IT Live: Texas' Talent Isn't Enough to Win It All

Summary

Inside Texas Football: "IT Live: Texas' Talent Isn't Enough to Win It All" (July 14, 2026)

Podcast Host: Eric (Inside Texas)
Co-host/Guest: Paul
Length: ~65 minutes (excluding ads)

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Episode Overview

This episode explores a perennial question in Texas Longhorn football: Does having the “best roster” really mean you’ll win it all? Hosts Eric and Paul dig deep into why sheer talent doesn’t automatically guarantee championships, using recent seasons from both Texas and other major programs (notably Ole Miss) as case studies. They examine the nuanced factors that separate great teams from merely talented ones, discuss red zone efficiency woes, the demands of adaptability, and the implications of Texas’ move to the SEC. Their tone is deeply analytical but playful, self-deprecating, and sometimes irreverent—much of the charm that loyal listeners have come to expect.

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Key Topics & Highlights

1. "Best Roster, Best Team?" – Challenging the Premise

[03:01–08:18]

• Title Debate: Paul jokingly laments the “degradation” of his article’s title, insisting “Does Best Roster Yield Best Team?” is superior.
• Talent ≠ Automatic Success:
  • Texas’ loaded roster excites fans (Cam Coleman, deep RB room, etc.), but Eric notes, “it’s not purely the talent. It’s the talent actually achieving a certain goal.” ([04:08])
• Key Insight: Paul points out it isn’t just about platitudes like hard work or unselfishness; real success comes from subtle, often overlooked team attributes.

Memorable Quote

“There’s actually some subtle things that can allow less talented, seemingly inferior teams to win… They’re not just plucky underdogs. They have the ability to do certain things key to winning football games overlooked by conventional analysis.”
— Paul ([04:13])

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2. The Ole Miss Example: Grit > Raw Talent

[05:06–09:00]

• Case Study: 2024 Ole Miss had a superior roster (eight NFL draft picks vs. two in 2025), but underachieved compared to 2025’s less talented, more adaptable team led by a Division 2 transfer QB, Trinidad Chambliss.
• Secret Sauce:
  • Consistent but unspectacular RB Kawan Lacy could always get positive yardage.
  • Offense became “agnostic” about receiver roles, targeting the open man, not forcing it to a star.
• Adaptability:
  • 2025 Ole Miss succeeded because it could change its approach week-to-week, handling the asymmetrical schemes and curveballs thrown by SEC opponents.

Memorable Quote

“He [Kawan Lacy] has a couple of weird magical abilities. If you hit him in the backfield 4 yards deep, he will gain a yard… That kind of stuff prevents you from getting upset.”
— Paul ([09:06])

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3. How It Applies to Texas

[13:57–15:30]

• Adaptation is Crucial:
  • Teams will scheme wildly against Texas (“insurgency campaign”), not fight “on an open plane.”
• Versatile Talent Wins:
  • Texas needs players who can contribute in multiple ways (e.g., Cam Coleman winning on crossers/screens, not just deep routes).
• Historical Frustration:
  • Decades of top recruiting classes have not consistently produced wins—emphasizing adaptability matters more than ever.

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4. Adapting to Defensive Gambits

[15:41–18:00]

• Sark’s Alabama Experience:
  • At Bama, teams with their own firm identity played Bama toughest; impersonators self-destructed.
• Texas’ Struggles:
  • Regularly faces surprise defensive looks (e.g., three high safety) and sometimes fails to adjust in real time.
• QB Dynamics:
  • Arch Manning’s presence offers more versatility than Quinn Ewers did—better progression, improvisation, and toughness.

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5. The Red Zone Problem

[19:02–21:56], [29:27–34:04]

• Execution Deficit:
  • Texas “never had success in the red zone…If Sark just finished at an average league rate in the red zone, we’d be winning most games by 21 points.” ([27:32])
• Contrast with Playoff Teams:
  • Indiana threw the ball heavily in red zone situations (“all their touchdowns in the playoff were throws in the red zone…They understood they had a huge asymmetrical advantage.” — Paul, [19:33])
• Underlying Issues:
  • Success rate (methodical drives) is frequently lacking—lots of yards but not enough touchdowns.
• Aggressiveness vs. Reality:
  • Sark's attempt to be more aggressive doesn’t help if execution isn’t there; sometimes you must “just take the field goal or else you’re going to get zero.” ([32:47])
• Defensive Coordinator Perspective:
  • Opponents are content to let Texas move between the 20s, betting the red zone woes will hold.

Memorable Quote

“Fans always think of field goals as plus three. I always think of them as minus four.”
— Eric ([31:52])

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6. Style Points, “B Games,” & Surviving the SEC

[35:04–38:36]

• Survive and Advance:
  • Given Texas’ brutally hard SEC schedule, Paul insists, “Can we win with our B game? … 2025 Ole Miss won multiple games with their B game.” ([35:21])
• Don’t Overthink Bad Opponents:
  • Sometimes, “just go kick someone’s ass…don’t try to scheme up every play call”—simpler plans may suffice against lesser teams.
• Limits of Out-coaching:
  • Sometimes you’re playing checkers, not chess; don’t overcomplicate things.
• Unconventional Opponents:
  • “The greatest swordsman does not fear the second-best swordsman…he fears the unconventional swordsman.” ([38:26])

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7. Penalties, Friction, and the Clausewitz Analogy

[47:33–49:28]

• Friction in Football:
  • Paul invokes military theorist Clausewitz—the “fog” (penalties, missed assignments, etc.) makes even simple things hard in football.
• Penalties as the Ultimate Friction:
  • “Penalties are the ultimate frictions. It’s the harness breaking with the horses…We will not maximize if [we’re] one of the most penalized teams in America again.” ([49:14])

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8. Conference Realignment: Life in the SEC

[49:34–62:25]

• Texas & SEC: The Five-Year View
  • Most Texas fans much happier in the SEC than the Big 12, despite tougher competition.
  • “I was so happy to leave [the Big 12]…If I had two bullets—Saddam Hussein in a room, Big 12 in a room, maybe I shoot the Big 12 three times.”
    — Paul ([52:12])
• Big Ten vs. SEC Leadership:
  • Big Ten viewed as savvier, forward-looking; SEC “visionless and weak” leadership, but still a massive upgrade over Big 12. ([55:59], [61:51])
• Why Not the Big 12 or ACC?:
  • Big 12 stifles Texas’ potential, encourages complacency, and brings zero prestige.
  • ACC would be “a prettier, refurbished Big 12,” but nowhere near challenging enough.
• Independence Idea:
  • Joking about Texas going independent for ultimate flexibility and fun schedules—acknowledged as mostly fantasy.

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9. Lighter Moments, Inside Jokes, & Philosophy

• Host Banter:
  • Paul’s mock humility over his “regional Internet D-list celebrity” status ([02:45])
  • Repeated barbs about audience sophistication (“I can’t just do sloppy turn out nonsense…I can’t look myself in the mirror and do it.” — Paul, [27:30])
  • Playful analogies ranging from swordfighting to geopolitics to poker, all reinforcing the tactical nature of college football.

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Notable Quotes

• On the myth of pure talent:

  “Football is not just adding up the aggregate recruiting rankings on each side of the ball and saying, ‘This team’s higher, they’re going to win.’ Texas fans should know that by now.” — Paul ([14:11])

• Red zone as the difference-maker:

  “If we’re converting at a high level, I feel great about getting to a semifinal or a national championship. If we’re not, I’ll… tell you, they’re not going to win a national championship if they’re at X amount.” — Eric ([32:47])

• On conference leadership:

  “Big Ten’s outmaneuvering us…SEC is constantly answering to the Big Ten’s play and not setting the terms.” — Eric ([55:24])

• On surviving tough games:

  “If we can go out and play our B game against Missouri and win 24-23…I’m gonna be happy because we got the W and we survived another week. It’s all going to be survive and advance. I don’t care about style points.” — Paul ([36:22])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:01] — Debate over the episode’s title / Best Roster ≠ Best Team discussion begins
• [05:06] — Ole Miss case study (2024 vs. 2025 rosters)
• [08:18] — Key performance indicators: RB traits, consistency, and adapting to asymmetry
• [13:57] — Applying lessons to Texas: Adaptability and player versatility
• [15:41] — How defenses try to “trap” Texas; how well Sark and QBs adjust
• [19:02] — Red zone discussion begins; Indiana’s secret to playoffs
• [27:32] — Texas’ chronic red zone struggles and fan mindset
• [35:04] — “B Game” as a path to survival in the SEC; example of close wins
• [38:26] — The importance of unconventionality (swordfighter and chess analogies)
• [47:33] — Clausewitz “friction” theory and how penalties/attitude derail teams
• [49:34] — Texas’ move to the SEC; conference pride, realignment debates
• [55:24] — Big Ten vs. SEC conference leadership critique
• [56:44] — Why Big 12 stifles Texas; “threatened with humiliation” needed to reach full potential
• [59:17] — Lighthearted speculation on independence, ACC, and what-ifs

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Conclusion

The episode pushes Texas fans (and college football diehards) to look past “talent acquisition” and focus on the actual levers that determine wins and losses: adaptability, execution, red zone prowess, and minimizing self-inflicted wounds. Paul and Eric convincingly argue that Texas, despite its stacked roster, will only reach true contender status by focusing on these granular, overlooked elements—especially as they face what may be the toughest schedule in program history.

For newcomers: This is a deep, nuanced “football as chess” conversation—full of insight and analogies, relevant for anyone wondering why “winning recruiting” doesn’t always translate to “winning trophies,” especially for the Longhorns.

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End of summary. For more detailed discussion, join the Inside Texas board or catch future IT Live episodes!

Transcript

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[Eric]

Good morning everybody. This is it live and it's brought to you by insidetexas.com we are going to talk about does talent mean you win? And also, how's it looking that we join the sec? It's going to be a lot of fun with Paul today it promo right here for you. Flash sale join for $1, then 50 off your first year link is down in that there description. Hi, Paul.

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How are you?

[Paul]

I'm good. That's not the title of my article. That's.

[Eric]

Sorry.

[Paul]

That's a degradation of my work.

[Priceline Advertiser]

Yep.

[Paul]

As a. I'm. Respect. Do you see these books behind me?

[Eric]

Yes, I see them.

[Paul]

I'm a respected regional Internet D list celebrity.

[Eric]

That's true.

[Paul]

And you don't treat me that way.

[Kalshi Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Paul]

And I want to be treated better.

[Eric]

So Paul came up with does best roster yield best team?

[Paul]

So isn't that a good title?

[Eric]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[Paul]

Kind of like caveman. It's kind of.

[Eric]

I was gonna say a caveman would like it.

[Paul]

Best roster, not yield best team.

[Eric]

Yep. So I'm sorry to everyone. D list. Are you sure he thinks you're a list? He's definitely not insinuating that you're saying I'm. I think he, I think he's saying your G list. But I, I, he couldn't be right.

[Paul]

I think he means I'm B list.

[Eric]

I think he promoted me really big in Texas football. Internet. All right.

[Paul]

My power that I wield. Unbelievable.

[Eric]

Insane. Let's hit that one first though.

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The.

[Eric]

Does best roster heal the best team. Oh, man. To be pretentious. And that's the title is very funny.

[Paul]

I wanted you to have to read it in a serious voice. Yep.

[Eric]

All right. So you. Texas is very talented. Right. And we hear that we have Cam Coleman. We have these running backs. We have ours.

[Paul]

Look at our roster.

[Celsius Advertiser]

Talent.

[Paul]

Most talented roster since. And then everyone.

[Eric]

Yep. And so we have that 100. And that's exciting. And it's not that you don't need that. You, you also should have that. That's great. It's not a problem. But there's a ton of little factors that why teams have big success. And it's not purely the talent. It's the talent actually achieving a certain goal.

[Paul]

Yes. And. And I'm, I'm trying to get past some of the things that are true but are also platitudes of like everyone has to work together. They've got to be unselfish and they have to work hard. I, I, Yes, I get all that. But my point is there's actually some subtle things that can allow less talented, seemingly inferior teams to win or play over their heads. And it's not just because they're plucky underdogs that try hard. It's because they have the ability to do certain Things that are key to winning football games that are kind of overlooked by conventional box score analysis or conventional fan analysis. And that's why I took Ole Miss and I said, all right, let's take a look at Ole Miss. Here's the fact. 2024 Ole Miss was a better roster, a better starting 22 and a better football team, more talented football team than 2025 Ole Miss. 2024 Ole Miss went 10 and 3, missed the playoffs, were upset by Kentucky at home, were upset by Florida and lost an overtime game to lsu. And they were, I would argue they might have been the third best most talented team in college football that year. I think Ohio State was the most talented. They didn't even make the playoff. They went to the, like the Duke's Mayo bowl or something and blew out Duke like 52 to 20 or something.

[Eric]

Right.

[Paul]

And everyone was like, what the hell? You know, this. And this was the, the team that was going to be the team 2025. Conor, people have already rewritten this and forgotten was perceived as we exhausted all of our portal resources in 2024. The coffers are dry, Lane. You're gonna just have to like, try to get by and have a successful season and we'll do this again in two years. Okay? Kiffin went out and got a bunch of guys that. And he's very, he's got very good taste in like it does building offensive players from the portal. I think you believe this too, right? Yeah. And he did that and constructed an offense ultimately led by a Division 2 quarterback who's 6ft tall, who was their backup. The irony of this, Connor, is they went to go get him as their backup because they didn't have any money. They couldn't go get a real quarterback who would command a premium. You can get a Division 2 quarterback, even one who's an MVP for effectively free. And that's what they got in Trinidad Shambles. He ain't free anymore, but he's effectively free. Last year like the offer to him was like, hey, come play big time football and we'll pay for your meals. Right? So they get this team. It is. It was not as talented as 2024 Ole Miss. It. It was not. You can argue with me to your blue in the face. It's not. And even their metrics were not as Good. Okay. That 2025 Ole Miss team had two NFL draft picks. The 2024 team had eight. And remember, several of the best players on the 20002025 team were starters on the 2024 team.

[Eric]

Right.

[Paul]

So the talent argument is, is not really debatable. The question was beyond luck, beyond variance, which I'm a gambling guy and I, I believe in variance. Most people call it luck. Right, right. Is an element of that. Sometimes you sim the season and you go 8 and 4. Sometimes you sim out the same season and you go 10 and 2. Right. Even with that, I think the 2025 team had a couple of subtle, interesting things about it that allowed it to play in different ways against the different opponents, that allowed them to go 13 2, go to the playoff Final Four, have the greatest season in Ole Miss history with a roster that was before the season deemed to be a rebuilding year. And we could talk about what some of those things are and if they are applicable to Texas.

[Eric]

And these are, as you'll see, a lot of these metrics are ones that me and Paul on in Season Tuesday show are pointing out about. You know, and fans are like, you guys are getting really. Me. You're getting too granular, Homer. And I'm like, no, there's four or five of these that decide your fate. And a lot of these are hit here. Defense was number one fei. So what was the difference there?

[Paul]

Well, I mean, the 2025 Ole Miss team didn't have a good defense. They finished ranked in the 40s. They were, they were ranked behind Northwestern. Okay. They got lit up, like, repeatedly. So. And then 2024 defense was excellent. Elite, actually. They finished fifth in FEI. They destroyed Georgia. Have you guys forgotten that? Utterly obliterated Georgia in Oxford, 2810. And the school, the game was not that close. Blew out South Carolina, held them to three points. That South Carolina team in 2024. Yeah, very explosive, great D. And their O was equal to the 2025o on paper. Like FEI, their rates, their ratings were the same. Jackson Dart was a first round draft pick, etc. Etc. Okay, here's the thing, though. I don't know if Trinidad Chambliss is going to be drafted in the first round. I really don't know how he's going to be evaluated. Truly, he's a better college quarterback than Jackson Dart. He just is. He doesn't panic under pressure. He doesn't throw dumb interceptions. He is able to buy time and create. He could play within structure and he could play outside of structure. And he's, he's just got that clutch gene right in combination with that Ole Miss's offense had a running back with weird magical powers that are not evident. And I'm talking about Lacy, Kawan, Lacey, Is average size, average to below average speed, average change of direction, elusiveness, agility, average pass catcher. And he has a couple of weird magical abilities. If you hit him in the backfield, 4 yards in the backfield, he will gain a yard.

[Eric]

Yeah, that's huge.

[Paul]

It is huge in keeping you on track, especially if you have a good quarterback and a good offense.

[Eric]

Like that was Bijan and Rojo for us.

[Paul]

Yes. And if the play and the Mississippi State, I mean, sorry. Ole Miss runs a ton of inside zone, right? If inside zone gets stonewalled and your center just gets abused by their nose tackle and it should be a zero yard gain, he will fall forward and get three yards. And now it's second and seven and you're like, whatever, dude. Who cares? It matters. It absolutely matters in game outcomes. And I'm going to argue that it doesn't matter as much for your ceiling, although it helps. It matters for your floor. That kind of stuff prevents you from getting upset. And people will say, well, the 2024 Ole Miss team lacked focus. First of all, that doesn't mean anything. Okay? They had plenty of focus when they won their other games, right? Did you decide the games they lost, they lacked focus. What they lacked was consistency when they played asymmetrical sorts of schemes. So I'll give you an example. We had a little struggle with Kentucky and they're three, three, five and drop eight and then we'll go all out blitz like every four downs, you know, when. While we're dropping eight every other down, right? We struggled with those guys. Ole Miss struggled with those guys badly in 2024. It's why they lost 1714 in their SEC home opener. Right. That loss singly kept them out of the playoff. And I think if that they got in the playoff, I think they would have made a little run, to tell you the truth. The next year they play Kentucky and they only beat them by a touchdown. They struggled with them again. You know what they did? Jackson dart. I'm sorry. Austin Simmons got the start in that game through two early picks and you know what they did? They just handed the ball to Kawan Lacey and said, let's not make mistakes and let's just get the W and get out of here. And they beat Kentucky by score and they won the game because Quan Lacey kept converting third and short. He kept getting second and sevens. He converted in the red zone. That's the other factor for Kwan Lacey, 24 rushing touchdowns. Last year, he only averaged 5.1 yards per carry in the NFL. That's very good in college football. That's fine. It's not special. Right. But what if that 5.1 is that you always get between 2 and 8 yards? That's actually incredibly powerful. It's not.0000 negative one 31 yard run. That's actually not as useful. Right, Right. So take that and that inherent consistency and then take the ballerness of Trinidad. Chambliss and Ole Miss recruited some really good receivers who none of them were stars and they didn't have to pay up for them, but they all worked together within that system very well. And they were kind of agnostic as to who they threw the ball to. Their attitude was throw it to the open guy. That's really hard to defend as a college defense. Right. It's much more fun to like double up their best player and then make their sorry guys make plays. So these are the subtle things that made 2025 Ole Miss special because as you play the totality of a college football season, and this is where it applies to Texas, y', all, we are going to encounter different types of offenses and defenses who are going to play us asymmetrically. They're not going to play us, okay? We, we are the American military. Okay? Don't fight us on an open plane like, you know, hey, we're out here. Let's. Let's line up and fight. You better run an insurgency campaign.

[Eric]

Right?

[Paul]

And that's what opposing teams are going to do against Texas. Whatever they've done on film prior to playing us, you could throw it out. They're going to do something different. It's going to be crazy. If we can adapt to that, we'll win the game. If we can only play in narrow windows, even within our great talent of this is how we got to play. If, if Cam Coleman can only go over the top and the team runs Cover four, Cam Coleman's out of the game. He's no longer effect. He's no longer a part of our game plan. But what if Cam Coleman can do crossers and all sorts of stuff, Undercover 4 and gouge you for 30 yard gains with the ball in his hands or running a slip screen. We're gonna win that game and we're gonna be just fine. So football is not just adding up the aggregate recruiting rankings on each side of the ball for either team and saying, oh, well, this team's higher, they're going to win. Texas fans should know that by now. But for decades, despite all the lessons, we still are very slow learners in that regard. So I Agree that we have a phenomenal roster. That roster has to demonstrate that it can play and win in different ways every week based on the questions that defenses and offenses are going to ask of us. Does that make sense?

[Kalshi Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Eric]

One of the big things that Sark said when he was at Alabama, they would ask, you know, why did you run through everybody? He said, because week after week, teams would change their identity.

[Paul]

Yes.

[Eric]

To try to fight us. They would have a unique scheme, something that they're not well practiced in and is not what the head coach would say. This is our identity, this is what we want to do. And so that always stuck out to me. He's like, the teams that just did what they did week in, week out, played us far closer than the teams that tried to trap us. And then when he got to Texas, similar things happened. We would see a three high defense that they never showed on tape in week 10. And then Sark would talk about impressors, like, you know, we had to basically adjust for three quarters and then that happened. So that happens to Texas consistently. Even though Sark has told you repeatedly that's actually not the way to beat them. But you're going to see that constantly. Now, Texas doesn't always adapt super well and some of the times wasn't adapting, it was that they took away receivers and we don't have a run game because we can't run block. So it's like we do need that versatility that if you do take cam, that relate can do something.

[Paul]

Also, we had inherent flaws to some of our personnel or if you did play us a certain way, we were going to struggle. If you play this another way, Quinn, yours is going to light you up.

[Eric]

Exactly.

[Paul]

Play Quinn a different way. You'll start to see some, some, some weaknesses, right?

[Eric]

Yeah. Do you have a pass rush like

[Paul]

now that's not unusual?

[Eric]

No.

[Paul]

I mean, most players have some flaws, but I think Arch does give us the ability to play in different ways. Because Arch, as we've observed, and I think we were very early on this, he actually makes really good reads and progressions, but he's got the athleticism and the toughness to improv and the mindset. He's a dog, Right. He's got, you know, kind of like Trinidad Champlain. He's highly competitive. So can Arch execute? This is the big question for our offense. Not just Arch, but also the O line and our receivers. What if a team just says, hey, we're playing cover four and we're walking our corners off 10 yards and they

[Eric]

will at Some point.

[Paul]

That's how I play us.

[Eric]

That's the same here. You're gonna have to prove to me. You're gonna have to prove to me y' all can run.

[Paul]

And then every fifth down I'm gonna jail, jailbreak, blitz. Okay? But I want to see, can you play clean, executional football and go nine plays, 80 yards down the field? And then when you get in the red zone, do you kick a field goal or do you run it in and like run it right down our throat? Or do you have Arch pull it and you know, jog at the end zone as everyone overreacts to Relik Brown. I don't care how we do it. You know, one of the secret powers of Indiana that I observed and I think I haven't read anyone else talk about this after I wrote it after their national title run. But Indiana, one of their special secrets for offensive efficacy was in the red zone. In particular, they threw the ball in the red zone quite a bit, like inordinately so. Because teams will overplay the run for obvious reasons, right. It's compressed, it's harder to throw. And you don't want to just concede someone running into the end zone. Right. Make them at least make a great play to pass it in. Mendoza and those incredible receivers and they're route running their hands. They threw the ball in the red zone at a massive rate and to great success because they throw them a tight red too.

[Eric]

Like within 10, within.

[Paul]

Well, and another great example is you can tell too when a team's a little insecure about their red zone offense. If they're at the 20 other team's 24 or 27.

[Eric]

That's Stark. As soon as we hit the 30, we have to throw fades.

[Paul]

We have to throw a fade to the end zone because we're trying to score. Because he's worried we're gonna gain 11 yards, 3 yards, 7 yards, and we're gonna be on their 4.

[Eric]

And it' legitimate worry.

[Paul]

Like if you don't think you can get it in, you want to throw that high red zone fade or post, right?

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Paul]

Well, freaking Indiana. I was like, we'll throw the ball on the two yard line. We trust Fernando, we trust our receivers. And you're terrified of our run game. And you, you know, Roman Hemby's gonna run downhill on you. He's a quality back. So we're gonna play action. We're gonna. They ran RPOs on like the three yard line and that was one of the keys to their success that I Don't think people understood or covered much. And I wrote about it and I think, I think some people were like, holy cow, that is true. I didn't realize, like, that's true. Like, all their touchdowns in the playoff were like throws in the red zone. They should have been running, but they understood that they had a huge asymmetrical advantage.

[Eric]

And that's been one thing that we have never been good at. Like, Quinn could not. Quinn five yards over the middle was a dead spot. He never threw it. Like, it may be an rpo, but like true. Just slant quick game. We never threw it and we never had success in the red zone. If we did, we had like that pick versus Kansas. Arch is not good there either. Like, Arch is weaker on the RPOs and the short, the interior short game. So I don't know if we'll have that. Hopefully there's growth and we do because it's deadly, but we haven't historically shown that ability.

[Paul]

Yeah, I look, can't and won't are different things.

[Eric]

Right?

[Paul]

Right. I. I think. I mean, all upside projections are counting on people scaling and growing and getting better. And that often happens. Sometimes they regress. Right. I mean, Garrett Nussmeier, he was not drafted 1:1 as everyone was predicting. Lenore Sellers did not kill it when he returned Lagway. Lagway didn't exactly have his Heisman coming out party. So you're not obligated to get better. But if you have a good supportive ecosystem and you believe in the player, they typically do level up. And I think Arch's thing is like adrenaline. It's not like he's dumb or inaccurate. I mean, he's fired up and he sees the open receiver on the five yard crosser and he's like just, dude, he throws it so hard, I don't

[Eric]

know what he's doing.

[Paul]

And he knows it. He. I mean, one thing I love about Arch is he's got self awareness.

[Eric]

Right.

[Paul]

And all Mannings are self deprecating. Like there's something like they have a like, sense of humor about themselves. Arch knows that. I'm sure his teammates tease him about it. Right. He's gonna go fix it. So we'll be all right.

[Eric]

We are gonna hear a word from Zen AI and then we're going to talk a little bit more about red zone, because that's my favorite topic, you know, vibe coding. Well, Zen AI is doing that for podcasting. Zen AI helps anyone turn a conversation into something worth sharing. A podcast. A real a tick tock. All with no production SK required. They call it Vibecasting. Hit record on your phone, have a real conversation and Zen AI's AI producer handles the rest. Cleanup, clips, all of it. That simple. Right now Zen AI is paying new Vibecasters to make their first sportscast about their favorite team. Go live during the game or just record your takes after. Bring your own co host or find one in Zenai's network. It's invite only beta so head to Zen AI to join the waitlist or check out our show notes for the link. Do not take my job Zen Zen we need, we still need the old

[Paul]

school AI in two years.

[Eric]

Yeah, we need the, we need the Zen or we need the old stage coach right now. But let me stick around if I

[Paul]

bring up something from the chat real quick because people have asked about this Ryan Phin, apologies. This is, this is addressed on the board Bene on the Bible Prospectus. Thank you Texas Football. Yeah, working on it right now. It has been, it's a massive undertaking now as you can imagine, Ryan, because it's the whole sec. It's, it's. I and I try to be really comprehensive and the portal has made everything really difficult. Like real. I, I really, I don't want to give you recycled opinions that you see in the preview mags where they're like so and so transferred in from so and so. He will add depth. It's like what does that tell you about that? Doesn't tell you anything. Does this guy suck? Is he good? Is he going to help them? Like, and I'm trying to do all that research. Sometimes I let great be the enemy of good, to be honest. Also some personal stuff and some life stuff happened so that put me off schedule a little bit. But it is coming. It's going to be a later release than I would like, but it will happen. So just hang in there. I'm trying my best and it may be a little bit shorter window, but you can still get it and obviously get plenty of time to read it. I'll just have to not, you know, make as much money on it because I'm not going to have it out three months before the season. One benefit of that though, I gotta say I always have late released it vis a vis the other preview magazines, probably to my financial detriment. But I think it makes it a much more accurate, much better preview because if you look at the early release previews, not disrespecting the competition, but they're just flat out wrong like a lot of the time and like New events are always happening and you know, like, it's hard to account for some of that.

[Eric]

Right.

[Paul]

And so if you release it a little bit later, then, yeah, I might not have the larger financial window, but I do think I am able to put on much more accurate and incisive sort of analysis.

[Eric]

Yeah, it's incredible. I look forward to it every year. And thank you for undertaking the annual homework you have self assigned every year.

[Paul]

I gotta be honest, your own success. When I'm finished with it, I'm really happy and proud and excited. I despise it while I'm writing it. I. I freaking loathe it. It's so time consuming and all consuming and everything. And it's, you know, I like, I'd like to. I'd rather be outside than like mountain biking.

[Eric]

So it was with homer videos. Like, by the time I had put it out, I had watched it 40 times and I like convinced myself that every video had sucked. And then, you know, people like, because it's their first time, but if you see anything 40 times, you're like, I'm tired of this.

[Paul]

Well, your, your homer videos were remarkable. And you're, you're a really good editor too. But all those edits and all those seamless jump cuts and all the stuff that you integrate, it doesn't take three minutes to do that. It takes three hours to do those things. And it adds up. And so, yeah, one of the issues I have, like, let me give you an example of what a psychopath I am. So Alabama completely remade their O line. Like many teams in the SEC in this off season, they completely remade their O line. Lsu, Texas, Bama. Right. Among others. Bama went and got this tackle from Cal Poly, like, Cal Poly out, you know, the school near Pismo beach in California. Is this guy good or is he gonna start for them? Apparently so I'm like trying to figure out, is this guy good? Can he actually play? Because, you know, there are guys from that level who do level up and, and they're great. Right. And there's other guys. You're like, how desperate is Bama, Right? I'm like hours into researching this one guy and I'm like, I just wasted a day of writing.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Paul]

Figure out if one tackle at Alabama who is not schedule.

[Bank of America Advertiser]

Right?

[Paul]

And I could have just written, Alabama remade their O line. They have a new tackle from Cal Poly. No idea how he'll level up to, you know, high level football. And most people, I think 97 of the people in chat would be like, oh, that's an interesting fact. I didn't know they got a Cal Poly tackle. Yeah, we'll see. But I have to be like, I have to be the one that tells you, is he good? And now. And. And I just wasted a whole day.

[Eric]

I had to set research limits for myself because I actually love research. Like I will just go on Wikipedia. I had to start telling myself because I could spend a full day chasing something that was three seconds of a video. But yeah, the perfectionist mindset, it creates good quality, but it creates misery for the creator on that side. But it's great for the viewers and the readers.

[Paul]

Honestly, there is such a powerful financial incentive through videos or writing or different podcasts or whatever to just do sloppy turn out nonsense and play to like the dumbest things of the, the audience, any sphere, whether it's politics, sports, whatever. I can't, I'm not capable. I can't do that. I can't like look myself in the mirror and do it.

[Eric]

But the audience, it is disheartening whenever you see the horrible slop channels, just cranking it out. But the fans, they know the difference. Louis CK always said this because they were talking about, he was talking about competing with funny people on Twitter. Just like, because jokes are now prevalent. Some of the funniest things you've ever heard in your life. It wasn't a stand up comedian, it was a dog video.

[Paul]

Right?

[Eric]

But he, but he always said he's like, they know the difference in quality. It's like a restaurant, right? Like people like the McDonald's level serving, but they know when they're going to a finer dining establishment. But it is inherently financially more limited

[Paul]

because you don't get to sell it

[Eric]

like a luxury product. Right? You don't get to say, my book is $900. So you do have to be in the similar range. But the fans know, man, if I,

[Paul]

if here's a thought experiment. If I sold my book for $900, how many copies would I sell?

[Eric]

You'd sell three copies.

[Priceline Advertiser]

Okay.

[Paul]

So that I had that. I had that discussion with our excellent photographer, Will Gallagher. Hell of a guy too, who provides the amazing photos for the book. Because we wanted to look at like doing a coffee table edition, but to make it feasible economically, we would have to charge like 90 bucks.

[Ozempic Spokesperson]

Yeah.

[Paul]

And we're like, who's gonna buy that? And some people, like, I kind of ran like a little informal poll. Some people. But a lot of people are like, dude, I'm not spending 90 bucks. So we'll see.

[Eric]

Yep, that's the fun. The fun market of it all. All right, so I. What? Oh, red zone. Getting yards is cool. It does not matter if you don't finish. And that's why always on the Tuesday show in season I I'm always looking at does the defense give it up in the red zone or does the offense score? Texas sucks at this. And this is why we have problems. We get to the red zone all the time. It's like we're there so much and we never. We might kick a field goal. If Sark just finished at an average kind of league rate in the red zone, we'd be winning most games by 21 points. We just haven't figured that piece out yet.

[Priceline Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Paul]

You know, it's funny is you. If you look at the NFL and it does apply to college as well, but you know who kicks the most fuel goals?

[Eric]

Who?

[Paul]

Really good defensive teams with poor offenses and really dynamic offenses that can't finish in the red zone.

[Priceline Advertiser]

Yep.

[Paul]

And often equipped with a poor defense actually. And that. So basically if you roll up 450 yards of offense but you've got 20 points on the scoreboard, there is an asymmetry between those two things. The go look at Indiana's box scores like for the playoffs. It's wild. They'll put up 50 points on someone with 350 yards of offense.

[Bank of America Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Paul]

Because they convert every single freaking red zone opportunity. Some of them afforded by their defense or special teams. But literally anytime they get a good drive going, it's a touchdown. It will end in a touchdown. Anytime they have a bad drive. Yeah. They go three and out and kick it just like any other offense. Right. And that's, that's something we've got to get past. Also, Sark hates field goals and from a win expected valuation. He's correct actually.

[Eric]

Yeah, you should be more aggressive, but it doesn't matter because we can't score the touchdown.

[Paul]

That's the thing. If, if you are super aggressive in the red zone and I think you should be, you should kick less field goals in the red zone. I agree to me, field goals are when it's third and 12 on the opponent 33 yard line like your expectation of getting that first down is slim. You can't punt it. And if you got a good kicker, all right, take the three points. If you're kicking a field goal fourth and one on the opponent six yard line, like, dude, you're doing it wrong.

[Eric]

It's a mindset change. Fans always think of field goals as plus three.

[Paul]

Yes.

[Eric]

I always Think of them as minus four.

[Paul]

Yes.

[Eric]

So you should have gotten seven. So fans always are. Just take the field goal plus three. Because it's, you know, we have it in hand. But to me, mentally, it's. It's actually minus four.

[Paul]

Well, in life, if you want to evaluate a decision in anything, flip the battlefield. And what I mean by that is, if the other team is kicking your ass all the way down the field and at the end, you hold up in the red zone, they kick a field goal. How do you feel?

[Eric]

Great.

[Paul]

Yeah?

[Eric]

Yeah. You stop.

[Paul]

Awesome. We stopped them. All they got was a field goal. So if you have that feeling on the other side, why are you flipping your feeling when you kick the field goal? And so that's kind of like I always try to think, well, what would my opponent want me to do, you know, in this situation? Yeah. And that's a useful.

[Eric]

But the problem is Sark, like last year, remember he talked about it, he was like, I have to be more aggressive in the red zone. Which me and you agree with.

[Paul]

Yeah.

[Eric]

But they still couldn't score in the red zone, so it just ended up meaning you got nothing. So it's like, even though I'm against kind of offhand, like, just take the field goal. With Sark, sometimes you have to just take the field goal or else you're going to get zero. So that's the big key, man. If we're converting at a high level, I feel great about getting to a semis or a national championship. If we're not, I'll. That's one metric that I will just tell you. They're not going to win the national championship if they're at X amount.

[Paul]

Well, flip the battlefield. So I'm an opposing defensive coordinator. I know they have. Texas has problems in the red zone. I'm going to roll out Matt Patricia's game plan in Columbus. Okay. And I, at the time, people, I tried to tell people, they let us run the ball by design, and people like, oh, what are you talking. That's stupid. No one lets you run the ball. Lol. It's like, guys, they literally, the only way they thought we were going to score points is if Arch could go over the top on them. So they let us run the ball between the 20s, they let us move the ball, and they knew that they could clamp down when they wanted to on third and short and in the red zone. And that's exactly what they did. It was their game plan. And I think people started to kind of believe me as the season they

[Eric]

Were pissed at us post Ohio State, whenever we were like, we got a lot of problems.

[Paul]

Yeah. Because they're like, what are you talking about? That was a road gaming. It's an elite team.

[Eric]

You know, Caleb Downs exists.

[Paul]

Never had a score on him in his career. All that stuff.

[Eric]

Right.

[Paul]

The next week he missed like three tackles against Akron or something. But the. The point is, I'm running that game plan until you demonstrate that you can punish me for it. Now if I'm running that game plan and Texas rolls down the field and they convert twice on the red zone and it's 14 nothing, I'm like, oh, like this isn't good. I guess I'm going to get out my blitz laminate card because I got to change strategies. But why, you know, I am gonna play all. I'm gonna play PK defense, man. That's what, that's what I. How I play Texas until they can prove otherwise. And so, you know, can we develop our Kawan Lacy? It may not even be the form of a running back.

[Eric]

Right.

[Paul]

Can we get our Trinidad Champos, who's just absolutely clutch in these key moments? That is going to be a big part of us being able to win against what? I think. I think it's the most difficult schedule in Texas football history. I really do.

[Eric]

Oh, it's gotta be.

[Paul]

It has to be.

[Eric]

Yeah, it has to be.

[Paul]

So if that's the case, we're just not. We're not going to bring our A game every week, guys. It's just the reality of it. So can we win with our B game? And I'll tell you the thing to get back to the article 2025. Ole Miss won multiple games with their B game. They almost lost you to. Lost to Washington State at home, guys. 24, 21. They almost lost to Arkansas. They won 41, 35. Arkansas lit their defense up. They were driving with about a minute and a half left in the game. They're in the Ole Miss territory is rolling and Ole Miss strips Arkansas receiver. Fumble. They get the ball and they got out of there alive. That was Arkansas, guys. They went 2 and 10. So, like we can go out and play our B game against Missouri and win 24, 23. And everyone's gonna be bitching. I'm gonna be happy because we got the W and we survived another week. Like it's all going to be surviving advance. I don't care about the style points.

[Eric]

I say that, but there's no way I'm gonna stick to that.

[Paul]

I know I say that.

[Eric]

Yeah, it's total nonsense. I will, absolutely. Because it was the same with Kentucky and all in Mississippi State last year. We played RC games.

[Paul]

Mississippi State.

[Eric]

We. We woke up in the second half. So it's a little different. But we were able to survive some of those last year too. It's just whenever the context matters, are you doing it every week? Are you surviving? That's when it gets a little weird.

[Paul]

So Mississippi State is a good example of something Sark does need to do with this team, which is when we just said, hey, Arch, just drop back and throw the ball. And receivers just run go routes, spread it out, Arch, throw it to the open guy. If no one's open, run. You need to run that sort of game plan and just keep it simple against teams that you outmatch by personnel. And if they're trying to, you know, they're not doing anything special, just go kick their ass and don't try to scheme up every play call and every down. And like, like Sark needs to not show his genius in every game. Sometimes just go kick someone's ass. And like, you're faster than them, you're bigger than them, you're stronger than them, and you got a badass quarterback. Just go freaking play high school, like backyard football and just get after them, get a big lead and get out of there.

[Eric]

So an individual, like a single hand in poker, an elite player and a complete idiot that has no idea what they're doing, the complete idiot can win and you'll go, well, yeah, it's a. It's gambling. No, it's that there's that element. But the better player might be trying to run bluffs. The dumb player has no clue is even occurring. You're not making. You're not leading them to their death. They didn't even recognize that you. They were being led. Right. It's like if a pro basketball player tries to run a move on me so I step one way and he can get me the other, I'm not even going to know to step the way that he's going. And so the move doesn't work right.

[Paul]

So there.

[Eric]

Some of that is like we're trying to outplay a team or a coordinator. It's not even realizing that, hey, I want you to make this move, this move, so in the third quarter I can do this. They're not adjusting to your moves. And some of it is just like, just simplify. There's the real chess games, but it's not constant.

[Priceline Advertiser]

The.

[Paul]

The greatest swordsman does not fear the second best Swordsman. He fears the unconventional swordsman.

[Priceline Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Paul]

And that's kind of how you have to think about it.

[Eric]

Right?

[Paul]

You. I'm not worried about the guy who I know is second best at things we're both good at. I'm worried about the guy who starts the sword fight by throwing dust in my eyes and, like, you know, trying to kick me instead of swing a sword.

[Eric]

Right.

[Paul]

Like, that's.

[Eric]

But there's an agreement. Like, when Georgia and Texas play, there's an agreement of that.

[Paul]

We.

[Eric]

We are about to have a chess match. If I do this, I will adjust to you in this way. Those teams are agreeing to play in a style.

[Priceline Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Paul]

And.

[Eric]

And at the higher levels, you see that all the time, but different teams. Either A can't play that game, don't recognize it, and all of that. So Sark can outsmart himself consistently. And I agree. 100. Some of it was just, dude, just spread it out.

[Priceline Advertiser]

It's okay.

[Eric]

It's not a sin to play college football sometimes and just leverage your advantage. And I remember when Charlie was talking to opposing coaches and. And sourcing, they would say that, like, for these small, little, tiny schools, they'd be like, if Sark would just line up and run the fade, like, there's no shot. But Sark is, like, trying to integrate seven different lines of attack to start up later down the field. They'll tell you that. It's just like, you've got the athletes.

[Paul]

Use them. Well, let me. Let me push back a little bit. Don't you actually find the story of Georgia, Texas has been there. They have been unconventional, and they've done a lot of things that they don't ordinarily do on defense. Yeah. Yeah, we can.

[Eric]

Yeah, we can. Yeah. Like, they'll run something on special teams or something like that, but it's still. What I'm talking about is once you get to the height of the sport, those guys know each other's systems. They know the games. They know how to intentionally kind of influence each other. Maybe George is not the best example, but I'm just saying, like, at the top of the sport, there's an agreement of we will play like this. I know you're smart. You know I'm smart. We adjust. We adjust. That's not always the case when you're playing every team.

[Priceline Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Paul]

I mean, that's one of the things that really enraged old football coaches about, like, spread offenses or. So like, when I played high school football. Connor, you're gonna laugh at this Denton Ryan guy, but there was a Sense of, like, if you threw the ball a lot, you're kind of like a coward.

[Priceline Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Paul]

Like, you're kind of a puss. Like, why don't you line up like a man and, like, run the ball? And that was like a prevailing wisdom or a sense. Like, I remember when we played Westlake and we were, like, actually playing really well and kind of shutting them out. And then they went three wide and they motioned their running back out of the backfield right before the ball. Ball snapped. We were like, huh?

[Priceline Advertiser]

What?

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Paul]

Who has that guy? Like, you know, is that even fair? And. And I. I remember our coach after the game, because we ended up getting whipped, was like, you. I'm proud of you guys. You were whipping them physically until they started just, like, throwing the ball around. And you said it with, like, contempt.

[Eric]

These cheaters, they started cheating until they

[Paul]

started cheating and throwing that football around.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Paul]

So.

[Eric]

Well, we're talking geopolitics before. I don't want to get demonetized, so I'll be sensitive in my language. But just Russia's like, let's. Let's begin our battle. And Ukraine's like, here are drones. Yeah. Like, it's that totally asymmetric nature of it. This non agreement. Like, I cannot play on your terms. If we play on your terms, I will lose.

[Paul]

So here's, you know, guys who've served, and I know. I know a couple of Green Berets, including. Including my neighbor. You know, they read all the Maoist literature. They read Mao's Little Red Book. Because the whole idea of being a Green Beret is you. You conduct insurgencies and counterinsurgency. And so you better, like, get your opponent's mindset, their asymmetrical mindset, because you're not going to defeat them with tanks. Right. You know, you have to have other strategies to deal with that. So we're going to quickly go off on a tangent, and you and I are going to start picking, like, talking about Rome and stuff like that, like, what's the latest army and what century could a Roman legion defeat? Stuff like that. But that's actually my favorite stuff to discuss on the channel.

[Eric]

But the main point is just teams don't always agree to play a certain style. Really good football teams with elite talent can play a traditional style easier than a team that doesn't have the talent. They have to get more creative. And then sometimes Sarco out think himself that he's playing chess. And it's. It's a checkers game here. Run the run cam actually who's always playing chess.

[Priceline Advertiser]

Paul.

[Paul]

I know a gentleman who could play both chess. Checkers, Parcheesi.

[Priceline Advertiser]

Go.

[Paul]

Have you ever played Go?

[Eric]

I've not. I've heard it's incredibly complicated.

[Paul]

It is. It's simple but complicated. Yeah, but like, like me, I'm like, like you, Connor. That's beautiful. This is a gentleman who can do the simplest loan, and he could do the most complicated loan with equal alacrity and absolute competence. That is Gabe Winslow. 832-557-1-095. Those are the 10 digits you must dial to get connected to the greatest mortgage guy in the history of the world. Some people will say the ancient Greeks were really good at mortgages. I respect their ability. Gabe would blow them away.

[Eric]

He's a modern athlete. He's a modern athlete. He has.

[Paul]

He's a modern mortgage athlete with modern training techniques and modern knowledge. Gabe is a stud. Just go to your mortgage with them. I know you guys want to over complicate this. Like me. You like to over research.

[Eric]

I'm gonna go.

[Paul]

I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna go talk. You know, like, dude, just dial These digits get connected with the best. Once you talk to them for about three minutes, you'll realize, oh, this is going to be really simple. This is my mortgage guy. Column 8, 32-557-10-95.

[Kalshi Advertiser]

Yo.

[Eric]

I always try to time it. You're shifty with it. Any final pieces here, Paul? Adaptability, malleability.

[Paul]

Yeah. My point is that they could play in different ways. Whereas 2024 Ole Miss, though better on paper, was very narrow in their ability to play the game. And Jackson Dart, he's good at just certain stuff, and if you took that away, he would really struggle. And he's really struggled in all three of their losses in 2024, unsurprisingly. So that's the thing about Trinidad Chambless. I'm not sure what you should run against Trinidad Chambliss, because he eats up zone and he eats up blitz and he eats up man. So just be better than them. Cover his receivers, you know, get some pressure. But if you're playing Texas, I'm coming out in cover four, and I want to see that you can punish me if we can punish people and we show that early, like, say, Ohio State. Look out, y'. All.

[Eric]

Yeah. And even. Do you think, too that like in rat and, you know, marching up and down the field in the run again, three yards at a time. Three yards at a time. Not very common. Can we make up for that? In your model, you said earlier like, 000, 30, 000 30. Can we. Or is it all about execution? You know my answer. I'm a success rate guy. I think you have to execute.

[Paul]

But can you make. Here's the thing. You want both. And I know that sounds like, well, duh, but it's very difficult in the college game to go 12 plays, 80 yards, touchdown over and over and over. Like, army can do it when they're on their best teams.

[Eric]

Right.

[Paul]

Army once had a drive that was 20 plays, 80 yards, and they had five third down conversions. And it took the quarter. It lasted the quarter.

[Eric]

I feel better about American warfare when I see drives like that from Army. It's like I'm like, all right.

[Paul]

I think the longest play on that drive was like, went from seven yards or something. Something crazy. But most college teams can't pull that off. You get a penalty, you miss a pass, someone runs the wrong route, blah, blah, blah. But you want to be able to kind of do that. And then you want to mix in big plays. And that's. Indiana was like the Goldilocks, right? They could do the methodical, but they go over the top on your ass. Like, they ain't shy about throwing it deep if you start trying to like, press them or load the box or get too cute. So, you know those back shoulder throws or the big what. Charlie Becker, who's at the big tall white receiver that they use as their. Their go route guy. So we want to be able to do both. I'm fairly confident in our ability to get explosives with Stark and our roster, we need to see some progress on the methodicals.

[Eric]

Well, yeah, because the success rate determines. Are you in third and 19 all the time? That's really the answer.

[Paul]

Third and 19 is not an optimal down.

[Eric]

Yeah. And so it's like, that's really what matters, is you're in a good situation. The best teams do both. I agree, but we have not done both. And so I'm trying to see can you supplement it. Can you stop the bleeding enough with explosive runs.

[Paul]

Well, that's. And they didn't have a lot of penalties either. So that's like the idea of Clausewitzian friction. So Clausewitz is this Prussian military theorist from the 19th century, and he basically had this very influential manual about war called On War. And one of the things he said was, everything is simple, but in war, the simplest thing is hard. And he uses this example of, hey, it's morning. Get this cannon up this road two miles up on the Top of that hill. And if we do that, we'll be able to, you know, shoot down on our enemy, and we'll. We'll have a huge advantage on the. The battle the next day that we're setting up for. Okay, cool. Sounds simple. The tether to the canyon cannon that the horses are tied to, it breaks. And you didn't bring a backup? Someone forgot to bring a backup tether. Okay. So you go scrounge in the town and try to find a harness. While that's happening, a rainstorm happens, and all of a sudden, the road starts to get muddy, and then all of a sudden, the enemy sends out a little scouting party, and they start to harass you. So then you have to fight them off. And now you're missing time, and all of a sudden, it's dusk. And you literally couldn't get a cannon one mile up the road and put it on the top of the hill so you could win the battle. It's incredibly simple. But the point of Clausewitz is what he calls the fog of war. That's where we got the expression. But he called it frictions. And he said all of war and life is frictions. These little subtle frictions that prevent you from just cleanly moving through what your objectives are. That's football. That is football. And penalties are the ultimate freaking friction. It's the harness breaking with the horses. It's the rainstorm and the road getting muddy.

[Priceline Advertiser]

It's.

[Paul]

You know, the cannon wheel falls off because you didn't properly maintenance it. All this stuff, Right? We've got to avoid the dumb frictions because we will not maximize if one of the most penalized teams in America again.

[Eric]

All right.

[Paul]

That's a good one.

[Eric]

I agree, man. That was. That was good stuff, dude.

[Ozempic Spokesperson]

Thank you.

[Paul]

Thank you.

[Eric]

Let's talk about the SEC move.

[Paul]

We are in the sec.

[Eric]

That's good analysis.

[Paul]

And honestly, I care more about the SEC than Texas now. Whenever an SEC team wins, I do the chant, and I do. And, like, anytime Georgia wins a game, I feel, like, really emboldened and powerful.

[Eric]

Like, I know you're joking, but do you have. Do you have more conference pride than you thought you would? I. I don't.

[Paul]

Quotes more than I expected. Like, I get outraged sometimes about stuff. But I also. We're Texas, so as we relate to the country, because people like, well, that's a southern state kinda. Well, that's a western state kinda. Well, they're kind of like Mexico. Yeah, kinda. Well, the upper part of Texas, you

[Eric]

know, where you're from.

[Paul]

You're basically an Oklahoman.

[Eric]

Central Texas.

[Paul]

Guys, you are.

[Eric]

Dude, I actually am only 30 minutes from Oklahoma, but. But how dare you, dude, you should

[Paul]

actually buy a house in Oklahoma and commute it.

[Eric]

But I thought at one point I needed pouches that I use sometimes, and they're cheaper across there. And so I have thought about crossing the border just to simply get cheaper pouches.

[Paul]

So, yeah, I'm having fun with it. I. I am a Texas fan. I derive my pride from the achievements of the University of Texas, not the sec. However, I do understand having pride in your conference and kind of like, the feeling of, like, you know, it does sting that the Big Ten is. Won the title three years in a row. You know, that needs to be arrested. But I won't feel all fulfilled if Alabama does it. I want Texas.

[Eric]

I want the conference to be strong because it benefits Texas, you know, whatever.

[Paul]

I kind of want the conference to get weaker because I think that would benefit Texas.

[Eric]

No, but I'm, like, finding, like, I get mad that the Big Ten keeps out playing Sankey like that. Yeah. So it's like, I want the conference to be.

[Priceline Advertiser]

But it's not that.

[Eric]

Like, because Georgia, one, I feel it's just like, overall, I need the commute. I want to live in a better community so everyone can, you know, do better.

[Paul]

So the point of this was simple. Five years ago. Does it feel like that was that long ago? Five years ago, we announced, we're going to the sec. And then, of course, that was realized two years ago when we actually worked through all the stuff. I can't tell you how happy I was on that day.

[Eric]

Like, Eric called me, and I was like. He was like, you're not gonna believe this. I was like, no way, dude.

[Paul]

Dude, do you know how much I hate the Big 12?

[Eric]

Yeah, you.

[Paul]

You do a lot. Yeah. Like Saddam Hussein in a room. Big 12 in a room. Two bullet, even. It's three bullets. I might shoot the Big 12 three times. Maybe I could just pistol whip Saddam Hussein to death. But, yeah, I think, honestly, I was so happy to leave. And SEC has been good. I mean, look, there are only two options at this point. SEC or Big Ten. And I was agnostic as to the two. I. I think I thought we would have flourished in either. And I. I think we're varied enough culturally and sort of how we are that we can fit in with any league.

[Eric]

Right.

[Paul]

We're not. We're not Mississippi State.

[Eric]

Right.

[Paul]

Nor are we Boston College, like, where you feel like you're a certain regionality. Texas is its own thing, right? So I thought those are the only two obvious options, and I didn't care which we chose. And then ultimately we chose the sec. Fine. So I was just curious on checking in on people of, hey, how do you feel about the decision, you know, based on how things have gone? Do you wish we'd gone the Big Ten? Do you wish we were still in the Big 12? Some masochists actually selected the Big 12 in the poll. So do you have the poll, by any chance? No, I don't.

[Eric]

You have that on the actual post, right?

[Paul]

Well, there's two separate posts. There's the post, the boat, the board. Grab the one at the poll if you can. It's titled poll, and this is the same title.

[Eric]

Okay, I have to look, but I

[Paul]

want to see the final results. But there's, like, several dozen masochists who said they wanted to stay in the Big 12.

[Eric]

It's probably so they can continue dominant.

[Kalshi Advertiser]

Right?

[Eric]

They're seeing what Tech's doing, so I think they want that.

[Paul]

What is funny?

[Eric]

It's not linked on. Okay. The SEC moved five years later poll. All right, let's see what we got here. What did I pick? I think I picked the Big Ten. Our Big 12. Our Big Ten?

[Kalshi Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Eric]

I picked the Big Ten because I wanted to see the numbers. All right, here we go. Share this tab. Oh, no, we lose, brother. Paul here. Seems we did. Are y' all able to hear me in the chat? Make sure I'm not the one that's actually frozen up here. Okay, I think I can hear you for a second. All right, Paul, go ahead.

[Paul]

Okay. You broke. I kind of was.

[Eric]

I couldn't tell if it was me or you that broke up, but you're good to go.

[Paul]

Hey, chat. Did you. Were you able to keep up with me there when Connor disappeared? Just let us know. But, hey, he found the article and he found the final poll. Let's see. SEC, 85% Big 10, 7% ACC. Got a vote. Big 12 had 14 votes. I had exaggerated. It wasn't dozens. It was a little over a dozen. Independent. Hey, let's bring back the spirit of 1836. Let's erase the mistake of 1845 and joining the union, right? Yeah, 23 votes. And then I just put a smart ass along for the purity of Ivy League football. You know, we should go down to the FCS and focus on academics. Right? But people overwhelmingly happy with the SEC choice. Is that how you feel, Connor and chat. How do you feel?

[Eric]

I just picked Big Ten because I was just kidding around. Yeah, I'm happy with the SEC choice. The only reason why I thought Big Ten is I'm not necessarily happy with conference leadership. I think, I think Big Ten's outmaneuvering us. So that's why I'd say Big Ten. Not because any of the teams, purely the leadership and negotiating power. It feels like the SEC is constantly answering to the Big Tens play and not setting, I think you even said in your article, but setting the terms and conditions. We're always on the back foot with them. So I do like Big Ten leadership more. That's why I picked them.

[Paul]

Yeah. I mean, just if you look at their resumes, one guy is very well prepared for the future of college football and it's ties to tv. He literally ran a network. The other guy was basically an HR guy who worked under, you know, the prior guy. So you know, one has a vision and one is sort of a functionary.

[Eric]

Right? So that's the, the big factor. I think the Big 12 argument though, right, Is that they're saying, and then you have the counter to this, the Big 12 argument is like, look at what Tech's doing. They're overpowered and they're basically able to cakewalk into the playoffs. And then you know that. But your point is Texas. And we did at the very end. But generally we have this problem. Whenever we have a we're in a

[Paul]

weaker conference, we have to be challenged. Texas. And it's weird because we're not like this in any place other than Belmont. Texas is like a striving place. Texas grads that I know, my friends that I went to school with, they're like, get after it. Hard workers, super successful people. Right. Kind of edgy, like, let's go, let's go create stuff, let's do stuff. Belmont ain't that way. It just isn't. And you can change coaches, but that stuff starts to infuse, right? And unless we are challenged and unless we are frankly threatened with humiliation, we don't live up to our potential athletically. We just don't. And so that's the danger of being in like the Big 12 because you're in a backwater and then you start to act like it. And that's a big, big problem with, with that sort of deal. Also it would affect recruiting. You are still, you're gonna completely single handedly carry the conference. They're still going to resent you for it.

[Eric]

I was gonna say they're still going to be in greats the whole time about it.

[Paul]

You're literally the, the father providing the roof over the head of your surly teenage son. No, actually not teenage. 29 year old son who's in his 11th year of grad school, right? And he's like, I don't need an old man. And it's like, dude, I feed you, I clothe you and you're under my roof. Shut up. Like, I don't want to hear it. So, you know, that's the Big 12 world. Now could you make an argument that the ACC is the sweet spot of easy, but enough challenge,

[Eric]

enough prestige, enough.

[Paul]

Well, you still got Miami. You still got.

[Eric]

You have it. You have enough. But it's not overwhelming like the SEC

[Paul]

and it's kind of like a prettier refurbished Big 12. Like the ACC is like real schools. Like, I'm sorry, not to insult every team in the Big 12. I mean, no, I'm not shooting shade at Kansas or Arizona State per se, but like it hits different. Like Virginia, North Carolina. Like these are real. Like, like yes. I mean, come on. So that all said, no. The answer is no. We need to be in the SEC of the Big ten. Those are the only two options. Or independent. And there is a world where you could make that work. I don't think we're bold or brave enough or maybe stupid enough to try that.

[Eric]

I like the independent route.

[Paul]

It'd be sweet. Dude, our schedule would be so fun. Well, it's like.

[Eric]

Well, it's two ways. Like is the schedule. You can have your marquees.

[Paul]

Yeah.

[Eric]

You can take brand names that you know are not actually going to hurt you, but they are brand names. So therefore it's a legitimate win. And then you can also just like make it easy at the end. Like the Notre Dame, like perfectly crafted to where it's like, here's our opening big game. If we win it, then we're credit for all season. If we lose, well, guess what? We got better because we played 10 Idiots at the end. So they have this perfect, tricky way of doing it. Texas could do it, but there's not the day to day security of a conference. True.

[Paul]

Well, I mean, look, we'd have to have our other sports teams play in a league, right? And you know, I feel like our baseball team would dominate the Sunbelt. That would be awesome. But the cool thing about like the independent route is of your 12 games, you have complete carte blanche of who you schedule. And everyone wants to play us, right? Because we're going to sell their season tickets out.

[Eric]

Some people were like, well, you'll get shut out if you're independent. It's like. No, they won't. Money talks.

[Paul]

Is Notre Dame shut out?

[Eric]

Yeah, exactly. They want to sell out their stadiums.

[Paul]

The point is you can have these marquee games, which we'd have several. Right. But you space it out with three fun games that are super winnable. And the fun thing about the non con is you can schedule non threatening road games that are fun.

[Eric]

Yeah, exactly.

[Paul]

Let's do a home and home with San Diego State. Yeah, let's go. Awesome. They're not gonna upset us, but we get to go to Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego and It's, you know, 72 degrees in late. In late October.

[Eric]

Right.

[Paul]

I mean, let's bring it. Let's go. So it'd be super fun. It's probably not realistic, but if there is a team that could pull it off, it would be Texas.

[Eric]

So what do you think the downsides have been going to the sec? Just the reality of the competition level.

[Paul]

I think that, I mean, until we can get some sort of more metric sophistication and a CFP committee that understands that 10 and 2 in the ACC against the 57th hardest schedule is not the same, is not superior to nine and three against the hardest schedule rule like it would seem to be. I wouldn't have to explain that to a thinking person, but it seems that I would have to explain that to several members of the CFP committee. The other factor is like, like we just talked about. I think, you know, I've written articles that effect. I think our conference leadership is pretty visionless and pretty weak.

[Priceline Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Eric]

But ultimately way better than the Big 12. Oh, I mean, just the product, man.

[Paul]

Like your mark is a carnival show. Like, it's unbelievable. I just, it makes me a lot. Did you see him in a Big 12 media days when they asked him about Soursby?

[Eric]

Yeah, me and Ian did a whole thing on it.

[Paul]

He's like, now is not the time to talk. It's like it's Media days. It's literally the time.

[Eric]

It was the biggest story in college football for probably the past 10 years.

[Paul]

If not now, when is the time to discuss it? This is media days. Literally. That is the point of this day.

[Eric]

And then you had Texas Tech just like all their people plotting on like gotchas. That was such a fun event. Oh, man. SEC media days are coming up too. Sark and Lane on the same day should be fun. We're not gonna have that level of intrigue. What, what I imagine is that people will Be like, hey, what are we doing with the playoffs? Hey, what are we doing? And then Sanki will go, don't worry. We will meet at a Florida resort. Yeah. At some point. And then they. Then all the media will go to that Florida resort and they'll be like, we have not decided any. Anything.

[Paul]

We will meet at a Florida resort. We will have many golf time.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Paul]

Hours. And we will eat at a Morton's that night. And we will not resolve it. And we get to expense it all and our wives get to come. That's kind of the racket.

[Eric]

Exactly. You don't like going to Ames, dude. There was parts of like. And you said this too. I thought I liked the Big 12 schematically. I thought it was a bunch of asymmetric warfare. I thought there was a lot of innovation in the conference. I thought it was fun, just as schematics to watch. So I assumed I would watch the Big 12 even afterwards. I never watch it. I might catch a quarter occasionally if it's in between something. But it is weird and. And it was funny because I would argue with friends that I have that were fans of SEC teams and be like, they're like, I don't know, man. I don't watch the Big 12. And I was like, all right, that's elitist. That we have this coordinator. We have that coordinator. And they were like, don't care. And as soon as I got to the sec, that elitism hit me as well.

[Paul]

Well, also, all that asymmetrical warfare spread so.

[Eric]

Well, exactly. It's a testing ground. And then it goes to everywhere.

[Paul]

SEC has four veer and shoot teams, dude.

[Eric]

Correct.

[Paul]

It gets there eventually has zero.

[Eric]

But that's why I wanted to. But that's why I was a hipster about it. I was like, you're. Well, your next head coach is going to like it. You know, it was the cool new thing that no one in the wider college football knew about.

[Paul]

You know, I also have to say the appeal of the Big Ten, first of all, I think it's underrated. Like road venues and like fun college towns and stuff. But having us join the league and seeing Nebraska's reaction would be priceless.

[Eric]

Yeah, but it was. The A and M reaction was still so sweet. There was the A M reaction.

[Paul]

Here's the best thing about it, Connor. You know, I'd forgotten this until I wrote the article. They went ballistic. Not only the rest of sec. Tell them to shut up and know their. Know their role. They told them. And you will vote for their inclusion because this is going to be unanimous.

[Priceline Advertiser]

Yep.

[Paul]

And so A. M. Who vehemently wanted us to not only not be in the SEC, but to like die in a fire, right? Had to then go, yes, we welcome the Texas Longhorn.

[Eric]

And then their one way to take control back was like, well, then you have to play at A. M. First.

[Paul]

And then we beat him.

[Eric]

And everybody was like, okay. But that was like, you know, A M was like, see, we're in control. You have to come. They crack me up, dude. They crack me up.

[Paul]

It's like I remember arguing with the girlfriend about something that was like kind of big. And I kind of just won the argument, right? And then she's like, fine, we'll do that, but we're eating Thai tonight.

[Eric]

Yeah, exactly. It's this false grab back at control.

[Paul]

Yeah. I was like, okay, you win Ollie pie tonight. Yeah, great.

[Eric]

That's exactly what it was.

[Paul]

We each gotta win. We're even.

[Eric]

And then, yeah, you allow them to have their win.

[Paul]

That's right.

[Eric]

But yeah, the SEC was the right move, man. There's no question you can argue Big Ten, but overall, getting out of the Big 12 was the correct decision to make. All right, everyone, I want to give you an offer you can go to Inside Texas. This is the what, guys? We talk on the channel for, you know, a couple hours a day. There's way more on the board and that's where you get it first. So join for $1, then 50 off your first year. Link in the description down below. And everyone stay tuned in for the rest of the shows coming at you. See y' all later.

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[Paul]

Rally the cross crew.

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[Paul]

ones kind of like him. Are you shaking a maraca?

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[Eric]

Nice disclaimer.

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[Paul]

There's a pill version of Ozempic.

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