The Triple Option - Who's In Charge of College Football, Fly Eagles Fly, Bruce Feldman Joins, and the Next CFP Champion

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

A salary cap for college sports? Tampering actually enforced? A break up with the NCAA and college football? Coach Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, and Rob Stone first discuss the dominating performance by the Philadelphia Eagles defense against the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts has three huge fans on this show, for his play on the field and resilience off of it. The guys then dove into the latest on the future of college football, from schools paying players, to a new governing body (which Coach doesn't think will happen), and answer an important question, are all schools created equally? Bruce Feldman of The Athletic and FOX Sports joined them with the latest developments and why he sees a super conference happening in the future. Does it seem to early to bet on next year's College Football Playoff National Champion? Nah, we didn't think so either. Coach, Mark, and Rob make their very early picks to hoist the trophy next year from the Texas Longhorns to the Tennessee Volunteers. 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. "Go to Wendy's® and taste the difference in a hamburger. - https://m-wendys.app.link/hamburger25 A big thank you to the rest of our sponsors: BetMGM Use bonus code OPTION or go to https://betmgm.com/OPTION and get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Bonus bets are non-withdrawable. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. See BetMGM.com for Terms. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US) Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY) Call 1-800-327-5050 (MA) 21+ only. Please Gamble Responsibly. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA),1-800-981-0023 (PR). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How about that Jew around his neck right now? Oh, I pay for this. I pay for that. Compliance, come see me. By the way, that is a chain. That is not a necklace. That is a chain. Men wear chains.

For all y'all out there. Men wear chains. He's back, Coach. With the raspy voice and everything. Deuce Deuce has survived. So wait what cut? I want to know what causes a raspy voice in that Super Bowl. He's not cheering for the Eagles or the Chiefs. What I'm asking Rob, what do you think?

Before we go right into it. What do I think? I think it's early mornings and late nights and the things in between. A little bit of all of that. You know, I mean, I've been good. I've I got raspy voice. I know what that's all about. Welcome to the Triple Option presented by Wendy's.

Go to Wendy's and taste the difference in a hamburger. Rob Stone, Urban Meyer, Deuce Deuce, Mark Ingram here with us. A couple of things we're gonna hit this week. Is Ohio State headed on the same path as Michigan was last season? We're gonna discuss where college football seems to be heading. Is a super league on the horizon?

The great Bruce Feldman from the athletic and big new kickoff joins us. And who's a dark horse to win the title all next year? I say Tennessee and Mark Ingram rolls his eyes and gets extra raspy. We'll deal with that a little bit later. As always, thanks for joining us. Please rate, subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever we get your podcasts, Wells across social media, 3X option show, new episodes every Wednesday.

You can find us on YouTube as well. We're going to get into college football real quick, but we have to talk about the Super Bowl and what happened in New Orleans. The Eagles just dismantling Kansas City 40 to 22. The big talking point, and Coach, we talked about this today. What the front line of the Philly defense did to Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City. The Chiefs dropped back 40 times, 4-0. The Eagles did not blitz a single play with that four-man pressure and got so much pressure. It took Mahomes down constantly. That's Fresh Moves of the Week brought to you by Wendy's.

Go to Wendy's and taste the difference in a hamburger. 16 pressures, Coach. Six sacks, the most Mahomes has ever had in a single game, and it comes on the sport's biggest stage. I got to be careful but I'm going to say this that I think was 42 drop backs, zero pressures Mark. Zero. I don't think I've ever heard of that. Zero pressures against the best quarterback in one of the top probably five in NFL history. How does that happen? And I even look they use Travis Kelsey.

So they were, they were changing up protections. The chiefs were with six and seven men, but the tackles had a hard time blocking those cats. And I mean, four down pressure 42 times. And I've never seen Patrick Mahone's under so much duress and every one he time he did get out of the pocket, like he's one of the best ever to do it. They caught him.

Yeah. I mean, those guys retrace the D line coach and coaching that one on of the Eagles and then obviously we're going to hit Vic Fangio, the defense coordinator, one of the most respected dudes out there. He takes the defense that was 26th, the NFL to numero uno. And I think Mark or Robert, someone said that's the highest, the biggest transition from a bad defense to the best in NFL history. So a lot done packed there, but I want to hold the thought for a minute.

42 dropbacks, zero pressures against the best quarterback in the game right now. Yeah, of course. It was just remarkable what they're able to accomplish with the front four. I'm watching this game and, you know, we want to watch a good football game. My wife's like, the Chiefs need to do something. I'm like, baby, it's over with. They cannot block four man down. If you can't block the four down linemen, you're going to have a problem all day long.

And that's what they did. They rushed four and they had zone coverage behind it. So even when they, they had six sacks, Josh sweat through two and a half sacks, Milton Williams, two sacks. They had six sacks total. Even when they didn't get sacks, they caused pressure and disrupted Patrick Mahomes. You saw the two interceptions he threw. It was cause he was getting rushed. He was getting hit in the back with a tactical and tremendous job by the Eagles

defense because they went in the first half, they held the chief to 23 yards and a first down zero points. They were dominant. They were Do you think that was the game plan by the NGO or do you just think he's like, well, they haven't stopped us yet. Let's keep doing it. It's still working. A little bit of both. I think that they wanted to play coverage and they wanted to, uh, uh, the one thing that when you saw Patrick Mahomes over the year, you know, the recent years is he is so dangerous outside the pocket. So I wonder if they just wanted to keep him in that pocket, play coverage behind

them and it started working and they just kept dialing it up. I don't think to say that, once again, I've been around football a long time. I've never heard of that. 42 against the best quarterback in the game, 42 drop backs. They didn't pressure one time. That pressure means bringing five or six. So to answer your question, I think that was probably where they were at, but they were prepared to go pressure if he started slicing and dicing them after the way it went.

No, they just said, I cannot imagine those headsets said, you know, someone bringing up, you know, bring up, bring the Sam rifle, bring this, bring that. And he said, hell no. No, we're doing four down and let these dogs eat. And those dogs Mark eight. They ain't good. They ain't greedy and they sitting on full bellies right now. Mark eight, they a good ingredient. They sitting on full bellies right now.

But, hey, I just have to because also they had the ball the whole like almost the whole game, especially the first half. And so you like even the chiefs defense, right? The chiefs defense, I felt like they did a great job containing Saquon Barkley. Obviously, that was a point of emphasis and they were doing a good job of kind of keeping them in the game. The chiefs, the chiefs defense was doing a good job of keeping them in the game in the first half.

But over time, your defense stays on the field because you can't get first down. When have we seen the Chiefs get three and outs just never. If you see them get five, six plays, we were surprised. They were going three and out, three and out, three and out. Incomplete pass, stopped on fourth down. Now your defense is back on the field again. So over a period of time, your defense is playing way too many plays and that's when the floodgates open and Jaylen Hertz, Devontae Smith, AJ Brown, Saquon coming out the backfield. They just went to work man so

the Eagles just throwing through had a tremendous game. You talk about the job that Howie Roseman has done. They've been to three Super Bowls. They've won two of them. And he just keeps adding tremendous players to the roster. He went and got Zach Bond, the linebacker who had a huge year in free agency from New Orleans. He went and drafted Cooper Dejean, who had a pick six on his birthday last year. So the job that he is doing, putting his roster together, a summoning roster of guys who go with the mentality and the demeanor in the locker room. I mean, Howie Roseman has done a great job in the Eagles, man. They're a problem because this is a young football team. Jalen Hurts, what, 26 years old? Two Super Bowl, Super Bowl MVP.

Shout out to Jalen Hurts, man, because he's been, he's gotten better and better and better, and now he's a Super Bowl champ, Super Bowl MVP, and and Eagles are moving forward. I'm glad you brought up Jalen Hurts because I got a soft spot for this guy and I think a lot of people do, you know, as a neutral. And when you are told or reminded of Jalen Hurts story that started in college and what he did at Alabama, you cheer for this young man. Remember, second game of his true freshman year,

he basically became QB number one at Alabama 2017. You know, he gets Bench defeated, he's undefeated benched at halftime, a national championship game for to a tongue of viola. The next year, he's basically the backup to to a right he stays he could stay right now day this day and age in college and you were there at Alabama and then you got down to here. You're gone. Let me throw something out there too, that, uh, and maybe it's a revival mark.

I mean, I always hated when the best players were guys that you didn't want your players to look up to, you know, because of behavior on, you know, issues and just nonsense and all that in college football, Ohio state, and many other programs this year. Think about the guys, the faith that was on that team. How about Jalen hurt? What are you kidding me? I mean, every kid should want to be like Jalen hurts.

Even Patrick Mahomes. And maybe it's just me, Mark, because I've been around this game for 50 years or 40 years, whatever it is. Is there ever been a better group of people leading the league and then NFL? And in college, I'm just talking about, you know, when my son six years old, Hey, watch him. He's a workout maniac. He trains. He's a great teammate. And by the way, he's living right.

How cool is that right now? It's a blessing. And that's what you want. That's when you talk about college football, when you talk about the NFL, the way, he's living right. How cool is that right now? It's a blessing. And that's what you want. That's when you talk about college football, when you talk about the NFL, the shield, when you talk about what you want your employees to be representative, you want people to be like them. You want them to be role models. You want them to be leaders. And that's exactly what Jalen Hertz is. That's what Trevion Henderson was at Ohio State. That's what these guys are. So when you have your best players, your most notarized, notable players, being great human beings, being great football players, being great in the

community, that's what you want essentially. So shout out to all the community leaders that are also being stand up comedians and citizens in our world, but also being straight balls and straight dogs on the grid. I mean, think where Hertz could have gone, right? When he got benched, right? You know, where his life could have gone. He could have won the tank. He could have won the grid. I mean, think where Hertz could have gone right when he got benched, right? You know, where his life could have gone. He could have won the tank. He could have won the tanks. That's what I'm saying.

He and instead he fought through it. He was a hell of a teammate. You forget back in goes to Oklahoma becomes the Heisman runner up for that. Before that, remember 2018 came on to lead that comeback in the SEC Championship. The SEC Championship. Yes. Right. This is a guy who, who was here, dropped them here. Then, Hey, guess what? We need you now. And he comes up off the bench, leads them to the

SEC championship game. It was full circle. Grad student came in, came in to save Jaylen. And then a year later, Jaylen comes in to save Tua. Yeah. And he doesn't get the credit for it. He doesn't get the credit for it. Second round pick number 53 overall, basically took over as QB number one, December of his rookie season. Philly's a tough town. We know that as a sports town and they're really tough on their quarterbacks and he has handled it with such grace. As he's being awarded the Superbowl MVP, the interviews were so brief and I was okay with it for a change because it wasn't about me, it was about we and how Jalen projected that. So I'm so happy for him. Last thing I want to bring up about this, you guys were both in the Big Easy. We knew the tragedy that happened over the course of the

Sugar Bowl and you guys, the security that you guys saw and felt in New Orleans, I know resonated with both of you. Yeah, I've never seen every street corner in New Orleans, I know resonated with both of you. Yeah, I've never seen every street corner in New Orleans and the traffic pattern, they actually handled it pretty good for the lockdown, but Mark, you experienced it more than I did, but the security was unreal. Coach, it was amazing. I just want to give New Orleans the most credit, man.

Being a host city for the Super Bowl, they did they thing. The city was beautiful. The traffic patterns, they had it under control. The crowd, they had it under control. Like you said, Coach, every corner there was police, there was national guard, there was state police, There was, you know, camouflage with assault rifles. Like, it was the safest place in America for a week long in New Orleans. I'm not gonna lie to you. There was nothing bad gonna happen. If you was trying to do something down there in New Orleans, you weren't gonna get far. Because they had security on every street, multiple blocks.

And man, they just did a tremendous job. The city was beautiful. The restaurants were amazing as always. The city was beautiful. The restaurants were amazing, as always. The crowds were great. It was just a beautiful Super Bowl. New Orleans and the NFL, they just did a great job. I think New Orleans gotta have a Super Bowl every five years. They could do the draft for wherever else it's gonna go.

But New Orleans has to be a host place every five years, man, because they held it down, man. It was a beautiful event. New Orleans did a tremendous job of hosting, as always, man. Who that, baby? We love you, New Orleans. Yeah. How that city, Marc, has been able to rebound over the course of so many tragedies, really, you know, in our lifetime, it's remarkable. So good job by you. It's the people. It's the people. The resiliency of the people. The people are resilient. The people believe. The people fight, man. And that's what makes a place special, is the people. And

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it today and get up to $75 in PC optimum points. Visit superstore.ca to get started. Well, some of the power people in college football might be making a move Mark and urban to change the game as we know it right now, as we pivot back to college football right now on the triple option presented by Wendy's. A committee of power conference administrators took really significant steps the couple days ago toward this creation of a new entity that is going to govern. We don't know how, we don't know who's going to do it, but it's going to govern the evolving professionalized aspects of college sports. That's a nice way of saying NIL and transfer portals and everything that comes with

it. There's going to be a newly created LLC already. Whenever the things like CEOs and LLCs are in the conversation, you're like, wait, are we still talking college football? Yeah, we are, unfortunately, in 2025. So this new LLC overseen by CEO or executive director centered on a new enforcement arm to police violators of the industry's new salary cap. Good luck with all of that sentence. It is expected to feature revenue sharing policies and a corresponding penalty structure for violators. This is where we really get into the conversation. The transition team working on this, it's made up of two athletic directors from each of the big four conferences right now, the big 12 ACC, SEC, and the big 10. It's got a three

pronged approach of enforcement. There's cap management, there's an NIL clearinghouse, uh, there's an investigative and infractions unit, you know, pretty soon it's going to be, um, you know, coming to CBS this fall. Uh, what is it? CSI college football. Nobody wants that. Nobody wants that, but, but coach, you have been involved in this game for so long and the beauty of you is that you have seen college football from the head coaching perspective on really unique levels. And what you're seeing happen to college football and these coaches coming together and these eighties coming together, it's almost hard to have a fair fight, have a fair conversation.

Is it cause there's so many different needs and wants that different universities are needing and fighting for? Well, I always remember that everyone's in a fight. And when you're the head coach of bowling green, my fight was how do I get my players workout gear, how do I get them lunch? How do I get them? You know, in the good dorms, you know, and all that. Then I moved to Utah and it's how do we, you know, how do I get them lunch? How do I get them, you know, in the good dorms, you know, and all that. Then I moved to Utah and it's how do we, you know, how do we just survive and get,

you know, more than 15,000 people in the stadium and started the mighty Utah student section called the muss and you're in that fight, then all of a sudden you ended up in Florida and you're like, how the hell do I block those defense alignment from Georgia and LSU? And then you go to Ohio state, honey, beat your rivals. There was in a fight. They don't say is that when you, the word that I'm going to continue to use for the next several years is cooperation.

And I don't believe there'll be any. Uh, I was very frustrated. I was a head coach for almost 20 years and I would sit in those meetings. And when I was in the Mac conference of Bowling Green, I just wanted to someone to listen, you know, someone to listen cause our, what we need it. Then you go to Utah and he just wanted to somehow step at the table. Then you're at the table at Florida and Ohio state. I'm going to tell you this.

The, there are schools that we're talking about that have nothing in common. Bulling has nothing in co other than you play 11 guys on each side of the ball And you know you kick off the same kickoff rules, etc, etc But there's other than that there's nothing in common with it the fight you are in at Ohio State and the fight You are at a smaller school So I don't see that happening where there's cooperation. I just don't see that happen So I don't see that happening where there's cooperation. I just don't see that happen. It's going to be crazy. It's going to be crazy.

The has and the have nots, huh coach? I hear a dog. It's not mine. It's my dog. She's upset with the way college football is going right now. She wants conferences to read. Is she going to that meeting too? She's, she's, and she's going to go bite somebody about these meetings. She doesn't get it. She wants to. All right. I'm going to go on. I want I know we're going to hit

this later too, but the SEC and the Big Ten commissioners met in the fall. Greg Sankey and I'm sorry. Tony Pettiti, Tony Pettiti. Yeah, the two most powerful men in college football, two of them met. And I I'm telling you, I can see, I don't know this because I haven't talked about it, but I can see why in the world would you share the wealth? You know, the, the, the, the easiest thing for people to wrap their arms around. Mark, you have major league baseball and you have the NFL NFL somewhere years ago. Came up with a collective barting where everybody's the same. They threw all the money in the pot.

Now you'll, you got the big market, small market, but they wanted to keep it. So everyone was what eight and eight. They wanted to keep it very competitive. Major league baseball does not care. Major league baseball. You have the New York Yankees and we have the numbers somewhere. How about this? The Mets have a 301 million dollar payroll for next year.

There's 18 below a hundred million. The Mets two highest players are making more than a handful of rosters. You think if you go to the Mets, the Dodgers and the Yankees and say, Hey, uh, you know, we'd like to make this equal. We want the Florida Marlins and the Rays and some of these other small market, uh, pirates, where you guys cut back a little bit and we make it all equal. What's the difference between that and Alabama and Ohio state over brains? I can tell you from those meetings, there's no difference.

I'll save the, and then they say, bring Congress involved. And I'm sure you guys been watching news. Congress has some other issues. I got bigger fish to fry. They're not the most fiscal and responsible people as I'm, as we're all seeing. So I, Congress, come on. So I don't see, I don't see it happen. I don't. Why is Congress getting involved right there. They're getting involved because their constituents it infects their voters. Right. They try to get those Alabama fans happy. I'm

here fighting for you. Right. Roll Tide. Tommy Tuberville is over there fighting for his his Auburn beliefs or and whatever it is. We don't care what happens to Auburn. They can just go to the wayside. You know, nobody really cares about Auburn except for Auburn. But I just, I love these meetings. The one thing that I, and here, so there's two types of, you know, we're going to really think about this. Number one, you have the powerful teams of the college football, the revenue.

I saw how to stay Wolverines and Alabama came with the top five teams, but you're bringing in what $300 million or $250 million, something like that. And there's a lot of teams that lose money every year. And then I want to throw this at you, Mark, because this is where you're real intriguing to me. You also have teams right now. The NCE NCAA is toothless.

There are no rules. There was a tampering situation, I believe it was the Tennessee or something in the fall. And they sent out a memo. I, someone read me the memo and basically saying that you're on your own. Yep. Cause every time we try to set a rule or enforce a rule, we get litigated and we lose and we lose millions of dollars, put

attorney fees and all that. So there's two, once again, there's two teams, one's the power, the powerful, why would they ever give up power? And then the other team that they always live their life in the gray area. As far as following rules and all that working in the shadows. Right. Why would you ever want to change?

I mean, right now there's no rules. Yeah. So those are the two constituents in this college football world. And we're trying to bring them together. They're not gonna cooperate. They're not gonna do that. Cooperation.

Zero. Not happening, Mark. I don't even know what it would take. I mean, obviously money is something that is at the forefront of all these conversations, right? Money and power. But those, those programs are just going to want the lion's share of the money. The bowling greens are lucky to get the free shoes, right? And that's, that's a win for the bowling greens, right? Good, good for us. We've got a great deal. Mark, I kid you not, Mark. When I went to Bowling Green,

we had no workout clothes for our players. Subway came to me and asked me to speak to a leadership group. They paid me 25 or 20, I had 2,500 bucks or three. I can't remember what it was. I called Adidas and I sent away and I got their workout. We had no workout shoes and T-shirts. And they said, okay, we'll work.

They want to work with us. They work with me. They came back blue and gray. Our colors are orange and brown. It's just workout gear coach. It's just workout. But our players loved it. I gave, that was the first time they had workout gear.

I handed now the shoes didn't fit, but that's, that's what we're dealing with. Yeah. Maybe not now because it's times have changed. But it's still D1 football. But it's just so different from the top to the bottom. And from the middle to the top, it's a gigantic. That's crazy, because at Bama, we'd just be like, hey, I need a new pair of shorts. Hey, give me a shirt.

Hey, new pair of shoes. You go to the window, here what you got. Here what you got. The haves and the have nots, no cooperation. Yeah. So is it the responsibility of the haves to lift the have nots in college football? Do they know? They're trying. Here's why though. Here's why though that the athletic director at Ohio State is a very tough position. He manages 36 sports

and alumni base that's gigantic. And Alabama's, I don't think Alabama has that many sports. I think it's like 22 or something like that I saw. But they are under so much pressure from their boosters, the board of trustees, their president and the fan base. That's they're not going to, they're not going to sacrifice, you know, I can imagine, imagine the AD at Alabama walk in the middle of the field saying, Hey, don't worry about our record. Everything's going to be okay. But we helped, you know, we helped Vanderbilt and we helped Wake Forest. We helped Texas tech. We're going to try to

make this thing more equal. He get boot out of stadiums, not happening. He's gonna, he's going to really help. He's, his focus is on Alabama. Coach, remember what the big 12 used to be and some of those programs that were elevated and lifted by the bigger programs or if you even go back to What's the old days of What was that? What was that conference big eight? Yeah, the big eight right and and everybody was was fighting right was on that was on the same page

Do you know why there was those breakaways done. I don't think people talk enough about the catastrophic mistakes made by the big 12 or big eight is when Texas, you know, when they started the Longhorn network and then all of a sudden Nebraska, Arkansas, A&M, so we're, we're going to move on. Nebraska to this day is not the same Nebraska. I think Nebraska was the most powerful school in the back when that corridor, when he had all those teams in the Midwest part of the country there with Oklahoma, Oklahoma state, Texas, A and M Arkansas, and they, and Nebraska

and Colorado, they broke it up. Why? Because Texas wanted to keep more revenue share for them. It's looking out for number one, right? And that's, that's the world we're living in. I remember talking to Coach Stoops when the news about Oklahoma and Texas were breaking away from the Big 12 and going to the SEC and my heart, my heart hurt

because I said, everybody else down here in the Big 12 is they need you, right? They need you like without those two programs, the big 12, they know what they may not say, but they know that was a sucker punch. That was between the eyes. And coach Stoops just calmly and very rationally said, we have to look out for us. Like this is the way it's going, Rob. Right. It's coming.

It's coming this year or two years or three years. It's coming. And if we don't look out for ourselves, we're gonna be trapped and we're gonna be struggling like some of these other places. Let me ask Mark, cause I'm really intrigued by this. The, you know, we talked about the NCA. When I first went to the NCA, when I first went to the SEC, Mark,

I came from Utah, I came from Notre Dame, and I never, you know, this, I'm not saying it was all the cheating, cause I just, I don't know. You can prove it. Nothing ever happened. But I was in every day in the compliance officers, uh, at Florida every day when I heard the players were telling me stuff, my assistant coaches were telling me. Were you ever fearful of the NCA?

Did you hear players talk about it was, you know, you know, all these, all the, there are no rules even were the rules. Were you, were you, did that ever come up amongst you? You know, some of the great. Yeah. Compliance was something that you always were aware of because they, if they find one thing, they could just make you an eligible and find your, find your school or, you know, make you an eligible for something that might not be a big deal.

I remember. So I'm good friends with Joe Hayden, your guy. And he were good friends. We met at the award show. So I'm like in DC area. I'm going up for his draft party and like he's going to the league. He's going top 10. He has a lot of, you know, he has agent. I don't know. But basically he had a bunch of jewelry and I go, I put on his jury and I go to his party. There's pictures of it. I go back to Alabama.

I have compliance pressing me about where did I get this jewelry? I'm like, it's not mine. It is Joe Haydn's. He let me borrow it to go to his party, but I had to go through meetings. I had to go to answer the compliance officer, like where I got the jewelry from, I'm like, bro, it's not mine. I don't have it. It was Joe Haydn's. That's my friend. He let me wear it. So it was like, you always were kind of fearful of the compliance officer, like where I got the jewelry from, I'm like, bro, it's not mine. I don't have it. It was Joe Hayes.

That's my friend. He let me wear it. So it's like you always were kind of fearful of the compliance because they had so much power. They could cause you to be ineligible. But like, if you do something wrong, they're going to get you. But even when you don't do something wrong, they still be trying to get you.

So there's always this fearful, not a fear, but there's this overpower of the compliance being over you. Coach, were you called into compliance or were you just going there for like daily updates of what's happening and what? No, I would turn. I would turn in schools. I would turn in and say, I'm hearing this. I'm hearing this because my coaches, it was every day. It was every day was, you know, from the bump rule to when they would send out the caravans of people to, you know, 10 guys on a, on that buses and they'd roll in there too. There's cars in the parking lot that these kids get on their visits and all

that. So, I mean, it was every day. I'm not saying it's true because nothing ever happened. So I don't, you know, once you get out. Parents got me a truck, you know, I was driving my, my, my same car from, from high school all the way to I was like a sophomore, my parents got me a truck, compliance calling. Like, bro, just look at my parents, they just wanna do something nice for me. I'm not driving a freaking Hoop-D anymore, like.

Come on, bro. But there's other places that you would hear that are just living on the, you know, just nonstop. Living on the edge, baby. Living on the edge and working in the shadows. All right. They ain't come up next. They ain't come up next with their compliance. It's like going to HR right now. I don't wanna go to HR. Come on up next. They ain't come up with their compliance.

It's like going to HR right now. I don't want to go to HR. Where'd you get that? How about that drew around his neck right now? Oh, I pay for this. I pay for that. Compliance, come see me. By the way, that is a chain.

That is a chain. Yeah, that's what they, what I'm saying to me. That is not a necklace. That is a chain. Yeah, men wear chains for all y'all out there. Men wear chains. all y'all out there. Men wear chains. I learned that the hard way about a year and a half ago. I was like, that's a nice necklace.

It is a chain, Rob. This is a chain. All right. Now that we've got that, son, we can continue talking big picture and the politics and the nuances of what's going on behind the scenes in college football. Coming up next on the Triple Option presented by Wendy's, our great friend from the Athletic and Fox's Big Noon Kickoff, Bruce Feldman joins the show. Welcome back to the Triple Option presented by Wendy's, Rob Mark Urban. We are joined by our longtime friend. You see him every Saturday with this on Fox's Big Noon Kickoff. Also works for the athletic. Bruce Feldman joins us. Our good buddy Bruce. Good to see you here, my friend. Bruce joining us. Taking time away from his kids vacation in Florida to

hang out with the three of us. That's when you know you're a football blue blood. Let's talk about a topic that we were just talking off camera that that you refer to as dense. I refer to it as vital to the future of college football. This this whole NCA, the power conferences, this landmark settlement of antitrust lawsuits. What's happening right now is it sounds like schools can distribute at least Bruce 20 and a half million dollars to their athletes starting the next school year can expand scholarships to

entire rosters as long as they stay within these new roster limits. There'll be a legal proceeding coming down April 7, where the judge will handle this house settlement. I guess give us a quick like Cliff Notes version of where we are and why this is so important to college football. Yeah, that that judge had actually approved of this back in October. And now this is going to be more more formal hearing on the seventh of April. And that date you're

talking about, we're $20.5 billion of a salary cap that would kick in July 1. Right. And so it's really interesting because I think a lot of people expected it going in all this direction. But it's, it is, as I said, it's super dense because we're talking about a lot of lawsuits. We're talking about, I think, a power struggle. You're talking about a lot of politics. You know, to me, the only thing worse than a lot of lawyers getting involved in it is a lot of politicians getting involved in it. And that's where we're at. It's, it's ugly. It's messy. You know, I was saying to Urban Offline a little bit ago that some of the people I know and some of the people, you know, he knows too, who I think are the most plugged in when it comes to the issues of NIL and roster management and all those things, because that's what they do. They're, I mean, they're coaches, but they're not like on the field football coaches. And a few of them feel like the only way to really clean up a lot of the issues

that are that are in the pipeline, because so much of this is going to end up with lawsuits and there's going to be more lawsuits. They think it ends. It may end up towards collective bargaining. And that's something that you just think, well, I couldn't see that in college athletics, but we're already at a place where so much stuff is happening in college athletics that nobody, I mean, Mark didn't play that long ago, but it's a completely different landscape than when Mark.

Yeah. Yeah. Hey Bruce, there's been reports of a transition committee and we've heard, you know, schools names, ADs from Ohio state A&M, Clemson, but something I want to hit you with, and I'm one of the few guys, as I mentioned in the previous segment here, I was at the Mac, I was in the Mount West and then the SEC and Big Ten. And everything that I'm hearing is there's going to be, it's going to take cooperation. As I said in the previous segment, I, no chance when you start, this is the inequity.

When you start seeing these committees, a transition committee, is that, is that real or is that just typical college that I've been a part for 15 years? I think there's there. I think it's real. I just wonder when the, you know, that expression, when the rubber meets the road, you know, the big 10, which obviously we're at every week in the fall and the sec, these are the power brokers of the sports. So it comes back to what does Greg Sankey ultimately want?

What does Tony Petiti want? You know, when you have the other two power leagues, the ACC and and certainly the Big 12, the Big 12 is bringing in, I don't say half, but it's it's closer to half than it is anywhere near a level playing field with what the Big Two are generating. And so when we see like, okay, what matters most beyond the money with college football? It's the playoff and how do you get teams in there? I mean, right now, I feel like the big 10 and the SEC on the front end so far, I've been pretty generous with what they've done because I think they know, I don't think they want to collapse the rest of the sport. And I think that they're sitting there trying to weigh what's for the good of the sport versus what's for what's in our best interest. I ultimately agree with you that what's in their best interest is not to be that

um, collaborative. I mean, they're going to be collaborative, but I think they're going to, you know, there's going to be some kind of what's in it for us that, that helps us here. Hey, Mark, before I go here, Bruce, one more, I'm going to hit you right between the eyes with this in the fall, the sec and the big 10 commissioners sat down to talk, do we ever see succeeding the union here and say, we're going to go to super conferences at a few more schools and go play ball on their own and they got their own playoff.

They have their own and you're talking about, you know, I, I just keep hearing this and the inequities that exist. Bruce, do you see that happening at all? I do. I don't know how quickly we get to it, but ever, you know, like that's been the thought ever since we saw this massive upheaval, like it wasn't that long ago where the pack, you know, I just saw Chip Kelly the other day and we were talking about he's going to work for Pete Carroll, we're talking

about the old Pac 10 days when he was going up against against his new boss Pete Carroll, you know, with the Raiders and Jim Harbaugh is in the same division. And right now the Pac Pac 10 is long gone, the Pac 12 is is is a memory. And I think because of all those things, what's the money gonna be involved in? We see this in terms of what we work on and what gets TV ratings and what gets TV dollars.

And if the money is driving it, I think it's gonna get there eventually. It's just how quickly will it get there? The playoff, they couldn't make any significant changes unless everybody was 100%. They had a meeting the day before this year's national title game is whatever two or three weeks ago. That was not expected to be a lot of widespread change when the contract gets turned over a year from now that's when i think you can see significant changes but what you're talking about urban and what i think a lot of people around the sport inside the sport think eventually it'll get to it. It's like what we see, you know, like Rob, you know, both you guys, Rob and Mark, you're very involved in like, you know, international soccer and more on that

space. And that's where it feels like it's going. You know, it's it becomes so much more professionalized. So why would they just be, you know, dabbling and just kind of giving lip service to all this stuff? I think it's just a matter of like, what can they do legally where they're not going to get sued left and right. And I think that's the stuff they have to really sort out. That Bruce, excuse my voice. Long week. No, good time in New Orleans.

Long week, long week, man. When does he not have a good time? When does he not have a good time? Valid, valid. So this new settlement, right? So schools could pay their players what 20 and a half million dollars is that like their child? Yeah, yeah. Okay. But it's not now it's not all football now. And all sports, though, I think it's a distinction. All sports. Yeah,

a big chunk will probably go to basketball and obviously a huge chunk will go to football, but it's not going to be awful. And there will still be NIL. Yeah. And so that's where I think you can have the, you know, the other part of this. What's tricky on this is like, will there be regulation of the NIL or. They say there will be, I mean, but come on now, like urban coach in the SEC, Mark, you played in it. I mean, I was around it a lot when I did my recruiting book. There may be some regulation, but I think, I think it's still going to be, guys are super competitive. And that's just how it's gonna, I think that's how it's always gonna be.

Yeah. Danny White, the Tennessee AD, we didn't talk a whole lot about it when it happened. Danny White, the Tennessee AD, we didn't talk a whole lot about it when it happened. A certain incident with a price hike that he did with his tickets. You read some of those tea leaves and now looking back on that decision that he made, take us back to what he did and why you see that maybe as a bit of a preemptive move that more universities frankly are probably going to be doing. Yeah, if they can do it, if they can do it. Danny White, the AD of Tennessee, back in mid September, they announced that they were going to increase season ticket prices almost 5%, but they were very

transparent and said, hey, the money is going to develop our team, which means we're going to increase NIL and this is where it's gonna go to and everything else. And they have the leverage to do it. It's a fan base that is that, it's not like it is when it was Derek Dooley or Jeremy Pruitt, was there the role when people are excited. And at that time in the season, they were really rolling Bruce, right?

I mean, there was arguably no program hotter in the nation than Tennessee at that moment. But also, I mean, they look, I know they got embarrassed by Ohio State in the playoff, but they did go to the playoff. And so if you can do this, and what was interesting to me was when I spoke to him back in September, right around the time of this decision, he was like, he didn't really make the distinction of

NIL versus revenue share. I think it's a way where you're going to see schools look, you know, urban worked at Ohio State that that is definitely a program that could probably leverage that there's a handful marks alma mater certainly could do that. You know the school I went to and bear went to Miami I don't think they can do that. I mean they have money but I don't think they can say hey we're going to ask the seat because the ticket base is not the same thing. So it goes back to the thing urban set a couple of minutes ago, where we're talking about the power leagues, you know, maybe a super power league. But again, there's not a lot of schools that can do it. You know, liner, it's alma mater. I don't think they can do it. You know, it's just the fan base is not that desperate.

It's not that passionate, but for the ones who can do it, it is a big advantage. I think the bottom line that we all got to remember, and I'm just going to keep saying it till someone proves me wrong. You need cooperation and the chance of cooperation is zero. There's not going to be no cooperation unless it's the uppers against, you know, they're because it's the inequities is so great. And once again, I'm one of the few people that can speak to, you know, trying to go out and raise money for t-shirts and, and, and tennis

shoes at Bowling Green to try to figure out how to block the SEC D lineman. To y'all you're all in a fight. And there will be zero cooperation across the ranks of college football. It's the ups and the downs, the hives and have nots. And I don't ever see that change. Are the have nots getting a voice, Bruce, at all? They technically have a voice right now, Rob. I think the question is going to come as we get a little further away. Like I wouldn't be surprised if what we had just had with the playoff where you had an SMU come, you know, first year of the being in the ACC at Boise State, you know, like I don't make the playoff.

And that may be as good as it gets, though, like when it comes to the playoff, when it comes to things that fans genuinely care about. I think that those other things like if you're, you know, University of Houston and you're relatively new to the Big 12, you know, you're on the hook for twenty point five million dollars, you know, for this. And there's a lot of changes. And again, the big difference between the Big 12 and the landscape that urban is is really talking about. Now, you said like the worst thing and getting lawyers involved is getting politicians involved. Like, is that will the NCAA have any power like monitor

and enforce spending like, or is this completely out of their control? I think the NCAA wants no part of being in this. I think they are so toothless right now. Um, I think they're, they're hoping to see, to kind of get help, but I think they're kind of bending at the knee every chance they get. So now, no cow. So take out take out that crystal ball to that point. You're right. You're right. The NCAA doesn't want to fight anymore. They just keep backing backing up. So how much longer is the NCAA involved

in major college football? Great question. I mean, because like, technically, I mean, a lot of people don't realize this. They're not, they, you know, it's not their national title game. It's not like college basketball or college soccer or whatever. Um, I think they're going to try to. They're trying to keep a hand in as best they can, but they're, they're really powerless. I mean, their enforcement model is kind of screwy and that's even up for, you know, up for, um, reassessment now under new leadership. I don't know. it's a great question.

I think it goes back to the thing about what we said with Urban where it's just, hey, we may have a power power league of football teams. Yeah, and everything else, you know, women's college basketball, soccer, baseball, all those things are still under the NCAA guidance. But this other thing is just too big and too strong for them to manage.

Yeah, the power players and the power brokers in the Big Ten and SEC are not to be messed with. And you can see these like incremental steps where they are taking the power and seizing the power and running with it. Bruce, as always, we appreciate it. Go spend some time with the kids. Don't forget to hit the bicep curls in the hotel gym. Right. I know. I know you hit those every once in a while. My friend. Yeah. Come pull up on me, Bruce. You 20 minutes of the road. I know. Bring the fam down. Go to the crib. Would you say pull up on me? Would you pull up on me? Pull up on the kid? It means pull up like

getting a whip and pull up. Go pull up on Brady Quinn while you're down there. We're to get somebody to come out to use your treadmill over there. Love it. Go down to the gym. I'll take little man down to the gym to come get some work in. Hey, Bruce Feldman, you're the best man. Thanks. Thanks for joining us.

Coming up next on the triple option. Who's going to win it all next year? Did somebody say Tennessee? Really? Never. Welcome back to the triple option presented by Wendy's Rob Stone, Mark Ingram, the second urban Meyer back here with you guys. Time now for pick six. And you're going to say, Rob, there's no games going on in college football. Hold on soccer. We hit soon,

soon, maybe some college basketball and bowling, but no, we're going to talk college football. We're going to talk big picture here. A second. Pick six is brought to you by bet MGM. Place your money line prop parlay and same game parlay bets at bet MGM. Just download the app today. As always, please gamble responsibly. Lines and conversations are always subject to change. Right. So college football national championship winner futures are

already live at bet MGM coach. You know what a future is? No idea. Okay. Good. Well, you know what a future is? No idea. Okay, good. Well, you're going to help some people out there. They're making bets right now here in February about who's going to win the national title literally next calendar year right now. So we're going to ask you guys to pick a favorite right now. And then we're also going to talk about a dark horse.

Okay. The top five favorites right now, Buckeyes, plus 500, new QB, a ton of new coaches on the staff, Texas at plus 550. Welcome to the Arch Manning era, Georgia plus 650. They lost seven of their eight leading sack producers, Oregon plus 650, who will be their quarterback with Dylan Gabriel gone, and Penn State at plus 900. Mark, deuce deuce, I'll let you go first. Of kind of the favorites, and maybe it's another one that we're not seeing right now,

who would you feel comfortable putting some early futures money on? Coach, you know what these plus numbers mean? No. It means if Ohio State's plus 500. So if you put a hundred bucks on Ohio State right now, they'll pay you out 500. You got a five hundi? Yeah, they'll pay.

So you get that bang for your buck and we love 5X. You know what I mean? Right now, man. I know who you want to say, but you're fighting it. Yeah. Right now, I mean, right now, the favorite plus 550, I had to go with the Longhorns, man. You got Arch Manning coming, you got Sark. What he's been able to do with that program since he's taken over. Arch Manning coming in, it's arch season now. They got good players coming back. They have one of the best defenses in the country. I think they have good culture. They got the NIHL money to go ahead and get whoever

they want out of the spring portal, out of the fall portal, you know what I mean? Retain players. So as of now with the top five favorites, I'm going to go plus 550 with Texas. Put a thousand on Texas. It'll pay you what? 15.50? I was told there'd be no math involved. Coach, who do you like? I don't know. I'm looking at this and you know, you gotta go with returning quarterbacks,

which there's none there, other than Drew Aller. Yeah, Drew Aller. You love Aller. Yeah, Drew Aller. I'm gonna go with Texas too. You know, Ohio State, obviously they're loaded and they recruit their tails off. But you know, Julian S Julian saying I keep hearing great things. I stood next to him. He's not he's very slight

But he's got a he's got a great arm great release ball gets out fast They don't have Michigan or Ohio State on the schedule Only have Penn State at Oregon. Yeah, they got to figure out their quarterback They got to figure out their quarterback. They got NIO money. Yeah, I'm going to go with you. If you're saying I have to almost say Texas, Ohio State, Oregon in that order.

I think a lot of people out there want to say Penn State and they're going to say it on two things consistency. Like who, you know, has the staff changed a lot and they've just augmented the staff, like coaching Jim Knowles, the DC from Ohio State and bring him to Happy Valley. And then, you know, is talent returning? And Penn State is kind of has that early approach of we're in it to win it this year, kind of

like what we felt from Ohio State, right? You know, Drew Aller and Singleton, Nick Allen coming back as well. They're big guns all saying we're coming back for another run at this. Jim Franklin is feeling it. The Midwest, the big 10 has had a great run. I think it's easy to go for Penn State. I still, Mark, you and I have felt the same way for a while on Penn State. We really like them, but we're not fully believing in them yet because I just can't.

I want to love Penn State so bad. I do too. I agree. I want to see them do well. I want to see them win. I want to believe in them, but they need to give me that that proof of validity. I need them to win a game they're supposed to. I need them to win a big game that matters. Win a game that matters, please. Yeah, I agree. I agree. And if I'm Ohio State coach, I see some parallels to what happened to Michigan last season, right? You win the national title and then players leave and your quarterback leaves and a ton of your coaching staff leaves. And I, you know, we all looked at Michigan coming into what just

happened to them saying, there's no way they're going to be this good, right? They can't maintain that because of all the defections. Ohio state has got a ton of defections, whether it's graduation, whether it's coaches leaving, but they do have the main guy, Ryan Day staying and getting locked in and getting an extension. That's why I think the conversation is close to what Michigan just went through, but it's not the same. I'm going to go, I'm going to go Georgia guys. Cause I think, I think it's been too long. Who is their quarterback? It's been, here's the only reason I'm going. It's been too long since the sec in the south

has had a real say in the national championship picture. And there are some major motivation running around there. But again, that's, that is what we're talking to Ohio state, Georgia, Oregon. Those three were like, who's your quarterback going to be? We think we know, but we don't know and I'll be honest Do we really know about Arch Manning? I think he's gonna be great. I hope he is and drew a la at Penn State From what we've seen it's Okay Yeah, they do just okay. All right. All right. So those are the favorites now. Let's talk some dark horses

This is where it gets interesting. So the best of the rest if you will will, here's those numbers, coach, that I know you love Notre Dame. Your tide mark plus 1500 Tennessee Niko, I is back plus 2000. You got Clemson LSU, Michigan, Ole Miss is at 2,500 A and M at plus 3000 Miami with the former Georgia quarterback, Carson back in there at plus 3000. So coach, is there a dark horse out there that, that tickles you a little bit? Yeah. Nick Nico, the quarterback at Tennessee. You know, I, I had them, I remember when I first started studying them last year and I called Brady Quinn and Matt liner and I said, am I missed? What am I missing here?

This guy looks like a bona fide. He looks like Aaron Rodgers. The ball comes out of his hand like a tennis ball, man. You're missing that he played Kent State. Good point. That's what I was missing. And he got really inconsistent and that team around him got a little bit inconsistent. They still had a heck of a year or so. If that kid grows as a quarterback, he could be a, you know, I asked the question after watching it,

and I know he wasn't playing great teams, but just his physical ability, his side speeds, that athleticism and the ball comes out, I saw him as a high first-round draft pick now remains to be seen. But I'll pick Tennessee. 1,100 bucks gives me 1,500 on the tide. A hundred bucks gives me 1,500 on the tide. I'm going with the tide. We got a lot of people coming back. Come on.

We got them coming. What you mean? Come on. You're going to pick Tennessee? You're going to pick who? Michigan? You're going to pick LSU? How much do you know about your quarterback Ty Simpson or at least the guy who's in line

to take over? I know he's been there. I know he's been there behind some really good quarterbacks. So hopefully he's learned a lot of good lessons. Right. But if I put 1500, if I put 10 bands, I might go straight to bed. MGM put 10,000 on Belma. And when they tied wind is on me, $150,000. All right. Again, again, I'm going with continuity and players returning. And particularly if you have a good solid quarterback returning to your point coach with Nico returning to Tennessee Clemson also sitting there plus 2000, they get Cade Clubnick back who really

impressed us, particularly in the back half of the season. Dabo Sweeney has discovered that there's this thing called the transfer portal out there and he's actually utilizing it to his advantage. And then the NUS dog guys, Garrett Nussmeyer, maybe an early Heisman candidate down at LSE. I'm going to pick them. I'm here just to annoy you this week because you've been gone for so long and you've annoyed us now. I'm just going to pick programs that scratch it. Our odds are higher.

So obviously Betemgym knows something. They all, of course they know something. Because our odds are higher. So they must roll with the tide a little bit. You know, I mean. That's it for this edition of the Triple Option presented by Wendy's. For Mark, Irvin, I'm Rob and the rest of our crew. Thanks for watching. Make sure to 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

3xOptionShow. As always, thanks to our sponsors. We just gave love to BetMGM. As always, we give love to our great friends at Wendy's. We'll see you again next week. Love you, Wendy's.