The Triple Option - College Sports Change Forever, Brett Yormark & Bruce Feldman Join, LSU Preview, & CFB Hall of Fame

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

Tell us if you have heard this before, "this is the biggest change in college football history." Well, this time it's true and covers ALL college athletics.   Student athletes can now be paid by their school, former athletes will get backpay, NIL deals will be subject to approval, and more. Let Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, and Rob Stone guide you into the new landscape of college athletics after the House Settlement. Bruce Feldman of FOX Sports and The Athletic stops by to take us into the details.   Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark, one of the people behind these changes and the future of college sports joined to talk through the ins and outs of how college sports are in a better place today than they were last week. He also makes his pitch for a reworked College Football Playoff system.   The ballot for the 2026 College Football Hall of Fame was released, including Percy Harvin, Aaron Donald, Marvin Harrison, Chris Petersen, Jonathan Vilma, Ndamukong Suh, and...MARK INGRAM II. The guys then look into the BetMGM Crystal Ball and make a way too early prediction for the LSU Tigers. 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 ZipRecruiter Try it FOR FREE at ZipRecruiter.com/Option.    BetMGM It's the NBA Playoffs! With Bet MGM’s Second Chance Promotion, you’ll get your stake back in cash if your First Field Goal Scorer, scores second instead. That’s right. Simply bet on any player  to score the first field goal during ANY playoff game. If you’re right,  you win! But, if your pick scores second instead of first, you get your  stake back in cash. Grab the chance at getting your  stake back at Bet MGM. See Bet MGM dot 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

You realize if you take Mark to dinner and Boca that Rob and I are like, we're listening. We're here. Well, you welcome to come down here anytime you like. Coach always trying to rant on my parade. Why you in my company? Why you in on my dinners, bro? What did they say? What did Dion say?

We're keeping receipts, brother. Keep those receipts, man. 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. Bruce wasn't moving either. We are back.

You guys have theme music now? Yes. We've been having a voice from the back. Bruce, stand by. We haven't even introduced you yet. I love it. I love it. Rob Stone, Mark Ingram, Urban Meyer here with you. Bruce Felph will join us in a second. As always, thanks for joining us. Please rate, subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, as well as across social media. We can be found at 3XOptionShow.

New episodes coming your way every Wednesday on YouTube or wherever it is you get your podcast. Today we're going to get you up to speed with our friend Bruce Feldman after one of maybe the biggest changes in college athletics ever. We'll hear about that and a whole lot more including the playoff system with the Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark a little bit later in the show. Then we are going to preview LSU season and take a look at this year's College Football Hall of Fame candidates. I'm looking at you Mark Ingram the second but our lead topic it was launched on Friday as a California court granted approval to NCAA's landmark three antitrust cases bringing

in a new era for college sports in which athletes can be paid by their schools. A lot to digest. Here are your basic headlines. Student athletes going back to 2016 to 2024, they are eligible for a portion of $2.8 billion. I got questions, Stone. Wait, hold on a second. I got a question. Oh, you got a question, because you're not 2016. Yes.

Right? Yes. I got it. As of July 1, schools can pay players on their roster. That's any sport. There is a cap, however, which will be 22% of revenue, which is projected to be about $20.5 million for this season. Schools they can do whatever they want with that money.

They can spread it however they see fit. That's going to be a big talking point. And there are escalators in place. So that number will get bigger over the course of a 10 year deal. Yeah, guess what? It's just a 10 year deal. We're going to have to deal with this again at some other point. And then the new college sports commission will oversee enforcement with the help of a Deloitte-run NIL clearinghouse,

not the NCAA. Coach, I know you've got plenty to say about that in just a moment, but to help us answer some of these questions, work through some of the semantics, we welcome in finally, properly, our good friend from Fox Sports and the Athletic,man. Good morning Bruce. Good to have you buddy. Hi Bruce, you ready? I'm ready. I got all your answers. I hope I got some of your answers. Alright, so we had James Franklin on recently and he was incredible and he enlightened us. I read a lot of this stuff and be honest with you, I'm about as cynical

as you can imagine with it. When I started hearing people say, well, now there's rules. Bruce, for 38 years, I took a test every year. I signed a piece of paper saying we're gonna follow the rules that we passed the test. You had to study a three inch or four inch rule book and we would get tutoring from our compliance people.

So the rules, it wasn't a question of if there were rules, no one followed them. I shouldn't say no one, a lot of people followed them. Some people made a decision not to, and it would drive coaches crazy. So that's the first part. Second part is enforcement was comical. Comical might be the nicest word I've ever used with that. It was comical. Comical might be the nicest word I've ever used with that. It was absolutely ridiculous when people would commit major violations and four years later, they'd punish the team that had nothing to do with the violations. So here's the question for you. Does College Sports Commission, James Franklin, I mean, broke the rock yesterday when he said

that there is subpoena power and you're going to sign a piece of paper saying that you will not litigate. So Tom Mars, the famous attorney that made basically I credit him with destroying the NCAA because everything was litigated is no longer. So it's going to be expedited enforcement, tough enforcement, and it's subpoena power. That means they're gonna subpoena people immediately to get to the bottom of it. I still cynical.

What do you hear on that word? I talked to some coaches, Urban, who, within the last two days, who are very cynical as you are, as honestly as we all are, because we've been paying attention for a long time. You're taking one head coach I talked to at a power conference said I don't know why right after this went through they did not have the 64 power conference head coaches and their ad's on a zoom call with Brian Sealy that is the former MLB executive who has now been in charge and is basically, um, the

executive of this organization overseeing what is essentially is compliance. Because right now he said different schools have different interpretations of the rules, which, you know, you mentioned compliance a bit ago. That was always one of the issues. I mean, I would go back to, and I don't know if you were still in the SEC at this point, but there was a prominent school with a very successful head coach and I remember other coaches who had been, you know, had talked to people who'd worked there who said, you know what, their compliance directors

never shows up at any of the practices to see who's actually coaching who isn't all these other things. So there's always been bending of the rules. I think that one of the harder parts from this, when the people I've talked to over the weekend was going to be not all these middle men and agents who are now been in the process, right? Because we've had, you know, five years of NIL. A lot of those guys aren't regulated. A lot of those people aren't regulated like they are, you know, Mark had an NFL agent that was a regulated person who answered somebody. A lot of these

folks really haven't. And so, and they're also getting 20%. You know, Mark was- Wow. Imagine like a lot of them are getting 20% of- The uncertified agent is getting 25, 25, 20%. 20%. Yeah. And so what you end up with is coaches and administrators saying, wait, we have like five days to turn all this paperwork in, we're going to chase after.

Like I guarantee you, because as the head coach, I talked to you yesterday, said, I don't know every deal my players have done. And I always, you know, we don't know, just like my ad doesn't know, every speaking engagement I've done. So I think it's good. I think it's a good idea in practice, we're gonna see it's going to be really messy. It was messy before like urban, I could see you were nauseous when you talked about the NCA. Investigated part. That's exactly where I think this is headed.

Maybe there's a look, there's more teeth behind it, but they thought they had teeth behind it before and it didn't really hold up. So, so we'll see. You know, it's amazing. Bruce is, and I told this before in a podcast with Mark and Rob, is that the template is pretty well set. You know, you want to end something, you make it ridiculously, the punishment's so hard that people won't do it. It's only been that way for 3,000 years.

I don't get why that's hard to figure out. Steroids used to be a big deal in college football. You know what happened, Bruce? They said you're finished if you use steroids. And for the most part, steroids used to be a big deal in college football. You know what happened, Bruce? They said you're finished if you use steroids. And for the most part, steroids are out. I know there's still stuff out there, but not like it was when I played. So number two, and then I'll hand it off to the other guys.

Number two, Bruce, this, you start hearing a billion. And once again, the skepticism in me just and being around college football for 38 years, 2.8 billion, it can be 9 billion. Who cares? When does Braxton Miller get a check? Who's a check from and is a legitimate check, or is this a lot of disappear?

And we're going to, we're going to appeal Mark Ingram window. Was he done it before 2016 though? Okay. I'm sorry. I'll use, I'll use, uh, chase young then Chase Young then or, or Joey Sorrentino, you know, a guy that was a walk on. Why doesn't Mark Ingram get a check? I think it's hard for them to manage as far back into that window. Cause then if it's

you Mark, then all of a sudden, Urban, you were a safety at Cincinnati way back when. Should Urban have gotten some money? You know, Rob, Rob was a high level. Yes. He's got a picture behind him. Look, he's got a picture behind him. That's right. So seriously, let's go, let's go again. Okay. Say I'll give you a name.

Was a 16. So Curtis, Curtis Samuel, Curtis Samuel, when does the check show up and how much will be and who writes it? I, you know, on honestly on how long it takes them to go through because we're talking about thousands of athletes I don't know how that process is gonna get expedited I'd be lying if I told you how quickly because I think right now a lot of the people I've talked to are so Focused on how does this work with the NIL bubble that's already out there? And how does this work going forward? The back money, which you think, okay, people are going to come forward who are

in that window and say, go to their universities and say, okay, who do I have to talk to you to get that? I don't know how they streamline that process, to be honest. That's something that, you know, hasn't come up in the conversations I've had. How about the Sude? As you won't be the first or the last person won't be the last. Exactly. you know, hasn't come up in the conversations I've had. How about the Suda ass? You won't be the first or the last person won't be the last. Exactly. All right. Anyways, but still, I mean, Bruce, man, we appreciate you have

had appreciate you coming to, you know, parlay with us, man. And we know we've been expecting this. We know some schools have been preparing for this. We know some schools are gladly going to be using that 20.5 to pay their players. Now, what if, will all schools be required to pay their players and like, what if they don't want to pay? Like, do they get to opt out? Like, what goes on with schools who are- You'll get left behind. And I think at that point, a lot of your student athletes are going to be like, hey, do I really want to go to school there where I can get a better deal someplace else? Right? No, if they can, if they can make it work. And

I think what you could see is other schools who cannot financially make it work, maybe, and, you know, 10 years from now, because as Rob said, there's a 10 year deal here. Are there way less programs playing major college football at the end of it? Is it a sustainable model for them? I think that's the part that's going to be interesting. There's a lot of levels to that. And that's another piece of it that I think will be fascinating to see who can hold up and who can. And now the 20.5, they said over 10 years, this thing can increase. So this is like next year, it could be 25 million in

three years, it could be 30 million. This is like a increasing. It's all on escalators. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I think the part that is significant, and this is again, something that was brought up by an administrator I talked to last night, which was this all kicks in soon. July 1st, it's less than a month away.

There's a lot of schools and maybe it's 15, maybe it's 50. It's probably more like 15 who have been working ahead. So you know, there's one school I've heard of in the SEC, they already have like a 30 to $35 million NIL budget that is kicked in. Maybe they hold off on the 15 million that they're expected of that 20 million that they're expected to take from revenue share and hold that for January 1 and say, Hey, we already got our roster allotment signed up from the NIL balloon we have in our NIL group.

So maybe we hold off till Jan 1 when we can start really haggling to get what we need for our next year's roster. I think that that is something it'll be interesting to see who strategizes that way, how they handle what they have in NIL, because it seems like it's a different pot of money. And I think that's the part that is going to be the hardest for Ryan Seely and the NIL Go people to kind of sort out. So we introduced the college sports commission

to the landscape. What exactly does the NCAA still do with college football? I mean, they didn't do that much with college football as they did to like college basketball, right? I mean, you know, urban somewhere you have trophies. I don't think they say NCAA on it. It's not like, you know, if you had, um, I think you were in Florida when, when Billy Donovan won basketball championships, right?

Different trophy. The, the NCA ran that the NCA runs, you know, lacrosse and soccer and everything else, it wasn't that involved. It was involved in the enforcement piece of it. But as you said earlier, Rob, right now they're not in the enforcement business as it relates to this. So their role has gotten further and further diminished. And I think that's only going to keep happening as the TV money and the power structure, the power conferences have more and more influence. I mean, you know, let's not kid ourselves,

like Tony Petitti and Greg Sankey are the ones who are really running everything at this point. And I think the NCA and Charlie Baker can, can talk about whatever he wants to talk about. But I think people know when it comes to college football, it's a different deal than it is for every other college sport. Yeah, for sure. And I want to go ahead, coach. I just I'm mesmerized by this because I lived it and I spent hours in our compliance office and it was dead to rights.

This is, they did it and nothing ever happened. So the whole thing about enforcement, again, you had three schools recently get involved in some pretty egregious, so-called, I'm not gonna call the schools out, but pretty egregious violations. And the reason that took place is because they probably laughed at the compliance.

They laughed at the, the fact that if we got caught, who cares? It's a joke. Um, is there in fact subpoena power start there? That if they get behind it, cause it's a, if it's something they've agreed to with, with courts, because I think what, what the biggest concern with all this is lawsuits are coming, right? And so I think that part of it, meaning, okay, are you going to be able to, are we going to be protected?

You can sue anybody for anything in this country, right? And it doesn't mean you're going to win, but I think we're going to see more of that and there used to be urban like, and I think there's still holes with the NCA. If you get caught lying to the NCA, you know, the NCA could come down. That was to me, the worst crime you get that, that was, it was always the crop. The coverup was worse than the crime. If you get caught, what they think lying to the NCA was a lot more damning to them than what some of the infractions may have been.

We're going to find out. Yeah. And again, I think right now, again, this is right from a power, our four head coach who was like, we haven't been on any Zooms. They haven't told us our interpretation of what this is seems to be different than other coaches in our conference.

And that he, he, this coach was super frustrated. He was like, you know what? There's a model that we're really would work well. And it's a, it works well at the highest level. And that's the NFL model. And you know, like if you have, you talked about, you know, cheating in steroids and different things, like there are hefty fines and punishments. If you have two physical practice in the NFL or about 18 other things that Mark

could probably talk to you about that he lived through in the last 10 years. And the NFL model has done that, but it's done through collective bargaining. And I think there, you know, I know we talked about this the last time I was on, on the show, there's a lot of people who feel like that's where this is headed. Because they said the powers that be, they may want to go up like to have the politicians involved, but they laugh at that because like the politicians barely can handle what they're supposed to be doing in Washington, DC. They don't know to go down these

rabbit holes. They haven't lived it. They don't know it. And so now all of a sudden, you're going to try to get them to handle something that they're in the dark about. So number two, number one, we just discussed subpoena power. So subpoena power only happens if, and this is my second question, it's you just mentioned it. Unionization, that means all power for conferences directed through their commissioner is going to sign.

And James Franklin said, this is probably through the presidential level, then the AD, then the coach, but the president's going to sign and saying, we are in, that means we are now unionized as far as compliant. I'm just focused on the compliance piece right now. That means we will not. So we give up the power to Sue, uh, the guy's name from the, uh, college football commission, uh, will that, and like you said, if that doesn't happen, I'll tell you what, the skepticism in college sports is going to be through the roof.

Cause if they've worked so hard on this and no one's then it's a joke. And I'm worried about it. I've heard is the president is the president's at each university or signing off on that. But that doesn't protect anybody from the lawsuits. Let's say, you know, it's 15 years earlier and Mark Ingram is a great running back, you know, a young running back at Alabama.

And what is fair market value? Mark Ingram has somebody representing him. Those are where the lawsuits I think are coming hard because who's to say, you know, what's worth, what's, you know, you basically, if somebody's willing to pay for him to be the face of their company, no one's stopping, um, you know, Joe burrow or anybody else who are professional athletes about, oh, is that too much money? Is that too much money for Ant Man's shoe? Is that, you know, like all these ones, that's where all the lawsuits I think are coming. And again, when I referenced coach, when I referenced the, uh, 20% that some of the commission that these agents are taking that this is the, this has become a great, um, business for them.

Now, all of a sudden you're going to tell them, you're going to tell them that the water faucets getting turned off. I don't think that's going to happen as easily as, you know, not, cause again, this is the United States where people feel like, you know, it's, it's getting turned off, I don't think that's going to happen as easily as you know, not because again, this is the United States where people feel like, you know, it's it's capitalism. And if you're saying you can't do that, you can't make so much money or that deal is getting paid too much. Again, I think there'll be a lot of lawsuits coming down the pipeline very soon. The last thing Bruce before we let you go this 20.5 million was supposed to be like kind of

You know even kill level of playing fields everyone has already by the same rules But this NIL you could still have like an advantage above everyone else because you can what? Raise more money through your collective in your NIL still too. So like what's the role NIL plays with this new 20.5 million that Yeah, it's right now. It's it's a little vague because some schools I've heard are not going to have their collectives and some still will. And if if that is still the case. And I just think right now, look, it came up a lot last year. Ohio State had a roster of 20 million.

They won it won a national title. A lot of that went to money to retain players not to not to recruit there were some of them obviously that certainly were added. But I think now we're talking about rosters that are 35 40 million for this coming season where we're going to be out all and watch some of these teams. It's it's 35 $40 million. And a large part of that is nil. I think people are crazy if they think you're going to tell college football

coaches and ADS that, oh yeah, now you, you're paying that much money. Now it's going to go way back down to 20. That, you know, things don't work that way. It's almost nature. And again, you know, I go back to something coach brought up at the beginning of this, we're talking about the most competitive people and we're talking about like Tennessee when they first got in, you the bigger deals we ever heard of was nico iam a lot of. Doing when he was in high school deal for your close to ten million dollars that was in part because tennessee's fan base in t you know, power structure was so desperate

and frustrated because they hadn't been winning right now with the biggest. Version of, I guess, like what we see Oregon and Phil Knight, the mega booster. You have Cody Campbell, a former Texas tech offensive lineman who made a billions in the energy business is now funding his athletic department at Texas tech, I don't think that's going away. I think, you know, it's, this is a supplement and I think that you're going to have a lot of people who are now figuring out how do we budget, you know, because you have different schools, have different number of athletic programs, right? Or athletic teams underneath their umbrella.

Bruce, rapid response, is college football in a better place now than it was last week? I think so because there's a little bit of closure, but they have new problems now. Yeah. Fair to say. Fair to say. Bruce Feldman from The Athletic and of course our friend at Fox Sports. As always, thanks for joining us. Love the intelligence, Bruce. Thanks, buddy. See you guys soon. as you make plans to cruise through Muscogee or down Toronto's bustling streets. From now until June 30th, lease a 2025 Volvo XC60 from 1.74% and save up to $4,000. Condition Supply. Visit your GTA Volvo retailer or go to VolvoCars.ca for full details. Alright guys, a lot to digest this week. Coach, in the end, are you convinced that this next step,

this settlement is going to be good for college football? Well, we've spoken to a lot of people most recently or in depth with the commissioner Yormack of the big 12 and- Yeah, that's coming up next. 40 years of being scarred of how not to take charge of compliance of your people scars you. And so I think I speak on behalf of the majority of people that played in coach is like, wait, what? You know, we've been, we've been signing our name every year for 40 years on, we're going to

be compliance or all hell's going to break loose and it doesn't. And so I, there are a couple of key points that I've said over and over and over again is that subpoena power will change the game that'll expedite. If you lie under subpoena and you take, you know, you put your hand up and say, if that's what they're talking about, then that's a problem. And I think the, the punishment should be so firm to the point you can't coach or play again. If you, but if you are subpoenaed and you lie intentionally, it's over.

Your career is done. Watch what happens if that happens, Mark and Rob, it's over. I mean, everybody's going to be compliant. They can move on to something else. It's more important than the silliness that has gone on. So, uh, I love everything I'm hearing. I really do. Am I skeptical?

You're damn right. I am. Anything jump out at you, Mark? Well, I think the main thing is now everyone has a set of rules and guidelines that has to level a playing field and everyone has to follow. You know, we'll see whether, like, like Coach says, if it, if somebody doesn't follow the rules, what happens? But I think that we're in a better place right now because we kind of finally have something that everyone can agree on. Everyone has agreed. Everyone has kind of went with the rules. There's a set of rules. There's

a salary cap. No, obviously you have the other kind of fact of the NIL that can contribute with this, you know, salary cap thing. But I think the fact that we have a set of rules, a set of guidelines that everyone has to follow across the board, I think that's a good place to start. Like we said, it's not going to be perfect, but I think that's a good place for us to start. I want to clarify something real quick with you guys that when I was a very strong proponent of the NCA my entire career, because I understood what those people were up against. They are no subpoena power and people lie.

You know, it was, it was, and then every time they made a statement or a decision as far as enforcement, you know what happened, right? They got litigated and lost. Yeah. So, um, this is not a direct hit to the NCAA. It's a direct hit on the system. How about how they got to put a value on your players now? How much are you gonna play your players?

How do you know what this player is gonna be, their valuation is? I know when those roster numbers come out, you know players in the league, whatever league it is, are looking like, he makes how much and I make where? You know, that's life in any business and you hope that doesn't carry through to the locker room. But you know there's going to be instances of that, but that's just like, hey man, throw me the ball more, right? Give me more touches. Two quick comments, and I know Marco appreciate this is number one. Can you imagine we're here in 2025 and it's right that we're here for so long.

I mean, I'm looking at a man right there, Mark Ingram, that the value he provided for that university was incredible. And I had, you know, the amount of players I coached, I mean, throw, throw dollar figures at Zeke and Nick Bosa and Tim Tebow, et cetera. And coaches got paid. Athletic departments generated all this while I understand it. Uh, well, I just can't imagine we're here. Yeah.

I'm glad that the young men and women get to get compensated for the value that they're providing to these universities. You know, I'm glad I just saw, you know, Mark, I hope women's sports don't go away, brother. I know you got daughters, my two daughters. Yep. I have sports, Olympic sports are a danger, man. My both girls played college sports and you take away college volleyball for my daughters. That's a game changer, man. Remember Ward man who just came out and said, this is one of the most lucrative

athletic departments in the country. They're expecting a significant shortfall because of the money, the distribution of money, and these scholarships moving up to 105. You know, the 5% for the quote unquote other sports, you know, not the, you know, not football, not men's and women's basketball, you know, maybe it takes those Olympic sports just back to where they used to be, Mark, when you and I were playing coach, when you were playing where, hey, you know what? A scholarship is fantastic. That's awesome. I'm going to school to get educated, become smarter, become a better human in society. And I get to play this sport as well. And you're going to, you're going to let me go there for free. Again,

back in my day, not to be the old guy mowing his lawn, socks and sandals, but like, that's awesome. That's, that's still a win. I think it's played for where you, you play to get a scholarship and go to school and get education. Right. You know, my, my concern isn't that because I think that is correct.

And plus they can still, you know, the gymnast at LSU can still make all the money she wants on Instagram and all that. What I'm worried about is just for budget costs, they, they bang the sports. That's what I'm concerned. What I also love Stoner is this, how this salary cap is 20.5 right now, right? But it can grow 4% a year, oh, through, through, through 10 years. And after three years, they can reevaluate the percentage. So like, basically you have a salary cap that's growing very similar to the NFL.

So players are going to get paid more and more as the years continue to grow. So. Three final things. This is certainly good for the power four. Yes. Let's check in with the Mac and the AAC and the Mountain West and even the Pac-12 as it tries to bring itself back up. You know, where do they fall into the ecosystem right now?

They become the feeder system for the big boys. I mean, it's still correct football. Mac Mac, I coached there in two years. It was fantastic, Mark, because everybody had the same players. So it was really a coach's league. You know, some leagues you got the best teams are so much better than the other teams. But as a coach. But what You know, some leagues you got the best teams are so much better than the other teams, but it's a coach.

But what happens, and I've talked to, shoot Eddie George is my boy at Bowling Green. The reality is you're gonna develop a player and he's gonna leave. Yeah. You're a AA or you're a AAA type team. Yeah, you develop a good player. And they're there now and that'll be continued.

Yeah. Part two, the Big East is going to be really interesting. This is the college basketball part of my brain. You know, they don't have major college football, but they have major college basketball. Yes. And those numbers are going to change. It'll be very curious to see where some of these great universities in the Big East, where they start moving and fluctuating in the grand scheme of just men's and women's college basketball because they're going to get a lion's share of those revenue numbers pushed towards their programs because football is not going to annihilate those numbers.

And then you're going to have programs like a Stanford, a North Carolina, a UCLA, and I know there's others out there that excel in just about every sport, right? How are they going to break things down? You know, what matters to them? There's going to be some universities out there that say, you know, we need to be closer to 50-50, you know, male and female sports. There's going to be other programs. I would love to know what's happening at Stanford right now because Stanford has dipped so significantly

in the two big sports that matter money-wise, football and men's basketball. Do they say, you know what, we just got this influx of cash, let's put all these chips into football and we got to get our football program up because if our football program is up, guess what? It raises everybody else up in our program. Yes. It's gonna be amazing and fascinating to see how these programs handle things. Also, it's going to be interesting to see how conferences as a whole handle it. We're going to talk with one of our great friends,

the commissioner of the Big 12, Brett Yormack, next on The Triple Option, presented by Wendy's. Light it. ["The Triple Option"] This week on The Triple Option, we bring in one of our great, great friends, whether it's with the Triple Option or over on Fox's Big Noon kickoff, the commissioner of the Big 12, Brett Yormark. Always great to see you, commissioner.

Let's start right off the bat though. Let's talk what's happening in college football. House versus NCAA, the settlement approval comes in on Friday. What was your first order of business? Glad it was approved. I mean, listen, we've been waiting. It's been a waiting game for us for a long time. I think I can speak on behalf of, you know, my commissioner colleagues, but happy Judge Wilkins ultimately approved settlement. We're in a better place today

as an industry than we've been in a long time. And there's guardrails, there's rules of engagement. There's a new model. And as they often say to my board, my ADs, and anyone that'll listen, it's progress over perfection. It's going to be a little clunky. It's not gonna be perfect coming out of the gates, but it's better than where we've been. And a lot of progress has been made. The implementation committee

that has been preparing us for this moment, made up of practitioners across the industry, have worked tirelessly to make sure that there's this new model in place that provides rules and that governs the future of collegiate athletics. So I'm excited about it. The hard work really begins now. I'll be with my commissioner colleagues next week and we're going to roll up our sleeves and go at it, but excited that it was approved. And as I said, a lot of work to be done to be ready for July 1. Hey commissioner.

I speak on behalf of all of us, one of our favorite people, energy. You bring it every week and appreciate what you do for college football in your conference. So I'm jumping right into this cause I'm fired up over this stuff and this compliance, cause I've dealt with it. And if the NCA ever wanted to write a book on how not to investigate and how not to enforce, it'd probably be a best seller. All right. And it wasn't all, and I would always push back when I heard that because and how not to investigate and how not to enforce, you'd probably be a best seller. And it wasn't all, and I would always push back

when I heard that because the NCA, they went to a fight mark with their left hand tied behind their back. They were unable to subpoena. They would get, because it wasn't collective bargaining, it wasn't unionization, they'd just get sued, litigated, and they would lose. So I'm not a direct shot at the NCA,

just overall how it happened. I hear people say actually in the last two days, well, finally there's rules and finally there's guardrails. Oh, that's bullshit. That's been around. I've been doing it for 38 years. There, there was rules. Just they were unimportant.

They didn't enforce them. So James Franklin told us that there's subpoena power. There's signing paperwork that says that you will not be able to litigate the decision by the commission. And this is all going to be driven through commissioners to the president. I'm going to ask you about, can the college football fans and people in college football, this is a big word, expect and demand compliance. Yes. And, and let me speak to that a little bit. college football, this is a big word, expect and demand compliance. Yes.

And, and let me speak to that a little bit. So the college sports commission is the enforcement arm of settlement effectively, uh, we announced the new CEO that's coming on board. Uh, Brian Seely, uh, he has spent years at major league baseball. Uh, he's done a lot of investigative work. Uh, and I think he's the right person at the right time to lead this new effort. Coming from professional sports, I bring a little bit of a different perspective. I said it yesterday during our press conference, our schools want rules and they have them now. And the ramifications of breaking those rules

will be very punitive. And that's the way we're going to govern them now. And the ramifications of breaking those rules will be very punitive. And that's the way we're going to govern moving forward. And I'm excited about it. Because settlement in many respects should create a level playing field for everyone. And that's what we're signing up for. So I'm excited about the future. As I said, it's not gonna be perfect, a lot of progress, but we are going to

enforce and we, and, and schools have asked for rules, we're giving them rules. And I think Brian Seely coming on board as the CEO is the right guy to enforce those rules as he builds out his staff. One more question about that. I'll hand it off to Mark here is do you have to sign away a waiver or saying that we will not litigate once a decision? That's how the NFL model works, is that it's all collective bargaining. So when the commissioner makes a decision, you can't say, oh, screw you, I'm going to sue you. It's over. So the problem with college, and this is what the deterioration of compliance was.

I witnessed it because there is no teeth in the NCA. The risk reward became comical. Are people going to sign away the light, right? The litigate. Well, you might've read yesterday because it was, we discussed a little bit during our press conference. There is a participant part, what we call a participation agreement in this new model that all the schools are going to have to sign, which effectively codifies There is a participant part, what we call a participation agreement in this new model

that all the schools are going to have to sign, which effectively codifies the rules of settlement that they are going to live by these rules. Okay. And understand the consequences if they don't. And each school that participates in rev share is going to have to sign that participation. It's over. Congrats. I wish we had that. Congratulations. If that, if, man, I hope it holds. That's great. Brett, man, like I relate with Coach, man. We appreciate you. One of our favorite people, man.

We always appreciate you being around, man. So thank you for your time again. Just want to ask you a little bit about this people, man. We always appreciate you being around, man. So thank you for your time again. Just want to ask you a little bit about this model, man. Like, will you be suggesting a model on how to distribute your money to your schools? And what would that look like if so? Or do you gonna let your schools operate independently? We're going to let our schools determine how they want to rev share. It's going to be a school by school decision. Obviously, you know, the revenue generating it's going to be a school by school decision. Um, obviously, you know, it, the revenue generating sports are going to receive a bulk of it. Okay.

But it really will be up to the schools and how they distribute what we call a permissive cap up to 20.5 million in year one. Um, and you know, many schools have been very public already about how they're going to distribute it. One of the models out there, not to say it's right or wrong is, you know, many schools have been very public already about how they're gonna distribute it. One of the models out there, not to say it's right or wrong, is, you know, 75, 15, five and five. 75% to football, 15% to men's basketball,

five to women's basketball, and five to other Olympic sports. But there are probably gonna be variations of that model, and it'll be determined by the schools themselves. Just one quick follow up to this cap. You say 20.5 in year one, is there an anticipation to what type of growth you see in that cap each year? Like, what do you, like, what would that do?

What do you anticipate that being? Well, as part of settlement, there's a 4% increase every year. Okay. And then I want to say it's every three years we can go through a reset based on, you know, the average amount of revenue that is being brought into the system, you know, by the defending conferences. Okay. And it's 22.5% of revenue.

Okay. And that gets recalculated every three years. Um, but it is 4% a year. Okay. Thank you. Hey, commission. Uh, it's last one and I'll hand it off again. Uh, word manual came out yesterday in a letter to the Wolverine faithful saying

they were expecting a significant budget shortfall as a result of the revenue share and the scholarships. I go back to my time of the coach and I mean, you'd fight for training table. You'd fight for gear. You'd fight for, and I'm just talking about Florida and Ohio state. I'd fight for increasing a guy's salary that I needed them. And I'm wondering where in the hell is all this money going to come from? And can we expect schools to drop sports?

Uh, I think the Wolverines are going to drop a 10% of their personnel in the administrative side. Are you going to expect your conference schools? Or is that going to happen everywhere now? Well, I will tell you this from a conference perspective, and I'll start with us at the big 12, it's incumbent upon me to create more value for our member institutions. And as you guys know, I like to innovate.

Um, I want to be bold And I want to find opportunities that create value for our membership, which ultimately means driving more revenue and distributing more revenue to our schools. So that's what I think about daily. I also think that schools are of that same and similar mindset. How do they create more value? How do they further commercialize their businesses in order to support some of these new expenses,

which of course the big one being now rev share. But I also think they have to look at the expense side of the equation. We all have to be better operators. We're doing that here at the big 12 conference also. There's a difference in what you need versus what you want. And I've always managed to that, you know, you ask anyone on your staff, they, they want as much as you give them, but do they really need that to be

successful or not? And that's the question we need to ask each other. And, and we have to differentiate between what do you need to get the job done versus what you want? Right. And, and I'm not sure we thought about it in those terms previously, but we need to now. And we need to be in the value creation business. We have to do business differently and we have to grow the pie.

And while we're doing that, we also have to be mindful of expenses and what do we really need in order to be successful? On that theme, I know you guys had dabbled with the concept of bringing in some private equity into the conference. And I know you said that now isn't the right time, but how did you envision that kind of looking and playing out? Because that opens up kind of another Pandora's box, I think, at times, at least for some concerned people. So Rob, we took a deep dive and we looked at everything. We looked at debt, traditional

private equity. Where we landed and where we spent most of our time was creating a bespoke model, if you will, a custom model for the conference. And I was looking for different things. And so were my key stakeholders. Do we bring a strategic partner in that can help us grow our revenue, that brings strategic expertise in the right areas, while also serving as a capital partner if and when we need it, okay? So I was looking at it a little differently

because I didn't want to give anyone a stake in our conference. I'm very bullish on the future and I don't want to give up any of our upside because we're in the growth mode right now and I think the future is really bright for us and I don't want to share that with any third party. But to the extent that I could identify and I did, a strategic partner who also brings capital when we might or might not need it, to me was the right fit. We've pressed pause on that right now, but we've done enough due diligence to understand

that if there was a moment in time where we wanted to go down a particular path, we know exactly where to go. And that's incumbent upon me as the commissioner to do my due diligence, to bring opportunities to the membership, and then determine if we do or don't do it. Let's pivot to one of our favorite subjects, college football playoff expansion. I know you have a lot to say about this. And I just want to take you back to when the concept was out there not too long ago, where the Big Ten and the SEC had four guaranteed spots in expansion. This is going to 14 teams. The Big 12 and the ACC were only guaranteed two. When you first saw that, when you first saw that model, what went through your head? What went through your heart? I didn't like it.

And obviously that model has been out there for almost a year now. And I didn't like it because I just felt that it created a huge divide between us and those two conferences. Now, as you guys know, I have good self-awareness. I know where we reside in the world of college football, but I just felt that it it it put a line in the sand that didn't need to be there. OK, I'm a firm believer in that, you know, if you create value, you should be rewarded,

earn it on the field, okay, every year's a new year. And by the way, with settlement, in theory, it should be creating a level playing field across the board, okay? So I didn't like it. And it was somewhat foreign to me. And I was pretty outspoken during our spring meetings that a 511 format was certainly something I liked. I like 16 because more access is good.

Okay. There's a point where access starts equating to dilution, but I don't think at 16, you're diluting anything. I think it's a good number to work with. And obviously the five AQs is what we have right now effectively. The five highest rate conference champions. So felt comfortable with that format versus every year knowing what someone already has and before you even play the season. And I felt that it was in the best interest of those two conferences only and not in the best interest of the fans in college football.

So I was outspoken about it. That being said, I've got a great relationship with my colleagues within the Power Four. And I do believe that we will ultimately get to a place that is good for all of us, might not be great for all of us, a place that is good for all of us. It might not be great for all of us, but it'll be good for all of us. And I think, you know, I speak on their behalf also that we're committed to figuring out a solution. And I'll be with them next week. And I'm sure, you know, CFP will be a topic of conversation and we'll roll up our sleeves and we'll hopefully figure this out. Commissioner, I was kind of a fan, not necessarily that

the Big 12 and ACC got left out, but the 4-4-2-2-1-1 was appealing to me for one reason and that is you eliminate the committee basically. The committee now was it's human error. You know I've been I've been from BCS to the first college football playoff to the recent one. When I was coaching, I was involved in each one. And the committee, I would ask people actually when they left the committee, how it was done. And to a man, everyone was like, a lot of them have no idea, you know,

they're not watching film because they really can't. Um, and when they are watching film, what are they really watching? You know, that's a, that's an acquired skill in my mind. I mean, it is. In the new formula that, I think you said 511, is there a way to eliminate the human error of the comedians say, once again, the 4422 was for Big Ten, for SEC,

for two and two to the Big 12 and the ACC. The best thing I loved is there's playing games. You play in to get one of those spots. It's not a group of people sitting here and say, this team is better in that team. Cause quite honestly, they don't know that. And it's not their fault. Cause no one really knows that unless you go play the game. So there was elements of the AQ model that it candidlyly I liked. I do like the playing game.

I think making championship weekend for all the conferences that much more dramatic, because there's more at stake, is obviously a great component of that model. You know, the selection committee and the process they go through has been a topic of conversation. And I don't want to dismiss the selection committee from the standpoint of saying it can never get better. And I think we owe the time and effort to roll up our sleeves, to do a full audit of the selection process, and to figure out what's going wrong, where is it too subjective, and where it can be better. And I know we're going to have a deep conversation about that next week when the management committee comes together

with the CFP organization to further discuss it. Mac Rhodes, who obviously is the new chair of the selection committee and part of the Big 12, the AD at Baylor, is committed to making it better. And I know he's been working tirelessly. Last year was his first experience on the selection committee to figure out ways they can modify the process, um, and be less subjective about, you know, their decision maker and, and to make sure

that they're using the right data. Because you're right. I mean, some conferences are playing eight conference games. So others are playing nine. Right. Um, you know, I was very outspoken last year. You know, I want to know how a strength of schedule waited when you think about all the different metrics.

Well, I've got a lot of questions, but I did go through a mock session recently. You know, the CFP hosted that for the management committee and the commissioners. It was very eye opening for me. There's a lot of work. There's a lot of data that's being used. Is it the right data? I don't have an answer for that. But we are going to do an audit.

We are going to do a deep dive into the process and hopefully we can land in a better place. Commissioner, at the conference level, what's the one thing that maybe the general fan is not talking about that causes you some stress at night that is something that needs to be handled and tackled? Well, you know, it's interesting. It's a great question. I take everything home with me, you know, like you guys, right? It's a 24 seven job and role and, and you can never

turn it off. You, you know, there, there's a lot of the big national issues that we're dealing with. And right now I would say the big, the big three are settlement, CFP, and future governance, you know, and, and, and future governance, meaning the role of the NCA in this new age of collegiate athletics, something coach mentioned earlier. Okay. And what role do they play? And how do they get back to doing what they,

overseeing what they do well, which is the academic and athletic experience, i.e. championships that they put on for membership. And then there's the business of the Big 12, which is somewhat connected, but sometimes not. And there's a lot on our plate. When I first got here, we had 23 staff members. In a very short period of time, we're up to 49 now.

Because ultimately, I'm in the value creation business. And that's what I'm trying to create for our membership. They need more resources. So it's something I'm thinking about every day. But in context, there's a lot going on in our space right now. And I'm sure everyone knows, but it's not just football and basketball. I mean, we, we sponsor 25 sports here, 15 of which are women's sports. And we think there's a lot of growth there.

So there's a lot to manage and a lot to do. Uh, but I will tell you that, um, coming from professional sports, there's nothing like college athletics. It's a purpose driven industry and at the core is our student athlete. So despite all the different things I'm handling on a daily basis, at the center of it all,

is it right for the student athlete? And that's what I'm focused on. Good man. Always good to see you, Commissioner. Always great to see you. We appreciate your time. We'll see you. Hey, we'll see you week two in Ames, Iowa at Iowa state.

Big noon kickoff. Rob, by the way, how's your daughter? She didn't shoot, does she love TCU? My son just wrapped up his first year at TCU. We drink the purple Kool-Aid, man. We love it. It is such an awesome institution. Ah, couldn't have enjoyed it more.

He's spending time. You realize if you take Mark to dinner and Boca that, uh, you gotta, Rob and I are not like, uh, we're, we're listening. We're here. Well, you welcome to come down here anytime you like. Listen, I'm going to take all of y'all when I see any names, uh, bang, but when I'm in Boca markets convenience, coach always trying to rent on my parade.

Why are you in my dinners, bro? Oh, we just keep it. Hey, what did they say? What did Deon say? We're keeping receipts, brother. Keep those receipts, man. Well, you didn't invite none of us to your Ireland golf trip. So what's up with that?

All right. Well, thank you. Thank you. Can we share your mark? Thanks so much. Enjoy your summer, man. No, you got a busy summer. Appreciate it. Well guys, thank you. Good point. Thank you. Can we show you our mark? Thanks so much. Enjoy your summer, man.

No, you got a busy summer. Appreciate it. Thank you guys. Welcome back to the Triple Option presented by Wendy's. Urban Mark Rob Stone here with you. Time now for Treat of the Week presented by Wendy's. Try Wendy's new Frosty Fusions with flavors like Caramel Crunch, Oreo Brownie, and Pop Tarts Strawberry.

Don't sleep on the Pop Tarts Strawberry, by the way. It was really, really good. My kids devoured it. Last week, the National Football Foundation released the candidates for the 2026 College Football Hall of Fame. Coach, congratulations. You're going in this December in Las Vegas

with that class. Congratulations, coach. Who's gonna be joining you next year? Some great names. Our good friend at Fox Sports, Chris Peterson, former TCU head coach, Gary Patterson there as well. Jonathan Thilma, Nabilah Sue, Percy Harvin, Cam Newton, RG3, Marvin Harrison. Damn, some ballplayers. Aaron Donald, and then this guy named Mark Ingram II, who's on the list as well. Mark, you got my vote, brother. I signed up. I got a vote and you got mine, my friend. I hope you get in this year.

You should have been in last year. I appreciate you, man. Yeah. It's just an honor, man. Anytime you have a chance to get recognized for something that you put blood, sweat, and tears into, it's always an honor and appreciative. Obviously, I feel like I should have been going in with my boy coach this year, Coach Meyer and Coach Saban.

And Coach Saban. Yeah, that would have been crazy. But man, you talk about the list of guys that you just named. I mean- Loaded. To be able to go in possibly with a big bro, Jonathan Vilma. He's like family to me. He was my OG when I got to New Orleans as a rookie. Talk about Dominic Kinsue, the dominant player that he was.

Percy Harvin, one of the best players to ever touch the football. He was a different type of guy, man. You got Ham Newton, scam Newton. No, barters don't be talking about those. I got that in there. Cam knows all of them, but RG three, Marvin Harrison, Aaron Donald. I mean, come on, man.

I, I, that's a legendary class right there. So be able to go with some ballers like that. I know we're going to have a ball if we all get it inducted this year. So I'm just looking forward to it, man. It's such a blessing. God is good. You know, hanging out with Coach all these years now, I feel like every couple months, the name Percy Harvin keeps popping up into the conversation. He was him, man. He was one of them ones. And I know how much he means to you, Coach.

Yeah, I've said this and not many people disagree who watched him or played against him or played with him. I think Kluge includes Pete Carroll when he had him at the Vikings, but I say this with great respect. I think he's arguably the greatest player to put on a helmet. I mean, when he was healthy, he just had so many injuries. He was a race horse that when he got dinged, it was just hard for him. But when he was the most violent runner I've ever had, and Mark, he never got hit. You go back, you go back. He had that, we used to say he's got like eyes in the side

and back of his head. And you know, some guys don't get hit because they slide, or some guys don't get hit because they run out of bounds or whatever. This guy, I've never seen, he was the most violent four-four, I mean legit four-four with a ball in his hand. He was extremely smart playing with tail back, we direct snapped him in the single wing. And of course he was an H back and an outside guy.

So he played four positions every game for us. Outside, inside, right back. He's a true runner back, part return, kick return, a true X receiver, a slot receiver, whatever you want him to be. He was one of those ones for sure. That's why, Coach, you say he's one of the best players. From watching football, he was definitely one of the best players to ever touch the football, man.

College, NFL, you name it. His highlights are second to none. So, hey, Mark, I was with Joe Hayden the other day and we were talking and, you know, Joe Hayden the other day and we were talking and you know, Joe Hayden came to Florida to play receiver H back after five minutes of practice. He saw Percy came to me and goes, I'm never going to beat that one out. Can I go play corner five minutes? So that's in a 10 minute window.

He saw one of the best players in NFL history come to me and say, I can't beat that cat out and within five minutes he's a starting corner at the university of Florida. I'm sure Joe Hayden will thank you because he made a lot of money playing defensive back. Yes he did probably took a lot less hits too. The triple option crystal ball brought to you by bet MGM the NBA finals are underway between the Pacers and the Thunder. Here's an offer for basketball fans you won't find anywhere else pick the player that you think will score first in the game. If it's not your player, relax. And he scores the second field goal of the game.

You get your stake back in cash. So the crystal ball, we're gonna go to the SEC and take a look at LSU this week. The over under regular season wins. Eight and a half. I'm telling you right now, take the over. They're going over eight and a half. Wow.

The over's being set, yep, at minus 155, the under at plus 120. Real quick, last year, LSU, eight and four. They lost to USC, A&M, Bama, and Florida had one ranked win over Ole Miss. Why the optimism down there in Baton Rouge? They've got a Heisman candidate under center in Garrett Nussmeyer, his fifth year at LSU, second as a starter, second highest Heisman odds behind that guy in Austin Arch Manning. Last year through for over 4,000 yards, completed 64% of his passes, 29 touchdowns,

12 interceptions. Got to bring that number down. They also returned their leading rusher, their leading receiver, and their leading tackler as well. They made some headway in the transfer portal. Everybody does these days. They brought in some defensive help from FSU and from Florida. Oklahoma wide receiver Nick Anderson, six foot four, injured last year, but members of freshmen, 10 touchdowns, 798 yards. So they're going to be really strong. We take a look at their schedule. No Georgia, no Texas on this, but my goodness, does it have a challenging start and starts have been a problem at LSU under coach Kelly. They begin at Clemson death Valley versus death Valley, not neutral site. This is in the state of South Carolina at Clemson at is a tough, tough place to start.

L L. All right. Coach L. Oh damn push. You want to put a pin in that one? Oh, point five point five. All right. I'm going to have a bunch of point fives. I'm going to. Yeah, that's all right. All right. So then it eases up for one game. Louisiana tech. Let's give them a win and then dub and then versus Florida home to Florida. I'm giving them a dub. What time? It's going to be a night game. You know, I don't know. I don't know. I'm going to say a dub for LSU. That's all right. So that's two, uh, Southeast Louisiana. Let's go three at old miss point. I'm, I'm with Mark, a four, a four coaches,

coaches now and around the point three versus South Carolina. Duh. Five at Vandy. Duh. Six versus Texas A&M. Duh. Seven at Alabama. L.

We don't even have to ask. Agree. We just know what's going to be. So that's seven versus Arkansas. Duh. Eight. Remember it's eight and a's seven versus Arkansas. Duh. Eight. Remember it's eight and a half versus Western Kentucky. Duh.

Nine. And then at Oklahoma to close. You just don't know their roster is going to be done. And last year they were bad, but I agree. But we gave them nine wins. Yeah. We feel pretty good with the nine. Don't we.

How about you, Mark? You just fired a nine winner. I was about to go under, but I just said nine wins. So yeah, okay. Brian Kelly, nine wins. All right. Here's the thing about Brian Kelly is he's won everywhere. It's I've always respected him.

He's won at grand Valley, I believe it was. And then in central Michigan and Cincinnati and Notre Dame. But the question is, and I've been asked since just by SEC fans, Mark, you know that fricking conference, is there pressure? Oh my gosh. Yes. They are going to be up on a guy so hard.

But he, I mean, my God, the guy's coached at Notre Dame. He knows handling that pressure. So I got a lot of respect for Brian Kelly. Stone, but you talked about all the guys we have returning. They lost two of their best office alignments in the draft. So you've got all these quarter we have returning they lost to it. Yeah So you got all these quarterbacks and all these skill positions, but can you protect them and can you sure up the offensive line? We don't totally fair but guess what? They got dudes back at the skill positions and accomplished cats to me that that makes me breathe easier rather than break No, Georgia. No, I don't care who you have at the skill position

If you can't run block and you can't pass block they can't do nothing I I'm with you. All right. Let me see. Let me throw this question at you real quick They have lost the season opener the past five years How much does that play in the thinking of the coaching staff the players and how much of a setback is? Losing your first game really in this new day and age of college football. I don't think the players care I don't want to speak for Mark, but players are in and out. The coaching staff, what I would do is evaluate everything that you do over and over and over again from preseason, where you're doing it. I change everything.

I mean, I would, I would, whatever we practiced last year, I'd move. Whatever time we practiced that, I'd change it just because that's the way my mind works. But I don't know if the players would, you know, the players don't care. They don't give a damn. The players don't care. They want to go play. And they work and they're ready to play. But the thing is, they're playing good teams to start the season.

Right. You who they play last year first, Notre Dame or was that A&L? I see. I think USC. USC. Yeah. Yeah. Now you got Clemson. So when you play top teams that are ranked high, you have the potential to take L in the first game. So when you play that first game, ranked high you have the potential to take an L in the first game so When you play that first game is all about who makes the least amount of mistakes

So you go back to fundamentals go back to studying a film and you go back to who cannot beat themselves The team who plays the most fundamentally sound the least amount of penalties most likely win the game in week one Coach did you like starting your season with a big dog on your schedule? Did you like to maybe ease into it with a week or two? That's a great question. It depends on what kind of team I had. If I had a returning quarterback, let's go. If I had a young buck, I'd rather wait a couple weeks,

let them get the feet underneath themself. So it depends what kind of team. I'll tell you what it does though. It makes that week of August training camp very serious. For sure. When you start with three dogs, you're easier teams, man. I used to carry, if I looked at our schedule

and our players would kind of know after a while, but I would actually use some of those early games as scrimmages in my mind. That's the way, because there's only so many hits a player can take. But if you're playing Clemson at Clemson, you better have your scrimmages in the bank two weeks before that game.

Yeah, yeah. So that means you gotta go hard early on and then back off or they'll be bowing out by the time you play that game. Seasons getting closer, man. Seasons getting closer. We're talking about some of these big week one matchups. LSU at Clemson, of course.

Texas at Ohio State as well. Make sure to follow, subscribe, rate us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find us on social media at 3XOptionShow as always. Thanks to our amazing sponsors, ZipRecruiter, Bet, MGM, and Wendy's, and we will see you next week.