WEBVTT - 2018 Big Ten Autopsy Rulings 0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:05.600 Welcome to the solid verbal. I'll that for me. 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:09.680 I'm a man, I'm forty. I've heard so many players say, well, 0:00:09.720 --> 0:00:10.680 I want to be happy. 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:13.000 You want to be happy for Dake Edith State. 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:19.279 Is that whoo whoom? And Dan and Tye welcome back 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:21.799 to the solid verbal, Boys and girls, my name is 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:27.440 ty Hildebrand, joining me as always over there in sunny, springy, 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:31.319 still fatherly New York City. My man Dan Rubinstein, I 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:36.640 guess I should add Sweet sixteen y New York City. 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:38.680 Your Organ ducks in the Sweet sixteen. 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.040 Oh, that's true. They're not playing. I think they're playing wouis. 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:43.880 This is a basketball show now, in case you weren't 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:44.360 made aware. 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:47.840 Yeah, I've watched three Organ games this year, and I'm 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:53.279 here to tell you all about them. They're tall, Thank 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:55.600 you very much. I accomplished a lot with the Sweet sixteen. 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:58.160 I'm sorry if I sound distracted. The I'm hearing the 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.040 faint screams of my son, the solid baby in the back. 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:02.639 We'll have this, see, we'll have this now. 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:06.200 Yeah, he has so many Wisconsin thoughts, and I told 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:10.000 him you're not able to articulate them in a concise manner. 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:12.040 So we can't have you on the show quite yet, 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.120 so he's real bummed. What is the over under for 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:18.279 when we'll get our first commentary from the solid baby 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:23.520 on the show? When did you see the Clemson, Oklahoma 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:27.160 home and home that was announced in twenty thirty six 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:30.560 and thirty seven? Yeah, okay, he will be a redshirt 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:32.240 freshman on one of those teams. 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.319 See if we work this right, yeah, he can just 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:37.520 take over for you and then I'll just have to 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:40.240 come up with a filling on my end, much younger filling. 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:42.720 Is this like when Casey Caasem's daughter tried to take 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:44.199 over his Top forty show. 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:45.040 I don't remember that. 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:48.920 I am almost positive she there was something along those 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:51.120 lines that she got into broadcasting. I'm looking this up 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:52.960 while you give people the relevant information. 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:56.440 Well, welcome back to the show, boys and girls. We're 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:59.280 at Solid Verbal at gmail dot com, solid verbal dot com. 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:02.920 You can find us on Twitter, on Instagram, on Facebook, 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:05.880 as well as our subreddit at reddit dot com slash 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:10.160 r slash solid verbal, and I do get the notifications 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:14.000 every time somebody signs up for our newsletter, it pops 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:16.200 up on my phone. So if you want to drive 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:18.360 me crazy, even if you're not interested in what we 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:22.040 send out. Occasionally you can drive me nuts and interrupt 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:25.440 the mysterious day job by signing up for our newsletter, 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:28.920 which you can find again at our website at solidverbal 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.400 dot com. So, if you've been listening to us this 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:36.000 long cold off season, it's only been a few months, 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:40.920 but you know that we've been doing these conference autopsies. Specifically, 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:44.360 you've been going out talking to the people, yeah, and 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:48.720 doing conference autopsies. We've got one major conference left and 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:52.280 that is the Big Ten Patriot going oh, sorry, the 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:55.519 Big ten Dan, which we're going to be addressing today 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:57.559 courtesy of our good friend whom. 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:00.240 We're going to be talking to, Matt Fortuna. Hopefully that's 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:03.240 how you pronounce it, and he doesn't hate people pronouncing 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:06.520 it too. It's not my Fortuna Fortuna. I don't think 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.400 it's the tuna. Yeah, Matt Fortuna from the Athletic He 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:11.760 used to be at ESPN. He's a national college football 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.280 writer but based in the Midwest and does a saw. 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:16.320 He just did a piece on Hunter Johnson, the transfer 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:19.639 quarterback coming into Northwestern, the former Blue Chipper from Clemson. 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:23.640 So figured we'd lean into the Big Ten with Matt Fortuna. 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:26.799 He covered Notre Dame I believe for ESPN a while 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:29.200 like that was the specific beat and did a very 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:31.080 good job with that. You would know better than I. 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:34.840 Sure you probably were assuming consuming more Irish content than 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:38.280 I was, but quite excited. I don't think we've had 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:39.440 him on the show. We haven't. 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:40.400 I actually checked. 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:44.280 It's tough because we've had such an incredible roster of 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:46.520 guests that it would have made sense for him to 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:47.880 be on at a certain point. But I guess if 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:51.360 he were only covering Notre Dame, you and you and 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:55.600 Pete Sampson are pretty hot and heavy, right, So that's uh. 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:57.960 That means I'm excited to have him on and welcome 0:03:57.960 --> 0:03:58.480 a new guest. 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:02.200 So as you look back now on the Big Ten 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:08.520 from twenty eighteen, what is the one question that stands 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:10.800 out most to you? If you're doing a one man 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:13.240 autopsyn and you got to ask one question of what 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:14.440 you saw in the Big Ten last year? 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:14.880 What is it? 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:17.880 Uh? God, I don't know if there's a single question 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:21.159 that covers it. There are certain themes that hit me 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:25.360 as I was preparing for this show. Thematically, there were 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:29.080 a lot of wasted windows to me in the Big Ten. 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.840 This year you had this, You had Ohio State finally 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:34.599 breaking through with a quarterback who is like a first 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:38.520 round NFL quality and was immediately and like, what could 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:40.680 have been with this Ohio State team, which certainly had 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:42.680 its flaws on both sides of the ball, But to 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.440 have Dwayne Haskins, to have a more wide open offense, 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:47.560 to have this roster receivers, what could have happened if 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:50.480 they don't blow the Purdue game, what could have happened 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:53.920 with Michigan? And maybe forget about the Notre Dame game. 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:57.599 But if they're just competitive against Ohio State, if they're 0:04:57.600 --> 0:04:59.840 able to get it together, if their defense looks like 0:04:59.880 --> 0:05:03.280 a looks against Ohio State like what it did the 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:05.960 rest of the year, could they have, you know, had 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:08.320 a nice case to get into the playoff. A better 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:13.040 case in Ohio State. Who loses to Purdue in that fashion? Iowa, Iowa. 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:15.240 I didn't even think about the window for Iowa, but 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:19.520 a crazy ideal schedule. They have two NFL first round 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:24.280 we believe tight ends, an experienced quarterback, and unbelievable pass defense, 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:27.919 and they just they lost games in dumb moments and 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:30.680 dumb ways where I think the Iowa window was actually 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:33.240 pretty strong, and I'm interested to talk to Matt about that. 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:36.039 So that kept popping up across a few teams that 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:39.120 this year might say this year twenty eighteen set up 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:42.040 nicely and didn't work out and it was kind of 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:45.120 barely for a couple of these teams. Michigan is what 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:48.919 jumps out to me. Michigan has been this work in 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.560 progress now under Jim horror Boss since he got there. 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:56.599 Look a really good year, ten wins, ten and three overall, 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.479 eight and one in conference. You speak of windows, they 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.000 had a window. Yeah, it really truly had a window. 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:03.839 It didn't with what they returned on defense. 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:07.719 Yeah, the addition of Shape Patterson was clearly a talking 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:12.320 point headed into the Big Ten season, and I'm curious 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.719 to get Matt's thoughts on how that worked out and 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:18.239 maybe take a peek forward where it might go next 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:21.720 for jib Harbaugh, because again for me, this is like 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:23.839 you look at the Big Ten. I know I'm a 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:27.359 Penn State grad and Ohio State has ruled supreme in 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.040 the Big Ten for quite some time now under Urban Meyer. 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.120 But the Michigan storyline to me is what I find 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:33.799 most interesting. 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:36.880 One thing that I hadn't thought about after the fact 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:40.360 after the season ended, and just sort of pieced together 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:42.360 as I was going back because I was thinking about 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:45.560 Maryland and looking up some Maryland stuff. Maryland came within 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:51.080 what a single bad pass of beating both the Sugar 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:54.560 and Rose Bull champs. This is one hundred percent accurate. 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:58.120 That is I had totally forgotten about. And this is 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:01.120 because I'm a dumb dumb about just the Anthony McFarland 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:03.320 experience that came on at the end of the season 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:05.599 where it goes for over five hundred yards and just 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:06.560 two weeks. 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:08.840 Us wrongly thinking he was Burger McFarland's son. 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.880 Yeah, that was unfortunate. Well, Booger McFarland's name is Anthony. 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:12.600 That was all me. 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:16.280 It's okay you you admitted faults and we circled back. 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:18.760 I'm gonna throw in a Notre Dame question, I believe 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:20.480 as well from at Fortune and because we're not going 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:23.280 to do a Notre Dame autopsy episode because I think 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:25.320 that would take too much out of you. It would 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:27.600 having to relive some of some of twenty eight the 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:31.480 relitigation of that playoff game would be an issue. Yeah, 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:34.120 so that's what I'm There were little nuggets like that, 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.320 like I with the Purdue season, how weird it started, 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:38.320 how weird it ended? 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:38.920 With that? 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:42.080 Just one like how much should that win over Ohio State? 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.880 Characterize what we think of Purdue? And they're twenty eighteen 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:49.560 and moving forward in Indiana as well, a team where 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:52.160 there are just like, what the hell happened to that 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:56.320 defense in twenty eighteen? So it's really good to sort 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.840 of fire a couple of darts, you know, at questions 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:01.800 that that can't come up when I have a little 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.360 bit more time to think about specifics like this and 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.280 then think about where things are headed for these teams. 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:11.400 All right, So again we're gonna be joined momentarily by 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:15.000 Matt for Tuna from the Athletic going to talk through 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:18.200 all things twenty eighteen, Big ten and Notre Dame just 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:20.480 for good measure to sprinkle it in there, very Midwest. 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:22.800 You know how to find us. We're on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:25.480 all the usual hotspots. Before we go any further though, 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.600 this show brought to you by our good friends over at. 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:31.320 Bombas dan Ah. 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:37.120 Yes, what is your favorite part of the Bombas socks 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:37.600 that you own. 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:41.760 My favorite part. Okay, I'll tell you this is very specific, 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:44.559 but I almost exclusively when I do run run in 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.640 Bombas now because there's something about there that's the no 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:49.800 show socks, which I like running because I don't want 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:52.439 to have weird tans on my legs summertime. And I'm 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:56.520 impressing everybody, that's right. But they have that the rim 0:08:56.600 --> 0:08:59.760 around the top of the sock that I tend to 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:02.760 get irritated on my achilles where the running shoe hits 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:03.280 the achilles. 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:05.560 It's that little extra layer of padding. Right. 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:08.760 The shape of the Bombas is excellent. If you love 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:11.640 running an ankle or no show socks, you get that 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:15.280 padding and there's that zero irritation factor, which I've had 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:17.960 some real gross looking achilles in years past. Ye no 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:18.560 more tie. 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:25.640 My thing is that hive pattern that goes around your midfoot. 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:28.720 You know what I mean. You got that real snug 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:31.640 fit around your midfoot, which gives you a lot of support. 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:35.440 It makes you feel extra comfortable. Not just the soft cotton, 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:38.240 not just the stay up design, but just the way 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:41.000 it supports your midfoot. To me, is a pretty big deal. 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:45.680 They are really I think causing people to talk more 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:50.280 about socks. We always talk about how foot comfort is 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.120 a big deal. It should be a big deal. Bombas 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:56.600 has sort of rediscovered the sock. They've reinvented it again. 0:09:56.640 --> 0:10:02.199 It is Bombas Bombas dot com, the most comfortable socks 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:05.800 in the history of feet. With super soft natural cotton. 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:09.840 You got that arch support, a seamless tow, a cushion 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:15.120 footbed that's comfy but not too thick, all sorts of colors, patterns, lengths, styles. 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:17.199 They look great in the gym, at the office, out 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:21.120 in the town, you name it. Buy your Bombas at 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:25.240 Bombas dot com, bom Bas dot com slash Solid today 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:28.880 You're gonna get twenty five percent off your very first purchase. 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:32.560 That's bom Bas dot com slash Solid to get twenty 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:37.800 percent off best of all, Dan for every Bombas purchase 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:42.000 you make, they're going to donate a pair of socks 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:44.920 to someone in need. Hell Yeah, which is a pretty 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:47.800 damn cool thing if you ask me so. Check them out. Bombas, 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:51.679 bo m Bas dot com slash Solid twenty percent off 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:55.480 b O M b a s dot Com slash Solid. 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:58.520 Just take a moment, take a second before you continue 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.480 on with your life and think about how great the 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:05.080 feeling is of putting on a brand new pair of 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:09.520 socks and kept multiple feelings at the same time. Tye, 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:10.480 it's a no brainer. 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:14.160 On that note, let's hop in with Matt Fortuna from 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:15.280 the athletic. 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:22.440 And with that we are now joined or I am 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:28.400 now joined by Matt Fortuna correct pronunciation. Yes, yes, Oh 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:31.360 my gosh. That's a relief, because I screw up names 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:34.280 all during the season because sometimes somehow I don't pay 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:37.520 attention to the name of Iowa States kicker and then 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:41.040 I sound like a moron. And so Fortuna is easy enough. 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:44.880 You're in Chicago, you're from New York, and if I 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:49.160 am to read this correctly, you are the president of 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:51.120 the Football Writers Association of America. 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:54.360 That is correct. If you ever are in the Chicago area, 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:57.480 I will treat you to Wendy's, Burger King, McDonald's, or 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:01.000 any other fast food item of your accounts. That's the 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:02.400 kind hospitable guy I am. 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:06.000 And that's if you're a college football champion of any kind, 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:09.000 that's what you get served. That's how it works in 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:09.800 twenty nineteen. 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:12.160 So that's right. A shutdown or not. We are ready 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:12.480 to go. 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:15.199 So give out your phone number real quick. If anybody 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:18.960 has to complain about anything written about college football that 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:21.880 goes through you, correct. That's how it works pretty much. 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:24.839 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I won't get too far into the 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:27.199 week too, but you're not too far off in some cases. 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:29.679 Oh wow, I like it. Okay, good, a little bit 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:34.200 of mystery, maybe a tease for another episode. Let's start here. 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:37.320 It's the big ten autopsy that we're conducting. I don't 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:40.160 know what the proper verb would be, but I'm now 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:44.480 intimidated that you are the writer of writers. But let's 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:46.560 we're What we're doing is simple. We are going to 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.560 go through teams through a random style that we have 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:51.319 figured out. I'm going to ask you to give me 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:54.000 a number between one and fourteen, and then we are 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.480 going to run through questions about twenty eighteen and how 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:00.800 is how it relates to twenty nineteen, and hopefully we're 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:03.720 all a little bit smarter after the process. 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:06.559 I will do my best to avoid whatever number of 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:10.160 Rutgers is on and go thirte but we will. We'll 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:10.880 give it a go here. 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.040 This is especially random because usually I'll just start writing 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.400 and listing teams that I remember are in a conference 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:18.360 and then it's the last ones. This is a peak 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:21.080 behind the curtain that I'm like, oh right, Iowa States 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:24.600 in the Big twelve, Oh right, US half whatever. Give 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:26.000 me a number between one and fourteen. 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:28.600 Let's go with lucky number thirteen. 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:33.480 Number thirteen. You didn't hit Rutgers. That's great. We're gonna 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:37.720 start with Iowa and the general the steadiness, the competitiveness 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:42.080 of Iowa is definitely admirable. They have good lines every year, 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:45.679 steady quarterback play, good defense all has gotten them. It's 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:49.160 kind of pretty damn far. But with last year's tight 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:52.640 ends and experience quarterback in Nate Stanley, a mostly yeah, 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:55.480 very good defense. I would say last year had a 0:13:55.600 --> 0:14:00.319 terrific schedule. Did the did the Hotkeyes waist maybe a 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:04.360 ten win regular season window last year? Was it there 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:05.079 for them? 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:07.760 I think it absolutely was there for them. And that's 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:11.080 kind of the beauty and the curse, if you will, 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:14.520 about really the entire Kirk Ferrench regime there. I mean, 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:18.920 I don't think you'll find a major college football program 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:21.560 that has more of an identity than Iowa, who is 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:25.160 more comfortable with being themselves than Iowa they're good for 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.000 eight or nine wins probably every year, and in a 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:30.920 rare year like twenty fifteen, they're gonna make a run 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:32.480 and almost make the playoff and end up in the 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:34.920 Rose Bowl. And I think, you know, when you run 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:38.480 a clean program, when you represent your university the right 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:41.120 way on and off the field, there's not a whole 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:42.360 lot more you can ask for. 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:42.560 That. 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:46.600 That said, when your neighbor is Wisconsin and they're swinging 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:49.080 slightly above your weight every year, definitely not last year, 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:51.480 but for the most part in the last fifteen twenty 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:54.720 years or so, I can understand why there's a hunger 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:57.680 for more. And it's always funny. You obviously held my 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:01.240 colleague Bruceselman on for the PAC twelve. Stuart Mendel's another 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:04.720 colleague of mine. They did their coaches rankings about a 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:07.640 month ago, and I don't think Stew's ever had Kirk 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:10.600 Friends on there. And he said he's never hears more 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:13.240 backlash from any fan base than Iowa. And it's a 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:16.200 mixed bag. It's half them saying, what are you doing? 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:18.200 He's one of the best there is, he's been there 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:21.160 twenty years. How do you exclude him? And it's the 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:23.760 other half saying, like, you know, he's the worst, why 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:25.680 would you ever even entertain and thank god you didn't 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:28.840 have him on there. And when you look, especially at 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:31.080 last season, I mean that's kind of the Kirk Prince 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:33.760 tenured in a nutshell. I mean nine to four. But 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:37.960 every single one of those games that they lost they 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:40.160 should have won. Yeah, and look some of the ones 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:42.400 they won they probably should have lost too, if we 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.200 really want split hairs here, But I mean that Wisconsin 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.920 game went down to the final minute. That Northwestern game, 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:52.240 they just did absolutely nothing offensively. Northwestern got one of 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:55.040 the best catches in all the college football season to 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:57.360 multimately pull out a fourteen ten win and win the 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:01.160 division in Iowa City. The Perdue game they lost in 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:03.600 the last second field goal. The Penn State game was 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:06.720 just a hot message back and forth, crazy touchdowns and 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:10.000 turnovers and you name it. And now you look up 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.120 and you're losing two all American caliber tight ends and 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:16.240 all found in TJ. Hockinson, and you wonder, kind of, 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:18.640 like you said, Dan, did they just waste a ten 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:21.280 or eleven one season? I mean, that division was there 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:23.480 for the taking. All due respect to Northwestern, who wanted 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:26.320 Farren square and wanted I think pretty much going away. 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:27.960 I think they won it by two games last year, 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:33.600 three games over Iowa. Actually, that was a very wittable division, 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:36.680 more so than any other time, because you had Wisconsin down, 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:40.520 because you had a new coach at Nebraska. You know, 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:44.120 Northwestern obviously was great, but they didn't start off great 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:47.680 non conference and were certainly vulnerable, as pretty much every 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:49.880 other team in that division was. So when you look 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:52.760 ahead to this year, you have to feel comfortable and 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:56.040 Nathan Stanley coming back at quarterback, you have to like 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:58.720 those pieces on defense. You have to like that offensive 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:01.480 line which is always pretty good, if not great, and 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:04.960 returns to starting tackles is coming here. But you talk 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:07.200 to coaches around the league and elsewhere, and it's the 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:10.959 same vein refrain. Every year it's Iowa. They'll probably win 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:13.359 eight games, they'll be who they are. Yeah. 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:15.960 No, And for the record, Kirk Farence deserves to be 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:19.720 in that best coaches grouping. When you take unhralded recruits, 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.920 develop them and not only hang with, but regularly beat 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:27.680 the powers the perceived powers of your conference. I'm pro 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:31.399 ferens in that regard. Give me another number. Let's go 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:35.040 with seven number seven. Did you hit the Rutgers Wami? 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:40.160 You did not, Michigan State. I'm a big believer that 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:43.480 two things can be true at once. In this case, Hey, 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:45.960 Mark D'Antonio is a really good coach who deserves the 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:50.439 benefit of the doubt. And at the same time, Sparti's 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:54.159 offense has been this is an official journalism term, But 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.560 do we live in a world where Michigan State's offense 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:02.879 can become dramatically more of what they look like in 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:06.879 twenty fourteen with Connor Cook? Excuse me ahead of and 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:09.240 during a year in which I think they get Northwestern, 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:12.480 Ohio State, Michigan, and Wisconsin all away from East Lansing. 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:16.680 Do you believe in a Mark d Antonio transformation project? 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:19.239 I mean, when you look at those box scores from 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:21.680 last season, it's not just losing seven to six in 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:24.240 a bowl game. It's not just losing nine to six 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:28.240 at Nebraska, for sixteen to thirteen at Arizona State, or 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:31.040 only putting up six points against Ohio State. I mean, 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:33.960 it was just really tough to watch. And then Mark 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:36.920 D'Antonio comes out with the big press conference this winter, Hey, 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:39.040 what's the big news we're keeping everyone on SAP. We're 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:41.720 just give them all different titles. I'm not sure I've 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:43.920 seen anything like that, and I'm in the same boat 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:46.000 as you. I mean, if anyone has deserved the benefit 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.959 of the doubt over his decade plus tenure, it's probably 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:51.679 this guy. I mean, there's no reason Michigan State should 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.159 have been annually winning or contending for Big ten titles 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:57.240 the way it has been for the most part under 0:18:57.320 --> 0:18:59.960 Mark D'Antonio. But you look at what they did last 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:02.560 you look at what they did three years ago. Now 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:07.280 in twenty sixteen, you have to wonder. I don't want 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:08.520 to say the jig is up, because it's not like 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:10.000 he was pulling then you want he's a great coach 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:14.679 and he's built a tremendous program, But I don't know 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:17.239 what you get excited about. To your point when you 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:19.520 look at that offense. I mean, I do like Brian Lawurki. 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:21.280 I like those receivers, but I like them a lot 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:22.719 going into last year too, and so did a lot 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:24.040 of people I talked to in that league. And they 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:26.480 didn't really deliver around the field on Saturdays, which is 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:29.439 why they finished with a seven and six record and 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:32.920 so Mark D'Antonio reminds me a lot of Jerry Patterson 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:35.440 in the sense that they're both at programs that a 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:40.119 punch above their weight. When he's historically speaking, under these regimes, 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:43.280 they've had a down season every now and then, and 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:45.920 they've almost always come back with authority. I Michigan State 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:49.119 went from playoff in fifteen to three and nine and 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:53.679 sixteen to ten wins in seventeen, and so I know 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:57.440 better than to doubt these guys. That said, looking at 0:19:57.440 --> 0:19:59.600 what we've seen from them and from the returning guys 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:03.440 from LA season on film, I can't understand why there's 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:04.720 some skepticalized in he's lanting. 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:07.359 Yeah, and I wouldn't hate them finding that grain of 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:09.840 sand to stick into the I think it's an oyster 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:12.280 shell to make a pearl, to go outside of the program, 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:14.840 to bring in somebody that makes things a little bit 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:17.720 uncomfortable to run the offense, whether it's somebody from a 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:21.160 lower level or a smaller school, to just refresh, reboot 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:24.880 and hope for the best. Give me a number that's 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:29.480 not seven or thirteen. Let's go one number one. Let's 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:33.400 talk Indiana. Let us talk about a team who they 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:38.760 lost six of seven with a couple within reach. And 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:42.080 the confusing part was, and there's there was definitely turnover. 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:46.040 Why did a Tom Allen defense fall basically off a cliff? 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:48.520 I think it was like twenty fifth to seventy fifth 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:51.520 in the S and P plus rankings or ratings after 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:56.440 twenty seventeens version. And is this team, if this team 0:20:56.480 --> 0:21:00.000 is going to succeed now which I guess, which side 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:00.879 will it be on? 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:03.600 It has to be defense, right if you're Tom Allen. 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:06.919 I mean it's funny. I mean Tie and myself are 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:09.440 both Penn State graduates, and I use this analogy a lot. 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:11.960 Indiana football, to me is just like Penn State basketball. 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:17.040 So we're going to and I'm not sure if I 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:19.000 mean that in during way or an insulting way, but 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:23.399 it's clear which sports are the breadwinners on their respective campuses. 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:26.760 And when you watch either team play in conference play, 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:29.359 and we saw it last year when they went to 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:31.320 the Big House, I mean they are going to do 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:36.240 everything humanly possible to win a game and pull off 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:38.280 enough that they have no business winning, only to lose 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:39.879 it by three or seven points at the end. I 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:42.200 mean they do that every year against Missus and him 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:44.880 Harbaugh's gone there and they've done it a good deal 0:21:44.880 --> 0:21:47.760 against James Shrink withins Pence State teams as well. I 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:50.600 don't know if that makes you proud or frustrated. Probably neither, 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:53.000 because I'm not sure enough people in Bloemy can care 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:56.720 about the football product to really have strong feelings either way. 0:21:57.160 --> 0:21:59.280 That said, I think the worst thing to have this 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:03.040 program for years and I like Tom Allen is their 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:04.800 chief rival, got Jeff Brong, who I think is a 0:22:04.800 --> 0:22:07.399 top and coaching college football right now, and even worse, 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:11.320 he stayed, which when you look around the country at 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:13.879 all the hirings and firings elsewhere, the best hire, the 0:22:13.880 --> 0:22:16.359 best move anyone made was perdue keeping Jeff bron because 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:18.040 when you look at what he's been able to do 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:21.200 his first two years in West Lafe, given the talent 0:22:21.320 --> 0:22:24.040 or lack the aref that he inherited from the previous regime, 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:27.200 there's no doubting that he's going to have the boiler 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:31.159 Makers competing for at least the Vision titles year and 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:33.440 a year out once he gets his full REGI full 0:22:33.560 --> 0:22:36.720 I should say, foraging full four recruiting classes in there, 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:40.240 and if you're Indiana, that's not working in your favor. 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:42.960 Getting the unluck of the draw and falling in the 0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:45.640 east with penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, you name. 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:48.359 It does not work in your favor. And again, like 0:22:48.400 --> 0:22:50.520 you said last year, that defense finished thirteenth out of 0:22:50.520 --> 0:22:53.560 fourteens is a big tending guards for play, and that's 0:22:53.800 --> 0:22:56.080 supposed to be your mo when you promote a defense cordiator, 0:22:56.080 --> 0:22:57.840 a head coach, and when you're not pulling your weight 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:01.880 on that side of the ball. Sure, how much optimism 0:23:02.440 --> 0:23:04.520 is warranted when you're looking into your three of this regime. 0:23:05.040 --> 0:23:06.920 I think that's an interesting thing. And I was thinking 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:09.760 about as you were talking about having Purdue in state. 0:23:10.000 --> 0:23:13.719 Indiana also has Notre Dame in state, certainly not in 0:23:13.760 --> 0:23:16.000 the conference. But if you think about if there's a 0:23:16.600 --> 0:23:20.200 top level blue chip recruit in Minnesota or in Iowa 0:23:20.600 --> 0:23:23.520 or in well, Pennsylvania, there's pit but in a lot 0:23:23.560 --> 0:23:27.080 of big ten states, there are not that many options, 0:23:27.119 --> 0:23:30.040 and you will always consider that hometown or the home 0:23:30.080 --> 0:23:34.639 state school. And within Indiana, you had another down school 0:23:34.680 --> 0:23:37.480 for a long time and then you have this legendary program, 0:23:37.520 --> 0:23:39.879 and so it almost feels like it's that much more 0:23:39.920 --> 0:23:40.920 difficult in Bloomington. 0:23:41.280 --> 0:23:43.560 It is. And when you look at that schedule next year, 0:23:43.600 --> 0:23:46.840 I mean, look Fall State, Eastern Illinois, Yukon in a 0:23:46.880 --> 0:23:49.480 non conference. I mean, those should be three wins if 0:23:49.480 --> 0:23:55.640 you're a competent, big time program. The crossovers are Nebraska, Northwestern, obviously, Purdue. 0:23:57.400 --> 0:23:59.760 The West is just a craps here. I mean, yeah, 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:02.960 one through six, with apologies and my friends in Champagne. 0:24:02.920 --> 0:24:05.920 I think if you threw six of those teams in 0:24:05.960 --> 0:24:07.399 a hat and they came out any which way, it 0:24:07.400 --> 0:24:09.879 would not surprise me regardless, because I think it's that 0:24:09.960 --> 0:24:12.920 wide open, especially this year as DJ fly Can Scott 0:24:12.960 --> 0:24:16.159 Cross start to get their things together. In the respect 0:24:16.160 --> 0:24:18.719 of new locale, I just think it's wide open, especially 0:24:18.720 --> 0:24:20.840 when we saw what Northwestern was able to do and 0:24:20.880 --> 0:24:23.879 taking advantage of the down division last year. But so 0:24:23.920 --> 0:24:26.280 that makes it hard to gauge, really strength to schedule 0:24:26.359 --> 0:24:28.760 when you're looking at Indiana. But you need the breaks 0:24:28.800 --> 0:24:30.239 to fall in your favor, and you need to take 0:24:30.240 --> 0:24:31.760 advantage of those breaks when they do fall in your 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:34.159 favorite Otherwise it's easy to get lost in the shovel. 0:24:34.600 --> 0:24:36.320 All right, give me a number that is not one 0:24:36.440 --> 0:24:37.320 seven or thirteen. 0:24:38.400 --> 0:24:41.480 Not one seven or thirteen, how about two two? 0:24:41.800 --> 0:24:45.720 We're still we have missed the Wammi of Rutgers Again. Northwestern, 0:24:45.840 --> 0:24:51.240 which is your hometown team, Northwestern is they're flat out good. 0:24:51.560 --> 0:24:55.000 But when they had moments in twenty eighteen that were 0:24:55.119 --> 0:24:59.440 less than that, it was generally because of the offense. 0:24:59.560 --> 0:25:01.840 The hope is and I think you wrote about him, 0:25:01.880 --> 0:25:05.920 the hope is blue chip Clemson quarterback transfer Hunter Johnson. 0:25:06.080 --> 0:25:09.520 Is that difference? Is that all it? I guess, is 0:25:09.560 --> 0:25:12.840 that all it should take for Northwestern to stop losing 0:25:13.000 --> 0:25:16.520 something stupid in September and close out one more power? 0:25:16.680 --> 0:25:18.520 Or is or is there more that needs to be 0:25:18.560 --> 0:25:19.160 tapped into. 0:25:19.680 --> 0:25:21.639 I don't know if it's that simple, because it's not 0:25:21.720 --> 0:25:24.840 like he's replacing of guy who wasn't good. I mean, 0:25:24.880 --> 0:25:27.960 Clayton Thorson was a four year starter, and yeah, you know, 0:25:28.080 --> 0:25:29.600 for all of his ups and downs, he's going to 0:25:29.640 --> 0:25:31.320 go down as one of the best quarterbacks in Northwestern 0:25:31.400 --> 0:25:34.800 Western history. Is definitely statistically speaking, it is probably going 0:25:34.880 --> 0:25:36.440 to make a lot of money in the draft, whether 0:25:36.480 --> 0:25:38.760 it's day one, Day two, or day three next month. 0:25:38.840 --> 0:25:41.639 So I'm not sure, I look at it in that 0:25:41.760 --> 0:25:44.000 sense like quarterback was the only piece they were missing, 0:25:44.640 --> 0:25:48.320 because they had a pretty good one, right, But they 0:25:48.359 --> 0:25:52.000 haven't had a recruit at this position with these kind 0:25:52.040 --> 0:25:54.560 of credentials the way they have in Hunter Johnson, and 0:25:55.200 --> 0:25:57.000 when you talk to people around the program, when you 0:25:57.000 --> 0:26:00.800 talk to people familiar with Johnson, it was almost good 0:26:00.800 --> 0:26:03.200 for this kid, who was, you know, the Camp Miss 0:26:03.280 --> 0:26:05.840 number one quarterback prospect of the country two years ago 0:26:06.200 --> 0:26:08.320 to kind of, want to say, be humbled because he, 0:26:08.400 --> 0:26:09.960 by all County is a good head on his shoulders, 0:26:09.960 --> 0:26:12.280 but to get a year away from the spotlight, to 0:26:12.359 --> 0:26:14.920 run the scout team against one of the better defenses 0:26:14.960 --> 0:26:17.119 where they tend to learn from a guy like clating 0:26:17.119 --> 0:26:20.280 course at Torson, to become familiar with the verbiage of 0:26:20.320 --> 0:26:23.600 the playbook and with the new coaching staff, and now 0:26:23.840 --> 0:26:26.080 a year later, to be kind of unvealed for the 0:26:26.080 --> 0:26:29.439 world to see and look, this program is operating at 0:26:29.480 --> 0:26:32.440 a level which I don't think it's ever been done. Certainly, 0:26:32.440 --> 0:26:34.440 they've been in the rosewell before and have had better 0:26:34.720 --> 0:26:37.520 individual seasons, but they're coming off they're winning his four 0:26:37.600 --> 0:26:40.320 year stretch in Big Ten play in program history. They 0:26:40.359 --> 0:26:42.879 have now their first spring and first full year in 0:26:42.920 --> 0:26:45.800 that brand new two hundred and seventy million dollar facility 0:26:45.840 --> 0:26:49.080 that overlooks Lake Michigan. That is worth the hype and 0:26:49.119 --> 0:26:51.760 then some. I recommend anyone try to visit if you're 0:26:51.800 --> 0:26:56.320 in the Chicago area. And they had a lot of young, 0:26:56.440 --> 0:26:58.680 talented pieces last year. I think that the roses the 0:26:58.760 --> 0:27:02.280 surface at gul Isaiah Paus with the running back in particular, 0:27:02.400 --> 0:27:04.040 is one. I mean, they plan on red shirting this 0:27:04.080 --> 0:27:06.879 guy last year until Jeremy Larkin went down and was 0:27:06.920 --> 0:27:08.879 forced to medically retired, and that guy looks like one 0:27:08.920 --> 0:27:10.440 of the best running backs in the big time forward 0:27:10.480 --> 0:27:13.800 the end of the season. So I think the pieces 0:27:13.800 --> 0:27:18.880 are coming together where uh, they should probably win nine 0:27:18.920 --> 0:27:20.920 games or more this season and Granny get an extra 0:27:20.920 --> 0:27:23.640 game when when you win your division and go to Indianapolis. 0:27:23.640 --> 0:27:27.920 But I think, like you said, everyone else is kind 0:27:27.920 --> 0:27:30.920 of waiting for them to take that not first set, 0:27:30.960 --> 0:27:35.000 but but get through September without a the fuddling loss. 0:27:35.040 --> 0:27:38.040 Don't use lose to the UNLV in your home opener 0:27:38.119 --> 0:27:41.200 next year, all right? That I think will help people, 0:27:41.280 --> 0:27:43.040 the people of the been breathe a little bit easier. 0:27:43.320 --> 0:27:45.920 You open at Stanford. I don't think there's any shame 0:27:46.119 --> 0:27:49.440 in losing a hard fought game at Stanford, but don't 0:27:49.440 --> 0:27:55.080 lose the UNLV please, no absolutely or masses that matter, 0:27:55.080 --> 0:27:56.320 I should say that, Oh they. 0:27:56.240 --> 0:27:59.080 Do have you, you masses when Oh, that's later on 0:27:59.119 --> 0:28:04.160 in the season. There, Northwestern, your typical SEC scheduling team, 0:28:04.840 --> 0:28:08.520 scheduling a low team in November. That's that's just how 0:28:08.520 --> 0:28:09.320 it works. 0:28:10.119 --> 0:28:13.960 Big Get Ohio State off of By on a Friday night? Why? Yeah, 0:28:14.520 --> 0:28:17.240 a rematch of the big time title game, a game 0:28:17.280 --> 0:28:19.680 that last time moves at Evanston. Got college Game Day 0:28:19.720 --> 0:28:21.679 to Evanston. Why would you put that on a Friday night? 0:28:21.720 --> 0:28:24.080 I don't know. And knowing Chicago traffic with a six 0:28:24.160 --> 0:28:27.920 or flock local start time, that's going to cause some problems. 0:28:28.119 --> 0:28:31.200 Yeah, Evanston in the direction of all the suburbs on 0:28:31.240 --> 0:28:34.400 the northern side of Chicago. Great job, big ten, great job. 0:28:35.520 --> 0:28:39.040 Give me a number that is not one, two, seven, 0:28:39.120 --> 0:28:43.720 or thirteen. All right, number eight Ohio State. Oh, what 0:28:43.800 --> 0:28:47.760 a transition. That was so nice of you. It'd be 0:28:48.120 --> 0:28:52.640 it'd be easy and almost certainly true that the tangible 0:28:52.680 --> 0:28:56.560 proof of Ryan Day's effect on Ohio State would be 0:28:57.280 --> 0:29:02.080 Dwayne Haskins and the superb that he had. But is 0:29:02.120 --> 0:29:05.560 there something beyond that in terms of his fingerprints on 0:29:05.600 --> 0:29:09.440 the Buckeye offense from last year and how that potentially 0:29:09.520 --> 0:29:12.880 carries forward to twenty nineteen that you saw or that 0:29:13.080 --> 0:29:13.760 that struck you. 0:29:15.000 --> 0:29:17.360 That's a good question, because I mean, erban Meyer was 0:29:17.400 --> 0:29:21.760 such an involved figure and not necessarily playholer, but figure 0:29:21.800 --> 0:29:24.719 with the offense. And so when you get the blessing 0:29:24.720 --> 0:29:27.360 of approval from irban Meyer, obviously that speaks very highly 0:29:27.400 --> 0:29:31.120 of you and Brian days sterling credentials as well. But 0:29:31.480 --> 0:29:35.400 with new personnel, at least a quarterback, I'm just very 0:29:35.440 --> 0:29:37.640 curious to see what this offense looks like with a 0:29:37.640 --> 0:29:41.240 guy like Justin Fields, who's had so much hype, might 0:29:41.320 --> 0:29:44.080 not playing a whole lot who got the hardship waiver 0:29:44.240 --> 0:29:45.800 is going to be able to start immediately, which is 0:29:45.840 --> 0:29:49.000 a tremendous early win for Ryan Day and his staff. 0:29:50.720 --> 0:29:52.680 I'm not saying the jury still out, because I think 0:29:52.720 --> 0:29:55.080 we all know the talent in that building and on 0:29:55.120 --> 0:29:58.440 those sidelines is far away the best of the Big 0:29:58.480 --> 0:30:00.920 Ten pretty much year and a year out. I just 0:30:00.960 --> 0:30:03.880 don't want to take for granted the fact that there's 0:30:03.920 --> 0:30:06.320 a new coach on that sideline and things may be different. 0:30:06.960 --> 0:30:10.800 I think pulling away Greg Madison from Michigan was a 0:30:10.840 --> 0:30:12.560 nice way to stick it to your arrival again a 0:30:12.560 --> 0:30:17.160 couple other guys Mike Carrits from Oklahoma State Washington as well. 0:30:17.880 --> 0:30:20.320 I just think things are going to look different in 0:30:20.360 --> 0:30:23.120 Columbus next year. I'm just not sure how different they're 0:30:23.160 --> 0:30:24.640 going to look. And I think a lot of that, 0:30:25.280 --> 0:30:26.920 right le Ron is going to fall on a guy 0:30:27.360 --> 0:30:29.160 like Justin Fields, who was one of the top quarterback 0:30:29.240 --> 0:30:32.560 recruits in the country and who I think everyone is 0:30:32.600 --> 0:30:36.680 expecting big things from, especially given how good Dwayne Haskins 0:30:36.720 --> 0:30:39.280 looked in just as Loane. You're starting Columbus last year. 0:30:39.520 --> 0:30:42.400 Yeah, And the advantage that Haskins had was he had 0:30:42.440 --> 0:30:45.760 time to sit and learn and get mental rests. Where 0:30:45.880 --> 0:30:48.160 Justin Fields will be expected to come in right away. 0:30:48.200 --> 0:30:50.040 He won't have that advantage. You won't have the advantage 0:30:50.080 --> 0:30:53.640 of Hunter Johnson, who you mentioned at Northwestern. So it 0:30:53.760 --> 0:30:56.479 is immediately, you know, feet to the fire kind of 0:30:57.080 --> 0:30:57.760 in Columbus. 0:30:57.760 --> 0:31:00.400 So yeah, the other part of that too, I mean, 0:31:00.840 --> 0:31:02.960 Dwayne Haskins ran a slower forward to an Eli Manning. 0:31:03.080 --> 0:31:05.880 We might be backing up next year, so they want 0:31:05.920 --> 0:31:08.520 to run him more than he did by all indicasions, and. 0:31:08.480 --> 0:31:09.280 He just didn't do it. 0:31:09.760 --> 0:31:12.360 And Justin Fields is much more of a dual threat 0:31:12.440 --> 0:31:14.120 kind of guy. I don't want to say in the 0:31:14.120 --> 0:31:16.440 mold of jac Barrett because I think they're completely different players. 0:31:16.440 --> 0:31:18.840 But J. C. Barrett Bible has stayed out with his 0:31:18.880 --> 0:31:20.200 legs a lot more than they did with his arms 0:31:20.200 --> 0:31:23.760 and times during his three or four year tenure as 0:31:23.760 --> 0:31:26.520 a starter. So I'm just curious to see how this 0:31:26.600 --> 0:31:29.920 offense looks. I think, again, the pieces are there to 0:31:29.960 --> 0:31:31.160 be the best in the Big Ten the way they 0:31:31.240 --> 0:31:33.720 usually are. I think they were turn enough on defense 0:31:33.720 --> 0:31:36.240 that's going to make all of us forget some of 0:31:36.280 --> 0:31:40.800 the tackling dummies and kind of whiffs they had throughout 0:31:40.880 --> 0:31:43.200 the middle of last season, which I think, when you 0:31:43.240 --> 0:31:46.360 look at the big picture of Ohio State's twenty eighteen season, 0:31:47.280 --> 0:31:49.880 was grossly overlooked because of the way they finishing, because 0:31:49.880 --> 0:31:53.240 of Erbami retiring and so much overshadowing what happened on 0:31:53.280 --> 0:31:56.080 the field last year. But that defense was not great, 0:31:56.600 --> 0:31:58.800 and I think they had the potential and the chance 0:31:58.840 --> 0:32:01.120 to be much much better this season. And I think 0:32:01.280 --> 0:32:04.800 that's something that we have almost forgotten about because they 0:32:04.840 --> 0:32:07.040 still won the Big Ten last year despite not looking 0:32:07.080 --> 0:32:09.600 the part during October and November a. 0:32:09.560 --> 0:32:18.320 Great point three, four, five, six, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, fourteen, ten. Oh, 0:32:18.360 --> 0:32:22.680 you hit the whammy. It was gonna happen. Sorry, Rutgers fans, 0:32:22.680 --> 0:32:26.640 you're probably good people. I assume you are. Scarlet Knights 0:32:26.680 --> 0:32:34.320 were lately, yeah, well fair the Scarlet Knights. They were terrific. 0:32:34.560 --> 0:32:39.040 Yet yet they were right there versus Northwestern and Michigan 0:32:39.120 --> 0:32:43.440 State and sort of Penn State. Is Rutgers in any 0:32:43.480 --> 0:32:47.560 sort of position to scratch and claw their way to 0:32:48.000 --> 0:32:51.520 more of that? Or is the the mess of Rutgers 0:32:51.520 --> 0:32:55.400 athletics in general, the big picture mess too much for anyone, 0:32:55.840 --> 0:32:59.520 I guess, specifically Chris ash to overcome. Right now. 0:33:00.720 --> 0:33:02.400 I don't want to put Rutgers in Illinois in the 0:33:02.480 --> 0:33:06.880 same category because historically Illinois has had some success football life. 0:33:06.920 --> 0:33:09.720 Maybe not recent history, but traditionally, especially in the Big Ten. 0:33:10.360 --> 0:33:13.520 That said, I look at them in somewhat similar veins 0:33:13.560 --> 0:33:18.040 when evaluating the work of those coaching staffs, because I 0:33:18.120 --> 0:33:20.280 remember talking to someone familiar with the Rutgers program in 0:33:20.320 --> 0:33:22.080 between years one and two of the Chris ash era, 0:33:22.200 --> 0:33:26.000 and it was what progress, as crazy as it sounds 0:33:26.040 --> 0:33:28.360 might be, you know, losing thirty to nothing in says 0:33:28.360 --> 0:33:30.280 sixty Johan the way we were last year. I mean, 0:33:30.800 --> 0:33:35.040 that's how much of a whole I think that staff 0:33:35.080 --> 0:33:37.040 has had to dig out of. And you saw it 0:33:37.120 --> 0:33:39.280 last year. You win your first game against Texas State 0:33:39.480 --> 0:33:42.920 and you lose out. And there were games, like you said, 0:33:42.920 --> 0:33:45.640 against Northwestern, even against Penn State for a little bit, 0:33:45.680 --> 0:33:48.640 and of course against Michigan State, which forgot about offense 0:33:48.720 --> 0:33:51.360 last year, where hey, maybe they're going to do this, 0:33:51.400 --> 0:33:53.920 maybe they're going to break through, and they just didn't 0:33:53.920 --> 0:33:58.440 do it. And I know people's patience is thin in 0:33:58.520 --> 0:34:01.960 this environment, in this era of college football. But when 0:34:01.960 --> 0:34:05.880 you look at that division, I mean, what's a realistic expectation, 0:34:06.240 --> 0:34:09.640 realistic high expectation. I mean, you tell me you're always 0:34:09.640 --> 0:34:15.120 going to be at best in that division? Right? Am 0:34:15.120 --> 0:34:17.040 I missing something? No? 0:34:17.120 --> 0:34:17.520 That's right? 0:34:18.400 --> 0:34:21.439 I just don't know. And you could say this about 0:34:21.480 --> 0:34:23.160 a lot of teams. I think at the Power five 0:34:23.239 --> 0:34:24.920 levels we're kind of ringing up the rear and the 0:34:24.960 --> 0:34:27.799 respect and conferences. I don't know what you expect, but 0:34:27.880 --> 0:34:30.400 when you lose by forty one points to a Kansas 0:34:30.400 --> 0:34:33.239 team to end up firing as coach, I think that 0:34:33.320 --> 0:34:34.200 kind of speaks for itself. 0:34:34.239 --> 0:34:36.239 No, No, I think I think all of that is 0:34:36.280 --> 0:34:39.920 all reasonable. And I don't know where they go, and 0:34:40.000 --> 0:34:42.760 I don't know that the Big Ten is super happy 0:34:42.800 --> 0:34:45.960 about having a team like this. At least Illinois has 0:34:46.040 --> 0:34:50.520 carried its weight in the last decade, twelve years, whatever where, 0:34:50.560 --> 0:34:54.040 and basketball wise, they've They've been interesting at times. But yeah, 0:34:54.080 --> 0:34:56.160 this is it's a rough stretch. It's a rough stretch 0:34:56.160 --> 0:34:56.759 for the Big Ten. 0:34:57.160 --> 0:35:00.560 With Rutgers, it's similar for vast well team. I mean, 0:35:00.600 --> 0:35:02.439 they didn't win a whole lot to understand now they killed, 0:35:02.520 --> 0:35:04.560 They've been competitive, and it has been a team you 0:35:04.600 --> 0:35:06.680 can't overlook anymore. And I don't want to say that's 0:35:06.719 --> 0:35:08.480 all you can ask for, but early on, I mean, 0:35:08.520 --> 0:35:12.040 I think you have to take baby steps and celebrate 0:35:12.120 --> 0:35:14.479 not moral victories, but small victories on and off the court. 0:35:14.960 --> 0:35:17.200 One other thing, look at their schedule. Now Hugh Breeze 0:35:17.239 --> 0:35:18.480 comes to town. How can we forget that? 0:35:18.800 --> 0:35:23.200 Oh my gosh, I did not even yep. That's good 0:35:23.200 --> 0:35:32.880 for Hugh Freese, good for the Liberty Flames. Three, four, five, six, nine, eleven, twelve, fourteen, 0:35:33.480 --> 0:35:37.480 let's go twelve, all right? Twelve? Wisconsin a much cheerier position, 0:35:37.640 --> 0:35:41.799 even after disappointing twenty eighteen. By the Badger's standards, it 0:35:41.880 --> 0:35:44.719 was rough. For sure, It'd be easy and it'd be 0:35:44.920 --> 0:35:47.840 correct to point out the injuries all over the place. 0:35:48.640 --> 0:35:52.320 But upon further reflection, we're now almost four months away 0:35:52.360 --> 0:35:56.120 from this past season. Was it more than just a 0:35:56.200 --> 0:35:59.560 ton of injuries? And if so, is it correctable? 0:36:00.040 --> 0:36:03.560 He gets correctable. I think it's the program. And I 0:36:03.560 --> 0:36:05.680 don't want to blame a kid or put too much 0:36:05.680 --> 0:36:08.719 on a kid, but I think Alex hornybrook leaving, I mean, 0:36:08.840 --> 0:36:11.479 was best for both parties. I think both the team 0:36:11.520 --> 0:36:14.000 and the player were in need of a fresh start. 0:36:15.480 --> 0:36:19.920 It was a weird season for Wisconsin because they pretty 0:36:19.960 --> 0:36:22.640 much win that division every year and they're always slept 0:36:22.680 --> 0:36:24.840 on and last year they were off Sports Illustrated covers. 0:36:25.480 --> 0:36:27.120 I picked them to win the league and go to 0:36:27.200 --> 0:36:32.400 the playoff. I mean, it was very antithetical to Wisconsin's DNA, 0:36:32.400 --> 0:36:34.520 if you will, in terms of being over sold and 0:36:34.680 --> 0:36:38.040 under delivering. That said, bring back Chasit Taylor, who might 0:36:38.080 --> 0:36:39.560 be the best player in college fotball, and you bring 0:36:39.600 --> 0:36:41.879 back pretty much all your big playmakers in the receiving game. 0:36:42.719 --> 0:36:45.040 You got four quarterbacks plugging out right now in spring. 0:36:45.080 --> 0:36:46.920 Graham Mertz is the guy I know fans want to 0:36:47.000 --> 0:36:49.879 eventually went out and be given the chance because he's 0:36:49.880 --> 0:36:52.160 the highest rated recruit they've ever had at the position, 0:36:52.239 --> 0:36:55.359 and this is a staff that knows what it's doing 0:36:55.360 --> 0:36:57.080 when it comes to quarterbacks. I think they've gone the 0:36:57.080 --> 0:36:59.160 absolute most out of everyone they've had there so far. 0:37:00.960 --> 0:37:05.160 And that defense was not bad. I mean they weren't great. 0:37:05.239 --> 0:37:07.040 They weren't a top two unit the way they had 0:37:07.040 --> 0:37:10.560 been the first couple of years under three different coordinators 0:37:10.600 --> 0:37:12.960 in three years. They're the latest of them beat being 0:37:13.000 --> 0:37:16.520 former safety standout Jim Leonard. But they weren't bad. So 0:37:16.960 --> 0:37:20.879 I think this is a very fixable program or team, 0:37:20.880 --> 0:37:22.640 if people, whatever you want to call it. I think 0:37:23.200 --> 0:37:25.560 they're a lot closer to winning that division this year 0:37:25.600 --> 0:37:29.640 than they are to finishing at sixth or seventh. I'm 0:37:29.680 --> 0:37:32.680 buying Wisconsin stock right now. I know last year left 0:37:32.480 --> 0:37:35.359 a sour taste, a lot of people's mouths. But when 0:37:35.360 --> 0:37:37.000 you go through injury, is a quarterback, when you go 0:37:37.040 --> 0:37:39.799 through uncertainty a quarterback every other week, it seemed like 0:37:40.160 --> 0:37:42.680 it was a will here, won't he? With Alex Hornybrook 0:37:42.840 --> 0:37:47.040 and Jack Cone, And you could just see the looks 0:37:47.040 --> 0:37:49.120 on people's faces, not just at Wisconsin but at other 0:37:49.120 --> 0:37:51.399 places in the past. When you've had one guy there 0:37:51.440 --> 0:37:54.160 for so long who's had so many ups and downs 0:37:54.200 --> 0:37:57.120 and has been subjected to so much scrutiny, you can 0:37:57.160 --> 0:38:00.279 tell in the locker room on a coaching staff, and 0:38:00.440 --> 0:38:02.719 that kind of stuff seeps into a program and it 0:38:02.840 --> 0:38:05.759 just wears everyone out. And again, I don't want to 0:38:05.760 --> 0:38:08.359 be too harsh and all of torny Brook here, I 0:38:08.360 --> 0:38:10.560 think everyone at Wisconsin thanks them for his service and 0:38:10.600 --> 0:38:13.160 wishes them the best of the lockdown in Tallahassee, but 0:38:13.719 --> 0:38:17.280 I think everyone needed a fresh start, and I think 0:38:18.080 --> 0:38:20.879 if Graham Mertz is that guy, maybe not if Jack 0:38:20.920 --> 0:38:22.520 con is that guy. But but again, he's going to 0:38:22.560 --> 0:38:24.880 be a junior now he's hopefully improved. A lot of 0:38:24.920 --> 0:38:27.919 Wisconsin fans takes they should be better. I mean, they're 0:38:27.920 --> 0:38:29.720 always going to be good on the offensive line. Charles 0:38:29.760 --> 0:38:32.719 and Taylor had the quietest season I think of any 0:38:32.719 --> 0:38:35.880 great player we've ever really seen last year, there's no 0:38:35.920 --> 0:38:38.560 reason he shouldn't be as good or better. I think 0:38:38.600 --> 0:38:41.719 this program's a good spot, I really do. I don't 0:38:41.719 --> 0:38:43.279 think they're gonna be down for long. I think they 0:38:43.320 --> 0:38:46.240 should be competing for a division title again this season 0:38:46.800 --> 0:38:48.719 and maybe more if everything breaks their way the way 0:38:48.719 --> 0:38:51.319 it did two years ago. But I just can't get 0:38:51.320 --> 0:38:53.200 too down on these guys after they started thirty four 0:38:53.239 --> 0:38:54.480 and seven under Paul Chris in the. 0:38:54.400 --> 0:38:57.160 First three years, though, Yeah, just underscorees how difficult it 0:38:57.200 --> 0:39:00.400 is to do to win ten games forever been a 0:39:00.440 --> 0:39:04.399 program like Wisconsin with a an identity in place and 0:39:04.800 --> 0:39:08.000 you know, an advantageous division for these past few years, 0:39:08.000 --> 0:39:11.040 it's just difficult. It's just it's a tough ass to 0:39:11.040 --> 0:39:11.279 do it. 0:39:11.320 --> 0:39:14.440 Every year they went eight and five and they were 0:39:15.000 --> 0:39:16.680 finishing second in that division. I know there are two 0:39:16.719 --> 0:39:19.160 games out of first and really three since they lost Northwestern, 0:39:19.160 --> 0:39:23.040 but it wasn't the disaster. I think we're all remembering, 0:39:23.120 --> 0:39:25.440 as I think our preaching the expectations of this team, 0:39:26.800 --> 0:39:30.160 did U snow favors and coloring the reality of what 0:39:30.160 --> 0:39:31.520 they were on the field last year. 0:39:31.560 --> 0:39:33.200 And you mentioned the will they won't they? I think 0:39:33.200 --> 0:39:35.880 they finished like their final eight games were win loss, 0:39:35.920 --> 0:39:38.520 win loss, win loss, win loss. So the will they 0:39:38.520 --> 0:39:45.799 won't that thing is is very accurate. Three, four, five, six, nine, eleven, fourteen, 0:39:46.320 --> 0:39:49.400 Let's go nine, Let's go nine. You probably won't have 0:39:49.400 --> 0:39:53.480 a lot to say about this, but Illinois. It's it's 0:39:53.680 --> 0:39:56.840 kind of true to say Illinois got better in twenty eighteen. 0:39:56.920 --> 0:40:00.160 It is they ran the ball well, they were more 0:40:00.200 --> 0:40:04.279 competitive overall. Please ignore the Iowa game. Is it? Is 0:40:04.320 --> 0:40:06.640 it a talent thing? Is it an approach thing? Is 0:40:06.680 --> 0:40:09.560 it a coaching thing? Is it an injury thing? Isn't 0:40:09.760 --> 0:40:13.400 an everything that could go wrong has thing? What is 0:40:13.400 --> 0:40:16.759 it right now with Illinois that defines their status? 0:40:17.040 --> 0:40:18.720 You know, it's funny because today I had a story 0:40:18.719 --> 0:40:21.720 on their athletic director, Josh Whitman, who had played there 0:40:22.080 --> 0:40:24.040 in the late nineties and early two thousands, and I 0:40:24.080 --> 0:40:26.000 was actually unaware of this until he had said it 0:40:26.040 --> 0:40:29.480 to me. He got there during Ron Turner's first year 0:40:29.480 --> 0:40:31.400 and at enna seven they went oh to eleven, and 0:40:31.480 --> 0:40:34.160 by year three they won eight or nine games. They 0:40:34.160 --> 0:40:36.200 won it. The big pass against Tom Brady. They won 0:40:36.239 --> 0:40:40.279 at Ohio State. This is not that situation, clearly. I 0:40:40.320 --> 0:40:44.080 think Illinois football is digging out of a much deeper 0:40:44.120 --> 0:40:46.719 hole at the beginning of the Lovey Smith regime than 0:40:46.719 --> 0:40:48.920 it was at the beginning of the Ron Turner regime. 0:40:49.680 --> 0:40:52.000 But they did get better last year. And again, I 0:40:52.040 --> 0:40:55.040 know this sounds like faint praise, but they lost to 0:40:55.080 --> 0:40:57.360 Penn State by thirty nine points. They were winning that 0:40:57.360 --> 0:41:01.600 game in the second half. Yeah, for what a that's worth? No? 0:41:01.680 --> 0:41:04.200 I mean yeah, that South Florida game I was at 0:41:04.280 --> 0:41:07.000 at Soldier Field. They were up nineteen seven at the 0:41:07.000 --> 0:41:09.839 start of the fourth quarter and South Florida basically need 0:41:09.840 --> 0:41:11.120 a Hail Mary to beat them at the end. I 0:41:11.160 --> 0:41:14.160 know South Florida ended up collapsing and not being the 0:41:14.200 --> 0:41:16.200 great group of five team that we all expected them 0:41:16.200 --> 0:41:18.319 to be at the beginning of the year, but that's 0:41:18.360 --> 0:41:21.400 a game they should have won. Can they get to 0:41:21.480 --> 0:41:23.120 a bowl this year? If they do, I think that 0:41:23.160 --> 0:41:26.320 would be phenomenal for Lovely Smith, for that staff, for 0:41:26.880 --> 0:41:29.560 momentum for that program moving forward. I think I'm Jay 0:41:29.640 --> 0:41:32.280 Rivers is probably going to be the guy at quarterback. 0:41:32.680 --> 0:41:36.320 I think that offense took tremendous strides under rad Smith. 0:41:36.400 --> 0:41:38.400 I mean again, when you go four and eight and 0:41:38.400 --> 0:41:40.920 two and seven to Big ten play, people aren't looking 0:41:40.960 --> 0:41:44.080 too closely at the numbers, and I understand that when 0:41:44.120 --> 0:41:46.600 you're in a Power five conference. But they went from 0:41:46.680 --> 0:41:49.200 I want to say one twenty seventh to maybe sixty 0:41:49.200 --> 0:41:52.560 third nationally yards per play. The problem is that defense 0:41:52.640 --> 0:41:55.880 was got awful, and they had a coordinator resign mid season, 0:41:56.000 --> 0:41:57.960 and with all that time to go out and hire someone, 0:41:58.320 --> 0:42:02.279 Lovely Smith ended up promoting himself this year, which we'll see. 0:42:02.560 --> 0:42:04.480 I think that's Lovely putting his chips on the table. 0:42:04.520 --> 0:42:06.400 I think that's him saying, you know it's on me 0:42:06.520 --> 0:42:08.439 right now, make or break. I know it's year four, 0:42:08.480 --> 0:42:10.560 we're going to look at it probably as year three 0:42:10.600 --> 0:42:12.680 because he got hired in March to twenty sixteen and 0:42:12.920 --> 0:42:15.360 he didn't have a chance of recruiting and really install 0:42:15.440 --> 0:42:17.160 things the way he wanted to for the spring. Then 0:42:17.480 --> 0:42:20.480 they've had a lot of attrition. I think going into 0:42:20.520 --> 0:42:23.040 this year, there's a clear line between one through six 0:42:23.080 --> 0:42:24.960 in that division and number seven, who in this case 0:42:25.000 --> 0:42:28.359 is Illinois. But I'm not as sour on them as 0:42:28.400 --> 0:42:30.399 everyone else. I mean, even if they only win four 0:42:30.480 --> 0:42:34.359 games again this year under Lovely Smith, that probably gets 0:42:34.400 --> 0:42:36.480 it fired. I know it might be a little bit 0:42:36.520 --> 0:42:40.279 premature to talk about toach of maneuvers, but I just 0:42:40.320 --> 0:42:44.920 think with getting actually them up to eighty five scholarships, 0:42:44.960 --> 0:42:48.120 getting them close to a level playing field with the 0:42:48.760 --> 0:42:51.400 rest of their peers, and not doing anything or gregious 0:42:51.480 --> 0:42:54.600 off the field, that combined with an eighty million dollar 0:42:54.719 --> 0:42:57.280 facility opening at the start of training camp this summer, 0:42:57.719 --> 0:43:00.160 is going to leave this program in better position or 0:43:00.200 --> 0:43:03.120 whoever ends up getting the job going into next year. 0:43:03.120 --> 0:43:04.960 And I don't want to write this off as a 0:43:05.040 --> 0:43:09.480 lost season just yet, but I think you need to 0:43:09.560 --> 0:43:11.600 take baby steps, and I think you need to look 0:43:11.640 --> 0:43:15.480 at Victory's beyond the box score, and unless that defense 0:43:15.520 --> 0:43:17.719 can make the kind of improvements that the offense did 0:43:17.760 --> 0:43:20.560 last year, I'm not sure I see five or six 0:43:20.640 --> 0:43:21.480 wins on that schedule. 0:43:21.880 --> 0:43:23.480 All right, Well, we've got to go into a bit 0:43:23.520 --> 0:43:26.160 of a lightning mode because you are the president and 0:43:26.200 --> 0:43:28.840 you have things to do and people to speak to. 0:43:29.600 --> 0:43:33.520 So three four or five change diapers to change three four, five, 0:43:33.600 --> 0:43:38.960 six eleven or fourteen fourteen fourteen, it is okay we're 0:43:38.960 --> 0:43:41.520 talking Nebraska. At the beginning of last year, it seemed 0:43:41.560 --> 0:43:45.600 like there was optimism that faded and then rose like 0:43:45.719 --> 0:43:50.120 the phoenix, as the Huskers look like. At the very least, 0:43:50.160 --> 0:43:52.319 they were a competitive Big Ten team week in and 0:43:52.360 --> 0:43:57.759 week out. Is it too mild to say maintaining that 0:43:57.920 --> 0:44:00.359 seems like a win or is there reason to raise 0:44:00.480 --> 0:44:05.120 the Husker threat level from decent threat to full on threat. 0:44:05.360 --> 0:44:06.799 I don't think it's too early to say full on 0:44:06.840 --> 0:44:08.440 threat when you look at the state of the division, 0:44:08.680 --> 0:44:10.600 and when you look at Scott Frost's history, and when 0:44:10.640 --> 0:44:12.960 you look at how well this team played even in 0:44:13.040 --> 0:44:15.160 some losses. I mean, I was at that Northwestern game 0:44:15.280 --> 0:44:19.759 last year, and I think the win probability with five 0:44:19.760 --> 0:44:22.400 minutes left was probably ninety eight ninety nine percent Northwestern. 0:44:22.480 --> 0:44:27.040 I mean, Northwestern had to score ten points and basically 0:44:27.160 --> 0:44:31.680 less than two minutes without any timeouts, using what at 0:44:31.719 --> 0:44:34.320 the time coming off that non conference slight which was 0:44:34.360 --> 0:44:36.840 a disaster, one of the worst offenses in all of 0:44:36.840 --> 0:44:38.640 college football, and they were able to do that. I mean, 0:44:38.719 --> 0:44:42.160 the way Nebraska threw that game away was absolutely perplexing, 0:44:42.200 --> 0:44:44.719 and Scott Frost and the press conference afterward I mean 0:44:44.760 --> 0:44:46.120 he looked like his dog died. I mean, you just 0:44:46.200 --> 0:44:47.960 want to give the poor guy a hug because he 0:44:48.080 --> 0:44:52.879 just had no answers. But I also think, as gut 0:44:52.880 --> 0:44:55.640 Regen as it was to live through as a Nebraska 0:44:55.680 --> 0:44:59.080 fan or player and coach, there's a lot of talent 0:44:59.120 --> 0:45:02.080 on that raster. Adrian Martinez is like a thirty five 0:45:02.120 --> 0:45:03.960 year old man in the nineteen year old's body. I mean, 0:45:04.160 --> 0:45:07.080 he's just one of the most mature guys I think 0:45:07.080 --> 0:45:09.640 I've ever seen speak publicly. And this will be a 0:45:09.680 --> 0:45:12.520 plug here, but our Sherman, our new nebrassa writer, had 0:45:12.520 --> 0:45:15.920 a tremendous story going out to his hometown in California, 0:45:16.040 --> 0:45:18.399 writing about his background. When you read about this guy, 0:45:18.480 --> 0:45:20.160 when you see what he was able to do last 0:45:20.239 --> 0:45:22.040 year through the thick and the thin, I have no 0:45:22.120 --> 0:45:24.279 doubt that this is going to be one of the 0:45:24.280 --> 0:45:26.640 best quarterbacks of the big time as soon as next year. 0:45:26.880 --> 0:45:28.920 I think that highly of them. I think the highly 0:45:29.280 --> 0:45:32.239 of the coaching staff. Even when they lost two of 0:45:32.280 --> 0:45:35.839 their last six games last year, the Ohio State game 0:45:36.160 --> 0:45:38.880 and the Iowa game, they were both right in toward 0:45:38.920 --> 0:45:43.320 the end and had a chance to win both those games, 0:45:43.360 --> 0:45:45.560 and I think going forward to after an zero to 0:45:45.600 --> 0:45:48.480 six start, winning the Michigan State game the way they 0:45:48.480 --> 0:45:50.200 were able to win. I know it was nine to six, 0:45:50.280 --> 0:45:53.759 but I think to win ugly after losing pretty for 0:45:53.880 --> 0:45:56.399 lack of a better analogy, so much that season said 0:45:56.400 --> 0:45:58.640 a lot about the character of that team. And I 0:45:58.719 --> 0:46:00.520 just think they've got a clicking right now down all 0:46:00.560 --> 0:46:04.560 the phases you need from a program standpoint to be 0:46:04.680 --> 0:46:07.239 in position to compete for division titles. So I don't 0:46:07.280 --> 0:46:09.440 think it's too early to think of these guys as 0:46:09.480 --> 0:46:10.560 a contender in the Less this year. 0:46:10.960 --> 0:46:15.520 All right, three four, five six eleven three three Minnesota? 0:46:17.000 --> 0:46:20.080 What was what was the biggest difference between the Minnesota 0:46:20.120 --> 0:46:24.640 team that lost five of six relatively early, that includes 0:46:24.719 --> 0:46:28.360 being demolished by Illinois, by the way, and the team 0:46:28.480 --> 0:46:32.400 that comfortably beat Purdue, Wisconsin and Georgia Tech. Is that 0:46:32.520 --> 0:46:34.840 is that all Tanner Morgan, Well, I mean. 0:46:34.800 --> 0:46:38.040 Tanner Morgan, but Joe ROSSI they fired their defense coordinator 0:46:38.600 --> 0:46:41.279 Rob Smith after Illinois, and they came out and beat 0:46:41.320 --> 0:46:43.480 Purdue the way they did, and they were able to 0:46:43.480 --> 0:46:46.040 beat Wisconsin and send Paul Johnson into retirement on a 0:46:46.040 --> 0:46:49.240 sour note, in the Detroit Bowl whatever they call it nowadays. 0:46:49.280 --> 0:46:53.160 I mean that defense from a personality standpoint just looks 0:46:53.200 --> 0:46:56.440 so much different those last five or six games under Rossie, 0:46:56.440 --> 0:47:00.360 who obviously was promoted to the coordinator position full time 0:47:00.760 --> 0:47:03.480 after the season. I think they're flying to the ball better. 0:47:04.120 --> 0:47:07.560 They had much better morale, and you see that translate offensively. 0:47:07.600 --> 0:47:10.719 I mean the first three weeks, that injury report was 0:47:10.800 --> 0:47:13.960 just the most oppressing thing to read in the world. 0:47:13.960 --> 0:47:17.880 I mean, Roddie Smith, who's going to go down as 0:47:17.880 --> 0:47:20.000 maybe the second leading rusher in school history, went down 0:47:20.000 --> 0:47:22.640 for the year. They had another running back go down, 0:47:23.160 --> 0:47:26.200 all of whom returned this year. They were very optimistic 0:47:26.600 --> 0:47:28.799 in the Twin Cities this year. I haven't been up 0:47:28.840 --> 0:47:31.960 there yet myself. I'm hoping to Final four weekend to 0:47:32.000 --> 0:47:35.080 see that staff and to see you practice or two. 0:47:35.160 --> 0:47:39.319 But they quietly think that they can compete for the 0:47:39.360 --> 0:47:41.920 division title this year. And I know that's a familiar thing. 0:47:41.960 --> 0:47:43.840 I feel like I've been saying about every team outside 0:47:43.840 --> 0:47:47.560 of Illinois in that division. But it's true. I mean, 0:47:47.560 --> 0:47:51.000 the margin for error is so close that when you 0:47:51.040 --> 0:47:52.880 beat to Wisconsin the way you did last year on 0:47:52.920 --> 0:47:55.120 the road, when you win a bowl game by twenty 0:47:55.160 --> 0:47:59.239 four points, when you return two quarterbacks with extensive playing time, 0:47:59.280 --> 0:48:01.880 and you're going to the year three with a different 0:48:01.960 --> 0:48:05.239 level of recruit there than what has been coming to 0:48:05.239 --> 0:48:08.640 campus in the past, there's reason propximism, and even PJ. 0:48:08.760 --> 0:48:12.680 Flack at the start of springing ball a battle week ago, said, 0:48:12.719 --> 0:48:15.280 you know, we're not playing with that. You know, underdog, 0:48:15.320 --> 0:48:18.439 don't nobody believes in us. We expect to be here now. 0:48:18.680 --> 0:48:20.680 We know we're capable of with the way we finished 0:48:20.760 --> 0:48:23.200 last season, and we're going to hope that translates to 0:48:23.239 --> 0:48:23.919 the field this fall. 0:48:24.160 --> 0:48:29.040 Four five six eleven four four Michigan with the with 0:48:29.120 --> 0:48:32.720 the benefit of time since the Michigan season ended, looking 0:48:32.760 --> 0:48:36.520 back to you, if Michigan is to break through, which 0:48:36.560 --> 0:48:38.560 to me means win the Big Ten and go to 0:48:38.560 --> 0:48:42.640 the playoff, is job number one? Their their offensive style, 0:48:42.800 --> 0:48:48.520 which they've addressed, or big game defense that's been arguably 0:48:48.560 --> 0:48:52.560 a bigger factor holding Michigan back. Just a performance together 0:48:52.760 --> 0:48:55.719 the performances against the best that the Big Ten has 0:48:55.760 --> 0:48:57.720 to offer on offense, that's. 0:48:57.600 --> 0:48:59.840 A good question. I leaned toward the offensive side of 0:48:59.840 --> 0:49:02.560 the all made the change there for a reason. Josh 0:49:02.640 --> 0:49:06.080 Gattis did a great job with Nicksaban Alabama for a 0:49:06.120 --> 0:49:09.040 year and was tremendous at Penn State before that. Is 0:49:09.040 --> 0:49:12.040 he the answer that remains to be seen. But I 0:49:12.080 --> 0:49:14.359 think we're in an era of college football right now 0:49:14.400 --> 0:49:17.759 where a strong traditional defense will only get you so 0:49:17.880 --> 0:49:19.640 far and makes you a little bit predictable and easy 0:49:19.680 --> 0:49:23.799 to prepare for. You need to have something on the 0:49:23.800 --> 0:49:25.640 other side of the ball that's a threat and that 0:49:25.760 --> 0:49:28.680 occupies the other team's defense. And when you see them 0:49:28.680 --> 0:49:30.680 play against in Ohio State at the end of the 0:49:30.719 --> 0:49:34.040 last season, when you see them play in the bowl 0:49:34.040 --> 0:49:37.640 game against Florida last year, there was nothing that really 0:49:38.480 --> 0:49:41.959 scared you about them. They looked almost predictable at times. 0:49:42.200 --> 0:49:44.560 And the hope is that Jash Gadason, Ben McDaniels, I 0:49:44.560 --> 0:49:46.520 should add, who they had a quarterback coach this year, 0:49:47.040 --> 0:49:49.000 are going to fix things up. I mean, Jay Patterson, 0:49:49.080 --> 0:49:51.960 I think was pretty good, and I think he returns 0:49:53.200 --> 0:49:56.360 most of his key skill players this season, which is 0:49:56.360 --> 0:49:59.000 going to be a major plus for Michigan. But I'm 0:49:59.040 --> 0:50:01.640 lying to you if I say the biggest reason for opximism. 0:50:01.840 --> 0:50:03.760 If you're Jim Harbaugh, right now is that Herbert Myers 0:50:03.840 --> 0:50:06.400 no longer coaching in the Big Ten. I don't want 0:50:06.400 --> 0:50:11.480 to oversimplify art the difference between first and second in 0:50:11.520 --> 0:50:14.480 the division this year, but that's certainly a huge factor. 0:50:14.560 --> 0:50:17.160 But now the onus is on Michigan. I mean, there 0:50:17.200 --> 0:50:19.880 are no more excuses now. It seems like we've been 0:50:19.920 --> 0:50:21.960 saying that every year, but there really are't. Especially with 0:50:22.000 --> 0:50:25.719 Ohio State coming to the Big House this season, it 0:50:25.800 --> 0:50:28.680 really is put up for shut up time. I think 0:50:28.719 --> 0:50:31.360 you've seen a lot less of the harbas cherates publicly 0:50:31.360 --> 0:50:33.319 in the off season that we were used to in 0:50:33.360 --> 0:50:36.560 the first two years, and I think in an arbor 0:50:36.600 --> 0:50:40.400 they know they need to take advantage right now. Without 0:50:40.400 --> 0:50:42.319 one of the greatest college football coaches of all time 0:50:42.400 --> 0:50:45.239 being just down the road in Columbus, this should be 0:50:45.440 --> 0:50:48.319 Michigan's lead to lose, and I think they have at 0:50:48.400 --> 0:50:51.600 least the talent and the pieces there that will put 0:50:51.640 --> 0:50:54.040 them in position to do it. It's a matter of 0:50:54.080 --> 0:50:55.520 really that one game at the end of the year, 0:50:55.719 --> 0:50:59.239 who's going to take it more personally and who's going 0:50:59.239 --> 0:50:59.879 to prepare better. 0:51:00.320 --> 0:51:05.439 Five six eleven is what we have left six all right, 0:51:05.440 --> 0:51:09.880 Penn State so Nvie Lions had a weird year. The 0:51:09.920 --> 0:51:13.839 offense took a noticeable step back without Choe Morehead and 0:51:13.880 --> 0:51:17.880 Sakwon Barkley should be mentioned. And with yes, they had 0:51:17.880 --> 0:51:20.680 a whole bunch of drops in the passing game, but 0:51:21.880 --> 0:51:25.960 with how Ohio State and Michigan State ended those two games, 0:51:26.440 --> 0:51:31.319 they were about seventeen seconds away from being eleven to one, 0:51:31.880 --> 0:51:34.879 with the one being obviously uttered destruction at the hands 0:51:34.920 --> 0:51:40.320 of Michigan. Is that coupled with a wildly talented roster, 0:51:41.000 --> 0:51:44.680 is it? Is it cause for optimism or more big 0:51:44.719 --> 0:51:47.440 game concern when you look at Michigan State and Ohio State. 0:51:47.480 --> 0:51:50.960 Now those games ended as they get farther away from 0:51:51.200 --> 0:51:53.800 the moorhead and now trace McSorley era. 0:51:54.680 --> 0:51:58.640 I think this is the year where James Franklin's recruiting 0:51:58.680 --> 0:52:02.480 will be highlight are discounted more than any others. I 0:52:02.480 --> 0:52:05.960 mean the freshman software junior classes here are all members 0:52:05.960 --> 0:52:09.560 of top fifteen classes nationally that have been really as 0:52:09.600 --> 0:52:11.759 good as anyone in the Big ten outside of Ohio State. 0:52:12.040 --> 0:52:14.480 And so that talent is going to have to grow 0:52:14.520 --> 0:52:17.279 up quickly because Trace mcsorely, I think made up for 0:52:17.400 --> 0:52:20.640 a lot of holes on that roster, definitely last year 0:52:20.640 --> 0:52:23.239 and at parts throughout his three seasons as start. I mean, 0:52:23.239 --> 0:52:27.880 that was a generational player for that program at quarterback, 0:52:27.920 --> 0:52:30.520 with the records he broke, with the way he willed 0:52:30.560 --> 0:52:33.279 them to big game victories again and again. You mentioned 0:52:33.320 --> 0:52:35.080 the Michigan State don't have state games. Is the same 0:52:35.080 --> 0:52:36.839 thing the year before, right, They lost to both those 0:52:36.840 --> 0:52:39.160 teams in a two week span, and that threw them 0:52:39.160 --> 0:52:41.960 out of the playoff mix. You could just as easily 0:52:42.000 --> 0:52:45.360 look at the Appalachian State games and maybe the Iowa 0:52:45.440 --> 0:52:47.360 game and think, you know what, they probably should have 0:52:47.360 --> 0:52:50.000 lost those, So they probably got what they deserved the 0:52:50.000 --> 0:52:51.560 grand scheme of things when you look at their nine 0:52:51.600 --> 0:52:54.160 and four finish. But the biggest question is going to 0:52:54.200 --> 0:52:56.960 be whose quarterback. I mean, we all had expected for 0:52:57.040 --> 0:52:58.920 many years that Tommy Stevens would be it. I mean, 0:52:58.920 --> 0:53:01.759 by all accounts, he almost beat Trades mc sorely in 0:53:01.840 --> 0:53:04.840 camp before the twenty sixteen season, and they made great 0:53:04.960 --> 0:53:07.799 use of him. I wouldn't say as the backup. I'd 0:53:07.800 --> 0:53:09.640 say as a jack of all trades offensive player. He 0:53:09.719 --> 0:53:12.360 throw her touchdowns, he rushed for touchdowns, he catch touchdowns, 0:53:12.840 --> 0:53:15.319 and then he got hurt. He was banged up pretty 0:53:15.400 --> 0:53:18.239 much every part of his body last season, and they 0:53:18.320 --> 0:53:21.560 just weren't able to really unleash that new wrinkle in 0:53:21.600 --> 0:53:24.279 their offense. So you do wonder about his health. You 0:53:24.320 --> 0:53:26.319 wonder if Sean Clifford is going to push him to 0:53:26.320 --> 0:53:29.520 maybe overtake him for the starting spot. And as you 0:53:29.560 --> 0:53:32.720 mentioned to the outset, you do wonder about that offense 0:53:32.800 --> 0:53:34.520 just because Joe Moore has not there anymore and they 0:53:34.520 --> 0:53:37.319 struggled at times without him. So I do have faith 0:53:37.320 --> 0:53:38.840 and Ricky Ronnie, I think he's better than a lot 0:53:38.840 --> 0:53:41.520 of people are giving him credit for. I think some 0:53:41.560 --> 0:53:44.719 of the holes on that roster came to fruition at 0:53:44.719 --> 0:53:46.359 the end of some of those big games last year. 0:53:46.880 --> 0:53:49.239 But ultimately it's going to come down to how good 0:53:49.320 --> 0:53:50.600 is the quarterback? Whoever that is? 0:53:50.920 --> 0:53:51.680 Five or eleven? 0:53:52.520 --> 0:53:53.000 Eleven? 0:53:53.120 --> 0:53:56.400 All right, eleven is Maryland. And given the context of 0:53:56.520 --> 0:54:01.160 twenty eighteen, the Terps were understandably all over the place 0:54:01.440 --> 0:54:05.200 on the field. At their best, they beat or came 0:54:05.200 --> 0:54:09.600 within a play of beating top top teams, and at 0:54:09.640 --> 0:54:12.680 their worst they were awful. They were very, very bad 0:54:13.239 --> 0:54:17.359 in terms of a steadying presence. Do you expect more 0:54:17.440 --> 0:54:21.719 clarity from the Mike Loxley era, as in, Okay, this 0:54:21.840 --> 0:54:24.359 is clearly who they are good or bad. This is 0:54:24.680 --> 0:54:28.640 we understand what Maryland is, and they'll you know, beat 0:54:28.680 --> 0:54:31.000 teams they're better then, and they'll lose teams that they're worse. 0:54:31.040 --> 0:54:31.880 Then Do you expect that? 0:54:32.440 --> 0:54:35.600 I think the range of possibilities, both good and bad, 0:54:36.160 --> 0:54:38.520 is greater with Mike Loxley than that of any new 0:54:38.560 --> 0:54:42.520 head coach in twenty nineteen moving forward. I mean, yeah, 0:54:42.560 --> 0:54:44.880 obviously a great work in Alabama. He got the Nick 0:54:44.920 --> 0:54:47.279 Damn stamp of approval, he won the Broils Award. He's 0:54:47.320 --> 0:54:51.239 obviously familiar with Maryland and will recruit that region well, 0:54:51.880 --> 0:54:53.960 which is something they should have been doing in the past. 0:54:54.000 --> 0:54:56.640 But it's tough on that side of the big ten. 0:54:58.320 --> 0:55:03.200 I mean, you say his head coaching tenure beforehand was 0:55:03.239 --> 0:55:05.680 a disaster. I think would be the biggest understatement you 0:55:05.680 --> 0:55:09.520 could possibly say. When you look at at other word gets. 0:55:09.880 --> 0:55:12.040 Culture gets thrown around a lot in Tel football. When 0:55:12.040 --> 0:55:14.640 you look at the culture around that program with the 0:55:14.640 --> 0:55:18.960 way things ended last year, I think it's a bit 0:55:19.000 --> 0:55:22.560 of a head scratch. I really do they got Josh 0:55:22.640 --> 0:55:25.520 Jackson who looked a part when he was healthy under 0:55:25.640 --> 0:55:28.279 Justin Puente Virginia Tech, and I think I'd be surprised 0:55:28.840 --> 0:55:31.600 if he wasn't their starter Week one going into next season, 0:55:31.640 --> 0:55:35.120 assuming he's at full health. But as you said at 0:55:35.120 --> 0:55:39.879 the outfite of this, that's a tough division. Expectations are 0:55:39.960 --> 0:55:42.960 going to be really all over the place because there's 0:55:43.000 --> 0:55:45.719 talent in that region. But historically Maryland football is not 0:55:45.760 --> 0:55:48.640 Ohio State football. It's not Penn State, it's not Michigan. 0:55:49.960 --> 0:55:51.799 At their best last year they were beating Texas, who 0:55:51.880 --> 0:55:54.080 ended up winning the Sugar Bowl. I'm not sure how 0:55:54.160 --> 0:55:56.239 much more you can ask for from a program than that. 0:55:57.120 --> 0:56:00.000 But at it's worse thirty eight to three against a good, 0:56:00.120 --> 0:56:01.879 not great Penn State team to close out the year. 0:56:04.320 --> 0:56:06.080 This one is the hardest one to forecast because I 0:56:06.520 --> 0:56:09.640 think there's potential with that job. I think there's potential 0:56:09.640 --> 0:56:12.200 with Mike Croxley there. There's potential for a lot of 0:56:12.200 --> 0:56:12.759 bad there too. 0:56:12.960 --> 0:56:14.399 Yeah. I mentioned this at the top of the show. 0:56:14.440 --> 0:56:16.520 By the way, that would have been a win over 0:56:16.960 --> 0:56:19.239 the Sugar Bowl champion, and they were a throwaway from 0:56:19.239 --> 0:56:22.360 beating the rose Ball champion, which is so weird to 0:56:22.360 --> 0:56:24.520 think about when you think about the rest of Maryland season. 0:56:24.800 --> 0:56:26.239 Well, you look at that through and I don't want 0:56:26.280 --> 0:56:30.160 to harp on Maryland too much, but that throw changed 0:56:30.160 --> 0:56:33.680 so much. I mean, yeah, Michigan clinches the division if 0:56:33.680 --> 0:56:36.640 that's converted. So what's the higher State Michigan game like 0:56:36.640 --> 0:56:39.440 the next week without anything technically to play for? I mean, 0:56:39.480 --> 0:56:42.319 I'm sure Ohio State is still hungry to get after it, 0:56:42.360 --> 0:56:45.000 but they're not playing for a conference title. Then Michigan's 0:56:45.000 --> 0:56:47.319 going to Indianapolis next week regardless. That's going to change 0:56:47.320 --> 0:56:49.719 the narrative we have on Jim Harbaugh, regardless of what 0:56:49.760 --> 0:56:52.560 happens against Ohio State that week. And who knows the 0:56:52.680 --> 0:56:55.160 Erbami are going to retire after losing like that. I 0:56:55.200 --> 0:56:58.360 don't know. I mean, this is a large what a 0:56:58.520 --> 0:57:01.239 scenario that has a lot of different legs to it, 0:57:01.320 --> 0:57:05.440 But when you look back at that misfire two point conversion, 0:57:06.040 --> 0:57:07.160 it really gets the mind wondering. 0:57:07.600 --> 0:57:10.480 Wow, So let's see Northwesterns within three points of Michigan. 0:57:10.520 --> 0:57:14.080 They meet them again in a rematch in Indianapolis and 0:57:14.160 --> 0:57:17.680 probably have a lot better shot to get back to Pasadena. 0:57:18.320 --> 0:57:18.720 Wow. 0:57:19.400 --> 0:57:23.640 Okay, that just that is my galaxy brain is firing. 0:57:24.680 --> 0:57:27.760 The final team is Purdue. You mentioned them earlier in 0:57:27.800 --> 0:57:30.200 the context of thinking Jeff Brahm is probably around a 0:57:30.200 --> 0:57:34.160 top ten quarterback in the country, and the Boilers in 0:57:34.200 --> 0:57:36.000 the middle of the year they win four in a row, 0:57:36.200 --> 0:57:38.919 with I believe the final of those four being that 0:57:39.200 --> 0:57:43.080 huge emotional Ohio State win being just, you know, a 0:57:43.120 --> 0:57:46.400 season if not era defining win, and then they lose 0:57:46.520 --> 0:57:51.480 four of six, highlighted by getting just shellacked by Minnesota 0:57:51.560 --> 0:57:54.360 and then Auburn in the bowl game. If we shouldn't 0:57:54.440 --> 0:57:56.920 judge I mean, we shouldn't judge people. We definitely shouldn't 0:57:56.960 --> 0:58:00.280 judge teams. But if we shouldn't judge anybody by their 0:58:00.320 --> 0:58:03.200 worst or their best day, So I don't know which is. 0:58:03.240 --> 0:58:04.960 You know, it's the Minnesota the Auburn game being the 0:58:05.000 --> 0:58:07.800 worst in Ohio State being the best. How should we 0:58:07.880 --> 0:58:10.840 judge the status quo of Purdue if we're throwing out 0:58:10.920 --> 0:58:13.360 those disparate outcomes. 0:58:13.800 --> 0:58:16.880 I think that's what you get when you have a 0:58:16.960 --> 0:58:19.560 really good coaching staff with a really young team that 0:58:20.360 --> 0:58:24.040 isn't necessarily used to winning at a pretty high level. 0:58:24.040 --> 0:58:26.479 I was there. I want to say the week after 0:58:26.520 --> 0:58:28.600 they be in Ohio State and I sat down with 0:58:28.680 --> 0:58:31.920 Jeff Brohm, and you know, they started zero to three too. 0:58:31.960 --> 0:58:33.520 I mean, it wasn't just losing the way they did 0:58:33.600 --> 0:58:35.800 in the bowl game and some other games. At the end, 0:58:36.040 --> 0:58:39.360 they lost Eastern Michigan and Missouri at home, and Jeff 0:58:39.400 --> 0:58:43.000 Brohm said, you know, I take that one on the chin. 0:58:43.560 --> 0:58:45.920 We lost one game early on and I thought we 0:58:45.960 --> 0:58:48.600 should have bottled things up a little bit more. We 0:58:48.680 --> 0:58:51.080 got out of character. We were afraid to make mistakes, 0:58:51.440 --> 0:58:54.400 and that's just not pretty football. Under Jeff Brom, I mean, 0:58:54.480 --> 0:58:56.520 it is one of the most fun teams to watch 0:58:57.320 --> 0:58:59.680 when they are slinging it and firing on all cylinders 0:59:00.040 --> 0:59:02.439 out of fredom main mistakes, which is why they're good 0:59:02.440 --> 0:59:04.960 for a big upset every year under him. The hashtag 0:59:05.760 --> 0:59:07.440 that they have on her shirts there and that they 0:59:07.480 --> 0:59:10.280 have on their Twitter kinds Let's play football, which he 0:59:10.320 --> 0:59:13.320 obviously made famous from his XFL interview on the sideline 0:59:13.320 --> 0:59:18.200 while playing half a Brain. Probably yeah, that is Purdue 0:59:18.200 --> 0:59:20.120 football is m O and they really got away from 0:59:20.120 --> 0:59:22.960 that early on in the season. In addition to probably 0:59:23.000 --> 0:59:24.920 starting the wrong guy a quarterback to begin with with 0:59:25.000 --> 0:59:27.400 Elijisin Laara with David Black, who they lose this year. 0:59:27.440 --> 0:59:32.240 But I think now with three recruiting classes there, with 0:59:32.600 --> 0:59:34.680 probably the best player of the conference and Rondel Moore 0:59:35.040 --> 0:59:38.600 possibly superhighs made Trophy candle candidate going into this year, 0:59:38.600 --> 0:59:40.600 and with Elijah Cindelaar who's played a lot of football 0:59:40.600 --> 0:59:43.720 there that knows this isn't very well, I think now 0:59:43.800 --> 0:59:47.880 is when those losses will become less forgivable, especially with 0:59:47.920 --> 0:59:50.880 Brown gain the extension that he did, being courted so 0:59:51.000 --> 0:59:53.280 publicly by his alma mater Louisville and turning them down 0:59:53.320 --> 0:59:55.640 to stay at Perdue, which by the way, has one 0:59:55.640 --> 0:59:59.120 of the best football facilities indoors in all the country. 0:59:59.160 --> 1:00:00.840 I know no one talks about because it's not on 1:00:00.880 --> 1:00:02.840 the lake and it doesn't have a slide. I mean, 1:00:03.280 --> 1:00:07.560 their facility is phenomenal. I went there for the first 1:00:07.600 --> 1:00:10.240 time and could not believe I was at Purdue University 1:00:10.560 --> 1:00:12.960 that they have put money into that program that I 1:00:13.000 --> 1:00:16.440 think few teams in the Big Ten have and what 1:00:16.600 --> 1:00:18.840 that's going to be going to come expectations. I think 1:00:18.880 --> 1:00:21.480 Jeff Brown is the guy who will altimately get them there. 1:00:21.760 --> 1:00:23.480 All right, Matt for Tuna, thank you very much for 1:00:23.520 --> 1:00:25.400 your time. I know you have to run. We started 1:00:25.400 --> 1:00:30.080 talking about your presidency. Is there a perk that you 1:00:30.160 --> 1:00:33.200 did not realize you would have. Do you have like 1:00:33.240 --> 1:00:35.720 a special card that gets you out of like you 1:00:35.760 --> 1:00:38.200 get a front row best seat in the house in 1:00:38.280 --> 1:00:40.400 press boxes? Do you have a butler? Do you have 1:00:40.520 --> 1:00:43.080 catered meals as the president? Is there a perk that 1:00:43.160 --> 1:00:43.600 we don't know? 1:00:44.480 --> 1:00:47.840 Well? I haven't covered a football game yet since I've 1:00:48.040 --> 1:00:51.760 taken off of Oh okay, so I started again. They 1:00:51.840 --> 1:00:53.640 do it at the National Peblicon every year, and I 1:00:53.720 --> 1:00:55.720 was actually not there this year because my daughter was 1:00:55.720 --> 1:00:57.960 born that week, so I missed the RSSLE. That was 1:00:57.960 --> 1:00:59.840 an exciting week, right, I didn't miss much of a 1:00:59.840 --> 1:01:03.680 game either. Nope, so we'll see. I hope the press 1:01:03.720 --> 1:01:07.040 boxes in Evanston, South then and all my usual locales 1:01:07.680 --> 1:01:09.840 give me a suite, maybe the presidential suite. I don't know. 1:01:10.040 --> 1:01:12.320 That remains to be staying helples. I own too many 1:01:12.320 --> 1:01:15.640 people off between now and then, and my approval rating 1:01:15.720 --> 1:01:17.480 doesn't think too much between now and the start of 1:01:17.480 --> 1:01:18.280 the football season. 1:01:18.560 --> 1:01:20.440 Oh my gosh, I can I'm trying to now picture 1:01:20.440 --> 1:01:22.360 what a secret Service member for the head of the 1:01:22.440 --> 1:01:26.400 f WAA might look like. And the division that comes 1:01:26.440 --> 1:01:28.360 into my head of who would protect the head of 1:01:28.400 --> 1:01:33.600 a football writers association is not intimidating, not intimidating. 1:01:33.760 --> 1:01:35.240 I'll see if I can get Brian Kelly on my 1:01:35.240 --> 1:01:37.760 side anytime he's on game. Danny has ooh boss is on. 1:01:37.920 --> 1:01:41.800 He looks a lot like not necessarily Paul there from WW, 1:01:42.000 --> 1:01:45.240 but he looks like a great classic WW wrestling manager, 1:01:46.000 --> 1:01:48.800 and I think that would be a role that would 1:01:48.800 --> 1:01:50.400 suit him well whenever he decides to retire. 1:01:50.600 --> 1:01:53.440 Oh my god, that's so true. Possibly a little bit 1:01:53.440 --> 1:01:57.120 more bark than bite. You know, he's more of a present. 1:01:57.160 --> 1:01:58.920 He's not huge, but he has a presence. 1:01:59.200 --> 1:02:01.760 He absolutely has a presence. I want to say every 1:02:01.800 --> 1:02:04.800 day should be Saturday. Said this first on Twitter many 1:02:04.880 --> 1:02:06.920 years ago. I'm not one hundred percent sure about that. 1:02:07.000 --> 1:02:08.960 I can't take full credit for it. But while we're 1:02:08.960 --> 1:02:12.600 talking secret service and bodyguards and a guy that I'm 1:02:12.600 --> 1:02:15.080 probably as familiar with as any coaches from my time 1:02:15.120 --> 1:02:17.960 being a nerd a beat writer. Well, I hope you 1:02:17.960 --> 1:02:20.160 wouldn't hate me too much, but but I would feel 1:02:20.160 --> 1:02:21.040 safe with him guarding me. 1:02:21.760 --> 1:02:25.120 Nice. That's a good compliment. I would if somebody said 1:02:25.120 --> 1:02:28.000 that about me, I would be thrilled. Not many people do. 1:02:29.680 --> 1:02:31.640 Matt for Tuna, Thank you very much for your time. 1:02:31.760 --> 1:02:34.160 I hope we all got smarter talking about the Big 1:02:34.200 --> 1:02:36.920 Ten today, and thank you for listening. Thank you for 1:02:37.040 --> 1:02:39.400 joining us, and we hope to have you on again soon. 1:02:39.880 --> 1:02:41.880 Thank you, my friend, long time. First time. I'm happy 1:02:41.960 --> 1:02:44.920 we can have consecutive guests from the Athletic. Hope this 1:02:45.000 --> 1:02:46.120 isn't the last time. 1:02:46.400 --> 1:02:50.080 Oh. I would probably count on it because I think 1:02:50.160 --> 1:02:53.720 everybody there, everybody works at the Athletic now, so it 1:02:53.760 --> 1:02:55.160 won't be terribly difficult. 1:02:55.480 --> 1:02:57.120 Well, I appreciate buddy, Thanks for having me. 1:03:02.480 --> 1:03:06.400 All right, Dan, we are back big thanks to Matt 1:03:06.440 --> 1:03:11.720 for Tuna from the Athletic jumping in talking all things 1:03:11.840 --> 1:03:16.400 Big ten with us, first time, longtime. Glad to finally 1:03:16.400 --> 1:03:21.680 get him on the program. I did want to tease 1:03:21.760 --> 1:03:25.600 out something that is unrelated to the Big Ten right time, 1:03:25.720 --> 1:03:26.600 related to the Big Ten. 1:03:26.800 --> 1:03:28.720 Harris standing up on the back of my neck. 1:03:29.440 --> 1:03:34.000 We've got a show in the holster for next week. 1:03:34.720 --> 1:03:37.040 You're very mpr right now. I want to point that out, 1:03:37.080 --> 1:03:39.080 am I. Yeah, yeah, If you want to add some 1:03:39.200 --> 1:03:42.520 like birds tweeting that kind of thing, Chirpin. 1:03:42.880 --> 1:03:44.919 I am very excited about this show now. 1:03:44.920 --> 1:03:46.640 Dateline, Alan Town. 1:03:46.800 --> 1:03:50.360 That's right, very excited about the show that I think 1:03:50.400 --> 1:03:53.360 we've got ready for next week. Yes, didn't have enough 1:03:53.560 --> 1:03:56.840 lead time to put it together for this evening, but 1:03:57.240 --> 1:04:00.600 next week as we start April, I think it's a 1:04:00.600 --> 1:04:07.120 good time topical topical. It's very timely, little out there, upbeat, 1:04:07.200 --> 1:04:09.760 little out there, as is usually the case with this 1:04:09.840 --> 1:04:15.120 dumb show. Japanese influence, Japanese influence yet love that kidding? 1:04:15.200 --> 1:04:16.560 Not even kidding about that or not? 1:04:17.760 --> 1:04:20.640 So stay tuned to the Solid Verbal Solidverbal dot Com 1:04:20.680 --> 1:04:22.840 subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 1:04:22.880 --> 1:04:25.600 I'm excited, Ty, I'm just flat out excited. I'm not 1:04:25.640 --> 1:04:27.960 gonna beat around the bush here before we. 1:04:27.920 --> 1:04:30.560 Go any further and before we close out this show, 1:04:30.600 --> 1:04:33.520 just because we haven't talked in a while, Yeah, let's talk. 1:04:33.720 --> 1:04:36.040 I need a steaming hot food take from you. 1:04:36.480 --> 1:04:39.640 Oh, here's okay. I'm going to tie together two things. 1:04:40.360 --> 1:04:42.480 What the two things that I'm gonna tie together are 1:04:42.640 --> 1:04:45.800 food and being a new parent. How about that? Please, 1:04:46.160 --> 1:04:50.000 let's be obnoxious about it. When your child is born, 1:04:51.000 --> 1:04:53.760 it has been a very good decision that I've made. 1:04:53.920 --> 1:04:57.480 Recommend it. Don't have to don't drink or eat sugar 1:04:58.360 --> 1:05:02.360 because those two things can affect your sleep. Yeah, and 1:05:02.920 --> 1:05:04.720 you're not going to get as nearly as much sleep 1:05:04.760 --> 1:05:06.800 as you think you are or that you used to get, 1:05:07.240 --> 1:05:11.360 and so give yourself. It's almost like performance enhancing giving up. 1:05:11.760 --> 1:05:14.280 Not like bread or anything like that. Just stop eating 1:05:14.320 --> 1:05:17.680 M and m's and Starburst or Danishes or whatever, and 1:05:18.640 --> 1:05:21.320 either don't drink or just cut way back on your drinking. 1:05:21.960 --> 1:05:25.800 When I do sleep tie, I'm out in seconds. I 1:05:25.960 --> 1:05:31.240 sleep hard. Excuse me, that sounded wrong. I sleep hard. 1:05:31.520 --> 1:05:36.400 I stand by it. That's my steaming hot food take. 1:05:36.480 --> 1:05:38.680 You can like mayonnaise, you cannot like mayonnaise. I don't 1:05:38.680 --> 1:05:41.200 really care like what you like, but that is That 1:05:41.360 --> 1:05:45.440 is my constructive bit of food related life advice. 1:05:45.680 --> 1:05:47.800 All right, Well, I don't really have much to add. 1:05:48.400 --> 1:05:51.160 Why did you ask about food specifically? Because it's your 1:05:51.200 --> 1:05:53.360 thing and I feel like we haven't talked about it 1:05:53.360 --> 1:05:55.720 in a while. People really subscribe to what Dan has to. 1:05:55.880 --> 1:05:58.280 Oh you're ready, I'll give you an actual hot take. 1:05:58.360 --> 1:05:59.919 Give me hot take, real quick. 1:06:00.000 --> 1:06:03.000 New York Pizzas overrated yeah, I agree. I agree with that, 1:06:04.040 --> 1:06:06.560 Like there is excellent pizza to be had in New York, 1:06:07.080 --> 1:06:11.520 but the barrier to entry making of making good pizza. 1:06:11.760 --> 1:06:13.960 You can make good pizza in Cincinnati, you can make 1:06:13.960 --> 1:06:17.160 it Indicator, you can make it in Amarillo, Texas. And 1:06:17.240 --> 1:06:21.040 there are probably fewer places in those places because of population. 1:06:21.360 --> 1:06:23.120 There's just fewer people willing to put in the time 1:06:23.160 --> 1:06:27.800 to make good pizza. But New York pizza is largely 1:06:28.200 --> 1:06:32.280 just more everywhere than it is excellent. All right, how 1:06:32.320 --> 1:06:32.760 about that. 1:06:33.320 --> 1:06:34.960 Let's close out on that, Dan, what do you say? 1:06:35.040 --> 1:06:37.200 Okay, I like it. I mean this is a big 1:06:37.240 --> 1:06:40.720 ten town, so it all comes full circle. Indeed, thank 1:06:40.720 --> 1:06:42.360 you to Matt Fortu so wiped. 1:06:42.400 --> 1:06:45.480 I love it from the Athletic for stopping on by 1:06:45.600 --> 1:06:49.480 sharing his wisdom with us. Don't forget big show coming 1:06:49.560 --> 1:06:53.280 next week. Big Show. I'm excited. I am excited. Good 1:06:53.400 --> 1:06:55.840 keep it right here. We're at solid ruble dot com. 1:06:55.880 --> 1:06:59.760 Find us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and check out the 1:07:00.080 --> 1:07:05.840 uh subreddit. Are slash Soliverble started buiver ballers for footballers, 1:07:05.920 --> 1:07:08.280 and sign up for the newsletter soliverb dot com for 1:07:08.640 --> 1:07:11.520 that guy over there, Dan Rubinstein for myself, Ty hilden Brand, 1:07:13.320 --> 1:07:16.000 enjoy your week enjoy your weekend, and stay solid Peace