The Triple Option - Down Goes Florida, USF's Alex Golesh Joins, Coaches' Hot Seat, Run Orange Run, & Week 3 Preview

Episode Date: September 10, 2025

Two weeks and two Florida colleges pull massive upsets! Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, and Rob Stone are joined by South Florida head coach Alex Golesh after the Bulls took down the Florida Gators for their second ranked win in as many weeks. Then we had a first, a kicker being named Deuce Deuce Dawg of the week. You read that right, Iowa State's Kyle Konrardy got the honor after his game winner over rival Iowa. The guys then talk post game sprints after Syracuse's Fran Brown made the Orange do up downs until they were no longer tired or thirsty. They then took a look at the hot seat and if the age of massive buyouts is on the way out. The guys then ranked the top three conferences in this week's rendition of "Three and Out", look away if you're a fan of the Big 12. They then hit the 2-minute drill, making their week 3 picks between Florida at LSU, Texas A&M at Notre Dame, and Georgia at Tennessee. 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. Wake up with Wendy’s breakfast ⁠https://www.wendys.com/breakfast⁠ Thank you to our additional sponsors Zip Recruiter - Try FOR FREE at ⁠⁠⁠https://Ziprecruiter.com/Option⁠⁠⁠ FanDuel - Visit https://Fanduel.com/TripleOption to download the app and take advantage of a 50% Profit Boost today! #CollegeFootball #USF #FloridaGators #SyracuseOrange #GeorgiaBulldogs #AlabamaCrimsonTide #UrbanMeyer #MarkIngramII Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is it against Central Michigan where that guy was on the sidelines? You can't make this up. It's the Stallions Bowl. It was like a Halloween outfit, right? I'm going to go dress like Bear Bryant. You'd look good in Hounstooth, Coach. I bet Coach would look good in Hounstoothed, huh? I make light of it because are you f***ing me?

That actually happened. The Triple Option is brought to you by Wendy's. Wake up with Wendy's 2 for $3 breakfast. Lighty. All right, time for another edition of the triple option. Rob Stone, Mark Ingram, Urban Meyer, back here with you, loaded show this week. Is Notre Dame guys in a must-win situation?

Coach Meyer is talking buyouts ahead of week three. I don't know what's going on with you, Coach, right now. We discuss post-game win sprints. Yeah, yeah, we're running sprints after the game. USF head coach Alex Golish joins us after the Bulls' huge win inside the swamp. as always. Thanks for joining us. We love having you here. Remember, please, if you can, rate, subscribe over at Apple Podcasts, Spotify. Wherever it is, you get your podcast as well as across social media. You can find us at 3X option show. Again, new shows come your way every Wednesday on

YouTube and wherever it is, you get your podcast. So let's get things fired up with any given Saturday. USF, folks, the Bulls down there in Tampa, they have started this season by taking down two ranked teams, and they have their site set on a third straight ranked win this Saturday at the U when the Bulls take on Miami, and we are really honored to be joined by one of the hottest names in the coaching biz right now, Bullshead coach Alex Scholish. Coach, thanks for joining us. I know you don't like talking about yourself. I've been listening to your emotional conversations since that big win in the swamp. So we'll primarily talk your program, but I know Coach Myers got a couple for you right off the bat. Coach, I know it's a Monday and you got a big one. So

For you to give your time today, I've been there. Thank you. That's great. I want to hit your right square in a jaw with this one, Coach. We've known each other. You've been great to me over the last few years. When you stand in front of a team, and I've done this, and in my heart, I'm thinking there's no chance we can do.

I mean, deep down, I'm going to motivate, I'm going to do the best we can for our staff, for our players, but we can't beat these guys. And then there's other times, even when the world says we can't, Deep in my soul, I said, we can, we can get this one, man. Where were you as you stood in front of that team getting ready to face, you know, a blue blood, you know, University of Florida? Yeah, you know, I think I'm so, so real with our guys. I think I've always been that way, just so real with where we are, where we're going, what's got to get done. And I'm that way we've to weep with them, you know, and we, I sit out.

them Friday night. It's really like my favorite, favorite night because it's really the first time, I think that I have the plan really thoroughly thought out. And we're morning practice team. So like Sunday to Monday to Tuesday to Wednesday is like bonkers for me all the way Wednesday night into Thursday morning. So Friday night when I've got the team is the first time where I'm like, all right, here is actually how we're going to go win this game. To your question, Coach, you know, I think I build up confidence throughout a week in myself. We've taught so much process-driven confidence building throughout the week with our guys that ultimately you get to a point where you start to believe that you can go get this thing done.

And, you know, I think, I think, you know, and you've been there, coach, you've, you've taken programs that weren't great, made him great. Like, I think that first year, there was like this hope and this looking around of, and I wonder who's going to make a play. And I think in year two for us, it was, it was a belief, but I think still a little bit of a hope just because there was no proof of concept and they hadn't seen it done. consistently themselves. I think crazy enough right now, there's a true expectation to win. And part of that is because they now have proof of concept, but I think more than anything else, this group is really, really unique. And I know every coach will sit here and tell you that, but they're unique because they've been through the crap. They've been through being told how terrible they are. They've been through being embarrassed. And the ones that are left

have bought into this process-driven program where all they worry about is their day-to-day. As a coach, you come walking in, and this is the typical coach. I'm not saying you are, but on a Sunday you usually come in, Mark, I did. And I'd start watching. I'd start watching. And I'd especially play playing like a Florida, Georgia, not SEC or the upper part of the Big Ten. And I start thinking, how in the hell are we going to block this cat? How are we going to do this? And then you get the how, how, how. But then you get to the Wednesday, Thursday, and you're watching it.

And you know, you just called these cats out there that got this process driven. And then all of a sudden, Thursday, you wake up, Mark, and you start your, you know, you kind of get chilled up a little, be like, hey, we got this damn thing. You know, here's how we're, you know, on Sunday, it's how. And then by you get to Thursday, it's like, when? Did that happen this week when you first flipped on the video and said, damn? And then all of a sudden as a week progressed, or were you from day, from the outset, were you ready to go? No, coach, I'm like the most paranoid human being ever. Literally, I sit here and I like wallowing my own misery.

Like, Hill is going to block these creatures. And more importantly, like, how do you not let them sub on third down? that if I learned anything coaching at the last spot like every good three team in that league like man on third down you're like where did they find four of these guys at the same time fresh as can be so like literally I start the week with what does second down look like so that third down they can't run these cats on the field and in this day and age like it's it's some of the best money can buy and so you're like like man I better have a good second down the plan but anything else but i do think as you go throughout the week and i think if you're real with your guys you know like hey like like we're playing an incredible front this week and there's there's two dudes on edges where where yeah like like didn't get a ton of sleep last night but like by the end of monday like here's our plan to how we're not going to let these guys affect at least we're not going to lose the game because we just run and free and and you're right

Coach, I think by Thursday, once you've seen your guys work and you feel like your plan is in place, you walk away with real confidence that, all right, like, they're going to make their place too, but ultimately, we've got a plan to at least equalize it. Coach, very appreciative for your time. I love what you're doing in the program. I live here in Florida, so I love what you're doing in the program. But we all know winning football is coming down to turnover ratio. two ranked wins

you guys have yet to turn the football over have forced three against Boise State first forced one against Florida in the swamp but that ball security starts with your quarterback who is absolute baller Byron Brown what I know about

them but for the people who do not know about your quarterback what does he bring to the table that for those who may not know who he is yeah you know Mark the ball security piece are dead on I'm knocking and on every piece of what I got here.

But we work the heck out of it, obviously. Every single day, that's the first thing we do right after walkthrough. We hammer it home. We coach it literally throughout the season as if we're in fall camp. And it's truly a standard of offensive football that if that ball's loose or sloppy, you're going to get held accountable for it. So at the end, it starts byron. And I think Byram is such a unique football player.

This kid has grown tremendously. We had him. My first year was a redshirt freshman. I think in a lot of ways was out there playing ball. Like at times it looked like backyard ball a little bit. But created so much with his feet, allowed himself to, allowed himself to develop as a passer. But I think the thing that that he established two years ago was he was, if not the toughest, then one of the toughest human beings mentally and physically tough in his program.

He's a young guy that learned what real process looks like. And you were able to point to him really early in his time and say, you've got to be like that guy. And I think when the quarterback is also one of your toughest dudes on the football team, both mentally and physically, I think it certainly gets the offense going. It certainly sets a standard offensively, but I think it's huge for the defense. Yes. I mean, beyond huge for the defense, he's a young guy that two years ago would, the defense

would rally around. And again, when you're at that time, he was 19. Nobody knew who he was, but as we were building defensively, when the defensive staff can point to the quarterback, I think it creates. It's a really neat buzz in certainly in the locker room. Then he went into last year and had a tough start, then got hurt and got beat up early. You know, played some really, really physical games early, got beat up, and then got hurt. And it was kind of like the air came out of the program there for a while.

It took us a second to get back going. But he had such an incredible offseason. And again, I think what's really neat about him is his process. is so consistent, like from Sunday at 10 a.m. to what Friday night at 11 p.m. looks like it's the same every single room. And he keeps asking questions and he's so curious about, is there a way to make this better or this better or this better, just truly about his process, both physically, mentally, and when he got hurt last year, the next morning, 10 a.m. Sunday, here he comes walking in, this time on crutches and never never wavered continue to lead continue to grow i think now

you're getting this 21-year-old mature version of a guy that's really confident in himself has real authentic confidence and again defensively rallies around around what he is and who he is the offensive line is more mature has has really rallied around him as well and i think in this modern day college football where like I've gotten the question of why do you choose to stay from just about everybody. My answer is truly why wouldn't you? He's in year three of the same system, year three of understanding of what's going on around him and understands what his role in this whole thing, which is beyond playing quarterback to be a true leader to exemplify what the identity of this program, at least what we wanted to be. Your bio is amazing. I'm going to try and

rip through it. Just give me kind of some bullet points of why and what you took away from some of these stops, okay? We start with your birth. You're born in Moscow. What happened? What's going on there? My parents are Russian. And when I was seven, so 91, that was that period where Soviet Union fell and um they were letting people get out and um my my aunt was in in new york so my mom's sister and as long as you had somebody that could sponsor you uh they'd let you out and my parents incredible people selfless people left literally every single thing they had behind and i have an older brother um who's a couple years older than i am literally got on a plane and came and started from scratch and my my little had as I understand a really good lives over there but knew that that

wasn't what they wanted for their kids like a truly really cool story yeah and my dad drove a box truck for a long time my mom cleaned houses and I watched some grind through through that time it was pretty neat I got a quick one because I know you got to go I want again take a viewer to a coach you're you got a player surrounding you you look at the scoreboard it's 1615. You got 207 left. I'm getting chills thinking about it. You're in the swamp. Really loud place, obviously, and you go without a third down. You systematically, I was watching it live on, obviously, on television as you're moving it down the field. Take us in the huddle. I mean, those are those memorable, I mean, I'm 61 years old. I remember all of them.

Those moments where you huddle your guys up and say, realize what's about to happen or is just like you said, process, just get first downs, get first downs. Take us in that huddle. quick. Yeah, literally every two-minute drive for us, starting with spring ball, tell them the same thing. One, tell them the situation, but two, what we do offensively, the two-minute drive is your because it's truly how we play. There's no uniqueness to ball mechanics, where the ball's got to go, where I think in probably traditional offenses, you're reminding guys, man, make sure the ball gets here. The quick reminders are, man, get out of bounds if you can.

If you can't, get what you can and go down. Remind them of the situation. We did a good job with the timeout piece. We used one on defense. So we used one earlier on a guy cramping up on an extra point. We used one on defense. Florida helped us out a little bit there by throwing it twice in a four-minute situation. And so we were able to have a timeout.

And so told him the situation. I did tell, tell Byram that you're the best quarterback in the country and everybody's about. And kind of smiled. But literally, I just said, do what we do. Let's rock one at a time. And we did. I mean, you just keep getting those grammaticas running through the campus. You let him step up and win it for you, man.

I love that last name. That carries a lot of weight in Tampa. and with that program. Yeah, he's one of the more unique human beings that have ever been around this Nico Gramatica. And you meet the family, you know why. But you talk about a young guy that's got an incredible mindset, pretty special.

But I'll give our offensive staff a ton of credit. The communication was awesome going into it. The communication throughout the drive is really, really solid. But I think the biggest factor, coach, to answer your question was you get a chunk play like that. It allows you to do a lot of things, allows you to run the ball, allows you to not have to feel like you have to push it down the field, which opens up a lot. I know we got, I know you got to get moving.

Coach, we know you got a big game to prepare for, but what we do on the show is we've been asking you questions, we allow you to ask any one of us a question, and then we'll let you go. So that's what we do on the triple option, and we appreciate you being here. Yeah, I'm going to go with you, Mark. toughest, toughest hit you ever took? Who was it? And, and how did that feel? In all the football? Let's go college and you got to be real here. Spikes? No, do you get you?

Man, in college? Should be one you remember. I had, I was running on the sideline. It was versus Tennessee. Eric Barry comes downhill and hits me and I try to like hurdle over him right and he just just mops my thigh like just hits my thigh I land on my neck

I got a thigh contusion but it was the first down so it was all good but Eric Barry for show you know he was a all pro all SEC one of the first round pick and I tried to make a highlight on him and he made me pay for It hit me dead on my thigh, thigh contusion.

Got to see the chiropractor for the next week. But we won the game, though. Coke's goalish. Can I be greedy with one last question? Because I want to hit something that I know is really important to your program. This quote, this is not a group of five job. I got to go beat Power 5 schools for kids. Otherwise, I'm not recruiting the right kid.

And then you look over your shoulder at that window, and you are seeing that brand new 35,000. seat stadium that's on campus coming your way. Where is USF now? Where does USF want to be? Yeah, I think a really, really unique job. Like you said, building a stadium right out here, building what I think is going to end up being the nicest football complex in the entire country. They, and that's not like coach talk. We've been through a lot to get this facility the right way and it's it's going to be absolutely incredible i think when i when i took this job the unique thing about it is the location the size of the school what it is academically you know

there's 53 000 students here in tampa it's an a u school and we're 28 years old as a football program and um you know obviously when i took the job it wasn't wasn't the sexiest job in america But everything was in place from the ability to recruit players in this era of transfer portal, the ability to bring guys back. You think about, and coach will attest to this, forever we came down here to recruit players. I mean, I was in Ames, Iowa trying to convince kids in Florida why they should go up there. And, you know, I was in Champaign, Illinois convincing them to go up there. So you know the type of talent that's down here. inevitably, they're going to leave.

There's going to be a handful that go somewhere else. I wanted to be in a place where when they want to come back, for whatever reason it is, they got to be a culture fit, but I wanted to be a place where they would come back to. So between the ability to acquire talent at a high school and then the ability to bring guys back, I think that was number one. Number two was just the fact that there was a real genuine commitment here to get it flipped. like the administration here understood then and understands now like we're up against the clock like this this landscape it's it's changed it's obviously changing but with conference realignment

with with everything going on like like you're either going to be it or you're going to be out and what I give these guys credit for is they said hell no we're going to be here and start with our chairman of our board like will weatherford's is a different mindset human being very much, like me, like, and are we going to tell him that something isn't real if he thinks it is? And it took me meeting him to say, all right, like, this is real. They're going to invest at an incredible clip. They're on a mission to take this place.

And you look at, and I'll leave it, leave it there, like, we're 28 years old. We're trying to compete with Florida who has been playing football for 130 whatever years. and Florida State has been playing football for 130 years, Miami, name them. Like, how do you close the gap? Well, the investment's got to be huge and you've got to do more than has ever been done here before if you want to be in the conversation for whatever this landscape ends up looking like. And the pressure to win is simply the fact that we are in a race against really ourselves

to get there as fast as we can. And as long as the investment was going to be real. And when I say investment, everybody assumes like NIL money and all this, like, no, the investment to hire a staff or real staff, support staff, the ability to feed these kids, how's these kids. Like, you look at how we're running this thing. Like, there's, we're spending on things that our players need. And that's when you sit, sit with family here, whether it's here or in their home, like, like, you can't tell me how an ACC school and SEC, school or big 12 school whatever are going to one coach your kid develop your kid different than we are feed them house them like you can't convince me and they're going to get a better education

because like I said this is an AAU institution that's done incredible things academically so I know I sound like I'm a recruiting spiel but these are all the same reasons I took the job to and a half years ago because it was going to feel by the way your first home was Moscow Russia My first home was probably just a few steps from you. My dad was a resident instructor at USF. My mom started the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority there. My dad worked for the Fiji sorority. I was baby Rob right there on campus by one of those tennis wall courts.

My parents were just here the banging, the banging of the tennis ball. Constantly sorority sisters would babysit me. Listen, my love for Tampa goes deep. Come to the bay. Stay in the bay. Coach, good luck making it three straight ranked wins. USF at Miami, Alex Golish. Thanks so much for your time.

Love to talking to you. Nice, coach. Appreciate you, Coach. That was awesome. You guys. The pleasure. Thanks for having me on. Go Bulls. Coming up next, Deuce Deuces, Dog of the Week. Players running sprints after the game.

We talk hot seats coming off of week two. And then later, we're going to take a look at how the conferences stack up. Plus, still to come, our week three picks. This episode is brought to you by Square. You're not just running a restaurant, you're building something big, and Square's there for all of it, giving your customers more ways to order, whether that's in-person with Square kiosk or online. Instant access to your sales, plus the funding you need to go even bigger.

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Learn more at mx.ca. slash yanex. Welcome back to the triple option presented by Wendy's Rob Stone, Mark Ingram, Urban Meyer coach. You're clearly not in Sarasota. Where are you this week? What are you doing?

Let me guess. I love Mark. So, by the way, when you play golf of Mark Ingram, the nice guy we see on this video, I hear language come out of his mouth. That, I mean, like, I mean,

You see shit. I mean, you see stuff. Is he a screamer coach? He's a screamer? I mean, I mean, because I love Mark and he's like my guy. And all of a sudden the first time I play with him, I mean, what? And he's in his father who said, watch your mouth, boy, or something like, remember that when he did? Oh, you got pops sync from that.

Oh, yeah. Senior looked at him and said, watch your mouth, boy. And I said, where is this going? Yeah. So I'm a cord of all. I'm a cord of all in Northern California, right, outside San Josea, a charity event, spectacular. Mark, I got thrown at you, so I played, I had to write him down. Pebble, Cyprus, Sanford, Olympic, and Monterey Peninsula a couple weeks ago.

Then last week, I played Shinnock National, West Hampton, and Garden City. This is after Ireland and Scotland. Mark, I coached for 38 years. I never, I played five rounds a year. Now I'm playing the Hyundai. I get it now why I'm not invited is because you don't like my language. I'll have better golf etiquette. No, no, no, no.

I have better golf etiquette. Okay. I promise. I have better golf etiquette, okay? That's not it at all. Actually, I love that, but it's just... I'm America's guest right now. So, Coach, how many of the top 100 courses

did have you knocked off in the past three weeks? You know, I got my daughter got me a little thing that says you put pins in where you played. That bad boy's filling up here in the last two years. So what out of the top 100, out of all those you just named, how many of those were in the top 100? All of them.

All of them. Maybe top 50. I mean, the ones... I mean, yeah, it's bad. And this is after Old Head in Ireland and Renaissance and Muirfield, Scotland. So, I just... You got play better, Mark. Just remember the small people, okay?

Yeah. I'll see it the 19th hole, Coach. All right, every week we're doing the deuce-duce. Dog of the Week, a player that impressed you. We're breaking records. We're the, the position that is so undervalued until you need it. And in a college town that is undervalued, but now we know how awesome it is. We're going, we're going to Ames, Iowa, right?

Where big noon kickoff was. Man, you hear about the doose, dood, dog of the week, you think it's going to be a running bike or a quarter bike or, you know, somebody who just went crazy and wire receiver. Not often is it the kicker. We got to show love to the kickers. And I'm showing love to your boy, Kyle Conrardy, the hometown hero, the hero in Ames, Iowa. The game winner, 54-yard game winner against Iowa. First time they won a Seahawk in Ames since 2011. He went three-for-three in the game.

Not only did he hit the game winner this year, he hit the game winner on them last year. Wow. You talk about a Seahawk legend, a Seahawk rivalry legend. He did it to you last week, last year, Iowa. He did it to you again this year, Iowa. Hey, what, let me ask you for the deuce, deuce. Arr-R-R-Hour-R-R-R-R-R-Dog, dog of the week. Hey, Mark, let me ask you.

We were there. What a great place. The student body is packed an hour for that game. What do you think it was like after that game for that kicker? Walking through the streets of Ames. Pretty good. Oh, hey, he'd get anything he won't on campus. Anything he won't.

get it. Good for him, man. I love that. A walk on from Dubuque. Remember the week prior, he had kicked a school record 63-yard field goal inside that stadium as well. There's a reason he's one of the best kickers in the nation. It got so quiet, Rob, and I was on the field standing right, you know, not right.

No, no. Did you get in your coach position? Did you do that for the kick? When he hit that ball, I mean, it was a, you know, because I love standing behind it. And it sounded, I didn't even have to watch it. When he hit that ball, it sounded like a good. golf shot. I mean, it was a thump, man. Okay, I want to do some quick coaching kicker conversations.

How many times did you actually go and watch a kicker kick in high school? A couple of times. You know, we were such a special teams, you know, most people said a lawn snapper kickers, they'll be walk-ons. We were one of the first, I think we were the first people to. When you say we, what is that? Is that Utah? Or is that Florida. Oh, early on, early, Bowling Green. Yeah. I was special teams coordinator at Notre Dame. And so I got to learn real fast, how important that is. But we would scholarship a lawn snapper way before people did that. Yeah, and we went to see kickers, and we've been lucky we had great kickers, great punters.

What were you looking for when you went to go see a kicker? Was it like literally the audio of the foot on ball? Was it? No, the kicker is pretty easy to judge. Does it go through the upright? Yeah, is that it? It's not like another, like the punter is a different animal. The punter is more of an athletic position.

and where you want to finish on balance. And it's like I can, I think a punter as a quarterback, you know, you can study that with a kicker. I would simply say, how far can you kick it? And let's, you know, and you also look at it in high school, is he going to grow and can, you know, because you just want to continue to get stronger. Yeah, it's easy to make fun of those kickers,

but when you need them and they show up big, like our guy, Kyle, there's a reason they're on scholarship, man. He is the man on campus. I've never envied a kicker. He's the deuce-duce dog of the week. Let's do sound off with one of our favorites. Remember in the off-season, Syracuse head coach, Fran Brown, joined us. And I know once the conversation ended, we were all off mic like,

oh, I like that dude, man. He's intense. He brings a little fire to it. And he backed up that fire. So let's take you back. Syracuse last weekend had to rally to beat Yukon in overtime. So they got the win. Here's what happened.

And here's the explanation. of the post-game activities in Syracuse. Because at certain times in the game, we wasn't running. Guys not running to get lined up. Guys not running to the ball. I just want to celebrate the run with the people, but I'm so pissed, right? I'm mad as heck right now.

I was taught through a lot of the coaches that coach me. You know, you need a coach it or allow it, so I feel that I'm allowing it. And there's just some things that I got to do, but I just want to hold them to the standard of who they are, right? These guys are excellent men. They're going to be great fathers and husbands, And I want to make sure that I'm always holding them to that standard of who they are

and not allowing them to underachieve at anything. I looked at that and at first blush, there's a part of me, yeah, that's like embarrassed for the players. But the second part is, uh-uh, man, Coach Brown's got that right. He is properly putting these guys in their place to succeed on and off the field. I have two comments. Number one, I love the dude. I don't know well.

Our interview with them was fantastic. But number one, he's setting a sense. standard and Syracuse is not a blue blood, you know, who knows down the road. They've had success over the years, but he's holding guys to a standard. That's number one. And number two, to do that, those players better, they have to respect the heck out of that guy and his staff to do that. Because in today's age, I'm surprised four people and they walk off the field.

Correct. You know, but that tells you the command, the respect that he's earned from the players. So people ask me, have I ever done? No, I'm not, you know, I usually waited until Monday and gotten it pretty good or Sunday, but not after the game. He'll get theirs. They'll get theirs. But you know what he said, though? He didn't say drop passes.

He didn't say made mistakes. He didn't say, because that's all part of the game. And the one thing I used to always say, Mark, is we will not coach effort. If you don't hustle to the ball and run the ball, you're not playing. You're done. Yes. You're done. Now, if you step with the wrong foot, you're on hand placement, you drop a pass.

That's called the game of football. You're going to make those mistakes. You missed assignment, you're going to make those stakes, but you don't run your ass to the ball. And four to six, A to B, you're not playing here. Could you pull that off at a Blue Blood School? You could. Can you now?

I don't know. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. The board should have did it in Alabama. Well, at Florida State a couple weeks ago, he should have did it to him then. He talked about them not running to the football and not having great effort. It wasn't what coach said. It wasn't a fumble. It wasn't an incomplete pass.

it wasn't a missed assignment. It was effort. He said 11 people weren't running to the football. So he said he's holding them to a standard. He said you're either coaching it or you're allowing it. He felt like he was coaching it. He said, I'm not going to allow it anymore. So, yes, you guys won this game,

but in order to get to where we want to be, the standard of that we're studying, y'all got to run right now because it's unacceptable what we saw. I want to make one more comment, and this is something used to tell our teams all the time. You have to believe this. The team that plays the hard.

hardest will win every game you play. If you don't believe that, that's a cultural issue. And I want to dig into this coach. I think he's. He's awesome. He's going places. He's doing some incredible stuff there. And how many, you know, I'm just trying to think who could do that. And he's one of one of one. That's the thing. There's a lot of coaches that might not have the guts to pull that off or the power in that locker room. I don't think there was any questioning. I think Fran saw that. He's like, go run. We're not done here. That wasn't acceptable. The thing about Fran is he's an old school hard-nosed coach. He's from New Jersey. Yes. And one thing is, he has a standard of where he wants to go for that program, and he cares

about his players. He said that they're going to be better fathers and better men from what they're going through running post-victory. So not only does he care about where the program and the standards of what the program is supposed to be, he cares about the men on his team. First time college football history? First time that's ever done? And D1 and Major D1? I don't think this is something they track, Coach. Newt Rockney or Frank Leahy. That's what I'm saying.

Can you imagine one of these legendary coaches and programs, you know, inside Notre Dame Stadium and the running winsprins at the end of the game? I respect it, though, Coach, because he said, I'm either coaching it or I'm allowing it. He felt like he was coaching it. He said, so I'm not about to allow it no more. Run your ass. We got to get him back on. We got to get him back on.

I hope everybody out there is enjoying the fraud. in Mark's throat this week. This is, you and I both have been coughing up some oysters over here. All right, clear your throat here. We're going to give coach some time. So that right there from Syracuse was our fresh take of the week presented by Wendy's. Wake up with Wendy's breakfast.

Love you, Wendy's. You are so good to us, man. All right, hard to believe. Here we are. We're heading into week three, but we have our first red alert of the year. We got a couple coaches that are on the hot seat. That seat is getting a little red,

right now. Already? Already. And by the way, Mark, this wasn't you bringing up the concept. It wasn't me bringing up the concept. Coach wanted to talk about coaches on the hot seat for a reason. We'll get to that in a second. So a couple of the big names that are on an early hot seat.

You know, we talked with Alex Golish earlier, the head coach at USF. Well, he just kind of reinforced the concept that Billy Napier in Gainesville is on the hot seat. Lost to South Florida is an 18.5 point favorite at home last year. They went eight and five after that four and five start. Remaining schedule is just brutal guys at LSU, at Miami, Texas, at A&M, blah, blah, blah, blah, it is brutal, and it's a big buyout. Let's go to your place, Mark Kalyn DeBoer. Now, after the win, six and five in his last 11 games.

Last year went nine and four, but those four losses to unranked teams. Mike Gundy, Ruttrow, 21st season, Oklahoma State. What a great job he has done, by the way, and still are. I think people are forgetting about that, but what have you done for me lately, right? said Janet Jackson, and last season did not go great. Three and nine, including O and nine in conference play. Had a little chatter, had a little chatter with Coach Lannning up there in Oregon last week. And, you know, what was the, what's the old breakfast club thing?

You mess with the bowl, you get the horn, something like that? Well, he messed with the duck. And the duck, the duck did things to the cowboy, 69 to three. The duck did things. Duck did some things, did the cowboy dirty. 69 to 3. Wow. So, Coach, there's a lot of fans out there.

There's a lot of hand-wringing. There's people saying, this isn't working. We need to change. Who cares about these buyouts? You take all of this in, and you're the one who wanted to talk about this. So what is it about it that triggered it for you? This is a fiscal conversation, not a personal conversation. You know, it breaks my heart about Florida because I'm attached to Florida.

I don't know Coach Napierre well, but I've lived there, and I know they've just not had what they want. So this is, once again, it's not directed at the person. It's directed at fiscal. And actually, Colin Coward brought this up to me. We were talking one day on air on the herd. And he said, and I've done some research on this. He said that you're going to see the end of the big buyouts. People are going to stick with coaches longer.

And then you just start thinking fiscally, you're going to see the, you know, these big monstrous facilities. I think it's going to slow down a little bit. I know Ohio State right now had on the books to redo the whole. They're on hold. The national champions are on hold. And it's why there's only so many, it's a finite number, money. You know, it used to be kind of infinite because television contracts, you had players, your labor or your players were getting nothing.

And then what would they do? They'd pay the coaches a strong astronomical amount of money. And then all those millions left, they'd go build. you know, these locker rooms and these, you know, so I think the era of buyouts and the era of new facilities going up every three or four years are gone. Now that money is going to whom? And I'm not saying it's wrong. No.

But that's where it's going is going to the player. And so when Colin said that to me, I kind of did some research. And it's going to be interesting to see because you're throwing around some big and And some not so big, but you're throwing out some big buyouts, which I don't know if teams, because at the end of the day, that money, where does it come from? You can't say the school, that has to be a direct donor, but the donors are also supplying money as form of the NIL. So I think it's very intriguing to watch what's going to happen.

Yeah, you talk about buyouts, like they're not going to be willing to pay those anymore, coach, because if you pay that to a coach, let's see, the most recent. buyouts, Jimbo Feasler, 77.5 million. That's done. No one happened again. Gus Malizan, 22 million. Charlie Weiss, 19 million. That's a whole national championship roster.

Yeah. So, and like you said, with the facilities, unlimited money getting spilled to upgrade facilities every three years. No, you're going to stay in this facility. I'm going to pay you because I need my roster to be able to compete for a title. So, like, this is very interesting and an intriguing concept, coach. Good job. You know the interesting thing, too, Rob and Mark.

Producer Meyer. Is that, do you remember the NFL's changed? Because now the money's become so ridiculous. But I was shocked when I started going to NFL training camps and facilities. The NFL used to be garbage. Cheeked up. And I'm like, wait a minute. I'm at Utah and I have better facilities of most NFL programs.

Why? Because where's the money go? The money goes to the player. You know, it's changed a lot now because of free agency. The player and the owner's pocket. When I first went, the Jags. I mean, the facility was a bad high school. I couldn't get over that. You got multi-million dollar athletes in this bad high school facility. But, you know, I think

that's changing because of the free agency and the money in the NFL has been. Let's talk about change. Here's one way it changes. You take these buyouts out of the contract. Now, the agents have done their job that are representing these coaches. I get it, right? They want financial stability. they want the universities to believe in them and trust in them and give them a long run. But at some point, some of these schools are going to say, yeah, we're not going to offer you that buyout. We're not going to get the coach then. Well, maybe that's the marketplace. No, I know.

I understand that's the marketplace, but marketplace has changed. Right. And if those ADs get together, like, we can't keep doing this in this day and age. It says without cause, there is cause. You're losing. Yeah. You caused me to fire you by losing. losing so many games.

Yeah, if you were winning, there would be no cause, but you're losing. So the cause is you're not winning. So can we come to a mutual agreement? I'm looking right in front of me, $63 million. Insane numbers, coach. I don't see it happen. So then you're stuck. Like Chuck.

Stuck like Chuck. Yeah, you're eating dinner next to a dude you don't want to be with for a couple years because you don't want to pay that final tab when it comes up. You get the alligator arms. Sheeper to keep her. In real time. I had never heard that one. Oh, no, that's awful.

I hope my wife is not listening to the pod this week. I'm sorry she's not. Yeah, she's happily married as far as I know. All right, coming up next, we take a look at the big games in week three. We're going to make our picks in the two-minute drill and go three and out talking conferences when the triple option presented by Wendy's continues. Reading, playing, learning. Stellist lenses do more than just correct your child's vision.

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This week we are going to rank, heading into week three, the top three conferences. All right, we're going to start three, two, and one. Mark, you get first dibs. Who's at number three? Who's that number three? Is it a battle between two conferences? We can sit here and talk this and argue this for however long you want. But, I mean, if you just want me to be quick and just get through this thing, I mean, the bottom two, you got to go either the Big 12 or the ACC, and I love the Big 12. They show us lots of love. But when you talk about ACC, their top heavy is better than the Big 12's top heavy.

You have Miami, you have Florida State who was looking much better this year. You have Clemson, who is perinally one of the better teams in the country, as opposed to the Big 12. You have Iowa State and Texas Tech who spent a great investment on their roster. So right now, when you go for number three, I'm going ACC over Big 12 because I think their top teams would beat Big 12's top teams. Number two. Number two. Now, here you go when you can get the clickbait. No, but let's.

last two national champions come out of the Big Ten. Mm-hmm. But Michigan is whatever. Okay. But the Big Ten needs to... Ohio State is carrying the Big Ten right now. Ohio State is literally carrying the Big Ten. And Oregon.

And Penn State. And who? Penn State. Oh, my gosh. I got to see it to believe it, all right? That's fair. I still got to see it to believe it with Penn State. So you're telling me Big Ten is number two.

No, no, no. I'm not saying that. I think the Big Ten's top three teams can easily compete with the SEC's top three teams, where it wasn't like that. It wasn't like that past five years ago. There was a kind of a separation, kind of Ohio State only, right? And now you have Penn State, you have Oregon, Michigan with this Bryce Underwood. We'll see how they develop.

But when you talk about depth as a conference, the SEC by far, they have 11 teams in the top 25 right now as opposed to the big 10 has six so the top of the top of the league i think is very close so i'll give it to big 10 right now i'll give big 10 number one because they have the last two national champions ohio state beat texas out of the cc so recently i'll give it to big 10 right now but as a as the overall conference and depth of a conference i have to go to the cc you have LSU, you have Georgia, you have Texas, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, A&M, Ole Miss, Alabama, Boohoo, Booty Cheek, Barner, Arburn, and Missouri. They're all in the top 25. That's 11 teams. Like, so when you talk about depth of a conference, SEC, there's second to none. All right. Here's my top three conferences right now. The ACC edges the big 12 for number three.

You have Miami. You have Florida State. Yeah, Florida State and Clemson, all bringing national title conversations. aspirations to the table, something that the Big 12 can't do quite yet. At number two, for me, it is the Big Ten. As we mentioned, they're buoyed by the Buckeyes and that win over Texas, the promise, the promise mark of Penn State, what Oregon is. And let's throw Illinois in the conversation as well. But number one, it's the SEC, despite, this is despite Alabama and Florida with those early season issues.

LSU, though, they proved at Clemson. They are a title contender. Ditto for Georgia, ditto for Texas, Navy, Tennessee, and dare I say, dare I say, Oklahoma is now back

in the national title conversation. ACC, you're at three, Big Ten, you're at two, SEC number one. Coach? Yeah, I don't have much to add. I agree with everything you guys said. I think the ACC or the Big 12,

I mean, the losses, I was just staring at Arizona State, losing the Mississippi State. That's a really bad loss. It was in Stark Vegas, but still that one of her. Smoked, West Virginia losing Ohio, our friend Rich Rodriguez and Kansas State losing the Army. So, I, ACC's ahead of them.

You know, there's just, it's a little bit like when your dogs aren't dogs, and you have to have, I think the one thing that's holding the Big Ten back a little bit, I still think they're number one because you're the king until you, you know, you're the king unless someone beats the king. And Texas didn't do it. So, and I know there's more depth than the SEC. but I would go I'd go ACC third SECC I do agree depth probably better but at the end of the day we're still early in the season and and I like Penn State Ohio State and Oregon there's more depth than SEC but just go beat all you got to do SEC is beat the Big Ten and it's an easy shift and they haven't done it by the way if Michigan took care of Oklahoma on the road last week I think the Big Ten conversation would be up a little bit higher than the SEC but right that's

The Bryce Underwood conversation is fascinating. You know, so much love, deservedly so after what he did in week one. And then, boy, Brent Venables, again, calling the plays defensively for Oklahoma this season. That defense really messed with the true freshman Bryce Underwood, 9 to 24, 142 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions. And then you, boy, Mateer. Oof. He's a problem. Listen, I've been saying, Meteer for Heisman, he's got to be in the conversation after what he did.

But I just want to talk about Underwood real quick, what you saw from him, coach, what you saw from Michigan, and also, oh, by the way, what's coming in the next couple days, frankly, what Michigan is in the midst of right now with their head coach? Well, we have Dave Portnoy on our big noon, and he said made the comment the best freshman ever. And I just think after beating New Mexico, what that happens? You know, everybody gets excited and I did. I mean, I see an incredible talent. You know what? I still see incredible talent. What did you think was going to happen?

He's facing Brent and Venables, I think one of the best defense coordinators, and I coached against him, in modern history as far as, and Mark, it's not just fundamentals. They play one-third bear, one-third odd, and one-third four-down. And for the viewer, listener, I mean, for a quarterback and offensive line, I've coached it. That's almost impossible to prepare for, and then the split package is unbelievable. So they play Brent Venerables, the de-coordinator. They have great players. They've done a good job.

I watched that game. Number three, it's on the road in Norman, Oklahoma. What do you think is going to happen with a true freshman? My point is this, is that that's not the true freshman's job to win that game. It's the players around them. True freshmen, I'm going to say, true freshmen don't win that game. They might manage it like a Julian Sayan, who's not a true. He's a Richard freshman.

No, he's a sophomore because he played a little bit last year. But the way you manage a game is you don't put it on his shoulders. And everyone has to tell it. Mark, you've been in those games. If I was playing with, if Mark was playing for me, and I was playing a true freshman or first time starter, I have my arm around Mark Angerman and says, I'm going to blow you out today, pal.

You will not, will help you get off the field after the game. But you have to carry the load. This kid can't do that. Does that mean he's not, and everybody pumped? He's going to be fine. Yes. I still think he's going to be a great player. Now, the other conversation, which not many people talk about,

the head coach is, I, what's the self-suspension? is that what the NCAA, first of all, just I put a red line through the NCAA. In my mind, they do not exist anymore. So I'm just anxious now. What is it against Central Michigan where that guy was on the sidelines? You can't make this up. It's the Stallions Bowl. No, the guy was dressed in a...

Connor Stallions. It was like a Halloween outfit, right? Mark, I'm going to go dress like Bear Bryant. So, I mean, he's on a sideline. And you'd look good in Houn's Tooth, Coach. I bet coach would look good in Hound's tooth. And I make light of it because, are you shitting me? That actually happened.

And so the coach is going to be suspended for two, I think it's two games. But I don't, you know, but they're going to play teams that they'll just wipe the floor with. But I don't know. Convenient suspension. But as far as Bryce Underwood, he's still going to be a great player. Bryce Underwood is. The other players got to pick up the slack. Yeah.

When you have a true freshman quarterback going on the road to Oklahoma against a Brett Venable's defense and a mature who is going absolutely berserk. It is up to exactly to echo what coach said. It is up to the team and the coach of staff to surround this young true freshman and everyone elevate their level of play to make his job as easy as possible. Don't put the pressure on him,

expect him to make every single throw, every single decision, get out of bad plays, into good plays. No, everyone else has to elevate their level of play, their level of coaching, to make this young freshman quarterback's job as easy as possible on the road. against a tough Oklahoma team.

Mark, last week on Big Noon kickoff, you and Matt did your first club Heisman of the season, right, when we were in Ames. You did not have Metteer in it, correct? Matier was in there, Maddie had Mette. He was still in line, right? He was trying to sneak him in the back door, right? He was in line, you know, but the bouchers had seen him.

The boucher's seen him. Now week three, where's Metteer? Oh, he's in the corner section, and he got Norman in there with him, and they're going crazy. They popping champagne bottles of ace He's going up in the club All right

I like that kid I don't think Oklahoma can run him As much as they did against Michigan Against some of those Those monsters week in and week out In the SEC But boy that kid's got He's got some Baker Mayfield in him

Right Mobility is an advantage man You gotta have the mobility You gotta use the mobility Mobile quarterbacks give these Defensive Coordinators Nightmares And they lose sleep at night

Correct They lose sleep at night All right I'll talk about this later We're running and we're running heavy this week. All right. You guys ready for two-minute drill?

We're going up-tempo. I remind you, we were going up-tempo. All right, coach, two-minute drill. It's brought to you by Fandool. Visit Fanduil.com slash triple option to download the app and take advantage of a 50% profit boost today. Coach, we are going to start with you, a game you know well. Florida at LSU, the Tigers favored by nine and a half,

nine and a half over under 51.5 points. coach. I told you this one pains me, man. That was when the old lady flipped me off as I was coming into a night game. And Mark, she threw the, she double shot me at the double bird. Oh, yeah, she was on a walker. And she got eye contact as you make that, you know that drive into that. Through the walker away. And she put the walker down. She didn't throw it away. She could barely stand up and she did the bang, double bang. By the way, you want fans like that on your team, man. You wish you had those in Gainesville back there. And then you hear things hitting the bus as you're going in there.

Yeah, they pushing the bus. And the one guy threw that stuff on me. So, I mean, that is a nasty, rugged place. And so the first time when you, when I was going to look at this, my first question was Mark what or Rob, what time is a game? And it's a night one. Yeah, trouble. And we won one game at night down there. We were one and two or one and three down there.

It's a rugged, rugged place. They just don't lose. And I think Brian Kelly's got it going. I'm a Gator. I'm a Gator fan. I don't want to do this when I'm picking L. us you over the nine and a half. Okay.

All right. You're laying the points? Yeah, I think that's a tough rugged. I think it's close for a minute. But after that loss, I'll tell you what, you're going to find out? Yes.

I always use the term, grown-ass men. What do you have in that locker room, pal? You can say the coach, coach, coach, and I get it. That's his job. But it's also, do you have Brandon spikes in Mark Ingram?

The rough start for Florida last year, and Napier was able to turn it around. And it wasn't Napier. It's the grown-ass man in the locker. So it's worked together on that. Again, he's the coach. So he was able to turn around. Whatever that was, the culture, the mood, the tone, whatever.

But they've been there before. But you can't, if you're a gator, you can't keep finding yourself in these situations, right? And plus last year, that was at home. That was at home. Correct. That LSU at night. Ranked showdown, number 16, Texas A&M at 8th ranked Notre Dame. This one feels kind of like a season-defining type game, really for both of them, right?

Notre Dame favored at home by. six and a half, over under 48 and a half. A lot is going to depend on the health of Texas A&M QB. Marcel Reed left Saturday's big win over Utah State in the second half with a lower body injury. He's a dual threat cat. So far, guys, zero turnovers, and he's accounted for seven touchdowns. 509 yards through the air, leads the team with 105 yards rushing.

Maroon and white, by the way, the offense has been going, right? 86 points in their first two games. They got this guy, Cassius Howe, last week. I don't know if you guys saw this. He had back to back to back sacks. Three straight plays where he had sacks, the Maroon and White D. They have forced 17 punts this season. That's second most in the nation.

And they have also forced 11, 3 and out. So they are solid on both sides of the ball. What's really interesting about Notre Dame, you know, they're coming off the week one law. at Miami, and then a buy, a week to buy to get ready for Texas A&M. C.J. Carr, the freshman quarterback, pretty good in his debut, I would say, right? 221, two touchdowns, threw a pick with sack three times. Our friend Brady Quinn raves about him, right? Brady's really high on the future of C.J.

Carr. Jeremiah Love, like, where was Jeremiah Love in South Beach? Right, Mark? Ten carries 33 yards. Remember, he went over 1,100 years. yards last season against Miami had a total 14 touches 59 yards not enough right I'm talking to a running back of course it's not enough right a guy like love the best running back in the country feed them feed him here's why though this one is dire this is dire for your Irish coach already oh and one should they go to oh and two and you look at the rest of their schedule which I would describe aggressively as me they have no ranked teams current ranked teams left on their schedule.

USC will probably be ranked when they meet October 18th. But with the schedule that's in front of them, the fact they're not in a conference, they have to win this game if they want to get back to the college football playoffs. And because of that factor, I like the Irish and I like the Irish to cover. Ooh.

You're laying the points. I am, my friend. I am. Mark, you're up, brother. All right. Georgia at Tennessee. Bulldogs. on the road and favored

by six and a half the over under 50.5. George at Tennessee. Sheesh, man. You're both going to lay in the points. Lord, there's a common theme here. No, but, man, Georgia. Georgia.

Sing it. Hold on first. You got to sing it. Georgia. Georgia. Georgia. My boy's a little raspy. Sorry, y'all.

It's a bad day to ask you to sing. Sorry, that's not me. But no, Georgia replaced. That's a bad teammate. Yeah, Georgia, we're placing 15 starters from last year's SEC championship team. But what do they do? They just reload. They have 16 former five stars on the roster.

Gunner Stockton, it's his time. It's his time as a bulldog. He's been playing really well in his first two games. Obviously, he's just Marshall and Austin P. But still, 251 total yards per game, four touchdowns. What did they need last year? They need some help on the outside. What do they do, Stoner?

They go and get one of the most explosive receivers in the country and in the trash reporter. wire receiver Zachariah Branch from USC. So can they be more explosive on offense? I think they can be. Kirby's defense, always strong. Only giving up 13 points the season so far. Yes, only Marshall and Austin P. But still, they've held them under 80 yards rushing.

So offense, defense. Georgia is going to be Georgia. So we'll see what we got on the road of Tennessee. Tennessee hasn't beaten them since 2016. Kirby's first season as a head coach there. now let's go to the volunteers we know about the shenanigans they had with nico iamaliava and that public nil dispute they had but guess what they went and got a trash for quarterback joey aguilar and he's been doing his thing his first two weeks yes it was against our boy coach fran

syracuse and east tennessee state but they scored 45 points and over 45 points each game this year he's averaging 285 total yards per game five touchdowns no interceptions the defense eight total sacks. Five different players have a sack. They're the number one scoring offense and the number one total offense in the SEC. So, with that being said, we have a great legendary SEC matchup in our hands in this week three. And your boy is going with Georgia, Georgia. And I'm laying the points. Hey. I like Georgia by a touchdown. All right. By the way, coach, do you have your spikes on right now? Are you, like, ready to sprint out that door behind you and go hit the links? Don't, don't worry about me. You can stand on my private, you know, don't, I don't.

Yeah, I do. Love it. Hey, follow, subscribe, rate us on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast, as well as across social media, 3X option show. Please leave comments as well. We would love to answer them on the show. And as always, thanks to our wonderful sponsors. Wendy, ZipRecruiter, and FanDuel. Enjoy the games. week and we'll see you again next week. Coach, hit it long, hit it straight. Yep, you can sink them puss, man.