February 11, 2025 • 46 mins
On this episode we welcome back Seth Saunders from the Saturday in Athens podcast for a retrospective of the season just finished. So on this episode we chat,
- The good, the bad & the ugly (what worked, what didn’t, what do we never want to see again..?)
- What did we learn?
- Individual highlights of the season
- A Georgia Bulldogs 2024 report card with a look forwad to 2025
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm not going to comment on that.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'll get fine for the rest of my life if
I get comment.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
On that.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
National championships. He's that young girls.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Hey everyone, and welcome to the College Chats podcast. On
this episode, we're going to reflect back on the season
just finished, ponderus some of the highs and lows, and
talk to our guest about what he thinks is or
how he thinks he's beloved George Bulldogs the junior year.
But first we are the college Chaps. I'm George, and
in this episode I am joined by the doyen of
college football this side of pond Ollie. How are you,
(00:50):
my friend?
Speaker 5 (00:52):
I'm all about it for that rather grand introduction, George.
So that's the thing anyone said to me in twenty
twenty five. So well and so yeah, great, greatly moved.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
I did see last week I said something nice. Last week,
I think, and I.
Speaker 5 (01:10):
Always say something nice. You just get grander and grander.
I don't know how you're going to move on from
this to something like even more elevated. By the time
we get to August. We gonna have a lot of
Before August.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
You're gonna be You're gonna be grand.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
By the time we get two weeks, eero, you give
the Grand Wizard of by the time we get to August.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
One.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
Well, you said that, not mean our guest the terms
for a second visit, which makes him a member of
the exclusive repeat Offenders Club. You can hear him on
his excellent Saturday in Athens podcast, which, as far as
I know, it is the only podcast outside of the
Whole Fine Bomb Show to have its very own theme tune.
So it's awesome to welcome back, says on us. How
do he says?
Speaker 1 (01:56):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Hey? Guys? Thank you so much for having me. I
love hanging out with you guys the first time and
honored to be asked bat.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
I had to go back and count because I was
sure you'd only been on one time before. But then
that's because you've been kind enough to have me on
your podcast, So I started to lose track, But as
all he said, that's age catching up with me.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I said at the top.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Of the episode that we were going to talk look
a bit of a retrospective, right back to what the
season just gone. And it has been such an awesome
season set and Ollie and I and Alex have talked
about this a lot. But what are your kind of
initial thoughts on the season that we've just seen, which
(02:40):
was a transformative season for college football.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah. I think two main thoughts. Boys. The first one
was I just could not have loved the college football
Playoff in an expended format any more than I did.
I absolutely loved it. We have been clamoring for it
for years. James, my co host, and I are both
graduates of FCS schools, so the playoff is something that
(03:07):
we were in undergrad and experienced. His alma mater actually
played my alma mater in the semi finals for a
chance to go to the title game, and we were
in college together, and man, the playoffs just magic when
it's that way because there's there's not much to gripe about,
right you decided on the field. So I loved that,
and I loved a lot of the different variables that
(03:28):
came along with that. And the other thing. I don't
know that I can remember a season that had this
much parody, this much I think balance across the different
conferences and across the Power five, it was just excellent.
I mean, every weekend it seemed like something was happening
where you're going, Oh my God, I can't believe that happened.
(03:51):
And you know, as if you were, and as a fan,
I just don't know that you could have asked for
much more out of the twenty twenty fourth season. So
if you are somebody that adores college all the way
the three of us do and everyone that listens to
this show, man, you just got to be chomping at
the bit for it to start back up, because because
what a what a treat this past year.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Was, twenty five has got a lot to live up
to after twenty twenty four. Ollie, we talked about this
a couple of weeks ago, maybe kind of quite specifically,
but what in general, what do you think was good
about the college football season this year? What did they get?
What did they get right this year?
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (04:30):
I think so. I think the nail on the head
there with the with his description of there being not
a season in recent memory where there was such parody,
you know, mentioned the power fire there, But I think
across the whole of page football, and I think what
is something that we've touched upon multiple times, not just
(04:52):
the last year, but over the last six years that
we've been doing this podcast, is at some point in
the season, figure out who's good, You figure out the
week from the chaft, so to speak. I think what
was great about this season was the fact that we
never really i think until the college football National Championship game,
(05:14):
had everything we knew and maybe we don't even know
now who was who was really like really good. And
I think that was the joy of this season. I
think that was the good. The good of this season
was the fact we never really truly knew who was good,
and it added that level and element of unpredictability to
(05:38):
what is already, you know, a sport. We celebrate the
unpredictability of college football. I think the good, the great,
whatever you want to call it in twenty twenty four
was it was the greatest season of unpredictability that you know.
Certainly I can remember being covering the game and being
(05:58):
a fan of the game. I don't remember, and that
was as unpredictable as twenty twenty four. And I think
that's you know, there's a lot that goes into that,
and a lot of it involves stuff that people decry
the sport for the transfer pall or nil and changing
the college football playoff format. A lot of what people
(06:21):
think is the only side of college football really did
help contribute towards what made twenty twenty four something great.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I think.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
You've both you've used two different worlds.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Seth has used a parity and you've used unpredictability, and
but what they both kind of really featured was the
fact that it was a very hugely competitive season, where
always just said that until really the last few weeks
of the season, we had no idea who was the
(06:54):
best team in college football. Said you saw that they
you know, local level with the SEC, because you know,
the SEC championship game wasn't decided until I think the
week before.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
The game.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Outside of the second last week, the last week of
the regular season. We've never really seen an SEC season
like that, certainly not in recent years.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, it's unbelievable. I think how quickly the transfer portal
and the NIL specifications have changed what rosters look like.
You know, I thought about it a lot during the
Super Bowl on Sunday night because so many players on
that Eagles defense, which dominated you know, the Chiefs dynasty
all night on Sunday evening. They were dogs, right, And
(07:42):
that was talked about a lot on the broadcast, And
you think about all of that talent on a college defense.
And then you harken back to all the coach Sabans
teams at Alabama that were built the same way, where
it was just a factory of NFL talent in the
too deep and we're just not I don't think gonna
see that anymore in the age of the transfer portal
and nil because now it used to be those programs
(08:06):
were the ticket to your future. You went there because
that's where you developed, and that was the most direct
path to get where you wanted to go, which was
the leg Well, now instead of sitting on the too
deep at Georgia or Alabama or Ohio State, I can
go play at Indiana, or I can go play at
Baylor and make a little bit of money. I saw
(08:29):
an article today Texas Tech dropped ten million dollars in
the transfer portal against that new salary cap and added
a ton of talent, and they are hell bent on
making a run at a Big twelve title in a
playoff berth and I think that is what can happen.
You know, we we've talked often on our show, and
I was fascinated by this. How about smu Okay, Smu
(08:50):
is a school that said, hey we want to join
the ACC and hey Atlantic Coast Conference, we don't need
the TV money for like the first few years because
we just want the Power five access. We'll take care
of everything else. Because look, man, they were INIL before
INIL was legal. They knew what they were doing and
have plenty, plenty of capital to make things happen, and
(09:13):
so I just think the turnarounds are so much quicker
for different schools and so which for me as a fan,
I love it because you look at a school like
Arizona State this year, where Kenny Dillingham's crew was picked
to finish dead last in the Big Twelve, and they
end up, I mean, about as close as you can
get to being in that Final four, played an absolute
(09:36):
whale of a game against that Texas team in Atlanta,
And so you know, it's just a different world now.
And I think a lot of people some don't like it,
some do. I like what it allows. Do I think
there need to be some guardrails put in place, I
sure do, but I do like what it's creating for
(09:58):
the competitiveness across a full landscape of college football.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
Definitely make a great point though, because I've spent the
last couple of days on for a work project doing
the top one hundred returning players, and at one point,
at one point you would have either team, you know,
let's use Georgia as an example, or Alabama or you know,
one of the front running SEC teams, you'd probably have
(10:26):
ten players from one single program like that. Within that
but spread field spread of teams that make up what
will be our final like top one hundred returning players
is is huge, you know, and it's that's a testament
to everything you know that we've just talked about. That
inability to have you know, ten ten man defensive front
(10:52):
that always NFL talent like you've seen in Georgia teams
in the past. Some people say that's a bad thing
for college football. I don't. I don't see how you
can even begin to quibble with the product that it's
pabled the broader college football landscape to put together this
this last year.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
Just a very quick diversion because it seth mentioned the
Super Bowl. We don't talk about the NFL in this
program in this episode, but either it was just I
was so pleased for Nolan Smith right when he was
at Georgia. I thought he was just such an incredible
leader in that Georgia team, because there's a lot of
the focus was on the really big guys like Jaillen
(11:35):
Charter and some of the others. But I just thought
it was so cool that he's obviously been a great
player for Philadelphia this year. I thought it was absolutely awesome.
And not to forget there was a there was a
few Alabama ex Alabama players on that team.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Also.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
That's exactly right, That's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
But we've kind of been fating around at the edges
a little bit because we don't like to go really
negative on this program. But I guess this is a well,
I don't know if it's the only transformative year. I
think we may have many evolutions of this going forward.
(12:14):
But you guys think didn't work so well this year, Well,
let's not talk about the bad stuff. Let's just say
what didn't work and what needs to be looked at.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
It needs to be changed, said, how are you starting
on that?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Okay, So as much as I love the expanded CFP format,
and you know I talked about it earlier, I loved it,
but if I was making a change, I always thought
this was a miss. Even when they announced how it
was going to be, and again this is my FCS
bias showing I would love to see the first two
rounds stay on campus. I thought that first round that
(12:50):
Friday night in South Bend and then those three games
on Saturday on campuses, it was incredible. I thought it
was the coolest part of the entire sea. And was
those four games with so much consequence and so much
riding on them, being on the home campuses of these
teams that have worked so hard all year. And then
if you're one of those top four teams where you've
(13:12):
quote unquote earned the spot, you then don't get a
game on your own home campus, in your own home stadium.
And I hated that. I would have loved to have
seen those towns. I would have loved to have seen
Eugene and Athens and you know, Boise State in the
Sun Valley and all the different things. Okay, all the
(13:32):
different teams get their shine, So I didn't love that.
I hope they will evaluate and look at that. I
know there are bow tie ins and politics that work
into that. The other thing is, look, guys, I think
we have to have an honest conversation about whether or
not the top four conference champions from a seating perspective,
should be the top four seeds. I think it would
(13:55):
be a more even measure competitively if they just took
like we do normally, look, top four is top four.
I think in some ways they tried to reinvent the
wheel on that because they were trying to appease the
different power brokers at play. And I get all that,
but again, man, the FCS has done a good job
at this for a long long time, and they could
have stolen I think, a lot from that model. Now,
(14:17):
obviously it's a much bigger product. It's twenty four teams
every round, but the title game is on home campuses.
I know that's not going to be how it shakes out,
but I think they need to look at the format
a little bit moving forward, just to further enhance what
I thought was a really cool product.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
It's an interesting point, isn't it all you?
Speaker 4 (14:36):
Because it feels a college football is moving more towards
an NFL model rather than you tried and tested FCS model,
which which says talks about and perhaps perhaps FBS doesn't
want to go down that route, but certainly, for me,
we missed a Trick. I agree with Seth. I'm not
convinced that the four top for conference championships with a
(15:02):
bit of ice need to get the buy right. I
would love to have seen them play on campus, I think,
to really kick start that process, whereas with the NFL,
I think, you know, you get a buy into the
into the next round and and New England Patriots have
have earned their all of their medals. On the fact
that they've been able to utilize that and take that
(15:23):
to the advantage, it feels a little bit like we
need to They need to that's the one thing they
need to think about.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
Yeah, there's there's definitely some there's always there's always room
for im treatment with anything in the NFL. You know,
you reference the NFL there there they never finished kind
of tweaking with the playoff format we've seen in recent
years with the expanded regular season, expanding the playoffs, and
it will always there'll always be an element of tweak
(15:53):
and I think there's there's probably a there's probably a
golden area somewhere in between what we have now some
of the proposals that are out there, and then then
the FCS model, which is as I completely agree with
said is the way the SCS do their playoff makes
it such an attractive, anxiety and entertaining postseason product, and
(16:15):
there's got to be a way of of rewarding There's
got to be a way of rewarding regular season's success
as it pertains to the playoffs. But also we saw
a lot of that whole rest versus rust conversation for
the playoff, where you know, those those teams that earned
the right to to get first round by we're just
(16:39):
playing rusty when it came down to the ball game,
and the teams that have played the week before there
was they were dialed in, they were nailed in, they
were you know, there were no such concern And again,
there's got to be a there's got to be a
solution for that element as well. I think there's going
to be a solution for the Army Navy game. And
I don't mean a solution as Joel Clatten many others
(17:00):
mean in terms of moving into the Star the season.
I mean leaving that game where it is, leaving it
alone and ensuring that it maintains the standalone spectacle, because
I for one didn't like the fact there was a
bowl game on the same day as the Army Navy game.
I'm all for you know, they're being football from noon
east until you know, gone midnight, and what what is
(17:26):
Hawaii game finishing at seven am our time? Like, I'm
all for as much football as possible, but I think
the Army Navy game needs to be protected. It needs
its place in in college football law and having a
bowl game, And no disrespect to any of the bowl
games because I watch them all. I love them more.
I love all the teams and participating and but what
is essentially a bottom tier bowl game on the same
(17:48):
day as the Army Navy game is and that just
doesn't sit comfortably with me. So I think those there's
a couple of post season problems that have the need solutions,
and I think if that's the negative takeaway from twenty
twenty four, I think that's probably where we're at. Right.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
These don't feel insurmountable in that respect, right, it does
feel like it's tweaks rather than wholesale changes. But only
makes great point seth and that why we all love
Pobla football is because of the tradition and the rivalry
and you know, the a century over a century of
(18:30):
history that's got us to this place. There's a fine
line here in terms of because it could be a
tipping point, right, you could tip the game too far.
And I think a lot of us are already a
little nervous that we're moving far too quickly towards the
NFL model. But there is a tipping point here. We
need to retain the tradition of the game, don't we.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Yes, I love, love, love the Army Navy point, because
there's probably not a game on the college football sced
that I have an affinity for more than Army Navy.
There's just, man, there's so much to it. There's so
much tradition, there's so much pride, and I thought in
(19:14):
a year like this, it's even more special because Army
was excellent, I mean, had a magical year, win their
conference championship on their home field. Jeff Monkin is excellent.
You know, I love their motto last of the Hard.
They're just hard not to root for, right, And then
Navy also had an outstanding year. You know, Blake corvaf
(19:34):
was must watch TV pretty much every weekend, and so
you know that game should should be its own, it
should have its day, and you know, I love the
rotation between the traditional cities that they go to, and
there's just there is not a single thing about that
game that I don't adore, and so I couldn't agree
with that more. And I'm with y'all, man, I am
(19:56):
not on I like Joe Klatt, but I do not
like the idea starting the year with Army Navy because
I think it takes away the build and the importance
of such a beautiful rivalry and less lest we forget
one of only three neutral field games in all of
college football, Red River Shootout, world's largest outdoor cocktail party
in Army Navy. And to your point, George, that is
(20:17):
the one thing with all the change, I don't want
any of those things to be lost. You know, there
was a lot of talk with the SEC expansion that
Georgia was gonna lose certain games each year. It will
hurt my heart if they don't play Auburn every year.
It will hurt my heart if they stopped playing Tennessee
every year. I just you have to preserve those things.
(20:39):
How can you not play the matchup that produced Hobnail
Boot and produced My God a Freshman, and produced Dobb's
Nail Boot and you know, a countless array of others,
and then how can you not play the deep South
old this rivalry. I just I don't want to lose
any of it, and so they've got to work to
maintain those things. Money be damned, and I know that
(21:00):
that is the top of the chart, but they got
to preserve those things. Man. That's that's what makes our
sport so singular.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Kind of feels a little bit like it just needs
a couple of years for things to settle down and
everybody else start to relax a little bit, not to
be overly negative. The one thing that I hope we
don't see again ever, let alone this coming season, as
Bottles appearing on the.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
On the field.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
I know we've had this before, right, I know this
is not necessary new, but it did feel I'm all
for fan enthusiasm and I don't really mind the goal
post coming down, although sometimes the regularity of that kind
of doesn't make much sense, to be perfectly honest, but certainly,
you know, I love to see you know, Apple Itch
and State, you know going absolutely boot mental and Boon
(21:47):
and all that. I think that's it's what you know,
you know, Vanderbilt when they beat Alabama. I mean, that
was just such an awesome So just keep our enthusiasm
not not chucking bottles on the pitch.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
By by quickly we're going to move to the positive
side of things.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
I want to ask you about your highlights of the season,
and that can be personal, professional, whatever you wanted to be.
But I think we've all experienced something quite special this year.
And I think on this podcast we've been kind of
talking from the heart that we realize it's been special.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
We maybe maybe take ten.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Or twenty years for us to realize just how good
great a season it truly was. But what were your
What were your highlights of this season?
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Ollie? How about you?
Speaker 5 (22:33):
Wow? I think it's honestly, I think it's difficult to
nail down to a single highlight.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Have you got a list of ten? And that is
that you're telling me? Like where the start?
Speaker 5 (22:45):
George thought he was going on for minutes. It's actually
reality of me just getting and all of that college ball.
But I think whenever you get to witness greatness in action,
I think that is that is something special and I
think I should be celebrating. I think what we saw
(23:07):
out of Ashton Johanty this year for for Boise State,
you know, coming just I don't want to say out
of nowhere because obviously anyone who watched boy State this
season prior and even before that knew what sort of
talent he was. But to have this almost historic season
which really transformed and the long standing group of five narrative,
(23:34):
you know for Boise State, they when they played they
played Oregon so hard and they didn't disgrace themselves in
the playoffs, and it was it was you know, we
saw that that just a suit of excellence and from
Ashton Janty and I just thought that was That's always
incredible to be around something that is is that monumental.
(23:59):
I think was was incredible said this on the podcast
or too in the highlight of the season, not to
Dame becoming this likable national entity on the Marcus Freeman
you know, we certainly wet I said it three or
four times on this this show since the near the
(24:20):
end of the season. Is we've never been the biggest
part in Irish fans on this podcast, and we were
we had we had heart over heart overhead like moments
for both myself and George where we were like we
want notre Dame to win the college foot on national championship,
and we just didn't never we'd hear ourselves station of
the things. So I guess you could call that a
(24:43):
highlight of season.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Well, I was.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
I was hoping that one of the highlights of the
season was also Irish linked, but I was, I was
hoping that number two is going to be you, you
and I having breakfast and that Irish public.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Clear that was number three on your list. But I
forgot that.
Speaker 5 (25:00):
You said personal and professional and you know, because the
trip to the trip to Doublin this year was it
was special. I got to spend time with with you
know yourself, George people that when you come to the
game from Afar and remotely like we do, getting to
spend that time with people in person is it's actually
(25:22):
extremely special and definitely a professional and personal highlight and
being for me, I ended up stopping in the same
hotel as the Georgia Tech team, so getting back to
my hotel to start writing at half ten at night
or whatever it was, and sticking the Hawaii game all
the four am getting back is there the team and
(25:44):
the players after that game, after that performance, you know
that that was was truly special to be in and
around that environment and an experience you don't get to
have too often. So yeah, that was that was was
pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
Yeah, and I think I think the scenes, the scenes
in Dublin were quite something special in a great weak
kick off. We'd see see game day in Ireland and
see all those people, uh at game day, you know,
speaking to the people at game I don't think they
were They were entirely setting who was going to turn
up for it? Right, And to see just that volume
(26:22):
of people there for the show was quite It was
quite something. Seth we are where are your highlights falling
from from the season.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
I'll give you all a personal one, a personal slash
professional one, and then I'll try to give you a
just a global one as a as a college football fan.
So on a personal note, my brother and I got
to go to Athens for the George Tennessee game this year.
Game Day was in town, SEC Nation was in town. Uh.
Part of our story is we we came to be
(26:54):
Georgia fans because we both went to schools that we
always tell people didn't have real football. Uh. And so
we went to Athens for the first time together back
in two thousand and three for the Deep South's oldest rivalry,
Jason Campbell's quarterback in for Auburn, you know, David Green
for Georgia. Odell Thurman was on defense and Georgia one
(27:15):
that day and Odell Thurman returned to interception ninety nine
yards for a touchdown right into the student section. And
we've been hook line and sinker ever since. So every
time we get to go to Athens together, which unfortunately,
as we get older, as it is for all of us,
seems to get fewer and far between. Man, I just
cherish it. And that day was really special because the
weather was a gorgeous A good friend of mine who
(27:38):
I've come to know through our show, Ray Fulcher, got
to perform a song that he wrote called two Cigars
on Marty and McGee we were there for it. Got
to spend some time with Ray after that. That was
really awesome. One of our mutual friends, Laura Rutledge, was
there with sec Nation. We've had Laura on the show
a bunch of times. She is, we have said, as
(27:59):
much as anybody will us, and the nicest person in
not just all of college football, but probably all of
college sports. She's just the best and that was the
first time we got to meet her in person. Was there,
so she was kind enough to chat with us for
a little bit. So and then obviously the way the
game went, you know, it was just a great night.
So that day was super super special, probably my favorite
(28:20):
day of the year. And then on a personal professional
you know, my co host and I are like, y'all,
we don't record together, We're not in the same spot.
He's my best friend from growing up. He lives in Virginia,
I live in South Carolina. And we decided we were
going to try and get credentialed for a couple of games,
rivalry games Thanksgiving weekend into Big Ten, and you know,
it's one of those things where everything just worked out.
(28:42):
All the families were okay with us going. We got
credentialed in both places we wanted to get credentialed. All
the flight arrangements worked out great, and we ended up
getting to spend the Friday after Thanksgiving and Saturday after
Thanksgiven in Madison for Paul bunyans AX with Wisconsin and Minnesota,
and then in Bloomington for Old Oaken Bucket, Indiana, Purdue
and Man just two of the elite college towns in America,
(29:08):
and so it was just a magnificent experience. We had
such a good time getting to see each other, the
first time we'd see each other in person since the Oregon,
Georgia opener in twenty twenty two, so it had been
almost two calendar years. So, man, I really enjoyed that.
That was a lifetime weekend. I told my wife that
when we got back, I was like, that was just
out of this world. It was so awesome. So those
(29:30):
were two really special kind of sequences. And then just
on a global from a fan perspective, man, was all
the unexpected things I think that happened this year, whether
it's Kirk Signetti in Indiana or Kenny Dillonham in Arizona State,
or you look at Jeff Munkin and that Army team
making the run that they made. Even I think, you know, Ali,
(29:53):
you talked about Ashton john t and you look at
that Heisman race with Travis Hunter doing the singular things
that he did all year, and the fact that we
got to watch those performances, and you know, in an
nil and transfer portal world, a guy like Ashton gent
saying you know what, I'm staying at the place that
wanted me when nobody else did. I thought was a
(30:17):
really really awesome college football moment too. So yeah, Man,
twenty twenty four is one of my most favorite college
football seasons ever for all those reasons.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
It kind of feels like we need a whole episode
of maybe an hour long episode, talking about highlights of
this season to try and bring it back to George Bulldogs.
That's what we're going to talk about next.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Seth.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
When after the SEC championship game, after they had won it,
we're kind of waiting to get into the press room
for the press conference, and then there was whispers from
those who are more familiar with the Georgia media side
of things that there would be another set of players,
in fact, a larger number of players that would be
available for interviews. So most people we're kind of hanging
(31:00):
about for that to be led into the smallest room
in the world, let alone inside that stadium, and all
on all the players were kind of perched up high
on these seats that I don't know where they came from,
so everyone was talking up to them and I cannot,
I cannot. I've got the best picture I cannot forget
Atn's smile on his face when people were talking about
(31:22):
the smile did not disappear from his face. I mean,
these guys were in there for half an hour at
least talking to everybody, and the smile on his face.
We'll live with me for a long time that they were.
They were a happy bunch of ads, that's for sure.
So I've developed my own segue into the final section,
which is we wanted to ask Seth about the report
(31:44):
card for Georgia, because I think it's fair to say it.
Set if you after the first quarter of that season,
you might not have been so enthused about how far
Georgia were going to get in that season. A lot
of people had somewhat negative views on a Georgia's performance
(32:05):
for the For the outcome of the season, it turned
into a pray successful year for the Bulldogs. But that's
me preempting what you're going to tell us, and I
hope you're not going to govern them an f No.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Now you know, I am probably outside of the mainstream
of probably most Georgia followers in that I am always
very cognizant of how good it is right now, right
and I have a memory like an elephant. So I
remember very vividly when it wasn't this good, and so
(32:42):
I am so appreciative of this run. First of all,
if you look at just the success over the last
four seasons, it's it's unbelievable. And if you are a
person that follows the Georgia Bulldogs and you're griping and
complaining about something, I just I don't know what to
tell you. I mean, you talk about and we always
say on the show, the good old days of Georgia
(33:03):
football are right down now. And that's how I feel
about it. I mean, this is the time, and Kirby's outstanding,
and the things you've gotten to see if you love
the Dogs the last four years, or things we couldn't
have imagined five years ago. And so I'm just grateful
for all that. And I think if you look at
(33:24):
it globally, with the way the season went, and if
you follow them the way we follow them, I feel
pretty good about how their season went. I would put
them probably B plus a minus. I mean, look, if
you win an SEC title that has got to still
mean something, and it certainly means something to us. I
mean I was thrilled for that team. And if you've
(33:47):
been to that game. It is its own animal. I mean,
it is a spectacle and it really is one of
the better environments in college football. So for them to
walk out of there with the confetti fallen, I thought
was outstanding, especially after the rigors of the season. And
I know the schedule got talked about a lot, but
I am more talking about you know, they had to
(34:07):
deal with a lot of depth problems, all right. They
lost their ex and their Z the legal problems. So
you've got two guys on offense that aren't starting. They
had two of their pretended, you know, main contributors at
running back that essentially didn't play all season. Travis ATM
was hurt most of the sea, I mean Trevy tim
was hurt most of the season, so he wasn't as
(34:29):
available as we would have wanted him to be. You
get to see sensational freshman Nate Frasier kind of come
into his own over the course of the season. And look, boys,
let's have an honest conversation. Carson underperformed. I think if
you had told folks that he was going to have
the year that he had back in August and the
Dogs are still going to win the SEC title. I
(34:50):
think people would have been happy about it. To be honest,
he just was very uneven. And I want to be
very clear, I don't think that was all his fault. Okay,
George ed leed fbs in drops and you just can't
quantify how much that changes things for a quarterbacks confidence
and all these different things. So I thought he really
(35:10):
steeled himself the last half of the season and really
led them to be put in position where they could
actually be in Atlanta. My running theme for this and
we actually talked to Laura about it when she was
on the show because I was interested if she had
a feel on it because she was on the sidelines
for a few of their games. Is it felt like
to me? And I mentioned to know what y'all think
that they had a little bit of a leadership problem.
(35:33):
I did not think they had a group of alphas
like they have had for so long. George, you mentioned
Nolan Smith earlier, probably one of the greatest leaders the
last ten years for Georgia football, And you know, I
think the special thing about those groups was he wasn't
the only one, right, there was just a big group
of them. So you had all these guys that are saying, hey, Look,
(35:55):
this is Georgia, and this is the standard, and so
this is where we perform every day to the standard,
and I just don't think that was there this year,
and I think it showed a lot. I thought Kirby
tried to fill that vacuum the best he could, but
as we all know, the best teams are the ones
that are player led, and I just thought they had
(36:17):
a void in that area and that's gonna happen, you know.
For me, it reminded me a lot of the twenty
nineteen year Jake Frums last year in Athens. They didn't
have a ton of talent on the outside at wide
receiver that year really struggled offensively. They got into the
SEC title game but got dump trucked by that Joe
Burrow LSU team, which dump trucked everybody. But that's kind
(36:40):
of what it felt like. It was a grind all year.
My cost texted me after they lost the Notre Dame
and he goes, I want to be mad, but I'm
just exhausted. And I thought that was a pretty app
description of most of the year. So yeah, so I'm
probably not gonna be as hard as most folks. I'm
gonna go B plus a mind because the SEC title
(37:01):
got to mean something.
Speaker 4 (37:03):
It was a very long year onie, wasn't it, which
you concur with support card.
Speaker 5 (37:10):
Yeah, I mean it's absolutely you hit and on the
head because the winning a winning a conference championship has
to mean something. We talked earlier about what that means
in terms of the college football playoff. I want to
hear really those two conversations had in in the same context.
(37:31):
Because you know you're going to have a team win
the conference, you say that isn't going to be in
the college football playoffs. You know, the team win the
Sun Belt who wasn't going to be in a college
football playoff. That doesn't mean that winning that championship means
any less to those teams that fire for it, for
those players that see up every week to earn it,
for those who that might be this crowning glory of
(37:55):
their entire college football and football career. You know, and
we that we've touched on many times in this show
is college football isn't just the pipeline to the NFL.
There's so many people involved that will never touch the NFL.
And that's what they do in these four, five, six,
nine years can racormick the like this will define them
(38:22):
their sporting achievements comes. So I think a conference championship
and being a part of a conference championship winning team
it means a lot and it goes one way. And yeah,
for a program like Georgia, that isn't the be all
and end all. You know, there's that standard now and
you're right, it's the standard that it is now you
(38:43):
kind of forget everything that's come the forty years are out,
Like this is the standard now for Georgia. Bullogs football
is a national championship. So in the context of that,
obviously it's not a great season that the inability to
compete against Notre Dame was not ideal and recentcy bias
is a real thing and people that's the last kind
(39:05):
of remembrance of Georgia's twenty twenty football season was that
the Notre Lame game. But yeah, as far as the
leadership goes, I think there's a there is a problem
at Georgia and you're closer to it than we are,
but from a from a distance, there's a lot of
external things away from the football field that speaks to
(39:29):
a lack of leadership that is obviously evident in the game.
And I think, look a guy like Cedric van Pran
from the last the seasons before, Yeah, that's missing, you know,
you guy at the guy at the center of your offense,
And yeah, it should be a quarterback. And well, that's
a conversation about Carson Beg that will probably have this
year as he plays in Miami. So I think a
(39:49):
guy like Cedric van Pran on that offensive front. Georgean
Davis in the years gone by always seemed like a
guy who could bring a team together and rally a team.
And yeah, I think there's there's an issue there that
(40:10):
isn't just strictly confined to the players in the locker
room either. But yeah, the only time you win a
conference championship, he's got you've got to kind of have
a little bit of a celebration of it. That's yeah,
that's my biggest takeaway from Georgia twenty twenty four. Who
knows what twenty twenty five are look like, because again,
it's another year where the entire heart of the offensive
(40:31):
line is off to the NFL. That's right, new quarterback
bringing a guy a wide receiver Zach right Branch, which
is a great add on paper, we go to see
him handle the load as you know, a go to guy,
a wide receiver one in the SEC and that would
be interesting to see. And some of those defensive pieces
that they lose this season as well. It's yeah, it's
(40:53):
gonna ben interesting season. I think.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Let me let me ask you all this about how
they look going into twenty five because I've seen a
bunch of these early projections and they tend to fall
somewhere in the four to six range, and I'm just
being honest with y'all, that seems entirely too high to me.
I think this is one of the more transitional years
they've experienced in a long long time. There is a
(41:16):
lot of uncertainty of quarterback. I know everybody wants to
say it's Gunner's job. I'm not convinced of that. I
think Brian Puglici will have his name in that conversation.
I think to your point all, they're pretty much replacing
their entire offensive line. They had real problems at both
tackles last year. That's troubling. Nate Fraser comes back, which
(41:39):
is great. I think they've got a lot of depth
a tight end. But again, to your point, Ali, what
are the answers at wide receiver. So I think there
are many many uncertainties on offense. And then that doesn't
even address what's being lost on defense and how thin
they are at outside linebacker and at the pass russ position,
and so I don't know. There is a lot of
(42:01):
uncertainty for me from a fans perspective and a follower
of the program, and I am very, very curious to
see how they navigate another gauntlet of a schedule. I mean,
it's essentially twenty twenty four all over again, and they're
getting folks between the hedges, but the quality of competition
doesn't change, and so it's going to be an interesting year.
I think in Athens we will see, we will see
(42:24):
how much metal they have.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
I think, well, this is this is probably a conversation
for another time and when we help you back on set.
But this is where the transitory way that college football
is going is going to impact schools like Georgia. Right,
because traditionally very good, as would say, elite recruiters, Right,
(42:46):
they get they've stacked the roster. But as you know,
we've gone full circle. Will go back to the opening gambit,
which is those rosters are not stacked any longer. You
don't have the conveyor belt that Alibi had where you know,
Nick Saban could play all these third years because he
knew that his second and you know in the in
(43:07):
the freshmen were all sitting there waiting on their turn.
That doesn't happen in football and longer a lot to do.
Why Nick Saban's now you know, working for ESPN, So
that is going to be interesting to see how that
plays out because then you're dominant.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
Schools who are.
Speaker 4 (43:21):
Recruiting have to build that that plug that gap through
the transfer portal, and then that's when money comes into play.
But that's for another time because as always we've we've
run out of time. That's all from us in this episode.
It's been awesome to catch up with Seth again and
talk about George Bulldogs.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
Steph.
Speaker 4 (43:42):
Thank you so for those who didn't listen to episode
first time around, Tell our listeners, tell our new listeners
where they can find you and when the podcast runs
through the summer, and what's going to fill your time
(44:02):
between now and August.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Yeah yeah, So first off, boys, thank y'all so much
for having me. Always an honor to be on with y'all.
I loved, love, love what y'all do and what y'all
bring to the to the culture and landscape at college football.
So thank you for having me. You can find us
all over social We're on every platform. Try to stay
active on as many of them as I can, especially
in the season. We're probably most active, I guess you
(44:26):
could say on Instagram, but try to post across all platforms,
and you know, generally there Saturday in Athens or Saturday
Underscore Athens, across all those platforms. And then on YouTube,
we started releasing all of our stuff via video now
just trying to tap into that because we had all
this great video content and weren't doing anything with it.
(44:47):
So find us on YouTube, you know, shoot us an email,
direct messages, whatever it may be. We always love love
hearing from folks and kind of talking about the things
that people want to hear about. We generally don't I
won't post as much in the off season, but we
are trying to do. I started a little bit doing
a campus icon series where we're trying to have on
(45:09):
owners of these iconic establishments in college towns across America.
So we had Nick's English Hut from Bloomington, Indiana and
featured them. And then we had Eskimo Joe's and Stillwater
and featured Stan Clark, the owner and founder there. And
so we're trying to coordinate with the different owners across.
You know, we're trying to do the wheel at the
University of Kansas Mario's Fishbowl in Morgantown Heath not here
(45:34):
in Chapel Hill. So we're trying to kind of illuminate
all these bastions of college sports towns across across the
landscape of America. So so tune in for that. Hopefully
we'll have some more of that content here soon.
Speaker 4 (45:47):
Sounds awesome and we didn't even have time to talk
about our potential catch up in late September.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
When that's right, Alabama and Georgia meet up. That's it.
Speaker 4 (45:58):
That's all from us, a thank you, thank you for listening.
You are all awesome. Thanks to saf Knowli for the
brilliant put Stay safe and well and catch you next time.
I'm not going to comment on that.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'll get fine for the rest of my life if
I get comment.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
On that.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
National championships. He's that young girls.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Hey everyone, and welcome to the College Chats podcast. On
this episode, we're going to reflect back on the season
just finished, ponderus some of the highs and lows, and
talk to our guest about what he thinks is or
how he thinks he's beloved George Bulldogs the junior year.
But first we are the college Chaps. I'm George, and
in this episode I am joined by the doyen of
college football this side of pond Ollie. How are you,
(00:50):
my friend?
Speaker 5 (00:52):
I'm all about it for that rather grand introduction, George.
So that's the thing anyone said to me in twenty
twenty five. So well and so yeah, great, greatly moved.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
I did see last week I said something nice. Last week,
I think, and I.
Speaker 5 (01:10):
Always say something nice. You just get grander and grander.
I don't know how you're going to move on from
this to something like even more elevated. By the time
we get to August. We gonna have a lot of
Before August.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
You're gonna be You're gonna be grand.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
By the time we get two weeks, eero, you give
the Grand Wizard of by the time we get to August.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
One.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
Well, you said that, not mean our guest the terms
for a second visit, which makes him a member of
the exclusive repeat Offenders Club. You can hear him on
his excellent Saturday in Athens podcast, which, as far as
I know, it is the only podcast outside of the
Whole Fine Bomb Show to have its very own theme tune.
So it's awesome to welcome back, says on us. How
do he says?
Speaker 1 (01:56):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Hey? Guys? Thank you so much for having me. I
love hanging out with you guys the first time and
honored to be asked bat.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
I had to go back and count because I was
sure you'd only been on one time before. But then
that's because you've been kind enough to have me on
your podcast, So I started to lose track, But as
all he said, that's age catching up with me.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I said at the top.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Of the episode that we were going to talk look
a bit of a retrospective, right back to what the
season just gone. And it has been such an awesome
season set and Ollie and I and Alex have talked
about this a lot. But what are your kind of
initial thoughts on the season that we've just seen, which
(02:40):
was a transformative season for college football.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah. I think two main thoughts. Boys. The first one
was I just could not have loved the college football
Playoff in an expended format any more than I did.
I absolutely loved it. We have been clamoring for it
for years. James, my co host, and I are both
graduates of FCS schools, so the playoff is something that
(03:07):
we were in undergrad and experienced. His alma mater actually
played my alma mater in the semi finals for a
chance to go to the title game, and we were
in college together, and man, the playoffs just magic when
it's that way because there's there's not much to gripe about,
right you decided on the field. So I loved that,
and I loved a lot of the different variables that
(03:28):
came along with that. And the other thing. I don't
know that I can remember a season that had this
much parody, this much I think balance across the different
conferences and across the Power five, it was just excellent.
I mean, every weekend it seemed like something was happening
where you're going, Oh my God, I can't believe that happened.
(03:51):
And you know, as if you were, and as a fan,
I just don't know that you could have asked for
much more out of the twenty twenty fourth season. So
if you are somebody that adores college all the way
the three of us do and everyone that listens to
this show, man, you just got to be chomping at
the bit for it to start back up, because because
what a what a treat this past year.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Was, twenty five has got a lot to live up
to after twenty twenty four. Ollie, we talked about this
a couple of weeks ago, maybe kind of quite specifically,
but what in general, what do you think was good
about the college football season this year? What did they get?
What did they get right this year?
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (04:30):
I think so. I think the nail on the head
there with the with his description of there being not
a season in recent memory where there was such parody,
you know, mentioned the power fire there, But I think
across the whole of page football, and I think what
is something that we've touched upon multiple times, not just
(04:52):
the last year, but over the last six years that
we've been doing this podcast, is at some point in
the season, figure out who's good, You figure out the
week from the chaft, so to speak. I think what
was great about this season was the fact that we
never really i think until the college football National Championship game,
(05:14):
had everything we knew and maybe we don't even know
now who was who was really like really good. And
I think that was the joy of this season. I
think that was the good. The good of this season
was the fact we never really truly knew who was good,
and it added that level and element of unpredictability to
(05:38):
what is already, you know, a sport. We celebrate the
unpredictability of college football. I think the good, the great,
whatever you want to call it in twenty twenty four
was it was the greatest season of unpredictability that you know.
Certainly I can remember being covering the game and being
(05:58):
a fan of the game. I don't remember, and that
was as unpredictable as twenty twenty four. And I think
that's you know, there's a lot that goes into that,
and a lot of it involves stuff that people decry
the sport for the transfer pall or nil and changing
the college football playoff format. A lot of what people
(06:21):
think is the only side of college football really did
help contribute towards what made twenty twenty four something great.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I think.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
You've both you've used two different worlds.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Seth has used a parity and you've used unpredictability, and
but what they both kind of really featured was the
fact that it was a very hugely competitive season, where
always just said that until really the last few weeks
of the season, we had no idea who was the
(06:54):
best team in college football. Said you saw that they
you know, local level with the SEC, because you know,
the SEC championship game wasn't decided until I think the
week before.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
The game.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Outside of the second last week, the last week of
the regular season. We've never really seen an SEC season
like that, certainly not in recent years.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, it's unbelievable. I think how quickly the transfer portal
and the NIL specifications have changed what rosters look like.
You know, I thought about it a lot during the
Super Bowl on Sunday night because so many players on
that Eagles defense, which dominated you know, the Chiefs dynasty
all night on Sunday evening. They were dogs, right, And
(07:42):
that was talked about a lot on the broadcast, And
you think about all of that talent on a college defense.
And then you harken back to all the coach Sabans
teams at Alabama that were built the same way, where
it was just a factory of NFL talent in the
too deep and we're just not I don't think gonna
see that anymore in the age of the transfer portal
and nil because now it used to be those programs
(08:06):
were the ticket to your future. You went there because
that's where you developed, and that was the most direct
path to get where you wanted to go, which was
the leg Well, now instead of sitting on the too
deep at Georgia or Alabama or Ohio State, I can
go play at Indiana, or I can go play at
Baylor and make a little bit of money. I saw
(08:29):
an article today Texas Tech dropped ten million dollars in
the transfer portal against that new salary cap and added
a ton of talent, and they are hell bent on
making a run at a Big twelve title in a
playoff berth and I think that is what can happen.
You know, we we've talked often on our show, and
I was fascinated by this. How about smu Okay, Smu
(08:50):
is a school that said, hey we want to join
the ACC and hey Atlantic Coast Conference, we don't need
the TV money for like the first few years because
we just want the Power five access. We'll take care
of everything else. Because look, man, they were INIL before
INIL was legal. They knew what they were doing and
have plenty, plenty of capital to make things happen, and
(09:13):
so I just think the turnarounds are so much quicker
for different schools and so which for me as a fan,
I love it because you look at a school like
Arizona State this year, where Kenny Dillingham's crew was picked
to finish dead last in the Big Twelve, and they
end up, I mean, about as close as you can
get to being in that Final four, played an absolute
(09:36):
whale of a game against that Texas team in Atlanta,
And so you know, it's just a different world now.
And I think a lot of people some don't like it,
some do. I like what it allows. Do I think
there need to be some guardrails put in place, I
sure do, but I do like what it's creating for
(09:58):
the competitiveness across a full landscape of college football.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
Definitely make a great point though, because I've spent the
last couple of days on for a work project doing
the top one hundred returning players, and at one point,
at one point you would have either team, you know,
let's use Georgia as an example, or Alabama or you know,
one of the front running SEC teams, you'd probably have
(10:26):
ten players from one single program like that. Within that
but spread field spread of teams that make up what
will be our final like top one hundred returning players
is is huge, you know, and it's that's a testament
to everything you know that we've just talked about. That
inability to have you know, ten ten man defensive front
(10:52):
that always NFL talent like you've seen in Georgia teams
in the past. Some people say that's a bad thing
for college football. I don't. I don't see how you
can even begin to quibble with the product that it's
pabled the broader college football landscape to put together this
this last year.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
Just a very quick diversion because it seth mentioned the
Super Bowl. We don't talk about the NFL in this
program in this episode, but either it was just I
was so pleased for Nolan Smith right when he was
at Georgia. I thought he was just such an incredible
leader in that Georgia team, because there's a lot of
the focus was on the really big guys like Jaillen
(11:35):
Charter and some of the others. But I just thought
it was so cool that he's obviously been a great
player for Philadelphia this year. I thought it was absolutely awesome.
And not to forget there was a there was a
few Alabama ex Alabama players on that team.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Also.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
That's exactly right, That's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
But we've kind of been fating around at the edges
a little bit because we don't like to go really
negative on this program. But I guess this is a well,
I don't know if it's the only transformative year. I
think we may have many evolutions of this going forward.
(12:14):
But you guys think didn't work so well this year, Well,
let's not talk about the bad stuff. Let's just say
what didn't work and what needs to be looked at.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
It needs to be changed, said, how are you starting
on that?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Okay, So as much as I love the expanded CFP format,
and you know I talked about it earlier, I loved it,
but if I was making a change, I always thought
this was a miss. Even when they announced how it
was going to be, and again this is my FCS
bias showing I would love to see the first two
rounds stay on campus. I thought that first round that
(12:50):
Friday night in South Bend and then those three games
on Saturday on campuses, it was incredible. I thought it
was the coolest part of the entire sea. And was
those four games with so much consequence and so much
riding on them, being on the home campuses of these
teams that have worked so hard all year. And then
if you're one of those top four teams where you've
(13:12):
quote unquote earned the spot, you then don't get a
game on your own home campus, in your own home stadium.
And I hated that. I would have loved to have
seen those towns. I would have loved to have seen
Eugene and Athens and you know, Boise State in the
Sun Valley and all the different things. Okay, all the
(13:32):
different teams get their shine, So I didn't love that.
I hope they will evaluate and look at that. I
know there are bow tie ins and politics that work
into that. The other thing is, look, guys, I think
we have to have an honest conversation about whether or
not the top four conference champions from a seating perspective,
should be the top four seeds. I think it would
(13:55):
be a more even measure competitively if they just took
like we do normally, look, top four is top four.
I think in some ways they tried to reinvent the
wheel on that because they were trying to appease the
different power brokers at play. And I get all that,
but again, man, the FCS has done a good job
at this for a long long time, and they could
have stolen I think, a lot from that model. Now,
(14:17):
obviously it's a much bigger product. It's twenty four teams
every round, but the title game is on home campuses.
I know that's not going to be how it shakes out,
but I think they need to look at the format
a little bit moving forward, just to further enhance what
I thought was a really cool product.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
It's an interesting point, isn't it all you?
Speaker 4 (14:36):
Because it feels a college football is moving more towards
an NFL model rather than you tried and tested FCS model,
which which says talks about and perhaps perhaps FBS doesn't
want to go down that route, but certainly, for me,
we missed a Trick. I agree with Seth. I'm not
convinced that the four top for conference championships with a
(15:02):
bit of ice need to get the buy right. I
would love to have seen them play on campus, I think,
to really kick start that process, whereas with the NFL,
I think, you know, you get a buy into the
into the next round and and New England Patriots have
have earned their all of their medals. On the fact
that they've been able to utilize that and take that
(15:23):
to the advantage, it feels a little bit like we
need to They need to that's the one thing they
need to think about.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
Yeah, there's there's definitely some there's always there's always room
for im treatment with anything in the NFL. You know,
you reference the NFL there there they never finished kind
of tweaking with the playoff format we've seen in recent
years with the expanded regular season, expanding the playoffs, and
it will always there'll always be an element of tweak
(15:53):
and I think there's there's probably a there's probably a
golden area somewhere in between what we have now some
of the proposals that are out there, and then then
the FCS model, which is as I completely agree with
said is the way the SCS do their playoff makes
it such an attractive, anxiety and entertaining postseason product, and
(16:15):
there's got to be a way of of rewarding There's
got to be a way of rewarding regular season's success
as it pertains to the playoffs. But also we saw
a lot of that whole rest versus rust conversation for
the playoff, where you know, those those teams that earned
the right to to get first round by we're just
(16:39):
playing rusty when it came down to the ball game,
and the teams that have played the week before there
was they were dialed in, they were nailed in, they
were you know, there were no such concern And again,
there's got to be a there's got to be a
solution for that element as well. I think there's going
to be a solution for the Army Navy game. And
I don't mean a solution as Joel Clatten many others
(17:00):
mean in terms of moving into the Star the season.
I mean leaving that game where it is, leaving it
alone and ensuring that it maintains the standalone spectacle, because
I for one didn't like the fact there was a
bowl game on the same day as the Army Navy game.
I'm all for you know, they're being football from noon
east until you know, gone midnight, and what what is
(17:26):
Hawaii game finishing at seven am our time? Like, I'm
all for as much football as possible, but I think
the Army Navy game needs to be protected. It needs
its place in in college football law and having a
bowl game, And no disrespect to any of the bowl
games because I watch them all. I love them more.
I love all the teams and participating and but what
is essentially a bottom tier bowl game on the same
(17:48):
day as the Army Navy game is and that just
doesn't sit comfortably with me. So I think those there's
a couple of post season problems that have the need solutions,
and I think if that's the negative takeaway from twenty
twenty four, I think that's probably where we're at. Right.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
These don't feel insurmountable in that respect, right, it does
feel like it's tweaks rather than wholesale changes. But only
makes great point seth and that why we all love
Pobla football is because of the tradition and the rivalry
and you know, the a century over a century of
(18:30):
history that's got us to this place. There's a fine
line here in terms of because it could be a
tipping point, right, you could tip the game too far.
And I think a lot of us are already a
little nervous that we're moving far too quickly towards the
NFL model. But there is a tipping point here. We
need to retain the tradition of the game, don't we.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Yes, I love, love, love the Army Navy point, because
there's probably not a game on the college football sced
that I have an affinity for more than Army Navy.
There's just, man, there's so much to it. There's so
much tradition, there's so much pride, and I thought in
(19:14):
a year like this, it's even more special because Army
was excellent, I mean, had a magical year, win their
conference championship on their home field. Jeff Monkin is excellent.
You know, I love their motto last of the Hard.
They're just hard not to root for, right, And then
Navy also had an outstanding year. You know, Blake corvaf
(19:34):
was must watch TV pretty much every weekend, and so
you know that game should should be its own, it
should have its day, and you know, I love the
rotation between the traditional cities that they go to, and
there's just there is not a single thing about that
game that I don't adore, and so I couldn't agree
with that more. And I'm with y'all, man, I am
(19:56):
not on I like Joe Klatt, but I do not
like the idea starting the year with Army Navy because
I think it takes away the build and the importance
of such a beautiful rivalry and less lest we forget
one of only three neutral field games in all of
college football, Red River Shootout, world's largest outdoor cocktail party
in Army Navy. And to your point, George, that is
(20:17):
the one thing with all the change, I don't want
any of those things to be lost. You know, there
was a lot of talk with the SEC expansion that
Georgia was gonna lose certain games each year. It will
hurt my heart if they don't play Auburn every year.
It will hurt my heart if they stopped playing Tennessee
every year. I just you have to preserve those things.
(20:39):
How can you not play the matchup that produced Hobnail
Boot and produced My God a Freshman, and produced Dobb's
Nail Boot and you know, a countless array of others,
and then how can you not play the deep South
old this rivalry. I just I don't want to lose
any of it, and so they've got to work to
maintain those things. Money be damned, and I know that
(21:00):
that is the top of the chart, but they got
to preserve those things. Man. That's that's what makes our
sport so singular.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Kind of feels a little bit like it just needs
a couple of years for things to settle down and
everybody else start to relax a little bit, not to
be overly negative. The one thing that I hope we
don't see again ever, let alone this coming season, as
Bottles appearing on the.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
On the field.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
I know we've had this before, right, I know this
is not necessary new, but it did feel I'm all
for fan enthusiasm and I don't really mind the goal
post coming down, although sometimes the regularity of that kind
of doesn't make much sense, to be perfectly honest, but certainly,
you know, I love to see you know, Apple Itch
and State, you know going absolutely boot mental and Boon
(21:47):
and all that. I think that's it's what you know,
you know, Vanderbilt when they beat Alabama. I mean, that
was just such an awesome So just keep our enthusiasm
not not chucking bottles on the pitch.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
By by quickly we're going to move to the positive
side of things.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
I want to ask you about your highlights of the season,
and that can be personal, professional, whatever you wanted to be.
But I think we've all experienced something quite special this year.
And I think on this podcast we've been kind of
talking from the heart that we realize it's been special.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
We maybe maybe take ten.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Or twenty years for us to realize just how good
great a season it truly was. But what were your
What were your highlights of this season?
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Ollie? How about you?
Speaker 5 (22:33):
Wow? I think it's honestly, I think it's difficult to
nail down to a single highlight.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Have you got a list of ten? And that is
that you're telling me? Like where the start?
Speaker 5 (22:45):
George thought he was going on for minutes. It's actually
reality of me just getting and all of that college ball.
But I think whenever you get to witness greatness in action,
I think that is that is something special and I
think I should be celebrating. I think what we saw
(23:07):
out of Ashton Johanty this year for for Boise State,
you know, coming just I don't want to say out
of nowhere because obviously anyone who watched boy State this
season prior and even before that knew what sort of
talent he was. But to have this almost historic season
which really transformed and the long standing group of five narrative,
(23:34):
you know for Boise State, they when they played they
played Oregon so hard and they didn't disgrace themselves in
the playoffs, and it was it was you know, we
saw that that just a suit of excellence and from
Ashton Janty and I just thought that was That's always
incredible to be around something that is is that monumental.
(23:59):
I think was was incredible said this on the podcast
or too in the highlight of the season, not to
Dame becoming this likable national entity on the Marcus Freeman
you know, we certainly wet I said it three or
four times on this this show since the near the
(24:20):
end of the season. Is we've never been the biggest
part in Irish fans on this podcast, and we were
we had we had heart over heart overhead like moments
for both myself and George where we were like we
want notre Dame to win the college foot on national championship,
and we just didn't never we'd hear ourselves station of
the things. So I guess you could call that a
(24:43):
highlight of season.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Well, I was.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
I was hoping that one of the highlights of the
season was also Irish linked, but I was, I was
hoping that number two is going to be you, you
and I having breakfast and that Irish public.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Clear that was number three on your list. But I
forgot that.
Speaker 5 (25:00):
You said personal and professional and you know, because the
trip to the trip to Doublin this year was it
was special. I got to spend time with with you
know yourself, George people that when you come to the
game from Afar and remotely like we do, getting to
spend that time with people in person is it's actually
(25:22):
extremely special and definitely a professional and personal highlight and
being for me, I ended up stopping in the same
hotel as the Georgia Tech team, so getting back to
my hotel to start writing at half ten at night
or whatever it was, and sticking the Hawaii game all
the four am getting back is there the team and
(25:44):
the players after that game, after that performance, you know
that that was was truly special to be in and
around that environment and an experience you don't get to
have too often. So yeah, that was that was was
pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
Yeah, and I think I think the scenes, the scenes
in Dublin were quite something special in a great weak
kick off. We'd see see game day in Ireland and
see all those people, uh at game day, you know,
speaking to the people at game I don't think they
were They were entirely setting who was going to turn
up for it? Right, And to see just that volume
(26:22):
of people there for the show was quite It was
quite something. Seth we are where are your highlights falling
from from the season.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
I'll give you all a personal one, a personal slash
professional one, and then I'll try to give you a
just a global one as a as a college football fan.
So on a personal note, my brother and I got
to go to Athens for the George Tennessee game this year.
Game Day was in town, SEC Nation was in town. Uh.
Part of our story is we we came to be
(26:54):
Georgia fans because we both went to schools that we
always tell people didn't have real football. Uh. And so
we went to Athens for the first time together back
in two thousand and three for the Deep South's oldest rivalry,
Jason Campbell's quarterback in for Auburn, you know, David Green
for Georgia. Odell Thurman was on defense and Georgia one
(27:15):
that day and Odell Thurman returned to interception ninety nine
yards for a touchdown right into the student section. And
we've been hook line and sinker ever since. So every
time we get to go to Athens together, which unfortunately,
as we get older, as it is for all of us,
seems to get fewer and far between. Man, I just
cherish it. And that day was really special because the
weather was a gorgeous A good friend of mine who
(27:38):
I've come to know through our show, Ray Fulcher, got
to perform a song that he wrote called two Cigars
on Marty and McGee we were there for it. Got
to spend some time with Ray after that. That was
really awesome. One of our mutual friends, Laura Rutledge, was
there with sec Nation. We've had Laura on the show
a bunch of times. She is, we have said, as
(27:59):
much as anybody will us, and the nicest person in
not just all of college football, but probably all of
college sports. She's just the best and that was the
first time we got to meet her in person. Was there,
so she was kind enough to chat with us for
a little bit. So and then obviously the way the
game went, you know, it was just a great night.
So that day was super super special, probably my favorite
(28:20):
day of the year. And then on a personal professional
you know, my co host and I are like, y'all,
we don't record together, We're not in the same spot.
He's my best friend from growing up. He lives in Virginia,
I live in South Carolina. And we decided we were
going to try and get credentialed for a couple of games,
rivalry games Thanksgiving weekend into Big Ten, and you know,
it's one of those things where everything just worked out.
(28:42):
All the families were okay with us going. We got
credentialed in both places we wanted to get credentialed. All
the flight arrangements worked out great, and we ended up
getting to spend the Friday after Thanksgiving and Saturday after
Thanksgiven in Madison for Paul bunyans AX with Wisconsin and Minnesota,
and then in Bloomington for Old Oaken Bucket, Indiana, Purdue
and Man just two of the elite college towns in America,
(29:08):
and so it was just a magnificent experience. We had
such a good time getting to see each other, the
first time we'd see each other in person since the Oregon,
Georgia opener in twenty twenty two, so it had been
almost two calendar years. So, man, I really enjoyed that.
That was a lifetime weekend. I told my wife that
when we got back, I was like, that was just
out of this world. It was so awesome. So those
(29:30):
were two really special kind of sequences. And then just
on a global from a fan perspective, man, was all
the unexpected things I think that happened this year, whether
it's Kirk Signetti in Indiana or Kenny Dillonham in Arizona State,
or you look at Jeff Munkin and that Army team
making the run that they made. Even I think, you know, Ali,
(29:53):
you talked about Ashton john t and you look at
that Heisman race with Travis Hunter doing the singular things
that he did all year, and the fact that we
got to watch those performances, and you know, in an
nil and transfer portal world, a guy like Ashton gent
saying you know what, I'm staying at the place that
wanted me when nobody else did. I thought was a
(30:17):
really really awesome college football moment too. So yeah, Man,
twenty twenty four is one of my most favorite college
football seasons ever for all those reasons.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
It kind of feels like we need a whole episode
of maybe an hour long episode, talking about highlights of
this season to try and bring it back to George Bulldogs.
That's what we're going to talk about next.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Seth.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
When after the SEC championship game, after they had won it,
we're kind of waiting to get into the press room
for the press conference, and then there was whispers from
those who are more familiar with the Georgia media side
of things that there would be another set of players,
in fact, a larger number of players that would be
available for interviews. So most people we're kind of hanging
(31:00):
about for that to be led into the smallest room
in the world, let alone inside that stadium, and all
on all the players were kind of perched up high
on these seats that I don't know where they came from,
so everyone was talking up to them and I cannot,
I cannot. I've got the best picture I cannot forget
Atn's smile on his face when people were talking about
(31:22):
the smile did not disappear from his face. I mean,
these guys were in there for half an hour at
least talking to everybody, and the smile on his face.
We'll live with me for a long time that they were.
They were a happy bunch of ads, that's for sure.
So I've developed my own segue into the final section,
which is we wanted to ask Seth about the report
(31:44):
card for Georgia, because I think it's fair to say it.
Set if you after the first quarter of that season,
you might not have been so enthused about how far
Georgia were going to get in that season. A lot
of people had somewhat negative views on a Georgia's performance
(32:05):
for the For the outcome of the season, it turned
into a pray successful year for the Bulldogs. But that's
me preempting what you're going to tell us, and I
hope you're not going to govern them an f No.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Now you know, I am probably outside of the mainstream
of probably most Georgia followers in that I am always
very cognizant of how good it is right now, right
and I have a memory like an elephant. So I
remember very vividly when it wasn't this good, and so
(32:42):
I am so appreciative of this run. First of all,
if you look at just the success over the last
four seasons, it's it's unbelievable. And if you are a
person that follows the Georgia Bulldogs and you're griping and
complaining about something, I just I don't know what to
tell you. I mean, you talk about and we always
say on the show, the good old days of Georgia
(33:03):
football are right down now. And that's how I feel
about it. I mean, this is the time, and Kirby's outstanding,
and the things you've gotten to see if you love
the Dogs the last four years, or things we couldn't
have imagined five years ago. And so I'm just grateful
for all that. And I think if you look at
(33:24):
it globally, with the way the season went, and if
you follow them the way we follow them, I feel
pretty good about how their season went. I would put
them probably B plus a minus. I mean, look, if
you win an SEC title that has got to still
mean something, and it certainly means something to us. I
mean I was thrilled for that team. And if you've
(33:47):
been to that game. It is its own animal. I mean,
it is a spectacle and it really is one of
the better environments in college football. So for them to
walk out of there with the confetti fallen, I thought
was outstanding, especially after the rigors of the season. And
I know the schedule got talked about a lot, but
I am more talking about you know, they had to
(34:07):
deal with a lot of depth problems, all right. They
lost their ex and their Z the legal problems. So
you've got two guys on offense that aren't starting. They
had two of their pretended, you know, main contributors at
running back that essentially didn't play all season. Travis ATM
was hurt most of the sea, I mean Trevy tim
was hurt most of the season, so he wasn't as
(34:29):
available as we would have wanted him to be. You
get to see sensational freshman Nate Frasier kind of come
into his own over the course of the season. And look, boys,
let's have an honest conversation. Carson underperformed. I think if
you had told folks that he was going to have
the year that he had back in August and the
Dogs are still going to win the SEC title. I
(34:50):
think people would have been happy about it. To be honest,
he just was very uneven. And I want to be
very clear, I don't think that was all his fault. Okay,
George ed leed fbs in drops and you just can't
quantify how much that changes things for a quarterbacks confidence
and all these different things. So I thought he really
(35:10):
steeled himself the last half of the season and really
led them to be put in position where they could
actually be in Atlanta. My running theme for this and
we actually talked to Laura about it when she was
on the show because I was interested if she had
a feel on it because she was on the sidelines
for a few of their games. Is it felt like
to me? And I mentioned to know what y'all think
that they had a little bit of a leadership problem.
(35:33):
I did not think they had a group of alphas
like they have had for so long. George, you mentioned
Nolan Smith earlier, probably one of the greatest leaders the
last ten years for Georgia football, And you know, I
think the special thing about those groups was he wasn't
the only one, right, there was just a big group
of them. So you had all these guys that are saying, hey, Look,
(35:55):
this is Georgia, and this is the standard, and so
this is where we perform every day to the standard,
and I just don't think that was there this year,
and I think it showed a lot. I thought Kirby
tried to fill that vacuum the best he could, but
as we all know, the best teams are the ones
that are player led, and I just thought they had
(36:17):
a void in that area and that's gonna happen, you know.
For me, it reminded me a lot of the twenty
nineteen year Jake Frums last year in Athens. They didn't
have a ton of talent on the outside at wide
receiver that year really struggled offensively. They got into the
SEC title game but got dump trucked by that Joe
Burrow LSU team, which dump trucked everybody. But that's kind
(36:40):
of what it felt like. It was a grind all year.
My cost texted me after they lost the Notre Dame
and he goes, I want to be mad, but I'm
just exhausted. And I thought that was a pretty app
description of most of the year. So yeah, so I'm
probably not gonna be as hard as most folks. I'm
gonna go B plus a mind because the SEC title
(37:01):
got to mean something.
Speaker 4 (37:03):
It was a very long year onie, wasn't it, which
you concur with support card.
Speaker 5 (37:10):
Yeah, I mean it's absolutely you hit and on the
head because the winning a winning a conference championship has
to mean something. We talked earlier about what that means
in terms of the college football playoff. I want to
hear really those two conversations had in in the same context.
(37:31):
Because you know you're going to have a team win
the conference, you say that isn't going to be in
the college football playoffs. You know, the team win the
Sun Belt who wasn't going to be in a college
football playoff. That doesn't mean that winning that championship means
any less to those teams that fire for it, for
those players that see up every week to earn it,
for those who that might be this crowning glory of
(37:55):
their entire college football and football career. You know, and
we that we've touched on many times in this show
is college football isn't just the pipeline to the NFL.
There's so many people involved that will never touch the NFL.
And that's what they do in these four, five, six,
nine years can racormick the like this will define them
(38:22):
their sporting achievements comes. So I think a conference championship
and being a part of a conference championship winning team
it means a lot and it goes one way. And yeah,
for a program like Georgia, that isn't the be all
and end all. You know, there's that standard now and
you're right, it's the standard that it is now you
(38:43):
kind of forget everything that's come the forty years are out,
Like this is the standard now for Georgia. Bullogs football
is a national championship. So in the context of that,
obviously it's not a great season that the inability to
compete against Notre Dame was not ideal and recentcy bias
is a real thing and people that's the last kind
(39:05):
of remembrance of Georgia's twenty twenty football season was that
the Notre Lame game. But yeah, as far as the
leadership goes, I think there's a there is a problem
at Georgia and you're closer to it than we are,
but from a from a distance, there's a lot of
external things away from the football field that speaks to
(39:29):
a lack of leadership that is obviously evident in the game.
And I think, look a guy like Cedric van Pran
from the last the seasons before, Yeah, that's missing, you know,
you guy at the guy at the center of your offense,
And yeah, it should be a quarterback. And well, that's
a conversation about Carson Beg that will probably have this
year as he plays in Miami. So I think a
(39:49):
guy like Cedric van Pran on that offensive front. Georgean
Davis in the years gone by always seemed like a
guy who could bring a team together and rally a team.
And yeah, I think there's there's an issue there that
(40:10):
isn't just strictly confined to the players in the locker
room either. But yeah, the only time you win a
conference championship, he's got you've got to kind of have
a little bit of a celebration of it. That's yeah,
that's my biggest takeaway from Georgia twenty twenty four. Who
knows what twenty twenty five are look like, because again,
it's another year where the entire heart of the offensive
(40:31):
line is off to the NFL. That's right, new quarterback
bringing a guy a wide receiver Zach right Branch, which
is a great add on paper, we go to see
him handle the load as you know, a go to guy,
a wide receiver one in the SEC and that would
be interesting to see. And some of those defensive pieces
that they lose this season as well. It's yeah, it's
(40:53):
gonna ben interesting season. I think.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Let me let me ask you all this about how
they look going into twenty five because I've seen a
bunch of these early projections and they tend to fall
somewhere in the four to six range, and I'm just
being honest with y'all, that seems entirely too high to me.
I think this is one of the more transitional years
they've experienced in a long long time. There is a
(41:16):
lot of uncertainty of quarterback. I know everybody wants to
say it's Gunner's job. I'm not convinced of that. I
think Brian Puglici will have his name in that conversation.
I think to your point all, they're pretty much replacing
their entire offensive line. They had real problems at both
tackles last year. That's troubling. Nate Fraser comes back, which
(41:39):
is great. I think they've got a lot of depth
a tight end. But again, to your point, Ali, what
are the answers at wide receiver. So I think there
are many many uncertainties on offense. And then that doesn't
even address what's being lost on defense and how thin
they are at outside linebacker and at the pass russ position,
and so I don't know. There is a lot of
(42:01):
uncertainty for me from a fans perspective and a follower
of the program, and I am very, very curious to
see how they navigate another gauntlet of a schedule. I mean,
it's essentially twenty twenty four all over again, and they're
getting folks between the hedges, but the quality of competition
doesn't change, and so it's going to be an interesting year.
I think in Athens we will see, we will see
(42:24):
how much metal they have.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
I think, well, this is this is probably a conversation
for another time and when we help you back on set.
But this is where the transitory way that college football
is going is going to impact schools like Georgia. Right,
because traditionally very good, as would say, elite recruiters, Right,
(42:46):
they get they've stacked the roster. But as you know,
we've gone full circle. Will go back to the opening gambit,
which is those rosters are not stacked any longer. You
don't have the conveyor belt that Alibi had where you know,
Nick Saban could play all these third years because he
knew that his second and you know in the in
(43:07):
the freshmen were all sitting there waiting on their turn.
That doesn't happen in football and longer a lot to do.
Why Nick Saban's now you know, working for ESPN, So
that is going to be interesting to see how that
plays out because then you're dominant.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
Schools who are.
Speaker 4 (43:21):
Recruiting have to build that that plug that gap through
the transfer portal, and then that's when money comes into play.
But that's for another time because as always we've we've
run out of time. That's all from us in this episode.
It's been awesome to catch up with Seth again and
talk about George Bulldogs.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
Steph.
Speaker 4 (43:42):
Thank you so for those who didn't listen to episode
first time around, Tell our listeners, tell our new listeners
where they can find you and when the podcast runs
through the summer, and what's going to fill your time
(44:02):
between now and August.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Yeah yeah, So first off, boys, thank y'all so much
for having me. Always an honor to be on with y'all.
I loved, love, love what y'all do and what y'all
bring to the to the culture and landscape at college football.
So thank you for having me. You can find us
all over social We're on every platform. Try to stay
active on as many of them as I can, especially
in the season. We're probably most active, I guess you
(44:26):
could say on Instagram, but try to post across all platforms,
and you know, generally there Saturday in Athens or Saturday
Underscore Athens, across all those platforms. And then on YouTube,
we started releasing all of our stuff via video now
just trying to tap into that because we had all
this great video content and weren't doing anything with it.
(44:47):
So find us on YouTube, you know, shoot us an email,
direct messages, whatever it may be. We always love love
hearing from folks and kind of talking about the things
that people want to hear about. We generally don't I
won't post as much in the off season, but we
are trying to do. I started a little bit doing
a campus icon series where we're trying to have on
(45:09):
owners of these iconic establishments in college towns across America.
So we had Nick's English Hut from Bloomington, Indiana and
featured them. And then we had Eskimo Joe's and Stillwater
and featured Stan Clark, the owner and founder there. And
so we're trying to coordinate with the different owners across.
You know, we're trying to do the wheel at the
University of Kansas Mario's Fishbowl in Morgantown Heath not here
(45:34):
in Chapel Hill. So we're trying to kind of illuminate
all these bastions of college sports towns across across the
landscape of America. So so tune in for that. Hopefully
we'll have some more of that content here soon.
Speaker 4 (45:47):
Sounds awesome and we didn't even have time to talk
about our potential catch up in late September.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
When that's right, Alabama and Georgia meet up. That's it.
Speaker 4 (45:58):
That's all from us, a thank you, thank you for listening.
You are all awesome. Thanks to saf Knowli for the
brilliant put Stay safe and well and catch you next time.
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