Andy & Ari On3 - We INVADE SEC Media Days | Answering your questions about recruiting and barbecue

Episode Date: July 15, 2024

Andy is in Dallas for SEC Media Days, and before the festivities begin, it’s time for a Dear Andy show!But first, Joe Cook of Inside Texas joins Andy to discuss how the Longhorns will react to all the “How scared are you of the SEC” questions they’ll inevitably get this week. Andy and Joe also talk Horns Down and where fans of SEC schools visiting Texas need to go when they want barbecue in Austin.(0:00-2:46) Intro(2:47-17:29) Joe Cook from Inside Texas joins to discuss Longhorns First Media Day(17:30-24:51) Top BBQ Spots in Austin, Texas(24:52-26:22) Dear Andy Intro(26:23-30:09) If Alabama Ends with top class, what does that mean?(30:10-38:12) Should Ole Miss pass more on 1st down?(38:13-46:09) Tiers of the Big Ten(46:10-51:06) If you run a Collective, how do you run it?(51:07-53:54) Assigned Bowl locations in 12 Team CFP(53:55-56:19) Oregon State and Washington State in CFP?(56:20-58:44) BBQ Spots in DFW area(58:45-59:30) Conclusion, see you tomorrow from SEC Media Days!Then it’s time for your questions…If Alabama winds up with the No. 1 recruiting class, how dumb will the people who thought Kalen DeBoer wouldn’t be able to recruit in the SEC look?Should Ole Miss throw more on first down?What tier of the Big Ten includes Wisconsin?And much more…Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube and join us LIVE, M-F, from 8-9 am et! https://youtube.com/live/DPbLdlq7ncQHost: Andy StaplesGuest: Joe CookProducer: River Bailey

Merry college football Christmas is the day you've been waiting for. It's multiple days that you've been waiting for. Kind of depends on who you root for. But the video game, EA Sports College Football 25, is dropping today. If you have early access, 4 p.m. Eastern time, you can play the game. Also, as you can see behind me, I am at SEC Media Days. Now, we had Big 12 Media Days. We had the amazing Open Bar Pack 12 Media Day last week, but SEC Media Days usually considered kind of the unofficial start to the college football season. So here in Dallas at SEC Media Days,

got LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt. So we'll hear from Brian Kelly. Dukes and I were talking on Friday. What we asked Harold Perkins about how they use him. What's he going to say? I'm sure he's got a nice politically correct answer. Ready to go because he's going to get that question a ton. Meanwhile, you got Lane Kiffin, Jackson Dart, Jared Ivey, who you've seen on this show.

Remember, hosts his own podcast, The Ivy League. Love him. We may have to grab him and have him check in with us. Trey Harris, the receiver also. And South Carolina, bringing Shane Beamer, Luke Doty, Alex Huntley, and Debo Williams. This is going to be so much fun because you've got actual football being talked about. And there's a lot of actual football to talk about because you've got new schedules, new opponents, all these things that are different and changing. But you've also got virtual football coming.

And oh, by the way, so I might've gotten a code for the game on Friday night. I might've played it this weekend. I might have some stuff for you later today. So keep your eyes glued to the on three sports YouTube channel. If you're not subscribed to the on three sports YouTube channel, do not do that right now, because I do have some stuff coming out on the game later today before you'll be able to get ahold of it. Might have some tips and tricks, might have some stuff coming out on the game later today. Before you'll be able to get a hold of it, might have some tips and tricks, might have some things that maybe you don't want to be like me, but it's cool.

I'm telling you right now, it is very cool, and you're going to have a lot of fun. We're going to have a lot of fun here in Dallas at SEC Media Days. First up, we're going to talk to somebody who, for him, this is a new thing. He's used to going to Big 12 Media Days, but there are two new schools in the SEC as of this year. Texas and Oklahoma are here. So Joe Cook from inside Texas was gracious enough to join us and talk about just how weird it is to see the longhorns at sec media days i got to texas and who did i run into joe cook from inside texas joe your first sec media days

second that's right you guys tested it out last year right but it's different when longhorns are actually here right so they're coming Wednesday have have you successfully determined what it is and why it is so much more meaningful not yet not yet but I mean this is a lot more exciting I think because we're actually talking about on the field stuff because I did SEC spring meetings yeah all that it was basically uh what do rosters look like yeah okay cool oh it's complaint about rules time and Destin everybody's like oh it's great we get to go to the beach for work no you get to stand in a basement and watch everybody complain about rules and then they go to the beach while you do stuff it's the ncaa bureaucracy oh the shine shining light no this is this is the team there's football coming

there will be players here they will be talking about the upcoming season it is funny though because i i was a i'm a veteran of these i was at sec media days when texas a&m and missouri joined the league and i'm not kidding you kevin sumlin who was in his first year texas a&m then probably got this question or a version of it a hundred times. How scared are you of the SEC? How do you think Sark and the players are going to, because they're going to get it. How are they going to answer that? They're probably going to turn it around on people. Last year, if you ever look at the championship rings that Texas got from winning the Big 12, it said JWM on the bottom. It's John Wick mentality.

And granted, everybody who talks about this is like, oh, Kirby Smart said this first. I don't know. Probably Newt Rockne said it first first I don't think newt rockne saw John wick right but great movie though the whole never kill somebody's dog the whole idea about if you're first everybody's chasing you but you're also chasing everybody else that's the way they approach it that's how Sark's gonna look at it and I think they're confident that they can walk in this but you're not going to win anything on media days yeah I can walk into this league and succeed in it right away it's a nice chip to have when you played the team that won the league last year at their home stadium and beat them i would feel like that that makes it easier exactly and that was a piece and i know we talked about this last time i was on with you that that gave them confidence in 2023 but i think now they go back

they can look at it think we, we did this last year. We can do this again. It's going to be a difficult gauntlet. It's going to be different seeing it week to week. But at the same time, that win, I think it not only was important for the program that season, but going forward as well. So as someone who grew up following Texas football, how weird is this? Very.

See, my first kind of memories are of those first couple years in the big 12 yeah i remember uh roll left baby i wasn't there very important play in my life roll left so i wasn't there for that but i was in the alamo dome when nebraska just beat the dog out of texas a couple years later yeah so i'm experienced with the big 12 i saw you know at texas stadium colorado beat texas a few years later nrg texas beat colorado so i've seen all this i've seen this all through the lens of the big 12 and my freshman year at texas was the first year missouri and a m were in sec so i got robbed of that experience in another way big 12 media days used to be here yes mary oh the running of the mary kay so mary kate mrs stoops

those who don't remember or don't know or didn't care, you should care about this. This used to be where they had Big 12 Media Days. And so through this hallway would be all of these pink suited Mary Kay ladies. And yes, so of course, the biggest rock star at Big 12 Media Days was always Mack Brown or Bob Stoops. But Bob Stoops' wife, Carol, was very high up in the Mary Kay organization. She drove a pink Escalade. That's how high up. Now, when he was the DC at Florida, she had the pink, it must've been an Eldorado or Sedan, whatever the big Sedan was at the time, but she'd upgraded to the Escalade by that point. She was a star like nobody none of these ladies cared about mac brown or

bob stoops it was carol stoops was the star and that's what as i walked into this hallway i was like oh yeah this is where i used to see all those pink suited ladies just like tromping through and it's where you'd see mac brown and i was only here for when it was charlie's last year and that was very ill-fated but then they moved it to Jerry World because there was fears that this event would be at Jerry World for for the league for a little while and they wanted to assuage that so it's good to be back one of my favorite memories is you know after work was done I'm like oh I'm gonna go there's a bar downstairs I'll go down grab a drink and i'm walking in dana holgerson's walking out

oh yeah i'm like ah well i've i've missed happy that's a good man to hit the bars with he knows what he's doing exactly but the big 12 brings the mascots to midday do you feel like there's a missed opportunity by the sec no because they bring the fans right in that well we think i don't know how they're going to get up here. I mean, so everybody knows the lay of the land in Hoover, which they haven't been there in a while. But in Hoover, it's attached to a mall. The hotel is attached to a mall.

You can't really keep them out. And so you have that dude who shows up with the Alabama championship ring hat on every year. Like, I don't know how he's going to figure out how to get up here. But, yeah, probably they'll gather in the lobby. And I hope he didn't make the drive all the way here just for that it's not that bad a straight shot on i-20 i had to do that that's true last season that's how i got to go through long view long view shreveport i made a stop bozer city made a stop at margaritaville a couple days uh jimmy buffett i have a giant guitar memorial for him and uh it was a touching moment on the way back when i cashed a ticket it is uh yeah the shreveport experience is so now people in

the sec don't necessarily want that because it means you're in the independence bowl but it is amazing the the level of crossover here and obviously they did so on purpose it's the first year texan oklahoma are in the league so have the thing at the side of red river if you've ever if you drive by here see the shot on sec network you can't see it from where we're at but reunion tower it's like a big observation tower yeah that's going to have the sec logo this whole hotel is going to be lit up with the sec logo like it is branding to the max um and that's probably main reason they did it, but also to plant a little bit of a flag in between Oklahoma and Texas. That's the other piece of this. They got A&M in 2012 and that obviously gave them a giant foothold in Texas with a very popular

program that has a huge fan base. But now it feels like the state that you most closely associated with the big 12, the SEC has essentially planted its flag in. And as we all know, they've planted them into the living rooms of all the different prices. Because TCU, they don't move the needle on television screens. And I hate measuring the sport by television screens.

But that's how all these guys do it. The SEC has to. That's one of the big reasons why. That's why way back in the day when you were talking about when missouri and a and m moved that's why the pac-12 wanted to add the make it the pac-16 yeah get these television markets but uh greg sankey was the one who got it done for the sec so which future texas opponent are you most excited to to see hear from talk to i'm i'm very curious to see what georgia thinks about the Longhorns considering they're on the schedule the next two years. When you look at the betting odds, Georgia's right up there because they're the best in the league. Texas is right behind

them. A, because they're a popular bet, but B, because they're a good team. So I'm really curious to see how they feel about them being on the schedule. I looked the other day. Texas doesn't play Ole Miss. Ole Miss doesn't play Texas. Alabama, Texas don't play. Ole Miss and Bama don't play, but Georgia has to play all three. They have to go through the gauntlet. Texas may be one of the more difficult ones, them and Alabama on that. I'm curious about that. Obviously, you've got to find the A&M and Arkansas with the old Southwest Conference. Arkansas being the

first round of realignment to leave. I think they're 4-2 against Texas. Well, the last time when Texas went to Fayetteville, I wonder is there kind of some shell shock from the Texas fans. The players obviously aren't going to remember that because they weren't there for it. A handful. Yeah, there's probably a couple.

But, I mean, that was an absolute butt-whooping. And that's how much all those former southwest copper teams hate texas and i i think that helps i i think that just when they come in with some pre-made rivalries and obviously the a m thing is huge and we'll talk about that in a second but the fact is arkansas texas was a good rivalry for a long time. It was some of the most consequential games in the history of Texas football during its rise in the 60s were against Arkansas. And it's not just a 1969 game with President Nixon. There was a huge game in 68.

I think even in the early 70s in the late and dear old days, there were big games then. So huge, huge games. And like I said arkansas has come to austin they beat them i think in like 2007. 2021 was the return game of that uh in that country college football scheduling uh you had brett bielan throwing the horns down in the bulls oh that was a borderline erotic game yeah where texas uh it was terrible for me as a student going to that game borderline erotic yeah that was one of

the greatest press conferences of all time after one of the most ugly to watch games of all time like 57 yards total or something terrible so yeah arkansas like we i went up there me and our photographer will gallagher a couple friends of mine and we have been pretty pretty felt good about wherever we've gone all the way up until the last whistle of the game when the fans stormed the field and I'm walking back to the car. I'm like, oh, I'm getting a little bit more in Horns Down. And I'm not even wearing Texas gear. I'm wearing a little bit of orange for an inside Texas logo,

but that's it. I'm like, ah, I need to get out of here. I am glad you brought up Horns Down because I don't think the SEC is going to care much about Hornsdown. And Texas fans won't either. Really? Then why do people keep whining about it? Because Mack Brown whined about it once. Mike Davis, who...

The basketball coach whined about it this year, too. That's true. And that was a bad misstep on Rodney Terry's part. But long ago, OU's been doing it forever. Every team does it forever. Mike Davis scores a touchdown in Lubbock at Texas Tech. And he did guns down. He blisters the guns and gets flagged for it.

Yep. And Matt Brown goes on his rant, great politician in college football that he is, like, we can't be doing this. If you're going to flag it one way, flag it the other. And so everybody has stuck to that. And there's always some member of the local media is like are you going to flag it are you going to flag it saying he's going to get it we're going to get the i don't think there's anything else like that though it's interesting because you

know i went to florida the the thing a team does or a player does when they do something to beat florida is they will go chomp at the florida fans but it's just the the thing the florida fans do right it's not a different version of it. It's not a Funhaus mirror version of it. So I think that's what makes it so much fun is you have this weird Funhaus mirror version of the thing all the fans are doing, and it just pisses everybody off. But Texas fans just on the whole don't care.

Oh, yeah. It's funny. I'm sure they're used to it. And the thing is like you can't be sensitive right in the sec everybody hates you because because you're not yeah and lsu is going like those fans are going to yell things at you georgia fans are going to yell things at you now i don't want texas fans to think that when they go to these places they're just going to get screamed at or have batteries thrown that's not like when you go to Auburn, they're incredibly nice to visiting

fans unless they're Alabama fans. And especially if it's a first time deal or they haven't been there in a while, they appreciate their college football history. Georgia will be like that when Texas goes there next year. People will be welcoming fans into their tailgates. I love that part of it. I'm so excited to see Oklahoma go to Auburn, to see Texas go to Georgia when they do it next year, to see Texas go to Florida next year. That part's going to be so much fun. I'm excited for that, too, just because it's new places. And Texas has done a great job, dating back to before Chris Del Conte,

of scheduling marquee games. Some of that has to do with sometimes you get Kansas and Iowa State, teams that have beaten Texas, but you get teams that aren't helmets in Darryl K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium. It doesn't sometimes appeal to the average Texas season ticket holder. That's why they get the Alabamas and do the home and homes. That's why they have Michigan, which if it weren't for realignment, this year would have been that Michigan home game and in 2027 would have been in Ann Arbor. And they lost the LSU return game, right, when they were going to go

to Tiger Stadium. So now they're going to go to Tiger Stadium for conference games when they go. So they've done a great job dating back to when the Lost Dogs was still athletic director of scheduling these marquee games. But now the marquee games are always on the schedule. So I'm curious to see if that's going to change going forward. I know Arizona State's way out there in the distance as well uh but it's going to be exciting just to see you know think about next year when it's A&M coming to Austin yeah so Arkansas coming to Austin and Vanderbilt coming to Austin which I know everybody's really excited oh they're pumped really I think you'll be able to get a hotel room that week all right yeah it's not going to be uh

competing with Max for Stefan for that that is the most amazing so for those who don't know georgia is coming to austin the same week as the formula one race in austin this i mean is is that going to be the biggest weekend in austin that isn't south by southwest or isn't you know something that's already a huge thing with a bunch of people coming probably just because it's there is some crossover like i'm sure there's some georgia fans and texas fans who are pretty into watching drive to survive and stuff like that but that's a completely two completely different just branches it's funny though because it's a sport where the same guy wins every race and the same team wins every every title kind of like college football was for about 15 years there so college football fans should be able to at least appreciate the the irony of it so

and it's also you know a saturday sport and a sunday sport like it's gonna going to be something all weekend um our georgia site dog dogs hq i talked to jake over there they're bringing the rv i know he's told me i've told him i might try to hitch a ride that's a good that was a good call and i i mean i don't even know if there's rv parking around dkr for like ticketed and season tickets but there's some great spots around town and that's going to make it fun too oh i i cannot wait that's that's the thing like all right joe let's talk about what people in the sec truly care about and what people in austin truly care about and that's barbecue yep what give me your five barbecue places okay that

sec fans coming to austin for the first time need to hit i'm gonna give away all my secrets now the lines right i know that's what we're here for all right number one terry blacks i feel like you get a high quality meal every single time line's not terrible sides are great beers in line they turn people out to where you may be waiting in line for an hour but you get to the front you find a table so this is a place the last couple times i've been in austin has been you know on that barbecue sabbath when they're not open and but all my friends have on their most recent trips to Austin that's the one they've gone to and they've sent me pictures and I'm dying dying to go there it is it is high quality I've never had a bad meal I'm a brisket and ribs person yep

but they have beef ribs they have everything number two is style switch love style switch a little bit on the north side also if you uh if you watch days and confused yep you will notice a familiar scene violet crown center all right all right all right that's where that was at the uh top notch burger the drive-ins not too far from there and and style switch they are great at specials they they come up with some really cool stuff and oddly enough i think they may be owned by some A&M guys too. Yeah, they might be. Now look, the Ag School teaches people how to cook barbecue. So there's a lot of Aggies that cook barbecue. The best barbecue I know of, and I'll get to this one,

he's an honorable mention, but I've got to mention him, Grant Pinkerton. Oh yeah, a huge texas guy houston san antonio a little bit out of the way love pinkerton's if you are in houston or san antonio hit it up brant has uh grant actually came in my old show during the pandemic we talked about how he had to switch to wings during the pandemic to to keep things afloat but they are they are going strong now so i'm glad you mentioned them all right so we got jambalaya jalapeno cheese rice yes duck sausage jambalaya which he figured out on a hunting trip unbelievable all right what else we got in austin interstellar okay i think texas monthly when they redid their

rankings i think they made that number one yep daniel vaughn lives here in dallas he's the guy who does the the texas barbecue rankings and if you think like any ranking you've gotten mad at me about for college football daniel has gotten it a billion times worse for his barbecue ranks so those are i've been to those places now as far as experience goes i know everybody's going to say the line at franklin and don't get me the line is not a great experience the barbecue is great get order it in advance from the window five pounds or more you don't have to wait and you get to eat it the line is for schmucks but I'm gonna say snows in Lexington yes I think I forget I took my son there did you wait in line and do whiskey shots at three we did not do whiskey

shots three the line wasn't that bad actually it's Kerry Bexley's the owner uh Miss Tootsie the pit master I've been there actually several times. Basically, when I had to cover games at A&M, I would stay in Austin so that I could drive through Lexington on the way. You want to be there when they open at eight because they they run out and you can just what you do is you get lunch and dinner there, too, and bring it with you. And so number five, it's a full experience. And I've done this a lot. It's a lot of fun. It's catty-cornered from Terry Blacks. You go to Green Mesquite. Okay.

Hang out there. Maybe there's a band playing in the back. You stop by Barton Springs Saloon right next door. Nice. Barton Springs. And you go play nine holes at Pitch and Putt. Have a little fun in the sun. Play nine holes of a part three course. And see if you can get your name on the hole-in look wall at uh butler cabin nice love it look can i throw one in there

yeah leroy and lewis okay noel guys okay one of them's a null one of them's a florida state guy uh but they are very creative they do the texas trinity i believe on saturdays but most of the rest of the week they are doing some creative stuff they'll do like beef cheeks one day or it they're they're very creative in the meat and they also do the uh brisket smash burger holy cow it's good couple more valentina's always great puts a good tex-mex spin and i feel terrible about this one there's one right by crockett high school over off man it's spelled manshaka but off of manshak I can't remember the name of it I think it's in an old hearts chicken you you will find it folks you can find it I promise I I will highly recommend that one as well oh what a town what a town to eat in and that's a like that's just a barbecue that doesn't even count like well or the

barbecue fusion because you've got like Loro that does Mexican barbecue fusion. Well, Mexican Asian. Yeah. Yeah. And it's got a bunch of different cocktails as well. They do the pork shoulder, pork belly, that type of thing really, really well. The chips, the wonton chips. Unreal.

Unreal. And then you've got the brisket ramen, tamari katsu yon. That's incredible. That stretch on South Lamar, you can find Matt's El Rancho, which, you know, staple of the Tex-Mex scene. There's a bunch of different spots. I mean, like there's a, I mean,

there's Torchy's if you like that. I'm not one to besmirch Torchy's. I love Torchy's. It's an Austin original. It's now taken, like we have Torchy's in Floridaida now right and and i love it because i don't feel like it's bad when a restaurant becomes a chain right it just means they do a really good job over and over and over again there's a maudie's which is a good tex-mex spot there's this that's where um oh what's the sushi the high the high-end sushi place i can't remember the exact name of it uh it'll come to me

but there's just just south of uh barton springs on lamar boulevard lots of different uh lots of great and of course you wash it down with some amy's ice cream my favorite amy's trip ever their flavor of the week was scheinerbach ice cream it was spectacular i could deal with that they have some some not cocktail ice creams, but alcoholic ice creams that are pretty darn good. Joe, I am starving now for food and for football. This is tremendous. Enjoy your time here at SEC Media Days.

Trip number two. This is probably into the high teens or the 20s for me. I was here when Nick Saban's dog came into the into the big media room when he was at LSU I was there when Philip Fulmer did his by teleconference because he was going to be served with a subpoena if he walked in the room and I was also there and this is the real ones know this one Joe you'll never get to experience anything as good as this there was a year Bobby Johnson decided he was done being the head coach at Vanderbilt. Didn't want to do it anymore. He retired.

Robbie Caldwell, who would go on to become the offensive line coach at Clemson, but Robbie Caldwell was named the interim coach for that season. Robbie Caldwell gave the single greatest SEC Media Days performance ever. He's in that giant room. The giant room is right behind us. This was the one in Hoover. And he's talking about his job as a turkey inseminator it will never eclipse that I don't care what what starts this interim Vanderbilt that doesn't seem

very Vanderbilt well if you've ever heard Robbie call us very Robbie call so look nothing Stark's gonna say we'll top that nothing Brent venables will say will top that, but we can only hope to come close. Joe, thank you so much. That's right. There will be nothing nearly as good as Robbie Caldwell at SEC Media Days going, you know what? I'm the interim coach at Vanderbilt this year. I will not be the coach at Vanderbilt next year, so let's just let it fly.

Let's just let it rip. It was outstanding. There will be a bunch of first-timers here, though. We mentioned Sark. We mentioned Brent Venables. They're not first-year coaches, but they're first-time coaches here at SEC Media Days. But also, Kalen DeBoer, new Alabama coach, replacing some guy who's also

going to be here. Nick Saban will be here in his role for ESPN, which is going to be incredibly weird. One of the things that I was, it kind of become just one of those markers of the years is you at SEC Media Days go have the audience with Nick Saban before he talks in the big room and he talks about where they're at, where Alabama's at. And this was the time last year when we're like, uh-oh, Nick's loose. He's relaxed. Everybody watch out. Alabama's going to be awesome. Well, maybe he knew more than we did.

Of course he did. He always knew more than we did. But this brings us to Dear Andy. We've got some great Dear Andy questions. We're doing Dear Andy today because obviously on Thursday, we're going to be still at SEC Media Days, still talking to teams, talking to coaches. So we're going to get your questions now. And the first question comes from Landon and it's legitimately interesting and certainly possible. If Bama does end up with the number one class,

what does that mean for everyone who thought Bama was finished without Nick Saban? The idea of Alabama finishing with the number one class in the class of 2025 is not far-fetched at all. It's entirely possible that Alabama winds up with the number one class. They've been on a heater. They just got a commitment from an offensive tackle, I believe on Sunday. They are getting a lot of the guys they want. They're getting just about everybody they're targeting. The thought was, oh, can Kalen DeBoer recruit in the South? He kept some guys on staff, like Robert Gillespie, the running backs coach who'd been there. He also hired Kane Womack, who had been the head coach at South Alabama, but also grew up in the SEC.

You know, Kane Womack is the son of longtime SEC coordinator Dave Womack. Like I met Kane when he was a GA at Ole Miss. So he had kind of grown up in the South, grown up around Southern recruiting, and then had been doing it as the head coach at South Alabama. So obviously at a different level, but you're still going into the same high schools. You know, you're just saying to the high school coach, Hey, those guys who wouldn't talk to me before I got, I got this on my polo shirt. Now I'm sure they'll want to talk to me now. And that's exactly what's happening. The thing about Kaelin Abor that you got to remember, the guy just knows how to win. He's lost 12 games as a head coach. He's been a head coach a lot of years and about half of those 12 are at Fresno State. knows what he's doing, has done this at multiple levels.

And I don't think recruiting is that big of a puzzle. This is interesting because you always get this question, like with Jamie Chadwell. Jamie Chadwell is at Liberty now. He was at Coastal Carolina. He was winning. And everybody's like, well, how come he hasn't gotten a power conference job yet? And the reason he hasn't is he's never really had to recruit at the power conference level and so people are worried about what he would do when he

got to that level well kaylin abor showed when he went from fresno state to to washington that he could do that now he had been at indiana before but it hadn't been long and i i think if you can identify players who work with what you do, you can adjust it to your own level and players understand. So I don't think Caleb is going to have a problem recruiting at all going forward. You saw it already. Now, obviously the machinery is in place. The board was in place. Nick Saban was there. He's also a sounding board, but in this particular case, Kalenborg can walk in. Nick Saban's got a recruiting board set up for the class of 2025 already, so he's got a good idea of who he's going after, but again, once he's the one setting the

board, I don't think that's going to be a problem at all. I really don't. I think they're going to be good for a long time. And will they be as dominant as they were under Nick Saban on the recruiting trail and on the field? We don't know, but it's certainly a good start for Caleb DeBoer. Now he hasn't coached a game yet, but again, you look at his history, Washington, Fresno State, University of Sioux Falls, where he took over, was expected to win national titles and did. Like the guy has succeeded everywhere he's been. So I'm pretty excited to see what happens.

Our next question comes from our friend Clark Brooks, the SEC stat cat. This is a guy who I don't think he asked this question without knowing the answer, but I think he'd like me to ask this of Lane Kiffin today. Clark says, should Ole Miss explore passing more on first downs? And so when Clark sent this, I texted him and I said, all right, since you asked that, I know you have a lot of data to back up what you think is the correct answer. So I do want you to send me the raw data you have so I don't have to look it up. And that is what he sent me. So first downs in meaningful minutes. So this is the scoreboard margin of plus or minus 18 points. So this is Ole Miss last year, 228 runs, 5.1 yards per attempt, 41%, 41.7%

success rate and success rate means on a run play in an early down four yards or more. 135 passes, 10 yards per attempt, 54.1% success rate. So that's a longer throw too. So you got a longer completion. So that is pretty big difference, but they were a 37.4% pass rate on first down. So 63% of the time they were running the ball on first down. Now, I think this is really interesting because of the time they were running the ball on first down now I think this is really interesting because of the way that offense works and and Clark and I have gone back and forth about this offense because the veer and shoot which is what Ole Miss runs this is the old Art Bryles Baylor offense it wants you to run the ball it is a running offense everybody's like oh no no it's a it's a chuck the ball down it is not a chuck the ball down the field offense. It is a run offense. Basically, you get the box light by throwing and

then you run it down a team's throat. But and this is what's interesting because I've actually talked to Lane Kiffin about this before. One of the things he loved about this offense. So when Lane Kiffin got hired as Alabama's offensive coordinator, actually, it might have been before he was hired as the coordinator might have been before he was hired as the coordinator, might have been when he was still working as a consultant, but basically Nick Saban kind of sent him on a vision quest and said, go look at all these different offenses. Tell me what you like about all of them.

Tell me what we should add. The one he liked the most was the Bryles-Baylor offense, the veer and shoot. But Saban thought that was a little bit too extreme. And it is very extreme. The splits for the receivers are so wide. They're out near the sideline. It takes routes out of the route tree. So it is something that not every coach is going to go for. But Lane loved it. And you saw when Lane became the head coach at FIU, one of the first things he did was hire Kendall Bryles to run that offense there. And he learned, you know, learn more about that offense. And now that's what he runs. So one of the things Lane said, he loved about it is if you hit a decent throw, it could be a long throw. It could be an intermediate

throw. You then have set your run game up for success. Like you are racing to the line of scrimmage. The defense is discombobulated. They're scared to death because they just got hit for a throw. Their coordinator is more than likely going to call for a lighter box. That's when you run. You've passed to set up the run and that run is going to be easier. There are going to be four or five more yards in that run before you even get touched because of that lighter box. And the offense knows obviously what's going on because you practice that way. You practice. If you hit this intermediate range throw, you're running to the line and you're just running inside zone or something simple that you know you can block, that you can get too quickly and you just take, you use the time and you use the situation to

your advantage. So I actually think Clark is onto something here because now you shouldn't, obviously we're not talking about throw every first down. I wrote a story three years ago in the athletic about drive openers, about the first play of a drive. So obviously these are all first downs, but not every first down. And the gist of it was, why does anybody ever run on the first play of a drive other than to break tendency? Like you should probably throw 75% of the time on the first play of a drive. The numbers bore that out. The numbers bear this out. And especially when you have Trey Harris, when you have juice Wells, when you have Caden priest corn, they have some targets

that they can throw to that can really open things up for Ulysses Bentley, the fourth and the running game. I I'm just very excited to see what they do because if Juice Wells is healthy, there's a chance he could be the best receiver in the SEC. We don't know. He wasn't healthy at all at South Carolina last year, so we didn't get to see him at full power. If we see him at full strength, Trey Harris is on the other side of the field. This is a scary offense. This is a very, and remember Jackson

dart can run too. He's not just a thrower. So I do think if they would throw a little more on first down, they're even tougher to deal with because if you hit that seven, eight, I'm not even talking about if you hit a 20 yard throw on first down, I'm talking about you hit a nine yard throw on first down that second and one, the defense is screwed. There is nothing they can call. That's going to work nothing. And you can run the ball. You know, that that's one where you're going to hand off and they're probably going to have four yards before your bat gets touched. And then if he breaks a tackle, then you're really, really onto something. So I think Clark's got a point there. We'll see.

Lane's here today, so we'll see if we can slip him that question. I doubt he's going to answer it. Usually coaches, when you ask them very specific scheme questions, want no part of them, and basically they're like, I'm not giving away my game plan for this year, so no. But I think given the offense that they have, given the personnel that they have this year, and oh, by the way, so later this week,

we're going to talk to Jim Nagy from the Senior Bowl, but I did run into him yesterday, and we were talking about talent and how you can kind of judge where a team is by how much NFL talent is on the team. We talked about that with Michigan last year when there were so many draftable players on Michigan's roster last year. Well, he says there are 20 players right now with a draftable grade. So these would be guys who would be eligible to enter the draft next year,

20 players at Ole Miss with a draftable grade. That is a big, big number. That is not a number that they've had at Ole Miss in the past. So very good reason to be excited about that. And so I do think that off is going to work however Lane wants to call it. I think if he calls it the way he called it last year, they're going to be successful. But the question is, how do you beat the Georges of the world? Let's say you make the SEC championship game. How do you beat whoever you windges of the world? Let's say you make the SEC championship game. How do you beat whoever you wind up seeing there? Or let's say you make the playoff.

How do you beat whoever you wind up seeing there? You're going to have to be more creative. Lane can call his old boss Nick Saban and ask about throwing more on first down against LSU in the rematch in the national championship game after the 2011 season that that basically won the game. It changed everything for Alabama against LSU's defense, which in that LSU defense, one of the greatest defenses of all time, but that's what they did. That's how they managed to actually score some points on that defense because they, they came out throwing on first down. But again, with this particular offense, with this particular set of receivers that they have, golly, if they throw, let's say they take that from 37.4% to closer to 50%,

I'm guessing that they're scoring more points. I'm guessing that they actually wind up running for more than they did last year because I do think that's a situation where that pass will set up the run. Next question comes from Carter. Let's move on to the Big Ten here. These are my current Big Ten tiers as a Wisconsin fan based on a blend

of brand recognition, recent success, and projected success in 2025. Tell me what I got wrong and explain the outlook for the tier two teams in the new era. Who benefits the most? Bonus, for making the four-team playoff, the vision for Badger fans was always win the West with no more than one loss, then miraculously beat whoever wins the East in the Big Ten Championship. How do Wisconsin, Iowa, or Nebraska break into the 12-team playoff in the next few years. And here, so here are Carter's tiers. So tier one, Michigan, Ohio state, Penn state, Oregon, and USC tier two, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Michigan state, Washington, UCLA tier three, Minnesota,

Illinois, Maryland, Northwestern tier four Rutgers, Purdue, and Indiana. So here's, here's the, here's a problem that I'll, I'll, I'll point out right away. So you got Kirk Cigetti coming in there at Indiana. You've got a particularly good defense at Rutgers this year. Like the level of chum in the Big Ten has dropped dramatically. There are not as many easy wins in the Big Ten as there used to be. Like Indiana is going to be tougher. Ryan Walters, I think, is going to get things going at Purdue. They actually have some good

pieces on defense. Rutgers, though, is going to have a really good defense this year. Your tier four teams are going to be tough. You saw what Northwestern did under the first year under David Braun last year. They're going to be tough. Now, in tier one, so I'm going to quibble with USC in tier one here because I'm not sure they've proven they deserve to be in tier one under Lincoln Riley. The first year where Caleb Williams won the Heisman, where they almost made the 14 playoff, but then Utah put the smackdown on them in the second half of the Pac-12 championship game. That team, yeah, that would be a tier one team in the Big Ten this year, but I'm not sure they're that team. I'm not sure they're as good as that team right now. We're going to have to see, is their defense better? I think that's still the big question. It's probably the biggest question

hovering over their recruiting right now. As you've seen, they've had decommits from the class of 2025, but I'm not sure they should be in tier one. Now, Washington probably should be in tier one. You look at what Chris Peterson did there. You look at what Kalen DeBoer did there. I realize Jed Fish is having to replace a lot this year, and this year might not be perfect, that they might be a little bit rebuilding this year, but I don't think they're going to have to rebuild much or for long. I think they're still going to be pretty good this year under Jed Fish. I think they're going to be really good going forward under Jed Fish. So I actually might move Washington to tier one. I might swap USC and Washington until either one of them proves

me wrong, but I do like the rest of tier one. I agree with that. So for your Wisconsin's, and I think Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Michigan State are all in the same boat. Iowa's in this boat too. Michigan State's the only one that was in the East. So they had to deal with it differently.

They had to deal with playing Ohio State, playing Penn State, playing Michigan every year. And look, when Mark D'Antonio was there, it was as good as it's been at Michigan state. Now, part of that was because Michigan wasn't quite as good and then they got better. And once Jim Harbaugh really got it rolling, that's, that's when the D'Anton when the Antonio era started to falter. But even Ohio State, like Michigan State in 2013 beat a really good Urban Meyer Ohio State team in the Big Ten Championship game.

So they understand what has to be done. And Jonathan Smith is a guy who he has a defined style. He knows what he's looking for. I think he's going to get them good. Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska. Now, Iowa is the outlier here because Wisconsin and Nebraska both had new coaches last year. And both Luke Fickle and Matt Rule came into the job with the knowledge that divisions were going away, that they would only play one year in the Big Ten West, and then they'd never play in the Big Ten West again. And so they did not come

in there with an eye for building toward winning the Big Ten West. The Big Ten West was not something they thought about. They're not worried about, can I beat Iowa? Can I beat Illinois? They had to figure out, okay, how do we build this thing so that it can compete with Ohio State and Penn State and Michigan? And they're trying. I mean, I think that's why Luke Fickle comes into Wisconsin and hires Phil Longo. Like you're running that offense because you are trying to compete with different teams than you were trying to compete with under Paul Crist. Iowa is an interesting one because they are not changing. Now they will change offensively. I think Tim Lester's offense will look different than Brian Ferentz's offense. I don't know that

it'll look dramatically different, radically different, but I do think it'll be different. I think Kirk Ferentz understands like stuff's got to change, but they're still going to try to win games the same way. They're still going to play great defense. They're going to win the field position game. The question is, can Iowa be one of the three or four best teams in the big 10 doing that? And I do think if their offense is better, yes, they can. Their defense has been so good. Their special teams has been so good that yes, if their offense is even adequate, but if you could get it to above average, you're talking about a playoff team. I think because their defense has been so good, they can do that. Wisconsin and Nebraska haven't exactly been able to prove that year in, year out. Nebraska, their defense has been very good this year.

Their offense needs to get better, but they're hoping Dylan Raiola is the secret to that. Wisconsin obviously hopes Tyler Van Dyke can come in and open that offense up. Watching Wisconsin last year, you could tell they really needed to upgrade their team speed. I feel like that's what they were trying to do in the portal this year. So if they can do that, I suspect they could be pretty good. Now they've got Alabama. So we'll see when they play Alabama in week three, where they're at. That's a great litmus test.

Now it doesn't count in the Big Ten standings, which is great. Then they're at USC. That at USC game is a very big one for them because if they win it, you're looking at potentially a 4-0 start in Big Ten play before you get to a stretch of Penn State, Iowa, Oregon, Nebraska that will really define the season.

But they've got to win that USC game to have some hope of making that playoff. But it is possible. It's definitely going to be possible for those teams to make the playoff. I've said it over and over with Iowa's schedule this year. If their offense is decent, then they can make the playoff. They can go 10 and two and make the playoff. We've got the Iowa schedule up on the screen right now. They're at Ohio State. That's one they're not going to be favorite. That Washington game is going to be a big one. They get Washington in Iowa city. That Wisconsin game in Iowa city is going to be a big one, but you win those two. You're in a really, really good spot. Of course,

you got to go to Minneapolis and win Floyd at Rosedale, but Minnesota is another one. I kind of worry about in the new era, PJ Fleck, they love to kind of play that smash mouth style, similar to what you see at Iowa, at Illinois. And that's not going to work in the new era because you're not trying to win the Big Ten West anymore. But for Wisconsin, for Nebraska and for Iowa, I do think it's possible. It's doable, but all of their offenses need to be better than what we've seen. Next one from Wiley E. Dogg. If Andy Staples ran a power two collective for a large salary, but no buyout, how would Andy Staples divide up the NIL money retention versus transfers versus high school, big money for limited numbers of players versus spreading around, focus on certain positions, et cetera, make a plan. If only there were a league where they had a finite amount of money that they were allowed to

spend on football players and then years worth of data on how they spend it. Oh, wait, there is. So that's exactly how the NFL is the way to do it. Now, you saw this past week, Oklahoma basically hired a capologist, hired a former Eagles executive to help them manage this stuff. And it's exactly how you have to do it, because you do have to figure out how do we handle retention? How much do we devote to high school guys? How do we handle spreading the money around? And the thing about it, football is just like anything else.

The people who are truly special or rare, they have to get paid. You have to be very unsentimental about who you think is sort of replacement level and who's not. So the more special people you can have and the more special people you can keep, that's what you got to do. And then you kind of work your development process on everybody else. So I would definitely put more into retention than I would into high school. Older players are better than younger players, even good younger players.

Every once in a while in a blue moon, I would spend on a big time high school player that I am absolutely sure about at a position that matters. Now I realize every position matters, but some matter more than others. Quarterback matters most. Then it's offensive tackles, defensive tackles, edge rushers, corners, receivers. That's the ones you've got to really take care of. Those are the ones that you have to make sure you have someone elite at. And those are the ones you have to pay for. We know this because we've had years of data from the NFL that has explained that. So let's say you're not spending a ton of money on high school offensive linemen, except for the occasional tackle that you think can plug right in.

And you, let's say you, you recruited a, you know, a high three-star low four-star offensive tackle. Didn't, didn't spend much on him up front, but his freshman year, he came in and he redshirted and he became a beast. And then as a redshirt freshman, he ascended to a starting role for you. And he's awesome. That guy's got to get paid. I got to spend a lot of money to keep that guy. I want to keep that guy happy because I've probably only got one more year with him anyway, because he's probably going to the NFL. So I am going all in on that year to make sure I keep that guy. If I have a quarterback I like, obviously I'm going to pay a fortune for him. I don't know, however, if I really want to pay a fortune for a freshman quarterback

because the hit rate on five-star quarterbacks and high four-star quarterbacks is really scattershot. It's really unreliable. So I'm not sure it's worth that money. I would actually probably go more if I'm buying freshmen, if I'm spending a lot on freshmen on a D tackle, on an edge rusher, on a corner who I can be more sure is going to work. And I did a study when I was at the athletic of hit rates, it was actually safeties that had the highest hit rate when you have a highly ranked one. And a lot of that is safeties aren't particularly valued or aren't valued as much as corners and

defensive ends and defensive tackles. And so when you have a five-star safety, it's because he's really, really good. And you, I mean, you see that with Caleb Downs, who was kind of the apple of the eye of the transfer market this year and wound up at Ohio State. So that's how I do it. It would be retention first, positional value as determined by the NFL over years and years. Freshman last, unless it's a very special case where I'm sure this is a can't miss and I'm going to have him for three years and I'm going to make, you know,

I'm going to get my money out of this in terms of positional value and wins. That's how I'm doing it. That's how Andy Staples, the capologist, would work. So I hear teams are hiring. Oklahoma's got one. I assume the rest of the SEC will have one before long. So guys, if you want, I have a calculator.

I'll even do it. You can put a buyout on me. I'll take a buyout because I might be terrible. So you give me a buyout, and I'll be right back doing this show. Next question comes from Brandon in Long Beach. Can you explain how teams will be assigned bowl locations in the new 12-team bracket? Previously, if I'm not mistaken, the number one seed was able to select the bowl they wanted to play in. And two through four were obviously just sorted from there.

Now, do one through three get to select their desired bowl? If so, do you think teams will always go for the home field advantage in the quarterfinals or will the semis affect that decision? For example, looking at this year's bowls, could Georgia select sugar over Fiesta or would they select cotton over peach? So this year and next year are different than 26 and beyond. So this year and next year, because we're still actually operating under the first college football playoff agreement, the original 12 year agreement, the conference bowl affiliations still apply. So Georgia, let's say they're the sec champion. You think they're going to go to the peach Bowl. That's Atlanta, hour from home.

That's the easiest trip for them. Clear home field advantage. They would go to the Sugar Bowl because that's where the SEC champ goes. If the Orange Bowl wasn't a semi, the ACC champ would go there, but the Orange Bowl is a semi. So the ACC champ is actually free to go wherever's closest.

So let's say Florida State wins the ACC, they would be in the Peach bowl. So it's, it's strange because you could have Georgia, the SEC champ be higher seated than the, than Florida state and Florida state probably wind up in the bowl that Georgia would rather be in the big 10 champs going to the Rose bowl. So whether that's, you know, USC could win the big 10 and that is a home game for them. Well, you know, it's home, it's their rival's home stadium, but yeah, they would be in their town. Essentially Oregon would be playing in its traditional bowl. It is Ohio state's traditional bowl, but yeah, they would be going to Los Angeles to play

if they're the big 10 champ. So that is a little bit weird, but that's how it's going to work for the next two years. And you're going to see a lot of this. The news broke last week that the Pac-12 still keeps its old bowl alignment. So even if a team is in the Big 12 now or the Big Ten now, if they were in the Pac-12 last year, they will get shuttled into a Pac-12 bowl spot for the next two years. So again, everything's going to be weird. Like for the next two years, everything is going to be crazy weird. And so just remember that when playoff time comes.

Because this question from Brandon, I actually had this question myself a few weeks ago and called the college football playoff because I didn't know the answer. And I was like, just please explain to me like I'm a five-year-old how this works. And so that is, that's where they're at right now. The next question comes from Sean. Andy, if Oregon State and Washington State finished the season 12 and 0 and 11-1 respectively, of course, one would beat the other. So Oregon State would beat Washington State in this scenario. Where do they finish in the other. So Oregon State would beat Washington State in this scenario. Where do they finish in the rankings? Is Oregon State ranked fifth? And does Washington State even make it to the playoffs? So that is an interesting one because they are the Pac-12 and you see the photo from media day, the mascots lounging at the open bar media day for the Pac-12.

And this is the dream. This is obviously the dream. Now, is this going to happen? No, but if it did happen, where would they wind up? So these guys are playing their traditional rival. So like Oregon state does play Oregon, Washington state does play Washington. So in this scenario, Oregon state would have a win against Oregon. It would have a win against Cal. It'd have a win against Washington State, Boise State. Depending on who's really good in the Mountain West, it could be San Diego State, could be Boise State. They're also playing Purdue. I actually, they might wind up at top. They can't be a conference champ. They could wind up the five seed. They could wind up the five seed over the second best SEC or Big Ten team.

I think that's entirely possible because especially if the second best Big Ten team is Oregon and they would have a head-to-head win against Oregon and then Washington State, would they be hosting a game? I don't know. I think Washington State would have a really good case because they play Texas Tech. They play Washington.

They would have lost to Oregon State in this scenario. They would have a case to be the eighth seed. I don't know if they would wind up the eighth seed. But I still think they'd make the playoff as an at-large. But it might be they have to go on the road. But, man, would I love to see somebody have to go to Pullman in the college football playoff. The fireball company would have to send an entire year's supply for that one weekend. Would love it. Would love it. Christopher Jordan in the chat. I think the two-pack should

have a championship game just for the lulls. Yeah. I think they can play a three game series, like best of three series between Oregon state and Washington state. I'm I'm down for that. One more question. This is from Alec Ahmed. What was the barbecue spot you talk about needing to go to in the DFW area? There's a few. There's a few. There's a couple I haven't been to yet that I want to.

There's one called Panther City in Fort Worth that I hear incredible things about. Daniel Vaughn, I mentioned him earlier. He's the barbecue critic for Texas Monthly. Swears by it, says this place is awesome. That's one I got to try. And I don't know if I'm going to be able to get all the way out to Fort Worth while I'm here. Cause we're, we're in Dallas for media days. It's a, it's a decent hall. Now there is speaking of places that started in Fort Worth, there is an outpost of Heim barbecue near SMU. So very close to where I am right now. Heim barbecue is outstanding.

And it's one of those places, you know, in Texas barbecue lore, you have all the places that they have the big line. They close when they run out. Heim has been one of the places that says, we don't want to have a four hour line. We want you to be able to come in, get food and eat. And the thing is, usually those places don't make barbecue the quality of the places that have a four hour line. Heim does. They've got great brisket, great pork ribs, but the bacon burnt ends are just glorious. And I'll give you a little hack. You get the bacon burnt ends.

You get a thing of mac and cheese from Haim. You put the bacon burnt ends in the mac and cheese. You stir it all up. Heaven. Heaven in a bowl. Another place in Dallas that's a must if you're here. Now they're only open, I believe Thursday, Friday, Saturday might only be Friday, Saturday. I think it's Thursday, Friday, Saturday though. Cadillac barbecue. Cadillac is awesome. Great beef rib, but unbelievable pork ribs. Some of the best pork ribs you will ever

have and obviously great brisket uh the first time I went there I'm standing in the line it wasn't a terrible line but I was in line for about 45 minutes to an hour uh one person was allowed to come in and skip the line he just walked right past us all walked out with a bag of barbecue it was Emmett Smith so yeah if you're the Cowboys all, walked out with a bag of barbecue. It was Emmitt Smith. So yeah, if you're the Cowboys all-time leading rusher, you get barbecue whenever you want. The rest of us, we wait in line. But yeah, if you're in Dallas and you happen to be there on a day that it's open, Cadillac is incredible. Now I'm starving. I'm going to go grab some breakfast. I got a bunch of people to talk to. We are here at SEC Media Days.

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