Andy & Ari On3 - Is USC about to make a PLAYOFF RUN? Lincoln Riley sounds very different this year | Tony Petitti on 24 Team CFP | Bret Bielema takes a SHOT on the SEC

Episode Date: July 28, 2026

As Big Ten Media Days are underway from Chicago, USC head coach Lincoln Riley was the last to take the podium on the first day in Chicago. With a bolstered recruiting class, should Trojans fans expect BIG things in 2026? Lincoln Riley thinks so. Watch here as Andy & Ari break down Lincoln Riley’s newfound expectations with USC.   (0:00) On Today’s Episode (1:00) Presenting Sponsor (2:12) Intro: Lincoln Riley at Big Ten Media Days (4:44) Riley on USC’s Alignment (12:46) USC not playing Notre Dame (15:27) Expectations for USC (18:40) Petitti takes the Stage (36:25) Bielema’s shot on the SEC (52:48) Jersey patches for Ohio State, Notre Dame (1:05:37) Conclusion: Thanks for watching!   After discussing USC, Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti also took the stage. Answering many big picture questions on the future of college football, Petitti discusses the College Football Playoff and along with the conference’s relationship with Greg Sankey and the SEC.   Next, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema made some waves on his comments on the SEC. Saying their fans still live in 2005, is this true? Andy & Ari debate here.     Thanks for watching!   Send your questions to: [e-mail] [e-mail]     Our show is also presented by BetMGM!   If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works:   1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB. 2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game. 3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sure you use bonus code CFB when you sign up!   Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary.   See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. This promotional offer is not available in DC, Mississippi, New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET (Available in the US) . 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only (if applicable). Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel   Check out Zen AI here: http://bit.ly/zenAI_bpp_itf   Join On3 today! https://www.on3.com/join   Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/QPOK7WzJ6Hk   Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey   Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's episode of Andy and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM, Lincoln Riley believes. Lincoln Riley is excited. This is a very different USC head coach than we've seen at the past two Big Ten media days we will discuss. Plus, an update from Commissioner Tony Petiti on the college football playoff negotiations. There's a key date coming up. We'll explain. Also, Brett Bilema, the Illinois coach, says the SEC is trying to live in 2005. Then later it means that to 2006.

What did he mean by that? We'll break it down. And it's Jersey Patch Madness. Ohio State will have Chase on the jersey. Notre Dame will have SOFi on the jersey. The big 12 schools will have Monster on the jersey and we'll explain why that doesn't keep them from selling the rest of their jersey. All on today's Andy Naurion 3 presented by BedmGM. This show is brought to you by BedmGM.

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Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Welcome to Annie on three presented by BetMGM. Big Ten Media Days has begun in Chicago, Ari, and I might be coming around on the USC Trojans. I just heard Lincoln Riley. We delayed recording this until Lincoln Riley talked to Big Ten midi days and Ari. This is a man who sounds supremely confident in his team heading into this season. And I say this is someone who was at the last two big 10 media days and heard him make excuse after excuse after excuse about why it wasn't going to be a great season. He's not making any now. What's he trying to tell us? Yeah. I mean, I think that he probably feels really good about his team. I don't know if I'm correct about this, but my perception is that this is the most complete

balanced team that USC has had during his time there. They don't have Caleb Williams anymore, but Jane Miava, I think, is perceived to be one of the, you know, 10 best quarterbacks in college football. They have a really good freshman class. We'll see how much they take, you know, how much it take into account how good USC is. Obviously, one of their edge rushers, Luke Waifle, is somebody that people think is going to be a first round pick one day. But, I mean, I feel like if it's not this year, like when? Like, I feel like, you know, we're getting to the point here. where, you know, there's been a lot of reasons to buy into USC in the last few years,

but this year it feels like it could be coming together. So I totally am with you, though. I buy temperament and messaging and the way people carry themselves at their media days as an indication of something. And I think it's apparent that Lincoln Riley is pretty comfortable with what he has on his roster and his team this year. Yeah, like if he said this every year and then it didn't happen, I think I might take it differently. But like two years ago, I remember standing there and hearing him say, I'm not a magician, I can't wave a magic wand,

and make all of this stuff better. And I was like, oh, God, this is not great. And they weren't great that year. They had a pretty mediocre season. Last year, a little more confident, but still, it was a lot of, you should see what crap I took over and what I had to deal with. I didn't get a sense of any of that this year. So here's Lincoln Riley talking about the alignment at USC now.

You know, right now going into this fifth year, going into this season, I think about, you know, our alignment and the momentum behind our program, you know, kind of watching us through the last few years take on some of the different challenges and changes that we've had, a new coaching staff, a new president, a new AD, a new conference, most recently moving into the Bloom football facility about 10 days ago. We've had so much change, and right now I feel like our alignment is as strong as it's ever been. And I think that's why some of the results throughout the offseason have kind of shown themselves in terms of the way that we've recruited, bringing in the top recruiting class in the country,

the way that we've been able to retain and also add to our coaching staff, especially bringing in noted coordinators, Gary Patterson on defense and Mike Eckler, on special teams. Very proud and excited of the roster that we've built. I know our recruiting class has certainly gotten a lot of the tension, but when you look at some of the returners that we have, we have one of the most experienced groups in the country. In terms of returning starters, returning a starting quarterback, both starting running backs, an offensive line and defensive line that I think have depth and talent,

unlike any of my first four years at USC. And so, you know, I got a great vantage point in my years at Oklahoma of what, you know, great alignment and what a steady leadership really looks like in a program. And I consider today and say, you know, really for the first time at USC, I feel, you know, all of those things operating at a high level and are very, very steady right now. And with that, the momentum has been created. And it's been fun to see our program grow in all the areas that you need to be a championship level program. And so certainly excited about the season, excited to get back in the Coliseum for a great home slate.

So if you remember when Lincoln Riley came to Oklahoma, not as the head coach, when he came as the offensive coordinator or in 2015, at that point, the president, David Boren, the athletic director, Joe Castiglione, and the head coach, Bob Stoops. I think had been together for 17 years. Like, it was rare, rare that you see anything like that. So him comparing this to that is, I think, pretty telling. And also, like when he was talking about the competitive depth on the offensive and defensive lines saying it's unlike anything they've ever had in his four years at USC, again, because he hasn't been the type to blow smoke before, I tend to believe him here.

Yeah. Do that feel even 5% excusie? Not really. No. So my understanding is that USC got, was late to the party and being competitive in NIL. Is that, is that, is that your understanding too? I think, I think Lincoln Riley would say that's fair. So if that's the case, and they're on board, because the one thing that Oklahoma had, that USC certainly didn't, was a desire to win.

and from a, from a, it's a foundational belief as a entity, as a university that you should be good at football there. And I'm not sure that USC was in that category before he got there. Well, that you should be elite at football. Like Oklahoma believes they should be elite at football. Yes, but Oklahoma, it's a priority for the institution, you know, to be good at football. So, you know, I do believe that, you know, a lot of the things that you talk about in terms of alignment, like what you need from a support system from your AD and the people, above that person, what you need from a financial support standpoint from, you know, donors and

fans and from the university level being able to go all in on football. Like if he believes that's the case right now, then I buy it. But I think the most exciting thing, if I'm a USC fan to hear, he feels like their lines are good. That's not been something that, like, I mean, you can go big picture of university institution standpoint or just roster standpoint. If you think you can even the thing, even the thing you could kill him over losing his defensive coordinator to Penn State and what looked like a parallel move. Now, I see Danlin is going back to his alma mater. But he hired Gary Patterson to replace him.

Yeah. I'm not complaining about that. So my thing with this is, is what do you think the reason for USC not being very good was the last few years? And has that been fixed? I think part of it is because there was not a emphasis on recruiting, developing, and playing really sound defense, which is, I think something you could criticize Lincoln Riley for. at his previous stop at a place that has, you know, I mean, like, that's not a institution thing. That's a coach.

That's a reflection of the coach. But also if they didn't have the talent necessary as a result of not being able to afford those players and now they can, then I think that a switch could have been flipped. Now, it's an unusual situation because I do think that there are a lot of places in college football, Andy, that, you know, are kind of going through growing pains a little bit about how to find that alignment. And a lot of times coaches get bent over a barrel. You know, talking about these types of things that have nothing to do with their coaching acumen.

I mean, we talked a little bit about Mack Brown yesterday. I think we're going to find out a little bit more about Luke Fickle, but coaches who are in positions where the excuses are actually real. But it is exciting and encouraging from a USC standpoint as a fan to look into this year and feel like your coach for the first time he's saying feels like he has everything he needs to be successful. And it's like this guy's never been to the playoff. I mean, he's very successful head coach at one point in his career. So, you know, I don't think that, like, you should be completely out on him.

But like I've said about USC all offseason and I still feel the same way today. I think it's just put up or shut up time, man. Like, I just want to see it. I think you're exactly right. And I think the fact that he is telling us all this, I think he understands that. I've said this all along. I've had lots of criticisms of Lincoln Riley over the years since he's been at USC. But I've always thought he's a very smart guy, like understands what's going on very well.

Yeah. I think he understands he has to get it done now. Like part of saying all this is saying, I get it. They've given me what I need. I have to deliver. Yeah. You know, and the one advantage that I think USC is always going to have is that I think that, you know, you can't deny the fact that he's a gifted offensive mind, first of all. You can't deny the fact that he's a magnet for top.

tier quarterback talents. And I feel like even when that kind of started feeling that was kind of changing when they didn't go into the portal and they stuck with Jaden Miava, like the entire didn't go in the portal and stuck with Jada Mava, they were just worried if he's going to go to the NFL or not. No, I'm saying two years ago when they went with Jaden Miava after Caleb left. Oh, I got that they would have gotten a huge proven asset at that position because USC is the cradle of quarterbacks and people. Well, they didn't.

They got Jade Miova out of the portal after Caleb left. Yeah. My point is they didn't make a splash at the quarterback position the way that people would have thought they would have and that turned out to be the correct move. So again, his record of being a great quarterback coach, great cultivator of talent there, developer of talent there. And then, of course, execution of that talent is still an unstunched, unblemished record. So I think that they really have the pieces there. Obviously, it comes down to defense and line. I mean, if you add in a game wrecking defensive end to your defensive line and your offensive line is really good, then you have ever.

yourself a pretty good recipe for success. I don't think that USC as a dark horse playoff contender should be a weird take for anyone. But again, how many years failure? It should be a playoff contender period. That's the whole point. Yeah. And let's, okay, the schedule is interesting. It's the hardest Big Ten schedule they've had in the three years in the conference, probably. But no Notre Dame. Lincoln Riley got asked about the Notre Dame game as he's always going to be at Big Ten Media Days forever. Kai coach Nick Schupecowski on SI. Just curious, you mentioned the schedule, future schedules, or the non-conference schedule.

Anything changed with Notre Dame in the future? Any talks with that or anything? I don't think anything more than to say I would just reference my comments earlier in the winter. I think I gave everybody a pretty clear indication of how those have went. And nothing's changed from my vantage point. We want to play the game. I want to play the game. We would be playing the game, you know, had some things come true that were said.

And so hopefully we get to that point. Obviously, we want it to happen. I know our fan base wants it to happen. College football wants it to happen. And hopefully I'm up here next year talking about, you know, that game here on the future schedule. So we'll keep making progress and let you know if we have any more updates. But thank God we don't play them this year.

Do you see those notable games in the graphic under me on this screen? The thing about USC schedule, Andy, is that they have the traditional Pac-12 gauntlet of Oregon, Washington back-to-back. And then they have now the new traditional Big Ten gauntlet of Ohio State and Indiana back-to-back. So it's like there are both conferences and they get the toughest stretches of both conferences in the same schedule. So it's going to be difficult. But, yeah, he kind of kicked

to the responsibility back to Notre Dame again. And after Oregon and Washington, you have to go to Penn State. Yeah. In a row. Yeah, Penn State's in the middle. Yeah, yeah, of those two gauntlets. But did you, you know, that was still kind of like if they would have done what they said, which was any time, any place anywhere, we would be playing them right now.

He kicked the responsibility over to them again. But I think, like, I think it was like they pitched a Mexico City game. And I don't think Notre Dame can even play in. international game because they did play Navy in Ireland a couple years ago. There's like some sort of rule about how many international games you can play in a certain number of years. So like I, again, I'm not putting any of that on Notre Dame. The ducking of that rivalry is squarely on USC.

I get why they did it. I don't like it. I get why they did it. But back to Lincoln Riley. I think you're absolutely right. It is put up or shut up time. He understands that. but I get the sense he feels like they have what they need.

And again, I will go back to that quote two years ago. I'm not a magician. I can't wave a magic wand. Here, Ari, is the exact opposite of that quote from today. Nick Hamilton, Nightcast Media, wanted to ask you just with the level of expectations that are coming into this season, when you look at all of the recruits and everybody that you have coming back,

how imperative is it for you not only to be successful and finish strong this season, but also get into the college football playoff and make a strong push in that area as well? It's what it's supposed to feel like here. I've said this, you know, multiple times. I mean, the only two places that I've been at a head coach at were Blue Blood Schools that had the highest of expectation. So honestly, I've just, I've really known anything different. You know, we're a product of our own experiences.

and that's been mine. And so every year, you know, I expect to win, I expect us to win, I expect us to compete for and win championships, and that doesn't change. I do, though, certainly will give you what has changes. I do believe we're more equipped than at any point in the previous few years. And I think that's not a hope or a wish. Those are facts, and there's a lot of facts to back that up.

And it all stems from the first two things I said, the alignment and momentum within the program is real, it's palpable. We feel it. Our recruits feel it. Our team feels it. Our fan base feels it. I think a lot of people across the country feel it, whether they like us or not.

And so that's how it should be at USC. And so, you know, in some ways these years all feel the same. But I think that's the one area I will give you that does feel different and why there's certainly a lot of excitement and confidence around our program. It's not a hope or a wish. That's it. That's it right there. The exact opposite, Andy, of what he would have said in the past.

Okay. Now go do it. That's the tricky part. Got to go do it now. But I'm excited because this makes me believe he's not blowing smoke. Yeah. And if they're good, it's going to be fun. Like this that schedule it's going to be fun.

It's going to be something different if they are good and they are a playoff team. If they're not good, it's going to be crazy too. Like that's the other part. No matter what happens, this season is going to tell us something. September 26th, Andy. September 26th, that's the day we'll know. That's the organ. That's exactly right.

I cannot wait. I'm so excited. Like, the more we hear these guys talking about this season, the more excited I get because it's just, like, it is do or die for them for USC. It really is. It is Jen Co. in the AD saying, we have given you everything you eat, everything you asked for. And Lincoln Riley is saying, I agree, you have. Now, got to do it. Oh, can't wait.

All right. also at today's big 10 media days commissioner tony patiti gave his state of the conference address and he got asked about what's going on with the playoff 2014 playoff is clearly what he supports now unlike last year the rest of college football on his side the SEC and gregg sankie the lone holdout they would like it to go to 16 but not any more than that and Tony Petiti got asked about where they're at in terms of the playoff. I wanted to ask a lot of the reporting on the college football playoff has structured it, that it seems like the Big Ten has one position, the SEC has another, and it's been very difficult to mold those two together. Just curious, as you look at it, what the Big Ten stance is to move this thing forward, come to some type of resolution on it,

and what's going to be best for all the stakeholders, the colleges, the kids, the networks, and everybody else involved. Yeah, I mean, the first thing I'll say about, you know, working with the SEC on the playoff and working with Greg specifically, you know, I've never heard him say that he won't do the work and consider 24. I mean, he's been public about certain preferences he has, but he's committed himself to doing the work around all formats. And we've done the same thing. We have strong opinions about where the right path is. I think there's been an evolution since we were here last year about how people feel about 24 at this point.

and we've made adjustments in our league. We were focused on automatic qualifiers. We're not focused on that anymore. We're looking at the committee picking the field of 24. We feel that ultimately will still unlock the power of scheduling that we want. So we work every day with it. I think the path is you've got to be able to do this in a way that allows you to not play championship games. There's obviously significant economic value in our championship games across the P4.

And so we've got to understand where that is. And if we can find the value, then I think it just changes the tone of the conversations. It's been completely collaborative. And even though the memo gives the SEC and the Big Ten more, you know, the operating decision making in this process, we've really included, you know, on a daily basis, our colleagues and the ACC, the Big 12 and everybody else in the CFP room. We're trying to do this together.

I think there's been a lot of movement among coaches and ADs around the country that 24 is the right number. But we've got to see if it has the right value and we've got to understand that process and how we schedule it and when. I thought that was a really succinct explanation of everything that's going on. And also a good characterization of the working relationship between Tony and Tony Petiti and Greg Sankey. I don't know that they like each other all that much, but they deal with each other all the time. As Petiti said on the stage on Tuesday, like he and Sankey had talked five times that morning because they're in communication about the amendments to the Protect College Sports Act in the Senate right now.

But they're also talking playoff. and the key date, Ari, is the early part of August. There's a meeting in a couple weeks, and they are expecting to hear from their TV consultants about if you went to 24, how much would those extra games bring in? So a 12-team tournament, like they play now, is 11 games. A 2014 tournament is 23 games. So how much extra money would you make when you sold those extra 12 games? And I think it's sort of a chicken egg thing because the networks want them to say we're going to 24, we're going to 16, before we tell you how much we pay for it. But the commissioners are saying, look, we got to know before we make this decision how much you might pay if we do this.

Are they able to extrapolate out what 12 gets you and what that might mean for 24? Is that not the way it works? No, no, no, no, because the 11. games currently owned by ESPN and they are they would still be owned by ESPN in the in the future they are worth considerably more than the new inventory would be because the new inventory would be early round games later games exactly yeah the other thing that I'm very curious about when it comes to hearing from television is the studies that I know they're doing about what it could do to viewership of regular season games I think that that's an aspect

of this that needs to not be forgotten about, which is you might be able to add all this inventory at the end of the year. But if your promo for the big Saturday night game that runs all week in between every commercial on the sports channels, you know, comes into play, then, and people watch that game less. Will you end up with less total money at the end of the year or or not enough money gained by the playoff system in order to make it a financially responsible decision? Because I think that's important. I do think that there's a breaking point. And I know people always watch television when it comes to football. Right. I know that's what you always say. It's football. It's on TV. But you're right about this.

You're right about this. And this is just something that those TV consultants are considering. And they have to. And they need to be able to present the full picture to the commissioners. Because even if the networks come back and say, we will give you $400 million or $500 million for the additional inventory per year, which would be a enough to cover what you'd lose getting rid of the conference championship games. It would be enough. It doesn't mean it would offset damage to the front end of the regular season. If it did, now, if it does, if it's equal or if you still end up on the plus side, I think they'll do it. And that's the thing I want people to understand about the Greg Sankey of it all is it's not that Greg

Sanky is dead set against anything. If you listen to what he's actually said, and I've been in the room multiple times when he's talked about this, if you listen to what he's actually said, it is, I would like to hear exactly how this would work and exactly what the financials would be. And if you make a compelling case, then I may be willing to change my mind. He's never said, I'm dead set against this. I don't want to do it just because Tony Petiti does want to do it. That's not how this is working. Everybody is willing to listen for the right price. It's adversarial in the room at times probably,

but I feel like the end goal for both of them is the same, which is creating the best system that's most lucrative for the conferences that are driving the bus here, and it's the Big Ten of the SEC. The one thing that I think is a breakthrough on this podcast, and it's something that you even acknowledged for the first time, is that this playoff system is a potential threat or at least somewhat damaging to the regular season. Well, it is damaging to the regular season

if the thing they say it will cause doesn't happen because this is what I've been skeptical about. And you heard Petitia kind of mentioned that obliquely where he said unlock the scheduling power with 24. Translation, if you can lose a couple more games and get in, it will make people less likely to, be scared of scheduling good non-commerce games. Yeah.

I hear your words. I don't believe you. Yes. It just tripled the size of the field and people got more scared of scheduling good non-comperous games. Exactly. And it's like funny because I was like my number one point A bullet point A lit, outline for not liking expanding from 4 to 12 was, you know, protecting the regular season.

So now it's kind of like we're all like on. board with the idea that it will hurt it, but how bad will it hurt it? And if it's not bad enough, then we're still going to do it. I think that sucks. It won't hurt it if they're not lying about the non-conference thing. If suddenly everybody wants to schedule better non-conference games because they're like, well, you know, we can still make it at nine and three. We can, we might make it at eight and four. Like, if that happened, it actually does strengthen the regular season because it gives you better product. It strengthens the regular season with helmet power, but it doesn't strengthen it with stakes. So, and I don't know what you think is more than.

I'll take helmet power. I'll take it all. You think helmet power is more important than what happens if someone loses? Yeah. I do. I don't know. I didn't, I don't, you could be right.

I don't feel passionately enough about my to argue with you. You want to replace a crap game with a good game, Ari? What do you think's going to, who do you think's going to watch it more? And this, again, I'm highly skeptical that will actually do this. But let's say you get Penn State, we've killed them because they don't they're not scheduling as well out of conference i think they are adding some later but let's say suddenly you've got penn state and ls u penn state and texas tech

like they're playing and that replaces penn state versus bull and green or yeah that temple's an in state penn state buffalo like yeah but say that replaces penn state buffalo like more people will watch the other one. So, but again, they have to actually do that. I mean, it seems like it's in their best interest to do it from a financial standpoint. Well, and that's what I was going to get, that's what I was going to get or ask you, because Petiti, former TV exec, you know, he's thinking that way. Like, is he looking at this year?

And I'm betting he is. Like, and I'm sure the people at Fox, Eric Shanks and. and Jordan Baezont, the people who run Fox Sports, I'm sure they're like, Tony, you are making us, like Tony's not making them do this, but this was the only choice they were left with. We have to go do Big Noon kickoff in week one, our big celebration of the return of college football.

At North Texas, Indiana, yeah. Your league gave us nothing better than that? Yeah. I think from Tony's standpoint, he's probably getting pressure to make these guys schedule better. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the thing that is true is the networks don't care at all about stakes.

What they care about is total viewership. And however they get it, they would do Ohio State versus Alabama mud wrestling if people would watch it. It's not about the game of the system. It's about how many people are watching the game. So if they can get more people to watch regular season games at the beginning of the year because the helmets are sexier, and then they get to add all those extra games at the end of the year with a 2014 field that's a net positive for television right so sometimes on this show yeah yeah so the problem with this is this show sometimes and I think that's what we should be doing because we're a voice to and for the fans is is kind of being wary about what these changes will do to the actual sport outside of television but the thing that you mentioned which is the thing that I keep

coming back to, which is, in theory, getting Penn State Notre Dame instead of Penn State Buffalo sounds great. But they literally had all these big time non-conference games in the 14 field. They expanded the field 300%. People got scared and started dropping them. Yeah, exactly. Drop them after they expanded it. So what makes you think based on the behavioral patterns that have already happened that they're actually going to follow through on it unless the entire reason for expanding is to do this? Because to me, it seems like That's what they're saying, but that's what they keep saying, but their actions keep showing that that's not how they act. So take me, take me through the business of this. Is there a way that they can expand it under the condition that every schedule is a big time non-conference game? Like, do you write that into the deal somehow? Can you not?

Okay. If I'm the SEC here. Yeah. If I'm the SEC, I could say I will back your 2014 plan. I will look. agree to your 2014 plan if you mandate as we have that every team must play a power for opponent or Notre Dame in the non-conference, which again, most of the Big Ten is already doing that. Yeah. Yeah. Because the thing, too, is how much of a change is it already? Like Ohio State and Texas are playing this year. Yeah.

You know, Ohio State, Texas, Michigan. in Penn State what they're doing. But, you know, if there's a way to mandate it. And it's also, too, Andy, I don't know what the viewership differences. But if Indiana were playing, let's say, Houston instead of Buffalo or instead of North Texas, the ratings for that are still very different, right? Yes. Yes.

So there's still a net positive, even if it isn't a marquee game that we'd be talking about on the podcast for six days straight, there's still a different. Also, there'd be other really good games. Like, you know, you look at the Big Ten schedule. Oregon, Boise State is probably the best week one game. But they can't put Big Noon there because it's on the West Coast. That's only, they don't want to start it at a 9 a.m. local time. But none of those games are particularly great.

Wisconsin, Notre Dame's good, but that's already been moved to Sunday night. Yeah, but my point is that Indiana, North Texas is an objectively terrible matchup. Terrible. Indiana were playing any other power team, even if the power team they were playing isn't very good. There's still a huge difference in viewership in those types of games. Indiana, Wake Forest is still a more marketable game for viewership than Indiana, North Texas. Even if it's not a second matchup for a bunch of Michigan when they're playing Oklahoma in the next week. Yeah.

So it's not them, but like Nebraska. What if Nebraska played Cincinnati last year? That was a great game, week one. It was a weeknight game. Yeah. So anyway, I think I could get on board with this. The thing that I think would be awesome, Andy, if I could, like, use the 2014 playoff and create a great system is one, you go into us, if we get to 24, and this is, this is the

reality of it. You have 20 teams legitimately at the beginning of the year that could win the national title. That's step one of my perfect college football world. Step two would be for every team to at least play one power non-conference game. If you could guarantee me those two things would happen, which I think. is possible, then I would be okay with 24, I think. Oh, listen, if you, I would love if they, if they, within mandate, everybody plays 11

power conference games. Go, you know, go one short of Nick Saban, because maybe you want to play an in-state FCS team or you want to play like an in-state group of five team to, or maybe you have an Apple Cup situation or a Civil War situation. So you can keep those games going. but I would love that. If the 2014 playoff brought us that, I would be all for it.

I would be on board. Because all I want are more games that I want to see. Yeah. Back to what we always come back to. It's an entertainment product. Give us games we want to see. We will watch them. Your business will be successful.

Yeah. And I guess like there's something, There's something that I have to overcome. And I think it's appropriate on the same episode, Andy, that we're going to talk about the sanctity of Jersey space and patches and tradition. Yeah. But, like, I do think that my entire life, up until recently, a certain level of excellence was necessary in the regular season to be deemed worthy of competing for the title.

Like, that's what I'm conditioned to watching and expecting from my teams. That doesn't mean that the, even if you can go nine and three, and win the national championship, that doesn't mean that the regular season sucks now. Like, that's the difference. I think that people view, view the regular season as every week as a playoff game.

And if, if you take away the stakes of, of what losing means that all of a sudden the games suck. And I don't think that's true. What I think needs to be true is that none of the games are pointless. So as long as none of the games are pointless, then I'm okay with it. It doesn't mean that you have to be perfect.

It means that every single time I'm watching the game, I'm watching it for a reason. And the thing that scares me more than anything is that if you expand it out too much, that there will be certain games that you watch on television where there literally is no motivation for avoiding loss, which is like, players at the end of the year. Or I don't want anything to feel like an NBA game, I mean, a college basketball game in September or October.

I mean, sorry, you know, like late November. An NBA game in April. Yeah, like I want all the games to still have meaning. So if you set up a system like this, and I think that college football has progressed mightily, in terms of who is competitive. You know, there's more of a, you know, I just today wrote and predicted my playoff. There was a lot of teams that came into the mix

that never would even been a thought five years ago. And I think that that's great. But part of that is out of the college football playoff committees and Greg Sankey and Tony Petiti's hands. That's about the evolution of what the money does. And that's out of their control. I am so glad you mentioned that, Ari. I'm so glad you mentioned that,

because it brings us to our next topic. So we're going to start with Brett Bilema's quote. That's the sexy headline, as Brett Bilema noted when he got asked about it again. We're going to start with Brett Bilema's quote. And then we're going to listen to his explanation behind the original quote. And I think it's a really good discussion of where the sport is right now. But we get to wrap it in the package of SEC versus Bigger. 10, which is always fun. So here's what Brett Bielma said at first at Big Ten Media Days today.

Very enjoyable to watch, but to see the growth of this league to get to where we are now, I spent a couple of years in the SEC, was with Slive and then transitioned to Sankey. And I just think about it now, everybody's going to have, you know, opinions. And obviously, they're going to draw the Big Ten SEC and, you know, all that goes around about that. But to sit in the room with both of those guys, I think with Tony and the VIII. vision and experience that he has and to be in the room where Sanky, I know he's got to protect the SEC and they kind of want to live in 2005 forever. But I think the forward thinking of where we are in college football is an awesome thing.

Living in 2005. Their fans live there still. Poe, pooh, not 2005. They live in 2018. Yeah, yeah, 2005 is wrong year. 2005 is when Texas beat USC for the national title at the end of the season. Yeah, 2018 is the year. I would use.

But are they stuck in the past? Yeah. Yeah. So I think he's he's on there. But it's, because you asked me this before we started. And you said, does he just want to be the villain?

Yeah, he does sometimes. I think he enjoys it. Like he enjoys poking. Um, the, the actual truth of the matter is, is that I believe that he is, that he is authentic and the things that he says and wants to do.

But I also think that there is a desire there to be a lightning rod. And I think that it kind of plays into the discussion that we had about Lane Kiffin last week, which is, do you feel like it's a necessity to be a lightning rod in order to bring attention to your university? And I think in Illinois, that's more important than it is at other places. That said, my question always is, is what does he, is he trying to get at here? and I think that there is some question to that of like what what does Illinois have to gain outside of being in the news and I think like if you want to be a villain that makes you less likely to be an authentic villain

because being a real villain is like being somebody that people despise naturally you know I don't like do he like thinks what am I going to say today at the podium that's going to get people to hate me I think that's a conscious thought for him well here's the thing he means it though. He's not doing it as a bit. And so I want to take you back to February on this show. Brett Beelma joined us and we were talking to him. And he said something that I wasn't used to hearing coaches say in this day and age. And it ties into what he said today. So here's Brett Belema from from February on this show. I came back into college football three years later and I could

fuel automatically, right? There was a little bit of a shift. And then two years later, when the NIL revenue share, but also, you know, the portal world opened up and kids didn't need to sit behind people anymore. They were going to experience in depth. You know, now two years in a row, I bet you an SEC team head to head in a bowl game that everybody thought was going to go the other way. And it's just the rosters are so much more comparable. The opportunities are so much more comparable. It's a, it's a balanced world that I've never seen before. Listen, I know there's a lot about Big Ten SEC, Tony Petiti, and then I was very fortunate to be under Greg Sankey, two of the best people, in my opinion, to see beyond what's in front of them that I've ever been

around. I literally was a coach at Arkansas that helped lead a group of coaches to try and, you know, say, hey, we would love Greg Sankey to be the SEC commissioner, right? I remember having a conversation with Greg and others about that, right? Those guys are incredibly gifted. And I just think to have two of those men of that caliber. And now to have coach, you know, the ACC and the Big 12 also have great leadership. It's just a really exciting time for college football. It's not it's not Big Ten SEC. It's about college football, man. We're at a place. This is my third in it, my third NCAA head job. Obviously, Wisconsin, Arkansas and here. And there is no better time to be a head football coach in college football than right now. I know there's a lot of headaches and there's a lot

of things that everybody complains about. Accept it, build, grow, surround yourself with great people, and a lot of great things can happen. So I'm super excited about where we at. More importantly, excited about the game of football, right? Like college football is competing with the NFL in every way, right? Like just TV, marketing, money. It's a really cool time for this to be about, and I think it's only going to get better. Okay, so that, now you have a baseline of how Brett Bielma feels

about this era of college football. Now let's go to Stuart Mandel, our buddy Disco, Stu, from the athletic, asking Brett Bilema, hey, what was up with that SEC limit in 2005? I'm crack. Stuart Mandel with the athletic. Brett, you just said something earlier about the SEC wanting to live in 2005 forever. Can you just explain what you mean by that? Well, I think I just made the headline, right?

Well, I became a head coach in 2006, so I was going back before I was a head coach purposely. And I think what I'm saying is like I went to the league, I went to the SEC, and it was a completely different league, in my opinion, than the one I was in the Big Ten prior. and just with the basically the two biggest things, the biggest components are the transfer portal and revenue share, NIL, however you want to describe it. When those two elements came into college football, the whole world changed. I mean, it's overly obvious to say that, but I think anything to predate that is just a different time in college football. It just is.

And it's also really hard, I said at this point someone earlier, you know, so back when I was in the Big Ten the first time, we were going through this renaming of our league. I think the eventual winner was the leaders and legends. I don't know how the hell we got there, but regardless, you know, I remember we were in these conversations, and I was with Coach Alvarez, he was obviously our AD, and we did a comparative study over 20 years, and I believe they looked at the last 50 years up to that point. And, of course, 50 years of time, Wisconsin wasn't anywhere in the mix,

but in the last 20 years when we took that data, the only other team that had won more games in Wisconsin was Ohio State. it wasn't Michigan, it wasn't Penn State, it wasn't Nebraska who was coming in the league, obviously. But the four teams they all wanted to talk about and that they were worried about distributing evenly was Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, and Nebraska. And I'm pissed, right?

Because, like, I'm at Wisconsin, and I look at 20 years, and no one's really paying attention to that, right? And coach just said to me very plainly, said, don't worry about things you can't control. You can't change people's 50 years of history in the way they think. I also had that revelation when I recruited a young man, Yelda for Holt. He was from Denmark.

And Yelda was a foreign exchange student in Ohio. I offered him a scholarship. And then he went on a tour. And I was at Arkansas. And we hadn't won anything at that point. I was in my first or second year. And he went to visit us. But then he went and visited Alabama, Florida, Ohio State, Michigan, all these premier programs.

And he came to Arkansas, in my opinion, because he wasn't. blinded by the 50 years that he didn't know or the 18 years he'd been alive on his earth because he had been in Denmark, right? Like he wasn't blinded by the things that he had been told or learned. So I just kind of take that in a way that like it's a different world, man. The last three years, like the quarterback I have now, we would not have gotten if the world was existed five years ago. I know that. Neither would my left tackle, my left guard, my center and my right tackle wouldn't be here. playing for me, right? And you go around to every team

and the rosters have changed because of those two components, the transfer rule and revenue share. It's a different world. Anything beyond that is nonsense. That's where I'm coming from. So he's right. Those guys wouldn't be on his roster.

The 50 years of history doesn't matter as much. I think we've seen that with what Texas Tech has done with its roster. We've seen that with what Tennessee's, done with its recruiting. We've seen it with the return of Miami as a potential national power.

It doesn't matter as much. And I think there's a certain old guard that hates that. And it's interesting because I don't think all of the SECs, like, when he's talking about the SEC, and I think he meant 2006, like that's when their

winning streak started. I think he means that. Yeah. Yeah, maybe he wanted to go way back, but I think he means 2018, Andy. Right. When they were just dominant and doing it that way, yeah. But I don't think everybody in the SEC wants to go back there. Well, there's two components to this.

One is where does the fan and the coaches stand in terms of what era do they want to live in or believe that it is? If you listen to the Feinbaum show, you will hear a lot of things that were true in 2019 that aren't true anymore. And I think people are having a hard time. And we've been fighting the battle on the show for the last two years. now to the point that I called Little Tenor every time I go on that show because I'm trying to tell him that Illinois is better than they were. By the way, is very mad at me because I have the picture of me and Bucky Badger is my Twitter avatar.

So I'm right there with you. But Andy, so there's that aspect of it. The other aspect of it is do the administrators, does Greg Sankey do the coaches, do the people who are involved in the administrative side of the SEC want to try to hang on to the older days? I'm not sure that that's what's true. I think what they want to do is set up a system where they can continue to be highly competitive, but that's true for everybody. So does Greg Sanky want to live like it's too?

Of course he wants his teams to be good. But I think that there's two. I think every Alabama fan would love to go back to 2018 and it never change. But that doesn't mean that Greg Sanky is going to govern based on the way that I also think there are any Tennessee fans or Texas A&M fans

or Missouri fans. fans or any other fans. Yeah. Yeah. There are other teams in the SEC that are benefiting from the new world the same way that Illinois is. So I think that it's two-pronged, but I felt like that was more of a jab to the fans than it was to the administration. I think that the fans are having a really hard time accepting the fact that the SEC isn't as dominant as it used to be anymore, which is why when I go on shows like Fine Bomb and I, and you mentioned debating people like Brad from Macon, all he ever talks about is what happened in 2018. There's no forward thinking in his debate. It's always, what used to happen. Well, he doesn't have a scoreboard to rely on right now. Like, when you have scoreboard, it's a very compelling argument. Like the three years of no scoreboard is a long time, Andy. Yeah, yeah. And they had scoreboard for a long, long time.

Yeah. So like that, that's the thing. But I do think that the SEC will be a net positive because the one thing I know for sure, Andy. And this has always been the case. And I think the thing that the Big Ten is kind of catching up on is, is the amount of teams in the conference that care to win in football, there's no question in my mind that the SEC is still the leader in care to,

you know, and wants it a better television product. Like the SEC had, I can't remember how many years it's been exactly, but the SEC had its lowest average margin of victory in conference play last year, and it was at least 20 years. Like, the more that goes down,

the more interesting every week gets in league play. The big 10, needs that to happen too. Yeah. It's a problem the Big Ten has right now that needs to be fixed. But I suspect, and Brett Bealam would probably back me up on this, that's going to happen as more Big Ten programs become more like Indiana, Illinois. Well, Illinois, yeah.

It's not the Indiana. Indiana, I think, is an outlet going from worse to best. It's when it's going to Rutgers going to be a tough game. That's when it changes. Yeah. which by the way, if you heard Greg She honored today, yeah, he, I don't remember him talking like that for the last two years either. Yeah. Yeah. So there's a lot of want to going around. And I think that's been a net positive for the sport and the fan experience. But I think that we need to break through and I think we've done a really good job of it, Andy. And you are somebody who has covered the SEC intimately for 20 years. And I applaud you for being able to see it.

because there are so many people who have covered the sport for a very long time who have been reluctant to admit that things have changed. So, you know, I think that we need to get to a point where we analyze the sport more honestly, collectively as a college football community, but I don't view the SEC's platform or decision-making to be rooted in an effort to get back to 2018. I don't view it the SEC as a monolith. Yeah. Like Alabama's experience and Georgia's experience from, you know, 20, from 2007 to,

to 2022. Like, that is not indicative of the rest of the conference's experience. Yeah, right. There are a lot of programs that would like the better chance, like would have liked to have started the season with a much better chance of winning. And now I think that it's a lot more fun to be a Kentucky fan now than it was eight years ago.

It's, and it's definitely more fun to be, producer river, is it more fun to be a Tennessee fan now? That's an easy question. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, River.

Don't ask me about the 2010s in Knoxville. Yeah. So I do think, I think Brett Bealem was right, but he probably took a little bit of a cheap shot to get there. So. Yeah. Yeah. Which is fine. I don't mind.

Like, I like the rivalry between the conference. I thought Tony Petitie has had a really good answer about that too. Like, yeah. It's fun. It's fun. Yeah. Tony Petitie's answer about how the Big Ten schedule is actually more difficult than people give a credit for.

that wasn't the good answer well but it was it made me laugh because his platform was if our schedules are such a joke then how are we so prepared to traverse the CFP bracket and then the SEC has always been that way too and then recently the SEC has changed it to

we're so hard that we're too beat up to be good in the playoff and it's like just back and forth between what's more out of the excuses right themselves yeah we're too it's too hard during the regular season And now we're adding an extra game. No wonder we don't go. Remember when the Big 10 would argue against the S.

Your schedules are too easy. You play those FCS teams in week 11. That's why you win national championships. Andy, you covered the 2006 national championship game. And what did you hear in the locker room after the game was over? There were four or five teams in the SEC. I'll never forget. Like, Florida's just beat Ohio State 41 to 14.

And Jarvis Moss, the defensive end for Florida gets up and goes, there were four or five teams in the SEC better than them. And that's supposed to be the reason that they were so good in the postseason. Now it's too hard to be good in the postseason. I can't keep up. But this rivalry is good. And I think that like regional, like I know we've kind of lost something with the regionality of rivalries.

And like the fact that college football is more like diverse and conferences and stuff. But I do like the Southern. At least a somewhat self-contained geographical region. I would argue that Missouri and Florida are very, very different places. But I think. But I think it is a. a true nationwide conference. South versus North is still a very compelling thought in this country.

So, you know, we'll see how it goes. But, you know, it'll be fun to watch. It will be. You know what else is fun? Jersey Patch Wars. Oh, my. All right. I did not wear this shirt so that you could sew a Chase logo on it.

You don't wear red. very often and I find it to be quite interesting that you chose red today. It would match today. So the announcement Tuesday morning is that Ohio State has a deal with J.P. Morgan Chase and the deal will pay anywhere between $15 million and $17 million a year just for that Chase patch to be on the Ohio State jersey. This created an incredible discourse throughout the college football world where everybody's like, boy, the Big 12 really screwed up selling that monster sponsorship for $20 million a year.

And each school gets $1.5 million. They can't make a deal like this now. I was like, no, they can't make a deal like that because they're not Ohio State. Like none of them are Ohio State. So nobody's going to pay for that. But the Big 12 schools, let's clear this up. the Big 12 has a deal with Monster. The Monster logo is going to be incorporated into the Big 12 patch, which already was on the uniform.

Yes. So it's not stopping them from selling their own jersey patch, which multiple Big 12 schools already have. Like, BYU did it a few weeks ago. So that's not what's stopping them from making $17 million a year off of their jersey patch. Not being Ohio State is what is stopping them. So the question I think that a lot of people on Twitter are having, and I think that I've seen a lot of people who are confused, is what can the Ohio State partnership alone tell you about what the Big 12 should be worth? If the monster deal that the Big 12 got was 20 million and the one that Ohio State got and then of course the one that Notre Dame just got with SoFi are worth in the same category, does that make it feel like the Big 12? 12 made a bad deal.

No, because here's how deals work and money works. If someone had offered you more, you would have taken it. So is it fair to say that having a patch on the Ohio State jersey is every bit as valuable of a property, just Ohio State alone. And Ohio State's patches, I believe, are going on all their sports, not just football. Right, correct. But Monster paid $20 million to be on the Big 12 logo and on the field. Mm-hmm.

What would you rather do if you had, if Andy Staples, incorporated was selling PC computers? Would you rather be on the Ohio State jersey or would you rather be on every Big 12 patch and every break big 12 field? I'd rather be on the Notre Dame jersey, clearly, because the SOFA deal with Notre Dame, Pete Nacos and Ross Dellinger reporting, worth $18 to $20 million a year. So that's what's crazy. I think I'm having a hard time.

I know that Notre Dame and Ohio State are maybe the two biggest brands in all of college football. Is there an individual brand program-wise that's stronger from a visibility standpoint than an entire power conference? I think those two would be. I also think if we're going to, who else is in this club? I think Texas. Michigan. Michigan. Georgia.

Maybe. And maybe Alabama. you know producer river asks organ my thing on organ is they've already got their main corporate sponsor logo on their uniform have for years they could go Nike Jordan you know back on the sides you know exactly like so it's very strange the the reaction all this if you if you're brett your mark okay i'm guessing no okay okay maybe Maybe there were some higher offers than what monster offered you. But who would those higher offers be from, Ari?

Like what kind of company would be more likely to outbid? I don't know. I think the only kind of, like the only way you'd say no is if it's something you don't necessarily want to take. And that would be a gambling company, which the Big 12 certainly couldn't take a gambling company sponsorship that is that out front during the middle of the Brendan Sorsby stuff. So maybe that type of company would have offered more. But of the of the deals you would take, I guarantee you this was the best offer they got.

Otherwise they would have taken a different one. Yeah, I mean, I guess the question is how extensive was the search? How much more could they have negotiated for all these different things? But it also explains why. We have this super league conversation so often because there are brands that are just worth a lot more than the others. Yeah. And it's the same conversation. I just don't know if Ohio State and Notre Dame are more valuable than the entire Big 12.

So like if you are questioning whether the Big 12 could have done better, maybe if they held out longer or took more pitches or were more stern. I think I could be willing to like acknowledge that. But I also don't know enough about how it worked behind the scenes to criticize the Big 12. And it also like it's not like they kept their schools from selling their jersey patches. Yeah. They can still sell those. Yeah, but you can also make the case that the Big 12 is the only conference that has sold the rights to their logo and actually. They are.

And Petitia got asked about that at Big Ten today. And he said in their analysis, they thought it was more, it was better financially for their members if the individual schools just sell them themselves. Because, yes, the Big 12 does take. probably value away by having that integration. So if you sell your, if you're a Big 12 school and you sell an individual jersey patch, that means there's going to be three patches on your jersey. There's going to be whoever made the jersey.

So Nike or Under Arm or Adidas, there's going to be a Big 12 logo, which will have that monster logo integrated into it. And then whatever logo you sold. The logo you sell individually is probably going to be worth less because they are sharing space with Monster. The question is, would you have gotten $1.5 million more if there were no monster there? And I would probably beg to, I would probably say no.

I think that I, to me, it seems like a prudent deal because the Big 12 is fighting an uphill battle financially. So they were able to sell a piece of their real estate to give them an influx of a million of $20 million into the conference in order to try to get to a place where they could kind of level the plan. But that's why when they also want to argue. you that they're in the same league as these schools in the Big Ten, that they are the same. They're not the same. You're not the same as Ohio State. You're not the same as Alabama or Georgia. You're just not as a brand.

And that's why they keep talking about a Super League. Yeah. So I know it sucks reducing this to like franchise valuations. I would rather them just settle in the field too. But we're going to have more of these conversations. Now, as far as the Jersey itself goes, I look at the Ohio State jersey. Notre Dame was one.

Ohio State never said no to this. Notre Dame initially, when they approved selling these things, it felt like the Notre Dame administration was like, I don't know if we want to do that. And then I bet the bids came in. They're like, oh, yeah, now we're good. Let's go. Bring on soapy.

But it look good. Like it doesn't, it's not like a European soccer jersey where you're seeing the company logo before you realize what teams playing. Yeah. I also think that they'll just blend in and look like second nature once you play. So like if Notre Dame is doing a patch, everybody can do a patch because there's nobody more traditional, tradition oriented to Notre Dame, right? Like Penn State. Well, the only one that's come out really hard line was, was Christel Coney, the Texas athletic

director was pretty forceful when that was approved in saying that they didn't want to do that. But I'm curious if they change their minds on that now. Yeah, I'm sure they will eventually change their minds. Because if this money trickles down into how competitive you are in the NIL space or how flush of cash you are, like everything is going to be black and white when it comes of this sort of thing. And like, honestly, if Notre Dame is doing it, then Texas can do it. Right. Like, when you think of the most traditional.

uniform or the fan base that would be most connected to their traditional uniform, three come to mind. And if I'm forgetting somebody, let me know. But the three that come to mind are Bama, Penn State and Notre Dame. Am I forgetting anyone? Well, I would argue that Texas and Auburn are both very particular uniforms. They don't like they don't do alternates. Yeah, this is this is the uniform. Yeah. So maybe you can throw them in there. Maybe Ohio State was one of those teams too because they were very traditional about Michigan. but like these teams also keep swapping who is actually making the jerseys and they're also swapping all sorts of different things that they used to hear to from I remember when I was first in college football like there was this debate about

whether teams should play at night you know it's like oh we never play it was a very big 10 debate that had been settled in the rest of the country yeah I just remember like why are we who gives a shit like if more people will watch and it'll be more fun for the fans who cares what time the game kicks off um I used to laugh every time it's a night game you got Michigan like I know there are certain people who are precious about it and I want to dance around it a little bit because I don't want to piss them off too much but it's like buddy you can't even keep a player from switching to his rival to play the game for it now like you're worried about the uniforms like it's just not 1990 anymore it just isn't and I and I say it's like oh god you're just pissing on this uniform it's like come on dude you know what looks better carization of and yeah if it gets to be like I don't even say I don't even say I don't even if it gets to be NASCAR, if it gets to be Premier League Soccer, that would suck. I would hate if the corporate logo were bigger than the team logo. But I don't really care.

Like, what the NBA does? They buy the rights of the teams, don't they? No, I mean, they're buying jersey sponsorships. Okay. Because, like, I just thought that like European soccer, it's like, well, look, it's this bank. Now, it may be the same conglomerate that owns the team, does it, but not always. I mean, they're, Spotify, Spotify, Barcelona, I believe. Like, they, anytime somebody has a new album coming out, they, they have a different jersey.

Would you rather win the national championship with a Keynes patch on your, or would you rather lose with a pure uniform? I think it looks better to win, personally. Exactly. Plus, Keynes, amazing company. Also, not LSU's jersey sponsor, shockingly. You ever try the canes non-bredded strips? Oh, I need to do this.

I think they still fry them, so I don't know that they're the most healthy thing in the world. A brand new canes open up near me, so I... There's no carbs and there's like 70 grams of protein and you can... No free ads, by the way. No free ads. We'll talk about their competitor too because neither one of them is paying us right now. Though again, if you'd like to, I'll put a match right here for you.

Oh, iron on a company patch right here in my job. So you've advertised the Canes non-breddit. I have been very critical of Zaxby's in the past, but I have turned around on Zaxbys. Okay. Lemon pepper, dry rub, tenders, holy crap. And those aren't fried. They're also grilled or? They are fried.

No, they're fried. But there's no breading or there is breading? Oh, they're breaded. Oh, okay. But they are doused in lemon pepper and they are spectacular. Dry rub is really underrated and also the healthier option. Hell yeah. Hell yeah.

I will recommend if anybody hasn't tried it, all your restaurants, salt and vinegar dry rub. Just saying. Get a patch. Salt and your dry rug is fire. Yeah. Logo free shirts right now. Although this is a quince shirt. shirt. So, uh, right. They, they, they are an advertiser. Yes. Yes. But, yes, we, we got,

we got real estate. We got real estate. So, uh, if you make chicken fingers and you'd like us to sing the praises of your chicken, your chicken tenders alone, we can be bought. Your people call their people. Yeah. Your people will call our people. You know, people helping people. Yeah. Yep. Sorry for the late drop. We just want to make sure we had the latest from Big Ten Media Days. We want to make sure we got Lincoln Riley into the show. And we did. We will. We did.

And we'll be back tomorrow. Big Ten Media Days continues. There'll be plenty to talk about Ari's projected playoff. We've got to break that down. Talk to you then.