue, just like

(52:39):
not everyone gets you know, if the SEC added a
ninth game, not everyone would get to play Vanderbilt. Or Kentucky,
like someone's gonna play Alabama, Someone's gonna play Georgia as
that ninth game. And there's has just been a very
consistent message this week here that whatever the number is,
everyone everyone should just be doing the same thing, like
you everyone should play games, or everyone should play nine

(53:01):
games in the conference, and everyone should if every you know,
everyone should have a you have to play one Power
Conference team outside of your outside of your league. There
should just be a standard. And then if you want
to adjust for well, we think that the teams in
this league are better than at least it's an apples
to Apple's comparison before you start that.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
Yeah, And from talking to the coaches, Jed Fish was
all in favor of playing an SEC team every year,
but only if the SEC goes to nine games and
there's automatic bids and playing games, because otherwise Ryan Day said,
all of these other coaches have said it, there's no incentive.
You're only punishing yourself if you play that tenth Power

(53:41):
four conference team. And as Chris Signetti said, like we've
we're doing the SEC thing. We're going to have three
non Power four teams in the non conference and play
nine Power four Conference teams like the SEC does and
why are we getting flack for that? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (53:58):
Well, and that they became a talking point. I don't
think that the conversation around Indiana would have been what
it was if that hadn't been the Friday night game.
You know that that was that was the first day
to point anyone had. And you know, we are in
the college sports media cakes complex where everyone has to
have and you know, everyone has to as soon as

(54:19):
the three drives of the game are done, everyone has
to have an extremely hot take about what it all
means about the future of college football. And so Indiana
fell behind in that game and Notre Dame won and one,
you know, comfortably but not in a blowout, and but
it was like, well they weren't even competitive. Now, twenty

(54:41):
four hours later, Tennessee got their heads caved in at
Ohio State. But by that point, like, well, I mean
it does. Is that a broader referendum on the SEC. No,
that's different because you know, if the Ohio State Tennessee
game had been Friday night and the Notre Dame Indiana
game had been Saturday night, I don't think you would
have seen quite the you know, India quite the examination

(55:04):
of Indiana's non conference schedule that you get. I mean,
it was it was a topic beforehand. It was like
people had made up their minds about this is exactly
what this means. And then here is some data that
broadly aligns with what I had said before. So therefore
I'm right about everything. And then, and that's why the
anyway TLDR, that's why the SEC has been the dominant

(55:24):
conference in college football for the last two years, with
zero zero current zero wins over Big Ten teams, current
SEC members over curnt Big Ten teams in the College
Football Playoff in only four attempts over the last two seasons.

Speaker 1 (55:39):
I will also add Notre Dame beat Indiana by ten points.
Notre Dame beat Georgia by thirteen points into playoffs. Again,
different kinds of games, yes.

Speaker 2 (55:49):
But yes, but one they were at home and the
other one was a neutral site game much closer to
the other schools at home. So you know, it's impossible
to compare those two things.

Speaker 1 (55:57):
But I know we like to look at final scores
and that's how things are often judged, and that's that's
what we do. And so again, kudos to the Big Ten.
A box on the SEC.

Speaker 2 (56:08):
We have breaking news that I would like to confirm
before we talk about it on the show.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
Uh oh oh no, yeah, oh no. I can't say
oh no because the Hawksters. Yes is not great.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
TMZ Sports reporting that Hulk Cogan has passed away at
age seventy one. Tony. I feel like I shouldyield the
floor to you, as as I'm sure you were a
hulkomaniac who was taking his vitamins and saying his career.

Speaker 1 (56:41):
I don't know if people remember Saturday Night's main event
back in the eighties, but I remember being like, they
should just get rid because it would be it would
like when like Saturday Night Live was on hiatus or whatever.
Every every few months there'd be a Saturday Night's main event, Like, man,
this is awesome. They should just get rid of Saturday
Night Live. Every Saturday Night Power. Here are these unfunny

(57:05):
kids and bring I went to the Holkster the Ultimate Warrior,
Sergeant Slaughter you know, yeah, so Iron scheek Erasure Iron
She Yeah. I mean no, we don't need to go
into another hour of the show, but.

Speaker 2 (57:21):
I do just want to take a moment to just
reflect on the fact that the people that have been
absolutely screaming at each other in the comments for a
full hour. Now everyone's on the same page and coming
together in this moment of great sadness for our nation.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
It makes America great.

Speaker 2 (57:37):
It is what makes America great. Let's we do have
a super chat here. I do want to get you
from Jordan Kavla before we wrap up. A dumb question,
I know, but if you were a college football teams,
if you were a college football team's season record, what
team and season would you be and why would Kevin be?
Twenty twenty four Florida State? Well, I don't know. Florida
State did win two games and one of them was

(57:57):
against a power conference team.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
In CALS, So I don't I don't know how to
answer this one. This is this is teed up, but
it's like I can't reach the team. It's like, well
it's too.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
Would you say you kent come up with a good
combination of wins and losses for Kevin's.

Speaker 1 (58:22):
No, no, no, I would. I definitely would not myself.
How about the twenty nineteen l s U Well, although
maybe they maybe give that to Kevin because he's so offensive,
they didn't.

Speaker 2 (58:36):
They didn't start here. He's He's definitely a Lincoln Riley
Alex Grinch team. I don't know which one, but definitely
one of them. Well, maybe that would be a great
question for Lincoln Riley later today. You know, we talked
about what questions you're on more won't answer. I'm certain
Lincoln Riley would be happy to discuss that and set
the deal. Anyway, this is Kevin. Which season does he

(58:57):
remind you of?

Speaker 1 (59:00):
And I will remind you you are under oath?

Speaker 2 (59:03):
So there you go. Uh, thank you guys. Oh no,
you needed to wrap up because we're we are in,
we are an We're in, and we do have we
do have other work to do, but at breakfast and
we'll get there eventually too.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
So we do want to thank you. If you have
n I hit the thumbs up, we would appreciate that
before you go, and we will be back here at
eight pm Eastern to recap everything we saw. So thank
you all for tuning in. Find us at buckeyeaddle dot
com as well. Y'all have a good day.