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Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal hull.

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Speaker 2: That for me. I'm a man, I'm for I've heard

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Speaker 2: so many players say, well, I want to be happy.

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Speaker 2: You want to be happy for a day? Edith Steak

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Speaker 2: is that woo woo? And no them and tie Dan Ruberstein,

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Speaker 2: you want to give out some report cards today? You

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Speaker 2: know what's a funny thing here, Ty is I got

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Speaker 2: an email I don't know, three hours ago from my

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Speaker 2: son's school. The older guy, the six year old school

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Speaker 2: literally got his first report card today.

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Speaker 1: Oh, this is breaking news. I'm not going to miss this.

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Speaker 1: Sound this is breaking news. What's the report on the

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Speaker 1: little man?

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Speaker 2: Everything is fine, everything is good. But I got a

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Speaker 2: frantic call from Jody with an eye saying, oh god,

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Speaker 2: oh God, got like a category of like could use

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Speaker 2: some work, Oh god. And so I don't know who

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Speaker 2: the football equivalent of that is, but I think he

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Speaker 2: put in kind of like an admirable John Sumral start

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Speaker 2: to his school year. And I got a frantic Brent

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Speaker 2: Brennan call. So we're we're working through things. Ty, He's

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Speaker 2: in good shape. I like it. Do they still go

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Speaker 2: os and U or no? It's a bunch of categories

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Speaker 2: that is like shows proficiency in communicating Bloblake. And there's

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Speaker 2: like different categories within a chart, and so it's not

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Speaker 2: a standard letter or number like the outstanding, satisfactory needs

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Speaker 2: improvement kind of thing. It's little phrases that he checks

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Speaker 2: or does not check.

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Speaker 1: Well. We can do a postgame interview with him as

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Speaker 1: part of our bonus content.

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Speaker 2: Which you can find out Atverballers dot.

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Speaker 1: Com, v E R B A L l e rs

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Speaker 1: dot com Bonus content, ad free episodes, access to the

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Speaker 1: full ver baller Hood, and our discord server as well.

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Speaker 1: We're not going to give it out those grades now,

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Speaker 1: the little Man Today, We're actually going to be taking

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Speaker 1: a look back at.

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Speaker 2: First year coaches.

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Speaker 1: It was a robust season of first year coaches, both

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Speaker 1: in name and in number. We're gonna go back through them.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna give out some grades for some of the

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Speaker 1: most notable, not all of them. Again they were thirty one.

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Speaker 1: We've got a big list in front of us here,

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Speaker 1: some that I think are meaningful to our verballer hood. Again,

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Speaker 1: please hit follow, please hit subscribes that you don't miss

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Speaker 1: any of our off season episodes. Dan, it took a

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Speaker 1: little bit to go through all these guys, It really did,

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Speaker 1: and we broke it down into I think a couple

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Speaker 1: different categories for how we want to score each of

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Speaker 1: these names. If that's what I can read these off

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Speaker 1: for a second.

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Speaker 2: Please do. The first was what did they inherit? Right?

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Speaker 1: What's the starting point? Not everybody had the same starting

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Speaker 1: point I would expect when we get to a guy

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Speaker 1: like a Sharon More, that's gonna be an interesting conversation.

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Speaker 2: And by the way, it's not just what you inherit

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Speaker 2: in terms of a roster. It's what you inherit in

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Speaker 2: terms of culture, in terms of vibes, in terms of

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Speaker 2: commitment behind the scenes. Right, It's not just like, oh yeah,

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Speaker 2: this roster is stacked and ready to roll into the

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Speaker 2: play off. There's a lot that, you know, a lot

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Speaker 2: of elbow grease that a lot of these guys needed

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Speaker 2: to put in.

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Speaker 1: Secondly, what did they bring in either via recruiting, the

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Speaker 1: transfer portal? Even this extends I think to assistance and

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Speaker 1: now front office and personnel management. Sure, given where we're

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Speaker 1: at in college football, what did they do on that front?

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Speaker 2: How do we great amount?

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Speaker 1: The third is how close were they to being better

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Speaker 1: or in some cases worse as compared to a year ago.

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Speaker 1: Did they move the program forward? Did they take a

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Speaker 1: step back? Some of that stuff can be explained given

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Speaker 1: some of the variables we're going to talk through, but

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Speaker 1: better when.

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Speaker 2: You squint and see what they're going for.

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Speaker 1: What's the philosophy right, what's the general arc of where

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Speaker 1: things seem to be headed, and to that point, what's

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Speaker 1: the outlook moving forward? With respect to recruiting portal schedules

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Speaker 1: I think play a pretty big part in this confer

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Speaker 1: to be honest with you, is there the quarterback of

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Speaker 1: the future, the guy that you can build around? Otherwise

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Speaker 1: that type of thing very important. Were they able to

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Speaker 1: establish themselves either find that guy who was on the

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Speaker 1: existing roster or brings somebody in in some cases that

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Speaker 1: can be that dude moving forward. And then finally, just stability,

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Speaker 1: especially in this era of college football. And you know,

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Speaker 1: we've talked about this a lot on the show, how stability,

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Speaker 1: how alignment, how all of these things, making sure everybody's

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Speaker 1: on the same page, especially when a new coach comes in.

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Speaker 1: That is like the currency of college football right now,

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Speaker 1: nil being what it is, and transfer portal and recruiting

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Speaker 1: and this new world order with the expanded playoff stability,

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Speaker 1: alignment still what makes this whole thing go efficiently and

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Speaker 1: successfully if you are any of these new guys taken

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Speaker 1: over in a new spot.

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Speaker 2: I think about that word a lot, by the way, alignment,

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Speaker 2: because you see that more and more like, oh, I

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Speaker 2: want to go somewhere where they're where everybody's aligned, or

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Speaker 2: the alignment wasn't wasn't on where it should have been.

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Speaker 2: I was thinking about that, like, how do you distill

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Speaker 2: that word down to its essence? I think alignment is

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Speaker 2: people are paying money and letting me decide the decisions

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Speaker 2: that I want to make and the decisions I don't

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Speaker 2: want to make that I don't want to make. I

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Speaker 2: get to decide who is making those decisions, and so

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Speaker 2: it's a certain amount of like the money's there and

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Speaker 2: the powers there how I want it to be right.

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Speaker 2: I think that's what alignment is. Reading between as many

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Speaker 2: lines as I can continue.

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Speaker 1: We're going to use those five things in our little

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Speaker 1: rubric here. Yeah, as we talk through again a list

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Speaker 1: of coaches, we would encourage you all.

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Speaker 2: To weigh in.

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Speaker 1: Let us know wherever we can leave a comment.

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Speaker 2: Please do so.

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Speaker 1: Soliverwogmail dot com We read all the emails, get a

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Speaker 1: lot of them, but we read all the emails. I've

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Speaker 1: got something to say that goes above and beyond what

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Speaker 1: we talk about here, but very interested to hear from

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Speaker 1: the verballer hood with respect to how do you grade

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Speaker 1: these guys? How do you grade these guys? Now, before

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Speaker 1: we move into this, we should determine how we want

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Speaker 1: to grade these guys, because the most obvious way to

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Speaker 1: do so is abcd F. Okay, we could go OS

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Speaker 1: and U, we could go needs proficiency like your little man, like, what.

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Speaker 2: Is whoa whoa whoa? What are we going with here? Yeah?

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Speaker 2: I think grades. I think just letter grades A through

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Speaker 2: F with a minus and plus kicker, So I'm good

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Speaker 2: with that. Let's dive in. You're the best? Oh? Did

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Speaker 2: they play that out in southern California on the now

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Speaker 2: you asked me this before. They may have somewhere, but

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Speaker 2: not to my eyes. I never saw that on local

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Speaker 2: news or anything. People need to weigh in. I don't.

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Speaker 1: I can't imagine I am the only area of the

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Speaker 1: country or I came from the only area of the

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Speaker 1: country that played that song. And what they would do

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Speaker 1: at the end of each school year in our area,

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Speaker 1: it was six ABC. They would play the station out

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Speaker 1: of Philly. They would get this montage of local high

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Speaker 1: school students who were graduating. They would get their yearbook photos,

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Speaker 1: and they would just cycle it through with like a

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Speaker 1: longer version of that song playing.

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Speaker 2: How many views does that have on YouTube? That song? Yeah,

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Speaker 2: it looked like I had about eight thousand views. So

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Speaker 2: I don't know if it was a national phenomenon. Well,

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Speaker 2: I don't know if.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, the song, I can't imagine that there are a

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Speaker 1: whole lot of people googling the song. Of course that

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Speaker 1: would be me. But soliverbo at gmail dot com let

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Speaker 1: me know. If I was the only one seeing that

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Speaker 1: on TV. They still do it on TV. I still

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Speaker 1: see it on the local stations. They play this sort

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Speaker 1: of touching rendition to high school graduates. All right, where

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Speaker 1: are we starting. Let's start with Kurt Signetti. Yes, Kurt

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Speaker 1: Signetti goes to India from James Madison finishes eleven and

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Speaker 1: who goes to the playoff loses in the first round

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Speaker 1: to Notre Dame.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, the ire of Kirk harb Street and Jean mcdona.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, given where that program was at before he got

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Speaker 1: there obviously, eleven and two and a playoff appearance is

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Speaker 1: a pretty big jump. The other thing that I think

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Speaker 1: we should point out, and you mentioned this to me

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Speaker 1: about mid season, I think after talking to our friend

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Speaker 1: West Coast Kevin, this was about Indiana not actually being Indiana,

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Speaker 1: right because of the transfer portal. And it's a it's

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Speaker 1: such a good point that I think all too often

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Speaker 1: is overlooked when we talk about these teams, and.

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Speaker 2: They were the little giants running the annexation of Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 2: Suddenly they were getting so much more creative and inspired.

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Speaker 2: You know, it wasn't it. It wasn't a carryover roster

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Speaker 2: of players in the way that it was for some

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Speaker 2: teams that you know, were cop in a more impressive way.

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Speaker 2: This was just new players wearing the same uniform.

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Speaker 1: Right, So it's like Indiana name only, Yeah, at least

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Speaker 1: as compared to previous versions, because they took on so

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Speaker 1: many transfers and kind of rebuilt that roster on the fly.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So eleven and two, I mean, it's hard to give

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Speaker 1: you anything other than an a, right, I mean, this

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Speaker 1: far exceeded expectations for Indiana. I was looking through my

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Speaker 1: notes here of what I thought and like. I like

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Speaker 1: Curtis Rourke obviously, I think I thought pretty highly of

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Speaker 1: the receiving corps. I liked a lot of the pieces,

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Speaker 1: but there were real questions about what are they going

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Speaker 1: to look like on defense? Truly, what are they gonna

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Speaker 1: look like across the board. Because it's a new coach,

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Speaker 1: new scheme. How is Kurt Signetti, who had been a

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Speaker 1: serial winner, how is his style of football going to

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Speaker 1: translate to Bloomington, Indiana? And it turned out it worked

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Speaker 1: famously well. So I anything other than an A feels

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Speaker 1: like almost mind boggling to me.

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Speaker 2: I have something other than an A. Okay, I have

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Speaker 2: an A plus. Okay, I have an A plus because

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Speaker 2: I don't know if A plus is the best possible

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Speaker 2: higher that relative to place got the best possible results, realistic,

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Speaker 2: but best possible results. And I say, you know, relative

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Speaker 2: to place, with all the transfers and everything, it was

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Speaker 2: a great schedule to have a breakout season record wise

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Speaker 2: and performance wise against even with a backup quarterback. They

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Speaker 2: beat Washington I think by double digits, and they lost

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Speaker 2: games and perhaps were close in games that was defensible

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Speaker 2: close against Michigan lost to Ohio, state, then, of course

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Speaker 2: to Notre Dame in the playoff. The reaction, the emotional

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Speaker 2: reactions to Indiana's place in the playoff and Indiana's place

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Speaker 2: in the conversation adder near the top of the sport

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Speaker 2: has nothing to do with them or the job that

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Speaker 2: Kurt Signetti did, and so relative to what you could

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Speaker 2: expect given your place and expectations A plus. I don't

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Speaker 2: think you can surpass that kind of year one performance,

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Speaker 2: especially with how often he hit in the portal and

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Speaker 2: what he got out of the returning players A plus.

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Speaker 2: That's the standard.

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Speaker 1: How do we feel about Indiana now going forward? Though?

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Speaker 2: Was this? Was this a situation.

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Speaker 1: Where we're going to look back on twenty four season

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Speaker 1: and say Kurt Signetti was a victim of his own success,

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Speaker 1: because we've seen that with many a coach over the years,

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Speaker 1: where they come in, they do something successful their first campaign,

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Speaker 1: and then everyone is holding them up to that standard

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Speaker 1: moving forward and it's hard to get back, especially where

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Speaker 1: Indiana got this season. I think his ability to build

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Speaker 1: that roster on the fly last year and on the

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Speaker 1: spreadsheet that I'm looking at now to put up green

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Speaker 1: in so many categories definitely speaks to his value as

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Speaker 1: a coach. But now it's a matter of Okay, you

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Speaker 1: built this thing on the fly through the portal. You

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Speaker 1: got to do it. You're in and year out, year

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Speaker 1: and year out until the high school recruiting picks up.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so the vibes are strong, quite strong. Obviously he

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Speaker 2: is the vibe Kurt Signetti is in terms of the

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Speaker 2: boldness with which he speaks, and obviously he backed it

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Speaker 2: up in year one, So good for you. Keep doing it.

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Speaker 2: They put together a top forty class. They bring in

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Speaker 2: Fernando Mendoza, who seems like he has a at the

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Speaker 2: very least a high floor as a quality starting quarterback.

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Speaker 2: They should win. They should be a bowl team. Once again.

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Speaker 2: I think the schedule's tougher. I believe they do. They

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Speaker 2: travel to Eugene this coming year. But if they're going

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Speaker 2: to recruit somewhat nationally if not, you know, regionally in

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Speaker 2: the Big Ten, there's a vacuum when you look at

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Speaker 2: a place like Wisconsin, like who is going to be

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Speaker 2: the Wisconsin archetype in the Big Ten? Of like, year

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Speaker 2: in and year out, quality will beat everyone, if not

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Speaker 2: most everyone that has comparable talent and maybe upset somebody

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Speaker 2: better or put the fear of got into like a

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Speaker 2: stacked Michigan or Ohio state, something like that. I think

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Speaker 2: Indiana the vibes are extraordinarily strong moving forward, and if

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Speaker 2: they can get the recruiting level to like top thirty,

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Speaker 2: that's when we really get spicy.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd agree with that. I mean, just relative to

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Speaker 1: their peers in the Big Ten. They finished with the

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Speaker 1: fourteenth best recruiting class. Again, there's now a lot of

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Speaker 1: teams in the Big Ten, so that's near the bottom. However,

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Speaker 1: a top twenty transfer destination is something that jumps off

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Speaker 1: the page at me.

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Speaker 2: I just saw. I'm sure some of those out there saw.

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Speaker 1: They got Pat Coogan from Notre Dame, who was a

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Speaker 1: long Notre Dame's offensive line. They also got a former

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Speaker 1: Notre Damer who had gone to Tennessee but now is

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Speaker 1: coming back to the state of Indiana, Holden Stays, who's

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Speaker 1: perhaps a playmaking tight end. Didn't get a whole lot

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Speaker 1: of action at Tennessee. You mentioned Fernando Mendoza. Also Roman Hemby,

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Speaker 1: the running back. Maryland comes over and should give them

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Speaker 1: a bit of a boost in the backfield as well.

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Speaker 1: So you know, I get the sense that there is

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Speaker 1: a philosophy. I get the sense that Kurt Signetti knows

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Speaker 1: what he is doing. You just don't always hit if

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Speaker 1: you're going to be so heavy on the transfer portal

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Speaker 1: year and in year out, and I think they're probably

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Speaker 1: confined to that until some of the high school recruiting

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Speaker 1: picks up because it's just not there yet. Doesn't mean

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Speaker 1: he can't be a good scout, doesn't mean he can't

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Speaker 1: find diamonds in the rough. But I think to get

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Speaker 1: to the point where they're going to be doing this

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Speaker 1: year and in year out, you're not going to be

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Speaker 1: able to rely on the portal in the manner that

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Speaker 1: they did a year ago.

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Speaker 2: It's just too much variability. They have a stretch of

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Speaker 2: Illinois at Iowa a bye week, and then they're in Eugene,

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Speaker 2: Oregon to play against the Ducks. Later in the season,

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Speaker 2: they go to Beaver Stadium between Maryland and Wisconsin. So, okay,

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Speaker 2: a tougher schedule for sure in getting Iowa, Penn State

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Speaker 2: and Oregon.

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Speaker 1: So we'll give coach sigoney. Plus, I'm cool with that absolutely.

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Speaker 1: If he is the top of the top on our list,

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Speaker 1: who is bottom of the barrel.

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Speaker 2: From this specific list to first year coaches. I think

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Speaker 2: all things considered given inheritance given like inherited vibes, inherited ross.

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Speaker 2: I might be Brent Brennan. That was gonna be my answer.

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Speaker 2: When you have one of the premier quarterback to receiver

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Speaker 2: duos nationally heading into the season, the expectation was that

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Speaker 2: no Fafida and Timak were going to continue to be

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Speaker 2: very dangerous, and even considering losses on defense, even considering

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Speaker 2: obviously a new coaching staff to new coordinators, a coach

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Speaker 2: leaving late in the process, given when Nick Saban retired

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Speaker 2: after the playoff and Caitlin de Borr leaving for Alabama,

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Speaker 2: j at Fishcoina Washington, all those things considered. The manner

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Speaker 2: in which Arizona was winning games early and losing games

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Speaker 2: the rest of the way made me feel like, oh,

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Speaker 2: the plan was not a good plan from the outset

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Speaker 2: and it was not fixable in October or November, and

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Speaker 2: the vibes seemed very down, you know, culminating obviously in

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Speaker 2: the lost to Arrival to finish out the year that

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Speaker 2: they weren't a bowl team at the very least this

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Speaker 2: season in a Big twelve that had quality, but not

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Speaker 2: super power quality.

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Speaker 1: I think that was.

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Speaker 2: That's a real, real tough year one for me.

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Speaker 1: They had a stretch starting first week of October concluding

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Speaker 1: I guess first week of November on the road against

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Speaker 1: UCF where they dropped five straight, lost to Texas Tech,

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Speaker 1: a close one at home, got hammered by BYU on

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Speaker 1: the road, got hammered by Colorado at home, lost a

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Speaker 1: close one at home against West Virginia, and then got

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Speaker 1: drilled fifty six to twelve on the road.

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Speaker 2: And in like a sloppy way too. It wasn't just

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Speaker 2: like an incompetent way. It was turnovers and brain farts

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Speaker 2: and it was just like signs of a poorly coach team.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you look at their turnover margin. They

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Speaker 1: finished the year minus four. Noah Fafita through twelve picks

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Speaker 1: this season. It's not to say that Teuoa McMillan didn't

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Speaker 1: get his He had over thirteen hundred yards, he had

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Speaker 1: eight touchdowns. But more to the point we talked about

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Speaker 1: this on the last episode, it did kind of feel

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Speaker 1: like he disappeared this season after two straight years of

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Speaker 1: him very much being in the public consciousness. With respect

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Speaker 1: to star players in college football. We didn't hear much

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Speaker 1: from them, and it was a bad team. I get it,

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Speaker 1: But I would expect this offense to be a lot

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Speaker 1: better just simply by having those two guys back on

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Speaker 1: the same side. Remember that was a big deal for

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Speaker 1: Brent Brannan when he took over. Yeah, Jed fish leaves.

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Speaker 1: Are these guys going to leave now? They're sticking together.

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Speaker 1: They're going to stay here. And obviously they needed more

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Speaker 1: than just two of them to make this thing go.

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Speaker 1: But really bad on both offense and defense.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and he didn't disappear and that he was productive.

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Speaker 2: He disappeared in that Arizona did not play in a

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Speaker 2: meaningful game with any sort of consequence. And so why

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Speaker 2: would you pay attention closely to an Arizona game in

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Speaker 2: mid to late October? And so then you're not paying

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Speaker 2: attention to one of the best receivers in the country.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, I the stability question that we brought up

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Speaker 1: is I think interesting because in the immediate aftermath of

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Speaker 1: the Arizona season, it was kind of an open secret

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Speaker 1: that there were at least deliberations as to whether or

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Speaker 1: not they wanted a break with Brent Brennan right as

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Speaker 1: to you know, should we be going a completely different

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Speaker 1: direction here? It seemed as if he was a bit

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Speaker 1: over his skis in year one. He's got a connection

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Speaker 1: to the university. I don't think anyone's against the guy personally,

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Speaker 1: but like, clearly the results weren't there. Yeah, hearing that

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Speaker 1: after year one and knowing the kind of performance they

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Speaker 1: had finishing, would they finish four and eight like that

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Speaker 1: does not leave me feeling all that confident about the

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Speaker 1: vibe moving forward now.

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Speaker 2: Didn't like the coordinator hires when they happened. Dino babers

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Speaker 2: Off of getting fired from Syracuse and Duyna Keina, who

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Speaker 2: I don't know who they were competing with for Duyna

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Speaker 2: Kina's coordinator services. Obviously an incredible defensive backs coach, incredible

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Speaker 2: secondary coach, you know, time at Arizona, Texas, Stanford. But no,

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Speaker 2: I just I would have liked more creativity. I'm not

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Speaker 2: going full F I'm gonna go DD plus. Given the

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Speaker 2: challenges involved with the timing of everything when Jedfish left

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Speaker 2: and the shock that he would leave given what they

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Speaker 2: were returning. I mean, it's never shocking when Jed Fish

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Speaker 2: leaves for a new job. But I guess the timing

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Speaker 2: of it makes it kind of difficult to say this

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Speaker 2: is fully on him, that this was such a disappointing season.

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Speaker 2: So I'm going to say DD plus.

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Speaker 1: We have thirteen other names in this list. Okay, of

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Speaker 1: the other thirteen, if coach Signetti is at the top

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Speaker 1: and Brent Brennan's at the bottom, of the other thirteen

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Speaker 1: names in the middle, who stood out to you most,

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Speaker 1: Maybe not necessarily for being a A plus, but somebody

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Speaker 1: that exceeded your expectations in a really meaningful way. Oh,

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Speaker 1: exceeded expectations, seeded your expectations.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh, fr animal for sure. Fran Brown, Yes, speaking

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Speaker 2: of Dino Babers, Yes, the animal. Fran Brown at Syracuse

380
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Speaker 2: obviously came in with high high program level experience coaching

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Speaker 2: under Matt Ruhle and Kirby Smart. That they were immediately

382
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Speaker 2: able to get what they got out of Kyle McCord,

383
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Speaker 2: that they were able to hit on both sides of

384
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Speaker 2: the ball in the portal. You saw how active he was,

385
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Speaker 2: and hiring Elijah Robinson obviously, and bringing over players from

386
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Speaker 2: Georgia in Texas A and m Ohio State, so high

387
00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:06,080
Speaker 2: level program transfers. That's my radio voice just slipping in there.

388
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Speaker 2: High level, high level, real impressive trialsfers that they were

389
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Speaker 2: able to hit the way that they did, whether it

390
00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:16,000
Speaker 2: was at receiver, whether it was on the edge. Look

391
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Speaker 2: at times, their defense, especially against the run, was catastrophically bad,

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Speaker 2: But all things considered, they were like a weird I mean,

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Speaker 2: it was a Stanford long field goal to win that game.

394
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Speaker 2: I believe. Sure they were not terribly far off from

395
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Speaker 2: even a crazier record. Now they won a couple close

396
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Speaker 2: ones as well, so you got to consider that. But

397
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Speaker 2: I don't know, the energy seems very high at Syracuse.

398
00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:43,280
Speaker 2: They got the most out of Laquinn Allen on the ground.

399
00:21:43,359 --> 00:21:46,400
Speaker 2: They were able to win losable moments, I guess would

400
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Speaker 2: be the optimistic silver lining way of saying, like, yeah,

401
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Speaker 2: if you're gonna go to overtime against UNLV, win that game.

402
00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:55,919
Speaker 2: And they did, and so winning those losable moments, winning

403
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Speaker 2: the Cow game, finishing the season like they did against

404
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Speaker 2: I believe Wazoo in the bowl game, a very depleted Wazoo.

405
00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:05,960
Speaker 2: All things considered, I just if they can figure out

406
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Speaker 2: defense and they can somehow some way navigate what appears

407
00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:15,720
Speaker 2: to be the craziest road schedule of twenty twenty five.

408
00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:19,520
Speaker 2: Read this off. Read this off for people I sent

409
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Speaker 2: this to you. Okay, this season, Syracuse has Tennessee in

410
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Speaker 2: Atlanta to open the season I believe late August early September,

411
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Speaker 2: and then at Clemson, at SMU, at Georgia Tech, at

412
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Speaker 2: Miami at Notre Dame this season. So if fran Brown

413
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Speaker 2: and Syracuse exceeded my twenty twenty four expectations, if they're

414
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Speaker 2: at seven wins, eight wins, he goes.

415
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Speaker 1: If he goes eight and four this year, that's an

416
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Speaker 1: A plus plus.

417
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Speaker 2: Absolutely, absolutely, And I don't know what those teams are

418
00:22:52,359 --> 00:22:54,200
Speaker 2: going to be. But given that they're on the road,

419
00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:59,120
Speaker 2: Syracuse needs to recruit better out of high school. They're

420
00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:01,399
Speaker 2: going to need to build out depth. Quarterback is an

421
00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:03,679
Speaker 2: open question. I think it might be Ricky Collins, the

422
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,879
Speaker 2: LSU transfer who steps in a quarterback, but that's going

423
00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:10,040
Speaker 2: to be an open battle. So if they can figure

424
00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:13,800
Speaker 2: out the lines moving forward, get a few more stops

425
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:16,720
Speaker 2: on defense, and get a little bit of juice in

426
00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:21,600
Speaker 2: the Northeast, I why not eight nine wins a season?

427
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:22,119
Speaker 2: Why not?

428
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Speaker 1: It's an interesting question about the f animal because Syracuse,

429
00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:31,280
Speaker 1: to some extent benefited from that schedule. It was part

430
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Speaker 1: of the reason I liked fran Brown a lot coming

431
00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,800
Speaker 1: into the twenty fourth season because the schedule was very,

432
00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:40,760
Speaker 1: very optimal. I mean, it's set up real nicely for

433
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Speaker 1: him to get to a ten and three season. I

434
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Speaker 1: have straight a. I don't know what it's an a.

435
00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:48,439
Speaker 1: It's absolutely inn a. It's absolutely inn a. And I

436
00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:51,360
Speaker 1: think the vibes are there. You definitely a key now

437
00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:54,280
Speaker 1: that people kind of know the deal with fran Brown,

438
00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:57,840
Speaker 1: that Kep putting them on camera, and I think I

439
00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:00,240
Speaker 1: think that will definitely have a positive effect on the

440
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:02,280
Speaker 1: program because he seems like the kind of dude you

441
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:05,399
Speaker 1: want to play for. Agree, He's all emotion. There's a

442
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:08,560
Speaker 1: little bit of like Kenny Dillingham Northeast going on there.

443
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:11,800
Speaker 1: So I'm into fran Brown. I'm into the for animal.

444
00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:16,480
Speaker 1: I hope he showered this offseason. It's a long off season, yes,

445
00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:18,360
Speaker 1: but I think we go a.

446
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:22,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, they need a defense, and to win ten games

447
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:25,280
Speaker 2: with the Bowl win without much of a defense. The

448
00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:29,959
Speaker 2: back end certainly better than the front. But I don't know.

449
00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:33,240
Speaker 2: I think all things considered, and we listed off a

450
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:36,080
Speaker 2: bunch of teams on their schedule that have their own questions. Sure,

451
00:24:36,119 --> 00:24:40,080
Speaker 2: so if Syracuse is solidifying and some of these schools aren't,

452
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:43,119
Speaker 2: we'll see a lot of these schools starting new quarterbacks

453
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:47,840
Speaker 2: or have quarterback questions. I'm excited if I'm a Syracuse fan,

454
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:48,560
Speaker 2: where do.

455
00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:50,560
Speaker 1: We put somebody like a Manny Diaz at Duke?

456
00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:54,680
Speaker 2: I have also an a for Manny Diaz.

457
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,640
Speaker 1: Many Diaz went nine and four this year with Duke.

458
00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:05,320
Speaker 1: We had a number of ACC fans, a couple Duke

459
00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:08,640
Speaker 1: fans email us throughout the course of the year that

460
00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:12,679
Speaker 1: Duke was the worst. I think at the time we

461
00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:14,760
Speaker 1: got it, it was like an eight win team, right,

462
00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:16,360
Speaker 1: They're the worst eight win team ever.

463
00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:20,600
Speaker 2: Great finished nine and four.

464
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:28,960
Speaker 1: Look nine and four is nine and four, and the

465
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,840
Speaker 1: defense played well throughout the course of the season. The

466
00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:36,960
Speaker 1: offense had its moments. I'm looking at success rates, especially

467
00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:37,760
Speaker 1: running the football.

468
00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:39,640
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he couldn't run it at all. Are not great.

469
00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:44,080
Speaker 1: No, this was not a complete team. But the two

470
00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:46,800
Speaker 1: things that I think are meaningful here are a Manny

471
00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 1: Diaz was able to come in and play defense. Defensively,

472
00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:53,320
Speaker 1: the numbers hold up, and then b in terms of vibes,

473
00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:57,240
Speaker 1: in terms of in terms of moving things forward. They

474
00:25:57,280 --> 00:25:59,159
Speaker 1: got a big transfer quarterback, they got one of the

475
00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:01,240
Speaker 1: better transfer quarter Malik Murphy.

476
00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:04,200
Speaker 2: Spent, they spent. There's money there, and they.

477
00:26:04,119 --> 00:26:06,960
Speaker 1: Spent the money, and that's that's I think the undercurrent

478
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:10,760
Speaker 1: that I wanted to speak to. Duke is obviously known

479
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:13,879
Speaker 1: more for a basketball program than a football program. But

480
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:15,800
Speaker 1: if they've got a coach now who knows how to

481
00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:19,080
Speaker 1: coach up defense, if they're able to attract top talent

482
00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:22,960
Speaker 1: like Darian Mensa, who's again definitely had a market for

483
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:26,240
Speaker 1: himself in the transfer portal, if they're able to spend

484
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:28,240
Speaker 1: and get a guy like that to come in and

485
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:32,320
Speaker 1: hopefully reboot the offense, that to me signals more success

486
00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:32,680
Speaker 1: to come.

487
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:33,879
Speaker 2: Potentially.

488
00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:37,320
Speaker 1: Now, Ageain not a complete team, but that to me

489
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:41,919
Speaker 1: seems promising, especially on the heels of the nine win season.

490
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:44,840
Speaker 2: Okay, so when you look at the context of their

491
00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:47,800
Speaker 2: season as well, you have to look at one h

492
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:51,080
Speaker 2: They started the season out with Elon Northwestern, which we

493
00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:55,160
Speaker 2: went to Yukon who was pretty good but not incredible

494
00:26:56,040 --> 00:27:01,119
Speaker 2: at Middle Tennessee. So there's no Hower to open the

495
00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:03,480
Speaker 2: season for Duke, and they took care of business. That's

496
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:05,919
Speaker 2: what pretty decent teams. Do They had that sort of

497
00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 2: weird up and down game against North Carolina as North

498
00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:12,400
Speaker 2: Carolina's fading. Good for them beat a rival, always positive.

499
00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:14,560
Speaker 2: They lost to a quality Georgia Tech team by ten.

500
00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:18,840
Speaker 2: They were two yards away from beating SMU in a

501
00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:21,919
Speaker 2: multiple overtime game at home, a wild multiple. I think

502
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:24,000
Speaker 2: they decided to go for two in the win in

503
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:28,119
Speaker 2: that game and they didn't get it. That was a

504
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:32,440
Speaker 2: great almost moment, I guess, and look, it's close against

505
00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:36,720
Speaker 2: Virginia Tech, it's close against Wake Forest whatever. They took

506
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,359
Speaker 2: care of business. And if you're asking me, if a

507
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:43,359
Speaker 2: nine to three regular season two yards away from beating

508
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:46,200
Speaker 2: a playoff team to get to ten regular season wins

509
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:50,879
Speaker 2: in year one of a new coach, I have straight

510
00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:51,879
Speaker 2: a from Andy Diaz.

511
00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:55,959
Speaker 1: No, it was an incredibly successful campaign. I felt good

512
00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:59,160
Speaker 1: for him just personally because of how he got run

513
00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:01,720
Speaker 1: out of Miami at the end of his tenure. That

514
00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:05,240
Speaker 1: was very ugly before they brought Crystal Ball over. So

515
00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:07,200
Speaker 1: the fact that he was able to get a new

516
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:10,440
Speaker 1: gig on the heels of again a really successful campaign

517
00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:14,199
Speaker 1: coaching up the defense for Penn State to go to

518
00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:17,200
Speaker 1: a place like a duke to have immediate success in

519
00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:17,919
Speaker 1: the manner that he did.

520
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:18,600
Speaker 2: That was pretty cool.

521
00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:21,520
Speaker 1: Now next season, I'm looking at the schedule here. There

522
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:25,000
Speaker 1: are some interesting matchups on this duke schedule, but they

523
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:29,080
Speaker 1: oh no Miami or SMU. I believe no Miami, no SMU. Yeah,

524
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:35,359
Speaker 1: there is a like all time basketball matchup week two

525
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:40,840
Speaker 1: of the season against Illinois with Illinois coming to town. Yeah,

526
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,240
Speaker 1: they are on the road at Tulane. This is the

527
00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:49,200
Speaker 1: Darien Mensa revenge, Gary Guests revenge. But then beyond that,

528
00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:53,560
Speaker 1: Dan beyond that, they're at home against NC State, on

529
00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:56,440
Speaker 1: the road against Syracuse and Cal at home.

530
00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 2: Let's back up real quick. A team is going to

531
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:05,280
Speaker 2: control Western New York followed by going to the Bay Area,

532
00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:07,680
Speaker 2: a lot of travel. If you're duke, do you just

533
00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:11,840
Speaker 2: go to Syracuse and then fly to I don't know

534
00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:14,520
Speaker 2: what's halfway, fly to Omaha practice for the week and

535
00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:16,520
Speaker 2: just keep on going out to cal.

536
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:19,000
Speaker 1: Omaha is a lot of convention capital of the United

537
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,520
Speaker 1: States for that reason. Ooh yeah, so maybe maybe they could.

538
00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:25,160
Speaker 1: They're on the road at Clemson to start things off

539
00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:28,720
Speaker 1: first week of November. But this looks like a workable

540
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:30,400
Speaker 1: schedule to me, there are a lot of teams on

541
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:32,800
Speaker 1: this back half of the schedule that I've got real

542
00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:34,840
Speaker 1: questions about, even in the front part of the schedule.

543
00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:38,160
Speaker 1: So it's it's conducive, I think, to another good season

544
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:40,080
Speaker 1: from Ana Diaz if he can do what he did

545
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:42,360
Speaker 1: this past year. So I give him an a as well.

546
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:43,920
Speaker 1: I think I'm with you on that front.

547
00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:47,680
Speaker 2: They there's very little reason if they're spending money and

548
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:50,520
Speaker 2: they can win without an offense that if we're saying

549
00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:54,320
Speaker 2: Duke's offense is definitely going to improve moving forward, that

550
00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:58,800
Speaker 2: they shouldn't be winning seven and zero point two three

551
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:02,800
Speaker 2: games a year, they should be a solid college football

552
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,640
Speaker 2: bowl team for years to come.

553
00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:09,280
Speaker 1: I think if we've got Signetti the f animal and

554
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:13,160
Speaker 1: Manny Diaz right now being the upper crust, and we've

555
00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:16,040
Speaker 1: got Brent Brennan all the way at the bottom, let's

556
00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:19,320
Speaker 1: continue working the extremes here a little bit. If I

557
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:23,360
Speaker 1: throw out David Braun, if I throw out Jeff Lebby, yeah,

558
00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:25,760
Speaker 1: which of those two names I'll put Willie Fritz in

559
00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:30,640
Speaker 1: here too, Which of those three names would.

560
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:34,120
Speaker 2: You prawn above the other two? Bron Levy Fritz, Braun.

561
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:35,880
Speaker 1: Leby, Fritz how would you rank them out, what would

562
00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:36,920
Speaker 1: their what would their grades be?

563
00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:38,880
Speaker 2: Assuming that we gave Brent Brennan.

564
00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:38,880
Speaker 1: A D.

565
00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,680
Speaker 2: I think I would have Fritz over both. I think

566
00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:51,400
Speaker 2: I would go Fritz leby Braun in this moment, just because.

567
00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:53,880
Speaker 1: You can.

568
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:57,400
Speaker 2: You can anchor one of those teams to something that's

569
00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:02,280
Speaker 2: already looking solid, which is the Houston defensive ceiling. I

570
00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:04,640
Speaker 2: think Houston is also going to be more of a

571
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:08,600
Speaker 2: portal destination than either of those two places, Mississippis and

572
00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:14,640
Speaker 2: Starkville or Evanston. Fritz also has like one wherever he's

573
00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:17,800
Speaker 2: been as a head coach, and these are this is

574
00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:19,800
Speaker 2: Jeff Lebey head coach for the first time. This is

575
00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:22,480
Speaker 2: David Brown head coach. I believe in both these instances

576
00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:25,920
Speaker 2: for the first time. And so my belief is that

577
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:30,760
Speaker 2: even though Houston's offense, much like Northwesterns, was catastrophically bad,

578
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:34,120
Speaker 2: there's more going for Fritz in terms of my belief

579
00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:39,360
Speaker 2: and in projected future vibes, the Jeff Lebbey conversations and

580
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:41,400
Speaker 2: the conference he plays in too. Right, there's more wiggaly

581
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:42,440
Speaker 2: coff for Houston. Yeah.

582
00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:44,840
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And that's true for David Braun too. I'd put

583
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:47,760
Speaker 1: David Braun at the bottom here, I think, so I

584
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:50,000
Speaker 1: go Fritz, I go Leby, and then I go Braun.

585
00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:54,720
Speaker 1: The Lebby thing is interesting because Mississippi States schedule was

586
00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:58,280
Speaker 1: just brutal, and you could say that about any number

587
00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:01,480
Speaker 1: of SEC teams, but truly given where they were at

588
00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:04,400
Speaker 1: starting over a new coach, he went out. He worked

589
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:06,200
Speaker 1: the portal pretty hard in the off season try and

590
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:07,240
Speaker 1: put that roster together.

591
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:09,160
Speaker 2: It was not in a.

592
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 1: Good place and it showed, going two and ten against

593
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:17,360
Speaker 1: the competition they faced. It was it was like over

594
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:20,320
Speaker 1: before it started. That said, at least for a hot minute,

595
00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:24,480
Speaker 1: we were pretty excited about finding Michael van Buren because

596
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:26,760
Speaker 1: Blake Shaping goes down with the shoulder thing, he's out.

597
00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:30,680
Speaker 1: Then that gave them an opportunity to develop Michael van Buren.

598
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:36,240
Speaker 1: So I think when that happened in the moment, I

599
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:40,320
Speaker 1: was like, vibes are good. You might have found a quarterback, right,

600
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:44,520
Speaker 1: And then he transferred Lsu, so no longer the Van

601
00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:48,479
Speaker 1: Buren boys in Starkville. With him leaving. Now there is

602
00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:51,200
Speaker 1: this open question of Blake Shape, and I guess can

603
00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,240
Speaker 1: come back. He plans to come back. At last, reporting

604
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:56,440
Speaker 1: that we saw he plans to come back and sort

605
00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:58,360
Speaker 1: of take that medical red shirt.

606
00:32:58,480 --> 00:32:59,920
Speaker 2: They got Luke Crowman.

607
00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:03,920
Speaker 1: Hook from Florida State State YEP to come over as well.

608
00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:05,440
Speaker 2: As he transfers out.

609
00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:08,200
Speaker 1: So I think the quarterback now is again an open

610
00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:12,080
Speaker 1: question that I don't feel particularly great about. It is

611
00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:14,200
Speaker 1: not the easiest place in the world to recruit, and

612
00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:16,160
Speaker 1: then you've got to deal with that schedule every year,

613
00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:18,000
Speaker 1: which is just not going to get It might not

614
00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:20,200
Speaker 1: be as bad as it was a year ago, but

615
00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:22,719
Speaker 1: you're always going to have to contend with that if

616
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:25,640
Speaker 1: you're in the SEC. So it's it's really tough to

617
00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:29,160
Speaker 1: see how you get that fire started unless you find

618
00:33:29,360 --> 00:33:31,440
Speaker 1: you another Van Buren, just somebody that you feel like

619
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:32,920
Speaker 1: can build around.

620
00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:35,560
Speaker 2: So the reason why I'd be high on Mississippi State

621
00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:39,360
Speaker 2: is I think the ceiling in terms of recruiting can

622
00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:43,600
Speaker 2: be pretty high, which we've seen. We've seen that, We've

623
00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:47,920
Speaker 2: seen that the ceiling in terms of portal with quality

624
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:53,000
Speaker 2: prospects from the South from Mississippi having access to junior

625
00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:55,680
Speaker 2: college in ways that other schools don't. With the high

626
00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:59,200
Speaker 2: level jc's in Mississippi right that there's an interesting ceiling

627
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:02,840
Speaker 2: for Mississippis. Obviously, the SEC is now a deeper conference

628
00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:05,320
Speaker 2: with Texas and Oklahoma in terms of talent acquisition and

629
00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:08,239
Speaker 2: just flat out winning games. I liked like there was

630
00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:10,520
Speaker 2: a there was a gutty quality to Mississippi State that

631
00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:13,400
Speaker 2: even though they weren't getting blown out from they were

632
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:16,000
Speaker 2: jump they weren't losing every game forty two to three.

633
00:34:16,040 --> 00:34:18,160
Speaker 2: They were scoring points that you know, they took advantage

634
00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:20,800
Speaker 2: of the Georgia secondary. I believe last year they scored

635
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:23,640
Speaker 2: what thirty plus points against Georgia. There are moments where

636
00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:26,359
Speaker 2: you're just like, yes, this is year one. Yes, there

637
00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:29,399
Speaker 2: was obviously and for good reason, a shadow hanging over

638
00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:34,400
Speaker 2: the program given Mike Leach's untimely death, and that it

639
00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:38,480
Speaker 2: just not working out with Zach Barnett, as you know,

640
00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:41,160
Speaker 2: the new look head coach, trying to change things away

641
00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:44,440
Speaker 2: from the from the air raids. So I think it's

642
00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:46,879
Speaker 2: fair to give him time. I think we can look

643
00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:50,120
Speaker 2: at Mississippi State and like they should have a pretty

644
00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:54,239
Speaker 2: decent offense, if not this year, next year, and you

645
00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:56,240
Speaker 2: should be able to find speed on offense, you should

646
00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:59,600
Speaker 2: be able to plant find playmakers on defense, and that

647
00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:01,719
Speaker 2: he's just going to need time to build out that

648
00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:06,360
Speaker 2: recruiting base. I'm not terribly down on Jeff Leby Atsissippi

649
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:10,040
Speaker 2: State right now. It's an uphill battle. David Brown, It's

650
00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:13,000
Speaker 2: hard to see Northwestern as a transfer destination. It's hard

651
00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:17,040
Speaker 2: to see them working themselves to a place where they

652
00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:19,960
Speaker 2: can fill that quality gap like they were able to

653
00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:25,839
Speaker 2: do when there was a big ten West and without that,

654
00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:29,800
Speaker 2: and you know, without you know, seeing like down Illinois,

655
00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:32,560
Speaker 2: down Nebraska, Like the floor seems to have been raised

656
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:36,400
Speaker 2: enough that they're going to need to get not lucky,

657
00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:39,359
Speaker 2: but they're going to need consistent quality quarterback play and

658
00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:43,280
Speaker 2: competent line play if they want to be bowling often

659
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:46,760
Speaker 2: because it's just this is a tough conference moving forward,

660
00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:49,040
Speaker 2: just in terms of floor that they're just not gonna

661
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:51,440
Speaker 2: be able to take advantage of teams in situations like

662
00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:54,080
Speaker 2: they were before. Yeah, I think that tracks.

663
00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:58,600
Speaker 1: And one of the things that I looked at a

664
00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:00,480
Speaker 1: lot when we knew we were going to this show

665
00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:04,239
Speaker 1: together is the Northwestern offense. It feels like we've been

666
00:36:04,239 --> 00:36:09,680
Speaker 1: going on a full generation. Like your son's entire life

667
00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:13,279
Speaker 1: has been spent with a bad Northwestern offense on Saturdays.

668
00:36:13,600 --> 00:36:16,680
Speaker 2: Uh, I mean, twenty twenty three, he was David Brown

669
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:19,000
Speaker 2: was coach of the Year, Coach of the Year.

670
00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:23,680
Speaker 1: But the general like vibe of this offense is just that, yeah,

671
00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:25,880
Speaker 1: it'll be good here and there, but by and large

672
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:28,799
Speaker 1: just is still not a program that knows how to

673
00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:31,120
Speaker 1: put a competent offense out there consistently.

674
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:35,759
Speaker 2: At least give David Brown enough time in Evanston to

675
00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:39,920
Speaker 2: coach in a stadium. Yeah, well, coach in their own stadium. Yeah.

676
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:42,839
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not anti David Braun. Yeah, I think he's

677
00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:45,719
Speaker 1: got a really tough ask in front of him. We'll

678
00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:48,360
Speaker 1: see what Preston Stone brings this year. If he's you know,

679
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:50,080
Speaker 1: he was the kind of the big transfer of the

680
00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:53,440
Speaker 1: quarterback coming up from from SMU. Maybe he can give

681
00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:55,880
Speaker 1: them a little bit more pop. But it maybe what

682
00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:58,520
Speaker 1: I'm racking to the most is just like it just

683
00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:00,600
Speaker 1: does not feel like they have found that the quarterback

684
00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:01,640
Speaker 1: in forever.

685
00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:03,840
Speaker 2: And they've won without it. They have one without it

686
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:07,280
Speaker 2: they have. But also a program like this is still

687
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:10,200
Speaker 2: kind of like a it's not a Pat Fitzgerald team,

688
00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:16,200
Speaker 2: but like he's still the living person most closely associated

689
00:37:16,239 --> 00:37:18,200
Speaker 2: with this program and lives like a mile and a

690
00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:21,680
Speaker 2: half away, Like there's still that thing hanging over the

691
00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:25,239
Speaker 2: program and it's going to take a while to sort

692
00:37:25,239 --> 00:37:27,719
Speaker 2: of crawl out of that. Grade wise, do you have

693
00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:30,520
Speaker 2: grades for any of these guys. I'm going C minus

694
00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:35,160
Speaker 2: Willie Fritz. I'm going to C plus C plus. Yes,

695
00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:37,960
Speaker 2: I mean they beat Kansas State. How about we split

696
00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:38,360
Speaker 2: the difference.

697
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:39,000
Speaker 1: We'll go see.

698
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:42,319
Speaker 2: Okay, I don't know what to like if you're gonna

699
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:44,480
Speaker 2: like Xeon Chris your way to a B plus of

700
00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:46,520
Speaker 2: a season, But okay, we'll go see.

701
00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:49,920
Speaker 1: I've got C for Willie, I've got D plus for

702
00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:54,080
Speaker 1: Jeff Levy and just a solid D for David Brawn.

703
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:56,480
Speaker 2: I have C minus for Levy. I'll give him that.

704
00:37:56,840 --> 00:38:00,560
Speaker 2: That's the situation. I don't know right here. I'm I'm

705
00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:03,719
Speaker 2: a generous grader. I call lines in tennis pretty generously

706
00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:06,960
Speaker 2: because I expect it back. I'm gonna call grades pretty generously.

707
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:10,120
Speaker 1: Continue I'm gonna give you three names to react to.

708
00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:15,160
Speaker 1: All right, let's stack these guys up. Klin de boor Hm,

709
00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:17,960
Speaker 1: Mike Elko, and Bill O'Brien.

710
00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:24,680
Speaker 2: Okay, Bob, I'm in like the B plus camp with him.

711
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:30,320
Speaker 2: Like given I think on the onset like the vibes

712
00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:34,520
Speaker 2: of having a coach leave to be an NFL coordinator,

713
00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:39,520
Speaker 2: that the Boston College job and situation in modern college

714
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:41,840
Speaker 2: football was seen as like it's too much of an

715
00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:46,080
Speaker 2: uphill battle to get anything substantive done. And Bill O'Brien

716
00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:50,080
Speaker 2: in year one without great quarterback play made I think,

717
00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:51,680
Speaker 2: you know, a tough decision to move on from his

718
00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:56,200
Speaker 2: starting quarterback later on in the season. Was competitive against

719
00:38:56,239 --> 00:38:58,799
Speaker 2: good teams, if not beating pretty good teams, took them

720
00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:03,120
Speaker 2: to a bowl game after some you know, down vibes

721
00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:06,320
Speaker 2: within the program. I'm gonna say B plus for Bill O'Brien.

722
00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:09,600
Speaker 1: I was pretty high on Boston College before the start

723
00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:12,960
Speaker 1: of the year. Yeah, And I remember having the conversation

724
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:15,600
Speaker 1: with you where we talked it through in the preseason.

725
00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:19,600
Speaker 1: I was like, there's enough here that I think they

726
00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:26,120
Speaker 1: could be very competent. Not yeah, ACC championship caliber, right

727
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:28,000
Speaker 1: though there was a moment this season where we were

728
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:31,040
Speaker 1: talking about the nine and three goals mind you mm hmm.

729
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:33,560
Speaker 1: Finished seven to six this year.

730
00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:36,440
Speaker 2: We're right there with Miszoo on the road, Right there

731
00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:39,440
Speaker 2: with Miszoo on the road. Stump Florida State vibes are

732
00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:40,640
Speaker 2: always good doing that at BC.

733
00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:42,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, went to the bowl game, lost the bowl game

734
00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:45,360
Speaker 1: to Nebraska in the in the Mud Bowl. But like

735
00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:49,839
Speaker 1: the question that I had was what's the defense going

736
00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:52,759
Speaker 1: to look like? They're changing up schemes, how will that

737
00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:55,520
Speaker 1: all track? I think he was able to put it

738
00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:58,000
Speaker 1: together pretty nicely. And then there was the whole issue

739
00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:01,880
Speaker 1: of Thomas Castellanos was the quarterback then midway through he

740
00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:05,200
Speaker 1: wasn't and they switched things over to Grayson James. Thomas

741
00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:10,440
Speaker 1: Castellanos now going down to Florida State, and so you

742
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:12,440
Speaker 1: know they're going to have to figure out their their

743
00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:16,359
Speaker 1: quarterback thing again this season. Put the guy out there

744
00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:20,120
Speaker 1: who gives him the best chance to win. But I

745
00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:23,600
Speaker 1: would expect that it's going to be a popular spot

746
00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:27,239
Speaker 1: for potential quarterbacks moving forward, given given Bill O'Brien's pedigree.

747
00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:29,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's just you know, there's not as many like

748
00:40:30,040 --> 00:40:33,959
Speaker 2: obviously quality quarterbacks coming out of the Northeast. There sometimes

749
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:36,440
Speaker 2: accidentally there are, right, there's sleepers that come out, but

750
00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:38,360
Speaker 2: it's just not an area of the country that like

751
00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:42,680
Speaker 2: you're going to find, you know, a star in the

752
00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:46,640
Speaker 2: making out of Jersey or Vermont or something, and where's

753
00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:49,360
Speaker 2: TVD from Connecticut? So you know there are guys, but

754
00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:53,680
Speaker 2: that's the issue. But yeah, transferre destination. I think you're right,

755
00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:58,200
Speaker 2: and I give him minus points because he lost too

756
00:40:58,560 --> 00:41:01,399
Speaker 2: or BC lost two arguably, well they beat Florida State,

757
00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:04,120
Speaker 2: but the second worst team on their schedule in Virginia. Yeah,

758
00:41:04,239 --> 00:41:05,759
Speaker 2: that's just unacceptable. Yeah.

759
00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:07,680
Speaker 1: So, by the way, Grayson James is back. I don't

760
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:09,719
Speaker 1: know if I even yes he is back. So he's

761
00:41:09,719 --> 00:41:11,640
Speaker 1: back again. So when I say they got to figure

762
00:41:11,640 --> 00:41:14,239
Speaker 1: out quarterback, I think they need to figure out how

763
00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:17,640
Speaker 1: to keep developing him because I think what he showed

764
00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:20,680
Speaker 1: down the stretch was actually quite promising. So I look,

765
00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:25,520
Speaker 1: given expectations, given where BC was the previous year, the

766
00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:28,680
Speaker 1: fact that they were as competent as they were, I

767
00:41:28,719 --> 00:41:31,000
Speaker 1: think I'm with you, b Plus, I think Bill O'Brien

768
00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:31,719
Speaker 1: did a good job.

769
00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:36,560
Speaker 2: They have an Alabama backup coming in at quarterback to

770
00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:39,000
Speaker 2: sort of round out that room. Who I don't know

771
00:41:39,040 --> 00:41:40,640
Speaker 2: if you've seen a picture of or at least the

772
00:41:40,680 --> 00:41:44,480
Speaker 2: twenty four to seven picture of Dylan Lanergan. Yeah, exactly

773
00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:47,240
Speaker 2: like Matt Brown. Exactly like our friend Matt Brown. Subscribed

774
00:41:47,239 --> 00:41:48,440
Speaker 2: to the extra points newsletter.

775
00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:52,760
Speaker 1: It's great where are we at on Calein Debor and Elko,

776
00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:58,560
Speaker 1: because there is I think a pretty strong school of

777
00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:02,600
Speaker 1: thought that these were the two guys last coaching cycle,

778
00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:09,160
Speaker 1: last coaching carousel that jumped teams. Kaylin de Borr taking

779
00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:14,280
Speaker 1: over for Sabin not necessarily the easiest spot. Mike Elko

780
00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:17,279
Speaker 1: taking over for Jimbo Fisher had a lot to work

781
00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:19,560
Speaker 1: with that a lot go out the door, but still

782
00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:21,839
Speaker 1: had a lot of talent on hand. Kaylen de Borr

783
00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:24,239
Speaker 1: finishes the year nine and four. Mike Elko finishes the

784
00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:25,040
Speaker 1: year eight and five.

785
00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:30,000
Speaker 2: I gave Kaylen de bor a B minus, and I

786
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:32,719
Speaker 2: could see Alabama people giving him an F minus. I

787
00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:35,000
Speaker 2: could see I couldn't go higher than B minus for

788
00:42:35,120 --> 00:42:38,239
Speaker 2: Kaylen de Borry given how they didn't end up in

789
00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:41,080
Speaker 2: the playoff the manner in which they did not, which

790
00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:44,600
Speaker 2: is losing to both Vanderbilt in a winnable moment and

791
00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:48,680
Speaker 2: losing to Oklahoma, which, by the way, defense played great.

792
00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:50,960
Speaker 2: I mean, they were run on a little bit too

793
00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:53,640
Speaker 2: much by Jackson Arnold, but I think it was the

794
00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:56,320
Speaker 2: two touchdowns from Oklahoma were on a pick six and

795
00:42:56,480 --> 00:43:00,279
Speaker 2: interception brought back to inside like the fifteen yard line,

796
00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:05,000
Speaker 2: and so defensively they did enough in that specific game.

797
00:43:05,040 --> 00:43:07,480
Speaker 2: And this was a good defense, not always a good defense,

798
00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:11,200
Speaker 2: but by and large a good defense. And the games

799
00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:13,239
Speaker 2: that they end up losing, and you know, obviously throw

800
00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:17,120
Speaker 2: in Tennessee in that as well, on the road, those

801
00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:21,520
Speaker 2: were the Tennessee game was winnable, and the Vanderbilt game

802
00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:24,319
Speaker 2: was winnable. Obviously, the Georgia game also losable. The South

803
00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:28,360
Speaker 2: Carolina game also losable, right right, But I don't know

804
00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:31,960
Speaker 2: how much credit you can give Kaylen de boor beyond

805
00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:35,399
Speaker 2: seem to do a decent job, decent enough job even

806
00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:37,200
Speaker 2: with the guys who left for Ohio state of keeping

807
00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:43,359
Speaker 2: this roster together. Obviously has recruited very well, but has

808
00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:46,359
Speaker 2: done so off of the back of the an all

809
00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:49,880
Speaker 2: time coaches reputation that was built up at Alabama in

810
00:43:49,880 --> 00:43:52,400
Speaker 2: the modern era. So I don't know how much you

811
00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:55,239
Speaker 2: can point to in terms of crediting Kaylen de Bor.

812
00:43:56,239 --> 00:44:00,000
Speaker 2: Mostly that they didn't lose to Auburn, right, we see

813
00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:02,320
Speaker 2: how that kind of matters when you pay attention to

814
00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:05,960
Speaker 2: Ryan Day and Sharon Moore. So I gave them a

815
00:44:06,239 --> 00:44:10,680
Speaker 2: B minus. If Alabama misses a twelve team playoff. That

816
00:44:10,960 --> 00:44:14,960
Speaker 2: feels like the absolute height of a grade. The recruiting

817
00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:18,200
Speaker 2: has still been solid. I'm looking at it now, we're

818
00:44:18,239 --> 00:44:19,120
Speaker 2: talking to each other.

819
00:44:19,160 --> 00:44:21,800
Speaker 1: I believe on this late on signing day, on signing

820
00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:25,120
Speaker 1: day and at time of recording, their overall rank, their

821
00:44:25,120 --> 00:44:30,839
Speaker 1: composite is fourth nationally, a top twenty transfer destination as well.

822
00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:34,040
Speaker 1: Clearly people still want to go and play at Alabama,

823
00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:37,560
Speaker 1: even if it's not Nick Saban coaching this. I do

824
00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:41,080
Speaker 1: think that vibes are stronger now that Ryan Grubb is

825
00:44:41,080 --> 00:44:42,000
Speaker 1: back with Kaylen.

826
00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:45,319
Speaker 2: De bor Yeah, that's an important distinction because was not

827
00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:47,760
Speaker 2: able to convince him to come out initially. Yeah.

828
00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:50,760
Speaker 1: I like the fact that Grub is back with Kaylen

829
00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:53,799
Speaker 1: debor I think that's a no brainer. I think that

830
00:44:53,840 --> 00:44:57,319
Speaker 1: will make their offense better whoever is playing quarterback for

831
00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:00,279
Speaker 1: them this season, whether it's Ty Simpson or somebody else, like,

832
00:45:00,440 --> 00:45:04,040
Speaker 1: I think I like that direction. And I still like

833
00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:06,680
Speaker 1: Caylen de Borr as a coach. The guys won everywhere

834
00:45:06,719 --> 00:45:09,880
Speaker 1: he has been last season. I don't think there was

835
00:45:09,920 --> 00:45:14,040
Speaker 1: any avoiding last season. I really don't with Saban walking

836
00:45:14,080 --> 00:45:17,400
Speaker 1: out with the talent they had walking out going elsewhere.

837
00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:21,279
Speaker 1: That's a big transition, and we can't just assume that

838
00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:23,839
Speaker 1: it's going to pick up and start running the way

839
00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:26,040
Speaker 1: that it's been running for the last fifteen years under

840
00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:29,279
Speaker 1: sab and that's not going to happen. That's not going

841
00:45:29,360 --> 00:45:31,520
Speaker 1: to happen. They're talking about the greatest coach of all time.

842
00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:34,520
Speaker 1: So I think Klen de Boor is fine. As for

843
00:45:34,600 --> 00:45:38,400
Speaker 1: what happened this season, though, you know, there were definite

844
00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:42,000
Speaker 1: moments that stood out to me and we talked about it.

845
00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:44,319
Speaker 1: I think a little bit on the Verbies episode we

846
00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:48,080
Speaker 1: put out on Tuesday, like this was Jalen Milroe or

847
00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:53,400
Speaker 1: bust it was it turned into Jalen Milroe is going

848
00:45:53,480 --> 00:45:56,759
Speaker 1: to get them as far as he possibly can, and

849
00:45:56,800 --> 00:45:59,319
Speaker 1: then anything above and beyond that is just not going

850
00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:00,000
Speaker 1: to be attainable.

851
00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:03,080
Speaker 2: Yeah. I was the Auburn good Bow, bad bow. That's

852
00:46:03,160 --> 00:46:04,880
Speaker 2: bow Nicks. That's exactly right.

853
00:46:04,960 --> 00:46:08,880
Speaker 1: So you know, given with given the level of talent,

854
00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:12,200
Speaker 1: I would have liked to have seen a more balanced

855
00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:16,400
Speaker 1: game plan. I did not expect that Jalen Milroe was

856
00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:18,799
Speaker 1: going to be the team's leading rusher this season. I

857
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:20,840
Speaker 1: thought maybe it would be you know, I got like

858
00:46:20,880 --> 00:46:24,239
Speaker 1: a jam Miller a Justice Haynes instead, But it was

859
00:46:24,560 --> 00:46:28,279
Speaker 1: a lot of relying on Jalen Milroe to throw it

860
00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:30,720
Speaker 1: through the air and run for close to nine hundred

861
00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:33,759
Speaker 1: yards and twenty touchdowns on the ground. Yes, so I

862
00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:35,799
Speaker 1: would like to see a little bit more balance. I'm

863
00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:37,759
Speaker 1: not ready to give up on Kalin to bor, not

864
00:46:37,840 --> 00:46:40,120
Speaker 1: by a long shot. I think he's a fabulous coach.

865
00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:41,799
Speaker 1: I think he's going to get that program back to

866
00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:44,239
Speaker 1: where it was before. Long. It just isn't going to

867
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:47,000
Speaker 1: be a bulletproof And I don't want to be too

868
00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:49,359
Speaker 1: reactive to that. It's not he's not Nick Saban, He's

869
00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:49,600
Speaker 1: just not.

870
00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:52,799
Speaker 2: But that he got a year. That's it.

871
00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:55,960
Speaker 1: You got, Yeah, Ye's the only year you get the Yeah, exactly.

872
00:46:56,000 --> 00:46:58,120
Speaker 1: You don't get a long leash Fromenera at a place like

873
00:46:58,120 --> 00:47:02,200
Speaker 1: an Alabama. You know, maybe in the wake of previous coaches,

874
00:47:02,239 --> 00:47:06,400
Speaker 1: but now following the guy in Nick Saban, forget it.

875
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:11,359
Speaker 2: It's if they miss a twelve team playoff, give him

876
00:47:11,360 --> 00:47:14,320
Speaker 2: a year. If they miss a twelve team playoff moving forward,

877
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:17,520
Speaker 2: you have to consider that a failure of a season

878
00:47:17,560 --> 00:47:21,480
Speaker 2: for Alabama totally, unless something like their number one and

879
00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:26,200
Speaker 2: number two quarterback get hurt, because they should. It's going

880
00:47:26,280 --> 00:47:29,040
Speaker 2: to be I think what ty Simpson, Austin Mack. So

881
00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:31,799
Speaker 2: ty Simpson multiple year experience as a college football player

882
00:47:31,800 --> 00:47:36,480
Speaker 2: at Alabama, Austin Mack, multiple years with I believe multiple

883
00:47:36,560 --> 00:47:39,840
Speaker 2: years with Klin de Borr was a backup at Washington,

884
00:47:39,880 --> 00:47:43,319
Speaker 2: followed him to Alabama. Now and Keilan Russell, I think

885
00:47:43,360 --> 00:47:45,520
Speaker 2: at least a blue chip, if not a five star

886
00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:47,759
Speaker 2: quarterback incoming from Texas.

887
00:47:47,880 --> 00:47:51,359
Speaker 1: Yeah, his composite rating is a solid one hundred on

888
00:47:51,400 --> 00:47:55,760
Speaker 1: twenty four to seven, so he's a five, solid one hundred.

889
00:47:55,920 --> 00:47:59,600
Speaker 1: He's a five star, high level talent coming out of Texas.

890
00:48:00,600 --> 00:48:03,960
Speaker 1: You know, we'll see what role he plays, if any,

891
00:48:04,040 --> 00:48:07,120
Speaker 1: in that quarterback room. But clearly, Kayln de bor can

892
00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:10,080
Speaker 1: still recruit, and as long as you've got that, you're

893
00:48:10,080 --> 00:48:11,080
Speaker 1: still in a pretty good spot.

894
00:48:11,080 --> 00:48:11,960
Speaker 2: But I agree, you're.

895
00:48:11,840 --> 00:48:13,799
Speaker 1: Not not going to get a whole lot of Mulligan years,

896
00:48:13,800 --> 00:48:14,160
Speaker 1: not at all.

897
00:48:14,360 --> 00:48:17,960
Speaker 2: Now, that was the best defense Kaylin de Borr has

898
00:48:18,040 --> 00:48:20,960
Speaker 2: ever had. That's right last year and they didn't make

899
00:48:20,960 --> 00:48:26,200
Speaker 2: the playoff. So we'll see where does Elco stack up. Then,

900
00:48:26,560 --> 00:48:29,640
Speaker 2: by the way, did you give Debora grade? I'm on

901
00:48:29,800 --> 00:48:32,239
Speaker 2: B minus yeah, I'm with you B minus. Where are

902
00:48:32,239 --> 00:48:35,839
Speaker 2: we at a Elco? So we gave Bob a B plus? Yeah,

903
00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:38,440
Speaker 2: we gave Kaylen de bor a B minus. Do we

904
00:48:38,480 --> 00:48:42,080
Speaker 2: slot Elco in between or on one of those two

905
00:48:43,080 --> 00:48:46,680
Speaker 2: sides of the be spectrum. The thing about Alco is

906
00:48:46,719 --> 00:48:50,359
Speaker 2: Texas A and M was in playoff contention because they

907
00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:52,399
Speaker 2: were in contention to go to the SEC Championship game

908
00:48:52,400 --> 00:48:54,840
Speaker 2: because they had only lost at a certain point only

909
00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:55,600
Speaker 2: to Notre Dame.

910
00:48:55,840 --> 00:48:56,160
Speaker 1: That's right.

911
00:48:56,239 --> 00:48:59,160
Speaker 2: And then obviously there's the Auburn loss, the South Carolina loss,

912
00:48:59,440 --> 00:49:02,920
Speaker 2: offensive woes, and Marcel Reid is back this year. I

913
00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:05,319
Speaker 2: didn't like the Jay Maitman higher when he made it,

914
00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:07,720
Speaker 2: but there were times when it seemed like the defense

915
00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:11,439
Speaker 2: was going to be great, and then the offense had

916
00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:15,680
Speaker 2: issues and obviously injury issues. I think there's a lot

917
00:49:15,719 --> 00:49:18,760
Speaker 2: to like about where Texas A and M is. Regardless.

918
00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:22,560
Speaker 2: I think I like Colin Klein, I think I like

919
00:49:22,680 --> 00:49:27,200
Speaker 2: Marcel Reid, I do like I think, I like, I

920
00:49:27,200 --> 00:49:31,600
Speaker 2: think I can, I think I can. Recruiting seems to

921
00:49:31,600 --> 00:49:33,200
Speaker 2: be in a strong place so that they lost their

922
00:49:33,480 --> 00:49:39,200
Speaker 2: headline quarterback commitment this year. There's a lot to like

923
00:49:40,480 --> 00:49:42,880
Speaker 2: I don't know that there's a lot to love in

924
00:49:42,920 --> 00:49:46,880
Speaker 2: this moment yet. So given the season, given how the

925
00:49:46,960 --> 00:49:51,120
Speaker 2: season ended with the Bowl loss to USC, with the

926
00:49:51,200 --> 00:49:53,680
Speaker 2: loss against Texas, that I think they only scored from

927
00:49:53,680 --> 00:49:59,320
Speaker 2: a pick six, that there is there is uphill motion

928
00:49:59,600 --> 00:50:02,520
Speaker 2: needed on offense. So I'm going to go with a

929
00:50:02,560 --> 00:50:04,200
Speaker 2: straight B for Elco right now.

930
00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:08,400
Speaker 1: I really like the recruiting class. I really like the

931
00:50:08,400 --> 00:50:12,120
Speaker 1: recruiting class. I really like the transfer class as well.

932
00:50:12,400 --> 00:50:13,799
Speaker 1: I love that they went out and they got a

933
00:50:13,800 --> 00:50:17,640
Speaker 1: guy like a KC. Concepcion, Yeah, from Nanci State. I mean,

934
00:50:17,680 --> 00:50:20,200
Speaker 1: maybe I'm still a little too high on him. You know,

935
00:50:20,280 --> 00:50:23,800
Speaker 1: he's been my guy since the jump. But I really

936
00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:26,400
Speaker 1: like what they did on both sides of the recruiting

937
00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:31,520
Speaker 1: game so far this offseason, provided they can get enough

938
00:50:31,520 --> 00:50:34,239
Speaker 1: production at quarterback from a guy like Marcel Reid. They

939
00:50:34,280 --> 00:50:37,040
Speaker 1: also brought in Jacob Zeno, for whatever that's worth to you,

940
00:50:37,400 --> 00:50:41,480
Speaker 1: it's not. I feel really good about the direction of

941
00:50:41,520 --> 00:50:43,560
Speaker 1: the program, and I'm not so much put off by

942
00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:45,920
Speaker 1: the fact that, you know, it was an eight and

943
00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:49,120
Speaker 1: five year, it was a transition year. He did have

944
00:50:49,160 --> 00:50:51,200
Speaker 1: a lot of talent leave, he had a lot of

945
00:50:51,200 --> 00:50:56,000
Speaker 1: talent stay, but it doesn't always hit immediately, and I

946
00:50:56,000 --> 00:50:59,920
Speaker 1: don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Now again, Texas

947
00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:01,920
Speaker 1: and paid a lot of money to get rid of Jimbo.

948
00:51:02,840 --> 00:51:05,000
Speaker 1: I don't know what the leash is going to look

949
00:51:05,080 --> 00:51:06,560
Speaker 1: like for a guy like a Mike Elco, but he

950
00:51:06,600 --> 00:51:10,480
Speaker 1: definitely approaches this from a much much different standpoint. If

951
00:51:10,480 --> 00:51:13,360
Speaker 1: we're talking about what did a guy inherit? While he

952
00:51:13,440 --> 00:51:15,799
Speaker 1: inherit a lot of talent, he's bringing more talent in.

953
00:51:15,880 --> 00:51:19,880
Speaker 1: I think what they have done in terms of talent acquisition,

954
00:51:20,320 --> 00:51:23,160
Speaker 1: getting that alignment, all of that stuff seems really positive

955
00:51:23,200 --> 00:51:27,480
Speaker 1: to me. If we're talking about vibe, stability, things of

956
00:51:27,520 --> 00:51:30,879
Speaker 1: that nature, I think Elco inherently gives you a lot

957
00:51:30,920 --> 00:51:32,799
Speaker 1: of that, even if, again it was only an eight

958
00:51:32,840 --> 00:51:33,480
Speaker 1: win team.

959
00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:34,000
Speaker 2: Yeah.

960
00:51:34,040 --> 00:51:36,840
Speaker 1: Now look, it wasn't a perfect Texas A and M

961
00:51:36,880 --> 00:51:38,359
Speaker 1: team by any sturch. I would have loved to have

962
00:51:38,360 --> 00:51:41,760
Speaker 1: seen more big plays. For example, I think all Texas

963
00:51:41,760 --> 00:51:43,080
Speaker 1: A and M fans are in the same.

964
00:51:42,920 --> 00:51:44,480
Speaker 2: I don't think you need to qualify that. I don't

965
00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:47,320
Speaker 2: think anybody's under any sort of guys that this was

966
00:51:47,360 --> 00:51:49,120
Speaker 2: a perfect A and M team. Yeah, but the.

967
00:51:49,400 --> 00:51:51,800
Speaker 1: Sense that I get is still that the vibes are strong.

968
00:51:51,920 --> 00:51:54,080
Speaker 1: To your point, they were very much part of the

969
00:51:54,080 --> 00:51:58,360
Speaker 1: conversation until late in the game this SEC season, I

970
00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:02,640
Speaker 1: thought a good first campaign, A good first campaign for

971
00:52:02,760 --> 00:52:04,880
Speaker 1: Mike Elko. I think it was in hindsight of a

972
00:52:04,960 --> 00:52:06,800
Speaker 1: very good hire or solid higher they went with the

973
00:52:06,800 --> 00:52:08,440
Speaker 1: guy who had been there before, who wanted to be

974
00:52:08,480 --> 00:52:12,600
Speaker 1: there again. I would still grade it maybe like a

975
00:52:12,640 --> 00:52:14,400
Speaker 1: C plus B minus for Elco.

976
00:52:15,120 --> 00:52:17,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, not scoring an offensive touchdown against Texas with the

977
00:52:17,960 --> 00:52:21,320
Speaker 2: return of that rivalry, I don't know how the vibe

978
00:52:21,400 --> 00:52:24,120
Speaker 2: can be incredible with Alco in this moment. I don't

979
00:52:24,120 --> 00:52:26,680
Speaker 2: think Bateman's super popular right now. I don't know. I

980
00:52:26,680 --> 00:52:29,640
Speaker 2: think confidence in the quarterback position long term right now

981
00:52:29,760 --> 00:52:35,160
Speaker 2: is hoping it's okay, but not necessarily proven. Like I

982
00:52:35,280 --> 00:52:37,400
Speaker 2: like the upside of Marcel Reid, but he still seems

983
00:52:37,400 --> 00:52:41,960
Speaker 2: a little bit raw. So yeah, I'm gone C plus. Okay,

984
00:52:42,360 --> 00:52:44,840
Speaker 2: I'm BAB minus. All right, who is the third or

985
00:52:44,840 --> 00:52:45,719
Speaker 2: did you mention a third?

986
00:52:46,080 --> 00:52:48,320
Speaker 1: Well, we had Bill O'Brien at the B plus, N

987
00:52:48,440 --> 00:52:52,239
Speaker 1: boor B minus and then Mike Elko C plus. Yes,

988
00:52:53,239 --> 00:52:56,560
Speaker 1: I've got four big ten coaches here. Okay, that I

989
00:52:56,560 --> 00:53:04,200
Speaker 1: want to grade out with you, Deshaun Foster, Yes, Jonathan Smith, Jedfish.

990
00:53:04,560 --> 00:53:08,640
Speaker 2: And Sharon Moore. So Sharon Moore.

991
00:53:08,520 --> 00:53:13,760
Speaker 1: Eight wins, Jedfish with six wins, and both Jonathan Smith

992
00:53:13,840 --> 00:53:15,760
Speaker 1: and Deshaun Foster finished five and seven.

993
00:53:16,120 --> 00:53:21,040
Speaker 2: Yeah on the season. Let's start with Sharon Moore. Okay,

994
00:53:21,120 --> 00:53:24,160
Speaker 2: let's start with Sharon Moore. I have him. Let me

995
00:53:24,239 --> 00:53:25,680
Speaker 2: check my notes to verify this as what I have

996
00:53:25,719 --> 00:53:29,239
Speaker 2: in my head. I have Sharon Moore as a B wow,

997
00:53:29,680 --> 00:53:33,400
Speaker 2: maybe even B plus. This is what Michigan did. This

998
00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:35,319
Speaker 2: is what Michigan did. Go ahead, I want to hear this.

999
00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:40,800
Speaker 2: I think seven weeks ago you could have talked me

1000
00:53:40,840 --> 00:53:43,799
Speaker 2: into a C minus. But then you beat Alabama and

1001
00:53:43,800 --> 00:53:46,480
Speaker 2: Ohio State and consecutive games to finish out the season.

1002
00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:51,759
Speaker 2: It's the dumb and dumber and completely redeem yourself. The

1003
00:53:51,840 --> 00:53:54,879
Speaker 2: vibes are pretty high, all things considered. At Michigan. Now,

1004
00:53:55,080 --> 00:53:58,400
Speaker 2: he hired an offensive coordinator, promoted a coach to offensive

1005
00:53:58,400 --> 00:54:03,239
Speaker 2: coordinator who he immediately fired, So one, that's not great

1006
00:54:03,239 --> 00:54:05,920
Speaker 2: decision making on his end, and two he took care

1007
00:54:05,960 --> 00:54:09,480
Speaker 2: of it quickly, so good decision making there. Then he

1008
00:54:09,560 --> 00:54:11,759
Speaker 2: hired Chip Lindsay I'm not super high on it. He

1009
00:54:11,800 --> 00:54:15,680
Speaker 2: just seems like a lifer B B minus offensive coordinator.

1010
00:54:15,719 --> 00:54:19,120
Speaker 2: I don't know. I thought there was opportunity to do

1011
00:54:19,200 --> 00:54:22,000
Speaker 2: something a little bit more brave, but I guess not.

1012
00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:25,719
Speaker 2: The vibes behind the scenes with money and portal and

1013
00:54:25,840 --> 00:54:29,560
Speaker 2: recruiting and nil seemed to be sky high right now.

1014
00:54:29,760 --> 00:54:32,920
Speaker 1: Very good, very good. So that's great.

1015
00:54:33,239 --> 00:54:36,720
Speaker 2: I don't know. You beat the national champion in Ohio

1016
00:54:36,760 --> 00:54:39,560
Speaker 2: State in the fashion they did on the road, beat

1017
00:54:39,600 --> 00:54:42,520
Speaker 2: Alabama in a weird game, a sloppy game in the

1018
00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:46,560
Speaker 2: rain and mud. They win that game. I wouldn't say

1019
00:54:46,600 --> 00:54:49,080
Speaker 2: they lost anything in terms of, like, they didn't lose

1020
00:54:49,120 --> 00:54:52,279
Speaker 2: to an embarrassingly average or bad team. They won a

1021
00:54:52,280 --> 00:54:56,439
Speaker 2: couple losable games early against USC and Minnesota. They were

1022
00:54:56,440 --> 00:54:58,960
Speaker 2: not on the same level as Texas early on. They

1023
00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:01,000
Speaker 2: lose that game by like night teen points or whatever.

1024
00:55:01,200 --> 00:55:03,839
Speaker 2: They lose by three touchdowns against Oregon, who was number

1025
00:55:03,840 --> 00:55:05,600
Speaker 2: one team in the nation for a long stretch of

1026
00:55:05,600 --> 00:55:10,920
Speaker 2: the season. Yeah, by and large, this kind of season

1027
00:55:11,080 --> 00:55:14,400
Speaker 2: was kind of always going to happen. It was telegraphed,

1028
00:55:14,480 --> 00:55:17,400
Speaker 2: wasn't it. It was kind of telegraphed. The thing I

1029
00:55:17,440 --> 00:55:21,880
Speaker 2: do hold against him is not being able to sound

1030
00:55:21,920 --> 00:55:25,680
Speaker 2: the quarterback alarm day one, right, that they needed to

1031
00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:31,120
Speaker 2: tamper with somebody somewhere as the day he got his job,

1032
00:55:31,520 --> 00:55:35,560
Speaker 2: having seen what Davis Warren and Alex Orgy and Jack

1033
00:55:35,600 --> 00:55:39,040
Speaker 2: Tuttle were or were not in practice, that he didn't

1034
00:55:39,080 --> 00:55:42,279
Speaker 2: sound the alarm day one and say we need to

1035
00:55:42,320 --> 00:55:45,880
Speaker 2: start this tamper job now and get somebody in post

1036
00:55:45,960 --> 00:55:50,360
Speaker 2: spring portal. That's that I think was the big whiff

1037
00:55:50,719 --> 00:55:53,560
Speaker 2: from Sharon Moore. And like, look, the offensive line had issues.

1038
00:55:53,920 --> 00:55:56,399
Speaker 2: There was not a viable wide receiver in that room.

1039
00:55:56,560 --> 00:55:59,400
Speaker 2: The best you know pass catcher by a wide margin

1040
00:55:59,560 --> 00:56:03,160
Speaker 2: was Close and Loveland. So it was just a team

1041
00:56:03,200 --> 00:56:06,080
Speaker 2: that was not built to reach double digits. Once again,

1042
00:56:07,120 --> 00:56:11,600
Speaker 2: but all things considered, right, I don't know man beating

1043
00:56:11,600 --> 00:56:13,839
Speaker 2: Ohio State on the road with this roster covers up

1044
00:56:14,800 --> 00:56:18,160
Speaker 2: with injuries, with injuries, seriously with injury how to contend

1045
00:56:18,160 --> 00:56:21,160
Speaker 2: with Yeah, no Loveland. Will Johnson didn't play the back

1046
00:56:21,160 --> 00:56:25,920
Speaker 2: half of the season. Basically, like, I don't think it

1047
00:56:25,960 --> 00:56:29,480
Speaker 2: was a great season, but there were great moments that

1048
00:56:29,560 --> 00:56:31,560
Speaker 2: I think saved this grade for me. So I'm gonna

1049
00:56:31,560 --> 00:56:33,160
Speaker 2: go flat B and I.

1050
00:56:33,040 --> 00:56:36,319
Speaker 1: Do think since the season ended you alluded to this

1051
00:56:36,400 --> 00:56:40,080
Speaker 1: a little bit, vibes have been good. It seems as

1052
00:56:40,120 --> 00:56:43,680
Speaker 1: if they're trying to get actively better right Michigan.

1053
00:56:44,400 --> 00:56:46,320
Speaker 2: Go back and listen to the episode.

1054
00:56:46,000 --> 00:56:48,320
Speaker 1: The interview that you did with Bruce where he talks

1055
00:56:48,360 --> 00:56:52,959
Speaker 1: through how Michigan people feel about how they are set

1056
00:56:53,000 --> 00:56:55,839
Speaker 1: up structurally for this nil era. They feel pretty good

1057
00:56:55,840 --> 00:56:58,880
Speaker 1: about it. They feel like they've got money to spend,

1058
00:56:58,920 --> 00:57:01,000
Speaker 1: that they've got the Oparaison place to go out and

1059
00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:03,759
Speaker 1: get big name town. They obviously got Bryce Underwood, that's

1060
00:57:03,800 --> 00:57:06,799
Speaker 1: been pretty well documented at this point, the number one

1061
00:57:06,840 --> 00:57:10,160
Speaker 1: overall player, the quarterback, who's right in their backyard. So,

1062
00:57:10,400 --> 00:57:14,879
Speaker 1: I mean, it definitely seems as if Sharon Moore has

1063
00:57:14,920 --> 00:57:17,360
Speaker 1: a plan here to try and improve things. He may

1064
00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:19,720
Speaker 1: be pulling a little bit of a Marcus Freeman II

1065
00:57:20,000 --> 00:57:23,240
Speaker 1: figuring it out on the fly. But I think that's okay.

1066
00:57:23,920 --> 00:57:26,280
Speaker 1: I think that's all right. Again, you buy yourself a

1067
00:57:26,280 --> 00:57:29,240
Speaker 1: little bit of wicker room. When you beat Ohio State

1068
00:57:29,240 --> 00:57:31,840
Speaker 1: and Alabama consecutive games to close out the season. The

1069
00:57:31,920 --> 00:57:36,120
Speaker 1: quarterback thing was maddening. It was absolutely maddening. And I

1070
00:57:36,160 --> 00:57:39,160
Speaker 1: don't know if that's just because Harball left in the site,

1071
00:57:39,280 --> 00:57:41,240
Speaker 1: left late in the cycle to go to the NFL,

1072
00:57:41,720 --> 00:57:43,960
Speaker 1: and they couldn't feel like they got they could had

1073
00:57:43,960 --> 00:57:46,360
Speaker 1: a chance with anybody else. I don't know if there

1074
00:57:46,440 --> 00:57:48,800
Speaker 1: was just such strong belief in the building on the

1075
00:57:48,800 --> 00:57:51,680
Speaker 1: guys that they had. But you know, the deeper we

1076
00:57:51,800 --> 00:57:56,600
Speaker 1: got into the preseason without having a starting quarterback announcement,

1077
00:57:57,440 --> 00:57:58,960
Speaker 1: I think the writing was on the wall that this

1078
00:57:59,000 --> 00:58:01,000
Speaker 1: is going to be a long year at the quarterback position.

1079
00:58:01,600 --> 00:58:03,840
Speaker 1: And they did get some moments out of Davis Warren,

1080
00:58:03,920 --> 00:58:06,840
Speaker 1: they got none of them from Alex Orgy. Obviously the

1081
00:58:06,920 --> 00:58:09,200
Speaker 1: Jack Tuttle thing didn't work out due to injury. But,

1082
00:58:09,400 --> 00:58:12,560
Speaker 1: like I don't know, hopefully this is something they're able

1083
00:58:12,600 --> 00:58:15,920
Speaker 1: to direct to find now and build upon as they

1084
00:58:15,960 --> 00:58:19,560
Speaker 1: move forward, because it seems like they're serious.

1085
00:58:19,960 --> 00:58:21,080
Speaker 2: It seems like they're serious.

1086
00:58:21,120 --> 00:58:24,400
Speaker 1: It seems like Sharon Moore maybe got some of like

1087
00:58:24,520 --> 00:58:27,920
Speaker 1: the first year Jitters out of the way, and you know,

1088
00:58:27,920 --> 00:58:28,800
Speaker 1: they're ready for business.

1089
00:58:28,840 --> 00:58:30,240
Speaker 2: Here. We'll see what they can do.

1090
00:58:31,680 --> 00:58:33,920
Speaker 1: They're going to have an opportunity again next season to

1091
00:58:33,960 --> 00:58:39,560
Speaker 1: play some premier non conference opponents or notably early and

1092
00:58:40,800 --> 00:58:43,440
Speaker 1: show what they did in the off season. So we'll

1093
00:58:43,480 --> 00:58:46,480
Speaker 1: know pretty quick what that improvement does or doesn't look like.

1094
00:58:47,560 --> 00:58:51,040
Speaker 2: Agree, So you're at a bee for Sharon. Huh, I'm

1095
00:58:51,080 --> 00:58:53,680
Speaker 2: at a bee for sure. More. I just think Ohio State,

1096
00:58:53,920 --> 00:58:56,880
Speaker 2: especially given what Ohio State did, I think it smoothed

1097
00:58:57,000 --> 00:59:03,600
Speaker 2: over a lot, and his grade moving forward is going

1098
00:59:03,640 --> 00:59:05,720
Speaker 2: to be what is the bridge to Bryce underwould look like?

1099
00:59:06,240 --> 00:59:08,080
Speaker 2: Is it a two game bridge? Is it a zero

1100
00:59:08,120 --> 00:59:10,840
Speaker 2: game bridge? Is it a nine game bridge? Does mikey

1101
00:59:10,920 --> 00:59:12,960
Speaker 2: k how many games does mikey keen? Or whatever? The

1102
00:59:13,040 --> 00:59:17,040
Speaker 2: quarterback situation is look like before the ball is handed

1103
00:59:17,080 --> 00:59:17,760
Speaker 2: to Bryce.

1104
00:59:17,600 --> 00:59:20,400
Speaker 1: Underwood, see A B feels too high to me. However,

1105
00:59:21,480 --> 00:59:23,800
Speaker 1: if I look at this in context now the conversation,

1106
00:59:25,160 --> 00:59:27,200
Speaker 1: would I put Sharon More over Kaitlin de boor I

1107
00:59:27,240 --> 00:59:27,880
Speaker 1: probably would?

1108
00:59:28,800 --> 00:59:31,080
Speaker 2: They played against each other, I understand that.

1109
00:59:31,960 --> 00:59:34,480
Speaker 1: I understand that, But outside of the whole head to

1110
00:59:34,520 --> 00:59:36,440
Speaker 1: head thing, if I'm looking at the full body of work,

1111
00:59:37,000 --> 00:59:41,720
Speaker 1: I probably was still put Sharon more because do what

1112
00:59:41,800 --> 00:59:45,240
Speaker 1: they did being so limited at quarterback in and of

1113
00:59:45,320 --> 00:59:46,920
Speaker 1: itself as kind of a master class.

1114
00:59:47,000 --> 00:59:49,760
Speaker 2: So all right, let's go be Where are we at though?

1115
00:59:49,800 --> 00:59:54,040
Speaker 1: With Jedfish, Jonathan Smith and de Sean Foster Deshaun Foster.

1116
00:59:54,040 --> 00:59:55,680
Speaker 2: I'm gonna give a C minus, and that could have

1117
00:59:55,680 --> 00:59:58,080
Speaker 2: been a lot worse given the start of the season,

1118
00:59:58,120 --> 01:00:01,080
Speaker 2: the start of his tenure, the press conference, media Day, Hello,

1119
01:00:01,200 --> 01:00:04,480
Speaker 2: the press conference, the opening press are big ten media days,

1120
01:00:05,440 --> 01:00:08,120
Speaker 2: sneaking by Hawaii to start things off, you know, not

1121
01:00:08,160 --> 01:00:10,120
Speaker 2: being able to run the ball at all, like kind

1122
01:00:10,120 --> 01:00:12,920
Speaker 2: of disastrous in every element. I still don't think we

1123
01:00:12,960 --> 01:00:15,720
Speaker 2: looked at this together. Did They didn't score twenty points

1124
01:00:15,760 --> 01:00:20,600
Speaker 2: in a losing effort something like that, So an opportunity

1125
01:00:20,600 --> 01:00:23,120
Speaker 2: against usc light would have probably improved things to a

1126
01:00:23,120 --> 01:00:27,800
Speaker 2: c RC plus. That game was was within reach. Beating

1127
01:00:27,840 --> 01:00:31,120
Speaker 2: Iowa at home and Nebraska, I believe in consecutive weeks.

1128
01:00:31,160 --> 01:00:34,360
Speaker 2: Nebraska and Lincoln obviously was the apex of the season

1129
01:00:34,680 --> 01:00:38,240
Speaker 2: for UCLA and to Sean Foster. But yeah, all things considered,

1130
01:00:38,240 --> 01:00:40,880
Speaker 2: and another situation in which he was handed a difficult

1131
01:00:40,920 --> 01:00:45,720
Speaker 2: task given the timing of Chip Kelly leaving for what

1132
01:00:46,240 --> 01:00:48,320
Speaker 2: he had hoped was going to be an NFL coordinator job,

1133
01:00:48,360 --> 01:00:51,920
Speaker 2: it ended up being Ohio State's coordinator job. Still difficult,

1134
01:00:51,920 --> 01:00:54,320
Speaker 2: and it was you know, UCLA scrambling very late in

1135
01:00:54,320 --> 01:00:56,440
Speaker 2: the process, so it challenged for him so you got

1136
01:00:56,480 --> 01:01:01,360
Speaker 2: to take that under consideration. But yes, this was an

1137
01:01:01,360 --> 01:01:05,680
Speaker 2: incomplete team with some talent. Here's the other thing that

1138
01:01:05,760 --> 01:01:06,760
Speaker 2: was not ready to compete.

1139
01:01:06,880 --> 01:01:09,120
Speaker 1: If you go back and look at the body of

1140
01:01:09,160 --> 01:01:12,280
Speaker 1: work this year, the teams, the beat teams they lost too.

1141
01:01:13,680 --> 01:01:16,000
Speaker 1: You don't come away from that feeling like they lost

1142
01:01:16,040 --> 01:01:20,480
Speaker 1: to a bunch of teams they shouldn't have, no, you know,

1143
01:01:20,560 --> 01:01:23,560
Speaker 1: like they weren't always super impressive, and for sure there

1144
01:01:23,600 --> 01:01:28,760
Speaker 1: were real issues on offense, but like there are other

1145
01:01:28,800 --> 01:01:32,720
Speaker 1: coaches on this list who had some inexplicable losses at

1146
01:01:32,800 --> 01:01:36,439
Speaker 1: least the ones that you see on UCLA's schedule makes sense, and.

1147
01:01:36,360 --> 01:01:38,720
Speaker 2: They were right there by the way with Minnesota as well,

1148
01:01:38,800 --> 01:01:39,439
Speaker 2: I should note.

1149
01:01:39,440 --> 01:01:42,240
Speaker 1: But yes, I think I'm with you on the C

1150
01:01:42,360 --> 01:01:46,400
Speaker 1: minus though, And I felt better about the Sean Foster

1151
01:01:46,560 --> 01:01:48,600
Speaker 1: later in the year than I did early. You know,

1152
01:01:48,640 --> 01:01:51,720
Speaker 1: once they got through that midway point, it seems that

1153
01:01:51,800 --> 01:01:54,000
Speaker 1: they figured something out. Maybe they just didn't play teams

1154
01:01:54,000 --> 01:01:57,640
Speaker 1: that were as competent. That definitely factors in as well.

1155
01:01:57,680 --> 01:02:00,240
Speaker 2: But I you know, I mean they lost, they lost

1156
01:02:00,280 --> 01:02:02,280
Speaker 2: their quarterback of the future to the portal. Loss in

1157
01:02:02,360 --> 01:02:06,040
Speaker 2: the portal. Yeah, before you know obviously anything could even

1158
01:02:06,040 --> 01:02:07,640
Speaker 2: get going with Dante More going to Oregon.

1159
01:02:07,720 --> 01:02:10,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know where to put Jonathan Smith on

1160
01:02:10,760 --> 01:02:11,200
Speaker 1: this list.

1161
01:02:12,200 --> 01:02:12,720
Speaker 2: I really don't.

1162
01:02:12,920 --> 01:02:16,320
Speaker 1: I like him as a coach, right, I do think

1163
01:02:16,360 --> 01:02:20,280
Speaker 1: that he will build that program up. It was a

1164
01:02:20,360 --> 01:02:24,240
Speaker 1: very lumpy Michigan State season. It's a very lumpy Michigan

1165
01:02:24,240 --> 01:02:28,640
Speaker 1: State season. Things like turnover margin were all over the place.

1166
01:02:29,080 --> 01:02:31,120
Speaker 1: But then there were other moments this season where it

1167
01:02:31,160 --> 01:02:33,560
Speaker 1: was like, well, it feels like maybe they've got some momentum.

1168
01:02:34,040 --> 01:02:37,200
Speaker 1: Five and seven not a bowl season for Jonathan Smith

1169
01:02:37,240 --> 01:02:41,840
Speaker 1: at Michigan State. At times, plucky still feels like there's

1170
01:02:41,840 --> 01:02:44,080
Speaker 1: a lot of work. It's like definitely not a complete

1171
01:02:44,120 --> 01:02:47,320
Speaker 1: project at this point in time. He's clearly got to

1172
01:02:47,360 --> 01:02:49,720
Speaker 1: add some depth. He's clearly got to make this roster better.

1173
01:02:49,760 --> 01:02:53,000
Speaker 1: But what do you suppose the vibes are like in

1174
01:02:53,040 --> 01:02:59,160
Speaker 1: East Lansing. I think very meh At the moment. They

1175
01:02:59,160 --> 01:03:03,160
Speaker 1: weren't competitive in a lot of these games. Like scoring.

1176
01:03:04,040 --> 01:03:05,760
Speaker 1: I think they only scored in the Oregon game in

1177
01:03:05,800 --> 01:03:08,800
Speaker 1: garbage time. They only scored seven against Ohio State. They

1178
01:03:08,840 --> 01:03:10,880
Speaker 1: I think they went up early against Indiana was like

1179
01:03:10,920 --> 01:03:12,600
Speaker 1: ten to nothing or ten three and then gave up

1180
01:03:12,600 --> 01:03:13,480
Speaker 1: like forty seven.

1181
01:03:13,720 --> 01:03:18,920
Speaker 2: That's an answer, that's right. So not at least like

1182
01:03:19,200 --> 01:03:22,200
Speaker 2: hanging for a while with some of the better teams.

1183
01:03:22,840 --> 01:03:27,160
Speaker 2: Given Jonathan Smith's success, given what we saw in terms

1184
01:03:27,200 --> 01:03:28,720
Speaker 2: of talent with Aiden Childs, he.

1185
01:03:28,720 --> 01:03:31,280
Speaker 1: Just gave the ball away so much. Yeah, he was

1186
01:03:31,720 --> 01:03:34,480
Speaker 1: irresponsible with the football for sure. The two games, by

1187
01:03:34,480 --> 01:03:36,880
Speaker 1: the way that I'm looking at as I'm going through

1188
01:03:36,920 --> 01:03:40,520
Speaker 1: the spreadsheet and talking through some of these coaches, the

1189
01:03:40,600 --> 01:03:43,600
Speaker 1: game on the road against Boston College was ugly but

1190
01:03:43,840 --> 01:03:46,920
Speaker 1: very winnable. That was early, that was towards the end

1191
01:03:46,920 --> 01:03:50,400
Speaker 1: of September. And then there's the game late October against

1192
01:03:50,400 --> 01:03:52,920
Speaker 1: Michigan on the road where they lost by seven. That

1193
01:03:53,080 --> 01:03:56,080
Speaker 1: was I think a close game as well, that was

1194
01:03:56,160 --> 01:04:00,360
Speaker 1: there for them. Yeah, you know, if those two games

1195
01:04:00,400 --> 01:04:02,640
Speaker 1: have different outcomes, maybe we're talking about a bowl season

1196
01:04:02,680 --> 01:04:03,880
Speaker 1: and a completely different.

1197
01:04:03,680 --> 01:04:07,760
Speaker 2: Vibe in the stout and beating Iowa is not nothing

1198
01:04:08,080 --> 01:04:13,040
Speaker 2: at home. But yeah, they just I don't know, they

1199
01:04:13,080 --> 01:04:16,640
Speaker 2: weren't competitive enough for me in year one, and there

1200
01:04:16,720 --> 01:04:18,320
Speaker 2: was a lot of changes. A lot of dudes hit

1201
01:04:18,360 --> 01:04:20,240
Speaker 2: the portal. They had to bring in a lot of

1202
01:04:20,240 --> 01:04:23,000
Speaker 2: guys in the portal. I think there are interesting pieces

1203
01:04:23,040 --> 01:04:25,760
Speaker 2: up front. Unfortunately, they lost their best cover corner. I

1204
01:04:25,800 --> 01:04:28,600
Speaker 2: believe Charles Brantley is going to Miami and that was

1205
01:04:28,640 --> 01:04:32,640
Speaker 2: a big loss. But yeah, to me, it's going to

1206
01:04:32,720 --> 01:04:35,040
Speaker 2: come down to recruiting. It's gonna come down to Portal

1207
01:04:35,240 --> 01:04:39,400
Speaker 2: and right now, I think the vibes are sc and

1208
01:04:40,120 --> 01:04:42,560
Speaker 2: I think that's perfectly where I am right now. They're

1209
01:04:42,640 --> 01:04:44,760
Speaker 2: kind of getting lost in the shuffle of things with

1210
01:04:45,360 --> 01:04:48,320
Speaker 2: you know, Michigan. The top expect there, the top of

1211
01:04:48,480 --> 01:04:51,360
Speaker 2: Michigan State ceiling is winning this conference in the modern era,

1212
01:04:51,760 --> 01:04:55,680
Speaker 2: is putting forth a dominant defense with NFL caliber players

1213
01:04:55,760 --> 01:04:59,600
Speaker 2: top to bottom on a defense, you know, NFL caliber quarterbacks,

1214
01:05:00,200 --> 01:05:04,680
Speaker 2: and we just seem so far from that in this moment. Again,

1215
01:05:05,400 --> 01:05:09,360
Speaker 2: consider the context of Michigan State and how depleted and

1216
01:05:09,480 --> 01:05:14,200
Speaker 2: down things were, given the nature of Meltucker's departure and

1217
01:05:14,240 --> 01:05:16,640
Speaker 2: how down they were with Mark Dantonio's the end of

1218
01:05:16,640 --> 01:05:19,560
Speaker 2: his time in the East Lansing. So this is a

1219
01:05:19,600 --> 01:05:23,120
Speaker 2: downtrodden program, but it's never been easier to build up

1220
01:05:23,160 --> 01:05:26,040
Speaker 2: a roster than it is in the Portal era. And

1221
01:05:26,160 --> 01:05:28,360
Speaker 2: if Michigan State is going to continue to have the

1222
01:05:28,440 --> 01:05:30,760
Speaker 2: kind of money that they had to give mel Tucker

1223
01:05:31,000 --> 01:05:35,400
Speaker 2: ninety five plus million dollars, then they should be competitive

1224
01:05:35,400 --> 01:05:37,720
Speaker 2: in the portal and maybe this is approven year before

1225
01:05:38,040 --> 01:05:41,840
Speaker 2: you know the piggy banks are emptied. But I don't know.

1226
01:05:42,160 --> 01:05:44,720
Speaker 2: It doesn't seem like there's enormous reason. I don't have

1227
01:05:44,760 --> 01:05:46,360
Speaker 2: their schedule in twenty twenty five in front of me.

1228
01:05:46,400 --> 01:05:47,840
Speaker 2: If you want to pull it up, yeah, yeah, but

1229
01:05:48,440 --> 01:05:53,000
Speaker 2: if the vibes are improving, because the schedule seems workable. Yeah.

1230
01:05:53,040 --> 01:05:54,880
Speaker 1: By the way, I really like Joshua Eaton, the guy

1231
01:05:54,920 --> 01:05:58,800
Speaker 1: they bring over I think from Texas State, the cornerback. Okay,

1232
01:05:58,920 --> 01:06:02,920
Speaker 1: I like that to help bolster their secondary this season.

1233
01:06:03,320 --> 01:06:06,400
Speaker 1: Looking at Michigan State schedule here as I pull it up,

1234
01:06:06,600 --> 01:06:11,920
Speaker 1: at USC at Nebraska, at Indiana at Iowa to go

1235
01:06:12,000 --> 01:06:17,080
Speaker 1: along with games against back half is tough man against

1236
01:06:17,080 --> 01:06:21,880
Speaker 1: Michigan against Penn State. That is not an easy schedule

1237
01:06:21,880 --> 01:06:23,120
Speaker 1: by any stretch of the imagination.

1238
01:06:24,400 --> 01:06:26,800
Speaker 2: They've got five weeks, they've got a buy in there,

1239
01:06:26,800 --> 01:06:30,760
Speaker 2: but five games to finish things off ish at Indiana,

1240
01:06:30,760 --> 01:06:32,800
Speaker 2: Michigan at Minnesota, Penn State at Iowa.

1241
01:06:32,880 --> 01:06:33,320
Speaker 1: That's rough.

1242
01:06:33,600 --> 01:06:38,160
Speaker 2: That could be five straight high level defenses what do

1243
01:06:38,240 --> 01:06:38,880
Speaker 2: we grade him in?

1244
01:06:39,480 --> 01:06:40,480
Speaker 1: What do we give him a grade?

1245
01:06:40,600 --> 01:06:44,520
Speaker 2: I said, see, I'm even closer to I'm.

1246
01:06:44,480 --> 01:06:52,840
Speaker 1: C minus yeah, and then Jedfish jetfish full new roster.

1247
01:06:53,080 --> 01:06:55,600
Speaker 2: Given what they lost from the National Championship appearance, I

1248
01:06:55,640 --> 01:07:01,680
Speaker 2: think C plus, I'm about a C plus two. I think,

1249
01:07:03,640 --> 01:07:06,600
Speaker 2: so you give them credit because bringing over some key

1250
01:07:06,680 --> 01:07:11,000
Speaker 2: dudes from Arizona and I think a defensible move, and

1251
01:07:11,040 --> 01:07:17,960
Speaker 2: bringing in Will Rogers, who he eventually benched. But losing

1252
01:07:18,000 --> 01:07:19,800
Speaker 2: to Washington State, if we're going to say, losing to

1253
01:07:19,880 --> 01:07:22,320
Speaker 2: rival is always unacceptable, no matter if your first year

1254
01:07:22,320 --> 01:07:25,640
Speaker 2: coach or a tenth year coach, especially given Washington State

1255
01:07:25,680 --> 01:07:29,520
Speaker 2: losing cam Ward, losing their status as a power conference program,

1256
01:07:30,560 --> 01:07:32,880
Speaker 2: and the game was in Seattle, and the way that

1257
01:07:32,920 --> 01:07:34,960
Speaker 2: game ended with the red zone play calling, it was

1258
01:07:35,040 --> 01:07:40,120
Speaker 2: real ugly, So that's a huge demerit. Losing the way

1259
01:07:40,120 --> 01:07:43,960
Speaker 2: they did to Oregon obviously just being overwhelmed upfront by

1260
01:07:43,960 --> 01:07:49,040
Speaker 2: the Ducks. That reflects poorly losing who they've lost in

1261
01:07:49,080 --> 01:07:53,720
Speaker 2: the portal this year, losing I think both coordinators in

1262
01:07:53,920 --> 01:07:58,240
Speaker 2: Brendan Carroll and Steve Belichick, which by the way, understandable

1263
01:07:58,280 --> 01:08:00,560
Speaker 2: given where they are going, and why they're going just

1264
01:08:01,000 --> 01:08:06,960
Speaker 2: nepotism account. Recruiting hasn't been amazing. I think they lost

1265
01:08:07,000 --> 01:08:09,560
Speaker 2: their two biggest recruits to Oregon, or two of their

1266
01:08:09,680 --> 01:08:13,280
Speaker 2: three biggest recruits of the twenty twenty five cycle, So

1267
01:08:14,400 --> 01:08:18,559
Speaker 2: there's a vision there. The talent level's pretty good, you know,

1268
01:08:18,640 --> 01:08:25,400
Speaker 2: rebuilding this program on the fly. The recruiting seems fine,

1269
01:08:25,640 --> 01:08:28,880
Speaker 2: but it's hard to pinpoint a specific reason to be

1270
01:08:29,080 --> 01:08:33,040
Speaker 2: very high on Washington moving forward, given the conference and

1271
01:08:33,080 --> 01:08:34,240
Speaker 2: given the state of the roster.

1272
01:08:34,400 --> 01:08:38,320
Speaker 1: So C plus on the schedule this coming year, please

1273
01:08:39,120 --> 01:08:45,160
Speaker 1: for Washington, Ohio State at home Husky Stadium, on the

1274
01:08:45,240 --> 01:08:49,360
Speaker 1: road at Michigan at home against Illinois, on the road

1275
01:08:49,400 --> 01:08:55,320
Speaker 1: against Wisconsin, at home against Oregon, on the road against UCLA.

1276
01:08:58,520 --> 01:09:01,479
Speaker 1: There's also and the Big Ten is not at least

1277
01:09:01,520 --> 01:09:04,840
Speaker 1: on this schedule here that I'm looking at. Oh No.

1278
01:09:04,880 --> 01:09:10,799
Speaker 1: I do have the the dates up here. Interesting cross

1279
01:09:10,800 --> 01:09:15,519
Speaker 1: country letdown game the week after Ohio State going on

1280
01:09:15,680 --> 01:09:18,200
Speaker 1: the road all the way across country against Maryland. No

1281
01:09:18,240 --> 01:09:20,799
Speaker 1: idea what to expect from Maryland sure, And then another

1282
01:09:20,920 --> 01:09:25,280
Speaker 1: circumstance a little bit later in the year where middle

1283
01:09:25,320 --> 01:09:28,840
Speaker 1: of October they're on the road at Michigan, then they

1284
01:09:28,840 --> 01:09:32,240
Speaker 1: come home the following week to square off against Illinois. Yes,

1285
01:09:32,880 --> 01:09:38,000
Speaker 1: so I think those two circumstances right, or we've got

1286
01:09:38,360 --> 01:09:42,439
Speaker 1: late September Ohio State immediately on the road against Maryland

1287
01:09:42,600 --> 01:09:46,040
Speaker 1: following week, then there's Rutgers, the Rutgers buffer in between

1288
01:09:46,680 --> 01:09:49,400
Speaker 1: before they go back on the road against Michigan. Then

1289
01:09:49,439 --> 01:09:52,000
Speaker 1: the following week come back home against Illinois and Illinois.

1290
01:09:52,040 --> 01:09:55,040
Speaker 2: Illinois has a bye the week before, Illinois got all

1291
01:09:55,160 --> 01:09:58,639
Speaker 2: the bye beforehand. Those two stretches of games, at least

1292
01:09:59,040 --> 01:10:00,880
Speaker 2: in the first half of the season, I think are

1293
01:10:00,880 --> 01:10:04,720
Speaker 2: going to dictate a lot of how successful Washington can

1294
01:10:04,760 --> 01:10:07,400
Speaker 2: be this coming year. I like I make the jokes

1295
01:10:07,400 --> 01:10:10,080
Speaker 2: about Jed Fish obviously leaving, and I'm going to continue

1296
01:10:10,080 --> 01:10:12,080
Speaker 2: making the joke about him wanting to go to Florida,

1297
01:10:12,080 --> 01:10:14,559
Speaker 2: although that might not be a thing given where Florida

1298
01:10:14,600 --> 01:10:18,080
Speaker 2: is that. I think the guy knows how to coach.

1299
01:10:18,520 --> 01:10:20,519
Speaker 2: I think he's a good coach, and I think you

1300
01:10:20,600 --> 01:10:24,000
Speaker 2: can see that there is something of a philosophy here

1301
01:10:24,200 --> 01:10:25,840
Speaker 2: at place. So I give him a C plus.

1302
01:10:26,080 --> 01:10:30,160
Speaker 1: I actually think Washington we got about what we expected

1303
01:10:30,160 --> 01:10:33,760
Speaker 1: from Washington this past season. Losing a coach all of

1304
01:10:33,760 --> 01:10:37,120
Speaker 1: that offensive talent. I mean, it's tough to rebuild from that,

1305
01:10:37,160 --> 01:10:39,519
Speaker 1: and they did a pretty good job all things considered, so.

1306
01:10:40,040 --> 01:10:40,880
Speaker 2: C plus for me.

1307
01:10:42,080 --> 01:10:46,360
Speaker 1: I have a very quick list of G five witches.

1308
01:10:46,360 --> 01:10:48,559
Speaker 2: By the way, just but the quick counterpoint, and let's

1309
01:10:48,560 --> 01:10:54,479
Speaker 2: do G five. I have fifteen seconds on Washington Washington schedule.

1310
01:10:55,200 --> 01:11:01,840
Speaker 2: Washington State, Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Oregon are all

1311
01:11:01,880 --> 01:11:04,679
Speaker 2: going to have new starting quarterbacks. There is no better

1312
01:11:04,880 --> 01:11:08,479
Speaker 2: time than twenty twenty five, it seems to play against

1313
01:11:08,520 --> 01:11:11,960
Speaker 2: Ohio State and to host Ohio State, given all the

1314
01:11:11,960 --> 01:11:16,280
Speaker 2: things that will be new in Columbus now, Michigan completely

1315
01:11:16,320 --> 01:11:21,559
Speaker 2: new offense, Wisconsin. Like it's on paper, kind of tough looking.

1316
01:11:22,240 --> 01:11:23,720
Speaker 2: I kind of love the timing of it.

1317
01:11:23,760 --> 01:11:25,800
Speaker 1: All. The timing isn't bad timing. If you want to

1318
01:11:25,800 --> 01:11:28,040
Speaker 1: play I love it. If you want to play Ohio State,

1319
01:11:28,400 --> 01:11:30,639
Speaker 1: play him before the end of September and.

1320
01:11:30,600 --> 01:11:33,360
Speaker 2: You get your full season to get ready for Oregon,

1321
01:11:33,560 --> 01:11:36,040
Speaker 2: unlike getting them in early October or whatever. And no

1322
01:11:36,200 --> 01:11:38,000
Speaker 2: same goes for Oregon as they rebuild.

1323
01:11:38,040 --> 01:11:41,800
Speaker 1: But like, I don't hate it for Washington, Okay, get

1324
01:11:41,840 --> 01:11:47,680
Speaker 1: Ohio Stadian Husky Stadium. Why not absolutely John Sumral, what

1325
01:11:47,800 --> 01:11:49,400
Speaker 1: we a minus?

1326
01:11:49,800 --> 01:11:51,480
Speaker 2: A minus? No? A minus?

1327
01:11:51,800 --> 01:11:53,800
Speaker 1: Come on, that's way too high, you think?

1328
01:11:53,840 --> 01:11:54,360
Speaker 2: So oh?

1329
01:11:54,400 --> 01:11:54,720
Speaker 1: I do?

1330
01:11:55,400 --> 01:11:57,439
Speaker 2: I know they they fell apart near the end of

1331
01:11:57,479 --> 01:12:01,680
Speaker 2: the year, but owing from somebody who won as much

1332
01:12:01,720 --> 01:12:06,000
Speaker 2: as Willie Fritz did getting what they got out of

1333
01:12:06,080 --> 01:12:09,320
Speaker 2: Darien Mensa in year one as the Stan McKay Hughes.

1334
01:12:09,360 --> 01:12:12,479
Speaker 2: Of course, there was a great backfield. I don't know

1335
01:12:12,479 --> 01:12:15,240
Speaker 2: how much he could have done about the run defense

1336
01:12:16,080 --> 01:12:18,360
Speaker 2: as they collapsed and losing to Memphis. There's no shame

1337
01:12:18,400 --> 01:12:22,479
Speaker 2: in losing to Memphis. They were destroying teams. I don't know.

1338
01:12:24,479 --> 01:12:27,680
Speaker 2: They made the conference championship game in year one. They

1339
01:12:27,680 --> 01:12:30,559
Speaker 2: had a prolific offense. I think they had a good year,

1340
01:12:31,160 --> 01:12:34,600
Speaker 2: and if you have a good year, a minus is

1341
01:12:34,600 --> 01:12:37,639
Speaker 2: too high for me with how they close.

1342
01:12:37,680 --> 01:12:40,840
Speaker 1: If you're gonna elevate Sharon Moore based on how he

1343
01:12:40,880 --> 01:12:42,320
Speaker 1: closed out the season.

1344
01:12:42,160 --> 01:12:42,760
Speaker 2: But that's all.

1345
01:12:42,760 --> 01:12:46,519
Speaker 1: That's the national champ and arrival on the road, I'm

1346
01:12:46,560 --> 01:12:52,559
Speaker 1: gonna I'll go. I'll go solid B for John Summroll.

1347
01:12:53,320 --> 01:12:56,840
Speaker 2: Oh, no way, man, Okay, I disagree. We disagree on that.

1348
01:12:57,200 --> 01:13:01,559
Speaker 1: How about Spencer Danielson Boise State first season coached, you

1349
01:13:01,560 --> 01:13:04,200
Speaker 1: know half the season year ago, but twelve and two

1350
01:13:04,320 --> 01:13:07,439
Speaker 1: went to the playoff, got a first round by pretty

1351
01:13:07,479 --> 01:13:09,519
Speaker 1: hard to argue with that obviously got the most out

1352
01:13:09,560 --> 01:13:12,800
Speaker 1: of Ashton gent wasn't much in the way of like

1353
01:13:12,920 --> 01:13:15,920
Speaker 1: a defensive squad, but did what they needed to do

1354
01:13:16,000 --> 01:13:17,880
Speaker 1: to get there, to win the conference and to be

1355
01:13:18,280 --> 01:13:23,320
Speaker 1: the surefire lock to get to that playoff spot. I like,

1356
01:13:24,280 --> 01:13:26,439
Speaker 1: I have, I just have a solid as Yeah, at worst,

1357
01:13:26,479 --> 01:13:28,080
Speaker 1: it's like an A. Right, it has to be.

1358
01:13:28,160 --> 01:13:30,519
Speaker 2: They were three points away from beating the number one

1359
01:13:30,560 --> 01:13:32,759
Speaker 2: team in America for the back half of the season

1360
01:13:33,160 --> 01:13:35,639
Speaker 2: as a Mountain West program. That's right. I thought they

1361
01:13:35,680 --> 01:13:38,680
Speaker 2: held their own against Penn State. All things considered, they

1362
01:13:38,760 --> 01:13:42,320
Speaker 2: ran the table UNLV, became a popular pick to you know,

1363
01:13:42,360 --> 01:13:44,400
Speaker 2: beat them during the regular season, and beat them in

1364
01:13:44,400 --> 01:13:47,160
Speaker 2: the Mountain West championship game in Boise. They held strong.

1365
01:13:48,240 --> 01:13:52,280
Speaker 2: They showcased the best pure offensive talent in the sport

1366
01:13:52,600 --> 01:13:55,240
Speaker 2: in a super smart way, just giving him.

1367
01:13:55,120 --> 01:13:57,200
Speaker 1: The balls off in his boss that's right, as he's right,

1368
01:13:57,360 --> 01:13:59,439
Speaker 1: it's an A. I don't know, how do you change anything.

1369
01:13:59,479 --> 01:14:03,919
Speaker 2: It's an A. Bob Chesney, our guy, Bobby Chez, James.

1370
01:14:03,760 --> 01:14:08,479
Speaker 1: Madison, I think close to an A, I think, I

1371
01:14:08,520 --> 01:14:09,720
Speaker 1: mean they think it's also an A.

1372
01:14:10,120 --> 01:14:11,160
Speaker 2: I think it's probably an A.

1373
01:14:12,040 --> 01:14:17,080
Speaker 1: So Kurt Signetti leaves JMU loses a lot. Yes, Bob

1374
01:14:17,120 --> 01:14:21,920
Speaker 1: Chesney comes down from the Patriot League and puts on

1375
01:14:21,960 --> 01:14:22,920
Speaker 1: a nine to four season.

1376
01:14:23,240 --> 01:14:23,960
Speaker 2: That's an A for me.

1377
01:14:24,400 --> 01:14:24,920
Speaker 1: Absolutely.

1378
01:14:24,960 --> 01:14:29,120
Speaker 2: Ne They lose to Georgia Southern Monroe is a bad loss.

1379
01:14:29,800 --> 01:14:34,000
Speaker 2: App State was a bad loss. Marshall's not a bad loss.

1380
01:14:34,960 --> 01:14:37,400
Speaker 2: And they win their bowl game, it might be a

1381
01:14:37,439 --> 01:14:41,040
Speaker 2: B plus. Like you, their defense was so good this

1382
01:14:41,160 --> 01:14:46,160
Speaker 2: year that losing games to underwhelming opponents kind of has

1383
01:14:46,240 --> 01:14:47,479
Speaker 2: to be held against them.

1384
01:14:47,560 --> 01:14:52,200
Speaker 1: So let's go a minus. Then we ken Nea Manalolo

1385
01:14:52,400 --> 01:14:54,560
Speaker 1: at San Jose State not running the option.

1386
01:14:55,720 --> 01:14:59,759
Speaker 2: Not running the option. I'm gonna say B B plus.

1387
01:15:00,080 --> 01:15:02,400
Speaker 1: It's a solid B plus. Man, I think this is

1388
01:15:02,439 --> 01:15:05,600
Speaker 1: a good campaign. This is a good campaign proving that

1389
01:15:05,640 --> 01:15:06,599
Speaker 1: he doesn't need the options.

1390
01:15:06,640 --> 01:15:12,759
Speaker 2: I agree. They were competitive and beating Stanford is not nothing.

1391
01:15:12,800 --> 01:15:15,880
Speaker 2: As bad as Stanford was for most of this year.

1392
01:15:16,760 --> 01:15:20,439
Speaker 2: They were competitive in year one, they beat Oregon State,

1393
01:15:20,560 --> 01:15:24,000
Speaker 2: they beat Stanford two pack twelve teams last season yep,

1394
01:15:25,520 --> 01:15:28,400
Speaker 2: and competitive and like a crazy bowl game that they

1395
01:15:28,439 --> 01:15:32,920
Speaker 2: had an opportunity to win nothing super embarrassing and losing

1396
01:15:33,040 --> 01:15:36,040
Speaker 2: a shootout to Wazoo, so you know, half a second

1397
01:15:36,080 --> 01:15:39,639
Speaker 2: away from beating three pack twelve teams up and down

1398
01:15:39,640 --> 01:15:42,840
Speaker 2: because the defense wasn't there. But I think promising absolutely.

1399
01:15:43,080 --> 01:15:44,320
Speaker 2: Speaking of defense not.

1400
01:15:44,320 --> 01:15:46,840
Speaker 1: Being there, he mentioned Oregon State. How about Trent Bray.

1401
01:15:51,720 --> 01:15:54,400
Speaker 1: There was no defense at Oregon Steate, But.

1402
01:15:54,520 --> 01:15:57,320
Speaker 2: Like, how much do you hold I know, I know

1403
01:15:57,840 --> 01:16:00,960
Speaker 2: as a defensive coordinator, he was very, very good. This

1404
01:16:00,680 --> 01:16:01,360
Speaker 2: is this.

1405
01:16:01,240 --> 01:16:03,559
Speaker 1: Is where maybe we need to split off the coach

1406
01:16:03,680 --> 01:16:08,520
Speaker 1: from the team because the team's in an impossible circumstance

1407
01:16:09,040 --> 01:16:13,120
Speaker 1: right right, that was always going to be an uphill fight.

1408
01:16:13,200 --> 01:16:16,599
Speaker 1: Trent Bray has a connection to the university. They kept

1409
01:16:16,640 --> 01:16:20,599
Speaker 1: him on the staff after Jonathan Smith left. A popular

1410
01:16:20,680 --> 01:16:24,160
Speaker 1: choice but definitely has his work cut out for him.

1411
01:16:24,160 --> 01:16:26,040
Speaker 1: There were much better team on the ground than through

1412
01:16:26,040 --> 01:16:28,560
Speaker 1: the air. They were really bad on both sides of

1413
01:16:28,600 --> 01:16:31,400
Speaker 1: the defensive thing, right, whether it was against the rush

1414
01:16:31,560 --> 01:16:35,400
Speaker 1: or against the pass. This is a team that lost

1415
01:16:35,520 --> 01:16:39,240
Speaker 1: at Nevada three and ten Nevada, which I will talk

1416
01:16:39,240 --> 01:16:43,120
Speaker 1: about in Air Force. Yeah, lost at Cal, lost at

1417
01:16:43,120 --> 01:16:46,480
Speaker 1: San Jose Stageho. He mentioned a minute ago, lost at Boise.

1418
01:16:47,840 --> 01:16:48,280
Speaker 2: I don't.

1419
01:16:49,160 --> 01:16:51,760
Speaker 1: I don't think you can go higher than a C.

1420
01:16:53,080 --> 01:16:56,120
Speaker 2: I think it's a C. I think it's a SEA.

1421
01:16:56,240 --> 01:16:59,560
Speaker 2: Given the teams they lost to. Look, it's completely depleted defenses.

1422
01:17:00,040 --> 01:17:02,840
Speaker 2: What did I chemistry tutors playing defensive tackle something like that.

1423
01:17:02,840 --> 01:17:07,640
Speaker 2: That's what I said. Yep, but I don't know they

1424
01:17:07,640 --> 01:17:10,240
Speaker 2: could run the ball. Some quarterback was kind of a mess.

1425
01:17:10,280 --> 01:17:13,080
Speaker 2: They had to make changes at quarterback, and looking as

1426
01:17:13,200 --> 01:17:16,080
Speaker 2: uncompetitive as they were against some of those teams, you

1427
01:17:16,080 --> 01:17:17,840
Speaker 2: got to hold it against them, but then give them

1428
01:17:17,840 --> 01:17:19,080
Speaker 2: credit beat Wazoo.

1429
01:17:19,360 --> 01:17:19,599
Speaker 1: Yep.

1430
01:17:19,840 --> 01:17:21,400
Speaker 2: So they are the Pack twelve champions.

1431
01:17:22,000 --> 01:17:22,320
Speaker 1: That's right.

1432
01:17:22,400 --> 01:17:26,439
Speaker 2: That's right. Competitive against Boise State, a playoff team so

1433
01:17:27,640 --> 01:17:30,760
Speaker 2: rounded into shape as they got healthier closer to the

1434
01:17:30,840 --> 01:17:33,599
Speaker 2: end of the season, but the lows were too low

1435
01:17:33,640 --> 01:17:35,599
Speaker 2: for me to feel much better. So yeah, I'm gonna

1436
01:17:35,600 --> 01:17:36,920
Speaker 2: give let's see.

1437
01:17:36,680 --> 01:17:39,840
Speaker 1: I get Bronco men in Hall B plus at New Mexico, it.

1438
01:17:39,880 --> 01:17:42,200
Speaker 2: Was a fun offense. They ran the hell out of

1439
01:17:42,200 --> 01:17:42,680
Speaker 2: the ball. Man.

1440
01:17:42,760 --> 01:17:45,559
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was a good rushing offense. Is a terrible defense.

1441
01:17:46,200 --> 01:17:50,639
Speaker 1: But outside of getting blown off the field. Their first

1442
01:17:50,680 --> 01:17:55,040
Speaker 1: four games of the year against Montana State, well they

1443
01:17:55,080 --> 01:17:58,519
Speaker 1: lost by four, but good team Montana State got hammered

1444
01:17:58,560 --> 01:18:04,000
Speaker 1: by Arizona, got hammered by Auburn, lost handily to Fresno State.

1445
01:18:04,080 --> 01:18:08,280
Speaker 1: Outside of that month of September, they got things going

1446
01:18:08,360 --> 01:18:12,479
Speaker 1: after that, and there are three losses from that point

1447
01:18:12,479 --> 01:18:17,360
Speaker 1: moving forward. At Colorado State against Wyoming, against Hawaii. The

1448
01:18:17,400 --> 01:18:21,160
Speaker 1: Hawaii game was a one score game. The Wyoming game

1449
01:18:21,400 --> 01:18:23,880
Speaker 1: was a one score game. The Colorado State game they

1450
01:18:23,960 --> 01:18:26,439
Speaker 1: lost by eleven, but that was a weird game. That

1451
01:18:26,520 --> 01:18:29,080
Speaker 1: was a weird game that it still feels like it

1452
01:18:29,120 --> 01:18:31,240
Speaker 1: was a little bit closer than that final score would indicate.

1453
01:18:31,360 --> 01:18:34,360
Speaker 1: So I think, just with the talent on hand, Bronco

1454
01:18:34,439 --> 01:18:35,679
Speaker 1: did a pretty good job at New Mexico.

1455
01:18:35,680 --> 01:18:37,519
Speaker 2: He's gonna be at Utah State now, Oh gonna say,

1456
01:18:37,560 --> 01:18:40,120
Speaker 2: we get to have this conversation all over again next year.

1457
01:18:40,200 --> 01:18:42,559
Speaker 1: Yeah, Bronco is going to be at Utah State. Just

1458
01:18:42,600 --> 01:18:44,200
Speaker 1: a couple other ones that I want to call out

1459
01:18:44,240 --> 01:18:46,080
Speaker 1: real quick, Okay, I'm not going to go through all

1460
01:18:46,080 --> 01:18:49,040
Speaker 1: of these guys, but Jeff Choate I mentioned him at Nevada.

1461
01:18:49,320 --> 01:18:53,360
Speaker 1: The Choate hold is real, and I thought, given given

1462
01:18:53,439 --> 01:18:56,120
Speaker 1: expectations at Nevada, even three and ten, that was a

1463
01:18:56,120 --> 01:18:58,920
Speaker 1: plucky three in ten For Jeff Choate, I thought he

1464
01:18:58,960 --> 01:19:00,920
Speaker 1: did a really good job. I don't know how to

1465
01:19:00,960 --> 01:19:03,600
Speaker 1: score that, maybe give him like a B, but I

1466
01:19:03,640 --> 01:19:07,080
Speaker 1: thought he did an excellent job. So props to him.

1467
01:19:07,120 --> 01:19:09,960
Speaker 1: Major apple White at South Alabama had a pretty good campaign.

1468
01:19:10,840 --> 01:19:13,599
Speaker 1: Right after Kane Wamick left and went to coach defense

1469
01:19:13,600 --> 01:19:16,880
Speaker 1: at Alabama, Major apple White stepped up. I thought he

1470
01:19:16,920 --> 01:19:22,799
Speaker 1: did a pretty good job. Agree Brian Vincent at ULM.

1471
01:19:22,960 --> 01:19:25,439
Speaker 1: You talked about the Ulm loss being a bad loss

1472
01:19:25,479 --> 01:19:28,800
Speaker 1: for whoever you mentioned. I forget now fisty this year,

1473
01:19:29,280 --> 01:19:35,360
Speaker 1: but I remember distinctly, looking at some of the preseason publications,

1474
01:19:35,920 --> 01:19:39,200
Speaker 1: everybody thought Ulm was going to be a doormat, an

1475
01:19:39,280 --> 01:19:43,760
Speaker 1: absolute doormat this year. They were in twenty three. The

1476
01:19:43,840 --> 01:19:45,800
Speaker 1: expectation was that twenty four wasn't going to be a

1477
01:19:45,840 --> 01:19:49,240
Speaker 1: whole lot better. They won five games. He's like an

1478
01:19:49,280 --> 01:19:53,479
Speaker 1: a this is an a job that we saw from Brian.

1479
01:19:53,360 --> 01:19:55,800
Speaker 2: Vincent at Uli. I agree he did a good job.

1480
01:19:55,840 --> 01:19:57,599
Speaker 1: And Pete Lombo did a good job at Buffalo two

1481
01:19:57,600 --> 01:20:00,800
Speaker 1: won nine games. Kind of in the throws that conversation

1482
01:20:00,920 --> 01:20:01,639
Speaker 1: in the MAC.

1483
01:20:01,640 --> 01:20:05,439
Speaker 2: And that's also a late higher situation with mo linguist

1484
01:20:05,479 --> 01:20:08,639
Speaker 2: heading to Alabama date that he did, so yeah, I'm

1485
01:20:08,640 --> 01:20:11,000
Speaker 2: good with all that, all right.

1486
01:20:11,040 --> 01:20:13,559
Speaker 1: So there you have it, folks. There are some others

1487
01:20:13,560 --> 01:20:16,679
Speaker 1: that we did not mention. Let us know your grades

1488
01:20:16,840 --> 01:20:19,479
Speaker 1: solid verbal at gmail dot com, or you can, of

1489
01:20:19,520 --> 01:20:23,320
Speaker 1: course always hit us up on social media. Verballers dot

1490
01:20:23,360 --> 01:20:25,040
Speaker 1: com is where you can go to support what Dan

1491
01:20:25,240 --> 01:20:29,519
Speaker 1: and I do and if nothing more, please please just

1492
01:20:29,600 --> 01:20:32,080
Speaker 1: hit follow or subscribes that you don't miss any of

1493
01:20:32,439 --> 01:20:36,720
Speaker 1: our episodes. Dan, Yes, I have. I think that's all

1494
01:20:36,720 --> 01:20:37,320
Speaker 1: we got here.

1495
01:20:37,560 --> 01:20:38,479
Speaker 2: Hope you enjoyed this.

1496
01:20:38,479 --> 01:20:44,800
Speaker 1: Episode the best of you really didn't have that on

1497
01:20:44,840 --> 01:20:48,120
Speaker 1: your local TV station, not that I know time, Man,

1498
01:20:48,160 --> 01:20:48,720
Speaker 1: you missed it.

1499
01:20:48,840 --> 01:20:51,840
Speaker 2: I can make out the calls. I'm sure. I'm sure

1500
01:20:51,880 --> 01:20:53,280
Speaker 2: you can. Yeah.

1501
01:20:53,439 --> 01:20:55,200
Speaker 1: Let's leave it there for that guy over there, my

1502
01:20:55,200 --> 01:20:57,400
Speaker 1: good friend Dan Rubinstein. From my self, Tie hilder Brand,

1503
01:20:57,439 --> 01:21:01,280
Speaker 1: thanks for tagging along. Here are long conversation grading out

1504
01:21:01,280 --> 01:21:04,760
Speaker 1: coaches first year coaches from the twenty four season. We'll

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Speaker 1: catch you all next week. Stay slid peace. M