Andy & Ari On3 - Mack Brown vs. the NCAA | ESPN's Tom Luginbill storms the field (and eats crow about Colorado)

Episode Date: September 8, 2023

Mack Brown vs. the NCAA | ESPN's Tom Luginbill storms the field (and eats crow about Colorado)Today's show is brought to you by PrizePicks, the easiest way to play daily fantasy. All first time users that deposit and use the promo code ANDY will receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100. If you deposit $100, PrizePicks will give you $100. If you deposit $50, PrizePicks will give you $50.Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to our YouTube page, don't forget to subscribe!https://youtube.com/live/f2w2GFNi6nYNorth Carolina WR Tez Walker's appeal to play immediately after transferring was denied, and Tar Heels coach Mack Brown issued a blistering rebuke of the NCAA. (0:00-13:44)Kansas QB Jalon Daniels is expected to play Friday against Illinois after missing the Jayhawks' season opener, which should make that game a great appetizer for a huge Saturday. (13:45-18:26)Next, ESPN's Tom Luginbill joins the show to explain how he expertly navigated a surging crowd after Duke beat Clemson to get to his postgame interview with Mike Elko. Luginbill also took all the heat for a statement on another show last week that Colorado's roster was one of the worst in the FCS. Tom explained what he should have said and broke down what he saw from the Buffaloes against TCU. (18:27-38:11)Sean Callahan of On3's Husker Online joins to talk about the team coming into Boulder to face Coach Prime. Nebraska's defense was excellent against Minnesota, but the offense cost the Cornhuskers a win that they appeared to have sewn up. (38:12-53:18)Tyler Horka of On3's Blue And Gold explained how different things could be for Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman as he makes his fourth career start against N.C. State. (The first three were with Wake Forest.) (53:19-1:04:32)For the Extra Point, we give a salute to an iconic logo style that we don't see enough in college football. We take a look at Louisville's logo with the cardinal doing a stiff arm, and it is glorious. (1:04:33-1:07:13)

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. And we have a lot of games to talk about. As you heard with that pick show with Jacob Hester yesterday, this weekend is absolutely loaded. There's games in the noon Eastern window, the 3.30 window, the primetime window. There's interesting stuff everywhere. And we're actually going to have

a little news about a Friday game that is now suddenly more interesting. But we got Tom Lugenbill to talk about his experience covering Clemson Duke and elbows up in the field storming and getting to Mike Elko, but also about the statement he made that caused Coach Prime and Travis Hunter to call him out. Our guy Lugz was the topic of conversation after the Colorado TCU game, so he explains that statement as well. We also are talking to Husker Online's Sean Callahan about the Nebraska side of Nebraska at Colorado

because Nebraska, in Matt rules debut should have beaten Minnesota, but did not because of some very inopportune turnovers. And now they're trying to get back on track against a team that probably after watching game one, they realize is quite a bit better than they probably thought it was going to be. So we talk about Nebraska and Colorado. Then we've got Tyler Horker from blue and gold talking about Notre Dame as they go to NC state. This is Sam Hartman's fourth start against NC state. The other three of course came at wake forest and it's going to be a fun,

fun game. The games between wake and NC state with Sam Hartman were a lot of fun. This time we get to see how different are these offenses. And obviously, Wake's offense is different than almost everybody's. But what does Sam Hartman look like behind Notre Dame's offensive line against that Tony Gibson defense of NC State, which is very talented. So we'll talk to Tyler about that. But first, Mack Brown versus the NCAA. FWOD says it right off the bat. Free Tez Walker.

Unfortunately, Tez Walker, the right receiver for North Carolina, will not be freed. He will not be playing this year because the NCAA denied his appeal on Thursday. Just a heartbreaking moment for Tez Walker. And let me explain the case here. Because it's all kinds of messy, but it's a bad look for the NCAA as almost everything is. I got yelled at on Twitter because I said it's a bad look for the coaches that complained and got this rule changed as well,

but we'll explain that too. First, let's explain Tez Walker's case. So Tez Walker is a wide receiver from Charlotte. He initially was going to play at North Carolina Central. He's enrolled at North Carolina Central. 2020, they canceled their season because of the pandemic. So he transfers to Kent State. He plays at Kent State for two seasons. He's very good. But remember, all this talk we've had about Colorado in the last week, what have we said? Oh, Sean Lewis had a great offensive game plan.

That's the offensive coordinator at Colorado. Well, he was the head coach at Kent State. When he left on December 5th, most of the Kent State stars went into the portal. Now, Tez Walker didn't immediately go in. He went in four days later. But basically, his coach left. A lot of his teammates were leaving. And so he decided I'm leaving too.

And his thinking was, okay, they say they're going to tighten up on, on the second undergraduate transfer, but how could they possibly do that to me? Because the school I went to first canceled its season, did not play football totally outside everybody's control. And that seemed like a pretty logical case to make for a waiver, except it was denied the first time. And then Thursday it was denied on appeal. And that set Mack Brown off. And here's what Mack Brown said. We're absolutely crushed to learn that Tez Walker's eligibility has been denied for this season and he won't be able to play. I don't know that I've ever been more disappointed in a person, a group of people, or an institution than I am with the NCAA right now.

It is clear that the NCAA is about process and it couldn't care less about the young people it's supposed to be supporting. Plain and simple, the NCAA has failed Tez and his family and I've lost all faith in its ability to lead and govern our sport. They've messed so many things up as it relates to college football, and now their failures have negatively impacted the life of one of our own. Just imagine what it is like for Tez to be so excited to come home and have a chance to fulfill his childhood dream of playing for North Carolina in front of all of his family and friends, only to have it taken away despite doing nothing wrong. I can't begin to understand how this has happened. The decision makers at the NCAA and on the committee

should be ashamed of themselves for doing this to a young man. As has been clearly documented, Ted should be eligible for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the mental health issues he's faced during his time in college. With this decision, the NCAA has placed an unnecessary burden on him. He's had a rough go of it, and this will surely only make it worse. How dare they ever speak about mental health and student athlete welfare again?

We've got complete rosters overhauled through the transfer portal, players playing in their eighth year of college, players playing at their fourth school, and the list goes on. Yet Tez Walker, who has only played football at one school, isn't eligible. It makes no sense, and it never will. Moving forward, our Carolina family is strong and we need to wrap our arms around Tez, lift him up and make sure we continue to do all we can do to support him. He's continued to work on the field and off and remained an amazing member of

our program throughout this ordeal. I know that will continue to happen because that's the kind of person he is. Despite this setback, Tez's future remains bright and we'll continue to do everything we can to help him fulfill all of his dreams. Shame on you, NCAA. Shame on you. That is as strong as I can remember a coach ever coming out against the NCAA. And I'll add one more thing to the pile of reasons that this waiver could have been approved. Tez Walker was already enrolled at North Carolina when this rule got changed in January. Now, if that sounds familiar to you, yes, that's exactly what happened in the cases of Tyler Brown at Colorado and Daryl Jackson at Florida State. Those guys had enrolled in their new schools before the rule changed and the NCAA applied

it retroactively. Max Schnell, thankfully, Matt Brown called out the NCAA so much for the NCAA having the student athletes first. No, it is the member institutions which the NCAA serves over all else. But here's the thing. North Carolina is one of those member institutions. And this is what I said that got all the North Carolina people mad at me, even though I said the same thing when this happened to Daryl Jackson and the same thing when

this happened to Tyler Brown. The coaches and the ADs complained incessantly about the transfer portal for a couple of years and said, you got to do something about it. You got to get this under control. And Matt Brown, you can find quotes of him saying that too. Just Google it. We found them pretty easily. So if they never say that, if they never complain, that rule doesn't get tightened. And Tez Walker's playing right now. So my problem is, why weren't any of the coaches on the side of truth and justice

before it negatively impacted their teams? That's the thing I want to see. What I hope happens here after Mack Brown has said this, where he said he does not believe the NCAA can govern the sport, then do something about that, North Carolina. It's not just Mack Brown. It's Bubba Cunningham, the AD. It's their chancellor. It's Bubba Cunningham, the AD. It's their chancellor. It's everybody there. And then also the people at Florida State,

the people at Colorado, the people who have been negatively impacted by this. And it would be nice if the people at the other schools who weren't affected by this would speak out. Because I know there are some coaches out there who probably think Tez Walker got screwed. Say it. The only way any of this changes is if you guys actually do

anything about it. Because the schools are the NCAA. They make the rules. If you don't like this rule, change it. If you don't like the fact that they retroactively apply rules, tell them to stop doing that. All the schools can get together and say, NCAA National Office, stop retroactively applying rules. If someone enrolled before the rules changed, they are grandfathered in, too bad. You can do that as the schools. So that's the part I don't like about this.

That's the part that bugs me. But there's no defending the NCAA in this. I mean, these guys repeatedly pass up chances to look like human beings and not like assholes. I don't know why they keep doing this. This would have been a layup. No one would have complained if Tyler Brown, Daryl jackson and

tez walker were all allowed to play this year no one would have complained to them but now they look like terrible people who don't care about the athletes and mac is right never ever ever in your rhetoric talk about caring about the athletes or their mental health because you don't. We know you don't. Everybody knows you don't. It's really amazing to me though. I've always said the NCAA needs to hire

a vice president of common sense. That's the person who would stand up and say, hold on folks. You know, if we deny these waivers, we're going to look like horrific, evil people. Maybe not do that. Maybe pass on that chance. Maybe say, you know what? It's not going to hurt anybody if they do that. But this is what you get. You complain about the transfer portal.

They tighten the rules because you complain. And now this happens. So yes, there is a happy medium there. There is a happy medium where they use some common sense. Like the common sense in this particular case would have been, if you were enrolled before we changed the rule, no problem. You beat us to the punch. No problem.

Going forward, we will enforce the rule, but you are already enrolled. So the old rule applies to you. Go on about your business. That would have been the easiest way to do it. But they don't ever do anything easy there. They just don't, they don't take the layups when they add them. So it's a terrible situation for Tess Walker. You feel for him. We played Daryl Jackson, his interview after his appeal got denied. And he was putting a really, you know, happy face and, and, and really just being very cool about it. But you could tell he was, he was heartbroken and there's an easier way to do this. But again, don't complain about how the transfer portal is ruining football.

And I'm not just talking about Mack Brown. I'm talking to all the coaches. Because eventually that's going to come back and bite you in the butt. So, I don't know. This could have been handled a lot better by everybody, but specifically by the NCAA. Like, common sense would have been so a lot better by everybody, but specifically by the NCAA. Like common sense would have been so easy to just say,

these guys enroll before we change the rule. Let them play. But no, you had to look like terrible people because you always choose to look like terrible people. And I don't think they are terrible people. That's the thing. The people who work at the NCAA office, who serve on these appeals committees, the people who work at the schools who serve on NCAA committees, they're not terrible people. They're not trying to screw the athletes over and over.

They're not going in there thinking, how am I going to screw an athlete today? But they are so bound by the process that they never, ever think of empathy or common sense. It never occurs to them. And that's why everyone hates the NCAA. Now, if Mac is right about, hey, I have no confidence in the governor of sport, what if his president feels the same way. If enough presidents feel that way, then maybe somebody else can govern college football.

Because again, the schools are the NCAA and the schools can leave the NCAA anytime they want and form another organization. They'll still all have to agree on rules, but it's not as complicated as they're making it. It's going to happen. They're going to break football out of the NCAA eventually, but maybe this speeds up the process. Maybe you get enough coaches mad, you get enough ADs mad, enough presidents mad,

they finally break off and govern big time football by itself and not try to govern it like they govern a bunch of other sports that bear no resemblance to big time football we'll see it's gonna happen eventually the question is whether this sped it up on to the football field though friday night, got a very intriguing game, Illinois at Kansas. This is one of those games that a couple of years ago would have been like, whoa, Illinois at Kansas. I don't know if I want to watch that. Oh, I definitely want to watch that now. What Brett Bielema has done at Illinois, what Lance Leipold's done at Kansas. It's a renaissance in both places. And Pete Thamel from ESPN reporting on Thursday that Jalen

Daniels the Kansas quarterback who missed the first game with an injury is expected to play Jalen Daniels of course a very exciting quarterback to watch he makes every broadcast more fun so I'm so glad if he's playing because I was already watching this game. I imagine a lot of you are already watching this game, but this adds another layer to it and it's going to be a lot of fun. So let us wait and see. And hopefully Jalen Daniels will be playing against Luke Altmyer and the Fighting Illini. We'll get to Tom Luganville and his explanation of how to navigate a field storming in a minute. But first, we got to talk about prize picks. Prize picks is the easiest way to play daily fantasy, and it is so exciting. So I was looking on the app today as the entries were pouring in for college football this weekend.

I won my entry last weekend. I won my entry last weekend. So I had Michael Pennix more than 310 and a half passing yards. And I had Xavier worthy more than 63 and a half receiving yards. So I got both of those. I'm tempted to do a three or a four play instead of just two. And there's so many options right now. One of the first ones they put in there was Shador Sanders. So Shador Sanders, more than or less than 312 and a half passing yards against Nebraska. I know what you're saying. He threw for 510 against TCU. That's an easy one. But if you watch Nebraska against Minnesota, they took away what Minnesota likes to do, which is run the ball. I'm assuming they will try to take away what Colorado likes to do, which is throw the ball to receivers in space. Now it would be wise to not let them get an eight yard head start,

catch the ball and make a move. That's what TCU was doing. And it felt like they never changed that. So does Colorado, does, does Nebraska do that? And can they tackle well enough to make that work? Cause that's, that's the other piece of it is you still have to tackle those players once they catch the ball. So, you know, Shador Sanders could rack up the yardage, and you've got Dylan Edwards, and you've got Travis Hunter. But there's a lot of other options. We go to receiving yards.

They got Marvin Harrison Jr. more than or less than seven, eight and a half receiving yards, but it's against Youngtown State. So like the question in this one is how, how long is he going to play? How long before they say, nope, okay, we've seen enough. You're, you're, you know, you've gotten out there and played a little bit, but we're going to save you for the bigger games. Emeka Buka, 67 and a half, same situation. How much is he going to play? How much are they going to try to get some depth for those other guys? Here's an interesting one in the receiving yards category. Evan Stewart from Texas A&M, they are playing Miami more or less than 69 and a half receiving yards. We talked about that with Jacob Hester yesterday and his

thing was, yes, you saw Texas A&M's offense running very smoothly against New Mexico, where Conor Wegman would get a one-on-one matchup, throw the ball up, let Evan Stewart out-athlete somebody. A lot harder to out-athlete Miami's defensive back. So I'm going to post some of these on Twitter on Friday, and I want you guys to kind of help me pick what I'm going to play. But if you want to play, you go to prize picks, you download the app. The referral code is Andy and they will match for a first time deposit up to a hundred bucks. So if you deposit a hundred bucks, they'll match your a hundred bucks. If you deposit 50 bucks, they'll match 50 bucks.

The referral code is Andy for that matching deposit on the first use. So give it a shot. It's a lot of fun. It's available in 31 states, including Florida, Texas, and California. And tomorrow on Twitter, help me out. Help me figure this out or fade me one of the two. I I'm telling you now. So mine are all going to be more than I don't like rooting against people. I like rooting for people. So I'm going to pick ones that I think will go more than. And we'll see. But now it is time to talk to Tom Lugenbill. The last time you saw him was weaving his way through the crowd at the Duke game as the students were storming the field so he could interview Mike Elko.

He breaks it all down for us. We are joined now by Tom Lugenbill, ESPN sideline reporter, recruiting reporter. The man does it all. And he also is elbows up in a field storming. Luz, how are we doing? I'm doing good, man. How are you doing, Andy? So you were on the sidelines for Duke and Clemson, and we're going to have to break this down, Lugz, because Matt Schick, your colleague at ESPN, posted this on Twitter, and this video is glorious. So we'll start. For the people listening in podcast form, we'll narrate for you. But I wish I had a telestrator. Let's put it that way.

So what we've got is we've got Lugz standing in front of the entire Duke student section as they're about to run the field. Clock hits zero. Lugz is right now. He has to interview Mike Elko. Pushes one dude out of the way. He's got security behind him. Goes to the guys in the booth. He's pushing players. Oh way he's got security behind him goes to the studio you know goes to the the

guys in the booth he's pushing players he's oh he's here he's at mike elko somebody's coming okay i missed the get off me there's a great get off me right before you get to elko so a couple of things on that we first of all we we got to start with the Duke students, right, Andy? Yeah. When have you ever seen a potential field storm, all right, where with two minutes left in the game, they actually let the students on the field and not one of them leaves the sideline. Like it was the most well-behaved group. And listen, I know nobody there has gotten less than a 1400 on the SAT. Right.

So like, but think about that. There were, there were 3000 students and not one of them started to get Wiley and just run out on the field while the game was still going on. It was, it was amazing. Like I have such respect for how polite they all were. So yeah, I, I, I can vouch for the people who were students at the university of florida when i was that never would have happened no they would have been they would have been gone they'd have been zip tied trussed up like pigs before before they ever got to leave the stadium it wasn't like

there was a crowd control by the way all the people that you see in yellow vests there, that's actually Duke's TV, video, and audio operations. They're not crowd control. They're not security. All of those people were holding cameras throughout the day and drawing cable down the line like the whole nine yards. So we're sitting there, and there's about two minutes left, and we're kind of discussing the strategy. Because, you know, generally when you do that interview, your handheld camera that's on the sideline with you is getting the shot. Well, that camera is not wireless. And it's got about 500 feet of cable that's about that thick.

And there's somebody that's like reeling it out and reeling it in. Well, there's no way from a safety perspective that that camera guy would be able to get there without getting yanked and have, you know, it's dangerous. Right. Yeah. So we get I I go I charge the field a couple of different things happen and generally I'm really good on the angle side of it like the what angle I should take because my assumption here is that Mike Elko

when the thing goes zero this is where I was wrong when the thing goes zero, this is where I was wrong. When the thing goes zero, generally what happens, right? The players come up and hug you. An assistant coach hugs you. Maybe you get a Gatorade bath. Yeah, you're shaking a couple hands. He doesn't do that. He bolts. Like, he runs to meet up with Dabo Sweeney.

So I take a horrible angle. If this was a tackling drill, I'd be off scholarship. I take a whole angle and then I have to stop for a second. You see me and I pop my head up a little bit and I see where he's at. And that's when I took the hard left. And I didn't care if you were in a uniform. I didn't care if you were a male, female, dog, cat. I didn't care if you were a student a coach i was going to blast

through that right so then then andy and you've worn enough earpieces in your career i get there and you have this thing called an ifb it's an earpiece where we can hear the production and everything at the game and it's got a cable that's tied to the back of your collar and it goes and it hooks into this little radio that's on your waist well somehow through going through all of that it gets popped out so when i arrive at elko i can't hear the broadcast it's dead air i can't hear the producer i can't hear dave i can't hear dusty nothing it's blank so now i'm going okay we got a problem because I don't know what camera we're using to take the interview because we knew we weren't going to use the handheld. And now I can't hear production. So I'm sitting there and I'm looking down.

And I look down at my right leg. And the cable had popped out here, was still plugged into my waist, and it's dangling like I had a tail. So it's down below my knee I go down and I reach down and I grab it pop it back in and right as I pop it back in I hear Dave go Lugz Lugz are you there buddy do we have you you got Coach Elko and off we went wow that is a that is a five-star performance from a guy who evaluates recruits for a living. Holy crap. Yeah, that would terrify me because you're hearing the broadcast,

hearing the broadcast, and all of a sudden you get where you need to go, and it's nothing. Well, and especially when they're throwing to me. Like, I have to hear them say down to Tom, our Lugas has got Coach Elk. Right. I have none of that. So, and our production did a great job of just showing shots and scenes in the crowd and this and that knowing that they you know we call it stretching the business and our producer i guarantee is telling dave hey dave i don't have luge yet you got to stretch you got to stretch you know you got to lay out stretch give them time to do this and

that um so it was funny i didn't know it would be what it was when Matt Schick posted it. But the funny part about the whole thing is I was in cowboy boots. What? Yeah, I was in black Canaan Alligator cowboy boots. Are we reconsidering our footwear choices? Because like Cole Kubelik, he's a sneakerhead. He's always wearing sneakers on the sideline but i'm always wearing boots everywhere i go i don't own a pair of dress shoes and so every in the 10 years this is my 10th year on the field of the field analyst i've worn boots every single game i've ever been on the field and this time because of all the

craziness i i got back to the hotel room my white field field paint all over him. Like, I got to clean them all up now. Well, it's a hell of a story to tell. Speaking of the story of that game, I thought the most interesting comment I heard during that game was from you, and it was late in the game where you said, I'm looking out on the field, and it feels like Duke's the more talented team. And that was, I mean, because you could say, oh, you know, Clemson has better athletes. They had a weird game.

But you were down there, and in terms of speed and size, what did it look like? Dude, there wasn't a discrepancy, Andy. That's what was so weird about it. Like, I'm watching, and the biggest glaring thing thing and Dusty felt like he could see it from up top and I definitely saw on the field was Clemson doesn't have any team speed at the offensive skill positions those kids couldn't separate from Duke's defenders and did Cade Klubnick have a great day no but lots of times there was nowhere to go with the ball and when a

guy was targeted he was covered for the most part and yeah that was that was really it that stood out like you could you could see that thing and you know the game you know Clemson I don't know I would agree with Dabo's postgame comments I don't know when the last time I've seen a Clemson team play like that I mean it was it was pretty wild I mean they went they went three straight drives in the third quarter where they went to the one yard line, the four yard line and the seven yard line and came away with no points. Yeah. They never punted and never scored in the second half. Yeah.

I mean, it's just wild, weird stuff. And outside of that awesome run by Riley Leonard, that's the only play they made in the third quarter. You know, the old ad, you know, most games are lost, not won. And I don't want to take anything away from Duke because the bottom line is Duke made fewer errors than Clemson did. I mean, that's how Duke won the game. And Duke straight up kicked their butts in the fourth quarter.

Big time. Big time. And I'll tell you, Mike Elko's got that thing going. I don't think even I, in doing our prep, and maybe even Dusty as well, realized not just how talented Duke is, but they're deep. They rolled in six, seven, eight guys along the defensive front. It was impressive. They got

after people. Like I said, they covered down on Clemson's targets. It was a really impressive outing. That Riley Leonard kid, he has no idea what he's about to become. He's really impressive outing. And that Riley Leonard kid, he has no idea what he's about to become. I mean, he's really, really good. He's got this innocent naivety about him. And it's like you're sitting down talking to him and he's like,

and you're saying to yourself, in two years, this guy's going to be standing on an NFL draft stage. And he doesn't even recognize it yet. Justin Herbert was exactly like that. Justin Herbert, you as a as a junior in college was like me why are they interested in me and that's what this kid is yep I can't wait I loved it after the game where he's asking his professor if he could turn his assignment in late and he said no oh no no no the professor said professor said. This is classic. So he does that. The professor gets somebody to film him and goes right after Riley.

He tells him point blank. He goes, you know, two of your offensive linemen, your teammates that play right in front of you that are also in this class, they prepared ahead of time and already turned in the assignments. That's what you should have done. So, no, you don't get an extension. I mean, he literally just dropped the mic on him that is incredible all right leagues I gotta ask about the other thing you said that has made news

in the last week and I'm sure you've been getting killed over this you were on a podcast last week and you said that if you think UMass is the worst roster in college football way do you see Colorado now I will say if you watch the entire clip you do mention Shador Sanders is a very good quarterback. Travis Hunter is an elite player anywhere. Yeah. But you mentioned the same thing I've been saying. How are they going to get good big people? So how surprised were you when you saw the TCU game so first off and I've addressed this

multiple times I have no problem continuing to address it because when you earn it you got to own it um I phrased my answer horribly because in my head when I think roster top to bottom I'm talking about depth and what I should have said what I should have said and I believe this still now that they may have the worst depth in college football. Now I'm comparing them to Power Five people, not UMass or Group of Five. UMass was taken out of context because the guy I was co-hosting with had mentioned them 30 minutes before on the podcast about the Mexico State and UMass game and blah, blah, blah.

And last year UMass had the worst roster. So I wasn't comparing them to UMass. I was referencing something he had brought up. And if I would have said maybe the worst depth in college football, that's more than a fair statement. So I own it. It was a complete and utter error by me. Here's my take on Colorado. They were ridiculously prepared. Okay. And again, all we, all we have is one sample size they were ridiculously prepared they outperformed the opponent they have space players that are a nightmare and i referenced those guys uh with dylan and travis and and shador and see what people don't understand

about shador sanders if his dad doesn't take the jackson state job he's playing for a power five school he was a power five quarterback coming out of high school this wasn't an FCS quarterback right so his his I guess ascension or his transition isn't a steep learning curve for him because he was a power five quarterback to begin with um I thought that they did all the right things at the right times but at the same time if we're going to be fair and really look at the big picture TCU did all the right things at the right times, but at the same time, if we're going to be fair and really look at the big picture, TCU did all the wrong things at the wrong times. Why would TCU not come after that kid?

Why would TCU not come up and press those receivers and disrupt them? They just sat back and let it happen. And those guys are too good in space to do that. And Shador Sanders is too good of a quarterback to just let them all go play pitch and catch and then you know defensively um you know they allowed they allowed 265 yards on the ground Colorado and so that's still problematic I thought that they needed to do they did exactly what they needed to do because from a long-term perspective, in my long-term perspective, they lit a fuse on Saturday.

They lit a fuse that is going to travel all across this country in high school recruiting. They lit a fuse that is going to travel all over this country in name, image, and likeness. They lit a fuse that's going to travel all over this country in the transfer portal. And the long-term benefits, I don't really care what happens the rest of the season with colorado they could be three and nine they could be five and seven whatever it does to me it really doesn't matter if they showed what they showed on saturday is that they have come to play doesn't matter how the roster was built doesn't matter what they've done because I think long term this is just me I think long term Deion Sanders truly at his core coach prime wants to build this thing at the high school roots right go out and supplement it with the

transfer portal if you can upgrade your roster but if he can go out and he can start to get a bunch of four star five star guys and change the narrative, in two to three years, that depth issue is going to be non-existent. It won't exist with the roster. Because here's the issue. If Travis Hunter goes off the field, what's replacing him? Or if Dylan Edwards goes off the field, what's the drop-off between that guy and this guy? And I think in two to three years, maybe in a year, the drop-off's here.

I don't know if that's what it is right now. We'll see as the schedule gets tougher, the opponents get tougher. I don't know how good TCU really is. I thought they would play a lot better. I thought they would be better. They weren't. Colorado played better. They outplayed TCU, and they deserve a ton of credit for it.

Their kids deserve a ton of credit. Now you've got a team like Nebraska, with Matt Rule last Saturday, Saturday outplayed TCU and they deserve a ton of credit for it. Their kids deserve a ton of credit. Now, now you've got a team like Nebraska with Matt rule last Saturday had to have been going, Oh, you gotta be kidding. You gotta be kidding me. Right. I'll say this Nebraska is better than TCU on defense. So I think it's going to be interesting to see how Nebraska handles the road contest and how Colorado handles the success. Yeah, I think Colorado's defense has a little easier task this week than it had last week against TCU.

So that's the other piece of it. Nebraska's got to get all the turnovers cleaned up. You've got Ole Miss and Tulane, and I think that's a really interesting game because I was surprised that Tulane made it think that's a really interesting game because I was surprised that Tulane made it look so easy against South Alabama because South Alabama is a good team yeah Tulane's got no Ty J Spears uh Chris Hampton who was their defensive play caller last year he's at Oregon now like they they were adjusting to a lot and it didn't look like they've lost anything yeah they lost two linebackers to the NFL right how about this about this? Replaced all three coordinators in one coaching cycle.

They're a defensive coordinator, they're an offensive coordinator, special teams coordinator, all brand new. I think Michael Pratt had one incompletion and it was a drop over the middle, I think, if I recall the tape from the game. So he goes out and plays lights out. I think they're a little bit more

of a running back by committee team. They're just, he hasn't just built a good team there. Like last year wasn't a fluke. And they have longevity. I think that they've built depth. They do all the little things right. Like every single thing Clemson did on Monday night, you will never see that until Monday.

That's just not in their makeup, right? And so I think they've got good players. They've developed good players. And I think Ole Miss has improved, too. I mean, look at the quarterback play. One guy was, I think, 14-15. The other guy was 18-23. I mean, that's going to be some gunslinging duels

on Saturday. And I thought Jackson Dart, I mean, I know it was Mercer, but he didn't make the boneheaded errors. He didn't throw it into triple coverage after making a beautiful throw. He threw it to the right guy. Didn't take chances with the football. Took some check downs, which a year ago he would not have done. And, you know, I think Ole Miss has improved on defense.

So it could be a great football game. I think it's one of the better games. And it's a shame because the U.S. Open has, you know, ESPN and ABC Windows, which our crew would normally be on. So we're on ESPN, too. And I really hope people find that because I just think the matchup's really intriguing oh it's i i think it could be one of the most fun games of the day and and that day's loaded like saturday is absolutely loaded before i let you go i i do want to get your take because obviously you follow all

the all these guys recruiting as well texas alabama tex Texas to me feels like the most talented version of Texas we've seen in 14 years. And I feel like they got a real shot in this game. Where do you stand on, on, on these guys? I do too. And they need this game, Andy. Like I kind of feel like Texas right now is like Michigan under Jim Harbaugh in like those first four years remember when you know everybody's posting how bad Michigan's record is against top 10 teams and how bad the record is against top 25 teams and how bad the bowl record is and then all of a sudden they beat Ohio State and all of that stuff went away they just needed they just needed to get that that one win and it changes your whole entire outlook going forward.

That's where Texas is right now, and I do believe that this is their most capable team of doing it. I think the biggest challenge in this game, if you look at the preparation for both sides, one thing stands out to me. Texas has to prepare for a dangerous running threat at quarterback, and Alabama doesn't. Alabama's always going to know where Quinn Ewers is, right? So it's a matter of disrupting him when they're throwing it and stopping the run. But they don't have to worry about quarterback lead, RPO stuff, and the keep.

They don't have to worry about quarterback count, all that stuff. Texas does. And I'll tell you what, I think we need to continue to track Alabama in the passing game and see if he can continue to be accurate we know he's got arm talent but like Nick Saban said this week that gap between the defender last week at middle was like this this week it's going to be like this and can he still make those tight throws so that's fair to track but man I mean when he takes off it's not just that he's fast and explosive.

You can't bring him down. He's so big and physical that it just – I just think that's always – it puts so much strain on a defense. Because essentially you're having to play 11-on-11, right? When the quarterback's on a running threat, you're kind of playing 11-on-10 to some degree. But I do think it's one of those deals where Texas, they're going to have to probably play their best game.

And if Alabama plays their best game, are they a better team? I don't know. I don't know, but it is their best opportunity to this point. I cannot wait. Very excited, Luz. Enjoy New Orleans. Eat well. And get your boots clean.

I will. I got to get my boots. I got to get a different pair for this week, man. So good talking to you, Andy. Thanks, man. Thanks, Lugz. That is Tom Luganville. And he ate the crow on the Colorado statement.

And look, I think what he meant, and he explained himself, wasn't that different from what I've been saying about how do they get linemen out of the portal that allow them to have competitive depth. And I think if you watch the TCU game, it was a scheme thing. They did a good job of getting the ball out of Shador Sanders' hand fast, getting it to playmakers in space where if there was going to be a deficiency on the offensive line, it's not going to show up because there's just not time. There's not time for the D line to get to Shador Sanders. So we'll see how Nebraska plays them. Again, I think Nebraska's DBs probably at least start out trying to play him a little tighter because TCUs were about eight yards off the ball and they were just letting Shador

Sanders catch the ball and throw to somebody and then you know letting that somebody juke somebody and run for a long time that that wasn't going to work if you're not going to tackle that person when they catch the ball that's not an effective way to defend that offense so we will see what happens but we're talking more about this game because it what Colorado did did at tcu makes every colorado game absolutely fascinating now and we saw nebraska last week they should have won that game they had a bad interception right before halftime that cost them points they had a fumble as they're trying to run out the clock they had another interception as they're trying to run out the clock the defense actually played really well the offense needs some work sean Callahan from Husker Online joined us to talk about the Nebraska side

of the Cornhuskers versus Coach Prime in Colorado. Joined now by Sean Callahan of Husker Online, and Nebraska's headed to Colorado to face Coach Prime. This is quite a matchup, Sean, and Nebraska coming off the opening week loss to Minnesota that, let's be real here, should not have been a loss. Yeah, you look at Nebraska losing 13-10. They ran, if you look at sack-adjusted rush totals,

they went for over 200. They forced Minnesota to throw the ball more times than they have since 2015. 44 throws, 35 throws in the second half. They took Minnesota out of everything they wanted to do. It was a really good defensive performance. But four turnovers, it doesn't matter. You're not going to win very often, especially the way it happened.

Two turnovers in the game's final five minutes. I mean, Nebraska's going basically to ice the game. Anthony Grant fumbles the ball. At worst-case scenario, you're going to pin them deep with a punt inside the 20. the game's final five minutes i mean nebraska's going basically to ice the game yeah nicole grant fumbles the ball at worst case scenario you're going to pin them deep with a punt inside the 20 and they're going to have to go the length of the field which they had not done the entire game and have to score a touchdown so yeah very disappointing to see nebraska blow that kind of opportunity to start the matt rule era off with a big win i mean that would have been a huge win and now it's kind of a dude, not doom and gloom,

but people are down around here because number one, they blew the game and the number two Colorado looked really good in their game. And now you're walking into maybe the biggest game. Folsom field has hosted since the Oh one Nebraska Colorado game, which didn't go so well for Nebraska. Yes. I was at that game, 62-36, and crazy stat to draw from that game. Since that loss in Boulder, Nebraska football has only been ranked

in the top five, the AP top five, for a grand total of one week. Wow. Oh, my goodness. After the 0-1 season. They were up in the top five in the Rose Bowl. When you go Rose Bowl beyond, there's only been one week. It was during the Bo Pelini era. They found themselves in the top five for one season. I mean, they were up top five in the Rose Bowl. When you go Rose Bowl beyond, there's only been one week. It was during the Bo Pelini era. They found themselves in the top five for one week. Well, this is a chance, though, to bounce back and to really kind of reclaim the mojo that they had going into the season opener.

The defense was so good taking Minnesota out of everything they wanted to do. Can that translate to taking Colorado out of what they want to do now that there's actual film of these players playing this scheme? Yeah, I do think the scheme of Tony White is the scheme of Tony White. I think learning Colorado's players was the challenge now, and now you at least know who these guys are. Like Dylan Edwards, you knew he was a good recruit from Wichita, Kansas, but you didn't know he was going to look like that week one.

So you've got a better idea of some of these guys. Travis Hunter's a five-star. You knew he was going to be a good player, what they do. But just how that all came together, because that's a whole new staff at Colorado with 50, 60 brand-new scholarship players they've recently added to the roster. So just having a couple of days to catch their breath

on Friday and Saturday watch that game Saturday practice Sunday I feel like from a preparation standpoint Nebraska's in a good spot heading into this game and they're angry I mean you could sense it I mean they're being quiet around here uh but guys are angry you got Keyshawn Johnson calling Nebraska sorry that they're going to get boat raced by Colorado and just things like that. You know the team's seeing that. So how Rule kind of uses some of the critics and the skeptics out there to fuel this team.

And also it's a 10 a.m. game. I mean, I just think the atmosphere plays in the favor of the road team because I don't care where you're at. It's hard to get a crowd going at 10 a.m. Well, and it feels like Nebraska is almost in the situation that Colorado was in last week where everybody was doubting them and the whole country's turning it on to see them fail and Nebraska could come out and show show people something just the way Colorado did right and their offense it just never felt right that entire day in Minneapolis.

From the opening possession, they start on the one-yard line. It just never had a rhythm and a feel. A lot of it, they've got to run the ball better with the tailback, more consistently. Jeff Sims did what he did. They had 200 sack-adjusted rush yards, but Gabe Urban Jr., who's a 225-pound back, that's the guy that they got at this slam at Colorado I wouldn't be surprised if Nebraska took Teddy Prohaska who's done this before bring him in at 610 330 as an extra tight end and just go full big 10 we're gonna wear the big 10 t-shirt the bumper sticker and we're just

gonna big 10 the hell out of you I mean that that's I think that's what Nebraska has to do. They cannot make this a seven-on-seven game. Yeah, because they're going to lose that. And most teams are going to lose that if they try to play that game against Colorado. That's what TCU did. TCU has good players, but Colorado is very talented on the edges. Now that we've seen Dylan Edwards, we know what he is. We know what Travis Hunter is on the edges. And they've seen Dylan Edwards we know what he is we know what Travis Hunter is on the edges and and they're they've got that speed but you're right the way to attack Colorado I think is on the line of scrimmage because that's the hardest place to

find good players in the transfer portal that's the hardest thing for them to do and Nebraska has a veteran O-line and P.J. Fleckck made this comment, because he played the Tony White 3-3-5 personnel in the pinstripe bowl, and White was already at Nebraska. He goes, I'll say this much. He goes, Syracuse didn't have the type of D lineman White has now at Nebraska. I mean, they have a very good nose, Nash Hutmacher, who's the strongest guy on this team. I thought he put the game away with that sack.

I thought it was over after that. Then you look at Ty Robinson, who's going to be out for the first half. That's big, but they play a lot of guys too, and that's going to be important in this kind of game. If Colorado runs the tempo they run, Nebraska played 17 players over 10 snaps, 22 total defenders in that game. We saw them sub way more than we've seen in the past. 18 different players saw action on the opening defensive series alone. Wow. Well, the Nebraska offense does need to be better. Jeff Sims, what can they do in terms of him making better choices? Because the interception at the end of the game was very bad. Obviously, you know, throwing into that coverage, not great, but I thought that the more unforgivable one was the one right before halftime. They're going into score. Even if he does, you know,

if he just throws that ball away, you come away with three points and you probably still win the game. Yeah. And they get the ball to start the third quarter. That's the other thing. I mean, you think about what those three points, 13 to three games over at that point if they get the same 10 they get in the second half and I think the biggest thing is can they get the run game going to get Colorado off balance Minnesota was rarely off balance in that game so when it was obvious passing situations what did they do Minnesota dropped three or dropped seven and eight guys in coverage and Jeff Sims struggled to squeeze the ball in those tight coverage windows and and it showed I mean he just they always had two guys back at the safeties and every play was well covered and Jeff Sims struggled to

squeeze those thrills and Billy Kemp is their top receiver he didn't have a catch Thomas Fedoni was the nation's top rank tight end in high school a couple of years ago did not have a catch they've got to get some of those other pieces going in their offense so do you think a more traditional because obviously they can run the ball with jeff sims he's a weapon running the ball but if they can do more with the backs do you think that opens up a little more of the passing game in terms of play action and some other things yeah they can get downhill and get good early yard gains then that that that's going to loosen things up on the back end i think that's the key minnesota i felt like never really had to bring people up they played back and they were able to kind of withstand the charge nebraska had a couple you know 27-yard type runs,

but they never forced Minnesota to really play their safeties in. Their safeties always are back, and they took away the big play. Nebraska, the other problem they have is they don't really have a true deep shot guy. They had that last year, Trey Palmer. They had that before, Samari Torre. It was going to be Xavier Betts, and he quit. Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda is fast. He's out for the season now.

So who was the deep shot guy? Tommy Hill, a corner, is now doing some receiver for Nebraska. He played some snaps last week. Jalen Lloyd, a true freshman, he ran 10-4 in the 100. Malachi Coleman runs 10-4 in the 100, electronic guys. Those two guys could be deep shot guys, but they don't have any proven deep shot bodies. And Jeff Sims does throw a good deep ball.

They just got receivers that can get there. Yeah, I was going to say, you got to have somebody out there to catch it. And it's interesting with this situation because it was a similar loss to what Nebraska fans are used to. It is a new thing to Matt rule. You know, how did he handle that that first loss and how does he bounce back? Yeah. I mean, I think he understood what he was walking into,

but then when you live it, it's different. I mean, the microscope here and the freak out meter is different in Nebraska. Like, right. I mean, it, people and the freak-out meter is different in Nebraska. Right. I mean, people here are down. Like, just the fear of another losing season has hit people here. They're like, they just want to go to a bowl game, Andy. I mean, just get to a bowl game. I mean, come on. Like, 90-some thousand people go to a freaking volleyball game here,

and they go to a football game every week, and they can't get to a bowl game. It really, really irks at Nebraska fans right now and the fear of that type of season again I think oh and two because the way Colorado played I mean that that's the feeling around this place right now like man if we're oh and two that means we got to win six out of ten to go to a bowl well and the other thing is they're probably sitting there going into the season going well at least it'll be one and one after the first two, thinking maybe it's a loss at Minnesota and a win at Colorado. The Colorado thing's no guarantee.

And then the Minnesota thing should have been a win and it just, you know, ripped out from under them. So I can't imagine that the frustration level. Yeah, a win here would actually, mean really change the tone i would imagine no doubt because that colorado tcu game going in i think we all thought tcu was going to win handily i mean they were how many times is a 24 point dog with um you know loot win straight up not often it doesn't happen very often and um you know i think everyone's like tcu is going to win this game like 48 to 14 or something.

And, you know, Nebraska is going to kind of comfortably roll in the boulder and be ready to go. And just the way this thing went from zero to 60 so quickly, that's what's made this unique. And it's the opening game of the Deion Sanders era at Colorado. And there's going to be a lot of Nebraska fans there, though. Don't undersell that angle. We saw that in 2019 where over 60% of the stadium was Nebraska fans. Now they've tried to keep Nebraska fans out, but Andy Nebraska fans still will come.

I was going to say Nebraska fans are great at finding tickets in an away game, but it is a, it is the most expensive ticket in Boulder in a long time. The cheapest get in ticket is now more expensive than an entire season of Colorado football was in 2022. So they're pumped. Everybody's pumped for this, Sean. I keep going back to the Nebraska. Like you mentioned Keyshawn Johnson talking about Nebraska.

Like people who don't even watch college football will be talking about Nebraska this week because they're playing Deion. So this is the chance. If they really want to shine on a big national stage, this is their chance. Right, and you don't get these opportunities. There could be over 10 million people watching this game. Oh, yeah.

We saw the number last week. It was over in the sevens. Well, this week's going to be higher. You don't get those kind of opportunities i mean the last time this many people watched a nebraska football game was either the 09 big 12 title game with sue which you were there at that game with me oh yeah and almost 13 million watched that game um you know and then the the 2010 game was like nine million when they played Oklahoma. So they haven't had this many eyeballs on a Nebraska game in a long time. It's a big one. They need it bad.

But then you got Coach Prime on the other side. It is unbelievable that we're getting this at 10 a.m. local time on week two. Hey, they used to play Black Friday for at least two of the times i went to boulder oh seven and oh nine those were and maybe even oh five um they played at least two or three 10 a.m games out there back in the day because texas didn't want to play at 11 a.m in austin against baylor or whoever they were playing yeah well the nebraska colorado game got shelved to 10 a.m which it was always great because you could fly home like bill callaska colorado game got shelved to 10 a.m which it was always great because you could fly home like bill callahan played that game got fired and by 6 a.m on saturday morning

he was fired i mean in the media the media flew home that night so it is i mean it's yeah it's crazy that this is a 10 a.m kick but i think it's an advantage for the road team i i can't wait we're all gonna be watching and uh you're right more eyeballs on Nebraska football than uh than any time since and Damakensou was tossing Colt McCoy like a ragdoll wow Sean Callahan thank you so much thanks Andy that is an amazing stat just incredible think, because Nebraska is a big brand. They're in the Big Ten. They're playing Ohio State regularly. They're playing Michigan.

But it's just, that's the Coach Prime effect. That is, 7 million people watched that Colorado TCU game. And I imagine in that same time slot, you're going to get a huge bump in viewership. And it's not all traditional college football fans. It's bringing in a lot of the casual folks. So big stage. Big stage for Colorado again and a big stage for Nebraska.

Another big stage will be in Raleigh on Saturday. Notre Dame comes to visit NC State. This one's going to be a fun one. Sam Hartman against a really good North Carolina State defense. Tyler Horka of Blue and Gold joined us to break that matchup down. We welcome Tyler Horka of BlueandGold.com talking Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish headed to NC State. And for one particular member of Notre Dame's team,

this is a very, very familiar foe. Tyler, what does Sam Hartman say about his experience with NC State? He started against them three times already. Yeah, I wish Notre Dame would have given him to us during midweek media, but maybe that was strategic on Notre Dame's part not to do that. But Sam Hartman did after the Tennessee State game on Saturday kind of say, hey, I've been there before. I've played against this team. They're not going to like us. They didn't like me when I was at Wake Forest. And now, obviously, with a little bit of a more recognizable logo attached to my name, they're not going to like me this time either.

So I know that NC State got Sam Hartman twice in those three games that they played. So NC State has a two and one record against Sam Hartman, Sam Hartman, a one and two record against those guys. But something tells me that if they were to get Sam Hartman again, this one would be a little sweeter, even though it's not a conference game or anything like that. If NC State were to knock off Notre Dame with Sam Hartman as the quarterback that'd be a big big deal in Raleigh I was gonna say because it adds an extra layer because yeah Sam and Wake Forest in general Wake Forest in general has been a problem for them over the last five years or so or even when they've won it's been close and tight so

yeah this is uh it does just add an extra little bit of spice to it. But I know Sam after the Tennessee state game said, Hey, very different offenses between Wake Forest and Notre Dame. How do you think Notre Dame's particular offense with Sam Hartman running it matches up against this NC state defense? Yeah, it's kind of strength on strength, isn't it? Because NC state loves to stop the run. Last year, NC State was the number 11 team in the country at stopping the run. And then obviously things are a little different for Notre Dame now that they have Sam Hartman. They at why did Wake Forest struggle last year in a 30 to 21 loss against NC State? It's because they only had 17 rushing yards. As much as that's the case, Notre Dame is going to come into this game and say, we're not going to approach this like we can't run on NC State. We're going to try Audrick Estimé. We're going to try all these other scholarship backs that we have that could start at a lot of different places and help Sam Hartman in that way.

Because if Sam Hartman has the compliment of a running game, I think that he's going to be able to feel a little bit more comfortable than he did last year. I mean, if you go back and look at that game last year as well, his offensive line had five or six false starts. I mean, it was it was crazy from that perspective. And then when they actually did get the playoff, they were letting guys through unblocked. So Sam Hartman shouldn't have those issues at Notre Dame. Offensive line's better, running game's better. That should allow him to pass the ball a little bit better too. So Jared Parker, Notre Dame's offensive coordinator,

how does he feel about his running back depth now that he's gotten a chance to see all of the non-Audrick Estimé guys in game action. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. If you look at the Tennessee State game, Jeremiah Love opens the scoring with a 36-yard touchdown. That guy's a true freshman. That's his first score of his career. A little bit later in the game, Jadarian Price, excuse me, takes, I think it was a 40-yard pass from backup Steve Angeli to the house for a touchdown. Jabron Payne, who's really Audrick Estime's number two, based on what we've seen in the

first two weeks, he takes a 42-yard pass to the house. So a lot of that was Tennessee State's defense, obviously, but I mean, this is time and time again. You get different guys showing up, scoring touchdowns. Notre Dame had four different running backs score a touchdown in that game against Tennessee State. I don't care who you're playing. That's when you know you have some depth, some depth where you've got some guys that have come in and you say, hey, this guy's a threat to score the ball, not just do the things that we want within the offense, but he's a threat to score if he gets on the field. So we talked about it all offseason with Jared Parker, but in the first two weeks, absolutely. We've seen some things to say, Hey, this is a real thing with the Notre Dame running backs. Is this, you know, this test against this defense,

does this give us a better idea of what everybody's capable of? Yeah. And that goes for Sam Hartman, as much as it goes for the Notre Dame offensive line, the running backs I just talked about, the pass catching targets. Like Jaden Greathouse has come in and looked like a true number two wide receiver to Jaden Thomas right away. But we don't know if Jaden Greathouse, the true freshman, can do that against power five defense. NC State has a pretty good one. So from Hartman to the line, to the running backs, to the receivers, and even the tight ends who caught four, Mitchell Evans caught three passes in a row. And then that drive at the end of the Tennessee State game was finished off by a tight end touchdown from sophomore Holden Stay. So you've got all these parts like working for the

Notre Dame offense, but how much of that was Navy? How much of that was Tennessee State? We're going to find out Saturday against NC State. In more weird reunion news because of the transfer portal. So Notre Dame has played a Brennan Armstrong quarterback team coordinated by Robert and I before Virginia in 2021. Marcus Freeman was in his first year as Notre Dame's defensive coordinator. So he matched up against that group. And that was a pretty good Virginia offense. And it had maybe its worst day against Notre Dame. Well, if you remember, Brennan Armstrong didn't play in that game. Oh, that's right. That's right. That was a big deal.

But that goes with the conversation that Ney and Brennan Armstrong are these two like inseparable pieces. I wrote at BlueAndGold.com. It's like peanut butter and jelly or Sunday and NFL football. It's like Robert and Ney and Brennan Armstrong. These guys are just good together. And like you were saying, Andy, they were so good in 2021. And then, boom, you get one game where they couldn't play together. And Notre Dame made that offense look like one of the worst offenses in the FBS so this is going to be a tough test Notre let's put it this way Notre Dame lucked out that Brennan Armstrong couldn't play that day

because if Brennan Armstrong did it wouldn't have been a I don't know what the final score was but I think it was like 28 to 3 yeah I mean that was a really good Virginia offense. They had Jelani Woods. They had a lot of weapons. And as you mentioned, Robert and I goes to Syracuse, and Brennan stays at Virginia. And apart, they didn't look very good. But back together now in Raleigh. So it's crazy how the transfer portal works, because it feels like we get all these weird storylines every week.

Well, here's another one. I mean, this is further down the road, but a lot was made of the JT Daniels playing Texas thing for the third time with three different teams. How about Jack Plummer playing Notre Dame for the third time with three different teams? That's right. Yeah, he played him with Purdue and then Cal last year.

And then this year, not playing. They're playing Louisville. Louisville, exactly, yeah. And Phil Dracovic, how about that one with Boston College for the Notre Dame quarterback? To your point, I mean, the storylines are endless. It is amazing. So optimism very high, obviously, in South Bend. How much of it is tempered by what they've played so far,

Navy and Tennessee State? Because it feels like if they can go to Raleigh, which is a notoriously tough place to play, we all remember our guy after the Florida State game, the 300-pound dude climbing a pole with his shirt waving in the air. If they can go there and play well, win, how high does optimism go in South Bend? Yeah, it's already really high, even with the opponents being what they were. Marcus Freeman

had a really good quote about that. He said, okay, it's Navy, it's Tennessee State, and I don't want to take anything away from those teams because they all practice as hard as anybody else does. But the way that we looked against those teams has to have you feeling pretty good. I mean, 42 to 3 is in week zero in Dublin with all the weirdness of that atmosphere. That's pretty good. 56 to 3 doesn't get a whole lot better than that. Notre Dame is 9 for 9 in the first half scoring touchdowns. When Sam Hartman's been on the field 12 times, Notre Dame scored 11 touchdowns.

Those numbers are going to come down against an NC State team. You'll probably see Notre Dame punt in the first half of a game for the first time all season, but that's still not that bad. Say if you punt like two times and you score three touchdowns and you have 21 points at NC State at halftime, that's where the optimism starts coming in, like you said, Andy, because you're you're like oh we're doing this on the road against a good nc state defense bring on ohio state right at that point usc and those teams so for jared parker how big a game is this because we know everything that happened with the offensive coordinator search in the in the offseason andy ludwig got the doggy pony show on campus they're showing him at basketball games he's back back at Utah winning, you know,

winning games with a backup quarterback and backup offensive lineman already. But Jared Parker's looked very good so far. This is his first real test. Yeah, you don't want it to be one of those situations where you think you know what you have and then all of a sudden you play an actual team and it's not anything like that.

I'll bring up an example when I was covering Mississippi State a few years ago. Mike Leach's first year there. KJ Costello, the quarterback. 600 yards against LSU. Play LSU, the defending national champion. I know LSU ended up not being that good that year, but you thought, holy cow, Mississippi State has the air raid rolling in Starfield. This is a thing. And then they lost to Arkansas the next week and went three and seven that season. So I'm not saying it's going to be that much of a dip for Jared Parker and Notre Dame. But this is a test to see like, hey, this is what we think we have. We're about to find out what we actually have.

And if they do pull it off, yeah, get ready for the hype train to be out of control as you hurdle toward the Ohio State game. Tyler, thank you so much. Yes, sir. That's Tyler Horka. Man, loaded, loaded Saturday. Think about that, the noon Eastern window, you got that Colorado-Nebraska game,

you have that Notre Dame NC state game. Then you, you get the mid afternoon, you're rolling into Miami and Texas A&M. You got Texas, Alabama at night. You got Tulane Ole Miss, which is going to be a fun game.

It's just, it is going to be a very, very fun Saturday. Extra point. We're talking helmet logos. So if you're watching the Louisville-Murray State game on Thursday night, and you probably aren't, but if you were watching it, you'd be watching Louisville up 28-0 on Murray State, about to go into halftime, unless Murray State picks sixes this Hail Mary,

but that didn't happen. But if you notice Louisville's helmet logo and the logo on the 50 yard line, it is the Cardinal stiff farming. This is a beautiful logo. This is a beautiful logo. I am a sucker for an anthropomorphized animal stiff-arming something. Like, Iowa has one of these logos too. There's a herky hawkeye who does this. I want to see the Iowa logo on an Iowa helmet. I know you're not taking the tiger hawk off the helmet,

but just once, maybe just do it. But I want to see this all over the place. I want to see Techno Beaver at Oregon State stiff-arming I want to see Goldie at Minnesota stiff farming somebody. I want to see Albert the alligator with one of his stubby little arms stiff farming as a helmet logo. If you have an animal mascot, make a cartoon of him stiff farming something and put it on your helmet. It's going to be glorious. Just watch Louisville tonight. That's the show. Cannot wait for the football.

We will be back after each window of games, breaking it all down. So after that noon Eastern window, after your Nebraska, Colorado, after your Notre Dame NC State, we'll be there. After the midday window, after your Texas A&M's and Miami's, we'll be there. After the midday window, after your Texas A&M's and Miami's, we'll be there.

After the night window, after your Texas Alabama, we will be there. Come join us. If you can't come join us, that's no problem. It'll all be there for you Sunday morning in podcast form. Thanks so much for watching. Thanks so much for listening. We'll talk again soon.