Will Cain Country - Senator Vs. NFL QB Vs. War Hero: "Pete & Bobby Challenge" Showdown (ft. David Cone)

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

On this Friday sports edition of 'Will Cain Country,' Will and The Crew recap how the "Pete & Bobby Challenge" has exploded across the country with politicians, athletes, and even Medal of Honor recipients jumping in to test themselves. Were Dan Orlovsky, Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), and Flo Groberg able to best Will's time? Then Will is joined by 'Crain & Company' Co-Host David Cone to preview the upcoming college football season. They debate playoff contenders, surprise teams, and who really has the roster to win it all in 2025. The two also dive into Auburn’s self-claimed titles, Michigan’s NCAA punishment, and whether baseball’s latest talk of realignment could change the sport for better or worse. Subscribe to 'Will Cain Country' on YouTube here: Watch Will Cain Country! Follow Will on X: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A medal honor recipient, a senator, and an NFL quarterback walk in and take the Pete and Bobby challenge. But who wins? Auburn's claiming seven new wins, seven new national titles. But who will win the national title in 2025? It is Will Cain Country, normally streaming live every Monday through Thursday at 12 o'clock Eastern time at the Will Cain Country YouTube channel at Apple or on Spotify. This Friday edition of Canaan Sports can be found at Apple Spotify or that brand new YouTube channel where our community is gathering, where we muster the will. That is Wilcane Country over on YouTube. Make sure you subscribe, make sure you like, make sure you set a reminder.

And you can always hang out with us here on Wilcane Country. Two of days, Dan, tinfoil, Pat, as always, hanging out with us here today. Coming up a little bit later, we've got the co-host of Craning Company. David Cohn is going to join us. We're going to talk about Auburn's seven new national titles. Who else could claim a national title? We're all going to go in an arms race of national titles. Well, what does that mean?

How many more could we claim there at the University of Texas? We're also going to talk about Major League Baseball Realignment and his prediction for who wins the national title in 2025. But the Pete and Bobby Challenge is beginning to spread around the country. Of course, I took it a little bit earlier this week with Transportation Secretary and acting NASA administrator, Sean Duffy, after being called out by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegg said. Duffy came in at 1215. He's a little disappointed in his time.

I don't think he should be. It's a hard challenge. If you can do 50 pull-ups, I think that in of itself should be a source of pride. If you can do 50 pull-ups and 100 push-ups, you should be able to swell your chest. If you can do it in 12 minutes, I think you are in elite company in America. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did it in 548. Secretary of Defense Pete Heggsett did it in 525. The host of Wilcane Country did it in 512. And then I issued a challenge to ESPN football analyst and former NFL quarterback, Dan Orlovsky. Senator Mark Wayne Mullen of Oklahoma decided he's going to take on the challenge. And Medal of Honor recipient Flo Groberg text me and said,

I'm in. I want to do this. So how did they do? Let's walk through the results and talk about who's next on the challenge. So two a days, tinfoil. Let's start, I think, with Medal of Honor recipient Flo Groberg. How did he do? Let's roll the tape. Right, here we get. 50 pull-ups, 100 push-ups, start at the clock, Looking pretty good. He's going with small sets to start. It looked like five pull-ups. And I think he's going to crank out 10 push-ups.

It's pretty decent form. The pull-ups, I will say, are a little short. Not an internet commenter. I'm not interested in critique. But you heard there at the end, Flo Groberg comes in at 345. Look, my man, my man, my man, my man, tackled a dude with a suicide vest, okay?

He protected a platoon of dudes and, and, um, dignitaries in Afghanistan. If you want to critique his pull-ups, you can. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to stay on the sidelines on this. I'm not, I'm not going anywhere when it comes to a man who has received the medal of honor. And 345, whether or not you're doing full extension, or not. Let me just tell you this thing burns. It burns in your muscles and it burns in your lungs, okay? And that, I think, is evidenced by the guy that absolutely crushed this. This was put out this morning. And I have to say, when you roll the tape on this one, I didn't see one pull-up

worthy of criticism. I saw perfect push-ups. So let's see what the time is here for Senator Mark Wayne Mullen of Oklahoma. your challenge here. I'm coming after your time. And hey, Seth, I got your time too. And Duffy, your time was just completely embarrassing, especially for a lumberjack champion. But, you know, if you had a hurt shoulder, whatever. Anyways, here we go. We're going to start this thing. wide grip, pretty push-ups. It's got the ACDCs rocking through the video. 333.

It's a little harder than I thought. I did smash y'all's records. 333. 333. Wow. 333 for the senator. And I'm telling you, those, you can't sit there and say he's short-armed those pull-ups. And there's a lot of short-arming of the pull-ups out there in the challenge.

Again, I don't want to be the guy. I'm just saying, you can go faster if you're doing havesys or 60 percenters. You can go faster and you can preserve some fatigue. But the center there, you guys see any reason to critique anything that he did? I mean, that was nice. By the way, he is jacked. I didn't realize he was that jacked. Yeah, he's an MMA guy, so I'm not going to create a touch anything that he ever does.

He has the upper body strength of the pull-ups easily and the chest for the push-ups his push-up uh form was great phenomenal had it perfectly down great and i think i'm a bit of a pull-up guy his pull-ups are unimpeachable yeah i do think it's notable how winded he was i think that that dude is in shape and you saw him there he had that ugly face breathing at the end you know he had the he had the it hurts to breathe the face at the end and i'm telling you that's exactly how it felt all right so bravo senator mark wainer Molly. Then there is former NFL quarterback, Detroit Lion quarterback,

Connecticut Husky quarterback, NFL analyst, Dan Orlovsky, who I called out. Now, I knew that Orlovsky every time I do something like my rowing challenge, I'll get some message from Orlovsky, like, I could crush what you did. And I knew he's cocky, and I know he's in shape. And he's in that kind of shape. You know, he's tall, he's skinny. But he's built. If you ever see him, he does shirtless

pictures on Instagram. He's built, you know, I mean, not built like Mullen. Mullen is a beast. But you can tell that Orlovsky is ready to go. And so I knew when I challenged him, he'd take the challenge, and I was pretty confident that he would beat me. So how did it go with Orlovsky? All right, Wilcane, a challenge accepted for everybody who does not know, Wilcane, a friend of mine challenged me to a fitness challenge. I don't know the name of it, but it's Bobby and something, and I apologize. I don't know the exact one, but I think it's to promote health across the country but the challenge is 100 pushups and 50 pull-ups in under five minutes so

challenge accepted full transparency I think it pull-ups because in six foot five and a crazy long arms and very little muscle so don't expect these cost of pull-ups of all the way up all the way down all right all right a lot of criticism 29 seconds. Appreciate it, Will. Four minutes and 29 seconds, which is super fast. Now, I love Orlovsky for taking on this challenge. But what, two a days?

The half chin-ups. They were havesys. They were 60% at best. They were chin-ups, not pull-ups. And they were, I mean, a little over halfway down. He said he can't do pull-ups that well. I don't want them on my bad side, though. I mean, six foot five shouldn't really impede your ability to a pull-up.

It does, though. Longer arms. The longer arms is a problem. And I believe Senator Mullen, Senator Mullen said that he has shorter arms because it was wrestling and stuff. I think that might help. Did he say that helps, Senator Mullen? I believe so.

Shorter arms are better for push-ups, too, for sure. Like, I have a problem with push-ups because I have a longer arm's arms. So, like, you're going real far up and down. But 6-5 is hard. I never thought about that. You're doing a lot more range of motion in push-ups. Yes, I have long arms. Not like NFL quarterback long arms, but I'm 6-2.

So, yeah. Yeah, Senator Mullen. Yeah. That's why I can never do it. I need a little of a curve. Yeah, well, we know you're 6'8. We just never met you in person. I thought it was 6-7, but.

Um, okay, let's talk about Orlovsky for a minute. I said I'm proud of him for doing this. Have you guys seen where he's posted this on social media? He's getting a lot of crap. And he's not getting crap for his pull-ups. He's getting crap for being friends with me. He's getting crap for saying, my buddy Will Kane challenged me into this. That's fair.

All right, you got to see the comments. I mean, 80% are, how dare you be friends with Wilkins? really think less of you. Always knew you were a hidden mega-racist. Will Kane is a fascist, Fox News liar. You're the worst, Orlovsky. Just for being friends with me. So, no one paid attention to his pull-ups.

No one paid attention to his, what were those shoes he was wearing? Are those crocs or yeezy crocs or some... What are those things? They're awful, Orlovsky. What those shoes are? And by the way, degree of difficulty to Orlovsky,

did it in a public park at one of those places where they have like wood chips as the as on the ground that kind of stinks to do push-ups on as well you're you're you're having to brush that off your palms every time you go back up to the pull-up bar not exactly the ideal location but what is not ideal for olovsky is any association with will can i see you looking at the comments too oh dude that's wild is it i mean you know what's wild about it I mean, it doesn't surprise me. It doesn't surprise me. I guess it surprises me a bit that that is some reflection of an online ESPN audience.

If you think about who follows Orlovsky, it's going to be people who want to hear football and ESPN. And look, I'm out here in the real world. You guys are as well. That is not reflective of your average football fan. And I haven't had this conversation with Roelofsky, but I'm like, if you think that's the way your audience who's actually watching you thinks, man, you are way out. I'm sure he's not. He's not worried about it. But it's just kind of wild how he could live in that world and think that, you know. I'm not here in the real world.

I can promise you that is not what your average Joe watching NFL in college football. That's an ESPN watcher. Thanks. Whatever is on X. Like you said, that's a, that's what they love the woke. Do you think your average ESPN watcher is, is typified by those responses? I think they are those responses. Like, you know, ESPN's gone crazy woke, and I just think those are the people that is their target market.

I think it's the ones that would go on to X and say it. ESPN still has an audience that is, I think this is true, broad-ranging, like across a political spectrum, patriotic, believes in America. I don't think anymore. And a lot of cases watches Fox News. I just feel like the ones on X are the ones that have been cultivated by, like, Dan Lebitard. Yeah, and they feel like they need to say something. something like that about you who were like, oh, we're supposed to hate Wilcane because of what

he does and what he represents. I don't know. I'm pretty sure the first take demographics. What? I think the, like, if you look at the demographics, especially like, you know, first take and all that kind of stuff, I think it skews to one side of the political spectrum. I don't think it's the same as it was when I was growing up. And it may not be the same as even when I was on 10 years ago, you know, a little less than 10 years

ago, seven, eight years ago, they may have run off that entire audience, right? The audience was like, I love when Will comes on because he actually says something that is more representative of America. That audience may be long gone. It's not like those ratings have grown over time. I mean, they had some peaks and values, but it's not like they've taken their chunk and said, oh, here's a, we now

reach more of America, or a broader spectrum of America. But there's also an audience, like, that watches us that thinks the NFL is too woke and won't even watch football. Totally. You know what I'm saying? So it's like both sides. And don't, there's a, Look, two million people watch me every day.

And this is no slight to damn. They don't know who Dan is. Yeah. Right? Like, so they're not watching. Most of them are not watching ESPN. It's just kind of interesting. The bubble world that we have all created, the segregated world.

And ESPN wasn't supposed to be part of that segregation. You know what I mean? Because you curate your own online world, like you were saying. You know, you create it to be. such. And so here's what's interesting. Orlovsky issued some really interesting challenges at the end of that. And I'll be interested to see if anybody takes it. He took on, he challenged Pat McAfee of ESPN, a little bit of playing me out like the Oscars, Pat McAfee of ESPN, Stephen A. Smith of ESPN, Sean McVeigh head coach of the Denver Broncos, Matt LaFleur head coach of the Green Bay Packers,

and Andrew Whitworth, former NFL offensive linemen. I don't know that any of those guys will accept the challenge. I'm most interested in McAfee, but he may have the same ESPN problem. It may see the blowback to Orlovsky and be like, no, not doing that.

Or those NFL coaches. I would love to see McVeigh or LaFleur take this on. But do you think because it's like one step away from you, it's too much for Pat? And even more so one step away from Pete Heggsett, the Secretary of Defense, which puts you in really close proximity to Donald Trump. Sure. Somehow it becomes partisan.

I'll tell you what, if you're listening to this on Friday morning, make sure you tune in at 4 o'clock to the Will Kane show, because there's been a critic of this that has asked to come on, and I have accepted the request, and I'm going to have him on. It is Congressman Jason Crow, who already went at Pete Higgseth and me on this challenge, and I think he wants to issue a bipartisan challenge. Now, I'm not going to burn up any material in the locker room, but I think you're going to want to tune in for that segment at 4 o'clock on the Will Kane show

because in the end, should a push-up and a pull-up really be partisan? Should it be because it was asked for by Pete Hegg said than Will Kane, oh, you can't do a push-up or a pull-up? I mean, this is the ultimate in reactionary politics, you know? So I guess push-ups and pull-ups are now Republicans. like crazy. All right. Let's get into some college football with David Cohn, the host of Crane Company coming up on Will Cain Country. This is Jimmy Phala, inviting you to join me for Fox Across

America where we'll discuss every single one of the Democrats' dumb ideas. Just kidding. It's only a three-hour show. Listen live at noon Eastern or get the podcast at Fox Across America.com. Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy host of the Trey Gowdy podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at Fox News Podcast.com. This is Jason Chaffetz from the Jason in the House podcast. Join me every Monday to dive deeper into the latest political headlines and chat with remarkable guests. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com or wherever you download podcasts.

Who's going to win the national championship in 2025, 2026 in college football? Auburn's claimed seven new national titles. Who else can claim titles in college football? It is Will Cain Country. Canaan Sports Edition this Friday, normally getting us every Monday through Thursday at 12 o'clock Eastern Time

at the Will Cain Country YouTube channel. That's for the live version, but always subscribe at Apple or on Spotify. David Cohn is one of the co-hosts of Crane & Company at the Daily Wire, a sports show where they break down all the biggest stories in sports. And today, he's got his prediction for who's going to win the national championship in 2025. Let's welcome in, David Cohn. David Cohn, the co-host of Crane Company, joins us now on Will Cain Country. Also, noted country music star, David Cone. You got a new album

you just released August 8th, David. I did not know you were a big country music. music star. Well, thank you so much for having me, man. It's an honor to be on with you. And yes, a 12-song album titled Richest Man in Town produced by Dolly Parton's producer, Mr. Kent Wells, right here in Nashville, Tennessee. I'm so excited to have this music out there, and I really appreciate you bringing it up. Man, that's really cool. Have you always wanted to be, I know of you, of course, in sports. Have you always wanted to be in country music? I grew up loving two things. College football and country music, and my dad would take me to, You know, we were listening to Johnny Cash and Whaling Jennings, Hank, Hank Williams, Jr., and, you know,

grew up listening to the Everly Brothers growing up to shows like theirs. And now, you know, later in life found, you know, Zach Brown and Chris Stapleton and some more new age country music stars. But I love great songs. I also love, you know, Credence Clearwater and Eagles and Leonard Skinner, and there's a real Southern rock type vibe to what I'm writing and recording these days. So I would say anyone who loves any music steeped in the Americana tradition would like this album. And, you know, whether or not you like my songwriting or my vocals, I'll tell you what,

some of the best session guys in the world played on this record. So at least you can appreciate the music that's playing behind it. And also, there's a lot of really patriotic pro-American tracks on here, just what America needs, American made. And we were able to release some of those as singles and get those played on Donald Trump's campaign playlist a year ago. So I was very grateful for that. But I really appreciate you bringing it up. And I hope you enjoy the album, Will. Yeah, man, I'm excited for you. Before we move on, to college football, let me ask you this. I almost ask everyone who's not just in country music, but anyone who loves country music, who's on their Mount Rushmore of country music. So you have

four spots on the mountain who are you carving in to Mount Rushmore? I go, Whalen Jennings, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, and Hank Williams. That's what I would go with. How about yours? Very old school, very outlaw. It's funny, I ask everybody that, but I haven't narrowed down my four yet. What I'm inspired by is everyone has included Waylon Jennings, who would be on my Mount Rushmore. I love Waylon Jennings or something about his voice. To your point, I hear Chris Stapleton or I hear Sturgle Simpson. I hear Waylon Jennings, but he's the original, and he is, of course, a Texan. I don't think you can create a Mount Rushmore without including George Stray.

I think George Strait simply has to be on the Mount Rushmore of country music. I need some representation of Texas country because as much as I love country, there's a red dirt country music that is pioneered by guys like Robert Earl Keene, embodied by Pat Green and Corey Morrow, and modern guys who are doing it as well that I love. But I think I would be forgiven if I say it kind of all started with Willie Nelson. He is sort of the patron saint of Texas country, even though he had a huge Nashville presence. So I'd probably, I definitely would carve in Willie Nelson. And then as a fourth, who would I put, I don't know, I love Merle. I love some of the new guys as well. I can't get enough of Zach Bryan.

I'm into some really, really young guys like Waylon Wyatt. Of course, he wouldn't belong on the Rushmore. But, okay, for that fourth spot. What about Marty Robbins? I mean, Marty Robbins is, you know, tough not to put on there. And even honestly, I mean, Dolly Parton, I'm so proud of everything Dolly Parton has done for this industry and she's been fantastic. I love that you bring up Willie Nelson and his perseverance, you know, as a songwriter, writing so many of those hits throughout the years, but didn't quit on his ambitions to be a solo artist. Also on the George Strait point, I will just say, because my father, you know, everything that we were listening to growing up was the things that my father loved to listen to, which was pre-George Strait.

And then when I sort of had a resurgence of country music a little bit later in life, post playing football at the University of Michigan, that's why I sort of missed a lot of those George Strait years. But I'll tell you what, when Amarillo by Morning comes on, it doesn't get much better than that for me. I think it's number one, David. I think it's really, if you're talking about the best country music song of all time, it comes down to one of two songs. It comes down to Amarillo by morning by George Strait or he stopped loving her today by George Jones. That's generally considered, I think, the two best songs. And I'll do respect to everybody else. You know, I think there are some great ones.

You never even call me by my name is the perfect country and western song by David Allen Co. But I do think it comes down to He Stop Loving Her Today or Amarillo by morning. Wow. I tell you what, I didn't know you were this passionate about country music. Now you're getting me exciting. So I will say one more thing about my record since you brought up, He Stop Loving Her Today. The harmonica on that played by Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie McCoy. I was fortunate enough to get Charlie McCoy to play harmonica on two of my songs on this record.

And that was Richest Man in Town and also the song on there called Brothers. So if you hear the harmonica playing on that, that is Nashville legend Charlie McCoy playing on there. That is awesome. What an awesome experience. I didn't expect this to go so deep on country music, but I absolutely love it. Now we're here to talk about college football. Let's start with your college football playoff predictions. eye-opening, I'm looking here at your 12-team playoff cone.

And there are some teams that I did not expect so much so that I'm like, is he trolling me? Now, we're going to go through these together. And I'm like, okay, he's got Baylor in the playoffs. I can't tell, is this I, Illinois? That's not Indiana's eye. Is that Illinois you have in the top 12? You have Navy as your group of five representative? And you have as your national champion, Penn State.

So I think we've got a lot here, David, to debate. Well, here's what I want to say, first off, right off the bat. If you were just to ask me three or four weeks ago, who would you have in the college football playoff, those teams would be very different. I would probably have a different representative from the Big 12. I would have probably had four SEC teams rather than three and had four Big Ten teams rather than five. But what you have to do on this thing, and this is what we do here at Craning Company,

Every single August, when fall camp rolls around, we print off the entire schedule grid and you have to X and check every single game. And there's 808 games across the Power 4 conferences. And when you do that, the schedules become paramount in determining who's going to win and lose these conferences. So yes, at the end of it, I'm looking at Big 12 and I'm saying, wow, I actually have Baylor winning this conference when I thought it would be Kansas or Kansas State or Utah winning that conference. And as for the Navy representation there, again, group of five, look at that schedule. They're returning quarterback Blake Horvath, okay? They beat Army a year ago. They beat Memphis on the road a year ago, and they have a weird situation where they

won't play Army until after Selection Sunday, and they have to play Notre Dame on the road. But remember, Boise State was the group of five representative a year ago, and they lost to Oregon by three. So that could happen. Illinois, you bring up Illinois? Sure, Illinois could not make the college football playoff. I just think the way their schedule works out in returning quarterback Luke Altmeyer, remember who transferred in from Ole Miss,

Brett Beelam was right there knocking on the door a year ago at 9 and 3. I think they could find themselves at 10 and 2 and possibly get a college football playoff berth. All right, let's talk about some of the more acceptable or mainstream picks into the college football playoff. You have Texas as a four seed, Clemson as the one seed, you have Penn State as your three,

and you have, who is your two, Notre Dame as your second seed. And as I mentioned, you've got Penn State marching all the way through, meeting Clemson in the national title game. You really believe that much, and Drew Aller. Well, I didn't a week ago again, and I didn't think I would have Texas winning the SEC because I have them losing on the road in Athens during the regular season. But when I filled out the schedule and I had a Texas-Georgia rematch in the SEC

championship game. I just looked down and said, I don't think Steve Sarkesian is going to lose four straight times to Kirby Smart. Two a season ago, and then I have them losing in the regular season. I think Texas actually beats Georgia for that SEC championship game, which would get them one of those top four seeds. And then it becomes about seeding on who lost earliest versus who lost latest. For Notre Dame and for Clemson, I both have them losing week three. Notre Dame hosting Texas A&M, and then I have Clemson losing on the road at Georgia Tech. But then both those teams running the table, which means that they would be ranked a little higher. Do I believe fully in Drew Alar's capability to win a national championship all by himself? No. But when you look at that roster and

they return 2,000 yard backs and they get guys from USC like the Hudson kid at wide receiver, just a truly incredible playmaker. And they're always going to be stacked on defense. I just don't want to count Penn State out just because James Franklin hasn't done it before. Remember Kirby Smart, they said couldn't win the big game. Then he won back-to-back national championships. They said Ryan Day couldn't win the big game, and now he's the defending national champion. So let's see if Penn State can get it done. We'll be right back on Will Cain Country.

Listen to the all-new Brett Bear podcast featuring Common Ground, in-depth talks with lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle, along with all your Brett Bear favorites like his All-Star panel and much more. Available now at Fox News Podcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Janice Dean. 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.

Welcome back to Will Cain Country. Five Big Ten teams, David. You have Michigan, Illinois, Ohio State, Oregon, and Penn State, all in the 12-team playoff. Five Big Ten teams. How are you doing that? How are you getting that? You've taken the SEC down to four. I got you, but you like the big 10.

Three, actually. Now, let me preface this by saying, I'll say the same thing I said a year ago. I think what the college football playoff committee would love more than anything is to have four SEC teams, four Big Ten teams, and even split between the two biggest conference, add in Notre Dame because of their brand recognition, one each from the ACC and the Big 12, and then you have your group of five representative. But last year, and everyone said last year I was crazy, no, there's going to be five or six SEC teams because they're the best conference in college football.

And I said, yeah, well, that's going to lead to cannibalization during the regular season. And what happened? That's exactly what happened. And the SEC only got three teams in. I think the Big Ten is a little bit more top-heavy, which is not necessarily great when you're talking about top-to-bottom strength in a conference. But it could be a factor that leads to the Big Ten getting more teams into the college football playoff. Right now, I have five, the SEC getting in three. Again, that's not a knock on the quality of teams.

Actually, it's the opposite of that. Just because every single week in the SEC, you could lose games. and I think that's what's going to happen to some of these teams. All right, let's go back to the Big 12. You have Baylor. You mentioned Utah and Kansas State. I also think there's going to need, I think we're going to need to watch Texas Tech. It may be a year early, but I think Texas Tech is really on the doorstep of being, actually,

they're going to be a powerhouse year in, year out in the Big 12. Well, I'm glad you brought that up. Joey McGuire is a big fan of Craning Company, and we love having him on our show. I just don't want to overreact to the NIL budget and spending. right off the bat here in year one. So when you say you think they're a year away, I actually think you're correct in saying that. Now, could they win the Big 12 this year?

Of course they could. Maybe they're here. Maybe they can make a run in the college football playoff. Again, I just think that Utah's still not going anywhere despite a disappointing season ago when Cam Rising got hurt. I don't think Kansas State is going anywhere. Avery Johnson's a heck of a player. This Sawyer Robertson kid at Baylor, man, Dave Iranda,

he's on the hot seat. They got a win now. And I think they have a team that they're able to do at six straight wins to end the season a year ago. I don't think they beat Auburn to start the year. But the Big 12, there's some really good football teams over there. And again, talk about cannibalization. We could see it in that league as well.

But I love that you bring up Texas Tech. We love Joey McGuire, and I hope they have a great season. Do you like, he's been now named the starter at Ohio State. Do you like Julian Sane? They're a great big mystery to me. The way I see this, David, it is a wide open in national championship race. People are saying there's seven different teams that can win the national championship. I do think there are three, in my mind, that are the,

the front runners, and that is Texas, Clemson, and Georgia. That's because I feel stronger about who's going to be leading those teams. Ohio State is stacked at every position, but at the most important position, I just don't know about Julian saying. Well, what makes this the most fascinating preseason of college football that I can remember is exactly what you're talking about. Teams with elite rosters, but inexperienced quarterback. So Georgia falls into that camp. Ohio State falls into that cap. Alabama falls into that camp and let's be honest, Texas falls in there as well. I know everyone knows Arch Manning because of his last name and he has played a little bit more than those other guys I'm talking about, but that's still an elite roster at Texas with a new quarterback taking over

for Quinn Ewers. On the flip side of that, let's talk about a couple elite rosters that have returning quarterbacks. Also, Notre Dame also falls into that camp. I love this Notre Dame roster, but right now I'm hearing it may not even be C.J. Carr starting at quarterback that he's getting beaten out in fall camp, so we'll see. But then on the flip side of that, You brought up Clemson, and then, of course, I brought up Penn State, elite rosters both there with quarterbacks who have experience returning. How will that factor in throughout the course of not only a season, but an expanded 12-team playoff? And luckily, we get to find out right off the bat here with Ohio State hosting Texas. What a matchup that is.

You know, we got Josh Pate in the other room right here that we're talking to next, and I just want to ask him, Arch Manning's going to be a household name no matter what happens in this game because he already is. will Julian saying be a household name after that game hosting Texas? That's what I'm interested to see. All right. I can't wait for that game. It's an early season loss for one of those two teams. I don't think it will set either of them behind on their pursuit of the national

championship. But it would be an awesome test, Ohio State and Texas. Okay, Auburn has claimed seven additional national championships, David. That puts Auburn at nine national championships. Here is the list of self-claimed national championships. self-claimed national championships. Number one, Princeton, 28. Number two, Yale with 27.

Number three, Alabama with 24. Number four, Harvard with 12. Number five, Michigan with 12. Number six, Notre Dame with 11. USC also at 6 with 11. Ohio State and Auburn come in, tied at 8th. Both claiming 9. Minnesota, by the way, 10th, claiming 7.

I'm not mad at Auburn. If everyone else is going to do this, then they should be able to do it as well. It's a little bit like politics. If Democrats are going to redistrict, then why don't Republicans redistrict? We have to have a standard that everyone abides by. But Auburn now puts themselves at nine. What do you think about this claim from Auburn? Championships are one.

They are not claimed. So I think that it's a joke. And I understand Auburn's excuse of saying, well, everyone else did it. Well, you know what? That doesn't change anything. And that's why the BCS system was created. So there was a national championship game. But even in the BCS numbers, Auburn's claiming 2004 now.

I know it was not right. It was not right that USC and Oklahoma got to play that year with an undefeated Auburn getting left out. But still, everyone in the college football world agreed, well, we're going to have a BCS national championship game. Same with the USC claiming 2003, even though LSU won that BCS national championship, which is what led to the 14 college football playoff,

because people said, okay, well, there's no way there's more than four teams that could win a national championship. Then we had that for a decade. And what happened this past year? We get a 12-team expanded college football playoff for the Buckeyes who wouldn't have made it in at four, certainly wouldn't have made it in at two in the BCS, for them to be the eight-seed or seven-seed and go on a run and win the national championship, which I think is only going to continue to lead to college football playoff expansion. Hopefully not. I think let's at least play out this 12 for a while.

But yeah, championships are won. They are not claimed. And so it's just a joke to me. I agree, however, they do it. And look, there's the Ivy League schools, and then Alabama famously claims so many national championships. So I find Auburn, I'm like, if Alabama's going to declare bankruptcy, if Alabama's going to claim national championships,

then Auburn should be able to match their rival. I did look this up. I was like, okay, if Auburn does this, what could everyone else do? And this is what I found, according to artificial intelligence. Penn State only claims two national championships, recognizes 82 and 86, but they could claim as many as seven, including 94 and 69. So Penn State could take their number up to seven national championships. SMU does not claim the 1981 national title, despite selectors listing them, some selectors listing

them, they finished 10 and 1 that season. And that's the criteria for self-claimed. Did somebody, did some publication, did some writer of some credibility back in the day, say you were the national championship? Cornell, Cal, and Illinois have also had selectors named them in various years, but have not officially claimed. And of course, because I'm a homer, I'm like, okay, how many could the Texas Longhorns have if we actually did this? Right now, Texas has four recognized national. championships. But they could claim an additional five, taking them up to nine. They could claim 1914, 1968, 1977, and 1988. And how is that? Because, for example, in 77,

Barryman, Fact, and Sagarin all ranked Texas as number one at the end of the season. That's how they do it. Did somebody back then rank you as number one, then you claim it. And if we're going to have an arms race, then I want the Longhorns in on this. We now have nine championships. Well, if that's how it's going to work, I got to get to work here because I got a lot of things I could be claiming. But how about we do this? Every single team won the national championship every single year before we actually had a college football playoff. Maybe we could do that. But that begs the question. Why hadn't they done this? Like, what were we waiting around doing? I saw Auburn's claim in 1910. What were we waiting around for 115 years? Let's go ahead and get on that and get that in our column numbers.

there. All right. So now let's go to this. Michigan. You're a Michigan man. The NCAA has leveled penalty sanctions against Michigan for the sign stealing scheme, of course, involving in the infamous Connor Stallions from 2021 to 2023. So it's a $20 million fine. It could exceed $30 million, including forfeiture of postseason revenue, 10% cut to its football budget, reduced scholarships, and decrease in official recruiting visits. Head coach Sharon Moore is going to serve a three-game suspension. And NFL coach, Jim Harbaugh, got a 10-year show-cause penalty, but there's nothing they can really do to him.

He's in the NFL. All right, what do you say, David? Well, people keep asking if I'm angry at Jim Harbaugh for this signal-deciphering saga, and I say, yes, I'm angry that he didn't implement this scheme sooner. Six years we're losing to the Buckeyes and Urban Meyer before we realize, hey, maybe we shouldn't signal first. Maybe we should let the opponent signal first so that we're not at a disadvantage. Here's the thing I'll say, if you just hate Michigan because that's your rival or because you only love your school, I can't do anything for those people.

But for anyone who truly wants to understand the tactics and the schematics of the game, I encourage you to go to our YouTube channel at Craning Company and watch our interview with Connor Stallions and listen to him explain the cat and mouse nature of this game, not so much about knowing the other team signals, but just understanding we shouldn't signal first. If the offense is trying to gain an advantage on us by not huddling and signaling, well, then let's gain an advantage on them by letting them dictate what they're going to do first. So that's the signal part of it.

That's completely silly. I sent dummy signals for two years at Michigan. I sent live signals for two years at Michigan. We understood if we're trying to gain an advantage, the onus is on us to protect our own signals. The advanced scouting part of this is technically what violates a rule, and now we definitively know that Connor Stallions was on the Central Michigan sideline, per the request of Central Michigan, to be there, and that broke a rule. So I've been saying, well, okay, what's the precedent for the punishment then, right? The punishment could be commensurate

with the crime. Jeff Leby did this a few years ago when he was at Baylor. He got suspended for half of football. Now he's the head coach at Mississippi State. So when I see $30 million fines and I see Jim Harbaugh 10-year show cause, Connor Stallion's eight-year show cause. I think, okay, this isn't about signals. This isn't about going and watching an opponent play in person. That stuff is completely silly. We used to do that in Pop Warner,

stay extra to watch an opponent play. This is about Jim Harbaugh not bending the knee to the NCAA. He never bent over backwards to them. They've hated it for him. He was one of the first coaches to recommend that players participate in revenue sharing and get paid. I don't think the NCAA ever forgave him for that. he didn't bend over backwards.

And while he could have handled things better throughout his tenure at Michigan, I do have to say I agree with a lot of his sentiments when it comes to the NCAA. So you're way more informed on this scandal than I am. And what I need to do is clearly what you just said. Go listen to your interview with Conner Stallions at Craneing Company. If you love football, please do.

That's up on YouTube? Yes, sir, it is. Over an hour and a half, Connor Stallions breaks down exactly what they were trying to do in terms of, hey, a lot of the plays, I don't know what the other team is signaling, but you know what we're not going to do? We're not going to send our defensive signal in first. Let them signal so that we're not at a disadvantage that tip the balance,

particularly against teams like Ohio State and Penn State in the Big Ten. And look, whenever you're not beaten up on Michigan anymore, people got mad about it, particularly in Columbus, Ohio. We'll be right back on Will Kane Country. From the Fox News Podcasts Network. Hey there, it's me, Kennedy. Make sure to check out my podcast. Kennedy saves the world.

It is five days a week, every week. Download and listen at foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Welcome back to Will Kane Country. All right, let's move now quickly to baseball. My producer Tinfoil Pat is incredibly upset about the idea of realignment in major league baseball. There's talk at the highest levels. They're going to mix it up. When this first came out, David, I wasn't that upset.

And I won't be upset if it goes. in a couple of certain directions. I understand the importance of tradition to baseball. But Jim Bowden at The Athletic has given a couple examples. He's given a couple of suggestions on what could be done. And some of it makes sense. And it's not huge shifting from the American League to the National League. That's the biggest disruptor in my mind.

But, for example, in Bowden's suggestion, you would have the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Orioles, and the Blue Jays in the American League East. geographically it makes sense he would put the the cleveland uh the cleveland guardians the detroit tigers minnesota and the white socks in for example an american league north and then um an expansion franchise in the west and then for example Colorado would be the sole team to move from the national league to the american league they'd be in the american league south with the royals the rangers and the astros same thing over in the national league you'd add Nashville or Raleigh as your expansion team.

They'd be bunched with the Braves, the raise, who would be the team to move from the American League, and Miami. And same thing. It just goes like that across the country. There are more radical proposals, like really wiping away American League and National League, jumbling those dominoes. You could come out with divisions that have the Red Sox, Mets, Yankees, and Phillies, all, for example, in the ALE East. first of all, does it offend you this whole idea of realignment in Major League Baseball? No person who truly loves baseball really cares about minor reshuffling of divisions, right? There was a time, I'm an Atlanta Braves fan, there was a time when the Braves didn't even play the Mets or the Phillies.

Now they're two of our biggest rivals. So people will come to accept those new rivalries similar to how college football realignment is working in conferences. When you start to have a conversation about moving away from the National League and the American League, to me is an absolute non-starter. And to be frank with you, I don't think we should have reshuffling of divisions because there's expansion in baseball. I think we should have reshuffling because there's contraction. I actually think we have too many teams, and baseball was at its best when we had fewer teams in bigger markets with bigger brand names. And I think that baseball is looking at what, say, the Savannah bananas are doing right now, and they're getting

caught up in this situation of trying to, you know, trying to do the new thing constantly and say, hey, let's rebrand and let's be more flashy when you look at a sport like golf who leans into its tradition and is not afraid of saying, hey, you know, we're going to lean into our tradition. The Masters is the greatest sporting event in the world. And we're not going to change just because, you know, someone wants us to her because there's some other successful thing. That's what I personally believe in. And I think maybe Major League Baseball needs some new leadership. Let me just give a counter argument. By the way, I just don't want this. It's actually Jim Bowdens is

more radical. What I first read to you was from the athletic. Bowdens is the one that puts, for example, I don't even know what he's calling these leagues if they're going to be called American League and National League still, but, you know, he's got the Rockies, the A's, the Mariners, and the Giants in the division together.

It's like every single division as he draws it up, kind of has two American League teams and two National League teams in there. And it totally erases history. And you've got to preserve history. I do think you could benefit from some geographic alignment. I do.

But you got to hold tradition. But I'm not offended by expansion. The two markets, three markets they're talking about is Portland on the West Coast. And then either it's, I think it's Nashville or Raleigh. Yeah. National too. For the South. And here's my argument that it's not being watered down by expansion.

So baseball is not really a national sport anymore. It doesn't have a national talking point. It's not heavily covered on any of your big national networks. It is a regional sport. And in that way, it's doing pretty well, meaning regional revenue. There's problems with some of the TV distributors, but it's still what is the backbone of Major League Baseball. And so if you're going to grow the sport, we always think about it from a national level, like, oh, is this going to make it more interesting and get bigger ratings? When the truth is, what they need to care about is, are you growing, if this is what your sport is, and it is, I know everything there is to know about the Texas Rangers.

I know very little about the Atlanta Braves, and I think I'm very symbolic of everyone in that way who likes baseball, wherein in football, you and I can sit here and talk together about the starting quarterbacks of every team in the NFL. But if you're going to have this model that you're somewhat of a regional sport, it only gets national, honestly, at the World Series, and even then it's not massive ratings, then you could benefit from getting into some new regional markets,

like the South and the Pacific Northwest. Fair enough. Again, I'm an Atlanta Braves fan, but I live in Nashville, Tennessee, in Nashville. Everyone around me says, I'm crazy. Like, why don't you want a major league baseball team right here in Nashville? I said, well, if they get one, okay, that'd be cool. I'd take my son to some games, but I'm not going to stop being a Braves fan. What I'd rather do is be able to afford to take my son to some Braves games. That would be a lot more fun, even though it's only, you know, it's four hours away. I mean, for instance, when I was growing up in Chipper Jones and Greg Maddox and Tom Glavin were leading the Atlanta Braves, my parents would take us up for dollar tickets.

If you showed up three hours in advance of a game, you could get tickets for $1, and then my parents would take us to one or two games a year. I was three and a half hours away from that, and then we would watch batting practice, and we would get to experience a Braves game. So I understand the regionality argument that you're talking about. And look, if more teams helps, that's great.

What hurts my heart as a baseball fan is when I see stadiums across this country have 500 people showing up for a baseball game, Now, maybe that just speaks to poor leadership within those specific organizations, and that's a problem that could be solved. But I look around at baseball right now, and I just, I don't see a really healthy sport. I saw this graph. This will be the last thing here, David.

I saw this graph of popularity of sports in America. I can't remember how they measured popularity, but it was something. And it went back over a century, and it was really fascinating. A couple of takeaways, like, the NFL is definitely growing football. It's not the NFL, it's football. It's definitely growing, but it's not a hockey stick chart. It looks more like a slow growth. I mean, it's number one, but it's more like a slow growth chart.

Soccer on this chart had surpassed baseball. I think was it baseball or, yeah, not yet basketball in terms of popularity. Hockey remains pretty constant. It's just kind of there, always kind of in fourth place or whatever it is, fourth or fifth. But baseball is what was interesting. in the in the early 20th century whatever this index was it said like 80 it's the average American male what they knew and what they watched

it had some like 80% of American males were familiar with baseball so much so that this suggestion was and again this is a post on social media so I'm not sure how accurate is but like it was a test in in the world wars of like is this guy you know is he a soldier behind enemy lines like does he know something about the St. Louis Cardinals like could you ask this guy because 80s percent of americans would know the answer about something about baseball and a german would not um but

the hoc the chart on baseball is a hockey stick in the wrong direction i mean it plummets in the latter half of the 20th century and the argument being made was baseball was the perfect sport for radio everyone can get around their radio and listen to baseball and and the other sports i mean i listen to football sometimes on radio because i happen to be in the car and i actually kind of like it it's just fun in your mind's eye, but baseball is perfect for your mind's eye. And it's kind of interesting to think about how media and the medium influence football is the perfect television sport, influence the popularity of a sport. And that's such a great point. And I think that, you know, Ben Shapira and I talk ad nauseum about baseball because he's not only such a big

baseball fan, but the history and the tradition of baseball. And I think that's one of the reasons that he brought us here to Nashville and really loved our sport. And he's, show. I love that you're bringing up the radio point. I think that you are right about that. And I just hope that baseball can get to a point where they can have success, you know, with television, despite it being a regional sport and having a regional appeal like that. Like I said, I still love my Atlanta Braves. You love your Texas Rangers. Actually, I kind of have become a Texas Rangers the last few years. They're the only team in Major League Baseball that doesn't have any pride nights. And in the year that I switch over to loving the Texas Rangers, they win the

world series. So maybe you should keep bringing me over to some of your teams. it'll help out. I mean, I could bring you over the Longhorns. I think you're going to get some glory here in the next couple of years, but I would never inflict upon you the Dallas Cowboys. I would never do that to you. I will say this, though. I'm too much already.

I'm two episodes into the Netflix documentary on the Cowboys, and it is awesome. It is awesome. It's nostalgia porn. For me, I mean, that's my golden years. And to listen to those guys, like Michael Irvin, Charles Haley, if you don't care about the Cowboys, boys you should watch this because of the characters what characters jimmy johnson is a character jerry jones obviously is a character michael irvin and there's no bigger character than charles haley

like you've got to watch this yeah this documentary it's really really entertaining and you got to check out david cohn's music um which he debuted on eight eight the richest man in town or richest man in town up on spotify and check them out on crane and company uh we always appreciate having you on thank you david thank you so much for having me all right that's going to do it for us today. Once again, check out Crane and Company at The Daily Wire. We appreciate David Cohn hanging out with us today on this edition of Canaan Sports. Available at Spotify and Apple, but head over to Will Kane Country on YouTube. Hit subscribe, set a bookmark, a like it, and then you're going to hang out with this every Monday through Thursday. We'll see you again

next time. ad-free with a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcasts and Amazon Prime members. You can listen to this show, ad-free on the Amazon music app.