Josh Pate, Will Compton & Taylor Lewan Predict The 2025 CFB Season

Summary

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Bussin' With The Boys: Josh Pate, Will Compton & Taylor Lewan Predict The 2025 CFB Season

Date: August 20, 2025
Hosts: Will Compton, Taylor Lewan
Guest: Josh Pate

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Overview

This episode marks the launch of “The Locker Room” – a collaboration between college football analyst Josh Pate and the Bussin’ With The Boys crew. The panel dives deep into their predictions for the 2025 college football season, including conference champions, national title favorites, and Heisman picks. With honest banter, in-depth analysis, and bold takes, this episode is a must-listen for any CFB fan gearing up for an electrifying season.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: Hype for the College Football Season

• Excitement about the new "Locker Room" show format and the start of football season.
• Joking introductions highlight the personalities and backgrounds of each host/analyst.
  • “Three quads sitting here getting to live the American dream right now. It’s beautiful.” – Will Compton [04:10]
• Light-hearted recap of inside jokes, fan reactions, and Josh Pate’s transition into the show.

2. SEC Predictions: Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and LSU

• Main Contenders: The big three for the SEC title are Texas, Georgia, and Alabama, with LSU as a serious dark horse.
• Culture & Fit:
  • Discussion about how head coaches "fit" with their schools.
  • “With Sark and Texas, that's a peanut butter and jelly feeling…Brian Kelly, who's still a great college football coach, doesn't have this like Coach O did with LSU.” – Will Compton [13:27]
• Concerns About Alabama:
  • DeBoer’s new culture following Saban’s retirement; questions about whether Alabama maintains its dynasty.
  • “What does that pressure look like to DeBoer when everyone's whispering—how could 8 and 4 possibly happen at Alabama?” – Will Compton [17:18]
• Texas Optimism:
  • Sarkisian’s culture, faith in Arch Manning as QB, and the favorable schedule all highlighted.
  • “I just believe it's going to happen...I like them to win the SEC.” – Taylor Lewan [20:00]
• Georgia Strengths & Weaknesses:
  • Loaded wide receiver room is new territory; questions about youth and defensive inexperience.
  • “If you tell me they've got a Georgia offensive line, I have no problem trusting that kid.” – Josh Pate re: Gunner Stockton [22:08]
  • “Their wide receiver room could be the alpha room at Georgia…think about how crazy that statement is.” – Josh Pate [24:11]
• Summary Picks:
  • Taylor: Texas
  • Will: Georgia
  • Josh: Alabama

3. Big 12: Chaos & Wide-Open Race

• Teams in the Mix: Kansas State (“floor is familiar, can they tap a higher ceiling?”), ASU, Texas Tech, Utah, Baylor, Arizona State.
• Kansas State: Taylor leans on their consistent culture under Coach Kleiman.
• Arizona State: Will gives a passionate, detailed case for ASU’s rise, citing culture, stability, and roster depth. Josh cosigns, citing their continuity and late-season momentum.
  • “For the longest time…every coach that’s gone there has used [ASU] as a stepping stone to get somewhere else. Now you have a place, Tempe, Arizona, fun spot to be at.” – Will Compton [34:03]
  • “If they get in the mix, I trust them to peak at the right time because I know they can.” – Josh Pate [38:13]
• Texas Tech Experiment: Discussion about portal-heavy rebuilding and whether individual talent can gel into a unit.
  • “If they get cut early in the season, what kind of team are we looking at?” – Josh Pate [41:33]
• Summary Picks:
  • Taylor: Kansas State
  • Will & Josh: Arizona State
  • Notable Sleeper: Kansas, Utah. Texas Tech is an “experiment.”

4. ACC: Clemson’s Conference to Lose but Watch Miami

• Clemson: All three hosts concur Clemson is the safest pick, with concerns about Miami’s history of “shitting the bed” and inconsistency.
  • "Clemson’s a proven commodity. Miami’s not yet." – Josh Pate [44:58]
• Miami: Massive overhaul of defensive backfield; if the portal transfers excel, they could be trouble.
  • “We flushed the entire thing...we portaled in a whole new secondary. That will end up being a strength.” – Josh Pate [43:29]
• Georgia Tech: Josh’s sleeper pick in the conference; Haynes King at QB, tough identity.
• North Carolina (w/ Bill Belichick):
  • Skepticism about an NFL coach quickly turning UNC into a contender.
  • “Nothing about this sport is like the NFL, up to and including the talent acquisition mechanism.” – Josh Pate [47:16]
  • “I am so not sold on them coming in there and revolutionizing North Carolina football.” – Josh Pate [48:10]
• Summary Picks:
  • All: Clemson (with Miami as the threat)

5. Big Ten: Oregon, Penn State, and a New Hierarchy

• Main Focus: Oregon and Penn State are the clear front-runners.
• Oregon:
  • Will picks Oregon, citing Dan Lanning’s culture and faith in Dante Moore.
  • Detailed schedule walk-through; favorable matchups after a marquee home contest vs. Ohio State.
  • “Every person…who has watched them practice say he is NOT going to be the issue this year.” – Will Compton (on Dante Moore) [48:23]
• Penn State:
  • Josh and Taylor pick PSU: improvements at WR, roster depth, and new DC Jim Knowles.
  • “This is the year to put up or shut up for James Franklin.” – Taylor Lewan [56:30]
  • “If you could hand-pick the year for Penn State to have their best squad, this is it.” – Josh Pate [58:56]
• Ohio State and Penn State comparison:
  • Ohio State seen as loaded but facing turnover and questions.
  • Penn State’s only hurdle: can Franklin finally win the “big one”?
  • “Franklin conversation has always been really funny…he’s like 95th percentile…trying to get him to the 99th percentile.” – Josh Pate [57:42]
• Summary Picks:
  • Will: Oregon
  • Taylor: Penn State
  • Josh: Penn State (also calls Minnesota a sneaky dark horse)

6. National Champion Predictions

• Josh: Alabama – faith in their versatility, depth, physicality, and DeBoer’s coaching acumen.
  • “I believe in the teams that can beat you many different ways. I could see Alabama winning a game 19–13, I could see them winning 38–31. That’s the kind of versatility I need.” [62:30]
• Taylor: Waffles but ultimately leans Texas (“if all goes as I think it should…”).
• Will: Sticks with Oregon (“Dan Lanning’s that man. I think Oregon takes it…they put their foot on the fucking gas…”).
• Discussion: If Penn State reaches the final, concern is the “hot team” from the SEC or Texas would overpower Franklin at the last hurdle.

7. Heisman Predictions

• Will: Jeremiah Love (Notre Dame RB) – long-shot with big upside.
  • “If he gets the numbers, you have the people coming out of the bushes being like, ‘remember last year, maybe Ashton Gentry should have won it.’” [67:41]
• Taylor: Lenore Sellers (South Carolina QB), with Arch Manning as the other top candidate.
  • “I think it’s either [Sellers] or Arch Manning because they’ll have enough primetime moments.” [68:32]
• Josh: John Mateer (Oklahoma QB) – bets on high ceiling, dynamic story, expects the narrative to work in his favor.
  • “He’s going to be the story of the SEC this year. If he’s not, [Lenore Sellers] actually is.” [68:54]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On College Football Culture:
  • “Does Brian Kelly fit the mold of the Cajun Baton Rouge fried lifestyle…? There’s a little bit of a disconnect there.” – Will [14:50]
• Josh’s Coaching Fit Theory:
  • “In college football… the impact of a culture is how much does the program reflect the fingerprint of the head coach.” [38:19]
• Franklin Pressure:
  • “This is the put up or shut up year for James Franklin.” – Taylor [56:30]
  • “If you could hand pick… the year for Penn State to have their best squad, this is it.” – Josh [58:56]
• On Belichick at UNC:
  • “He can be what North Carolina’s been. That’s not what people are expecting.” – Josh [47:42]
• Oregon’s Prospects:
  • “Dan Lanning sets the expectation for when coaches will win national championships.” – Will [65:19]
• Heisman Wild Cards:
  • “He’s going to be the story of the SEC this year.” – Josh (on John Mateer) [68:54]

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Timestamps for Major Segments

| Time | Segment | |-------------|--------------------------------------------------| | 00:00–04:21 | Show intro, chemistry, FanDuel talk | | 11:28–28:17 | SEC deep dive: Texas, Georgia, Alabama, LSU | | 29:22–41:33 | Big 12 debate: Kansas St, ASU, Tech, Utah, Baylor| | 42:06–48:14 | ACC breakdown: Clemson, Miami, GT, UNC/Belichick | | 48:14–61:00 | Big Ten: Oregon, Penn State, dark horses | | 61:19–66:49 | National Champion picks & rationale | | 66:49–70:47 | Heisman predictions | | 70:47–end | Closing banter, next week’s tease |

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Conclusion

An episode packed with bold predictions, lively debates, and the kind of chemistry only lifelong football guys bring. The panel’s conference picks and national title outlook vary, but the recurring theme is clear: culture, continuity, and the right fit at QB or coach are make-or-break in 2025’s wild college football landscape. If you want a leg up in your CFB conversations or betting pools, this is essential locker room talk.

Biggest takeaways:

• Don’t count out bluebloods, but there’s real parity brewing across major conferences.
• Expect the unexpected in the Big 12.
• Penn State’s moment of truth is at hand.
• Heisman chatter could get wild—with QBs like Arch Manning & wildcards like John Mateer poised for the spotlight.

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Next Episode: Locker Room returns next Wednesday, 6pm Central. "Big hugs, tiny kisses, tiniest kisses."

Transcript

[A]

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we are finally here. Another season of college football. A new season of the locker room. We will be here every Wednesday at 6pm Central Time delivering you your favorite picks every college football weekend. Teams across the country, they've revamped their locker rooms. We have revamped the locker room of our own. There's going to be a three headed monster that you're going to see every week, starting with your boy right here. Willie c. Will Compton, nine year NFL vet, debatably 100 time Pro Bowler linebacker out of the University of Nebraska. 2012. Listen to me, 2012 All Big Ten second team coaches poll. Joining me, two studs. Taylor Lawan, nine year NFL vet, three time Pro Bowler All American left tackle out of the University of Michigan 2 time, 2 time All American out of the University of Michigan. And the final boss to round out this three headed monster. He is one of the best, if not the best personalities and figureheads in all of college football. And that's Josh Pate. I know the Pate Staters are going crazy in the comments section right now. What we did is we took Josh Pate's college football show, we took Busting with the boys, we mixed it together and we created the locker room. And today we are talking about futures where we will be predicting and projecting the champions of the Big 12, the Big 10, the ACC, the SEC. We will be trying to predict the national champion, trying to predict the Heisman Trophy winner. We are excited that you're here. Listen, if we bring the juice, if we bring a good product to you, this show is free. All that we ask of you is that you simply hit the subscribe button, comment throughout the episode, engage with us on social media. We are ecstatic. Let's kick this football season off. Let's get this party started. Fellas, the locker room. We are presented by the FanDuel Sportsbook, America's number one sportsbook. And before we get into things, we just want to remind you guys that gambling is for entertainment and FanDuel always has your back with tons of responsible gaming tools to make sure your play stays fun and stress free. Check out FanDuel.com RG or or the responsible gaming section in the app to learn more about staying in control of your game.

[B]

All great points. Will Compton. Let's face it boys, football is here. We're fired up about the season, but we've got to start by locking in some predictions on how our year is going to play out. That's why FanDuel thank you. FanDuel has created a whole new holiday for us. Futures Day. Futures Day launches Tuesday, August 26th and they're giving 24 hours of deals on your season long picks. So mark your calendars, set your reminders, whatever you got to do because August 26th is about to be the most epic day in futures betting history. Just head to FanDuel.com FuturesDay to get those picks loaded up for this Tuesday.

[C]

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[B]

Guys, we made it. We're here.

[C]

Been doing this all morning. Just been tapping all morning.

[B]

I went to bed last night. There were two things going in my head. One, that fucking pitch. The second thing that was going through my head is I can't believe I get to sit at this, at this studio with you two fine gentlemen and talk a little bit about football.

[A]

That is me, though. We get to sit with the goat. This is the United States of America.

[C]

This is the American dream.

[B]

This is the American dream. And how lucky. Three quads sitting here getting to live the American dream right now. It's beautiful.

[C]

Only in America. Only in Nashville.

[B]

Only in Nashville. Only in Nashville.

[C]

T shirt, baby.

[B]

T shirt. Put it on there.

[A]

How you feeling about the reaction of the collaboration of busting with the boys in Josh Pate's college football?

[C]

Unbelievable. So we did it the other day. I go to the gym, show gets uploaded. Next day I'm at the gym. Been there two hours. It's been up two hours and we're getting left and right comments. Love it, man. Hey. Hey. Like this. Hey. Hey. I couple of guys said they hadn't even subscribed to the channel yet and they have subscribed because of that and then probably several more on the other side. So the neighborhood's talking.

[A]

The neighborhood is talking. I've been diving into some Josh Pate lore a little bit. Do we have to. We have to put a disclaimer out there that you got paid for the show?

[C]

You do. You do If I got paid for the show.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

What a mess that was the other day. What a mess that was missing.

[A]

Yeah, I don't, like. I'll go in and somebody will, like, jab him on something about getting paid for a show. I don't know what the inside. I don't know what the context or anything is, but I feel like it's like an audience where they, you know, they battle back and forth. There's some trolling going on. There's some fun being had.

[C]

It's normally people who have been in your DMs asking you to be on their show, and you, like, haven't gotten back to them.

[B]

Right.

[C]

Because you were busy all the time. And then the week later, you do some random appearance and they accuse you of being paid for it. Which I wasn't. They weren't even talking about this appearance. And then everyone jumps down their throat, and then they want to apologize to you in the DMs, but they're really not sorry. They're just sorry they got called out.

[B]

And you just leave them on rest. Salty.

[A]

Oh, that's the dude you ratioed into oblivion then. I think he deleted the tweet.

[C]

His fault, man. Hinty deleted it too late.

[A]

He waited it all day and then he deleted.

[B]

And if you think you're getting ratioed bad and someone's not going to screenshot that thing.

[C]

Yeah, it was screenshot, man. It got screenshot.

[A]

Anything. This is the first. This is your first time on camera since the first pitch. Anything that you want to talk about? Because it's went. It's went from a lot of levels. Like right when you threw it, I kind of. The look on my face, you're walking to me, you're like, catchable, Catchable. Then it's like, you know, reality starts to set in.

[B]

Now you realize that's a good place to start. When I throw the ball, it's like a son looking at his father being like, please tell me that was good enough for you. And so I'm trying to give you the answer that I want by saying catchable, Catchable. You come up, your face says it all. It's like, yes, it was catchable. Was it the result we wanted?

[C]

No.

[B]

And Josh and I were talking about this before. It's like, if that happens in St. Louis a couple months ago, this whole redemption pitch story thing never happens. It's like, yeah, it's a little high. Onward and upward. We keep moving forward because the pitch happens at Cardinals Stadium. Then we take a few months. We get 1% better. Every single day. We're going. I'm pulling you to the side every single day, being like, hey, we gotta get a couple throws in. Peyton, we've thrown. Everybody who walks in this building has thrown a baseball with me, and then I go and take a flight to Kansas City to throw that. I mean, we checked a box, but at the end of the day, like, is checking a box what busting with the boys is all about? No, it's about truly meeting the standard. And we did not meet the standard. So I need to reevaluate my level of athleticism. I need to reevaluate the choices that I've made in my life. I need to understand that right now it's football season, so I have to take my own selfish wants and needs and put them to the side. Because we got a big slate of college football and NFL football coming up for the next six months. But eventually, we've got to go back again. Eventually, I've got to.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, it was a family affair, like you said. Everybody in the shop. Everybody in the shop has played. You played. Didn't you play catch with him?

[B]

Yeah, he did. Absolutely.

[A]

Everybody's played catch with him. When you go out there, it's like, I think of it as you've trained all off season, and you go. Or you went through all these wrestling tournaments, and you're sitting there, you're grinding it out with your old man. It's a family affair. You got the coaching staff, you got your teammates, and you go out there thinking, it's not just podium. We're trying to get the gold medal.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And you come out of that tournament with a ribbon.

[C]

Can I tell you this?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And the kids, like, did I. Do you know, how much work did we put in here?

[B]

First bill. First bill of the year. Yeah.

[A]

Like, did we waste our time flying out here?

[C]

I don't think so. If you learned a lesson, you didn't waste your time. But I got to tell you, so I was. As you guys were there. I was live on the air last night. We were up at Penn State last night. I didn't have a laptop on set because I needed information. I had a laptop on set because I was refreshing it, waiting for updates. And the video dropped during the show, and I looked at it, and there's a moment in the live show where I just do a deep sigh oh, and there's a moment of pause, and the production crew, they were kind of, like, on their phones, and they look up. Cause there's silence. And I just kind of, you know, I do the hand motion. It's okay. You guys wouldn't understand. It's okay. I told this dude to pop3nyquil. He didn't. He went and just. He sailed one a little bit.

[B]

I didn't pop the NYQuil. And I think that was mentioned, too, in the hallway. Maybe. I have actually done the NyQuil. But I thought you were trying to get me.

[C]

No, I was trying to save you.

[B]

I. Sounds like it. It sounds like it. And. And listen, there was a moment about a week and a half ago. Jeremy Klump sits there, and he's like, you just seem too mechanical. Like, you're like. You look like you're, like, trying hard. And then so I just started ripping it, because you work on the little processes. And then at the end of the day, like, the 40, you've got to just. You just got to run. So I'm just throwing, and it's starting to go. Now we get to the game, we're starting to throw a little bit. Couple of good ones. A good slew of, like, could be betters. And then we finish strong.

[A]

1. I had to stand up on my. Hey, lock in.

[B]

Yeah. And I go. We go. We do the tour. They're giving me the tour. It's a wealth of information. The guy that's taking on this Kansas City Royals tour, it's awesome. What a. What a great franchise. All the things, however, I'm not thinking about that. I'm thinking about I need to grip it and rip it. We get to this FanDuel TV thing, there's a gentleman there had 354 saves. He said, I like to give you a little bit of, you know, a critique or something. When I see your throw, you're out here. You have to be essentially 100% perfect to put the ball where you want it. When your arms that high, you got to come over at the top.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And instead of just gripping and ripping, I'm in my head thinking about coming over the top. And my release point was a little high.

[C]

You can't have it by.

[B]

Feel it in slow motion. That time, St. Louis, that was a whirlwind. That was. I can't believe that happened. Oh, my God. This was like a frame by frame. If you slowed down a video, like, the whole time thinking, what are we doing here? Like, you're thinking about what this guy's telling you not just doing what you're supposed to be doing.

[A]

Yeah. Speaking of frame by frame, let's go frame by frame in each of these conferences this college football season.

[B]

Where do you want to start? Ted all right. We ended up this episode to bring you boosting with the boys. If you didn't know already, the boys have a 50% profit boost token available every college football Saturday. That's 50% boost on any college football game bet. Just Open up the FanDuel Sportsbook app this Saturday and look out for the boosting with the boys PBT.

[C]

Back to the episode 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18/ and present in D.C. opt in required bonus issued as non withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply including any token expiration and max wager amount. See [e-mail] Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com, call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Chattinconenetic Gambling Helplinema.org or call 800-327-5050. For 24. 7 support in Massachusetts, visit www.mdgamblinghelp.org. in Maryland, call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text HOPE NY 467-369 in New York.

[A]

Should we just, should we let the big dog eat right out of the gate and just start talking Juggernauts in the sec?

[B]

I'm down. Sec.

[C]

Sign me up.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, Josh Bate, listen, you're the, you're, you're, you're the college football expert. To me, there's three teams that I juggle in my head between Texas, Georgia and Alabama. I would love to hear your breakdown. I got a couple thoughts of my own, but I would love to lean on the college expert and how you've broken down the SEC throughout your off season. All right.

[C]

Can I ask you this? So you said Texas, Georgia, Bama were your three juggles.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

There's a fourth in there, too.

[A]

I don't, Is it lsu? Yes. For whatever reason, I just, I think they can be really good. But something, just something about the staff, something about Coach Kelly that I just, is he a national championship? Is he an SEC champion in that conference when you got Kirby Smart, DeBoer Sark, like, hold on.

[C]

If I were a detractor. Okay, so you're, you're, you're not knocking Brian Kelly, but you're putting a question mark on his forehead. Why does Sark get a pass? What has he done that Brian Kelly hadn't done?

[A]

I don't know. So if I can be kind of personalized about it, I feel like Sark has a swagger and a player coach relationship that you don't necessarily see with Brian Kelly or else we haven't necessarily saw with Coach Kelly. Kind of operates the consensus he has got where he does the accent stuff and he has his own kind of fun, but he operates kind of like a CEO, so to speak. Where I feel like Sark, he does have that, that player relationship. You feel that player all you. When you talk to anybody about Sark in the coaching world and player world, they talk about how much they love Sark. So you're right. Like, what has he done? But I just feel like if I was, if I was differentiating the two, that's kind of like how I would see it with Sark. And I feel like Sark has his guy with Arch, even though he's not proven yet. I feel like they are operating with the.

[B]

That's what scares me the most about Texas is all this talk and potential about Arch Manning. It's kind of terrifying because he's been a five, he's been a five star athlete. He was the greatest thing since slight spread. He's got the pedigree, the bloodlines, everything. And now it's like, now we actually get to see. Now that's where I pull myself back a little bit on Texas and the thing just to double down on lsu. And the difference between Sark and Kelly is when you look at Sark and you see the Texas logo, something about that gel, that's a peanut butter and jelly feeling where you're like, I can understand why that personality, that head coach is with that brand, that logo. Brian Kelly, who's still a great college football coach, who's at Notre Dame forever, he doesn't have this like Coach O did with lsu. LSU feels to me like from a culture standpoint you need a very unique personality to uphold the brand of the LSU Tigers. And Brian Kelly just feels like he's a great, he's a great college football coach. But does he fit the mold of the Cajun Baton Rouge fried lifestyle of the whole state of Louisiana? Who every single Saturday wakes up and they're saying, go Tigers. They're spelling it a goofy way. They're tailgating from Wednesday all the way until Saturday and they have that insane electricity atmosphere. It's like, does Brian Kelly feel the same way that LSU feels to the public, I don't think. I think there's like a little bit of a disconnect there. Sark, I don't feel that disconnect between Texas, Austin, Texas and Sarkee.

[C]

You first off, you said the exact right thing. So if I were to take your side on it, that's exactly my answer to my own question. That's the edge that Sark has over Brian Kelly. You're describing culture. You're describing fit, like why a guy would work one place and wouldn't work another.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That is not nearly as talked about in the NFL. Cause NFL franchises or NFL franchises, there's a difference in Buffalo and the Texans, but it's not nearly the difference in Michigan State and lsu, for example, in college football, I mentioned those two because Saban was at Michigan State at one point and he goes to lsu. He's never lived in the south in his life. He's never coached in the south in his life. However, unlike bk, when he took the LSU job, Saban looked and said everything about Louisiana. I want to, like, put my throat. Put my hands around the throat of that. I want that infused. And Brian Kelly, I think, kind of said, no, we're going to do it the Brian Kelly way. Louisiana this, Louisiana that doesn't matter so much. They're kind of paying the cost for that right now and they're trying to get back to that way. But I think that what you said is right. I would therefore put Texas in that lead pack. I would put Georgia in that lead pack. I'd put Alabama in that lead pack. I went with Bama to win this conference in a kind of nod to the OC hire they made in Ryan Grubb, who they had for like five minutes last year before we went to Seattle. They would have had him on the staff last year. He comes back. I think what I trust with them is at quarterback, Ty Simpson will not give them the highest highs that Milroe gave them, but he definitely will keep them from the lowest lows that Milroe gave them. That entire offense last year was so schizophrenic, there was no identity. So you had no clue what you were getting week to week. So if you're an oc, how in the world do you game plan? Because you could go beat LSU by 30 like they did, and then go get beat by Oklahoma by three touchdowns like they did. There's no consistency in performance. They got the players, they got one of the best wide receiver rooms in the conference, easily. I think the best and deepest db Room in the conference line of scrimmage. Talent is good. It's Alabama. Just like Georgia, they should get back to running the ball this year. But if it comes down to a tiebreaker in my head right now between Kalin DeBoer and these other dudes, he's 60 against Sark and Kirby and Dan Lanning, which we all agree are three of the best in the country right now. And DeBoer, in his time at Washington, goes 60 against them. He's just himself with better talent now. So I think year two, there would be a lot of concerns that are eased a little bit for folks who think Alabama is just about to fade into the abyss simply cause Nick Saban's not there.

[B]

I think that's what people, a lot of people that aren't Alabama fans kind of want.

[C]

The rest of the country wants it.

[B]

The rest of the country wants it because Alabama has ran college football for so long. And I think as an outsider looking in, my feeling is, what does that pressure look like to deboer when everyone's like now whispering about if 8 and 4 happens, how could 8 and 4 possibly happen at Alabama? How do you lose to a Michigan team in their bowl game where they can't even throw the ball? Like, where is the disconnect between Nick Saban and debore? Cause they're completely different coaches. When we were there for the spring practices, they're talking about how there's music playing now. They're a little looser in the meeting rooms, they're having more fun when Nick Saban would run an extremely tight ship. And I think we're so used to just feeling and seeing like one culture in one place for so long, that's hard to imagine it any other way. So that's where, when I'm looking at it in my dumb brain, I'm like, do I go into Alabama? Do I buy in Alabama? Or do I kind of ease back a little bit? Because I'm not sure from a cultural standpoint, which, you know, when I look at this sheet, I go a lot by the culture and like, what do they do? You can take different pieces and put them in, but the culture is still the same. I don't know what Alabama's culture is, and that's why I get a little weary about them.

[C]

But I'm going to tell you what makes me nervous, because you were just talking about Texas. What makes me nervous is I was out in Austin this spring. Like, they've lost players, they got a new quarterback, at least a New starter at quarterback in arch. So, like, there's. There's a lot of the questions you would ask about them. But Sark said, we've been building towards this year, right? Like this is the year we've been building towards. All of these are my guys. The entire building is full of my guys. So even though we may be replacing starters, the guys we're replacing them with, those are the ones we're banking on. Those are the ones we trust. Those are the ones we have recruited and evaluated and developed. And he said that without blinking. And I just. That that burns in your mind because then you go and you do something like picking against Texas and it's like, you know, fractions of inches here and there. And I just don't want to find myself feeling stupid in December because he gave me the answers to the quiz in spring and I just forgot about him.

[A]

I think it is like fractions and inches with those three teams, Texas, Georgia and Alabama. If you give a nod to Georgia, it'd probably be the coaching staff. You give the nod to Alabama, they're probably the deepest. You give the nod to Texas. I think they are equipped just like those other two teams, but I think their schedule is the most favorable out of those three. They have the easiest schedule out of those three. Bama and Georgia both have tough schedules. And I know it's like Archie isn't proven yet. And I don't know how else to explain the belief in Archie Manning because we've had, you know, fortunate enough, we got to have Peyton sit on the show and talk about the. How they kind of handle everything with Archie Manning, voice memos, how level headed he is, and the belief is just more so, I guess, latching on. It's like, you know, when Apple just makes a product and you don't know, you might not even know what the product is.

[C]

Mind trust.

[A]

But you know it's going to be a banger. It's like the Mannings, historic, like all of them, they've all been good. And with Archie, the hype there, the way Sark talks about him, him being at Texas, all of these things about him, it's just. It's just a feeling of. I just believe it's going to happen. And I. That's why I'm going to go Texas, because again, I think they have the. The most favorable schedule. Granted, everybody stays healthy. And if Archie Manning is who everybody's talking about him being, being a Heisman contender, he's the Heisman front runner right now. But being a Heisman Contender. And if that offense is operating in Sark system, I like them to win the sec.

[B]

I think, I think all of us. I didn't take this team, but I think LSU is a team that we're kind of all sleeping on a little bit. They got one against Clemson. Clemson. I think JP Dropped this little nugget of me yesterday. Clemson hasn't won a home opener versus a big team since like 2019.

[C]

Been a while.

[B]

It's a good opportunity was that LSU.

[C]

Hadn'T won the home, hasn't won a.

[A]

Season opener since 2009.

[B]

Okay, so that is the opposite of the opinion I was going to have because I read the. I think two years ago LSU's, LSU's defense was abysmal. Last year they got better. I think they take another step this year. They have the most quarterback ready for the NFL and Garrett Nussmeier. It's like, can they take those step. If not, we might be looking at a situation where you're halfway through the season, you're like, is Brian Kelly really your guy? Those whispers started happening last year. My pick. And it's a, it's a cultural pick. It's Georgia. Before the show, we started talking about the wide receiver room being the alpha in Georgia, which is never even heard of. You have a guy like Gunner Stockton who is waited, sitted back and kind of just waited his turn. But I think you see a guy like Carson Beck, who kind of fits the mold of Miami a little bit more, a little more flashy. Any guy who's going to leave a program, a big program like Georgia because of his girlfriend, can't buy stock in that. I don't want to be around that. Gunner Stockton's a guy that's going to be able to get it.

[A]

And when he'd go in the game last year, whenever Carson would get injured or something, I feel like the team would like rally. Like, yeah, they kind of, they would.

[B]

Be juice for him because I feel like there was some talk of like kind of way Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning in a much lower sense. Like anytime Quinn Ewers didn't do something great, everyone's like, well, where's Arch? We should put Arch in. I feel like it was a similar feel with Carson Beck and Gunnar Stockton.

[C]

Remember this, they play Texas in the SEC championship game. Beck gets hurt. Georgia is trailing when Beck gets hurt. So Gunner Stockton comes in and with him at the helm, they come from behind to beat Texas for a conference title. It's not like they had a three touchdown lead. And they held on. That's that same thing with the Beau Prabula kid who's the quarterback at Missouri this year. Penn State was on the ropes on the road against Wisconsin. Aller goes down, they have to come from behind with their backup and win. So like whether it's Stockton, whether it's Prabula, these guys aren't totally unproven commodities. They haven't liked, had the QB1 tag for a whole year. But like, you're right. And also he's a homegrown kid. He's from Georgia, locker room loves him. So they'll go to war for him. They're like facing the fan for him, over the cliff for him. However, it all comes down to their own line. For me, like to circle back and I'm going to give you the stage back. But if you tell me they've got a Georgia offensive line, I have no problem trusting that kid.

[B]

Yeah, see, I lean so much more on the wide receivers and the ability. Like Mike Bobo, the oc, he is a guy that he's got a little bit of criticism for it, but playing more laterally than he is verbally, vertically. So if you run into that Georgia office alignment just here in the locker room, futures day, this thing is going crazy. Someone's throwing up up there. But Mike Bobo as the oc, he has gotten the criticism you got if you're, if you're a Georgia Bulldogs fan, is he attacks too much east and west, not so much north and south. So as much as you hate the screens and the bubbles and all those different things, they get a lot of hay because they have aliens in the wide receiver position. So I don't necessarily worry too much about Georgia when it comes to their offensive line. They're going to have their five star guys. They're all going to come from like, you know, down south or corn fed boys, they're going to get after it. But if they have, you know, Zachariah Branch and Noah Thomas. So Zachariah came from USC and Noah Thomas came from A and M. Those guys step up and they gel. It's not about Georgia playing great in September other than Tennessee. It's about them playing great in November and December and getting traction similar to the way Ohio State did at the end of the year last year.

[C]

That wide receiver room, just those names you're mentioning, they may just be names to people watching Georgia fans know them, but they may just be names to people. So you think wide receiver, there's just like this six 1, 180 pound kid in your head they've got that, but they've got some 6, 4, 20 in that room. Like they've got a variety of personnel in the wide receiver room. And you were just saying what we were talking about earlier. I don't want it to just kind of get glossed over that you said the wide receiver room could be the alpha room at Georgia. At Georgia. Think about how crazy that statement is with the running back rooms you've seen come through there. Defensive line, linebacker, you would go like six or seven rooms deep before you ever mention receiver. And yet they were so focused. Cause they like led the league in drops by a mile last year. Position led them down horribly. That's why I think Carson Beck has a decent chance to surprise people at Miami this year. If guys just catch the ball for.

[B]

Him and if he's healthy, yeah, that's.

[C]

Like, like this side note. But if Georgia, they've got wide receivers that play like that. You haven't seen that with them. We haven't seen him. So we don't even know how the team profiles.

[B]

Yeah. And then also Kirby smart like you talk about, we bring up Nick Saban all the time. He was essentially Lord Voldemort of college football for the longest time. How you kill Voldemort, you got to kill all his Horcruxes. That Horcrux is Kirby smart. Like he is just a living, breathing version of Nick Saban, possibly the best head coach in all of college football right now. So it's like, how do you bet against a guy like that who's proven it time and time again?

[C]

I'm going to tell you the one thing that I have in my mind. So Georgia would have been my pick. This is the one thing that talked me off of them, barely. They're starting. They got a lot of first or second year guys and they're too deep. More so than Kirby's had to deal with, which, you know, you don't feel bad for him. It's just something. I don't think they simplify how complex that defense is just because they got younger guys.

[A]

All right, so it doesn't happen until it gets the middle of the year and becomes a problem.

[C]

I think what happens in the middle of the year is they get Texas and Ole Miss, Alabama rolling. Athens. Okay. So home field's definitely on their side. That block G is on their side. The way I see those games going, if you had to like, you know, give 1% edge either way, if you're trying to pick the conference, is Georgia's not going to be a bad team. There's no world where that happens. There is a world where they're a really high level team, but you got like one or two busts per game or you can't quite get home. And you know, against, against Kentucky, that may not matter, but against Steve Sarkeesian's team and Kalyn DeBoer's team and Lane Kiffin's team, you got some of the best play callers in the world there. And Ryan Grubb calling plays for Alabama, like against those guys. The difference in that game is one or two blown assignments. Those are the best in the world at exploiting young guys that you're having to start on defense. So if the league swings either way, that's what talked me off Georgia. But I'm just standing over here, I'm not out of the room. I'm just over here saying, yeah, they could still do it.

[B]

They could still do it.

[A]

Absolutely. So where are you going?

[B]

I'm going Georgia.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. I've been talking about Georgia for the last 10 minutes. I figured that's clear. But I'm going Georgia.

[A]

You went on a raid about lsu?

[B]

No, I talked about LSU because I.

[A]

Think about the culture at Alabama.

[B]

When you sit there and you're talking about Texas, Georgia, Alabama, it's like Those are the three teams. It's like there's three, but that fourth one is like 3B. Like it's right there. And I think Brian Kelly could be a guy that's talked about no matter what, but whether him losing a job or him playing for a national championship, like that's. Those are the two different LSU's we're looking at this year.

[C]

The one thing I was asking you, the one thing that I just wanted to have on camera, on record for when people watch this in December, is there is a thought out there. You would see it in the FanDuel odds if you went and looked it up right now, which is just implying what the market thinks it is. Alabama, Texas, Georgia, lsu, like that's a solid front betting for. Then there's a little bit of a drop off and then there are like five or six other teams. You got Florida, you got South Carolina, Tennessee's in there. And I just think that we're in a new world where there's a lot of compacted nature at the top of the league. And I don't think people have recalibrated their minds yet. Still think people think in terms of a lead pack and it could just be a lot of 10 and 2, 9 and 3. And we're deciding it based on tiebreakers in December.

[B]

You look at all the professionals that talk about college football. I feel like every good team is 10 and two this year. Like, we're going to have like 16 teams.

[C]

No one's predicting 11 and one for anyone.

[B]

No.

[C]

Aside from their own fans, no one's ever. Because no one wants to be on the hook for that. No one wants to be in December saying, how could you have ever predicted anyone to go 11 wins in this chaos? I just think you're going to have some eight and fours that were really good. South Carolina, just randomly to pick a team. South Carolina could have the best offensive and defensive player in the league. Sellers on offense, quarterback, and Stewart on defense, at edge could be the best players in the league. You say that with Ohio State, with Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs, you could say that in the sec. About South Carolina, we haven't even mentioned them in the league race. We haven't even mentioned them. And I just think that if you're looking at this like a ladder match, it used to be you had a bunch of teams on rung three of the ladder. Well, you can extend fully. You can't reach the belt. I think a lot of teams are on, like, the fifth rung where it's still tough, but, like, if they fully extend, they're within reach of the belt. There may be a team or two ahead of them on the ladder. That's where you just got to take a kneecap out. But I just think the league's a lot more competitive this year than I've seen it.

[B]

It's going to be fun.

[A]

We got to get to another conference before we get coined as SEC home.

[B]

The show's already running extremely long.

[A]

We're already doing what we thought we'd do.

[B]

Big 12. This, this is Josh Bates favorite conference. Yeah.

[A]

Our boy Sherm, he loves Sherman Young. Our boy Sher, Sher loves Big 12, baby. I, I, I, I was talking with Josh before we got on the show, and the Big 12, it, like, that's where I've spent the most time because I'm trying to figure out where I'm going to go. Like, I have my pick. And matter of fact, I'm sitting here talking about I have my pick. I forgot what pick I even delivered into the show because I went on so many different teams because I was asking Josh, I'm like, what concept is going to rise to the top With Kansas State, it's like, you or not with Kansas State with the Big 12. My pick is Kansas State. It's like, I know the floor of Kansas State. I'm familiar with Kleiman, got to go out there when he was at North Dakota State, and he's a massive culture guy. We know what we're going to get with Kansas State. Can they tap into a new ceiling with Avery Johnson taking a step and making a lead? Because he had some iffy moments last year? They go out in the portal, they round out some guys and their wife receiver room, they plug some holes on the offensive line. Defensively, they're kind of, you know, they can be good. But is their culture going to get them over the hump this year? Is it going to be Texas Tech with McGuire where they go out and acquire all of these guys, build new facilities, have all the theatrics talking about. I know Josh will get into it with their two and three deep, what they have on defense. But is that acquisition, is that going to be it because they're the most talented? Is it going to be your boy up in Utah? The. The old dog?

[C]

Was it Kyle Winningham? Kyle Winningham rides a motorcycle. Only Big 12 coach that rides a motorcycle to work, allegedly.

[A]

And they grab the. The OC quarterback duo. Is that philosophy going to win Baylor, Arizona State, both of those teams return a lot of their guys that they had last year. So it's. I have no clue where this is going to go. I want to say Fanduel has about, what, two or three teams at plus 550, two or three teams at plus 600. Like there's like six to eight teams that are all right there around the same odds. And I have no clue. I'm going Kansas State because I kind of have a soft spot with climate. I do with Dillingham too, but kind of I've always enjoyed watching climb and operate from a culture standpoint. And I feel like Avery Johnson's really good. I feel like they have the talent, they have some big boys up front, they have the trenches kind of built. So I'm going to lean on them and just hope they raise the ceiling this year. But I could see Baylor, I could see we can get in Arizona State. You don't love Arizona State. I'm not in love with Arizona State like everybody else has talked about. I think Scatterbo is going to be a huge loss and I could also see Texas Tech, so I don't know.

[B]

So you. You the defending Big 12 champs, ASU, you think the reason why they don't do the same thing they did last year is because they lost Scatterbo.

[A]

So ASU is a team that returns a lot of their production from the year before. And I do, I think, I think teams have, you know, teams have continued to get better in the Big 12. Like we were just mentioning Baylor's return. A lot of guys, Texas Tech went out to get a lot of guys. You got the, the culture, the climbing. You know, he's going to be a 3, 4 loss team at least. So you're going to have those. And that's not even talking about Utah. That's not talking about, you know, I know you can be high on. On Kansas, Iowa State with Campbell. Like, they don't. They have a pretty favorable schedule. So my thought on Arizona State is I think Scatterbo is going to be a bigger loss than people think about because they were in a lot of fourth quarter games last year to where, you know, they have scat plays, they have playbooks for Scatterbo to where you would have to lean on Scatterbone. Scatterbo would have to make a play. I think Sam Levitt is awesome. I just, I don't see them as like a clear. This is. They're going to be in the front of this big 12 conference because I think everybody else is kind of caught up to them and everybody else will be able to compete with them.

[B]

I don't disagree with some of the things you said. I think my pick is going to be asu. I think Kenny Dillingham. Obviously, I went to high school at Dillingham. I got Charlie Raymond vibes guy Kenny Dillingham. And I mean, this is a compliment. Reminds me of like when you're all sitting with your friends watching a football game and you got the one guy that's like, hey, he should have fucking caught that. He should have done this. If you took that guy and made him head coach, that's Kenny Dillingham. But with. With more football savvy. Like he's in press conferences being like, we suck right now. Like, someone's gonna go three and nine. Yeah, why don't we go three and nine?

[C]

Someone's gotta be three and nine.

[B]

He is a guy that allows his dudes to be who they want to be. You got Scatterbo and Levitt because for the college football playoffs, talking all the shit in the world. Scatterbo is talking about how he's the best running back, not Ashton Genti. They're going to prove the whole thing. In a lot of ways, they should have beat Texas. I think the big Thing about Kenny Dillingham, the big thing that changes ASU's culture is that Kenny Dillingham has publicly said, and we all publicly believe he's not going to go anywhere.

[C]

He's not.

[B]

And asu, for the longest time, as long as you can remember, since like 1976 when they won a Pac 10 championship, every coach that's gone there has used a stepping stone to get somewhere else. Now you have a place, Tempe, Arizona, fun spot to be at. You got this Blue Mountain State vibe of asu. Sam Levitt's probably waking up a little bit hungover right now in a nice apartment in Old town Scottsdale with three blondes around him. He's getting $3.1 million at nil. He can sling that thing all over the yard. And then everyone's saying, skatabo, skatabo, skatabo. I made a couple calls, I looked around, I called some coaches. This guy named Kyson Brown, they call him Sith. Guy averages 4.3 yards per carry. He's a fast guy. We're talking about a 10, 6 type of dude. In the 100 when he was in high school, Kanye Udo came from Army. All right, salute the troops. Right after the Army Navy game, he was the first guy to go into the portal. This guy had 1100 yards, 10 touchdowns on 179 carries. This guy is a zone gap scheme type of guy that's going to get downhill. He's going to get those dirty three and a half, four yards for you. And there's one more cat here. Let me take a little Peekski relieve. Brown transferred from usc. He was at ASU last year. He got injured in, I believe it was camp. Rumor is from the coaching staff, guy's healthy. He's a take the top off type of cat. He's a dude that Sam Levitt's going to be able to wheel and deal, throw it out of the backfield to put him out in the slot a little bit, give him some screens, and he's going to be able to have the home run ability. All three of those guys. Just because you have a running back room by community doesn't make it a bad thing. You need, you have these three guys to take over for that one guy, Camp Scatterbo. You've got the attitude, you've got the ability to instill a culture. And it has to happen this year in the Big 12. By taking over and doing it two times in a row, they should have beat Texas.

[A]

Listen, I'm not saying Arizona State's gonna.

[B]

Have a bad year.

[A]

We're talking who's gonna have a bad.

[B]

I don't think you're disrespecting ASU either. I'm just.

[A]

Because I agree with all of those things.

[B]

I think, like, if you are who you say you are, this is when you put you cement. Because right now everyone's looking at ASU and being like, pitchforks. Everybody. You know, it's plastic surgery and booze out in asu. That's what. That's what they do there. Now you're able to turn to a football culture and Kenny Dillingham's that cat.

[C]

I'm gonna tell you something no one told you in Kansas City last night. I'm really proud of you.

[B]

Thank you.

[C]

You just. You just rolled. I'm picking Arizona State. I got nothing to add. I'm almost gonna be tempted to mention other teams I didn't pick because you so thoroughly broke down the Sun Devils. Kenny Dillingham could have watched this and learned something about his team. That's how proud I am. You let everyone else cook knowing I'm sitting on Arizona State over here. When we get to Arizona State, I'm rolling.

[B]

Yeah, we're rolling.

[C]

I do want to say this. You mentioned this team one time. You said Kansas. No one cares about Kansas. They're just out in the middle of nowhere. And prediction wise, they're out in the middle of nowhere. No one's predicting them. No one's picking them. Jalen Daniels has been chronically injured his whole career. He came back middle of last year, down the stretch. Last year, I thought they were the best team in the Big 12. They were playing at the highest level, but they were terrible at the beginning of the year, so it didn't matter in the standings. But I took a mental note and then I checked back in in spring. Hey, Daniels looks good. Check back in early fall camp so far. Fingers crossed. So good. That's the team. If you're looking for someone to come like Sting from the rafters just out of nowhere, it's probably Kansas. Utah makes me the most nervous because, like you said, they did the Oklahoma thing. They went and got a quarterback and an offensive coordinator from the same team. Now, in their case, it was New Mexico. No one's paying attention to that. Whittingham, all he was doing was winning nine or ten games a year. They had one bad year and everyone wants to write them off again because they're Utah, so they don't naturally get talked about. But the thing with Arizona State that I'LL go back to while everyone's talking about returning starters and they do have a lot of them is can you believe that they won like they did last year and no coach left. You don't think there was a market for Arizona State staff? I promise you, because I know the market, I know the players. There were big market dollars, there were big raises to be had for a lot of Kenny's coaches to leave. And so Kenny did what he had to do to keep them there. But I'm going to tell you, even then it wasn't matching dollar for dollar. It's guys who were all in on Arizona State. So not just the head coach there, but if you really want to talk about the impact of a culture, it's how much does the program reflect the fingerprint of the head coach. And top down, everyone thinks like him there, everyone acts like him there, at least as much as they naturally can. So that's why they peaked at the right time. Last year I thought Iowa State was going to beat them in the Big 12 title game. They just drug them. And so if they get in a mix, I trust them to peak at the right time because I know they can. I haven't seen anyone else do that. So I think they're going to be in the mix. I trust Arizona State to be there at the end. I'm going to take them.

[B]

There's so much money in the state of Arizona, especially in that Maricopa County, Tempe, Scottsdale area. If you're able to replicate what you did last year, Arizona, I've been on record saying this, it's the most fair weather fan state of all the states. Like when your team's great, everyone's all of a sudden completely bought in. You see with the Cardinals in like 2007, 2008, if they're able to do it, then they're going to have the money they need to get the high end players. Not the five stars who commit to the Michigan's, Ohio State's Georgias, but the ones that and then, and then transfer over to asu. They're going to be able to get them right out of high school, right out of community college, those types of things. So this is a big year for the next, not just for this year, but for the next 10 years of ASU.

[A]

Anything, anything, any insight on Texas Tech that you have being in the weeds of the Big 12 confidence.

[C]

That's the experiment, that's the experiment of college football this year. Everyone else in the Big 12 is pretty much built the Same way, to varying degrees. Texas Tech is a totally different animal. Texas Tech realized we got a window here we can go spend. They did. And I just want people like, if you know the Big 12, you watched it last year, you will turn on a Texas Tech game this year and you'll see guys who started for them on the D line last year that sometimes are not even rotating in with their twos. Some of them are bumped down to threes. They're not bad kids. They're not character guys. They're not hurt. They just got recruited over or in this case, portaled over. And there's. There's going to be a lot of talk about offensive weapons. Their D line may end up being the best in the conference. And because they went to the SEC and Big Ten and got all the guys, you're going to look at the body type. I was in their building in the spring. Like, if you looked at them, you would say this could pass for like Florida State. It could pass for Arkansas or something like that. Just where you would expect bigger bodies. And yet they're out there in Lubbock, Texas, because that's where they went to get them all. So then the only question I had, I was telling you, the only question I had is, all right, you just went and got a bunch of individuals. Is it really as simple as tossing them in a blender, pressing the button, pouring it out, voila, we have a team. I'm skeptical of that only. Cause history has told me to be skeptical of that. But then history also says, hey man, you've never even seen anyone try this. So I've talked to people in that building as much as I can. They swear the vibe is as good as they've ever been around. They swear it's not just a bunch of mercenaries. Like, we've got a team here. We got a unit here. Ask our quarterback, he's been here for a while. Ask him what his best group of guys he's been around is. So it's August. People are talking like that in August. Live bullets fly in a couple of weeks. Fast forward a month. If they're still talking like that, that team's only going to get better. Like, it's only going to gel. But if it gets wobbly early in the season, that's my question. Like, if they get cut early in the season, what kind of team are we looking at?

[B]

Yeah, we'll interrupt this episode real quick to bring you Form Energy. Form Energy delivers a best in class taste with natural flavors and zero sugar. Form Energy has Natural caffeinated, derived from green tea form. Comes in a variety of flavors. Talking about Screaming Freedom. That's Rocket pop inspired. Yeah. Grape Smash, Blue Blitz. Orange Fury. Perfect for those who love to put in the work form energy. We do the work. When your boys are here studying for these things, what do we do? Crack the top of a form energy. Slug that thing down. We're wired. We're moving X's and O's, I's and W's. We're like computers out there. We do the work form energy. Back to this episode.

[A]

Should we get to acc?

[B]

Acc? I think we could be a little quicker with this one because I think we're all sitting in the same place with the acc.

[A]

Clemson.

[B]

Clemson.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I had one caveat.

[A]

Miami. Are you like, you're you is Georgia Tech?

[C]

Well, Georgia Tech, but I believe if they meet him again in the ACC title game, like, I would pick Clemson. Georgia Tech's my sleeper in the conference.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Love the identity of the program. Love the senior leadership at quarterback. Good player. Haynes, King. I think if they did nothing more than one, the Georgia game last year, which was like a nine overtime game, everyone would be talking about him right now. Which wouldn't change what quality of team they are whether they won or lost that game last year relative to this year. But I am looking at Miami and they were so terrible defensively last year. They wasted Cam Ward just like LSU wasted Jaden Daniels, just like USC wasted Caleb Williams. You had that happen at Miami. All right, so I'm talking to someone from down there the other day on the staff, and they said, not trying to create hype, I'm trying to be really responsible with what I'm about to say. But he said, you need to understand what we did at db. Like, yeah, we went and hired a new defensive coordinator in Heatherman from Minnesota. But you need to understand, we got one kid that's left over from that defensive backfield. We flushed the entire thing. O.J. frederick's the one that's left. He was the lone bright spot there last year. We portaled in a whole new secondary that will end up being a strength on this team. If that person is right, then Miami's going to be a real, real player in this because Miami's got better line of scrimmage talent than Quinn.

[B]

Clemson does.

[C]

They are probably a little deeper in talent than Clemson is. Clemson's frontline guys are great. You get past that front line. If Clemson encounters any injuries this year, I get really concerned about him because you cut into the bark A little bit gets really green, really quick. But if they can stay healthy, I trust him. I trust him more than a lot of the question trusts that I have with Miami, so that's why I went Clemson. But Miami's got to be in this mix. They got to at least find a way to be in this mix they should have been in last year.

[B]

Are you concerned at all with Beck's injury that he sustained in the SEC championship?

[C]

I am not concerned with the injury. I am concerned about them having to replace their top half dozen pass catchers. I am concerned about that. But I am. The reason I go to the DB room is Cam Ward rolls into the stadium every year, last year knowing, yeah, I got to hang 40 today. That's what I have to do for us to win.

[A]

I was just saying. And just Miami too, they just they randomly shit the bed.

[C]

Yes. That's called inconsistency because you can't play defense, so you got to score every possession.

[A]

Right.

[C]

Even it gets like cow.

[A]

And you go back a couple years ago, it's like coaching staff mistakes during situational football. It's. Even if they do have all the things that you're saying, like, if they have this, if they have that, it's still like, when those moments happen, are they going to get over that hump and actually be a real contender or are they going to shit the betting?

[C]

I think those are fair enough questions for me to go Clemson, because I believe in Miami District. I don't think they're going to fall off. But Clemson's a proven commodity. Miami's not yet.

[B]

Can I ask you about Bill Belichick in North Carolina?

[C]

Go for it.

[B]

I gotta take for it. Does it feel like there's just going to be all of a sudden a major shift, or is it just so different in your mind that the NFL coach going to college is going to be able to, like, shift a culture that quickly?

[C]

Well, let me answer your question with a question. Do you think it's as stupid as I do that people say college football is just like the NFL now?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Okay, so if you think that's stupid, then you probably agree with me. Well, I don't know if you agree with me, but if you think it's dumb for people to say that, then you understand how different a world Bill Belichick's walking into. If you don't understand that, and if you're 50,000ft above college football and you see, ooh, they got nil, they pay the players, it must be like college football now, then you ignorantly think Bill Belichick is going to come in and teach college football a lesson? Yeah, I happen to be on the other side of the fence. I happen to think that almost nothing about this sport is like the NFL, up to and including the talent acquisition mechanism where people have to choose you. Even if you got money to offer, they have to choose you. So by my estimation, they're paying him 10 million a year. And I don't think anyone in college football gets paid 10 million a year to go seven and five or eight and four. But that's North Carolina football. Historically, they're a seven and a half win per year caliber program. If you're asking me if he can do that, my answer is yes, emphatically. He can be what North Carolina's been. That's not what people are expecting. People are thinking he's going to be above and beyond what North Carolina's been. So at that point, you've got to bring something to the table. Above and beyond. So at that point you would sell me on. Oh man, the Belichick way and the culture that he's going to instill and all this and that. I'm going to ask you, where are the players going to come from? And you may sell me on. Well, he doesn't need to recruit like Georgia or Ohio State because he's going to develop. He's going to get hateful three stars. He's going to develop them and I'm going to ask, develop him into what? And you're going to say, oh, they're going to be good football players. Okay, good enough to do what though? Because remember, you didn't hire him to just be what North Carolina's been. You just cut through it. You hired him to contend for a playoff spot. That means you've got to compete against other teams that are gunning for a playoff spot. And what you find out at the highest level of college football is it's not an either or. Like at Georgia, they can go get talent and develop it. Like they're good at recruiting and X's and O's.

[B]

Right?

[C]

Bama's good at recruiting and X's and O's. Clemson, ditto Miami. Like those guys are going to have players that are more talented than yours and they can out scheme you or they can make scheme irrelevant because they just out Jimmy you, out Joe you. So I am so like not sold on them coming in there and revolutionizing North Carolina football. And you know, Saban coached into his 70s and retired, but he had been in the sport a lifetime. Belichick is coming into the sport for the first time in his 70s, so it makes him older than any three of his players combined, which is just a wild stat to think about. And ironically, this is the easiest schedule they'll have. This year's the easiest schedule they'll have. Yeah, they may have the lightest schedule in the, in the acc. I just. They play TCU week one, which is a team we never mentioned in the Big 12.

[A]

Right.

[C]

Which naturally, you know, they'll probably shark fin and win by 30. Week one. I don't buy it.

[B]

You're out.

[C]

Yeah, I'm out for those reasons.

[A]

I'm out for those reasons.

[B]

I am also out.

[A]

Let's move to the Big Ten, the primetime conference, the conference that holds the last two national titles.

[B]

How do we feel?

[A]

Go ahead.

[B]

I'm gonna take Oregon. And the reason why I'm taking Oregon is simple. It's culture. It's Dan Lanning. It's a guy like Dante Moore, who is not. He's been there for two springs and two falls and he got to sit behind, sit and watch Bonix, watch Dylan Gabriel. And now he is taking the helmet. Every person, including yourself, who has gone to Oregon and watched him practice say he is not going to be the issue this year. You look at the culture in the Northwest of what Dale Landing has been able to achieve. October 12th, they play Ohio State. They win that game 32 to 31. Last second quarterback for Ohio State takes a slide. Time runs out the whole the stands. They pile into the stadium, they rush the field. Everyone's feeling it. What an opportunity it is for 18 to 21 year old kids to drop. The next week against Purdue. Instead they put 35 on Purdue. Purdue gets zero. The week after that they play Illinois. 38. My eyes are bad. 9. Then they go to Ann Arbor, Michigan, my beloved Wolverines. And that felt a little personal because I know Dan Lanning watches the show. They cover the spread, all right, and they go 38, 17. So the culture that Oregon has, incredible. I think they're going to continue that step. They won the Big Ten last year, but it really comes down to the offensive line as well. Three of your five guys, your starters are transfer guys. You need them to gel. You got a guy in, Isaiah Wuerls, who we were able to see at the spring practice. Guy. 6, 8, 3, 15. Small ankles, small, small hips, wide shoulder. Looks the part, plays the part. The guy's a dancing bear. The offensive line coach. I don't want to fuck this up. But a leaked Terry, I believe it is, got to sit in his team meeting room, tell the guys he loved them, talked about winning the Joe Moore Award. These guys are having conversations, being treated like an adult in a cultural atmosphere that I've personally never seen before in my entire life. They're bought in their stadium's bought in, the culture's bought in. Dan Lanny, he's not going anywhere. I love Oregon and I love Oregon and I'm more confused about Penn State and Ohio State, which are your next two top dogs. And that's why, Eileen, I fall back on your foundation, which is always culture. I know Ohio State, we give them the benefit of the doubt. They're always going to be good, they're always going to be contenders. And you know they're going to win at least 10 games every single year. Penn State is, is a little bit of the opposite. You look at Penn State and you're like they have so many returning starters. They lose their tight end, they lose Abdul Carter, who are both top 15 picks. They bring a bunch of wide receivers in. But it's like when we first met and spoke about Penn State. You gave the reference of 315. You're trying to max out and you get to hear some guys can do this and some guys do this. This is not an indictment on them. But unfortunately, statistically it just shows that Penn State, when it gets down to the nitty gritty of top fives, they can't get, they can't get that last little lockout in that 315. So I have to give them, I have to essentially like you. But the Apple reference, Apple comes out, you buy the Apple. To me, Penn State is my Samsung right now. I see it, it's probably a great quality product. I don't know how to use it, I don't know how to look at it. So I just essentially stay away from it. So I got Oregon Joshua.

[C]

12 hours ago I was up at Penn State Washington practice. I first thing that stood out to me is Tyler Warren gone. I think they have two really quality tight ends there that America will come to learn this year. But still, Penn State's had tight ends before. They haven't done what you're talking about. So that alone doesn't sell me. Really good looking offensive line, 65325 across the board. But they've had that before. So that's not going to sell me. Good defensive players all three levels. A bunch of them will play in the league. They've had that before. So Drew Oller's back like they've had all that. The one thing they didn't have is a threat out wide or multiple threats out wide. That is what has separated them from the big boys. No one's scared of Penn State beating them, throwing the ball. And I'm confident enough that that changed with the kids they brought in in the Portland watching the practice last night that I am going to actually pick them to win the league this year. I'll get to schedule in a second but I'm watching them practice. They got a kid named Trevor Pena out of Syracuse and they, they had to fight to get him. He makes two contested catches in indie stuff last night. Probably better than plays I saw Penn State make all year at the receiver position. Remember this is a team that did not have a wide receiver reception against Notre Dame. That's a semi final playoff game. A wide receiver doesn't have a catch the whole game. Like you'd have to try to do. You have to get on video games and try to be that bad. So I think they rectified that and then elsewhere there's not much else that had to change because you said it. This is not a team that's a long way away. It's a team that needed to find the 1%. How do you lock out? Well, you go either get stronger or in this case you go to the portal and you find the players that you needed. So outside of that, Oregon comes to them early. Penn State needs to win that game. That's week four, week five, something like that. They don't play any quality competition really before that. That's the Whiteout game. They're not putting it at noon. It's a 7:30 kickoff. So they get the wideout. I mean they've been like bloodthirsty for that for a while. They finally get it. Oregon's taking a new quarterback, new starter at quarterback on the road, a lot of new guys. The thing about Oregon went and watched them practice last week too is I got no doubt about Dante Moore. Like you said, Decoran Moore, top, top wide receiver in the country. I believe he's a stud. He checks out, he checks all the boxes. Got no doubt about him. The wide receiver room downstream of Decorian Moore is not a weakness, but it is a question. And that early in the season and that's like that's their baptism on the road. That's that offense's baptism on the road. And I think Penn State should win that game. And if they do, think about what that sets them up for the rest of the year. Like even if they go and lose to Ohio State, they're probably still in Indianapolis. Penn State is one of the surest playoff teams this year. Like, but they've already been that we're looking to get them over the hump in the conference. I just, man, there's so much solid like dependable assets about that team. The one variable they answered enough at wide receiver to where I'm doing it, I'm buying them.

[A]

I think you laid it out perfectly. I think it's those two teams because you're completely right about Oregon, the culture, everything going on, the talent that they have on the roster and you brought it up the wide receiver room. They go out and get the cat from. What was it, Syracuse, Troy, usc. They went and got a starting backer from North Carolina to plug on defense. They're returning a lot of their all Big Ten guys on defense. They return. He talked about the size of the offensive line. 4 out of 5 return. They got an all American backfield. They have you mentioned the tight ends. They have every piece. To me it's not like to me it comes down to James Franklin. Is he a fraud with a roster like this? I feel like this is the year he goes out, he's a coordinator Merchant. He goes out and gets Jim Knowles from Ohio State. Arguably what's talked about him being one of the best game planners on the defensive side in college football. You go out and get Jim Knowles, you have all these guys returning on defense, you have all of it on offense. And I do think Drew Aller also makes a jump. Not in the sense of he's going to be just this better all around player. He's gotten better with his arm, he's gotten better with his feet and everything else. I just think the year that you can have if Drew Allor is a guy that's in the film room and it seems like he is, but you make a jump from going you're working with an OC in year one, now they're in year two together. You go to, you go from photogenic memory pattern matching to you feel prepared all season going to play to now you have another year in the system, more watching film, seeing what the defense is trying to do to you to where you are better at anticipating the game versus I need to get prepared for this game and having the Rolodex of calls that the coach has given me. I think this is the year for Penn State because again they filled those holes at the wide receiver spot. You said you saw them in person yesterday. So I trust that this is the year they win the Big Ten. I also.

[B]

I know exactly where you're going. Just take a moment.

[A]

If the national championship is going to stay in the Big Ten, I think it is with Penn State.

[B]

That's what I wanted you to hold on.

[C]

Do you understand? Just let it be known.

[A]

Because this, not only it's like I'm buying all the Penn State stock, but I. When you see all of this on paper, this is the put up or shut up year for James Franklin. Being surrounded by all of these goons. He's orchestrated an incredible roster from top to bottom. This is the year to where, you know, Penn State fans are out there right now just being like, we're going to be a two loss, we're going to be a three loss team. It happens to us every year. It happens to us every year. This is the year where if it happened again, if they're a two or three loss team again in a bad fashion, he's got to absolutely be on the hot seat. In my opinion, this might be a.

[B]

Game, dumb question, but at what point is it too much, too much for Franklin being 1 in 15 versus top 15 teams? Being what, 2 in whatever 10 versus top 10 teams, where he's got the roster now. He has literally set himself up in such a big way where it's like, if you don't do this, you are not the coach for Penn State.

[C]

I had him on the show last night. I asked him this to his face. I said for a long time they said Kirby couldn't win the business big one. Then he won one, he won two. Then they said Ryan Day couldn't win the big one. Then Ryan just won one last year. Now they say it about you. He's just, I'm just sitting there talking to him like I'm talking to you, right? I said, so that's pressure. Is it fair? Is it unfair? Like, how do you feel about it? And he said, well, first off, I can't listen to it. But like, I took the job for that. I coach here for that, so I welcome the pressure. He said, you don't, you don't put 110,000 people in a building because they're all normal, insane. So if I'm going to get paid what I get paid, I'm going to have the job I have. That's going to come with it. He said, same thing about Drew. You're going to be the quarterback at Penn State. It's not good enough to just win nine, win 10 games. So the Franklin conversation has always been really funny to me because there are people out there who get mad that he doesn't win those few big games. And they call him overrated, which I don't believe in, because no one's ever rated him above Ryan Day. No one's ever rated him above Kirby Smart. No one's ever rated him above Saban when Saban was still around. They rate him, like, fifth or sixth or seventh. That's about where people would rate James Franklin, which is about where he is. He beats everyone he's supposed to beat. The only ones he runs into that's an L is Ohio State, or you got an Oregon last year. So he's like 95th percentile in a world where we're trying to get him to the 99th percentile. And the other thing you just said is, if you could hand pick, like, the year for Penn State to have their best squad, this is it.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I mean, Ohio State, I don't know how much they come back to earth, but that team lost two games last year with that full squad. So now you got a lot of newness. That's the year you want to have your squad. You got to go in there building. But they don't know what they are yet. Now, what we do know blindly, is they're going to have a ton of talent, as always, but you don't know how it comes together yet.

[A]

So this is such a new decent.

[C]

That's why there's so much pressure on them this year, because it's totally fair. Like, everything you've asked for, you've been given. You've got resources. You got great facilities, like, you got a good roster. Now it's time for you to deliver. That's the most fair thing in competition. The unfair thing would be if he was at Minnesota, like, if it was PJ Fleck and they were all of a sudden saying, hey, Ohio State's down, so you need to win the Big Ten this year. P.J. fleck could rightfully say, but I haven't been given the resources to win the Big Ten. James Franklin has all that.

[B]

Do you think Minnesota is a little sneaky this year, though?

[C]

Yes, I do. Yes, I do.

[B]

I've been on the show. I thought they were last talking about the Gophers.

[C]

Yeah, I thought they were last year.

[B]

Yeah. I just. I love everything you're saying about Franklin. I love it. I can understand why. I believe it. I'm just like you. The reference of Georgia. I'm in the room. I'm standing off to the side right now because he has like 95th percentile coach, 99.9 percentile roster. Like, where is that 4%? Like, is he going to be able to himself his coaches make that 4% happen. That's a beautiful thing about sports.

[C]

You gotta wait a little while because they play nobody. First three weeks, four weeks, but then Oregon comes in.

[B]

That's the big test.

[C]

That's it. That's like. It's basically like their season opener for the country. Outside of Penn State fans, no one will see Penn State until that whiteout game when Oregon comes in.

[A]

And then they got Nebraska later in the year.

[C]

They sure do. A team that none of the three of us mentioned. That's the dark horse.

[A]

You know, it's our first show. We got Josh paid on. I'm trying to not grab at like the things that you know and love, like obsessed with Dan Lanning. I think he's a stud. I'm sure he's going to be tuned into this show wondering why I'm picking Penn State again. Try doing my best to keep my homerism of Nebraska down there. Obviously my dark horse. And I do have them winning the Big Ten in my own personal fanduel sportsbook.

[B]

All right, ladies and gentlemen, this episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra Superior Light Beer. Very fun. The delicious taste of victory deserves something equally superior. Cheer on your team with the Michelob Ultra. At 2.6 carbs and 95 calories, it's a superior smooth taste worth playing for. Michelob Ultra Superior Light Beer. Let's get back to this episode.

[A]

But who's your national champion?

[C]

My national champions, Alabama. Because if they get there, I think they're going to win it. If they get there, that means the offense was balanced enough. If they get there, that means Ty Simpson was a plenty good enough quarterback. And then, I mean, when I went and watched them scrimmage the other day, the thing that stood out to me the most is their scrimmage. It was so physical, but their DB room is so deep. They got, they got a 64 true freshman. Just to give you an idea. His name is Dijon Lee's five star kid. One of the top rated corners in the country comes from Southern California. What has been a chronic issue for USC? 5 star talent leaving the state of California to go to the South. And that happened again. That dude just ran with the ones the other day. Now Damani Jackson, another Southern Cal kid playing in Alabama, probably their starter at one corner, but they just, they just throw Dijon Lee in the fire because they know they're going to need him this year. Stud. Unbelievable. And he's not six' four. He's not covering porous receivers either. Yes. So this kid's 6 4. He looks like a complete alien. It looks like he's in the wrong position room. He's just that tall, but doesn't move like a giraffe. Like, he moves very fluidly. Ivan Taylor is a true freshman at safety. Kid will not start this year because they got SAB back there. They got the other kid back there batting balls away, getting in the wide receiver coach's face, yelling at him, come at me again. Come at me again. Their DB room's unbelievable. Love the depth they have. Linebacker should have been a weakness for them, but because Lawson got hurt last year and he comes back and some of these other guys have just panned out for him, it's low key, like a strength of their team. So my point in saying all that is I believe in the teams that can beat you many different ways. And I could see Alabama winning a game 19, 13. I could see him winning a game 38, 31. And that's kind of versatility I need. I think I'm gonna get that from Texas, too. But I believe in Alabama more if they get to the finish line. If they win the sec. I got him winning the whole thing because I trust Kalen deboer because I think he may end up having the best staff in the sec. I think Georgia's staff is the best. But if this were to happen, it may be because his staff's right there with Georgia's.

[A]

Right. Georgia's most proven. But yeah, it all works out this year. Juicy to hear about the DB roll room.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Hear about you watching practice.

[B]

I'm.

[A]

I had Penn State, but I think I'm going to flip it to Texas because I think even if Penn State takes care of everything, I'm sorry for doing.

[B]

Walking away from. From the Big Ten.

[A]

Not. Not walking away. But if all of these things go how I think they should go with the Big Ten or Penn State winning and taking care of the Big Ten and them getting all the way to the national title game against a team like Texas or against a team like Alabama or another dark horse out there and it gets a moment to where Penn State just happens and they just don't.

[B]

So you think Penn State wins the Big Ten, but Franklin ends up being.

[A]

Franklin and it's, It's. It'll be a close game.

[B]

I'm telling you, he's Like, I believe in him. They've got the roster. This is. Get the monkey off his back until this is.

[A]

I'm saying this is the put up or shut up. Him getting to the national title would be massive for Penn State. But if they're going against one of these teams that we're sitting here listening or he's visiting practice and it's a Bama or it's this Texas team, and if Texas or Alabama is hot and they have this momentum going into the national title game, I think that would beat Penn State.

[C]

What you got to figure is. You got to figure, all right, let's just say Penn State's there. Let's say we place him in the national title game. That would be fun. Okay. You got to figure whether it's Texas, whether it's Bama, whether it's Oregon, whoever gets there, they got there because they're doing what Ohio State did last year. Year, they got hot. Whoever gets there cutting through the weeds, got there because they got hot. Your concern is whoever gets there is hot. And maybe with a better talent roster than Penn State. That's your concern?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And that's fair. Yeah.

[B]

I'm staying in the Big Ten. Stay with my roots. Kirby Smart, took him six years to win a national championship. Ryan Day, six years. Dabo Sweeney, nine years. Nick Saban, 10. Jim Harbaugh, 16. So a lot of times it takes guys a long time to get to that national champ. It also took a long time for somebody to realize that a four minute mile was possible. And then once it happened, it just started fucking rolling. I think Dan Lanning's that man. I think Oregon takes it. I think Oregon learned a massive lesson last year. I think they end up winning the national championship. If Ohio State beats Michigan, Ohio State does not wake up as a program until they have. Until they lose a game. Being 20 point favorites, all of a sudden hair caught on fire. The town of their roster all of a sudden gels and they just. There was no stopping it. Every couple of years there's like this Alabama team could have beat the 32nd best team in the NFL. Ohio State is one of those teams you looked at last year when they're playing the playoffs. Be like, fuck, they might have beat the Titans. They might have did it because they are. They were all across. What? Their defense was incredible. Their offense, they were throwing all over the yard. I think Oregon got humbled. I think their culture resets, reloads. I think they win the Big Ten and they put their foot on the fucking gas. When the time is right in the middle of December into January and they finally get over the hump day. And Lenning sets the expectation of when coaches will win national championships.

[C]

If you're, if you're right. If you're right, that means they may look vulnerable during the season and not to bail on them because that was Ohio State last year.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Like anyone who's going to peak in December, January, you don't just get to rev the engine for four months, you got to rev the engine when it's time to rev the engine. Which means you may suffer a loss. Ohio State, except for two of them.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So Penn State may go into Oregon, may go into Penn State, lose 21 to 9.

[B]

Would not be surprised by that ugly game.

[C]

And it's like start over from scratch. No, it's. They're still in it.

[A]

True. Hey, who's your true classic Heisman winner?

[B]

My true classic Heisman winner is going to be Jeremiah Love. These. He's got the, the logo of Notre Dame on him for the first time ever. They have a hard schedule. They play Miami A and M, Arkansas, usc, all before Halloween. If he's able to. To once again score 12 touchdowns in 12 games, he's already got, he's already got the name. I think if he gets to the point where he's putting up the numbers where he could be looked at as a Heisman. You have the people coming out of the. Of the bushes being like, remember last year, maybe Ashton Genty should have won the Heisman Trophy instead of Travis Hunter. And you have like the pro running back guys. Maybe he gets a little boost and a lift from the 2024 season. This to me is a fun one. I think a lot of guys go the Clemson cat. You can go back, you can go Arch Manning. But for me, Jeremiah Love is like a fun, like, awesome running back to watch day in and day out. He wears a logo of Notre Dame and it's like I get excited about the idea of him hoisting that trophy at the end of the year.

[A]

I think it sounds nice. I think it'd be really tough for a running back to be the.

[B]

Can I be honest with you?

[A]

Go ahead.

[B]

Don't disagree at all. I think it's a fun Heisman.

[A]

Yeah, I think it's a fun Heisman. I think Cade Club Nick sounds fun, but I think Clemson is going to be Clemson. When the stakes get big and the stakes get high, I do think that they have a good team. But I think we're going to be in one of Those situations late in the year where social media and everybody's arguing back and forth on people arguing for Cade, people arguing for Archie Manning. I like Lenora Sellers. I think it's Arch Manning or I think it's Lenore Sellers. We got JB standing on the table right now. I think it's. I like Lenore Sellers. Lenore Sellers. I think it's either him or Arch Manning because they're going to have enough primetime moments. I think the storyline. People are catching on to who Lenore Seller is a lot. I think he's fun, exciting, he can run, he can do all of the things. As a young cat and potentially one of the best players in college football. My pick is Lenore Sellers.

[C]

Rumor on the street is wide receiver room a little deeper at South Carolina than people like me thought it was. So that works in your favor. So I'm going ultimate boom or bust. John Mateer at Oklahoma is my Heisman pick. A lot of people worried about the release point. I'm not. A lot of people worried about the quality of competition increasing for him.

[A]

I'm not.

[C]

I think he has the kind of talent that cuts through. They attacked the portal at receiver kind of like Penn State did, and so they got guys he can throw it to. The only thing that concerns me with them is they may start a freshman tackle. So that's not fun. But we'll learn about them against Michigan in week two. I think Mattier is going to be a stud. I think he's going to be the story of the SEC this year. If he's not, your guy actually is.

[A]

But if. If. Let me ask you this, though. For John Mattier to win the Heisman, he's obviously. He's playing electric. That means Oklahoma, 9 and 3 is a contender in the SEC.

[C]

That's correct. Yeah.

[A]

Because if they're losing some of these big games, that's going to kind of be the shot against them. Because I guess it's like Lenore Sellers. I feel like he'll be in a similar situation, but I feel like Lenore Sellers is more known and he feels more exciting to everybody. Here's what helps me than John Matier, because you'll be putting everybody on John Mateer.

[C]

Here's what helps me. People are already talking about how tough their schedule is. So that will be like in the mainframe conversation the whole year. He doesn't need to win 11 or 10. If they can go nine and three, maybe tiebreaker leaves him out of the playoff picture or selection committee leaves him out. But like he was on the fringe. He had him in the conversation because people take into account their strength of schedule, that I think will be enough to get him over the hump. It could be the same with Lagway. Florida could just miss out on SEC championship or playoff, but Lagway balled out. Yeah, but they both do. But that works to my favor because if they're just good enough, if they're in the hunt, they could be 8, 4, 9, 3. Tebow won the Heisman with four losses. I believe one year, Tebow had the.

[A]

Entire world behind him.

[C]

He did.

[A]

So I'm gonna know that's a different brand of.

[C]

I got some work to do with John.

[A]

Yeah, I was gonna say, you got.

[B]

A lot of work.

[C]

Tim Tebow.

[A]

I remember being in high school and him coming out and his little documentary, being in high school and getting all of his recruiting letters. Like he had the name. He had all of it going in.

[C]

He was doing that Netflix stuff in 05.

[A]

Yeah. Back in 05.

[B]

Yeah. Anybody who was in high school at the same time, Will and I were. Tim Tebow was your favorite. Yeah, he was America's sweetheart for the longest time.

[A]

All right. Hey. That concludes our first show. We were on Oklahoma again. You got him going 9 and 3. Do you have him beating Michigan in week two?

[C]

Yes.

[A]

We will see you next week. 6pm Wednesday, the locker room with Josh Bate. Big hugs, tiny kisses, tiniest kisses.