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Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal hell that for me, I'm

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Speaker 1: a man, I'm forty.

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

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Speaker 2: be happy. You want to be happy for dake Edo State?

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Speaker 1: Is that woo woom? And then and tie, Dan Rubinstein,

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Speaker 1: it is officially excuse season in college football. Week eight

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Speaker 1: is in the books, staring down the barrel, not just

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Speaker 1: of Week nine, but of November, of rivalries, of bowl eligibility,

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Speaker 1: of rankings mattering a little bit more as we get

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Speaker 1: into the college football playoff discussion. Excuse season. You've seen them,

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Speaker 1: I've seen them. They're all scattered throughout the college football interwebs.

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Speaker 2: To those of us who are never accountable, every day

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Speaker 2: is excuse, sees and tie. It doesn't just happen once

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Speaker 2: a year. It doesn't just happen for a stretch.

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Speaker 1: Tie.

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Speaker 2: I can go on and on about all my excuses

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Speaker 2: for everything that has ever wronged me in life or

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Speaker 2: anything that is wrong in the Oregon Ducks. So the

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Speaker 2: LA Dodgers tie. How much time do you have? This

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Speaker 2: is right in my wheelhouse. Happy to be here, happy

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Speaker 2: to be here.

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Speaker 1: So look. The idea for this episode came from Frankly

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Speaker 1: reading some of the YouTube comments that we have gotten

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Speaker 1: over the last couple weeks. We have seen a little

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Speaker 1: bit of everything from Ohio State's injury issues to perhaps

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Speaker 1: a little bit of home cooking of course in the

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Speaker 1: refereeing game between Tennessee and Alabama, perhaps just a straight

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Speaker 1: up game fixin. You've got a couple of those as well,

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Speaker 1: and so we thought on today's episode we would not

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Speaker 1: just peel back the curtain and read off some of

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Speaker 1: those for the for bowler Hood, but we'd go through

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Speaker 1: some of the top teams. Frankly, some of the excuses

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Speaker 1: we've seen have not really added up. I know you'll

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Speaker 1: find that hard to believe. So if we're going to

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Speaker 1: do this right, let's go through some of the top

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Speaker 1: teams that come up with the excuses that fan bases

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Speaker 1: should be using, the ones that we think actually do

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Speaker 1: a plug based on the results we've seen so far

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Speaker 1: this year.

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Speaker 2: Can I launch you into the excuse stratosphere with a

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Speaker 2: game from Saturday night that didn't end until we were

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Speaker 2: done with this show. What's the excuse that Washington should

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Speaker 2: have or Washington fans should have for not scoring an

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Speaker 2: offensive touchdown against Arizona State? Is there because I saw.

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Speaker 2: The only thing I could find was this was from

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Speaker 2: Washington fans that clearly the coaches were not taking this

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Speaker 2: game seriously. Clearly they could just walk into their own

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Speaker 2: stadium and beat ASCU, a lowly ASU team with their

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Speaker 2: like eleventh string quarterback needed that pick six near the

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Speaker 2: end of the game, and a flag that a PI

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Speaker 2: flag that was picked up. It was kind of a

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Speaker 2: gravvy situation that wasn't a PI. So that's that's what

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Speaker 2: I could find from Washington fans and like, oh, this

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Speaker 2: team clearly, you know, despite the Michael Pennock's turnovers and

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Speaker 2: fumbles and all that stuff, no offensive touchdowns.

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Speaker 1: No, I mean that's the hangover effect. Obviously, hangover hangover effect,

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Speaker 1: the letdown after the Oregon game. Clearly the look ahead

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Speaker 1: to Stanford next week. Yeah, maybe USC in two weeks,

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Speaker 1: although that game's not as big as it as it

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Speaker 1: looked before. College football is very good at doing this.

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Speaker 1: It's also very amusing to hear from Afar. If nothing more,

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Speaker 1: it offers Catharsis if you're someone in my chair, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: looking at Notre Dames offense, looking at Penn State's offense

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Speaker 1: last week, specifically against Ohio State, sometimes there is a

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Speaker 1: group Catharsis that is needed, and perhaps that's what we

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Speaker 1: can do here today.

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Speaker 2: I saw and again I like naming names. Ty, you

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Speaker 2: know how I feel about this. I like naming names.

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Speaker 2: Our friend Stuart Mandel, who was very good at what

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Speaker 2: he does, I was told, made a comparison to this

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Speaker 2: Washington team to the twenty nineteen LSU team because of

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Speaker 2: the depth of receivers and the lightning quick release and

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Speaker 2: downfield accuracy of Michael Pennix. I think we can put

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Speaker 2: that to rest. I think we can put that to rest.

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Speaker 2: But I love a good excuse, Tian. This is not

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Speaker 2: limited to Washington fans. Where do you want to start

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Speaker 2: from here? Well, I want to start.

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Speaker 1: With the Ohio State Buckeyes. Okay, I alluded to this

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Speaker 1: a little bit. We've gotten this comment a lot. The

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Speaker 1: frequent comment has been, especially after the Penn State game,

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Speaker 1: that while three of their four best players were out

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Speaker 1: and that is why this game was not more of

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Speaker 1: a runaway train. If you watch the game, Ohio State

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Speaker 1: kind of kind of ruled the roost there. It was

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Speaker 1: closed for a while, but clearly in the second half

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Speaker 1: they had their way with Penn State. The score doesn't

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Speaker 1: necessarily indicate by how much I think Ohio State actually

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Speaker 1: won that football game if I'm being honest, But without

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Speaker 1: a Mecha Igbuca, without Trey Henderson, Denzel Burke like, there

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Speaker 1: were a bunch of guys out for Ohio State. So

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Speaker 1: my question to you is whether or not that is

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Speaker 1: a valid excuse for what we saw on Saturday, which,

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Speaker 1: by the way, by the way, was a really impressive

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Speaker 1: home win for another top ten team. If you're making

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Speaker 1: excuses for not beating that team by more, you're still

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Speaker 1: in a pretty good spot. Okay, But to the question here,

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Speaker 1: is that an excuse Ohio State fans should make.

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Speaker 2: If I'm an Ohio State fan, absolutely, I would absolutely

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Speaker 2: make that excuse for me as somebody who doesn't have

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Speaker 2: any skin in the game. Just observing this game, Penn

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Speaker 2: State would have stopped Trey Henderson right like Penn State

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Speaker 2: was stopping everything on the ground. Trey Henderson can be

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Speaker 2: good both between the tackles and on the outside. Penn

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Speaker 2: State wasn't allowing anything on the ground. I think Maya

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Speaker 2: Williams made a couple of spectacular second effort plays, especially

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Speaker 2: in short yard situations. I don't think that changes the

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Speaker 2: tenor of the game. Also, if you're Ohio State, don't

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Speaker 2: you pride yourself on having fourteen blue chip receivers or

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Speaker 2: something like that. And Abuuka is very very good, but

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Speaker 2: they have strength in numbers in that receiving room. And

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Speaker 2: Brian Hartline, who's now elevated to offensive coordinator, is the

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Speaker 2: one who would love to use all of those receivers

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Speaker 2: for future recruiting for over long he's in Columbus. So

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Speaker 2: I don't think I buy that excuse. And it's not

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Speaker 2: like if Denzel Burke is there, Oh, all of the sudden,

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Speaker 2: Penn State's not dominating through the air right now. Penn

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Speaker 2: State wasn't doing anything through the air, So I don't

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Speaker 2: I think it's a nice win for Ohio State for

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Speaker 2: an offense that has struggled at times this year, in

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Speaker 2: an offensive line that has struggled at times. So I

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Speaker 2: think if you're an Ohio State fan, I think it's

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Speaker 2: more big picture excuse. I'm like, why couldn't Ryan Day.

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Speaker 2: I think it's justin Fry, the offensive line coach. Why

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Speaker 2: couldn't they build out a better offensive line these past

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Speaker 2: couple of years? Why couldn't they develop guys. Why couldn't

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Speaker 2: they replace those tackles in a more satisfactory way. Why

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Speaker 2: wasn't Kyle McCord up to speed. Why isn't there more

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Speaker 2: of a cohesive vision for this offense from day one?

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Speaker 2: Why isn't there a vision for short yard situations? I

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Speaker 2: think those are all good excuses, or rather good questions.

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Speaker 2: What Ohio State fans are like, Well, it should have

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Speaker 2: been thirty six to seven against Penn State. Is that

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Speaker 2: what it is? That's it's the excuse that they're they're

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Speaker 2: chasing after I suppose.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I'm surprised that they still aren't using the

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Speaker 1: kylemo cord excuse. I'm surprised that they're still not using

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Speaker 1: the excuse as well. He's a new quarterback and new

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Speaker 1: first time starting quarterback, and this was the biggest situation

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Speaker 1: he's been in all year, and he's learning on the job,

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Speaker 1: and it's like he is getting better. He's getting better.

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Speaker 1: I think Ohio State is getting better. That's part of

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Speaker 1: the reason that they kind of scare me the rest

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Speaker 1: of the year. I think they're getting better. I don't

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Speaker 1: know if they're going to be as good as they've

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Speaker 1: been in years past, but I feel like the offense

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Speaker 1: is getting better now. The fact that they were down

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Speaker 1: a few key pieces, yeah, of course that hurts. But

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Speaker 1: to your point, strengthen numbers. They've recruited gangbusters the last five, six,

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Speaker 1: seven years. It shouldn't be the kind of thing that's

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Speaker 1: going to come back to haunt them too much. Right,

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Speaker 1: you know the other thing and maybe the more obvious excuse.

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Speaker 1: Penn State's got like the best defense in the country.

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Speaker 1: There is your excuse. It's built right in. Forget the injuries.

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Speaker 2: Right, they're really good. And I think the reason for

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Speaker 2: excuses and this isn't limited to Ohio State, this is

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Speaker 2: everybody is because it's the easy thing to say, we're

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Speaker 2: The more difficult thing to say is Dwayne Haskins was

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Speaker 2: immediately very strong. CJ. Stroud was immediately very strong, as

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Speaker 2: like Braxim Miller and J. T. Barrett were immediately very

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Speaker 2: very good and dangerous. And so now Ohio State is

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Speaker 2: facing problems like the rest of us do right where

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Speaker 2: their quarterback needs to take some time, or their coach

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Speaker 2: whift on two or three quarterbacks, or whift on this

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Speaker 2: quarterback or this quarterback is merely pretty good and not

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Speaker 2: Heisman caliber, and it surely it must be something else

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Speaker 2: that has has plagued our program, some outside force that

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Speaker 2: has plagued our program that we're not responsible for. So

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Speaker 2: I think that's sort of the reality that a lot

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Speaker 2: of these teams are faced with that, Like it's much

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Speaker 2: easier to blame the referees than say, like, oh, well,

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Speaker 2: you know, our coaches didn't train our offensive linemen to

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Speaker 2: hold in better ways, Like that's the problem, and that's

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Speaker 2: what's amazing about this sport.

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Speaker 1: Another popular excuse, and I'm going to zero in on

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Speaker 1: one specific team place Texas A and M. Texas A

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Speaker 1: and M wants to blame Jimbo. We have blamed Jimbo.

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Speaker 1: I had videos out there with my face, with your beautiful,

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Speaker 1: handsome face. Thank you blaming Jimbo. The joke, the running

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Speaker 1: joke with A and M is that they're an eight

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Speaker 1: and fourteen. Doesn't matter what they do, doesn't matter who

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Speaker 1: the coaches, doesn't matter what the players names are, et cetera,

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Speaker 1: et cetera, A M. It's an eight and fourteen. Is

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Speaker 1: Jimbo responsible for A and M being an eight and

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Speaker 1: four team in this year of our Lord twenty twenty three?

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Speaker 1: Is that the reason why.

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Speaker 2: Who else, Well, no, I mean, obviously I think it's

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Speaker 2: whoever highed Jimbo, whoever was the one who ultimately made

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Speaker 2: that call, whichever group of boosters ad whatever the excuse

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Speaker 2: is that the real excuse, the real central truth is

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Speaker 2: Jimbo Fisher was on the downturn at the end of

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Speaker 2: his time at Florida State. The real excuse this is

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Speaker 2: that Texas A and M hired somebody who was not

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Speaker 2: going in the correct direction. So yeah, look, if you

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Speaker 2: want to make an excuse for this year's specific team,

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Speaker 2: it's that maybe offensive linemen were misevaluated and underdeveloped. It's

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Speaker 2: that quarterback had a catastrophic what foot injury, the starting quarterback,

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Speaker 2: and that there was an unbelievable amount of pressure on

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Speaker 2: this team after the recruiting class from a couple of

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Speaker 2: years ago to turn a corner. Nobody's going to say

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Speaker 2: that Jimbo Fisher can't recruit. Nobody's going to say that

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Speaker 2: Texas A and M can't attract talent, because obviously that's

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Speaker 2: proven to be the case. But there is something about

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Speaker 2: Texas A and M that leads to outsize expectations and

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Speaker 2: underperforming them. And I think it's fair to look at

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Speaker 2: Jimbo Fisher with how conservative he's been in an era

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Speaker 2: of aggressive offensive tactics, with Alabama opening things up, with

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Speaker 2: LSU opening things up, with the teams that they would

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Speaker 2: like to compare themselves against going in the opposite direction

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Speaker 2: from where Texas A and M has been going on

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Speaker 2: the field. So I think it's totally valid to blame

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Speaker 2: Jimbo Fisher and to blame a contract that, while it

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Speaker 2: may be bought out in a matter of days, weeks, months, whatever,

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Speaker 2: that it's a contract that is unwieldy to deal with.

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Speaker 2: And that's what I think is going to ultimately set

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Speaker 2: Texas A and M back.

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Speaker 1: You're saying, don't hate the player, hate the game kind

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Speaker 1: of yeah, essentially, right. Don't hate Jimbo.

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Speaker 2: No, no, no, hate Jimbo. Okay, it's it's okay to.

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Speaker 1: But hate the people who hire Jimbo more.

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Speaker 2: Yes, correct, And to look at Jimbo's Texas A and

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Speaker 2: M teams as well, of course, this.

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Speaker 1: Is what they were going to be.

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Speaker 2: This is what he was yelling like. You look at

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Speaker 2: Jimbo Fisher with and without Jamis Winston specifically, and this

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Speaker 2: is who he is, and they built a special team

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Speaker 2: and a special offense at a special time within the ACC.

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Speaker 2: And I'm not saying that that Florida State team was

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Speaker 2: a product of its specific environment within the conference, but

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Speaker 2: like that was an incredible run that season, the twenty

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Speaker 2: thirteen season. But over time, Jimbo has kind of told

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Speaker 2: you who he is and who he isn't as a

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Speaker 2: head coach at a major program. And Texas A and

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Speaker 2: M signed up for it.

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Speaker 1: That's all another popular excuse that I think is kind

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Speaker 1: of assumed as a universal truth in college football. The

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Speaker 1: reason that USC has not been better is because of

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Speaker 1: defensive ineptitude. The offense has obviously been very good, the

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Speaker 1: defense has been soft. I don't think that's a stretch

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Speaker 1: to say. I do wonder though, if that is the

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Speaker 1: main excuse we should be making, because USC defenses have

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Speaker 1: been soft before. USC has been a target for transfers,

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Speaker 1: has been a popular place to go. I think love

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Speaker 1: Lincoln Riley or hate Lincoln Riley. He has certainly stepped

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Speaker 1: foot on campus and given that program juice right, everybody

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Speaker 1: wanted to go and play there a year ago, certainly,

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Speaker 1: so now here we are a year later, seems like

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Speaker 1: it's the same problem. It's very popular to blame the defense,

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Speaker 1: and very popular to blame Alex Grinch specifically for that defense.

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Speaker 1: Is that where USC is at? Is it such that

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Speaker 1: you just swap out a defensive coordinator, bring in some

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Speaker 1: different guys maybe to play a different scheme, and suddenly

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Speaker 1: it's going to be back on the tracks and this

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Speaker 1: is going to be a national powerhouse again.

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Speaker 2: No, I don't think it's that easy. I don't think

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Speaker 2: it's like a white glove situation. It's a great excuse.

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Speaker 2: And I think you look at Lincoln Riley and you say, well,

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Speaker 2: he had a good defense and it was with Alex Grinch.

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Speaker 2: I think it was the twenty twenty season at Oklahoma

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Speaker 2: and otherwise Oklahoma with both Alex Grinch and Mike Stoops

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Speaker 2: struggled to an incredible extent with both Bob Stoops and

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Speaker 2: Lincoln Riley. And look at there's like a popular thing

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Speaker 2: to say about like if he wanted to he would

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Speaker 2: right in terms of relationships, if he wanted to be mantick,

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Speaker 2: he would. If he wanted to impress you, he would.

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Speaker 2: If Lincoln Riley wanted to have a complete team, if

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Speaker 2: Lincoln Riley wanted to have a defense that would hold

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Speaker 2: its own on his own team with that great offense,

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Speaker 2: he would. But it involves a lot of elbow grease.

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Speaker 2: It involves building out a roster, It involves building out

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Speaker 2: a recruiting network, It involves recruiting nationally, because there just

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Speaker 2: aren't those bodies on the West coast. We've seen great

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Speaker 2: Oregon defenses lately. We've seen great Washington defenses lately. If

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Speaker 2: you look back to Pete Qwitkowski and Jimmy Lake at

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Speaker 2: Washington with Chris Peterson, it's not impossible to field a

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Speaker 2: good to very good, too excellent defense on the West coast.

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Speaker 2: It takes time, it takes an effort, it takes energy,

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Speaker 2: and I think there's a certain amount of Hubris with

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Speaker 2: Lincoln Riley and USC that says, let's get great quarterbacks,

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Speaker 2: let's get great receivers, let's find offensive lineman in the portal,

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Speaker 2: let's score forty five a game, and let's figure out

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Speaker 2: how to get turnovers on defense. Like there's a very

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Speaker 2: specific vision to sort of cut the line or cheat

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Speaker 2: the system. Let's figure out a way to hack defense

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Speaker 2: in a way that like it doesn't involve recruiting like

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Speaker 2: crazy and building depth up and figuring out a system

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Speaker 2: that's going to work for the PAC twelve.

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Speaker 1: They're studying the code in the simulation right right.

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Speaker 2: I think there is that sort of unfounded confidence that

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Speaker 2: you can figure out defense in a way that Georgia

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Speaker 2: or Alabama or Ohio State or Michigan or any of

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Speaker 2: these programs where it takes time to build up defensive

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Speaker 2: line and linebacker depth. It takes resources to like get

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Speaker 2: all these the twenty twenty six unofficial visits, right, you

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Speaker 2: got to this is something building up roster depth takes

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Speaker 2: years and years of planning in advance. And I think

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Speaker 2: there was that element of let's in the portal era.

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Speaker 2: It's LA, let's get people out here to visit like

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Speaker 2: and I just think they fully misunderstood what it would

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Speaker 2: take to win a bunch of games and get back

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Speaker 2: to a playoff type program. And I think it's on

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Speaker 2: Lincoln Riley.

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Speaker 1: I really do. Wow. I don't disagree. I mean, I

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Speaker 1: don't disagree at all. I think the defense is something

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Speaker 1: that has plagued him. That has always been the case

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Speaker 1: for Lincoln Riley. Nobody, upon Lincoln Riley arriving in La said, man,

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Speaker 1: He's going to put together a stellar defense. He's never

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Speaker 1: done that. It's always been about the flash and about

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Speaker 1: the offense. They've been very good, and he's put guys

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Speaker 1: in the NFL. And I understand why if you're an

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Speaker 1: offensive player you want to go play there. I understand

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Speaker 1: why if you're a defensive player you want to go

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Speaker 1: play there. There's a lot of juice on USC as

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Speaker 1: a program right now. You will be in the spotlight

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Speaker 1: if you go play there. So I don't fault anyone

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Speaker 1: for wanting to be part of that. But eventually, and

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Speaker 1: I said this on the recap show, and I talked

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Speaker 1: about James Franklin. If these coaches are screaming to you

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Speaker 1: who they are, at some point you have to believe him.

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Speaker 1: And if you don't, it's on you, right, It's on you.

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Speaker 1: Lincoln Riley's been screaming this for an eternity. He hasn't

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Speaker 1: really won the big one, has he. No, he hasn't.

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Speaker 1: He's been very good at attracting talent. He's been very

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Speaker 1: good at developing talent to a certain degree, but there

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Speaker 1: have been holes in his game that he has been

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Speaker 1: screaming about. He's been telling us for an attorney now

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Speaker 1: and the fact that it's happening again should surprise anybody.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and look, there is a certain amount of being

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Speaker 2: a victim of your own success, right when you build

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Speaker 2: up an offense that's so successful, an offense that's so

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Speaker 2: good and so lethal, and getting guys open way downfield

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Speaker 2: and having a quarterback who can buy time to just

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Speaker 2: bombit forty five yards. If you're scoring super quickly without

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Speaker 2: a deep defense, you might need to start rethinking how

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Speaker 2: quickly your offense plays. You might started I'm not talking

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Speaker 2: about serving your defense, but like, if your offense is

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Speaker 2: that good, you better build up a ton of defensive depth.

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Speaker 2: You better start rotating in a ton of bodies early

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Speaker 2: on in the season to see what you have to

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Speaker 2: know what to build your defense around moving forward. And

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Speaker 2: you have to be smart about how you play given

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Speaker 2: your roster, and I just don't think usc is dan.

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Speaker 1: We're going to go through a bunch of other questions

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Speaker 1: over on our patreon at verballer dot com. We had

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Speaker 1: a bunch come in from the verballer hood. They're burning questions.

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Speaker 1: After week eight, you can go to verballers dot com

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Speaker 1: again v E R B A L L e r

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Speaker 1: s dot com and sign up to listen to the

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Speaker 1: full episode as we go through all of these questions

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Speaker 1: and more. We would encourage everybody to write in either

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Speaker 1: on social media or at the plain old fashioned email

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Speaker 1: address at soliverbo at gmail dot com and let us

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Speaker 1: know the excuses that you've heard out there in the

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Speaker 1: college football world and I don't know, give us a

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Speaker 1: stress test on them, let us know where they're right,

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Speaker 1: where they're wrong. We could do more of these. We

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Speaker 1: had people send in all sorts of suggestions for what

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Speaker 1: we could talk about here, so covered some of the

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Speaker 1: higher level ones, some of the more team specific ones today.

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Speaker 1: We would encourage you to write in let us know

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Speaker 1: what we missed and maybe what we should talk about

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Speaker 1: next time. If you like the show, make sure you

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Speaker 1: hit subscribe, follow, and once you do that, make sure

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Speaker 1: you also rate and review you the soliverbal College Football Podcast.

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Speaker 2: Dan, I'm sorry we didn't get into doxing refs, which

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Speaker 2: is a great Doxing in general in college football is

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Speaker 2: the lowest of the lowest of the low and does

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Speaker 2: not represent any fan base, but it is pretty incredible

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Speaker 2: when it happens as like a conspiracy theory that like

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Speaker 2: actually and in college football specifically, it's great. I understand

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Speaker 2: there's some valid arguments to like weird ref assignments, especially

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Speaker 2: in the NBA when you look at like weird betting stuff.

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Speaker 2: But in college football, what was it? Somebody owned was

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Speaker 2: a realtor in Tuscaloosa, but it turns out it was

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Speaker 2: somebody with a different name or a different person with

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Speaker 2: the same name.

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Speaker 1: That was this past weekend with a Tennessee Bay of

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Speaker 1: game right correct. Yes, there were some questionable calls. I'm

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Speaker 1: not gonna lie.

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Speaker 2: There always are.

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Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know if it was a

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Speaker 1: full home cooking for real estate situation, I doubt it,

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Speaker 1: but there were there were definitely some misscalls and some

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Speaker 1: questionable decisions by the crew that was working that game

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Speaker 1: this past weekend. I love it. I will give love

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Speaker 1: it all alright, catch you guys over on Patreon atverballers

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Speaker 1: dot com. M mm hmm,