Andy & Ari On3 - Dear Andy: What's Going on in the PAC-12 realignment? | Marvin Harrison, Harold Perkins, & stars

Episode Date: August 1, 2023

Dear Andy: What's Going on in the PAC-12 realignment? | Marvin Harrison, Harold Perkins, & starsGo to birddogs.com/Andy or enter Promo Code: Andy for a free Yeti style tumbler with your order.Want to watch us instead? Head on over to our YouTube Page to Like and Subscribe so you never miss an episode!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn2g2Wy8uiE9BhDPV4knT7AFollow Andy Staples on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Andy_StaplesFollow Andy Staples on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andy_staple...Follow us on Twitterhttps://twitter.com/on3sportsFollow us on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/on3/?hl=enLike/Follow us on Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/On3Sports/Shop On3https://shop.outsider.com/collections...It's a Dear Andy show, but first we need to talk about some news.With Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff expected to deliver the details of a potential media rights deal any day, Arizona's Board of Regents dropped a surprise executive session meeting on Tuesday. What does it mean? (0:00-20:00)Speaking of Pac-12/Big 12 realignment, Oregon coach Dan Lanning got a little salty when asked about playing Colorado in its final season in the Pac-12. (20:00-24:50)Today's episode is brought to you by BirdDogs! Don't look anywhere else for new shorts! Go to birddogs.com/Andy and enter Promo Code: ANDY for a sweet deal at checkout (24:50-26:37)Now on to your questions...Who are the most intriguing non-quarterbacks in 2023? (26:37-34:45)What upsets could shake up college football in the early season? (34:46-48:12)We can be the athletic director at any Power 5 school? How do we revamp the football program? (48:12-57:48)In a unique hypothetical, XFL rules are applied to 2022 USC and 2022 Iowa in a hypothetical game. Who wins this matchup? (57:49-1:00:57)Who has the lower 2023 floor: Coach Prime's Colorado or Trent Dilfer's UAB? (1:00:58-1:09:35)Friend of the show Geoff Schwartz asks Andy a barbecue question. (1:09:36-01:13:01)

Welcome to Andy Staples on three realignment Palooza continues. It's a dear Andy show. We are going to answer your questions. And we got a bunch of good questions already, but Jesse Simonton on three national writer. We have a lot to talk about before we get to everybody's great questions and by all the means drop more questions in the chat on the youtube stream if you're watching live but we have that thing this is the flight tracking if flight tracking is to coaching searches board meetings are realignment so the university of arizona board of regents or the arizona board of regents actually

it governs the university of arizona arizona state and northern arizona don't don't forget the lumberjacks they have scheduled a surprise executive session meeting for Tuesday, which also happens to be the same day that PAC-12 Commissioner George Klyavkov is supposed to be giving TV numbers, media rights deal potential numbers, possibly ahead of when he actually wanted to. But now the move of Colorado to the big 12 has kind of forced his hand he's got to show his cards and boy the mood got dark out west on monday afternoon when all this news started coming out or did it get light as in white smoke coming from the Vatican because Arizona is, you know, kind of signaling that, hey, our school president was initially open to hearing these figures, but perhaps he has gotten word of what these figures are going to be.

And they do not interest him as much as the $34 million that the big 12 can give him. Well, and let's also not well 30 31 i believe but 31 excuse me yeah let's also not forget that throughout all this we've had this discussion of the four corner schools which would be colorado arizona arizona state and utah now utah has most forcefully denied any interest in moving from the Big 12. But we know the Big 12 has worked on all of these schools. Arizona State, Michael Crow, their president, has been a true, true believer in the Pac-12. He's one of the people who made sure that Larry Scott was employed way too long by the Pac-12.

So that's the question. I mean, I don't know if we're talking about all of them or one of them because the Big 12 can fit them all or it can just take one if that's going to happen. Or they could be having a meeting to say if the numbers are good and we like the numbers we're good where we are you know our buddy richard johnson uh joked on twitter this would all be really funny if this was just a budgetary meeting for northern arizona yeah they don't usually drop those as just 24 hours notice though that's yeah i don't i don't think that's Yeah. They don't usually drop those as just 24 hours notice though. That's yeah.

I don't, I don't think that's the case. I don't think that's the case. I will say, you know, you and I were kind of debating last night. What should Oregon do? What should Washington do?

And we'll get into that. But I think if this move lands, this is a bigger deal for the, for the big 12 than getting Colorado. This is like Colorado being the appetizer. And I just mean as a one-to-one deal. You're looking at yourself at being a basketball conference. You seem to be kind of positioning yourself as such.

Arizona is a power in that regard, both historically and their potential for the future you now get in that phoenix market i mean this is a huge if you get arizona state and utah especially utah you've made your football league much better arizona state is one of those that we all like always call it a sleeping giant at some giant. At some point, somebody's going to awaken it. Maybe it's Kenny Dillingham who just got hired there. But I just – I think this is one of those situations where it's an inflection point, and whatever he says, there's varying degrees of what happens. If it's close, then you're probably going to keep Oregon and Washington, at least for now, unless the Big Ten swoops in or the ACC swoops in, which we'll talk about in a second. It sounds insane when you actually say the words, but you can make a case. But if you're Oregon and Washington, you don't want to pay exit fees if you think you're going somewhere else later.

So if the numbers are not great, but they're not that bad, they can say, hey, we don't want to sign anything long term. We don't want to be here forever. We don't want to be stuck here. We could probably call the Big 12 and leave if we really wanted to. So if you want to keep us, don't tie us down. They can probably do that. If the numbers really stink, then all bets are off.

I mean, then, then we really are talking about the death of a conference because unless they do this, uh, Willy Wonka land version of the merger that you're, you know, kind of teasing with the ACC, I don't see the path to viability because, you know, you could, yes,

you could grab an SMU, you could grab a Boise state perhaps, but it, I mean, you're right. I mean, or, and that's the tough part is that Oregon and Washington are the two best existing brands now in this league, and yet they kind of feel like a man without a home. And really the best on the board because we're not – I'm not considering Florida State and Clemson to be on the board. Right. Even though they are not pleased with their lot in the ACC,

but there are complicating factors. Like they can't just get out. Oregon and Washington are sitting there on an expiring TV deal that ends after this school year. They're on the board. They're the best brands on the board. I would argue that they're as good or better than every brand currently in the Big 12 from a football standpoint.

Yeah, I rubber- rubber stamped that for sure. So I listen, if I'm right, your mark in the big 12, I'm pushing, I want them to come to, I want Utah. I want Oregon and I want Washington and I'll take Arizona state and Arizona too. I'll take them all like that. I would try to get them all. And now what, what would that put you at if the math there was at 18 then it would be 18 that would be a lot of schools which again as we talked about yesterday part of sankey's hesitancy and uh patini's hesitancy in the big 10 is that we haven't even seen a conference operate at 16.

Yeah. And what kind of the machinations of that look like? Well, what you could do. 18 really becomes like you were teasing yesterday. It's almost an AFC-NFC conference deal. It's 9-9, but you know what? You could do it. That's the one league you could do it in.

Yeah. And everybody's like, what about the non-revenue sports what do they go what about the volleyball players well you can make the volleyball players travel easier by doing that so i don't know but but i don't know i mean look oregon washington we know they're not worried about no volleyball players and all this want the big 10 if they can get it. And if the Big Ten is at all interested down the road, I think if you're them, you stay in the Pac-12 unless it's just crickets when Clay Ivkoff talks.

Because you don't have to pay multiple exits. Yeah, there's no sense in that. There would be no sense in that. So I am really interested to see what these numbers are, what are the networks that we're talking about. When we talked to John Canzano, he mentioned Apple. ESPN still needs West Coast product. But listen, if the Big 12 gets Arizona, they'll then have Arizona, Colorado, and BYU. Does that quite fill Friday 10 p.m., Saturday 10 p.m.? It's close.

It's close. You probably don't want to have BYU playing every Friday night. So if you grab an Arizona State, you at least get one more. And then, you know, i think you're right you kind of do the the godfather best offer you can you can throw it at oregon and washington and see if they'll bite yeah yeah and they are going to probably hail try to hail mary the big 10 and say look we will take whatever you will give us. Give us a half share, which by the way would still be more than the Big 12. A half share of the Big 10 is more than the Big 12. Now they would have to sign another TV deal.

I will throw an interesting memory at you. When I was interviewing Kevin Warren, the former Big 10 commissioner, who was then the current Big 10 commissioner at the SBJ Symposium in Vegas last year. I asked him about the idea of closing the door on ESPN. And he said, oh, no, the door is not closed on ESPN. And I thought that was very interesting.

They didn't make a deal with ESPN. What I took that to mean is if I were to expand this conference more, especially by adding more West Coast schools, that's the deal I would make with ESPN to pay for the schools that we'd then be adding. Could you do something like that if you are the Big Ten? Could you make a deal with ES SPN for those schools, pay them what you get from that, whatever it is, and it's probably not a full share, but maybe that would work. I mean, that's why Kevin Warren,

who now is in charge of the Chicago Bears, was so successful at breaking the quote unquote Alliance because he was clearly playing 3d chess when Klaipkov has been playing, you know, not even checkers. They looked each other in the eyes. They looked at each other. He's been playing tic-tac-toe because what you just said is thinking, you know, six moves ahead. If that is the, because we know Kevin Warren was interested in further expansion right it was the rest of the school presidents and then now their current commissioner and fox is not interested in it because remember fox correct controls a lot of their inventory fox is their partner in the big

10 network it's not in fox's interest to play nice to the spn either but it actually probably is in the league's interest to do that. It would be the most widely distributed league. I mean, they'd be on every network. And why wouldn't ESPN bite on this too? Because if we're talking about them maybe spending money for Pac-12 after dark, this is a way better deal because you can still, not only do you get better brands,

but then we know that come next year, they're not going to talk about the big 10 as much on game day because those games will never be featured, but they might be featured on less. I mean, this is, again, this is a, this is definitely, you know, some 3d chess, but it, but that seems like a fun potential solution. I think Oregon and Washington are just really hoping that phone call comes. I think you'd have to convince a lot of Big Ten presidents of that. I think you would have to get Fox on board.

I don't think it's as easy as I just made it sound. No, I just like the sound. I know. I know't think it's as easy as I just made it sound. So it makes sense. No, I just like the sound. I know. I know. It makes sense. And look, neither of us are wishing for a conference to break up. I don't like where this is at for Washington State, for Oregon State, for Cal, for Stanford. I don't like that, but this is reality. There's not much that they can do about it because this... Now, it's interesting because we have not seen anybody lose a golden ticket quite yet. Now, you can say the Big 12 is not the esteem it once was, but I disagree.

It's still one of the four most powerful conferences. It's one of the four best conferences. Depending on how things go top to bottom, it may be the third best conference in the country in terms of football power. And so nobody's lost that. Remember, everybody's worried Kansas, Kansas State during the Big 12 Missile Crisis in 2010

when it looked like half the league might go to the pac-10 nobody's lost that yet there is significant concern here that washington state oregon state cal stanford if everybody goes running looking for shelter they got a problem well you know we could have more dominant movement here too there's been rumors you know i think you and i both have seen there's been rumors of maybe west virginia ultimately if the acc does renegotiate their rights that they would be interested in kind of merging back towards the atlantic coast conference and perhaps that opens up another doorway. Let's talk about the ACC, though. Let's talk about the ACC because they have unhappy schools.

We know that. They want more money. They're locked into this TV deal until 2036. If they were to add some really good brands, football brands, that is, Oregon, Washington, Utah I'm talking about, does that change anything for them? I don't know that it does. I don't know that any of them bring any more per school

than what they're already making. So I don't think that probably doesn't solve their issue of Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina, Miami wanting a bigger share of the pie. But it does potentially shore some things up in terms of maybe it stops everything for a little while and maybe it makes it feel like those schools wouldn't have anywhere to go the they become like the they become like the american athletic conference part do except with much better brands yeah right. Right. But it should,

that's what I'm saying. Like, you know, they would just, because it would be, they would call themselves some sort of, you know, ubiquitous, you know, continental, whatever, because you could try to see if you could get Cal and Stanford in there and do a scheduling Alliance and make it where the West Coast wing, again, is its own conference for the non-revenue sports. So it's a little more manageable. But I don't know. I mean, money-wise, it makes sense for people. Common sense-wise and logistically, it makes no sense. Andrew Pace. Oh, Elias Gray first with the Atlantic Pacific Alliance.

Andrew Pace says the bi-coastal. Elias, American Coastal Conference. It is both coasts. Oh, dude, we know it. You know what you got to call that conference if it happens. Lay it on me. The Coastal Elites. The Coast elites the coastal elites there you go you just like go full wwe heel turn call yourselves the coastal elites could call everyone else fly over

country oh it's perfect it's ideal the the the what all this really tells me, though, Andy, is that we're gaining steam even faster than I think I even thought was possible on an ultimate, you know, one Super League. Super League, Conference Pangea. Super League, Pangea, where it's the top 40 teams in college football that and they're just and like you worry about the other you know uh title nine sports and all that stuff uh separately but it is almost just like its own you know minor league football deal because once some of these media deals run out because i think some of them are more short term. It just seems like that's, we are gaining steam with each of these realignment moves of getting, of getting faster to that point.

Well, you know when it's going to happen, if when the next big 10 deal comes up, if they make it match, like if theirs ends the same year as the SEC, we know what's going to happen. We just, you can just mark it down. But I just, sec we know what's going to happen we just you can just mark it down but i just that would that one would be the one that tells you this is all short-term conference pangea is coming like if the acc takes schools on the west coast or enters into some alliance with it and again i'm not just pulling this out of my you-know-what.

This was talked about after UCLA and USC left. This is still something that's been kicked around in real life. And it sounds incredibly crazy. People do crazy things when you're fighting to survive. Coastal elites, baby. We should make – oh, T-shirts. Coastal elite. The Big 12 and the SEC and the Big 10 are flyover country. Woo.

Just imagine. They would turn their nose up. They'd say, UCLA, you could have been a coastal elite. They'd have like – schools have their own. You got the gig them for Texas A&M. You got the hook them for Texas. You could have the land shark for Ole Miss. Yeah, you could have the Coastal Elite where you hold your pinky up and sip tea.

I mean, the Virginia fans were born for this. The Kermit meme becomes their logo. Yes, yes. Like literally, it. The Kermit meme becomes their logo. Yes, yes. Like literally, it's the Kermit meme, yeah. That becomes their conference logo. So, short answer. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Everybody's holding on by the skin of their teeth.

I'm texting everybody I know. Waiting to hear solid information. It's not here yet. The PAC-12 has been waiting for solid information for a long, long, long, long, long time. They might get something resembling solid information about that meteorite steal, and then we may see them making some decisions.

We will have to find out. But before we let go of that particular topic, there was a question that was asked of Oregon coach Dan Lanning on Monday about Colorado leaving. And now we've, this we don't know where Oregon's going to be either, but we think that their final game as conference foes will happen this September. Colorado's welcome to the PAC 12. You're probably lucky.

You're only going to Autzen once as a PAC 12 member, but he was, Dan Lanning was asked about Colorado. Paulina with KPTV. I know you touched on this a little bit, but as far as the Pac-12, can I just get your initial reaction when you heard about the news of Colorado leaving? And does these changes change the approach or your attitude as far as coming this season? Not a big reaction. I mean, I'm trying to remember what they won to affect this conference. I don't remember. Do you remember them winning anything? I don't remember them winning anything. Our guy might have a little Steve Spurrier in him.

A little Steve Spurrier with a little Burt Reynolds mustache. That thing's looking short. I mean, Deion likes to poke the bear, so Dan Landon's got a bigger stick. Well, he's got a better roster is what he has. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah. And that's the thing. If you're Dan Lanning and you're looking at your roster

and you know what's on Colorado's roster, you're feeling pretty good about what's going to happen in that game. Now, perhaps in two or three years when Coach Prime has had a while to recruit and his roster has changed its makeup. You're not making as much fun, but yeah, if you're, if you're Dan landing,

you're not worried about that right now. What, what'll be funny is if they wound up in the same conference together, I don't think that's going to happen, but again, I don't know. We are in the, we're in that moment where anything can happen.

The rumors are rampant let's let's count the rumors we've seen this week clemson and florida state to the big 10 and it was imminent that's one with or with oregon and with oregon and washington so we we've had you know arizona to the Big 12, which may happen. Arizona to the Big 12. Oregon can go independent. Oregon independent is one of my favorites. I do like that.

And actually, as a football program, I like the idea of an independent Oregon. Because think about the leverage. Phil Knight could just convince every Nike school to schedule them. Like, listen, hey, we've done a lot of business over the years, guys. Your swoosh people, your Jordan brand people, schedule our guys. So in football, I think you're fine doing that. Now, you might have to join the West Coast Conference and the other sports, a la BYU back in the day.

The best thing that you just said, though, is that we don't know. And it's okay to admit that we don't know because no one knows what's going on. And so, you know, folks are trying to parse the information. We're trying to report and get the information best we can. But it's moving fast and only a select few seem to be in some of these meetings and so well you know we might have to find out together has kept this information very tight and for a good reason because it is if it gets out it gets very bad very fast and or it gets you know it gets very bad, very fast. And, or it gets, you know, it's just, you can't make plans.

And then within the schools, they keep this stuff tight. Like I had somebody who was involved in the USC planning. Tell me that basically there were four people. For most of the time that they were planning their move to the Big Ten, four people knew about it. I mean, you have to keep the circle tight because if it leaks, you're in trouble. Bad, bad things happen if it leaks. We know from covering the SEC for so long that the fact that A&M was blindsided within their own conference, within their own state

of the impending move of Texas joining the big 10 or SEC, excuse me, just, you know, proves how, how, how small these circles are in terms of the decision-making. Yeah. Well, it, it is going to possibly come to a head on Tuesday. Get your popcorn ready. We may be live again.

The plan was to do premiere show 8 p.m. Eastern. We got some really fun interviews planned. That may all get scrapped. We may be going live again with a lot of talk about what is going to happen next and where. So stay tuned. But when we come back back your questions will be answered and three of you sit in video questions which they look awesome and i hope you see them and you're like man that looks

cool i'd like to do that and then you do that next week so well I'm sure there'll be plenty to ask about. But we will be right back after these words from bird dogs. So let us talk about bird dogs. Are you living the most efficient life you possibly can? If you're not wearing bird dogs, then you're not. Because these are the greatest shorts and pants you've ever worn because they have a built-in liner that feels like it was made for you. And you never once have to buy underwear or wash underwear again if you're wearing bird dogs. Right now, currently, hold on, got to get up to the camera. I'm wearing my Indianapolis Joneses with the neon yellow liner.

Tremendous pants. I've also got my tight wads that I love. Of course, our banner is right across my butt. If you could see my butt from behind the banner, which you can't because the banner is up there and we want you to see the promo code. They make your butt look incredible. Incredible. So what if you want to live efficiently up top? Well, BirdDogs makes polos now too. So go to BirdDogs.com slash Andy. You can use the promo code Andy as well and get a free tech hat with your order. BirdDogs.com slash Andy. Promo code Andy as well and get a free tech hat with your order. Birddogs.com slash Andy, promo code Andy. Live your most efficient life. Stop wasting your time buying underwear and washing underwear. You don't have to do it anymore. Have the perfect fitting shorts and pants for every occasion and never have to worry about what's under them because you're covered

with Bird Dogs. Birddogs.com slash Andy. Promo code Andy with a free tech hat and the best shorts and pants and now polos that you've ever had. Welcome back. It's time to answer your questions. And oh man, Jesse, do we ever have some great questions it is dear andy time our first question comes from andy pace and this is not one of our video questions we we were getting to those but andy had a great question that allows us to really whip around the country and talk about some players that have been i feel, overshadowed by a year of really good quarterbacks.

So Andy's question is, who are the most intriguing non-quarterbacks as we head into the season? And Jesse, there's a lot of answers here. I made a list. You made a list. I think the list starts for me, and it's weird that it's not alignment because usually it is for me,

but in this case, it's Marvin Harrison Jr., the wide receiver from Ohio State. I feel like Devontae Smith broke the seal on the idea of a receiver winning the Heisman again, and Marvin Harrison Jr., if you watched him last season, he's so important to the Buckeyes, saw to the Peach Bowl how important he was when he went out. And this is a guy who could be that secret sauce for their offense.

Plus, we'll see who winds up playing quarterback. It could be Kyle McCord, who was Harrison's high school quarterback. Could be Devin Brown. We think it's going to be McCord. But it could be a situation where it's like in 2020 when Mack Jones was having a great year. But when it came time to vote for the Heisman, voters decided Smith was the better choice and the more important choice, more important person in that offense. So I think Marvin Harrison Jr. could be that guy. Jesse, who else you got? I mean, I have Harold Perkins Jr. You know, Marvin Harrison probably is the best non-quarterback

in all of college football. But Harold Perkins Jr. could emerge as the best individual defensive player in the country. This is an LSU team that we know has generated a ton of offseason hype. They're looking to win the West in back-to-back years. If the defense, if Matt House's unit is going to make a big leap in year two, it's going to be on this phenom. The dude's a freak. He was, you and I both talked about it, he was not at SEC media days, and yet he probably was the most discussed individual player.

So maybe he's not necessarily overlooked, but in terms of his importance as a non-quarterback, he's got to top the list for me. Matthew in the chat points out a guy that we talked to at SEC media days who also fits this bill. If the Heisman's actually true to its purpose admission statement, Brock Bowers would win it going away, but that will never happen. Well, I don't know if he'd win it going away, but Brock Bowers is absolutely one of the most important.

Elias Gray, another great addition. Feels like Travis Hunter would be a big deal of Colorado over a cheese, and he's really playing both ways. I agree. You know, Warner and receiver. He's probably the best player on their roster. We'll see if Shadurah Sanders is better. But Travis Hunter was the number one recruit in the country for a reason

and looked really good that first year at Jackson State. Who else you got, Andy? Because I have – I think my – let me give you my dark horse. Okay, go for it. Before you give me your two names. My dark horse is Dante Cephas. Oh, yeah. He was part of the mass exodus out of

kansas state that that poor program lost just about everybody including their head coach this offseason kansas state didn't lose their head coach they didn't have a mass exit kent state yeah sean lewis is it at colorado running the office now i i. Maybe you heard wrong or maybe I said the wrong thing. I thought you said Kansas State. My bad. August. I was like, wow, this is breaking news. Mass exodus, and yet Dante Cephas could be one of the X-Factors for Penn State.

He is now a Nittany Lion. This is a receiver room that needs help. We know they have Drew Aller at quarterback. They got Singleton at running back, but if they can have this, you know, X factor perimeter weapon, this could be one of their avenues, you know, to potentially winning at Ohio state or beating Michigan. Um, and so, and suddenly you're looking at a potential, you know, big 10 championship berth the first time since 2016 so he is an extremely you know intriguing player for me uh in 2023 who you got agreed Kelvin Banks Texas left tackle he's a

sophomore this is the best offensive lineman Texas has had really in a over a decade and this is a guy who could potentially be a first round pick when he's eligible for the draft. He came in, started right away as a true freshman. I'm really excited to see what he can be going forward because we'd not seen this level of talent on Texas offensive line. And here's the thing, his class that he came in with that group of offensive linemen, there's a chance that they could be the core of texas's offensive line for the next two years or maybe the next three years depending on how many of them are seniors i think he is critical to their success this season and in their first season in the sec wow well let me piggyback on someone who plays defensive line but probably fits those exact

same parameters and i'm going bear alexander good um this is a guy who flashed you know we know we know his story five star now he's living in a five-star penthouse uh in la go check out the instagram there to to see his pretty nice you know behind the scenes condo. Pretty nice. NIL works. And this is a guy that could absolutely transform USC's defense. They need defensive linemen. They need interior pass rushing help. He could provide both of those, both this season and their final season in quest to win the Pac-12 championship for the first time since 2017 and next season year one when he's trying to put on the tape uh to go to the NFL when they're playing in the Big Ten these types of bodies don't come along very often on the west coast

and so you got to import them and so they get Bear Alexander, there was a lot in the cupboard at Georgia. So it wasn't like they were all that heartbroken about him leaving. So that's going to be interesting. Let me throw one more at you. Since we're talking D linemen, big D linemen, Jaheim Otis at Alabama. A big guy who he came in even bigger. He came in at 400 pounds. He slimmed down to about 330.

I think he's even lighter now, but he's gotten great grades. He's played well. He seems to be everything they were hoping he would be, and he is just that dominant force in the middle. And remember, just because Will Anderson's gone doesn't mean Alabama's not going to have a pass rush. They've still got Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell, and now you have this monster in the middle? I'm very excited to see how he can make the leap from year one to year two

because I think he's going to be really good. I think that defensive line is going to be – I mean, you just mentioned a couple of their edge rushers. I think when you pair Otis and Tim Smith inside, Alabama's front four is not going to be an issue for the Tide this fall. They have some question marks, but it's not up front. All right. Let us go to one of our video questions.

And this is a very fun one. I really enjoyed going through the first few weeks of the schedule to find these games. I have no idea if we'll be right or not. We have 10 games that we've picked. I bet we get three or four of them, that three or four of these are right. But let's hear the question from Peter in New York. Hey, Andy. It's Peter in New York. Love the new show. My question is, looking back at the 2022 season, some of the biggest games were some of the crazy upsets.

Marshall-Notre Dame or Texas A&M, App State. Really crazy games that set the tone for the season for some of those programs. Looking towards the 2023 season, what games do you have circled as potential upsets that could really rock a program and send fans reconsidering how the season might go? I'd love to hear your answer. Thanks so much.

I love games like the ones he's talking about. Like Marshall-Notre Dame, not a single person predicted the result of that game correctly. Not one. Maybe there's somebody who bet the Marshall money line. I don't know. I haven't met him yet. Very few, yeah. I'm not sure uh i mean

that was no one predicted stanford to beat notre dame i mean there's you go in conference you know not in conference but you know former longtime rivals i mean there's some big early season upsets you want to give me you know you want me to go the first one or yeah go for it you throw us that one i think one of the wouldn't it be funny upsets to me and I could see it being plausible Central Michigan week one Friday night Jim McElwain taking down uh you know an already mounting pressure Mel Tucker that's like a you know the early Vegas line there's around a little north of two touchdowns. It's two touchdowns and a hook.

I think that is because of the dynamics Friday night. What happens if McIlwain takes a veteran Central Michigan squad and the Chippewas just go in there and take down the mighty Spartans? Wouldn't be good for Mel Tucker. Mel Tucker existential crisis in East Lansing. I don't think they're going to, I think Michigan state's going to be okay. I think they're going to be quite a bit better this year. So I'm not as worried about them. Let me throw one at you from week one,

Boise state at Washington. And I'm not saying this because I I think Washington's bad I just think Boise State is pretty darn good and there's gonna be one of these games where one of these teams that we're assuming is is all kinds of great is just not gonna have it all together so this is one where if you don't show up or you're slightly off they're gonna going to beat you. And so that's one to watch early in that first week. That's a good one. My next one's funny because it piggybacks almost the antithesis to one of yours.

And it's funny because they both could work. And it's that NC State plays a bizarre road game at UConn to open the season. Yeah. And the, who scheduled this bowl? Number one, the second who scheduled this bowl is Alabama at USF, which we will not be predicting upset in. No, no. And, and I don't know if Jim Mora can pull this off, but in terms of shaping a narrative, this would be a disaster for Dave Doran, who's looking to elevate the program, not take a step back and lose to a UConn team in week one. I mean, NC State's going to be breaking in, you know, a new offensive coordinator, new quarterback. You lost your best two receivers.

So they at least have to have to get over some things early in the season. And yet, as you're going to tease later, that doesn't mean they can't pull off their own upset down the road. Yeah, we're not going to do that one yet. I'm going to give you right now the YOLO Bowl. Penn State's better than West Virginia. Penn State should beat West Virginia. But, again, I'm telling you guys, watch this game because Neil Brown needs to win a game like this

to keep his job, and he's pulling out all the stops. So if you want to see some wild crazy... And the thing is, the result of that could be a West Virginia upset or it could be West Virginia getting beat by 40 but it could be fun either way because if you just go remember when Lane Kiffin went to to Alabama and or actually that game may have been in Oxford and just kept going forward on fourth down and it just snowballed on him like I could see this game being like that except if you make some of those four downs you're you're in it and this and the the the tone of the question was that because there are other potential upsets out there people are screaming like why aren't you talking about you know texas going into alabama or you know you and i texted back and forth well what happens one of those that no one would predict.

Not only is that not one that no one would predict, even Florida beating Tennessee, it's that it wouldn't be like, it wouldn't cause some sort of existential crisis if that team lost. Whereas that would not be great for James Franklin if this is supposed to be the leap year if you lose to a guy who most assume is going to get fired. Yes.

Yes. So that one, I'm just the entertainment potentials off the charts for that one. It's an NBC game. Again, when I looked at it on the schedule and saw the peacock on there, I was very confused, but it's on NBC as part of the big 10 contract.

Welcome to the new world. What you got, Jesse? I have an upset that happened last year. Yes. And if it happens again, my man Brent Prye, maybe not long for old Blacksburg, but old Dominion beat Virginia Tech a year ago.

What happens if they double back? Well, if Ricky Ronnie beats Brent Prye twice, if you're Virginia Tech, don't you go, we hired the wrong ex-James Franklin assistant? Yes. Yes. Exactly. So that's my third choice here for this upset special.

So mine, you mentioned NC State going to UConn as a potential upset of NC State. I do not like Notre Dame at NC State in week two. That feels a little rough. So Notre Dame plays Navy in week zero. So you're going to get a little beat up by the option, but that's okay. You're coming home playing Tennessee State week one.

Your palate is cleansed at that point. But going to Raleigh, where they get very pumped up about football. Let's not forget my guy after they beat Florida State on that Thursday night. Big guy. Heeding the words of the junior senator from North Carolina, Petey Pablo, taking his shirt off and twisting it around his head like a helicopter while hanging on that pole. Like these people know how to party. And so I really think this could be a dangerous game for Notre Dame. they will have

two games under the belt we'll have a good idea of what sam hartman is sam hartman very familiar with the wolf pack because he had to play him every year at wake forest but this is one if you're dave doran the big game for you like you gotta stop underachieving kind of mid achieving you know the the kids the the gen zers they have that word mid it's actually the worst insult they can give you well dave doran's been very mid so this is like the olive garden he's like the olive garden yeah it's like dining in the kitchen of a delightful italian stereotype i can't take credit for that it's like dining in the kitchen of a delightful italian stereotype i can't take credit for that it's the original clone high 20 years it's it's it's nothing special i'm gonna say with the irish though and i'm gonna say what happens if they have a little bit of that luck

and they marcus freeman x ohio state buckeye yep They played them competitively a year ago. He kind of played not to lose. They never really had a chance to win the game. This is probably a bigger deal, obviously. It would be a huge deal if Marcus Freeman beat his alma mater, but this would be a worse indictment on what happens for Ryan Day because they will not have played Penn State or Michigan yet. You know, to date, he has won pretty much every game he's supposed to win

outside of beating the Wolverines the last two years. This would be a disastrous loss for the Buckeyes. Don't think it's going to happen, but it's at least plausible because of the way the game scripted out a year ago, and I think Notre Dame is going to be better, especially offensively this fall so the seasoned gamblers are going to probably take issue with me with this game because i i actually think the team i'm calling as the upsetter is probably going to be favored i don't know probably this is probably the wrong word the line's not out yet this is week two james

madison at virginia you you just mentioned potential existential crisis in Blacksburg over Brent Pry Tony Elliott could be facing some of the same things if JMU goes in there and win that wins that game but JMU in their first year in the Sun Belt went eight and four no eight or nine and three I believe uh they were very, very good. Have been very good. Were one of the better FCS programs. They don't seem to be slowing down at any point. So what happens if they do go into Charlottesville and beat Virginia? That will be a very interesting result. Because I don't know that,

that people are going to be real happy with Tony Elliott at that point. It was eight and three was their record last year. They weren't that happy with Tony Elliott when he was hired. I will say he's going to get an extended rope because of the maturity and kind of responsibility that he held in terms of uniting, not only that program, but really the entire school. Yeah. A horrible tragedy that he had to,

he had to help get the program through and he did a great job. Yeah. Yeah. He did it. He did it with a plum. And, and so I think, I think that even if the product on the field continues to, to be less than,

he probably gets a little bit of a longer leash there than, say, Brent Prye, who the returns, win, loss, and on the recruiting trail, just not been there. People are asking about Tulane Ole Miss. That was one of the ones you and I texted about, too, in the chat. My response is, who's winning and making it an upset? Like who's going to be favored in that game? I don't think that would be a stunning upset,

but I do think that is one that as I texted you, Lane's better win that game. You're getting paid almost $10 million now. I know Tulane beat USC. I know they returned Michael Pratt. Lane better win that game. Lincoln's getting paid quite a bit. He didn't get fired after losing to Lane.

So let's not go crazy here. All right, what is your last one? My last one is, yeah, this is the Brent Venable special here. What if they go to Nippert and lose to Cincinnati in the first Big 12 game? Big 12 game. Big 12 opener. That would be a yikes, yikes, yikes situation for Mr. Venables. He cannot afford to lose that game. But it's possible.

Yeah, another interesting first Big 12 game, UCF going to Manhattan, Kansas. If this game wasn't in Manhattan, Kansas, I'd be more worried about Kansas State in it. But that's not the team I want to see in its first Big 12 game. I want to see them in their ninth Big 12 game. I want to see them after they've been beaten down by the Big 12 schedule. I don't like the idea of them being excited about it. But that's not my fifth one.

My fifth one is a weird one. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but I put it here because it has all the makings of a classic trap game. UTSA at Tennessee, September 23rd. Why this particular game? Because Tennessee goes to Gainesville the week before, trying to win in the Swamp for the first time in 20 years. If they do that, it will be a very cathartic moment. It'll be a big deal. They will be the toast of Knoxville. Then they have UTSA.

The following week, South Carolina, the team that beat them last year, destroyed what was kind of a storybook season, because losing to Georgia, no shame in that. But getting blown out by South Carolina and Hindenhoeker goes down for the year. That's a lot. And so you've got this sandwiched between them with a 94th-year quarterback in Frank Harris and a very good coach in Jeff Traylor.

So could this be the trap? That's the one. If they go to Gainesville and when they'll be riding high, but they better get back down and get ready to play because they will be ready to go. Frank Harris and the boys come into Knoxville. That's right. So we got some more good questions.

When we come back, Ethan's going to hire me and Jesseesse as athletic directors let's go all right we've got this question from ethan another tremendous question hey andy ethan here big fan love the new show uh question uh gives you a little bit of flexibility in the answers uh i want you to pick one school from each power five conference you're the brand new ad love the new show. Question gives you a little bit of flexibility in the answers. I want you to pick one school from each Power 5 conference. You're the brand new AD. You're charged with getting the football program over that hump. What changes do you make and why do you pick those schools? Thanks and keep up the good work. Really glad to have you back in my ear. All right, Ethan. I'll start. I'm going to the Big Ten. I'll go to a school that actually needs an AD, and that's Iowa.

So here's what I'm going to do, Jesse. Kirk Ferentz is going to do me a solid and win the Big Ten West in the last year of the Big Ten West. And I'm going to say, Kirk, after the Big Ten championship game is a perfect time for you to announce your retirement. We'll make you coach emeritus.

We'll continue paying you, you know, absorbent sums of money, but it's time to turn the program over to one of your loyal longtime assistants, LaVar Woods. LaVar Woods is the new head coach. We are now making Phil Parker, the defensive coordinator, the highest paid defensive coordinator in college football, because we're going to keep Phil Parker, the defensive coordinator, the highest paid defensive coordinator in college football. Because we're going to keep Phil Parker. And guess what? We're going to reconstruct our offense around LeVar Woods as the head coach.

We're going to reconstruct that offense and start trying to win the whole Big Ten. Because there's no more Big Ten West. We're going to have to be able to beat the Penn States and the Ohio States. So let's go do it. It doesn't have to be the most exotic offense in the world. We are tight end you. We had George Kittle, Noah Fant, TJ Hawkinson. But we're going to use George Kittle the way he gets used now, not the way he was used at Iowa. So I'm ready. Kirk, we're going to send you off properly.

We're going to keep paying you. But it's time to get ready to win the whole Big Ten, not just the Big Ten West. I like it. I like it. That's a good ADN. All right, where are you going? Where are you getting hired, Jesse?

All right, I'm getting hired at Georgia Tech in the ACC. J-Back just got that job. What are you going to do? J-Back just got that job, but finances are a little tight. But we came into some money. We came into some money. So that's how I got a nice contract and and you know carte blanche to fix this thing georgia tech was a program that yes they ran the triple option yes they

completely ignored recruiting but they were actually fairly competitive and made the acc championship game multiple times under paul johnson i think the potential is there for this program to wake up if as new athletics director I am getting some of our most famous alumni. I'm talking Calvin Johnson, Mark Teixeira, Stefan Marbury, Roman Reigns. I think he went to Tech. He did. We're putting together an athletic endowment that is going to create, basically, a general studies uh general studies um what am

i trying to say here general studies yeah major excuse me i couldn't get the word out general you should have a nice easy major not just for the football players there's a lot of legacy you know there's a lot of really dumb legacy students that just need it. Yeah. Yeah. And we're paying for it through some of our most famous alums. This will give us a greater avenue towards recruiting. We then will also tweak our, you know, industry standards in terms of what we can do within the transfer portal. We're not going to be so aggressive in saying these academic rigid requirements will not allow us to go find another player, be it at Clemson that doesn't want to play at Clemson anymore or doesn't want to play at North Carolina. this new major and and then we're just going to be able to finally actually try to recruit within our own footprint which outside of houston probably produces more power five talent per capita than any place in america right now i i like that so i am getting hired in the big 12 i'm

headed down to orlando and terry mojas is doing a fine job here. Gus Malzahn is doing a fine job here. But I'm going to help goose the fundraising a little bit at UCF. Because in 2018, they announced plans for a project that looked amazing. That looked like the greatest single recruiting advantage a school could have. It's not done yet. They're still working on it. They're working their way there. They're raising money, raising money, raising money. I'm going to get them home. I'm going to get them across the goal line.

I'm going to get the lazy river built. There is supposed to be a lazy river running through their entire athletic campus. That is what I am going to get built because trust me, when you bring guys on an official visit and they see all the athletes floating along the laser river, they're going to go, where do I sign? They're going to be, where do I sign? They're going to be some mute cutes that produce super humans that will then

want to go to UCF and, and you know, 25 years, I'm telling you, this must get done. This is the way that UCF dominates the Big 12. Get that lazy river built. It's the last step. Then you take off. The Citroen take off. This is the wave.

Exactly. There you go. Exactly. I say this as a former wet and wild lifeguard who saw a lot of things go down on the laser river it would be your single greatest recruiting advantage get the thing built let's go let's go well i'm going down to college station and i'm replacing scott woodward uh ross york and scott now who's informed i was thinking about who hired jimbo i'm getting everything confused here ross bjorn but we are

basically telling jimbo fisher we got the money the oil barons have have united we have the clan together the the finances are in you are either giving up play calling and letting bobby petrino do his thing which maybe he is maybe he's not we'll see i think but you better win at least nine or ten games this year or else i'm hiring a guy that you mentioned earlier in this very episode we are going to to UTSA, and we are going to hire Jeff Traylor. And we are going to say, Mr. Traylor, you're going to come to College Station and do the Texas thing here, but only bigger and better and in the SEC. And this blue blood that's not a blue blood maybe can actually win 10 games for the first time in a while.

We're going to give you the finances to go get Bo Davis from Texas. Yep. They bring Jeff banks and his monkey from Texas to maybe get Jim Leonard. What about Jim Leonard? Just out there as an analyst. Special analyst at Illinois, Jim Leonard. Special analyst at Illinois.

Maybe he wants back in the game as DC. Jeff trailer's proven. He can find nice offensive coaches. Willie Stein did great things. He's at Oregon now. Now at Oregon. We'll see who the next guy is. He hired another guy who's like

30-something years old. This is my plan to finally awaken the Aggies. I like this. I don't know what conference I'm going to. I think I'm. Ooh, I like this. Okay, so I don't know what conference I'm going to. I think I'm going to the Pac-12. This answer may change, but I'm going to Arizona State.

So I think Kenny Dillingham has a good plan there. I like the way he's recruiting. I like the fact that he does the worm for the recruits. But I'm going to steal an idea from my former cohost, Ari Wasserman, a proud Arizona grad, because this will work at Arizona State too. I am going to offer a scholarship to every four-star and above offensive lineman in the Midwest, and I am bringing them on their official visit in january and i'm saying gentlemen look at what your life could be what's the temperature back home everybody check your phones what's the

temperature back home i have five spots there are 12 of you whoever commits first gets them they would have a mauling offensive line. It would be incredible. They're playing like the sticks game from the Dark Knight. Exactly. He breaks the pool sticks and the Joker gives it to him. I think this is the school where you need a lazy river, though. It's been pretty damn hot.

I'm not big on NCAA rules, and I say that the rules don't really do anything for competitive equity. If Arizona State had a lazy river, there probably should be a rule against that. You'd never beat them at anything if they had a lazy river. All right. That was a great question. That was an incredible question.

We've got one more wonderful video question, and it comes from Nathan. Dear Andy, the XFL had a rule last year where instead of actually kicking an onside kick, you could send your offense on the field, and if they gained more than 15 yards on a play, you got to keep the ball. My question for you is if we could force 2022 USC and 2022 Iowa to play against each other, which defense would get more stops against the opposing team's offense, USC or Iowa? First of all, I want this to be what you do instead of onside kicks. This would be much more interesting. Like football players playing football instead of a former soccer player or former Australian rules player, hoping a ball bounces the right way as you know,

10,000 pounds of people collide with one another. One is a lot better than the other, but in this specific instance, USC is still going to win this game because USC is occasionally going to get the ball. Like, USC is going to gain 15 yards on occasion. Caleb Williams is going to work his magic, even against that Iowa defense. Iowa's not getting a first down and never getting the ball.

The only way Iowa's getting the ball in this situation is with takeaways oh yeah i think this is a like slam dunk i think usc these overtimes do not last very long but this game would not last very long because well it's not he's saying a whole game of this even a whole game of this, USC would end up winning running away. As good as Phil Parker's defense is, I will average 4.2 yards per play last year. That is just the definition of anemic.

I mean, USC, like you said, they couldn't tackle. They couldn't cover. But when they did find the ball, they got it. And they led the Pac-12. They could also turn you over pretty well defensively. That's what I'm saying. They led the Pac-12 in turnovers. They had 28 a year ago.

So it was certainly a feast or famine deal. But Iowa was prone to turnovers. You know, I mean, think about the quarterback play they had a year ago. So it's a fun question. It'd be a hilarious game to see play out. But this is something that I think ultimately USC would win by two touchdowns. I think more than that or more. Yeah, they're getting they're kicking field goals every time Iowa doesn't make the 15 yards.

Right. And even if USC's offense can't score on Iowa's defense, they'll kick a field goal. So yeah, I, I think now the Cade McNamara led current Iowa offense, I think is gonna be better. So we're talking about the, the one last year, which was actually with the tight end they got from Michigan. Yeah. Horrifying to watch last year, but this year I do think they're going to be better. One more serious question. And then we will get to our, our extra point question. This one came on Twitter from Georgia is a verb, which is a great Twitter name, lower over under floor, Colorado or UAB. And we we've heard all about coach prime. We talk about Coach Prime a ton.

But remember, UAB now coached by Trent Dilfer. Here's Trent from American Athletic Conference Media Days talking about doing this job. We'll get you a little fired up. Given your unconventional path to becoming a head coach at the college level, do you think you're going to receive a little bit more scrutiny than your average group of five or power five first year head coach? Absolutely. How do you prepare to deal with it? I mean, you've been a media guy, you're really good at it. So how do you prepare to deal with that kind of, there's going to be a double standard, good or bad. So how do you prepare to deal with that? I don't want this to sound wrong. It's going to, so I'll just go for it.

I don't care what you think, what he thinks, what Tom Herman thinks, what Nick Saban thinks. I don't care. I care what Jacob Zito thinks, what Jackson Bratton thinks. I go to bed every night thinking about what they think about. I care about what my coaches think. I care about what my AD thinks. But I honestly do not care at all what is written about me, what's said about me,

what people in the hallway, whether they look at me, whether they like me, what they talk about their wives about me. I just don't care. You know, I've been in the spotlight for so long. I've been booed out of stadiums. I'm known as the worst quarterback that's ever won a Super Bowl. You know, I've woken up in the morning after saying something on ESPN, and half the country hates you, and half the country thinks you're their hero.

I've been fired. I've had four careers. I just don't care. And I think there's freedom in that. There's also freedom in not needing the job. There's also freedom knowing that you know I have to do this. I was so happy at Lipscomb Academy. Like it couldn't be any happier. It was my wife that said no you need another challenge like you need to climb another mountain you're getting bored. So you put all that into context and yeah absolutely I think and they should. I didn't I didn't do it the hard way. I wasn't a GA, right? I didn't become an analyst.

And I wasn't a position group. I didn't have my own room. You know, that's a big thing. College football, I got a room, right? I didn't coordinate. So how in the hell can I be a college head coach? I don't know. Somehow I'm here.

And, you know, my journey's been different than theirs and I frankly don't care if they like or dislike that I'm here Trent Dilfer not playing around you know what else isn't playing around UAB's schedule because the Blazers moving up to the American Athletic Conference, they didn't have, Jesse, a mass exodus of players with the coaching. Just remember Bill Clark, he left before last season began. They went with an interim for last season. And so Dilfer isn't taking over a completely bereft roster. They do have to revamp the offensive line, but they got some good defensive linemen.

Their backup quarterback from last year has ascended to the starting job. So they have some players and probably would be a very competitive Conference USA team this year. But the thing is they're in the American. So they're dealing with Tulane, UTSA, Memphis, Tom Herman in Florida Atlantic.

We don't know what they're going to be. Navy, Temple. You got to deal with all that. Here's your non-conference. Georgia Southern, which was feisty in Clay Helton's first year. Louisiana Lafayette, which is one of the best teams in the Sun Belt. And the best team in the country, Georgia. I have some thoughts.

I like Trent. I've talked to Trent one time. Just in kind of a scrum situation. So I've never sat down with him one-on-one or anything like that. But if you can whip out a list that long of why you don't care, you care and you hear it.

I mean, come on. You can't go on like a four-minute preamble about how you don't care about something and you literally have a list of grievances that is that long so you care and I do think he has heard the noise of people saying yes there have been plenty of coaches that have gone to high school to college football route but Gus Malzahn, Chad Morris, Hugh Freeze, Joey McGuire I can keep listing these coaches they all did make a stop at least as a college coach beforehand Trent does have the privilege because he's an NFL Super Bowl winning quarterback because he's a very uh you know um popular media member well he's also he's also

deep into the quarterback industrial complex as well right the elite 11 deep into that but he had but he did get to jump the line but the irony is is that in this question lower over under floor he is he is a direct he is tied directly to deon sanders in my opinion because this is a similar situation not deon to colorado but deon getting that opportunity to immediately go coach at Jackson State. And Trent's just getting to do this at a very acclaimed G5 school. Birmingham loves its football. There's pressure for him to win. Bill Clark built that program. The program was killed.

And then rebuilt it. Rebuilt it, yeah. And he rebuilt it. So there's pressure there. As bad as I think Colorado is going to be this year, I still think they have a higher floor even than UAB because of the schedule you just mentioned. And I am very curious to see what happens with the staff that Trent Dilford has built around him. He brought his defensive coordinator from the high school ranks in Lipscomb Academy, who has never coached college football with him to coach UAB that's

our defensive coordinator Chris Mortensen's son who is an analyst the past son is fine because he's been at Alabama he's been deep into that and and it was actually a pretty important cog at Alabama so him he was he was but but the point I was going to make is he's one of the only staff members they have that has any even Power Five experience at any sort of level. And so how this all comes together is going to be very interesting. Long term, it may work out. Trent may be able, because of his ties to Elite 11, land some impact quarterback recruits. And we know that's the fastest way to change your program so he could this could be a long-term play floor right now

though i think colorado has a safer floor especially you know in year one yeah again if uab is still in conference usa i'm i'm picking uab in this thing, because I do think they didn't have the mass exodus. They could manage a schedule in conference USA, but in, in the American, it's, it's going to be a tough slog. It would have been a tough slot.

Like let's say Bill Clark had hung around coach last season and was still there. It would still be a tough slog for, for UAB in this league. So I just think it's going to be pretty hard. And then the non-conference does you no favors. Your easiest non-conference game is Georgia Southern. And I believe they lost their best tailback

to the transfer portal. We know Alabama swiped their all- all conference safety. So they might not have been a mass exodus, but they certainly have been. Well, right. You're going to get cherry picked that level. Although Trent Dilfer says he'll,

he'll turn you in and call you out publicly. If he finds you in his players, DMS, I'll believe that when I see it. And Hey, I've been telling coaches, if you're going to complain about this, let's get, let's have some names. So Trent Dilfer has promised us names. So we'll see

if that happens. We have one more question, Jesse, and it's our extra point. Our friend, Jeff Schwartz, former Oregon duck, former New York giant, former Kansas City chief, longtime NFL offensive lineman, tomato or vinegar barbecue, have to pick one. This is a trick question, Jesse. Properly cooked barbecue requires no sauce. I will say it louder for the people in the back.

Properly cooked barbecue requires no sauce. Now, if I have to pick one of these two, a tomato-based sauce or a vinegar-based sauce, I am picking the vinegar-based sauce. It is a delightful accompaniment to either pulled or chopped pork. If you are in, say, Eastern North Carolina, if you were in the PD region of South Carolina, you're going to get either the vinegar sauce in North Carolina. You go down to Hemingway, South Carolina. You're going to get either the vinegar sauce in North Carolina. You go down to Hemingway, South Carolina, the original Scott's Barbecue, Myrtle Beach, that area. You're going to get some vinegar pepper sauce. Really, really good. Really good on pulled pork. The tomato-based sauce is what you use to cover all your mistakes. There's one time that I'm

willing to overlook the tomato-based sauce. If you want to do the candy paint on the ribs, if you want to do the glaze, like while they are still on the smoker and you put the sauce on maybe an hour before you're done or 30 minutes before you're done, I can't remember exactly how long you want to go with that because, again, I cook my meat properly and don't need sauce uh i do not mind a candy glaze i think that is that you know it's part of the cooking process it's a it's a cool additional you know sweet treat to go with the savory but if i have to pick between the two the answer answer is vinegar. Always vinegar.

Actually, the real answer, the real ones know, the Midlands of South Carolina is mustard-based. I was going to say mustard-based sauce. I'm a team vinegar too. We know from your bird dog's ad, Andy certainly knows exactly what he's talking about here because he's got the green egg. He's got the other grill.

He's got the stuff set up. So Michigan could have used your grilling equipment based on the food and hot dogs and chicken tenders. We will have a full examination of that Michigan recruiting weekend spread later this week, a former college football player who happened to become a professional pit master is going to join us. And he's going to critique that. He's also going to explain what he cooked for his alma mater's big recruiting

weekend. And well, I think it's, it it's it's one of the school it's a school that has not been doing as well as michigan on the field but if things keep going like that who knows culinary aspects it it might draw some of those five stars and maybe they get there so look forward to that later this week you notice i'm not giving you a day on that why because all hell may break loose on the realignment front on Tuesday. And if that does, that's probably all we're going to talk about. So we'll see what happens. We'll talk to you tomorrow night.