Andy & Ari On3 - The 2024 college football quarterback EXTRAVAGANZA | Can Oregon contend in the Big Ten in year one?

Episode Date: February 20, 2024

It’s the Andy Staples On3 2024 Quarterback Extravaganza!(0:00-2:28) Intro - Coaching Changes(2:29-13:39) Jesse Simonton joins for the QB Extravaganza(13:40-16:01) Young QBs to make an Impact(16:02-22:55) Dillon Gabriel and Will Howard's Destinations(22:56-26:54) New Faces in Different Places for QBs(26:55-29:29) USC QB Competition(29:30-32:48) Michigan QB Competition(32:49-34:49) Auburn's QB Room(34:50-38:15) Texas QB Situation(38:16-42:53) Florida's QB Room(42:54-45:18) Jalon Daniels Update(45:19-1:04:21) Justin Hopkins from ScoopDuck joins to talk Oregon, Dan Lanning(1:04:22-1:05:39) ConclusionGoing into 2023, we knew who the top QBs in college football were. There were a lot of experienced, successful returning starters across the country. That isn’t the case this season. We know Carson Beck at Georgia, Shedeur Sanders at Colorado, Jaxson Dart at Ole Miss and Quinn Ewers at Texas, but the other likely starting QBs on contending teams are either transfers or youngsters who have waited their turn.Andy and Jesse Simonton break down the state of the QB position heading into the season.Could a transfer like Will Howard or Dillon Gabriel lead his team to a national title?Is Michigan’s QB1 currently on its roster?Is Ewers for certain the guy at Texas, or will Arch Manning push him at some point in the season?Who will succeed Caleb Williams as USC’s QB1?Will one of the three super sophomores (Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava, Oklahoma’s Jackson Arnold, Kansas State’s Avery Johnson) emerge as a superstar?Which QB will make the leap in his second season as the starter at his school?Next, Justin Hopkins of On3’s ScoopDuck breaks down Oregon’s schedule. The Ducks are tied with Georgia, Ohio State and Texas for the highest preseason win total on Fanduel at 10.5. Can Oregon be a contender in year one in the Big Ten? Can the Ducks snap their losing streak against Washington?Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube and join us LIVE, M-F, at 8 am et!

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. It is the quarterback extravaganza. Jesse Simonton will be joining us very shortly to talk about quarterbacks in the 2024 season because we really don't know much about this position. It is not like last year when there were established stars coming into the season. There are a couple stars, but there are no superstars. There is no returning Heisman Trophy winner like Caleb Williams. There's none of that. So we got to break down this position. And it stems from a question from our friend Nathan, who always asks such good questions on Dear Andy Days, who wanted to know if we could handicap all the quarterback competitions out there.

And Jesse and I got to talking about it. We realized there's not a lot of open competitions. It's actually a lot of teams took transfers and it's presumed that the transfer is going to start. So we figured we'd get you up to speed on who's where, who we think is going to have a big year in their new system, who we think could be the best quarterbacks in the country, returning or transfer, and we're just going to talk QBs all day.

It's tremendous. Plus, later in the show, Justin Hopkins from ScoopDuck will take us on a deep dive into Oregon's schedule because Oregon, 10.5 win total at FanDuel. That is tied for the most in the country. That's a lot of pressure. They and Ohio State essentially co-favorites in the Big Ten.

So we will talk about that later in the show as well. Little news to break down. Keon Saab, who entered the transfer portal earlier this week, he has committed to Alabama. He was at Michigan as a DB. He's committed to Alabama. And also we've got a little Michigan and Alabama coaching carousel too, but not exactly the way you think. Michigan took Brian G. Murray, the linebackers coach from Tennessee. Tennessee took Alabama's linebackers coach, Inge Alabama hires Christian Robinson so because Michigan hired a linebackers coach Alabama ended up having to hire a linebackers coach Michigan also has a transfer that lands at Alabama because everything is connected the college football world in 2024 is all interconnected which brings us to the quarterback roulette that we will play in the

2024 season and our friend Jesse Simonton from On3. What's up, Jesse? What's up, Andy? Happy morning to you. Did I explain the Alabama-Michigan circle of life well enough there, you think? Yeah. I mean, I think you're pretty spot on. It seems to be all interconnected these days. They are kind of the nexus of the college football universe. Yeah. It's like they play in the Rose Bowl. It's the last game for Nick Saban. It's the next to last game for Jim Harbaugh. And then now they're just, maybe they're connected forever. Maybe they're just fused. If some of these quarterbacks wind up moving between those schools that we ended up talking about, that would

be even better. But I don't think we got to worry about that right now. We will talk about Michigan's quarterback situation in a little bit, but let's right now, I want to pose a question to you because we had a segment that people loved before the season last year and it gave us some entertainment throughout the season we had a quarterback draft you and i and basically you you had the first pick so you picked then i picked and we ended up picking 10 quarterbacks a piece and our friend at corn wit on twitter kept score all season i won because i somehow somehow landed Jaden Daniels in like round six. You famously called me an idiot because I didn't pick Bo Nix and you were right. And yet I picked Michael Penix who was awesome. So it was like, they were all really good. And I had Caleb Williams as the first pick. I mean, it was, yeah, I had several guys who got injured, but you had Jaden Daniels who just drove you to a title.

Oh, yeah. He was just a machine. So that's what I was trying to think about all day yesterday. I could not figure this out. And so I'm going to put you on the spot. And I'm not sure I know my answer yet. I may have to just go with vibes on my answer. But if we did this today, we're not going to do this day. We'll do it after spring practice, because I think we'll have a

better idea of who's starting everywhere. We'll, we'll kind of know who's going to be everywhere. Cause I think there's still some movement to be done in the transfer portal. But if we did this again, who would your first pick for 2024 be? So I thought about this too. You obviously posed this to me before coming on. And I think the reason there's not a consensus answer, obviously because we don't have an obvious number one draft pick quarterback. It's the same reason why EA Sports, there's so much kind of intrigue.

Who's going to be on the cover of the new college football game? Because there's not an obvious candidate. There's several guys who could pick that description. It's got to be a current player because they can do that for the first time. So we know they're going to be a current player. Right. So they want to do a current player, but there is no Caleb Williams. There is no Drake May. So I think, and he would not fit, I don't think he would, he doesn't have enough pache or panage uh to be on the cover because I don't think he's famous enough but I think I probably would go with Carson Beck the number one quarterback on the number one team um you know he probably if he came out this year Andy would be a second round pick I think he's going to have the opportunity

to play himself into that first round conversation a year from now. But you could certainly make a case for Quinn Ewers, who's a guy that we're going to talk about who could maybe even end up losing his job, you know, depending on how Texas's season goes, or Shador Sanders. You know, I think that there's a handful of guys who you can't really quibble because I think you could make a case or an argument for a number of guys. Yeah, it was really interesting. I went and looked at some of the draft Knicks because they always go a year or so ahead. I looked at what the draft Knicks think about the 2025 NFL draft QB board, and it's clear they're just saying, we've heard of these people. That's pretty much it. It's like, we've heard of Shador Sanders, and we've heard of Quinn Ewers,

and we've heard of Carson Beck, but we don't really have an opinion on any of them yet. It's true. It is one of those years. Now, when we do that draft, it is about what we think they'll do production-wise in college. It is not necessarily what we think of their NFL future. With Caleb Williams last year, we think of their NFL future. With Caleb Williams last year, we both wanted him number one. Obviously, he's probably going to be the number one pick in the NFL draft as well, but that doesn't happen every year. There are cases where

somebody in college may be more productive and maybe doesn't have the same skill set you need to be a first round draft pick or a top five draft pick in the NFL draft. But after some consideration, I think I figured out who I would pick. Number one, based on who I think is going to have massive production could be like a potential Heisman trophy winner or Heisman trophy finalist. You ready, Jesse?

Well, let's hear it. Let's drop it. Jackson Dart from Ole Miss. Okay. I can see it. You and I have been kind of high on Ole Miss. Okay, I can see it. You and I have been kind of high on Ole Miss. We've certainly discussed Jackson Dart and kind of the Rebels' potential.

He's going to be surrounded by perhaps, if not the best, one of the best wide receiver rooms in the SEC. You bring it in. Juice from South Carolina. Jordan Watkins is back. Harris is back uh we know lane wants to chuck the pill the fact that you don't have quinshawn judkins behind you anymore that that may be a little more reliant on on jackson's arm oh no they got ulysses bentley baby they're

i don't i don't think they're gonna stop running the ball as much as they have i think that's gonna that's gonna still be the same in fact u Ulysses Bentley will be the benefactor of all these great receivers they have because they're going to see some light boxes because they're scared to death of Juice Wells and Trey Harris. Well, they found they have the beef, too. The offensive line, they've got the – It's all back.

Yeah, you bring in two guys from Washington. You bring in Diego Pounds from North Carolina. I mean, yeah, there's a lot to like there I mean I'll give you a wild card he certainly would not be I don't think anyone's first choice but if you're talking about upside potential um probably not going to put up the craziest numbers so maybe not number one pick style but in terms of if you're talking about NFL what if Riley Leonard just hits at Notre Dame? It didn't work out for Sam Hartman, but Riley Leonard has more of those, that pro potential, you know, what if he

just, just what if in Mike Denbrock's system, it just clicks. Right. And remember Mike Denbrock was the OC with Jaden Daniels the last two years at LSU. And, you know, we saw Riley Leonard and Kevin John's offense at Duke. And when he was on the field, they were a different team. So you put him at Notre Dame with, with better, better players around him, definitely a better offensive line, some very good young backs. Their receivers have to show that they can do the job. That's, that's Notre Dame's question mark there and has been for the last couple of years. If they can develop a decent receiving core. Yeah. Riley Leonard is, is one that could have a big year. I'll throw another one out there. This is what I teased yesterday, Jesse, another guy who I think could have a really big year this

year. And it's the guy Riley Leonard plays in week one. Connor Wigman at Texas A&M. Remember, he got hurt very early last season. He was looking great at that point. And you thought, okay, he's going to save everybody's jobs. He gets hurt. It doesn't look as good with Max Johnson running it. And now Jimbo Fisher's out. Bobby Petrino's at Arkansas.

But Conor Wigman's back. They had the opportunity to look at transfer quarterbacks, but Mike Elko, who was around at Texas A&M when Conor Wigman was being recruited, was like, nah, I like our guy. And he's with Colin Klein, who's kind of like a rising star and offensive coordinator. He's done a lot of – done great work with Will Howard and the guys at Kansas State.

I like that pick. I mean, it's interesting. Texas A&M, I think – we'll talk about this throughout the offseason. I have a piece coming out in On 3 today looking at who is potential candidates for the numbers-free team in the SEC. Georgia and Texas have kind of separated themselves both from a win total and metrics perspective. But you look at, like, Bill Conley's returning production, A&M is first in the SEC. You look at, you know, his first initial SP-plus rankings, Texas A&M is ranked 13th.

I mean, the Aggies are set up, especially if Connor Wegman hits at quarterback, you know, to, I think, make some real noise in Elko's first season. So not a bad pick at all. So Louisville Bub's in the chat with a great question. Thoughts on Tyler Shook at Louisville with Braum. This is a really interesting one. So for those who don't know Tyler Shook, he was an Oregon recruit originally. He went to Oregon, looked like he could be a potential starter there, but he had some injuries and obviously I still wonder what it would be like if he could be healthy for an entire season because he has the size, he has the arm, the speed, all the tools, and he's with Jeff Brom now. So the question I ask for Tyler Shook is could he be this year's Michael Penix Jr. from 2022 when he finally had a healthy season? It was his first year with Kalen DeBoer in Washington.

You know, he'd had all the injuries in Indiana, but all of a sudden he blossoms because he's healthy for once. And he's working with a quarterback guru who can help him along. That could be Tyler Shook this year. It could be. And Jeff Brom has done a really nice job using the transfer portal to kind of continue to supplement Louisville's roster with more and more receiver help.

Shook's on that medical school timeline. Yeah, exactly. I think he's been in college for about seven, eight years now. So if not now, when, I guess. But but yeah, I mean, that's an intriguing one. And he's one of many, many transfers, you know, who they are. I don't know. We can't say that they've been guaranteed the job, but they are, they're moving to a new school where they are the presumed starter.

Jerry, Jerry in the chat, Jackson Dart has an army of mercenaries at wide receiver. Yeah. Well, I, I think probably the Ole Miss team might be called an army of mercenaries, but listen, if they all blend together, then you get the A team. There's nothing wrong with that. Let's talk about some young guys and then we're gonna we'll talk about young guys first and then we'll talk about the new faces new places thing because the new faces new places thing is probably the longest conversation we need to have with the quarterbacks because everybody's moving around but we'll start with young guys. There's three super sophomores that could be breakout superstars or could crumble under the weight of expectation. But they all are very interesting.

And we saw them all as a, I don't think it was, not everyone was a first-time starter in the bowl game. But we saw them kind of taking over in the bowl game. So you've got Jackson Arnold at Oklahoma. You've got Nico Yamame-Lava at Tennessee. And you've got Avery Johnson at Kansas State. I want to add one more. Okay. Aiden Childs.

Oh, that's a great one. And he's a new face in a new place, but same concept. Yes. Yeah. So Aiden Childs was at Oregon state. He was the freshman. He would come in a split time with DJ. We uncle lay. He followed Jonathan Smith to Michigan state. He's the guy at Michigan state this year. That's a great one. So of the, of those four, Jesse, who are you most excited to see as the, as the starter? I I think it's I think it's hard not to say Nico

just because there has been so much mania you know around his recruitment that uh that you know he was the first big NIL at least what as we know of you know the first big NIL recipient um so and and I think we saw two years ago with Hendendon hooker the possibility of tennessee um and what that program is capable of if you have kind of you know one of these fighter pilots at quarterback so is nico that he certainly i think if these guys has you know tremendous pressure uh and you know kind of on his shoulders there's a lot of the expectations are sky high for him. So I think Nico would be number one. I think after that, it's notable that, you know, Oklahoma made that decision. And I think it was absolutely the correct one, but they made the

decision that, Hey, you know, we have a really nice guy in, in Dylan Gabriel, a guy who's been very productive of us for two years, but let's hand the keys to someone that maybe has even higher upside that, you know, that engine revs just a little bit louder, a little bit faster. And that's, you know, what five-star Jackson Arnold could provide. Will he, I don't know, we kind of saw, you know, the ups and downs and his first start in that bowl game, but that would be probably my one too. So Jackson Arnoldnold and avery johnson are are really interesting cases because the guys that they supplant dylan gabriel who's now at oregon from oklahoma will howard who's now at ohio state from k-state may be facing off for the big 10

title maybe in the playoff trying to win a national title, but both of them are where they are because their current school went with the young guy. Right. And this is, this is kind of in the, in the new world of, of, of NIL and how much, you know, roster retention and what it takes to kind of keep all these pieces together. Coaches are banking on, you know it's almost like, again, let's refer it backaches are banking on, you know, it's almost like, again, let's refer it back to the NCAA game. You know, years ago when you were playing that NCAA game, we would, folks would be, you know, cutting, you know, a 94 junior to sign a 92 freshman.

And that's kind of, you know, because they might have more potential three, you know, two years down the road. And that's kind of a similar situation. These coaches are saying, Hey, all right, Avery Johnson, Jackson Arnold, they have multiple years of eligibility remaining. If we bench them, Arch Manning is kind of the, you know, uh, exception to this rule because he is willing to wait. Most of these other guys are not willing to sit, you know, for multiple seasons. And so they're having to kind of move on from some veterans to kind of bank on that upside. And Avery Johnson, I'm telling you, if you've not seen him play yet, this guy is electric when he's running the ball. But he's also got a good arm. And that's we need to see more of the arm because that's not really what they've asked him to do yet.

But in that offense where he is going to be asked to run quite a bit, I'm telling you, the Lamar Jackson comparison is a little premature. But I don't think we've seen a quarterback with a decent arm that's been this fast since Lamar Jackson. Yeah, but I mean, how can you turn down an awesome cross racial comparison though? I love it. Yeah. Nobody, nobody ever does those, but yeah, I listen, this, this dude is lightning fast. So that's the thing I want to see is can he develop? I remember Lamar played in a bowl game against Texas A&M his freshman year. Now he had played kind of like Avery Johnson, maybe a little more than Avery Johnson did toward the end of his freshman season. So you had a little better idea of what he was going to be.

But that bowl game was kind of a coming out party for Lamar. And you knew, oh boy, this is going to be special going into the 2016 season, his sophomore year when he won the Heisman. But Avery Johnson, in terms of ceiling, I'm very excited about him. I think I agree with you on Nico as far as that group goes, though, because one thing with Tennessee's offense that didn't seem to click with Joe Milton is he didn't really – he wasn't as willing a runner as Hennon Hooker or wasn't as good at choosing like the read option stuff. They didn't run much with him because his instincts weren't as good as

Hennon Hooker's were. Nico's instincts are very good. I still, I keep going back to when I met Nico as a recruit and met his dad for the first time. And his dad is over 300 pounds. He's huge. He's like six, six, seven over 300 pounds. And so Nico at the time, I think was a little less than 200 coming into Tennessee. He's out 220 something pounds. He's probably going to put on more weight and he's a pretty physical runner. So I think there's a, there's a chance he could be very good for Tennessee. So he'll be surrounded by more talent this year too. The rod receiver room was not, was kind of a letdown a year ago and they bring in the temple transfer. You get five-star Mike Matthews, Brew McCoy's healthy squirrel is going to be a year older. I think he's going to be

supported a little bit better than, than even Joe Milton was last season. Yeah. All right. Well, let's talk about the new faces in new places. We talked about Riley Leonard already, but we mentioned that Avery Johnson's ascension puts Will Howard looking for a new school. He winds up at Ohio State. Jackson Arnold sends Dylan Gabriel looking for a new school. He winds up at Oregon. Those two are kind of headliners because they are getting planted into situations where they have tons of weapons around them. Like in Dylan Gabriel, this offense is absolutely perfect for him. I think Chip Kelly can drop a nice offense for Will Howard too, given the skill set we've seen from him at K-State. But so many weapons around both of them and massive expectations. Yeah. And, you know, I think the funny thing is Will Howard's a guy that you kind of peek at his

early Heisman odds. He's way up there. What, you know, he's done some nice things at Kansas State. He wants to be, you know, led them to a big 12 championship game and win over TCU just two years ago. The funny thing is, Andy, I think you could absolutely make a case and argument that by the end of the season, he may not even be Ohio State's starter. That quarterback room is super loaded. And you bring in Julian Sayen. You got another five-star in Aaron Nolan. You still have Kleinholz and Devin Brown

I don't think all those guys are going to be around post oh they yeah there's some of them are gone after spring practice I would imagine but but but but but there's a case that hey if Howard's not getting it done um you know because last year I think you could make the case that that that Cal McCord was kind of what was holding the Buckeyes back. And so if he's not getting it done, you know, he can be a new face in a new place who's then, you know, maybe seeding the ball or his starting hand to someone else. And I think that's the case in a number of different places. I don't think that's what's going to happen to Dylan Gabriel at Oregon,

but it could. They also signed Dante Moore, you know, as a little insurance there. So it's at least on the table, which again, it just makes this whole deal fascinating because we're talking about two of the four, you know, probably two of the four best teams in the country. Certainly. So when we were talking about FanDuel odd, you mentioned that Oregon's 10 and a half, there's four teams in the country that have that. It's Georgia, Texas, Oregon, and Ohio State. So we talked about Tyler Shook and I'm excited about him if he can stay healthy in that offense. Jeff Brom, by the way, he may be the next master of the transfer portal. We may be adding him to the Mount Rushmore alongside Mike Norvell and Lane

Kiffin in terms of guys who just do the portal really well and can rebuild a roster quickly because they've added a lot of talent at Louisville. And so I think Shook can do very well if he stays healthy. Who are some of the other guys that you are excited to see in their new spot? Well, I'm going to start with someone that you just recently sat down with, and that's DJU. And I don't know if it's so much as excitement as it's just intrigue. What is it going to be like with his return to the ACC? How is he going to fit in that Mike Norvell offense? Part of the narrative and storyline around DJ has been his reticence.

You're talking about Joe Milton, but it's been his reticence to really want to kind of lean into that physical run game, to be involved in that, to kind of be willing to kind of take some of those shots and being a willing runner. You know, that was not his game really at Oregon State this last season. He really backed off of that. That has been a principle of the Mike Norvell offense, though. That was one of the elements that made Jordan Travis so successful. So do they lean

into that? Is DJ more willing to be a runner? I don't know. So I'm fascinated to see how it plays out. The Seminoles are certainly trying to reload after their awesome 2023 season. He'll be surrounded by a lot of good players, again, facing off against Clemson. You know, you guys certainly had an interesting conversation. That's one that I think in particular that I just am really curious to see how it's all going to unfold. Yeah, I am too.

And especially, like, they go at SMU and then Clemson. So we'll see DJU versus Preston Stone, DJU versus Cade Klubnick. And the Clemson one obviously is going to be just a strange scene with him. But then you've also got Cam Ward at Miami, who Cam was, remember, incarnate word, then Washington State. He goes into an offense at Miami that is similar to what he's been running. Shannon Dawson, the OC at Miami, same family tree as the offenses that Cam Ward has been running. So that should be an easy transition for him. But let me throw this at you. Who has the better year, Cam Ward at Miami or former Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke at Wisconsin?

I'm going Cam Ward. I think that Miami, they got Restrepo. They have some other really nice receivers. I think he turned down the NFL. You skipped one little thing in the Cam Ward storyline there. He briefly went to the NFL and then changed his mind. He was going to go to the NFL, and then I think he got wind of maybe of his draft stock and both what his earning potential could be in the NIL space.

And so he's at Miami. We'll see with Tyler Van Dyke. Now, Longo's second season working, you know, with Fickle up there at Wisconsin. They're banking on – TBD's got a big arm. You know, what does that wide receiver room look like? How does he kind of play? You know, now he's actually, I think, you know,

leveling up in competition going to the Big Ten for sure. So, I would bet on Cam Ward and kind of, you know, his ability to put up some really big numbers for the Hurricanes this next bet on Cam Ward and kind of, you know, his ability to put up some really big numbers for the Hurricanes this next season. Yeah. The Wisconsin offense though, I was in, I was encouraged because they did run the ball well down the stretch last season. I thought the passing game was what needed to improve. They needed to improve their speed on the outside. If they've done that. And I have faith in Luke Fickle as a recruiter and as a coach of developers. And, you know, we saw that we saw him develop stars at Cincinnati.

So I have faith in him to do that. I think TVD is going to have a decent year at Wisconsin, and I think he'll fit very well into that offense. But yeah, this is it's interesting. You know, Jesse, the original conceit for this show was our pal Nathan, who asked the really good questions on Dear Andy Day. He wanted us to hit open competitions. They're not a ton of those, but I did want to ask you about one and that's USC. So you've got Miller Moss coming back, who he's just sort of waited his turn. He was there when Caleb Williams got there. He was there when Caleb Williams left. He plays in the bowl game last year and looks awesome. The team really

rallies around him, but USC did go into the portal and get a quarterback. It was, it was the UNLV quarterback, Jaden Maiava, who had a great year in Brendan Marion's offense as a freshman. And the question is, which of these guys do you think winds up as USC's starter? I would lean towards Miller Moss just because that seems to be where the tea leaves are. If you listen to Lincoln Riley last week. Yeah, you listen to Lincoln Riley last week. Yeah, you listen to Lincoln Riley. You know, one of the things Lincoln Riley said right after that bowl game, Andy, which maybe some of the viewers don't remember,

they began playing the musical chairs game here. You know, USC was famously in it for Will Howard. Lincoln Riley had flown to Kansas, had gone to visit Kansas State's quarterback, and it seemed like all the stars were aligning for Will Howard to end up being the Trojans guy in 2024. Well, then Miller Moss has this awesome game. And right after the game, Lincoln Riley's like, yeah, he probably scared off some guys.

And sure enough, Will Howard, you know, the crystal ball start changing and Will Howard's headed to Ohio State. So I would love to- Now, if you had a choice between USC and Ohio State going into this season. Oh, for sure. No, I think Will Howard made the correct choice. Yeah. But I think he also might have been pushed in a certain direction in terms of, hey, where

is my opportunity going to be best served? And Jaden Maiava was a true freshman last year at UNLV. So there's some time with him and he's going to have, he has four more where you can red shirt him and then three more years of college eligibility. If that's how it works out. Fun fact about Jaden Maiava, he has seven siblings, Jesse. You ready for the names of the seven siblings? Is one of them Georgia?

Because I think he had probably the shortest commitment I've ever seen when he was committed to Georgia for about 30 seconds. Not Georgia, but close. His seven siblings are named Heaven, Sia, Jacob, Justice, Hena, Hyena, and Jayston. Hyena, that's feisty. Yeah, listen, it's Hawaii, man. It's different, but so that, that's, that is probably the, the biggest kind of mono we mono competition. But like you said, Lincoln Riley sort of tipped us off. Now here's a, here's another one. And this is, we we've asked the guys at the Wolverine this, and they've all answered the same way.

Every time I ask them, is Michigan's starting quarterback currently on its roster, they say, probably not. So what happens for the defending national champs under new coach Jerome Moore? Is it Alex Orji, who they had a package for last season, but he didn't throw a pass? Or do they go into the portal and try to grab somebody with some more experience? Yeah, or is it the freshman Jalen Davis, who is a blue chip guy, French four-star?

I don't know. You and I kind of talked about this last night. This one's crazy because USC, know, USC, the expectations, we think it's going to be Miller-Moss. We'll see how it plays out in the spring. But, you know, they're not expected to be even a Big Ten, you know, title contender next season. Michigan's still way up there in terms of odds, preseason rankings.

You know, you see their, you know, SP+, I think their fifth or sixth in the country so even though they've lost a lot tron moore still has a darn good team but he doesn't have a quarterback and you know i don't i'm not sure who what's the obvious upgrade going to be in the portal because as we're talking about and breaking this all down it's not like a lot of guys are going to be losing a competition so you could be having a guy like Ty Simpson from Alabama who has five-star potential but hasn't really done it. That's as big of an unknown as Alex Orji.

I'm not saying one's better than the other or what have you. We assume that somebody from Alabama is going to enter the portal. Right. Jalen Milrow is probably the guy this year, and Taylor LeBron has brought this guy from Washington, so an Austin Mack. Yeah, so I just – what sort of options are the Wolverines going to be looking at

in the transfer portal in the spring? Because of everything we've outlined, I think it's going to come with probably as many unknowns as what's currently on their roster. That's not to say it wouldn't be an upgrade or could be a potential downgrade. It just speaks to the fact that Michigan's in a pretty precarious position because they don't have an obvious successor to J.J. McCarthy. Right. And Penn State's going to be good. Ohio State's going to be very good. Oregon is going to be good. I think Washington under Jed Fish is still going to be.J. McCarthy. Right. And Penn State's going to be good. Ohio State's going to be very good. Oregon is going to be good. I think Washington under Jed Fish is still going to be

pretty good. Like Michigan, the road is not easy. And Michigan didn't get a real favorable draw in the Big Ten schedule. Yeah, it's a tough schedule for Michigan. I think Ohio state got a little easier draw, but I am, I am curious about some of these other situations where we're not sure the starters on the roster. Auburn is the one that really sticks out, which I felt this is the way it was last year. They did not have Peyton Thorne yet. This time last year, they got him after spring practice after he and Keon Coleman hit the portal following Michigan State spring practice. So in this case, it felt like there was a big vote of confidence from Hugh Freeze toward Peyton Thorne between the end of the regular season and the

bowl game. And then after the bowl game, it's like, oh God, no, we got to reevaluate this entirely. So how does this work? Because it does seem like they're going to have to go get somebody, but they can't get anybody from the SEC because of that rule. So Auburn fans aren't going to like to hear this because they've already been in my mentions and gotten mad at me. But I think Hugh has kind of, you know, fumbled the bag on this. You know, he's done a great job assembling all this talent

around the quarterback position. They signed, you know, this insane wide receiver class with multiple five stars. You flip Coleman from Texas A&M. You get Thompson, another in-state guy. And yet, who the heck's going to throw him the ball? I mean, it's hard to be confident in Peyton Thorne. Robbie Ashford's now at South Carolina.

You know, this is two straight off seasons. Walker White, the freshman from Arkansas, I think may have a shot here. I don't know, because if you look around, I don't see a lot of non-SEC quarterback competitions shaking out in a way that you're going to get somebody you like. So Walker White may have a shot to just grab this thing as a true freshman. He's going to be there in spring practice, so he's going to have a chance to learn the offense. Yeah, and again, they may have to roll that way. I think we know what Peyton

Thorne is is as a quarterback at this point so do they decide that that's stable enough uh for them to roll into the season or do they they go with one of the two young guys on the roster and say hey we'll take some lumps but we see that growth potential yeah Yeah, that one's a big mystery. Now, elsewhere in the SEC, we know who the starting quarterback is at this place. Massive expectations in their first year in the SEC, but they also have a backup with a very famous last name who, by all accounts, is real good in practice.

Talking about Texas, of course. Now, Quinn Ewers is the guy. The question, and you brought this comparison up when we were texting back and forth about this thing the other day. Do you have a Jalen Hurts to a situation going into this season at Texas? We're going to find out, Andy. I think we're going to find out. The first game, if Texas loses a game, Sark just got rewarded with a huge extension.

First 10-win season, now he's a $10 million coach. Texas is probably one of the two or three best teams in the country next year with everything they have, even around the quarterback. If there's any slippage there, we've also seen Quinn just get hurt. Quinn's been a guy who's been dinged up throughout his career. So could there be a Wally Pipps situation where he misses a couple games

and then Arch is so dang good that he's not going to seed the spot. So that is one that is, in terms of we know that Quinn's the guy. Sarge has backed him through and through. Arch Manning has been the ultimate teammate, has said he's willing to wait his turn. But that's not to say that we could not see a Nick Saban type situation where, hey, we got to hand the keys to the younger guy because we see what he could do that maybe you can't. Or again, Quinn's been hurt in both of his seasons

as Texas's starter. What happens if he just can't stay healthy and Arch is like, hey, I'm not going to give this job up? Well, and I think that's the key thing to point out is Quinn Ewers has missed games both seasons he's been the starter. So it's entirely possible that that's the situation it's not a case of oh you're playing poorly we're putting this other guy in

it would be more we have to put this other guy in and now we have to make a choice afterward which we've seen that we've seen that like remember you know kirby smart second season at georgia when the starter goes down and the freshman comes in and Jake Fromm doesn't give it back. So that's happened before. But that's the situation where I think you could see that. And I don't know that they drop off much if that happens. I think that's, they're probably just as good either way. Now you mentioned one, and I thought this was interesting too. And this is a case, I think with a lot of programs, and this is the situation that Oklahoma was in last year, that K-State was in last year.

So you got Florida with Graham Mertz in year two as the starter. We've seen transfers who get into their second year as the starter at the new school, make some pretty big leaps. We've seen transfers who get into their second year as the starter at the new school, make some pretty big leaps. We've seen them do pretty well. And I would say that Graham Mertz had a very good end of the season last year at Florida. Their offense wasn't spectacular. Their defense was the bigger problem, but they've got DJ Lagway coming in as a freshman. This is the guy. They've penned all their hopes and dreams to him. I realize that a lot of this depends on how the season goes, whether Billy Napier makes it through the season as Florida's coach, but how quick do you at least sprinkle in DJ Lagway to see what you got there. Well, I think that his situation is tied and kind

of tethered to what is happening with Billy Napier in the program. You know, because I thought Mertz exceeded my expectations a year ago. He was absolutely not the problem for Florida. You know, he wasn't an all SEC quarterback, but he was highly capable. He led a solid offense. Again, that defense was the tire fire, just historically bad. But this is, Andy, we've discussed this already, and I'm sure we'll dive into it more throughout the offseason. Florida has perhaps the most hellacious schedule I've ever seen in college football when you're talking about Miami,

Florida state and UCF and the non-conference plus playing the, an SEC schedule that has the Georgia, Texas, Ole Miss. Yeah. Just, just, just absurd. And so are you going to throw, you know, a freshman kind of into that fire or do you have to throw a freshman into that fire because your job's on the line and you need to sell you know hope the future um you know that that this can be something to be excited about it's it's it's its own unique situation that that that I think you know really is going to what is really going to be why people are kind of tuning in to Florida because you see that win total.

The expectations are low. Everyone is kind of down on Billy. But can Lagway provide a spark, or does Billy have to lean on him to say, hey, I need you to provide a spark? And what sort of pressure does that put on a freshman who, again, is ranked about as high as anyone that we had in the country at on three this past cycle? Yeah, and most excited anybody who's been about a quarterback in Gainesville since

probably Tebow. And that includes when they signed Cam Newton. And I know not a lot of people remember John Brantley, but he was a massive recruit at the time. But Tebow was the one that just was a supernova of excitement. Lagway feels like that. The only difference is the team is not in the position it was when Tebow got there, where that team was coming off an eight win season that should have been more. And then you realize this infusion of talent can take them to the next step and they win the national title when Tebow is a freshman. This is a very different situation. This is a, is this guy special enough to give you enough hope to give Billy Napier another year? We'll see. And he stuck around, you know, when kind of the rest of that recruiting class crumbled,

you know, Lagway and McCray, the five-star pass rusher were two guys who, you know, did ultimately sign with Florida, which was kind of a big, you know, chip for Napier to say, Hey, I still have investment. We still have buy-in here that everyone players come to Gainesville. Well, Jesse, we have, we have traveled around the country. We have, we have talked about a lot of quarterbacks. I'm really excited about this season. Cause I feel like there's a lot more unknown

and it's not just the changes in the schedule. It's not just the changes in the playoff. We don't know who's going to be that guy. Like if you, if you asked me to handicap the Heisman race right now, and obviously we can throw running backs and receivers in there as well, but I guess Carson Beck, I'd say,

because I think they're going to win a lot of games like i think dylan gabriel is going to put up massive numbers at oregon jackson dart we just mentioned at old miss but there's going to be somebody that we've not even mentioned that we've not breathed one word about that i bet wins the heisman yeah because normally they do kind of come out of nowhere jay the irony is jay, you know, a year ago had those insanely good Heisman or insanely high Heisman odds. Then they kind of dipped a little bit before the preseason. You know, you took them relatively high in the QB draft,

and that paid dividends. I mean, he ended up, you know, winning the dang thing. But would it stun you? Or you can't absolutely you can't cross off a guy like drew alar having a monster you know season in it with a new offensive coordinator you know kind of you know fulfilling his potential as a five-star what if he you know kind of emerged you know from that middle of the pack uh and won it can't cross it out no you can't and well there's a super fun quarterback that

we have not mentioned today. And I feel like we had before we, we end this segment, we have to talk about him. Just at least mention his name, Jalen Daniels from Kansas. Now drew our Penn state has Jalen Daniels, old offensive coordinator, Andy Kotelnicki. But Jeff Grimes comes to Kansas to run the offense. Jalen Daniels, Jason Bean, still there at Kansas. Daniels is so much fun when he's healthy. The issue is he's not always healthy. But, man, that's another one. If he can have a fully healthy season, he's going to put up video game numbers.

You know who else is going to put up video game numbers? He's not going to win the Heisman because they won't else is going to put up video game numbers? He's not going to win the Heisman because they won't win enough games, but new face, new place, KJ Jefferson. Yes. Running it in Gus's offense. The perfect offense for KJ Jefferson, the Gus Malzahn at UCF. Yeah. What's a big dog eat? I mean, he's just going to be, you know, he'll carry the ball 30 times for Gus. Yeah, and that's like, so if we had to pick perfect offense for the new quarterback, for the person who transferred in, I'd say number one is KJ Jefferson in Gus Malzahn's offense at UCF. Number two is former UCF quarterback Dylan Gabriel

in Will Stein's offense at Oregon. I think those are the best fits of anything we've seen so far. Yeah, I like that. I like that. Well, Jesse, it's been fun. This has been a very educational segment. We're going to have to do this. I think we're going to need to do this every couple weeks where maybe not

position by position, but we remind everybody where everybody plays now. We've got to remind ourselves. Position by position. But we remind everybody where everybody plays now. For sure. We got to remind ourselves. Oh, I know. I had the hardest time when we were prepping for this. I was like, oh, wait, who's Wisconsin? Oh, Wisconsin's got TVD now. There we go.

Okay. And so you just, yeah, you got to jog your memory sometimes. So that was fun. And we will do this again very soon. Thank you, Jesse. Absolutely. Thanks for having me on. So we talked about Dylan Gabriel and the fit at Oregon.

Let's talk a little more about that. Because the Ducks come into the Big Ten with very high expectations. As well they should. But they have not lived up to those expectations the past couple of years. So new quarterback, new league, can they live up to those expectations? We'll find out. Here is Justin Hopkins from Scooped Up. We continue our deep dive series into the win totals of some of the most popular teams in the country.

Justin Hopkins of ScoopDuck joins us to talk the Oregon Ducks, who are in a very select club right now. Four teams have a 10.5 win total at FanDuel. This is the highest in the country. Oregon's one of them. Jay Hopp, the others are Georgia, Ohio State, and Texas. So I believe that firmly plants Oregon in the expected to compete for the national title zone. Do you think the Ducks are ready to feel that way? Well, that's certainly some good company to be in. And, you know, I know we'll talk about it, but that certainly makes October 12th, that Ohio State-Oregon game, very intriguing, of course, as we head into it. But yeah, I do think that the rosters there, you know, if we were still

talking about the old Pac-12, I'd feel really good about Oregon. But obviously with things changing and them being a part of the Big Ten, they can compete. And I do think that I know we'll talk about it, but you have to kind of look at Oregon and Ohio state being two of the favorites for the big 10 early on. Yeah, I would say they, they are the favorites and they play each other. So that's, that's a, it's going to be fun because I think everybody's assuming, Oh, Ohio state and Michigan will play. And then there's no division.

So they'll just play again the next week. I don't think we should assume that. I think Oregon and Penn State and maybe Washington might have a little something to say about that. So let's talk about Oregon's roster, though. The big move in the offseason is obviously Bo Nix has gone off to the NFL, but Dylan Gabriel comes in from Oklahoma, and that was a situation where Oklahoma had to decide one more year of Dylan Gabriel

or do we start the Jackson Arnold era? They went with the younger guy, and now Dylan Gabriel is in Eugene. Yeah, it feels, and it's really dangerous to say this because of how good and how efficient Bo Nix was last year, but it really feels plug and play if you're Oregon. I think Will Stein has shown that he has no problem kind of adapting his offense to the strengths of his current quarterback, whether that be Bo Nix, Dylan Gabriel, whatever the case calls there. They've got plenty of weapons at wide receiver.

They returned basically the entire offensive line, save Jackson Power Johnson, who rose his stock at the Senior Bowl there this past couple weeks. So just across the board, offensively, Oregon looks really good. And defensively, they brought a lot of those guys back as well. So if you're looking for a team with balance and talent and depth, I think Oregon checks all three of those boxes. Yeah, and it doesn't seem like it's as big of a defensive overhaul as it was last year. It seemed like Dan Lanning, especially after the Oregon State game in 22, was like, OK, we are changing the personnel on defense.

This roster is going to look a little different. It seems like it's kind of more spot. Like Jabbar Muhammad, the corner from Washington, who's one of those too good to not grab if you can get it. That's exactly what I was going to say. You know, I think for the most part, Oregon did fill a few holes on the defensive side of the ball. But like you said, a guy like Jabbar Muhammad, yeah, we got to go get that guy no matter what, you know, and they had just, you know, gotten Cam Alexander to transfer from UTSA a week or two before. Like you said, Muhammad is too good to pass up. You know, I think Kobe Savage, another guy that Oregon feels really good about. Yeah, I think safety is where they needed help the most and they certainly did a

lot of work there. But, you know, along the defensive line, they were in great shape and they didn't pursue anybody at linebacker in the transfer portal because they had a good feeling or they pushed really hard for jason jacobs to come back and jeffrey bassa i mean returning those two guys is monster for oregon yeah and it does feel like in the trenches they're they're in a pretty good spot because you have you know the older guys who were recruited by mario Cristobal and then Dan Lanning's done a good job of, of supplementing those guys like a Johnny Cornelius coming from, from Rhode Island and now in year two at Oregon. Yeah. And Jordan Birch came back, you know, that's a, we're kind of not really talking about

it and it's kind of like a, for, oh, he is coming back. You know, there's a lot of upside with him and a guy that could play into the early rounds. He wouldn't have been an early rounder had he come out this year, but you know, he'll come back and he was a real force in the last three to four weeks for Oregon, possibly even outplaying Brandon Dorlis down the stretch. So yeah, I mean, again, if we're checking all the boxes, they're good in the trenches on both sides of the ball. They've got skill and talent. They've got speed. They've got guys that have played in the system and guys sides of the ball. They've got skill and talent. They've got speed. They've got guys that have played in the system and guys that are returning. So now it's just really kind of getting Dylan Gabriel up to speed and getting some of those guys to really step

into those vacant leadership roles and take it from there. Well, and also Will Stein's back, which I know it sounds crazy because he's only been there a year, but you saw Kenny Dillingham got there, did well, became a head coach. Will Stein, there was a lot of noise around him in the coaching carousel. He's viewed as a future head coach, future star. And so the fact that they do have him back for another year is probably pretty beneficial. Yeah, you know, you were able to return, you know, both coordinators, all three coordinators, however you want to see it, but obviously they promoted Chris Hampton, you know, secondary coach slash Cody C. Tosh Lupoi returns, and like you said, Will Stein is back,

and that's something a little bit different from Dan Lanning. We forget he's only in year three, but he's already on his second offensive coordinator because Dillingham lasted a year and got the ASU job, which was great for him. I think Will Stein, I know I mentioned this just a moment ago about Jordan Birch, but I think Will Stein, we kind of saw him coming into his own about halfway into the season, and I don't think he was bad to start. I think there was just some things he was testing out, figuring out, finding out about the team and about himself, and I think the play calling down the stretch for him was as good as it could get, know an off season for him with this team is probably going to be very good for dan landing in the ducks so let's dig into this 10 and a half because to go over

there's little margin for error basically it's it's probably the ohio state game or you got to win that game and then you get a gimme somewhere else. But let's look at this thing because it starts out looking very familiar to Oregon fans. You've got Idaho, Boise State, Oregon State in a different part of the calendar, but it's still a game in Corvallis, and then UCLA. So that's September. That feels like an Oregon schedule from basically any other year

other than Oregon State being so early. Yeah, it's going to be, you know, I've been doing this for a long time. And for myself, I'm having a tough time wrapping my head around, okay, this is the new schedule. These are the new games. Obviously, the rivalry game remains with Washington, which is great. But yeah, seeing Oregon State basically what would be your first Pac-12 game? That will be unique. That game is traditionally always played in late November where it's really cold

or really foggy or really rainy or all three. So it'll be kind of unique to see it probably like 75, 80 degrees and more than likely sunny out. And then you enter into the Big Ten era with UCLA. So it's just kind of – Which is – yeah. It's not – that doesn't even feel like a Big Ten game. Like leave the Pac-12 jerseys on the – or Pac-12 patches on the jersey for that week.

And then the following week, Sparty shows up. And it's like, oh, this is different. Then it's chaos from there yeah the only thing different about that UCLA game is it obviously no Chip Kelly so that will be a little bit unique that that is going to be strange and and now Michigan State comes in and I'm feeling very old because I was like well I just covered a Michigan State Oregon home and home series I covered the the game in East Lansing and I'm like oh wait that was 2015 that was nine years ago so it's been a while since these two

have seen each other obviously Michigan State played Washington the past couple years but that's one with with a familiar face though Jonathan Smith will bring Michigan State to Eugene where he coached in Eugene last year. Yeah. No, that one almost feels more like the Oregon-Oregon State game than the actual Oregon-Oregon State game. Obviously, Trent Bray there, we'll see what he's able to do with that roster, which looks a little depleted. And then you've got Jonathan Smith coming back. He's going to know Oregon better than probably anybody in the Big Ten he's going to be familiar with Eugene so that's going to have a very very interesting feel for sure this year and then the next week October 12th

the big one possibly the biggest regular season game in the whole country this year. We'll see. I think Georgia and Texas might, might have some saying that as well, but Ohio state comes to Eugene, which feels like the first kind of signature game of the new big 10. Well, it's, it's, it's set up pretty interesting. It's full circle. Obviously Oregon went and played Ohio state and Columbus and one with Mario Cristobal, a very intense game. Ohio State wasn't able to make it out to Eugene originally from that series, and now here it comes full circle. Oh, and to boot, by the way, Chip Kelly is going to be calling the offense for Ohio State when they come.

So I will say this. If there's any Ohio State fans, I know the Oregon fans will know this. If there's any Ohio State fans planning on coming to that game, book whatever hotel or Airbnb you can get early because there will not be any come August or September. I guarantee you that. Yeah, you are going to have to sleep outdoors. You're going to have to find a spot on the Prefontaine Trail.

Go camping. But yeah, this is exciting though, because the Chip Kelly thing only adds another layer to what was already a really fun game because this is going to be two of the most talented rosters in the country. I imagine that Ohio State offense is going to be really good because the idea of Chip Kelly and we've seen Will Howard at Kansas State. We know what he can do, but we've never seen him with that level of talent around him. I think it could be fun, and it really does set the tone for the race in the Big Ten. I think everybody's watching that, and whoever wins that has the advantage going forward in the whole league.

Because Michigan's got a lot to deal with. They got, they're bringing back some, but not a lot from the national championship team, Penn state, new coordinators on both sides of the ball. We'll see. But man, it is a, it's something now, no, no crazy weird storylines for at Purdue or Illinois coming. But that's the other thing. Do you wonder sometimes, Jay Hoff, which Big Ten team is going to be the one that they're like, oh, we hate playing those guys. Who's it going to be? Yeah, who's going to be the thorn in the side?

Because any time previously when Oregon has gone to play in the desert and whether that's been at ASU or against Arizona, it's just had a hex over Oregon, always has. I mean, they've managed to win some. They've managed to lose some. They totally shouldn't. And so, yeah, you kind of wonder, like, okay, where's the death zone going to be now for Oregon?

I mean, is it going to be in Indiana? You know, could it be up in Michigan? Could it be somewhere? It's just, would it, could it be up in Michigan? Could it be somewhere? It's just, you know, Rutgers could, could catch you. I think there's one and I know we'll get to it, but there's one on this list that kind of has me a bit worried. And I guess we'll, I think I know which one it is, but first let's, let's go to Ann Arbor. Yeah.

November 2nd and Ann Arbor. I think there, Ann Arbor has a special place in Oregon history because it was the first place everybody realized how special that Chip Kelly offense was his first year as OC. Now Michigan was coming off losing to Appalachian State, and I think that Oregon game made it look even worse because people were like, oh, well, they're just getting destroyed by every – no, no, no.

This was a special offense that nobody was prepared for. But now they're coming in. They may be favored in this game, and this is defending national champs. Yeah, I mean, three weeks ago we're talking about a different game, I think. You know, obviously Harbaugh leaves, go to the NFL. Of course they promote Sharon Moore, which I think most of us expected they needed to do. So now you wonder, what does this Michigan team look like? What's their identity?

Of course, Sharon Moore did a terrific job with that team in Harbaugh's absence. But this is a different animal. This is not filling in for three or four games or whatever the case might be. This is your team, your identity. And not to mention, they lost a lot of really good coaches and coordinators on that staff. So I think probably yourself and many others like me, just kind of wondering what Michigan team you're going to see this year. I don't think that they rebuilt in a way that makes them a contender like they are,

but it's certainly a team that you can't overlook. And I'm sure there's many Michigan fans that would love to get a little bit of vengeance for that beatdown. You know, Dennis Dixon, Chip Kelly and those guys. Dennis Dixon getting hurt. That was against Arizona, too. Right. That was not in the desert, but the desert came to Eugene that day.

Yeah, that's going to be fun. fun and I think the Sharon Moore personality or the the desired personality of that team should feel pretty familiar to Dan Lanning and company because it's exactly what they want Oregon to be yeah no I agree I think he'll do a great job you know I think those are you know we're talking about kind of circling back Oregon and Ohio State very much feels like Oregon and Washington last year almost at the same time in the schedule, two teams that are looking like top five teams, easily top 10 teams. And you kind of come out of that game thinking, all right, this is a tone setter, you know, in, in college football and in the conference. And then, you know,

of course there was other games that Oregon had to go on to win, you know, after Washington and Michigan feels like, Hey, look, if you are able to get past Ohio state, or if you lose a close window, Ohio state, you got to go and beat Michigan. And that's going to be a tough one for sure. So I think this is the one you were talking about where it might, this might be the thorn in the side and this going to Madison, Wisconsin in November is probably a lot like going to the desert. The, the Badgers,

I I'm very intrigued to see the Badgers this year. Cause I, I don't think Luke fickle would have taken that job if he didn't think there was a capability of them eventually being able to compete for the big 10 title. They definitely needed to upgrade the speed on the roster based on what we saw last year. Like you saw him come to Washington state.

They looked like they couldn't separate at receiver. If they can, there's a chance they can beat just about anybody. Yeah. That was the game. You're exactly right. Didn't tip that off to you, but you picked up on it.

I'm going to be honest. One of my like bucket list items in the new big 10 era, the new, you know, college football pack 12, that's a place I'm excited to go watch a football game at. I know it's a lively atmosphere. And that's the tremendous part about college football are those atmospheres. And like you said, this is a November game. This is going to be pretty much uncharted territory.

I agree with you. I think Wisconsin's a team that we all kind of maybe have circled or, or, you know, just like, Hey, question mark, is this going to be the year? Is this a team? And I think there'll be a thorn in a lot of people's sides. So yeah, that, that Wisconsin game, if we're talking about which one are you kind of most worried about outside of the obvious ones? I think that might be it. Now, fortunately for Oregon, they do get a week between that and the Washington game, which closes the regular season. But they are now no more Kalen DeBoer, which is probably great for Oregon because they were 0-3 against Kalen DeBoer Washington teams.

But this is a monkey they got to get off their back. Yeah, it is. It's kind of one of those things you walk into it maybe a little bit nervous, and you shouldn't because you know that if you look at talent-wise, if you look at everything else, recruiting, all that, Oregon in spades is in a much better position than Washington. But yeah, you're 0-3 against Washington. You need to get this monkey off your back. More than likely, as we both expect, Oregon's going to be playing for a lot on the line.

Washington very well could be as well. I don't know that roster. to be playing for a lot on the line Washington very well could be as well I don't know that roster it's just seen a lot of change so we'll see what they're able to do up there but yeah it just it's kind of a game that's like it really ultimately feels like Oregon loses that game badly or beats the breaks off Washington and there's no in between well and and win total aside let's say Oregon does drop one, whether they drop one to Ohio State or drop one elsewhere. The idea of Oregon coming into that game with one conference loss, where if they win it, they're probably in the Big Ten championship game.

If they lose it, they're probably out. I mean, that could be a really heavy heavy version of this rivalry which is now moved to the like right the prime rivalry spot at the end of the season as opposed to the oregon state game so now i want to ask you j-hop oregon and oregon state fans will have their own opinions on this but o Oregon fans, do they like that Washington looks like the primary rival now as opposed to Oregon State? Yeah, I think so. It's a very tough thing to do because of the in-state rivalry and it being over 100 years old and it being so storied. But yeah, the blood and the anger and everything about college

football that makes it great. It's Oregon and Washington, right? It hasn't been Oregon and Oregon State. It's been Oregon and Washington. And I love the fact that Oregon and Oregon State were able to figure out a way to continue making that game happen. No, it doesn't carry the same end of season kind of weight that it has, but Washington should be there, especially now that they are in the same conference with Oregon. It just makes so much more sense. And I agree. If you ask any Oregon fan, who's the bigger rival, who's the bigger rival, they're going to, they're going to say Washington nine out of 10 times. Well, it is pressure on because the expectations are there. And this is, Dan Lanning's been building to this.

This is what he wanted. But now he's got it. One of the favorites to compete for the national title, the Oregon Ducks. Can they go over 10 and a half? It will not be easy. Thank you, Jay Hop. No problem. Thanks, Andy.

Every time we talk about all these games that are coming up. These new teams, new conferences, I get more excited. Think about that Oregon Ohio State game at Autzen. Think about the stakes that could be if Oregon has a good season closes the season against Washington and needs a win against Washington to get into the Big Ten title game. Think about that. There is so much new stuff combined with some old stuff coming in 2024. I cannot help but get excited and we should all get excited because the rest

of the week, we got some big surprises for you. Got some good guests coming up. The bookings have been very good. These next few days should be awesome. So keep it locked here. Hit the subscribe button. Hit the like button wherever you are. If you're on YouTube, if you're on Spotify, if you're on Apple Music or Apple Podcasts, wherever you are. And come on back because we got another big show for you on Thursday. We'll talk to you then.