The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1432 - NFL Week 7 Preview/Picks, TNF Recap, Georgia Head Coach Kirby Smart, Nick Saban, Country Superstars Bailey Zimmerman, Luke Combs, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: October 17, 2025

On today's show, Pat is LIVE from Athens, Georgia for College GameDay ahead of tomorrow’s massive tilt between LSU and Georgia, while AJ Hawk and the boys are back in Indianapolis as they break down... last night’s electric Thursday Night Football game that saw Joe Flacco and the Bengals outlast Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers in an absolute thriller, before they preview the college football weekend and make their picks against the spread for every game on the NFL week 7 slate. They are also joined by several great guests including 6x National Champion, including 2 as a Head Coach, current Head Coach of the Georgia Bulldogs, Kirby Smart, the GOAT, 7x National Champion, Nick Saban, to preview the college football weekend, and lastly, country superstars Bailey Zimmerman and Luke Combs, who will be performing live on College GameDay tomorrow. Make sure to subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you, we’ll see you on Overreaction Monday. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Feel Good Friday, October 17th. I'm A.J. Hawks sitting in for Pat here at the Pat McAfee's show. We had a barn burner last night. Bengals, Steelers, football. Football! We're doubling up right there because football was so beautiful last night. We saw the seven total touchdowns between the two quarterbacks last night. Steelers battled the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati.
Starting point is 00:00:23 I was actually in person, in the crowd, watching that thing. In an electric, electric environment. I know another electric environment. weekend. Pat will be down in Athens, Georgia. Pat, what's happening down there, buddy? Where are you at? Hey, it's an honor to be here. I'm at the Buttsmere Heritage Hall, which obviously has all the sports admins. And behind us, we have the track team currently practicing. I think for their last season here, as they have a new state-of-the-art track facility right down the road. And we're going to see some real athletes running behind me.
Starting point is 00:00:48 And obviously, this game's a top-10 matchup deep in the heart of Georgia here in Athens and SEC football. Cannot wait for that. But let's go back to last night. I did not know you were going to be in the jungle. I did not know. you were going to be in Andrew Whitworth's jungle for a night as the Pittsburgh Steelers came to town as five and a half point favorites. And it was four and a half point favorites in the show. Then five and a half again. And I'll tell you what, early in that game, it felt like the Pittsburgh Steelers were going to do what we thought they were going to do at the beginning of the show yesterday, which was absolutely run away with it. But don't let Joe Flacko get hot.
Starting point is 00:01:18 Obviously, Aaron Rogers, and his Pittsburgh Steelers' offense has been getting better and better as the year went on. He's throwing dots all over the place. D.K. Metcalfe stepping over people, not getting personal fouls because they're saying that's not that big of a deal. because of how smooth it was, how athletic it was, and how great of a play it was. It was Thursday night football, prime time, Aaron. It looked like it was 20 years ago, Aaron Rogers. He's running all over the play, and he still got it. John Hussmith, who had a penalty earlier on the drive, gets a massive touchdown.
Starting point is 00:01:44 Early, it was like, wait a minute, the Pittsburgh Steelers going to make this look too easy. Let's go to before the half at the second quarter. Boom! Tomorrow Chase, Joe Flacco. Tomorrow would have 16 receptions on the evening, and obviously even drop one, which Joe Flacco lost his mind. but if you got to Mar Chase on your team, you're going to throw him to ball. Aaron's going to throw the ball to the other team, AJ. What the hell's going on here?
Starting point is 00:02:04 Yeah, I don't know. This is, I think maybe got caught up in the moment, maybe throw it up and get a D.K., give him a chance, right? Maybe get some PI down the field. I don't know, but these guys are you, I'm sure, so like I said, I was there in person watching them. These guys both were slaying it, man. Like, first off, Joe Flacco, watching him in the pocket and watching his super quick release and how smooth he was, blew my mind. It really didn't. And I was, I played against Joe 10, 12 years ago, 15 years ago, whatever it might be.
Starting point is 00:02:28 Now, I was blown away at the quarterback performance, I think, on both sides last night. Absolutely. The old men brought it. And I like to show of respect afterwards, a couple hits on the chest by both of them. A little pat on the head from Joe Flacco to Aaron Rogers. It was a nice interaction of respect because if you can play football at that position for this long, obviously there's a greatness that's in your brain and a greatness that is in your body. And I think that greatness is exactly what Tomlin was talking about whenever he said,
Starting point is 00:02:52 Hey, Andrew Barry, what the hell are we doing? And a little tap on the head, I think is awesome. You know, Joey Flacco just doing one of these. You know, because he is Italian, so he might want to go in for a, you know, a little smooch onbo. You know, could have been a Grasio situation there. We don't know. But obviously, the respect with 22 is fantastic. But Joe Flacco, the respect that Mike Tomlin has for him, very real.
Starting point is 00:03:14 And I think Mike Tomlin, last night, you said he played against Joe Flacco 15 years ago. Mike Tomlin did too. And he was having flashbacks of whenever he was with the Baltimore Ravens. And they were running wild. And those Raven Steelers games were insane, both in Pittsburgh. and in Baltimore and Jay Flacko's liable to do absolutely anything. And last night was a Joey Flacco masterpiece. He said afterwards, he didn't even know some of the play calls.
Starting point is 00:03:36 I didn't even know what was going on there. And he beat this Pittsburgh Steelers defense. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Died. Cowboys AP Tone, Pittsburgh Steelers defense last night, seemingly non-existent. Joe Flacko didn't even know the play calls, Don't, didn't even know what he was doing out there. Yep.
Starting point is 00:03:54 Steelers got Flackoed last night. when he got traded the Bengals tie and I knew it was going to be one of us whether it was going to be that first game on a Sunday or that second game on that Thursday night football we got flat code and you know Tomlin knew that was going to happen
Starting point is 00:04:09 and you know I think I hope Tomlin listened to this show yesterday because we talked a lot about the emotional quotient which is you know basically your thoughts and your emotions seep into other people's thoughts and emotions he was talking about Joe like he was prime Tom Brady and it's seaped into
Starting point is 00:04:24 this defense last night and they treated it like that. They were afraid of them all night long. They sat back. They let him do whatever he wanted. Just an absolute masterclass from the defensive staff and the defense of backfield as a whole. Just overall, it looked like the week one and two of the defense. Edelman came out last year and said, we always knew what the Steelers were going to do. Jamar Chase came out last night and said it as well. So, you know, maybe there's some things that needs to be changed on that side of the ball. Also, the record on Thursday night football. Maybe Thursday night football is the problem. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:04:56 but just overall an absolute disaster class and a very, very frustrating night for the Steelers fans. Yeah, I could imagine that being the case because the first few games, the defense didn't look great and everybody in Pittsburgh was saying, this defense not good enough to win a Super Bowl. I know we're winning games here, but this defense ain't it,
Starting point is 00:05:12 especially with all the money that was being spent on that side. Then he guys get some massive wins over Carson Wentz and Dylan Gabriel, and everything starts looking good, Tone, and all of a sudden, the Steelers defense is back. I read those tweets were sent to Tone yesterday, so that is just me talking shit to Tone. zone, and also all of Pittsburgh, I guess you can kind of take that as a jab as well, because a lot of people seemingly thought that this was possible with Joe Flacco and the
Starting point is 00:05:33 offensive weapons that they have, which takes us to the toxic table at Boston Conner. A conman, now, you knew that sweet feet footsteps Joey Flacco could pull a zone option for himself, whenever he doesn't even know the play call, and then he said he figured it out, and it was too late to actually do a ship that would have helped him. So he actually just kept Jamar there and ended up just picking up this first down, backed up at his own 10 in the fourth quarter with five minutes left in a 10-point game. So that's insane to think that Joe Flacco did that.
Starting point is 00:06:01 But you thought, you know, Mike Tomlin's going to do everything he can to get Jamar Chase out of the game. I think that was a good thought. They didn't. He went crazy. But you also said T. Higgins. Let's look out for T. What about the Brainiac decision he made at the end of the game? What about the obviously hitting it right up the gut in between? I think it
Starting point is 00:06:16 was the Tampa 2, not a hundred percent short. T. Higgins, superstar performance last night. And you felt it coming from a mile away, con man. What did you see? from the Cincinnati Bengals team. Now, late in crunch time, obviously making that decision to be able to run the clock down for Money McPherson to come in and win that game.
Starting point is 00:06:31 What a night from him, by the way. He's all the way back seemingly for the Cincinnati Bengals. But T. Higgins shows up. Noah Phant shows up. You kind of were on that early yesterday. What did you expect and what did you see, Conman? Yeah, those two play great. A couple things fell short.
Starting point is 00:06:47 Fant getting 50 receiving yards would have been nice. He got 44. But, no, I mean, footsteps flaco, man. I should have known. I should have known. When I woke up, first thing I said to myself was in Gumpy's voice, Week 2, Flacko, pal. And I knew I should have done it then after the program and gone with the Bengals.
Starting point is 00:07:05 But instead of, I put my faith in Mike Tomlin, I put my faith in a defensive game plan that I assumed was going to be good. Little did I know Mitt McMahon drew up the defense for the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday. I get it now. I get why Steelers fans want Mike Tomlin fired all the time. This was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. Darius Butler tweeted late in the game. It was one of their got-to-have-it-downs.
Starting point is 00:07:30 And they had two guys go to Drew Sample over Jamar Chase. I don't know who came up with the plan. Darius Slay, I don't know if he was out for the game after he went out, or if he came back because I was so disgusted watching the Steelers' defense. I tried not to. I just decided to enjoy Joe Flacco. But all of a sudden, now the Bengals are all the way back. They win a game like this.
Starting point is 00:07:51 Now they're not going to, you would think they're not going to sell, you know, a Trey Hendrickson. They're not going to trade some of the pieces that they might have before this game because now, you know, it's three wins. You would hope Burrough is back for the last eight of them, you know, maybe the last seven of them. Ten should get you in. It just, it's shocking what the Bengals did. It's more shocking what the Steelers did or tried to do or what they didn't do.
Starting point is 00:08:16 But, I mean, it was a great football game, to be honest. They just started running slants and outs last. night. Like that was pretty cut-of-the-edge type of stuff. Yeah, Jamar had Jamar had what the defense gives you tone. That's what you do. AJ, how were the vibes in the building? It felt amazing. Did you guys know that Joe Flacco was, you felt like Joe Flacco was going to come back and do that? Yeah, so I honestly, I was sitting in traffic going to the we stayed in the hotel. My kids and wife had already were there at the stadium. I was sitting in traffic about, I don't know, 0.1 miles from the stadium and I could see
Starting point is 00:08:47 everybody. I was there for about an hour and a half trying to get my parking spot. And the people, I was shocked, not shocked, but I guess pleasantly surprised how juice the people were their tailgating everywhere. Everyone's wearing white. And then in the stadium, it was so loud. They did a good job of their game day atmosphere too, man. Like the lights, everything was on point, I feel like. And those fans, man, like, it was awesome to see those fans and how crazy rabid they were. They never like got down on them. I was used, when I was a kid to go to Bengals games at Riverfront Stadium, you'd hear people, you know, yeah, we want an aquarium, sell the team, all those kind of things. There was none of that last night. Just people
Starting point is 00:09:21 from Ohio coming together and so pumped for a big win. It was a magical experience. I got to thank Brick there. He's the director of operations now in Cincinnati. He was an equipment guy when I was there. He hooked us up. It was unbelievable. Just an unbelievable person, Pat, you know, like the people that make things go behind the scenes
Starting point is 00:09:37 with football teams. They're special people, and he really helped us out and got to see Pac-Man us too as well. So Pac-Man underneath the stadium when I walked in. He was awesome. Pac-Man and Tish. Boom Heron, who I know you know as well. It was a great night, man. It was really, really fun. I'm happy to hear that.
Starting point is 00:09:52 And obviously, Ohio people and Ohio football people behind the scenes at every football operation are going to be all in for the cause. And people you definitely want to know, I'm happy to hear that you've got a chance to go experience at live. What was your guys' thoughts when Broderick Jones just tackled Aaron Rogers? So the whole, so Aaron Rogers last night, dude, I mean, Joe Flacco obviously as well. I mean, let's not get a twisted. Joe Flacco had a night that I hope everybody has respect for Joe Flacco going forward. And maybe Colts fans, you know, at some point, hopefully some of these Colts fans that were trying to kill me last year, a lot of those times. And now I think they're kind of seeing it all.
Starting point is 00:10:28 You know, I think they're starting to realize. There was a reason why I was excited about Joe Flacco being our quarterback. Like Joe Flacco is 40 years old still playing in the NFL. Is that because everybody with a football mind wants to pay a 40-year-old quarterback? No, it's because the guy is really good at the football. And he talked about how much he loves doing it. It's like the way he talks, he looks like he and wants to play for another 10 years. years. Now, that love of the game, both these men obviously have to have to commit this much
Starting point is 00:10:53 of their life to it. But like Joe Flacco, grown up in Pittsburgh and understanding the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens kind of rivalry, the way he handled that in the situation that he was and how he came through that and won a Super Bowl for Baltimore, it's like Joe Flacco is good with me forever. So if he's 55 years old and he's potentially being allowed an opportunity to play for the Indianapolis Colts in a state that we were in years past, I'm probably still going to get excited about it strictly because I see him like Tomlin sees him, which a guy. I mean, I don't want to stress this too many times, but it's, like, crazy to think about
Starting point is 00:11:23 at this stage, especially against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He said he didn't understand some of the play calls. Jack Taylor would be sending a play call, and he, ah, fuck, I don't know what that is. And he's a quarterback, and it's like, and then he probably makes something happen out of it, and they win this game, they put up over 30,
Starting point is 00:11:39 and then obviously all of Cleveland is losing him on. Oh, my God, just the thought of what the Cleveland Brown's offense has been, And then what Joe Flacko has been on a team. Now, the Cincinnati Bengals are constructed to be a quarterback's friend. If they can protect at all against anybody, they got weapons everywhere. Like Joe Burrow is supposed to lead that team to the Super Bowl,
Starting point is 00:12:03 and they got weapons for Joe Burrow. That is what they decided to pay. Now, the offensive line, I think they've tried their best. They've never really been able to get it, but Joe Flacco had some pockets last night, and Joe Flacco was moving pretty good. But the weapons they have, I assume, is not comparable other than Jerry Judy up there in Cleveland so I think it's a little different story but like them thinking you let this guy out of the building
Starting point is 00:12:22 you just beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night you just went for 342 and we got rid of this guy whenever we started this season with this guy so instead of starting a rookie and saying hey we're definitely in a new era here on offense we start this guy Joe Flacco then we decided to get rid of them trade them in a division you know there's probably some
Starting point is 00:12:38 Cleveland Brown's fans that think it wasn't a best decision like my time I did and then he goes crazy like this is like we had this guy was our opening day starter now he's doing it and then what we got to do There are some people in Cleveland losing their mind. But there's also people in Pittsburgh saying this is exactly what Mike Tom was talking about. And then there's people all around the league. They're saying, like Connor said, is Cincinnati going to survive this year like they've done in the past?
Starting point is 00:12:59 In the past, they've been dead out of it. And then they've had to climb themselves out of it always. Whether it's injuries or just starting slow, Cincinnati Bengals are always putting themselves behind the eight ball. And then there's been a couple times where they've been able to catch up and run the table. So is there a thought that the Bengals aren't dead? I guess comes out of last night is certainly a real one. And then for the Pittsburgh Steelers, what are they? What are the Pittsburgh Steelers?
Starting point is 00:13:22 They still in it? I mean, Universe Ball told me yesterday to take the Bengals Plus five and a half, twice. Told me that twice when I threw it in there and a Thunderdown. So then whenever I shoot the Universe ball before the season, it's for the Pittsburgh Steelers to win a Super Bowl. Do you remember that? Oh, yeah. It was a no-doubt or are the Steelers still on a run to potentially win a Super Bowl like you thought a week ago? completely out on that, town?
Starting point is 00:13:46 I would say I'm mostly out on that. You asked who, you asked who they are. And last night was the night that you can do something that the teams of the last five years, who are good teams, they're good football teams, but we know are probably not going to win the Super Bowl. You had a chance to do something that they haven't done. Go on the road, win the Thursday night division game, and actually look like a team that can put lower or lesser teams away, and they did not do that.
Starting point is 00:14:12 They started great. It was 10-0. you know, everybody was feeling good and then they came down and scored and then Aaron was like, he threw the, he threw the fucking interception, which was fine, he was feeling it, he was kind of seeing what he wanted to do, but then there was another inception. And then somehow they were losing
Starting point is 00:14:26 at half when they had outgained the outgained the Bengals by like 150 yards in the first quarter. But no, like this is, is it just a team that's going to you know, win their 9-10? Wild pick right here. Wild pick right here by DJ Turner. We got to give him credit. This got him three points before the half, huge, huge flip, right?
Starting point is 00:14:42 But what a pick. I mean, I mean, I had no idea he came down with this. I mean, the fact that you're able to do this, especially with DKs, unbelievable. Yeah, but like, Rogers was awesome. Rogers has been awesome for this team all season long. He was awesome last night. He's perfect for this offense. The ball, he hucked it 70 yards last night for that Hail Mary.
Starting point is 00:14:59 Like, that was awesome. Rogers has been great. This was all on the defense last night. They ran for, Jalen Warren ran for 100. You would have told me yesterday that Jalen Warren runs for 140. Rogers, those four touchdowns. We score 31 points out. I thought it would have been an absolute blowout.
Starting point is 00:15:12 It was not, they did not do anything on the defensive side. They've been doing the last three games. Herbig barely played, which is insane. We had a segment on Herbig this week. Nope, just probably, you know, make the playoffs and then, yeah, probably losing first. Oh, you want four and two. You're four and two. You're still winning games in.
Starting point is 00:15:32 Let's go back to that Hail Mary at the end. I think there was some wide receivers there I thought he was going to throw it 79 yards. Did you see them back at the back of the ends right there? If he would have been able to do that, that would have been absurd, but he's 41 years old. And I guess it's the longest pass or throw in an NFL game since something. Obviously, Aaron can still spin it at his age. And I think there were some people potentially questioning his arm strength last week whenever he under threw somebody. Here's the next gen stats.
Starting point is 00:15:57 Aaron Rogers, Hail Mary, pass attempt that resulted in an incomplete travel with 69.8 yards in the air. The longest recorded pass attempt since at least 2017. So he's 41 years old. This guy in the league has the longest ball. So his arm, obvious. He's going to feel good about that this morning. You see it yet? Somewhere between 68 and 70 yards, is what he's going to say, too. Somewhere between 68 and 70 yards, which I think he's already done to us on our show,
Starting point is 00:16:17 so we would say 69, which is exactly what he just threw. So that's a little bit of an interesting situation here. That certainly just brewed in front of our face here in real time. I should have thought about that earlier. But that looked exactly like that beer can toss at Tahoe right there. Legit. When I watched that, I was asleep for this, obviously. I'm so sorry.
Starting point is 00:16:35 Yes, exactly. Look like you just woke up. Just one into the fridge. Somebody called for it in a lake. All right, boys, you got it. A little tiny two-step. Boom, just go ahead and huck that thing. And it's unbelievable that he can still do that.
Starting point is 00:16:48 It's unbelievable how much he's running. It truly is. It's cool to watch. Ty, what's your big takeaway from last night, brother, as an independent viewer? You know, the Flacco thing. I'm kind of just, you know, reaffirming like, hey, I wasn't an idiot to think that going into the Packers game. Like, you can tell with the Bengals, like, that is kind of, they've raised their ceiling.
Starting point is 00:17:09 Like, we all saw how things were going with Jake Browning. Like, the season pretty much was over. If they can protect Flacco, like, they can beat teams. You know, they had some timely takeaways last night as well. But the Rogers stuff, I mean, it's just so fun watching him play and, like, being able to pick out plays and be like, man, that feels like 2014 in Green Bay. That looks like 2016, you know, like when he was winning MVP's and stuff like earlier in his career. And I'm just, the big thing is I'm glad he didn't. I mean, you mentioned a little bit earlier. Pat, I'm glad he didn't break his leg when Broderick Jones jumped on his back and he went, yeah, right here, went absolutely ballistic.
Starting point is 00:17:47 It starts with this. He ragdolls him way too long. He had flashbacks of his Achilles getting blown out. You could tell, I mean, he was not expecting that in any way, shape, or form. But no, just, I mean, it's far and few between when we get that good of quarterback play on Thursday nights. What the fuck was going on? Crazy. Crazy. Yes, he was actually pissed. People were on the internet. We're like, was he actually mad? I don't know him. It's like, oh. Yeah, he was like, very, very pissed. He'll move past it, obviously. He's appreciative of this guy. But this follows into that. I assume Aaron was like, yes, what are we doing?
Starting point is 00:18:18 And Jones to Jones's defense, he's just super duper excited. Well, then he tries to give him a concussion too after. Brod loves to celebrate. This is not the first time. He loves to celebrate. He doesn't know how big he is. Like a small dog that barks and thinks they can take on. He doesn't realize how big he is that.
Starting point is 00:18:32 Like, hey, man, I'm a monster. I think he's going to be changing the way he celebrates what the quarterback goes for. If I had to guess, if I had to guess, but on a note, they had a game-winning drive. Like, there's a game-winning drive in the Pittsburgh Steelers' mind. This goes back to the Miami Dolphins just a couple weeks back against the Chargers where less than a minute left, they had a game-winning drive. I mean, that's tough to watch every single time. The game-winning, they had a less than a minute game-winning drive.
Starting point is 00:18:58 And then all of a sudden, no. And then you got two ago, and we got players, and it just spirals into an entire thing. Steelers had a game-winning drive. They come back. They win it. And Mike McCarthy, he can even call it. He's like, and he ain't even footballers will be a lot of close games. And there's nobody right out of the ball in his hand.
Starting point is 00:19:12 Aaron Rogers, if it's a close game. He's got to have the most, if not. He just started making up stats about Aaron in the end, that he hadn't done actual research. And it's like, well, here we go again. Late in the fourth. You need a touchdown. Only can have a touchdown. Aaron does that with the offense.
Starting point is 00:19:26 I'm not saying it's just Aaron, but you get it in this entirety. And then Joe Flacco, you left too much time. You left too much time for Joey Flacco. And T. Higgins sliding there. And then Jamar Chase, after the game. game was asked about it, would you slide? And he said, if you want to win the game, you slide there. It's like, yo, that's a great culture. That's just immediately. Exactly. I think that's very indicative of like the way Zach Taylor is delivering his message, that you're two number
Starting point is 00:19:50 ones, right? You got two number one wide receivers there that a touchdown is certainly good for maybe incentives. Because they put into contracts. A, if you score, we'll give you more money. So that's my job, I guess, is to do that because this is what I'm getting incentivized to get paid more in my profession. And then they say, hey, why don't you be a good team player and not score? And it's like, well, why'd you put in my contract to score touchdown and I get more money? Well, the team went, don't you care more about the team? Like, that is always a defense that players could have, but we all, every player wants to see their teammate make the right decision in the moment. You know, like, there's a Super Bowl touchdown. I think some,
Starting point is 00:20:26 some, I think it might, I forget who it was. Maybe it was a mod Bradshaw, I'm not a Hermson. It might have been a Maude Bradshaw where he like, I think he was running Super Bowl. Holy hell. Here we go. And then he, oh no, oh no, late. And then he does the stop fall thing there. And I think we all appreciated the fact that he remembered, oh, no, it shouldn't do it. But also like the fact that he got his touchdown. You know, so it's like a Super Bowl touchdown, which is a huge deal for life and everything like that. So T. Higgins doing this on a Thursday night football in prime time when you want to pad stats and everything like that. And he probably has incentives in there to make more money if you do it. Like, dude. And
Starting point is 00:21:01 Mark, Chase saying the same thing, maybe since he isn't there, look out for the jungle. Yeah, in defense, out for the jungle. In defense of the Steelers' defense, that could have got to stop on that last drive, Jamar had only had 21 targets at that point. So they had no, like, there's no way they could have known that they were going to go to him twice to start that drive and leave him wide open. And he had 94 yards of yak, by the way, so it wasn't as if he was just kicked. Yeah, look, he's wide open. Like, that's the crazy part.
Starting point is 00:21:26 It's not like he had, you know, 16 catches for 100 yards. know, 10 yards of yak. Like, the guy had 94 yards of yak. He was catching the ball, and then he was just running around wild. Like, genuinely, before I always thought, like, all right, fire Tomlin, whatever. This is a game where it's like, okay, who the hell did this? Because this is, like, just as egregious as a ref screwing up a game, I think. Like, the best player in the league, the best wide receiver, top two, whatever, in the league.
Starting point is 00:21:58 And he's going to get 23 targets and catch 16. team balls. Like, did they even watch? Do they know he's on the team? Like, it makes no sense. Yeah, I think there's a lot of Steelers fans asking the same questions you are. It's early in the season. They're four and two is what the Steelers will say and what the coaches will say. And there's still a lot of room ahead and a lot of season left. But there's certainly a lot of question marks on that defense after Joe Flacco does what he does. Now, to your point about Jamar Chase's 23 targets. There's a little bit more context here from Hembo. That's the most in a game since Antonio Brown's 23 targets in 2015, Week 9.
Starting point is 00:22:31 Okay, let's go ahead and feed A-B. It's the most in a game versus Mike Tomlin-led Steelers. It's the most in a game with Joe Flacco's quarterback. Joe Flacco likes to get everybody a rock. That's right. Yeah, it does. You know, so but 23 times it's the most in, it's the most tier, it's the most tier, and he ate, and T. Higgins did too.
Starting point is 00:22:48 So, congrats on the offensive juggernaut. Now, let's talk about something that hit the Internet this morning. Pablo Tori, who is Sports Batman, I would say. Yeah, is that weapon? I think that, yeah, exactly. This guy, now, I'm assuming the people that are on
Starting point is 00:23:05 the other end of Pablo Tori's investigations aren't going to say this, but we as somebody that's in the sports media world who have a lot of questions about a lot of stuff happening around the world and the sports world, we're like very impressed by the fact that Pablo Tori is just going all in like this.
Starting point is 00:23:22 It is on everything. It's like, He's uncovering stuff that I think has been around made for a long time. I think he's only going to continue to do those things. Like, we are, I don't want to speak for everybody in the Thunderdome, but like, this guy's courage. Oh, yeah. I'm wildly impressive. Huge fan of Pablo Torre now. Yes, and his, like, his courage and what he's doing, right, is very impressive.
Starting point is 00:23:45 Now, this morning, he released a tape, and he described it as a hot mic. Now, I don't think it's a hot mic because it's a pre-recorded show, so hot mic's normally on live show, you think you're in commercial, you're not in commercial. But this was certainly a recorded sit-down that was happening during a podcast that Bill Belichick was producing called Coach. And it's a conversation between him and Jordan. The way they talk about kind of everything, you know, it's pretty enlightening, obviously, but I don't think Bill Belichick or Jordan thought that was ever getting out.
Starting point is 00:24:14 You know, this is a time that they definitely thought nobody was recording. They certainly had to have known that they were miced up in this entire thing, which could worry a little bit. And you're doing this for people. but they were talking as if it was just a break in the show or breaking the action amongst themselves, but obviously they're miced up. It's being recorded. It's an interesting thing.
Starting point is 00:24:31 I don't know. I think whenever we watched it, I felt uncomfortable watching it because I knew that the people that were on camera didn't know they were potentially being recorded or we were watching it. But nonetheless, it was found and discovered and put out. So certainly something that the world has now, and I immediately thought to myself, he was doing all his work at NFL films. Did NFL films leak this video to Pablo Tori? to then add into his investigation about what's currently happening at UNC with Bill Belichick and hiring and everything else that's going on behind the scenes. So I reach out to NFL Films, and I will say this as somebody who has a,
Starting point is 00:25:07 what has it been, five years, four, five years, probably? Yeah, five. Five year business relationship with NFL Films. NFL Films operates as like the 33rd NFL team. They've been with the NFL. You obviously all remember Steve Sable talking about, you know the frozen tundra and green bay we all grew up with NFL films happening i think it's 50 plus years now they've been around they basically been the 33rd owner for the NFL they have been a part
Starting point is 00:25:31 a massive part of the growth and development of the NFL i think every league around the world hopes that they have a corsese like level of production but also content creators and creativity that are able to showcase the game and its people while not just being a propaganda machine for the NFL and that's what i have experienced with NFL films in our business relationship now have they messed up with our relationship? Yeah, yeah. Have I let them know that I didn't appreciate what happened? Yeah, of course.
Starting point is 00:26:01 And they, to their credit, have taken full ownership every time whenever they mess up. The NFL films people feel obligated to be good to the NFL, its players, and its coaches, strictly because how much they love the NFL, its players, and its coaches. You're talking about some of the biggest ball fans out there. So whenever this gets leaked, I immediately send it to the people that I know at NFL films who I've been giving millions of people. dollars to for five years now for rights for the show so that we can run plays and we can run highlights and we can do everything that you know studio shows on TV were able to do while
Starting point is 00:26:33 we were just an internet business so I was actually the first person to negotiate digital rights with NFL and NFL films because we were a social media show a digital show before we got here on ESPN and I wanted to compete with the studio shows and I thought the difference that the studio shows had or ESPN had or Fox or CBS these people that have these rights is they were able to show actual footage. So I wanted to do that. So I approach the NFL. I do an agreement with NFL films. It ends up being a couple million dollars a year, two and a half, three million dollars a year to pay for rights so that we can post and use and everything like that, which is now a big time talking point, I guess, across the internet. I'm staying out of all
Starting point is 00:27:08 of that. But me in NFL films, what I'm saying, we're pretty, okay, I've, we know each other pretty well. They've never lied to me. So they haven't, right? I think that's true. Strong business relationship. Yeah, the only time actually was when it was, I believe, Bangle Steelers on Thursday Night Football, and we didn't use their graphics, and we drew stuff. We did the drawing graphics. I actually...
Starting point is 00:27:31 No, but that wasn't NFL films. So NFL Films was actually fighting for us there while it was another network was trying to attack us at the time. So it was like a one-day show where NFL films actually... Actually, that's a great example. NFL Films had to fight for our relationship and said that we were not doing what these other people were saying with graphics and things like that. So other networks didn't like that we had a digital deal with them.
Starting point is 00:27:56 So there was shows, maybe even this one. I'm not 100% sure ESPN was one of them or not, but these people were trying to attack our deal because what CBS and Fox and ESPN were paying was like billions of dollars for NFL rights, but that was for games, live games. So how much were five minutes of no audio tape in there? So there was a lot of people send in, like at us, trying to take, once again, it's kind of the story of the thing, people trying to bury us. you know, and NFL Films has actually came out and was like,
Starting point is 00:28:21 nah, this is what the wave of the future is. And now they have inside the NFL on X, actually. So they're moving in to the digital world, which we were certainly talking about with the Brian Branch thing. So I asked them about the NFL films, seemingly NFL films footage that was leaked for this Bill Belichick story that Pablo Tori is doing, because this is not what they do, AJ, right? NFL Films feels obligated to protect everybody.
Starting point is 00:28:42 Like they don't, that isn't their thing. So here's a couple things in back-to-back days that I think the NFL films people not vary in. And I think every player knows that about NFL films too whenever they go in there, right, AJ? Yeah, they're part of it. People, like, players are not, you know, players are paranoid about a lot of different companies and places that are trying to get them. They don't feel like NFL films is out to get them, no.
Starting point is 00:29:01 Yeah, NFL films always on their side, but also not a propaganda machine. So it's a fine, you know, it's like a, it's a little bit of a balancing act for them. So I asked them like, hey, this Belichick video is pretty dirty here. Like, this feels like pretty dirty. It's coming out of your building. They responded with, when this footage was captured, NFL films, did not produce coach with Bill Belichick. NFL Films did not edit this show.
Starting point is 00:29:23 NFL Films did not shoot the show. NFL Films did not and does not own the show. As a matter of convenience to him, which once again, NFL Films' obligation to like people and players and coaches in there, as a matter of convenience to him, NFL Films allowed Coach Belichick and the production team from Underdog
Starting point is 00:29:40 to use our studio for his coach show because he was already here in his capacity, his talent, on inside the NFL. NFL films has a long-standing, relationship with Bill Belichick based on trust and mutual respect, though it ever many years of working together. We have absolutely no reason to believe that this footage league came from NFL films or from any employee of NFL films.
Starting point is 00:29:59 So that's their statement on it. That is, now, that's like high level, okay, at NFL films. That is the leadership group that is saying that. Now, I don't think they know for a matter of fact, and I don't think Pablo Tori is ever going to tell anybody what his sources are, who his sources are. But NFL films wanted to make sure, and they had, could I tell people, that that did not come from our people
Starting point is 00:30:18 from the research that we did, and that was not our show that was happening in our building. Now, on that note, I assume they regret doing that at this point. It was a convenience to Bill Belichick, especially because what gets out. And then the Brian Branch film that came out, our video that came out
Starting point is 00:30:33 on inside the NFL that was being read by Lewis Riddick, that made Brian Branch look awful. Foxy, that was the big takeaway from that video, right, that hit the internet. Yes, Lions fans are pissed. It felt like it hit piece. It was just the weirdest thing ever, and everyone was really pissed about it today. Okay, so I basically told the NFL films people that I was talking to, like, hey, you got
Starting point is 00:30:56 this with Bill, and then you had the Brian Branch video, and they're like, wait, this is not, this is, so this is the answer on the Brian Branch clip, okay? We want all of our shows to have a distinct voice and point of view. In the case of Turning Point, that voice in point of view is Lewis Riddick's. He spends time every week with the show's producers, watching each segment and going over the script before narrating. That particular sequence felt different to us as part of a nine-minute breakdown of the Lions Chiefs game than it did as a standalone excerpt on social media.
Starting point is 00:31:27 On X, it felt overly critical to Brian, so we took it down. So they wanted to say, like, everybody was attacking them for taking it down. They're like, you should. We should have never put it up as it was to begin with. So that is kind of their stance on it. And I think they didn't say they're in the exact text to me,
Starting point is 00:31:42 but in the conversation that I was having, I think they were trying to provide more in their head. I know that wasn't what the excerpt was from the nine-minute video. In their head, they wanted to give context for Brian Branch on why this situation happened, but it obviously went a different direction. They said they did, so that's why they took it down. They're like, that's not what we wanted in the whole thing.
Starting point is 00:32:01 So I don't want to be here, you know, just speaking for NFL films, but it feels like somebody should in this world because NFL Films is an asset to us, not a bad thing to the entire football world, AJ Hawk. Yeah, NFL films, they're not the, the people to go after to try to do that stuff, I think, to make people look bad. It was like the low lights of branch in that game and the voiceover. Everything just didn't feel right.
Starting point is 00:32:22 You're trying to add context to it. I guess it's like when, remember Tua came out and Tua apologized and he said, like my teammates know my heart, they know my intention, but it didn't come out that way when I spoke to the media. It looked like he was taking shots at people. I feel like maybe that's what happened here. Like their intention was to give some context. Hey, he feels like he got blocked in the back.
Starting point is 00:32:40 That's what got him upset. That's what, you know, came before this. he didn't just jump out of nowhere and attack juju but obviously that didn't work and now they took it down but it doesn't matter we all saw it yeah we all saw it and everybody attacked him for taking it down and they're like well we didn't like we that wasn't what we wanted either so what are we supposed to do you know and then the people that recorded like no we already got it this is what you did they're like okay we know we're trying to uh geez yeah so i think they should view NFL films people as like they're away from the New York office they're not in the NFL office they're like their own operating team and they're like their own operating team and they're try their absolute best and they say every once in a while we get things wrong okay and we are we're going to own up to that but we would like to you know continue to try to make our sport and our players and athletes continue to grow and build you know that that whole thing and they're a talented group but they've been in it here a last couple days and pablo tory brother he's a dog he's a he's a he's a dog when did he get it when did he get on this path
Starting point is 00:33:37 where he started like what's he was this a call is he called a whistleblower or what's he doing i believe Investigative journals. Yeah, I believe he got called out by a certain somebody whose shows now on Netflix, which is cool, about not being a real journalist. And then I think he was basically, is that right? And then that's where the Clippers thing, you know, kind of start,
Starting point is 00:33:59 because this isn't his first one. I mean, it kind of started with the Clippers and Ballmer, Paying, Kauai, out of the table. Sorry to kill you off. How many people you think are pretty scared and worried that he's going to start digging in and sniffing around their program and what they're doing? Probably everybody.
Starting point is 00:34:12 Everybody should be. If you've done something wrong... Anybody can get it. He's been on this USC beat for a while, too. He was the first one way back when, like, when things started going bad, that... Yeah, excuse me, not USC. He was the first one when things, like, kind of started going bad, where it was like, hey, everyone needs to be aware of what's going on here.
Starting point is 00:34:30 And then it kind of cooled off for a little bit. And then now it's just like, you know, he's back on it. So, yeah, if you've got some shady dealings, I would... I'd be watching your steps very carefully. I don't know. I think it's going to quiet down on that whole... Pablo's situation in North Carolina, right? He's not going to talk about them anymore.
Starting point is 00:34:45 Probably. We'll see. I don't know, Pat, what's going on, buddy? Who you got there? An absolute living legend it feels like with you right there. That's right, six-time national champion, two-time as a head coach, ladies and gentlemen, Kirby Smart. What's up, fellas? How are you, man? Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for the hospitality here.
Starting point is 00:35:02 I'm at the Butzmere Heritage Hall, right? And it's a sports admin here, which is on the facility, though, of your football offices as well, right? This whole area here is your guys. It's an unbelievable view, I can't get over the view this guy's got, man. It's awesome. And it's a beautiful day, too. It is a beautiful day.
Starting point is 00:35:17 It's like a perfect day here in Athens. It's normally hotter than this, I would assume. It's hot last time you were here. Brother, I want to let you know, it changed my entire life. So I got fair-skinned. Yes, I'm very fair-skinned. As you see, I got third, fourth-degree burns on my face and arms here last year. Beautiful stadium.
Starting point is 00:35:32 And now on Fridays, I don't know if you know that. Look up, brother. We will always have coverage. Always in the shade. We will always have coverage going forward. So thank you to your school for that. Now, let's thank you for your school for the hospital. vitality to us here today and also game day coming for a top 10 matchup.
Starting point is 00:35:44 Love it. This feels like just normal for you. What is the message to the boys and does it feel different this year versus last year? And I don't want to bring it up, but you already have a loss on the record. So is that change anything that you say to the boys or how do you treat this particular weekend? It's another weekend in the SEC, buddy. You better get ready because you know what? There's another one waiting a week a week later.
Starting point is 00:36:01 But for us, it's all about fast and free in this game. I want our guys to play loose, enjoy it and go out and compete. But you know how these big games are a dime a dozen. Lane's been texting me all week. So I had to put him on. I had to put him on mute. I had to put him on mute. What's that?
Starting point is 00:36:13 He wants to talk shitty. He wants to soften you up a little bit. What do you think you guys? What is he trying to do whenever he's mess? I think he's worried about my figure, you know? I told him that that's my wife's job, not his. I heard that he talked about you not doing hot yoga. He's a look at you, judged a little bit.
Starting point is 00:36:28 He's a brand new lane, though, right? Yeah, you know what? I'm all about self deprecation. I'm good with it. I told him. My son got all upset when he said it. And Lane texted me and said, hey, I was just cutting up. I said, now you're telling the truth.
Starting point is 00:36:40 but sometimes the truth hurts I think you look great by the way precious while we're black well you're not the only one dude that is that is the move Lane same guy on the field has he's always been and then just off Lane because there was even a documentary that came out about how
Starting point is 00:36:58 he's changed his life do you see a difference from his team now versus what you maybe would have seen in the past with Lane Kiffin as a head coach over there well his teams always played just free and really well I think he's done a great job I think he's got better players, and I think he knows who he is better now. Like, he's done a great job.
Starting point is 00:37:14 You watch him on the sideline. His management of game, like, they've had three or four games that came down to the last possession. In every one of them, they just methodically move the ball, eat the clock, win the game in the fourth quarter. He's really good at managing these games, and we both have had extremely tight ball games. So on that note, have you taught him how to clap with a timeout signal? Absolutely not. I told him, he texted me, I said, do you read my lips? No human being ever calls a time out where he's saying they're clapping, they're clapping, they're clapping, they're clapping.
Starting point is 00:37:45 And I'm repeatedly saying that with my lips. And he's like, I don't care about your lips. Yeah, nobody cares about that, by the way. Nobody cares about that. Until you just said that right there, I didn't know you're being 100% serious. You're being 100% percent. Read my lips. Okay.
Starting point is 00:37:57 So you're saying your body might have been doing this. Read my lips. They're clapping. They're clapping. They're clapping. And I told, like, Lane loves the, Lane loves the joke. You're being serious whenever you say that. I thought this was all you, like, talking shit because you got one over on Pete.
Starting point is 00:38:13 You're saying, no, actually. In my brain, when I'm saying they're clapping, read my lips. Read my lips. And I don't know any coach that ever has tried to call a timeout without saying the word time out. That wasn't the case there. They're clapping. They're clapping. They're clapping.
Starting point is 00:38:26 Either way, I'm going to say this. Lane has loved that. He thought it was going to be a good distraction Sunday and Monday. And then he did a great thing by coming out and just blowing me up for being a fat guy with his language. And he took all the attention off that. So my kids got to see it. My wife got to see it. Well, I want to let your wife know and your kids know.
Starting point is 00:38:43 You look great in my eyes. Thank you, you, you're a thick guy. You know, we're not like Lane. You know, Lane is a little more, you know, he's all about prima donna and, you know, he's a little cleaner. It's a quarterback. He's a quarterback. He's a quarterback. He's a quarterback.
Starting point is 00:38:52 And also, if you're doing 6.30 a.m. hot yoga, I mean, your body's going to look better than all. Like, that is just a half. I did try it once. I tried it a couple times with some guys here luckily. I struggled. I couldn't do it. But Lane swears by it has changed his life. I think it's put him in such a good mood.
Starting point is 00:39:09 and he's done a fabulous job. I'm happy for him. I'm happy for you guys, too. Obviously, you're both under the Sabin Tree. Everybody's going to talk about that. What do you think you gathered from the tree? And what about this team is similar to past teams of yours and maybe different than past teams of yours?
Starting point is 00:39:22 Well, speaking of the Sabin Tree, I just walked out of a meeting, production meeting with him in there, and I realized that he's still in control of all that. Does he boss you around like he bosses us around? Yes, absolutely. That is great. Actually, there's a chance that we were on the phone with one of his former coaches as well during one of these meetings.
Starting point is 00:39:37 Yeah. And that particular person does 6.30 a.m. Hot yoga. And I was like, hold on. He's talking. And he was like, oh, this is what me and Kirby used to whisper while he was talking on the side of the meeting. It was like the good way. Let's be clear. He whispered. I was sitting there quiet saying, hey, can I move my seat? I sat next to Lane in the staff meeting for the couple years we were there.
Starting point is 00:39:57 And I was like, Lane, please don't talk to me during the staff meeting. He goes, why are you so worried about talking during the staff meeting? It's disrespectful. I don't want to talk while he's talking. This guy didn't care. He just didn't know. I told him all the time. That's why he gets back at me now, Lane, because all those butt-wopens you used to get.
Starting point is 00:40:14 Okay, so let's talk about your team, butt-wopens. You've got a team that's normally just physically imposing on everybody. Do you feel that same intensity from this team in ORA? And what was the thing you do on Tuesdays? What's the thing you do on? Bloody Tuesdays, yeah, we get after it. We have a physical team, absolutely. We've got a physical team, but guess what?
Starting point is 00:40:30 So does everybody in the SEC. So it's really about who can be physical in the moments that matter most. And we've got an extremely tough team. We've got a resilient team. watched our team this year, they're never going to quit. They're going to keep fighting. We need to play better at the start of games. You got a tough quarterback. Yes, we do. He is taking some shots, man. The first time I seen him. The first time we all saw him, he was just getting helicoptered to concuss, and it's like, yes. And his name's Gunner. It's like this guy
Starting point is 00:40:54 seemingly perfect for football. Tell me why he's perfect for you and this team. Because he kind of embodies this team's personality. Like to see that guy get hit last week, zoom in and watch the hit he takes from the Auburn corner when he gets hit. And how fast he pops up and runs back a huddle. It'll give you goosebumps. It'll make you think, oh, my God, did you see that guy just get hit? And he's back up going to the huddle, and the rest of the team's like, oh, my gosh. Motivates everybody. Absolutely. They play harder for him. How is he as a leader in the, how do you feel about the team's chemistry, I guess, not just him, but how do you feel about the togetherness of the squad? I love the together.
Starting point is 00:41:24 I mean, there's no questioning anything at the points of our season when it's been tough, tough at Tennessee, tough at Auburn on the road. They bounce back. They don't let the scoreboard affect them, which I think is a really good quality to have. There's other good qualities to have, but that's a good quality to have. there for the Auburn won the Tennessee game 100 whatever thousand you guys just not supposed to win that game keep shopping man brother
Starting point is 00:41:45 that was cool I assume you enjoyed the hell out of that win and what you just mentioned it right there the resiliency that a coach has to see from his crew has to feel big AJ back into Thunderdome has a question for you coach yeah coach how you doing you mentioned you got to start fast you got to get out to a hot start obviously every team wants to do that but what can you do
Starting point is 00:42:04 schematically or with the schedule to do Are you going to dial up some blitzes on D offense? You want to try to get some explosives down the field? Like, how do you get a fast start? I think having a plan that you stick to and that you trust. You know, we really did that on offense at Tennessee. We didn't necessarily do that on defense at Tennessee. Everybody wants to start fast.
Starting point is 00:42:22 The media asks me every week, how are you going to start fast? I think the prep of that, I think playing looser. I think our guy's not afraid to make a mistake allows them to play a little faster. And that's the kind of the mantra we took for this week is fast and free. We want to start fast, but we want to play for. free of worry. You talk about starting fast. Your second halves have been dominant, especially on the defensive side. Tone has a question for you.
Starting point is 00:42:42 Yeah, coach, starting fast, but those second halves, you've given up seven points in the second half over your last three games. And there's a famous quote from Peyton Manning where he was talking, he's like, I've never even heard of a halftime adjustment. That's not something that ever happens in football. Now, do you guys,
Starting point is 00:42:58 like, how, why have the second halfs on defense specifically been so good for you? Is it a halftime adjustment thing, or is they're just adjusting to what the team's doing throughout the game? I think it's settling down. That's why I go back to the beginning. Like, how do we play free of anxiety? Because I kind of agree with Peyton, guys.
Starting point is 00:43:12 I mean, there's only so much you can do at the halftime. It's short, it's quick. You're not coming up with a new scheme or new players. I agree with what he says. Everybody's like, oh, man, y'all make great halftime adjustments. No, we just play better than the second half. We relax and go play. Why can't we do that at the start?
Starting point is 00:43:25 Well, I think getting the anxiety down, though, is what halftime coaching is all about. Now, let's talk about pregame coaching, and maybe even halftime. I don't know where all those videos come from. We haven't seen them as of late. Connor has a question for you. Yeah, Coach, some of the best parts of college football are the pregame speeches that get leaked from your locker room. And I'm sure that probably pisses you off. But to be honest, it pisses me off that I haven't seen any this year or in recent memory.
Starting point is 00:43:51 Did you tighten up the locker room? Did you tell everybody like, hey, if I, you know, find a recording, it'll be bloody Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday? Or what happened there with the pregame speeches? No, my son says they haven't been as good, so that's why they're not leaking. He says you've become dull and boring in your old age. So we've wand everybody before they come in now. Some people actually believe that, but it's not true. It just hasn't leaked.
Starting point is 00:44:15 Yeah, your speeches are epic, though. Still the same guy? Still the same fire and passion. Maybe it'll go a little lower, and maybe we won't start with so much anxiety. So maybe it'll be a chill mode. Okay, so do you have different gears in there? Oh, you've got to have different gears, man. You've got to have different gears.
Starting point is 00:44:29 I don't know which gears needed because some players need some gears, and some players don't. Half time, I've had to gear it up a couple times this year, and I think sometimes that helps, and sometimes you've got to gear it down. How much are you changing how you coach different generations of players? You've been around here now a long time. Expectations are to be great.
Starting point is 00:44:43 We all just saw what happened at Penn State. I mean, shit, college football is a different animal. You created a lot of great times here, and I'm not saying anything would happen to you because you've won national championship here, and you are cemented in the legacy forever. But you do have to evolve and change, right, with every single group. Is this different generation now than it was whenever you started,
Starting point is 00:44:58 and how do you adjust to that? Yeah, it's very different. It's completely different than it used to be. people say, well, it's not different. You just treat them different. I'm like, well, it is different because the players are transient. They can come and go. They have money that they're not used to happen. And I'm so happy that they have those opportunities and they get a chance to make money. But the hardest thing for me to change is on the field standard, like practice. I cannot like just let it go, right? So something irks me, something bothers me. A guy doesn't give effort.
Starting point is 00:45:21 A guy doesn't thud. It's going to drive me nuts. And I want to confront and demand. And that can wear you down if it happens a lot. So the biggest thing is don't change your standard, but change maybe the treatment, how we do things, maybe not as long a practices. We've shortened those. We want to have high energy fast, get after it. But at the same time, I'm not changing what the standard is in terms of how you practice. Here's the definition of transient. Obviously, we knew.
Starting point is 00:45:42 Mark was going to force us to have to do that. It's an adjective. Great. Thank you for dropping that. Look at that number one. Read that for me real clear. One, a person who is staying or working in a place for only a short time. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:45:54 Thank you. Hey. Hit that word. Tee it up. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. You're lefty? I don't see.
Starting point is 00:46:00 You think so. You think so. More power from the left-handed side. Switch. The cow roll. It just looks better. It feels because I did the Ken Griffey Jr. King Griffey, man.
Starting point is 00:46:11 That was my rookie card. I had so many of those. Boom, it just was so clean. Pretty. Yeah, it was pretty. Yeah. So I never played baseball. But if I was around the baseball people, I would always go, yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:19 Yeah, I'm lefty. Yeah, just do the one of those. But it turns out I got no power over there. None. Yeah, everything comes from this side. And I'll tell you what, I've got about 2 million. less hacks on this side than I do on this side. Yeah, so it's a bad spot. Ty Schmidt is my baseball expert actually. Ty, this guy...
Starting point is 00:46:35 Love baseball. I mean, it never gets... You have baseball guy? Hell you. I love baseball, man. I love the contact part of it. I can't deal with that, but I love the mind game. I love watching all the series, and I'm a Braves fan. I love my son plays a lot of baseball, so I get a lot of baseball in the summer around the house. Dodgers is about to win again. Looks like it. They got more money here, everybody. How is anybody else supposed to say? That's college football, isn't it? You're right. You're right. We don't want to get into that full conversation.
Starting point is 00:47:00 No. But you are, brother, I mean, I don't know how often you've said it. I know we haven't said it enough. You're a goat in college football, dude. Appreciate it. I don't know about that. You are. You actually are, though. You're in real time and you don't get talked about. Ty actually has a question for you, but that just hit me like, you're a goat, dude. Holy shit. Goat's in there doing the stuff. He's the best that's ever done it. I learned from him. No, of course so, but you are a goat. If it was to be over right now, you'd be considered one of the greatest of all time.
Starting point is 00:47:25 Congratulations on that. Shit me. I don't know how often you've thought about it. I should have thought about this before he came on the show. That would be what a good host does. Maybe then I can do some hot yoga. That would be good for me. Maybe you get better. Maybe that's why you're the goat and he's not. Could be.
Starting point is 00:47:38 Well, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Intrusive thoughts. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Goats do yoga, though. I see it on the internet. Ty has a question for you. They do. You're a certified goat coach. You just mentioned, though, the SEC, how physical it is week to week and how good the conference is.
Starting point is 00:47:55 Obviously, everybody knows that. there's kind of two schools of thought when it comes to it. It's like, hey, either, you know, your battle tested at the end of the season because you've played so many good teams or, you know, if it doesn't go the way you want it to, well, you know, the league cannibalizes itself. Yeah, exactly. Do you lean towards, or coaches in general, I guess, across the SEC? Do they lean towards either one of those ways?
Starting point is 00:48:18 Like, does it sometimes it feel like that? We're like, this year you guys might get, you know, five or six teams into the playoffs. But then there will be that conversation if someone doesn't want. win a national championship while the league's too deep they just they cannibalize themselves during the season yeah you know what i think it's the agenda that the coach personally has so if you end up not getting in that's the case if you're in and you lose that's the case i mean everybody uses it how they want to and that includes the SEC and it includes the others i think the greatest debate right now in all of college football is what you're talking about the other conferences or the saying oh well
Starting point is 00:48:49 the the SEC just has all these teams ranked but they really don't deserve to be ranked and they play each other and they beat each other up i don't think we'll ever know the truth I always say go poll the NFL scouts and get them to tell you where they're pulling from and then where they're drafting from and those usually equal the best teams. Who has the most players drafted? We did when we won the national championship. Michigan did when they won the national championship. Ohio State did when they won the national championship. Just look at that and that'll tell you where the best players and teams are.
Starting point is 00:49:16 But we're not going to know until they start putting us all in there and they play a cross conference like they do in basketball. I'd love to do one of those with another conference. So that's a good question. Texas and Ohio State obviously kicked off this season, SEC, Big Ten. Michigan, Oklahoma happened. And refresh me if it has happened. Do you have any of them? We had Clemson last year where we opened with them to start off.
Starting point is 00:49:37 And you found it them. You remember what? Jesus. Do you remember what they did to Clemson? Well, it was a tight ballgame at half. But again, you go back and you look. Good speech. You look across the board, and that's one of Lane's biggest complaints,
Starting point is 00:49:49 and Lane is very bright. And Lane is biggest concern is we're losing opportunities to play other conferences. when we schedule nine conference games. So that's the best reward any conference can get. There's less opportunities for me to play, for us to play other conferences. And the only way to measure conference to conference is that. Modern world 12-team playoff. Everybody said we should be getting bigger matchups on a regular basis.
Starting point is 00:50:11 Obviously, we've had like a top 10 every single weekend. There's been one that kind of had an interesting slate. You keep going forward. Do you like where we're at with college football right now? Do you feel like obviously it's a transition error. You've been around a long time. You're one of the goats. We talked about it.
Starting point is 00:50:23 But it does feel like we're in a transition era. But in this transition era, ratings are higher than they've ever been for the sport. The sport is hot right now. Would they not be if it was 16 or 24 or 30 teams? I think they still would be. I think the ratings would still be higher. I think you'd have unbelievable playoffs. It's going to mimic the NFL when we get to having that many teams potentially in the playoffs.
Starting point is 00:50:43 So you get better matchups for longer. Because these games at the end of the year are going to come down to essentially being playing games. You're either in or you're out. I would love to see a bigger pool of teams make the playoff because that's what all our fan bases want is an opportunity to do that. And also home field advantage, man. Yeah. A part of college football is the experience. Yes.
Starting point is 00:51:00 We have two NFL analysts on our staff, okay, and they've been in the NFL for a while. They're with us now, and they're like the difference in the crowd noise. And day-to-day, it is night and day. Now, NFL playoff games, not so much. But NFL weekend games, it's not even close to what you're experiencing in these games. But the tradition and the chance and everything like that, that is what college football is. It's what you are. You're the one that brings it to life because you go to campus and you get all these crazies.
Starting point is 00:51:24 You've got people taking shirts off. and running around, absolutely not. That's Dan over. So, I mean... You didn't teach Dan that, coach? Absolutely not. Dan got that from Lane. That's not me.
Starting point is 00:51:36 That's not me. Who's that coming down the track or what's that coming down the track? You got it, man. You're supposed to know the answer to that. I know the answer to that. I grew up in Georgia. That's your job. So, but he said, who or what?
Starting point is 00:51:47 I don't know. You tell me. Well, I think it's a generational problem you guys have. I do believe that. Don't you guys me. I'm good. I'm in there. I know.
Starting point is 00:51:54 I'm in there. Yes. AJ has the last question for you. I do, Coach. As a player, when I think of you, I think of a hybrid of Steve Atwater, John Lynch, back there, just taking people's heads off. Is that accurate?
Starting point is 00:52:08 Could you say accurate, yes or no? Absolutely not. Wow. As I remember you, I got to go work him out at Ohio State. He came, and I was at the Dolphins the year he came out, so I went and they had a couple. He was Dante Wittner. They had some safeties.
Starting point is 00:52:20 I went to Ohio State and got to work him out. It was the coolest thing in my life getting to go to Pro Days at USC, UCLA, and I'm a pro coach, and I get to go work these guys out. But when you turn it back to me, I was not any of those guys. I was the finesse guy that didn't make the Colts. I did pick off Peyton several times in practice, but I couldn't make the team because I couldn't tackle a world enough. You had a spring and a training camp with the Colts?
Starting point is 00:52:41 I was just a training camp. It was real short. It was the cup of coffee theory, right? So it was Peyton's second year. Transient. Yeah, transient. Not by my choice. I was definitely transient.
Starting point is 00:52:53 Yeah, that was a one way transient. Okay, as we look ahead, what does the rest of your day look like and morning look like before? I think you're joining us on game day. We appreciate that. But what happens with your team now until tomorrow? We lock in and focus and want to be able to play fast and free. So to do that, we've got to do a walk-through we do, a kind of routine we do to get some mental practice. And then we break up and go enjoy the evening.
Starting point is 00:53:13 We've got a big volleyball game tonight. Our volleyball team is going to break a state record for attendance. We're going to bring some players over there because it's right next to us. So we're going to go check out a volleyball game for a few minutes and then get out here. I love all sports. I'm a sports enthusiast. So I want to go support our volleyball team. Okay, so I want to watch the Penn State Women's Volleyball.
Starting point is 00:53:29 They're the reigning national champions right now. They were playing against USC or UCLA. I forget which one was one of the California teams. They had a dome in there packed. Packed. Crazy. We're trying to pack it out tonight. It's unbelievable how athletic these women are now.
Starting point is 00:53:40 Talking about athletic, jumping. I mean, we could sign a couple of them to block some field goals. Absolutely. Who was the player's daughter that was at Penn State? Kennedy Martin. Yeah, Ruevo Martin's daughter. Oh. Do you know who that is?
Starting point is 00:53:53 No. She transferred in from Texas. Florida, was he offensive lineman? He was a receiver, actually. Then he was actually an assistant coach for a little bit in Green Bay, not anymore. Nonetheless, his daughter, 6-6, something like that, 6-7? She's playing weak-side.
Starting point is 00:54:08 She was on weak-side, bang, went over to block power, and then ran around, hit another one over here. She's 6-6-6-6-6. I love watching that. I love Sydney athleticism. Great sport. Great sport, great sport. You got a lot of them down here, and congrats on the beautiful setup.
Starting point is 00:54:22 Awesome, man. And thank you for the hospitality, man. Thank you, guys. what y'all do for college football. You know, your fans try to kick me out of a restaurant down here and 20 people showed up at our show down here and Carson Beck's dad spilled some water on Connor. All over coach. All the
Starting point is 00:54:39 noise around this place towards me. You have been very kind to me. Absolutely. I'm very thankful for you. Just get who's that or what's that right? We'll be good. That's unbelievable. We appreciate you, man. Thank you so much. Back to you, boys. I'll be about a minute. I love you said, don't be you guys as me. Right?
Starting point is 00:54:54 Yeah, I grew up here. I know what it is. Tony, you got any big games this weekend? There are. College game. I know we do have a big college. We have a heart out here coming in a couple minutes. There's not any big games.
Starting point is 00:55:03 Oh, I know there's some big games. No, yeah. Obviously, this one's the one where game day. USC Notre Dame, I'm circling that one, Tony. I don't want to cut you off, right? I'm circling that one. I would circle that too because, honestly, I think the loser is done. Yeah, Luzer Leaves Town Match.
Starting point is 00:55:18 Yes, because obviously Notre Dame, that's their third loss is going to be tough when all three of your losses are the three best teams that you played. And then SC, they've got one loss so far, but they still have a couple of hard teams left on their schedules. So there's probably another one coming. I do think the loser that is out. Winter has a really, really good chance to make the playoffs. And then obviously, the Tennessee, Alabama game, winter smoking cigars. Yeah, how'd that start?
Starting point is 00:55:42 Do we know? I don't know. They have told that story 17. They've told it a thousand times on game day, and I always forget. But that's awesome. And then obviously the Holy War, BYU and you. Yeah. It's a great weekend in college football.
Starting point is 00:55:55 Yeah. Pat, do you know when they started smoking cigars when you win that Tennessee Alabama game? I do not know the exacts, but I do know it's a gigantic ordeal. I remember when we were there two years ago, I think. Desmond Howard got a photo with Peyton Manning smoking a cigar afterwards in the game. And it was like, he has that up in his house, I think. So I don't know the exact start time, but I do know that it is very real. And obviously, LSU Vandy being a real thing is crazy.
Starting point is 00:56:21 Bandy continues to be awesome. Texas Tech spent a bunch of money and it paid off. Them is 7.5 point favorites in Arizona State. Who's playing quarterback there? Sam 11, I believe, because it went from 11.5 down to 7.5. So I think they're expecting Sam to play.
Starting point is 00:56:36 And then, obviously, we saw Matt Liner do the shove. Push, push. Was it a 20-year reunion? Is that right? Yeah. Yeah, crazy. Absolutely crazy. That's huge. We got a lot of big games. And then top 10 down here in Athens.
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Starting point is 00:58:11 It is a generational thing for what's that coming down a track or who's that coming down the track. I will say, I just want to let the Georgia people know that they need to figure it out. What are the old said? What? And then the young say who? Who's? Yeah, I'm pretty sure, like, the older generation, the ones who would say they, I don't know, I don't want to say anything because there's young dogs that believe that they've been
Starting point is 00:58:34 dogs since birth as well. So I don't want to question, but the older dogs, I believe, what's that coming down a track? And I believe there was some sort of generation that said, yeah, but we're people, though. So who's that coming down? So I think there is a little bit of a, so each time I do it, which, Which is, this is the best call in sports. This is the best call in sports.
Starting point is 00:58:53 What they do here, the call of the dogs, by far. I mean, it's just so long. Drunk is mentioned in there. You know, like, there's just, for it to be their thing, it is the coolest, I think. So it is a lot of fun to do it. And every time, as I'm doing it, I'm like, all right, who we're pissing off here? What's that coming? The young, you know, it's, I'm lucky to do it.
Starting point is 00:59:16 It's cool. This place has a, obviously, a lot of deep history and tradition, whenever it comes. comes to football. You can go all the way back to the greats to play to the past and then of the recent history dominance that they have certainly had. And now hosting another top 10 game, which is going to happen seemingly anytime another team is a top 10 team with Kirby Smart as the head coach. And to your point about liking what he was saying, I liked everything about what he just did here. I thought he was awesome. Was that not, that was maybe one of the best one we've had with somebody. Yes. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, without a doubt.
Starting point is 00:59:44 Literally the first thing, we kind of all said after he is like, man, he is unbelievable. It's possible not to like that guy and not to root for that guy. And the amount of times he said, that's a Lane Kiffin thing. And they both get it, by the way. They both are very tight. It's like these football minds, these football people are special. We have Coach Saban
Starting point is 01:00:03 joining us here in a matter of moments. And then we have Luke Combs and Bailey Zimmerman, okay, coming and joining us. They're both performing during game day tomorrow. I believe that that was, I mean, we'll ask them, but I believe that was agreed to ahead of time because schedules with everybody's life, especially
Starting point is 01:00:19 fall, music, there's touring that's happening. Getting people to every single city, every single week is pretty difficult. So the fact that these two locked in this weekend for game day to come put on a show for us, and I mean of course the students that come out and kick ass every single
Starting point is 01:00:35 week are the greatest. Like we are so thankful for them. But me just get a chance to watch as Luke Combs and Bailey Zimmerman concert tomorrow morning. I'm pretty pumped up. Yeah. I am I take it in. I turn my chair around. I kick the feet up. I mean I am, I'm like, we're at a concert right now. Luke Combs, obviously is a guy that sells out arenas and is huge.
Starting point is 01:00:54 People are even talking about him maybe being a Super Bowl halftime because everybody seemingly knows his stuff and he has a range of doing it. And then Bailey Zimmerman's like 24 years old, he has like 10 hits already. So it's like these two dudes giving up their time to come do a show here, I'm very, very thankful for. So we'll chitch out with them in the third hour. I know they're not from Georgia. So that is a little difficult because I got friends that are Georgia musicians as well.
Starting point is 01:01:17 And it's like, there's like a thousand of them. There's like a thousand of them. But I don't think like the scheduling is as easy as everybody just, you know what I mean? Sure. Like I don't know. I don't know if everybody takes that all. Me included, because I'll send tech. I got no saying anything.
Starting point is 01:01:32 I'll send tech. This is the dumbest decision of all time. Why are we, how are we trying to make a good show? Like what are we trying to make the people like us or what are we, what's the goal here? And then I obviously get a full breakdown. Well, you know, like people have. this and then this and to get to this the closest airport is this and it but it's just like a full there's always something with everything and on that note we got luke homes and bailey zimmerman
Starting point is 01:01:57 doing a concert tomorrow and then jelly roll who is one of the best speaking musicians i think every time he speaks there's always an entertaining thing i think that's another scheduling thing that potentially happens now i'm not saying that a georgia musician and i'm one of jelly roll i'm maybe jelly roll's biggest fan i mean as soon as i do big night out back in pittsburgh my first call is the jelly roll. Jellyroll has impacted and made my life a lot better as a friend. And Jelly Roll, I think on the flip side would say, like, hey, Pat's a pretty cool
Starting point is 01:02:23 guy. Like, I think Jelly Rule would say we're friends. I do believe that, like, somebody from Georgia would be a good guest picker for a Georgia game. But if it's not, like, Jelly Roll is the perfect human. This guy is the greatest. Like, Jelly Roll's story, his music, everything about him.
Starting point is 01:02:39 How he gives back to everybody, like, he's special. So I'm excited for tomorrow, just in general. We've got a lot of really cool and talented people a part of a program. James Franklin's going to be here. Crazy. Really? Is this the first announcement of that?
Starting point is 01:02:51 I know you kind of, I feel like you teased it earlier in the week, maybe. No, no, it was, I don't know if we teased it or gave it away, but they announced that James Franklin's going to be there. It's like, good show coming tomorrow. I think good, good show tomorrow. Now, the Georgia students for game day, I think, you know, have had a lot of game days. I think they've had a lot of game days. I think we all, as people that are relatively new to game day, understand.
Starting point is 01:03:15 understand that and how you go to like a James Madison and in the entire everybody that's ever gone to school there shows up. Yeah. That's like 30,000 people and they're like so pumped. It's like some of these places, obviously game day's been to a lot. So it's not as, you know, maybe. But I think they're going to show up from what I've been told. Crowds are going to be awesome tomorrow morning.
Starting point is 01:03:36 I don't know if they're good kickers or not. I don't know how expensive it's going to be. Last time we were here, Bell Sessions and Henry Silver were a special moment. And I got a handwritten letter this morning. from Bell. Oh, really? Handwritten. Nice.
Starting point is 01:03:48 It was one of the nicest cards I've ever read in my life. That girl right there, Bell, at Bell Sessions, and then Henry Silver, the kicker from Indiana. We went school down here. This is, I believe this is last year when we were down here. Yes, last year. And I had just gotten a surgery to take out my, what was the thing in the back of your mouth?
Starting point is 01:04:08 Wisdom tooth. Yeah, you remember that? I had a wisdom tooth that was cracked in the back of my mouth for like five weeks. it hurts so bad. I couldn't make it anymore. Had to get surgery to get that thing removed was on all types of painkillers. Come down here to Georgia for game day and all of a sudden we're giving away $800,000. So, I mean, it was a magical moment, and Bell wrote me a letter, and it was one of the nicest things I've ever read. So it's been great down here.
Starting point is 01:04:34 I think tomorrow's going to be spectacular, but to Tone's point from the last hour, the college football slate's amazing, as is the NFL slate. In last night's game, AJ, I think was a good start. harder for NFL week seven. Anytime you got two teams scoring 30 plus points, the average viewer is going to enjoy that. That's going to be a, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, we got a lot going on. Not a lot of good defense, though. You know, last night the box score, 54 plays for the Steelers, 72 plays for the Cincinnati Bengals. So you talk about Chase Brown. He, I mean, out of Illinois, I think he was at Western Michigan, maybe before that transfer in there. We did a little research on him as we were watching him just dominate last night. He's special, dude. This
Starting point is 01:05:12 guy's fun to watch. And everybody talks about that offensive line not being great. If you can run the ball well, that helps out the offensive line for everything. Now, you have to have an offensive line to be able to run the ball well. And they were able to do that against a Pittsburgh Steelers defense that we thought was going to be able to be good against it. So I think there's a lot of positive shown last night from an offensive side. Defense aside, without Trey Hendrickson, Cincinnati Bengals are able to get a win. Congrats to them. And I guess the Steelers fans are worried their defense stinks. And if you're the Bengals, it's like, holy hell, we stole one, AJ. It feels like we might have stole one here with Joe Flacko.
Starting point is 01:05:42 is our quarterback without Trey Hendrickson on the defense's side, AJ. Yeah, I know with Joey Burrow on the sideline cheering his team on in the boot. Do we know when exactly, like, or estimated time of return for Joe Burrow? Anyone, did they say last night in the broadcast? I haven't figured out. No, no idea. He looked crazy. He's growing his hair out a little bit, letting it hang.
Starting point is 01:06:00 Yeah, I'm not sure exactly when it is. The emo hair was cool. And then once they were winning, he put a hat on to cover it up, which was awesome. But I'm not sure exactly when he's coming back. I think the timeline was, what, three months when it is. happened. So people were kind of speculating end of November, maybe mid-November, depending on how it all goes. But I mean, just seeing him on the sidelines, seeing him in a boot, seeing him walking around, moving around. It makes me think like, okay, well, Burrow is a
Starting point is 01:06:26 tough son of a bitch. Like if he can get back early, he's going to. He's at least going to try. So that's why like one win, even, you know, you look at it, okay, they're three and four. But, you know, if they win one more game without Joe Burrow and then Joe Burrow comes back with time to get it done. I have complete faith that Joe Burrow is going to run the table and get the Bengals in the playoffs. He damn near did it last year. I like the
Starting point is 01:06:50 fact that Joe Burrow said, I'm going through his rehab. I'm not cutting my hair. Okay? I'm just going to grow this thing out. All I'm worried about is getting healthy and coming back. He's an Ohio guy. Obviously, we think he's tough. We appreciate that he was out there last night. I saw somebody tweet and call him My Chemical Joe Burrow Vance. Oh, gee.
Starting point is 01:07:06 That's great. Did you see that? That's a great tweet. I laugh very hard. Yeah, I agreed with it. I did appreciate the hair in front of the eyes. I appreciate he's got a long swag. Maybe he goes with some braids. It's not a bad idea.
Starting point is 01:07:20 Maybe Cornrow that thing back and see what he's looking like whenever he comes back. Maybe the moxie level will be put so high that Cincinnati Bengals can't help a win. I don't think we watch the Cincinnati Bengals that we think they win in Super Bowl right now, but I do think we think that the Cincinnati Bengals can have a season that isn't ass, right? That is kind of where we're at, AJ? Yeah, I feel like last so I was in the stadium and I heard multiple fan said a couple times, hey, we need this. This would be so big for us. A win here would be so
Starting point is 01:07:46 good for our morale for what we're doing. It would keep us alive. And that's exactly what it did. Ty, when you look at it, I guess when you're watching the Bengals offense, all right, we saw two defenses that I guess could not really get a stop when they needed. Set a straight touchdown. Can you figure it out? Do you think of these defenses? Could the Bengals figure it out to, I don't know, maybe make a somewhat of a push in the playoffs or get to the playoffs? I mean, I don't know. I think, you know, we're kind of high on Joe Flacko, for almost 350 yards and three touchdowns. I don't know if we can expect their defense all of a sudden to be holding teams to 10 points.
Starting point is 01:08:17 I don't think that's going to happen. I think they played pretty well. But in my mind, you know, I was big on, hey, get this Bengals team off primetime. This needs to be done. Now you look ahead at that Thanksgiving game. The script is flipped. Now everything's on the Ravens. Hey, we've got to see what the Ravens are like after the by week.
Starting point is 01:08:32 Because I want to watch Joe Flacco on Thanksgiving night. Exactly. And I think that's what every, you know, didn't want to watch Jake Browning on Thanksgiving night. I'm all in for watching Joe Flacco on Thanksgiving. My buddy told me he texted me. He felt like Joe Flacco was on beta blockers. He was so calm and so in the moment. It looked like Joe never was never flustered, never even sweat.
Starting point is 01:08:54 He was out there just doing his thing. I don't know. Pat, I think you have another, you have the goat actually with you on campus right now, right? Yeah, I have a man that could obviously go into a Thursday night football game and win it right now if you were to put a whistle around his neck, just like Joe Flacco was able to do when getting traded to Cincinnati, the greatest of all time. Ladies and gentlemen, Nick Saban. Hey, Coach, I see the family's here.
Starting point is 01:09:18 I love that. I see a good crew of Jimmy Sexton's over there, which we need to keep his ass away from the field goal kick. Every time he shows up at the field goal kick, they make it. And if you watch that Georgia one, Henry and Bell, guess who's dead center right behind the kick? Jimmy Sexton there costing a lot of money to go out of the pocket. And then we tell him not to do it. Hey, don't do it.
Starting point is 01:09:38 Okay? Then Penn State, you go ahead and watch that film. Guess whose heads creeping into the Penn State? Jimmy Sexton back there. So this man is synonymous with people getting paid. And in my experience, it's been all the kickers. So great to see you, Jimmy. You're the man.
Starting point is 01:09:53 Great to see you, Jimmy Sexton. It's almost Jimmy Sexton season, by the way. It is almost Jimmy Sexton season. Let's talk about this season we're talking about last night. Aaron Rogers, 41 years old. Joe Flacco, 40 years old. Joe Flacco got traded to that team like 10 days ago. Aaron Rogers' first year there.
Starting point is 01:10:07 they're both leading their teams to incredible outcomes. Now, the Bengals win last night, the Steelers doing well. What are your thoughts on older quarterbacks? At that position, having that much knowledge or, I guess, experience has to be a benefit. How do you view these two guys playing well at this age? Well, these two guys have played well their entire career. I don't think that if you put them in the right teams with the right kind of guys around them, they're going to be able to continue to play well because their decision-making.
Starting point is 01:10:35 They're not going to make bad plays for their team. team, and they're going to put themselves in winning position. I mean, Joe Flacco has done it for years. I mean, and wherever he's been. I mean, he helped Cleveland play halfway decent when he was there. They need to playoffs off the couch. Yeah, I mean, and now he goes to Cincinnati who couldn't win a game before, and they go out and beat the Steelers, who are a really good football team.
Starting point is 01:10:58 So I think older quarterbacks can play in the NFL, providing they have the right kind of people around them. And also still the physical capabilities, Joe Flacco can spin it. Aaron Rogers threw it 69.8 yards last night, which is the longest recorded pass thrown in the NFL since 2017. Unbelievable. He's 41 years old. He's 70 yards.
Starting point is 01:11:18 Unbelievable. That's insane. That is why. It is. That is crazy. Yeah, I saw him throw a beer, though, Coach. We talked about it in the first hour playing times before. We were at Lake Tahoehill or at that golf tournament.
Starting point is 01:11:28 You need to go and win? You know what I'm talking about out there? Yeah. The American Century. And he ran to a house. It's a big house. And he woke up. There was somebody in the lake.
Starting point is 01:11:36 200 yards away. How far is that lake? It was at least genuinely 150 yards. From an elevated position, too. But elevated position, though, you know? So, like, houseway up here, lake out here, from kitchen, throws this thing, hits the dude's tube that he's sitting on in the lake. And we all, I was rather high, coach, you understand that.
Starting point is 01:11:56 It's California. The rules. And, like, we all sort of, like, taking it in. We're like, did that guy just throw a beer can 100 yards? Then we ask him about it. He's like, I feel like I'll always be able to spin it. But if you listen to Drew Brees talk at the end of his career, he's basically like, I'm trying to hang on physically because my brain is at a level
Starting point is 01:12:13 that obviously is an advantage over everybody else. So physically, if we can just hang on, I'll be able to get the most out of it. Aaron obviously doing that, Joe Flacco, obviously doing that. Other NFL stories that I'd like your take on. It involves your former quarterback, Tua. Okay, Tua, I think, made one of the most accountable statements that I've seen in a long time from a player when he was correcting something that he did after a game where he basically called out some team.
Starting point is 01:12:37 teammates unnamed and then threw teammates under the bus, and then a couple of days later, he immediately went out and was like, I shouldn't have done that. I added more noise to the outside. Owned it. It was beautiful. Whenever you see something like that happening with a former player, especially when he care about like Tua, do you reach out and send him a advice? Do you say like, hey, I'm proud of the way you handled that? Like, how does that kind of go with you? Well, I am proud of the way he handled it. But one of the things that I always try to tell our players is, you know, you never criticize another player. And in my entire coaching career, you never ever saw me criticize one of our
Starting point is 01:13:07 players. I think everybody's got to take responsibility for what they can control. And if you start worrying about things that you can't control, that's going to start affecting things that you can control. But if everybody takes responsibility for their own self-determination
Starting point is 01:13:22 and do what they can do to make the team better, so I was really shocked that Tua did what he did when he threw some guys under the bus. And, you know, maybe they're not playing the way they should play. I'm not taking up for the guys, but you don't say that about your teammate, but I really was proud of the way he came back and sort of took accountability for making a mistake.
Starting point is 01:13:44 Gumpy was really riding a wave, as you could tell. I would assume as that was happening. Well said, coach. Well said. Yeah. Coach Saven understands how big of a Dolphins fan Gumpy is. And obviously, Coach Saban, a former head coach of the Miami Dolphins, a former head coach of Alabama, and obviously your coaching tree is huge.
Starting point is 01:14:02 This weekend, it's been well documented about. Lane Kiffin and Kirby. We just had Kirby on. Yeah. He was awesome. He was absolutely incredible talking about how different he was from Lane, though. And obviously Lane vastly different than Kirby and I think Lane's saying the same thing. What do you see from these two head coaches and the teams that they represent
Starting point is 01:14:19 and I know it's a weird thing to continue to ask you if you're proud, but whenever you see the way they are doing, that obviously feels good for you. And everybody just talks about coaching trees. They never talk about how the tree feels, if that makes sense. No, I feel great about it. I love it that guys that have been involved in our program
Starting point is 01:14:34 and contributed to a large degree to the success that we had. I mean, those guys were, you know, Kirby was a big part of being a great coordinator for a long time who really contributed the success of our program. To see them knowing that they want to go out and have the opportunity to be head coaches and to see them be able to go out and do it successfully is, you know, something I'm really proud of because we helped them do what they want to do. They helped us do what we wanted to do. it's kind of a give and take. And Lane and Kirby are very different. But it shows you that, you know,
Starting point is 01:15:11 there's more than one way to skin a cat. But both these guys fundamentally are not that far apart in terms of the football part of it. And what you get across with, you know, discipline and execution and good game planning. And even though they systematically might be a little different, they still know what it takes to win. And both of them in their own way do a really good job of executing it. with the players they have. Your coaching tree is pretty average. Last week, we were out in Oregon, Dan Lannning, and Kurt Signetti. Kurt Signetti now, $93 million.
Starting point is 01:15:44 It's good. Yeah, congrats to him. We're all happy for you, Kurt. Congrats to that. And Indiana, by the way, saying, we're a real deal. And Kurt Signetti announced on our show yesterday, and I guess IU tweeted it out before, they have the largest alumni base, living alumni base in America. And I don't know if that means signed up to be an active alumni or whatever.
Starting point is 01:16:04 but it's like 805,000 people. They obviously have $93 million to give Signetti after they redid his deal last year just to kind of make a statement like, hey, we're in this thing for the long haul. But last week, and congrats to him and them, life-changing money, he's earned it good for him, and him betting on himself to go do this all cool. But last week, Dan Landing, Kurt Signetti.
Starting point is 01:16:22 Now it's Kirby and it's Lane. And it's like four different ways of doing ball, though? Isn't it kind of four different ways of doing ball? Do you think that? And why was your system able to take in all these different personalities and still seemingly have the same Alabama team throughout? Well, I think that the key to our success was always the culture that recreated. And I think that every one of these guys that you're talking about
Starting point is 01:16:44 have created a culture with their players to be able to have success. You know, this is what you have to do to create value for yourself and for the team. They all do it in a different way, but they all create a culture in their organization that gives them the players the best opportunity to have success and their team's the best opportunity to win. And they're all the same in that. But I do commend Indiana for making the commitment because, you know, Kirk Signetti would have been the first guy on everybody's list to hire for every job based on what he's done at Indiana and what he's done at other programs that he's been at and the success that he's had his entire career. So for them to step up at this
Starting point is 01:17:25 point in time and lock him down is really smart on their part if they want to continue to have success as a football program. Okay. So I think we just heard what you would be thinking if you were Penn State there before yesterday's announcement of the extension. You said any job anywhere, a lot of people are thinking Penn State's going to be the bell of the ball, obviously because of all the resources. You think even at his age, Pat Kraft up there in Penn State would have been like, if SIG can do what he did in Indiana. Now, once again, I would like to say, I think a lot of people don't know how much money Indiana has. I think Mark Cuban obviously doesn't have an NBA team anymore. He's a very proud
Starting point is 01:17:59 who's your graduate. He actually made his money and became a billionaire the first time because he was trying to listen to Hoosier basketball games. So whenever you talk about, like, alumni being sport people and being wealthy, Indiana has some of that. But whenever you think about Penn State or any of these other jobs, I think it happened at Indiana whenever he got hired. You don't think age is an issue because he feels like he's, what, 45 years old and he's out there coaching?
Starting point is 01:18:21 Is that something they should think about? And who do you think Penn State ends up going? Well, what is he? Sixty-two? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, well, we went to the playoffs when I was 72, so I think he's got some years left. that was awesome good for you dude
Starting point is 01:18:39 you're a little fucking different though as you understand but so is signetti so he is different he is in a good way I think so he's great for Indiana he came on our show the other day and I think Ty asked him the question about how hey you're not seemingly not creating as many like gifts
Starting point is 01:18:55 or like quotes and he said in the first eight hours that he was on campus he had to change everybody's thoughts on everything so he said he went back to like whenever he was 40 years old and started talking his shit. He said he doesn't feel like he has to do it anymore. Now he's still that same person, but he feels like for the good of the program, it doesn't really have to let everybody know that they're here
Starting point is 01:19:12 because it feels like maybe more respect is for them, if that makes sense. I think that's smart, and I think it's smart on his part, because you do want to create an image that's a positive image that people want to be a part of, and I think he's doing a good job of that. I like that you said last year, though, at Notre Dame, what I didn't teach you is all that shit you've been talking about it. And I wish Shig would have to you in the moment to be like, I have to. I just want to Indiana.
Starting point is 01:19:37 They didn't even have a wait room, bro. I had to do this whole thing. Him calling his shot crazy. AJ has a question for you, Coach. Yeah, Coach, obviously Penn State moves on from James Franklin. I'm just wondering, whenever they do bring in the new coach, whoever that might be, what's their first message? What are they, what's their first, like, what's their agenda? What do they need to do that first week to really ensure success moving forward?
Starting point is 01:19:58 Well, you know, obviously they got to hire somebody that has a history of having some success. who knows how to develop a program and continue to win and to deal with success. You know, one of the things that people talk about with James Franklin is couldn't win the big game. Well, but how many people beat those teams? Yeah. You know, like people used to get on them about not beating us, but we didn't. People beat you. Yeah, we get it.
Starting point is 01:20:24 So, I mean, there's some give and taking all that in terms of, and you actually put, being James Franklin, put them in a position to do that because they weren't in a position to do it before, and he created an expectation that really was difficult for him to live up to, but he created it. So the next person is going to have to do the same thing, but then learn how to deal with success and get the program over the hump. So it's going to have to be somebody who can win over the people who support the program, as well as win over the people that you need to get in the program, whether it's coaches and players, to be able to get you to that level. We talked about you said people in the program,
Starting point is 01:21:05 people that, right now, what you were alluding to there, as I think the donors, the boosters, because over there they have a lot of resources, they have a lot of money. Right. And I would assume that that money gets a little bit more free flowing if they have full belief in what's happening. So winning them over is a massive piece of the job, right? Isn't that kind of a piece of it all? No question. But there's also, you know, a little bit of a downside that goes with that
Starting point is 01:21:27 because when those people do give to the program, make a commitment to the program, they also think they have a bit of a voice in the program, which can get you hired but can also get your ass fired. Yes, it certainly can. And there's a lot of money being handed over, and there's not a lot of ROI on that. They're not getting any money back.
Starting point is 01:21:49 That money is a donation for players and for things you need. And if we're not winning, I don't even get a chance to enjoy it with my family. I do this entirely. It's a crazy time right now. Crazy time right now. And I think the players should get paid. I think they should have name image and likeness. But I think this is a system that's not really good for college football to be in this position.
Starting point is 01:22:10 For players, coaches, and I want to see the players do well, I want to see them get rewarded. But the system of how the money flows is not the best way to do it for college athletics. You're not saying everything, follow the money. Literally, everything is like follow the money. And then he starts saying, like, college football. It's like, follow the money, follow the money, follow the money. Every once in a while, you're going to get a Kurtzignity to come through and build a program up out of the ashes. Right.
Starting point is 01:22:33 Literally the ashes. That wasn't even a football program. I said this to him yesterday, and I know the people at Indiana probably understand this as well. When Kirk Herb Street said, they were one in 71 in those games at the beginning of game day last week. And I try to get in like, they didn't have a football team until last year. Right. This dude literally built them a fucking football program. That's exactly right.
Starting point is 01:22:53 But now other people are going to think it's possible. That's right. And that's when that creates an expectation. Yes, it does. And that's not great news. Tone has a question for you, Coach. Yeah, coach, when I think of your defenses, when I think of Kirby's defense and those national titles,
Starting point is 01:23:06 like I always think of sacks and chaos, tackles for loss, stuff like that, pressures. And when I was looking at Georgia this week, they have eight sacks in six games, which just mind boggled me. Like, I have no, that's not Georgia. So why do you think that is? Because I know, I mean,
Starting point is 01:23:20 I know Kirby's still recruiting five stars up front on the D line. And is that as to say, Do you need to have sacks and TFLs and stuff like that to win a national championship? I don't think, I think affecting the quarterback is really, really important to winning. I don't think there's any statistical data that would say how many sacks you get contributes to winning. But affecting the quarterback does, and sacks are a part of that. Tackles for a loss are a part of creating positive down a distance where you can do things to confuse the quarterback. So I agree with all that.
Starting point is 01:23:54 But, you know, the difference in your team is you always have a lot of good players. But how many real difference makers do you have? So to have a difference maker that's a pass rusher, just like a big difference in Penn State's defense, not to beat a dead horse here, but the guy that was the first guy picked in the draft last year made a huge difference in pass rush and how he affected the quarterback and how they got off the field on third down. So just taking that one guy away, that is a disruptive player and a difference maker. can make a huge defense difference in how you play defense and how well you do on third down.
Starting point is 01:24:31 When you play the system that we played and play the system that Kirby plays, 3-4, you need bigger guys. You need a big noseguard, you need two pretty big four eyes. So you've got to have a couple outside backers. Well, the outside backers have got to become the pass rushers because those big guys are not going to be the pass-rushers. So that's one of the downsides of playing a 3-4 defense is you need bigger people to play.
Starting point is 01:24:54 those inside positions that don't convert well to third down. So you've got to make sure you recruit enough outside backers like Will Anderson and people like that who can rush on third down and become the defensive ends for you that can create pressure. What's the upside? You're able to stop the run? Stop the run, yeah, I think. And multiples that you can create on defense with four linebackers instead of three.
Starting point is 01:25:16 Here's a stat from Hembo about what we were just talking about there with impacting the quarterback. Georgia's opponents have a QBR of 73.7 this season, 131st in the country. They're just not impacting the QB, says Hembo, eight sacks on 209 dropbacks. But what you're saying is they're not potentially built to be able to get pressure on the quarterback every single time. They have other positives. QBR 73.7, not great news for anybody. But when they were really good, they had people who could affect the quarterback.
Starting point is 01:25:43 Yes. They actually had those people. They're on the NFL. But I think one of the issues for Georgia has been getting off the quarterback. field on third down. A part of that is how do you affect the quarterback. So those two things go hand in hand. Oh my God. You talk about the three, four, the big bodies. And you say like the middle guy is supposed to eat, not necessarily get to the quarterback. They had Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis, right, at the same time? Yeah. Yeah. And Nolan Smith. And coach's big boys a lot
Starting point is 01:26:11 of time. They had a Philadelphia Eagles. They had a lot of them. They had. Oh, my gosh. Yep, and those guys were, you know, to me, people talk about defensive linemen. There's only one thing that makes you a good defensive lineman. Your ass is hard to block, and those two guys were hard to block. Amen, amen. Toxic table, Ty Schmidt has a question for you, Code. Yeah, Coach, one of the other marquee matchups this weekend, USC going to South Bend. A lot of people think it's pretty much like a title eliminator kind of.
Starting point is 01:26:44 I'm just curious, with Lincoln Riley, like a couple years ago, was the bell of the ball. You know, people were talking about him, maybe even, you know, getting the Cowboys head coaching job. And he's had a couple, you know, things go okay for him at USC with Caleb being the number one overall pick. But when they moved to the Big Ten, it was kind of just early on like, well, they're just getting out physicaled by everybody. If a team is more physical, which a lot of teams in the Big Ten are, they're not going to win. They've started to look a little bit better this year, being able to run the football and kind of standing up against some of those other teams. Do you think Lincoln Riley's got U.S.
Starting point is 01:27:17 kind of moving back in the right direction, or what do you think about this USC team? Yeah, I do. I think they're definitely moving in the right direction. I said, first of all, I think they're the only team in the Big Ten that scored 30 plus points in every game. So they're still doing a good job on offense. The issue to me with Lincoln Raleigh's team was how physical can we play on defense? Can we stop the run? Can we create positive, you know, down-and-distance situations? and they're doing a better job of that. You know, they are doing a better job of playing defense.
Starting point is 01:27:52 They're creating a lot of negative plays. They're one of the top teams in a country in sacks and affecting the quarterback. And you can't do that unless you can stop the run because you've got to create positive down-of-distance situations for your defense so that you can give some looks that confuse the quarterback and you can pressure the quarterback. And I think last week against Michigan, you know, they stopped the run, and they did a good job.
Starting point is 01:28:16 Now, can they continue to do that in terms of their ability to play? So for Notre Dame, to me, the number one thing they need to do is they need to be able to control the line of scrimmage and run the ball so that they don't let Southern Cal get in the kind of situations where they can affect their quarterback. Because I think USC is going to score some points no matter who they play. So it's going to be how can we keep from getting beat on the other side of the ball. Yeah, keep them off the field's a good idea.
Starting point is 01:28:45 keep the offense on field, run the rock. Notre Dame should be able to do that. They are a good running team. And once again, Notre Dame, two losses are two Texas, Indiana and Miami, who might be the two best teams in the country at this point. We have no idea. So if they're able to get a win over USC, I think that helps out their college football playoff conversation at the end of the year mightily. And then USC, if they get a win here over Notre Dame and then still go on to win to Big Ten, I mean, they got obviously an incredible season. There's some stats here from Hembo that aren't great about Lincoln Riley traveling. And we've heard Lincoln Riley talk about this. whenever he has to do a 1,000 miles plus of travel, okay?
Starting point is 01:29:17 That's so far, by the way. One in six win loss, 0 and 7 against a spread, five of six losses by one score. The other is 28 point loss in Notre Dame in 2023. They've been talking about this travel a lot. Lincoln has, and I think his teams have not done well. What is that? Why? Because you hear, obviously, Oregon, Dan Lending,
Starting point is 01:29:34 will never talk about it, the travel. You know, and we heard Kirby Smart say, yeah, people use excuses whenever they have the opportunity to do it, and the travel certainly is one. What do you think it is about a team that maybe can't handle the travel? Is it nutrition? Is it health? Is it mindset?
Starting point is 01:29:48 What would you do if your team had to travel like that? I think it's mindset. You know, I used to tell our guys, I don't care if we play in a parking lot on a gravel field. As long as they make it 53 yards wide and 100 yards deep, you've got to be ready to go play. So, you know, none of that shit, none of that outside noise matters about traveling, time of the game, night game, day game. None of it matters. You have to prepare yourself to go out there and exercise. execute no matter what the circumstances are. But I think every time that you sort of create this
Starting point is 01:30:19 fragile mentality, I'm going to call it, about something, whether it's playing on the road, whether it's playing against noise, whether it's traveling across the country, you're just telling everybody in your organization, we've got to build an excuse here. Rather than making it an opportunity to do something special by overcoming adversity, which, you're which is really what you need to be selling as a leader. You know, how are we going to frame this up so we got a chance to overcome these obstacles? That's how you want your competitors to think. Yeah, you don't want your team thinking we have an excuse already, and even our coach is saying it.
Starting point is 01:30:57 You want them to think, hey, we do have an opportunity to do something special. Other teams might lack in the travel. We are actually stronger than the travel. Right, which, and if we can do that, we're creating an advantage for ourselves knowing that most people can't do it. Yeah, we get to flex our shit a little bit. That's it. I always want to flex our shit. You're good at that.
Starting point is 01:31:15 Yeah. Got to. We had a good press release this week, Coach. We had a good press release this week. We learned of a stat or a... I don't even know what the hell it is. Emotional quotient. I assume you know what that is,
Starting point is 01:31:29 but Connor has a question about EQ for you. Yeah, Coach, Big Mike McCarthy blew our minds on Wednesday when he dropped this topic that he wanted to talk about when it came to, you know, NFL QB's emotional quotient and before these last two days NFL films actually had an awesome week because they posted a cool puka video of him miced up there was an awesome video of Danny dimes miced up and then Bryce young was the other one it was incredible just him kind of telling the team you know stick with me they were down early hey we always finish well and kind of just motivating the team and then of course they end up to you know coming back and beating the cowboys but when it comes to Bryce Young. Why do you think right now a lot of people, myself included, are kind of just surprised
Starting point is 01:32:16 by how well, you know, he has bounced back both this season and last season after he got benched. And what is it about Bryce Young that, you know, we or myself have kind of learned over these mic'd ups about what a leader he is and how positive he is and what kind of leader he is that you probably have always known about that we didn't really know? Can you just speak on that, especially when it comes to just his emotional kind of awareness when he's talking to his team and leading these comebacks and things of that nature. Yeah, well, first of all, you know, Bryce has the right psychological disposition to be successful. But I think one of the things that probably impacted Bryce a little bit in the beginning of his career is,
Starting point is 01:32:59 you know, Bryce is a point guard playing quarterback, and he can make all the throws and all the plays. He's athletic. But he's got to have some decent players around him. And I think when he first went to Carolina, they didn't have a very good supporting cast around them, which I think was a bit of a problem. I think now they've gotten some better weapons on offense. He can take advantage of those things. But, you know, to Mike McCarthy's deal is, you know, I always talked to players about being emotional versus playing with emotion.
Starting point is 01:33:30 Playing with emotion is important from a competitive standpoint. And I think Bryce Young does that very, very well. But once you get emotional, you lose your ability to think and make good choices and decisions about what you do, whether it's getting a penalty, forcing a ball, making a bad throw, or whatever. And Bryce Young, to that point, he doesn't do that. You know, he can stay where he needs to stay no matter what happens in the game. He never got frustrated when things didn't go well. He never got way up here when we were having a lot of success.
Starting point is 01:34:01 And he always prepared the same way for every game. And I think that's what he's doing. Now I think it's starting to pay off for their team. Yeah, I like what the Panthers are doing. I like Bryce Young's leadership. That mic'd up for me was a huge deal. Honestly, they called Bryce Young the Steph Curry of basketball or Steph Curry of the draft whenever he was coming out. That was like a big thing.
Starting point is 01:34:20 And I think what they meant was he is a point guard. That is how he plays. He has a good sense of feel and he can change the game and he's athletic and he can make moves. But then as we see the Carolina Panthers thing kind of unfold, we just think, well, this guy's career is going to go into the dumps. They've turned that an entire place around. And I think Bryce's legacy could become one of this guy being, you know, You know, Cam Newton obviously did his thing down there at Carolina, and he was beloved. But if he's able to win there, he'll be beloved in Carolina forever, coach, forever down there.
Starting point is 01:34:46 Yeah, and I'm very, very hopeful. Like, you know, I always root for our players. Obviously, you want to see him do well, just like the coaches that we talked about. But in Bryce's case, you know, he did such a fantastic job for us to see him do well. I think especially after a little bit of a rocky start is, you know, something that I'd love to see happen. Good resiliency. Resiliency. Which is what Coach Smart was talking about with his team.
Starting point is 01:35:11 He was talking about Tennessee. He was talking about Auburn, how they were down and out, and they showed good resiliency. In the second half, they've been playing great, so they've been able to bounce back. Haven't started out the best, which he acknowledged like 14 times. But resiliency is a big trait, man. And we're worried, I think all of us are worried
Starting point is 01:35:24 that it's going to go out the door with all this easy exit stuff that's happening with NIL and transfer. Well, I think that's the challenge. I think, you know, for a team to show resiliency, that's why I like Georgia's team, because you either have that or you don't, and you see more and more teams that don't have that. So the ability to overcome adversity makes you a great competitor,
Starting point is 01:35:45 and they've shown time and time again that they can do that. You know, a lot of teams, you know, don't have the capacity, whatever you want to call it, to have that. So when you have resiliency, and that's what I told Kirby after the Tennessee game, I said, I know you're going to look at the film and think there's a lot of things we can correct. But the one thing your team showed in that game, was resiliency to keep coming back in the game. And that's probably more important at this point in the season
Starting point is 01:36:09 because you can fix a lot of the rest of the stuff. Yeah, Kirby was awesome on our show. Coach, you'd been proud of his performance. Legitimately, I don't want to, like, talk out of pocket here. Kirby was incredible in the first hour. He was great. So it seemed way too comfortable with us. He seems very confident.
Starting point is 01:36:25 He seems very confident. Well, that's a good thing. Oh, I know. I mean, if the players don't think that you're confident and that you can win and that if they believe that if they go out and execute and do their job, they're going to be successful, controlling what they can control. But, you know, the one thing to me that Georgia has created a huge advantage for themselves is the competitive disposition that they've been able to play with this season so far
Starting point is 01:37:00 to overcome adversity. They do bloody Tuesday still. They're still grinding pines out there with Kirby Smart. Last question here for your coach comes from A.J. Hawk in the Thunderdome. Yeah, Coach Kirby was on here earlier and he was awesome. He sounds like he and Lane have a very good relationship, kind of taking jabs back and forth at each other through the media. Now Kirby said Lane would sit next to him in your staff meetings at times
Starting point is 01:37:21 and be whispering in Kirby's ear trying to talk maybe while you were presenting or someone else. Do you remember any of those staff meetings? Did you ever have to separate them like you were a teacher, like in a fifth grade class? come on all right so they did sit next to each other all right lane was like you know a first grader who could not not talk during class
Starting point is 01:37:44 and kirby was always sitting there saying like I've been never talking class you know I mean that's how different they were but they were really good friends and liked each other and I know they text a lot and kid each other a lot about a lot of things right now and have a tremendous amount of respect for each other as well in terms of what kind of coaches they are and the challenge it is to play, you know,
Starting point is 01:38:07 each other. And that was one of the fun things that we had. I think, you know, when our guys started becoming head coaches other places and we had to play all these guys that used to be assistants, you know, it was kind of fun to have to compete against somebody you had a tremendous amount of respect for, but they were also your really good friends. And, but the point I was going to make earlier, you know, both of these guys have created tremendous expectations for their fan base. You know, Lane's done it at Old Miss, Kirby's done it here at Georgia. And what you don't want to happen when that happens, which happened to us, I felt like in our last two or three years at Alabama, is the players start playing not to mess up, a lot of
Starting point is 01:38:52 anxiety that, and I think this may be one of the issues that Georgia gets a slow start, you know, Their players are so anxious and wanting to do well so bad. Badly, they're not cutting it loose and just playing early on. So then whenever it's second half, we got nothing to lose. That's right. And then they play like they're capable of playing. And I think that's created by expectations. And, you know, I mean, I remember the game we lost at Tennessee, you know,
Starting point is 01:39:19 on the last second field goal when we missed a field goal to win the game. You know, our players used to always do this chant when we come out, you know, like in the locker room. and we're getting ready to come out of Tennessee and they're totally quiet and I turn around and say, what the hell's wrong with you guys? And they were nervous.
Starting point is 01:39:38 I can't even do it. I mean, it's a crazy chance. But it was like traditional for them to, this is what we do before we go out and play. Now, all of a sudden we're not doing that because we're so worried about winning the game and there's so much on the line
Starting point is 01:39:52 and there's so much anxiety. And then we just went out and played like, I mean, terrible, you know, in the first half of that game. game. So I see that happening more and more to teams because there's so much social media, there's so much expectation created, there's so much talk about getting in the playoffs. A lot of money. Money. A lot about the money, about how much, you know, I've taught you that. Anyway.
Starting point is 01:40:18 I think the money adds to the expectations, though, obviously you've got a 19-year-old kid getting paid $2 million. And then he also got expectations. He's supposed to win the Heisman. Then also you're supposed to win every game. You can see how potential anxiety starts creep in and the pressure of it all starts away on you a little bit, especially in front of a hundred and some thousand people that these games are. No question, but just think of all the people who didn't pay Indiana's quarterback two million. They wish that it paid them for. Yes, they, yes, they sure. There's no, hey, it's not about the money. It's about how much, ladies and gentlemen, the greatest of all time. A guy who's coaching tree is literally just kind of
Starting point is 01:40:53 what we're following around on college game for the biggest games of every single weekend. And that's Coach Nick Save Ben. There you go. Appreciate it, man. Thank you, Coach. I like he says, I like you guys are football guys. You ask football questions, you think? Can you imagine seeing him up there speaking and seeing Lane Kiffin and Kirby's Smart
Starting point is 01:41:13 and Kirby's just. I've actually been that guy. I got a friend Bobby Carpenter who kind of was like that and I would sit there and he would be, Luke Fickle was our linebacker coach and Bobby would be, you know, drawing spaces on my papers and trying to get my attention. Now you're that guy. I'm paying attention. I'm paying attention up here.
Starting point is 01:41:28 No, there's a time in place for it, obviously. I mean, every single time that we've ever been on a desk together at a remote location, you're trying to spaceships on my paper. It's trying to keep a mood loose, you know, right time? Sure, yeah, I suppose. I mean, you are that guy, though. You can act like, you know, when you were playing, like, oh, you know, I was laser-focused walking and what Coach Fickle was saying.
Starting point is 01:41:48 You are that jackass in every other, you know, realm of life, pretty much. Yeah, okay, I'm not going to deny that. I won't deny it. Yeah, I guess it just depends on the crowd that you're around. And what you may be doing. But you need that sometimes. Yeah. Who do you guys have this weekend, Ohio State?
Starting point is 01:42:02 Wisconsin. Why? Coach Fickle. I know. How are you feeling? It's tough for him. I mean, I feel for him because Coach Fickle is one of the good guys, is great coach, awesome human being.
Starting point is 01:42:11 I just don't know if you can win there right now. Yeah, people want Fickle up in New England. I'm being dead serious. I mean, he and Vrable are best friends. So it would make sense if he did. But yeah, I feel bad for Luke in Wisconsin. I don't know. I don't know what the future holds for him.
Starting point is 01:42:23 But Pat, Coach Sabeam was awesome. I thought he was great. He was loose. seem to have fun. Unbelievable vibes here in Athens, I'm going to say. This has been very spectacular. I love where we're set up at, too. It's like we got sports happening around us.
Starting point is 01:42:36 I think the track field and cross-country team kind of hubbed here until they move into their new facility. What I was told here at the Buttsmere Heritage Hall, they used to house, obviously, the track and field. They're building a brand new facility down the road because current athletic director, big fan of track. So I guess, like, it kind of athletic director loves what they're trying to build a Eugene South
Starting point is 01:42:58 here. Oh, wow. What they're saying. There's some fast people in Georgia. I get it. I understand. You should lean into that, no question. Women's team national champions last year. So I guess, like, they are very much. So I'm watching these guys work out here during a break. We've got some very explosive individuals
Starting point is 01:43:14 on this track back here. A couple of Olympians. We were going down the hall here as I went to the bathroom. Gold medal winners, Olympians, everywhere through the track. I mean, it is nice to learn about the history as opposed to just standing in the stadiums getting sunburns. Now, Let's talk about the games this weekend, the NFL slate. Obviously, a big storyline of the year, especially when it comes to picking games, is when the public is on something, just know that it's probably problematic, especially if it's over 60%.
Starting point is 01:43:41 That rang true yet again last night, right, Tone? I mean, isn't this another situation of that with everybody riding the Pittsburgh Steelers last night or no? No, so actually, last night it closed the Bengals 57%. It didn't get over the 60% to impact that number, but the Bengals closed 57%. So the public and you guys who were on the Bengals last night won. I love everything about that. And AJ, maybe we're seeing the board better than ever.
Starting point is 01:44:09 This is what we need to look at. 82% are on the... Oh, no. All right. Traveling all the way out. That's a high number. Got a great one for that game, actually, too. If the Colts lose to the Chargers and the...
Starting point is 01:44:24 the Patriots win the Patriots are the one seat in the AFC. That is a cool one. That is a cool one. Patriots 76%. Whoa, whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Yeah, the buck 78% Dolphin, 75%. 77% on Dart and Scataboo at plus seven and a half against his Denver
Starting point is 01:44:42 Broncos defense, which might be problematic for a couple of rookies, but hey, they've obviously been awesome. And then the Falcon's 75%. Wow, Cowboys getting 72% at home with the Washington commanders coming to town. Cliff Kingsbury, return in the Texas, 64% on the Carolina Panthers. What have you done for me lately? We love the Panthers and the Jets or ass in London. And then 61% on Seattle. Congrats to them. The Saints getting
Starting point is 01:45:04 60% of the action, getting four and a half. Congrats to New Orleans. I don't think they've ever had that much success this season thus far. And then the Eagles getting 60% against a Minnesota Vikings team. All right, let's go in to make our picks here, AJ, as we wrap up our two here in glorious ESPN. We were both on the Bengals. Congrats to us. We win. Now let's go to London Town. on the Jacksonville Jaguars. Obviously, the Jaguars, a lot of London games over the past. They were maybe going to become the team of London. Now down in Duval, they're obviously building something special. Los Angeles spent the week in Baltimore, and they were playing at Camden Yard. Yep, Camden. Yep. Camden Yards, which is where the Baltimore Orioles are.
Starting point is 01:45:43 Matthew Stafford, with Cleats on, just goes right on to the mind, obviously. It says Clayton Kershaw's last year, well, let me go ahead and give it a go for the high school buddy as well. Throws a strike. And an absolute strike. And we should know. that Matt Stafford's going to do that. The sign that's right in front of them there says, do not go on here with cleats. Okay, just don't do it. He clearly has cleats on, and he's doing his thing. But obviously, the Orioles opened up their building for the Los Angeles Rams to stay on the East Coast for this week before heading to London. They're heading out to London on Saturday, just as if it's a normal game. This is the latest anybody has traveled to a
Starting point is 01:46:15 London game in the history. We'll see how it goes against Jacksonville. For them, I would assume, AJ, with some of their games, they're traveling five, six hours via playing every single week. That's probably how they're viewing it, AJ, if you had to guess. Yeah, I would imagine, yeah, they're treating it like any other week. Let's just, boys, let's not make a big deal of it. Let's get in town and win and go home. We're flying from Baltimore. It's going to be a six-hour flight to London. If we were playing in New England or if we were playing any of these other games, it would be four or five hours, whatever it is. We'll be flying over like it's a regular game. Everybody acts cool.
Starting point is 01:46:42 The time zone's obviously different. Let's figure that out and keep it moving. We don't want to spend forever over there. We'll rather spend it here in a baseball. With that being said, give me the Jacksonville Jaguars plus three and a half in London against the lot. Los Angeles Rams. AJ, who do you got? Okay, with that being said, I tell you what, give me the Rams. I like this Rams, defense, the D-Line especially, and Matthew Stafford too much, so I'm taking the Rams,
Starting point is 01:47:03 minus three and a half. You could take the minus... The RAM. What can I get? You can get a minus three. And also, just so everybody knows, Puka is out. Yeah, Puka has been ruled out. Shepter put a tweet out on that earlier. And Liam Cohen, formerly of the Rams, you would think that maybe there's a little inside
Starting point is 01:47:20 information to keep it close. I'm not saying the Rams don't win. They might, but I like Jags plus three and a half. Raiders, Chiefs, old-score rivalry games. The Chiefs, minus 12 and a half. They're currently the favorites to win a Super Bowl. Patrick Mahomes' favorite to win the MVP. Obviously, Max Crosby's an absolute dog. Gino Smith has been a little bit turnover-worthy.
Starting point is 01:47:37 Pete Carroll said he always wins. They haven't. What do you think happens here, AJ? This one, I mean, 12-and-half seems like so much, but if you don't pick the Chiefs and, you know, they go on and win by 20 or think, all, what's going on? But I'm taking the, you know what? Give me the Raiders.
Starting point is 01:47:49 I like Max Crosby. That dude just can't be blocked. Okay. Hey, here's some updates about the Raiders from Ryan McFadden. For the second straight day, wide receiver, Jacoby Myers, knee toe, and Brock Barr's did not practice. Las Vegas could be without its two top pass catchers, and I didn't tell you that until after you made your pick. I'll take the cheese. Yeah, I'll keep it.
Starting point is 01:48:08 Okay. You can get 11 and a half. Ooh. I'll take that. Even after these injuries? Yeah. That's right. AJ, let's not be getting too crazy.
Starting point is 01:48:18 Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings. Eagle is favored by two and a half, even though it feels like the world is collapsed. out there. In the Minnesota Vikings, it's Carson Wentz or J.J. McCarthy, boys? I believe it's Wentz. For a second straight day post by, the Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy was listed as a limited participant in practice, says Adam Schaefter. Carson Wentz listed as full participants, so maybe we're about a week or two out from J.J. McCarty coming back. Carson Wentz got to go. Who do you like, AJ?
Starting point is 01:48:43 Give me the Philadelphia Eagles here, Pat. It's too good. Me as one. Me as well. Minas one to a half. We get them for. Let's do it. Okay. I like that. I didn't like the Quasi. He didn't know who Justin Jefferson was with a camera, but I did appreciate the way that whole thing went. I guess whenever he shook his hands and his hand just engulfed him, they shit. He's just a big hands for a photographer. Oh, wait.
Starting point is 01:49:02 This is Justin Jefferson. Great acting out of JJ. I've seen him act in a Super Bowl commercial. And obviously, everywhere he is is electrifying. What a great superstar for the league and for the Vikings. I'm happy they did all that. On that note, there's been a lot of negative stuff said in Siri on he can pull all those kibbles and bits for the boys.
Starting point is 01:49:20 Ain't that right, Ty? Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, a lot of people are even throwing more gas on this and saying, hey, guess what? If the Eagles, if the Eagles do lose this week, then maybe A.J. Brown's headed out of town. Maybe a handful of these other guys. So, Sariani's going to have the boys ready to go. And at the end of the day, O-line, D-Line, Howie, you know that. The Patriots, Boston Conner's open for A.J. Brown.
Starting point is 01:49:41 And anybody that's potentially available at the trade deadline, let's go on a run. They might be the number one seed if the Colts lose. I got the Eagles minus two and a half. Saints, Bears. Who do you like, AJ? 60% on the Saints, remember? I will take the Bears at home here. Four and a half.
Starting point is 01:49:54 I would take the Bears as well. Patriots Titans, is there any different lines we need to know about Tone? Patriots Titans there is six and a half or seven. Okay, so I will take the Patriots minus six and a half in Vrable's revenge game. AJ, who do you like? Yep, give me Braves. Give me the Patriots. Okay, Miami Dolphins taking on the Browns.
Starting point is 01:50:14 Any different lines we need there? Two and a half across the board. Okay, I will take the Cleveland Browns minus two and a half against the Dolphins. Sorry about it. Gumpy. Is that a good pick or a bad pick? It's going to be wet and rainy and muddy in Cleveland, so just Dylan Gabriel and two is slinging it in the rain. Or running is what we're thinking is going to happen. I think they're saying like 50-mile-hour win, Gus, potentially on that lake there. I like the Browns in that situation, AJU as well.
Starting point is 01:50:36 Yep, give me the Browns. Carolina Panthers, obviously everybody's high on them because what they were able to accomplish last week at the end of the game. Down 17, they come back and win. Bryce Young looks like a bona fide superstar. And I think they have weapons outside. Jets were ass, but they were taken on Denver Bronwyn. Bronco's defense. That was incredible. What do you like, AJ? And is there any of the lines we can get toned? One and a half across the board. Okay. Give me the Panthers at one and a half here, Pat.
Starting point is 01:50:59 I will do the same. Colts have 82% of the money on them, getting a point in a half as they head over to Los Angeles to take on this Chargers team. Jim Harbaugh has been fantastic on the microphone this week, talking about Jim Ursay and Justin Herbert. Stephen Holder's reporting that Colts coach Shane Steichen says quarterback Kenny Moore will return on Sunday. Hell yeah. Great to have you back. Josh Downs, Charverius Ward, still out alongside Ashton Doolin, wide receiver. That's a lot of wide receiver weapons, Don. And obviously, Mooney's still out from the pregame hit from last week. I like the Chargers, or the Colts getting a point and a half against the Chargers.
Starting point is 01:51:34 Don't love 82% of the money on them. Go ahead, Aetka, too, Pat. Two, okay, yeah. I will. Give us both the Colts at two points here. I've learned my lesson. I can't pick against the Colts right now. 82%'s a big number. Giants at the Broncos.
Starting point is 01:51:47 I like the Giants getting seven and a half. Can we get any more points? No, but you could get less if you want the Broncos at seven, age. Give me the Broncos at seven here, then. Even though I do love what the Giants are doing, give me Broncos. I actually will take the Broncos at seven as well. Washington commanders, Dallas Cowboys. Cowboys favored by one and a half at home.
Starting point is 01:52:05 This is a sunlight game. Mike McCarthy wanted to talk about we didn't get to it. Going to be weird shadows in Jerry World. Will that affect the Washington commanders who aren't ready for it, AJ? Yeah, I think it will. Give me the Cowboys. You get them at Cowboys at minus one. Got it.
Starting point is 01:52:19 I'll take the commanders at what? One and a half. Cowboys coach Brian Schottnheimer said Trivon Diggs had an accident in his home last night. He has a concussion now. He won't play Sunday. Probably hit something while he's walking through the house. What a nightmare situation that is.
Starting point is 01:52:33 So I will take the Washington commanders. And how many points can I get? One and a half. Okay, I'll do that. And then we got Packers cards. Ty. What are your thoughts on Gannon maybe having a big time game two weeks removed from slapping a guy?
Starting point is 01:52:46 Yeah, it is certainly possible. Matt Lafleur basically said, hey, listen, I know these guys for two and four, don't you dare underestimate them. We know what they can do. The Packers have had like 800 different guys play offensive line this year, so hopefully, you know, it'll get a little bit of continuity. Six and a half on the road, I don't know. After a piss poor performance last week,
Starting point is 01:53:06 I kind of like the Packers to bounce back. Okay, you like the Packers to bounce back? AJ, do you? Yep, Packers, my six and a half. I'll take that as well. And then Sunday night football, Falcons, Niners. This Falcons team has become the bell. of the ball, Bijon Robinson, potential MVP candidate that isn't a quarterback, and the
Starting point is 01:53:23 Niners, they're still hurt. Who do you like? How do you like it, AJ? I like Falcons, defense, and Bijon. Give me Falcons. I'll take the Falcons as well, getting two and a half on Sunday night football. Feels like we agreed on a lot. Feels like we probably agreed with the public on a lot. Probably means we're going to have an ass score, but I know it's going to be a great time. Have an incredible weekend, everybody. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living. It's a great weekend of ball. Enjoy every single moment with your friends, your family. And then on overreaction Monday,
Starting point is 01:53:49 we're going to bring the hammer. Dad! Goodbye. Yeah, hey, way to adjust there, boys. Way to adjust there, boys. Bring that thing at the end. It's never at the end. And I don't know why we went there,
Starting point is 01:54:03 but I appreciate the fact that we did. Gumpy was yelling over here. Gumpi was absolutely yelling over here. He was going crazy, which I'm very grateful for. With Amex Platinum, access to exclusive Amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot track side. So being a fan for life
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Starting point is 01:55:28 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. I'm the Pat McAfee Show. I'm A.J. Hawks sitting in for Pat here at his desk in Indy. Feel Good Friday, October 17th. This hour three is going to be a good one, boys. Football! It's what all the fuss is about. Pat, who do you have with you at that beautiful saying? It looks like some country music superstars, I think.
Starting point is 01:55:56 Yeah, we got legends that are selling out Notre Dame and Wembley a couple times in Luke Combs, and then a man who's about to take over the entire globe, a 25-year-old, who has banger after banger after banger at such a young career. It has no fucking idea, okay, that he's 25 years old, and he's living a different life than everybody else right now, Bailey Zimmerman and Luke Holmes. Yeah, boy! Boys. Obviously, we're incredibly thankful that you stopped by, but also thank you so much for committing to do college game day. I know with schedules and everybody's tours. We're very, very thankful you're here. Let's talk about it. You just announced a show tonight here. Yeah, Georgia Theater tonight. He just announced it this morning. Sold out on. That's awesome. You got a world tour going on, right now. My kind of Saturday night where you'll be at Wembley and also anywhere else. Yeah, we'll be at the Ball Stadium in Knoxville, doing Ames, Iowa State. So we're doing, yeah, two nights at Wembley, two nights of Sling Castle in Dublin,
Starting point is 01:56:57 Murrayfield and Glasgow, all over the place, man, there it is. Let's go. Nice. We're off. I want to let you know. I did ask him beforehand about what information I should have, and he goes, I'm a dad, dude. You should have somebody else. Shout to Cappy right there on cue to have all the answers, obviously, an entire operation, making magic happen.
Starting point is 01:57:17 And Bailey, we'll certainly dive into the world that you're in right now. But Luke, seemingly, was at your time not that long ago, brother. It feels like you've had a meteoric rise quickly. I think, obviously, at App State, whenever you came to college game day, whenever we were up there, you were doing arenas at that point. And then you've kind of just continued to grow. How has it been on this rocket ship? And how much do you still love what you do at this stage versus maybe at the beginning?
Starting point is 01:57:42 It's been crazy. When I was his age, I mean, I was in, I'd just been in Nashville. hadn't signed my record deal yet and the last time i played georgia theater was at 26 so that would have been a year a year from now this guy was my last time i played georgia theater 900 see theater that now you're selling out wembley like you're the fucking beetles good for you brother honestly it's been fun to watch because you're a sports guy so we appreciate sports people making it in there they don't suck we'll dive into that Bailey let's talk about you now obviously i met you whenever you were opening for morgan yeah uh then you just
Starting point is 01:58:16 did an amphitheater tour. You're on your way to be able to do a range. You're in the middle of it. And I think the way we talked to him last time about how music industry has changed so much with what the writers make and how the businesses, you're kind of growing up in this era of the digital era. How has it been? And how much have you enjoyed the career thus far? Oh, man. It's, I really have social media and digital to thank for my career, I feel like, because without that, I tell everybody four years ago in like 2020, 21, I was living in my mom's trailer, and I had never sang in my life. And I just tried to sing one day. Music is awesome. And I put it on social media, dude, and it just blew up overnight, and I quit
Starting point is 01:58:58 my job, and then all of a sudden, I just did with Luke Combs, and we just had a number one in four different countries. And we're here on, you know, game day. And so it's like, it's honestly been everything to me yeah i will say i enjoy the hell out of your brand new freshness and feel and appreciation of the entirety how many uh moments has there been like opening for morgan i assume you look in the mirror and say what the hell is this you crushed it though brother oh thanks dude i tell everybody that is one of my like the biggest pinch me moment was when i got the call that i was going on tour with morgan and it was just like man this is just like this really doesn't feel like real life it felt like just i was living in a dream and it it's felt like that sense it's
Starting point is 01:59:41 truly you nailed it though and you need know that luca do you talk to any of the young guy you're o g now dude you got kids now yeah dude yeah it's crazy you think about yeah whenever you guys make backup plan which is the song you're talking about being number one in four different uh countries or whatever do you give game what is the advice to kind of younger guys yeah i mean i i told bailey you know when when we met i'm i try to be because i feel like there was kind of in our business a little bit of a lack of like artists to artist conversations that were real open. So I always try to be like, hey man, it's seriously, dude, like if you call me, I'll pick the phone up. It doesn't matter what time it is.
Starting point is 02:00:18 I've been there. He does. And like if you need me, like I needed somebody and there were times when there was nobody there for me. So I appreciate being able to be that person for somebody else because I know how lonely it can feel. I know how strange it can feel. I know how unordinary, unnormal it is to be in the position that we're in, especially when you're 25 years old or 22 years old. Yeah, and the creative mind is always something that's different than everybody else.
Starting point is 02:00:45 Blessing in the Christ. Yeah, it really is something that like not everybody really understands it. So to like have him as like just somebody that I can talk to just about the certain things that others wouldn't understand, it's like, yeah, it's cool to have somebody in my corner, you know, and really wants to like actually help me when I go through the ups and downs. of this whole, like, being famous or whatever. Hey, that's a team. That's good team.
Starting point is 02:01:08 That's a sports guy. He's a baseball guy. He's a baseball guy. He's a baseball guy. He's a biggest football guy. He said, where he's from? Didn't really get into football, got into baseball. And then obviously he did the college game day at JMU with the Joe Bros.
Starting point is 02:01:21 There's like 30,000 people there. Oh, too. You're Moxie. You heard tone right there. You just heard the, oh, yeah, right there? Yep. That guy became a fan of you that night or that morning, your Moxie brother.
Starting point is 02:01:30 Your absolute moxy was attacking. Thanks, thanks. So you need to know that. And before we said, send it back to the boys for questions for you, I need to ask you. One of the last times you're on the show, the Carolina Panthers were like the worst ever. Like literally they were down. They were down bad. Yeah, they were bad. They were down bad. Owner was throwing ice on people. Local buildings and stores were writing signs to the owner. I mean, it got bad. And you said,
Starting point is 02:01:52 hey, I'd like to be proud to be fan one time in my life. How about now, bro? You guys are all the way back. How do you feel? So full circle, dude, the last time I was on, I was pretty critical of the team. As a fan would be, I'm no different than anyone else. So, as you know, the devastation that Hurricane Helene brought to the area of the country where I'm from, I put together, me and Eric Church put together a charity show, which Bailey actually came and performed. That's where I met Luke, actually. Yeah. First time we met him.
Starting point is 02:02:20 So I got his phone number and everything, yeah. Yeah. We did it at Bank of America Stadium, home of the Carolina Panthers. So who I run into? David Tupper. yes we had a great conversation we talked for an hour chummed it up we chummed it up we got along great and at the end he was like just don't go you know i saw it you know i was like god i was like god he didn't you know i was just like he saw it he saw it but you know what we had a great
Starting point is 02:02:53 conversation about it we're in good graces man and you were and you were speaking the truth and that i was speaking the truth and it's up again dude i'm no different than anyone else man I'm a fan. Okay, I was literally in Charlotte yesterday. I got inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall for. Let's go. Thank you guys. Thank you. Congratulations. Well earned. So I'm there. I'm at the hotel. The kids are at the Science Center playing around. Everybody's getting ready. So I call up, you know, Dave Nelson at the team. I'm like, hey, I'm in the hotel and board. Can I pop over to practice? What's going down? He's like, pop over to practice. So they're telling me when you know in the couple years previous when they were when things were not looking up at all
Starting point is 02:03:34 in any direction he's like we have a phone line that fans will just call and just be like you guys sting right he's like he's like but those are like the best fans yes because they're the people that actually care i'm one of those fans i just didn't know there was a phone number now i do yeah now i know there's a phone show instead of the phone number instead of the phone number yeah but i don't have to now dude because we're up big time and separate I think he has changed the way he has appeared publicly. Dude, they were so incredible for that whole charity show that we did there. Donated it all, right?
Starting point is 02:04:06 Oh, dude, they donated the work, donated the building, they footed the tax bill, everything. Man, we raised $24.5 million that night. A lot of that was because of them. A lot of that was because of them because guys like this showed up for us. But yeah, huge, huge. Yeah, that is huge. And you know what? Maybe the football god said, hey, you know what?
Starting point is 02:04:22 Maybe this guy isn't the biggest, rudest owner of all time. Dude, he's been great, man. He's been seriously so great. You've been great, too. And you know what else has been always good? Loddy, last cold, baby, my heart. It never gets old, baby, I love it. You still sing? We still, obviously, you have to sing that over that.
Starting point is 02:04:44 I do. I'd sing it every night. I love it. You still punt the... Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll do a punt tonight, big punt tonight. I feel like you got pretty good extension. I'm going to try to hit this.
Starting point is 02:04:54 I'm a limber cat, you know, and that wasn't it. Prove it. I mean, that wasn't it, but that was it. You know what I mean? Get up there. You're Kaki's cool, boys? You're putting any cups on stage? What is your stage presence like?
Starting point is 02:05:08 Because Luke is a showman. If you have not been, this guy right here is going to give you everything he has on this stage. I'm at least going to come out. Very sweaty. I'm going to be very sweaty. I'm going to be very sweaty. And there are symbols that he's hitting the shit of that don't need to be hit the way he's doing his way. And he's doing his way.
Starting point is 02:05:26 Full showman. How about you, Vail? What do you think your stage presence would be described? He's got way more energy than me, by the way. He's like 10x me. He's 25, dude. Yeah, that's 10x me, you know. Are you comfortable on stage now at this?
Starting point is 02:05:38 So, standing still has always made me super nervous because I think too much. So that's why I always am bouncing. I bounce around and I'm just like running and singing and dancing and trying to just like not be nervous. And that's the way I do it. I just run around and, yeah, crazy. Get the energy out, baby. I come in on a rope swing last year for a tour.
Starting point is 02:05:57 Yeah, that is awesome. It was sick. Yeah, it is sick. You need to see more of that, though. AJ's back in the Thunderdome, has a question for your boys. Yeah, this is for both you. Luke, maybe you'd go first. But from when you started, I guess, your stage presence, you're performing.
Starting point is 02:06:09 It's all about reps, I would imagine. How much better are you now, I guess, than when you first started performing live on stage for people? I think you have to think about it a lot less now. Right. It becomes like muscle memory, like anything, right? Like you just, you know what to do, you know when to do it, you know how to do it. And then there even becomes, you know, as when you do a tour, you know, the set is generally somewhat built in. I mean, there are spots where things can move around.
Starting point is 02:06:36 You know, I'm not sure exactly how Bailey does it. But that's kind of the way we have like a fixed, some points that we want to kind of hit and we can move things around in the middle. And so for me, it's even sometimes the talking points can be like, okay, when we get here, I know that after this song I'm going to talk. And for the next two songs, I'm not going to talk in between. But then all that stuff becomes kind of pre-programmed and it allows you to just go. And I think the craziest thing, I don't know if Bailey feels this way, but for me, like the fans bring the signs, you know, it's like game day. Not as many as game day, but they bring the signs and they're like, Bailey, you're cute, you know, whatever it is. Bailey, you're cool, you know, all that stuff. And I want, I see the signs. And sometimes people are real hyped about the signs. I'm in the middle of singing Fast Car and it's like there's already a million words I'm trying to like, I'm not ever remembering them, right? Like I'm not in my mind. going what's the next word what's the next word it's like when you start a like a cassette tape and it's going and if but if i look at a sign and start to read it yep it's like and i'm like i don't
Starting point is 02:07:40 even know where i'm at in the song what song i'm in what where are we even if i start reading the sign during a song i'm cooked dude i'm done so you had no sign going forward guy no i love the signs i just got to read them you love adversity you love it but i just can't read them until a song, like in-between songs. I can read them, but during a song, I'm like, oh, man, if I start reading that. All right, I got it, I got it. Sign-time is in-between songs. In-between songs. Yeah, sign-time for the
Starting point is 02:08:07 Luke-com shows is in-between songs. Because if you do it during a song, you're potentially ruining the concert for everybody. Yeah. So let's just let's make sure, and I want to let you know, I have the same problem. I'll be talking and the brain is just kind of doing its thing. And then if I see something, like something will pop up
Starting point is 02:08:22 on this screen, for instance, and I'll see it, and all of a sudden that is now just in the sentence. And it's like, That doesn't make any sense at all. Bailey, are you reading signs while you're out there that you're cute? I would say my thing that I've had is I'm singing a song and everybody's singing and then somebody's trying to like tell me where they met me and their story about why they love this song I'm singing and they're like trying to tell me that and I'm singing the song. And then I'm like, it's like during the songs.
Starting point is 02:08:51 How are you hearing around? Like because I'm watching, I'm like, you know, I'm like, you know, singing to them. And then they're like, they're like, my cousin loves you, and I love this song, and my name is, and I'm like, dude, I can't have a conversation right now. But you're like, you're like, you're pretty sure. Or you've got the in-hears, like Pat's Rock and the In-Ears, and they don't know you've got the in-ear. Yeah. So they're like, oh, well, he can just hear me because, like, I can't see that he has something in his ears. Yeah.
Starting point is 02:09:18 And they're like, this guy's rude, and he's not saying anything. I know he can hear me. He's right here. I feel so rude. I have my conviction about it. I'll feel like I need to go back over and be like, hey, I'm so sorry. I just can't hear what you're saying because I'm like trying to like play the show. There's going to be a lot of those moments where you're going to feel like an asshole
Starting point is 02:09:35 and people are going to be able to portray you as an asshole. And then you just got to remember deep down, if the full context was given, you're not an asshole. We're good dudes. We're all good dudes. I mean, I hope so. I try to be. But I have these for Game Day, you know? Yeah.
Starting point is 02:09:47 So we go through a lot of crowds in Game Day. Same thing you're talking. Yeah. Somebody comes up wants to tell me a very good story. I know it's just by the sign of the way. their face looks. And I'll stop and tell them thank you. They're talking right to my face. We're this far away. And you're like, oh, man. That was awesome. That was awesome. There's three people talking in my ear at that time that are in a truck somewhere and I can't see, but we feel like
Starting point is 02:10:14 assholes. But we got to do it. We got a job to do too. Yeah. People need to understand that, you know? For you full time, how long have you been doing music now? Full time? Gosh, probably 13 years. Good for you. Damn. I did want to say, man, dude, I grew up. I think everybody did, but I was like 16, got my license. First song I played, Luke Combs.
Starting point is 02:10:34 Long neck, guys. Really, truly. Hey, maybe you should cover that. It feels like that's right in your... Go for us, go. That's what I was... I was singing around campfires when somebody told me, hey, you can sing. I'm like, really.
Starting point is 02:10:48 And I was singing Luke Combs, man. Hell yeah. I'm happy to be here for this. Yeah. It's pretty cool deal. I'm not trying to fan girl, but... That's pretty cool. I'm sure about this guy.
Starting point is 02:10:57 They're using his name for Super Bowl halftime show shit. This guy. Think about that. Like how many musicians could do a Super Bowl halftime show is what people say? And then your name got dropped into that. Do you know, how old are you? 35. That's awesome, bro.
Starting point is 02:11:10 In my prime, guys. Yeah, here we go. Here we go. Still got it. Fuck, you go. Look at Flacco, guys. Look at Flacco. Amen.
Starting point is 02:11:18 Well, said. The icy hot bowl, dude. It was the icy hot bowl, dude. It showed out, didn't it? It was great. Yeah. He threw about 69.8 miles, yards in his last throw. Speaking of miles, $30 off tickets right now with code Pat McAfee.
Starting point is 02:11:33 You can buy Luke Combs and Bailey Zimmerman concert tickets and everything. Doesn't matter if you're a new or repeat purchaser, $30 off with code Pat McAfee at our friends at C-Keekeg. They're going to thank that. I owe them about 20 reads. I have not said that in a long time. They're going to be very thankful I did that. Tie. There it is right there.
Starting point is 02:11:52 Boom. BATMCA fee. $30. off for the boys. Now, there are some restrictions apply, which I think are if they're less than $30,000. And then you guys need to figure out your fees shit. Without doubt. You guys didn't figure that shit
Starting point is 02:12:05 up. I think you're all trying to figure it out. It's all, dude. Yeah, it's. I just work here, man. I literally just worked here. I literally just worked here. Ty has a question for you back in Indy. Yeah, for both of you guys, for what you're going to do tomorrow for game day, like, the performance. How much, like, will your prep differ for when you would
Starting point is 02:12:23 like do a concert? Like, will you just kind of go up there and just fucking rip that on the run, or will you still have to, like, kind of prepare like you would going into, like, a full set? Oh, dude, I'll let you take this one. Rip it. I would answer with Rip it, yeah. I'm just going to wing it. That's where, honestly, I've gotten to this point right here, right now, by winging it.
Starting point is 02:12:45 So I'm just going to keep doing that. It's like, I don't know, it's like this, would Steph Curry need to warm up to shoot a three point at the house? Yeah. I'm not saying he's going to make it. We're professional. At the hat. You know, people say I got a Marcus Canby jump shot.
Starting point is 02:12:59 Oh, you mask great. Not that it's good. It's just kind of a weird. It's just kind of a strange. Did you go elbow out there? I kind of go elbow out a little bit, yeah. Do you make it, though? No.
Starting point is 02:13:10 No. Not at all. No. Are you dunk? Occasionally. For sure, dude. Yeah, you guys can dunk. I like bail out of you.
Starting point is 02:13:18 I can't. I can't. Bro, he's got the gold-plated air forces on right now. I don't know if those are easiest to jump. Yeah, I mean, he's, Honestly, I feel pretty, I feel pretty good at these. He's looking, he's been watching track practice, too. I think he's like, I think he's ready to roll.
Starting point is 02:13:32 I think, I think he should think of, hold on, Baintley, we're getting down all right now. Oh, sweet. Paying into the kids. Look at the, look at the, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, hell yeah. I don't know if that's blurry or not, but that is. It's looking good, though.
Starting point is 02:13:47 Hey, look at the watch, the necklace. He's looking, he's looking. That's what we first bonded over. You and me? Was our presidential bands. hell yeah bro i appreciate we really made it man yes we did we made it yes we did we're staying in this building right now i mean you made it a lot more than me for sure and i'm going to try to get me back to center here uh certainly a little bit lower and off i like it this is nice man
Starting point is 02:14:12 it's like the production truck boom there it is there it is if you need anybody for your shows i can certainly feel you know wembley get me on his sticks over there connor has a question for you boys back in Indianapolis? Yeah, boys. First of all, Luke, you know, go App State. Hopefully they're doing well. It is good to see the Panthers are back, even though the Patriots beat him 42 to 6 a couple weeks ago. Great game. Great game for us both. But one of our guys in here is a massive country music fan, and he said, hey, you don't ask this question. I'm going to be real pissed. Both of you guys were with Big X the plug, and he wanted to know what that was like and also I wanted to know
Starting point is 02:14:52 did Big X the plug cut his teeth in Nashville to kind of get in with you guys and country music because that's a big deal for some of these country music guys like hey did these people even get to Nashville to learn about country music and but what really was it like working with Big X
Starting point is 02:15:08 the plug? He was I feel like I'm like offhandedly Mike very limitedly responsible for the part of this thing not in any official capacity. Thank you for doing that we love it. So the Post Malone album, the F1 Trillions, getting made.
Starting point is 02:15:24 I wrote six songs on that records. We were there one night. And, you know, a lot of his guys have produced all kind of different stuff. Hip-hop stuff. They're producing this record. And it's like late nights. You know, we'd write two, three, four songs in a night kind of thing from 8 o'clock till I'd be leaving at like two in the morning.
Starting point is 02:15:40 Like, guys, I got to go. I got kids. And like, we're starting another one. I'm like, I'm out. Like, I'm not. Like, my kids are waking up at seven, whether or not we write another song right now or not. So I got to go. But so I'm sitting there, we're talking hip hop, and I'm like, got to hear this guy, big X-a-plug.
Starting point is 02:15:56 Texas, dude, got to play it. So they play it. They're all getting the phones out. Who is this guy? We've got to look them up. Got to look them up. Next thing I know, they're hitting me up. Hey, reached out to that guy, he wants to do something together.
Starting point is 02:16:08 And I'm like, okay, so try to link up with him. He comes to my show in Houston a few years ago. Great guy. Awesome. Awesome. Rock's the big guy look, which I'm a big fan of. Maybe you need to get a grill, too. You think I should go shirt off?
Starting point is 02:16:21 And grill. I've been trying to have that shirt off thing for a while. I've been trying to tell you that, but you just won't listen, man. Just have, just go full off, just let it ride. Yeah, yeah. They would love it. I think you'd get the tap. I would love it.
Starting point is 02:16:34 You know, maybe you think like a half the body, that black tap, you know. Just a full, just a full inked out. Basically like this on this entire side. I'll do the quarters, like the quarter sleeve too. Yeah, I think it would be a good idea. Like the half short sleeve look. But no, he's great. All the stuff I did with him was done.
Starting point is 02:16:49 it was done in town he's been in Nashville a lot doing that I'm not sure what Bailey's experience was like he can tell you for sure yeah I feel like since he's from Dallas Texas he's like already like really country and like it's from from that
Starting point is 02:17:06 like background already and then I had already loved his music and I was thinking man I saw this interview where he was like I'm going to do a country project and I thought man how cool would that be if he if I did a song with him yeah it'd be freaking awesome and then like three months later he sends me this song and then like five minutes later
Starting point is 02:17:25 we had it done tell me how the process goes when he sent you a song do you the uh you write or they already says like hey this would be the part that you would be on yeah so they had sent me a song that was already written and it had been written for like two or three years I think and I just cut the hook and it was already done I think we messed with it a little bit throughout the thing but like when he sent me the song on my phone I had my vocal cut in like six minutes. I was like, in the studio, I was like, dude, I am not letting this. I love this song. Like, I've wanted to do this big X the plug thing for like a long time. So yeah, I just like jumped in. And then I think that actually ended up being like the final thing we did.
Starting point is 02:18:03 Okay. So let's talk about you knowing, you just listen to his music and you like that? Yeah, I was just a fan, really, to be honest. And so then when we're in that post thing, I bring it up, everybody's looking it up. And then those guys reached out to him. And they're all, you know, they're all legit in that production hip hop world. So when they reached out and just said, hey, we would love to do something together if you're ever around town. That's a cool community, you guys are in.
Starting point is 02:18:28 It feels like your business is a good community. I'm sure there's assholes in it. I'm sure there's people that you ever... It's like anything. Yeah, I'm sure there's people that everybody hates. Yeah. But from my understanding and the people that I've met, obviously in your guys' world,
Starting point is 02:18:38 through game day and through college football, basically being the connection, it feels like you guys have a great community. The country music space. Yeah. Like, it feels like you guys take the festivals serious. like whenever like CMA will have a fest or something or there'll be some country music something I mean Morgan Wallin's uh staying in my boots fest whatever
Starting point is 02:18:54 feels like you guys show up for each other in country do you feel that oh I agree yeah I would agree for sure it's awesome it's like the best part of country music is that that always done like that or is it your generation no I think it's no I think it's always been like that I think it's you know if you go see a country show at Bridgestone arena you don't know who's going to be there because it's like I've done I've probably played there six times just from people going hey i'm playing bridgestone tonight pop in and sing a song with me and it's like all of a sudden out of nowhere i'm like okay oh yeah holy shit they're screaming dude yeah tone tone has the last question for you boys back in indy yeah Bailey uh pat mentioned
Starting point is 02:19:33 earlier when you got you were you were with joe bros at jm you i was like that guy has way more pizzazz i need to start listening him so i just wanted to give you a shout out on that and then luke yeah dude thank you so much thanks it was awesome thanks thanks thanks thanks And then, Luke, I just got tickets to Notre Dame, so I'm pumped for that. But I wanted to ask you about Lollapalooza. My daughter listens to that and the Alex Warren cover that you guys did together. It was awesome. Did you know that it was going to go as viral as it did?
Starting point is 02:20:03 I didn't. Honestly, I didn't. I think that my team was really great about setting that up. Obviously, I had heard the song was familiar with it. I mean, it's such a massive song in the summer, right? I mean, it was just such a huge tune. And his first single and everything, and Alex is such a great kid. That's the first time I had met him was that day.
Starting point is 02:20:22 And he was kind of closing out the other stage across the way before we went on. And so slipped over, come in the green room, you know, played my bands in there. And we worked it up with steel guitar. And so it's kind of a different version than the version that he's playing. You know, I didn't want it to be like the same thing. Yeah, you don't want to rip it exactly. Thing, right. So we come out and I get home the next day and my team's like, have you seen the videos?
Starting point is 02:20:46 of the song and it's like just like millions of likes on your views and I'm like I just did not expect like not that it's not great but I'm just I feel like I'm not the I'm not the guy that gets social media going You know what I mean? Like it's like You see me on there
Starting point is 02:21:02 What do you mean? Fast car you brought the entire This guy's literally Luke Combs He's like literally Luke Combs You're going to Wembley bro Yeah you get the people going bro Oh yeah On that note maybe cover Baby Shark Oh yeah
Starting point is 02:21:15 You're talking serious cash, dude. Kids, kids' songs? Yeah, you're talking big bucks. You don't even know what that is. I don't, well, I know what baby shark is. Okay, you're 25. Not because I have kids, though. Because he was a child when that came out.
Starting point is 02:21:31 A baby shark came out. Right, yeah. I was born in 2000. Oh, fuck. This child that's taking over the industry and this old-ass man right here are both going to be on. college game day tomorrow. He has a show tonight at Georgia Theater. He announced this morning.
Starting point is 02:21:49 It's sold out. 900 tickets should be something special. Obviously, our guy, Bailey here, has got an album tour coming out. He just dropped an album. Check that out. The dude is awesome. He's awesome. He's 25 years old. He is. He is awesome. His audience are immaculate. He has no idea about the world. I don't think. It's great. I think that's a good thing. I like it that way. I like it that way. I'll go PSA for Bailey Zimmerman right now. If you're a fan out there, thinking about buying a ticket you can know that if you buy this guy's ticket he's gonna fucking appreciate it
Starting point is 02:22:20 and on that note so you should feel good about buying a ticket to a Bailey Zimmerman concert yeah he'll put on a show and so will you brother and we thank the hell out of you guys for that and I can't wait to see you guys tomorrow morning let's go maybe tonight
Starting point is 02:22:32 yeah maybe tonight might need a shotgun guest nine o'clock you know might need a guest to come out nine o'clock shotgun start maybe start with the shotgun start shotgun start shotgun start Shotgun start.
Starting point is 02:22:44 Nine o'clock shotgunning on a Friday. Once again. I would join. Yeah, we know. We know you. We know you would, daily. It's 25. Maybe we get Kirby out in the visor.
Starting point is 02:22:55 He can rip shotgun down. Wait a minute. If he does that. Call him up. Hammer, Ole Miss, if he does that. This is how it starts. This is how it starts. This is how all great ideas are done.
Starting point is 02:23:09 There's a chance both of these guys, and he just went into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. There's a chance both. These guys are in every Music Hall of Fame whenever their careers are said and done. We appreciate the hell out of your time. Good luck tomorrow. Early morning, obviously.
Starting point is 02:23:20 I'm sure tonight if you're doing a shotgun start at 9 p.m. You're going to be well-rested today. Oh, absolutely. Oh, yeah. We'll shout it off there. Yeah. Yeah, we'll just come out, shotgun and a beer, it'll be in the show.
Starting point is 02:23:31 Ladies and gentlemen, Luke Combs, Bailey, Zimmer. Yeah, boys. Are they on tour together right now? Do we know? No. Well, I mean, not together, but is Bailey going to play or open for Luke tonight? There's probably a chance. Yeah, I would, you could probably make that
Starting point is 02:23:47 assumption that he might be there. They're probably going to play their number one song together potentially. Hey, I know Bailey played, I didn't ask him, he played at Ohio Stadium, Ohio State. Oh, really? I think when he was open for Morgan a couple years ago. Was that the biggest O.H of all time? I've heard there's another person that said they got the biggest O.H. of all.
Starting point is 02:24:03 Yeah. I'm not sure. I don't know the person's name. Probably Carpenter. I actually probably has, but I don't know the person that actually really claims that. I don't know who that person is. You don't know. I don't either. I don't know what you're talking about. Moby makes sense. Luke's tour is doing, he's going to, I believe, Ohio Stadium, and he's doing Notre Dame, and he's doing Oklahoma. He's doing all the big college football
Starting point is 02:24:22 state. Well, I mean, he's going to Jack Trice. I don't know. Yeah, he's going to, yeah, he's going to Iowa State. Yeah, why aren't we going to Kinnock? He could wave at the kids. I could before the, you know, intermission or something. Hey, I get it. I get it. Iowa State fans love Luke Combs, just like everybody does. Do you? Yeah, who doesn't? Iowa State. Well, of course, but I got, I like when he booed him the second he mentioned Iowa State. Had to. He probably thought you were booing him for a minute. Maybe, but his instinct. I wasn't Boone him. I love Luke Combe. Who's the Iowa play this week? Sorry.
Starting point is 02:24:47 Penn State. Oh, my gosh. I did know that. Yeah, at home. Interim coach bump, you think, for Penn State? Yeah, I mean, I'm a little worried about it. They've looked so bad, you know, that it's like at some point, they have a lot of good players still, so you would think it would maybe go the other way. But, I mean, shit, we heard Signetti say it yesterday. Hey, I was a tough place to play, though.
Starting point is 02:25:06 That's tough at night. And they have a quarterback making his first start, which I think definitely bodes well for Iowa. Grunkumar. There's no end, but yeah. Grunkumar. He's from right in around Dublin, Ointangy, right by me. About 10 minutes away from my room. Olinji?
Starting point is 02:25:22 He's a stud, yeah. Is that a river? Yeah, there is the Ointagia River runs right through. Oh, no, I'm thinking of the Hoogic-Coochee. I mean, that's something too, but there is an Ointangie River, yes. There's an Ointangier River Road, close to where I'm at. But, yeah, I don't know. Who's Penn State in a hire, though, for real?
Starting point is 02:25:38 Terry Smith. He's her interim. I mean, he could. He has every opportunity to win it. That's the first. What if he does win out? What if he wins out and then they have to hire? I don't know, but it's a very...
Starting point is 02:25:47 19 million a year? That's a very important hire because you can't go... You can't fire a coach who's winning 10, 11 games a year. And win seven? Yeah. Yeah. You can't even fire a coach. There can't be any drop-off.
Starting point is 02:26:00 A coach has to... No, absolutely zero drop-off. They have to come in and if he wins 10 games, that's a failure for them. You've got to get to the... You've got to get to the playoffs and make a run. Yeah. But James Franklin last year was a couple plays away from being a national champion. Correct. That's wild. The names that obviously are getting thrown out are rule at Nebraska,
Starting point is 02:26:20 Matt Campbell, Iowa State. And then, you know, like there's a lot of people saying like, hey, you got to at least call Sabin. You got to at least call Urban. You got to at least call Marcus Freeman. Now, he's definitely not leaving there, but you got at least call him. You got at least call Lane. Like you got to at least put out feelers to because when you fire someone who's winning 10, 11 games a year, you have to make a splash. Yeah, hey, Pat, tomorrow on game day live on set. You should ask saving like, hey man, if Penn State calls, are you going to entertain that? Are you going to at least answer the call?
Starting point is 02:26:48 So Ms. Terry's here this weekend, actually. So everybody always tells me like, hey, that question would be directed towards Ms. Terry first. So I did. I literally, she was in the back of the room as I turned around. I'm like, Ms. Terry, $20 million a year, $30 million
Starting point is 02:27:03 a year, you get back into coaching, and she laughed and said something about a credit card debt and said that's going to have to keep going. And I laughed so hard. I was like, that's the greatest answer. I've ever heard. So I don't, like, I don't know the reality of that. And I think Coach Saban is loving his life being retired. He's still in ball because of game day. But I think he golfs a couple times a week. You know, I think he doesn't have the pressure of having to wake up and know if his team's going to show up. I don't think he has to renegotiate with players every single. There's a lot of things that he has kind of mentioned. He's 70, what, three now? 73 years old. So, I think he enjoys retirement. I think he is enjoying retirement. And I think he does. He has a couple speaking gigs a week around the country. I mean, he is...
Starting point is 02:27:44 Car dealerships, he's living. He's doing his life right now. That's why whenever his name was mentioned that he was going to run the college commission or whatever, I was like, that's a lot of work. That's a lot of work for a guy that just gave up a lot of work for the first time in his life. You know, he was committed to ball
Starting point is 02:27:59 for the last, what, 40, 50 years of his life. So I don't know if Sabin's possible, but, I mean, maybe Pat Kraft gives Ms. Terry a call and says, we'll give you an open check and we'll take care of every credit card for the rest of your life, maybe. But then you start thinking about like Kurt Signetti, right? Like Kurt Signetti's situation.
Starting point is 02:28:17 Everybody thought he was going to get hired. And then Indiana goes, nope, I don't think that's the case. I assume there's a couple coaches over the next few days that are going to be signing new deals. Yeah. I think. And it's only going to be able to happen at the schools that have real backing and have like a real chance, you know? And I think that's what's so big about the Indiana deal for Kurt Signity. It's like that's $93 million to a coach, okay?
Starting point is 02:28:41 So what else do they have for players and for facilities and everything? They're like, we're very committed. They are very committed to everything. The president, Pam Witten, Wooten, oh. Miss Pam, the president, okay, she is somebody I met whenever we were down there. Witten, Ms. Pam Witten, I apologize for getting that wrong. I got a chance to meet her whenever a game day was down there. And after I picked Indiana, I got a text from her, you know?
Starting point is 02:29:06 That was like, hey, Pat, thank you for the belief in what we're doing here. We're very thankful, obviously, that you're in the same state as us and, like, a very positive thing. And she's like, we are very all in down here, both academically and athletically, and we think the athletics can fuel the other. And just thank you for believing in us, basically, is what she said, because I have since watching this entire thing. And this is just another way to publicly prove that they're all in. And Indiana is for real. And it's like, this isn't just a, you know, a flash in a pan here in two years. They didn't get lucky here.
Starting point is 02:29:35 It's like they're all in. They understand how special Signetti is. and the evaluation process and getting the right guys, and they got the boosters to be able to stick in there. So good for Indiana up into the right, but there's going to be some places that are going to get exposed for not going all in, and that's when you're going to see these coaches go to other jobs.
Starting point is 02:29:51 You know, that's when you're going to see Penn State become very, very open for people if they're at a place that maybe isn't as all in, which sucks, but it's just the reality of the business at this point, AJ. Yeah, and you can't, you truly can't compete at the highest level if your team is, your school is not all in. That's why we see, like, what, Votech, they come out publicly committing, what, 10 years, $200 some million. And SIG even said it yesterday on the show.
Starting point is 02:30:14 They also have money, like, whatever the pool is to pay your assistance. That's a huge deal as well, because I need a bunch of cash to bring in the best coaches. They're going to call me my O&D coordinators, the guys that are going to eventually be groomed to be the next head coaches at big places all over the country. There's some programs that send us, you know, like full back. We're very lucky that these schools give us stuff. I would like to let that be known. I would just like to let that be known. I'm very thankful for the swag bags that schools give to send to the Thunderdome or give to us the game day whenever we come to town and everything like that.
Starting point is 02:30:44 And when people send stuff to us, there's normally like a presentation from some schools. Like, hey, here's a box with a light with a story, like a whole thing, you know? Or like, hey, here's a suitcase that is like very expensive with our shit in it. Or like, hey, here's a Jordan bag with all this stuff in it. Then there are some places there just cardboard boxes. And they send like a bunch of stuff. And you can tell that the thought is like, we're not spending money on bags. We're spending the money on players, and we're spending the money on coaches here.
Starting point is 02:31:09 And then there's other places that are like, hey, here's a three-piece suitcase luggage, and here's this. It's like, oh, they got, these people have extra money just laying around to send to a Thunderdome in Indianapolis, Indiana, hoping we see it in the mail. Not guaranteeing, just hoping that we see it. And it's like, it's a wild time in college ball right now. Indiana's for real, though, AJ. Feels like the Big Ten's got a real one down there in Bloomington and Signetti's a beast. He knew when he was on with us yesterday. Right? You know?
Starting point is 02:31:36 Yeah. Yeah, 100%. I appreciate that. They texted me like four minutes before it got announced publicly, thanking me for having Sig on. And then, oh, yeah, also, we're about to announce an extension. And then I go, can I tweet that? They're like, absolutely.
Starting point is 02:31:51 We're about to announce it, though. So it was a race of me versus then. And I got mine out. I think they got it out with a lot more information quicker. So I kind of missed the breaking news because I was maybe pooping at the time. but I am very thankful that the Indiana team is as good as they are, as welcoming as they are. And the way they play ball is cool to cheer for, you know?
Starting point is 02:32:12 Yeah. And if you don't have a college, if you don't have a team, college football team, first of all, I think you should get into college ball. It's great Saturdays every single weekend of the fall. Obviously, the sport of football is great. The environments are insane. But this Indiana team is a cool team to become a fan of if you're just picking up a school. I mean, the underdog, consummate underdog.
Starting point is 02:32:30 Now, the number three team in a country, they're not going to be surprising anybody at this point. But just like coming out of nowhere, becoming a team, the way they've been built, Kurt Signetti's story about being a consummate assisting coach. And then in his 40s or 50s, I think he's 50s, says, I'm going for it, drops down to like IUP, James Madison to become a head coach. And then his work at James Madison leads to his head coaching job at Indiana. First time D1 head coach at the age of 60 or whatever.
Starting point is 02:32:58 Like his run has been inspiring. It is a movie. and they're a fun school to be a fan of. If you're not just living in Indianapolis like we are, just in general, that's a fun place to kind of get behind. And there's not a lot of people that have jumped on an Indiana football wagon in a long, long time. Western Pennsylvania guy, West Virginia guy.
Starting point is 02:33:17 I love everything about him, man. So I'm thankful to be in Indianapolis, but I'm also thankful for this entire college football run that we've been on here for the last few years. Just getting baptized into all these places. So cool. Tonight, two big games. Two big college football.
Starting point is 02:33:32 Might have a national champion playing on a Friday night. This is abnormal. Now, it might have a couple national champions playing on Friday night. But nonetheless, number two team in America is playing on a Friday night. This is awesome. This is not normal. This is great. Louisville versus Miami.
Starting point is 02:33:49 Miami at home, obviously down there at the Orange Hard Rock, they said it's a crazy, crazy atmosphere, especially when they're going. Let's assume Michael Irvin is going to be down there doing awesome things tonight on the sideline. Nebraska and Minnesota, obviously. We talked to Coach Rule just yesterday about, you know, what Minnesota is, what they could be, and that problem they could have with them. But all these teams obviously have a chance going forward, but the number two team in the country playing on a Friday is special. Gumpy, I know you're all horned up for tonight.
Starting point is 02:34:16 Yeah, offensive line for Louisville stinks. So Bain and the boys should be able to run wild, as they say, at the asylum. Cristobal calls it. We're playing in the asylum tonight. A lot of confidence on ESPN there by national pundant, Kyle Kathpart. I might motivate the Louisville offensive line. And on that note, let's get the hell out of here. AJ, thank you for traveling to Indianapolis, brother.
Starting point is 02:34:39 We appreciate you. Of course, easy drive. It was a beautiful couple days from me going to that Bengals game and then just making the trip over here. It was perfect. Oh, you stayed the night in Cincinnati last night? Yeah, we did. It was awesome, for real.
Starting point is 02:34:49 Kids have like a fall break thing, no Friday or Monday school. So, yeah, it worked out beautifully. It was a magical experience, honestly, in that stadium last night with the kids. It was really cool. We appreciate you making the effort, brother. Are we happy you had a good time? And congrats to the Bengals get a huge one.
Starting point is 02:35:03 You were going to pick the Bengals regardless because they were giving you tickets. Okay, now we didn't get tickets. We didn't talk to them until later, but they hooked us up afterwards once they knew we were coming. Who gave you tickets? Them or eight? Whatever. Seat geek, we pay good money for them. We pay good money.
Starting point is 02:35:20 $30 off, though. $30 off. Yeah, I used the code. Pat McAfee. I used it. That's all the kids had Aaron Rogers. They did. Yeah, they did.
Starting point is 02:35:28 They had Bengals. they were on the field pregame in bengal sweatshirts and then they took them off and had their Aaron Rogers eight jerseys that people were yelling and screaming at them as we're walking back to the hotel. Who day? Looked right in my kids yelling. We're kind of on both sides here, pal.
Starting point is 02:35:44 I'm all right with it. Yeah. Yeah, but we like that. We like that that was happening to your kids, obviously. They felt part of it. Bingo. There's some parents that would get upset about that. You're watching Hawker get chewed out in the middle of the street of Cincinnati. They're going to remember that forever.
Starting point is 02:35:58 AJ's not really finishing the story because he ended up curb stomping three people after that happened But Okay, we do care We do care I appreciate the fact though That Aaron played the way he played
Starting point is 02:36:11 I like the way Flacco played And it feels like it's a good omen Going into a great football weekend If that's how it's going to go Boys, great work in the back this week You've guys done a phenomenal job Talk to Cable, way to go boys Way to go boys
Starting point is 02:36:25 Good luck tomorrow Hey Hey, another sports starting next week, boys. Let's not forget it. You're a trophy that's right there in front of Conner's about to kick on. One half of the Hammer, Don. Cowboys, AP Town. Great work this week.
Starting point is 02:36:41 Thank you, brother. You too. Graphic Design, boys, the think tank boys. We appreciate all your effort this week. Incredible work on all parties and all things, including Rushmore on X, which had another incredible episode drop on Tuesday, which was Bands. Look for this upcoming episode on. Tuesday, Dunkers.
Starting point is 02:36:59 Oh, hell is. Very good. Reggie Millions. I hope they talk about. You got to find out. Yes. Yeah. He does get talked about. There is an obvious omission from this episode. And I hope Ari and Ben and Shaq and Reggie hear about it. I do. I hope they do. They will.
Starting point is 02:37:17 But it's a great episode. It is a great episode. It's coming out on Tuesday. Shaquille O'Neill, Reggie Miller, Ben Persky, Ari Emanuel, Rushmore on X. Full episode available only on X unless a Tom Brady fan club rips it and puts the whole thing on YouTube there is the full episode is only available on X clips or everywhere else it's a great show and I'm very proud of everybody that piece that thing together and on that note let's have the greatest weekend of all time Gumpy wants to come join me over here buddy go go where is there he is what are these shoes here what it would uh
Starting point is 02:37:54 New bones They are kind of far They are pretty far They look super European But that's kind of like your thing You know what I mean? Yeah, I like them Can't wait to get the Cooper flags
Starting point is 02:38:03 Two The Lawmower ones Yeah, no cabs Steph Curry ones No, that's what Cooper's look like too Really? Yeah, they're tough That's kind of new balance
Starting point is 02:38:14 This thing right now Maybe we call them the zero turn ones Oh, I like that He's so sick Give me a pair The Z turn ones out there Hell yeah. All right.
Starting point is 02:38:26 Let's get the hell out of here. Boys, we're so lucky we get to do this. We're so thankful we get to do this. Let's try to enjoy every single moment, shall we? Hell yeah. Absolutely. Bull rush. Thanks for the Overwatch, brother.
Starting point is 02:38:38 Love you, Bull Rush. Love you, Bull Rush. If you think you're going to show up somewhere and shoot me, just know that there is a man who's got the Bino's out everywhere. We go. Okay? His name's Bull Rush. And we're thankful for that.
Starting point is 02:38:53 All right, have a great weekend. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice and might change our life. We're in this thing together. Team on me, team on three. One, two, three, team. Goodbye.

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