Andy & Ari On3 - Can Boise State coach Spencer Danielson take the Broncos BACK to the CFP?

Episode Date: June 23, 2025

Boise State coach Spencer Danielson joins Ari and Andy! (0:00-4:56) Recapping LSU's Win over Coastal Carolina; CCU Ejection(4:57-11:10) Baseball Discussion, OKC Thunder's Championship(11:11-24:43) Boise State Head Coach Spencer Danielson joins(24:44-29:42) Dabo Swinney's Impact on Spencer Danielson(29:43-38:12) Boise State's Expectations, CFP(38:13-39:48) Spencer Danielson's Rules for Life(39:49-44:08) Wrapping up Boise State(44:09-52:01) 61 Days Until Farmageddon; How many days in a month?(52:02-57:36) Who will be like BYU last year?(57:38-1:12:21) EA Sports College Football Gameplay Danielson discusses making the College Football Playoff last season and what the Broncos must do to get back. Plus, he gives the coach’s perspective on the question Andy and Ari have been asking about whether Group of 5 teams would rather have a postseason with the power conference teams or among themselves. Danielson also explains how former Boise State and Washington coach Chris Petersen and current Clemson coach Dabo Swinney have helped him be a better head coach. Later, Andy and Ari jump into the gameplay of EA College Football 26. You finally don’t have to pause the game to substitute.Watch our show on YouTube LIVE, M-F at 9:30 am et! https://youtube.com/live/Van9llm7dRwHosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey

Welcome to Annie and Ari on three big day on the show today. We got Boise State coach, Spencer Danielson, talking Broncos and the TFC and how they made it and how they will try to make it again and how the system will work. Good conversation with him Ari, but first I got a warning. I'm issuing you a warning right now. If you say anything that I slightly disagree with, I got a warning. I'm issuing you a warning right now. If you say anything that I slightly disagree with,

I'm going to throw you off the show, even if it's in the first minute. It would be kind of crazy to know that if you wielded that power, that you would use it. The first time I start going on my high horse about whether or not the playoffs should have expanded, you're out. You're out of here.

You're gone. For those who've been living under a rock, congratulations to LSU on winning the College World Series. The Tigers did not lose a single game in Omaha, which is amazing. Incredible pitching performances by them. Unfortunately, their win in game two of the final series was overshadowed by a very sensitive umpire named Angel Campos, who, if you look back into his history he's got a lot of really soft injections in his history he got fired from the MLB for reasons he threw Coastal Carolina's coach out of the game in the first inning for arguing balls and strikes

and by the way the The coach was right. The strike zone was horrific. Now it was horrific for both teams, but it was horrific and Angel Campos is apparently very sensitive about his horrific strike zone. Throw about the first inning. Are you first inning first inning

of the of the game that decides? Who wins the national championship? Am I understanding correct? Yeah, I mean that now coastal would have had to win two, but yes Kevin Schnall would not have been able to coach by the way in in the third game had coastal one right this game out. Yeah well and and the other thing is remember he got dinged for bumping one of the other umpires when he came to

to to argue and I'm pretty sure that ump either flopped or tripped. It's one of those two. Yes and there was a pretty good explanation for how he felt about that, right? Let's let's let's listen to Kevin Schnall one of the all-time great press conferences after a championship game. It is what it is, but if that warranted an ejection, man, there'd be a lot of ejections. As an umpire, I feel like it's your job to manage the game. The national championship game with some poise, some calmness, and a little bit of tolerance. The best part of that press conference was when he said, I can't control another man's athleticism.

See, like, if you're going to throw me out, then that would be a good thing to say. I cannot control another adult male's athleticism. He tripped over himself, you know, on the show, which I've done from time to time, Andy. Yeah, that sucks. That really sucks. So, again, I don't like want to hijack the topic. But like it also kind of

reminds me of another national championship type game that like had something happened very early on that sucked, which was the NBA finals last night. Oh, I mean, your heart just breaks for Tyree Salibur. It kind of goes back to the baseball thing, though. And I was thinking about this, like, so I had a great little day yesterday. I was invited to the Lakewood Country Club in Dallas to play golf and I'm a horrific golfer. You know I had a few nice shots but a few where I missed the ball completely. And by the way Andy was recognized three times

for the show. So Lakewood Country Club, stand up for listening to the show. We really appreciate you guys. Very successful viewers and listeners. Sorry. We played 18, it was very hot, met the family at the pool, had the most all-American day that a human being could have yesterday. And then at the end of it, I negotiated with my wife

and my friends did to let us stay or go somewhere to watch the basketball game. So as you know, I had the pers six to one to win the series. I didn't touch the game last night. I let it ride. And then that Halley injury. And I started thinking to myself, could you imagine being a professional athlete or a person who is, you know, strive their entire life to to make it to a place where you could become a professional athlete or a person who is, you know, strive their entire life to to make it to a place where you could

become a professional athlete. Then once you become a professional athlete, become one of the better players in the league that you made it into. Lead your team to the NBA finals against all odds. Oh yeah, by hitting multiple game winners in the playoffs. Yeah. Going to game seven on the road and then hurting yourself like that in the biggest moment of your career. Like I don't care if you're a Pacers fan or not and congratulations to Oklahoma City for winning it. I'm not trying to take anything away from you, but that's

got to be like the worst feeling in the entire like I like I if you don't feel bad for him then it's terrible and he's going to be out all next year. The Achilles injury is a long recovery. It reminds me of the Kevin Durant injury in the finals against the Raptors when he played for the Warriors. He comes off the calf strain, you knew it was a ticking time bomb. I was with a friend who works in orthopedic surgery and And like he said his Achilles is gonna go at some point. This was with Durant at the time.

And so like you knew with the calf strain that Halliburton was risking this the entire time. And it was just brutal, just brutal. So yeah, that was awful. So he knew going into it that with the injury that he would have been fighting through throughout the entire NBA playoffs was something that could lead to this. This wasn't just a freak injury. This is just oh yeah. Everybody knew like so you may

not see a lot of guys fight through calf strains anymore because twice it's it's happened in the NBA finals where somebody's popped an Achilles. My god, I didn't even realize that he was rolling the dice with it. Yeah, yeah, no, that was the part that, cuz he kept saying, of course I'm gonna play, of course I'm gonna play. And people were saying, you sure? So that's why but yeah just so at that same time too it's game seven of the NBA final you have to yeah

I mean like he has to play building up to this like yeah I know like even if it's a year recovery like you hear people say it all the time if you get to that stage you might not ever get there again. Exactly. No, you you you can't take that for granted. Yeah. And also too. Well, the Achilles injury is by far the worst thing that I think you could probably go through as a basketball player in terms of recovery. But if he sat out game seven to protect his Achilles, that would end his career. Like, I mean, there's

no no one would ever forget that He never said there was any doubt like he was gonna play there so My heart broke for him. Yeah, it broke for me too. Cuz six to one's a nice little number, but And it was an entertaining game for the most part But you just kind of had a feeling that at any moment they were under was they ran out of gas in the third quarter when TJ McConnell was their only offense in the third quarter, you knew it was over that 9 0 run that happened a minute in the third quarter with like Indiana tied it and everyone's like, oh my God, I think somebody knocked down a three and then they knocked down three quick ones. Yeah, they scored threes on their next three.

That was the game. But I hope he has a good recovery and we see him again back in the NBA playing because I did really enjoy watching him play and that sucked. But the reason why I bring it up, Andy, is because you want everybody at full strength in that situation. Yeah, like whether it's the baseball world, college world

series or the NBA finals or the Super Bowl, you don't like is Oklahoma. Oklahoma City doesn't feel bad that they wanted those pretenses, but don't you want to beat the team that you're beating at their best like it's sure and if I'm an LSU player, everybody's talking about the Coastal Carolina ejection. They're not talking about how awesome we were. Yeah. And LSU was awesome. Like this is one of the most dominant college World Series performances we've seen by a team. So like they earned every every bit of that championship. I think maybe we might have to call up River here because he

probably can answer this. I don't know about you you Andy, but the SEC in baseball is the SEC in football, right? Like they're the the top more. More so than that, right? Yeah, more so. Six great national titles. What's the reason for it? Money or more investment in the in the programs or is there a lot of talent

in the South for baseball? There is a lot of talent, but I mean if you look at the Big 10, I mean it's always cold in the early months, so you need to go down the SEC and it's better weather, better talent. Yeah, the Big Ten teams have to go on the road for a month, basically, to start it.

So it's like the weather helps, the talent base helps, and the fact that there are certain SEC programs, not all of them, but LSU for sure, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Arkansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, that baseball is huge there. They sell out every game. I got to tell you, being a really good baseball player in college at Coastal Carolina sounds like a pretty good little college existence. I don't know. That would be badass.

Well, in Coastal Carolina, there's no sl. Like they won the national title a few years ago and came very close to like they also when they got to the the final series had not lost in the NCAA tournament. Like it's double elimination in all the rounds. They hadn't lost until they got LSU. So they were pretty awesome too. But yeah, it's a kind of way South Carolina is probably a pretty nice place to be when you're a bad-ass baseball player. Steven the chat asked an interesting question. You guys ever recall a college football coach being ejected?

Has it ever happened? Yes, it happened last year. Sonny Dyches got ejected from the SMU game. That's right. I remember that. I don't remember what he did though. Do you remember what he did? I think he was just complaining about calls over and over like but I remember him like walking through the end zone going to the tunnel like

Hyping up the the TCU crowd as he as he walked Because if you've ever spoken to Sonny Dykes, he's like the most mild-mannered polite Yes, never meet like Sonny Dykes is the type of person you'd want to go eat lunch with Yes, we should do that like random ranking of college football coaches. You would most want to go eat lunch with. Yes. We should do that like a random ranking of college football coaches you would most like to go eat lunch with. Yeah. I mean, it depends on what type of vibe you're going for.

You know, some people like moosey lunch. You know, some people like a gentleman. I don't know, but. I got one. Spencer Danielson. Yeah, that's a good one. That'd be a dynamite lunch. So Boise State coach Spencer Danielson. Yeah, that's a good one. I'd be a dynamite lunch. So Boise State coach Spencer Danielson took his team to the

playoff last year. How did he get the job? Remember, he was a defensive coordinator in 2023. Andy Avalos gets fired. They make him the interim coach. He goes on and wins the Mountain West and then gets the job. He explains exactly how all that work because that was a pretty stressful time. But we got a great conversation with Spencer Danielson about Boise State,

about the college football playoff, about just getting a shot. Let's talk Spencer Danielson. We are joined now by Spencer Danielson, the coach of the Boise State Broncos, reigning Mountain West champs, made the college football playoff in the first year of the 12-team model. Ashton Gentry was all everything, all world, and now gotta figure out how to get back. What's up coach? That's exactly what we're working on doing, I promise you that every single day. Well, I appreciate you guys letting me on, but looking forward to hanging out with you

guys for a little bit and fired up for the season. Andy let's just start here. Okay. So Spencer was in high school when you were covering the Fiesta Bowl. We had to start with that, right? Because we were just talking about it before we started the show and like, I just like want to get into it. Well, okay, can I tell you guys the story of that?

Sure. Like how it all came to, so I was the Florida beat writer for the Tampa Tribune. So Florida was playing Ohio State in that stadium in Phoenix for the national title a week later. But you always go out a week in advance of the national title game, because you have to talk to everybody, they have all the interviews and stuff.

So I land on January 1st and my buddy goes, hey, another buddy who covers the team goes, hey, you want to go to the Boise State Oklahoma game because they got extra seats in the press box. They told us we grab credentials. And I was like, yeah, I just want to make sure my laptop works in that press box because it's I'm gonna be in a tight deadline situation You know, it's gonna be a night game the the national champs you can't I can't screw it up so I make sure I can send a story to the paper and So we went to that game And I'm sitting there as it's going on like what is good because boys you say was kicking the crap out of Oklahoma fruit two and a half quarters. And then Oklahoma comes back and then all hell breaks loose. And like at the end of this game, Spencer, I kid you not, it ends, we see the play.

I was like, I stand up in the press, I was like, that's the Statue of Liberty? And then I start to just write the story, cause you gotta get the story in for a newspaper. And then I was gonna go downstairs and interview people. I start to finish up writing the story. My boss calls me and goes, did you see what just happened on TV? I said, no. He's like the guy who scored on the two point conversion just proposed to his girlfriend who's a cheerleader. I'm like, what? And I told her we just run the elevator. That's right. You

know, I don't know if you guys know this. I know Spencer does it. I don't know if I ever told you this Andy, but like I completely messed up my proposal to my wife. Um because like I like, I don't know if you guys had like this great

scheme. I had this great scheme and I had all of her friends fly in and we're going to meet us at a at a bar that night, but like I knew she would catch me if I pulled over on the way to the bar and I didn't know what to do. So I panicked and I proposed to her in our kitchen and she's like, what are you doing? Like this is it and I'm like, you know, it's just like

for the two hours between my proposal and the dinner that it all made sense at the end of the night, but she was like, what the hell was that? Like, did you nail your proposals? Cuz I'm trying to think that's the best proposal it all made sense at the end of the night but she was like, what the hell was that? Like, did you nail your proposals? Cuz I'm trying to think that's the best proposal of all time. I was I was twenty-one. I proposed on the spot where we

met. That seemed seemed appropriate and it was in a bar cuz that's where we met. So, I don't think it was that great. Spencer, how'd you propose to your wife? I was twenty-five down in San Diego We went I was more nervous for the proposal than I was for the wedding like I was nervous

I went to a I don't even know if it's a real diamond now Let's just let's call it what it went to downtown LA with like 500 bucks to get a ring Just graduated from Azusa Pacific. I don't know two three years earlier and We're going to walk at mission bay in San Diego. And we get back to my, I was driving an old Honda Civic that was like a stick shift and my wife didn't know how to drive stick. So I didn't push the stick or the, on the stick down and I couldn't fake, not start the car.

I'm like, well, shoot, I guess we can't, I guess we can't drive. I guess, and I think I'm slick, right? I'm like, oh, I'm moving her into this. And so we get out of the car, we start like just walking by the beach. I have a bunch of my friends there. And they're like hiding in the bushes. And then I drop down on one knee, I start crying, I start freaking out. I think I was able to, I was able to at least get the words out, will you bury me? I love you. She said yes. Then all my friends popped out. It wasn't a complete failure either. No, you nailed it. I think people who've never proposed before do not understand the dexterity

required to get down on one knee while saying some of the most meaningful words you've ever said in your life. So I essentially fell into my future wife as I as I tried to hit money because I was trying to talk and do that at the same time and anybody who ever has played sports near me understands that I don't do a lot of two things at once very well. So yeah mine was messed up because I had to weigh whether or not I proposed in front of everybody or we did it first and then surprised her later. I think in hindsight, I wish I would have just done it in front of everyone, which kind of brings us back to the original point of like, how do you perform in the fiesta ball

if I can't even like perform a proposal like in my own house, let alone in front of her friends. And Spencer, I thought about this for what's it been like 15 years since that game now? Yep. Does Boise State have the hook and ladder and the Statue of Liberty play? Could you run it? We absolutely can.

I can promise you that. Oh yeah, it's, guys, it's built into the fabric of this place. You better, you know, I remember I was talking with dirt cutter last year and no different than you need Potter offensive coordinator this year. I'm like, we better have some of those trick plays built in maybe formations a little bit different. It looks a little bit different, but we got some of those up our sleeve.

I promise you that. So it is, it is amazing to me how much of the, the, the people who built Boise State still involved. I mean, you worked for Brian Harson. I know he's at Cal now, but he was living in Boise after Auburn. Dirk Cutter is there, one of the original head coaches that helped create it and then work there again. So he's there and you can use him as a sounding board. Don't you talk to Chris Peterson like once a week still? Yeah, Coach Peterson is a huge mentor of mine. Right? I got to know him a little bit over the years being here and he comes back and vacations here. Still lives in Seattle, but comes back a lot. And then the second, I mean, on Sunday,

almost 2 years ago, when I got the interim head coaching job, he was the first call I made. And it wasn't like hype. It was like, What do I do right now? Like, give me some logistics. What should I do? Should I keep calling plays? Do I pass that off? And I mean, and from that time, when I got the job in January or in December, I called him and said, Coach, I want you to be a part of this. I don't know what that looks like, but I want you to be a part of this. And so we Zoom once a week. I'm picking his brain constantly on leadership, logistics, and just how to be, how to be the best leader for these kids and our staff. And I don't, I don't know if there's a better guy to do it in his time than him. I mean, you talk about, about a guy that was ultra successful, but did it the right way and did it to build young men. Like that's, that's what I want to do. It's not just for the rings,

those fade. I want to impact kids. And, and he did it at elite level. So that's, that's what I want to do. It's not just for the rings. Those fade. I want to impact kids. And, and he did it at elite level. So he's a huge mentor of mine. I know that we can't belabor this for 20 minutes. But has Boise State ran either of those plays since the, this will be the last question, but have they run any of those plays since that Fiesta Bowl? And have you ever stopped to consider how iconic it would be if in a big moment, you pulled one of those out of the out of your hat and hit somebody with that again like 20 years later like you have you have the opportunity to do the coolest thing like ever. Okay, I know you might be working on something else. We got to make sure this is it. I will tell you this though and I Nick Roelovich, it was awesome. We played Hawaii in 2019 in the championship game on the blue end up winning

But they ran like a version of the Statue of Liberty and I thought that was a phenomenal Deal from Nick Roelovich to be able to pull out a version of the Statue of Liberty against us. Yeah, it didn't end up working. Because it is high stakes. It doesn't work, then you taint the memory. So like you have to figure out like what to do it, but just just consider when no one sees it coming. Hit them. We're gonna call it. Right when they never see it coming, we are calling it. That's a promise. We're gonna call it right when they never see it coming. We are calling it. That's a promise I can't wait because like yeah, like you know, they're they're at noter day in this fall. Yeah, maddox madson drops back Yep, first play of the season first two point conversion over time. You have a good time fellas You never have to tempt me with a good time I'm in all boysy needs to do is get to one game where they do those grab-ass two-point conversion back and forth.

That's right. Get some overtime. Let's roll. So take me back because you mentioned when you got the interim job a couple of years ago, you get on the horn of Chris Peterson almost immediately. But take me back to that point because that was a strange situation at Boise State where you've got a firing midseason. The standard is so high at Boise State and at that point it had gotten to the point where Boise State was not meeting that standard anymore. What did you say to the team? How did you create that atmosphere? Because you guys went on a run after that. How did you do that? Yeah guys, I mean mean, first off, and I'm very open to this, I give Jesus all the glory, because it's not because I'm so smart or so cool. I mean, I give Jesus all the glory. And I give our players and our staff in that moment where

everything is pulling at them. In this moment, I'm meeting with a recruit in my office, I get a knock on the door. And it's an assistant athletic director telling me, head coach has been let go, you're gonna be the interim head coach, and you're gonna speak to the team in an hour. I mean, we're talking. It is happening now. And I remember when I went to speak to the team,

what was on my heart was just, grown men finish what they start. And I talked to our team, we had two weeks left in our season, I told our team, guys, guys, I don't have the answer. I don't know what's gonna happen after this, but I know that we've got a great group of seniors that have been through COVID,

been through head coach being let go, all these different things, grown men finish what they start, and I'm asking you to do that for our team. And our guys did that. I mean, it wasn't because it was some great speech. That's who these players are. That's who our coaches are.

And a lot of our coaches are still here with us on our staff. And so so proud of them doing that, and then went off to go win the championship, which is a testament to them. And so it was one of the craziest moments of my life, where you have that moment. I then come home.

My wife is crying, taking pictures off the walls. I mean, it's just you talk about just craziness going on. But I show up to work on Monday. Our players are in here watching film. Our coaches are working their tails off. Went on a run, and we were able to win a championship. And we're just so thankful for that moment. And even after, even when I tell this,

even when we won the championship game, and our players are waiting. We have the best athletic director in the country, Jeremiah Dickey. And I'll be very open about that. He's elite. Our players are waiting for him to tell him, and Jeremiah Dickey. And I'll be very open about that. He's elite. Our players are waiting for him to tell him, you better hire Coach D. I see the line.

I'm like, oh, jeez. And I get on the plane. I've got the championship trophy. I've got our championship hat. I mean, we finally, we hadn't won a championship in a couple of years. And that's high standards here at Boise State, as there should be.

And so I'm going on the plane. Players are dancing. I sit down in my seat. And so I'm going on the plane, players are dancing, I sit down in my seat and JD, our athletic director, sits next to me, hits me on the leg and says, really good job with the team, Spence. And we didn't talk the rest of the flight. And I'm like, what is about to happen? And by the grace of God, the next day was off of the job.

And so it's an awesome moment. What was happening on that flight? Was it silent? Like that flight? Like it silent? Like that flight? Like, take me through where you were while you were, like, I mean, if somebody goes great job, I would've been like, I'm well, do I have one? Like, I mean, like, right, right. That's exactly right. I should have said that. But, so all our players, we have all our players sit in the front. So when I, I get on last, and so I'm carrying the

trophy, I mean, it is pandemonium on this plane. I mean, they're just our players are other gold crazy. And by the time we you know, sit down to take office with me and JD have this conversation, my wife sitting right next to me, the aisles in between me and our ad and he that's all he says and but I was at peace because I love these kids. And I was like, you know what these seniors now don't have an asterisk next to their senior year. Like, last year, head coach got fired and, and they didn't do anything. Like, they finished that season and won a championship,

which is the standard here, and just so proud of them. So I was at peace. As much as it was stressful driving home, like, I don't know if I'm going to, if I got to go to work tomorrow or not, but we'll find out. if I gotta go to work tomorrow or not, but we'll find out. Well, and tell us a story about going home the day the head coach gets fired and your wife's taking pictures off the wall. It reminds me of, Dabo Sweeney told me the story of the day Tommy Bowden got fired at Clemson in 2008. And he's found out he's gonna be the interim,

the ADs brought him in, and he's like in this little supply closet calling his wife to fill her in on what's going on. He said, all right, so I've got bad news. Tommy's been fired. And he's like, and I've got more bad news. They made me the interim. Cause at that point, no interim ever got the job.

Like it wasn't even something people thought about. And, but it's amazing to see what he's developed. And I'd heard that you've been in contact with him a little bit about how you want to build your program and how you want to, especially in this era of NIL, because he's done it a little bit differently. And it sounds like you kind of want to do something similar. Yeah, Dabo Sweeney has become another really big mentor for me. We're really close. I think the world of him.

I went out to Clemson to see him last off season in February, and I'm open about this. I've watched him from afar for years. When I was playing in college and watching him and seeing him, just who he is, how he gives glory to the Lord and how he impacts the players and does it at an extremely high level.

I mean, consistently winning ACC championships, two national championships and does it the right way. When I go to see Dabo in February, he calls me when I'm on the Uber, or I got a rental car, excuse me. I was driving my rental car to the hotel. He calls me, he's like, where are you at? He's like, where are you staying? I tell him I'm staying at the Marriott or whatever it is. He's like, all right, cool. And then he hangs up. I'm like, wow, Dabo called me. That's so nice of him to see if I'm good. And I'm is. He's like, All right, cool. And then he hangs up. I'm like, Wow, Dabo called me. That's so nice of him to see, like, if I'm good. And I'm nobody. I'm like, I'm just, I'm just, he doesn't know me from Adam. He's waiting for me at the hotel to greet me when I come to Clemson to meet with him. I mean, that's just who he is. You

talk about a 10 out of 10, just person, let alone coach, husband, father. I mean, I think the world of dabble and how he's done it and does it the right way, puts the kids first and always focused and have an impact. That's my heart. That's where, you know, for us, when I became the head coach, like we, our culture is defined as built different here.

And that is defined as building champions on and off the field by doing common things in an uncommon way. Like, that's what we want to do here. It's not about all the other stuff. Like, what we focus on is building champions on and off the field, and that's what we double down on here. I think the thing that's interesting about your job, and probably has changed dramatically since the time in which you landed from that anxiety-filled flight, is how not only do you have to like coach your kids and bring them along and help them mature and all the things from a football and life standpoint,

you also have to decide how you wanna, you know, design your program. You have to architect, be an architect and like, how do you build this thing? How do you make sure that you can do it your way while also maintaining the standard? And that's gotta be difficult. And I think that Davos Sweeney is probably a great, you know, mentor for you. But obviously, you know, his

program and your program have different challenges. How do you take advice from somebody like Dabo, who you admire, who's been, you know, in your corner, and mold it to what works for Boise? Yeah, absolutely. Great question. I think with Dabo and some of the, and I try to call a lot, I mean, there's a lot of things I'm learning on a daily basis. Dabo's a huge one that I talk to. And a lot of it with Dabo is more just, what are you focused on?

Like, what is the messaging? What are you trying to get done? Maybe they might have more of something, but we can still, I believe that we can accomplish everything we want to here at Boise State. And I believe we have more than enough, just like anything, we need to continue to push forward. But in the NIL, collective spaces, recruiting, management, schedule, fall camp, there's a lot of things that, that I want to see how other guys are doing it, so we can create the best version for us. And that's really what I do.

I mean, going down there to see him was awesome to see how they ran practice. I was able to steal a couple different drills they use and a couple things they do with each other, a couple culture things that he does in regards to accountability. So there's a lot of things that I've been able to pull from him, from Coach Peterson, from other head coaches around the country that I believe have a heart to impact the kids and not just in it to win games. Obviously, I'm a competitor just like everybody else is. I want to win every game we play. And I believe we're called to that. But I want to do it the right way and have an impact on these kids.

And I think it's cliche, but I really, I know it says in the Book of Luke, too, much is given, much is required. I know at some point I'm going to answer for how the players in my program are 20 years down the road. That's what keeps me awake at night. And I want to make sure we're growing them spirits soul body every single day I know when you do that, they're gonna be better football players. They're gonna make the right decision on fourth down And so long winded answer your question. I apologize. I pull a lot of things from some things fit Some things might not fit because we're in a different situation. That's okay well in that situation though, because you've done a good job and your predecessors did an incredible job also of finding these diamonds in the rough and then developing them into great

players. In this era of college football, how do you make sure those players stay? I mean, keeping Ashton Gentry, because I know a bunch of schools were after Ashton Gentry last offseason. How do you keep the next Ashton Gentry and make sure he stays at Boise State until the end of his career? Yeah, great question. First off, I think you got to find the right kids. And I tell our staff all the time, we don't need to find 5,000 players that fit Boise State. We need to find the right 20, 25 every year, whatever that number is. We need to find the right ones. And we recruit where talent sets the floor. What is talent?

How tall someone is, how fast someone is, whatever. That's their talent. We can view that on film. We can see that. But we believe here that character sets the ceiling. You talk about a kid with high ceiling, the floor is high because they're talent, but more importantly, their character is through the roof.

That's passion for the game, loves football. That's high football intelligence. No one's gonna outwork them. Highly, so we look, I double down on those things in recruiting, because if you find the right ones, they're gonna wanna come to Boise State. Maybe there's another place that can pay them more and all that stuff.

Like I want guys that fit here, that want their life to be changed and developed here. If you find those guys, they're going to come here. They're going to not only come here, they're going to come here and become really good football players. And they're going to stay so we can change their lives. So that's our model.

And it's something we're working at every single day to find the right players. And when you find the right ones, you can develop them to be elite football players. And they're going to stay here in this program. Spencer, I don't know how much you guys and people in your position spend on consuming content and thinking about things like the house

settlement and the expansion of the college football playoff and seeding and all the things that we're bogged down by every day. But from a playoff perspective, having been the first G5 team in this era to make that field and to advance into not just out of the first round through a bye. Do you have an opinion on what it should be or what's just for everyone in this new system

as we're trying to iron that out? Yeah, I'm going to ask that question a lot. It's a great one. My heart is always, with every FBS team going into last season, we all knew what the rules were. Like there was no, at least there was no gray area, and you have to win these games, win a championship, and then that gives you an opportunity to play in the college football play. For me as a competitor and leading our program, as long as every school has a shot,

then it's on us as competitors, as coaches, as players, to go put the work in to get an opportunity to play in the college football class. So with them changing maybe this or that with getting a first round by and those things, to me it's people can have their opinions. As long as we always have a shot, then we got to go out and win the games. We got to go out and do what it takes. But you better give me a shot. And right now as long as we still have a shot, that's our focus.

Because those are outcomes down the road. I get asked a lot, are you going to make it to the playoff again? Well, we got to make sure we have the best June 19th we've ever had, June 20th, June 21st. And then the outcomes will take care of themselves. So I try my best to not focus on some of the things that I don't directly control. No one called me in regards to what my thoughts were

on the college football playoff to make changes. So as long as they give us a shot, we're gonna work our tails off to get back. We had this discussion on the show a few weeks ago, Spencer, and because somebody had asked us, one of the viewers had asked, would it be better if the schools with all the most money, they had their own playoff,

and then the group of five schools had their own playoff and We we said okay, let's ask the fans of those schools and boys estate fans wrote in and Appalachian state fans wrote in and and you know different different fan bases wrote in and said We want a shot like we want to play in that playoff I imagine that's the same way the players coaches feel too. Absolutely. We just want a shot. I mean and I believe in and I know a lot of everybody in June is gonna talk about how great their team is gonna be and that's just the reality. But I believe that every coach has an opportunity to build and develop their roster to give themselves the best shot to win the

games they need to to go to the college football playoff. Some years you do, some years you don't, that's football. The ball rolls differently, that's football. But as a competitor, I wanna recruit and build a program that always has a shot to play in the college football playoff. And especially at Boise State, and this is not because of me. I mean, since the turn of the century, I mean, there's only a couple teams in the country that's won more football games than Boise State.

We've had 27 consecutive winning seasons. I mean, that's, so when you have that kind of history, that kind of tradition, our fan base, Bronco Nation, our players, we just want a shot. Then it's our job to go put the work in and creating different playoff models. I don't like that one bit. Give us one playoff model where we all can get a shot. If it's 12 teams, 16 teams, whatever that's up test to go win those games, but don't separate it.

Give us all a shot, um, to go play in a college football playoff game, win a national championship. Yeah. Boise States, the poster child of the entire college football playoff discourse for my entire adult life. Like this is just like one year. Like this Boise state was, why didn't they have a shot? You know, 2006, 2009?

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I was 16 years old when that stuff was going on. Andy is old, by the way, Spencer. It's embarrassing how old he is. All these head coaches calling me sir now is getting very disturbing. But the thing that I think is fascinating, though, is that we have to acknowledge in college

football that Alabama and Ohio State and Georgia are working with a different set of resources than everyone else. Right. Even sometimes teams in their own conferences. And I think that it is interesting to try to dissect the mindset of

places. And Boise State is certainly closer to Georgia than some of the other teams in this in this pantheon or this discussion of would you rather have a shot at the teams that have everything or would you rather compete with the teams that are more built like you from a population standpoint, a money standpoint, a resources standpoint and it's always go take the biggest shot at the biggest good dog that you possibly can, right?

Like that's how you think, that's how their fans think. Yeah, for me, it's, you gotta find the, and I agree, I was talking with a coach the other day, and I even saw a tweet from I think Brett Bielema where it's like, if we're all shopping at Walmart, let's all shop at Walmart. If we're all shopping at Louis Vuitton, let's all shop at Louis Vuitton, right?

And I get that. For me, as long as we can continue to recruit the right kids and we can keep them and develop them, I believe we can go play with anybody in the country. Now, that's hard to do, to do that consistently in this model where the amount of money that's being used in college football and what have you, I get that, but I know every game we lined up against last season, I did not feel outmatched.

There were some players on the other side of the ball against some teams, you're like those players are really good, but we have really good players too. And no different this season, I believe in our team. We're gonna play some guys that have really good football players from game one all the way through. But as a competitor, it's our job to train our players to build them to be the best version themselves and then at some point put the ball down. Like it's 11 on 11.

This is a game. It's not, it's not a computer generated deal. Like that ball is going to get caught or not. It's going to get intercepted or not. It's going to, that guy's going to be tackled or not. And it's our job to grow our team. And when you find the right kids We're gonna develop them because they're high ceiling and I believe that we will consistently have a team to compete with with anybody

That's our job to go do it. So For me, that's how I'm wired. That's how this place is built. It's always been that way and I love that about this community I love that about Bronco Nation where it's anybody any place place, any time. And then let's go play the game. Everybody else is going to have their opinion and I'm with you in college football and where it's going. You can see guys that I've heard about some of these rosters that last year and even this year, maybe even more in regards to money. But at some point they got to go play football. And who has the closest team? Who's got the tightest culture? And we got to make sure that we do that here. All right, Spencer, before we let you go, we ask everybody this before

they sign off. What is your rule for life? Well, I got three guys, and this was told to me when I was in college. I played at Azusa Pacific and one of our linebackers, Coach Bo Beatty, he told me three things. And now it's on my wristband. It's written all over my office. And the first one is love Jesus. Second one is work hard. Third one is treat people right. And for me, I'm by no means perfect. I'll screw up more than anybody. But if I can keep my faith and love Jesus, that's my foundation. If I can outwork people and everybody I come in contact with I want to treat them right and I want them leaving any conversation feeling empowered. If I can do that every single day, I believe that that's success for me. Your three or more I see I have a three prong one too and yours are more global than mine.

I think mine is never complain about free food, never complain about free beer, never skip leg day. And I feel like you do all right with those three. But I think with your three, probably a lot of those up. So yeah, mine is don't order cuisine from restaurants that specialize in multiple types of cuisine. So that's where you go to in and out or chick food. Nobody's good at making pizza and tacos. Yeah, they have pizzas and tacos on the menu. You get the hell out of there. I think you accomplished your goals here on our show. Your rules, Spencer. Thanks so much for your time, man. It was really awesome catching up with you and it's going to be awesome watching you guys this year. I appreciate you guys. Thanks for letting me on. It was great hanging out with you. I could do this all day. Appreciate it. That was a spectacular. Thank you so much. That's awesome.

Spencer Danielson from Boise State. That was a lot of fun also. Produced a question in the chat that I thought was really interesting for Big KG. Did I be concerned as an Arkansas fan that Boise State was able to have a Heisman finalist and make the playoffs the year after losing their starting QB to Arkansas. Well, I think you have to kind of go back into the end of 2023 to see how much Talon Green really caused Boise State to have that resurgence and win the Mountain West. I would argue that a lot of it was fear of Ashton Gentile.

Now, Taylor Green was very efficient in those games. They didn't ask him to throw very much, but he had a high completion percentage when he did. I think if you look at the numbers, Boise State's defense was excellent, which that was Spencer Danielson's side of the ball. Probably a big reason he got the job. So like Ari, I don't know about you. If Arkansas had gotten Ashton

Gentey instead of Talon Green. Last year, do you think that would have made a bigger difference in Arkansas season? Because I do. Yeah, but I think the question too is that like, you know, if you think that. Taking the better quarterback should have propelled you to something then you're just like dismissing everything that made Boise State

great last year. So like I do agree with you in that sense, but like I do think there's probably a lot of. People in Arkansas's position over the years of like well, if we didn't take this transfer or look at what this team did with our guy, and it's like every place is different. So I think that Boise State. It's probably just

further along as a program than Arkansas. Yeah, and Arkansas needed a quarterback like KJ Jefferson. They've decided they decided to move on. They needed a quarterback. Tail and Green is one of the better ones available. So it's fine. But yeah, did you think that was going to be it? No, I mean, look, there were teams that tried to get Ash and Gentie away from Boise State and then were not successful. If one of them had, if a power conference team had gotten Ash and Gentie, my guess is that would have made a massive difference. Right.

I don't know if getting Taylor and Green was going to make a massive difference for a power conference team. I mean, it is funny too, because it's like Arizona State lost Jaden Daniels, what, four years ago now? Or was it five? Three? Four, four, four. Yeah.

He played. Yeah. And then like, was the Cinderella team four years later, who got the best of a quarterback transfer, right? Because like, I'm sure Michigan State's not fond of the idea of losing Sam Levitt. So like, you know, it kind of ebbs and flows and there are going to be times where you lose a player or get a player that doesn't, you know, live up to your standard or you lose one that's really good and there'll be times where you

have the better end of the deal. But it's just kind of like, you know, it's going to be very interesting, Andy, just moving forward into the, into into the world how to analyze these moves as if their trades because like to a certain extent they are right like. Yeah, can offer somebody something that they can't get it where they're leaving or you want that player.

You prefer that player. You go get that player like you know you're making a decision for your program, especially with with the quarterback position. So you know, I don't know. I never had a thought once last year of like, oh, what does this mean for Arkansas? making a decision for your program, especially with with the quarterback position. So you know, I don't know. I never had a thought once last year of like, oh, what does this mean for Arkansas?

Like that didn't even cross my mind. Yeah, I they went and got the quarterback. I don't think Boise State would have been fundamentally different whether they had Taylor Green or Maddox Madsen starting a quarterback. They had the boat. Good year, right? Like I think that like we undersell Madsen's production and his ability to better as as defenses try to

shut down Ash and Gentie Madsen made them pay for it and I think that's all you can ask right now. I think Madison's gonna have to do even more because obviously there is no Ash and Gentie now, so we'll see how he develops as Boise State's quarterback and we'll find out pretty quick because they play at USF week one. USF's healthy again, like they weren't healthy all last season. That's going to be a really good game. Those are two teams that actually could win their conference in the group of five.

So that first game, which is a weeknight game, I believe that's the Thursday. Yeah, August 28th is the Thursday. So by the way, we mentioned early in the show that LSU winning the college world series, that's the end of college athletic competition in the 2024-2025 school year. The next college athletic competition we will see. That's right, Reddit CFB had a great graphic on it today. Farmageddon in Dublin week zero. We're not far away 61 days and 4th.

It is the it is the 23rd 23rd. That's you want to give a piece of America to Europe like that's the way to do it right like trying Like they give you drafted like things. How could you explain America to the Irish and you just give them farmageddon and that was in McDonald's. Kansas State and Iowa State playing football.

Yeah, the two teams from the American heartland, like it just just go and playing nasty Nasty and shown video of the one two years ago in the snow. Yeah, this is what you're getting. Uhm? If I were a fan of Kansas State and Iowa State and I could afford it, I would go to this. 100% 100. This is going to be so awesome.

This location for most people, right? Like the cliff, Ireland. I would love to. So I like when this game is a conference game. So it was Georgia Tech, Florida State last year, which obviously we had a lot of thoughts after that game because we thought Florida State was something different. The year before it was Navy Notre Dame and it was kind of eh.

The year before that was Notre Dame, it was excuse me, Nebraska Northwestern and that one was Dame. It was excuse me, Nebraska Northwestern and that one was wild. That was the game or Northwestern one and we were like Nebraska and he just just punt the program into the sun. Is that was that? Am I remembering that?

You know a conference game. That could go a long way in determining how things shake out in a conference on August 24th is pretty awesome. August 23rd. 23rd. Yeah. I'm not good at math.

Also too, I'm 36 turning 37 in July. And I don't know which months have 30 days and which ones have 31. I have to look at the calendar. I have no idea. Like right now. I gave you a quiz right now. No shot. I don't even know how many days are in June. June, the month we're in right now. Does June have a 31st. I have no idea. Like I like right now. I gave you a quiz right now. No shot. I don't even know June.

The month we're in right now. Does June have a 31st or not? No idea. I'm telling you. I don't know. All right. 40 days has September April June and November. Say it again. 30 days has September April June and November. I don't even know it now. I still forgot. Is that something that like you're supposed to know?

Like when you're like four, yes. Yeah, I think it's so funny is that like that's why there's a little rhyme. There are so many things that I should know that I just don't know. Well, I mean, we're not even get into February. Show me the knuckle trick. Do you know the knuckle trick? I don't know the knuckle trick. I do remember once.

30 days has September, April, June, and November? Yeah, I got called into the principal's office. I don't really need my knuckles for that. Because there was a kid in my class who was born on leap year, and I thought that was the funniest thing in the entire world, and I kept bringing it up, and the principal's like, you gotta drop this kid. You like all in the principal's office for making fun of a kid for being born on February

29th, I don't even know if I was making fun of him I was just like laughing hysterically every time I looked at him Like I thought that that was the funniest thing in the world cuz like he doesn't get a birthday every and like when you're a Kid. Oh, yeah Like yeah What do you do you just like celebrate it the day after? Yeah, or the day before. Yeah, probably whatever day falls on a weekend. I wasn't

trying to be mean. I literally just thought it was hilarious. I still kind of think I can't believe you're calling the principal's office. calculated how many how many years you have to go before you're accurately like do you even like know your action? Like how many days do you lose in your actual age? Well, you there's a every year is three hundred sixty five and a quarter days. That's why we add the day. Every four years. So what? Yeah, this is I don't like this. I don't like like they're still going around the sun as much as

we are. 29 doesn't change that day of the year gets like how do we account for that extra quarter of a day? We add February 29th once every four years. OK, got it. So we have this whole other day to account for it. But like if you're born on February 29th. Then like how do you like you lose four days a year and I guess every you don't lose any. We all you're right. You're right every time the same way I'm going to sign you to watch

Interstellar so you can so you can understand the theory of relativity tonight. They only age four years at a time. Oh my god. They were born, then they were four, then they were eight, then they were 12. Well, the way you'd be doing it, they'd be turning four when they turned 16. No, they can't be, they can never be 11 is what I'm saying. Never, odd numbers are just out for them.

Yeah, okay. Knuckles represent months with 31 days, spaces between the knuckles. 30 days, oh, spaces are, I got you. Oh, you're using all your knuckles. That makes sense. Knuckles represent 31 days, spaces, so January, February, March, but so January, February,

March, April, May, June, July. July's 31. Okay. I promise. Does your, does your thumb knuckle count? I'm confused. I can't do it. August is, it's for now. Cause if you do it like this, cause August also has 31. July and August are 31 and 31. I'll just use the calendar on my phone to check it when I need to know that and then I'll just keep like I'll carry on living my life that way. Oh my god. I learned something new every day. This is amazing. Yeah, I I am like if somebody asked me, do you want to go like play trivia at a bar like that's my absolute nightmare. Oh, that's my dream

because that like to me like that like you want to do this this game on the show where we do where players were and where whose team is it anyway? Yeah, we've done it and I'm going to be we did it before you got here too. I have no ability to recall any information. Well, time to start Yeah, because you need this information, and that's why we're doing it by the way is for the fans who also like. Think about how long ago the transfer portal like

the main transfer portal window was the December one. I guarantee there's some big moves that you've forgotten and that I've forgotten and fans have gotten like that's the thing that's so difficult about covering college football now. Like it was so easy to know the rosters and feel like you had a good understanding and feel for teams on a year-to-year basis. Like it's like who did they lose in the draft and who did they sign? Like that was and then you you basically had it. The problem is if you're hopeless you're hopeless forever and now you don't have to be hoping is if you're hopeless, you're hopeless forever. And now you don't have to be hopeless forever.

Now anybody could be good, but here's the thing that I think is interesting. And maybe this will be a nice 10 minute segment that closes out here. Well, we've got the video game stuff too. Video game stuff too. So let's make it a three minute segment. And then we can make it a 15 minute segment tomorrow

if you want. Tomorrow, yes. What team is going to be really good this year, like BYU was last year? Because they made a lot of really good moves. This is the whole show tomorrow, Ari. But this is the whole show. They made a bunch of moves that we're not appreciating enough.

This is the whole show. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Yes, no, and I texted Cody Blair We're gonna get whose team is it anyway up up and running hopefully this week But this is this will actually be good research for both of us For when we play whose team is it anyway?

Right that'll help me but yeah, I do feel like we do these rankings and I Listen like I feel like when I say these things I'm selling a short for how much like we read about football all day like nobody oh, it's just so much There's just so many moves It's it's not a like I and if you do take it as a criticism of us because we don't remember every single transfer That's fine. I that's fair, but it. But it is so much to hold in your head at one time. I'd love to hear what people think, too. If you are a listener or you're listening to the show

and you want to email us or tweet at us or something, who do you think is next year's team? Or which team do you think we're not talking about enough right now? Last year at this time, we were talking about Ole Miss as that team. All these moves they made. Look at what they did. I think LSU is probably the team that we've talked about the most in that vein in terms of what they did in the transfer portal. But in terms of who we're missing, like we weren't talking nearly enough about Indiana this This point last year and Indiana should have made the most

sense because it's Kurt Signetti taking a lot of his James Madison players, right? And that is impossible to quantify. Like I'll put my hand up right now and say hey, listen, somebody took. We didn't. We didn't know how good those guys would be in the lower level that you know, like like D'Angelo Pons or something like, I don't know. But the I'm looking at the rankings here. And like, there are a bunch of teams that we've talked about quite a bit, like we did talk about LSU in tech, right? We have talked about

Miami. But like, Oregon, for instance, is a team that we talk about all the time. But like, are we underselling how good Oregon can be this year? Because I think I had them nine or eight in my top 25. Like, well, and they made a lot of a lot of their moves are replacements out of the portal. And we've had the discussion, we probably need to have it more. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Like, because Georgia made some moves. Like, I think Noah Thomas going to George is a big move. But Georgia, for the most part, is taking guys that they had in the program already, and they're going to go, all right, did we develop these guys enough? But we've spent Oregon has a lot of guys in really key spots

that are transfers that are plugging in. Yeah, it's like it's like my high use going to be like Ashton Genty this year? Like do they go running back? That just going to be the talk of a town for the entire season and like we've spent 20 minutes total talking about him this offseason.

Like how much should we talk? We weren't together until the first day of the season last year, but like how much time did you spend last year talking about Ashton Genty on your show? A decent amount, because we knew he was good coming back. Didn't know he was going to be back, but I remember like when I was

podcasting at the athletic like we talked about it a little bit, but we didn't talk about it. Comezor it with what it turned out. We didn't think he would be. Yeah, we didn't think he would be what he was. Yeah, I mean, he was having 10 yards of carry for

the first month of the season. And here's another team that we have spoken very little about in terms of football, but like North Carolina flipped their entire roster. Yeah, I don't know if that's necessarily in a good way. I don't know if it's a good way or a bad way, but they have, I'm counting here, over 40 new incoming players. Yeah.

And they have an easy schedule. Like is North Carolina going to be 9-0 this year? Like where's North Carolina going to be 2-7? I don't know. In that stretch. I don't know in that stretch I don't know that that that's the thing like that head so these are hard to judge because this guy's we haven't seen play very much their head coach is bill Belichick and we've spent very little time talking about how their coaches bill Belichick we've talked about his girlfriend a lot yeah talked about her properties a lot in the sex shop well hey TCU is their opening game on Labor Day, by the way. Like remember when TCU was in the national title game three years ago? Yeah. Yeah, I do. Like what is Sonny Dikes gonna do? Cause they kept their quarterback when some people were trying to come after him. Also, have we completely given up on the fact that Florida State was good at the portal two years ago and can do it again

Like is that possible they did it again again? Yeah, exactly We've not talked and I I've had this conversation With Florida State fans that I know like what do you want us to say about them? Like what do you want to know and they're all like, I don't know. I don't know what to say about them I don't know what we don't even like the floor say fans. I don't know what, we don't even, like the Florida State fans aren't even sure how they wanna talk about Florida State right now. Here's the thing about Florida State. They got Gavin Sawchuck from Oklahoma.

They got, I can't say this name. Thomas Castellanos, yeah. I can't say his name and I can't say the baseball player's name. Say it again. Castellanos. Castellanos, I have a hard time pronouncing that name. And they also have Deuce Robinson, the former USC tight end. Like, could they

have like a sneaky, fun, explosive offense that we're not appreciating? Like, I don't know. I don't want to blow the whole show tomorrow, but like Florida State could be. I don't know if they're good again. All right, let's put a pin in it. OK. And that's tomorrow's show. But right now, we got to talk a little bit about the video game. The sport. Welcome to a special edition of Andy and Ari on three. We're talking. EA College Football 26 gameplay.

I got to play the game in Orlando last month and it was a lot of fun and there's some things that were embargoed that we couldn't talk about yet that now we can talk about. And the one thing that I feel like is going to be the biggest game changer this year, the one that everybody when they get their hands on the game, every single person, because everybody's got their own favorite mode. Some people like dynasty mode. Some people want to play now. Some people want road to glory, but everybody plays against their friends and they've got to substitute.

And for however many years football video games have existed, you had to press pause already substitute. It is so annoying. Like pause. I mean, in the old days, you had to go into the formation and like find the guy and it was a pain in the ass. Yeah. The subbing is really, really great.

Especially if you're the type of person that like gets into the game, like at that level, like last night I was up at midnight playing the game and I played somebody who beat the ever loving crap out of me. I couldn't even get a first down. And they subbed players on defense and like had the whole thing. And, you know, there's some people who just play the game and just play the game, you know, but like the ability to adjust your coverages and the depth of your zones, and all the things that you're going to do while also having the ability to sub in your personnel faster is going to make your ability to outsmart your opponent better. Like that's the thing.

And I think I think even the most casual player wants to sub because I'll give an example of last year with Ohio State. There are some plays where you want Quincheon Judgkins carrying the ball and some plays where you want Trayvon Henderson carrying the ball. And if you wanted to do it last year, you had to pause and go back into the game. And last year you could like toggle while you're on the formation before the play to change your before the play. But now you can do it pre snap. And so you just hit up on the D pad, the box comes up, you're hitting left or right to just switch the person out. And that's why I think, you know, the really advanced players are going to do this with with different safeties and linebackers and that sort of thing. But I think even the casual players will do it with running backs and receivers.

Especially if you're running a hurry up, because you can't sub if you don't go back to the menu. Like, if you don't go back to the play call menu. And I think now you can sub in between plays without going back to the menu, which is huge. And like, also, too, there are a lot of people who figure out certain plays that just tend to work and run them over and over and over again. Um, and like sometimes in my most frustrating moments that I have in the game is when I know what the other person's are going to do and I still can't stop it. And I think now being able to adjust the depth of your zones and, you know, having some of this personnel, you know, changing ability before the snap is going to help you like actually win the mental part of the game because like the best

players in this game Andy beat you at chess they're very good at calling the right defense or calling the right offensive of calls because they know what their opponent's going to do and this gives you more versatility and able to do that and the stunting mechanism I don't know if I'm like I mean like the ability to definitely talk about that because that's, that's one thing they were pretty proud of is, is adding stunts to the game because before they just didn't have the technological capability to have individual defensive linemen doing those things. And now they do. So now you, you have to deal with the real stunts that like a real offensive line would have to deal with in a game where This D tackle goes, you know goes under this way and the defensive end wraps around and now you've got to figure out how to block

That yeah, I haven't played the game yet And I unfortunately was in my favorite place in the world Las Vegas when the beta was released So I wasn't able to do it I hope and somebody in the chat here made that point to that Hopefully the new stunts and twists on the defensive line aren't overpowered. Like, they still need to, like, you can't just do a stunt and get home every time. You know what I mean? You need to be able to block it.

You need to be able to block it, too. Yeah. I think it's probably going to depend on, because it feels like they've got a lot more dependent on the player rating, like the awareness rating. And we just saw a clip in the B roll with one of the things that they talked about that I'm very happy about because I tend to go chuck and duck when I get desperate. And before, if you were running a go and the DB was running fairly even with the receiver,

it didn't matter how good the DB was, he's probably catching the ball and picking you off. And now the DB has to have enough awareness to get his head around. Like if he doesn't have a certain awareness level, he won't get his head around. So you may not complete the pass. It may bounce off his shoulder pad,

but he's not gonna pick it off every single time because that was very unrealistic. Yeah, I mean, that one clip that River just had of you being able to take your linebacker who's like zoned in the flat and then move it specifically to where that route's going to end up should put an end to people who run the same play over and over again. Like that, like the thing, the thing that I think is so fun about this game is that back in the old days of video games, college football games or NFL games in general, it

was just like, who was the nicest on the sticks. And as this game gets more advanced and more realistic, you're like football knowledge, your ability to run, you know, man defenses in the right sets or running the zone sets at the right time is what makes you good at it. You know, like the more you know about it, the more you sub, the more you change your coverages, the more you, you know, like that more you know about it, the more you sub, the more you change your coverages, the more you, you know, change the angle in which your your defensive linemen

are rushing or containing, like it makes a huge difference. And they've like honored actually knowing about football in a way that actually has a tangible difference in whether or not you can move the football or not. Well, because of this game, like so my kid plays actual football in high school, but he plays on a line. So he's not, you know, that attuned to what coverages look like. But because of the game, he could recognize like a cover to shell instantly. Like, he knows exactly what that looks like. So, yeah. And it actually helps people understand football a little bit more. And I think that, like, in general, like for us in our job, too, like Like there's so much criticism and discussion about certain play calls or

certain things that happen. And it's like the actual depth of what goes into decision making in football is so insanely deep that like, hopefully this game will help people appreciate too, like why plays break down in real life and why, you know, things didn't go the way that the coach had hoped for. Because like it's one thing I think they've done really well, especially in the past couple of years, like bringing in bringing the game back. And I remember talking to the Madden team about this last year, because last year Madden added some some stuff you do with the line of scrimmage to change blocking schemes. And that obviously carries into this year with college football, but also what you were just talking about, some of the things you can do pre-SNAP, the substitution goes into this too. They have made it where you feel more similar to how a

coach or a coordinator feels in real life, where you have to make all of these decisions within a few seconds. They now have the technological capability to allow you to make those decisions in that time period and they've given you the way to do it. That doesn't disrupt the flow of the game because let's be real having to pause and then change things. That's not fun. This this makes it feel like you are actually sitting. Let's say the offensive coordinator sitting in the press box and the last play ended, and you know you've got 15 seconds till the next play starts, and you gotta figure all this stuff out.

Yeah, there's no question. I love this, Andy. I'm so excited. Like, it's 10 days from now, I'm gonna get after it. And I also feel like as the year went on, this year I've gotten progressively better at the game, because I'm starting to understand the importance of like coverage changes and all these things

and pre-snap adjustments. And like now that you're able to do a little bit more in-depth stuff with that, I'm excited to sink my teeth into it. I also love the fact too that like 2,800 plays and how many formations was it? Like that's a big addition to the game because a lot of times the number one criticism

in the past of like- 45, 45 plus, cause I think they're not done. I think they're still adding them on right now. But like back in the day when they would just reskin these games like it was just the same plays in the same game every year over and over again. So the fact that I feel like I'm getting something new, the fact that I feel like the Penn State swinging gate formation. Is so fun when you look at it, I will warn you do not run at every play. Do not run in multiple plays in a row. The defense will immediately diagnose it if you do it more than once. But it's fun when you throw it out there and you're like, look at what there's

an offensive tackle in a guard way out by the hash mark. What are we doing here? Yeah. Um, but I play people online guys. I just want you to know that like last night I played somebody who was Georgia and I was Miami and they just absolutely smoked me. They're running this defense where they were bull rushing the center. I couldn't even, I couldn't run.

I couldn't throw. It was just awful. I was like losing like 42 to nothing, like at halftime. And then the game before though, Andy, I just want you to know I was losing 31 to 20 heading into the fourth quarter and I won 50 to 31. And I went to bed like a smile on my face. Well, they're trying to make it as realistic as possible. One other thing, and this will be interesting to see how this plays out on the field, One other thing, and this will be interesting to see how this plays out on the field, the height of the quarterback matters in terms of what he can see. So if you have a shorter quarterback and you run him under center, there's a chance he's

not going to be able to see the field very well. So if you've got a short guy, you may want to keep him in the gun. If you've got a tall guy... How does that manifest in the gameplay though, Andy? What's that? How does that manifest in the gameplay though, Andy? What's that? How does that manifest in the gameplay? How does it impact your experience? They call it field vision.

There's no vision cone. They didn't bring back the vision cone from the games that people didn't like. But basically it manifests itself in your windows are tighter. You're not going to be able to see those receivers popping open. You may not be able to get the ball through. Because you're using things if you try to get over that. Somebody looks at you, they might not actually be open and you'll throw it to the open receiver

and it'll get batted down or whatever. That's cool. Yeah, yeah. So I mean, there's a lot of stuff that they, they've put so much into it already. Now they're sort of fine tuning, taking small situations and saying, okay, let's figure out how this gets in the game. And so I'm, I'm fascinated by how all of this comes together. But I think the one thing,

if we, if we ask everybody, once they get the game in July, what's the one thing that makes this feel completely different? It's the substitution thing because everybody's had that situation where they see the back that's on the field and like, wait, I didn't want to hand it to him. I wanted to hand it to the other guy. And but you don't want to pause. And so now you don't have to. And I think that's going to feel like the biggest change to the most people. Yeah. Yeah. And the graphics look updated.

I like the new score bug. Uh, cannot wait to download this the day I, the day it comes out. I'm going to be up at some point on the show, Andy, we got to share our gamer tags. I think now you can do cross. I mean, you could last year like cross platform play, which is great. And yeah, maybe like most loyal listeners or people who engage in the show the most

will get one-on-one games, will do the headset. I'll try not to say- Get Ari trash talking to you. Yeah, I'll try not to say insensitive things into the microphone. I do partake- You do it on the show every day. What's gonna stop you when you're playing a video game?

I get a lot of pleasure. Hearing the other person being upset when I'm playing Malik says college football should have adopted the defensive players moving around before the snap like they did in last year's bad. Good news Malik they did. They did that they they actually talked about this when I was down in Orlando. They showed us from trying to remember which game it was. It was a Georgia game a few years ago. Oh, no, no, no. I'm sorry. It was the Georgia Texas game last year in Austin. They showed us that how Georgia moved pre-snap defensively as Quinn Ures was

waiting for the snap and how much it messed Quinn Ures up on that play. And then they showed us in the video game version exactly how you can do that now. Yeah So yeah, we're what two weeks away two and a half weeks away cannot wait Little more than that. It's about three weeks right now, but we're gonna make it. Oh, we're gonna make it We get it sooner though. I think so. That's good. Oh Michael is Billy Napier in the game Billy Napier is in the game Michael. I don't think it really looks Michael is Billy Napier in the game. Billy Napier is in the game. Michael. I don't think it really looks That much like Billy Napier of my rankings of how the coaches look compared to how they actually look the most accurate portrayals I would say are

Sharon Moore and Manny Diaz. I think are the two that looked Most like themselves in the game. Yeah, Billy Napier is a tough one because he's got like the perma stubble. And they kind of made it look like he's just got to go T, but he has, he's a perma stubble guy. So, which we all kind of admire and want to be one day. Yeah. But they're, they're working. And Ken is Dan landing in the game.

Yes. Dan landing is in the game. Uh, lots of coaches. James Franklin is another one that looks a lot like himself, but it's not just head coaches. They also have some coordinning in the game? Yes, Dan Lanning is in the game. Lots of coaches. James Franklin's another one that looks a lot like himself, but it's not just head coaches. They also have some coordinators in the game too. Like for example, Penn State, Andy Kodelnicki and Jim Knowles are both in the game.

So like if you're doing a dynasty mode and you want to start, you could start as Andy Kodelnicki, Penn State offensive coordinator, and then work your career from there where you take a head coaching job and you move. So there's a lot of fun little nuggets in this one that you haven't been able to do before. So Ari, we got a few more of these coming up. The one I can't wait to tell people about is Road to Glory. Road to Glory is going to be so cool, especially if you're like, if you're an On3 subscriber, if you you're a rivals fan, you're going to really appreciate it.

So we're going to talk about that in a couple of weeks. But I can't wait. We're so close. So close. Let's talk to you.