WEBVTT - CFB’s Biggest Questions + Why Rivalries Are Everything 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:22.360 Had one of those moments earlier this afternoon where someone 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:25.040 sends me one of those things where someone on Twitter, 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:28.680 whichever platform, has said something along the lines if I 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:30.600 can't believe there are people out there who prefer college 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:32.319 football to the NFL, and they were trying to get 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:34.640 a rise out of me, and it almost never works, 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:37.479 and it did not work today because my whole take 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:39.400 on that is go live your life. Man. You don't 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:41.720 have to understand the way I feel. I don't have 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.599 to try and convince you the way I feel is right. However, 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:47.360 someone asked us a question that I'm going to lead 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:51.400 tonight's show with that is somewhat along those lines that 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:53.440 I really feel passionate about. It is Sunday Night, June 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:56.280 twenty eighth, The over Lord twenty twenty six, Jam Packed 0:00:56.320 --> 0:01:02.160 high a top just a saucy, steamy downtown Nowshville, Tennessee. Rivalries. 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:07.280 Notice I didn't say the playoff rivalries, in my humble opinion, 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:10.319 are what college football is built on. It makes college 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:15.200 football great. Rivalries pre date any man made playoff infrastructure. 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:17.400 And someone asked us a question about that, and I 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:20.120 will lead tonight's show with that. I've got what Jesse 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:22.160 f I five or six teams on the clock. We 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.840 whittled it down from fifteen. So I'm going to discuss 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:28.160 that tonight. There are some allegations flying around that you'll 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:30.600 be happy to know are false about what I have 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:35.560 alleged about Julian saying at Ohio State. You may have 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.560 heard about them. They've been wandering around the internet, and 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:41.679 so we will put some light on the truth on 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:44.319 the show tonight. And we've got several big questions to 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:47.119 ask about college football in the year of our lower 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:49.760 twenty twenty six. It's a jam packed show, I said 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:51.840 earlier today, and I mean it. This could pass from 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:55.360 mid October. There are no game previews or game recaps, 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:57.600 but otherwise you get what I'm saying. There's a lot 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:03.000 to talk about tonight. They're watching us in Courtland, Alabama, Logan, Utah, Carmel, Indiana, 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:06.640 and Play No Texas. Please make sure that you are 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:09.840 subscribed to the channel. Many of you are, Thank you. 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.320 Many of you think you are. It's really you that 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:13.880 I'm trying to talk to the ones who think they 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:16.880 are subscribed, but they're not subscribed, because clearly you want 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:18.200 to be subscribed. So all you has to do is 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:20.800 check and when it shows that you haven't, just click it. 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:24.200 It's free, doesn't charge you anything. Nothing changes in your life. 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:28.320 Our life just gets better. Let's get into the show tonight. 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:32.080 Sometimes we lead with a topic, sometimes there's breaking news, 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:34.680 but then every now and then we get hit with 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:39.160 something like this. Daniel from Beautiful Naperville, Illinois. He said, 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:42.000 a buddy of mine doesn't watch college football, and he 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:45.920 was shocked when I said, I look forward to rivalries 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:48.960 more than the college football playoff. Can you help me 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:53.120 out here? Will you? And I feel the same way, Daniel, 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:58.480 So if it helps, we have strengthen numbers. This occurs 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:02.119 quite frequently to me because I have friends who are 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:05.560 pro sports first, college sports. Second, I have friends that 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:08.880 don't really watch college sports, acquaintances more so than friends. 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:09.840 I don't know if I can call that kind of 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:12.360 person a friend, But I digress. You apparently do have 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:15.640 a friend here, Daniel, and he does not get you 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:22.320 preferring rivalries over the playoff itself. Now, to some degree, 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:26.120 any hardcore college football fan understands and picks up what 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:29.359 you're putting down here. Rivalries are awesome. Rivalries are great. Now, 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:32.240 look you got to be you got to be well 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:34.600 on the extreme end of the spectrum to be like 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:37.640 you and I, Daniel, where we look at rivalries. I 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:41.280 prefer the rivalry games to the playoff games themselves. Yes, 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:43.760 that's a little bit of an extreme point of view. 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:46.000 And there are a lot of people who like they 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:48.600 love rivalries, but they'll tell you and I whoa whoa 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:52.520 whoa whoa who whoa. But even that group understands rivalries 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:57.160 are awesome. But there's no need trying to explain something 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:00.280 you have to live to understand. And I've come across 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:02.520 this before. It's kind of why I introed the show 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:07.560 tonight the way I did. I've come across the arduous 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:13.240 task of trying to convey college football to an unwashed 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:18.640 college football less person. It's really hard. If you've ever 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:22.000 done this before, If you haven't, try it tomorrow at 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:24.600 your place of business. Try it tomorrow. Maybe you're going 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.320 to summer school, maybe you'll walk in a classroom tomorrow, whatever. 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:32.000 But find someone who doesn't know anything about college football, 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:34.719 maybe a pro sportsman, just you know, try and convince 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:38.560 them that this right here, you know, the Iron Bowl 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:41.719 the last week of November clean old fashioned hate in 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:45.120 Atlanta or Athens between George and Georgia Tech. There's something 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:49.000 about that that has a root system that runs deeper 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:51.440 than the playoff. It makes no sense to them, but 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:53.920 you can't explain it as the whole point. You've got 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:57.360 to live it, and not everything is for everyone. In fact, 0:04:57.360 --> 0:04:59.080 that's the quote that I started to use. I wrote 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:01.400 it down because I forget it. Some tis not everything 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:05.400 has to mean everything to everyone. So let's say you 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:09.880 live in Lancing, Michigan, not East Lancing, just regular and Lancing. 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:12.240 Or let's say you live in Dayton, Ohio, and you've 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.839 just grown up in the Ohio State Michigan rivalry. You've 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:18.040 lived it your whole life. It's not a game that 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:21.360 gets played. True it is, that's the face of it. 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:25.240 But the rivalry is a year long lived experience. It's 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:28.320 a lifelong lived experience. Now, there are some people not 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:31.200 born into it that decide to become part of it, 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.760 and you matter too. But there are families up there, 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:39.560 their households full of people who have just been baptized 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:43.760 into this from birth and it's their life. And so 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:47.000 when you think about a successful season, if you're a 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:50.000 Michigan fan, if you're an Ohio State fan, you get 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:53.760 one thing in your mind before anything else. You think 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:57.440 about the last Saturday in November. You think about the game. 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:00.600 That's kind of how success for a million million years 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:04.720 up until semi recently was defined in ann Arbor and Columbus, 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:09.440 and winning that game's paramount. And there's a different feeling 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:12.680 you get when you're talking about that game, respectfully than 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.320 you get when you're talking about the Big Ten championship game, 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:20.800 because that's a very very recent construct conference championship games 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:24.279 only very recently have come along. The playoff only very 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:28.040 recently has come along that right there, that's like ordained, 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:31.480 that was in existence, you know, like on the fifth 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:34.119 or sixth or seventh I can't I haven't read Genesis lately, 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:36.599 but like I can't remember which day. But rivalries have 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.680 just always been here. The playoff has not. And so 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:42.680 you'll have to excuse people like me and Daniel when 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:44.520 we look at this and we say the playoff's all 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:47.279 well and good, we're four crown in a national champ 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:50.760 But that thing that man made end of the season 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:55.080 tournament does not make me feel the same as this 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:57.680 tunnel shot right here, filmed by yours truly, by the way, 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:01.919 three or four years ago. It's it's something that is 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:04.080 hard to explain to people who are not of it, 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:07.280 is my point. But also, you don't have to go 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:11.160 like Ohio State Michigan when I say not everything has 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:14.000 to mean everything to everyone. You can go down to 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:18.360 Hattiesburg and talk to them about playing South Alabama or 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:21.280 go down to Mobile and talk to South Alabama folks 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:24.120 about playing Troy. That game means nothing the ninety nine 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:26.920 point nine percent of the US population. It means nothing 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:29.760 the ninety nine percent of the college football population. And 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:34.760 that's totally fine because it does mean something to the 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:37.800 people it's supposed to mean something to. And I've always 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:41.400 had respect, you know, as growing up in the South. 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:44.280 I've always had respect for the rivalries. I watched from 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:47.240 a distance. Ohio State Michigan is it for me because 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:49.600 I grew up down south and I just watched it 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:51.880 from a distance. And now I get to go to 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:53.640 that game. I've been to several of those games in 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:57.800 the past five or six years. But I understand I'm 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:00.840 walking into something sort of as a guest, because I 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:04.400 can't really understand that because I haven't lived it. The 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:07.480 consequences of that game. I will never ever forget this. 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:12.080 The last time that they played in Columbus, it would 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:14.280 have been twenty twenty four, right Jesse. They played in 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:16.840 n Arbor last year, the twenty twenty four game, the 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:20.480 one where they were favored by like three touchdowns and 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:24.720 just inexplicably, Ohio State loses the game. Me and Canal 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:28.320 were there for CBS and we were doing post game coverage. 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:32.960 Stadiums totally empty, and it's like Gelby our camera guy 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.520 at the time. He's set up with his back to 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.040 the end zone. Me and Knell are standing in the 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:40.000 end zone because no one's there, So we're filming on 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:43.240 the field and Canell and I are facing the end 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:46.040 zone so that the backdrop is like the stadium for 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:50.240 the shot and stuff like that. Often our peripheral there 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:53.920 are Ohio State kids coming back out of the locker 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.840 room after everything's emptied out, and they're just coming out 0:08:56.840 --> 0:08:59.800 there and sitting on the field, balling their eyes out. 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.240 No one's there, no one sees it. We didn't film it. 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:04.520 I have no evidence of it, but I remember looking 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:05.880 at that and saying, I've been around a lot of 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:10.440 championship settings, and I've watched teams win, I've watched teams 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:14.360 lose and it's emotional. But I've never seen that. Right there, guy, 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:16.880 go in locker rooms because they have an open locker 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.360 room policy for playoff games, so you can go in 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:23.959 the locker rooms after playoff games, after national championship games. 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:28.479 I've never seen a playoff game, a man made, manufactured 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:32.960 postseason college football game, elicit the emotional response that losing 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:36.200 the Ohio State and Michigan game lost. So I know, 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.200 especially the younger you are, you tend to skew more 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:42.560 towards respecting the rivalries. But like the playoff is the 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:45.720 end all be all. But man, there's a portion of 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:49.720 us that view the rivalries as the absolute bedrock of 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:54.240 the sport because it predates the importance, the value of rivalries. 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:59.600 It predates anything that has come after it, including the playoff. 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.360 I know that doesn't make sense to anyone outside college football. 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:04.679 That's okay. College football is one of one, so it 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:07.520 shouldn't look like anything else, it shouldn't feel like anything else. 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.440 These are dirty words I'm saying. I understand when it 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:13.000 comes to certain people who have their hands on the 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:15.440 proverbial wheel here, but it is the way it is. 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:17.720 We welcome you in. We appreciate you guys so much. 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:19.960 I had the wrong screen pull up over here there 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:25.360 we go. I am looking at a clock. It says 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:26.920 we have a few months left to go before the 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:31.880 season starts. But that doesn't mean that teams aren't on it. Pras, 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:34.280 here's a good endpoint for you, as Bradley is still 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:37.880 somehow out of town, somehow, some way still out of town. 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:40.839 If I asked you which teams are on the clock 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:44.920 this year? First off, how would you define on the clock. Secondly, 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:47.360 how would you fill in that blank? Which teams would 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:50.520 you put on the clock? Cause I got five of them, 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:53.400 but I could go double that, but I circled five 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:55.280 of them because I have really specific thoughts about him. 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:58.280 Clemson is pretty straightforward, and that's the first team that 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:01.160 I put on the clock right now. Because there's there 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:05.040 are these competing like worldviews right now. Actually it's not 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:08.800 so much worldview versus worldview. There's the view the world 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:12.720 has and then there's the view. Pretty much daboswenty has 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:17.560 a majority of the college football public. Thus the worldview 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:20.840 looks at Clemson, and they talk about the greatness in 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:24.559 the past tense at least in terms of accomplishments, and 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:27.640 they think that the new era of college football has 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:31.840 somewhat passed Clemson by not so much that Clemson's incapable 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:34.080 of riding on the front of that wave, it's just 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:36.240 that they've kind of resisted it. And hey, that's okay 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:39.640 because Dabbo's legacy has already long since been established. But 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:42.960 you've probably seen the peak of Clemson under Dabbo, and 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:47.280 they'll be relegated to making silver records instead of platinum 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:51.280 records moving forward. That's how most people, to some degree feel. 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:53.480 Dabo does not feel that way. We had him on 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:55.960 the show last month. We sat down with him for 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:59.320 well over an hour, and he articulated that he thinks 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:01.520 last year was amp in the road. They've made the 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:05.520 necessary changes. They're just getting started. Jesse just getting started. 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.640 Dabos twenty seven year old, Dabos Swinny, just getting started. 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:13.520 So twenty twelve through twenty twenty two, they had eleven 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.679 straight ten win plus seasons, double digit win seasons, they 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:21.240 won two national titles. They won seven ACC championships over 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:25.040 the past three years. They've lost fourteen games, so clearly 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:27.440 there's been a dip. Now it doesn't matter if they're 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:29.400 still better than most of the ACC. As I said 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:32.560 the other day, we do not measure Clemson football in 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:36.240 the modern age against the rest of the ACC. You 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:39.120 may measure them against Miami, but that's about the long 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:42.079 and short of it. Because the standard in his defense 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:45.040 that dabos Winny set at Clemson is well above and 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:48.400 beyond whether you can go and take care of Syracuse 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:50.520 or go take care of Wake Forest and the like. 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:58.480 So I almost wonder if the ingredients that we see 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:00.280 in play right now where it feels like, you know, 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:02.760 you were a year after the expectations were the highest. 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:05.440 I almost wonder if we don't get, you know, into 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:08.120 the third quarter of the week one game against LSU 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:10.560 and it's a dogfight down there in Baton Rouge and 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:13.520 ESPN or ABC camera zoom in on Dabo Swinny and 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:15.880 he looks as happy as can be. Almost wonder if 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:19.679 we don't find ourselves having overthought the room come season 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:22.720 and say, oh, we should have known it. Man should 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:24.640 have known. Out of all the people that pulled this off, 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:26.840 Dabo Swinny would be the one that pulls this off. 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:29.040 I think they're on the clock. It's what I'll say. 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:32.840 USC is certainly on the clock. This is no mystery. 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:38.000 When USC hired Lincoln Riley, it was a bombshell because 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:42.840 when USC hired Lincoln Riley, USC was searching and Lincoln 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:47.440 Riley was the answer, or so it seemed. And it's 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:50.720 easy to have the revisionist history. It's easy to Monday 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.679 Morning quarterback this thing. But paper pop. Did you know 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:58.840 that upon USC's hiring of Lincoln Riley, he had only 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:03.080 finished outside the College Football Playoff Top six once in 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.319 the last half decade. So they had won double digit 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:08.679 games at Oklahoma four of the last five years. He 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:14.559 was rolling. He was everything that USC needed, and USC 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:18.080 was everything Lincoln Riley needed. And now they're entering year five. 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:20.920 His best year was his first year. That's the one 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:23.560 and only time he's won double digit games there. They 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:26.200 have yet to finish in the top six in the 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:30.040 College Football Playoff rankings, and they fase five of the 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:32.000 top six in the Big Ten this year. To show 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:35.440 me the schedule, press, Yeah, they I got an argument. 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:37.680 It's not an argument, by the way. I gotten an 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:41.760 argument with a guy in the YouTube comments section of 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:44.600 all places don't hang out there very long. Yeah, he said, 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:47.760 this is not a tough schedule, buddy, it's a tough schedule. 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:52.680 They play Oregon, they play Washington, they go two Penn State. 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:55.240 They've got three East Coast road games on this, They've 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:58.920 got Ohio State, they go to Indiana. I would not 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:01.960 just blame faintly overlook a trip across town at the 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:04.760 end of the year, but that's to talk about in November. 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:08.360 This is an extremely difficult schedule by anyone's estimation. It 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:14.200 is now that concludes my thoughts on USC. However, it 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:18.880 does not conclude the commentary on USC because Jesse reaches 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:21.760 his ratchety little finger across the table and hands me 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:24.880 this post it note. Because Jesse has something to say 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:30.480 about the Lincoln Riiley tenure at USC, everyone with baited 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:34.880 breath awaits what producer Jesse has to say about Lincoln Riley. 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:42.400 Has the floor been raised? Yes, But people don't come 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.520 to the Sistine Chapel to look at the floor. They 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:50.560 want to see the beauty of the ceiling that brought 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:53.760 Lincoln Riley to his knees upon hearing that. I can't 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:57.520 imagine does he even make it to the season. So, yeah, 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:01.600 USC is on the clock. Well done, Jesse. Texas is 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:03.680 on a different kind of clock, but Texas is still 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:08.960 on the clock. Define what it takes to win. I 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:10.760 actually am not going to give you ten or fifteen 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:13.560 seconds pregnant pause here. We'll probably get deemed an algorithm 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:16.800 for that. But you could hit pause and you can 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:20.800 just have this fund mental exercise of defining, like ABCD. 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:21.960 You can go all the way to zee if you 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.080 want to. But what does it take to win a 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:27.720 national championship in modern day college football? And when you 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:31.400 get done compiling your list, tell me what it is 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:34.680 on that list Texas doesn't have, because I would argue 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.440 they have everything, at least from an ingredient standpoint. Now, 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:39.760 if you want to be a sarkater and you want 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:41.520 to claim, well, they don't have the right chef in 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:46.760 the kitchen, fair, I don't necessarily agree. But the point remains. 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:50.240 I asked you about ingredients. I didn't ask you about 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:53.000 the guy preparing the meal. Just do they have the ingredients? 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:57.960 Clearly they've got the ingredients in the kitchen. So now 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:01.240 it's up to Sark and his staff to prepare the meal. 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:04.399 I don't think I could be higher on Texas. Not 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:06.760 the first time I've said that on this show. Has 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:09.040 it bitten me before? Yes, it's bitten me before. But 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:12.840 I will remind everyone as the guy who wore a 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:15.640 clown nose as an apology to Kurt Signetti last year, 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:18.520 I can admit when I'm wrong, but can everyone else 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:21.439 admit when I'm right? That's really what I'm looking for tonight, 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.240 more so than anything. Remember last year, Jesse, when Texas 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:28.520 went down to the swamp, Remember that lost nobody saw coming? Well, 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:31.840 one show saw it coming. And not only that, not 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:34.639 only that, not only did we beat pick Florida to 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:36.960 beat Texas, then we picked Texas to beat Oh YOUU? 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:40.160 So I think I had a better grip on Texas 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:43.760 last year than Steve Sarkezan himself. And so you can 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:45.840 take it to the bank when I say Texas is 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:49.359 on the clock this year because paper, this stuff right 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:53.000 here looks really good for Texas, it looks phenomenal for him. 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:56.760 But as me Ma taught me time and time again, 0:17:56.880 --> 0:17:59.960 paper is not production. So paper didn't really matter. When 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:04.359 they narrowly got past Mississippi State and Brandon Walker and 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:08.560 Kentucky last year, and paper didn't matter against Ohio State, 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:13.600 and paper didn't matter against Florida. But think about this, 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:17.200 Think about how how thin the margins have been with Sark. 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:22.400 Go to twenty twenty three, change that last drive, give 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:26.200 me a final drive against Washington, or two years ago 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:30.800 in the playoffs against Ohio State, they're down there inside 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:33.159 the ten yard line, I believe. I mean, instead of 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.479 that thing getting scooped and taken to the house by 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:38.400 Jack Sorry, punch it in, give me a score there. 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:42.560 Think about how different the history books, the recent history books, 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:46.160 the Wikipedia page would look for Steve Sarkisian and instead, 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:50.000 I mean, I got people roaming the streets in packs 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:54.280 claiming Sark can't get it done. And Sark's not alone 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:56.800 because Dan Lanning can't get it done either. Kirby, well, 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:58.080 he used to be part of that group, but now 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:00.119 he did get it done. Ryan Day was a part 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.359 of that group and then he did get it done. So, 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:05.680 like you know, we've long since discussed the difference between 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.879 kennot and have not. But Sark in one score games 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:14.760 at Texas is five and twelve against ranked opponents. Thank you, Jesse, 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:17.320 You know that actually does matter because there are a 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:19.480 couple of one score games against non ranked opponents last 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:22.680 last week or last year. So sark five and twelve 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:27.240 and one score games against ranked opponents at Texas. Their schedule, 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:30.399 it could be argued is the toughest in the country 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:32.879 this year. And if you don't think it's the toughest 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:35.040 in the country, please don't go down the semantics road 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:38.800 with me. Clearly it's really really difficult. And so clearly 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:41.360 they're going to be in some one possession games this year. 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:43.239 They could be as good as I think that they 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:46.160 could possibly be. There'll still be in some dogfights this year. 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:48.440 That means that Stat's got to get flipped on its ear, 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:52.840 stay in the SEC for a second. Alabama on the clot. 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:56.879 I think this is totally fair. They feel kind of 0:19:57.040 --> 0:20:01.600 like they're emerging from the Nick Sabe and shadow. By that, 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:04.880 I mean this is the year where you'll turn them 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:08.680 on now and moving forward, you'll turn Alabama on. And 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:12.040 there's very very little remnant of Nick Saban. You got 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:16.119 a player or two here and there, you've got a 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:19.879 staffer or two here and there, but by and large, 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:25.200 Nick Saban is now history. He's a legend, he's an icon, 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:27.920 he's got a statue out front, the field's named after him. 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:30.679 But nothing about the team that takes the field this 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:36.320 fall will reflect anything other than Caylen Debor. So that's 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:37.720 not a bad thing or a good thing. It's just 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:40.879 a thing. It's just a reality. So then you go 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:43.359 back to last year and people talk about it like 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:45.760 this cataclysmic failure, and I have to remind him they 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:47.760 played for a conference title, and they made the playoff 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:51.600 and won a game in the playoffs, they fell short emphatically. 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:54.919 And so being on the clock for me with Alabama 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:58.040 really boils down to what did thirty eight to three 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:03.480 do to you? Did that splattering against Indiana due to you? 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:05.679 What kind of impact did it have? I like to 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:08.040 think that whether they lost the thing by one or 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:11.199 by five touchdowns, they would have understood their changes we 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:14.720 have to make before next season. And they've left no 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:18.120 stone unturned. They've made staff changes, they are going to 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:21.199 totally overhaul that offensive line, brought in a couple of 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.560 really good tailbacks from the high school ranks. You'll have 0:21:24.640 --> 0:21:26.920 a new starting quarterback there. But I've got to think 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:30.359 every ounce of energy has been exhausted to try and 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:33.920 not just resurrect the run game, the run game production 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:38.480 on the ground works downstream of far more basic fundamental 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:43.480 aspects of physicality, of toughness, of just like a baseline 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:48.520 of it you've got to have. And they did what 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:52.800 they did last year lacking that, which is a phenomenal 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:56.120 testament to their level of execution, because remember they lost 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:58.000 to Florida State early in the year and had to 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:01.919 go on this extended run, which they did and ultimately 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:05.119 they fall short in the playoffs. But dude, do you 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:08.280 remember after Week one when they lost to Florida State. 0:22:08.920 --> 0:22:10.840 You remember what the talk was around that team. It 0:22:10.840 --> 0:22:13.560 wouldn't playoff, I can promise you that. But coming into 0:22:13.600 --> 0:22:18.200 this year, it like it's a it's a difficult schedule 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:21.280 on the back end, but I think by SEC standards, 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:24.359 this is about as manageable as schedule as you're gonna get. 0:22:24.359 --> 0:22:27.720