North Carolina GM Michael Lombardi placed on leave | What does it mean for Bill Belichick’s future?

Summary

Andy & Ari On3 Podcast Summary

Episode: North Carolina GM Michael Lombardi placed on leave | What does it mean for Bill Belichick’s future?
Date: July 27, 2026
Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman

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Overview

This episode dives into the stunning news that North Carolina's General Manager, Michael Lombardi, has been placed on administrative leave—a move seen as a potential beginning of the end for Bill Belichick’s turbulent tenure as UNC head football coach. Andy and Ari analyze what the Lombardi saga reveals about Belichick’s approach (or lack thereof) at UNC, the state of the Tar Heels program, and broader lessons for college football leadership. The episode segues into a discussion of Big Ten preseason polls ahead of media days, examining favored teams and schedule quirks. It also features lighter fare, including a viral story about Florida’s new coach John Sumrall and his surprising penchant for pedicures.

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Main Segments & Key Takeaways

1. Michael Lombardi Placed on Leave: The First Domino?

• [05:00-18:00]
  • North Carolina announces Michael Lombardi (GM, handpicked by Bill Belichick) is on paid administrative leave.
  • Details are unknown; On3 staffer Pete Nacos is digging but nothing substantial yet.
  • The move was made by UNC administration, not Belichick himself, possibly a sign the administration is moving to unwind the failed Belichick experiment.
  • Andy’s assessment: Lombardi was objectively "terrible at the job in the first year." The roster was "horrific," not for lack of resources, but due to poor recruiting focus—targeting Group of 5 schools rather than Big Ten/SEC-level talent.
    • Quote (Andy Staples, 06:31):
      “He made it seem like he was a lot smarter than everybody else. Objectively terrible at the job…he attempted to fight American Conference schools and Sun Belt schools for players when you should be fighting Big Ten and SEC.”
  • Lombardi’s high profile (ex-NFL, media figure) inflates the story, but the key is his connection to Belichick.
  • Ari notes: If Lombardi held this title at a less-coached school, it would cause chatter, but Belichick’s brand magnifies every misstep.

2. What It Means for Bill Belichick’s North Carolina Tenure

• [08:23-18:04]
  • Both hosts agree: The Belichick-UNC marriage has never clicked. Andy doubts Belichick is even “interested in the job.”
    • Quote (Andy Staples, 11:47):
      “No sense that he cares…one thing that would have told you he cared is figuring out a way to have a much better roster this year than last year.”
  • They cite evidence that UNC’s roster is not improving, the schedule is tougher, and that the experiment has failed to move the needle at all.

3. Broader College Football Lessons: Firing Coaches and Resource Allocation

• [12:00-18:04]
  • The hosts reflect on what UNC’s situation teaches about the risks of “swinging big” on star coaches.
    • Don’t fire a respectable coach (like Mack Brown) without a clear, well-funded plan.
    • Referencing Danny Kanell’s viral tweet: UNC was better off with Mack Brown, who actually recruited well when supported.
      • Quote (Andy Staples, 12:46):
        “The smart move would have been instead of paying all this money to hire Bill Belichick, give Mack Brown the resources you wound up giving Belichick.”
  • UNC’s “secret” pursuit of Belichick, running a parallel search that alienated conventional candidates like John Sumrall.

4. UNC’s Missed Opportunity & Mismanaged Resources

• [15:55-17:49]
  • Sumrall (now Florida’s coach) was initially the top UNC candidate, but withdrew due to the Belichick saga.
    • Quote (Andy Staples, 17:02):
      “If they had just hired John Sumrall, given him money, they probably would have been 8–4 last year instead of 4–8.”
  • Major questions about how UNC is spending its funds; clearly not competing for nationally relevant players.

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UNC's Place in the College Football Landscape

5. Is North Carolina Really a Sleeping Giant?

• [21:55-26:18]
  • Chapel Hill is a highly livable, resourceful place with in-state talent—should be a destination, not an afterthought.
  • Quote (Andy Staples, 25:40): “North Carolina, despite being in the ACC, doesn’t need to worry…The Big Ten and SEC will be fighting over them [in realignment]…It’s a good job.”
  • Despite the Belichick disaster, the job remains desirable if it comes open.

6. Comparisons to Programs That Seized the Moment

• [26:18-28:47]
  • Ari compares UNC’s inertia to Indiana and other programs that used coaching hires and portal strategies to suddenly elevate their profile (e.g., Indiana’s rise under Kurt Signetti).
  • Andy disagrees that the window is closing for Carolina: “If you change coaches and hire the right one, you can be good next year.”

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Deeper Dive: UNC’s Roster Construction Woes

7. Where is the Money Going?

• [28:55-33:30]
  • Andy: “There’s only two possibilities: UNC’s not using its resources, or they’re spending a ton of money on the wrong people.”
  • Unlike other ACC teams, UNC is inexplicably fighting Group of 5 schools for players, with no known “blue chip” recruits or high-profile portal wins.
  • Both hosts question whether any North Carolina player is truly a known commodity among college football at large.
    • Quote (Ari Wasserman, 32:25):
      “It’s like a litmus test—can you even name a UNC skill player? If you’re spending right, at least someone should be in the national spotlight.”

8. The Awkward Schedule Reality

• [33:30-34:33]
  • UNC faces a brutal schedule, with powerhouses like Miami, Notre Dame, and TCU on tap. Andy expects things to get uglier before they get better.

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Big Ten Media Days Preview & Poll Reaction

9. Big Ten Preseason Poll Results & Playoff Implications

• [34:36-49:55]
  • Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis polled 46 experts:
    • Top Four: Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana, USC
    • Next: Michigan, Washington, Penn State, Iowa, Illinois
  • Andy’s ballot: Oregon #1 on roster strength; Ari agrees.
  • Playoff access:
    • Top 9–10 in poll could make playoff; Penn State, with an unusually easy schedule, may be the most undervalued.
    • Critical insight: Penn State could backdoor their way into playoff by only needing to split games against Michigan and USC.
  • Toughest schedules: Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana, USC. Penn State notably avoids the B1G’s murderers’ row.

10. Scheduling and Playoff Selection Dynamics

• [46:46-50:59]
  • If Penn State goes 10–2 but hasn’t beaten a marquee name, will they get left out for 9–3 teams with harder slates?
  • Scheduling weak non-conference opponents (a Franklin/PSU hallmark) could finally bite a team under the new playoff structure.
  • Larger theme: With mega-conferences, two teams in the same league (e.g., Ohio State and Penn State) can have wildly different seasons based on schedule rotation.

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Lighter Segment Highlight

11. Florida’s John Sumrall: The Pedicure Revelation

• [54:29-59:59]
  • A playful segment as Andy shares a tidbit from Jenny Sumrall (via Gainesville’s Olivia Eisenhower): John Sumrall gets pedicures every two weeks during football season.
  • Leads to banter about self-care, male grooming norms, and Ari's long-standing love of pedicures.
    • Quote (Andy Staples, 58:43): “If you’re John Sumrall…you’re not going to make fun of him for getting pedicures. He squats with his players.”
  • Both hosts riff on toenail maintenance, trashcan vs. toilet seat clipping, and a promise to poll listeners: Are you a pedicure guy?

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “People got the impression that North Carolina thought they were going to win because they're smarter than everybody. And one of the people who is supposed to be smarter than everybody is Michael Lombardi.” – Ari Wasserman, [10:30]
• “If you are going to fire a coach in college football, you better be damn sure the reason. …This is a good conversation in microcosm about what's going on in college football right now.” – Andy Staples, [12:00]
• “The person holding [the UNC job] is not trying very hard right now.” – Andy Staples, [26:07]
• On Penn State’s playoff prospects: "They're not backdooring their way, they are charging into the playoff... The Penn State Cyclones charge into the playoff if that happens." — Andy Staples, [46:54]

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Segment Timestamps

• [05:00] – News: Michael Lombardi placed on leave at UNC
• [06:31] – Why Lombardi is a lightning rod; his NFL/media profile
• [08:23] – Why the Belichick/UNC experiment never made sense
• [12:00] – College football lesson: why firing Mack Brown was a mistake
• [15:55] – How John Sumrall slipped through UNC’s fingers
• [21:55] – Does UNC have “sleeping giant” potential?
• [28:55] – Where is UNC’s money actually going?
• [32:25] – Can anybody name a UNC star?
• [34:36] – Big Ten Media Days: Poll results and analysis
• [46:46] – Penn State’s schedule, and how it could win (or lose) them a playoff spot
• [54:29] – John Sumrall’s love of pedicures revealed

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Tone & Style

Conversational, candid, faintly exasperated at football program mismanagement, with plenty of pop-culture banter and relatable analogies (e.g., using “litmus tests” like “can you name a star player?”). Andy and Ari’s rapport is lively, occasionally sardonic, and rich with inside jokes about both CFB and daily life.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This episode offers:

• A thorough postmortem of the failed Belichick/Lombardi regime at UNC—including why the experiment was doomed, where the program erred, and what it signals for future hirings in college football.
• Lessons for fans and administrators: Don’t fire good (or even “just fine”) coaches without a plan or resources, and beware PR-inspired “splash” hires.
• Big Ten preview insights: How preseason expectations, roster quality, and schedule shape the race for CFP berths—and why teams like Penn State can both thrive and suffer under the mega-conference system.
• Moments of levity: From coach pedicures to slip-n-slide tales, it's not all gridiron gloom—some stories are just there for fun.

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End of Summary

Transcript

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[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah, because I think that there's two different things here. There's Bill Belichick and there's North Carolina. And for whatever reason, and I don't know if you agree with this, it doesn't feel like those two things have married. Married each other. I feel like there's a Bill Belichick discussion and people are all fired up to talk about Bill Belichick, but that hasn't translated into talking about North Carolina football. And maybe part of the reason for that is that North Carolina's football team isn't supposed to be or expected to be very good. But I think everybody gets excited to pile on Bill Belichick, and that's kind of what we're talking about.

[Andy Staples]

And also Michael Lombardi. So for those who don't understand why it seems everybody in the business of football is chirping about this. So Michael Lombardi is Bill Belichick's handpicked guy. He's the general manager. He worked with Belichick at various stops in the NFL. He was working in the media. He hosted shows at Vissen for a while when he was out of football and then brought back into the Belichick fold. When Belichick got the North Carolina job, Lombardi said some stuff about them being, you know, the 33rd NFL franchise made it seem like he was a lot smarter than everybody else. Objectively terrible at the job. In the first year, their roster was horrific, and it wasn't because they didn't have money. It's because he attempted to fight American Conference schools and Sunbelt schools for players when you should be fighting Big Ten and SEC schools and other ACC schools for players. But so I think there's a little bit of a dancing on the grave situation going on here. He's not the most well liked person in the business. But I think you're right. This is more of a Bill Belichick thing because he's Belichick's guy. Very important detail that Pete Nacos reported on Monday morning that Bill Belichick didn't make this decision. The North Carolina's administration made this decision. And again, we're trying to find out exactly what happened based on what we know so far. I don't know that there's, like, one huge smoking gun. If you're. If you're thinking Pablo Torre is going to fall, you know, come from the sky and drop a giant story, because, you know, he did talk a little bit about Lombardi when he did the Jordan Hudson stuff. I don't know that that's happening. It may just be a cumulative thing. And. And it also may be a, hey, we understand this isn't working in general, so we're going to start unwinding the mistake we made by hiring Bill Belichick.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah, it's kind of an interesting dynamic because I think Michael Lombardi's spot in the media, talking a lot about the NFL, too, has made his name more well known. I think that you could make the case that he's the most well known personnel person in all of college football. Like, it's like, I try to think

[Andy Staples]

of myself not because of being a personnel person in college football, but because he. Yeah, he was a media person before that.

[Commercial/Guest Voice]

Yes.

[Ari Wasserman]

So I think that people kind of just generally know who he is, but also, if he was the personnel director at Arizona and he got put on administrative leave, I don't think it would be. I mean, people will be talking about it, but it's not the Belichick.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah. This is Bill Belichick's.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

Guy. And Bill Belichick stuck with him despite him being bad at the job. Like, there is no sugarcoating it. There is no excuse you can make. He was objectively terrible at the job in the first year.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

And we'll find out how good he was in the second year. He may not be around to see it. My guess is he's not done much better. Everything I, you know, everybody I've talked to about North Carolina, the roster talent isn't appreciably different from last year, but the schedule is much, much harder than last year.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah, I mean, we get a pretty good sense of which teams are talented right now because NFL draft people and analysts are like, really need deep in tape. And I don't really hear a lot of North Carolina popping up in those conversations. We've had an entire off season full of trying to break down where the players are coming from. That doesn't mean that there aren't going to be any sneaky additions or.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah.

[Ari Wasserman]

You know, sneaky, productive players. In North Carolina, I'm not going to pretend like it's like the worst team in the history of the planet, but in terms of the splash that Bill Belichick the hire made, the football team has not made even remotely of even a splash, let alone a big one. So. And if you want to talk about the roster not being very good, this rests solely at Lombardi's feet, so. Right. You know, obviously, because remember, who was.

[Andy Staples]

Who is Belichick's top personnel guy for most of his time in New England? It was Bill Belichick.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yes. Now, I don't know the dynamics in the building of how much is Bill Belichick, you know, in the weeds? My hope would be that he's very deep in the weeds in terms of analyzing and, you know, picking the types of players and, you know, guys who fit his profile to come in and build a team around. But the idea of it is this, Andy, and I think you kind of alluded to it, but I'm just going to hit it over the head. People got the impression that North Carolina thought they were going to win because they're smarter than everybody. And one of the people who is supposed to be smarter than everybody is Michael Lombardi.

[Andy Staples]

Right. And, in fact, he was not only not smarter than everybody, he was much worse than the other people who have his job.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. Much worse. As we talked about last week, there's no excuse whatsoever at the. UNC to have a worse football team than Wake Forest.

[Andy Staples]

No. And you got hired before they did. Like, you got run. Like Jake Dickard and company Ran circles around Bill Belichick and Michael Lombardi. So, yeah, yeah, they don't have as much money as you. Like. They certainly don't have as many super bowl rings, but they were way better than you at the job. And, like, I just don't. I don't think Bill Belichick's that interested in this job.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. You get that impression.

[Andy Staples]

No sense that he cares, so. And I think one thing that would have told you he cared is figuring out a way to have a much better roster this year than last year.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. And we were talking about a specific tweet. Andy. This might be a good segue, but I think this is a very interesting conversation because of North Carolina and the Bill Belichick of it all. Certainly. But I also think that we can learn a lesson from North Carolina. And the lesson is, when you fire a coach in college football, you better be damn sure the reason you're firing that person. Yes. Because if you are firing them, because they haven't lived up to your thought process with all the resources given, that's one thing. If they are not reaching your thought process without the resources given and then you move on from that person. Yeah. Better make the right time because this

[Andy Staples]

is, this is a good conversation in microcosm about what is going on in college football in general right now.

[Ari Wasserman]

Right.

[Andy Staples]

And we can talk about it with, with other current hot seat coaches as well. So, so this is a tweet from Danny Canel, our friend Danny, you know, former Florida State player, former NFL player, works for CBS right now. UNC should have never let Mack Brown go. If they stuck with Mack Brown and gave him the resources they gave Bill Belichick, the Tar Heels would be top third of the acc. Worst case. Instead they are at the bottom and probably looking for a coach in a year or two. This is exactly right. Danny's right. The, the smart move would have been instead of paying all this money to hire Bill Belichick and company, give Mack Brown the resources you wound up giving Bill Belichick. Because you fired Mack Brown for going six and six with a very underfunded war chest.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Staples]

And like war chest properly. And Mac Brown was going to give you better than six and six.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. The thing that's so funny to me about the Mack Brown situation is that for a while there before the Nil era, they were actually recruiting quite well. And the thing we always joke about with Mac Brown is that he could sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves. You know, I went, I, I, I've been to Chapel Hill before. I'm sure you've sat in his office many times during your career. And buddy, I'm a very unathletic 40 year old man, but if you wanted me to throw a helmet on and go out there, I would have for him. You know, like he, in a 10 minute period he is.

[Andy Staples]

But in, in this era that doesn't work as well. That doesn't. But money does. And they gave Bill Belichick money.

[Ari Wasserman]

So what was the reason why all of a sudden all the five star prospects that Mack Brown was getting were no longer committing?

[Andy Staples]

Because they weren't trying to get them. They thought they were smarter than everybody else.

[Ari Wasserman]

It's not because Mac Brown sucks at coaching and forgot how to recruit. It's because they didn't give them the money or the financial resources. The same thing. In order to go get those players, they move on from him and then they make the promise to Bill Belichick. And Michael Lombardi, that they will fund it properly and they wind up with a roster that's infinitely worse than the ones that Matt Brown.

[Andy Staples]

And they don't attempt to get those players.

[Ari Wasserman]

Like, yeah, I mean, I honestly don't even know where the money is going, Andy.

[Andy Staples]

It's. It's being spent poorly because, yeah, you should be going up again. Like. Like, look, you're still not going to have the kind of money that Texas has, that Ohio State has, that Georgia has. That's okay. You have enough money to outspend Florida State. You have enough money to outspend Wake Forest. You have enough money to outspend Virginia. Like, there is no excuse for that. Miami should be the only team in the ACC spending more than you. Yeah, and Miami gets really good players, but the second second best in that conference should be fielding an incredibly competitive roster. Incredibly competitive.

[Ari Wasserman]

And I think the one thing that you can also just take into account with this too, is that even without the right budget, I don't doubt that Mack Brown, with the same hamstring issues that he had from a financial standpoint, would still assembled a better roster than

[Andy Staples]

the one that they had last year, not just Mac Brown. Let's also remember how the Bill Belichick hiring went down. So it was conducted in secret by their board chair and independent of the then ad. So Bubba Cunningham, I think he's. I don't know if he's still officially North Carolina's ad. Steve Newmark has been hired. He's. He's in charge of the athletic department now. He came from nascar. Yeah, Bubba's moving into an emeritus roles. But Bubba was the, the official AD when all this is going down. When they fired Mac Brown and when they went searching for a new coach. Bubba Cunningham and Lee Roberts, their chancellor, went and met with John Sumrall. He was their number one candidate. He was coaching at Tulane. He'd been there a year. They went and met with him. It went well. But very quickly, Summerall and his agent sniffed out that there was this parallel search going on involving Bill Belichick. And they're like, we want no part of this. So Sumrall wisely is like, no, thank you. I'll just stay at Tulane. I'm sure something better, something good will come along if I keep doing well. And sure enough, he was being fought over by like four schools this year and wound up in Florida. So they could imagine that. Just imagine that, Ari. If there hadn't been this parallel search for Bill Belichick going on, if they'd Just been running a conventional search and they'd hired John Sumrall. Like, he probably brings Darian Mensah with him from Tulane to North Carolina. He knows how to, how to build a winning roster in college football. They would have given him money because that would, he would have demanded that as a, as a condition of coming. They would have given him money to spend on the roster. Like, would they have been 4 and 8 last year? No, they would have been 8 and 4 or better.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

We'd be talking about them this year as a potential ACC title contender.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah, they would at least be Louisville.

[Andy Staples]

At least. At least. And that's what's happened. They made a massive mistake. And unless Bill Belichick has a miracle coming, this is going to be it.

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[Andy Staples]

because it's not going to get any better.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. And the circus off the field is more palatable when you have wins to counteract them. It becomes embarrassing when there's no wins. So let me ask you this, because we are kind of talking about this in more stern language today than we were last week. But does this, what does the news from Monday do to your viewpoint of this tenure? I know we weren't overly high on it last week.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah, I was assuming it's going to end after this season anyway. Now I'm sure it's going to end after this.

[Ari Wasserman]

This season.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah.

[Ari Wasserman]

Okay. That's because that's where I'm at. You know, I, I feel like there was that 5% hope that Bill Belichick's a genius and maybe something crazy would happen this year. Now I'm kind of like, yeah, this is a disaster.

[Andy Staples]

So here's an interesting quote. So Greg Barnes from Inside Carolina, really good reporter, very plugged in at North Carolina. Inside Carolina is our on three North Carolina side. If you're, if you're a North Carolina fan, you need to be subscribed. Inside Carolina, their message board, by the way, just blowing up today. But this is a quote from the new ad, Steve, Newmark from a sit down interview that Greg Barnes did with him a few weeks ago. This, this ran in a story right before North Carolina took the podium at ACC media days. So this is, this is the new AD talking about Belichick and football. He said, I think when we step back, one of the primary reasons we brought Coach Belichick and his staff on board was to build a foundation for the future. And although in this day and age of college sports, patience is not something that is in long supply, I think we recognize that our goal was not just for a one year spike. It was to put in place a foundation where we continue to improve and we review as a place for young student, student athlete, football players to come where they know they can develop both on the field and off the field. That's really the lens through which we're evaluating. Are we showing continuous improvement? So, Ari, you can read that as a plea for patience if you would like, or you can read, that is, if they're not any better, we got to do something else.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah, I, I read it the second way.

[Andy Staples]

Yes. Yeah. So I think that is a very, like, Steve Newmark's a smart guy. Like, I think that is a, A very sly way of making it sound like you're giving your guy a vote of confidence when in fact you are saying what we'll be judging him on is whether they get any better. And we. The part he didn't say, but I, I'm sure people in Chapel Hill are thinking we don't think they're going to be any better.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. And the thing too is that even if you win six games and show improvement, it still is not satisfactory.

[Andy Staples]

It's still what you fired Mac Brown for.

[Ari Wasserman]

Well, even then Mac Brown went to the ACC championship game. It's not like they were a complete disaster under his guidance.

[Andy Staples]

No. My understanding was that they had a six and six year, which was considered a bad year, which would be a better year than Bill Belichick had in year one.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. But my understanding was they fired Bill, I mean, Mac Brown, because they wanted to win the acc.

[Andy Staples]

Yes. And they don't. They're not acting like they care if they win the acc.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah, no, it's, it's.

[Andy Staples]

Miami's acting like they care. Duke's acting like they care. Wake Forest is acting like they care. Virginia's acting like they care.

[Ari Wasserman]

And the thing that's so painful about North Carolina, too, is that, you know the cliche sleeping Giants? Who are the cliche sleeping Giants?

[Andy Staples]

Arizona, North Carolina and Arizona State.

[Ari Wasserman]

North Carolina Arizona State, the cliche has made the cfp.

[Andy Staples]

They won the conference two years ago.

[Ari Wasserman]

Like North Carolina now more than ever because I went, you know. Do you remember where you were when you got the first notification on your phone that Covid had him hit America?

[Andy Staples]

Yes.

[Ari Wasserman]

I was driving out of Chapel Hill to the Charlotte airport and I had just spent the day at North Carolina with Bill Belichick and his staff there

[Andy Staples]

and I had been with Luke Fickle at Cincinnati speaking.

[Ari Wasserman]

Is that where you were currently?

[Andy Staples]

Yeah.

[Ari Wasserman]

And the reason why I bring this up is because the column or the story that I ended up writing after meeting with their personnel director at the time was North Carolina is a very underrated place for high school talent, which they were. There was a kid named Keyshawn Silver there at the time was a five star prospect, defensive end. They had a bunch of big time recruits. They were in more mixed. Who was the five star, the five star corner that they got from Virginia that's transferred nine times in the time since, but was a huge deal. Like his name is Escape.

[Andy Staples]

He was at A and M last.

[Ari Wasserman]

I think you know who I'm talking about though. They got him and they, they, they pitched me on this huge plan to keep kids in North Carolina home to be the premier football destination for all of the players in that region of the country to dip into Virginia, to be on the east coast and you know, Mac Brown, the consummate salesman again, all pre nil, you know, had it rolling there. And I thought to myself, well, maybe they finally found the dude that can un. That can wake up this sleeping giant. And then obviously the sport changed and things got a little bit more difficult financially there and then they did the dip. But of all the programs in the ACC that in a, in a current climate where the winning is ripe for the picking for anyone, whether you're Vanderbilt, whether you're Wake Forest, whether you're fricking Indiana, like North Carolina could have been in a position, if properly situated at the time of the transition to be one of the teams that looks really good right now. And I feel like, and I don't know if you buy this because it's such a transactional sport and it's so much easier now to flip a roster and to fire a coach and bring someone in and be better immediately. Maybe this doesn't matter, but I do think that there probably is something to be gained from being on the forefront of this evolution of, to having the staff in place to keep up with the current, you know, changes in the sport that give you a chance to strike while the iron's hot. I think Tennessee's done a very good job of that. I think obviously Indiana's done a very good job of that. Miami SMU has done a good. Miami's done a good job. And like North Carolina could have been in that bucket with a proper hire if they would. It didn't even have to be Matt

[Andy Staples]

John like it would have been all says yes. If John Sumrall says yes, you're there now.

[Ari Wasserman]

And I don't know if there's any long term damage for missing out on the climate that we're currently in.

[Andy Staples]

There's not and I'll tell you why.

[Ari Wasserman]

Okay.

[Andy Staples]

Like if this blows up and Belichicks out and they got to hire somebody new next year. One, it may be the best job of the cycle depending on what happens elsewhere in the in the country. But two, what is the thing that hangs over everything else? What did we talk about on Friday in the mailbag? What's, what's the thing that every school is is thinking about in the next five, 10 years?

[Ari Wasserman]

I'm trying to remember what we talked about in the mailbag.

[Andy Staples]

Super League.

[Ari Wasserman]

Oh yeah, duh.

[Andy Staples]

North Carolina, despite being in the acc, doesn't need to worry about anything.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

They will be part of whatever's next. If it's the Big Ten in the SEC still lording over everything when the realignment crap hits the fan. North Carolina is fine. Like the Big Ten in the SEC will be fighting over them.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

So this job is a good job. Throw out your sleeping giant jokes. It's a good job. The person holding it is not trying very hard right now.

[Ari Wasserman]

Truly one of the most underrated places in the world to live. Probably like Chapel Hill is beautiful. But here's Can I just do a tiny counterpoint because I agree with you, but just another alternate way of looking at it. Indiana. Last week or 10 days ago, ISH picked up a five star recruit out of the state of Indiana sales.

[Commercial/Guest Voice]

Yep.

[Ari Wasserman]

Indiana now is a place that can go into the portal and get and be in the mix for the types of players that North Carolina wishes it was in the mix for. And I think that Indiana, as a result of getting the right coach at the right time and using the system to their benefit, bringing all those JMU players with them, has completely restructured the chemistry of everyone's brain about who Indiana football is. When Indiana recruits you out of high school, you know who they are. You respect them. And I know a lot of that is Kurt Zagdi But Indiana has risen its profile as a program in general. We talk about, you know, teams that do individual seasons that are awesome. Like, I don't know about this. Arizona State has steadily, you know, improved the. The profile of the program, but certainly not to the same extent that Indiana did, having broken through and won it. And I wonder if from money is always going to talk and the right coach with the right personality and the fat paychecks always going to win out. So maybe this doesn't matter at all. But Indiana, I think is more well served to be a sturdy contending winner for the next decade as a fault of striking right now and getting through than it would be to try to build it in 2029, even though that the. The door will still disagree.

[Andy Staples]

Hard disagree. If you change coaches this year, you hire the right coach, you can be good next year.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. But I do think that there's probably something to be gained though by having the ability to get players out of high school that you wouldn't have otherwise been able to get.

[Andy Staples]

Well, sure, but you can win with transfer portal guys and then get guys out of high school that you wouldn't have been able to get. Like, yeah, that's what Indiana did.

[Ari Wasserman]

So, so, so your perception is that this window of opportunity is just going to stay open for a long time for everyone.

[Andy Staples]

Well, especially for somebody. Okay. It's hard. Like the degree of difficulty in Indiana is so much harder than North Carolina. North Carolina, from a financial standpoint is at the top of its conference. Yeah. There's no excuse.

[Ari Wasserman]

I just want.

[Andy Staples]

You should be one of the best programs in that conference.

[Ari Wasserman]

I would very much love to see Andy, the balance sheet and the allocation of funds that they have to who they're paying because it doesn't make any sense.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah, yeah, it doesn't. It. It absolutely doesn't. And it like. Bruce Feldman wrote a great story about it last year. Going into last season, people saying, I don't understand who they were going like, what their targeting procedure was. Because you saw them wind up in these battles in the transfer portal with schools from the American and with school like, he talked to a Group of 5 coach who was like, they were fighting us for players. And I was like, why?

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. So there are two. There's only two possibilities here, Andy, and they both suck. Ready? One is they're not actually spending that much money at all and they're not using their resources or they're spending a shit ton of money on the wrong people. There's no, there's no other, considering that

[Andy Staples]

Bill Belichick had it written into his contract that they would max fund the rev share. I'm guessing they're spending money. They have money to spend. They have enough to be at least competitive in the accident.

[Ari Wasserman]

So are they spending a ton of money on players? Like, are they overspending on the wrong players?

[Andy Staples]

Could be. We know how much money roughly in, in the portal. In the portal. How many times did you see a story about some sought after portal prospect trying to decide between like Michigan and North Carolina? Right.

[Ari Wasserman]

So, so where's. Yeah, so, so if they're paying somebody two and a half million dollars, which every, every. I think every power team should have at least one person that's making a few million bucks.

[Andy Staples]

But that.

[Ari Wasserman]

Is that a fair statement?

[Andy Staples]

It is fair, yes.

[Ari Wasserman]

Which player on their team is making two and a half mil this year?

[Andy Staples]

Billy Edwards Jr. Maybe the quarterback who went from Maryland to Wisconsin got hurt non contact injury week one at Wisconsin.

[Ari Wasserman]

I don't think we know because Billy Edwards had flashes. I don't want to pile on an individual.

[Andy Staples]

No, no, he was, he was good at mar. Like, he was good and he got hurt.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

At Wisconsin.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

But yeah, it.

[Ari Wasserman]

I think you get what I'm saying.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah, yeah, that's it. And like, I don't get the sense that tcu, which opened the season with North Carolina last year and opens the season with North Carolina in Dublin week zero this year. I don't get the sense that they feel like they're facing anything particularly different.

[Ari Wasserman]

I. Sonny Dykes is on the show and he was very complimentary.

[Andy Staples]

He was complimenting. Now, like the offensive play calling will certainly be better because of Bobby Petrino now. So there is that, but that is a, that is a coaching hire. That's not a, it's not a roster move.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

So that was not Michael Lombardi's bailiwick.

[Ari Wasserman]

Do you think that the average fan can name one single skill player on their team?

[Andy Staples]

No, I think North Carolina fans could,

[Ari Wasserman]

but no could, like, yes.

[Andy Staples]

If I, if I, if I go to the average fan, I say, please name some Ohio State players. They're gonna be like Jeremiah Smith and Julian say. And please name some Alabama players. Ryan Coleman Williams. Please name some Texas players. You know, Cam Coleman and Relique Brown and, and Ryan Wingo. Yeah, North Carolina, I don't think they're going to get.

[Ari Wasserman]

I think that's just like a good. I think that's like a college football for Dummies litmus test. It's like, have you even heard of the Players. And that doesn't mean that there are a lot of players that no one's heard of that turn out to be great. But, like, if you're spending properly, you would at least have a player on the news cycle that you're fighting over or something, you know, Like, I don't know if people. I don't even think their average college football fan knows who Billy Edwards is. He's been out of the public eye for two years. So, like, I mean, you know what

[Andy Staples]

else is going to look really bad if this happens? I don't know if it will now. They don't play Wake Forest this year, so you don't have to deal with. With head to head.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah, lucky.

[Andy Staples]

But Geo Lopez was the. Their big portal pickup last year. They got him from South Alabama. Looked really bad. Geo Lopez goes to Wake Forest. He's probably going to start for them. He's been reunited with Rob Isell, who was his offensive coordinator at South Alabama. They did very well together. If he winds up being a really productive ACC quarterback this year, that also makes them look bad.

[Ari Wasserman]

I think it's a blessing for Bill Belichick and company that they don't play them this year.

[Andy Staples]

I think you're right. Unfortunately, they do play Miami. They do play Notre Dame. Their schedule is significantly harder than it was last year. Significantly harder.

[Ari Wasserman]

When they play Notre Dame, are they going to lose like 56 to nothing?

[Andy Staples]

So you played TCU and got smoked last year. You play TCU again. They played UCF and got smoked last year. The spot in the schedule now occupied where UCF was is now occupied by Notre Dame.

[Ari Wasserman]

Like, and it's on the road too, right?

[Andy Staples]

No, I believe Notre Dame comes to them.

[Ari Wasserman]

Oh, they. Oh, they're okay. Well, that's good. Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

Oh, boy.

[Ari Wasserman]

All right, so I guess once we figure out why this is happening, we'll update you. But I think, yes, we'll let you

[Andy Staples]

know as we get more information. But as we record this early Monday afternoon, we don't have a lot of specifics. North Carolina has said they're not going to comment on it. My guess is some information will dribble out over the next few days and we'll have some, at least a little bit better idea of what, what's going on there. But.

[Ari Wasserman]

But just a fallen domino that couldn't fall, I think.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah, this is a big, big domino. Big domino, Ari. Big Ten media days starting in Chicago on Tuesday and the preseason polls are out. Couple different Big Ten polls out there. One from cleveland.com but the, the one that is. Is probably a little more complete is our friends Doug Le Maurice and Bill Landis reached out to everybody already voted in this poll. I was invited and. And did not get my ballot in in time. And I'm sorry about that, guys, but the elite of the elite voted in

[Ari Wasserman]

this poll, and they had 46 people. A lot of national people. I don't know if I'm allowed to say their names. I won't just.

[Andy Staples]

Well, and a lot of. A lot of people who've covered the Big Ten for a long time as well.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

Ohio State number one, Oregon number two. Indiana, three, USC four, Michigan five. Now that four spots. Interesting, because that is probably your CFP cutoff right there. And you got Michigan five, Washington six, Penn State seven, Iowa eight, Illinois nine. I would argue that anybody. So that, you know, there's 18 teams.

[Commercial/Guest Voice]

So the.

[Andy Staples]

The column on the left is 1 through 9. The column on the right is. Is 10 through 18. If you're looking at the graphic on the YouTube stream, I would argue that anybody in the column on the left could potentially make the playoff this year. What were they finishing?

[Ari Wasserman]

So, Andy, this is kind of fun, but since you didn't vote in the poll, scumbag, how would you. I'm just teasing you. How would you have done your poll?

[Andy Staples]

I would have Oregon number one. Because I have. I think they have the best returning roster. And I realize, you know, it's hard to bet against Ohio State, but Ohio State lost a ton defensively. Now, Ohio State recruits well enough that even when they lose a ton, it shouldn't matter. Like, they should still be at the top. I probably would have had them two or three. Indiana lost a lot. We don't know what they're going to be. We assume they're going to be good. I'm now at a. I. I won't bet against Kirtz Ignati Point. So I would have had them in the top three. So I would have gone Oregon number one, and then Ohio State or Indiana two or three, depending on how we wanted to go with that. I would have Michigan 4. But I get why you would pick USC.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

But the thing is, the difference between 4 and 5, way more critical for Lincoln Riley than it is for Kyle Whittingham.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yes. There is a world where five Big Ten teams do get in. I think there's a chance, possible that you like Michigan playing Oklahoma could certainly help that.

[Andy Staples]

Absolutely.

[Ari Wasserman]

The fact that, like, if they get

[Andy Staples]

Texas, Michigan beats Oklahoma, you know, that, that, that helps you come Selection Sunday, maybe get one more team in from here.

[Ari Wasserman]

But I do agree with you that like the, the prudent cutoff would probably be after four. And I think that goes for every even. Yes.

[Commercial/Guest Voice]

Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

I mean we say the same as well.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. Yeah. But I found this to be interesting because the top seven may have some teams that are kind of out of order, but I think that that would have been my expectation of this. Now, the one thing that I'm very curious about is with Ohio State, Oregon and Indiana, they're all supposed to be very good.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah.

[Ari Wasserman]

Be a very safe bet in the past to assume that Ohio State would be number one. I don't know if that is a fair assumption right now. They very well may go win the Big Ten.

[Andy Staples]

That's why I think Oregon number one is the more log logical assumption.

[Ari Wasserman]

We're just going on back. I'm 99. Sure. Because I have a terrible memory that I voted for Oregon number one.

[Commercial/Guest Voice]

Yeah.

[Ari Wasserman]

So I agree with you on that. Now let me ask you this. Are there any teams on the right side of this graphic that you think can make some noise? Because Minnesota's been pretty consistent. I don't know how much juice there is for Nebraska. UCLA's got a ton of juice. But I don't know if year one

[Andy Staples]

UCLA schedule is really hard. Like we, we all love Bob Chesney. We think he's going to make them better. I do think eventually that schedule probably makes them look a little more mortal. Then it's just going to take a little longer. Wisconsin at 13. And I get it. I'm the same person who put Luke Fickle on the hot seat in that hot seat column last week. But if you look at Wisconsin's Big Ten schedule, it is significantly easier than it was last year. It's. It's maybe not as easy as Penn State's. Penn. We will talk Penn State later. But Penn State probably has the easiest Big Ten schedule. But Wisconsin had one of the roughest schedules last year. It's. It's not easy easy, but it is significantly better. Now. They do open with Notre Dame, so obviously that doesn't, that doesn't help much. But I think Wisconsin is going to be a better team. They're spending more money on their roster. Remember, not only did they lose, we mentioned Billy Edwards Jr. And we're talking about North Carolina. They lost Billy Edwards Jr. Game one last year, non contact knee injury. They also at one point were down to their fourth center.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. Then that's a bad luck too. Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah. It's not an accident by the way that when they got a little bit healthier as the season ended, came toward the end, that they upset Washington late in the year. So I think Luke Fickle probably coaches his way off the hot seat this season. There's one thing that Wisconsin finishes higher than we think.

[Ari Wasserman]

Is there one thing that Wisconsin possesses that nobody on the right side possesses, which is an incoming transfer quarterback that could be absolutely electric.

[Andy Staples]

Colton Joseph. Yeah, that, that, that like, he is a great runner. Threw well enough at Old Dominion because people are scared to death of what he can do with his legs.

[Ari Wasserman]

And listen, there are other teams on this conference, on that side of the. In the rankings in this conference that have exciting quarterbacks. I think Drake Lindsay is undervalued. Anthony Calandria is somebody people are excited about. Nico Iamaliava is, I think, a pretty good player still. I don't think he sucks now all of a sudden because he left. You know, obviously Kate and Hauser could

[Andy Staples]

be good at Illinois, coming from East Carolina. Yep.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah, we know what Maryland brings back, but it's not the same. Like, there's like an unknown entity to like the rest of the conference that like, could be boom or bust kind of in a. In a way that is exciting to me.

[Andy Staples]

Well, the thing. The other thing is, is in these giant leagues and the Big Tens, the giant.

[Commercial/Guest Voice]

The.

[Andy Staples]

The most giant of them all with 18 teams, schedule matters a lot. So let's. Let's go down the list. Ohio State has a very hard Big Ten schedule and they play Texas, like, and obviously that doesn't affect their Big Ten finish, but it is a difficult schedule, probably. What did you say? Ohio State's most difficult schedule that in this century.

[Ari Wasserman]

This is the most difficult Ohio State schedule that I can remember in my lifetime. Well, lifetime's a weird thing. I don't know what their schedule was in 1992, but I, I do know what their schedule has been since 2009. And this is the hardest schedule they've had. And I think it's the first time you could say with a straight face that Ohio State has the hardest schedule in college football this year.

[Andy Staples]

Yes.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

Oregon schedule is not easy. Non conference. They've got Boise State. They're at Oklahoma State, which was terrible last year, but it's going to be good this year. They're at usc, they're at Illinois, they're at Ohio State. They play Michigan at home. Like Oregon, schedule's tough. Indiana's schedule is tougher than it's been the last two years. They still took it easy in the non conference. But their Big Ten schedule is not easy. USC schedule we've talked about. They're ducking Notre Dame because their Big Ten schedule is so hard.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. Like, which is the perfect segue to. So I was at a birthday party this weekend because that's all I do is go to birthday parties on the weekends now. And you know, I was talking and I'm in kind of an SEC country because of all the Oklahoma, Texas A M fans around. And last week we were talking about a poll and an Alabama fan came up to me and he goes, I saw that Alabama was picked sixth. Or was they. Are they seventh? They were seventh in the.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah, I think they were picked. Whatever.

[Ari Wasserman]

Whatever it was. And I'm like, buddy, there are a lot of really good teams in the sec. But I do know that there are birthday parties happening in the Midwest right now where Penn State fans are like, they picked us to finish seventh. Like. And it, it is funny because people are down on Penn State, but I think that that is the wrong place for them. And I actually think that you could make the case that you could put them in the top four. If this poll is to figure out where teams are finishing in Big Ten standings because their schedule is so easy.

[Andy Staples]

Right. So for those who don't know, the toughest part of their schedule is a two week stretch where USC comes to them and they go to Michigan. They also have to go to Washington in early November. That's the toughest part. Penn State should easily win every other game.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

So if they go two and one in that stretch, they are in the playoff easily. They're probably in the Big Ten championship game.

[Ari Wasserman]

Have the fortune. It is so funny, dude. James Franklin was criticized endlessly for not being able to get over the hump and beat Ohio State and Michigan in the regular season. Last year, the thing that ultimately brought Penn State down was a heartbreaking home overtime loss to Oregon. Their schedule this year for the first time, and I know they have Michigan.

[Andy Staples]

It wasn't the heartbreaking home loss overtime loss to Oregon. It was the loss to UCLA and the loss of Northwest weeks after. No, no.

[Ari Wasserman]

My theory was that that loss broke the program. But that's. And that's what I was referring to. I know that the more embarrassing losses that came after how broken you are,

[Andy Staples]

you shouldn't lose the Northwestern at all.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah, I think that it like literally broke the place. But that said, Penn State has the fortune of not having to play Ohio State, Oregon or Indiana this year. It's a pretty good setup for A first year.

[Andy Staples]

It's a great setup and it is the. So as we look at that left column, which is the top nine predicted finishers, Penn State has the easiest schedule by far. Probably the easiest of all 18. But here's what makes this really interesting. Of those on the left side of the nine top finishers, I would argue that the other eight all have very difficult draws.

[Ari Wasserman]

Right.

[Andy Staples]

It's not like Penn State got the easiest one and then, you know, maybe I. No, like Iowa has a stretch where they play Michigan, then they play Ohio State, then six days later they play Washington and Seattle. Yeah, in a 13 day span they play Michigan, Ohio State and Washington.

[Ari Wasserman]

Like 12.

[Andy Staples]

That's insane.

[Ari Wasserman]

So I don't know if we can take like the thing that Penn State has done so well traditionally under Franklin is winning all the games they're supposed to. And I don't think that we can go take it for granted. Like there are games on the schedule that could be difficult. Like at Washington on November 7th could be difficult. I don't know what Wisconsin is going to be on September 26, but they have some, some potential landmark or landmine spots. That said, I think that the baseline expectation for Penn State this year, at least from their fans and certainly their coaching staff, is that they at least go 11 against USC and Michigan in those back to back games October 10th and October 7th 17th. If they go 1 and 1 and win one of those games, I think there's a high likelihood from where I'm sitting right now that Penn State could backdoor their way into the playoff as a result.

[Andy Staples]

They're not backdooring their way, they are charging into the playoff. Yeah, the Penn State Cyclones charge into the playoff if that happens.

[Ari Wasserman]

Here's the one thing I also want to bring up. Penn State has been a team that has ducked scheduling difficult on the in their non conference. We have criticized James Franklin for their easy paths in the non conference play as a result of the discourse that has taken over college football right now, which is schedule easy. If Penn State goes one and one against USC and Michigan and beats one of them and then drops a game like Wisconsin or Minnesota or Washington or

[Andy Staples]

they're gonna have like that they might

[Ari Wasserman]

have a freaking problem. And I think that Penn State could be the poster child this year of the importance of scheduling difficult. And like I'm not saying I'm rooting for that, but the idea that 10 and 2 just automatically gets in I think is going to get put to the test this year. Especially considering the fact that we have spent the entire off season discussing whether teams that are nine and three with more difficult schedules are more worthy of a playoff spot than a team that's 11 and 1 or 10 and 2.

[Commercial/Guest Voice]

Well.

[Andy Staples]

Right. I think there are. There are other similarly situated Big Ten teams that are not doing that. Like Iowa plays Iowa State every year. Now I realize Iowa State is. Is down because Matt Campbell left, but that is a challenging game they play every year. Illinois is playing Duke for the second consecutive year. Duke won the ACC last year. Yeah, last year.

[Ari Wasserman]

I actually think that playing Duke and beating Duke last year would have been an important win for somebody if they played him in the non.

[Andy Staples]

Com. Yeah. One more game in the regular season. We're having a different conversation about that.

[Ari Wasserman]

So I, I do think that it's all well and good because I mean it made sense for Penn State because they're like, we're not going to lose to Minnesota because they never really did until last year. I don't need to worry about this. We just have to figure out a way to beat Ohio State or Oregon. Nope, not. Not this year. And the reason we. We talked last week about how stupid the conferences are. You can play in the Big Ten and have a completely different schedule as another team that's also in the Big Ten.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah. Ohio State USA are. Are going to have a really different experience with the Big Ten schedule than Penn State is.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah, they're. They're basically not even in the same conference. Like it's funny to say, but that's the way it is. So. Yeah, Penn State I think might be undervalued as a result of my assumption that they will be better than mo. All the teams on the right side of the bracket and just as good as half the teams on their side of this. Of this graphic. But they are also walking on eggshells because you cannot slip or you will miss it. I think so. We'll especially depending on what those games look like with USC and Michigan.

[Andy Staples]

They're in the situation where their schedule will make it where they would be the last 10 and 2 team in or the first 10 and 2 team out. Like remember Vanderbilt last year? 10 and 2 didn't make it. Like that's 10 and 2 as the cut line is not necessarily true. There also may be a year where everybody beats each other up and nine and three gets you in. That's still no funny thing.

[Ari Wasserman]

That always gets left out of the College Football playoff scheduling discourse at SEC media day. I didn't hear anybody bring that up. That evander built was 10 and 2 and missed it last year.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah. Amazing.

[Ari Wasserman]

It's funny how that just gets forgotten every time we talk about something that's not true. The facts get left out. But, yeah, I think that, like, Penn State is walking Vanderbilt this year, and there's always the chance that they go 11 and 1. Right.

[Andy Staples]

Right. And you're going to the end. That is Indiana from 2024.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

Indiana went 11 and 1 and got in with the schedule. Indiana played in 2024. If they'd gone 10 and 2, they probably wouldn't have gotten in.

[Ari Wasserman]

But listen, if Penn State goes 1 and 1 against USC in Michigan and their win is an overtime win on the road and a sloppy 12 to 9 game and they lose, I am all for leaving them out. I think you should be punished for scheduling week.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah.

[Ari Wasserman]

Because you can never.

[Andy Staples]

Ohio should be rewarded for playing Texas and. And, you know, yeah, I'd say USC should be rewarded for playing Notre Dame, but they're not.

[Ari Wasserman]

And that's already how it works. Regardless of what you hear. It already does work that way.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah. This is going to be an exciting year in the Big Ten. Because, Ari, the reason this is so fun is because those teams we think are the best, with the exception of Penn State, are the ones playing the hardest schedules other than Northwestern, which I don't know what Northwestern did to piss.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah, Northwestern got boned.

[Andy Staples]

It's like, so you guys are getting a beautiful new stadium this year, but, oh, my God, we're gonna. We're gonna brutalize you with this schedule.

[Commercial/Guest Voice]

Yeah.

[Ari Wasserman]

Northwestern. Let me go look at it. Just for people. We had the toughest schedules discussion already. But Northwestern plays on the road at Indiana and Penn State back to. Back in September, October. Then they play Oregon, Iowa State.

[Commercial/Guest Voice]

Where.

[Andy Staples]

Where is the Oregon game? And where's the Ohio State game?

[Ari Wasserman]

They play Oregon and Ohio State on the road two out of three weeks.

[Andy Staples]

It's. It's brutal. It's awful. Sorry. Sorry. Northwest, at least when you come home. Well, not the. The Ryan. The new version of Ryan Field opens during the season, so. But when you come home late season, it will be glorious. It'll be beautiful on Lake Michigan.

[Ari Wasserman]

But, yeah, it looks like a really nice stadium.

[Commercial/Guest Voice]

I saw the.

[Ari Wasserman]

I saw the pictures of it, so it looks beautiful.

[Andy Staples]

Did you see Chip Kelly in his hard hat?

[Ari Wasserman]

I did. I saw that, too. I don't know what the hell was going on there, but it was another gift of college football. Twitterverse.

[Andy Staples]

Ari, what do we think is going to be the biggest headline coming out of the Big Ten media days,

[Ari Wasserman]

someone's gonna say some stupid stuff, right?

[Andy Staples]

I would assume Tony Petiti, the, the commissioner will say some stuff about the playoff, though I still think right now everybody's just in a holding pattern on the playoff until they find out what the TV networks are willing to pay for extra inventory. And the SEC will not be as against 24. If they come back and be like, for those additional games, we'll pay $500 million. Like, if that happens, the SEC is gonna be like, what championship game? Let's go to 24.

[Ari Wasserman]

It is a bigger event because Tony Patiti meets with the media far more infrequently than Greg Zenki. So, like, when he takes the podium, like, the questions I assume at Big Ten media day are going to be more pointed and more urgent than when Greg Sankey was at the podium last week. So that, that'll probably be the biggest headline. But I'm sure Kurt Signetti's got a zinger up as that sleeve and

[Andy Staples]

might be up his sleeve or it might be up something else. We don't know.

[Ari Wasserman]

You know, he's good for that.

[Andy Staples]

What will Kurt Signetti say that causes him to wink at the person who asked the question? That, that's, that's the.

[Ari Wasserman]

He will wink. And you know what? He's a national treasure. And I gotta tell you, man, I'm so thankful that he's in our sport, man.

[Andy Staples]

Like, he.

[Ari Wasserman]

We didn't talk about this. We were gonna have a segment last week about the personalities at SEC media day and how like the fears that Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh leaving were misguided and wrong and they were.

[Andy Staples]

You talk about not having fun coaches in the sport.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah, just, just like personality driven characters, you know, that, you know, we talk so much about how, you know, college football is the bachelor. And it's like, well, you need to have people that make the, the storylines interesting. And like Jim Harbaugh, whether you like them or not, was one of the most interesting characters in the history of college football. Losing him sucked. And then you have Kurt Signetti, who did the Google me, you know, staring into the camera winking stuff and actually won. And then all the people, like every single, I feel like eight, eight to 10 coaches said something incredibly awesome at SEC media day last week.

[Andy Staples]

One of those coaches was John Sumrall, who was cracking us up with, with various things. We learned a little more about John Sumrall over the weekend from one Ginny Summerall. That'd be his wife. So Olivia eisenhower works for WCJB TV 20 in Gainesville. Excellent reporter. So she was covering the the Florida Women's clinic and she interviewed Jenny Sumrall at the Florida Women's Clinic. And Jenny Summerall made a revelation about John Sumrall that I think might make him your favorite college football coach. Ari, are we ready? Roll that.

[Ari Wasserman]

I'm ready. When your husband is very energetic, can

[Andy Staples]

you give me some insight or maybe

[Ari Wasserman]

something people might not know being John Sumrall's wife.

[Commercial/Guest Voice]

Yeah, and that's going to be shared a little later too. So as energetic as he is when you see him, he is actually very introverted. So John needs to time at home to get that energy. If he does not have that, you don't get what you get when you see him. So he really requires. He's quite introverted.

[Ari Wasserman]

What is something maybe we don't know

[Andy Staples]

as seeing head coach Sean Sumrall that

[Ari Wasserman]

you would love Gator Nation to know about him?

[Commercial/Guest Voice]

He loves pedicures.

[Andy Staples]

Oh, really?

[Commercial/Guest Voice]

That's his favorite extra thing to do. So every two weeks in the football season, John loves to get get a pedicure. That's just a fun little happy about him.

[Ari Wasserman]

Is this the team bonding thing that occurs?

[Commercial/Guest Voice]

It's we should get the team going. It's good for them, you know, it's a good quality thing for them to do. But he loves it.

[Andy Staples]

Ari, you're a couple's pedicure guy.

[Ari Wasserman]

I'm a solo pedicure guy. I go alone all the time. You do not know that.

[Andy Staples]

I, I, I knew you like pedicures. I thought this was more of an

[Ari Wasserman]

event with, with, I usually go with Brit and we take our daughter now and it's cute. They have like the little kid chairs and she gets hers done and stuff. But it's, I feel like it's a self care thing. And anybody who listen to the show knows for years I've been trying to convince Andy to try it and he

[Andy Staples]

just says I have, I got one, I got one like a year and a half ago. And you hated, didn't hate it, but it just wasn't my thing. Yeah, I mean fine. It was perfectly fine.

[Ari Wasserman]

But don't you think my wife in your. Do you think that clipping your own toenails is one of the three worst things that you have to do from a hygiene maintenance standpoint? No, I find it to be very aggravating. What do you do? Do you put, are you a foot on the toilet seat guy or what?

[Andy Staples]

I'm a foot over the trash can guy.

[Ari Wasserman]

Okay. Over the trash cans. Wildcat.

[Andy Staples]

Things need to go. It's very efficient. I clip my toenails like the big trash bin outside. Like my little bathroom trash can that holds the. The toilet paper roll when. When it's done.

[Ari Wasserman]

So I'm a foot on the toilet seat guy. And then flush the clippings. I don't know if that's bad.

[Andy Staples]

Okay, that's. That's efficient. Maybe I'll go to that.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. But then I don't ever really do it anymore because they clip my toenails when I go.

[Andy Staples]

Because you have a person for that?

[Ari Wasserman]

I have a. Well, I have a guy or a girl. The guys. I like the little man hand on me every now and then, you know, on my feet.

[Andy Staples]

Clip that.

[Ari Wasserman]

No, but, like, they do a good job, and it's, like, relaxing. And your feet. The thing that I. I. As I slammed my fingers in the garage door last week, one of the things that you should know about me, Andy, is that, like, I'm very weird about, like, damaging my nails. Like, I feel like that would be incredibly painful and ugly.

[Andy Staples]

It is incredibly painful.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. And it was. And, like, I was afraid that my nail was gonna fall off last week because I jammed it into the garage door.

[Andy Staples]

So you sent me the photo. I was like, you might have two nails falling off, buddy.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. And actually, it's. It's coming up. It. It's not as painful now. And I feel like I avoided any catastrophic.

[Andy Staples]

But good

[Ari Wasserman]

toenail maintenance and, like, making sure that they're, like, growing in properly and everything and, like, getting them, like, the cuticle shaved down and stuff is important to me just from, like, I want my toenails to be, like, sturdy and long.

[Andy Staples]

Like. And here's the thing. If you're John Sumrall, like, first of all, John Sumrall is the type of guy who has no issue with his wife revealing this sort of thing. Like, he understands it's good for the brand.

[Ari Wasserman]

It's also not embarrassing. It's, like, a normal thing men do now.

[Andy Staples]

Also, John Summerall squats with his players. Like, if he's one of those people, if you meet him in person, you're not going to make fun of him for getting pedicures.

[Ari Wasserman]

I kind of feel like 10 years ago, a man getting a pedicure would be made fun of. And I think now it's just normal. I think a lot of, like, I go in there, and there's men, and they're all right.

[Andy Staples]

I still think among our audience. I'm curious, because our audience is still. Now we have, obviously, our female listeners and viewers who we love, like Lori, but our audience still overwhelmingly male, which we're. We're open to changing, by the way. Ladies, come on.

[Ari Wasserman]

We could be the. The Female College Football podcast.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah, I mean, it's two dudes, so there is that. But.

[Ari Wasserman]

But two very attractive dudes.

[Andy Staples]

You.

[Commercial/Guest Voice]

But.

[Andy Staples]

Okay, so if I'm just putting this out there for everybody, let us know. Guys in the audience, are you pedicure guys?

[Commercial/Guest Voice]

Do you.

[Andy Staples]

Are you like John Sumrall? Do you. Do you need that? Is that. Is that your. How you get your Zen every week or two? We know Ari is.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. Well, the thing with my pedicures is I do it more for, like, hygiene maintenance. I don't do it as a relaxation. The other thing that you know about me is that I go to foot park and I just, like, pay 30 bucks for them to rub my legs for an hour. And that. That is probably why John Summerall loves it. The massage aspect of it is the best part, where they, like, rub your calves and your feet for. Right.

[Andy Staples]

When I did it, it was very relaxing. So that.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. Now go into a spa where it's dark out and put a cloth over your head and just go for an hour where they just, like, rub your feet. I like. It's. I think it's amazing. So, like, that's my mate. That's, like, my relaxation. The pedicures I just do because I want my nails taken care of. But, yes, I think that people. I think when I go in, I see men all the time.

[Andy Staples]

Okay. Show poll, show poll. Unscientific. But you. You know how to find us. You know what the email addresses are? Andystaples on3gmail.com re.wassert3.com We'll. We'll read some of the submissions on Friday. Are you a pedicure guy?

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. Andy, I've got one more update. I have one more update. I know you're trying to close, but here's one more update. Rhett Lashley weighed in on the truck guy discussion last week. GMC 8 Sierra, 1500. Rhett Lashley is a truck guy.

[Andy Staples]

That's what I'm. He's from Arkansas, of course.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. But he also lives in Highland Park, Texas.

[Andy Staples]

Ari, I've driven to, like, when I fly to Dallas and I drive to your house from the airport, you go through Highland Park. There's a lot of pickup trucks. They're very nice.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah, I think that's the reason why I brought that up, is because you're also going to get the same people who ridiculed me for not having a bucket weighing in on the pedicure conversation. I know how that's going to go already.

[Andy Staples]

Oh, by the way, so we need to do the. The ice bucket challenge now. Because you have a bucket.

[Ari Wasserman]

I do. You have.

[Andy Staples]

Thank you to the big Ten office for sending Ari a big ten bucket.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah. And I feel like it's in my garage now. Like, in a good place.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah. So Paul Kennedy and David Bassity at the big ten office. Thank you so much for sending Aria.

[Ari Wasserman]

Big Ten bucket Had a huge package at my front door because, like, a bucket's pretty big. They got me one of the cool big ones and I'm like, what is this big box from the Big Ten? What's in there? I thought it might be like Heisman like, stuff or whatever. And I opened it up and it was just a white and black bucket with big ten stickers all over it. So I feel pretty good about it. We'll use that for the ice bucket challenge when we do it. Thank you to the Big ten. And I feel like a whole. And I actually used it the first day. I didn't even tell you this.

[Andy Staples]

What'd you do?

[Ari Wasserman]

We set up a slip and slide in my front yard for my daughter and a few of her friends last night. And I used the bucket to slick the slip inside.

[Andy Staples]

You didn't use sprinklers? There's.

[Ari Wasserman]

There's sprinklers built in, but, like, there. There were parts of it because the land was uneven.

[Andy Staples]

Where you attach a hose to it and then it sprays. Okay.

[Ari Wasserman]

And it sprays it. But yeah, there were certain spots. Yeah. The hose already plugged in, so I went into the house and put some water in it and then I slicked the areas with the bucket. So I've already used it.

[Andy Staples]

See you. You got one of those fancy pre made slip and slides. When I was Amazon, you just had the tarp and you just put the sprinkler on the tarp. Sorry about that. Little redneck engineering for you there, if I fancy.

[Ari Wasserman]

You mean the 26 one that we bought on Amazon. Yes, fans.

[Andy Staples]

Yeah. Yeah. So. Well, I look forward to that. And we look forward to big Ten media days this week because we got a lot of interesting stuff out of the sec. We're an equal time show.

[Ari Wasserman]

Yeah.

[Andy Staples]

It's the big Ten's turn, so we'll be talking a lot of big Ten this week. I've done a deep schedule dive that I want to get into at some point. I. I previewed a little bit when I. When I mentioned that Iowa stretch, but there. There's some crazy, crazy schedule quirks this year, and we'll talk about that. Ari, it is. It is time. It's talking season. Football season's just around the corner. We're talking about a team that plays week zero on this show. Yeah.

[Ari Wasserman]

And you know what I'm really looking forward to next week? We're going to be in Nashville together getting some studio time.

[Andy Staples]

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[Ari Wasserman]

Looking forward to that. Yeah, looking forward to it. But, yeah, it does starting to feel like football season now. We just need the temperature to cooperate, man.

[Andy Staples]

Scorcher out there, it's so hot. But that's okay. All these shows are going to be hot, too. We'll talk to you on Tuesday.