Andy & Ari On3 - Does the Big Ten CONTROL the Future of the CFP?

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

Big Ten Media Days are underway in Las Vegas, and Tony Petitti took the stage front and center on day one. With many interesting comments regarding the number of conference games, playoff format, and the future of the league, Andy & Ari break it all down here in today's show. (0:00-1:00) Intro: Back in Vegas(1:01-7:49) What did we learn from Tony Petitti(7:50-18:19) Heather Dinich from ESPN joins(18:20-21:48) Heather's Ideal CFP(21:49-31:59) Petitti and the future of the CFP(32:00-37:05) ACC Media Days(37:06-39:22) CSC's new rules on NIL, Collectives(39:23-45:13) Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith joins(45:14-48:27) More on Jeremiah Smith(48:28-51:33) Is Jeremiah Smith a true NFL-ready WR?(51:34-1:01:05) Nebraska, Dylan Raiola's jump?(1:01:06-1:01:27) ConclusionHeather Dinich from ESPN joins the show and she gives her thoughts and perspective on the state of college football and where things stand right now. Later, Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith joins the show and he shares his experience after his first year of college football. Is this rising star destined for greatness? Finally, Nebraska and Dylan Raiola are looking for a big 2025 season ahead. Watch here as Andy & Ari break down the growth and maturation the young quarterback in Lincoln has went through.Watch our show LIVE, M-F at 9:30 am et! https://www.youtube.com/@On3sports Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] 

Welcome to Annie and Ariane 3. Greetings from lovely Las Vegas, Nevada. Viva! Viva! Viva! It's the greatest place in the world. It really is. It is pretty spectacular.

It's crazy that like we're on the third floor of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center and I can feel the gaming tables beneath me that like makes my knees weak. That's all I think about. It's just a $25 minimum table bubbling up beneath the surface. You know what I do miss? What do you miss? I miss the sound of quarters coming out of slot machines.

That was like, yeah, yeah. And it was just like constant, you know. I just feel like it's easier to lose your money with a card that just says, here's the money you have and here's the money you don't have. My brother and I used to collect the plastic tubs that they would give you at the casinos to collect your quarters. I wonder if those are worth anything.

Probably not. No. Well, we can go to the pawn shop, the Pawn Stars Pawn Shop, right down the road. Best I can do is $1,500. All right. We've got to talk about the big news here at Big Ten Media Days. Tony Petitti came out of hiding, did something other than Joel Klatt's podcast, talked about his preferred playoff format.

Playoffs. He came out of hiding a little bit. Briefly. I mean, he's not gonna do 40 interviews like Greg Sankey did at SEC Media Days. He talked on the stage and then really didn't do much more talk. I haven't seen him. I don't think we're gonna get him on this show.

Yeah. He's talking to some other people. We're just not important enough. Yeah. Well, it depends on how that bracket plays out on Twitter. But the, the, so, I don't know, tell me what you thought we learned. Like, what's the news that I thought it was we reiterated a little bit what we already knew. I think he reiterated what we already knew. I think he did open the door just a tad. We're gonna talk to Heather Dennett from ESPN about this in a little bit. Heather covers the college football playoff for ESPN. Nobody's covered the committee more thoroughly than Heather. Heather, I think, you know, she's a good sounding board for this stuff because she understands it better than anybody. We have a lot of famous people on the show today. Yeah, we got Jeremiah Smith. Yep. Got some really interesting stuff from Jeremiah Smith.

Got a little Dylan Riola. Dylan Riola, yeah. Ryan Day, I think, maybe, or if not today, then some other time. Just a little Scotiaryan Day. Yeah, yeah, we're not the famous ones on the show today. It's OK. No, but OK, so what we learned from Tony Petitti,

I do think he cracked the door, which I think we kind of heard that this was headed this way, cracked the door, which I think we kind of heard that this was headed this way, cracked the door for the possibility that if the SEC were to go to a nine game schedule, that he might be willing to consider the 5-11 format over his preferred automatic bids for 4-2-2-1. Yeah, and all the coaches at the Big Ten that spoke on Tuesday were all kind of like on a uniform front on on schedule.

They definitely got the same talking point sheet. Yeah, they all went through it. I wonder if they use PowerPoint. But it, you know, if if we want to play a nine game conference schedule and the SEC wants to play eight, then we're not going to it's the same song and dance. And I think Andy, you correct, Kurtignecki defending Indiana, dropping Virginia to schedule worse than Virginia. Well, at least they came out and said what they were doing. They could have made it a logistical issue.

He came out and just said we wanted to make our schedule easier, which I'm not sure. I think we probably should have asked him about that when we was on our show, but like. He's not been on our show. Oh yeah. We will have Kurt Signecki in a few days, by the way. We've done a lot of interviews guys. Forgive me. I'm sorry, Andy. We can go back and cut that out if you

know, please don't cut that out. River. Let's just we keep rolling. This is the show man. But but the thought process feels like it's just pandering to set up the greater point and I think you cracked the code a month ago of what's going on here. The the quote unquote compromise that isn't really a compromise. Yeah. It's the Big Ten getting what it wants, which is the SEC playing nine conference games, the SEC getting what Greg Sankey wants, which is the SEC playing nine conference games. Yeah, so basically Greg Sankey is the jigsaw from the Saw movie series. I'm not entirely sure about that, and we'll talk about this with Heather.

Not entirely sure that's the case because I do think the possibility of them keeping it at 12 for another year or even two years isn't out of the realm of possibility. Yeah, and Heather brought up some pretty good points that you guys will see about Indiana and their role and kind of how we're thinking about this and whether or not an anomaly is helping frame the discussion

when that's not likely to happen very many times more. But maybe it'll happen more often if we do get to a point where teams aren't scheduling tough games in the non-conference. But let's hear from Tony Petitti, our friend Doug Lamarice, he has a great question about the number of conference games teams play and what that means to Tony Petitti

in the Big Ten. You can always count on Doug to throw a zinger in a news conference, so I'm happy to check it out. Doug Lamarice from Kings of the North. Is it a must in your mind that the power conferences play the same number of conference games? And if the SEC won't go to nine, would the Big Ten ever consider going back to eight?

So first, it's not a must. Each legal decide what they think the best conference schedule is for them. I think in a system where you have allocated spots, I think in talking to our athletic directors and coaches, I don't think we really care how many conference games any league is playing, because you're qualified off your conference standings.

That's sort of up to you to run your own league and decide how you want to do it. But when you get to a system that's increasing the at-larges and increasing the work of a selection committee, that's when you need to understand how we're competing in the regular season. Look, at the end of the day, it's really simple math. With 18 schools and nine, we're losing nine more games to start. And so at the end of the day, I think it's really relevant.

So will we consider more at larges? Like right now, I think the first thing is to really understand what everybody's doing in their conference schedule. But there's a second really critical part, which I mentioned in my remarks, which is what are we doing to get the selection process right? So I think those two things go hand in hand.

First is how many conference games are we playing? And then secondly, what's the selection process going to be? People have talked about improving the committee's work. I believe the committee does a great job with what they have, and I've yet to hear any member tell me that more data will make the job easier. They have a lot of things in front of them. We went through a mock selection, we saw it. And so I just think those two things have to go hand in hand. First is the conference games. But again, if you go back to an allocated system, then I don't think we really care about how many conference games anybody plays.

That's Tony Petitti. Bring up the thing that he and Greg Sankey do seem to agree on, which is the selection committee criteria. They would like to see it change. Yeah, there's a lot to unpack. And that's not just the only answer. He went on a few different answers about this. And to me, like I always come back down to a different idea,

which is the college football playoff committee catches more strays than it probably deserves to catch. And I will challenge everybody out there if you have a scenario in which the committee made the wrong decision or the wrong choice, and you can't use Alabama Florida State. It can't be they left my favorite team out and it made me sad. That's that doesn't count. I want somebody here that I'm looking directly into the camera.

I don't do this very often to show me specifically with stats and data where they made the wrong decision, and then we'll have that conversation. But I feel like they're an unnecessary punching bag, um, for a unit of people that I think has done a tremendously good job. So, but I also think that they're used in order to try to navigate what, you know, people are positioning for, which is more playing games, more television properties and more power in determining what happens next there. Let's bring in someone smarter than this to talk about. Smarter than well smarter than this and smarter than this. Yeah, better than all of, well smarter than this and smarter than us. Smarter than this and us, yeah.

Smarter than all of us. Heather Denich from ESPN joins us. We are joined by, well, we'll start with a little story. I roll into the gym here in Vegas at 5.30 in the morning, think, okay, all these other slackers are asleep. I'm gonna be in here by myself. Who do I see? Heather Denich.

And she's already walking. She's already done the hard part of her workout. Well, listen, I'm trying to keep my brain and my body on East Coast time. It's very difficult to do here in Las Vegas. My thing on working out at hotel gyms is, I've been in the gym a lot at home, okay? And it just like, I'm okay not working out at the hotel gym. Because I you know,

as long as you're doing it at home, you guys are missing this days are wasted opportunities. Yeah, you're right. You know, we're at Big Ten Media Day. And I've heard if you're not getting better today, you're getting worse. Maybe I did get worse today. But she helped me download the the yucca app. Do you know what this app is? I don't I I eat yucca. We have lots of Latin restaurants where I live. So where you can scan the label. Okay. And it won't it's not nutrition facts, but it tells you is this a wholesome thing to put in your body or is it filled with junk?

Does so it yucks your yum like you're expecting to eat something bad for you and you're like, well, I got to get it now. It gives you alternatives. So what I found out is every single thing I eat is poisonous. Right. You got to ditch the 7-Eleven snacks, which my kids are very sad to hear. Yeah. Oh, you have to you have to wean them off that. I know. I just wean myself off of that. We've tried. But the problem is, you know, like in my house, your house is maybe different.

But I've got a ballet dancer and a football player who's bulking and it becomes a challenge to plan meals. So. Yeah, steaks, peanut butter. I do. They're a good thing. The one thing that will never happen for me and I wish it did before we get into football talk is

I wish I could ever have a phase in my life where bulking was the goal. Right. No, you don't. That would be amazing. Let me tell you how that can mess you up for a long, long time. Your goal for the next two weeks you don't. That would be amazing. long time. Your goal for the to gain as much weight as goal was to gain as much w

mess me up for the next 30 want that. Yeah, but I wou good weight. I would just secret uh Heather, we you would also not gain any good weight. I would just I didn't either. Heather, we you are an expert on the college football playoff. We wanted to have you on on the day Tony Petiti spoke because well, it's very rare to hear from Tony Petiti. Yes, it is. So what did you take away from his defense of the the four auto bid model? And then kind of where he's at with Greg Sankey right now.

Well, his side of this and the Big Ten side is that they're not handing these spots to teams. And I think they feel like that's a misperception amongst the public. They're saying you have to win it, you have to earn it through these play-in games. And if you notice, he did not use the phrase automatic qualifiers. He said that he wants to increase the conference, the conference race and tie that in to the postseason. And this is the XTV programmer. I can feel it in him. Like the play in games are his baby because I think it would be fun. Like the, the, it would have been Indiana, Iowa last year.

It would have been Ohio State against Illinois. Yeah. Those would have been fun. The SEC versions of those would have been fun. But here, this is, this is what I always say with this one. If you start explaining that to somebody who doesn't follow college football and you put a clock on it,

it takes you like two and a half minutes to explain it. Fair. Right. And that's the, and a half minutes to explain it. Fair, right. And that's where I worry about that. Right. Well, and when you have the 5 plus 11 model, the five highest ranked conference champions, 11 at large, you are giving the power to humans. This is a selection committee.

And he did say, Petiti said, that any format that gives more power to the people, basically, is going to have a hard time garnering support from the big time. I want to write this today. And you'll help me workshop this is what I do. I use smart people. Stealing my column idea. Great. Oh, OK. You can steal it. No, no, go ahead. I actually don't know if it will be.

It's a good thing I'm between you two. Yes, right. And you know what? We've got a good working relationship. If you want to write it, go for it. But tell me if this was your idea. And be honest. Don't steal my idea. All right. All right. right, go for it. But tell me if this was your idea. And be honest, don't steal my idea. All right, all right. I hear a lot of flack towards the committee. I hear, and I understand the point that he's making in, we want to regulate or to diminish as much power from human beings making these decisions that we can settle on the field. And I

understand where his heart is. But I actually think that everybody, me, you, Andy, would have a hard time coming up with an area in which the committee made the wrong decision in the past. And my thing is, is they've done a tremendous job. And I feel like they're getting the brunt of this back-and-forth tug-of-war, when actually, I think the more power they have, they've already illustrated for a decade that they're not going to mess it up, right? Like, why do they keep getting the short end of the stick here? for a decade that they're not going to mess it up, right? Like, why do they keep getting the short end of the stick here? Because of Indiana. I think that angst with the selection committee can all be traced to what might be an anomaly, which was Indiana

last year playing one of the weakest schedules and being held in such high regard. But let me tell you something. As someone who has covered the selection committee for over a decade, I understand very well how this process works and how those people in the room think. And there's a narrative out there that's not right in terms of how they're judging these teams.

I truly believe that. Okay, I'm not stealing that. That's your column. It's all yours. But the thing with Indiana that I can't get over is we're not comparing two, nine, and three teams. Correct. We're comparing two teams, Indiana,

different 10 and two would have been ranked behind the three, nine and three SEC. They got two games. This goes another point to this is that the protocol the selection committee uses was written by the commission. Right. That's their plan. And so I'm wondering how this happens though, because the one area where Tony Petitti and Greg Sankey

seem to agree completely is if they were to do the 511, they would want some changes in the selection criteria. They would want strength of schedule to be considered in a more meaningful way. But how do you do that when there's such a small sample size? Well, and the other thing is this goes back to the dawn of time in college football. You can figure it out, right?

I mean, the BCS will argue over that forever. But to your point, no, I don't think anyone would argue who won the national title over the past 11 years was the wrong team. Right. I got nothing on that. Well even if you go back to the first 14 playoff selection, it was very controversial when they put Ohio State in over TCU and Baylor. Ohio State was the best team in that playoff. They won it all. And it sucks for TCU and Baylor. It would have been nice if there was a system where they could have

played in it too, but they would have gotten killed by Ohio State. We've by us talked a lot about it like I have less remorse for being left out at 12 13 14 as they expand this and I got for TCU and that's my thing is if you're gonna make it 16 That erases some of the consternation because you've got more room from stakes there But I trust the committee emphatically like I I don't know if the answer is diminish the regular season and create more weird games because the committee can't do it. Well, Heather, Heather, you get this probably more than anybody because you're the one who explains the committee to the masses on ESPN. And I'm sure it's always, well, this person has this bias and this,

but I feel like there's no like going back to what Ari said, we would have all, if the three of us were doing it, we would have come up with the same teams every time. It might have been a little bit different seating, but we all would have had the same teams. Right. Well, and the other thing too that people forget is the emotion in the room when you're together watching games and you see SMU in the first half versus SMU in the second half, that's a real thing. That's the human element. That's watching. Yes, that's the ebb and flow of a college football game.

And humans recognizing, had they played this way in the second half, that they played in the first half, they wouldn't be in the college football playoff. Now you can argue that, but you take all of the schedule in its totality, you can argue they didn't play Miami. Well you know a lot of teams don't play it's not equal in any conference and it never will be so you've got to figure it out. 16 and 18 team conferences. We can't even effectively that's the craziest thing this whole thing we can't even effectively name the conference champions properly.

We're talking about the playoff we can't't even figure who the best teams and conferences are guys. We're sitting here at the big 10, big 10 media days. And there are 18 teams. Okay. And we're in Las Vegas. And multiple teams traveled east to get here. Aren't there 40 in the big 10? 40% of the teams in the name or there's 40% of the 10 is the time zones it represents now. Was there four time zones in America or three? I don't know. My God. Well, I know is my brains on about is there is there a little shred of Maine in the Atlantic

time zone? Because I think it's four. It's four. Yeah, we got Eastern. Well, no, Hawaii and Alaska have their own. So it's six. So it's six. Yeah, because Arizona has its own. Welcome to the show show Heather. It's our show. Is it six time zones? It is six. Okay.

It is six. America time. I'm just a sports writer guys. I don't know. So did you know that Mount Rainier is active? Oh God, here we go. All right. So what do you think happens ultimately

because they do need to figure something out by December 1st, one way or the other. They just stay at 12, 16. They can do the auto bids. The SEC can go to nine conference games and say, we offer that up as a compromise and please do five a letter. What do you think happens? Yeah, I've been doing this too long to know that any prediction

that comes out of my mouth would be right. But I will say it wouldn't surprise me if it stayed at 12 because as both commissioners have pointed out, there is a format in 2026. They already have one. The question is, do they want to change it? That's what this is. Do they want to change it from 12 teams and what we'll see this fall to something different that stay at 12 feels more real every day. And it's one of those things that when they first brought it up, I wonder if they were surprised by this. Cause my first reaction when you heard Greg Sankey and Destin

say, well, you could just stay at 12. It was like, okay. Like I didn't even have 12. We haven't had 12 long enough to even know whether. I only seen it one year. Heather, you know when when Andy, we, we talked to after we hung out for a few hours in, um, Dallas, what, waiting for no information. Um, I said, Andy, we should have Heather on the show.

And he goes, that'd be great. And I said, you want to know why I want Heather on the show? Not because she can help me lose some weight, but you have been in an important job and I w I think you have one of the best jobs in the world. Thank you. But I feel like you're more of an information distributor and you're not. I want to know what your opinion is. You get to give your opinion a lot. Like what do you think is the best format and what do you think is most functional for college football?

I think the best format is the one that gives college football fans the two things that they want. And I'm saying this sincerely. College football fans want to see blue blood matchups and they want to see the potential for an upset. When you look back over the history of college football playoff, what do people love? They have App State, Michigan. They love Boise State, Oklahoma. They love Alabama, Utah and the Sugar Bowl. Right. We remember those.

We talk about those moments. So give college football fans the opportunity for those moments. But give them Ohio State, give them Penn State, give them Alabama and Georgia. So give them Notre Dame, Penn State and Texas, Ohio State in the semis, which they got last year. You also got Arizona State. You've got right. You've got that potential. And I think however way you want to slice that up, if you get that mix to me, that's the perfect.

I think there's if you stay at 12, you get that. We got that last year, didn't we? I mean, we didn't get the result. We got the potential. If you go to 16, and it's not the weird double buy thing, which by God, if they do that, I'm going to scream. If you go to 16 and have a classic 16 team bracket, I think it probably allows you a little more upset potential.

But the blue blood matchups you're going to get, too. So I'm with you. But I think you can get that with either format. I'm interested because hearing, as in Destin, so heard all the SEC machinations, because I think the SEC folks, the ADs went into Destin thinking, we're probably going to back this autobit thing. And the coaches talked him out of it.

And the response from normal people was like, well this makes sense. And I was surprised that the SEC kind of backed off that. Well, I asked Shane Beamer why, what he saw or heard in Destin that changed his mind, and it was a very simple answer. It was we saw models that said, why would we limit ourselves to four teams

so we could have seven or eight? Because if you look at the past three of the if you write typical SEC thinking, yeah, why put why put a cap on it? So that that was a big part of it. And it feels like they've kind of been well, Greg Sankey has kind of been now moving to well, if if we were to give you the ninth conference game, which he wants anyway, like everybody knows that he wants that anyway. Right. Well, he does. And it wouldn't surprise me if they went to nine conference games, but they're not going to be bullied into it by the big 10 because Oh, so that's what it is. It's gotta be my idea. You didn't fire me. I quit. Right. Well, how many other conferences dictate what other conferences do with their scheduling? Yeah.

But you know, is it a bargain? Well, apparently Indiana was dictated by the SEC. That's that's why they duck Virginia. Heather just gotta go. Thank you Heather. Really appreciate you being here. Thank you God. Yeah, thank you for having me on. I'll see you both in the gym tomorrow. Yeah, I'll beat you there. Yeah, okay. We're in Las Vegas, by the way. The city is Las Vegas. We're in. Okay. How hard do they have gyms here? I'm beating around the gym. Thanks guys. That's the great Heather Denich. And I do think Tony Petiti does want his baby those playing games to happen. He's a TV programmer at heart. That's what he was for a living before he became a commissioner. It's a it is a good idea in a vacuum to have a winner take all or winner goes to the playoff three, six game between Indiana and Iowa at Indiana.

It is. You would do that though in a 16 team field and you have a 30 team playoff, right? You have drink with his idea. You have Eli drink with his idea, which I said that when drink with said it, I was like he and Tony Petitia need to talk because they drink with his idea. You have Eli drink with this idea, which I said that when drink with said it, I was like he and Tony Petit need to talk because they have the same idea. Yeah. So I mean, and also if you make it to a playing game, did you make the playoff that year? Like how do you uh ask a Chicago Bulls fan? The answer is no. You know, that's

uh you know, I I think that for me and where I always struggle is I understand the beauty of what that Saturday would be like. I can picture you and I in some random town. I can also picture me trying to explain to a college football fan how that works. And that's where it loses me. Well, listen, you know, how interested is your wife in what we do? Not very at all. Have you ever tried to explain to her, like my wife lovingly will ask me questions about, so why is this happening? Because she wants to be engaged in what we do. And I'll try to explain it.

And then as I'm explaining it to her, I realize how stupid everything is. That's the problem. But it's already passed that you have to explain it to a normal person. You just lose them. It's just like anything else. Actually, my wife asked me, why didn't Alabama get chosen? And I had to explain. Oh my God.

Do you have four hours? And by the end of the explanation, I'm kind of like, I don't even know. I don't know. So like, I don't know if like, that seems like it'd be like a huge hurdle in your mind. That's like, I already feel like they're, the line of insanity is right here

and college football is over there somewhere already. So you can add another layer to it. The question I have logistically is, if the teams that are the higher seeded in those matchups earned it on the field in the regular season, why are they subject to potentially being eliminated at the end? What does that mean for the regular season as I'm always worried about? And then on the same token too, do we want a 30-team playoff? But that doesn't mean that I don't think that day would be fun. Like me and you in Champaign, Illinois,

watching Illinois play Iowa for a playoff spot would be a blast. So like I have a hard time like diminishing what we would get from a product standpoint, but also at the same time, appreciating the changes that would occur on a day to day, week to week basis earlier in the season.

I think you've just brought up a greater point, and we've probably made this point before. College football is so much fun that it doesn't matter how much the idiots in charge do, they can't kill it. Well, I think that's the beauty and the burden of it. Yeah. You know, because they count on that.

No matter how many idiots are in charge, like even if you mess it up to the point where it's unrecognizable and unexplainable to your spouse, like if the result is Illinois and Indiana playing each other for a playoff spot, that's awesome. Exactly. Well, there's no matchup that you could create

that wouldn't be compelling if it was winner go home, winner get in. Yeah, exactly. Or loser go home, winner get in. And that is what Tony Petiti's counting on. But it also doesn't make a lot of sense. But also when he went on this tie raid about Nate and 14 being good enough to make the playoff,

I almost took my laptop and used the corner of the screen to Yes, my eyes. That was that's the automatic bit thing because he got asked about, you know, what if what if a team is eight and four? What if they lost a couple of non conference games? And he's like, Well, you know, they shouldn't be punished for that because they play in a challenging conference like the Big 10. He said that if you're eight and four that that winning percentage across other sports leagues, that would be an equitable record or winning percentage for teams that get in the playoffs and other sports. We have that clip, don't we, River? Can we play that clip? I don't know if he has the clip, but I'm pretty sure he has the clip. So the first piece about the value of the playing game, first, I have to commend our coaches, because they obviously talk about

the same thing you just raised, like, Hey, if I'm in position, I could get hurt by losing a game. I think where our coaches came down, and our ADs, was that at the end of the day, there are 18 members in the Big Ten. You have 17 available opponents, you play nine of them, right? So there's a lot of discrepancy, let alone making comparisons across the leagues. There's a lot of issues about how you compare teams inside the Big Ten. Your schedule, just by the way it plays out, might be easier than people thought when it was made up.

We obviously try to competitively balance our schedules. So there's an issue there, even within our own league, giving teams a chance. Where we came down is that we were willing to take that risk. If you had 16 teams, there's still a catch all where there's potentially three at large. So in your example of a six seed be to three Could the three then go into a pool to get in maybe? But at the end of the day

I think our coaches are willing to take that risk because what they're thinking about it is not a snapshot of any one season They're looking at how do we get more teams in contention look As you expand the playoff the rest of the bowl system and how we're trying to protect all of that You're basically driving everybody to this one event and it's just I think in every league's interest not just ours to have more teams Emerging like you know like Indiana did last year giving more teams a chance to compete and there's this huge value in having games Across look last year Ohio State was 7 and 2 and finished fourth in the Big Ten right was undefeated in non-conference play So you know the idea that we can go deep I feel pretty strongly about that if you're 6 and fourth in the big 10, right? Was undefeated in non-conference play. So, you know, the idea that we can go deep,

I feel pretty strongly about that. If you're six and three in the big 10, I would argue that's a great record. And if you stumbled in a non-conference game, I don't know why that disqualifies you. Eight and four is a winning percentage. If you project that winning percentage in every other sport,

I'm pretty sure you make the postseason. Yeah, okay, here we are, we're back. All right, and we were watching the clip back. I wish you guys could see us We have a laptop over there. It's kind of a what do you think would have happened? And do you think I would have been fired if I would have gotten up in the middle of this and just yelled Do you want this to be the NFL and just like through a fit and ran? Do you want this to be major league soccer like? You done that what What would have happened

if I just had like a meltdown publicly of epic proportion? I would have been incredible. Your credential would have been revoked, but I still would have been here and I would have done shows. Do you think I would be employed anymore? Absolutely. It would have done numbies. Guys, how about this? Why don't we do a commissioner led draft? No conferences exist anymore. We do a draft like Andy and I did with quarterbacks a few days ago, and everybody gets to pick teams in order down from the SEC to the American. Then we create a system where there's eight conferences with 12 teams in it,

and then the division winner goes to the playoffs. You want to do that? Just forget, yeah, just like a, you know what? Abolish the Big Ten, abolish the SEC, and I'm yelling that, and just reorganize the whole thing and go down in order. Pick one, Texas, pick two, Ohio State, pick three, Georgia, all in different conferences. Spread it out. Everybody play 10 conference games. Play two preseason games that don't count. And whoever wins the round robin of the 10 game schedule goes to

the playoff. And that's it. Is that what we want? Okay, great. I just solved the problem. You're welcome. I'll take my check whenever you can get the center of my house. Ari just got hired as the new president and CEO of the Super League circa night uh 2035 what are we talking about eight and four this is my nightmare eight how many eight and four teams are going to be with these schedules that aren't balanced is that what you want teams at the end of the year there's going to be there's going to be 10 nine and three teams at the end of this season that we can't decipher between.

Do you guys realize that? The funniest part of your rant just now is that there's some people running conferences. They're like, hmm, that's exactly what we want. American. Yeah, we'll just get Michigan into the American conference and then we'll move on from there and then everybody plays. This sounds amazing. How do we make this happen? Then what we could definitely do under the new system is ensure that the same teams win every

single league unlike the NFL where there's different conference winners and then we can just have the same playoff every year too if you want. We can just do that. You know, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon and Penn State in different conferences and they can just win their conference every year, and we can just rerun the playoff every year. Is that what we want? I'm just letting you cook, buddy. No, but like, eight and four?

You know what? Eight and four? Wait, can I just chime in here? Eight and four's a 666, that's the devil! There's like half the chat is gonna be like, but this means Notre Dame has to finally join a conference! Do you think there's somebody out there that is like, tingling, thinking that Notre Dame is like in a conference?

They're gonna get their comeuppance. They have to join a conference. Andy? Yes. This is the Bad at Math podcast. Terrible at math. What is the winning percentage of an eight and four team? Six, six, six.

It's the mark of the beast, ladies and gentlemen. Six, six, seven if we're gonna round. If eight and four get you in the playoff, that is Satan's work winning, just you know and it's and it's written in the numbers. This is a conspiracy theory show you know. Think about is that a coincidence? I think not. That's that's. I love you connecting the various niches of YouTube. Yeah this is this is beautiful. I'm trying to get our energy right here. Six six energy. This is the mark of the beast and we will not let Satan win. If an

eight and four team. I'm gonna be like Tabbo Sweeney. If an eight and 14 makes the playoff, I'm not doing, I'm doing something else for a living. And then it's going to happen. And you're not going to quit. I'm still going to be here and I'm going to have to account for it and then I'm going to tell people I didn't say that. And you know, even if those video evidence of you saying that, I don't know, it's insanity to me.

Did anything I just say make sense? All of it. Okay. None of it, but all of it. I feel like Will Ferrell in old school. Is that maybe James Carville? Yeah. That was perfect. We have no response. If you were bald, you would kind of look like him.

I don't know. Eight and four. That one, I was like, if there is a video of the audience when he said that, my eye roll was so drastic that people that you can hear I roll like my neck hurts. Oh my god. It's amazing. So by the way, while he was talking, ACC Media Days was going on over in Charlotte. Jim Phillips, big 5'11 guy. So we know, not his height, but he wants the 5'11. I'm a 5'11 guy by height. Yeah, well, Jim Phillips is a fan of that.

Just like Brett Yormark. Just like Greg Senke, I guess, I think, maybe. But, so we'll see where that goes. We'll see where that goes. The common theme between the ACC and the Big Ten is coaches ripping the SEC, which was fun. We had Rhett Lashley saying that the SEC is just top heavy. Do we have that clip?

Maybe not. I don't know. We have the tweet up there. Can I say this too? You may. There's a difference. So when Brett Yormark at Big 12 Media Days said at the podium last week that the Big 12 is the deepest conference in America,

that made sense to me because the deepest... It means that it has the most teams that can win the conference. I was like, yeah, that's right. But then I realized there are probably seven teams in the Big 10 and the SEC that could win that conference. The Big 12. So does that mean they're the deepest? Oh, that conference. Yeah, the Big 12. No, I'm saying like, could the sixth place team?

Oh, there's more than seven. In both leagues that would win the Big 12. Yeah. And if that's the case, are they the deepest or they just have the most parity? They have the most parity. So like, also too, like, the number that Lashley said was six different teams won the championship, right? Correct. That's a lot What is especially for a lot of yeah for a lot of that time they only had ten members Actually have any of the members have any of the members they've added

Won the national title big ten teams have won the national title in the same time period? Two? Three. Nebraska wasn't in the big 10. Well is he counting Texas's 2005 national title as an SEC national title? I don't think so. That's a big 12 national title. I don't know what I still can you explain to me like I'm five what the burn was there? I think it was just okay. It was just I'm a coach at the podium. I must rip the SEC I heard Kurt signetti did it here. We had a couple who did here Kurt signetti like I thought his made sense and I like Rhett Lashley. I think SMU is gonna be good I'm not attacking him personally. I didn't understand what he was getting at He was saying they were top heavy, which guess who's also extremely top heavy? The ACC. Yeah, the ACC is Clemson, SMU,

Miami, Louisville. It gets me anybody else in the top heavy part of the eight who else who else can actually win the ACC? Other than those teams? Georgia Tech? Yeah, the funniest thing about the thought, though, is that the Big 12's entire goal is to become top heavy. As a conference, it's our goal. Brett Yormark said it. You want to be top heavy.

You want to have three or four teams that could conceivably win a national title. Yeah, I think right now. Wait, is the ACC the top heaviest league? It is. Well, I don't know. I think it is. How about we define top heavy is how many teams in your league can win a national title this year? I think that the ACC has won. So that does that make them top heavy? Or does

that make them weak? I think that the Big 10 has what? No, top heavy or top heavy is how many teams in your league can actually win your league? how many teams in your league can actually win your league? That doesn't prove anything nationally though. Well, but what's interesting about the ACC is it probably has the fewest number of teams that can actually win it. Yeah, I think that the answer to that question is probably one.

Nah, I mean Miami, maybe Louisville, maybe SMU. So, yeah. But it's the most top heavy of the leagues. There are more teams than the SEC that could conceivably win the national title this year the But like also too. Listen, I don't know, do you have a group chat with all your boys? Yeah. If you read the group chat with my guys, the only thing that we do is rip each other. Yes. There is no like compliment. You know how they say the difference between men and women is that women are nice to your face but rip you behind your back and men rip you to your face and then are nice behind your back. And then say great things behind your back, yes. Brett, you're my guy.

We love you, but the ACC is the top heaviest conference in America. Yeah, that one didn't hit me. That's a glass houses moment for you. So, like the whole like Kurt Signeady one was funny because he was like, oh yeah, we did it, but so did the SEC, They suck. Like, like at least I thought his made sense.

I was like, Kurt, Kurt, I don't know that I would have. But all of the SEC doesn't do that and all of the Big Ten doesn't do it either. So it's one of those not every. Yeah. I just like Rhett has a team that might make the playoff again this year. Yeah. I drafted Kevin Jennings in my quarterback. I don't. That one was crickets to me. Yeah, that wasn't a mic drop moment to me. More news. Okay. The CSC, the College Sports Commission, the new NCAA by another name that was created by the house settlement, relented on the whole idea of collectives being able to to stage meet and greets and play players and all that, because they said it wasn't a legitimate business when they issued guidance to the school saying, you know, we're going to deny these deals. And the plaintiff's attorneys for the House case were like,

no, no, no, no, no, that's not going to work. So, Ari's, before we started the show, Ari's like, you're going to have to explain this to me like I'm 5. So let me attempt to do that. Basically, they're saying that one of the prongs of the legitimate business part or the fair market value part of it is gone. So, collectives will live on. Basically, collectives would have died had you not been able to do that. Collectives will live on. So the Ohio State Collective, the Auburn Collective, the Georgia

Collective, the Alabama Collective, the Michigan Collective, all of those can now sign players to deals above the revenue share cap. There's no real cap. As we told you would happen. Yeah. Okay. That's it. Yeah. Okay. That's it. Because because they were going to get sued the collectives were gonna have to sue to stay alive and what the collectors would have said is okay if you don't think this is a legitimate business what how does a concert promoter sell the backstage meet and greet as a as an add-on to the ticket. That's not a legitimate business but yeah. Yeah. People pay to meet famous people. The collective business agreements are now subject to

the review process that is stupid. Well, they were always subject to it but now they're not automatically denied. Okay. Great. And the range of compensation is the is now the only prong and that includes how good you are as an athlete So the guy we have on next You could pay him a hundred you could pay him anything and it wouldn't matter Anything. Yeah. Yeah. I just yeah. Okay. What's next subject, please Jeremiah Smith

Let's talk about Jeremiah Smith Okay, we are talk about Jeremiah Smith. Jeremiah Smith. Let's talk about Jeremiah Smith. Okay, we are here with Jeremiah Smith. Pretty good wide receiver as you were as you were doing the video stuff. I was like, so how are things going? He goes, that's pretty good. I was like, yeah, I can think of some people I'd rather not be.

This t-shirt, by the way, is incredible. NBA Jam with you and Emeka. That is, when did you get that? And well, first of all, you were the Yeah, but I guess my life goal would be to have me on a t-shirt, but I don't know what I would have to do. We had Kale Downs earlier and we asked him what Coach Mick did to, you know, make him forget that y'all won a national title and work. There was still work to be done. He said he made me go against Jeremiah every time. Uh huh. Yeah, something like that. You know, me and Kale, we went out in the summer. I went out with Sonny Styles as well. I mean, I want to get all the guys that you can think of, man, you know, just making each other better each and every day. So, yeah, Jeremiah, your career, your life journey has gone pretty according to plan, I would say, right?

Like you go to Ohio State, true freshman, you're breaking records, you're making big plays in the playoff and you're national champion. Now people, me, think that you have a chance to be one of the best receivers ever. And what is this? Everything that you expected out of your college experience? And, you know, have you taken a minute to step back and go, holy crap, this all already happened for me? Oh, not if I'm being honest, not this early.

I didn't expect success to be this early, especially in my freshman year. Everything I came at me so far. So, I mean, I mean, just taking it all in is all a blessing, but haven't really hit me yet, but still taking it all in. We's all a blessing but haven't really hit me yet but still taking it all in. We're trying to coach Heartline about this for the national title game because he was saying that

the part of his job is is making sure you know you gotta be coached hard. Yeah. How do you deal with everybody you see telling you you're going to be the best receiver in the history of the world? Uh no, just try to block it all out.

I mean, I don't like I don't like listening to that type of stuff. Um I mean, it's I guess it comes with it, but. Is that as bad as somebody telling you you suck? Yeah, same thing, because they can tell you you're good and then you have a bad player or bad game, and that's the end of talking bad about you on social media. So, I don't really like listening to that type of stuff.

I just like to stay consistent and being the best person on my side each and every day I go out there on the field. My favorite moment of the offseason was when you were doing a podcast or a show with Brandon Marshall and they were talking about NIL and he showed you his bank account and he showed you his and yours was bigger. What did that feel like?

He said, Jeremiah's got more than me. It was pretty, it was a good joke, something like that. But Brandon Marshall was a cool guy. I met him when I was 13, 12 years old. Always been cool to me and truly blessed and blessed to receive no lead. In a serious note though, I covered Ohio State for a long time before this job

and there were players that were excellent that didn't make it in the NFL. You have to wait a few more years, unfortunately, to get to that point, but what's it like to know that your accomplishments have been compensated financially that you've already been able to profit from greatness? Like I said, it's a blessing.

No, NIL helped many kids, me, people around the country as well, I mean, just be able to help our families. That's really the biggest thing. But you earned it too. You earned it, yeah, you earned it, but this NIL is really nothing. I'm trying to get to the big, I'm trying to get my, I'm trying to get to help our families. That's really the biggest thing. But you earned it too. You earned it, yeah, you earned it. But this NIL is really nothing. I'm trying to get to the big league. I'm trying to get to the second contract.

That's what the big money is. So NIL, that's really nothing right now. I'm trying to get to the- When did you start learning about all that stuff? 11? Were you 11? Yeah, something like that when I was very young. Just having a cousin that's an NFL,

just he had a dad and his dad come back and tell me certain things. And I'll just take heat to him and listen. So yeah, do you feel like you had an advantage learning that stuff early? Oh, kind of a little bit I should say. Um, especially with my cousin NFL, you know, he got experience and just listening to him picking his brain and my uncle, he know, been around it as well. So just picking brains from them to and listen to my dad as well. If you could go back to your 10 year old self

and tell them about all of this stuff that's happened in the last couple of years. What would you say? What would I say? What advice would you give? Probably just keep going. Because that wasn't that long ago. Yeah.

I don't know. Just keep going, how's it say? That's all, just keep going. One last question, because you gotta go Jeremiah, but I was curious about this. National Signing Day, you did not sign a letter of intent for a long period of time. And a lot of people thought that you might be going

to Miami, you don't have to tell me exactly what the holdup was, but you can. I'm kind of like, what happened? What took so long? And have you thought if you went to Miami, they want to win the national championship last year, because a lot of people in South Florida think you might've been the missing piece with camp warden boys down there. Oh yeah, I see that. Um but we're taking a long period of time to send my NIL in this. Um just no paperwork, stuff like that. No business side of

things but uh that night I definitely taught the Ken War. Uh thought about something but it really. So you did have thoughts of going because they might have they had one of the best offenses ever. They did. And

like you were on the team. How did you break it? Cuz Cam's intense. How did he take it when you broke it to him? You were going off. I didn't really tell him. We just got on the phone, and he was like, what you going to do? I was like, I don't know. I don't know. Then a couple hours later, I sent the NIL.

Have you spoken to him since? I haven't spoken to him since. Wow. Hey, I think you did the right thing. Yeah, I think so. I think it worked out. Yeah, I hope he's not mad at you. No, I don't think so. I don't spoken to him since. Wow. You know, hey, I think you did the right thing. Yeah, I think so. I think it worked out. Yeah, I hope he's not mad at you. No, I don't think so.

I don't think so. Because it's possible that like the Titans might still sting by the time you're the, I mean, you might be, I don't know, we'll see. So thanks, Jeremiah. I really appreciate you. Thank you, appreciate you, guys. Yes, sir.

I don't think Cam Ward's mad at him. I think Cam Ward probably is like anybody else who loves the you and is going, it would have been so amazing. Yeah. I mean, it worked out for Cam Ward too. I know they didn't win the playoff or anything, but they were a very good team and hopefully they were the next era of Miami Hurricanes that bring that program back. And of course, being the Nomura role pick, you don't want to burn bridges because there's a high likelihood that you know Jeremiah Smith could be teammates. I mean the Titans are gonna have to play well to not be in a position to draft Jeremiah Smith. You know how NFL and college football works, it's a very big world but it's also a very small world

where paths tend to cross multiple times without you know him being going to the Titans would be like the least surprising thing in the world. Well let's talk about Jeremiah Smith now because this is a guy who will come in with again all the hype in the world. Well, let's talk about Jeremiah Smith now because this is a guy who will come in with, again, all the hype in the world. I don't know how you cover him. I still don't know how you cover him, although he's about to play a team that did its best to cover. Now, Texas has got its secondary revamped, but Texas kept Jeremiah Smith in check, probably at the expense of everything else. Yeah, yeah. Maya Smith in check, probably at the expense of everything else.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, and I also think too, that, you know, from a statistic standpoint, it might be hard to duplicate what he did last year, but if you dictate two of your, uh, defensive backs and covering him and he has six receptions for 41 yards and you know, carnel Tate goes for 180, he's done his job too. So like it's, uh, I don't know. Like he said in the video that he doesn't like when people gas them up because when he turns his back, if he has a bad game, I don't know, like he said in the video that he doesn't like when people gas them up because when he turns his back, if he has a bad game,

I don't know that there's a scenario where people could say with a straight face that he's not good. Like, I mean, it's just. Oh, he's phenomenal. It's just a matter of how high is the ceiling. And I realize a lot of people get tired of the hyperbole, but I think now that we've seen him play an entire year

and he's proven it on the field, like it's not really hyperbole, but I think now that we've seen him play an entire year and he's proven it on the field, like it's not really hyperbole. Like it is legitimately realistic to say that there may be a point five years from now where Jeremiah Smith is the best wide receiver in the sport. Last year, it was like week three, and we did the outrageous segment. I think we said that. Yeah, I said that he is the best player in college football. Yeah, Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase are really who he's gonna be chasing now. But you remember the reaction when I said

he is the best player in college football as a true freshman three games into it. Everyone's like, oh, hold your horses. It's like, dude, it's the same thing with Lagway. Do you have eyes? Like, I mean, like it's not. But it's not the same thing with Lagway because Jeremiah Smith came out, did it as a freshman over and over and over again. No, no, but what I mean, like it's not. It's but it's not the same thing with lag way because Jeremiah Smith came out, did it

as a freshman over and over and over again. No, no. But what I'm saying is it's kind of you don't really need to see all that much to know there's something there. Yeah, he is an incredibly special player and you just stand next to him and you think he's not when the world does anyone ever cover this man. We over we overdo freak and alien and stuff, But he is because he runs faster than most of the fastest receivers. His body control is incredible. He's big.

He's strong hands are insane. Yeah, he's no weakness and he's getting in his game. He can block he's he's thick. He he's sturdy like everything there is to know to like about a player. You like about him the best returning player in college football and now you know might not have been in scarlet and gray. But I think all the Ohio State fans are glad he is. All right, you had one more question about Jeremiah Smith for Ryan Day.

And I thought his answer was absolutely fascinating. River, roll that clip. One receiver in the NFL right now? Yeah, but I think, you know, the rules in place for a reason. River roll that clip. effective player right now. I think he's at his age he's further along than anybody I've ever been around. Yeah Jeremiah Smith would be a wide receiver one in the NFL right now. I think on 20 teams. Yeah. Literally. Maybe more than that. Not on the Vikings, not on the Bengals, but most of the other ones. Yeah. How many players in your time covering the sport do you think would be an effective NFL player their true sophomore year? It's funny because we thought Clowney would, and then Clowney got in the NFL and he was not utterly dominant.

And I can tell you, it's interesting, we were talking about this earlier today with somebody else. This thing next year is going to be the wise Jeremiah Smith still in college referendum, just like it was with Clowney in 2013. I you know, or 2014, whatever is whatever his junior year was. I don't think it matters that one player that's been challenged in court and upheld. So it's not changing. So he's gonna play three years in college. And if there's one player every 10 years that makes you question that, that's the reason the rule exists. It's not like a very regular thing, but I do,

I do truly believe that he has the skillset to compete at the highest level. And I am very curious if Cardinal Tate this year is going to have a massive season because teams are going to do everything they can to take away Jeremiah Smith while also not playing their base normal defenses and Ohio State's what? Texas did and Ohio State beat him underneath who is the leading receiver in the Texas game was carnell take Yeah, and and then was it Trevion Henderson had the yeah I mean if you try to take away Jeremiah Smith if your goal is to keep him to five catches for 38 yards That's your goal as a game plan. You're gonna get torched by other. That's the beauty of what they're receiving core

They've got Brandon innis and other guys. Brian Hardline has done an incredible job of recruiting there. I think it takes an inordinate amount of and listen, Texas is as good of a defense personnel. I think Ibuka had a good night. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. They also had Ibuka on the field and he's going to be the starting receiver for the Buccaneers this year. But what my point is is that Texas did it, but Texas is also amongst some of the three. Yeah, Texas also had guys starting in their secondary who will be starting in the NFL this year. Yeah, like if Purdue tries to do it, it's gonna be a long day. So, I mean, like, I don't know. Dude, Purdue caught a lot of strays today. I feel bad.

Yeah, be nice. If Northwestern tried it, I you go. Michigan State tried it. They would be. They'd be Maryland. Yeah, hey Rutgers. Yeah, good luck. Alright, well Nebraska actually they their defense held Ohio State in check when they played last year. Yeah, they almost won Nebraska was here today. Very interesting conversation.

Matt rule kind of got it started when he got asked a question about Dylan Raiola and he was like, when they played last year. Yeah, they almost won. Nebraska was here today. Very interesting conversation. Matt Ruhl kind of got it started when he got asked a question about Dylan Riola. And then Dylan Riola continued at answering questions later in the day. Let's start with Matt Ruhl talking about Dylan Riola's development, moving from year 1 to year 2, and also what he can accomplish at Nebraska. one or two and also what he can accomplish at Nebraska because remember this is a guy who was committed to Ohio State then flipped to Georgia then flipped to Nebraska and playing for Ohio State and playing for Georgia are very different assignments than playing quarterback for Nebraska right now so let's let's hear Matt rule on Dylan Raul. Yeah I would not have brought Dylan if I wasn't so proud of his work I mean he, he's done a great job with his body.

He's done a great job with his knowledge of the offense, his growth with Glenn Thomas, our quarterback coach and Daniel Holgersen, our OC, his command, his command of the roster of the team. Make no mistake, it's really hard to come in as a freshman with tremendous expectations and have to go be the leader. You know, having to tell, you're 18 years old and you're telling six year seniors now with the new rules, you're telling 25, 24 year old men, hey, I need you to do this.

It's so hard. So what Dylan did last year was really hard. And the thing to me, when you're a five star quarterback, like you probably breezed through high school, you haven't had a lot of adversity. You know, every time you go somewhere, people talk about how great you are. And when I recruited Dylan, I said,

hey, come help me turn around Nebraska football, man. It's gonna be hard. And doing something hard is how we become great. And if not, you know, you go somewhere, you go play on the best team in the country, which is pretty cool. And you know, every once in a while, they need you to make a throw to win the game.

And then you go to the NFL, and the worst team in the worst city drafts you. And now you have to deal with all this adversity. I said, come to Nebraska. It's gonna be hard. There'll be adversity. You'll be frustrated sometimes, but we will eventually do something great.

And what I've seen from him, his maturity, is he now embraces when he's frustrated. He embraces when things aren't going well. And he's the one, going back to the ownership I talked about, instead of saying, like, well, this guy's the one going back to the ownership I talked about. Instead of saying like, well, this guy's got to do better, this guy's got to do better, man, he puts it on himself. He says, I'll fix this.

So that's a great setup for what Dylan Riola was talking about. Because he got asked a lot of questions about what Matt Roll said. And he clearly does embrace the challenge of being Nebraska's starting quarterback, and understands that this is a very different job than those jobs that Matt Ruhl was talking about, and those jobs that Dylan Raola

was committed to potentially take. Yeah, it is interesting, because I feel like if I were a kid, that would be a very compelling sales pitch. Obviously it worked. Be the guy. Be the one who did this, who turned this around, who did the thing. It's like also too, Georgia is great. But if you're a hero in Lincoln, that's every bit as powerful as being a hero in Georgia and Athens, right? Like, I mean, they've got a pretty large, extensive... Possibly more powerful because they've been walking through the wilderness for a while. Yeah. So I would find that appealing. The question is whether or not greatness is awaiting him on the other side. Because like that to me, it's like if you want to go down as somebody who has

won a playoff game or done something that is at the highest level winning, Georgia is certainly the place that you go with the least resistance. But you go to Nebraska and you also have to take that risk at Nebraska that that never comes true, which is I think a testament to his ability as a young person to embrace that. And he is trying his ass off to get Nebraska there. Here is Dylan Raiola talking about getting Nebraska to another level. Yeah, it's crazy to kind of see what's really a reality now for myself.

But yeah, I mean, it's cool. Nebraska deserves to be back on the mat. And it and it's not because of me or you know, it's something I did, but it's just the type of program it is. It's a it's a program ready to go win. And it's one of those top programs that's going to be pulled back on top. How important is it to be one of the people who helped get it there though. It's special. It's like we said earlier, those hard things, those hard times, we'll all come to, you know, for us and, you know, if you just keep going and stay at it and, you know, good things will happen. So I love that quote, Nebraska deserves to be back on the map. That is what you want your guy who you challenge to come do hard things with you. That is exactly what you want him to say.

And I think that it's within relative likelihood that at some point in the next two years that Nebraska will be in a position to be playing for a playoff spot. Um, they are not as dysfunctional as they were a few years ago. I think that, you know, I watched them play, they play hard and that rule, I think has done a tremendous job at multiple programs. There's a lot to like about who they are as a program right now. And there's a lot to like about, you know, giving the person that comes to save your program the ability to play right away and to, you know, grow and have those, those lumps. So I'm very keen on watching them this year. And I'm super excited to see how it came out. You guys need to hear Ryola talking about, Ari just called them the lumps, like the Iowa game last year. The Iowa game was a collapse

in the fourth quarter for Nebraska. It was devastating. And it's one of those things that if you are a first-year player that you probably learned from. Here's Dylan Ryola talking about the end of the Iowa game. Specifically to that game, I mean, I remember sitting on the sideline,

didn't watch the kick, just open it and miss it, or our guys would go block it because they're really good at that. And it went in and it was just a feeling I won't forget. But yeah, there's a lot of instances like that that happen. But it's just a matter of how you respond and get back up and keep swinging. So that's what you got to do. It's how you respond. I love the messaging. And it's interesting because I heard Matt Ruhl

talking about, we don't tell our players what to say. Obviously, if they say something completely ridiculous, we'll make fun of them in a team meeting, basically is what he said. But this is this is how you message it if you are a QB one at a program that feels like it's about to take the next step. Well, the question to you that I have is, what do you think that he has to do this year? What does Nebraska have to do this year to accomplish that goal of putting Nebraska get better, get better Nebraska get better, get better and get better for Nebraska. Because you think about the game, the

Iowa game is a great example of this. They should have won that game. That should have been regular season win number seven for them. They should have been seven and five, not six and six. It was a huge let down. You've got to win those games. And I think that's the UCLA game is another one is not that was not a heartbreaking one at the end. It was one of those that were they just looked awful. And I guess it's seen they should have beaten. You can't do that. Those are games you have to win. But here's the thing. What if they won both those games? That's an eight and four record. That is a It's a playoff team according to Tony Petitti. Exactly. But here's the thing, if you close those gaps, if you start winning on those margins, you go from six and six to potentially nine and three. That would be a huge step forward in the evolution of this program, especially considering where it has been the last 10 years. They have Michigan week four. It's not inconceivable they could be 6-0. It's not. It's not. If they are who we think they could be. The back half of the

schedule is pretty hard. Hell, it could be 8-0 for all you know. But the thing is like they could go to Penn State, like I get Penn State's really good, but if Nebraska's having a good season by the time they get to that game, I'm wondering if you think about Michigan. Michigan with Oklahoma and Michigan with Nebraska, you know what Michigan is is going to determine a lot for some other teams too. That's another video. But you know Nebraska does have an opportunity especially because Michigan is a home game. But here's the thing about Nebraska.

It's, you obviously have to win the Maryland game, the Northwestern game, that goes without saying, but you gotta win the Minnesota game. That's the kind of swing game that you have to win if you wanna get to that next spot. Yeah, I'm with ya. I think they can do it. He's obviously got tools, and I just can't wait to see

if he corrects some of the things that I think ailed his game and takes that next step. I'm't wait to see if he, you know, correct some of the things that I think hailed his game and takes that next step. I'm very excited to see what he does. I remember watching his interviews last year and obviously he's a freshman getting thrown into this stuff, but you can, you can see the maturity and the, the, the, what he's learned because anybody who goes through a season like that, who gets thrown into a situation like that, where you're a true freshman, all of this stuff is put on your shoulders. There's a lot to learn.

And, you know, Matt Ruhl's basic message, it seems to Dylan, was embrace the suck, which most people can't do. But it sounds like he's been willing to do that. Yeah, appointment television for me this year. I can't wait. It's gonna be so much fun. And tomorrow's gonna be so much fun and Tomorrow is gonna be fun. We got more big 10 media days action coming tomorrow

we're here in Vegas all week I Screwed that up. I'm in Vegas and I have a chance to say I'm here all week Tip your waitress like yeah, I messed it up That's right again. That's the show everybody. I messed it up that's right again that's the show everybody I messed it up let's hit the tables