Andy & Ari On3 - Curt Cignetti CLAPS BACK at TCU’s Sonny Dykes for comments on Indiana’s new QB Josh Hoover | DJ Lagway's new start at Baylor

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Andy and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM. A question about the Indiana Hoosier's new quarterback. Josh Hoover is trying to replace Fernando Mendoza. He got thrown some shade by his former coach at TCU. But a TCU fan wonders, who should we be questioning Josh Hoover or Sunny Dykes? Plus, why does Kailen DeBore get crushed for getting blown out by Indiana? Dan Lannning does not. Also, a very intriguing trade offer from a non-Michigan, non-Indiana fan.

Starting point is 00:00:41 Would Michigan or Indiana fans be willing to trade football and basketball coaches? Seems like an interesting deal. We'll break it down. All on today's Andy and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM. This show is sponsored by BetMGM and the Kavanaugh twins are facing off in the court of Legends game and you can interbed him Jim's pick a twin to win free to play game for a chance to win a share of $2 million in bonus bets. Here's how to get this offer in three easy steps. Opt in to the pick a twin to win free to play game. Select whether you think Haley or Hannah will win

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Starting point is 00:02:41 Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM and it is a dear Andy, dear Ari Friday. It is Mailback Day. you have some incredible questions. We're excited. We're making the trek to Indianapolis. We're going to be at the Culver's Game Day Hub on Saturday in Indianapolis. You can come see us at 200 East Washington Street, Lugar Plaza,

Starting point is 00:03:21 and we'll have frozen custard for all there. But before we go, we've got to talk about a quarterback who's going to be plying his trade about, I don't know, hour 10. from India. And that's Josh Hoover, who is headed to Indiana to replace the Heism trophy winner for Brandon Mendoza to try to help the Hoosiers defend their national championship. But we got a good question from Peter. Are you ready for this one? I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready for the weekend. I'm ready for the questions, man. I'm fired up. Basketball and football. What a cocktail. Go ahead.

Starting point is 00:03:58 It's amazing. It's amazing. So let's start here with one of Indiana's newest residents. inspiring a question. This is from Peter. Thanks for all your coverage of college football. I'm writing to pass along some low-level anxiety from TCU fans. It is mostly whispers because Sunny Dykes is a nice guy people tend to like. But what if he's bad at handling quarterbacks? What went unmentioned in the college football and choir podcast was the show I do on Yahoo. We talked about Sunny Dykes comments about Josh Hoover, which we're going to play you in a minute. Well, what I mentioned was that Chandler Morris was fine but not great at TCU.

Starting point is 00:04:37 Sonny started him twice, once over a season Max Duggan, and then once again over a very green Josh Hoover. In both cases, Chandler was while he pipped out of the job by the backup. Even when healthy, he was just okay, and his claim to fame was and will always be leading the home win over Baylor in the first game without Gary Patterson. In the two schools, Chandler went to after TCU, he played in ways we never saw when he was a frog. That was North Texas and Virginia.

Starting point is 00:05:00 Now there are lots of Fort Worth eyes cast toward Hoover's forthcoming performance with the Hoosiers. Will we see the same thing happen? Is it yet to be proven but entirely possible? Sunny underdevelops QBs and we haven't seen the last fine but not great TCU quarterback transfer and find career success at another program. Hopefully we're all wrong. Thanks again for all your work. Listening in on college football minutia while waiting at my kids' next event at the track meet is a nice little boost. Well, Peter, I hope you're waiting for an event right now. I hope we can fill that time for you. But Ari, should we play the Sunny Dykes? clip first.

Starting point is 00:05:35 Of course. I feel like that's a necessary context here. So this is Sunny Dykes on the State of the Frogs podcast. This is something TCU produces. This is Sunny Dykes talking about, well, you got a question about Gordy Sammy's their new offensive coordinator. It turned into a shot at Josh Hoover, the outgoing quarterback. Here's that clip.

Starting point is 00:05:56 Look, numbers and numbers and stats are stats. And I think, you know, you look for us and I think Josh started 31 games here, as a quarterback and we turned the ball over 40. He turned the ball over 42 times in those 31 starts. And you go and you look at Gordy was the office coordinator last year at Connecticut and their quarterback turned it over twice. And so, you know, I think that's the, that's where we want to get to. You know, you look at the teams that played for a national championship.

Starting point is 00:06:22 You look at Indiana this year, you know, they were number one of the nation in turnover margin. They were plus 22 in turnovers. And then number two in fewest penalties. And so that's what we need to become. You know, we need to be a team that doesn't turn the ball over. I felt like the last, you know, three years we've turned it over way too much. The first 10 seconds of that clip already got passed around the internet very quickly.

Starting point is 00:06:43 And my initial thought was, oh, there's got to be some context here that I'm missing. It's not just Sunday Yikes taking a shot at Josh Hoover on his way out of town. No, I left more in the clip so people could see that there was more context to it. He's just taking a shot at him. Like, going from saying we and then changing that to he, turned it over. This is all you need to know. And I don't know if you saw this because

Starting point is 00:07:09 writers were recording this. Kurt Signetti was asked about this and Kurt Signetti said, well, Josh Hoover when he came to Bloomington, met his two best friends. It's really good defense in an awesome run game. And then he winked at the reporter who asked. I don't know if you saw that. We're going to grab that clip. We'll have producer

Starting point is 00:07:27 River throw that clip in there because of course. Yeah, yeah. We love Kurt Signetti shade when we can get it. Yeah, well, still learning about him. You know, a couple different things there. I would like to see him play a little faster, practice, a little more urgency, drive every ball.

Starting point is 00:07:46 I don't know what was asked of him, you know, where he came from in terms of practice. But, you know, no plays are like a throw-off, you know, even them walk through, you know. We get on wide receivers for running half speed. well, you know, we want to drive every football, throw it like in the game. But obviously, you know, I think the great thing is excited about Josh, first of all. Let's be clear about that.

Starting point is 00:08:15 And he's got a body of work in terms of winning football games, passing yards, touchdown passes. Got to clean up some of the turnovers, obviously, which Coach Dykes made light of. But, you know, when Josh got here, he met his two new best friends. Great defense and a really good run game. And he was never the same after that. How funny was that? Amazing. Amazing. And probably Sonny would tell you, because we like Sunny on this show, everybody likes Sunny.

Starting point is 00:09:00 But Sonny would tell you he probably shouldn't have said that. Or at least not said it in that way. Yeah, I mean, you know, everything anybody, who knows son he's not a mean-spirited person and also you know we don't know how he feels about that departure and all those things but i do think we kind of do but i think we we can put it together here andy that it wasn't uh what is it an amical divorce amicable yes yeah so you know i think it's an interesting question and you know the other thing too is that if it's like really hard to judge to because if Hoover goes to

Starting point is 00:09:37 Bloomington and has an awesome year and they make the playoff and go on a run, does that mean that Kurt Signetti is awesome or does that mean that Sunny Dikes sucks? Like I think that there's like more context. I think that's the root of Peter's question. And this is why I think it was a mistake for Sunny to

Starting point is 00:09:52 come out the way he did because this puts a target on Sunny's back. This doesn't put a target on Josh Hoover's back. Josh Hoover has a history of turnovers. If he goes to Indiana and turns a ball over a time, it's because he's a turnover prone quarterback. If he goes to Indiana and doesn't turn it over and they're awesome,

Starting point is 00:10:11 that means that he could have gotten more. That means that Sonny could have gotten more out of him. It means that Sonny kept playing him despite the turnovers. It all falls on Sunny after that. So there's no winning for Sunny here, none. Yeah. It is kind of interesting too because Sunny was also the original Kurt Signetti for a second there. and he did it during a time in which you couldn't like revamp your your roster the way that that Curtis Signetti had the ability to do so and like they went all the way to the national championship in the old style and of course it ended poorly because they were still playing old Georgia and old Georgia was ready to play but like it's just like really hard to answer that because like Max Duggan was awesome but I know that it was a complicated arrival at his at his tenure too right Chandler Morris was the the opening day starter that year.

Starting point is 00:11:04 Yeah. So it's like you did get a lot out of a quarterback, but it wasn't the quarterback you ultimately originally chose. And, you know, I mean, I guess you could really go down that road. And here's the other thing too, Andy. I think that, you know, in this new era in terms of how good you are at being a head coach with the quarterback position is also who you're fortunate enough to financially get. Like I wonder, you know, if we view, you know, certain coaches differently based on the fortune of having a really, really good player come in and accept a huge pay. day to come in and fill a hole on your roster. So, you know, I think that Sunny Dykes has done a very good job. I think it's incredibly hard, especially now in the current landscape of the country or of the sport to do what he did at TCU consistently. But also, I think TCU would probably like a little bit more out of their teams since they went to the national championship game. What's it been three or four years now?

Starting point is 00:11:55 So, yeah, it was four years ago. Yeah. And so new OC, Gordon Samis comes from Connecticut, new quarterback. Jaden Craig transferred from Harvard. Harvard's all-time leading passer and he is the sort of player. We're actually seeing this quite a bit now

Starting point is 00:12:14 in this new era. So the Ivy League, you get four years to play four in the Ivy League. If you end up not playing as a freshman, they don't look at it as a redshirt year. You're still done after four years in the Ivy League. So he had to go somewhere else. He had a year of eligibility so he could have played

Starting point is 00:12:30 anywhere but the Ivy League. And so he winds up. up at TCU. He'll be replacing Josh Hoover. So we'll see if they get more out of him than they got out of Josh Hoover and then we'll see does Indiana get more out of Josh Hoover than TCU did. Do they get the same number of turnovers? Do they do they reduce the turnovers? All of that will be how we formulate who won this divorce. I also think that getting somebody from Harvard to come in and not turn it over as much seems like a likely solid good bet, right? Because like they're smart and they're distinguished and they don't make dumb mistakes with the ball, right?

Starting point is 00:13:06 Like, like somebody with the violin is just following him everywhere. He might turn it over, but none of them are going to be boneheaded turnovers. I'll tell you that right now. That's exactly right. But yeah, so we will find out is, it was that Josh Hoover is a turnover prone quarterback or Josh Hoover was allowed to be a turnover prone quarterback because of the coaching he received at TCU.

Starting point is 00:13:30 And Kurt Signetti has this. Someone thoughts a good running game and a good defense. But they also got him some receivers. Nick Marsh from Michigan State joined Indiana. Charlie Becker is still there. They tried to get Parker Livingston, didn't get him. But they're going to have some guys to throw to, and yeah, they're going to be able to run the ball still. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:13:54 Very interesting storyline, and Kurt Signetti is a national treasure. But the one thing I wanted to make sure, too, is that Sonny Dykes got the respect on his name that he deserves. because, I mean, what he did was remarkable. Yes. Still. Yes. But again, when you come out like that, because that was not a slip of the tongue, that was not a Freudian slip. That was I am going to throw some shade at this quarterback who left.

Starting point is 00:14:18 Yeah. Well, I think that coaches in general and Jerome Tang found this out too is when you open yourself up or you feel like you're in a position where you want to criticize a player or you want to say something that's kind of a vet. nature, you are also opening yourself up to criticism and the scrutiny that comes with that comment. So, you know, I'm all for it. I think that people should share how they feel. And obviously, it's a high, high profile business now, man. Like people are making business decisions.

Starting point is 00:14:49 Feelings are going to get hurt. Relationships are going to sever. And I want people to be open about how they feel about certain things. But when you do it, you are also going to be scrutinize on the microphone. microscope. Yeah. So how all this plays out, we don't know. We will need to watch Josh Huber play.

Starting point is 00:15:10 We will need to watch Jaden Craig play. And we will return to this maybe mid-season and see if we can declare a winner here. Because I do think it's one of those things that we should be able to declare a winner. It should be fairly easy to figure out. Ari, our next question comes from Casey. This is a very fair question. Why does Alabama got blown out by Indiana come up?

Starting point is 00:15:39 But it never comes up that Indiana blew out Oregon. Genuine question, no shade. I just feel it seems partial. Nobody is questioning Dan Lannning for two straight blowouts in the playoffs. This is a fair question. I have an answer for it, though. Are you ready? I do too, but I want to hear yours first.

Starting point is 00:15:56 I bet we have the same answer. because Dan Lannning didn't lose to Florida State last year, and Dan Langing didn't lose 24 to 3 to a terrible Oklahoma team the year before. That's the difference. Dan Lannin wins all the games he's supposed to win. The seasons have not ended the way he wanted them to, but they ended up getting blown out by the eventual national champion in both cases. But they also beat the team that blew them out in one of those years.

Starting point is 00:16:26 And so, and then they played another game that was very close against the team that blew them out in the other year. And oh, by the way, they had zero healthy running backs when they played the semi-final game where they got blown out. So they could neither run the ball nor pass protect, which not a great combination for the offense. Now, Alabama couldn't run the ball either, but that wasn't necessarily because of injuries because they couldn't run the ball. Kind of my answer, but not really. Okay. My answer is they do get crap for it. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:17:01 Lanting does get somebody. I will agree with Casey. He doesn't get nearly as much as Kailen Abortos. My answer, though, is more about also program stature. I think Oregon is still viewed as on the ascension towards greatness and still knocking on the door. I think I would put Texas and Oregon in that same bucket of like really good program, a lot of respect, a ton of resources. you know, have nationally been considered a team that could beat anybody but haven't broken through yet. And Kalin DeBoer took over the juggernaut of a program over here that beat everybody all the time for 10 years and now has fallen.

Starting point is 00:17:40 And that's like the peril of taking the Alabama job to begin with, right? And you take that job eyes wide open. You're going to get attached to program stature and program standards that you had nothing to do with right out of the gate. So if Kalin DeBoer had the same two years, but he was starting at another place, I think that his entire existence would be framed completely differently. I think that the Alabama nature of this is that we are so used to seeing Alabama prosper and be the dominant, you know, hated program that is just better than everybody for so long that when you see it happen the other way, you have a hard time, you know, separating those two things. So, you know, Alabama isn't the jumpstart, you know, team that used to be really good that's trying to get back to being very good or trying to win a championship for the first time. So the starting points for Lannning and DeBore, even though they have similar results the last year or so, isn't necessarily the same grading rubric. But I also think it, like, the Ohio State blowout in the 2024 season, they beat Ohio State in the 2024 season too.

Starting point is 00:18:47 So you're going to get a little grace in that. situation. But I also don't think that the number one thing for for Kalin DeBoers, if you're in the negative camp for Kalin de Boers analysis, that like the first thing that comes to mind is they couldn't keep up with Indiana. Like the first thing that comes up for mind is not what I'm worried about. Yeah, right. So, you know, I think that the number one thing in Dan Lanning's, you know, criticism category would be being blown out in the playoff two years in a row. And I think that's what you would hear. And I'm sure that's what he's striving to fix every day of his life. When I think of Kailin Nabor, I think don't lose the teams you're not supposed to lose to, especially getting blown out by one of them.

Starting point is 00:19:25 And it doesn't matter, you know, that they lost by a lot to Indiana. I'm sure it stings. Alabama's not used to being humiliated like that. But I think that they are in two different categories program-wise and in two different parts of their coaching ten years. And I also don't, I don't kill DeBore as much for getting blown out by Georgia in the SEC championship game because he beat Georgia the same year. He beat him. I think, yeah, Kailin-Dabor's issue isn't that they were. blown out. It was that the program isn't, is in a place where being blown out is not rising.

Starting point is 00:19:56 Like that's the, you know, so. When's the last time Dan Lending lost a game he wasn't supposed to lose? It was Oregon State year one. Yeah. I also think, and maybe you'll push back on this a little bit, but I think that the Alabama lost to Indiana was much uglier than Oregon's lost to Indiana. Oh, I was at Oregon's lost Indiana. It was pretty damn.

Starting point is 00:20:15 Yeah, you were there. I don't know. You tell me. Yeah. I mean, Oregon had just blown out another team in the playoff. So that, I think there's that. But you knew going in what was going to happen in the Oregon-Indiana game, because once you found out that Oregon's running back room was completely depleted,

Starting point is 00:20:33 there was no hope. There was absolutely, like, Oregon was not going to be able to run its office at all. So, and then it doesn't get, like, that's not why DeAngelo-Pon's got to pick six in the first play of the game. But that certainly didn't help. Yeah, the first play of the game really did set the tone there, Andy. but I just feel like the second half of the Rose Bowl feels far dire in my memory than what happened. Yeah, I mean, Alabama had a sad field goal. Like Oregon actually did occasionally move the wall in each game, yeah.

Starting point is 00:21:01 But again, both blowouts. I think there is a difference, but also when you are a fan of a specific team, and I don't know if Peter is, but you also get more. Yeah. Or Casey. I don't know if Casey is. But you also get sucked into the. vacuum of what you consume more, and it feels more intense that way, too.

Starting point is 00:21:25 Well, and if you're an Alabama fan, you are, the discourse all around you is, is Kailen Abor the right guy for this job? That's not just us. That's not us saying that, because Kailen-N-Bor had that interview with Chris Lowe this week. That is every day in your sphere. As you listen to your Alabama podcast, as you listen to sports talk radio in the state of Alabama or around or you read stuff about Alabama like that is if you're on the

Starting point is 00:21:53 Bama online message board that's the conversations the Alabama fans are having amongst themselves I think simply put to slipping while you're scaling a mountain is less embarrassing than falling when you're at the top of it and he might not have been at the top of it because he didn't build it but it's presumed that he was and he went to the national championship game and I think that we we forget too and it has to be put into the context of this question that Kailin Abor got the best of Dan Lannning while at Washington. So like, you know, it's not, it's not like it's beyond the shadow of a doubt that Dan Lannin's a better coach, but I think that the arguments are framed differently because

Starting point is 00:22:31 of program stature and direction. Yeah. So it really comes down to DeBore. I still think it's more like what you said, when the games are supposed to win. And I think a lot of the criticisms just go away. because I think people understand when you play another elite team you can lose.

Starting point is 00:22:53 So that's, it's beat the non-elite teams that you've lost to in past years. Our next question, from Tyler. This one ties into what's going on

Starting point is 00:23:08 in Indianapolis this weekend as well. I am not an Indiana fan or a Michigan fan, but I am genuinely curious if Indiana fans would trade Kurt Signetti and Daryon DeVrys, their basketball coach, to Michigan for Kyle Wittingham and Dusty May. They would obviously lose the best coach in college football, but they would get a basketball coach who looks like he will inevitably win

Starting point is 00:23:32 at least one national title in his career, maybe even this year, maybe more. They would also get a pretty good football coach in Kyle Wittingham? Football is obviously the big moneymaker, so administrators probably don't do it, but would their fans rather be a perennial power in basketball and Solon football after they won a national title, or would they rather ride the Signetti run? If a different coach, no.

Starting point is 00:23:54 Michigan makes more sense, feel free to use that. For the record, I think Michigan takes the trade in a second. This is fascinating because here's my thing. Kyle Whittingham could come in to what Kurt Signetti has built and probably be really competitive and maybe even keep you at that level.

Starting point is 00:24:15 But Dusty May would definitely. definitely make you a national title contender in basketball if you're Indiana. Like is that, would they be cool with that? Because they have, they have that football national title in the pocket. They have, they have the title in the pocket.

Starting point is 00:24:28 But if I'm an Indiana, if I were the general manager of Indiana and I can decide the trade. The athletic director. I would be like, I'll be like, why don't we keep the generational personality coach that might go down as one of the greatest coaches that's ever lived? Who by the way,

Starting point is 00:24:44 depending on what else goes here. 63 is still the younger football coach in this equation. Yeah. And I could just maybe fall my way into hiring a really good young basketball coach if it comes to that. Like it's not like it's impossible that Indiana could not hire somebody like Dusty May to run their basketball program. Well, they could have hired Dusty May and they elected not to. Yeah, but there will be another, you know, I don't know. We'll see how things go with their basketball program, you know, next year and all those things.

Starting point is 00:25:11 But like there will be potentially another opportunity to hire somebody and you just do a better job of hiring. like Michigan would do that in a hot second. And honestly speaking, I don't think that there's a single program in the country, maybe outside of Georgia and Columbus, but maybe even there where they wouldn't take that trade. Yeah, because you put Signetti at Michigan, you're winning another national title pretty soon.

Starting point is 00:25:31 Yeah. And you're doing it in a badass way because Kurt Signetti is like cold-blooded, dude. It's not just that he's good at it. Can you imagine him in the Ohio State Michigan rivalry? He's a character. He's an actual character. and we were talking about like when Jim Harbaugh and Nick Saban and all those guys left the game, that we were going to have a hard time filling the gap of personality and, you know, you know, figureheads.

Starting point is 00:25:57 Like does Kurt Signetti not fill that hole immediately? And then like even like what we talked about earlier on the show, Andy, it's just like all of his responses, his facial expressions, his gun down or is like eagle eye look right into cameras during broadcast. It's like all the things. Like who does anybody not like this guy? Let me ask you this. Has there been a better, better winker in college football? No.

Starting point is 00:26:21 I didn't think so. It's like it's powerful and seductive. I don't know. It's both. Like I just like I have no idea. Like that that's a man that can get what he wants. I think that, you know, I think the actual question you boil it down to is what do Indiana fans care more about their football program or the basketball program?

Starting point is 00:26:39 And would you say, and I don't know, I've, you know, I've been to Bloomington covered a lot of game, really sad games there in the past. But I think that once you win the football national championship, do you become a football school? Like I've always viewed basketball, although it's great and people care, and North Carolina and Duke might get upset about this, that being good at basketball has always been the consolation price and not being good at football.

Starting point is 00:27:02 North Carolina would love to be good at football too. I mean, look, they're trying financially with the Belichick. But would North Carolina sacrifice its basketball program to have a national championship contender football program? That's the question. No. And the thing is, Indiana isn't sacrificing its basketball program. And that's the point you were making earlier.

Starting point is 00:27:20 They didn't sacrifice the program. They just didn't hire the best coach when they could have. Oh, I feel so bad for Indiana that they didn't hire Dusty May and Kurtzegneddy in the same cycle. Can you imagine if it's been so hard for you? Can you imagine it? Oh, by the way, when Kurtzignetti was at JMU, the basketball coach was Mark Byington, who's doing really good things at Vanderbilt and who may be. for a bigger job like now.

Starting point is 00:27:45 So would it have been the same coaching carousel cycle if they hired both? No. Dusty May. I don't remember. It was one year apart, right? Yeah. No, no, it was one year apart because FAU was in the final four after Indiana made the playoff year one, right?

Starting point is 00:28:02 No, they were not. Okay, so it would have been the same cycle. You're right. And Dusty May was hired March 2024 at Michigan. Okay. Yeah. That's wild. Wild stuff.

Starting point is 00:28:15 But I do think Indiana is probably really enjoying this football supremacy. And just because they're very good at football does not mean that there's no hope that their basketball team will ever be good again. But I am very, very curious and interested by the basketball versus football school comparison. It's like if you are a basketball school, well, is that who you are at a cellular level? Or does that change based on success of the football program? Would Indiana sacrifice at all to be one of the top three programs in college basketball again? Or is this newfound football school aura tastes so good that you don't really even care about basketball to the same level anymore? I think they care.

Starting point is 00:28:55 I think they just would rather do what you said is if this era doesn't work out, then go hire something. And to put a bow on that conversation of could they have hired Dussie Mae, they would have had to fire Mike Woods in earlier. but Mike Woodson was on the hot seat after the 2023, 2024 season. They could have done that. They just chose not to. Yeah. I also think that basketball,

Starting point is 00:29:20 the build in basketball is easier than football. And he just got done doing the hardest single build that we've ever seen. You know, Andy, I wrote a column before we recorded this about the patience thing at LSU. And I listened to a Josh Pate segment. And he basically said that, you know, Kurt Signetti is going to be viewed as the norm when he's actually the exception to the rule. Yeah, he's broken. And I, but I don't know if I 100,000 percent agree with that because, and I'm not saying that people are going to be able to do what Kurt Signetti did all the time.

Starting point is 00:29:59 But I think that since the sport changed and Kurt Signetti did what he did so soon into that evolution, that that is an indication that it's easier done than it's ever. been before. Yeah. And it's not that it's not that it's never happened before. Urban Meyer won a national title in year two at Florida. Kirby Smart was in the national title game in overtime in year two at Georgia. Like, it's not that it's never happened before. It's just that it was in Indiana.

Starting point is 00:30:28 It has never happened when you take over the worst program in college football history. But LSU is not Indiana. So, So, yeah. Lane Kiffin, yes, would we be, should we be shocked at all if Lane Kiffin is in the national title game in year two at LSU? No. That's the expectation. No.

Starting point is 00:30:46 But I think that going from okay to really good in basketball is such an easier accomplishment than doing it in football, even though it's becoming more doable because of what Signetti did, which is why you could never do this trade. You could never do this trade because you can go get the right coach and he can be in the final four in year one. Right. If you get the right three players, you know? Agreed. Agreed. No, you are right about this. I was trying to talk myself into it, but you're absolutely right. No, Indiana never does this trade.

Starting point is 00:31:15 And Michigan does. You hold on to Kurt Zignetti's body until your cold, dead hands are. That's right. I mean, like, whatever, I would, I would let Kersignetti move into my house in a time of need. Like, I would not, like, let him, but not that he needs anymore. He's an national treasury must be protected. Yes. All right.

Starting point is 00:31:33 One more question. This was from MDN. It's a very simple question. Reaction to the DJ Lagway article? So for those who didn't read, this was Matt Hayes story in USA Today about DJ Lagway that came out last week. This is a very detailed story, extensive interview with DJ Lagway. And we've seen Lagway do some more stuff. He did a podcast with Baylor.

Starting point is 00:31:54 He's done a lot of interviews in the last week or so. This is a really interesting story, I thought, because it's a lot of detail about DJ Lagway's time at Florida. they go into great detail about his mental state in Gainesville, the fact that he never took an on-campus class, which I don't think is that unusual in this era of college football. But as Matt pointed out in the story, and I remember this, there was a time on Florida's campus when you had Tim Tebow and Joe Kim Noah taking classes at the same time, and they managed just fine. Like they actually, if I remember correctly, because I think Tebow told me this once, they had a class together at one point. Tim Tebow and Joe Kim Noah. So it's not that he's so famous he can't do anything, but I think his personality probably lent itself to that,

Starting point is 00:32:45 and he goes into that talking about how he probably wasn't as close to his teammates as he should have been. He wasn't really hanging out with them, and he feels like that caused problems. And then especially when his injuries made it impossible for him to throw and prepare for the 2025 season the way he wanted to or needed to, that it really just sort of drove a wedge and made everything worse. And you know what my main takeaway from this was? We talk so much about the pressure that coaches face.

Starting point is 00:33:22 And we can go right back to the Lane Kiffin thing because he's such a fun person to talk about. He pleaded for patients a few weeks ago at the beginning of LSU's spring practice. And everybody, including myself, was like he paid $40 million for a roster. or you don't get patience and how much pressure the NIL, the NIL world puts on coaches to perform quickly. And we know all that. But like, what about the pressure that it puts on players who accept those paychecks to perform? Especially if you're somebody who hasn't done it yet, hasn't practiced a bunch,

Starting point is 00:33:57 is an unproven asset and is fighting through injuries. Like, I found myself sympathizing with him. And is considered the savior of the program and basically saved the coach's job, your freshman year and now has to save it again as a sophomore. Yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot there. Now, we can also say. And that would be hard to do if you were completely healthy.

Starting point is 00:34:17 Could you imagine how helpless you would feel and how isolated you would feel if you weren't able to practice or even perform because you were hurt? We could also say you took the check. That's right. But they're also. You didn't turn it down. He was also a high schooler. And of course, every high school in America is going to take the check because everyone's

Starting point is 00:34:35 going to take the check. check. Well, I think it's more than personality. And that's one of those things that, you know, you tend to trust the quarterbacks more who are that due that everybody wants to be around. And Florida is an interesting example of this because that was the knock on Chris Leak as a four-year starter at Florida. Now, Chris Leak ultimately is vindicated because they win a national title his senior year. And now Tim Tebow is coming in occasionally at that point. But it was very obvious when Tim Tebow showed up who the team liked better. Because Chris Leak was an introvert. He just, he just, that wasn't that type of guy.

Starting point is 00:35:11 And Tim Tebow was that type of guy. He was, I'm, you know, I'm going to do tug of war with the defensive tackles in the weight room. And like, that, that's just who he was. And so the quarterbacks who are extroverts, who are the ones who people gravitate toward, are the ones that, I think we trust more. But what made this situation very interesting is, and this is, you know, something that ties into Florida now is Tramel Jones Jr., who was a freshman last year, who is still at Florida and competing with Aaron Fylo for the starting job. Tramelo Jones Jr. is that type of guy. So here you had this dude taking all the practice reps that DJ Lagway would have been taking,

Starting point is 00:35:50 and the teammates gravitating to him. And I think, you know, Lagway, I noticed a lot of the responses to that story where, oh, he's making, Lagway's making excuses, blah, blah, and then some, look, some of these are legitimate excuses. But I did think he, I felt like he owned up to what he felt were flaws in himself that hurt his performance there. And he's trying to do differently at Baylor. And he took a bunch of his skill position players to Miami to go throw and work out together and bond. And I think, so he's trying to do it differently this time. And it's so interesting.

Starting point is 00:36:29 He's like, Baylor put something out on the first day of spring practice. And it was DJ Lagway throwing three passes. And they were wobbly ducks. And it was like, oh, God. Why did you put that out there? I think it was the same day that story dropped, by the way. And I mean, I don't, I honestly don't know why you would do that. Because every, you've been to a spring practice, every quarterback in America

Starting point is 00:36:54 throws passes like that. Just pick the good ones. Like, well, and it just, I mean, it got worse and worse with that. Because. Yeah. This is a guy that we. saw as a freshman who could with a flick of the wrist drive a ball 40 yards on a rope into the hands of the receiver, you know, in a tight window. And now, that wasn't every throw because accuracy

Starting point is 00:37:19 was the issue with DJ throughout his time at Florida. But you saw the potential there. And that's why you and I completely overrated him going into last season. But I'm also not going to underrate him going into this year and pretend like he stinks. Like I think that there's still a chance that he could play pretty well. Well, and I also think he has like Steve Sachs disease either because Baylor, Baylor understood the assignment and then they put this video out this week. It's glorious. This is a beautiful spiral.

Starting point is 00:37:49 So they understand the assignment. So he can still. He didn't forget the throw. Yeah. But I also think too that it's functional that he's able to go back to where he's from to. I think that like the, and I don't think that Waco and, you know, Houston are very close together geographically, but being back on your home state, maybe, you know, helps you. It's more, you know, familiarity father's links there and all that stuff.

Starting point is 00:38:12 And Baylor was involved in his recruitment the first time around. So, like, I think that, you know, maybe getting out of the way bright lights, maybe connecting with your team or being back in your home state, all these things might cultivate a better experience. And maybe he won't be a top 10 pick in the draft like I thought he was. but I'm not completely hopeless that he could be a really good player at Baylor, too. I also don't want to root against the guy. I want everybody to do the best they can. I want everybody to have success if they can. And like, I feel bad for this guy.

Starting point is 00:38:39 He had all the, and you can say, oh, but he got all this money. Okay, he got all this money. But you have a Florida fan base that doesn't like him anymore. You have, you know, everybody nationally and you and I, Ari are at fault for this as well as other people who overrated him. and hyped him up, who view him as a disappointment. We have you buying DJ Lagway cards. So I just, I feel bad for him. I would love to see him turn it around at Baylor.

Starting point is 00:39:15 I'd love to see him prove everybody wrong because that's, that's the fun part. That's the great part about sports is you get another shot, you get another throw and and by the way if he turns out to be awesome again he will still be the big story like bailer's a big enough place where i mean like his like chances of succeeding in college aren't dead so you know maybe maybe we just bought too much of it and i'm ready to own up to that i think that both of us have acknowledged that we putting him at number one quarterback in the country last summer was probably wrong or was wrong and dumb but you know i i do buy into the

Starting point is 00:39:54 fact, like an 18-year-old who is getting paid that much money and is injured his entire time, he's there, feeling isolated, all those things. Like, that all felt real to me. So, and I'm happy that Matt wrote that. Yeah. And look, you can think, you can say it's excuses, and you're probably right. But sometimes excuses are legitimate. And the injuries, also something that would, now maybe the injuries could have been handled

Starting point is 00:40:21 differently or handled better. but that may have been out of his control as well. So that's the other piece of this. If he's healthy, what can he be? And we're going to find out. We're going to find out when he plays for Baylor. We're going to find out when Josh Hoover plays in Indiana. We're going to find out when DJ Lagway plays at Baylor.

Starting point is 00:40:41 We will learn all of these things eventually when the college football season starts if it ever starts. It feels so far away. But we're so close. Think about it this way. We're pretty close. As we hit the mile markers on the way, we're in the middle of spring practice right now. The final four is this weekend.

Starting point is 00:40:59 You can see me in our in Indianapolis on Saturday, the Culver's Game Day Hub. Come visit, come have some frozen custard with us. You could enter the Culver's swish-swish-swish-dish-dish-swip stakes to win up to $2,500. You can enter that by August 5th by Sunday. But we're going to have a basketball national. champion on Monday.

Starting point is 00:41:24 We're going to have the month of May where all the conferences get together in their meetings. And you know what the thing about custard samples are? Oh, yes, custard samples. Is if you eat enough of them, it's a free custard. That's true. That's true. Which I did last year. I think I had the equivalent of three or five free custards last year.

Starting point is 00:41:50 I think I had five samples of custard. Yeah. But yeah. It kept getting better, too, as I ate them. It doesn't, yeah, it never stops getting better at Culvers. So, yeah, come see us in Indianapolis, but we'll be talking basketball this weekend. We'll be talking basketball heading into the national championship game on Monday. Ari and I are covering about basketball too, right, Andy? Absolutely. We'll be covering the semifinals and the national championship. Very excited about that. Can't wait for these games.

Starting point is 00:42:16 This is going to be a very fun weekend. And we hope you join us in Indianapolis if you are a, a Michigan fan, an Illinois fan, an Arizona fan, a Yukon fan. Come on by, say hi. Ari, let's go to Andy. See you there, buddy.

Andy & Ari On3 - Curt Cignetti CLAPS BACK at TCU’s Sonny Dykes for comments on Indiana’s new QB Josh Hoover | DJ Lagway's new start at Baylor

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