The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 2: Generation CFB

Episode Date: September 11, 2024

As Dan teased by its official name at the end of Hour 1, Jessica and Lucy are here for another installment of Gen CFB. This week, the Texas Longhorns had a dominant win over the Michigan Wolverines, but it was a big week of upsets around college football and they dive into each of them. They also preview Week 3 of the College Football season. Then, Ariel Helwani is here to discuss his beloved Buffalo Bills and still having the highest viewed video in the history of our YouTube channel. He also dives into UFC 306 and his newest endeavor with Yahoo Sports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Jersey City, New Jersey, please drink responsibly. This is the Dan Leventor Show with the Stugarts Podcast. -♪ Lucy, we're back with another episode of Gen CFB. Oh, my gosh, what a wild and wacky and wonderful weekend of college football it was. It was so great. I just stayed at home. I didn't really do much. It was nice that both of our favorite teams were on buys. Like, it was. It was so great. I just stayed at home. I didn't really do much.

It was nice that both of our favorite teams were on buys. Like it was awesome. It was great. And we're going to start right off the bat with, I think the biggest game of the weekend, Michigan and Texas. A humongous, humongous deal when a top 10 team loses. So we're going to cover all of it.

There are also some big upsets this weekend. Illinois and Kansas, we're looking at you. But let's start with Texas and Michigan. It was a big game for Texas. Texas, wow, they looked really good. I kind of figured this would happen. We've talked about it a little bit, but like Michigan should have never come into this season

ranked in the top 10. Like that was just not appropriate considering every single thing that they had lost. We're at a weird day and age where we don't know who's good or not. And we never really know until week four, except for that I think we can very confidently say,

Texas is very, very good. They're amazing. I think what was so impressive to me about this game is I knew Michigan's offense was gonna struggle. They have a new quarterback. Everything is kind of wild and wonky, but their defense was supposed to still be really solid and Texas made their defense look like shit.

Like just like straight up shit. Texas had definitely a great game plan offensively to try to keep the ball away from some of Michigan's best players. But I'm wondering if you think from the Michigan defense standpoint, is this just a situation where like the longer your defense is on the field

because your offense can't sustain drives your Excellent defense looks a little bit weakened Or do you think that really their defense has just been overrated since week one and they're just not as good as they were last Year, that's a tough question to ask me because I personally would never know anything about a defense being really really good and having to stay On the field a really long time because their offense is really bad. That's not a situation I'm super personally familiar with. However, I can 100% see how that happened. I think Michigan still has a good defense, but I think that Texas proved

that I think they're not as good as we thought, but also Texas is so much better than Michigan was. So like Michigan will be fine. They'll bounce back. You're playing big 10 offenses, which once again, I don't know anything about. Not familiar with big 10 offenses even a little again, I don't know anything about not familiar with big 10 offenses even a little bit. So that's

just a guess educated guess for me. There are a lot of like, college football fans doing the like, well, I guess Michigan isn't so good without Connor Stallion's thing this weekend. Feels like it's mostly tongue in cheek. But is there any any truth to them having a very sudden week two demise because of Connor Stallion's now being removed from the program, or is this because a ton of their players left for the NFL and they have a completely new coaching staff, or both? Didn't Connor Stallion coach this weekend and lose by 60?

Apparently he was the interim coach of a high school game in Michigan. They lost 60 to 0. It didn't look so good. I guess maybe no advanced scouting for that game, which could be a problem. But yeah, not great. I hope Netflix makes a doc about it. Oh man. Well, like I mentioned, there was a big upset this weekend involving the state of Illinois.

And that is, of course, Illinois Illinois upsetting Kansas number 19 in the country. Kansas without their without their play color from last season who went to Penn State who we've talked about before hasn't really looked as good this year. They had a ton of turnovers in this game but this was a pretty big win for Illinois to actually get this done. It was the first time they've they've beaten a ranked non-conference opponent at home since 2011 when they beat ASU. And this was also their first sellout at Memorial Stadium since 2016 when they played North Carolina. Taylor, were you at that game?

I was. Mitch Strabisky was our quarterback. Ryan Switzer, Mack Hollins at receiver. I'm pretty sure that was the opening game that year in Champaign. Wow. What history. You saw a sellout crowd at Urbana-Champaign. That's pretty special. I believe it was Lovey Smith too. Yeah. I think it was Lovey Smith.

Lucy, did you catch any of this one? It was pretty big upset. I did not catch any of this one. Like I said, I was just at home this weekend. Didn't have much going on, but you know, sometimes things just fall within the cracks. Illinois has actually got a guy at quarterback. Luke Altmeyer is really good. I don't expect this Illinois team to be solid,

but like you sold out a crowd, which they never do at Memorial Stadium. I've been to plenty of games there as well, cause I was there every year or every other year, whatever. So I'm not crazy shocked by this upset. We're also, once again, like I keep saying it every single time I talk about college football this week, of like, we still don't know who's good or who's not good.

So this win could be literally nothing in three weeks, but I'm happy for Illinois. I'm happy they sold out Memorial Stadium. Not one of my favorite places to go, but good for them. It was definitely like a, um, in Illinois or Kansas lost this rather than at Illinois won this game. Right, Taylor? I think you watched some of this one. Yeah. Jalen Daniels kind of came into this season, Kansas quarterback with a ton of hype. And it felt like a game where if Kansas just kept running the

ball, they were going to win because they're running back. Devin Neal was averaging over seven yards per carry, but they would get in like these third and ones and fourth and ones. And it was like Jalen Daniels, like, let me show these scouts right now how big an arm I have. And there was also a crazy situation in this game where Kansas was up like four and there was a punt and the Illinois returner muffed the punt. The ball goes into the end zone. He recovers it in the end zone.

Everybody on Kansas is doing like the safety celebration and the refs are like, no, that's not the rule. It's a touchback. Well, Taylor, thanks for that update. We're feeling the cheesiest this season with Cheez-It. It's college football season, Lucy, and Cheez-It's going to be here with us all year to recap the biggest games in college football. And that includes another upset of a ranked team, Georgia Tech losing to Syracuse. Syracuse with Kyle McCord in two games has thrown for 635 yards and eight touchdowns. He is the quarterback that transferred from Ohio State last year and Syracuse's new head coach has said,

thank you, Ohio State, we really needed this. What am I to make of Kyle McCord right now? It seems like he was struggling a lot last year, but also had some pretty good games. And now has been putting up numbers. I know it's only week two, but Syracuse upsetting Georgia Tech, I think it's fair to say that's a pretty significant win for Syracuse this early.

Sure. It's September, so they do tend to win in September. Syracuse, for me, they're always the team that has one funny win every year. We're like, yeah, you shouldn't have beat them. How did that happen? I don't think that's this game. I think we put Georgia Tech on a pedestal for beating a Florida State team that's now

0-2. My thing is, yeah, Kyle McCord has looked great at Syracuse, and it's not like he looks bad at Ohio State. I just don't think he was like Ohio State standards. Going from CJ Stroud to Kyle McCord is always gonna be a downgrade no matter what situation you're at. I don't think Ohio State's necessarily like crying. Also, I don't know who Ohio State's played this year,

Akron and Akron State are my guesses. So I don't really feel like they need Kyle McCord right now. My thing with Syracuse is if you look at that numbers, 635 yards, eight touchdowns, what happens if he gets hurt Syracuse your whole offense is based around him and I'm glad it's working out but like that you've put all your eggs in the Kyle McCord basket. That brings us to another huge match in game this weekend I don't know if you caught any of this game. It was spicy bowling green and Penn State, the number 18 in the country.

Penn State down to the wire against bowling green. Man, if you're ranked in the top 10, you cannot be playing a Mac school this close. And Penn State, this one was nearly a humongous upset for Penn State. Bowling Green's offense too, they're a like top 90 offense in college football and SMP plus,

but they scored 24 points in the first half, Lucy. Penn State's supposed to have this great defense. What happened? Pinstate was trailing at half, which is crazy. And this was their home opener as well. Pinstate, like we watched the West Virginia game and we were so, so excited because we finally saw what we were missing from Penn State,

which was the offensive spark, the playmaking ability. Maybe that wasn't, maybe that's not what our focus should have been on this year. I don't know what's going on with Penn State's defense. I'm sure they'll be fine. You know, Bowling Green, Mac school, probably better offenses than those big 10 schools. I wouldn't know anything about that.

I don't really get what they're talking about there, but I'm not too worried about this happening. It was just funny. It was just a funny weekend. It's always hilarious when a top team is playing it close against a team that has no business playing them close. Everyone wants to get their laughs in, but James Franklin showed his experience as a head coach. He pulled it off. There was another big upset in the Mac. Kent State lost to St. Francis. Absolutely crazy and their next two games are against Tennessee and Penn State. So not a great start to the year for Kent State lost to St. Francis. Absolutely crazy. And their next two games are against Tennessee and Penn State.

So not a great start to the year for Kent State. Taylor, what do you have on Mac teams this weekend? I was going to say with the Penn State ball and green game, I think what happened is Penn State looks so good against West Virginia.

If there's one college football coach who's going to be reading every good press clipping about them, it's James Franklin. And I think he kind of let that get to his head. And now it's kind of like, OK, we had a close game against Bowling Green. Let's regroup and see where we're at. Yeah, that's true. There is something to be said for teams

that have a huge game in week one and then just have a big hangover game the next weekend. And I think that that's probably you could probably watch the first half of the Penn State game and say, OK, hangover game. They had a big win in Morgantown week one against West Virginia. Now they're playing against Bowling Green and maybe they were just not mentally there when the game started, but they turned it around at halftime. They won the game.

So no upset there, but super close. There was a lot of other big G5 action Lucy this weekend. I don't know if you know of this whole backstory with ULM and UAB, but wow, it was like a Bryant Vincent revenge game. He was the offensive coordinator at UAB before UAB was shut down. Then he became the interim coach in 2022. After Bill Clark resigned, he came back, he was not retained as the head coach. Trent Dilfer was hired as the head coach despite Dilfer never being a college football coach

before. He was a high school football coach. And of course, he was everyone knows Trent Dilfer was hired as the head coach despite Dilfer never being a college football coach before. He was a high school football coach and of course he was, everyone knows Trent Dilfer from playing football, from his playing career. So Dilfer was hired at UAB and Vincent was given the boot, revenge game. ULM came in, beat UAB. What a absolutely bananas moment for Bryant Vincent. Huge week for the group of five. I'm glad that's all that happened. Yeah, me too. I mean, if you want to talk about more like close calls for top 25 teams, the Oklahoma State Arkansas game was absolutely crazy.

Went into two overtimes. It looked like Arkansas was doing anything possible to lose that game. Like they had, they outgained Oklahoma State by like 300 yards or something. Great. I don't have it in front of my face right now, but oh my God, was that a absolute giveaway to Oklahoma State to keep them in the top 25? That was so, my favorite part of that game was just like the, not only is like the innate desire of Arkansas to lose,

but getting into overtime in both teams missing their game winning field goal in overtime. Both of them doing it was so, it was just like the most Oklahoma State-Ar, Arkansas game ever. Because Oklahoma State beat South Dakota State last week, which is like actually an insanely impressive win. I don't believe South Dakota State had lost in like several years. So I kind of thought this game wasn't going to go in this direction, but like no matter what the circumstance was, no matter what the score was, I would have put money on Arkansas to find a way to lose. Not

Oklahoma State finding a way to win, but Arkansas finding a way to lose. Sam Pittman seat is so, so hot. And you know what I think they should do? I think they should go tried and true and promote the offensive coordinator. And we all know who that is, but the one and only, um, I think losing a game with a missed field goal has to be one of the worst feelings you could feel as a college football player. Like I luckily like can't super relate to it, but it must feel terrible. What's up, Taylor? What do you got?

Watching Sam Pittman trying to coach that game made me want to throw up. He was like running time off the clock. His players were like body slamming people in overtime and it just kept cutting to him and he was just sweaty in the sun. I'm like, man, this guy's having a rough day right now. He has a certain like buyout clause where his buyout is more expensive if he's above 500. Right, Lucy? So like every one of these wins is, is really important if you think he's on the hot seat, which like you said,

he, he definitely is after these last couple of years. He is for sure. And I've talked to Taylor about this before. Arkansas is one of the teams I'm like weirdly very interested in because in this NIL day and age Arkansas is in like such a prime spot to succeed because they don't have like an incredibly wealthy fan base but their top donors are like Walmart money like they have so much money that they could succeed with and they're like nope whoopig we're doing this the natural way. Sorry, we need to lose our games. Okay, Lucy, moving over to the SEC. We had a close game between Alabama and USF

for the second year in a row. We had Auburn losing to Cal at home. We had Tennessee blowing up NC State. I wanna talk about Auburn real quick though, because how is this going for Hugh Freeze? Losing to Cal at home, kind of shocking. Cal's best player, Jay Knot, didn't even really play that well in this game. I think he's hurt. So what happened there? Woke Mind Virus got him again. I would say, one, if you haven't, go look at just the Cal Twitter

account. It's not the specific university. They're feeling themselves right now. They have been, this is the funniest I've ever seen a fan base after a win because they are just hammering this woke mind virus. The thing with Auburn that's so interesting is Auburn is another school that has money, that has donors and they could have gone out and gotten a quarterback and they were like, nope, nope, we got a quarterback at home

and his name is Peyton Thorne. And now you're like, ah, you know what, he may have been expired. I don't necessarily know if this was the right call. So I don't, I didn't really like buy into the hype of of Auburn being really good this year because I didn't make the one change that I felt like they needed to make. This is just a good old-fashioned ACC SEC game with the woke mind virus. That's true. I mean sometimes it is really as simple as

like your most important position is quarterback. The quarterback had a bad game. I mean Payne-Lauren threw four interceptions in this game. Sometimes bad quarterback games happen and you have to just either move on or move forward with someone else and so I don't know what the status will be with Thor moving forward but it's definitely a really disappointing game for him. I thought the Tennessee NC State game went exactly how we thought it was gonna go. Nico Iamalieva, not his best game, definitely didn't play as well as he played against Chattanooga, but still looked pretty impressive at times.

And NC State just really didn't have an answer on offense. Yeah, that's what the most surprising thing about Penn State, or not Penn State, I don't know why I said Penn State, Tennessee has been this year. Their defense looks great. Their defenses looked really good. James Pierce is one of the best players in the entire country. And so that was kind of what was missing from Tennessee the last few years is like we've always known they've had this amazing offense, like to see them sort of

pick things up on the defensive side of the ball. And I'm not saying that NC State is some prolific offense by any means, but for Tennessee to be able to hold their own on the defensive side of the ball, they're going to be really tough in the SEC this year. I think they're kind of like, you know, we clearly see Georgia, Texas, and then I think Alabama, Tennessee are kind of at the same level, like right below that right now. And I wouldn't be shocked to see Tennessee pull off kind of an upset

against someone who we think is better than them, whether that be Alabama or Georgia. OK, we obviously want to preview the week three games, but before we do, Nebraska and Colorado was the prime time peacock game this week. I don't know if you the week three games, but before we do, Nebraska and Colorado was the prime time peacock game this week. I don't know if you caught any of it, but Nebraska, good defense. Dylan Royola looked really good, but Colorado also seems like they're falling apart already

in week two. There's a story about the band not being allowed to play the fight song anymore. They have to play Shader Sanders song. And then Colorado said, no, that's not true, but they do play a few seconds of Shader Sanders song. I don't know what's true or what's not true. What I do know, Lucy, is that it doesn't look like Colorado

has really fixed any of the problems that plagued them last season. So like, are things really as off the rails as they looked in this game? I think, I don't even want to say that they're not as, as you know, nothing's been fixed like last season. I think they don't even want to say that they're not as as you know nothing's been fixed like last season. I think they've gotten worse slightly. I think they found a way to get worse which is shocking considering all the turnaround they have in that program. Yeah this season was always going

to go out play this way for Colorado and I think that you're looking at a vastly improved Nebraska team who has been the victim of a million and ten close losses to teams they probably should have beaten over the last five years. So all of this has just been building up and just growing and growing and growing and Nebraska was going to have that moment. And of course it comes against not only their rival Colorado but a team that gets a ton of praise. So I'm not really shocked by any of this at all.

Colorado is a bad football team. They're bad. And that's okay to say. They're just not very good. Sometimes teams that you think are good just maybe aren't as good as you thought they were. And we wouldn't know anything about that. Those were the only games this weekend. So we're going to be back after the break with some week three and look ahead to

what's coming up on the slate this weekend, Lucy. Folks, The Dan LeBattard Show with Stu Gotz is sponsored by BetterHelp. What's something that you'd love to learn as an adult? up on the slate this weekend, Lucy. been wanting to pick up, gardening, a new language, maybe finally beat your best friend in bowling. Therapy can help you reconnect with that sense of wonder. Your back-to-school era can start at any age. BetterHelp because learning and growing should never stop. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists anytime for no additional charge. Rediscover your curiosity with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash DLB to get 10% off your first month. That's

BetterHelp.com slash DLB. Don LeBattard. Mr. Mr. Shirt, if I may say for a second. Miami, they were simulating the snap count the entire game and they were clapping at the line of scrimmage. And the only thing I want to see clapping are them cheeks on Mrs. Met in my face, Mike Shirt. All right, so that's one thing.

Stugats. They're a bunch of cheaters, Dan. And you know who should be cheating? Mrs. Met on Mr. Met. And he can watch if he wants. This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugats. So we have a new sponsor to help us preview week three since Jess and I both had this last week off. Not much going on in the college football world there. So this week we're getting nutty with Hampton Farms peanuts,

the official snack nut of the tailgate. I swear that I have seen some Hampton Farms peanuts at the first game I went to, Texas A&M. I didn't go anywhere last week, so I don't believe I saw any of the Hampton Farms peanuts because I wasn't anywhere. I gotta say, Lucy, I love a snack nut. Love it. Love it. Thank you, Hampton Farms, for Hampton Farms peanuts because I wasn't anywhere. I gotta say Lucy I love a snack nut. Love it. Love it. Thank you Hampton Farms for Hampton Farms peanuts for the sponsorship. Okay Taylor are you able to play us this clip

of Bill O'Brien because this was one of the funniest things I saw this past weekend and lo and behold Boston College Missouri this weekend a ranked matchup now 24 Boston College at number 6 Missouri here's Bill O'Brien. On the TV broadcast they mentioned that you showed clips of FBS teams beating FCS teams pretty pretty handed. I never showed one clip. Okay yes. Not one time. I don't know where they got that from. They didn't get it from me. Interesting okay. You always get the truth from me. That's why I wanted to ask. Yeah they said that on the TV I'll be honest with you. I don't know the difference between FPS, FCS,

NCIS, CIA I have no idea. I just know that Duquesne is a tough football team and we better be we had to be ready to play them and I never showed one clip of any of that. Never. Shout out to Bill O'Brien 2-0 to start this season at Boston College. Just to clear things up, FBS football bowl subdivision, FCS football championship subdivision,

NCIS Naval Criminal Investigative Service on CBS, starring former UCLA quarterback Mark Harmon, the son of Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Tom Harmon. And CIA, Central Intelligence Agency, known for a number of controversial entanglements, which we won't get into here, Lucy, but you got all that? I did not know that's what NCIS stood for. What did you think it stood for?

I thought the N was national. No, no, they do like naval projects. National Criminal Investigative Service. I used to watch a lot of NCIS for some reason. It was always on like after soccer practice. And it was so I've never seen it. So it's all naval criminal investigative service related. They investigate murders and stuff. Oh, that's good. Sometimes terrorism. There was this guy named La Grande with a frog. He was like a French arms dealer. I don't know. Anyways, moving on. I think Missouri will win this game. If by chance they don't, what will have Boston College done well?

I don't know. I think Missouri is going to win this game. I really don't even think it's going to be a question. I think Boston College is another team that we're like, oh yeah, you beat Florida State. And now we're like, I think everybody could beat Florida State. So I don't necessarily know if that's a top 25 catapult. I think Missouri is better than Boston College. I believe it's a home game. I'm not too worried about this.

I think if Castellanos goes ham and has like three passing touchdowns and four rushing touchdowns, just all by himself, I don't know. I think it could be fun, but I'm with you. I think Missouri's gonna to win this game. Friday night, number 20, Arizona and number 17, Kansas State. So for this Arizona-Kansas State game, Kansas State won at Tulane last week in like the weirdest possible fashion.

Like they probably should have lost that game because there was a weird like offensive pass interference on a touchdown that would have tied this game up for Tulane that ended up getting called. Like the whole thing was kind of like wonky. interference on a touchdown that would have tied this game up for Tulane that ended up getting called. Like the whole thing was kind of like wonky. So this is probably a game that it should be Arizona's ranked a little bit higher than Kansas State. Arizona has an elite offense. They have an elite wide receiver in Tett Macmillan. Like this is going to be like I think honestly the game of the week.

The only reason that we're not really getting the hype behind it is because it's a Friday night game. Boo! Not Saturday. I hate Friday night college football game. It's gross. I want everything to be Saturday so I can just watch it all like out once on seven different devices. But you're going to the Alabama Wisconsin game this weekend.

So you're back on the road after your weekend off. Alabama, we saw them struggle again to USF this past weekend but then in the fourth quarter, they just kind of like decided they were done screwing around and just beat the brakes off of South Florida in the fourth quarter, they just kind of like decided they were done screwing around and just beat the brakes off of South Florida in the fourth quarter. Wisconsin, obviously, like we've discussed their struggles before sort of finding their identity on offense after Luke Fickel came in and tried to change the the entire program's offensive identity to kind of be redundant. But I have Alabama winning this game, even though Camp Randall, a fun but tough place to play. Will we be seeing a sad jump around in the third quarter?

Yeah, I think we will. Alabama just, Tampa gets the best of all of us sometimes. You know, it's just a natural thing that happens. That's their crimp tonight is USF. Wisconsin struggled week one. They looked a lot better last week. I just think that Alabama is a lot more talented. Wisconsin's still figuring things out. But the one thing I know about Wisconsin fans is they're going to drink regardless and they'll show up

for jump around and then they'll leave and it'll be okay and they'll have a lot of fun. Yeah, the jump around is one of the things that made me afraid. Like I did a college visit to Wisconsin and did the jump around and was like this is scary Like I feel like this stadium is not gonna it's it's just moving and I don't like it But it's a lot of fun. So I'm excited for you. You're gonna have a great time Lucy Thanks, there's a few rivalry games this weekend to the Apple Cup the backyard brawl We've got Colorado at Colorado State a rematch of that crazy game last year, went into wee hours of the morning that we all watched. Anything else before we go that you want to talk about, Lucy? The floor

is yours. I believe so we do have the Apple Cup. I also believe the Civil War is this weekend. So it's a big week for the Pac-12 rejects. I'm not 100% positive the Civil War is this weekend, but Washington, Washington State, not Washington State Pete the breaks off Texas Tech and they'll probably beat Washington this week I think Texas Texas is there I think they're bad oh they are bad they're giving me bad but I think Washington is also bad well there you have it all right Lucy it's been fun I I miss you it's I miss you I'm sad we were both you know very busy this last weekend and had pretty much enough-

Just personal stuff going on. It's nobody's business really. Yeah, exactly. But you know what? I'm looking forward to a rejuvenation in week three. We'll be back better than ever. Yeah, we're back. We're back.

We have Cheez-Its and we have snack nuts. And we're very happy. We're back. We're back, we have Cheez-Its, and we have snack nuts. And we're very happy. We're full. Literally a metaphor. TD, Tuddy, taking it to the house. Whatever you call a touchdown, they matter more at DraftKings Sportsbook, an official Sportsbook partner of the NFL. Ready to place your first NFL bet?

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8 hours after issuance for additional terms and responsible gaming resources see DKNG.co slash FT ball NFL plus premium offer available only to new and former NFL plus subscribers additional NFL plus premium terms at NFL comm slash terms Don libertar to us residents Stoogats Wow! It's in there! It's better! You think I haven't been practicing? Stugats! Oh, whoa! I didn't realize we had a substitute complicated legacy chosen by... Brought to you by Headquarter Toyota. 441 Powerline Road.

Second out of nine. This is the Don Lebatar Show with the Stugats. What's up Ariel? Hey, what's going on? How are you? I'm doing well man, good to see you. Okay, so the voice is... Oh wow. Anthony, Anthony!

Wow. Ariel? Ariel? Billy? There's a lot of voices. Oh you can't see me, it's fine. Definitely not Mike. Greg.

Billy or Greg. Greg Cody. It's gonna say Greg. No, it's Chris. It's actually Chris Cody. Happy birthday, Chris. Yeah, thank you, buddy. Or Greg is his birthday.

I don't know, Greg Cody. Greg's birthday, one of the Cody's. Doesn't really matter. Yeah, it's a lot of Cody's, yep, yep. I feel good about this exchange we had. No, no, I think it was one of our better I think it was one of our better. Are you a bills fan, Ariel? Yeah, yeah, how you feeling about Thursday night? That's going down if I'm being honest not great really why?

Left-hand is a worry. Yeah, I hate Thursday night games on the road, especially I wish they would abolish them. Just the road ones though. I hate all of them, but especially on the road. I hate all of them. I think, what is this? Short week, these are football players. No, no thank you.

Most of it's ruled out, Ariel. I don't know if you heard. But Ariel, we said the Bills play Thursday, but they only play at home. You'd be more okay with it is what we're saying. No, no, I just said, I hate them all, especially on the road, all right? I think it's crazy, I think it's greedy,

I think it's money hungry, but look, you know, we're ready to go. Josh is fearless, he's the best quarterback in the league, and I have faith, I just, I never feel good about my teams. Like, I don't feel good about the Knicks, but I know they're gonna win the championship this year. It's just like- Oh, of course, every year.

You can't say he's the best quarterback in the league. You can't say that he's better than Mahomes. What's the matter with you? Oh my God. Look who Mahomes has around him. Look at the legends he has around him. We've had to rebuild our wide receiver core and look what he did against the Cardinals.

One of the best teams in the league, mind you. One of the best defenses. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? Which league? I mean, what team are you talking about? National football league. Name a receiver.

I think of you as an objective reporter. I think of you as- Not when it comes to the Bills. Not when it comes to the Bills. You are the shining credibility to have emerged from the combat sewer. You, I think of you as wildly unbiased, trying to be objective at all times.

How can you spew this propaganda on here? When it comes to the bills, the New York Knickerbockers and my beloved Montreal Expos, whose blood still remains on the hands of David Sampson and his father-in-law, stepfather-in-law, brother, cousin, I'm still not sure what it is. I am very very biased, I have to say. Everything else I'm completely unbiased but when it comes to those three entities in particular, extremely extremely biased. I don't think that we introduced him. He is Ariel Hawani. He's the best in the business at Convite.

Finally, finally. Three years, still undisputed number one video on the Dan LeBattard YouTube channel and I can't get a call back. And what I would imagine is happening is all the other talent that you've assembled, a great crew, a solid B to B plus, they all feel very threatened by the fact that three years ago i popped on this little

show and i'm still standing as number one go to the youtube channel go to most viewed and i'm still there three years later unbelievable you know what that that reminds me of something it wasn't just me on that day spitting hot fire dropping pipe bombs left and right there was another person who joined us and i think it is apropos that I bring him back. It is of course, El Nadis. It is of course, Hylwani.

Yes! The nose, Hylwani. Yes. It wouldn't be a Levitard show appearance if it doesn't include a mask. So let's go. What do you guys got for me? What hard hitting questions do you have? Let me tell the people first.

He's got a new deal with Yahoo Sports for a new brand called uncrowned it launches friday ahead of u f c three oh six and the canelo fight uh... they're dueling on saturday night in vegas and i will tell the people for the first time that i've been trying to hire ariel hawani for about three or four years and he's too busy getting larger and larger for us to be able to afford him. And now Yahoo Sports has given him a venture, or he's earned a venture that I would say,

Ariel, and I don't mean this to sound paternal, makes me wildly proud of you, because it seems like you've finally arrived at your dreams where you have the independence of your empire, and you don't even have to worry about whether dana white is trying to bully you uh... in m m a or at the s p n well um... first before i get all that thank you very much for having me back and thank you when we announce this you said some incredibly incredibly mind-blowingly nice things about me which i don't take for granted and is is is and will forever

be surreal that I can call you a friend. What you did say was accurate. You've I think tried to hire me now twice. You're not the problem. AC isn't the problem. Greg, Chris, they're not the problem. Roy isn't the problem. Mike might be part of the problem.

Stu Gotz, I'm still not quite sure what his stance is on me. The big problem, of course, is Mr. John Skipper, who I'm certain still has no idea who I am. One of my favorite phone calls was when he called me and he was like, so tell me young man, what you do for a living. But nevertheless, he didn't put an extra zero on that check and that's neither here nor there.

We are here. We are here, Dan, to talk about what we are building. And when I spoke to everyone, as my free agency was coming up, I referenced you. I referenced what you have built here. I also referenced Pat McAfee. I referenced Rich Eisen. I referenced Dan Lebatard. I referenced Dan Patrick. I referenced, you of course are Dan Lebatard, I referenced Bill Simmons. I referenced people who I look up

to as heroes and role models because long, long before I ever got a seat at this table, I wanted to be you guys. I wanted to be you guys in the sense of the content that you create but also the leaders that you are for your teams, I envied that. And I always felt like I didn't quite make it until I got there, until I was able to confidently put my name on my show. Not the MMA hour,

not even Ariel Hawhani's MMA show like it was at ESPN, the Ariel Hawhani show. I felt like that was an honor that I couldn't bestow upon myself until I felt and the audience felt that I was ready, just like you have had your name on your show. I think that's a big deal. Howard Stern is my hero. That's my guy that I looked up to. He has your name on your show. I think that's a big deal. Howard Stern is my hero. That's my guy that I looked up to. He has his name on his show.

And now, finally, I feel like I have arrived. And in an era where a lot of people in combat sports and out of combat sports are talking about combat sports and combat sports journalism, being dead, media being different now, dead, blah, blah, blah, here we are creating about 20 new jobs for people on the production side, on the writing side. We've launched this new vertical under the Yahoo

Sports umbrella on crown.com. My show launches in October. And I feel like I'm living the dream. I don't feel like I'm competing against you guys. I feel like I'm an extended part of the family. And I feel like I can maybe, you know, a bit of a cocky thing to say, but I feel like I now have earned my seat at the table among the giants who have their names on their shows,

the names I just mentioned. And so it's a very, very proud moment in time for me. Chris, isolate that sound. I would like to hear it back. Ariel, if it makes you feel better, I'm not certain John Skipper knows who I am and what I do. Yeah, that's true. That's true, that's true.

Ariel, I do believe you you a mighty fine soccer reporter. You're the EP of your own show. You're the executive editor of your new site, which I mentioned, Uncrowned for Yahoo Sports. Why was it important for you to take the power back? You and I have had the clip you're talking about that is the most viewed YouTube clip is you and I talking about the secrets of how it is that

Dana White's tried to Bully you at ESPN and where it is that I tried to be some version of helpful in the middle of that It must feel really good Ariel to know that you have all of the power now Yeah, and and I honestly felt like I always had the power I mean just because someone wants to take it away from you, it doesn't mean they are taking it away from you. I've told the story a gazillion times about the bullet in my head and all that stuff, but here I am eight years later in this position. And so I don't feel like I got it back. I just

feel like now I'm able to be a leader. I'm able to bring my colleagues and friends, new and old, along with me. And that's always been what I admired about you and about Simmons and about DP and Eisen. It wasn't just about yourselves. What you did at the end of your time at ESPN is one of the most selfless things that I've ever seen. And I admired that. I didn't just want to worry about me. When I left Vox in 2018 to go to ESPN, I left alone. When I left ESPN to go do this new thing with Vox

and Spotify, I left alone. Now I come to this new venture with a crew, an army, a squad, and that feels incredibly good. And the people there are amazing. I worked with Ryan Spoon at ESPN. When I saw that he was hired as the president of Yahoo Sports last fall, a light went off in my head. When I met Sam Farber, the head of content there, I was like,

OK, they're building something here. And I see them continuing to build. And I said when I announced, this isn't your granddaddy's Yahoo Sports, and I think some of the old guard, our friend Jeff Passon, sent me a cheeky text saying, hey, chill out on the old Yahoo Sports. I have the utmost respect for Yahoo Sports and what they have been, what they are,

what they continue to be. But when it comes to combat sports, they were once something and then they weren't something. And now we're coming back way bigger than they ever have been. MMA, boxing, pro wrestling, a hub of all things, combat sports, my show, we're building a studio, other shows are coming, other people are coming, we just announced five today and it's the dream Dan, it's the dream, it's everything I wanted. Like

everyone that I spoke to in this process, there were basically like five entities at the end and everyone was offering me really really great things. I would have been very happy with each and every one of them but these guys just kept coming over the top, over the top, over the top and it just felt like a perfect situation and and thus far it has been amazing a couple weeks in I will not say this about many ever that I've seen doing this but I know that what he's going to do is going to be special and good because everything he does is special and good uncrowned is the name of the new venture. It's Yahoo Sports.

But we got a lot going on this weekend. Can I get some fast music, something? We got to go rapid fire through some of the things that are happening this weekend. I didn't even make it live, Dan. I didn't even get live. It's unbelievable. Who's making the decisions over there? How is this not live? People are waiting with bated breath for me to be live on the YouTube channel and I get the post show spot I get the pre-taped spot this is not pre-taped this is live to tape Tony give him the question equals ratings okay Thursday what are you talking about this is live yeah sure sure sure sure sure my bad my kfabe kfabe did I just break kfabe no Billy just Billy is never helpful he's just never helpful that was helpful that

was not helpful it It's not Thursday Ariel let's talk about the real stuff UFC 306. We've been promised the most incredible show ever at the sphere There are still a thousand tickets to be sold There's a lot of things that been very expensive for the UFC first talk about the sphere as a show itself And then we can get to the car a little bit What about the fact that when I met AC over there, this guy didn't even know what UFC stood for. Now all of a sudden, he's the MMA expert on the show.

I mean, I beam with pride anytime he's talking about MMA so confidently and intelligently on your program. Look, people are harping on this thousand ticket thing. Have you seen how expensive the tickets are? A thousand tickets left. That's not too bad. Let's talk about the gate. Again, going back to what Dan was saying

I could keep a real what the UFC is doing here is an unbelievable venture The sphere has never hosted a sporting event. They may never host another sporting event. It's a very interesting structure It's costing them over 20 million. The gate is over 20 million It's going to be the highest gate in the history of the ultimate fighting championship Oh, by the way on the same weekend as Canelo Alvarez fighting just down the road going toe to toe there's so many storylines as far as this weekend goes that has nothing to do with the fights. The Sphere, Dana White versus MGM, Canelo versus Turkey Al-Sheikh, the the the the head man over in Saudi Arabia. There's so many other little storylines in addition to the great fights happening this weekend. It feels like it's been a long time since Las Vegas was truly the fight capital of the world and this Saturday

it feels like it's the fight capital of the world. I mean look at that. The logo is great. The sphere is an impressive structure. I can't wait to see what they're doing and Dana White is going old school on us here. He's been out promoting. He's in New York doing interviews, all kinds of things. He's putting out videos. He's putting out teasers. This is what promoters do, and he's done a great job of piquing our interest because on Saturday, it's not just about the fights, and the top three are phenomenal. Everyone is going to buy the pay-per-view

just to see what this thing is all about. And that, to me, is brilliant promotion. So I think it's great, and I think it's great that Canelo's fighting on the same night a block away. I love that sort of thing. Head-to-head, let's go. The Venn diagram is right here. What's that part in the middle of the Venn diagram?

And now like the two are coming together, that little like- A little sliver in the middle, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I live in the slither with MMA boxing and pro wrestling. I know I'm unique in that sense, but there's a two part slither happening this weekend in Vegas and I love everything about it.

Main event, Sugar Sean O'Malley, who's a star in his own right. Could this be the moment that he launches through the stratosphere into being a household name across the country? Sure, but I think he's already there to be honest. He has his toughest fight as champion. Marabdow Ali Shafili is unbelievable. He's like a he's like a German excuse me a Georgian Tasmanian devil like the guy just doesn't stop He has motors for days. He has cardio for days He obviously is a great grappler. He's a great wrestler. He's He's he's developed into a very solid striker

He's virtually unbeatable like he doesn't lose rounds and you could say that his his best attributes are Maybe Shawn's weakest, but I think people don't give Shawn enough credit. The striker he's become, we all know, but I think he's become a great fighter, like a great MMA fighter, a well-rounded fighter. He just hasn't had to show everything. And so we'll see on Saturday. This is a massive, massive stage for him. You're right. He takes a big step if he wins, and especially if he wins the way in which he has won his last two fights against Aljo against Cheeto Vera but man if he gets by Marabdowali Shvili and Umar Namaga-Madoff who is next

like this is one of the all-time great starts to a title run ever um Aljo, Cheeto, Marabdowali and Umar that's that's a who's who that's a that's a murderers row if you will all supremely tough and just one of those guys has a skill set that is good for Sean that would have been Cheeto who he beat five rounds to none this is going to be a really tough test for him his toughest in the UFC so far in my opinion it's called the intersection of the Venn diagram it was more of like a sexy name than that you know I mean no Connor McGregor being kicked out of Monaco it seems like he's an unusual mess even by his standards.

Was he kicked out of Monaco? I didn't see that. When did that happen? I just assumed he's generally kicked out of Monaco. Yeah, I was actually just in Monaco a couple of weeks ago. I was at the casino over there and everyone was saying... That's not a look at me. No it is. I was just in Monaco. No, what Ariel did. I was just in Monaco.

I was just in Monaco. It's not a look at me. No it is. It is. Oh, sorry, did you guys not see me at the Olympics covering for CBC? Oh, the content creator. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, that was me. That's the old Barry Horowitz. I pat myself on the back. At the Olympic Games with a who's who, with the likes of the great Jeremy Schaap in Paris under the lights. It was unbelievable. While people in my own sport tried to continue to say,

as I shine up my 15 trophies, where are they? They're somewhere, they're in the attic. My wife put them there, she's tired of me talking about them. They say he's not a real journalist. There he is at the Olympic freaking games in Paris, hobnobbing with the best of the best. It's unbelievable.

But you know, I think in this particular moment, I think back to my good friend Paul Heyman. You guys know Paul Heyman, right? Paul E. Dangerously. Of course you know Paul Heyman. Is anyone listening to me? We're not live. We're not listening. You said John Heyman? What's going on? Paul Heyman. Paul Heyman, cutting all of this. Extreme Championship Wrestling made its debut on Pay Per View. They were nipping at the heels of WWF and WCW.

And they were about to make their debut. And Paul Heyman, being the incredible leader that he is, he gathered the troops and he was standing at the top of the stairs and he said, this is our opportunity right here. This is the dance. You may not think this is the dance, but welcome to the dance.

And this is our opportunity for everyone to say, yeah, you know what? You guys are a bunch of sad sack losers. You're too extreme. You're not think this is the dance but welcome to the dance and this is our opportunity for everyone to say yeah You know what you guys are a bunch of sad sack losers. You're too extreme. You're not good enough You're a bunch of you know wannabes. You're a bunch of never-wases or this is our opportunity to saying can I swear here or no? Yes You you're wrong You were right everyone who said that we were dead everyone that said that combat sports journalism was dead You're fucking wrong and we're f***ing right. Uncrowned.com, October 14th, live show September 13th at the Venetian this Friday, f*** you, we're right.

We're gonna be right and there's a new kid on the block. Ariel's T-City back. Brian T-City is fighting Diego Lopez in a very important fight on Saturday. He missed weight and didn't show up. He didn't make the walk a couple of months ago. I don't know if he's back because I'm worried about the weight. I think he'll have more time to make the weight this time and so I don't think there'll be any issues. But Diego Lopez is here and we're still not sure where Brian Ortega is just yet. I don't think he's gone but that's a traumatic thing. Missing weight, not making the walk, getting sick. So this is a tough, tough test for him.

But I think he'll be ready. This is a guy who obviously is very proud of his Latino heritage. This is a night, a love letter, if you will, as Dana White has put it, to the Mexican fight community. So I think he rises to the occasion. But man, Diego Lopez is a tough out. So I could only really answer the question on Monday or Saturday night, but I think he makes the walk.

I think he makes the way. The Ariel Hawani show live from the Venetian this Friday 7 p.m. Eastern on his YouTube and Yahoo Sports dot com always great seeing you Ariel. Still number one on the YouTube channel I don't know if we'll beat it. No we will not. You guys were very disengaged didn't hit me with anything where's Mike Ryan with the hot hitting of our 20 years together, there have been a lot of changes. A lot of changes to the show, a lot of changes to my body, a lot of changes to you and your listening habits.

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