Andy & Ari On3 - Colorado to the Big 12? | Can Ohio State retake the Big Ten? | Is Penn State the wildcard?

Episode Date: July 27, 2023

Andy and On3 national writer Pete Nakos let their imaginations run wild as reports emerge suggesting Colorado may be on the verge of a move to the Big 12? If Colorado goes, who else could be coming? What would happen in the Pac-12? (0:00-9:40)Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and The Athletic joined to talk about Ohio State’s quest to reclaim the Big Ten title and the odd dynamics of going from losing to Michigan to being a play away from the national title game. Bruce and Andy also delve into what Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh might say when he takes the stage at Big Ten media days on Thursday. (9:41-21:31)Ohio State edge rusher J.T. Tuimoloau and tight end Cade Stover visited the set to explain how bad that Peach Bowl loss to Georgia still burns. J.T., who fell in love with football as a child attending a free camp put on by Russell Wilson and other Seahawks players, talked about now being the guy putting on the camp for middle schoolers. Cade, meanwhile, explained what his life was like on the family farm in Mansfield, Ohio. He also discussed why he’ll be back working that farm when he’s done playing football. (21:32-30:08)Later, Penn State coach James Franklin discussed why he told OluFashanu to go pro and why he understood Fashanu’s decision to return. Franklin also compared and contrasted the skill sets of current Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter and former Nittany Lion Micah Parsons. Franklin then explained why he was glad quarterback Drew Allar got experience in 2022 without having to be thrust into the starting role. (30:09-36:07)Michigan State coach Mel Tucker talked about the difficulty of last season and how the transfer portal giveth and taketh away. Tucker also explained how he believes the Spartans can get better quickly in 2023. (36:08-48:48)Spencer Holbrook of LettermenRow.com joined to talk more Buckeyes and Wolverines. How does the potential Harbaugh suspension sit with Ohio State fans who saw a successful coach fired because of a similar case? Also, what does Marvin Harrison Jr. have to do to win the Heisman? (48:49-1:05:16)Andy’s Extra Point remembers the sitcom-plot efforts of Dan Beebe to save the Big 12 as on yet another potential round of realignment…(1:05:16-1:07:30)

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. I'm here at Big Ten Media Days talking about something that has nothing to do with the Big Ten, at least we think. We think. Pete Nacos from On3 joins me. Pete, it's been one of those days. It sure has. It sure has. This, I think, is the third opening segment I wound up recording for this show. And the reason we are doing another opening segment is there is potential realignment afoot. Pete Thamel from ESPN and then multiple folks have also corroborated that Colorado held a Board of Regents meeting on Wednesday. There's another one scheduled for Thursday. You can find it on their website. Colorado held a Board of Regents meeting on Wednesday. There's another one scheduled for Thursday.

You can find it on their website. Yep. And presumably these are to plan a move to the Big 12. Correct. That's not what their chancellor said. That is not what the chancellor said. Like six days ago. No. But George Klyavkov's prediction came true, right?

Deion Sanders and the TV contract. I was standing right next to George Klyavkov in Las Vegas when he said that in December. And I remember calling my editor at my old job and saying, you're not going to believe what he just said. And they're like, write the story right now. Because it was so, and I remember the reader's reaction to it. It was George Klayafkov saying that Deion Sanders would be very important to the TV negotiation for the Pac-12. Unless Deion Sanders is planning to move to Oregon State between now and then,

there may not be any Colorado in the Pac-12 TV negotiation. It opens up quite a lot of different doors. It does. It does. And Colorado, to be fair, has been the one that we've said over the last couple of months, if somebody's going to move, they would be the ones that would move. And then what happens next? Because we know that Brett Y yormark the big 12 commissioner

has has been in communication with arizona he's tried to get them to move they've been fairly you know resounding in in their yeah saying that they wanted to stay in the pac-12 utah has also said they want to stay in the pac-12 but then then you've got UConn, who they've been talking to. Gonzaga. Gonzaga is potentially a basketball-only member. And so it does make you wonder what the next domino to fall would be because I don't think if Colorado moves, they're moving alone. They're definitely not going to move alone.

And after you think about Deion for about five seconds, then your mind really just goes to oregon right we were what do you do if you're oregon right what do you do if you're oregon we're in indianapolis today and tony patiti said not really worried about expansion well oregon might want to go hang out in the big 12 then so this is not something that that's really been talked about but you make a good point pete because because we're here at Big Ten Media Days. They keep making clear that they don't really want to take on any more. I think when Kevin Warren was still the commissioner,

there was maybe an appetite on his part to take on more. But once he left and went to the Chicago Bears, it doesn't seem like that appetite has continued. Interestingly enough, Michael Schill, the former president of Oregon, now the president of Northwestern, with much bigger problems on his plate. And we saw a photo on Instagram from Brutus Buckeye with Puddles the Duck. With Puddles. And everybody's like, what does it mean? I don't know that it means anything.

I don't think it means a single thing. It could be a future knock-on game in football. But, okay, you said Oregon. And this is, I'm telling you now, we're into the zone of realignment talk where It's kind of like the twilight zone. Once the dominoes start to fall, until we get more solid information on anything, our minds can take us anywhere. So if you're Oregon, yes, do you examine your options like the Big 12?

What about Washington? Would you consider that? I think Oregon and Washington both are now in a position, right, where one of the two is probably going to need to go to the Big 12. So do you move the quickest so you're not that school left behind? Okay, here's another thought, though. San Diego State was ready to move to the Pac-12. Probably still ready.

At this point, maybe you have to go to San Diego State to do the Pac-12. Because remember, San Diego State had to pay the legal fees of the Mountain West to stay there. To say, okay, we're going to lose Colorado. We'll take you to replace them. And hope that satisfies Oregon and Washington. And let's be honest, if Colorado leaves and they are replaced with San Diego State, is that that big of a difference in terms of whatever their TV deal would be?

Yeah. No, those are really good points. And then the other thought where I go is, so then Arizona was also brought up as a companion to Colorado. And does President Bobby Robbins in Arizona take that opening before Washington and Oregon can? Bobby Robbins, interestingly enough, certainly wants to be a mover and a shaker

in the world of college athletics. They held a big to-do in Washington, D.C. where they talked about the future of sports and how everything's going to work. He wants to win a national title. Arizona would really like to be more competitive

and they think that they're building in that direction. Well, you add Arizona basketball to the Big 12, and it's already maybe the best basketball league in America. Then there's no question mark, I think. Right, because the UConn thing, yes, you would get their basketball. I don't know that Arizona or UConn football moves the needle as much, but either way, it's something that the Big 12 would cover. Totally.

What if you add Arizona and then add Gonzaga as basketball only? I mean, and now your mind kind of runs rampant on what the basketball TV contract could look like. Yeah, I mean, it's not huge because the basketball numbers and football numbers are different. But, and this is the part that I agree with yourtt your mark on and i've had people push back on this basketball still matters there's still real money in basketball and you forget the big kind of leverage point between the the power five schools or the power two or however you want to do it and the ncaa is

the basketball tournament if the power five were to take their teams or however you want to do it. And the NCAA is the basketball tournament. If the power five were to take their teams out of the basket, the NCAA basketball tournament, that's a billion dollar a year property, a billion dollars a year, still a lot of freaking money. Yeah. That's a lot of money.

And so if you're the big 12 and you want to meet as strong as possible, well, what would put you in the proximity of the cool kids table? Having a basketball league that you cannot leave out of that tournament. And now we're just calling it the Power 3 at that point. Yeah. No more Power 5. I still think ACC fits in there pretty well.

Okay, so Power 4. But, I mean, what we're talking about would decimate a conference that is just historically tied to college football that we've always thought of. That is the part that is amazing to me. Unless you can just stop the bleeding at Colorado, fill in San Diego State, and be done with it, it becomes a very big domino effect. The bigger problem is, too, San Diego State's not going to be able to fill in for Colorado in that. They could take up, like, half of what Colorado.

Right. It probably isn't the same TV deal that you would have gotten. That you've been working on for months. And remember, George Kliafkoff said, the longer we go, the better it gets, which it sounded so strange when he said it. Yeah. go the better it gets which it sounded so strange when he said it yeah and then you know interestingly enough they had a q a with george klyavkov and and mark mark harlan the the ad at utah and harlan answered questions and seemed very sure of the the utes place in the pac-12 do you know what rick george did uh rick george had to catch a flight rick george is a colorado ad they had a similar situation and rick george had to catch a flight

before he could answer any questions so yep it's going to be very interesting as we go to what do we call going to press when we're putting a video on youtube when we put the when we upload the music yeah right right when we put the finishing. When we put the music on, right? Right. When we put the finishing touches. Yeah, you put the final music touches on. Exactly. When we put the finishing production notes on our video, as we know, Colorado is still there. Pete Thamel from ESPN just walked by. We're just going to make him come tell us what's going to happen now.

But, yes, right now, they're there. Pete might have another story. By tomorrow? Who knows? Yep. We got a big show from Big Ten Media Days, though. A lot to talk about. James Franklin, Penn State head coach. Cade Stover and JT Tuamalau from Ohio State.

Mel Tucker, the head coach of Michigan State. Bruce Feldman from Fox Sports and The Athletic. Spencer Holbrook from Letterman Row. Loaded, loaded show, but of course, realignment trumps all. We'll be right back. We are here at Big Ten Media Days, and the stars are out. Bruce Feldman, Fox Sports and The Athletic, my former coworker. I don't know about the stars out.

They may be out, but they're definitely not in the seats. They're on this show. You're going to hear from JT Tumalao and Kate Stover from Ohio State. You're going to hear from James Franklin, Mel Tucker. So we talked to a bunch of people here today. But, Bruce, the overarching stuff, Northwestern and then Ohio State and what happens next with them, and then Jim Harbaugh, who's not even here yet, but he is looming over the place. That's a lot to get into.

Obviously the Northwestern story, I feel like for the last 10 days, has been the biggest story in college football. And the players aren't here, I still think you know that that story keeps you know I think it's beyond this yes whereas I feel like Ohio State is a really compelling thing right now having talked to you know I talked to JT I talked to Marvin Harrison Jr. and you know the Michigan it's so weird because you have the Michigan situation for them. They lost back-to-back games, got dominated, and yet they came within a field goal, probably winning the national title.

Yes. If they get a stop in the fourth quarter against Georgia, if there's a lot of ifs in that game, we're talking one play, they are the national champions, and we're having a really different conversation about Ohio State. Yeah. And especially, you know, it's, you know, there was no Marvin in the fourth quarter, right? He gets knocked out of the game. And, and so, you know, I think from talking to them and I know you had had similar with them, that it's like, okay, we're right there. Yeah. But it's like, okay, but you're right there, but you also got dominated.

They're still pissed. They should be, but they also got dominated in their own place. Well, and that's the thing. It was interesting hearing those people, whether it be Ryan Day, Gene Smith, the players, there's no excuse they can make because of the way it went down in both of those past two Michigan games. What do they have to do to get to the point where they can overcome Michigan? Because it feels like, as we saw, they can play on a national stage

with national title contenders, but Michigan in a styles make fights situation feels like they're built to beat Ohio State. They have to find a way to match Michigan's physicality. And, you know, look, they're big and they should be able to do that. But for whatever reason, you know, I feel like Michigan is built to beat Ohio State and Ohio State is maybe built to try to, you know, to like michigan is built to beat ohio state and ohio state is maybe built to try to you know to beat georgia right and on carpet in 72 degree dome but they play they play the michigan ohio state game in the cold in november yeah and i i just think you know with

the the receivers they have they're really dynamic but you know a much better receiver than certainly Michigan is. But Michigan has a better offensive line, and I think that's the challenge for this team. And look, they lost one first-round tackle and another one who went really high in the draft, so they're going to break in two new tackles, and I think that is going to be interesting to see, because they definitely have talent. We know they have talent on defense, but they got drilled in the second half by Michigan last year, and it happened without Blake Corum, who was their best player, and it happened actually with Donovan Edwards was playing with a soft cast on his hand,

and he wasn't 100%. And I firmly believe that long touchdown by Donovan Edwards, even if he doesn't break that one, that the dam had broken on Ohio State's defense, where they had stuffed Michigan over and over in the first half, but it felt like Michigan was getting rolling. It was going to be four, five, six yards a carry beyond that. So they were really just pounding on them at that point.

And that's what Michigan does. And, you know, it's interesting because we haven't – we're going to talk about Harbaugh. He's going to be here. But it's – this is why this Harbaugh thing is so interesting. This is probably his best Michigan team. This is probably better than the team that beat Ohio State the past two years. Yeah, the guys I've talked to who are inside that program

say this will be his most talented team. Not only is it the most talented, so Blake Corham is back, a lot of the offensive linemen, Zach Zinter, the leaders of the team, they are back. The two leaders of the defense, Michael Barrett, Mikey Sainer still, they both are back. I think those are, you know, on paper, there's a lot to like for Michigan. Certainly it's J.J. McCarthy, year two as a starter, looked really good against Ohio State on that stage. Really was up and down and looked really shaky against TCU on that stage.

So we'll see how he answers. But I think the other thing that now we're going to hear a lot about tomorrow is the expected four-game suspension. Look, those four opponents, no knock on Rutgers but like this is not a gauntlet here to go to get out of it such East Carolina slander sorry will not be tolerant now no it's if you're going to suspend the guy for four games this is when you do apologies to Mike Houston but they're still going to be a pretty big underdog in that game yeah and I think you know he is such a this is horrible obviously not mike houston he's such a polarizing topic that i'm fascinated to hear how he answers it right

because you know you never know what you're getting with him i feel like all of the coaches that were here today obviously kirk ferentz ryan day that maybe brett bielma wouldn't be predictable but almost everybody else you could predict word for word what they're going to say we don't know what jim harbaugh is going to say well i haven't you know we haven't talked about this in a you know since since uh i saw you last but obviously there's the tennessee case yep you know with jeremy pruitt and now there's this case. So I'm curious for your thoughts, not to produce your show. Produce away. But this is a transition part.

I felt like Tennessee was a transition. It was unique in that here's the whole school really throwing this, you know, beleaguered loser coach under the bus for a lottery. And he took the brunt of it. He took the brunt. And then people who were like also kind of cast offs for them who have long show causes. This is different. This is Jim Harbaugh at Michigan at its best. But it's a much different case also.

Right. In terms of. But it's like the idea. It's more similar to the Trestle case. It is. There's some similarities to Bruce Pearl. But Bruce Pearl was acting and trying to reach out to people to say, hey, don't tell him. Can I ask you this, though?

Yeah, yeah. And it's hard to predict what the NCAA and the Committee on Infractions think, but there was history, certainly Bruce Pearl. Right. I saw a lot of people commenting on Jim Trestle, And there was certainly some history there. I think in retrospect, it was like, wow, he lost his job for this kind of thing. And I don't know where the outrage meter is going to be on Jim Harbaugh. I think the outrage is so different now because the world is different. We see these things differently. I always tell people, if you want to really understand how different things used to be,

go back and read the Sports Illustrated game story on the 1993 Florida State national title. Those are the guys that got the foot. This is the Charlie Ward era team. Yeah, the Charlie Ward team. But the Foot Locker. Free Shoes University. Right, exactly. Who is that guy who said that?

He wore a visor. Yeah, I think you know him. But you read this Sports Illustrated story, and it sounds like they committed murder they got shoes like it it used to be that the players were the bad guys or anybody who dared violate an ncaa rule was the bad guys we have come so far since then and really so far since 2012 when all the trestle stuff went down but 2011 but also not just with the trestle 2011 was penn was that's when sandusky i think that's where it turned i think people said that's terrible that's a scandal yeah this other stuff of like like look all the miami stuff with nevin shapiro right before that too you know and that was that was like oh my god what happened

and it was like oh these guys are getting they're a lot of food, and they're getting a lot of, you know, Willie Williams-ish kind of treatment. Right. It's like, at the end of the day, I think people are like, okay, that sounds scandalous. Because I think there's differences between breaking rules and breaking laws. Very much so. You laws. Very much so. You know. Very much so.

And I think if you asked people, the general populace, who the villain is in a lot of these cases now in 2023, they go the NCAA. And they're coming from a completely different place now. But if I'm Michigan, I would like this wrapped up because I would not like to deal with this case dragging through the season, which could be very special. If I could have them tell me this will be over, Jim Harbaugh's got to miss four games, Sharon Moore's got to miss one game, this guy's got to miss one. If I could tell them this is it and it's over and we're not dealing with this anymore,

if I'm Michigan, I would take that. If I'm Jim Harbaugh, who doesn't believe he did anything wrong, I might not. And that's the fun part going to be tomorrow. How does he respond to this? He is very unpredictable. It's interesting because this is a four game suspension we expect. If Northwestern, you know, a month ago or whatever it was, three weeks ago, had just said when this

all came out and said, hey, we're going to suspend Pat Fitzgerald for the first month of the season. I'm curious if this is any different for them. I don't know. I don't know that it would have changed anything with the plaintiff's lawyers getting involved and all that. This was going to roll downhill on them. But I think it would have. I don't know that the president would have turned around and immediately fired Pat Fitzgerald because they would have said we offered a fairly significant punishment. Right. But then they realized two weeks while he would have been on vacation anyway is not going to do it.

And, you know, poor David Braun at Big Ten at big 10 media days today he was at north coast state last year really wasn't around for any of this he's answering questions about god knows what and at one point i looked over he had as many people as as ryan day did yeah you know around him so it's it's it's a really um you know again harbaugh is going to be the story tomorrow but i think part of it a big part of it is because nobody knows how he responds to this there's a really, you know, again, Harbaugh is going to be the story tomorrow. But I think part of it, a big part of it is because nobody knows how he responds to this. There's a lot of coaches who are just going to give a statement and they're not going to go back to it. And maybe he'll do that tomorrow. I imagine Tom Mars, his attorney, would probably prefer that way.

And I feel like given, you know, we've had some dealings with Tom Mars over the years. If Tom tells you to be quiet, that's probably a great idea. Because Tom doesn't usually go for quiet. We know sometimes people don't listen to their lawyers always because they get caught up in it. You mean at Big Ten Media Days? And then they get suspended? I don't know what you're talking about.

That might have happened to Urban Meyer that one time. I believe I work with him now, so I shouldn't say too much. You shouldn't say anything. But i'll say it because it happened we don't know what's going to happen to him harvard tomorrow but everyone is waiting that will be probably the biggest podium event of talking season 2023 you'll see it we'll break it down but when we come back we go to the other side of that rivalry jt to malau and kade Stover from the Ohio State Buckeyes talking about getting back to where they want to be. All right, we are here with two Ohio State Buckeyes, JT Tuamilau, Cade Stover,

tight end, edge rusher, but as we were talking about earlier, Cade would have been a Mike Linebacker 20 years ago. JT, what would have been like playing next to that guy? Kind of did play next to each other in the Utah game. That's true. Yeah, so, you know, just to have the toughness and the rodentness he brings, man, you love it on the defensive side. What is it like at practice?

Because I know you guys probably have to bump into each other every once in a while. What is that like? It's always fun. You know, we always, before we go against each other, we're like, man, here we go. And then, boom, we go right to it. But it's always fun competing against K. We always bring the best out of each other. And then after hitting for an hour or so, we go back to being buddies.

Do you more of a talker or he more of a talker? It's hard. We both don't of a talker? It's hard. We both don't really talk. It's hard with a mouthpiece. People don't understand how hard it is to talk trash with a mouthpiece. Do you wear one? Yeah. Okay.

Give the mic to Cade. I don't wear a mouthpiece. Really? No. I do wear a mouthpiece. That would scare me. Yeah. So, Cade, I was wondering, you have a different background.

You basically worked the family farm growing up. Your dad started this farm, right, with like two cattle, and now you are a full operating farm. Yep. What jobs did you do growing up? You wake up, you feed cows every morning, just like i was telling jt earlier like they're like raising little kids so just it's like a bunch of little 10 year olds that run around your house that uh you basically just try and keep in the pen and keep fed and healthy so uh you're feeding them every morning you're making hay depending on time of year every job is different so uh

you're making hay you're cutting corn you're all kind of stuff there's always stuff to do and this is no days off. Don't get Christmas off. Don't get Thanksgiving off. No days off. Cows eat on Christmas, your birthday, Thanksgiving. They eat every day. And this is what, after football, this is what you want to do, right?

100%. This is my, yeah, this is the end all goal. What do you, do you talk about, you know, when you're feeding the cows, it's like a bunch of 10-year-olds. But is it relaxing for you to be out there just? It's my, like, people say, like, you don't at the end of your life when you love what you do, right? And that, it doesn't feel, I can't sit still when I'm at home because it's just, I love being outside.

I love working with animals. I love working with equipment. It's such a rewarding lifestyle. What is your favorite piece of equipment to operate? I love the combine, of course, like everybody does. That's my. That seems awesome. It is. You're just up there real high and like everybody does. That's my. That seems awesome. It is.

You're just up there real high and just mowing. It's unbelievable. It's just unbelievable. Skill involved. It's really, really fun. How long does it take to learn to operate something like that? There's different jobs. If you're combining, it'll take a second because there's a lot of moving parts,

a lot of stuff you've got to watch. But other stuff, like if you're working ground, like it's not hard. Like you can't mess that up, really. But you could hop up there and no problem. 100%. Take down. Because you're using that to harvest, right? Right, yeah. So, see, I've done a little stuff.

There you go. I like it. I like your research. Come on. I'm not completely suburban. This one's suburban. No, come on. Come on, dude. Yeah, you do. Come on There you go. I like it. I like your research. Come on. I'm not completely suburban. This one's suburban. No, come on. Come on, dude.

Yeah, you do. Come on, JT. You know it. I was going to say, I asked JT, is there anything like that in Seattle? Probably out in, well, out in eastern Washington. There's plenty of that, but not where you're from. Keep going up there. Yeah.

You'll find what Kate does. I'm not going to be out there. So, JT, you just did a free camp for kids in Columbus, and I found it interesting. You kind of fell in love with football going to, what, a free camp that Russell Wilson put on? Yeah. Real early in his career with the Seahawks?

Yeah. So it was Russell, I think Doug Baldwin, Sidney Rice. Oh, wow. I forgot their tight end at the Rice. Oh, wow. I forgot their tight end at the time. But, yeah, that was – oh, and Richard Sherman was there. Oh, wow. Yeah.

That's a good bunch right there. Nobody knew who any of those people were, I'm sure, at that time. I think everybody knew who Russell was. Yeah. But I don't know if they knew everybody else they had. So what was it like for you being on the other end of that where it's the 12 year olds and the 11 year olds looking up to you as oh my god that's JT? It was a man it was a it was a great experience just to just to see the smile on these kids faces and just you know as

simple as it was doing drills but to to know that it was it was my camp and and I got a chance to give back and and spend time with the kids that look up to Ohio State and just be able to step out of my Ohio State player nature and just become and be a, I don't know, be a, what do you call it, being a light to those who are either going to continue their football career or just don't know but want to ask questions. Just being there for them was just amazing for me that's very cool while you have the mic i have to ask you about one of the greatest games i've ever seen anybody play the penn state game last year

as you are doing that you are forcing fumbles you are intercepting passes you are sacking the quarterback is it do you have a a tally in your head of what you've actually done or is it just sort of black out and see the stat sheet like, holy cow? Yeah, I didn't realize how much I did until after the game when the boys on the bus started pulling up the stat line, and then Coach Day announced the stat line. But, yeah, during the game it was just, man, just do whatever you can to help your brothers get a win.

Cade, in a situation like that, how much of that do you even get to see or are you meeting with the guys on the offense? Do you know what kind of game he's having at that point? No, you definitely had a feeling, especially after he picked it off and scored. Oh, yeah. That's when you're like, damn, he really just do that? It was really good. I mean, you're still with your – I mean, you meet for most of it,

but I'm still watching every play. How often in practice does he have those damn, did he really just do that moments? A lot of times. He's a very talented, that's a very athletic person that can do whatever he wants, really. So, I gotta ask about the way last season ended, because I'm sure it still kind of burns, but did it help knowing how close you were to being in a national championship game to potentially winning a national championship uh somewhat uh not really because then again it really doesn't matter uh yeah it was great and yeah I mean I'm still I'm so proud of everybody the way

they handled things but it meant nothing you don't get nothing for second place you can tell your kids you've been there that's about it so when you go to ohio state how quickly do they let you know what the standard is right away i mean you they only have it's right it's not really even like a it's not really told to you yeah you just you just know you watch by the way people work you watch how people act and you're like this is it's just a different feeling is that why the program has has sustained itself i mean there's never been a time when ohio state was bad I think so I just think it's such a it's supported so well it is publicized so well and we we buy into every single bit of love and the character of people that we bring in like we're bringing the best type of people we're with the best type of people

it's easy to keep something good going when you're bringing good people so do you guys have to because that standard is sort of ingrained in you, do you have to use how last season ended as motivation, or is it just intrinsic that you're going to work your way back to get there again? I mean, definitely there's no doubt about it. I'm using every bit of that. It's not a day I don't wake up and think about that. Like I said earlier today, I mean, I wear it honestly, what happened.

So it's something that you just basically you're basically taking some man on the chest. I don't know about you. Yeah, I think Cade hit it well. Obviously, it was motivation. I feel like if it's not, then something's wrong. But, you know, we have a standard in not being able to do what we're supposed to do the past two years. It's obviously fuel and it's a different type of mindset going into this off season.

And it's been one different off season but in a great way. So it's obviously used as motivation. All right, well, good luck gentlemen. Camp about to start. The hard part is over, the boring lifting part. You actually get to hit people now. So congratulations and good luck. Thank you.

Thank you. We are here with Penn State head coach James Franklin, and we've got to talk about the night you guys had in Indianapolis last night. The owner of St. Elmo, the famous steakhouse, is a Penn State grad. Yep. You took the players there. Now, Olu told me he is not a shrimp guy. Did anybody try the shrimp cocktail?

Yeah, so Adisa did. Okay. Olu did not. Okay. And I tried to coach up Adisa as much as I can. You've got to open your mouth. This is Adisa Isaac, yes. Yes, you've got to open your mouth.

And I'm watching him. He's trying to be polite. His mouth is shut. He's chewing. Then all of a sudden, those vapors or whatever you want to call them out the nose and his eyes started tearing up. So we've all seen that, right? The first time I came to Indianapolis ever, I was sick as a dog, could not breathe. The only time on the whole trip I could breathe, eating that shrimp cocktail.

It'll do it. It's amazing. Yeah, there's no doubt. It's like Vicks. It's perfect. Yeah, Olu said he went with the tomahawk ribeye so i can see where how how he got he's 323 pounds how is that even possible for a guy that leaned yeah he looks great i mean if you'd have watched him crush this tomahawk i mean it was it was impressive um but yeah he's doing he's doing really well. He's really improved his testing numbers,

which was something that was going to be a real emphasis for us. Obviously, his on-the-field play kind of goes without saying. But his testing numbers in terms of 40 and vertical jump and pro agility and all those types of things, he's really made a good move on and his weight has increased he's one of the he was one of the first guys who was kind of a willy stay willy go last season who came back and said i'm staying how was that process internally when did when did he tell you hey i'm i'm definitely back yeah it was it was you know somewhat strange i meet with uh all these guys that are on the bubble and their parents we kind of set up a meeting we kind of do a draft analysis we kind of have a bunch of reports from gms my guy

andy frank who runs our recruiting department puts it all together and we sat down and i i told all of his family i said hey you should leave yeah all the data is saying that he could have been the first tackle off the board yeah obviously he was up for discussion but he was in that discussion and um i said you should leave you know and uh him and his family said coach we really appreciate uh your perspective but we always planned on being four years and getting my degree before i left campus was really important. He's got like a 3.67 GPA. In supply chain management. In supply chain, yeah. One of the best programs in the country.

And, you know, it was really important for him to finish that and come back. The other thing that people don't realize is when we were having that conversation, Olu's freakishly young. So as that conversation was going on, he was 19 years old. Oh, my God god so that factored into it yeah i was gonna say because i i was here in this building a few months ago watching anthony richardson throw and i remember they couldn't get him into a bar afterward because he was still 20 so olu a year younger than that correct wow okay i can't even imagine trying to think about the NFL at 19 years old.

So he also has a lot to work against at practice. You mentioned Abdul Carter when you were up on the big stage, and that's a guy who it feels like we realized very quickly this guy is good. How soon did you see it when he got on campus, what he could be? Well, I think right away he tested extremely well he was like 233 pounds and he ran well and he jumped well so right away we're like this guy's special we had had him in camp so so we kind of knew that um when you talk about iron sharpens iron chop robinson as well and i think that also played a factor in olu right he's knowing he's going to have these guys to go against every right he's knowing he's going to have his guys

to go against every single day at practice that's going to help him but Abdul once we started to get into practice and you could just see his acceleration to the ball yeah that was the thing that was different size speed looks similar to Micah how was his game similar different from from Micah yeah you know Micah was a guy that I think legitimately could have played tailback at Penn State. Wow. You know, just a phenomenal athlete. If you haven't gone back and watched his high school highlight of playing running back, it's pretty impressive. Abdul, I'm not sure yet.

It's too early to say, but he may be more explosive linear than Micah, and that's hard to say but he may be more explosive linear than Micah and that's hard to say because Micah as we all know is a total freakazoid but he's in that conversation he really is. So Drew comes in and had a chance to play a little bit last year I imagine that's how you wanted it you didn't want to have to throw him in do you feel like he's in a good spot right now? Yeah, I think when you look at whether it's the NFL or you look at college, I know everybody in the NFL is now playing the rookies. I do still think, like when I was with the Green Bay Packers, we had Brett, we drafted Aaron, I was there for Aaron's rookie year.

I still think there's a ton of value in that, to come in as a freshman or as a rookie and sit behind a veteran, learn from what they do well, what you may do differently. And he played in 10 games. So that experience is going to be really valuable for him to build on. And we got a really good competition there with Bo Prabula as well. All right, James, I got my rookie producer, River. He's going to have his first St. Elmo shrimp cocktail while we're here. So just give him before you go how do you do it i think the biggest tip is don't have manners and chew with your mouth open because if your mouth

is shut i don't know what you call vapors or whatever it feels like it's going to explode out your nose correct yeah and if like he said if you got a cold it's the best thing ever but if not i i would just don't have manners when you eat it James Franklin thank you so much thank you I have mutual friend Trevor Moad I you he helped you create the the mental architecture for your football program I helped him write a couple of books so I got to ask you in in the words of our friend Trevor how hard was it to say neutral last year it was it was tough he had to really practice what what we preached at that point. But we were able to do that, and that's how we were able to get through

and come out of it actually better off. We learn from it, and it's just you go to the facts and you try to say it's not good or bad, right or wrong. It just is what it is, and what have I learned and what's the next step I need to take, and that's what we've done. You had such success in 2021 where you got some guys out of the transfer portal, most notably Kenneth Walker. You revamped again through the portal.

How much of this team now is guys that you've been recruiting all along, and then how much is guys you've picked out of the portal? Yeah, there's a lot of guys on our team that we recruited out of the high school ranks. Also, we have, you know, the majority of the guys that we get in the portal are not one-and-done players. And, you know, Ken Walker left early. He wasn't really a one-and-done guy initially. And so, you know, even some of the guys like Malik Carr are starting tight end.

He came to us after one season at Purdue, and so this is going on like his third year with us. And so even some of the portal guys that we recruited have been with us for a few years, and they understand our culture. They're all bought in. recruited you know have been with us for a few years and they understand our culture you know they're all bought in and so with those guys and and then the the high school guys that we've recruited some of these guys we recruited since they were sophomores that we have now I feel like we you know we we've got a solid foundation and everyone is bought in and understands our culture

that's what I was going to ask is is how hard has it been to establish a culture. You got hired February of 2020. Coach D'Antonio stepped down, I think, right after signing day. So you basically get hired three weeks before the world stops. And then you got all that, and then you had success out of the portal. And the college football landscape is changing at this time. How hard was it to just have a group of players that you could have for a while and say, this is what we do, this is how we do it?

Yeah, it's tough coming in now to build a team, but it's something that we feel confident that we're able to do. We have a process, and we trust the process. When we acquire players, whether it's through the high school ranks or through the portal, we ask ourselves, is the kid tough? Is he disciplined? Is he selfless? And if he checks those boxes, then we go after him and we try to sign him.

And so it makes it easier to establish the culture and get the kids to buy in because they know coming in the door, if you come to Michigan State, this is what it's going to be about. And so they want that. And they can talk to players on the team and, hey, what is it like? What is Coach Tuck like? What are these coaches like? What is it like in the weight room?

How do they treat you here? You know, what are the standards and and then if if there's something they want then they sign up with us and then we get them in and we indoctrinate them um and the older players you know show them the ropes um and then we're able to get them bought into the culture how tough is it when you have a guy who's produced for you like keon coleman who comes to you and says coach i'm i'm put my name in the portal. Yeah, I mean, you know, I wish them all the best. You know, all of these guys, every single one of them, you know, they have aspirations to do big things, to go to the NFL,

and they, you know, they want to try to get there any way that they can. And if a kid feels like the best thing for him to do is to go somewhere else, I'm going to support them 100%, just like we got guys that come to us. And, you know, like Ken Walker, no one knew who Ken Walker was until he came to us. It was a good move for him, and it worked out, you know. And they don't always work out like that, and it's an inexact science. But, you know, nothing surprises me in college football. And with my 10 years in the NFL, you NFL, I'm used to guys coming and going.

And sometimes even in the NFL, some guys leave that you don't necessarily want to leave. Sometimes you get guys you don't necessarily want to get. In the NFL, the GM may say, hey, listen, we need somebody in another position this week, so this guy's not going to be here. We may resign him in two weeks. I mean, and you have to really stay neutral because, you know, you've got to play with the cards that are dealt to you, and that's what we're doing.

That's what we do. So your quarterback, Noah, how much did he develop? And it seemed like, you know, in the spring that he was looking toward being the guy and then obviously Peyton transfers. Yeah. Well, you know, we had open competition in the spring, and he really started to come alive, you know, last season. He was doing a really good job in camp.

And then when he got in the games, he did a nice job. I mean, and so in this spring, this past spring, you know, he picked up where he left off along with Caden Houser. You know, all three of those guys are competing for the job. And he's just gotten better and better and better. You know, he's been with us for a while. He knows the offense. He knows what we expect out of that position.

And he embraces the competition, which is critically important. So what needs to happen defensively? I know you've talked about the health. Obviously, that was an issue last year. Yeah. Can depth help that? It's critical. I mean, starting up front, we need to have a strong rotation in our defensive line.

We went out and got three 6'5", 300-plus defensive tackles that can help in our rotation to go along with Derek Harmon, Simeon Burrow, and Maverick Hanson and those guys. We got six or seven guys that we can roll there. We signed four defensive ends. One of those guys is from Texas A&M, Tamisha Adelaide, that was 280 coming in the door, a big end. It was really a mismatch on the edge in the run game.

He got stuck behind some five stars at Texas A&M. Yeah, and he was one of the top players in the country coming out himself. And so, you know, then we got our linebackers back. You know, Kyle Holiday is back. Brule decided to come back. Jacoby Windmine decided he was going to come back. And so that's going to help our defense. That's going to help our secondary.

We added Terry Roberts, who's played in the Big Ten. Samara Melvin, who's played in the Big Ten. Amarion Smith, who's played a lot of football at Cincinnati, played at a high level, along with the young guys. We signed six or seven defensive backs the year before. They were freshmen last year. And a lot of those guys, they had to play because of injuries, and they got to training.

So, you know, we have a lot of guys who have played some football with a mix of older guys and young guys that I think is going to allow us to get the job done this year. You came in wanting to be competitive with everybody in this league in terms of recruiting and getting those guys on your campus. You have gotten some of those guys on your campus. You haven't been able to land them all. How do you sell at this point and get those guys on campus and then instead of they come on campus and they end up signing elsewhere, how do they sign with you? We're starting to get them. We signed nine four-stars

in the last class and some top guys in the portal. We're strong in the NIL space. The more that players come to Michigan State, the more they take a look, the more they really dig in and they really get to know our coaches and the existing players, they can really see it. They can really feel the connection. They can feel the vision. And we're opening a new facility.

You know, we have a $65, $67 million facility of expansion and renovation that was much needed, which will put us in the top, you know, three or four in the Big Ten, which is huge. We were at a severe recruiting disadvantage, and we're not recruiting off of renderings anymore. We're moving into the new locker room on Wednesday. That's hard when you have to show the drawing, right? Yeah, it's hard when you got to show the drawing.

We're moving into the new locker room next week, and so we're able have to show the drawing, right? Yeah, it's hard when you got to show the drawing. We're moving into the new locker room next week. And so we're able to take the recruits through, put a hard hat on them and walk them through and they can actually see it. You get here, this will be the facility that you'll be in. We'll be able to compete at the highest level with anybody we play. Are they going to have those chairs that turn into beds?

You know, I don't want to let the cat out of the bag. We haven't done anything that's crazy and not functional, but I can tell you this, we don't have to take a backseat to anyone when it comes to our locker room. We had a wooden stool. I was talking to one of my old teammates the other day, and he's like, I took the stool home with me. I've kept the stool.

But, yeah, now you can just live there. I don't know why any of these players ever leave. Yeah, I'll tell you what, and that's why we're really looking forward to getting into our locker room because, you know, with the construction, our team has been displaced. Our locker room, you know, that they use every day, we moved it to the stadium. So it was a game day locker room. They had to take a bus.

Oh, yeah, that's not practical in practice. Yeah, and they didn't hang out there like they normally did. Those guys would stay there an hour or two hours after practice hanging out. Right. And so now that they're getting their locker room back, that's really going to help with our team chemistry because really that's their home. Yeah.

That's where they hang out. Yeah, you don't want it to be a bunch of guys who just come, clock in, and go their separate ways. That's right. You want them to be together a lot. Yeah, and that's the beauty of the locker room, right? Yeah. I mean, that's where all your guys are, you know,

and that's where they hang out and that's where they connect. And then we're going to have a new players lounge and all that. That's all a part of it. And so, you know, we're moving in the right direction. We're getting a lot of top-level players that are coming and interested in Michigan State. We're starting to get those commitments from those guys, and it's only going to get better.

So you were head coach of Colorado before you came to Michigan State. Did Deion Sanders call you and ask for any advice when he took the job? No, no. Deion doesn't need any advice from me. But I got to know Prime a little bit when I recruited Louis Scene out of his high school in Texas. Louis Scene is a great player. At Georgia, absolutely.

I signed him at Georgia. And I have a tremendous amount of respect for Prime. You know, he's got his own process. He knows what he wants to do. He knows what type of players that he needs to get the job done he's got a lot of connections coast to coast um you know he can get players um you know he he sells himself um but uh he's a he's an excellent football coach it's not it's not just all sizzle i mean there's a lot of substance there so you you mentioned you know he knows what he wants. You know what you want, player-wise. I look at what Kirby's doing at Georgia.

You work with him. You work with Nick Saban. You work with Jim Trestle and that group at Ohio State where they kind of knew exactly body type-wise, position-wise. How hard is it to find some of those? Like the D lineman, you just mentioned the guy you got from Texas A&M. How many of those people are just walking around? It's really hard to find big defense linemen, and everyone wants them.

So it's really tough. And if they're not in your state, you've got to go out of the state to get them, then that makes it even tougher. And so that's one of the challenges that we have. And so we recruit coast to coast. We've got kids on our team from California, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon. We've got guys from Florida, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts. I mean, everywhere.

We're going everywhere. North Carolina, Virginia. Where we got to go to get guys, we're going to get them because we know what type of players we need, and you don't want to make exceptions because once you make exceptions, you'll have a team full of exceptions. We got to get the guys that have the size, the power, the speed, those things that you need to be able to compete against the best teams. You got a bunch of them here.

That's right. Good luck. Appreciate it, Mel. Thank you so much. Go green. We are here at Big Ten Media Days. We've got Letterman Rowe here, Spencer Holbrook. How are we doing?

Doing well. A lot of Ohio State coverage coming at lettermanrowe.com, so it's going to be a good day here. Oh, we've got Ohio State. We've got Illinois. We've got Penn State. Rutgers. Also Northwestern.

That seems to be the topic du jour, although it's interesting because there's not really a lot of people to ask questions of with Northwestern. David Braun, their interim coach, was the only person who came. And this guy, I mean, they didn't bring the players. And I understand that completely because what the heck are they supposed to say and David Braun, their interim coach, this guy was at North Dakota State last year, he's brand new, his wife's about to have a baby and all he's getting is pelted with questions about naked pull-ups and dry humping

in years where he was way, way away from evanston yeah it's it's one of the most bizarre things i've ever seen at big 10 media days and you know a couple years ago kevin warren not answering questions about covid was one thing yes and it's a completely different way weird thing to just see this guy who doesn't really have any doesn't really have anything to do with this yeah go up there and have to be the almost like sacrificial lamb for the program while the athletic department the athletic director the president still hasn't spoken and he'd end up ended up derrick grag has finally talked michael schill talked to the the daily northwestern michael schill's the president derrick grags the the ad he talked to adam rentenberg from espn

on wednesday he said hey there's no place for hazing at northwestern of course there's not well Northwestern, Michael Schill's the president, Derek Gregg's the AD. He talked to Adam Rittenberg from ESPN on Wednesday. He said, hey, there's no place for hazing at Northwestern. Of course there's not. Well, the weirdness of it is that the guy who was the AD for most of the time at Northwestern is the ACC commissioner, Jim Phillips, and he got up at ACC Media Days on Tuesday, said his kind of canned, I can't talk about this because it's the subject of litigation. Although he didn't say I didn't do anything wrong.

Yes. Or he just said he felt bad. You know, he was sorry if anyone was hurt. And it was like, whoa. So, yeah, David Braun's up here who, of all the people who could have been here, the least equipped to answer any questions about all this, which is probably why he's the one here. Yes. But I just felt genuinely bad for the guy.

There was no winning with this Northwestern situation because I don't know if there would be league punishment for not showing up. We've never had this happen before. Right. So it's just unprecedented. So does the league punish them for not showing up? Maybe. So that's why you have to have somebody here.

It probably should have been the athletic director. But if it's not, it certainly shouldn't be the former North Dakota state assistant turned Northwestern head coach overnight who has not much to do with this. It's just one of the most bizarre things. And here's the thing. Unless he pulls off a miracle this season which would be winning multiple games i think three games uh he's not going to work in northwestern next year no like he's going to move on with his coaching career and go somewhere else and and try to forget this ever happened

and it's just a strange situation it gets weirder tomorrow because jim harbaugh is going to be here with potentially a four-game suspension looming. We don't yet know if that's going to be finalized. And, you know, of all the coaches, because we'll go today, you know, Ryan Day's here, Kirk Ferentz is here. Like, if something like this was going on, and I'm not casting aspersions at them or anything because this is not going on with them, but you know what they'd say.

We could predict word for word what they'd say. Jim Harbaugh is the one guy you can't predict what he'll do. Yeah, and this is my fourth media day, fifth year covering the team, fourth media day, and Jim Harbaugh seems to get weirder with his media sessions every time he's here. Yeah. And so, like, first of all, what does he say in general? You don't know what he's ever going to say like first of all what does he say in general you don't know what he's ever going to say second of all now that he's going to be peppered with

questions about lying about cheeseburgers it's going to be even more bizarre and i say it again say it again say it louder for the people in the back what we are really talking about here uh lying about cheeseburgers uh wait one more time lying about cheeseburgers andy my hotel room here at indy i can see see the NCAA headquarters from the window, and you're almost looking down at the NCAA, and I think everyone here is looking down on the NCAA because a lot of people have called it a clown show, a joke, whatever you want to call it. Your readers who went through a very different experience with the same bylaw with Jim Trestle,

I'm sure are like, our guy got fired over this. What the hell? Yeah. If you want to really put it into that terms, more than a decade later, Jim Harbaugh got a slap on the wrist. Oh, yeah. Because legally, according to the NCAA, lying to investigators is the worst thing you can possibly do.

Bruce Pearl pearls was sort of similar but not really because they also caught bruce pearl talk telling people hey but it's an ohio state story too by the way it's aaron kraft yes exactly he they caught him you know asking people to say hey aaron kraft wasn't at they called it a barbecue it was really a cookout let's be real here people uh but But, yeah, it's so strange. So Harbaugh, you know, at this point we don't know that he's okay with the four-game suspension. We think the NCAA is cool with it.

The Michigan administration seems cool with it because they want to get this out of the way with a potentially special Michigan season on deck. Yeah. But Jim Harbaugh doesn't. And I understand this. If you don't think you did anything wrong, you don't want to admit you did something wrong if you don't believe you did anything wrong.

Yeah, but if you did, I think all of these coaches now know lying to investigators, again, probably the worst thing you can do. Yeah. Now, he said, I don't recall. And this is semantics. This is semantics because he was shown a receipt. And it's, now do you recall? I don't recall. And this is semantics. This is semantics because he was shown a receipt. And it's, now do you recall? I don't recall.

So we'll see what happens. But it's fascinating to me because it was dropped right before Big Ten Media Days. I'm pretty sure that was on purpose. Yes. Meanwhile, we're sitting a few feet from Ryan Day. We're going to hear from Cade Stover and JT Tumalao later in the show. The Buckeyes going on about their business. They came, I think they were one defensive stop in the Peach Bowl

away from winning the national title last year. But they're also 0 for their last two against Michigan. And those are a weird couple things to reconcile, Spencer. I asked JT Tumalau maybe one of the weirder questions he got of, is it weird how much motivation you guys have in an offseason after a loss? Because the Georgia game put the program almost back on the map. A lot of people were starting to think, okay, what's wrong with Ohio State? Is Ohio State broken after the Michigan loss because Ohio State legitimately

looked like its spirit had been broken in that second half? You go play Georgia, and you were better than that team for probably 59 minutes probably till marvin harrison got hurt yeah i mean for a very long stretch of that game i should probably say 59 minutes you've got a lot of listeners down south but well yeah okay let but let's be real the georgia people will admit their defense got sliced and diced in that game and nobody did that to them and i think to be honest i think they're not even like a defensive stop i think they're a latham ransom falling down on accident yeah that 76 yard touchdown he just fell down yeah and you don't always see very skilled athletic defensive backs falling down and those are the types of plays that killed ohio state last year absolutely but it is

it is interesting to hear them because they are and look everybody's motivated everybody who plays for a program like Ohio State like Georgia like Michigan where you're expected to win championships is highly motivated but it felt different like you'll hear it in Cade Stover's voice when you hear him interviewed yeah he, he's an Ohio kid, and he's a kid from Mansfield, Ohio, which an hour maybe from Columbus. He grew up scarlet and gray, watching James Laurinaitis do his thing. You know, this is a guy who used to play defense because of how violent he is. Oh, yeah.

And he might get violent if you ask him about Michigan. That's the bottom line. Like, he does not like talking about it, but you kind of have to talk about it. And, you know, it goes all the way to the top and that's i have a story at lettermanrow.com this motivation to beat michigan goes completely to the top levels of the athletic department i asked gene smith just plain and simple like does the last two years motivate you and he said absolutely it does 100 and the only way to flip the script is to win the game yeah you've got to now wait i think 200 some more days or 100 some more days to do it.

You have to flip that script or else you're going to come back here, you know, next year at this exact time, and Michigan's going to be picked to win the Big Ten again. Yeah. And it just adds another layer to this chapter of, you know, what happened in the rivalry, how did it flip. But it also adds another chapter of this is a very ticked-off Ohio State team that kind of sees it now like,

oh, Michigan's picked to beat us now. Well, and picking Michigan to beat them does not feel like, oh, it's just the styles make fights. Yeah. They happen. Picking Michigan to win the Big Ten this year feels like, hey, this is the most talented Michigan team Jim Harbaugh's had. There are NFL dudes all over the field. Yeah.

And I think that's what makes this so interesting is Ohio State really is in that position. And I was at SEC media days last week, and it was interesting to see Alabama in that position because it's not where they've been. But realistically, they are behind Georgia in the SEC and in the national title race. That's reality. Georgia has better, at least more accomplished players right now. Alabama may ultimately have better NFL guys, just as Ohio State may ultimately have more and better NFL guys than Michigan. But right now, Ohio State is behind them. Yeah, however you want to split it,

because you can look at recruiting rankings or coaching staffs, and I think Ohio State has a really talented staff that they've put together. You can say Ohio State is ahead of Michigan in a lot of things, but there's a scoreboard for a reason, and the last two years, the scoreboard has said what it has said, and the results have shown that this program is currently behind Michigan. And so this week, it's so weird, Andy, because, again, fourth time coming over here, the headliner of this entire week has been Ohio State.

And if they beat Michigan, maybe next year it'll be Ohio State. It certainly isn't Ohio State right now because not only the Northwestern thing today, but they didn't even get put on the second day. The headliner is always the second day of this thing. Ohio State's on the first day, where Michigan normally is and michigan goes tomorrow as the spotlight program of tomorrow it feels weird but in a way it feels right because of the pedigree of michigan right now that program is on something right now the politics of media day scheduling always fascinate me yeah but there's another program here today we're

gonna hear from james franklin later penn state is in an interesting position right now because it feels like they have more elite talent than they've had in a long time uh the olufashino who's here today could be the first offensive lineman off the board in the NFL draft next year. You know, JT, he and JT are probably going to be fairly close together in the NFL draft and will probably be matched up against one another quite a bit in that game. I would hope so. That would be fun. Oh, it would be awesome. But, you know, Abdul Carter is a guy who's got at least two more years at Penn State.

He looked like a young Mike Parsons last year. So all of a sudden, it feels like there's this wild card here. And remember, Penn State always plays Ohio State tough, but for whatever reason, they can't win in Ann Arbor. But they can play Michigan just fine in State College, and Michigan goes to State College this year. Yeah, it seems like the perfect storm for Penn State to have a historic season for that program. Yeah.

But, sorry for the caveat, Michigan is really good. Exactly. And Ohio State is really good. And so maybe Penn State is more talented than Penn State's ever been. But right now, if I had to vote, I still wouldn't put Penn State ahead of either of them. Right, and nobody's doing that. But that's why I wonder, are we sleeping on them maybe a little bit too much? Yeah, I think it's interesting because a lot of people have questions about Ohio State

at quarterback just because Kyle McCord hasn't been named the starter yet. I think that will come. But they remind me of a lot, a lot of each other in ways because Penn State has that really talented duo at running back. Ohio State has a really talented running back core coming back. Absolutely. Penn State has an unknown at quarterback and running back. Ohio State has a really talented running back core coming back. Absolutely. Penn State has an unknown at quarterback and a couple of spots on the offensive line that you wonder about.

Ohio State has a really strong core. They're in the middle of that offensive line, but a quarterback that you don't know about. They remind me, in a lot of ways, of each other. I just think the deciding factor is number 18 for Ohio State, and Penn State's going to have to deal with that. And this could be the best, again like Penn State's gonna have to deal with that and this could be the best again Penn State team that they've had and it still might not matter and that's that's a

hard pill to swallow and Marvin Harrison Jr. as someone who has watched him play an awful lot he is spectacular I we saw Devontae Smith be the best player in college football as a wide receiver. I think Marvin can do that too. Yeah, I think they're so hard to compare because of the way they play. Very different guys, yeah. Just so different. But, like, I remember, you know, the first couple glimpses of Marvin making those catches in practice. And you say, like, well, can he do that in a game though?

And then he goes out and just does it in a game and gets up and does the bow and arrow thing. And you're just like, yeah, that's normal now and when the extraordinary becomes ordinary that's when you know you're seeing something special he's just so different i'm really glad the spotlight's on him today because he really does deserve it like the way that he plays the game the things that he does on the field they're not human a lot of people around our beat um you know just colleagues we call him a martian like he well he's not from earth yeah all of the earthly players are pretty good then there's marvin and then of course you've got caleb williams out west theoretically he could win a

second heisman but there's a reason nobody's won two in a row since archie griffin and archie's the only one who's ever done it it's hard to do yeah kale's gonna get picked apart that's why i do think marvin has a really good chance of being that guy. And I do think, you know, Devontae Smith kind of helped pave the way for it because before we would give all the credit to the quarterback. And I think in that 2020 year, Heisman voters kind of realized, no, the receiver can be the special sauce here. Yeah.

And I think that's a really good recipe for Marvin to be able to get over that hump and do what Devontae did I think the biggest problem is in the Alabama season there were a couple of injuries right where Devontae got so many targets and you talk about Emeka Buka who I don't know if people realize this maybe they don't had only 125 fewer receiving yards than Marvin Harrison Jr. did last year. That's amazing. Like Marvin Harrison Jr. had, I think, 1263. I could be wrong.

I'm pretty sure Emeka had 1150, which is just they're very close. And, like, you don't realize it because of the way Marvin Harrison goes and does it, but Emeka Ibuka from the slot, man, like he's just so good. And so that's my worry with Marvin Harrison Jr. That it just kind of gets siphoned off. It's almost a little too fair in the offense. You know, Julian Fleming's going to have, you know, some catches, probably 500 yards or so.

Carnell Tate may have some catches. Cade Stover, who, you know, we hear from a little bit, he's going to have his 30 to 40 catches, maybe 500, 600 yards receiving like he did last year. And so is there almost too much for Marvin to overcome as far as in his own offense to get over that hump? Well, that would be a good problem for Ohio State to have. I think if that's the problem, they'll take it

because it means they're beating the hell out of everybody. But, again, like you said, it comes down to that final game of the regular season. Those guys in maize and blue with the winged helmets. And we'll just have to see. They are the ones in the featured spot. And, of course, couldn't be the featured spot at Big Ten Media Days without some drama. So we'll see what happens with Jim Harbaugh tomorrow. It's going to be really fun.

I'm really excited to hear from Jim Harbaugh. And it's the only place in America where 11-0 means nothing. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Both of these programs, 11-0 meant nothing last year on November 26th. And then Ohio State, everything was terrible after that. And for Michigan, 12-0 was awesome. Welcome to the Big Ten, baby. For tonight's Extra Point, we go back to where we started,

more potential realignment. This is one of those times in college sports where your imagination runs wild, and it probably will run wild for a little while until we find out exactly who is moving where. When stuff like this happens, I think of the night of the first Big 12 missile crisis. If you remember a name, Dan Beebe, he was the butt of a lot of jokes because he was the Big 12 commissioner back in 2010 when Larry Scott and the then Pac-10 tried to take half of the Big 12. How did the Big 12 stay together?

Well, one, Texas really, really wanted to start its own network. But two, Dan Beebe managed to create a deal that allowed the Big 12 to make as much money with 10 members, because Nebraska and Colorado were leaving, as they had with 12. How did he do this? Well, have you seen those sitcom episodes where a guy has two dates and they're in different restaurants and he runs between the restaurants, between courses, and hilarity ensues. That's what happened. It was a Kansas City hotel room. Fox people are on one floor. ESPN people are on another floor. Dan Beebe is running back and forth trying to lock down this deal. He gets it locked down. Texas goes to Larry Scott and says, oh, by the way,

we'd like to do our own network. The PAC-16 deal falls apart. The Big 12 is saved. And now here we are, 13 years later, and it's all coming full circle, potentially. Colorado could be coming back to the Big 12. And it's a Big 12 that only existed because Dan Beebe acted like a sitcom character running between hotel floors. So the next time you want to chuckle at former Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe, remember, he's the one that kept the conference alive so it could do this. We'll see you next time.