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Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal ull that.

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Speaker 2: For me, I'm a man, I'm forty.

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Speaker 3: I've heard so many players say, well, I want to

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Speaker 3: be happy. You want to be happy for a day?

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Speaker 3: Edith Steak is that woo woom.

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Speaker 4: And them and tie.

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Speaker 1: Dan Rubinstein's special episode Today, we are going through in

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Speaker 1: painstaking detail, the latest update that The New York Times

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Speaker 1: made to its top twenty two pizza restaurants in New

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Speaker 1: York City. Yeah, you a bit of a zag. Normally

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Speaker 1: this is college football.

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Speaker 3: Today, it's all yeah, that's what people people are demanding

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Speaker 3: in late May. So I don't have any thoughts. I

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Speaker 3: think you should eat the pizza that you like, and

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Speaker 3: you should try new pizza and see where that fits

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Speaker 3: into your world. And New York has a lot of

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Speaker 3: excellent pizza with many different styles. And I have my

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Speaker 3: favorites and you have your favorites, and you should, uh,

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Speaker 3: you know, do what makes you happy.

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Speaker 1: Do what makes you happy.

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Speaker 3: There's a lot of places on this list I've been to,

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Speaker 3: and there are a lot of places on this list

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Speaker 3: that I'd very much like to try. New York is

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Speaker 3: a big place. It's hard to get around sometimes to

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Speaker 3: you know, deeper stretches of different burrows.

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Speaker 4: But you know, if you're dedicated to the.

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Speaker 3: Cause, tie, if you're dedicated, no place too far away,

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Speaker 3: Like I'll go eat pizza in Tokyo, Ali Pizza in Italy,

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Speaker 3: Alli Pizza and Juno wherever, wherever pizza takes me, I'm

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Speaker 3: willing to go beautiful.

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Speaker 1: Well, hopefully for those folks that are out there, part

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Speaker 1: of what makes you happy is listening to the show. Yes,

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Speaker 1: thank you, Hit follow, hit subscribe if you're new here.

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Speaker 1: Two episodes a week all throughout the off season. Without

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Speaker 1: next week. I think we're gonna be taking a day

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Speaker 1: off because of Memorial Day holiday. We'll see if the

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Speaker 1: spirit moves us and if we end up with two

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Speaker 1: episodes next week, but you will get at least one,

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Speaker 1: We promise you that. For Ballers dot com is where

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Speaker 1: you can go if you want to further support what

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Speaker 1: Dan and I do. You know, we've been doing these

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Speaker 1: episodes now where we go through individual teams, talk through trajectory.

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Speaker 1: That's a big word, but trend lines or teams going

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Speaker 1: in a good direction going in a bad direction. Well,

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Speaker 1: the team today is Penn State, and Penn State, by

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Speaker 1: many accounts, could be the top team in the country

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Speaker 1: going into twenty twenty five, and frankly, I don't know

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Speaker 1: how to deal with that. So we're gonna have Ben

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Speaker 1: Jones on our friend from Ben Jones on Penn State

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Speaker 1: dot substack dot com. Ben's doing his own thing. Would

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Speaker 1: encourage folks to go out there and read Ben's commentary.

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Speaker 1: Always very thoughtful, very much has his finger on the

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Speaker 1: pulse of what's going on in the Penn State world.

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Speaker 1: So just want to have him on to help me

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Speaker 1: kind of dissect how I should feel my own feelings

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Speaker 1: about these lofty expectations that have been placed on Penn State.

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Speaker 1: So we'll do that in just a little bit. I

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Speaker 1: guess Before we do, though, we should mention this our

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Speaker 1: friend Ross Dellinger from over at Yahoo Sports reporting that

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Speaker 1: college football player executives are expected to adopt a straight

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Speaker 1: seating model for this season's college football playoffs. So it

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Speaker 1: would just be for this season because they're going to

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Speaker 1: change it again of course right the following season. They're

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Speaker 1: going to expand into fourteen teams at least as now

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Speaker 1: fourteen teams. I guess that could get bigger. But a

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Speaker 1: straight seating model, what does that mean? Well, you know

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Speaker 1: on the episodes that we did all last year when

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Speaker 1: we were describing to the mass is what exactly the

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Speaker 1: college Football Playoff would look like, and how it would

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Speaker 1: be structured and seeded, and how the matchups would work.

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Speaker 1: There was this whole bit of translation that needed to occur.

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Speaker 1: But now, well, I guess less translation output.

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Speaker 3: It's the fourteen playoff extrapolated into twelve with mandatory G

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Speaker 3: five team thrown in there wherever that G five team

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Speaker 3: should end up.

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Speaker 1: Before we had the rankings are not the same as seedings,

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Speaker 1: and now they kind of are. So the way it

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Speaker 1: would have worked last year is your Orgon Ducts would

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Speaker 1: have been number one overall. Sure, Georgia would have been two,

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Speaker 1: Texas would have been three, Penn State would have been four.

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Speaker 1: Notre Dame would have been the five seed. They'd have

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Speaker 1: been playing Clemson, who was the twelve. Ohio State would

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Speaker 1: have played Arizona State, Tennessee against SMU, Indiana against Boise State.

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Speaker 1: It still would have been the same teams, but we

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Speaker 1: would have had a little bit of a different setup

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Speaker 1: with respect to the actual matchups. I think this is

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Speaker 1: a good move forward. You know, again, it's the same

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Speaker 1: teams that we're talking about here within the context of

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Speaker 1: this discussion, the numbers and the matchups and whatnot change. Look,

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Speaker 1: the sport has gotten really complicated, as we have mentioned

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Speaker 1: time and again on this show. If you're a new

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Speaker 1: fan trying to pick up college football, or even if

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Speaker 1: you're an old fan trying to pick up the new

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Speaker 1: wrinkles in college football, it's gotten really complicated between the

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Speaker 1: playoff and nil and the transfer portal and all of

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Speaker 1: these new things that we have to try and digest.

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Speaker 1: The seeding I always thought was kind of unnecessary the

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Speaker 1: way they did it last year. I did it to

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Speaker 1: their credit. If they change it, I think it's a

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Speaker 1: move in the right direction. Just kind of keep it simple,

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Speaker 1: stupid for those of us who are stupid, and let's

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Speaker 1: just go go buy the college football playoff rankings. Let's

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Speaker 1: use that as the seating. Like you said, you got

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Speaker 1: the mandatory G five team that we want as part

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Speaker 1: of this tournament. That might make things a little bit

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Speaker 1: more complicated, won't make it exactly apples to apples. It's

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Speaker 1: still going to be, I guess, a closer disciple of

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Speaker 1: whatever we see on Tuesday nights. So big winner would

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Speaker 1: be the Tuesday Night rankings reveal maybe we get a

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Speaker 1: sense from what the committee is thinking, maybe we don't,

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Speaker 1: but it sounds like they're going to go in this

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Speaker 1: direction with the seting. I don't know if you have

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Speaker 1: any hot takes or reactions to this, Dan, it seems

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Speaker 1: pretty straightforward to me. It's been rumored for a while.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't sure that they were going to do it

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Speaker 1: so soon. It had been rumored that maybe they would,

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Speaker 1: and then no, they weren't, and now it's I guess

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Speaker 1: apparently back on here. So what are your thoughts.

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Speaker 3: Well, look, assuming that it's still going to be the

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Speaker 3: top five champions in right, that's what it has been,

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Speaker 3: the top five conference champions in so you're kind of

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Speaker 3: devaluing in terms of seeding what you end up doing

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Speaker 3: in a conference championship game. Clemson and ASU and Boise

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Speaker 3: State I believe were the big leapers going from the

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Speaker 3: rankings to the seatings. Most notably, I think ASU finished

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Speaker 3: the year number twelve and was seated number four. And

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Speaker 3: so if you are disadvantaging teams that are ranked lower,

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Speaker 3: or not disadvantaging them but not advantaging them in the

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Speaker 3: same way, that's not the worst thing, though, it does

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Speaker 3: make a conference championship game less meaningful.

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Speaker 1: Well, yeah, because the way that it was structured before,

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Speaker 1: to your point, right, Okay, top five conference champions automatically

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Speaker 1: get in before the top four. We're getting first round buys.

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Speaker 1: That's how ASU ended up in that four seed. So

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Speaker 1: in this setup, ASU wins the Big twelve and I

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Speaker 1: get in a buye like they did last year. Like

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Speaker 1: I said, they would be a first round game against

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Speaker 1: Ohio State, right, So that changes things to the point

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Speaker 1: on Clemson, Clemson did wing did win excuse me, the

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Speaker 1: ACC In this setup, they would have been the twelve seed.

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Speaker 1: They would have been seated lower than the team that

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Speaker 1: they beat in the ACC title game. Does that matter

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Speaker 1: to you? I don't know if the number really matters.

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Speaker 1: Getting in is probably the most important thing, but you know,

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Speaker 1: this is where we start. I think breaking this down

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Speaker 1: in terms of who gets the buys, who gets the

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Speaker 1: home games, things of that nature.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And obviously, look, so it changes the number of

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Speaker 3: games likely that a team like Oregon would have played

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Speaker 3: last year. Does it change the fact that Oregon, for

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Speaker 3: a chunk of the Ohio State game didn't look like

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Speaker 3: they belonged on the same field, probably not now, probably

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Speaker 3: does not change the result of an Oregon Ohio State

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Speaker 3: matchup unless it allows, you know, perhaps players to heal

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Speaker 3: more who would have made more and more.

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Speaker 4: Of a difference.

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Speaker 3: But then you're also talking about Ohio State players potentially

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Speaker 3: healing more who would have made more of a difference.

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Speaker 3: So no, I don't think ultimately you're looking at a

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Speaker 3: non Ohio State champion if this were in place last season.

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Speaker 3: But I understand from the perspective of teams who were

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Speaker 3: knocked down for being more successful than other teams throughout

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Speaker 3: the entirety of the season, at least in the eyes

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Speaker 3: of voters being upset with how the seedings worked out

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Speaker 3: last year. And this is always going to be a sport,

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Speaker 3: and it's always going to be a postseason of unintended consequences.

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Speaker 3: And so I still think we would have had a

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Speaker 3: very entertaining college football playoff if it had been seated

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Speaker 3: in this way. But you're also looking at Penn State

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Speaker 3: would have been a four seed right.

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Speaker 1: Or seed to the first round by and they would

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Speaker 1: have played if this went according to chalk right, they

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Speaker 1: would have played Notre Dame in the second round, a

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Speaker 1: set of the semi finals.

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Speaker 3: Right and so, and then also Texas would be a

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Speaker 3: top four seed after losing in the UH in the

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Speaker 3: or the Yeah, they would have been I think the

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Speaker 3: three there.

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Speaker 1: Would been the three seed. They would have gotten Ohio

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Speaker 1: State in the second round.

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Speaker 3: Right, and so they still had Ohio State in last

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Speaker 3: year's College Football Playoff, and ASU still had Texas if

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Speaker 3: ASU had gotten through in this universe. So no, not

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Speaker 3: a ton of changes, but it does make you think

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Speaker 3: about what the future of conference championship games are as

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Speaker 3: the playoff expands, and it seems that a bigger priority

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Speaker 3: for a lot of these schools is going to be

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Speaker 3: to best position oneself for the College Football Playoff rather

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Speaker 3: than win a game in Indianapolis or Northern Texas or wherever.

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Speaker 3: It's difficult to see the conference championship part of this

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Speaker 3: sport maintaining importance.

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Speaker 1: They need to do what we mused about on one

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Speaker 1: of our bonus episodes. They need to give the five,

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Speaker 1: the six, the seven, and the eight seed the opportunity

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Speaker 1: to pick who their first round matchup is against. I

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Speaker 1: just I like the love that Dan. The content, Oh,

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Speaker 1: the content is dripping off of that.

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Speaker 3: The content is great. The concept of the content, but

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Speaker 3: the adding complications to the college football playoff.

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Speaker 1: Let's take this thing that we have already over complicated

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Speaker 1: and now potentially are simplifying and make it more complicated

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Speaker 1: so that it is even harder to grasp. I understand that.

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Speaker 1: I'm just thinking of it from the standpoint of, Hey,

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Speaker 1: we need something to talk about, and that would be

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Speaker 1: something to talk about. That would be a Tuesday night

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Speaker 1: show that you and I would watch.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, of course, but I don't know if it's for

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Speaker 3: the good of the understanding of this playoff.

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Speaker 1: No, no, of course not.

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Speaker 4: Uh yeah, this.

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Speaker 3: Makes sense, And you are going to get some reruns,

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Speaker 3: You're going to get perhaps more often, you are going

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Speaker 3: to get some teams who perhaps are seeded lower than

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Speaker 3: it seems like they should be, or teams that are

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Speaker 3: seated higher than it seems they should be.

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Speaker 4: And you know, not.

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Speaker 3: Having the conference championship element decide things in the same

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Speaker 3: way is definitely different. But I don't know. I think

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Speaker 3: it's fine. Ultimately, I don't think it's going to change

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Speaker 3: a ton Like we're going to get the matchups we're

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Speaker 3: going to get either way, and so you know this,

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Speaker 3: you know the twenty twenty four Penn State team is

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Speaker 3: perhaps a big victim here of like they're going to

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Speaker 3: have to play more difficult games Earlier, they just think

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Speaker 3: they had a great seeding run as good as SMU was.

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Speaker 3: To host SMU on just an absolute garbage winter day

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Speaker 3: in state college, and then to get Boise State, to

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Speaker 3: get a team that lost its conference championship game in

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Speaker 3: its first season as a power conference team, and then

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Speaker 3: a Boise State team, it's it's a nice run despite

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Speaker 3: not winning the Big Ten. With oregononing Ohio State in

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Speaker 3: their first game, so maybe we don't see that as often.

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Speaker 3: But like Penn State earned a top four seed last year.

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Speaker 1: They earned a top four seed. And look, I'm open

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Speaker 1: to changing the idea. If you want to give the

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Speaker 1: game draft idea to the top four seeds and not

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Speaker 1: just the four teams that have to play home games

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Speaker 1: in the first round, I'm cool with that too. Let

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Speaker 1: Oregon pick, let Penn State Georgia Texas in this setup,

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Speaker 1: let them pick who they play in round two. Either way,

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Speaker 1: Let's add some element of I don't know, fantasy draft

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Speaker 1: to this to make it a little bit more intriguing.

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Speaker 3: The important thing here is it does not change the

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Speaker 3: fact that Alabama would still be left out with their

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Speaker 3: horrendous losses.

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Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, Dan.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so that's so. You know, some things are consistent.

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Speaker 1: Some things are consistent. You can always write in solidverble

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Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. I want to know, yes, your

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Speaker 1: thoughts on I guess this new seeding setup whatever we

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Speaker 1: want to call straight seting now is what we're calling this.

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Speaker 1: Of course, you can reach out on social media as well.

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Speaker 1: All right, Dan, let's do it. Let's talk some Penn State.

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Speaker 1: I have been toiling over some of these preseason expectations

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Speaker 1: that it seems everybody dropped at the same time this month.

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Speaker 1: But alas, we have an expert here to help us

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Speaker 1: dissect this and much much more. Ben Jones, our friend

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Speaker 1: from Ben Jones on Penn State out on substack. Welcome

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Speaker 1: back to the show, my friend.

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Speaker 2: How are you. I'm doing great, Thanks for having me, Fel.

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Speaker 2: It's good to be here.

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Speaker 1: Good to have you. So you heard the preamble. There

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Speaker 1: are a lot of expectations floating about for Penn State

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Speaker 1: right now. What are we supposed to do with these expectations? Ben, Like,

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Speaker 1: how do you feel about it? Obviously everyone's releasing their

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Speaker 1: way too early, top twenty fives, and clearly this is

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Speaker 1: going to be a good team. But how good? That

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Speaker 1: seems to be the open question. Where are you at

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Speaker 1: now with some of what you've seen float about there

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Speaker 1: in terms of expectations?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I think State has clearly been at

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Speaker 5: the point for a while now where you can go, okay,

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Speaker 5: they should probably win ten games, let's talk about the

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Speaker 5: other two and now in the college football playoffs being expanded,

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Speaker 5: it's kind of, you know, tinkered with the thinking of

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Speaker 5: what do you want out of Penn State?

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Speaker 2: But to me, are they going to be a good team? Yes?

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Speaker 5: I think we've like I said, we've gotten past the

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Speaker 5: overall question of is Penn State going to.

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Speaker 2: Be any good?

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Speaker 5: The answer is yes, are they going to win those

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Speaker 5: big games? You know, I don't know that there's anything

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Speaker 5: about Oregon that early in the year that you go, oh,

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Speaker 5: they can't win that game.

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Speaker 2: So you know, to me, Penn State at home? Yeah,

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Speaker 2: at home?

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Speaker 5: You should feel comfortable about that in theory if you

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Speaker 5: had to pick. But I think big picture, you know,

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Speaker 5: it's gotten to seeing is believing point for me when

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Speaker 5: it comes to the wide receiver room. You know, I

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Speaker 5: think Penn State pretty much faked its way almost to

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Speaker 5: the national title game without a true number one receiver,

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Speaker 5: which I think is, you know, a testament having a

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Speaker 5: really good tight end and good running backs. But at

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Speaker 5: the end of the day, you know, Penn s is

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Speaker 5: not just going to suddenly be the one team that

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Speaker 5: manages to win a national title without a wide receiver

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Speaker 5: that it can rely on or on a regular basis,

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Speaker 5: and without Tyler Warren. You know, I think that that

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Speaker 5: gets more difficult. So should you have high expectations? Sure,

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Speaker 5: you know, because we don't know who the receiver might be,

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Speaker 5: does that mean it's not there? No, you know, I

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Speaker 5: think you obviously have forever and a half to develop guys.

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Speaker 5: But yeah, I put Pensate in the same place I've

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Speaker 5: been put in Penn Sate for the last better part

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Speaker 5: of the half decade or so. Is they'll be really good?

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Speaker 5: Will they be to Ohio State? You know, I don't

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Speaker 5: know that we have the answer to that question now

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Speaker 5: because we never have the answer to that question until

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Speaker 5: six minutes ago on the fourth quarter. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, I mean the offense was better, the passing game

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Speaker 1: statistically was better, but they lost Tyler Warren. But they

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Speaker 1: lost pretty much the entire receiver room. Guys transferred out,

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Speaker 1: They've brought in some guys. The question is, and I

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Speaker 1: think you touched on it already, I don't know if

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Speaker 1: any of us really has the answer for it. Is

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Speaker 1: that going to be enough? Is that going to be enough?

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Speaker 1: It's sort of like a big old shrug.

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Speaker 2: Right, Yeah.

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Speaker 5: I mean, I think if you know the guys they

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Speaker 5: bring in, if they can produce, I think, you know,

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Speaker 5: Drew Aller, when he's at his best, can make every

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Speaker 5: throw that you need a quarterback to make. And I

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Speaker 5: think that he can make a lot of those throws

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Speaker 5: better than a lot of people. So I think if

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Speaker 5: you can get him the help, he can be excellent

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Speaker 5: and pens, they can win a lot of games. And

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Speaker 5: I think to his credit, you know, I think Drew

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Speaker 5: Aller suffers a little bit from like there a remixed

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Speaker 5: version of Christian Hackenberg syndrome, where you anticipate that because

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Speaker 5: he's really good, he will make up for everyone else's shortcomings.

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Speaker 5: And obviously Hackenberg had a lot more things to deal with.

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Speaker 5: And you know, we're a decade behind having to unpack

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Speaker 5: that again. But I think, you know, Drew to a

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Speaker 5: certain extent, people expect him to be Trevor Lawrence or

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Speaker 5: this guy that comes in and immediately can just do everything.

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Speaker 5: I think he needs the help. And if these guys

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Speaker 5: that they brought in can do that, then you know,

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Speaker 5: the answer might be yes. Especially you know, I think

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Speaker 5: every good quarterback's best friend is a good running game,

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Speaker 5: and I don't think there's any question that Penn State's

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Speaker 5: going to have that this year. So you know, I

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Speaker 5: guess we'll see, but certainly Penn State's not very many

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Speaker 5: pieces away. I think I sound pessimistic. I think it's

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Speaker 5: just made. I've just seen a lot of Penn State football.

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Speaker 5: But at the same time, you know, there's no reason

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Speaker 5: to think that they're going to be bad.

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Speaker 1: The allur versus receiver room conversation is an interesting one.

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Speaker 1: It's one that we've had on this show. I've seen

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Speaker 1: it talked about online. I'm sure you've discussed it at

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Speaker 1: some point as well. The issues that Penn State had

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Speaker 1: with its passing game. How much of that blame do

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Speaker 1: we put on the receiver room versus how much do

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Speaker 1: we put on a guy like a Drew Aller, who,

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Speaker 1: as I've said time and again on this show did

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Speaker 1: pick up the position later on relative to his peers,

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Speaker 1: He's still very much learning the position. I think he

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Speaker 1: showed real progress last year, but there are definitely elements

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Speaker 1: of his game that even he would openly acknowledge and

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Speaker 1: need to improve. Is the blame for you still mostly

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Speaker 1: on the fact that they weren't having guys get open

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Speaker 1: or is it our you know, trepidation? Yeah, still kind

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Speaker 1: of comprehending the system.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think obviously, like everything in sports,

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Speaker 5: we want it to be binary, but it's a little

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Speaker 5: bit of both. I think at the same time, if

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Speaker 5: Penn State had Johan Dotson on that team, I'm sure

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Speaker 5: that Drew Allery would be hitting him a lot more

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Speaker 5: than he was, you know, the primary guys that he

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Speaker 5: had last year. So to me, you know, are there

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Speaker 5: areas that Drew can improve? I think there's no question,

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Speaker 5: Like you said, Drew said that himself. Do you watch

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Speaker 5: games go oh he threw that into the ground where

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Speaker 5: he missed a guy or you know, I mean that's

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Speaker 5: every quarterback in the country. But I do think at

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Speaker 5: the same time, you can look at areas and go, yeah,

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Speaker 5: Drew's got to get better at this where he's got

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Speaker 5: to get better at that, and I think for the

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Speaker 5: most part, when you start where he was to where

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Speaker 5: he is today, he's gotten better at those things. But again,

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Speaker 5: if guys are open, I mean John Dottson ended up

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Speaker 5: going in the first round because he bailed Sean Clifford

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Speaker 5: out of so many you know, throws that normal people

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Speaker 5: wouldn't catch that. You know, I think if there was

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Speaker 5: a guy out there the drew is just missing consistently,

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Speaker 5: you would go like, Okay, what is the deal here?

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Speaker 5: But at the same time, they just they haven't been

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Speaker 5: Their Penn States proven pretty consistently up into the last

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Speaker 5: few years that it can produce one or two NFL

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Speaker 5: caliber wide receivers per unit of time, and that just

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Speaker 5: has not happened the last few years. And to me,

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Speaker 5: the quarterback hasn't gotten any worse and arguably has gotten better.

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Speaker 5: So the thing that's changed is the personnel You've found

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Speaker 5: that wide receiver room. So it's a little bit of both,

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Speaker 5: but I still tend to lean more towards the receivers.

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Speaker 4: So what happened?

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Speaker 3: Why is the personnel grouping in the receiver room not

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Speaker 3: one that produces a go to guy? Obviously, there's been

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Speaker 3: turnover at receivers coach these last few years. Is there

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Speaker 3: been a change in strategy? Has there been a change

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Speaker 3: in vision from up top and James Franklin, Because, like you.

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Speaker 4: Mentioned, this is a school that produces receivers.

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Speaker 3: You go back even as recently as Parker Washington, who

404
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Speaker 3: was like, oh, Parker Washington got better every year and

405
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Speaker 3: emerged as a true threat by the time he left

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Speaker 3: state college. What changed on that sort of line of

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Speaker 3: succession where suddenly it's well, maybe this fourth best guy

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Speaker 3: from Ohio State is the answer. Oh, maybe this guy

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Speaker 3: from Kent State is the answer. What is there a

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Speaker 3: specific event that you can look at and be like, ooh,

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Speaker 3: this is where it turned Yeah.

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Speaker 5: I mean I think you know, Penn State still misses

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Speaker 5: Josh Gaddis, For my money, I think that that's a

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Speaker 5: coach that they miss on a regular basis. You know,

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Speaker 5: I have not spent a lot of time with Marquez Hagen,

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Speaker 5: so I don't want to. You know, obviously we're not

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Speaker 5: in situations where we get to watch these guys coach

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Speaker 5: each and every day or whatnot that he has never,

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Speaker 5: for my money, come across as a guy that you

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Speaker 5: go like he has all the answers and he will

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Speaker 5: solve this problem for you. Now, I don't think that

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Speaker 5: a guy like the Kagans ends up being Penn State

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Speaker 5: Football's wide receiver coach and doesn't know what he's doing,

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Speaker 5: Like you didn't get to this point in your career

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Speaker 5: without the aptitude that allows you to get here. But

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Speaker 5: at the same time, I do think that they missed

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Speaker 5: that developmental piece. I think obviously, you know, Penn State

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Speaker 5: has not recruited wide receivers as well as it has

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Speaker 5: recruited other positions. If we are putting stock in what

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Speaker 5: is your ranking, what is your star ranking? Those sorts

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Speaker 5: of things that they bring in a lot of three

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Speaker 5: or four star guys, and you can make a lot

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Speaker 5: of really good wide receivers out of that. But you know,

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Speaker 5: you look at the top end guys that they've gotten,

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00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:43,560
Speaker 5: and obviously, justin Shorter's career didn't really pan out anywhere necessarily,

436
00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:46,359
Speaker 5: So that's you know, in in you know, Penn State,

437
00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:48,080
Speaker 5: and I don't think Ohio State will really no one

438
00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:51,199
Speaker 5: really takes I don't think Julian Fleming is necessarily a

439
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:53,400
Speaker 5: guy that should be blamed for not being as good

440
00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:55,720
Speaker 5: as people thought he would be. It's not a moral failing,

441
00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:58,720
Speaker 5: but you know, he's another guy that didn't necessarily pan

442
00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:02,080
Speaker 5: out the way that anyone expects did. So yeah, I mean,

443
00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,720
Speaker 5: when you don't get those really really high end guys,

444
00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:07,080
Speaker 5: when you bank on your ability to develop and then

445
00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:09,880
Speaker 5: the development doesn't quite fit in, I don't think Mike

446
00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:13,200
Speaker 5: Ersitch was necessarily the answer at times for how do

447
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:15,560
Speaker 5: you fix this problem. I don't know that Marquez Haagens

448
00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:18,919
Speaker 5: is necessarily the end of the line in terms of

449
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:21,320
Speaker 5: best wide receiver coach you could ever get. And Drew's

450
00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:23,080
Speaker 5: got to get better. So I think all of those

451
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:27,480
Speaker 5: things kind of mold you into a room that's not

452
00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:29,320
Speaker 5: as good as it should be and probably not as

453
00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:31,720
Speaker 5: good as it has been. And I think probably a

454
00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:33,600
Speaker 5: little bit of everything has to change if Penn State

455
00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:35,880
Speaker 5: wants to get back to where it was at that position.

456
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,240
Speaker 3: So we're sort of lamenting where Penn State is as

457
00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:42,320
Speaker 3: a receiving school, but if Penn State is being compared

458
00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:44,840
Speaker 3: to the other schools that are thought of in this

459
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:48,200
Speaker 3: like top one, two, three, four area of the country

460
00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:51,520
Speaker 3: with take your pick Texas, Georgia, you know, Oregon, Notre

461
00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:55,760
Speaker 3: Dame Whoever, where is Penn State's advantage over or where

462
00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:59,119
Speaker 3: are they comparable to where they're in this conversation. Obviously,

463
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:02,960
Speaker 3: they're winning games, proof is there. The recent success is there.

464
00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:07,000
Speaker 3: But when you compare against other schools, you're like, oh,

465
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:10,400
Speaker 3: Penn State, like it's on the edge, it's at linebacker,

466
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:12,480
Speaker 3: it's in the secondary, it's the running back duel. Like

467
00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:14,760
Speaker 3: is it the some of the parts of Penn State

468
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:17,879
Speaker 3: or is there a group of stars or star power

469
00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:20,800
Speaker 3: where you're like Penn State has them?

470
00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:22,320
Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's a bit of both.

471
00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:24,399
Speaker 5: Obviously, if you look at a running back room like

472
00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:26,959
Speaker 5: next Singleton and k tron Aw and you go, everyone

473
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:30,280
Speaker 5: in America would take that tandem given the opportunity. So

474
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,040
Speaker 5: I think any given program is going to have its

475
00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:36,080
Speaker 5: strengths in terms of, Wow, our personnel is really good

476
00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:39,320
Speaker 5: right now. I think if you compare Penn State to itself,

477
00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:42,240
Speaker 5: you know, ten years ago or so and go, you know,

478
00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:44,080
Speaker 5: what was the issue there is they didn't really have

479
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:47,280
Speaker 5: the next guy in line at every position. And obviously,

480
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:50,639
Speaker 5: you know, every program is kind of chasing that. You know,

481
00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:52,840
Speaker 5: the thing that Ohio State has perfected for a really

482
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:55,560
Speaker 5: long time, which is it doesn't matter that we just lost.

483
00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:56,719
Speaker 2: You know, Marvin Harrison junior.

484
00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:58,920
Speaker 5: We've got, you know, this guy that we can plug

485
00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:01,680
Speaker 5: in here, jeremiahs We can just put another guy in

486
00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:04,040
Speaker 5: and Penn State's maybe not there. But I think at

487
00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:06,520
Speaker 5: certain positions, running back they've done a really good job.

488
00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:08,880
Speaker 5: Tight end they've done a really good job. And yeah,

489
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,159
Speaker 5: for whatever you want to parse about, you know, the

490
00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,360
Speaker 5: sort of lineage of Penn State football quarterbacking, they never

491
00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:18,760
Speaker 5: really had just like an outright bag college football quarterback

492
00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:23,280
Speaker 5: under James Franklin. When they've been at full sort of capacity,

493
00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:27,720
Speaker 5: so to speak. Obviously, defensively, you can look at linebacker

494
00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:31,399
Speaker 5: and defensive end and safety, really pretty much every position defensively.

495
00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:33,520
Speaker 5: But I think the big thing for Penn State, and

496
00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:35,359
Speaker 5: I think we've seen it with Pat Craft, is just

497
00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,639
Speaker 5: sort of a willingness to like I've called it the

498
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,600
Speaker 5: get rich or die trying scheme, which is like there

499
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:43,480
Speaker 5: had been a long sort of systemic belief at Penn State.

500
00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:45,480
Speaker 5: I think that the progress had to be sort of

501
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:49,680
Speaker 5: gradual and careful, and you know, to Penn State's credit,

502
00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:51,440
Speaker 5: it'd found a lot of success that way in college

503
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:54,160
Speaker 5: football and athletics at large have changed a lot over

504
00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:57,000
Speaker 5: the last twenty years that, you know, doing things methodically

505
00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:59,400
Speaker 5: worked a lot better. I think Pat Craft has said,

506
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:01,600
Speaker 5: we're all going to die one day, we may as

507
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:03,520
Speaker 5: well spend some money on our football program.

508
00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:04,080
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, And.

509
00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:08,280
Speaker 5: I think I think that that is an area where

510
00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:11,359
Speaker 5: you know, Penn State has wanted to compete with the

511
00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:14,760
Speaker 5: Ohio States and in Michigan's, in Alabama's and teams like that,

512
00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:16,560
Speaker 5: and Georgia. You know, I think Georgia is a great

513
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:18,800
Speaker 5: example of what happens when you decide that money is

514
00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:21,240
Speaker 5: just the figment of our imagination, of course.

515
00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:22,879
Speaker 2: But what can you do with that?

516
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,720
Speaker 5: And I don't think Penn State's quite there, But you know,

517
00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:27,960
Speaker 5: the fact they could get Jim Knowles, I think is

518
00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:30,840
Speaker 5: a thing that doesn't happen, you know, a few years

519
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:33,640
Speaker 5: ago under Sandy Barbara or even earlier than that. And

520
00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:35,520
Speaker 5: you know, Ohio State, of course, has spent the last

521
00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:37,639
Speaker 5: few months saying, well, we didn't want him anyway, you know,

522
00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:40,320
Speaker 5: you can have them kind of thing, and sure, how

523
00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:42,320
Speaker 5: we're true that is. At the same time, you know,

524
00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:45,000
Speaker 5: he's a highly coveted assistant coach at a position that

525
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,640
Speaker 5: you know, I don't know Penn State really needed to replace,

526
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:49,800
Speaker 5: Like you've made a list of things to fix. Defense

527
00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:52,320
Speaker 5: isn't won at Penn State, but they went out and

528
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,159
Speaker 5: won a bidding war. And I think that that you

529
00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:57,520
Speaker 5: can replace a lot of positions, but you can't replace

530
00:25:57,600 --> 00:25:59,800
Speaker 5: mentality as an athletic department. And I think that that

531
00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:04,440
Speaker 5: is an area where they've changed two Penn States betterment holistically.

532
00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:09,440
Speaker 3: When you look at the offense as a whole, we'll

533
00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:13,160
Speaker 3: keep it holistic. Offense was built out of Tyler Warren

534
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:20,080
Speaker 3: last year. Are we almost undervaluing the stamp that he

535
00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:22,600
Speaker 3: was able to put on this offense? I mean, obviously

536
00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:25,000
Speaker 3: the running game was there, Obviously Drew Aller's development was there.

537
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:28,080
Speaker 3: The offensive line continued to get better. But with the

538
00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:32,280
Speaker 3: receiver struggles and the different options that Tyler Warren gave

539
00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:35,639
Speaker 3: them and the gravity that he sort of imposed on

540
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,200
Speaker 3: other defenses that safeties had to be over the top

541
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:40,560
Speaker 3: and linebackers constantly had to be aware of where he

542
00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:43,560
Speaker 3: was and Nickel corners were attempting to do it. Like

543
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:50,120
Speaker 3: can Penn State not replaced Tyler Warren? But I think

544
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:54,320
Speaker 3: smoothly move into a post Tyler Warren universe is I

545
00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:55,760
Speaker 3: guess the way I would phrase.

546
00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:59,480
Speaker 5: It, Yeah, I mean that's sort of the ten million

547
00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:03,080
Speaker 5: dollars QUI. I guess I think that you know it

548
00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:06,040
Speaker 5: was funny because I think earlier in the season last year,

549
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 5: I don't know that I took the Tyler Warren experience

550
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:12,359
Speaker 5: fully seriously because if you just throw it to a

551
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:13,920
Speaker 5: tight end a bunch of times with a bunch of

552
00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:16,720
Speaker 5: checkdowns and do things against bad teams, it's like, okay,

553
00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:19,560
Speaker 5: like we've established that if they had receivers to throw to,

554
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:22,240
Speaker 5: they would do that. But sooner or later, somebody's going

555
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:24,600
Speaker 5: to slow Tyler Warren down because like how hard is

556
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:27,440
Speaker 5: it to slow tight end down? And that never really happened.

557
00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:29,520
Speaker 5: And I think that that was when you go like, Wow,

558
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:31,439
Speaker 5: this is a guy who's really dynamic, a guy that

559
00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:34,399
Speaker 5: I think you know, to Andy Coulton Nicky's credit, I

560
00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:37,919
Speaker 5: think a good pairing for how you get a Swiss

561
00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:40,879
Speaker 5: army knife sort of offensive coordinator to work with a

562
00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:43,439
Speaker 5: Swiss army knife kind of player, and how many weird

563
00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 5: ways can you find to use him? Do they replace him?

564
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:50,159
Speaker 5: I think the coach speak answer, like every coach in

565
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:52,280
Speaker 5: America says is, you know, we can't replace the really

566
00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:54,119
Speaker 5: good players. We just have to find a way to

567
00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:56,480
Speaker 5: work as a team to you know, get that production

568
00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:58,919
Speaker 5: from a bunch of different guys. I do think the

569
00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:01,320
Speaker 5: Penn State's proven that it can produce tight ends.

570
00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:01,840
Speaker 2: Obviously.

571
00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:04,680
Speaker 5: I think Luke Wynolds is another guy that's going to

572
00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:06,840
Speaker 5: come in. I think Clail Dinkins is a guy that

573
00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:10,120
Speaker 5: has the ability to really flash, So, you know, from

574
00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:13,760
Speaker 5: that position, holistically, I'm sure that they will have another

575
00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:16,199
Speaker 5: good tight end or two this year. Can you do

576
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:20,719
Speaker 5: what Tyler Warren did? You know, I don't think that

577
00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:23,080
Speaker 5: anybody can really do exactly what Tyler Warren did. He

578
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:29,199
Speaker 5: was sort of like the Frankenstein's Monster of all of

579
00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:31,040
Speaker 5: the good tight ends that Penn State's had over the

580
00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:33,159
Speaker 5: last few years. Because he's not as athletic as Mike

581
00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:35,280
Speaker 5: is Sicky, but he's more physical. But he's not as

582
00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:37,840
Speaker 5: physical as Jesse James, but he's more athletic, and they

583
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:42,320
Speaker 5: kind of melded themselves into what he became. So I

584
00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:44,680
Speaker 5: don't think you replace it, but I think they're going

585
00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:47,200
Speaker 5: to have to try because obviously this offense can't run

586
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:49,040
Speaker 5: through him this year because he's not around to.

587
00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:49,760
Speaker 4: Be He's not there.

588
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:53,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, Ben, I want to ask you a personality question

589
00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:57,600
Speaker 1: for a second, because there was a clip floating around

590
00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:00,880
Speaker 1: that a lot of people saw of j Franklin getting

591
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:03,440
Speaker 1: into it with a fan at the spring game. We've

592
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,080
Speaker 1: seen other conbustible moments, i'd say, from him over the

593
00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:11,080
Speaker 1: years that have also been caught on tape. Here is

594
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:13,400
Speaker 1: a little bit of pettiness there with James frank and

595
00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:16,120
Speaker 1: I like the guy, but we've seen more than enough

596
00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:18,920
Speaker 1: of those clips to know that that's kind of working

597
00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:21,840
Speaker 1: below the surface at times. I think in the past

598
00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:24,320
Speaker 1: we have maybe chalked that up to he needs to

599
00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:26,200
Speaker 1: get the monkey off his back. He needs to beat

600
00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:29,360
Speaker 1: Ohio State in Michigan. But Penn State went to the

601
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:32,720
Speaker 1: playoffs this year. They were, you know, three points away

602
00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:36,520
Speaker 1: from making the national championship game. Is the monkey off

603
00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:40,240
Speaker 1: James Franklin's back? How do we assess James Franklin's state

604
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:43,200
Speaker 1: of mind in twenty twenty five college football?

605
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:48,520
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, welcome to the last you know, ten

606
00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:49,720
Speaker 5: years of my life, I guess.

607
00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:52,640
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean I don't know.

608
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:54,360
Speaker 5: If the monkey is off his back, I think it

609
00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:56,400
Speaker 5: would have been if they had beaten Notre Dame to

610
00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:58,640
Speaker 5: a certain extent, because I think that then you go like,

611
00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:00,640
Speaker 5: if for as good as we we can all agree,

612
00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:02,840
Speaker 5: SMU is and for as good as we can agree,

613
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:06,120
Speaker 5: Boise State is, and et cetera, et cetera. The Notre

614
00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:08,160
Speaker 5: Dame game was a different opportunity for them and they

615
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:10,760
Speaker 5: didn't get it done. I don't know, you know, not

616
00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:12,360
Speaker 5: to unpack that again. I don't know if you look

617
00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:14,240
Speaker 5: at that game and go like, oh, if James Franklin

618
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:16,120
Speaker 5: had done this differently, they would have won. I just

619
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:18,280
Speaker 5: think they lost a competitive football game, and that's how

620
00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:24,800
Speaker 5: it goes sometimes. But that that being said, I think

621
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:29,840
Speaker 5: James is in a difficult spot of simultaneously knowing that

622
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:32,280
Speaker 5: he hasn't done the one thing that everyone wants him

623
00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:37,080
Speaker 5: to do, while also knowing that Nebraska got rid of

624
00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:41,520
Speaker 5: bo Polini and then Nebraska sucked, and that you should

625
00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:43,960
Speaker 5: be careful what you wish for, because.

626
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:46,920
Speaker 2: I get it.

627
00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:49,800
Speaker 5: You're frustrated, but also how many ten or eleven wins

628
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:54,240
Speaker 5: seasons do you want to have and what sort of

629
00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:56,800
Speaker 5: satisfaction are you going to get from that? I think it's,

630
00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:01,640
Speaker 5: you know, challenging for him, because I think he really

631
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:04,320
Speaker 5: just wants to be loved. You know, I don't think

632
00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:08,400
Speaker 5: James wants to Yes, I think James wants to be

633
00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:10,680
Speaker 5: appreciated for what they've done. I think he wants to

634
00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:14,040
Speaker 5: be appreciated for the consistency they've had. And and honestly,

635
00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:17,920
Speaker 5: you know, if somebody has given me, uh, you know,

636
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:22,200
Speaker 5: a hard time in April, you know, maybe I give

637
00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:24,280
Speaker 5: him the finger two and go like, let's check back

638
00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:27,160
Speaker 5: in October or November, like, you know, things are doing good.

639
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:30,240
Speaker 5: We haven't lost the game yet this year. I yeah,

640
00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:33,400
Speaker 5: I mean, I think Penn State football is in a

641
00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:35,800
Speaker 5: weird place because it continues to be the program that

642
00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:38,240
Speaker 5: everyone would probably like to be, but continues to be

643
00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:41,600
Speaker 5: the program that's not quite all the programs that everybody.

644
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:42,000
Speaker 2: Really wants to be.

645
00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:45,840
Speaker 5: So you're stuck between being better than most everyone else

646
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,520
Speaker 5: but not being quite good enough. And the hard part is, well,

647
00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:51,040
Speaker 5: the only teams you have to beat are you know,

648
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:55,880
Speaker 5: three of the regular you know, world eating programs that

649
00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:57,960
Speaker 5: are doing this to everyone in Penn sake gets the

650
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:01,040
Speaker 5: distinct honor every year of losing by the least to

651
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,240
Speaker 5: most of them. So it's that sort of issue where

652
00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:05,600
Speaker 5: you go, well, what else do you want from me?

653
00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:09,440
Speaker 5: I'm doing the best I can. But at the same time,

654
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:11,320
Speaker 5: it's a winning business, and Penn Sate Football is not

655
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,760
Speaker 5: spending seven hundred million dollars to renovate the stadium so

656
00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:15,840
Speaker 5: it can lose to Ohio State.

657
00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:18,160
Speaker 1: Again, I was going to ask you about the renovation.

658
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:19,480
Speaker 1: I was going to ask you a little bit later on,

659
00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:23,360
Speaker 1: but since you brought it up, they are redoing a

660
00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:26,920
Speaker 1: good chunk of Beaver Stadium. Is the Beaver Stadium construction

661
00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:30,120
Speaker 1: going to affect the environment? The big game environment at

662
00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:31,880
Speaker 1: all this year is still gonna be a lot of people,

663
00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:34,520
Speaker 1: but the stadium footprints a little bit different. Does that

664
00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:37,400
Speaker 1: have any bearing on anything this coming season?

665
00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:42,680
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I think obviously, you know, you take

666
00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:45,080
Speaker 5: the media core out of that press box, it's going

667
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:48,840
Speaker 5: to in fact and impact the the atmosphere because you

668
00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:50,680
Speaker 5: won't be able to hear all those people up there

669
00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:52,680
Speaker 5: eating ice cream during halftime and whatnot.

670
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:53,440
Speaker 2: But I think, like.

671
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,480
Speaker 5: More seriously, yeah, I mean I'm sure it will. I

672
00:32:56,480 --> 00:32:58,800
Speaker 5: mean they've knocked down the whole basically half of the

673
00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:01,640
Speaker 5: one side of the stadium, just from an acoustics standpoint,

674
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:05,240
Speaker 5: there's less, you know, things to bounce noise off of.

675
00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:09,040
Speaker 5: But it's still a really big stadium. There's still a

676
00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:11,600
Speaker 5: lot of people in it. You know, is it going

677
00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:13,720
Speaker 5: to look a little funky, sure, you know, is it

678
00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:18,000
Speaker 5: going to be a little bit different, Yes, But you know,

679
00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:19,440
Speaker 5: at the end of the day, when it comes down

680
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:21,520
Speaker 5: to a lot of these really good programs that Pence's

681
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:23,520
Speaker 5: trying to be and you look at I guess Oregon

682
00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:26,200
Speaker 5: early on they're really good teams. Like when it comes

683
00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:27,920
Speaker 5: to the third quarter, they're not going to be like, wow,

684
00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:30,200
Speaker 5: there's six thousand fewer people on this side of the field,

685
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:32,160
Speaker 5: but they're used to be. That's going to be the

686
00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:36,040
Speaker 5: deal breaker. So I think it makes a difference. I

687
00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:38,040
Speaker 5: do think it'll be interesting to see in the long

688
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:40,320
Speaker 5: run what that does to the atmosphere when it's done,

689
00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:45,320
Speaker 5: because they're making it much more rich people seats, which honestly,

690
00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:46,760
Speaker 5: it's always kind of been that way.

691
00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:48,800
Speaker 1: Don't mean to cut you off. The comparison that came

692
00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:50,360
Speaker 1: to mind for me that I was actually a little

693
00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:53,760
Speaker 1: bit worried about was when they built New Yankee Stadium

694
00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:57,200
Speaker 1: and the environment completely changed. It's a beautiful place to

695
00:33:57,240 --> 00:33:59,800
Speaker 1: watch a game. It is not the same as old

696
00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:03,080
Speaker 1: Tankee Stadium. It feels different, the acoustics are different, the

697
00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:05,720
Speaker 1: atmosphere is different. Still a tough place to go and

698
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:07,640
Speaker 1: play and win, but that's mostly because of the team

699
00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:10,400
Speaker 1: and not because it's deafening in there the way it

700
00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:10,840
Speaker 1: used to be.

701
00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:14,160
Speaker 5: Yeah, I do think what will be interesting, it might

702
00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:16,120
Speaker 5: turn it into a bit of a wash, is that

703
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:19,000
Speaker 5: when it's done, that side of the stadium. For I

704
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,480
Speaker 5: think anyone who's made it this far as familiar with

705
00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:24,319
Speaker 5: Beaver Stadium's traditional layout, which is the west side is

706
00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:26,959
Speaker 5: basically one big sheet of people and then the press

707
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:29,719
Speaker 5: box at the end of that. The new version of

708
00:34:29,760 --> 00:34:32,000
Speaker 5: it is going to have like half of that lower

709
00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:35,960
Speaker 5: bowl and then two upper decks above it. So something

710
00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:38,439
Speaker 5: maybe similar to Texas A and M comes to mind.

711
00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:41,400
Speaker 5: But I think anybody can picture what a two tiered

712
00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:44,359
Speaker 5: seating system can look like. I think that that's going

713
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:47,320
Speaker 5: to hold in a lot more sound. When they moved

714
00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:51,239
Speaker 5: the student section in like the mid two thousands or

715
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:53,520
Speaker 5: so late two thousands from where it was sort of

716
00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:56,880
Speaker 5: closer to the fifty yard line to underneath that south

717
00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:59,799
Speaker 5: end zone, it made it a lot louder because those

718
00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:02,719
Speaker 5: decks down there sort of trapped the noise and reflected

719
00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:05,120
Speaker 5: it back out a little bit more. So, you know,

720
00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:07,480
Speaker 5: I don't I'm sure someone at some point over the

721
00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:09,759
Speaker 5: next five or six years is going to do how

722
00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:11,839
Speaker 5: loud is it on the field? A beaver stadium thing,

723
00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:15,600
Speaker 5: because that's that makes for easy content. But I've got

724
00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:18,759
Speaker 5: to think that when you trap in more noise that

725
00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:21,280
Speaker 5: you might end up. They might be paying ten thousand

726
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:23,680
Speaker 5: dollars to be there, but someone else's voice is going

727
00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:26,960
Speaker 5: to ricochet off that seat, so it could kind of

728
00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:28,399
Speaker 5: wash out. But at the end of the day, they're

729
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:30,359
Speaker 5: going to have one hundred and somewhat thousand people, and

730
00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:33,200
Speaker 5: no matter how you do that, unless it's Michigan Stadium,

731
00:35:33,239 --> 00:35:35,120
Speaker 5: it's going to be loud. So you know, I think

732
00:35:35,160 --> 00:35:37,440
Speaker 5: they'll they'll figure it out no matter what. Michigan for

733
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:39,680
Speaker 5: whatever reason, I like going to the Big House, but

734
00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:42,520
Speaker 5: it is not It is not an imposing place in

735
00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:44,600
Speaker 5: comparison a lot of places.

736
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:49,960
Speaker 3: This is all right, the stadium, improvements, recruiting portal, paying

737
00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:52,279
Speaker 3: your coach eight nine ten million dollars. It's all about

738
00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:54,520
Speaker 3: keeping up. It's all about what the market is demanding

739
00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:57,480
Speaker 3: of and obviously Penn State is making the stadium changes

740
00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:01,000
Speaker 3: because it seems like they're long overdue, that this is

741
00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:04,080
Speaker 3: a stadium that has needed some updating for quite some time.

742
00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:08,320
Speaker 3: How far off is Penn State and not just in

743
00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:14,160
Speaker 3: one sense, whether it's financially or how they're running their organization.

744
00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:17,399
Speaker 3: When you go to other places, like for the Big House,

745
00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:20,480
Speaker 3: like the Shoe, like wherever, and you see other teams

746
00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:23,760
Speaker 3: and you see other programs, are there things Penn State

747
00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:27,240
Speaker 3: internally is saying to itself, we can close the gap

748
00:36:27,719 --> 00:36:30,520
Speaker 3: by doing X, Y and Z. We're not that far off,

749
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:33,640
Speaker 3: but these are the gaps we need to close. What

750
00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:36,160
Speaker 3: to you do you believe Penn State is looking at

751
00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:37,320
Speaker 3: as those gaps?

752
00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:40,160
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think that answer has changed over

753
00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:45,719
Speaker 5: the last few years because I think from a facility standpoint,

754
00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:49,560
Speaker 5: there are always lots of things that you can improve on.

755
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:52,799
Speaker 5: I think that Penn State's football building in general has

756
00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:54,640
Speaker 5: gotten a lot better over the last few years. They

757
00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:58,239
Speaker 5: renovated the weight room, it looks nice, They're.

758
00:36:57,400 --> 00:36:58,520
Speaker 2: Doing stuff for the field.

759
00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:00,759
Speaker 5: There's a lot of little things, and you know, I

760
00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:02,680
Speaker 5: think sometimes it can be hard to figure out what

761
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:05,879
Speaker 5: exactly good branding has to do with four and five.

762
00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:09,040
Speaker 5: But I do think that it sort of holistically comes

763
00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:12,280
Speaker 5: together with how you present yourself and how you recruit

764
00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,720
Speaker 5: and the sort of perception that people have of your program.

765
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:18,080
Speaker 5: You know, I think beaver Stadium is Beaver Stadium. It

766
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,719
Speaker 5: sort of has that Rose Bowl aesthetic of going like, well,

767
00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:22,480
Speaker 5: you would never build it like this if you did

768
00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:24,759
Speaker 5: it today, right, but it is the Rose Bowl, so

769
00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:27,120
Speaker 5: that makes it okay. And I think that Beaver Stadium

770
00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:28,439
Speaker 5: has certain elements of that.

771
00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:30,720
Speaker 2: Obviously. You know, I'd been to a game.

772
00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:33,160
Speaker 5: A few years ago where the pipes to the bathrooms

773
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:36,000
Speaker 5: in the press box froze, so you had to go

774
00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:38,279
Speaker 5: downstairs to use a trough to you know, go to

775
00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:39,920
Speaker 5: the bathroom kind of thing. So there's things that you

776
00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:41,400
Speaker 5: can go like, all right, that could be better, and

777
00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:44,200
Speaker 5: they're working on that and they're winter rizing beaver Stadium

778
00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:48,560
Speaker 5: and things there. But I think, you know, nil is

779
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:52,120
Speaker 5: an area, and obviously that's a significant moving target on

780
00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:55,439
Speaker 5: a daily basis. But I do think that for Penn State,

781
00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:58,239
Speaker 5: the biggest thing for Penn State football is that no

782
00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:03,000
Speaker 5: matter how the landscape changes, Penn State's too big and

783
00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:05,600
Speaker 5: makes too much money to ever, not be a part

784
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:09,400
Speaker 5: of whatever happens next. And I think that that puts

785
00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:12,240
Speaker 5: them a leg ahead of most programs in the country

786
00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:15,439
Speaker 5: because they're never going to be left for dead. Like, respectfully,

787
00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:18,880
Speaker 5: if college football decided tomorrow that it didn't need Northwestern,

788
00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:22,240
Speaker 5: that there would be no muscle to make that not happen.

789
00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:24,560
Speaker 5: That Northwestern would go like, oh gosh, well, we really

790
00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:26,920
Speaker 5: like going to the library. Anyway, I guess this is fine,

791
00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:29,520
Speaker 5: But like Penn State's always going to be a part

792
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:31,960
Speaker 5: of whatever's next. And I think you can always go

793
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:34,879
Speaker 5: to a peer institution and say, you know, we want

794
00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:37,480
Speaker 5: PS fives in our player lounge, or we want you know,

795
00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:40,839
Speaker 5: sleep deprivation chamber for whatever reason, or you know, all

796
00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:43,239
Speaker 5: these things and you add to those. I think Penn

797
00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:45,359
Speaker 5: States in the same tier as everyone else. I think

798
00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:47,759
Speaker 5: Georgia is sort of the standard. Ohio State sort of

799
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:48,360
Speaker 5: the standard.

800
00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:49,880
Speaker 2: But I think.

801
00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:54,000
Speaker 5: That that holistic gap, especially over the last twenty four

802
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:57,920
Speaker 5: months or so, has narrowed about as reasonably as a

803
00:38:57,920 --> 00:38:59,080
Speaker 5: candid any given moment.

804
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:02,799
Speaker 3: For the sake of balance, We've we heard a lot

805
00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:08,040
Speaker 3: about the negative fringes of Ohio State's fan base in

806
00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:11,200
Speaker 3: the sort of wake of the Michigan loss. I imagine

807
00:39:11,239 --> 00:39:14,960
Speaker 3: there's an overwhelming percentage of the Penn State fan base

808
00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:18,360
Speaker 3: that is loving life as a Penn State fan, but

809
00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:20,520
Speaker 3: also like, when are we going to win just a

810
00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:23,200
Speaker 3: little bit more? When is James Franklin gonna win couple

811
00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:25,839
Speaker 3: more of those games that he can't seem to with

812
00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:29,920
Speaker 3: Penn State. Is there a section of this Penn State monolith,

813
00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:34,719
Speaker 3: which it obviously isn't, that is just super happy with

814
00:39:35,239 --> 00:39:38,360
Speaker 3: winning ten eleven games a year. It could be worse.

815
00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:41,240
Speaker 3: Things have been catastrophic for Penn State off the field,

816
00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:44,400
Speaker 3: you know, a decade plus ago, and the reputation seems

817
00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:46,280
Speaker 3: to be in a much better place for the university

818
00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:49,360
Speaker 3: and the football program. Is there a you know, the

819
00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:52,680
Speaker 3: upper five percent, ten percent, twelve percent of this fan

820
00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:55,560
Speaker 3: base that's just like, man, things are awesome. It is

821
00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:57,640
Speaker 3: awesome to be a Penn State fan. And we are

822
00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:00,440
Speaker 3: not angry online and we are not yelling at football

823
00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:02,759
Speaker 3: games at the coach. Do those people exist just for

824
00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:03,600
Speaker 3: the sake of balance?

825
00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:07,040
Speaker 5: I think they do, Okay, I mean I think you know,

826
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:10,160
Speaker 5: to a certain extent, you know, you don't put one

827
00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:12,480
Speaker 5: hundred and ten thousand people or However, many it is

828
00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:19,160
Speaker 5: every week into a stadium because they are grumpy. You know,

829
00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:21,000
Speaker 5: I think that there has to be some base level

830
00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:24,560
Speaker 5: we have signed up for misery and we are okay

831
00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:26,520
Speaker 5: with that aspect of sports in general.

832
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:28,080
Speaker 2: You know, I'm an Eagles fan.

833
00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:31,880
Speaker 5: Like until recently, it was a whole lot of maybe

834
00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:34,160
Speaker 5: next year, and I think that you learn to love

835
00:40:34,239 --> 00:40:38,160
Speaker 5: maybe next year in spite of this year. But I think, yeah,

836
00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:40,920
Speaker 5: there are people that I think, you know, it's an

837
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:43,319
Speaker 5: interesting situation that Penn States in in a lot of

838
00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:45,799
Speaker 5: ways because there's a very large subset of people that

839
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:50,080
Speaker 5: only ever had one head football coach and you sort

840
00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:52,120
Speaker 5: of what that experience was like. And then there's a

841
00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:56,520
Speaker 5: lot of people that have grown up in the you know,

842
00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:59,120
Speaker 5: two head football coaches at this point. I like an

843
00:40:59,239 --> 00:41:01,839
Speaker 5: NFL team and they fire their coach every other year.

844
00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:03,880
Speaker 5: I watched the Premier League and they get rid of

845
00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:07,200
Speaker 5: their managers all the time. That there is this flow

846
00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:10,160
Speaker 5: of unhappiness and we should fire everyone all the time

847
00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:11,320
Speaker 5: because you didn't win.

848
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:13,399
Speaker 2: Last night.

849
00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:16,240
Speaker 5: That I think changes how a certain subset of people

850
00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:19,239
Speaker 5: talk about sports and the longevity of like the willingness

851
00:41:19,239 --> 00:41:21,400
Speaker 5: to be like you want to build a really good

852
00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:23,360
Speaker 5: college football program. You're probably gonna have to wait a

853
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:26,279
Speaker 5: couple of years for that to actually happen. But I

854
00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:28,440
Speaker 5: think people that you know, have been around, I think

855
00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:33,560
Speaker 5: people that understand what it could be that you know,

856
00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:35,920
Speaker 5: especially Penn State football fans that maybe lived through the

857
00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:38,560
Speaker 5: early two thousands of just being horrible. Like there's a

858
00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:40,879
Speaker 5: whole bunch of Penn State football fans. They've never really

859
00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:45,080
Speaker 5: experienced truly bad Penn State football. And I think for

860
00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:47,160
Speaker 5: the people that have experienced that, for people that have

861
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:49,879
Speaker 5: watched a lot of college football, you go like, yeah,

862
00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:52,239
Speaker 5: ten or eleven wins, probably going to be in the

863
00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:55,919
Speaker 5: playoffs more often than not. That's not a bad place

864
00:41:55,960 --> 00:41:58,799
Speaker 5: to be. Does that mean that they're not booing on

865
00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:02,120
Speaker 5: third and seven in the second quarter against you know,

866
00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:04,280
Speaker 5: Kent State when they're going to have to punt because

867
00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:06,360
Speaker 5: we haven't figured out what they're doing on offense in

868
00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:09,319
Speaker 5: Week three? Sure, that comes with the territory. But I

869
00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:13,279
Speaker 5: do think that, you know, everybody understands what the deal

870
00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:15,680
Speaker 5: is and some people are just better at embracing it

871
00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:16,160
Speaker 5: than others.

872
00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:18,719
Speaker 1: Yeah, and to that point, Dan, I mean, I think

873
00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:21,600
Speaker 1: I told you, Yeah, my shuttle driver a couple of

874
00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:24,120
Speaker 1: weeks ago coming back from the Maza dealership was one

875
00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:26,759
Speaker 1: of these, one of the ex fans, who is just

876
00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:30,000
Speaker 1: all I do is watch Penn State football. I don't

877
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:31,640
Speaker 1: care about your podcast. I didn't tell him aout but

878
00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:34,600
Speaker 1: the podcast, But I don't care about nationally what's going on.

879
00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:37,600
Speaker 1: I just watched Penn State on Saturdays. They've got a

880
00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:40,200
Speaker 1: pretty good team. They got to play in the playoff,

881
00:42:40,280 --> 00:42:42,160
Speaker 1: even though they lost to Ohio State. This is the

882
00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:45,560
Speaker 1: conversation we had that guy exists. He was happy as

883
00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:47,400
Speaker 1: a lark. Maybe we'll get him next year. But it

884
00:42:47,440 --> 00:42:50,520
Speaker 1: was definitely not a pejorative Ben right. He was looking

885
00:42:50,560 --> 00:42:52,840
Speaker 1: forward to the fact that even though they lost to

886
00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:55,719
Speaker 1: Ohio State, we still have all this to play for. Still,

887
00:42:55,760 --> 00:42:57,719
Speaker 1: we're only a couple points away from getting to the

888
00:42:57,719 --> 00:43:01,319
Speaker 1: title game for rematch against Ohio State. Things are looking up.

889
00:43:01,640 --> 00:43:03,760
Speaker 1: Things are looking up. So, yes, that guy is definitely

890
00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:04,480
Speaker 1: out there, Dan.

891
00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:08,160
Speaker 3: I'm glad to hear it. I'm positive he and she are.

892
00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:11,680
Speaker 3: But I want to say actually positive with here. Just

893
00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:15,120
Speaker 3: on the same token. You don't accidentally win ten games

894
00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:17,680
Speaker 3: a year in college football. It's never been more difficult

895
00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:21,040
Speaker 3: with obviously adding in quality teams to the Big Ten,

896
00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:25,080
Speaker 3: and how good Michigan and Ohio State have been recently.

897
00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:27,640
Speaker 3: What is James Franklin's superpower?

898
00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:29,920
Speaker 2: Woof?

899
00:43:31,600 --> 00:43:33,759
Speaker 5: I mean, I think that they have a formula that

900
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:37,600
Speaker 5: they know what works. And you know, we can make

901
00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:40,240
Speaker 5: the jokes about, oh, the games they don't win or whatnot,

902
00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:44,800
Speaker 5: but I think that he's good with relationships, He's good

903
00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:48,640
Speaker 5: with culture building. You know, I imagine that there are a

904
00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:52,160
Speaker 5: lot of things that we don't know about that happen

905
00:43:52,239 --> 00:43:55,239
Speaker 5: in the football building, just in terms of how you

906
00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:58,000
Speaker 5: keep everybody happy. And I'm not saying financially and just

907
00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:01,160
Speaker 5: saying in general, but I think that, you know, Penn

908
00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:04,399
Speaker 5: States had a good reputation, especially in the transfer portal era,

909
00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:07,880
Speaker 5: of pretty much keeping everybody that they wanted around, Like

910
00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:11,719
Speaker 5: there's you know, they're not a program that produces really

911
00:44:11,760 --> 00:44:13,640
Speaker 5: good players and then they all leave. Like the fact

912
00:44:13,680 --> 00:44:16,279
Speaker 5: that Nick Singleton and k Tron Allen are both on

913
00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:18,799
Speaker 5: the same football team for the umpteenth millionth year in

914
00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:21,480
Speaker 5: a row, during a time where they could both go

915
00:44:21,560 --> 00:44:23,520
Speaker 5: somewhere else and make a lot more money to be

916
00:44:23,719 --> 00:44:28,960
Speaker 5: by themselves, you know, it probably speaks to things we

917
00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:30,960
Speaker 5: don't know about. But I also think it speaks to

918
00:44:31,239 --> 00:44:34,600
Speaker 5: I am happy where I'm at, And I think a

919
00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:36,160
Speaker 5: lot of that has to do with how you build

920
00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:37,840
Speaker 5: your culture. A lot of that has to do with

921
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:42,360
Speaker 5: you know, James has always notoriously said that, like, I

922
00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:46,040
Speaker 5: don't promise people playing time, Like he doesn't promise recruits

923
00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:49,879
Speaker 5: playing time. He doesn't promise freshmen or previous starters. I mean,

924
00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:51,759
Speaker 5: I remember a few years ago he used to say

925
00:44:51,800 --> 00:44:54,040
Speaker 5: that when Saquon was around, and he's like, except for Saquon,

926
00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:56,319
Speaker 5: Saquon's going to start. So there was like a certain

927
00:44:56,360 --> 00:44:59,320
Speaker 5: amount of that element. Abdul Carter is going to start.

928
00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:03,880
Speaker 5: But I think that that transparency, you kind of know

929
00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:06,879
Speaker 5: what you're getting out of that program, and I think

930
00:45:06,920 --> 00:45:09,359
Speaker 5: because of that, it's easier to buy into it. And

931
00:45:09,400 --> 00:45:11,440
Speaker 5: that doesn't mean that there aren't unhappy people or that

932
00:45:11,440 --> 00:45:14,560
Speaker 5: people don't transfer because they're not happy. But I think

933
00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:20,840
Speaker 5: the culture, I think the consistency, and I think, you know, frankly,

934
00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:22,960
Speaker 5: we don't talk about this as much, but Penn State

935
00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:25,600
Speaker 5: sends a lot of guys to the NFL. Like the

936
00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:28,640
Speaker 5: college football perspective, they don't win all the big games

937
00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:32,840
Speaker 5: but they're as good as anybody within reason at producing

938
00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:35,080
Speaker 5: NFL quality players. And I think that if you're a

939
00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:38,919
Speaker 5: high school football player, like what do you really care about? Like, Yeah,

940
00:45:38,920 --> 00:45:40,959
Speaker 5: it'd be nice to be to Ohio State, but also

941
00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:43,480
Speaker 5: it'd be nice to be abdual Carter, And one of

942
00:45:43,480 --> 00:45:46,640
Speaker 5: those things is slightly more obtainable than the other. But

943
00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:49,560
Speaker 5: I think if you are producing good players, if you

944
00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:53,600
Speaker 5: have a good atmosphere and equality experience, you're going to

945
00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:55,080
Speaker 5: be able to win a lot of football games. And

946
00:45:55,080 --> 00:45:58,279
Speaker 5: I think that that's part of the reason why some programs,

947
00:45:58,600 --> 00:46:01,080
Speaker 5: you know, have a harder time is you know, when

948
00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:03,239
Speaker 5: you just spend ten years beating people over the head

949
00:46:03,239 --> 00:46:05,120
Speaker 5: with a stick, nobody wants to play for you. And

950
00:46:05,200 --> 00:46:07,879
Speaker 5: that really hasn't been the best that I can tell

951
00:46:07,920 --> 00:46:10,040
Speaker 5: from the outside, and best that you would think would

952
00:46:10,040 --> 00:46:14,279
Speaker 5: bear truth over an extended period of time, not you

953
00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:17,239
Speaker 5: know what happens inside that lash building you.

954
00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:23,000
Speaker 1: Mentioned abdul Carter. Abdul Carter third. Overall, Penn State had

955
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:26,839
Speaker 1: a very successful draft. I think we tend to look

956
00:46:26,880 --> 00:46:30,520
Speaker 1: at Penn State, as you mentioned earlier, ben as having

957
00:46:30,520 --> 00:46:34,600
Speaker 1: these defensive superstars that have emerged in the NFL over

958
00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:37,080
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, really over the last couple decades,

959
00:46:38,080 --> 00:46:41,680
Speaker 1: and there has been this tendency to just kind of

960
00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:45,440
Speaker 1: next man up. Right to your point from earlier, recruiting

961
00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:48,840
Speaker 1: has been strong defensively, they do have that brand. People

962
00:46:48,880 --> 00:46:50,759
Speaker 1: want to buy into that brand because it can help

963
00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:53,480
Speaker 1: put them in the league. Abdul Carter leaves. We know

964
00:46:53,480 --> 00:46:55,640
Speaker 1: they've got denied. Then as Sutton still on the roster,

965
00:46:55,800 --> 00:47:00,080
Speaker 1: it's still going to be loaded defensively. But is your

966
00:47:00,120 --> 00:47:03,480
Speaker 1: mindset coming into this new season that the defense, especially

967
00:47:03,480 --> 00:47:05,439
Speaker 1: now under Jim Knowles, is going to pick up where

968
00:47:05,440 --> 00:47:07,600
Speaker 1: it left off and be just as good, if not better.

969
00:47:08,440 --> 00:47:10,319
Speaker 1: We haven't talked a lot about defense because I think

970
00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:12,200
Speaker 1: we assume as fact that it will be good. But

971
00:47:12,320 --> 00:47:15,080
Speaker 1: how good in your view is this defense coming into

972
00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:15,760
Speaker 1: this new season?

973
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:18,880
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I think a little bit, like you said,

974
00:47:19,200 --> 00:47:22,200
Speaker 5: my working assumption, sort of opposite to the receivers at

975
00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:24,800
Speaker 5: this point is until Penn State has a bad defense,

976
00:47:25,239 --> 00:47:27,040
Speaker 5: I'm going to assume that it's good. The one thing

977
00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:30,000
Speaker 5: that has sort of transcended all of the change of

978
00:47:30,040 --> 00:47:32,040
Speaker 5: the last ten or fifteen years is that no matter

979
00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:34,799
Speaker 5: how many defensive coordinators or head coaches Penn State has.

980
00:47:35,280 --> 00:47:37,960
Speaker 5: It has a defensive identity that's just sort of intrinsic

981
00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:39,920
Speaker 5: to the program, and it finds a way to be

982
00:47:40,120 --> 00:47:42,799
Speaker 5: really good. So, you know, I don't know that the

983
00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:46,000
Speaker 5: Tom Allen experience. You know, in some ways, I think

984
00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:48,160
Speaker 5: Tom Allen got a raw deal because I think that,

985
00:47:48,360 --> 00:47:51,279
Speaker 5: like he had to come in after Brent Pry and

986
00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:54,680
Speaker 5: Manny Diaz, two of the better defensive minds in college football,

987
00:47:54,800 --> 00:47:59,839
Speaker 5: had really good players and really good success, and Tom

988
00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:02,719
Speaker 5: Allen was forced to do things like admit that sometimes

989
00:48:02,840 --> 00:48:04,640
Speaker 5: the defense was going to give up a first down

990
00:48:04,680 --> 00:48:07,200
Speaker 5: and occasionally the opponent was going to score points, and

991
00:48:07,239 --> 00:48:09,840
Speaker 5: that was sort of like the bar for this is

992
00:48:09,880 --> 00:48:13,080
Speaker 5: not acceptable that someone has scored more than ten points

993
00:48:13,080 --> 00:48:13,520
Speaker 5: in a game.

994
00:48:13,600 --> 00:48:17,520
Speaker 2: That I think that that was hard.

995
00:48:18,080 --> 00:48:20,640
Speaker 5: You know, you can't go from Manidas basically had one of,

996
00:48:20,719 --> 00:48:23,280
Speaker 5: if not the best defenses in America the year before,

997
00:48:23,360 --> 00:48:25,560
Speaker 5: and then Tom Allen's like, oh, I'm supposed to be

998
00:48:25,560 --> 00:48:29,160
Speaker 5: that good or better. That being said, I think that

999
00:48:31,520 --> 00:48:33,640
Speaker 5: I feel like this is not a new observation, but

1000
00:48:33,680 --> 00:48:37,239
Speaker 5: Tom Allen's sort of a weird dude, like in his

1001
00:48:37,320 --> 00:48:40,279
Speaker 5: own sort of like quirky head football coach drinks too

1002
00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:43,359
Speaker 5: much Red Bull kind of way, sure, And I don't

1003
00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:45,359
Speaker 5: know how well that jive with everything. I think it's

1004
00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:48,400
Speaker 5: fair to say that the defense wasn't maybe quite quite

1005
00:48:48,640 --> 00:48:50,960
Speaker 5: up to where pen Sate fans and Pensate is a

1006
00:48:50,960 --> 00:48:54,440
Speaker 5: program has come to expect it to be. So I

1007
00:48:54,440 --> 00:48:56,480
Speaker 5: imagine that it will be better. I think, like you said,

1008
00:48:56,600 --> 00:48:59,120
Speaker 5: you know, they've got pieces to plug in there and go, Okay,

1009
00:48:59,160 --> 00:49:01,759
Speaker 5: we feel good about it our base, and then that's

1010
00:49:01,800 --> 00:49:04,880
Speaker 5: fill in from there. I think Jim Knowles, obviously you

1011
00:49:04,920 --> 00:49:08,080
Speaker 5: know it'll be an interesting exercise. And how good can

1012
00:49:08,120 --> 00:49:09,759
Speaker 5: you make a defense when you have all the best

1013
00:49:09,760 --> 00:49:12,279
Speaker 5: defensive players in America versus how good can you make

1014
00:49:12,280 --> 00:49:14,080
Speaker 5: a defense when you maybe have to work with a

1015
00:49:14,080 --> 00:49:15,719
Speaker 5: few more things. And that's not to say that Jim

1016
00:49:15,760 --> 00:49:18,759
Speaker 5: Knowles doesn't know what he's doing, but everything's different from

1017
00:49:18,840 --> 00:49:20,960
Speaker 5: Ohio State. But I suppose you could argue that Penn

1018
00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:24,239
Speaker 5: State defense is as comparable as it gets to a

1019
00:49:24,280 --> 00:49:27,120
Speaker 5: place like Ohio State. So I don't think it'll be worse.

1020
00:49:27,239 --> 00:49:30,400
Speaker 5: I don't know if it'll be markedly better, because I

1021
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:33,240
Speaker 5: still think it was fine. But yeah, until Penn State's

1022
00:49:33,239 --> 00:49:35,479
Speaker 5: got a bad defense. You know, I just I don't

1023
00:49:35,480 --> 00:49:37,120
Speaker 5: have it in me to say, oh, yeah, they're going

1024
00:49:37,200 --> 00:49:40,760
Speaker 5: to struggle because they don't. And honestly, who is worried

1025
00:49:40,800 --> 00:49:44,360
Speaker 5: about UCLA fair enough?

1026
00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:45,920
Speaker 1: Did the Knowles move surprise you.

1027
00:49:47,960 --> 00:49:49,719
Speaker 5: I would say so. I mean, I think both from

1028
00:49:49,760 --> 00:49:53,359
Speaker 5: a spending perspective, you know, I think this got into

1029
00:49:53,400 --> 00:49:56,040
Speaker 5: a little bit of, from from my vantage point, a

1030
00:49:56,080 --> 00:49:58,560
Speaker 5: little bit of a you know what, measuring contest, because

1031
00:49:58,600 --> 00:50:00,120
Speaker 5: it was like, well, we really want him, you know,

1032
00:50:00,160 --> 00:50:02,239
Speaker 5: we really want him, and I think Patcraft was like,

1033
00:50:02,880 --> 00:50:04,759
Speaker 5: damn it, We're going to get him, and like does

1034
00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:09,560
Speaker 5: give him everything he's ever wanted. So that surprised me

1035
00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:11,480
Speaker 5: a little bit. And I think, you know, to a

1036
00:50:11,520 --> 00:50:14,759
Speaker 5: certain extent. I mean, obviously, since Penn State didn't have

1037
00:50:14,800 --> 00:50:17,040
Speaker 5: a defensive coordinator, was going to need one. But if

1038
00:50:17,040 --> 00:50:18,520
Speaker 5: you were going to make a list of what would

1039
00:50:18,560 --> 00:50:21,160
Speaker 5: you have changed about Penn State Football's twenty four to

1040
00:50:21,200 --> 00:50:24,440
Speaker 5: twenty five season, it wasn't. Well, they need to clearly

1041
00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:27,480
Speaker 5: go out and get the best defensive coordinator available. They've

1042
00:50:27,560 --> 00:50:29,799
Speaker 5: proven to be good with plenty of other guys. So

1043
00:50:29,920 --> 00:50:32,080
Speaker 5: I think it surprised me a little bit just because

1044
00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:35,800
Speaker 5: they could have spent less money and probably gotten similar results.

1045
00:50:36,840 --> 00:50:39,560
Speaker 2: But it's not my money. So if that's how they

1046
00:50:39,560 --> 00:50:40,880
Speaker 2: want to spend it, I guess that's their.

1047
00:50:41,080 --> 00:50:44,279
Speaker 5: Richard Die trying, right, Yeah, yeah, exactly, get rich or

1048
00:50:44,360 --> 00:50:47,319
Speaker 5: die trying. So it surprised me a little bit, but

1049
00:50:47,360 --> 00:50:49,239
Speaker 5: at the same time I think it was It was

1050
00:50:49,280 --> 00:50:51,080
Speaker 5: a big win for Penn State, and we'll see if

1051
00:50:51,120 --> 00:50:52,400
Speaker 5: it's a big win for them on the field.

1052
00:50:52,400 --> 00:50:56,400
Speaker 3: I guess on that token, Penn State has had consistent

1053
00:50:56,520 --> 00:50:59,680
Speaker 3: success on by and large, on both sides of the ball,

1054
00:51:00,360 --> 00:51:03,240
Speaker 3: relative to a lot of teams to play college football.

1055
00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:06,799
Speaker 3: And one of the interesting storylines with Jim Knowles last

1056
00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:09,319
Speaker 3: year was how much he was or wasn't empowered to

1057
00:51:09,400 --> 00:51:12,319
Speaker 3: run his defense, you know, sort of butting heads with

1058
00:51:12,480 --> 00:51:15,080
Speaker 3: assistants who were there forever who had their own way

1059
00:51:15,120 --> 00:51:19,120
Speaker 3: of thinking about defense. I assume that Jim Knowles is

1060
00:51:19,160 --> 00:51:21,440
Speaker 3: going to be empowered to whatever extent he wants to

1061
00:51:21,440 --> 00:51:24,240
Speaker 3: be empowered. For that much money, you don't pay somebody

1062
00:51:24,280 --> 00:51:28,520
Speaker 3: to take notes all the time. How do you believe

1063
00:51:28,520 --> 00:51:30,279
Speaker 3: he is fitting in? How do you believe he has

1064
00:51:30,320 --> 00:51:33,120
Speaker 3: been empowered? Do you believe this Penn State defense is

1065
00:51:33,120 --> 00:51:38,240
Speaker 3: actually going to look noticeably different than successful recent ones

1066
00:51:38,440 --> 00:51:40,600
Speaker 3: that you know, both Manydas and Tom Allen have put

1067
00:51:40,640 --> 00:51:41,040
Speaker 3: on the field.

1068
00:51:42,719 --> 00:51:45,799
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think we'll see what the specifics are.

1069
00:51:46,920 --> 00:51:47,120
Speaker 2: You know.

1070
00:51:47,160 --> 00:51:49,920
Speaker 5: I think James has been pretty consistent when it comes

1071
00:51:49,920 --> 00:51:54,560
Speaker 5: to hiring coordinators in particular that you want them to

1072
00:51:54,600 --> 00:51:57,600
Speaker 5: bring their identity along with them, that what made them

1073
00:51:57,600 --> 00:51:59,640
Speaker 5: good is what made them good. But at the same time,

1074
00:52:00,160 --> 00:52:03,600
Speaker 5: Penn State can quite obviously lean on a blueprint of

1075
00:52:04,320 --> 00:52:06,040
Speaker 5: this is what our identity is, and we want you

1076
00:52:06,040 --> 00:52:07,719
Speaker 5: to fit into that as well. So I think there's

1077
00:52:07,760 --> 00:52:12,200
Speaker 5: a little bit of mix and match, because you really,

1078
00:52:12,680 --> 00:52:14,520
Speaker 5: you're right, don't You don't hire a guy like Jim

1079
00:52:14,560 --> 00:52:16,400
Speaker 5: Knowles to have him open up a Google doc and

1080
00:52:16,440 --> 00:52:18,399
Speaker 5: say this is what Brent Pryor ran three years ago.

1081
00:52:18,400 --> 00:52:19,160
Speaker 2: We're going to do that.

1082
00:52:20,280 --> 00:52:22,080
Speaker 5: But at the same time, I do think that there's

1083
00:52:22,360 --> 00:52:26,600
Speaker 5: some base concepts and base sort of identity that's going

1084
00:52:26,680 --> 00:52:29,960
Speaker 5: to make Penn State football defense what it's always been

1085
00:52:31,239 --> 00:52:33,439
Speaker 5: in terms of autonomy, you know, I think the whole

1086
00:52:33,520 --> 00:52:36,560
Speaker 5: James Franklin Medals too Much thing is something that conveniently

1087
00:52:36,600 --> 00:52:39,359
Speaker 5: comes up every time something doesn't go well. It never

1088
00:52:39,400 --> 00:52:42,799
Speaker 5: comes up when it's successful. You know, it is miraculous

1089
00:52:42,800 --> 00:52:45,600
Speaker 5: that James Franklin can be an offensive mind and meddles

1090
00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:48,240
Speaker 5: so much in the defense and it works. But anytime

1091
00:52:48,280 --> 00:52:51,000
Speaker 5: something bad offensively happens, it's suddenly because he won't let

1092
00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:54,000
Speaker 5: them do their job. You know, is there some head

1093
00:52:54,000 --> 00:52:57,000
Speaker 5: coach getting on the headset to cause not problems, but

1094
00:52:57,080 --> 00:53:00,480
Speaker 5: to have input. I think Penn State pays James Franklin

1095
00:53:00,560 --> 00:53:02,160
Speaker 5: a lot of money not to have input in the

1096
00:53:02,160 --> 00:53:05,120
Speaker 5: middle of a crucial game. But at the same time,

1097
00:53:05,160 --> 00:53:07,399
Speaker 5: I think that, you know, he ascribes to the notion

1098
00:53:07,480 --> 00:53:10,200
Speaker 5: that these guys are the head coaches of their positions

1099
00:53:10,200 --> 00:53:14,080
Speaker 5: in their units, and you know, I think that's probably

1100
00:53:14,080 --> 00:53:16,800
Speaker 5: the case, and I think he'll have that autonomy. And obviously,

1101
00:53:17,080 --> 00:53:19,360
Speaker 5: you know, I think we've seen historically that when things

1102
00:53:19,360 --> 00:53:22,799
Speaker 5: have not gone well for Penn State, you know, Kirk

1103
00:53:22,840 --> 00:53:25,880
Speaker 5: Sharaka offensively was not working out, and I think James

1104
00:53:25,960 --> 00:53:27,799
Speaker 5: had a hand in sort of turning that around a

1105
00:53:27,800 --> 00:53:30,600
Speaker 5: little bit. I think there were probably times last year

1106
00:53:30,600 --> 00:53:33,120
Speaker 5: with Tom Allen. But you know, frankly, I think a

1107
00:53:33,160 --> 00:53:35,319
Speaker 5: head coach has got too much stuff to do to

1108
00:53:35,400 --> 00:53:38,360
Speaker 5: really like get in the way of your offensive meetings

1109
00:53:38,560 --> 00:53:41,879
Speaker 5: on a real significant basis every day and every week.

1110
00:53:41,960 --> 00:53:44,480
Speaker 5: So I would anticipate the gym knowles they're paying him

1111
00:53:44,520 --> 00:53:45,959
Speaker 5: a lot of money to go do what he does,

1112
00:53:46,000 --> 00:53:48,120
Speaker 5: and I imagine that that's going to be the case.

1113
00:53:48,560 --> 00:53:50,840
Speaker 3: We've spent a majority of this time, as my final question,

1114
00:53:51,280 --> 00:53:54,640
Speaker 3: talking about why things have worked out really, really well

1115
00:53:54,680 --> 00:53:58,239
Speaker 3: for Penn State over these past few years. Why Penn

1116
00:53:58,280 --> 00:54:00,520
Speaker 3: State has thought of to be a top one, two, three,

1117
00:54:00,680 --> 00:54:04,040
Speaker 3: four type team in the nation this year. If they're not,

1118
00:54:04,880 --> 00:54:08,040
Speaker 3: If Penn State is merely good but not really good

1119
00:54:08,160 --> 00:54:10,279
Speaker 3: or great, if they are a nine and three team,

1120
00:54:10,440 --> 00:54:15,160
Speaker 3: god forbid, they lose three games this year, what's the reason?

1121
00:54:17,520 --> 00:54:21,040
Speaker 5: I mean, if we throw out the the injury thing, sure,

1122
00:54:21,120 --> 00:54:23,399
Speaker 5: I think obviously like everyone gets hurt and they suck.

1123
00:54:23,600 --> 00:54:29,520
Speaker 5: If you get rid of that sort of caveat, I mean,

1124
00:54:29,560 --> 00:54:32,359
Speaker 5: I think it comes down to the receivers don't quite

1125
00:54:32,360 --> 00:54:35,200
Speaker 5: step up, and the guys that aren't Tyler Warren aren't

1126
00:54:35,200 --> 00:54:36,719
Speaker 5: Tyler Warren.

1127
00:54:36,880 --> 00:54:37,080
Speaker 2: You know.

1128
00:54:37,160 --> 00:54:38,880
Speaker 5: I think in this day and age, you've got to

1129
00:54:38,920 --> 00:54:42,360
Speaker 5: be a diverse team. Offensively, I think Nick Singleton and

1130
00:54:42,400 --> 00:54:46,440
Speaker 5: k Tron Allen can get you pretty far, but they

1131
00:54:46,440 --> 00:54:47,439
Speaker 5: can only do so much.

1132
00:54:47,480 --> 00:54:48,640
Speaker 2: You've got to be diverse.

1133
00:54:48,680 --> 00:54:52,200
Speaker 5: So I think if they don't win those games, you know,

1134
00:54:52,239 --> 00:54:54,760
Speaker 5: it's a product of they're not developing in the areas

1135
00:54:54,840 --> 00:54:56,840
Speaker 5: that they need to. But you look at the schedule,

1136
00:54:56,920 --> 00:55:00,520
Speaker 5: I mean, I don't know. I mean, I think Iowa

1137
00:55:00,600 --> 00:55:03,000
Speaker 5: is one of those games that's perpetually overlooked by people

1138
00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:05,880
Speaker 5: who don't watch Big ten football because Iowa is just

1139
00:55:05,960 --> 00:55:09,400
Speaker 5: like a hellscape place to play. But yeah, I mean,

1140
00:55:09,440 --> 00:55:13,279
Speaker 5: other than Oregon, Iowa, Ohio State, and maybe just sort

1141
00:55:13,320 --> 00:55:17,560
Speaker 5: of like frustratingly unconstipated Michigan State in the middle of November,

1142
00:55:18,520 --> 00:55:20,080
Speaker 5: there's not a lot of games that you go like,

1143
00:55:20,120 --> 00:55:22,680
Speaker 5: they should lose that, or they could lose that. I

1144
00:55:22,680 --> 00:55:26,160
Speaker 5: think probably more realistically so to me, they've got to

1145
00:55:26,160 --> 00:55:29,040
Speaker 5: have some pretty systemic issues to go nine to three.

1146
00:55:30,320 --> 00:55:33,399
Speaker 5: And I think that Penn State has proven that they

1147
00:55:33,440 --> 00:55:38,000
Speaker 5: can find ways to beat everyone that they should. I

1148
00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:39,960
Speaker 5: think that that has been their strength, that whatever their

1149
00:55:39,960 --> 00:55:42,759
Speaker 5: weaknesses are against equal or better teams, that Penn State

1150
00:55:42,840 --> 00:55:45,680
Speaker 5: really does not lose the games that it shouldn't. And

1151
00:55:45,760 --> 00:55:48,239
Speaker 5: I think even they've done that with teams that are

1152
00:55:48,280 --> 00:55:52,200
Speaker 5: not as highly regarded as this one might be. So

1153
00:55:52,719 --> 00:55:56,000
Speaker 5: for them to fail. I think they'd have to just

1154
00:55:56,120 --> 00:55:59,080
Speaker 5: really not have it together. And you know, frankly, I

1155
00:55:59,120 --> 00:56:01,680
Speaker 5: don't think that there's a and to believe that that'll

1156
00:56:01,680 --> 00:56:02,240
Speaker 5: be the case.

1157
00:56:03,400 --> 00:56:06,400
Speaker 1: You can find his work Ben Jones on Penn State

1158
00:56:06,560 --> 00:56:08,960
Speaker 1: dot substack dot com. Did I get that right?

1159
00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:09,200
Speaker 2: Ben?

1160
00:56:09,440 --> 00:56:10,520
Speaker 1: I believe that's the RL.

1161
00:56:11,080 --> 00:56:12,600
Speaker 2: I think that's I think that was right and it's

1162
00:56:12,640 --> 00:56:13,839
Speaker 2: close enough for me and I right.

1163
00:56:13,800 --> 00:56:16,840
Speaker 1: There, so beautiful. Go and check out Ben's work. Support

1164
00:56:16,880 --> 00:56:20,200
Speaker 1: what he does. Always thoughtful. I love your commentary. You

1165
00:56:20,239 --> 00:56:22,680
Speaker 1: do an awesome job. Thank you again for giving us

1166
00:56:22,680 --> 00:56:26,480
Speaker 1: so much of your time. We'll talk again soon. I

1167
00:56:26,520 --> 00:56:29,640
Speaker 1: appreciate your fellows. Go birds. All right there, you go,

1168
00:56:29,640 --> 00:56:32,160
Speaker 1: Go and check out Ben's work. Ben Jones on Penn

1169
00:56:32,239 --> 00:56:36,439
Speaker 1: State dot substack dot com. Always pleasure to have him

1170
00:56:36,600 --> 00:56:39,200
Speaker 1: with us here on the program. What do you think

1171
00:56:39,239 --> 00:56:40,879
Speaker 1: of Penn State football right now? What do you think

1172
00:56:40,920 --> 00:56:47,239
Speaker 1: of these expectations that have been It sounds like I'm

1173
00:56:47,239 --> 00:56:50,440
Speaker 1: being negative about this but foisted on them?

1174
00:56:50,640 --> 00:56:51,600
Speaker 4: Yeah, too much?

1175
00:56:52,719 --> 00:56:54,960
Speaker 3: No, because you look at the teams that they are

1176
00:56:54,960 --> 00:56:58,400
Speaker 3: being compared against, and there's more that it's familiar and

1177
00:56:58,480 --> 00:57:03,120
Speaker 3: returning about Penn State and more that when you look

1178
00:57:03,160 --> 00:57:05,399
Speaker 3: at what's been added to Penn State, notably, Jim Knowles,

1179
00:57:05,400 --> 00:57:07,959
Speaker 3: you understand what you're getting. Jim Knowles, you are likely

1180
00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:11,080
Speaker 3: getting one of the five best defenses in America considering

1181
00:57:11,120 --> 00:57:14,600
Speaker 3: what Penn State brings back. And it's always been my

1182
00:57:14,640 --> 00:57:17,000
Speaker 3: opinion that the best teams have the best combination of

1183
00:57:17,000 --> 00:57:20,040
Speaker 3: defense and quarterback. And it's hard to argue even with

1184
00:57:20,120 --> 00:57:22,680
Speaker 3: Penn State's results throwing the ball against Notre Dame in

1185
00:57:22,680 --> 00:57:26,400
Speaker 3: their final game of the season, that yes, we expect

1186
00:57:26,600 --> 00:57:28,760
Speaker 3: Texas's defense to be very good, and we expect arch

1187
00:57:28,840 --> 00:57:31,120
Speaker 3: Manning to be very good. We expect Oregon and Dante

1188
00:57:31,240 --> 00:57:33,800
Speaker 3: more and their Oregon's defense to be a good combination.

1189
00:57:34,320 --> 00:57:37,600
Speaker 3: We expect Georgia's defense and the development of Gunner Stockton

1190
00:57:37,640 --> 00:57:40,440
Speaker 3: to be very impressive. We expect a lot of these

1191
00:57:40,440 --> 00:57:42,880
Speaker 3: things from a lot of the powers. We expect Julian

1192
00:57:42,960 --> 00:57:45,680
Speaker 3: Sayin to develop into a very good quarterback. I don't

1193
00:57:45,680 --> 00:57:47,600
Speaker 3: think he's officially been named the starter Ohio State, but

1194
00:57:47,600 --> 00:57:50,160
Speaker 3: he's the expected starter. And even with what Ohio State

1195
00:57:50,440 --> 00:57:53,880
Speaker 3: is returning on defense and not returning on defense, we

1196
00:57:53,920 --> 00:57:56,320
Speaker 3: expect it to be quality. But there just seems to

1197
00:57:56,320 --> 00:57:59,760
Speaker 3: be more known about Penn State with that combination, and

1198
00:58:00,080 --> 00:58:01,440
Speaker 3: you add in the running backs, you add in the

1199
00:58:01,480 --> 00:58:04,080
Speaker 3: offensive line, you add in the pass rushers, and the

1200
00:58:04,080 --> 00:58:07,400
Speaker 3: potential star power on this defense. Even with losing, you know,

1201
00:58:07,720 --> 00:58:11,320
Speaker 3: Abdul Carter and Kobe King's gun right right, they had.

1202
00:58:11,200 --> 00:58:12,400
Speaker 4: Losses on all three levels.

1203
00:58:13,520 --> 00:58:16,080
Speaker 3: James Franklin has earned the benefit of doubt that he

1204
00:58:16,240 --> 00:58:19,680
Speaker 3: is going to field a ten plus win team. And

1205
00:58:20,280 --> 00:58:23,840
Speaker 3: this sport is very good at giving us teams that

1206
00:58:23,920 --> 00:58:26,200
Speaker 3: seem like that they've hit that that seems as if

1207
00:58:26,200 --> 00:58:28,960
Speaker 3: they've hit a ceiling at eight, nine, ten, eleven wins

1208
00:58:29,000 --> 00:58:31,320
Speaker 3: or whatever, and then there are just special lightning in

1209
00:58:31,320 --> 00:58:34,760
Speaker 3: a bottle years. And the understanding is that Penn State

1210
00:58:34,920 --> 00:58:39,000
Speaker 3: is one a candidate to be that kind of team

1211
00:58:39,000 --> 00:58:41,200
Speaker 3: this year, more so than many others.

1212
00:58:41,360 --> 00:58:44,720
Speaker 1: The two biggest games in this schedule are end of

1213
00:58:44,720 --> 00:58:47,880
Speaker 1: September at home against Oregon and the beginning of November

1214
00:58:47,880 --> 00:58:50,320
Speaker 1: on the road against Ohio State. There are other games

1215
00:58:50,400 --> 00:58:53,880
Speaker 1: on this thing that could be interesting. Right at UCLA

1216
00:58:54,000 --> 00:58:57,320
Speaker 1: with Niko I. I don't think Penn States should lose

1217
00:58:57,360 --> 00:58:59,640
Speaker 1: that game, but it's a little bit more interesting now

1218
00:58:59,640 --> 00:59:02,760
Speaker 1: than it was at Iowa. Ben mentioned what a hellscape

1219
00:59:02,800 --> 00:59:05,240
Speaker 1: that has been for Penn State. He is correct in

1220
00:59:05,400 --> 00:59:08,840
Speaker 1: saying that they also get Indiana at home a week

1221
00:59:09,000 --> 00:59:10,560
Speaker 1: after that Ohio State game.

1222
00:59:10,800 --> 00:59:11,400
Speaker 4: That's tricky.

1223
00:59:12,800 --> 00:59:15,920
Speaker 1: Looks like, you know, I don't know how high or

1224
00:59:16,000 --> 00:59:17,840
Speaker 1: or not we should be on Indiana. We'll get to

1225
00:59:17,880 --> 00:59:21,120
Speaker 1: that at some point in July talk through exactly what

1226
00:59:21,160 --> 00:59:23,240
Speaker 1: we think of the Hoosiers this year. But they're going

1227
00:59:23,320 --> 00:59:27,320
Speaker 1: to be better than the old Indiana for sure. I

1228
00:59:27,320 --> 00:59:29,680
Speaker 1: think we've kind of arrived at this point though, where

1229
00:59:29,720 --> 00:59:32,600
Speaker 1: anything worse than ten and two, to the question you

1230
00:59:32,640 --> 00:59:35,200
Speaker 1: asked Ben, anything worse than ten and two, it kind

1231
00:59:35,200 --> 00:59:38,080
Speaker 1: of feels like a disaster. So I'm not rooting for

1232
00:59:38,160 --> 00:59:42,080
Speaker 1: that obviously, But you come into this season, I think,

1233
00:59:42,120 --> 00:59:46,800
Speaker 1: with a pretty high floor. If you're a Penn State, right,

1234
00:59:46,880 --> 00:59:51,440
Speaker 1: it should be ten and two worst case scenario, given

1235
00:59:51,480 --> 00:59:54,520
Speaker 1: what's coming back and what's on this schedule. I don't

1236
00:59:54,600 --> 00:59:58,000
Speaker 1: want to deal with the possibility of the fact that

1237
00:59:58,040 --> 01:00:00,560
Speaker 1: they could go nine and three. There's potential before that,

1238
01:00:00,640 --> 01:00:04,080
Speaker 1: but coming into this year, you feel pretty good. You

1239
01:00:04,120 --> 01:00:06,760
Speaker 1: feel pretty good, and if all goes well, even if

1240
01:00:06,800 --> 01:00:08,439
Speaker 1: they do end up going ten to two and can't

1241
01:00:08,520 --> 01:00:11,480
Speaker 1: knock off one of those two quote unquote better teams.

1242
01:00:11,920 --> 01:00:14,360
Speaker 1: It should still be a playoff team. They should be

1243
01:00:14,360 --> 01:00:15,360
Speaker 1: playing for this thing again.

1244
01:00:16,280 --> 01:00:18,960
Speaker 3: And it actually feels like you have to go way

1245
01:00:18,960 --> 01:00:21,840
Speaker 3: back to twenty twenty three when Penn State coming off

1246
01:00:21,840 --> 01:00:25,080
Speaker 3: of the Utah Rose Bowl win and bringing back as

1247
01:00:25,160 --> 01:00:27,040
Speaker 3: much as they were, They're like, what's this the best

1248
01:00:27,040 --> 01:00:31,320
Speaker 3: team in the country? And they lose too Michigan and

1249
01:00:31,400 --> 01:00:35,880
Speaker 3: Ohio State, And so there is that obviously a reasonable

1250
01:00:35,880 --> 01:00:39,520
Speaker 3: conversation we had that is Penn State simply a business

1251
01:00:39,520 --> 01:00:43,920
Speaker 3: class program. That sure, they're flying to Geneva, and it's

1252
01:00:43,960 --> 01:00:47,520
Speaker 3: a beautiful plane and they have business class seats and

1253
01:00:47,920 --> 01:00:50,680
Speaker 3: it's a much better place to be on the plane

1254
01:00:50,720 --> 01:00:54,040
Speaker 3: than everybody flying coach now. But they can't help but

1255
01:00:54,200 --> 01:00:57,280
Speaker 3: notice that the people in front of them have warmer cookies,

1256
01:00:57,880 --> 01:01:00,880
Speaker 3: warmer towels, and there's just a little bit more bite

1257
01:01:00,960 --> 01:01:03,560
Speaker 3: to that champagne that they're getting up there in first class,

1258
01:01:03,840 --> 01:01:06,840
Speaker 3: and that Penn State under James Franklin is doomed to

1259
01:01:07,040 --> 01:01:10,320
Speaker 3: have tepid chocolate chip cookies.

1260
01:01:10,400 --> 01:01:13,720
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, so many, so many metaphors going.

1261
01:01:13,600 --> 01:01:15,720
Speaker 4: Thank you very much, similar metaphors.

1262
01:01:15,720 --> 01:01:19,640
Speaker 3: I don't know, but no, it's they're they're unique in

1263
01:01:19,640 --> 01:01:22,200
Speaker 3: that position because there are there have been other teams

1264
01:01:22,240 --> 01:01:25,560
Speaker 3: in that position that have broken through for one special year,

1265
01:01:25,600 --> 01:01:28,840
Speaker 3: and Penn State is just still looking for that one

1266
01:01:29,400 --> 01:01:33,120
Speaker 3: special year. And there have been really good years. There

1267
01:01:33,160 --> 01:01:35,120
Speaker 3: have been years that end up in the Rose Bowl,

1268
01:01:35,160 --> 01:01:37,760
Speaker 3: ended up in the playoff, and you know, but it's

1269
01:01:37,960 --> 01:01:41,120
Speaker 3: just the like just a little more. There's just there

1270
01:01:41,120 --> 01:01:42,920
Speaker 3: needs to be a little bit more hot fudge on

1271
01:01:42,960 --> 01:01:44,280
Speaker 3: that Sunday I'm hungry.

1272
01:01:44,280 --> 01:01:47,360
Speaker 1: Excuse me as you apparently also do not remember from

1273
01:01:47,400 --> 01:01:51,720
Speaker 1: elementary school. Similes are comparisons that use like or as

1274
01:01:51,880 --> 01:01:55,800
Speaker 1: or as, Yes, metaphors. Metaphors are a little bit more

1275
01:01:55,840 --> 01:01:56,560
Speaker 1: theater than mine.

1276
01:01:56,600 --> 01:01:59,120
Speaker 3: Dan, Right, well, I'm saying when I said similar though,

1277
01:01:59,120 --> 01:02:01,400
Speaker 3: I said, it's like, oh, it's like I didn't catch

1278
01:02:01,440 --> 01:02:03,120
Speaker 3: the like in there. Okay, so maybe maybe it was

1279
01:02:03,160 --> 01:02:06,480
Speaker 3: an implied like time some jerseys. That's fine anyway, Look

1280
01:02:06,760 --> 01:02:08,160
Speaker 3: right in, we have a lot of Penn Staters that

1281
01:02:08,240 --> 01:02:08,960
Speaker 3: listen to the show.

1282
01:02:09,880 --> 01:02:14,240
Speaker 1: I'm curious to get your input on these expectations. I

1283
01:02:14,520 --> 01:02:16,560
Speaker 1: think that's what I'm reacting to the most, and that's

1284
01:02:16,560 --> 01:02:18,440
Speaker 1: what I reacted to the most when we decided to

1285
01:02:18,440 --> 01:02:22,880
Speaker 1: put the show together. Ari Wasserman took a dump on us. Okay,

1286
01:02:23,200 --> 01:02:25,360
Speaker 1: I love Ari. He took a dump though, on the

1287
01:02:25,400 --> 01:02:29,920
Speaker 1: Penn State that by putting these expectations on Penn State.

1288
01:02:30,280 --> 01:02:32,120
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, No, I've seen a couple of places. I

1289
01:02:32,160 --> 01:02:32,840
Speaker 4: think it's not just.

1290
01:02:32,960 --> 01:02:35,320
Speaker 1: It's Mark Schleybaugh I think did it as well. You know,

1291
01:02:35,720 --> 01:02:38,280
Speaker 1: they're being complementary at Penn State. And at the same time,

1292
01:02:38,640 --> 01:02:40,680
Speaker 1: I kind of don't want to take that compliment because

1293
01:02:40,680 --> 01:02:43,560
Speaker 1: I'm afraid, right, that's what I'm saying. So, yes, it

1294
01:02:43,600 --> 01:02:46,800
Speaker 1: should be a good team, but I am frankly a

1295
01:02:46,800 --> 01:02:49,640
Speaker 1: little bit nervous about what that means, what that means

1296
01:02:49,640 --> 01:02:52,240
Speaker 1: if they don't get to that level. That's where I'm

1297
01:02:52,240 --> 01:02:54,200
Speaker 1: at as a very superstitious fan.

1298
01:02:55,240 --> 01:02:59,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look, the second halves specifically of the

1299
01:02:59,280 --> 01:03:03,280
Speaker 3: Oregon and the Ohio State games will be fascinating because

1300
01:03:03,680 --> 01:03:06,240
Speaker 3: those both of those games last season. They don't have

1301
01:03:06,280 --> 01:03:08,720
Speaker 3: Michigan this year. Right, it's a different Michigan program right now.

1302
01:03:08,760 --> 01:03:11,760
Speaker 3: But those are the two circled games, and those are

1303
01:03:11,800 --> 01:03:14,680
Speaker 3: two games last season in which there was a weird

1304
01:03:15,280 --> 01:03:17,960
Speaker 3: uneven It was a quick start for Penn State last year. Right,

1305
01:03:17,960 --> 01:03:20,520
Speaker 3: they had an early pick six. I want to say,

1306
01:03:20,720 --> 01:03:22,800
Speaker 3: or interception that set something up. I have to go

1307
01:03:22,840 --> 01:03:25,280
Speaker 3: back and watch, but they were in a nice position

1308
01:03:26,040 --> 01:03:30,200
Speaker 3: and when Ohio State adjusted and they were more successful

1309
01:03:30,240 --> 01:03:32,960
Speaker 3: on offense, Penn State couldn't counter. Penn State didn't have

1310
01:03:32,960 --> 01:03:36,560
Speaker 3: an offensive touchdown in that game, right right, And then

1311
01:03:36,680 --> 01:03:38,600
Speaker 3: in the Oregon game, it's just back and forth, back

1312
01:03:38,640 --> 01:03:39,080
Speaker 3: and forth.

1313
01:03:39,120 --> 01:03:39,520
Speaker 4: Oregon.

1314
01:03:39,920 --> 01:03:42,000
Speaker 3: You know, they have a key interception that leads to

1315
01:03:42,040 --> 01:03:45,840
Speaker 3: a very like a one yard touchdown, and Penn State

1316
01:03:45,880 --> 01:03:47,360
Speaker 3: in the second half it was just a couple of

1317
01:03:47,360 --> 01:03:49,960
Speaker 3: times where they couldn't keep a drive going and Oregon

1318
01:03:50,000 --> 01:03:52,720
Speaker 3: was able to sustain drives and couldn't get it done.

1319
01:03:52,840 --> 01:03:55,520
Speaker 3: It's just that second half. Okay, we see what this

1320
01:03:55,560 --> 01:03:59,360
Speaker 3: team is doing and going for game plan wise, here's

1321
01:03:59,400 --> 01:04:03,520
Speaker 3: our counter. Yeah, and Penn State fell short of that

1322
01:04:03,760 --> 01:04:05,920
Speaker 3: last year obviously fell short against Notre Dame. But that

1323
01:04:05,960 --> 01:04:07,960
Speaker 3: game is crazy tight, back and forth at the game.

1324
01:04:08,000 --> 01:04:09,600
Speaker 1: That was a winnable game for Penn State. In a

1325
01:04:09,600 --> 01:04:11,200
Speaker 1: different universe, they do win that game.

1326
01:04:11,600 --> 01:04:15,240
Speaker 3: Something that I was reminded of during draft time. I

1327
01:04:15,280 --> 01:04:18,240
Speaker 3: think just because so many things are happening all the

1328
01:04:18,240 --> 01:04:23,320
Speaker 3: time in life. Abdul Carter playing like at forty percent

1329
01:04:23,760 --> 01:04:26,520
Speaker 3: and being effective, oh yeah in the playoff, like the

1330
01:04:26,520 --> 01:04:30,160
Speaker 3: injuries he was dealing with. You know, obviously the offensive

1331
01:04:30,160 --> 01:04:33,000
Speaker 3: issues were what they were against Notre Dame in general

1332
01:04:33,280 --> 01:04:36,960
Speaker 3: later on in the season. But they should be in

1333
01:04:37,000 --> 01:04:38,680
Speaker 3: a really nice place this year.

1334
01:04:39,160 --> 01:04:41,320
Speaker 1: Listen, people are going to listen to what I just said,

1335
01:04:41,320 --> 01:04:42,800
Speaker 1: and they're gonna be like, what are you an idiot?

1336
01:04:42,880 --> 01:04:44,560
Speaker 1: Would you not want to be ranked number one?

1337
01:04:45,120 --> 01:04:45,280
Speaker 2: Right?

1338
01:04:45,360 --> 01:04:47,360
Speaker 1: That is not what I'm saying. It just frightens me

1339
01:04:47,600 --> 01:04:51,880
Speaker 1: whenever you put those kind of expectations on a different number. Yeah,

1340
01:04:51,960 --> 01:04:54,600
Speaker 1: it feels the heavy is the head that wears that

1341
01:04:54,640 --> 01:04:58,600
Speaker 1: crown in the preseason especially, and so yeah, it worries

1342
01:04:58,680 --> 01:05:00,960
Speaker 1: me that they can't get to that level. But it

1343
01:05:00,960 --> 01:05:03,240
Speaker 1: should be a good team. It should be a fun season,

1344
01:05:03,280 --> 01:05:05,200
Speaker 1: and the schedule sets up well, there's a lot there

1345
01:05:05,240 --> 01:05:05,640
Speaker 1: for them.

1346
01:05:05,800 --> 01:05:09,480
Speaker 3: You've been making an argument that their combination of coordinators

1347
01:05:09,960 --> 01:05:13,360
Speaker 3: is if it's not the best in the country, it's impactable,

1348
01:05:13,480 --> 01:05:16,480
Speaker 3: one of the best three, best four. It's all I mean,

1349
01:05:16,480 --> 01:05:19,360
Speaker 3: it's just things have aligned very nicely for Penn State,

1350
01:05:19,720 --> 01:05:25,400
Speaker 3: and it definitely feels like if not now when I'm

1351
01:05:25,400 --> 01:05:28,400
Speaker 3: with you and it look it can happen in three years.

1352
01:05:28,440 --> 01:05:28,800
Speaker 4: It can.

1353
01:05:29,040 --> 01:05:30,760
Speaker 3: I don't know who's next the quarterback for Penn State,

1354
01:05:30,880 --> 01:05:36,400
Speaker 3: but it feels as ready made in white glove as

1355
01:05:36,640 --> 01:05:40,040
Speaker 3: any team has had it that hasn't broken through lately.

1356
01:05:40,040 --> 01:05:41,880
Speaker 1: People are really big on Ethan Grunkeemeier.

1357
01:05:42,240 --> 01:05:43,640
Speaker 4: So is that true good name?

1358
01:05:44,240 --> 01:05:46,760
Speaker 1: Very good name? More importantly, and we can close with this,

1359
01:05:46,840 --> 01:05:49,240
Speaker 1: thank you to everybody for downloading, for listening, for supporting,

1360
01:05:49,360 --> 01:05:52,200
Speaker 1: going out to for bowlers dot com for more. The

1361
01:05:52,240 --> 01:05:54,920
Speaker 1: clock is ticking now. We're recording this on Thursday, May

1362
01:05:54,960 --> 01:05:58,760
Speaker 1: the twenty second. I have not gone on out to

1363
01:05:59,080 --> 01:06:03,360
Speaker 1: days until to get the official daycount for how long

1364
01:06:03,400 --> 01:06:06,840
Speaker 1: it will be until that game, Penn State hosting Oregon

1365
01:06:06,880 --> 01:06:08,240
Speaker 1: on September the twenty seventh.

1366
01:06:08,480 --> 01:06:09,800
Speaker 4: All right, I'll look it up right now.

1367
01:06:09,800 --> 01:06:12,280
Speaker 1: Okay, but I would say roughly, you and I have

1368
01:06:12,400 --> 01:06:15,320
Speaker 1: about four months to figure out how the hell logistically

1369
01:06:15,360 --> 01:06:18,880
Speaker 1: we're going to pull this off. Because you booked the flight.

1370
01:06:19,320 --> 01:06:22,400
Speaker 3: You said September twenty seventh. September twenty seventh, I did

1371
01:06:22,400 --> 01:06:24,760
Speaker 3: book the flight. You booked the flight thinking about it.

1372
01:06:24,800 --> 01:06:27,240
Speaker 3: If it were a night game, you're flying in the

1373
01:06:27,360 --> 01:06:27,840
Speaker 3: night game.

1374
01:06:27,920 --> 01:06:30,560
Speaker 1: Element of this could definitely throw a bit of a

1375
01:06:30,600 --> 01:06:33,520
Speaker 1: monkey wrench in our normal plans, which is we're going

1376
01:06:33,560 --> 01:06:35,120
Speaker 1: to do the midnight live stream. We still want to

1377
01:06:35,160 --> 01:06:37,320
Speaker 1: do the midnight live stream. We just need a little

1378
01:06:37,320 --> 01:06:39,760
Speaker 1: bit of help from the community to figure out how

1379
01:06:40,160 --> 01:06:42,960
Speaker 1: we could do all of these things. Go to the game,

1380
01:06:43,920 --> 01:06:48,040
Speaker 1: enjoy you know, Penn State versus Oregon, and still I'm

1381
01:06:48,080 --> 01:06:50,120
Speaker 1: assuming somewhere up in State College. If it is a

1382
01:06:50,200 --> 01:06:54,640
Speaker 1: night game, do the midnight broadcast. So if anybody out

1383
01:06:54,640 --> 01:06:56,680
Speaker 1: there has any ideas Solidverblo.

1384
01:06:56,320 --> 01:06:57,720
Speaker 3: Well as such as that, it's I got to figure

1385
01:06:57,720 --> 01:06:59,360
Speaker 3: out how to get back home and how to get

1386
01:06:59,400 --> 01:07:02,840
Speaker 3: back home. We have three thousand and seventy two hours

1387
01:07:03,440 --> 01:07:07,800
Speaker 3: to devise an itinerary, provided that I think NBC is

1388
01:07:07,840 --> 01:07:11,040
Speaker 3: broadcasting that game at seven or seven thirty Eastern.

1389
01:07:11,440 --> 01:07:15,480
Speaker 1: Which means inevitably that you and I will save this

1390
01:07:15,600 --> 01:07:19,320
Speaker 1: until the final seventy two hours of figure out whatever costs. Yes, obviously, yes,

1391
01:07:20,000 --> 01:07:22,040
Speaker 1: Solidverbalt Gmail dot com. If you have any ideas, we'd

1392
01:07:22,080 --> 01:07:25,160
Speaker 1: appreciate that. All right, Thanks again to Ben Jones for

1393
01:07:25,200 --> 01:07:28,160
Speaker 1: stopping on by. We appreciate his insight as always, go

1394
01:07:28,200 --> 01:07:30,440
Speaker 1: and check him out. Ben Jones on PennState dot substack

1395
01:07:30,520 --> 01:07:33,280
Speaker 1: dot com. You can of course check us out Solid

1396
01:07:33,360 --> 01:07:36,760
Speaker 1: verbal dot com, hit follow, hit subscribe wherever it is

1397
01:07:36,840 --> 01:07:39,800
Speaker 1: you are listening to this episode. We'll be here all

1398
01:07:39,840 --> 01:07:42,480
Speaker 1: off season. Have a happy Memorial Day if you're here

1399
01:07:42,520 --> 01:07:46,160
Speaker 1: in the States. In the meantime, until next time, I

1400
01:07:46,240 --> 01:07:48,160
Speaker 1: am Ty. He is Dan. As always, you know, the

1401
01:07:48,240 --> 01:07:49,960
Speaker 1: drill State, Solid Peace,