The Triple Option - 2006 Rose Bowl Rewind with Mack Brown, Matt Leinart, and Vince Young plus 2025 Predictions

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

What's the greatest College Football game of All Time? Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, and Rob Stone are joined by three College Football Hall of Famers to make the case it's the 2006 Rose Bowl. Representing the Texas Longhorns, former head Coach Mack Brown and Quarterback Vince Young, while Heisman winner Matt Leinart carries the water for the Trojans. All three look back at the lead up, key moments, and the after effects of the 41-38 Texas victory. Mack sticks around to go down memory lane on some of the things he saw over the years as coaches tried to circumvent the rules, he and Urban's relationship, and what the future holds for the sport he has spent his life in. Since it's the final episode before the season starts, the guys revisited their February championship picks during the Crystal Ball. Not to spoil anything, but #HookEm. New episodes of The Triple Option drop every Wednesday. Make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube and following on all podcast platforms. Also make sure you’re locked in on social @3XOptionShow on all platforms for highlight moments, bonus content, and to engage with the guys and the TO community. (⁠⁠https://tripleoptionshow.com⁠⁠) The Triple Option is presented by Wendy’s. Find your new favorite Frosty Fusions™ flavor today with choices like OREO®Brownie, Caramel Crunch, and Pop-Tarts® Strawberry. ⁠⁠https://m-wendys.app.link/frostyfusion25⁠⁠ Thank you to our additional sponsors NHTSA Speeding Catches Up With You⁠⁠ https://www.nhtsa.gov/campaign/speeding-catches-up-with-you?utm_source=sinclair&utm_medium=read&utm_campaign=speed2025&utm_content=dogwalker⁠⁠ BetMGM BetMGM is giving you the chance to win a prize every day during the baseball season! Step into the batter’s box for BetMGM’s Swing For the Fences free-to-play game! Visit BetMGM app to access the game and you’ll score a prize if you hit a single, double, triple or home run. See ⁠⁠BetMGM.com⁠⁠ for Terms. This US promotional offer not available in DC, Mississippi, New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER, available in the U.S. For New York, call 877-8-HOPE NY or text HOPE NY (467369). For Arizona, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP. For Massachusetts, 1-800-327-5050. For Iowa, 1-800-BETS-OFF. For Puerto Rico, 1-800-981-0023. For West Virginia, visit www dot 1 800 gambler dot net. Subject to eligibility requirements. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mack Brown goes to convention after he wins a net. We're very close. I happened to walk in the men's room right before he's getting ready to speak. And I look over, I'm taking a leak right next to Mack Brown. Hey, I said, Holy s***, you just won the national championship. He looks at me and goes, it's your turn next. You got your Will Ferrell, Snoop Dogg stories, me and Mack celebrating at the men's room. Coach, that's a real awkward story, Coach. Yeah. I'm really sorry.

Light it. Welcome to the Triple Option, presented by Wendy's. Try Wendy's new Frosty Fusions with flavors like Caramel Crunch, Oreo Brownie, and Pop Tart Strawberry. Light it. Mark your strawberry. Light it. Mark your timing. Just like a beat off. We got a good one today, Stoner.

Oh my God. Do we have a good one? It's always lit though. Good, good. No, no, no. Not good. Great. No, no, no.

Not great. Coach Meyer, it is an elite, elite show. We don't have fast guys. Coach, where are you at? Are you in your bedroom up there? What room you got up there? See, already one of our guests is chirping in over there. This is classic Matt Liner. Matt, let me introduce you first, please. Oh my good. We'll break down everybody's man caves. I'm all prematurely paused. My little wedge. Hey, as always, welcome to the Triple Option. You already heard from

Matt Liner. He's going to join the show in just seconds. I'm Rob Stone, the coach, Irv and Mark Ingram, the second deuce deuce and two other huge guests coming up in just a second. As always, love to have you here. Thanks for joining us. College football season is getting closer and closer. We encourage you to rate, subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. You can find us on social media at 3xOptionShow. We'll get new episodes coming your way every Wednesday on YouTube and wherever it is that you happen to find your podcast. As we mentioned, big monster show today. Then we're going to take a little break. We're allowed a brief vacation before the start of the 2025 college football

season. So our next episode, guys, comes out August 20. That is ahead of week zero games, including Texas at Ohio State. Yeah, we might talk about that. If you're wanting to kind of like, get your football fixed right now, we encourage you to to go back throughout the course of our first season, take in the offseason episodes. We cover the house settlement rules, we talk with coaches, general managers, conference commissioners, athletic directors. We've got our crystal ball segments previewing all the top teams in the country. So a great way to kind of catch up and get ready for the season. Now to the great stuff, to the elite stuff. We don't have just one. We don't have two. We have

three college football hall of famers from one of the greatest college football games that was ever played. Yes. Now we can bring in our friend, Matt Leiner, host of throwbacks, national champion, Heisman winner, good looking, hair is always on point. Good to have you back, Matty. Good to see you, boys. I love you, brother. Can't wait to give you a hug in real person. All right, but now how about this? The host of The Stampede, how good of a name is that? A podcast on the Texas Longhorns. It is all about Hook'em Horns National Championship winning head coach, Mack Brown joins us. 2006 Rose Bowl MVP, Davey O'Brien, Manning Maxwell Award winning

quarterback, Vince Young is here as well. Boys, welcome to the show. Welcome to the podcast world. What? Coach Brown, what has happened? You're in podcast world. What coach Brown, what has happened? What happened to you and coach Meyer? Did you guys like form collude to do some kind of coaching podcast, take over the business? Well, uh, we're so excited to be on and Vince and I can't wait to get started here next week and, uh, this is fun. This is, uh, I watch your show all the time.

I love Urban. I admire him. I respect him. Here's a guy that, that won at Bowling Green, which has been hard to do. He won at Utah. Then he won a national championship at Florida and won a national championship at, at Ohio State. So he's done it everywhere and he's done it within the rules and he's done it everywhere. And he's done it within the rules

and he's done it right. And I just look up to him so much and he's just a dear friend. Then had to play against Matt when he was a Heisman Trophy winner. And then had to play against Mark when he was a Heisman Trophy winner. And when I had Vince, I was okay with Matt, but when I didn't have Vince and Colt got hurt, I didn't do so well against Mark. So here we are. Oh my God. Mack Brown, you're the best. We appreciate you.

I love, I need more Mack Brown in my life. I think we all need more Mack Brown in our life. All right. So let's talk about the game real quick. We'll all kind of chime in here. I'm fascinated by the different viewpoints. You know, we got a USC viewpoint, we got a Texas Longhorn viewpoint. We're, we're almost at that 20year anniversary of the Game of the Century.

06 Rose Bowl, national championship game, Texas USC. We'll go to you, Coach, Vince, and then Maddie. So we'll get our Texas Phil and then USC. Coach, did you have any sense before this game that this was going to be something that people are going to be talking about for decades and really for generations? Well, I did. Uh, they were the game of that. I mean, they were the team of the century.

Right. They'd won 36 games. I think they'd won two national championships and just dominated everybody. So it was fun to watch them. And what a great challenge. Coaches love challenges. You don't like those games where you, uh, it's, it's boring and nobody cares. And if you win it, it's, uh, unimportant.

And if you lose it, you get fired. Those are the tough games for coaches, but when you can look up to, to a USC with two Heisman trophy winners, um, it's really cool and I knew we were good. So we weren't scared. Um, I knew we had a cool and I knew we were good. So what we weren't scared. Um, I knew we had a chance to be really, really good. I thought it would be the game that it was. Hey Mack, I got something for you. So I just was looking at, uh, we faced Troy Smith, Heisman Trophy winner at Ohio

State when I was a Florida in the NASC championship game, Sam Bradford, Heisman Trophy winner in 08, one of the great teams in college football history. When I first saw the matchup, the first three weeks, I was like, we are gonna get our butts kicked in, man. I mean, we are gonna get destroyed. And then as it got closer to the game, you started seeing a couple of nuances that maybe we have a chance.

At what point you're playing a team that, like you said, 34 game win streak, Matt Leiner, one of the best best ever do it, Reggie Bush, one of the best ever do it at what point did you think, damn, we got a shot at this thing right away? Or as it got closer, coach, we were in New York and I was with Vance and Vance is one of the best players to ever play college football. Like these two other guys that are sitting here and it's, it's, it's a special group.

And when you're sitting there at the Heisman right after Reggie one, Vince called our team who was sitting in the team room and said, game on man, game on. And I knew at that moment we had a chance. And then we had a defensive end that made a stupid statement. He said, they're no good. We're going to kill them. And Vince and I were in New York. We weren't at the press conference, which was a mistake.

So then we get home and I said, Hey, they've won 36 games. They've beaten everybody. There may be the best team ever. Let's don't look like fools and say they're not any good. So let's, let's be like the, um, the, the story of Troy. Let's keep our mouth shut. Let's come in on the boat. Let's, uh, either brag on USC or say nothing.

And then let's win the game. We can talk afterwards if that's what you want to do, but these guys are really good and then urban we practice so well. It was every day at practice was like the game, man. They were so excited and so pumped. And I did feel like for Matt's bunch, they were playing back at home. They'd been there. Uh, it wasn't as exciting for them as it was us.

We had just beaten Michigan there and Vince had made the statement on the podium. We'll be back. And I said, what are you doing? He's a coach national championship next year. We're going to be back. And we started playing against USC stats after we beat Oklahoma. So, I mean, it, it, it was really important to this team.

This team was standing in front of the TV, watching Matt and Reggie beat Notre Dame right in the end with the bush push. And we sat there and they all cheered and I said, what are you doing? We just won a game. And they said, ma'am, we want to play USC. So I thought we had the emotional edge because USC was there and we were the ones trying to get there.

We had not won a national championship in 35 years. And this was really, really important. And I could see it in the guy's eyes. Vince, is that the way you saw it too? No, that's a coach's perspective. I was main thing, my main thing was like, we about to play the best. So what do I need to do as a leader standpoint to, you know, keep us humble, uh, to understand the magnitude

of that game? Like Coach just said, first of all, thanks Rob and Coach Myers and Mr. Ingram. I haven't seen you in a while, man. So proud of you, big guy. I appreciate you, big dog. It means a lot. No doubt. Matt Liner, you already know, baby.

Quarterbacks, baby. My brother. My brother. Right guy. You know, the magnitude of the game was so big, I just wanted to make sure that the guys stayed humble because, you know, like Coach Brown noticed, when we won the Michigan game, guys came in big headed after we beat Michigan and forgot about all the rules that coach Brown had. So I was just praying and hoping that, that they're wasn't doing that the same thing they was doing before the season start got that little smelling they

sells a little bit and forgot about who we was playing. And you got a coach, a coach Carol, you got Madeline or you got named the who's who's you got Matt Lainer, you got names, the Hoos Hoos, you got Snoop Dogg, Will Farrell, you got the whole entire LA behind these boys. So I need us to stay humble and understand the magnitude of the game so we don't go out there and drop a head and get our butt whooping in front of the entire world.

So that was my main thing when I was pissed off cause I lost to Heisman for one. And then, you know, I wanted these guys not to, you know, don't understand what we finna get ourself into. We finna go play a really good football team. So we need to stay humble. Like Coach said, our preparation and practice, we was zoned in.

Man, what was that sideline like before that game, bro? At the Rose Bowl, I hear you saying like, Will Ferrell, Snoop that sideline like before that game, bro? At the Rose Bowl, I hear you saying like Will Ferrell, Snoop Dogg, like Matt V.Y., what was that sideline like? I know y'all probably wouldn't even pay attention to it, but I know y'all had to like look over there and been like, yo, this is like super dumb legendary. Like, what was it like, bro? You know, you know, it was even better was, and I'll give my perspective in a minute, but after the game, this is just a funny story, a couple nights later, my career's over,

tough loss, all the boys went out in LA, and it was the night I met Michael Jordan, and Michael Jordan called me, it's a crazy story, called me to, and this is the magnitude of the game, called me to his table and I took a shot with Michael Jordan and Charles Oakley and me and my brother and a bunch of my teammates were there. We were, you know, we were upset, but we're like, man, let's, you know, this is like, you know, we got a couple a week and then we get ready for the NFL draft. And he

goes, man, you know, I was there at that game the other night. It was such a great game. And it turns out like he was in the box with like Magic, Charles Barkley, Jordan. And you know, they had hundreds of thousands of dollars on the game. I think they put money on us and we lost the money. But that just spoke. And then obviously, you know, McConaughey is a diehard Longhorn. And like it just spoke to the magnitude of that was the game of the century. It was the lead up. It was the buildup. Both teams wanted to play each other. Uh, like, like VY said, and, but yeah, that, that, that sideline was, it was, it was, I mean, we were all locked in, man.

And we were locked in, like we're getting ready to go. It was a battle for sure. I was just excited to meet Mickey Mouse. That was, that was, I want to know what Matt Brad did. Matt Brown and Snoop Dogg went out afterwards and hung out a little bit. We did. We had a little rap, you know, we dassed around LA and knocked around. I will say a couple of things.

I was standing and talking to Pete before the game and looking at their team and said, Greg Davis came up after Pete walked off and I said, that's the best looking team I've ever seen. And Greg Davis, our offensive coordinator said, well, turn around. Yours looks pretty damn good too. And he was right. And I think there were like 98 players on that field that ended up playing in the NFL. Wow. 98?

Yeah. It was just a phenomenal group of athletes. But after the game, I didn't see Matt and I didn't see Reggie who we had great respect for on the field. I'm getting ready to address our team and urban knows what do you say? I mean you win a national championship, especially Texas. You had one won 35 years and and somebody tapped me on the shoulder and said there's two guys that want to see you at the door and I walked back and Matt and Reggie had come to the door of the dressing room to say, I'm sorry we missed you on the field.

You've got a great team. You deserve to be a champion. Congratulations. And I thought that was one of the classiest things I had ever seen in my life at a time where they were disappointed and down. And not enough is talked about the class that the great athletes have with each other and the respect they have with each other

after a game like that. It's crazy. I love that story. Well done, Matty. Good job, Matty. Good job, Matty. Good job, Matty. Well, you know, there's just a lot of Longhorn talk here, guys. And let me just tell you this.

A lot of whoopin's got him like that. A lot of whoopin's got guys. And let me just a lot of a lot of whoopings got him like that. A lot of whoopings got him like that. What do you say? I think I got this. I swear, I tell everybody this is the gift that keeps on giving just this game. I just can't escape the Texas Longhorn. But I'll tell you what, Coach Brown is one of the best and B-Wise been like a brother for the last 20 years. Just awesome.

I would say from our perspective and kind of to echo what coach said, it was, we had a 33 game win streak. The big reason why I came back to school was to go for a third, which had never been done. And I just love being at USC. I love what we were doing. You know, it was that simple.

It was definitely, I think the only difference was like, we were watching Texas week to week. Cause we just, we just knew how good VY the year before we're like, man, this, this team is special. Like it was a collision course. And I think, I know you guys had a couple of close games throughout the year too. Kind of like we did with Notre Dame. Um, but like coach said, it's really hard to stay on top. Like we were just so focused on like, we almost lost to Fresno State,

we almost lost to Notre Dame, we were getting our ass kicked by Arizona State in the first half. It was just a grind week in and week out to really, just to stay number one, you know, we were chasing history and, but Pete, a lot like how Mac did it, and obviously a lot like Coach did it,

all unique in their different ways, he kept us motivated, you know motivated, kept us disciplined and motivated. And the collision course was that, I tell this story all the time, I remember, and we had Lane Kiffin and Sark were our offensive coordinators. I mean, we were loaded as a coaching staff and they both told me they're like,

and Pete, they're like, man, we gotta have to score over 40 points to beat this team. That's literally what they said. We're like, because of this guy right here and just the explosive that they had everywhere. They had so much talent, tight end, receiver, running backs. And we, going to that game, we knew they had a great defense,

but we felt really good offensively. We just, we were just, we had our guys, right? We had Reggie Lindell, we're studs. We had a great offensive line, great receivers. But we just knew like we had to go shoot out and try and hope that Vince didn't have the ball last. And what happened? Vince had the ball last.

That was it. It was like, if we can get, you know, if we can convert that fourth down on one yard, like that's a, it's a crazy thing when you look back and, you know, for us on the losing side, you look at always like two or three plays, you know, that just like got away. You're like, gosh, if we could have changed this, maybe,

you know, we win the game or it's a different outcome, but that's football, you know, and that's great teams battling. Mark, you've been in battles, you know, it's just great teams battling and they deserve it. They earn it. They earned it. And honestly, to make it even better,

it couldn't have happened to better people, you know, like getting to know Vince and Mac and even like, you know, Michael Huff and Jamal and all these guys, like just great dudes, you know, like we all talked our smack and had fun, but like there was such a respect for them. Rob, that was probably different than when we played Oklahoma and even, it just felt different, you know,

it just felt different. Like the game was just different, you know, and it was one of the greatest games ever played for sure. Matt, you brought up the drive and I love this and Vince and coach, you guys will get used to this like trying to segue in sponsorships into your conversation. So Matt, Matt did me a solid here.

Guys, it is time to control your game. When you speed, you have less time to react. Follow the speed limit to keep other road users safe. Speeding catches up with you, paid for by NHTSA. NHTSA's been so awesome here in year one with us. So let's talk about it. Vince, the play that controlled the outcome of the game, if you will, fourth and five from the nine yard line,

you run it in for your third Russian score of the game. You take the lead with 16 seconds left. Take us through maybe the play before, the moment you got the call, what you saw in front of you, just that and that whole setting. Iconic play. Well, I was definitely nervous for one. I don't think anybody in the world would tell the truth,

but I will. That is one of the scariest moments ever because Coach Brown can vouch for this. Lyle Sendline is one of those snappers that if you're not paying attention, they'll go past your head. So I had to make sure that I catch the damn snap first. But one of the things that me and Coach Brown and Coach Davis did, we talked about, you know, before we left Austin, you know, the game is on the line, what play would you call, right?

Man, y'all know quarterback sneaks for show. I want the ball, coach. And coach is like, no, let's call a pass play that will give you the right to throw the ball as well as run the ball. So again, that's why coaches coach and players play. So kudos to Mac Brown and Coach Davis for that play. But what did you see right there, bro?

Cause I remember watching that. I remember you dropped back, hit the corner, hit the pylon over there. It's a crowd about a million people around you. You just flexing looking at the stands. Too much. Man, what did you see when you dropped back, bro? I was actually trying to get the first down

with David Thomas actually. Cause you didn't want to give, you know, you didn't want to give Matt the ball back. Yeah, you didn't want to give Matt the ball back. Yeah. You don't want to give Matt the ball back with a no time on the clock as well. Because of the fact that they sold him so many weapons and, you know, when we did get them the ball back, when they got the ball back and they gave the ball to Reggie and you kind of just held your breath cause you thought he was going right there. But, but I was just thinking about just basically getting the first down to try to

keep the clock running and keep the ball out of their hands. But Coach Carroll ran that blitz a couple of times on me in that game and J. Scott and Justin Blaylock did what they were supposed to do. Everybody stayed into, didn't try to do no Superman plays. Everybody did what they were supposed to do, got the blitz picked up the blitz You know Selwyn Young ran his little flat route to you know Get my guy Rutger to you know back up off me a little bit Yeah, I thought to Rucka cuz he is that's frosty the best pitchers in the world that he has to do You talk about two of the best quarterbacks that ever played the game like in college for sure like Matt you threw for 365 yards.

VY you had over 450 yards of total offense. What was it like watching each other just go back and forth when you on the field a quarterback? It was like must see TV you know like I remember my my rookie year and I'm sure we all did this in the league like I played against Brett Favre and and I was like, I'm gonna watch Brett Favre. It's like, I just wanna watch him play because he's my favorite player. When Vince and them were on offense,

it was just one of those things that we just knew. And it took us a little, I think it took both teams a little while, you know, like we had a little bit of a slow first half, and then the second half we were on fire. Like that was when we started, we were scoring and scoring and scoring. That's when we all was holding our breath,

like, okay, there they go. Yeah, we were, I think we were scoring and scoring. We all was holding our breath like, okay, that ain't go. Yeah, we were, I think we were up 12, but like five minutes left. Like we got in, we just started to play, you know, and, and for, at least for us, Pete was always a great second half adjust. We were all, we were a great second half team always. Like we were always like third, fourth quarter. That's when we finished teams and we felt, we felt good. And, and, uh, when we went up 12, I feel like that was the first time in that game

where you never, we never thought it was over by any means, but it was like, oh man, like we could feel it a little bit. Right? Like 12, five minutes left. We were humming on offense. It's gonna need to be Superman, which obviously ended up being to win. And then they scored and then it was the play, it was a fourth down and everybody asked me about this play.

And I'm sure coach could probably test it. Like we'd run, we run a power scheme, that game like four or five times and like just gashed their defense on. We just would average like eight yards of carry. Lindell just up the middle. Like we ran on our fourth down, he scored. And then we just felt really good about getting a yard. And then we get the yard, we went, you know, and Reggie wasn't on the field. I get

everybody asked me that, why wasn't he on the field as a decoy? Like, you know, he's not our power running back, obviously. And that and then when we got and I just say this, when we got stopped, I just knew it was over. I was like, there's we aren't stopping this guy. And hopefully, I was almost like, we should let them score real quick. So then we get the ball back with like a minute and a half, two minutes left just to have a shot. I think we got the ball back with like 20 seconds left on our 20 yard line. Like we just had no shot. And I knew the minute they got the ball back on offense, after he had just led them down to score, I just I knew, I just knew it was over. I was like, oh, man, this is like,

I think the whole stadium, everyone knew, it was like, just held your breath and hoped, hoped Vince just made a mistake, or hoped we got attacked, just something. And we fell short. Matt and Vince, I gotta, you're talking about doing a shout with Michael Jordan and Will Ferrell and all that.

This is what really happens. Mac Brown goes to convention, after he wins a net. We're very close. I happened to walk in the men's room right before he's getting ready to speak. And I look over, I'm taking a leak right next to Mac Brown. Hey, I said, holy shit. You just won the national championship.

He looks at me and goes, it's your turn next. And we got it next year. So you got your Will Ferrell, Snoop Dogg stories, me and Matt celebrate at the men's room. Remember that? That's a real awkward story. Yeah. But I do I do want to code while we have coach all of us on here, Coach Brown, I'm gonna ask you, Coach Meyer, in 2004, the year that we went undefeated and smoked Oklahoma, he was undefeated at Utah with Alex Smith and those

guys, but they didn't get a shot to play us. I know he doesn't believe this, but he really tries to poke me saying they would have kicked our ass if they would have played USC. Can you guys just please tell them that that Utah team had no shot of beating us in 2004. So we can just put this to bed. Wow. It's just like me saying if cold hadn't got hurt, we would have killed Mark

when you don't have to prove it. It doesn't matter. You, you're wrong. It doesn't matter. Coach, get coach. Good. He's just going to stay with that every year. Every year. No, we, we had the game he's just going to stay with that every year.

Nah, Coach. We had the game plan for, we had the game plan for Colt. When you had to throw the freshmen in there, it threw us for a loop, man. He came in, he was busting it. What a great advantage for us to have a quarterback that never played the next championship. Oh yeah, we got this in the bag. Young Bull came out there spinning that thing, man. We was like, Yeah. But they're spinning that thing, man. We got back in it. Matt, the thing I remember is with, I think it was six 49. Yeah. You score and go up by 12.

And that's, this is where you two guys are so good at what you do and you win national championships because Vince came immediately down to the team and started telling the bench, man, we're good. We're good. We're going to win a game. Get your head up. Get us to stop.

Just get us to stop, man. I mean, instead of pouting, instead of having heads down, we got two guys, two of our best defensive players on the field, one with a broken arm, one with a concussion. I mean, things did not look good at that time. And then I remember Jean Chizik, the defensive coordinator, when it was the fourth and one, and we hadn't stopped Lindell all night, he said, I said, bring them all, man, bring them all, bring them all. If you can get 13, put 13 up there.

We've got, they're going to hand it to Lindale. You got to bring them all. And he said, what if they throw it? And I said, congratulate them on a great call on the national championship, but they're not going to throw it. They're going to hand it to Lindell cause we haven't stopped him all night. And then Michael Huff shoots through, makes the play in the backfield. And, and then from that point, Vince on that sideline said, here we go.

That's it. We got it. And then I told Vince score, but score slower. Cause we do not want Matt and the boys to get that ball back again. Do not want them to ball back. No. And then on the, and we had set up with Vince, I love Vince and we wouldn't be, we wouldn't be, I wouldn't be on here if it wasn't for Vince right now.

And we, we always said, what do you like? What do you like? Quarterbacks, they got some plays you like, some you don't like as much. What do you like? And Vince was quick. It's what I want, coach. And we said, you got a great arm, but your legs are the best in the country. So look, man, if it's not there, find you a spot.

And he stepped in and the thing about you type guys, it's so cool that people don't understand Vince scores. An iconic play for a lifetime. He doesn't celebrate. He doesn't spike the ball because we need to go for two. We've got to be at, we're up by one. We've got to be up by three. So he takes the ball, he hands it to the official.

He gets back in the huddle. He calls a play. We call a quarterback draw. It doesn't look good. You've got more guys than we've got. And he figures a way to get the end zone. That's what you guys do. You special players at quarterback find ways to make it happen.

And that's what goes unnoticed by people. Most people would have celebrated. Most people would have gotten a 15 yard penalty and then we don't get the two points and you had a good field goal kicker and, and people asked me, they're 16 seconds left. They said, you weren't even excited. I said, man, we're kicking off the Reggie Bush. This game wasn't near over.

Right. I said that, that slow tight end and you didn't even have a slow tight end. You had a fast tight end, but if we can find one to kick it to, he was going to pitch it to Reggie anyway. So that's what ended up happening. Big order. But that's what made the game so special. Great cause brought on everyone wants to know, like what it takes to like

coach a championship team, like what what what that entails, like what what that looks like for a championship team. What would you say was the difference between that team and other teams that you had coach who were really extremely talented, who kind of made it and just didn't, you know, get over the edge. Um, what would you say is the difference between that team and some other really talented teams that you had that, uh, didn't quite make it to that, you know, that, that point leadership, confidence depth in the summer after the offseason

program in the morning, I go downstairs in the locker room and Vince has written on the grease board, we had Ohio state the second game of the season. And they would have probably played USC if they had beaten us that day. They were that good. And Vince put on the grease board, if you want to beat Ohio state, meet me at seven o'clock on the practice field. And this was June and they all showed up. So that's when you know the boys are serious. And then in practice, like Ural's teams, we were so talented every day in practice was a game, man.

They fought each other and they took care of each other, but they competed at the highest level. So normally the team that we would play on Saturday wasn't as good as the one that we played during practice. We just, and then you have to keep that emotional edge. And that's the hardest thing. Don't get complacent. Don't start thinking you're good.

We're getting ready to play A&M. We've just beaten Kansas 66 to 14 senior day. And I got a call from Bill Parcells. He's coaching the Cowboys and I played for him at Florida state and Bill Parcells says you're in trouble, man. And as they coach we're undefeated. We're going to play A&M. They're, they're four and seven.

He said, yeah, that's what's wrong with you. Yeah. And he, he actually came up with a statement that said, you're like a fat rat eating a piece of cheese, man. You're eating it and you're feeling good about yourself. A&M's over there. They don't have a bowl game. They have no chance to get anything except beat you.

It's all about you this week, man. And you're about to get beat. You better be careful. So I run downstairs. I drop pieces of cheese at every locker. I put his quote up and then at halftime we're down, uh, 29, 24 and they are playing their butt off man. And, and coach Parcells was so right.

So I walked in halftime and I said, okay, coach Parcells was right. We didn't eat enough cheese to die, but we damn sure ate enough to get sick. But we're going to come back and be okay. So we won the game 40 to 29, but that's the day that Reggie went off against Fresno State. And that's the day I think the voters voted and Vince lost the Heisman, just because we didn't help him as much and didn't play as much that day. But that team learned from that and came back and just got better and better. How many teams are mature enough that after you beat Oklahoma, you can say, okay,

we're going to compare our stats against USC stats every game for the rest of the year. So we'd put the Oklahoma state game to bed and then we'd say, okay, here's what USC did and here's what we did. We didn't do well enough. We turned the ball over too much. We gave up too many rushing yards. We would not have beaten USC today. That's how mature this team was and that's why they were so fun to coach. Player-led team. Player-led.

I love this conversation. Coach Brown, Mack, Matty, guys, thanks for talking about, thanks for reliving. Thanks for bringing up some old wounds for old Mr. Matt over there, guys. Matt is okay, man. He got two Natties, a Heisman. Matt will be all right old wounds for old Mr. Matt over there, guys. All good, humble, every once in a while. Matt is okay, man. He got two Natties, a Heisman. Matt'll be all right. He's all right.

He's moved on. That's part of his legacy. I had wounds from Mark. Mark had wounds from me. Yeah. So I mean, we pass it around. We all a family now. Let's bring it in.

We all got a couple. We are. There you go, Mark. Give us the big podcast hug over there. You can see Nattty on the throwbacks. Welcome to the podcast world, Vince in the Stampede with your former coach, Mack Brown. VY, Matty will let you go, but coming up after the break,

we're gonna keep Coach Brown around a little bit longer. We're gonna talk the current state of college football with three of the greatest to ever take the college football field. ever take the college football field. Welcome back to the Triple Option presented by Wendy's. We've talked about college football past and one of the great games in the history of the sport. Now, let's get into the future of college football with the treat of the week

presented by Wendy's. Try Wendy's new frosty fusions with flavors like caramel crunch, Oreo, brownie, and pop tart strawberry. Coach Mack Brown continuing the conversation. Coach, we have talked a lot on the triple option about so much that has transpired over the course of the offseason. The biggest one probably the health settlement being passed, players will get paid, a new commission is going to help with enforcement. What was your reaction to hearing that coaches, I'm sorry, that players will now be paid directly by the schools? I think it's a lot better. We, um, we should have paid players forever.

Hmm. Urban I got $15 a month. Mark was a super player. He should have gotten a lot of money when he played and coach. And what happened was we, the university, the university, the Mark was a super player. He should have gotten a lot of money when he played. And, and, and what happened was we, the universities abused it. They took the money, the conferences took the money and the players and the families didn't get any, if we had given even a stipend for graduation, give Mark 150,000 when he graduates to get his life started, if we could have

paid parents way to games, we could have done something to help these families before it got to a point where it was just ridiculous. Then what we do, we panic and we get all the toothpaste out of the tube, and we make decisions. A lot of smart people that maybe didn't have enough common sense, made decisions that have bad consequences.

So right now we don't have any guidelines. And then you get transfer portal and the transfer portal and NIL at the same time are a disaster because that creates tampering. And if a guy transfers one time, he's got a 63% chance to graduate. Because a lot of his courses don't transfer. If he transfers four or five times, he's not going to graduate. Then he's not going to have a home. He's not going to have boosters that he gets to know that are favorite players.

He's not going to get a job in that community when he gets out. And I'm really worried about kids making more money in NIL up front than they make when they get through with school. And then they don't have a job, then they're homeless. And then we've got mental health issues. So I think we've really got some problems here that we need to address. We've got to address them immediately and we've got to get them fixed. Yeah. You know, Mack, you and I talked when I was in Florida and you were Texas

and I was at Ohio State, I mean, at least weekly about, you know, Mack, you and I talked when I was in Florida and you were in Texas and I was at Ohio State, I mean, at least weekly about, you know, first of all, NCAA issues, compliance issues, and, you know, how to enforce it. And there's new college football commission out. But before I go there, I want to go quickly down memory lane here. And this is probably even pre-Mark or it might even be Mark Ingram era, you were not allowed to feed the players. You were not allowed, I mean, it went so far one way with the NCAA that forget about making

sure that their families can go travel to bowl games, but you were not, there was a rule where you couldn't, you were allowed to give them bagel without cream cheese. And I remember I'd sit in those meetings, we both would, and we'd say what in the hell are we talking about? We got grown men practicing daily, the training tables were awful back then and you've gone so far. So and then you have guys on staffs, even our own staff, every time there's a rule, how do we overcome this rule? You can't throw football in the offseason. Okay, let's take balls, let's take towels, excuse me, towels, wrap them in tape and start throwing them.

And I'd be, what are we doing? Well, so-and-so school's doing this. So a question for you, Mac, this college football commission, the person that's gonna be in charge, Julie Rowe, a dear friend of ours, vice president of enforcement from NCA, I spent a lot of

time with her on the phone. She was a very good friend. She is a very good friend. She said, the issues are still going to be the issues and that's this. There's no subpoena power. And she said, that's a federal and that's a state legal. You can't subpoena people. So the expediting any issues, going to happen she says and the

second problem with current enforcement is litigation. The minute someone comes down on someone they get sued. That Tom Mars guy or you know it's a major lawsuit and the NCA loses. Here is why I'm so skeptical. Those two issues are still there. I don't care who's in charge unless you get subpoena power and unless you get absolutely no litigation. That's what the NFL has. NFL is under one umbrella. Everybody signs the same rules. NCAA is not that way and neither is this College Football Commission. Any comment on that? Yes, I totally agree and I've always hated rules that they can't make sure that people abide by. It's not a rule if everybody can break it and nothing happens, there's no consequences.

So I think urban instead of this czar, this one guy, I think we get Congress, we get the commissioners, we get top coaches, we get top ADs, we get top presidents. We get the NCAA in a room and say, what's best for college football. It's a great game. It's been super for all of us. What's best for the players. What's best for the families.

What's best for the fans. What's best for the coaches. Coaches are making more money than ever before, and they're miserable. They're just miserable because there's no rules and they don't know what to do. And you're so right forever. There were summer workouts where we couldn't go watch the players, but some guys would go watch the players. And then when compliance would come, they'd have a song that would play to say,

go hide and they'd run and hide. So they're just cheating. I mean, it's just it. And I mean, I know that for a fact. Uh, some would, would, uh, the 20 hour a week rule. People just laugh at the 20 hour a week rule, people just laugh at the 20 hour a week rule and then you and I were trying to do it right. So we'd say, Nope, can't, can't do that.

You've got to cut it off right now. You can't practice anymore. Um, like you said, the, uh, guys, I always hated spring break when guys didn't have a place to go, they couldn't afford to go home. They didn't have any money. They couldn't eat and we couldn't pay them. So you have to find a player to, to take them home instead of feed them. Gosh, feed these kids and take, or, or like you said, what is a snack?

What does it matter? Feed them. Remember that. Feed them. Bill P, uh, Bill Snyder from Kansas state, who's a great friend of ours, called one day and said, is it true that you can have nuts and berries and bagels? And that's it. I said, yes.

And he said, what's that about? And I said, I don't know who made that rule, but a lot of the rules were made by people that have never played and never coached, and we've got to put some common sense into these rules. And I think coach, we've got to go more the NFL rules. If the NFL doesn't have these issues, then why don't we're, we're paying players. We're, we're not amateur anymore. We're not amateurism.

Right. Players getting paid. So let's go where let's be the mini NFL because that's what we are. We're the mini NFL without guidelines. Let's get us some guidelines. You get a salary cap, get collective bargaining. Let's make this thing where it fits. So Mark and Rob, so Matt and I would go to the NCAA convention every year and we'd all sit next to each other and we'd be on some committees

sometimes and you'd sit and you'd look up there and there'd be an assistant commissioner from the Sunbelt Conference. There'd be an assistant athletic director from Old Dominion or you know and I'm not picking on those schools but you have the top 50 programs maybe top 25 programs are operating at a whole different level. Why in the world do we have someone from the Sun Belt Conference given their opinion about how this should go on and this went on for 20 years. And this is where we're at today. We are where we are at today in my mind because of the mismanagement and some leadership issues. I think everybody's heart was in a good place.

They wanted to do the right thing, but you had people pulling strings that should not have been doing that. It should have been like-minded universities have like-minded issues. And that's not the same as, you know, the Mac conference versus the SEC. It's a completely different animal. So that's, I just witnessed it, Mac. I know you witnessed it.

We look at each other every year. I'd sit right next to you and we look at each other and say, what in the hell are we talking about here? Yeah. Well, they've got to separate divisions and have a ruling body for each division. I even think, coach, that the group of five should have their own national championship,

have a playoff, just like FCS. Their teams are not gonna win the national championship. They're not gonna be able to pay $20 million to these kids. Let them have a chance, every one of them, to win a national championship, have their own Heisman, have their own Lombardi award, Butkus award. And I just think we separate the divisions and let them play and it'd be fun. I would watch a great championship game between a group of five, two teams. But watching a group of five play Alabama in the first round is a waste in many cases. Well, coach man, you've always been a player's coach.

Like, what advice would you give to like today's coaches that have to operate these teams, like NFL GMs? Like, I'm just, I'm interested from your point of view. You've been so successful. You've been a players coach. Like what advice would you give to these young coach today who have to manage their rosters like NFL GMs? Mark, most of the jobs have a, a higher expectation than they have commitment.

And that's really difficult for the coaches. And then people say, well, you knew the deal. Why'd you take it? Well, maybe you couldn't get anything else for the young coach. That that's what he's got to do. Urban took Bowling Green. He had to make it work. And if he didn't, then he wouldn't have gotten Utah.

I mean, that's the process that we go through. What I would tell young coaches is you got to be you, man. You still got to have your discipline. You, you, you see some teams with a lot of money that are spending it and they're still losing. You've still got to evaluate. Right. Who do you pay in the wrong players, paying the wrong players?

What's the value of each player? Do you go to the portal instead of going to the high schools? You, you got some decisions to make now with your evaluations, but evaluations are more important than ever before. And if we're sitting there, I had three ex NFL guys on our staff last year. And I said, what, talk to me about salary cap. What is that going to mean for us? They said, that means your offensive line coach is going to have a certain amount

of money and you and your general manager are going to sit in there with him. And if that left tackle asks for a million four and the right guard in the right tack lasts for 700 a piece, then, and you only have that much money, you're going to have to make a decision. Do you let the left tackle go and replace and move the right tackle to left tackle and keep the right guard and get you another right tackle? Are you going to keep the left tackle and lose the right guard and right tackle? You look at your safeties, you got enough money. What's the value of ever safety.

And we've always done that with assistant coaches. If an assistant coach came in and asked urban for a raise, he'd have to say, what's, what's your value to me? Can I get somebody else better? Right. I don't need to pay you more. You need to pick it up, man. Yeah.

You got a coach better. What's your value? And that's what we're looking at with each one of these players now. Um, and the guys that are in trouble are going to go heavy portal because they're not going to go high school guys cause people aren't patient anymore. And do you have enough time to develop that three star safety or are you going to go to a college team and get a older, more mature safety? And that's what's really hurt high school recruiting, which I hate.

Yeah. Yeah. Hey, Mack, I want to change subjects for the last question here. And you're known throughout the profession as just a genuine, sincere, and good friend, and you were to me. So I took the job, Mark and Rob, at Florida, 05, and we had great success at Bowling Green, great success at Utah. Then I step into that different planet now, the SEC.

And we lose to Alabama. And we lose to at Alabama at LSU. And Mac, I get a phone call on a Sunday night. He watched a press conference. And it looked like someone beat me with a bat. And I'm walking on my cell phone rings. I don't recognize a number and then I get it. I don't answer it. I get a text message. It's Mac Brown. Give me a call. So I call him. I said, Mac Brown. Never met Mac Brown. And I answered their phone and I'll let Mac take it. But basically he said, hey, it's Mack Brown and how you doing?

And I gave the standard, I'm good, everything's great. Everything's fine. He said, no, honestly, how you doing brother? And I said, really, not good. You know, I'm six feet under already, man. I've only been here a couple months. And he walked and talked me through the things he went through in his profession

that other coaches have gone through, ways to handle, you know, stress, the perfection, the, you know, the fan base. And Mack, to this day, I called, I called Marcus Freeman. I've called, when I see that same look on a young coach's face, because of you, I picked that phone up and I call him. And I want to tell you, thanks for doing that. Thank you. I had the Joe Paternos, Bobby Bowdens, Coach Royal, Bo Schembechler, Lou Holtz, those guys would call me and I would text or call them. They'd call me right back.

And I'd say, I'm in trouble. How do you, how do you handle this? And they would hit me. And I thought that that's my role now. My role as an older coach is to help younger coaches. And I'm not going to call unless I respect the guy. I loved what you were doing. I didn't know you. I'd never spoken to you, but you, you did a great job at Bowling Green. Not good.

You did a great job at Utah. Both are different jobs. And then when you go to Florida, I just left North Carolina and gone to Texas. And I could say something at North Carolina and it was funny and it was cute. And everybody laughed. I said it at Texas and it was national and everybody's beat me up and I'd get home and my wife would say, did you really say that? I'd say, yeah, I was cutting up.

She said, well, they missed that part. They didn't think that you were cutting up. They didn't think it was funny. So I think that's what we do. You and I are at a point in our careers where we've had a good run. We've had a lot of fun. We've done some things we liked. We've done some things we would have done differently. And what a gift to be able to tell a young coach, I wouldn't do that.

And here's why I wouldn't do it. And, and what a gift to be able to tell a young coach, I wouldn't do that. And here's why I wouldn't do it. And I tried that in 1972 and it didn't fly and here's why it didn't fly and it sure wouldn't fly now. Uh, so that's fun for me. And I appreciate you saying that. And it was an honor for me, for you to take the call. Guys, Saturday, August 30th, Texas at Ohio State. All right, coaches, bullet point me, Mack, why does Texas win?

Or why do you think they can win? Urban, why do you think Ohio State wins? Coach Brown, I start with you. Well, I didn't like that it's the opening game for either team. Especially one loses in the semifinals, one wins the national championship, loses his quarterback. We had Louisiana Lafayette the week before we went to Columbus to the shoe. So we had a warmup, 160 to three.

So we, we at least the routine of getting on that bus and getting all the new players together and Friday night before the game and what are you doing pregame? They're not going to have that. This is going to be that young quarterback at Ohio state, Arch Manning's first really big deal. And it's going to be in front of millions of people. Uh, I like Texas because they've got archback and Ohio state's inexperienced at quarterback.

And I liked the fact that it's at noon for Texas. I played it at eight o'clock at night. They, I don't know how many people were sober there, urban, they were screaming and cussing, and that was the loudest stadium I have ever heard in my life. And it was a wonderful experience and fun, but you do not want to go to Columbus, Ohio at night. I can promise you that. So when I saw it was a noon game, I thought, what a great advantage for Texas.

They don't have to sit there all day. I have to be nervous all day. You get up and you play man. And at 12 o'clock it's going to be a lot different environments. Still be loud, but it's not going to be the same as it is at night. I think Ohio state, uh, I think it's going to be a great game. And I think this, you know, before I go on a house state arch manning, and I've watched a lot of them and this is going to be, you know, before I go on Ohio State, Arch Manning, and I've watched a lot of them, and this is going to be, you know, a player with that name and that background

and the expectations put on him. He's going to have to play great and he's picking a tough team to play great at in a tough environment. If he struggles, mark this down, there's going to be a lot of pressure on that player. Unfair pressure because he is a hell of a player. Is he going to win the Heisman? I mean, those are big questions to ask. But here's why I think Ahas Tait's got the advantage. They have Jeremiah Smith, the best player in college football, and I don't think it's really that close. You can roll up on him, you can double him, and you can slow him down.

You can't stop him. but they have other weapons. That Cardinal Tate's gonna come into his own. That's a big freakish athlete as well. This Julian Sane, they say he's probably gonna be the quarterback. But I think the ability to have someone other than a one show team, and that's Jeremiah Smith, they got more than that. They've recruited so well, the skill positions there. That's why they won last year.

You can slow down Jeremiah Smith, but you can't do it with the other weapons around like they have. So I think it should be a great game. And obviously, Mack, are you coming to it? I'm sure you are. I am going to sit on my couch in the Linville. We might get you on big noon that day. We're gonna work on that. might get you on big noon that day. We're going to work on that.

We'll, we'll be on big noon. And I'll, I'll even miss my morning golf game. If you want me to do that. The sacrifice is real. It'd be tough, but I will do it. Coach, tell me, come play up there. I'm your field with us, man. I need to, I need to, without question.

Coach Brown, so kind of you to join us. You gotta watch him. I love hearing your voice. I'm so happy you're still involved in college football and we cannot wait to hear you and your former QB, Vince, couple Texas football legends and now co-host of the newest podcast from AMP media, the stampede, great name guys, the stampede, a podcast on the Texas Longhorns.

It is available at all the same places. You get our show. In fact, they just dropped episode number one this week. Coach enjoy the rest of your summer. I can't wait to talk to you again down the road and stampede it up. My friend stampede. Thanks for having me on. I love your show.

I'm a huge fan and it's fun to watch you guys. And you have so much fun, but you give us so much information. So good for you. Thanks, Coach Brown. You the man. Legend. We appreciate your time. Welcome back to the Triple Option presented by Wendy's. The Triple Option Crystal Ball. Last time this season guys were breaking out the Crystal Ball and it is brought to you

by BetMGM. BetMGM has given you the chance to win a prize every day during the baseball season. Step into the batter's box for BetMGM's Swing for the Fences free to play game. Visit BetMGM app to access the game and you will score a prize if you hit a single double triple or a home run so guys we're gonna go in the way back machine right now the way back the way back and we're gonna remind you guys a little bit about what we did when the college season ended right we talked about who we think is gonna win it all and who we see as maybe our dark horse team.

So coach, you and Mark both had Texas as your national champion. Dark horse was Tennessee for you, coach. Mark, it was Bama. I had Penn State winning it and I had two dark horses, LSU and Clemson. We take an updated look at the odds because they have changed since.

That's a good mixture of teams there. It's a lot It's a blend of a lot of teams out there that keeps the conversation going right mark. It's nice though It's legit too since that member we've had the transfer the spring transfer portal. We had spring games odds have changed So we're gonna revisit these odds about a month until the season starts So Ohio State in Texas right now guys both at plus 500 They are seen as the teams to beat by the way they meet in the opening game this season in Columbus. Fall by Georgia at plus 650. Penn State at plus 800 so two SECs two

big tens right there another big ten Oregon plus 850. Clemson plus 900 Notre Dame plus 1400 Bama and LSU plus 1500 Michigan plus 2200 so Mark I'll start with you again you had Texas and then Bama as your dark horse how you feeling about those right now? I still like them still to this still to this moment man you talk about Texas with Arch Manning taking over at the helm he He had some big game experience last year. Some some very important reps that he took last year with Quinn Ures being injured. Talk about their defense who has been traditionally ranked in the top five over the last the top three over the last three seasons. They returned six starters. Talk about Steve Sharkeesian

and what he's been able to do back toto-back CFP appearances They're just the recruiting class. They so they're full of talent full of coaching. They got the quarterback They got talent all over the schedule isn't too grueling even though SEC has I think the top of the top 11 hardest schedules in college football I like Texas right now with the outlook It pains me to stay it, you know But I like Texas and their outlook right now with what they have going on and what they've built on and the momentum they're building On and then Alabama man, they're still a they're still the Alabama got Ty Simpson You know the projected starter

Got town all over the offense that Ry receiver at running back at town all over the defense calendar bore offense at Ry receiver at running back at town all over the defense calendar bore. They're super motivated coming into off that season off that season that they had last last year, a couple of tough losses at the end of the season. So I like my favorite in Texas and I like my dark horse in my crimson tide still to this moment right now. All right. All right. So nothing's changed for you coach.

Yeah. Let's talk about Texas for a minute. I think in recent history, Arch Bannon is going to have the most pressure. And I was trying to go back and I had Chris Leake was enormous pressure because he was the number one player in America coming out of high school. You had Tim Tebow, you had Cam Newton, you had these quarterbacks that- Scam Newton. I mean, that had so much pressure and it impacts them.

And especially when you start, Mark said to Common, I don't want this to go by easily here, the 11 most difficult schedules in college football next year are all SEC schools. So that's what Arch Manning has to face. So I remember a guy sat there right in front of me after we won a bowl game and he said, how does it feel knowing that anything other

than undefeated season and a national championship is a failure? That's what Arch Manning's facing. Only he's not 50 years old. Undefeated season, not necessarily. Because Ohio State didn't have undefeated season. They won a national championship and it was a success. Right, I'm not saying what's success or not.

I'm saying the fans, the media. They're going to be beating that guy to death if he doesn't have, once again, I don't know what his success or not I'm saying the fans right the media they're gonna be beating that guy to death if he doesn't have Once again, I don't know what his success is, you know, I do but no I agree with him are coming with that The schedule playing SEC, but people don't look at it that way this right next coming Schedule you're also playing at Ohio State to start the season, right? So I like Ohio State Texas that makes sense start the season. Right. So I like Ohio State, Texas. That makes sense. Tennessee's gone. I don't, I had them, this is before the NECO transfer, which still to this day I'm scratching my head saying what in the world happened there? There's gonna be a story someday about what happened there. I don't know what it is. Why would

you leave a team that just made the playoffs? He's as talented quarterback as I've seen in a long time and he he's at UCLA, which is great, but he's- For less money, I believe. But Penn State is the one team that they're kind of following the pattern that the Wolverines did and the Buckeyes did with an extremely veteran team, which I think now is the playbook to go win a championship.

Because you're coaching seniors, I never coach seniors, they're all gone by the time the Mark Ingrams of the world are gone after your third year. Now you're getting fourth year. Imagine what that's like, Mark, to be on a team with a bunch of fourth year players that are grown men. Man. I mean, that's night and day compared to freshman

and sophomore. And oh, by the way, a returning starter under center. Yeah, well, that's the question, but that's also a perk. You know, a lot of these other programs that we're talking about right now, Ohio State, Texas, you know, Oregon, changes at quarterback. Who knows what you're really going to get? You know, we feel good. I think if you were with Ohio State or Texas or, or in Eugene, you're like, we're going to be okay. But are we going to be as good at that position as we were the prior year? That's why I like the LSUs. That's why I like the Clemsons. That's why I like the Penn State. That stability under center goes a long way.

It's a long way. It's gonna be a fun season, man. I'm really like, I love the fact that we always get... So revisit your choices, Donner. How do you feel? I had Penn State and I feel like the same way that Mark, you and I have felt about Penn State for the last year and a half like, all right, Coach Franklin, we talked to him earlier this season, right? Like go win the big one, right? Like go, go prove you're a big dog. And, and it is lining up to coach's point that they've got a lot of, a lot of the things in line for them to, to get over that, that hump, if you will. And then I just said, LSU and Clemson as, as Darkhorses, hell yeah, I'll take those two as dark horses again starting quarterbacks a Heisman may find its way to one of those death valleys for sure for sure

as long as it's not LSU I'll take it shoot okay that's alright that's alright we don't have to fight against this one alright so here we're almost here guys we're almost here you can see the smile on our face. I cannot wait. Also looking forward to a quick break. We'll talk about that in a second. Remember follow, subscribe, rate us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, as well as across social media. We are at 3X Option Show.

Thank you to our awesome sponsors all season long, the great folks at Wendy's, NHTSA, BetAGM. And remember, we're taking a little break, just a baby break, a baby break. We will be back August 20th ahead of week zero. Again, you need your college football fix. We encourage you to go back to previous episodes of the Triple Option to get yourself ready for the upcoming 2025 college football season. Boys, enjoy your baby break. Only a baby break. Mini break. And we'll back at it with the triple option next season. Yeah.