The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Eagles-Dolphins Wake-up Call, Bruce Feldman on Caleb’s Struggles and Harbaugh’s Future, Plus Lakers Guard Austin Reaves

Episode Date: October 23, 2023

Russillo opens by recapping Week 7 of the NFL season and giving his biggest winners and losers (0:41). Then, he breaks down his top 12 in CFB (17:24). He is then joined by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman to talk Lincoln Riley, James Franklin, and whether Jimbo Fisher is on the hot seat or not (30:22). From the live show at the 900 Club, Lakers guard Austin Reaves talks about his relationship with LeBron, Taylor Swift, and the Lakers' rivalry with the Nuggets (67:33). Finally, the guys close it out with some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (83:39). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Bruce Feldman and Austin Reaves Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Stefan Anderson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Loaded podcast for you today. I'll run through the biggest stuff from week seven of the NFL, including Philly's big win against Miami, college football top 12, the latest on James Franklin, Lincoln Riley and USC, coach on the biggest hot seat with Bruce Feldman.

Also, Harbaugh's future. We've got Austin Reeves of the Lakers. A little live show recap and life advice. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. Winter is here, so be prepared and get almost anything delivered with Uber Eats.

What do I mean by almost anything? Well, you can't get a ski slope, but dish soap? Definitely doable. Bye. Breits. Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Okay, let's talk week seven. Headline, Sunday night football, Philadelphia takes care of Miami 31 to 17. Philly is the one seed today in the NFC and off the loss to the Jets where, you know, a lot of times in the moment you're like, man, what's going on? What's happening? And then you look at the box and you're like, oh, well, they were minus four in turnovers. You're going to lose that football game. The fact it was even close is a credit to Philadelphia. So they lose to the Jets. They come out strong against Miami. And there's a couple of things from this game. I'll get to the wind stuff, but there was very clearly a moment where Hertz was

hurt. He scrambles out to the left side to get the first down, but you could see he pulled up. And then when he got to the sideline, it took him a bit to kind of gather himself again. And then after that, he immediately hit somebody for a touchdown. And it was like, yeah, but something's wrong. Something's wrong. So I don't think you saw the design runs. The tush push, I do like the brotherly shove better. Those are not exactly like hurtling over people, right? And then after the fact, I guess he was seen in the knee brace, and you could tell there was a report at halftime too that he was the last one to come out of the locker room. So at least something to monitor there despite the great win.

Another issue with Philly coming into this on top of some of the Hurts turnover stuff that we've been talking about is their red zone touchdown percentage. Last year, they were scoring touchdowns on 68% of their red zone possessions. That was third best in the NFL coming into last night. They were 42% conversion rate, or excuse me, 42% touchdown rate, which was 27th after last night's. They're up to 50%, which moves them up in the rankings, but certainly a little bit different. But the point that I've made about Philadelphia and the beauty of watching them all season long is that they're multiple.

When I say multiple, we use that word a lot of different ways, but can you win games in multiple variations of what you can do? And last night they did it defensively against a Miami offense that was number one coming in. We all know what the Dolphins have been capable of. There's a lot of excuses that are valid for Miami. They're down both corners.

Waddle leaves the game, then did come back. Isaiah Wynn, Pats fans used to this one, left the game. There were injuries everywhere, and there was a lack of penalties called that were brutal, or the ones that were called were brutal and the ones that they've missed. The roughing the passer was terrible. The missing the face mask on a pass interference

on a huge, huge play was terrible, but it ignores what is going to become the storyline of Miami. Fair or not, between this game and then the Buffalo game, when you get smashed like this, now it's going to be like, wait, are you awesome against the bad teams? And then when the big teams are physical teams that can play you a certain way defensively, Chris Long, shout out Greenlight Podcast, pointed out that Tua against pressure, I think was the 27th rated QB in the league. And that's a combined 42 points to Buffalo and Philadelphia.

So I think it's fair. I imagine only Dolphins fans would think it was unfair, but it's a real observation. Now look, you're at Buffalo, Sunday night in Philly. Those aren't exactly easy games to win, but when you are so dynamic offensively against everybody else you've played and other teams look helpless against your motion, against your speed, and all of these different things that you have going on. And granted, A-Chan isn't playing right now, but Mostert's been terrific as well. It's a real observation. Now, if you push it forward,

and by the way, Nick Sirianni said after the game, he's like, we wanted to make them one-dimensional. That dimension he wanted to make them was a passing team. This is a team that was held to 12 carries for 45 yards rushing. And it wasn't really a score thing because it was still fairly close when you look at the score and how it played out. So like certain times you look and be like, oh, well, they abandoned the run because they were down. Well, that wasn't really the case. They couldn't do it. They couldn't do it against this Philly front. And when Tua got moved off the spot, it clearly was an issue. So if you look at the entire game and the scoring part of it, I mean, there's a pretty fair argument to be made that Miami had one good drive the entire night. They had the pick six, they had the fumble, which led to a field goal, and then they had the one touchdown drive. which led to a field goal, and then they had the one touchdown drive. And there's your scoring. And that's not what you'd expect.

But for Miami, they're 5-2. They've got New England. Then they've got Kansas City, which is an early one. They've got the bye. They're going to be favored in, I'd say, seven of their next eight games. They finish at home against Dallas, at Baltimore, who looks terrific, who we'll get to, and then at home against the Bills before their last five are at home. They're likely still going to have a really good record. But the NFL public is going to want some kind of statement

win against the big boys. They're going to want your offense to resemble anything close to what we've seen for much of the season against everybody else. And I think that's totally fair because that's what we're doing is all we're doing is changing. It's not moving the goalposts on teams. We're changing the standard of how we want to see you based on the way we're talking about you. And I don't know if last night's a reset, a wake-up call. All I know is it was real and it was a pretty significant win for Philadelphia. And both the Chiefs and Eagles sit at six and one. The only six and one teams in the NFL both won seats in their conferences.

The best win is Baltimore. If I'm going to use the Philly thing for the open, but Baltimore's win might be more impressive than what Philadelphia did last night. 38-6 against the Lions. It was 28-0 Baltimore before Detroit even had its first first down. And that's the number three offense in the league coming in. The Lions also had the best rushing day in the NFL, allowing only 65 yards per game. The Ravens went for 146. Lamar had a perfect passer rating.

It was his best game of the season. There was a rush by Aiden Hutchinson where you think, okay, he's got him because Aiden's been really good this year, and Lamar even got away from that. And they didn't really need to run him that much. And even Dan Campbell said after the fact, we wanted to make them one-dimensional, which meant Lamar passing. And he was like, that didn't work.

To his credit, gave him everything. Baltimore is fifth now in the NFL in third-down conversions. Lamar passing. And he was like, that didn't work. To his credit, gave him everything. Baltimore, fifth now in the NFL on third down conversions. So I know there's also a counter to this too, which feels a little college football-y when you look at Detroit and say, okay, you know what though, you guys? And look, anybody that had Detroit number one in the power rankings, I felt that was a little bit of, I don't know if it's just the recency bias of it all, or I would argue maybe just trying to do something a little bit different than everybody don't know if it's just the recency bias of it all, or I would argue maybe just trying to do something a little bit different than everybody else. If you look at the schedule,

okay, fine. And as I've mentioned, as we all remember week one against Kansas City, it's a really nice win for them, but we know no Kelsey or Jones. They lose to Seattle. They beat Atlanta, Green Bay, the Panthers and Bucks. Not exactly a murderer's row, but they won all those games by 15 points or an average of 15 points. So if we're constantly talking about how hard it is to get wins in the league and how often I make a joke of the team that had a losing record coming into the next year being like, we had eight games where we lost by one score. And you're like, dude, that's the entire league. That's why these spreads are rarely over seven points because that's just how these games play out all the time. If we take those into account, you can play the Detroit strength of schedule thing and it's

accurate, but they were beating those teams pretty well and the Ravens absolutely put it on them. I think the number one power ranking stuff for Detroit was a little ridiculous, but then to say, well, they hadn't really played anybody, they exposed themselves as absolute frauds. Now, Baltimore worked them. This thing was over quick. Detroit even down 28-0, went 4-4 down in midfield just to try to see if they had any chance of getting into it. Worst loss, Buffalo at New England. No, I'm going to save that one. I'm going to save that one. I think it's the Raiders, 30-12 at Chicago. Tyson Bajan, aka 8 Mile. Did you see him after the game in the locker room? Full sleeve, but also full chest billboard. I guess his dad

is a 28-time arm wrestling world champion. I don't know, did he start arm wrestling when he was 8? I'm not quite sure. Maybe it's like Olympic golds. Anyway, still impressive. The last start for Bajent was against Colorado School of Mines in the playoffs, and he puts up 30 on the Raiders. The Raiders offense is now 30th in the NFL, points per game 16. New England's 31st, the Giants are 32nd. Hoyer, who I didn't realize this, he now has 13 straight losses as a starter. It's the second longest streak of the last 10 years.

Deshaun Kaiser has the record for at least the most recent time at 15 straight losses. So the Raiders' offense continues. They've only got one game where they're over 20 points. That's also against New England. But this is not what you'd expect. And then apparently Schefter had the report, they're not going to trade Devontae Adams. They tried to get him the ball a lot early there, and they did. But sometimes it's like, all right, let's make sure we feed our guy. And you're like,

are you feeding him with the design of trying to establish something offensively? Or are you feeding him with the design of just keeping this dude offensively, or are you feeding him with the design of just keeping this dude who's one of the best players in the league happy? So Garoppolo's still TBD on the return, but this is not what Raiders fans expected when they went all in on Josh McDaniels. Numbers you should know. Is offense down?

Yes, it is. Mike Zando, one of our favorites, scheduled to come on soon. Total number of touchdowns, offensive touchdowns in 2020, 589 through this point of the NFL season. This season, 454. So a significant drop. The average score points per game is still close, but there is a decline in offense. gen stat because whenever I'm watching on Sundays and I'm looking at different guys, because every stat, if you want to go through all of the quarterback stats, you can find a stat for somebody that makes it feel like, hey, now I kind of like this guy. Or if there's somebody you don't like who's pretty good, you'll find stats be like, actually, dude, this is what this guy does. However, this one I find always interesting. It's the aggressive throw percentage, and it's an aggressiveness number that NextGen uses. Here's the definition of the glossary. Aggressiveness tracks the amount of passing attempts a quarterback makes that are into tight coverage, where there's a defender within one yard or less of a receiver at the time of completion or incompletion. at the time of completion or incompletion.

So let's look at the top three guys in aggressiveness as far as the quarterback position is concerned. They are Jordan Love, number one in the NFL, Kenny Pickett, and Zach Wilson. Josh Dobbs is fourth. So it's kind of funny that the best guys for me are usually the guys that are willing to raise their level of risk, but I think that is to counter what the stat is telling us. It's something different because we're talking about three quarterbacks at the top.

Jordan Love throws a pretty ball. I'm starting to think he just throws a pretty ball, but still feels early. Kenny Pickens, really nice win for them against the Rams. Having Pickens is just his break glass in case of an emergency receiver has been terrific. And then there's Zach Wilson, who we've already covered probably too much. Deshaun's fifth on this list before he had the concussion, but then cleared concussion protocol. So I don't think he actually had the concussion. We know the shoulder is an issue too.

But he was terrible in the beginning of that game against the Colts, which took on its own story. But what this number tells you, at least so far for this season, is that my feeling on the aggressiveness thing is based on game situation, where some of these quarterbacks that are certainly not the standard of the position are incredibly aggressive, maybe for no reason whatsoever. Awards. I was going to do this last week, and then I kind of waited. It was the Sergio Dipp Award for Worst First Impression. The first possession of Bajan's career was a fumble touchdown, but I was like, nah, you know what?

We'll hold off on that. Instead, we're going to give out this award, the Dead Cat Bounce Award to the New England Patriots. Is it dead? Did it move? No, I think it just bounced. New England has the second toughest schedule so far. And depending on which strength of schedule stuff you want to look at,

New England was projected to have the toughest. So far, again, different projections will have different things, but I feel pretty good saying it's been the second toughest. They beat Buffalo, and they do it in a way that I didn't even think was possible, to come back. Because as I was watching it, I'm like, all right, Buffalo's going to get two more possessions here. I think it was like the seven-minute mark.

Like, will Josh Allen find a way? And he does. They go up, and then it's Mac Jones time. And I always feel like watching a full Mac Jones game, it's a bit like USC's defense, where you'll see SC get penetration, get a stop, maybe tackle somebody from behind the line of scrimmage, maybe two good defensive plays,

and then it's like, oh, wait, they're going to tackle that guy on third and four for loss or at the line of scrimmage. You'll be like, nope, he gets six yards, conversion, move the stick, start all over again. It's just not consistent enough, at least SC's defense. And with Mack, even the game-winning touchdown, he had missed the throw before. There was a third and 11 where he felt pressure that wasn't there and missed. But what he did on that drive, hitting the deep shot to the right side,

I mean, the guy did something I didn't think he could do. Then it turns into a little bit of what does it mean? Well, Buffalo, oddly enough, is 4-3 and if you look at the playoff standing state, there's a 7th seed in the AFC, which, you know, whatever, it's all too early for this stuff. It's Belichick's 300th win. Brady Bill Legacy update, 49 more wins than Brady. But, okay, that's pretty much legacy update, 49 more wins than Brady. But okay, that's pretty much... If I were on in Boston, I would start today going, cool,

they won a division game. Division games can be weird sometimes. Let's see if something happens here. Let's see what happens if the schedule starts to lighten up a little bit and if they can put anything together that resembles a competitive football team. But I'm not there yet, despite that win against Buffalo. I'm just not going to be there. And maybe I should have saved the dead cat bounce award for next week if they get smoked at Miami. Jump into the NBA action with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed.

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Our weekly top 12 for college football. Okay, let's get to it. And a couple thoughts at the end of this whole deal. I'm keeping Michigan at one. They are allowing 5.875 points per game. Normally, I would not do this with a team that based on the ESPN strength of schedules, and I mentioned in the NFL Open, you want to talk about strength of schedule variants on how different sites project what a real strength of schedule is.

I mean, it can be all over the place. And sometimes I'll look at a strength of schedule being like, that's a joke. I mean, even when you're in a Power Five conference, there's just rarely will I think a group of five will have that's a joke. You know, I mean, even when you're in a power five conference, like I just, there's, there's just rarely will I think a group of five will have the same, like, you know, whatever. And sometimes it's based on projection. Sometimes it's based on who you've played to this point, not factoring in the rest of this, uh, rest of the schedule.

So if you look at ESPNs to this point for Michigan, it's one 10, but if I'm going to give Michigan or Georgia the benefit of the doubt, I have to do it for the other one because Georgia's on ESPN is 109. And the benefit of doubt thing, I will tell you this every single week, every single season, it is impossible to remove that from your feelings about college football teams. It is impossible. You can't do it. You have to think something about the team before the season starts. You think something about them before the games every single week. So normally I like to see like one win that's kind of impressive. And all I can go by in Michigan is that they're destroying everybody. Nobody's scoring a touchdown a game on these guys. All right. And it's the same quarterback and they've been in the playoff. And at least for Georgia, the back-to-back national championships

help them out a bit in this. If I'm going to do it for one, I have to do it for the other, even though I don't like putting them ahead of teams that have better wins. Speaking of, Ohio State, moving them up to three. The defense is nasty. They have the best receiver in the country. That really was the difference against Penn State. They have two wins against Notre Dame and Penn State, depending on what you think of them. Look, Notre Dame's good. They're probably not special. And Penn State's defense is terrific. I'm going to get to Penn State.

Don't worry. But there's still something that is not to the standard of Ohio State's offense that we're seeing in this team this year. The offensive line, which we were worried about before the season started, is still a concern. You can still see it on some of the short yardage stuff, which is, I think, why Day got so upset about Notre Dame after the fact. Some of that stuff is still real. And Common Core, just okay. He's not another one of these NFL guys that you have back there that'd be a top pick. And I know Buckeyes fans certainly get upset about that, but that's the reality. You're not the same team offensively because you don't have the same level of quarterback play at this time. So part of me watched that game and it probably was more overwhelming disappointment with who Penn State continues to be than, oh my God, look at Ohio State. But those two wins are a lot better than most of the teams that we're going to talk about.

Even if you think Penn State's comically disappointing, which I kind of do, but I don't think they suck because I think the defense is that good. So I've got them three. And those are real resume builders because we start to play this game. Once the playoff committee starts joining up, we're going through and we're looking at this stuff and we're going to do it to like half the teams. It's like, okay, well, other than that one win, well, man, some of these teams won't even have one win by like nine or 10 games into it that you feel really good about. And at least Ohio State has two of those in their back pocket already, despite what, again, whatever you think of the Irish or the knitting lines.

Number four, Oklahoma. Yep, UCF game wasn't great, but then either was Washington against Arizona State. I have Washington five. Head to head, Oklahoma, Washington, who would I pick? I feel like I'd pick Washington. I could have flipped a coin on this one, but I think with Washington, do I like Oregon better than Texas? Yeah, kind of. I mean, it's just this circular thing for this next group outside of the top three. Washington's

game against Arizona State, if you watched that one, which I doubt you did because it was really late, their first four possessions were a punt and three turnovers. And Arizona State came playing that one a bit, but I think the difference is you find a way to win that game instead of having the UNC deal against Virginia. You find a way to win it, move on, almost every team's going to have some kind of game. You're like, what's wrong with them? Georgia, Missouri last year, even the best teams. The UCF result is negated by the Arizona State result, but at least those two teams won them. Number six, Florida State. Is the LSU win better than the Oregon win?

It's starting to feel that way as LSU continues to win after Ole Miss, but I'm going to say the Oregon win is a little bit better even though it's home as opposed to the neutral field. Florida State was in a battle there with Duke who lost their quarterback again in that game. Number seven, Oregon. Number eight, Texas. Number nine, Alabama. Impressive game in the second half. Looked like that one was getting away from them against Tennessee. Saban does not lose the revenge games very often, and they found a way. But I still have questions,

even though Jermaine Burton at receiver is a stud. They finally got another stud there at receiver. It looks like there's a couple other things going on that could help. But early on in that one, you're like, okay, Bama, whatever Bama being back is the same as Ohio State standard, Bama is going to be held the same kind of standards that can seem ridiculous at times. Number 10, Ole Miss, feel good about it. Number 11, Oregon State, their only loss is a three-point loss at Washington State. And then Utah, USC, all-time miss.

My Alliance losses, I haven't, I felt like they were good losses. This was a bad loss. I think it's the worst call I've had in any game in college football. I didn't feel great about Utah's offense with the injuries. They went back to the original starter that played against Florida. They converted safety to running back. He lights it up. And what Utah was doing with their zone coverage against Caleb Williams, it was so impressive because it's the first time, even though Caleb's had to put that cape on a bunch of times this year, it was the first time where you're waiting from doing it. They still almost did it.

The guy still almost did it. Caleb Williams, he rolls out to the left, converts that. I think it was the third down on the sideline. There's just not anybody else in college football who can make that kind of throw. But SC would be 6-6 without Caleb Williams. Maybe. I can't believe they gave up that many points to a Utah offense that now seems to have found their way when I was kind of ready to write them off, even though I never want to. Two quick thoughts. Penn State, they've lost seven straight against Ohio State, 11-12. They've

lost 14 straight on the road against AP top fives. They've lost 21-22 versus AP top fives on the road. Now look, on the road against top five teams, you're supposed to lose that game. Out of the 22, were they favored in any of them? I mean, I'm not going to look it up, but I doubt it. So let's be fair about it. The James Franklin part of it,

this is where Penn State's going to start going, wait, do we have the wrong guy? Do we have the wrong guy despite likely winning 10 games again this year? And look, it's the same for Lincoln Riley right now in SC. Like, wait, what? I thought we're going to be better than this. How come our defense still stinks? How come we give up all these points all the time? I thought we got all these transfer portal guys in. What's going on? Same thing that's happening for Sark at Texas before Bama. Same thing that's going to happen to them again after he loses to Oklahoma and if they don't win the Big 12.

It was the same for Jim Harbaugh prior to being in Ohio State the previous two seasons. Big-time programs with big-time expectations, more often than not, you're going to feel like you don't have the right guy because most teams lose and not everybody gets to win. But

when you look at how bad Penn State's offense was against Ohio State, how about this number? In the past five years, no AP top 25 team had gone worse than 0-12 on third down in a game. Penn State was 0-14. They didn't convert their first third down until 58 minutes in. The defense is great, as we've mentioned. I know they lost Chop, their edge guy.

Abdul Carter, 11, is one of my favorites. I like the corners and the numbers back it all up. The receivers felt like they couldn't get separation for much of the game. They just didn't have somebody that was dynamic enough. But I also felt like Drew Aller going into that, like, let's see it. And you know this, Penn State fans, too, because you were watching it and you loved the D, but you still were kind of like, man, to compete with Michigan, to compete with Ohio State,

play with playoff teams, like, you're going to have to see something that looks like it's really tough to defend at times when you're trying to hang out in that kind of neighborhood. And you weren't seeing it enough. And the defense and the scores were maybe, I don't think it was distracting you. I think you knew the truth,

but I had real hope for them going into this. Aller, the Ohio State story and part of it is like now Penn State felt like home. You're going up against McCord. You're not going up against Fields or CJ Stroud. This was supposed to be the game that you were going to compete in. It just wasn't even there. From the jump, you're like, uh-oh. This might be bad. It was. You feel for Aller as a kid after the game crying, saying, hey, I sucked. But some of it's the Ohio State defense, and some of them just incapable of seeming like they can come up with anything to just make it

easier on the quarterback. And the quarterback himself has to find a way to make a couple throws that are really hard. If you're that five-star guy, if you're the one everybody wants, at some point, and you're going to have to show against another top team, you can make up for the deficiencies elsewhere. We just didn't see it again. The obvious next question is, how are they going to beat Michigan this way? I don't know. It's my 10 and two point last year. It's the same again. It's not about Penn State. It's about any team that doesn't really play anybody out of conference, although West Virginia is not a walkover, but the Franklin resume out of conference and scheduling forward isn't all that impressive.

They had the weakest Big Ten in conference strength to schedule of any of the teams. If you look at the cross matches and everything else, you're like, man, they're going to get to 10 wins again, just like they did last year. But if the only time you play the big boys, it doesn't look like you can compete. It's why the 12 team expansion to me is kind of insulting. It's insulting to the teams that actually did something that proved that they're worthy of playing for a championship

as opposed to the team that doesn't do anything except beats 10 teams you're favored against and goes, all right. I mean, 10 and two is still hard, but it's not a Penn State opinion. It's an opinion about any team. If Georgia loses to Florida and Tennessee, doesn't play in the SEC title game and doesn't beat any other ranked teams and then finds itself ranked 11th or 12th at the end of the year, I don't want that team competing for a championship. It's not about Penn State.

It's not about the Big Ten. It's about any team that fits that profile, just like last year and likely going to happen again this year. Speaking of the playoff and Big Ten scenarios, Iowa got screwed against Minnesota. Game-winning punt return, touchdown. They said it was a fair catch signal.

I'll admit, I tried to have an open mind about it, trying to think what the rest were seeing as the returner was kind of circling his arm and then pointing the other one. But when you see the end zone camera angle from the back of the Minnesota kick team, it's such a bad call. It's terrible.

And now Iowa, the scoring even less than we would have imagined. Granted, they're out of quarterback. They're out a couple of tight ends. They have their own issues, but so do a lot of teams. It at least saves us from this absurd scenario because every year during the radio show, I used to love doing this with Van Pelt and Stanford Steve, where we'd run through all the different scenarios of conferences and playoffs. You kind of pick three automatics, and then you have two trying to battle it out, the discussion in the room that would be happening with the committee. So say Georgia's 13-0, SEC champs,

the winner of the Texas-Oklahoma rematch, there's your Big 12 champ. Let's say Washington runs through everybody undefeated, and then maybe Florida State loses or whatever. So whatever ACC, don't take offense, just making this up here, ACC is eliminated from the whole thing. So that would leave us with a 12-0 Michigan or Ohio State against an 11-1 Iowa if Iowa were actually to have been 11-1. Did the refs do us a favor by eliminating this scenario

where say Iowa beats Michigan or Iowa State 17-13, but Michigan or Ohio State have five turnovers in the red zone, and you leave that game going, Iowa's the Big Ten champs. Iowa's going to play in the playoff. I know what you're saying. Like, hey, that's the point. Not really. The point is the four best teams.

And again, I'd have to know the full ACC version of it. And this isn't good. Look, you know how I feel about people from Iowa. Shout out Waterloo. Love the stadium. Don't love the offense. Always, hey, your guy Rye is always pointing out how many Hawkeyes are in the NFL. 10th or 11th as far as NFL rosters for college football programs.

People forget that. But at least that scenario is over. As unlikely it was that they were even going to pull out any kind of victory against one of the big boys from the other side of the Big Ten. He's one of our favorites talking college football. It's Bruce Feldman, Fox Sports, and The Athletic, also part of the big noon kickoff. You were at Penn State, Ohio State this weekend, so there's a lot of stuff that I want to get to there.

I talked about it a bit during the rankings, and just overwhelming disappointment, at least, that I have on the Penn State side of these things. What did you see in the game? Same. I mean, Penn State, Mike Yerch is the offense coordinator. It just didn't look like he entirely trusted Drew Aller. I've heard great things about Drew Aller. He's got every physical ability that you would want in a quarterback.

I've heard coaches on that staff tell me they think he throws the the ball well under pressure he's he's big with a really strong arm he's smart has the it factor and yet i mean good credit to ohio state this is a good defense this is better than they've been in the last few years but it just was very limited and it felt like they didn't have a ton of confidence in him. They got really one-dimensional. I mean, ultimately, to me, the biggest difference in the game was Ohio State had a special receiver in Marvin Harrison Jr., and Penn State had guys who could run, but they just were not at his level and couldn't take over the game.

Marvin Harrison Jr. did that. I mean, Penn State's defense, to me, is really, really good, especially in the front seven. But ultimately, it looked like both teams were playing tight. And one team just really could not just couldn't like find anybody to make a play and to step up on the offensive side of the ball. And ultimately, that was, you know, I don't think there's a lot separating the two teams. And I'm not sure either one is a team I would say,

yeah, I could see them winning the national title but Ohio State, you know, again, credit to Ohio State because they were doing

Emeka Abuka is a really, really good receiver. He tried to go and was just really not, you know, unable to have that kind of spark and warmups

right before the game but they made the plays when they had to because they had Marvin Harrison Jr. and Penn State didn't. What's fair about Penn State's hopes or feelings about James Franklin? I mean, they're a really good team. They're very talented. I think, you know, one of the things I'd ask one of their coaches a few weeks back was, do you think you guys are maybe a year away

from being a really legit national title team? And the feeling was that you don't think that way because you don't know if you're going to have that team a year from now. I mean, most of the best players in the program are young. But still, I think it was a team that when you get in the moment and I go back to this

team and it's a team you were familiar, you know, you know, well too, was that 2019 LSU team. a lot of it was Joe Burrow but but they were playing with such an edge to them where I'm like man when they get in a big moment they're just going to light people up and they did that and this is the flip side of it where it just looks like a team that is playing very tight now for all for all we know, they could, you know, they get Michigan later in the year. They could be a different team.

But, you know, I would say for a lot of people, they're going to lose the benefit of the doubt on that because they have a lot of talent. But the offense, again, was so underwhelming in what they did.

And, you know, I'll give credit to Ohio State, but just, they just didn't look very aggressive at all the whole afternoon when there was opportunities there. Yeah. Look, in a sport where we've got all these programs, you can't ever figure out a way to get to eight or nine wins. There's a certain standard that

you have in different campuses. I guess I'm just still, it's Monday and I still can't help but think they had no chance in that game. They couldn't do anything offensively. So is that, you know, the right answer is, hey, be careful what you wish for, right? The right answer is be careful what you wish for because at least they're in whatever this perceived. I mean, they're going to be probably, they're probably going to be at worst a 10 and2 team in the regular season in a really tough division. I mean, I don't think there's a lot of teams that could beat Ohio State in Columbus. And we'll see what happens against Michigan. They're much better than most of the teams.

If they were in the ACC, they might be the best team in the ACC. They might be the best team in the Big 12. They're probably the third best team in their own division. And until they get – they were a little wilder and freer when they had Trace McSorley. Look, Joe Moorhead was the offensive coordinator, and they had Saquon, and at some point after that, there was Jahan Dotson, and they had Godwin. They had receivers in Gasicki. They still have speed, but they do not

seem to play with the same kind of aggressiveness offensively that they did a few years back. And again, Trace McSorley did a lot of that because he was really good at RPOs and I think he was a really terrific college quarterback. Dreller, we'll see if he can get there. I mean, he's still really young. But, you know, again, I thought they were going to take a big step forward and we'll see if they can do it in the second half of the season because they definitely didn't do it on Saturday when they had the chance against Ohio State.

Do you think they're better than Texas or Oklahoma? Texas is very talented. They have, you know, they have all the pieces i don't because yours if he's healthy to me is an is is just better right now than than what drowler is do i think they're better than oklahoma i do think they're better than oklahoma um and i know oklahoma beat texas and people are going to go what are you talking about but just from what i just from what i saw you know we we saw them at cincinnati granted it's cincinnati it's like you know it's one game i think oklahoma's better than they have been on

defense for a while i don't think this is like the roy williams kind of defense though from you know whatever it was when they won the national title 25 years ago but i don't think as good as dylan gabriel is i don't think they have like anybody who's really special either at the running back or wide receiver position. If you ask me who I would think would win on a neutral field, I do think Penn State is better than them. If you're an Oklahoma fan, you're going, what are you talking about? They just laid an egg in the one big game they've had so far. I get that. I still think they will be problems for people. I could see them being an 11-2 team. Oklahoma right now is in a very watered-down Big 12 at this point,

but they do have one really good win. You've got to give them credit for that. Yeah, I do like for the freshman, the big receiver there, Nick Anderson. And, you know, he went off for the first game since the Tulsa game. But look, now I'm just – you, now there's just certain guys you're watching where you're like, oh, I guess I'm just not – I don't know if Penn State would win the Big 12, but whatever, let's move on. Because I think SC fans should be more disappointed than certainly Penn State fans. What is going on with this team, and what's going on with Lincoln Riley?

I don't think anybody really knows even internally what is off. You know, look, we knew coming in, the defense was really bad. It's gotten a touch better, but it's still making big mistakes. It's still not tackling well. You had the Bear Alexander, you know, bonehead penalties that really cost them. They're a small team. You know, the thing, I was at the Notre Dame game a couple of weeks ago, and their offensive line does not look anything like what you'd expect a USC offensive line to look like. Talking to people, other coaches, they felt like they have guys who are playing right now that look like they're a Mountain West offensive lineman. That's not a knock on them.

They just don't have the bodies you would expect USC to have at a place that, you know, had Tony Buscelli and Anthony Munoz and Tyron Smith and all these other, you know, all these other dudes. There's a lot of pressure on, you know, on Caleb. I think Caleb's style is almost, you know, it's weird because they are starting to feel a lot like that, the Texas Tech teams of Patrick Mahomes. I know that's the comparison a lot of people made. For a long time, I felt like saying, Caleb is, you know, Patrick Mahomes was not even as good in college as Caleb was. Now, Caleb has better skill guys, but what you had, though, I think was teams that know that, oh, man, we're going to be in a shootout every time out.

The quarterback starts, you know, there's a great line that an NFL scout said to me last week. He said, it feels like Caleb is trying to hit a five-run home run every time. And it does feel that way. And I think there's pressing. So, you know, he got exposed, he made some bad decisions against Notre Dame. And he does some amazing stuff. And he does some not so amazing stuff at games, because I think he knows the margin of error is small. I mean, Zachariah Branch is the most exciting guy in college football. And as soon as he busted that long punt return, I was like, man, they're going to score too soon. And that's the problem. And I think the question mark, I think this goes beyond the

defense because I did a story for the athletic this off season on the life of an air raid defensive coordinator and talk to a bunch of guys who've done it, talk to coaches who coached on those staffs. And one of the big challenges, how it's a Monday through Friday deal. It's how do they practice? What do they see in practice? How physical are they able to be? You know, look, I think Lincoln Riley is a brilliant offensive mind, but when he took over at Oklahoma, he took over from Bob. It was similar to Ryan Day where a lot of the pieces were in place. This was not a rebuild. This was like, hey, you got the keys now, do your thing. And he had good assistants around him. I'm not saying he doesn't now, but I think the challenge for him is he inherited something that was in disarray. Caleb and his offense really sparked it, but they do not have enough good players, I think,

to really compete at a national title level. They have a few elite players and then a bunch of guys who I feel like, you know, they're still figuring it out on the fly. To see them struggle tackling the way they do, and then to see some of the things like Grinch's biggest challenge when he got to Oklahoma, when they were awful on defense before he got there, was the mindset of, you know, they give up a big play and oh crap, here we go again. And then it's a defeated attitude. I felt like they've gotten a little of that away, but I still feel like that's something that kind of permeates the program. And it's not just a defensive thing. I think it's all over the place now. I think it's set in and they're hearing the

outside noise and they're responding to it. And that's why I think you see them just not looking like a team that's going to probably be better than eight and four or nine and three again. Yeah, there was a stat that they showed before the broadcast and it was Caleb Williams numbers against non top 25 versus top 25 and it's 23 games versus five games completion percentage 70 percent to 51 percent drops off yards per game 317 drops down to 172 touchdown interception ratio was 78 to 7 against the unranked teams and then even at six apiece against the ranked teams. So the interception stuff and some of it, you're like, okay. And I just started having a bunch of thoughts because it's not like, oh, wow, we have to rethink this whole thing.

Because when you go through the losses at SC, they gave up 46 to Tulane. They gave up 47 to Utah, 43 to Utah, 48 to Notre Dame, and then 34 to Utah again. So even with a couple more picks here and there, that's like you read those scores like, OK, he probably isn't the issue. But I will say this, the Notre Dame game in South. Yeah, it's terrible. He was a big part of the issue because he had they had five turnovers. They could have been the Bears from 85.

They were not going to win when when you have. That one game, he and the offense were definitely an issue. They also gave up a long kick return. It was short fields. The other times, I feel like, especially last year, it was this team melted down on defense in the fourth quarter. To me, that's a mentality thing as much as anything else. You saw them, honestly, a mentality thing as much as anything else. And you saw them, honestly, they melted down against Shador Sanders in Boulder in the second half of that game too. And that felt reminiscent of, you know, they won the game obviously, but that felt very reminiscent of what they looked like last year. Yeah. Well, I'm glad you said the Notre Dame part because I wasn't like saying, hey, he was good in that one. But the rest of the game, like a couple of the Utah games last year,

I thought he was outstanding. And then as you talk about late meltdown by the defense i think there's oklahoma fans saying oh that's lincoln riley for you like is that fair is there something specific to you know like i don't know that it's it's not like their is it their offense is so dynamic that their defenses are always going to wear down under his thing i mean look it's it's out there i just don't know how accurate it is even if there's some stats that back it up. Yeah. I think there is something to be said for, you know, how, you know, again, he's a brilliant play caller, but at times I think, you know, there's something to be said for complimentary football and how do you manage it and how do you manage games and how do you

prepare for it? Right. And so, you know you know part of that that air raid defensive coordinator story i did it was talking to guys who were with you know who coached on on cliff staff on the defensive side of the ball you know whether that you know he was an assistant or houston or texas tech you're like we can't even get lined up in practice and it's like so one of the things that i think happens is your your your defense is getting shelled in practice so much you know how confident are they at the end of the day when they're going up against that and then all of a sudden they're in there because like a bunch of those guys were highly recruited guys and you watch how they play you're like man you can see some traits here or there but something is off on there.

And again, I don't think this is like, you know, the question I would have, and this is an old line from a football coach that I know you know too, it's like, who are you going to get? If let's say people think, okay, this is an all analysis Grinch thing. Who do you hire as a defensive coordinator where you're like, oh yeah, that guy's going to come in and we're going to the national title. I don't, you know, you're probably losing Caleb, first of all. So I don't know what you're like, oh yeah, that guy's going to come in and we're going to the national title. I don't, you know, you're, you're, you're probably losing Caleb first of all. So I don't know what you're going to, you're not going to get better at the quarterback spot compared to where he was

now. But I don't, you know, I think there are bigger issues than just, oh, this is a defensive problem. I think this is more, like I said, I think this is a during the week, this is a preparation thing. I think there are certain things where I know I'm not saying he should have sat on the ball and just said, hey, I trust Caleb and let him score in the last 45 seconds as opposed to a minute 45 the other day because I just have zero confidence in our defense. to where like the game management part of how it, how it all fits together. And there's another piece of this, which I wonder about, you know, all, a lot of the people around Oklahoma are very frustrated at how Lincoln ran the program. And it was, it was like to a degree of micromanaging and pushing people out and, and this and that. And so the other day, and I know this is like, nobody wants to hear the media talk about the media, but I don't think it was an insignificant point

when a bunch of people who've covered USC for 20 years said, we've never seen a post game where they didn't allow any of the players to talk. Like USC has always been the most accessible team. And I think some of what went with that, certainly back in the Pete Carroll days of being around that place, that team played with a lot of confidence. There was a lot of swagger. There was a lot of, you know, there was nothing about feeling that they were buttoned up or tight. say whatever he's be, but the rest of the guys, you wonder how tight they are. If this is kind of, if it feels like there's a element of this is a micromanaging and it's a really,

um, kind of, I don't want to say uneasy cause I don't think that's fair, but I just think that there is something to be said for when the leadership just doesn't feel like it's like, you know, as like an open flow of things, you know, because I feel like the players can feel that. Yeah, the media thing, it was significant because then I'm seeing it happen on X later that night. And you're right, like guys that have covered this sport for such a long time, like, wait, now they did this and there was some stuff in the beginning of the year.

And whenever I see that, I go, it doesn't really matter. It's like, that's not why you're winning or losing. But I always think it's kind of funny how, but you can pull that stuff in normal, right? You can basically do whatever you want when you are the only thing. But when you do it in other markets, we're like, that's not really how it works here. You know, sometimes I feel like it's just kind of but again none of this is none of this is even remotely important it's hard but you're not yeah ryan i think it's a big thing it's like you're getting in your own way whether you realize it or not

i think that's the part where it's like i think somebody needs to be like hey we really want to do this this way because you know i don't think i think sometimes there's a bunker mentality with coaches especially college football coaches and head coaches where it's like, you know, I think they try to keep the main thing. The main thing is best they can, but sometimes they create headaches for themselves and then it causes problems in other ways. And look, I think it's harder probably to coach now than it was 20 years ago with social media and all the other things that go into it. But I think some of those things that some of the people are at Oklahoma and I look, there's definitely some bitter, a lot of bitter bitterness about the way he left.

But I think there's a lot of people going, Hey, some of these other things, how we told you or whatever. I think he's still a terrific coach, but I definitely think there, you know, he's got, I do wonder who he's listening to on some of these things now because i just think it looks like a team that's playing very tight at this point they got cal and then they finished with washington oregon and ucla so have fun with that um let's talk winningham here a bit because i was kind of ready after trying to think like, you know, they got the pick six against UCLA. That game was 14-7. They score seven against Oregon State. They put up 34 on Cal. No offense to Cal, but I was like, all right. And then I read this game wrong. I felt

like I see coming off the loss, Utah struggles on offense and Whittingham and his staff find a way. They're going to out-tough basically every team they play against, even if they don't feel good about it. I just don't know how long that list is ahead of Whittingham. It's not because it's a Monday after an upset against SC. It's that this is the one program that went into one of the power fives and stayed. I know Mizzou's had some blips and they've been nice again this year. A&M, whatever. I mean, now it's going to be so ridiculous now. This thing isn't even going to really, because it used to be like a traditional, like the Utah thing was a real group of five going into a power five. And here they are again.

And I don't know if it's Saban, then Whittingham. Maybe that's a little reactionary, but there's not many names ahead of him. And I don't know if that's only in Utah or if he showed up to the SEC or if he was at Penn State or if he was somewhere else. I just would never want to bet against this guy because every single year it feels like he will remind you to never discount him. The biggest thing I remember doing work as a sideline reporter for five or six years was to see Utah at field level and watch them up close. They are a really nasty physical team. They, and they are playing differently than most of the teams they play.

They have grown men. They have super tough kids, even the guys who are not very big. And I will use this example,ler huntley who's you know you know went up to the nfl after up utah he might have been 170 pounds when they got him out of hallandale florida you know whatever it was seven or eight years ago and he went there and he was incredibly tough he's the toughest college quarterback i've ever seen seeing the hits he took and the you know just basically like not even trainer don't even come around me kind of guy and then he goes back and makes clutch plays and they like they find tough guys and they ride with them you know one of the one of the best stories going right now in the last couple of weeks is sioni baki and he was a guy on our freaks list he's a safety who was a

sophomore who was super explosive dude and a couple of weeks ago they gave him a chance to do something he'd never done he i don't think even in high school he was like a running back and they had him going both ways and he went off and then if you watch the usc game they couldn't cover him his change of direction is is like i don't say it's britain covey s because britain covey's probably pounds lighter, but his burst and he was the most dynamic athlete on the field with the exception of probably Zachariah Branch. And he's a lot bigger and a lot tougher. And he epitomizes the Utes program, find a way. And, you know, we did our top, you know, top 25 coaches rankings every off season and Whittingham's in the top 10.

top 25 coaches rankings every off season and Whittingham's in the top 10. And the reasons why he's not higher is just because I think he's the one guy who's at a program that didn't have really, I know Urban had it going for the two years he was there, but really hasn't had any upper level sustained success. It's not Ohio State, it's not Michigan, it's not Penn State, it's certainly not Alabama. But you rattled off a few schools. If he was there, if he was there, like if he was at USC, USC would be – USC is a problem for people now because of Lincoln and what they do. But I'm saying, man, they would be a real handful to deal with, with USC's athlete, the caliber of athletes he can get in Los Angeles.

fold to deal with with USC's athlete the caliber athletes he can get in Los Angeles but he credit to Utah you know and credit to him because he's he does not get enough he does not get enough respect for what he does and the fact that he's doing it with not just there's no Cam Risen there's Frank Keithy was really good and he tore his ACL and we haven't seen him for a year and he finds guys I mean the tight end who went in the for a year and he finds guys. I mean, the tight end who went in the first round last year to the chargers. I mean, he was a player at a non-scholarship university of San Diego program and he blew up last year. I mean, they just guys just jump in. There's something to be said for players who nobody really knows much about when they get pressed into duty, they, they excel. I think there is like,

just thinking aloud, it was like, that's something kind of story I should be trying to write about. Like, how is it where you have guys who like either not, nobody just knows anything about they're like unproven. There are guys who were like walk-ons or they're guys who this was not like Ohio state who replaced, uh, you know, a Bucco with with Carnell Tate or some guy who was a five star last year. A lot of these guys, you know, Clark Phillips was a big, big time recruit to DB they they got, you know, beat Ohio State on a few years back. But it's not like a lot of those guys are that they are guys that that most people don't know anything about, even if they follow recruiting, and then they get their chance and they blow up.

And that is a culture. And that is a, that is a, a culture, um, highlight for them. And I, I think that we don't talk enough about that. He's everything I'd want in a football coach. I mean, I can't say enough about winning him. So we, I think we've covered it. All right, let's talk a hardball. What's going on with the sign stealing thing? So the guy who's in the middle of it, uh, Connor Stallions is a, is a Naval Academy grad who was, uh, in the Marine Corps till last year. Um, and everything I'd been told from people around the program and inside that he has a great skill and an uncanny knack for decoding opposing opponent signals

now look that all that stuff that goes on in game almost every team does it and or tries to do it and he was really good at it what is being alleged by the ncaa and from what they where they're going with this is that this was advanced scouting and whether he was attending games and, and he, which is not allowed. I remember about five years ago or eight years ago, Jeff Levy now Oklahoma's offense coordinator, but he was a, he was on the Baylor staff. He went to an Oklahoma game, Oklahoma's playing Tulsa and he was there and he got in trouble for it. You're not allowed on staff to go to watch somebody else play. And so if there's, if there's some kind of documentation, whether there was a, where there's electronic trail of him buying tickets to go to a game, whether there was,

there's video evidence of him at a game, or when they look at his computer, they see some of these things that are, that are beyond what is acceptable. If it falls into the spy gate, you know, category of the Patriots, um, that's going to be a problem. And even if Jim Harbaugh,

cause I brought it already put out a statement saying, you know, he had no knowledge of this. And even if they can't prove Jim Harbaugh had knowledge beforehand of this, um, he's still going to be ultimately responsible for his staff if there's wrongdoing. But what I think is the timing will be interesting here because he's already done a self-sanctions

for sitting out three games for other violations with the NCAA that the NCAA is not done with. It's like that's still going on that we think the NCAA is going to come down on Michigan and Harbaugh sometime next year. But Jim Harbaugh might be in the NFL by that time. He's got a great team with a lot of guys who, this is making their last run. Jim Harbaugh has done dances with the NFL in the last two off seasons. My hunch is Jim Harbaugh, I think they're good enough to win the national title right now, this year. I think this will be the last run for Jim Harbaugh. The question is, does the NCAA try to tie this together?

Can they tie it together before the regular season or before this season plays out? Hottest seat, Jimbo? Or is the buyout still in the way? No, it's Jimbo, the hottest seat, the buyout Texas A&M, as you well know, has people with lots of money. They do not want to stay irrelevant. This is year six for Jimbo Fisher. They are four and three. His record is worse than Kevin Sumlin's at the same stage. They have lost eight road games in a row.

This is not anything close to a national title team. And by the way, they have lost eight road games in a row. This is not anything close to a national title team. And by the way, they are a team loaded with five-star talent. Remember a year ago, everybody said, oh, this is the greatest recruiting class anybody ever signed? They're not that good. And this is not a great year in the SEC West, by the way. And they got thumped by Miami, who's in a rebuild. And they've lost a few other games. They have to, I think, if he does not win at Ole Miss and at LSU, which I think will both be upsets, I don't see how you keep him along.

You know, it's like Jimbo Fisher's eight and four in year, goes eight and four in year six. You're going to, I mean, they are paying him like they should be getting nick savin results and they're not they are getting they're they're not even getting pj fleck results right you know like they are i mean let's be honest i mean then they he makes the big move to hire bobby petrino and they're like last in red zone offense in the conference and 10th in the sec once i watched the bama game i was like what how how could it be because like look and you would agree uh you would know better than i would but petrino regardless of what you think of the guy his play calling in-game stuff revered okay revered like okay this is and then i watched that bama game i'm like what what are they doing

whether it was the miami game where they never adjusted to the corner blitzes that Miami kept sending at them. It just never felt like anything was easy. Mac Johnson, I think, looks worse than when he was at LSU. And I'm watching it all going like, how are these two guys? This was supposed to at least be serviceable.

And I did a whole A&M thing, like reminding the audience of how absurd the recruits have been. I'm like, oh, hey, what position? Oh, we got the number one and three guy. Okay, what about this position? Oh, we got the number two and four guy. But then when I look at the numbers of the buyout stuff, like it's 76.8 million. And then if you scroll through every year, then it's 67.5, then 58, then 40.

Like it doesn't ever really get any easier, which may be the reason why they're like, might as well just get it over with. This is bad. Yeah. I mean, because, yeah. I mean, look, the second year, right, it goes down 10 million. It's still an insane amount of money you'd have to eat next year. And by the way, Texas will be coming in and Oklahoma will be coming in.

Texas, in half the time that Steve Sarkeesian has been there compared to Jimbo, has them as a team that looks like a playoff team right now. You know, Texas A&M looks like a bowl team, but that's about it. And again, Max Johnson is a good backup quarterback. He's played a ton in the SEC. He looked good the first, you know, when he jumped in. The Arkansas game?

In the game, Wegman got hurt. I think maybe that was the game that he that he had when he jumped in it was awesome good and that i was like oh okay here we go i'll look it up but the offensive line like steve adagio's offensive line is has been very underwhelming they have a lot of skill talent and they should be better i don't know if this is just if is jimbo meddling with patrina i you know who knows what's going on there all you can just judge it on is the bottom line product isn't very good. And they are paying him an insane amount of money. You're not getting it.

You start looking at it going, okay, he had one good year there. He has been there a long time. Most coaches, good or awful, do not get six years he's getting six years he's got you cannot fault the resources he has the best facilities and he's got everything you could ask for and he is just he's just you know bleeping the bed there it was the Auburn game it was the week before when Wigman went out uh a week before the Arkansas game I just want to make sure I got that one right for all the A&M fans still listening. Okay, anything else we need to cover here?

I want to talk about the transfer portal in a second, but you're just so locked into all the coaching stuff. Is there a new recruit that's the hottest, or not recruit, newest coordinator that's the hottest coordinator for any of these jobs that could be open? Is there anything else we need to cover? No. I mean, a name that will get definitely hot this year, I think,

is Danton Lynn. he's out here by us actually at ucla and he's anthony lynn's son he was so young that he was actually on joe paterno's last team as a defensive back he's done a really good job ucla has not had a top 10 defense in a long long time they were very average at best, if not mediocre, since Chip took over. And Dantland's come in there. He's connected with the players, and they get what they're doing.

They have better talent now than they probably ever had. Obviously, Atulatu's a big-time edge guy. But they're playing well. I mean, the schedule for them is going to get a lot harder too. But he's a name that I think people are going to, you know, are going to kick the tires on too, but he's a name that I think people are going to, you know, are going to kick the tires on because I think he's a fast riser. Yeah, that defense has been great this year.

Okay, last one, and this might be a good segue too, because as you've seen the transfer portal just blow up, which, you know, is not breaking news here, I've heard a little bit of it where certain programs may have a philosophical shift from all the resources and time on the high school recruiting and shifting that towards transfer portal guys. Is this a real thing? Is it program specific? Is it something that Clemson fans should be like, Hey, no kidding. Where are we right now is we're, we're still in the early stages of understanding how this should be used?

No, I think it is a real thing because a lot of coaches I talk to, and it's not just one or two, it's a lot, feel like I'd much rather evaluate off college tape, even if it's FCS tape, than I would over a high school kid where you don't really know how they're going to acclimate and translate and how quickly they'll pick up your system. So whether it's, like I said, whether it's taking guys from the group of five, that is the thing. I think they would also feel much more confident about letting, having somebody have NIL money, who is somebody who they feel like probably can handle it more than some high school kid at that point where they just don't know what they're getting into. I think the other portal piece of this, and it's not coincidental, is Clemson is having its worst season in a decade. I mean, they just got beat by a Miami team that was reeling, that a Miami team that was also playing without a starting quarterback

was breaking in. Emery Williams is a really, really young kid to play. And they got beat. Now they're a three-loss team. And they may lose five games this year. And it's not a secret. Davos Sweeney has been the most reluctant coach in college football to mess with the portal. And what's happened is he really, you know, everybody, everybody misses on some recruits, you know,

even Nick Saban has, you know, misses on some five-star guys. When you do, the portal has been the best way for, for coaches to address a, whether it's injuries or, you know, guys who just didn't work out or guys who couldn't pick up the system or whatever to really invigorate a weak position room that you may have or more than that. And Dabo Sweeney's just been so hesitant or so opposed to doing that, that I feel like it's come back to bite him in a big way. Everybody else has upgraded. And in a lot of ways, they've downgraded. Because if you think about it, upgraded and in a lot of ways they've downgraded because if you think about it you know dj ue ongelele was the guy who became a scapegoat for a lot of people because he was a high profile five-star guy on the other side of the country and you know when i talked to dj and visited when

he was very frank and candid about how he felt like their offense and you know kind of how that program was run and it it was a struggle for him. Well, now DJ went to go play for Jonathan Smith in Corvallis, Oregon, and he and them are doing really well. And DJ was not the problem. Like right now, I think this is a Clemson issue. And I thought Clemson made a good move by hiring Garrett Riley from TCU as their offense coordinator.

But I think it's bigger than that. It's bigger than just who's running the offense or who's running the defense. I think it's ultimately, it's like, what do you have to work with? And right now, this is an example of a team that, you know, if he does not adapt to, and this feels like it'll be something that could blow up my face kind of thing at some point, but if he does not adapt to how everybody else handles the transfer portal, I don't think he's ever going to have a team that's going to be a national title contender. I mean, I think they'll still be top 25 teams because he can recruit well enough. But I just think the team

that has lapped him in the ACC is Florida State. And the biggest reason why is because they are all in on the portal. Jordan Travis did not start his career at Florida State. You know, any one of the big-time receivers, Johnny Wilson, Bell, you know, Keon Coleman, none of those guys, they all came from other places. And that is the, you know, Trey Benson, same deal. And it's like up at Jared Verst, probably the best defensive player in the conference,

not just at Florida State, started out at Albany. Mike Norvell and his staff have gone all in on it, and they have lapped Clemson, and that's the prime example. They're still recruiting well on the high school front, but I think they know you have to complement it with experienced, older players.

I can't imagine Dabo at his age would still be this stubborn because he's still, I look at as like, you know, of the figureheads of programs, he's on the younger side of this thing. And it reminds me of like coach K at Duke being like, we're not taking one and done. So he's like, Oh really? Well now you are. You know what I mean? And he learned from it. Look, yeah. Look, one thing I can tell you,

the only thing that, that makes people more stubborn than being old is people who are stubborn, old, and rich. And so we'll see. I mean, at some point, I think he's going to get frustrated with it. How is he going to feel if his team goes seven and five? I think maybe somebody's going to go, okay. Because to his credit, it was not easy to fire somebody who'd been with him for a long time as his offensive coordinator last year after a relatively short time. He made that move. So I suspect he will adapt. Because if he doesn't, I'm not saying they're going to fire him anytime soon, but I think Clemson's better days under him

will pass unless he adapts. Bruce Feldman, Fox The Athletic. Check him out. He's one of our favorites. Love the Fox show pregame stuff. You can follow him at BruceFeldmanCFB. Good to catch up, man. You too. Thanks.

Alright, give it up for Austin Reeves. If you want any of the Jaden McDaniel stuff you left behind, you can grab any. You got it. Is he really that good defensively to have his own mug and koozie? I like his game. Yeah, no, you can have it though. You're really good now.

I play with a lot of really good players. Oh, come on. I got 30 minutes to fill. You can't be going like that on me. This is really cool. And, you know, Austin's agents reached out to me a while back. We got connected and they were like, hey, would you want to have mine? I'm like, look, I think this is an incredible story.

Your story, this small town, you're on the Lakers. And at that point, we don't really know where it's going. And now here we are more than a year later, man. So this is, this is an incredible run. What's that been like from the time, you know, two years into the league now going to your third year, what's that been like for you? Oh, it's been crazy. Um, you know, for the longest time, didn't know if I would get to this point, but just put my head down at work. So these past two years, it's been, you know, really rewarding. And I've got to sit back and really appreciate, you know, kind of what I've done in these two years. Obviously not, you know, satisfied with, you know, anything you want to win a championship and all that. But, you know, just super proud of myself and, you know, like the trajectory of, you know, how it's going. What did you learn? Like, I always ask anybody like this because, look, when you're a lottery pick, I know what the answer is, right? And I love when guys give me the honest answers,

and you've done that with me in the past, when it's like the battle of, am I actually this good to then crossing over into like, yeah, I am this good. Was there a moment for you? Uh, no, I always had self-belief. Um, and all, I just knew I needed an opportunity to, you know, go prove that. Um, like you said, from a super small town, you know, I didn't play you, I played baseball, so I didn't, you know, no AU basketball play one year. My last year I could play other than that. I played, you know, baseballAU basketball play one year my last year I could play other than that I played you know baseball like I said and everybody thought I was gonna go play baseball um but just you know were you supposed to play baseball at Oklahoma uh no no I stopped probably when I was

like 13 oh yeah 14 so yeah quit that early but uh like I said, I played one year at AAU. I didn't have many offers, you know, committed to Wichita State and then bought into my role. And my role was just catch and shoot. And I had to, you know, leave to go, you know, expand that and then undrafted all that. But I think the first time I stepped on the floor with LeBron and AD, just going up and down with them, I was like, okay, I belong here. And I can really make my print here. What's the first thing LeBron said to you that made you feel accepted? I didn't think it was really words. It was more so just actions.

Passing to you? Yeah, I mean, for sure. Yeah, I mean, for sure. I mean, he, you know, even going back to, I think when it really kicked in was game one of the Memphis series. I think D'Lo got a rebound out, let it into Brown. And I was running the court because, you know, obviously Brown's got it. And he stopped and was like, no, I'll come back and get it. And like my mind just completely shut off. But the only thing I could think of was like, I can't make him look stupid. I got to get something good if it's a shot for myself. Ended up hitting a three. I went like a 7-0 run myself. But it was like at that moment, I was like, okay, like he's got that trust in me, AD as well. And, you know, that was the main one.

You're living in Manhattan Beachattan beach now yeah i'm not gonna give out the address uh do you think lebron will ever visit you once probably not no probably not i'm still waiting on the invite to taco tuesday are you serious no i gotta get that one you're the third best player now. You could argue that. All right. At least you gave yourself that a little bit. I'm not going to make you rank them all. I'll be like, all right, rank the entire Lakers.

But look, I think you know that whatever, I'm not a reporter and stuff, but doing it long enough and talking to enough people, I remember how cool I thought it was and how glad I felt for you after you and I connected. It'd be like, I heard i heard lebron really likes him like he really likes him and you know i think at the beginning of last year it may have just been like i trust him way more than everything else that we're doing uh and i know you said it's actions it's not words it's not those things but i mean there's there's something to that when think of your age and who he is in the game. And the first time you were probably even aware you're, you're under 10. Uh, you know, I know you get over it. He's your teammate, your third year in, you're trying

to do stuff, but I imagine your friends are more annoying about it than I'm being in this interview right now. Yeah, for sure. I remember, um, it was my first year when I was back home, uh, Brown had posted something on his Instagram story and I reacted to it or sent something back. And I was just talking about it casually. And one of my friends looked at me and was like, do you not understand what you're talking about? And I was like, no, what do you mean? He was like, you could pick up the phone and call LeBron right now and he would answer. He was like, that's literally insane.

call LeBron right now and he would answer. He was like, that's literally insane. So yeah, you kind of have to for me, he's the greatest player ever. I wouldn't even want you to say it was Jordan, just for your own safety. Yeah,

I mean, I was a big Kobe fan. So for a long time, I wasn't the biggest Bron fan. And, like, me and him have a conversation about it because there was a post that come out middle of last year when we were in New Orleans. And it was a Facebook post that I posted from 2012. And it was like, when I need some sleep, I put my phone to LeBron mode. No rings or something. And I was just like, just like shit i'm gonna get in trouble for this one uh so i remember we were in the locker room in new orleans dude every one of you guys just fucked that up like every draft class

on everybody immediately digs in to see who you've read for sure anyway no doubt that's actually not the worst tweet though no i give you a lot of credit for the creativity. But I remember we were in New Orleans, and SportsCenter posted it on Instagram. And I just pulled up my phone, and the first thing I seen, I was just like, shit. So I was like, all right, I got a man up. I just got to call him over here and tell him. So I was like, Brian, come here, man. And he walks over. He was like, what's up?

I was like, look, I was a huge Kobe fan. I was shitting on you back in 2012. And I read what I posted. He just started laughing. He ended up making a comment about it in the media after I did the too small to Pat Bev, you know, just about me having his back, even though I was a Kobe fan. So, you know, shout out to him for, you know, not taking that any type of way. And aside on the too small, has anyone big actually done it to somebody small? Katie did it to me last night, so. I didn't watch the preseason game. It was NFL. Sorry, I know you lost.

You're not going to worry about the score. I'm going to go there because, you know, we've got time. Would your friends had been more impressed if LeBron picked up or Taylor Swift? What was that like? What was that that rodeo like there for that rumor mill for you for a couple of weeks? It was it was crazy. And obviously from a small town of like00 people everybody knows everybody so um they know me i imagine she's popular in your hometown yeah i would say so but they the crazy part was they said uh

that they seen us in a bar in arkansas one i don't go out my god you don't go out there's one i was gonna try to get you a membership here and your agent was like don't even bother yeah no i was like okay no problem all right so i mean i'm interrupting you a bit here but like the idea that she would then be out with you who doesn't go out and you'd pick your town in arkansas maybe that means sweet home alabama i've seen it you know no there's this was the furthest thing from the truth uh they actually someone told me the other day that it was a you was an employee from the Clippers. So this is true.

I don't know if it's true or not. That's just what I heard. So the theory is that it's a Clippers employee who used a burner account just to mess with you that started this whole thing. That's what I heard. So the follow-up is, are you the biggest Travis Kelsey fan or the biggest hater? follow-up is are you the biggest Travis Kelsey fan or the biggest hater I actually don't really watch that much football but uh you know Travis is elite um I don't have no problem with him you know I wish them nothing but the best I'm not going to ask you to answer the question but I can't help but if I were a Laker in my

20s and the rumor was out there that wasn't true. There isn't just a yo question mark DM at some point. No, absolutely not. you practice in the driveway and then in practice in high school and then the stuff you're actually comfortable with doing a game and for your the whole reason you're undrafted is that it was almost as if you weren't trusted you weren't trusted to do all these other things to see you develop this part of your game where you're putting it on the deck and you're resetting yourself and keeping that dribble going like that to me is the biggest thing about scoring the wing in this league is that there's a lot of guys that kind of like one, maybe two dribble. The guys are going to hit shots. But you have become a complete attacker off the dribble

after not having that be part of your... Everybody hates the Astros. Yeah, they are cheaters. I'm going to be honest. I thought there was like a roof falling in for a second. You know what? Seriously, you guys have been such an awesome crowd and so quiet the whole time. I don't even know.

For sure. Thank you. Give yourself a round of applause for that one. I was rambling about how good you are there for a bit. But seriously, the ability to be allowed to show that that doesn't happen like when you start in league and you don't have it right away a lot of coaches would just be like we don't trust you to do anything off the dribble and that is why i think you become this good yeah i mean from you know even high school that's kind of what i did like i was a point guard my

whole life and then went to college and had to buy into a role for our team to be successful. And that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to win. And that's what they asked me to do. So, you know, just getting to that, you know, my first year, you know, here it was how can I get on the court? And, you know, we had a bunch of older guys that didn't want to really play defense, to be honest. And that's how I got my foot in the door, was to, you know, compete every night on the defensive end and then just make open shots. But just being able to build off that,

me and Phil Handy have a really good relationship and we're in the gym a lot, just trying to expand my game. And, you know, I think, you know, one thing about, you know, everybody on our team and organization, like if they see you in the gym working on your game, then they're not going to, you know, handcuff you to only doing one thing. Has magic taken credit for you yet? I don't think so. I'm going to say February. February is my over-under. How did you guys do it?

I mean, I know the roster turnover. I know all the trades. We all understand the transactions. You weren't as bad as you were at the beginning of the year. But what was that emotional journey like for a team that has big expectations, has the biggest star? You know, like, Robon doesn't expect to be what one in nine to start the year. What was it like to go from that to then looking like a real

challenge to the West? Yeah, I think it was just for the first, you know, three quarters of the season before the trade deadline, it was a mental grind, um, just every day trying to figure out what we could do to be better. And, you know, we just couldn't ever figure that out. And then obviously, Rob made some really good moves in the trade deadline, brought in, you know, a lot of guys that were complimentary guys, you know, Vando, Bees, D'Lo, and kind of just everything fit better. And from then on out, you know, we built really good chemistry on and off the court. We were always hanging out, you know, you know playing cards me and dilo play a lot of golf together and um you know it's just built from there and then now having that same core that went to the western

conference finals and then adding guys like gabe and tory and um and i know i'm missing some but a lot of guys that you know you can piece together. That's going to make us better, you know, obviously defensively, but shooting the ball as well, because we didn't shoot it well last year. That was our main problem. And, you know, really happy with what we got and feel like we have a really good chance. I can't figure out whose side I'm taking yet in the Denver Laker thing, because you guys talked about each other now for like two straight months. And like, there's definitely headlines where I laughed it was like yeah we've been paying attention to what they're saying and attention like all right but it was a closer series than

the way it played out I mean you can look back historically years from now you're like oh they got work and it's like well no it was actually pretty competitive what's different about this year if you face them again in the playoffs? I think we just shoot the ball better. Last year, I know, you know, definitely in the Memphis series, even though we've won, I was looking at, you know, stats and box scores and stuff through like the first like four or five games. And I think it was the first four and we were up 3-1. And we had only shot over 30% from three in one of those games. And we were up 3-1 and we had only shot over 30% from three in one of those games and we were

up 3-1. So it's just like, if you could, you know, shoot the ball better, we would win those games, you know, by 15 to 20. And I feel like, you know, losing Bruce Brown kind of hurt them. He was a plug and play guy that, you know, understood his role and played the right way. And like I said, with the guys that we brought in, I feel like it kind of fills the voids that we had last year, and we have this whole time to build on what we built last year and really build a foundation. I'm really happy for you, man.

And I hope you start getting some calls because you get absolutely bulldozed, and it's always on you. I think after the World Games, I'm serious. I'm not just saying it because you're my guy. You know I'm stern, but I'm fair. I think you get run over and then you're on the ground and the guys point at you. I think it's going to change with what you just did with Team USA. I think that everybody would disagree with you.

I feel like they got you called. Well, I do think you started flopping a little bit more towards the end, but I think it was a counter to the stuff that you had to do. No, I just got to show them that I do get found. I'm on your side on this one. I'm on your side. But I did text your agent. I was like, oh, I see what he's doing now. He's not getting enough calls.

So now he's going to be like, all right, now I have to emphasize it more. Just don't go full hard. All right. You go half hard. You I have to emphasize it more. Just don't go full Harden, all right? You go half Harden, you never want to go full Harden. All right. You're the man. I can't wait to see you this season. Thanks so much for doing this.

This is huge. The guy was golfing all day and made sure he stopped by. They say money can't buy happiness. Look at the fucking smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby. You want details? Bye. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork.

I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So, now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Life advice. The email address is lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. We are checking in with Kyle fresh off of Pat's win. He's got which jersey?

Is that the Mac Jones jersey? It's the Mac Jones t-shirt. Yeah, yeah. That's how committed I was to him. Not a full jersey. See how it works. You went Josh Gordon full jersey, right? I did. I think Bill got me that as a joke,. See how it works. Yeah. You went Josh Gordon full jersey, right? I did.

I think Bill got me that as a joke, but I was I wasn't laughing. I thought it was there was a time when that was fucking awesome. That's actually kind of a sick jersey to have, though, like that that like years from now. I'd be like, oh, you got that. You got that that patch jersey that like nobody ever forgot he played on the team. I kind of love that. Bill likes to get the joke once he gave me a Jack Jones jersey not too long ago. Number 13. And then I also have a jack jones jersey not too long ago uh number 13

and then i also have a tebow jersey that's too small but uh i think he would that was just a funny that's a joke jersey a couple years ago i saw some guy in new york city walking around with a mario hazonia magic jersey and i was just like that's fucking awesome like i'm so jealous i don't have that jersey so again obscure jersey incredible. Hey, 68 targets in 2018. I like that it's a Mac Jones t-shirt jersey. I think that's the right move because

cool. It could just turn into an undershirt after a while. Yeah, Captain Undershirt over here. Cerruti also checking in. Well, boys, we did it. We had a live show and I was really proud of everybody. to share it over here uh sorority also checking in well boys we did it we had a live show and uh i was really proud of everybody that was that was incredible so again thanks to 900 club

thanks to austin reeves thanks to craig kilbourne richard jefferson stopping by uh elizabeth who does a ton of work on the scene as well and the rest of the staff too i know i'm gonna forget a name so um i was little, I was a little bit like, is this going to work? Like, is this something where I wanted to happen where I wanted to have a show in Manhattan beach was actually not going to actually logistically work out as well because it wasn't a ticket venue place. It's a membership place. Um, the membership is not the most exclusive membership you could ever have, but, uh, Dave, the the proprietor who's just a great great dude and has been awesome to me and uh a lot of guys in town over the years so he was all for it because i was like all right well what do we need to do here whatever he's like finally at one point last

week he's like double r i just want everybody to party and i was like okay i was like i think i think we can do that for you so um i don't know if there's anything else to recap. I know I'm just going to get shit on immediately because I didn't go out with everybody that night. I had a couple drinks with the gang after the fact. Kyle had plans. Kyle had visions of Tate dancing in his head. I couldn't get in.

I mean, it was a packed house, and he never stood a chance. He showed up early, but, I mean, there were dudes sneaking in there as early as 2 o'clock that's not true yeah that's not true we would have gotten tate in that's not true it was tate and jim cunningham and then there was another dude in the mix who had like a cane and i was like i don't know if this is your type of spot dude so uh and i think he had like torn an acl recently or something and i was just like i don't know how this is going to work for you dude so a medical cane not an accessory cane because those are two different people no it was like a cbs cane first of all i love jim too so i would have

i don't know why we didn't just make that happen at some point but i don't know so rudy's already saying that's not really what there was dudes lined up around the block too like and they were at the end of the line and i don't know we were kind of like it was clear that you know there was probably like 80 people or 60 people that weren't going to get in. And they were like, why don't you guys go out and talk to them? Just say hello. Like you and I, kissing babies, shaking hands. Shaking hands, yeah. All those guys were drinking, by the way.

They all had just glass beer bottles in the line. I was like, this is a crowd. But Tate and those guys were at the end of the line, so I didn't want to walk them past everyone that was just kind of told, like, yeah, probably not happening for you today. But I don't know. I'll say it one more time. I told Tate, I was like, if you guys want to come in, you're good to come in.

It sounded like they were – it was packed. It was shoulder to shoulder, front to back the entire time. It was hot in there. Craig Kilborn, not one beat of sweat. Full suit. Crazy. I don't know how he did it. Yeah, it was hot in there.

Craig Kilborn, not one beat of sweat. Full suit. Crazy. I don't know how he did it. MVP performance. Shows up, full suit, whole deal. Doesn't sweat the whole time. He was awesome. He just drove down to his own thing.

But it was great that Austin Reeves and his folks. Because it was getting a little weird. We'd had a bunch of reach-outs. And then we got a couple cancellations. One non-response. And then there was like a two or three day window the week before where we didn't hack. We didn't actually have a guest book. And so then we reached out and then like Richard Jefferson lived down the street.

At that point, we were like, well, yeah, if you want to swing by and he comes by and he crushes his kids. Kids were hilarious. Young kids. Yeah. Can I just tell a story too? So the problem was Manhattan Beach. So Elizabeth, who kind of does all of our events and is incredible at her job, we drove down probably around noon, 1 o'clock to Manhattan Beach.

And dude, parking there is an absolute fucking disaster. So we literally parked at a Trader Joe's and Ubered in. So my biggest concern was, you know, like the Kilbournes, like obviously Reeves, whoever driving in and like not only being there on time, but like finding a parking spot and like being able to come in. And Craig Kilbourne was our first guest, obviously. So, you know, we were texting and making sure

everything was good. I got a text from him and it was probably the greatest text I've ever received in my entire life. It's just Steve comma mr kilbourne has arrived that's it that was it and i was like all right he's here my guy uh and it's like it's so funny because his his persona he's like the nicest dude it's not douchey at all but like you know that's an aggressive text to send to somebody you don't really know uh but i love the man he was awesome yeah and check out his podcast life gorgeous too um because it's just it's him and i'm such a huge fan of his that i almost you know look we've talked a bunch now over the years so it's like that first interview that first full sit down

that i did with him ringer he just drove to the ramp like, do we need to send you a car? He's like, no, just give me the address. I'll shoot over. Walked in. It was great. I thought Reeves was great too, man. He was funny. We'll play the... You already heard it. If you listen to this, you already heard it. Unless you just get right to this. Shout out to the wives.

There was a good female presence. A couple female fans did show up. Yeah, I think I saw seven or eight of the 400. Yeah, listen, that demographic is growing. That's an incredible ratio for us. And then we also had, it happens at every single show, we have one show where a guy, when we do the pictures, makes a point of being like, I'm not a picture guy. Except this non-picture guy who told us he wasn't a picture guy told us an incredible story he did about the jordan flu game that

pull on some threads it was very specific he was very believable he was very believable about right what what happened names dates this is what happened this is what didn't happen this has been a lie this has been a lie i this has been a lie. I normally would never believe that person, but he had me thinking. That was his thing? He said there's no such thing as the bad pizza. There isn't. And by the way, the pizza

has been refuted as well because of whenever it supposedly would have been ordered, there wasn't going to be any place that was even open or something like that. I don't know. I forget what the whole full scope of pizza timeline is so i don't feel like doing that right now but he was very very convincing and not a picture guy just like sorry don't do it okay uh let's get to a couple here let's see there's a couple that i really liked here because we actually didn't do life advice

at the show um yeah my job was effectively a bouncer you were like a fullback that was that was my thing i was trapped in that staircase just waiting for guests to you're just opening up holes in the crowd to get guests through yeah yeah lead blocker right through the a block yep yeah all right. How about we got one here? My girlfriend's parents hate me. What's up, crew? No gym stats. More of a running guy.

18 years old. You get it. You sure do, man. My girlfriend and I are in a long-distance relationship in college. I'm at LSU. She's at UGA. Boy, throw the records out when they play. A few weeks ago, I had a long weekend on thursday and friday

so i went to visit her problem is her parents are super strict and would not allow us to sleep in the same bed so when i read this the first time understand they're saying if you visit our daughter at another dorm at another school you don't attend uh you're not allowed to sleep there that is that is a touch stricter um so how do you govern that you don't yeah i was gonna say i don't think that's one of those rules that doesn't matter like cool right because like all right did you guys what's the do you have an early sleepover kyle i feel like just bends the numbers. He's like the chart and this axis, and then there's like a Kyle dot, like way the fuck over here that doesn't make any sense. But was there a first female sleepover,

you being the male sleeping at the females? Was there a first younger encounter of significance whatsoever? It was never sanctioned. It was sort of like a window deal. But, yeah, there was never. No one was just like sort of like a window deal but like yeah there was never no one was just like all right yeah i think i think now it's probably fine if you were to stay over like it was never it was never like an official visit you know what i mean really so yeah high school obviously yeah but nobody wants that no one was ever like yeah high school it

would be high school and it was it was actually the scary ones because they're like the mom and the dad both divorced they called me by my last name i know i didn't think they liked me very much i was uh i was just creighton like i don't know it was uh the mom called you creighton yeah it's not one of those last names that you call like you know she had a lot of game hat on double fisting bud lights like what yeah she just wasn't she wasn't she wasn't into even calling me by my first name she was i never felt very welcome um what can you do but yeah that was a that was a window situation that wasn't a go through the front door shake hands situation did they know you smoked cigarettes no i think i

actually stopped then like that girl a lot and it was football season nice dude uh season always saruti you perked up when i said junior high which kind of scares the shit out of me no no no no no no i do remember vividly i had been dating this girl for a while and i went on a family trip with well it wasn't even a family trip it was like literally her dad her mom me and her and it. And it was a two-bed hotel room situation. I think we were in Newport. I forget where we were. And I was convinced I was going to have to sleep with the dad.

Because I'm not going to let you sleep with my daughter next to me. But now he was like, yeah, just go for it. And I was so freaked out the entire night. I was like, I'm making sure there's enough space. Maybe even a pillow between us like i was so paranoid because she's sleeping like three feet away from me uh so yeah that was a kind of a weird experience wait wait wait wait so you stayed in high school in a hotel room with your girlfriend next door to her parents literally no we were all in the same room it It was one room, two queen-size beds.

Two full beds. That's actually worse. It was a little weird. Yeah, I didn't like it. Didn't like it at all. I would have rather slept with the dad. Head to toe. That sucks. Oh my god. I would have broken up with her.

No, no, no. I actually really liked the parents. It was fine. I could have liked up with her. No. I actually really liked the parents. It was fine. I could have liked all of them. I'm out. I'll just get my own hotel. I was 16 back then. Didn't have a ton of money.

I think it was in Newport. It was just a really small New England type thing. We couldn't get some big room. I don't know what the deal was. That was really awkward. I guess he could have made you go caught. Maybe.

What if he was like, hey, we don't have that. We're going to have to sleep on the floor. Here are a couple cushions. I wonder how I feel sleeping on a cot now. It's been a few decades. Probably not great. Yeah, I was going to say. Don't you have back issues? Yeah, but you know, play the game long enough. That's going to feel great. I don't know who who's an older guy that's back feels good like who i don't have the back issues

yet i mean i'm not super old i'm you know 30 about to be 35 but yeah switching out the mattress was a huge huge plus and by the way the firm one that i got loosened up the guy was right just like i said just like i said i was in i was a freshman in college and it was always a pain in the ass for me to get from vermont to a ferry uh so normally my deal was i would always try to like find somebody get me to boston and then i'll take a bus from boston to the boat and then whatever and then uh i think i just stopped going home for holidays it would rage and uh the girl i was seeing at the time she lived in boston and it was the first time meeting the parents she was definitely selling me a lot harder than i was selling myself

on the relationship but i'm good with with older people after all the estimates and homeowner jobs that they had to do growing up and then everybody went because life was in the other room the dad was like you're sleeping in here. You know that. Right. And I'm like, I want to, okay. Like don't kind of guy. I am right.

I, I want to ask me twice. Yeah. Right. Not even that into it. But, uh, so then the daughter, fuck the whole thing up.

And she was like, slept out on the couch and then was like kind of like what's up and i'm like there's nothing up law and order back to backs okay we're gonna do the switch here can i at least have the bed you can sleep on the couch yeah right like i don't you're gonna make this and then and then she slept on the couch and then the dad like woke up was give me shit i'm like your daughter's the rebel man like it's not it's not me sorry in fact she wanted it dude yeah what are you please give me a hassle all right fast forward to this week her parents found out of course this worried both my girlfriend and i because we both knew her parents are very strict her parents asked to facetime me to talk

about the situation dude this sucks Which I didn't appreciate very much because my parents were totally cool with me visiting her. So this issue should be between my girlfriend and her parents. During this call between me and her parents, they passive-aggressively told me that I made a mistake, that premarital sex is not okay. Parentheses, we don't even have sex. I was very nice in my response because what am I supposed to do?

Be a dick to my girlfriend's parents? Great instincts. Love this guy so far. After the phone call, I told my parents about the whole deal. My dad called her dad and they somewhat hashed it all out. My question is, I know that her parents won't admit it, but they don't like me anymore. How do I reduce the tension between her parents and I? The simplest answer is this probably isn't going to work out, so I wouldn't worry about

it a ton anyway. I mean, you're 18, you're in college, so I mean, I wouldn't stress, like, ride it out, see how it goes. If it works out, you'll have plenty of time to repair it. But there's also a part of me that says don't invest a ton of time trying to repair this thing because you're 18 and you're in college, and it's a long-distance college relationship with two epic schools on top of everything else. So there's that. You may not like that answer. You may say, no, this is the one it's different down here in the south shut up lucilla okay that'd be fair too um they're they're real strict and the fact that your dad got involved

with his dad and the whole thing i don't know if that made it better or worse um and everybody's probably polite enough to each other's faces, but the real damage or the real read on how it is, is after they hung up with you, how do they feel after they hung up with him and how do they feel? And your girlfriend will likely get that information and be able to tell you at some point. So I don't know, I would talk to the dad. I mean, you know, you could just say, Hey, look, I, I want to visit your daughter. I didn't do the things you thought I was doing. And, you know, like, do you think if we weren't married, say you're still dating your senior year and you both have off-campus apartments, like, what do you really like, what do you think is going to

happen here? You know, like what, what is your expectation on what our deal is? And if you don't think anything should be happening until we're in post-grad or we live in the same town after our undergrad, and then I put a ring on it and then it's okay to sleep in the same room like look he's not going to hear this from you because you're an 18 year old but he needs to understand at some point there's there's a plot in the timeline here where it actually is kind of understood and to be expected, so I think you've actually handled it pretty well considering all the factors and all this stuff, but if they're this strict, they're probably going to hate the next guy too. Um, because the next guy may not even be as cool as you were about

the whole thing. So really focus on this being a, it's not me, it's them, which which which could save a lot of time um because based on everything you've told us here i i really look look to funny strict parents out there i totally get it there's probably some parents listening to this right now have a daughter cause like hey unacceptable unacceptable religious part of it certainly is some kind of factor but i think you've been really really respectful and it'd be completely if you're trying to try to have a long-distance relationship while you're both in college, you're both freshmen, it's completely unrealistic that one of you is not going to go to visit the other at some point. And all of a sudden you're supposed to be friends with some Georgia dude

and sleep in his dorm to make sure. You're supposed to get a hotel in Athens, football weekend, good luck. So I just wouldn't worry about it because their standard is likely an unrealistic one for 18-year-olds having a long distance relationship. Yeah, I don't like it. I think you should have baked in the breakup into your senior year of high school, but you didn't do that. So I don't really have much else to say. Freshman years, clock's ticking, buddy.

I think you should figure out if this is if you want to do this every time. You know, if you love something, let it go, I heard. Yeah, look, if you were like Bridgewater, I'd say, okay, cool. She's just UGA. That's amazing. Although, actually, if you were Bridgewater, I'd be like, yeah, stay local.

I feel like not to be... I don't know. Maybe this can come up as being a dick. Like where's your girlfriend and all this? She's, it's her, it's her parents. She should be taking the reins on this.

Why is she letting them talk to you? Or why is, you know, like have she had, have they had this conversation with her too? Because she's the one, like you talk to your parents about it. They were cool.

Why is that not the same way? She should be talking her parents off the ledge. If they're still super mad about it, then at least she's letting you know that she has your back i just don't like how we haven't heard at all from the girlfriend side of this of her trying to like maybe put out some fires here um because that that seems like the way where i would start like why am i the one having to like convince your parents that i'm an okay person like where do you have my back what's going on here and to kyle's point if that's not happening then let's get this thing moving yeah have you guys

talked about how you're gonna lie to her parents about this yet or not because that's really the only way this is gonna happen right like yeah like we're gonna do the back and forth let's be like yeah we found this great guy jeff and he's gonna stay with him but obviously he's gonna stay with you let's just talk about have you planned this scheme yet or no there's really she working with you at all basically no i like i like what's already saying there there, too, because what does the father want? My guess is she might be the oldest. It's certainly different with the father-daughter relationship on what you're leaning about. I mean, it's just the way the world works here a little bit.

So the reality is she'd be sleeping in somebody's dorm at some point here if she was dating somebody from UGA. So, I mean, this guy's dorm at some point here if she was dating somebody from ugf so um i mean this guy's fighting a waterfall here you know like what do you think's gonna happen i think the real issue is that he's talking to you like you're 14 and you're 18. you know and that's like look your kids go away to school man you don't need to be told what the hell's going on you get to school and it's like you're a co-ed dorm you're just like parents shouldn't want to know what's going on right right you're just like oh my god this is this is my life you know lebron the pool side can't believe it i've thought about this though because obviously i have a daughter uh now in case you haven't in case you haven't heard i'm a father so as the parent on this

podcast she's not dating anybody yeah not dating anybody yet she's gonna be one one on friday so uh we'll see we'll see where that leads to and i but i thought about like you know when she's older because you know i've had so many people be like you know buddies be like oh man i must suck having a girl like i don't have to deal with all that stuff whereas i'm kind of the opposite like i really i wanted to have a girl. I'm super pumped about it. But when that comes around, I feel like if I'm the dad in this situation, listen, maybe the emailer

is, I don't know, he seems like a good dude in all the writing that he's put in. Maybe there's something about him that the dad legitimately doesn't like. But if my daughter's dating a guy who goes to a different school, was taking his time out of his college schedule, which is awesome,

to have to go to another school and do all this traveling, that's pretty dedicated. I feel like there's a commitment that this guy is showing that I would actually kind of respect. Because yeah, at the end of the day, she's probably still going to be doing all this other stuff with people at Georgia. But she's not doing that right now.

She's with this other guy who's traveling however many hundred miles to go see her every couple weekends. So I just, I don't know. I don't like it at all. I think that I just, it feels like, it feels like the dad is just being kind of an unnecessary hard-o when the girl is probably going to have a good time with somebody no matter what. Yeah, I think we covered it. Good luck, dude. Sorry, man. All right. Double handshake. Love this one. It's efficient. Five nine, one 95, somewhere between Danny McBride and Julian Edelman. I did three pull-ups yesterday. Hoops, comps, Kyle Anderson, one. It's efficient. Five, nine, one 95, somewhere between Danny McBride and Julian Edelman. I did three pull-ups yesterday. Hoops comp is Kyle Anderson.

One orthodox blue guy. Uh, I've been nicer about the basketball comps lately, but the Kyle Anderson one is, is another fallback. Like, Oh, I do a little bit of everything. You're like, you know how good Kyle Anderson is. Uh, and again, I understand the point there. I attended a lecture by a writer I enjoy when I said hello afterwards, I went I enjoy. When I said hello afterwards, I went for a handshake. So hello afterwards, I went for a handshake. There was a pause before I got the shake. We chatted for a few minutes and it went pretty well. But for some reason, I impulsively went for a conclusion shake.

Two shakes after the first one was hesitant, is not ideal. Was it one shake too much? Probably probably but i'm guilty of it man i will go in there for the confirmation shake all the time i've told myself to cut it out of the game i don't i just it's just sort of like that hey what's up okay cool good to see you i'm a two handshake guy i'd like to be one but sometimes you feel like you have to give that second one. I'll even follow it up, intro in, pound it out, and then the shoulder tap handshake again. Now, I don't think I'm giving them out to nobody that wants them, but I'd like to get down to one handshake myself. The issue is the hesitation on that one. Was it just real awkward? I don't want to shake your hand, but now I have to because

you left it out there. But sometimes you need closure on the interaction. And especially if you're going to talk to somebody that you admire, maybe the nerves are cranked up there a bit. I would not worry about it. I wouldn't put it down as a mistake, but I, along with you, I'm going to work on trying to just keep it one handshake. Maybe a tap on the way out. You know,

Hey, cool. One, two. I don't, I wouldn't be thrown off by anything, but you know, any more than three and you're just playing with it.

And that's the, that's the rule. Yeah, it is. Different story. I think one or two is acceptable. Yeah. Wait,

can I get some clarity on this? We're talking like one, two, like pump handshakes or two separate handshakes, two separate handshakes. Yeah.hakes yeah intro the intro like whatever they did and then the outro right that's what we're talking about here i don't think it's that big of a deal either way i don't know somebody gets that worked up about it it's kind of weird weird thing to be weird about yeah he's an artist right this guy is an author so yeah artists can be weird

um yeah well he's a writer so you never know those guys liberal arts yeah okay thanks to stefan thanks to steve thanks to kyle the ryan russ little podcast back on wednesday every monday Wednesday, Friday. Ryan Russell. Bring your spot. We'll be right back. and present in select states. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit fanduel.com forward slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio,

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