It's Officially Week Zero!! | Others Receiving Votes

All right.

Welcome to the show.

Others receiving votes.

I am Pat 40 joined by Gene Wojakowski.

You can catch our show Sports Illustrated SI.

com, YouTube, Apple, Spotify, wherever.

We're happy to be joining you.

We're actually Arriving at game week, Gene, thank God.

Yes, uh, this has been the offseason from hell.

Uh, and before we actually get to discussing the football, uh, the off, off-field shenanigans have hijacked this one last time because, of course, they have, uh, so we're gonna talk about prominent coaches starting critical seasons on Saturday.

We're gonna talk about week zero.

We talk about make terrible game picks, but before that, we've got to talk about this eligibility debacle.

But even before that, you need to clean up the historical record, Gene Wojakowski.

We, we had scandal on our show last week where Gene alleged himself to be at two famous events at the same time.

You alleged yourself to be at the Catholics first game.

Notre Dame, Miami, October 15th, 1988, and at the Kirk Gibson Game One World Series home run that night in Los Angeles.

All right, well, I've got, I've got cleanup on aisle 2 for two different things.

One, Uh, I mistakenly, deliriously, uh, somehow mistook Red Grange for NewtRockney.

I think you were talking about fly fishing on the Missouri River, and I just zoned out, and I heard you say something about somebody, a Midwest coach, and I thought you were talking about.

Red Grange.

Ken, if you can maybe roll that photo for me.

That's Red Grange, the Wheaton Iceman that's in my office here, just a foot or two away from me.

I do know the difference between Red Grange and NewtRockney, so I'm cleaning that one up.

So I take full responsibility for that.

And then, of course, the Catholics versus Convicts game, we were talking about Notre Dame.

You asked me , did you cover that game?

And I'd covered so many Notre Dame games, I thought, well, of course, I was there.

It was a big game.

I, I was there.

I was not there for that thrilling 31 to 30 Notre Dame win over Miami.

I was a little busy that night, Pat.

Uh , I was covering, well, actually, I was attending game seven of the Dodgers Athletics World Series game.

Uh, Ken, if you wanna roll with that.

That photo real quick.

OK.

There's proof of life.

There's a scoreboard for my seats in the left field grandstands.

That's after.

Gibson has hit the home run, and there's Gibson rounding the bases.

OK, I was there.

There's proof.

And so, yeah, tough call.

I wanted to ask you, if you had to pick between Game 7 of the World Series, the Kirk Gibson game, where by the way, he had an 0-2 count.

Early in that at bat or the Notre Dame Miami game at Notre Dame that day, which one would you have picked?

Well, for the record, it was game one, game one of the series.

OK, fine, whatever.

You get the point.

Yes, I get the point.

And, um, if I had to choose.

I'm a college football guy.

I would take Notre Dame, Miami.

Uh, no disrespect to you being in the stands, taking your like Kodak Instarome Kodak Instacam, yeah , there you go.

That's because there were no phones.

There were, you know, nobody did that, the phone camera thing then.

There weren't, there weren't any.

We didn't even have cars back then.

That's right.

Surprised this wasn't like black and white, but I would take, I would take the football game.

OK, I respect that.

Well, so now I've, I've cleaned that up, and we can concentrate on my new screw-ups for podcast too.

There will be several, I'm sure from both of us.

So, all right, uh, but now that we've, we've straightened that out, let's see if we could possibly straighten this out.

There's no straightening this out, but let's just try to wrap our brains around what has been the, the hot topic of the week in college football as the first NFL to NCAA transfer.

Dayquan Wright, erstwhile Cleveland Browns tight end, is apparently going to become an LSU tight end.

Yeah, uh, he will have company.

There are other players, former Mississippi players, as a matter of fact, who appear to be headed to LSU.

Wonder how that happened, uh, with Lane Kiffin, um, as we have this, uh, This backpedal, the reversal of the, the career arc of going from the pros to college, as opposed to the college from college to the pros, uh, They are, these guys are among 16 players who won an injunction against the NCAA for immediate use of their 5th year of eligibility.

They are from the class of 2022, entering college class of 2022.

NCAA changed its eligibility rules to go for five years for everyone in 55 and 5, and these guys were on the wrong side of the cutoff of that, and so they sued, they went to the court , went to court, they went to a Louisiana state court, and voila, shocker, yeah.

They now are apparently going to be cleared to play pending other developments.

Uh, this has caused a bit of a kerfuffle within the SEC and everywhere else.

Uh, there could be more cases coming this week.

It's crunch time because rosters have to be finalized and sent in before teams play their first games.

We'll talk in a minute about the, the SEC situation.

But Gene, I've got a lot of thoughts and I will get to those.

But please, first, you convince me.

This isn't a sign of the apocalypse, or tell me it is.

It is not the college football apocalypse, though it does feel like it.

And I think part of the reason it feels like it is that it's Lane Kiffin.

Of course, it's Lane Kiffin, right?

And so, everything Kiffin's involved with makes it feel bigger.

In fact, did you see the news about Ole Miss had an FBI agent in their offices, making sure that Kiffin hadn't left and bugged the place.

So, everything revolving around Kiffin always feels More chaotic, more controversial, more, more crazy than just about anybody else.

But it does feel like a real line in the sand.

Here we are, late August.

LSU's first game is what, September 5th, is that right?

Yes, against Clemson, and they're still going to Costco and buying transfers in bulk, and they're not the only ones that are looking to shop.

So, Of course, Kiffin used the argument that I think we all expected him to use.

Well, if I don't do it, I mean, there are other coaches out there doing it.

If I don't recruit them, if I don't sign them, other coaches are gonna go ahead and just do the same thing.

So, what's wrong with it?

And by the way, a court allowed it.

And so, I think technically, he's right, but that doesn't make it right.

And it wasn't right to Dan Lanning, uh, the Oregon coach who came out recently and said, hey, you, you go to the NFL, you're in the NFL.

You're not coming back.

And it wasn't right to Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman, who essentially said, it's too late.

We're, we're not bringing back players now, especially from the NFL.

And so, I, I do feel like this is a real, almost line in the concrete, not even the sand, where there is a right and wrong, and where Kiffin could have said, this just isn't good for the game.

It's good for me, it's good for LSU.

Uh, it's good for maybe our, our win-loss total, but it's not good for the game.

And I guess I'm being naive, and you're gonna tell me I am, when I say that maybe there are coaches out there who do think about the, the, the good of the game.

But in this case, absolutely, this is an LSU Lane Kiffin initiated a decision, and it's not gonna stop with him.

No, that's the problem, I think, is it's not gonna stop with him.

And no, this is not like, some people have painted this as a, an in perpetuity chance for athletes to go to the NFL and come back.

These rulings are specific to this class.

So it is not, you know, like we're not gonna be dealing with this.

In theory, we'll see.

Look, somebody will figure out a way to sue their way back in if they can.

But, uh, It is still, to me, this is , these are, we've got, we've got multiple suits that have won injunctions at least to get players on the field.

Uh, there's expected to be more this week that could get more players on the field.

Uh, I think that to your point, I, I just think this is symptomatic of a sport and a, a college athletics culture of We will do whatever it takes, and we don't care what the rules have been, what the norms have been, what the values we talk about are.

None of that matters as much as us trying to get more players.

That's, we've we've entered a period where there's, you can justify anything.

And that's the part that, that bothers me.

I Feel a little bit bad for some of these players that didn't get the 5th year, but you know what, here's the thing, timing sometimes isn't on your side, and sometimes the brakes go against you, and sometimes, jeez, I didn't get my 5th year because I was 1 year too early.

Oh well, did Bill Walton say, hey, you know what, I was freshman and eligible, and they changed that rule while I was in school.

Do I get another year?

I should have another year.

No, you deal with it.

You deal with the hand, you get dealt.

They came to college with a guarantee they could play 4 years.

All right, rules change.

You didn't get the 5th year.

You want, you want to know what sucked, and yes, all right, I'm going to tell you this is a little bit personal.

If you were a college senior in a winter sport in 2020 and on March 12th they shut down the championships of every NCAA sport, Your career ended that day.

My son's swimming career at Georgia ended that day.

Yeah, no do-over.

No, oh hey, you know what, it's unfair.

Why don't you come back again next year?

No, that was it.

Deal with it.

Go on.

There's a life after your college athletic career.

Try it out, OK.

So, that's where I'm annoyed at the, at the players here.

I'm also I'm annoyed at the schools, I'm annoyed at the coaches, mostly.

You know, who want ends always justify all means.

But I, I, I'm mad at everybody about this thing.

That's, that's my situation there.

Now, real quick, the SEC issued a statement on Um, Monday night.

Uh, regarding The NFL to NCAA move after a Monday evening video conference of the President Chancellor of the Southeastern Conference, the conference issuing this statement.

College athletes, not former professional athletes, have been at the heart of the Southeastern Conference.

Individuals who choose to leave college athletics, sign professional playing contracts, and compete professionally should not then be permitted to return to college competition.

Allowing that to occur will blur the line between college and professional sports, create significant competitive equity concerns, and reduce opportunities for high school and current college athletes.

College sports are for college athletes.

The current confusion around national eligibility standards emphasizes the need to advance to the Protect College Sports Act, which is of course going on in Congress.

Uh, I'm curious, Gene, your thoughts on that, whether this is the beginning.

Of a real skirmish between the SEC and LSU, or this is just a strongly worded letter to the homeowners association that means nothing.

Well, first of all, I love when you get fired up.

I love when your voice rises.

Clearly, you made a huge mistake by not finding an Athens, Georgia judge.

To get some sort of uh a judicial relief, uh, on your son.

Um, it, it does feel a little bit like the SEC could be preparing to go to the mattresses on this issue.

Does LSU have the law on its, on its side?

I guess we're gonna find out pretty fast.

But clearly, uh, those chancellors, conference commissioner, university presidents, and, and the SEC have said, no, this doesn't work for us.

And, and they made it very clear.

Uh, so, uh, I, I do think this is, this is gonna escalate to what degree we're gonna find out soon enough.

To your point about Sort of collateral damage, uh, relative to these kind of decisions.

How would you like to be Tredez Green, the uh starting tight end at LSU right now?

And they're bringing in Wright.

Or how would you like to be JC Anderson, the, uh, the four-star kid who originally tight end, originally committed to Ole Miss, went to LSU when uh Kiffin uh bolted to LSU and now they just recruited over him again.

So, if I hear one more coach talk about the brotherhood or loyalty, Or commitment, or culture, I'm going to throw up in my mouth.

Because those things, they look great on a, on a, uh, slogan above the, the weight room door, but they're meaning less and less these days.

And, and they're meaningless because the head coaches are the ones who are kneecapping those very kind of values.

So, I think the SEC.

Uh, Commissioner Greg Sankey, the presidents, the chancellors are sort of saying, no, we, we've got to take some sort of stand.

How effective it's going to be.

Uh, I'm not holding my breath.

Again, to your point, someone's gonna find a way to, uh, uh, to do an end around on these, on these rules.

But, um, I, I like that they at least issued the statement and are saying, hey, enough's enough.

Yeah, um, uh, to your point, the, for sure, the, uh, Uh, the, the players on the roster at LSU already, who have been busting it through winter workouts and spring football, and voluntary, uh, workouts in summer, etc.

Guess what?

Yeah, you, you, your playing time is now being jeopardized by some guys, some NFL dropouts, basically, who are coming on, coming to campus at the last minute.

I think Tradez Green is gonna be fine because he's an absolute monster, but JC Anderson, who you mentioned, uh, yeah, guess what?

Look out, your, your, your playing time may be going to someone else who you didn't have any idea was gonna be part of your team until now.

Uh, interesting, uh, little development here beyond.

Uh, the SEC, uh, Pete Famell, our friend, tweeted, Big 10 is set to pass a rule today that doesn't allow players to return from the NFL and play for a Big 10 school.

Anyone who was declared for the NFL draft, and did not withdraw, appeared on an NFL roster, or signed a contract with a pro league, cannot be on a Big 10 roster.

So, Uh, interesting.

They, the SEC, we'll see what comes out.

All right, so, let's, let, let me set the stage here for the listeners.

Uh, we're taping this Tuesday morning.

All right?

It's 9:30.

This may not appear until, in your feeds until Thursday morning.

So, uh, some things may happen, uh, in the, in the next couple of days.

But the, the Big 10 is already making a move here, and we will see the SEC is having meetings, presidents and chancellors and athletic directors.

That were already called.

These were already scheduled, but the meetings are Tuesday and Wednesday.

Uh, this LSU firecracker has been thrown into the, the boardroom, and we'll see what, how they deal with that, what the, what the outcome is of that.

And if they pass a similar rule here, Say 15 to 1 vote.

Although it'd be interesting to hear what Alabama had to say , which tried to get an NBA player on its uh roster and actually did, he played some games last year.

But if, if this is A, a, a kind of the roots of, or the, the, the wellspring of a Big 12 versus Texas Tech over Brendan Sorsby situation in the SEC.

So, anyway, what scenarios do you, do you see possibly coming out of this, Gene?

Well, didn't LSU also sign a hoops player that played?

Oh yeah, RJ Lewis, yes, yes.

So yeah, I mean, we know where they stand on this.

We sure do, and I think we're gonna find out very soon, uh , where the SEC stands, and I think this Big 10, uh, development, um, and kudos to, uh, Pete Thamill, um, that gives the SEC and other conferences maybe the cover that they need.

Uh, to put together a, a, a similar type of rule.

Again, will it stand up, uh, in a courtroom?

I don't know.

Uh, but I love that they're doing it.

And again, you, you, you mentioned the Texas Tech Big 12 situation, you know, that came to a head.

Who won that one, Pat?

Yeah, Big 12 1, right.

So, you know, maybe, uh, again, this is, this is a , uh, a defining point.

It could be.

Yeah, I mean, this is really fascinating.

Like , I, when the Big 12 thing happened, I wrote a column saying that in this era where the NCAA has less power and jurisdiction is constantly being dragged into court, sometimes you gotta police your own block.

And so the neighborhood came together in the Big 12 and said, we don't like this Soresby situation.

Will that be similar in the SEC?

I don't know, but I think that, as you said, the Big 10 just provided.

Uh, cover or, or, uh, impetus for everybody to say , you know what, we can pass a map like that.

So fascinating development.

There will be more to come on this.

Stay tuned for sure.

OK, Gene, can we actually talk a little football if you insist.

Praise the ghost.

Yeah, praise the ghost of Keith Jackson , but we are going to have football Saturday.

It is week 0, baby.

Uh, it's not a, you know, full smorgasbord, but by golly, the deli is open, and we can order sandwiches.

Let's eat.

And interestingly enough, I think we, we have 3 very high profile coaches in action who have seen better days.

They need something good to happen this season .

I won't use the words hot seat here because Gene is not a hot seat guy.

So, you can use them.

That's fine.

But, uh, we're gonna discuss all three and kind of where they stand, what we need to see, what's possible for them this season.

Start with the hoodie, Bill Belichick, North Carolina.

He once was winning Super Bowls, and now he looks like a guy who needs to maybe get a retirement condo on Marco Island.

Year 2, starting with the Tar Heels, he was 4 and 8 in year 1.

The offseason was bad.

They're opening in Ireland against the TCU team that on paper is probably better than them.

Uh, and we will pick games at the end of this, uh, pod, by the way.

It's not a big slate, but we will have some picks for, for you all to mock later.

But Gene, what are your expectations for the hoodie in year two?

What do you want to see from the heels?

Man, you really undersold.

The offseason was bad.

They, they lose their general manager, Michael Lombardi, to administrative leave.

They lose their defensive coordinator, Steve Belichick to medical leave.

So those are two seismic developments during the offseason.

What do I want to see?

I want to see with all these transfers that he brought into this program, if they can make a real difference.

Can they do better than they did last year, which was awful for them.

Yeah.

Uh, the schedule last year.

I'm trying not to be a schedule guy this year, but, um, the schedule was easy last year for Carolina, and what they do, win 4 games?

Schedule is a lot more difficult this season, and I'm not sure I see uh many more wins than 4 games this year.

Um, I think the defense, the defense is gonna be solid.

And I think there's potential on offense, but defense, You know, that's where Belichick makes his bones.

But can they score?

And they, they faced TCU in the, in the opener.

And just as a reminder, TCU, you know, boat raced them last year in the season opener.

And then if you look at the rest of their schedule, and we mentioned this last, last week, uh, TCU.

Uh, later on, they're at Clemson, then Notre Dame, at Pitt, at Duke, later face Miami, your hometown, Louisville, at UVA, NC State.

I, I just, I just don't see a lot of wins in that.

So, I, I wanna see if he's gonna make it to year 3, because the way it sets up, I, I don't know if that's gonna happen, but I would love just to see improvement, and most of all, some stability there.

Yeah, they clearly, as you said, the, the, the offseason sideshow has just been terrible, um.

The, the, the terrible predicament that they're in here.

Like This is, has taken on the overtones of a long-term rebuild for a guy who's in his mid-70s.

It doesn't compute.

They brought in a ton of freshmen, a big freshman class, and they have a lot of red shirt freshmen.

They're gonna be a young team.

A 74-year-old guy with a young team doesn't seem like a real good, uh, formula.

And as you mentioned, the schedule is really difficult.

So, like, I, I think they will quite likely start slowly and maybe get better, uh, and, again, that's the kind of thing where people are giving up on the team halfway through the season.

And halfway through Belichick's 2nd year, and it just becomes a, a really difficult situation.

Now, maybe they'll surprise us, maybe they will overperform, maybe, uh, Belichick will show some of the great coaching acumen that he had in the past, but it needs to happen right away, uh, for, for us to, I think, to, to have much confidence there.

Uh, Secondly, Lincoln Riley, USC.

Gosh, Gene, I was looking up his, his, um, overall record, and I guess I had kind of forgotten.

He went to the playoffs each of the 1st 3 years, he was a college head coach, and that was the hard way.

That was when it was a 4-team playoff, but obviously inherited a great situation from Bob Stoops, but, but he did unbelievable work.

They lost a big lead in the Rose Bowl semifinal to Georgia and lost in multiple overtimes.

And after that, They've never been as good again, uh, under Lincoln Riley, either Oklahoma or USC.

They opened against San Jose State, they're a massive favorite.

What are you expecting from these Trojans?

I will be surprised if they aren't a legitimate contender in the Big 10 and for a playoff spot .

I think Riley has I, I think this program is, is finally, truly pointed in the right direction.

I think the roster is built for a run now.

Does that mean it will happen?

Not necessarily, but, uh, I, I like the way it's trending.

Yes, I understand Ohio State, Indiana, Oregon, they're, they're the favorites.

But I think USC is the kind of program now that can make some serious, serious noise.

And, uh, I, I, I would sleep easy at night knowing Gary Patterson is my defensive coordinator.

Uh, that makes me feel good.

Uh, they've got, they've got an experienced quarterback.

They, I mean, the offense is, is built for speed.

I mean, they are gonna score points.

Um, the schedule, admittedly tough.

Though they do get Oregon, UW, and Ohio State.

Uh, at the Coliseum, Penn State and, and your, your guys, Indiana, on the road, but they should be 4-0, uh, when they face Oregon.

And so, if they're going to make this jump, you're gonna have to beat some teams that you're not favored against.

And I think they're good enough to maybe pull a surprise or two and make a real run at this thing.

Yeah, uh, I, I agree with you.

I think that, that they finally put it into place.

I do.

I, I, I'm with you.

Uh, it is, it's one, I will make one point.

You said the schedule is tough, not as tough as it could have been if they're still playing Notre Dame.

Exactly.

It's weird to look at that schedule now, not see Notre Dame.

You're right, isn't it though?

Yeah, Yeah, your mid-October game, actually they're off October 17th.

That would have been the date they play Notre Dame.

Good point.

Oh well, for that.

But anyway, no, I, I, I went to practice out there, um.

Uh, about a week and a half ago now.

And you look and you see now a team that looks like it's got all the pieces it should have, right?

They've got not just a good set of offensive and defensive linemen, but multiples, you know, they've got backups, they've got depth, they've got receivers for days.

A lot of them are young.

But, uh, I really like the quarterback Jaden Maeva, um, you know, they've got playmakers.

There's not much, there is no excuse, I don't think.

Uh, you, you did say, yes, the schedule is tough, but you're USC, you entered the Big 10 with your eyes wide open.

Exactly, stand up there and, and compete for a championship.

So I'm expecting it.

I, I think they're gonna be really fun to watch, a lot of fireworks, and the Patterson edition, as you mentioned, I think, is, uh, Could be really important and pay big dividends to him.

Uh, also, uh, by Rob Ryan, too, running around there, the brother of Rex Ryan, uh, with, you know, the, the super long hair, and God bless him, the bowling ball belly.

He, he casts a, uh, quite a, quite a, a , an aura on the practice field.

Um, all right, the one, the third, uh, coach I wanted to bring up to you, Mike Norvell, Florida State.

Oh my.

You know, before Jordan Travis broke his ankle, and before the College Football playoff committee said, no, you can't go in 2023, this guy looked like one of the next big stars in the profession, and since then, it has been an express train to hell.

I mean, two terrible years in a row, and I think fairly low expectations for this year.

They do open with what should be a rollover game against New Mexico State.

Uh, so, same thoughts, Gene, what do you expect?

What do you need to see to believe that Norvell can turn this around?

I, I don't see it happening.

I, I just think if um.

If it goes sideways, even just a little bit, the, the patience level in Tallahassee right now for Norvell is in negative integers.

There's, there's just no margin of error, uh, or even margin of support , uh, for him when it comes to, um, you know, turning around the ship in the, in the middle of the Panama Canal.

And, and, I, I, I mean, Robinson's gonna be, Fun to watch at wide receiver, he's, he's incredible.

I think the offense will be respectable.

I think the defense is gonna be a work in progress.

I think the schedule's tough.

Um, and I just think that if, if, um, if they encounter more adversity, We're gonna have a lot of empty seats, a lot of uh stories about how, you know, donors are putting together the buyout package, you know, for Norvell.

You've, we've seen those stories a million times.

I, I'd like to think maybe he could win 6 games, but, but will that be enough?

And I just don't think it will be.

I think they're still gonna be on, as you call it, the express train to hell.

Yeah, it's a tough situation, and I, I think the only reason he kept his job is because the buyout was so big, and Florida State has tapped donors and resources to redo the stadium, and they just flat Don't have the money or really the, the interest in, in paying a $50 million buyout.

Now, it'll drop after this year, and a third straight losing season would be intolerable, and that's when you just come up with the money.

Uh, they're up against it, I think, and schedule, I know, I'm sorry, I'm gonna.

Week.

Virginia, which played for the ACC championship, uh, October 3rd.

Louisville team that starts in the top 25 October 9th, archrival top 10 team, Miami, October 17th.

Uh, and then the last four weeks, you got, you got two difficult games, then you got the rivalry game against Florida at the end.

Seems like a lot of losses to me.

And you know how these rivalry dynamics work too.

The, the higher Miami flies, the more unhappy Florida State fans get and say, we, we, we need to compete here.

So, uh, I think, and how about if Florida gets it going?

Yeah, right.

If John Summerall gets it going and Florida fans are sitting there and saying, see, we dealt with our issue.

You guys sat on your hands for another year, you're that much further behind.

Uh, so, the, the comparison game is legitimate there, and we'll see.

Norvelle's gonna, gonna have to try to pull this out.

They again changed coordinators, you know, some moves there.

I don't know whether it's enough.

I'm, I don't have great optimism for the Seminoles this year.

Um, all right, Gino, tell you what, we're, we, we went long on, uh, on the opening segment, so I'm gonna skip the, the week zero stuff.

So, I wanna get down to, uh, I, I, I wanna ask you this question because you have interviewed a hell of a lot of people in college sports, in your long and Rare.

Uh, I had to sit down with Kurt Signetti.

Uh, back in May, the video is now out.

To get by the SI College Football, and actually NFL, the, the Football Preview magazine got a long Signetti story in there.

He was fascinating to talk to.

Um, he is just I think as unchanged about as you can be after going 16-0 when you were at James Madison a couple of years ago.

He just is who he is, which is why he's continued to succeed, but, uh, it's a very fun sit down, you can catch the video on YouTube, and probably on SI.

com.

But I wanna hear your, your favorite interview or your most interesting college football interview you've done.

Well, if you gave me 3 to choose from, I mean, Dabo Sweeney, you've talked to him a million times.

You can ask him what time, what time of day it is, and you can get up, drive over to Smoking Pig, have a great meal, go get your oil changed on your rental car, uh, go read a Jane Austen, uh, novel, come back and he's just clearing his throat, you know.

So I, I love that Dabo is not, there's no governor switch on, on how long he'll go.

I once interviewed Mike Leach when he was at Washington State and got him to wear a tweed jacket, bow tie.

I think he was wearing glasses and holding a pipe when he did the interview.

So that was memorable.

But my all-time one, I was doing a story, I was following Bobby Bowden around on a game day, and they were at Florida.

And it was a night game.

They beat Florida, and after the game, Um, I've gotten permission to ride back with Bowden in the backseat of the Florida Highway Patrol car, and we're in the back seat, uh, lights flashing as we're leaving Gainesville, and we do an interview for, you know, 10 to 15 minutes.

He's eating like out of a little box lunch.

And, uh, he goes, all right, well, you got everything you need?

And I go, uh, yes, sir, we're all good.

He goes, all right.

And uh I, you know, I look out the left side of the window as we're, you know, flying down the, down the freeway toward Tallahassee, and all of a sudden I feel something on my right shoulder.

I look over, Bowden is asleep on my shoulder.

Come on now.

Honest to God.

And I look up in the highway patrolman, who was a longtime guy, uh, he's looking in the rearview mirror at me, and I'm like, what do I do?

You know, kind of like you make eye contact.

And he's like, buddy, you're stuck.

And so I sat there, I did not move a muscle, uh, for at least an hour.

And I mean, there might have been drool on my right shoulder for all I know .

And he wakes up as we pull into Tallahassee, shakes my hand, he gets out of the car, he goes in, it must have been what, 3 a.m. or something.

He goes into the, uh, football facility and goes to tape his uh coach's show, and, you know, that's quintessential Bowden.

That is tremendous.

Oh my God, you had Hall of Fame drool on your shoulder.

Oh, I should have never dry cleaned that, that sport coat.

That is a good story.

That is very good.

Now, what did it take to get Leach into the, into the suit?

Nothing.

Yeah, OK.

It took nothing.

The guy has a, uh, I mean, at the time, you know, he had all the pirate stuff in his office.

And, uh, I also remember he had a big framed photo of George Costanza.

But nude, like it was, uh, like you could see his butt, you know, his rump, and it, it was.

One of the, I mean, one of the all-time, Leach was one of a kind, one-of a-kind coach, a hell of a coach, but just, uh, just, you know, the world's most interesting man.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh my goodness, that is, that is, that is good stuff.

I have to, I do have to 11 great Bowden story.

You, you, again, you might have been there, but you might also have been at a, at a Dodgers game, yeah, you know, or, or God knows .

So this would have been.

Maybe '93, uh, national championship game, they're getting ready to play Nebraska and Miami.

OK.

Um, so you, you might have been like in a Chicago Bulls game actually or something, but anyway, uh, you know, the topic, it's the big press conference the day before the game where you get the coaches, and the big topic is Bobby has never won the big one, right?

He's never won a national championship, and how much is that?

You know, driven him, haunted him, eaten at him after so many close calls or whatever.

Bowden, this was just tremendous from him.

He, he, he looks at the room of reporters goes, let me ask y'all.

In, in your profession, what's, what's the biggest thing y'all could win the Pulitzer Prize?

And, and George Vesey of The New York Times shoots back deadpan and immediately, no Marriott points, which was a, a wonderful back and forth.

But anyway, yes, Bobby went on to say, you know, not, did you all have a good career just without winning a a Pulitzer?

And, uh, and we all did.

So, but the kudos to George Vesey, who, who sometimes came across as a very serious man for having an excellent line.

Uh, there, great moment.

Yeah, yeah, and Mike Leach guy, he was one of those guys where The, you, you, you, you, you call him or you, you text him or whatever, hey, you know, do you have a couple of minutes, and you don't hear back, and then all of a sudden at 11:30 p.m. he's like, yeah, I'm walking home from the office to, and he's calling you back and you just talk to him while he walks along the side of a road on the Paloo or in Lubbock or whatever, uh, true American original, for sure.

Um, all right, uh, Gene, it's time to pick some games.

Do we have to?

Well, yes, we do, and, and we all 3rd between the two of us.

We do have to, to do a quick recitation of what happened last year, which was you finished last.

I did not win.

Brian Fisher won, but now this year it's, it's mano a mano, you and I, uh.

With a, a, yeah, massive prize to be won at the end of the season.

What is Everybody is, yeah, Kent, our producer Kent does a very good job keeping track of who wins and who loses.

Unfortunately, he's, is, is, uh, his record keeping tends to be accurate, but, uh, he will tell us as we go along how things are turning out.

But I have to get Kent's Venmo, Venmo, uh, account, maybe flip him a little something, pay him off, yeah, yeah.

Um, we're only gonna pick 4 games, uh, due to the limited slate, but at least we have football this weekend.

It starts at noon, it'll end after midnight, you know, we'll have all of those, all of those things.

So, let's start though with the game, the Ireland game.

We talked about it a little.

TCU against North Carolina, TCU giving 7.5. This game.

Absolutely set the tone for the disastrous season that was for North Carolina.

Which side of that 7.5 number are you going?

I would pay huge money to hear a TCU fan from Fort Worth try to explain to an Irishman what a horned frog is.

Uh, Temple Bar is gonna get a workout in Dublin.

That's gonna be fun.

I'm not gonna get fooled by the hook.

I'm gonna happily give the 7.5 points.

Uh, and take TCU.

Uh, I know TCU lost, uh, lost Josh Hoover, and , and he had a, he had a really nice season for TCU last year.

They get a, uh, all Ivy League quarterback and Jaden Craig, who's mobile, has a strong arm, he's gonna fit into that, uh, pro-style offense at TCU now.

I, I, I'm given the points and I, I don't feel bad about it at all.

Yeah, you know what, I am too.

And I'm glad you brought up Jaden Craig.

Interesting guy.

He was on my 25 most intriguing quarterbacks list, the Harvard transfer, who was at TCU who, uh, His mom's a pediatrician, his grandmother is like a university anthropologist and did a slacker family.

Yeah, right, exactly , exactly.

Did, uh, she did like field research in the Amazon in Brazil, you know.

I, I, I read a story, this was, you know, when, when Jaden Craig was first kind of coming on the scene and, and making a name for himself at Harvard, where the family was kind of like trying to get grandma up to speed on football.

Like, OK, you may be a famous anthropologist, but your son's out here playing this sport, you maybe wanna, you know, figure out what it is.

But, uh, interesting, and I, look, TCU is gonna have skill guys, they're gonna have speed, and we got a young North Carolina team playing extra early, so I'm.

Taking the frogs, laying the points, and yes, I would love to hear the, uh, the explanations of a horned frog to the, to the masses in Ireland.

We'll see how the, uh, also the, the, the plastic beer cups stack up there.

That's always a, a great, uh, element of that game in Ireland is just the, the massive snakes of beer cups that That get rung up.

I, TCU and North Carolina fans not gonna, they're not gonna go as hard as Iowa State and Kansas State last year though.

I, I'm sorry, that's just not happening.

OK.

All right, this was a game that was going to be in Brazil.

Speaking of, we've talked about Brazil twice in one show here, odd, but North Carolina State and Virginia, and then that fell through, I guess, I mean, they barely got the Olympics off the ground down there in 2016.

Maybe adding an American football game might have, might have taxed the system a little bit too much, so they pulled the plug on that, and they're playing in Charlottesville now.

Virginia coming off a kind of a breakthrough season, NC State.

Always competitive under Dave Doran, like year 14, I think now for him.

It's kind of a, I don't know, a love-hate relationship.

I mean, I think everybody appreciates Doran, but they're also like, you know, when are we gonna have a moment where we play for an ACC championship?

Anyway, Wolfpack, getting 5.5 in Charlottesville, which side of it are you on?

Well, I'm on, uh, NC State side.

Uh, Dorn is 4-0 against UVA as, uh, as NC State's coach.

They've won their last 3, I believe, at Charlottesville.

Uh, this game will actually count in the ACC standings this time, won't it?

Last year it didn't, correct?

Yeah, right.

No, last year it did not.

That was yet, yet another oddity of the ACC where you got a regular season game that wasn't between conference members that was not a conference game.

Yeah, I think CJ Bailey is too much.

And , uh, I would not be surprised if, uh, if NC State wins this game outright.

So I'll, I'll happily take the points.

Thank you very much.

You know what, I'm, I'm, I hate to agree with you again, but I am, um, I do think retaining CJ Bailey was big.

They lost Hollywood Smothers, great running back who's gonna be in Texas, but I still like what the Wolfpack have , and, and, look, it was a great season for Virginia, fun to see them rise up after years of struggle, but they also, they won a lot of close games.

Uh, I wonder if that kind of, Boomerangs on them a little bit here and some of them bounces, you know, you got, don't go your way this time.

So if you're giving me that many points, I will take them.

Thank you.

All right.

3rd game here, Big G6 game, group of 6 conferences, Memphis at UNLV.

These are two teams.

Uh, Memphis is, is in a bit of transition.

Ryan Silverfield left to be the coach at Arkansas, but they hired Charles Huff, who I like.

He's done good work at Marshall and at Southern Miss.

Excellent recruiter from the Saban tree, and he's going against Dan Mullen and UNLV, and they, Dan Mullen got it going.

Uh, UNLV was in the mix for the Mountain West for quite a while and kind of in on the edge of that playoff, uh, chatter for much of last season.

And if you've got teams from Mountain West and American here, and we do have the new Pac-12 dynamic where it's kind of hard to even remember who's in the Pac-12 and who's in the Mountain West, but UNL12 is any team that has state at the end of it.

There you go.

That's your geography and your new, your realignment 101 from Jane.

Uh, they're playing in Vegas.

Memphis is getting 5.5 here.

What do you think?

I love you knowV's offense.

I'm, Dan Mullen has that cooking with oil.

I just don't see Memphis being able to keep up with, uh, with Mullen in that offense.

So, I'm, uh, I'm given the 5.5, and I think they'll cover easily.

Well, this is no good at all because I agree with you again.

If I'm agreeing with Gene Wojakowski this many times, I'm, I'm, I'm doomed.

You are, man.

Yeah, it's not good.

But home opener, uh, opponent on the road with a, with a totally new system, everything new, um.

I'm going with the rebels there as well.

They have a chance to.

To get a skin there, and then really a, a pretty big game next week at Hawaii, which I think Hawaii is gonna be sneaky good.

So, keep an eye on the rebels.

Uh, I'm taking them and I'm laying the 5.5. All right, Gene, there aren't many other games to choose from, but you gotta pick a lock of the week outside of those three.

What do you got?

I'm gonna do a Pat 40.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna, like, you wrote those little love poems to, uh, IU and Signetti early last season.

I give you a lot of credit for that.

You were on board really early.

I'm gonna do the same with the USC, uh, especially against San Jose State.

Uh, I, I believe in, in USC, uh, 38.5 points.

I think that's the number, is, uh, is a lot of points, but it's a day game on national TV.

I think, uh, Riley and the fellas are gonna want to make a point that we're for real.

And, um, I think, uh, they're not going to show much mercy.

And so I'll, I'll lay those 38.5 points and feel good about it.

Yeah, it's a big, big, I agree.

I think they're, I think they will not just.

Uh, Be able to score, but I, I would not be shocked if they, if they run it up a bit, try to make a statement, put 60-70 on the board and say, you know, we're back.

Uh, I think is that your game too?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, but I, I, I understand where you're going with that.

Um, because you've been copying everything that I've, I, I am aware, which again, recipe for complete and utter disaster.

Absolutely.

But, uh, I am, this is, this is how many games, look, we've got, let's see, 246, we got 8 games to choose from, so not a lot here.

I'm not touching Hawaii, Stanford.

Uh, Stanford's favored by 4.

I may be wearing Stanford hat this, this week.

All right, that's the hat this week.

I'm gonna wear a college hat every week.

Well done.

Yeah , Stanford this week, but I'm still not picking the Cardinal against Hawaii.

As I said, I think Hawaii's probably sneaky good, so I'm not touching that game.

I am going to Yipsie, Baby , Ypsilanti, Eastern Michigan hosting Sacramento State, Sac State in its first FBS game.

Member of the MAC, of course, why wouldn't Sacramento be in the MAC?

Uh, Matt came right out of the box, playing at the factory as Eastern Michigan calls their stadium with that gray turf.

It is, it's so Eastern Michigan, it hurts.

EMU is laying 9.5. I don't, I mean, like, the idea of them being favored by 9.5 against anybody is a bit terrifying, but I'm taking them.

I'm taking them.

I'm laying the points.

I think you, you show Sac State what you're all about here.

Welcome to the Mac.

Welcome to the factory.

You're not getting out without a beatdown.

Eastern Michigan wins by at least 10 points.

This is, that, that's like a Brian Fisher special, obscure.

Nobody knows anything about either of the teams, and then you just swoop in there, and you get the W, you know, that's, that's it.

You, you don't just walk into Ipsy, man.

You do not.

Come on, absolutely you do not.

OK, last thing before we get out of here, uh, on this show.

Uh, we've had an unfortunate event, Gene, in Rhode Island, OK, in the coastal town of Narragansett, of course.

I've heard it's a lovely, lovely place, lovely area, especially this time of year, except when this happens.

What, what happened, Pat?

A truckload of squid tipped over and spilled all over the highway.

They're calling it squidpocalypse.

Warm, sunny day and squid all over the highway.

How do you think that smelled?

If I had a nickel for every time I've heard this story.

Quote from uh Narragansett Police Captain Ryan Press.

The scene quote started to smell bad as the squid sat out in the sun for a few hours.

Yeah, that happens.

That's not good.

That's not good.

What does squid smell like when it's decomposing?

Any idea?

I think we can figure it out.

I don't think it's very nice.

Police responded at 9:27 a.m. And the intersection wasn't reopened till 5:15 p.m. Honey, I'm gonna be a little late getting home.

There's been a squid problem.

Yeah, we have a squidpocalypse.

I have to deal with it.

Squid like to be on that cleanup.

Video of the scene showed a trailer on its side and massive piles of squid on the road.

Squid has a distinctive odor to it, said a res Narragansett resident and fisherman.

It'd be very foul smelling, especially if it lands on the road and stays there for a while.

Yeah, yeah, you know what, so, the, the, the lesson learned here, first of all, if I don't know whether it would be like the worst case scenario.

Spilling uh wheaton.

But I wouldn't want to be on the Rhode Island DOT crew anytime soon, let's put it that way.

No, no.

Again, come home and take 3 showers after, after the cleanup for that.

But, uh, sorry for, you know, somebody that wanted squid ink or, or some sort of squid appetizer at some fancy Italian restaurant, you, you, it's on the highway instead.

Uh, all right, That's the show for this week.

That's clearly enough.

Football is coming, everybody.

Watch it Saturday.

Watch it like it's the damn playoff.

It won't be, but we need it, we need it worse than ever.

Uh, thanks for watching.

Thanks for listening.

Leave us reviews, let us know what we're doing wrong, whatever, and we will talk to you next week.