The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Snaps - Jake Butt on why Michigan CAN win a national championship + Playing for Jim Harbaugh

Episode Date: August 11, 2023

Aaron Murray and T-Bob Hebert are joined by former Michigan Wolverine and current Big Ten analyst Jake Butt to discuss the upcoming college football season. Jake makes a case for Michigan being the number one team in the nation, the guys discuss the latest Big Ten expansion with USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington, and Jake talks about the differences in playing for Brady Hoke vs. Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The volume. Hey, what's up, Bill? T-Bob here reminded you that you can come hang out with me and Aaron Murray live on AMP Monday through Thursday. Amp is a new live radio app. You just download it from the Apple store. You can actually call in, text in, chat with us directly during the show. It's a ton of fun.

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T. By Babe Aver joined as always by our own QB1, Aaron Murray. Aaron, what's up, Doc? Just jealous of our guests, beautiful facial hair. I tried the beard about a week ago and I couldn't get it to connect. So I shaved it off. and just so, so, so, so sad. And I have Teabob who looks great and Jake who has what I want. And I just can't feel that out.

We're the three stages right here. Yes. Yes. Jake nailed it. Like exactly. It literally is a progression of only Brum. Yeah. There we go, Brum.

Yeah. Now I'm from most deli. If you're watching on YouTube, this will all land better. So you probably heard it there, though. We got the Michigan legend. Jake Butt on the show today. Now an analyst for the big. network, uh, go follow him on X. I still never know whether to say X or Twitter, but it's

Jay Booty 88. Is that also your Instagram? I think so. I think so. I think so. Somewhere along that. Yeah. Yeah. This look up J. Booty. And, uh, Brum and our chat, the producer just call it fucking Twitter. Okay. Okay. Like eventually, I don't know, eventually we're going to stop. Maybe it's X. Um, but hey, we're very excited. Hey, we're very excited. Hey, We're going to be hanging out with Jake for probably about the next 30 minutes. We've got a new game to play because we are shameless and of course can't help but make but jokes. We're going to play yes and or yeah, but in which we're going to offer Jake a statement and then he has to choose one. But first, let's just, you know, get to know each other a little bit and, you know, crank this thing up.

Jake, how about this? Yesterday's show, we're talking about Georgia, as we always are forced to do. And, you know, I feel very confident in your Michigan Wolverines. I feel great about them. I think they should be number two in the country. I feel like they are the best potential chance to upset Georgia. Aaron Murray on yesterday's show said not that it's not like he said there is no possible way, calling it a literal impossibility that Michigan could be Georgia.

Your thoughts. I feel and this is going to be a theme I think we get into. here. I think that's a fair point to say because until you do it, until you do it outside looking in. I know those guys believe in them. I actually believe in them. I think Michigan has as good a chance of anyone. But frankly, like, until you do it, people are allowed to say that kind of thing. I mean, look, George's dominated college football the past few years. Aaron, I know you could sit there with a smile on your face and say that with confidence until someone knocks them off. Now, again, my opinion, I think Michigan has a case to be preseason number one. They just have so few question marks across their roster, though I'm cool having Georgia.

But look, man, that's playground rules, right? If you win King of the Hill and Playground, you're the king of the school until someone knocks you off, right? That's primitive stuff. So, Georgia, you've been number one for so long. You're allowed to say that. Yeah, but. Listen, listen, I, I, yeah, but. So I can clarify myself, yeah, but.

here. I'll start it off first here. I do think Michigan is the second best team in America. What I was trying to tell T-Bob yesterday, there's a style of football that needs to be played in order to beat Georgia. Alabama showed it two years ago. Ohio State last year probably should have beat Georgia, showed it. I don't know if Michigan, why they may be the second best team in American, why they maybe they could beat Ohio State for a third trade year and probably will. And they could baby beat Alabama and LSU head to head. There is a style of football that has to be. play to beat Georgia. That is my bigger concern. No, I get the point, but I think Michigan can't. You can play soft of ball. You bring up a good point, though. Listen, Michigan, I've said this, what makes them great is their running game.

That's a great offensive line. They can hand the ball off 40 times a game and sleepwalk to 10 wins. But when you face that front seven and that physicality of the Georgia Bulldogs defense, it's going to be a lot harder. So the challenge for Michigan, I think that they can make it very confident. They can make it back to the college football playoff this year. But if you want to win a national title, I believe JJ has the potential as quarterback to be in the husband conversation,

but he hasn't been given the opportunity. We don't know how good the Michigan receivers are going to be. We've seen flashes, but for Coach Harbaugh and Sharon Moore, the offensive coordinator, as easy as it would be to hand the ball off 40 times, I think you've got to let JJ air it out. You have to rep that throughout the season, build up some equity. So when it does come time to play, Georgia, you're not just doing it for the first, second, third time on the season.

You have to build that identity earlier in the year. Well, and that's my point. And I would love to actually see Michigan do that, Jake, because they're good enough where they can, like, even if they feel that's maybe like slightly riskier to be more conservative, like they can get away with it, right? But like, that's why, Aaron, when you bring up the style point, I understand what you're saying, but I'm banking on the growth of JJ because he went from being in a, you know, a position battle at the beginning of last season where they're like,

rotating game to game, which we'd never really seen before, to then looking like pretty shaky early on, but then look what he did against Ohio State and some of the plays that he started making down the stretch. Even the TCU game, there were big gaffs, but they're also massive plays that you would not have seen from earlier. So like now you give him an off season. I mean, you got horrible out here comparing him like to Mahomes and stuff. Like I'm, I'm with you, Jake. I think JJ McCarthy is a legit Heisman candidate. And his growth, he is the reason why I think they're capable of taking that next step. And the beat you, he doesn't have a physical, he doesn't have a physical limit, right?

The only limit is going to be set on, is Michigan going to be safe? Like you said, Zibob, are they just going to sleepwalk to these victories? There's not a risk, man. Those first four games Michigan should win no matter what. So air it out. If you win by 17 or you win by 30, it doesn't matter. But the value you can gain by letting JJ get in gun, that second half, though, it wasn't perfect.

You saw JJ just out there. He looked free, man. He looked like he was just making plays. Let him loose. Let him loose. That's going to benefit you down the stretch of the season. I want to go to hardball real quick. I feel like you have a better pulse than we do, obviously, on Michigan and

Michigan football and the fan base. What is there feeling towards hardball? I feel like every all season we've had a discussion, is he staying, is he going? Now the four-game suspension, which is absurd by the NCAA, but still has to set up. Fucking NCAA. What is the overall temperature of Michigan? Michigan fans and Coach Harbaugh as our head coach. Love them.

Love them. And now it's funny because a couple years ago after the COVID year, you know, some fans say, hey, let's get them out of here. Let's uproot the program. But I think now, I mean, I couldn't believe hearing some of that because Coach Harbaugh is one of the few coaches that's proved it everywhere he's been in college in the NFL. He's a damn good ball coach.

And he's got a great roster this year. So I hope that provides perspective to Michigan fans that this is their guy. as long as Coach Harbaugh wants to be there, he should be there. Look, who knows fact from fiction? Is Jim really interviewing for the NFL or is he getting leveraged to sign a new contract? I don't know. But then again, you're the first person that's brought that up since those conversations start. It feels every year they heat up.

It's a done deal. And then it isn't. We forget about it. And we just care about the wins and losses. Jake, you played for Harbaugh your whole career? Two years. Or was like maybe he had to get two years. To a gym.

Oh, well, now I kind of. I don't want to pick. What was that transition like going from Hoke or Harbaugh? Because like you said, and I'm not, I'm not trying to, you know, shit talk anybody. I played for less Miles. Ironically, probably the thing he was worse at was like the actual coaching of the football. So like everybody has weaknesses. But what was like, like I always heard from the old heads going from Sabin to Miles was just kind of like, oh, kind of like a like, that's a downgrade. What was it like going from Hoke to Harbaugh?

Hope. Hope, I mean, listen, Hoke is one of the best people on the planet. I mean, he's a great guy. when I graduated from Michigan, he was out living in San Diego. He took us out for lunch, had some beers. Awesome, dude. You know, that's Jim, I don't even think Jim drinks. He is all about ball, all about ball. So when Brady used to walk into the team room, he's almost a jolly guy.

Like, I think he could play Santa, but rosy cheeks, you know. So he'd walk into the team room and everyone would go like, hey, we'd cheer and clap for him. And it was a nice thing. So when Jim gets hired, we're all sitting there in the team room like, Do we cheer? Do we not cheer? And like the door opens and everyone like sits up straight. And it was his assistant Colonel Minnick. And he's like, hey, I know you guys used to cheer for Brady. We're not going to do that here. We cheer when we win. So sit up straight and have your notepads ready. Coach Harbaugh is coming in a few minutes. So that was the first wake-up call. Big difference, though, is the quality of coordinators and assistant coaches. And that to me is a big piece of a head coach.

It's really less about X's and O's. You have to be a good identifier and delegator and bring in the right people. people. That first spring ball, I don't know if you ever experience anything like this, Aaron, but he literally looked at us like, guys, this is just not good enough. So the NCAA, it's four hours maximum in the building. And the way most teams break it up, it's an hour and a half of practice or an hour and a half of meetings than two and a half hour of practice. Jim said, no, you get better at playing football by playing football. So that full four out, we practice for four straight hours. Not only that, he split the team into an A team and a B team. the B team would come out for two hours by themselves.

Then the A team would finish overlap, finish the final two hours with the B team. And then the A team would stay out for two hours. So if you were a coach, you're on the field for six hours. Some dude got like 1,500 reps in spring ball. So, I mean, that just tells, it was a massive, massive shift when Jim got there. I was really excited for breaking news that Jim Harbaal broke another rule there when Jake got to go in with that conversation. That's a verified rule.

I was like, oh, here we go. Hold on, hold on. Did anybody's school? Well, I mean, you don't have to commentate because I guess Jim still coached there. But we all, we all put it out of our rule. Are you kidding me? 20 hours a week? We used to sign that shit and laugh.

We were there way more than 20 hours. Do we say less miles used to do three hour practices every day? Look, we. And it's just because a lot of it was not, not not mandatory some of these walkthroughs that don't. Yeah, exactly. Compliant or it's not. I'm not going to show up.

I mean, we literally, because you had. a lift. We had 15 minute lifts. Like we would go into the weight room, like squat five sets and leave and then bench five sets and leave. Like we, because all of our time was dedicated to practicing football. No kidding. Dude, Jake, this is the problem with the Big Ten. You all care too much about academics. I mean, Michigan cares about grades and their AAU status or whatever it is. Come on, dude. And the rules, get out of here. Go ahead, Eric. We talked about. We talked about. this. I think we talked about me three weeks ago of we're talking about Ohio State and Ryan Day and like what has to be done there. And a lot of the comments was from an article where Ohio State fans would rather see them essentially beat Michigan than even care about winning a national championship. And I was like that to me that's silly. Like I don't I, I'm fine losing to Florida if I know that we're going to win national championship. I'll lose to Alabama every year in Atlanta if that means we win a national championship. Is that really the case for Ohio State of Michigan where you guys would be fine. beating Ohio State and not winning a nanny or say you lost

Ohio State but won a natty, does that make up for it? It's one thing to say that I think Buckeye fans would have been real happy if they had pulled off the win against Georgia and then beat CCU. That we would have been provided some clarity there. They would have taken a victory lap for sure. Look, I grew up in Columbus. So I know this. Urban Meyer's even quoted saying it.

He's like, Urban Meyer himself said, I would rather lose every game and beat Michigan. Now, whether that's true or not, it does. just it's a point of emphasis, right? It's a point of emphasis to talk about the seriousness of that rivalry. So it's both sides. And I think Michigan, they started emphasizing it too. Like Ohio State would have a Michigan drill every single practice. We didn't when I was there.

A few years ago, they implemented it just to, again, have that emphasis. Guys, listen, this one is different. This matters above all else. And sure enough, it's paid off. So it's a serious rivalry. Jake, tell me this. How I frame it is, if you lose that game,

the only get out of jail free card you have is a daddy. Like, lose that game, a Big Ten championship may not even get it done. Like the only way people will be happy is if you get all the way to and win the national championships. Like Ohio State was there. They were on the edge. And yet

instead they set losers of two in a row. And Michigan, probably getting the benefit of the doubt. So I went back and looked at this, Jake. So with Hokke, you went 7 and 6, 5, and 7. Then you all did these 10,000, and reps and it immediately went to 10 and 3. Back to back 10 wins.

And frankly, in 16, we left some meat on the bone. We had a damn good roster and lost to Iowa should never happen. Lost on the double over team, double overtime. JT was short, whatever. And then lost to Florida State. We dropped three straight. And our roster was so damn good. So it's good to have back to back 10 wins.

But I think all of us on the 16 team knew we left some meat on the bone. Yeah. Well, look, all three of us left meat on the bone. Right. I lost my last daddy, 21, nothing, my last game. Aaron had the SC championship. What is being a former athlete yet having regret about how some shit. That's right. Okay. How about this, Jake? Big Ten, obviously, very exciting, a ton of news. I hate to do this, but I think we have to ask one conference realignment question.

A lot of new faces showing up. How we feel. about it. Is it smart for the league? Aaron, if you want to add anything, you can? It's smart for the league, absolutely. And I see the full picture, right? People like to put a label on it. Is it good or is it bad? Look, it sucks for Washington State.

I feel for them. It sucks for Oregon State, Stanford Cal. Like, that sucks. But that's not the fault of Washington or Oregon, too. This expansion, to me, it's been set in motion a decade plus. Like, this was inevitable. So I approach it from that lens. Like, man, expansion was going to. to happen. More expansion and realignment will most likely happen in the future.

Timeline, I can't tell you. So if that's the case, then I say, as a player, I would have love to play in those games. Big brand versus big brand, millions of people watching. As an analyst, I work for the Big Ten network. I can't wait to go to those stadiums. I can't wait to call some of these games. So, and frankly, look, the money, what Pac-12 was talking about like $20 million a year, Big Ten's 100. You know, Oregon, if you're those athletic departments, you have to make a decision to protect your future. Like there's no friends in business. You have to protect as much as it sucks for those other schools.

Think about how that benefits all the other sports beyond football, all the other sports at Oregon, Washington, USC, UCLA. There's some winners and some losers, but I think sometimes we're only talking about who gets left behind when, look, there's some people that are going to benefit from this as well. So the conference is going to look like Michigan, Ohio State, You have Penn State, Wisconsin, USC, Oregon, Washington. I mean, it's loaded.

And then you look at the SEC. Wait, wait, Nebraska. What about you forgot about Nebraska? Thank you. Not big brand. Indiana. This goes on. Yeah.

That feels disparaging. Iowa. That feels disparaging. No, no. Okay, Iowa. Look, I'll try to deposit. I'm trying to deposit. Then you at the SEC who has obviously the big boys, too.

What is the more talented? What's the tougher gauntlet to, win come next season. To me, okay, so let's separate this, all right? To me, the Big Ten is going to be tougher to go through. But until it's another team outside of the SEC that wins the national title, the SEC, everyone can say, look, the SEC, until someone knocks off Georgia, we can talk about the regular season.

I think the regular season. But that's just one or two teams. I'm talking about like from top to bottom, when you add those four brands. It has to be. It has to be. Oh, certainly. Do you even Vanderbilt, Jake? I don't know if it has.

Look, no, I think you're probably right after all those additions. And some of that will come down to how Texas, Oklahoma do. I personally think Texas will always fail. Yeah. But that's just me. And I don't believe in Venables either. Look, so those two, there's the new additions. Texas and Oklahoma were still uncertain.

Like the jury's still out how good will they be? USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington all have brand new head coaches. that all have their programs trending in the right direction. Oregon, Washington, and USC, those are three Heisman candidate quarterbacks right there. Those programs are trended in a right. We're more certain about those than we are about Texas and Oklahoma. So now I will take this opportunity to ask you about the corn hub.

I'm a big believer in Matt Rule, the turnaround jobs. I mean, from the very beginning of last season, we were talking about Ruled in Nebraska. The dream happens. It comes to pass. Um, my goal for Nebraska, seven wins. Okay. I think they're over under maybe six and a half or something.

It's actually one of the most bet unders in the entire country. Fucking dumb. Um, where, where, because it's weird, man, I looked it up. You look at like the past few recruiting classes and they've really only gotten out recruited by the big three. Everybody else are either right on par with or they're actually ahead of. It's just that for whatever reason, Scott Frost can not get anything out of that team. Now they got rule. They got new culture.

He's bringing soul. back like he's healing the fan base. He's bringing fullbacks back. How we feel about the Huskers? If that, if that's, if that line moves to five and a half, like you said, it's the most bad under, that might be a tasty line, man, because Matt Rule, just like we talked about with Coach Harbaal turning around Michigan, Matt Rule has a history. There's an art to turning around a program. He did it at Temple. He did it at Baylor, right? Very quickly. I don't think it was immediately at both schools. No, he had bad year once, but he did not take over different situation. Not in bad.

Yeah, Nebraska's not as bad as those teams were. And the other piece of this is, look, Scott Frost, the record is bad, but they lost more one possession games. They were in it. And if you follow that team, as you know, T. Bob, how many self-inflicted wounds? How many, if you can correct some of those self-inflicted wounds, you start to, maybe don't win all those one-possession games, but a one-possession game, you look at yourself and say, damn, we didn't have this many penalties or this many sacks or have this many missing.

assignments. And that's what a good head coach can do. Matt Rule can do it. It's a different world, too, with the transfer portal. They added a large number of transfers, including the quarterback Jeff Sims. So I'm excited for him. The difference between six and seven wins doesn't matter. They need to get to a bowl game this year because of those practices. It's another spring ball. They need to do that to set the program in motion. Hey, Jake, don't let don't let Teabobob fool you either. It's not like he grew up in Nebraska fan. This is like relatively new in the last like six months. Don't let him trick him here. He knows Nebraska's fucking history.

Who the fuck, Eric Crouch on their top 10 quarterbacks of the 2000? Okay, that doesn't mean that you had some Nebraska fan. Why? It's like six months ago. I tried because I fucking love the brand. I grew up on the brand.

As you get older, you get nostalgic. And I grew up with them. You grew up an LSU fan. No, duh, but what I'm saying is, but Nebraska was so badass. And I hate to see them fall as hard.

as they have. And then like I kept trying to believe in Frost and he kept blowing it. And I've always liked Matt Ruh. And so it just, it just, it all came together. I mean, do you not remember I was trying to lead the Frosty boys last year. Oh, you were trying. Never mind. I do apologize. You were. I respect you for hold the strong man. Oh, baby. No, we're done with Scott Frost. Fuck Scott Frost. It's all about Matt Rule. This year's Nebraska football team. I, Jake, one quick one real quick. surprise team in the Big Ten.

Who is it? Who's going to be this year? So we were at Big Ten Media Days last week. So the media all picks their teams that they think is going to win the East and the West. And it was a split decision. Half of them picked Iowa. Half of them picked Wisconsin. And then the third place in the West was Minnesota.

Fourth was Illinois. Brett Bealamo is a damn good coach, man. Brett Bilemo is a damn good coach. And I know they lose Chase Brown and Sidney Brown and Devin Wither's. They lose a lot of talent. Don't get me wrong. they return the third most all conference players in the entire Big Ten. Ten.

They have talent on this roster. I think they may have the best, in my opinion, he might be the best interior defensive linemen in all college football and Johnny Newton. The dude's a beast. So I think they got a serious run. You have to consider the pieces that they're replacing. But Brett Bilema, he's a good coach, man. And the West is wide open.

So I wouldn't be surprised if they're knocking on the door of taking a trip to indie at the end of the season. And one more thing. They just picked up Jim Leonard, the defensive coordinator from Wisconsin. I know. As a senior analyst. So you lose Ryan Walters and you say, we're introducing new guys. You get a veteran presence of Jim Leonard.

Same system, same three, four system. That's a huge, huge benefit. Yeah, it's, I mean, that's a guy who was like up for NFL DC jobs, not long ago, but he wanted to be Wisconsin head coach. So that's kind of crazy that got him. All right, let's play the game. So this is called yes and or yeah, but Aaron, do you have the document brought up so we can go back and forth here?

Okay. I'll start. Jake, so you either answer yes and or yeah, but. And then explain yourself. Brian Kelly and LSU will be better than Alabama. Yes, but. So we'll start with the yes. We'll start with the yes.

Listen, that's a damn good roster. got Daniels back at quarterback. You had those two freshman tackles last year. Now they're they played pretty damn well. That's a tough position. And now you'd expect some progression. I'd expect Daniels to progress as well. Running back rooms deep. I think Kelly's a really good coach too. It was just capped at Notre Dame what he could do. So I say all that. I say LSU's got a really good chance at it. But here's what I also know. A lot of people are stepping on Sabin's grave. And that doesn't feel right to me. It's the quiet guy you're worry about in a bar fight, right? It's the quiet guy. Everyone's discrediting Sabin. I don't know who

their quarterback's going to be. I don't know that it necessarily matters. They have talent all over that roster. They're going to find a way. So I do think LSU, but, boy, I say the butt because I just can't discredit Saban. All right, Penn State will contend for a big 12 championship or 14. Big 10, Big 10, Big 10. Oh, I swear. You were doing it. You were doing a joke about the actual. Yeah. We're calling it the big team. The big team. What are you calling it nowadays? What's the official? Big expansion, whatever it is.

It's freaking, like 18, 20, 25. Just big. Penn State will contend for the big title. Yeah, the big title. The big title. Yes, but I think Michigan, as we've kind of alluded to, rosters loaded, there's no question marks really anywhere on that Michigan roster. So they're my pick right now.

But Penn State's got a damn good roster too. A lot of young pieces in their defensive front seven, And a lot of speed. It's year two with Manny Diaz. One of the best man cover corners in Kaelin King. So one issue with Penn State has been their offensive line. Since the whole issue that happened a couple years ago and they lost scholarship, the offensive line has struggled.

We saw Sean Clifford, like broken ribs. Guys just getting rocked out there. Olu Fashion, who might be the best tackle in all college football, the offensive line's solid. You have a five-star and Drew Aller coming in. The best underclassman running back room in Singleton and Allen. I just question who's going to be that separator in the receiver room. So they're right there.

Michigan is my number one, but Ohio State and Penn State, they're in that group of three that can make a run out a Big Ten title. UGA will three Pete in 2023. It's what we talked about. Yes, I really do think they can. I really do think they can. If you had to pick right now, I don't know that you can make a strong case that they won't. Are you picking the UJ or the field?

Yeah, that's the thing. I can't pick an individual team, but I can't take the field. They lost Stetson. They lost Todd Munkin. It's too much over come. Carson Beck's going to piss down his leg when he plays a team with a pulse. I'm excited to see Stetson. This is completely off the beaten path.

He's making some splashes out there at Ramshk. He's a stud, man. I don't think I gave him enough credit. The most underrated athlete of all times. Seriously. How fast did he run? What do you run the 40, Aaron? he's like a four six guy i think somewhere there

Aaron what did you run the 40 in I tore an ACL I didn't get the run of 40 I did too you know what I'm a fourth seven actually I never ran it so you know what I think it was it actually fucking convenient asshole I tore last game the season I couldn't do jack shit I'm sorry I didn't mean I'm sorry yeah so Georgia is gonna three Georgia Georgia and Michigan are the one and two

and then I think three through eight you can make a case for a number a different order. Is it Ohio State? Is it Alabama? Is it LSU? There's even teams I'm forgetting leaving. Is it Texas? I mean, they got a good right. You know, Penn State, whatever. I think it's between Michigan and Georgia. And again, I go back to say it is, if you won back to back titles and you dominated the game the way Georgia has, you earn the right to say, until someone knocks us off, we're the champs. I think that's totally fair. All right, Caleb Williams will win back to back Heismans. So I was looking at it. So it was Archie Griffin back in like the 70s, right? It was the first time to win back to back. We see it in NBA. Only time, right?

Oklahoma. Who was it? No, no, no. I'm saying. No, Aaron was asking. Is that the only time? That's the only one. And was he Oklahoma? Where do you go? Where is he? Oh, no, he's how state. I'm being dumbs fuck. Okay, no, mind. So we see voter fatigue in, in like, NBA. MVP, right? Like we look at, we watch the finals. It's like, yeah, Joe, joke it should be the MVP. Voter fatigue is a real thing. And hey, listen, you lose Jordan Addison. They got, they're loaded in their receiver room. I think this, though, you have him and Lincoln Riley. That's, that's a match made in heaven. It's hard to bet against this. Here's where actually what happened to him last year can help him. The fact that he didn't make it to the playoffs, if he can have the same stats, run the table, go undefeated, get to the playoffs, I think you're looking at a bit. That's a real. That's a real. That's a real. That's a real. real strong case to say this guy's your Heisman winner. If he can run the table, because you've got to do something more to go back to back. The voters want to see something more.

So if you run the table and go to the playoffs, that's a nice strong case. Dude, that's such a good point. I had to consider an actual next level play by Caleb Williams getting his ass kicked in the Pac-12 championship because he opens that door for like an easy, demonstrable step forward. Wow.

Yeah. Looking Caleb, dude. Caleb and Lincoln. win until league got top five. Jake Butt, Texas will win the Big 12th. Gosh. This is, it's a, it's just a butt. It's just a butt.

Yes. I know, yeah. Thank you. I mean, Urban Meyer even said, I mean, people are loving this roster, right? And I think Quinn yours is a stud, man. Like, listen, I've just, I've heard it too much. If I'm a kid and I stick my hand on the stove and get burnt, and then I do it again the next day.

I'm not touching that thing, okay? It's a great roster. I've heard that before. Quinn yours, I've heard it before. It's hard to bet against them. I really do think they got a legit shot at this thing, and they better do it because it's only going to get harder in the future. But I've heard Texas is back so many times, and I've got burnt.

It's a yes, but it's not a guarantee by any stretch. Aaron last year promised me after the TCU game that if Texas didn't get it done, he would get it tattooed on his arm i'll never bet you know i'll never believe in texas again hey look at him he's that dumb ass old i'm all i'm so sold i am i am why you know why about this you know why because texas was my team growing up for for unknown reasons um and they're the only one the only teams that didn't offer me a scholarship so it's kind of like that girl who wouldn't go on a date with you oh yeah going back man like they just you know mean to me and i kind of liked it so i'm going to keep going back to texas all right last last

but question here uh brian ferens should be fired um let's let's see how this year plays out i i get it he certainly deserved the criticism last year um the all the conversation was about the quarterback too what's his name i'm drawing a blank on it uh oh this year or last year last year uh he was terrible I feel bad. His stats are terrible. He had, Brian Fritz had good numbers with the guy before. Who was it? Stanley. I don't know why I'm drawing a blank on it. Spencer Petrus. Spencer Petrus is who it was. There we go. But so that's just the easy thing, right? It's the quarterback's fault. It's Brian Farrance's fault. But what I know about Iowa is when they're good, it starts with the offensive line. The offensive line wasn't even average. The offensive line was horrendous. Then you start with the fact their whole receiver room, anyone they wanted to count on to start the season. was injured. So you have a subpar quarterback with a subpar offensive line and no weapons to

throw to and a freshman running back. I'm high on Sam Laporta just because that dude putting up the stats that he did when everyone knew the ball was going to him last year was really impressive. The offensive line this year will be better. Cade McNamara is a leader first. And I think that benefits the locker room. Luke Lechay, Eric, all at tight end. That's a good combo. And Caleb Johnson at running back a year older, a year stronger. So listen, I say that to say that, Brian Fair. It's like this, you got to get it done this year, man. You have to compliment that good Phil Parker defense. So no more excuses. God, I'm excited to watch some SEC. I'm just got it for college football, Big Ten. All of it, dude, it's going to be awesome this year. Jake, thank you so

much, man. This was super fun. It's great to finally get to talk to you, meet you, and everything. And yeah, man, look forward to watch you on the Big Ten Network this season. Likewise, guys. Great shirt, by the way, Tebow. I didn't know. Thank you. Thank you. And let us know, bro, if you want any cornhub birch, you know who to go to. All right. If you're watching on YouTube, you should be a link in the video to buy your cornhub gear, guys. I'm hoping I can call a game at Memorial Stadium. That's one place I really want to go.

So if that's, maybe we can work something out. I can kind of show the thing. So let's let everyone know. You get a huge crowd pop, right? I mean, if you show up and more, you rip the shirt off. Are you doing studio? Are you doing studio? Are you doing games?

Studio during the week. And then I got games. So, yeah, games every weekend, but one this year. Nice, boys. Look at Jesus. Yeah. Going to Columbus. All right.

Oh, dude. Wait, so you're from Columbus and you went to Michigan. Yeah. I saw Ryan Day at Big Ten Media Days. He's like, you're a heck of a tight end. How did you? How did we miss you? They didn't offer me.

So yeah, I went to Michigan. Oh, what? Ohio State didn't even off. Oh, wow. I got a good story for you. Real quick before we wrap up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go, go, go, go.

When I was getting recruited is when it went from the situation with fickle to then Urban. So Urban had a guy out of California he offered didn't want me. So I went to Michigan. Ended up being like a two-time All-American. I won the John Mackey Award. So in 16, which was the JT was short game, I finished my career, O and 4 against these guys, sickening. But anyways, I go down to Atlanta to the College Football Award show.

We do that Thursday night. Friday morning, our SID is like, hey, be in the lobby at 7 a.m. We're catching a shuttle together to the airport. So I got there early. I got there at 645. Only two other people in the lobby at that point in time. There's the clerk behind the desk and there's Urban Meyer. I've never talked to him face to face.

So, dude, like, I say, oh, man, like, I see him. Smoke's coming out of my ears. I start to sweat. Hey, coach, how's it going? Go post up against the wall. He's an intense dude. Immediately walks over and puts, like, literally right in my chest. He's like, why didn't you come to Ohio State?

He didn't offer me. He's like, what was it? Were you a bad student? I'm like, dude, I went to Michigan. He's like, wow, did you get in trouble? Yeah. So he went back and forth for a little bit. He's like, you were a hell of a player, man.

He used to give me nightmares. I wish you the best. I'm like, damn. I respect you. And damn, damn, I wish I beat you. Wait, so Irb could have offered, like he was the coach of the time when you were coming out. And their director of recruiting at the time, I went to junior high in high school with his son, seventh grade all the way to hire. So Irvin couldn't even fathom that he would have not recruited you.

Like that's how, that's how absurd. I was. I was a basketball player. a soccer player. I was like 209 pounds. I didn't look. I wasn't college ready. Oh, wow. I mean, I put on 40 pounds from the time I graduated high school early and I started as a freshman. So yeah. Fucking beast, dude. What a legendary story, dude. Jake, thank you so much, man. Again, Jay Booty. Is it Jay Booty 86? 88. 88. Jay Booty 88. My bad. Jay Booty 88, Twitter, Instagram, wherever. Catch one of the Big Ten network. Jake,

thank you so much. As always, thank you to Paul Ferry. You got us up. Thank you. Paul, but I've done it for so long. But actually, thank you, Paul. He came up with the essay under, yeah, but. So good job, Paul. Pat Gunther, Adam Gracia, Danny Cardenas, Chris Tran, and our fearless leader, Ryan Brumley, YouTube.com slash ad volume, set the subscribe button. Take the easy, y'all.

We will see you Monday for a brand new episode.