Andy & Ari On3 - Jim Harbaugh Suspended? | Georgia TE Brock Bowers | Is Nebraska Close to Being Back? | July 25, 2023

Episode Date: July 26, 2023

Jim Harbaugh Suspended? | Georgia TE Brock Bowers | Is Nebraska Close to Being Back? | July 25, 2023(0:00-14:05) Coach Harbaugh is suspended for the first four games, and we bring on Michigan Insider Chris Balas (@Balas_Wolverine) to break it all down.(14:06-19:50) Georgia TE Brock Bowers joins us from SEC Media Days in Nashville. Coach Kirby Smart believes we wouldn't get much out of Bowers, but we get plenty. Culture at Georgia and Does Coach Smart Think He's Soft?(19:51-40:25) Nebraska insider Sean Callahan (@Sean_Callahan) joins to discuss if Nebraska can make an impact in the Big Ten under first year head coach Matt Rhule.(40:26-45:20) 4th Year Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers joins the show to discuss his expectations, the passing of Coach Leach, and if he actually likes the cowbell.(45:21-1:05:18) Former Oklahoma center and radio host Gabe Ikard joins the show to discuss Oklahoma's expectations entering their last year of the Big 12 and some of his most favorite games he'll miss being played annually.(1:05:19-1:08:22) Extra Point: Charlotte Head Coach Biff Poggi didn't have a whole lot to say at the American Conference Media Days, but it wasn't his fault! Andy breaks it down and gives us a brief history on Coach Poggi and why we should have our eyes on the 49ers from Charlotte.

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. Big news from Big Ten country on the eve of Big Ten media days. The Athletic reports that the NCAA and Michigan are working on a negotiated settlement in an infractions case that would wind up with Jim Harbaugh suspended for the first four games of the season. One of the longest in terms of percentage of seasons suspensions we've ever seen for a sitting head coach. Chris Ballas from the Wolverine joins us. Chris, this is crazy because this goes into the Big Ten schedule. Yes, it's Rutgers, but this is a long suspension.

It is. You know what? If you think about it, you think about four games and you think, oh, it's only four games. That's a third of the season. And, of course, they hope that it goes beyond that. And it's all because of the cover-up being worse than the crime, according to what we've heard.

You know, Jim Harbaugh not being forthcoming. Nobody would say he lied, but said, well, I don't remember about giving a kid or two a hamburger when they came up for an unofficial or for a visit, unexpected visits. So yeah, this was during COVID, right? This is all about that. We're because normally you can, you can do some stuff like this on an unofficial if it's within like a mile of campus. But once COVID hit, they said no unofficials, no officials, nobody there. And somebody coming from out of town. Yeah.

Yeah, unexpectedly. Yeah, unexpectedly. It's not like they said, hey, come on up and we're going to take you out. These kids drove, I think, 500, 600 miles or something like that. It's a committed player, right? Committed players, exactly. So brings them to one of his favorite establishments, you know,

and I don't think he even paid for the burgers. I think he paid for the tip and signed off on it and somebody had a receipt. So there you go. And he did what any attorney is going to advise you to do in a court of law, which is say, I don't recall. Right. And then they hand the receipt in. The investigator shows the receipt and says, do you recall now? I still don't recall. In NCAA land, it's a little bit different because in a court, a jury is going to be told, take that at face value. You decide how they feel about that and they have decided they don't believe him and so

here here they are and basically they're saying that he gave them misleading information which is what they're getting him for which people should realize and in this rivalry i'm sure this is ringing a lot of bells because this is what happened to Jim Trestle that got him fired. Although they had a little bit more of a smoking gun in that particular case. Right. And it was the stakes. I mean, they were taught, we're talking about, I think cars and things like that. And, you know, it was tattoos. Oh, exactly. That's right. That's right. Hundreds of dollars. It was, it was, it was pretty peanuts. When you consider that a guy who was dominating the league got fired over it.

Right. That's a great point. And you know what? I'm not absolving him of blame, clearly. If it happened, it happened. But if you look at the national reaction, not just Michigan fans, everybody's kind of scoffing at it and saying, if you look at pay for play and what's going on out there, this pales in comparison. At the same time, the one thing that you know better than anybody probably is that the NCAA does not like being lied to. And if you lie to them, then you have to pay some consequences. It's the one thing they can get you for. That's what I said and wrote all through that trestle case is if you had just said, yes, this is happening, then it would have been pretty minor. I imagine if they'd said, yes, I took, we took

some guys out for burgers. It probably would have been pretty minor in that case as well. But yeah, it's crazy because that's the one thing they can get you on and say, this is a very serious offense as opposed to actually what you did. And it's interesting because the times have changed so much. Like when Trestle did it, I kind of understand where he was coming from because they would have come down pretty hard on those players. And in fact, still did come down hard on those players. I don't know that they would have come down as hard on the players in this case, but I don't necessarily blame Harbaugh's attorneys for

telling him to take the, the, I don't recall tack. The problem is when they have the receipt, there's not much you can say. Right. And it's interesting who turned in that receipt. You know, there are a lot of people talking about that. And you know what, one of these guys that might have been that guy is one of the guys that might get a show cause out of all this from what it sounds like without going into detail. So, but it's not just limited to Jim Harbaugh either. You've got Jerome Moore. That's going to be, this is about, I think a different offense, think of Zoom call or something like that. And watching a kid do some pushups on a Zoom call or workout. And, but, and he's going to get a game. It sounds like Grant Newsome, tight ends coach is going to get a

game. So, and, and Mike McDonald now with the Baltimore Raven, is going to get a game. And Mike McDonald, now with the Baltimore Ravens, is going to have a show cause for a year. So even though he's in the pros, if he ever wanted to get back to the college game, that could affect him there. I think Mike McDonald's probably fine where he is. I'm sure he's not too concerned about it, exactly. Golly.

Okay, so let's talk logistics here. So Michigan's first four games, East Carolina, UNLV, Bowling Green, Rutgers. If you're going to have a conference game in this, in this mix, that's the one you want. They're non-conference. It's a little more challenging the last year, but not really. Right. So if this is going to happen, this is, this is a time. So I would assume Sharone Moore, under normal circumstances, would be the interim. Who's the interim for game one if Sharone Moore is suspended? Great question. I think it would be Mike Hart or maybe Jesse Minter. Mike Hart's got associate head coach experience at Indiana. I've got four guys that after the season could be head coaches. I think Jesse Minter too, if he decided he didn't want to go back to the NFL. So I'm guessing it's going to be one of those two guys and then probably Sharon Moore for the other three games. So if indeed it is the four games,

you know, and you know, we've heard, I think like you have that, no, it's not final. It's got to go through the infractions committee and everything else. So which is interesting. The whole thing is interesting to me because initially when we talked to people close to michigan they said they were going to fight this tooth and nail and it's ridiculous and everything else and now it sounds like michigan is like well you know what we're going to roll over and we're going to take our lumps again and a michigan thing to do so we'll see what happens

well so this feels like a leak from the NCAA side. And you see this in certain cases, and it's not just with stuff like this. Sometimes it happens in coaching searches. Sometimes one side of things wants to kind of move the process along, and getting some information out there does tend to move it along. This actually puts Michigan in a weird situation. If they were going to go to the mattresses over this, now they have to do that. Now they have to say, we're going to fight you on this. We're going to have a COI hearing. We're going to drag this thing out. If you want it over with,

and you want it over with before the season, you have to negotiate a settlement and do it now. And it sounds like these are the terms. Right. And it seems to me, I was speaking to a lawyer about this, you know, do you want to just take your lumps and put this thing behind you and move forward? Or do you want to drag it on, maybe have a special season and then have to revisit this and, you know, maybe adjust things if you win a championship and vacate games or something like that. So if I'm, if I'm Michigan, I'm saying, Hey, you know, if I approach Jim Harbaugh and I say, let's just get this over with, who knows what Jim Harbaugh is going to say, though, because that's the wild card in all of this. He apparently still has not accepted the responsibility for it and doesn't seem to want to.

Well, and that's my question. So when we see Jim Harbaugh get up at Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis this week, is he going to push back? Is he going to say nothing? Yeah. Or is he going to say we've settled it and I guess I'm out four games? I think what he's going to say is what his lawyer said today. Tom Mars, I think, told the athletic or ESPN and he said, you know what? We have no comment because it's ongoing investigation or whatever. So that's why I expect Jim Harbaugh to say that and what he said at the beginning of spring ball that, hey, when you compare us to perfect, we're not there. When you compare us to most other programs or any other program out there, we're pretty damn good. So we'll see what happens. Yeah. I'm not, I'm not one who gets into the moralizing over stuff like this because it's,

it's, it's all pretty stupid. If we're really breaking it down here, we're talking about a couple of hamburgers and some zoom calls. And I also don't care if they give them money. So none of that really matters to me. And I don't think it really matters to most people watching, but it is interesting that, that you have this situation. And, and so somebody pointed this out to me, somebody in the Harbaugh camp pointed this out to me today. And I hadn't thought of it this way, but with this information coming out, it is to the NCAA's benefit for this information to come out this way because they require the accused to not comment during the investigation and in fact will punish them for saying anything. So like what you said, Tom Mars, who, by the way, has never met a microphone that he wouldn't say something very interesting into. The fact that he's saying no comment and that Jim Harbaugh probably will no comment tells you where that's at.

Yeah, and I can guarantee you that Jim Harbaugh would want to defend himself. And if he could speak, would speak and say plenty about it. But if you're being advised and you know what, by not only your attorney, but the Michigan attorneys not to say anything, then he won't. So but he will be biting his tongue. And I can guarantee you, I know the reporters who are going to ask the questions. I know the people who are going to ask him exactly to comment. He won't do it, though.

How much of this from Michigan standpoint, not necessarily the Harbaugh side of it, but the Michigan administration side of it is let's get this taken care of in case this is a team that can win a national title. Yeah. I spoke to somebody about this a couple of weeks ago, close to it. And they said, we think it will resolve itself. You know, this week they were like, we can't comment. So we knew it was getting closer to a resolution. But I think for the most part, you know, Michigan doesn't like to be embarrassed even about something as stupid as this. And if they can put it behind them as quickly as possible and say, we apologize, you know, and we're going to take one, then we're going to take it. So I think you're absolutely right that that is the,

probably the desired resolution here. And again, it comes down to what Jim Harbaugh wants to and his conversations with them. So again, the Ohio State thing comes up, but not the trestle part of it. This somebody reminded me of this today. I was not thinking along these lines because Urban Meyer's suspension by Ohio State was not NCAA related. It was the university suspending him. But Ryan Day essentially got a three-game tryout as Ohio State's head coach. And lo and behold, they had made a deal to make him the head coach when Urban Meyer resigned at the end of the season. Could this be Sharon Moore or Mike Hart, whoever it winds up being, could it be a tryout in case Jim Harbaugh gets an NFL job or Jim Harbaugh says, you know what, I'm going to start a dairy farm.

Right. I don't think there's any question about it. I was actually talking to people on the East Coast trip when Michigan went out for spring break and they said Sharon Moore is ready to be a head coach. Ideally, he'd be out there running his own program for a while before taking over at Michigan. But you would ensure that the culture stayed intact. We've seen that at Michigan how many times over the years, you know, from Bo Schembechler to Gary Moeller to Lloyd Carr. They would like to keep it in-house, and they think Sharon Moeller is a rising star. I think most people do. So I think he will be the guy, at least somewhere down the road, I could see him back at Michigan.

I know that he turned down a couple of Power 5 jobs last year, and he's going to have more opportunities this year. And I don't think this one-game suspension for this minor infraction is going to harm his career at all. No, I don't think so either, especially if the future for him is at Michigan. And Chris, let's talk about that because it does seem like when the staff was revamped in the aftermath of that 2020 season that's when things really started to take off that's when you started seeing not just good

players coming but good players being developed into very good players I had a conversation with Jim Nagy from the senior bowl last week that was fascinating to me where he said that there were seven Michigan offensive linemen upperclassmen not counting freshmen sophomores so including some guys who won't be starters who may not play much who he sees being in NFL camps next year that's your own more right there 100 and he's a star yeah you know what and they love him it's a tough love type of thing but you know he played the position and that's important. I think people, some people overlook that, you know, he's played the position, he knows it and his kids love him. I interviewed probably

five or six of them for our football preview this year. They all said the same thing. This guy has everything you're looking for in a head coach, as a position coach, as an offensive coordinator. We had an exclusive with him where he said, I'm not thinking my next move and i believe that i think he just bought a new house in ann arbor as a matter of fact so he can be choosy kind of like a brent venable brent venable situation where hey i'm gonna wait so um but you got other guys on that staff too like steve clingscale and guys mike elston could have been a position or a coordinator somewhere so this is the best staff that jim harbaugh's had. There's no question in my mind. And we're about to get to see what everybody can do

because it looks like at least for the first few games, the roles will be changing and the roles will be expanded. So Chris, fascinating day. Cannot wait to see you in Indianapolis. This is going to be a really interesting Big Ten Media Days. It'll be fun and safe travels down there. We'll see you there, brother. Thanks, Chris.

You bet. We are joined now by Georgia tight end Brock Bowers. You've seen him take end arounds. You've seen him catch passes. Kirby Smart's talking about you just whipping people in workouts. He also says, like, came out and said, you're not going to get three words out of Brock. Is he making fun of you on the way over here about this?

Yeah, he mentioned to me that he was going to say that. But, I mean, yeah, I'm not a huge talker, I guess. Okay, so do you think about that, though, as your star has risen? And we're in the NIL world now where you build your brand, all that stuff. Obviously, you have an NFL future ahead of you with endorsements and all that. Do you ever think about, okay, I don't like talking, but do I have to figure out how to like talking? Yeah, exactly.

I mean, I don't like it, but it's just part of it, and I've got to do it. All right, so let me break this down for you because we had Cedric Van Praan on, and I asked him, did you know that he was a Pee Wee quarterback, like flag football fat kid quarterback I don't believe that okay so I was asking about you got to come up with trick play for him and you'll appreciate this in your center he did not want to throw it he wants to run the option but here you're involved in in his dream triple option I was like Brock's the pitch man right he's like nah like, no, dive back. Wow.

How would you – do you think you could handle like a straight-on fullback role? Wherever they put me, I'll go after it. But I feel like you'd want to put like Mims or something right there. That's what I was thinking too. Exactly. Or something, yeah. Yeah, but that – no, he wants you on the dive, coming downhill. Whatever works. So that's what – you're you on the dive, coming downhill. Whatever works.

So that's what, you're kind of a, it's weird, you're that type of player in the tight end of 2023's body. Have you always been the kind that just loves contact? Yeah, I mean, it's just, I mean, it's always fun just going and trying to dominate somebody. I mean, it always feels good doing it. So that's what I was wondering. When you look at how the tight end position is used now,

do you appreciate that you still want to do all that stuff? Because it seems like there's guys out there that just want to go catch the ball. Yeah, I mean, I'd feel soft if I wasn't doing all that. I mean, I don't know. It would just make me feel kind of soft, I guess. That's a big word for Coach Smart is you're being soft. That's right. That is, for a football player, the worst thing someone can say, right?

Yeah, pretty much. Like being soft and not being tough. Yeah. And your program, I imagine that you have to prove that day one, every day. I'm thinking about the level of players that you guys bring in. When these freshmen come in, how much do they want to prove themselves right off the bat? They're all highly ranked recruits, obviously. They all, for the most part, have something to prove.

They feel like they've got to do it. Your tight end room, how much does that change without Darnell? Because, I mean, he was a unicorn, right? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I feel like we're not going to have another dude like Darnell, obviously, because we're not going to have another dude that's 6'8", 2'8", and move like that. But, I mean, we do have Oscar Dell, we have Lawson Luck, we have Pierce Furlan,

and they all bring different things to the table, and they're all awesome dudes. When you got to Georgia and Darnell's sitting there in your room, were you thinking, I don't know about this. This is maybe a little bit different here. Yeah, I mean, yeah, if you go stand by Darnell, he's a mountain of a dude. I mean, it's impressive. Even John Fitzpatrick, he's a big dude too. I'm curious.

Does somebody come tell you when you get to Georgia, like, hey, they don't all move like Jalen Carter. Not everybody's as big as Darnell, the people you're going to play. Yeah, I mean, they don't really tell us that. But, I mean, it's hard to, like, go against our defense every single day, especially that defense my freshman year and last year. And even this year again, I mean, we're going against pretty much the best defense in the nation, which helps us out offensively a lot. So Kirby was talking about the class that came in before you in 2020

and how most of those guys are stuck. A lot of those guys are starters. What is it about kind of the selection process for offering you guys and then you guys deciding that Georgia is a program for you that has allowed them to basically keep your teams together? Yeah, I think a lot of it has to do with, like, just picking apart people's minds and, like, knowing what they want going into it and knowing, like, their mindset and how committed they really are.

I talked to Will Muschamp about this last year, and he mentioned that they want people to see practices. They want recruits to see how they're going to be coached at practice. How educated were you during the recruiting process to what it was going to be like once you got there? I wasn't educated a lot just because I was that COVID class that didn't really get any visits. And I was so far away it was hard for me to make a trip out.

And, yeah, so I really had no clue what to expect going into it. But you survived. I did somehow, yeah. You didn't get called soft. Or maybe you did. A couple times, yeah. To take that soft step back to Napa Valley is what he said a couple times. Oh, yeah.

You know, it's not your fault you're from Napa Valley, but it does sort of bring that on, right? Yeah, it does. Everybody's making the wine jokes and people asking you what to pair with a good cab. Oh, yeah. Do you know what pairs with a good cab? No clue. No clue.

Don't know anything about wine. Well, you don't need to in Athens, Georgia. Yeah, exactly. Brock Bowers, thank you so much. All right, so thank you. Thanks so much to Brock Bowers. When we come back, Sean Callahan of Husker Online will join us to preview the non-Jim Harbaugh portion of Big Ten Media Days, what's in store for Matt Ruhle and the Nebraska Corn

Hunters. And also, Sean has a very interesting prediction for who might win the last big 10 west championship we'll be right back we are here with sean callahan from husker online previewing big 10 media days talking nebraska corn huskers and sean you know it when i look at big 10 media days i always expect the same thing like everybody's to bring seniors who've been with the program the entire time. But you realize this is a new era in college football and at Nebraska. Jeff Sims, who was at Georgia Tech last year, he's headed to Big Ten media days as Nebraska's QB1.

Yeah, I think when you look at who they could have taken, I was like, I hope they bring Jeff Sims because he makes the most sense. But you never know who a coach is going to be like a year ago. Casey Thompson, Trey Palmer. Those guys were not at media days for Nebraska and you knew they were going to be the key players. But in this situation, a year one new coach, new offense. Jeff Sims is going to be the face of Nebraska this year. And he is a big part of what Matt Rule is going to do here in year one. So it does make a lot of sense they're bringing him. And I think we've seen, I think there's some other transfer quarterbacks and their names like

that as well coming to Big Ten media days. Yeah, it feels like it's just a changing of the guard in the entire league and the league is sort of i don't know moving into modern times because it is one of the power two now like it feels like just a different era in the whole big 10 yeah you're right i think you have to kind of adjust your thinking your mindset on everything and you, what is a senior anymore, even with the COVID years and other things like that, too. There are just so many things that make, like, who you're going to take with the transfer portal, NIL era,

and the COVID years. Just take the guys that make the most sense. And I'm glad that's what Nebraska is going to do. I fully expect Matt Rule, by the way, and you know this, he's going to really represent Nebraska at a high level at this thing too. I mean, for a lot of people in the Big Ten, this will be the first time they've seen Matt Rule. The Penn State media are very familiar with Rule from his time there.

But I do think Rule is going to leave a pretty strong impression at this event for everyone there seeing him for the first time. Yeah, he's a good talker. I don't think there's going to be any question about that. He's going to be casual, and I'm sure he'll crack some jokes and liven up what has traditionally been a pretty stuffy event. And I'm for it. I'm excited about the new Big Ten just because I think attitudes are changing. I want to ask you about this because we've talked about this before in terms of what Wisconsin is doing under Luke Fickle,

where it is very clear they're trying to win the Big Ten and not the Big Ten West, which is no longer going to exist in a year. How does Matt Rule feel about that in terms of schematically building this program and roster building for a divisionless Big Ten? Well, I think it starts with being able to recruit nationally. And some of the other teams in this league generally only recruit regionally. And they might focus more on just pure developmental recruits. To be able to beat the best in this league, you have to recruit nationally to an extent, and you have to recruit elite-level, top 300 talent.

I'm not saying you have to sign 20 of those kind of guys a year, but you've got to be able to be in the neighborhood of five to ten of those recruits a year. And that's what Nebraska's always tried to do in the last 20 years, and they have gotten some good players in this place. The problem is it's the developmental players. They've done a poor job of getting the additional depth and role players they need to build a program. They've had some pretty good talent over the years.

But I think Matt Rule, when you look at his first recruiting class, it's a very good combination of blue chip guys that he's got committed for 2024. And then there's about eight or 10 really good developmental type recruits that he's added to this class too. So what would represent success in Matt rules? You're one to, to the average Nebraska fan. I mean, first and foremost, they've got to get back to a bowl game. I mean,

I think about my daughter is seven and she's never seen Nebraska go to a bowl game. Wow. You think about like that Eddie what's the Alamo Bowl you know and the last bowl they went to was in Nashville the Music City Bowl they played Tennessee Derek Barnett broke the sack record for Tennessee in that game and that's I mean it doesn't seem like it was that long ago, but that's how long ago it's been 2016. Hold on ball fans. Butch Jones was coaching your team. That's how long ago it was.

But just, just to get back to a bowl game is where you got to start. I don't care if it's six wins, seven wins, eight wins, whatever. They've got to show signs of progress and they've got to get to a bowl game. And honestly, the first week of the year, what an opportunity Nebraska has. Nationally televised on Fox at Minnesota. And the Gophers are about a touchdown favorite, but how do we even know? Like, you can't really tell me that Minnesota has a good idea or anyone about Nebraska right now with the players they've added

right and just some of the things coming in and little nugget here Tony White Nebraska's defensive coordinator was the coach of Syracuse defensive coordinator there guess who Minnesota played in the bowl game guess who got Syracuse ready for Minnesota's offense before he came to Nebraska Tony White so Nebraska's new defensive staff will have a very good handle and at least preparing for the elements of Minnesota's offense as well. Yeah. And that Minnesota offense that we saw in the bowl game, probably fairly similar to what you're going to see early in the season, because they're not changing a lot schematically. And the guys that we're going to play more this season, we're getting to play in that bowl game.

Yeah. And I think for Tony white, this defense tries to create chaos. It's a lot of moving parts, trying to get free rushers at ball carriers and they've got some athletes that can run. I think the question continues to be, do they have enough size up front physically on defense to compete in this league? But playing Minnesota in August, on August 31st, to me is a lot different than seeing them in November. This is a different time of year to play Minnesota. Nebraska's really never played them at this stage of the year.

So this is where conditioning and weather is not a factor. You can throw it more down the field where a lot of times this game, it might be so cold or windy. You're not going to be able to get that many downfield throws, but this will be a different type of game to start the year. And I think a real opportunity for Matt Rule. Yeah. And the idea of having a fresh team going in against that team, which will beat you up, is huge because you actually do have some depth in the, in that first game. And then they get TC or they get Colorado and coach prime. That that's going to be a circus coming in that, you know,

Colorado's got TCU. So we're going to have an idea of what Colorado looks like before they play Nebraska. But how, how are people in Nebraska feeling about getting to see the Coach Prime show? Well, people are excited. I mean, you've got to remember, in 2019, Nebraska went out to Boulder, and they took over 60% of that stadium. It was just a complete invasion of Boulder.

And then Mel Tucker's team won the game. And then Mel Tucker's team won the game. Nebraska blew a 17-0 halftime lead and still lost that game by giving up, it was like 38 second half points. I mean, it was just a meltdown to lose that game with how well they played in the first half. There's going to be that type of showing from Nebraska fans. So yes, it's a road game, but it won't be. It will be as much red in there as black and gold. And I think for Nebraska, they will be favored in that game more than likely. They will have a good read of Colorado, what they want to do because of the fact they're playing TCU. I mean, there's a

lot that sets up nice for Nebraska going out to Boulder. And I do think from a physical advantage, I mean, look, over 50 new players are joining that team that weren't here in the spring at Colorado. How do you get that many guys acclimated and adjusted to playing football in the altitude in early September that weren't even there for the winter and the spring? I mean, that is a big adjustment playing at Colorado. I've been to many games there over the years. And, you know, I think for that team coming in

with so many new players in the opener, it will be interesting to see where conditioning is on both sides. So it's interesting. I talked to Matt Rule a few months ago about what he missed in his time away from college football. Because it feels like the sport changed entirely while he was with the Panthers.

Because you had the transfer rules changed nil changed uh he goes to the big 10 and now usc and ucla are coming to the big 10 what is that helpful that he just kind of comes in fresh like this or or is it is it a disadvantage that he's missed this adjustment period with the transfer portal in NIL I don't think I mean yes he's missed it but it it changes every day so I don't know I mean like what it was a year ago or two years ago it's different now so I think as long as you evolve with the changes of the NIL the collectives the portal how you manage your roster the the COVID years. There's so much about it. But this league is so much different, too.

You just think about when Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011, they were the favorites to win this league. And Urban Meyer wasn't here. Jim Harbaugh wasn't here. Trestle had just been fired. It was basically Brett Bielema and Bo Pelini. Those were the faces of this league think how far this league has come since 2011 with the money that's been infused those last 12 years and how everybody has a good coach I mean they're just there aren't any give me's anymore where it used to be when you played Illinois or Purdue or Indiana or somebody at Rutgers you just kind of

knew like yeah we'll win no matter how we play Now if you play off on one of those games, like what's deemed a lower-tier game, you lose. And I think that's the difference of this league now, is the bottom of the league is much closer to a 6-6 type team than it ever was before. Yeah, Loxley's got NFL talent all over it at Maryland, and Shiano might be the best Rutgers can do. He might be the one who can make them as competitive as they possibly can be.

But you're right. I mean, you talk about Bielema back at Illinois makes them very dangerous. You know, P.J. Flex done a good job at Minnesota. Kirk Ferentz, we know what he can do at Iowa. Who are you most excited to hear from at Big Ten Media Day, Sean? That's a good question. I mean, there's a lot of great storylines. I mean, I'm very interested about Northwestern, just to kind of see how they navigate through the day. And I'd imagine David Braun is going to have a very kind of consistent answer

to every single question. I was at North Dakota State. I didn't do it. I don't know. That's all I would say. Yeah. It's, it's, it's going to be, you know, they're, they're not, they're not going to say much, but that, that's going to be a big storyline and how that's handled. I think Tony Petitti, the new commissioner, I mean, just think about the new commissioners we've seen across college football,

and this will be kind of the first time we've seen him in this room and what his long term views and outlook is for this league, whether it's expansion or other topics. We haven't really heard him talk about those things. And Harbaugh, yeah. But what's he going to say? I mean, I think Jim Harbaugh goes in these things trying to be as boring as he possibly can be. And he's not going to not really going to move the needle a ton. And there will inevitably be Ohio State or Michigan State media that try to poke at him, and he'll just kind of brush them off like he does every year. I see Harbaugh maybe coming out a little hot because he's confident now. Because you've heard him say some things in the past like the born on third base thing like now he's got two trophies in the case maybe maybe this time he goes

goes out and throws a little spice in there yeah and think about what he's overcome almost being fired yeah almost going to the vikings um to where he's got this program now. I mean, and they, I don't know what the official poll is going to say Tuesday on the Cleveland Plain Dealer, but I would be shocked if they're not the unanimous favorite. I mean, I know you can make a case for Penn State and Ohio State, but how do you not have Michigan the unanimous favorite in this league based on what they've done the last two years, based on what they return? They are built to win.

I mean, like you told us on our show last week, they have seven offensive linemen that could conceivably play in the senior bowl, which I don't know if that's ever been done before. Right, right. And that's what Jim Nagy said is seven offensive linemen, maybe not all going to make the senior bowl, but he expects them all to be in an NFL camp this time next year. And that's not including the young guys,

the freshmen and the sophomores who may play a role. It is incredible depth that they've built and just NFL talent. The secondary is like that too, where they've got dudes, RJ Moten, who was a starter, was not going to find a lot of time on the field this year because they have NFL bound players. And so R.G. Moten is going to walk into Florida as a transfer and start right away. That tells you how deep Michigan is. And it's it's fascinating that they've been able to do that right after flipping that staff.

I'll tell you one guy I want to hear from, Sean, is Mel Tucker, because he has that great year with Kenneth Walker. He gets that massive extension. And then they were terrible last year. Like they have to be good if they're going to pay him all that money. They just have to. Yeah, that Mel Tucker story does get interesting, especially as hardball continues to pull away. And, you know, when this league switches to no divisions, I mean, the Big Ten is going to be so much different moving forward

without the divisional element. At least that used to give Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Minnesota something to kind of hang their hat on. Hey, we were the division champions. Well, now that won't even matter anymore. So it's all going to be playoff driven, whether it's two or three bids per year from the big 10 and how that plays out with usc and ucla and i mean will we see more expansion i think we're

all just waiting for oregon and washington and some of those teams to potentially come over someday but you know the more you hear out of pack 12 you just don't know what's going to happen so this the dynamic of this league the future of league, and questions of some of the coaches. Yeah, there is a lot of intrigue going into this media days for a lot of different reasons. Yeah, I am very excited. James Franklin kind of flying under the radar with a team that may actually be able to win the league. So it's a lot.

Now, I'm going to put you on the spot because this is the last chance we're ever going to have to do this. Who you got in the Big 10 west i got iowa okay so here's the thing crossover wise iowa nebraska and wisconsin they only draw one of the big three michigan ohio state and uh penn state iowa's draw is Penn State. Nebraska's draw is Michigan, and Wisconsin has Ohio State. So I think when you just look at that, Iowa's got a really good draw, and they've upgraded their quarterback. They've got a system in place. They've got a good defense that's probably going to be top 10 nationally again. So I give them an edge over Wisconsin right now to win the West because they've upgraded their weakness. I look at Iowa the last few years

with Spencer Petras. I mean, that was some of the worst quarterback play we've ever seen under Kirk Ferentz. And I think when you upgrade that alone, even with a little mobility that they're going to get out of McNamara, that's going to give their offense the boost they need to get those first downs they weren't able to get a year ago. And those first downs don't always necessarily mean points, but their field position that helped their defense and helped their special teams. I think Iowa figured out a way to win the league.

Yeah. One more first down makes the punting into the other teams, you know, inside their 10 even easier, which is as good as a touchdown if you're Iowa. If you can pin them inside the 10. But you're right. Cade McNamara is such an interesting case because he was the starting quarterback on a Big Ten champion that made the playoff two years ago.

He didn't do anything wrong. He just got beat out by J.J. McCarthy. I'm excited to see what he can do. I think you may be right, Sean. I don't know. I still lean toward Wisconsin because I'm very excited about what that offense is going to look like with that offensive line and those backs. But I can buy Iowa as the final Big Ten West champ.

And I'm talking myself into it as we speak. Well, like Minnesota and some of these other teams, their schedules are too tough. Like Minnesota draws everybody on the East. So, like, they have a quality team. But they're just – I think when you look at the divisions now, you have to look at those crossovers. And it's set up for one of those two teams to probably win the West.

And just based on they can get potentially two wins out of the East and heck Iowa could beat Penn State that's not out of the question that they they can beat Penn State oh yeah no I I'm fascinated because they can they're gonna keep the score down against everybody and you could have some crazy special teams plays that that swing the balance or that that just change field position or even defensive scores that change everything for Iowa. So if their offense is adequate, functional, those two adjectives are all I really need. And I feel pretty confident about it. Yeah. Punting from the 50 versus the 25 or the 45 versus the 25, it makes a huge difference for a team like Iowa.

And I feel like they'll get that boost. And McNamara's mobility alone, they haven't really had a quarterback that can move at his level out of the pocket, which I'm just intrigued. And you know Brian Ferentz is motivated to keep his job. He's got an average 25 points a game or he's not going to keep his job. Like, yeah, he's very motivated.

So we'll have the drive for 325 tote board on there. I think we're going to all meet at Big Ten Media Days and agree on how if it needs to be 300 or 325 because I've had multiple people say, hey, it's not 325. The deal with Brian Ferentz is they have to average 25 points a game and they have to win seven games. So my thing is, if you have to win seven games, it means you're playing 13. But I think probably the people who said it's just 300 are right. Because let's say there's seven and five in the regular season or eight and four in the regular season, or if're winning the west like you said maybe they're nine and three

they'll have scored 300 points in 12 games and he'll be fine yeah that i've never seen anything like this before where a hard number is put down in writing and they tried to do something with scott frost in that sense and then finally it was released that really all scott they tried to do something with Scott Frost in that sense and then finally it was released that really all Scott Frost had to do was win six games that is it is amazing it is like a loser leaves town match contract it's the it's definitely the first one I've ever seen for a coordinator with points I've seen you know you've seen head coaches and wins but coordinator with points it's amazing Sean Callahan I, you've seen head coaches and wins, but coordinator with points. It's amazing. Sean Callahan, I cannot wait to see you in Indianapolis. We are going to have to split a shrimp cocktail or maybe I'll get one for myself and you get one for yourself.

And a Kilroy's as well. That's always a good Thursday night spot. Absolutely. I like the way you think. Sean Callahan, Husker Online. We'll see you at Big Ten Media Day. Thanks, Dan. Thanks to Sean Callahan. We head back to the SEC next with the rarest of things, a four-year starter at quarterback who is actually entering his fourth year in college. Will Rogers at Mississippi State has a brand new offense.

He talks about what it's going to look like as the Bulldogs move away from the air raid when we return on Andy Staples on 3. We'll be right back. We are here with Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers, year number four as a starter. But you mentioned you were feeling old, but do you ever look at your defense and say, no, no, no, y'all are old guys? Yeah, yeah.

I mean, Jet, Buki, I think this is their sixth year. Crumney, this is his sixth year. Yes. No, those guys are old. So, Jaden Crumney, your D tackle, I was looking at this earlier today. I was like, did he play with Jeffrey Simmons? Yes, he did as a freshman. I guess so, yeah.

Yeah. I remember he played against me in high school. He was a senior when I was a sophomore. Wow. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy to think that y'all have been there that long, but it's a very different year for you guys, obviously, with Coach Arnett taking over. Yeah, I knew Coach Leach pretty well, and it was just awful.

What was that period of time like for you guys when you knew you lost him and and had to kind of keep going I mean it was difficult uh for sure but I mean I think the transition went about as smooth as it can go yeah from Coach Leach to Coach Arnett I think Coach Arnett does a really really good job he knew the team he knew the program so I think Coach Arnett does a really, really good job. He knew the team. He knew the program. So I think it was really big for us to kind of put Coach Arnett in that head coaching role. And I think he's done a tremendous job. It seemed like it went pretty quick. Did you guys as players say, hey, we really like this guy.

Please consider him. Yeah, I mean, I had been asked by a couple guys if I thought Coach Arnett was the best guy for the job, and I said, yeah, I mean, because, I mean, you promote Coach Arnett or you have to go job searching and then take all the time. And then I just thought at the time with what our program needed and everything that had happened, I think Coach Arnett is the best job, is the best guy for the job at Mississippi State. And so he goes and hires Coach Barbada on the offense, and obviously it's a very different offense than what you've been doing. best guy for the job at Mississippi State. And so he goes and hires Coach Barbate to run the offense, and obviously it's a very different offense than what you've been doing.

What's this past few months been like for you? It's been good, man. I'm really excited about the offense come time for the season. I think Coach Barbate's done a really, really good job of implementing his stuff, but then also seeing what we did well as a unit and as the personnel that we have. So he's done a really good job. And, you know, I think everybody's excited about the new offense. What will we see from you that maybe you didn't get a chance to do in the old offense? I guess we'll get to see.

Oh, no secrets. I mean, it's going to look different for sure. Maybe more downfield shots. But, you know, we're going to do what we do, play hard, play hard-nosed football, probably some new run schemes for sure. And, you know, we're all looking forward to it. We're excited. So having played in all these stadiums, played against all these defenses,

how much does that help versus, you know when when you first started doing this and you're looking across the field and it's alabama's defense or it's george's defense yeah no i think it's helped a ton you know i've played i've played probably the best team in the country the past three years yeah so uh you know it's definitely helped it's definitely helped a ton uh so now when we go play those road games and our four road games this year are all in hostile territory or whatever you want to call it so uh you know we're looking forward to those games though like i said we have a veteran group a veteran veteran group of players that have played in a lot of different road games and road

atmospheres so uh you know i think that's something we'll be able to handle. I was listening to a podcast where some offensive linemen were talking about going on the road in the SEC and how hard it is to hear that clap for the first time. And then once you kind of hear it, you've heard it. But for you as a quarterback, when you're in a very hostile environment, how worried are you about communication and how long does it take before you're comfortable with, okay, my guys can hear me and do what they got to do? I wouldn't say I'm worried about it. I'm saying I just have to be alert for it. We're not playing at home.

They can't hear me from five yards behind, so I've got to make sure you kind of over-communicate things and really take caution on guys can't hear, so you really be extra loud. Speaking of noise in your home stadium, your fans, they like the cowbells. They do. You guys make a big play, and they're clanging. Do you ever have to be like, guys, just save it after we score? No, no, I love it. I mean, every time they're ringing it, that means something's good happening, so you can't hate on it. we score. No, no. I love it. Every time they're ringing it, that means something's good

happening, so you can't hate on it. Alright. Will Rogers, thank you so much. Yes, sir. Y'all have a good one. Thanks so much to Will Rogers and the Mississippi State Athletics staff for getting us that interview. When we return, Gabe Eichert, former Oklahoma

Center, SiriusXM host, Oklahoma Radio Network host, host of his own Oklahoma podcast, good lord, the man has a million jobs, will be with us to talk Sooners. And forget the SEC ready part of it, though we get to that a little bit. Let's talk about how ready are the Sooners right now in Brent Middleville's second season and in their final season in the Big 12. We'll be right back. We welcome a very special guest, former Oklahoma center, host of the Oklahoma Breakdown podcast,

host on Sirius XM Big 12 radio, works for the Oklahoma Radio Network. Gabe Eichert, how many jobs do you have? During the season? It's five radio shows for serious. It's three TV shows for OU. It's the radio broadcast of the games. And then one bet online show that I added last year. Wow. I think that's it. That is a lot of jobs. That is amazing content, baby content. You are a, a, a great content creator. And that's it. That is a lot of jobs. That is amazing. Content, baby. Content. You are a great content creator, and that's why we've got you here, because we're going to create some content talking about the Sooners.

I've talked to my friends at Sooner Scoop about this whole idea of SEC readiness, and I thought it was interesting because all the Oklahoma media showed up at SEC Media Days and they were trying to get a sense of how it all works. And I'm trying to get a sense of where Oklahoma's at right now, though, Gabe, because they got one more year in the Big 12. It feels like they should be significantly better than they were last year. Everybody's kind of looking ahead to 2024. But what is this 2023 team going to be like? Yeah. And that is, you know, that, that's the question because you want to have you,

if you're Brent Venables in Oklahoma football, you want to have a really successful 2023 leading in to your first season in the sec in 2024, where you're kind of entering a whole new world. Yeah, the team, it's a bit of a mystery, right? And, you know, just starting with the defense, there are some new faces, right? You think about some of the key additions through the portal that they've added, like Rondell Bothroyd from wake forest like dison mccullough from indiana those guys are no those guys should

be big factors in improving the defense but for the most part it's it's a lot of the same guys that gave up 36 points per game in conference games a year ago. Right? Yeah. And we'll see if Brent Venables can get it turned around. I expect them to be significantly better defensively than they were a season ago. Is that a matter of just learning the defense? Because that was the thing that seemed to really get them last year, especially the TCU game where it – blown assignments where somebody's just running wide open.

That's not an effort thing. That's not a player ability thing. That's a mental mistake thing. I would imagine that's the part you can clean up the most between season one and season two. Yeah, there's no doubt, right? When you think about all of the mental errors they had a year ago, I mean, they added up.

They piled up. And the thing that, and you know this, Andy, you played. When you are unsure of what to do out there on the field you play slow you you it's really hard to play with the physicality you need to play with if you're unsure of what you're supposed to do and i mean you can go back and watch some of ou's defense last year where you can almost watch the wheels spin right for some of those guys see the gears turning in their heads yes yeah as you know communicating adjusting the motions adjusting to shifts things like that it just wasn't as it wasn't as seamless as it needs

to be and the hope is that you know guys like Danny Stutzman and Ethan Downs, that all this experience they have back in the secondary, you know, led by Key Lawrence and Billy Bowman and Woody Washington, that that stuff is all now second nature for them. And that those guys that should know the system, those veteran guys that should know the system, those veteran guys that should know the system now can elevate everyone else in the room's knowledge of the system, right?

Where players can help the younger guys, the transfers, the freshmen that may play a part on the field this season, that that can kind of just lift the entire level of play for the whole group I mean that's what you're hoping for if you're Brent Venables well if you move to the other side of the ball you look at Dylan Gabriel stats from last year he he did fine it seems like but this is an offense that is actually working at its best when it is gaining a ton of yards on the ground. And you take Garrett Gray out, who had 6.4 yards to carry. He ran for 13.66 last year. Can they do that?

Can they be that offense that gains five, six-yard chunks very regularly on the ground between passes? Because it seems like that's what really wears out the defense yeah that is that's who they want to be right and you think about Jeff Lebby's best offenses at Ole Miss you know what he was able to do at other places it's about running the football with him and that that is what he wants to do but they lost three starting offensive linemen from a year ago right they lost two offensive tackles you know one was a first round pick and anton harrison juan m morris was the third rounder so you lost some talented guys now you're replacing them

with talented guys right walter rouse transfers in to be your left tackle from Stanford, and Tyler Guyton is going to be their right tackle, maybe the most talented out of all these guys that we're talking about. I think the ceiling is top ten pick for him. Bill Biedenboe, and obviously Biedenboe was my coach my senior year at Oklahoma, his first year at OU. Him and I have had the conversation that Guyton may be the most talented player he's ever coached.

Wow. And there's some very good ones in there. Orlando Brown currently left tackle for the Chiefs being one of them. Yeah. The potential is there. But you've got some question marks for the offensive line, right? How will it all come together? And as boring as it is to talk about,

like offensive line play is, it's a huge, huge piece of playing offense at a high level. And if Oklahoma wants to run the football efficiently and set up a lot of the past game, the RPO game, then that offensive line, they got to gel in training camp. They got to play at a high level. One thing as far as the running game, which I think is going to be something to monitor this season,

is now that Jackson Arnold is on campus and you feel better about the backup quarters quarterback situation right anyone that watched the Texas game last year knows that yeah OU's backup quarterback situation was not a good one in 2022 that puts it very lightly oh dude that game was so brutal I've tried to erase it from my memory it's just it makes me sad that's the least fun I've ever had at a football game as a player as a fan you know calling the game it was i was miserable absolutely miserable but how much more involved will dylan gabriel be as a runner they were pretty cautious yeah with him a year ago as far as

dialing up some QB run game. And if you think about some of the things Levy has done in the past, like he has been, he's been willing to run the quarterback, including willing to run Dylan Gabriel as a UCF freshman. Right? So now that you're feeling better about things and you have a guy as talented as Jackson Arnold behind Dylan Gabriel, how much more involved does DG become as a runner? And what, what does that add to the offense as a whole? Because you can ask a lot of defensive coordinators out there,

like QB run game is a nightmare. It's what keeps defensive coordinators up at night. And Dylan Gabriel is not, I mean, he's not out there running a 4-4 or anything but he he is an athletic guy that can do do some pretty substantial damage when he needs to as a runner so well remember where he was committed before UCF and actually Georgia and USC showed up late in his recruitment too but the first offer and the one he was going to take was army he was going to run the ball he wasn't going to throw the ball so be a triple option guy yeah he's a pretty effective runner and i i think

you're right i think probably when people look back at that that offense his freshman year at ucf and say well he was with levy then how come it didn't look like that I think you you've hit upon the answer right there is they are scared to get him hurt yeah and we saw it right he goes out in the TCU game I don't want to make it clear TCU was going to win that football game even if Dylan Gabriel yeah it didn't healthy there was that offense they were they were cooking the Sooners defense that day but we saw how bad it was in the Cotton Bowl against Texas but interesting year for Dylan Gabriel he's an experienced guy I think that if he wasn't being compared to Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts and even Caleb Williams right with what he was able to do at USC a year ago,

going and winning the Heisman Trophy, people would probably have a more favorable opinion of the way that he played a year ago. But that has, you know, Heisman Trophy finalists win the Big 12 and go to the college football playoff is the standard for the quarterback position at Oklahoma now. Whether it's fair or not, it just is. So it's going to be interesting to see how well he plays,

especially with, I mean, they've got question marks, a wide receiver, right? You lose Marvin Mims. Now Jalil Farouk showed, showed a little bit last year, but do they have a guy that can step up and become that go-to guy? Like Drake Stoops is a reliable guy, but can Andrell Anthony, the Michigan transfer, can he be that guy that stretches the field?

Or Brennan Thompson, the speedster that's transferred from Texas, can he be that guy? They've got a couple of young wide receivers in Nick Anderson and Jaden Gibson who are huge and looked apart, but guys haven't done anything. They really have no proven playmaker at the tight end position, despite Austin Stogner playing a lot of football. Like he, he's not a guy that has been a huge, a huge threat in the passing game throughout his career.

So there's a lot of question marks for them at the skill positions. And it's up to Dylan Gabriel ultimately to, you know, get the most out of these guys. So last year in the Big 12, now obviously Texas is going with OU, so that will all continue. But what are you going to miss the most? What are you going to cherish as you go through this season and you see this particular team or uniform

or you go to this particular stadium? What are you going to cherish the most? Man, that's an awesome question. I think that mine is Bedlam because I am born and raised in oklahoma city bedlam has been a part of my life literally as long as i can remember life it has been like growing up you know i was born and raised as an oklahoma fan was fortunate enough to go you know live out a childhood dream and play there the whole thing and bedlam was always for

bragging rights like as a kid as a fan and then as a player went three and one by the way and just after that there's because oh you texas is is like, that's the rivalry, right? Yeah. But I don't live next to Texas grads. I live amongst a bunch of Oklahoma State fans. Not mostly OU fans because I surround myself with good people that make good decisions. But I hate that that's going away. I hate, I really do. I think games like that one,

even though it's been very lopsided and you'll get some of you fans to tell you, it's not a rivalry because we've whooped them the way that we have, but that game is special to me, you know, as an Oklahoman and it's going away. I mean, it's obvious now you've heard, we've all heard what Mike Gundy has said, game's going away. And I just hope that at some point we can get it back. Yeah. This one more than any other feels like it's not coming back. Like with Texas and Texas A&M, you always assumed it was going to come back. Not necessarily in this way with Texas joining the same conference, but you figured eventually the people who were involved in the conference moves

would cycle out and they just schedule one another in a non-conference game if they hadn't joined the same conference. This one feels different. This feels like I'm leaving you behind and Oklahoma State saying, okay, then we're done. We're just done. Yeah. And I think it's bad for college football.

And listen, I understand the reasons. Like, I get it. And I understand it's my alma mater that's making the move that, you know, takes these teams out of the conference the same conference i get that but iowa state and iowa find a way to do it yep florida state and florida find a way to do it south carolina clemson yeah kentucky a lot of other people have found a way and i know that people want to say well they're scheduled out for X amount of years. I just hope eventually cooler heads prevail and they make it work

because bottom line for me is like the state of Oklahoma is better when Bedlam happens, and college football is better when Bedlam happens. So, yeah, that's the main thing. And then I always love going to manhattan i love that those that's one of the most underrated fan bases in all of college great great stadium great college town period that aggieville outside of campus is a tremendous bar restaurant district and then you get in that stadium and they are loud. They are, they are as loud as you can imagine 50,000 being loud.

And one of my favorite things that always sneak into the sweet level and eat the sweet buffet. We're not going to Manhattan this year. So I can, I can admit to that at this point in time, I, I developed a good relationship with Chris Kleiman, and I respect the hell out of that program and what they're doing. I think they're going to have a ton of success moving forward, so I'm going to miss going to Manhattan. And then I love McLean Stadium in Waco.

It is a beautiful stadium. I just love how they built it it's like this blend of a of a mini nfl stadium and like a european soccer stadium put together i just love the environment and their media food is tremendous andy i know that's the old fat guy and me coming out but i i i really like going down there and it's funny. Cause I, I don't remember the media food as much cause the, the dining options in Waco have exploded. Oh yeah. There's, there's so many good places to eat in Waco now where there weren't before, like you had to go to George's and get the crazy wings or get the gut box at Vitex. The, the, the options have gotten considerably better.

You get those biscuits at Chip and Joanna's breakfast place. You go out to Hellbird Barbecue. But that stadium, Baylor's and TCU's built around the same time, different ways. The TCU is just more of your traditional small stadium. But both of them, it feels like every seat is fantastic, that you can reach out and touch the players on the field. What I love about the Baylor one is if you want to go grab a drink at the concession stand or a hot dog, you can do that. And those concourses, you just stand there and watch the game.

It's still a great view. Yeah. No, I did. Unfortunately, I played in the old one that was just a dump. Floyd Casey, we won RG3 a Heisman on that field, unfortunately. But it is, you know, besides going to the venues, you know, and interacting with those fan bases, because I'm down on the sideline for the game and I get to, you know,

I'm wearing OU stuff as part of the radio crew. And there's a little chirping going back and forth. And that's, that's fun. I will, you, you, you develop relationships over the years. Right. And that's the stuff I'll miss is like seeing, you know, whether it's athletic directors or some of the coaches that we have on our serious show that I get to catch up with that Big 12 Media Days, like seeing those guys on a regular basis or a semi-regular basis, I will miss that because I've developed some really good relationships. Seeing the other radio team, you know, the relationships you develop, just having that bond and kind of knowing what those guys are going through

and kind of crossing paths year after year. You know, I'll, I'll miss all that stuff because, you know, ultimately this is, it's all about relationships in this business, like meeting people, getting to know these people,

developing those relationships over years. And yeah, there's a, there's a lot of good people in the big 12 and a lot of, a lot of people I'm going to miss running into. Well, you, you got to figure out with Sirius XM, whether you're, uh, you're staying on big 12 radio or headed over to sec radio. So lots of, you know, that's not up to me, man. I just, I'm a company guy. I'll just wherever, wherever Mike Masvinsky puts me is where I'm, where I'm

going to be. Well, I know you will do fantastic wherever it is. You do fantastic at all nine of your jobs at all times. Gabe Eichard, thank you so much for joining us. OUK State Big 12 Championship Game. There you go. Oh, you get to see him again one more time. One more time. Why not? Thanks so much to Gabe Eichard. When we come back, my extra point. We started this show talking about Jim Harbaugh. Now we're going to finish it talking about a guy who worked with Jim Harbaugh very recently and whose son played for Jim Harbaugh, Biff Poggi, the new head coach at Charlotte. He was kind of the man behind the curtain at Michigan the last few years. He's a fascinating figure, very successful hedge fund manager, got into coaching at a private school in Baltimore where he basically was funding the entire Pogey was not pleased with the amount of attention

his program was getting at American Athletic Conference Media Days. Any other questions for Coach? That's it? Three questions? Maybe that's because you have us ranked last. That's all what you think of us. So we, that we get that message. Thank you. Oh, American look out. If you look back in this guy's history, he's done well at pretty much everything he's done. There's, there's a very Joe Mowgli a sense. If you don't know who that is, he's the guy who founded Ameritrade. And then when he retired, he wound up volunteering at Nebraska, became the head coach at Coastal Carolina and kind of laid the foundation for what Coastal Carolina became once Jamie Chadwell took over. Biff Poggi is a very motivated guy. And I don't think he needs

a lot of help developing the chip on the shoulder, but he's certainly got it now. He's been picked last. He only got three questions at media days. He's ready to go. Now, the question I want answered, if you've watched the documentary on the high school team he coached, he did not wear sleeves when he coached. Is it possible we will see an FBS head coach coaching sleeveless. That would have been the fourth question. Had I been there? I'm sorry. I wasn't good luck. We'll see how the Charlotte 49ers compare to their predicted ranking. My guess is bit poach is going to make sure they wind up ranked a lot higher at the end. That's it for today's show. Thank you so much for joining us on Wednesday we will be in Indianapolis for Big Ten Media Days as you can see there's a lot going on in the Big Ten between Northwestern

Michigan this is Ohio State Day on Wednesday Ryan Day and the Buckeyes are coming to visit Indianapolis. So we shall see what everyone says. I guarantee there will be a wealth of material. It's going to be a fun show. Talk to you then.