*Jim Gumm, The Blitz Newsletter

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back. Jack Kembling here with my good friend Matt Sloan.
A graph of Okamists. Big summer here, Matt.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
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Speaker 1 (00:25):
Zero percent. Can't get much lower than that. That's exactly right, Papacy,
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They're making friends. Back to the Drive with Jack the
Spotlight Radio Network. Jack Eblin here with my producer Boston Rob. Rob.
When it's this time of year, you start thinking about
preseason magazines if you haven't already, if you haven't already

(00:47):
gotten them and devoured them, and you start thinking about
the Blitz newsletter. Want to welcome in as we will
often during the college football season and now the pro
football season. Two. Jim Gum from Cleveland, Tennessee. Jim, how
are you.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
I'm doing good?

Speaker 1 (01:04):
How are you how was your off season? Did you
have any more time on your hands than Phil Steele
did on his.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
I might have had a little bit more a free
time than Phil Steele. I mean that guy. He puts
together just an outstanding magazine. But I was pretty busy, though, man,
I was pretty busy.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Before we get into your rankings. And congratulations on being
the only guy I know who had Ohio State number
one stuck with him, didn't jump off the bridge after
the Michigan game, and has a national championship to show
for it. But I want to look at Phil Steele
Atlon and Lindy's coming into this year, and you have

(01:47):
him listed side by side in issue one for Volume
fifteen of the Blitz. I always say Phil Steele does
his homework, and I'm saying that even more this year
because two picks are the same as mine. He is
Penn State number one and Clemson number two at line

(02:07):
and Lindy's both have Texas number one Penn State number two.
And you're back with Ohio State again, right.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
I am. I've still got Ohio stite one. I've got
Texas too, But I mean it's a this is a
tough year, man. There's so many good programs out there
that are you know, unproven quarterbacks. I mean, you know,
even Texas. I mean, I know Arch Manning has played,
but it's not like he's been a starter for a year.
Even those guys have got a little bit of curious

(02:41):
if you will. You know, Penn State and Clemson obviously
have got returning quarterback.

Speaker 4 (02:45):
So that's right.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Drew Aller and Kate club Nick and Ohio State justin
saying that he is going to get the first shot
at this but looking at the way it stacks up
in the coaches poll with Texas won and Ohio State two,
and then the eight p pole the same as Atlin
and Lindy's with Texas one and Penn State two. In

(03:09):
any event, this is the first time in history, Jim,
that a season opener will have a number one ranked
team as an underdog.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
Yeah, that's pretty Mets man when you think about it.
But I mean, listen, I mean the reason Texas is
an underdog is because the game is being played in Columbus.
I'm sure that if this game is being played in
Austin that Texas will be favored, so as much as
much to do with the location of the game as
much as anything, right, right.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
And they say that's normally worth three points the home
court at the home field advantage, So flip that would
mean six points. It'd be three if it's on a
neutral field. But for something like that, how many teams
do you think are actually capable, Jim, of being in
the National Championship Game?

Speaker 3 (03:58):
Oh, I'd say there's a least seven or eight teams
that realistically have a The roster is built to be
a championship team, and a lot of it has to do,
obviously with the quarterback play. It could be up to
ten teams, honestly, But I mean, I do believe this
is one of the more wide open seasons to begin

(04:22):
that I can remember. And obviously we all know Jack
that if there's a you know, a quarterback goes down
for the year, and that's going to affect some of
these teams, assuming that every team stays healthy. I think
there's at least eight, maybe seven to ten teams I
think have a realistic shot.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
I ask you that, Jim, because I made a list
of the teams that can win it and teams that
wish they could win it, and I have ten teams
that I think could be in the championship game, doesn't
mean they're going to win the last game. But Penn State, Clemson,
Notre Dame, Texas, Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, Oregon, Miami, Florida.

(05:08):
Who did I leave about LSU? Those are the ten
and people might like someone else that's the same thing
you have. Okay, So I think that group brenand there's
a drop off. And again when you say so many
inexperienced quarterbacks, even of those ten, jem you think about Georgia,

(05:31):
not the guy who's been there in the past, the
guy who filled in late in the year, Notre Dame
new quarterback. LSU has a quarterback, Alabama breaking in someone
Georgia and not what they thought Oregon breaking in a
new quarterback, but a guy who has started games at UCLA,
and I think a lot of him, Miami taking Georgia's quarterback.

(05:54):
So you can just about split it. And I think
there might be more teams that don't have an established
starting quarterback at least returning at that program then do.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
Right, And you know, I know you, and you mentioned LSU,
and that's my r he is coming back. But my
thing about them is the coach Brian Kelly for whatever reason,
I just I'm hesitant on LSU. Not because of the roster,
but because Brian Kelly, to me, always finds a way
to blow a game. And I always wonder which game

(06:30):
is he gonna blow this year. We'll see, I mean,
he may prove me wrong, but that's the one. What's
the one program that has a returning quarterback that I'm
still a little iffy about, iffy about because the head
coach is a Tennessee to you know, not be able
to win the game. A lot of people feel the
same way about James Franklin at Penn State, you know,
and I know Penn State did win two playoff games

(06:52):
last year, but you know it's not exactly like they
played the Who's Who. They played Boise State and sim
you but still, you know, you got that thing that
you got certain coaches You're like, hush, can this guy
really get it done? And then I feel that way
about Brian Kelly.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, I can see that. I've heard so much about
James Franklin and I am not a James Franklin fan.
He's not one of my favorite guys. But I don't
like to see people become Whipping Boys. And I went
back and said, well, how bad is James Franklin Because
I've heard all the jokes, you know that people in

(07:30):
Pennsylvania say they'd be better with Ben Franklin than James Franklin,
and you know all this stuff. But I went back
through and looked, and in fairness, if you think that
he came in after Bill O'Brien, very quick turnaround, and
they were still dealing with the Joe Paterno mess. They
still had a short roster, still had a lot of problems,

(07:53):
and he has never been picked number one in the
Big Ten. It's not like he's had chances. I can
go through from twenty fifteen through twenty twenty one, one
game a year that Jim Harbaugh clearly blew. I can't
find that with James Franklin. They did win the Big
Ten title in twenty sixteen, beat Ohio State and lose

(08:17):
a thrilling Rose Bowl to USC. Last year, they won
thirteen games. They finished two spots ahead of Ohio State
in the Big Ten standings and played a competitive game
with Oregon and played a very competitive game with Notre Dame.
People say, well, yeah, you know, they only beat Boise
State and Boise State team that, by the way, almost

(08:39):
beat Oregon in Eugene. But I look at that game
with Notre Dame and Penn State in the semifinal gym,
and Penn State was one play, one Drew Aller mistake
away from being in the national championship game.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah, I mean, I get what you're saying, and I
and I listen. I'm I'm not an anti James Franklin guy,
but you know all these you know, these polices like
they were one play away. Well, it seems like that's
always the case. I'm not lissen, I'm not dogging. Okay,
James Franklin is a really good coach in ninety nine

(09:18):
percent of the programs out there would be better off
with a guy like him at the helm. But you know,
he does have some tendencies to when they are playing
a highly ranked team. But they have a real problem
with Ohio State. I mean they really have. That's that's
their Achilles hill. But my gosh, I mean, Ohio State
beats almost everyone. I mean, they do have an issue
with Michigan right now, but I mean losing to Ohio

(09:40):
State regularly, so is everyone else. So I get it.
But I guess it's one of these things. And I
put James Franklin and Brian Kelly kind of in the
same category. You got to prove it to me that
you can beat the big boys, not such so much
a highly ranked team, but a highly ranked big boy
team like a Georgia and a Ohio State someone like that.

(10:02):
You beat them. Now I'll buy into it. You know,
beating a highly ranked Boise State and a highly ranked
SMU does a feel. I know I shouldn't say it
does a feel as big.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
This is the first time I can recall Jim and
I could be wrong. I watched the Saquon Barkley teams
up close and personal, but this is the first time
I can look at Penn State and say their personnel
is as good as any teams in the country. Now,
if this team loses three or four games, then I'm
in the same canoe with you. But I haven't seen

(10:35):
James Franklin have a team that was a Big Ten favorite.
I don't think that his teams have really underperformed. They've
performed about where they were picked to do. Now, you
could say, well, he should get better players, but that's
a different question in terms of recruiting, and I think
if you're in the final four, it's like I get
this argument in basketball all the time about well, you're

(10:58):
in the Final four, but you didn't win it. If
you're in the semi finals of the college football playoffs,
you've done something right.

Speaker 3 (11:07):
Oh no, there's no doubt. And look, and I don't
want anyone out there to think that I'm bashing James Franklin.
I just I'm hesitant to pick them to win a
national championship until they proved, until he proves that he can.
And listen, Ryan Day had a lot of the same
questions last year. A lot of people question, well, Ryan
Day can't win the big One. Well guess what, Ryan

(11:27):
Da finally did win the Big One. Now you feel
different about Brian Day, and I would feel the exact
same way about James Franklin. And I would feel the
exact same way about Brian Kelly. If one of those
two guys goes out and wins a national championship, or
at least plays in the National championship game and plays
a competitive game, you know you know where I'm coming from.
I'm not an anti Brian Kelly or anti James Franklin.

(11:51):
I'm just hesitant.

Speaker 1 (11:53):
Yeah, I can see that, and you haven't seen it,
so there's no reason to believe it's going to be there.
I'm looking at your next five, especially eleven through fourteen,
and I find those to be very interesting picks and
I like them. But you have three teams here from

(12:15):
the Big twelve, and I think a couple of them
are playing in Farmageddon, right Kansas State? Yeah, also have
Texas Track, the best team money can buy. You have
them in at thirteen. So you have those three eleven, thirteen,
and fourteen ahead of some high profile teams or teams

(12:36):
that were in the playoff last year. Which of those
four I guess, if you want to throw Florida in two,
which of those four teams could crack the quarterfinals and
be in the final.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
Eight Between Kansas State, Florida, Texas, Technowa State. I guess
I'd probably lean towards Kansas State because I like their
B and DJ Lagway Florida is really good, but he
tends to not be able to stay healthy. So I
really like this Kansas State team. I really do. So

(13:12):
I don't know. I mean, there again, I wouldn't pick
either one of those four teams. To make a deep
run into the playoffs. But you know, I mean they
both got good quarterbacks. Between Florid and Kansas State, they
both got good quarterbacks assuming they both stay healthy, and
that's half the battle is right there. So but Kansas
State would be the one I would choose over those four.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
Jim, you have six Big eighteen teams or Big ten
if you will, in your list from fifteen to thirty.
Very interesting. You have Michigan fifteen again breaking in a
new quarterback, twelve million dollar man. You have Illinois at eighteen.

(13:57):
I really like Illinois. They have a boatload of people
coming back. I think Brett Bilama is a little bit
underrated as a coach, and they did win ten games
last year, including that Bowl win over South Carolina. You
have Nebraska a little higher than most, I think at
twenty one with Dylan Royola, and Indiana maybe a little

(14:17):
lower than most, although I can see that I'm hearing
great things about the transfer quarterback from cal and I'm
looking at the Indiana schedule. We talked about this last night. Jim.
Did Kurt Signetti sit down and make this schedule out himself?

Speaker 3 (14:35):
You know, I mean it's us. I've called people. What
Kurt Signette is doing in Indiana is very similar to
what Bill Snyder did at Kansas State. Yeah, he's not
going to schedule a tough non conference team, He's just not.
He wants to get three automatic wins and then if
they could win three games in a Big Ten, they're
BO eligible. We all know eleven and won what they

(14:57):
did last year, that's an anomaly they have. That's the
first time that program's ever won double digits ever in
their history. This is a program that rarely, rarely makes
any type of postseason. So I don't have a problem
with what Indiana does because of who they are, and
people can bash them all they want, but the bottom

(15:18):
line is they just want to become Bowl eligible. And
if they do something spectacular and they make it to
maybe affordable, or they do what they did last year
and make a playoff run, then congratulations. But for the
most part, that's the struggle for Indiana just to make
the postseason. So I don't have a problem with what
they do in the non conference course for their.

Speaker 1 (15:37):
Schedule, looking at even the Big Ten matchups, and I
got a real break there on who they miss. I
think Indiana is going to be favored in ten games
doesn't mean they're going to win them. But looking at
the competition there, I think Indiana got a very favorable draw.
You also have USC at twenty seven in Iowa at thirty.

(16:03):
Sell me on Nebraska if you can, Jim.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
Well, I just think that Dylan Rayala, I'm a believer
in this guy. I know he was very, very highly talented,
and he, you know, is committed to about three or
four different schools. And Matt Ruhle's doing a really good
job there at Nebraska. And people say, here's what people
say when Nebraska is not what they want to know.
Who wants to go to Nebraska. They don't produce football

(16:28):
players in Nebraska. I'm like, listen, they didn't produce football
players in Nebraska back in the seventies, eighties, and nineties either,
But they did. They had a great job in of recruiting.
You can recruit to Nebraska. You can because it's been
done before. It's not like Nebraska used to be a
tropical paradise. It's always been sitting right there in the

(16:49):
middle of the Midwest, cold and blear and dreary in
the middle of the wintertime. But if you know, if
it's been done before, it can be done again. And
I think the passion of the fans there. You get
a recruit there and there's eighty five thousand fans and
it's all this red and you get all these vibes.
I think there's some kids out there in high school

(17:10):
that would be like, yeah, I think I'd like to
be here, you know and listen. Well know, these days
it's all about the nil money and Nebraska is just
gonna do whatever they can to fork out enough money
to get some really good players.

Speaker 1 (17:23):
Jim, how surprised would you be in Week one if
Miami beat Notre Dame in South Florida.

Speaker 3 (17:32):
I'm a Carson Beck fan. I like this guy. At
it's in Miami, Okay, so you got an advantage there. Now,
typically Miami does not sell out football games, but when
they're playing a highly touted team like a Notre Dame,
there's gonna be a lot of the fair weather fans
show up. There's a lot of Miami fans down there,

(17:52):
but they're very fickle and they select which games they attend.
But I think it's gonna be a hostile crowd. Now,
Notre Dame always has a lot of fans there at
any opposing stadium anyway, But I think Notre Dame's could
have their hands full. It wouldn't shock me at all.
I'm picking Notre Dame to win that game, but it
wouldn't shocked me to see Carson Beck and that Miami
team win that game.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
All right. Last thing, I'm looking at your bracket here
and you have Ohio State won Penn State four. That
means they would meet if they go all the way
through to the semifinals. And there's a good chance that
these teams could play three times if they are the
top two finishers in the Big Ten. They could meet
in Columbus, then they could meet in the Big Ten

(18:36):
championship game, and then they could meet again. Pretty strange
to think that two Big Ten teams could play three
times in one year.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
It is I mean, we saw it happen. You know,
we saw how Staton, Oregon played twice last year. So yeah, yeah,
I mean it could happen. I think it's I think
the odds are against it, but yeah, there's no doubt
it could happen. These days with when you get a
multi tiered playoff system and two late two Hoghy packed
outed teams, So yeah, absolutely could happen.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
Jim tell our listeners again those who uh don't remember
from last year. The best way to get a copy
of the Blitz it is your companion. You should have
it nearby if you want to look smart. It's the
best way to do it. How do fans get it?

Speaker 3 (19:23):
You know? There's two ways to get in touch with me.
You can email me and you can text me. Uh
emails Jim gum dot blitz at yahoo dot com. This
j I M g U M M dot blitz b
l I t z at yahoo dot com. Or you
can text me four two three five eight four zero
three six zero. That's four two three five eight four
zero three sixty and just say you heard me on

(19:45):
your show, Jack, and you'd like to see this preview
issue and I'll send it out to you.

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Speaker 2 (20:59):
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