Will Cain Country - Clay Travis' Preseason Playbook

Episode Date: September 1, 2023

Which football programs will stand out during the College Football Playoffs? Who will play in Super Bowl LVIII? And what is wrong with Keith Olbermann? Will sits down with Outkick Founder Clay Travis to discuss that and much more.    Tell Will what you thought about this podcast by emailing [e-mail]   Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For a limited time at McDonald's, enjoy the tasty breakfast trio. Your choice of chicken or sausage McMuffin or McGrittles with a hash brown and a small iced coffee for $5.5 plus tax. Available until 11 a.m. at participating McDonald's restaurants. Price excludes flavored iced coffee and delivery. Which programs will we find in the college football playoffs? Which two teams will make the Super Bowl in the NFL? What's wrong with Keith Olberman? That and more.

Today with Clay Travis. It's the Will Kane podcast on Fox News podcast. What's up and welcome to the weekend. Welcome to Friday. As always, I hope you will download, Ray, and review this podcast wherever you get your audio entertainment at Apple, Spotify, or at Fox News podcast. You can watch the Will Kane podcast on Rumble or on YouTube, and make sure to follow me on X, formerly known as Twitter, at Will Kane.

the latest on the Will Kane podcast. Clay Travis is the host of the Clay and Buck Show on IHeart Radio, syndicated across the nation on radio stations near you. 12 to 3, Eastern Time. Make sure to check out the Clay and Buck Show. He's also the founder of Outkick, the sports and culture website owned by Fox News, and which makes Clay Travis also a Fox News contributor. As we approach football season, college and pro. I thought it would be fun to sit down for a while, talk about both sports, college and pro football. Why does everybody always talk about the Dallas Cowboys? What is wrong with Keith Oberman? And who is the smart bet? Is there any other smart bet to represent the Republican Party for the presidency than Donald Trump? Here is our conversation

with Clay Travis. Clay Travis, the Clay and Buck Show, and outkick on the Fox News How is it possible that you have a headline right now? It's up live as we speak on Outkick. It is entitled, Dallas Cowboys are a major negative regression candidate. Explain yourself, Clay Travis. First of all, I don't think that's my argument, right? But I will say that's been accurate for like 25 years since you guys actually were deep. It's two straight years of 12 wins.

And from what I can tell, they only got better this offseason. So I don't know how they are a candidate to regress. Well, I think if you're – the positive, I guess, would be if you're capable of winning 12 games, it's unlikely that you're going to go to 14, right? So regression to the overall story of the NFL. And what you guys haven't been in an championship games in 95? Am I right about that? It's 95, correct?

It's only been 30 years. Was that 28 years now? Maybe this is your year, Will. golden moment in my life. Those are the nostalgic years that are, you know, in my memory cast with a beautiful sunset in the background and it was our days of dominance. I remember, man, I don't know that you've ever had this feeling, Travis. I, you know, between Tennessee and Vanderbilt and the Tennessee Titans who didn't even exist for most of your life. I don't that you've ever had that feeling. Have you ever felt what pure dominance and dynasty feels like

where you go not just into any game, but into a championship game? And you don't wish or hope, but you just know, we're going to win? Look, the late 90s for the University of Tennessee were a very good time. And I'll just point out that I wish I could go back in time and experience it again. But in 1998, University of Tennessee went 13 and 0 won the national championship. And then in the next year, the Tennessee Titans went to the Super Bowl and got stopped a yard short of going to overtime against the St. Louis Rams and particularly winning a Super Bowl. So, yes, I did have a brief period of time from about 1995 to 2001 or thereabouts when I was a young man before I knew how fortunate I was when my teens were utterly dominant.

Is that the best you have ever felt as a fan? My theory goes like this, Clay, there's two types of feelings that have been amazing as a sports fan. One was pure dominance, and I really did get to experience that through the 90s with the Dallas Cowboys. It didn't matter if it was fourth in ten. It didn't matter if it was the Super Bowl. There's a security that I felt as a fan that I've never, it's never been replicated. It hasn't been replicated with the Texas Longhorns. It hasn't been replicated with the Dallas Mavericks nor the Texas Rangers who've all had their moment in the sun.

But they didn't ever come along with that feeling of complete and utter confidence. And that's a really fun and good feeling for a fan. But I will say the only thing better is the feeling of, I can't believe we're here, we're playing with house money every step of the way feels like gravy. And I've had that a couple of times. I had that with, honestly, like the Dallas Mavericks last season, when Luca Donchich took them to the Western Conference Finals, and I didn't expect it. You know, expectation sets the standard for life.

And if you have high expectations, you're kind of only setting yourself up for disappointment. But if I had low expectations, and I didn't think we'd ever be in the Westerns Conference finals, every playoff round victory is just amazing. It feels wonderful. So what is the best feeling for you as a fan? What team gave you that best feeling? 98, Tennessee, because that was the first year, Peyton Manning was gone. And if you remember that narrative for people who were around, for those age,

it was Tennessee could never beat Florida. And not like the Florida. Florida Gators were basically the best team in college football by and large. So it wasn't like anybody was beating Florida on a regular basis. But probably that win that Tennessee had an overtime over Florida in 98th, then in the national championship. And then I would say the run that the Titans had to make the AFC championship game, where they got into the playoffs, went on the road, beat Brady, and nobody expected that. Then they went on the road and beat that great Lamar Jackson team that had won like 14 games in a row.

Those were both unexpected, joyful, like, hey, this is a really fun ride. And they were up, you know, double digits on the chiefs. And it felt like they really might make a run to the Super Bowl. Because at your point, when you feel like your team is capable of winning a lot of times those aren't very fun years. Right. The Titans lost to the Bengals number one C-A-F-C. I mean, that was brutal because you felt like, hey, they're getting healthy. They could win the Super Bowl.

In fact, they had beaten the Rams that I think the Rams won the Super Bowl that year over the Bengals, but they had beaten the Rams on the road in Sunday football. But those are the seasons where it's not fairly joyful because you're worried about C. You're worried about, you know, what the matchups are going to be. There's peril everywhere you look when you're actually expecting to win a championship. And so a lot of times the most joyful are the ones, the rides that kind of come out of nowhere. Yeah, the best that I could say threaded that needle for me, Clay, or had that balancing act, was 05, the University of Texas. Because I got to feel completely confident.

I thought Vince Young couldn't get anything. Fourth and 20, Vince will get it. But at the same time where there was this death star out there that was the USC Trojans. So despite the fact that we all felt very confident that we had Superman on our team and Vince Young, there was actually somebody out there who everyone else had the expectations laid upon. Like it wasn't on Texas's shoulders. We didn't have to win the national championship because, oh, USC, they're the force to be reckoned with. So I got to have both that joy of sort of icing on the cake while also having the confidence of,

I've got the guy that knows how to bake this cake. Yeah, VY 2005 is one of the most fun athlete in college football history, but also just overall, right? Like, just so much fun to watch him play. And you mentioned, like, that fourth and 20, it's amazing how often for Vince Young, and obviously I got to watch play with the Titans for a couple of years as well. But for a guy as big as he was, it was amazing how often he, like, didn't get touched. and then ran out of bounds. You know, like, he's not a small target,

and yet he would move in a way that it was remarkable how often he would get out of bounds, you know, he'd pick up like 20 yards, and it was like nobody could hit it. Like the only other guy I remember being that side and able to run like that at the quarterback position, and it's not a surprise that he ended up being like the workout warrior that he was, is Matt Jones.

Do you remember him? He wasn't a little bit like that. B. Y. Right. Not a great rower, but it was like nobody could ever tap. And it was super frustrating to watch because it always seemed like he dodged like nine tables and stepped out of bounds after eight yards and still nobody touched him. There are very few players like that. Again, I'm not talking about like a court, you know, like very six-like player who's like a jitterbug. I'm talking about like a big dude like V.I and Matt Jones that should have been huge targets and nobody could seem to get their hands on.

All right, what I want to do with you today is I want to get ourselves set up for both the college and pro football season. But before we do, I am fascinated to also talk to you about some things going on in the realm of politics and culture as we bounce around the world. And one of the things that I find endlessly fascinating, even though the story's probably already been analyzed to death, is the sad story of Keith Oberman. And the reason to bring up Keith Oberman is his interaction with Outkick and particularly Riley Gaines right now who is contributing to Outkick. He tweeted, once again, something horrific. And this time it was just simply that Riley Gaines was a terrible swimmer, which is factually inaccurate, not true. But he's just got the ugliest personality or spirit that I can think of.

I mean, there might be some competition out there, Clay, but I just, for somebody who at one point in time was not just down the fairway mainstream media, but was revered, right? If you had found probably 15-year-old Clay or 15-year-old Will and said, hey, you get to play golf with Keith Oberman, that would have been, like, amazing. And now, if you told me I was in the same vicinity as Keith Oberman, I would be like, that's horrific. I don't want to be around him. He has proven to be one of the, like, ugliest characters in media. Like a lot of people around our age, I started off every morning eating my cereal while I got ready for school,

watching Keith Oberman and Dan Patrick highlights on SportsCenter. I'm not even kidding about this. If you had told me when I was 15, hey, Clay, just, you know, a little preview of the future. Keith Oberman is going to know your name one day. I would have been like that. Like, I didn't even need to play golf with him or hang out with him, just the fact that he would know that I existed.

I think his career trajectory is making a saddest in sports because he was a legend. Like, if Keith Oberman had gone down in like a airplane crash in 1996, all of the American sporting industry would have been like, this is a devastating game. This is like Roberto Clemente died. This is like an awful day for anyone who was a fan of sports. And now if Keith Oberman even came back on sports,

I feel like anyone with a functional brain would be like, this thing is weird. And by the way, you and I are in our 40s. Riley Gaines is like 23 years old. She doesn't even remember Keith Oberman. And now he's picking fights with former collegiate swimmers. and saying they suck because they tied with a six-foot-four former college swimmer dude? Like, I just, I don't understand how Keith Oberman has so fundamentally lost his weight.

Why will, whenever people try to argue, oh, you're going to be on the wrong side of history one day? Like, really? You think arguing that dudes and girls should be able to compete and that men who claim that they're women should be able to be the greatest women's athletes of all time is the right side of history? I'm very confident that I'm on the good side here in believing that women should compete against women, men should compete against men. And by the way, you know, in the girls' locker rooms change beside them. That is totally normal. Keith Elbrun was a bit of a pioneer for guys like Clay Travis and Will Kane also because he transcended sports and went into politics and news. And, you know, if he just left it at that, all he would have been was a crazy far left commentator. But that's not a. really what I'm addressing. That's not even what I care to, you know, analyze when it comes

to Keith Alberman. There are plenty of crazy far-left commentators. And by the way, as you and I both know, there are plenty of crazy far-left commentators in sports. It's more about who he is as a person. And I'll say this. I don't care. I mean, I remember working down at South Street Seaport, and he had a second go-around or third go-around. I don't know what turn around the Ferris wheel it was for him, but back at ESPN, and he would shuffle into the green room and into the guest office with this little dog, like a Lhasa Apso, you know, that somehow he had, you know, enough clout that he thought he could carry his emotional support dog into the office and, you know, kind of in, almost in slippers and pajama bottoms. I'm not saying

literally, but close to slippers and pajama bottoms. And, you know, he has no bark, no bark in person. I can promise you that. He didn't want to confront me. He made some small talk with me. But the minute that I'm gone, he's a warrior on Twitter. And he's just gross. He's just, there's nothing too small. That's the thing.

There's no fight and there's no insult. And there's no self-exposure that is too small for Keith Oberman. Well, how much have these leftists painted themselves to the corner, will? That they are now arguing that they're not arguing that they're, is no biological difference between men and women because, and I spent a lot of time on this yesterday on my show, but if you take it outside of gender, you've got boys, I've got boys. We just played in a 12-U baseball tournament. I had to bring an actual physical copy of the birth certificate. If I tried to play with my 12-year-old in eight-year-old flag football, which

my 8-year-old is playing in right now, like everybody would say, what are you doing? doing this is totally unacceptable we have age you know like we saw this in the little league world series when the kid from new york was actually 14 and everyone out there said well this is not fair this is why we have age limits this is why we have separation in terms of little league versus middle school versus title what is the argument here are we really in a place where people like keith olberman have so painted themselves into a corner that in the name of inclusiveness, they now are arguing biological reality is not true. I just, I can't believe that they have chinated themselves like that, but that's where they are. Yeah. Well, I mean, transracialism,

trans ageism is no bigger logical leap than transgenderism. We'll be right back with more of the Will Kane podcast. I'm Janisteen. Join me every Sunday as I focus on stories of hope and people who are truly rays of sunshine in their community and across the world. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com. It is time to take the quiz. It's five questions in less than five minutes. We ask people on the streets of New York City to play along. Let's see how you do.

Take the quiz every day at the quiz. Then come back here to see how you did. Thank you for taking the quiz. What was your sport, Clay? Like, grown up, what was your best sport? By high school, I was soccer. not a great soccer player soccer was much important by the time we got high school okay so soccer okay i i put 40-something year old clay travis on a field with what age soccer players today

do you dominate eight-year-olds you you're you get a team you get 10 other eight-year-olds all right so it's you you get 10 other eight-year-olds yeah i would crush them you'd crush them all right 10-year-olds are you a ringer on a 10-year-old team like you If you're on the 10-year-old team, your team dominates? Yes. Okay. Let's keep going. What is your age where you're no longer the ringer and you are just another guy on the field?

Probably 14 or 15. I think that's a definite. I have a 15-year-old who plays soccer, club soccer at pretty high levels. And I don't, yeah, I think you're actually a liability at 15. Your cardio, your conditioning. It might be post-puberty. I mean, I'm still going to be a lot bigger. stronger than most 14-year-olds, right?

They're probably way faster. But post-puberty would get challenging. But I feel good up to pre-puberty. But your cardio is a problem. I mean, I've got also a 12-year-old. And I don't know. My 12-year-old plays club soccer to a high level. He plays, I don't know if you're familiar.

He plays EC&L level. And I went to practice last night, and they were physical, man. And I could see you huffing and puffing after 10 minutes. I don't know I think I can play to play for me I would just wrecked those 12 year olds and if I was on defense

they got close to me All right let's get ready for the football season let's start with college football because that's this weekend this weekend I believe is what we officially call week one last weekend was week zero

in college football so the way that I've seen this broken down Clay everybody if you said who is everybody's college football playoff predictions who are their four teams in the college football playoff

this year. You're going to get a fair amount of consistency on Georgia. Georgia is almost everybody's college football playoff prediction. Interestingly, I think Michigan would probably be the second most common pick for more so than Ohio State for the college football playoffs. And then you sort of open it up to the field of Clemson, USC, maybe Texas, that's predicated on the idea that they could win the Big 12, and a second SEC team, which actually, most people aren't pointing to Alabama, they're pointing to LSU. So what do you think right now? What's your pick for the four teams in the college football playoff? Presuming that nothing crazy is at Tennessee. Georgia has one of the easiest possible schedules

in the SEC. They're obviously two-time defending champ. So I think you have to put Georgia in. I don't see them going worse than 11 and 1. I've got Georgia. I look at the Big Ten and I say it's Michigan, it's Ohio State, it's Penn State. It would not shock me if we end up in a three-way high scenario or they're coming down the stretch run in November. But I actually think Michigan is going to be a better team. Of course, they get Ohio State in Ann Arbor. They have to go on the road against Penn State. I think a Michigan 11 and 1 team beats Ohio State for a third straight year

advances. But I've got FSU coming out of the ACC. And then I've got USC coming out of the PAC 12. And the reason why I would make those final two picks is I just believe college football has become such a quarterback-driven league. I think Caleb Williams is by far the best player at the quarterback position in college football. I think he can elevate with that Lincoln Riley offense. Cliff Kingberry now working in there. Still not sold on the defense, but I think they'll be good enough to go 11-1 advance, win the Pack 12, 12-1. That seems doable to me. And I think

Jordan Travis can be really good with FSU. I think they can beat Clinton. The rest of the ACC is not as strong. So my four, Georgia, Michigan, FSU, and USDA is what I expect to see play on this year. Okay. I'm now biased to Clemson, as I announced to the entire audience. I am now a Clemson stand. And it's second to the University of Texas, but that's fine. I don't see any conflicts on the horizon. And he might get some playing time. I think he's got my nephew who plays offensive line for Clemson, I think he might play this weekend against Duke. But you're right. I think there's objective reason to question Clemson. I think questions about the quarterback, Kate Klubnick's second year.

He's good. He was a high recruit, but he's not really shown yet that he's ready to carry a top-tier program in college football. I'm not saying he can't. I'm just saying he hasn't shown that just yet. So I want to focus on USC. And I want to basically make this a debate for a minute between USC and Texas. Because what we're talking about is who has the better chance to win the Pac-12 or the Big 12 between those two programs? And I hear you on Caleb Williams.

Let me lay out some thoughts. I'm not sure they're even arguments or just thoughts. Obviously, you're right about Caleb Williams. He probably repeats his winner of the Heisman Trophy. And I agree with you about the power of the quarterback. There's going to be teams for him beyond shadow of the doubt as well. Yeah, and it looks like the Cardinals, by the way. They'll have two top five picks.

Potentially, they're already looking bad in like they're tanking, which means Kyler Murray has a new chapter in his career as soon as Caleb Williams comes out. But, you know, I was looking at these quarterback rankings the other day, not subjective, but more like it was a statistical analysis, I think, done on the athletic. And you know the second quarterback in college football was after Caleb Williams? It was Cam Rising, I believe he's a fifth year quarterback from Utah. And I remember Cam because he transferred from University of Texas to Utah. And between USC's defense and Utah being a legitimate contender for the PAC 12, I do wonder about USC's representation where, and I understand it's never smart to bet on Texas.

I will say, I think objectively, Texas's talent pool is higher than it's ever been. I think they are doing a good job of recruiting and getting ready for the SEC. The big question is Quinn Ewers. Is he the all-world quarterback he's supposed to be? And if he is, whoever's second in the Big 12, Kansas State, whoever it may be, I don't think is as close to Texas as Utah is as to USC. Yeah. I see that argument.

First of all, cammerizing, and I don't know when this will have to go up, so we're either going to look brilliant or stupid. which is kind of far for the course for what we do. It doesn't appear that he's going to play tonight on the Thursday night opener against Florida for covering from that entry. I also think S.C. has a lot to prove after the physical domination that they took

from Utah last season. And so I think they're going to have something to prove there. And then, look, you may think this crazy, but I bet you don't as a Texas fan. I feel like the Big 12 is going to have it out for Texas. in Oklahoma this year. I was going to ask you about this. Yes. I think very reasonable for Longhorn or sooner fans to expect that if, and I'm not trying to say there's a rich job in effect, but I just think in the back of the mind of everybody in the

Big 12, they basically want to go double birds to you guys on the way out. I think you're right. There's a very line call. Wait, was that pass interference? Was it not? Was that a fumble? What not? I just think that. that on these very tender issues where it could go either way, 50-50-style calls, I think Texas and Oklahoma are going to get a lot of short into the stick on 50-50. It's not going to break down. Oh, half of them go your way, have to go against you. I think it's going to be like 75-25.

And as many close games in college football, I think that could be the difference between Texas being able to advance the playoff and not. The safest bet in college football this year is that Will Kane will be yelling conspiracy, multiple times throughout the season. I will, without a doubt, blame a loss on the referees, and I will have a legitimate case. I was going to ask you about this.

You already have given me your opinion, but I think it's absolutely true. They're going to, if not a full-blown conspiracy, if we back that up 10 yards and say, not a full-on job, Texas and know you are getting jobbed, it is at a very minimum going to be what you described

of you never get the benefit of the doubt. You're never going to get the reference. on your side. You're never going to get a favorable call, or when I say never, it's going to be 70% of them go against your way. It's going to be super hard for Texas or you. They're going to have to dominate. I think it'll be like when you need to win on the road in college basketball, like you go back and look at it statistically. You have to be like seven or eight points better than the home team in order to go on the road and win in college basketball, particularly in conflict. I think it's going to be like that for Texas and Oklahoma in

football, where the home field doesn't tend to be as substantial of an impact in college football compared to college basketball. Did you see, you probably did the story on Outkick. I may have missed it, but it was from a week ago. Did you see where Texas's theme of the season is Embrace the Hate? They made T-shirt, just the motto of the season. And the response from left-wing media was, how dare you be better than this, be smarter? As though the only type of hate that can't exist is racial hate, right?

there's no such thing as like rivalry hate or I don't know like abusive relationship hate or or just good old fashioned you know sports hate there's no other possible kind of hate than white supremacy hate and that's what Texas has embraced clay all of rivalry is predicated on hate right yes yes it's for a opponent so when I embrace the hate like I didn't even like that's how much I made like down the down the border door so far of like college football rivalry? Of course. Like, Cam and Auburn fans embrace the hate. That's what makes the rivalry so good. Like, I didn't even think, oh, this is something some race. Like, this is my thing in general.

The most racist and awful human beings on the planet, they generally see things like this, which do the events is how racist they are, where the rest like the okay side, right? Like, you remember back of the day when you would get flicked if like you saw it? You

that big controversy at Army Navy, all the left when you were like, oh my God, this is what Trump happened from America. I was like, no, they're trying to get the like, I'm a circle game. You remember Theo Epstein? They're shuddered. Shuddered because a kid at the Kelps game did it behind Doug Glanville. He shuddered because somebody played the circle game. Yeah. I'm like, this was like, maybe I'm just a teenage boy forever,

but I'm like, all the time. every race like uh you know and so yeah when i saw that race to hate and i was like oh i don't like why is this story like and and and i totally got it as college football hate related not the yeah oh my goodness what are they possibly thinking this but to your point i'm i improve life uh in terms of i don't want your grandma to ever die um and i anti hating anyone that's for your most despot college football right yes i am pro i'm pro sports hate that's a healthy cathartic outlet in society of of genuinely um benign tribalism like this is good for us and by the way to your to your point clay on every brute right yeah white black panic if you root for the

university of tex you hate oklahoma if you are oklahoma like or a and m or who it is, all of your tribe, regardless of their backgrounds, is united and similar hate. It actually brings us together, ironically enough. That's exactly right. And those, to your point of the most racist people in the world, the ones who are anti-racist and constantly looking for these things, who see hate only through the prism of white supremacy, my favorite example is, what was his name? I can do this.

It's the ESPN tennis broadcaster who did the guerrilla tactics when Vanessa, um, when Venus Williams was playing, and I remember thinking, so he's talking about guerrilla tennis tactics, G-U-E-R-I-L-A, like guerrilla warfare, and you heard gorilla as in ape, and you associated that to race, and in order for you to connect those dots, you had to have those ugly thoughts in your mind and think it was the only possible reference that could have been meant. And I think you have in turn exposed your internal racism and not your ability to see logical language, objective use of language, and see what this man meant. It says something about you. Oh, 100%. And he wrote about him. The name is also a scary on my phone or I would

look it up. But he's still not been able to get his career back. He had a contact, publicly branded a race, and to ESPN. And to his credit, ESPN ended up paying him out. But what he found out was they weren't going to assign him to be able to cover any other sporting events. And so he doesn't get to go and call the tennis majors anymore. Doug, God, I really feel bad that I can't remember his name. In fact, can we pause and let me look it up?

No, I'll do it while you're talking. Let's see. Doug ESPN tennis. Doug Adler. Yes. Boom. Doug Adler. Doug Adler was completely treated unfairly, and we had him on the show. And, well, this is where I get so frustrated with our industry in general.

And this is where the real power in stories like these exist. It's not only that people get granted, it's that so many people are afraid that if they talk about it, come to their defense assault, that that mob will turn to them and make them the target. And so many people who know better stay silent. I heard. And that's what disappoints me. I heard Doug Adler. You remember Grant Napier?

Grant Napier was the Sacramento Kings announcer who said, All Lives Matter. Yeah, I heard Doug Adler on Grant Napier's podcast. Grant Adler was fired as well. And Adler said the biggest disappointment for him was what you just described. The people he had known for a long. long time who had worked with him, who knew his character, knew who he was, understood what he meant, and who stayed silent. And I mean, I don't, he didn't use names, Adler, but I think he was referencing famous names. Like, like, I don't know who his broadcast partner was.

Venus and Sharina Billy could have all. Yes. Right? I mean, one of them could have said, yeah, I understand. It's important to combat racism. This ain't it, guys. It's actually embarrassing that you would decide to make this the hill upon which you fight. There are tons of examples of legitimate racism that we couldn't have learned about. And the story goes away, right? Like, they had the opportunity to address and eliminate it. And I remember, if I remember correct, the York Times writer who turned that in the story had previously been accused of rape for the way that he wrote about Venus and Katrina.

So he was somehow trying to get back. their racist fear is owned by accusing somebody else of racism because if he doesn't grab the clip and share it and try to turn it in the story it did, then that story never would have taken off in the person. We'll be right back with more of the Will Kane podcast. Book Club on Monday. Jim on Tuesday. Date night on Wednesday.

Out on the town on Thursday. Quiet night in on Friday. It's good to have a routine. And it's good for your eyes too. Because with regular comprehensive eye exams at Specsavers, you'll know just how healthy they are. Visit Spexavers.cavers.cai to book your next eye exam. Eye exams provided by independent optometrists.

All right, you brought up Caleb Williams in the importance of quarterbacks in college football. In your estimation, there's a lot of other guys out there. You brought up Caleb's going to be the number one overall pick in the draft. There are other guys, Drake May. who will go high in the draft. But, you know, Drake May's on North Carolina. So that's not probably going to have a big outcome on our predictions for the season.

In your mind, like, I know this, Alabama, Penn State, Ohio State, they're all breaking in new quarterbacks. That's a risk in college football. I mean, sometimes, you know, I don't think there's a lot of guys who broke through right away in college football. I didn't need a year or two to step up. But in your, what other quarterbacks are you looking at? I mean, Carson Beck, Georgia, same thing. Breaking in a new quarterback. What other quarterbacks are you looking at?

Gravid. I think you mentioned Klu-Pick. I think Gravis is going to be better than him. That's why I'm going to have an FSU. If you were told me, hey, there's going to be upset in the S. The biggest upset would be Georgia not winning. How would that happen? Joe Milton would have to form an ordinary level.

It's possible he could. right? People didn't expect Hennon Hooker to be because maybe Joe Milton comes out and performs at an incredible level. I think you can look at Bo Nix. We haven't No. USC is not the guy

Taylor Williams is not the guy who brings the bandam rising. Bo Nix, who feels like in college football now for 20 years, right? Formed incredibly well. Hey, only beat by J.T. Daniels. J.T. Daniels is still in college football,

And I sincerely say this. I'm not trying to exaggerate. Is it as like sixth or seventh year in college football and like six or seventh program? Your guys now will be. Everybody got an extra COVID year. Yeah. So you could get your redshirt. You could get your COVID year.

It could be almost nobody ever got. There are a lot of guys who were 20. Stats had been in last year. I was older than Lamar Jackson. Yeah. Wait. Can we do this? Can we do this together?

Can we name J.T. Daniels programs? I can do four. But I think there's more. I know it's USC, Georgia, West Virginia, and Rice, where he is now. But I think I'm missing one or two in there. All the ones that you just named, I was going to go in Georgia. I didn't even remember, right? Well, that's where he is right now.

Okay, I didn't even know that's where he was now. I'm pretty sure that's right. So he's playing on in Texas. So people have played again. I mean, that's why. Isn't it amazing? He'll have started quarterback. for both SEC, if I write about that?

Yeah, at one point, I'm pretty sure you got to start there. Yeah, both of them. Yeah. I wonder what he makes an NIL. All right, let's do pro football before we do. You're a betting man. Do you see a bet? And I actually don't know where you're going to answer this.

Do you see a bet that you would feel comfortable making, Clay, for the GOP primary, other than Donald Trump? Would you feel safe? Not what you want to happen. Not who you think would be the best candidate. None of that. Would you put money on DeSantis or Vivek or anybody else? Would you put smart money on anything but Donald Trump?

I would need to get four and five money, which is we're bigger. Where we are, Trump's 10. So you're getting four or five points. I don't think Vivek is five. I think he's basically prompts Gary, right, like the way he's running. So I would probably need like eight or nine on a DeSantis daily. tight parlay. The other aspect you'd have to factor in here is, and I think that's true for Joe Biden, too.

One thing that nobody's talking about is a natural health condition could happen because Trump is going to be 78. Biden would theoretically be 82. I think if you were analyzing from a gambling perspective, it's not crazy to think a 78, 82-year-old could have a significant health condition which could in some way. I'm talking about a natural, you know, old. that could in some way dramatically presidential race here. I think that's very

reasonable. But I don't think that guys like Mike Pence or Chris Christie or Ron DeSantis are in this race because they believe something will happen health-wise with Donald Trump. I mean, the only thing I can think of is they either think that national polling is of limited value and they can do something on the ground in places like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina and get momentum in some way

or they believe something's going to happen with Donald Trump. one of these indictments, something's going to happen, and they want to be the backup quarterback ready to step on the field? I think they all think they could. Because a lot of people don't pay attention yet. They think Trump has weakness because there is a very strong evangelical audience in Iowa. Trump did not win Iowa in 2016. People forget he lost a Ted Cruz.

And I think they think, hey, if we puncture that bail of inevitability on Trump and one in Iowa, that overnight the national markets don't really matter. It's about the local markets. And that's why I say you have to be in South Carolina or Nevada or Trump's the top. Right. So you have to win one of those four or it's over before we hardly get in the part. All right. Let's return back to football because pro football is right around the corner.

I think when it comes to pro football, something's happened even since I left ESPN in that even when I was there, Clay. the Dallas Cowboys were known to be ratings gold. I'm not just talking about on Sundays and Monday's nights. I'm talking about Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon. I'm talking about in a radio show like mine from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Bottom line, whether you hate them or you like them, you usually don't change the channel when people are talking about the Dallas Cowboys.

Something has happened where that memo went down to every single show and they embraced it to such a way that it's on rocket boosters this year, Clay, in a way I can't even reconcile. Dak Prescott is the lower third of every single sports show from whatever Craig Carton show is called. It's, you know, to everything on Fox Sports, to everything on ESPN, and it's like how many picks did Dak throw in training camp today?

Or, you know, I saw one the other day on what was Dak's lowest moment in his career? I mean, what relevance does that have? half, by the way, to anything, except we're talking about Dak Prescott. I usually get fired up, not just Dak. It's the entire and really think about the market size. It makes total sense, right? Dallas, Philly, New York, and D.C. You've got the whole East Coast, and then you've got Dallas for the whole state of Texas and the fact that they're the brand, right? So if you had to pick and you said you can only talk about four teams in

America, right? The NFC East would probably be the draft. It's a really good point. Because you work, Philly, D.C., the whole East Coast, and then you add the whole state of Texas and everybody else who are, you know, diaspora-ish fans, you know, having moved to wherever they have all over the country. And then to your point, the Cowboys have the most fans and the competitors at the NFL. But if I added up the Eagles, the commanders, and the Giants media attention, it wouldn't equal the Cowboys. I mean, I don't even know if it'd be half of the media tension of Dak and the Cowboys. Yeah, and then I think Dak is a polarizing quarterback.

There's nothing polarizing about him, though. He's not, he's, like, what is polarizing about Dak Prescott? It is the, it is the back of the FC champion, and he makes $100 million. Yeah. And his owner is Jerry. Right? Like, Jerry Jones, of all the owners, I think also the most entertaining owner, right? In terms of any, I mean, how many other owners have press availabilities?

No, I, uh, none. I, right? Certainly not in a street problem like that, where there's like 20 guys would be here every word in today, right? Like, that doesn't fit for any of their team owner on a regular basis. Bob Kraft does it a little bit, but nobody does it like Jim, which I think is fabulous. He's wildly entertaining. If you were picking second on you, like you just said, you're drafting a division in football and the NFC East is your first pick because of the media markets. I'm trying to think, let's just say this, who is the second best in terms of attention and relevance division in the NFL?

Because I don't think the answer is the AFC East, even though it has New York and Boston and Miami. I don't think it's the AFC East. I think it used to be the NFC when Aaron Rock was in Green Bay. If you would get Chicago, even the bear for good. It's a huge market everybody cares about. You get Minnesota, people have strong opinion on Kirk Cubs. And you get the lions who are like the woeful, they'll never win, like, but they always kind of make everybody sad.

Now that Aaron Rock is on, I don't think, and I think you would have said the AFC East was in the AFCC, because that was a really compelling story. Patriots and Mac Jones are competing boring. I would go with the- AFC North. AFC North. Yeah. Those franchises?

Burrow, Lamar, and then the first is probably a second or third most iconic historical NFL franchise. I think those are the – that's the – I agree. I think if you were looking at a division to do the next best in national ratings, it would be North because of Burrow and because of the brand of the Steelers, Lamar Jackson. I mean, I even think the Browns have a little bit of a brand with that iconic uniform, even though they're sad sack. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's 100%.

Okay. Who's your Super Bowl pick? I want NFC, AFC, and then champion. Who's in the Super Bowl? Last year, I picked the bills. I'm going to be picking my homes. I feel like for a lot of years in the AFC. I think the NFC is a lot more while at wide open. I don't think that many people would have seen having the performance that they did. I'm going to go a little bit off the reservation. I like the Vikings. Really? I think they could put things together with Kurt Cousins playing the office inside of the ball. They've been in the playoff in the last few years. I think finally come together.

Year 2, new coach, new system. Kirk Cousins, I expect to play well. So I'm going Vikings, Chiefs, and I would pick the Chiefs to win again. I am going to pick. Yeah, I'm going to pick. I do this every year, and I mean it. I'm going to say the Dallas Cowboys represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Bowl. I think they're only better from last year. I think DAC has a Super Bowl in him.

I think Micah Parsons is a force of nature that can change games, championship games. I think injury is always a question, and if there's injuries on the offensive line, then the Cowboys season could go the other way quick. But their defense is incredible. I like Brandon Cooks as a weapon next to C.D. Lamb. I believe in Tony Pollard. And I believe in Dak. Now, I was low last year at the end of the season, but this is what I do. I reinvest optimism and hope, and I believe it. And I would go with the Chief. in the AFC, and I would, this just, as a token of my objectivity, I would say I would bet on Patrick Mahomes in a Super Bowl. So it would be Chiefs over Cowboys in the Super Bowl.

The Niners are the only team in the NFC that really, really make me nervous, and I just don't know how much I can invest in Brock Purdy. I don't know that I can say, oh, bro. Because ultimately, like coming off the injury and that scenario, I love the D-EA, but I'm going to go a little bit off the reservation. Yeah. All right, man, fun conversation to get us ready for college football with a little bit of politics and culture mixed in. Always great to talk to you, Clay Travis. Thanks, man. See you. All right, man. Thank you. There you go. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Clay Travis.

Again, check out his radio show, a Clay and Buck Show, syndicated across the nation on iHeartRadio. And check out Outkick at Outkick.com. I'll see you again next time. Listen to ad free with a Fox News Podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcast, and Amazon. Amazon Prime members, you can listen to this show, ad-free, on the Amazon music app. It is time to take the quiz. It's five questions in less than five minutes. We ask people on the streets of New York City to play along.

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