The Ryen Russillo Podcast - In Chiefs-Chargers, the Most Talented Team Lost Again. Plus Bruce Feldman on the CFB Landscape: Playoffs and Fired Coaches.

Episode Date: September 16, 2022

Russillo shares his thoughts on the Chiefs' 27-24 win over the Chargers, and what it would have meant for the Chargers if they had pulled out the win (0:32). Then Ryen is joined by Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and The Athletic to discuss Nebraska firing coach Scott Frost, the unique way college football coaches get hired, extended, and fired, Texas A&M switching QBs, BYU's overtime win vs. Baylor and upcoming matchup vs. Oregon, Alabama's ceiling, the wide-open Big 12, and more (11:20). Then Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (52:30). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Bruce Feldman Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're going to go around the college football landscape with a good friend, Bruce Feldman. Also, what the hell is going on in Nebraska? Why is Frost out and who is next? Some of the coaching stuff just in general. So we cover a ton of topics on that one. A little Thursday Night Football recap and what it means for a really talented Chargers team to

lose at Kansas City and life advice including a follow-up to Sauna Guy. I'm watching Thursday Night Football. Congratulations to Amazon on the broadcast. I thought it looked really good and that's going to be part of the new normal. And as

I watch these games and I think about the next day's podcast, depending on how the schedule breaks out, if it's one of those games, have to show the next day. That is the case. Obviously, Monday,

Wednesday, Friday through football season, I'll go, okay, is there an angle here? Is there an open, right? There's some simple ones,

right? Layup ones. We try not to do those here on this podcast. What will this mean? What it will mean if Herbert wins at Kansas City against the great Patrick Mahomes? Passing of the torch open? Could I do that? Could I sell you 10 minutes on the passing of the torch?

Well, you know me. If you listen to this podcast, you're like, yeah, I don't think you really believe that. That's why. If I don't believe it, I'm not going to talk to you guys about it. I kept thinking, all right, what's the angle? What's the angle? I have a couple other opens that I've got on the back burner that I've been thinking about a little bit. So I was like, I got something else I can shift out.

But you know what? At 10-7, I go, this is the Chargers game. They've been the better football team. And they're the more talented football team. We've talked about this a little bit when I was talking about some of the top 100 stuff of NFL.com and it was kind of in relation to... And by the way, there's a lot of Dolphins fans that caught that Tua video

where I say, I think I'm worried he's going to be a backup and he's a backup. A lot of you guys actually think I think the Pats are good. That's an interesting theory on there. I think this Pats roster... If you're a Pats fan and you see the Chargers, let's run through this real quick, right? Because I think the Chargers have nine players

in the top 100. And they went nine and eight last year. But they've added some pieces too. All right, so we've got Herbert, who's easily a top 10 quarterback. I think you saw it again last night. His first two years in the league, this guy's been incredible.

Although, he did get banged up pretty good last night. A theory, a thought here, a question. You know how we talk about wide receivers with catch radius? Is there perhaps a problem for quarterbacks who have long torsos where you could say they have a large hit radius?

I don't know if that'll be in the evaluation of quarterbacks. Just something I was thinking about last night is it looked like he was grabbing his ribs the entire time. And then he had that third one where he could have easily run for it and converted it, and he just pulled up and threw the ball because he didn't want to and he was still hurt. Then he threw a touchdown on the fourth one, and it was an absolute dime. So this was a fun game.

The Chiefs win it. But at 10-7, I'm going to charge the better football team. I'll run through the talent thing that I got a little delayed on. We've talked about Herbert. Eckler, he's in the 40s, by the way, on the NFL 100. He's at 46. I know the pass-catching part of his game compliments his rushing. He's never been over 1,000 yards.

He had 12 rushing touchdowns last year, but prior to that, not as much. I think his fantasy prop, I think that props him up a bit. I think he's considered the number five overall pick against all drafts. He averages out to be the fifth pick. So then people start to...

I just have a hard time believing that there's only 45 players better in the NFL than Austin Eckler. Nice player. When I watch him run, I don't feel like this game-changing, super dynamic running back. I could be wrong about that. I watch him a lot. I understand the passing part of it.

He does add a lot of fun. I think the fantasy. Sometimes every now and then, there'll be a guy who's really good fantasy-wise, and then you watch. You'll be like, why is he talked about in that neighborhood? Anyway, he's in the 40s of the top 100. Keenan Allen is the top 20 wide receiver. My man, Mike Williams. I swear every year I'm like, why do I like this guy

so much? Last night he reminded me. I always like him. Then sometimes I question it. I know the health thing isn't always great. But by the way, the stat last night, shout out to the Amazon broadcast on this one helping out all us. Mike Williams stands. Since 2017, Mike Williams has the most

tight window yards in the NFL. Didn't even know tight window yards NFL was something that was going to be tracked, but it's been tracked, and he leads everyone in the league since 2017. We already mentioned Keenan Allen. I like Everett at tight end. I think he's a real playmaker.

Slater at left tackles, already insanely good. Lindsley at center might be the best center in the league. You've got Bosa. You've got Mack. Van Noy is terrific in coverage. They brought him over. I've always liked Kenneth Murray, but then I'm like, wait. Is it only because I liked him at Oklahoma?

So maybe we'll put him on the TBD list. JC Jackson at corner. Asani Samuel Jr., and the best safety probably in the league in Derwin James. Pats fans are going, wait, how many of those guys do they have? How is that possible? They went 9-8 last year. Now, again, they've added some of the pieces I've mentioned in there. By the way, what this means is if this team doesn't have a really good season,

there's no way Brandon Stanley can come back. This team is too talented. That's why every year I fall for the Chargers because I see all this talent. Okay, all right. So we talked about that part. The Chargers are about to go up here 24-17 and then Herbert throws a pick six. It looks like

a mix-up with Everett. I'm positioning in the end zone on the catch. They were talking on the sideline. Pick six, running back Watson, seventh round draft pick, rookie for Kansas City on this new young defense, by the way, that has a bunch of rookies all over the place. That was the plan. They needed to change it over last

year because we know how bad it was historically for Kansas City, especially in the first half of the season. 50% of those defensive snaps from last year for the Chiefs are gone. Those guys are gone. Watson runs it back, which also leads to what did you do when you were young before you realized your dreams for a job?

I don't know about you, but most of us do jobs that aren't sweet when we're younger. And so apparently Watson was working at a restaurant or something. And we're like, man, from doing this to running back a pick six to totally flip the game

and lead to a Chiefs win. Well, before you become a pro athlete and you're at college or something, you probably have a shitty job. I don't know. I think Instagram has screwed everybody up here on this one. Most of us have really bad jobs at some point that if you then became famous later on, it's like, did you think I never had a landscape? You think I never had to dig trenches? Do you think I never had to clean up after a job site

where there was, well, we've already covered the human feces in the appliance box dilemma that I ran into years ago out on a job site cleaning it up. I just always think this is kind of funny that we were like, man, I can't believe that guy ran so fast. That guy was flipping burgers. I don't know. What the fuck was he doing before he was in the NFL? Was everything always awesome? No, not the case. All right, so we discussed Kansas City's roster overhaul. This game flips on that play,

but I don't know that there was ever any going to be some series of events where on a Friday after that game, I would have thought, you know what? Charges go down there. They win at Kansas City. There's a little passing of the torch. Things have really changed. Look at this talented team. They're the team in the AFC West. I think there would have been a lot of that stuff. They got Kansas City to punt six times. That's a good defensive job against Patrick Mahomes. They blitzed Mahomes a lot by their standards. Last year on dropbacks, the Chargers blitzed less than 25% of the time. Last night, they blitzed Mahomes 36% of the time, and the numbers show that he lit up the blitz worked. It's just that Mahomes was unbelievably mobile both in and out of the pocket, getting himself clear for throwing lanes that he has, arm angles that he has, that I don't think really anybody else has.

The first two touchdowns that he had were incredible. So they blitzed. I think it worked. It moved him around. He just still ended up being the blitz where I didn't think it was a straight blitz beating where it's like, hey, we sent these guys and they called the perfect play.

Like, Mahomes made those plays against the blitz. But getting Kansas City again to punt six times, if you're LA's defense, that's kind of a win, even though you lost the game. So, to finish this all out, when I'm looking at the Chargers, 9-8 last year, and I'm going, wait, when's their last big win? Because I started trying to map all this out

for what I wanted to do today. Like, when's their last big win? Give me a Chargers win where I'm like, wait, maybe I have to take that team seriously. Well, it actually happened a couple times last year. Week 13 at Cincinnati, they won 41-22. Very entertaining game. I remember talking about it on the podcast because I did have this kind of weird thing for Cincinnati. But 9-8, again, it didn't mean anything. But what about going down? What would it have meant to go down to Kansas City win on Thursday night football? What would it have meant for the Chargers to be able to do something like that with all this talent and all these guys and the expectations and people starting to believe and picking them to knock off Kansas City in the division? You're like, oh, wait. They did do that last year.

Week three. You're like, oh, wait, they did do that last year. Week three, they beat Kansas City at their place 30-24. Herbert had four touchdowns. Mahomes had two picks. And they went 9-8. And the Chiefs went to the AFC title game. They hosted it.

So I don't know if that really meant anything. And that's the thing is if this game had gone the other way, there was no pick six. Herbert's the man. It would have felt different. Probably felt different a year ago. We just forget. Probably just wouldn't mean anything. Football season is underway, so now is the perfect time to download FanDuel, America's

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Tennessee, 1-800-522-4700, Wyoming, or visit 1-800-GAMBLER.NET in West Virginia. A couple weeks into the college football season, joining us, one of our favorite guests on college football, it's Bruce Feldman, Fox Sports, and of course, The Athletic. I know you're out in Lincoln, Nebraska. So let's actually just start there. What went wrong with Frost?

How did we get to this point where he's out? You know what, Ryan? From everything I've heard from people who work with Scott Frost here, one of the things they start with is just a really bad lack of organization. He was also really impulsive. You jump in at critical times and games to call plays. And some of those plays, the Huskers hadn't actually wrecked much that week at practice. So it was a little bit like, Hey, what's going on here? The other thing, and I, and you know, I'll be honest, I like a lot of people.

I thought this was going to go great because he was a fantastic job that he did at UCF and he was coming home. But one thing that, you know, you hear a lot from when you talk to people inside the program is that he just leaned too much on a couple of his old buddies here at Nebraska. We just were giving him a lot of bad advice and, you know, that ended up making him probably disconnected to a big part of his coaching staff and it all just kind of kept backfiring right and i think it's the harder they tried they uh you know they didn't have a lot of margin for error to begin with right you know they didn't have a ton of playmakers and they were losing a lot

of close game you saw a team that just really just didn't look like they were able to to uh make anything happen it was almost like they couldn't get out of their own way whether it was special teams or just critical moments so this was not hey things just didn't bounce your way we all love you and we can't believe we have to do this but we have to do this because again the buyout part of it the language what it dropped to october although nobody likes a buyout like nebraska so you know maybe they i mean this felt like as you're sharing with us and some of the stuff that i've read that there was there was more than just losing games because you know i again to interrupt myself but i am always very interested in how the person who everybody wants is the person

nobody wants you know 18 months later you know tom herman was the guy every major program would have wanted him if they had you know lsu thought they had him texas get some flame out willie taggart florida state he lasted two seasons although looking back it's like should he've been given the keys after seven and five at oregon um you know charlie strong i think you know even looking at like a matt campbell where you've talked about him being like he was this super super hot name and the job that he's done at iowa state is still terrific but like 80s i wonder if they make mistakes the frost one checks a million boxes but you've talked to these people that have gone through this hiring thing it's just not everybody gets to work out but it's crazy how often the thing you want so badly doesn't work out

yeah i also think ryan it's like it's like a fickle set of circumstances sometimes. Not Luke fickle, obviously, but where you get it where, I mean, look, you and I both know a lot about LSU. Things were great, and they won a national title, and then all of a sudden they weren't great, and everybody was running from it within a year. It's just weird how college football works. It's a lot of circumstances that go into it. I think it's how people respond to pressure

in different ways. I mean, UCF, it was two years. It was a spectacular run. He could have been anywhere after that. He obviously was coming home. It made a lot of sense. And everything he said at the beginning made a lot of sense.

But then the more you'd hear about it, it was like, okay, maybe some of the things that kind of came together well at UCF, okay, maybe some of the things that kind of came together well at UCF, maybe there were some cracks in that or whatever. You know, it's just, there's a, that happens a lot where, as you said, Tom Herman's a really good example. It was like also a guy with a pretty short, um, you know, he wasn't at Houston very long, right? He was, he was a hot assistant, did a really good job at a bunch of places, including leading, you know, Ohio State's international title.

And then when you talk to people in Texas, we were just down there last week, it was like, who was this guy? They felt like they didn't know what his identity was. They didn't feel like it was authentic. They didn't like how he treated people. And the how you treat people thing is an interesting thing because there's a lot of times you'll hear like you'll hear oh they need a players coach oh they need a disciplinarian it's like different times different things work you know it's like you can be that guy who like keeps a safe distance or then all of a sudden you're the guy who's aloof you know it's just it's just weird how you know right now you know who's not hot Jimbo Fisher you know I mean you know not long ago they

were they were paying him a fortune and glad to do it and he had the hottest recruiting class in the country now all of a sudden it's like yeah you know the the offense has passed him by and some of these recruits are looking to be signed are looking to get out of there it's just it's a very fickle dynamic I think with college coaching yeah that's kind of like my Kirk Ferentz thing where it's like every time you're starting to think it's going South, then we'll have that nice nine and three season, which is good enough.

And then they give them another extension. Yeah. Look, I mean, who's really hot right now. Jim Harbaugh about, you know, like this has had two different times where,

you know, first Jim Harbaugh, like, you know, we had to take a lower contract and people were getting tired of me. Couldn't be to Ohio state. And then all of a sudden he shocks everybody and he ends up leading them to a big 10 title in the playoff and then he you know we're not that far removed from oh he's desperately trying to get into the nfl the vikings don't end up hiring him he comes back has to

shuffle up his coaching staff and all of a sudden now look what's going on. Michigan might be a hot team to keep an eye on all of a sudden. Like J.J. McCarthy's Heisman odds have dramatically jumped and people are buzzing about them. So it's just a weird thing. I mean, Harbaugh was a great coach at Stanford and certainly with the Niners.

And then all of a sudden people were like, oh, what's up with that guy? Well, that guy, there seems to be a method To the madness and sometimes we just don't know what it really Is that's why I'm not Like anti when a school Especially Michigan and Harbaugh like which is my

Favorite example now if you say hey he did not Deliver on what you thought Everywhere he'd gone and won it's a big Deal like he wanted all that attention he Got all that attention the beginning he definitely cooled It on a lot of that stuff later On the who's who's got it better than us videos wanted all that attention. He got all that attention in the beginning. He definitely cooled it on a lot of that stuff later on, the who's got it better than us videos and all that shit.

I still kept thinking, wait, Harbaugh's being talked about like they're going five and seven every year. They're not. They don't beat Ohio State. That's super important. Nobody, like look at the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry. None of those guys are beating Ohio State. Ohio State's better. They're just a generally

better program. And, you know, it'd be nice to get one here or there like Auburn does against Bama when you're least expecting it. But, you know, Michigan finally gets one in a down defensive year for Ohio State. So to the bigger point, like I had no problem with Nebraska being like, let's try this Frost thing again, because if you're okay with it, then why, you know, try this Frost thing again, because if you're okay with it, then why should I be mad about it? And I think some schools clearly are okay extending people out. I'm with you on the Jimbo thing. Why did you need to add four more years to a deal when he signed it for 75 million? Nobody could believe that he got that deal. That's another... I mean, look, I feel like we're just sort of talking here. I'm not really asking all these questions because i want to talk about a and m

behind center here for a second but i the coaches have it so great right now because as soon as you're hot you get a job maybe you don't deserve and as soon as you win somewhere that's a little afraid you could go to one of the other tiered programs then you get these massive extensions the a and mM Jimbo extension, where else was he going to go? Why did they need to tack all that on? What is it, like $90 million guaranteed? If they have a shitty season,

that's going to be really weird. Not that he's going to go anywhere. No, but finishing up that, they play Miami this weekend. This isn't a great Miami team Mario Cristobal has. It's a toss-up game to me. If somehow A&M loses that game at home,

you know, they are staring at like a, you know, two wins out of the first half of the season, you know, because they got Arkansas coming up, they got Mississippi State, and they got Alabama. You know, like they're going to really, you're looking at it going, this team might not even get full eligible the way things are if they lose this weekend now look they could they could beat miami easily

miami's without their best receiver um but and it's not like miami's loaded with playmakers to begin with but just looking at it with jimbo i totally agree with what you're saying you know they were throwing money at him left and right and by the way through 50 games he has a worse record than kevin someone who they couldn't get rid of fast enough and they by the way who by the way when someone got it rolling in the beginning at a&m like every first drive seven points immediately spread it out and then at half you'd be like wait what happened this game i thought a&m was totally control uh there were other programs that were like damn it how did we not bring in someone usc wanted him you know like tennessee had passed on him you know there was there was some of that and i think you know like a lot of it was the things that the stars

aligned johnny turned out to be a phenomenon as you all know he had clip as a play caller there was you know mike evans turned out to be way better than anybody in the recruiting world expected him to be right so there was a lot of that you know in the case of jimbo you know at one point he was this qb guru guy you know and he definitely has a bunch of guys who were first round quarterbacks but other than jamis if you kind of go through the list obviously we know you how Jamarcus' career went. Ponder, E.J. Manuel, we all like him, but it wasn't like he had a great NFL run. Nice guy.

Yeah, great guy. I'm sure Ponder and Jamarcus are too, but you go down the road on this thing, and it's like they barely beat Colorado last year. You know how bad Colorado is? You know how bad Colorado is now? I mean, they barely beat Colorado. They lost, you know, now the last three games

A&M and Jimbo have played against FBS opponents, they lost all three, and only one of them, Ole Miss, was ranked. They lost to LSU when they were falling apart at the end of last year, and they just lost to App State, who gave up like 1,000 points the week before to North Carolina without their best player. That's a really tough week to week one you know we i always like to say every single game is different they have their own identity for app state to give up 60 to north carolina who i think

we like their offense really like their quarterback and then haynes king who this was supposed to be his gig last year uh had he not been hurt what in the colorado game and then calzada comes in who has that glorious night against pama but that's not who he is and he ends up no calzada performance against alabama felt a lot like the will ferrell debate scene in old school you know kind of like what the hell was that like nobody knew what was coming it happened he played great you know he's off. He transferred to Auburn. He's not being seen there. He was behind the other Oregon backup and the other backup.

Right. Yeah. That's a great one, the Will Ferrell call. I have a much more – I remember Brett Saberhagen, I think in 99, pitched like six scoreless against the White Sox, and I was like, all right, you got another arm here for the playoffs. And it was like, no, no, you don't. Like it was just this, it was this nut,

this night he was touched by the baseball gods. And that's what it was for Calzada. But this is a really good point. Like there's some sneaky stuff in there from A&M's resume that I should have been more alerted to. But I felt like just talking to people like, hey, Haynes was going to be the guy,

you know, Calzada was pretty much, you much, again, as a freshman, a disappointment. Haynes gets hurt. And then I started, I've watched both A&M games, even the one with the delay. And I'm like, this guy's going to get crushed. And then I thought against App State, they were going to go to Max Johnson, the LSU transfer. He put his helmet on, he was thrown on the sideline. And then A-Chain ran the kickback. And then I think, all right, you know, that's probably like a sideline thing. Like, hey, we have this momentum. Let's not change anything yet. Because I'm not for yanking all the quarterbacks and the young kids back and forth all the time.

But I just thought, you know, I've seen Max Johnson play some really good games, including against A&M last year, beating ranked Florida teams in back-to-back years when LSU felt like an absolute dumpster fire as far as the vibe of the team, even though they were really talented. So we'll see, because now Max, it was announced this morning, he's got the job. Yeah, I'm with you. And again, the same thing

as one in the swamp when he was a freshman, he did a lot of good things. There was some good and bad. You and I were together in the Rose Bowl at the beginning of their season last year when he had some good moments and some not-so-good moments. Hangs on to the football really long sometimes and gets crushed. He got his ass kicked in that UCLA game. He did.

But I think I was surprised he wasn't the starter coming out of the gate this year. But look, Jimbo is at practice. He knows way more than both of us about his quarterbacks he went in that direction um I'm interested to see how this goes because you know they have Wegman who we both saw at Elite 11 who's got a lot of you know physical talent um you wonder like the thing I wonder about again you know I do think they're going to beat Miami but if they don't and even if they do though with this kind of run they have where maybe they're 3-3 out of the gate, maybe they're going to end up 2-4, we can talk a ton about their recruiting class, how great it was last year. I think recruiting classes now than maybe just even five years ago are going to be a lot different because a lot of these kids, it's like they're still recruitable athletes even after you sign them. It's definitely way

more poaching and tampering and stuff goes on. You hear rumblings about, oh, this kid's making it known that he's interested in going here. It's not like they can turn a hand transfer and play for somebody else next week, but I think that's kind of the volatility you have. It's different than if you're at Alabama or Georgia, where you had a program that has had sustained success with these blue chip players. If you're A&M, yeah, they had a really good season in the COVID year 2020, but then they were really mediocre last year. year 2020 and they were really mediocre last year and you know i'm fascinated by them just because they had this all-time high-rated recruiting class i'd be curious how many of these guys

are going to still be texas santa maggie's you know in 2024 you know and it's it's going to be interesting because like it's been basically one one really good year for jimbo and then a lot of other well you know we're riding off the national title and and a lot of talk and then he had the dust up with Saban that you know blew up and I'm sure that's going to be back in the news in a couple of weeks when they play in a big way so um to me they're the most intriguing team to watch this weekend on with not a really good slate of games that's where I'm at that's why I'm talking about it so much and by the way look I thought jimbo was right to go back at nick for that even though you know for the most part i always like what his saving has to say um and the only part that in that that i was like jimbo i

think could box himself in a spot was he basically was like daring people like you want to go report this story you know like and he's just like pointing at nick essentially well you worked with him back in the LSU days. You probably know him better than any reporter. So if somebody comes to you, you're basically putting it out there. But you're not going to, are you going to tell where the bodies are buried? That kind of thing. I get why he defended his program and himself in that.

He went so far. It was like, well, you're the one who's talking about what he's doing. You would know better than anybody. So what exactly are you saying? You know, kind of thing. So I don't know. He obviously had a ton of success at Florida State. The jury is certainly still out and they keep paying.

And I'm very fascinated to see what happens over the next couple weeks in college station yeah because they got their asses handed to them last week like they're 50 of their carries were zero or negative yards against app state like that was weird it was it was it wasn't just you know usually when that game happens you're like what fluky stupid thing oh they're minus four in turnovers uh they fumbled nothing much. Nothing about it. Nothing. They just couldn't move the football. They just bullied an SEC team in front of 100,000 of their fans.

Alright, let's move on because I've done too much on A&M here. What did you make of the BYU win? Because if we're talking interesting games here, Oregon's a favorite at home by about a field goal here against a BYU team that wins in overtime against Baylor. You know, give me a full circle of what you think of BYU, what it means for Baylor after that one.

And then, you know, if you have anything on Oregon that's still trying to figure out their own quarterback stuff, despite a big win against a lesser opponent last week. Yeah, I think we need to pay way more attention to what Kalani Satake is doing there. I mean, they're a really physical team they have a good offensive system under Aaron Roderick the OC who had a big hand and when they had Zach Wilson and you know he worked with Jeff Grimes on that and Grimes left to Baylor and they are still causing problems for people you know uh Christopher Brooks who was known as Christopher Brown when he was at Cal. It's a really physical big running back who has speed. They have a bunch of talented offensive linemen. They beat Butler without arguably the two best receivers, by the way,

the two most talented receivers. So credit to them. They're going to be on the radar because they have a bunch of, I don't call them super high-profile games. Obviously, Oregon's not as big a game as if they would have not gotten beat by 50 in the opener to Georgia. But it's still a game people are going to keep an eye on. And they get Notre Dame later in the year. Obviously, it's going to be a real dud of a Notre Dame team.

But I think people are going to... They're not in this weird space where a lot of people tend to think of them as a group of five kind of team because they're not in a power five conference right now, but they're playing power five teams and they're beating them. Right. And they just beat a really good one. So I, you know, with Oregon, I think that it's like, there's a challenge there is, you know, you have a first time head coach in Dan Lanning. You really have a first time play caller on the offensive side and Kenny

Dillingham. Like I know he had the offense coordinator title, but it's not like he's working for an offensive guy now. It'sning, you really have a first-time play caller on the offensive side in Kenny Dillingham. I know he had the offense coordinator title, but it's not like he's working for an offensive guy now. He's not working with Mike Norvell or Jimbo or Gus. He is working with a defensive guy as a first-time head coach. So you have a lot of inexperienced people. I think what you saw, just from talking to coaches who were around there, was just a team trying to figure out its identity. They looked pretty undisciplined. They did not look prepared for Georgia. I'll be honest.

I don't think Georgia's quite as good as what you saw the first night. My guess is Oregon's not quite that bad, but I think we got too caught up in mario cristobal's recruiting rankings for a while and what we thought of this team you know bo nicks had some moments i'm sure you remember he looked really good against lsu but i don't say a bunch of people have though you know in the last two years and then it was good you know he went in there and he let him look like bo nicks again right and they just don't look prepared he He's not the answer. I'm sorry. And by the way, Georgia looked, that was the most pissed off I've seen a team,

I think, week one in a long time. They may not be as good as they looked that day. It's an interesting point by you, but their attitude for three hours was incredibly impressive while you're stomping the other team too. And it was sustained attitude. That was, I think, something a staff should be super proud of.

Yeah, they came out ready to play. Oregon did not look ready to play. And I think what you see is an inexperienced staff. I mean, you have some good coaches who have strong recruiting reps, but I think as they put it together, they don't have a ton of experience in the roles they're in, right? You have, like I said, Kenny Dillingham, first-time play caller. You have a first of experience in the roles they're in, right? You have, like I said, Kenny Dillingham, first time play caller, you have a first time head coach in Dan

Lanning, you have in Tosh Lupoi, a guy who has a little bit of coordinating experience under Nick Saban, but it wasn't, you know, a ton. And, you know, it's Saban's there. And there's a lot of people on there who are going to have their hands in the pot so i think you put all those factors together with a team you're still figuring out with a you know i mean one of the things i remember one of the guys on the staff told me so what's been the most impressive thing about about bo nix and they were like well his leadership and that's important i'm not saying it's not but you know you're you're really what are you hanging your hat on right now you know well you got noah sewell and justin floyd you got some Sewell and Justin Flo,

you got some really good athletes there on that side. Yeah. I love their linebackers. But they haven't, you know, except for Sewell, Justin Flo, Justin Flo played one game last year.

It was great. He played great against Fresno, but you have a lot of guys who I think are kind of, it's just a lot of pieces that need to come together. And I don't know how soon it's going to come together. I'm not feeling that confident that it's going to come together against BYU. Okay, so then anything on the Baylor Big Ten picture, or excuse me, the Baylor Big 12 picture?

I don't think Baylor would go to the Big Ten. No, I don't think they would go to the Big Ten. You don't know what to do with Oklahoma at this point. You feel good for Sark on a moral win, but we've been here before with moral uh wins that were actually wins in the win-loss column for texas i i liked how physical texas was i i thought yours you know it's weird too man i feel like sometimes around some of the qb camps with viewers there wasn't as many people sold on his rankings and i'm talking about people as you know that do this

for a living yeah more so than us because i remember watching you were so i was like oh man like i kind of like this guy's foot with this calmness back there he's real loose and i'd go being that guy's kind of that guy's a lot of fun and then there might be a guy to be like i don't know but i don't know if that was just in response to the first overall recruiting ranking for every position in his class so basically what i'm doing here is teeing you up for kind of your big 12 synopsis. Uh, I was impressed by Texas. They, you know,

look, I thought they looked really focused and locked in. Alabama didn't, they had 15 penalties. They probably could have 20 that called against them. You know, they got, they got away with really sloppy.

Um, but they have enough talent, certainly, certainly with Bryce Young to make it happen. I thought, you know, you didn't ask me this, but like Alabama needs, needs you know they've had a ton of great receivers they don't have anybody great right now they don't have anybody who scares you and I thought Texas was

able to take advantage of that I know the talking to the Utah State coaches that was the one thing they came away with it was like we weren't really worried about the receivers we're about almost everything else with that but now I think you know you know, if yours gets back, you know, we already could be back in time for the Oklahoma game. If he's back, he looks really good and they have really good skill guys. You know, Bijan is a special running back. Xavier Worthy is a game breaker. JT Sanders is a difference maker, tight end. maker, tight end. The offensive line, I thought, you know, credit to Kyle Flood. That's a really young group, two true freshmen, you know, two other underclassmen. They held up pretty well, you know, against Will Anderson and those guys. If that keeps coming together, and I don't think that's going to get worse. Those kids, from what I heard, will keep improving. You know, I think they're every bit of a, you know, eight, nine win win team i don't think there's anybody in that big 12 that's scary you know like oklahoma state's defense spencer sanders is quietly i think an

underrated quarterback um he's a really good dual threat guy they have some firepower on offense but they're not as good as they were on defense we're gonna see oklahoma tomorrow i think oklahoma's probably the safest thing in the league. To me, the wild card team in there is K-State. I've always liked Adrian Martinez. He was playing with a short hand here. He didn't have much playmakers. Right now, he's got the most dynamic player in the country,

I would argue, in Deuce Vaughn. That guy is must-see TV. They're really well-coached. They're going to be physical on both sides of the ball. It wouldn't surprise me if K-State ended up winning the conference. I think this, to me, is the most wide-open

league in the country because you don't have anybody that is that talented. Oklahoma State, it's not like they're loaded with with four and five star guys and they're not like i said they're still figuring out on defense we had them week one i was in the studio week zero whatever opponent and um they played central michigan central michigan gave them a hard time you know they have they have some decent offensive players but like they came up like 50, 45 points in that game.

And it was a battle, you know, and you wouldn't have thought that. I'm looking at this league and even like the bottom of it. Kansas is actually, they have a really good quarterback in Jalen Daniels. They're really well coached with Lance Leipold. They're not the pushover and punchline they were in like the Charlie Weiss, Les Miles days. Like they're going to beat a bunch of teams texas tech has a really you know they have a really good offense they have a couple of quarterbacks now who are talented you know i think they're kind of rolling sunny's going to move the ball at you know at tcu like to me i feel like you have a bunch of teams who are going

to go anywhere from from five and seven to like eight and four and i'm not sure there's anybody who's who's a legit top 10 team is usc a national title contender now yeah no i don't i mean like we had this conversation before our show last week about is usc back and they wanted reggie and liner to i hope they're not like in the next room so i don't hear this but i was like are they back they played one game against rice you know like when anybody says is miami back and i'm like i think it's more of a joke now i want to say fuck you there's miami's not we're not having the miami's back conversation so there's a fucking parade you know know, like this, people get too far crazy, you know, like love Joe Tess, Joe Tess anointed Texas a few years ago after that wild game with

Notre Dame, which was amazingly entertaining. Nobody was back. They both sucked that year, right? They both were kind of duds. And I looked at this USC's offense is really explosive, no doubt. And I think they're fun to watch. I think they're going to score a ton of points. USC's defense, they kind of stink. And they were god-awful last year. They've added some transfers, but they didn't add the Caleb Williams of defensive ends or the Jordan Addison of linebackers.

They added a couple of good players, but nobody was like, oh my god, this guy was going to hurt the other team that he was leaving. So you watch in the first two games, Alex Grinch, who I think is a really good defensive coordinator, went in there, they got a bunch of turnovers. They had like three pick sixes in the first week. They had four turnovers against Stanford. By the way, if Stanford doesn't turn it over a bunch in the red zone, that score is like 63 to 61 because they weren't stopping Stanford.

Stanford broke out the slow mesh. It gave them problems. There was a bunch of other stuff coming off it. I think, I think they could be the PAC 12 champ, but if they got up against a Georgia and Alabama and Ohio state, I don't think they could, I don't think they'll be able to keep up.

They'll score a bunch of points, but I think in the end, they'll end up losing a game like 49 to 35. I just don't think they're good enough on defense. And I think they're pretty good on the O-line, but I think they're not seeing SEC defensive lines. They're not seeing that right now. I mean, look, they played Rice

and a pretty mediocre Stanford team. I definitely want to pump the brakes on the USC hype a little bit. Anyone to challenge Ohio State? It felt like people liked them more. Certainly. I thought the defense won the game for them and then

the other running back, Williams, behind Henderson. Then you see Notre Dame lose to Marshall, and it feels like people are kind of reclassifying Ohio State if they have any challengers. And maybe it is Michigan. It's just I want to see Michigan compete with Ohio State when Ohio State doesn't have one of its worst defensive talent gaps,

you know, that we've probably seen in a long time last year. Yeah, I would lean toward it being michigan the team like when when i was around um in indianapolis when they had big time media days spent a bunch of time with jim harbaugh and some of his players and it's interesting to hear the players talk about like they you could feel it they really had a chip on their shoulder everybody's made like that was a fluke last year. You're going to get annihilated when you go to Columbus. And I think a couple things. They could certainly be better on offense

than they were last year without Hassan Haskins. They added a transfer center who's ever been as good as anybody they had up front last year. They have a bunch of guys back. They missed Ronnie Bell the whole year. He's their most consistent receiver. He's back in the receiving course way deeper. They still have Corum and Donovan Edwards and a lot of speed. And if JJ McCarthy is as close to as good as he has looked so far, he is a different kind

of problem as a quarterback. He's got a much better arm. He's a much more dynamic athlete, so they can do a bunch of stuff with him. I think defensively, they did lose Aiden Hutchinson and Ajabo and Dax Hill. Also, I think Mike McDonald was a really good hire for Jim Harbaugh and he's gone. Jesse Meador knows that defense. They worked together for a while and there's still a lot of good players. I don't think...

They had a bunch of guys on my freaks list. They definitely have some big-time athletes on the defense. I wouldn't pick them to win in Columbus because I'm not giving – Ohio State is my preseason pick to win the national title, and I just think what you're seeing with Ohio State a little bit now is as good as the receiving core is, I mean, Jackson Smith and Jigba hasn't played much, right?

So you're taking an All-American off it. They're still really good. I mean, you saw Marvin Harrison go wild last week, as you mentioned. And Buka, that kid is nasty. Yeah, I mean, they have so many guys. When Julian Fleming gets back and rolling, that's another

guy in the mix. I think defensively, they are better. Certainly Jim Knowles, I think, is a more accomplished defensive coordinator than they've had there in a little while. Halfway, I thought, was really more accomplished defense coordinator than they've had there in a little while. Halfway, I thought, was really good. I don't know if he can get them to be that level because I don't know if they're quite as talented. Linebacker, they're okay.

I think the secondary, I don't think they're great. I think they're pretty good. They went from being in the secondary awesome to being really average. Some of that was when you lose big-time players, but they just didn't replace them. And I think right now, I think they're, they're improving. I think on the D line, which covers up a lot of flaws, I think you see, you know, some of the younger guys who are bigger recruits, I think they're starting to really get established. And I think that will be the key for them if they, because they can cover up a lot of the flaws on the back end.

All right, final thought here. You're in Lincoln. Let's bring it back full circle. Who do you think they go after? Because I don't know if it was in Stu's mailbag or if you addressed it. And by the way, we've got to tell Stuart Mandel to put the locations of the mailbag question askers in again because that's my favorite part when it's like don't you think with a tweak here or there that the Vols could be right there with Alabama and then it's like Jeff in Knoxville.

I need that. That makes me laugh. Or when somebody hates the SEC and then it would be like Dave from Naperville. And so I need that again. But there was, I thought a really good philosophical part of this and why, you know, I know how mad Nebraska fans get about it, but like,

dude, it's over. It's been over for a long time. That's never happening again. And, you know, you probably shouldn't have left the big 12, although I understand why you did.

And I understand the money and you're with a secure conference as opposed to one that isn't going to be, but the recruiting part of it hasn't helped, and the 90s are never happening again. And then it was like, well, shouldn't they go after Sam Pittman? And I don't know if it was you or Stu that answered it. Was it you that answered it? I forget. I got lost reading all the different athletic stuff because the stuff was so good

where it was like, wait, here's a real question. If you're the head coach at Arkansas, do you want the Nebraska job? Yeah, people were like, I had somebody take us through my list. He was like, the one I want is Dave Aranda. Yeah, good luck. Dave Aranda is like, you know, just had a top five team.

He's in a way better recruiting base right now. He's also at the place where they have a really good AD who's an established AD in Macroads who was the one who hired him and gave him a chance and believed him right david randa is a younger family i don't know if he wants to yo-yo his family around to the third place i think he could have left somewhere last year probably with more upside for the reasons you just outlined about nebraska than the one here you know from what i've heard is all right they want a grinder they want a a guy who is kind of a proven head coach right because as i said frost only had two years of head coaching

experience before he got here um matt campbell at iowa state he's in this area he is he is shown he can establish a winning culture i mean iowa state had never had a top 10 team till two years ago he's really good at developing talent. You see a bunch of his guys in the NFL who weren't big recruits. I think anybody who's around him becomes a believer. I don't know if he would leave. I mean, he was high on USC's list. If Lincoln Rodley doesn't jump at the job on that Sunday morning,

I think Matt Campbell's going to jump right after. Wow, so you think Campbell is going to jump right after. Wow. So you think Campbell would have ended up at SC? That was the one they were bringing in. And I think, depending on how he felt about the situation, I think it would have been hard for him to say no. I really do. I don't think it would have been as easy for Lincoln to say no. I'm not saying Lincoln was running from Norman.

as easy for Lincoln to say. Now, I'm not saying Lincoln was running from Norman, but I think, obviously, there was a lot of reasons he was attracted to that, not just football-wise. And I think there's some of that. I don't know that Matt Campbell is going to look at Lincoln, Nebraska, and think that's a much better job than the one he has. It might be a much more headache-filled job. If you ask me, Lance Leipold, who was a former assistant

at Nebraska under Frank Solich, you know, he won six D3 national titles, did a good job at Buffalo, and has, you know, really fixed some of the issues at Kansas. Lance Leipold, his buyout goes from $5 million to $4 million. It would probably be $5 million if they were going to hire him, because I mean, the $4 million, it drops to $4 million in mid-December,

where if you're going to hire that guy, I think you need him in place earlier. I'd be shocked if he would turn down the job. The ones who are the interesting ones, Chris Kleiman, K-State, another guy who won national titles at lower divisions, done a really good job. I think he fits a lot of probably, somebody

would say, yeah, he could probably do a good job there. I don't know if he could get him in the playoff, but those two guys, he could probably do a good job there. I don't know if he could win, you know, get him in the playoff. But those two guys, I think, fit a profile, certainly. The wild cards to me, you have Bronco Mendenhall, who's out right now. I think he would want the job from everything I've heard. He did a good job at BYU, and then he went to UVA and did some good things. Some, you know, what didn't work out great, but like, I think he might be a better fit in Lincoln than he was in charlottesville and then the to me the the one that will be interesting

is matt rule who as you know did a remarkable job at at uh first a temple and then at baylor when baylor was in the toilet after like the whole art ryle stuff um if he gets pushed out of carolina later this season i could see him looking at the landscape going, he's a Penn State guy. I don't think Penn State's opening anytime soon. They gave so much money to Franklin on this latest go-around. Is this the place he wants to get back to college at. Because if he gets fired at the Panthers after this, I'm not sure anyone in the NFL is going to hire him. And then you look at the landscape here, I don't see him as an Auburn guy. You know, so like, I feel like Auburn and Nebraska are very different job profiles.

You know, like, I could definitely see Auburn being interested in Hugh Freeze. I can't see Nebraska being interested in Hugh Freeze. You know, I can see Auburn being interested in Lane Kiffin. Even though Lane has, like, Monty went to Nebraska, Chris Kiffin worked at Nebraska.

I don't know. I couldn't see Lane here. I don't know why Lane would actually leave, honestly, Ole Miss now to go to the Big Ten either. I'm not saying that. But I could definitely see Auburn taking a swing at Lane. I should say, not taking a swing at Auburn. I feel like Lane is the only person you, Auburn taking a swing at Lane. I should say, not taking a swing at Auburn.

I feel like Lane is the only person you... Lane is like the only coach you really can't use that expression with. It's like, did you see somebody taking a swing at Lane? No, Auburn's one of my favorite. Like I mentioned how Ferentz, you know, there's a bump. And by the way, I need to correct something I just said. I don't think it's great that Nebraska left the Big 12 out of, you know, there's a bunch of different reasons, but clearly it's the right move for your program, the stability, the Big 10 network. You're in one of the halves as opposed to the Big 12 wondering if they're going to fall apart every two years.

So for long-term stability, it has worked out for Nebraska, both financially and for a million different reasons. I just, you know, you know how I feel about the conference shuffling. I hate it. You know, to me, Nebraska is a Big 12 school. And even though geographically, you know, you could say it's not that much of a stretch as it will be for some of these other conferences or some of these other new programs going to different conferences. All right. So on the lane thing, though, Auburn, like Auburn is one of my favorite contractual studies because just when Gus Malzahn was going to get fired, then he would do something.

And then he'd be like, you know what? We were going to fire you yesterday, but here's a four-year extension. And then within months, he wouldn't make it 12 months, and it'd be like, you know what? Let's get this guy out of here. And then something else would happen. And they'd be like, he beat Bama again. How does he do it? Because he's the only guy that's got that many wins against Bama. But again, because how... And then he'd get another deal, and then everybody still would hate him. And then Auburn needs its own little 30 for 30 for people outside of the SEC footprint to truly understand

that it might be the most drama-filled... And like Harsin, he almost didn't make it a year. And let's face it. I know that doesn't feel real good. You know, Auburn, Auburn is the guy at the cash machine in the casino in Vegas going, do I go back to that table or do I go meet somebody that's tripping?

They do not know what the hell is going on because they're giving into their own worst impulses. And they end up at the end of the night with a bunch of ripped up paper in their pockets. You know, it's just like, what are we doing? You know, like, because I think they're so impulsive and they have just irrational, you know, like, look, and they've won national titles. They've had, there's been, you know, some of the most awesome, awesome sports people have come from that place. But my God, it's like just chaos

when it comes to like the leadership above that's the thing like to say they've actually you know in the last decade plus a year here you know won a title played for two beat dama more than anybody else has and you're like every guy we get in here we can't wait to get rid of or extend and you know then they had the ad thing which was interesting and reading more on that kind of for i think the local media part of it that was a little bit more plugged in um from the outside it looks like another thing you just added the list you know i'm not 100 sure what happened i know what i've read but anyway hey but some of the most some of like the most iconic sports people have come from that place whether it's berkeley or bo jackson or frank thomas or cam they're like these larger than life kind of

figures chris porter chris porter i remember this one go ahead the basketball player yeah he was he was filthy there for a little while yeah well you well, you get, but you get like all this stuff where it's like, I just think it's like, it's the most SEC program of all the SEC programs and how it kind of operates and how it thinks of itself

and how it kind of gets itself and gets in its own way, I feel like. And what I love is they still crush it in recruiting and there'll be all these guys, like whenever you watch an Auburn game, you'll be like, who the hell is that guy? And, you know, unless you're totally locked into it, you're around on the recruiting stuff. And then like, oh, yeah, that guy's going to be like a first round pick. You know, they always have dudes. They always have dudes.

And that's why they can sneaky, you know, catch up to some of the elite programs. But the instability while also doing some really impressive shit the last 10 years, is the most Auburn version of events. And that's why they're Auburn. Thank you, Bruce. Enjoy the weekend. What game do you have? We have the Oklahoma-Nebraska game. And then next week, it's a lot of Michigan for us.

The Big Newton Circus goes up to Michigan. So, hey, we're bringing Urban Meyer back to Michigan. That'll be interesting. That's the other article that I want you to do in six weeks is how many fan bases would open with open arms, welcome back Urban Meyer to college football. The list is long. That's Bruce Feldman again.

Big Noon. You watched the kickoff show before. It is terrific. A Big Noon, obviously in Eastern for Nebraska and Oklahoma. Before we get to life advice, let's run through our picks. Keep a track of it every Friday for FanDuel here. I don't know what to do with this group right now. The Human Torch is looking at us going,

I don't know, it's 22-4 now to start the season. I didn't even put any effort into that Chargers parlay. And then that hit. So Rudy's got the parlay secret. He's telling me off the air, he's like, I actually think I figured something out here. I'm like, okay. Never heard that one before. I remember being in my 20s going, oh, yeah, no, no, no.

I just do it this way and then this way, and then I don't really lose that much. I win a lot. And then it was like, oh, can I borrow $3 for laundry? So let's go to the master. Let's get him going. We're so hot right now, I'm afraid of what's going to happen. But, I don't know.

Ride the train. Suri, lead us off. All right, going back to the well with the same game parlay alt addition here. Packers-Bears. Give me the alt line. Packers minus six and a half. Parlay that with the alt under of 48 and a half.

That's plus 105, so you're getting about even money there. I'm not ready to write off the packers just yet i really don't think the bears are that good despite the week one win against the niners so there you go okay all over packers bears kyle i would decide to go a little bit less safe because i feel like i could do unders for games that you don't expect to be great and i figured i'd go a little let's say especially saruti doing another double uh thing here so i'm'm going to go the Vikings money line, plus 112 versus the Eagles, and then the Washington Detroit over 48 and a half,

and that's plus 304. So I think that's a little bit more risky. All right. You guys are getting exotic. You guys are doing so well, you're not even worried about anything. So I totally get it. All right.

I'm going to do just straight picks for this one. We have not figured out what the competition, what's on the line. If I lose, don't worry. I'm not going to say, well, we didn't really ever figure it out. I'm more likely to probably penalize myself even more so after the fact for losing. If I lose, but who knows with this group right now. We were going with the Van Pelt, fade the public approach. We were going with the Van Pelt, fade the public approach.

And right now, 84% of the bets are on Cincinnati at Dallas, which is not surprising. It's seven somewhere, but it's also, all right, so it's now Cincinnati's favored by a touchdown and a half. At Dallas, you're going to take Dallas. Plus a 7.5. I hate it. My original, one of my OG betting theories in my late teens or early 20s was a team that I think is good coming off a loss

that they didn't expect. Bet them. If you think they're good, stay with it. Bet them the next week. I loved betting a team after a loss that didn't make any sense. So this fade the public theory is spitting in the

face of arrogant 19 year old Rosillo betting theories. So there you go. All right, life advice. You want details? Fine. 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. LifeAdviceRR at gmail.com. We have to do an update. I am so excited to share a couple of different updates. We have a lot of people chiming in too about Kyle. Kyle, they're saying if you don't want to do the massive wedding invite list

because it does get expensive, that you could just do engagement drinks. Have you done engagement drinks yet? I don't know. We got engaged on 4-20. So what is it? It's 9-16 right now. Nice, dude.

Yeah, get married on 6-9 too. Totally not. Didn't plan either of those. But it's just a nice little fun thing for the lore afterwards. Where is the wedding? It's at Poughkeepsie. Nice deterrent.

You would think. But people keep saying they want to come. So I don't know. We have people just emailing in asking. I don't know how you're dealing with that now i've said the now i've said the date and the place fuck great you're gonna guys are gonna be writing in a life advice being like i'm actually installing some siding that just outside oh my god right on nine yeah uh yeah this guy said engagement drinks perfect

opportunity to involve people not invited to the wedding and get some extra presents did it for mine worked like a charm win win win p.s i'm divorced so maybe love those so maybe don't listen to me well the thing i was gonna say was maybe we just have a big party the next day and then everybody can come and that could be like a 250 person party, like in a big backyard, which I've got access to. So there's always that. But I feel like people in Poughkeepsie, a lot of people in Poughkeepsie have access to big backyards. That's a big plus. Yeah, big, big draw.

Big, big draw for that. It's still June. So maybe. I don't know. I feel like would you feel like do you think the people that would get mad anywhere? It's like, oh, I couldn't go to the wedding, but I'm going to your fucking cookout. Thanks, dude. I don't know. I feel like would you feel like, do you think the people that would get mad anywhere, it's like, oh, I couldn't go to the wedding, but I'm going to your fucking cookout? Thanks, dude. I don't know.

I think you should be happy to be involved. Maybe don't call it a fact. Maybe you give out free t-shirts that say Poughkeepsie. We're known for our backyards. I'm going to add that to I've got about four t-shirts I want to make for this podcast. I'll add that to the list I want to be involved in all of them

Backyard Capital, New York We have a follow up to the Asshole Sauna Guy and this is a good one I should almost read this last because it's so good but let's just go to it because sometimes we do the recaps and then we do the questions so I remember our guy

remember that he was watching TikTok videos and the other guy was asking, we gave him a bunch of different options, so he emails in. By the way, good writer. He's emailing.

Good writer. Asshole sauna guy came back. I have several friends that listen to your show were hyped that the asshole sauna guy saga got read. We bounced your all's ideas

off each other and landed on Allman Brothers who are asking him insane questions as the move. For weeks, I've had at Phil Maurice loaded up and ready to go as well as, hey, does your taint

ever itch? For weeks, I've waited, but he never showed. Wait, we read that email weeks ago? Alright, I lose track sometimes. He never showed.

I thought maybe the one five-minute sesh he did in the sauna was enough to make him quit. That would obviously be on brand, but I stayed vigilant, watching, waiting. I'd almost given up hope. I walked into the sauna today feeling downtrodden and destitute, thinking my time would never come. But today it changed. Lately, when I'm in the sauna, I've tried to start doing some meditation, eyes closed and focused on breathing.

I don't really pay attention when someone walks in, and I usually have headphones in and don't hear it anyway. After about 10 minutes, I open my eyes, an asshole sauna guy is there, phone out, TikTok open, blaring away like he's the only one in the room. I got so excited that i sat there for two or three minutes debating whether to go to the question route or almond brothers like a fourth quarter lebron against the mavs i froze oh no ironically he actually put his phone away before i had a chance to respond now normally that would end it but something very unique happened that

only guys who play sports would understand. Over the next few minutes, he almost looked like he was sizing me and the other guy in the sauna up. I realized after a few more minutes that somewhere along the way, we had entered into a personal competition.

I feel like this happens to guys all the time. This has happened to me personally playing pickup ball or running on the treadmill, where you all of a sudden find yourself in a head-to-head competition with somebody you don't even know. Are you kidding? I know, yeah. I mean, this is the whole thing about getting on my plane through security, and I pick somebody every single time to see if I beat them or not.

And if I don't, I'm in a five-minute funk. At this point, I realize I can't leave until he does. I reach inside and find the Kobe Bryant. However long you think you can go, I can go longer than you can, Gene. I hit 20 minutes, my usual stopping point. My timer goes off at 25 minutes and I see the dude visibly relaxed, thinking I'm about to walk out. No chance, Batso. All right, that's a little critical of his body type,

but we'll let it go. I make sure he can see my timer and I add another 15 minutes to the clock. At this point, he visibly deflates, shoulders hunched, eyes glazed over. He starts breathing heavy. I make it a point to go back to my normal pose, legs crossed and deep, steady breaths, even though I am dying inside. He finally

leaves around the 28 minute mark, my 28 minute mark. I go another two minutes before walking out. Normally I sit there and cool down for at least 10 minutes, but not today. I pick up my stuff and immediately leave like what I just did was nothing to me. While it's by far the longest I have ever gone. As I'm walking out, I look in the mirror and he's looking at me. He shakes his head in defeat and hunches over, still trying to recover. It was at this moment I knew I now owned his soul. I didn't get a chance to match his disrespect, but I like this ending to the story better.

Peace. Is this the first page of his, first chapter of his book? You could find in the lifestyle section of Barnes and Noble. It's so well written. I almost think it's fake. Yeah. It's so good.

That'd be, that'd be a new one for us. Like normal setup. And then later on, I don't care. I don't care. You know, fake or not.

That was, that was literature. I i love it nothing like competing with somebody you'll never see again that you don't know over something that means nothing you know sometimes i just love being a guy i'm gonna try your airport thing next time i like that yeah you just you whatever lane you're in or like somebody's at the other side of the other side you know you try not to count it out you can sometimes like all right count it out all right so pick somebody i'm seven back but sometimes i'll just go ice i have a yellow shirt yeah i gotta be yellow shirt and then it's the decision to which security thing you want to go through after the first part of the security right so the the the bag area, shoes are already out, whatever.

But a lot of that is like, okay, they got kids. That's bad. If there's a stroller involved, okay, that person's 112. Might not want to go there. Okay, this guy looks like he has his shit together. He's got a Tumi briefcase,

the Tumi carry-on. He's done this before. We know what's up. So you're scouting all the people around you. For good competition. No, no,. So you're scouting all the people around you. For good competition. No, no, no. You're scouting the people that could potentially be in front of you and the different choices that you can make to get through security

while trying to beat a guy who's on the other side of things. You see what I'm saying? Are you picking a good opponent, or are you just trying to find one that's like, if you're not counting seven back, like how do you, what if like seven back is a woman with three kids? You're like right i'm gonna i mean she's got no shot that's what i mean like you're still looking for the best uh selection here right no i know you're gonna be over six feet man sharp as man uh yeah iron iron sharpens iron i always pick quality opponents but sometimes i'll

just do the counting one because you just be like hey we're both seven back who's gonna win but it's a helpless feeling you get stuck behind you're like oh my god fucking for a CPAP on the plane like they said laptops come out of the bags what don't you get now the international

thing reminds me of being in Iceland in the south of France but the south of France. But the lack of consistency, not complaining, not complaining about it, but just. Chris is like, I told you, you didn't have to take off your shoes. You're like, you don't need to yell at me about it. But can you imagine a world where most people taking their shoes off the airports all the time? Although it's happening less and less. And if people are asking, why do you not have PS?

I have Clear. I have Clear because the Clear line is actually shorter than the PreCheck. Sometimes the PreCheck at certain big airports you're like, dude, PreCheck looks like more of a disaster than the normal thing. And that's why I ride with Clear. Except for sometimes Clear decides to just shut down at 9pm

when everyone's trying to leave Salt Lake City from a Sundance. And they're like, oh yeah, sorry, we close at 9. And it's 10 and everyone's trying to leave and you didn from a Sundance and they're like, oh yeah, sorry, we close at nine and it's 10 and everyone's trying to leave and you didn't get pre-checked because you have clear and they're like, sorry, we went home. And then they're just like, if you checked our hours, you would know that this wasn't going to work

and it was a complete disaster. That sounds very specific. It's good to have both. Yeah, that's such a specific complaint though. Yeah, but sometimes you fly to smaller airports, right? Especially if you're traveling around for colleges, you might have to go to a smaller airport that's cleared, decides to take off at 7.30 p.m.

because that's the deal they struck. And then now you're there at 9.30 for a late flight, and you just kind of got to get in the regular line even though you pay for clear. Come on. Never happened to you. I just, the only clear problem I ever had was in Boston where guys were like,

dude, you got, what do you think you have? I can sweet with Claire, you know? And then the way clear was originally set up is I think Boston guys are involved is they set it up to actually make it worse to have sabotage. There was such resentment from whatever Boston male was in charge of

designing the clear entry point at the very beginning when it was at Logan, it was like these fuckers with clear, they're going to fucking, they're going to learn real quick. Nobody's special. And so I, I remember going and I was like, this is a joke, right?

And they're like, eh, this is kind of the way. And I just texted some of the guys in the Boston thread. I go, there's nothing more Boston than being penalized for having clear. As we say about, right, like guys from Boston, you know, a couple of simple rules. They would just, they resent success and so so clear is is a little lower on the success line of things that you could accomplish in life but clear to some guys

like boston guys clear is like, oh, dude, guess who fucking showed up to chat him telling us about Clear. Yeah, he's traveling a lot. Fucking loser. All right. Let's read our first email. Yeah, we haven't read an email yet.

We'll do one. We'll do one. Okay, because I just saw a guy could live by its own. Everybody should feel happy, but it's a Friday, so We'll do one. We'll do one. Okay, because I just saw a guy could live by its own. Everybody should feel happy. But it's a Friday, so let's do a... This is a good one. This is a good pick.

What's up, fellas? 510-185. Would like to be 175. D3 hockey and basketball player. Currently doing a Peloton six-week program. Lots of cardio and lightweight. Not the bite, but good stuff. Oh, okay.

The other Peloton thing. I see. A lot of women do. This is not the question, but side note. Born and raised in the West Hartford area and think you guys summed it up perfectly. J. Tim's hands down the best wings. All right. We all agree. And then you know what's crazy?

Is guess what magically popped up on my Instagram feed. Fucking video of somebody eating J. Tim's wings. Scary stuff. I don't know about these. Yeah, there's some weird stuff, man. Every couple months, something happens with the phone. You go, this isn't cool, man. Check your setting.

Okay. Terms and conditions. All the names have been changed. I'm attending a wedding soon. Different city. Need been changed. I'm attending a wedding soon. Different city. Need to fly. I'm in the wedding party. All right.

This person is in the wedding party. It's one of my closer friends from college, and we lived together for a number of years after college. I'm bringing my girlfriend as my plus one. My girlfriend has known the groom for years, and now they are friendly, but has never met the bride. Groom moved away a few years ago,

nor most of the people at the wedding. Okay, so the girlfriend's known the groom for a few years. Friendly, has never met the bride. Groom moved away, found the wife. Or nor most of the people at the wedding. All right, she doesn't know a lot of people at the wedding. It's also going to be a big wedding, 250 plus people with lots of cousins and extended family. As context, the only people that my girlfriend will really have met before are also in

the wedding party. It is likely she will meet other members at the rehearsal dinner, but we know how those go. You don't usually spend too much time talking to the bridegroom, especially if you don't know them that well. There will be a church component to the wedding, likely an hour or so.

That's a long time. Dude, you do anything an hour south, you'd be fucking pumped. My girlfriend has a friend, let's call her Sarah. She sounds pretty cool. That lives in the same city as the wedding that we will be attending.

It's Sarah's 30th birthday that weekend. My girlfriend wants to know if it's okay to skip the church part of the wedding to go hang out with Sarah and her friends. I am leaning that my girlfriend should try to find another time to see Sarah. Are you leaning that way? After all, the reason we are in town is because of the wedding. If it weren't for the wedding, I don't think my girlfriend would have traveled for Sarah's birthday party. That being said,

it's not like I'll be sitting with her at the wedding. She will likely sit next to people she's never met. Also, she would likely be traveling on a different bus to and from the church and won't be part of any of the pre and post wedding photos. The party is at a completely different venue and a few hours later. So it's not like she will be entering that part at a different time. First question. Do you think it's okay for her to skip the church portion? Second, if she does decide to skip,

do we say, or do we, meaning the couple here, say anything to the bride and groom, or does she just skip and hope that nobody will even notice? Would love to know your thoughts. Okay. I mean, most everyone listening to this is like, you can't do this.

I love the ask. I love the ask. I think it's great. I think your girlfriend's kind of awesome, where I think most people are going to think it's terrible. I think it's great. I think your girlfriend's kind of awesome where I think most people are going to think it's terrible. I think it's convenient that she wants to skip the church part of it because everybody knows the church part of it sucks.

Who likes the church part of it? It's like, you know, the reception's cool, but I'm really looking forward to the actual ceremony. Nobody ever says that. I did one time leave a church thing a little soon. Girlfriend was so hung over and it was super hot she was dying and i was fucking pumped generally hot in those churches too they don't do the best ventilation and she wasn't she wasn't a big drinker at all but she was just that was

what made it worse so she was like i'm just dying hung over and she's like they're not gonna care bring me back to my apartment and i was like gladly it was awesome and then i tried i was like but we're going back to the reception right she was like yep so dropped her off i was in a suit i look great i did like a lap around town i was just having i was just yeah i was just like having my own little pub crawl they're like why are you wearing a tan suit rassilo i was like i'm at a wedding right now they used to do that for court passed out yeah it's unbelievable they're like wait a minute what's the story i'm like nothing i like now we're just gonna i'm not wasting this hour

yeah taking a taxi back for later refreshments i'm like i'm not i'm not taking a nap she can take a nap i was it was a great day now i'm thinking back all right so back to the email all right something that was something that said here screws up your girlfriend's plan here and i get nobody likes to go over here and the fact that you're in the wedding party and i get it it's a little awkward but guess what happens when you're the significant other to the other person's wedding almost everybody doesn't fucking know anybody all right yeah it's a big wedding yeah you're not gonna know a ton of people it feels incredibly selfish it's like hey can i go to sarah's birthday party also while the church part of this is happening i think she could probably get away with it i don't know that anybody would really notice i don't know

about the picture thing if people are going to keep asking like wait every wedding party person have their day even if they're not in the wedding party usually it's like full-blown wedding party but it sounds like you're in the wedding party she isn't in the wedding party so every wedding's a little different but usually traditionally the wedding party has the, like when they do those big photos, you're there with your girlfriend or your wife. Um, some others would be like, no wedding party only. I don't know. Buell street doesn't matter. The point is, is that I think most people listen to this, think this is a huge no, and that you're right. And here's the other thing that you mentioned

that i think is the most important detail here all right that being said it's not like i will be sitting with her at the wedding she will likely have to sit next to people she's never met okay understood she also would be traveling on a different bus to and from the church and won't be part of the any uh any of the pre-post wedding photos, etc. The party is at a completely different venue and a few hours later. Few hours. Why can't she go? I know. Bad planning. Although sometimes awesome planning when there is that

gap. Here's the problem. If she really wants to see her friend, go to church and if there is this few hour gap later at the reception part of it, then go see your friend. It sounds like she just doesn't want to go to deal the church.

It sounds like she didn't even want to be there at any of the wedding stuff at all. I'm worried about the long term. I love her aggressiveness. I love the ass. This is an amazing ass. No man would ever fucking get away with this ever all right you want to talk about advantages disadvantages put this one down in the female advantage the fact a woman could even ask this and still be in a relationship is fucking fascinating because

i don't think many men could ever go hey here's what i'm thinking you remember doug from the tap room yeah yeah it's his 30th it just happens to line up with this portsmouth new hampshire thing we're doing and he and i were just gonna throw some back in the middle of the day while you're at church in a dress i'll meet you guys there yeah and then i'll just yeah like it's not a big i'll just uber over later like i'll even show up early yeah yeah whatever like do you need anything you want me to grab you tacos or something like I could just it's gonna be totally don't worry about it I'm not gonna get

fucking wasted and screw up later on and then have to go none of that's gonna happen it's gonna be gonna be smooth sailing this is a win-win it's a win-win I don't need to sit next to this couple blue hairs they don't even know who I am uh no guy would ever get away with that I think you're right in thinking that she should be there I just respect it so much that she's trying to parlay a 30th birthday party into not having to

do any of this stuff where it sounds like she'd go to the church and there is a gap between the next reception where the friend could just be part of that. But, you know, whatever. Yeah. In general, I'm in favor of skipping the church parts of most days. I understand that weddings is probably one of those things you don't mess around with the itinerary of. Your connection to God doesn't need to be advertised. We know that. Right.

So I think, well, one thing I do think it's weird. know that right so i think well i one thing i do think it's weird i went to that one wedding and it was like they were talking about how the the guy the groom wanted to have a head of table and the wife was like so what are all the people that like their dates wives and girlfriends and and boyfriends and husbands gonna do just fucking sit next to each other that's weird right so i think i know there's a lot of weddings maybe a lot like listen to me go to one wedding i'm the authority but like i think there's probably a lot of people that choose to like let's not do the head of table and have all these plus ones actually be just plus ones at the plus one table isn't that a little weird so if that's if she's like not into that i guess but i mean the plus one table is the is the, right? So I mean, I do think nobody would know.

I think I know you love to ask. I actually maybe would say, okay, maybe I'd be like, hey, you got to show up to walk in with me. And if you want to sneak out and you're fine with that, fine, go ahead. I don't like I actually don't like the ask. I think doing it was actually pretty cool. It's like skipping study hall, but be back for math class. Like, I think that there's a little something kind a little, there's something kind of cool about that.

I think the ask is the weird part. So, I mean, you run the gambit here for her. She's, she's liked by me in the action of it. And she's liked by you in the ask of it. I think the ads, it's just a tough thing to ask. Cause then you're going to put it on me. That's why I respect it so much though. Like I want to know more about Sarah. Yeah, probably. I want to know what her deal is. Is she unbelievable or is she just an asshole? You know what I mean?

It's such an aggressive ask for wedding rules. I think most people listening would understand that. I'm sure there's plenty that are like, there's zero discussion here. There's zero. I think that the fact that she's not thinking about the gap, that she's lining it up perfectly with church time and being like, I don't want to go to that anyway. And then I'll just catch up with you at the rehearsal later on. I want to know what she does for work. I want to know what her up, was she the oldest? Was she an only child? You know, this does not sound like the youngest. Oh, well, it could though. It could be the youngest of four move. It's like, hey,

I got away with murder and I got to do everything because I'm the could be the youngest of four move it's like hey i get away with murder and i get to do everything because i'm the baby of the group so maybe it's the free thought independent older one only child there's a i don't know enough yeah i need to know more about you guys leave restaurants and she's like look at these chopsticks i got fucking porcelain chopstick dude look at that we've never done this before can you just follow up and tell us more about how the relationship is going is it going well is there a link i'm just kidding uh i just feel bad because i feel like because if it if it ever it did happen that's going to be the time when somebody's gonna be like hey where's sarah the guy's gonna be sitting alone in the pews and it's gonna be the you know

the mom of the groom or something is gonna be like hey where's what is your girlfriend here and you got to be like, she's in the bathroom. And then, you know, it's going to be awkward if somebody asks you. But other than that, I think you'd be fine. And I think the chances

of somebody stopping you and asking you where your date is is slim to none. But if you go through with it. Oh, I don't know about that. I don't know about that because like on the bus rides over from the church

and then you're sitting by yourself when you would clearly be next to her, then somebody's going to be like, where's Sarah? And you're going to go, oh, she went to her friend's 30th birthday, which wasn't even a party. She just turned 30 recently and decided to stop in and skip what's supposed to be the most important day of your life until you're divorced. And so I, but he was on a different

bus, right? That's what he said. Yeah. But there's going to be somebody else on the bus. That's, it's not like this isn't... Right. It puts him in an uncomfortable spot. Yeah, this could get messy. You can't tell the truth that he's going to have to lie. That's probably what it is. That's probably the final answer. Whatever you think is okay or isn't.

I'm not even saying I like it. I just think to ask makes her so interesting. Interesting is the word. like it i just think to ask makes her so interesting interesting but i want to know if she's like this really great independent girl who like yeah this is like an absolute keeper or you're just going what a warning sign what is she gonna do next i i believe either scenario playing out all right thanks to kyle thanks to saruti ruti Ryan Rosillo podcast ringer Spotify please subscribe we'll be back Monday with we're doing Dilfer again right every other Monday so Dilfer will be

back we get Colin Quinn coming up next week too I'm fired up man I can't believe we got him so quickly after we saw him in New York so a lot of good stuff coming up please stay locked in thanks have a good weekend. you