The Triple Option - New England Patriots Mike Vrabel Joins, Memorial Day Tribute, Bielema Extension & Clemson Preview

Episode Date: May 21, 2025

Some things are bigger than football.   Urban, Mark & Rob reflect on what Memorial Day means to them and how they honor those that served.   Want some job interview advice? New England Patriots Head Coach Mike Vrabel might not be the guy to go to. He and Urban look back at their time together in Columbus, the Patriot Way, and how coaching the new generation of college athlete is different than just five years ago.   The Fighting Illini hit 10 wins for just the fifth time in school history, so what do they do? Write Bret Bielema a fat check of course. Urban reflects on why Bielema is built for the Big Ten and why Illinois fans should be excited about the future. The guys then take a look at one of the most talented teams heading into the 2025 season: Clemson football with "The Crystal Ball". New episodes of The Triple Option drop every Wednesday. Make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube and following on all podcast platforms. Also make sure you’re locked in on social @3XOptionShow on all platforms for highlight moments, bonus content, and to engage with the guys and the TO community. (⁠⁠⁠https://tripleoptionshow.com⁠⁠⁠) The Triple Option is presented by Wendy’s.  Find your new favorite Frosty Fusions™ flavor today with choices like OREO®Brownie, Caramel Crunch, and Pop-Tarts® Strawberry. ⁠https://m-wendys.app.link/frostyfusion25⁠   Thank you to our additional sponsors NHTSA – Click it or Ticket: ⁠http://www.nhtsa.gov/clickit⁠   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

So we're playing Wolverines in 2012. It's probably five degrees outside. I look over at Mike, his face is bruised up and he's got a little mark on his face right there. And I'm, what the hell happened here? Found out that the players were all headbutting each other and someone got right in the middle of it. His name was Mike Rambo.

It was right here. It split me up. I had six stitches and they wrapped gauze around my head and then put a beanie on. Like it. around my head and then put a beanie on. 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. Memorial Day edition. It's coming up in a couple days. Happy early Memorial Day weekend to you guys, all those who've served out there looking forward to it. Welcome to the Triple

Option presented by Wendy's, Rob Stone, Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram, the second with you. Thanks as always for being part of our family here at the Triple Option. We encourage you to rate, subscribe over at Apple, podcast, Spotify, wherever you find your podcasts. You can find us on social media, 3X option show, new episodes every Wednesday on YouTube, wherever it is you get your podcasts. Coming up on this week's edition of The Triple Option, we'll have New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel will join us. But first we get strapped in. Presented by NHTSA, not wearing your seatbelt could cost you a ticket or your life. Don't risk it. Click it or ticket Memorial Day as we mentioned right around the corner. College

football community the military communities coach they've always kind of come together. They always kind of seem to hold hold hands if you will great relationship between these two awesome products. So I'll start with you coach then to Mark what is what does the military mean to you? I was raised in a military family and it's been a part of my life as far back as I can remember and I serve on two foundation boards. It's by choice. It's the Folds of Honor and Veterans Golf Association and Rob, you and I are going to head to New York City and speak at Catcha Lift and other veterans

foundation or charitable program, supporting program. So I've also in a selfish way, Mark, I've used the United States military as the ultimate form of selflessness and dedication with my teams. Every year I was a head coach, I was the basis of our team. Because if you can get the, a team of selfless people, like the men and women who serve our country, guess what pal, you're not going to lose many games. And so much respect, much love for the men and women who serve. I agree with you 1000% coach, the men and women who have served our country and who serve our country, I have so much admiration and respect for them, for the selfless, just like you said,

that they have to go out there and protect our country and give us, you know, the freedom that we have. So super thankful to all the men and women who serve, all the men and women who have served. We are forever in debt to you guys. So thank you so much and we love you and happy Memorial day. You know, Rob, I wish, I wish we could take, you know, on those two USO trips to go see, uh, in Kuwait is where I went and to watch what they do.

Well, remember now this is away from your families and they're doing the hard, that's all you can say underlying the hard, what they're doing the hard. That's all you can say. Underlying the hard. What they're doing. Those USO tours are amazing coach. Amazing man. I did one in Italy and Germany and it was amazing experience, man. And I had to go out there.

Yeah. I went out there with the German shepherd and had him on there. And they made me run from him and he yanked me down. Oh, help me. Help me please. No, it's just an amazing experience. And shout out to all the men and women who have served our country and are serving our country. We love you.

For sure. And coach, I do appreciate it. It was an ask on my behalf for one of my friends. You're coming to New York City this week. You and I are going to get together for the Catch a Lift fundraiser in the city. Catch a Lift. Is it because I'm black? No, no, you're always, we'll get you next week. I'll just play, I'll just play. It's helped thousands of post-9-11 combat injured veterans

regain their mental and physical health through gym memberships, in-home gym equipment, personalized fitness and nutrition programs, and a peer support network. We forget that when you serve, you continue to give back, right? Just because you've left the military, the military is still in you and there's still some scars in there.

There's still some healing that needs to be done with it. I can't wait, Stoner, thanks for having me. Mentally or physically, you're gonna love it, Coach. It's the Catch a Lift Fund and the- Throw out them hearts, Coach, throw out their heart, Coach. It's awesome, it's awesome. And one last thing as we close it on Memorial Day weekend, I wanna give a shout out to my wife.

She did just an awesome thing a couple years ago during Memorial Day weekend. I was out of town and she had all four of the kids and she said, guys, the Memorial Day weekend is not about a three-day barbecue bender, right? It's about honoring and paying your respect to those that have essentially paid the ultimate price or those who continue to serve your country.

And up near Westwood, near the campus of UCLA, there is a huge military graveyard, for lack of a better term. And she took them out there and they placed American flags and they walked around and they had some moment of introspection. That's awesome. Yeah, and I think more people need to do that.

We went to Normandy a couple of years ago after covering a Women's World Cup and we're like, yeah, all of us, let's go. We're gonna go down to the beaches. We're gonna find these foxholes. We're gonna take this tour. We're gonna go to these graveyards and pay your respects, man, to these people

who've done so much to put us in a position where we can have a great three-day weekend. And we need to understand why we have it and pay our respects to those who helped us. Here we go. Good job to my wife, Lynn Stone, by the way. All right. Coming up next, the triple option, we talk to a patriot, but of a different type of meaning. The new head coach, the New England Patriots, Mike Brable joins us next. The new BMO VI Porter MasterCard is your ticket to more. More perks.

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to Scarlet and Gray, three-time Super Bowl champion, and the new head coach of the New England Patriots. Mike Varioble, man, we appreciate you joining us. Thank you, big dog. Appreciate you having me, man. I was gonna wear the hoodie. I just figured I couldn't cut the sleeves off. Hey, I don't want you showing me up.

I know you still stacked up, dog, so you know what I mean? Hell I am. Mark, you said you got a little piece of Ray Vable, or he got a little piece of you over the years. Which one happened? We had our shared run-ins, man. I respect him a lot as a player and respect him a lot as a coach.

I know what his teams are built on, the ones that I played against the Ravens, the Titans. We had some, some battles from head to head. So I know what he's about. And he's a coach that I would have loved to play for, for sure. He kept saying he's, we should trade him in for Derek Kent. We should trade him in. Derek Henry said I'm the real Bama running back. He know what's up.

I helped you have that. You know what I mean? I helped you groom that right there. up. Hey, I helped you have that. You know what I mean? I helped you groom that right there. Perfect. Hey, Mike, I want to hit everybody. I think this is going to be a really good story, but in oh five, I get a phone call from Bill Belichick. I just take the Florida job from Utah with Alex Smith and he calls me and he says,

Hey, this is Bill Belichick. And I said, yeah, this is Pete Rose. I started joking around and saying, and he said, no, it's really Bill Belichick. I'm like, Oh damn. And he said, I've studied your offense. I want to bring Josh McDaniels down. We're going to study some of the spread offense you guys are doing. So he comes down, we strike up a great relationship for years.

He invites me up in spring of Oh six for a mini camp. And I think to this day, I still share that that's the arguably the greatest locker room that's ever I've ever witnessed. And I think that maybe ever existed. You had Tom Brady, Bruce Keefe, Rable, Rodney Harrison, Vince Will Fork, uh, and many others, but I was dealing with some stuff like all players, like all coaches, you had lazy, you had just, you know, just shit going on in your locker room in 05 and 06. This is the first time I met you.

I sit down with you and I'm, I remember as you, Bruce Kean, Tom Brady. And I said, guys, just let me grab you for five minutes here. Cause I was amazed. This is after watching a mini camp that I mean, I saw Mike Vrabel with a beanie on his head running down as hard as he could on a scale kickoff. I see Tom Brady acting like a two minute drills. He's trying to win the super well, Bruski's running the entire defense. And here's what Mike Vrabel told me is to coach our job in the locker room.

We don't put up with anything in this locker room. We find players, we hold people accountable. It's my job, our job to keep it off of Bill Belichick's desk. That's what he told me. And I looked at, I used that with my team. We won the national championship that year. You remember when I was a coach at Ohio State, I told people the stories about that locker room.

Great players, great coaches come and go. Great locker rooms are, I think, damn near impossible to get. Tell us about, take us into that locker room and tell us how in the world do you get that going again at New England? Well, I think that that's the biggest question, right? It's not what it was. It's how do we recreate that?

And I think that I was always trying to search for that. And I think you start by investing in people. I think you have to, again, you have to be able to have some talent to play in this league. You can't win games without talent, but I thought we were very intentional and free agency. We had to reinvigorate some of the talent on this football team and some of the people that we brought in hopefully can do do that, right? Cause my job and your job when you were a coach is to protect the team. And that's the most important thing is the team.

And so if the players are willing to do it, great. And if they can't, then that's where I have to be able to step in and do my job and hold people accountable and put them in the right places. And hopefully if you get enough of those players and they compete and they embrace in the right places. And, and hopefully if you get enough of those players and they compete and they embrace that. Right.

And I think the closer that you become to each other, the easier it is to hold a guy accountable. If I don't know Mark and I'm like, Mark, you're, you're not really running that hard or you're not finishing runs. He's going to bow up and he's going to be like, I don't worry. Who are you to tell me this? But the more I get to know Mark and the more his family and the things that he cares about and the things that are important to him, then it's like Mark,

but get your, get your pads down, man. And run through contact and you're going to have to break. We can't block them all. And then he starts to say, you know what? He's right. I am not, I'm not finishing like I should. And so I think it does start with the connection piece that I think is critical so that you can do that from a teammate to teammate perspective

and then from a coach to player perspective. Hey, Coach, I wouldn't question you if you told me that. I would figure out how to get my well, because you're old school. You know, I mean, we're getting a different player now. I know you want it because I know where you are. You were raised and how you were coached. And but it's different. Like we are getting a different player.

This is a, that I think the players should be paid. I think they should be compensated. Yeah. But the ability for them to kind of move when they want to move is taken the team aspect away and that's okay. Like we'll figure it out, but we just got to figure out which behavior we can actually change when it gets to the league. Because we, the team is critical in this case.

It's a long, it's a long season. It's a tough season and the team is the only thing that's going to get you through, you know, some of those tough times. Hey, before I turn over to Mara, I just want to really stay in this locker room conversation because I'm still mesmerized by it. So I remember coach Belichick and Matt Patrician were very close with and they would take maybe a player, you know, he actually used these words, a peripheral type player and a peripheral player is maybe that has a reputation of being selfish or you know,

we're all selfish, but I mean, just maybe not a team first player. And then you see New England take these guys back in that era and they became team players and I remember Mike Frabel. I remember hitting you guys with that. And you said it's, I, you would go to this staff and I think Brady even said this somewhere, all handle this guy. You know, this is a, this is the way we do business here. It's because you got grown ass men running a locker room, not children.

So hit us again. I think what we found out like Cory Dylan was a great teammate and Cory Dylan, only thing I knew about Cory Dylan was that people in Cincinnati or somebody didn't like them in Cincinnati or said the media said, like, but when he got here, I was like, this guy runs his ass off. Like he tries to break people's face masks with his and I'm like, you know, or Rodney Harrison, like Rodney showed up and I'm like, whoever said this guy couldn't still play should never evaluate talent ever again. Like this is crazy. So I think all you do is you have an open mind and you can only evaluate,

like I don't care how to get here. All I care about is what they do when they're here. So if you can spread that message, like who cares what you did or what people said about you, like whatever you do here is what I'm gonna evaluate on you on and the teammates are gonna evaluate you on. So I don't even think any of these guys at Randy Moss, you know, Corey Dillon, any of these guys that came in, like I don't.

I thought they were like, they had been with us for for since 2001. That's how you know that you got a good locker room, though, when you can get guys from outside coming in like that and they feel at home. That's how locker room thrives. That's why you guys are so successful. And some of these great players, like they just want to be, they're just competitive. And if they were in a bad situation, like people, people lash out for different reasons, right?

And so they maybe had a bad situation or again, there's a contract this or a playtime or this relationship with the coach. Like, I don't know, it just, and it was never a problem. Right. I mean, I think that just those types of players were ultimately competitive and they were great players and they came here and we built a team. I know we kind of talked about like the new day and age,

the new school player, how they can kind of choose where they want to go and how that dynamic kind of, you know, we'll have to change their mindset kind of going to the NFL. But I know you're close to coach Bill. What's your guy doing, man? Going down to the tar heels, man, trying to get involved in this college era of NIL and all this.

I, I don't know. Like I haven't, I didn't talk to Bill about his decision. Like I meant we, we talk and, but I, you know, we'll, we'll see, you know, I mean, I think that, uh, you know, three years in college was enough for me and I, I, you know, we'll, we'll see, you know, I mean, I think that, uh, you know, three years in college was enough for me. And I, I took off the NFL and, you know, I'm sure urban told you urban didn't want to hire me, you know, I mean, he'll tell you he didn't want to hire me or that was just his way of motivating me. And he did a good job because I learned a lot there.

And, but I just, you know, just felt like the pro game was where I wanted to be. And if Bill feels like he wanted to go down to North Carolina and try to recreate that, you know, I wish him all the luck in the world. So I saw the state. So there was no thought about you returning to the college ranks. Not right now. No, I went I got I got it.

I got to speak my piece here. So when he says I didn't want to hire him, I got hired a high state and I'm, you know, he's trying to close the interim damn right. I am. And, uh, and so Luke, I'm blown away with them. They play good defense. And I, so I decided to keep Luke and I love Luke for Collins. And he said, I got one, uh, one guy I'd like to keep and it's Mike Ray was,

oh man, Mike Ray was a great player. And I said, I don't, you know, we got to, we got to, you know, I just don't want to have too many guys from the past. And you just gotta be cautious about that. So I, I, I said, sure. We'll talk to Mike. We talked to Mike, but I'm going on record. Mike's one of the finest.

And, and one quick Mike Rayville, variable story is so the intensity. He's still damn near a player at this point. Big sucker. And, uh, so also we're playing the Wolverines and you don't have to go with this Mike. So we're playing Wolverines in 2012. It's probably five degrees outside, Mark. And we, you know, to get the teams out of their damn mind and we come out and we're playing our ass off.

I look over at Mike, he's got a hat on, not a hoodie, like a stocking cap. Yeah. And his face is like bruised up and he's like a little Mark on his face right there. And I'm, you know, I don't have time to tell me we're going, we're coaching and all. I can't, I looked at him because what the shit, what the hell happened here? Then later on, I found out that the players were all headbutting each other before the game, Mark. And someone got right in the middle of it.

His name was Mike. It was right here. It split me up. I had six stitches and they wrapped like gauze around my head and then put a BB on. And I mean, I was like out of it and had on the beta done. And I was like yellow. There's like dripping in my eyes and stuff. So urban's like, okay, I'm going to interview you in the morning. And I tell this story to every person I interviewed to kind of like drop the

shield a little bit. I said, however you do in this interview, it will never be as bad as my first interview. I had never interviewed I coached for a year. And basically what I did is I coached the linebackers, but I really just made sure that they were, they went to class and they showed up at practice on time because Luke coached the linebackers and was the head coach. So I was like, kind of figuring my way out. First interview, urban in front of a whole staff that he had just hired. I get up there. I mean, I draw this little circle, this little T talking about a three technique. And I mean, I just pissed down my leg. I had no idea. And he's like, that is the worst thing I've ever seen.

He goes, I want you to go home, figure this out and come back at six in the morning. And I was like, I go home. I said, Jen, I don't know if I'm going to be coaching much longer. I said, that was the worst thing I've ever done in my life. And so then I stayed out, went back to the office, stayed there all night, had a teaching progression, figured out what I wanted to do and how I wanted to explain it. And then they said, let's try this again at six in the morning.

And we did a little better, a lot better. So I'm like, I said, whatever interview you have, it cannot be worse. You still use that story. Every, every time, every single time. Here's an all pro. It was what sold me was an all pro. Here's a guy that doesn't have to do this. And he stayed there all night and, uh, him and Luke, I mean, obviously,

uh, a great success story. How about the buck guys winning the title and still got to beat that deemed damn team up north. Yeah. You know what I mean? They just pissed them off. I think at least they used them to piss them off and they, uh, the tournament. And I was there yesterday.

I met, there's just a lot of players. There's a lot of talent. I mean, the thing that I'm most proud of, uh, coaches, you know, Doug Marrone is our offensive line coach. And Doug Marrone was with us on the visit to pro day and he loved Doug loves history. He loves just, and so you walk around there and he's looking at the former players and I'm showing them Buckeye Grove and I'm showing them all the all Americans I'm showing the Woody Hayes chalkboard.

I mean, this guy, you know, he's been around football his whole life at a high level and he's taking pictures of all this stuff and the tradition at Ohio state and I'm like, you, you kind of take it for granted, but then when somebody else that hasn't been there, that loves the history of the game is kind of taking a back, you're like, yeah, I guess this is pretty special. Yeah. Coach man, two time all American at Ohio state, three time super bowl champion NFL coach of the year.

Now you back where you started as the new England Patriots, just sign Stefan digs. Um, what are you doing, man? From your experiences, not only as a coach and as a player, what are you enforcing to what message are you driving home before the football has even snapped going right now? Right. And to me, it's about building a program. It's about building a program that the players, when they show up here in a week are proud of that they want to protect and that they want to be a part of.

Like that's the first thing that we're doing is, and somebody asked me, what does success look like? I get it. When it's wins and losses, it's either this or this and that's in the season. But in April and May, success is that the players believe in what we're doing. They believe in the departments that are helping them. They believe in the coaching. They believe in the workouts. They believe in the message. They believe in what we're teaching them. Like to me, that's the most important thing is that they believe in what they're doing and that they believe that the stuff that we're doing is going to help them support their families. And then in turn, the better they play, the stuff that we're doing is going to help them, um, support their families. And then in turn, the better they play, the better the team's going to play. So that's the message right now is, is that we want to make sure that we're supporting

them and we're giving them everything that they need to, to improve. Do you have to be cautious about, and I always tried to do this because players told me that before you have to be cautious about this is the way it used to be constant constant, because the players at some point will say, I know for that. What I want to do is again, we, there's six banners that hang out in our stadium. And I've said this, that those are going to that none of the men of that is going to help us, right?

But what that is, is that's a blueprint to, to success and how hard you have to work and what you have to do and the sacrifices that you have to make. I try not to ever live in, man, this is how I did it, or this is how so and so did it. Because that's, I just have never felt like that has helped. But, but I know that the to be able to draw on some of those experiences from that success is going to help us. But not how it's going to be. You don't want to do things the way we always have because you'll get what you always got.

But you want to have a reason for why you're doing things. You want to make sure that there's, again, that there's a clear message, right? It's clear, concise, and being direct. And those are things that that I learned early on from you. And about how important teaching is, and these mobile classrooms that we do, and the walkthroughs and the screens and getting them up out of a traditional classroom setting. And, you know, there's a lot of things that I learned, you know, early on as a coach that I've, that I've carried with me.

Coach, man, we really appreciate you. It's not familiar. Yeah. Clear, clean, concise, and direct and direct is the most important. And that came from one guy, Woody Hayes. I remember the day I walked into Ohio state in 1986, and that is market or direct teaching is it's teach the teacher. And that's when, you know, you know, so many times you walk in and Mike became excellent at you walk into a room or a coach is coaching and he always says,

everybody got me good. You know, like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Everybody got what? You know, that coat, the players got to be able to spit back with the coaches. And that came from Woody. That's a Woody Hayes ism. And I carried it with my entire career. Tell me the next time somebody says, Hey, does anybody have any questions?

Tell me how many people raise their hand. There won't be one single person that raised their hand. Everybody's looking to get the hell out of there. So I get hired and urban's like, uh, Hey, I want you to speak at the Ohio high school coaches association. And this is, Ohio is a good football state, right? And I mean, they come down here and they come for a weekend. And so I've got the time at four o'clock on Friday, right? Which is probably the worst possible time you could have because there's 600 high school coaches looking to get

the happy hour and drink beer, but they got to listen to me speak at four o'clock. I say, fellas, I'm going to be as fast as I possibly can. Cause I know you guys are itching to get to happy hour. And they started laughing. I was like, well, at least we're off on the right foot here. I said, they're just setting me up for failure. These guys at four o'clock before. Hey, coach, man, we appreciate your time. We know you're busy, but, uh, what we do on the show is man, you know, we've been shooting you a question for 20 minutes. Now you've got the chance to fire one back at us um you can ask coach you ask myself whatever you want yeah and uh we'll give you the opportunity to shoot one back at us who who was the if you had to gain one yard which lineman would you want to run behind

your career oh man i think i've ran behind a couple Hall of Famers man So I'd have to go Jari Evans from the Saints or I'd have to go Marshall yonder from the Ravens Those were two of the best guards to ever play the game and how big I have big were they Man, they were you know, probably like 295 really oh five, you know, not big guys like Marshall yonder was was like He would have been like in the outside zone world. Yeah. But, but just to follow them on a traditional power level.

Yeah. What was your favorite run? What do, what would you want urban to call? Man, I love the power. I love the camera. I love my pullers. I love my pullers, but I also love the inside zone. I just want the rock coach.

I was with the rock man. So I love the inside zone. I just want the rock coach. I was with the rock man. So I love the inside zone. You get the press, you get to use your vision. You get the field of cutback. Get back behind the block. Yeah, man. So get back behind the V and then get vertical and then make it make your magic happen. But I'm, I'm an offensive guy now.

You know what I mean? I spent six years in Tennessee, a head coach, a consultant. I loved your office at Tennessee. I'll just tell you that the way you would hand the ball to Derek 30 times a game. That's me, man. I love that. My action. Are you 30?

It sounds like every running back that's ever carried the ball 30 times. Are you a three, four, four, three on defense? Mike, I mean, the base, which is only 20% of the time will be like a, you know, 34 structure, but I mean, most of the games played the substituted defenses. Anyways, like these Nichols are becoming the most important position or one of the most important positions. It's it's a playmaking linebacker that can blitz that can cover it. That's instinctive.

There's so many bubble relief throws that they got to be able to tackle. And you know, there's try to find guys that can play man also in the slot. Well, thanks for your time, brother. Love your family. Got it, man. I wish you best. Yeah. Thanks for joining us.

We appreciate it. You guys ever need anything you want to come up, maybe do the podcast from training camp or something. Yes, sir. See you like wait till it gets more urban likes that sun. Right. Me too. Light it.

Welcome back to the Triple Option presented by Wendy's. Urban Mark Robb back 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. How about the news out of Champagne the other day? flavors like a caramel crunch, Oreo, brownie and pop tarts, strawberry. How about the news out of Champagne the other day? Illinois locking up Brett Bielma for another six years.

That'll take him through the year 2030. A salary 7.7 mil a year it begins at in his four seasons in Champagne. I know that's big numbers. 28 and 22, 18 and 18 in the Big Ten. So these are just kind of these are 500 type numbers. I understand where Illinois is. But last season, they matched the school record with 10 wins, they went 10 and three becoming just the fifth team in 133 years to reach double digit victories in Champaign. Coach, what what do you think? And what do you like about the fit with Beelima in Champaign. Coach, what do you think and what do you like about the fit with Beelima in Champaign? Well, 7.7, that's like what Rob gets or Mark gets for the triple option. That's pretty good by Beelima, man.

Hey, we keep running it up, you know, who knows? So there's coaches that are fits for places and there's coaches that are not fits. And sometimes you see people hiring you like that, that's coaches that are, that are fits for places and there's coaches that are not fits. And sometimes you see people hire you like that. That's not going to work. That just doesn't fit. I was in the big time, first got hired in 2012 at Ohio State and Brad Beilema was a coach at Wisconsin.

They were, they were best team in the big 10. Remember they had a couple of big 10 championships. They had an incredible run of running backs. Well, I remember Melvin Gordon, but they had many more than that. White and incredible run at Wisconsin. He leaves, which everybody was shocked and went to Arkansas. And that was one of those ones you scratch your head. That's probably not a great fit.

And then he comes to Illinois and I knew it. I got a lot of respect for him as a coach. He's old school. He's a guy that, you know, he doesn't need the flash. He's not that way at all. He's going to be control the line of scrimmage, run that rock, and play great defense. That's who he is. And that's who Illinois is right now. I've always wondered why Illinois couldn't win. It was a nice little tradition there, but Illinois in my time was not very good.

And that's great to see. It's great to see them. Before your time, they were pretty good, man. They had some defensive studs rolling through Champagne, Simeon Rice and company. You're talking about a long time ago. I'm talking a long time. I'm talking a long time.

That offense just hasn't been able to define its groove in a while, in a while. But he does seem like, I think that's the perfect description of Brett Bielema at Illinois, Mark. It's like, the dude just fits there. Like it makes sense, you know, him wearing the orange and the blue, and by the way, that program, Mark,

they're due for a visit from Big Noon. Hey, we, somebody, I was talking with somebody, it was like, we need to come to Champaign. I'm like, we'll pull up to Champaign. We will pull up to Champaign if you give us a reason. You give us a reason and we will come. So now with Brett there, 10 win seasons just last year. So maybe a trip to Champaign is on the horizon.

Yeah, a strong start for Illinois. And you know, Team Big Noon kickoff, it's gonna be looking at a trip to Illinois. The triple option crystal ball is brought to you by Bet MGM. The NBA playoffs are in the conference finals. Here's an offer for basketball that you won't find anywhere else. Pick the player you think will score the first in the game.

If it's not your player, but he scores the second field goal of the game, you get your stake back in cash. That's brought to you by BetMGM. So time now for the crystal ball. We turn our focus to the ACC and the conference champion Clemson. Their win total is set at 9 1

1 half the over you can get for minus 125 the under for plus 105. So again, the win totals at 9 1 1 half for Clemson right now. Last year they went 9 3 in the regular season. Their losses Georgia, Louisville, South Carolina did beat SMU in the ACC title game

and make the college football playoffs before they fell to Texas in the first round. I think the interesting story, Mark, is A, they've got a Heisman-worthy quarterback in Cade Clubnick and Coach Sweeney decided to finally buck his own personal trend and dip his toes into the transfer portal. Yeah, man.

Like you said, Kate club, Nick, you talk about for gant, for going his, he, he, he chose to come back instead of for going his eligibility and possibly being one of the best quarterbacks in the draft. And, uh, I think that is huge reason why Clemson will hit the over on this Mark Stoner. They will hit the over on this Mark. In my opinion, they got receivers coming back. Davo hit the hit the portal and some key positions. They got some key guys on the defense coming back to in the secondary, to on a D line,

a linebacker, um, four starters on the old line coming back. And the ACC, in my opinion, just hasn't been that strong as a lay. We saw Florida state have a down year. They got to do better this year. Uh, Miami with cam war just leaving. So I think this is their time. I think their prime position and to make a run at the AC championship, not only the AC championship, but also maybe make some noise in the basketball

playoff or national title. So, uh, with this quarterback, with dabble and his pedigree and how they have addressed the off season. I think Clemson is in their best position in a long time to go shoot for national title. Well, Tom McChay has six Clemson. Six first rounders. That's a, that's pretty impressive. That's Clemson of old, you know, they went on a dry spell there for a while where the

NFL draft came and gotten you in Clemson didn't make a impact. If they get six first rounders, I put them well over the 9.5 that Vegas has them at. However, I give Davao and I give Clemson credit. They're playing LSU and at South Carolina. Those are their non conference games. That's a rugged. That's a real one. So let's let's get a schedule. Yeah, let's rip through it real quick. They open up LSU Yeah, they open with LSU. We'll give them a question mark is verse LSU is not LSU. It's not LSU So we're just versus LSU. Yeah, we'll put a pause in that one. That's the the tiger tiger showdown

Alright versus Troy when dub at at Georgia Tech when verse Syracuse Duh, okay. By the way, do you hear your hesitation? Like to me, that's saying the ACC is better, right? Yeah. Because Georgia Tech is better. Sneaky man. Right? I know they are. We know Syracuse is going to be better. Guess what? And then they've got the fight in Bill Belichick's in Chapel Hill. What do you say there? I want to hear this. You're going to give them a dub. I know you want to give them a dub. You're going to give him a dub. I don't want to give him a dub. You can get up. That's four at Boston College. Dive versus SMU rematch home though. Dub six versus Duke dub versus Florida State.

Dough eight at Louisville. Dough nine versus Furman 10 South Carolina at South Carolina dub Wow, Carolina At South Carolina South Carolina's gonna be sneaky good to if it's really Raunders if it's really six if it's really and I it's really six hours if it's really six first rounders They're gonna have a hell of a year. They'll be deep in the playoffs, man I think people need to be talking more about Clemson. They're going to hit double digit wins for sure. Remember they got Tom Allen now. They dipped into the coaching transfer portal as well, went out of the program, pulled Tom Allen out from Penn State to take over their defense as well. So Clemson, here we are. Memorial Day week. We got high hopes for you. Come August,

September, October, November. What's that? Get that crystal ball, man. The crystal ball likes what it sees in Clemson. Follow, subscribe, rate us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, as well as across social media. You can find us at 3X Option Show. Thank you as always to our great sponsors, Wendy's, VET MGM, NHTSA. Have a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend.