The Ryen Russillo Podcast - The Deion Effect at Colorado With Joel Klatt, Plus Life Advice

Episode Date: September 5, 2023

Russillo opens with Colorado’s huge Week 1 win over TCU, Shedeur Sanders’s play at QB, Deion Sanders dealing with the media, and if the Buff can be for real this season (1:00). Next, he chats with FOX CFB Analyst and former Colorado QB Joel Klatt for more about the Buffs' short- and long-term outlook, his initial reaction to Deion taking over as the team’s head coach, and some other Week 1 news in college football, including LSU-FSU (18:00). Finally, the guys close it out with some listener-submitted life advice emails (51:00). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Host: Ryen Russillo Guests: Joel Klatt Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, Rado? It's the Colorado episode of the podcast. We've got Joel Klatt joining us. We're going to talk about a big win for his CU Buffaloes. I'm going to talk about that win, the Dion part of it, and everything that goes into all of our opinions about what we saw this past weekend. I'll sprinkle in a little Florida State dominance of LSU as well, but I'll get to some other games with Joel. We've got life advice and that's a show. This episode is brought to you by

Uber Eats. Winter is here, so be prepared and get almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. What do I mean by almost anything? Well, you can't get a ski slope, but dish soap, definitely doable. Sunshine, that's no. A bottle of wine, yeah. And a snow day, again, no. But blueberry muffins with the delicious crumb topping, total yes. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. A pretty memorable college football weekend, and that's for one reason. Colorado beating TCU. There's a bunch of games that I could get to here.

I'll spend a little time on Florida State drubbing LSU at the very end, but I want to spend a good chunk of this week's open on Deion Sanders and the CU Buffaloes. And I feel like there's a mix of the good. I don't know if bad's the right word, but a lot of maybe. Let's start with the good because there's a lot of it. It's the win. 21-point dogs, 20.5, depending on where you saw the line, against No. 17 TCU. It's the fourth biggest upset in the history of CU football. Jadar Sanders sets a school record for 510 passing yards, 38 of 47.

He had four different receivers over 100 yards. Watching him, and I'll admit, I didn't know a lot about him. Watching him, I'm like, man, they get the ball out, the offensive line's holding up. But they also, between knowing exactly where to go with the throw immediately on so many of the quick throws, which I think can lead to some misleading numbers from a quarterback, they also were taking deep shots and they were a real problem for TCU's defense. I thought he looked terrific. Early on, and I even tweeted before we even knew what the final score was going to be. I was like, forget even what the score is for me. I'm incredibly impressed with how well this kid has played. Of course, whenever

you have the coach bringing in a son, naming him the starter, you're like, wait, is he actually that good? Well, you go back and look at it. He's a three-star. He had some offers from major programs. I don't know if he was actually going to play at those programs, but they were there. I'd asked around. I was like, look, before he ended up at Jackson with his father, what was the word on where he was going to go? And I think a lot of people thought he was going to end up at FAU. So if you're good enough to start there early on, does it mean you're good enough to start at a power five? Yeah, so I think anybody, and I'll include myself, like how good is he actually going to be? Is he only becoming the starter because his father has a job?

Well, if that's why he got it, who cares? Because clearly, and on one afternoon, he looks good enough to at least be the starting quarterback for Colorado. The other part of this is I always like to ask the question of, are we doing something wrong? Anything in life. Like, hey, we've always done it this way to ask the question of, are we doing something wrong? Anything in life? Like, Hey, we've always done it this way. Is there a chance that we're doing it wrong?

And that's the hiring of Dion Sanders and Dion, who I had mentioned even last week, I remember him being on shows. This is over 10 years ago. I think when he was on the CBS show, he was sitting there campaigning to get the Atlanta Falcons head coaching job. And when he says that most of us are like, wait, is he serious? That's not how it's done, right? Become a strength coach, be assistant to special teams, quality control, make no money, have this awful lifestyle. But you don't expect Deion Sanders,

one of the greatest players ever in the history of this game, to maybe have to work his way up. But that's what we're used to. Not so much in basketball, but football. That's the culture of being a football coach. You have to pay all your dues. You have to do all these different things. But clearly he really wanted to do it. He had a vision for it. And he goes to Jackson. He wins a ton of games. So you give him credit for taking that gig. And then basically when he took the Colorado job, it's like, all right, could he hold out and do better than Colorado? Which at the time, I mean, it's one of the worst power five jobs in the country. It's not even debatable. And he goes there and you have Rick George,

who's running the program, who he thanks a ton going, you know, this guy saw me, talked with me, hired me, took a chance when all these other programs wouldn't. And then you see what you have on a Saturday afternoon. You're like, is this something we should start thinking about? Does this open doors for other people that want to fast track it, who have enough of a resume publicly because of players that they don't have to sit around and be an assistant for 10 years to hope to one day get their shot? Because can you imagine Deion Sanders sitting down with the people making this decision at CU and saying, look, I was able to get the number one recruit in the country in Travis Hunter. I was able to get him to go to Jackson State. We can talk about Colorado's resources and how many teams

is behind, but I was able to do that with that kid. What do you think is going to happen when I actually get to a power five? That's a pretty strong statement for your own case in the room. The other thing about Travis Hunter, who again, the number one overall guy, 11 catches, 119 yards. He had a touchdown and was called back. His pick to the right side was incredible. Looked like it was a wide open throw. Looked like it was going to be a touchdown. He's just that special physically and the read and the jump that he makes on the ball. He picks it off. You're like, I can't believe he just intercepted that pass because from the time it was released to where he was, you didn't think it was actually going to happen.

So the other thing that I think is a huge positive is that Saturday was terrible. You know, usually we get one game and maybe that's the Sunday game with Florida State and LSU, but usually at least there's one game on Saturday that we're all looking forward to. And the fact that Fox big noon kickoff was TCU Colorado when it was announced, I was like, they're really doing that just because of the Deion Sanders part of it. And then you look at the slate and you're like, I guess it's enough of a story. And there aren't really that many options. And they've got Gus Johnson and Joel clout on the call. Like,

all right, let's do it. And for them to come back and win and all the attention beyond them and the curiosity about Deion Sanders and all these transfers, they owned college football for a Saturday. And I tweeted about it. And of course, it turned, got turned into a bunch of different things. The point is a very clear one. That's a huge win for them that they got to showcase who they are in week one. Well, there weren't really that many other options, at least storyline-wise that the audience would be interested in. Now I want to talk about, and again, I shouldn't really categorize it as bad, but let's look at the full scope of what Saturday meant for Colorado. Now, after the fact, it was a huge victory lap for Deion Sanders.

And certainly the way he handled the media, other media members didn't exactly love it, being like, wait, you're not going to answer a question from a media member if he tells you that he doesn't believe after the fact? Because Deion Sanders saw the doubt. His family saw the doubt. The staff saw the doubt. The players saw the doubt because there was a lot of real doubt here. And as I've said in the past many times, I think we're all wired in a more similar way when it comes to selfishness. You can be a great person. You can be selfless about a bunch of different things, but there can be different versions of selfishness. And I think specific, especially to college football, we can

be really selfish about, I guess I should just say the negativity, maybe in this case, it's the doubt. But here's an example. Think of all the different college football fan bases that have a team, it's rolling, they have big expectations, they have a late loss, and they think, oh, typical us. Well, typical you or typical the way the sport works out. We don't end up with eight teams that are 12-0, but you can, because you only care about the thing that's involved with the program that you love, like you only care about that kind of doubt. So the doubt for Deion Sanders certainly was there, but for Deion, that's the only one that he's going to pay attention to. So then it could become, well, I'm the only one that's doubted. And that's not really true. Anytime we have a college coach go to the NFL, the NFL can't wait to beat up on that guy's chances. And when the college coach fails, it's a failure because he was the college guy, because it's a much easier label. We love to label the stuff. As opposed to the lifer coordinator who finally gets his shot and he flames out in two or three years,

we can't blame it on anything as specific as him not understanding the difference between college and the NFL. There's another thing too. I remember Jeff Sattery getting the job. Everybody hated him getting the job. Felt like he cut the line, right? They won their debut. They won their first game. I think it was week 10 against Vegas. And Jim Irsay tweeted this out right after the game. Quote, all you critics criticize all of us in the NFL for losing. When we make moves to win, you act so righteous. Who you crapping? Just win, baby.

And I went back and watched some of the postgame from the media and like, well, you know, maybe Jeff's going to do it a different way. You know, he relates to these guys a little bit more. And then it was a disaster and he's not even the head coach anymore. And I'm not saying that Dion is Jeff Saturday. You would argue and you would win the argument that you like Dion's path more than Saturday's, which was one of the biggest issues with it. But it was just funny to go back and look at some of the smaller victory laps of getting a win after questioning him getting the gig and then that not being the

case. Now, I'm not saying that Deion and CU are going to turn into last year's Indianapolis Colts, but Deion took a huge victory lap and people are going to love if they lose now more so than they may have been rooting against them before the game even kicked off. But I understand his reaction. I understand him looking at just the specific doubt about him, thinking it's only about him, when I think it happens a lot with new guys in new places. So back to the turnover with this. And one of the things Deion was hitting on is like, oh, I brought in all these guys. And I think there was eight or nine players from the HBCU that came in. And he was like, you know going to try to tell you guys

and everything. Look, moving forward, I don't know that I'm ever going to look at a program that takes in 51 transfer portal commits, which was 20 more than number two in Arizona State, 87 new guys overall since the spring. I don't know that I'll ever look at a roster and be like, yeah, they're going to be awesome. Granted, they were not replacing a bunch of awesome players at CU when the team could barely win a game last season, so we understand the turnover. But I don't know that it's a new thing that I'll look at now going, okay, that's how I'd want a roster being designed, right? But there was something that I needed to do a better job on, and I looked at the 247 Transfer Portal rankings as

far as classes going into this year. Let's run through the top 10. UCLA is a 10, Oregon 9, Oklahoma 8, Miami 7, Florida State 6, Auburn 5, USC 4, Ole Miss 3, LSU 2, and the number one graded transfer class coming in according to 24-7 was Colorado. One five-star Travis Hunter, five four-stars, and 43, three stars, three stars of Colorado is actually a huge win. And he grabbed 43 of them. So maybe, Oh, look, I should have done a better job on that, but I still don't know that I would have looked at all of that and been like, all right, I can see Colorado having a winning season. We still don't know if that's the answer. As far as Travis Hunter, again, you know, when he committed to Jackson left Florida State, it was a topic made for Twitter because then it starts reaching into all sorts of stuff that I don't think really anybody's saying.

I think it's pretty simple. We talked about Travis Hunter more for three hours on Saturday than we talked about him for an entire year last year. It's not any specific reason other than it just being how much we pay attention to certain programs. For the same reason why we all know who Jared Vers is now at Florida State when we didn't know who he was at Albany. And that's all it is. Now, to the maybe portion of the open, maybe TCU's average is hell. Maybe average would be nice. Gus Johnson loved hammering that CU was beating the defending

national champ runner-up. That's a really good headline, and it makes it even more dramatic, and it makes it sound even better. That's not the team they played. That team is gone. They're missing 11 starters from last year. They had eight draft picks, a TCU record, including a quarterback who's kind of important. All right. So with a big victory lap on Saturday, which is deserved, again, we get it. We get his motivations behind it. And we know his personality.

If CU goes 7-5, it's a huge win. If it's 6-6, do people get to make fun of him? Are people waiting on the next loss? 6-6, what has been one of the worst Power 5 programs in recent years, that's, I think, a huge win. And proof of concept feels a little techie, but know this. We're all going to be paying attention. They own college football on a Saturday afternoon in a way Colorado hasn't in a really long time.

Quick before we get to Klatt, I want to talk about Florida State's beating of LSU. Going in, I didn't really know what to expect. I'm not as high on Jaden Daniels as it feels like everybody else is. I know they seem like they figured some stuff out. Most teams aren't going to beat Bama, so it was a big win. The A&M loss for LSU last year was like a classic letdown, and then, oh, that's right, A&M, despite being a mess, is talented. Then when you watch LSU play Georgia, you're like, there's a gap here. Going in with the hype around it, I think long-term LSU's defense is fine.

As far as the front, the corners had a disastrous day. And Keon Coleman, who I think had eight touchdowns at Michigan State, absolutely lit up LSU and he was terrific. And Jordan Travis is a better quarterback than James Daniels, despite his terrible second quarter, which was just so odd. Because there were some awful decisions that he was making for a guy that's really steady and can get you out of some problems, which is my favorite way of looking at college quarterbacks. Like, hey, at some point over the next three hours, things are going to break down. Things are going to feel like they're working. Can you find a way to survive outside of whatever the plan is? And that's kind of how I look at Daniels is that once the plan breaks down, I don't really think there's a lot there. I was shocked that he was second in the Heisman odds.

Shocked. It really only took me the first possession to realize that I still feel right about this. LSU, a couple plays, they get down to first and goal at the Florida State 5. On second and goal, Jaden goes to run. He's getting stuffed. It looks like he's actually going to take a loss for a sack, but then Florida State's hit with a roughing call, which just kind of went too long, but I thought it was kind of a weak call.

It's first and goal again now at the two, and he throws that fade route, which is mandatory, that everybody with one of their four downs from inside the 10-yard line, they have to throw one to the corner if you get one-on-one to neighbors who's supposed to be a pretty good receiver, he throws a line drive right into the back of the defensive back floor of state. Neighbors looks back to Jaden's like, Hey, throw it up. Like it's one thing to make that throw. It's another to never give your receiver a chance. You're like, what was that throw? Then like, for some reason, I think he was trying to

make up for it, tries to hit neighbors again. He's out of bounds. There was a guy way out to the right, gutter underneath the defender. It was clear out under there. Never even looked at it. Never even saw it. The worst play of this whole sequence is fourth and goal to Florida State one. He takes a 13-yard sack. It's one thing to not convert, but at least they would be backed up to their own end zone. Instead, you give them all this yardage and you never even throw the ball, throw a pop-up in the air. And if it's picked, it's likely that you're going to stop them anyway. You're not getting the ball back if this doesn't work out. And then he didn't process like, okay, risk reward now. What's my, like, how much risk can I now take? Because it's fourth down? We should take all the risk in that spot.

There's just little things with him that there'll be a nice couple runs. There'll be a throw where he had from the right hash to the left side that was a really impressive arm throw. He had that sneak where he wasn't even close to the first down marker, and he tried to just jump through 20 bodies at the middle of the field. Yeah, I think that's a problem. I think it's a problem for LSU and what their aspirations are. Look, everybody can write them off. They lost to Florida State last year and ended up having a good season. Look, I'll just tell you, when I saw the Heisman odds, I was like,

I disagree with these odds. Later this week, I'll talk a little bit about, or maybe I'll just carry it over into the second week, Ohio State's quarterback stuff, Alabama's quarterback stuff. Penn State looked really good. Drew Aller looks terrific. But it wasn't a great opening weekend. So those are kind of your two headline games. Get ready for the NFL season with incredible offers from FanDuel,

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There's no better guest to have on right now than the voice of college football for Fox. I don't know about that. Hey, man. Look, we usually wait until I get mad about something. We have you on week eight or nine and we yell about it. I know. That's what I was going to say. When I heard this and I was like,

whoa, wait, what did I say? Normally, it's about something that he doesn't like that I said and then I've got to come on and pay homage. But no, this is just because of the great game on Saturday. This is perfect. All right. So look, you're from there. You played there. And I'm with you. I'm of a certain age where I loved when Colorado was good. I loved it. Kids from California would go to Boulder and walk around and be like, I can do this. I love the state. I love the town. And here you are on the call. So what was it like for you to see you get this win?

You know, it's it's and listen, I know Herbie does it all the time because Ohio State has been great for a long time. There's definitely a different element of stress calling that game, to be really honest with you. I was cognizant and trying really hard to be down the middle, just because that is my childhood team. People don't understand. It's like, yeah, I played there. It's also, my dad took me to my first college game at Folsom Field. I was five or six years old. We saw the old Oklahoma Sooners under Barry Switzer. I fell in love with the sport there. All I wanted to do was play there. So it goes a little bit deeper than that.

So to see that performance on Saturday was very special from an individual standpoint, just because I've been a lifelong buff, to be quite honest. And it's been so bad for basically two decades that I'll be really honest. I never, I was starting to resign myself to the fact that like, it's not going to happen. They don't have the recruiting base. Like I was buying into all the narratives that Bill McCartney did not buy into. And now that coach prime has not bought into. And so it was, it was quite an experience on Saturday. So, you know, I don't know how much they'd ask you, you know, certain programs ask alums, you know, Hey, what do you think?

And whatever. But when you first heard that Dion was on their radar, what was that like? So I don't want to like give, I was more, I was excited. I was excited. They, um, I have not previously been all that involved and I was very excited this time. Um, and I knew, and I, I imagined that Colorado desperately needed two things. I'm hemming and hawing. Colorado desperately needed two things. Brian, they needed exposure. Nobody was talking about Colorado, period. They needed some way to acquire talent because that's what the sport is really all about. It's like,

how do you acquire talent? It's really hard to acquire talent at Colorado or has been for a long time because let's face it, there's not a natural recruiting base right out your back door. These schools that can go out their back door and get a top 10, top 15 class, they've got an advantage. We all know that, right? Well, that's not Colorado. So you need somebody that can attract talent. Bill McCartney was a big personality and a great recruiter. That's why they were such a great team in the late 80s and early 90s and even kind of throughout the 90s, to be honest.

very few guys, maybe he and Saban, maybe Smart is this way. It doesn't matter he gets in the room because of him. He's the sun. Everything orbits around him. So he doesn't need a geography necessarily to attract talent because all that talent is going to be attracted to him. So I really liked that from the get-go. And then just the level of exposure and attention. I know that some people don't like it. I love it because Colorado has not been talked about at all for the better part of two decades or more. And immediately, he got there. And from the moment he was announced until Saturday, people have been talking about and had an opinion of

Colorado. I think both of those things are great things. And he obviously proved his worth in the portal, acquiring talent, 68 new scholarship players. But more than that, and I think this is what maybe gets glossed over. I also knew he was a really good coach because I knew guys that had coached for him and around him. So when I heard Colorado was interested in going after and trying to land Deion, I thought to myself, yes, yes, because it's not a gimmick. Everybody thought it was a gimmick at Jackson. You turn on the Jackson tape, they were disciplined. They played sound football. And guess what we saw on Saturday?

We saw a team that was more disciplined and more sound than TCU, who just went to the national championship game. And they had 68 new scholarship players. So all of those factors, I was pretty excited when I became aware. I said it last week, and I said it in the open. When you look at the turnover of a roster, and as we both understand, it wasn't like you were turning over Georgia here. You're like, okay, is that, is that really going to work out though? Like, is it, is it going to be good? And, you know, we could go in a bunch of different directions. Maybe TCU isn't that good, but I know part of that doesn't matter, but I know that I'm already thinking like, wait, are they good? Is Colorado actually good? And I don't know that we have an answer to it.

You would have far more perspective on that. When you watch them and you think about them and you're around the program, what people are saying about the talent, you're like, wait, this team actually isn't just a one Saturday story. You have to pay attention to them the rest of the year. Well, when your quarterback plays like that, you're not a one Saturday story. Like this sport at every level, and you know this, revolves around, if you have a guy at that position,

teams are going to have to deal with you. And Shador, he played better than any quarterback in the country Saturday. I mean, he was really, really good. I'm going to do a big breakdown on my show this week about Shador. He did really three things so well. First was the operation. It was really clean operation, which is hard with a brand new team,

brand new system, brand new play caller. As a quarterback, you're kind of a babysitter on the field. And to have clean operation, it means that you're calm, that you know what's going on, and everyone believes in you and your rhythm. And so that's an important piece. Then there's the piece about his preparation and his intellect. And I'll tell you, when you watch the film of the way Choudhury played, the ball went to the right spot every time, right? It was crazy. Like smart throw after smart throw after smart throw. And then the ball arrived from a talent perspective

and a performance perspective on time and on target. It's really difficult for a defense to succeed when that's happening from the quarterback position. So are they good? Yeah, they're good because they've got a quarterback that I think is one of the better quarterbacks now in the entire country. And certainly in a quarterback-rich conference, those teams are going to have to deal with Colorado. He's got guys on the outside that can get open, create space, and make plays. Where I get concerned with them is their lack of depth and what I felt like was

a light front seven on defense. I don't think Nebraska is going to make the same mistake that TCU made by throwing it over 40 times. If TCU runs it 45 times, not throws it 45 times, I think Colorado might have been in trouble in that game. They could have prevented Shador and the offense from being on the field as much as they were. Nebraska is not going to make that same mistake. Their special teams did not play very well. They've got things to improve on. Are they good? Yeah, because they've got a quarterback. In this day and age, if you've got a quarterback, you've got a chance. Colorado certainly has that. and he knew exactly where to go with the ball and he had enough velocity to deliver it. I mean, it looked like somebody in the third year of a system where it's like, I can't wait to come back and do this. And look, I just didn't know enough about it. It's like he worked with Sean Lewis for years. It's just like everything was,

I tell you, I was blown away as you were. Travis Hunter, my favorite thing that I wrote down for, you know, we're keeping the snap count going, which was, which was smart on the television broadcast. Cause I'm wondering, I'm like, how many snaps is he at? I guess the official number was one 29. Some people said it with my video a little higher. I thought it was a little higher, but you did, you know? Okay. Yeah. Well, whatever, whatever it was, it was amazing. And amazing. It was wild. Jenny Taft telling us it's 117 degrees down there. And, you know, the funny part, too, is like, oh, do you need to do this to him? Like, hey, some people actually are that special, and maybe he is that special in his impact.

The interception, Joel, I couldn't believe when the ball was out and then what the end of that ended up being, it didn't seem like that was possible. Correct. And his read on it. So go ahead. Your thought on that. I mean, one, you're exactly right. Exactly right. Okay.

So do you mind? I don't know. I don't know. People always tell me, like, don't get too technical. I'd like to do whatever you want to do. Yeah. Be technical. technical. I'd like to do whatever you want to do. Yeah, be technical. So they had basically what I would call a three receiver side into the short side of the field because the back was offset to

that side. And then they had a wide receiver and a slot. Okay. So basically like three releases possible on that short side, two releases on the other side. So they're going to flood that area. Here's what I loved about, well, and let me give some kudos to Charles Kelly too, the defensive coordinator who comes from Alabama. What does Alabama love to do at the goal line? They love to run bracket coverage. Bracket coverage helps man defenders stay in proper leverage. Okay. Rather than just running yourself into, you know, like, oh, this is my man. And you run in, you know, that you're going to get inside breaking routes and a flat. Okay. It's just a combination

that you've got to expect. So what happened is that the three man defenders, they, they all out blitz. So everyone, it's just straight man, no safety cover, zero blitz. Here we come. They get one free rusher. So Chandler Morris doesn't have a ton of time to react. He's got to throw the ball quickly. And then what happened with the three defenders on that short side is that they played brackets and they caught each other's man. So the inside defender catches the number two release because he becomes the number three release. The number one player on the outside, the wide receiver, becomes the number two receiver,

which means the slot defender catches him. And then Travis, alertly, which is tough to do because you've got to defend your inside leverage when you're in cover zero man, he takes one step with the wide receiver to the slant, realizes that he's got help on the inside, that they're going to banjo and they're going to pass this off. And then he falls off into the lap of the flat receiver and picks it off. The level of execution by those three defenders and then the talent and the athletic ability from Hunter to actually pick it off was pretty remarkable when you're talking about a team

with all new players trying to defend a goal line for the first time. And I would also reiterate, not reiterate, but like point out, it's the same drive that Hunter sprinted around 75 yards to stop the big run from Amani Bailey. Bailey breaks that long run from inside his own five, and it looks like he's going to house it. He's got a blocker in front of him and Hunter from the opposite end of the field chases him down, takes on the block and gets that ball down to the ground. Then later in the same series, it's third down. TCU decides to throw it, not run it.

Again, huge mistake and Colorado executed unbelievably. The amount of trust that it takes those defenders to pass that off and to actually banjo that technique right there, it takes those defenders to pass that off and to actually banjo that technique right there to bracket that technique is pretty remarkable we don't see it often certainly TCU wasn't able to do it because Colorado ran the exact same concept both for a first down early in the game a touchdown to Dylan Edwards their first of the game and then on fourth and two they ran the exact same concept that TCU just threw the interception they ran it against the Horned Frogs. They don't pass it off, and it ends up being a long touchdown. It's the right throw, you know, and it's the right throw against everybody else except for Travis Hunter, I guess, is the lesson there. Yeah, that is the point, yes. But my favorite part... Things were letting

me nerd out right there. I love that. That was great. I loved it. At snap count 110, I'm like, he's backpedaling with energy out into position. Yeah. He still was... People are going, wait, can you really do this? Is he going to be able to do this every week? Maybe he can't. And he's actually that good. He's that...

Obviously, we understand a corner. But the touchdown that he had called off was insane. Yes. So I can't wait to watch him play again. I can't either. We got play again. I can't either. We got him again Saturday. We'll be up there in Folsom for the Nebraska game. I can't wait to see what he does there.

A couple of things I didn't get in on the broadcast. I always think about my misses. I leave the booth, and it's like the most depressing time of my week is always the hour after every game. It's just a little insight into my life. It shouldn't have been on Saturday. I mean, it was because there were so many things that I'm like, why didn't I say that? Oh, I could have said that better. You know, one of the things that I didn't say that I should have is yes, Travis Hunter is unique. And I don't want to

take away from that unique talent because there's only a select real handful of guys throughout history, really, that could do what he did on Saturday. Having said that, there have been a few. Their coaches are unwilling to put them out there as much as Prime was unwilling to put them out there. That wasn't just a little select package on offense. It wasn't just, hey, my corner is going to return kicks. He was the main target on the fourth quarter series that they ended up going down there and taking the lead. He got three passes. I mean, he's on the field. He's defending every time. And I think the unique nature of prime trusting him and being like, yeah, I mean, like he can do it and he's going to go out there and play. I don't know many coaches that would do it. I think, I think Dion's the only one. Yeah. That's a great point. And considering his background, it makes sense that he'd be the one

that's most understanding, most accepting of it all. I want to touch on a couple other things that we saw and, you know, look, I watch LSU every week. I was, as I said in the open, a little surprised that Jaden Daniels, Heisman Love, I think they figured some things out, perhaps simplifying things in the second half of last season. I went over the play chart in the open when I watched them deep on that first possession. And look, Florida State's better than them. Jordan Travis is the better quarterback. But what did you see about the gap between the quarterbacks in your eyes? Yeah, I mean, it became apparent early. I felt like even Jordan was struggling with the speed of the LSU defense. I think you would agree. I mean, he kind of lofted a ball up under pressure at one point, should have been

picked off. So the first half wasn't very good for either quarterback or either team, really. off. So the first half wasn't very good for either quarterback or either team, really. LSU had its chances to be up a couple of scores and weren't able to take advantage. And when you allow a team as talented as Florida State, when you allow them to hang around and retain some confidence, they'll eventually beat you. And that's exactly what happened. I did feel like one of the things that I was surprised about, because I'm a big believer in Brian Kelly. I think he's a really good football coach. He's won a lot of games. Mike Norvell flat out coached him in that second half. They went to that same run concept time and time and time again, and LSU had no answer for it, whether it was out of pure fatigue from their defense, which is, again, like an issue within the program,

or it was a schematic error. LSU had no answer for it. And because of that, Jordan began to have more time and began to feel more comfortable. Then you can get to Keon Coleman, who was an absolute monster in that game. I mean, how good is that guy on the outside? I thought he was spectacular. LSU has got, they just make way too many mistakes, like big mistakes.

And you can't be an elite team and make big mistakes. Why are Alabama and Georgia who they are? Because they don't do that. Generally speaking, they don't beat themselves. And LSU does. They did it last year in the opening game, and then they did it this year in the opening game. They might have a quality season, and they certainly are talented. There's no doubt. Jordan Travis ended up being the better quarterback, and Mike Norvell outcoached the LSU staff in the second half. That Florida State team is for real. Defense, very good, and offense, as they get more comfortable with each other,

and Coleman gets more targets from Jordan Travis, they're going to be a deal, man. That's going to be a team that Clemson's going to have a hard time with even in Death Valley. Yeah, I agree. I agree. I mean, Florida State just in that second half, I mean, LSU couldn't get anything going offensively. They're essentially shut out until the garbage touchdown at the very end, which I think leads a little bit into a defense that looks so dominant and so fast. Although I think a lot of LSU fans are like wondering what the plan is with Perkins because here was somebody who lit it up at pass rush, and then it felt like I was watching him turn coverage a lot. I did not love that.

I know they talked about, like, hey, to get the full version of him, they've got to be able to use him differently. I do think that there was a surprise factor of last year being like, this freshman is going to line up at the edge. And guess what? He got past everybody every single time. And then I'm looking for – I think there's an awareness of him, but I also felt the usage of him was like, cool. There was a lot of variety in there, but why is he standing waiting in the flat when he was beating

everybody off the edge? I think that this is paralysis by analysis on their coaching staff. Like don't hunt ghosts, best version of him. The best version of him is putting him in a position to make the most impactful play. You don't make the most impactful play in the flat. Even if you can do it well out there. I mean, even if he's really good off the ball linebacker, he was totally wasted. I feel exactly how I felt. I'm a Bronco fan. Grew up in the Denver area, as we've kind of established.

I remember like Von Miller's second or third year, the Broncos kept dropping him into coverage. And I was like, what are you doing? It's like the man is elite at a very specific thing that not many people can do, which is affect the passer. And he wasn't given that opportunity. I was, they better go back to the drawing board on that. I just don't, I don't agree with this philosophy at all. This whole like best version of him.

No, no, no, no. Like the best version of him is putting him in a position where he can make the most impactful plays possible. Because if you give him more chances at the line of scrimmage and on the edge, you're going to get more impactful plays. You're going to get him at the quarterback 10, 15, 20 times this year. You're going to get the strip sacks. You're going to have the opportunity to hurry the quarterback's timing. And then what you get is tips and overthrows because that quarterback is not comfortable in the pocket. You don't need him to create the tips and overthrows by being in coverage.

You get him in the space where he impacts the quarterback, whether he gets there or not. I've got to be aware of that as the quarterback, and I think he should be down there more often. Yeah, we'll see what happens because, look, they turned their season around somewhat last year after a mistake prone game, but the gap between them and Florida State, especially I think the quarterback part, like I love that Jordan Travis was terrible in that second quarter. I don't know. I felt like it was alarming watching the second half of two supposed top 10 teams going, there's one guy that I think can get you through the challenges and another in Jaden who I just don't really see. But I'm already talking about it too much, so I'm not going to repeat everything I said from the open. Drew Aller, loved it.

Yeah. We knew the recruiting profile of him. I'm sure at some times last year, people felt like he should have taken over for Clifford. And I think a little sneaky part of this is that West Virginia revamped a lot of their defense. So when you think defense, you don't think West Virginia. But I actually thought they were a little more stout just from watching them play this weekend than what you'd expect. And then Penn State pulls away. I guess I'm getting ready for this one, but I feel like Allard at the end of the year is going to be the best quarterback in the Big Ten. Oh, that's interesting. I mean, McCarthy also looks good,

and he's going to have the benefit of a run game just like Allard will. I think I probably trust Michigan's offensive line a little bit more as a whole. Yeah, I mean, right. Even with Fashionew. Fashionew is probably the first offensive lineman taken in next year's draft. But as a whole, Michigan, but yes, listen, I'm with you on the Aller love. I thought that he looked really poised. He's the talent jumps off of the tape. And when you see him live, I remember last year in his very first game, we did their first game against Purdue, and he's just a true freshman. So he's down there warming up, and I'm standing with James Franklin, and I'm like, I didn't care to watch anything other than this kid throw the ball. It was that effortless, beautiful. He's got a lot of talent in that right arm.

And when his development of his mind and the operation and the schematics of the game catch up with that talent, then watch out. And you saw elements of that against West Virginia. He was calm. He was poised. He threw for a high percentage. He's accurate. That's a dangerous team. They've got pieces on the outside. They can certainly run the ball. I love their backfield. Katron Allen and Nick Singleton, those are good players. ball. I love their backfield. Katron Allen and Nick Singleton, those are good players. And I will tell you, after week one, I'm more convinced than ever that I think Penn State beats either Michigan or Ohio State this year. They're better. They're ready. Those were their only two losses a year ago. And that's a team that certainly can take the next step. Now, they're much more suited

to beat Ohio State than they are Michigan, because I would say the one weakness that Penn State has would be the defensive front seven in terms of a physicality standpoint, just the weight and power of that defensive front seven. And that's what you would have to stop Michigan's run game. But they've got length and athleticism to boot, and that's going to be a tough matchup for Ohio State, in particular with the way that they played offensively. They don't have a quarterback. Penn State certainly does. Ohio State certainly doesn't at this point. Yeah, I watched a good chunk of Ohio State-Indiana, and look, they take care of business. They get the win, but even Ryan Day was like, look, some of our short yardage stuff. I think at one point, they were one for eight on third down against Indiana, where you're expecting

to go to. The offensive line was bad. I watched the tape last night, and I was shocked at how bad they were up front. Shocked. They're supposed to be better than... Those players are better than that. Indiana, you talk talk about a team you said this about west virginia i was

pleasantly surprised at the speed and athleticism and aggressiveness of the indiana defense um because their front seven kind of took it to ohio state's offensive line that's part of the reason why mccord didn't play well it's part of the reasons why they couldn't get the ball to Marvin Harrison. The backs didn't have a lot going on. That offensive line has to improve dramatically moving forward. It was definitely like a flag for them. And you're right. Like with Ohio State in that conference, you're like, they're going to have seven guys that are really good that would start everywhere else. But you know, when they're starting to dip in, like that's some of the transfer portal stuff that I'll talk about. Like, wait, they had to go grab a tackle like they did. Right. Um, but then when

I watched McCord and Devin, and by the way, that staff did an unbelievable job of selling us in the idea that it was 50, 50, it was going to just flip the whole time in the broadcast. Like, I guess it's Kyle McCord's job. I don't know what to make of him. I may be weird way. I'm rooting for Devin Brown because I had no idea that he has number 33 because of slinging Sammy Baugh. When I learned that I was like, well, now I want Devin Brown to be the starter, which I don't know that we learned anything about. I mean, hell, Indiana probably figured out by the end of the game they know who their starter was.

They went into the game thinking it'd be one guy, and then I think it might be the other guy. But this is all wrapped around Ohio State as a national title contender in comparison with Penn State and Michigan. If Big Ten's going to get two of these teams in, it's funny because I'm thinking like, well, they need Penn State to be really good and maybe split with them and then all the other stuff that would have to happen for Big Ten to get two teams in the playoffs. But whatever, one week in, real opponents, more so for Ohio State and Penn

State. But I was surprised there wasn't any moment in that first week with the Buckeyes where I was like, okay, wait, what's going on back there? Maybe it's just a bad game, the O-line and all that stuff. It very well could be. But that's how we're looking at them. We're judging them compared to the other two. And Penn State taking another P5 program, I just felt better about them. That's right.

You have to evaluate teams based on your level of expectation. Right? Like, that's common sense. That's why all of us are gushing about Colorado. Do we think Colorado would beat Ohio state? Probably not. No, I don't think, you know, they're not number one in the country. So it's like, you come out of week one and you're like, I don't think that Colorado looks great. And Ohio state didn't doesn't mean I think Colorado is better than Ohio state. It just means that based on what I thought they were going to be coming into week one, they far exceeded my expectations,

whereas Ohio State, I felt like fell short of those expectations. I do want to touch on North Carolina because Drake Mays is another one of these guys that's good enough to be able to do it. I have this rule of certain positions and certain uniforms where I always feel like any Tennessee offensive lineman I think is good because in that orange, I think all of their offensive linemen look good. And I love watching them with Milton, by the way, and two of the receivers that are back from last year. I think corners for Cincinnati, maybe because they've had a couple of pros recently, but if it's all black and I look at them and I'm like, man, that guy looks like he can lock somebody down and be like, actually, he's a seventh year guy. He stinks. We're hurt. The position, Texas, almost all the skill guys always look good at Texas. I have another one. I always feel like Carolina, UNC's front,

their defensive front, I'll just always be like, that guy has to be good. Look at him. It's not always the case. It's the baby blue. It's the Carolina blue. But beyond the skill guys and Drake May, to then see them beat up Rattler like that for a day, North Carolina may be a little bit more balanced than we're used to seeing. And I think the sentiment coming in was this was Drake May and I don't know, their roster is not great. You know, so it's like however far May can drag that team, good for him and he's a star. And now that needs to be adjusted.

can drag that team good for him and he's a star and now that needs to be adjusted and now you you watch the games of the first i would call it opening two weeks but really the opening week to me isn't like isn't it shocking that the two conferences one that got murdered and the other that was on life support with the actual games on the field were the two conferences that looked the best. Like because of the depth now in the ACC with the Florida state went over LSU, what I think we're going to see out of Clemson and their week one game and North Carolina. And now I'm thinking to myself like, okay, that's, that's a legitimate race for the title in the ACC between those three.

Meanwhile, the PAC 12 is 13-0. And it's not like they just played cupcakes. They went out there. You've got an SEC skin on the board. So it's fascinating. I know you asked specifically about North Carolina, but that's what I think of. I think that their win and the way that they look immediately makes me believe that the ACC champion is going to be a lot better than I expected at the beginning of the year. The wins that we've seen already in this year, whether it's the South Carolina win for North Carolina or it's the LSU win for Florida State, those are going to be big benchmarks when we're talking about who's included for the last time

in a four-team playoff. Because now the ACC champion, whoever it is, like let's say Clemson beats Florida State if it's at home. Clemson's going to be like, well, yeah. Like we beat them. They beat LSU. Like we're fine. So at least early, like the SEC has not performed the way that they've normally performed in non-conference

affairs and i think from from the outside looking in that's a really good thing for the pac-12 and the acc when we start thinking about the end of the season and and how we're going to view their eventual champion in terms of inclusion into a four-team playoff. Yeah, you're absolutely right. The Pac-12 stuff is so frustrating for me just as a college football fan, but I'm like, look, if you look at the top half, those are tough outs. When you look at how some of those schedules shape up, and then even with the Big 12, I'm like, man, it feels like... Because whenever I think about the best conference and who... It's how many title contenders do you have, and then what's the real depth And that's where I always felt like the SEC on certain Saturdays, it'd be like, wait, they got to go play those guys. Like they may be four

and three, but I think they're actually like really good. Um, and talented and they've got NFL players and yeah. But the big 12 had a bunch of that for me last year where I was like, oh, wait, they're not even ranked. I'm like, this is going to be a tough game for them. Like, don't, don't fall into the trap of looking at the record. So, all right, this is perfect. Perfect way to finalize this whole thing. Are you picking Texas against Bama? It's so hard.

I don't think so. I would have if Texas would have come out and looked really clean. Just because I trust yours more than Milrow. Milrow has been a turnover-prone quarterback in big moments. We saw that against A&M last year, and that's the one way that you can beat Alabama is if they turn the ball over. Now, though, I look at what Rice did up front, and I'm like, if you're Steve Sarkeesian and that offensive line at Texas,

and you can't protect your quarterback against Rice, that's a problem against the Alabama defense, which I think is way better than what they were a year ago. Even with Will Anderson not on the, like they were deeper and faster. I believe in Alabama's defense. So I just don't see, I don't see Texas rolling in there and winning not based on what I saw in week one. All right, man. Hey, look, incredible start. not based on what I saw in week one. All right, man. Hey, look, incredible start. Enjoy it. And as far as like you being a CU guy and then on the broadcast, like maybe I'm too into the business where it's like, I don't even, I didn't even think about it, you know, like I know it obviously,

but I don't even think about it. And then for you to be excited is actually the accurate reaction. Cause that's the story that you're telling with Gus for three hours. The excitement of like they're actually going to pull this whole thing off and everything that happened after the fact. I can't wait to catch up again this season, man. You're great on the call. We'll talk soon, all right? I appreciate it. I appreciate it, man.

This has been fun as always. 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. LifeAdviceRR at gmail.com. Life Advice is brought to you by Modelo, the mark of a fighter. Modelo is a crisp, a golden lager brewed for football fans who treat supporting their team as a way of life, who support with unshakable passion, even when the odds are against them.

And there's nothing that screams fighting spirit louder than college football fans. Modelo celebrates that passion inside every fighter. Modelo, the official beer sponsor of the college football playoff. Before we get to a couple of the submissions, whenever anyone can help us, I feel like that's always a plus. So we had somebody who chimed in about OnlyFans. um, who chimed in about only fans.

And it appears this person really knows what the deal is. What's your monthly bro. What are you paying? No, I think he's, I think he's more on the, uh, the production side of things.

Oh, so unfortunately the screen just jumped incredibly weird on me here so i gotta find the email again working through it working through it on a day off uh how are you guys doing you got anything going on today am i killing you right now now we're recording this yeah we're recording this on on labor day not a huge deal um just hanging out at home i just felt bad for kyle i know Kyle usually has plans. I actually love my streak of working every Labor Day. I think when I don't,

it's going to be weird. So I'm down for that. I've been voted as a commissioner of a league that I'm trying to tank. It's been our college football. It's been our college fantasy football league and they voted me the commissioner. And it's getting like, you know,

all I have to do is keep stalling until the season starts and then I can't do it. So, um, I won this league last year and nobody paid me a dollar and I'm really salty about it. And they're like, Oh dude, there was some discrepancy with the rules when I wasn't the commissioner and now they want me to be, and I'm just kind of kicking the can down the road until a kickoff on Thursday.

And then I'm, then we'll just not do this league anymore. And it's just simply because I don't want to be the commissioner. So I've been sort of, I've been sort of stringing these guys along and hopefully by Thursday, we'll just be able to, I'll be able to shrug and be like, Oh,

sorry. We'll try again next year. Yeah. I'm barely invested in my paid league. I couldn't imagine I'm invested more than beyond the draft and lead that I don't get paid a diamond if I win the league. So I think, yeah, you got a balance and we had paid every year and I don't get paid a diamond if I win the league. So I think, yeah,

you got a bad, and we had paid every year and I don't know, I guess guys just took a little long and then there was some sort of discrepancy with the two quarterbacks versus one quarterback. And then, Oh wait, you were in this league. That was the disaster of a league last year.

That's right. And it was like our college league that had been kind of going strong. And then last year I sort of fell apart and now they voted me commissioner i'm like fuck that i'm tanking this wait this is actually a great story i this is hysterical because it proves my point if if i'm just not gonna be invested in a league that people aren't paying and we did the kyle asked me hey do you want to join this league i was like whatever man i usually like one league but you know like it's fine i'll just i'll just be in college we did the draft and then all of a sudden one league steve and we did the draft and then all of a sudden dudes were just arguing via the text chain about

like whether or not the rules were what they were, like whether or not you could take two quarterbacks or one, which is like a pretty big difference. I mean, if you have two quarterbacks and you drafted for two quarterbacks, that totally changes. Who's going to win the league. Like whoever has the two best quarterbacks is usually going to win the

league in that situation. And then it's just like, nobody responded. So I don't think I paid attention after we drafted Kyle. I didn't know about the two quarterbacks, so that's why I thought it's even more impressive. Then nobody paid me, so I'm taking this league. I guess I'm part of the problem. No, no, don't

worry. I'm taking this league. This was all their fault. I'm embarrassed I brought you into my mess last year, so I'm taking this league. By the time you guys hear this on the Friday show or the Thursday show, I'll be able to tell you whether I successfully pulled this off or not.

I'll tell you right. I'm not going to be in the league. If it is a thing. I'm horrified about what happened last year. Clear that up. On to OnlyFans. Sounds like you could use an OnlyFans manager for this league. All right, so this guy chimed in here.

And looking at his background a bit, I think he's going to set us all straight. More so the guy that's supposedly in love with somebody. To the guy who was beginning in a relationship with the OnlyFans model, I guarantee you she has no clue who he is. When you're on OnlyFans, you are not talking to the person in the pics. They hire people to do the talking for them, and they get a cut of the upgrades that they get from people to pay. Literally like a telemarketing job that is incentive-based. Speaking of, the telemarketer's doc on HBO is fucking incredible.

I'm halfway through it. I love it. It's everything I want it to be. And I don't even know the end yet. So, so far, so good. All right. $10 an hour plus bonuses. The guys at CDG, you didn't even get the bonuses, I don't think. OnlyFans sounds easy, like you post picks and collect money, but the business side of it is much harder. In many cases, they have a full-time manager who negotiates with their fans on certain packages. I work in entertainment. I've met a ton of people who are the face of these operations, as well as managers and low-level people who just respond to messages to try for upgrades. It sounds like love may not be in the air. I really hate that. Right. I imagine, again, I'm not going to reveal who it was.

I don't know if that person is famous enough. But again, if somebody is just working hourly and working on the upgrades and then you never have to deal with it, I imagine it's probably still worth it. I would just kind of look at it. I'm just trying to think of the math in my head of like, is it actually worth it? But if you have enough clients where you're doing this all the time, it's probably worth it to them. And then you don't have to do anything. The point of the story is it's likely the guy that emailed in about his friend who thought he was falling in love is talking to somebody who's just handling the account uh which isn't shocking so here's the part where it gets really dicey i

am friends with a couple that started as regular ig and youtube content creators before only fans the husband is the one that you talk to when you message her. That is murky as fuck. Right. He does all the back-end office work, and he said it's a 24-7 job. He acts almost like a pimp when negotiating what kind of sexual acts his wife will do on camera. He does it while acting like her, so everything is in the first person. So it's likely this guy is talking to a dude or hired help. A hundred percent. It's not. It's more than likely. Imagine you're the guy.

Like, what are you doing? Like, oh, I'm sexting with my wife's customers. Trying to get the upgrades. I should be able to be in a bar at five, though. Yeah. I'll make the draft.

What time's tea time? I'll make the fantasy draft. Do you guys mind at the turn if I send a couple saucy dms back a couple guys we just pull over real quick he's just super bored are you guys grabbing hot dogs yeah okay i just get a i don't need anything grab me one i'll be i get a couple dms i gotta use it real quick oh my god that is so hot anything for you so what are you guys up four strokes? All right.

Here's an actual question. 27 years old, 6'2", 215, player comp, Andrus, Andrus, Biendrens. No one ever has known how to say his name correctly. If you played guard. All right. Started dating my now girlfriend in April, made it exclusive in June. That's always an interesting one, i'll just i'll just leave that alone what do you mean i never quite i've never quite understood that dating now we're really dating but whatever well i guess it's a pretty simple answer it's like are

you talking to anybody else now right because i mean you don't want to meet somebody in the first date you're like okay we're making this exclusive and be like can we like i don't even know your last name yet. So I don't think that's that weird. I really don't. You know what? I think you're right, Cerruti. So that's kind of how my wife and I started out, to be honest with you. Like we had to have a sit down talk and I was just kind of being an idiot. And she was like, I, you know, I don't want to just like keep this being a hookup thing. Is this real or not? And define idiot. and define idiot i don't know that i want to but i don't know i just was you know 25 year old running around west hartford i didn't really know what was up i didn't really know what i wanted and she had to sort of be like hey like i'm not just gonna like keep doing this if like this isn't a

long-term thing and so we it was a couple months where we were just kind of like we didn't have a title i guess on whatever it was it's complicated as the kids say back in the day i actually think that's totally normal and i don't you know right um it's just me being like do you want to be my girlfriend like there's never a right time for me to say those words i think uh yeah i didn't be like hey do you want to be my girlfriend i guess just pin me into a corner and i'll be like yeah yeah yeah we're for real and i'll say like that but should you delete tinder off your phone like that kind of conversation you know yeah that's what you say yeah it's been off for months what are you talking about well you're like all right let me go to the bathroom real quick I might be speaking too much

to personal experience but I feel like that's always initiated by the other party the female party yeah no for sure for sure but you know it worked out and And for the record, you guys think that Steve's some effeminate soccer guy who loves Chalamet, who, you know, puts together a good show. I will just, I will vouch for my guy here. He was, he was, he was, he had a high approval rating. He was running around West Hartford. What else is there to say? No, I'm not even talking about that.

I feel like every now and then, like, an on-air person might be like, hey, what's the deal with your producer? I'm like, that guy? then, an on-air person might be like, hey, what's the deal with your producer? I'm like, that guy? Fucking Twilight? All right. Okay. Okay. And then you realize, you're like, yeah, the guy switches up his look every eight months. There's not a lot of guys like that with that kind of confidence. Speaking of thinking of growing it back out, we'll see. Winter. No, I can't wait. It's been too long since your change. In many faces of Cerruti, we need to do something. We just need an entire ringer post where somebody does a long form on all your different looks.

Like the Tom Brady hair over the years. Like 2012, everyone says that's the best, but I don't know. 2015 was good too. No, it's a good point. Like side-by-side Cerrutis to Bradys. Who did it better over the decades. Who did it first? Some would say.

I was more of the trendsetter. But yeah. All right. So our guys exclusive now going back to June. Recently after spending some time and getting along

with their parents, I was invited to their family vacation in November. The vacation is a nice beachy location and it's a trip they go on every five to ten years where the entire

all-caps family gets together. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, children, everyone. Hey, look, I think when a family gets together like that, it's actually awesome. I think it's a great sign. It might be a great sign for your long-term future with this woman you're talking to. All right, so her family's pretty cool and we do get along well, so I don't feel too odd going. Now, they do get professional photos taken where each couple or family is wearing matching-ish clothes. Parentheses, lame, but I have no

problem doing it. Hey, look, some are saying that's the only reason Vineyard Vines is even still in business anymore, these pictures. The dad-son plaid situation? Yeah. My problem is I feel like I shouldn't be in these photos with the entire family where everyone is married with children and I'm with my new girlfriend. My mom first told me about the photos, so it seems like she wants me to be in them.

But what do I do? Oh, wait, excuse me. This is the mom, not his mom. That would be weird. His mom was like, hey, just a heads up when you date her. Yeah, one of the guys work together or something? So the girlfriend's mom first told him about it and she wants me to be in him. So what do

I do? Say nothing about it and hope I'm only in a few? Suggest they take a bunch without me in them? I wouldn't do that in front of a bunch of people. Here's the deal. They're going to take some without you. Yes. All right? They're going to. And maybe you yes all right they're going to and maybe those are the

ones that get framed and if they frame one with you in it and it doesn't work out they're gonna take it down or you can be like my mom where she kept one up with a girl forever and like another girl stopped by and was like what the fuck fuck is that? And I was like, I'm not in charge of my mother's decorations. Okay. Like I can, we argue pick seven other things to argue about besides this one. Um, but I think most normal families would be like, okay, this guy's out of the picture. And I would imagine, yeah, I imagine. And maybe you're going to be like way left or right in the lineup. And it a simple crop easy might not even be you maybe do some hands around the waist maybe do a few hands behind your back and you're an easier crop out i

don't know pockets right the photographer yep right because if you say straight up in front of everybody hey i feel like you know things are good but you know this seems a little presumptuous i'm getting a raise i might be moving could upgrade myself so you know let this seems a little presumptuous. I'm getting a raise. I might be moving, could upgrade myself. So let's just be realistic about what, what's on the table here. Well, you know,

you ever been on a wedding, like in your, and you're dating somebody and like, you know, like you just get included or any family function, you get included in the picture and you're usually, you're the one that's asked to take the picture, but then it's like,

you know, all the family gets in there like, no, no, come in, come in. And usually that's when you say, Oh no, we need to get one with you guys alone. Like, that's asked to take the picture, but then it's like all the family gets in. They're like, no, no, come in, come in. And usually that's when you say, oh, no, we need to get one with you guys alone. That's usually the nice... They're just being polite to you to ask you to be in the photo.

They don't really want you to be in all the photos. You have to be the one to be like, oh, no, no, I'll take the picture. Right. But get in. I'd imagine they have a plan for you not being in a few, but I wouldn't be aggressive about reminding them, hey, I shouldn't be in a ton of these. Yeah, I guess. Because the family that likes doing this and wearing matching clothes and that you're going to the vacation, they think you're part of the long-term plan. I'm not trying to scare you here. I'm just saying they've invited you, so phase one has already been complete.

You're right, Suri. There's this fine line of like seeming, hey, you know, that makes sense. It's accommodating to a red flag where now all of a sudden you're an argument behind a shed, you know, later that night after a couple of pinos, right? So I really feel like I shouldn't be in them in case I'm not around a year from now and ruined all of their pictures, even though that's not the plan, but we'd be happy to take as many as I need or not be in them at all in order to make everyone happy. You're going to be in some. I doubt you're going to be in all of them. I wouldn't really worry about it too much. I think we covered it. And by the way, it sounds like they're going to get a new picture next year.

Like you're not the first guy who's not in next year's picture, I don't think, right? Sounds like they're going to be doing that next year. Yeah, it's almost like an insurance policy, right? Basically, they're taking these pictures just in case you guys are together long term, but it's not really going to screw up their thing, but it would be nice. Like if you guys were dating four or five years from now, maybe eventually get married to have that first photo this early, like, yeah, this is Steve's first, you know, soiree into the whatever family. I think that's kind of cool. Yeah. You're just the, you're part of the group that's making the 99 in 1999 on the football field. And then next year they're going to make two zeros and you won't be there.

So it's totally fine. Totally correct. Hey, look, people have been in plenty of pictures long-term. They, they shouldn't be in later on, you know, those end up in a box. Yeah. For example, I had a, I dated this girl in high school. We were on and off for basically all throughout high school. And I was in like a lot of their pictures throughout those four years. And I remember we got back together in college, but had been broken up for a while. And I went back over to her family's house and there was a picture like on the wall and there was just a sticker on my face.

That's great. It was like, you know what? Honestly, I get it. Like, I'm not even mad. Like I understand,

you know, I'm not a part of the picture anymore. You got to get me out, but it was a nice picture. A sticker. It's a nice picture on the wall there's just what sticker was it was it uh like the cdc sticker that was on the phones no it was just like the yellow the yellow smiley face you know the poison one with the green guy throwing up swallowed call this number would be hilarious

okay all right yeah i mean not a huge problem there, but I think it'd be fine. Also, you maybe you're the guy who makes somebody uncomfortable a year from now. And it's like, what's up with that dude? And they're like, ah, my mom never took that one down. That's kind of cool too. Yeah. Well, I don't know. Maybe you're the best. And then the awesome move is you're out of the picture in three years, and you're still hung up somewhere at the house, and everybody looks at you being like, oh, is she? That's what I mean.

And then the next guy shows up, and it's like, oh, we were able to salvage this from a Nantucket whaling museum, whaling church. All right, here we go. Bad Yelp review mugshot. All right, this is different. No stats, just curious as to what recent movie shows you've liked as of late. And will Bill finally put Ryan back in rotation for some rewatchables episodes? That's not a Bill thing. I think it's a understood thing. I'm not going to do a million of them. By the way, when I was driving around Montana this summer for a stretch, I listened to a bunch of rewatchables. I listened to a bunch of rewatchables.

Chris Ryan and fantasy and bill are so good. It makes me want to do less of them. Those three together are so good that I was like, maybe I don't want to do these that often. Uh, they did one on catch me if you can. That was amazing. And it was a while ago, I think.

And then they did an Indiana Jones one and the production part of it all. So I think I'm just, you know, brought in for specific titles. And I think we both like it that way. You did The Town, right? Is that what you did? I did The Town.

You did that one that you beefed with Modine on, right? That was Vision Quest? Vision Quest, yeah. Modine went at me because it was a big one. Lap pull down form.

I still think I was right. I watched The Town on my flight to Sweden by the way because there wasn't really much else. There's not a lot of good movies. New movies out now.

Dude, that movie's awesome. That movie is freaking awesome. And it's better than The Departed. Like, I just, I will die on that hill. It's definitely better than The Departed. I watched The Departed. I don't think The Departed is a great movie. I would agree.

I think it's very overrated. There you go. Okay, a bit of background. I'm working through college. Started again this summer after a four-year stint in the Navy. Wanted to pursue a bit of background. I'm working through college, started again this summer after a four-year stint in the Navy, wanted to pursue a career in journalism. I'm currently working at Every Broke College Girl's favorite restaurant, Chipotle. I've been working there since I separated from the Navy, and as I'm sure everyone that's worked in food service or especially bar service is aware of the fact that sometimes customers can be difficult or downright rude and unconcerned with how they treat the people serving them. Earlier today, a customer came in with his family, maybe late 30s, early 40s, and as he was ordering his bowl, he asked a coworker of mine for more chicken. My coworker

obliged and added another scoop and said that it would be an additional cost. My coworker explained the widely known policy of if you get extra, you pay extra. The customer exclaimed, quote, I'm fine with that as long as you're paying for it. This is not delivered in a playful or joking way at all. He was clearly displeased with this interaction. As my coworker moved on to the salsas, he said, fine, we'll charge you just a single portion. The customer exclaimed again, this time over the fajita veggies saying, are the veggies extra as well? Before my coworker could even answer, he repeated the question with even more of an attitude. It was at this point that I

interfered and said, do we have a problem? Yes. Yes. Back up. Uh-oh. All right. Just to jump in here. Yeah. Look, anyone that's ever worked in food service, bar service, we just see the world differently. Like my construction summer rule, or if I had a kid, I'd make them work construction for like one summer at least. I think everybody should probably have to, since we're all ordering stuff from other people, everyone should have to work in a restaurant at some point because it would just, maybe people would be less of assholes, right? Bartenders can be kind of invisible usually your server isn't if you're at a table but i would say of all the invisible people that exist in food service chipotle is probably at the highest point of that like you're looking at this stuff you it's it's quick you're in you're out it's an assembly line and people lose their fucking minds

in the chipotle line like i can know everything I need to know about somebody just by watching how they order. And unfortunately, on this kind of interaction, you are such a sliver of their life. I think there's a massive lack of respect that goes on specific to this kind of order. All right. So our guy says, do we have a problem? Which I fully admit now was not likely to yield a positive result, but I was seething that this guy was continuing to talk to my coworker like that, even after he got what he wanted.

He, of course, denied that he had any such attitude and tried to play it off like he'd been talking respectfully the whole time. I simply expressed, I thought it wasn't okay for him to talk to anyone like that. And if he doesn't stop, he should leave. This sent him into an outrage. He continued to play off his behavior as innocent and proceeded to demand my name. I didn't give it to him. I thought the whole interaction was mild and easy to move on from.

I went to the walk-in to cool down and calm my nerves. Love the walk-in when you're working. Just hide out for a little bit. I used to steal grapes and pasta just handfuls when i emerged from the walk-in i turned and saw him through the kitchen and there he was standing at the register with his phone out camera aimed directly at me i approached the front and simply said really and he responded yeah if you won't give me your name i'll post this online here i told him that it wasn't okay for him to take

pictures of me or anyone else. He claimed that Chipotle is a public place and that he was fully within his rights to do so. This guy is 40? It's not a public place. He should be arrested. Right. He asked again for my name and told me how displeased he was with his experience. I hit him back with a simple, I don't care.

And after that, I completely ignored him. He hung around the register mean mugging me for a few minutes while I just went about my day before he left. Everyone is the hero of their own story. Well said. And this guy made sure of that when composing his one-star Yelp review riddled with all sorts of exaggerations, omissions, and of course, a photo of me. And worse yet, prominently displaying my second ranked side profile. I've attached the review to this email. I hope it comes off as melodramatic as it did to me. All right, let's read it. One star. He posted it six, well, the screen grab, I guess. I don't know. It says six hours ago,

so I don't know, whatever. Here's the review from our guy. When I was placing my order, I asked for lots of chicken. The server asked if I want a double chicken. I replied that I just liked their chicken and wanted to get as much chicken as a single serving could offer. No one fucking has ever said that ever lie. Uh, he then said, well, is that double chicken as we charge extra for that? And I re he then said, uh, well, that's double chicken. We charge extra for that. I replied, I just wanted whatever the bowl came with. Just a guy wants some chicken in the bowl. It tastes so good. Then the manager pictured stepped up in a threatening way and asked if I had a problem. When I replied, I didn't have a problem. He said, yes, you do. You're a problem.

I replied that I was just looking to enjoy a delicious bowl with my wife and kid, problem. I replied that I was just looking to enjoy a delicious bowl with my wife and kid, in which he threateningly continued to ask why I had a problem. Here's a photo of this manager, and when I asked his name, he declined to tell me his name, and he said he didn't care what I was doing with my review, and he didn't care about me. This was in front of my wife and my child in a restaurant full of people. This guy sucks. Yeah, man. It's pretty simple. The use of delicious tells me he's a fraud. Yep.

Right? And then he brings the kid into it. Like, and my child had a watch. No, your child had a watch you order at Chipotle like an asshole. That's what your child learned. Yeah. Well, your child also saw their dad kind of get put in their place, too. I think that's what he was pretty upset about.

He didn't think somebody was going to be like, do we have a problem at Chipotle? He probably is used to just pushing everybody around and getting his way. The dumb thing, though, is the idea that you could be like, oh, I just wanted the maximum amount of chicken. Bro, when you go to Chipotle, they have a scoop. It's the same size at every Chipotle, man. You know what the size of the scoop of chicken is. This isn't like a, you know, it's not that complicated. You're either a double meat guy or you're not. You know what the size of the scoop of chicken is. Like this isn't like a, you know, I just, it's not that complicated. You're either a double meat guy or you're not.

You know what I mean? Man. I agree. But I do notice at times, like if the guy who starts warming up the tortillas goes into the meat and rice part for you, if he's heavy, you're getting them. The size of the burrito is directly related to the size of the tortilla warmer. That's my, I don't know if anybody's worked it out yet, but that's my, but you're right. You're right. Look, this is the no ice with a drink thing. The first time somebody thought

they cracked the code with me on it and be like, oh, no ice. You're like, okay. And I think it was a margarita with no ice, but like in a plastic cup, like just above a shitty college bar, it was like nice enough that adults would still go there, but it wasn't like some nice, nice spot. And so then I hand him the cup and it's like half full. And I was like, do you seriously want the rest with sour, sour mix? It already is going to taste terrible. It's like, well, no, fill it up. And I'm like, well, it doesn't really work that way. That's why we have the ice. Well, I don't want an ice. Okay, so what did you think? I have to pour a triple for you and charge you the same price because the cup is kind of empty?

These guys suck, all right? And there's a lot of them out there. And it's those little wins. You know, we talked about selfishness a bit in the open, but like this is, you know, it's like, oh, yeah, no, you're right. I guess I just have to give you free booze. Fuck. You got us.

Here's the good thing, though, for this guy, for the emailer. Does anybody look at Chipotle reviews? Like, when you go to Chipotle, you know what you're getting. Like, I've never looked at a Chipotle review and been like, well, I'm not going to go there. It's not like you work at a doctor's office or something. And they're actually like, what do people say about this? Either you like Chipotle or you don't now the delivery of do we have a problem you know it could be examined you're never expecting that i mean but that's

kind of the weird thing is that if you're the kind of person that's a dick or complicated about your burrito order that when when you're questioned on it like you're never imagining the guy with the apron and the scooper is going to say, do we have a problem? Yeah. Like you can't, so that's what sets him off. Now, you know, I don't know if it was aggressive or not. We could maybe get in the military background and say, but I don't think you should have any issue with this. The email finishes, upon reading the review was the first sentence that I even knew he was with his

family. I never addressed anyone besides him. Couldn't even if I wanted to with a tunnel vision I had towards this guy. And in all honesty, this has become a joke already at work. And I myself have been laughing about the whole thing. Was I in the wrong? How could I have handled the situation better? Or is it just one of those customers looking for any excuse to do something as petty and dramatic as post a photo of someone on Yelp? Here's the point is you already knew who he was with the way he was ordering it, trying to pretend he's the guy that's allowed free chicken because he'd crack some fucking stupid, like if you ask this way and then do this and then turn around there, like there isn't, it's a business, man. And so then for him to take your picture and post it,

this guy has so many fucking issues on his day to day. Like seriously, this is, this is just a window into how his mind works on every other thing. So you're not wrong. You should laugh about it. A Yelp review isn't going to like, nobody's going to go in the future. If you're up for some job and be like, Hey, let's talk about this chicken order from three years ago. Saw your picture. Walk me through it. I mean, it's, it's really ridiculous what this guy did and how he did it. Granted, we're getting your side of it, but reading his dramatic reenactment of the entire thing, when he used the word delicious, that's all I needed to know on top of all the other evidence.

Yeah, that was the, his recounting of it is just like, you know, when you get in trouble at school and you tell your mom, like what happened? And it's like, you know, the principal's got a report as well, but you're just like, I was doing my work i wasn't doing something fell on the ground and i went to pick it up and then all of a sudden i'm getting yelled at it's like no no you were cheating on your test you got caught okay uh but uh i think i think that there's nothing else to say as long as no one at your business i mean gives a shit about this like i'm sure they're not checking the reviews and if and if you're saying it's a joke at work it's fine it's a weird interaction and um you know keep on keeping on dude sorry that happened i'm also with you right just to bring back like the hacks thing have you

guys seen like the three dollar chipotle burrito hack thing that was like going viral a few weeks ago or months ago that i saw it yeah like it was out of it as soon as i saw it it's just like hey man could you just pay just pay for the burrito i'm just i'm so tired of all this shit there's always all these people like life hack and none of it's actually a hack it's all just bullshit but the chipotle one was like i guess if you order like a chicken taco you get three or four sides and then you can just get a tortilla on the side and you just build the burrito yourself for like four bucks or three bucks and you're like you know if you if you actually went into a chipotle and did that like i would be so embarrassed like does it come with a

side of gloves like what yeah i just i don't know i'm just tired of a life hack culture i hate it yeah there's a lot of like i was this many years old when i learned and some of them are really funny and a lot of them you're like that doesn't make any sense that's not a new thing you just you just cut up a juice carton and then turn it into a coat hanger and nobody would ever do it and that's not what it's for and you're running out of ideas you've got a few followers and you're like shit what do we do today yeah like i don't know let's i learned something about my dishwasher though like that little side thing with all the forks that you could pull that out and shove it in the front you know how dishwashers have that little like what do you call that like an indent or something that fork thing that's like you know the silverware shit on the side can be put in the

front so that was a that was a today years old video but yeah most of them are suck you're right but uh that one was good what would the benefit of that being other than if you wanted to cut your wrists reaching in uh being that like okay i feel like i could throw a few more plates in here but i got this whole fork boat uh that's kind of stopping i don't know maybe two three plates in a bowl oh okay so we're talking square inches here yeah yeah we're saving a ton of space yeah okay all right i'll look into it thanks kyle you got it all right that's life. Life advice has been brought to you by Modelo. This season, you deserve the mark of a fighter. The fighting spirit is something you

can taste in every refreshing sip of a Modelo. Rewarding the passionate and the dedicated with a rich, authentic lager that celebrates perseverance. Modelo, official beer sponsor of the college football playoff. Shop delivery or pickup options near you at ordermodelo.com. Drink responsibly. Beer imported by Crown Imports, Chicago, Illinois. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Steve. Thanks to Mike for getting this episode out. The Brian Rosillo Podcast. Please subscribe, ring or Spotify. We'll be right back. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona. 1-800-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. 4-slash-chat in Connecticut. 1-800-9-WITH-IT in Indiana.

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