Are Spring Games Back? Outlook For Spring Football In A New Portal Era | College Football

Summary

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Cover 3 College Football Podcast

Episode: Are Spring Games Back? Outlook For Spring Football In A New Portal Era

Date: March 11, 2026

Hosts: Chip Patterson, Tom Fornelli, Danny Kanell, Bud Elliott

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Episode Overview

In this episode, the Cover 3 crew dives into the resurgence of traditional college football spring games amidst recent shifts in transfer portal regulations. The hosts explore why spring games are coming back, what they mean for programs and fans, and how NIL and roster investment are changing the college football landscape. Alongside spirited debates about Miami Ohio's unprecedented spending and NCAA basketball crossover, the team shares personal stories and listener questions around the evolution and significance of spring football.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Miami Ohio’s Athletic Investment and Aspirations (05:00–12:50)

• Miami Ohio's Ambitions: Miami Ohio, traditionally a MAC team, is now spending $8–10 million annually on rosters, aiming to keep core players amid heavy transfer portal movement.
  • "I think it is more about just keeping the players that you're getting outbid by other group of six teams, maybe lower power four teams ... Good for them for giving Chuck Martin some opportunity to keep a roster intact." – Bud Elliott (06:11)
• Aspirational vs. Realistic: The panel debates whether Miami Ohio can keep up with rising expectations (“juggernaut” talk) and if such spending could actually move a program up during future conference realignments.
• Comparisons: The group notes that Miami Ohio is spending more than some Power Five programs like Boston College on NIL/rosters (07:47).
• Randomness in Results: With all the financial investment, Miami Ohio still lost several games, leading to questions about money’s true impact on-field (08:17).
  • "If you're spending all that money, how the hell are you losing three games in conference?" – Danny Kanell (08:17)
• Transfer Portal as Equalizer: James Madison’s model is discussed as a realistic aspiration for Miami, emphasizing keeping a strong core vs. matching stars with Power 4 money (09:09).
• Fan and Alumni Engagement: Increased athletic success brings "sleeping" alumni out of the woodwork, further fostering engagement.

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2. The Return and Rationale for Traditional Spring Games (16:02–36:00)

Why Are Spring Games Coming Back? (16:02–19:34)

• Portal Paranoia is Waning: Coaches had scaled back or canceled spring games out of fear players would be poached after public performances. Now, with the absence of a “spring transfer window,” paranoia has eased.
  • "I think that is probably the primary reason why you saw [spring games] go away. ... If you remove the leverage, you remove the leverage to renegotiate deals before fall hits." – Tom Fornelli (17:50)
• Marketing and Fan Experience: Spring games serve as crucial, family-friendly campus events. Cheap/free tickets introduce new fans/kids, bolster community, and create future alumni memories.
  • "It's just part of that collegiate experience that ... you lose when you don't do it." – Tom Fornelli (20:17)

Coaches and Players’ Perspective (21:07–26:36)

• Developmental Value: Simulated game reps help player growth, confidence, handling pressure, and foster competition.
  • "In order to be good at football, you have to play football. ... To get good ... you do need to play. So I think I encourage it and think it is great." – Bud Elliott (22:42)
• Introduction of New Rosters: Especially in the portal era, spring games help fans learn new names.
  • "If you who work in it ... can name ... half, think the average fan can name. This is a good way to get your product out there." – Tom Fornelli (21:40)
• Recruiting and Marketing Tool: The spectacle brings alumni back to towns, helps recruiting, and keeps the program in front of its fanbase.

Notable Shifts and Program Examples (26:37–33:00)

• Nebraska Leads the Charge: Nebraska and Clemson are set for March 28 games. Auburn, Texas, Florida, and Alabama are also bringing back bigger, publicized events.
• Coaches' Attitudes: Some, like Matt Rhule, have moved from canceling to advocating spring games. Coaches like Steve Sarkisian cite “late-season fatigue” as reasons for previously holding back (25:01).
• Vibrant & Varied Experiences: Some programs turn spring games into community festivals—bands, fireworks, food—increasing appeal for all ages.

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3. Evaluating the Vibe and Future of Spring Games (33:01–44:53)

• What Makes Spring Games Fun?
  Fans enjoy seeing younger or backup players shine, and the unbridled enthusiasm on the sidelines.
  • "The one thing that truly gets me tickled is when they get excited for their teammates doing something ... that, that gets me going." – Chip Patterson (31:06)
• Spring Games as (Mostly) Real Football: While some stars are protected, most players get real snaps—unlike the NFL preseason where strict injury avoidances limit play.
• Impact on Team Assessment: Coaches use these games to evaluate depth, not just the starting lineup.
• Circus or Serious?: Some, like Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss), are expected to focus more on spectacle and entertainment, while others like Florida are emphasizing physicality and intensity.

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4. Listener Questions & Nostalgia: Spring Game Memories (36:31–45:10)

• Spring Game Participation: Most teams involve a wide roster. Some stars (especially QBs/WRs) are shielded from contact, but for many, it is a meaningful competitive experience.
• Personal Memories:
  • "I remember my first spring game... getting to meet coach Bowden... [he said] 'We've got you as the number one quarterback in the country.' ... That was my first realization, oh, this could be a massive opportunity." – Danny Kanell (38:16)
  • Jameis Winston's first spring TD and Johnny Manziel’s debut stand out.
  • "I've just got a run of Clemson wide receivers that all have the same bodies that all look awesome in the spring game. And then you come back in the fall, like, what happened to a Joa Joe?" – Chip Patterson (39:42)

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5. Hot Takes and Mailbag: Coaches’ Bad Decisions In-Game (45:11–52:14)

• Why Do Coaches Make Terrible Choices?
  A mix of ego, blind spots, and sometimes simply sticking with what a team does best, even if suboptimal statistically.
  • "You may realize... we try to do some of this stuff in practice. There's a reason we don't run it more, because we actually suck at it." – Bud Elliott (46:23)
• Clock Management and Game Theory: Some bad decisions come down to lack of adaptation to "solved" analytics, while others are about political capital and fear of criticism.
• Mario Cristobal’s Reputation is discussed—including whether he remains the "face" of bad coaching decisions—though his recent playoff run boosts his resume.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the real reasons spring games faded:
  • "The schools want to use as much leverage over the players as they possibly can. If you remove the spring portal... you're not going to see mass transfers." – Tom Fornelli (17:50)
• On Miami Ohio’s NIL war chest:
  • "But at least somebody is being like, hey, we've got a kind of slept on alumni network. We've got the ability to pull some levers." – Chip Patterson (10:04)
• Spring game nostalgia:
  • "It was something to see... Jameis’s first pass touchdown, and then what he proceeded to do in that spring game is like, oh, if he can play this well in a regular season, they got something there." – Tom Fornelli (37:21)
• On fans and families:
  • "It's just part of that collegiate experience... You get to go meet the players. Pictures, autographs, that, that loop in a baseball game too." – Tom Fornelli (20:17)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Time | Segment / Topic | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------| | 05:00 | Miami Ohio’s war chest, implications | | 16:02 | Are spring games back? Reasons and first examples| | 17:50 | Transfer portal’s impact on spring game paranoia | | 20:17 | Spring game importance for fans and families | | 22:42 | Coach/player perspectives on development value | | 26:09 | Texas's prior reasoning for canceling spring game| | 29:34 | Danny’s indifference (and workmanlike view) | | 31:06 | The real joys of spring games | | 36:31 | Listener Qs: Player participation in spring games| | 38:16 | Kanell’s personal recruitment memory | | 45:11 | Why do coaches make bad decisions? |

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Schools/Coaches/Players Highlighted

• Miami Ohio, James Madison (roster investment, aspirations)
• Nebraska, Clemson, Auburn, Texas, Florida, Alabama (spring game revivals)
• Steve Sarkisian (Texas's spring game stance)
• Jameis Winston, Johnny Manziel, Marvin Harrison Jr (notable spring game debuts)
• Lane Kiffin (expected spectacle at Ole Miss)
• Mario Cristobal (coaching decision reputation, redemption)
• Brett Bielema (coaching contrast/family events)
• Notable QBs: Keelan Russell (Alabama), Aaron Philo (Florida), Bryce Underwood (Michigan)
• Notable position battles and portal-driven roster turnover everywhere

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Tone, Style, and Closing Thoughts

The episode blends analytical discussion with lighthearted takes, nostalgia, and occasional jabs—staying true to the Cover 3's signature “lively barroom debate among friends” style. The hosts maintain energy, insider insight, and humor, making the episode both engaging and informative for any dedicated college football fan.

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For more exclusive insights, check out the full podcast or join the live show for even more banter, audience interaction, and real-time analysis.

Transcript

[Chip Patterson]

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[Tom Fornell]

Welcome Back to the COVID 3 podcast with your hosts Chip Patterson, Tom Fornell,

[Danny Cannell]

Danny Cannell and Bud Elliott.

[Chip Patterson]

It's your call for the best college

[Tom Fornell]

football coverage from national signing day to the national championship and everything in between. CBS Sports presents the COVID 3 podcast.

[Chip Patterson]

And welcome back to the COVID 3 podcast here on CBS Sports. That's Tom Frenelli, that's Bud Elliott, that's Danny Cannell. I'm Chip Patterson coming to you [e-mail] cover3 and everybody 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 our friend Ryan is asking if Tom is rooting for USA or Italy. I guess this is a World Baseball Classic. Tom, can we get a quick answer before we dive into the the business of today?

[Danny Cannell]

For those of you who aren't aware, Team Italy beat Team USA last night in the World Baseball Classic is undefeated heading into the final day of pool play. But I am rooting for Mexico because if Mexico wins tonight or today, whenever they're playing against Italy, then Giants opening day starter Logan Webb returns to camp instead of being forced to make another start in a high intensity market game that will have no impact on the team I actually care about.

[Bud Elliott]

But they have to win by one to four runs, right? They can't win by too many runs or that puts the USA no, I'm

[Danny Cannell]

pretty sure it's like runs against. Oh, it's not run diff. So like as long as Mexico doesn't win 12 to 11, Mexico and Italy would advance out of the group. Like America needs Italy to win. Now the good news for America is Italy is filled with Americans who I'm sure will be doing their damnedest to help make sure that Team USA gets through.

[Bud Elliott]

But see, that wasn't a real loss for Team USA because they treated it like SEC treats bowl season. Like it didn't matter. Like they didn't know it mattered. So D Ro was like, hey, we're gonna get a lot of guys in, have some fun. You know, we'll get Some looks he. Mark derosa is exactly like me. Every single weekend when I'm trying to figure out pool play, who's advancing, what bracket are we going to be in. And I thought he had better analytics at his disposal, better advice, but clearly he did not.

[Danny Cannell]

I do love, like a lot of the build up, you know, because Mark DeRosa does do a lot of television work. And in the build up, all off season about the World Baseball Classic, there's a whole lot of Mark Dross is going to be a great manager, blah, blah, blah. He's terrific. He's going to do a wonderful job. And then you find out Mark Dross doesn't even know the rules of the competition that the teams.

[Tom Fornell]

So here's something for you. In a tournament where the tiebreaker is run scored, if you're the home team and you haven't mercy ruled somebody yet,

[Chip Patterson]

do you intentionally take your.

[Danny Cannell]

It's. It's runs allowed, not run scored.

[Bud Elliott]

Gotcha.

[Tom Fornell]

Got it. Okay.

[Danny Cannell]

At least that's my understanding of it after last night.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, After. As we're trying as much as Derosa is, to be able to catch up with what exactly this is. I mean, Tom, I'm getting big away goals, tiebreaker vibes from these rules here.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, always all soccer's influence, all this stuff came from the soccer world.

[Danny Cannell]

Ryan is saying it is run scored. They were talking about how it was run prevention during the game last night. So I don't know. Nobody knows the damn rules, I guess. I guess I don't know.

[Chip Patterson]

But what's clear is that the question was for Tom and the rooting interest is whatever gets the San Francisco Giants back to the clubhouse, getting ready for the season as fast as possible. Right. All right, so as you see here in the headline, we are going to have a discussion spotlighting some of the notable spring games that are being brought back. What are the reasons for this? Is this the beginning of a trend? And look, I was going through. And did you see what our. You see what our friend Sean Lewis said in an Associated Press survey talking about these spring games?

[Tom Fornell]

No. What do you say?

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, they'll be blocking and tackling. This is going to not going to be some skills competition like they'll be blocking and tackling. We got the orange white game coming back at Texas. Michigan's announced a spring game. Auburn's bringing back a spring game. And Matt Rule, who's kind of on the forefront of canceling spring games, now on the forefront of bringing them back. So a fun discussion about spring games coming up in Just a little bit. But as the Mac Basketball tournament. Sorry bud, got got to drag you into March Madness here just a little bit. As the Mac Basketball tournament gets going. And by the way, you can catch the later rounds on CBS Sports Network. All eyes will be on the Miami Ohio Redhawks who finished 310 in the regular season with an absolute epic game against rival Ohio. Winning on the road, getting booed by the opposing fans and closing out an undefeated regular season. And all the conversation and all the attention on Miami Ohio has also led to a focus on the athletic department as a whole. Our friend Chris Hummer wrote an excellent story about kind of the war chest, maybe one of the biggest war chests that we've got in the Mac right now. I encourage you to go and check out the Miami Ohio story over on CBSSports.com but among the revelations was that they are in the 8 to 10 million dollar range when it comes to their roster. Yeah, Danny from thousand.

[Bud Elliott]

Right. Just a couple years ago.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, this is, this is basketball, this is football. This is Miami Ohio getting geared up, ready to go. I mean are we talking about a juggernaut here? Do you think that they're going to be on their way out? What, what is your reaction to finding out what's been happening behind the scenes to lead to this, all this on field success?

[Bud Elliott]

They obviously lost a couple players to Indiana this past season. They've lost other players to Ohio State. They're also getting a couple players from Ohio State. I think it's admirable. I think this has to be about them keeping the core players, not the stars because that you're never going to win a bidding war with Ohio State with an Indiana, with an Auburn. But I think it is more about just keeping the players that you're getting out bid by other group of six teams, maybe lower power five, you know, power four teams that you're losing to. Which I say good, good for them for giving Chuck Martin some opportunity to keep a roster intact. I mean they made the Mac championship game back to back years. He's been a winner despite having lost a lot of these players. So I say good. I do wonder like what the realistic expectation for them to be able to keep like him retain certain players. But I think it's absolutely going to help. They have the number one portal class in the Mac.

[Tom Fornell]

Yeah, I, I read those comments and I was like that feels a little aspirational, you know, to, to try to get promoted up whenever the, the great split happens.

[Chip Patterson]

Right.

[Tom Fornell]

But it also feel, you know, probably felt aspirational for Indiana and win a national title. Right. So I, I'm a little hesitant to speak with great certainty about like what is possible in like the really rapidly evolving landscape of college football. You know, I, I'd be pretty shocked if Miami Ohio is included in the next round of separation.

[Chip Patterson]

But yeah, I mean, it's Miami Ohio spending more than Boston College.

[Tom Fornell]

I think as an ACC team, BC is outspending Miami Ohio.

[Bud Elliott]

Okay, well, because they have the rep share too, which is better.

[Tom Fornell]

Right?

[Bud Elliott]

Right. They've got. Let's just assume they're spending 13, 14 out of their 20, 20 million. They're all going to have a leg up. And that's where Miami Ohio is really is. Is at a disadvantage here.

[Danny Cannell]

And if my question for you is if you're spending all that money, how the hell are you losing three games and conference. Including the conference championship game? I got. Listen, think of all the crap we gave Jason Candle. Think of all the crap we've given Ryan Silverfield. And I'm a big Chuck Martin guy, but Chuck, come on, buddy, you got

[Tom Fornell]

that big of a payroll.

[Danny Cannell]

You shouldn't be losing those games to those little Mac teams.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean there a little bit of the random number generator there. Miami Ohio plays those kind of games. Right. They're not going to be a team that bowls to Toledo by 21 chips. I know, I know. Was. What was the problem? They were favored. Was that Jason Candle as an underdog? Is that the problem?

[Danny Cannell]

Seriously, you can't, you have to like never bet on Jason Candle as a favorite. Always bet on him as a financial underdog.

[Bud Elliott]

I was trying to look up. I see a number.

[Chip Patterson]

I have.

[Bud Elliott]

No, this is just. You can't really rely on chat GPT or whoever for accurate numbers. But, but I was curious to know what James Madison is spending on their roster. According to this, it says in 2024 they spent 11 million. So I think that's your blueprint. Like, hey, if they can win and get to the playoffs, right. And be a team that can, you know, run a table, why can't we be that. I think that's your aspiration is to try to get a chance to make the College Football Playoff.

[Chip Patterson]

But the thing that's interesting to me is that it's not the same as James Madison, which competed for titles at the lower level and then right up. Or you know, the, the example that North Dakota State is trying to pursue right now. You know, one title is a moved. I mean Miami Ohio has been in the Mac forever. I mean, Danny, you remember yeah, exactly.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, I remember it all. I remember when it was created, you

[Chip Patterson]

know, like, this is the cradle of coaches right here. And just to. To be looking around to see this, the. The growing gap. I. Aspirational, sure. But at least somebody is being like, hey, we've got a kind of slept on alumni network. We've got the ability to pull some levers. We got a lot of pride in this program. And I think that this basketball run, you know, we are seeing that. I mean, it ain't the Indiana. Like Tom talking about his neighbors popping up out of nowhere. Like, I didn't know. I didn't know till you hung that flag in 2024 that you were an Indiana grad. You've never told me that before. You know, you get. You get. Little Miami grads are popping up out of nowhere from time. Like, this is. This is something that the basketball, it ties to the football ties to a spotlight. It's a fun story, certainly in college sports, as they will. Hey, they're going to make the tournament no matter what happens, right? Lose to UMass, you're still in. We say yes. Okay?

[Bud Elliott]

Yes. They have to.

[Danny Cannell]

Auburn's got a pretty good win. And they've only won. They've only lost like, 48 of their games. We have to give Auburn more of a shot here.

[Chip Patterson]

Do you know who they're playing in their first Mac tournament game? Frank Martin and UMass.

[Bud Elliott]

It's on right now.

[Danny Cannell]

Mike Martin's at you.

[Bud Elliott]

No, it's on tomorrow.

[Chip Patterson]

Frank Martin's at UMass. Yeah, tomorrow at 11am I see you talk to Travis on the radio show.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, we had him on this morning. He's a good dude. I like him a lot. He was pretty. I mean, he was not gonna guarantee it, but I think he feels good. And I actually think all the attention around them down the final stretch has actually helped their case and the amount of people that were outraged.

[Chip Patterson]

They've had some lemon booty games.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, I mean, they have, definitely. Well, that's what I was thinking because I started watching them. I don't dial in too much, but the Friday night game, they almost lost. I started watching and I was kind of thinking the way Bruce Pearl was, like, how would these guys stack up in an sec or an acc? It is that. You know, I saw Dick Vital. You know, he was taken to social media, saying what. What kind of metrics are we using? And it kind of goes back to the debate we have in football all the time. Strength of schedule. How do you determine it? How. How would Miami of Ohio do In a Power 5, you know, basketball conference. And Bruce Perot was pretty emphatic. He's, he's done a full 180 though. He is back on board rooting for Miami. But it wasn't that long ago when he said, hey, they might finish last in the Big east. And you're like, oof. And we don't know. It isn't an exact science.

[Chip Patterson]

Hey, listen, I'm going to give, I'm going to give BP a little bit of wiggle room. You know, he spent a lot of time coaching, not a lot of time doing this media stuff. I mean, he did a little bit of media stuff between jobs. But you know, he, I feel like as soon as that came out and he saw it back, he was like,

[Bud Elliott]

oh, yeah, now he's all. And now he's rooting for him. Now he's all on board.

[Chip Patterson]

Love it. So do check it out over there again, the Mac tournament you can watch on CBS Sports Network. But Miami, Ohio, their multi million dollar bet. Check it out. Great story from Chris Hummer over on cbs sports.com and speaking of March Madness, March Madness brackets are back and you can get in the action today on the CBS Sports app. Run men's and women's pools with friends and enter our bracket challenges for your chance to win trips to the 2027 final four. Get the CBS Sports app to start playing now. No purchase necessary. See terms and rules for details. And coming up on the other side, we turn our attention to spring games. We thought they were dead. Are they back? That's a good thing, right? All that and more next. You know, mental health can feel like this huge, complicated thing because if you hurt your arm, you see a doctor, no problem. But finding the right therapist, suddenly, it's confusing, expensive and takes forever. That's why Rula is so great. They make therapy simple, fast and affordable. They accept most major insurance plans and the average session copay is just$15.15 bucks. That's basically lunch money. But instead of a sandwich, you're investing in your mental well being. And here's the best part. Rula isn't just about matching you with someone. Every therapist is licensed, vetted and picked for their expertise. They actually follow up to make sure you're making progress. You answer a few questions about what matters to you. Pick a time and you could be talking to a therapist as soon as the next day. No waiting, no guessing, no stress. Thousands of guys have already used Rula to finally get the care they needed. Don't keep putting it off. Go to rula.comcover and get started today. That's r u l a.com cover. Take the first step, get connected and take control of your mental health.

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[Danny Cannell]

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[Chip Patterson]

Clocks, Big Shots, Upsets, Aces TGL Playoffs are here. First Atlanta drives, starts their repeat run against Los Angeles Golf Club.

[Tom Fornell]

Then Rory's Boston Common Golf and Tigers

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[Bud Elliott]

tune in Tuesday, March 17th at 6:30pm

[Chip Patterson]

and 9:00pm only on ESPN and the

[Bud Elliott]

ESPN app

[Chip Patterson]

back here on the COVID 3 podcast. And you know, we always spend some time here on the COVID 3 podcast just trying to check in on all the different spring practices across the country, find out about position battles, what we're learning about new coaches, new additions from the transfer portal and more. But for fans, there has been a little bit of disappointment with the growing trend of spring games either getting outright canceled, you know, using that 15th spring practice for workouts, or, you know, maybe a little bit more of the the 7 on 7, or maybe a little bit of flag football, you know, the skills challenge, dunk contest, things of that nature. But we're starting to see a few come back. Most notably, Nebraska is returning to its traditional spring game. And I want to bring that up because, guys, Nebraska is going to have its spring game before the end of the month. March 28 Nebraska spring game the Clemson Tigers will have their spring game as well on March 28th. If you want to know when these are going to be starting. But you know, Auburn returning to a traditional spring game, Texas bringing back the Orange White game. Those games are going to be in mid april, you know, april 17th, 18th range it. Tom, do you think it's or here, bud, I'm sorry for that college basketball talk. I got. I gotta bring you back here, you know, but come on, let's go. Let's go. Do you, do you think, do you think it is truly the absence of paranoia because there's not a spring portal that's playing a big factor in this before we get to like whether we're excited about it and what a spring game can Mean, for a fan. What about from the coach's standpoint? Do you buy that they were truly paranoid about someone seeing one of their guys on a spring game and then poaching them in the spring portal? Because we don't have a spring portal officially. Do you think that's why we're starting to see spring games come back?

[Tom Fornell]

Yes.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay.

[Tom Fornell]

No, I think that is probably the primary reason why you saw it go away. You know, like, the schools want to use as much leverage over the players as they possibly can. The players want to use as much leverage over the schools they possibly can. If you remove the spring portal, we know you can still transfer, you know, out outside the portal window. Right. You just unenroll and enroll. We. We saw Lucas do it. Going from Wisconsin to Miami.

[Danny Cannell]

You.

[Tom Fornell]

You do see this sometimes, but it is more complicated and more rare. Right. So we're not going to see, like, mass transfers in the spring, I'm fairly confident. And so if you remove the leverage, you remove the leverage to renegotiate deals, you know, before. Before fall hits. Right. Which I think is like the primary concern of schools. It's like, hey, don't want to pay more to keep the guy and don't want to have to pay, you know. Right. Like, whether you're staying or not to have it to match an offer. So, yeah, I think that's the primary reason. And also I do think, like, out of sight, out of mind. The NFL does such a great job in being in the news. Constant. Like yesterday we had, I guess, like the start of NFL free agency. I don't give a damn about that. And yet I still couldn't get away from it. Yeah, right. Like, it was all over the news cycle. So, you know, watching this, if you don't have a spring game, I mean, you're. You're not on the top of. Top of mind of your fans unless you're like, a really, really good team. It's also a great introduction for, like, a large part of your fan base to bring their families to. Right. And spend a weekend in town. You don't have a lot. A lot going on. It may coincide with spring break. Tickets are usually free or really cheap. You know, anybody with young kids can appreciate that.

[Chip Patterson]

Right.

[Tom Fornell]

Like, do you want to drop, you know, a grand for four tickets, you know, two of which are going to your young kids who are probably going to be ready to check out of the game, you know, after a quarter, quarter and a half. Right. And if they do stay, you know, you may be dropping the iPad on them, you know, second TV time out in the first quarter. So, you know, if you go to something like, all right, cool, we'll stay for a little bit. I'm not going to feel bad for, you know, dropping big time money and then we have to leave. Get to go see some cool spots around town. If you're an alumni, you get to go show your kids, you know, hey, like, you know this spot and know here was the dorm and all this other kind of cool stuff. It's just part of that, like, collegiate experience that I think you lose when you don't do it. And a lot of times it coincides with like a fan day on the weekend, right. Where players are out at tables, you get to go meet them. Pictures, autographs, that, that loop in a

[Chip Patterson]

baseball game too, Right? Yeah.

[Tom Fornell]

It's such a layup to not do this. Right? Like, like here.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornell]

I mean, the chat's weighing in. You know, fireworks and free food at tcu, usually only an hour long. Right. It's almost exclusively nice weather. You know, I don't, I think if you don't do this, it's, I almost said something's gonna get me suspended. It's really not real smart. Right. And if you're gonna, like, if you're worried people are gonna see that you suck. They're gonna see it and fall anyway, man. Yeah, right. You know, if it's spring, you're like, okay, we're working through stuff, right? New offense, new scheme, new players. I think that's the other part with. And I know I'm running long here, but in, in the Portal era, this is a good way to introduce your team to people, you know?

[Chip Patterson]

Sure, yeah.

[Tom Fornell]

Players on the roster. Like, I mean, Tom, how many players on Illinois's roster you think you can name?

[Chip Patterson]

Obviously, 120, 115.

[Danny Cannell]

No, not that many right now. I'd probably say a good 10 to 15.

[Tom Fornell]

Yeah, right. Like, I, I, I blindly try to do it the other night with, with fsu and I got less than half.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah. It's like there's not.

[Tom Fornell]

And I follow the team pretty closely. Like, I, you know, I mean, last

[Danny Cannell]

year I'd have been able to name a lot more because there were so many returning starters. This year, there's very few returning starters.

[Tom Fornell]

And if you who work in it, you literally work in college ball, if that's me, you can name how many. Think the average fan can name. This is a good way to get your product out there, get people familiar with it, maybe get excited about somebody, maybe, you know, get excited about somebody for the future. Maybe they're not going to have a huge impact. Maybe they go off. We see these freshmen, you know, play well in spring games. Yeah, I think it's. It's a layup to do. And if you're not doing it, I think that's a pretty major marketing mistake.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, I'll tackle. I mean, we were talking about spring and how important it was, you know, for me as a player, the development that you get in, you know, simulated game reps. And I know they're not true games, but. And I know maybe the quarterbacks now aren't all live. You're not getting touched, but.

[Chip Patterson]

But you're in the stadium, right?

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah. To play in the stadium, to play in front of fans, to have, you know, keep stats, there's a little bit bumped up in pressure. So I probably talked to five or six coaches this spring. All of them are having spring. One of them was Alex Golish.

[Tom Fornell]

Yep.

[Bud Elliott]

I saw Zach Kitley a couple weeks ago. I was on FAU's campus, talked to him, and they're doing a Friday night game. All of them had almost the same line. In order to be good at football, you have to play football. You know, like, that's the closest thing to playing football. Like, you can do all the drills and you can do seven on seven and you can do thud and different speeds. But to get good at football, you do need to play. So I think I encourage it and think it is great. And that in addition to, like, what you guys were talking about with the weekend experience and the fans and baseball game, I mean, for a long time it was. The Florida State Miami baseball series was the same weekend.

[Chip Patterson]

It was awesome.

[Bud Elliott]

It was great. So you got to see both and, you know, it's a more relaxed environment. You know, the players do. Sometimes they do autograph signings or they'll let you meet the players after. It is a great opportunity. I do wish they could infuse more life into it. I know it's been kicked around and shoot, Dion was going to do it with Syracuse, Colorado, Syracuse. I would love to see it. Just logistically, I don't know if we'll ever get that. I think that would be even better, you know, if you got to that point. But I'll take getting spring games back to, you know, real football and actually getting some work done because I do think it's. It's crucial for the development of young players and new players.

[Tom Fornell]

I'm glad it's come back. Yeah, like, for most. I think most Teams are having a spring game now, from what I've seen.

[Chip Patterson]

Do you. Not all. Do you. And some. Some are still doing more of the, like, scrimmage, you know, very, very light activity. Danny, was the band there?

[Tom Fornell]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

See, that's when we're talking about your family and your kids and the next generation. They don't know the difference between September, October and April. Like, were they wearing helmets? Were they wearing pads? Was the marching band there? Somebody said hike and someone threw it. Okay. That was. That was a football game. I went to a college football game. It. It is not going. I mean, face value of tickets, like, forget. Even secondary market at some of these bigger schools. Face value of tickets is so expensive to get these great opportunities to be able to connect with your fan base. It's. Yeah, I am excited that they are coming back because of a lot of reasons that are not tied to football. But, man, Danny, from the players perspective.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Get out there, run out of the tunnel. Bands playing, fans are there. Like, let's. Let's go out there and get the blood pumping. A fun thing that I'm glad the competition is back for. When Texas canceled theirs, my memory, I couldn't pull the quote. My memory was that Steve Sarkeesian was like, sorry, we just been playing so late into the season these last couple years. You know, need a little bit of rest, which I guess I understand, you know, this time, I guess since they played in. Which would they. They didn't play in the Outback Bowl. Which bowl game did they play in? Which bowl game did Texas play in? Cheese it, right?

[Tom Fornell]

Cheese it.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Because Art said, I don't want to be in the Cheese it Bowl next year.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

What'd you think about this bowl experience? Yeah, it was great, but I really don't want to have my season finish here next year. They, you know, if you truly look at your roster and you say, guys, we played 32 games in the last 20 months, like, we. We just need to take it easy. Okay, sure. But I guarantee you Steve Sarkeesian is going to be happy to put all those Lamborghinis out on the field for fans that are fired up about a national championship run when that orange and white game takes place in Austin.

[Bud Elliott]

Also see some diabell.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

Okay.

[Bud Elliott]

There he's on campus side. I got a little. Some little insider access to some film of practice. Looked pretty good to not admit that he's good.

[Danny Cannell]

Don't put that out there like they're gonna close. Like, every Texas beat writer is going to have A fat wall against Danny because Stark's gonna close practice now because he's dead.

[Bud Elliott]

That's right.

[Chip Patterson]

We are too this we are too soon. From the Ohio State Michigan. Ryan Day's brother is a private investigator. They've hacked the practice films, catapult login stuff.

[Bud Elliott]

So I didn't really see it. It was fake. It was AI.

[Chip Patterson]

It was. Yeah, it was. So that's awesome. It's obviously we are. This is a Diabell podcast. Awesome to hear these healthy getting out there making throws. Who would you. Who are you excited to see in terms of like some of these spring games are going to be televised live. I think a lot of them are going to be more streaming options or something that I don't mean I'm going to be transparent with you. Things that I'm going to circle back to. I'm not going to. I'm not going to be able to watch all of them live myself. But I. There are ones that I definitely enjoy. What schools are you looking forward to seeing when it comes to the spring game?

[Tom Fornell]

Is Florida having one?

[Chip Patterson]

They're on the list for Florida. I believe I've got them on the 11th of April. Florida and Alabama are listed as having a spring game on the 11th.

[Tom Fornell]

Well the quarterbacks then Keelan Russell for Bama and Aaron Philo for Florida.

[Bud Elliott]

I'm excited to see the mentality at the spring game. I mean I've seen clips of some raw. He canceled his 15 year wedding anniversary trip. I mean he's got bleep to do is what he said. He can't go travel anywhere. Also saw clips him at practice getting on some young players like calling him out during drills. That's soft. We got to be more physical than that. I think there's going to be some physicality at that spring game.

[Tom Fornell]

I don't.

[Danny Cannell]

It was funny because I was scrolling the for you page on Twitter yesterday and it was consecutive tweets. One was the quote from some raw saying I've got to do about his anniversary. And the very next tweet was Brett Bielema tweeting picture of his wife and two daughters like for their 14 year wedding anniversary.

[Tom Fornell]

It's like sometimes the for you page really just hits spectacularly.

[Chip Patterson]

That's so good. Yeah, I know what Brett's doing is he's kind of dunking on him. He's like, I yeah, I. I can get the same record as you and still love my wife and celebrate my anniversary.

[Tom Fornell]

There's some Spurrier in. In Beela.

[Bud Elliott]

Oh God.

[Tom Fornell]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Absolutely phenomenal stuff. Tom, what about you? Obviously ill. You know, we'll be. We'll be paying attention to what things are going to be looking like.

[Tom Fornell]

Super excited.

[Chip Patterson]

Who else are you looking forward to seeing?

[Danny Cannell]

I mean, along the lines of what Bud was saying. I. I ex. Excited is a stretch of a term. It's more of. I just want to see some situations where there are quarterback battles, where there are new coaches in place just to get like a read on what's going on in certain spots. It's nothing that truly stands out. Like, oh, I can't wait to watch it. But I will. I will watch YouTube highlights of spring games.

[Chip Patterson]

You know, just convince. Yes. Yeah. Just.

[Danny Cannell]

Just to get a vibe. But, I mean, my feelings on spring football are pretty well known.

[Chip Patterson]

They are. The tailgate's on it. They're like, we need a feed of you watching all the spring games on a quad box.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, I. I'm perfectly fine with all three of your opinions on it. Like, you guys have valid reasons for enjoying them and wanting them to be back. I didn't go to spring games growing up. I have no kids to take the spring games now. They are completely meaningless to me outside of needing to do it for work.

[Chip Patterson]

Hey, Spring games live blog. I think Tom Fornelli just volunteered to do a spring games live blog on April 18th.

[Danny Cannell]

Huh?

[Tom Fornell]

For sure.

[Chip Patterson]

Let's go.

[Tom Fornell]

Ryan thinks you should live stream the live blogging.

[Danny Cannell]

Oh, does Ryan think that? Well, Ryan, guess what, Ryan. Mr. It's run scored. While we're on the topic of meaningless spring games where I just hope my players don't get hurt, here is the tiebreaker for the World Baseball Classic. Ryan. After head to head, which wouldn't count in this situation, it's the lowest quotient of fewest runs allowed divided by the number of defenses out recorded in the games in that round between the teams tied. So basically, it's fewest runs per out in the head to head games. So it's not run scored. Ryan. Mr. He's right all the time in the chat telling us we're idiots. Looks like you're wrong this time.

[Tom Fornell]

And it does account for the home field advantage thing.

[Danny Cannell]

Correct?

[Tom Fornell]

Right. So if you don't have to face the team in the bottom of the ninth because.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, come on, everybody, let's get. Ryan was wrong going in the chat.

[Chip Patterson]

No, no, no, don't. No, no.

[Tom Fornell]

I like the idea of Twitch Tom, though.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, Twitch Tom.

[Tom Fornell]

Like, just a twitch cam on Tom while he live blogs.

[Chip Patterson]

While he live blogs the spring games.

[Danny Cannell]

I'll be twitching. All right. Yeah,

[Chip Patterson]

I, I think that the, like, I, I referenced Sean Lewis earlier. I like when they go out, I like when they hit. And do you know what? My, my, like, the one thing that truly gets me tickled is when they get excited for their teammates doing something like the young guy who they've all seen in practice that they know the fans haven't seen when he, like, does like a running back or, you know, somebody gets a, gets a good hit. I, that, that stuff, that, that gets me going because you can tell that they're out there legitimately enjoying it. I know it sounds crazy in this world when it's easy to be cynical with NIL and everybody's just taking the check, but I do find that some of these college football players have fun, you know.

[Tom Fornell]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

From time to time.

[Bud Elliott]

So I haven't seen if, I don't think it's announced yet if they're going to have one, but lsu, you know, kind of conversely, like where I expect a highly intense Florida spring game. I have no idea what we're going to get from Lane Kiffin. I would expect to be a little bit more of a circus atmosphere.

[Tom Fornell]

If they do it, it's like Mardi Gras themed. Yeah, right.

[Bud Elliott]

Yes. Mardi Gras themed. I would expect to. If it is public, it would be pretty heavily attended. You know, it'll be one of those atmospheres that'll have close to a full stadium, $1,000 to.

[Danny Cannell]

To watch just to help with the nil to pay for that $40 million roster.

[Chip Patterson]

We used to get Saban miked up in the spring game and you'd hear him hollering at everybody. Lane's just going to talk to the analysts.

[Danny Cannell]

Wayne's going to be shooting. Tick tock, done. While the game's going on, we will

[Chip Patterson]

get and, and we miked up. He's normally just more of a talker to the analyst, you know, like, oh, yeah, look at Gideon right here. Yeah, he got good legs. Yeah, Gideon. Yeah. You know, like, he'll be out there hooting and hollering. I, I, again, I was not able to pull official information for lsu if the tailgates got it. We're curious about it, but I'm, I don't know if we're gonna learn a lot from that one, you know, but it should be a scene that is a, that is a circuit. That is someone who knows how to put on a spectacle. Coming up on the other side, some of your questions about spring games and a leftover mailbag question that I I wanted Bud to answer. So dadgum it, we're going to bring it back. We're going to have him answer and more next New Year. New me cute. But how about New Year new money?

[Bud Elliott]

With Experian you can actually take control of your finances. Check your FICO score, find ways to save and get matched with credit card

[Chip Patterson]

offers giving you time to power through those New Year's goals.

[Bud Elliott]

You know you're going to crush start

[Chip Patterson]

the year off right. Download the Experian app Based on FICO Score 8 model offers an approval not guaranteed. Eligibility requirements and terms apply subject to credit check which may impact your credit scores. Offers not available in all states. See experian.com for details. Experian back here on the COVID 3 podcast. Yeah, you know, just it's Wednesdays. Some comments and questions from the tailgate regarding spring games. John chimed in and said can't wait to see what Jason Beck is going to do with Bryce Underwood and the new offense. You know, for head coach in Kyle Whittingham who just told us. Exactly. He didn't remember he didn't use any flowery language about being like multiple and versatile. He's like yeah, we're going to be spreading. Yeah, we're gonna run the football out of the spread. You know, just kind of let you know what it is. I bet we'll get, we'll get a good look, don't y' all think? What do you, what's that? What, what do we think we'll get from Michigan?

[Tom Fornell]

Probably not a lot of Bryce Underwood a run game I, I would think but I, I think we've all agreed that that is one of the largest upgrades and coaching staffs in the country. So I would expect they'll probably look pretty good fast actually.

[Chip Patterson]

Do you think they will play fast?

[Tom Fornell]

Utah really didn't when, when Beck was at, at, at uva. They did when he was at Syracuse. It was kind of mixed.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah. I, I feel like with the talent they have they won't feel the need to play fast so much I guess. So I, I, I would expect they wouldn't be this the same Michigan offense you saw as far as tempo because Michigan was very slow but that was part side by design. I think they'd be faster than they have been but I don't think you're going to see them going tempo or anything but I do think you will see them be more dynamic. But, but is correct if, if Bryce Underwood is running in this game, something went wrong.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

Don't the whistle Will be blowing the

[Chip Patterson]

second before anybody gets their hands on him. Yeah, get a little. Get a little. Get a little hit right there. All right. What about Dominic? Even though spring games are like the final NFL preseason game and nobody plays, I think they're still fun for fans and hope they are coming back. I think we get decent player participation. Right?

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah. Because unlike the preseason, it isn't like preseason. You do have to tackle. Like you got. Like there's no protecting players. Like I was going to say Ohio State curious to see what Arthur Smith looks like, but I. You're not going to see Julian sand touched or Jeremiah Smith. You're not going to see those players touched. But they'll run routes. They'll be on the field. So I think they will play. But it's just limited contact.

[Tom Fornell]

Yeah, I agreed.

[Chip Patterson]

Obviously, no one is. Is rooting for, for. For any kind of injuries, but I don't think injury prevention is necessarily a huge part of this unless you're not. Unless you've got something you are dealing with that seems to be something that's pretty popular. Like you get a little minor injury in that second or third scrimmage. Yeah. Ain't no way you're suiting up in that orange white game, buddy. But, you know, other than that, it does feel like we get good participation and obviously that's what a lot of the fans are excited to see. Before we got started here on the show, Ra Detection said. Favorite spring game memories, question mark. I remember my dad taking us to Texas A&M's 2012 spring game and watching Johnny Manziel do his thing for the first time. It was something to see.

[Tom Fornell]

I mean, Jameis first pass touchdown. And then what he proceeded to do in that spring game is like, oh, it. If he can play this well in a regular season, they got something there.

[Chip Patterson]

And that was before his. Much like Johnny before his red shirt freshman season.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

So he had been there in the 2012 year, but this was the first time. Oh, was that the quarterback competition with Jacob Coker?

[Tom Fornell]

Right. Which I do think Coker played well that fall. But like, I'm a little shocked that Jimbo thought that was as much of a battle as it. As he thought it was. Right.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornell]

Like, I do know somebody that he talked to who he wouldn't need to bs who was like, coker's really pushing him. I mean, this is 12 years ago now. But I remember thinking, oh, okay, interesting. And I guess Coker went on to win a national title.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah. But you know, I remember my first spring Game was my junior year of high school. I just played football for the first time and I was starting to get recruited and really didn't understand the scope of college football or how serious it was. But I went up on an unofficial to Florida State spring game. They invited me up there. So I went to Tallahassee and you know, was getting the tour of the campus from the Garnet Gold girls they had assigned to me. And I was kind of like. I was like, oh, this is cool. I didn't really still didn't realize the scope of how big it was. But after getting to meet coach Bowden and then Ronnie Cottrell, who was the recruiting coordinator, he had called me into his office and we were meeting and he said, we've got you as the number one quarterback in the country. He's like, we want. And I had no concept of. That was the type of. That was the perception of me as a quarterback. Again. I only played one year at 1A Westminster Academy. And all of a sudden to hear a school like that say that, I was like, oh, this is kind of a big deal. It was pretty cool remembering that experience. Kind of. That was my first like realization of, oh, this could be a massive opportunity. That I still was kind of more focused on baseball and, you know, playing baseball and getting drafted, potentially playing. I had no idea that I was being taken that seriously as a recruit in high school. It was pretty cool.

[Chip Patterson]

That's awesome. I've. I've just got a run of Clemson wide receivers that all have the same bodies that all look awesome in the spring game. And then you come back in the fall, like, what happened to a Joa Joe?

[Danny Cannell]

I thought, why can't he turn?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, you're telling me that one really, really long 65 yard touchdown with the freakish grab that you had over the safety. That's not. You can't replicate that in the fall. That's not a play that you can hit. Yeah. A lot of Clemson wide receivers. I went to awake spring game where I want to say that Clawson didn't have the video board going. And that was like a paranoia thing. Like he did it like he thought somebody might be spying outside the stadium by videoing the video board of the spring game. That was a. If I could, I might not have that correct. But that was a. That was a unique, unique thing to learn about. He was early on the spring game paranoia train like they other schools are putting it on tv. Clawson was like, no, video board wasn't cut on.

[Bud Elliott]

I was like, that was before WikiLeaks.

[Chip Patterson]

He might have invited it the rest of the way. Just.

[Danny Cannell]

I can't believe your sentence started with I remember I once went to a wake spring game. Like the one person on the entire planet who could probably say that who wasn't on the team or coaching it. Patterson was like, you know what? I'm going to go to Wake Forest spring game. I'm just, I got nothing else to do.

[Chip Patterson]

I was, I was, I was working, you know, like working on a big clause and story. One of the ones that's got multiple stops. Right. You come to the office, you see, you know, you walk around facility and you come to the spring game so, you know you're getting good action on

[Danny Cannell]

why he hates Danny so much.

[Chip Patterson]

I, I think we know that.

[Bud Elliott]

It.

[Chip Patterson]

Any, any other spring game memories,

[Tom Fornell]

I, I think you really touched on with like, receivers making a big play.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornell]

And then never returning at all.

[Chip Patterson]

Well, all right. Marvin Harrison Jr. Is the other side of this. I remember Marvin Harrison Jr. I believe had a huge one his freshman year. And then a Mecca Buka had a big spring game. Like all these Ohio State Alphas have all like their first spring practice. It always seems like they get a chance to show off a little bit. That's why I'll be looking to see if we get any, if we get any good highlights this year. Because obviously Julian saying, chip on the shoulder from all the haters and losers out there who don't believe that the Heisman Trophy finalists might be good.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, but even Marvin has one of those, like, only happens in spring game moments that you never saw in any actual games. Like in the spring game, he broke a tackle.

[Chip Patterson]

Instead of going out, instead of going to the sideline. All right, let's see one more here. And then, then the question that I promised. What if spring games became an opportunity to play exhibitions against FCS schools? This does come up frequently. Well, let's spin it back to where we started with the spring game discussion. Do you think coaches would be open to this? Would coaches rather do the intra squad scrimmage?

[Tom Fornell]

I think they probably would be open. The only thing is, like, I, I think you have. I think coaches would have some worry about, like, guys at the lower level going all out and like, taking shots.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, like, this is my one chance to be able to play against.

[Tom Fornell]

Yeah, yeah, right. Like there's like, like the, the little try hard, try a little too hard type thing. Like when you have, occasionally you have fights in, in, like NFL, you know, practices where one team is kind of scrimmage in another. But, like, those guys are all on the same level. They're all paid. They're all professionals. Right. Like, they're. I think that's probably a worry, you

[Bud Elliott]

know,

[Chip Patterson]

a Miami FAMU situation.

[Tom Fornell]

Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah. Like, I would. I would genuinely be worried about, like, especially because it's. It's March, so there's a different environment and atmosphere around practicing. And then you kind of turn up the intensity level because it's like once you go to a scrimmage, even if it's just an exhibition against an fcs, you start playing against other teams. You see it in training camps at NFL all the time. Like, as soon as these guys get a chance to hit somebody who's not on their team, the intensity level ratchets up. And I just think you're risking injury for no real benefit. Like, beating the crap out of an FCS school isn't going to teach you a whole hell of a lot about your team.

[Tom Fornell]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

If you get beat, like, what?

[Bud Elliott]

If you get beat, like, then it's like, there's no real. I. I've talked to a lot of coaches about it. Most of them said they'd be open to it. You know, to actually get to play a different offense, different defense. You know, you get new looks, you get tested in ways that you wouldn't during practice against your own team. But that was probably 10 years ago, and the coaches were kind of on board with it. Now, I think they're probably much along the lines of what we're talking about. Like, is it worth the risk? Players are making a lot more money, you know, do you want to risk your stars? I just. There's probably too much risk in it.

[Danny Cannell]

Might be into it, though. He's just gonna scout.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornell]

The FCS GM might not be.

[Chip Patterson]

Well, I was thinking, as a learning exercise, aren't you taking a deep cut into the number of snaps you're going to get to see from your team?

[Tom Fornell]

Right.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

You know, like, I'm. I'm excited to see what my third linebacker is going to look like when we put them in these positions, because that's something that I got to figure out as we prepare for the fall and as we prepare for the upcoming season. All right. I said that last Thursday. There was. There was a question that I had specifically aligned. I was excited to. To ask it to you, so I'm a real quick jump on down to the mail. All right, bud. This one had your name written all over it, so I gotta at least get your take on it. Okay. And. And for those who listen to Thursday's episode, I apologize for running it back, but we all know that we wanted Bud to hear this. Brett, when coaches make terrible decisions, is it more often a blind spot or an ego thing? I tend to give coaches a ton of slack because I think fans often oversimplify how hard it is to call plays or manage a game. That being said, there are some truly baffling decisions, whether it be deciding to play man on a dominant wide receiver or deciding to stop feeding the ball to your best player. How or why does that happen, Bud? Elliot, we want to hear from you. Why do coaches make terrible decisions?

[Tom Fornell]

Yeah, I wish I had, like, one answer that I could just, like, really ride for here, but I think it's probably a mix, right? You know, terrible decision. Can you separate that from terrible result? You know, you decide to do this thing even though it may not be, like, optimal strategy if you were equally good at all things. But I try to give them a benefit of the doubt in. In most cases, I think as far as, like, what they decide to play, like, you may realize, hey, you know, we try to do some of this stuff in practice. There's a reason we don't run it more, because we actually suck at it. Right. We need to stick with. With this kind of coverage because this kind of coverage, our. Our safety is. Is not real bright, and we miscommunicate this all the time, and we actually bust stuff, you know, really, like. Like, heavily, you know, so maybe there's something going on there. I think with some of, like, the game management stuff, it. The stuff that's, like, kind of. I don't want to use the word solved, but, like, the stuff that's pretty well proven, like, they continue to botch that is probably more ego 100. But, like, some of the stuff, like going for two down, 14, like that, that's solved. You should do that. But I think that is so new to where it's probably just, like, they're not sold on doing it yet. I think there are other decisions where they definitely understand it and they just like, all right, I understand it, but I, you know, but I still don't do it, you know?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, I. I think the more they are presented with solved problems, the more the ego kicks in and says, well, guess what? This game ain't that simulation.

[Tom Fornell]

Right?

[Chip Patterson]

You know, you're giving me a percentage chance. I'm going to trust my gut here, that this. This ain't one of those percentage times.

[Tom Fornell]

It's also depends on, like, how much political capital you have. Right. Like, playing to win oftentimes opens you up for criticism, you know, as opposed to, hey, if you. If you keep it close longer, you can be like, oh, we just didn't execute, you know, like, well, you. You didn't execute the game management, but nobody's really going to call them out on that.

[Chip Patterson]

Typically, what we. We talked a lot about the clock management being something that, you know, you can. You can say that is coaches making a baffling decision right now. This is not. This is not setting up their team for success.

[Tom Fornell]

Like, Lane's pretty good at that at

[Chip Patterson]

the clock management usually.

[Tom Fornell]

And like, the announcers will give him hell for this, but, like, he understands oftentimes, like, second and nine, you don't need to be taking a timeout. Right. Like, you're already in a real negative leverage situation. Your chance of getting the first down is pretty low. It's much better to say that timeout for your defense, you can steal an extra possession than it is to burn the timeout and try to avoid second 14. Like, he'll. I remember a couple times last year he got ripped there. Like, oh, what. Why do you let the clock run out? Like, he didn't, you know, he didn't

[Chip Patterson]

take the time out there. Second and nine, they took a delay and Right. Stopped it.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornell]

Like, stuff like that where it's like, hey, saving five yards given the down distance and field position is not worth the timeout.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Good stuff. Well, I appreciate your. Your contribution there. We. The other issue that we had was, you know, why do coaches make bad decisions? I mean, and who. Who kind of was the face of this for the last couple years, but we can't put him on the thumbnail. He just played for the national championship.

[Tom Fornell]

You know,

[Chip Patterson]

is Mario no longer the face of bad decision making in coaching in college football?

[Tom Fornell]

Oh,

[Chip Patterson]

we're going to be three years separated from the Georgia Tech loss.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah. I mean, maybe if he. He'd made better decisions in the title game. Miami won the national title. Boom, there still holds the crown. He should have called the winning plays.

[Bud Elliott]

I mean, it did almost cost him a spot in the playoffs because the scores against Notre Dame, Florida, Florida State could have been a lot better had he not got so conservative in the second half of those games.

[Tom Fornell]

Oh, like, was pretty bad, but the other three games, I think, were pretty solid. Yeah. Danny's right, though. Like, the not running it up, I think probably.

[Bud Elliott]

And then it actually forced him to do something. He's not comfortable with the last two or Three games when they were staying aggressive and they saw what they could do. So I wonder if he's learned from that a little bit.

[Chip Patterson]

Did Miami go undefeated against the spread in the playoff run?

[Tom Fornell]

I think they covered Indiana. They clearly covered A M and Ohio

[Chip Patterson]

against A M and Ohio State.

[Tom Fornell]

Did they cover Ole Miss? They did, right?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, I was gonna say, did the lack of margin of victory drive down Miami's power rating so they were actually underrated to their power number as they hit the playoff?

[Tom Fornell]

They were either three and one or four. No, I, I don't know what the number was against Ole Miss.

[Chip Patterson]

Yep.

[Danny Cannell]

Hold on, let me look. Yeah, because they covered. They covered all of their last five games, including all four of the playoff.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, I, I think that Mario Cristobal, on my coach's ballot in May, when we are ranking all the power conference coaches, that's going to be one of the biggest risers for me. I mean, like, I know some people are high on him early because of the recruiting success. If you value recruiting success in your coach rankings. But the work he did with this team in particular, back half of the seat ever since the SMU loss, I think he will be one of the biggest risers on my ballot. So couldn't put him as the face of bad decision making

[Danny Cannell]

on the season as a whole. Miami was 11 and five against the spread.

[Chip Patterson]

There you go. Well, now they're gonna be overrated.

[Danny Cannell]

That's right. Fade the hell out of the canes.

[Chip Patterson]

That's right. All right, we are excited because we've got loads more questions from you in the big old bag of mail. But we also want you to come and join us live as we have done each and every single Thursday. You jump in YouTube.com cover 3, get in the tailgate, get the conversation started. We'll grab some of those questions and we will tackle them at the beginning of the episode. Plus, if you leave us a five star review and in that review, put your question, it goes in the big old bag of mail, 11:00am Eastern Time. And you can follow him on Twitter at Tom Frinell. You can follow him@bud elliot3. You can follow him at Danny Cannell. Follow me at Chip Underscore Patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

[Danny Cannell]

Thank you.

[Bud Elliott]

Reggie.

[Chip Patterson]

I just sold my car online.

[Tom Fornell]

Let's go, grandpa.

[Danny Cannell]

Wait, you did?

[Bud Elliott]

Yep.

[Chip Patterson]

On Carvana.

[Tom Fornell]

Just put in the license plate, answered

[Bud Elliott]

a few questions, got an offer in minutes.

[Tom Fornell]

Easier than setting up that new digital picture frame. You don't say.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, they're even picking it up tomorrow.

[Tom Fornell]

Talk about fast wow.

[Danny Cannell]

Way to go.

[Chip Patterson]

So, about that picture frame. Ah, forget about it.

[Bud Elliott]

Until Carvana makes one, I'm not interested.

[Chip Patterson]

Car selling made easy on Carvana. Pickup fees may apply.