The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Snaps - Josh Pate on 12-team playoff, Georgia is FACE of CFB, Alabama under DeBoer

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

Aaron Murray and T-Bob Hebert are joined by Josh Pate to discuss the future of college football. With the 12-team playoff upon us, can anyone contend with Georgia and Ohio State? The guys then dive into Alabama under head coach Kalen DeBoer, and what he needs to do in order to keep the Crimson Tide as a national championship contender year in and year out. 01:30 - Introduction 04:00 - Mega Conferences? 17:00 - 12 team playoff 22:00 - Miami as a program 25:30 - Ohio State 33:30 - Can’t vs. Haven’t 38:30 - NCAA Video Game (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The volume. Oh, what's going on, everyone? Welcome in to this early extra special edition of snaps live. If you're watching on YouTube, you already know, YouTube.com slash that volume snaps. You can see we are joined by one of our favorites and one of yours favorites, if you're listening to this show, likely. And that is the head, AD, the president.

I don't know what you want your title to be in terms of Pate State, but it's Josh Pate, late Kink. Josh, you already know, host a late kick live, late kid podcast, covers college football for CBS, he's all over the country, noted member of the corn hub, one of the key supporters of the hub, which again, you know, we were in a year early, but in investing, you always going to be early rather than late. So I think we're going to pay some dividends here. Josh, what's up, man? Thanks so much for joining us today.

I was talking to the folks at Nebraska yesterday. Of course, your name comes up as it always does in those circles. And I am trying to make it up there. I've never been to Lincoln. I've never been to Nebraska. And I'm a storm chaser, which is embarrassing to note. So I got to get up there for multiple reasons this spring, but I'm trying to get up there and take the good word from Lincoln

and then spread it across the land. I want to ask you that, Josh, like, what is your, I know you're going to do a tour here soon. You get to some schools across the country. You go on, you take the paid state to different universities during the fall. Like, what is your spot you haven't been to yet that you're going to try to get to this year? Oklahoma. Never been to a game at Oklahoma.

So it's basically it's Lincoln, it's Nebraska, and then it's Oklahoma. Utah, I would have given you that answer last year, but we got there and we got to Washington. Basically, I just went up and down the West Coast and did last rights to many different places before they either went to a new conference or just faded off into the Pacific. So I don't know how I've avoided Oklahoma. I think it's called the Texas games in Dallas every year because I've been to that one multiple times. But, yeah, OU has always seemed like SEC to me. I grew up in the SEC, and so I want to try and get out there. But, yeah, like Nebraska, I mean, if you grew up in the 90s, like I think all of us did, you always knew Nebraska as a superpower and then through your teenage years and early adulthood,

then they kind of fade from that. But you don't forget that stuff. You don't forget. And plus, you turn on a Nebraska game even when they're four and eight, and Scott Frost is walking the plank and they're still sold out. So that's not in a place. No, I mean, the environment is second and nine. It's like one of the main reasons why I think they're going to be a big winner in this air, right?

Because emotional buy-in becomes economic buy-in, all the things that we talked about in past. Also, I'll still take air crouch over Tim Tebow, Aaron. Fuck you, dog. That's how I feel for life. Josh, you hit on a lot of stuff there that I think I kind of want to get into with you. And I hesitate to go so kind of sports-talkie here early on. But we're here in the 2020-forging. right, of college football, the reforging.

And we are fully in entering the megacomference age. And even the meetings that are going to go down, that are going down right now might decide what that actually ends up looking like in a couple of years. But in your bird's eye view, as a man who did give last rights and has been all throughout the country, how do you feel about the age of the mega conference? From like a quality judge, like good or bad for the sport overall? Yeah, not a massive fan of it. I want to try and be careful.

You guys will notice this because you're a part of it just like I am. This time of year, since there aren't games going on, there always tend to be anywhere from two to five major stories out there. And it's not a generalist. If you're college football specific, college football is all you talk about, it can become this echo chamber. Like right now, the whole plight of coaches thing, everyone's got to take on it. So then you got one or two people who say, hey, coach has got it kind of rough here.

Then you got the other side who just. decides to default against it. Well, they're getting paid so much money. It's this echo chamber. And so it just sounds so redundant. So what happens and what's really happening right now, if you're not careful, is you sound really doom and gloomish about the sport. Like if you share my perspective, I'm not the biggest fan with a number of things that are going on right now. I still think it's the best sport in the world. But there are not games happening. So if you're not careful, you can find yourself going 70, 30, 80, 20, 20, negative. And all of a sudden, your mom's text and you asking if you're all right, And you go, what, what is she talking about? It's been so sad lately. Did your mom actually text you that? Yes. So that's quality control in the business. That's what I.

So look, if I could go back, I'd love to go back and have more regionality in the sport. I know we can. I'd love to, now this is me personally. Like I never really cared about the playoff. I never really cared about national championships so much. I loved the world where we didn't pretend. let's say that all 130 teams were playing the same sport. Plus, they never were.

Always don't pretend that. And all of a sudden, you got 130 plus teams out there chasing one trophy, and they're being told, if you lose a couple of games, your seasons over and your games are meaningless. I'm a biggest fan of that. Basically, what it all boils down to, semantics out of the way we can disagree on individual things is, I'm not the biggest fan of the people who have their hands on the wheel of the sport right now.

That's really where a lot of my discontent stems from. I think that's well said, and I want to explore that. I think on the games not matter in front, the thing to me, I feel like we have a little bit of evidence with this now. The only bowl games that teams don't give a fuck about are the New Year's six games that aren't playoffs. Like if you look at Kansas State, what that win meant to them and the pop to go, like all these other levels of bowls, like the players are still out there grinding,

given everything they have, the coaches, the fan base. It's just like a couple of it. Now, they're in the spotlight, so they probably get talked about a bit more. They should. But, like, I still feel like the lower bowls still matter and people still care. So you're talking about not being a fan of the leadership. Is that in that there's kind of no leadership? Is that in that you have conference leaders kind of like asserting themselves taking control?

Like, like, how exactly do you mean by, what do you mean by that? Just too many, the age old adage of too many cooks in the kitchen. And no one, no one's really tasked with looking out. for the letters CFB. You know, people can love or hate Roger Goodell. People can love or hate team owners. But ultimately, they have to serve within the best interest of NFL or MLB. Those places have league offices.

They have commissioners. You think of a central governing body when you think of those places. The letters CFB mean nothing. Both of you played the sport CFB. Georgia and LSU are teams that play CFB. Where is CFB? Who is CFB? What is CFB?

That doesn't exist. And as long as you don't have that, I was talking to Joe Tessitore because he does boxing a lot. He said, hey, welcome to boxing. This is what boxing has been forever. It's been these little fiefdoms all over the place, and you have five different world titles, and it's a miracle that a match ever gets in the ring

because you have to have all these different promoters agree on this and that, and there's no centralized authority. So his point and my point is, once you get far enough down that road, you are inevitably headed further down that road because the whole point that you're trying to make when you want a commissioner or you want a governing board is you have to have people with power give up their power. No one does that. No one does that. So I don't know.

I also think this though, if anyone complains about anything, eventually if it starts hitting you on the bottom line, that's when action is taken. It just with college football. That means it hasn't gotten bad. enough. I'm not doom and glooming us. I'm not going down that road. I'm not going down that road. But I just think that there is a critical point where people who didn't build a great thing but are in control of the great thing and start messing with the great thing. If they see it deteriorate in value, that maybe is when they lurch back.

But do you guys, I'll just ask you this, because I was thinking about this yesterday. They're having these meetings right now about the future of the sport. Yeah. Do you think anyone in that room has talked about what's best for the players? And do you think anyone in that room has talked about maintaining the value of Saturdays in the fall? Because I don't think it's ever come up. No, it's money. It's revenue.

It's all money. It's all money. But isn't that kind of like, isn't that kind of the American way, right? Like free market economics and letting the invisible hand kind of guide how this all goes sports-wise? I mean, because it feels to me, and you never know with this shit, right? I'm wrong all the time trying to predict the future. It feels to me, though, that in this power vacuum, that it does kind of seem very well-suited for Sankey and Petiti and their new alliance to make a move, to try to consolidate,

and to try to bring some of that singular vision that you're alluding to, Josh, kind of back to the sport potentially. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned this. So I'm a free market absolutist. like I'm a capitalist at heart and economically, that's what I prescribed to. We haven't had the free market in college football. The free market principles are the worst nightmare of what we know as college football. I always make it analogous to this. So I live in Nashville.

So we have a zoo here in Nashville. There are animals at that zoo that otherwise would never find their way to Nashville. They're not native to our area. And if I snap my fingers and the first. fences disappeared, the penguins would be eaten or run over in traffic fairly quickly, but we as a city have decided, hey, we don't want this little area or a nature preserve. We don't want this little area to govern under the same laws as the rest of the city. We as a people have decided we like this thing.

We want this thing. The sporting public had to do that with college football. He didn't and never did operate under basic free market principles. If it did, it's not that it would disappear. And it won't disappear now. But large swaths of it would disappear because it couldn't otherwise naturally exist. So you can either say, we want a special societal carve-out for this thing, whether it be a sport or a nature preserve. Or you can say, hey, screw it, man.

Just let it be what it'll be. I've always thought that we could sort of overlap and have a little bit of both. But who knows? Maybe not. So I think one thing we all can agree on, like, we're not going backwards. We're not going back to BCSA or we're not going back to two teams. competing for a championship and what you talked about earlier of you lose one game and essentially your season's done.

The playoffs are happening. The discussion of maybe adding to a 14th team to the playoffs in two years is going to happen. We're getting to the SEC and the Big Ten being these two dominant conferences. Is it better just to fully rip the band-aid off now in the next two or three years, Josh, and just say, you know what, let's throw Florida State in Clemson and Miami and the Carolinas and maybe a couple of teams from the Big 12 and let's just make these essentially AFC, NFC, NFC, and just prop these two up even more than they already are right now.

I felt a few years ago like that was the ultimate end game. And from a logic-based standpoint, given where we are now and where we're headed, it does feel like that's far more logical. I almost find myself asking if the Big Ten is what it is now and the SEC is what it is now. And we all know they've got teams knocking on the door wanting in every day. So they could be even more behemoth than they are right now. If that's the case, why would they sit in a room and say, we even need to be in a playoff with the rest of you?

I'm thinking from a purely selfish standpoint, I'm putting us up in their shoes. So I've always thought that was the natural conclusion here. And I almost wonder, I'm not in the room, but I almost wonder, why would Tony Petiti or Greg Sankey, knowing what they are and will become, even entertain auto bids or inclusion, period, for other companies. Now, that sucks, to be clear, I don't want that.

But I almost wonder if, I mean, I don't think Florida State staying in the ACC. I don't think Clemson's going to be there in five years. So wherever they are, that further fortifies that conference and further, you know, deludes whatever the ACC is left to be, I almost wonder if we have a 14 team or whatever playoff that has certain auto bid inclusion for those conferences. I wonder how seriously will take the product, if that makes any sense. If I watch LSU fight their way through the SEC and win that league championship, if I watch Oregon, fight their way through the Big Ten, what those leagues will be and win those championships. And then they, let's say what happened to FSU last year were to happen to one of those teams.

And they all of a sudden are hobbled and they go in and like, I don't know, you have an Oklahoma state beat them or like, up too lame, beat them. I don't even know that I would look at that and take it seriously. That's just me talking. I would look at you having crawled over broken glass to win the most superior conferences in America and then you get thrown in this random three or four additional game crapshoot that is not more impressive to me than what you did in the regular season. At that point, what are you trying to construct? And I don't know because I've never seen it. So I'm all, I'm doing the hypothetical game. I just wonder how seriously our minds will take that

product when it's on the field. Okay, let's do back in then on the actual football. Next year, you do like a way too early top 25 and you already see what an insane offseason it's been, right? Alabama checking in at like, you know, nine, eight, wherever you want to put him. Michigan, all the down to 13 now. Give me your favorites, dude. Who do you think? I mean, outside of Georgia, you know, we hold these truths to be self-evident. Georgia the Bulldogs, the number one favorite, outside of the dogs, who are you thinking actually is going to contend next year? So as I sit up in my seat, I do want, I just want them to be on the radar.

I just want them to be on the radar. Okay. It's an Iowa state shirt for those listening on podcast. With a tornado on it. Yeah. So we've been down for a little while. I'm going to do like a lot of fan bases. I'm not saying we're going to make the title, but we can make the playoff.

That's going to be the cry for pretty much half the country this year. Georgia, yes. Ohio State, absolutely yes. bookmark that. I want to come back to that. Oregon, absolutely yes. Also bookmark them. I don't know what in the world to expect from Alabama. I don't think there's any skill in knowing that, and I pay attention to that program as much as anyone. I have no clue. Is Florida State just here now? DJ Oweyongolololay comes in and people just kind of assume, well, they'll plug him and play them. Great if you do. Great if you do. I don't know what to assume about them yet.

Is Clemson really just taking a permanent step back to Tier 2 or? did they need to go through year one under Garrett Riley and go through the ups and downs? And are they athletic enough at receiver, which has been their biggest singular drop-off? I don't know. Texas is legit. I saw an opening point spread the other day of them versus Oklahoma, and it's like 10 and a half. So that's the perceived gap on a neutral field between those two right now. That ain't good, bro.

Preventables. I'm trying to see if I can name every team in the sport, therefore leaving no one out. That's kind of exciting, though, that you have this. many answers to that, right? Yeah, and Notre Dame, I'm going to talk about this on my show tonight. Notre Dame is, to me, the most bastardized slash misunderstood brand team, et cetera, in the sport. Penn State kind of is a minor league version of this.

I cannot mention either one of them without the conversation turning completely insane. You mentioned Notre Dame. Notre Dame, I think, went nine and three or ten and two last year. They finished the top 15. I think if I were to rank the program over the past decade or 15 years, I think they're in the six to 12 range somewhere like that. Okay, you put them in there and people call them overrated. At which point you say, what are they rated?

And the person will shoot back. Well, they couldn't touch Georgia or Alabama. Well, I'm not rating them above them. I actually have them behind those teams. So I'm asking you, if they're overrated, by default, there is someone rated behind them that belongs above them. And it just, it's this, this massive circular descendants into hell. And you never end up getting a logical answer.

It's the same thing with Franklin at Penn State. And he's overrated. Well, who is he losing to Michigan and Ohio State? Well, they're rated above him. Who is he? He's not supposed to lose to according to odds makers. Now, if you want to say you think Notre Dame should be better or Penn State should be better, okay, that's another conversation.

They're not overrated. So anyway, like 10 minutes ago, we were talking about playoff teams. I think Notre Dame is a playoff team. I think Penn State might as well have personally built the playoff. Because there are like eight instances that they would have been in in the past that they haven't been in. And so now

James Franklin could not change a thing about himself. And all of a sudden, if you judge coaches based off playoff appearances and playoff appearances alone, he is going to elevate into stratosphere is never before seen and he's going to look around. What happened? I'm the same guy I've always built.

What's happening? I do want to bring up a team. I feel like you're a little bit higher on them than our boy T. Bob is you were down there last, I believe last spring, and that's Miami. Oh, yeah. Can Miami come back? T. Bob and Tiams favorite coach. We're going to waste more precious minutes of the man with a 13-year sample size

than a 500 record. Your negativity. I mean, my body language is horrible. I have my arms crossed. I have my leg propped up. I want you, before I tell you my reasoning, to Bob, if that's the name. I want you to tell me what you think of Miami. Are we talking team or program?

Like 2024? I am using Mario as well. I am using the basis of logic. I am using Mario Cristofrod's overall head coaching record through a very very large sample size. Let's do a little check. I'm guessing we're at 74 and 73 overall as a head coach.

Let's see here. Lovesportsreference.com. 74 and 73, 13 years, boys. That wasn't rigged at all. That wasn't. No, no. It's because I talk a lot of shit.

I talk a lot of shit. So I guess I had it buried in my mind somewhere. No, it's not about Miami. It's not about the potential of could they be bad? Could they not? I don't know. Maybe I don't know. I just see a coach.

I mean, they got, they got, what, they got two games better this year, a half? So, I do know that. Maybe they're on the right path. I'm just, I'm a hater until he proves me wrong. But I was a hater of biddibles. And he kind of punched back in me last year. I was a hater on Sark. He definitely won that, right?

He had never won 10 games. So Cristobal, you're next, dude. Yeah. What I think about Mario Cristobal is, it's not what you said, but it's not nearly as glowing as people make it out to be. I think he's a great acquirer of talent. and then I stop. I put a period on the end of the sentence.

And I know what the follow-up is. There's going to be this army yell, well, yeah, but he's a recruiter, but he sucks on game day. Well, he hasn't won at the highest level on game day. But you mentioned Sark, which I'm glad you did. I'm a big believer that the words can't versus haven't are discombulated and interchanged in this sport when they shouldn't be. A lot of folks who have not done something, but that's different and cannot do something.

So with Mario, like for instance, when we were down there this past spring, All he kept telling me is, pay, 2024, just give me to 2024, give me to 2024. Okay. Oh, 20203 happened and they improved by two games. They still maintain that. Circle 2024 will be good, and that'll be the team. That's the one from thenceforth that we want to be judged on. So my theory on them is they're in better position than they have been from a roster perspective.

They have an infusion of the donor class that they probably have. haven't had in several years. They are breaking ground on incredible facilities. So they got all that taken care of down there. The NIL game, they're not getting beat by anyone in. I think he is a great acquirer of talent who now has to prove it on the field. That's what I think about him. I just think that having the talent doesn't guarantee you're going to do anything. Not having the talent guarantees you're not going to do something. That's always good in my philosophy. Yeah. I love that Cantverse Haven't. I'm going to steal that. I mean, I'll credit you when I say it, but I like that, like exceptionally. It's an excellent way of framing it in your brain.

You said you wanted to earmark Ohio State. Yeah. Do you think that Ryan Day, do you believe in the intangible that some people throw around about him of he can't win the big game? No, because he was a kickaway from basically winning an adie two years ago. Okay, I call that logic. To me, that is sound logic. I think that there are instances in our sport, day is the most recent. one. Kirby was this way for a couple of them. Until all of a sudden he broke through. But Kirby,

I'm old enough to remember the 2019, 20, 20, 20, years when people started to say, well, yeah, Kirby's good, but he's never going to get past saving. Kirby's good, but he can't win a national title. He can't win the big one. And I just think Ryan Day is five years ago, is Kirby smart.

Running a dominant program, got a wonderful roster. He'll have his folks in position to take a swing at it every year. It's like a ladder match. They'll reach the top. three lungs. So they are within reach of the belt every year. It's hard to grab it. It's just hard to grab it. So they're coming into this year and his own fan base is buying into the idea that if we don't literally go wire to wire, it's a failure. We should explore making a change at the highest levels. And every time I broach that on my show, I always get coaches who don't coach for him who chime in and say,

bro, you're so right. Like we look at him and we think he's elite. We think he's the real deal. you got some folks in the Big Ten that hate him for other reasons. But I think there's a lot of jealousy that he's the one who got that job. And he's the one who was kind of gifted Ohio State. No one even knows what the guy's actual career and track record is. It's not like he was 23 years old. It's not like he was a broadcaster whose dad was a big deal. So he just ended the mic.

That wasn't right. Hold on now. Hold on now. As a Nepo baby that literally had that. Hold on now, Josh. That hit close to home a little bit. No, but look, I mean, your, you're, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, you're, I think it also kind of speaks to the power of rivalry for college football, right? You lose to Michigan a couple times and all of a sudden, like, a few times.

Because he's the inverse of Christa ball. His overall coach your records unbelievable. That's good point. But it's just like three key losses and all of a sudden, I don't know if he's the guy, you know? Yeah. What's, what's the offense in your opinion you'll look like? I mean, is this is, is you think chip, chip, chip has full control and we're going to see more of what chip does offensively with the run. scheme and kind of how he executes.

Are we still going to see this is still Ohio State's offense, dominant quarterback, throwing the football down the field, even though you get a new O.C. And some great running backs. I don't think it would be wise to inherit this year's team with Judkins and Henderson in the backfield and a new quarterback and losing guys like Marvin Harrison, Jr. And looking around and saying, yeah, we're going to air it out. And look, I don't think that's what they wanted to do anyway. I think even if they had some of the same personnel there,

they were probably going to look at just those two tailbacks alone. And they, this is the way we're going to win. I've always wondered this. You guys didn't have to worry about this so much in Baton Rouge and Athens, but I've always thought to myself, if I ran a high-octane past first offense, and I coached in Ann Arbor or Columbus or State College, in one of these northern places,

you practice in August and September to hopefully play meaningful games in early December, right? But the thing about it is it's so comfortable throwing the ball in 85 degree weather. You're trying to get to a point where it's 27 and Wendy. And I've always thought to myself, you're imprisoning yourself voluntarily at a place where you can play however you want to by running that kind of attack, knowing that by the time it gets to meaningful football late in the year, the conditions are going to be horrendous. You got those two horses in the backfield, man. I think you probably, along with the defense, they'll have. Well, it seems like they're going more of the Alabama route, the Michigan route of like, hey, we tried this. It didn't work.

And now it's time to mix up a little bit, play great defense, run the football. Yep, I agree. A little toughness injected back in. Well, Josh, I know you got to go, man. Thank you so much for making some time with us. Again, I don't need to do this because, you know, if you're listening to this, you definitely already listen to late kick. But check out late kick for sure if you don't. Josh Pate, he's the man at L.

kick Josh on Twitter. Josh, thank you so much, brother. I appreciate it. Appreciate it, Josh. Take it easy. Real quick,

we got more to get to some NCAA football news, video game, I meet, but first, two of our friends of Draft Kings. Get in on the action with the draft king's sports book, an official sports betting partner of the NBA.

Check us out, guys. If your new customer, use the promo code T-Bob, TBOB, you deposit $5 or more, you get a no-sweat bet up to $1,000, which if you lose,

she'll get that money back in bonus bets, Okay, so for me, South Louisiana, I'm a massive Pelicans fan. The birds are hot right now. I'm playing props. I'm betting lines, but the point is I'm supporting the birds. You bet however you see fit, your favorite NBA team, your favorite trends. It's all their view of the place to play into the draft king sportsbook. So download the draft king sportsbook now and use code T-Bob, TBOB, and new customers get a no-sweat bet up to $1,000 if your first bet loses.

Only on Drafking Sportsbook with code T-Bob. The crown is yours. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit www.1-800-Gambler.net. In New York, call 8778-8-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope N.Y 467-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-78-9-7777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino Resort in Kansas,

21 plus age varies by jurisdiction Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire 10068 hours after issuance. See dkng.com slash football for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources.

Payton State. Love it, hell yeah. That's always fun conversation. We talk for hours and hours with that man. Can't first have it. Interesting.

I can be a hater sometimes based on using the past as an indicator of future result. I'm now going to start framing this as do I think this guy can. I don't think it's going to change your mindset for, not for Christopher Paul. Not for Christopher. But with

Vinnables, although Vinables had some bad missteps last year, he feels more like a guy who I would say could, like maybe in the haven't situation. I don't know that I would have extended Haven't grace to Sark last year, if I'm

being objective with myself. Right? I was such a hard star cater that I probably just had that one. I think day is in that category too. Like of, there's so much hate for, I think day is definitely happens. Yes, day is 100% happen.

I think day is, yeah, he's busy, it's Kirby. He's, he's knocking on the door. It can happen any moment. It could happen next year.

It could happen the year after that. Like, he is, he's right there. He is definitely in the haven't category. It's just, again, it's losing.

It's actually one of the great parts is we celebrate college football. it's losing your rival, right? I mean, like, it just shows you how much it matters if you lose to your most hated rival, just how insane it messes with, like, people's brains. It just breaks them. Okay, then, okay, let's play this game then. Lincoln Riley, can't or haven't? Ooh, this is a fun game.

Can't or haven't? Lincoln Riley can't. Damn. I can't. I can't. You haven't seen, at least with Ryan Day. Like Ryan Day, we've seen Ryan Day understand like, okay, I have this elite offense and I need to kind of put it all together. And then he went out there and he's created one of the best defenses in the country.

It seems like all of it's finally probably coming at to a peak this year, most likely with this elite defense going back, all the pieces on offense. We're like, okay, this could be a championship. Lincoln hasn't proven to me that he could put together a championship defense to go along with the offense. and he's done it for a while now. So I just don't know if he could do with the whole, the whole shebang. God, I feel like a prisoner of the moment because this is a guy that,

again, you know, 14 months ago would have been, like, again, I know I'm probably beating this like a dead horse and people are sick about here and if you listen to every show, but like, I keep thinking of what USC fans were thinking the night of the Pac-12 championship. I'm sitting there at 11-1, Heism and winner,

the world was their oyster. They were about to get revenge on Utah and just everything has collapsed. So I'm going to, okay, I'm actually going to take a more bird's eye view here. I'm going to be like you with crypto here, okay? I believe in the long term viability of Lincoln coin. And although Web 3 may be in trouble right now and it may be a ridiculous dream that the people in power would ever allow a fully democratized internet in which they would lose said power, I'm still going to bet on Lincoln. eventually figuring it out. T-Bot says all this when he I'm going to say have it. Bitcoin invested in Bitcoin. I don't,

I do not. Don't you just act like I'm the only crypto. I have like a little $30 buy that I did years ago, a month. It just sits in the background. It's not a big deal. I'm just going to have it. I'm going to say have it.

Okay. I'm going to go to your boy. Brian Kelly. You could call me biased, but I think this is a clear habit situation. I think he was dealing with a bit of a glass ceiling at Notre Dame. I think obviously LSU has proven since the last three coaches won Natty, that there is no glass ceiling there.

And, I mean, look, I cover the program very closely. So, like, I've really seen the areas in which they've improved and everything else. I believe in the vision. Yeah, I think this is way more habit than Lincoln. Like, Lincoln, you might be right on Kent. This is a pure habit. This is 100% habit. he's been to the championship, he's been to the playoffs, past three LSU coaches of one national championships.

He's in a spot that you can win. I think Brian Kelly is the top five coach in this game. I think it's due at some point of the next five to seven years. Sportsfare says T-Ball 100% has some game coin for Mascona. I may have invested in some game coin, which, again, I knew, you know, I know all crypto is basically a pyramid scheme. But I thought I was close enough to the top of the pyramid where I could take advantage of others. But no, turns out I was the mark the entire time, you know? What are you going to do?

Okay, Mario Cristobal, I say can't. I'll say can't. And are we saying having or can't in a sense of win a championship? Is that what we're kind of basing this off of? Are we saying? I'm not pure championship. I would say being like consistently championship relevant. Well, but it's different for different guys.

With Kelly, I would say it has to be a championship. I would say it has to be a championship. With Lincoln, I think right now it maybe has proved to, it probably has to be a championship, but maybe just like if USC's like year to year viable playoff ready again, then he'd probably check the box. Cristobal, that's the bar. Miami actually have a return to power. Lincoln was at Oklahoma in a weaker conference when Texas was down.

I mean, they were the big boys of the Big 12th. Yeah. I mean, who was the true competitors for Oklahoma during his tenure? I mean, he had superior talent in Texas. Like I said, the Longhorns were kind of wandering the desert trying to find their identity. And now he goes to a conference that has some pretty big boys, a part of it with Ohio State and Michigan and Penn State and Oregon and Washington. I just think that his opportunity to get to that championship and win the championship has passed him. I just don't think he's going to get an opportunity to do it.

Yeah. I think it's well said. Dion Sanders, can or have it? I'm going to say have it just because it's too early, but I say I'm going to say have it. I'm going to say can it, can at Colorado have it as personally. Wow. Look at you, bro. That's good.

That's good gamesmanship right there. I'd say it's pretty spot on. So, okay, that was fun. Shout out. Shout out PG thinking on the fly there. Okay. let's get into some NCAA football news. So as of today,

every FBS football player of which I think there is 11 million, or she's not my bad, my bad, hold on, 11,000 can choose to opt in to the new video game. If you opt in, your likenesses in the game, and you'll receive $600 and a free copy of the game, which is going to be valued at $70, right? We're seeing video games do from, 60 to 70. I have thoughts in that. They should, right? I mean, or probably, right? I mean,

like, they were $60 in 2006. You know, it's like, we've seen hyperinflation everywhere else. Like, eventually a game's got to get bumped up to 70. So 11,000 players, six or bucks. It's only about like a $6.6 million price tag, actually for EA, which is not bad. But like we talked about. I think EA's kind of in the driver's seat here because people are going to buy the game regardless. Yes. And the players are buying the day. And the players want to be in it as well. So if it's like, okay, I don't get to be in the game. I don't get the game for free.

I don't get $600 or I do get all this. Like I don't care if I'm a superstar. I'm probably still taking that. Yes. No, I would take it for free. I mean, to be honest. Like, you know, if you had an opportunity to be in the game and be a part of the first year back in over a decade,

600 bucks, great. Yeah, I'll take it. I'll go take, you know, some nice dates or take the boys out, take the offense line out to dinner. it's awesome. But to be a part of the game, to be in the game, to be able to play the game once again,

I think pays for itself, to be honest. I think it's great that they're getting paid for it, but I think that's secondary. So if you ain't signing the damn thing, you're an idiot. Yeah, it's like whatever. Like, nobody's going to care.

Like, it's the ship of Theseus sales on. PG was being in the old games, Coolers, big deal. They all, hell yeah, dude is awesome. I mean, I grew up loving those games, so being in him was sick. Now, I did, How would you do a player who is like this idiot, this idiot?

Well, they did come out with this too. There is a pot that they're going to use most likely on the bigger players to have side deals where those players can get essentially endorsement deals from EA to promote the game on social media on campus, wherever it may be. So like the big boys are going to maybe get a little bit more money. But what would your thought for us to be if we are at Georgia and Carson Beck says, no, I don't want to be part of the game? Again, I mean, it doesn't like, as a consumer you're saying, as a consumer, it's a consumer. It's a consumer as a team. I'll just fucking create a player and name him Carson Beck.

True. Like, I don't like, I don't, I don't, I don't give a fuck. As a teammate, I don't care because I don't know, like, sometimes I did so much college football while playing college football that I didn't want to go home and play a college football video game. Like, in a weird way, my least amount of college football fanhood was when I was actively engaged in college football. Like, the farther I get away from it, the more I fall in love. with it all over again. We also know now that Transporeal NIL will be in the game, of course, right?

Conference reallignment will be in the game, which I think is interesting because it does show you the depth to which they are trying to produce, or, you know, like we said, they have to get this right. There has to be a ton in this. Create a player will be in the game. What does it mean, but you can't create opt-ed-out

players? I don't know exactly what that means. But yeah, coaching will not be in the game, which is interesting. Yeah, I mean, just I mean, exactly, because who are the actual stars of college football or the coaches? And who are the actual, who are the actual, like, who are the actual people whose likenesses would cost the most money? It would be the Kirby Smart's of the world who make $10 million. PG made a good point in our side chat here.

And I don't know if this is 100%. Maybe it means that you can't make Carsonbeck if Carsonbeck does opt out. Yeah, but that sounds so great. You know, I'll make, you know what I'll make? I'll make Carson Beck with a K, you know? Like, what's you going to be like a spelling thing? Like, I, yeah, I don't. Someone comes knocking on your door, like, hey, we saw you created Carson Beck.

He is not allowed in the game. You will delete that immediately. Here's your 70 bucks back, and we're going to take the game back. He's not in the game. I mean, bro, I used to sit there in CWA.04. I remember sitting there with an LSU Media Guide and going player by player and custom putting in all of the LSU players' names for, I mean, so like the point of that being, if you want it, you can have it.

So they're going to have playoff, Coventry alignment, going to be customizable. That's cool, man. It says it should be. I can't wait. Every thing I hear about it makes me more excited. Can we get sponsored, PG? May. Maybe.

Maybe so. We're going to play the game. We're going to stream it. We need a sponsorship. Yeah, can we have skills? as sales David Pollock going to be in it Is that weird?

No, I mean, David Pollock's still A main college football contributor I wonder what they're going to have a man He's not going to be like working with Well, they don't have the ESPN licensing though, right? Like do they get, and I'm not sure I'm not sure what the latest is.

I actually want to look this up because if they do that'd be awesome because then you could do college game day. Like if they did virtual college game that would be sick. But if they don't have that he has been licensing, then I just think, I don't know, you get Apollock as one of the announcers. I think I heard there's maybe a few announcers. Jesse, I think Palmer's going to be. That makes sense.

Jesse Palmer is beautiful. I'm reading a court of thorns and roses, which is like a female fantasy type, romantic type deal. And every guy in it is just described as being so fucking hot. And in my head canon, it's just like Henry Cavill and Jesse Palmer running around and like looking smokeily at each other. It's pretty good though. Making a little horny.

Good fantasy too though. So it's got to best in both ones. Aaron, is your phone working today? That's not like a shot at texting or anything. I literally mean like a bunch of people. Yeah, phones are not working across the country. Is yours? Mine's not.

Not working at all. It's crazy. Mine is working. It is, well, maybe it's working only on Wi-Fi. Well, no, Wi-Fi works. Wi-Fi works. I'm talking about like L-P-E, like, mine will not call anything.

I don't know. Well, it will say you won't see any bars. If you have bars on your phone, you have it. Mine just says S-O-S. No bars. Oh, I hate the S-OS. But it's crazy because, like, I was reading this sci-fi series appearing recently, and it's like an old series,

and they try to predict what it's going to be like in the internet. And they get a lot of stuff funnily wrong. But one thing they talk about is when you're kind of disconnected from what they call the data sphere and how kind of lost you feel, bro. Just driving to work. Have you seen the Netflix movie? With no Wi-Fi and no LTE? It felt fucking weird.

And I swear, people were losing their mind, dude. Interstate traffic was horrible. People were driving in circles. Nobody knew what to do. Did you not see the, have you not seen the latest Netflix movie about this? Kind of the end of the world? No, I'm terrified of shit like that. Yeah, it's pretty interesting.

What's it called? Like Tesla cars are driving themselves and crashing into things. And it just. Yeah. Well, yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah, like exactly, exactly. What happens? Like, what's to stop that from happening when I have my self-driving car?

That's, I didn't need to think about that. What the fuck? Yeah. Oh, man, anymore. I tried turn it off and turn it back on to PG. It didn't work for me. I don't, I don't, I don't know why. Have you watched Leave the World Behind?

I have not. I'll tell you what I'm getting excited for. Dune 2, boys. Let's go. The reviews are in and they are fantastic. Not out to November, though. Kellyn Johnson says they said that the replacement players are not editable. Oh, I see.

If you opt out, I get it. Sorry, my bad, Aaron. So if you opt out, and then like the player that comes on that roster, you cannot edit. But I wonder if I could just edit the player behind him or just edit a new guy and put him on. I'm not, I'm not sure. No, I think Duke comes out like in a week or two. in March, right? What? Yeah. There would be no, if it was November, yeah, March 1st.

We out here, bro. Yeah, we're a week away, dog. It's time to crank it up and watch old Timothy Shalameh do his, uh, Paul Atreides thing again. I'm not to get sharing the watch part one again now before it's off on Netflix for free. Um, Mu-uh, I think it's on Max. I think too, because it's Warner Brothers. So if you want to re-watch it, uh, go check out Max. I think Max is the best adult streaming service. Disney Plus, maybe for kids,

even though Netflix and Amazon have had some good shows lately. All right. That'll do it. After all that gumbo ate last night, Aaron, my asshole kind of looks like the mouth of the sandworm. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah,

just like staring you in the face, ready to swallow you up. All right, that was last one. You all have a great day. We love you so much. I'm too by Bay Bear. He's there.

Murray. Thank you to Josh Pate. Huge thank you to Chris Chan, PG. Danny Cardin as a whole production team over at the volume, the biggest of all thank yous to everyone who hangs out with us every day

in the chat, hits the like button, shares it with their friends. If you listen on Spotify or Apple, rate and review it, all of this stuff really helps us, y'all. We love you and we will be back. Remember, every day YouTube.com slash at volume steps has uploads. We will be back

live on Monday. So have a great weekend. And we'll see you there. The volume.