Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal. I'll that for me.
Speaker 2: I'm a man, I'm forty. I've heard so many players say, well,
Speaker 2: I want to be happy.
Speaker 1: You want to be happy for Dake Edith State.
Speaker 3: Is that whoo whoom? And Dan and Tye welcome back
Speaker 3: to the solid verbal, Boys and girls, my name is
Speaker 3: ty Hildebrand, joining me as always over there in sunny, springy,
Speaker 3: still fatherly New York City. My man Dan Rubinstein, I
Speaker 3: guess I should add Sweet sixteen y New York City.
Speaker 3: Your Organ ducks in the Sweet sixteen.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's true. They're not playing. I think they're playing wouis.
Speaker 3: This is a basketball show now, in case you weren't
Speaker 3: made aware.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've watched three Organ games this year, and I'm
Speaker 1: here to tell you all about them. They're tall, Thank
Speaker 1: you very much. I accomplished a lot with the Sweet sixteen.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry if I sound distracted. The I'm hearing the
Speaker 1: faint screams of my son, the solid baby in the back.
Speaker 3: We'll have this, see, we'll have this now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he has so many Wisconsin thoughts, and I told
Speaker 1: him you're not able to articulate them in a concise manner.
Speaker 1: So we can't have you on the show quite yet,
Speaker 1: so he's real bummed. What is the over under for
Speaker 1: when we'll get our first commentary from the solid baby
Speaker 1: on the show? When did you see the Clemson, Oklahoma
Speaker 1: home and home that was announced in twenty thirty six
Speaker 1: and thirty seven? Yeah, okay, he will be a redshirt
Speaker 1: freshman on one of those teams.
Speaker 3: See if we work this right, yeah, he can just
Speaker 3: take over for you and then I'll just have to
Speaker 3: come up with a filling on my end, much younger filling.
Speaker 1: Is this like when Casey Caasem's daughter tried to take
Speaker 1: over his Top forty show.
Speaker 3: I don't remember that.
Speaker 1: I am almost positive she there was something along those
Speaker 1: lines that she got into broadcasting. I'm looking this up
Speaker 1: while you give people the relevant information.
Speaker 3: Well, welcome back to the show, boys and girls. We're
Speaker 3: at Solid Verbal at gmail dot com, solid verbal dot com.
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Speaker 3: which you can find again at our website at solidverbal
Speaker 3: dot com. So, if you've been listening to us this
Speaker 3: long cold off season, it's only been a few months,
Speaker 3: but you know that we've been doing these conference autopsies. Specifically,
Speaker 3: you've been going out talking to the people, yeah, and
Speaker 3: doing conference autopsies. We've got one major conference left and
Speaker 3: that is the Big Ten Patriot going oh, sorry, the
Speaker 3: Big ten Dan, which we're going to be addressing today
Speaker 3: courtesy of our good friend whom.
Speaker 1: We're going to be talking to, Matt Fortuna. Hopefully that's
Speaker 1: how you pronounce it, and he doesn't hate people pronouncing
Speaker 1: it too. It's not my Fortuna Fortuna. I don't think
Speaker 1: it's the tuna. Yeah, Matt Fortuna from the Athletic He
Speaker 1: used to be at ESPN. He's a national college football
Speaker 1: writer but based in the Midwest and does a saw.
Speaker 1: He just did a piece on Hunter Johnson, the transfer
Speaker 1: quarterback coming into Northwestern, the former Blue Chipper from Clemson.
Speaker 1: So figured we'd lean into the Big Ten with Matt Fortuna.
Speaker 1: He covered Notre Dame I believe for ESPN a while
Speaker 1: like that was the specific beat and did a very
Speaker 1: good job with that. You would know better than I.
Speaker 1: Sure you probably were assuming consuming more Irish content than
Speaker 1: I was, but quite excited. I don't think we've had
Speaker 1: him on the show. We haven't.
Speaker 3: I actually checked.
Speaker 1: It's tough because we've had such an incredible roster of
Speaker 1: guests that it would have made sense for him to
Speaker 1: be on at a certain point. But I guess if
Speaker 1: he were only covering Notre Dame, you and you and
Speaker 1: Pete Sampson are pretty hot and heavy, right, So that's uh.
Speaker 1: That means I'm excited to have him on and welcome
Speaker 1: a new guest.
Speaker 3: So as you look back now on the Big Ten
Speaker 3: from twenty eighteen, what is the one question that stands
Speaker 3: out most to you? If you're doing a one man
Speaker 3: autopsyn and you got to ask one question of what
Speaker 3: you saw in the Big Ten last year?
Speaker 2: What is it?
Speaker 1: Uh? God, I don't know if there's a single question
Speaker 1: that covers it. There are certain themes that hit me
Speaker 1: as I was preparing for this show. Thematically, there were
Speaker 1: a lot of wasted windows to me in the Big Ten.
Speaker 1: This year you had this, You had Ohio State finally
Speaker 1: breaking through with a quarterback who is like a first
Speaker 1: round NFL quality and was immediately and like, what could
Speaker 1: have been with this Ohio State team, which certainly had
Speaker 1: its flaws on both sides of the ball, But to
Speaker 1: have Dwayne Haskins, to have a more wide open offense,
Speaker 1: to have this roster receivers, what could have happened if
Speaker 1: they don't blow the Purdue game, what could have happened
Speaker 1: with Michigan? And maybe forget about the Notre Dame game.
Speaker 1: But if they're just competitive against Ohio State, if they're
Speaker 1: able to get it together, if their defense looks like
Speaker 1: a looks against Ohio State like what it did the
Speaker 1: rest of the year, could they have, you know, had
Speaker 1: a nice case to get into the playoff. A better
Speaker 1: case in Ohio State. Who loses to Purdue in that fashion? Iowa, Iowa.
Speaker 1: I didn't even think about the window for Iowa, but
Speaker 1: a crazy ideal schedule. They have two NFL first round
Speaker 1: we believe tight ends, an experienced quarterback, and unbelievable pass defense,
Speaker 1: and they just they lost games in dumb moments and
Speaker 1: dumb ways where I think the Iowa window was actually
Speaker 1: pretty strong, and I'm interested to talk to Matt about that.
Speaker 1: So that kept popping up across a few teams that
Speaker 1: this year might say this year twenty eighteen set up
Speaker 1: nicely and didn't work out and it was kind of
Speaker 1: barely for a couple of these teams. Michigan is what
Speaker 1: jumps out to me. Michigan has been this work in
Speaker 1: progress now under Jim horror Boss since he got there.
Speaker 1: Look a really good year, ten wins, ten and three overall,
Speaker 1: eight and one in conference. You speak of windows, they
Speaker 1: had a window. Yeah, it really truly had a window.
Speaker 1: It didn't with what they returned on defense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the addition of Shape Patterson was clearly a talking
Speaker 3: point headed into the Big Ten season, and I'm curious
Speaker 3: to get Matt's thoughts on how that worked out and
Speaker 3: maybe take a peek forward where it might go next
Speaker 3: for jib Harbaugh, because again for me, this is like
Speaker 3: you look at the Big Ten. I know I'm a
Speaker 3: Penn State grad and Ohio State has ruled supreme in
Speaker 3: the Big Ten for quite some time now under Urban Meyer.
Speaker 3: But the Michigan storyline to me is what I find
Speaker 3: most interesting.
Speaker 1: One thing that I hadn't thought about after the fact
Speaker 1: after the season ended, and just sort of pieced together
Speaker 1: as I was going back because I was thinking about
Speaker 1: Maryland and looking up some Maryland stuff. Maryland came within
Speaker 1: what a single bad pass of beating both the Sugar
Speaker 1: and Rose Bull champs. This is one hundred percent accurate.
Speaker 1: That is I had totally forgotten about. And this is
Speaker 1: because I'm a dumb dumb about just the Anthony McFarland
Speaker 1: experience that came on at the end of the season
Speaker 1: where it goes for over five hundred yards and just
Speaker 1: two weeks.
Speaker 3: Us wrongly thinking he was Burger McFarland's son.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was unfortunate. Well, Booger McFarland's name is Anthony.
Speaker 3: That was all me.
Speaker 1: It's okay you you admitted faults and we circled back.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna throw in a Notre Dame question, I believe
Speaker 1: as well from at Fortune and because we're not going
Speaker 1: to do a Notre Dame autopsy episode because I think
Speaker 1: that would take too much out of you. It would
Speaker 1: having to relive some of some of twenty eight the
Speaker 1: relitigation of that playoff game would be an issue. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's what I'm There were little nuggets like that,
Speaker 1: like I with the Purdue season, how weird it started,
Speaker 1: how weird it ended?
Speaker 2: With that?
Speaker 1: Just one like how much should that win over Ohio State?
Speaker 1: Characterize what we think of Purdue? And they're twenty eighteen
Speaker 1: and moving forward in Indiana as well, a team where
Speaker 1: there are just like, what the hell happened to that
Speaker 1: defense in twenty eighteen? So it's really good to sort
Speaker 1: of fire a couple of darts, you know, at questions
Speaker 1: that that can't come up when I have a little
Speaker 1: bit more time to think about specifics like this and
Speaker 1: then think about where things are headed for these teams.
Speaker 3: All right, So again we're gonna be joined momentarily by
Speaker 3: Matt for Tuna from the Athletic going to talk through
Speaker 3: all things twenty eighteen, Big ten and Notre Dame just
Speaker 3: for good measure to sprinkle it in there, very Midwest.
Speaker 3: You know how to find us. We're on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,
Speaker 3: all the usual hotspots. Before we go any further though,
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Speaker 3: On that note, let's hop in with Matt Fortuna from
Speaker 3: the athletic.
Speaker 1: And with that we are now joined or I am
Speaker 1: now joined by Matt Fortuna correct pronunciation. Yes, yes, Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh. That's a relief, because I screw up names
Speaker 1: all during the season because sometimes somehow I don't pay
Speaker 1: attention to the name of Iowa States kicker and then
Speaker 1: I sound like a moron. And so Fortuna is easy enough.
Speaker 1: You're in Chicago, you're from New York, and if I
Speaker 1: am to read this correctly, you are the president of
Speaker 1: the Football Writers Association of America.
Speaker 2: That is correct. If you ever are in the Chicago area,
Speaker 2: I will treat you to Wendy's, Burger King, McDonald's, or
Speaker 2: any other fast food item of your accounts. That's the
Speaker 2: kind hospitable guy I am.
Speaker 1: And that's if you're a college football champion of any kind,
Speaker 1: that's what you get served. That's how it works in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2: So that's right. A shutdown or not. We are ready
Speaker 2: to go.
Speaker 1: So give out your phone number real quick. If anybody
Speaker 1: has to complain about anything written about college football that
Speaker 1: goes through you, correct. That's how it works pretty much.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I won't get too far into the
Speaker 2: week too, but you're not too far off in some cases.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, I like it. Okay, good, a little bit
Speaker 1: of mystery, maybe a tease for another episode. Let's start here.
Speaker 1: It's the big ten autopsy that we're conducting. I don't
Speaker 1: know what the proper verb would be, but I'm now
Speaker 1: intimidated that you are the writer of writers. But let's
Speaker 1: we're What we're doing is simple. We are going to
Speaker 1: go through teams through a random style that we have
Speaker 1: figured out. I'm going to ask you to give me
Speaker 1: a number between one and fourteen, and then we are
Speaker 1: going to run through questions about twenty eighteen and how
Speaker 1: is how it relates to twenty nineteen, and hopefully we're
Speaker 1: all a little bit smarter after the process.
Speaker 2: I will do my best to avoid whatever number of
Speaker 2: Rutgers is on and go thirte but we will. We'll
Speaker 2: give it a go here.
Speaker 1: This is especially random because usually I'll just start writing
Speaker 1: and listing teams that I remember are in a conference
Speaker 1: and then it's the last ones. This is a peak
Speaker 1: behind the curtain that I'm like, oh right, Iowa States
Speaker 1: in the Big twelve, Oh right, US half whatever. Give
Speaker 1: me a number between one and fourteen.
Speaker 2: Let's go with lucky number thirteen.
Speaker 1: Number thirteen. You didn't hit Rutgers. That's great. We're gonna
Speaker 1: start with Iowa and the general the steadiness, the competitiveness
Speaker 1: of Iowa is definitely admirable. They have good lines every year,
Speaker 1: steady quarterback play, good defense all has gotten them. It's
Speaker 1: kind of pretty damn far. But with last year's tight
Speaker 1: ends and experience quarterback in Nate Stanley, a mostly yeah,
Speaker 1: very good defense. I would say last year had a
Speaker 1: terrific schedule. Did the did the Hotkeyes waist maybe a
Speaker 1: ten win regular season window last year? Was it there
Speaker 1: for them?
Speaker 2: I think it absolutely was there for them. And that's
Speaker 2: kind of the beauty and the curse, if you will,
Speaker 2: about really the entire Kirk Ferrench regime there. I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't think you'll find a major college football program
Speaker 2: that has more of an identity than Iowa, who is
Speaker 2: more comfortable with being themselves than Iowa they're good for
Speaker 2: eight or nine wins probably every year, and in a
Speaker 2: rare year like twenty fifteen, they're gonna make a run
Speaker 2: and almost make the playoff and end up in the
Speaker 2: Rose Bowl. And I think, you know, when you run
Speaker 2: a clean program, when you represent your university the right
Speaker 2: way on and off the field, there's not a whole
Speaker 2: lot more you can ask for.
Speaker 3: That.
Speaker 2: That said, when your neighbor is Wisconsin and they're swinging
Speaker 2: slightly above your weight every year, definitely not last year,
Speaker 2: but for the most part in the last fifteen twenty
Speaker 2: years or so, I can understand why there's a hunger
Speaker 2: for more. And it's always funny. You obviously held my
Speaker 2: colleague Bruceselman on for the PAC twelve. Stuart Mendel's another
Speaker 2: colleague of mine. They did their coaches rankings about a
Speaker 2: month ago, and I don't think Stew's ever had Kirk
Speaker 2: Friends on there. And he said he's never hears more
Speaker 2: backlash from any fan base than Iowa. And it's a
Speaker 2: mixed bag. It's half them saying, what are you doing?
Speaker 2: He's one of the best there is, he's been there
Speaker 2: twenty years. How do you exclude him? And it's the
Speaker 2: other half saying, like, you know, he's the worst, why
Speaker 2: would you ever even entertain and thank god you didn't
Speaker 2: have him on there. And when you look, especially at
Speaker 2: last season, I mean that's kind of the Kirk Prince
Speaker 2: tenured in a nutshell. I mean nine to four. But
Speaker 2: every single one of those games that they lost they
Speaker 2: should have won. Yeah, and look some of the ones
Speaker 2: they won they probably should have lost too, if we
Speaker 2: really want split hairs here, But I mean that Wisconsin
Speaker 2: game went down to the final minute. That Northwestern game,
Speaker 2: they just did absolutely nothing offensively. Northwestern got one of
Speaker 2: the best catches in all the college football season to
Speaker 2: multimately pull out a fourteen ten win and win the
Speaker 2: division in Iowa City. The Perdue game they lost in
Speaker 2: the last second field goal. The Penn State game was
Speaker 2: just a hot message back and forth, crazy touchdowns and
Speaker 2: turnovers and you name it. And now you look up
Speaker 2: and you're losing two all American caliber tight ends and
Speaker 2: all found in TJ. Hockinson, and you wonder, kind of,
Speaker 2: like you said, Dan, did they just waste a ten
Speaker 2: or eleven one season? I mean, that division was there
Speaker 2: for the taking. All due respect to Northwestern, who wanted
Speaker 2: Farren square and wanted I think pretty much going away.
Speaker 2: I think they won it by two games last year,
Speaker 2: three games over Iowa. Actually, that was a very wittable division,
Speaker 2: more so than any other time, because you had Wisconsin down,
Speaker 2: because you had a new coach at Nebraska. You know,
Speaker 2: Northwestern obviously was great, but they didn't start off great
Speaker 2: non conference and were certainly vulnerable, as pretty much every
Speaker 2: other team in that division was. So when you look
Speaker 2: ahead to this year, you have to feel comfortable and
Speaker 2: Nathan Stanley coming back at quarterback, you have to like
Speaker 2: those pieces on defense. You have to like that offensive
Speaker 2: line which is always pretty good, if not great, and
Speaker 2: returns to starting tackles is coming here. But you talk
Speaker 2: to coaches around the league and elsewhere, and it's the
Speaker 2: same vein refrain. Every year it's Iowa. They'll probably win
Speaker 2: eight games, they'll be who they are. Yeah.
Speaker 1: No, And for the record, Kirk Farence deserves to be
Speaker 1: in that best coaches grouping. When you take unhralded recruits,
Speaker 1: develop them and not only hang with, but regularly beat
Speaker 1: the powers the perceived powers of your conference. I'm pro
Speaker 1: ferens in that regard. Give me another number. Let's go
Speaker 1: with seven number seven. Did you hit the Rutgers Wami?
Speaker 1: You did not, Michigan State. I'm a big believer that
Speaker 1: two things can be true at once. In this case, Hey,
Speaker 1: Mark D'Antonio is a really good coach who deserves the
Speaker 1: benefit of the doubt. And at the same time, Sparti's
Speaker 1: offense has been this is an official journalism term, But
Speaker 1: do we live in a world where Michigan State's offense
Speaker 1: can become dramatically more of what they look like in
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen with Connor Cook? Excuse me ahead of and
Speaker 1: during a year in which I think they get Northwestern,
Speaker 1: Ohio State, Michigan, and Wisconsin all away from East Lansing.
Speaker 1: Do you believe in a Mark d Antonio transformation project?
Speaker 2: I mean, when you look at those box scores from
Speaker 2: last season, it's not just losing seven to six in
Speaker 2: a bowl game. It's not just losing nine to six
Speaker 2: at Nebraska, for sixteen to thirteen at Arizona State, or
Speaker 2: only putting up six points against Ohio State. I mean,
Speaker 2: it was just really tough to watch. And then Mark
Speaker 2: D'Antonio comes out with the big press conference this winter, Hey,
Speaker 2: what's the big news we're keeping everyone on SAP. We're
Speaker 2: just give them all different titles. I'm not sure I've
Speaker 2: seen anything like that, and I'm in the same boat
Speaker 2: as you. I mean, if anyone has deserved the benefit
Speaker 2: of the doubt over his decade plus tenure, it's probably
Speaker 2: this guy. I mean, there's no reason Michigan State should
Speaker 2: have been annually winning or contending for Big ten titles
Speaker 2: the way it has been for the most part under
Speaker 2: Mark D'Antonio. But you look at what they did last
Speaker 2: you look at what they did three years ago. Now
Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen, you have to wonder. I don't want
Speaker 2: to say the jig is up, because it's not like
Speaker 2: he was pulling then you want he's a great coach
Speaker 2: and he's built a tremendous program, But I don't know
Speaker 2: what you get excited about. To your point when you
Speaker 2: look at that offense. I mean, I do like Brian Lawurki.
Speaker 2: I like those receivers, but I like them a lot
Speaker 2: going into last year too, and so did a lot
Speaker 2: of people I talked to in that league. And they
Speaker 2: didn't really deliver around the field on Saturdays, which is
Speaker 2: why they finished with a seven and six record and
Speaker 2: so Mark D'Antonio reminds me a lot of Jerry Patterson
Speaker 2: in the sense that they're both at programs that a
Speaker 2: punch above their weight. When he's historically speaking, under these regimes,
Speaker 2: they've had a down season every now and then, and
Speaker 2: they've almost always come back with authority. I Michigan State
Speaker 2: went from playoff in fifteen to three and nine and
Speaker 2: sixteen to ten wins in seventeen, and so I know
Speaker 2: better than to doubt these guys. That said, looking at
Speaker 2: what we've seen from them and from the returning guys
Speaker 2: from LA season on film, I can't understand why there's
Speaker 2: some skepticalized in he's lanting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I wouldn't hate them finding that grain of
Speaker 1: sand to stick into the I think it's an oyster
Speaker 1: shell to make a pearl, to go outside of the program,
Speaker 1: to bring in somebody that makes things a little bit
Speaker 1: uncomfortable to run the offense, whether it's somebody from a
Speaker 1: lower level or a smaller school, to just refresh, reboot
Speaker 1: and hope for the best. Give me a number that's
Speaker 1: not seven or thirteen. Let's go one number one. Let's
Speaker 1: talk Indiana. Let us talk about a team who they
Speaker 1: lost six of seven with a couple within reach. And
Speaker 1: the confusing part was, and there's there was definitely turnover.
Speaker 1: Why did a Tom Allen defense fall basically off a cliff?
Speaker 1: I think it was like twenty fifth to seventy fifth
Speaker 1: in the S and P plus rankings or ratings after
Speaker 1: twenty seventeens version. And is this team, if this team
Speaker 1: is going to succeed now which I guess, which side
Speaker 1: will it be on?
Speaker 2: It has to be defense, right if you're Tom Allen.
Speaker 2: I mean it's funny. I mean Tie and myself are
Speaker 2: both Penn State graduates, and I use this analogy a lot.
Speaker 2: Indiana football, to me is just like Penn State basketball.
Speaker 2: So we're going to and I'm not sure if I
Speaker 2: mean that in during way or an insulting way, but
Speaker 2: it's clear which sports are the breadwinners on their respective campuses.
Speaker 2: And when you watch either team play in conference play,
Speaker 2: and we saw it last year when they went to
Speaker 2: the Big House, I mean they are going to do
Speaker 2: everything humanly possible to win a game and pull off
Speaker 2: enough that they have no business winning, only to lose
Speaker 2: it by three or seven points at the end. I
Speaker 2: mean they do that every year against Missus and him
Speaker 2: Harbaugh's gone there and they've done it a good deal
Speaker 2: against James Shrink withins Pence State teams as well. I
Speaker 2: don't know if that makes you proud or frustrated. Probably neither,
Speaker 2: because I'm not sure enough people in Bloemy can care
Speaker 2: about the football product to really have strong feelings either way.
Speaker 2: That said, I think the worst thing to have this
Speaker 2: program for years and I like Tom Allen is their
Speaker 2: chief rival, got Jeff Brong, who I think is a
Speaker 2: top and coaching college football right now, and even worse,
Speaker 2: he stayed, which when you look around the country at
Speaker 2: all the hirings and firings elsewhere, the best hire, the
Speaker 2: best move anyone made was perdue keeping Jeff bron because
Speaker 2: when you look at what he's been able to do
Speaker 2: his first two years in West Lafe, given the talent
Speaker 2: or lack the aref that he inherited from the previous regime,
Speaker 2: there's no doubting that he's going to have the boiler
Speaker 2: Makers competing for at least the Vision titles year and
Speaker 2: a year out once he gets his full REGI full
Speaker 2: I should say, foraging full four recruiting classes in there,
Speaker 2: and if you're Indiana, that's not working in your favor.
Speaker 2: Getting the unluck of the draw and falling in the
Speaker 2: east with penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, you name.
Speaker 2: It does not work in your favor. And again, like
Speaker 2: you said last year, that defense finished thirteenth out of
Speaker 2: fourteens is a big tending guards for play, and that's
Speaker 2: supposed to be your mo when you promote a defense cordiator,
Speaker 2: a head coach, and when you're not pulling your weight
Speaker 2: on that side of the ball. Sure, how much optimism
Speaker 2: is warranted when you're looking into your three of this regime.
Speaker 1: I think that's an interesting thing. And I was thinking
Speaker 1: about as you were talking about having Purdue in state.
Speaker 1: Indiana also has Notre Dame in state, certainly not in
Speaker 1: the conference. But if you think about if there's a
Speaker 1: top level blue chip recruit in Minnesota or in Iowa
Speaker 1: or in well, Pennsylvania, there's pit but in a lot
Speaker 1: of big ten states, there are not that many options,
Speaker 1: and you will always consider that hometown or the home
Speaker 1: state school. And within Indiana, you had another down school
Speaker 1: for a long time and then you have this legendary program,
Speaker 1: and so it almost feels like it's that much more
Speaker 1: difficult in Bloomington.
Speaker 2: It is. And when you look at that schedule next year,
Speaker 2: I mean, look Fall State, Eastern Illinois, Yukon in a
Speaker 2: non conference. I mean, those should be three wins if
Speaker 2: you're a competent, big time program. The crossovers are Nebraska, Northwestern, obviously, Purdue.
Speaker 2: The West is just a craps here. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 2: one through six, with apologies and my friends in Champagne.
Speaker 2: I think if you threw six of those teams in
Speaker 2: a hat and they came out any which way, it
Speaker 2: would not surprise me regardless, because I think it's that
Speaker 2: wide open, especially this year as DJ fly Can Scott
Speaker 2: Cross start to get their things together. In the respect
Speaker 2: of new locale, I just think it's wide open, especially
Speaker 2: when we saw what Northwestern was able to do and
Speaker 2: taking advantage of the down division last year. But so
Speaker 2: that makes it hard to gauge, really strength to schedule
Speaker 2: when you're looking at Indiana. But you need the breaks
Speaker 2: to fall in your favor, and you need to take
Speaker 2: advantage of those breaks when they do fall in your
Speaker 2: favorite Otherwise it's easy to get lost in the shovel.
Speaker 1: All right, give me a number that is not one
Speaker 1: seven or thirteen.
Speaker 2: Not one seven or thirteen, how about two two?
Speaker 1: We're still we have missed the Wammi of Rutgers Again. Northwestern,
Speaker 1: which is your hometown team, Northwestern is they're flat out good.
Speaker 1: But when they had moments in twenty eighteen that were
Speaker 1: less than that, it was generally because of the offense.
Speaker 1: The hope is and I think you wrote about him,
Speaker 1: the hope is blue chip Clemson quarterback transfer Hunter Johnson.
Speaker 1: Is that difference? Is that all it? I guess, is
Speaker 1: that all it should take for Northwestern to stop losing
Speaker 1: something stupid in September and close out one more power?
Speaker 1: Or is or is there more that needs to be
Speaker 1: tapped into.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it's that simple, because it's not
Speaker 2: like he's replacing of guy who wasn't good. I mean,
Speaker 2: Clayton Thorson was a four year starter, and yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: for all of his ups and downs, he's going to
Speaker 2: go down as one of the best quarterbacks in Northwestern
Speaker 2: Western history. Is definitely statistically speaking, it is probably going
Speaker 2: to make a lot of money in the draft, whether
Speaker 2: it's day one, Day two, or day three next month.
Speaker 2: So I'm not sure, I look at it in that
Speaker 2: sense like quarterback was the only piece they were missing,
Speaker 2: because they had a pretty good one, right, But they
Speaker 2: haven't had a recruit at this position with these kind
Speaker 2: of credentials the way they have in Hunter Johnson, and
Speaker 2: when you talk to people around the program, when you
Speaker 2: talk to people familiar with Johnson, it was almost good
Speaker 2: for this kid, who was, you know, the Camp Miss
Speaker 2: number one quarterback prospect of the country two years ago
Speaker 2: to kind of, want to say, be humbled because he,
Speaker 2: by all County is a good head on his shoulders,
Speaker 2: but to get a year away from the spotlight, to
Speaker 2: run the scout team against one of the better defenses
Speaker 2: where they tend to learn from a guy like clating
Speaker 2: course at Torson, to become familiar with the verbiage of
Speaker 2: the playbook and with the new coaching staff, and now
Speaker 2: a year later, to be kind of unvealed for the
Speaker 2: world to see and look, this program is operating at
Speaker 2: a level which I don't think it's ever been done. Certainly,
Speaker 2: they've been in the rosewell before and have had better
Speaker 2: individual seasons, but they're coming off they're winning his four
Speaker 2: year stretch in Big Ten play in program history. They
Speaker 2: have now their first spring and first full year in
Speaker 2: that brand new two hundred and seventy million dollar facility
Speaker 2: that overlooks Lake Michigan. That is worth the hype and
Speaker 2: then some. I recommend anyone try to visit if you're
Speaker 2: in the Chicago area. And they had a lot of young,
Speaker 2: talented pieces last year. I think that the roses the
Speaker 2: surface at gul Isaiah Paus with the running back in particular,
Speaker 2: is one. I mean, they plan on red shirting this
Speaker 2: guy last year until Jeremy Larkin went down and was
Speaker 2: forced to medically retired, and that guy looks like one
Speaker 2: of the best running backs in the big time forward
Speaker 2: the end of the season. So I think the pieces
Speaker 2: are coming together where uh, they should probably win nine
Speaker 2: games or more this season and Granny get an extra
Speaker 2: game when when you win your division and go to Indianapolis.
Speaker 2: But I think, like you said, everyone else is kind
Speaker 2: of waiting for them to take that not first set,
Speaker 2: but but get through September without a the fuddling loss.
Speaker 2: Don't use lose to the UNLV in your home opener
Speaker 2: next year, all right? That I think will help people,
Speaker 2: the people of the been breathe a little bit easier.
Speaker 2: You open at Stanford. I don't think there's any shame
Speaker 2: in losing a hard fought game at Stanford, but don't
Speaker 2: lose the UNLV please, no absolutely or masses that matter,
Speaker 2: I should say that, Oh they.
Speaker 1: Do have you, you masses when Oh, that's later on
Speaker 1: in the season. There, Northwestern, your typical SEC scheduling team,
Speaker 1: scheduling a low team in November. That's that's just how
Speaker 1: it works.
Speaker 2: Big Get Ohio State off of By on a Friday night? Why? Yeah,
Speaker 2: a rematch of the big time title game, a game
Speaker 2: that last time moves at Evanston. Got college Game Day
Speaker 2: to Evanston. Why would you put that on a Friday night?
Speaker 2: I don't know. And knowing Chicago traffic with a six
Speaker 2: or flock local start time, that's going to cause some problems.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Evanston in the direction of all the suburbs on
Speaker 1: the northern side of Chicago. Great job, big ten, great job.
Speaker 1: Give me a number that is not one, two, seven,
Speaker 1: or thirteen. All right, number eight Ohio State. Oh, what
Speaker 1: a transition. That was so nice of you. It'd be
Speaker 1: it'd be easy and almost certainly true that the tangible
Speaker 1: proof of Ryan Day's effect on Ohio State would be
Speaker 1: Dwayne Haskins and the superb that he had. But is
Speaker 1: there something beyond that in terms of his fingerprints on
Speaker 1: the Buckeye offense from last year and how that potentially
Speaker 1: carries forward to twenty nineteen that you saw or that
Speaker 1: that struck you.
Speaker 2: That's a good question, because I mean, erban Meyer was
Speaker 2: such an involved figure and not necessarily playholer, but figure
Speaker 2: with the offense. And so when you get the blessing
Speaker 2: of approval from irban Meyer, obviously that speaks very highly
Speaker 2: of you and Brian days sterling credentials as well. But
Speaker 2: with new personnel, at least a quarterback, I'm just very
Speaker 2: curious to see what this offense looks like with a
Speaker 2: guy like Justin Fields, who's had so much hype, might
Speaker 2: not playing a whole lot who got the hardship waiver
Speaker 2: is going to be able to start immediately, which is
Speaker 2: a tremendous early win for Ryan Day and his staff.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying the jury still out, because I think
Speaker 2: we all know the talent in that building and on
Speaker 2: those sidelines is far away the best of the Big
Speaker 2: Ten pretty much year and a year out. I just
Speaker 2: don't want to take for granted the fact that there's
Speaker 2: a new coach on that sideline and things may be different.
Speaker 2: I think pulling away Greg Madison from Michigan was a
Speaker 2: nice way to stick it to your arrival again a
Speaker 2: couple other guys Mike Carrits from Oklahoma State Washington as well.
Speaker 2: I just think things are going to look different in
Speaker 2: Columbus next year. I'm just not sure how different they're
Speaker 2: going to look. And I think a lot of that,
Speaker 2: right le Ron is going to fall on a guy
Speaker 2: like Justin Fields, who was one of the top quarterback
Speaker 2: recruits in the country and who I think everyone is
Speaker 2: expecting big things from, especially given how good Dwayne Haskins
Speaker 2: looked in just as Loane. You're starting Columbus last year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And the advantage that Haskins had was he had
Speaker 1: time to sit and learn and get mental rests. Where
Speaker 1: Justin Fields will be expected to come in right away.
Speaker 1: He won't have that advantage. You won't have the advantage
Speaker 1: of Hunter Johnson, who you mentioned at Northwestern. So it
Speaker 1: is immediately, you know, feet to the fire kind of
Speaker 1: in Columbus.
Speaker 2: So yeah, the other part of that too, I mean,
Speaker 2: Dwayne Haskins ran a slower forward to an Eli Manning.
Speaker 2: We might be backing up next year, so they want
Speaker 2: to run him more than he did by all indicasions, and.
Speaker 1: He just didn't do it.
Speaker 2: And Justin Fields is much more of a dual threat
Speaker 2: kind of guy. I don't want to say in the
Speaker 2: mold of jac Barrett because I think they're completely different players.
Speaker 2: But J. C. Barrett Bible has stayed out with his
Speaker 2: legs a lot more than they did with his arms
Speaker 2: and times during his three or four year tenure as
Speaker 2: a starter. So I'm just curious to see how this
Speaker 2: offense looks. I think, again, the pieces are there to
Speaker 2: be the best in the Big Ten the way they
Speaker 2: usually are. I think they were turn enough on defense
Speaker 2: that's going to make all of us forget some of
Speaker 2: the tackling dummies and kind of whiffs they had throughout
Speaker 2: the middle of last season, which I think, when you
Speaker 2: look at the big picture of Ohio State's twenty eighteen season,
Speaker 2: was grossly overlooked because of the way they finishing, because
Speaker 2: of Erbami retiring and so much overshadowing what happened on
Speaker 2: the field last year. But that defense was not great,
Speaker 2: and I think they had the potential and the chance
Speaker 2: to be much much better this season. And I think
Speaker 2: that's something that we have almost forgotten about because they
Speaker 2: still won the Big Ten last year despite not looking
Speaker 2: the part during October and November a.
Speaker 1: Great point three, four, five, six, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, fourteen, ten. Oh,
Speaker 1: you hit the whammy. It was gonna happen. Sorry, Rutgers fans,
Speaker 1: you're probably good people. I assume you are. Scarlet Knights
Speaker 1: were lately, yeah, well fair the Scarlet Knights. They were terrific.
Speaker 1: Yet yet they were right there versus Northwestern and Michigan
Speaker 1: State and sort of Penn State. Is Rutgers in any
Speaker 1: sort of position to scratch and claw their way to
Speaker 1: more of that? Or is the the mess of Rutgers
Speaker 1: athletics in general, the big picture mess too much for anyone,
Speaker 1: I guess, specifically Chris ash to overcome. Right now.
Speaker 2: I don't want to put Rutgers in Illinois in the
Speaker 2: same category because historically Illinois has had some success football life.
Speaker 2: Maybe not recent history, but traditionally, especially in the Big Ten.
Speaker 2: That said, I look at them in somewhat similar veins
Speaker 2: when evaluating the work of those coaching staffs, because I
Speaker 2: remember talking to someone familiar with the Rutgers program in
Speaker 2: between years one and two of the Chris ash era,
Speaker 2: and it was what progress, as crazy as it sounds
Speaker 2: might be, you know, losing thirty to nothing in says
Speaker 2: sixty Johan the way we were last year. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's how much of a whole I think that staff
Speaker 2: has had to dig out of. And you saw it
Speaker 2: last year. You win your first game against Texas State
Speaker 2: and you lose out. And there were games, like you said,
Speaker 2: against Northwestern, even against Penn State for a little bit,
Speaker 2: and of course against Michigan State, which forgot about offense
Speaker 2: last year, where hey, maybe they're going to do this,
Speaker 2: maybe they're going to break through, and they just didn't
Speaker 2: do it. And I know people's patience is thin in
Speaker 2: this environment, in this era of college football. But when
Speaker 2: you look at that division, I mean, what's a realistic expectation,
Speaker 2: realistic high expectation. I mean, you tell me you're always
Speaker 2: going to be at best in that division? Right? Am
Speaker 2: I missing something? No?
Speaker 1: That's right?
Speaker 2: I just don't know. And you could say this about
Speaker 2: a lot of teams. I think at the Power five
Speaker 2: levels we're kind of ringing up the rear and the
Speaker 2: respect and conferences. I don't know what you expect, but
Speaker 2: when you lose by forty one points to a Kansas
Speaker 2: team to end up firing as coach, I think that
Speaker 2: kind of speaks for itself.
Speaker 1: No, No, I think I think all of that is
Speaker 1: all reasonable. And I don't know where they go, and
Speaker 1: I don't know that the Big Ten is super happy
Speaker 1: about having a team like this. At least Illinois has
Speaker 1: carried its weight in the last decade, twelve years, whatever where,
Speaker 1: and basketball wise, they've They've been interesting at times. But yeah,
Speaker 1: this is it's a rough stretch. It's a rough stretch
Speaker 1: for the Big Ten.
Speaker 2: With Rutgers, it's similar for vast well team. I mean,
Speaker 2: they didn't win a whole lot to understand now they killed,
Speaker 2: They've been competitive, and it has been a team you
Speaker 2: can't overlook anymore. And I don't want to say that's
Speaker 2: all you can ask for, but early on, I mean,
Speaker 2: I think you have to take baby steps and celebrate
Speaker 2: not moral victories, but small victories on and off the court.
Speaker 2: One other thing, look at their schedule. Now Hugh Breeze
Speaker 2: comes to town. How can we forget that?
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I did not even yep. That's good
Speaker 1: for Hugh Freese, good for the Liberty Flames. Three, four, five, six, nine, eleven, twelve, fourteen,
Speaker 1: let's go twelve, all right? Twelve? Wisconsin a much cheerier position,
Speaker 1: even after disappointing twenty eighteen. By the Badger's standards, it
Speaker 1: was rough. For sure, It'd be easy and it'd be
Speaker 1: correct to point out the injuries all over the place.
Speaker 1: But upon further reflection, we're now almost four months away
Speaker 1: from this past season. Was it more than just a
Speaker 1: ton of injuries? And if so, is it correctable?
Speaker 2: He gets correctable. I think it's the program. And I
Speaker 2: don't want to blame a kid or put too much
Speaker 2: on a kid, but I think Alex hornybrook leaving, I mean,
Speaker 2: was best for both parties. I think both the team
Speaker 2: and the player were in need of a fresh start.
Speaker 2: It was a weird season for Wisconsin because they pretty
Speaker 2: much win that division every year and they're always slept
Speaker 2: on and last year they were off Sports Illustrated covers.
Speaker 2: I picked them to win the league and go to
Speaker 2: the playoff. I mean, it was very antithetical to Wisconsin's DNA,
Speaker 2: if you will, in terms of being over sold and
Speaker 2: under delivering. That said, bring back Chasit Taylor, who might
Speaker 2: be the best player in college fotball, and you bring
Speaker 2: back pretty much all your big playmakers in the receiving game.
Speaker 2: You got four quarterbacks plugging out right now in spring.
Speaker 2: Graham Mertz is the guy I know fans want to
Speaker 2: eventually went out and be given the chance because he's
Speaker 2: the highest rated recruit they've ever had at the position,
Speaker 2: and this is a staff that knows what it's doing
Speaker 2: when it comes to quarterbacks. I think they've gone the
Speaker 2: absolute most out of everyone they've had there so far.
Speaker 2: And that defense was not bad. I mean they weren't great.
Speaker 2: They weren't a top two unit the way they had
Speaker 2: been the first couple of years under three different coordinators
Speaker 2: in three years. They're the latest of them beat being
Speaker 2: former safety standout Jim Leonard. But they weren't bad. So
Speaker 2: I think this is a very fixable program or team,
Speaker 2: if people, whatever you want to call it. I think
Speaker 2: they're a lot closer to winning that division this year
Speaker 2: than they are to finishing at sixth or seventh. I'm
Speaker 2: buying Wisconsin stock right now. I know last year left
Speaker 2: a sour taste, a lot of people's mouths. But when
Speaker 2: you go through injury, is a quarterback, when you go
Speaker 2: through uncertainty a quarterback every other week, it seemed like
Speaker 2: it was a will here, won't he? With Alex Hornybrook
Speaker 2: and Jack Cone, And you could just see the looks
Speaker 2: on people's faces, not just at Wisconsin but at other
Speaker 2: places in the past. When you've had one guy there
Speaker 2: for so long who's had so many ups and downs
Speaker 2: and has been subjected to so much scrutiny, you can
Speaker 2: tell in the locker room on a coaching staff, and
Speaker 2: that kind of stuff seeps into a program and it
Speaker 2: just wears everyone out. And again, I don't want to
Speaker 2: be too harsh and all of torny Brook here, I
Speaker 2: think everyone at Wisconsin thanks them for his service and
Speaker 2: wishes them the best of the lockdown in Tallahassee, but
Speaker 2: I think everyone needed a fresh start, and I think
Speaker 2: if Graham Mertz is that guy, maybe not if Jack
Speaker 2: con is that guy. But but again, he's going to
Speaker 2: be a junior now he's hopefully improved. A lot of
Speaker 2: Wisconsin fans takes they should be better. I mean, they're
Speaker 2: always going to be good on the offensive line. Charles
Speaker 2: and Taylor had the quietest season I think of any
Speaker 2: great player we've ever really seen last year, there's no
Speaker 2: reason he shouldn't be as good or better. I think
Speaker 2: this program's a good spot, I really do. I don't
Speaker 2: think they're gonna be down for long. I think they
Speaker 2: should be competing for a division title again this season
Speaker 2: and maybe more if everything breaks their way the way
Speaker 2: it did two years ago. But I just can't get
Speaker 2: too down on these guys after they started thirty four
Speaker 2: and seven under Paul Chris in the.
Speaker 1: First three years, though, Yeah, just underscorees how difficult it
Speaker 1: is to do to win ten games forever been a
Speaker 1: program like Wisconsin with a an identity in place and
Speaker 1: you know, an advantageous division for these past few years,
Speaker 1: it's just difficult. It's just it's a tough ass to
Speaker 1: do it.
Speaker 2: Every year they went eight and five and they were
Speaker 2: finishing second in that division. I know there are two
Speaker 2: games out of first and really three since they lost Northwestern,
Speaker 2: but it wasn't the disaster. I think we're all remembering,
Speaker 2: as I think our preaching the expectations of this team,
Speaker 2: did U snow favors and coloring the reality of what
Speaker 2: they were on the field last year.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned the will they won't they? I think
Speaker 1: they finished like their final eight games were win loss,
Speaker 1: win loss, win loss, win loss. So the will they
Speaker 1: won't that thing is is very accurate. Three, four, five, six, nine, eleven, fourteen,
Speaker 1: Let's go nine, Let's go nine. You probably won't have
Speaker 1: a lot to say about this, but Illinois. It's it's
Speaker 1: kind of true to say Illinois got better in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1: It is they ran the ball well, they were more
Speaker 1: competitive overall. Please ignore the Iowa game. Is it? Is
Speaker 1: it a talent thing? Is it an approach thing? Is
Speaker 1: it a coaching thing? Is it an injury thing? Isn't
Speaker 1: an everything that could go wrong has thing? What is
Speaker 1: it right now with Illinois that defines their status?
Speaker 2: You know, it's funny because today I had a story
Speaker 2: on their athletic director, Josh Whitman, who had played there
Speaker 2: in the late nineties and early two thousands, and I
Speaker 2: was actually unaware of this until he had said it
Speaker 2: to me. He got there during Ron Turner's first year
Speaker 2: and at enna seven they went oh to eleven, and
Speaker 2: by year three they won eight or nine games. They
Speaker 2: won it. The big pass against Tom Brady. They won
Speaker 2: at Ohio State. This is not that situation, clearly. I
Speaker 2: think Illinois football is digging out of a much deeper
Speaker 2: hole at the beginning of the Lovey Smith regime than
Speaker 2: it was at the beginning of the Ron Turner regime.
Speaker 2: But they did get better last year. And again, I
Speaker 2: know this sounds like faint praise, but they lost to
Speaker 2: Penn State by thirty nine points. They were winning that
Speaker 2: game in the second half. Yeah, for what a that's worth? No?
Speaker 2: I mean yeah, that South Florida game I was at
Speaker 2: at Soldier Field. They were up nineteen seven at the
Speaker 2: start of the fourth quarter and South Florida basically need
Speaker 2: a Hail Mary to beat them at the end. I
Speaker 2: know South Florida ended up collapsing and not being the
Speaker 2: great group of five team that we all expected them
Speaker 2: to be at the beginning of the year, but that's
Speaker 2: a game they should have won. Can they get to
Speaker 2: a bowl this year? If they do, I think that
Speaker 2: would be phenomenal for Lovely Smith, for that staff, for
Speaker 2: momentum for that program moving forward. I think I'm Jay
Speaker 2: Rivers is probably going to be the guy at quarterback.
Speaker 2: I think that offense took tremendous strides under rad Smith.
Speaker 2: I mean again, when you go four and eight and
Speaker 2: two and seven to Big ten play, people aren't looking
Speaker 2: too closely at the numbers, and I understand that when
Speaker 2: you're in a Power five conference. But they went from
Speaker 2: I want to say one twenty seventh to maybe sixty
Speaker 2: third nationally yards per play. The problem is that defense
Speaker 2: was got awful, and they had a coordinator resign mid season,
Speaker 2: and with all that time to go out and hire someone,
Speaker 2: Lovely Smith ended up promoting himself this year, which we'll see.
Speaker 2: I think that's Lovely putting his chips on the table.
Speaker 2: I think that's him saying, you know it's on me
Speaker 2: right now, make or break. I know it's year four,
Speaker 2: we're going to look at it probably as year three
Speaker 2: because he got hired in March to twenty sixteen and
Speaker 2: he didn't have a chance of recruiting and really install
Speaker 2: things the way he wanted to for the spring. Then
Speaker 2: they've had a lot of attrition. I think going into
Speaker 2: this year, there's a clear line between one through six
Speaker 2: in that division and number seven, who in this case
Speaker 2: is Illinois. But I'm not as sour on them as
Speaker 2: everyone else. I mean, even if they only win four
Speaker 2: games again this year under Lovely Smith, that probably gets
Speaker 2: it fired. I know it might be a little bit
Speaker 2: premature to talk about toach of maneuvers, but I just
Speaker 2: think with getting actually them up to eighty five scholarships,
Speaker 2: getting them close to a level playing field with the
Speaker 2: rest of their peers, and not doing anything or gregious
Speaker 2: off the field, that combined with an eighty million dollar
Speaker 2: facility opening at the start of training camp this summer,
Speaker 2: is going to leave this program in better position or
Speaker 2: whoever ends up getting the job going into next year.
Speaker 2: And I don't want to write this off as a
Speaker 2: lost season just yet, but I think you need to
Speaker 2: take baby steps, and I think you need to look
Speaker 2: at Victory's beyond the box score, and unless that defense
Speaker 2: can make the kind of improvements that the offense did
Speaker 2: last year, I'm not sure I see five or six
Speaker 2: wins on that schedule.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, we've got to go into a bit
Speaker 1: of a lightning mode because you are the president and
Speaker 1: you have things to do and people to speak to.
Speaker 1: So three four or five change diapers to change three four, five,
Speaker 1: six eleven or fourteen fourteen fourteen, it is okay we're
Speaker 1: talking Nebraska. At the beginning of last year, it seemed
Speaker 1: like there was optimism that faded and then rose like
Speaker 1: the phoenix, as the Huskers look like. At the very least,
Speaker 1: they were a competitive Big Ten team week in and
Speaker 1: week out. Is it too mild to say maintaining that
Speaker 1: seems like a win or is there reason to raise
Speaker 1: the Husker threat level from decent threat to full on threat.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's too early to say full on
Speaker 2: threat when you look at the state of the division,
Speaker 2: and when you look at Scott Frost's history, and when
Speaker 2: you look at how well this team played even in
Speaker 2: some losses. I mean, I was at that Northwestern game
Speaker 2: last year, and I think the win probability with five
Speaker 2: minutes left was probably ninety eight ninety nine percent Northwestern.
Speaker 2: I mean, Northwestern had to score ten points and basically
Speaker 2: less than two minutes without any timeouts, using what at
Speaker 2: the time coming off that non conference slight which was
Speaker 2: a disaster, one of the worst offenses in all of
Speaker 2: college football, and they were able to do that. I mean,
Speaker 2: the way Nebraska threw that game away was absolutely perplexing,
Speaker 2: and Scott Frost and the press conference afterward I mean
Speaker 2: he looked like his dog died. I mean, you just
Speaker 2: want to give the poor guy a hug because he
Speaker 2: just had no answers. But I also think, as gut
Speaker 2: Regen as it was to live through as a Nebraska
Speaker 2: fan or player and coach, there's a lot of talent
Speaker 2: on that raster. Adrian Martinez is like a thirty five
Speaker 2: year old man in the nineteen year old's body. I mean,
Speaker 2: he's just one of the most mature guys I think
Speaker 2: I've ever seen speak publicly. And this will be a
Speaker 2: plug here, but our Sherman, our new nebrassa writer, had
Speaker 2: a tremendous story going out to his hometown in California,
Speaker 2: writing about his background. When you read about this guy,
Speaker 2: when you see what he was able to do last
Speaker 2: year through the thick and the thin, I have no
Speaker 2: doubt that this is going to be one of the
Speaker 2: best quarterbacks of the big time as soon as next year.
Speaker 2: I think that highly of them. I think the highly
Speaker 2: of the coaching staff. Even when they lost two of
Speaker 2: their last six games last year, the Ohio State game
Speaker 2: and the Iowa game, they were both right in toward
Speaker 2: the end and had a chance to win both those games,
Speaker 2: and I think going forward to after an zero to
Speaker 2: six start, winning the Michigan State game the way they
Speaker 2: were able to win. I know it was nine to six,
Speaker 2: but I think to win ugly after losing pretty for
Speaker 2: lack of a better analogy, so much that season said
Speaker 2: a lot about the character of that team. And I
Speaker 2: just think they've got a clicking right now down all
Speaker 2: the phases you need from a program standpoint to be
Speaker 2: in position to compete for division titles. So I don't
Speaker 2: think it's too early to think of these guys as
Speaker 2: a contender in the Less this year.
Speaker 1: All right, three four, five six eleven three three Minnesota?
Speaker 1: What was what was the biggest difference between the Minnesota
Speaker 1: team that lost five of six relatively early, that includes
Speaker 1: being demolished by Illinois, by the way, and the team
Speaker 1: that comfortably beat Purdue, Wisconsin and Georgia Tech. Is that
Speaker 1: is that all Tanner Morgan, Well, I mean.
Speaker 2: Tanner Morgan, but Joe ROSSI they fired their defense coordinator
Speaker 2: Rob Smith after Illinois, and they came out and beat
Speaker 2: Purdue the way they did, and they were able to
Speaker 2: beat Wisconsin and send Paul Johnson into retirement on a
Speaker 2: sour note, in the Detroit Bowl whatever they call it nowadays.
Speaker 2: I mean that defense from a personality standpoint just looks
Speaker 2: so much different those last five or six games under Rossie,
Speaker 2: who obviously was promoted to the coordinator position full time
Speaker 2: after the season. I think they're flying to the ball better.
Speaker 2: They had much better morale, and you see that translate offensively.
Speaker 2: I mean the first three weeks, that injury report was
Speaker 2: just the most oppressing thing to read in the world.
Speaker 2: I mean, Roddie Smith, who's going to go down as
Speaker 2: maybe the second leading rusher in school history, went down
Speaker 2: for the year. They had another running back go down,
Speaker 2: all of whom returned this year. They were very optimistic
Speaker 2: in the Twin Cities this year. I haven't been up
Speaker 2: there yet myself. I'm hoping to Final four weekend to
Speaker 2: see that staff and to see you practice or two.
Speaker 2: But they quietly think that they can compete for the
Speaker 2: division title this year. And I know that's a familiar thing.
Speaker 2: I feel like I've been saying about every team outside
Speaker 2: of Illinois in that division. But it's true. I mean,
Speaker 2: the margin for error is so close that when you
Speaker 2: beat to Wisconsin the way you did last year on
Speaker 2: the road, when you win a bowl game by twenty
Speaker 2: four points, when you return two quarterbacks with extensive playing time,
Speaker 2: and you're going to the year three with a different
Speaker 2: level of recruit there than what has been coming to
Speaker 2: campus in the past, there's reason propximism, and even PJ.
Speaker 2: Flack at the start of springing ball a battle week ago, said,
Speaker 2: you know, we're not playing with that. You know, underdog,
Speaker 2: don't nobody believes in us. We expect to be here now.
Speaker 2: We know we're capable of with the way we finished
Speaker 2: last season, and we're going to hope that translates to
Speaker 2: the field this fall.
Speaker 1: Four five six eleven four four Michigan with the with
Speaker 1: the benefit of time since the Michigan season ended, looking
Speaker 1: back to you, if Michigan is to break through, which
Speaker 1: to me means win the Big Ten and go to
Speaker 1: the playoff, is job number one? Their their offensive style,
Speaker 1: which they've addressed, or big game defense that's been arguably
Speaker 1: a bigger factor holding Michigan back. Just a performance together
Speaker 1: the performances against the best that the Big Ten has
Speaker 1: to offer on offense, that's.
Speaker 2: A good question. I leaned toward the offensive side of
Speaker 2: the all made the change there for a reason. Josh
Speaker 2: Gattis did a great job with Nicksaban Alabama for a
Speaker 2: year and was tremendous at Penn State before that. Is
Speaker 2: he the answer that remains to be seen. But I
Speaker 2: think we're in an era of college football right now
Speaker 2: where a strong traditional defense will only get you so
Speaker 2: far and makes you a little bit predictable and easy
Speaker 2: to prepare for. You need to have something on the
Speaker 2: other side of the ball that's a threat and that
Speaker 2: occupies the other team's defense. And when you see them
Speaker 2: play against in Ohio State at the end of the
Speaker 2: last season, when you see them play in the bowl
Speaker 2: game against Florida last year, there was nothing that really
Speaker 2: scared you about them. They looked almost predictable at times.
Speaker 2: And the hope is that Jash Gadason, Ben McDaniels, I
Speaker 2: should add, who they had a quarterback coach this year,
Speaker 2: are going to fix things up. I mean, Jay Patterson,
Speaker 2: I think was pretty good, and I think he returns
Speaker 2: most of his key skill players this season, which is
Speaker 2: going to be a major plus for Michigan. But I'm
Speaker 2: lying to you if I say the biggest reason for opximism.
Speaker 2: If you're Jim Harbaugh, right now is that Herbert Myers
Speaker 2: no longer coaching in the Big Ten. I don't want
Speaker 2: to oversimplify art the difference between first and second in
Speaker 2: the division this year, but that's certainly a huge factor.
Speaker 2: But now the onus is on Michigan. I mean, there
Speaker 2: are no more excuses now. It seems like we've been
Speaker 2: saying that every year, but there really are't. Especially with
Speaker 2: Ohio State coming to the Big House this season, it
Speaker 2: really is put up for shut up time. I think
Speaker 2: you've seen a lot less of the harbas cherates publicly
Speaker 2: in the off season that we were used to in
Speaker 2: the first two years, and I think in an arbor
Speaker 2: they know they need to take advantage right now. Without
Speaker 2: one of the greatest college football coaches of all time
Speaker 2: being just down the road in Columbus, this should be
Speaker 2: Michigan's lead to lose, and I think they have at
Speaker 2: least the talent and the pieces there that will put
Speaker 2: them in position to do it. It's a matter of
Speaker 2: really that one game at the end of the year,
Speaker 2: who's going to take it more personally and who's going
Speaker 2: to prepare better.
Speaker 1: Five six eleven is what we have left six all right,
Speaker 1: Penn State so Nvie Lions had a weird year. The
Speaker 1: offense took a noticeable step back without Choe Morehead and
Speaker 1: Sakwon Barkley should be mentioned. And with yes, they had
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of drops in the passing game, but
Speaker 1: with how Ohio State and Michigan State ended those two games,
Speaker 1: they were about seventeen seconds away from being eleven to one,
Speaker 1: with the one being obviously uttered destruction at the hands
Speaker 1: of Michigan. Is that coupled with a wildly talented roster,
Speaker 1: is it? Is it cause for optimism or more big
Speaker 1: game concern when you look at Michigan State and Ohio State.
Speaker 1: Now those games ended as they get farther away from
Speaker 1: the moorhead and now trace McSorley era.
Speaker 2: I think this is the year where James Franklin's recruiting
Speaker 2: will be highlight are discounted more than any others. I
Speaker 2: mean the freshman software junior classes here are all members
Speaker 2: of top fifteen classes nationally that have been really as
Speaker 2: good as anyone in the Big ten outside of Ohio State.
Speaker 2: And so that talent is going to have to grow
Speaker 2: up quickly because Trace mcsorely, I think made up for
Speaker 2: a lot of holes on that roster, definitely last year
Speaker 2: and at parts throughout his three seasons as start. I mean,
Speaker 2: that was a generational player for that program at quarterback,
Speaker 2: with the records he broke, with the way he willed
Speaker 2: them to big game victories again and again. You mentioned
Speaker 2: the Michigan State don't have state games. Is the same
Speaker 2: thing the year before, right, They lost to both those
Speaker 2: teams in a two week span, and that threw them
Speaker 2: out of the playoff mix. You could just as easily
Speaker 2: look at the Appalachian State games and maybe the Iowa
Speaker 2: game and think, you know what, they probably should have
Speaker 2: lost those, So they probably got what they deserved the
Speaker 2: grand scheme of things when you look at their nine
Speaker 2: and four finish. But the biggest question is going to
Speaker 2: be whose quarterback. I mean, we all had expected for
Speaker 2: many years that Tommy Stevens would be it. I mean,
Speaker 2: by all accounts, he almost beat Trades mc sorely in
Speaker 2: camp before the twenty sixteen season, and they made great
Speaker 2: use of him. I wouldn't say as the backup. I'd
Speaker 2: say as a jack of all trades offensive player. He
Speaker 2: throw her touchdowns, he rushed for touchdowns, he catch touchdowns,
Speaker 2: and then he got hurt. He was banged up pretty
Speaker 2: much every part of his body last season, and they
Speaker 2: just weren't able to really unleash that new wrinkle in
Speaker 2: their offense. So you do wonder about his health. You
Speaker 2: wonder if Sean Clifford is going to push him to
Speaker 2: maybe overtake him for the starting spot. And as you
Speaker 2: mentioned to the outset, you do wonder about that offense
Speaker 2: just because Joe Moore has not there anymore and they
Speaker 2: struggled at times without him. So I do have faith
Speaker 2: and Ricky Ronnie, I think he's better than a lot
Speaker 2: of people are giving him credit for. I think some
Speaker 2: of the holes on that roster came to fruition at
Speaker 2: the end of some of those big games last year.
Speaker 2: But ultimately it's going to come down to how good
Speaker 2: is the quarterback? Whoever that is?
Speaker 1: Five or eleven?
Speaker 2: Eleven?
Speaker 1: All right, eleven is Maryland. And given the context of
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, the Terps were understandably all over the place
Speaker 1: on the field. At their best, they beat or came
Speaker 1: within a play of beating top top teams, and at
Speaker 1: their worst they were awful. They were very, very bad
Speaker 1: in terms of a steadying presence. Do you expect more
Speaker 1: clarity from the Mike Loxley era, as in, Okay, this
Speaker 1: is clearly who they are good or bad. This is
Speaker 1: we understand what Maryland is, and they'll you know, beat
Speaker 1: teams they're better then, and they'll lose teams that they're worse.
Speaker 1: Then Do you expect that?
Speaker 2: I think the range of possibilities, both good and bad,
Speaker 2: is greater with Mike Loxley than that of any new
Speaker 2: head coach in twenty nineteen moving forward. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 2: obviously a great work in Alabama. He got the Nick
Speaker 2: Damn stamp of approval, he won the Broils Award. He's
Speaker 2: obviously familiar with Maryland and will recruit that region well,
Speaker 2: which is something they should have been doing in the past.
Speaker 2: But it's tough on that side of the big ten.
Speaker 2: I mean, you say his head coaching tenure beforehand was
Speaker 2: a disaster. I think would be the biggest understatement you
Speaker 2: could possibly say. When you look at at other word gets.
Speaker 2: Culture gets thrown around a lot in Tel football. When
Speaker 2: you look at the culture around that program with the
Speaker 2: way things ended last year, I think it's a bit
Speaker 2: of a head scratch. I really do they got Josh
Speaker 2: Jackson who looked a part when he was healthy under
Speaker 2: Justin Puente Virginia Tech, and I think I'd be surprised
Speaker 2: if he wasn't their starter Week one going into next season,
Speaker 2: assuming he's at full health. But as you said at
Speaker 2: the outfite of this, that's a tough division. Expectations are
Speaker 2: going to be really all over the place because there's
Speaker 2: talent in that region. But historically Maryland football is not
Speaker 2: Ohio State football. It's not Penn State, it's not Michigan.
Speaker 2: At their best last year they were beating Texas, who
Speaker 2: ended up winning the Sugar Bowl. I'm not sure how
Speaker 2: much more you can ask for from a program than that.
Speaker 2: But at it's worse thirty eight to three against a good,
Speaker 2: not great Penn State team to close out the year.
Speaker 2: This one is the hardest one to forecast because I
Speaker 2: think there's potential with that job. I think there's potential
Speaker 2: with Mike Croxley there. There's potential for a lot of
Speaker 2: bad there too.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mentioned this at the top of the show.
Speaker 1: By the way, that would have been a win over
Speaker 1: the Sugar Bowl champion, and they were a throwaway from
Speaker 1: beating the rose Ball champion, which is so weird to
Speaker 1: think about when you think about the rest of Maryland season.
Speaker 2: Well, you look at that through and I don't want
Speaker 2: to harp on Maryland too much, but that throw changed
Speaker 2: so much. I mean, yeah, Michigan clinches the division if
Speaker 2: that's converted. So what's the higher State Michigan game like
Speaker 2: the next week without anything technically to play for? I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm sure Ohio State is still hungry to get after it,
Speaker 2: but they're not playing for a conference title. Then Michigan's
Speaker 2: going to Indianapolis next week regardless. That's going to change
Speaker 2: the narrative we have on Jim Harbaugh, regardless of what
Speaker 2: happens against Ohio State that week. And who knows the
Speaker 2: Erbami are going to retire after losing like that. I
Speaker 2: don't know. I mean, this is a large what a
Speaker 2: scenario that has a lot of different legs to it,
Speaker 2: But when you look back at that misfire two point conversion,
Speaker 2: it really gets the mind wondering.
Speaker 1: Wow, So let's see Northwesterns within three points of Michigan.
Speaker 1: They meet them again in a rematch in Indianapolis and
Speaker 1: probably have a lot better shot to get back to Pasadena.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Okay, that just that is my galaxy brain is firing.
Speaker 1: The final team is Purdue. You mentioned them earlier in
Speaker 1: the context of thinking Jeff Brahm is probably around a
Speaker 1: top ten quarterback in the country, and the Boilers in
Speaker 1: the middle of the year they win four in a row,
Speaker 1: with I believe the final of those four being that
Speaker 1: huge emotional Ohio State win being just, you know, a
Speaker 1: season if not era defining win, and then they lose
Speaker 1: four of six, highlighted by getting just shellacked by Minnesota
Speaker 1: and then Auburn in the bowl game. If we shouldn't
Speaker 1: judge I mean, we shouldn't judge people. We definitely shouldn't
Speaker 1: judge teams. But if we shouldn't judge anybody by their
Speaker 1: worst or their best day, So I don't know which is.
Speaker 1: You know, it's the Minnesota the Auburn game being the
Speaker 1: worst in Ohio State being the best. How should we
Speaker 1: judge the status quo of Purdue if we're throwing out
Speaker 1: those disparate outcomes.
Speaker 2: I think that's what you get when you have a
Speaker 2: really good coaching staff with a really young team that
Speaker 2: isn't necessarily used to winning at a pretty high level.
Speaker 2: I was there. I want to say the week after
Speaker 2: they be in Ohio State and I sat down with
Speaker 2: Jeff Brohm, and you know, they started zero to three too.
Speaker 2: I mean, it wasn't just losing the way they did
Speaker 2: in the bowl game and some other games. At the end,
Speaker 2: they lost Eastern Michigan and Missouri at home, and Jeff
Speaker 2: Brohm said, you know, I take that one on the chin.
Speaker 2: We lost one game early on and I thought we
Speaker 2: should have bottled things up a little bit more. We
Speaker 2: got out of character. We were afraid to make mistakes,
Speaker 2: and that's just not pretty football. Under Jeff Brom, I mean,
Speaker 2: it is one of the most fun teams to watch
Speaker 2: when they are slinging it and firing on all cylinders
Speaker 2: out of fredom main mistakes, which is why they're good
Speaker 2: for a big upset every year under him. The hashtag
Speaker 2: that they have on her shirts there and that they
Speaker 2: have on their Twitter kinds Let's play football, which he
Speaker 2: obviously made famous from his XFL interview on the sideline
Speaker 2: while playing half a Brain. Probably yeah, that is Purdue
Speaker 2: football is m O and they really got away from
Speaker 2: that early on in the season. In addition to probably
Speaker 2: starting the wrong guy a quarterback to begin with with
Speaker 2: Elijisin Laara with David Black, who they lose this year.
Speaker 2: But I think now with three recruiting classes there, with
Speaker 2: probably the best player of the conference and Rondel Moore
Speaker 2: possibly superhighs made Trophy candle candidate going into this year,
Speaker 2: and with Elijah Cindelaar who's played a lot of football
Speaker 2: there that knows this isn't very well, I think now
Speaker 2: is when those losses will become less forgivable, especially with
Speaker 2: Brown gain the extension that he did, being courted so
Speaker 2: publicly by his alma mater Louisville and turning them down
Speaker 2: to stay at Perdue, which by the way, has one
Speaker 2: of the best football facilities indoors in all the country.
Speaker 2: I know no one talks about because it's not on
Speaker 2: the lake and it doesn't have a slide. I mean,
Speaker 2: their facility is phenomenal. I went there for the first
Speaker 2: time and could not believe I was at Purdue University
Speaker 2: that they have put money into that program that I
Speaker 2: think few teams in the Big Ten have and what
Speaker 2: that's going to be going to come expectations. I think
Speaker 2: Jeff Brown is the guy who will altimately get them there.
Speaker 1: All right, Matt for Tuna, thank you very much for
Speaker 1: your time. I know you have to run. We started
Speaker 1: talking about your presidency. Is there a perk that you
Speaker 1: did not realize you would have. Do you have like
Speaker 1: a special card that gets you out of like you
Speaker 1: get a front row best seat in the house in
Speaker 1: press boxes? Do you have a butler? Do you have
Speaker 1: catered meals as the president? Is there a perk that
Speaker 1: we don't know?
Speaker 2: Well? I haven't covered a football game yet since I've
Speaker 2: taken off of Oh okay, so I started again. They
Speaker 2: do it at the National Peblicon every year, and I
Speaker 2: was actually not there this year because my daughter was
Speaker 2: born that week, so I missed the RSSLE. That was
Speaker 2: an exciting week, right, I didn't miss much of a
Speaker 2: game either. Nope, so we'll see. I hope the press
Speaker 2: boxes in Evanston, South then and all my usual locales
Speaker 2: give me a suite, maybe the presidential suite. I don't know.
Speaker 2: That remains to be staying helples. I own too many
Speaker 2: people off between now and then, and my approval rating
Speaker 2: doesn't think too much between now and the start of
Speaker 2: the football season.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I can I'm trying to now picture
Speaker 1: what a secret Service member for the head of the
Speaker 1: f WAA might look like. And the division that comes
Speaker 1: into my head of who would protect the head of
Speaker 1: a football writers association is not intimidating, not intimidating.
Speaker 2: I'll see if I can get Brian Kelly on my
Speaker 2: side anytime he's on game. Danny has ooh boss is on.
Speaker 2: He looks a lot like not necessarily Paul there from WW,
Speaker 2: but he looks like a great classic WW wrestling manager,
Speaker 2: and I think that would be a role that would
Speaker 2: suit him well whenever he decides to retire.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's so true. Possibly a little bit
Speaker 1: more bark than bite. You know, he's more of a present.
Speaker 1: He's not huge, but he has a presence.
Speaker 2: He absolutely has a presence. I want to say every
Speaker 2: day should be Saturday. Said this first on Twitter many
Speaker 2: years ago. I'm not one hundred percent sure about that.
Speaker 2: I can't take full credit for it. But while we're
Speaker 2: talking secret service and bodyguards and a guy that I'm
Speaker 2: probably as familiar with as any coaches from my time
Speaker 2: being a nerd a beat writer. Well, I hope you
Speaker 2: wouldn't hate me too much, but but I would feel
Speaker 2: safe with him guarding me.
Speaker 1: Nice. That's a good compliment. I would if somebody said
Speaker 1: that about me, I would be thrilled. Not many people do.
Speaker 1: Matt for Tuna, Thank you very much for your time.
Speaker 1: I hope we all got smarter talking about the Big
Speaker 1: Ten today, and thank you for listening. Thank you for
Speaker 1: joining us, and we hope to have you on again soon.
Speaker 2: Thank you, my friend, long time. First time. I'm happy
Speaker 2: we can have consecutive guests from the Athletic. Hope this
Speaker 2: isn't the last time.
Speaker 1: Oh. I would probably count on it because I think
Speaker 1: everybody there, everybody works at the Athletic now, so it
Speaker 1: won't be terribly difficult.
Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate buddy, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3: All right, Dan, we are back big thanks to Matt
Speaker 3: for Tuna from the Athletic jumping in talking all things
Speaker 3: Big ten with us, first time, longtime. Glad to finally
Speaker 3: get him on the program. I did want to tease
Speaker 3: out something that is unrelated to the Big Ten right time,
Speaker 3: related to the Big Ten.
Speaker 1: Harris standing up on the back of my neck.
Speaker 3: We've got a show in the holster for next week.
Speaker 1: You're very mpr right now. I want to point that out,
Speaker 1: am I. Yeah, yeah, If you want to add some
Speaker 1: like birds tweeting that kind of thing, Chirpin.
Speaker 3: I am very excited about this show now.
Speaker 1: Dateline, Alan Town.
Speaker 3: That's right, very excited about the show that I think
Speaker 3: we've got ready for next week. Yes, didn't have enough
Speaker 3: lead time to put it together for this evening, but
Speaker 3: next week as we start April, I think it's a
Speaker 3: good time topical topical. It's very timely, little out there, upbeat,
Speaker 3: little out there, as is usually the case with this
Speaker 3: dumb show. Japanese influence, Japanese influence yet love that kidding?
Speaker 1: Not even kidding about that or not?
Speaker 3: So stay tuned to the Solid Verbal Solidverbal dot Com
Speaker 3: subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: I'm excited, Ty, I'm just flat out excited. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna beat around the bush here before we.
Speaker 3: Go any further and before we close out this show,
Speaker 3: just because we haven't talked in a while, Yeah, let's talk.
Speaker 3: I need a steaming hot food take from you.
Speaker 1: Oh, here's okay. I'm going to tie together two things.
Speaker 1: What the two things that I'm gonna tie together are
Speaker 1: food and being a new parent. How about that? Please,
Speaker 1: let's be obnoxious about it. When your child is born,
Speaker 1: it has been a very good decision that I've made.
Speaker 1: Recommend it. Don't have to don't drink or eat sugar
Speaker 1: because those two things can affect your sleep. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you're not going to get as nearly as much sleep
Speaker 1: as you think you are or that you used to get,
Speaker 1: and so give yourself. It's almost like performance enhancing giving up.
Speaker 1: Not like bread or anything like that. Just stop eating
Speaker 1: M and m's and Starburst or Danishes or whatever, and
Speaker 1: either don't drink or just cut way back on your drinking.
Speaker 1: When I do sleep tie, I'm out in seconds. I
Speaker 1: sleep hard. Excuse me, that sounded wrong. I sleep hard.
Speaker 1: I stand by it. That's my steaming hot food take.
Speaker 1: You can like mayonnaise, you cannot like mayonnaise. I don't
Speaker 1: really care like what you like, but that is That
Speaker 1: is my constructive bit of food related life advice.
Speaker 3: All right, Well, I don't really have much to add.
Speaker 3: Why did you ask about food specifically? Because it's your
Speaker 3: thing and I feel like we haven't talked about it
Speaker 3: in a while. People really subscribe to what Dan has to.
Speaker 1: Oh you're ready, I'll give you an actual hot take.
Speaker 3: Give me hot take, real quick.
Speaker 1: New York Pizzas overrated yeah, I agree. I agree with that,
Speaker 1: Like there is excellent pizza to be had in New York,
Speaker 1: but the barrier to entry making of making good pizza.
Speaker 1: You can make good pizza in Cincinnati, you can make
Speaker 1: it Indicator, you can make it in Amarillo, Texas. And
Speaker 1: there are probably fewer places in those places because of population.
Speaker 1: There's just fewer people willing to put in the time
Speaker 1: to make good pizza. But New York pizza is largely
Speaker 1: just more everywhere than it is excellent. All right, how
Speaker 1: about that.
Speaker 3: Let's close out on that, Dan, what do you say?
Speaker 1: Okay, I like it. I mean this is a big
Speaker 1: ten town, so it all comes full circle. Indeed, thank
Speaker 1: you to Matt Fortu so wiped.
Speaker 3: I love it from the Athletic for stopping on by
Speaker 3: sharing his wisdom with us. Don't forget big show coming
Speaker 3: next week. Big Show. I'm excited. I am excited. Good
Speaker 3: keep it right here. We're at solid ruble dot com.
Speaker 3: Find us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and check out the
Speaker 3: uh subreddit. Are slash Soliverble started buiver ballers for footballers,
Speaker 3: and sign up for the newsletter soliverb dot com for
Speaker 3: that guy over there, Dan Rubinstein for myself, Ty hilden Brand,
Speaker 3: enjoy your week enjoy your weekend, and stay solid Peace