Andy & Ari On3 - Can Penn State finally crack the College Football Playoff? | Big weekend for the NCAA tourney bubble

Episode Date: March 1, 2024

Today's show is brought to you by PrizePicks, the easiest way to play daily fantasy. All first time users that deposit and use the promo code ANDY will receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100. If you deposit $100, PrizePicks will give you $100.Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/ANDY(0:00-1:12) Intro(1:13-7:39) Guaranteed Byes for the SEC and Big Ten in CFP?(7:40-40:42) Checking in on Penn State with Sean Fitz from Blue White Illustrated(40:43-56:26) James Fletcher III joins to discuss bubble watch(56:27-1:02:29) Conclusion: NFL Combine UpdatePenn State has won double-digit games five times since 2016 but has yet to make the College Football Playoff. With the CFP expanding to 12 this season, is this the year the Nittany Lions finally break in? If you believe they’ll go over 9.5 wins, then you believe they’ll make the CFP.The question is this: How excited will fans be if Penn State is still only the third-best team in the Big Ten? Would making the CFP change the calculation? Sean Fitz of On3’s Blue and White Illustrated joins to answer these questions and more. Penn State has two new coordinators and perhaps the most interesting schedule it has had since before it joined the Big Ten. There is much to discuss.Next, On3’s James Fletcher III joins to preview a critical weekend in college basketball. Has Kentucky turned the corner after smashing Alabama and winning on a buzzer-beater at Mississippi State? Also, Tennessee heads to Tuscaloosa for a game that could help determine NCAA Tournament seeding.Kansas heads to Waco to face Baylor in a clash of Big 12 titans. Marquette and Creighton play in a key Big East game in Omaha. Out west, Gonzaga faces St. Mary’s in the West Coast Conference finale. Lose, and the Bulldogs might need to win the WCC Tournament to make the NCAA tourney.Want to watch the show? Join us LIVE, M-F, at 8 am et here: https://youtube.com/live/Kcu-q_UAH-c

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. We got a fun one today. We got Penn State talk. We got Penn State not having a two-game season anymore. Penn State having the most interesting schedule it's had maybe since it was an independent. Penn State being able to make the playoff at 10-2. We're talking to Sean Fitz from Blue White Illustrated

in a few minutes. We're also going to talk to James Fletcher III. A little bubble watch. Bad loss for Nebraska last night. Bad, bad loss for Nebraska ball. Big game for Gonzaga tonight. Like they got must win. Like a regular season must win game for Gonzaga in West Coast Conference play.

It's wild that we're talking about that. We'll talk a little combine. Guys you heard from when we were at the Senior Bowl, Jalix Hunt, Braden Fisk had great days at the combine. Dallas Turner, the Alabama edge rusher, watching that composite 40 of him outrunning Derrick Henry and Jalen Hurts from their combines. That's nasty. A lot of fun. But before we get to that, before we get to Sean and talk Penn State and dive deep into that schedule and that nine and a half win total, let's talk about something that has been proposed for the college football playoff. Could the big 10 in the sec get guaranteed buys in a 14 team playoff as in their champions are

guaranteed. The one and two seed are guaranteed. The buys that is part of the most recent model being a socialized is the word they use. Ross Dellinger from Yahoo reported it yesterday. And remember we had one of our viewers write in for Dear Andy and said, conspiracy Andy needs to tackle this particular subject. And I said, we might need to have a conspiracy Andy segment on occasion where I look deeper into the motives of people and go down the rabbit holes.

Well, we definitely need to because conspiracy Andy was right. Remember last week when the 14 team talk came up and I said, the only reason they're doing 14 is so the big 10 and the sec can protect their championship games by having some stakes so that there can be two buys and their champs can get those two buys that's the only reason because otherwise you just go to 16 because that's more games to sell in the college football playoff package, more money for everybody. Same number of rounds. That's why they want to do 14. Conspiracy Andy was right.

I need a 10-foil hat. This is the 10-foil hoodie right here. Conspiracy Andy was correct. Now, this is gross, by the way. Absolutely gross. If the SEC and the Big Ten really want to do this. You don't codify this. I get that they're not going to sue you because you're giving the highest ranked group of five champ access.

You're giving the ACC and the Big 12 two automatic bids. So they're going to shut up. You're going to take most of the money if you're the big 10 in the SEC because you can. But just make it where the top two seeds get the buys. You don't have to guarantee that to yourselves. You're going to get that anyway most years. If you're going to do this, then just don't worry about the bridge and go to the Super League. Help the team. Well, you can't help because you get sued, but grease the wheels in some way. So the teams that want to get out of the ACC can get out and buy out and get into your leagues

and form the Super League and just tell everybody else, sorry, we're doing our own thing. Because this version of it is not going to be that satisfying. At least pretend everybody has a better chance. Don't stack the deck in your favor so obviously. Now, conspiracy Andy will tweak the tinfoil hat a little bit. It's possible, and we said this with some other stuff too, that this is one of those demands that can be pulled back in exchange for more money in the revenue sharing piece of this negotiation. Where they say, oh, no, no, no, we'll take this off the table, but we'll take a higher percentage.

That would be the smarter thing to do from a public perception standpoint. Because if you have this weird Frankenstein model that looks like it's stacked completely in favor of the SEC and the Big Ten, look, we already know you guys are probably to win every year. We already know that. We accept that. You don't have to stack the deck any further in your favor. Now, the revenue sharing piece of it, do whatever you want. Nobody actually cares about that. I mean, the executives care, but the fans don't care.

But you do this and you're telling the fans, we've rigged this thing. It's just stupid. Either have it where everybody has the same chance at everything, or just say, guys, it's been nice knowing you. We're clearly different now. We, the SEC and the Big Ten, are going to do our own thing. We'll have our own football championship. You guys play over here. We're going to play over here.

Do that instead. If you're going to do this, like I said last week on No Bad Ideas Friday, if you want to have a four-round tournament with all of these conferences involved, make it top 16, no automatic bids, no buys, and just play the damn thing.

But that's not what they want to do. The Big Ten and the SEC have cash cow conference championship games. They want to keep making money off those. They don't want to have to change. The only way you keep making money off those is you give them some stakes. And the stakes would be a buy, which would be a pretty significant stake because everybody else would have to play an extra game. Now, again, this doesn't solve the problem that finishing number three in the Big Ten or the SEC is going to be better than finishing number two.

But at least the number two team, you can say, well, you had a chance to win the bye and you blew it. But that's, it just looks bad. And again, maybe it's a negotiating tactic. Maybe it is, we'll take this away. You give us more money. Maybe that's why it leaks out now ahead of when they have to actually vote on it. But it doesn't look good. Look, if you're going to stack it, we know you're eventually going to control everything. We know you'll eventually be the Super League. If you're going to stack it like this, just go be the Super League now. Spare us the interim portion. It would just be easier. One of the teams that can benefit from all of this, by the way, especially if the Big Ten gets everything it wants and the SEC gets everything

it wants, the Penn State Nittany Lions. This is the team that probably suffered the most in the four-team playoff format versus a 12-team or a 14-team playoff format because the Nittany Lions would have made the playoff a bunch in the format that's going to start this year. Five times since 2016, Penn State has won double-digit games. Zero times Penn State has made the playoff. We welcome Sean Fitz from Blue White Illustrated on 3's Penn State site. Sean, you cover a Big Ten team. How's Conspiracy Andy doing on this? Is Conspiracy Andy diagnosing the motives correctly?

He's awesome. I love Conspiracy Andy, and I'm so glad that I got Conspiracy Andy instead of let's awesome. I love conspiracy Andy, and I'm so glad that I got conspiracy Andy instead of let's talk about drew all or Andy, like, uh, you know, because you're absolutely right. I mean, you look at the big 10 and the sec, not trying to have a level playing field. Like that's not what this is about. Um, I would say they're saying the right things. They're not even doing that. Like that's funny. The funny part here is they're not even like trying to make it seem like everybody's on the level here. But, I mean, that's right. I mean, you talk to a lot of people.

We talk to a lot of people. This is the way it's going. And so you mentioned finishing third in the Big Ten. I guess that's why I'm here. So I appreciate you having us on. Well, the Penn State thing fascinates me, Sean. It is because they have been good. By any measure, they have been very good over the last eight years.

But because Ohio State has been so good, because Michigan has been so good, they have essentially been blocked from being able to do the things that define success in this era. I'll never get over being at that Michigan game last year in happy Valley, listening to the fans, boo, the play calling in the first quarter. Like it is, it's a strange place to be because you're in a Penn state's in a position where 90% of the fan bases would trade for their last eight years, but they're just incredibly frustrated. Absolutely. But the wind total,

like it's so funny to think of double digit wins and kind of snort at it. You know, it's, it's kind of become the expectation. James Franklin got booed last week at Thon, which is the dance marathon where they raise all the money for cancer research yes and i'm not sure how widespread it was there's not really videos or anything but like it takes a special kind of a person to do that but uh no i mean you look at the the the the

reality here excuse me um you know it just it just beat you over the head over and over losing to michigan losing to ohio state more so Ohio state, because Penn state has actually played Michigan. Okay. Um, and it's, and it's been frustrating because the way that they've lost is like, yes, the games have kind of been close, but you're kind of keeping it at arm's length. And, you know, it's the, it's the little brother attacking the big brother and the big brother just sticking his hand out. And that's, that's how it's been. And you were at that Michigan game last year. And, you know, you, up on these trends. You pick up on these, you know, the offense is not what it needs to be against the big guys. And it's going to score 50 points against the guys that don't matter.

And that's where Penn State fans have kind of fallen into. Yeah, and – Go ahead. Oh, but everything's new this year, and some intentionally and some not. So the schedule's different because the big 10 membership is changing and the scheduling format is changing. The playoff format is changing. They fired Mike Yursich after that Michigan game, hired Andy Kotelnicki to run the offense. Manny Diaz, they did not want to get rid of. He got the Duke head coach job. So they bring in Tom Allen, who got fired at Indiana as the head coach.

It feels like everything's different other than James Franklin. The question is, is the James Franklin part of it going to make it feel the same? I find that you're not going to convince a lot of people, especially in central Pennsylvania, that things are going to change, even though you've got new coordinators on both sides of all new special teams coordinator as well. Stacey Collins is out to Boise State. He did a heck of a job here. But it's been so consistent with what you've seen is that defense first, you know, special teams is typically strong.

Offense has been there 10 weeks a year and not there two weeks a year. So like the consistencies, I think, are sort of wearing on that. And you're right. There's change now. There's change in the schedule. There's change in, you know, you're not seeing Michigan and Ohio state on the schedule every year. That's, that's absolutely huge. And, and go back to what you said earlier. I don't think there's anybody, and this is obviously open for discussion, but anybody that, that suffered more for not only from the playoff format, but from the division format that the Big Ten put themselves in to put those three in every single season playing each other, shooting themselves in the foot with that,

and then getting to December, playing Wisconsin, Northwestern, whoever was in the West. Purdue, I think, made it. That is mind-blowing to me when you talk about, not only from a Penn State perspective, but from a Michigan perspective as well, sort of shutting yourself out now that obviously changes with the 12 game and I think that that's a big part of why you mentioned earlier that that automatic or the push for the automatic bids is hey you lose that championship game when you have

your best teams in it which is not always the case that you know gives you some wiggle room so that's uh if we're going back and we're going back to saying the right things that's kind of where that comes back and ties around. Yeah, and Penn State, because it was in the East, is not in the position of the teams that were in the Big Ten West that really probably have to retool how they think about everything because they're not trying to win the Big Ten West anymore. They're trying to win the whole Big Ten.

Penn State was trying to do that all along, was close, but you mentioned the frustration on offense. Now, I will say Andy Kotelnicki's offense at Kansas was probably the most fun to watch in terms of creativity. I mean, he would put Jalen Daniels and Jason Bean, the two quarterbacks on the field at the same time and come up with plays for them. So, you know, you think about what, what he might be able to do with K-Tron Allen and Nick Singleton in that offense, Drew Aller, Julian Fleming coming over from Ohio state and the transfer portal at receiver. It feels exciting, but you go through the Franklin era, whether it's John Donovan, Mike Yursich, I mean, whoever the OC is, you have not seen a lot of creative. Really, the Trace McSorley-Joe Moorhead combination is the only time you felt like,

hey, these guys can see the matrix here. Yeah, and you try to replicate that as much as possible. And I think that's what James is, I don't want to say falling back into, but you want to recapture that magic. You're not doing it with a quarterback that can run right now. And that's going to be, that's going to be where the adjustment comes. You mentioned getting two quarterbacks on the field. They're very high on Bo Pribula. But I think really it's just the excitement factor. The big plays were such a hallmark of the Joe Moorhead era. And they kind of went away under Mike Yursich and against the right

teams. I mean, you look at last year at Kansas, they lost at Oklahoma State, but they still scored 32 points. You look back to this Penn State, Ohio State rivalry, and it was 2022 when they played them okay. JTT kind of came over and just did anything he wanted to do and forced several turnovers, but they scored points in that day. And they actually out-coached Ohio State, whatever that's going to mean, but actually out-coached Ohio State, whatever that's going to mean. But they out-coached Ohio State. They put themselves in a position, and they turned the ball over a bunch. But people were okay with that.

You're never okay with an Ohio State-Michigan loss. But people were okay with it because there was excitement that comes with it. Points bring excitement. They just haven't had the points in the clutch games. I mean, it's great to go out and beat Rutgers, beat Maryland, do whatever you have to do, score a ton of points, and everybody has fun that Saturday. But then a couple of weeks later, when you're going to Columbus,

when you're going to Ann Arbor, when those teams are coming here, it's two different football teams. It's two different coaches, and how much does that fall on? You know, Yursich obviously took the sword for it, but how much does that fall on Franklin? How much does that fall on just your general culture and your general approach? Well, and lack of dynamic receivers is we talk about the Moorhead era. Like in 2016, they had Chris Godwin, like Deshaun Hamilton was on those teams.

Saquon Barkley was a big part of the passing game. Mike is in those teams. I mean, so this is that's part part of it too, is, is the athletes. Now the hope was last year, you know, Quintez Cephas was, was supposed to be that guy didn't work out. He's, he's gone elsewhere. Julian Fleming comes in from Ohio state. I don't think Julian Fleming's necessarily that guy, but he could be a consistent pass catcher who gives you another option on the outside yeah he gives you something that that ohio statewide receiver room is the best in the country for a reason and it's not just because they have the best athletes they do have the best athletes but so that doesn't hurt but

the approach and the mentality is something that was sorely lacking from this room last year they expected keandre lambert smith to be the guy And for a large portion of the year, he was. And then I think he caught three balls in the last month of the season and was barely on the field a lot during that stretch run. So that was tough. Trey Wallace is a guy they think is incredibly talented. Trey Wallace can't stay on the field. He can't stay healthy. So you have several questions. You have talent in that room, but you have several questions about that mentality. And I think bringing Julian Fleming in, he's not a freak athlete. He's not a guy that's going to go light things up and, you know, beat hell of a car commercial though.

Yeah. Great car commercial. Yeah. I think he's embraced his story. Like what he was supposed to be, what a lot of people thought he was supposed to be in the first place. And he feels comfortable at Penn state. And we were talking with Chuck Losey,

the strength coach yesterday. And he's like, he knows these guys, like these guys. Like these guys know him from the recruiting process, from him being Julian Fleming, big fish in a small school pond in Pennsylvania. All of a sudden, you know, you thought he was going to go to Penn State. He gave people indications he was going to go to Penn State. And then, you know, Ohio State is such a monster that they were able to take him away.

And then he's become the third. And then eventually he became the third receiver at Ohio State under some really really good players but I think just that mentality that leadership role accepting what you are and what you are not is such a big part of college football and it's so tough for these guys Julian was I think the number one player in the country by ESPN like he was a bona fide five I think everybody had him as consensus five star like accepting what you are and accepting what you aren't will get you far in college football will get you far in life and i think he's done that i think he realizes what he can be for this team even if it means he's not catching 60 balls i think i said quintes cephas earlier i meant dante cephas but my apologies to former

wisconsin receiver quintes cephas uh who had a a great career with the Badgers. But it is interesting, like the former five-star guys coming. Nolan Rucci's another guy like that, who was an in-state guy, offensive lineman. So Julian Fleming went to Ohio State to play receiver because how would, how do you say no to Mike Hartline at this point? Like the draft history sort of tells you what to do. Nolan Rucci, offensive lineman, five-star guy out of Pennsylvania went to Wisconsin to play offensive line. Now he's, he's coming back. So I do wonder if, is some of that, you know, are they going to be able to get more out of their transfer portal guys than they've gotten thus far? I think in, excuse me,

I don't know where that came from. I think in the, um, the transfer portal, what they've gotten thus far? I think in the, excuse me, I don't know where that came from. I think in the transfer portal, what they've gotten in the last couple of years has been those splash guys. They've gotten Chop Robinson. Arnold Ebikiti was fantastic. You've had guys that have come in, been not only starters,

but like all Big Ten level players. This class is interesting to me because I think maybe you get that at corner. AJ Harris and Jalen Kimber have done well so far, but Rucci and Fleming went somewhere else. It was not the plan that they expected it to be. And Hey, you're always welcome home here. That's why you don't burn bridges in recruiting. So I think that that's been the pitch from Penn state is like, you can, you can do what you can sort of, maybe you had that dream as a kid, Nolan Rucci's a legacy prospect. His dad played here. His dad was very good. Um, maybe you had that dream at one kid. Nolan Rucci's a legacy prospect. His dad played here. His dad was very good.

Maybe you had that dream at one point. Maybe your dreams change at some point, but you can come back around and maybe you can thrive in that. Wisconsin is really interesting because I don't think he found the Wisconsin that everybody is still thinking the Wisconsin is. And it's changed a lot. Like it's changed.

Yeah, their online culture is not what it was four or five years ago. I agree with that. And it's going to be interesting to see when you take the divisions out of that how a team like wisconsin responds but we're not talking about wisconsin right now um it it's just very interesting with that that culture and that um that whole recruitment which was around covet didn't get to to visit things he had his older brother um Wisconsin who was, you know, going to be going to try and try his hand at the NFL this year. But no, it's it's it was just very different. And that, I think, is the sort of the lesson in this portal era when you're talking about

coming back around and recruiting these guys. Arnold Ibikedi was a defensive end from Maryland. He went to Temple. He did great at Temple. He had peripheral interest from Penn State. Like they came up and, you know, it was not a situation where they were going to offer him and things like that. Derek Tangelo was the same way at Duke. So they build these relationships and they've got a fantastic recruiting staff at Penn State. They build these relationships where you can potentially set yourself up for success later. And I think that's what they've done. And these commitments that they've gotten this off season from Fleming, from Rucci are sort of based in that but based on sort of the you know the American dream type of way of going about this and that's the really campy and terrible uh experience but like the best part of

this or you can be the best part of what you thought maybe one day that you thought you could be so I think that that's the that's the pitch here even if they're not going to be world beaters and and you know they're five-star guys, but you still hope there's something there if you're Penn State. Right, and you get help from that. Now, you mentioned the defensive end position. It gets very interesting now

because the other day we talked to J.D. Piquel, who had had Brian Kelly on from LSU, and the question Brian Kelly gets everywhere he goes is, how are you going to use Harold Perkins this year? Why don't you have Harold Perkins running the, rushing the passer? Why are you wasting everyone's time with him playing in space? So Abdul Carter, very similar situation, probably not NFL edge rusher size, but when he gets put on the line of scrimmage, he gets around offensive linemen

and gets to the quarterback. They are going to do that and put him on the line of scrimmage this year. How did that decision get made? And what do you expect to see from him? I think this was something that's coming. If you look at Abdul as a linebacker, a ton of production, but more potential. There were things that when everybody was fawning over him as a freshman, you're like, this guy has to improve on sort of the nuances of the position. Now you just go get the football. I don't think there's too much to talk about there in terms of why this best fits Tom Allen's defense or anything like that.

When this guy goes after the ball, he usually gets to the ball, and that's a straightforward type of thing. Abdul-Kartner has always been a straightforward type of player um so i think that that's that's really went into it i kind of push back at the notion that he can't be a defensive end at the pro level because i think this guy is the next in a line of freaks like you saw chop robinson at the uh at pro day he was awesome yeah it was incredible uh edisa isaac like was kind of we glossed over that but he was very good as well. But Abdul's in that same mold.

And I think Abdul's body, if you, we talked to Chuck Losey yesterday, the strength coach, Abdul's body will go any way that you want it to, because he is that type of athlete. He is that type of sort of physical freak there. You know, he might be 255, 260 by the time that the season starts. Which would be fine in the NFL, by the way. Yeah, it is. That would be fine in the NFL, by the way. Yeah, it is. That would be funny. It's so funny. Um, but, uh, no, I mean, it's, it's a, it's a situation where I just think see ball, get ball. And I think that really like maybe a three, four outside linebackers might be his best fit. And, uh, I think that that, that really diversifies his

skillset, moving him to defensive end. They've got a lot of numbers at linebacker. They're really high on Tony Rojas, the sophomore, who can maybe step in and do some really nice things for them. So this is a situation where we're kind of splitting hairs on defense. Penn State's been so good on defense for so many years, and they make a change like this. But if this happened on the offensive side of the ball, where a guy moves, you move Nick Singleton to slot receiver

or something like that, it would just completely blow up. And now you kind of give Penn State the benefit of the doubt here and say, it's Penn State's defense. It's probably going to work out. Oh, I think it's definitely, you're doing the thing he's really good at. Like that's the thing that I sometimes wonder when they don't have the person just do the thing they're good at. Abdel Carter is a freaky pastor i wonder like is this what let's say 2020 had been a normal season like is that what micah parsons would have been in his last year at penn state yeah that's the

plan i said this on our show on bwi a couple weeks ago like this is what you wanted to see from micah parsons this is what you were going to see from micah parsons. This is what you were going to see from Micah Parsons. And then the COVID season comes and he does not play. I hesitate to compare anyone to Micah Parsons, but since Micah Parsons has been here, he's the closest thing to him. All right, let's talk about this schedule because I texted this to you the other day. I said this on the show.

I think this might be the most interesting Penn State schedule since they were an independent because the divisions in the Big Ten Ten whether it be they leaders and legends or the east and west it never felt like there was a lot of variety and now and then maybe just because of some of it's new but the at West Virginia start because West Virginia is going to be good this year they're coming off a nine win season bring back most of what made them good they get both of the california teams back to back they get ucla at home they go to usc and an incredible like that's one of those incredible tv call like get the keith jackson hologram going to call that game how do we make that happen i can't i. I'm just sitting here visualizing, and it's perfect.

I mean, it's just, oh, man, can you imagine? No, but, I mean, you look at the front half of that schedule. West Virginia, tricky, and going to Morgantown, nobody likes to go to Morgantown. It's a good team. I do think that Penn State's defensive line versus what should be a retooled West Virginia offensive line might change some things.

Penn State sort of kept them at arm's length this past year. That was kind of a different West Virginia team than we saw down the stretch. But yeah, you look at the first half of that schedule and it's, it's, yeah, it's different. I don't know that it's, it's daunting. I'd call it daunting. You get UCLA, obviously going to be a rebuild there going to USC. You're going to see what you've got with, with Caleb Williams. So there's some tricky spots, but it's just, I want to say, different story with sort of the same story with different sort of characters there. Then you get to the back half of the schedule, and that's where it gets to. Yeah.

Yeah. You said you weren't going to talk Wisconsin, but we can talk a little bit of Wisconsin because they go to Camp Randall on October 26th. It's sandwiched. Now, they get a bye week after that at USC, but they go to Camp Randall right before they go to Ohio State, and they get Washington at home right after that.

That's as challenging a stretch as you're going to find. The old two-game season situation is over. This is the three game sandwich stretch it just in the middle where you get you you make your break yourself here like you go two and one in that stretch you're in the playoff absolutely absolutely now Washington you know it stings a little bit less with Kalen DeBoer going to Alabama so you're not sure what what that's going to bring back Wisconsin of course we talked about them it's it's very fascinating to see which direction they're going to go.

And then, of course, you've got the monster there in Ohio State. You had the two-game schedule where it was two monsters, and then you'd probably throw an Iowa in there. Minnesota's been tricky at times. You've had those tricky games. I mean, they're going to run back the nine-overtime game with Illinois. Let's never bring that up again, please. PTSD is not good with that one.

But yeah, I mean, it's, I thought Illinois last year would be, you know, a tricky game and it was because Juice Newton was an absolute monster in that game. But like you, you have these certain little things. And that's the funny thing with, with college football in general is you circle all these games and then you sort of white out all the other ones because they all feel the same, the Purdue, the Minnesota, Maryland, you know, all those kinds of things. That's not the case. It's really hard to win football games in the big 10, regardless of, you know, what, uh, what that other team's record is. So we will see what happens with that, but yeah, that, that stretch going to Wisconsin, which, you know, they, they got a win last time

they were at Wisconsin. I I'm just, I'm fascinated to see what that team looks like, especially by October, how deep they are. Obviously, we know that they can coach, so that's good. Then Ohio State is Ohio State. I mean, that's not changing. I think they're going to be a monster once again this year. And then Washington. Washington was a little bit more of an eye-catcher a couple of months ago, obviously coming off the national championship game appearance,

but then so many things changed so yeah very very different team yeah but i i you know obviously what the team does on the field is what matters most but i'm curious how the fan base feels about the schedule that it feels like this would give you some new energy in terms of because penn state especially more so than ohio state or mich, feels like they've been banging their head against the same wall. So anything that at least changes the shape of the wall helps, right? That's the way I'm approaching it. It's like, hey, we've got a road trip to USC. You're going out and seeing these different stadiums,

these different things. So it's a reset in that, yeah, everything is new. Coordinators are new. But I think you're going to a hard time like it there's a lot of apathy right now there's a lot of apathy in in a 10 win season as as dumb as that sounds um but uh you know folks are just seeing the same guy at the at the head coaching spot and it's just it's tough to convince them otherwise now i do think it changes everything i think it changes um you know i think you're probably favored in 10 or 11 games would you say that the win total nine and a half i mean that nothing changes there

um but yeah it's uh it's just a different coat of paint on it and i'm very curious to see how penn state fans react over the next uh six months or so until they get to west virginia so i'm i'm looking at the schedule right now. I'm just going through. I think it would be favored in 11 games. I think it would be favored in every game except Ohio State. The thing that could change that is if USC turns out to be really good with the new defensive coordinator. But we don't know that yet. But they're going to be favored.

You're right. 10 or 11 games. 10 wins is a reasonable expectation for this team. And it's interesting because we have this all over, like in various spots across the country. When we talked to Zach Berry from OM Spirit, same thing with Ole Miss. Essentially what the over-under is asking you is,

do you think this team will make the playoff? Basically, yeah, that's what it comes down to. And honestly, I think a nine-win team can sneak into the playoff as well. It's probably gonna be an SEC team. I don't think a nine-win Penn state team makes the playoff, but like, I think that it's going to be very interesting over the next couple of

years, not saying adjust the expectations of the fan base, but adjusting what those final numbers look like, because these conferences are going to beat themselves up. Like it's, it's, it's bringing Oregon in bringing Washington and the California teams. And does that change the overall win total?

Maybe from 10 to 9? I mean, that's not a big deal, but it is a big deal if you catch what I'm saying because Penn State's been at that 10-win plateau the last couple of years, and it hasn't been good enough for a lot of people. Well, let me throw a scenario at you. So let's say Penn State is 10-2. Is this a conspiracy, Andy, or is this regular? This is not conspiracy, Andy. This is just, as the ACC lawyers put it in their lawsuit against Florida

State, a commercial possibility. Let's say Penn State's 10-2. They make the playoff. They're a nine seed or a 10 seed. They go on the road. They win that first playoff game. But they, like in the regular season, they lost Ohio State. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't a blowout, but it wasn't particularly close. But they make the playoff. They go on the road. They win that first game. They lose in the quarters. How different does that feel for Penn State fans, even though it might have been the same

season they would have had? Yeah, I think that the playoff win can go a long way, even if it's 12 teams. It's just, hey, there's some progress, some hope there, and you get a little bit different. It's very interesting to view Penn State's Rose Bowl win over Utah in a prism, because that's a good win. That's a really good win against a Pac-12 team out west, or former Pac-12 r.i.p uh out west and uh it it just it moved the needle for a lot of people but also some of this is never good enough and that's probably not just a penn state problem that's

a college football problem that's what the playoff has brought with it a win in the playoff i think helps it but doesn't change it. If that makes sense to you. Yeah. And it's interesting because like in the, be careful what you wish for. So I get, obviously because of where I live, I get asked a lot about Florida. They were unhappy with 10 wins a year, did not feel like they were making the next step. So they made a change and now they're at five wins a year and trying to figure out how to dig out of that. So it is, it's, it's tough when you're in Penn State situation because obviously everybody wants more. But it may be that it's it's the situation and not the leadership that is keeping you from getting more. It may have been that this was a historic Michigan team that Ohio State's been historically good.

Like that might be the problem. And this might actually break them loose from it because now you've got people attacking Ohio State from different... So you have Oregon that Ohio State has to deal with. You have Penn State that Michigan has to deal with. And it might not be the same when they have to play more games that matter, more tough games, because that's the thing about the new big 10 that I'm, I'm intrigued by because it's not that Ohio state can get by just beating Penn state and Michigan anymore. Yeah.

I mean, you look at the way that those divisions were set up, Penn state was trying to build to beat Ohio state because Ohio state top dog for so long. And even with Michigan winning a national championship, they're still not far off from that that plateau there um and then michigan comes along it has a different style like michigan like ran just ran teams into the ground did their style and did it extremely well and that sort of you know turned ohio state around so penn state's

sitting here looking at ohio state saying hey we got to be more athletic we got to score more points we're going to do the explosive play thing and then they see michigan's be like hey this is how michigan goes around and beats ohio state by just you know pounding the rock at them so it's there's kind of an identity crisis there like what is penn state and what does penn state have to be and you look around the country and there's so many examples of teams that maybe have talent but not on the talent level but take take for instance we're going to go back to utah in 2022 beat ohio or beat usc twice like that's not a more talented team than ohio than usc but they have the culture the approach the skin and a very clear identity

very clear idea of what they are and that's like like what you're talking about is like michigan won the national title last year because it came it it became the best version of Michigan. It could be right. Like, yes, that's to beat Ohio state, but that was also to maximize what they had on the roster. Like Penn state needs to not worry about this is how we beat Ohio state, or this is how we beat Michigan. They need to be the best version of the roster they have. And then they can probably beat everybody. I agree with that. And you look at what's out there,

and you're going to have to play different when you play Oregon. You're going to have to play different when you play Michigan. And, you know, the best team, it's like we talk about receivers. What's the best size receiver? Well, the best size receiver is whatever one is the best receiver. Like there's no right or wrong answer. You can be Calvin John 6'4". You can be a guy that's a slot receiver.

Like this is kind of what we're looking at with the, with the teams. I mean, you have to be the absolute best version of what you, what your, what yourself, excuse me, what you want to be yourself. And then that will take care of sort of like the, the, the valleys that you have to go through to beat some of these teams. And I mean, it's, it's going to be tough, but like Penn state needs to figure out what's out. And then it's interesting. Cause you're throwing up graphics here where Nick Singleton,

uh, Kate Ron Allen, those guys are probably in there last year. And all of a sudden it's a reset. The college college football is so cyclical here. So it's going to be fascinating to see how Andy Koldenicki, especially like we, we kind of take for granted the Penn state defense is going to be good,

but how Andy Koldenicki can get can get in there and put his stamp on things and make this team what he wants to be. James Franklin talks so often, head coach of the offense, head coach of the defense, head coach of the special teams are your three coordinators. How much of that is actually going to come to fruition? And we're going to have to sit back and see. Andy Kotelnicki, let him have fun, James.

Let him cook. I think he will. Everybody has fun. I mean, when Penn State's been at their best, that's what Joe, that's what Joe Moorhead did. Like that, that has been a situation where you're going to have guys that have fun when guys are having fun. When we saw it with Manny Diaz's defense, guys are having fun, regardless of the side of the ball. They're, they're, they're better players. They match up and they make the big plays. And that's what, uh, that's what Penn State needs. They need some receivers to step up and take care of it, but that's what they need. Brave new world in State College.

New schedule. Hey, I'm excited, man. It's going to be fun. Like, forget this. I mean, think about the road trips. Think about the eventual road trip to Oregon. Think about Washington, you know, all this kind of stuff. And it was interesting to me.

So I was on the sideline before that rose bowl game against utah and we got out there and talking to some guys on the sideline they're looking at utah like they're they're not very big and i'm very curious to see what those pac-12 teams bring to this table now i went to the previous rose bowl zach banner was playing tackle for usc so kind of the opposite of not very big, but how did those styles mesh with the big 10? They didn't have Oregon this year, but I assure you they're very big. So it's, it's, it's going to be interesting because it's, it's not the same either in every, every part of the old, old pack 12. So this will be great. This will be great because it's a, it is a new world,

not just with the schedule, but with playoff format, everything. And I feel like Penn State will fit in this world better than the last one, if that makes sense. And I hope you're right. And I hope our people at Blue White Illustrated are watching this video as well because it means a little bit more coming from the national level. I mean, it makes sense. I'm excited for them because I think they're going to enjoy this.

Yeah. And it's not conspiracy, Andy, either. It's, this is, it's just a real thing. Sean,

thank you so much. All right. Appreciate it. Thank you for having me on. It's always a pleasure to watch and follow along. And so, so awesome that you're here on three. So thanks for having me.

Well, thank you, Sean. And I'm just excited about these new schedules. Every time we do one of these deep dives, I get more excited. Penn State at USC, UCLA at Penn State, Washington at Penn State. All these things are happening. Sean, thank you so much.

All right. Thanks, Andy. All right. Before we talk some hoops with James Fletcher III from On3, we got to talk about prize picks. The most fun daily fantasy platform in America, the easiest to use. Sign up today.

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Are they going to score more than this or less than this? You decide more. Okay. That's one square. You start with as few as two squares. You can go up to as many as five squares. The more squares you play, the higher your potential payout. So if you're feeling super confident about two things, it's not as big of a payout, but you're feeling confident. If you want to let it ride, if you want to go and maybe go for the big payout, but you're feeling confident. If you want to let it ride, if you want to go and maybe go for the big payout, then you sprinkle in a third, a fourth, maybe a fifth, but it is absolutely a blast to play. Sign up for prize picks today. Use the promo code Andy, and they will match your first deposit up to $100. And I would bet that prize picks have not seen the board yet tonight because sometimes when the games are late, the board doesn't update till a little bit closer to game time, but have not seen the board for tonight. But I'm curious about what they've got going in the West Coast Conference

for this weekend because James Fletcher III, we got to talk about this. Gonzaga is playing a must-win regular season game. When is the last time Gonzaga had a must-win? Actually, has Gonzaga ever had a must-win regular season game since all of this, since Casey Calvary hit the runner to beat Florida in the 1999 NCAA tournament? Has Gonzaga had to play a must-win regular season game in the 1999 NCAA tournament. Like, has Gonzaga had to play a must-win regular season game in the West Coast Conference like they do against St. Mary's this weekend? Man, I don't mean to make you feel old, but that was – you just went pre-birth there for me. You were not alive when Casey Calvary hit the runner.

I was not. I was in 99. That's when I was born, so it was shortlyvary hit the runner. I was not. I was in 99. That's when I was born. So it was shortly after he hit that shot. So I had watched the first – I went to the University of Florida, obviously. So that was why I was very locked in on that game. But I had watched the first couple rounds at bars in Negril, Jamaica on spring break. So they played Penn in the first game.

And so obviously Florida's winning that game. There were Penn students there. They started chanting state school. We started chanting debt-free. It was a whole thing. But then this little school from Spokane wins. And it's like, well, that's a flash. We'll never see them again.

Then they turn into a superpower. But that said, Gonzaga, not a superpower this year. They're on the bubble very squarely. They're going to St. Mary's. They're going to play Randy Bennett is fighting band of Australians. And I don't know how many Australians that St. Mary's have this year. Am I, am I off on that? Oh, I don't, I don't know. How many Australians does St. Mary's have this year? Am I off on that? I don't know the exact number this year, but I know historically that's what they do. They go recruit heavily down under. But Gonzaga's got to win this thing. Otherwise, if they don't, they're going to have to win the West Coast tournament to get in the tournament.

See, I still don't quite know about that. Because Gonzaga, now I know that plenty of people have them like firmly on the bubble. Like they are right there. Last team in one of the, you know, last four in, I don't, I've got them in that eight, nine seed conversation. Like firmly just, I don't, you can never say firm because again, like if they lose this game and they drop like the first game in the West coast conference, I think that they're still in trouble. They need to make it. Don't get me wrong. They need to win this game if they want to feel comfortable in the conference tournament.

But I think if they can make it to the semifinal or probably the final of the West Coast Championship tournament, like I think that they're going to be good. I think they're in the field. And what I don't really get about this Gonzaga dialogue that we've had is they're 19th in the net. Now I know that they don't have a ton of quad one wins on the resume. They picked up one last night against San Francisco. They've got the one against Kentucky, but still, I mean, this is a Gonzaga team. We have never seen a team in the top 30 of the net be left out of the NCAA tournament fields. And you're telling me that, or some people want to tell you that this top 20 team in the net is right there on the cusp of not making it. And I just can't, I can't make that jump that far. I don't think that the committee, especially when we talk about, it would be different if it was San Francisco or if it was

Santa Clara we're talking about Gonzaga as you said they've got over 20 years of history of being in the NCAA tournament of having really good teams of being able to compete at this high level so I don't think that the committee is going to really just bash them over the head with this this semi-weak resume that they have. If they're able to stay in that top 20 conversation in the net, it's just too high to leave a team out from that, that area. Well, it's, you answered Ozzie's question in the chat. How is Gonzaga ranked number 23, but on the bubble is, uh, the, the, the respect for their resume is still there, but it's, I guess we're just used to them dominating in their

conference like we've not seen this from them in in the west and and remember prior to this byu was in the west coast conference too so their conference got weaker when byu went to the big 12 and they're they're playing poorly in a weaker conference or poorly by their standard in a weaker conference. Now, I think that's part of the dialogue there. Yeah, it definitely is. And like I said, that resume is not as good. The computer numbers still good. They're not what they used to be. Gonzaga was a perennial top five team at Kim Palm in the net rankings. They're not that right now. They are in the 20s though, or in the top 20 right now. So what you talk about there, they lose BYU from the conference, but I think that

while in numbers, yes, they got worse undoubtedly because they lose a team that we've seen them this year. They just knocked off Kansas. They are a really good basketball team, a really good basketball program, but they also, St. Mary's in particular has really risen to the level. Like over time, we've seen this rivalry between Gonzaga and St. Mary's become a real thing in college basketball. It's something that this weekend is one of the marquee games that you're looking at on the schedule because both programs have a history now. They continue to rise up in the conversation. Then you look at San Francisco. We talked about Kyle Smith last week. We talked about Todd Golden there at Florida. They have now

put together a string of results. They have continued to build as a program. They look like a real threat to make the NCAA tournament as an at-large team any given year. You throw in a Santa Clara where maybe they don't have as many of the on-court results, but you talk about Jalen Williams with the Oklahoma City Thunder, what he's been able to do in taking that team to the next level in terms of national recognition. Brandon Podzimski with the Golden State Warriors. That's back-to-back years that they've had first-round NBA draft picks who are killing it at the next level. And so there's more attention on the West Coast Conference, more attention suggesting

that, hey, you can go out there to the West Coast and you can perform. I think when you couple that with just the fact that if you're Gonzaga, there was a shift. And Gonzaga was landing five-star after five-star. They got Chet Homer. They got Jalen Suggs. They had Nimbard came in. They've had all kinds of big name players who they've been able to land and get in that system. They don't have quite as many of those. And I think a big part of that is Tommy Lloyd finally going out from Mark Few's wings and landing at that Arizona job a couple years ago. We've seen that kind of set back what Gonzaga was able to do from a recruiting standpoint. But, of course, Mark Few still got that system going,

and they're still a really good program. So your projected one line right now is Purdue, UConn, Houston, Arizona. I'm interested in the twos because it feels like if there's any chance for somebody to jump up to a one, there's some games this weekend that might have an effect on that. The one I'm looking at specifically is Tennessee at Alabama. Tennessee feels like if they could beat Alabama, that maybe there's a potential to move up if somebody slips down the line. Yeah, I think that really Tennessee is the only team at this point who can catch Arizona without

Arizona slipping up. If Tennessee runs the table, they knock off Alabama this weekend. They're able to close out the regular season and then goes on to win the SEC tournament. Their resume will surpass what Arizona can put up. The Pac-12 is not as strong as the SEC. And so there's going to be more good wins. And like you said, I think that beating Alabama this weekend would take Tennessee. Right now I've got them below North Carolina on the overall seed line. That's not my belief. That's what the selection committee told us.

And so far nothing has happened to overturn that decision. Now this weekend you pick up a win like out on the road against Alabama. That would flip that decision. That would bring you to the top overall two seed and give you a chance to catch Arizona, whether they win out or not. It puts you right there neck and neck for a one seed. So this is the week last year where Zaki Ziegler got hurt for Tennessee, and that sort of changed their fortunes for the postseason.

He's healthy. You have Dalton Connect. Now, how different is this Tennessee team than, than what we've seen from the Rick Barnes teams of the past? Well, yeah, I know that a lot of people, when they talk about Tennessee, they talk about the NCAA tournament failures, the struggles that they've had to get offense going. And that's why they've been so streaky at times under Rick Barnes is that, you know, what the defense is going to be. You know, that a Rick Barnes team is going to play elite defense,

and they're going to come at you for 40 minutes. And he's still got those guys, those gritty guys, Kai Ziegler, one of them, who's just going to go out there, and they want to make your life hard. Santiago Vescovi returns, Josiah Jordan James. I mean, they've got the guys. They've got the veteran talent, and they've got people who know Rick Barnes' system, but what they were able to do that some people question

whether it would work or not, but it undoubtedly has is he brought in offensive players, Dalton connect, not known for his defense at all. I mean, he's improved defensively throughout the year by being in Rick Barnes, the system. And that's part of what has made him such an interesting NBA draft prospect beyond this. Then you bring in Jordan Ganey, another guy who offers you offensive punch off the bench, a guy who can be that spark plug and knock down shots when you need them. So this Tennessee has a balance that we have not seen in the Rick Barnes era between the offensive firepower and the defensive firepower. And that's what makes them so dangerous when we get into March.

It is fascinating to see. And then the sec has kind of been a slug fest, but I'm curious to you. So Kentucky, you know, it felt like they were kind of turning a corner. Then they, they lose on the buzzer beater at LSU.

They come back, they smash Alabama at home. And then they get their own buzzer beater from Reed Shepard to win in Starkville, which felt like a big one because they were Vegas underdogs in that game. But they go on the road and win. Do you think Cal's finally got the lineup and the rotation? Because that was the big problem earlier this year is like, who do you start? Who do you have in at the end? What are the right combinations? It felt like they had the right five on the floor at the end of the game.

Yeah, I think John Calipari is getting comfortable with this group. I think you've seen, as Justin Edwards has turned the corner, that has been a huge relief for Calipari, not only because he's a freshman who you probably needed to get playing time just because of who he is and the stars next to his name, but also because you see he offers something that not many people on that roster offer from a length standpoint, from a creation standpoint, a versatility standpoint. He needed Justin Edwards to be better than what he was for a large portion of this year. He's turned the corner now and he is a valuable piece of that rotation that has helped him as much as anything. But I think, yeah, he's starting to get comfortable with this group.

You hear him talking a little bit more after games about, you know, his gut feeling of who should have been in the game. Now, I don't think that John Calipari's gut just wasn't working in the first half of the year. I think he just didn't quite know whether he could trust his options. And so his gut wasn't sure what to go with. Now he knows who he can trust. So his gut is sure of who he should put in the game at the end of it. It's funny because they still have that kind of boom bust potential, like talented enough to win the national title, but also unreliable enough to get up.

And that's what we want in our NCAA tournament teams. Like we want these super talented group of NBA players to get beat by the guys that are going to be accountants, you know, somewhere, somewhere in the round of 32 or the round of 16. Yeah. And this Kentucky team, it's going to come down to the draw really for them because they're not going to be a one or a two seed where you expect them to just blow out whoever they face. They might have to face a real mid-major team if they end up a four or a five seed.

We see the five seed curse. There's always a 12 seed out there waiting to knock them off. With like 27-year-old guards. Yes, that's every year. And right now you look at the bracket right now, if you go to the 12 seed line and you see the teams that are there, you're talking about Bryce drew. Okay. Well, that's not just some slouch coach who we've never heard of. We know Bryce drew. We know what he is as a coach and as a basketball icon, like historic basketball icon. Then you look and, oh, Will Wade.

Yeah, that guy can coach basketball too. Bucky McMillan from Samford, like one of the hottest up and coming names in basketball coaching. These 12 seeds are not your typical 12 seed that, oh, I haven't heard of them, but I hear that they make a lot of threes and that they've got a good record. These are teams where you know what you're getting. And if you look at some of the names on the rosters too, a lot of them are guys who started out at power five, high major programs, and now they're finishing things off as seniors, averaging 20 points in a smaller conference. So another game that's big this weekend, you got New Mexico at Boise State. New Mexico, I believe, is in your last four buys or is your last four in?

Last four buys. They're the last four buys. That's right. Last team on that bubble. Yeah. And then, so we keep talking about the Mountain West. Does it get five? Does it get six?

How big is this one for the Lobos? This one's really big because they've still got the analytics on their side right now they're still top 30 in the net rankings but they're starting to slide back in some of the resume numbers from the rest of the pack and so if they can beat a Boise State team who has kind of created a little bit of cushion in recent weeks they've had a really good run of games I think that New Mexico can kind of breathe a sigh of relief and know that, okay, we're back in this field. We feel pretty comfortable that our resume is good enough to get us in.

It's just going to be a race to the finish. We've talked about it. This was always what it was going to come down to. Will the numbers stay high enough that they can get all six teams in? Because they're going to have to play each other, and that's going to drop certain teams. It's going to raise other teams up. So if you're New Mexico, you're right there.

You're kind of teetering on the edge. You've got to get this one. And I think then you can feel a little bit more comfortable about getting in the field. Going to be a fun weekend, James Fletcher III. Hopefully we can see you on Monday. Recap it all. Definitely.

Yeah, we'll have a lot to recap. This is a big one. I was excited looking through these games and what we have on deck for Saturday. Oh, I can't wait because remember, the mid-major teams, they're finishing their regular season. Their tournaments start next week.

Then we get the stretch run in the high majors and in their tournaments. So week. Then we get the stretch run in the high majors and in their tournaments. So we are right there. We are headed for some major buzzer beaters next week, some tears, some smiles. It's all happening. James Fletcher III, welcome to March. Yeah, I can't wait for a bid stealer to just ruin my night

trying to redo a bracketology field. It's going to happen, and it'll happen at midnight Eastern time. It will not be one of those that happens at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. It will be midnight Eastern time. Yeah, for sure, for sure. James Fletcher III, from On3, you can read his bubble watch, his bracketology, his predicting the AP rankings, all of it at On3. Thank you, James. All right, thank of it. Add on three.

Thank you, James. All right. Thank you. All right, guys. Great week. Huge week next week. We're going to recap the combine. Our friend Jim Nagy from the Senior Bowl is going to join us next week to recap the combine. But let's talk about some guys that we talked to at the senior bowl who have already blown up at the

combine Braden Fisk remember we talked to him Florida State defensive tackle and played at Western Michigan for four years before that you watched that interview you came away like oh my god I love Braden Fisk he's amazing well guess what he might have run his way into the first round I don't know if he's gonna to get that far. He still may be a high second round pick, but he had an incredible day at the combine 4.37 second, 20 yard shuttle, 33 and a half inch vertical jump at 294 pounds. And he also ran a 4.78 second 40 yard dash kind of the moment of the day at the combine because they have the mics right next to the finish line of the 40-yard dash. And he gets to the finish.

He goes, oh, yeah. And, like, they went Ferris Bueller on the broadcast. Rich Eisen and Daniel Jeremiah with the, oh, yeah. No, no, no. It was more of a Kool-Aid man. Oh, yeah. Like breaking through the wall. That's what Braden Fisk was doing. It was more of a Kool-Aid man. Oh, yeah. Like breaking through the wall. That's what Braden Fisk was doing. He was breaking through. And it was spectacular to watch. And

again, you talk to that guy for two seconds and you love him. You're like, I want this guy on my team. He's going to be awesome. And that is just a great performance that's going to help him and really kind of reinforces what we saw in the film because he's very quick off the ball he's very tough if you're a center if you're a guard he is very tough to deal with coming out of his stance he just explodes out of his stance and then you got to figure out what to do because he's on you quick another guy that we talked to down at the combine, we learned his story. It was a fascinating story. So Jalix Hunt, remember he's from central

Florida. He went to Cornell as a safety and then he had the COVID year. He had all this stuff. He goes to Houston Christian where he becomes an edge rusher because he's bigger now. He kind of grew over college. So he's almost 6'4". He's in the, I believe the 245, 250 pound range. So he had a 37 and a half inch vertical, and he ran a 4.64 in the 40. Very impressive. His agility drills were great. He looked very bendy in the position drills. This is a guy we're talking about second or third round draft pick. Imagine when he's playing safety at Cornell and not really getting on the field as much as he'd like to tell this guy, you may be a second or third round draft pick in the NFL at edge, but this is, this is the one he bet on

himself. You heard him say it like, I want to prove when he was a senior ball, I want to prove that I belong here, that I'm not just some small school guy that they took pity on. I need, I deserve to be here. He showed it again at the combine and very cool story. Jalex Hunt is one, is one you want to watch. You know, this weekend, the guys were watching. We talked to Philip Dukes the other day, Dukes the Scoop. Talked about Nate Wiggins. Nate Wiggins is a kid he's known since high school. Nate was a great player at Clemson. He's a six foot two corner who can flat fly. So we'll be watching as the DBs run the 40 today, how fast is he? Because his on-field speed, undeniable. There's a play, go back and watch. It's a play where they were playing North Carolina at Clemson.

Omari and Hampton breaks away, the North Carolina running back, and he's gone. He's going to score. Nate Wiggins chases him down from like 30 yards back and knocks the ball out before Omari and Hampton crosses the goal line. And it winds up being a fumble through the end zone. Clemson ball at the 20, like the speed from Nate Wiggins to run down a guy who's pretty fast like that. You've seen it on the field, but Duke says, Duke says you're going to see it in shorts too. And it's going to be a blazingly low number. So excited to see what Nate Wiggins could do when the running backs are going on Saturday with the quarterbacks and the receivers, our guy, Dylan Laub. Remember him? We talked about the senior bowl from New Hampshire,

grew up in the Hamptons. Dylan La Loud thinks he can run about a 4'4", 40, low 4'4". If he does, watch his draft stock go because he's one of those running backs who, yeah, you can hammer the ball, but you can do some Debo Samuel things with him. You can do some Christian McCaffrey type things with him where, is he a slot receiver? Is he a running back? It could be a little bit of both. So if he runs fast enough, because that's the thing, does he have the raw tools to succeed at those positions and do those things at the NFL level versus the FCS level? That's what the NFL scouts want to see. So watch out for Dylan Laub on Saturday. Also, we'll see those quarterbacks,

Michael Penix Jr., Bo Nix. What do they look like throwing at the combine? We know we're not going to see Caleb Williams, not going to see Drake May, not going to see Jaden Daniels. Jaden Daniels, I think, could really move his way up, but maybe he is already moving up. Maybe he doesn't need to. We'll find out. But if you're Bo Nix, Spencer Rattler, Michael Penix Jr., this is a chance to show what you can do. And Michael Penix, I think, is probably going to put on a show because if you've ever watched Michael Penix throw a football, that spiral is the prettiest thing you ever saw.

So I think he might make some scouts fall in love on Saturday. But it'll be fun, and we'll recap it all when we come back on Monday.