Coaches Poll Reaction, ND v. USC Is Back, Best & Worst College Towns | Others Receiving Votes

All right.

Welcome to the show.

Others receiving votes.

Uh, it's August now, we're getting there.

We're getting there as we close in on college football.

I am Pat 40 joined by my Sports Illustrated colleague, Kevin Sweeney .

Uh, Brian Fisher, Parts Unknown on vacation, uh, resting up for the, the big run here for the next 4 or 5 months.

We, uh, college football season gets underway.

Uh, Kevin, there are a bunch of topics we're going to get to today, and we're gonna get to all of the off-field stuff that is, to me, mind-numbing, overwhelming, and increasingly irritating, i.e., the Senate.

Uh, the Protect College Sports Act , and everything that's going on in terms of chaos in the courts.

We're gonna get to that.

We will get to the AFC AFCA top 25, which came out, uh, this week.

So we've got some rankings to argue about.

We're gonna get to Notre Dame and USC scheduling.

We're gonna get to Indiana's scheduling proclivities.

Uh, and a few other things, but we're gonna start with actually a little bit of fun.

We're allowed to still have that in college sports occasionally.

It's not all, oh my God, everything is terrible.

This I find hilarious and fascinating, and perhaps marketing genius.

Uh, Akron, the Zips have come up with quite the stratagem.

If you buy a season ticket for football, You get to enter an allegedly random drawing to call the plays, to script the plays for the first drive of the home opener against Robert Morris.

Uh, this is fantastic.

Absolutely love the idea.

Everybody who has ever played a video game or played any kind of college football, any, if you've ever played any backyard game, you've got yourself like you're , you're, you, you, you, you are by far smarter than anybody else who has ever called plays, right?

So, you, you are ready to go ahead and crush this.

Would you buy a season ticket for Akron, Kevin, to get it for the chance to call the plays against Robert Morris?

So I, I did do some digging on this.

It appears that a season ticket starts at 75 bucks for the Akron Zips.

It is not a massive investment.

Uh, I, I could, I could envision a world where I'm just gonna say, hey, you know, let's, let's, let's, it's a lottery ticket, and it's an entertaining lottery ticket at that.

Uh, now, I, I, I mean, look.

Do we think 100 people do this?

100 people buy Akron season tickets that wouldn't have otherwise, non-locals, people who might not ever use these tickets.

If so, great for the, great for the zips, but no, I would, I would be ready to rock with, with, with quite, quite the game plan.

I'd have stuff scribbled all over napkins.

I mean, for, for that, that first coaches meeting, I'd want to be there throughout the week.

I don't know if I only get one meeting.

I think that's what the rule, that's what probably what it is.

I don't, I don't imagine Joe Moorhead wants, wants us following him around for, for, for an entire week, but I wanna be, I wanna be part of install.

I, I want, I, I'll throw in more cash if I can get some of that stuff.

Absolutely.

Yeah, the floor for season tickets, as you said, 75 bucks.

I mean, it's a good deal.

They play, I think, 6 home games.

Uh, you, you get a parking pass for that too.

Uh, the, the ceiling, I think, is 181 for season tickets, so it's not like you gotta mortgage anything to go see the Zips play 6 times.

Uh, Infocision Stadium seats 30,000.

Uh , here's the sad part.

Last year's average attendance, 7,729, which ranked second to last in FBS.

Only Sam Houston averaged fewer fans.

So I get the idea, like, if you're, if you are the Akron athletic director, and, or even Joe Moorhead, like, look, yeah, I'm dying to get some people in the stadium, so we have some home field atmosphere, I'll let him call the plays.

And all of a sudden, the AD is taking you up on it, and, uh, and you've got this thing.

So, Moorhead, he's a good play caller.

He was at Penn State when, with Tracey McSorley and Saquon Barkley, and I mean, I, I, that's his thing.

His record at Akron, 2-10, 2-10, 4 and 85 and 7.

It's getting better.

It's going up.

Uh, we're getting a little bit better.

This is not an easy place to win, even by max standards.

Uh, last bowl game was in 2017.

They were nudged 50 to 3 in the Boca Raton Bowl by like Florida Atlantic.

Uh, they've had one winning season in the last 20, but I just think this is a fantastic idea, and yes, like, How, what, what exactly is your, your level of involvement?

I think that remains to be seen.

But what's your first play?

If, if, if Joe Moorhead says, hey, wide open, what do you wanna do?

Where are you going?

I mean, I, I am a sucker for the reverse pass.

So I think I have to, I have to at least propose it in the staff meeting.

I have to see what the reaction is, and when they inevitably don't like it, I think we can, we can, we can, we can dumb it down to like an RPO or something just to, just to get everybody's feet wet.

There you go.

I, I mean, I'm proposing 4 verts, 4 verts, everybody go, uh, and just chuck that thing deep, uh, and if you need to throw it out of bounds, fine, but let's go try to score a touchdown on the first play.

That's the thing, I think you're gonna get people who will want to just absolutely go video game on this, like , let's come up with the craziest gadget, let's throw absolute caution to the wind, and we'll see how this thing goes.

Uh, the, the, I, I, I'm guessing.

Like they, they, Joe Moorhead would present you with his, you know, a Waffle House menu of plays, you know, he's got like 50 things on there, and then say, well, this is our 1st down menu, and this is our 2nd down menu, and 2nd and short, 2nd and long, you know, and they get into all the specific things, and they say, you can have some input on that.

And of course, Joe in the background is like, yeah, I can veto anything you come up with if it's too stupid.

But, uh, I, the good thing too, Pat, is this is a Thursday night game.

And everyone's been here that first Thursday night of college football, and the first like real game is at, you know, 7 o'clock or 8 o'clock, you know, you're waiting on the first Power 4 game, you're ready, you, you, you're bouncing, you're scrolling the channel, they're like, all right, can you mass score on the first drive against Rutgers?

Like what can we do?

We got, we, we, we, we, we, we're locked and loaded.

Oh, excuse me, I'm, I'm, I'm screwing this all up because it's like it's a week 2 home a week 2 home opener.

My apologies.

I, I've botched it all, but regardless, why, why not?

You, you, you're, you're skimming the channels.

Let's make sure we get to Akron and we see that first drive and see what whoever wins this.

Also, like, do we get like a, a shot of the guy in the booth in his seat?

Just like, does he have a play sheet with him in the stands?

There's a lot going on here that I'm excited about.

So yeah, they can do a lot more with this, absolutely.

Like this guy, like I want to interview this guy.

It is, unfortunately, it's 3, whoever wins this, this uh alleged random drawing.

It's 3:30 on Saturday, September 12th, the home game against Robert Morris, so it's kind of in the middle of a lot of other stuff, but people will be paying attention for sure, to see what, uh, what gets called.

And, and the funny thing about this is, I mean, what, what is the most common thing football fans do, is sit around and bitch about the play calling for whoever their team is, right?

Everybody's terrible, nobody does the right thing, everybody's too conservative, bah bah bah bah bah, here's your chance to actually take the reins.

And I have sat in on a few meetings, uh, it, it is clearly, obviously, much more complicated than People at home may fully uh appreciate.

Maybe it's too complicated, maybe they outthink themselves a bunch.

But I do remember one time at Texas in 2010.

Uh, they gave me like 5 days in the program, Matt Brown, unbelievable access.

And, uh, Greg Davis, the offensive coordinator, is like showing me film.

They had played Rice in the opener and weren't very good, and as a matter of fact, this was the beginning of the end of Texas football.

They should have never let me into the doors of the place.

Um, but they were playing Wyoming week two, and he was like, Everything in our game plan depends on whether the defensive end lines up like this on the outside or like this on the inside.

It's like, a matter of 3 ft is gonna decide, like everything for them.

I'm like, holy cow, this is ridiculous.

But, and maybe that was it, maybe Greg Davis was thinking too hard, I don't know, but I think, you know, if it's uh Tommy Smithers from Akron who wins this thing, pays his 75 bucks and, and gets the chance to call the plays.

He's, he might be inundated with more information than he was, he was ready for.

But kudos to Akron for having the idea, and we will see the execution.

Uh, yeah, I think they said like, August 19th, you get to meet with Joe Moorhead on this, at which time, you know, he will give you about 8 minutes and say, all right, give me 3 plays, I'll talk to you later.

But I agree with you, like, I hope this guy is in the stands with a play sheet, and like, you know, there's a camera isolated on him, and we can just watch him, uh, react to his mastery as it unfolds on the field, and hopefully, they don't just audible and run it 3 times.

So, go Akron.

Good job, uh, coming up with, with a new wrinkle and something fun in college sports, so we don't have to talk about Congress and the courts all the time.

But now, unfortunately, we have to talk about Congress and the courts.

Uh, the Senate stuff, whatever , man.

Like, just, just let me know when there's gonna be a vote, if there's gonna be a vote.

I've never heard more fake drama.

Uh, in my life, well, this is the last day when this can be decided.

No, this is the last day.

Well, there's this day, and now it's like, well, we've got to get this happening by Monday, and if it doesn't, then everything's ruined.

Just tell us whether there's a vote or not a vote.

In the meantime, there is news, of course, in the courts.

Uh, rather chaotic news.

Colorado District court ruling that basically said, Everybody who didn't get their 5th year this year in the NCAA ruling that went to an age-based eligibility of 5 years.

Uh, can now have it in 2026, right now.

Like you, you, we are potentially opening the gates and letting back in hundreds, maybe even thousands of athletes across all sports.

I don't know.

Uh, Kevin, you wrote a pretty strong column about this.

You've been right there seeing the chaos that's, uh, unfolding in basketball.

Uh, tell us about your thoughts on this, what's going on, where we're headed.

Yeah, uh, look, One of the core points of, of my column, which, you know, the angle is really that I think the NCAA needs to back down.

The NCAA needs to, needs to put the gun down for the sake of having a competitive season for everyone involved, like, you gotta know if these guys are eligible.

It's August 5th.

Like , we, uh, the idea of Indiana adding back Stephen Daley and being one of the best players on their team, and then like, we're waiting to see if like in October, the Protect College Sports Act gets across the finish line, which And maybe gives them power to overturn this ruling and maybe not.

Nobody really knows.

Like, that, that's no way to run a sports league.

At the end of the day, the NCAA is a sports league, like we're competing for a championship here.

Let's just, like, I don't like where we are any more than I think most people, this, this does not seem to be a case where people are, um, on the side of the players.

Seems like most people, at least I see online are, are, are, are, and certainly coaches do not understand why these guys are getting a 5th year, but They're winning in court and there's no way to keep them out, right?

This Colorado ruling has brought everyone eligibility.

We will see, uh, if that holds, even if it doesn't, there will be dozens of state-level lawsuits, and those lawsuits are assured.

To not guaranteed to win , but there's a very high likelihood they will, they will win.

The early ones have won.

There was a big one in Ohio, there's a big one in Tennessee, there's one coming in Georgia, um, there was one coming in North Carolina.

I'm told that was canceled.

They're gonna redistribute them into different states.

I mean, the, the, the, every, everyone is going to be on a lawsuit when it's all said and done, and so.

I just, I don't know what the point of the fight is, unless the point of the fight is the fight for the NCAA.

A lot of talk that the NCAA, I think it was the, the, the attorneys for one of some of the basketball players, Ryan Doughton, who, who accused the NCAA of doing this to create, you know, PR wins for the Protect College Sports Act.

I have a hard time believing, number 1, the NCAA could have timed it this way, and number 2, that the NCAA is like, Smart enough and devious enough to pull off a plan like that, but I do think the NCAA is perfectly happy to allow schools and players to have as little information as possible, because they know they can't win in court, and their biggest deterrent for guys coming to college right now is, oh, I don't know, will I be eligible in a month, you know, will our team have to Forfeit games if, if a guy plays and then is ineligible later, um, you know, can he transfer, can he not, like, like the, the, the NCAA is trying to make it as complicated as possible for these guys, so they say, hey, you know what, my pro contract in Germany, it makes more sense, or, oh man, like.

You know, it, it just is, you know, or a coaches, hey, he like, yeah, he was a nice, nice piece of our offensive line last year.

It'd be nice to have some depth, but we don't need him that bad, and I mean, that's a sad place to be, but I, I think it's where we are, and if I were the NCAA, I think it, it just would be time to say, hey, look, like, we got bigger priorities, man.

Like we, we, we, we gotta worry about this Protect College Sports Act.

If this is actually the white whale, this is what gets us where we need to go.

Let's stop fighting people over $427 plane tickets and, you know, random eligibility cases here and there.

Let's just put our, put our weight behind the big stuff and see where the chips fall in, in a few months.

Yeah, I, I did check with an NCAA source on the, the, 4D chess, uh, 3D chess, uh, accusation of, of, like, they engineered this, or they, they wanted this to happen to, to push the Sports Act, that it was termed to me effing insane.

That that's like they, there's no way they came up with that stratagem, and I, I believe them on this because you're counting on way too many contingencies to actually fall into place.

Now, I, I do think that Jamming through.

That Date for when this all, you know, doing that in, what was it, May, June, whatever, absolutely set them up for exactly this chaos.

That, that they should have granted this, that 26, 27, 5th year class, the extra year, as opposed to just saying, no, right then and there.

And uh that, I, I, that, that's the big issue that I see here.

And then the, again , You know, lack of foresight or lack of, of thinking that somebody's gonna win a lawsuit against you.

hm, you know, I, I, I seem to think that the rulings are going one way.

By the way, the, the judge's name in Colorado is Sweeney, or any relation?

I wish, no, no, no relation.

Yeah, they, they are the most powerful Sweeney in college sports right now, Barney.

They do.

It's too bad we might have gotten the inside scoop on that if, if, if you were related, but yeah, they, the, One of the criticisms I've seen there is that this is a person who really, all of a sudden kind of just jumped into the college sports pool without a lot of backgrounding on it, and then some of it had to be walked back over the weekend, uh, you know, what, this, we are not just gonna unleash, everybody isn't gonna become an immediate free agent.

It's like if you hadn't gone in the portal, you can't go in the portal now and just suddenly change schools.

You could go back to the school you were at, which is where, as you mentioned, Indiana could stand to be a major beneficiary of this.

Uh, Stephen Daley, who had 19 tackles for loss in only 13 games last year before getting hurt, I believe , celebrating the Big 10.

championship and didn't play in the playoffs, uh, stud defensive end, tore his ACL I think, so I don't know, like, that was in December, if he'll be ready to play right away, but Holden stays, tight end, uh, that's an area I think Indiana is a bit concerned about, and you get a guy back there, you know, all of a sudden, it is, it's August.

5th, when we are taping this, and like, camps are underway.

People have spent all offseason, the, and the hilarious thing here is, Uh, You know, the thing we heard from football coaches all spring was, well, thank God we didn't have a spring portal, at least we got a roster set, we know what we've got.

Now, whoa, wait a minute, wait a minute, hey, can we get 8 new guys or 8 guys back in?

Sure, we'll take that, or 5, or 3, or 1, or whatever.

Um.

On the basketball side, I, I think it's, there's, it's even more chaotic because there's a little bit more wiggle room in terms of time, you know, you're not, it may be hard to get them into school, but, but you're not already starting full-on practice with games coming in a month.

So, uh, A, a wildly messy situation.

We'll see if the NCAA can walk this back.

I think, you know, they're attempting to, to, to get a stay here.

But once again, this seems like an unintended consequence that wasn't that hard to foresee coming.

Yeah, I totally agree.

Um, basketball will be crazier, um, partially because, uh, of the timing, as you said, partially because way fewer basketball players, red shirts than football players, right?

One of the things that's keeping the football market somewhat subdued is the fact you go through, like, most guys are not spending only 4 years playing college football.

Um, so that's, that's been part of it.

Um, but yeah, I mean, you've already seen Arizona out of the starting power forward, Syracuse just added the guy, Oregon just out of the guy.

Um, Kansas is expected to make a move here shortly.

Um, Gonzagaz might make 2, LSU might make like 4.

Yeah, it's, it's all over the place, but I do think the most interesting 5-year guy of all, uh, all sports is, is Tommy Castellanos.

Because Tommy Castellanos was born to be someone's break glass in case of emergency quarterback, and there's going to be someone, some, some team in fall camp is going to be sitting there like, man, you know, our, our guy has not separated himself.

Can we go ask the donors for like 300,000 for Tommy C?

Can, can we, can we just raise our floor a little bit with, with, with, with Tommy Castellanos, and he's gonna be ready to go.

I mean, honestly, if I, if I was Tommy, like, I, I might, like, I'm waiting till the last possible moment.

Like I, I don't care if I come in, you know, the, the first week of game prep, I get 6 practices.

Well, I'll lace him up.

He's not.

He's not following the play sheet anyway.

He's just gonna scramble and do what he does.

Like, I, I , I, I think I, I love that there's like one quarterback of substance that has the ability to do it.

And like of all people, it, it is, of course, Tommy Castellanos.

It's a, yeah, no, great call.

He was in BC.

He was at Florida State.

He is an ad-lib wild card who has some ability and probably.

Uh, not the easiest to coach, but yeah, he's that guy that , all of a sudden, yes, if your QB situation is not good, or you bring him in and somebody gets hurt, and, you know, this was a guy who was, I won't say on the street, but whatever he was doing was not college football, and all the, and voila, he is, he is your guy in week 3.

it would be, that would be a a peak college sports free agency, uh, story right there.

And don't put it past anybody involved for that to be.

The way that shakes out.

It, it is fascinating, a couple of things here.

Um, like, uh, the schools, uh, you know, a lot of them are like, hey, we don't have the money, but that's exactly, you don't have this , you, it is a buyer's market, because these guys all of a sudden like, yeah, you know what , this is what we got.

Do you wanna play or not?

OK, you'll take a bargain and come in and play .

Um, it's, it's fascinating from an economic standpoint there.

Roster cohesion, well, that's, you know, you figure that out as you go.

Um, but one other element too, of the, the whole, the five-year eligibility window.

Uh, and I heard this at media days and certainly heard it at Notre Dame yesterday where I was, that, you know, there's, with, without the, with in a world with no red shirts, like, if you can play, you're getting on the field.

It's not like, oh, you know, we're only gonna play you 4 games, and then we're gonna sit here, your agent's gonna say he's gonna sit now to preserve the year.

Uh uh.

So, everybody who can play will play, and will play often.

So, that, that's gonna be a fascinating dynamic just to see.

How coaches, uh, handle that.

All right, the Congress thing again, like I, I am so sick of it.

I am, I am tired of it.

I think a lot of people are tired of it.

Again, just wake us up when there's a vote.

Tell us if there's a bill, and we'll get back to it.

Um, what, what are your expectations there?

Do you have any?

What, where, where do you stand on the, the Senate Protect College Sports Act, Kevin?

So, we're recording this, just, just a time stamp, everybody.

Wednesday.

9:30 Eastern, 9:30 a.m. Eastern.

So if we're out of date in an hour because of a Dellinger tweet, we apologize.

Um, that being said, I find, I, I, I find the optimism.

Hard to find if this thing waits a month into September.

Like I just think there's a lot of things that could derail this because it does feel like everybody, you know, it was just sort of a fever, alright, fine, we gotta be in, we're all in, let's do it.

We've got the timeline, we gotta tighten it up.

Oh, never mind, we're actually gonna wait a month.

All, all of a sudden, everybody gets a little more time.

To think about just, just whether this is a good idea, right?

You know, they had to, you know, some senators, all right, do we really want to give all this to Big 10 and the SEC, the Big 10 and the SEC, did we actually get what we want?

Are these provisions as strong as we think they are, which, you know, again, I, I think there's plenty of skepticism that these things will be as enforceable as they hope, um, but Look, the, the positive with the Protect College Sports Act is that there is some level of federal backing to allow the CSC to do the job it was its tasked to do, but If people don't feel like there's a hard cap, they're not gonna go along with this.

If people feel like they're going to screw their own school and realignment, they're not gonna go along with this.

I was already seeing tweets yesterday of like, well, if leagues are capped at 19, how long until, you know, the SEC says Mississippi State's no longer part of it if we can squeeze in, you know, another big, like, like.

the people writing these bills seem not to understand that the entirety of college athletics exists to break the rules, that the entire aim is to hear, read the rules and be like, uh, give it 48 hours.

All right, I got an idea.

Here's how we'll, here's how we'll work around it, right?

So I worry that with a month off, which it seems like we're headed towards, but, you know, the cloture votes and everything, again, not a, not a legal scholar, not a congressional scholar, um.

I have a, I have a bad feeling that the optimism of last Friday night sort of, sort of fades over the next month and it gets a lot harder to get this thing done.

Yeah, I agree.

And then you're right that the longer it goes on, A, the, the less, the, the more the window to actually get it passed shrinks, but, but also the opportunity for people to sail in and second guess, try to amend, you know, that, that, if it gets to the House, they'll have their own ideas about what should be in this bill.

And, you know, we, it is by no means a finished product, and the finished line is out there somewhere.

Uh, presumably coming closer.

But again, I, you know, if this thing goes into September, and we haven't decided, and God bless Ross Dellinger for being all over it, but when they start playing football, again, I, I check further out on what this thing is actually gonna do.

She, get back to me when there is a bill or there isn't a bill.

And if there isn't a bill, then I'm ripping everybody.

But that's all, that's, we, we'll wait till we get to that point.

Uh, all right, back to football.

Uh, we have a top 25.

Everybody always loves it when the first top 25s come out and the AFCA is out.

The, I think we're about 2 weeks away from the AP top 25, uh, real quick, we'll, we'll give the, uh, The rankings here.

Uh, Ohio State is #1, Oregon is #2, Big 1012, Georgia, Texas, 34 , Notre Dame 5, Indiana, 6, Miami 7, Texas A&M 8 , Oklahoma 9, Ole Miss, 10, and so on and so forth.

There are 0.

Top 25 teams from outside the Power Four, and it is heavy on Big 10 and SEC.

So those are the signs of the times.

Uh, give me one team you think is overrated, Kevin, in the top 25.

You know, I have a ton of respect for Mike Elko, but I thought A&M at 8 felt a little high, you know, I, I just think the questions that still sort of linger with, with Marcel Reed, how efficient will he be?

You know, this is a team that feasted on a poor schedule last year, at least by SEC standards.

Their schedule much, much more difficult this time around.

You know , I, I, I, I would probably have them in that, in that SEC pecking order, right?

I mean, I think there's, there's like 4 and 5 spots.

It's A&M, then Oklahoma, then Ole Miss, then Alabama, slide in Texas Tech, who's spending like an SEC team, and then he got LSU.

Like, I would have A&M probably a little bit more in those, in the, in the, in the, in the early, you know, early teens, 1112, 13 range, but, uh, yeah, no, no major qualms overall, I would say .

Yeah, it's, uh, I, I mean, first of all, let me, let me say this, I mean, these, these things are all guesswork.

Um, nobody knows the fact that people get so upset about it is hilarious, but also endearing because that's college football, you know, a bunch of people sitting around guessing in August, uh, becomes like this, this stone tablet for everybody to rail against.

Um, but wait, that's fine, that's the way it is.

I got, I'll rail a little bit.

I can't believe Clemson is ranked.

I don't know why they are.

Clemson comes in at number 23.

Uh, Clemson ain't old Clemson, and people seem like they're still adjusting to that.

They went 7 and 6 last year, and they beat, I think, one team with a winning record, Louisville, by a point.

They, their other wins were, oh, no, they beat Troy, but that, all right, one power conference team with a winning record.

They beat Troy, we're behind most of that game.

Beat North Carolina, bad team, beat Boston College, bad team, beat Florida State, bad team, beat Furman, FCS team, beat South Carolina, disappointment, losing record.

So, I , I look at that, and I look at a team that doesn't have back, like a lot of the good players from that bunch.

Uh, you go back, I, I, I just haven't seen much out of Clemson to make me believe that we're going back to The Trevor Lawrence days or the Deshaun Watson days.

It's not there.

I would not rank the Tigers at all until they show they can do something.

Um, but there's a few others.

I, I, I, I think Alabama, I'm, I'm kind of out on Alabama.

They're 11.

They gotta prove something to me.

Uh, I don't think they should have been in the playoffs last year.

They did win a road game in the playoffs, but still, I'm not, I'm not sold that Alabama is anywhere near its old self either.

Um, all right, underrated.

Kevin, who's, who's the team that should be rated higher?

You know, I'm very bullish on this Washington group, and part of that again, you talk about playing the schedule game, they have a more favorable outlook, it feels like, but, you know, I, I was reminded at Big 10 Media Day that Demon Williams is still 20 years old, right?

Like this is not a guy that's, you know, redshirted and hung around and like all of a sudden appeared.

This is a young, ultra talented quarterback with a coach who I think is very, very good offensively and very sharp and will continue to find ways to put Demon Williams in good positions.

Um, and, and, and so I would not be surprised at all if, if this is a team that is, you know, comfortably in that top twelve-ish conversation.

I do think there's a drop off at some point, right?

You know, maybe around, you know, that LSU USC tier, like after them, I think it does feel like the talent levels drop, but I think Washington is the type of team that has enough juice from a, from a roster talent and retention standpoint.

To be interesting against, you know, the, the more powerful monster, you know, $40 million dollar rosters, but also has the quarterback that can swing a game even if they are maybe a little under, you know, under talented at some of the other spots.

So that's a team that I, I circled as, as being a little bit more intriguing in the, in the late teens, maybe than, than some of the others.

Yeah, I like it .

I mean, I think.

In general, they're, everybody's trying to figure out who the 4th best team in the Big 10 is, at least, again, for now on paper, it may turn out vastly different, but is it USC?

Is it Michigan?

Is it Washington?

Could possibly Iowa get into that mix?

Uh, that in that 4th spot could well be a, a playoff spot, probably should be, depending on how things play out.

Were you surprised that Penn State was, was 17th?

Yes, I, you know what, I overlooked them there, but yeah, I thought they were overrated a little bit.

Yeah , I just, again, I, I think.

They, they, I think they had good talent, they kept some of it, um , but they're bringing in a lot of Iowa State guys, and Iowa State's been good, but they haven't been, Great, and you're gonna go in the Big 10 now, and we'll see.

Uh, you know, I think like Cignetti bringing in those JMU guys, the JMU guys were like 12 and 1, you know, they, they came over as big-time winners, uh, ready to, to continue winning.

We'll see whether the Iowa State guys can, can translate that sort of way.

So.

Yeah, that's another one .

So, yeah, that put, put Penn State in the, in the logjam of people uh for 4th in the, maybe in the Big 10.

It's interesting, it's looking just at various people's preseason things, it seems like there's a coalescence of like the top 7 or the top 7 in some order.

Ohio State, Oregon, Georgia, Texas, Notre Dame, Indiana, Miami.

That's pretty agreed upon, and then it's up to everybody to decide what order.

And then after that, it gets real bunched up, um.

And I don't think there's a lot of consensus who should be like 8 to 16.

Um, in terms of underrated, I, I, perhaps recency biased from having been there on Tuesday.

I think Notre Dame at number 5, I think that's low.

I think, I think that's a number 1 team.

Number 2, maybe number 3, I, I think 5 is a little bit too low.

It's certainly, Not many teams would feel like they're underrated at 5, but I, I kind of look at Notre Dame.

In that capacity.

Defense is just gonna be a beast.

I mean, they've got 12 or 13 top tacklers back, uh, that all 3 coordinators are back.

The quarterback who's really good, CJ Carr is back.

Offensive line is very experienced.

The one thing, you know, they have skilled players that can make monster plays like Jeremiah Love and Ja'ari and Price did, both first-round draft picks, but Um, I think they, I think they have those guys or, or can develop those guys who are ready to, to step in and, and make plays in those areas.

So , I'm gonna go with Notre Dame for my underrated team.

I wish they're playing USC, but speaking of that, they will, again, in 2030, uh, news you read first at Sports Illustrated, that series is back on four-game series, Notre Dame USC starting 2030 .

Uh, it's moved to week one for the first two.

It's gonna be August 3rd, it's Labor Day weekend in Los Angeles, 2030, Labor Day weekend in South Bend, 2031, and then it'll be somewhere in the first three weeks, uh, in 1932 and 1933.

Like it, love it or hate it?

What do you think, Kevin?

I'm only gonna say like it because it doesn't feel like it should be like a week 123 game.

Uh, I do love having these monster games off rip, and I think for Notre Dame especially.

Like with all the questions about their schedule coming up, although I think it's, you know, much more muted by, again, 2030 when who knows what the hell, what the heck will be going on in the world, right?

But I, I, I, I, I do feel, feel like that's like a late October game, that's a November game, that, that is not a, that is not a week two game, especially, I mean, look, I By, by then, I mean, week one might be August 15th.

We keep moving it up.

I mean, we've got the Protect College Sports Act, if it passes, says we, we have to make every effort possible to play a championship game on, on January 8th.

So if that's the case.

Yeah, we were, we were playing like, uh, let's like it might be like the MLB trade deadline leading to the, uh, to, to, to the Notre Dame USC rivalry, but I, look, I, I think it's awesome for college football to have it back.

It's a great rivalry.

Uh, last year's game, uh, I, I was, I was there just as a fan.

It was a really cool experience environment, um, and you could tell like it, it was a game that still mattered to people, and it mattered to both sidelines in a way that was meaningful and Uh, I actually think that's one of the things that I give an immense amount of credit to coaches across college football and, and college basketball for is like, Some of these rivalries that could feel a little different now between realignment and the portal and like guys not being there, I think for the most part, a lot of these rivalries, you still like lace them up and everybody understands what it means.

And I thought, especially Marcus Freeman and Lincoln Riley last year, did a good job of making sure everybody knew what it mean, knew what it meant.

And I'm hopeful that it still feels that way after a brief hiatus, but yeah, excited to have it back.

I know it's hard to, to fix these things once you break the, break the, break the, break the calendar and, you know, it's gonna take a couple of years to get it back on the schedule, but already looking forward to 2030 for that one.

Yeah, I, I like it, I think, I, I don't love it, I certainly don't hate it.

I, you can't let perfect be the enemy of good, and in a perfect world, they would continue to play in Los Angeles on Thanksgiving weekend and South Bend in mid-October.

That's the way it had been forever, and it's not just, well, that's the way it should be because that's the way it was.

It worked.

I mean, that game, especially in LA often had massive implications.

Uh, Notre Dame had national championship aspirations get blown up in the Coliseum.

Notre Dame, USC in mid-October, the green jersey game in 1977, Joe Montana and company, that turned their whole season around, they go on to win the national title.

So, those games, uh, the, the Bush push game in mid-October at Notre Dame.

USC goes on to play for the championship.

The, the just massive implications in the later in the season, the bigger they were.

I'm, I'm glad they're playing.

That's fine.

The fact they're playing early, to me, this is a, It's a, it's a victory for USC.

It's a bit of a pyrrhic victory because I thought they came off looking kind of weak by, by bailing on this thing altogether for 4 years, but they didn't want to keep playing later in the season, especially the road game, uh, in the middle of the Big 10 schedule when they already have to travel across the country 2 or 3 times.

So, they got what they want, and they still get to have the series.

And it does underscore to me that Notre Dame.

Can't just schedule with impunity the way perhaps it once did.

It's harder for them to come up with a schedule with quality games.

And you look at this year, when there is no USC game, and they've got Miami, thanks to the agreement with the ACC.

They've got SMU ranked, and, but then they had to go get BYU and they got to play the first one in Provo, and that's it.

Three ranked opponents.

You know, the days of being able to schedule Michigan, uh uh.

Uh, some of the other big non-conference games they've scheduled, a little harder to get done, and Notre Dame's independent status working a little bit against it to that respect now, especially as like the ACC and not the, not the ACC cause they're gonna always schedule Notre Dame, but the SEC going to 9 games and trying to curtail some of their big non-conference matchups.

This tells me, Notre Dame had to bend and had to give something to get back this game, a game that they really need to have on the schedule.

Uh, one other element of this was one that came off the schedule and helped make room for this game to happen.

Indiana bailed on a two-year agreement with Notre Dame, as I am told, that it was Indiana's decision not to play the two games, 1 2030 in South Bend, 2031 Bloomington.

Uh, and to continue their scheduling philosophy that they've been under with Kurt Cignetti.

What do you think of Indiana's scheduling philosophy, Kevin?

I mean, I think it's bad for college football that one of the best teams in the sport and a coach who by all accounts is not afraid of the smoke, not, not, not, not one to back down, like openly said, uh, and I forget who he was doing the interview with, so I apologize, uh, but he openly said, like on somebody's podcast , like, yeah, like, what's the incentive?

Like why, why would we schedule these games?

And quite frankly, like the only incentive is money, right?

The only incentive is, man.

That day in Bloomington would make Indiana a lot of money.

A lot of donors would be dying to have those seats.

Uh, there'd be a lot of activations we can do outside of it, that's great for the town, great for everybody involved, but like, If you're Indiana, you're like, man, if that impacts your ability to get a top 4 seed, win the national championship, host the playoff game, like, it's all a drop in the bucket.

And so I do think again, part of this is, you know , can we, do, do we get to a point with, if, if Tony Pettitti's dreams of a 2014 playoff, um, come to fruition, does that encourage teams to schedule more difficult, knowing that.

You know, they're probably safe as long as they have a good year.

I, I at least understand the argument from, from Sig of like, yeah, like.

It's 12 seed playoff, fine margin of error.

We saw last year, even a great, great Indiana team could have easily lost two games.

They could have easily lost to Iowa, they could have easily lost to Penn State.

You break this too, do they make the playoffs?

Maybe not.

Probably not.

So if that's the case, then yeah, well, why wouldn't we play, play Howard?

Now I will say Sig that in that same interview did, did a defense where he was like, well, North Texas was real good last year.

We're playing them.

Western Kentucky was real good.

Let's let's forget who's actually on the roster now.

Like that's gonna be a heck of a challenge for our football team.

Uh, come on, man, you know, uh, so yeah, I, I don't love it.

I, I wish, like, again, play one, like I, I, if you want two cupcakes, you can have them, but like, please, please challenge yourself a little bit.

Let's learn something about this Hoosier football team in, in September, excuse me.

Yeah, I, I, I mean.

I get it, because you look, all right, how did they get up off the map?

One of the first things they did is they start with three relatively easy games, you win them, and, and all of a sudden you're off and running.

And so, under Kurt Cignettti, they have gone 6-0 against bad non-conference competition, you're like, and look what's happened.

We've gone to the playoffs twice, we've won it once, why would we possibly change anything at this point?

But, As you noted, you are now, you are now a big boy program.

You are not just trying to scrape together, we're trying to find 6 wins and get a bowl bid.

That's not who Indiana football is anymore.

They've left that behind, and kudos to them for doing it.

One of the great success stories ever.

But, Here's the, here's the run for Indiana non-conference, 2024, Florida International, Western Illinois, Charlotte, 25 , Old Dominion, Kennesaw, Indiana State.

This year, North Texas, Howard, Western Kentucky.

Next year, Kennesaw, Indiana State, UMass, and so on and so forth.

They have a run for now that's scheduled of 20 straight games, non-conference games against non-power conference competition.

It's time to schedule somebody.

It's time, you, you, I think taking that Notre Dame game off, that is, as you said, that's huge for the city, it's huge for the university.

Um, I talked to a coach there in a, in another sport yesterday, who was like, man, that, that was gonna be the biggest recruiting weekend we could possibly conceive of.

And now it's not there.

Now, you, you, you're gonna replace them with Delaware or whatever and.

That's fine.

People will go if Indiana is still good, but they're not gonna go like it's Notre Dame, and they're not gonna have that same atmosphere where you're bringing prospects on campus.

So, I also just think, Pat, like, It's a different world than it was 10 years ago.

Yes, they were cupcakes 10 years ago, yes, they were probably gonna win the game by 30 points, like.

It is impossible.

Like, like, like, how is, it's not even fathomable that that Indiana with its current roster and its current resources could lose a game at home to UMass.

Like, it's, it's like these games, like they are, they are wasted 3-hour blocks of time for everybody's life.

They're not helping Indiana get better, right?

Like, I mean, maybe it's getting a threesome reps again, no red shirts, so why not?

Let's play, let's play the true freshman.

Let's do whatever we have to do, but I just.

Uh, I don't know, man.

It, if you want one of those, you want two of them, that's fine, but like, you, you, I, I mean, if I was Tony Pettitti, like, I mean if I'm Fox, if I'm the people that are spending big, big money to be in the, you know, Indiana Hoosier business, like I, I, the pressure campaign would kind of start like, hey man, like you gotta, you gotta, I, I understand some of these were on the books, but like we gotta do something, we gotta do something.

Well, and I, I, you know, as you noted, I think if I think that, I, I'm guessing that the Petitti trigger point is, if we get to 24, then we tell you guys you have to schedule a power conference opponent, at least one.

I, and I agree that, and especially if you think like Tony Pettitti in terms of TV content.

Fox sure as hell doesn't want Indiana versus Indiana State.

Fox wants Indiana versus Notre Dame.

So, uh, I, I, I do think that the, the size of the playoffs could well dictate whether the Big 10, uh, forces a, a mandatory game there, and then we see a change .

But, um, all right, one other thing before we get to one other thing.

Uh, which dormant rivalry, since we got Notre Dame USC coming back, which other dormant rivalry do you want to see come back?

I mean, I know we get it some with, I know we had it last year, I don't know what the schedule is moving forward with Pitt, West Virginia, that one to me is like ridiculously fun, uh, the, the, the animosity between the two fan bases, like that, that is one that like has to get played every year for the foreseeable future, and like, that that's like, neither program is good enough to have a reason to say no, as far as I'm concerned, like, like, hey man, like.

It, it, like that was the highlight of the year for, for West Virginia last year, right?

Like, how could you ever say, oh, we gotta, we gotta scrap for bowl eligibility?

Well, bowl eligibility ain't what it used to be, man.

Like, let's play the game, right?

No, I, I'm totally with you on that one.

That is a fun rivalry.

It's, it's vicious, uh, the proximity, but the city versus country sort of element of it, and Uh, great football territory.

I was at the famous 2007 game when West Virginia blew the BCS championship opportunity in an upset, and it was like the most unhappy fan base, most devastated fan base I've ever seen.

So, yes, bring that one back.

I want Bedlam back, I want Oklahoma versus Oklahoma State.

Uh, please find a way to make that happen.

I think that the state of Oklahoma adores that game, and they love it in every sport, you know, they're , they're into it in basketball, they're into it in wrestling, they're into it in golf, baseball, whatever.

Uh, so please play that one.

I would like to see that happen.

So, uh, plenty of other ones out there too, you know, they, I mean, UCLA and Cal are playing this year in football.

That's, I, I'm surprised you didn't say Cal for your underrated team, Kevin .

You've been touting the Cal Bears to win the ACC, so.

I'm Mr.

cow.

I miss.

Uh, all right, last thing here, this, these lists come out on Twitter, and it was like big game boomer or something was the list guy, and they were all fairly absurd, you know, ranking.

Best place to eat in every college town or whatever, and it seemed like there was about 3 minutes of thought put into it for the most part.

Um.

So, but anyway, we got some new guy, a new, new Twitter account, who's, who's, who's on the, uh, on the list thing.

Throne spud, I guess is, is this one.

Best college towns in all of FBS ranked.

Uh, I find this absolutely hilarious.

I will give you.

The top, like 7, you tell me how many college towns are actually in this group.

1, Vanderbilt.

2, Texas.

3, San Diego State.

Number 4, Colorado, 5, Wisconsin, 6, Florida International, 7, Miami.

How many college towns are in there, Kevin?

Uh, like 1.5, yeah, I, I think the definition of a college town, just like to lay it all even here.

Would you ever visit, would you ever go on vacation there if the college did not exist?

Like, would there be a reason to go?

Like Boulder?

All right, I'll get, I'll get there's other stuff in Boulder, but that's like a beautiful, you know, it's a beautiful area.

Like I could see you, like I'm gonna go to Boulder.

Madison, same thing.

There, there's theoretically stuff you could do in Madison, but like you're there for the, for the Badgers .

So I'll give him that.

But the others, I mean, Yeah, Nashville is a great town to go to a college sporting event in a college town.

Austin, great town to go to a college sporting event, not a college town.

So I, I do, I do love Madison.

I do think it's very good.

Now, the one I have to call out, Pat, I mean, this.

How is Penn State, a top 10 college?

And granted, I've been to Penn State once.

It was like a cold February weekend.

It was not pleasant, you know, we went to the creamery, uh, had ice cream.

It was very good.

I don't think the creamery alone can make you a top 10 college, and that, that felt far more egregious than even saying that, you know, FIU was, was a bustling college metropolis.

Shots fired at State College, uh, personally, like, it is so hard to freaking get there and impossible to stay there if there's a football game.

Um, so I don't mind when I'm there, but the, the act of getting there and staying there makes it, uh, knocks it down my list of, I don't hate it, it's top 10 with everything included, I mean, come on.

No.

But yeah, Miami , Florida International, what, what are we doing here?

What are we possibly doing?

I, to me, if , If the city, and not college town, if the city has pro sports and or the state capital, it's probably not a college town.

And that's gonna take out Austin, even though, you know, Austin's really fun.

But that, it puts Madison in jeopardy.

Madison is one of those outliers cause it is the state capital, but, but it's an awfully collegiate town.

But Miami is so not a college town.

Come on.

Uh, Nashville is not a college town.

It's a fun place.

Nashville on a college football Saturday is fun cause it's an SEC melting pot city.

So you go walk into a bar, sports bar, and there's fans of like 8 different SEC schools there.

So that's fun, but You know, they, they, you can't have major metropolitan areas and rank them in the top 7 or whatever, like, no, no, you can't do that.

So, if you have a favorite legitimate college town.

Kevin, what would it be?

And I was looking at this list and I was, I mean.

I will, I'll, I'll give, I'll give a power 4 and a group of group of 5, group of 6.

my, my, my group of 6, they were ranked here 32nd.

Colorado State, Fort Collins is phenomenal.

I had a great weekend in Fort Collins a couple of years ago.

Uh, great basketball, like that is one of those places everybody keeps it every time the football job I was, man, like that's, that's, that's one you could do something with, and there's a good reason.

I mean, it's just an awesome place, great energy, great downtown.

Uh, really, really liked it, um.

Favorite, oh, man, this is, this is difficult at the power 4 level.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna offend a lot of people, I think.

Um It's OK to offend people.

I, I, I, I've had a lot of great times in Gainesville.

I've had a lot of great times.

I went, that was one of them, that was probably my first huge, like, as a, as a teenager, my first huge, uh, college visit town, like, man, this is different, man.

This is unbelievable.

So I'm biased towards Gainesville.

I always like that, like that main drag strip strip with all the with, with all the restaurants and bars, but yeah, there's a lot of options there.

There are a lot of options.

I mean, that's, I've got friends that, you know, will take a trip every year, uh, and there, there are many places you can have a great time for sure.

I may be biased a bit myself cause my son went to school there, but Georgia, Athens is, it's really fun, and it's far enough away from Atlanta that it does feel like you've gotten away and you are in a, a true college environment.

Chapel Hill is fantastic as well, you know, I can't, I can't knock that.

Boulder is, is awfully hard to beat, but it's all, it's like, it's so nice that you almost forget that it's also college.

Like, you know, the sports, college sports are not necessarily the draw there, even in the coach prime era where they've rejuvenated some excitement there, it's like, yeah, but I, just to be as, be just as happy to get, like, go out and hike and, and bike and, and do all the other stuff.

Uh, do you have a worst college town, a place you just don't like going?

I've made a lot of 2-hour drives down I-65 to Purdue, and the Purdue fans are wonderful people.

I've just, I've never seen the sun in West Lafayette.

I've been a dozen times in the last two years, never seen the sun, so that has to be bottom, bottom tier for me.

Well, speaking of never seeing the sun, that, that is Syracuse, New York for me.

I've been there for football, I've been there for basketball, I've seen downpours during football season, I've seen blizzards during basketball, uh, there's piles of dirty snow there for months at a time.

No thank you.

But the one, I, I have to be consistent.

And, uh, stick with the college town that I have bashed for years, uh, Pullman , Washington, Washington State.

Again, damn near impossible to get there, and when you do, you wonder why you went.

Uh, nice, great fans, uh, hope that, I'm glad they've got a conference and they're back as a viable, uh, entity again, but I, I can live the rest of my life, I think, without going back to Pullman.

Hope you go 12 and 0 this year, Coos.

Uh, all right, that's it for, uh, this week's show.

Um, Fisher, I believe, will be back next week.

And we'll probably have a little bit more news on the Senate front.

God knows what else is gonna be happening, maybe some more in the courts, and we'll talk some more actual football.

So thanks for listening.

Check us out, uh, YouTube, Apple, Spotify, SI.

com.

We're in all those places, and we will talk to you all later.