Josh Pate Talks Penn State firing James Franklin + Greg Olsen & Luke Kuechly Recap Week 6 Of The NFL

Summary

Bussin' With The Boys | Episode Summary

Episode: Josh Pate Talks Penn State firing James Franklin + Greg Olsen & Luke Kuechly Recap Week 6 of the NFL

Date: October 13, 2025

Hosts: Will Compton & Taylor Lewan

Guests: Josh Pate, Greg Olsen, Luke Kuechly

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EPISODE OVERVIEW

This action-packed episode rides through two primary topics:

• Josh Pate joins the boys to break down the electric college football coaching carousel, focusing on the bombshell firing of Penn State’s James Franklin, the ripple effect on other major programs, and forecasting job candidates.
• Greg Olsen and Luke Kuechly hop on to recap Week 6 of the NFL, get playful about their Pop Warner dynasty, and drop insight on everything from Bryce Young’s future to bulletin board material for six-year-olds.

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SECTION I: COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACHING CHAOS

(Timestamps: 02:20–72:00)

Main Theme

The boys, with Josh Pate (“the Commissioner of College Football”), dissect the stunning ouster of Penn State’s James Franklin, what it signals for top programs, and spill inside info on the wild job market, high-stakes expectations, and potential domino effects.

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1. Franklin’s Firing – Shockwaves Across College Football

Key Points:

• Franklin’s firing came mere days after leading Penn State into overtime against Oregon as a top-five team.
• Raises the question: is being “very, very good” no longer enough at elite programs?

Quote:

• “James Franklin comes in and… there hasn’t been a whiff of scandal since he’s been there. So my thinking was, how does this guy not have more equity built up than this?”
  — Josh B (Josh Pate), 29:18

• “To upgrade, you’ve either got to get one of the top 8 coaches… or [a] surefire candidate out there. I don’t see that. Like, I’m a huge Matt Campbell guy… but even I’ll admit… that’s not such a sure slam dunk that I’m going to fire James Franklin and pay him $50 million not to work here anymore.”
  — Josh B, 30:59

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2. The Ripple Effect: Who’s Next, and Where?

High-profile programs with shaky job security:

• Michigan, Nebraska, UCLA, Penn State, Auburn, Oklahoma, LSU, Clemson, Florida
• “Every single job in college football is open—except Nebraska.”
  — Josh Pate, 71:48

Names in the rumor mill:

• Matt Rule (Nebraska): Penn State’s reported top target, but his deep ties to Nebraska and family happiness may keep him rooted.

  • “You don’t leave happy. You don’t try and get happier than happy… Unless he’s totally faking it, he seems happy at Nebraska.”
    — Josh B, 38:21

• Matt Campbell (Iowa State): Universally admired; younger, proven with fewer resources.

• Kurt Signetti (Indiana): Commanding a huge salary, less pressure, but open to blueblood jobs (Michigan, Penn State rumors abound).

Recruiting & Player Stability:

• New NCAA rules mean rosters can’t “evaporate” immediately after a firing; schools may lock in commitments before moving on staff.

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3. The Fan Dilemma: Is Better Always Achievable?

• The panel cautions against the “grass is always greener” approach, recalling Nebraska’s decade of decline after firing Bo Pelini for not being great enough.
• “There’s so much further you could fall making this move than room to climb… That’s not logic thinking, but I understand it because you’re not supposed to be logical as a fan.”
  — Josh B, 27:32

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4. Coaching Carousel: Who’s on the Move? Big-Name Watchlist

Possible Movers:

• Matt Rule, Matt Campbell, John Summerall (Tulane), Alex Golesh (South Florida), Lane Kiffin, and others.
• Oklahoma’s Brent Venables could be vulnerable if the season spirals.
• D’Angelo Hall as an out-of-the-box candidate for Virginia Tech.

Clemson & Dabo:

• No serious firing talk yet, but expectations and memories are short.
  • "Clemson’s got to remember who they were before Dabo because they were nothing... Lose Dabo... you've got to keep him there. Let him die there."
    — Josh Pate, 55:26

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5. Playoff Chaos & Polling Debates

• The new 12-team playoff format could see several three-loss SEC teams in the field. Non-SEC teams may have an uphill battle in the “beauty pageant” for the last spots.
• Debates over Texas, Notre Dame, and Vanderbilt’s poll placements.
• “Are you on board with Oregon potentially being on fraud alert with their only key win being Penn State?”
  — Willie C. Taylor, 69:45
  • “Maybe Indiana is just really good. Maybe Oregon’s just really good. That was an impressive win though.”
    — Josh B, 70:11

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6. Notable Lighter Moments

• The boys joke about the rumors swirling, with inside banter about “burner phones” and the infamous “N stands for knowledge” (36:56).
• “If an asteroid drops on your house while you’re asleep tonight, what are you going to do tomorrow? Nothing, because you’re dead.” (41:46) — Darkly funny Nebraska coaching search hypothetical.

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7. The College Football Week That Was

• Conversation about Michigan’s loss, lessons on toughness, and what lies ahead.
• “The thing that makes me so prideful in Michigan is… when the back’s against the wall, they scratch and claw and fight… you’re going to walk away missing a limb.”
  — Josh Pate, 09:15

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SECTION II: NFL & POP WARNER WISDOM WITH GREG OLSEN & LUKE KUECHLY

(Timestamps: 78:01–109:35)

Main Theme

Greg Olsen and Luke Kuechly swap NFL takes, joke about Pop Warner coaching rumors, and explain the deeper mission behind youth football.

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1. Pop Warner Legends: Culture, Rumors & Buyouts

• Olsen & Kuechly playfully tackle “rumors” about being recruited for high school coaching jobs:

  • “The advantage I have is I’ll outpay— I could outbid anybody in America. I’m like Texas Tech now!”
    — Greg Olsen, 83:41

• They stress the real goal: building a foundation, not chasing wins.

  • “Winning is a byproduct of how we prepare as coaches… As long as we develop these kids and instill toughness and the right approach, that’s what’s going to last.”
    — Greg Olsen, 97:43

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2. NFL Rapid Reactions

a) Carolina Panthers & Bryce Young (Bryce Underwood confusion)

• Discussion of Bryce Young’s up-and-down progress; fifth-year option looming.
  • “Bryce has played better in spots… I think the biggest thing before an extension gets figured out is what do we do with that fifth-year option.”
    — Luke Kuechly, 99:57

b) Dallas Cowboys’ Defensive Struggles

• Kuechly breaks down the defensive woes: predictability, lack of disguised coverages, and the risk of getting gashed in the run game.

c) NFC East Wildness

• Giants winning with “Creatine Caucasians” (Scatterboo and Jackson Dart), but sustainability is questioned.
• Olsen notes the Giants’ defense as a key factor in their surprising run.

d) Philadelphia Eagles’ Flaws

• “If Saquon’s not busting 75-yard TDs... all of a sudden there’s a lot more emphasis on the passing game, and I think that’s the biggest difference between this year and last year.”
  — Greg Olsen, 105:50

e) Kansas City Chiefs & Other NFL Observations

• Chiefs look resurgent (“back”), and Tampa Bay gets praise as the league’s “sneaky” good team, with Baker Mayfield as an MVP contender.

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3. Coaching Philosophy & Development

• Both ex-NFL stars emphasize the importance of process over results for youth, mirroring college football debates about “winning the wrong way.”
• “We owe it to the kids to go out and try our best to win the games. But the best thing we can do is try to prepare our seventh graders for live action next year.”
  — Luke Kuechly, 94:48

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NOTABLE QUOTES & MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• “You don’t try to get happier than happy. Unless he’s totally faking it, [Matt Rule] seems happy at Nebraska.” (38:21)
• “If an asteroid drops on your house… what are you going to do tomorrow? Nothing, because you’re dead.” (41:46)
• “Winning is a byproduct… If we do all those things, winning will take care of itself.” — Greg Olsen (97:43)
• “The grass isn’t always greener.” — Josh B, 26:04
• “The N stands for knowledge.” — Willie C. Taylor (41:15)
• “Charlotte Christian, Pop Warner. Boom.” — Josh Pate (96:27)
• “Baker [Mayfield] might be the MVP of the league right now.” — Greg Olsen (108:48)

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TIMESTAMPS FOR IMPORTANT SEGMENTS

• 02:20–72:00 College Football & Coaching Carousel (Josh Pate)
• 19:27–20:50 Effects of new NCAA transfer rules, recruiting stability after a firing
• 29:18–31:00 Franklin’s track record and abrupt firing analysis
• 35:00–41:00 In-depth Matt Rule/Penn State hypothetical and Nebraska emotional discussion
• 54:49–55:45 Dabo/Clemson job security speculation
• 78:01–90:16 Pop Warner coaching philosophy, rumors, and youth football pipeline (Olsen & Kuechly)
• 99:32–109:35 NFL rapid fire: Panthers, Cowboys, Giants, Eagles, Chiefs, and sleeper teams

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FINAL TAKEAWAYS

This episode captures college football’s unpredictable volatility, where “very good” is suddenly not enough, and the NFL’s own week-to-week craziness. The hosts’ banter with Pate is loaded with both inside info and reminders about the dangers of quick-trigger firings. Olsen and Kuechly then inject humor and heart, showing the sports’ values from pee wee to pros. If you’re a fan of the drama off the field, as much as on, this ride on Bussin’ with the Boys is essential listening.

Transcript

[Josh Pate]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We are back with a weekend recap. A lot of stuff happened college football, NFL. We have the commissioner of college football, Josh Pay on the show right now.

[Willie C. Taylor]

There's too much bubbling in the college football world.

[Josh Pate]

There's a lot going on.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Talk about games, we'll talk about teams, performances, everything else. But there is a lot of talk about what's going on, the coaching world. So we had to have on. Listen, you guys get a heavy dose of Willie C. Taylor and Josh Pate all on the Locker room, which comes out every Wednesday evening, where we kind of talk about what our favorite picks are for the weekend. But this feels like, you know, this.

[Josh Pate]

Feels like we had to have it.

[Willie C. Taylor]

08 Economy Vibes oh, yeah.

[Josh Pate]

I think that was actually mentioned on the show this past week, was the 08 yeah. Crash.

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Josh B]

I'm Scott Hanson, host of NFL Red Zone.

[Willie C. Taylor]

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[Josh B]

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[Willie C. Taylor]

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[Josh B]

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[Josh Pate]

Tonight we got a double header. We got Bills are headed to Atlanta to face the Falcons, and the Bears are up against the Washington Commanders. Hail Mary Game back. We're coming back. So first things first. We cooked up a little parlay for the Bills game. We're talking about Josh Allen anytime touchdown Bijan anytime touchdown Josh Allen plus 250 pass and run stats Bijan plus 100 rushing yards. Now you can ride with the boys or you can cook up something for yourself, but what you need to know is that FanDuel is giving all customers a profit boost token to use either money on either Monday Night Football game. So whether you think the Bills are gearing up for a rebound game against Penix after their loss last week or you think the commanders will really start to heat things up after Daniel's return, make sure to drop a profit boost token on either of those games to make sure we winnings get even bigger. Just head to fanduel.com forward/boston to get started. I like our parlay. I'm a fan of our I think there's a big Josh Allen goes off game. It's 100 rush plus receiving yards. That's not what it says on the card.

[Greg Olson]

It's okay.

[Josh Pate]

He said it's a hundred rush plus.

[Greg Olson]

Receiving so that's even better for you. So it doesn't have to be 100 rushing yards. It's rushing and receiving combined.

[Josh Pate]

Combined is 250. I think that's okay. So that originally got back to. I think that's what it was.

[Greg Olson]

Perfect.

[Josh Pate]

Perfect.

[Willie C. Taylor]

I know. We'll touch on this when we get to the the locker room again. Wednesday evenings the boys and Josh pate the locker room on the bus with the boys channel. I believe we collabed with your channel last week. Blowing up, blowing up, blowing up. But hey, four and one in the big games, you boy was a little spicy over the weekend and right now going in now don't want to jinx it. Knock on wood. Right now going into Monday night, Monday Night Football. We talked about six games on the NFL portion of the locker room with Clay and Delaney. Right Now I'm sitting at 4.0and I have a confession for this is for all the boys, for everybody. This for everybody. Because this is on me. However, I do think you guys will understand because at times there are some solo missions on parlays that you have to play. And over the weekend, Sunday, I literally.

[Josh Pate]

Saw an Instagram thing yesterday about this. Bro.

[Josh B]

Here we go.

[Willie C. Taylor]

But here's a parlay that's open for me.

[Josh Pate]

Group chats always.

[Willie C. Taylor]

I'm glad we're talking about it because this could be the jinx that makes it lose and I'll feel much better. But if I win this, I had an eight leg parlay plus 1800 and it was Denver money line, Rams money line, Patriots money line, Colts money line, Seahawks money line, Tampa Bay money line, packers money line. And now I just need the commanders to hit.

[Josh Pate]

How much you put on it? 500.

[Willie C. Taylor]

100 to win, 1900.

[Josh Pate]

What's the buyout right now?

[Willie C. Taylor]

11. 1100 $27 to cash out.

[Josh Pate]

And when did you place it?

[Willie C. Taylor]

I mean, I'm riding with it. I'm for sure riding with it.

[Josh Pate]

But when'd you place it?

[Greg Olson]

Now.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yesterday morning. Sunday morning. But now I'm feeling guilty just because that was when I did. I know we share our parlays in the group chats. Sometimes there are parlays we just do on our own. Like I'm thinking to myself, am I who I think I am? Because I've been a little hot since I've shaved the head.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, you've been hot.

[Josh B]

So you have a solo mission text thread with yourself.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Hey, buddy, you're rolling right now.

[Josh B]

Yeah.

[Willie C. Taylor]

You see the same man?

[Josh Pate]

Yeah.

[Josh B]

For real.

[Josh Pate]

I haven't. Just working. Been working. Good news for women. Will, what was your, what was your College football again? 4 and 1.

[Willie C. Taylor]

4 and 1 missed on Indiana, which again, apologies to the Indiana fans. I know I went pretty hard last week because we got this little thing we, we like to do with coach Lanning and Big Nettie. A simple LOL after the game with Big Nettie after and three Sig emojis. Indiana's beating some ass right now. They're one of the best teams in college football.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah. Great for Will. Let's give Will come to a round of applause for four and one. Now turn around. In a moment of silence. I went 05, buddy. The way the Red River Shootout was taking place and we didn't have much service. But we go away from that Missouri Alabama game and Alabama's up 10. I'm thinking I said it on ESPN. Don't be surprised if Alabama wins this game by double digits. I felt really good about that. We walk away, we get through the tunnel and finally service starts popping up. Everyone just in their phone and Will's.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Like, oh.

[Josh Pate]

Shows it over and. And Missouri loses by three. I'm literally trying to speak in existence for the next 45. I think the line was like two and a half, right? It was a one and a half.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah, I think it was two.

[Josh Pate]

It might have been three. It might have been a push.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Bama's up 10 right now.

[Josh B]

Yeah.

[Willie C. Taylor]

But Mizzou has the ball and they're in Bama territory. So it was one of those situations where they score fast. I don't know if they in a spot where they got an onside kick it. We didn't get to see the. The ending of it. But once they won, he's like, what was the spread on the game? I was like, three and a half. He's like, are you sure I won the two? And I'm like, no, it was three and a half.

[Josh B]

Are you doubly sure? Here's the. Here's the funny part. First off, half of Missouri stadium is construction right now. So you're standing in the ends. I was on the field. I'm standing in the end zone where the construction is happening. And I'm thinking about, first off, wow, Alabama really needs this win. Secondly, Missouri, they're down 10, so they're trying to score and get the onside. And the moment that dude crossed the goal line, I'm standing next to three of my staffers and I just yelled, they got him. They got him and everyone else in that building. And they thought I was talking about the dude scoring the touchdown. I was talking about you. I was talking about you.

[Willie C. Taylor]

They got him because you were the.

[Josh B]

Only one I knew that said, they're going to pull away. It was one of those weird things where the. Almost the entire world, it felt like including me said, I'm going to take Alabama. It's going to be really close, though. Normally when everyone's in unison, something other than what they're in unison about happens. The game played out. First off, spread was three to three and a half. Total was 51. Final score was 27, 24. Everything about the game played out according to script.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, man.

[Willie C. Taylor]

And anybody knew when we. That was in the tunnel, we get in the. We get in the car service to go to the airport. He asked the next person that he sees, hey, what was the spread on the game? Was it. Was it two and a half?

[FanDuel Advertiser]

Two and a half?

[Josh Pate]

I think it was two and a half.

[Willie C. Taylor]

We get on the. We get on the plane.

[Josh Pate]

I'm thinking to myself, because I've already gone through the games, I'm like, oh, I'm. I'm 0 and 4 right now going into Michigan.

[Josh B]

USC, the actual FanDuel app tells you it was three and a half and you hit them up, hey, I got a guy here.

[Josh Pate]

You guys mess this up.

[Josh B]

I got a guy here at stand outside the carnival ride who, who says he swears it was two and a half. Are you guys sure?

[Willie C. Taylor]

Then we get on the plane and he genuinely ask again out loud. And I'm just kind of chuckling to myself like, he can't take this loss right now.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, I couldn't take it because I'm thinking to myself, at the very least, win one.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah.

[Josh Pate]

Because I've been at the top of our. Like, it's been very close between the three of us, but I've been sitting at the top and I'm thinking to myself, eventually it'll fall. And I know it and I feel it and I know it's going to come. But when it's actually happening, you're like, I really didn't prepare for it. I just said the words. I didn't emotionally prepare for this loss that I was about.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Then you're owing for going into Michigan, usc, which. What we got to witness on the locker room was the, the confidence, the self, the.

[Josh Pate]

The locker room. I think if you look that back, you could. I'm nervous. I even say, like, I'm nervous with this game. Like, they match up really well with us. What they do well is what we don't do well and vice versa. But I thought at the end of the day, like, toughness is going to win. And I was right. I was right. Toughness, toughness.

[Josh B]

The tougher guy won. Lincoln Riley won.

[Josh Pate]

As much as I want to sit here and, and beat my chest about Michigan, like the thing that makes me so prideful in Michigan is like when the backs against the wall, they scratch and claw and fight and you're going to, you're going to walk away. You're in a missing, you're being missing a limb. Broken leg. You're going to have. You're going to be beat up. When you play Michigan and that game we had our guys getting hurt, their guys are celebrating on the sideline in the fourth quarter. They run for. What was it, 225 yards.

[Josh B]

Over five yards per carry.

[Josh Pate]

Over five yards per carry. And that's not with their starting running back in the Big Ten.

[Greg Olson]

Not.

[Josh Pate]

That's not what their second string. That's what they walk on. Running back and the missed tackles. So, yeah, we got our ass beat. Good news.

[Josh B]

We're.

[Josh Pate]

Oh, no. This week. And I'll be. I'm with. I told JP this before we started. I'll be putting a two leg parlay together. Just a two little. It'll be Michigan Moneyline and South Carolina Moneyline because we're in Cocktober right now, baby. We got to get it done.

[Willie C. Taylor]

I think don't you guys have a buy now?

[Josh Pate]

We play Washington this week.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah, this week.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah. Five opened up at five and a.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Half point favor before Washington open up.

[Josh Pate]

At five and a half point favorites.

[Josh B]

In the big house.

[Josh Pate]

In the big house.

[Josh B]

Washington got down 21 to Maryland last time they were on the road.

[Josh Pate]

I know.

[Willie C. Taylor]

24 in the fourth quarter to win. Washington is a tough team. Like, the only team they've lost to is Ohio State.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah. What do they do really well? Throw the ball well. They got a good running back. They do rpo. They get the ball out really fast. I think. What's the quarterback's name for usc? He got. They were showing it during the game. Like he was eating the ball out in like 1.3 seconds. Good player, like getting the ball, making fast decisions. Like the pass rush. They're like, they know our password is really good. And they just. Oh, they know our pass rush is really good. So they just decided take care of it.

[Greg Olson]

They did a great.

[Josh Pate]

They did a great job. They did. There's some scheme things I wasn't a fan of, but at the end of the day, it's maze and blue. We got to handle the Huskies.

[Josh B]

Can I say this, though?

[Josh Pate]

Go ahead.

[Josh B]

You did not disappear Saturday night. Night. You were vulnerable, you were hurt and you were bleeding, but you were texting through it. You were texting through it.

[Josh Pate]

I was texting through it.

[Josh B]

And there are a lot of parenthesis after the text.

[Josh Pate]

I just text Pate. I'm like, I'm so sorry. Because his whole thing was, I got a Michigan problem until Michigan proves me wrong. And I'm like, hey, I'm. I'm so sorry we let you down. Literally the next play, Bryce Underwood to Marsh. 64 yard bomb. We're touchdown.

[Josh B]

We're back in it. We're probably not.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Pate]

We're probably not. Like, we're trying to reverse psychology the text. I'm like, that text message did exactly what I needed to do. Because remember, all we needed was a stop.

[Josh B]

Yeah.

[Willie C. Taylor]

After.

[Josh B]

Yeah. That's all we needed after the Nebraska game. For the viewers who don't know, you're laying on the field out there and it's tough. You've lost and I've lost a bet. You've won. I go in the Michigan locker room with you. You're celebrating. You're holding up the bus and bowl trophy. Everyone's happy in there. And I just kind of got to stand off on the side because I'm the only guy in that whole room that picked Michigan to Lose the game, but am in the Michigan locker room after the game and everyone keeps making eye contact with. With me. You keep making eye contact with me. Everyone keeps making eye contact with me. And I'm in there learning a lesson. I'm just never going against this team again. When I'm on the fence, I'm going to. I'm going to ride with Michigan and I rode with Michigan and we crashed.

[Josh Pate]

We crashed.

[Josh B]

This is what it feels like.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah. Good news.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Were you riding with Michigan for the Michigan problem or did you in your heart of hearts think Michigan was going to win that game?

[Josh B]

Kind of both. The model liked Michigan. I thought I liked Michigan. I had the Michigan problem to overcome. So now what do I do? I'm probably going to pick him again against Washington. I don't really know what to do. I feel like no matter what. I feel like no matter what. Because see, I thought Kansas may have Texas Tech on upset alert a little bit too. So I said it. Then I get text from the Texas Tech staff after they blow them out. Hey, bro, you helped us out. Thanks. That puts me in a no win position. If I vocalize that I think someone's on upset alert and then they weaponize it in their building and the upset doesn't happen because of me. What do we really do at that point? Do I just write all my picks in an envelope? Don't say it on air.

[Josh Pate]

These were my picks. You should do that. One week if it keeps going.

[Josh B]

Trust me, bro.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah. Yeah, it is. You put yourself in this position though. Going back to sitting in a car, listening to people open stuff up, putting the volume down and going through the whole segment yourself. You've done great. Now people listen.

[Josh B]

Whomst amongst us thought it would turn into this, though.

[Josh Pate]

Not. I don't know.

[Willie C. Taylor]

How are you feeling about the rest of the season for Michigan?

[Josh Pate]

It's all winnable. Like it's, it's.

[Willie C. Taylor]

But how are you feeling when you watch? Because again, I had USC and my whole thought process was the way Michigan goes about things offensively. Like as far as a lot of it is move the pocket, you're wanting to run the ball. The, the way the, the resume that they had was they had these, these big explosive runs by your running backs that kind of, you know, it's got Haynes top of the league or top of the country in rushing yards and everything else. But it's like if, if teams are able to keep the explosives from happening.

[Josh B]

And you're behind and they broke explosives on you.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Right, right. And like it's just it doesn't seem like a team that's built to like come from behind, keep up offensively. So that's where my question comes in. Like when you have Washington coming in, you kind of look at the rest of the year and you kind of see what Michigan has been doing offensively.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah.

[Willie C. Taylor]

From your vantage point when you're watching at home, it's like, how are you feeling about the Michigan?

[Josh Pate]

When I'm, when I'm watching that game, there's so many things that I look at that's like, okay, that's all you can fix that. The missed tackles you can fix. Like USC goes down in the first drive and scores 7. Should have been off. It's pass interference. Should have absolutely been offensive pass interference. However, it wasn't. And then we go and it's like, okay, the noise has been what you just said. Michigan has to run the football to be successful. They get these explosives. If you, if you take away the explosives, then Michigan's not. But it's like, you can say that all you want. However, it's like, Michigan, hey, don't get the explosives. But every game Michigan gets the explosives. So like what, what kind of back and forth are we really dealing with? It seemed to me that like Michigan was really starting to find in the Wisconsin game. They're, they're passing threat where it's like, okay, Macaulay starts to come on a little bit. This Marsh kid who's a five star freshman, he's really starting to figure out the playbook. He's got great hands. During the course of the game, you realize these guys have really put a lot of intention in the drop ball. So I think there was maybe one, if not zero. So it's okay. You see, there's some level of course correction there, but you start the first game with a three and out and you try to throw the ball three times and it's like, well, that's not what we're saying. When we need to have a vertical threat, it's like, let's utilize the run game. We know the safety is going to come in the box. We know for everybody who's playing Michigan, you've got to stop the run. So take advantage of it with the pass and be a little more 50, 50. Be creative in your past, be creative in your motions. And it just seemed like we got, we, Lincoln Riley had a better game plan going into that from an offensive standpoint against our defense. And their defense put us in third and long situations and we're able to feast like it's sometimes when it snowballs, looking to the rest of the year, I think there's a lot of times where teams are a lot better than the way they played and that's Michigan's a perfect example for that. They, they got their ass kicked. And now you go into a team that everyone, everyone in the Big Ten respects Washington as a football club. You get them in the east coast time zone, you get them for them. What would be a 9am kickoff because it's playing at 11 or noon. And so now it's like, okay, let's run the ball effectively, let's be creative, let's move the pocket Bryce Underwood and show sustained drives. Let our defense have a comeback game and say, hey, I know we failed last game because we had 500 yards of offense put on us, but let's, let's redirect receivers at the line of scrimmage, let's push back the offensive line, let's form tackle and if we're not in a good position to make a tackle, let's slow a guy down so the cavalry can come. Like, let's see team football starting to happen because all these games are winnable. And then you've got Ohio State at the end of the year, which we've been 40 against. So it's like, it's not like the season's over. It's just now you've put yourself in a position where it's a, basically a win and go home. If you think you're a college football team.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah. What's that say about usc? Man, USC looked good.

[Josh B]

This is the week.

[Willie C. Taylor]

What are your thoughts?

[Josh Pate]

Who they play this week?

[Josh B]

They are playing at Notre Dame this week.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah.

[Josh B]

A lot of Southern Califans wanted to paint last week as the statement week. And I was very careful because I don't believe that was a statement, because I don't believe you make a statement against teams you're favorite against. You make a statement by going on the road. You do the whole cross country time zone thing. You go play a team that is physically superior to you, has been talent wise, superior to you, in part because the general manager for you now is who put that roster together in Chad Bowden. That would be the statement to me. But it wasn't very impressive that USC did what they did. They held Michigan. I think their longest run was 13 yards, by the way. So they totally inverted the game script the way people like me and you thought it would play out okay. Now if USC were to go to Notre Dame and win two Things happen there. Notre Dame's out of the playoff. That's the first thing that happens. The second thing that happens is USC is a bona fide playoff threat. Third thing that happens is you all of a sudden look at Oregon's schedule down the road and you realize, oh, wow, USC goes to Oregon in November and that becomes a monster game.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah.

[Josh B]

So a bunch of dominoes could fall Saturday just with that game. And then the fourth domino up the road in Ann Arbor is we're sitting in this world where James Franklin, who I assume we're about to talk about, was in overtime with Oregon, top five ranking 16 days ago, and now he's out of a job. Which shows you how fast things can change in college football right now. So I'm thinking about everybody, but since we were just talking about Michigan, Michigan is a two loss team right now. Okay. The Washington line opened at like five and a half at home. Not a lot of separation there, but yet no one will be thinking on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Really worried about Washington, Michigan. That's a Michigan thing. Only the rest of the college football public's not thinking about that. If all of a sudden Washington pulls an upset and that just gets sprung on America Saturday, the noise would be turned from like three to seven on the Michigan staff. I like those dudes. Like, I would prefer that not to happen, but I would have preferred it not to happen to James either. So I'm just saying, man, there are a lot of conversations happening behind the scenes. Cause that snowball got kicked downhill with Penn State and now the folks at Auburn are talking, the folks at Florida are talking, the folks at Michigan have been whispering a little bit. I think it turns into an outright talk. Not a scream, but an outright talk. If that happens Saturday.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah. The bummer about that is the Michigan Twitter world, the social media world of Michigan is louder than ever about that circumstance. And I think it's a. You gotta essentially win out to Ohio State for the fan base. I don't know what goes on behind with everybody else, but like, for me, like, as soon as the game end, texture on. Hey, man, keep your head up.

[Josh B]

Yeah.

[Josh Pate]

Gotta keep it going. Yeah.

[Josh B]

Like I want to.

[Josh Pate]

Hopefully everyone's healthy.

[Josh B]

Yeah. I want to be very clear. So when we're talking about this, like, I think a lot of this is insane. Is insane. I thought it was crazy the way they were talking about Ryan Day. Last year. I learned it doesn't matter what I think because I learned I'm not making decisions in these athletic departments. In some cases boosters are, in other cases, administrators are. So what I learned to do is just echo the reality. The reality, regardless of whether I like it or not, is there's going to be a ton of noise around him if they don't win Saturday and if they don't keep on winning, like I think 8 and 4 puts them on very thin ice with hot blades and they're a two loss team right now.

[Josh Pate]

And here's. Let's, let's go down the world. Can you actually pull up? What was I gonna say to pull up? I forget what it was. You mentioned something. Anyway, I started going down the avenue of like, okay, what's our, what's our recruiting class look like? What kind of things do we need? We're a top 10 recruiting class. You have a lot of key freshman, sophomore guys that are playing already that are showing a lot of like, oh, hey, we got, we got some guys coming up. What happens?

[Willie C. Taylor]

And you got Bryce Underwood.

[Josh Pate]

And you got Bryce Underwood. What happens if that staff isn't there next year?

[Josh B]

Okay, remember this. So two things are happening. Firstly, Michigan recruits itself, that's the first thing they're banking on. That rather that Michigan recruits itself guys are there for Michigan, not for one coach. Whether that's real or not, that's what they're banking on. Number two, the rule just changed in the ncaa. It was up until about five minutes ago. If your coach gets fired, your entire roster can enter the portal for the next 30 days and your class falls apart and whatever. Now the rule for your roster is you got to wait till the next coach is hired, which may or may not be legal, but that's the rule right now. So your roster is not going to immediately evaporate. Number two, Michigan is very, very well bankrolled. So I think before they ever made a move, in a hypothetical alternate universe where they made a coaching move, I think they would proactively make sure all their guys are locked up and taken care of financially, roster wise, before they ever touch the coaching staff. So I don't really see this cataclysmic falling apart of the recruiting class falling apart of the roster. Unless guys are just so loyal to your current head coach. This goes for anyone. Unless they're just so loyal that they want to make a statement. Yeah, you fired my guy. That's why I was here. I'm out. Some of that may happen with Penn State. I don't know what's going to happen with Penn State's roster.

[Josh Pate]

Well, you see the, I think Penn State had like the number two running back. I thought that hitter kid was the number one running back. Got you 20, 27 running back. He, I think even before the game he's like, I'm, I'm not 100 committed to Penn State anymore. After James Franklin gets fired, he's now decommitted from Penn State. So, yeah, I mean it's, there's a lot of things that happen just other than a head coach decides or a program besides to fire a head coach. All these kids are looking at that and be like, okay, I want stability in my life. One thing you do, like, I didn't realize that's so important when I was going to college is like, is the head coach going to be there for all four years when you're there? I had to go through two head coaches. You were able to play your whole career with one coach.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah, a lot of recruits are pretty. I, I guess, look, I speak for myself. Like, I committed mainly to the coaching staff. I feel like a lot of recruits basically commit to the coaching staff. I know everybody says, like, pick the school, pick the school. And that could be great advice, but I feel like you just get caught up in your relationships with the staff. You want them to be there the whole time. So when somebody, when they leave, if they leave, make either a lateral move or get fired or whatever, I feel like that kind of affects the roster. What do you see happening? We have a tear talk here from Jared Ladd. Hashtag tear talk. Where does Franklin go from here? Part of me seeing like I've just been in the Nebraska world, but it's happened at Auburn, it's happened at Florida, but when Nebraska fired Polini because they were so fed up with nine, 10 win seasons, then you just see the decade downturn of what Nebraska and the fans and the world has had to go through since firing Bo Pelini. Where do you think Franklin goes from here? What do you think it means for Penn State? Do you think Penn State's just going to hit when they get this next head coach, whoever it may be?

[Josh B]

If I were him, you wouldn't see me for. Either you wouldn't see me for two years or I'd go do tv. Because I've got a theory on this. Like, my theory is, I think it when you're fired, if you're fired as a head coach right now, James Franklin, for example, very high profile coach. Okay. So been very successful up until the last two weeks. Basically been very successful. Dan Mullen got fired at Florida. Dan Mullen did it right Dan Mullen went and sat on TV for a few years and you're just a genius on tv. You get to be the one who second guesses. You get to be the one who doesn't have to make the call and live with the consequences. You just get to commentate. You get to do what we do all the time. All coaches sound like geniuses on tv. All coaches. Stocks go up on tv, go sit on tv. You're making buyout money anyway. They're going to have to pay you 50 plus million dollars. See your family, go sit on a beach every now and then. But also what you do privately behind the scenes is you circulate. Sort of Your James Franklin 2.0 plan or here are the lessons I learned. Here's why it went sideways at Penn State. Here's how I'm going to acclimate to the new landscape of college football. If you hire me, here's who I'd hire, blah, blah, blah. Then you wait and you select the on ramp back to coaching. That's what I would do. I don't think he's going to do that. Everything I've heard is he's looking to get right back into coaching. Like maybe the UCLA job, for example. Maybe he looks at that and says.

[Josh Pate]

I think that UCLA jobs are taken.

[Josh B]

That's actually true. UCLA job looks okay, right?

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, I think. Well, yeah, I'll get that.

[Willie C. Taylor]

I'm, I'm confident. Look, if everybody else is on board with it.

[Josh B]

Is that a state college area code? Wow.

[Willie C. Taylor]

People are calling if. If the entire college football world's on board with it. I'm good with ucla just being 2.0and they've just had, they had. They get to reset their season with this interim head coach because they've been on fire just these last two weeks.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, I can, I can get on that. I think UCLA might have to be ranked now. They're undefeated team.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah, they're undefeated right now with him.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah.

[Josh B]

As a head coach, they are what I needed South Carolina to be. It's Brewin Tober. It's not Cocktober right now. It's Brewintober.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah.

[Josh B]

Then again, Oklahoma comes to town Saturday. So let's see anyway, Money line. Yeah.

[Josh Pate]

Oklahoma, Moneyline this week. Oh, sorry, South Carolina. Yeah, yeah, my fault, my fault, my fault. Yeah, it's interesting, but also for Penn.

[Willie C. Taylor]

State fans celebrating this in such a way. Do you feel like I don't blame.

[Josh Pate]

Grass isn't greener.

[Josh B]

Yeah, I get it though. That's.

[Willie C. Taylor]

That's where I sit There and think, like, I had a close friend of mine, Jeff D. Lowe, he hits me up. I think he's. He has. I think he sent me a clip of yours and was just talking about, like, it being he. He's of the camp of happy. Franklin's out of there. It needed to happen. He fails. Or as this is on the banner, 1 and 18 against top. What is it? Top five top 10 opponents or AP opponents. And I'm sitting there messaging with him. I'm like, hey, I feel you, bro. I promise you. I feel you. But the only experience I have is same kind of thing. Like a fan base was so fed up with Bo Pelini, I was like, now I don't think you guys go out and hire, you know, like an average coach. Like, we ended up going out and getting Mike Riley. That kind of started the ball and then we completely whipped on Scott Frost. I don't think that'll happen because they have the resources, they have the funds.

[Josh B]

There's got to be a sure thing out there. It doesn't matter if you got. Well, billions of dollars is different. But it doesn't matter whether you're well resourced. If you're paying 50 plus million dollars to fire a guy or you're just getting rid of them, even if you didn't have to pay the buyout. Although that's reality. So you're paying the buyout. There's got to be a definitive upgrade, right, for you to be confident. So I understand Penn State fan sentiment. First off, you're looking at Ohio State and you're saying to yourself, man, I invest emotionally like my buddy Mike does. I invest financially like my buddy Mike, the season ticket holder at Ohio State does. Why can't I get the results he gets? Why can't we get the results they get? Why can't we get the results Michigan's gotten?

[Willie C. Taylor]

They've both won Indiana with Signetti.

[Josh B]

Yeah, Signetti makes a lot of people look bad because he's doing it way quicker than everyone who's been there a long time. But you're looking at it and you're saying, okay, I don't want to just be very good. I would rather take my chances and jump into the fog and try and grab the great. But with the risk that we fall into, terrible, I would just rather take that risk. That's emotion thinking. That is not logic thinking. But I understand it because you're not supposed to be logical as a fan. You're not supposed to. So I'm sitting on the outside. I'm not emotional about it. I'm trying to be more logical and I'm trying to say you could do two things at once. You could admit we've just been pretty good. We haven't been great. We want to be great. He needs to make changes to be great. Okay, that's, that's hand A while hand B also says, man, there's so much further you could fall making this move than room to climb. And so I look at that proposition and I say, does it really make sense to make the move? Does it really make sense to pull the trigger and fire him? Not put pressure on him, fire him. And I thought the answer was no. I thought it's insane. The guy's 34 and 8 with three double digit win seasons over the past three years. He was, I cannot stress this enough for people who are mainly NFL and just kind of dabble in college. The guy was in overtime against Oregon 16 days ago with a top five ranking next to his name and the lead in the game. And he's out of a job now 12 years in to his tenure. Remember when he took the job, they weren't that far removed from crippling scandal. Like Penn State had huge stains on their brand that extended well beyond football. Publicly, when you mentioned Penn State, no one taught football. They talked other terrible stuff. And James Franklin comes in and correct me if I'm wrong, there hasn't been a whiff of scandal since he's been there. So my thinking was just, how does this guy not have more equity built up than this?

[Ed Helms]

How much?

[Josh B]

How much? Very, very good can you turn in before people just get fed up with very good and in pursuit of great take this kind of risk because this is a huge risk. And like you said, okay, if you want to go and you want to upgrade, that's fine. If there were a guaranteed upgrade out there, I would support this move. James Franklin himself logically couldn't push back on this move. If you told James, hey, so and so is available, like Nick Saban, Kirby Smart. Kirby Smart's available and he wants to come to Penn State, even James Franklin would have to say, yeah, you guys got to make this move. Pay me my money. You got to make this move. Kirby's not available. None of the top coaches are available. So again, we're not talking about Penn State having been terrible. We're talking about them floating in about the 8 to 15 range, right over the past few years. So to upgrade, you've either got to go get one of the top eight coaches in the country, none of whom are going to leave where they are right now. Or you've got to have such a surefire candidate out there. Maybe it's a hotshot coordinator or maybe it's a coach that I don't know is, like, reemerging on the landscape. And you're going to be his final step. You're hiring for the next 15 years. I don't see that. Like, you know, I'm a huge Matt Campbell guy. I'd hire him tomorrow if I had an opening. But even I'll admit with Matt Campbell, that's not such a sure slam dunk that I'm going to fire James Franklin and pay him $50 million not to work here anymore. Because I think Matt Campbell may work out there. Like, Matt Campbell's a ball coach and I could tout him until the sun goes down today. And I think he would be a home run hire for whoever had a job opening because he's done great things at a historically terrible program at Iowa State. I don't know that I'm paying $50 million to get the other guy out of the seat. Just to find out.

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Ed Helms]

Hey, everyone.

[Josh B]

Ed Helms here, and hi, I'm Kal Penn, and we're the hosts of Irsay, The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club.

[Ed Helms]

This week on the podcast, I am sitting down with Jenny Garth, host of the iHeart podcast. I choose me to discuss the new Audible adaptation of the timeless Jane Austen classic Pride and Prejudice. This is not a trick question. There's no wrong answer. What role would I play?

[Willie C. Taylor]

You know what?

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[Josh B]

You got a little Colin Firth.

[Ed Helms]

Okay, that's really sweet. I appreciate that. But are you sure I'm not the dad? I'm not Mr. Bennett. Here, listen to Earsay the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club Club on the iHeartradio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Josh B]

That's where my head's at.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, you gotta. You have to know, okay, we're getting ready. We're making this big of a move in 16 days. They have to know in their head we know who our next guy is. That text message has gone out. That burner phone has come out and been like, hey, what do you think? Yeah, yeah, I would make that move. All right.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Do you think they know who their target is or who their guy is? Like, you're very connected in the college football world in what you've seen, because you watch. Listen, we'll be watching Thursday Night Football, and I see you tweeting about some game that's happening in college football.

[Josh B]

It's not some game. It's Miami, Ohio, Toledo. It's a rivalry game, buddy.

[Willie C. Taylor]

That's an in state rivalry game. So head coaches, coordinators up and comers, like, what is this list looking like for Penn State? Like, what are coaches that are, you know, for any of the jobs that might be opening up?

[Josh Pate]

Before you answer that question, CBS had a whole report on this. Have you seen that CBS report? Those are your friends.

[Josh B]

I can't remember which report it was.

[Josh Pate]

Maybe it was about who the next head coach is. They said, and I quote, it starts here and it finishes here.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Oh, I. I saw that one. I saw that one. You're talking about my boy. You're talking about my second father.

[Josh Pate]

I think. I think the odds came out, too. And your boy is the number one front runner. By.

[Willie C. Taylor]

On me right here.

[Josh B]

Hang on.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Tear talk. Need Josh Bake to whisper in my ear that rule won't go to Penn State.

[Josh Pate]

Ser. Is happening. The flight attendant's looking at us, and she's not good right now. Hey, we're having a conversation. We're having a conversation.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Door shut. Bus door shut. I'm looking at you.

[Josh B]

Put your seat belt on. Okay. I know and you know and you know that I know that you know that that's your burner. I know that, and I know that you want me to put your mind at ease. And you know, I think it would be terrible if Matt left Nebraska to go to Penn State. I think the CBS Report is right, that that's their target. Because I think Pat Kraft and Matt Rule, I mean, if you and I vacation together and I'm the AD somewhere and I think that the job that I have control of is superior to the job you have. Yeah, I'm going to offer you the job. That's not the question. The question is not, is that their target? Because I think that may be their target. The question is going to be is he willing to leave? That's going to be the question.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah.

[Josh B]

Yes, he's going to be willing to leave.

[Willie C. Taylor]

No, no, no, I'm saying, I'm saying I, I, I understand, I understand what you're saying. I think the rumors are very real. I think the pressure will be at an all time high and I think it just comes down to what's in coach, rules, brain and heart. Yeah, I, I'm not trying to say he's not leaving. I hope these, that these rumors aren't true, that they're not targeting him. I think all of that, I just, I don't know what is in his heart, mind and soul. Because I know he was a walk on there. I know he's an east coast guy. I know he's got, you know, ties there, family ties, friends, everything. Like Penn State when he came and took the Nebraska job. You've kind of understood a little bit of this now. I'm understanding more of it. So I don't know what's going on in his brain, but I do know that in my opinion he's grown and as he's been there, he's on his third year now. He absolutely loves Nebraska. His wife, his family loves Nebraska. He moved his family, he moved some of his family over to Lincoln, Nebraska. His wife has a business in Nebraska. His son is a sophomore at unl. At Nebraska, you get everything you want at Nebraska. Money, resources, facilities, you got recruiting classes, you got a lot of things set up to where it's like you have some business that not only finished, but you can be a legacy guy at the University of Nebraska. I'm not talking to anybody in particular, but we got a lot of good shit happening in Lincoln to where I just, I think that as real as him and him being boys with the ad, but he's also very much great friends, boys with the ad. Troy Dana at Nebraska. I think that this is now he's got emotional ties here and this is a program that he legitimately wants to build and win championships with.

[Josh Pate]

Do you know who Greg Madison is?

[Willie C. Taylor]

I know who Greg Maddox is.

[Josh Pate]

Greg Madison, he was.

[Josh B]

They're both white males.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, he was a defensive corner. I think he was with the Ravens for a little bit. And then he came to the University of Michigan.

[Josh B]

All right.

[Josh Pate]

He loved Michigan. He loved Ann Arbor. His wife, kids, family, everyone moved there. They started themselves a little shop and on Main street called Rock Paper Scissors. It was like a cute trinket store. Right. Holiday season would take place. You go over there, get some fun ornaments for trees. Spooktober would take place. You have a whole bunch of stuff to kind of make your house a little more festive. A year after I left, he went to Ohio State.

[Josh B]

Oh, no.

[Josh Pate]

Because he had ties at Ohio State.

[Josh B]

And he's on record as saying it's the worst decision of his life. He didn't say that.

[Josh Pate]

Rock Paper Scissors is still there, and it's actually functioning very well. When I took my daughter to a game last year.

[Greg Olson]

Year.

[Josh Pate]

It's just as cute as it was before.

[Josh B]

Okay, well, here's the thing.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Listen. Listen to me.

[Josh B]

Here's the thing. He opened Rock Paper Scissors, and that's great. Matt Rules started.

[Josh Pate]

His wife opened Rock Paper Scissors.

[Josh B]

Matt Rule started a whole brand. He's got a whole podcast.

[Josh Pate]

I got you.

[Willie C. Taylor]

He's on Mac.

[Josh Pate]

Show me. Hey, show me that. We talked about this last week. Show me the brand of that podcast. Where's the N?

[Josh B]

Okay. That's just trademarking stuff.

[Willie C. Taylor]

You.

[Josh B]

You know, that's just legal.

[Josh Pate]

You can't get a trademark from the school you go to. You coach for.

[Josh B]

Maybe that's in the house rules.

[Josh Pate]

House Rules can easily go to blue and white.

[Josh B]

All I'm asking you and you and Matt Rule.

[Josh Pate]

I'm just playing devil's advocate. I want him to stay at Nebraska.

[Josh B]

Because you think it would be terrible for college football if he left.

[Josh Pate]

I think it'd be awful for college football.

[Josh B]

As do I. You got to ask yourself this, and this goes for someone who is working a job right now that has nothing to do with football that just may be watching the show. Are you happy when you wake up in the morning and go to work? Most people's answer is no. If Matt Rule's answer is yes, you've got your answer. You don't leave happy. You don't try and get happier than happy. And you've been around him a ton. I've been around him a little bit. Unless he's totally faking it, he seems happy at Nebraska. And if he's happy at Nebraska, then the best thing he can do right now, the best thing. Troy Dannon can do right now is to make sure you understand, okay? To keep this guy because he's in demand, which is a good thing, by the way. If you guys not in demand, he sucks. The best thing we can do is make sure we squeeze the sponge as hard as we can to drip every ounce of resource out of the sponge that is Nebraska, because that's what it's going to take to keep any quality candidate home. And that's what you do right now.

[Willie C. Taylor]

You're on to it right there. And it ain't, look, we got the facilities, and if you're on to something right there, if it's, if it's a little extra payday.

[Josh Pate]

Holgerson. You can't take Holgerson, though.

[Willie C. Taylor]

He gets paid overnight. Like he's, he's made a shitload of money now. It's. How do you, how do you position this thing? They put it all in. They like getting more players, more talent. Maybe that's it. But I think he stays in Nebraska. But I am aware that this, all this rule talk to Penn State is very real.

[Josh Pate]

But you term. Use the term happy. I think it's a poor. I think we choice of words when we talk about where Penn State is located at.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah, but one of the hardest things, hardest things to do for successful people is to get the goal post to stop moving. I think he's in a. An incredible spot. I think he wakes up very happy coaching the Nebraska Corn Huskers. What are you laughing about?

[Josh Pate]

You. Just your operation. Because literally, here's, here's.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Think about it, bro.

[Josh Pate]

I don't know. Hold on. Think about this. I'm sitting on this show with my best friend and my second best friend right now, and we're here talking ball. We're talking ball. And I know my job at this point on the show is strictly to push your buttons because if it was, if it was true serum was on me, I'd be like, I really hope Matt Rule doesn't leave. I want him to stay in Nebraska. And I'm watching my boy just reach and pick and try to grab anything he can. Because all you're saying is right, yeah. Put a billion dollar contract in front of him and say, you happy?

[Josh B]

We'll.

[Josh Pate]

We'll bring anything you want. I just know that the CBS report, you look at the odds, he's number one. And I, I. Last week, you and I talked about this, like, is Matt Rule going to go to Penn State? Is.

[Willie C. Taylor]

And I shut it down.

[Josh Pate]

Is that a possibility? You shut it down and Like, I just thought, oh, that's. That's an interesting thought process. The minute James Franklin was fired, the Matt Rule headline started and it was bigger than I ever could have imagined.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah.

[Josh Pate]

So I am, as your best friend, I'm afraid for you right now. I'm nervous because where do we go from here if we lose?

[Willie C. Taylor]

Matt, I. I know them boys in.

[Josh Pate]

Nebraska hate my guts because, like, how could you go for Michigan when you were at our spring game? It's like, there might be. That's why the N stands for knowledge. I went to Michigan, so I'm obviously going to go against you guys, but I still love and support you guys. I. What happened? Let's play a hypothetical game. And I'm just going to look at you right now. If Matt Rule takes the job at Penn State, where does Nebraska go from there? Who do they go get?

[Willie C. Taylor]

You open up the wall for anybody.

[Josh Pate]

That's. That's the problem, though, is you can't just open up the wallet for anybody. You have to go find the right guy and open the wall for that right guy.

[Josh B]

I'm going to speak for both of us. Here's the answer. If an asteroid drops on your house while you're asleep tonight, what are you going to do tomorrow?

[Josh Pate]

Nothing.

[Josh B]

Because you're dead.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah.

[Josh B]

I don't know what Nebraska would do. I'm not. Because I'm not allowing my mind to go there because it's not going to. It's not going to happen.

[Josh Pate]

Okay.

[Josh B]

But the answer is I would go, like, get Alex Golish. I would go get. One of these coordinators is begging for a shot because you want to talk about legacy, talk about appreciation. And again, this is hypothetical.

[Josh Pate]

Look up Alec Gollish's alma mater. We got to make sure that is. Actually, we gotta. We gotta look up wherever that is and make sure.

[Willie C. Taylor]

I don't know. I don't know why. Like, again, I feel very confident with what we've built over the last Asteroids.

[Josh B]

Not dropping on us.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, not in Lisa.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Mike Eckler in that special teams unit is sitting at the top of the country right now. Nebraska, we play a tough Minnesota team this weekend. Could be the first time we win six games. No. Whatever.

[Josh B]

Ryan, you're happy. You're happy in Columbus. Yeah.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah.

[Josh B]

The NFL will never call goal.

[Josh Pate]

Ish. Is alma mater is Ohio State.

[Josh B]

Why do they keep doing this to us?

[Josh Pate]

I mean, Ryan Day is not going anywhere. That's good news.

[Josh B]

That's good news.

[Josh Pate]

Unless a Penn State situation happens, that.

[Josh B]

Fan base would never turn on him.

[Josh Pate]

They would never turn last year. They're like, oh, well, Michigan, all good.

[Josh B]

Nebraska coaching search conversation.

[Josh Pate]

Buddy, you always knew that's exactly where this would go.

[Josh B]

We spent three minutes on Penn State.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Maybe three minutes on Penn State.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, we knew this is where it was gonna go.

[Willie C. Taylor]

To get back to the a. To get back to the original question. I know we made it about the.

[Josh B]

Husky job's not even open.

[Willie C. Taylor]

But who are these. Who do you think these coaches are that will be on these short lists when these, you know, programs? Because I'm sure we are pretty sure that there will be more jobs open than just Penn State.

[Josh B]

Oh, yeah, man.

[Willie C. Taylor]

And who are these coaches that you think will be making some big moves in the offseason?

[Josh B]

I think that Matt Campbell is. I'm going to go back to him. I mean, I might as well be his agent. Like, that's how much I believe in him. So Matt Campbell at Iowa State would be my call. Rules going to get mentioned with Penn State until the job gets filled. I also think John Summerall at Tulane has been ready to. I think he's smart enough to wait for the right job to open. Probably an SEC job. I think a couple at least of SEC jobs will come open. Alex Goelish, like we just mentioned at South Florida, like both of those guys in a previous life would have already left. They would have taken a smaller job. Those guys can just afford to wait for a bigger job. Remember, Arkansas is open right now. Remember Oklahoma State is open right now.

[Josh Pate]

Arkansas, Stanford, ucla, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State, Penn State.

[Josh B]

I got no clue what you do if you're Virginia Tech. I have no clue what you do. Your route, ironically, I don't think James is going to take Penn or Virginia Tech, but your route may be to hire a guy who's already making buyout money so that you don't have to break the bank for him because there's no bank to break there.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Fun thought. With some coaching experience. Do you look at somebody like from your alma mater, d' Angelo Hall? D. Hall's been in the NFL game.

[Josh B]

Yeah. Well, Mike Big's coaching right now, right.

[Willie C. Taylor]

You see D. Jack, you see some of these moves as far as like.

[Josh Pate]

Eddie George was, he's at Bowling Green.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Could be a thought.

[Josh B]

It is a thought.

[Josh Pate]

If you're going for these big time programs, I think there needs to be a higher sample size before you start going giving d' Angelo Hall a Nebraska job or a Penn State job.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah. And look, that's more speculation like it. But if d' Angelo hall was Somebody that, like, wanted to coach at Virginia Tech. That could very much be like a thought. Depending if he sits down in the right rooms, interviews well and everything else. And if he's dying for a Virginia Tech job, a stud, a legend. And not only Virginia Tech, but also the NFL, that could bring a lot of awareness, excitement, branding. Because Virginia Tech's been in a hole for a long time since. Since like the 2000s, that first decade.

[Josh Pate]

In the 2000s, staying on the coaching. And you brought up Tulane. SEC. We know that Hugh Freeze is probably on the hot seat a little bit. We've talked about Billy Naper.

[Josh B]

Saturday is a big game for Hugh Freeze. They play Missouri. It's a All Caps. Do you understand what I'm telling you?

[Josh Pate]

I'm on. I fully picking up what you're putting.

[Josh B]

Big Saturday on the planes for Hugh Freeze.

[Josh Pate]

If. Okay, those two we know, Billy Napier and Hugh Freeze. What about Brett Venables? Is there any noise there? You lose a Texas at the Redwood Rivalry the way you do shoot up if. Sorry, Shootout. If Matier's thumb doesn't get better and they go through this SEC process where it was kind of a hot seat situation before the season started. Before.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Let's say they lose to the Gamecocks.

[Josh Pate]

Let's say they lose to the Cox. What's the rest of Oklahoma schedule? Let's just say.

[Josh B]

Let's just say all ranked teams.

[Josh Pate]

Okay, so they're. They're in a. They're in a Movember type of situation.

[Josh B]

Let's just call it a tough schedule.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, it's a tough schedule. Let's say it doesn't go the way they want. Is Brett Venables, who was on. Who was kind of on this, like, theoretical hot seat before the season started. Is that a situation where there's a vacant job at Oklahoma?

[Josh B]

Yeah.

[Josh Pate]

Okay.

[Josh B]

Yeah, that's another one.

[Josh Pate]

I could have took way less time to ask that.

[Josh B]

It's another one that's not on the radar yet because they started the season hot.

[Josh Pate]

Right.

[Josh B]

You're looking at. I'm just. I'm trying. I've tried to tell you guys like two weeks ago. I've been alluding to this. The reason it's that schedule. So that's the reason it's going to.

[Willie C. Taylor]

South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri and finish with LSU that you got.

[Josh B]

A good season going 8 and 4 there. If you go 8 and 4 against that, that's a good season. Here's the problem. Something called the recalibration of expectation, a theory I have not presented on the show yet has happened with Oklahoma. If Oklahoma lost to Michigan in week two, people would have never recalibrated their mentality to think Oklahoma could be a contender because they would have had a loss already. But the problem for Oklahoma, ironically, is they beat Michigan. So people forgot their preseason expectations and they recalibrated on the fly. And all of a sudden Oklahoma became a contender. Well, then John Mattier got his hand hurt and then they lost to Texas. And now people aren't thinking 8 and 4 is okay. Now people are thinking 8 and 4, given what my recalibrated expectations were, would be a disaster. We need to get rid of him. Now, you may think that's crazy or not. Again, I think it's crazy. James Franklin just lost his job, but it doesn't make him any less unemployed this morning than he is. Yes, I do think Oklahoma, they believe they've got the entire infrastructure in place, which they do, by the way. And they believe if there's only one shortcoming, if there's only one faulty wire here and it happens to be the head coach, that's a, that's a plug and play. And that would be a very desirable job. And they're right about that. And I've talked to some coaches about that. And Oklahoma's looked at a little bit differently in the sec. Like, Oklahoma is the program that has this overlap of rough around the edges, blue collar, roll up your sleeves mentality that some coaches love, but it overlaps with that SEC money. And other places aren't like that. Like other places. They're rich and they know it. Oklahoma's rich, but you can tell their first generation rich. Like, they still wear jeans. They still tuck the T shirt in. There's no belt on. There's stains on the jeans, too. So you know they've been out working in the back before they come in for dinner. That's kind of how Oklahoma is. So I say all that to say yes to that. And then there's a big question on screen up there if you want to ask me that question, because I got an answer for that one, too.

[Josh Pate]

Is Mike Norvell safe?

[Josh B]

I got no idea. Because they'd have to pay him 60 million because when the Alabama job came open, Jimmy Sexton fleeced FSU and got them to sign a renegotiated deal that puts Mike at about, I think, 59 and change million in buyout money if they were to fire him this year. Now here's the, here's the plus side. He did take a one year reduced Salary, So you only have to pay him 6 and change this year and then he goes right back to 10. I think they. They have lost eight conference games in a row in a God awful ACC. They can't get up for any games except Alabama. They got up for them this year. They're. They're not built like there is no future there because they've just relied on the portal. So they haven't recruited anything. So even though it's bad this year, normally it's bad. But maybe you look ahead and say, okay, when our young guys become juniors will be good. They don't have that there.

[Josh Pate]

Right.

[Josh B]

So I don't know.

[Josh Pate]

With 23, 23 transfers going into the year.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yep.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, that's. That's brutal going on. Coaches that might go to bigger and better jobs. Possibly Texas Tech. McGuire, is he a possibility out of Penn State in the hypothetical world? In Nebraska?

[Josh B]

A hypothetically.

[Josh Pate]

Hypothetically in Oklahoma, Michigan.

[Josh B]

I wouldn't leave there if I were.

[Josh Pate]

Hold on.

[Willie C. Taylor]

There's a hypothetical world? There's a. There's a more, I think a more hypothetical world with Michigan than Nebraska.

[Josh B]

Wait a second. So on. On the hypothetical tree, I mean the maze and blue.

[Josh Pate]

I was above the red. I was with you on the hypothetical. You're like more. I'm like, I'm seeing odds that it's the search starts and ends with Matt Rule. And you're like, hypothetically, like, it's even bigger.

[Willie C. Taylor]

We'll see who's laughing at the end of the season.

[Josh Pate]

He.

[Josh B]

He took the knife out of Penn State's hands and gave it to you and you put it in his neck.

[Josh Pate]

Crazy old as time. A deal as old as time on this bus.

[Josh B]

Hey, you know what we need to do?

[Josh Pate]

Oh, Joy's son is at Nebraska. That's good.

[Josh B]

That's. That's news to me, actually.

[Willie C. Taylor]

That is.

[Josh Pate]

Is that a real.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah, yeah, no, that's real. He's on his staff.

[Josh B]

Yeah, he's on the coach.

[Willie C. Taylor]

He's on coach Rule staff.

[Josh Pate]

Things might be up in Nebraska. Hypothetically. Hypothetically. We've already gone through a coaching change and everything.

[Willie C. Taylor]

I just went equalizer with Denzel where he takes the gun and points it back at him.

[Josh Pate]

I'm thinking of myself. We're having fun. We're having a good time out here.

[Josh B]

Listen, do you think he'd leave? No, you shouldn't leave.

[Josh Pate]

Okay, my bad.

[Josh B]

I want to take you guys out there. I don't know that business regularly takes either of you through Lubbock, Texas. I just don't I just don't think you guys regularly, like, travel through that part of Texas. So it would have to be a one off. Their facilities are off the charts. Insane. They've got unbelievable money out there. Cody Campbell, all those commercials he's doing, like, that's the same guy that bankrolls Texas Tech. Like, he is tied into Texas. Joey was a high school coach for, like, 30 years. He's been a coach in Texas for 30 years. Most of those were Texas high school. So he's kind of just uniquely woven into the Texas culture. And so the jobs I think he would leave Texas Tech for were if the Texas job or the A M job ever came open and they all staying in state.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah.

[Josh B]

Like, I just think he fits there. I think he'd be a total fish out of water at Nebraska or Penn State or whatever. Maybe Oklahoma fits.

[Josh Pate]

Just a small little.

[Josh B]

Maybe Oklahoma fits.

[Josh Pate]

You talk about the blue collar, but we got money, the whole thing. But, yeah, Texas. Texas Tech.

[Josh B]

Texas Tech's awesome right now.

[Josh Pate]

They seem like true contenders.

[Josh B]

Yeah.

[Josh Pate]

We could actually see them playing in the national championship.

[Josh B]

Yeah. Them and Indiana both.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah.

[Josh B]

You can't see through them right now.

[Josh Pate]

You really can't. Kurt Signetti, buddy. I love him. I think he is hilarious.

[Willie C. Taylor]

His name is coming up. Basically, any potential job that could be happening.

[Josh B]

Yeah.

[Willie C. Taylor]

So what do you see with Signetti?

[Josh B]

It makes sense that his name would come up. Like, if I were Penn State, I was talking about Matt Campbell so much. I got to tell you, because I left out some context. I would call Signetti before I call anybody. I don't get the feeling Kurt Signetti is just in a hurry to leave Indiana for Penn State. People don't realize how much money he makes there. He's making as much at Indiana with his renewed contract as James was making at Penn State. So you're already matching the dollars. You've got way less pressure on you. You are now. And as long as you want to be the face of Indiana football, there was no before you.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Right.

[Josh B]

There is no shadows. You are. You are Indiana football. And also, do we just know that he is dying to go to State College, Pennsylvania? I don't know that I've actually heard the opposite. Now, maybe if some other jobs came open, maybe he entertains that. But what.

[Josh Pate]

What other jobs are he? Entertainment?

[Josh B]

Well, I mean, we just got the news that Michigan is going to come open. Like, Michigan is highly likely to come. I would look at. I'm just saying.

[Josh Pate]

You think Signetti would want to go to Michigan?

[Josh B]

Dude, yes. Yes. The Michigan job is the Michigan. You're not turning that down? No way. Now all of a sudden he could be sitting in this chair less than a year from now. Yeah. Welcome to Michigan. You'd want him over sh, right?

[Josh Pate]

No. Shaw Moore is ro. He's woven in the fabric. A national championship coach. I, he, he was the head coach during Penn State, during Maryland, which I said in the, in the national championship year was gonna be the hardest game. Ohio State, like he was a part of those.

[Willie C. Taylor]

I wish he was on the sideline in Nebraska.

[Josh Pate]

That's it. That hurt people. Hurt people.

[Willie C. Taylor]

So I do have a question. What we just saw with Penn State and James Franklin, like the whole very, very good these years, obviously he didn't win a championship there, but Dabo Sweeney, could there be any movement with Clemson if they were to drop? You know, just another. Really. You know what I mean? If you're, if you're there to lose a couple more games. But if they lose another bad game, like, what are their conversations happening at Clemson?

[Josh B]

Not that I know of. That one would be off the radar, out of left field to me. I know. When you say conversations, I know what you mean. There are absolutely conversations of, hey, what's our future going to be? But not conversations of, hey, we got a meeting tomorrow morning, 10am we're about to discuss immediate termination of our head coach. No, I don't think those conversations are happening. Like North Carolina, though, with Belichick.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Oh, that's.

[Josh B]

I think that's going to be a one.

[Josh Pate]

That's a no brainer.

[Josh B]

But you got to think about how many jobs we're stacking on top of each other right now. At some point you got to look at the coaching market and say, might we just wait a year? Do we really want to compete against all of these other programs that are coming open?

[Josh Pate]

JP Had a great take on this. When. Who'd they lose to? Clemson. They lost to it. And this is when Dabo is kind of having a crash at the podium maybe. Yeah, it's probably Georgia Tech. And JP Is like, Clemson's got to remember who they were before Dabo because they were nothing. Right? They were. It was just a bad. It was a bad program. It's been too long.

[Josh B]

Too long.

[Josh Pate]

And like, you lose Dabo, who is, like you say, woven in the fabric of a culture. Like he is Clemson. You got to keep him there. Let him die there.

[Josh B]

Yeah. Brian Kelly will be gone by the.

[Josh Pate]

End of the year. Okay, JP Just said Brian Kelly will be gone by the end of the year. This is just turning every coach besides who. Brian Day.

[Josh B]

Let's put a list. Put a list together of guys who will keep their job.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, that's what it's turning into.

[Josh B]

We can't finish the sheet. The.

[Josh Pate]

The Brian Kelly thing, that's another one too, is they win that first game against Clemson. The recalibration you're kind of talking about is like, oh, we're, We're. That's all we need.

[Josh B]

We win the first game.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah. We want to sees an opener. And now it's like, yeah, it is Brian Kelly as he saved. Because I know there was like a whole lot of oil and water type of mixture when it came to lsu, Baton Rouge, and Brian Kelly's personality.

[Josh B]

Yeah.

[Willie C. Taylor]

So right now he's winning. Yeah, well, he's always winning.

[Josh B]

He's coming up. He's another guy who's got this not quite Oklahoma stretch in the second half of the season, but he's got a tough stretch now. I will say is we're sitting here talking. It's the Monday following the South Carolina game. They only. What did they score, JP20. Yeah. Yeah. They only scored 20 the other night. Two red zone turnovers. I actually thought their offense showed more promise than I've seen at any point this year. Doesn't really matter if it doesn't click. That is one of two places, LSU and Oklahoma, where neither guy's on an immediate hot seat. And I'm not saying they are. Those are two places that, because of the schedules they're about to play, could turn on a dime down the stretch. Hot seat talk could crank up immediately. And those are two places that view themselves rightfully so as organizations that are built very strongly. And if all you had to do was remove the star above the Christmas tree and put a brighter star on top of it would be a very desirable tree to be placed on top of.

[Willie C. Taylor]

I love that.

[Josh Pate]

Really?

[Josh B]

Technical terminology. I'm sorry if I lost you there.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, no, I followed it took me a second, but I got there. You want to be a bright star.

[Josh B]

On a nice tree, you don't want to go. You have to find a new tree in the woods.

[Josh Pate]

Right, Right.

[Josh B]

The tree's nice. It's decorated. We got the tinsel. We got real popcorn. It's not even the fake popcorn, dude.

[Josh Pate]

We do that every year in my house. It's a. It's a headache.

[Josh B]

Every year they do it at lsu.

[Josh Pate]

In Oklahoma, watching ball with the needle.

[Willie C. Taylor]

I. Dude, I. I love how college football is such a roller coaster because.

[Josh Pate]

This is the Most fun year for.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah, I think these are like one of the. This is like one of the best years in college football because anybody, it feels like, can beat anybody.

[Josh B]

Just up in the air. One more thing. I was talking to, like 50 agents yesterday, and one thing they kept saying is something that's right in front of your face and you're not realizing it. That we're having to deal with right now is we have been used to forever towards the end of the season, guys get fired and then coaching searches start to happen behind the scenes, but it's always. It's never going to be public or finalized until the end of the year. All right, so if you don't make a bowl game, it happens early December. And if you're going to a bowl or if. Maybe if you're going to playoff or national championship, you agree if you're a coordinator. Kirby Smart once stayed with Alabama through the national title game even though he had taken the Georgia job. That was the old school way of doing things. But no one used to fire guys in October. Now everyone's getting fired in October. And these agents were talking to me yesterday and they were saying, you know, we're not hearing from these universities. They want to wait to the end of the season. They want to do the search now to walk that through to a conclusion. What that means is, theoretically, if Penn State were to try and go get Signetti or go get Matt Campbell or go get someone else, they want it to happen during the season. I don't even understand how that functions.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, so if they went and got Matt Campbell, we'll use his name. Would they say, okay, we've hired Matt. It's November 5th. Matt Campbell's the next head coach at Penn State. And then Matt Campbell just goes to Penn State. I think he coach at Iowa State for the rest of the.

[Willie C. Taylor]

I think he coaches, like, say they're playing, say they're in the College Football Football Playoff. Like he coaches through or maybe, who knows? But he's. He's finishing out the year. But it would probably work the same fashion it would in like the NFL to where somebody might. Somebody's going to leak it. It's not going to be the, the. The team coming out saying, this is going to be our next head coach. Because to your point, what's probably going to start happening is these coaches, these staffs are going to be interviewing during the season right over Zoom, you know, on the phone. Face. Not. They won't be flying and going face to face unless. Because that right there you're going to. You're going to. That's going to get leaked. It's all going to get leaked. But staffs are like head coaches are going to be interviewing on the phone on zoom during the season.

[Josh Pate]

Not just head coaches, but like coordinators as well.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah.

[Josh Pate]

Who's the OC from Missouri? Just talking. Yeah, it's. It's all good. We can figure out his name in a second.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Are there.

[Josh Pate]

He already interviewed for the Arkansas job.

[Josh B]

Middle of the season.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, there you go. But are you do. Are you hearing about any coordinators in the college football circuit that could be potential hot names?

[Josh B]

Yeah, Kirby Moore is his name. Yeah. Kirby Moore.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah.

[Josh B]

Tons of them. But I don't. I think it all works downstream of which head coaches leave and which head coaches are available.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah.

[Josh B]

There are a lot of places where if you look number three or number four on their list, it's a coordinator. But that's contingent on the first three names, which are head coaches not being available. So it's. And then what. What normally happens in this kind of cycle is, okay, current head coaches climb up the ladder and fill the openings. And then those jobs, like if the Indiana job were open, if the Iowa State job were open, if some other job were open, those are the places that look at a coordinator historically. That's what happens. If John Sumrall were to take the Auburn job, if it opened, Tulane looks at a high profile coordinator. That's probably the way that goes.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, I want to. I know we kind of brushed over it a little bit. We talked about UCLA being 2 and oh, and they should be 2 and O at this point. We should all just. We should erase everything from the prior head coach. But I remember a conversation you had with Colin Coward. I clicked on the link and I listened to you guys talk about UCLA and how bad of a job it is. Your stadium's 45 minutes away from the campus. You're the second best recruiting team in the city, essentially. And now all of a sudden they're two and oh, who's the.

[Josh B]

Is it Tim Skipper's the head coach?

[Josh Pate]

No, no, no. Who's the oc?

[Josh B]

Jerry Newheisel is the actual Jerry.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, yeah. Jerry Newheisel is the face of the team. Is that now having that conversation with Colin Coward, is that now a job that's like, yeah, Newheisel seems like he's the perfect man for that job.

[Josh B]

If I were them, I would probably go that route. I don't know the UCLA job as intimately like. I've had more Conversations about the UCLA job over the past month than I've had my whole life. Very eye opening. And what it shows is apathy towards the football program. They don't have their nil affairs in order, they don't take it nearly as seriously as basketball, and they love to tout how rich their alumni base is. But it doesn't matter if football can't tap into it. Frankly, Arkansas's had some of those problems recently. Really ton of money in northwest Arkansas. It doesn't matter if. If the needle doesn't go into football, how much money you have. And then at least at Arkansas, you know, everyone cares. At ucla, you have the added burden of trying to make people care about football, which is a very unenviable position to be in. Like, if you're trying to make people care about football in a country that's football obsessed, you're probably just in the wrong part of the country. Or in that case, in the wrong part of town. Even Riley struggled with that at USC though. They packed the Coliseum Saturday. But that's because Michigan's in town and because they may be winning. If they're not winning, they don't draw anything. And that's usc. So I don't. I still think the same thing I think about the job. It's just maybe they caught lightning in a bottle and they found out the answer was in their building the whole time.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, I mean, that's a good answer to have to guys right there.

[Willie C. Taylor]

That's what I enjoy seeing with that UCLA position is just having like. Because he played there, right?

[Josh Pate]

Yeah.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Just having a little sicko. Somebody who understands the culture, who understands like wanting to bring this brand back. He's had some success.

[Josh Pate]

He looks like a Bruin to. Blonde hair, blue eyes, got the wave going in there. It's like this guy's perfect for ucl.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Seems like he's having a blast getting this opportunity. I think that would be an awesome.

[Josh Pate]

I don't even know who. What Tim Skipper looks like. Like, I feel like talk about the face of a program. He's the interim head coach. I don't even know what this guy even looks like at all.

[Josh B]

There's Tim Skipper.

[Josh Pate]

There he is. Wouldn't have guessed. Full transparency. Would not have guessed. Sher was brought up here. Does a three loss SEC team make the college football playoffs?

[Josh B]

Yeah, probably more than one. Yeah. That's why Saturday is important. Listen, I know we're in October and no one's like thinking this through, all right? Last weekend Arizona had BYU on the ropes. And they let him off. They let him off the hook. No one's thinking about the ramifications for the SEC when BYU in Arizona are playing at one o' clock eastern time in the morning. But it's big because if Brigham Young keeps winning those close games and they're sitting there 11 and 1 or undefeated versus a 9 and 3 sec, they're going to get the playoff nod later down the road. All right, so that's the first thing to think about. Second thing, this Saturday, if Notre dame loses to USC, they're going to be out. Right now, a 10 and 2 Notre Dame versus certain 9 and 3 SECs is a legitimate playoff debate. Come December, all the 9 and 3 SEC teams will get the nod over a 9 and 3 Notre Dame because they will have lost their only two high level games and lost their third one. So they will have lost their three games against their three biggest opponents elsewhere. Their strength of schedules garbage. So a lot of these games outside the SEC are going to have as much impact on this as the SEC games themselves. Then in the sec, what you want to ask yourself is right now you got 10 teams with zero or one conference losses. You got to start having some separation. You got to start having a few teams separate instead of just a bunch of two, three and four loss teams. Because at that point it gets really hard to differentiate two from here, two from there. But I think, I think the over under on three loss teams is like one and a half. And I'm going to take the over, by the way. So I'm setting the number and then taking the over. Sounds fair. Yeah, I think three loss teams are going to the playoff.

[Josh Pate]

Really.

[Josh B]

And that means other three lost teams are going to get left out because you're going to have a bunch of three loss teams, I think in multiple conferences confre. So I don't know. I don't know. A M's undefeated. Guys, can you. Ole Miss is undefeated. Ole Miss goes to Georgia Saturday. By the way, Ole Miss.

[Josh Pate]

Ole Miss was in a dog fight with Washington State.

[Josh B]

Doesn't matter because they weren't even aware they were playing Washington state until about 11am Saturday morning. They just been busy prepping for Georgia. So don't worry about that.

[Josh Pate]

Okay. Not gonna worry about that. Let's talk about more coaching hypotheticals.

[Josh B]

Lane Kiffin, Florida. That's it. That's Florida.

[Josh Pate]

Is that. Does he. Because there. I don't know if I heard this made it up in my head. Who cares? Seems like he kind of wants to go.

[Josh B]

I don't know if he does or not. I think, I think he did once upon a time. He may still want to go. I could find you people who know a lot about that situation who would swear he'll take the job. I was of that opinion.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah.

[Josh B]

Okay. We also know he has talked a lot publicly, including in a documentary that just got released like last week about how woven into the fabric of ole Missy is now and moved his family there. This and that. That could be bs. He could be lying to you or he could mean every word of it.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah.

[Josh B]

I don't know.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Can you bring up the AP, the AP 25 top 25.

[Josh Pate]

You just want to look at it.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah, I want to look at. I just want to get his opinion on a couple things because he's got the commissioner's poll.

[Josh B]

Yep.

[Willie C. Taylor]

It slowly is making its way as the, the number one.

[Josh B]

Then the AP catches up a couple of weeks later.

[Willie C. Taylor]

AP catches up a couple weeks later.

[Josh B]

Later.

[Willie C. Taylor]

We'Re bringing it up here.

[Josh Pate]

Twitter, interesting way to go.

[Willie C. Taylor]

What an opportunity you have at the bottom of this list, Cincinnati being 24, Nebraska being 25.

[Josh B]

Oh. To correct it. To correct, correct the historical record.

[Willie C. Taylor]

And also it's like in your mind when you were breaking down all the college ball, like thinking about an Illinois being unranked because they've gotten mopped by Ohio State and they got mopped by Indiana, USC being a, being a one loss team, that one loss being to Illinois, who even though they did get mopped, their two losses are to the number one and the number three team in the country. Like when you're looking at the AP poll, who, who are they missing on this week? Who do you think? It's like, hey, you know, is it, is Illinois ranked in your commissioner's poll? Where else on the chart? And for the love of God, you better. Are you moving up? Georgia Tech.

[Josh B]

Georgia Tech's probably about. I have not, I haven't done the commissioner's poll.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Okay.

[Josh B]

So I like to marinate on these things, make emotional decisions.

[Willie C. Taylor]

You're right.

[Josh B]

But I do emotional comment. I do want to say the Notre Dame, Texas conundrum confounds me a little bit. Texas and Notre Dame, two lost teams. Texas I think was 21st, Notre Dame's 13th and Texas has two losses just like Notre Dame. But Texas has a win over Oklahoma, a top 10 Oklahoma, Notre Dame's best win is what Boise or Arkansas like. They don't, they don't have a quality win. I guess they're saying because their losses are to top five teams, then that kind of carries more weight. But at some point I'm asking, doesn't winning the games matter? Like, you lost, you lost to good teams. Okay. But the key word there's lost and Texas just beat. I don't know. I'm not that upset about it because they're both two lost teams. But I still think Vandy's a little bit too low because I don't think Vandy was in the preseason anything. And so I. What I think people are doing with Notre Dame all the way up at 13 is I think they are reverting back to their preseason expectation of Notre Dame. And they're also projecting because now everyone who thought Notre Dame was going to be good, they're looking for any reason to believe Notre Dame's good. And by the way, they probably are good. And now they're projecting they'll keep winning.

[Willie C. Taylor]

So we're going to, we're going to.

[Josh B]

Proactively bump them up to 13. Whereas Vanderbilt didn't think they'd be up there. We begrudgingly had to put them up there. The moment they go lose to Alabama, we'll knock them down. And meanwhile they open as a favorite against lsu. Vandy, a point spread favorite against LSU in the fall. Don't lie to our Game of the week.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yes. 11am kickoff.

[Josh B]

I may walk to the game.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah, I, I also think it's crazy that Washington's not ranked.

[Josh B]

Yeah.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Their only losses, their only losses to the number one team in the country. Yeah.

[Josh B]

They weren't invited to the party.

[Josh Pate]

And they were invited. They were in that game too. Regardless of what the score says, like they had opportunities to win that game.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Are you on board with Oregon potentially being on, on fraud alert with their, with their only key win being Penn State?

[Josh B]

Because people are saying, oh man, the Penn State win is fraudulent. Now I look at that the opposite way. Do either of you think that Penn State would have imploded had they beaten Oregon?

[Josh Pate]

No.

[Josh B]

No, I don't either. So if Oregon caused that, I'm not going to knock them because the team they killed played dead the following two weeks. I'm going to credit you for killing that team. So no, they got beat by a good Indiana team. Like at every turn. People are trying to find a way to cut the legs out from under Indiana's resume. Maybe Indiana is just really good. Maybe Oregon's just really good. That wasn't impressive win though.

[Willie C. Taylor]

That's why I. With you, Josh B.

[Josh B]

Yes.

[Josh Pate]

Last question before we go because we have Greg Olson coming up. Of all the head coaches that could possibly take a job this offseason. Who is, in your opinion, the best head coach? The two names that have come up the most is Matt Campbell and Kurt Signetti.

[Josh B]

Campbell is younger, much younger than Sig. So Matt Campbell would be my answer. Matt Campbell. People just forget how much of a wet bag of garbage the Iowa State football program was. And he has made it so consistent an idea that you can win there that people are taking it for granted. They are. This is not James Franklin at Penn State. This is a historically terrible program, and Matt's won there. They went to the Big 12 title game last year. They won 11 games last year. They're down two starting corners, lost their nose guard and tailback in the game the other night, down to their third string kicker. Like that's the reason they're losing right now. They have no depth. Plus they just sent two wide receivers to the NFL draft. You shouldn't ever be doing any of that at Iowa State. So that guy. That guy's good. He's my number one.

[Josh Pate]

Signetti. Number two.

[Josh B]

Yes.

[Josh Pate]

Do you have a third?

[Josh B]

Let me think on that. I'll see you Wednesday. Yeah.

[Josh Pate]

This has been eye opening, eye opening experience. Every single job in college football is open.

[Josh B]

Yep.

[Josh Pate]

Isn't that crazy?

[Josh B]

Except Nebraska.

[Josh Pate]

Oh, a. Is there anything about Beamer? Should we be worried about Beamer at all? No, I don't think so either. Saturday.

[Josh B]

He'll be fine.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Willie C. Taylor]

October last year.

[Josh Pate]

Hell, yeah. What happened?

[Josh B]

Nine and three.

[Willie C. Taylor]

That's right, Josh. Bait everybody. Breaking down the college football world. We're going to take a quick break and then we will be talking NFL with Greg Olson.

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[Ed Helms]

Hey, everyone. Ed Helms here.

[Josh B]

And hi, I'm Kal Penn and we're the hosts of Irsay, The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club.

[Ed Helms]

This week on the podcast, I am sitting down with Jenny Garth, host of the Iheart podcast. I choose me to discuss the new Audible adaptation of the timeless Jane Austen classic Pride and Prejudice. This is not a trick question. There's no wrong answer. What role would I I play?

[Willie C. Taylor]

You know what?

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I can see you as Mr. Darcy.

[Josh B]

You got a little Colin Firth.

[Ed Helms]

Okay, that's really sweet. I appreciate that. But are you sure I'm not the dad? I'm not Mr. Bennett. Here, listen to Earsay the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club on the iHeartradio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Willie C. Taylor]

All right boys, quick break. Brought to you by Form Energy Form Energy delivers best in class taste with natural flavors and zero sugar. Form Energy has natural caffeine derived from green tea and comes in a variety of flavors. Available flavors are Screaming Freedom, which is Rocket Pop inspired. I kind of had a little bit of that one this morning. Grape Smash, Blue Blitz, Orange Fury. You cannot go wrong with these flavors. They're now available at 711 nationwide and from October 13th through October 22nd, you can find Form Energy for only $1 at 711 with 7 rewards perfect for those who put in the work. So if you're a person who wakes up in the morning, gets a workout in, puts in a full day's worth of work, gives it their all when they get home, you are a Form Energy guy. Form Energy we do the work. We are also brought to you and sponsored by Roe. Roe is a 2 in 1 prescription treatment for guys who need a secret weapon against softness. Roe sparks can give guys bigger, thicker, stronger, longer erections because they get fuller faster after roast sparks dissolve. They work in 15 minutes on average and it prescribed. New sexual health patients get $15 off their first order of Sparks on a recurring plan. Connect with the provider at Rode Co Bussin to find out if prescription row sparks are right for you. That's Ro Co Bussin for $15 off your first order. Are you fumbling the ball when it comes to getting a confident clean in the back of back in your end zone? Make the right play, call an audible and switch from dry toilet paper to wet extra large. We are sponsored by Dude Wipes. Why? It's simple Wetter just cleans better. And Dude Wipes are wet and extra large, so they clear. Never smear your rear. So when you got to go number two, be sure to bring the number one product and clean Dude Wipes. The goat of cleaning your keister, Taylor Lawani's. He hadn't been reading these ads because he had to go take a Tuesday break. And you know what he's cleaning his keister with? Dude Wipes available on Amazon and at Walmart nationwide. Dude Wipes Best clean, Pants down. Let's get to Greg Olson.

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[Ed Helms]

Hey, everyone. Ed Helms here.

[Josh B]

And hi, I'm Cal Penn, and we're the hosts of Irsay, The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club.

[Ed Helms]

This week on the podcast, I am sitting sitting down with Jennie Garth, host of the iHeart podcast. I choose me to discuss the new Audible adaptation of the timeless Jane Austen classic Pride and Prejudice. This is not a trick question. There's no wrong answer. What role would I play?

[Willie C. Taylor]

You know what?

[Kraken Advertiser]

I can see you as Mr. Darcy.

[Josh B]

You got a little Colin Firth.

[Ed Helms]

Okay, that's really sweet. I appreciate that. But are you sure I'm not the dad? I'm not Mr. Bennett here. Listen to Earsay, the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club on the iHeartradio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Greg Olson]

Hey, boys.

[Josh B]

Greg Olson.

[Josh Pate]

Terrell Lawan. How are you, sir?

[Greg Olson]

I got a treat for you.

[Josh Pate]

Are we rolling?

[Greg Olson]

Oh, what do you think we're doing?

[Josh Pate]

Game planning. Salt, pepper, sugar packets.

[Luke Keakley]

Hey, salt and pepper. That's in the NFL, we don't do that in youth football. We have different calls. We can't tell you about them right now.

[Josh Pate]

I see you, Luke, on the drawing up, the game plan. Four linebackers on that little clip I saw. Yeah, just a 4.

[Luke Keakley]

4. Luckily, the production company blurred it out so they didn't see exactly where we lined up.

[Josh B]

Perfect.

[Josh Pate]

Perfect.

[Josh B]

I can't give all the secrets away.

[Greg Olson]

You know, I'm trying to get off or whatever me and Luke were. I was streaming my computer to my television so we could watch film and I can't get it off. How do I get it off?

[Josh B]

Oh, there we go.

[Luke Keakley]

I got it.

[Greg Olson]

All right.

[Willie C. Taylor]

What was the back? Boys, before we get into it, what was the result of last week's game?

[Luke Keakley]

32 0.

[Greg Olson]

32. Nothing.

[Josh Pate]

And I know. Hey, listen, I know we don't. We don't coach the score. We coach the process. Talk to me about the tackling, the coverage operation on offense. Like I need to hear it all.

[Luke Keakley]

Luke will start with you team. So not a lot of coverage. We had one ball that almost got over our head, but luckily had a good pass rush. The tackling was good.

[Greg Olson]

Greg's.

[Luke Keakley]

What is it? They had 28 plays for 26 yards.

[Greg Olson]

Yeah, 28 plays, 27 yards.

[Josh Pate]

Gotta love that Luke, when you're dealing.

[Greg Olson]

Gave up one first down on a little jet. They actually had a nice little concept. They formation, you know what at us and ran a little shotgun speed.

[Josh Pate]

Pop.

[Greg Olson]

And our kids were all chasing the back and they kind of just popped it to the fast motion guy and he got around our edge. That was their one first down.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Now, is that where you're getting in Luke's ear or you're pretty confident that he's going to get the defense corrected?

[Josh B]

Got to make.

[Luke Keakley]

We got to make some adjustments.

[Greg Olson]

Well, the reason, I'll be honest, I didn't get in anyone's ear because I coached the D line and our right edge. Our right end was the one who ran inside and didn't keep the edge. So it was actually my fault.

[Josh Pate]

Now, when you're looking at your league, we know the NFL is a copycat league. Can we say the same thing for Pop Warner? You see that jet sweep and you're like, hey, maybe we should throw that in our bag.

[Greg Olson]

Oh, we run a ton of. We run a lot of jet sweep. I'll just put it that way.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, let's don't give up too much. I know.

[Greg Olson]

Giving away, not giving away a lot of our secrets.

[Josh Pate]

The other coaches are definitely watching right now.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Luke Coach Keakley, when you're going against a wing T, how, how much are you getting in the head? Coaches here to get a little extra time at practice because I understand this is a big eyes game. We got to be very discipline. We got to be very good with our eyes. Any subtle motions happening, you need a transition. How much are you trying to capture? Hey, we need an extra period for this wing tee. Look, we're about to face.

[Luke Keakley]

Luckily we played against it four times in the last two years, so we got a pretty good feel for. But you don't, you don't need to practice with the ball. Everybody just needs to be in their gap, do their job, eyes in the right place, and if you try to make somebody else's play in the wing tee, that's when the ball pops. So when we practice, we don't practice with the ball. Do your job, play your gap, play physical and tackle the guy in your gap. And it's pretty straightforward.

[Willie C. Taylor]

It's a no ball period. There's a no ball period, boys.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, you guys, we, I know the season's coming to an end, right?

[Greg Olson]

We're getting close to the, the final Wednesday's last game.

[Josh Pate]

Last game.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Do we got playoffs? Is there champions like, oh, this is just.

[Josh Pate]

We got to win this one. Put a bow on top of an undefeated.

[Greg Olson]

You gotta win and just put a bow. This team is good. We knew they were our last game of the season. They're good. They've only lost one game in overtime, so they could be undefeated. They're good. They got some talented kids, they're well coached. This is, this is probably going to be our biggest challenge of the year.

[Josh Pate]

What about this team, do they do so well? I know you guys, I don't know if you've watched too much film yet, but are they big motion or are they just our guys?

[Greg Olson]

Are they got a couple good athletes, but that, you know, at this age, obviously when you have a couple good athletes, you, you build everything around them. So we got to work it out for us on defense. They're. They got a good back, they're quarterback, they can run, they can throw, they're fast. So we got to get hats to the ball, we got a tackle, we got to get these guys on the ground because they got two kids that on any play they could score.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Coach Keakley, what kind of chip are you building on your shoulder? Because what just what I'm hearing the rumors on Reddit. There's a lot of message board chatter, talking, everything else that talking a lot of shit about your philosophy, the way you coach balls, saying you close the fridge with your hip, lay on your tummy at night, do a lot of things that. Again, they're building a lot of bulletin board material. I'm wondering if you're hearing the noise and how you're approaching this week.

[Luke Keakley]

Hey, we do the same thing when we talk to our kids about. We don't worry about the outside noise. We believe in what we do. We believe in our scheme. We believe in attitude, effort, and intensity.

[Greg Olson]

And we believe in the game plan.

[Luke Keakley]

That we put forward every week. So all that bulletin board material, how I close the refrigerator, I don't think it really matters.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Are you the type of coach that whenever you're getting stops or tackle tackles for loss, you're yelling at the other sideline, saying, google me, look me up.

[Greg Olson]

Like, that's, that's for saying that about.

[Josh B]

That's it.

[Luke Keakley]

That's like what Signetti does. He said, google me.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, and he's a dog for that. This is a. This is a question for both you coaches in the. If you follow college football at all right now, there's a lot of head coaching jobs being lined up, a lot of people maybe being plucked from one place to go to another. A lot of rumors are swirling around the Pop Warner culture that Luke Kuechley is one of the head guys for a head coaching job in.

[Luke Keakley]

I don't know what rumors you guys are looking at right now, but you're, you're, you're Reddit sources I don't think are super true.

[Josh Pate]

Hey, you see, I asked a question about you leaving. Now Greg wants to stand up, too.

[Greg Olson]

No, I didn't like that. I was sitting and he was standing. It made me feel very uncomfortable.

[Josh Pate]

Is this Greg?

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Do you.

[Josh Pate]

Are you concerned about Luke Keakley taking a much deserving head coaching job in your league?

[Greg Olson]

The advantage, the advantage that I have is I'll outpay. I could outbid anybody in America.

[Josh Pate]

Oh, you got oil money. You got oil money and Pop Warner.

[Greg Olson]

Yeah, I'm like Texas Tech now, right? Where we're just. We're just outbidding everyone for players, softball, pitchers, facilities. So the good thing is, like, there's nothing anyone could offer Luke that I can't match. Pizza, buckets of beer.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah.

[Greg Olson]

Date, you know, Monday morning film session. No, we're not talking about the Panthers. We were both calling the game yesterday. We're not talking about the Panthers. We're talking about getting our boys ready to finish the season strong. So I think he values that over money. I think he values that over prestige. So I'm confident that our relationship is stronger than any rumor.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah. Coach Olson, with the landscape of trickling down from NFL college football, it's coming for high school and these coaches kind of position themselves with nice buyouts if they do make a move. Just asking both of you, Luke, are you looking at structuring your contract a little bit differently if there is a buyout situation happening, if there's one already in place, what is the buyout look like for Luke Keakley or Greg Olson or Coach Stewart? Are you guys, are these conversations taking place in the youth football community?

[Luke Keakley]

I think if you position yourself for a buyout, you already are thinking about getting fired. And we don't have that mindset. Our mindsets.

[Greg Olson]

We're just going to win.

[Luke Keakley]

We're going to coach well. We've got a great relationship. You guys are just trying to drive a wedge in between us.

[Greg Olson]

This is year four of this. We've never been year five. We've never been closer in our lives.

[Josh Pate]

Now is not the, the time to get defensive Coach Keely. We are strictly just reporting the news.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Reporting 1000% trying to drive away. Because if these young kids are going to learn, they're going to learn about.

[Luke Keakley]

The reality of the media.

[Josh Pate]

This is pro ball out here. Look at, look at. Hey, they're getting uncomfortable.

[Greg Olson]

They're moving around.

[Josh Pate]

They got the cameras going crazy like professionals. What do you guys say to the rumors swirling about you guys taking the head high high school football coaching jobs? Because I, I've, I've. We've received a couple of texts. They're Charlotte area code and it's the, It's. They're going by the name. Don't worry about it. 573 people are saying. And a lot of coaches in the high school world are talking like they could, they. Look, they can do it in the Pop Warner world. There's no shot they could do it in high school. Coach. You guys hear those rumors?

[Willie C. Taylor]

Greg Oz, he travels with his son. His son's gonna be playing high school ball here very soon.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah.

[Greg Olson]

We have been very clear. We have a great relationship with the high school staff. Chris James, the varsity coach at Charlie Christian, good buddy of mine. I make it very clear to everyone our job at the middle school level. Yes, we want to win. Yes. Don't get me wrong. Our job is to turn over as many good football players, as many kids ready for high school football to him in 9th grade as humanly possible. We sent them a class Last year that are now freshmen. Our tailback from our 8th grade team right now, Jamal, Jamal Rule. Who's the kid going to Nebraska? The running back? He broke. He hurt his thumb and had surgery, so he's missed the last couple of weeks. Our backup is a freshman. He played for us last year as an eighth grader, had never played football before, and now he's playing on varsity. He had two touchdowns Friday night against a really good team out of Georgia and is playing real ball. He's played one year for us. Our goal is how many of these freshmen in every class can we have ready to play high school ball? Whether it's as a freshman, a sophomore, junior, who knows? But we're going to give them another really good class to back up that one. Our eighth graders this year are really good. Our seventh grade class might be as good as any of them, if not better. So as many of these classes that we can prep hand over to the varsity to kind of build this thing from the ground floor up, that's our model. That's what we're trying to do. And we've been very clear where our support lies, what our roles are. We are the farm system. We are the, the fundamental foundation of the Charlotte Christian football program. We take great pride in that. We believe doing it at that level and letting these kids grow up through the program is the right way to do it. It's the best long term way to do it, and that's what we believe in.

[Willie C. Taylor]

So it's safe to say you're, you know, in the immediate future. Let's just say 10 years. 10 years. They're going to have this farm system in place. Middle school football, Greg Golson, Luke Keakley, Coach Stewart.

[Greg Olson]

Just 10 years is probably aggressive.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Okay, just. I didn't know, I didn't know what kind of future we're looking at over there.

[Josh Pate]

Doubling down on that. What. How old is your youngest son who is going to go through this process?

[Greg Olson]

Seventh grade. So I got five. We got five more years.

[Josh Pate]

Five more years. Well, they go to high school, right? Ninth grade. Correct.

[Willie C. Taylor]

But he's letting the fan base know.

[Greg Olson]

My kids are right now 8th and 7th. Okay, so I got my son after Wednesday, he's got four more years of high school football. He'll be a freshman in next fall. And then my seventh graders got five years left. He'll have eighth grade and then four years in high school. So I got five more years after this until my young, my three are all gone. And that'll be. That's where Our emphasis is can we get a five year grind? And, and again, I want to be very clear of what we're doing here. There are a lot of schools around Charlotte that import kids on a daily basis. Kids are changing classes, changing schools. Mid season we got kids transferring after week five and then going to show up and play quarterback on another team five days later. Like what you see happening is happening here in Charlotte. We have kids that want to come to Charlotte Christian, if we could get everyone in, it'd be a lot easier, but we can't. So you get in a couple here and there. But we don't have open enrollment, we don't have open admissions like some of the other schools we compete against. And the reality is this is the harder way to do it, right? Like this is the, this is a bigger grind and we don't shy away from it. We're going to continue to coach the hell out of these kids. We're going to continue to coach our kids and build that core and build that. You know, it's no different than at the college level. If you don't recruit well, you can only transfer portal your way so much. High school football has become the transfer portal. At least here in North Carolina. There's always going to be an element of kids coming into the program that's common, but you have to add good kids to an already very good core nucleus of players that understand your culture. That's the secret. You see it in college. It's no different than in the high school world.

[Willie C. Taylor]

So this is. Again, I'll clarify. I'll see if what, what I'm saying is correct because this sounds like pretty big breaking news that Adam Schefter would cover. Charlotte Christian can feel good about having this staff in place in the middle school era for the next five years.

[Greg Olson]

I want to be clear. We are going to coach the middle school team one more year next year. We are going to get this current seventh grade class that we're coaching now, okay? We will get them to high school. How we manage doing, you know, do we start helping out with some of the JV stuff to allocate some time to there as these classes get older, before they're ready for varsity, I don't know. We will coach the middle school team, okay, one more year next year, get my younger son up to high school, contracts up and maybe some sort of hybrid middle school JV type world while, you know, my kids are in 9th and 10th grade.

[Josh Pate]

This is exactly why Greg Olson has such a great career on the podium. And he's doing so great now. He's so well spoken. He's saying we'll do the JV and we'll do the Pop Warner. But we know when it sounds like he doesn't want it. We're going to have a head football coach for the high school. Coach James is. He doesn't know what's coming. And I honestly don't blame him. I stay we're not start that rumor.

[Greg Olson]

We're putting that rumor to bed.

[Josh Pate]

And that you're doing a great job right now. You're doing a phenomenal job. We'll put the rumor to bed.

[Greg Olson]

I'm going to put the rumor to bed. Not eager. Nor do I really want whatever. I want to be a head high school coach. That is a 12 month a year job. I could not call my games like volunteering. Doing what we're doing now as a, as a program accessory, as a program kind of helper is one thing. Coaching real high school ball, if you want to do it right is a 7 day a week, 12 month a year full time job. I'm not doing that. Maybe Luke wants to do that. I'm not doing that right now.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Some people saying you don't love it enough. Coach Keakley. Coach Keakley, when you have, you know this next year going into the final year, your guys's contract when you have seventh graders hitting the portal and wanting to visit Charlotte Christian, what is your message to them knowing they're not going to get you for the full two years at Charlotte Christian?

[Luke Keakley]

Well they'll keep growing. We'll still be part of the program. So they might not get us that year but the next year will be still there. So they just got to continue to learn and play hard. And you want to come play real football, you got to come to Charlotte Christian.

[Greg Olson]

I love that it's our slogan. We play real ball.

[Willie C. Taylor]

We play.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Hey we we have so Luke and by the way whenever this your guys season ends again invites on the table both you guys. Greg, I know you travel around a lot as well but open invite to join the boys in the locker room.

[Josh Pate]

Our NFL 45 minute flight really easy. We'll put you up do the whole.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Thing quick flight 45 minutes will feed you really well. Camaraderie will be high will be with Clay Matthews and Delaney Walker. But where I'm taking you with this question. Clay Matthews has a very competitive kindergarten flag football team. He's under a lot of heat right now from the outside noise in the fan base and the parents that are with that team because he went into championship Sunday and apparently didn't play all the kids because he was trying to win a football game. Now he's taking a lot of heat for not playing all the kids. Care to comment? Both of you guys?

[Greg Olson]

Every coach's worst nightmare. I'm shocked that there's not playtime rules. When we used to do the kids at the younger level, when we did Pop Warner, when Luke and I and my dad did Pop Warner a couple years ago, for a few years, there was minimum playtime rep. So this was what, like four fifth and sixth grade. We had minimum plays and they had somebody who actually sat on the sideline with a clipboard and had to check off. Every kid had to play what, 10 plays?

[Luke Keakley]

10 plays.

[Greg Olson]

10 plays. Minimum play time. So placed in place you've always had. In the football world, there's been rules in place. When we did flag football, when the kids were small, each kid had to play like a quarter or whatever. There was like ways to quantify playing time. So I don't know. Listen, I'm not judging anyone. We have not always gotten it right. It's very easy to get caught up in the moment of trying to be competitive and trying to win at the, you know, kinder kindergarten.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Six year olds.

[Greg Olson]

Yeah. Even I'm like, let him get a rep. I mean, they don't have to get the ball.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Greg. Greg.

[Josh Pate]

Clay.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Clay has lost sleep because that trophy. They lost the game. They were in a. They were in a tough one and he's trying to win a game. All the kids don't get in. It's five on five. I think this team carries 14 on the roster.

[Greg Olson]

It's a lot of kids first mistake.

[Willie C. Taylor]

But he's. He's lost sleep over not having the championship. And after, you know, he's still bleeding and a lot of parents, he's hearing a lot of noise, you know, and play my kids.

[Josh Pate]

A lot of emails take place, a lot of random text messages from different area codes.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah.

[Josh Pate]

Coming out at him right now. So it's tough.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Luke, are you trying to win a football game or are you making sure you getting all the boys in?

[Luke Keakley]

Well, luckily for us, we can get them in before the game starts.

[Greg Olson]

We play a fifth quarter, so all.

[Luke Keakley]

The kids, we get 12 offensive snaps, 12 defensive snaps. Before the game, we get all our kids in. So once the ball kicks off, we're trying to win a football game. The rules for the. The Pop Warner that Greg talked about helped us out a lot. And then that fifth quarter before the Christian game helps us out a lot because all the kids get an opportunity to get a couple reps every game so they know they're going to get in. And then when we play the real game, we get our kids in there that can go play and help us win football games. So I think we just. We owe it to the kids to go out and try to try our best to win the games. And if the. The score and the time in the game dictates it, we can put the other kids in and get other kids opportunities. Because I think the best thing that we can do is try to prepare our seventh graders for live action next year. So it's the eighth grader and the older guy's job to help us get ahead, get a lead, and put those young kids in to give them an opportunity to play for next year.

[Josh Pate]

Just a couple of seasoned vets right now. They knew all these questions were coming. They've read everything we've read as well.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Even if they did, they just know. They know what it's about.

[Josh Pate]

They just know what they're doing. Absolutely.

[Greg Olson]

I'm just shocked you guys send so much time on message boards.

[Josh Pate]

Hey, listen, that's what friends do. Greg. Like, we sit there, we're like, oh, Greg's our friend.

[Luke Keakley]

You might say your friends, but your message boards just try to drive wedges.

[Greg Olson]

Do I have a buyout?

[Luke Keakley]

Am I going to coach somewhere else?

[Josh Pate]

Would a friend allow all that noise to keep happening or give you the platform to be able to sit there and say, listen, this is not true. This is true. So we're giving you guys a massive platform for you guys to say, listen, I know everyone. Everyone's eyes are on Charlotte Pop Warner football right now. Let us be very clear about our intention. Charlotte Christian, Pop Warner. Boom.

[Greg Olson]

It's not Pop Warner.

[Josh Pate]

It's. Listen. It's under high school. It's Pop Warner. It's a blanket thing. That's how it goes.

[Willie C. Taylor]

I just think, how can I motivate these boys? How can I give them some multiple material? How can I give them some fodder? You know, I know a lot of people from your area tune in. They want to know, are we going to have a staff over the next few years? I'm trying to do my. My journalism as well.

[Greg Olson]

I think they tune in because they hope we lose.

[Josh Pate]

That's. That's exactly where you want to be, too. You kind of want to be hated in that world. You got. You got to love coaches.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Go ahead.

[Josh B]

Sorry.

[Josh Pate]

If you guys win this game, I don't know if the league gives you a trophy for going defeated, or will you guys go out and get your team trophies saying, hey, undefeated season, maybe rings?

[Greg Olson]

No, probably not. You know, I think that would go against everything we've preached to the boys all year. I want to make sure we're consistent. Like, playing to win and being out there for the sole purpose of only caring about winning, I think, are two very different things. Like, we believe winning is a byproduct. Like, winning is a byproduct of how we prepare as coaches and the plan we put in. And then winning is a byproduct of how we practice today and then our film study that we're going to do after, and how we prepare and how we warm up and how we execute. Like, we believe if we do all those things, winning will take care of itself. Right. Like, we will win if we do all of these things.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Where we're not.

[Greg Olson]

Going to sit here and say, rule number one, win. Because then I feel like we're losing. All of the development, we're losing all of the pieces that we all understand prepares these kids to play in high school, prepares these kids to be really good varsity players at some point in the next couple years. So if we win every game, great. If we don't win every game, fine. Like, we. We understand what we signed up for. We're going to try to win. We're going to do everything in our power. And then after the game ends, sure, we'd be seven, and, oh, if we were fortunate enough to win or we were six, one if we weren't. And the conversation is, did we get better? Did we develop these kids? Did we develop an attitude and toughness around football that we can carry over into high school? Like, we want to make sure all those things are right. We feel like if we do all those things, our odds of our winning any given game, this game two weeks ago, whenever it was, are in our favor. If we play well. If we don't play well, this team can beat us.

[Willie C. Taylor]

I tell you what, if I have an heir, I want to play for you, too.

[Luke Keakley]

You do? That's the thing you do.

[Willie C. Taylor]

I don't have an air. I don't have a boy.

[Luke Keakley]

I thought you had a boy.

[Willie C. Taylor]

No. Two girls. Two girls. Two girls.

[Luke Keakley]

Got it. They come back on cheerleader squad.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's. I love. I would love my daughter. I'd love for him to. I'd love for him to cheer for your teams, I guess. Yeah, I'd love for him to your.

[Josh Pate]

For your.

[Josh B]

If I.

[Josh Pate]

If I ever have a boy, I'm moving to Charlotte.

[Greg Olson]

Yeah.

[Josh B]

Perfect.

[Greg Olson]

You guys are all girls?

[Willie C. Taylor]

All girls. Four girls.

[Greg Olson]

Some in the water on that bus.

[Josh Pate]

It's. I think it's the size really than anything. Just. There's always a. I think it's a se. Who is it?

[Willie C. Taylor]

C. I think it's a seaman.

[Josh Pate]

I think it's. Yeah, but there's also like that.

[Greg Olson]

I think it's God's way of saying, like, you're too masculine a generation.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah, yeah, you're too masculine.

[Greg Olson]

Too much masculinity.

[Josh Pate]

You guys are too much a generation playing on that gridiron. We have to give you a girl to calm yourself down a little bit. I love that. You guys want to talk some NFL football real quick?

[Josh B]

Yep.

[Greg Olson]

I got six minutes.

[Josh B]

Perfect.

[Willie C. Taylor]

That's all we need.

[Josh Pate]

Let's rapid fire Panthers go and beat the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas Cowboys defense is absolutely terrible, but Bryce Young has himself a nice game. Are we going to be surprised after Bryce Underwood get Bryce Underwood. Bryce Young gets benched last year playing better now. Are we going to be surprised when the Carolina Panthers give him an extension?

[Greg Olson]

Well, I think they got to figure.

[Luke Keakley]

Out what they're going to do with that fifth year option first. That's the big thing going into this offseason. And I think Dan Morgan and. And Brand Tillis and those guys in the front office are going to try to figure out what they want to do there. I think Bryce has played a lot better in spots. Obviously through the interception yesterday that wasn't his fault as a slant that got dropped. And I thought at the end of the game, Bryce took us down at the. With six minutes to go to go score and win. So he's played better in spots. I think what all we're looking for from this team is just more consistency. I think. I think we're good up front. We've run the ball really well the past couple of weeks and for Bryce, I think it's protecting the football and being more consistent and we got plenty of games left to figure out what they want to do. So I think the biggest thing before an extension gets figured out is what do we do with that fifth year option not to figure that out this offseason.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Have you watched much Dallas defense tape, Luke?

[Luke Keakley]

Yeah, they struggle, man. I mean, is it.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Is it not like when I'm watching like I'm sitting there and it's surprising to me how stagnant the back end is on their pre snap keys and everything else they Feel I know that they've mixed in a lot more man recently. But those first several weeks I feel like they're just kind of, they're just kind of showing you what they're doing and they call. So they're so vanilla with COVID two and everything else. They're not, they don't have an all world roster, but they're not doing anything, you know, defensive philosophy wise that like help them out, you know, when they're going to blitz because they're all lined up across the line of scrimmage. But are you surprised when you're watching kind of this Dallas team operate defensively?

[Luke Keakley]

Yeah, I just think, you know, watching it especially last week against the jets and then watching some of the game yesterday, a lot of just too high shell with two deep safeties. And for us that's what we do best is run the ball from under center. So anytime we get that too deep shell like that, Bryce is either checking into a run or sticking with the run. And on first down we were averaging almost seven yards of play and a lot of it was based on the run game. And then we had the ability to throw some play action off of it. And I think for us you take a light box with our offensive line. What Rico's been able to do, and I tell you the biggest thing for us yesterday is I think Dave Canalis and Idzyk have done a great job of dialing plays up and calling plays and calling them at the right, at the right moment. So yeah, Dallas has struggled defensively this year obviously, but I think those guys on the offensive side of the ball did a really good job of calling stuff.

[Josh Pate]

Heading over to the NFC east. You got the Giants defeating the Eagles on Thursday Night Football largely due to the creatine Caucasians, Cam Scatter, Boo and Jackson Dart. Do you think the way both those guys play, definitely not sustainable long term. However, right now it's the most electric thing we're watching in football. Do you think they can will this Giants team into possibly being, I'm not going to say NSCB NFC East Championship. We still have the commanders there, but maybe a wild seventh, you know, make the playoffs. Can you see it happening?

[Greg Olson]

I mean, I guess you could see anything happen. I mean I saw them before Dart even took over again. Coming off what we're just talking about with the Cowboys offense, they, they very well should have another win. I mean they, they, they lost by a 64 yarder at the end of regulation in a game. They scored 40 in overtime against Dallas. In Dallas when When Russ went off and threw forth a thousand yards or whatever, you know, so, I mean we've seen them play well. I think their defense is really good. Obviously Scatter Boo and Jackson Dart now are the toast of the town. As they should. They're fun, they're, they're, they don't take themselves too serious. They're letting it loose. All that is all fun as long as you continue to win. But I think defensively I think they're pretty nasty. Right. I think the Brian Burns trade has obviously paid off. I know he was leading the league in sacks. Is he still?

[Luke Keakley]

I don't need another one though.

[Greg Olson]

He was going into yesterday. I don't know where he stands now. But you know, Abdul Carter Cave on Thibodeau has been playing well. Obviously they got big Dex Dexter Lawrence in the inside. So I mean that defense they invested in heavily is playing really well. And then obviously Scatter Boo and Jackson Dart have given them a little juice, given them a little energy. I think losing neighbors at some point, not having that go to guy is going to catch up to you at some point. But listen, could I see them sneaking in as a seven seed? Yeah, I mean, why not? I mean we've seen teams that don't even have a winning record. We've been on one, we made a playoffs without a winning record. So you never know in the league. Would I bank on it? Probably not. I still think Philadelphia figures it out. I still think Washington is a good team. Dallas is a threat. Just because they're going to score 30 a game, you're going to have to win in a shootout. At least that's what it shows. So the division still challenging, which always makes the path a little bit more difficult.

[Willie C. Taylor]

What you doing to camp Scatterboo in the A gab.

[Luke Keakley]

Luke play with good angle. He's a young guy. He's a rookie. You can't let a rookie run through you, dude.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Hey, do you see, do you see the Zach Bond clip on the sideline.

[Josh Pate]

Back to backs right?

[Luke Keakley]

He's physical man, bro.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Physically on the side.

[Josh B]

He runs like shoulder down.

[Luke Keakley]

Pacheco just wants to run through your face. Yeah, that's how Scatter Boo is. He's the same exact way. Yeah, he loves the contact.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Oh, loves it. You see him just having a helmet on, Just head button a brick wall on the outside. His mom came out and said he used to put on his older brother's shoulder pads when he was little and just go run into the telephone pole.

[Greg Olson]

Whatever works.

[Josh Pate]

I guess like we said not, not sustainable. But my God, this is going to be the most electric four or five of your career we ever see at a camp.

[Josh B]

Scatter. Boo.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Dude, what are you guys, what are you seeing from the Philadelphia Eagles? I feel like they have. The problems are kind of coming to the surface. I feel like they are 4 and 2 right now. Could easily be a 1 in 5 football team if CD Lamb catches the deep ball in week one. If they don't block the field goal. Last field goal. Yeah. Two field goals against the Rams. They don't block a punt against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Obviously I'm reaching more with that one, but to me it seems like all the stuff is coming to the surface about the Philadelphia Eagles. There's a lot of frustration. Seems like Jalen hurts is holding onto the football and just not spinning it when he has the opportunity. What are you seeing when you watch that game?

[Greg Olson]

Yeah, you know, I've called a lot of their games over the years. I think their roster is as good, if not better than anybody in the league. I think offensively some of these conversations have been going on for a while. I think they still got to figure out their passing game. I think last year When Saquon's busting 75 yard touchdowns, what seemed like a weekly clip, at least through the playoffs, it was. It can kind of hide little things when you're that explosive in the run game. It makes up for some limitations in the passing game, personnel wise. In the passing game, there's no reason they shouldn't be better talent wise. The two receivers, Goddard, they got the best two tackles in the league combo. So they should be better. The, the thing that surprised me the most against the Giants was the defense. Like I, I, you know that Vic Fangio, they're talented, they're young. I know that. Obviously they didn't have, I don't think Carter played right. Jalen Carter, he was out against the Giants, so obviously that made him, that made an issue. But like I think defensively is the, is where they got to get back to being dominant. Right. You look back at last year, the super bowl run, top defense in the league, a uniquely explosive running game. And then the next factor was we still could get vertical on you in the passing game. A.J. brown and Devonte, Devonte Smith and, and hit chunk plays. So like when your explosive passing game is your like third best thing you do, you're gonna be hard to beat. I think that was last year's journey. So if the defense and they can't get Saquon going Now, all of a sudden, there's a lot more emphasis on the passing game, and I think that's the biggest difference between this year and last year.

[Josh Pate]

Yeah, I love it. I know you got to get out of here. The last thing I'll ask you about is Kansas City Chiefs. They got Rasheed Rice back this week. They just had a dominant win over the Lions, who we all thought was the best team in the NFL. Are the Chiefs back?

[Greg Olson]

What do you think?

[Luke Keakley]

I think they have a lot. A lot more weapons than they have in the past. They got worthy, Hollywood Brown. Kelsey played well. Pacheco, Kareem Hunt sounds like.

[Greg Olson]

Looks like.

[Luke Keakley]

Like Mahomes is playing better last night. And then they can rush the pass from the defensive side of the ball. So I think they played some close games early. They lost by a real small margin those first few weeks. And I don't know. I mean, I don't think you can ever count those guys back. Count those guys out. And now they have a more physical presence on the inside. I think they're gonna be just fine.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Anything sneaky you're seeing in the NFL right now that you're like, hey, this is a team that's going to, you know, know, be the cream of the crop come the end of the year.

[Greg Olson]

I think Tampa Bay is really good.

[Willie C. Taylor]

I. Dude, I do, too.

[Josh Pate]

I think if they could ever get.

[Luke Keakley]

Healthy, they didn't have anybody yesterday.

[Greg Olson]

I mean, they. They don't have a soul out there. And I know San Francisco obviously was, too. So give them the.

[Willie C. Taylor]

You know, I hate that Fred Warner went down, dude.

[Josh Pate]

I know. Disgusting. He had a dislocated 49ers.

[Greg Olson]

Just seem like they cannot escape the injury curse, but this goes back years. But Tampa Bay. I mean, Mike Evans stand on the side running. I think Godwin. They lost. I mean, they. They have. I think Bucky. Bucky Irving was out like there. Didn't. Did worse. Not play, too.

[Josh Pate]

I know that worse played last.

[Greg Olson]

I got home from my game, and I kind of watched it in passing as I was getting organized. But, like, the point being Baker might be the MVP of the league right now. In the top two or three. He's literally willing them to win. And what are they? Five and one. I mean, they're. They're really good.

[Willie C. Taylor]

Yeah, that.

[Greg Olson]

That.

[Willie C. Taylor]

That run on third and what, 14. That'll get you. It's hot. From Baker Mayfield.

[Josh Pate]

I mean, my God, he is truly willing his team to win. Guys, good luck.

[Greg Olson]

I thought this was a nice treat.

[Josh Pate]

It was. This is awesome. This is everything and more you could possibly ask for on a Monday morning.

[Luke Keakley]

That's my.

[Willie C. Taylor]

That's my king. That's my king right there. When Fred Warner went down yesterday, it felt like anytime, you know, Luke would go down and I'm like, man, he's going to play the next week. Is he out for the season? Just kind of breaks your heart. That's my king right there.

[Josh Pate]

Boys, all eyes on the championship. I know it's not technically a championship, but we're rooting for you. Ignore the noise. Ignore the noise. We love you guys.

[Greg Olson]

Dialed in. Don't worry, we're dialed in.

[Willie C. Taylor]

We'll keep the Reddit people at bay. Love you.

[Josh B]

Appreciate you.

[Josh Pate]

See y'.

[Josh B]

All.

[Josh Pate]

Great.

[Greg Olson]

See you fellas.

[Josh Pate]

See you.

[Willie C. Taylor]

See you, bro.

[Greg Olson]

That was fun.

[Willie C. Taylor]

See you, Luke.

[Greg Olson]

See you.

[Willie C. Taylor]

All right. We just finished up with Greg Olson talk. You know, obviously we sat there and talked all you sports. We talked a couple of the NFL games. We talked a lot of. We had a lot of conversation with the upcoming potential coaching carousel. Carousel. Carousel. Carousel. I know I've struggled with that word in the past. We'll get to a lot more football talk in tomorrow's episode. We're going to do a big time. We're going to be talking spooktober. We're going to be talking checking in with the fans. A lot of our tear talk will be on tomorrow's episode because I know we only got to a couple couple today. We have a lot, we have a lot to cover that'll be on tomorrow's episode. But yeah, man. Big hugs, tiny kisses. We will see you tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed the episode with Josh Pate, Greg Olson and Mike King. Luke Keakley. Big hugs, tiny kisses. Love you. See you tomorrow.

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[Josh Pate]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway this fall, take care of the little ones in the family with Baby Club Savings now through November 4th. Spend $25 on select Baby Club products and save $5. Shop for items like Pedias Shore bottles, Pedialyte powder packs, Huggies baby wipes, Huggies diapers, Gerber Puffs and Gerber pouches. And save $5 when you buy $25 or more on participating products offer ends November 4th. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Josh B]

This is an iHeart podcast.