← Cover 3 College Football
Cover 3 College Football
100 DAYS UNTIL COLLEGE FOOTBALL | Week 0 Preview | Ed Orgeron Back To LSU | Brendan Sorsby Latest! 🏈
01:09:22
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Welcome back to the COVID 3 podcast
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with your hosts Chip Patterson, Tom Fernelli, Danny Cannell and Bud Elliott. It's your call for the best college
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football coverage from national signing day to the national championship and everything in between. CBS SP, the COVID 3 podcast and
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welcome back to the COVID 3 podcast here on CBS Sports. That's Tom Fenelli, that's Danny Cannell, I'm Chip Patterson coming to you live@YouTube.com cover3 and everywhere you get your podcast on demand. Thanks for hanging out. Smash that subscribe smash that like and come and join us in the chat, aka the COVID 3 tailgate where Jeffrey and Albert and Quinn and Adam and more are filling it up because it is getting interactive here on a Thursday. That's right. We've got some questions from the big old bag of mail. We've got some questions from Spotify Comments. We've got some news items as well, but we appreciate all y' all jumping in and getting us going because this, I think, is one of the. It is a news item and also a topic of the tailgate. Jeffrey jumped in before we got going. Biggest headline is Coach O being back. That means we get more of Fornelli doing a Coach O impression. And I, for one, am in favor of that.
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Oh, you should see the one I do at the gas station when I'm filling up the tank these days.
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Yeah, let's go.
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There it is. There it is. Big news, of course, over late, I guess, late last night. And then LSU officially announced it as well. A special assistant to recruiting and special assistant to the defense, Ed o' drawn national championship winning coach for LS lsu. Longtime colleague of Lane Kiffin will be joining Lane's staff. Danny, it's. It's. It's a content palooza here. What it really is, I mean, hey, is. Is this a college football reality show from, you know, the. On High, from the content mountaintop? I mean.
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B
Yeah.
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C
Do I need to pinch myself? Is this real?
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B
Yeah. How long before we see Lane Kiffin and Ed Ogeron running shirtless around campus? Right? Or, I mean, they. One of these, like, worlds has to meet because Ed Ogeron, big outside runner, shirt off. Lane Kiffin, big indoor hot yoga, shirt off. Who's going to cross over? Do they go both? Maybe they run shirtless to the hot yoga, do it together, and then they leave. You know, they get the photo op. But yeah, this is absolutely content. Just plentiful all the way around.
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Did you. Did you see the tweet from our old colleague Dennis Dodd this morning?
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Oh, I've got. I've got another funny comment to pull up, but would it read me Dennis's,
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you know, because Orgeron's back, Will Wade is back. He said LSU is getting the band back together, but it was B A, N, N, Ed,
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let's go.
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B
That is good.
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It is. I mean, it is funny. Like, what was the buyout language on Ed's contract at lsu?
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Million.
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And when did that run out?
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He's. It's five years later he's back.
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That's what I'm saying. So now he's back. So he's been paid by LSU the last 5 years to not coach there, and now he's back being paid to coach there again. It's just. It's. I mean, it's wonderful. I'm happy. I think it's always fun to have coach around, not just for the impression, but just because, you know, he's a fun college football character and we could use more of those.
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C
So the. I would. To answer your question earlier, Tom, I. I know that Lane has also been a big pickleball proponent. It's been very public about his pickleball matchups with all kinds of different people. I could see that being where they meet. You know, if Ed likes to run and Lane likes to do a little hot yoga, maybe they meet on the pickleball court. Striker, if you could pull up this one. I thought that this was a very nice summation across my desk in terms of where the LSU athletic department is right now. Preston Guy from Tiger Bait says it really feels like LSU is doing all the things that guys talking sports at a bar would suggest, but no athletic director in their right mind would or even could do. Pay the 54 million buyout. $54 million buyout. Fire Brian Kelly and bring in Lane Kiffin. Sure. And bring in Coach O to recruit. Yep. Then let's give him $40 million for the portal. No problem. And while we're at it, let's bring back Will Wade, because paying players is legal now, of course. And you know what? Let's bring back Johnny Jones, too. That guy could recruit. Why not? And since there's no rules in the portal, let's bring in a bunch of fringe NBA players. It is wild to see so many pipe dreams come to reality in one off season. Yes. Preston, I agree. Obviously, since he writes for Tiger Bait, he's very much at the belly of the beast. But as an outsider, I'd have to agree. This is everything that you would cook up with your friends and nothing that the compliance office would approve of.
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Yeah. Just. I think bringing O back is fun. I think the Will Wade stuff is just kind of counterproductive. Just being an A hole to be
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an A hole or just. He messed up. I just think Will Wade ran out of players.
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B
Yeah.
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But I also think that he knows full well what he's doing and he's.
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C
Oh, yeah.
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Just being a thorn in somebody who hasn't like, kind of delightfully kind of poked and prodded at the fringe of the rules.
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C
Yeah, yeah. The. It's. It's a lot do we has the. Lane Kiffin sort of all of the noise around this. We are going to begin soon the process of trying to put hard wins and losses on the. On the scale. You know, we're going to have to get out here. I'm going to be on. I'm going to be on HQ Spotlight later today doing some over under win totals for first year coaches does how do you cut through the noise and how does it get to actual football analysis for what you think LSU is going to be?
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I. I don't know that at Orgeron changes what I think LSU is going to be this year. I think that's all going to depend on Sam Levitt and what they've done on the defensive side of the ball, what they've done with that offensive line and I mean based on what we're seeing on paper, you look at the coaching staff, you look at the talent they brought in, this looks like it's going to be a pretty good football team. So I don't know if Orgeron changes that, but I do think that this is an LSU team that will be on the periphery of the playoff discussion all year if not in the playoff.
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B
Yeah, I don't think it's a difference making hire at all. Like he's a good coach. I think the players will like him. I think it helps with culture in the locker room and almost like is there a former coach that's been fired that's been more of a fan favorite? I mean I know you'll always feel pretty good, but I mean usually it ends ugly. Like Les Miles ain't coming back anytime soon, you know, like. But he's. And even like three or four years ago he didn't leave that long and they still like love coach. Oh, you know. So I think this was a pretty good move for Lane to bring back like a fan favorite that everybody kind of likes. And I think it's smart to put him in this recruiting role. Even though does recruiting even matter that much anymore with money. But I think it just kind of helps, you know, continuity with the culture at lsu which is very unique.
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C
I think it smells like Bill Belichick what he does at North Carolina. I think you, I think you have realized that you've gotten the ATM pin code and now it's hey, and look what is Balmani Jones calls at the homeboy hall of Fame. I mean this, this is looking out for your guys here. This is, I mean he wasn't. What was the report? If you're not on that plane, you're not coming.
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Yeah.
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Do you remember that from the like the hiring and the press? I mean this is, this is someone who has been in the industry for a long time, seen a lot of stuff, been fired on a tarmac, came up as the son of a coach. I think he knows and he is even sort of Like, I'm not just sort of totally speculating because Lane Kiffin has said, when I talk to people, they say there's only one lsu. I mean, I think Lane Kiffin knows this is his one time at the top of the sport, and he's like, damn it, I'm. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do everything that I want to do. And so, yeah, bringing back Coacho, I think that's a part of it. It does not change the win total materially in terms of my expectations for the football team on the field. But I would be lying if I didn't say that this has increased the volatility index in terms of how this thing goes, right?
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Plus, like, if Lane flames out, you've got your, you know, undefeated, pretty much incredible interim coach, the greatest interim coach of all time, just sitting there on the staff. So the real question is, did Lane just hire his replacement?
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Well, because. Oh took over for Lane after Lane got fired on the target.
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That's what I'm saying. And we saw what happened there. He went like, what, five and one down the stretch with usc.
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You know what? Lane Kiffin, hot seat. I'll be the first one to say it.
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There we go.
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I will be the first one to say it. Lane Kiffin is on notice from Louisiana State University because of the higher event or drawn. They have hired your interim right there. They did the same thing to Sam Pittman at Arkansas with Bobby Petrino. You want to talk about another fired coach who was welcomed back with open arms? I think. I think that's what we've got here with lsu.
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Lane trying to get fired because of the buyout. Get that Brian Kelly buyout money. And then he gets Ed the head coach. Like, that's homeboy hall of Fame right there.
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Guys, you don't realize they're playing games with us. They're playing games with us. All right, lots more to get to. Let's keep it going with. See, we already got some Coach O. This one's just a one that pops up a lot. So I'll give Tom a chance to respond to it. And I will preface it, Tom. Trade secrets are trade secrets. No one's asking you to give them away. But Thomas did jump in at 8:50am Eastern Time, more than two hours before the show started, and said, tom and Bud refer to their own numbers or power rankings a lot during locks or win totals. How did you guys start creating your own power rankings? I'm curious. In trying to do it myself.
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I mean, it's. It's not. There's numbers. I read about it, studied it. There was a book I bought that kind of taught you how to do it. Or at least it didn't really teach you how to do it, but it gave you a little bit of a peek behind the scenes. I think having a math understanding helps, certainly. I think understanding how to use spreadsheets helps, certainly. Mine is not. Mine used to be far more scientific than it is. Like, I used to have a lot more time to put into it every single week to really kind of update things and go through it. Now I'm more of a tinkering with it as the season goes on, but I'm not using the numbers strictly as much as I used to, so I've kind of slipped a bit in that. But part of it too is there's a lot of value in the consensus. Like, if you look at all the publicly available power ratings that people put out and you kind of come to a, like put them together and blend them, that gives you a pretty good baseline of where to start. Start. And that's kind of what I do now. But then I kind, I go in and I will add my own little adjustments for certain teams based on what I think and some other stats I care about more than others that I track on my own via our true media. The access that we have that I use to my personal use and for professional.
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The. Yeah, Thomas, I would say the. You are not going to build. If you build a model from scratch and it is giving you wildly different point spreads and lines,
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it's probably not a good model.
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Yeah, you're probably not finding the edge that is, you know, regulating what's happening.
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So like if you're sitting there looking at your numbers and you're like, I have this team as a five point favorite, but Vegas says they're a 12 point underdog. Vegas is an idiot.
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I'm the right.
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Yeah, no, you're not going to be correct there. But I would say like the stats I would argue to use, I mean, like explosive play rate is huge. You know, points per drive is pretty big. It's just there are certain stats that I feel like are very correlative with results. But the problem with football, college football and NFL too, is there are, you know, the seasons are short comparatively when it comes to like looking for data and math. And now especially, like rosters change so much year over year. Like you used to be able to kind of bake in, like based on what schools were losing, you knew it was coming up based on the recruiting rankings and you could kind of figure that out how that would develop year over year, that's pretty much gone. Which makes it far more difficult, in my opinion, at least for me, which is another factor in why I'm not trying to spend as much time as I used to have to to get these things done. So it's becoming more difficult. And I also think that just with the prevalence of sports gambling out where it's available for everybody, the, the books are getting far more, you know, accurate in what they're doing. So to find the edges is so much more difficult than it is now. So if you are going to get started, I would suggest finding an area that isn't as popular as college football or like a prop market kind of deal, finding that kind of stuff. Like, you know, like the real reason, and this is going to be getting off topic a little bit, like the real reason, like the prediction markets are becoming bigger is because it's become harder to find the edge in the math. Now the real currency is insider information. If you know something, you can make money off of that on a prediction market, which is a much better ROI than what you're going to see betting somebody minus 7 at a minus 115 juice. So, yeah, I, I would suggest read up on it. There are books out there. Google them, go and chat, GPT, whatever you want, ask them. They'll spit out some stuff for you that's useful, but it's tough. And if you're going to actually try to do it, it takes a whole hell of a lot of your time to really get good at it. Like, it has to be the one thing you're doing.
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Danny, how do you make your numbers?
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Oh, I, I have a algorithm that's proprietary that I really can't share much info with.
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That's kind of, that's kind of where I'm at with the chicken.
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I'm a vibes guy. I'm a big vibes guy. No, I do. I'll pay attention to a lot of different things. I don't have my own system at all, but I, I'm a big kind of. And I know, bud, we've gotten into this a little bit before because I don't think he's a big believer in fade the public, but I do oftentimes try to fade the public, you know, to fade the obvious, where the money's going and try to go that direction. But mine is more vibes. How do you feel about the team? You know, just kind of more general.
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Yeah.
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Based on My experience. And there's gonna be a lot of. A lot of nerds who are about to get really mad at me right now. Vibes guys aren't any better or worse than most of the math guys. Yeah, like, there are. There are always going to be a few guys who win consistently who have something figured out. They are very, very, very much the minority. A lot of the people out there with their models, I mean, like, with the publicly available data, you'll see they have losing seasons, some of their winning seasons, they're right 52% of the time. So they're barely breaking the vig. Like, you could see it in our competition every single year in the Loxpod, Bud's using numbers, I'm using numbers. Chips just vibing out, and Chip's doing just as well as any of us, if not beating us on a yearly basis. So it's. There is no correct way to do it. It's. A lot of people want to tell themselves there is, but the reality of the situation is if there was a correct way to do it, it wouldn't be a business because the sportsbooks wouldn't be making any money.
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Yeah. Thomas. My value of creating a power rating system is not to make picks. It's to see how teams stack up against each other. It is a visualization of, oh, we keep talking about that game that's going to happen in November. I see that they're probably about a touchdown underdog on a neutral field. So, you know, you sort of. You build out a conversation, you build out analysis, you build out expectations. Not trying to find the edge. Because anytime that I've even been trying to find an edge is your edges are like two and a half points in college football. The way that ball bounces, congratulations, you've got a two and a half point edge. What's that going to be worth? So, yeah, to me, there's a ton of value in using publicly available power ratings. Put in your own tweaks, put in your own averages, like, whatever, but it's more about seeing how teams grade out against each other in that conversation more than trying to find winning picks. Because do you know what, Tom? Do you know what? Vibes is an edge. An edge the numbers can't account for.
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That's right.
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C
That's right. That's how you do it. So you put it together. Coming up on the other side, some updates from Texas Tech, Legal and Medical, and more next. We all belong outside.
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That's why you rack back here on the COVID 3 podcast Monday afternoon Late Monday afternoon after we were done here, we did get news that Brendan Sorsby has filed an injunction against the ncaa. He has employed high profile lawyers like Jeffrey Kessler to try and push for some clearance regarding his eligibility in the wake of the sports betting allegations that could jeopardize his ability to play college football anymore. There is a timetable that is very important here. If he wants to be in the NFL supplemental draft, he needs to file for that by June 30th. So if he's looking at the way that the rules are written, as I understand this, he bet on his own team as a member of the team. If he doesn't think he's going to be eligible this year, then for his own football career might be time to go. Like Terrell Pryor and Josh Gordon and others before him, might be time to go to the supplemental draft and just go ahead and go pro. There's an interesting conversation in the NFL circles about how you evaluate Sourceby as a prospect and how much the betting scandal does or does not impact his pro future. But right now his fight is with the NCAA and it is legal. We've got some Will Hammond update too here in just a little bit that I think is an interesting piece of the equation. Danny, have you, have you been able to set any expectations in terms of Soursby and his push for eligibility in 2026? This. Do you foresee the NCAA doing a negotiated punishment where he sits four games at six games? You know, something along that line.
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B
Along those lines, do you guys follow Michael McCann? Some of his work, right?
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C
His work does come across my desk. Yes. So.
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B
And he's very smart. He's a law professor. Like, he does. He's, he's great. He's awesome. Has really good info. So we had him on yesterday on the radio show, and we're talking about some of the stuff that, you know, he's trying to propose, like the mental health aspect of it or not mental, like a disorder, like it's a sickness. And he was trying to plead for that one. And after the whole interview, we're asking all these different angles and again, this is his guess, but I said, best guess. What do you think happens? He said he thinks he might be able to negotiate it down to a six game suspension, which I think would be because I, My mindset has been he ain't playing like he's done. He bet on their own team, but he kind of was like, he thought there was some angle where he could negotiate with him because the time that he felt like he had a pretty good case. NCAA doesn't want to, you know, necessarily go down that road. And if that is the biggest win you could get if you're Brendan Soursby to have a six game suspension, Trinidad
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C
Chambliss, mental health, like, you're, you're going through like, almost like that kind of angle here.
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B
Oh, yeah.
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A
I'm happy.
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B
I mean, you do whatever you can do.
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C
Yeah.
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A
Using it as a.
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B
But it was like gambling addiction that we're saying it's a disease.
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C
Right.
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B
You know, which if he wins, I might have to go back to all the brokers that house my money when I was losing it all in the stock market and be like, hey, I had a disease too, you know, like,
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A
I mean, I. McCann's a lawyer, and lawyers always think they can win. I, I just, I, I don't see how he can win. I think the rule is very clear. This is not, this is not like an eligibility issue where you're kind of skirting legal gray areas and always have been. And then the minute it gets pushed, like the NCAA rules on this are clear. When it's, you aren't allowed to gamble on football, you aren't allowed to gamble on your team, you aren't allowed to do any of this. I don't know what the gray area that the lawyers can really find here. Now, of course, it's 20, 26. And the way our legal system works, it's mostly about if you get the right judge now, like, so if the judge wants you to be able to play, then he'll just be like, yeah, screw it, six game suspension, you're back. But I, I am not a lawyer. But reading the rules, reading the bylaws, I don't think you need to be a lawyer to understand what you can and can't do. And I think Brendan Sorsby knew he wasn't supposed to be betting on his football team. And he could argue that it was for his mental health and to feel like he was part of the team by betting on games he knew he wasn't going to be playing. And. But just to feel involved, brother, you're on the team. You are involved. You don't need to bet on it to feel like you're part of the team. You have a locker in the locker room. You have a jersey with your name on it. You are part of the team. So it's a hell of a Hail Mary attempt. But I, nothing personal, but I really hope you lose because if you win, it's going to cause a whole hell of a lot of problems for this sport down the line.
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C
A first half under on a Tuesday night is how you feel more connected to the. What's happening from the couch, from the locker room. You're good, you're connected. Speaking of, Judge, we do have some legal updates on that side as well. News coming out yesterday, a judge in the Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sourceby lawsuit against the NCAA has recused himself. Judge Philip Hayes, a Lubbock native with two Tech degrees, did not give a reason. The replacement to be picked by an administrative judge, which with degrees from Texas A and M and Baylor, not Texas Tech. The striker with another just absolute missile right here as he has lined up this news with a photo of Judge Philip Hayes with the Texas Tech mascot. Guns up. You know what?
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A
Shout out Judge Philip Hayes for having some damn freaking code of ethics here, for understanding the situation he would be putting himself in and actually doing the right thing.
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C
Does this also say more about the law schools in the state of Texas that they've got other options? I remember in the Charles Betty Oko situation, we were having a real problem that we didn't have any lawyers in the state who didn't go to Alabama Law School.
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B
And also, I mean what about, I mean, what if you're Brendan Swords be like, I don't want to judge from A and M or Baylor or Texas or anywhere else. Like there's, there are, there are a lot of conflicts of interest with this.
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A
Gonna have to move it to a different jurisdiction. Move it to like California or Illinois or New York. Gotta get away.
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C
Hey, it's like it, it is fascinating. You know, I just think a real common trait these days are timely ethics. You know, like ethics when they are timely. Now's a great. Oh, ethics. You know, I got, I gotta just step to the side on that one. I mentioned there's a health medical update as well. And I think this kind of ties into the way that I'm. My outlook. Joey Maguire has said that Will Hammond will soon be able to start participating in 7 on 7, working his way back and that actually playing for the Red Raiders could happen as early as Week 3. That would be the Big 12 opener against Houston as the reigning Big 12 champs look to go back to back. It's so funny that you mentioned a negotiated six game settlement, Danny. I've kind of thought, are you going to put Will Hammond back out there and then tell him to sit? Because we know that they like Will Hammond. They view Will Hammond as sort of the future quarterback. The guy they invested in, flashed as a backup to Baron Morton, suffered that injury last year and as he's coming back, they, they wanted Brendan Sorsby to be a bridge, a very, very expensive bridge. But Brendan Sorsby was going to be a bridge to Will Hammond being able to continue playing. I mean, from the quarterback's perspective, like how, how would you manage trying to coach a room where Brendan Sorsby might be dealing with the six game suspension? Will Hammond's doing everything he can to be able to get back. Is Brendan Sourceby going to be a
- [28:20]
B
$5 million backup quarterback if they're winning? I think, I think it always kind of clears itself out, you know, like if you are out there and Will Hammond is, you know, operating the system, I mean, he played really good against Utah when he came in there last season when Baron Morton was struggling. He came in there, threw the ball great. If he's winning, I think you roll with a hot hand. Like look at what happened at Ole Miss last year. Austin Simmons has a couple nicks, hurts his foot. Trinidad Chambliss comes in and you never gave him the opportunity to go back to Austin Simmons. You just kept rolling with it. So that's if you're Will Hammond. That's your mindset, hey, if I win, this is my job. And he's not going to want to relinquish it. But where it gets dicey is you have to have a really good pulse of the locker room. And with Soresby, like, now he's missing. I. I don't know. I'm assuming because he did go to this facility, like, he's missing some really key camaraderie components and building those relationships where Hammond's already been there. Yeah, I would imagine he has, like, that command of the locker room. Guys, look at him, respect him. Now, if you lose a couple games, then all of a sudden teammates do what they understand. Hey, if you don't get it done, you're benched. But there is a situation where if they're running the football like they think they're going to be able to run the football and their defense as good as they think it is. There is a situation. You could see Sourcebee be the backup.
- [29:43]
A
And honestly, if. If you're Joey McGuire, you don't. You just kind of have to approach it as if Will Hammond is my starting quarterback.
- [29:53]
B
Yes, absolutely.
- [29:54]
A
Right now. So that's. I mean, that's the other odd thing about the Sourcebee situation, where it's like, I understand why he's doing what he's doing, but if you're Texas Tech, I think you kind of just wish that Brendan Sorsby would go away at this point, because, like, with Hammond, you can still win the Big 12. You can still accomplish what your goals are. Like, Hammond is not a bad player. They were high on him. We saw flashes of him last year filling in for Baron Morton. I would rather have get. Like, this is a distraction to me at this point, like, the whole, will Sourceby played, Will he not. You know, I would rather just move on, prepare as if Hammond is my starter. And if Sorsby gets eligibility back and he's only suspended six games, maybe I tell him, sorry, but we've moved on, brother. Like, it's. You put yourself in this situation. We had to extricate ourselves from it. And I mean, as far as I know, it's not like Joey McGuire is out there funding the lawyer.
- [30:46]
C
I think it is. It's Texas Tech. I don't. I don't have many questions about funds. They. They seem to be around. I will push back a little. On which you would go away, but agree wholeheartedly with. Move on. That, to me, is the approach. If you are at. If you are Joey Maguire, the approach is, look, your team is more talented with Brendan Sorsby than it is without Brendan Sorsby. Brendan, if you want to be a part of this team, if you get your legal stuff cleared up, that's great. But as a coaching staff, as an offensive staff, as a, you know, we need to go forward with the guy who has been here with who is again working his tail off to try and get healthy. We had the schedule up on the screen earlier. I mean I don't see a situation if let's say it's a six game, six game suspension negotiated for Sourceby. Four and two would be a. Four and two would be a dot oh gosh, Brendan, come save us because you've gotten off to a 1 and 2 start in conference play. But for those listening at home, Abilene Christian, Oregon State, Houston. Sam Houston at Colorado, Arizona State. Houston and Arizona State without a doubt challenging opponents. But those games are both at home. Everyone else should be a situation where I mean you should be there their third string. Oh man, I don't have it top of mind. He's the quarterback from Tulsa who just transferred in. I think he would be the starter for Hammond for the Abilene Christian Oregon State game. But I just, I think that that's going to be looking awful lot like a 5 and 1 start to me, if not 6 0.
- [32:23]
A
One thing I want to point out, let's say Brennan Sorsby does get six game suspension. Do we see what the seventh game of the season?
- [32:31]
B
Oh yeah, we do.
- [32:34]
A
So like Brendan Sorsby returns playing at Cincinnati, the school he left last year.
- [32:40]
B
Just.
- [32:41]
A
Yeah, I don't like looking at the schedule. I. Arizona State's one of your tougher games. It's at home. Oklahoma State could be tougher. It's on the road. Overall, I just feel like this is a very manageable schedule for Texas Tech to win the Big 12. You don't have to play BYU, you're not playing Utah. Like you can get by for those Abilene Christian, Oregon State and Houston games without Will Hammond. And then you can use Sam Houston as kind of like a warm up for him to get him back in the groove of things and then hit the road for Colorado. I, I just don't. It's. I, I understand why they went and they gave Sourceby the money they gave him. I understand why they wanted him. I just don't. I feel like he's a luxury they didn't need as much as they just wanted.
- [33:22]
C
Well, we didn't know about Hammond because you pursue. Let's see, they pursued sorsby in December. Does that sound right?
- [33:30]
A
Yeah, that would make sense.
- [33:31]
C
Okay, so at that point, Hammond's only two months separated from Terry's acl. You've got no idea what the recovery is going to be looking like. So from that perspective I understand. But as we sit here in May with the Sourceby eligibility lawsuit and everything that's going on there, I, I almost don't think it's. I. Not that it's coordinated, but I took note that the lawsuit news was also met with. And also Joey Maguire's got a positive update. You know, it's kind of a signal, right. If we, if we want to interpret it as much.
- [34:09]
B
Somebody in the chat here had a good one. It said they had Oliver, they had Hammond for two years and still decided to pay Soares before million and now we're supposed to leave their equal. I do think there is something to that, but I think you also have to consider they didn't know Hammond's injury status, right, like how long it was going to be out. But I do think that they have seen Hammond and they kind of do know and they wanted that quarterback because last year Baron Morton was like a solid quarterback, but he was not good enough to win the national championship. And I think that's why when we describe this team, it's. They're a quarterback away from taking that next step. And that's why they went out and got one of the best ones available. But I do think it's not like desperate times if Sorsby's out. Like, I still think they'll very much be a player and then it'll kind of hinge on how, how much progress does Hammond make.
- [34:58]
A
Another aspect of this, and it's something, I mean, that's a good point by Oliver. Like the market can tell you a lot of things about how teams feel. But there's also a human thing where sometimes people who have money and want you to know it spend that money in a very public way to show their influence and their power. And if you're Texas Tech, you are not a blue blood program. You are trying to establish yourself as a title contender, one of the premier programs in the country. The quickest way to do that is to go out and in a very public way, spend a lot of money on a top player available in a transfer portal, which then sends the message across the country, we've got money, we're willing to spend it. You can come here and you can win. So it's not necessarily we need a quarterback upgrade. We don't believe in Hammond. It's a shot across the bow to the rest of college football. Like, hey, we're here too. Like we did it last year. We brought in like that, you know, we brought in Bailey, we brought in a bunch of guys, we brought in a great recruiting class. This wasn't a one time thing, folks. We're here for a while. We're in it for the long haul. It's as much a message as it is a football move.
- [36:08]
C
Great comment from the tailgate earlier that has taken note of some of the polish, some of the nice graphics, live show watching we want to appreciate, we want to give a shout out to Stryker for some of the, I mean, he's getting in there, we're changing out hard drives, we're making this machine. We're going to make this thing speed. But also Stryker came through with the answer. Tulsa quarterback Kirk Francis, who I've been calling gospel singer Kirk Franklin ever since I started working on all my Texas Tech stuff. And if I was cautious to use his name, it's because I was afraid to call him tilted quarterback Kirk Franklin.
- [36:48]
B
Now I really wanted to play this season. Can I get a witness now? I really want him to play.
- [36:55]
C
Yeah, great stuff. No, Mike, Mikey's doing just fine. Garrett, he's, he's still here. We got, we got, we got a big team Taps here as well. We are appreciative of, of Everybody who's helping cover three thrive here in 2026. All right, coming up on the other side, speaking of 2026, I don't know if you knew. We are 100 days away from the start of the college football season. So why not celebrate and take a look at week zero storylines and more. Next. Ready to soundtrack your summer with Red Bull Summer All Day Play. You choose a playlist that fits your summer vibe the best. Are you a festival fanatic, a deep end dj, a road dog or a trail mixer? Just add a song to your chosen playlist and put your summer on track. Red Bull Summer All Day Play. Red Bull gives you wings. Visit Red Bull.com BrightSummerAhead to learn more. See you this summer.
- [37:54]
B
Your summer starts now with Memorial Day deals at the Home Depot.
- [37:58]
C
It's time to fire up summer cookouts with the next grill 4 burner gas
- [38:02]
B
grill on special buy for only $199 and entertain all season with the Hampton bay West Grove seven piece outdoor dining set for only $499. This Memorial Day get low prices guaranteed
- [38:16]
C
at the Home Depot while supplies Last price invalid May 14th or May 27th US only exclusion supplies. See home depot.com price match for details back here on the COVID 3 podcast. Let's let the confetti fly. We've made it. We have finally made it. We are 100 days away from the start of the college football season and sometimes when we're talking about 100 days away from week zero, we are, you know, really doing some stretch to try and get you excited. I, I would venture this is one of the better week zero slates that we have seen in quite some time. I mean we have I think seven different power conference schools all in action, including an ACC game in South America down in Brazil between NC State and Virginia. We're going to go out to Ireland with North Carolina and TCU for a little Bill Belichick Sonny Dykes rematch. Danny your Knowles are going to get things started against New Mexico State as Mike Norvell begins what is going to be a, a pressure packed season. And then usc, which has often been a week zero participant heavy favorites against San Jose State. But that game right there at the top, if you are watching along UNLV Memphis is a fun game. Very, very fun game. I've got maybe three or four storylines that I know I want to get to DK first, first stab. What stands out to you? What are you excited about for. For week zero?
- [39:41]
B
I mean what a showcase weekend for the acc. A lot of ACC schools out there. I mean obviously I'm watching Florida State want to see if they can come out of the gate strong. They get a little head start on smu. Remember they play in week one, which is week two for Florida State. SMU that Labor Day Monday.
- [39:59]
C
Labor Day.
- [39:59]
B
Right. Watching. Yeah. Like to see you would you would like to see a nice comfortable win to get some confidence going into that one. NC State, Virginia is a couple of teams that probably like if this was in the sec. Look how even they are. Look at all this parody. They're pretty good football teams. Those two are really good football teams. But let's be honest, I think we're all going to be tuning in to see Belichick. Year two, he got embarrassed. Remember the, the royalty in the Carolina blue that was just all there and ended up leaving in shame at halftime after that one. The TCU offensive lineman reenacting the fisherman pose with the mermaid. Like I mean they were letting them have it and so I think that's going to be the game I think that I'm probably most excited about. See what Belichick looks like.
- [40:50]
A
Year two, can we get Vin Diesel at the NC State Virginia game just to yell, this is Brazil.
- [40:57]
C
Oh, maybe, yeah. I mean, so Virginia is coming off, it's one of its most successful seasons in program history. They played for the ACC championship game. Dagum near won it. Right. You know that Duke UVA game. I know that because of its, because of the College Football Playoff machine that sort of takes over. But that was a very, very fun game there on that Saturday night. Uva with a lot of wind behind their backs, NC State gets CJ Bailey back for another season. That was still the same team that took down top 10 Georgia Tech and Raleigh. No high scoring game. I don't think NC State's got, you know, the, the certified future NFL draft picks at all three levels like they did back in, I don't know, maybe seven, eight, nine years ago. But it is a group that can, I think, go out there and score with the bows with the best of them with C.J. bailey there. But to your, to your Bill Belichick point, the operative question that needs to be answered in the game against TCU in Ireland that will inform my expectations for the rest of the year is Bobby Petrino in the quarterback position. Like, I, I think that wherever they go at quarterback, and I think that is a little bit more of an open competition than I realized heading into spring practice. Wherever they go at quarterback, I think that this is going to be an offense that is going to be able to take some steps forward and they were, what, 120, whatever, in basically every offensive category. If they have a top 40 offense, then they're going to be in a much, much better position. And also, Tom, you mentioned earlier today we filled out our coach rankings ballots. Sometimes you're, you're grading for what has happened. Sometimes you are grading a little bit of a. How you think this is going to play out. I try not to put too much projection, but I do think that Bill Belichick will be a better college football coach in 2026 than he was in 2025. I just think that, I think there was a lot, a lot of lessons that were learned as the stadium emptied out against TCU and as the stadium emptied out against Clemson and as you like, really started to see them, I think it was a mature decision when they said, all right, let's strip away everything and only do the things that we do well. And that's what led to them having 20 to 15 games and things of that nature. So I think that there will be some improvement on the coaching side as well, beyond what you Just get from. From Bobby Petrino coming in on offense.
- [43:28]
A
Hope that players what it's better players.
- [43:33]
C
What be like, Jordan Ship is back to Mon. June is back. You know, there's. Look.
- [43:38]
A
Yeah. I'm just saying, like, if you. If you watch North Carolina last year, it's not like defensively, it's not like they didn't know what they were doing. Like, they were pretty sound on that side of the ball. They just didn't have very good players. And offense, it was just a mess.
- [43:50]
B
Yeah.
- [43:50]
A
So you would think Bobby Petrino fixes some of that. But I think the biggest adjustment they need to make is get more talent on that roster.
- [43:58]
B
I'm excited to see the Jaden Craig era get started for tcu. Harvard quarterback set several records at Harvard. He's playing in Sonny Dyke's system. Very quarterback friendly. I think he could be one of those names that not a lot of people are talking about that if TCU has a surprise upside season, he could be a big part of.
- [44:18]
A
Yeah, but can he make the adjustment? That's. That's not Barton Simmons at safety anymore.
- [44:24]
B
Those are Big 12 players.
- [44:27]
A
I will a couple other than.
- [44:32]
B
Please screen grab that. So in case the score is right, we can say that AI predicted it.
- [44:38]
A
I was about to insult striker and then he hit me with that. So now I'm thinking twice. I was gonna say you put up the graphic of the schedule earlier. Two games that weren't on there that I'm interested in are Jacksonville State at North Dakota State, Week 0, North Dakota State's first FBS game, as well as Sacramento State at Eastern Michigan in a Mac game. It's a conference game, folks,
- [45:01]
B
that is still gonna take some time to get used to.
- [45:05]
A
I mean, Sacramento State, like Macrameno State, you know what I'm saying? That is hell right there. Sacramento, it's kind of like in the. It's kind of like in the mid America of California in a way, so it counts.
- [45:17]
C
Speaking of big time Mayor Coppola, for me, I was called out. I said Big Sky. It was Missouri Valley. Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, Danny. I said Big sky, right? And these two gave me, like. Yeah, definitely sent me out there.
- [45:33]
A
No big skies. Montana, Montana State, Idaho, those guys. I was just letting you, you know.
- [45:38]
C
Oh, yeah, great. Great information I could have used on Monday, but it's all right. Hey, we. We get out there and we're doing. We're doing our best. All right, let's see. Let's. I wanted to make sure we got some questions from Spotify, comments and Questions from the big old bag of mail. So Stryker, let's go on down to the mailroom. This first question comes from Spotify from Jake Melvin. Jake asks what games would you have loved to go to live immediately after that that took place before the podcast was started. As a Buckeye fan, I would have loved oh, you would have loved to go live. Like our live Instant Reaction show. What a game that we would have loved to go live, he says. As a Buckeye fan, I would have loved to see your reaction after App State upsetting Michigan and the Fiesta bowl between Oklahoma losing to Boise. So the the crux of this, as I understand it, is not what game would we have wanted to go to, but what game would we have thoroughly enjoyed breaking down live here on the COVID 3 podcast. That happened before we started doing instant reaction shows.
- [46:55]
A
On the COVID 3 podcast, Jake gave a couple good examples of games that would be worth it. But another one, pick six. We weren't doing live reaction shows in 2013.
- [47:05]
C
We were using some people. In your workplace you might use Slack, no free ads, but CBS has a Slack system as well. Before that we used something called Campfire. And Tom, I will never ever forget what Campfire looked like during the kick six. All of the writers and all of the editors brains exploding all at one time is what, what what what what what? You know, it just the progressively getting more insane and our colleague at the time, Jerry Hennin, die hard Auburn fan, then having to somehow put his brain back together and write about it. So you know, very, very fun time. That's a great call. Danny, any anything come to mind for you?
- [47:49]
B
The couple of games. So I go back, I'm trying to like I think national championship games just kind of by default but the SEC title game or no, it was the national title when second and 26 to his throw, you know and the decision to bench Jalen hurts like all that that went into it. Like I mean just any number of. I'm trying to think of more regular season games because I think that's when, you know, some of the more underappreciated games took place.
- [48:16]
C
Jeffrey mentioned Louisville Clemson 2016. That would be Lamar Jackson and DeShawn. I was, I was actually at that game. Incredible game. Louisville driving to try and go get the win. I forgot the Louisville receiver, but I believe it was Deadman was the Clemson defensive back. Forced him out of bounds short of the first down when they were like right there in scoring range trying to get the go ahead touchdown. Lamar jumped all over him early. Desean roared Back they went back and forth. Awesome, awesome game. That would have been very fun to. To break down right away.
- [48:52]
B
The LSU. Bam. The 96 game. I would have loved to have been on here after that and just.
- [48:57]
A
Yeah, it's a great game.
- [48:58]
B
Oh, my game was disgusting.
- [49:01]
C
No, no, no, Tom, there's. I've reached a point. There is a fair criticism of the kicking in that game.
- [49:07]
A
Yes, fantastic.
- [49:09]
B
If you want to talk about the offense.
- [49:11]
A
No, that's just incredible defense.
- [49:13]
C
Right. But I'm saying the, the poor kicking was ugly like that.
- [49:18]
A
That part special teams was terrible.
- [49:20]
B
But see, this is where I would push back and this is where I push back at the time because the offensive concepts were antiquated too. Like nobody was going tempo at the time. They weren't throwing the ball because that was a big. Big 12 has no defense. You know, that was a big time. Big 12 had all these offensive schemes that were spreading you out and throwing it all over the field. I thought, I mean, who was it? Justin or Jordan Jefferson was the quarterback for LSU at the time. A.J. mcCarron was good, but they were more running the ball, you know, play action, pass. They hadn't really evolved offensively, philosophically with the rest of college football. That's where I do think the offenses were not that tough to stop.
- [50:04]
C
Some of those LSU teams were straight up running the eye formation from like.
- [50:08]
B
Oh, yeah, yeah. Even on third and six. Ah, just line it up in the eye.
- [50:14]
C
Let him go. Auburn, Mississippi State, 3, 2. I guess if you're gonna go. Let me rate. Let me raise you that six to
- [50:24]
A
three game or six, nine game.
- [50:25]
B
That was what robbed.
- [50:27]
A
All right, well, I will point out. Just gonna point out. It's nine to six that game. Correct, yes. That stagnant, outdated offense of Alabama that. That only had six points. That game had 48 against Kent State, 27 against Penn State, 38 against Arkansas, 38 against Vandy, 52 against Ole Miss, 37 against Tennessee, 45 against Auburn, and then put up 21 again in the title game. Maybe LSU's defense was just really good and the concepts were just fine.
- [50:53]
B
You did start with Kent State and you did start with.
- [50:55]
A
I'm saying that was a team that scored like 4:30 points a game in every other game except for that one.
- [51:00]
C
Right.
- [51:01]
A
It wasn't a bad offense. It was a great LSU defense that day.
- [51:04]
C
It was an. It was extremely. The both sides were in. Both teams played hard. Both sides were loaded because that is the game. You go look at the starting lineups, offense, defense for the 2011 Alabama, LSU game, and it's, it's like 39 NFL players out of 44 if you take like both 22s together.
- [51:26]
A
And LSU played 14 games that year. They scored at least 35 points and 11 of them, two of the three that they didn't were Alabama. It was. Alabama's defense scheme was fine. Defense had a phenomenal night.
- [51:38]
B
But then look at their numbers when they brought in Lane Kiffin and they started opening things up because it was right after that, soon after they were
- [51:46]
A
still scoring tons of points already. They just changed the way.
- [51:48]
B
Well, that was when they were just bullying everybody around because they had. So I was the sort of. When they were hoarding with bullying people. It's football. Well, I would love the choke and Doke the 313 comeback. I would have loved to hear us talk about. Yeah, yeah. And to see like the big thing for me in that game was not only like, you know, did Florida choke? Did we come back? But should we have gone for two? Because I was firmly in the belief that we were going to go for two points. And I think that would have been a fun debate to have. Like, yeah, I would have loved to hear what you guys have said. Like, they also should have gone for two.
- [52:22]
C
So we did not go live in 2019, but we recorded on Saturday nights. So when we did the podcast after LSU beat Texas in Austin in week two, Barton and I are in a hotel room, Tom's at home, and Barton says, you know, I think Joe Burrow could win the Heisman this year. And at the time, that was a. It was a long, long, long shot. One of Barton's many good calls there. But a few weeks later, if not maybe the week later, the three of us are debating when it's time to go live. Sometimes it would be after the big 8 o' clock game, kind of like when we go. But Barton's like, dog, we cannot go live yet. We have got to wait for the end of this game. I said, what? What are you talking about? I mean, Washington State had a 49, 17 lead against UCLA. Certainly there's no way. I mean, this game's done. We, It'll finish while we're going. And Barton's like, no, we are going to wait until the end of this game. For those who might not remember, Washington State blew a 32 point lead as Chip Kelly's UCLA Bruins came storming back to win. And this is not a score typo, 67 to 63. Tom, I think we got started at 2:45am Eastern time. I mean, it was.
- [53:48]
A
We were. We were going while that game was still going on.
- [53:51]
C
Okay.
- [53:51]
A
But not until like, the fourth quarter. Like, we did wait. But then we started because it was going so long that we had to get it done. And then we were kind of like we were trying to go over the bigger storylines of the day because clearly there were bigger games that day than ucla, Washington State. But we couldn't because all three of us were just focused on what was happening in that game. So it. It really just became a taped, not live, running commentary of a game. So, like, when you woke up on Sunday morning to Listen to the COVID 3 podcast, you were just getting running commentary of a game that ended 12 hours ago.
- [54:22]
C
Right.
- [54:24]
B
The.
- [54:24]
C
The.
- [54:25]
B
Another game is when you said the scoring. Baker Mayfield versus Patrick Mahomes. Looking back at some of that, and that was very much in the time when they were saying the Big 12 didn't play any defense. I wonder if that LSU Bama game would have featured Baker Mayfield, Patrick first patch. Mahomes maybe would have seen some more points. 66 to 59. Mahomes had 734 passing yards in the game. That would have been.
- [54:52]
C
Would. I don't know. I mean, I don't know if we would. How we would do the rights portion of this. Would that be a. Something that the COVID 3 tailgate would be interested in in terms of us having, like, recaps or re. Watches or, you know, some sort of the COVID 3 vault?
- [55:11]
B
Yeah.
- [55:11]
C
Would you. Would y' all like. I mean, would you have fun with that? The idea of, like, we give a game and we go in and all of us either rewatch it on our own and then sort of bring our own commentary to it, sort of retell the story. Is that something that the tailgate would be. Get. Get down with? Is that something that y' all would like?
- [55:29]
B
That'd be fun.
- [55:30]
C
Okay. The COVID three vault. We'll throw it in the big ideas bend. I mean, boys, we're about to hit June. We feel the big idea's been up. Here's the thing.
- [55:39]
B
We can.
- [55:40]
C
We can do nine drafts, or we can start to do some new ideas and I'm up for whatever. We can do a little bit of both. We can still do our drafts, but that's something that we can. That we can get into. Raymond, noted Notre Dame fan, says he would like to skip the 2012 national championship game.
- [55:56]
B
Yeah, there wouldn't be much to react to to that one either.
- [55:59]
C
That was a volleyball game. Yeah.
- [56:03]
B
React to the first quarter, Manta tail
- [56:05]
A
getting curb stomped into the dirt by Eddie Lacey. Rest in peace, Linnae. I was just looking it up.
- [56:14]
C
Manta Teo's girlfriend was right there to make the tackle.
- [56:17]
A
I know it was funny. Like we mentioned that Patrick Mahomes Baker Mayfield game, and it's like you forget because the legend of Mahomes has ever since. But like that Texas tech team went 5 and 7 and it also did include a 66 to 10 loss to Iowa State. So apparently they did run into a defense at some point,
- [56:39]
C
but. Yeah, but no defense there.
- [56:41]
A
You know, none of their own.
- [56:43]
C
Yeah. All right, let's go. This one's about futures. Question coming from Apple podcast. Sal says, which future bet would you be most confident in? FSU under six and a half. Sorry. FSU alum Colorado under four and a half, Miami ACC champion prop or NC State over seven and a half with only three ACC road games? I have some bonus bets that expire in a week.
- [57:16]
B
It's great.
- [57:17]
C
Start with Brendan Sorsby, finish with given gambling tips for a guy with bonus bet.
- [57:23]
A
Is this Brendan Sorsby?
- [57:26]
C
Did you see that? The tailgate called us a super spreader. Is that if gambling is a disease, the COVID 3 podcast is a super spreader. Come on now,
- [57:35]
A
gun to your head. I want to say Miami ACC champs is the one I'm most confident in, but, I mean, that's based on the fact that Miami, I think, is the best team in the acc. I don't know how important it is for them to win the acc. Like, they didn't win it last year. They got into the playoff anyway. And I just feel like conference championships are not really that important anymore. Despite everybody telling you that the 2014 would make it pointless. That's already the case because we've seen teams get in without winning their conference. So I don't know if I take that off, I would probably say Colorado under four and a half.
- [58:20]
B
Ooh, Danny, I'm going on Dave Dorn, who just churns out eight wins. Just like it's. It's like it's his job.
- [58:31]
A
Because that's eight wins last year.
- [58:33]
B
No, but that's why. That's why I feel better about it this year. I. The Miami acc one. It is. It's more of a one because I feel like they're gonna get there. It's more of a one game. Like if they run into Kevin Jennings, who beat him last year, you know, could they. And how invested are they? You know, where are they seated? I'd probably go NC State.
- [58:53]
C
I'd go Miami ACC champs. Even though it'd be what, like, it's a plus 120 right now. And realistically, they'd be what, minus 140 on the money line to win the ACC championship, if not even Heavier.
- [59:07]
B
Yeah, they're minus 140 now in FanDuel to win.
- [59:10]
C
Minus 140 now.
- [59:11]
B
Yeah, them and Texas Tech were the only ones with minus money. Now, Texas Tech is still the favorite,
- [59:17]
A
but they're like 110, 135 on DraftKings.
- [59:21]
C
If you are going to bring. If you're going to bring the vibes of, like, do they need it? I'll bring the vibes of they've never won it. They have never won the ACC championship.
- [59:31]
B
Right.
- [59:32]
C
There is absolutely motivation in that building to no longer have that be a thing. So they might show up to Charlotte not, quote unquote, needing a win, but they, they should want to win. They should absolutely want to win. You know, Tom, I thought about something. So right now we, we mentioned it's 100 days out, right? So right now there's a story up on CBSSports.com a 100 day countdown. I do it every single year when we're 100 days out. It's a huge collection of storylines, predictions, lots of stuff. Basically, Chip's own little college football preview magazine with a few weird chapters in it. Ohio State last season, to me, says that we have already hit the point where the regular season doesn't matter anymore, emotionally, emotionally, because Ohio State last year did everything that critics of College Football Playoff expansion claim is the best part of college football. From Labor Day to Thanksgiving, Ohio State won 12 games. They beat their rival. They beat their biggest rival, snapping the losing streak in their house, in their face. And Ohio State fans say last year was a disappointment. The regular season's already been cheapened. I was, I was sitting there, I was writing it out, and I was like, oh, my gosh, they did everything. That's supposed to be a great season in college football. If we are still. If the regular season is still this magical thing.
- [61:14]
B
That was. That was the point. I put out a tweet and it was. I think it was misunderstood because I get that the regular season is not just one team, but there are several teams. Ohio State last year, the Texas game was the closest thing to an exciting, enthralling game that you could watch. Other than that, it was a snooze fest for Ohio State. And I'm like, and we're so Worried, like, we get so caught up in the regular season. Oh, it's the best thing in sports.
- [61:42]
C
It is. First of all. It. It is, it is.
- [61:45]
B
And I think, I think it will be no matter what. But, like, that was an example where that wasn't. Like, I wanted to see them in the postseason. Like, that's why I wanted to see Ohio State again. I want to see them more times in the postseason because the matchups are better. What. What's that one?
- [62:00]
A
There's, there's a QR code up there.
- [62:02]
B
Oh, there is a QR code. Yeah, that.
- [62:04]
C
That'll take you to CBSSports.com to the 100 day countdown.
- [62:07]
B
That's great.
- [62:10]
C
Yeah. I tell you, Striker's just.
- [62:11]
B
He's on it.
- [62:13]
C
Wow. Content missile.
- [62:19]
A
Anyways, sorry for that. I just confused.
- [62:23]
C
I do think that the regular season is special and the regular season makes college football great, but I just, I have started to realize that the scare tactics that are just being used in the conversation are describing a future that exists in the present. Yeah, that's all right.
- [62:40]
A
And I will say there is, like, perspective matters here, too. Like, for Ohio State fans, that might be a disappointing season, because for Ohio State, your goal every year now is not to win the Big Ten, it's to win national titles. For other schools, other fan bases, that was still been a very exciting season. So it's, it's not a hundred percent across the board, but to your point, and to the point I've been making for a while, like, yeah, like, a lot of the things that people are scared of the 24 team doing, the 12 team already has, like, you're, you're kind of just like, that's, that's water under the bridge already. Now you're trying to, like, put it back in. And it's, it's, it's not. I'm happy is not the right word. It's amusing to me that all the things I said about the 12 team for years would happen. Now everybody's screaming about the 24, the same people that wanted the 12 team. So it's just.
- [63:35]
B
But I don't think it's been like, when I think of people say the regular season is just not going to matter. Like, after a loss, it still hurts. Like, you still want, like. And that to me is like, is every college football fan just outing themselves as a casual, like, who doesn't really, like, oh, I'm only going to, like, you're still going to want to win. You're still going to want to fire your coach. If he doesn't beat Michigan or if he doesn't beat Ohio State or Auburn, pick your rival. That's where I think it's greatly exaggerated how college. They're just not going to watch. No, I, I disagree. I think they'll still tune in.
- [64:09]
A
Yeah.
- [64:10]
B
I mean, and with great, like, interest. I just don't think the passion will be there because I think college football fans are the best in the world.
- [64:16]
A
Yeah. At this point, I've seen enough to be under the opinion that I don't think the passion will go away. It's just people are going to have to recalibra, celebrate how they respond to things during the season. Whereas, like, a loss is still going to hurt. It might not hurt you as much as it did five years ago. Like, it might not, quote, unquote, end your season, but it's still going to hurt you. It's still going to suck to watch your team lose to arrival. And it's still. If you are competing for a national title, it will still impact your ability to win that national title because theoretically it will give you a more difficult path to getting that national title. It could cost you a home game in the college football playoffs. So you have to say that's. There are certainly stakes there, but our good friend, like he, our good friend Bill Connolly wrote that the thing this week about the 24 team and the lead was that the College Football Playoff expansion is like AI and that nobody's asked for it, nobody wants it, but it's going to be the future anyway. Just because I would argue that the 2014 playoff is like AI because it's got everybody scared, just because they want to be scared of it, where it really hasn't had. It hasn't really done anything that you think it's going to do.
- [65:24]
B
I also think all of this was we're getting distracted by what is the process to get to either 16 or 24 look like. Like, we're so involved in the number. Because I think that's a huge part of the 24 team. Because, yeah, if you're locking in a lot of these opponents and you don't have, like, you have a distinct advantage by that. Like, are you going to get two home field games? Like, that is huge. Huge. Where you're not resting, you can't afford to drop a game because, you know, all of a sudden you could be. And even it's not the first round, at some point you could have to go on the road. Which college football is the best environments. Probably the biggest difference you see is playing at home and on the road. And weather, you know, weather is going to become a factor we've always heard about. Oh, let's make the teams travel in the north. And cold weather, like all those things I think still will resonate.
- [66:11]
C
The 2014 playoff will come to take your job. Have a good Memorial Day weekend.
- [66:16]
A
That's like, listen, like, I don't know. This would be totally awesome. I'm not gonna. Yeah, things are gonna change. We're all scared of change.
- [66:24]
C
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [66:25]
A
We all adapt to it pretty well.
- [66:27]
C
So Jim Phillips said something because remember Jim Phillips with the acc, who his media rights partner is espn, which owns the College Football Playoff. Jim Phillips said we favor 24. ESPN does not. And then within that. Why do you say it? He mentioned because the universities are in trouble financially. And he mentioned that it is very difficult for these universities to continue investing in a system that only rewards very, very few. So it's the hope that kills you. And just by making the bracket a little bit bigger, these universities are telling him we. We need to be able to believe that we have a chance. And that's why they would like the field just a little bit bigger.
- [67:25]
A
And to that the best. And it's not even a counter argument, but the best point I have seen anybody bring up on this subject that has been anti the 2014 was the column that Stuart Mandel wrote yesterday. Why do they want it? To get the money. And they're saying what they need 200, 250 million to kind of offset all this stuff. That's what the schools are looking for. Are we that confident that that's available to them from the networks who broadcast these games? Like if espn, cbs, NBC, everybody, Amazon, Netflix? If everybody gets into a bidding war for this right now, are we confident that they can actually get as much as they say they need, which is why they want to expand. That to me is the most interesting question I have seen anybody pose on this. Because he's got a great point. I don't know that they will.
- [68:12]
C
That's like when Cody Campbell's done the college football is undervalued. I my pushback is are you sure that the money is there? I mean, green line do not go always go up when it comes to the media industry. I mean we've.
- [68:28]
A
It usually goes the other way.
- [68:29]
C
Yeah, we have the belt tightened.
- [68:31]
B
You know, didn't the big 10 sec put out their report that pushed back against Cody Campbell? Wasn't that where they were the one thing they were in agreement on? Like they can't agree on anything but that one. They were like, wait a second.
- [68:42]
C
And they have their own selfish. My experience from working in the media industry is assuming that it's all going to go up and that everyone's always just going to be ready to pay more and more and more and more. College football is going to fall behind the NFL in a priority order for any media rights partner. And isn't NFL going through renegotiations?
- [69:03]
A
Yeah.
- [69:03]
B
Yeah.
- [69:04]
A
And like I joked about it in a column I wrote last week, which Stryker never put a QR UP code for on the screen. So thanks, Stryker. I see we all know who your favorite is now, but I joked about it. I says, you know, the COVID 3 podcast would also love to bundle its rights with the Big Ten in the SEC. So we are just like the Big 12 in the ACC. We are very interested in this deal.
- [69:25]
C
Yeah, 100%. All right. We hope everybody has a safe and fantastic Memorial Day weekend. We will be celebrating on Monday as well, so hope you enjoy it. We've got summer schools locked up and ready to go, so the feed will stay fresh on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. But we are going to enjoy some time with family and friends and cheering for the Carolina Hurricanes. And you can follow him on Twitter at Tom Pernell. You can follow him at Danny Canal. You can follow me at Chip Underscore Patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much.
- [69:57]
A
Go Canadians. CBS Fridays are a smoke show and they're hotter than ever.
- [70:07]
C
This is the greatest job in the world.
- [70:08]
B
First up, Marina Baccaran stars in Sheriff Country.
- [70:12]
A
We do whatever it takes to protect our people. Followed by an explosive fire.
- [70:17]
B
Country. I'm right here with you no matter what.
- [70:20]
A
Then it's Donnie Wahlberg and Soniqua Martin Green in Boston Blue.
- [70:25]
C
Got them? Yeah, I got them.
- [70:27]
A
CBS Fridays starting at 8, 7 Central and streaming on Paramount. Plus.