PMS 2.0 1260 - Thursday Night Football Preview, Bill Belichick & Rich Rodriguez Named Head Coaches At UNC & West Virginia, Mike Tomlin, North Carolina Football GM Michael Lombardi, Marty Smith, Coach Chuck Pagano, & AJ Hawk

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Pat McAfee Show – Episode PMS 2.0 1260

Release Date: December 12, 2024
Duration: Approximately 2 hours and 50 minutes
Hosts: Pat McAfee, AJ Hawk, The Toxic Table, and Tone Digs
Guests:

• Mike Tomlin, Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers
• Michael Lombardi, General Manager of the North Carolina Tar Heels
• Chuck Pagano, Former NFL and College Football Coach
• AJ Hawk, Former NFL Player

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1. Rich Rodriguez Returns to West Virginia Mountaineers

Timestamp: [00:00] – [06:07]

Pat McAfee kicks off the episode with exhilarating news: Rich Rodriguez has been officially named the head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers. Pat delves into the rigorous selection process led by Athletic Director Ren Baker, emphasizing Rodriguez's deep-rooted connection to West Virginia and his unwavering motivation to revive the program's glory days.

Notable Quotes:

• "Rich Rod's like the most competitive human I've been around. All he wants to do is win, and he wants to make it right." — Pat McAfee [04:15]
• "Rot Rodriguez understands that his entire legacy revolves around making the West Virginia football team a winner again." — Pat McAfee [05:30]

Pat also highlights the community's strong support, mentioning the massive turnout at a recent football opener and the palpable excitement surrounding Rodriguez's return.

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2. Interview with Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach

Timestamp: [06:07] – [21:50]

Mike Tomlin joins Pat to discuss various NFL topics, with a focus on the recent hiring of Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia. Mike shares his admiration for Rodriguez's competitive spirit and dedication, drawing parallels to his own coaching philosophy.

Key Discussion Points:

• Rich Rodriguez’s Motivation: Mike acknowledges Rodriguez's determination to "earn the people's trust" and reinstate West Virginia's prominence in college football.
• Impact of "Hard Knocks": Pat compliments Mike on his portrayal in the show, citing specific moments like his interaction with Joey Porter Jr. and the decision to integrate Russell Wilson into the Steelers' lineup.
• Russell Wilson’s Adaptation: Mike discusses Wilson's intangible qualities and leadership, expressing optimism about the quarterback's future performances.

Notable Quotes:

• "I'm excited about the trajectory of it, man, but you know how it is. We're a few days away from stepping into another big stadium and he'll get an opportunity to prove it again." — Mike Tomlin [08:24]
• "What have you done for me lately is the business that you're in, the business is winning. If you don't do that, nobody cares about anything." — Pat McAfee [09:02]

Mike also touches upon the Steelers' current season performance, defensive strategies, and the challenges posed by upcoming games.

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3. Interview with Michael Lombardi, UNC General Manager

Timestamp: [40:50] – [56:19]

Michael Lombardi is introduced as the newly appointed General Manager of the North Carolina Tar Heels football team. His appointment marks a significant shift, bringing NFL-level management expertise to college football.

Key Discussion Points:

• Transition from NFL to College Football: Michael explains his decision to join UNC, citing his profound respect for Bill Belichick and the opportunity to build a successful program from the ground up.
• Recruiting Strategies: Lombardi emphasizes a systematic approach to recruiting, focusing on "projection scouts" who evaluate players based on high school performance and potential for growth within the UNC system.
• Building a Sustainable Program: He outlines plans to develop players internally, ensuring long-term success and competitiveness in the College Football Playoff (CFP).
• Collaboration with Belichick: Michael discusses the collaborative dynamic with Belichick, drawing on their shared philosophies of team-first mentality and meticulous planning.

Notable Quotes:

• "We're going to evaluate the players on the tape. That's the most important. We're not going to watch highlight tapes, we're going to watch the player play." — Michael Lombardi [41:59]
• "We're going to systematically and strategically build the team the right way so that we have sustainable success." — Michael Lombardi [43:23]
• "Bill Belichick knows exactly what he wants to do with his program, and in that document he presented to the Chancellor is exactly what the Patriot Way was all about." — Michael Lombardi [50:39]

Lombardi also addresses the evolving landscape of college football, including the impact of the transfer portal and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals, positioning UNC to leverage these developments for competitive advantage.

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4. Thursday Night Football Preview: Los Angeles Rams vs. San Francisco 49ers

Timestamp: [06:07] – [157:01]

The podcast transitions to an in-depth analysis of the upcoming Thursday Night Football matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers.

Key Discussion Points:

• Team Performance Metrics:

  • Rams: Despite a losing record (6-7), the Rams boast impressive offensive (15th) and defensive (3rd) rankings. However, their turnover margin and red-zone efficiency (31st) raise concerns.
  • 49ers: The 49ers are 5-8 but rank highly in total offense (4th) and total defense (3rd), demonstrating strength despite their record.

• Player Highlights:

  • CeeDee Lamb: Outstanding performance last week with 12 catches for 160 yards and two touchdowns.
  • Juwan Jennings (Rams): Critical plays including a triple tackle-for-loss against the Bears.

• Strategic Betting Insights:

  • Pat’s Picks: Recommends Rams at +3 due to their defensive prowess and key player performances.
  • Chuck Pagano’s Analysis: Emphasizes the Rams' improved chemistry and defensive strength, suggesting confidence in their ability to cover the spread.

Notable Quotes:

• "Don't bet on these guys. Don't bet on these guys." — Pat McAfee [37:54]
• "Rams +3 tonight is my take." — Pat McAfee [145:58]
• "We try to empower them as leaders, man. A component of them being leaders is them getting information or getting the why or what objectives." — Mike Tomlin [19:23]

The discussion includes detailed breakdowns of team strategies, player injuries, and the potential impact of coaching decisions on the game's outcome. Pat and the co-hosts also touch upon the broader implications of this game within the CFP landscape.

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5. Concluding Remarks and Final Thoughts

Timestamp: [157:01] – [170:11]

As the episode draws to a close, Pat McAfee and the hosts recap the major discussions, reinforcing the excitement surrounding Rich Rodriguez's return, the strategic insights from Mike Tomlin and Michael Lombardi, and the anticipatory buzz for the Thursday Night Football game.

Key Highlights:

• Upcoming Events: Announcements about live coverage from the West Virginia Coliseum for Rich Rodriguez's press conference.
• Community Engagement: Emphasis on the importance of team unity, leadership, and the role of effective management in both college and professional football.
• Final Game Analysis: Last-minute thoughts and endorsements for the Rams, underscoring their potential to perform well against the 49ers despite statistical anomalies.

Notable Quotes:

• "I can't wait to get back down the hills. You know, we're gonna have a hard edge team again." — Pat McAfee [05:30]
• "This is a recipe for success." — Pat McAfee [05:35]
• "We're all pulling for Chuck here. I'm excited to see who he picks." — Boston Connor [164:35]

The hosts also express gratitude towards their listeners and sponsors, ensuring a cohesive wrap-up that ties together the episode's themes of leadership, competition, and the relentless pursuit of excellence in football.

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Additional Notes:

• Advertisements and Non-Content Sections: The podcast includes various advertisements and humorous segments, such as the "Ram Truck" giveaway and promotions for Prize Picks and Omaha Steaks. As per the user’s request, these sections have been excluded from the summary to maintain focus on content-rich discussions.

• Humorous Interludes: Light-hearted banter and comedic exchanges occur throughout the episode, contributing to the show's engaging and relatable atmosphere.

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Conclusion:

This episode of The Pat McAfee Show delivers a blend of high-stakes sports management discussions, insightful interviews with prominent football figures, and strategic game previews. Listeners gain a comprehensive understanding of the current dynamics within college football and the NFL, enriched by Pat's enthusiastic commentary and the hosts' collaborative insights.

Transcript

[Pat McAfee]

Hello beautiful people, and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome on this. Coach Rod is back. Thursday, December 12, 2024. This program starts now. Football. It is amazing. We're so lucky that we get to talk about it every single day. Thank you so much for joining us. It is a glorious Thursday here because, yes, it is official. Rich Rodriguez is back to be the coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers. Obviously this comes after a very long inter process that Ren Baker conducted. The athletic director for West Virginia, span against I guess 15 different coaching candidates, got zoom calls and then follow up meetings took place. And inevitably to go forward to where we want to be, we had to go back to when we were the best we ever were. And it's been nice the last couple weeks here to kind of catch up, you know, chit chat with old teammates, catch up with coach Rod a little bit, talk to Ren Baker about my experiences as a player for coach Rod, because that's obviously Ren doing his due diligence, which he did. No stone was left unturned in his coaching search because he understands that his entire legacy revolves around whether or not he can make this West Virginia football team a winner again, can make them relevant again. And he thought that the best choice and he wasn't the only one. There's a lot of us, basically everybody that's ever played for this guy has come out and said, if Rich Rod was able to get the capability to be in a P4 program and have resources behind him back in a state that he knows better than anybody else, because he's born there, grew up there, played college there, his family still lives there. If there's anybody that could come and do a better job coaching than Rich Rodriguez, we'd like to see it. And he also has quite a motivation. He wants to go back and make it right. And I think that was the most evident thing of the conversations that I had with him. And obviously there was a lot of people that I am a big fan of that reached out that wanted the coaching job at West Virginia. It was a very desirable position. People from all across the country at a lot of different schools, younger and older, wanted to get into Morgantown because they understand that a sleeping giant is in those beautiful hills of West Virginia. And every time I got a chance to talk to coach Rod, it was very clear because I asked him, because I still think about that pick game every single day of my life. Every day I asked him, I said, you're a super competitive human being. You have to be like me. You have to Think about that night on a very regular basis. And he said, pat, I do. And I said, do you view this as an opportunity to go back? And he said, to make it right? Yeah. Do I have unfinished business? Yeah. Do I owe the people of West Virginia the best I got? Because how everything ended last time. Yeah. And if I get that opportunity to do that, I'm gonna work my ass off to make it happen. He said, I'll earn the people's trust. I'll earn the people's like back, and we will earn our way back into the college football conversation. And I'll tell you what, I was sold quickly. I was sold quickly on it, because if he's as motivated as I am to make West Virginia a winner, I know he's going to be great. But he has it even more so because that has kind of been a cloud that has lingered behind him. Every single step that he's taken, not only by the public and everything else, but also by the people that he grew up with in West Virginia. He's pumped to get the opportunity to go back and make it right. And I can't wait to see the heights that the Flying WV goes. I've been talking about how awesome that place is. We went there the day before the opener against Penn State. I think we had 6,000 students packed into an area that was 105 degrees. So hot out there that our generators actually overheated and we couldn't even operate. Six thousand students were just out there celebrating football, celebrating life. West Virginia University is a monster. And I think Rich Rod, with his hard edge, his toughness, his attention to detail, his, you know, command for excellence that he is going to show to every single player that plays for that West Virginia team going forward. And that's been fun to talk about with my old teammates, too. Like, he's not going to be able to have every player play for him. You're going to have to have an incredible work ethic. You're going to have to have a phenomenal mental toughness. You're going to have to be talented. You're going to have to have super skill. But then you're going to also have to have a want to, and that's to win, and that's every part of your life. You're going to have to want to win. Rich Rod's like the most competitive human I've been around. All he wants to do is win, and he wants to make it right. That sounds like a recipe for success. Congrats to Ren Baker. Congrats. To the Mountaineers. And I will be live tomorrow at the West Virginia Coliseum, just kicking off for the official press conference that'll be at 1:30pm Eastern that will run on this program. I cannot wait to see Wren and Rich talk about everything. The doors will open in the gold and blue gates at the Coliseum at 10:30am tomorrow. Birdie has told me they will be serving beer at the concession center. I will be live there. I think Connor will be with me. The boys will be back here. With how quick the turnaround was, we weren't able to put full stage out there, but we will be live. The show will be live from there from noon till 1:30. Then the press conference will take place. And I think Rich and Ren will probably stop by the show and it'll be a nice celebration of what is happening currently because it's going to be on display and what the future is about to be. And I'm excited for Rich, I'm excited for West Virginia, and I am honored to get back into the fold a little bit more. So congrats to the Mountaineers. Now moving forward, the toxic tables here at Boston, Connor and that Ty Schmidt. Sweet hat, pal. Hell yeah. One half of the hammer. Don Cowboys AP Tony's here. And a football coach of 36 years. 18 in college, 18 in the NFL. I was lucky to call him head coach. Ladies and gentlemen, Chuck Pagano. Coach, great to see you. We will certainly dive into everything, but without wasting any more time, we have a living legend, a future hall of Famer, the current head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Hard knock superstar. Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Tauman. How you doing, coach?

[Mike Tomlin]

Great, great. Great to be on with you guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, did you hear Rich Rod's back at West Virginia was announced this morning, officially.

[Mike Tomlin]

I just heard, man. I know you're excited about that, man. I'm happy for the Mountaineer faithful.

[Pat McAfee]

I can't wait to get back down the hills. You know, we're gonna have a hard edge team again, you know what I mean? There's gonna be a little bit of edge down there. Speaking of that, it's been fun to watch you on Hard Knocks. I just want to let you know that as somebody who's always been a fan of yours, obviously grew up in Pittsburgh, have had a relationship with you, but never got a chance to experience you as a coach. The Hard Knocks clips have cemented everything. I thought about the reasons why your players all love you. Have you enjoyed that process? This is your first time now with cameras in there. Have you noticed it have you changed it all or is that you? Since you got in that building that.

[Mike Tomlin]

We'Re seeing, you know, it's kind of been a non issue for me and for us, to be quite honest with you, I just go about my normal business and, you know, their agenda is a little bit different than ours. Our businessman is winning football games. And, you know, I try to just remain focused on that. And more than anything, man, I want the guys to mirror the behavior that I display. And so, you know, I'm not going to not be myself or be different under those circumstances. I think that's when it becomes a distraction. And so I focused on being my normal self. And I think the players have done the same thing as well.

[Pat McAfee]

Watching your style of coaching is really cool. They showed a moment of you with Joey Porter Jr. When he was putting his contacts on, and obviously he had just got out of a game where he had six penalties and at a corner, obviously that's something that can, you know, linger or hold you down for a while. You just having like a quick conversation with him, acknowledging the penalties and then saying, hey, we're not there yet, and then motivating him and moving on. It's like the way you go about doing your shit is awesome. I say you just need to know that from somebody that has never been in your building. That's why I think Hard Knocks have been so great this year. And now, now that I know you a little bit more behind the scenes in the way you talk and do things. That decision to put Russ in was one that was a big deal. And you had to come out actually, because it was getting so loud, and say, I had to make an executive decision and put Russell Wilson in. I wanted to see if our team could get to the next level. How have you felt about that decision? Obviously, it's worked out very well. And what did Russell show you before he got on the field that made you believe, like, yeah, Russ is still the guy that can cook on the field, you know.

[Mike Tomlin]

You know, from my perspective is what. It wasn't as controversial a decision or as difficult a decision as maybe from the outside. But I get the benefit of watching him operate every day, not only in terms of his throwing talents and throwing the football, but just the, you know, unofficial things or the intangible qualities that he brings to the role. You know, he's got over a decade of experience, man. He has a way with his teammates that's inspiring, informational. He brings people together. He brings the best out in people. And really, man, just working Every day in close quarters and practicing and meeting and all of those things. All of those things were a component of the decision. And so from that standpoint, I just knew that not only he had the talents to do it, but I thought he had the capabilities of maybe bringing out the best in the individuals that he worked with. And so, you know, it's still very much ongoing. I'm excited about the trajectory of it, man, but you know how it is. We're a few days away from stepping in another big stadium and he'll get an opportunity to prove it again.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. What have you done for me lately is the business that you're in, the business is winning. If you don't do that, nobody cares about anything. It seems Russell Wilson told Bill Cower, which was pretty cool to watch in an interview, that you guys were the first ones to call him whenever everything at Denver took place. It was like 7:30am I got a call. It was the con artist shout out to Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin. Had he been one of the guys that you just been a fan of from afar? Because I know you got a lot of those guys around the league. Obviously everybody has respect for you. But why did. Why was that your first call and why do you think you guys were the first ones to call Russia?

[Mike Tomlin]

You know, first of all, man, I just been appreciative of his work for over a decade. His talents, the way he plays, the position, his competitive spirit, his resume, all of those things were attractive to us. And you couple that with a guy that experienced some personal or short term difficulties, man, he had something to prove that was attractive to me as well. To be quite honest with you, man. A guy looking for a bounce back, a guy working with an edge, a guy that knows he can do it and just needs an opportunity to show that again.

[Pat McAfee]

You think he's adding priming sandwiches or anything? You think he's done any real Pittsburgh shit yet as he's gone all hey.

[Mike Tomlin]

Hey, I doubt it.

[Pat McAfee]

He's like a CEO. It feels like he's been a CEO for as long as we've known him in pop culture and there for a while, I think, you know, when it wasn't going as well, everybody started to kill him. Everybody started to kill him for all the things he had been doing for a long time. And it was like, well, if you don't win, nobody cares. I said immediately upon him signing with Pittsburgh that if he wins there, Yinzers will go to bat for him forever. It does feel like this entire city is behind him. And this team. Can you feel that?

[Mike Tomlin]

You know, I'm kind of insulated, man. All I do is go to work and gas my car up, man, and go home. So I hear the rumblings, but I can't necessarily say I feel it.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, you should. You should. They're out there. AP Tone has a question for you, Coach.

[AJ Hawk]

We are behind you and the team. And once again, thank you for everything. And you talked about in a few days, a big one played in a big arena in Breeswood. And then, you know, a few days after that we got to go Ravens week down in Baltimore. And a few days after that, we come back to our house for the Chiefs on Christmas days. And I know that excuses are tools for the incompetent. And, you know, we don't. We don't make predictions, we make preparations. But a lot has been made about those three games in those 10 days. What have you talked to the team at all about, you know, those three games in 10 days? And have you guys prepared at all for that in any way, shape or form?

[Mike Tomlin]

You know, I try to keep the present challenges our singular focus. And so behind the scenes, you know, organizationally, obviously, I've made some decisions about how I structure the calendar. I made some day to day decisions in terms of keeping guys upright, giving guys rest days and so forth, but it hadn't been anything that I've addressed in the. In the big room, if you will, or in front of the group. I just don't want to give it that amount of credence at this juncture. I'm sure everybody's aware of the schedule, but, you know, our job this week is the Philadelphia Eagles. And so I'm going to delve deeper into that, probably more with the collective on the other side of this game. Right now we're in the midst of a seven day cycle in terms of prep, and so things are business as usual. But it's going to quickly change once we get on the other side of Philadelphia.

[Pat McAfee]

Commissioner Goodell trying to punish the Steel City. Yeah, Unbelievable. I don't like that at all. All right, we'll talk shit for you. You know, because you get to Philly, Saquon's so good.

[Mike Tomlin]

And please do a good job of it.

[Pat McAfee]

I've been watching how you should talk too. So I gotta up my shit, you know, I gotta. I gotta get better at that. Saquon's so good. Saquon is so good. Obviously you've seen. Why do you think this year is the year that Saquon's Having coach, you.

[Mike Tomlin]

Know, I just think that he, you know, you couple his talents, man, with a. With a bunch of talent around him where you can't focus on him, then he's really just going to explode. And I think it's as simple as that. You know, we played him in 2020, man, in the opener when he was playing for the Giants, man, and he had all of our attention. We're not afforded that opportunity this time around because of guys like Jalen hurts in that receiver, receiving tandem. And so I think, you know, sometimes the strength is in the pack and he's. He's got some talent around him, and all that does is highlight his already existing talent.

[Pat McAfee]

He's jumping over people backwards this year. I mean, he's having a good time. It is no joke. Yeah. For real. Now let's talk about your defense. That's going to be tasked with it. Ty has a question for you, Coach.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah, Coach.

[Connor]

One of.

[Chuck Pagano]

One of my favorite parts of Hard Knocks so far has just been watching your relationships with different players. And in one of the episodes, we got a quick look at you talking to Cam Hayward before going into the locker room. You kind of just said like, hey, you know, get your guys in line. And then that was the end of it. How, how crucial is it having a guy like him on the defense where, you know, you maybe don't have to helicopter over him too much? He's another coach on the field and, you know that he's going to have his guys ready to go, and it's not something you have to be on his ass about constantly, man, he is.

[Mike Tomlin]

He is such a treat. First, let me say this, man, he is playing lights out. His play has been top tier, man. He's playing as good as he's ever played, man. He's an ageless wonder. But I also just really appreciate the fact, man, that he is Pittsburgh born and raised, man. We. We drafted this guy in 2011, man, and just to watch him grow as a player and a human, man, it's been cool to be a part of that. And it. And it really just makes my day easy, to be quite honest with you. That dude understands what we, what we're doing here. Our approach to business, our culture, our values. He embodies all of those. That. All of those things. And so, man, it's just easy sometimes just to communicate with him, knowing that he's going to relay whatever messaging I need relay to the others. Sometimes I do it deliberately. You know, I'm like, head, tell Benton we need this Head Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

All right. So that's what I was about to ask. That is the biggest head you've ever seen.

[Mike Tomlin]

Oh. Oh, man. He's an ogre for sure.

[Pat McAfee]

That's such a weapon in football, especially in his position. But when that thing walks by, I mean, it's like, holy shit, there's a brain inside. Think about the size of the brain that has this massive, man. His dad used to play pickup hoops around town. His head iron, I mean, we're talking about. Absolutely massive. I see in person one time I was a little kid, I saw my pickup basketball game. I'm like, the fuck is that? And it's like, that guy's name is Ironhead. That's actually his name. It's like, that makes. That makes sense. It's beautiful over there. It feels like a college atmosphere you guys have at the Steelers. Now, I'm not saying college as if, like, academia matters, which it obviously does, but, like, OG's coming back in. I think you guys still call it what the blitzes are, still the same call that they've been forever. So whenever the OGs come back, they feel like they're a part of that. That's very crucial for you guys. That's like a massive piece of the whole puzzle of the Steelers organization.

[Mike Tomlin]

I think certainly it is, man. Just the standards that have been set for us by those that have come before us, man, we got to do. We can't do anything but embrace that, you know? And I think just the. The homecoming component of it, for me, I think that's the biggest blessing of being in my role as long as I've been in my role, man. I want to make sure that those guys feel welcomed. I want to do things to make sure they remain connected to us. And calling the blitz is the same is just something that I thoughtfully do, just so they know what they're looking at and they can appreciate it and continue to be a part of it.

[Pat McAfee]

You try to sign J.J. watt at all whenever he's over there. He's got the tout twirl down a little.

[Connor]

Figured it out.

[Pat McAfee]

He was an amateur bush league towel twirler at the beginning of the season. Much better now. He's in your building a lot, though. He said, this is the last year.

[Mike Tomlin]

Maybe we don't have enough cash for 2 watts.

[Pat McAfee]

What a line. On that note, speaking of cash and leadership, Chuck Pagano has a question for you, Coach.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Coach Mike. They often say the speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack. And I've marveled at the way you've led that team and that organization for almost two decades now. Watching Hard Knocks, Coach, I saw a meeting you had this last one. I think it was Russ and Justin Fields, some of the offensive players, and you're kind of mapping out some things that had to get done leading up to that next ball game. I had some leadership council stuff that, when I was at the Colts and had a group of guys that I talked to, and a lot of it was, you know, the message for the week. The things that, you know, they were kind of, you know, my Paul Revere, so to speak, getting that message to the.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know what all Paul Revere actually did, but to your point, the deliveries, the deliverers are the message. Got it, got it, got it. It's a whole thing. That's a whole other thing.

[Ty Schmidt]

Okay. Sorry, Mike T. He might not know that either.

[Pat McAfee]

They're saying he didn't do. They're saying he did not ride as far as they're saying, nonetheless.

[Ty Schmidt]

But I think one of the things I had to do with that group initially was I, you know, there was 8, 10, 12 of them. Like, this isn't a session for you guys to come in and start bitching about, okay, the food sucks, we're working too hard, why are we wearing pads, you know, twice, all that kind of stuff. I'm sure it's an open floor for you and an opportunity, again, to get your message out for them, to get the message to the. To the team, into the locker room. But is there an opportunity for them also to come to you and say, hey, look, we've got some things that are going on, share some things with you, get some things off their chest as well.

[Mike Tomlin]

Yeah, you know, and I meet with the offensive leadership on Wednesday and Thursday morning. Weekly. I meet with the defensive leadership the same on Wednesday and Thursday morning. And my goal is to do it so regularly that, you know, the significant discussions never occur because the communication is so continual and fluid. We try to see around corners. I want to empower them as leaders, man. A component of them being leaders is them getting information or getting the why or what objectives. I'm trying to get done with a day or a week. And so, you know, it's been good this year. It's been a fun group on both sides, but again, I want to make it routine where it's not like this big meeting where they feel like they need to get things off their chest. I just wanted to be more organic and continual and fluid than that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And you Treat them all like adults. That's what I tell from watching. It's like, hey, we're grown men here. It's not a job. It should be a career. That line is a bar, by the way, that I've never heard before. There's a lot of them. You're just dropping like gold all through. These are. I don't know if you know that they're giving away all your shit right now. Boom, bang, pound.

[Mike Tomlin]

Hey. That's why I was so fundamentally against it. But don't.

[Pat McAfee]

But you're talking. You're talking like grown men. His last question. I know you don't have all day for us. Connor has a question about talking to your players.

[Connor]

Yeah, Coach, how do you feel about kind of the entire thing with Bill Belichick heading to college? Obviously, people are kind of surprised by it, especially with his age, but do you think that is something that, you know, in two, three years, we're just going to see the Pittsburgh Steelers full of North Carolina Tar Heel players, just because it will become sort of like a pipeline to the NFL with Bill.

[Mike Tomlin]

I think that's a real possibility. I think it is awesome. I had a couple of sons that. That played college football. I would have sent my boys down there to play for him in a hurry. You know, they're going to be instructed, you know, that their football intellect is going to be developed the skills relative to the positions that they play. Man, I think he's going to be great for that place and great for college football.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And West Virginia, too. Yeah, West Virginia, too.

[Mike Tomlin]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, we appreciate the hell out of you, Coach. Good luck the rest of the way.

[Mike Tomlin]

You're the man, my brother. Take care, man. Best of luck, you guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, sir. You, too. Ladies and gentlemen, head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin. Here goes, man.

[Connor]

Yeah, the man.

[Pat McAfee]

The man. He always like any Pittsburgh guy in the league. Tomlin tried to come say hello, because I feel like Tomlin felt like he was representing the Steelers organization. So you'd always say, like, we're proud of you, man. Like, that was like, legitimately how. And I would take it as like a massive, like, yeah, thank you, man. It's really nice. And then he would drop the old and cheap line on me. I said, that ain't never gonna happen.

[Connor]

Your workout too, right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. He led me through my senior pro day workout, whatever. And I. I think if he didn't do that, I don't know how many teams would have came down because the indoor facility was where the workout was happening. Everybody's running their 40s, jumping. Pat threw in there. People were doing all their workouts. So the kicking, though, had to be outside because that roof wasn't high enough, you know?

[Chuck Pagano]

Sure, sure.

[Pat McAfee]

You know what I mean? They didn't have enough stories in that indoor. So actually it was going to be down on the field. But that's quite a haul to, like, get from there. You gotta walk down a massive set of stairs, then a huge. And then walk. It's like. And it was cold as shit, so it was, like, not a guarantee that everybody was just gonna go down. I wasn't invited to the combine either, so it was, like, a massive day for me. So towards the end of everybody working out in that indoor facility, I started warming up. I just started sending nukes off the roof. Just like, boom. Like, just trying to bang them off the roof, you know, just let them know what happened. Coach Tomlin came over to me and said, like, hey, I'm gonna put you through your workout down there. We're gonna come down and see you. You just let us know when you're ready or whatever. And it was like. That was like, a big moment for me. And he literally did, like, lead a parade of just, like, scouts right down the tunnel onto the field. He walked out, put me through a field goal workout. He was talking to me while I was hitting field goals. And then the Colts and the Patriots had me punt, but the punting was to Pat White, so I thought it was for. To see Pat White return, but the Colts and the Patriots were the only ones that had me punt, and the Colts were just watching while I was punting to, like, Pat White and other returners. So it was in. It was very interesting, like, what was going on, because I assumed kicking is what I was going to do, and that was, like, the most of the workout. So all of it, basically. I tell you all that to say, like, Mike Toman pretty much, like, hooked me up, like, very much so. And forever indebted. Always been cool to me. And the way he represents Pittsburgh is awesome. Awesome. Like he is. And it's talked about, you know, from the time. How many years is Bill Cower in?

[AJ Hawk]

Well, how many years Was he there?

[Ty Schmidt]

15.

[Pat McAfee]

15. So you're talking like, 30, 40 years of just two coaches being from Pittsburgh. You know, it's like, that's just what the Steelers are. And Tomlin becomes the face of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Pittsburgh Steelers are the mood setter for an entire city. So it's like, it was really cool what he has done for Me. But taking time today is awesome. And watching Hard Knocks, it's like he said, that's why I was fundamentally against it. It's because, like, his signature lines, I assume, like, those things don't just pop up out of note. You got it. Like, yeah, those are, like, worse. Those are very valuable. They're never ending.

[Connor]

Endless. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

But I don't know how many.

[Ty Schmidt]

I can never get enough of it. I could listen to him for hours on hours on hours. What was the one you imagine when. If he ever decides to, like, retire, like, how good he's gonna be on tv?

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yes.

[Ty Schmidt]

He wants. I.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, people thought he was going to usc. Remember that?

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Because whenever you brought up the college job, I was wondering if I should follow up quickly. Remember, you're going to. They said you were going to usc. And he had to say, I am the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is like one of the greatest jobs in ball. I'm not. No offense to usc. Yeah, you're. This is the Steelers organization. I'm the head coach. Like, there was never a thought to leave. I assume there was some people that were trying to, you know, potentially, hey, how do you feel about maybe come on doing this? I assume there was a conversation about that from somebody for the smoke to become the fire that it became and him even having to address it. But I wonder if he's ever sat down and thought about going to college, especially because his sons are doing college ball and it's a bad year. Maybe the Steelers fans are telling. Oh, because there is plenty of years where we're sick of having winning seasons. We want to win Super Bowls. Yeah. Last few winning seasons. Cool. Winning Super Bowls. Cooler like that is how Steelers fans have acted. This year feels like the year.

[AJ Hawk]

It does. It feels great. And think about, he's only 52. Like, Bill just got hired to college and 72. Like, Mike can coach for another 20 years easily.

[Pat McAfee]

And when Mike was hired, nobody knew who the hell he was. And he was like, 34. 34. Yeah. He was 34 years old.

[Ty Schmidt]

Like, that's a history, though. Like, I went researching it this morning. Cower was in his 30s. They went back and listed four, five, six head coaches there. I know they've only had no. Was in his 30s. So they were. That's their. That was like their MO.

[Pat McAfee]

It's nuts. Where's he defense of the Vikings.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

So he was college for a couple years, played at William and Mary, and then he was at Memphis for a year. Wide receivers coach, then went to Arkansas State, and I think Keith Butler, who was the longtime coordinator there, they were tight. I think they were together at Arkansas State, and it was just a fast track. And then got hired as the D back coach at Tampa.

[AJ Hawk]

He was in a dungeon.

[Pat McAfee]

He's Doc. Yeah. He keeps the same energy, too. Seemingly always.

[Ty Schmidt]

We'd see him at the owners meetings, you know, every year, and it's the same dude. Just the coolest MF for walking around had. His kids were younger, his sons were young. I mean, just, yeah, I want to be Mike T. Yeah, it would be nice. Just when I do it for a.

[Pat McAfee]

Day, it'd be nice to be Mike Tomlin. Except for in those years where he wins 10 games, but for some reason gets a bad seed in the playoffs and has to play somebody who's really good and then loses and ends another first round loss for Mike Tomlin.

[Connor]

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Pat McAfee]

Who's that? You see that? That's the enders. They get real loud.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And I like to let the Injers know. I appreciate why you're that loud, but, you know, grass isn't always. Sometimes there's no grass on the other side.

[Connor]

Usually not.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, like, especially. I know there's been places that sometimes.

[Ty Schmidt]

There'S coconut corn husk on the other side.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Okay. There's no reason to even say that in this particular conversation. Okay. No reason for it. But some places do have this ability of just going in, making the hardest decision a franchise has to make successful multiple times in a row. And maybe the Steelers are just. They just get it right with coaches. Whenever they find a coach, they're able to figure out what the trade is that you have as you get a good coach. That's how you have three guys over 50 or 60 years, 70, whatever the it is. Okay. Green Bay packers, they figure out quarterback. Yeah, they do. That's. That is. They go from Brett. That was an uncomfortable situation.

[Connor]

It was very.

[Ty Schmidt]

Gosh.

[Pat McAfee]

I would like to say that it did appear as if Brett was in pretty good shape. He still is now. He's going through Parkinson's. But if you were to check elbow bicep ratio, I mean, he's thick right there. I mean, that's. He's still working. Yeah, yeah. That ain't. Those aren't show ponies.

[Chuck Pagano]

No, no, no.

[Pat McAfee]

Those are. Those are workhorses.

[Connor]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what that guy's got hanging from those arms. And listen, Mr. Gastineau, we. We. We reviewed the tape, so. Sorry. We think that sucks. We do. We do Think your life would be vastly different if you're the sack king. But on the flip side, Brett Favre was not thinking of Mark Gastineau in that time.

[Chuck Pagano]

Not at all.

[Pat McAfee]

He was thinking, strahan, my buddy. Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

My friend.

[Connor]

My pal.

[Pat McAfee]

My pal. I could do this. But Mark Gastineau says, yeah, it's those who you don't think about that are pissed off the most. And Brett Favre says, you're telling me, brother.

[Connor]

Amen.

[AJ Hawk]

Also, him hanging around and like, all the behinds players, like, hugging Farve and like, tapping Farve on the helmet.

[Pat McAfee]

That didn't make it look. Yeah. Far holding the ball, congratulating them off.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well, for being. I mean, who Brett or guy? No, all the Vikings guys are like. Did they not see what just happened? Like, celebrating and he's down crying on the grass. Oh, Jesus.

[Pat McAfee]

Wait a second, Coach. What do you mean? What are you talking about? That was. Strand just made history right there. Yeah, straight history.

[Ty Schmidt]

Poor Mark.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, you're right.

[Chuck Pagano]

Oh, really?

[AJ Hawk]

No, he gets a 30 for 30 this Friday. Yeah, the second exchange. Can't wait to see it.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so that is. That is the 30 for 30 coming out.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what Casano was filming with this camera here. Maybe running into Brett Favre. Yes. Jeez Louise.

[Connor]

Brett smiling.

[Ty Schmidt]

What was it? Down in distance? What was the situation?

[Pat McAfee]

Look, it's 34, 25. It's the fourth quarter. I don't think it says they didn't.

[AJ Hawk]

Do down in dist distance back then.

[Pat McAfee]

Up nine. Couldn't turn the ball over there. Still enough time to lose.

[Ty Schmidt]

You know, he's obviously playing for a naked boot. So they had done their studying.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, exactly. Straight hand. Saw it coming.

[Ty Schmidt]

The only reason I asked for the down a distance situation is that he's obviously looking for this boot. Sniffed it completely out.

[Pat McAfee]

Bingo.

[Ty Schmidt]

Great job by him. Film study.

[Pat McAfee]

Bing.

[Ty Schmidt]

And his coach is prepping him.

[Pat McAfee]

Exactly. Which is what Brett was saying in his mind. Didn't have time to say all that to Gaston, but I guess it's come out. It was supposed to be a run play. Farb actually just kept it. Yeah, just kept it.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's how those are supposed to look when you do the naked bingo. Remember Peyton Bingo?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Everybody else on the team thinks it's a run. He's out running.

[Ty Schmidt]

He ain't running this situation.

[Pat McAfee]

No. Brett Favre actually was thinking about scampering this one all the way.

[Chuck Pagano]

He was touched. I could use a Russian touchdown now.

[Pat McAfee]

I guess it did come out that somebody said that he did on purpose.

[AJ Hawk]

I'VE never seen Bubba Franks miss a.

[Chuck Pagano]

Block either, so he didn't. That was his only one ever.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, that's the thing. Bubba Franks thought it was a different play. So on that play, he was supposed.

[Chuck Pagano]

To just go first.

[Pat McAfee]

Nonetheless, Mr. Gas, now Brett Favre, then right into Aaron Rodgers, and then Aaron Rodgers now in Jordan Love, who we assume is a guy.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah, I think so, I guess.

[Pat McAfee]

Is it too early? Just assume that the packers get it right? Is that what people are saying, or is everybody on the same page?

[Chuck Pagano]

No, I mean, I think it's tough now with the money situation because of, like, how much guys are getting paid. But, like, Love, he. I mean, he's not. He's. He's not playing like he was down the stretch last year, but if you look at his stats and now he's finally healthy. He put. You know, he didn't play good in the first half against Detroit, but he. I mean, he was unbelievable in the second half. And I think down the stretch here, he'll show. You know, I mean, he is.

[Connor]

He.

[Chuck Pagano]

You look around the league, it's like, if you don't have him, the packers are in a good spot. They'd much rather have Jordan Love than be in the situation where a lot of these other teams are, where, you know, even, like, a Trevor Lawrence, where it's like, they paid him. I think if you're a Packers fan, you're more comfortable with the fact that they have Jordan Love than you would be if you're a Jags fan. And it's like, oh, we paid Trevor Lawrence and we're kind of stuck with it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, your team's winning, too, which is good. Or having winning records, at least. That NFC north is very, very difficult, and we'll talk more about that in a matter of moments. But, like, Absolute Dark hasn't played that much ball.

[Chuck Pagano]

No, he has.

[Pat McAfee]

No. Has it, like, second year starting, hasn't seen, like, actually seen a lot of, like, defensive fronts. Remember, whenever we talk to Aaron over the years, Aaron will be like, they actually showed something that I remember from, like, 2007, I think, the Giants. And it was like, as I saw it, I was like, whoa, I remember this. And I immediately flashed back and was like, okay, safety's coming down. This guy's dropping out. You make the check at the end. And that's why it's all the way down to zero, basically, on a play clock, every time Aaron Rodgers gets a snap off because he's recalling what defenses are doing. Jordan Love doesn't even have a lot of that? No. And everybody's already decided that he's going to only get better. So every once in a while he'll make a mistake. You know, Josh Allen was doing a lot of that. Oh, yeah. And then all of a sudden, Josh Allen just says, I'm not going to do that anymore. And he scores six touchdowns in one game. Exactly. Three on the ground, three through the sky. He is so, so special. It'd be fun to find. Josh Allen might have it in Indianapolis. There's chance.

[Ty Schmidt]

You remember what they wrote about him coming out.

[Pat McAfee]

Big hands, rocket arm. Rocket arm.

[Ty Schmidt]

Be lucky to, like, have a cup of coffee. He had a 50% completion rate coming out of Wyoming.

[Pat McAfee]

Windy, though, up there, right?

[Ty Schmidt]

That's what I said. I said that's pretty freaking good. Laramie. Anybody who plays in laramie and has 50% completion rate. But yeah, he was. He was supposed to be a bust. He was supposed to be not a dude.

[Pat McAfee]

Is it not a perfect match with Buffalo? You just talked about Laramie being a hard place to play. It's like Buffalo no snooze. No to play either. Coming off that lake with the amount of snow they get and wind they get and how cold it is, and then obviously being able to spin it through all that weather is a big deal. Having massive hands is a big deal because the weather is that. And then his personality matching up with the Bills mafia, I'd assume Laramie's pretty similar to Buffalo. You know, Buffalo is just a little bit bigger, I would assume. We have a lot of similar mindsets. We got cowboys, we got people that have a great time, but obviously both incredibly mentally tough with the weather that you're gonna have to deal with. I'm not sure everybody's ranching, but they're all living. And I think, like, Bill's mafia with Josh Allen. Perfect match.

[Connor]

Oh, yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Perfect.

[Pat McAfee]

Never, never seen Bill for tough fun. He was voted the biggest shit talker in there. I don't know if Bill's mafia is like, yeah, we're a bunch of talkers, but I do know they are very active and they say a lot of things. So it's like a perfect. Feels like a perfect marriage over there.

[Chuck Pagano]

I think coming out too. Like, they. There was the bit. It was the big hands, like the big arm and everything like that.

[Pat McAfee]

That's because part of my take, I.

[Chuck Pagano]

Think that was a big part of it, but I think a lot of people also thought he was just like a big oaf. They didn't give him credit for, like, he is so Athletic. Oh, yeah, like that. You know, like, I don't know if you saw as much of that when he was at Wyoming, but like, I don't think people see Wyoming. Well, they played. They played Iowa Week 1 and got. Wait, their ass is kicked by Josh?

[Pat McAfee]

No, no, no, no.

[Chuck Pagano]

Iowa beat the shit out of Wyoming and it was kind of like watching that.

[Ty Schmidt]

Okay, okay.

[AJ Hawk]

That was a senior year.

[Pat McAfee]

But we're saying nobody sees it. So, like.

[Chuck Pagano]

But then, but then during his first season, we should.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm not saying we should.

[Connor]

I wish.

[Pat McAfee]

I wish I saw it.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You tell me your channel and I will try to find it.

[Connor]

I dirt wyoming.com.

[Pat McAfee]

They need it. They need it. Give me the wyoming.com.

[Ty Schmidt]

All the streaming devices you got and you have found them.

[Pat McAfee]

You tell us that's not our.

[AJ Hawk]

Well, they were terrible this year, so.

[Ty Schmidt]

Do a little work.

[Pat McAfee]

Listen, we're going to try to lasso them Cowboys into our lives. No doubt.

[Ty Schmidt]

I guarantee you he had that hurdle against the Vikings.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes.

[Connor]

Anthony Barr.

[AJ Hawk]

Anthony Barr.

[Chuck Pagano]

And it was like, oh, this guy is an insane athlete.

[Ty Schmidt]

Six five, 240 pounds. Right. And he's running away from what he did in this last game against these defenders. Sick.

[AJ Hawk]

He reminds me of a more athletic Big Ben. Like when I watch him play, I'm like, oh, that's more athletic Big Ben.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so let's, let's roll with who he did that to last week. And Big Ben obviously could extend the play vastly different than Josh Allen.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Different ways they do that bag getting thrown at you drill a little bit differently. Yeah. You know, Ben's like, yeah, let's do the drill. Let's practice a little bit, get hit in the face with these bags and then let's throw it. Josh is going to try to avoid it. Try it, dance a little bit and then shit talk it on its way by. I don't know if Ben was doing that maybe, but yeah, Josh Allen is what everybody's hoping for. And there might be a few around the NFL right now. Let's talk about the team that beat Josh Allen this past weekend. The Los Angeles Rams are playing at The San Francisco 49ers tonight on Prime. The NFC west has been the most parody related group of teams in the NFL this season. Does that make sense? Yeah, I love that. That sounded like a high iq. That sounded like a Uncle Academia.

[Ty Schmidt]

You got to be bright.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Because you can get that West Virginia academia. You can just have a little bit better time. You can get up there. But the NFC west has been very, very tight. The Seahawks are currently the Kings, but there is a collision course with the Rams last game of the season and the 49ers. Oh no. Have they woken up? Are they back or do the Bears suck? We find out tonight on Thursday Night Football with a hot Rams team traveling to Santa Clara, California where there will.

[Connor]

Be chance of rain. 40% right now at kick and then throughout the game.

[Boston Connor]

20%.

[Pat McAfee]

The San Francisco 49ers are favored by three at home. The Rams head in. San Francisco 49ers have lost to all three divisional opponents this season. Ouch. Pukinakua and Cooper cup were injured for the Rams in their Week 3 matchup though versus the 49ers. Yikes.

[Ty Schmidt]

Still didn't have any.

[Pat McAfee]

The Rams have won their last two games and sit one game behind Seattle for the top spot in the division. Everybody's still in it. San Francisco is even still alive. I couldn't see it because Kornacki where he was standing there was a percentage for the San Francisco 49ers to make it into the playoffs. Chuck, what should we be thinking about when we look ahead to tonight's Thursday Night Football game on Pro.

[Ty Schmidt]

This seems like a typical Rams. They did the same thing last year. Started really slow and then got hot. They started this season one and four. They're six and two in their last eight high scoring affair. Win that one against Buffalo. They're healthy. They beat these guys Week three with nobody. I mean they.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but the Niners woke up.

[Chuck Pagano]

They did.

[Pat McAfee]

The Niners woke up.

[Ty Schmidt]

They are completely healthy. They've got some guys that are questionable and you've got. Trent Williams is out, right? They're out of running backs. Well, he's. He's questionable. He had a foot sprain.

[Pat McAfee]

No, he said he's good.

[Ty Schmidt]

We'll see. They got Patrick Taylor behind him. I expect deep. What I would be doing if I'm doing props tonight, you know Philly, they're talking about A.J. brown and Jalen hurts and all this and get. So everybody's anticipating A.J. brown should get targeted about a thousand times. Right. We just and score 50 touchdowns. So bet Debo because Debo's frustrated. He's got one rushing touchdown and one receiving touchdown. Okay.

[AJ Hawk]

Getting some carries.

[Ty Schmidt]

Juwan Jennings is the guy. He's been the guy Kittle's been the. Kittle's got eight touchdowns for him. Jennings got six. Jennings had three touchdowns in the first game against these guys. We'll see some clips later on Pat where he just ate up the Rams in week three. Yeah. So I I would suspect that. That Debo, with all the talk and the frustration, John lynch said some things that. That he's going to get. He's going to get. This feels like, okay, three losses in the division, right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

This is a must, must, must. Oh, sounds like for the Niners.

[Pat McAfee]

Sounds like maybe Chuck thinks that The San Francisco 49ers have woken up a little bit when he's. When these guys publicly complain about stuff. Wide receivers, more so now. Be who you can afford to be. If you're not the guy, you should probably. You can't talk. You'll just get cut. Like, that's how that'll go. So there's only a certain amount of people that can do this in its entirety. There is definitely conversations by the coaches immediately, like, how do we put this fire out? Can we get the guy the ball? That is just. That's the easiest way. Then we just move on. Is that. Is that happening with coaches like in San Francisco? Shanahan knows, like, hey, we got to get deep over the ball like that. He. Him and John lynch are having that conversation.

[Ty Schmidt]

Everybody knows it. Player knows that. The coach knows that the head coach, the OC this sometimes, like the game and how they're playing you a coverage, all that kind of dictates whether you can get him the ball or not. Like, if he's getting doubled and they're going to say, okay, you're going to not. You're not beating us with Debo. You're not beating us with A.J. brown. We're going to do everything. Take. Sometimes that dictates whether you can get the. You can try to force. Feed him.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Throw him a bunch of bubble screens behind the line of scrimmage or whatever and see if he can. But sometimes that. But then everybody knows, and then you're like, okay, look, let's get this thing squashed. Feed this guy.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Because it's all about the game and how you play it.

[Chuck Pagano]

Well said.

[Pat McAfee]

And I think that doesn't get talked about enough in these situations.

[Connor]

Hey, man.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you, Chuck. You're the best. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a brand new general manager for the North Carolina Tar Heel football team. Friend of the program gone too soon, man. Ladies and gentlemen, paisano, extraordinaire, multiple time super bowl champion, big football brain, Ted talker, author, podcast host, live show host, email newsletter founder.

[Chuck Pagano]

What?

[Pat McAfee]

And now, potentially a blueprint creator for college football going forward, Michael Lombardi.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

How are you, man?

[Michael Lombardi]

Welcome. Welcome to Chapel Hill, guys. It's exciting to be here. I'M not going anywhere yet, Pat. You can't kick me to the curb yet. I'm not ready to go anywhere.

[Pat McAfee]

You got a lot of work to do. You're down there in Chapel, Bill. You get it. Okay, Lambo, let's talk about it. Shoot us straight here. How long have you been thinking about getting into or back into a team and being in some sort of general manager role? And how long have you been thinking about doing it for college as opposed to the NFL? How did we get here?

[Michael Lombardi]

Well, we got here because of my great respect for the greatest coach of all time, Bill Belichick. I mean, that's why I'm here, because there was never a time in my life that I enjoyed more in my professional career than working for him and building football teams with him and understanding and learning the game of football from him. So this is an opportunity that really kind of came about because of that, and I'm really excited. At this point in my career, I'm certainly not ready to retire. I think I have a lot to offer. I think, you know, I'm probably more ready to be a GM now than I was when I was one earlier in my career because of experience. And so I'm excited to work with coach again. I'm excited to work here in Chapel Hill. We've always said this is a magical place, you know? You know, it's funny how history turns around, Pat. In 1992, Bill and I were on this campus. We were scouting. We were living in Cleveland at the time. Dark winters, cold rain, you know how it goes. And we needed to get south. We came to Chapel Hill and we stayed over at the Carolina Inn, this really magnificent hotel on campus. We brought Jim Schwartz and all the guys from Cleveland. We watched tape all day, went for a jog, watched a baseball game. And we thought, how in the hell can't you win here? And that's been in our minds ever since. And I think, to me, this is a magical place that has had great players. Lawrence Taylor, you know, Julius Pepper, some incredibly great players. We need to build great teams.

[Pat McAfee]

You guys took a snow trip down to Chapel Hill, picked up camp, moved it there. You said, you go for a jog, watch some film, go to a baseball game. You're talking about how close everything is down there at unc, right? You were able to go to maybe pop over to Duke, maybe do a little unc, stuff his wake down there as well. You said you fell in love with that place, huh? That's what happened.

[Michael Lombardi]

And then it was. I mean, you're going to come down here, we're going to get game day down here. We're going to bring the whole crew, because this stadium is unlike any other between the trees. It's fabulous. I mean, it's a magical place. And, you know, we're going to build a football team inside out. We're going to bring in young men who want to develop into pro football players. We're going to build through the offensive and defensive lines. I mean, look, this school could be called Quarterback U. We've had two quarterbacks picked in the top of the draft. Drake May and, you know, Mitchell Trubisky went in the first. First pick overall. So, you know, this has got great historical value here that we need to enhance. And certainly Mack Brown built that. And we're going to continue going to get to the next level.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so whenever you talk about building through the offensive line and defensive line, there's a whole new added element to college ball that makes an NFL GM potentially be a step ahead. Tone has a question for you.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, Lambo, congrats. First and foremost. The portal opened up the other day. How deep into portal film are you already? Because I think there's like 1500 kids already in the portal.

[Michael Lombardi]

Yeah. Well, if you want to play for the greatest coach of all time and you want to be around a winning program, please enter the portal. We'll take you. We're going to go through it deeply. I mean, you know, this is an advertisement for it. We're going to go deep into it because we're going to rebuild the team. And I think it's important. I don't think it's just about this is team building. This isn't adding players. Right. We're going to systematically and strategically build the team the right way so that we have sustainable success so that you can compete at the highest level of college football. I think that's really important. I think everybody makes too much about the cap. Certainly the players deserve to get paid. But more into the cap, there's two things that involve the cap. It involves how do we develop players to become good players and how do we pay the players that already are good players. So there's two systems that are going on simultaneously. And you need a head coach like Coach Belichick who understands that player development is the key to salary cap. You know, we've seen this. The Jacksonville Jaguars have done this for years. They buy players. They haven't won enough games. You got to develop your own players from within.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so let's talk about Developing your own players from within. We asked Coach about this the other day and he said that his recruiting move or how he's going to deal with recruiting is projecting what the proper position is for a player and then also showcasing, like if you follow and you come and do what we do, you're going to be pipeline to the NFL. Have you guys thought as a gm, I don't think any of us know these roles that are kind of happening in college ball. What is recruiting for you guys? And Coach prime obviously has been able to do it the way that he has done it, which is zoom calls, I believe, FaceTimes. And then also whenever he has to, he's making visits and doing everything he has to do and he's been able to get all of the guys that he wants to be able to come there. Then there's the old school way where, hey, we're on the road, we're texting, we're hosting, we're doing all these. How do you see your guys recruiting world being, you know, because that's the biggest difference seemingly from the NFL.

[Michael Lombardi]

Well, the biggest, the biggest thing is we're going to evaluate the players on the tape. That's the most important. We're not going to watch highlight tapes, we're going to watch the player play. But the player in high school is different than the player in college. You have to use high school to really give you an idea about the player. Let's take Cooper DeJean for the Eagles, second round pick out of Iowa. If you watched his basketball tape when you played basketball in high school, you're like saying to yourself, this guy's a unique athlete and there's something we can do with him. You know, there's four kind of scouts, Pat, in every organization. There's the poor scout who can't see anything. There's the picking scout who picks on one thing the player can't do. And then there's the production scout who only grades the player's production. But the most important scout in your organization is the projection scout to see a player and project his future. And so that's our job as scouts. We're going to go to these high schools, we're going to watch players, but we're also going to take into account what did he do in track, what did he do in wrestling, what does he do in, you know, the best state wrestler in North Carolina is probably could be a great offensive lineman. So we're going to take all the, all the elements that go into an athlete and put it together. And paint a picture. And then what we're going to do more than any, more than anything is we're going to develop that player. We're going to develop the skills from within that fit the system. Because we're building a team. We're not building an all star team, we're building a team. And that team is related to what we're going to do and win on the field.

[Pat McAfee]

I forget who it was. Just a couple weeks ago, somebody in the college ball world might have been Coach Saban, I'm not sure, said, hey, there, there's an opportunity for big kids in high school, you know, like to be offensive linemen, wrestlers. There's an opportunity to potentially get into the football world because you think about all the great offensive lines, basically, throughout colleges, it's always like, this guy was a high school wrestler, this guy was a high school wrestler, this guy was a high school wrestler. And you guys, you guys showing up and watching a game, the buzz that's going to be there is going to be so real. And then the conversations that follow afterwards, I assume people are going to feel lucky to get an opportunity to come into the Bill Belichick University for the NFL. You know, like, that is. That's a wonderful thing. I'm excited to watch you kind of piece that together. Speaking of your entire program, Connor has a question for you.

[Connor]

Yeah, congrats again. And let me just say that tie is Al Michaels Ask. Absolutely perfect.

[Michael Lombardi]

You know, when I tied it this morning, I was thinking of you, Connor, and I was thinking of Al. You know, Al's cheated us lately without the real tie. Now, last week he gave. Now we'll see what he does tonight. It's in San Francisco. So we get a good nod out of Al.

[Connor]

Yeah, I expect his Division 1 work, especially now that Bill's back in coaching. But with that being said, it was alleged that Bill wrote a 400 page kind of report breakdown about how the team would be run and how the program would look, and he gave it to the board. Is that something you have read or that you knew of and did you help them kind of build that together and have you kind of contributed to that plan when it comes to that 400 page report?

[Michael Lombardi]

Well, I think everybody has contributed to that plan because Coach Belichick is a meticulous note taker and he's an incredible processor of information. I think that all those notes that he talked about with Chancellor Lee Roberts here at North Carolina were all about his life, the education of a coach. And I think that went into all that, I think we become better coaches, we become better executives as we get older. You know, some of the mistakes we made when we think we know it all at age 30, we find out that we didn't know it all at age 65. But I think part of that notes is how to build a winning team and how to build a championship. I don't know if it was 400 pages, but I'm sure from all the coaches in New England, all the coaches that were with us in Cleveland, they all contributed to that as well, because it's a learning process that you go through to how to build a team the right way and how to develop. And that book will keep going on, too, so. But I know this Coach Belichick knows exactly what he wants to do with his program, and in that document that he presented to the Chancellor is exactly what the Patriot Way was all about.

[Pat McAfee]

I appreciate you saying, I don't know if it's 400 pages, but there were certainly, certainly something like the report valid. The page number a little bit much, depending upon the size of the font on any given day. I think I read about that report that he had. Maybe he had maybe given that to, like, other teams this year because he was asked to consult and then he would, like, kind of change or write how he felt about their program. Is that true? And did you guys spend this year learning a lot more about college ball because of Steve?

[Michael Lombardi]

Yeah, we did, you know. Well, we both have helped out. I've helped out Washington, you know, obviously, Bill Son Stevens at the University of Washington. Washington. And, you know, I was involved with the Arizona program through Jet Fish and now that Washington. So we've been around the program, and I've gotten a lot of phone calls about salary cap when it comes to college football. I'm sure Bill has, too. But, you know, it's not as easy. It's a little bit like you want to evolve, you want to steal the Princeton offense. Unless you understand how it really works, there's no sense in stealing it. And I think that's the secret to what Bill understands. Everything has to work together, from the nutrition, the strength and conditioning within the program, and then it goes into the teaching and the development. You know, when we were in Cleveland, we had two coaching staffs, basically Ozzie Newsome, Pat Hill. We were coaching offensive and defensive linemen while the other coaches were coaching the team, and we were developing young players at that program. So it has to be a systematic approach. And I think that's what Bill probably presented to Them. And look, there is nobody, I keep saying this to you on the show. Who's going to interview Bill Belichick? Seriously, who could be qualified to interview? We have four openings in the NFL, I think, now, or three. Like, who's going to do the interview?

[Pat McAfee]

So that was a big part of the conversation. He's 15 wins away or whatever from being an NFL head coach. Did he. From your perspective, obviously, you don't speak from anybody, but from your perspective as somebody that's been around him long time and around him currently, do you think he was just didn't want to play the whole song and dance again with the NFL and saw an opportunity that he thought he would love? Like, why do you think this inevitably happened?

[Michael Lombardi]

Well, I think because if you just follow everything he's ever said during his career, it's team first. And I think individual awards have never really mattered to Coach Belichick. I think it's about winning championships. I think it's about chasing something bigger than himself. Could he have caught Don Shula? I'm sure he could have. Would he have felt good about it? Not if he didn't win a championship. So. So I think it was about that. And winning a college national championship to add to a resume that's incredible would be something that would be really enticing to him because it's a team sport. So I think that. And I think, look, the NFL landscape has changed dramatically. When we both got in the league, me at 84, him back in the 70s. It's a different league now. There's a lot of people, there's a lot of collaboration going on. I'm not sure it's the right thing. We have a lot of bad teams in the league. But I think it's hard to set up your program the way you want it in pro football today because there's a lot of people that have opinions that don't really know. And so I think this gives you a chance. It's interesting. If you go back and read the Education of a Coach, written by David Halberstam, there's a section that Halberstam actually predicts this was going to happen. Now, that book was written in the early 90s. He predicts that it was going to happen because he know, he watched Bill, he was observant, he understood Bill, and he knew Bill wanted to connect as a teacher to players, that it was more important that he did that than it was chasing his own victories.

[Pat McAfee]

Shaping the future is a wonderful thing. Teachers, coaches, very grateful for all of you. And now you guys head to college to potentially create the future of the NFL. Last question here now on all of that from Coach Pagano.

[Ty Schmidt]

First order of business. Lambo, I know you got a lot on your plate and a lot to do. Is the first order business? Is it evaluating the team that you have now, the players that are coming back? I know we have roster reductions coming in NCAA football, right? Like, it's going to be 105 players. I've heard, like, where do you start? Where do you go from here as far as, you know, the evaluation process? I know the portal is open. And then lastly, from a coaching staff perspective, I know there's guys there. We know guys that were on the Mac Brown staff. Will this be a combination of NFL guys that have worked for coach before and college coaches, guys that have been on the road, recruiting type guys.

[Michael Lombardi]

I think the first thing we're going to do is scout inside out and we're going to grade every player that's on the team to make sure we know what we're looking for. There's no sense in going into the open market if you don't know what you're looking for. Any road will lead you down if you don't know where you're going. So I think that's the most important thing. The second most important thing is we're going to make sure we have a quarterback, right? We're going to make sure that there's quarterback and quarterback competition on this team and we repair the offensive line. And the coaching staff is going to come down to Bill deciding on what coach fits. You know, building a coaching staff is like putting together a rock and roll band. You need the right people at the right playing the right instruments and all working together in concert. So I think that's what's going to happen. But I got to tell you, Pat, I am really excited to be here. My wife Millie is with me. I am excited to be doing this. I can't wait. I mean, this campus just electrifies you. Last week I was with you guys. I saw you with. My highlight of last week was I got to see you guys. I didn't see you in, but I got a picture with the Duck. I was so happy I got a picture with the Duck. You know, the Duck is phenomenal vibe of college football. It was a phenomenal. I love the Oregon Duck. Go Duck. So I'm really excited about this. I'm excited about this point in my career where I think all the years that I've spent on leadership, all the years that I've spent learning. I think it can come to fruition here at the University of North Carolina.

[Pat McAfee]

We can't wait to watch. We're so thankful for you and everything you've done for our program. We will certainly be here. Anything you need from us, you're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, the general manager.

[Michael Lombardi]

Thanks, guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you too. Michael Lombard. Yeah. The GM Crazy. The GM Podcast. Yeah.

[Chuck Pagano]

GM Shuffle.

[Pat McAfee]

The GM Shuffle. Now he's the GM of unc.

[Connor]

So cool.

[Pat McAfee]

That is so cool.

[Connor]

Rejuvenated.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, you want to hit the open market if you don't know what's in all roads can go down if you don't know where they're going.

[AJ Hawk]

He's so happy.

[Pat McAfee]

Just bars every. He's so happy.

[Connor]

So happy.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. We need to build a football team again. Okay. We don't have to listen to any of these billionaires. All right. Okay. This is awesome. Yeah. He's excited to be back in ball. We talked to him yesterday whenever it was potentially lingering and we might have found out he said, I'm back.

[Mike Tomlin]

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[Pat McAfee]

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[Pat McAfee]

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[Pat McAfee]

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[Mike Tomlin]

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[Pat McAfee]

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[Boston Connor]

5 dollars, you don't even need to.

[Pat McAfee]

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[Jen Latta]

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[Pat McAfee]

Football is amazing. We're lucky to talk about it every single day. The toxic tables here at Boston. Connor. And that's how Schmidt went after the.

[Chuck Pagano]

Oh, emotional.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Connor]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

He's going home. Going home Tell the world he's going home Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday need that for this. Yeah. That's national J.

[Chuck Pagano]

That's right.

[Connor]

And mor.

[Pat McAfee]

Tell everybody. Who's that by.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah, you're right.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Oh, who is it by? There was an original before that. Come on. Who's that by?

[AJ Hawk]

I don't.

[Chuck Pagano]

By Diddy.

[Connor]

That guy.

[Chuck Pagano]

It is Diddy and Tyler Gray.

[Pat McAfee]

Not the original. Not the original one.

[Connor]

Everyone knows.

[AJ Hawk]

Sounds like Sky.

[Pat McAfee]

You know there was an original. I'm glad there. No, yeah, I'm talking about the. What do you think?

[Chuck Pagano]

But the part we were just doing is Scholar girl.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm talking about the arrear. Not. Not. Just don't say Tom Joneses. We're talking. I'm talking about. I don't know what you guys were singing. You guys are talking about Puffy's. That is. Wow. I didn't know that's what you got. I was talking about Tom Jones's version of that song.

[Chuck Pagano]

I've never heard Tom Jones's version. Just like never on every morning in.

[Pat McAfee]

The hawke, I listened to Tom Jones.

[AJ Hawk]

It's why you guys always screw yourselves. You can't care about the artist.

[Pat McAfee]

Artist.

[AJ Hawk]

Okay, Just the art.

[Pat McAfee]

No, see, that's one half of the hammer. Cowboys can't be doing that. Okay? You have to keep it all in perspective. I did not know that you guys were singing that. I was singing.

[Chuck Pagano]

You're singing to Tom Jones. Well, we just got our wires crossed there because Had I known, you know.

[Pat McAfee]

You should have known that I was.

[AJ Hawk]

Tom Jones Elite art.

[Pat McAfee]

I think a lot of music might be up.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah, we might be running into that a decent amount.

[Pat McAfee]

I am a bit worried.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I listen to a song and then all of a sudden I'll open up my X account and I'll read a post and it's like, can't sing that song. That stinks. It's all over. It's all right. Get the bad guys out and girls get them out.

[Connor]

Someone make new music.

[Pat McAfee]

Speaking of good guys, back it. Ladies and gentlemen, back in the Thunderdome for another week of fantastic analysis and maybe even a winner against the spread tonight.

[Chuck Pagano]

Hope so.

[Pat McAfee]

Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Pagola. Yeah, Coach. Got a winner last week. Yep. Got a winner last week. Appreciate you. Yeah. Hand out, hand out. Whoa.

[AJ Hawk]

Three and a half.

[Pat McAfee]

Three and a half. Some people got it as a push at three. He took it at three and a half. That's a win. Go ahead and take that thing, Chuck. Oh, he's cold. And guess what? He's heating up. He's taking the. Whoa, whoa. He's thawing out like. That's good acting. Oh, he's back. Not bad now. I didn't expect that amount of. That's my first time seeing that. I didn't expect that amount of excitement on a kind of a little bit of a. I thought maybe, I think was gonna stop halfway, like I took.

[Ty Schmidt]

Should be at home when you did it last week.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, I want to let you know, congrats on a big win. Do you have a good feel for tonight?

[Ty Schmidt]

I do.

[Pat McAfee]

That's good. Stein's over.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Sometimes you just gotta go back home. Go back home. That's Tom Jones. Yeah.

[Chuck Pagano]

The Tom Jones version.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Join us now, ladies and gentlemen, man who lives in Ohio, he's former president of Ohio. He's the college football national champion, super bowl champion, all time leading tackler for the Green Bay packers, ladies and gentlemen, he's AJ Hawk. How you doing, aj? Tom Jones. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Tom Jones version.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Tom Jones, for sure. I know you always said that this is the Tom Jones version, guys, even before the whole Diddy situation.

[AJ Hawk]

What situation?

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you, A.J. somebody listens to me. I am incredibly proud.

[Boston Connor]

I pay attention.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, not all. We. We know that's not 100% true, but like, I do appreciate you saying what you just said. I would like to hear what you have to say about, you know, a couple big news. Three things that actually broke in college football over the last 24 hours. First of all, Rich Rodriguez is back at West Virginia. How do you feel, A.J. hawk? How do you feel about the Mountaineers going forward? Are you scared for Ohio State and everything in the future? Because at some point that flying WV is going to pop on to that 12 team, 14 team College Football Playoff and there's going to be a Buckeye on the other side and sorry about it. Okay. West Virginia is about to be great again and I thoroughly, truly believe that with him because of his wish to make it right. And he's got a lot of motivation. He's got some things to get off of his back and off of his conscience. I believe going back to West Virginia, motivating it, I'm pumped about it. I guess. There's some people, West Virginia still like, I don't know how we let this guy back, but it's like I think he understands those people, he wants to earn them back and I think they're going to win. Like I, I just think they're going to win automatically and I don't know if that's right or not, but I think it's true.

[Boston Connor]

Well, I, I feel like I've said this all along. It feels like this was a no brainer. Rich Rod went and kind of went and, and had his other gigs and he's shown that he still can run a very explosive offense and this dude is West Virginia. I mean I get maybe it's like a, an an age thing because I remember this era. I. The great run that Rich had when he was there and all the great players that you guys had come through there. So yeah, that's part of it, I'm sure. But yeah, why not? Why would you not hire. At least give him a shot.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's do it. Yeah. And there was a lot of people that wanted to get so incredibly lucky that our school is in that position and obviously shout out to us. Being in the Big 12, a lot of people see opportunity to get to the College Football Playoff. Not saying the Big 12's lesser conference, but it is a big seemingly for the playoff if you're able to win the conference. And we didn't even get a chance to ask Lombo about that. But like North Carolina acc, okay, you win conference, you get in like that's one of those situations that is appealing for a lot of people these days, especially with how it's going and the need for it to be run. You know, I think there's like an old school style coming back to football. I think, you know, like, I think the salary cap that's about to get put in place with what those contracts are going to look like from schools as opposed to just fugue nil deals. Like, I think it's going to get back to like developing and like working and like, it's not easy and like, there's going to be some adversity and you're going to have to develop. I think, like, that's going to happen with West Virginia. But I also think transfer portal Rich is going to be able to find the guys that he thinks. So I think it is going to be a boost quick like that are.

[Boston Connor]

His guys that are his guys that fit the fit what he is looking for. That's what every coach is doing. But Rich does seem to be very good at finding guys that would work for his system and that would work in. Within his culture, I guess too. That's a huge thing.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And back in the day, it used to take a couple years because the off season is the only time you can kind of reload, you know, it's the only time you can really make anything happen. Now you can. You can get. Right now he can get guys, you know, and you look what Signetti did at Indiana. It's like, how many guys at his Jacksonville State team that just won the Conference USA are going to get poached by. By a big school anyways in transfer portal, it's like, does Coach Rod have any of those guys study? I would assume that he has guys that know the way he goes about doing his. Know the way the workday is going to look like. Know the way the offense or defense looks like. It's like Rich has those guys that are going to be able to get in there. And then obviously whenever he meets with the current team, you heard Lombardi say, like, hey, if you're out there getting a portal, we're looking for you. Which is basically saying, we're going to bring our own luggage, you know, and it's like. Which is what Coach prime said. But that's kind of how teams operate. That's like what teams look like is a revolving door, a carousel. So it's like, how many guys at West Virginia currently that have not transferred and maybe they're waiting for the bowl game to play, which is cool. But like, how many of those guys does Rich Rod think are, you know, and how many of those guys think they can actually. He needs a Rich Rod be in that program.

[Boston Connor]

Can you tell guys to transfer? Can he. Like, how can he get guys out of there that he doesn't want there?

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know it. So it used to be like, through workouts, you'd be able to tell. I think that's. I think he legitimately was like, hey, these summer workouts, we're going to find out who's supposed to be on our team and who's not supposed to be on our team. Like that. And we get it out of the way before the season starts, before training camp starts. And I. I know there's a lot more rules and everything like that, but, like, the intensity of those workouts and like, what it's going to be, that, like, builds, you know, the pro. That's where the program is like, like built well, that.

[Boston Connor]

That winter conditioning, that's the biggest thing. Like those 6am runs and workouts that you do as a team that are, you know, you go to bed the night before and everyone's anxious, nervous. I'm going to sleep in. I know I got to go there and kill myself for 90 straight minutes. But you become. That's when you become a team.

[Pat McAfee]

Scared to death, too, that you're going to mess up. Yeah, scared to death. You're going to miss your alarm or that you're going to miss a run and everybody's going to have to pay for it. And it's like, you can't even sleep tonight before these things because you're going in there, there. But it's like that attention to detail, that accountability that's showing up for each other, that builds a team. Like, that's how, like, that's how teamwork comes together, which I do think we're losing because, you know, they say when you sweat together, you know, like, that's when. When you cry together, when you go through things together, that's what builds, like, a team nowadays. I don't know how much of that there is because once it gets to like, too much sweat for some people or we're going anywhere near adversity, I could bring Nick. It's like, well, we're out of here Portal. They're going getting more money. It's like, I think Rich has had to evolve, obviously, through it all, but he's going to find his guys and his guys are going to have a work eth. Like, these dudes are going to be in shape. These dudes are going to be fast. These dudes are going to be ready. Like, that is part of the team. So how many guys on that team are ready for that too? You know, like, that is okay, cuz. Hey, he didn't get brought in here because the team was Winning. Yeah. You know, like we're brought in here to do this. So I'm excited for him to meet this team and for this team to meet him and, and really see who's there. Because if Neil's been able to bring in some recruit, we've had a lot of NFL guys, he's been able to bring in recruits. If Rich can, you know, be transparent with these dudes on what it's going to be like, which I think he will. Day one, I think meeting one, it'll be like, hey, this is how we operate. Bang, boom, boom. This is what I expect. This is how it should go down in the weight room. This is how we operate. Boom. This is how how this whole thing goes. If there's guys in there that I hope and I think there will be that are like, yeah, this is what we've been kind of. This is what we've been waiting on. It's like he's in a much like he's in a great head start if that's the case. But if he has to fill through the transfer portal and find all those guys in like a two week meeting with people or a one week meeting or a couple day meeting, I don't know how easy that's going to be. So I think it is big how this roster ends up being constructed. And tomorrow I and Connor will be live from the Coliseum. Doors open at 10:30am there on the beautiful West Virginia campus. Beer will be served at concessions. Why, I've been told potentially tomorrow's a celebration. After our show goes live from 12 to 1:30, then the press conference will take over on this particular program. And then we will follow with that for as long as it's entertaining. And then as soon as it's on, we'll hop back in a room that is not in the gym to finish off the program. But tomorrow should be electrifying. I have no idea how many people are allowed in. I do believe it's going to be like a first come, first get seat thing. I think Mountaineer Maniacs are going to be there. I think they have allotted a large portion for them. So it should be electrifying. I'm excited to hear Ren and Rich talk about the whole process. I'm excited to hear Rich's vision. I'm excited to hear the response too. You know, I can't wait to get out there. What stream is about to be back.

[Boston Connor]

How many people? People? How, how many people is that place?

[Pat McAfee]

See, so they cut it in half. They're setting it up Like a. Like a fight presser, you know?

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Where you go into, like, a bowl, but instead of they're doing it right down the middle of the field. So it's like half the bowl, I think, is going to be. Or like, I think it's like a.

[Connor]

Quarter of the arena.

[Pat McAfee]

Like a third of the arena. I think it's gonna be like a third of the arena. And then obviously, press conference and then the press.

[Boston Connor]

At least a couple thousand, you think?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Should be a pretty good little environment. And from what I've been told is no classes tomorrow. Next week is finals week.

[Connor]

Oh, yeah. Makes sense.

[Pat McAfee]

So there's no class on Friday, so.

[Chuck Pagano]

Makes sense.

[Pat McAfee]

I think tomorrow could be a nice little celebration, I think. I don't. I don't want to put Carp before the horse here, but I think tomorrow could be pretty electrifying and also pretty pivotal day in this whole thing, because however, coach Rod decides to talk about the opportunity in the team, the first time, big, big, big deal for people to hear, you know, And I think. I think the state's going to be rallying behind him. And Then Bill Belichick, A.J. how do you feel about him officially doing that? And Michael Lombardi, friend of the program, being the general manager down there.

[Boston Connor]

I mean, I think it's. It's awesome. When you listen to how they're laying it out and how you hear Lombardi, you can tell how excited the dude is to be back in there and working with Bill. Five years, 50 mil. That's the first I'm hearing of that. That's nice little deal.

[Pat McAfee]

10 mil per. I guess it was originally reported as 3 years, 30 million. And then the journalists that reported that say, hey, journalistic standards, got to correct it. It's actually five years, 50 million. Still got to write for 10 per. Didn't know it was for five. Thought it was for three. So we appreciate said journalists. Forget the name. I do apologize.

[AJ Hawk]

Journal.

[Pat McAfee]

Nobody's got it in here. No, I looked around a room that did not have it here.

[AJ Hawk]

A lot of blank faces.

[Pat McAfee]

But I would like to let him know I appreciate what he did reporting, then correcting himself to get it accurate. Yeah, but five year, 50 million is what has been allegedly reported on the second go round. 10 million a year. Head coach at North Carolina, he's got.

[Boston Connor]

A presser today, correct?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. 2:00 it goes off. I believe Marty Smith is actually live from down there. We could probably cold call him here.

[Chuck Pagano]

Hell, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

In about. Yeah, let's cold call Marty Smith, see if. See if he's down there.

[Boston Connor]

He's going to go old school. Normal Bill. Remember in his last time he was on the show last weekend, he said I got to get my. What do you say? My press conference or a back or something.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So that's a whole nother conversation. College, you can't do that, right. That's ain't because you're always recruiting.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, yeah, you can't. You're going to be who you are. He can't go down there.

[Pat McAfee]

Part of his door.

[Chuck Pagano]

I don't know though.

[Pat McAfee]

Imagine that local media going from Mack.

[Ty Schmidt]

Brown who like they're crapping their pants right now. Can you imagine those guys called Mike some student reporter.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Why did we do that?

[Pat McAfee]

I would hope the student reporters he would understand like hey, I'm shaping the future of this too, you know, so he might actually that question just sewed the dumb. Just why would you even phrase it that way? What if he is teaching these student reporters whenever they ask a question, you want to know about our defense. So you should have said like hey, what about your front seven getting beat up in the rush as opposed to blaming the secondary on the run. Like when you ask these questions, they need to be much better and so does our front seven. Great question.

[Connor]

And that goes right to special teams.

[Pat McAfee]

What are you. Oh yeah.

[Connor]

Reporter just asked ask about special teams. There'll be a home run every week.

[Pat McAfee]

Other teams punter or just college punting in general? Because college punting rules are different than NFL punting rules. I am actually very excited to see what he does when it comes to special teams in college. Favorable rules in college for a lot of things. Unfavorable hash marks in college for kicking like just absolute crop absolute crap. That they're that wide should not be move those things in. But I guess they said it was for the good of the field back in the day. I'm excited to watch Bill take advantage of special teams and all of the football wise. He'll be able to coach the football. We're talking about recruiting, we're talking about running the business on the field. He'll be good regardless. They'll be good regardless.

[Ty Schmidt]

Absolutely. Because I don't care what level it is. I mean good players want to be coached, they want to be held accountable. They want discipline and he's going to give them the proper fundamentals, the technique. It's always going to be that foundation. Right. What's important. The ball is going to be important. Blocking, tackling, throwing, catching. He's going to, he's going to emphasize all that, what's going to be fascinating is watching the staff come together because we really don't have any idea yet.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Who do you think it's going to be?

[Connor]

I mean, I think it's the usual suspects. I don't see how McDaniels and Patricia and I mean, I would even assume some of the Cleveland guys like Lambo brought it up, you know, the Cleveland staff, that they had any guys like that were. I'm assuming Saban's going to be some sort of consultant. Without a doubt. Why wouldn't he be when it comes to Bill?

[Pat McAfee]

Well, he's consulting with West Virginia.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Connor]

Of course, he's got enough time on.

[Pat McAfee]

It, not enough time on his hands.

[Connor]

But it would be safe to assume that he's going to help Bill, too.

[Pat McAfee]

How about Tomlin coming out and saying, I would definitely send my boys down to Bill? And we talked about that over there. Like his recruiting legitimately might be like the IMG parents, right? IMG parents that send their kids img, they're like, hey, this kid's going to be professional athlete no matter what the sport is down there. But they're, they are kind of like, yeah, this is happening. So going to Bill is almost like, hey, you're going to NFLU here. Pretty much that is how they're pitching it. I think it is going to be possible for him to get great recruits from that, like, legit. I think it is possible.

[Boston Connor]

How quick? I guess. How quick is the question. I guess.

[Pat McAfee]

Can you.

[Boston Connor]

How quick can you get him in there? Obviously it's very important to have a stud quarterback. We know, we know that it kind of jump starts everything, but. Yeah, I mean, he, the parents, even if the players don't know Bill, as they haven't seen him as the coach that won all those Super Bowls with the Patriots, they still know of him. The parents are the ones who probably witnessed all of the greatness of Bill.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Good luck down there. Good luck down there.

[AJ Hawk]

It's exciting. All exciting.

[Boston Connor]

Dan Moen, too.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I was just about to bring that up. Dan Mullen literally, just what a week ago, two weeks ago, told us. I love tv. What's better than this? Well, I just, I. I didn't sweat. It is the first time on a signing day where I wasn't up until 3am calling somebody, praying to God that they would sign a letter of intent to the school that I'm coaching. And now it is being reported that UNLV has hired Dan Mullen to be their next head Coach, they go from Barry Odom to Dan Mullen. Congratulations. UNLV and the coach Mullen getting back into coaching. It's one of those things. These football guys just can't get away from it. No, no, they're addicted. They can even like, spew talking points that other people tell them. You know, like the people that told Dan Mullen about not being up at 3am having a call recruit, probably his family, saying, how nice is this? You don't have to be up at 3am calling recruits. We get to have a dinner, we get to hang out, go to bed, wake up tomorrow, hang out with the kids. Then he'll do a show. Then he got the. The bracket really is. How much nicer is this than what you had to be doing in the past? And Mullen comes on our show, goes on other shows. How nice is this? Yeah, this is the best.

[Ty Schmidt]

You know who's most excited that he took that job?

[Pat McAfee]

Who's that?

[Ty Schmidt]

His family.

[Pat McAfee]

Bingo.

[Ty Schmidt]

Hell, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

They were spewing all that stuff to him. He was saying, yeah, this is nice. This is nice, this is nice. This is. Yeah, this is fun. This is fun. This is fun. This is fun. And then all of a sudden, you know, he's like, hey, you want to get back into the ground? Or like Vegas, how much you guys paying? Let me.

[Chuck Pagano]

5 million bucks a year.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. All right, so what do I gotta do? I gotta call people at 3am the night before recruiting. I love doing that. I love competing, I love beating people. I'm right back in it. That's just like such a football person. That's like such a football guy thing right there. Can't get away. Even though literally within the last week was laying out a lot of reasons why he would never do it. Because the West Virginia job was up and I was almost like, we need to pitch this guy. But he sold me so hard that he's never coached again.

[Ty Schmidt]

So you know how good at recruiting he is.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, my God. Yeah, you're right.

[Ty Schmidt]

Freaking kill it.

[Pat McAfee]

Those 3am calls, he can't get it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Once it's in your blood, you cannot replicate in the next life what you've done. From what I have here with you guys and with this program, it's a. It's a team, you know, you feel part of something. And when you leave the game as a player or as a coach, that locker room, that camaraderie, that common suffering that you're talking about, game day, competition, the grind, it's hard to fill days you can't fill. You can't replicate that. You can't replace that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. That's why you coach as coach forever. That is literally what happens. And we want to let you know we're thankful that you're hanging out with Miss Tina a little bit more. Hanging out with the grandbabies a little bit more. Golfing a little bit more. And still being dialed in so much to that you have a winning record against the spread on Thursday Night Football. We love you, Coach. We're happy you're a football guy that was able to get out Andy Dufresne somehow. Yeah. Because most of the time, not possible. No.

[AJ Hawk]

He would. Tell you what that, you know, Vig comes up and Bellagio Bob's there. I think Coach is going back to coach.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Bellagio Bob.

[Connor]

That was my credit line.

[Pat McAfee]

What a dog. You kidding me? Part of the negotiations.

[AJ Hawk]

Did you call Mullen yet?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Have you talked to Mullen about Bellagio Bob and the hookup he could possibly get?

[Ty Schmidt]

I need to get on that now that it's, you know, official.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, there was rumblings.

[Ty Schmidt]

Fugaz. You don't know it's Fug anymore. We can't now it's official. So. Yeah, we'll get Bob on the phone. He'll be jacked up. He sends his best to the program.

[Connor]

God, send it back.

[Pat McAfee]

That's why Bellagio Bob's the best.

[Connor]

That night was. Send it right back times 100.

[Pat McAfee]

Tell him we love him. And the suite that he put me in was the most hilarious room I've ever been in in my entire life of anything.

[Chuck Pagano]

It's Palagio, Bob.

[Pat McAfee]

We're just up on. We're up above. Above the.

[AJ Hawk]

That's Bellagio.

[Pat McAfee]

This thing is 30,000 square feet. It felt like I'm there for one night. One night. Can't even. Like my bag is just a small bag. Wife's bag, small bag. Can't even put. Can't even experience the whole room in one night. Bellagio Bob.

[Chuck Pagano]

That's Bellagio Bob.

[Pat McAfee]

Absolute dog.

[Connor]

Gets it done.

[Pat McAfee]

Joining us now is someone who we hold in basically the same air as Bellagio Bob.

[Connor]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Live. Just on. Just dropped.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh. That's not good for recruiting. Don't got any service down there.

[Connor]

Can be more focused.

[Pat McAfee]

Ladies and gentlemen, a man who is live from North Carolina, Tar Hill University, for the scheduled 2pm press conference with Bill Belichick, athletic director Bubba. I assume there's going to be some higher ups that are also going to be there. Michael Lombardi is going to be there and also their Living legend. Ladies and gentlemen, Marty Smith.

[Connor]

Yay.

[Marty Smith]

Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen. Good afternoon. I'm trying to make these earbuds work, but W's earbuds. Here, take this back.

[Pat McAfee]

Wy, we appreciate you. You're an absolute dog. Wy, cameraman. I forgot for the A. That baby Wy, North Carolina fan. He is living high right now. Hey, ask Wy how last year's Duke's Mayo bowl went. Can you please. Can you ask him real quick?

[Marty Smith]

How did last year's Duke's Mayo bowl go?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Marty Smith]

Big thumbs down from Team Wiley.

[Pat McAfee]

Who did that? West Virginia. About to do a lot of that, brother. We're in the same boat, Marty. It looks wonderful. Where are you guys at? Theater, press room. And what are the expectations here? Bill's going to lay out why he's doing that or how does this expect it to go?

[Marty Smith]

Yeah, there's a lot of things I want to know, Pat. I mean, I want to know why this job is right for him right now. I would love to know how he'll define success at the University of North Carolina. I would love to know what role his son's coaching future might have played in this decision. I would love to know what he learned in his year off that he might bring to this. I want to know how he believes his historic NFL success might translate into his goals at the University of North Carolina. There's so many intriguing aspects of this decision for Coach Belichick, and this is massive for the University of North Carolina boys. I mean, it's. This is a basketball school period in a paragraph. And for them to have been able to land this gentleman. I mean, look, this is. We don't get shocked anymore. What's shocking anymore?

[Pat McAfee]

Nothing. But this is.

[Marty Smith]

I didn't see this one coming the other day.

[Pat McAfee]

Neither did we. We thought this was a potential leverage play by Bill Belichick for an NFL team. I think a lot of people thought that publicly. And then he came on our show on Monday and laid out exactly. Exactly what he would do. It was like, oh, this guy is very well researched. Obviously, that's Bill Belichick. And then we just talked to Lombardi, who's the general manager down there, Super. Multiple times super bowl champion. And he was like, it was never about the win record for Bill in the NFL. He's team guy, team guy, team guy. He wants to go wherever he thinks he'll be able to build a team and develop a team. And he didn't think the NFL was necessarily like that for him anymore. This provides that opportunity. I'M excited to see. See if it works out. Are you just standing in the middle of a room right now, screaming into a phone? What does that look like right there?

[Marty Smith]

Yeah, I am.

[Ty Schmidt]

I am.

[Marty Smith]

I'm standing here, and I'm actually using Wiley's phone. I don't know if I can turn this around. I'll just do this. Come here. Look at this. Let me just show you guys around.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, please do.

[Marty Smith]

Say hi to the McAfee Show.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, how are you? Good to see you guys. Congratulations. Congratulations.

[Marty Smith]

So here is Coach Belichick's spot where he will address the entire world.

[Pat McAfee]

Keep that water.

[Marty Smith]

And then you have the North Carolina chance. Lee Roberts will be seated right here. I'm not a very good camera person.

[Pat McAfee]

No, you're great. You're doing great.

[Marty Smith]

And then you have athletics director Bubba Cunningham right here. And then beside him, the legend, the great Steve Kirschner, who has been the sports information czar at the University of North Carolina since I was in diapers. He is a great man. The media is assembling as well. What are we, fellas? We're about 35 or 40 minutes from when this thing's supposed to start. So the people are making their way here again. I mean, it's. It's an historic, historic moment in this university's history. Because I don't know the exact stats of one of Yalls folks back there in the back who have the computers and the brains, but I don't think they've had but one 10 win season since 1998. Oh, and that was 2015, I think. Think under Larry Fedora. You can look that up. I think that's right. But, hey, Kirsch.

[Ty Schmidt]

Kersh.

[Pat McAfee]

Kersh, Kersh.

[Marty Smith]

Let me just ask this. Let me ask you, am I right? 1110 wins, 110 plus win season since 1997. And that was 2015, I believe that's correct. Okay. I'm told that's a correct.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you.

[Marty Smith]

You're welcome.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a good answer on a cursive. Might be new Schwab star Schwab. I'm sorry, it's not Swami. Geez Louise.

[Marty Smith]

How do you guys feel? I'm so intrigued by the evolution part of this for Coach Belichick as a person and as a leader. Because if you look at the paradigm shift we've seen in college football, right? Like college football coaches, they grip and grin at donor events. They kiss babies and shake hands. They have so much media responsibility. There's just a lot of variables involved outside of the coaching sphere that the CEO of a college team has to manage.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Marty Smith]

And I'll be fascinated to see how Coach Belichick manages all that. And you may have spoken with him about this.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I was about to say, what if he doesn't.

[Marty Smith]

I don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

The thing is, what if he doesn't like that? That's the thing. Like, what if he chooses not to? Like, what if. What if some of these things you're talking about that are certainly very real for a lot of college coaches, and I think it scares me to death to even think about being a college football coach, because the amount of expectation and the amount of time that you have to spend working every room that you're in because you're constantly recruiting, I wonder if Bill Belichick is going in there and there's an expectation of like, nah, like, we're going to get our guys in here, we're going to recruit our guys, and all the donor stuff. Like, we're going to win. You're going to want to give money to it. Aside from that, I got a general manager Michael Lombard party. You could talk to him about our academics and everything like that. Like, I wonder if that's a part of it or if he just has understood what all goes into it. And he spoke at a lot of different companies now. He's been at a lot of different conventions. Maybe he doesn't mind, you know, the happy hour handshake and the conversation to get donors. I am intrigued by that as well, Marty. But I legitimately think, what if he just chooses not to do it? Is that even possible in college football, Marty?

[Marty Smith]

I mean, maybe for him. I know that. And nobody knows this better than you guys with your great relationship with Coach Saban. But it was very hard for Coach Saban to manage in his heart and in his prospectus, roster management, when roster management meant lawless free agency. Because right now in college football, we have free agency that allows the players to leave anytime they so choose. And when you have a scenario where you want to develop players and prepare them for the next level and they want to know how much money they're going to make, that's hard on the heart of an old, grizzled, old school, hand in the dirt, hitch in the mouth college football coach, or for pro football coach in this case. So there's just a lot of things I wonder. Obviously, he's a genius when he gets on the grass. There's no doubt they're going to be competitive in my mind. But it's everything else that. I wonder what, what that looks like for him. They're kind of warm and fuzzy. Warm and fuzzy ain't been his brand, Pat.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, except for at this ring ceremonies, obviously. And who knows if this is even a positive one? With Craft there, who knows? Looking back it all now, none of us know anything. But I do wonder how it's going to go. They're kind of setting a precedent how future teams could operate. We got a head coach, we got a gm, I think he said there's going to be a director of player personnel, obviously all the coaching staff and consultants. He said there's no limit to who can consult on your team. Now, this kind of, this might set a precedent for how future businesses at the college football level run. I'm very eager to watch it all go. Go ahead, A.J.

[Boston Connor]

Marty, what's the vibe in there from all the local media? Are they a bit anxious, you know, waiting to see what kind of what, what Bill Belichick they may get and, you know, how responsive he might be to their questions?

[Marty Smith]

There's definitely a great energy in here. There's people filing in now, A.J. and the room's starting to fill up. Basically where we are. We're in a kind of like a. I think what it would be is a hospitality kind of suite of overlooking Keenan Stadium. And so it's, that's, it's way. Y'all can't see that far, but those windows back there is the football stadium.

[Boston Connor]

Nice.

[Marty Smith]

And so that's where we are. People are starting to make their way in and yeah, I mean, obviously there's tremendous optimism and I don't know, I don't remember a time other than in a basketball context where this in. I live in this state. I live right down the road in Charlotte. I've lived here more than half my life. I know what all of this means to the Tar Heels that are my neighbors and all around us. They've always wanted to be relevant in football and they've been all right every now and then. I mean, Mack Brown had them humming back in his first tenure and. But they've just basically been kind of there. And now this seems like it might be an opportunity for them to make a big jump. Look, in today's iteration of college, college football, we have revenue sharing coming next season, we have free agency. We have all of this kind of pro model infiltration of collegiate athletics. And then you look at what, for example, Kenny Dillingham did at Arizona State. They were picked dead last. Nobody thought they would be competitive and they won their league and they're in the College Football Playoff. So you can flip it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Marty Smith]

If you, if you have the right guys. He just has to make sure that he has the right players.

[Pat McAfee]

Kurt Signetti at Indiana is the perfect.

[Marty Smith]

Correct.

[Pat McAfee]

Because Indiana basketball school, long time, even though they haven't been to Final Four since like long time, like 20 some years or something like that. But they are a basketball school. Kurt didn't have a lot of resources like for football at all. Weight room, didn't have their own weight room, didn't have a lot of this stuff. Kurt Signetti gets in there and obviously brings in his guys flips. The culture was able to raise money. On that note, Ty has a question for you. Marty.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah, Marty, a report came out that said one of the stipulations or you know, something in the contract was the NL nil portion. And it was reported that North North Carolina basically committed like, hey, yep, you guys will have a 20 million dollar nil budget next year. How quickly did that come about? And also like for the, you mentioned it, you know, like it's a bastard basketball school, end of paragraph. Are people in like boosters and donors, like, are. Do you think they're, they're okay with this kind of shift in commitment towards like, hey, we want the football team to also kind of take center stage while they're also competing for, you know, a national championship in basketball this year?

[Marty Smith]

As as far as the confirmation on the number, I have no idea. But I think that's one thing that we would like to dive into here in 30 minutes or so with the chancellor, with the athletic director Bubba coming, Cunningham, and, and Coach Belichick, because that's a massive, that's a massive shift and football is king. I know that this is a basketball school and that's what people in Tar Heel State love. And that's the pedigree and that's the tradition and that's the brand. But football, if you're good at football, it changes your entire athletic department paradigm.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh yeah.

[Marty Smith]

And, and that is, that is a very important thing right now, at least in my opinion. My opinion. And if they can get good in football too, and they're really, really good in both of those arenas, then I think that you change your math quite a bit. And so who knows about whether or not they have committed that? I saw that same report this morning. So we'll, I'm sure they won't be super forthcoming with us on it, but we'll see what we can find out.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so to your point there, though, if your football team gets going, it's like there, I think there's 63,000 seats in the football stadium. It's like, if you could fill that up and those prices can go crazy. That's obviously a massive addition to this revenue world that we're about to get into. The revenue sharing world, the merch that can go. And then also the showcase. Now, UNC basketball, obviously, whenever March comes around, the whole world sees it, but with how sick those unis are, with how sweet those unis look, if they're on, like. Yeah. If they're getting showcased, it's like money up, enrollment, everything up for every school. That's what football does. That's just reality of America. Indiana is currently experiencing it down in Bloomington. Now, let's talk about the future of unc, shall we? And maybe you'll be able to find this out. Coach Pagano has a question for you. Marty.

[Ty Schmidt]

Hey, Marty. I know Coach has a ton to do once this press conference is over. Everybody's kind of anticipating and looking forward to see who he puts on his staff. There a lot of rumors, speculation that his son Steve will follow him there. And we don't believe on this program, I don't believe it. That part of the stipulation in him taking this job was that Steve would be the coach and waiting at some point. What do you know on that? Out.

[Marty Smith]

I've heard the same things. Coach, what an honor. Get to chat with you, brother. I tell you, that's a very intriguing piece of this for me as well.

[Pat McAfee]

And in.

[Marty Smith]

In driving up here, I was thinking so much about what questions I would like to ask Coach. And the way I would ask it is what role did your son's coaching future have in your decision? And that lets him share his truth. I don't know what his truth is there, if there is any, but it certainly is widely speculated. And I'm a dad. I mean, I can understand if it is true.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah. You'd pardon your son. Yeah.

[Marty Smith]

Steve has a very good job right now. But I will say that if you're in a position where you can help your children, then you're certainly going to conclude considerate. So I look forward to hearing what he has to say about that too, as we get moving here in a few minutes.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Being a parent is a different animal.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, I saw that beautiful girl this morning, and I was just like, anything you need, you know, like that, it's just a. He's a different animal. And obviously we've Seen it with Coach Belichick throughout his entire career here at the NFL. But on that note, kind of the future. Connor has a question for you.

[Connor]

Yeah, Marty. Is the expectation, you know, five year contract. Contract he signed. Is the expectation that it's five years and done and then whatever happens after, you know, continues on, or is there a thought like, hey, of course, yeah, he's 72, he's old, but he's not just going to be there for five years. If all goes well, like, this could turn into a 10, 15 year thing where Bill Belichick's the face of UNC football.

[Marty Smith]

I think that that would be a.

[Pat McAfee]

Was he talking to Ty there? He said, tell your Iowa guy hi. Did you hear that?

[Connor]

Yeah, I did hear that.

[Marty Smith]

Because sometimes, sometimes these things don't work the way you hope they're going to work. And if he's here for five years at a high clip and they're talking about extending and moving forward and all of that, then that means this was a rousing success. So I think that everyone would sign up for that who's about to enter this room here in just a bit and make this announcement formally.

[Pat McAfee]

Marty, thank you for taking time. Brother, you look phenomenal. You look phenomenal. The hair. Hair. Hair is perfect hair. Look at this hair.

[Marty Smith]

The real kicker. The real kicker is what your suit, your suit jacket lining. I can't imagine what Patty's suit jacket linings look like, but look at these. Look at these motorcycle rider skulls.

[Pat McAfee]

Two motorcycles. That is. Is that, Is that in the pocket square till you pull that up? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Marty Smith]

I got. I got a solid pocket. Pocket square here. I was a little rushed this morning, so I'm not sure it even matches my tie. No, it does, but we won't talk about that part.

[Pat McAfee]

No, Bill won't point that out or anything. All right. We appreciate you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, Maury Smith.

[Connor]

Yeah. Marty.

[Pat McAfee]

David Allen does my suits. He. He really does. The inside is where the show is. That's where they start doing it. And then if that's connected to the pocket. You see, that's your pocket square.

[Chuck Pagano]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

It's an E. That's a game changer magic trick. Yeah, that's a. Oh, I don't have a pocket.

[Chuck Pagano]

Oh, wait a minute.

[Connor]

Just kidding.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I do. Look how professional I look. Now, granted, this sport coat, no offense, David Allen, you know this. I'm not a big dress up guy. So those sport coats go on. They're awesome. They fit perfectly. They look cool. And then I take them off and then I put them.

[Connor]

Put them in a ball.

[Pat McAfee]

I put them in a ball. Yeah. You know that's in a ball.

[Boston Connor]

Supposed to.

[Ty Schmidt]

Right?

[Pat McAfee]

We got the next one. David Allen sent over. Shout out, David Allen. I appreciate it. Looks like it's good. Let me see. Yep. Like a glove. Sweet. I'm done with it. All right. I think it's coming off in a ball. And then you see what has happened here is we have got to the end of the sport goats.

[Chuck Pagano]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

So now we're going back to the ball.

[Connor]

Go through these balls and you probably.

[Pat McAfee]

Could have been able to tell that the last few weeks on game day, we've been in the ball. We've been pulling out of the bottom of the ball, you know, because that's the furthest one down. That's the longest one ago. I've been pulling those things out of there. But every time I put it on, I'm like, oh, yeah. And then. Thank you, David. You're looking out for me. I look professional here. And then we move along.

[AJ Hawk]

If you want, I will gladly run into my dry cleaners, have back to you in a day.

[Pat McAfee]

That's very kind of you to do that. And that's probably something I should do. I should put them in a big old garbage bag and just drop them off.

[Chuck Pagano]

Figure it out.

[Pat McAfee]

Please figure this out. I'm not. I'm not good with the whole dress up thing. Marty always looks cool.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Do we think Bill has full tie today, right?

[Chuck Pagano]

Absolutely.

[Connor]

Carolina blue for sure.

[AJ Hawk]

Or.

[Chuck Pagano]

Or he's got sideline attire on and he looks like a slob.

[Pat McAfee]

That'd be awesome. Maybe it's post game. Bill, when he walked in with the ripped. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Mambo's knotted up. Bill's knotted up.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you think what Lombo's doing matters with Bill?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, he takes. Yeah, I know who leadership he follows. So. Yeah, the boss man's in a tie. I'm wearing tie.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. I got.

[Ty Schmidt]

Boss man was in a quarter seat zip, which is very popular down there in the Carolinas.

[Pat McAfee]

Of course.

[Ty Schmidt]

Nice quarter zip.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, exactly. Loafers, tassels.

[Ty Schmidt]

Not nice pair of loaf. No.

[Pat McAfee]

Do they have the sunglasses that attach?

[Chuck Pagano]

They are croakies.

[Pat McAfee]

They are. Those are cool.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, they do.

[Pat McAfee]

Those are really cool. I could never do it because something just that. Like that big hitting it. But I lose sunglasses all the time. I think that is a genius move by them.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And it's some. Some guys even get like, you know, sunburn on the back because of those CRO. That's like a. A sign of like getting it done down there. Yeah. Shout out to North Carolina, that place.

[Ty Schmidt]

I was there one year, 2007.

[Pat McAfee]

Everybody coaches there. How come we're just now here and.

[Ty Schmidt]

Everybody'S coach lived in Meadowmont? It was like a three mile ride door to door to the football facility in my home. We bought a house there. We didn't stay but a year. Sold that. Lived right across the street from the golf Finley golf course, the college course. There's a steakhouse halfway in between that was like. The place is absolutely off the charts beautiful.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's what he was saying. Basically. He was like, we're watching film down here. In the off season because we are sick of Cleveland's weather. We rented up the Carolina Inn. He said we just kind of posted up shop, made our off season plans out here. We'd walk around, go for a jog. Say, how the hell can they not win in this place? Beautiful, huh?

[Ty Schmidt]

Stake 54 was the name because it's right on 54. That's right off of that highway. Yeah, it's beautiful.

[Pat McAfee]

This guy always angling good.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, no, no. It just came to me. The only reason I said not shout out, not this.

[Pat McAfee]

No, no, no.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's a good steak.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a chance we're gonna be back down in that town.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, if you're there, you have to go to 54.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, I will. No, nothing in time.

[Connor]

Good to know.

[Pat McAfee]

54 is the spot. What do we got? We got good meat diner. We're like a barbecue, right? North Carolina's barbecue place.

[AJ Hawk]

Sweet barbecue.

[Pat McAfee]

Sweet barbecue. Bojangles.

[AJ Hawk]

The pine straw, the beautiful tree. The pine trees.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, my God.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm excited to see how this works with him because we're all asking the same questions because we're all wondering the same things. Bill Belichick's gonna be recruiting.

[AJ Hawk]

Well, there's a pretty popular answer on the Internet for that one.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. One photo.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, of course.

[Pat McAfee]

Airplane ride.

[Boston Connor]

Oh, yeah.

[Connor]

I feel. I feel like it's gonna work. I really do. Maybe that's going Patriots fan. It's Bill Belichick. But I just assume all those NFL guys who, like you mentioned, who have kids, they're going to go there. And then you also assume those academies img, the one out in Vegas, I forget what it's called. I mean, Bishop Gorman. Bishop Gorman. The one in California where Chris Henry Jr. Goes. Like all of those schools, I assume are just a pipeline for kids to go to big D1s, and the goal is to go to the NFL. And now instead of that, it's going to be like, well, you should probably just go coach under.

[Pat McAfee]

How about that? These kids are preparing to be professional athletes since they're, like, 15 years old. Yes. Like, hey, this is the plan. Right? This is the whole. This is the whole plan. Here you go. And then bang over to here. And I love that they're just open about it, like, yeah, that's who we are. That is what we are. That's our entire angle. We'll see if it works out. He showed up this morning. Boy, he looks. Jolly holidays. Hey, guys.

[Chuck Pagano]

Excited.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey.

[Chuck Pagano]

Excited.

[Pat McAfee]

All right.

[Boston Connor]

Nice weather.

[Pat McAfee]

Good to see you guys. Hey, hey. Can't wait to joust with all of you in every post game press conference. Should be fun. Marty Smith saying that everybody's excited in the room. There's a buzz. I do wonder who's the first sports media person down there to look at a peer and say, our job just got, like, infinitely tougher.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Infinitely. Couldn't even. But I think also much more relevant. Everything. Sure. So that's good news for all parties.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Good luck down there, Bill. We're pulling for you.

[AJ Hawk]

I saw someone tweet. Can you imagine the first time he's on the sideline and has to watch Dabo run down that hill?

[Chuck Pagano]

That is going to be the interesting.

[Pat McAfee]

Part, because hearing all these chants.

[Chuck Pagano]

Well, that and, like, college. College coaches, like, talk to each other. Like, it, like, on Twitter and in the media. Like, that happens a lot more in, like, you know, like, can you see.

[Ty Schmidt]

Him and Dabble trying to yuck it up.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what I mean.

[Ty Schmidt]

Trying to yuck out what?

[Pat McAfee]

Bless y'all. Co.

[Connor]

Pretty good.

[Pat McAfee]

D. That was a good.

[Boston Connor]

Was that D. I didn't know. Dabo's in studio.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Can you coach?

[Pat McAfee]

That was.

[AJ Hawk]

Look out, Ty.

[Boston Connor]

I didn't really hear it. Can you do it one more time?

[Pat McAfee]

Ch. I don't think I heard it either. What was. I didn't know we had a coach. Dabo Sweeney impersonator.

[Ty Schmidt]

Can you imagine?

[Pat McAfee]

How do you know Dabo?

[Ty Schmidt]

He's just going to be like, oh, Bill. Yeah.

[Connor]

What's Nabla sound like, though?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. What is. What is.

[Boston Connor]

Hey, what's he say?

[Pat McAfee]

What was that particular action?

[Ty Schmidt]

We got to do it our way.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. All right. I don't know.

[Boston Connor]

There it is.

[Pat McAfee]

There it is.

[AJ Hawk]

I closed my eyes.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, man. Speaking of closing your eyes. Let's all close our eyes, Ladies and gentlemen. We're talking a lot of college ball. Let's talk about the most important thing where 12 count down to one and we crown well said. A new CFP national champ to close your eyes let's experience this together, okay?

[Marty Smith]

We're mixing things up.

[Pat McAfee]

It's about time. CFP National Champion that's how we crown a CFP National Champion Champs keep the dream alive get a first R by 5 to 8 play 9 to 12 winners move on and the crowds yell.

[Connor]

New Year Shakes.

[Pat McAfee]

Burst it on the scene it's about time.

[Boston Connor]

No, no.

[Pat McAfee]

I better not be going out on air.

[Boston Connor]

Not one shot on me.

[Pat McAfee]

Show the.

[Boston Connor]

Show the video.

[Connor]

Come on.

[Pat McAfee]

Champion.

[Connor]

I better not be.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, I think somebody's finger slipped back there or something like that. Yeah, sorry about that.

[Boston Connor]

Now I get it. Now I understand.

[Pat McAfee]

You didn't close your eyes one time, though. We could see you.

[Boston Connor]

Because I can't. It's too, you know, it's captivating. I have to see that.

[Pat McAfee]

Optically pleasing. You're right. That is what makes a good commercial. Catchy, very informative, funny. And the more you listen to it, the better it gets.

[AJ Hawk]

Was last night. Who had it in my head the entire time?

[Pat McAfee]

No.

[AJ Hawk]

Fall asleep.

[Connor]

You were not. I was brushing my teeth, singing it in my head.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. As the wife and I were laying down, I said, CFP National. And she even said that song was something. She cut me off and I said, champion, please. You know the words. I know. You know, know the words. And I think I should have been running all year. Yeah. Yeah.

[Connor]

I love that thing now.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, me too. Because it's actually. It's kind of explaining what's happening in this new 12 team playoff. So I think that should have been run like during the year because of how informed is four bowl games in new year six? I mean, just like one through 12 championship buys. I mean, it's just like they should have been running that all year, you know? So then we do hear it a thousand times. You know, we're like, like, okay. And the whole crowd yells, yeah. That's how we. Yeah, like we're in now. It's like, everybody, all we care about is a 12 team bracket. Yeah.

[Connor]

It's like, wait, what are five to eight doing? Oh, yeah, they're hosting nine to 12.

[Pat McAfee]

Bingo. I would have known that. All year, easy champions get a buy. Highest four.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, that should have been all year, I think. But now it's up and running. Thank God we have it. Yeah. One last time here for the.

[Chuck Pagano]

Thank God.

[Boston Connor]

Who's this teacher? Who is that? This is a high school class.

[Pat McAfee]

Professor.

[Chuck Pagano]

Didn'T watch it enough.

[Pat McAfee]

New Year Six. Oh, they rotate every year. Could be from any of these conferences. Oh, and that guy goes through a class. Champion. You get it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Champion.

[AJ Hawk]

There you go.

[Pat McAfee]

That's how we crown it. Next Friday night it kicks off. Yes. IU never daunted heading into South Bend, Indiana. Come on. Waiting for a touchdown. Jesus. To take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Big announcement yesterday. College game day will be at this cape.

[AJ Hawk]

Hell yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I believe it's going to be a. I believe it's going to be a good show. A long one, Diesel. I believe it is going to be a long one. Excited to get in there. It's the first game that's kicking off the 12 team playoff. These are exciting times. Two teams from Indiana representing for the great Hoosier State. I'm pumped. And I think both teams probably feel good about the driver. You know, I think both teams are probably excited about having to face the other team. And I'll. I'll have everybody know that here in the great state of Indiana there's a lot of Hoosiers, okay? A lot, a lot of Hoosiers. And they've been quiet for a long, long time about football. So they may be picked up cheering for the Notre Dame team because they're from Indiana and they play football. But since Kurt Cignetti got there and those boys have the greatest margin of victory in the entire country on the season, the way they've been winning, the way they've been talking old school style squad. Those Hoosier fans are back and very, very loud. And they're going to be going into a very loyal Notre Dame faithful. That stadium should be absolutely electrifying. Everything we talk about with this new 12 team playoff, showcasing the home field advantages in the environment of college ball, is going to be on beautiful display in South Bend, Indiana next Friday night as Marcus Freeman host Kurt Signetti. It should be fantastic. And then next day there's three games that are kicking off at noon. Penn State has. Then the afternoon game is Texas. Clumsy.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And then the night game is Tennessee traveling up to the Horseshoe. We got the SEC traveling up to the Big Ten in a massive way. That's going to be electrifying. I mean, it's. Next Friday kicks off something special when we have 12 teams and countdown to one. You know what I'm saying?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

You like your Boise State team or no? You like him to win. You like them to not be the team that people say, wow, what an easy road. You have to play. You get to play against.

[Ty Schmidt]

T shirts are already made. What are they saying count us out.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, oh.

[Boston Connor]

Would you like the buy Chuck? Would you like.

[Pat McAfee]

Are you.

[Boston Connor]

Do you get worried if your team has a buy like that in the middle of everything?

[Ty Schmidt]

Uhuh. No, no. Get healthy because you can still practice enough. Good on good. Not kill him like Saban. I just went back and remembered what Nick talked about. Remember old school days when he was prepping for a bowl and they had the big window. You guys asked him what'd you do prep wise for that month. And he used to just hey, this is. We're going to grind meat. We're going to get the young guys ready and kill them. They had enough. They got bored with the process.

[Pat McAfee]

Yep.

[Ty Schmidt]

Wasn't exciting. So they're going to do it right.

[AJ Hawk]

You send that to Boise? Did you send Saban's answer to yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Talk I hate need had a conversation.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh yeah. Giving the game away a little bit. Coach Saban's helping out the Boise State Broncos which is good. I like that coach. He stopped by game day. He was good.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. Spencer's good dude. Coach Danielson.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Chuck Pagano]

God fearing man.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he does love. I appreciate that. That's, that's the entire culture I'd assume with how open he is, obviously the identity of the team takes on the identity of the coach. How's he doing? You think he's perfect for the job?

[Ty Schmidt]

Absolutely.

[Pat McAfee]

I think he was great on the show. Yeah, I think he was really good on game day.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, he's some of these coaches, he's smart, well spoken. Really think he says it all makes sense. You like what he's doing, he's great with the kids. He's energy out there. I mean every single day it's the same human being.

[Pat McAfee]

Community likes him, loves them. Okay.

[Ty Schmidt]

I like that you know 12 and one they're gonna love you and that. There's been, I mean Chris Peterson, dirt cutter. There's been some great coaches go through that, won a lot of games and what he's done in a short he interim last year came in the interim won the Mountain west beat UNLV and he's back to back Mountain west champions. Beast 35 years old too. I mean he's a young gun dog.

[Connor]

Got gentee to stay, he'll chew some.

[Ty Schmidt]

Gum and he's, he's a lot of energy.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he did get gently to stay. That's a big deal. I mean that's a big storyline in the around college football especially because he's obviously high been in a conversation and superstar and winning the games. The way that he's winning. And then also what they did to Oregon, you know, at the beginning of the season, well, that was a different organ, a lot of people are saying.

[AJ Hawk]

But nonetheless, which was also, I mean, Boise was playing their best ball at the beginning of the season. So maybe this, this layoff is actually really good for them.

[Pat McAfee]

Georgia Kirby Smart said, these boys, these dogs are going to rest. That's what he said. Because that commissioner right over there. That. Yeah, that. You know, great camera work.

[Boston Connor]

Great camera work.

[Pat McAfee]

Kind of get him in a corner. Sankey has no idea he's on shot. They're like, shake. You can't take what he's saying. And a lot of people saying they had five games to say, Georgia, we don't want to hear. I think what he was talking about is they had to play all the good teams.

[Connor]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

They had to play all the good teams because the SEC was like, hey, our marquee games are going to be our marquee games. Which now with the way everything rolled out with SMU getting in over Alabama and obviously Ole Miss being pissed in South Carolina being haunted, how does that go going forward? Who knows? Who knows?

[Connor]

We. We sure Carson Beck's playing?

[Chuck Pagano]

No, no.

[Pat McAfee]

That arm looked bad.

[Connor]

Look like purdy.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he actually said. He said it's bad.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's on Reddick.

[Connor]

Yeah, exactly.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's a ucl.

[AJ Hawk]

There's no chance.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but he was able to get back in her handball. This guy loves ball.

[Connor]

Gunner Stockton's a tough son of a gunner.

[Pat McAfee]

Might make an appearance here in the next hour in our Ram truck segment. That's right. In the next hour we'll be doing our final Ram Wow Trucked segment where.

[Boston Connor]

We will final one.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well, this is it, huh?

[Pat McAfee]

This is it. We shouldn't do it any longer, right?

[Chuck Pagano]

Probably not. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Chuck Pagano]

There's all these kids who are in the playoffs, you know, they already got Ram trucks.

[Pat McAfee]

We'll be giving away a beautiful 2500 heavy duty rebel ram truck to one college football player that laid the boom legally. We'll also be breaking down tonight's game giving our picks sports centers on the other side. Out of this break, we'll continue on YouTube, Disney Plus, ESPN plus and tick tock live. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. My change your life. I think I hit it. I think I know a lot of people that are watching there, though. Like they don't really have the audio on because it's just like at a bar or an airport or cafe. So I try to do this one always at the End. So they think that we did. It was spot on. You know, when other people are giving answers and we're about to power right through. I'll always give one of these because then the people that are watching have no idea. Idea that we just.

[Chuck Pagano]

Right.

[Pat McAfee]

And the clock just completely. Yeah. But they know that we're going to a break. But they have no idea that J is in the middle of. Oh, yeah. You know, like he's gonna. This answer is going to continue until 59. Right. You know, which is four minutes out. Yeah. But they think because we do one of these, it's.

[Chuck Pagano]

Oh, he saluted. They're done.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a little trick of the trade.

[Ty Schmidt]

They don't miss anything.

[Connor]

Disney plus. Pretty cool.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes. We're on Disney plus, though. Yeah.

[Connor]

I had no idea.

[AJ Hawk]

I thought actually yesterday.

[Pat McAfee]

I guess that's a really big deal. Sounds cool.

[Connor]

I mean, that's where Star wars is.

[AJ Hawk]

I went to go put Toy Story on.

[Pat McAfee]

Boom. That's what it is. I guess. I guess it's like everything's in there. So we've been doing Netflix for Baby Girl for whenever she needs a movie time or whatever it is. I guess Disney plus is all they have. Everything.

[Connor]

Great stuff.

[Pat McAfee]

Everything. Yeah. I was getting tweets from people that are like, hey, over on Disney plus for my kid. Wild to see your guys. Show show or whatever it is. So shout out to whoever did that move. Anybody? Bob? Probably.

[Connor]

Yeah, Bob.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you, Bob. We gotta be the worst thing on Disney plus. By far the most unique. Maybe no questions asked.

[Connor]

You know, a lot of stuff on Disney plus. A lot of stuff. And not all of it's been good.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, is that. Have you seen those drones? They're still coming.

[Boston Connor]

I want.

[Connor]

I. I don't. Like I said yesterday, I don't even want to talk about.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's get to a break. They're rebel ram trucks.

[Connor]

I'm genuinely scared.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's get to. Let's get to a break. Don't be. Because what can you.

[Boston Connor]

Are they drones? Are they actually drones?

[AJ Hawk]

That hit me last night.

[Connor]

That's what I'm saying.

[AJ Hawk]

I got real scared last night.

[Pat McAfee]

How do we not know, man?

[Connor]

How's the New Jersey governor saying, like, hey, we need the military over here. Okay. We need the military now because we don't know what's going on.

[Pat McAfee]

And he's.

[Connor]

He's the one saying, like, we need.

[Pat McAfee]

To shoot one of these down. They won't let us and see where it's from. Yeah. What the hell it is. I never know what's real. What isn't these days? I think that's a problem on why a lot of people aren't talking about it.

[Connor]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

Because, like, this is a very wild situation, which would be a. If it's happening. But all the. All of the things that are saying these things.

[Ty Schmidt]

Pretty big deal. Wall street this morning.

[Pat McAfee]

What happened? What? I don't know what he's bringing you guys.

[Chuck Pagano]

Did DJ T ring the bell?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he did. He did. He did.

[Connor]

I buy dj.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, I had no idea. That's what happened.

[AJ Hawk]

We got big.

[Pat McAfee]

Is Wall street going up? And the drones are flying ahead. How is the drones affected?

[Ty Schmidt]

Wall street market.

[Pat McAfee]

Really? What does that mean?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, I mean good. It means good. You have a portfolio, by the way. Never mind.

[Connor]

Extensive, diverse.

[Pat McAfee]

Tell me if you think. Think I am the type of human who would ever trust any suit ever to have the money that I've worked my ass off with. No, never.

[Ty Schmidt]

No portfolio. That was a bad. That was dumb question. For a guy that knows you pretty decent, been around you a little. Little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

People get so mad at me to these. These suits that I'm referring to, you gotta have. You gotta. Yeah.

[Chuck Pagano]

Diversify your portfolio.

[Pat McAfee]

It's like, who's gonna do you? I just met you, like 20 minutes ago.

[Chuck Pagano]

Well, yeah, I can.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Yeah. How you doing? All right, buddy.

[Ty Schmidt]

My recommendation would be like, you're probably gonna own your own team, but let's get 10. Let's get in one of these teams. Let's buy, like, glory.

[Pat McAfee]

Just bingo. Then you got to get into one of the funds, though, because those things. So that's what I'm trying to try to get into one of the funds, and the funds just kind of make the money off themselves. You see. Then all of a sudden, you're not just. You're not stock market. You're actually the businesses that are in this. That's kind of the Garden game. Got her.

[Ty Schmidt]

Gotta.

[Pat McAfee]

Gotta remember, 2009, I get in the NFL first time ever with money ever. First time knowing people with money, really. And boy, they had just lost it all in 2008. All of them. Every one of them. It was all signed, sealed, delivered, no problem at all. Put your money here. You're gonna be great. So I'm a little gun shy. I'm a little gunshot in that entire world because I would like to see the money disappear in, like, professional wrestling rings or like Thunderdomes or like, other things like that than just somebody emailing me saying everything's gone. You know, that's just. That's just A different. That's just a different way of me viewing things. But you're right. I do need to be a little bit smarter with my portfolio. Especially if this stock market, which everybody knows how it works, right?

[Chuck Pagano]

Without a doubt.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's about time. Not timing. That's all you need to know.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, let's get to a break. Speaking.

[Connor]

The wolf, right, aj?

[Boston Connor]

Yeah. You got it, Chuck. Yeah, just Pat. Just response.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, that's the. I agree. I agree. Let's get to a break. Let's take some time. Perfect timing for that.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

On the other side, we got Coach B's pick. We got the Ram truck segment. Final one of the year. Crazy Mount Boom still reigns supreme. But there are three great contenders. One of these players will win a 2500 heavy duty rebel Ram Truck. Right? Hell yeah. Diesel powered, right. Can pull anything out of anywhere. Also, it feels like it's floating.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, my God.

[Pat McAfee]

When you hit the gas pedal. It sounds all right, but it's not obnoxious. It's not an. But it certainly lets the world around it know that I got the power to get done if you need it, but also the comfort and luxury to get you A to B if you want to. That's 2500 heavy duty rebel ran. We're giving one away.

[Ty Schmidt]

Peace.

[Pat McAfee]

Tomorrow sometime. No, next week sometime next week. Next week sometime. We'll have to delete that off the Internet. So nobody.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, what if we delete it? Then there's gonna be.

[Connor]

The voting will close and then.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but then everybody knows.

[Connor]

Oh, that's what you're saying?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I wish we could hide. Tweet. Can we hide?

[Boston Connor]

Can't you hide the results somehow?

[Connor]

I think there is a chance you can do that. Tell Elon where you can vote for it and your vote goes in. But it doesn't show what the percentages are.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. But then all of a sudden it's gonna be rigged.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

We don't want to do.

[Mike Tomlin]

That's not.

[Chuck Pagano]

Who really won.

[Pat McAfee]

Show us. Oh, you deleted it. Mount Boom was in a battle with the algorithm. Yeah. A couple weeks ago. Quit manager belly to back suplex.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Remember that?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

1%. The cow people were like, isn't this technically within 1% draw? I'm like, you guys much smarter than me. That's probably accurate. But with that being said. Said what I'm looking at right here says Mount Boom 1. Sorry votes. I don't like it though. They were call. They were saying fake votes were coming in. Whoa, whoa, whoa. But also saying 20, 20 I mean, what?

[Chuck Pagano]

Never said you.

[Boston Connor]

Can you do that? Can you buy votes?

[Pat McAfee]

I have no idea.

[AJ Hawk]

Mount Union or Cal, which school do we think is capable of, you know, hacking the system?

[Pat McAfee]

Well, I will say this. That 2500 heavy duty rebel Rams going to have a tough time getting around that cow. Universal.

[Marty Smith]

Oh, man.

[Chuck Pagano]

The emissions out there, too, in California.

[AJ Hawk]

The Cummins Diesel does not put out many emissions.

[Connor]

Slash your tires.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, well, I'm just saying. Not a lot of room to park, right, Gumps, if I do recall. I mean, that place was. Yeah, it was tight quarters, for sure. It was active. It was cool. It was a cool experience being out there.

[Ty Schmidt]

Hills out there, though.

[Pat McAfee]

Hills. And it's very active. Lots of skateboarders. Skateboarders were flying around. There's people. I mean, that was. That was the most active place we'd been all year. Great hot dog. Great hot dogs at that one place. Old Buddy had served it to us was. It looked like he did not appreciate everybody that was coming into his place.

[Chuck Pagano]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

So I thought, oh, this is one of those Philly cheesesteak place where, like, they're pissed off. That was not the case. He just serving dogs to people I think he didn't really like. As soon as we get in there, holy shit. This is what you guys need. Started laying out all the hot dogs we needed. He was right. They were so good. Gump, how good those dogs. Phenomenal pizza place. What was the pizza place called? Do I remember? I don't know.

[Chuck Pagano]

It was you.

[Pat McAfee]

Talk about piping hot. I don't know if there's anything more than piping hot lava. That was that pizza. You probably eat it 45 minutes later, still burn your mouth. It was so hot, you couldn't do anything with it.

[Ty Schmidt]

I'm through with that.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know. It was the hottest pizza I've ever seen. I don't even know how they did it. That might have been part of the cow difference is, like, it was so, so hot. They were able to cook things differently, but it was attempting to be a Pizza Hut pizza, like that style.

[Connor]

Good luck.

[Pat McAfee]

Had some good flavor. Had some good. It was really hot. But there was a Pizza Hut right around.

[Chuck Pagano]

Say what? Okay, go ahead and attempt. Guess what?

[Pat McAfee]

You lose every time.

[Chuck Pagano]

Every time.

[Pat McAfee]

Because nobody. And we mean nobody. El, pizza's done. What day is it, boys? I think it's Thursday. Thursday? What does that mean? Yes.

[Ty Schmidt]

Tell you what that means.

[Pat McAfee]

It's hot day. I think it's hot day.

[Chuck Pagano]

I think the hot's gonna be out here.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Oh my God, what a day. Yes. Sixteen boneless wings, two orders of fries, two dips. Big old bundle for $15.99. And once again, that's a phenomenal deal. Shout out.

[Chuck Pagano]

Great deal.

[AJ Hawk]

Good.

[Pat McAfee]

Phenomenal deal. But we can't stress enough and we have told them this. The bone in wings. Now you're not gonna be able to get 16 bone in wings in this whole song and dance here. Okay? Obviously this is a great deal. Shout out to pizza for doing this. The bone in wings are the best wings that you can get delivered to your house without a doubt. Okay? That is just what they have fryers in there waiting for you to order fries to order the wing wings to order the boneless wings. Their. Their wings top notch. And then obviously the pizza speaks for itself. Has for like 40, 50 years. Whatever it's been shot. The pizza. Shout out water it is. I'm getting kind of. I'm getting kind of in. I almost want to be like, do we do coach's pick right now and then get the out of here so we can have eat some hot well pizza? No, let's take a break. Well, there's more to talk about. There's nothing to talk about when it comes to pizza.

[Chuck Pagano]

No, no.

[Pat McAfee]

Pizza winner. Thanks, Chuck. Against the spread. Straight up future everything. What's that? Tongue?

[AJ Hawk]

Can I say something real quick? Sure, cuz it wasn't mentioned yet.

[Pat McAfee]

Uhhuh.

[AJ Hawk]

The little cinnamon rolls that came last week with the little.

[Pat McAfee]

You're talking about the little like brownie patch things?

[Connor]

Cinnamon ones?

[Chuck Pagano]

No, those cinnamon rolls.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Chuck Pagano]

You know who Pizza Hut has to deal with for the little mini cinnamon rolls?

[AJ Hawk]

I do.

[Chuck Pagano]

You ever heard of Cinnabon?

[Pat McAfee]

Oh my God. The happiness at the mall.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Chuck Pagano]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

Holy is now the happiness at Pizza.

[Chuck Pagano]

Hut anytime you want.

[AJ Hawk]

They were so good last week.

[Pat McAfee]

Holy.

[Ty Schmidt]

If you didn't taste one of those with the icing was everywhere.

[AJ Hawk]

Everywhere.

[Boston Connor]

A good collaboration there.

[Pat McAfee]

You know I don't mess with the icing. You know, I don't do that.

[Boston Connor]

You don't like icing.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't like messy foods. Okay. That's why I like things getting all over me.

[AJ Hawk]

It was one buck bite. It didn't.

[Connor]

Yeah, they're bite sized.

[Chuck Pagano]

If they're here today, you're going to have to. I mean, if you're a Cinnabon guy.

[AJ Hawk]

I implore you to have one.

[Pat McAfee]

You implore me?

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Connor]

He's begging.

[Pat McAfee]

Good word. Okay. Hey, you know what? I will because it's from Pizza Hut.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And it's Cinnabon.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Cinnamon probably got it even better somehow.

[Chuck Pagano]

Whenever I didn't think it could be done.

[Pat McAfee]

What a good pairing too. Pizza cinnamon rolls. Holy man. Wings.

[Connor]

That's a combo.

[Pat McAfee]

The wings age. Have you had the wings?

[Boston Connor]

Oh yeah. Pizza Hut. The backbone of my family growing up. I know the wings are more a recent thing, but.

[Connor]

Yeah, backbone of America.

[Pat McAfee]

Here, here. These cuffs here.

[Chuck Pagano]

Better not be ashing in that day.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you are. Ashley is. We can tell.

[Boston Connor]

No, I'm not.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm not asking him that Clean.

[Ty Schmidt]

Good job.

[Pat McAfee]

Cheers to Pizza Hut.

[Ty Schmidt]

We have one more act for you this evening.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't even need to say his name.

[Michael Lombardi]

Mr. Bob Dylan.

[Pat McAfee]

From the director of Walk the Line and Ford versus Ferrari. If anyone is going to hold your attention on stage, you have to kind.

[Chuck Pagano]

Of be a freak.

[Pat McAfee]

And starring Timothy Chalamet as Bob Diller. Are you a freak? Also inspired by the true story. I want to know which side he's on this Christmas.

[Chuck Pagano]

They just want me saying I'm blowing in the wind for the rest of my life.

[Pat McAfee]

Bobby, what do you want to be? Whatever it is they don't want me to be. How does it feel? He defied everyone. Turn it down. Be loud.

[Chuck Pagano]

To be on your own.

[Pat McAfee]

To change everything. He's are Elvis with no direction. Timothy Chalamet Edward Norton El Fanny Monica Barbaro.

[Marty Smith]

Make some noise BD track some mud on a carpet.

[Pat McAfee]

Complete unknown A complete unknown. Only theater's Christmas Day Rated R under 1790 Mid without parent this episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. There's nothing sweeter than baking cookies during the holidays. With Prime, I get all all my ingredients delivered right to my door, fast and free. No last minute store trips needed. And of course I blast my favorite holiday playlist on Amazon Music. It's the ultimate soundtrack for creating unforgettable memories. From streaming to shopping. It's on Prime. Visit Amazon.comprime to get more out of whatever you're into. Football. It's wonderful. That's A.J. hawk. The toxic tables here at Boss Con. That's how Schmidt 1/2 of the Hammer Cowboys AP Ton is here and a man who coached football for 36 years. 18 the NFL. 18 in college. Is he thinking about getting back in to the college football police? How'd that make you feel watching that presser there? Bill said a lot of the things obviously that we have heard him say. A lot of predictable things that he said. They had gifts for each other. They looked exciting. Obviously there was a buzz in the building and then the stats that were read off there early from the chance were like, we've had football here for 136 years or whatever the case is. I didn't know that. I had no idea. Auspicious. What a word. Okay, I like that. A lot of optimism happening down there. What did you hear from that? What did you see from that? And it's real now. It is official. That is reality. We just saw him as UNC head coach.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, it is real. Got his work cut out like anybody. I mean he sounded like he's fired up to be there. I. The hoodies and the cut offs and all that, they're. They're having a great time right now, but there's, there's a lot of, there's a lot of work to do. But if anybody can get this thing done, regardless of, you know, being away from never being in college football, never co coaching college football, I think just the lure of possibility of my kid playing for Bill Belichick at one of the best universities in the. I mean from an academic standpoint where it's at all that kind of stuff. Stuff, yeah. I love it. I think.

[Pat McAfee]

Are you getting back into college ball?

[Ty Schmidt]

I think it's great. I think the biggest thing is we've always said like 18 years in college, so I never knew the NFL once I went to the NFL and you get a taste of the NFL and even more so now with Portal nil, the recruiting all like, you didn't have to. And I didn't know any better for 18 years. That's just what we did. Did you know you did football? You recruited and you text, you did this. But once you get the NFL and you see, okay, like in summer when it's vacation time, like you shut your phone off in the NFL for five or six, whatever that is. Right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. It's a nice little break before and.

[Ty Schmidt]

You unplug and nobody, you know, you don't have to worry about kids going to class, kids doing this messing up on campus football camps. Like we'd go to the lake in the summer and Coach Peterson was coaching at the University of Washington and he'd be hanging out with us at the same lake. And Dirk and I are in the NFL and he's like 24 7, we're golfing and he's. What are you doing, Coach? You know, he's got a recruit every single. They say it's like shaving. You know, if you don't do it one day, you look like shit.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. But I think it is a different time. Yeah. I think it's the way they're viewing it. Yeah, I think. And I know you still have to pound a pavement. I know you still gotta have boots on the ground. I know you still gotta keep people like interested and kind of, you know, recruit. Always sell it. Always selling. But I think the way they're viewing it, I assume he's setting precedent early here is like, this is a professional outfit. Like, this is how this operates. I expect you to show up to the meetings. I expect you to show up to workout. I expect you to show up to class. I expect you to do this. And I think they're not worried about like, like retention, like re recruiting guys. I think they're expecting the people to get in there and just understand that.

[Ty Schmidt]

This is a. I'm just talking from a coaching perspective.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I know. I know what you're saying.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. What's.

[Pat McAfee]

And is that reality?

[Ty Schmidt]

No, I spend time with those guys now down Boise State. So I see those coaches on the day, on the day to day and what they have, you know, and it's coaching Belichick.

[Pat McAfee]

I think that's the thing.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well, it may not be the head coach, but like they're the head coach. And the other place I know they, they do that, they, they have to reach out, they have to talk and they have to.

[Pat McAfee]

And I think I heard you say earlier, like coaches are going to recruit against that. Like that is recruiting is talking and finding your guys, even at a transfer portal and everything like that. They'll say, like, are you. Have you even talked to. Have you like people, have they been.

[Ty Schmidt]

To your high school? Have they built a relationship? Like the high school coach, they're going to say, these guys haven't been to your high school yet. We've been here nonstop since the beginning. First offer, whatever, they're going to use whatever. Now whether that works or not, the bottom line is the guy's develop. He's got the cachet because he comes in, got a laundry list of, you.

[Pat McAfee]

Know, the college coaching schedule sounds like a nightmare. Yeah. Bill has certainly figured out he's going to do that or not do that. Right? He definitely has thought about all this. Well, and I guess his schedule is a nightmare to begin with anyways.

[Connor]

Yeah. And his whole thing was like he would take a week or two in Nantucket and then be like, what am I even doing here? So like, I don't think he was a big, like, hey, let's take the six weeks off and do no football. I just don't think that was his M.O. as much. I don't Know for a fact that I'm just. That's kind of my assumption. That's why they're so successful all those years. And I do think college football has changed in that sense. And when it does become like the. You got to prove yourself as a coach. Like, he doesn't have to do that.

[Pat McAfee]

Really. Are you going to add any UNC quotes to that tattoo? You know, every time I've thought about.

[Connor]

That, believe me, there. There has been. If they want a national championship now, I mean, I might be.

[Pat McAfee]

Lombardi, Lombardi, Lombardi, Lombardi, Lombardi.

[Connor]

Yeah. I might have to add the CFP national champion.

[Pat McAfee]

Starting counting down to one. What's so funny? H. It's a banger.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, it is. 5. It's a catchy jingle.

[Pat McAfee]

You loved it. I know you want it. Do you? Huh? No.

[Boston Connor]

No. Point again. You should get beat Duke. Put on that tattoo on, man. No, we're not doing this.

[Pat McAfee]

You should get beat Duke. That is. That is the first words.

[Boston Connor]

Coach's first word.

[Pat McAfee]

Little Billy. Little Billy.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's what he just said on there.

[Chuck Pagano]

Little Billy.

[Ty Schmidt]

Little Billy's first words were beat Duke.

[Pat McAfee]

People forgot about that.

[Ty Schmidt]

At a big pop.

[Pat McAfee]

People forgot about that. Yeah.

[Chuck Pagano]

No seriousness. That's not.

[Pat McAfee]

He pulled his dad's hoodie out.

[AJ Hawk]

They did.

[Connor]

I hope they have. I bet they have a little higher aspirations than beating Duke. I hope.

[Pat McAfee]

No. You better be doing.

[Chuck Pagano]

You better be Duke.

[Pat McAfee]

That's just like a West Virginia. Like, I believe the pit game is on September 13, 9, 13, 13, 9. And it's like all eyes are on that one. You know, that's three weeks in. Richard. What is your team? You know, Narduz has been there for a while. Pitt has obviously been through numerous iterations of their team since West Virginia has had to make a change. Pitt obviously comes back. It's a massive win this past year. Probably a big part of the whole situation happening at West Virginia. And it's like Rich Rod's got pit week three, I think. And it's like that is a mass at home. And Rich is gonna. I assume that everybody's gonna know that this is a non negotiable. This is a non negotiable. Him getting in there. Bill getting in there. You know, the way coach prime coaches Kirby. I think it's almost getting back to a. Football's becoming like football.

[Ty Schmidt]

Sorry.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

It is.

[Ty Schmidt]

Big thing too is expectations. Like the expectations that a Carolina, you know, basketball school, like Indiana, like when I was there, like if you win eight, nine games, go to a good bowl great season. Great season. One so I think now one 10.

[Pat McAfee]

Game win since all these.

[Ty Schmidt]

All these expectations change now with. With coach Belichick going in there college football playoffs, right.

[Boston Connor]

Isn't that the expectation?

[Ty Schmidt]

No, absolutely.

[Pat McAfee]

2. Two accents teams made the 12 team playoff this year. Obviously it's more than the Big 12 had, but that's an avenue to the playoff if he wins the national championship. Obviously the legacy would be crazy. Not a lot of NFL coaches have been able to coach in college. Not a lot of college coaches have been able to coach in the NFL. There have been a handful that have been able to break through on both sides. Half being a good situation feels like he's creating a situation in North Carolina. Obviously a lot of avenues now. Let's talk about tonight, shall we? It's a big one age. Now, Chuck is 7 and 6 against the spread on Thursday Night Football. He obviously was ice cold. And last week he got three and a half points even though maybe only three was a selection. And it appears by this particular graphic, Chuck's all the way back. We're fist bumping, we're taking a jacket off. We are no longer ice cold. We are actually thawed out in seeing the board clearly, Chuck, we're all pulling free age, aren't we? We're pulling for him to get another one right here.

[Boston Connor]

Always pulling for Chuck here. I'm excited to see who he picks. He kind of threw me off earlier. I wasn't sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Didn't he kind of attack Strahan for celebrating that sack against Brett Favre?

[Chuck Pagano]

He did.

[Pat McAfee]

And then he gets his three and a half. Did you see that? Oh, yeah.

[Chuck Pagano]

I mean he did get it.

[Pat McAfee]

Count it.

[Chuck Pagano]

Got it.

[Pat McAfee]

7 and 6 against the spread on the season on Thursday night. What are we looking at tonight, Coach? What is the. What should we keep our eyes on? Is there a tale of the tape that we should eyeball first or you want to look at what happened before?

[Ty Schmidt]

We have some clips from week three.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, let's.

[Ty Schmidt]

That might help us all.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. All right. Let's look at this first one.

[Ty Schmidt]

We come to try and make a decision on this thing. Like I said, I mean this first one. Juwan Jennings has been a thorn and these guys side last week against the Bears he was a nightmare against Chicago. I guess everybody's been a nightmare against them. But you know, this is like wide open. The good thing for the Rams is they traded 27 down here who obviously lost. Had bad eyes on this on that first touchdown. So that puts him up seven nothing, Pat. Then he's going to run a little in breaking, come back out. This makes it 14 nothing. Sam, Fran, you're going to see on the tail of the tape later, I put a little stat in there about first quarter scoring that may affect some people's first half betting. I think it will be a good little. Good little deal. So it's 14 nothing there. They're going to run a little angle route here to Kyron. Kyron Williams is a dog. Okay. And.

[Pat McAfee]

Absolutely.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. And. And we all know the outcome of this game. We're just kind of showing how this thing. Look at that. Are you kidding me? Everybody. Everybody's so high on Saquon. Oh, God, he hurled a guy backwards. This guy just did a summersl Front triple. Lindy into the end zone.

[Pat McAfee]

Standard front foot, but not even triple wind.

[Ty Schmidt]

Lindy.

[Pat McAfee]

Wendy, I've seen a triple. Windy. It's three. Breaking news back to back to back. That's a triple. Wendy, what's going on in the NBA?

[Connor]

Boy, oh, boy. Shams is taking a lot of heat right now because he reported Jimmy Butler.

[Pat McAfee]

Is on the move.

[Connor]

Potential is on the move to Golden State or, you know, any of those types of teams.

[Pat McAfee]

The Suns.

[Connor]

I heard Suns were in on it. I feel like there was one other. I'm forgetting it now. Now, Shams, in response to that tweet, one got community noted by actually Jimmy Butler's agent, who basically said, like, I'm sick of this little pipsqueak saying stuff about Jimmy Butler. This is not true. It's bullshit. Then Shams today came out and said, I stand on business, bitch. This is what I do. This is what I report. I wouldn't report something that I didn't know was 100% fact, bitch. So that's what Seam said. And then Wendy, he kind of did chime in and said, hey, look, this offseason, Jimmy Butler asked for an extension from the Heat. Pat Riley in the Heat said no. So I don't know what the reports are, but if Seams is reporting that, then there's a chance that's true because there was a little bit of a little drama.

[Pat McAfee]

Wendy getting Shams back. Kind of like to see that.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, love to you, baby.

[Pat McAfee]

Love to see that.

[Connor]

Pretty awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

There's another big trade coming to the NBA, right? Isn't the James family big trade?

[Connor]

Yeah. LeBron James and Bronny, they are in fact a package deal which would be allegedly, allegedly for any team to get. However Bronnie's take or not, Bronnie Bronbron is taking some time Away from the NBA. He's stepping back.

[Pat McAfee]

What?

[Connor]

Yeah, allegedly. He is taking a little break from the Lakers. I don't know if J.J. redick said something or if there's some sort of other drama going on in Bronze Life, so. Teas and peas. If it's something serious with his family or anything like that.

[Pat McAfee]

So. So LeBron is stepping away.

[Connor]

He said, you know what? The King's got to take his crown off for a second. Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

New York Post reports. Now, the New York Post has reported things about us that haven't been true. But LeBron James away from Lakers for personal reasons as he battles unusual drop off. Oh, yeah, he had 20 straight misses of three and then he went bananas.

[Connor]

Yeah, he did bounce back from that. He had like 29. They lost, but he had age.

[Pat McAfee]

What's he doing stepping away? What's that mean? Just in the middle of the season. I'm not doing this anymore.

[Boston Connor]

Do we have.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Do we have any idea how long he may step away for? And has he ever done this in his career? Has he ever just taken like, time, like, for personal reasons?

[Pat McAfee]

I don't think so. That's like kind of his thing is that he's always.

[AJ Hawk]

He went zero, dark, scary.

[Pat McAfee]

That's on social media. That's not in real life.

[Connor]

That's playoff mode activated.

[Pat McAfee]

There is a lot going on.

[Boston Connor]

I guess for him to step away is weird for how, like, you've seen like, what starting five, like all that he puts into it. That's a big deal for him to step away.

[Pat McAfee]

Full. Come here.

[Connor]

Yeah, that's why if it's someone.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, we hope you're all right.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, man.

[Chuck Pagano]

Good luck, LeBron.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a lot of things being said about that. Yeah. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

A lot of speculation.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's not going to end well. Right.

[Pat McAfee]

What I. The speculation or what?

[Ty Schmidt]

First, just this Lakers right now with new regime and LeBron and stepping away.

[Pat McAfee]

And Bronnie's getting better. What are you.

[Chuck Pagano]

He's not.

[Connor]

Bronny's not traveling.

[AJ Hawk]

Talk about he hit that sick hook.

[Chuck Pagano]

Shot he did when. Those are the highlights that are coming.

[Ty Schmidt]

Isn't he supposed to be going playing in the G League?

[Pat McAfee]

I'm talking. This was a developmental process from the away games.

[AJ Hawk]

He plays G League.

[Pat McAfee]

Remember he was going to go to Australia if he was drafted anywhere other than a place. That said, we understand it might take two, three years for you to get to an NBA level.

[AJ Hawk]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

So that's just part of the process.

[Connor]

Big part of that's playing with his.

[Pat McAfee]

Dad and his Dad's stepping away. What the hell?

[Chuck Pagano]

What's going on?

[Pat McAfee]

We don't know.

[Connor]

In the G league game.

[Pat McAfee]

We'll keep our ears to ground though forever before the good journalism. Okay, let's get back to.

[Ty Schmidt]

So that's made up 14 7, Pat.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you're right.

[Ty Schmidt]

Whenever Kyron Williams scored that touchdown 14 7, Connor. Kyron did that front flip.

[Pat McAfee]

It was insane.

[Ty Schmidt]

Williams little angle route, got inside the linebacker 53. You know who they're supposed to get back? I just hurt red.

[Pat McAfee]

Who's that?

[Ty Schmidt]

Dream green law that be here, buddy.

[Pat McAfee]

That would be a steal. He was breaking down a team earlier this week.

[Ty Schmidt]

Bosa also apparently they've activate his window opened up from IR and it's been open and apparently he's on the 53 tonight. And supposed to be on a pitch count, but supposed to be out there. That will like juice and energy.

[Pat McAfee]

Boy, everything.

[Connor]

Fred Warner still got that fractured ankle.

[Pat McAfee]

Still playing.

[Ty Schmidt]

So this is third quarter. So we went in at halftime, right? You're the Rams. And if halftime your defensive coach, what would you say? Hey, we got to take care of who?

[Pat McAfee]

15.

[Ty Schmidt]

15. Okay, here he is.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he's circled.

[Ty Schmidt]

So they're going to run this python route. Oh, he thinks it's an out route. He gets his eyes back in the quarterback ifing him another tud3 cheese. Yep, another stud.

[Pat McAfee]

He ran out the tunnel.

[Ty Schmidt]

So now, now it's 21 7.

[AJ Hawk]

21 7.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Ty Schmidt]

They end up scoring, make it 24 17. There were some. Some back and forth, a couple missed field goals, a penalty. This ends up being a 55 yard miss by Moody. I think that's who it is, right? Carty's the kicker for the Rams and Moody, Moody's only, I want to say like 8 or 13. 7 to 13.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he'll be back.

[Ty Schmidt]

So we'll see how that plays out in the weather tonight. Do we know any more about weather?

[Connor]

Yeah, 40% at kick.

[Ty Schmidt]

So this is the next play right after that miss. They're down 7. Sorry.

[Pat McAfee]

No, no, don't be.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah, they got cup, right? They got Nakua, right? And they also got 2, 2, 22 Atwell. A shot to two 2 Atwell burners.

[Pat McAfee]

That happens.

[Ty Schmidt]

And that's on their best corner. Traveris, who will be out there? D'Amadori. Lenore's the other one. He's a good player. So now this is less than a minute to go, right? And you can't give up. What, Pat? Go back. Where'd they kick this ball, Pat? Is it down A little bit towards the middle of the field. Do we want to punt in the middle of the field?

[Pat McAfee]

No. No. And also in this area, alumni section.

[Ty Schmidt]

I know Coach Belichick talks, tells him about that. Right.

[Pat McAfee]

I think in this area right here.

[Ty Schmidt]

You know, this should be an automatic fair catch inside, right.

[Pat McAfee]

We're looking for fair catch in this world. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Gotcha.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what we're trying for, at least. Well, they double the gunner up here.

[Ty Schmidt]

Because they know they gets a huge return.

[Connor]

Good split by that guy.

[Pat McAfee]

Should have been a fair.

[Boston Connor]

Good job by the gunner. Down low, too.

[Ty Schmidt]

Big time. There's a block in the back they miss always. Did you hear about expanding?

[Pat McAfee]

No. We'll talk about it, though.

[Connor]

Get going.

[Ty Schmidt]

There you go. Look at the sideline. They're down 21 7. Look at them now. It's tied up. They get a big return. They're going to get this thing down to five seconds. And guess what Cardi's going to do.

[Pat McAfee]

Cardi.

[AJ Hawk]

Cardi. Party.

[Ty Schmidt]

Cardi. Cardi. Party. Card. He's gonna hit the game winner. Right as time expires, the.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that what's happening?

[Connor]

Siri. Siri's calling someone.

[Ty Schmidt]

God, I'm sorry.

[AJ Hawk]

The.

[Pat McAfee]

Cardi B. Cardi. Cardi. Cardi.

[Ty Schmidt]

Call.

[Pat McAfee]

Cardi B.

[Connor]

Call Cardi.

[Ty Schmidt]

Cardi, it's on you. Someone's hacking me.

[Boston Connor]

Oh, no.

[Connor]

Still bringing it.

[Pat McAfee]

Cardi hits. Boom. Cardi. It's the game winner there. Obviously, Rams come back from a big deficit. Big deficit. Win the game. And that was without a lot of people. That was the biggest.

[Ty Schmidt]

Missing all their dudes.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's go to the tail of tape, shall we, here? Now, this is something that you want us to look at, I think. There's obviously good reason for us to be checking it out against the spread. Rams 6 and 7, Niners 5 and 8. Don't bet on these guys. Don't bet on these guys.

[Ty Schmidt]

Exactly.

[Connor]

Go broke.

[Ty Schmidt]

Exactly. Points scored about the same. Points allowed a little bit more. Rams allowed a few more points. Total offense. Rams are 15th. Nobody would expect these numbers. Like, when you look up these numbers like San Fran, the season they're having, you're like, these numbers don't equate. Fourth on total offense, third on total defense. And they got a losing record. They're 6 and 7.

[AJ Hawk]

Where's the problem at, coach?

[Pat McAfee]

Right there. That next stat.

[Ty Schmidt]

Turnover margin.

[Pat McAfee]

That was not good.

[AJ Hawk]

But they're also the red. Very, very bad in the red zone.

[Ty Schmidt]

And 31st, you said. Right. 31st in red area. Kyle, 26 and third down.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. But then Christian MC on offense too. I think they're not great in red zone. Christian McCaffrey made up like 70% of their touchdowns or something like that in the red zone last year.

[Ty Schmidt]

I forget the exact stat but it was 22nd. They are in the red zone. Offense.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Last year I think they were like top 10 or something. Top five maybe. That's crazy. He had like 20 first quarter scoring. Plus 36 for the Niners. We come out hot spot slow.

[Ty Schmidt]

Think about the first game. It's 14 nothing.

[Pat McAfee]

21 7, 24, 17. So 24, 24.

[Ty Schmidt]

Hold on 27 20. Hold on 14. It's good prop bet I think. First half, first half, first quarter. Ners take niners.

[Pat McAfee]

So you like Debo over rushing yards? I think he's what?

[Ty Schmidt]

Why not rushing? Total yards rushing and anytime touchdown for sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Debo. Anytime touchdown. Okay. Okay. You like first half Niners first half. First what is first half, first quarter spread for the Niners? I wonder. Cuz they're probably seeing the same you're seeing. Yeah. And remember how the first game went? And I wonder what it is.

[Connor]

Probably about half. One and a half.

[Ty Schmidt]

What is it? Three. Three and a half. Right now it's three.

[Connor]

It looked like it was going to two and a half.

[AJ Hawk]

One and a half Niners first half.

[Pat McAfee]

So minus one and a half for.

[Ty Schmidt]

The first half, that's like stealing.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, there it is. Tebow, Samuel. Anytime touchdown. Niners -1 1/2 for the first half, that's like stealing.

[Ty Schmidt]

I would Jennings, I'd go anytime touchdown.

[AJ Hawk]

Or if you want to play it safe. First half money line is minus 130. So you know.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, one and a half. You change it. Game records for these. A lot of game records. A lot of big names out here.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, you got a lot of big names. I mean Stafford's on fire right now. It's so hard to bet against him. And especially when he's got Pukina Nakua last week.

[Pat McAfee]

Oos.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh my God. What do you have? 12 catches for 160 yards. Two touchdowns. He's. He's on. Kyron Williams is awesome. The defense, these guys. Turner versus Fisk. They all got 5 and 6x each. Young, Kitchens and McCullough, they got seven interceptions between them. They're the two safeties. They're having a heck of a heck of a season.

[Connor]

Turner win. Masked Singer. Is that the one?

[Ty Schmidt]

That's the one who's got the voice. The guy he won Masks.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Connor]

One Mass Singer.

[Pat McAfee]

Wow. Yeah. That show's still doing it still.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm happy an NFL guy won it. Yeah. Still bringing the boom. Yeah. Turner out there doing his thing.

[Connor]

When they showed him, everyone was like, oh my God, we know you.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, absolutely. That happened a lot throughout this season of mass singing.

[AJ Hawk]

I think he was third in defensive rookie of the year last year.

[Pat McAfee]

Dog hand can sing. Let's go. Okay.

[Ty Schmidt]

Defense is obviously their numbers aren't great. They got a first time coordinator and.

[Pat McAfee]

Chris Shula, but they might be getting better at it because they're young. Young coordinator. They're getting better as he goes. Just had Josh Allen go bananas against 42.

[Connor]

They gave up just like the old line.

[AJ Hawk]

Turner though, being. I think he was third last year in rookie of the year defense rookie of the year voting. I think Verse is the favorite right now for defense rookie of the year.

[Chuck Pagano]

He's very good.

[Pat McAfee]

Young team says Fisk fast. Let's go to the Niners. Who you got for game records up there?

[Ty Schmidt]

Chuck Jennings. Yeah. Look for him to Kittle. Kittle went off in the first one too. He went off last week. What they. They had 300 yards to bears. Four yards.

[Pat McAfee]

Correct.

[Ty Schmidt]

In the first half last week. Yeah. So the question marks is running back G. Say his name.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Connor]

Bingo.

[Ty Schmidt]

So he had a foot sprain. Missed some practice this week. Courts, they really don't. They don't practice. They walk through. So he's supposedly going to play. I don't know how much he can play. They got Patrick Taylor ii, I think is another guy they got on the roster. But the guy that hasn't been getting a lot of rushes is going to be Debo. So I expect Debo to get some. Maybe a few more jet sweeps, line up in the backfield, get a few more hands. We know he's done that in the past. Right. So he's always an option there. And then their defense, if they get Greenlaw back out there with Warner. Warner's an ability, absolute freak. And he's been playing with a fractured ankle.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah. Nuts.

[Ty Schmidt]

The whole year, you know, Bosa questionable. So I don't know. Do we know anything further if he's in or out?

[AJ Hawk]

Not yet.

[Ty Schmidt]

So it's going to be. Probably test him. He's been dealing with, I think a hip and an oblique. He's missed the last couple games. Floyd went off this gross meadows last week against the Bears. Three sacks.

[Pat McAfee]

Great name.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, I love his name. Yeah. Then the two corners. These guys are going to have their work cut out for him. The other guy that's out, we talked about him These guys were on Thursday night, earlier in the season. I can't remember who it was against. Mustafa. Remember, he said Mustafa is going to be in there. A young player. He's out tonight.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh.

[Ty Schmidt]

So guess who comes back into the lineup.

[Pat McAfee]

Who's that?

[Ty Schmidt]

He's a Wyoming grad.

[Pat McAfee]

Who's that?

[Ty Schmidt]

Gibson.

[Pat McAfee]

Wow.

[Ty Schmidt]

He's back. Remember, they had to jettison out of there. He's with another team. And then he was on the street. Well, they've resigned him. So it'll be Hufunga getting the band back together back there and Gibson back there, who knows the defense, knows the communication, knows the players. So that might not be all bad.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so with all that being stated, AJ you have any questions for Coach Pagano?

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, Chuck, which way are you leaning right now?

[Pat McAfee]

There you go.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's a. That's a good. I've. I've. I've been solid the whole time.

[Chuck Pagano]

Okay.

[Boston Connor]

Really?

[Ty Schmidt]

Division? Yeah, division Game. The weather is going to be what it's going to be like. This is Dire Straits. No. Trent Williams at left tackle. The guy that's been filling in for him has been doing. Doing a pretty good job. As hot as the Rams are, it'd be really easy to go with them. But I'm taking the home team. I'm taking the Niners.

[Michael Lombardi]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Niners minus three, no matter what.

[Ty Schmidt]

I just think with. Use. Check. Yeah. Purdy, Jennings, Gorendo Wide Bosa, Floyd Gross. Matos Warner.

[Pat McAfee]

Game Records.

[Ty Schmidt]

Greenlaw, White, Ward, Lenore, Funga, Gibson.

[Pat McAfee]

That's the one.

[Ty Schmidt]

Shanahan. Somebody back there in the back row. I think his name is Gumpsh. Yeah, he said he owns him.

[Pat McAfee]

We said, who owns who?

[Ty Schmidt]

Shanahan owns McVeigh.

[Pat McAfee]

Really? Gumption. Is that the fact? Yeah. Eight out of ten. And one of those losses was when the Niners weren't playing anybody at the end of the year and Carson Wentz was in for the Rams.

[Connor]

Well, that's.

[Chuck Pagano]

He. Come on. He's a good football player.

[Pat McAfee]

He is Carson. Yeah. Yeah.

[Marty Smith]

He wasn't.

[Pat McAfee]

He won the gig.

[Chuck Pagano]

That's what I'm saying.

[Pat McAfee]

He has the ability. He doesn't have the ability to be great. I agree. He's going to be a Super bowl champion. You need to watch the way you talk about it.

[Chuck Pagano]

I agree.

[Ty Schmidt]

Everybody needs Chiefs.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Connor]

Already is. Already is a Super bowl champ.

[Pat McAfee]

Did he win?

[Connor]

Was he there last year with the Eagles in 2017?

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah, I forgot. I forgot. He's going to be two times super bowl champion. Holy. All right. Age. You want to make your pick Here now.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah. I mean, with. I was, I wasn't sure where, which way Chuck was going to go, but I'm going to ride with Chuck here. I like the Niners at home. Minus three. I love what the Rams are doing, but man, I just think the Niners, they figured it out a little bit. And I think getting Greenlaw back, I'm, I'm a huge fan of what he does. So, yeah, I'm taking Niners.

[Pat McAfee]

So the big question is, are the Niners back or the Bears suck? You know, like that is maybe a.

[Boston Connor]

Little bit of both. Maybe a little bit of both.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Well, with that being said, I will take the Los Angeles Rams getting three points this evening. Us was on call on the show just a few days ago. I'm rolling with it. Vibes seem to be incredibly high.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

See how comfortable he was. Matthew Stafford is spinning it. I mean, absolutely spinning it. You talk about those injuries. A lot of game records on both sides. I like this Rams team and I think, you know, the offensive line at the beginning of the year, not as good now. Really good. They made a Kucher's top five.

[Connor]

Yeah, that's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Defense very young. End of the year now they're getting better. They just got their asses dog walked by Josh Allen. I feel like it's going to be a good week week for them to get back out there. I like the Los Angeles Rams.

[Ty Schmidt]

The starting corner. I didn't mention it for the Rams is out.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Ty Schmidt]

Kobe.

[Pat McAfee]

Are you trying to sell me right now? Kobe Durant, he's out. Good player. He's a great player.

[Ty Schmidt]

He's pretty good.

[Pat McAfee]

Rams plus three tonight is my take AJ on the Niners. So is coach Pagano. I'll be excited to see how it turns out. I'm also pumped. Give away a 2500 heavy duty rebel Ram. Ladies and gentlemen, each week we have done this. It has been a great time. I think it's brought a lot of us together because whenever people would tweet Ram truck, they would tell us a play that happened in college football where a player maybe that we had never heard of before, just within the rules of the game, slaughtered somebody. We go check it out. We could get a chance to see football being played right. Obviously, we don't want people headhunting or taking knees out. We don't want the all that you got jacked up clips. We want the ones that are within the rules of the game. We want the ones that are showcasing that you have to be tough. You have to be Durable. You have to be physical and you have to be awesome to play this sport of football. Just like a 2500 heavy duty rebel Rams, this diesel powered piece of machinery rides like you're on a cloud. And when you hit the gas pedal, it sounds like one college football player will win this. Four are currently up for it. This will be the last Ram trucked segment. Ladies and gentlemen. Let's go to Georgia. Texas gunners not up yet. This is a different one. Holy hell alone. Dan Jackson. More like Ram Jackson. Quentin Ewers cross the middle. Here's the ball. Head in front, shoulder through sternum. D cleaner. How you doing? Keep it moving. Oh yeah. We're gonna go on and win the SEC championship. Did you see Ram Jackson in his style and form right there? A.J. hawk.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah. That thing was beautiful. Was that. Did he hold onto that ball?

[Pat McAfee]

He did hold on to the ball. Unbelievable.

[Boston Connor]

Unbelievable catch.

[Pat McAfee]

Great hands. Quinn, you are. Quinn, you was also putting that in a spot for him to catch it. Now back in the day, used to not be able to do that because that would have been a. Whatever the case, perfect form tackle. Hold on to it. Bounce right back up. That's good football. That's a great hit. That's a good Ram drugged. Let's, let's stay in that game, shall we? This is the one I thought we were going to show. That's 100 on me. This is from Andrew. Gunner Stockton. Gonzo. He was in relief obviously at Carson Beck who had something happen to his elbow. Gunner took a quick trip to the clouds there because of the big time shot though. A flag was thrown but it was picked back up because they said his intent head out of the way. Shoulder one through first contact was with the shoulder. So that's just a big time football shot. Gunner Stockton bounces up after losing the seemingly the wherewithal of what he's doing. So Gunner's a dog baby.

[AJ Hawk]

Gunner.

[Pat McAfee]

Way to go, Gunner. You did your job properly getting in there and inevitably you'd be a an SEC championship. So congratulations to you. Now the third entry in this week's hashtag Ram truck segment comes from Cam Scatterboo. More like Ram Scatter Boom. More like you can't tackle me. Uh uh. Rumbling, stumbling, crumbling defenders all season long. Rib scanner boo. 5 foot 9, head the size of an anvil, center of gravity about three feet off the ground. Ram scanner. Boom. With a fool Ram truck run. That's our first long term run. How could you not put it on there? Is that not what a Ram truck stands for? Right there. Resilience.

[Boston Connor]

I think that's the definition. I'm sorry.

[Pat McAfee]

Resiliency. Bounce back, power. To your point, A.J. one more time. We run and let. What do you love about this Ram Scattaboo run, AJ Well, I love your.

[Boston Connor]

Your voiceover despite, you know, talking about his center of gravity and everything. But look at these. Every single one of these guys thought they had the tackle. Every single one of. I thought he was going to score, though.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, I mean, inevitably you beat six guys.

[Boston Connor]

It's kind of a height that's like a high school run. Like, you know, when a guy's a student, he's so much stronger than everybody in high school. Like, he's doing that to college kids in high school.

[Pat McAfee]

There was actually a clip, I think, from a state championship game. He broke eight tackles on the same play. So this is standard operating procedure for Cam Scattaboo. And we can't thank him enough for his contributions to this year's college football scene. And also good luck in the College Football Playoff to all the participants. Now, our reigning champion of this Ram truck segment since jump has been from Mount Union with a Mount Boom, Weston Arthur.

[Connor]

Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, if you're talking about a Ram segment that epitomizes it. Perfect form, tackle, great football iq. Read that thing perfectly. Hit in the strike zone so hard, momentum shot, helmet off of head for a tackle for loss. Weston Arthur has been damn near impossible to beat in this Ram Trucked polling. Cal almost got him last week. I think it was a little bit of a dance. But now if he can close the deal, if he can finish this poll in the lead on X. In a thread below this particular tweet, all you got to put in his hashtag Ram Trucked, you will find the poll you vote on. Which one of those plays, which one of those players deserves this 2500 heavy duty rebel Ram truck? Congrats to all the contenders throughout the entire season. And congrats to Weston Arthur for being our only Mount Boom champion thus far. Will he remain the Ram Trucked king or somebody else come and steal his truck? Congrats, all you.

[Connor]

Congrats, boys.

[Pat McAfee]

Thanks to Ram Trucks for. Allow us to do that. That was fun this year. Yeah, awesome. And I can't stress enough. If you get a chance to hop into a Ram truck, you do it. You do it. If you get a chance to experience a Ram truck difference, you do. It has all the power you could ever think of. But it's not like old school, you know, kind of. They didn't Skip any. Any steps in the technology. Inside, good screen, easy to use screen. Big buttons, not small buttons. Then the ability to change the odometer. You could do that just manually, not having to do through all your. So they made the things easy that are easy, but they have the sophistication to make sure you're keeping up with the modern technology. Shout out to Ram truck for Ram Trucks for getting us through the season. Hell, yeah. Ram.

[Boston Connor]

Did he think it was going to go over that?

[Pat McAfee]

Well, this guy's the worst driver. It's. It's one. This is one of the most embarrassing things I've ever seen. You knew it. You knew it was gonna happen.

[AJ Hawk]

This guy.

[Pat McAfee]

I couldn't. I mean, just floors. Straight, Bruce.

[Connor]

No.

[Boston Connor]

Straight, Bruce, you're losing.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh. Go straight at the thing. Back it up and go straight. Turn back. Take the tractor. Guys been drinking this morning. This guy's. What are you. Where are you going?

[Chuck Pagano]

I mean, what.

[Pat McAfee]

You are killing us. Bruise.

[Chuck Pagano]

What kid his age has never driven a goddamn control car?

[Boston Connor]

What are you doing, bro?

[Pat McAfee]

You got to have to go that way.

[Boston Connor]

Back up all the way.

[Ty Schmidt]

You got to pick up some momentum.

[Connor]

Oh, it's not working out.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Yeah.

[Chuck Pagano]

Did you charge the damn thing before we did this?

[AJ Hawk]

There's a kid who grew up in New York York City. This is what happens when this is.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, you're right, Gossip Girl.

[Pat McAfee]

What is he doing? Go that way.

[Connor]

It's like Austin Powers ten Dooms.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, no.

[Boston Connor]

There you go, Bruce. Now let's see if.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, I mean, you shouldn't have to do. All the way back.

[Boston Connor]

Keep coming back.

[Pat McAfee]

You gotta go further. You're gonna have to go first. Oh, no. Straighten it out, son. Oh. I would like to let everybody know that this miniature RAM truck. Although it does look phenomenally cool. So sick. This has nowhere near the amount of power as an actual RAM truck.

[Chuck Pagano]

No, it doesn't.

[Pat McAfee]

And the people that drive Ram trucks have better capability than whatever the hell is going on.

[Chuck Pagano]

What the fuck is this guy doing?

[Pat McAfee]

I've no idea.

[Connor]

Give us pizzas in this thing.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, there's pizzas waiting on us.

[Mike Tomlin]

There you go.

[Pat McAfee]

There you go. Straight. Straight.

[Connor]

No, no, straight around.

[Pat McAfee]

Can it. Straight. I'm not a gamer. Thank you.

[Boston Connor]

So mad.

[Pat McAfee]

Bruce mailed it, and he said, you try it.

[AJ Hawk]

Well, here's the thing. This is Connor's first time touching it. Bruce had all morning playing with this.

[Connor]

Yeah, you better hope I don't figure this out.

[Chuck Pagano]

We're.

[Connor]

You're in a bad spot. Oh, now it's blinking.

[Chuck Pagano]

That's what I'm saying. It's blinking like crazy. These guys didn't charge a goddamn thing before that. You know?

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, Ram Trucks was trying to give us a little treat.

[Chuck Pagano]

They were.

[Pat McAfee]

They said, we want to deliver some pizza to the boys. We got a thing.

[Connor]

Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

I think was gonna pop right up on the screen.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, yeah. Axle might have.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh.

[AJ Hawk]

Because you can see the wheel turning.

[Boston Connor]

But break it.

[Connor]

The wheels are not turned.

[AJ Hawk]

The wheels are not turning with the.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Connor]

The axle broke.

[Boston Connor]

Has it ever gotten up on the green?

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah, it did earlier.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Okay.

[AJ Hawk]

If you drive it the right way, it goes straight up on the green.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Connor]

All right.

[Boston Connor]

Might be too late for that.

[Pat McAfee]

Bruce broke that, son.

[Ty Schmidt]

The axle's broke.

[Pat McAfee]

Yep.

[Connor]

Still breaking.

[Boston Connor]

That was close.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's.

[Connor]

Let's try it. Back that thing up.

[Pat McAfee]

It's.

[AJ Hawk]

You know what's tough is the plastic wheels.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you.

[AJ Hawk]

On the plastic.

[Pat McAfee]

Love you, Ram.

[AJ Hawk]

Love you, Ram.

[Boston Connor]

Can't Bruce sit in there and drive it?

[AJ Hawk]

He could if he didn't.

[Pat McAfee]

Gumption.

[AJ Hawk]

He would.

[Chuck Pagano]

What is this person?

[Pat McAfee]

Excuse me.

[Mike Tomlin]

Oh, my God.

[Pat McAfee]

Wow.

[Connor]

Thank you. Get up there.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh.

[Pat McAfee]

This is from the Ram Trucks people. They said they wanted to say thank you for the entire thing. They wanted their little rebel Ram to show up in. Holy. Got sausage. Personal pan. Thank you to the Ram Trucks people. It's been an honor working alongside you guys.

[Connor]

Delicious.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you.

[Connor]

Thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

It's a smart play having it be a Pizza Hut. A personal pan. Pizza delivery. That's a good play. Great. All right. Let's get the hell out of here. Bruce, what happened?

[AJ Hawk]

Gotta talk about handling pressure.

[Boston Connor]

Gotta charge it.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, I don't think it was a pressure problem. I really, really thought we had it.

[Connor]

Yeah, I mean, we're gonna. We're gonna bring it right now.

[Pat McAfee]

The dress. The dress is great. Come on, now.

[Ty Schmidt]

Bring it home.

[Pat McAfee]

Get going.

[Ty Schmidt]

Bring it home.

[AJ Hawk]

This is how you should have drove.

[Connor]

It, the first one.

[Michael Lombardi]

That's how you drive a red, man.

[Pat McAfee]

The pizzas were too heavy. Oh, okay. That's how you show up, Ram. The two personal pants were too heavy.

[Marty Smith]

Hey.

[Pat McAfee]

With a cracked axle, brother. Thank you, boss. Thank you, Connor.

[Connor]

Thank you, Ram.

[Pat McAfee]

All right. I'll be live tomorrow at the Coliseum in Morgantown. 10:30am Doors open to get in there. I believe it's first come, first get. They'll be serving concessions, including some beer. Country Roads Trust beer available, too. So you can actually drink a beer and support the team.

[Chuck Pagano]

There you go.

[Pat McAfee]

I think there is a chance to do. I'm not saying you gotta Drink that. I'm just saying you could potentially. You don't even have to drink tomorrow, obviously, it's going to be long weekend going into finals down there in Morgantown, and academics certainly matter. I agree. I completely understand. But tomorrow should be an exciting start to a new chapter. That is a chapter that we may have read before, but this time, the ending is going to be a bit different. This one's going to end with confetti, and I am excited and honored that we're going to be a part of it going forward, at least the tiny part. I'm excited to see who shows up and what tomorrow looks like.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yeah, it's gonna be awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

It is gonna be wild.

[Boston Connor]

It will be wild.

[Pat McAfee]

So I was just watching that Bill Belichick press conference, and I was like, it's gonna be a bit different. West Virginia one's gonna be a bit different vibes.

[Chuck Pagano]

I think so.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Could you imagine a couple thousand people in there?

[Boston Connor]

Oh, it's gonna be. It's gonna be a party.

[Pat McAfee]

I think so. But also, Rich gonna have to, you know, speak. Ren's gonna have to speak, and I know that. Attaby, everybody. Welcome back, baby. Wow. Welcome back. Hey, how you doing? How you doing? How we doing? How we doing? We're good. We're good. Great to be back.

[Boston Connor]

Nice big plane they flew him into.

[Pat McAfee]

That is a big plane. I like that. If you're a recruit watching, keep an eye on what size the plane is that. They're going to either fly you and your family in or the coach in on. That's a big bird right there. You know why? Because West Virginia is invested in what's happening right now. That's why this man was brought back. Ms. Rita. Both of their parents moms still live in West Virginia. Wren Baker right here, one of the youngest ads in power for. He's got some sick Js on. I mean, this is a beautiful thing. I'm. I can't wait to get over there tomorrow. I'm. I'm assuming the. The energy is going to be palpable, and we'll be lucky to be a part of it. All right, let's get the hell out of here. Let's go eat some. Yeah.

[Connor]

Can't wait.

[Pat McAfee]

Be a friend to. Hey, Chuck. Great work. You want to do a giveaway?

[Ty Schmidt]

Love to.

[Pat McAfee]

Maybe. Yeah. Because the. The Ram trucks bringing us some personal pan pizzas. There's good vibes out here. Rich Rodriguez back in West Virginia. Yeah.

[Chuck Pagano]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Going to be back over there tomorrow. I think we need to enjoy A slice, maybe. Yeah. Why don't we get in there? Why don't you take your time? Actually, hey, just one's for you. I know you'd never eat it, but.

[Boston Connor]

I love Pizza Hut.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, is it.

[Connor]

Oh, my God.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, good. I know.

[Connor]

Holy.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you, Ram Truck. Love you, Ram Truck. Thank you, Ram Trucks, for the Pizza Hut pizza. It's so good. Truck. You want to throw football? Shoot a basketball? You going to throw? All right. Let's go and do it.

[Boston Connor]

Shoes on, Chuck.

[Ty Schmidt]

Thank you.

[Chuck Pagano]

Those Tommy Hilfigers.

[Ty Schmidt]

Hey, what are they?

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yep. Almost went down. They are Tommy Hilfiger. Holy.

[Mike Tomlin]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Those are really nice, Charles. Super fashionable. All you got to do is put that football into that hoop right over there. Sorry. That football into that hoop right over there. 30 people win, $500. One throw. 30 people.

[Boston Connor]

Oh, man.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I like it. I love it. I like. I like what we're doing today. All right. Connor has something to say to you before you attempt to win 30 people, $500.

[Connor]

Chuck, just think about how good. And let me be clear. It is already divine what this Pizza Hut tastes like. But think about how much better it'll taste after you give away all this.

[Pat McAfee]

Money to these people.

[Connor]

Motivate you that way. And don't think about it. Just fire that pig skin, boy.

[Pat McAfee]

30 people, $500. Got to hit the back. I mean, I tried.

[Chuck Pagano]

I know you did.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's so bad. Oh, bonus ball.

[Pat McAfee]

No bonus ball. Too far away.

[Connor]

Floors, lava.

[Pat McAfee]

30 people, $500. You put that football to that? Yep. Happy holiday. Shout out to Ram Trucks. Shout out to Pizza Hut. Shout out to Chuck Pagano for winning. 30 people, $500. I think it's a good sign for these Niners. Picked and. Yeah. Nonetheless, we'll be back tomorrow. I'll be live at the Coliseum in West Virginia. Come say what's up. Doors open at 10:30. Then the official press conference immediately afterwards. Should be a blast. A.J. what a time. Thank you for your work. Boys in the back. Great work, all the guys here. It's an honor to talk in the microphones every single day.

[Connor]

Every day.

[Pat McAfee]

What'd you say, Zito? We still have giveaways? Okay. Yeah. We'll run the giveaway graphic that normally runs yesterday. We'll run that at the end of the program. If you won any of the last week's giveaways, it'll be announced here in a matter of moments. You're the best. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two three Team goodbye.

[Jen Latta]

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[Pat McAfee]

Season from ESPN Podcast and Omaha Productions. Coach is a new groundbreaking educational football.

[Michael Lombardi]

Podcast hosted by NFL legends Bill Belichick, Matt Patricia and Michael Lombardi.

[Pat McAfee]

In each episode, the coaches break down game changing situations and front office management tag tactics, sharing insights from decades of coaching experience and opening up the Bill.

[Michael Lombardi]

Belichick Encyclopedia of Football Knowledge created by.

[Pat McAfee]

Football legends for football fans. New episodes of Coach Drop Weekly. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.