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Hey Priscilla. Listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcast and Spotify Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. The Ryan Russello show is presented by DraftKings. We're going to talk Indiana's national championship in college football. I'll run through what this means for Signetti and really where all of the praise should be directed. David Pollock will further break down Signetti's story, end the game and of course we have life advice. DraftKings Sportsbook, the number one sportsbook for live betting is making every snap, every drive, every moment of the NFL playoffs worth watching. With over 2.5 million in prizes up for grabs every Sunday during the playoffs, they're turning up the stakes for every DraftKings customer. Here's how simple it is. Head to the DraftKings sportsbook app, opt in and receive a promo token. Place a live bet of $1 or more on any of Sunday's playoff games and you're automatically entered. That's it. And every live bet means another chance to win. Place a live bet and stack your entries all Sunday long. There'll be more than 75,000 winners every NFL playoff Sunday. Jump in, bet live and let the entries roll. For a shot at a share of over 2.5 million in prizes, download the Drive King Sportsbook app. Use the code Ryan. That's code ryenbetlive for your share of 2.5 million in prizes with code in partnership with DraftKings, the crown is yours. Gambling problem call 1-800- gambler New York call 877-8-HOPE NY or text hope and why Connecticut? Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org on behalf.
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Wager tax pass through may apply in Illinois, 21 and over in most states. Void in Ontario, restrictions apply. No purchase necessary. 3 sweepstakes with separate opt ins minimum OD prizes either bonus bets that expire in seven days or single use profit boost. See official rules at DKNG co livemillions for entry period and free method of entry. Sponsored by Crown Gaming, Inc. I can't believe that fucking guy won a national championship. The Indiana Hoosiers are the kings of college football, and I still can't believe it. 16 and 0 beat Ohio State, destroy Alabama, run through Oregon. And there was a couple things that we've been talking about in only two years of this format where it's like, hey, the team's with the buy. What happens to them? I'm still not even sure that that's necessarily a real Thing didn't matter for Indiana. What about the Power 4 rematch? You know, it always goes to the team that loses. Well, not the case against Oregon. And then in the first half last night I'm like, so Miami's not going to be able to do anything against this team. And all the things that we love about Indiana football, the things that you respect, the things that you expect to see, is that they're smart, they're physical, they respond to any kind of adversity, which they've done all season long. Mendoza getting cracked in the Ohio State game, a mistake here or there doesn't even phase this guy. And then it's happening in the first half and I mean Miami can't do anything. They ended up 0 for 8 in their first eight third down attempts. They finally converted on the ninth. They fought back in the second half. They got Fletcher going a little bit and their front, their defensive front, Bain and Messador, these guys started wrecking things and actually affecting an offensive line in a way with Indiana that you just hadn't seen all season long. So they fought back in this thing. But in that first half I'm like, so Indiana is just like, this is an all time football team. And they still may be in that group when you start talking about who they are historically. One play in particular, Miami's deep. We're going to talk more about this game in depth. Pollock coming up here shortly. But Malachi, Tony's kind of the target. It's a third and seven. Miami's backed up deep. Fisher, their linebacker, who's just incredible, he shows a little bit of pressure and it looks like he freelances a little bit, realizing that Tony's behind him on this short route. And Fisher doesn't make the initial tackle, but he gets in the way just by reading it. And I'm so glad that Herb street and Fowler focused on this play because as I was watching I'm like, look at what he did. It was pretty simple, but he realized like, let me not get myself out of position. Let me just kind of hang around here and be some extra traffic. And it slowed Tony down enough. Teammate comes over, cleans it up. They end up tackling short of the sticks. The Miami's get a punt again, just littered with three and outs all night long. And that's the kind of play that I'm like, that's what Indiana football is like. In that moment, Fisher was just smart enough recognition wise to realize what he should have been doing. So with Indiana's win, I think the conversation there's a bunch of things we can do here. But is this a signal to the college football world that the world is now different, that everything is different? And with this happening during this nil phase, this era here, I shouldn't call it a phase, but like, this early nil days, like, is the only reason that this happened. It's like, well, you know, this is, this is now the new normal. I don't know, man. That feels like it's discrediting Signetti. It feels like it's discrediting their evaluation eye, their ability to develop. Like, I don't know that this is just about the nil and that they went out and bought Mendoza, who won the Heisman and might be the number one pick in the NFL draft. Like, you could make it that simple. But I don't think that that's fair. And I think it's, it's limiting how much credit we should be giving what this, this whole program was able to accomplish this year. You know, if you think about the talent composite rankings before the season, they run these out in August. You rivals 24 7. If you look at Indiana's roster that just won a national championship, they ranked 72nd in talent based on rankings coming out of High School, 72nd, that team that just won a national championship last night. So I don't think it's just about the nil and making sure your tackle has a truck now, because if you run through the roster and these guys are playing like Surat's a zero star, the tight ends a zero star, the left guards a zero star, the tackles are three stars. Landino, who's just a beast on the defensive lines of three star. The defensive tackles are zero stars. Aiden Fisher, the linebacker, I'm sitting here raving about zero stars. Charlie Becker. And I'm glad Herbstreet talked about his story because even Herb Street's like, hey, I knew this kid. Like, I didn't think he was going to be this. Sigdadi's like, hey, you shouldn't transfer. You should stay here. You should play special teams, get better. And then, by the way, you're going to have every huge catch during the playoffs and help us win a national championship. So I don't think that this is the new normal. I, yeah, I like, I, I probably expect that the blue bloods are going to keep winning all these national championships. And I think just to package this up as, like, hey, it's nil. And, and this is all new. Like, I don't know if it's that it might Just be Signetti, it might be this guy. Because if you ran through this exercise, right, and said, okay, well, does this mean that, like, Virginia Tech is now going to be in the mix to win a national championship or a Virginia Tech type team in the ACC? At least tech was in the mix 25 years ago. I would, you know, there's some Big 12 teams that have flirted with some success, right? Baylor, obviously, TCU played a national championship game. He, Houston, now in the conference, had like a little bit of a run there, but obviously nothing like this. So, I mean, if I were to use a Big Ten example, I guess I could say, like, does this mean Purdue and ucla, if they had the right guy there with some money, that they could be winning a national championship? I wouldn't even have used Indiana as an example for this exercise before Signetti, probably even last year, before he had the job, before we saw them play, I wouldn't even have used them as an example. I'd be like, okay, well, now you're being absolutely ridiculous when you consider the Hoosiers history in this sport. But if you're a fan of any of these other programs, you might be thinking differently about it today. I don't know if Signetti's success makes it easier or harder for an athletic director. It might be harder dealing with your boosters now because of what this guy just pulled off in Bloomington. The relationship in college football is usually not a very rewarding relationship, at least in the pros. You feel like if the NBA, you get the right lottery pick, or in the NFL, I think the number or the line. The other night when Houston was playing the Pats, Texans were the only team in the NFL that hadn't played in a conference championship game. And granted, that has more to do with them being a newer franchise, but you still feel like the structure of those pro leagues, you will have some sort of chance. There will be some sort of cycle that's not supposed to happen in college football at all. And if you were to tell a kid like, hey, here's the deal. You're going to sign up for this relationship and you're going to work yourself up into thinking you have a chance. And every year you're going to be disappointed. It's going to go on for like 40 plus years, like, there's going to be way more pain than actual joy. Are you. Are you interested in that kind of relationship? I mean, if you laid it out that way, who would ever say yes? But millions of us say yes to it because it's Just nice to have something that you care about outside of your family. Maybe it isn't always the healthiest thing, but in a way, it could be really healthy because it's a distraction. Hey, just enjoy your Saturdays. It's not that big of a deal. Indiana is going to change the way the rest of those programs think. And I still don't know that that's. My guess is today is that's still not going to happen. I like to talk about being delusional because it can be your superpower. If you're thinking about the tough careers, the careers where everybody else is telling you that's not going to work, you shouldn't even try to do that. There's some actors that I look at and be like, imagine when that guy was telling his buddies, like, yeah, I think I want to go out to Hollywood and become an actor. They're like, dude, are you serious? Have you looked in a mirror? But that guy had to believe in himself. He had to almost lie to himself that he was doing the right thing. And that's what I respect about Signetti as much as all the football stuff, is that he had to get to a point one day where he was like, I am going to be delusional. And maybe he was so delusional, he didn't even realize he was being delusional. He was just lying to himself so much about what he was able to accomplish in the face of everyone telling him that he couldn't do any of these things, that that's why he's sitting there at the top of college football last night and this morning. I really think it's an important thing to have when no one thinks you can do the thing that you want to do. Who else do you have to fall back on but yourself? And who cares if you're lying to yourself as long as somebody believes in you, because nobody else is. In 2008, Kevin Garnett won an NBA championship with the Celtics against the Lakers. It was Game 6. I was doing a lot of TV for the Celtics broadcast back then. So I was in the building, was on the floor, and KG did as anything as possible scream. Which, you know, may have also been an Adidas ad. But, you know, it was a moment, and it. It's lived on for a while. And I'll admit, you know, if you know me, you heard me talk. There's part of me, it's like, anything's possible. Dude, you're 71. You're one of the, like, the. The most freakish basketball players. I'VE ever seen in my entire life. And you're on the Celtics like, you know, there's a pretty good chance you guys had a he had a chance at a ring this year. Signetti should have been on the field last night during Adidas team. He should have been on the field screaming anything is possible because what they did makes you think it's real, even if it isn't. For all those other programs. I couldn't stand him last year. I don't feel bad or wrong about anything I said about Signetti in 2024, but his entire approach being delusional belief. You know, that was the start of it. That was some Muhammad Ali type shit, what he just did. He said all these things and he backed it up. And in 25, it's not just respect for Signetti, just in complete awe of what he did with this program. Before we move on with the show, a quick word on the tool that keeps people's workflow tighter than my takes Microsoft 365 copilot the world moves fast. Your workday even faster. Pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365 copilot is your AI assistant for work built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Microsoft 3, 365 apps you use, helping you quickly write, analyze, create and summarize so you can cut through the clutter and clear a path to your best work. Learn more@Microsoft.com m365copilot to further break down the national championship for Indiana over Miami, David Pollack, who's joined us throughout the season and make sure you subscribe and check out his awesome page on Ball C Ball get ball with David Pollack. All right man, do it. Biggest thing that jumped out to you about let's just stay with last night's game and then we'll do bigger picture Indiana stuff. Like what do you think the difference was last night?
