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House Rhules
House Rhule #8.1: Dave Portnoy Will Say Something Nice About Nebraska Football | Special Episode
01:03:22
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- [00:09]
A
Welcome into another episode of House Rules. Really unbelievable bucket list item today to have the one, the only Dave Portnoy with us today. So, Dave, really appreciate you taking this time, man.
- [00:20]
B
Of course. Especially on game week, I feel like.
- [00:24]
A
This might be like a. Hey, I'm gonna go distract Rule for a couple hours. He's like, I'll do it at noon.
- [00:30]
B
Listen, middle of the. Middle of the day on a. On a Tuesday. I. Biff probably has him in the locker room getting ready to roll, so. Anything I can do to distract you?
- [00:42]
A
I just. I just came. I literally just came off the field and ran upstairs. I, like, I have shorts on. You know, I put up. I put my Bud Crawford shirt on. We got. We got to represent bud. But I still got my shorts on. I don't have pants, you know, like, dress pants or anything. So I'm. This is the best I could do. So not. But really, I do appreciate it. I know it's an exciting week. So, Michigan, so. So obviously, we know we all hear about your love for Michigan, but I know you went to school there. Like, was that. Was that. Did that predate showing up to school? Is that something, you know, always been your place, or is it just going to school there that grew that it.
- [01:13]
B
Yeah, it definitely wasn't, like, a thing I grew up with, but my sister was a senior when I was a freshman, so I visited her in high school. And my family now probably had, like, 10 years of going to Michigan, but if she didn't get into Michigan and she went somewhere else, I'm not sure I would have ended up there. So it was not like something I grew up being like, oh, my God, I gotta go to Michigan. It started really when she went there, and then I followed.
- [01:42]
A
You know, I went to Penn State. I grew up like a Penn Stater. And it was funny, when I grew up, there was a, you know, Pitt, Penn State, Penn State, Notre Dame. There was no, like, Penn State, Michigan rivalry to think, like, Nebraska, Michigan, like, 100 years ago. That was just so far outside there. But, you know, I'll never forget, Dave. We went to Penn State, Penn State. We went to Michigan, and we beat them in 19. I guess it'd be 1996. Like, 38. 6. Curtis Edith had a great day, and we're stuck on the bus after the game. Lloyd Carr is the coach, and we're trying to get out, and the radio's on and they are ripping Lloyd Carr. They're like, they should fire him. They should this, they should that. Like, if he was a Professor. And the next year he won the national championship. So I've seen, you know, obviously I've seen Michigan at the big house.
- [02:26]
B
Yeah, listen, I call it. I'm truthful, I was calling for Harbaugh's head, like when we were in the downspin, I was not happy with him and obviously he turned it around and won a national championship. So fans can get fickle. No doubt about that.
- [02:41]
A
It's a tremendous history, you know. Well, a lot of my friends in Philly, when I was in Philly for 10 years as both as an assistant coach and as a head coach, a lot of my friends are like, I mean, they went to Michigan and they are die hard fans. Like, you know, some of my best friends, they'll text me this week and they'll say, rooting for you every week. But this one, I mean, it's, it's a, it's a loyal fan base. Outside from your job, do you ever get back there? Do you ever get to go watch them play live? I mean, what's, you know, I know you do a lot of sports, but are you able to do that very often?
- [03:06]
B
Yeah, we've been doing our college football show for years, so we generally go Ohio State, Michigan. We've been there for that. I've seen some Michigan State games there. I'm only there though, like on game weekends when they're playing. For the most part, I don't, I don't get their back, like to hang out, but we do get Michigan, as I'm sure aware, has been the kingpin of the Big ten now for a little bit. So they've had a lot of big games and I'm able to get back there for big games.
- [03:35]
A
No doubt, no doubt. So you're there as a student and you were an education major. What kind of student were you?
- [03:40]
B
I was a student that had to figure out how to graduate by using every trick in my book. So when I applied to Michigan, I got denied. Like, I applied to the liberal arts school, they wrote back a letter, said, no, you're not gonna get in, but we think you'd be a great nurse. I don't know what they saw in me. I pass out at the sight of blood for. But I called my sister and I said, hey, if I go in nursing, can I just transfer? Like, once I'm in? She's like, yeah, once you're in, it's pretty easy to maneuver about the school. So I went as a nurse, transferred to liberal arts. Liberal arts? You needed a language, you had to pass Language to get your degree. I couldn't do that. So I looked at the education school. No language requirement, and that's where I went. So I was just bumping around. Snake it till you make it.
- [04:31]
A
I love that. I love that. So, you know, obviously, I'm not this huge podcast. I mean, you're, like, really one of the first people that I don't really know other than just to know you online. Like. Like, for all the people out there that, you know, we follow you, we see you on Barstool. We see, you know, obviously, the empire you've built. Like. Like, who are you with the camera off? Like, who. Like, what are your interests? What are the things that, like, you're passionate about besides just the business side or the. The stuff we see?
- [04:54]
B
I think part of the magic of Barstool is most people who follow me, I'm pretty unfiltered and give a good look. But I love horse racing, and I love. So I'm either betting on horse racing or I'm watching TV or laying at the beach. That's pretty much what I do. People ask, is my Persona a character? You know, there's certain things I probably wouldn't do if it wasn't for content. Would I went and protested Tom Brady and gotten thrown in jail if it wasn't part of Barstool? No. Was I still really mad about the suspension and thought it was unfair? Yes. So, you know, it's a little bit exaggerated, possibly, but it's, for the most part, me. What you see is what you get.
- [05:33]
A
You know, I get home late at night. You know, I gotta keep the marriage fresh. You know, like, hey, Julie, give me one show that you're passionate about right now. Anything that's. Anything that I should try on tv. Yeah.
- [05:46]
B
I feel like we're in a little bit of a down cycle on things I watch. I know the terminal list just came out. I love season one and two of that. That's essentially, you know, a guy just. It's like a kind of CIA ish movie. But just like for you, coach, this is the busy season for me, like, where I'm traveling with you guys. I'm on Big Noon now, so every weekend I'm traveling to different cities, seeing them play. We have the new show on Fox Sports 1, so I have to watch and kind of know as much as I can. About as much. So it's a busy time. Like, once football starts, that's busy season.
- [06:27]
A
All right, so you know what? If you don't mind, the interview's been Great. But I'm gonna take a quick break. Hand me that, please. Thanks, bro. Thanks, bro. I don't know if you guys used eat Chomps. Use Chomps. I got put on the Chomps not too long ago by actually the dietitian who's kind of helped me as I've lost these 40 or 50 pounds. And they're elite. I have them everywhere. I have them at home. I have them here in the office. I have them down in my locker. And here's why. Every. Every. Every stick has at least 10 grams of protein. The turkey ones here, they have 12. And no sugar. I mean, a lot of times you eat these things or sugar everywhere. But I love them. So I would just tell you guys, this is not some sales thing. This is. This is something that has helped me a ton. I hope it can help you. If you're interested in. If Interested, go to chomps.com rules15 or use code rules15 to get 15% off your Chomps order and free shipping. That's rules 15 for 15% off chops and free shipping. This one's mine. It's your own. How was the big noon Fox? How has that been for you? Like, obviously, that's a premier. That's a pre. That's premier content, right? That's a premier spot. How has that experience been with those guys? They seem like great guys.
- [07:39]
B
I love it. Now, there's a fellow coach in your conference who, from what I've heard, is not a fan of me and my brand. I'm not going to say his name, but it rhymes with tie in hay. And so I was banned from The Shoe Week 1, which, by the way, is great for me. Like, it creates a WWE environment and our people get it. But the people on the panel and the show, Urban all the way down. Awesome. So it's been a ton of fun. And so we were there. We were at Iowa State, which I thought was superb. I wish we could go to the game this weekend. It's not a Fox game, so we're going to be out in Utah, which I've never been, but it's been great. It's been a fun experience if you.
- [08:22]
A
Get it, you know. So it's Texas Tech, Utah. That's gonna be a heck of a game. Texas Tech, that. That head coach Joey McGuire, you know, he was a legendary high school coach in Texas. And I got the Baylor job and I hired him. I met him at an ihop and he had turned down everyone and I convinced him to come work for me. You'd Love him. I mean, he is a guy's guy. He is, you know, I mean, at the core he's a real, he's a type of guy you want to go have a beer with, you'd want to hang out with. So I'm, I think obviously we have a big game, but that'll be a great game.
- [08:47]
B
I think that's going to be a great game. And I like, I, I love going to different cities that I haven't been in college towns. That's part of the fun of doing it. So we've never been to Salt Lake, never been in Utah. I've heard nothing but great things about. Obviously Urban coached there, so he's been talking it up. But I'm excited to see it.
- [09:04]
A
And obviously, you know, I'm a football coach, but I'm, you know, I look at like trying to build organizations and what you've done, you know, it's like Pat Stewart works for me. Pat was with the Patriots for years. And Pat was, he always tells a story about like, you know, you know, being on a tee and you know, getting, you know, getting the original barstool when it was, you know, in paper form. Like what, what was like the turning, the tipping point for you? Like what was like that moment, you're like, hey, this is, this is about to blow up. And how, you know, how did you make that happen?
- [09:29]
B
We just kept grinding for a long time. We've been around for 20 plus years, so it's certainly not an overnight success. The first time I was like, we may have something. We had only been in downtown Boston and we did a college tour. We went to URI UMass schools around Boston. And when we showed up, it was like the Beatles arrived. Like the kids had signs hanging. And it was the first time I was like, huh, I may have something here that's a little bigger than I thought. That was around 2010. I started around 2004, but we weren't really making money for the first 10 years of doing this thing.
- [10:01]
A
You're elite at finding talent, you know. And I think like, like for me, like it was early on, you know, I was able to hire the guys I knew, I came up in coaching with. And now, you know, I've just turned 50. I'm trying to hire, you know, 25 year old coaches who can recruit and it's hard to find them. But like, you look at the, you know, whether it's, you know, KFC or PFT comment, like all the guys that you've, you've recognized how do you do that? Like, what's. What's the secret sauce?
- [10:25]
B
I didn't see those with the two names. If you said you're going to throw out two names at me, those wouldn't have been it. KFC and PFD commenter, both great. But, I mean, if you look at. We use it as a coaching tree. I mean, we've had McAfee, obviously, Compton, you know, Alex Cooper. We've had big stars. It's a little different. We don't. In a way, like, coach, if you have great people around Caleb Pressley, you're going to be successful. Like, so we've hired really talented people, and we let them do their thing. We don't really interfere. Also, barstool came around early Internet. So I wasn't from the network world, so I had a different view on how we were going to do everything Internet. And that helped because we were willing to try stuff. We'd hire people that networks, you know, like Pat. Pat's a good example. McAfee, no networks would touch him. Like, when he came out with done with the Colts, we hired him. It's like, we don't care. No experience, whatever. He's a funny, talented guy. Let him do his thing. Even like Will and Taylor, they get hired after they come through our doors a lot of times, but they don't get them right off the bat because they're like, who are they? We don't know what to do. We just let them do their thing. And we've had really good, talented people.
- [11:35]
A
I was going to save Will because obviously, you know, we. We've gotten to know him here really well, and he's been very loyal to us. But, like, what was it about that? Like, what was it you saw in them? And what do you think makes him. What do you think makes him successful?
- [11:46]
B
So they were doing the podcast that we thought was very funny, the Bus. And when we saw it, so we reached out like, hey, we can put some gasoline on it. Will's super talented. He reminds me in degree of McAfee. He also has, when you have these NFL guys, the Taylor Compton who's made tens of millions, and then have the Will Compton who's still trying to feed his family. That helps in this world because this career that he's launched, he's gonna make way more money. He already has doing this than he ever did playing football. But he's a funny, humble guy who works really hard, he can make fun of. He's one of my favorite guys we've had, you know, I've loved being honest, holding this Nebraska thing over him. I sent him already. I saw a clip saying they're going to let Bryce Underwood run wild, use his legs, finally. And I just sent a picture of him with a shocked face, you know, so this Nebraska thing he's had going, and we've been at a couple games with him. Nobody bleeds red more than him. And I'm going to tell you, Coach, you guys haven't given him many winning moments since we've had him. He's been on the. He's been on the low end of the stick here, taking a beating well, which I love. So I hope it stays that way.
- [13:00]
A
Well, I mean, I. I mean, I hope not.
- [13:02]
B
I know you don't. I know you don't.
- [13:04]
A
It's funny, you know. You know, I just gotten fired in Carolina, and, like, you know, you get fired, and all of a sudden, like, you know, you still got to take your kids to school, like. So I'm literally sitting at the bus to pick up my two daughters, and I'm in my car and I get a call from Matt Ionitis. And him and Will are like this. Yeah. And he's asking me all these questions. He's playing for the Panthers. He's like, hey, what do you think about Nebraska? And I'm like. And I coached Matt in college. I'm like, why are you asking me so much about Nebraska, bro? And he was like, well, I'm checking in for Will. And at the time, like, you know, I knew who Will was. I had watched busing, but, like. And I remember getting the job and being like, hey, I'm gonna be in Nashville. I'm gonna go recruit. And then I'm on that bus and they're asking me questions, and I'm like, oh, gosh, am I gonna get in trouble for answering this? I mean, you know, as, you know, the questions can get a little over here. You're trying to be like the college, but they're, you know, to your point. He's been so loyal, and so we're going to keep trying to build it for him.
- [13:51]
B
And there is. I can't tell what we got to ask at one point, because we were at the Nebraska game. Michigan smoked you guys. There was the national championship year, and he's like, you coming in with me? And we were walking into the stadium, and he couldn't get me in. They're like, no, you're not allowed. I wasn't allowed in Nebraska either at that time. So I've given him some crap about that. Maybe it's just me. My reputation precedes me. But, yeah, no, it's been fun. It's been fun for the last. They got the Boston bowl, obviously, coming up, but it's been fun.
- [14:23]
A
It was, it was last year when we beat Colorado. Taylor came in, too, and I was like, taylor, it's okay to celebrate a Nebraska win, bro. Like, this is a big win for us. We beat, just beat Coach Prime. I mean, we needed that win. So.
- [14:34]
B
Yeah. And Nebraska, like you said, that is not a historic rival of Michigan's because you guys are obviously in a different conference. And I've said I love, like, I loved it when I was there. I thought the people were great. I loved the vibe. I loved everything about it. So for the most part, I do root for Nebraska. Unless you're playing us. It's not an Ohio State or a Michigan State situation where, you know, I'm hoping you get your face stomped in every time you play. I have nothing against Nebraska. I think Nebraska, a great Nebraska, and this is stereotypical, is great for the Big Ten.
- [15:09]
A
There's no doubt the. I think that's the one unique thing now, like, as you start talking about, like, the CFP and, you know, 12 teams and whatever, like, you really got to root for your own league because if you don't, if you try to tear down your own league, then, then everyone else is going to do it. Like, you know, I took some heat last year. I took some heat from Paul Feinbaum when I talked to, you know, you think about this because you're a football guy. Like, look at every level of, look at every level of football. There's, there's an advantage. The teams that win and win championships play in cold weather usually. So you think about the last couple years, the Chiefs, the Bill and the Chiefs. It's, you know, it's 18 degrees in the playoff game, minus 18 against the Dolphins, the Bills, obviously the Patriots. You got to go be able to build your team to win when it's cold. Then you go down to FCS. Okay, you talk about Montana, North Dakota State. Division 1 football is the only one that plays all of their playoff. Postseason stuff in warm weather doesn't happen in the NFL. It doesn't happen in fcs. So now that we're going to the CFP model and at least there's a couple home games like Notre Dame last year, and there's. There's snow on the ground. It's, it's an advantage for the Michigan's, the Ohio states, the Nebraska's the teams that are in cold weather because you can build your team to win all, you know, the early part of the season. You got to be able to win when it's cold out. And that's, we've not done that for a long time.
- [16:25]
B
That was a all time NFL like the dome teams that have to go play in cold weather in the playoffs. It's a huge, huge. And I mean, I don't know what warm weather teams now are out there in the top. I mean the Big Tens has kind of taken over the rankings a little bit, but it's a huge difference. Huge.
- [16:41]
A
No doubt. So you obviously go to a lot of sporting events. What are the best seats in the house? Like where are the best places to. I mean, what are the best iconic places that you've been to watch something. I went to the Bud Crawford fight. One of the best things I've ever been to.
- [16:56]
B
Well, there's nothing like a prize fight. Yeah, there is nothing like a prize fight. So I was, I'm trying to think the biggest prize. I've been to a ton of UFC events. I actually saw McGregor, Mayweather, like front row, which is kind of. That wasn't, that wasn't a true fight. That was more like an exhibition. It was still interesting to see. You know, I've been to a bunch of Super Bowls. I've been blessed with that because I was at the Malcolm Butler game. I was at the 283 game. So those events and similar with like college football, when you get neutral, when you have competing fan bases and you're, you're, you're swaying with the, the, the flow of the game, that's a totally different experience for a fan because you're not sitting at a home game where you're 100,000 of people rooting for the same people and these big things, it's 5050 and you feel like you played at the end of it. So that's been amazing. You know, I've been fortunate with barstool. I've been everything. The Kentucky Derby I love Army Navy is absolute one of my favorite events. I get chills at the beginning of that game. Once they kick off, it gets a little boring. But the lead in there's nothing like it. So I've been fortunate. I've been to them all. Final Fours worlds. That's one of the beauties of barstool. We really have the Indy 500. You name it, we've been to it.
- [18:21]
A
It's funny you say the Army Navy when I was the head coach at Temple and they were in Philly. We were at a recruiting week and I brought my dad and my son and we went down on the field before the game. And you know, you have a chance. You've been around a lot more things than me. You have a chance to be at these iconic moments, see these great stars and you're looking out there and these guys want to beat each other so badly and yet you know that they're not very. None of them are going to go get paid to play pro football. They're all going to be serving our country. It was. And to your point, until the game started because then I had to leave and go recruit. It was one of the most amazing. The flyover, the president just. And just football as it should be played, right.
- [18:53]
B
The quote that sticks out to me from that game which makes the hair stand up on my arms, which they say the only game where everybody playing would die for everybody watching, which is true. It's an amazing quote. It's an amazing game. And like you said, you see the, you're on the field level, the flyovers, the general, the pre. It's just. And these guys are going to be going to war or whatever they are. They're fighting on the field and then they're arm in arm. There is nothing like that game.
- [19:19]
A
I was a new head coach of Biller. I went to the super bowl when, when Brady brought him back and I remember, I remember like the, the third, second down, a third down play where you know, they, they, they, they sacked Atlanta and got the fumble and I just remember the feeling. And I'm not rooting for either team. I mean like I'm just the new coach at Baylor shaking people's hands, right? And I'm sitting there and that pit in your stomach of like as a coach, like, of like, oh my gosh, they're, they're about, they're. And you just knew there was nothing, there was nothing they could do. I, you know, I can't imagine being a Patriots fan in that moment how. Or being a Falcons fan, how devastating that would be. But it was an amazing moment. Just people say there's no such thing as momentum. They weren't at that game.
- [19:58]
B
Yeah, there's definitely is and that, that as a Patriot fan, we had seen that song and dance so many times and once you start that boulder rolling, it just is like going downhill. Funny story, we printed 28 three shirts to commemorate it. And I met Matt Ryan's like family one time. They're local and they were like, you know, do you know how many 28 three signs have been, like, stuck in our front lawn? I felt bad, but not that bad for them. And that a lot of strange play calling. So many plays that if just one thing went the other way, but just.
- [20:36]
A
Yeah, that was one of those games where there's, like, no margin for error on the comeback. You just. If Atlanta makes one more player, the Patriots make one less play, that. The thing changes. You know, in my press conference this week, I was talking about being at the Crawford fight. And I said, the two greatest moments I've ever been to is I was at Game 6 of the 86. Mets, Mets, Red Sox, and then I was at the 28.3game.
- [20:56]
B
That's a bad memory for me.
- [20:57]
A
Yeah. And people always talk about the golf ball going through Buckner's, like, it's a true story. I'm. You know, it's 86. I'm 11 years old. My dad's. My dad's. My dad's a coach, teacher coach. And he's also a pastor, so he would do chapels for their team. So I got. We got tickets. We're up in the upper deck and we're losing. And it's kind of. You know how, like, kind of at the end of a game, you're like, hey, let's walk down. Let's watch the rest of it from here, and then we'll walk out. So we're walking out, We. We get a couple hits, we're going third base. And. True story. Now people will never believe this. I say. I scream. I'm 11 years old. We got a guy on third. We're down one run. I say, how about a wild pitch? Calvin Charlti balls in the dirt. They score. It's my first beer I ever drank. People were picking me up. They were pouring beer down my throat. Like, you know, two plays later, you know, two seconds later, the ball, you know, unfortunately balls. Well, unfortunately for us. Unfortunately for Bill balls through his legs. And then we went to game seven. But, you know, I know your. Your passion for. For those teams, but it's amazing. I've been at two of. I'm a New York guy. I'm a. I'm a. I'm a. I'm a Giants Met. And I've been at two of those moments.
- [21:55]
B
That was one of my first kind of memories. Oh, well, that's the thing. It's like with the patriots, you have 9,000. They've been in so many big games. I mean, they. They ran the franchise for the NFL for two years. Everything from the 283 game to like the Malcolm Butler to me getting. I got dragged out of a Super bowl when they beat the Rams in handcuffs. So I, you know, I've had a lot of Patriot moments. The snowball Gruden now works for us, so I bust him about that all the time. Celtics have won a championship, but they don't have that like defining. They had one big comeback versus the Lakers, the Red Sox obviously down three nothing versus the Yankees. So that's iconic. And that whole every, like I, I was in the bleachers the year they won before or lost to the Yankees before that. But I've been blessed. And barstool. I've been asked many times, do I think barstool would have been successful if it didn't happen to coincide with the run or rise of Boston sports. We start in 2004. That's almost to a tee when Boston went nuts. Like Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics. And it played a huge factor. So just very lucky. We're in the right time. And Boston people are so provincial. It's like they take it from one city to another and it's really played a big factor. I don't know if we would have made it if it wasn't. If it was a different city. I have no idea.
- [23:26]
A
Interesting. You know, I showed our guy, you know, obviously this is my third year trying. We're trying to, you know, get Nebraska back up and going. And I show, you know, we've had a lot of close losses. Right. So that's kind of like the narratives out there. Like, hey, you know, one score games like before this year was like 4 and 22, just some horrific number. And I showed them from the Netflix documentary about when the, when the, when the Red Sox were down 3, 0 and when they signed Curt Schilling and him saying everyone talked about the curse. He was like, there was a curse of talent. Like the reason why we can't beat the Yankees and get over the hump. It's not because there's some curse. It's just, hey, we're not good enough. I'm going to come there and I'm going to help us. And then obviously they did that and that's kind of what was my message to our guys. Like, hey, like it's, it's, it's just become a better team. Like play better, coach better. Let's all do everything better. Let's stop talking about curses. And I thought, but I thought that's one of the most well done Netflix documentary series is the way they go through everything that happened for the Red Sox to be able to come back and the way they just believe the whole way through.
- [24:24]
B
Yeah. And it is talent. And on that note, as, I mean, my boy there, Willie, he left us. He got a pretty fat deal from fanduel. Has he opened the checkbook for you guys yet?
- [24:35]
A
He's coming this weekend. I'm. Have a little conversation. We have a little conversation.
- [24:42]
B
I know. I know. When the phone rings for me at Michigan, I know what's coming two sentences into the conversation. It almost like, do I want to pick up the call? But Willie's got some money now. Put his money where his mouth is.
- [24:55]
A
That's. That's the name. That's the game now, right? I mean, that's. Maybe you think about college football. It's, it's, it's, it's. It's not pro football. It's Major League baseball. There really is no salary cap. We try to act like there is, but there's no salary cap. Right. It's like the Yankees versus the Oakland Athletics. It's, you know, I mean, it's. So if you get guys like, you know, who are gonna. Who are gonna open a checkbook, and we've had. We've been blessed, but I appreciate you saying that to me. Now, this, this allows me to have a good segue into how I ask Will for, you know, a couple bucks.
- [25:22]
B
He got a big deal. He didn't give us no hometown discount. Oh, I want to stay at Barstool. He chased the money. The least he can do is give a little of it back.
- [25:32]
A
So now when you came here, you came here a couple two years ago, you did. You went and did your one bite review. I think you went to Yaya's. I'm a Philly guy. I mean, I grew up in New York City, but I was in Philly for 10 years. And you went there. You did Takanelli's. I don't know if you probably remember these moments, but that you gave him like 8.1. Yeah.
- [25:49]
B
Is great.
- [25:50]
A
Yeah. Here's what it did. I think the best. I'm a New York City guy, but I think the best pizza is in New Haven. I think it's in Connecticut. I think it's Sally's. I think it's Frank Pepe's. And Takanelli was the closest thing up there for me.
- [26:01]
B
Oh, yeah. Angelo's in Philly. Great. They got some good spots in Philly. They got some good spots. But I agree with you on New Haven. I swear By New Haven.
- [26:11]
A
My mentor was a guy named George De Leon, and he was a great offensive line coach. He was the coordinator at Syracuse Fears. When he passed away, we went to New Haven, his hometown, and we didn't know how to honor him. So we got like, Paul Pascalone was there. A bunch of coaches were there, and we got about 200 pizzas. We got them from Modern, we got them from Pepe's, Frank Pepe's, we got them from Sally's. It was like, you know, what a life. Well lived, a great coach. We honored him with. We honor him with New Haven Pizza back in his hometown.
- [26:37]
B
Yeah, we had a pizza festival this weekend. They were all there. It's like if 40 of the best pizzeries, you name the three you just named were there. Modern, Pepe's, Sally's, Lucali, John Zablikker. It's the best of the best.
- [26:49]
A
I love Johnson Bleeckers. We went to the. We played in the bowl game in New York City, and I got a bunch of great kids from all over the country, but, you know, everybody from Manhattan. So I took. We went down. They took us down to, like, my captains. We went down to Stock Exchange and we had to get up to walk through in Yankee Stadium. I said, I don't care. We're going to be late. Tell the team to. Tell the team to start without us. And I took them to John. I was like, you guys have to try. I mean, I know you've been eating some pizza. You have to try real. Because until you've had it, you don't know.
- [27:15]
B
Even when I'm in Lincoln, people will be. Or anywhere. Like this week, Salt Lake City, they'll be like, oh, great pizza here. Listen, I'm sure it's good, but it's not going to be, you know, you know, east coast pizza.
- [27:27]
A
There's no can. Can. Can you even just go get a slice of pizza somewhere? Or do people just expect you to review it? They walk up to you with a camera and say, hey, hey, Dave, what do you think? Or can you just have a slice?
- [27:39]
B
Yeah, I. I don't eat pizza for pleasure that much. Rarely. I'm generally filming when I eat it because I'm eating it every day. I have a lot of pizza, so I don't have it too much anymore. Where I'm just doing it on my own dime.
- [27:51]
A
Best food cities, you know, outside of pizza, but everything else, like, you travel around the country, like, are you swearing by Boston?
- [27:58]
B
Boston's good. I mean, you know, it's not some crazy formula. It's generally the better the city. Excuse me. The bigger the city, the more restaurants to choose from. So your big cities all, for the most part, have really good restaurants. Smaller city, maybe not as much when we're in Nebraska. Where did Will took me. Took me a nice steakhouse. You showed up like an hour and a half late, so we didn't stay, but it was very good.
- [28:23]
A
Yeah, I think you went to Casa Bovina. We, we. You know, one thing we have, we have. We have. We have great beef, we have great steak. The, you know, the family owns that owns our collective, runs the collective. And they're unbelievably generous. And steak's elite. So it's hard. Like, I go across the country, I go to Miami recruiting, and I go take my guys to a steakhouse, we order steak. And literally it was like $150 a steak. And I asked him where it was from. It was from Nebraska. We could have got this for 24 bucks, you know, down here.
- [28:51]
B
So, yeah, Miami is a great food city, though. There's a lot of good spots there too. Maybe expensive, but great.
- [28:58]
A
No doubt. There's no doubt. So what's you talked about some iconic moments. What have been. What have been the worst sports moments for you as the fan that you are? Like, what are some of the worst ones? You've been the perfect season.
- [29:11]
B
The perfect season absolutely haunts me. That's because, you know, that may not happen again. They're big favorites. 18 and oh, lose the Giants. The ball gets stuck on David Tyree's head, which is like a one in bazillion play. That. That hurt. And also with the Patriots, the year they were going for the three peat, I thought they were by far the best team in the NFL. Brady had a very rare bad game. The Patriots had a rare bad game. Like turnovers on special teams and the Broncos beat them. Then they go and lose to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, I believe, wins the Super Bowl. Patriots are better than both these teams, so those two jump out as tough.
- [29:58]
A
Obviously, you're passionate about football. Like, what are the things that. What are the things that football, like, you're like, you're most interested in? I saw something on social media you're talking about, like, you know, play calling and offensive football and design. Like, when you watch football, how do you. How do you watch it? What are the things that you like watching the most?
- [30:16]
B
I mean, I grew up watching the game. I mean, lately refereeing has been driving me nuts. I do think I said I. It was A clip that I thought I could be a spectacular offensive coordinator. That was probably the clip you're talking about, and I actually truly believe it. I'm not. I'm not drawing up, like, the blocking schemes of the linemen. I'm saying, give me plays and I can pick, like, a pass play, a fade a screen, go route, what. Or run pitch sweep. Because I feel like so many coaches are so scared and have so much pressure on them. They're coaching almost not to lose rather than win the game. Maybe it's changed a little with analytics. I see more.
- [30:59]
A
But.
- [30:59]
B
But, man, I feel like some of the play calling gets so predictable.
- [31:03]
A
Yeah, well, I think. I think. I think you're. But I think you're exactly right. I think that, you know, we underestimate the. The. The pressure on people and the pressure, like, you know, you're watching the game on TV and it says, like, hey, you know, fourth and two, you know, 70%, they should go here. You can't. You don't have a. You don't have the iPad now. You could have a book. We have a big, thick book, and some guy's reading it off to you. Like, it says green, go. But I mean, there's a lot more. There's a lot more to it. And part of it, you know, I love Bruce Arians. You know, he would say, hey, no, no, no, no. No risk it. No biscuit. Like, you gotta, like, for me, I'm evolving as a coach. I hired Dana Holgerson. I've been a run the ball, play defense guy my whole career, and now we're, like, leading the nation in passing, you know, like, I've had to evolve because the game is changing.
- [31:44]
B
Yeah. And I always looked when Belichick was still with the Patriots, and I thought towards the end, after he had proven in this dynasty is established, he was at such an advantage because he's never going to get blowback. Like, if he makes a bad call or does something that costs a game, yeah, you'll get something in the media, but it's not costing a job. And most people are going to be like, shut up. He's a genius. Where you have new coaches and if they make a daring call that blows up, that really blows up in their face, people are calling for your head. So I do think winning and having, like, enough comfortability that your job is safe and you've proven is a huge advantage in coaching.
- [32:27]
A
There's no doubt. Like, you know, I went to the NFL and I was the college guy, so immediately you got to Kind of. You got. The players are kind of looking at you with, like, one eye, like, to the side, like, all right, what's the college guy going to be? Like, so you're not coming in with that street cred. And then I'm not a play caller. So you don't have, like, that guru, like, oh, well, he's, you know, he's Sean McVeigh, Kevin. And that's deserved by those guys. Sean McVeigh, Kevin O'. Connell. So you're kind of. They're kind of looking at you, and then, you know, then Covid kind of hits, and you're like, they don't really get to know you. And I. I learned right away, like, if people think you're a great coach, they're gonna. They're gonna buy into what you're doing. If they don't think, if they're not sure, they're gonna kind of look. And I'm talking about, like, from, you know, the administration, like, you know, the. The. The GM to the fan base to everybody. And I get that. Like, I 100% get that. It's amazing how many great coaches in the National Football League have been fired and restart and have success. You, Andy Reid, you know, he's in the middle of, you know, amazing run. I was it. I was in Philadelphia. I took my son to a Patriots Eagles game when I was an assistant at Temple. And they started chanting in Lincoln Financial Field, fire, Andy. And my son started. He didn't know. He starts chanting it. I was like, no, no, no, no, stop. Next. You know, there's 50, 000 people chanting for me to get fired in Carolina. My son sat on the sideline. I said, you did the same, bro. Like, the same. You did the same thing. It's just. It's just part of. Part of it. Belichick, second job, he has this elite success. But to your point, like, they have to believe that, you know, what you're doing for people to, like, really go all in with you.
- [33:53]
B
Yeah, 100%. And then even other players, like, that was always a thing with Belichick. You know, you get a Randy Moss, a Corey Dillon. You get guys who have this reputation, like, problems in the locker room, don't listen. And then it was always, well, they'll come to. In New England. They'll fit right in. You got Brady, you got Belichick. They're not going to rock the boat. And then you get the most out. They both were super. They were superstars with us.
- [34:16]
A
That's right. Does it ever bother you As a Patriots fan, when people are, like, trying to dissect, you know, after the fact, they have this amazing, historic run, and they're trying to dissect, you know, is it Brady? Was it Belichick? You know, like. And even you'll hear Brady, he'll say, like, hey, you need coaches to develop you so you can become a great player. Like, does that narrative bother you or do you buy into it? Where are you at with that?
- [34:36]
B
Yeah, well, yeah, it's like seeing your kids fight. Like, and it goes with Brady, Kraft and Belichick, and, you know, we love them all now. Is it unusual? I don't think so. Like, Montana left with Steve Young, Favre leaves. You have these quarterbacks. It's almost like a band, you know, like a wildly successful band. How many times do you see, at the end of their run, they break up and egos become something. So it bothers me, but I don't think it's unusual to the Patriots. I mean, look at the Bulls, the last dance, these great teams. You're together so long. I just think personalities start rubbing. Credit starts, who gets it. So I don't like it, but it certainly doesn't surprise me. I don't think it's unique. I think it's actually more surprising if it doesn't happen.
- [35:30]
A
That's a great point. That's a great point. You know, I love. There was a. There was a clip of Brady just the other day, and he was talking about how quick we are to judge quarterbacks. And he was saying, like, like, like, why don't we rate the offensive coordinators? Why don't we rate the quarterback coaches? Why don't we rate, like, who's developing the guys to become great players? And you watch the way that he played the game. Like, when I was in the NFL, I was like. I felt like. Even when I was an assistant at the Giants, I felt like there were quarterbacks who, like, were running the offense. Like Tom Brady, hey, he's not going to be in a bad play. He's not going to run a play into a blitz. And then, you know, Aaron Rodgers, like, he's Aaron Rodgers. We played Green Bay during COVID There's no one in the stands. We flush him out, he's running to the sidelines, he gets horse collar. They don't call it. There's a bunch of trash talking. He looks at our coordinator, he goes, you better tell your post player to stay in the middle of the field. I'm on the iPad on the way home. And sure enough, as he's running for his life, he sees this, the free. I'm like, these guys are savants. And then you got a whole mess of quarterbacks who are just, who are just playing the play that's called. Right. Like they're not, they're not running the offense. I hope we get some of those quarter. I hope, I hope we continue to develop those quarterbacks because we need great quarterback play for the NFL to be what it should be, you know.
- [36:40]
B
Yeah, well, we got one in Michigan. You're going to find out about that on Saturday, I think. But it is an interesting question, like, would Brady, if he was drafted by the Browns, be Brady? Like some of these franchises who have been dormant and horrible forever, you know, quarterback like you, you NBA, Michael Jordan, Larry LeBron, those are those guys, five guys on the court, they're probably going to be spectacular no matter what. I don't know that that's the case with football. Like you, it's situation, the coaching, the line, everything kind of has to gel. So you never know.
- [37:16]
A
That's right. You know, and you mentioned obviously Michigan's quarterback's a great player. You know, we, you know, five star, top recruit in the nation. We signed Dylan a year ago. He played and we played a freshman. Like last year we played a freshman and everyone's like, why would you ever play a freshman? Like, we had some great transfers coming in and I just said, I'm going to play the long game, I'm going to play him as a freshman and then plan on winning with him as he develops and grows. There's nothing like, there's nothing like experience. I think the one thing is I look at the quarterbacks in the NFL that I like that I have a lot of respect for Tom Brady. You know, he gets, you know, kind of has that thing with Drew Henson where he gets bent, it gets drafted late, right. Aaron Rodgers, he goes to junior college, he goes to Cal. You know, he holds the ball up here. Drew Brees, you know, like, like comes out of Purdue, where he has to homes is at Texas Tech. The best season was seven wins. These guys went to places and they had adversity. And so when they got to like a bad organization, if they went to one, they were prepared for handling adversity. I watched so many guys are like, they're like a five star recruit. They go to a great place, they, they win for three years and then they go get drafted by the worst team in football. And all of a sudden now for the first time in their lives, it's not easy. That was kind of my pitch with Dylan. Like, hey, we're building this thing. Like you're going to have to win games for us. I'm not going to be able just to hand the ball. I think there's something to that. I think there's something like what you did with Barstool, like you guys built that, that wasn't handed to you. Like, no one handed you this empire. You built that empire. And is there still room for grit? Is there still room for, I mean, toughness in today's football? Or is, you know, is everything just your personal brand?
- [38:46]
B
It's hard to tell quarterbacks because I like when I was growing up, it didn't matter if you're the number one pick in the draft. You didn't really play right away. Like, like Cam Ward's playing right away. I always. And you're generally on bad teams, obviously. And I don't know, this is something I've always heard, but it's almost like in horse racing terms, you don't want a horse to see he's got beat. But if you have a quarterback that's just getting pound whether that changes like the quarterback, like it changes their confidence, how they read and it's, it's, you can't get that guy back. And I don't know if there's something to it, but in today's football, these guys are thrown. They're getting thrown right to the wolves, like instantly.
- [39:28]
A
Well, and look at the guys who didn't get thrown right to the wolves. Right. You got, you got, you know, Drew Brees got traded. You know, Tom Brady was the backup until he, you know, get spurned into play. Mahomes sat behind Alex Smith for a year. Aaron Rodgers sat behind Brett Favre. So like it wasn't too long ago that we were actually doing this, you know, and I, you mentioned earlier about.
- [39:49]
B
Coaches, ones like Baker.
- [39:51]
A
Yeah.
- [39:52]
B
What do you think? Like Baker, like Baker drafted the Browns Flames out. Now look at, he's playing as good as anyone in the league. So it's situation and so many factors.
- [40:03]
A
Yeah. And you know, I, I had, I had Baker in Carolina, you know, and obviously he came in my last year and he didn't come until the day before training camp. Like we didn't, we know we never, we didn't get him until like, so he had to learn a playbook. And the thing though was every single day with him, to your point, he never, he went through what he went through, but it gave him more edge. He wasn't, he Wasn't beat down. Like he was pissed. And so I got fired. The next day. My wife's getting the sandwich and store. He walks into the store to get a sandwich. He walks up, hugs my wife. Like he wasn't. Like he was a warrior. Like he's a guy that has been an underdog his whole. It was a walk on guy walked on at Texas Tech, had to walk on in Oklahoma. And that's why I was respecting him. I was like, you know, he goes to the Rams. His first game with the Rams. What's he do? He goes out and wins the game. He just, he has a chip on his shoulder. It's like you said earlier about coaches. Some coaches are afraid to make the call, you know, like, they're just. There's so much pressure. I think some quarterbacks are young, they're getting beat up, they're getting killed in the media and they just, they're broken down. That didn't happen. That didn't happen to the guys we just talked about, you know, I think it's smart of Michigan to play a freshman. I think we were smart last year because that will pay off. That will pay off in the long run. Where will you watch the game at? Will you be working?
- [41:14]
B
Yes, unfortunately, we're going to be at Utah. Yeah, I'm trying to figure out the timing of it because Utah's different time zones. So we're there. There's a chance. I was thinking about trying to fly in, but I don't think I'm going to make it. So if I did, I'd probably watch in Chicago. It's a big game. This is to me, for us, a playing game. We already got one loss. Can't lose this game. Coach, like, you seem like a really nice guy, but we got to pound you.
- [41:43]
A
You know what, I respect that though, you know, like to the victor belong, you know, and Biff's. You know, it's kind of funny. Biff's a friend of mine. Like, you know, and I like Sharon a ton. Like, I see him on the road recruiting. I don't know him super great. But. But Biff, I got fired in Carolina. He gets the Charlotte job and him and I are like, you know, consort. I'm sitting there at the time, I was like, hey, if I. I'm gonna come over and be your assistant tight ends coach, I got nothing to do. Like, my wife doesn't want me in the house. And then I end up being blessed enough to come here. But, but I, I think to your point, like, I Think it's really cool when like these iconic. Even though we weren't rivals like Michigan's Michigan, Nebraska's Nebraska, now we gotta get Nebraska back to where it's supposed to be. But you know, we're in year three and I think we're making some progress. But even like you said two years ago, they absolutely got it. You know, after that game two years ago, we came in the next day and we had a Friday night game against Illinois. I walked into the team meeting at 5 o' clock Sunday night and said, go put your pads on, I'll meet you guys outside. Either you play on Saturday or you play on Sunday. And we went out and Dave, we scrimmaged for two hours, like tackle to the ground and, and my sports science guy, his head was blowing up and guess what? We won that Friday at Illinois. And Illinois is an excellent team. But like, that was a kind of a turning point for us. That game was like, guys, you know, we're not as good as Michigan is right now two years ago, but like, we gotta battle, we gotta compete. And I think, I think that this, this for us is an unbelievable opportunity to see like, hey, how far have we come in the last two years? We've been working at it.
- [43:05]
B
Where, where were you now that that team two years ago to me was. And you even look for the Michigan, like where some of the guys are and how talented that team was. Now there are, I don't want to say the C word, cowards who wore 51 and went to Nebraska, who like to make excuses like signals, signs, this, that which I've gone through with the Patriots. What was your take on that? To me, I think it's one of the greatest joke controversies I've ever seen.
- [43:37]
A
So I'll always tell you how I feel. I won't say, like, I can't. I wasn't there for the three years before that. So I can only talk that one game that's. That didn't affect us in that game. Right. Like, but I, and I don't know who did what, but I do know the things that they did. I do believe, like, the one thing for me is like never touch the competition part of this. Like steal signals the legal way, like, whatever. But like, if there's something you can't do, don't do it. And it's the problem with college football. See in the NFL. I mean, you got, you got billionaire owners, you got elite GMs, Alphas, but none of them are going to break cross over the line because you Lose a draft pick in the ncaa, it takes, you know, it takes three, four, five, sometimes we. Five years. You know, I was at Baylor. We were under an investigation the entire time. I was there for what happened previous. So my thing is, is like, I. I don't mind recruiting violations, honestly, like, hey, everybody, go get the players. You got to get. Do it. You know, I mean, because people, they've been cheating and recruiting for nothing. Michigan. But schools have been cheating for a long time. I just did not like the concept of affecting the actual game itself. I'm happy we put the headset in because to me, it's like, well, why don't we have. With the, like, in college football, we have the greatest example for how to build the best game. The NFL is the best game in sports. Like, they have a headset. We should have a headset. Like, why would. And so now we have that. I think that's eliminated that. But again, I'm not one. Like, to me, I don't think it was right that that happened. But at the same time, I am also not going to, like, I'm going to worry about me. I got to get Nebraska to be good, and that didn't affect me. So I just kind of was like, hey, I don't think it's right. I think it's wrong if they did this, but I'm going to move on and just coach my team.
- [45:09]
B
The only thing. First of all, I disagree. I don't think it had anything to do with. The only thing I disagree with when you're like, well, the NFL because the Patriots were accused of cheating like 100 times. Spygate, Deflategate, you name it. Same cameras. So in. In my world, you look at who are the most successful teams. You got the Patriots, you had the Astros, Michigan when they won. What do they all have in common? The people they beat were like, wait a minute, you can't be beating us fairly. So we're going to come up with something.
- [45:39]
A
But I don't know much about that. Didn't the Astros actually do it, though? Didn't the Astros actually do it? I don't know.
- [45:45]
B
I don't know, Drum. But everyone's feeling signals like, Connor Stallions is a marine. He served this country.
- [45:54]
A
I'm with. Well, I can tell you this. We did not go watch any Michigan games this week. And I know they haven't been here. It'll be fair and square. No, I'm with you and I think. But I do believe one of the things that we have to account for is like, Whether it's barstool, whether it's espn. Like, you sometimes need these controversies to keep people as interested. I mean, like. I mean, people are. People need something to talk about every single day. You know, you have the whole thing right now with. With the basketball player, and are they paying him illegally? You know, I mean, like. And, you know, everyone's trying to get an advantage. I think the best thing the NCAA has done basically, has been like, hey, you know what, guys? The rules that no. 1. I don't mind rules. It's just, if you're not going to enforce rules, let's just get rid of them, you know, Because I only punish people who follow them. Like, let's get rid of the rules.
- [46:36]
B
I don't think it's an accident that since the nil became legal, the SEC has come down to the rest of the playing field here. I mean, that. That goes hand in hand.
- [46:47]
A
I agree with. Well, I gotta be careful how I say it, but I think to your point, it's the best thing that happened to a lot of. It's the best thing that happened to a lot of teams. Like, like, if you're at Nebraska, you know, like. Like, we have to recruit people from all. All over the country. Look at Michigan's classes. They recruit people from all over the country. Like, we have a beautiful campus. We have a nice city. We need nil. We need the funds, revenue to get people to want to come here, to see it, to. You know, that when they see it, they're like, I'll go there. And then they have a good experience. So, like, I'm with you. It's, it's. It's even things out. What the worst thing would be in college football is if the only good football is, like, in the Southeast and in Texas and in, like, the North. Like, we need good teams on the West Coast. I mean, like, I wish you guys were coming. I thought. I thought Big Noon Fox was going to come to this game. I was prepared. Like, I was preparing.
- [47:35]
B
Like, I was, like, on the game. I don't know.
- [47:38]
A
Yeah, I don't know why I was thinking we were gonna do. I was hoping we were gonna do this live in my office, you know, like, and. And. And it, you know, it doesn't work out. I don't know how TV works, but I do think at least it's good that it's in Ute. I mean, Utah is a great football team, you know, and. And so, like, just think how the Pac 12 could have died. But you know what? You know, you never saw their games. I mean, it's 10 o' clock at night, they're kicking off. But football can't just become a South Florida, Texas. We need it to be in the Northeast. You know, you need Penn State, you need Boston College, you need to, you know, Washington or we need it to be all across the country because that's what makes the NFL so good. That's why the NFL is going to Europe. They're going to, they understand, hey, there's a way more people that we have to get. I want college football to grow.
- [48:16]
B
Yeah. And there is nothing like college football. The fan base is nothing like it there.
- [48:22]
A
There's nothing. It was funny for my kids in the NFL. Like, you know, I have a son who's 20 and I have daughters who. They're, they're 12 and 10, 13 and 10 now turning 13. So, you know, they're, they're at the time, they're 8 and 10 and like they think of football, they're going to the football game. They want to see the cheerleaders, they want to see the band, they want to see the team walk in. And you go to the NFL and it's just such a different game, right? There's, there's, it's just. Unless you go to the Cowboys, you know, you see their cheer. There's no cheerleaders, there's no band. There's no, it's, it's like the NBA, you know, it's, it's a great game. But there's something about the experience of being on a college campus and watching the game to me is second to none.
- [48:58]
B
There is absolutely nothing like it. And then especially at a place like Nebraska where no protein. That is. It is the protein, basically.
- [49:06]
A
That's it. That's it. Yeah. When I was, it was funny, Dave. When I was in Texas, I was the head coach of Baylor. On my street, like, my next door neighbor was a Texas guy. Next to me was a Texas Tech guy. So when we won, there was still. Even my neighbors were pissed. Like if we lost, my neighbors were happy here. I, I don't care where you went to school. You, you are a Husker. You are going to like this state needs football and volleyball, basketball. We got, we got, we got a run going right now here on sports. We need these sports to be good.
- [49:36]
B
We.
- [49:37]
A
And the whole state is behind Nebraska football. It's a pretty cool environment.
- [49:41]
B
I will say I have become a Nebraska volleyball fan booster. So I do have to step in and give the Nebraska women volleyball credit. That the basketball program and the football program, no disrespect, do not have the right to put themselves in the same sentence right now with the women's volleyball program. Ways to go to get there.
- [50:05]
A
No, I have, I have a ton of respect for. You know, it's funny. My wife has a business here in town and she has nil deals. It's a hair. It's a hair place for women. She has nil deals with softball and with women's volleyball. I mean, that's how elite. I mean, we, we had 10 girls that could have gone this year to the Olympic. Olympic showcase. You know, that being said, you know, I mean, you had, you know, you told me, you told me it wasn't an overnight success at barstool. That's just year three for me. So year two, year one, five and seven, year two, got to a bowl game, won the bowl game. You know, you got to build these things.
- [50:39]
B
If you get there, you get there.
- [50:41]
A
That's right.
- [50:41]
B
I was in Nashville a couple weeks ago. We have a bar at an event there. I walked out in the morning, the place was painted red. I was like, what is going on here? It was a, it was a women's volleyball game. They were traveling to Nashville for.
- [50:54]
A
That's it. I'm gonna tell you right now. I, I can get. Jason Aldean's coming Thursday night. Now, I won't go to a concert on Thursday night. I could get a suite at Jason Aldean easier that I can get tickets to the women's volleyball games. I mean, they are, they are sold out. They have a 2000 person waiting list for tickets. And I think last year, like 32 season ticket holders came off. They. And the energy, the action. And again, they're dominant, right? Like, I went and watched them. We had a AVCA and they played, they played Stanford. Two top 10 teams, and we just were just dominant. You know, it's just, it's so impressive. And they travel. To your point, speaking of Nashville, like, what about Vanderbilt? Like, what about places like that that are not, like, you know, they get the quarterback, they get Diego Pavian, and now all of a sudden they're just rolling. Like, what's, like, what's the secret? How do they, how are they doing that? He's done a great job there, Clark Lee.
- [51:46]
B
Yeah. I mean, the quarterback, it. Which makes you think. Because I, I go to assume for nil, he wasn't there. Like, he, he. There's so many schools that need quarterbacks. How did he end up at Vanderbilt? But, yeah, he is an electric, electric player. It'll be interesting to see what they do the rest of the season, what they do when he leaves. Because, I mean, that's a doormat program for as long as I've been alive. And look at him now. They're winning big games and must see TV with him at quarterback.
- [52:19]
A
We played them my second year at Temple, and we beat them 42. 7. We played them in the bowl game at Baylor, and it was a barn burner. Came back to the end. They've had some moments, but what this. What they've done. Clark Lee. And they hired Jerry Kill. You know, who's the head coach? New Mexico State. And they brought. They brought Diego. But I think it speaks something. We talked NFL, college, high school. If you have a quarterback, you have a chance. And if you have a quarterback that the guys will play for, like, you can tell that guy's got swagger. Like, you know, even though I don't. The whole thing with his mom, Theo Vaughn, and then the kids tweeting yesterday, like, you know, like, no moments too big. I mean, he took some shots at us this summer. We're sitting over here like, why is everybody. Why is everybody swinging at us? But, you know, we got it. We got to buy our time. You got it. We got to wait till our moment comes.
- [52:59]
B
Well, that's because your boy Compton's out on the Internet, right, writing checks that his ass can't cash.
- [53:06]
A
I can't wait to talk to him. I went from I'm dap him up and say what's up? To now I'm like, hey, I need to talk to you about. I need some money. I. I need a check. Oh, gosh. So what do you. What do you. What do you so. All right, so let's just get to the business of this. What do you have as a score for this weekend? What do you have of the score in our game?
- [53:24]
B
So I love the quarterback. I. The first two games, he didn't run once. I'm sure you've seen the film. And by all accounts, he runs like a 3, 4, 40, and he's Superman. So he finally ran last week. He had 100 something yards. I think Michigan's good. I don't think you guys are there yet. I'm going to go like 34, 24 Michigan. I. I just love this kid. I. I think he's. And I know you like Raiola. I. I think this guy's like a Hall of fame quarterback. I think he's got it all. And that's not just because I played a factor in recruiting him. I, I, the, the throws he's made. He's got like a laser on his arm. He, he's so fast, but he's got to run the ball. So we'll see. What I don't want conservative play calling. What's your prediction?
- [54:19]
A
Well, I'm expecting us to win. I, the score doesn't matter. To make it be 200 to 199 it could be 7 to 6. You know, I will say I do feel like, I feel like on our end people, people have taken the easy way out with Dylan, with our quarterback. They're just like the Mahomes thing, you know, and it's just like they just like, even when the TV's done our games, it's like that's the easy thing. Meanwhile, like the kid, the kids throwing, completing 78% of his passes. He's, he's a winner, he's playing hard, he's running the football make. I just feel like they should, they should just forget all the other stuff and just watch the tape, make it about the football because I think he's played really well.
- [54:56]
B
Yeah. So I was very impressed in the beginning. I thought I tailed off a little bit towards the end of the first year. I will say coming from the media, it's easy to be like, forget the Mahomes thing. But how can you forget the Mahomes thing? It's like the craziest thing I've ever seen. So I get somebody like, why do you talk about Mahomes? Well, he's identical. Everything he's doing is identical. So it's hard to just forget it. But no, I was impressed by and large with them all of last year.
- [55:29]
A
Yeah. Yeah. Credit to both guys. It's really hard to play as a freshman in college football. And you know, the one thing people don't are not giving enough credit to the Big Ten is like we're sitting here right now like we twice this year we have to go to the east coast, we go to Maryland and we go to Penn State. We got to fly back and then play on Friday and, and you're playing in cold weather. You're not playing in 80 degree weather every game. You know, we have a, we have a wind that comes in our south end zone. Like last week it was 25 miles an hour. And I think that's why we'll, you know, guys who play in the Big Ten, they'll be more ready for the National Football League as a result of playing in the Weather and we go to ucla, who knows what time we'll play, what time. Like that takes a toll on a young player, takes a toll on their body. So I think both guys, credit to them, they're winners.
- [56:11]
B
And I'm glad you're going to get absolutely no sympathy from me for saying you have to go to ucla.
- [56:17]
A
Well, you got, you got, you got it, you got. I'm just talking about the trap, right? Like, I feel like, I feel like the big tension. We should be touting this. Like, I think the Big Ten, like, yeah, when you look at the conferences, like everyone has like their teams that are in the top 10. Right. Top 15. The strength of the conference and what the SEC has done so well is like, hey, look how good these guys are. Look how good, you know, A and M. And they are good. Look how good Tennessee. Like, it's not just the four teams that have won. Four teams in the SEC have won national championships in the last 25 years. Yet we talk about the SEC as a total. When we talk about the Big Ten, we've talked about the Big Ten as like Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan. Now we've added an Oregon. Us like, well, what about what Illinois is doing right now? You know, what about what Indiana did last year? Like, let's talk about the Big Ten in total. The travel, the weather. I, that's been my point all along. It's the most like the NFL of any, of any league.
- [57:07]
B
Yeah. And the Big Ten is very deep. Like, I could buy into the SEC thing maybe four, five, six years ago. Top to bottom. The Big Ten is the toughest conference, especially with this expansion. The travel, you know, that's the new age college football. Like, I wouldn't want to be a usc, Oregon or ucla. I mean, that travel is crazy for a college kid. But that's the new, that's the new dynamics we're in here. And it does make it a very tough. Like you said, that's an NFL type thing. But they're not pros, theoretically. I mean, they sort of are because they're getting paid. But it's tough, Brutal, brutal schedule.
- [57:46]
A
Who's your, who's your early pick for the Final Four in college football? Who makes it to the, who makes it to the last two games and who makes it to the national championship game?
- [57:55]
B
Well, you're not going to ever get me to say Michigan's not going to go anywhere. So I'll say Michigan. Ohio State obviously looks pretty good. The quarterback looks good. I think they didn't play great last Week. I don't that the SEC confusing. I mean that was a great game with Tennessee and Georgia, Penn State, you know, can they get over the edge? It's wide open. There's so many teams that are available right now. Texas hasn't looked good. I think Arch will figure it out. Notre Dame, you know, something tells me Notre Dame will run the table even though they're 02 and then they'll get in even though people say they can't. Oregon obviously looks great. Lot of teams out of the Big Ten, but, but who knows? Like the thing about last year, Ryan Day is probably fired if they don't change the playoff system. Like they're a third place Big Ten team. You lose to Michigan as a 20 point favorite, that fan base isn't going to take it. But with this new playoff, they turn around, get hot, run the thing and he wins a national championship. So it's totally changed the dynamic of college football because of the tournament aspect of it now.
- [59:06]
A
I love, I love the fact that you said the tournament. When I, when I went to the NFL, the guys that had been there a long time, they talked to me, they'd say just get in the tournament, just get in the tournament. Don't worry about anything else. Just, just find a way into the playoffs and it just becomes a tournament. And then it's who's hot, who's healthy, who, you know, I mean you look, you look at some of the, you look at the road some teams had last year and the road other teams had. It was, I mean, it kind of just depends on how it fell. And sometimes it, it was better not to have a buy. It was better to play the first round game, get a win, get hot. It'll be really interesting to see as we move forward. I'm interested about what they'll do with the next expansion. Would you like to see one more CFP expansion?
- [59:44]
B
Not the way it went last year. I got to see how it goes because those early games were blowouts. So like are we just scheduling more to be blowouts? And I didn't have a feeling last year like anyone had some huge gripe for not getting in the playoffs. Like this wasn't a Florida State when they're undefeated and then get in. And that's crazy. Like how do you tell a kid he went undefeated in a major conference you don't get a chance to compete for a national championship if you're the 13th team out. Be better. Like you can be better during the regular season to get in. So I don't need the expanded.
- [60:21]
A
I appreciate your time, man. I've enjoyed having a chance.
- [60:25]
B
Let me put you on the spot, please. Can't put you on the spot. You always answer honestly. So for this season, Nebraska is playoffs, the defining success if we make the playoffs, not success if we don't.
- [60:41]
A
Yeah, I think just like you said, you can't say that Michigan's not in. I think I have to say that and here's why. When I was at the Giants, I remember interviewing at the Giants with Jerry Reese, the general manager for like a. I was assistant online coach. This is the year after, after the game you talked about, you know, the, you know, 18 and the whole thing and they just won the Super Bowl. And I remember him saying to me, matt, you know, we're not going to win the super bowl every year, but we have to come down the stretch as making a run to make the playoffs and go get to the Super Bowl. That's, we have to be relevant every year. And so when I got here I was like, hey, we, we're not very good. We got it. We haven't even, we hadn't won all three non conference games since 2016. We've now done that two years in a row. Now we have to start beating the teams that we have a chance. Like, like a game like this magnitude. Like, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a game, you know, I know we're underdogs, but it's not like you know, a 20 point line. I don't talk about lines very often, but you know what I'm saying. And so it's like, all right now you have to start to compete in these games. So I feel like, I feel like we have to get to the playoffs and we have a good team. So I am approaching it that way. Like, hey, we're trying to make the CFP because once we make it in, we're the type of team that play a home game here in Lincoln, Nebraska. Imagine what that would be like, the weather, the fan base. So yeah, I think for us to be successful, we have to make the College Football Playoff. You know, if we finished 9 and 3 and we didn't get it in, we got better, but we would be disappointed. And so that to me, a success is making the College Football Playoff. I had to think about. That's a good question. I think about how to say that because that's certainly our goal. Like, I just think one of the things I got to do, Dave, is like, we, we can't have low expectations and expect our guys to go win. So my thing has been okay. It's year three. We had a tough year, a bowl year, won the bowl game. Now it's like, make the damn jump. Like, stop. Let's not wait for everyone else. Let's not complain about the schedule. Let's not complain. Let's make the jump. And we're either going to get rich or die trying. So I'm kind of going all in on it.
- [62:37]
B
Well, I wish you nothing but bad luck this Saturday and the rest of the season. I hope everything goes your way.
- [62:44]
A
Well, I'll just say this. The next time you come here, I'll make sure that you get right into the stadium so you won't get stopped at the front door again. I got your back on that one. I really appreciate you coming on here. I'll tell you what, I love dogs. I love food. I love sports. And I just think in a world where everybody always, always try to find the things that separate us, you love Michigan. I love Penn State and Nebraska. But you know what? We got a lot of things in common. And so it's been fun talking ball with you, brother.
- [63:12]
B
I appreciate it. Talk to you soon. Good luck.
- [63:14]
A
All right, man. Thank you.