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Speaker 1: On today's episode, What'll it take for three teams to

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Speaker 1: take the next step?

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the solid verbal.

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Speaker 3: I'm that for me, I'm a man, I'm for it.

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Speaker 2: I've heard so many players say, well, I want to

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Speaker 2: be happy. You want to be happy for Dake Edo Steak?

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Speaker 2: Is that woo woo? And Dan and Tye.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to the salid Verbo Boys and girls. My

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Speaker 1: name is ty Hillenbrandt. That fine gentleman over there as

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Speaker 1: always the illustrious Hey Dan Rubinstein, Sir.

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Speaker 2: Welcome back.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to another week of college football talk here on

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Speaker 1: the podcast.

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Speaker 2: How are you? I'm great, Ty, I am. My mood

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Speaker 2: shifts with the weather. I always like to start with

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Speaker 2: the weather. Things have been pretty nice here in the

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Speaker 2: Chicago land area, and I think the direction we are

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Speaker 2: going these next couple weeks is pretty appropriate.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 2: We are looking at teams as they hopefully continue to blossom, Tye, Right, yes, yep,

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Speaker 2: And we're looking we're trying to be positive, we're trying

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Speaker 2: to see the bright side of things, and we're looking

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Speaker 2: for growth, Tie, And so I only feel it's appropriate

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Speaker 2: that we go with the UH. I don't know what

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Speaker 2: we're exactly we're calling this, but we've decided to look

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Speaker 2: at teams that are hopefully ascending to a new rung,

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Speaker 2: a new tier in the sport, or getting back to right,

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Speaker 2: returning to a place they think they should be, or

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Speaker 2: they're recruiting like they want to be or paying money

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Speaker 2: like they want to be. So you know, I enjoy

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Speaker 2: a good, good thematic tie in tie So here we are.

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Speaker 1: Thank you to everybody for stopping on by. This will

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Speaker 1: be fun. As Dan said, we're going into a bit

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Speaker 1: of a deep dive for a handful of teams. We're

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Speaker 1: going to do that over the next two weeks. This

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Speaker 1: week it's teams that we are hoping can get to

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Speaker 1: eight wins, like a consistent eight, consistent e to steady eight. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's what we're going to be discussing this week. We've

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Speaker 1: got guests that are going to help us do that.

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Speaker 1: Jeff Rman noted Maryland Luminary will be by a little

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Speaker 1: bit later on in this podcast talk through all things

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Speaker 1: Maryland football and how they can get there. We'll get

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Speaker 1: to that a much much more. We will start though

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Speaker 1: at the top with news and then you and I

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Speaker 1: picked a team each that we will discuss yes, verballers

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Speaker 1: dot com is where you can go big week over

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Speaker 1: at for ballers dot com. You've been boning up for

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Speaker 1: the board meeting that we've got to have been boning

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Speaker 1: up for the board meeting.

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Speaker 2: This week. We're speaking to our board the people that

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Speaker 2: you know, this happens during the season that if you

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Speaker 2: come in the top four or five six picks that

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Speaker 2: we figure out a cutoff point in our pick pool,

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Speaker 2: right five, Top five, Top five become at least for

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Speaker 2: a year. They get the new responsibility of becoming a

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Speaker 2: board member and you know, getting a peek behind the

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Speaker 2: scenes and exercising some clout in terms of the structure

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Speaker 2: of the show and the future of the verballers dot

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Speaker 2: com Patreon community.

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Speaker 1: Verballers dot com Also now I think I think alive

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Speaker 1: with optimism over a watch party or a series of

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Speaker 1: watch parties that have have butted up over the course

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Speaker 1: of the last week. Over on Discord, we're going to

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Speaker 1: be picking out some old games doing a watch along

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Speaker 1: with the community. We're going to get in on that.

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Speaker 1: So stop on over forballers dot com. You also can

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Speaker 1: watch this episode live as we do it. You get

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Speaker 1: early access to this episode and all of our episodes.

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Speaker 1: We're doing our best to start ramping things up. We've

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Speaker 1: got the aforementioned baseball Show, the off topic baseball Show

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Speaker 1: that we are in the process of putting together and

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Speaker 1: we'll do shortly. So just because it's May and the

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Speaker 1: debt of the off season does not mean that we

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Speaker 1: are any less busy. Overalls dot Com, make sure you

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Speaker 1: follow on social media as well as YouTube, and if

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Speaker 1: nothing more, hit subscribe on your app of choice. Shall

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Speaker 1: we get to news. Let's Peyton Thorn. Peyton Thorne going

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Speaker 1: to Auburn. Peyton Thorn, a multi year starter at Michigan State,

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Speaker 1: will be taking his talents to the Hugh Freeze Auburn system,

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Speaker 1: notably Robbie Ashford, who got the majority of the reps

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Speaker 1: last year forty nine point two percent completion percentage, seven touchdowns,

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Speaker 1: seven interceptions a year ago. Hugh free is determining that

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Speaker 1: that's probably not good enough to compete in the SEC.

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Speaker 1: TJ Finley had already announced that he is going elsewhere,

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Speaker 1: So Peyton Thorn now seemingly is going to be the guy,

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Speaker 1: going to be the dude at Auburn coming down.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 1: I know you've been a bit of a peyton Thorns skeptic, Dan, Sure,

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Speaker 1: upgrade not upgrade?

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Speaker 2: What was your reaction upon hearing this seems like an

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Speaker 2: upgrade with the ceiling right? You know, if if Auburn,

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Speaker 2: I think, in its right mind says we don't see

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Speaker 2: a future in which Robbie Ashford wins eight nine games

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Speaker 2: for Auburn, minimum which Auburn has a pretty high standard.

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Speaker 2: This is a team that has a national championship played

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Speaker 2: for another has put a ton of players on both

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Speaker 2: sides of the ball into the league. If they're saying

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Speaker 2: to themselves, if Hugh Freeze is saying to himself, peyton

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Speaker 2: Thorn is at least decent, and we see upside there,

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Speaker 2: and we think we have a better chance of winning

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Speaker 2: more games in a tough division, a tough conference with

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Speaker 2: peyton Thorn makes sense. I am not a huge believer

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Speaker 2: that this is going to cure some of the things

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Speaker 2: that still are our concerns for Auburn's offense, and they've

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Speaker 2: done a lot in the portal. I'm I think it's fine, right.

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Speaker 2: I think it's like a solid B minus move. And look,

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Speaker 2: there are classes that I wish I had finished with

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Speaker 2: a B minus in. So I'm good with it. I'm

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Speaker 2: just tempering my expectations in terms of it being like

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Speaker 2: a huge jump in terms of what Auburn will be

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Speaker 2: able to do on offense with Thorn. Yeah, I think

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Speaker 2: that's fair.

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Speaker 1: I mean Peyton Thorn's best season was clearly in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty one, when Michigan State also had a very good season.

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Speaker 1: Twenty seven touchdowns to just ten interceptions. He had a

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Speaker 1: completion percentage just north of sixty percent. The completion percentage

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Speaker 1: ticked up last year, but some of the other numbers

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Speaker 1: went in a different direction. He had more interceptions, he

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Speaker 1: had fewer touchdowns. This was not a quarterback who had

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Speaker 1: a ton of air yards, so it wasn't like he

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Speaker 1: was airing it out deep In most cases. It was

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Speaker 1: a lot of shorter stuff. But still has been very effective,

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Speaker 1: and I think I agree with you it's a step

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Speaker 1: up from what Auburn's had. They're looking for some stability

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Speaker 1: there at the quarterback position. Wouldn't surprise me if they

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Speaker 1: try to find other people as well, But it seems

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Speaker 1: like Peyton Thorn is probably gonna be the dude at

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Speaker 1: least a time of recording.

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Speaker 2: Goodbye low candidates, though by a way if you want

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Speaker 2: to convince yourself that he was beat up last year

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Speaker 2: behind a beat up offensive line, he had receiving talent.

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Speaker 2: He's definitely had receiving talent these past couple of years.

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Speaker 2: There was a drop after Kenneth Walker left. But saying

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Speaker 2: he's Joe Burrow coming from the Midwest and showing promise,

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Speaker 2: going no, obviously not that is that is kind of silly,

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Speaker 2: But saying these three, four or five things were stacked

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Speaker 2: against him and now he's going to a better situation offensively,

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Speaker 2: I'll listen, Yeah, I'll listen.

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Speaker 1: I'll listen to the conversation about it being a better,

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Speaker 1: better spot for him. Offensively, I think Hugh Freeze, you know.

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Speaker 2: Love the guy.

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Speaker 1: I hate the guy and no set of coach offense,

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Speaker 1: and I would expect that he'll find a way to

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Speaker 1: put Peyton Thorne in a good spot. Yeah, so we'll see,

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Speaker 1: we'll see what comes of that. Still waiting for official

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Speaker 1: word on Keon Coleman. I know Twitter was alive this weekend.

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Speaker 1: He took his official pictures as part of his visit

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Speaker 1: to Florida State. Did not officially commit to Florida State,

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Speaker 1: but look good in Florida State. And the Whites that

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Speaker 1: he had on wearing number zero. Sure, I saw that

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Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, that looks good. That would

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Speaker 1: look really good. Well spicy, We'll see, yeah, we'll see

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Speaker 1: where Keon Coleman decides to go. He also of Michigan State.

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Speaker 2: Did you see that he how many teams he heard from?

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Speaker 2: Did you see that graphic?

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Speaker 3: I didn't.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if it was Hayes Faust or who

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Speaker 2: it was, something like Keon Coleman reveals the fifty nine

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Speaker 2: teams he's heard from since entering the transfer portal. And

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Speaker 2: it was just like it was like the College Football

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Speaker 2: Hall of Fame of helmets. It was like, oh, he

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Speaker 2: heard from San Diego State, heard from Oregon, he heard

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Speaker 2: from Pitt. It was cool, really cool, all right.

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Speaker 1: Elsewhere in college football news, Kansas State and Chris Kleiman

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Speaker 1: are finalizing a new eight year, forty four million dollar contract.

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Speaker 1: He'd earned about five and a half million dollars a season.

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Speaker 1: Chris Climban I think has been an overwhelming success in

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Speaker 1: his time at Manhattan Kansas. It's nice that they're able

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Speaker 1: to lock him up. I'm sure there would be other

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Speaker 1: teams interested. Chris climb though, does not necessarily seem like

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Speaker 1: the type of guy who was looking to upgrade or

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Speaker 1: move elsewhere. He found a really good spot for him.

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Speaker 1: He came over from North Dakota State, he followed his

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Speaker 1: athletic director to k State, and he has seen I think,

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Speaker 1: pretty immediate success upon getting there. I'm excited about what

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three has in store for the Wildcats. But

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Speaker 1: it's a good move for them to lock him up,

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Speaker 1: to pay him more, and to make sure that he

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Speaker 1: sticks around because it seems like they've gotten to a

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Speaker 1: point of relative stability. And now as we move forward

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Speaker 1: in the new version of the Big Twelve sans Texas

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Speaker 1: and Oklahoma, it stands to reason at case States one

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Speaker 1: of like one of the perennial favorites, at least with

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Speaker 1: the way things are.

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Speaker 2: Won it last year. Texas and Oklahoma there right, like

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Speaker 2: Texas is out here winning Big Twelve titles anytime recently. No,

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Speaker 2: it's a good move, it's a good move. It's a

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Speaker 2: very good move, and it also points to the fact

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Speaker 2: that there was probably I mean, look, he's given this extension,

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Speaker 2: he's earned this extension because of what Kansas State has

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Speaker 2: accomplished on the field. Recently, but also you look at

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Speaker 2: some of the places that have opened up recently, and

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Speaker 2: you look at his own geographic footprint Wisconsin, Nebraska. Probably

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Speaker 2: points to the fact that tires were kicked and Chris

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Speaker 2: Clemon went to an administration he knows really well and said, look,

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Speaker 2: this is what's out there. What are we doing with

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Speaker 2: my contract? What are we doing or his agent?

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Speaker 1: I don't think he's necessarily testing the waters and now

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Speaker 1: actively looking for another job, but look to not use

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Speaker 1: that as leverage would kind of be a prime in

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Speaker 1: and of itself, of course, So you gotta do what

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Speaker 1: you gotta do. And I'm sure he's got agents that

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Speaker 1: that know what they're doing on this front and negotiated

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Speaker 1: a nice pay increase for him.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, in Kansas state knows what the wrong guy canon

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Speaker 2: can't do in Manhattan, and so Chris climb and clearly

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Speaker 2: being the right guy, got to make sure he's happy again.

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Speaker 1: Eight years, forty four million dollars five and a half

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Speaker 1: million year is what it looks like for him. That

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Speaker 1: will be fine, Probably a steal in this market. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: big time, big time value. By the final tidbit I

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Speaker 1: have here on the news front, and I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: if you saw this. DAN College Football Playoff released its

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Speaker 1: schedule for twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five, so

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Speaker 1: this is the upgraded in some cases upgrade, its certainly

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Speaker 1: expanded twelve team college Football Playoff. The main features include

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Speaker 1: a first round of games, four first round games that

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Speaker 1: are played on campus.

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Speaker 2: That's confirmed.

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Speaker 1: That confirmed, It is confirmed. It's like during the first

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Speaker 1: full week of bowl games. It would like be along

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Speaker 1: the same timeline as like the Boca Ratone Bowl or

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Speaker 1: the famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Right in that first wave

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Speaker 1: of bowl games, you're going to get on that Friday

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Speaker 1: and into that first Saturday, the on campus games.

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Speaker 2: Which college football will be.

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Speaker 1: Drunk with enthusiasm on that week having those games that

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Speaker 1: goes from maybe like the week of games that people

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Speaker 1: pay the least amount of attention to to suddenly the

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Speaker 1: one that I think will be maybe one that we

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Speaker 1: circle on our calendars because it'll be really exciting to

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Speaker 1: have those big, meaningful games on campus. Regardless of what

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Speaker 1: you think of the broader playoff scheme, having those games

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Speaker 1: on campus that week would be pretty cool. So that's

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Speaker 1: the first thing. What day of the week is that happening?

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Speaker 1: By the way Friday into a Saturday.

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Speaker 2: So it's eight teams playing four games, so two on

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Speaker 2: each day.

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Speaker 1: They're playing one game on that first day on Friday,

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Speaker 1: and then three got it the following day.

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Speaker 2: But I'm saying, as I use Google quickly on my

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Speaker 2: very fast connection, that was mean. That was that was

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Speaker 2: a shot at you. One game will be played Friday night,

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Speaker 2: December twentieth, and three games Saturday, December twenty. First, as

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Speaker 2: you just said, the NFL begins playing Saturday regular season

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Speaker 2: games that weekend. Okay, So I don't know what if

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Speaker 2: scheduling is going to be happening early, verus late, if

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Speaker 2: there's some sort of concession and cooperation, but there is

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Speaker 2: going to be crossover that Saturday.

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Speaker 1: Then as we progress forward into the quarterfinals, we have

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Speaker 1: a setup with a triple header of playoff action.

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Speaker 2: On New Year's Day. There will be one.

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Speaker 1: Game per this schedule played on New Year's Eve, which

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Speaker 1: I guess, like I hate the New Year's Eve game,

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Speaker 1: not even because of going out, but I just hate it.

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Speaker 1: I hate it so much. But they're only going to

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Speaker 1: play one game moving forward to New Year's Eve, They're

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Speaker 1: going to have a triple header of action quarterfinal games

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Speaker 1: New Year's Six Bowl games that are played throughout the

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Speaker 1: course of the quarterfinals and semifinals. So one game New

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Speaker 1: Year's Eve, three games New Year's Day, and then a

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Speaker 1: week out from that, they're playing games on Thursday and

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Speaker 1: Friday and determining who goes into the National Championship Game,

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Speaker 1: which is going to be played a little bit later

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Speaker 1: on January the twentieth. So they basically extend the season

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Speaker 1: out by ten days. They have incorporated the New Year's

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Speaker 1: Six Bowl games and also a wave of games that

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Speaker 1: are played on campus.

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Speaker 2: I'm extremely curious. I am eager to learn what happens.

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Speaker 2: I don't care about TV readings that much, but I'm

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Speaker 2: eager to see just how the flow of an expanded

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Speaker 2: playoff affects people's habits and what people think of traveling

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Speaker 2: to campuses. If they're not going to travel to campus,

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Speaker 2: but they're hoping they win so they can go to

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Speaker 2: a neutral site game because it's in Miami or it's

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Speaker 2: in Dallas, and that seems more appealing than where they

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Speaker 2: live in Pittsburgh wherever. No disrespect to Pittsburgh. I'm just

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Speaker 2: you know, there's so many new moving pieces that I'm

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Speaker 2: curious to see the consequences.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Well, I've been very clear that this does not appeal

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Speaker 2: to me in the way that scarcity appeals to me.

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Speaker 2: That you know, we're appointing all of our attention to

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Speaker 2: this one big game or these two big games or whatever,

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Speaker 2: and I just think that we're getting away from the

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Speaker 2: actual meat of the sport a little bit too much.

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Speaker 2: But let's just look, I'm an old fart, I guess

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Speaker 2: at this point. I'm in my mid to late thirties,

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Speaker 2: and oh, I know your generation has made peace with this.

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Speaker 2: Uh huh. Yeah, No, I am genuine. I'm being extremely

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Speaker 2: as genuine as I can be. I want to see

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Speaker 2: what happens. I think.

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Speaker 1: I think that first week of games will be rabid

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Speaker 1: with college football optimism. I think there will be so

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Speaker 1: much intrigue having these games on campus that we've never

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Speaker 1: seen anything like that before. That will be cool and

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Speaker 1: certainly incorporating the New Year's six games. I could take

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Speaker 1: or leave the bowl games. I don't so much care

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Speaker 1: about that whole traditional tie in, But I just I

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Speaker 1: am curious as well to see when we see a

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Speaker 1: drop off, Like I could very much see a situation

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Speaker 1: in which we have crazy ratings for the first round,

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Speaker 1: for the second round, and then the third round comes

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Speaker 1: and nobody cares or fewer people care, maybe because there

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Speaker 1: are fewer teams playing. But it could end up being

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Speaker 1: situation like we've got now with the championship, where there's

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Speaker 1: obviously a spike in interest around it. But in terms

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Speaker 1: of ratings, I think we'll probably see more early, but

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Speaker 1: I could be wrong about that.

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Speaker 2: I think you'll see more early in the process too, Right,

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Speaker 2: you'll see more early twenty four to twenty five. Then like,

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Speaker 2: what does the playoff rating look like in twenty twenty nine? Again,

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Speaker 2: these are things that our show is not affectiveness. No, No,

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Speaker 2: We're going to do our show whatever I wonder, I

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Speaker 2: wonder what it happens with. I mean, obviously puts less weight,

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Speaker 2: whatever you want to say about the regular season, but

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Speaker 2: conference championship games, Like, are Michigan fans buying a ton

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Speaker 2: of tickets to a game in Indianapolis, Ohio State fan?

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Speaker 3: Like?

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Speaker 2: Is that going to be just sort of like the

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Speaker 2: child that's left at the zoo? Right?

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Speaker 3: Like?

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Speaker 2: Is that the forgotten piece of this all that? Like

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Speaker 2: we have this like weird TV event that is now

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Speaker 2: kind of seen as passe a and last you are

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Speaker 2: a team like you know, Purdue, who's not in that

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Speaker 2: game a whole lot and they made it last year.

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Speaker 2: That's cool thing. But yeah, I wonder what this does

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Speaker 2: to conference championship games. I wonder what it does to

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Speaker 2: people's travel schedules. This is when people save up money

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Speaker 2: for the end of the year going away or around

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Speaker 2: Christmas whatever, visiting family. You know, all of a sudden

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Speaker 2: is there's still going to be the enthusiasm, like all right,

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Speaker 2: well we went to an away game in October, and

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Speaker 2: we're going to the rivalry game. We're going to a playoff?

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Speaker 2: Are we're spending money? Last second? Like I just you know,

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Speaker 2: it's fascinating to me that college football, which has struggled

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Speaker 2: at times to find a mainstream audience in the way

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Speaker 2: that other sports have, is going to make it more

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Speaker 2: difficult for a mainstream audience to keep track of the sports.

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Speaker 2: Maybe I'm wrong all the time, they're wrong.

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Speaker 1: Here the related news, and I won't spend too much

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Speaker 1: time on this, but yeah, we talked about it briefly

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Speaker 1: when they were putting this whole thing together. But there

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Speaker 1: are some big ten stadiums that just do not feel

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Speaker 1: like they are equipped to handle a playoff game, and

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Speaker 1: so places specifically like Wisconsin and Penn State have kickstarted

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Speaker 1: operations to in effect winter risee a stadium up a

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Speaker 1: camp randal. They're installing heaters underneath the field turf to

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Speaker 1: make it a little bit more palatable if they're playing

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Speaker 1: games in sub freezing temperatures. At Penn State, they're installing

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Speaker 1: new pipes. I pulled this sound pipes.

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Speaker 2: Just because I wanted to use it.

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Speaker 1: True, but they're installing new pipes and a couple other

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Speaker 1: upgrades to make sure that the stadium is usable in

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Speaker 1: sub freezing temperatures. These are knock on effects. Maybe not

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Speaker 1: big deals, and certainly if you're a Penn State or

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Speaker 1: Wisconsin you'll figure out a way around it, but just notable,

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Speaker 1: notable what a big change in the sport has down

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Speaker 1: to kind of like the specific stadium level.

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Speaker 2: It's going to be a big home field advantage. And

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Speaker 2: I'm even talking about Southern teams going up north right

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Speaker 2: that aren't used to playing in frigid temperatures. And just

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Speaker 2: like if you're a Georgia fan and you find yourself

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Speaker 2: having to travel to Wisconsin or Penn State. I don't

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Speaker 2: know if I don't want to leave Georgia and themore

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Speaker 2: and so you'll just have a higher concentration of home

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Speaker 2: fans there. I love that. I love that bit.

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Speaker 3: I don't know.

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Speaker 2: So that's all I got.

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Speaker 1: In terms of news again, Peyton Thorn to Auburn, KSE

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Speaker 1: State and Chris climb And are re upping, and the

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Speaker 1: College Football Playoff released. It's expanded format. Will continue knocking

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Speaker 1: off some news tidbits here over the span the next

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Speaker 1: two weeks, but those seem to be the headline things

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Speaker 1: that you need to pay attention to and care about. Dan,

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Speaker 1: shall we get to the main event.

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Speaker 2: Let's get to the main event. So what we're doing

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Speaker 2: this week, we're using the number eight. Next week we're

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Speaker 2: using the number ten, and we are trying to figure

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Speaker 2: out why teams haven't recently, can they get back too soon?

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Speaker 2: And what the status is today of a couple of

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Speaker 2: teams today and or three teams today three teams later

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Speaker 2: in the week. We're going eight games this week. I've

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Speaker 2: proposed the term exceler eight. It's terrible. It's definitely terrible.

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Speaker 2: It's a little.

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Speaker 1: Too startup be for me, like a tech bro thing

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Speaker 1: or in Silicon Valley. I don't hate it, right, but

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Speaker 1: I don't fully embrace it either.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I look, I found it. I've come up with

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Speaker 2: worst TI. I know what. I really like the sound though. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So look, it's all about taking next steps and we're

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Speaker 2: going Arizona, Georgia Tech, Maryland. I have Arizona, you have

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Speaker 2: Georgia Tech. Arizona in twenty fourteen won more than eight games.

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Speaker 2: They ended up in the Pac twelve Championship game, got

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Speaker 2: demolished by Oregon, a team though they had beaten earlier

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Speaker 2: on in the season. Oregon went on to go to

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Speaker 2: the National Championship Game Heisman winning quarterback. But Arizona a

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Speaker 2: new Solomon if you remember that name, I do think

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Speaker 2: a future Baylor transfer. Have had big names in the Desert.

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Speaker 2: And since you know, you have rich Rod Kevin Smlin

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Speaker 2: now Jetfish, not a huge name, but successful on offense

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Speaker 2: this past year. And the question is Arizona as an

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Speaker 2: athletics department has had very successful teams. The basketball team

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Speaker 2: is the headline program on that camp. Basketball school, Dan,

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Speaker 2: We've heard that before, right, basketball school of course, lud Olsen.

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Speaker 2: All sorts of huge, huge names coming through Arizona Mike Bibby,

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Speaker 2: as you know, like but we're talking about a program

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Speaker 2: that has had some downtime. Kevin Somelin kind of drove

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Speaker 2: it into the ground, and the hiring of Jedfish, I

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Speaker 2: think was met with a lot of enthusiasm, and they

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Speaker 2: went five and seven last season. They had the number

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Speaker 2: one most explosive where the explosive play rate on offense

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Speaker 2: was the best in the country. There was a lot

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Speaker 2: of positives to take away. They've they've hit the portal hard,

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Speaker 2: they have a quarterback of the future. There's a lot

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Speaker 2: to like about Arizona. And they played some really close

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Speaker 2: They beat UCLA, they played some close teams, close games

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Speaker 2: against good teams, decent teams, didn't make a Bowl game.

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Speaker 2: But things appear to be heading in the correct direction.

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Speaker 2: And so what I'm going to say is there's very

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Speaker 2: little reason right now today in early May, that Arizona

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Speaker 2: can't be flirting with eight wins every year. My question

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Speaker 2: to you is, I think a broader question, and that's

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Speaker 2: not just you know, relevant to Arizona's interests or Georgiattack

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Speaker 2: or Maryland or any of these teams interests. It's what

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Speaker 2: is the difference between a team that wins five or

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Speaker 2: six games in eight games. Usually it's, well, you want

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Speaker 2: better players, you want more better players, But generally speaking,

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Speaker 2: it comes down to winning very small moments. It's, you know,

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Speaker 2: not going three and out on your first three drives

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Speaker 2: in a game, or when you have the opportunity down

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Speaker 2: three late, don't commit a backbreaking holding penalty from your

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Speaker 2: right guard or whatever, or backbreaking you know, pass interference

435
00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:28,120
Speaker 2: penalty or something like that extends a drive and then

436
00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:31,240
Speaker 2: that team scores. Right, It's the little things. It's that combination,

437
00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:33,800
Speaker 2: the aggregate of a ton of little things. On fourth

438
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:36,320
Speaker 2: and three from your own forty eight, don't punt it

439
00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:38,800
Speaker 2: when it's a back and forth offensive game. Right, It's

440
00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:42,800
Speaker 2: those decisions that ultimately are the difference between either making

441
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:45,320
Speaker 2: a bowl and not making a bowl, or you lose

442
00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:47,159
Speaker 2: a bunch of close games. And those are the difference

443
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:50,119
Speaker 2: between you know, those those l's and w's. And that

444
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,000
Speaker 2: was true of Arizona, who had an opportunity to win

445
00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:55,119
Speaker 2: more games last year. When you look at the way

446
00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:56,800
Speaker 2: they lost the Washington game, the way that they lost

447
00:21:56,840 --> 00:21:59,119
Speaker 2: the Wazoo game, the way that they lost the USC game.

448
00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:03,119
Speaker 2: These game games were not catastrophically out of hand. They

449
00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:07,080
Speaker 2: were up against cal at half and Jada not just exploded,

450
00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:09,119
Speaker 2: I mean he exploded all game long. He ran for

451
00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:14,120
Speaker 2: damn near three hundred yards. But Arizona's defense has been catastrophic.

452
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,919
Speaker 2: Didn't change much last year, though it wasn't always the problem.

453
00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:21,720
Speaker 2: And so for me, for Arizona, it's okay. Jed Fish

454
00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:23,960
Speaker 2: has an offensive background, he has a quarterback of the future.

455
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,959
Speaker 2: He's been able to recruit and develop offensive skill guys.

456
00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:31,200
Speaker 2: The offense should be in pretty good hands despite some transfers,

457
00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:33,760
Speaker 2: whatever they lose, you know, Dorian Singer to USC a

458
00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:37,480
Speaker 2: promising young receiver, but the offense appears like it's on

459
00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:40,359
Speaker 2: track to be successful in the short term. So the

460
00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:42,679
Speaker 2: question is how do you fill out a defense? Is

461
00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:45,040
Speaker 2: it a strategy thing? They've hit the portal hard for

462
00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:48,160
Speaker 2: front seven guys you know from big places. Now it's

463
00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:52,119
Speaker 2: a question of how do we get from being catastrophically

464
00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:55,560
Speaker 2: bad on defense to frisky eighty third best defense in

465
00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:57,359
Speaker 2: the country instead of one hundred and twenty fourth or

466
00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,640
Speaker 2: something like that. And so I don't think the conference

467
00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:02,920
Speaker 2: situation is great. We don't know where Arizona's going to

468
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,800
Speaker 2: be long term as we await Pack twelve TV stuff.

469
00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:09,560
Speaker 2: But the way that Arizona is recruited, the way that

470
00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:12,199
Speaker 2: that stadium can be, you know, it can be a

471
00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:17,159
Speaker 2: rowdy place. I see no reason that Arizona in the

472
00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:20,640
Speaker 2: next two or three years that they can't win eight games.

473
00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:23,920
Speaker 2: I'm just not so super sold on the teams around

474
00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:26,119
Speaker 2: them in the conference, with ASU starting over with a

475
00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,360
Speaker 2: new coach, with UCLA kind of already in that eight

476
00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,600
Speaker 2: win mold but not crazy dangerous all the time, with

477
00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:35,879
Speaker 2: the Bay Area schools, with the conference going divisionless, with

478
00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:40,800
Speaker 2: Colorado needing some time. I just I'm still high on

479
00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:45,320
Speaker 2: Arizona if those decisions, you know those you know Jadan

480
00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:47,600
Speaker 2: and Laura has a four interception game randomly against I

481
00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:51,640
Speaker 2: think Wazoo. We're just like, if they are winning moments

482
00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:55,639
Speaker 2: more often, they're winning seven eight games.

483
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:59,040
Speaker 1: To me, absolutely yeah, I mean two to three years. Sure,

484
00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:00,320
Speaker 1: I don't know about this coming year.

485
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:03,720
Speaker 2: I see seven as totally doable this year, which is

486
00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:05,840
Speaker 2: two more than time five. This looks like a tough

487
00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:06,480
Speaker 2: schedule to me.

488
00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:11,960
Speaker 1: Okay, this year, I feel like a good number of

489
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,840
Speaker 1: the team, It's not all the teams, but a good

490
00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:17,960
Speaker 1: number of the teams in this schedule are are better.

491
00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:20,639
Speaker 1: I think Oregon State is better.

492
00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:21,840
Speaker 2: Where's that game?

493
00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:23,280
Speaker 1: The game is in Arizona.

494
00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:26,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, which is Listen, it's Tucson, much like we

495
00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:29,240
Speaker 2: talked about last year, was a real place get years ago.

496
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:31,600
Speaker 2: Good teams go to die. I guess it is. I

497
00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:32,040
Speaker 2: get it.

498
00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:34,520
Speaker 1: But I'm just looking at this thing and I'm saying,

499
00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:38,399
Speaker 1: all right, well, you've got some duds, some winnable games.

500
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,680
Speaker 1: You've got Stanford that's probably win Northern Arizona that's winnable,

501
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:47,399
Speaker 1: Colorado more than winnable. Probably in Arizona State, probably in

502
00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:50,960
Speaker 1: Arizona State winnable. But there's a game against Utah. They

503
00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:53,439
Speaker 1: should be pretty good. Ucla should be pretty good. Oregon

504
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,320
Speaker 1: State is improved. Washington State, I'm not sure, but that

505
00:24:56,359 --> 00:25:01,680
Speaker 1: game is in Pullman, right us Washington at Mississippi State.

506
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,080
Speaker 1: There are a lot of landmines on the schedule, And

507
00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:07,320
Speaker 1: so what I fear, just in terms of wins and losses,

508
00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:09,439
Speaker 1: I think you're right on With respect to the talent

509
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,080
Speaker 1: and the coaching staff and just in general, there are

510
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:14,600
Speaker 1: good vibes around the Arizona program. It feels like things

511
00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:18,679
Speaker 1: are moving with a good sense of momentum towards towards

512
00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:21,640
Speaker 1: something greater. So I agree that two to three years

513
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:24,760
Speaker 1: feels like it's feels like it's doable. But in the

514
00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:27,120
Speaker 1: short term here I fear that this is a team

515
00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:31,280
Speaker 1: that could statistically improve, but in terms of wins and losses,

516
00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:33,520
Speaker 1: that they might not get back to where they were

517
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,800
Speaker 1: a year ago. You know, five five wins is probably doable,

518
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:39,080
Speaker 1: but there's a chance that could only get to four

519
00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:42,680
Speaker 1: because of what I'm seeing here, and totally I think

520
00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:43,200
Speaker 1: that would.

521
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:43,880
Speaker 2: Be a bit of a mirage.

522
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:45,800
Speaker 1: I hope people don't read too deeply into that, because

523
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:47,959
Speaker 1: I like what Jed Fish has done.

524
00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:52,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, there's talent on the roster, and I'm still

525
00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:56,400
Speaker 2: I'm still willing to say that. And this is true

526
00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,919
Speaker 2: of both Arizona schools. To be clear, that in the

527
00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:03,640
Speaker 2: portal era, which you can do in terms of picking

528
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:07,159
Speaker 2: off decent players along the West coast or even the Midwest,

529
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:11,720
Speaker 2: or even looking east to Texas or wherever, that this

530
00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:14,960
Speaker 2: is a landing spot where you can focus on football. Again,

531
00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:17,480
Speaker 2: true of both ASU and Arizona, though Tucson's a little

532
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:22,640
Speaker 2: bit more removed. Excuse me than Tempe that you can

533
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:25,200
Speaker 2: fill in gaps. It's a portal destination the way that

534
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 2: a lot of schools aren't necessarily that, oh this is

535
00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:31,879
Speaker 2: warmed down here. Oh, people are just sort of happy

536
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:35,160
Speaker 2: to be here, right, And so I am. I am

537
00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:38,840
Speaker 2: good with the possibility of you know, Arizona ads Justin Flow,

538
00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:41,560
Speaker 2: who was not did not live up to his five

539
00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:44,000
Speaker 2: star status at Oregon. He struggled in time at times

540
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,320
Speaker 2: to sort of pick up the defense and pick up

541
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:51,639
Speaker 2: receivers in past coverage. But fresh start you for a

542
00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:53,399
Speaker 2: lot of these guys. They added a you know, a

543
00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:56,639
Speaker 2: top tier former blue chip defensive lineman from Georgia. His

544
00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:00,560
Speaker 2: name's Bill, which I always appreciate, Big Bill, Big Bill.

545
00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:05,720
Speaker 2: I just I can appreciate that Arizona is a place

546
00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:09,399
Speaker 2: that look, academics aren't going to keep you away from

547
00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 2: transferring to that, right, I'm good with it. I'm good

548
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:17,479
Speaker 2: with Arizona being a bigger, brighter landing spot in this

549
00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:19,520
Speaker 2: new area. You're from San Diego State and you want

550
00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:21,000
Speaker 2: to go up a level, you want like that kind

551
00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:23,159
Speaker 2: of thing I think is meaningful, and so I think

552
00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:25,280
Speaker 2: Jedfish is going to continue to be aggressive and building

553
00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:29,520
Speaker 2: this roster into something dangerous because look, who wants to

554
00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:34,160
Speaker 2: play in Tucson at eleven pm Eastern. Not many teams,

555
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:35,879
Speaker 2: So I don't know.

556
00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:40,119
Speaker 1: I'm in a weird non conference matchup that I found

557
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:42,560
Speaker 1: on the Arizona front. Starting next year, They've got a

558
00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:45,600
Speaker 1: home and home with k State yep, like week two,

559
00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:48,880
Speaker 1: Week three the college football season, which is a non

560
00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:51,320
Speaker 1: traditional matchup, but I think will be very interesting. Two

561
00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:54,360
Speaker 1: programs that you know, are kind of in different spots.

562
00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,040
Speaker 1: We just talked about Chris Climan, but I like what

563
00:27:57,160 --> 00:27:58,000
Speaker 1: Arizona's doing.

564
00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:00,160
Speaker 2: I do. I think they're on the.

565
00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:03,439
Speaker 1: Right path, and as the Pac twelve takes on a

566
00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:07,200
Speaker 1: new form in the absence of both USC and UCLA. Again,

567
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:09,600
Speaker 1: we don't know the long term viability of the conference.

568
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:12,920
Speaker 1: That's probably a separate discussion. But Arizona is one of

569
00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:14,600
Speaker 1: those teams that at least feels like it's headed in

570
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,400
Speaker 1: the right direction, and that in and of itself is promising.

571
00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:21,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd give them in terms of winning eight games

572
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:24,400
Speaker 2: regular season games, so we're talking eight and four two

573
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:27,119
Speaker 2: out of three years, I'd say there's a thirty eight

574
00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:29,159
Speaker 2: percent chance of it happening in the way that the

575
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:32,840
Speaker 2: PAC ten will be in that universe in which it's

576
00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:36,440
Speaker 2: a PAC ten as currently constituted. Sure, I think three

577
00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:39,160
Speaker 2: or four out of ten universes will have Arizona winning

578
00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:42,760
Speaker 2: eight games more often than not. In terms of where

579
00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:45,880
Speaker 2: the trajectory is today in early May, I think that

580
00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:48,920
Speaker 2: sounds right, Dan, that sounds right to me. So you're

581
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:53,240
Speaker 2: bullish on I think so. Just long term, I think

582
00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:56,080
Speaker 2: there's buy in within the program. I think there's recruiting momentum.

583
00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:58,840
Speaker 2: And you mentioned this season specifically, I sort of saw

584
00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:01,719
Speaker 2: seven there. If things correctly and they win those bigger moments,

585
00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:04,080
Speaker 2: who's you know, Mississippi State's gonna be big wild card

586
00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:07,680
Speaker 2: obviously for crazy unfortunate reasons starting over with the passing

587
00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:11,280
Speaker 2: of Mike Leach. But no, in terms of what Arizona

588
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:16,800
Speaker 2: has going for it, I think the stonk is pointing upwards.

589
00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:17,040
Speaker 3: Tye.

590
00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:19,080
Speaker 1: The over under, by the way, is five and a half.

591
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,400
Speaker 1: We've got a whole series of over under shows that

592
00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:24,360
Speaker 1: will do a little bit later on this offseason when

593
00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:27,760
Speaker 1: we've got more detail on who is transferring in, who

594
00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:30,720
Speaker 1: is transferring out, that type of thing. But just for

595
00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:33,360
Speaker 1: a reference point, five and a half is your over under.

596
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:35,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, by the way, just totally brutal. I think they

597
00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:38,520
Speaker 2: had a it was like a fourth in goal at

598
00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:40,440
Speaker 2: one point, or excuse me, like a third in goal

599
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:42,360
Speaker 2: like third and two or second and two or something.

600
00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 2: I had a back breaking holding penalty. They're down three

601
00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:47,840
Speaker 2: to Washington last year, and I want to say it

602
00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:50,520
Speaker 2: was a defensive holding on third and eleven that extended

603
00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:54,600
Speaker 2: to drive from their own twenty nine or something. So yeah,

604
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:56,880
Speaker 2: and those are those moments, right, and then those are

605
00:29:56,880 --> 00:29:58,920
Speaker 2: the moments late, and then it's the moments early where

606
00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:00,880
Speaker 2: it's just like the first three drive they had negative

607
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:04,000
Speaker 2: six total yards. It was like big Arizona. If there

608
00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:06,960
Speaker 2: was If there's something I can very specifically prescribe to

609
00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:11,040
Speaker 2: win more games, immediately, it's be ready to move the

610
00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:13,720
Speaker 2: ball early in both the first and second halves. And

611
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:16,680
Speaker 2: good things happened because eventually they were they got going

612
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:20,480
Speaker 2: basically against everybody offensively. It was coming out installing in

613
00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:22,520
Speaker 2: the first half or coming out installing in the second half,

614
00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:24,920
Speaker 2: or like that's backbreaking, right. When you have so little

615
00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 2: air margin BHRA to play with because of your defense,

616
00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:31,360
Speaker 2: offense has to be well oiled machine immediately.

617
00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:33,880
Speaker 1: Can you give me that step by step sound again,

618
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:41,360
Speaker 1: and let's talk some Georgia Tech. Baby, Let's talk listen.

619
00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,080
Speaker 1: I really dove in on Georgia Tech, Okay, I have

620
00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:47,800
Speaker 1: been studying Georgia Tech for hours on end in preparation

621
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:53,400
Speaker 1: for this conversation. I was all in on Jeff Collins

622
00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:57,040
Speaker 1: when he was hired to be the guy. Jeff Collins

623
00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:59,280
Speaker 1: was fired at the end of September after losing to

624
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:03,320
Speaker 1: UCF just a few games into I guess his fourth

625
00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:07,760
Speaker 1: season with Tech never won more than three games in

626
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:10,480
Speaker 1: a season. I love so much when they brought him on.

627
00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:14,680
Speaker 1: I was crestfallen to see that it was not working out,

628
00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:18,479
Speaker 1: and we knew in advance of this firing that it

629
00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:21,080
Speaker 1: was probably going to happen. I love the fact that

630
00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:24,240
Speaker 1: he was enthusiastic that he went hard at selling Atlanta.

631
00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:26,280
Speaker 1: I thought that was really smart to make it like,

632
00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:29,920
Speaker 1: I don't know, a cool destination for recruits. It certainly

633
00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:32,360
Speaker 1: can be, it certainly still can be that, but it

634
00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:35,680
Speaker 1: just didn't work. The biggest problem for Jeff Collins, and

635
00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:39,840
Speaker 1: perhaps being overly simplistic, Dan, is that switching from the

636
00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:43,239
Speaker 1: Paul Johnson option offense to anything else was always going

637
00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:45,600
Speaker 1: to be hard guy after the guy after the guy,

638
00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:47,440
Speaker 1: and it was always going to be hard. That was

639
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:50,000
Speaker 1: always going to be the case. Year one was catastrophic

640
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:54,680
Speaker 1: on offense. It did improve gradually over the course of

641
00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:56,960
Speaker 1: the next two seasons. Last season, though, got off to

642
00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:58,920
Speaker 1: a bit of a rocky start, and then he was

643
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:02,440
Speaker 1: let go. So after he's let go, they turned things

644
00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:05,520
Speaker 1: over to Brian Key, who eventually now gets the job.

645
00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:10,680
Speaker 1: The finishing tally was five and seven. I thought, a

646
00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:13,680
Speaker 1: pretty good job by Brian Key. He takes over, he

647
00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:17,240
Speaker 1: does a really good job salvaging the season. He builds

648
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:20,080
Speaker 1: up enough goodwill to get that job on a long

649
00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:24,200
Speaker 1: term basis despite rumors about Dion Sanders or somebody else

650
00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:27,680
Speaker 1: being open to the job as well. What really jumps

651
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:30,640
Speaker 1: out is how bad that offense was last season and

652
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:32,640
Speaker 1: what he was working with to try and get to

653
00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:35,600
Speaker 1: that five and seven mark. Again, there was not much

654
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:37,920
Speaker 1: he could do about this, Dan, really, there was not

655
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:40,960
Speaker 1: much he could do about this. But immediately upon taking over,

656
00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:44,200
Speaker 1: he gets a win over Pit and a win over Duke.

657
00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:46,760
Speaker 1: Two Bowl teams, two teams that finished with nine wins

658
00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,240
Speaker 1: on the season. Two I think pretty good ACC teams

659
00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:54,920
Speaker 1: immediately upon getting that job. Also of note, you'll recall

660
00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,960
Speaker 1: Jamior Gibbs left this team at the start of the season,

661
00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,840
Speaker 1: transferred out. Jeff sim went down for the year end

662
00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:04,920
Speaker 1: of October, middle of October. The offense kind of collapsed

663
00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:09,080
Speaker 1: under its own. Wait, the offensive line was really bad,

664
00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:14,000
Speaker 1: really bad, constantly in flux, constantly had that air of

665
00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:15,160
Speaker 1: uncertainty around it.

666
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 2: Just not good.

667
00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:18,760
Speaker 1: The eye popping stat to me about the Georgia Tech

668
00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:22,920
Speaker 1: offense last season. You know what the average distance was

669
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:24,560
Speaker 1: on third downs that they were facing.

670
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:25,600
Speaker 2: No, I do not.

671
00:33:26,560 --> 00:33:30,640
Speaker 1: Eight point three yards was their average their average distance

672
00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:32,360
Speaker 1: on third downs. I don't care who you are, you

673
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:34,240
Speaker 1: can be Alabama.

674
00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:36,160
Speaker 2: Eight yards per third.

675
00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:38,920
Speaker 1: Down attempt is not going to give you great results.

676
00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:41,640
Speaker 1: So it was just bad. It was just bad across

677
00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:43,960
Speaker 1: the board. It didn't help that Jeff Simms got hurt

678
00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:46,840
Speaker 1: that Jamior Gives transferred out. Of course, it would be

679
00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:50,760
Speaker 1: a very simplistic point of view to just say those

680
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:52,760
Speaker 1: are the reasons that it happened. But had they had

681
00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:54,520
Speaker 1: all sorts of things go wrong on offense, and I

682
00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:57,280
Speaker 1: think it was headlined by some of those things that

683
00:33:57,320 --> 00:33:57,840
Speaker 1: I mentioned.

684
00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:02,160
Speaker 2: Defensively, Defensively, they had a little bit of bite, you know, like,

685
00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:03,240
Speaker 2: oh bit yeah.

686
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:08,839
Speaker 1: Pass rush was albeit pretty respectable in the red zone.

687
00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:11,200
Speaker 1: They forced some turnovers, they showed some bite there. The

688
00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:14,759
Speaker 1: pass defense was much better than the rush defense by

689
00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:17,879
Speaker 1: a fairly wide bargin. The broader point that I think

690
00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 1: we should take away with us into twenty twenty three

691
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:23,520
Speaker 1: is that the defense improved as the season war on.

692
00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:28,720
Speaker 1: It got better, and that is at least a building

693
00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:31,960
Speaker 1: block as we move forward now into twenty twenty three.

694
00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:37,040
Speaker 1: We didn't do the Brent Key year one debrief because

695
00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:39,440
Speaker 1: it just felt weird. We'll give him a full season

696
00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:40,080
Speaker 1: before we do that.

697
00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:41,040
Speaker 2: We'll do it next season.

698
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:43,279
Speaker 1: Great, but we wanted to talk about tech as part

699
00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:46,920
Speaker 1: of this conversation because they're just fascinating now. In the

700
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:49,319
Speaker 1: off season, now his first full offseason as the guy,

701
00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:53,160
Speaker 1: he did a couple things that I actually really like. First,

702
00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:56,239
Speaker 1: the first is that he named Buster Faulkner as the

703
00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:59,200
Speaker 1: new offensive coordinator. This is the guy who's got play

704
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,480
Speaker 1: calling experience from his time at Southern Miss, at Arkansas

705
00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:07,320
Speaker 1: State and Middle Tennessee. Recently, an analyst with Georgia listen

706
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:10,160
Speaker 1: to stets In Bennett stets and Bennett glows about Buster Faulkner,

707
00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:13,240
Speaker 1: credits him for a lot of his own development and

708
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:15,799
Speaker 1: for perhaps getting him to New York in some way

709
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:20,839
Speaker 1: shape or for him as a Heisman contender. What I

710
00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:24,759
Speaker 1: think we can take away from his previous experience at

711
00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:28,040
Speaker 1: his other stops is he likes to run a balanced offense.

712
00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:31,120
Speaker 1: He seems willing to adapt his system to the personnel

713
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:34,920
Speaker 1: on hand, and shockingly, when he's got a decent quarterback

714
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:37,879
Speaker 1: to work with, the offense tends to flourish a little

715
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:42,040
Speaker 1: bit more. This does not necessarily separate Buster Faulkner apart

716
00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:45,520
Speaker 1: from other offensive coordinators. Of course, Right obviously have a

717
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:50,239
Speaker 1: good quarterback that helps. But what we've seen in his

718
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:53,520
Speaker 1: resume here is that when he's got that guy, he

719
00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:57,000
Speaker 1: is able to able to make things happen. He's willing

720
00:35:57,040 --> 00:35:57,520
Speaker 1: to work.

721
00:35:57,360 --> 00:35:58,759
Speaker 2: With what he's got.

722
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:00,960
Speaker 1: He's also got a pretty good reallyationship with the offensive

723
00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:04,919
Speaker 1: line coach, which which is nice. The counterpoint I would

724
00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:08,480
Speaker 1: add briefly to the whole Faulkner thing is, if you're

725
00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:10,279
Speaker 1: a Georgia Tech fan, it's very easy to look at

726
00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:12,160
Speaker 1: this and say, wait, this is the best we could do.

727
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:14,600
Speaker 1: Well that the best we could do, is an analyst

728
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:17,160
Speaker 1: from Georgia. But you know, you could say that about

729
00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:20,120
Speaker 1: any offensive coordinator to go back to Bama, right, you

730
00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:21,719
Speaker 1: can say that about Tommy Reaves. We did say that

731
00:36:21,719 --> 00:36:23,440
Speaker 1: about Tommy rees. This is the best they can do,

732
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:27,680
Speaker 1: so different context, but second guessing of coordinators is something

733
00:36:27,719 --> 00:36:32,600
Speaker 1: that will far outlast Buster Faulkner, Tommy Reese or any

734
00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:36,120
Speaker 1: other higher So I don't mind it. I don't mind

735
00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:38,320
Speaker 1: the high I think it's fine. They also are bringing

736
00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:42,000
Speaker 1: back Marco Coleman along the defensive line. A lot of

737
00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:45,160
Speaker 1: good vibes with this move man, A lot of good vibes.

738
00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:47,440
Speaker 1: He's in the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame. He played there,

739
00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:49,279
Speaker 1: was a two time All American. He was a first

740
00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:53,239
Speaker 1: round draft pick from there. You know, this is the

741
00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:55,600
Speaker 1: kind of thing that if they want to improve, this

742
00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:58,239
Speaker 1: is a guy who hopefully can at least help them

743
00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:01,360
Speaker 1: rebuild that side of things. The defensive line should be

744
00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:05,760
Speaker 1: a strength this year for Georgia Tech, and hopefully Coleman

745
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:09,480
Speaker 1: can help them. You take a step forward in that regard.

746
00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:12,480
Speaker 1: Like the coach, he's got deep roots with the program,

747
00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:14,640
Speaker 1: and I don't think that hurts. He can help sell

748
00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:17,000
Speaker 1: it to a degree that others who maybe don't have

749
00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:21,120
Speaker 1: the passion cannot. I like that, okay. I also like

750
00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:24,040
Speaker 1: what they did in the portal. If we go back

751
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:25,680
Speaker 1: to the offense for a second.

752
00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:29,640
Speaker 2: There is a bit of a reboot underway, and we've.

753
00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:33,239
Speaker 1: Talked about again again. We've talked about this time and again.

754
00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:36,000
Speaker 1: In this portal era, it does give new coaches an

755
00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:40,919
Speaker 1: opportunity to take a step forward much more quickly than before,

756
00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:43,680
Speaker 1: where you had to recruit and develop. Now you can

757
00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:46,000
Speaker 1: bring guys in, and they did. They brought in Haines

758
00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:49,400
Speaker 1: King from A and M. Haines King came to Texas

759
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:51,840
Speaker 1: A and M as sort of like Jimbo's guy. Jimbo

760
00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:55,400
Speaker 1: loved Haines King. It didn't work out, there were injury issues.

761
00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:58,200
Speaker 1: Obviously they're going in a different direction with Connor Wegman.

762
00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:01,759
Speaker 1: Haines King committed fairly early to Joe and he had

763
00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:03,600
Speaker 1: a good spring game. It seems like he's going to

764
00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:05,520
Speaker 1: be the dude. Seems like he's going to.

765
00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:05,919
Speaker 2: Be the dude.

766
00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:08,319
Speaker 1: No reason not to think so. They also bring in

767
00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:10,759
Speaker 1: three wide outs that I think are going to be

768
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:14,200
Speaker 1: slotted in as the X, the Y, and the z

769
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:18,200
Speaker 1: almost immediately. Christian Leary Chase Lane two of the notable

770
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:20,879
Speaker 1: names coming over from Bama and A and M respectively.

771
00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:24,239
Speaker 1: They've also got a transfer tight end, Brett See, who

772
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:28,280
Speaker 1: comes up from Georgia. I saw when he was initially

773
00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:30,840
Speaker 1: recruited they had compared him to Ricky Seals Jones. You

774
00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:34,319
Speaker 1: know who that is, big, big bodied guy. I think

775
00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:35,759
Speaker 1: the passing game is going to be a lot better.

776
00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:38,920
Speaker 1: I'm not sure about the line. The line is like,

777
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:42,320
Speaker 1: they still got some experience coming back, but there remains

778
00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:45,400
Speaker 1: a lot of uncertainty there. The line's ultimately going to

779
00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:49,719
Speaker 1: determine how good this offense is. But I like the

780
00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:52,160
Speaker 1: fact that there's some returning experience. I like the fact

781
00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:54,839
Speaker 1: that they've basically gone out and retooled the whole thing.

782
00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:57,560
Speaker 2: Otherwise I think it was needed. Can I cut you off?

783
00:38:57,680 --> 00:38:59,759
Speaker 2: Is that something I can do right here? It's your show.

784
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:02,680
Speaker 2: I have no idea if the retooled line will be

785
00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:04,560
Speaker 2: any good, if the receiving transfers will be any good,

786
00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:06,520
Speaker 2: if Haines King will be any good. When you look

787
00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:09,399
Speaker 2: at Georgia Tech football, if you're to zoom out, if

788
00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:12,839
Speaker 2: you are to suddenly leap into the air and look

789
00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:15,399
Speaker 2: down ten thousand feet upon the Georgia Tech program. Whether

790
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:16,959
Speaker 2: or not you like bran Kee, that's fine. You seem

791
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:19,760
Speaker 2: to like Brent Key. I don't know. I don't know enough.

792
00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:23,320
Speaker 2: My question to you is is the ACC a place

793
00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:26,160
Speaker 2: where Georgia Tech can Because they didn't really win eight

794
00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:28,280
Speaker 2: games a year, eight plus games e owner Paul Johnson,

795
00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:31,160
Speaker 2: they had magical eleven game runs where they'd you know,

796
00:39:31,239 --> 00:39:34,200
Speaker 2: end up in the Orange Bowl or something and dominate

797
00:39:34,239 --> 00:39:36,560
Speaker 2: teams on the ground, obviously on offense in a very

798
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:40,160
Speaker 2: specific system. Is there something that you can tell that

799
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:43,800
Speaker 2: Georgia Tech is going to do very specifically extremely well

800
00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:45,920
Speaker 2: like they did when they ran the ball well, or

801
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:48,680
Speaker 2: are playing defense super well or whatever their plan is,

802
00:39:48,719 --> 00:39:51,520
Speaker 2: because it seems like these programs that struggle to get

803
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:54,680
Speaker 2: out of the will they won't they bowl seesaw, you know,

804
00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:57,319
Speaker 2: go five and seven or seven and s whatever. Is

805
00:39:57,360 --> 00:39:59,960
Speaker 2: there something that you see Georgia Tech being able to

806
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:04,680
Speaker 2: to do extremely well quickly? Like Virginia got way better

807
00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:06,759
Speaker 2: on defense. They were catastrophically bad a couple of years,

808
00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:07,040
Speaker 2: but we.

809
00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:08,640
Speaker 1: Didn't see coming. We didn't expect that from me.

810
00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:11,200
Speaker 2: They made a great defensive coordinator higher from I think

811
00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:14,400
Speaker 2: it was air Force and things improved. Now, Virginia's talent

812
00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:17,640
Speaker 2: level didn't get way better, and so Georgia Tech's talent

813
00:40:17,719 --> 00:40:20,239
Speaker 2: level right now probably isn't demonstrably better than where it

814
00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:22,480
Speaker 2: was the past couple of years. So is it a

815
00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:24,760
Speaker 2: defense thing You mentioned the line where it's like, Okay,

816
00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:27,160
Speaker 2: they don't have the guys, they don't have the star power,

817
00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:29,040
Speaker 2: but they're going to teach defense well and they're going

818
00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:31,440
Speaker 2: to play hard and they're going to be respectable more

819
00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:33,960
Speaker 2: quickly than people think. Is it going to be an

820
00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:35,959
Speaker 2: offensive thing where it's just like they're going to score

821
00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:37,920
Speaker 2: a bunch of teams in a you know, an always

822
00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:38,640
Speaker 2: flawed aces.

823
00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:41,839
Speaker 1: I think I think two things. First Off, you mentioned

824
00:40:41,880 --> 00:40:43,839
Speaker 1: the defensive line. I mentioned the defensive line. I think

825
00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:46,799
Speaker 1: the line, the defensive line will be solid, especially the

826
00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:49,520
Speaker 1: interior defensive line, that will be the strength of the

827
00:40:49,520 --> 00:40:53,279
Speaker 1: defense at like Miles Sims at cornerback. Everything else kind

828
00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:55,520
Speaker 1: of feels like it's in flux. The linebacking corps is

829
00:40:55,600 --> 00:40:57,480
Speaker 1: kind of a mess and a lot of transfers there.

830
00:40:57,520 --> 00:41:01,839
Speaker 1: But I think defensively upfront, which is a good enough

831
00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:05,080
Speaker 1: place to start that can be kind of the engine

832
00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:08,319
Speaker 1: that drives the defense, which again had some bite last year,

833
00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:10,759
Speaker 1: and I think can improve this season. I think, if

834
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:12,799
Speaker 1: only by default, they have to be better in their

835
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:16,439
Speaker 1: passing game. Their passing game was atrocious last season. Again,

836
00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:18,600
Speaker 1: Jeff Simms went down. Even before he went down, he

837
00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:22,839
Speaker 1: wasn't great. I just think new personnel coming in, new

838
00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:26,040
Speaker 1: offensive mind coming in, who has thrown the ball at

839
00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:29,279
Speaker 1: previous stops with like Brett stock still remember that name.

840
00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:32,160
Speaker 1: I mean, he's had some success with quarterbacks who were

841
00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:36,080
Speaker 1: above average to say the least, and I think immediately

842
00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:38,200
Speaker 1: you're going to see some lift there on that side

843
00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:43,560
Speaker 1: of the football. Bigger picture though, yeah, that's big. See

844
00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:47,040
Speaker 1: bigger picture. We get into this conversation about portal versus

845
00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:50,640
Speaker 1: recruiting and what that marriage looks like between the two

846
00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:52,600
Speaker 1: of them. It's great to go out and get Haines

847
00:41:52,640 --> 00:41:55,319
Speaker 1: King and three transfer wide outs and a tight end,

848
00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:57,880
Speaker 1: you know, add a little bit of help. They did

849
00:41:57,960 --> 00:41:59,839
Speaker 1: add some help along the offensive line.

850
00:41:59,920 --> 00:42:00,360
Speaker 3: Is well.

851
00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:03,200
Speaker 1: It's great to do that and to hope for that

852
00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:06,920
Speaker 1: immediate pop, but to ultimately get to more stable footing.

853
00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:10,120
Speaker 1: It's a recruiting thing. It's a recruiting thing, you could

854
00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:13,400
Speaker 1: hit or missing the portal, but you got to build up.

855
00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:16,479
Speaker 1: You're too deep with guys that you're bringing in via

856
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:20,120
Speaker 1: just the normal standard issue high school recruiting game. And

857
00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:23,279
Speaker 1: in the first full off season bran Keyes class was

858
00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:25,480
Speaker 1: twelfth out of fourteen in the ACC.

859
00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:28,560
Speaker 2: And not even a full off season to be interim

860
00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:31,319
Speaker 2: and then full time. So this is the class, the

861
00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:33,080
Speaker 2: class of twenty twenty four, this is the one.

862
00:42:33,160 --> 00:42:34,440
Speaker 1: This is the one that we need to look at.

863
00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:38,560
Speaker 1: But early early returns not necessarily there with what we saw.

864
00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:41,640
Speaker 1: Hope is not a good strategy with respect to life

865
00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:46,080
Speaker 1: or injury problems in college football. And right now I

866
00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:47,799
Speaker 1: think the issue is you can go out, you can

867
00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:49,840
Speaker 1: get these guys in the portal. You can maybe improve

868
00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:52,360
Speaker 1: your production right away, but I don't know if the

869
00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:55,680
Speaker 1: depth is necessarily there. If you're talking about longer term

870
00:42:55,719 --> 00:42:59,080
Speaker 1: building this thing into a steady eight win program, you

871
00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:02,160
Speaker 1: got to build that, and I just don't see it yet.

872
00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:04,320
Speaker 1: Maybe they will get there in the short term with

873
00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:07,840
Speaker 1: smart recruiting and finding ways to plug guys in and

874
00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:10,440
Speaker 1: let them play early so they don't transfer out, or

875
00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:13,360
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know, but I think depth is

876
00:43:14,040 --> 00:43:16,719
Speaker 1: what they need to do, what they need to focus on,

877
00:43:17,120 --> 00:43:19,040
Speaker 1: and they also need to remain aggressive in the portal

878
00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:21,200
Speaker 1: because until they get that depth, they're going to need

879
00:43:21,200 --> 00:43:23,640
Speaker 1: to plug and play guys in order to keep this

880
00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:26,759
Speaker 1: thing moving forward. I like the fact that they were

881
00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:29,120
Speaker 1: able to siphon off guys from some big programs though,

882
00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:31,400
Speaker 1: to come in and play right away. Haines King notably,

883
00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:35,680
Speaker 1: Christian Leary another one the tight End from Georgia another

884
00:43:35,719 --> 00:43:38,360
Speaker 1: guy like I like that Georgia Tech is trying to

885
00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:41,840
Speaker 1: fill that void and plug guys in right away. But

886
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:44,919
Speaker 1: at some combination of those two recruiting tactics I think

887
00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:46,000
Speaker 1: is going to play a really big.

888
00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:46,360
Speaker 2: Part in this.

889
00:43:46,560 --> 00:43:49,279
Speaker 1: It does for every program, but it certainly will for

890
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:51,600
Speaker 1: Brent Key because I think, you know, Atlanta is a

891
00:43:51,600 --> 00:43:54,919
Speaker 1: cool spot. You can recruit guys go to Atlanta. It's

892
00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:58,680
Speaker 1: central to many of the many of the talent hubs

893
00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:01,359
Speaker 1: within college football. I don't think it's hard to find

894
00:44:01,360 --> 00:44:02,759
Speaker 1: guys that want to go and play there, but you

895
00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:04,839
Speaker 1: got to show them something, right, You got to show

896
00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:07,560
Speaker 1: that this is actually going somewhere. And that's why I

897
00:44:07,600 --> 00:44:09,600
Speaker 1: like what they did on offense. I think you can

898
00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:14,359
Speaker 1: then win more games right away. Yeah, geographically it's crazy advantageous.

899
00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:19,000
Speaker 2: The problem is it's competive schools. It's a couple hours

900
00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:22,920
Speaker 2: that sort of playing bigger games in front of bigger

901
00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:26,200
Speaker 2: audiences and more NFL like, it's just you know, it's

902
00:44:26,280 --> 00:44:28,319
Speaker 2: it's the the good and the bad. And so at

903
00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:30,520
Speaker 2: that point you say, Okay, we're going to invest in coaches.

904
00:44:30,880 --> 00:44:32,600
Speaker 2: You know, we're going to invest in guys who have

905
00:44:32,719 --> 00:44:35,480
Speaker 2: traditionally done more with less, and we're going to invest

906
00:44:35,560 --> 00:44:41,920
Speaker 2: in coaches and a recruiting department that is beloved by

907
00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:45,920
Speaker 2: every single high school coach in the greater whatever radius. Well,

908
00:44:45,960 --> 00:44:48,360
Speaker 2: and because you need to find guys, you need to

909
00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:52,799
Speaker 2: unearth guys who and not just unearthed guys they're gonna

910
00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:55,200
Speaker 2: be awesome for three or four years. Unearthed guys who

911
00:44:55,280 --> 00:44:57,319
Speaker 2: you have to understand after a couple of years might

912
00:44:57,480 --> 00:45:01,520
Speaker 2: leave h Looking at Jamiir Gibbs, you're looking at star

913
00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:04,960
Speaker 2: power at Georgia Tech means even bigger star power at

914
00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:07,840
Speaker 2: seven different schools within two or three hours, within.

915
00:45:07,719 --> 00:45:12,600
Speaker 1: Two or three hours, if the early returns on the

916
00:45:12,719 --> 00:45:15,879
Speaker 1: recruiting side, on the high school recruiting side, or any

917
00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:19,600
Speaker 1: indication there is clearly a focus on the state of Georgia.

918
00:45:20,080 --> 00:45:22,279
Speaker 1: The class that they are reeling in now, the twenty

919
00:45:22,360 --> 00:45:25,680
Speaker 1: twenty three class, is one that I would describe as

920
00:45:25,719 --> 00:45:29,280
Speaker 1: hyper local. It is comprised almost entirely of guys from Georgia.

921
00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:31,279
Speaker 1: There are a few odd balls who come from as

922
00:45:31,320 --> 00:45:33,840
Speaker 1: far away as Florida or South Carolina.

923
00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:35,239
Speaker 2: Jeff Sims from Florida.

924
00:45:35,239 --> 00:45:38,359
Speaker 1: Or Alabama, but for the most part, it is very,

925
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:43,000
Speaker 1: very focused on that precise geographic footprint that Atlanta and

926
00:45:43,040 --> 00:45:46,560
Speaker 1: Georgia Tech finds itself in. Whether they need to expand

927
00:45:46,640 --> 00:45:48,920
Speaker 1: those horizons at all, whether or not they've got the budget,

928
00:45:49,920 --> 00:45:52,239
Speaker 1: or the reach, or even the star power to do so,

929
00:45:52,719 --> 00:45:54,520
Speaker 1: that that will be a question moving forward. I don't

930
00:45:54,520 --> 00:45:59,240
Speaker 1: think you necessarily need to do that, but early early,

931
00:45:59,640 --> 00:46:02,520
Speaker 1: I guess analysis there is that it's very very central

932
00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:03,960
Speaker 1: to Georgia.

933
00:46:04,120 --> 00:46:06,360
Speaker 2: So we'll see. I don't like I look at this

934
00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:07,000
Speaker 2: get the over.

935
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:10,480
Speaker 1: Under is four wins for Georgia tax sure, and I

936
00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:14,600
Speaker 1: think that's a little heavy handed. Frankly, I could definitely

937
00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:18,719
Speaker 1: see them going over four wins. I'm also the type

938
00:46:18,760 --> 00:46:22,360
Speaker 1: of guy who is pretty optimistic about almost everybody. I

939
00:46:22,440 --> 00:46:25,120
Speaker 1: don't want to see the downside. But as I look

940
00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:30,080
Speaker 1: across this slate of games, I see, okay, one win

941
00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:33,879
Speaker 1: against South Carolina State. I see a Wake Forest team

942
00:46:33,920 --> 00:46:35,919
Speaker 1: that I don't know which direction they're going, Bowling Green,

943
00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:39,400
Speaker 1: they can beat Bowling Green, Boston College, Virginian these are

944
00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:42,239
Speaker 1: teams that they could beat again. Syracuse is a team

945
00:46:42,239 --> 00:46:44,200
Speaker 1: that I think they could beat at home.

946
00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:44,800
Speaker 2: Late in the season.

947
00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:47,680
Speaker 1: So we again, we will do the over under show

948
00:46:47,719 --> 00:46:49,920
Speaker 1: in due time. I'm not going to make that prediction now.

949
00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:51,840
Speaker 1: But I saw four and I looked at the schedule,

950
00:46:51,880 --> 00:46:54,560
Speaker 1: and I looked at what they're bringing in and I thought, eh, okay,

951
00:46:55,440 --> 00:46:57,080
Speaker 1: I'm not sure that they're getting to eight.

952
00:46:57,040 --> 00:46:59,640
Speaker 2: Wins in twenty twenty three. Oh no, they're not.

953
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:01,920
Speaker 1: But could they get the six wins? Could they get

954
00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:04,880
Speaker 1: the five wins? Again, that's a different conversation.

955
00:47:05,440 --> 00:47:05,640
Speaker 3: Yeah.

956
00:47:05,719 --> 00:47:08,120
Speaker 2: So what I'm hearing, and please correct me if I'm

957
00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:12,080
Speaker 2: putting words into your mouth, is there's excitement. There's there

958
00:47:12,120 --> 00:47:15,759
Speaker 2: are things to like about the Georgia Tech program and

959
00:47:15,840 --> 00:47:19,880
Speaker 2: the short term. But if we're talking about the odds

960
00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:22,080
Speaker 2: that Georgia Tech again eight win program means you have

961
00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:24,279
Speaker 2: your act together on both sides of the ball. And

962
00:47:24,760 --> 00:47:28,440
Speaker 2: in that you also are doing something excellently well. Right

963
00:47:28,520 --> 00:47:30,759
Speaker 2: there has to be some sort of calling card, and

964
00:47:30,920 --> 00:47:33,279
Speaker 2: that's DBD with Georgia Tech and where they are right now.

965
00:47:33,760 --> 00:47:36,480
Speaker 2: So we're saying Georgia Tech is going to do a

966
00:47:36,719 --> 00:47:39,879
Speaker 2: thing really well. They're going to manage the roster really well.

967
00:47:40,080 --> 00:47:43,640
Speaker 2: They're going to recruit and develop above what at least

968
00:47:43,680 --> 00:47:47,359
Speaker 2: I guess our perception of their ceiling is, and they're

969
00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:51,840
Speaker 2: going to take advantage of a perennially topsy turvy conference

970
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:53,960
Speaker 2: that like, this team has a great quarterback, but they

971
00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:57,160
Speaker 2: can't tackle anybody. That's exactly team has improved on defense,

972
00:47:57,239 --> 00:47:59,640
Speaker 2: but they can't move the ball at all. Like that

973
00:47:59,840 --> 00:48:01,920
Speaker 2: is the story with the ACC where they're going to

974
00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:05,080
Speaker 2: be out talented by Florida State, Miami and Clemson. That's

975
00:48:05,239 --> 00:48:07,920
Speaker 2: just if like that's that's those are games that if

976
00:48:07,960 --> 00:48:10,880
Speaker 2: those teams are playing anywhere near their potential with what

977
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:13,359
Speaker 2: we perceived the talent on the roster, look like that's

978
00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:16,480
Speaker 2: going to be really really tough annually at in Georgia

979
00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:17,520
Speaker 2: every year.

980
00:48:18,080 --> 00:48:21,040
Speaker 1: That's the problem that's at it's very difficult.

981
00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:24,680
Speaker 2: Basically a loss as it stands right now, every single

982
00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:28,239
Speaker 2: season in the Georgia schedule or the Georgia portion of

983
00:48:28,280 --> 00:48:33,080
Speaker 2: their schedule, that they need to be the solidest solid

984
00:48:33,160 --> 00:48:36,800
Speaker 2: team that ever solided every single week, that they're just

985
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:40,480
Speaker 2: always able to take advantage of deeply flawed portions of teams.

986
00:48:40,840 --> 00:48:43,879
Speaker 2: That's really hard, It's really, really really difficult and make

987
00:48:44,160 --> 00:48:46,600
Speaker 2: and never screw up on fourth and two, you know,

988
00:48:46,719 --> 00:48:49,680
Speaker 2: like you just it's just the margin Frayer is so

989
00:48:50,000 --> 00:48:54,480
Speaker 2: razor thin with Georgia Tech that unless some giant chunk

990
00:48:54,520 --> 00:48:57,399
Speaker 2: of the acc falls off a cliff, I just it's

991
00:48:57,520 --> 00:48:59,960
Speaker 2: really tough to construct that in my Pea brain mind.

992
00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:03,400
Speaker 1: Here's one thing, though, that I do like, and we

993
00:49:03,520 --> 00:49:06,680
Speaker 1: will move on to our guest of honor in Maryon Momentarily,

994
00:49:09,120 --> 00:49:13,040
Speaker 1: they did get better. They did get better at least

995
00:49:13,080 --> 00:49:15,799
Speaker 1: on defense, and I think they would have gotten better

996
00:49:15,880 --> 00:49:18,280
Speaker 1: on offense if not for the fact that Jeff Simms

997
00:49:18,360 --> 00:49:21,680
Speaker 1: went down on October the twentieth in the game against Virginia.

998
00:49:22,520 --> 00:49:23,759
Speaker 1: That does not mean they would have gone to a

999
00:49:23,800 --> 00:49:25,719
Speaker 1: bowl game. It might mean that they would have beaten

1000
00:49:25,840 --> 00:49:28,919
Speaker 1: Virginia and gotten to six wins, but still, I don't

1001
00:49:28,920 --> 00:49:30,719
Speaker 1: know if we can say that that's a given. I

1002
00:49:30,760 --> 00:49:33,520
Speaker 1: don't know if they're winning any other games that they lost,

1003
00:49:34,120 --> 00:49:36,799
Speaker 1: but I felt like the team rallied, the team got

1004
00:49:36,920 --> 00:49:40,960
Speaker 1: better in some aspects. I also feel like some of

1005
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:43,880
Speaker 1: the games that they won, I'm looking at like the

1006
00:49:43,960 --> 00:49:47,040
Speaker 1: North Carolina game or even the Virginia Tech Like, there

1007
00:49:47,080 --> 00:49:51,120
Speaker 1: were some games across the board here where you look

1008
00:49:51,200 --> 00:49:54,560
Speaker 1: at the postgame win expectancy and it's like below fifty percent.

1009
00:49:55,520 --> 00:49:57,560
Speaker 1: That means that they were scrapping.

1010
00:49:57,640 --> 00:49:57,799
Speaker 4: Man.

1011
00:49:58,480 --> 00:50:01,720
Speaker 1: They were playing hard, and even though something was clearly

1012
00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:04,680
Speaker 1: not working, they found a way to get the job done. Sure,

1013
00:50:04,920 --> 00:50:07,640
Speaker 1: I tend to look at stuff like that and say, Okay,

1014
00:50:07,960 --> 00:50:08,839
Speaker 1: was this team playing hard?

1015
00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:10,640
Speaker 2: Was this not team? Was this team not playing hard?

1016
00:50:10,840 --> 00:50:15,360
Speaker 1: There are also games like against Georgia, against Miami, against

1017
00:50:15,400 --> 00:50:18,000
Speaker 1: Florida State, where they were downright awful. They're really bad

1018
00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:20,480
Speaker 1: in those games, they never stood a chance. But there

1019
00:50:20,520 --> 00:50:22,000
Speaker 1: were other games that they were able to pick off

1020
00:50:22,040 --> 00:50:23,640
Speaker 1: all on the way to get the five wins that

1021
00:50:24,400 --> 00:50:26,040
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's clear that they played hard

1022
00:50:26,080 --> 00:50:27,759
Speaker 1: for Brian Key, and so I'm curious to see what

1023
00:50:27,840 --> 00:50:29,040
Speaker 1: he could do now the full season.

1024
00:50:30,239 --> 00:50:32,960
Speaker 2: I totally agree. And we're also talking about a conference

1025
00:50:33,040 --> 00:50:35,479
Speaker 2: in which a first year coach last year at Duke

1026
00:50:36,120 --> 00:50:38,520
Speaker 2: was like three minutes from going eleven and one. That's

1027
00:50:38,560 --> 00:50:39,160
Speaker 2: exactly right.

1028
00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:40,640
Speaker 3: And so you never know.

1029
00:50:40,719 --> 00:50:44,000
Speaker 2: There's so many flaws in this conference. There's so many like, uh,

1030
00:50:44,120 --> 00:50:47,359
Speaker 2: this quarterback is injured and they have nobody behind him

1031
00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:50,680
Speaker 2: at this place, right that that exists in the ACC.

1032
00:50:51,200 --> 00:50:54,279
Speaker 2: It is a It is a crazy conference in which

1033
00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:57,480
Speaker 2: a team that merely has his act together, it's act together,

1034
00:50:58,160 --> 00:51:00,160
Speaker 2: can win a ton of games if they fight the

1035
00:51:00,200 --> 00:51:02,279
Speaker 2: right quarterback and he is pretty good.

1036
00:51:03,280 --> 00:51:04,359
Speaker 1: That's all I think.

1037
00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:06,440
Speaker 2: That's right. Dan, Okay, so there you go.

1038
00:51:06,560 --> 00:51:09,480
Speaker 1: You did Arizona, I did, Georgie Tech.

1039
00:51:09,560 --> 00:51:10,640
Speaker 2: Let us know what your thoughts are.

1040
00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:15,440
Speaker 1: Soliverblegmail dot coms the email reach out on social media.

1041
00:51:16,120 --> 00:51:18,080
Speaker 1: We are going to go now to our good friend

1042
00:51:18,160 --> 00:51:23,920
Speaker 1: jeff Ermin newspaper sportswriter turned founder publisher of the webs

1043
00:51:24,000 --> 00:51:28,799
Speaker 1: number one Maryland Tarrapin site from Inside mdsports dot com.

1044
00:51:29,360 --> 00:51:31,560
Speaker 1: Jeff Erman, Sarah, Welcome to the solid verbel How are you.

1045
00:51:32,320 --> 00:51:33,480
Speaker 3: I'm great, Thanks for having me.

1046
00:51:34,320 --> 00:51:37,960
Speaker 1: So look, we're we're doing this like series of episodes

1047
00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:40,160
Speaker 1: now where we're talking about how teams can take the

1048
00:51:40,239 --> 00:51:43,400
Speaker 1: next step and for Maryland. Dan and I kind of

1049
00:51:43,600 --> 00:51:46,520
Speaker 1: just vaguely defined it as eight wins or a steady

1050
00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:50,000
Speaker 1: eight wins. It's notable on the Maryland side that they

1051
00:51:50,040 --> 00:51:53,520
Speaker 1: got there last year after the bowl game, fell a

1052
00:51:53,560 --> 00:51:55,719
Speaker 1: little bit short during the regular season, but it was

1053
00:51:55,800 --> 00:52:00,080
Speaker 1: a one win improvement from twenty twenty one. Is they

1054
00:52:00,080 --> 00:52:03,040
Speaker 1: had a fair assessment of Maryland football to get to

1055
00:52:03,160 --> 00:52:07,320
Speaker 1: eight wins consistently, what do you view as the next step?

1056
00:52:08,360 --> 00:52:09,680
Speaker 3: I think that's a fair assessment.

1057
00:52:09,760 --> 00:52:13,480
Speaker 5: You know, Unlike most college football fans, Maryland fans aren't

1058
00:52:14,080 --> 00:52:15,120
Speaker 5: delusional about it.

1059
00:52:15,200 --> 00:52:16,719
Speaker 3: They don't expect to.

1060
00:52:16,760 --> 00:52:19,360
Speaker 5: Be competing for big ten titles every year going to

1061
00:52:19,440 --> 00:52:21,600
Speaker 5: college football player that they wouldn't love that.

1062
00:52:21,760 --> 00:52:23,560
Speaker 3: But you have to be realistic about it, you know.

1063
00:52:23,640 --> 00:52:26,360
Speaker 3: They it's been a down cycle for the program in

1064
00:52:26,400 --> 00:52:27,439
Speaker 3: the past twenty years.

1065
00:52:27,480 --> 00:52:30,719
Speaker 5: When Mike Loxley took over five years ago, they had

1066
00:52:31,120 --> 00:52:33,520
Speaker 5: law had losing records four or five years in a row.

1067
00:52:34,080 --> 00:52:37,600
Speaker 3: You know, they had obviously the tragic death.

1068
00:52:37,440 --> 00:52:42,440
Speaker 5: Of Jordan McNair and the ensuing controversy DJ jurkinspiring, so

1069
00:52:42,600 --> 00:52:45,480
Speaker 5: a long story short, you know, they I think when

1070
00:52:45,520 --> 00:52:48,560
Speaker 5: you combine that background with the fact that they're going

1071
00:52:48,640 --> 00:52:51,279
Speaker 5: up against Ohio State and Michigan and Penn State every

1072
00:52:51,280 --> 00:52:54,680
Speaker 5: single year, which will change soon with you know, the

1073
00:52:55,480 --> 00:52:57,640
Speaker 5: the elimination of divisions, which.

1074
00:52:57,520 --> 00:52:59,719
Speaker 3: Will help them a lot. But as of right now,

1075
00:53:00,120 --> 00:53:02,040
Speaker 3: most fans would be thrilled to get to that eight

1076
00:53:02,120 --> 00:53:03,800
Speaker 3: win level on a yearly basis.

1077
00:53:05,440 --> 00:53:09,000
Speaker 1: You mentioned Mike Locksley stepping in. You know, the last

1078
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:12,320
Speaker 1: two seasons I think have have certainly represented an improvement

1079
00:53:12,719 --> 00:53:16,000
Speaker 1: in the Maryland football program. From your vantage point, what's working,

1080
00:53:16,120 --> 00:53:18,759
Speaker 1: what's what's not working? What does what does he need

1081
00:53:18,880 --> 00:53:21,800
Speaker 1: to improve in order to maybe get to that next echelon?

1082
00:53:23,880 --> 00:53:26,640
Speaker 5: I would say what's working is recruiting. You know, recruiting

1083
00:53:26,800 --> 00:53:29,560
Speaker 5: has obviously improved quite a bit. That's no surprise, That's

1084
00:53:29,600 --> 00:53:33,560
Speaker 5: what Locksley has been known for his whole career. The

1085
00:53:33,719 --> 00:53:37,040
Speaker 5: offense has significantly improved. I think you're trying to point

1086
00:53:37,080 --> 00:53:39,320
Speaker 5: to something that's not working. The defense has really just

1087
00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:43,319
Speaker 5: been perennially toward that bottom tier in the Big Ten

1088
00:53:43,719 --> 00:53:47,320
Speaker 5: since they joined the conference. They've lacked the depth and

1089
00:53:47,840 --> 00:53:50,160
Speaker 5: the size and the trenches, which as we all know,

1090
00:53:50,360 --> 00:53:53,239
Speaker 5: is half the battle. And the Big Ten they did make,

1091
00:53:53,400 --> 00:53:56,480
Speaker 5: you know, pretty significant I think improvements last year under

1092
00:53:56,520 --> 00:53:59,920
Speaker 5: Brian Williams. It was his first year as their defensive core.

1093
00:54:00,520 --> 00:54:02,320
Speaker 5: I think most people view him as kind of a

1094
00:54:02,440 --> 00:54:05,960
Speaker 5: rising star. So they did make some incremental improvements there

1095
00:54:06,080 --> 00:54:08,359
Speaker 5: that there's reason for hope there. But you know, looking

1096
00:54:08,440 --> 00:54:12,160
Speaker 5: at the big picture, that's to me been the clear weakness.

1097
00:54:12,400 --> 00:54:13,800
Speaker 5: You know, since they joined the conference.

1098
00:54:14,680 --> 00:54:17,239
Speaker 2: Does there seem to be confident confidence excuse me? And

1099
00:54:17,400 --> 00:54:21,319
Speaker 2: and Mike Loxley as obviously as a recruiter, definitely as

1100
00:54:21,640 --> 00:54:24,759
Speaker 2: an in game coach, as a head coach preparing his

1101
00:54:24,960 --> 00:54:28,160
Speaker 2: team to win winnable games, it seems that you know,

1102
00:54:28,239 --> 00:54:30,480
Speaker 2: you mentioned Maryland, you know, these past few years of

1103
00:54:30,520 --> 00:54:33,840
Speaker 2: course having Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State in the in

1104
00:54:33,960 --> 00:54:37,000
Speaker 2: the division. But is this a team? Is this a

1105
00:54:37,080 --> 00:54:39,919
Speaker 2: program that always feels like it's ready to win those

1106
00:54:40,000 --> 00:54:43,520
Speaker 2: tight games that are winnable against teams that are similarly

1107
00:54:43,719 --> 00:54:45,200
Speaker 2: or even lesser talented.

1108
00:54:46,400 --> 00:54:48,480
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean that's a legit question, especially when you

1109
00:54:48,520 --> 00:54:50,400
Speaker 5: look at last year with all the penalties. They are

1110
00:54:50,520 --> 00:54:53,279
Speaker 5: one of those penalized teams in the country. You know,

1111
00:54:54,280 --> 00:54:56,759
Speaker 5: might you know spoke after all the games you got

1112
00:54:56,880 --> 00:54:59,600
Speaker 5: to get this fixed. They weren't able to get it fixed,

1113
00:54:59,640 --> 00:55:02,200
Speaker 5: So that that is a legitimate question. On the flip side, though,

1114
00:55:02,719 --> 00:55:05,879
Speaker 5: you also have to give credit for competing with those

1115
00:55:05,960 --> 00:55:07,799
Speaker 5: top tier Big Ten teams last year.

1116
00:55:07,880 --> 00:55:10,759
Speaker 3: You know, every single year you could you could predict it.

1117
00:55:11,120 --> 00:55:14,080
Speaker 5: You know, when they played Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan,

1118
00:55:14,160 --> 00:55:16,960
Speaker 5: they were probably going to get trounced. Last year, you know,

1119
00:55:17,000 --> 00:55:19,680
Speaker 5: they played Michigan really close on the road, a few

1120
00:55:19,800 --> 00:55:22,239
Speaker 5: different bounces go their way and they added want to

1121
00:55:22,280 --> 00:55:24,800
Speaker 5: win that. And then at home against Ohio State, you know,

1122
00:55:24,920 --> 00:55:27,319
Speaker 5: that went right down to the wires. So I think

1123
00:55:27,360 --> 00:55:30,040
Speaker 5: he's shown some improvement in that area, but it's still,

1124
00:55:30,239 --> 00:55:32,600
Speaker 5: like you said, it's something you need to improve upon,

1125
00:55:32,719 --> 00:55:35,560
Speaker 5: not only against the powerhouses, but again like those teams

1126
00:55:35,600 --> 00:55:38,360
Speaker 5: you mentioned who are kind of your peers in the conference,

1127
00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:40,359
Speaker 5: like a Purdue, which was a fifty to fifty game

1128
00:55:40,440 --> 00:55:40,960
Speaker 5: they made.

1129
00:55:40,760 --> 00:55:44,400
Speaker 3: Some mistakes and lost down the wire. Last year. If not,

1130
00:55:44,520 --> 00:55:46,560
Speaker 3: then you have nine wins and things look even better.

1131
00:55:47,600 --> 00:55:49,840
Speaker 2: Is there a position group you mentioned the trenches? Is

1132
00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:54,719
Speaker 2: the trajectory somewhat promising that, you know, either the offensive

1133
00:55:55,080 --> 00:55:57,960
Speaker 2: or defensive line groupings will be deeper and more talented

1134
00:55:58,160 --> 00:56:01,560
Speaker 2: and better able to hang with some of the better

1135
00:56:01,640 --> 00:56:02,720
Speaker 2: programs in the conference.

1136
00:56:03,680 --> 00:56:06,080
Speaker 5: I think on the defensive line, it's possible that you're

1137
00:56:06,120 --> 00:56:09,360
Speaker 5: relying on a few unproven commodities. But the defensive line

1138
00:56:09,480 --> 00:56:13,600
Speaker 5: was solid but not great last year. Offensive line, to me,

1139
00:56:13,719 --> 00:56:16,080
Speaker 5: is the biggest question mark they have. You know, they

1140
00:56:16,200 --> 00:56:20,080
Speaker 5: lost four multi year starters. Then they had two more guys,

1141
00:56:20,280 --> 00:56:23,719
Speaker 5: one of whom was going to start, Mason LUNSFORDI guard

1142
00:56:23,840 --> 00:56:28,680
Speaker 5: transferred to LSU. Colton Deary, a center who was probably

1143
00:56:28,760 --> 00:56:32,080
Speaker 5: going to start, he transferred as well. So they're relying

1144
00:56:32,480 --> 00:56:35,439
Speaker 5: a lot of transfers, a lot of unknown commodities there.

1145
00:56:35,480 --> 00:56:37,680
Speaker 5: They need to probably get a few more guys. They

1146
00:56:37,719 --> 00:56:39,200
Speaker 5: definitely need to get a few more guys out of

1147
00:56:39,239 --> 00:56:42,520
Speaker 5: transfer portal there. So the offensive line, to me, if

1148
00:56:42,600 --> 00:56:45,799
Speaker 5: anything potentially could hold them back this season, it's.

1149
00:56:45,719 --> 00:56:49,040
Speaker 2: Stat How is I mean, you mentioned recruiting being a strength,

1150
00:56:49,080 --> 00:56:52,760
Speaker 2: but how is recruiting in terms of balancing high school

1151
00:56:52,920 --> 00:56:56,640
Speaker 2: and portal? Does there seem to be an evolving vision?

1152
00:56:58,000 --> 00:56:58,239
Speaker 3: Is there?

1153
00:56:58,520 --> 00:57:00,800
Speaker 2: Do you have confidence that this is a program that

1154
00:57:01,320 --> 00:57:03,960
Speaker 2: knows what it's doing and has a plan to get

1155
00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:05,399
Speaker 2: to that eight or nine win level.

1156
00:57:06,239 --> 00:57:07,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think they know what they're doing. They have

1157
00:57:07,760 --> 00:57:10,680
Speaker 3: you know, he's hired some guys recently. You know, I

1158
00:57:10,719 --> 00:57:13,280
Speaker 3: think the Josh Gaddis hired. He's a really good recruiter.

1159
00:57:13,400 --> 00:57:15,279
Speaker 3: He'll help. They did.

1160
00:57:15,320 --> 00:57:17,320
Speaker 5: They also lost a few, there were some turnover in

1161
00:57:17,360 --> 00:57:19,920
Speaker 5: the off season. But you know, I think the ambition

1162
00:57:20,160 --> 00:57:23,160
Speaker 5: is basically to be in that top thirty range every

1163
00:57:23,240 --> 00:57:26,600
Speaker 5: year in high school recruiting, which is good if you're

1164
00:57:26,600 --> 00:57:28,400
Speaker 5: a Maryland That puts you right in that top half

1165
00:57:28,520 --> 00:57:31,840
Speaker 5: of the big ten, and then you know ad transfers.

1166
00:57:31,880 --> 00:57:32,640
Speaker 3: This year they had it.

1167
00:57:32,680 --> 00:57:35,480
Speaker 5: I think last I checked our rankings, twenty four to

1168
00:57:35,560 --> 00:57:38,520
Speaker 5: seven Sports had their class. Their transfer class number thirteen

1169
00:57:38,560 --> 00:57:40,600
Speaker 5: in the country, which is pretty good when you're in

1170
00:57:40,640 --> 00:57:42,600
Speaker 5: Maryland and you know, so much of it comes down

1171
00:57:42,680 --> 00:57:45,760
Speaker 5: to nil and you know a lot of kids want

1172
00:57:45,760 --> 00:57:46,680
Speaker 5: to go to the big names.

1173
00:57:46,760 --> 00:57:49,400
Speaker 3: So they brought in a really strong transfer class.

1174
00:57:49,480 --> 00:57:52,160
Speaker 5: So, you know, I think the recruiting obviously still could

1175
00:57:52,200 --> 00:57:54,520
Speaker 5: get a little better, but based on where they sit

1176
00:57:54,680 --> 00:57:57,160
Speaker 5: in the ego system, it's it's been pretty solid.

1177
00:57:57,760 --> 00:58:00,640
Speaker 1: You mentioned Josh Gaddis. They also bring in having someone.

1178
00:58:00,760 --> 00:58:02,640
Speaker 1: Is there any concern from you that there are too

1179
00:58:02,680 --> 00:58:03,960
Speaker 1: many cooks in the kitchen.

1180
00:58:05,200 --> 00:58:08,280
Speaker 3: No, not at all. I think someone is a guy

1181
00:58:08,360 --> 00:58:11,280
Speaker 3: who was you know, just about out of coaching basically

1182
00:58:11,920 --> 00:58:13,000
Speaker 3: the USFL and.

1183
00:58:14,840 --> 00:58:17,360
Speaker 5: So I think for him this is a window to

1184
00:58:17,400 --> 00:58:20,840
Speaker 5: get back into the game more so than a you know,

1185
00:58:21,000 --> 00:58:23,080
Speaker 5: I'm the guy kind of mindset.

1186
00:58:23,520 --> 00:58:25,479
Speaker 3: Gaddus too, was a little bit on the down swing,

1187
00:58:25,640 --> 00:58:25,800
Speaker 3: you know.

1188
00:58:26,000 --> 00:58:29,280
Speaker 5: Two years ago, you know, the National and Frank Broyles

1189
00:58:29,280 --> 00:58:32,200
Speaker 5: winner at Michigan and then last year kind of unceremoniously

1190
00:58:32,440 --> 00:58:35,120
Speaker 5: bumped out of Miami. So I don't think, you know,

1191
00:58:35,160 --> 00:58:37,840
Speaker 5: when you combine that with he and Locksley had a

1192
00:58:37,880 --> 00:58:40,000
Speaker 5: little bit of beef in the past, right, you know,

1193
00:58:40,400 --> 00:58:42,960
Speaker 5: Losley is a forgiving guy, but he's also.

1194
00:58:43,280 --> 00:58:46,000
Speaker 3: The guy who you know, you people. I don't use

1195
00:58:46,040 --> 00:58:47,400
Speaker 3: like this phrase too. He's alpha, but.

1196
00:58:47,520 --> 00:58:49,760
Speaker 5: He's alpha, so he's not going to to hire this

1197
00:58:49,920 --> 00:58:52,960
Speaker 5: guy without him fully knowing his role.

1198
00:58:53,080 --> 00:58:54,640
Speaker 3: So I don't see. I don't see any sort of

1199
00:58:54,720 --> 00:58:55,360
Speaker 3: ego issues.

1200
00:58:55,720 --> 00:58:59,440
Speaker 2: What what's the vision look like post to Leah at quarterback?

1201
00:59:00,960 --> 00:59:02,080
Speaker 3: Well, they got a couple guys.

1202
00:59:02,160 --> 00:59:05,840
Speaker 5: Billy Edwards transferred from wake Forest last year, ended up

1203
00:59:05,880 --> 00:59:08,280
Speaker 5: playing you know, a pretty decent amount just because of

1204
00:59:08,360 --> 00:59:10,240
Speaker 5: injuries to tongue Baila.

1205
00:59:10,720 --> 00:59:11,880
Speaker 3: It actually looked pretty good.

1206
00:59:12,000 --> 00:59:15,040
Speaker 5: I mean, they really liked him at Wake Forest. He runs,

1207
00:59:15,080 --> 00:59:17,600
Speaker 5: He's a bigger, more physical guy. He's not its hesitant

1208
00:59:17,680 --> 00:59:20,280
Speaker 5: to run, so he's more of a red option kind

1209
00:59:20,320 --> 00:59:21,480
Speaker 5: of guy. I can do a lot of things with

1210
00:59:21,600 --> 00:59:23,640
Speaker 5: his feed and has a pretty decent arm. Whether he

1211
00:59:23,680 --> 00:59:26,920
Speaker 5: can ever become a passer like Taliah, that's probably a

1212
00:59:27,000 --> 00:59:29,120
Speaker 5: long shot, but you know, I think he's got a

1213
00:59:29,240 --> 00:59:29,720
Speaker 5: chance to be.

1214
00:59:29,720 --> 00:59:32,120
Speaker 3: A Big ten starter. And then they've got another kid

1215
00:59:32,200 --> 00:59:33,280
Speaker 3: named cam Edge.

1216
00:59:33,560 --> 00:59:36,200
Speaker 6: Who came in a year ago, graduated from high school early,

1217
00:59:36,320 --> 00:59:38,840
Speaker 6: he was a four star, recruited to math early in

1218
00:59:38,920 --> 00:59:42,320
Speaker 6: his career, stock dipped a little bit, ended up committing

1219
00:59:42,360 --> 00:59:45,000
Speaker 6: to Maryland, and from everything I've heard out of the spring,

1220
00:59:45,160 --> 00:59:47,000
Speaker 6: out of springball, they really liked what they saw.

1221
00:59:47,960 --> 00:59:50,960
Speaker 2: How does Maryland feel about its place within the Big Ten?

1222
00:59:51,240 --> 00:59:53,760
Speaker 2: Obviously this is a program who makes the move a

1223
00:59:53,880 --> 00:59:57,680
Speaker 2: number of years ago, but doesn't necessarily fit the geographic footprint.

1224
00:59:57,720 --> 01:00:00,640
Speaker 2: And now we're going even further west farther away, excuse me,

1225
01:00:00,960 --> 01:00:04,400
Speaker 2: with USC and UCLA. How does Maryland see itself in

1226
01:00:04,560 --> 01:00:07,880
Speaker 2: terms of being positioned to potentially, you know, win those

1227
01:00:07,880 --> 01:00:10,760
Speaker 2: eight or nine games a year with added quality to

1228
01:00:10,840 --> 01:00:11,880
Speaker 2: the conference coming soon.

1229
01:00:12,960 --> 01:00:14,120
Speaker 3: I think they see themselves.

1230
01:00:14,120 --> 01:00:17,640
Speaker 5: They see why, you know, there's no reason we can't

1231
01:00:17,720 --> 01:00:21,080
Speaker 5: be a Michigan State kind of program. We're not going

1232
01:00:21,120 --> 01:00:23,200
Speaker 5: to be Ohio State, probably not gonna be Penn State.

1233
01:00:23,600 --> 01:00:26,040
Speaker 5: There's no reason we can't be a Michigan State or

1234
01:00:26,080 --> 01:00:28,840
Speaker 5: maybe like a better version of produce. There's so much

1235
01:00:28,920 --> 01:00:31,800
Speaker 5: talent in the area. Everybody knows that every major school

1236
01:00:31,880 --> 01:00:33,840
Speaker 5: comes into the DMV to recruit players.

1237
01:00:34,720 --> 01:00:36,760
Speaker 3: The great media market, so they have a lot of

1238
01:00:36,800 --> 01:00:37,640
Speaker 3: things going for them.

1239
01:00:38,080 --> 01:00:41,960
Speaker 5: But at the same time, you know, culturally, you're it's

1240
01:00:42,040 --> 01:00:44,760
Speaker 5: so hard to catch up on these these schools.

1241
01:00:44,600 --> 01:00:46,560
Speaker 3: Like Ohio State and Penn State and Michigan where it's

1242
01:00:46,680 --> 01:00:49,400
Speaker 3: just it's a state wide religion. It's not a state

1243
01:00:49,480 --> 01:00:52,760
Speaker 3: wide religion in Maryland. If anything, Maryland.

1244
01:00:52,400 --> 01:00:56,240
Speaker 5: Basketball is so you know, I think they see themselves

1245
01:00:56,280 --> 01:00:59,080
Speaker 5: as I think on the basketball side.

1246
01:00:59,560 --> 01:01:02,640
Speaker 3: Basketball people say sleeping giant, sleeping giant all the time.

1247
01:01:02,680 --> 01:01:06,480
Speaker 5: On the football sign like sleeping big dude, you know,

1248
01:01:06,920 --> 01:01:08,000
Speaker 5: not quite Diyant, but.

1249
01:01:08,440 --> 01:01:09,200
Speaker 2: A power forward.

1250
01:01:09,320 --> 01:01:11,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, they have the Yeah, there you go.

1251
01:01:11,600 --> 01:01:15,360
Speaker 5: They have the ingredients to be a lot better than

1252
01:01:15,440 --> 01:01:18,760
Speaker 5: they've been, and they've shown progression in the past two years.

1253
01:01:18,840 --> 01:01:21,400
Speaker 5: You know, It's fifteen wins two years combined, is the

1254
01:01:21,480 --> 01:01:23,320
Speaker 5: most they've had in more.

1255
01:01:23,200 --> 01:01:23,920
Speaker 3: Than a decade.

1256
01:01:24,080 --> 01:01:26,560
Speaker 5: So I think that people feel optimistic that they can

1257
01:01:26,640 --> 01:01:29,320
Speaker 5: make that move to be in that second tier of

1258
01:01:29,360 --> 01:01:29,880
Speaker 5: the Big Ten.

1259
01:01:30,640 --> 01:01:33,120
Speaker 2: They're competing with a number of the schools you mentioned,

1260
01:01:33,160 --> 01:01:35,120
Speaker 2: obviously within the Big Ten, but a number of schools

1261
01:01:35,160 --> 01:01:37,000
Speaker 2: outside of the Big Ten who come to that area

1262
01:01:37,120 --> 01:01:40,800
Speaker 2: to recruit. Do you get a sense that the administration,

1263
01:01:41,360 --> 01:01:44,439
Speaker 2: that the powers that be, that the money people care

1264
01:01:44,680 --> 01:01:48,120
Speaker 2: enough to win eight nine games a season. Is the

1265
01:01:48,200 --> 01:01:52,560
Speaker 2: investment there in facilities, in analysts, in support staff to

1266
01:01:52,720 --> 01:01:55,440
Speaker 2: compete on that level with who they're recruiting and competing

1267
01:01:55,480 --> 01:01:56,240
Speaker 2: on the field against.

1268
01:01:56,640 --> 01:01:58,760
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was a big question for many years.

1269
01:01:59,280 --> 01:02:01,240
Speaker 5: An answer is probably, and I think now they're inching

1270
01:02:01,320 --> 01:02:03,200
Speaker 5: more to it being able to say yes on that.

1271
01:02:04,360 --> 01:02:06,960
Speaker 5: You know, David Evans the ad, he's more of a

1272
01:02:07,000 --> 01:02:09,720
Speaker 5: football guy by nature, obviously, you guys know he played

1273
01:02:09,720 --> 01:02:12,400
Speaker 5: at Georgia, was the ad there, So he's a football

1274
01:02:12,440 --> 01:02:13,480
Speaker 5: guy by nature.

1275
01:02:14,000 --> 01:02:16,880
Speaker 3: He's fully invested. You know, they just gave Mike Loxley

1276
01:02:16,920 --> 01:02:17,520
Speaker 3: a big raise.

1277
01:02:17,560 --> 01:02:19,880
Speaker 5: It's going to average about six million dollars during the

1278
01:02:19,920 --> 01:02:22,280
Speaker 5: final few years of the deal. So you know, that's

1279
01:02:22,360 --> 01:02:24,960
Speaker 5: up from two point six million dollars a few years

1280
01:02:24,960 --> 01:02:27,360
Speaker 5: ago where he was the lowest paid coach the Big ten.

1281
01:02:27,560 --> 01:02:31,000
Speaker 3: So there's an investment there. Here's been an investment in staffing.

1282
01:02:31,520 --> 01:02:33,800
Speaker 3: You know. The one question mark, the bigger question mark

1283
01:02:33,880 --> 01:02:35,840
Speaker 3: to me is the nil piece.

1284
01:02:35,920 --> 01:02:38,520
Speaker 5: If the arms race just continues at the rate that

1285
01:02:38,640 --> 01:02:39,480
Speaker 5: it's at right now.

1286
01:02:39,960 --> 01:02:43,160
Speaker 3: These schools have so many boosters and so many.

1287
01:02:43,040 --> 01:02:46,840
Speaker 5: Different avenues to raise money, whereas for Maryland football it's

1288
01:02:46,840 --> 01:02:47,280
Speaker 5: a tough go.

1289
01:02:47,840 --> 01:02:51,080
Speaker 3: So that that's the bigger financial question to me than

1290
01:02:51,120 --> 01:02:52,240
Speaker 3: the schools commitment.

1291
01:02:53,000 --> 01:02:55,280
Speaker 1: How often do you forget that Maryland's in the Big ten?

1292
01:02:55,360 --> 01:02:59,600
Speaker 5: Now? Well I have to, you know, I'm required to

1293
01:02:59,680 --> 01:03:03,520
Speaker 5: upset about this, so I don't really forget.

1294
01:03:04,160 --> 01:03:05,600
Speaker 3: But there are definitely some fans.

1295
01:03:05,640 --> 01:03:08,320
Speaker 5: They'll still tweet at me or you know, a post

1296
01:03:08,400 --> 01:03:10,680
Speaker 5: on our Facebook pay or message boards or whatever like

1297
01:03:11,280 --> 01:03:12,440
Speaker 5: we shouldn't have left the A C C.

1298
01:03:12,760 --> 01:03:15,280
Speaker 3: Or we can fix this. I'm like, let it go.

1299
01:03:15,480 --> 01:03:17,520
Speaker 3: You know, it's it's long over and you know what,

1300
01:03:17,600 --> 01:03:19,920
Speaker 3: they got really lucky with that. Look how many schools

1301
01:03:20,600 --> 01:03:21,120
Speaker 3: are out.

1302
01:03:21,040 --> 01:03:25,640
Speaker 4: There watching the development of developments of conference realignment and

1303
01:03:26,160 --> 01:03:28,560
Speaker 4: would get anything to be in a big ten where

1304
01:03:28,560 --> 01:03:31,720
Speaker 4: you just have insane amounts of money pouring in, you know,

1305
01:03:31,840 --> 01:03:33,200
Speaker 4: two or three times as much as.

1306
01:03:33,120 --> 01:03:35,720
Speaker 3: You have in the ACC. So you know, I get it.

1307
01:03:36,240 --> 01:03:38,040
Speaker 5: The biggest thing to me is you don't have a

1308
01:03:38,160 --> 01:03:41,240
Speaker 5: rival in either sport, and it's hard to see, you know,

1309
01:03:41,480 --> 01:03:44,640
Speaker 5: over the years, I'm sure something will develop organically, but

1310
01:03:45,400 --> 01:03:48,040
Speaker 5: it's not there and it's been you know, it's been

1311
01:03:48,080 --> 01:03:49,520
Speaker 5: a while now, almost a decade.

1312
01:03:49,680 --> 01:03:51,880
Speaker 3: So that to me is I get that. I get

1313
01:03:51,920 --> 01:03:54,840
Speaker 3: the nostalgia, but no, I don't. I don't forget that.

1314
01:03:55,040 --> 01:03:58,240
Speaker 2: My counterpoint, by the way, is if Maryland were still

1315
01:03:58,280 --> 01:04:00,760
Speaker 2: in the ACC, they would have been winning so many

1316
01:04:00,840 --> 01:04:04,480
Speaker 2: games of football. Fail. It has been an incredible era

1317
01:04:04,680 --> 01:04:07,720
Speaker 2: to be merely pretty good at football in the ACC.

1318
01:04:08,080 --> 01:04:10,720
Speaker 2: As we're coming off of a duke season where like, yeah,

1319
01:04:10,720 --> 01:04:12,840
Speaker 2: they could have just won ten games if a couple

1320
01:04:12,920 --> 01:04:15,200
Speaker 2: of things had bounced their way. So that's the only

1321
01:04:15,240 --> 01:04:17,360
Speaker 2: other counterpoint. But yeah, your point's well taken.

1322
01:04:18,120 --> 01:04:20,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's spot on, and many fans have said that.

1323
01:04:20,160 --> 01:04:22,720
Speaker 5: I've seen that if we're in the ACC, we could

1324
01:04:22,720 --> 01:04:24,960
Speaker 5: have won two more games. That's it's one hundred percent true.

1325
01:04:25,000 --> 01:04:28,280
Speaker 5: You know, the ACC has become so mediocre for the

1326
01:04:28,360 --> 01:04:31,120
Speaker 5: most part, whereas in the Big ten, even the you know,

1327
01:04:31,280 --> 01:04:34,040
Speaker 5: even the middle tier schools are still recruiting at a

1328
01:04:34,080 --> 01:04:34,560
Speaker 5: higher level.

1329
01:04:34,600 --> 01:04:38,200
Speaker 3: They're still fully invested. So but I think the flip

1330
01:04:38,280 --> 01:04:39,880
Speaker 3: side of that, like I said, is now that the

1331
01:04:39,960 --> 01:04:42,000
Speaker 3: divisions are going to be done away with pretty.

1332
01:04:41,800 --> 01:04:44,320
Speaker 5: Soon, that will make it a little more of a

1333
01:04:44,640 --> 01:04:47,439
Speaker 5: meritocracy now because you won't have to you know, you'll

1334
01:04:47,440 --> 01:04:48,600
Speaker 5: get a little because.

1335
01:04:48,320 --> 01:04:50,680
Speaker 3: The West, as you guys knows, so much weaker every

1336
01:04:50,720 --> 01:04:51,200
Speaker 3: single year.

1337
01:04:51,240 --> 01:04:54,520
Speaker 5: It's like that period of the NBA for twenty years

1338
01:04:54,520 --> 01:04:56,560
Speaker 5: straight where the West was, you.

1339
01:04:56,600 --> 01:04:59,920
Speaker 3: Know, ten times better than the East. Yeah, it's been

1340
01:05:00,080 --> 01:05:03,280
Speaker 3: basically like that. So eracing that I think will help

1341
01:05:03,360 --> 01:05:04,800
Speaker 3: their results.

1342
01:05:04,960 --> 01:05:08,360
Speaker 1: In the spirit of this whole episode where we're talking

1343
01:05:08,400 --> 01:05:10,400
Speaker 1: about getting to the next level and we've defined I

1344
01:05:10,440 --> 01:05:13,840
Speaker 1: guess eight wins as the next level from Maryland. We're

1345
01:05:13,880 --> 01:05:17,880
Speaker 1: not doing an over under show, but Maryland's over under

1346
01:05:18,120 --> 01:05:21,320
Speaker 1: is seven wins. I looked at the schedule, Jeff. They

1347
01:05:21,400 --> 01:05:24,800
Speaker 1: open with Towson, they play Charlotte, they play Virginia, they

1348
01:05:24,840 --> 01:05:27,840
Speaker 1: play at Michigan State, they play Indiana on back to

1349
01:05:27,920 --> 01:05:29,880
Speaker 1: back to back to back to back weeks to.

1350
01:05:29,960 --> 01:05:30,800
Speaker 2: Open up the season.

1351
01:05:31,320 --> 01:05:34,040
Speaker 1: It's not inconceivable that Maryland is five and zero going

1352
01:05:34,120 --> 01:05:37,560
Speaker 1: to Ohio State first weekend of October. They only would

1353
01:05:37,600 --> 01:05:39,000
Speaker 1: need to win two more games.

1354
01:05:39,520 --> 01:05:40,240
Speaker 2: The rest of the way.

1355
01:05:40,280 --> 01:05:43,880
Speaker 1: It does get tougher with Penn State and Michigan, and

1356
01:05:43,960 --> 01:05:48,040
Speaker 1: there's a road game at Nebraska at Rutgers, Like you

1357
01:05:48,120 --> 01:05:50,680
Speaker 1: could see a situation in which they end up falling

1358
01:05:50,720 --> 01:05:53,520
Speaker 1: short of that seven. I have to imagine, though, you

1359
01:05:53,600 --> 01:05:55,080
Speaker 1: look at seven, I feel pretty good about that.

1360
01:05:56,080 --> 01:05:57,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, you've got to feel good about that.

1361
01:05:57,360 --> 01:05:59,200
Speaker 5: I think if you don't get to seven, it's a

1362
01:05:59,680 --> 01:06:03,600
Speaker 5: fair big disappointment, you know, like the opening of the schedule.

1363
01:06:03,640 --> 01:06:05,720
Speaker 5: Like you said, if you're not three and one, four

1364
01:06:05,800 --> 01:06:09,480
Speaker 5: and one, and whatever it might be, then something's gone wrong.

1365
01:06:09,800 --> 01:06:12,000
Speaker 5: The question with them and the wins totals is always

1366
01:06:12,080 --> 01:06:15,560
Speaker 5: can you pull off that one big upset that's going

1367
01:06:15,640 --> 01:06:18,800
Speaker 5: to swing things in your favor, whether it's Penn State, Michigan,

1368
01:06:18,920 --> 01:06:20,280
Speaker 5: Ohio State, Wisconsin.

1369
01:06:20,760 --> 01:06:22,920
Speaker 3: They haven't been able to do that year after year.

1370
01:06:23,160 --> 01:06:25,080
Speaker 5: You know, even if you take care of business against

1371
01:06:25,120 --> 01:06:28,200
Speaker 5: those other teams, if you're going to overachieve, you're usually

1372
01:06:28,200 --> 01:06:31,840
Speaker 5: gonna have to pull off at least one decent size upset,

1373
01:06:32,000 --> 01:06:34,320
Speaker 5: So can you finally do that because you know they've

1374
01:06:34,360 --> 01:06:34,920
Speaker 5: come close.

1375
01:06:35,320 --> 01:06:37,240
Speaker 3: They came close last year in those two games.

1376
01:06:37,280 --> 01:06:39,680
Speaker 5: I mentioned Michigan and Ohio State, but that's just not

1377
01:06:39,800 --> 01:06:41,600
Speaker 5: been part of the equation so far.

1378
01:06:42,080 --> 01:06:44,840
Speaker 2: Gotta book Texas every year, Gotta get Texas on the

1379
01:06:44,880 --> 01:06:49,080
Speaker 2: schedule every year. Get that. Just balloon that schedule up,

1380
01:06:49,160 --> 01:06:53,680
Speaker 2: that wind total up. It's just that easy. Tie it is,

1381
01:06:54,000 --> 01:06:57,560
Speaker 2: jeff Ermin. Where can we find your fine work?

1382
01:06:59,000 --> 01:07:02,000
Speaker 5: You can find me at in sports dot com or

1383
01:07:02,080 --> 01:07:03,920
Speaker 5: on Twitter at jeff underscore E.

1384
01:07:04,120 --> 01:07:05,040
Speaker 3: R M A N N.

1385
01:07:05,680 --> 01:07:07,560
Speaker 1: Beautiful. Thank you so much for your time and for

1386
01:07:07,600 --> 01:07:09,320
Speaker 1: your wisdom, and we'll have to talk soon.

1387
01:07:09,960 --> 01:07:11,000
Speaker 3: Absolutely, thanks guys.

1388
01:07:11,160 --> 01:07:14,760
Speaker 1: All right, Dan, there you go, jeff Ermin inside MD

1389
01:07:15,080 --> 01:07:17,680
Speaker 1: sports dot Com sharing some of his wisdom about what

1390
01:07:17,800 --> 01:07:20,480
Speaker 1: it takes to get Maryland to the next level, to

1391
01:07:20,560 --> 01:07:22,280
Speaker 1: the next step to eight wins.

1392
01:07:23,280 --> 01:07:28,600
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I'm most confident in Maryland, and then Arizona

1393
01:07:28,640 --> 01:07:31,160
Speaker 2: and then Georgia Tech. I don't know if I told

1394
01:07:31,160 --> 01:07:33,120
Speaker 2: you to rank these ahead of time. That wasn't a

1395
01:07:33,200 --> 01:07:37,120
Speaker 2: homework assignment that I assigned to you. But Maryland, especially

1396
01:07:37,160 --> 01:07:39,440
Speaker 2: going away from the divisions that makes sense that they

1397
01:07:39,480 --> 01:07:44,360
Speaker 2: will have a more varied opportunity to avoid a team

1398
01:07:44,400 --> 01:07:46,640
Speaker 2: like Penn State who beat him thirty to nothing last year.

1399
01:07:47,200 --> 01:07:50,240
Speaker 2: And that's that's pretty good that. You know, we talk

1400
01:07:50,280 --> 01:07:54,360
Speaker 2: about Georgia Tech being handcuffed to Georgia on that schedule,

1401
01:07:54,640 --> 01:07:57,280
Speaker 2: man being handcuffed to Penn State. Michigan. Ohiose State annually

1402
01:07:57,760 --> 01:08:00,800
Speaker 2: and if Michigan State's good like that, that's just it's

1403
01:08:00,840 --> 01:08:04,280
Speaker 2: such a tall ask to say, all right, we're gonna

1404
01:08:04,280 --> 01:08:06,760
Speaker 2: spot you those three out of four losses or whatever

1405
01:08:07,200 --> 01:08:08,360
Speaker 2: and then good luck getting to eight.

1406
01:08:08,720 --> 01:08:10,240
Speaker 1: So that I think that's a big win for a

1407
01:08:10,280 --> 01:08:12,760
Speaker 1: team like Maryland. Absolutely, and I think I would rank

1408
01:08:12,840 --> 01:08:16,639
Speaker 1: them in the same way. The recruiting's just better at Maryland. Yeah,

1409
01:08:16,680 --> 01:08:20,120
Speaker 1: and they've been more active in the portal. Mike Loxley

1410
01:08:20,280 --> 01:08:21,840
Speaker 1: is a bit of a recruiting whiz.

1411
01:08:21,640 --> 01:08:23,160
Speaker 2: Is Jeff Omv.

1412
01:08:23,680 --> 01:08:26,439
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I think we go Maryland, I think we

1413
01:08:26,520 --> 01:08:29,840
Speaker 1: go Arizona two, and I think we go Georgia Tech.

1414
01:08:29,920 --> 01:08:30,120
Speaker 3: Last.

1415
01:08:30,160 --> 01:08:32,559
Speaker 1: Georgia Tech is still in that situation where they're kind

1416
01:08:32,560 --> 01:08:36,040
Speaker 1: of digging out from the old system. They obviously just

1417
01:08:36,360 --> 01:08:39,800
Speaker 1: turned over their coaching position and they're trying to build

1418
01:08:39,840 --> 01:08:41,519
Speaker 1: some depth. So I think it's gonna take a while

1419
01:08:41,560 --> 01:08:42,400
Speaker 1: to get there, but I.

1420
01:08:42,400 --> 01:08:45,080
Speaker 2: Think they can. I'm optimistic on all three of these

1421
01:08:45,120 --> 01:08:47,000
Speaker 2: fronts that they can get to the next step. Yeah,

1422
01:08:47,160 --> 01:08:49,160
Speaker 2: Maryland does the thing. They have the calling card that

1423
01:08:49,240 --> 01:08:51,200
Speaker 2: they've they moved the ball really well. They've recruited really

1424
01:08:51,240 --> 01:08:54,360
Speaker 2: good receivers we've seen these past few years, having that

1425
01:08:54,760 --> 01:08:57,439
Speaker 2: history of recruiting those top flight guys outside, they ran

1426
01:08:57,520 --> 01:08:59,040
Speaker 2: the ball really well a couple of years ago. I

1427
01:08:59,080 --> 01:09:01,200
Speaker 2: think it was the COVID year where the running game

1428
01:09:01,280 --> 01:09:04,800
Speaker 2: took off. But yeah, they're a team. If they can

1429
01:09:04,840 --> 01:09:07,920
Speaker 2: get that pass rush from catastrophically bad, which is where

1430
01:09:07,960 --> 01:09:11,200
Speaker 2: it was last year, to somewhere that at least is threatening,

1431
01:09:11,560 --> 01:09:14,760
Speaker 2: They're interesting. Maryland's absolutely interesting, and they're obviously, of these

1432
01:09:14,800 --> 01:09:18,920
Speaker 2: three schools the closest to achieving that high water mark.

1433
01:09:20,040 --> 01:09:21,679
Speaker 2: Are you a believer, I'm Maryland?

1434
01:09:22,080 --> 01:09:22,360
Speaker 5: I am.

1435
01:09:22,560 --> 01:09:23,920
Speaker 2: I am Okay, Yeah, I am.

1436
01:09:24,080 --> 01:09:27,920
Speaker 1: I do think it's really tough, though, given the hand

1437
01:09:27,960 --> 01:09:31,839
Speaker 1: that they've been dealt, because both Ohio State and Michigan

1438
01:09:32,240 --> 01:09:35,320
Speaker 1: are playing at a conference championship slash playoff level they

1439
01:09:35,400 --> 01:09:38,439
Speaker 1: have been for the last couple of seasons. Penn State

1440
01:09:38,520 --> 01:09:42,560
Speaker 1: I think will be better this year. It's tough, and

1441
01:09:42,640 --> 01:09:44,360
Speaker 1: you've got all three of those on the schedule. That

1442
01:09:44,479 --> 01:09:47,080
Speaker 1: being said, I'm not sure what to make of Michigan State,

1443
01:09:47,720 --> 01:09:50,920
Speaker 1: and I feel like there's enough variability elsewhere on their

1444
01:09:50,960 --> 01:09:54,000
Speaker 1: schedule that getting to eight wins is very doable. So

1445
01:09:54,240 --> 01:09:56,360
Speaker 1: it's going to have a small margin for air to

1446
01:09:56,400 --> 01:09:58,519
Speaker 1: say the least, but I think it's possible.

1447
01:09:59,040 --> 01:10:01,160
Speaker 2: I think it's possible. It's also one of those things

1448
01:10:01,600 --> 01:10:05,000
Speaker 2: with the portal that there's so much talent from that

1449
01:10:05,160 --> 01:10:07,639
Speaker 2: mid Atlantic region. Not to mention the DMV, of course,

1450
01:10:07,680 --> 01:10:10,799
Speaker 2: that even if they're going, you know, somebody like Stefan

1451
01:10:10,880 --> 01:10:13,080
Speaker 2: Diggs who actually played at Maryland, but like the top

1452
01:10:13,160 --> 01:10:17,120
Speaker 2: flight talent from that area goes to Ohio State, goes

1453
01:10:17,160 --> 01:10:20,599
Speaker 2: to Tennessee, goes to Alabama, goes to Oregon, goes to Texas, whatever.

1454
01:10:21,040 --> 01:10:23,920
Speaker 2: If it doesn't work out that Maryland, look, this guy's

1455
01:10:24,000 --> 01:10:26,800
Speaker 2: not star star, but he can be a rotation player

1456
01:10:26,840 --> 01:10:29,120
Speaker 2: on a winning team. He has the size and frame

1457
01:10:29,280 --> 01:10:32,360
Speaker 2: to be a solid defensive tackle or something like that.

1458
01:10:32,680 --> 01:10:34,839
Speaker 2: That's a nice advantage. We talked about that with TCU

1459
01:10:34,920 --> 01:10:37,479
Speaker 2: a little bit like the option to come home is

1460
01:10:37,520 --> 01:10:40,040
Speaker 2: a lot more pronounced when home is an area like

1461
01:10:40,160 --> 01:10:42,760
Speaker 2: the DMV or the mid Atlantic region than it is

1462
01:10:42,880 --> 01:10:45,439
Speaker 2: like oh, and come home and play in Colorado or something.

1463
01:10:45,800 --> 01:10:48,760
Speaker 2: So's it's a nice feather in Maryland's cap for sure

1464
01:10:49,120 --> 01:10:50,519
Speaker 2: to build a quality roster.

1465
01:10:50,680 --> 01:10:52,240
Speaker 1: Well, I'm thrilled we were able to get Jeff on.

1466
01:10:52,439 --> 01:10:55,680
Speaker 1: We've wanted to happen on for a while, so good

1467
01:10:55,720 --> 01:10:58,280
Speaker 1: to get him finally on the program, Talk Little Maryland Football.

1468
01:10:58,439 --> 01:11:02,559
Speaker 1: On the next episode, Arkansas, saw Missouri and West Virginia.

1469
01:11:02,640 --> 01:11:03,599
Speaker 2: What's to take to get okay?

1470
01:11:03,640 --> 01:11:06,760
Speaker 1: The next step, the next escheon, the next level, Dan,

1471
01:11:06,880 --> 01:11:09,800
Speaker 1: make sure you tune in that one drops on Thursday.

1472
01:11:10,320 --> 01:11:13,000
Speaker 1: Make sure you also pop on over to a verbalers

1473
01:11:13,160 --> 01:11:14,960
Speaker 1: dot com v E R B A L L e

1474
01:11:15,120 --> 01:11:17,560
Speaker 1: r s dot com. That's Patreon where we do the

1475
01:11:17,600 --> 01:11:20,040
Speaker 1: bonus perks. Got all sorts of stuff that's starting to

1476
01:11:20,120 --> 01:11:22,760
Speaker 1: ramp up now as we get into mid May.

1477
01:11:22,920 --> 01:11:23,080
Speaker 3: Dan.

1478
01:11:23,400 --> 01:11:25,880
Speaker 1: Before long, we're turning the corner. Before long, we're talking

1479
01:11:25,920 --> 01:11:29,439
Speaker 1: about over unders, we're talking about preseason, we're talking about

1480
01:11:29,479 --> 01:11:32,200
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty three college football regular season. So make

1481
01:11:32,280 --> 01:11:35,640
Speaker 1: sure you stay tuned here. If nothing more, hit subscribe

1482
01:11:35,720 --> 01:11:38,400
Speaker 1: or follow on your podcasting app of choice. Dan and

1483
01:11:38,479 --> 01:11:40,760
Speaker 1: I will be with you all throughout the long cold

1484
01:11:40,840 --> 01:11:42,360
Speaker 1: months of the off season.

1485
01:11:42,520 --> 01:11:44,679
Speaker 2: Even though they're starting to get a little bit little

1486
01:11:44,680 --> 01:11:47,080
Speaker 2: DEFROSTI little frostage, Yeah.

1487
01:11:47,000 --> 01:11:48,960
Speaker 1: A little bit of defrostage for that guy over there,

1488
01:11:49,360 --> 01:11:51,639
Speaker 1: my good friend Dan Rubensteve for myself, Ty Hilderbrant.

1489
01:11:51,920 --> 01:11:54,120
Speaker 2: Thanks for tuning in. We'll talk to y'all soon. In

1490
01:11:54,120 --> 01:11:55,799
Speaker 2: the meantime, today saw peace.