The Ryen Russillo Podcast - NFL Awards, Plus College Football Roundup With Stanford Steve

Episode Date: November 9, 2020

Russillo gives out his NFL awards for Week 9 (2:00) before talking with ESPN’s Stanford Steve about the PAC-12’s late start, Stanford-Oregon, Michigan-Indiana, Notre Dame–Clemson, the competitive SEC, Oklahoma’s improvements, their favorite ‘College Gameday’ road trips, and more (17:00). Finally, Ryen answers a listener-submitted Life Advice question (1:08:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

week nine all right let's do this ryan was still a podcast as always we get stanford steve i know he's been making the rounds in the gambling circuit maybe we'll get a pick from him uh for monday night football but he's always been one of the best i don't know what his numbers are this year but i know it is a really good job. He's a dude, I think at one point we figured out I'd spent more time with him over a four or five year stretch than any other person. For me, I believe his wife came in higher, ranked higher than I did as far as people he had spent time with. We're going to talk some college ball with him because we have a bit of a

shakeup or maybe we have no shakeup whatsoever. So I want to go through all the conferences now that they all played, how many teams are actually still alive for a playoff berth. The number is not many and the likelihood of some of the different scenarios. So we're going to do that. But as always, today's episode of the Ryan Russell podcast on the Ringer podcast network is brought to you by State Farm, getting great car and home insurance from State Farm at a surprisingly great rate. That's like drafting a player that becomes an all pro. The real deal. State Farm. Getting great car and home insurance from State Farm at a surprisingly great rate, that's like drafting a player that becomes an All-Pro, the real deal. State Farm agents provide personalized service so you can customize your insurance to fit your needs, like a GM putting together their very own roster. You need a team that supports you, and State Farm's got a great

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Your NFC number one seed not that long ago? Now they're out of the playoffs and they're 5-4 and people actually want Trubisky back. And there's some memes going around about how much better Trubisky stats were than Nick Foles, which is amazing because they are, I guess, but it's just weird. I always thought Trubisky was going to start again. Okay, but that's not the point. That award goes to the 8-0 Steelers because it seems like the Steelers, despite being undefeated and shockingly the first time ever in franchise history at 8-0, which just seems crazy for a franchise that amazing, that folks seem to be a bit down on this team. And people have been asking. All right, now maybe it's the Steelers and the lack of offense, even though they do have weapons and some of the stuff you may not like from Roethlisberger. It also could be because Kansas City has a team that also plays football and why people are a little down on the Steelers. I'm not down on them. All right, and let's run through this. Now, Aaron Schatz, who invented DVOA, and DVO is something we use here. That's beyond just how many points you score and

how many you give up. Although those are still important. Um, it, it basically averages out every single play red zone plays are more important than regular plays. If you throw a five yard pass in third and four, that's more valuable than say, um, I would say an Alex Smith special of, of third and nine, a five yard pass. I would say Kirk cousins, but Cousins actually is throwing the ball down the field a ton this year, and that's why they've actually had some problems. And now they're just all run heavy. I think they had the lowest pass-run ratio, meaning the highest run ratio of any of the teams this past weekend. And Dalvin Cook, speaking of, has nothing to do with this award,

but he and Derrick Henry are so far ahead of everybody else in the rushing stuff, and Cook and guys like Kamara from yards of scrimmage. But that Minnesota team is having a little bit of a resurgence here because of Cook and certainly not cousins. So, all right. So now that we've gone through all of that shots tweeted out from football outsiders, the worst DVOA teams that were eight and oh, so I'm like, oh, okay. Like we're doing this with the Steelers. That seems a little odd. So let's run through some of the worst that he said the worst one is 2012 atlanta falcons thanks for the falcon uh 13 and 3 they finished up all right not bad what happened in the playoffs they lost to san francisco that was actually a great run atlanta beat seattle they had a big

lead he got close late um atlanta had a chance fourth and four from san francisco's 10 yard line remember and it was incomplete pass it was about-yard line, remember, and it was incomplete pass. It was about a minute left, and they lost, and San Francisco lost to Baltimore in the Super Bowl. That Atlanta team I thought was pretty good, but apparently this metric says they weren't. 2006 Colts, they were 12 and four, and they won the Super Bowl, so that turned out to be pretty good, and again, this doesn't mean everything because we're running through this list because I think some people are going, wait, are the Steelers actually not good in the right? You know, cause I don't think that's fair. Um, by the way, that Colts team,

that's that huge comeback. They were down 21, three at home in the playoffs to the Pats, Pats, Asana Samuel had a pick six. Again, they went up 21 and three. I think that's actually the worst Pats loss in the Tom and Bill era. And we'll get to those Tom Bill rankings. Don't you worry about that. And I know some people are thinking, what are you talking about? The Super Bowl? Yeah, the Super Bowl were great.

Manningham, David Tyree, all of those plays. But that Pats team completely blew that game. I think that's the worst loss of any of the playoff losses. I really do. All right. Other bad teams. According to great 8-0 starts,

bad statistical metrics attached to them. 2013 Kansas City Chiefs. This one I agree with. I remember doing radio, and we would do our power rankings, and everyday ESPN.com would have the Chiefs won because they had the best record. And you'd watch and go, hey, they're all right, but this is ridiculous. They were actually top six points for and points against, but I thought it had more to do with their schedule. They finished up from 8-0 to 11-5, and they lost that wildcard game to the Colts, that 55, 54 game. That was nuts. I do remember watching that. Cause I think I was at a bar by myself

eating, um, because we're on the road for some kind of show. It could have been a college football. It might've been a national championship game type deal. And I just went in some place to like grab a late lunch, early dinner, and just sat there and watch that game. And I kind of wanted to leave because I've been sitting there by myself for a long time, but that game was just a shootout. All right. This is one of my favorites. Cause I just remember these games so well, 1990 San Francisco started eight, you know, they ended up 14 and two and I'm like, wait, they're a bad team. They lost to the giants in the conference championship game. Last second field goal by Matt bar. I don't know if you guys remember him. I went to high school with him.

Montana, there's a weird joke there. Montana was knocked out of that game with 942 left by Leonard Marshall. If you see the hit, it's all over YouTube. I remember it like it was yesterday. He bruised his sternum, cracked ribs, broken hand, and he never, Montana never started another game for San Francisco. He missed all of 91, played in one game in 92. Steve Young had taken over, and then

Montana ended up with Kansas City. And the other bad team, according to DVOA, that started 8-0, recent history, Carolina, who was 14-0. That's the Cam Newton 2015 MVP season. It was a weird season because I think Panthers fans would admit you had these bad Cam games and then great second halves from Cam, and then the second half of the season, Cam was flawless. So there was an MVP debate, Cam or Tom, Cam or Tom. And actually, Cam had some bad raw stats and some of the other stats because he was having these great comebacks.

And then Cam was just perfect the rest of the way. We know what happened to them. They ended up at 15-1 in the regular season, and they lost in the Super Bowl. So if the Steelers are by people's standards, not even among those teams, what are we asking of this? What does this actually mean? Now, Pittsburgh coming into week nine, they were the number two overall defense behind Tampa, who they get smoked by the Saints. It was so bad in that game. I don't know what to make of it other than I'm not going to write Tampa off, but a Saints team that's had some ups and downs and Breeze not always being the guy you would hope he would be.

The average air yards number is the worst in the NFL of any of the main guys that are actually qualifying for that number. They get Thomas back. He gets a handful, but that game was such a disaster. I go, hey, good for the Saints. We know they're really good in Tampa. I'm not just going to write them off altogether, but Pittsburgh's number two behind them in defense. The offense doesn't run it great. They don't throw it great. Their yardage per game is actually pretty bad, but their scoring as far as an offense that statistically doesn't check a lot of boxes when Roethlisberger's 19th in QBR, and that's when he's healthy. They're number five in scoring because the defense is just making plays and sets them up really well. I know it's a Dallas team

that sucks all year year and they're struggling and there's some weird stuff that happens at the end of that game, a bunch of different coaching decisions, but that's going to happen in the NFL. You're going to be a good team coming off a Baltimore win where you go down to Dallas,

don't take them seriously. I think even though we think these teams stink, I feel like pro athletes for the most part, especially this time of the season, it's not like you're 2-13. It's, hey, do you want to win a game? Do you want to win a game this week? Like, I'm sick of everybody talking about this and everybody gets mad and then you have two and 13. It's, Hey, do you want to win a game? You want to win a game this week? Like I'm sick of everybody talking about this and everybody gets mad and then you have a good

effort. So, um, strength, the schedule we knew coming into Pittsburgh was the second easiest schedule, uh, actually by a wide margin, Baltimore had the easiest schedule coming in. Uh, that changes a little bit in the season. Pittsburgh right now in the AFC is the third easiest season, but here's, here's my deal. At some point, somebody has to be good. Okay. Somebody has to be good. And if you start to say, well, Baltimore is not that good. And look what happened to the Colts.

And the Colts actually aren't that good. Somebody has to be good. And Pittsburgh's good. So I'm going to push back on this is a bad 8-0 Steelers team. The next award is the Rex Chapman Rebranding Award, and that goes to the Red Zone channel. Now, you know Rex Chapman's Twitter feed. You may know him from his work such as Dogs,

Bruh, This is the content I'm here for, and Humanity. So we know that, but when it first started off on Twitter for old Rex, it was blocked charges, and it was a lot of injuries. And then it was maybe a few murders in there.

And I think there was a Czechoslovakian guy that fought a train advantage train and it didn't work out as well. But then you pivot to dogs and then you pivot to some of the climate issues of today. And I'm not talking about the weather. It played really well. It was a rebranding for Rex. Like, hey, man, this murder injury stuff, not getting the retweet numbers. Let me pivot a bit here.

And I think the Red Zone channel, as much as we all love it, and it's on one of the TVs because I still like to watch full games, they need to pivot to a rebranding I think of. And I know those guys both, and I don't want them to think I'm bitching about Andrew or Scott, but it could be called the red zone almost all the time

channel because there are too many games now where if there's a red zone interception, I want to see the replay there. And if the alternative is a handoff into the end zone, I get it. It's the red zone channel. But if it's a handoff on first down for the Colts at their own 40-yard line, I'd like to see that replay. If it's a game-winning drive, or in the Chargers' case, a game-losing drive, I'd like to see what happened on first, second, and third down before we're actually in the red zone if the alternative is another Dallas and Pittsburgh play that's at midfield. That one

I didn't quite understand. And honestly, if there's any NFC game like Washington and the Giants, we don't need any of those updates. Just run us a 30-second rip of the three touchdowns most likely to be scored in that game, and we're good. So maybe a pivot to the almost always in the red zone channel would be the right fit the blues traveler award yes the blues traveler award kids look it up that goes to the seahawks now what is this it's basically when there's something that's so amazing that's also surrounded by some other things that are in you know and that's john popper and russell wil So Russell Wilson, we know, MVP, all the stuff, the voting conspiracy, which was really stupid. But Russell Wilson's incredible.

He's right up there with everybody. I think Mahomes is just another level by himself. I'm sorry. When you're running motion, when you have your quarterback in motion and all the ball tricks, hand movement, all this stuff, I know it's all window dressing and all that kind of stuff. It's just, it's so much fun to watch with Mahomes.

But this defense for Seattle is atrocious. Okay. And it's so bad. Think about this number. Now we can go through a bunch of different numbers here. Josh Allen, 415 yards, three touchdowns. The bills forced a bunch of turnovers here. They were plus four in turnovers.

I watched this game and I don't think it was just about, ah, well, you know, for even the turnovers, Seattle has a chance to win, even though they didn't get to a one score game. I think their defense is so helpless that it was more than just a massive advantage in the turnover game. Normally I'd be like, what are you nuts? Like if I didn't watch the game, I'd be like, how are you kidding me? How can you be minus four in turnovers and think it doesn't have anything to do with that?

I think it had less to do with that. And the fact that this Seahawks defense is reaching historic levels of bad. It's actually improved from the first few weeks when they were giving up I think around 420 yards per game on defense in the passing game. All right? So the Seahawks go into this game as the number one seed in the NFC. They're the number two seed now after

New Orleans win. Sean McDermott had this crazy number where he was 3-15 games as a head coach against eventual playoff teams. So now if Seattle gets in, that's four and 15. Allen had like 271 at the half. Buffalo's 44 points for the most Seattle's given up in a game since 2009. And, you know, this is a team that we understand how bad they are on defense against the pass.

But the Bills and Josh Allen, who got off to a great start, dipped again. I think it's a great sign for Buffalo that you're like, look, was the first month a little fluky here? I'm not willing to say any of that kind of stuff. And these numbers were massive, even though the Bills let their quarterback get beat up a little in this game. Actually, I'd say a lot. I think he was sacked seven times. But the Bills, according to Mike Sando, who is that Cook Index, and it was all built around Russell Wilson, how often is a team letting their quarterback pass on first down in the first 28 minutes of the game when score and game situation isn't dictating play calling? So if you're down, you have to pass a ton. Basically, it's like, let's look at the game and try to figure out who's the most pass heavy when it's only based on your own decision.

It's really interesting. Okay. The bills had 24 pass plays with just one rush in the first 28 minutes for a 96% pass rate. That figure ranks number one out of 10,472 offensive games since 2000. So in the last 20 years, if every offense that's taken the field in an NFL game, the bills were the highest percentage of pass in this cook index that Sando came up with. And is it because Josh Allen let him cook or is it, oh my gosh, we get to play the Seahawks. That's how bad it is for the Seahawks. And until they fix it, I don't like, and then it starts becoming that Russell Wilson

has to start taking chances that he doesn't want to because he knows as soon as he gives the ball back to the other team, it's really likely they're going to march right down the field and score, especially with the way the offenses are scoring right now. Road teams, I think, are up three points right now. Holding is still down. There's no crowd noise. And as much as I love the Tua and Kyler Murray game and some of these young quarterbacks doing what they're doing,

it's a great training ground now for young quarterbacks because you're not dealing with any of that third down sound and all the problems that you'd have in a normal season. This is actually good for the young guys and why we're seeing some of these numbers, but it's bad for Seattle team that doesn't have that 12th man at any point to rely on when they know their defense needs a big stop because they're not getting any. The final award goes to Daniel Jones, and it's LeVon Kendall award for accomplishments by white people that you didn't expect. I don't know why I looked up this number, but the fastest carry, the fastest any quarterback has gone on a carry all season long is your Daniel Jones at 21 miles an hour. Is your Daniel Jones at 21 miles an hour?

The only player over 23 miles an hour is Mostert. But the only quarterback that above no one, no one is above Daniel Jones. And that's the one he fell down on. So maybe it's not a great award. I know people want the Bill and Tom rankings. We have those and they're updated for you. I know some of you think I'm jumping the gun on this with the Pat scheduled to play Monday night.

But right now I have Bill one, Tom two. Bill did not lose on Sunday and he certainly didn't lose like Tom did. And honestly, the point can't be debated. So a surprising pivot in the rankings. I did not expect this. I didn't know if Bill could catch Tom in the span of 30 minutes on Sunday night. I was like, I got to, I got to put some more time into this and do some math and try to figure this out. So arrow up, Bill. Arrow down, Tom. Legacy rankings. Tough week for Tom.

Okay, you know I'm from SportsCenter and, of course, producing with Van Pelt and I back in the day from ESPN at Stanford Steve and his amazing gambling podcast, Stanford, Steve and the bear that he does with game day researcher, Chris Felico. What's your,

uh, what's your number at right now? Uh, I think 18 and 11, right. Or 19 and 11, right there. Big one with the Notre Dame,

big one with the Notre Dame money line. That was, we were waiting on that one. What, uh, what have you had a below 500 season since you've launched this stuff? No.

But, you know, it gets close with the units and stuff like that. Local bookies want to see what every price is and stuff like that. They have their own numbers out there on their yellow pads and pens. I hear you, but you are great at this.

Okay, so let's talk some college ball, just like we're getting ready for a brutal road trip or, you know. An awesome road trip. An awesome road trip or maybe an awesome road trip. Maybe we'll do that at the end. We should have done our best road trip drafts. So the Pac-12 gets underway. I want to frame this around playoff possibilities still.

And to just dismiss the Pac-12 is silly. Even last year with this drought, Utah wins the Pac-12 championship game. They're probably in the playoff if it's the other way around and Oregon beats them, but doesn't have Bo Nix complete some ridiculous throw. Oregon's in. So this talk of, oh, the Pac-12 is not even close. It's actually a few plays here or there that could have had a team in the playoff. But as it stands right now, their first weekend, if USC is supposed to be good, even with that win against Arizona State, it leaves you going, eh, maybe it's just week one. Who knows? Oregon did look really good against your Stanford squad, but I don't know how much is going to matter with the late star. I'm not going to eliminate the Pac-12 after a weekend,

but they have a ton of work to do with the six games and the fact that Oregon isn't playing the other supposed good teams. Here's the deal, Ryan. Look at, I think, in order for you to talk about it, don't count them out. What they need to happen is they need undefeated Oregon and they need undefeated USC. Those are the teams that have the national prominence name. They're going to get the – if the Pac-12 school is ever going to get a benefit

of the doubt, it's going to be one of those two schools. And the other problem is it's the Pac-12. And when we talked about it, you talked about it last week, things aren't going to top and it filters down into recruiting and the playmakers and the quality of football that we've had. All right, I called it last year before the Pac-12 title game. I will sum up the Pac-12. They did all that fighting, all that battling.

They get Utah on that stage, and what does Utah do? Play their worst game of the year when they needed to play a win, and they don't get in, and the conference fails again. But when you look at USC, that win Saturday was enormous. Because, listen, I think when you look at Pac-12, there's some programs here that I could see, like, using this season as a redshirt season. Arizona State, look at their recruiting.

Daniel Pierce all the time. I know he's been on with you. They're killing it recruiting. But it's not this year. It's the following year. Daniels will have another year. You know, we saw him battle. You know, I worry it's not this year. It's the following year. Daniels will have another year. You know, we saw him battle.

You know, I worry about his ceiling this year because he just – look at the two pro receivers that Arizona State had the last few years. Look what Ayuk is doing at the level. Like, that guy's a dude that he was thrown to last year. He doesn't have those guys. But the Packers – I noticed you left out Nikhil Harry. He started out well, and then was it the first throw from Brady, he dropped, and that

was it? That's been, what, three years? Jeez. I think it was a Sunday night game, too, in primetime. Not good for him. But when you look at the Pac-12 South also, the USC win is even bigger because I could see Arizona State winning out here, all right? But

look at the other conferences, the teams in the division that they're going to play. You know, Colorado, coaching change. UCLA, we know is in the dumps. Arizona, not great with someone. You got your win over Arizona State. So USC, that was huge for them to come back. And on the other side with Oregon, you know, I thought Chris Duvall was really, really honest in his post-game interview when he talked about, listen, we haven't played in over 300-plus days.

We've watched these other teams play with no fans and just think, you know, we could get out of it. You have been there. I've been there. It's one of the best home fields in all of college football. You're out there, and there's not the motorcycle and the smoke with the duck running around. It's a little different, man.

It feels worse than a spring game. Oregon actually gets people at their spring game. So I thought Oregon did a good job adapting this stuff with Stan and Stanford's run game. And, I mean, you saw it. Shuck's going to be fine. They got some guys to get the ball in the hands of with Pittman and Dye and those guys.

So that's what they need. They need those two teams on a collision course undefeated to play that title game. Yeah, that huge tight end, Johnson. I don't know if you will. Just beast. They look. I missed Autzen watching that game because I hadn't been up there.

No doubt. And watching that game and you and I being at how many Oregon-Stanford games over the years, and I maybe miss it even the 2012 one where they showed the kick and I was so happy for it despite games over the years. And I, I maybe miss it. Even the 2012 one where they showed the kick. And I was so happy for it, despite the fact that ducks lost that game. You know, you brought up something here that I want to pivot to quickly.

Cause it's, it's a bigger thing that I've mentioned before, but one of the dumbest things in coaching is small school guy makes it to second weekend, NCAA tournament, every big program that wants to fire their guy, now they all have to have that guy. And not one booster could have named him 48 hours prior.

It's different in college football, but the happiness we got the guy to the unhappiness speed is unprecedented right now. If you look at a run of Harbaugh and Michigan, and we can get to the way we do the Big Ten a little bit, everybody seems to think he should be gone. My argument is like, hey, you guys are talking about him like he's five and seven, but this is a disaster.

And the fact that their defense got diced up like this against Indiana is even more concerning maybe than the lack of another, you know, because it's just been quarterback after every year. Chip at UCLA, every program that had an opening would have wanted Chip Kelly, and now they get off to this kind of start against Colorado. Who knows? We'll see what happens, but it hasn't been good for him.

Tom Herman at Texas. It's way too early to say, hey, James Franklin isn't the guy, but USC has wanted James Franklin now for two years. Are you going to tell me now you don't want him because they started 0-3? Clifford just isn't good enough for Penn State. I don't even want to include your guy, David Shaw, in this, but people thought I was an idiot for suggesting Shaw is one of the five people I'd want running my program because he went 11-2, 12-2, 11-3, 8-5, 12-2, 10-3, 9-5, 9-4. He goes 4-8, now he sucks. And people were like, wait, Shaw, are you kidding?

And we're like, no, have you met him? Have you ever talked to him? Have you ever listened to him speak? I still would hire Shaw if I could have a list of five. But the happy to unhappiness part of this, where all of these schools got the guy at that moment, and it seems like none of them are happy. I don't know what it says about the profession, but it also means that guys that people were desperate for may have weird second jobs yeah it's a great point and I keep going back to one because I kept tabs on all the people

that made fun of Arizona State hiring Herm Edwards everybody I heard all my biggest guys all when guys just uh just talking about how man, the game has passed him by. Like, I can't wait to bet against Arizona State. When he comes out of the chute, like nothing. So, it is. That cycle is scary, scary how fast it turns and switches on you. There's plenty of examples in the Pac-12. Obviously, there's been a lot more change in that conference

than most other conferences. Yes, the writing is in the wall. I do think, I will say it here, I do think Cal is the most underrated coach in the country in Justin Wilcox. The guy is in, look at their roster, look what he's done. They were 7-0

with Garbers before he got hurt last year. My other plea is we need to get him out of Berkeley. Just if anybody else wants to hire somebody, please come take Coach Wilcox. I will help you get the flights and all that stuff. We need to get him out of Berkeley. I think Wilcox makes less than the tape guy at Clemson. less than the tape guy at Clemson.

Well, he shouldn't. I'll tell you that. No, he's been awesome, and you're right. It's unreal. Once Cal started playing defense, you're like, wait, is this going to happen? But Wilcox is funny, and then he was a name that years ago, like, oh, Wilcox, Wilcox, Wilcox, and then it kind of tails off, and you just go, like, again, everybody knows I love Chip Kelly. He was awesome oh wilcox wilcox wilcox and then it kind of tails off yeah and you just go like again everybody

knows i love chip kelly he was awesome at oregon never lost a game he shouldn't have lost was really good at the beginning with philadelphia and then it went south and then he wanted to stay on the west coast he could have gone to any of these sec schools that had openings they would have taken him my thought would be wait if he becomes available how are you know in ucla so broke i'm not quite sure how they would do it but if if he were ever available, would an SEC school go, eh? You know, USC would probably take him right now. Okay, let's look at the Big Ten. I'm not giving up on USC.

Okay, let me ask you a football question. Because when the broadcast keeps pointing out that the zone coverage in Arizona is running against those crossers don't work and Pelini went the other way against crossers where he was like let's never switch what we're doing um and then they start hitting a couple scenes Slovis is throwing those balls because they're down two scores and it's late so he's going to be more aggressive but is that real is somebody that actually had to go out there and run those routes are there setups where you'll look at the sidelines going hey we need to change what we're doing here because this is not going to work the rest of the day yeah uh i mean if you look at systems

they're still built in ryan i played in the old west coast offense but like you talk about those mesh routes three yard over routes you know where guys are just trying to get across the field as soon as possible we were taught on a shallow cross, if you see them playing zone and the guy outside is outside the hash, sit down. Sit down in that zone. So what you have is guys that are just being stubborn because they're sick of running that route and they want to catch the ball on the run,

and that's why they're getting blown up when they catch the ball because the corner's sitting there waiting for them, or you just have a guy that just doesn't get it or a quarterback misses the read. Quarterback's eyes don't go out far enough. So it is a combination of things. I really think – I don't want to make excuses for the players and the coaches, but, like, that's on-field teaching time right there.

You know, like, you run through that seven-on-seven, you know, offensive team period. Those are the things you go through in walkthroughs. All right, hey, here's what we got. Here's the shell of the defense. All right. We got zone. All right. Sit down on the mesh route. You know, that that's that's repetition stuff. It helps a lot teaching that at full speed, which I still think teams are trying to catch up on, you know, with the covid and all that stuff. So if that makes any sense for you. Yeah, no, it does. I just want to make sure I asked that. Cause I thought it was good stuff. It was clap.

It was good. And I was, I was just, you know, wasn't denying the fact that platinum, he was talking about. I just, I don't know.

We see that stuff and you go, as soon as like one person says it, then the rest of us who don't really know what the hell's going on out there. I'll be like, man, too many crossers. Yeah.

Like guys will be like, you gotta, you gotta bust it up the seam. All right, let's, let's get out of that then. Let's go Big Ten and all the possibilities here because – I don't know if there are any. Well, there's one, and it's Ohio State.

And I want to be respectful – With their best win being over Indiana? Yeah, that's basically what we're looking at. There's not a lot of wins in that conference right now no so they've got to take good wins they've got maryland maybe the turnaround story the year is scott being it is dry it's crazy here oh that's right that's your background man third football uh seriously though i couldn't be happy for maryland people because um they know that it's only been three times that they beat them and they are taking advantage of this.

The social media was actually pretty funny. Loxley's locker room was on fire. It's just that that's the good stuff. That's the good stuff. That's why you play. But those two schools don't like each other. The two head coaches don't like each other. It was pretty telling when you go back and look at that one.

Yeah, other coaches really don't like Franklin. It's consistently, but again, Franklin's background was there. Scott and he were pretty close because he was a Maryland guy at some point. When he went to the Vandy gig, I remember Scott being like, what's he doing? And it worked out for him. All right, back to Ohio State. So if we look at playoff scenarios here,

they probably have as strong as one as anybody. They do, they do. Right now they have, I probably have as strong as one as anybody. They do. They do. Right now, they have, I would say, the easiest path to being in this thing, and that's with Indiana as their only remaining ranked opponent and that Michigan game at the end.

We could talk about rivalries and all this different stuff. I think there's a bit of an LSU thought where I go later on with their talent. Maybe they could be a tough out. Maybe that team's just partied because of how excited they were about last year and all those guys don't understand it because they've been so bad.

But Michigan, would they have enough talent to make it interesting at the end of the year? And then if you go the other side of it against who, Northwestern? I don't know what the hell to do with Wisconsin. They've played one game. Exactly. Wisconsin actually could be pretty good, but we might never know. We might not.

And I know all these metrics keep projecting like, oh, don't forget about Wisconsin. 40% people like, yeah, OK, because they're going preseason. Yes, the talent and the fact that it's the schedule. But Northwestern sitting there who defensively, I don't think it's given up a second half point yet this season going back to 19. The Ohio State argument against them. I don't know where you're making it. I don't know where you're making it at this point.

Fully respecting how much better Indiana has been the last two years. Understood. First of all, with Michigan, just a thought there. I mean, if you talk about the early 2000s and the hottest name in the world was John Chavis, and everybody wanted him, and he got some contracts at the end there that I don't even know he should have gotten, but he got them because of his name. And what happened with Chief was the game passed him by.

His theories, his ways of going about things, you know, just they got passed out. And that's what I'm starting to worry about with Michigan, with Donnie Brown. I know Don Brown from his days at UConn. I mean, if you go back and look at the coaches that Edsel had, it's crazy. Like Todd Orlando, the SC defense coordinator, he was a DC. Moorhead was the OC.

He's at Oregon now. You know, like there are some guys that came through, but Donnie Brown, man, I just – it's just if you're going to play that press coverage with guys all the way up on you, you need a lot more corners if you're going to play Ohio State. If you're going to play that way, you need a lot more. And I just...

Just very stubborn in their ways playing defense, and that's what worries me with Michigan. Ohio State, I will say I can't tell how good they are on the back end of their defense. I have no way of telling it because of what we're playing against. Maybe Indiana will go about that.

I also can't tell how good Ohio State's offensive line is. And when I say that, I was on the field for the Fiesta Bowl last year. It's one of the best games I've been on the field for in 10 years. And those two teams had absolute guys on the field. We know what Ohio State had with Chase Young and those guys, but their offensive line seemed a lot more physical. I know they're only two games into the season. I understand times are different.

But if I had anything to say, I just want to see who they're going to be able to with Ohio State's secondary because of who they're going to play against. Does that make sense? No, it does because I also think that the drop-off from who Dobbins is to these running backs, it's significant, especially as you see Dobbins. You're like, man, he had some reminders in the first game

yesterday where you're like, yeah, man, that guy was nasty. I mean in the first game yesterday we were like yeah man that guy was nasty I mean the receivers are not worried about move side to side at all he is a dead straight ahead guy no I don't think you're wrong there but the back end versus the front line guys on defense I always thought it was kind of the defensive talent but I'll go with you on that the scary thing back to that Michigan point though on defense Pennix Jr. I think at one point like when the game was almost over and Penn State blew that game a million different ways Penn State should have, on defense. Pennix Jr., I think at one point, like when the game was almost over, and Penn State blew that game a million different ways. Penn State should have won the Indiana game. Pennix Jr., he had like nine completions.

And then ultimately, over time, things looked different. Against Michigan, he was 30 of 50 for 342 and three touchdowns. So this was somebody that looked limited and won a game because of a bunch of weird things and makes an incredible play at the pylon where I think the ball may still have touched out of bounds before he hit the pylon. Who cares? It was one of those weird, like, man, Pennix Jr.'s fine. He turned into Russell Wilson against Michigan. That's more horrifying than the fact that Michigan tricked themselves into thinking they have a quarterback, just like the rest of us. After watching Milton that first week

against Minnesota, and again, we didn't understand that the Gophers were terrible. So all of it starts to be connected here a few weeks in. It doesn't make any sense, though, if you try to do the, what is it, the transparative thing? Like the wins, like there was a game with Indiana and Penn State. I came out of that game like, wow, I think Penn State's defense is pretty good. And then they get whacked by Maryland. The other linebacker, yeah.

No, you're right. You're right. And I just can't stand one thing. They can't – no one can mention Penn State without Mike Parsons opting out. Like, it's gone, man. Like, it happened there. I don't want to hear about how much they lost. Stanford lost their All-American,

Orson Adibo, and their All-American left tackle in Walker Little. So I don't want to hear about teams losing talent with opting out and not bringing up Stanford. That's all I hear with Penn State. Oh, they had guys opt out. There's guys opting out everywhere. It's just like injuries. They're part of the game.

This year is just you have opt outs and you have injuries. Then that leads us of the game. This year is just, you have opt-outs and you have injuries. Then that leads us to the ACC. Notre Dame, you hit it on the money line. I allowed myself. I know Ian Book is not everybody's favorite, but that dude,

his accuracy in some tight windows, especially the way he got it going on, he's making throws that other college players don't even attempt. So I'm not telling

he's Trevor Lawrence and who I think Fields, by the way closer to trevor lawrence than people probably give him enough credit he is blowing me away with just his arm talent the release and all that kind of stuff but book um and him being able to show you a little bit you saw some of the secondary guys have to step up and then he burns him with a throw because you've got to respect his running attack there we know that clemson ended up going down a couple linebackers. They got one of their defensive ends back in the second half. They lost a couple guys in the secondary.

And even though DJ's a freshman in his second start, we know he's a stud, so I don't think it was really there. That wasn't a fluky win by any means by Notre Dame, but it also may not mean anything. Yeah, that's the part that's going to play out. First of all, going back to Fields, it's a surprise to me when he throws an incompletion now. It really is. Dude, he's filthy.

He's become. It's crazy. Right, I'm with you in that. I want to just make sure I talk up Fields enough because we've just, for the right reasons, we've just worshipped what Trevor Lawrence looks like playing the position but I I never thought I'd be in a position going well hey I don't think you're going to be that bummed out if you're drafting fields either so and I don't know that I ever

would have thought that a year ago no way so go ahead no um back to the Notre Dame thing the reason I thought Notre Dame can win the game is this is probably, I mean, I know he went to the title game in 12 and then, you know, the playoff in 18, but this is the, like, it wasn't pretty. And we had to hear all the whole season about how they didn't play anybody coming into this game, but you could just tell watching, yeah, they were trying some new things offensively. That's why the Louisville things, you know, stunk, they stunk in the red zone. They did whatever they wanted against Georgia Tech and then just, you know, took their foot off the guests. But the guys up front,

I mean, I've still, Clemson's O-line is not what it has been. I knew Notre Dame had guys up front to disrupt things. And that's what you gotta do. You gotta disrupt. That's what Clemson's defense does. Clemson's defense just tries to mask things and attack you in certain spots and create big negative plays.

And they do that. They've done that forever. Venables has done that forever. But when you look at Notre Dame's defense, I thought they did a great job. They had the goods to make Clemson one-dimensional. And what I mean by that, selling out on ETN. When he's on one side of the quarterback, you're going to try and take away everything because you know the handoff is going to come on the other side of it. And then Notre Dame on the offensive side, the offensive line

is real. And we saw what Clemson did. You mentioned the injuries. Those are some big guys that were down. And then you go back to book. He's coming on with Van Pelt tonight. And I can't, the first question I want Scott to ask him is how many times he watched that 2018 Cotton Bowl because that's that's something that you always ask yourself am I ever going to get a chance to be back on that stage against that team and there's nothing that bothers me more in sports than when somebody gets to that point in that stage in that moment and they don't play well. I feel so bad for guys when that happens. And for him to come out and play the way he did, he was tremendous. Ryan, down seven, 91 yards. They didn't use a timeout. He went down the field. I do think Venables used up a ton of his bullets in the gun with blitzes and pressures early on. And Notre Dame was able to withstand that,

whether it was a running back picking up a guy. Book just made play with his feet. And I really do think at the end of that game, Book was like, you know what? Let's go. You know, Coach, you know, we're good here. I've seen every option they have. They were down players. It worked out perfectly.

He made the throws when he needed to. And that's what you want to see. That's why you want to have a veteran. You know he didn't play well against them last time and i couldn't be happier for you i really couldn't clemson one yard per carry that was the game etienne 18 carries 28 yards and i want to make this now the acc playoff part of it because i know there's probably a notre dame fan or two going wait a minute what do you mean it means nothing because that was always the knock the knock on Brian Kelly's that he would lose these games. A lot of guys lose against top 10 teams and especially somebody like Clemson. But what I mean is that if you're the committee and

Ohio State is undefeated, Alabama wins the SEC undefeated, we're going to get to the Big 12 here. And for just conversation, I don't know what you'll do then if Clemson beats Notre Dame, where the ACC is just going to take the top two teams conference winning percentage, which right now is Notre Dame and Clemson. Notre Dame. I wonder if there's a way they both get in still. I'm open to all the possibilities, but for Clemson, the last thing you should be saying is that this has eliminated them because it's not only the chance for a rematch, it's

also understanding the committee and the way they work that they would, even though it was a close game and DJ's an incredible recruit, they would be like, look, they didn't have Trevor Lawrence. It's really fascinating. I mean, if you're in the ACC offices you're you're ecstatic at what this scenario has played out now with Notre Dame beating them I just it's fascinating to me if that does happen again like I understand that Clemson's getting the best player

in the sport back but that game was one like you said you said it there wasn't a fluke they won that game up front and i mean i just don't know how many things more i thought here's the funny thing i thought notre dame played pretty well defensively and they gave up 40 or 33 were they 40 well that's what i think now though i mean granted you're gonna factor in the overtime part of it so that's almost like an extra free touchdown but some of these teams i'll i go hey man you hold them to 35 great job i'm sure like you're gonna throw out all the old stuff here 30 sometimes against these teams you're like hey we did we did really well in 12 possessions um i i do look at notre dame schedule and i look at

uh oh you have to tell your lou holtz bc story to the people this week. Make sure you do that. Well, I'll just do it right now because it was the first thing. Yeah, so right after Clemson week, you get to play at Boston College. Now, granted, in 93, when your boy Rosillo was a freshman at Vermont, knees down watching this game in my dorm room on some crappy 13-inch TV. And I was, you know, look, New England guy back then, you rooted for Notre Dame. And what's that? Except me.

Except you. Yeah, you like Duke and the Mets. Yep. Your resume is suspect. Good. So anyway, the kick goes through. dame blows their chance for a national championship just after beating florida state which i was so hyped about when they when they batted the pass down um we found out like i was out later that night with guys because i was a

pledge and they were like dude the kicker played soccer at uvm and like we know him and he transferred to bc and he just he just cost notre dame a national title we're like what so then i don't know how many years later i don't i forget years that lou was there lou had a nice run at espn and probably like 0807 yeah 25 or 15 years it was it was yeah it was probably about yeah geez now it seems like 15 years later and it's so long ago because Midnight Marauders came out later that spring. But I remember nobody talked to Lou Holtz. You didn't just go up and talk to Lou Holtz at ESPN. As we know, there are certain guys you go up and talk to.

There's certain guys that are weird about it all the time. Like Nomar was always one of the weirdest guys about it. Like he just thought like, wait, you're not supposed to talk to me. I'm Nomar. And he'd be like, no one cares. No one cares. It's not a big deal. Now, there's some people who'd be a little weirder. Usually, the managers would be weirder around bigger names.

I did see a chef walk out with a football and a permanent marker and ask Emmitt Smith to sign it for him one day. That was weird. That would be frowned upon. When Liam Neeson came out and everybody was told we were given like a heads up again like don't bother him unless you have him on the show and then we had him on the

show there's like seven people behind the glass like wait a minute what have what happened to the memo um but i went up to lou he was sitting there he'd order two hot dogs and he sat by himself in like this cafeteria bar area before they remodeled it. And he would just look up at the TV. So clearly he wanted to get away from everybody else. He was going to eat his two hot dogs. And I was like, yeah, you know what? Fuck it.

I was like, hey, Lou, you know, my name is Ryan Rosillo. College game day. He's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm not even going to embarrass myself and do the impersonation because Holtz Van Peltz Holtz impersonation is so good that he called the new Hawaiian radio station as Lou Holtz saying that they needed to start recruiting more Samoans. That's true. Yep. So I went up to Lou.

I go, hey, 93. And he like puts his head down and he's like, oh, Jesus. I go, I just want to let you know. I don't know if you ever knew this, but the kicker that beat you because I was so upset about that game. He was a transfer from UVM. He's a soccer player. And he went like, The kicker that beat you, because I was so upset about that game,

he was a transfer from UVM. He's a soccer player. And he went like, oh. And he put his head down even more. He's like, goddamn soccer player? Actually, I don't know if he GD'd. No, he didn't. No, he never would have done that.

But then he goes, you know that kick, Ryan? And he was one of those guys, because you remember your name. He'd do the mechanism in his his head so he makes you feel better about yourself he's like it went out I go blue it was out and then it was back in he goes I can't believe it went in and he got he got so upset anyway that's my Lou Holtz story so we didn't hang out though after that okay so do we need to do anything else with the ACC because UNC creeps back into the rankings. I know Miami fans are like, what about us? I'm sorry, I can't get over how Clemson just absolutely bottled up your offense despite what De'Ara King's been doing here the last couple weeks. I am looking at Notre Dame at North Carolina,

and I'm wondering if Mack Brown will even try and run the ball once. I think he just lets Tim Howell just chuck it all around. That's your only chance there. North Carolina has... They're one of the bigger disappointments to me this year. At five and two.

Just checking. Why are they... The Florida State game was weird. They got them on the wrong night. Florida State was good that night. Yeah, but they gave them the ball like seven times. You can't lose to Virginia, no offense to our Wahoo Wahoo fans, but you got – I mean, look at the scores.

I mean, they have given up a ton of points to teams that are not that good. Now, the offense, when it's going, it's good. But, like, the BC game, they got off – like, you go back and watch that game. That game was not – I should say it's a lot closer. And I thought there would be more this year with Howell coming back and the receivers they have. The running backs are awesome too. But that's a circle that one.

I know their name is. Matt could play that up like that's a season uh if they could do that i don't even know how the tiebreakers would work anyway if they if they did be two-way tie it's all just there's no divisions this year right it's just right right that's right that's right i went through the tiebreakers last night i mean look miami has one less loss than unc does at this point but yes um i think the positive view of the acc you go hey there's a chance we still get two in here, which probably should just transition me to the SEC

because Bama, they have Auburn at home, so you rule out the Malzahn extension game. And then I'm going to LSU in a couple days. I mean, it's been a mess. So, I think talent-wise, but, you know, I think actually the scarier thing would be for Florida against the LSU makeup game in December

where if LSU could ever write this, all of a sudden they're a tough out even though their season's a mess. And there's actually like an extra level of hatred for LSU against Florida than there even is Alabama. Bama, I feel like it's more respectful hate. They just straight up hate LSU. I don't know.

Or excuse me, LSU just straight up hates Florida in a different way. So you're shaking your head right now. You just think it's that much of a mess that it's a joke. Yeah, it's just my favorite place to go for a game. And I understand the run they had last year. It's just, when you look at it, what happened?

And then the first couple of weeks and then they got a game against South Carolina and they think everything's fixed because they blow them out. It doesn't work like that. You got to do it. And I just, it's just, I mean, they lost a ton of people and I don't see them being able to – I haven't seen an over-under yet

for this game with Alabama and LSU, but it's got to be in the 70s. It has to be. Like, Alabama's got to – I mean, I said last week Alabama had the best offensive line in the country, and if Notre Dame won, I had to call Notre Dame the best offensive line in the country. But I still think the world of what alabama's done on an offensive front um they are and in the matchup wise like we saw what missouri did to lsu like that's missouri i love coach drank and all but like i think alabama's more guys that can create separation in missouri the missouri loss is worse than the auburn loss it really is because you go

how many receivers is Missouri missing? And that's when it was like, wait a minute. What's happening here? I'm strictly speaking from a talent revenge hatred. We see weird stuff happen in college sports. But it gets back to this, where if you're an SEC fan, you want Bama. Or excuse me, if you're not an SEC fan, if you hate them, you want to see Bama just run the table here. Because there's a version of this where Bama gets into the SEC title game,

Florida's sitting there with only one loss, Florida beats Bama in a close game, and Bama and Florida are both into the playoff. What about A&M? They beat Florida. If Florida beats Bama and they're the SEC championship, I think that in the unofficial tiebreaker would be the tiebreaker.

Now, if A&M stays with the one loss to Bama with their win against Florida and Florida gets dump trucked, say, in the SEC title game, because it's kind of hard to find an alternative path after Florida beats Georgia in that game, because essentially like two games behind, there could be a way for A&M to be that other game. But you've got to figure out, all right, we still have to worry about the Pac-12.

We have to worry about the Big 12. What's the ACC deal with Notre Dame and Clemson? Big 10 feels like one school, even in the mix now, with the rest of the conference falling apart as far as the brand names. And then as much as BYU and Cincinnati wants to think they're still alive in this, Cincinnati has a better chance.

But I am forever, I'm sorry, and even more so in a shortened season, I can't just give you an invitation for a national championship when you're not playing the better schools every single week. And I actually think Cincinnati's really good. BYU, as much as we love Wilson, is good too in that Boise thing, but it's just the schedule's too weak for me to consider it. Felicia and I, we've gone back, I'd say, the last month now.

Every week we ask the question, Cincinnati or BYU? Every week we disagree. He likes BYU better. I like Cincinnati better. So it's like this kind of ongoing thing. He likes BYU better than Cincinnati. I totally agree. Is it because of Redder versus Zach?

I think so. I think they just, obviously obviously everyone loves the experience factor with BYU. You know, their guys have seen the season, seen the hills a little bit more than the other teams. But, yeah, I think you want that. The perfect scenario is Alabama against Florida. It's, you know, the original SEC title matchup you get all that you get Florida coming back in and then Alabama does you know run the table it's just it is the most typical A&M thing though that that might happen to them um

you know losing hanging on to a 28 point loss to Bama and uh saying thinking that's that's better than anything else out there. You had your chance. Sorry, guys. You got to be better than 28 points. I wanted to ask, do you really like Kyle Trask? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Seems like one of your guys.

Why? Just how smart he is with the football. I mean, I know you've always liked mulling schemes and stuff like that. I just, you know, it's one of these, you know, looking back, you mentioned 10, 12 years, right? You know, we go from watching

every single player in the country every single Saturday for, you know, eight years straight. And then I don't watch games with you anymore. I'm like, you know, I think we're still I would like that guy.

And it's just, you know, knowing your habits and your tendencies. You just know me. You know me. Third and eight. Third and eight. What do you know, knowing your habits and your tendencies. You just know me. You know me. He's third and eight. Third and eight. What do you do?

And if you are just – I remember Van Pelt nailed it one year with Mississippi State. Don't take it the wrong way, Mississippi State fans, but they had that run where he's like, there's the one guy that's been there forever who can't complete a pass over 10 yards. He goes, but then there's the dynamic guy who completely can't throw it but every fan base wants like half the fan base wants him because he runs it so well but

you can't leave him out there a ton he's like and then there's number seven who's like the white kid from some other place in mississippi who's a freshman who like didn't lose a high school game in 16 years and everybody's like you gotta give old tyler rook more of a chance and his number he's skinny and he's like but he'll come in and they let him he like nailed it was so fucking funny and i don't know i uh that was my thing when i'd sit with you all the time i'd go what do you do what do you do on third and eight because there's just so many of these kids that put up some big numbers who were like oh that's impressive but when it comes down to it now trask it's not just him it's not just him.

It's not just as tough. This is no, I like, like Mac Jones, like Mac Jones. I go, wait, this guy's just numbers guy to legit NFL prospect because of his feet in the pocket, his feet in the pocket, the way Mac Jones resets himself. Granted, he's throwing all these studs one less with waddles injury, but it's real. I think a lot of the same is true for Trask, but I also have seen in some moments him respond in a better way. Like, Felipe Franks, him getting hurt, I know everybody was bummed out when it happened,

but it turned out to be, like, one of the best things that could happen to Florida. Absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, obviously the Tua thing, like, I don't know if Nick knew what he had Mac Jones before the Iron Bowl last year. Like, I came out of that game blown away with Mac Jones.

Blown away. With what was at stake, what that rivalry is. Not having any reps, man. Like, that's the thing. And Trask was the same way. When he came in, it was play after play, throw after throw, that were just being made. And you're like, whoa, how the hell didn't this guy win the job?

Now, I know Tua's Tua, but in Florida, I just was like, what was going on with this quarterback evaluation? Yeah, you know, one thing I always bring up that we don't understand is command of the locker room. And I think some of these bigger ticket guys can come in and not be the right football decision, but Hey, this guy was this big rivals guy and,

you know, 24 seven had him here and he had more of a recruiting presence and all this kind of stuff. And we got him. Um, I think some of the younger kids will resonate to that, maybe respond to him and it can all seem artificial until you actually get out there and play.

And it's just a theory. Yeah. I mean, will resonate to that, maybe respond to them, and it can all seem artificial until you actually get out there and play. And look, it's just a theory. Yeah, I mean, the other theory is, are all the Ryan Fitzpatrick fans hosting shows today? Where are they today? I'd like to know how they're doing. Can't believe Brian Flores. Can't believe it.

Why would he do that? I couldn't believe. I did it last week in the open of the podcast, The whole idea that it's an evaluation of Tua. Hey, how about this? Maybe Tua is going to be really good and they just want to let him play. We never. Maybe he was making every single throw in practice and he was tired of watching his defense get drilled by this guy Tua. Maybe we should start him.

We never, ever give enough credit to the guys watching all of the reps going. Never. Like we just always think they're idiots. And I'm not talking about you or I, but we never factor that into like, Hey, you think maybe they made a switch? Cause the guy is just killing it with every rep that he gets in practice.

And that's where I think it doesn't mean it always works, but I think that has more to do with any of these decisions that are ever made. All right. Big 12. Coastal Carolina champs. Iowa State's at 5-1. That Oklahoma State win against Kansas State,

that should not make Cowboys fans feel good at all. And Oklahoma at 4-2, and Texas at 4-2, the door's back open as much as it wanted to be written off. There are different projections and stuff that will tell you Oklahoma is now the best bet to get through all of this. But you know why? It's not the projections. The fact is Oklahoma seems like it's figured out with their early season issues and a young quarterback and missing some guys. I think they lost their entire secondary at one point.

They are lighting up teams. I'm not saying Kansas or Texas Tech are great teams. I think Tech was even missing Texas Tech are great teams. I think Tech was even missing the quarterback at the time. Oklahoma is right back into this thing, but the Big 12 is going to be lucky to get anyone in considering it's going to be a two-loss team. Exactly. Big 12, here's my thought for you this year. Take the year off and treat yourself like the Pac-12 gets treated every year. There you go. That sounds nasty almost. Well, I mean, it's just true.

You knew you were doomed when the Sun Belt came in and went, what, 3-1 against you to start the season? You knew things weren't going to go. It would be great right from there. Not to take anything away from the Fun Belt. Love the Fun Belt. Okay, let's end on a fun note. Favorite road trip that we ever did for game day.

And on a fun note, favorite road trip that we ever did for game day. So you and I were together from 08 until 0, what would it be? 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 13, yeah. 08 to 13. God, so many come to mind. All right, I'll start, and then you can keep thinking. All right. It's tough to top the Oregon Halloween weekend.

That comes to mind. First one come to mind. That's not our first Oregon game. Our first Oregon game was Matt Barkley when he said he wanted the noise, where he goes, I like it when it's loud. And Oregon absolutely ran him off the field. It was the first time we saw Taylor Mays where we went, wait. That was the same game.

That's the same game? Yeah. Are you sure our first one was that one? You know what? I think you're right. I think you're right because we stayed in Albany. We didn't even stay in Autzen, which is incredible that we had that much fun. And we had to stay all the way by Albany that had a Howard Johnson's for food

and a porn store in the parking lot. It did. And remember when we checked in? I can call that exit to go towards Corvallis. That's right. We stopped by Corvallis, checked out Corvallis for a little bit. But that, the Oregon experience going in, and then they let you back into the mow to hang out and tailgate

for halftime because we were done with work. We were done with work so we could hang out. We were younger so we obviously made sure we took care of everything, but we obviously too weren't going to be the most buttoned up people. Then we went to Taylor's. It was a Halloween party and then Super Mario got in a fight with Dog the Bounty Hunter

on the dance floor and we were just watching it go around. Was Greg Oden there that night, too? No, that was a different night. That was a different night. Oden was there. For the Brock Osweiler game? No, it was 12.

No, we drove back after the Brock Osweiler game. The Osweiler game. We drove back to Portland. That's right. The Osweiler game was an interesting one because you watch the guys in person. You go, yeah. But I still thought Brock was like, what? What is this?

Yeah. Not a great matchup for old Brock. I mean, all the Bama at Baton Rouge is coming to mind. I'll tell you what was, for me, was the, I think it was three overtime Stanford SC game down on the sidelines. The Coliseum? Yeah. The night before was David Freeze hitting the home run.

I remember being out watching that. Just, you know, L.A. And the first trip to L.A. for remember being out watching that. LA and the first trip to LA for Ohio State. Remember that? We met your buddy at the 9-0. I didn't realize that for us to go there at 30 years old was a loser move.

Yeah, exactly. That one stuck out. I still can't believe how many people were on the USC sidelines. Like, that was the last of the last with SC. That was it. You know? That was Terrell Pryor getting into the game, too. Yeah, Terrell Pryor's first game.

Who's the other quarterback? Beckman? Beckman? Was that the quarterback? Ohio State? I remember Trestle was like, yeah, we're not going to throw Terrell to the fire yet. Man. I'm super annoyed at myself

because I just was looking this up the other day. I'm going to look it up because I'm going to say the name. We're both going to go, damn it. Is it Joe something? Is it which one? I'm trying to remember the Ohio State quarterback that started the game. Tim, I'm pretty sure it's Tim Beckman. You sure?

They got smoked. Yeah, it was. Yeah. It was. Nice work. Nice work out of you. Gainesville getting car towed. That was fun.

Todd Beckman. Todd Beckman. Sorry. Yeah. That was Aaron Corp. Remember that monster? Yeah. He packed up Mark Sanchez.

Transferred to Richmond. Yeah. Like he, he was trying to follow in McShay's footsteps and they were like, you're just not built. They're not built for this. McShay's built different. All the LSU ones are fun.

They're never bad. I don't want to say any place was bad, but there were definitely some spots where you're like, okay, we're going to watch it. We'll watch the game, get out of here. One of the games, we never left early. We were always good about that. But the one I had to leave early was Mizzou, Oklahoma.

So that sucked because we were flying out of St. Louis, so I had to drive all the way from Missouri's campus. And then there was always World Series games going on, too, around those times. I was going to say, the one I remember the most leaving early, the earliest we ever left the game was jamis at clemson to go to hooters because that was the closest place to watch the red sox in the world series yeah we were left that game at like 21 they were up 21 okay but

they florida state smashed them like clemson was so amped and that was before clemson was this and it was just another one of those little reminders. Like Florida State just came out and was like, hey, you guys got, you may have had game day here. You may have gotten hyped and everybody's wearing extra shirts and accessories, but we're still Florida State. And look what happens. Now it's completely reversed. BYU, not in the top five.

Salt Lake City. Salt Lake. Salt Lake was, actually Salt Lake was was the worst trip and it wasn't solely on salt lake it was that we went to do a tailgate in salt lake where no one tailgates while they were getting destroyed by tcu and so the whole stage no one was there the entire time correct uh we just left remember when you chased the guy down in seattle at washington yeah yep yeah he was like hey how's van pelt's dick taste and he timed it at the worst possible time and i don't know why it just made me really mad at that moment and like going to break three two one right all right coming up here we got this hold on i'll be right back

and i just was like i'm gonna do something that i know i'm not supposed to do and i he timed it horribly because like we the sound went down headphones were off we went right to break and then he was walking right to the side of our exit of our stage and i'm like fuck this kid and i just went right up to him i was like what did you say to me and he started shaking and he was just some other guy and they were like like, hey, man, just messing around. You want a Keystone Lite? And I was like, no, I don't. But I go, just, you know.

I go, this didn't work out well for you. Did it. Like the timing of it all. What was I going to do? And then Steve comes running over like, Jesus, Russillo. All right. That's a reminiscence of my man, Stanford Steve. Sorry we went so long there, buddy.

I know you're a busy guy. So we'll look at you again soon. Travel safe. Tell we went so long there, buddy. I know you're a busy guy. All good, brother. Travel safe. Tell everybody down in BR I said hi. Absolutely. Again, Stanford Steve and the Bear podcast. Check it out if you want to win cash. Again, shout out to Stanford Steve.

And let's get a little life advice going here to close it out. But not that long ago, let's talk some Miller Lite. Because going out with friends is a little too complicated. You used to worry about where you'd go, what you'd look like, and who you'd invite, but now getting together for a beer with your closest friends isn't so complicated. These days, it actually feels more like it should. You can just be yourself with your friends. Maybe that's the way it always should be. And as the original Lite beer, Miller Lite has always believed in this. That's what Miller time is all about. I want you to do an experiment. And it has to do with Miller Lite. First of all, when it hits your lips.

But what I'm saying is, look at the people that have a Miller Lite in their hand. And maybe you can get some delivered to your place for a nice little gathering of people that you trust. And I guarantee you, everybody that has a Miller Lite in their hand, that's a person that doesn't judge other people. I don't know what the science is behind it, but I'm telling you, we haven't completed all the research, but it feels like a good theory. In a socially distant world, enjoying a Miller Lite with your favorite people looks different for everyone, but staying connected is just as important. A Miller Lite is different for all of us, right? And for me, it might be a neighbor across the street that I wave to. For you, it might be somebody in the backyard you share a fence with. Or maybe the fences are down, despite the socially distant world we're living in. But that's what Miller Time feels like right now with a can of Miller Lite. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs.

However you and your friends are enjoying Miller time, you can have the original light beer delivered by going to MillerLight.com forward slash RR. So please do that for the podcast. Go to MillerLight.com forward slash RR and find the delivery options near you. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

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 can 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 again is life advice rr at gmail.com. Okay. The guy wants to offer his name. We're not going to do it. All right. He's 21, small town in southwest

Virginia, and he's attending a local college. Because I lived in a small town southwest Virginia my whole life. My mother and father and twin sister for my entire life. My sister left for college. She attends an expensive private school, which played a large role in my decision to stay home and attend college locally. Parents are both lawyers and contrary to what you're probably thinking, my upbringing has

been far from silver spoon. My father is a narcissistic alcoholic and my mother is an antisocial recluse. They haven't slept in the same bed since my sister and I were born and the paucity of communication that occurs between them is contentious and forced. Though this sounds harsh, I love both of them and I'm cognizant of the financial sacrifices they have made for both of us. By the way, can you ever imagine thinking, when you think of all the relationships you have in your life, you go, you know, this guy's a one-way street, or I always have to be here emotionally for this person and they're not there for me. Or, you know, I always get to hear about this guy's problems.

Like, one of the things that when people will ask, you know, I'm worried I'm bringing up some of my problems too much to my friends. Well, if you're aware of it, then you definitely are, okay? If you're going, do I do this too much? Then the answer is yes. And one of my favorite things to ask yourself is this, when you think about all of your stuff, would you want to hang out with you? And if the answer is yes, great. And if it's no, then you got some stuff to fix. So this was just one of those things with parents though, where I think of if you really add up the math on it, not only the reproductive part of it,

the giving us all life, but having to deal with like a couple of my friends who had kids later on, they're like, I almost want to write a letter to my parents thanking them. Like I didn't realize how much of a hassle this was. And I was kind of like, you didn't realize that it was sort of a significant thing that was going to alter your life.

And like every decision being made for that person. Like, think about that. There's really only like two people. And it depends on if you have both parents in your life. Maybe it's one person that is made or maybe you just have terrible parents or parent who who remains selfish despite parenting. And look, there's all of these options out there. But for the good parents, not even the great ones, but for the good parents, it's yes. Actually, once I had you, every decision I made was because of you.

So shout out to the parents out there. Okay. I don't want to sound ungrateful because financially we've been more privileged than most. However, this has not changed the fact that relationship led to a toxic upbringing and is the root of several issues I'm concerned I may never be able to overcome. I would humbly consider myself to be gregarious and affable and a great writer, by the way. This is just a stellar email. Kyle, I know you're over there freaking out about some of the words we got here. Or maybe not. Okay. Relating to my father much more than my mother, I'm extremely self-conscious and I'm always sure to take into account how others feel so as not to follow my father's narcissistic footsteps. I would also consider myself to be somewhere in between you and Chris Long on the scale of physical appearance. So what? Hot? Wicked

hot? Cool. Which makes it extremely concerning and peculiar that in 21 years, I've yet to be involved in a committed relationship. The problem arises that I'm capable of being vulnerable, have incorrigible trust issues, and I'm inherently skeptical of others' intentions. I understand as a young adult, my responsibility to diagnose these issues and work on them, as opposed to blaming my upbringing so they not persist to become lifelong ailments. However, it's proving extremely difficult to overcome. My sister seems to have no interest in relationships and is content blaming our home environment for these issues. But as someone who doesn't cringe at the thought of a family in the future, I felt it necessary to work on these things.

Okay. So let's just, he's got another paragraph here and I'll get to that in a second. All right. So look, there's some similarities here because of my upbringing. And then I know, I mean, it's kind of weird even reading this email because I haven't thought about a family the way most of my friends have thought about a family. And I don't know if that's because of the way I was brought up. I would point out that my sister, who I'm pretty close with, who's closest in age to me, she's like me. It's probably not in a hurry to just be opening up to people left and right. So I don't want to spend too much time talking about my sister. But I can understand that you grow up in this deal. It's not a lot of love at

home and then it impacts you in a little bit. But as you point out and you already know, and as any therapists say, like some therapists, it's like, oh, you don't want to be like your parents. You're like, yeah, no shit, man. Like, great. Congrats. You unlocked the key to all this stuff, Dr. Melfi. But the fact that you're like, all right, I'm not in a relationship. I have trust issues and all these different things. None of that's ever going to change just being by yourself all the time. Okay. Because it's actually pretty amazing if you do give yourself a chance and all of a sudden you do trust somebody and you're like, wow, this is great.

I actually think this person has my back all the time. It will eventually happen. Maybe you'll have a couple of bad relationships on the way. But just to say, hey, I'm going to shut it down. You're clearly very smart. You're pursuing some of these other things. So why would you go, all right, hey, I've identified the problem, which you have. I know the root of it. Okay. My sister's worse about it than I am. Okay. As much as you can feel bad for your sister and wish she didn't have, like, think about it.

You're looking at your sister wishing that she looked at life differently while you also are kind of more in line with your own sister and the way she looks at relationships. So none of this is ever going to change. I mean, it is really simple. You just have to try. You just have to try to start being with some people because the other option is you could do this. You can be with some people and not have it work out and still have trust issues or you can be by yourself forever and still have the same trust issues and never even try. So that seems like a pretty easy one.

Now, on top of all of this senior college torn between law school and pursuing a career in sports media, I've always been infatuated with college and pro sports. And though I was above average athlete in high school, realized division one athletics weren't for me, made the decision to hang it up after school. You probably didn't make the decision as much as the schools, much like me. I don't tell people I retired from basketball. I have a big personality, feel I'm extremely capable of being successful in the sports industry, but also where the odds are stacked against me. If someone didn't play professionally

or notable university, you don't have to play, man. You don't. All right. 3.8 GPA, did well on the LSAT. I'm expecting to do well in the LSAT. I guess you would. I would think you would. You'd seem smart. But I decided to take it. But I'm sure which path I should follow. I realize the likelihood of financial stability is exponentially higher if I chose to go to law school. However, that also heightens the risk of eternal misery. With that being said, hey, man, take a deep breath first before anything.

With that being said, my question to you as someone who's reached the pinnacle of the industry is how to get my foot in the door if I choose a sports media route. Would you suggest grad school for sports communication or internship at a media outlet or both? Love the pod. Thanks in advance for advice. Okay, this may not work out for you, but this is very specific advice. I would pursue the LSAT. I would take it, do well, as you said, because I think you will, and start that process while also dipping your toes in the media thing. And I know some people that are in the league will be like, hey, you're not going to have any time for it. You're not going to have any time. You're not going to have any time.

Here's what I'm going to tell you. For everybody that wants to pursue the cool thing, writing, acting, music, being on air for sports, it's so rough. And by the way, I don't even know that I advise a ton of people to get into it considering the numbers. By the way, I don't even know that I advise a ton of people to get into it considering the numbers. And then we just had another round of layoffs at ESPN, which, you know, every time it happens, it just makes me feel awful for friends and people that I've worked with and how tough it is in this industry right now. The numbers are not great. The math, the number of people coming out of schools, hoping to be in content versus the number of places that is some, there'll be some pop-up, there'll be something that starts up. Hey, there's a hundred

new jobs. Everybody's all excited about it. And then you're like, okay, but if they don't make a ton of money right away, or they don't project to be profitable, those jobs could just kind of disappear. And it feels like in the last couple of years, more jobs have disappeared than we've added to this industry. So that's just being 100% real on this. Now, if you still want to do this, here's the great advantage you're going to have. And this is something I've always said, is that when you want to do all those things, like i had to swing a hammer and bartend to pursue the cool thing so if you have something that allows you some more financial stability while while still pursuing the thing that you're passionate about in sports you don't even know

this yet i mean you're 21 you may get into tv not being on tv but you could get into behind the scenes and go actually this kind of sucks like i'm not super impressed with the people that I'm around. So maybe this isn't for me. But what I do is I would look once you pass the LSAT and interview with different firms, I would tell you to try to go somewhere and then ask. I know this is a lot of work, but ask and be like, hey, do you have any kind of thing on the weekend where I could intern or just hang around for a couple hours to see how this works? Because you're now actually not a threat. They're going to be like, this guy's going to be a lawyer, but he wants to be around this a little bit. You can seem like it's impossible with your schedule. If you think it's impossible with your schedule, then you don't really want it bad enough. But I would tell you, get the legal stuff,

get yourself set up for that so you have it. Because if you just go all media for five years and it doesn't work out, you'll have something to pivot back to. But I cannot express this to you enough. If you want to pursue the cool shit, you're probably going to have to find a way to also get yourself, I'm not even talking stable financially, I'm talking week to week living off a check so there's some kind of money coming in because the quicker the money disappears, the quicker you have to give up on all the cool things you want to do. Like when people move to LA and be like, oh, I'm going to be an actor. I got a year's worth of money. You're like, all right, well, are you going to work? Like, no, the money will last me a year if it doesn't. But why would you do that? Why would you only

give yourself a year? Why wouldn't you do something on the side to get a little bit of money coming in so that you can pursue the dream a little bit longer? You have an awesome option that's a real world option that could probably put you in position to. Like, I have no idea why you wouldn't do it. Like, some people will probably listen to this, be like, why would you take the LSATs, join a firm and then say, oh, by the way, you know, I'm traveling around with Chuck Cooper weekend sports. Is there a Chuck Cooper? I think there is. But you know what I'm saying.

I don't think any of this stuff is impossible. You just make those calls. And when somebody goes, what are you, serious? You just go, yeah, I am serious. This is what I'm going to do. All right. Hit us up. Please subscribe.

Rate and review the Ryan Russula Podcast, the Ringer Podcast Network. And we've got some cool stuff coming up in the NBA draft. A big Ringer show that we'll be doing next week as well for that. All right, everybody have a great week. you