The College Football Preseason Polls Have Been Released!

[Music] [Music] ah yeah welcome in welcome back to another episode of The Format podcast live yes yes yes and here we go um so as you can see uh looks like I'm by myself right now might be by myself for the whole show um G's not going to be here with us but uh might have some uh might have some other guests uh popping up uh might have my guy transform show up so um we are gonna go ahead and and we're gonna do this thing man I got some pretty interesting topics I think to talk to you guys about tonight and uh you know like I said it may just be me and that's cool because um you know every now and then just come on here and kick it by myself that's all good so um as you can see we're definitely going to be talking about some early college football ranks I'm not going to get too much into that and the reason why is if you were with me last year last college football season on this show um I had my main man uh Ryan Langford uh former uh University of Illinois fighting a lion ey wide receiver former Indianapolis Colt and former um Canadian Football League uh wide receiver join me as the format podcast official college football analyst and he's going to be starting back in that position again this season so we're going to have some fun with that and can't wait for him to come on but I'm just going to kind of touch on that stuff a little bit uh this um this episode here uh then we're gonna talk about Kendrick Perkins who I thought had seen the light but maybe not um then we're GNA touch on uh what we talked new super team which I I can't believe this was even said but we're g to get into it and finally Caitlyn Clark uh back from the Olympic break had a had a really good game last night so we're definitely going to get on that it's not that serious what good my man Steve Splender what's going on so um yeah that's what we're going to do we're gonna we're going to touch on these topics we're going to talk about them and we're going to do what we do here on the format podcast and that's get into some good sports talk but before we do all that you know what time it is if you're here on YouTube and you haven't already please make sure you go ahead click that like that subscribe that notification Bell make sure you're kept up to date whenever we drop new content on the channel if you want the audio only version of the podcast open up your audio podcast platform hit the search bar type in the format podcast and we should come right up if you're enjoying the content make sure you give us that like that festar review and drop a comment all that stuff helps us rise in the algorithm helps us find more sports fans helps more sports fans find us and finally make sure you write it down put it in your phone set an alarm do whatever you got to do to remember Saturday nights at 7:00 p.m. we are live here on the format podcast and we'll give you the opportunity to call in talk to us get at me I love it I can first and foremost though if you're in the chat you know I appreciate you whether you're watching on Facebook Facebook whether you're watching on YouTube please go ahead go over to the YouTube page the YouTube page make sure you hit that like And subscribe if you haven't already really helps what's up Nick what's going on man it really helps the uh the more likes we have it helps the channel get out to more people because that's a big part of that YouTube algorithm so uh let's do that all right um so let's get to it like I said I'm not going to go too in depth on this particular topic because my guy Ryan Langford the format podcast has official college football analyst he's going to be back with us this season um and we're going to really delve much more deeply into the college football but for now it's something I definitely wanted to touch on um I'm a big college football fan in case you didn't know and I'll tell you that's one of the longest off Seasons man now it's going to be a little shorter going forward because now what is it to to win the championship um you have to play what 17 games so you got a uh yes you have a 17 Game season now so uh between the regular season and the new 12 team college football playoff The Season's going to last a little bit longer but still you have from what mid January all the way up till September that's an incredibly long off season and that's tough if you love college football because I do and I'm one of those people it's really hard in the summertime when there's no NFL there's no college football in most years all you have is uh you know all you have is baseball or you know if just into some of the other stuff maybe you watch uh soccer in the uh in the foreign leagues or whatever uh English Premier League or or La Lio or something like that and you know if you can get access to that that's cool as well but the point is for me personally um it it is hard you know I'm not a baseball guy so you know oh here we go yep yep there we go Transformer what up bro yeah I know the Noles I know I know but like I keep telling you we're gonna see you come November in that night game when when you all gotta come up there and freeze in South Bend but that's a different story we'll we'll talk about that another time but yeah so um college football season is just about here all these teams are in the in the heat literally of um of training camp and they're getting ready to go um what do we have here about two and a half weeks now until the season starts so I I can't wait um it's not that serious college football is awesome I actually like it better than the pros you know I'm always back and forth on that right I'm normally thinking that during the college football season that is better than the pros but then once the college football season's over and then uh you get the pros and and the playoffs is ramping up and then you know that I'm like uh n maybe I was wrong but I'm always back and forth I love them both man um what you you you sound silly Transformer you sound silly but that's okay you're gonna be going up against one of the best defenses in the country one of the best secondaries in the country and uh you got dju for your quarterback so you know you better go look what happened last time DJ you went to Notre Dame Stadium but that's a different thing um Michigan Big 10 go Blue uh okay all right Steve Steve man 69 nothing sem noes I like that I like that all right uh I see y'all already at it in the chat that's what I'm talking about man interaction and again make sure if you haven't already please go ahead hit that like And subscribe we really appreciate it all right so this this is the thing so um what earlier this week we saw the uh the preseason polls come out with the with the preseason rankings and kind of seeing where uh the quote unquote experts see all these teams Landing to start the season who's the best and kind of what what they see for their top 25 which gives you that starting point in terms of where your rankings are and how hard it may or may not be how difficult it may or may not be for you as a team to be able to make it to the 12 team college football playoff now it's going to be a lot easier to make it to the 12 team theoretically than it would have been to make it to the uh uh the old four team college football playoff why because there's simply more spots available right and I think that's a good thing because I'm one of those people that like I didn't like that four team college football playoff nor the uh the old BCS system where you just get the final two because to me it almost says like uh it says to a team it really doesn't matter how good you are how hard you play because you probably won't get a shot at playing for the chip anyway at least the 12 team playoff gives you more of a shot now the 12 team playoffs still has its you know college football BS involved why because the SEC is uh and the Big 10 are both negotiating like hey we want a certain number of spots and you know for the most part that's how it's going to go right these are the powers these are the major conferences in college football and that's how it's going to end up um you know you hear some of the so-called experts your Colin cards and your Paul Fine bombs Etc saying like certain teams don't ever deserve to be in the playoff right like we saw Florida State Get Smoked by Georgia in the bowl game last year I can't remember what bowl it was I don't know if it was the Orange Bowl or the Peach Bowl but anyway uh Georgia smoked them uh but the point is uh a guy like Paul fbom on ESPN their their college football expert he's going in he's saying that well based on the result of that game against Georgia Florida State didn't deserve to be there which is total BS because Florida state is the first undefeated conference champion in the history of college football not to make the 14 playoff like that's just absurd right whether or not they would have got smoked if they got in is not the point the point is they earned their way there to get smoked right TCU got smoked by Georgia what two years ago I think 657 in the championship game and it's this whole oh they didn't deserve to be there they don't recruit well enough they're not good enough no guess what they won their conference and then they went and they and they won their conference title they did everything they had to do to get there we can't look back in hindsight and say that because somebody got smoked they didn't deserve to be playing for that Championship that is total BS um what do we have it's not that serious I've never liked Notre Dame but I like their coach it's like my feelings about Coach K I hate Duke but I love Coach K all right that's fair you you're giving some respect um it's not that serious I'm G let you live on that but yeah um this whole business of you know we're looking at we're looking at it from uh from the backside um and saying that uh looking at the results of of the tournament and and how it happened and saying well uh that that team didn't deserve to be there that's total BS for instance right and I actually did a show on this uh maybe a couple of years ago right after the TCU got annihilated by Georgia in the national championship game because Colin card guy listened to a whole lot he said that um basically they didn't deserve to be there and we heard uh we heard a whole bunch of other players saying uh players a whole bunch of other so-called experts saying that TCU didn't deserve to be there and I'm like this is total garbage right and what I did was I went back and I looked at the Super Bowls in the NFL right and the Super Bowls obviously the best of the best the NFL the best football league there is so the best of the best are there right and and like almost half of all the Super Bowls ever played were blowouts and I went one by one and I went down and I I called out the scores on that show and I'm like do we ever hear someone saying that that team didn't deserve to be there no they played their way there they got there the result is the result if they weren't good enough or they were uh on that particular day or they weren't good enough period then so be it but we never hear oh this team didn't deserve to be here so we got to stop this elitist snob mentality when it comes to college football and saying that well because the team got smoked they didn't deserve to be there I'll uh and I'm going to bring this up because Steve you know you know where I'm going with this um I'm a Notre Dame guy threw and through Die Hard Notre Dame football fan 2012 Notre Dame had uh the number one scoring defense in the country did everything they had to do fought their way to an undefeated 12- 0 season plays Alabama in the national championship game and just gets smoked uh 42 to 14 right they weren't good enough clearly right they just uh they couldn't stand up to Alabama that team was just you know miles ahead of where Notre Dame was and that's fine but guess what you can't go back as a result and look at the result of the game and say Notre Dame didn't deserve to be there did everything they do did everything that they did excuse me during the course of the regular season not matter was it a relevant they they didn't have a right to play for the championship that they earned a shot at we got to stop this it's absolutely ridiculous man the college football leadest mentality is freaking terrible um Steve says if Florida State didn't uh I think he means to say lose their QB to injury I think they get in last year's final four they absolutely would have can't remember the kid's name Jordan Travis that was the quarterback they absolutely would have gotten in but again that's not the point Steve part of football is it's a physical game guys get hurt it's next man up we cannot use that as an excuse not to put in the team that we don't want to put in and say well they didn't deserve it where I was going with all this um in terms of the um the rankings to start the season uh what I was thinking about was the 2017 UCF team right they went 12-0 13 and 0 they beat a Georgia team was it they beat an Auburn team in the Peach Bowl that beat Georgia and Alabama in back-to-back weeks and I believe won the SEC Championship right but they weren't good enough to be able to uh get into the four team playoff but they UCF ended up playing them and UCF beat them in the Peach Bowl but the problem was and I truly believe that UC team that year could have beaten every team in the country except Alabama right but at the end of the day they never even got a chance to prove it because why in the preseason ranking they started too low to get high up enough to make the top four and that's just BS because they went out and they did their work and they never even got the chance and I I really I can't I that's one thing I'm never going to be able to accept about college football as much as I loved college football um so with all that said that's what kind of gets into uh uh moving into just taking a quick look at the preseason uh top 25 rankings right um again I'm not going to break this down too much because uh Ryan Langford and I are GNA really get into that but I thought it was an interesting point uh forgive the long Soliloquy getting into it I really love college football and if you if you watch this show I'm big on like competition right I think you guys can understand that by now I truly am big on competition because what's the point of sports if not for compet competition I I get it there's a whole lot more money now than there ever has been before but at the end of the day sports are built foundationally on competition and so I get the money part but if you're moving if you're excuse me removing the competition aspect then is it really still Sports and and that's terrible um Steve says I agree I just never saw a team penalized because of an injury which was definitely the case for FSU last year but their results should have chumped up and that's what I'm saying because even and that's what um Robert Griffin I third actually tweeted out earlier in the week uh prior to being fired from ESPN is that even with uh a second string who got injured and then a third string quarterback playing they still they being Florida State managed to go undefeated throughout that regular season and then win their conference Championship but then they got jerked why because people are looking at it and say well uh four best teams they're no longer one of the four best teams and they're looking at you know the best TV product no that's not what it's about like okay I do get that the TV the TV product matters why because advertising dollars they want those eyeballs on them right but at the end of like you're telling all these kids like yo your undefeated season everything you played for the way you fought scrapped and clawed to finish that season undefeated and win your conference didn't matter and that's terrible that's absolutely terrible like who would have been mad to see that Michigan Florida State matchup I still believe Michigan would have beaten them but I think that would have been a really good game I really do um again matchups are everything man but you know at the end of the day I think what they did there because the college football World especially the college football playoff ESPN SEC connection I think they couldn't stomach not having Georgia there but having Florida State there when Florida state was uh an injured uh version of itself and like that's that's just not the way that you go about Athletics but anyway um yeah I'm I'm still on my soap box about this but let's go ahead and let's look at the schedule a little bit and um see what we have to talk about before we open up the phone lines and discuss a little college football um we know that whatever the committee says is bull hockey uh it will always come down to money and ratings yeah absolutely man absolutely and I do understand that money is super important I understand that ratings are super important but at the same time like you can't be you can't be putting these athletes in a situation where you're literally telling them that the onfield product and what you do doesn't matter you just can't but I say you can't but clearly you can right because that's exactly what they did last season all right let's go ahead and look at this um for the millionth time I've been trying to get to it and I keep talking but let's let's look at this uh this uh these rankings all right so we got the AP Top 25 preseason and the coaches poll so of course uh Georgia is number one I'm I'm not really sure why other than the SEC bias there in the SEC so they're going to get the nod but personally I think Ohio State um should have been the number one team in this preseason ranking based on what they've been able to do uh during this offseason and in the transfer portal shuring up the quarterback position shuring up the running back position and obviously you know they're going to be loaded on defense they have an outstanding uh uh play caller and offensive play designer and Chip Kelly um who came over from being the head coach at UCLA now he's Ryan days OC they're going to get back a little bit back to more of um their physical DNA on the ground because we know that Chip Kelly loves to run the football because even if you remember back at Oregon when they were blowing people out they were doing it in a physical physical way and they were running the football and so um you know that there was a a whole lot of that going on and now I think that they are really going to get back to that you know you have trayon Henderson you have uh uh quinon Judkins I think that came the old M transfer and these are two of the best running backs in the country you have them you always have a strong old line at Ohio State and now you have another guy you can build into the quarterback into the Run game with quarterback will Howard I think he came from Kansas State I believe he can throw it he can run it I mean you've got some and of course you're always gonna have highlevel Elite receivers right um Julian well I think Julian Fleming is gone I think he transferred but AA egbuka came back he's one of the best receivers in the country you're always going to have high level wide receiver play at Ohio State so this I think is a very very good football team and um personally I would have put them number one now maybe some people are going to say you know I have an anti SEC bias okay I'll I'll take that but I I just think that based on what they did this this off season that uh Ohio state is the best in the country now I think if you're G to put Georgia ahead of them your only argument would be that Georgia has Carson Beck coming back he's a Heisman candidate and as much as will Howard is going to be good for that system he's probably not quite on that level all right so number three and I'm not going to go through all these I'll kind of stop where I see fit but uh number three is Oregon uh Dan Lanning has really built an SEC style power and he has done that uh he's done that out west in in Oregon and Phil Knight has basically said that um they will pay whatever to build this program to try and win a championship so obviously we know that nil and pay forplay are all legal now so uh Phil Knight is really trying to make it happen I think he's in his 80s he's Oregon Alum he wants to win before dies and so he's willing to pay whatever money to make that happen and um they've got a new quarterback uh Dylan Gabriel um really outstanding guy started off at UCF did his thing um moved on to uh uh Oklahoma did his thing again he's one of the most experienced and accurate quarterbacks in the country really really good college quarterback I don't anticipate he'll be some uh Superstar on the next level doesn't have a huge arm but can throw it um he is moderately mobile and uh you know that um Dan Lanning he's going to want to run the football SEC style he's got uh relatively big guys in the trenches for a western team and they're coming into the Big 10 and I definitely think that they are um I think they're in good shape to be very very competitive and I'm not upset at all with them at number three might be a little high for my taste but I'm not upset at Anyone who puts him there Texas uh Texas made the 14 college football playoff last year lost to shootout to uh Washington and I think probably the main difference there was uh Washington had slightly better receiver core and a better quarterback Michael penck Jr and then you saw uh was it Jaylen McMillan Jaylen pul and of course Roman dun who made a spectacular grab with K uh Caleb Williams today in the Bears preseason game so uh Texas very good team that's another team um that's changing conferences with realignment they are in their first year in the SEC and Steve sarkeesian uh their head coach has done a really good job when he took that Texas job knowing that they were going to be moving into the SEC in a few years in terms of building them up physically for that conference we saw them go into Tuscaloosa last year and win and really kind of physically uh manhandle Alabama they were able to run the football they were able to throw the football they were able to protect against the pass rush so Quin Ys played really well and of course we know that should anything happen to Quin Ys you have Arch Manning Who lit up the spring game you have him uh waiting in the wings um so uh they are very good offensively they're very good in the trenches they're going to be able to run the football and we're going to see what they can do in their first season in uh what is it in in the SEC uh Alabama another really good team now the problem there is obviously Nick Sabin who most regard is the greatest college football coach of all time he's gone but he's replaced by an outstanding uh coach in kayin dor who uh came down from Washington obviously he took Washington to National Championship game last year where they fell to Michigan but um really good coach I think he's like 104 and 12 in his career as a head coach um going from D3 all the way up to division one and now he is the guy that succeeds the legend right um I would never want to be the guy who succeeds the legend what do they say you don't want to be the guy who follows the guy you want to be the guy who follows the guy who follows the guy right you want to be that guy so but then you know if you're kayin dbor and you get an opportunity to coach Alabama that's one of those blue blood programs you can't really turn that down so um I don't know if I have him ranked that high Kaylin dbor is supposed to be a quarterback Guru we're gonna see what he's able to do in terms of uh developing Jaylen milro now he doesn't have his guy Ryan grub who was coming with him and has been everywhere with him and had came down to Alabama but the Seattle Seahawks actually uh snatched him up and now he's their OC um so yeah Alabama is going to be an interesting watch we'll see what happens and so much of this thing that's crazy is guys really moving around in the transfer portal so you know we'll see what that is um uh old Miss Lane kein is getting a lot of love uh we're going to see what they are I haven't really taken the time to kind of look at their roster and look at their schedule but they're getting a lot of love one because they're in the SEC two lane kein is a really great offensive coach and he's he's built up a pretty solid program so we'll see what they do uh Notre Dame Fighting Irish again a little bias here you guys know that that that's the team that I love when it comes to college football as the team that I root for um they have a very manageable schedule three toughest games obviously the opener at A&M uh as as I said with the Transformer earlier they've got u a November home game which makes it really manageable a home night game against Florida State I don't know how Florida state is I mean it's not everything but uh being a southern team going up north uh playing relative cold to them at a night game in in mid November I think that's gonna that's going to be difficult and Notre Dame is uh purported to have one of the best returning defenses in the country really good along the defensive as well they have an outstanding secondary with uh unanimous All-American uh safety Xavier Watts who came back now Xavier watts is not Kyle Hamilton okay but he is a ball Hawk led the nation with seven interceptions last year um Benjamin Morrison is getting healthy former All-American uh cornerback uh as a true freshman he led the nation with uh what seven interceptions and I believe three pick sixes so Notre Dame uh looks really good uh let's see um it's not that serious without bias how do you think Notre Dame will finish this year I believe Notre Dame can finish 11 and one their schedule is really manageable but the biggest thing it's really gonna come down to specifically I truly believe if they can pull off the win in the opener at Texas A&M right because if they lose that game and we've seen them lose a lot of big games right that's that's that's not being biased if they lose that game there's really no more margin of error and can you get through the rest of the schedule which is it's not a murderer's role but can you get through the rest of the schedule undefeated I don't know if they can do that um Steve you're absolutely right he going to come down to the offensive line um starting left tackle I think his name is jagas saww um can't remember if he I think he ripped his bicep he's going to be out for the year so that's a tough blow but Notre Dame has generally been very good in terms of offensive line development but we we'll see um what happens so uh yeah Notre Dame I I like Steve in the chat saying that they could go 10- two on the year that sounds pretty reasonable but if they if they start off the season well 11 and one is really really possible because um their three biggest games again are uh what is it uh the opener at A&M uh in November uh Florida State comes to Notre Dame and then finish out the season at USC so it's going to depend again also on how good USC is this year but we'll see we'll see so so yeah 10- two but okay he tore his Peck all right I thought it was a bicep but yeah he tore his Peck and yeah I'm I'm aware that it was um season ending so yeah tough tough to lose your um starting left tackle before the season even starts to a torn petoro so that's tough um okay where were we Penn State Penn State is iffy for me um they I think they lucked out a bit in in the scheduling this year their their scheduling is always tough because well it used to be tough because when you had the big 10 in the East and the West they always had a play Ohio State and Michigan every year so they could pretty much count on being third in the division every year and that's going to keep you out of the playoffs even if you are team good enough to get to the Rose Bowl right so that's tough but I think they avoid a lot of that this season but still Penn State is a team a lot like Notre Dame generally has a lot of talent but somehow loses the big games constantly they just they just can't win those big games um so yeah uh Penn State at number eight I bit high for me this here is the most interesting One Michigan the defending national champions at number nine I think I think that's fair and I think that's giv them due respect I think the problem is they lost so much talent to the NFL and of course they lost head coach Jim Harbaugh now Chiron Moore has shown that he's able to step in admirably when Harbaugh wasn't there but that's like that's not for an entire season that's knowing that okay win this game win the next game and our coach is going to be back right so so there there's that but I think the fact is um now we find out for sure if Chiron Moore can really guide his program through the entire season that's the one and of course we see Ohio state is loaded up for Bear because Michigan has beat Ohio state three years in a row and Ohio State is coming for them so can Michigan survive um having lost so much talent to the NBA what they get 13 or 14 NFL excuse me I believe they got 13 or 14 guys drafted this past season somebody in the chat check that out for me see how many players Michigan got drafted in a 2024 NFL draft it's 13 or 14 if I'm not mistaken but I mean that that's still a lot of Elite Talent to send to the next level so you know um I don't I don't think Michigan is gonna stink Steve I think that um they're going to take a step back I think they have to you know they they lose one of the best coaches in the country and of course like I said they lost a lot of talent so yeah chat somebody check that out for me and see how many guys Michigan got drafted this past season okay Florida State we talked about Florida State that's fair number one I just don't trust DJ Young G I just don't um as you mentioned we've seen him at Clemson we've seen him at Oregon State he's never going to get any more accurate and he's never going to stop throwing picks so it's like what do you do there what do you do there now Florida state is a team that's always gonna have plenty of talent but what do you do if you can't get the quarterback right you had it right but you know obviously that guy he's moved on so it is what it is um let's see see there you go Transformer thank you um Michigan got 13 guys drafted last year that's that's tough man it's tough to recover from that unless you're like Alabama or Georgia right because you have that many highlevel guys waiting in the wings just ready to take off for their opportunity and I don't think that as well as Michigan developed I don't think that they have that many highle guys waiting in the wings and I don't even think we know for sure who their quarterback is going to be I think that Alex orgy has all the physical tools but I don't even know if he is the guy that's gotten the job yet so far so um not going to run down this whole thing going to talk just about a couple of teams I'm interested in seeing uh there's a lot of hype around mouri um I don't know if that's just because they're in the SEC or if they've developed really well I think they have the guy who's regarded as the best receiver in the country I think Luther Burton the third so um we we'll see what he does uh uh Tennessee I think very interested to see what happens with them their new quarterback Nico IMA really interested to see extremely highly recruited Josh Hy is a very good offensive coach as we've seen since his days at um what UCF uh so uh Tennessee is going to be dangerous they can run it that that's a good football team um Oklahoma I've always liked Brent venables I think that Brent venal is the real reason that Clemson was as dominant as it was they recruited extremely well um along the defensive line and Brent fenales he coach that defense up man and so I don't know if the team is physically built Oklahoma well enough to uh really compete and be dominant well not dominant but really be one of the higher level teams in the SEC we'll have to find out but they're really high on their new quarterback uh Jackson Arnold so um I don't know we'll see Oklahoma is a team that always recruits well but now they've got to recruit against the rest of the SEC so this is going to be very interesting um Steve you're right uh mou was tough last year and they bring some key guys back um but uh I I I just don't know I just don't know we know that they get an automatic boost just by virtue of being in the SEC from the college football media but we're gonna see how good they really are um Oklahoma State for me uh gota see but I really like Ali Gordon I really like him uh you guys if you watch the show you know you know I love the running back position and seeing a dynamic running back like that widely regarded as the best running back in the country I think he had like 1,700 plus rushing yards last year really really good running back he's back so we'll we'll see what they uh what they have around him Kansas State uh really good team as well what two years ago they won the Big 12 so they won the Big 12 Championship they beat TCU in a classic uh in that game uh the U Miami very interesting they got Damen Martinez from Oregon State the running back out of the transfer portal one of the better running backs in the country and they also got cam Ward the quarterback from Washington State so really good so the thing with me is um Mario christall head coach at the U and obviously he played there as a player o lineman really good recruiter but he doesn't seem to be a good coach right his in-game his ex's nose and in-game adjustments and stuff like that really don't believe in him very much so we're gonna see at some point there's got to be a meshing of the recruiting and uh the in-game coaching so we're going to see what that is Texas A&M we talked briefly about them obviously they host Notre Dame in the opener and again they're in the SEC so they got to deal with that schedule but um a lot of talent still on that team from what Jimbo Fisher was able to bring in and now they've got a disciplined dedicated head coach and Mike Elco really strong defensive guy we're gonna see what they do Arizona don't know too much about him Kansas nope USC Lincoln Riley Miller Moss I think threw six touchdowns in the bowl game last year so that's a guy that is not going to be looking to break structure nearly as much as Caleb Williams was not yes Steve cam more did go to Miami I thought I mentioned that but anyway um yeah Miller Moss is not going to be looking to break structure nearly as much as uh Caleb Williams was one because he physically doesn't have the tools to do it but that's just not his style of play so um uh Lincoln Riley can kind of stay more towards running his scheme um so uh there's that um Dion branch is um one of the is it Deon Branch I think Zachariah Branch I'm sorry not Deon Branch Deon Branch played for the Patriots but Zachariah Branch one of the most exciting um weapons in the country in the kick return game in the wide receiver game really outstanding young player and we're going to see immediately what USA what USC is about because they have LSU in the opener and it really sucks because um we find out that Lincoln Riley has been trying for two years to get out of this game because he and Brian Kelly I believe have the same agent and so he's been trying to work the back channels to get USC out of this game and Brian Kelly was like oh no I'm not letting you out of it uh NC State don't know much about him Iowa that's a that's that's a team that's so interesting because year in year out they're able to run the football they have outstanding o linemen they have really good tight ends and they have really really good defenses but their offense is always trash and it was bad to the point that uh Kirk ference he had to fire his own son who was OC last year Brian ference and so um now they're gonna come with a new OC new scheme and quite possibly a better offense so we'll see how good Iowa can be with a better offense the problem is if they've improved so is the rest of the conference right obviously adding Washington adding USC adding UCLA adding Oregon and then taking out the divisions so yeah tough tough tough lineup but if you love college football man all this is really really exciting and and you're you're looking forward to seeing how all this stuff plays out I know I am all right so I'm gonna leave it right there on this particular topic and I am going to open up the phone lines right because that's what we like to do here on the form podcast uh let's see oh man I haven't even had the uh phone number scrolling so let me go ahead and put that on all right so uh if you want to call in and give me your thoughts on uh the college football season and kind of some of the stuff I talked about whether or not you agree with that whole business of uh how teams are getting Chosen and and what your what are your thoughts about a team can be undefeated and get left out of the playoff and all that and then of course the preseason rankings the number is 904 uh dang thought I turned it back on all right so the number is 904 219 8264 90421 98264 um waiting for your calls let's get it so in the meantime uh it's not that serious wow um I think Caleb Williams is grossly overrated I hope that I'm wrong okay so I'm not a Caleb Williams fan not at all um but he has some ability to make some plays and make some throws that you just you just don't see everyone being able to make let me go ahead and take this call format podcast who's this it's Steve Bruce what's happening Brother Steve what's going on man much man enjoying my evening watching you I had to call in yes sir I appreciate that man what you got thing I was thinking of I'm looking at the top 25 uh since you brought it up the two things I I kind of that stick out to me in my opinion I you did a good uh did a good preview of everything breaking it down Penn State has no business being in top 10 just like every year they're preseason top 10 for no reason okay yeah it's like there's it's like a given every year ever since they've had saquin I think if you go back they're preseason ranked top 10 every year because saquon went there in like 2017 it's ridiculous I think it's based on um the recruiting Because they have a lot of talent on the team typically they just don't play up to it but go ahead they do they do I can't disagree like you're looking at the numbers but you made a good comparison and I do it all the time you compare them to Notre Dame and and you're right and I and I hate to admit it it's the truth where it's like you look at the numbers like with recruiting they technically bring in talent but I don't know if it's a Player Development thing it just never translates to the big game when Penn State has their chance against Michigan in a high State they fold yes and I hate to say it but brother we're in that same we're in that same game yeah we we just we just can't get across the Finish Line in this big game yeah I don't I don't think that um James Franklin I'm sorry my bad go ahead no no no go ahead go ahead I want to hear you no I was saying I just I don't feel like James Franklin is a big game coach I really don't um and I think that's the biggest problem I I totally agree and it's a shame because it seems like he brought pen State he's a lot like Brian Kelly correct Brian Kelly brought us to a 10- win relevance after some really rough years Franklin after that dark that dark time at Penn State with all the drama I think it was Bill o bran right after Joe Pa then Bill O'Brien that was the dark times for Penn State fans uh and he brought them to a 10 win relevant right but what has it really you know what I mean what what have you really one uh and and we're both in that it's like we're like uh we're like twins in that in that resp yeah it's tough we're like that 10 win Plateau where it's like kind of matter because of our name and brand but it just never really pans out to being in that top five threshold where you're actually competing for something yeah absolutely and it it's it's tough man because like I said I don't believe James Franklin is a big game coach he doesn't seem to adjust well but with with with the divisions going away in the Big 10 although the Big 10 has gotten more difficult Penn State has a better opportunity now because they know that there's going to be some years where they don't have to play Ohio State or Michigan or Ohio State and Michigan and in a year where everything falls right if if they have the you know if they had a good recruiting year that year then they really have the opportunity to do something special and um I think I heard that in like seven out of the last 10 years um I Heard uh James Franklin on an interview during this offseason seven out of the last 10 years or something like that had this been a 12 team playoff Penn State would have been in right so that 14 te playoff is is a very tough thing so at the end of the day and I think we know this in like just about every sport you just want to get a chance to get in the dance right once you get in anything can happen and so I think you know you got a team like Notre Dame looking at that you got a team like Penn State looking at that and I'm sure lots of other teams like we just got to get in we got get in and we can get hot now um trying to win four straight in in a sport that can have significant Talent disparity like college football that's a lot tougher but you you know now with nil and you can literally pay for play you know you I guess at this at this point a team uh has to do what they have to do to make sure they can feeli the most competitive possible roster totally agree yeah totally agree yeah just get me a ticket let me in the dance that's it let's see where we can go let's see where we can go absolutely yeah man I don't want to take up all your time brother I had one more point I wanted to make and I wanted to hear your thoughts I just want to hear your thoughts of course why would you give a high State The Edge Over Georgia I'm just carer I I just think that based on what they built out in the uh based on what they built out in the um in the offseason in the transfer portal and I think that they have I think they have better coaching uh at least better off offensive coaching right Georgia obviously is physically dominant they they might have better defensive coaching but Ohio State I think is just so loaded everywhere and again I think the biggest reason for that obviously it didn't just hurt him to lose three straight years to Michigan it hurt them to lose to Michigan and watch Michigan go to win the national championship and the past two years losing to Michigan based on the time in the season when they play that recency bias it's also kept them out of the championship game out the um not champion game out of the 14 playoff right but now they're like we're not going to allow this to happen again they're like hard Ball's gone so Ohio state has up the ante on their roster they've U the ante on their coaching staff and I think that they have such a sense of urgency about them I just think that they're the best team in the country right now could be wrong because I think early in the year they have to go to Oregon which is going to be that's going to be a hell of a game I'm looking forward to that you know what you know what though we were talking you mentioned it earlier they lose that game at Oregon in a competitive fashion that doesn't hurt them it doesn't and that's the beauty of the 12 team playoff right because right you can still bounce back and have a really great rest of your season and it's not going to kill you um also on the flip side of Ohio State I I didn't mention this when I was um going running through uh Texas goes to Michigan I think in week two that's G of that's going to be another amazing game oh man I'm telling you the first three four weeks of football we have some bangers fantastic AB don't have to wait through the mac and The Wack like we're seeing some bangers this is what and to be honest this is how it should be yes with this new format before I understand running the table The Undefeated uh that that was like the metric that was the bar you you lose one game now it comes politics and who's you know uh uh what do they say when you win in a fancy uh fashion if you score 100 points or whatever you call that it comes down to all these subjective metrics where it's like if you know you're undefeated you're good so you might not take those risks early on but I mean we got obviously we're biased but we got Notre Dame Texas A&M we we got Texas and Michigan week two you got L LSU and USC like a lot of really good games absolutely now here's man I'm sorry I hate to take up your time you feel how do you feel about that how do you feel about LSU and USU so this is funny um when John Kennedy uh for those of you who don't know John Kennedy is the host of the always Irish Notre Dame football podcast really good show if you love Notre Dame football and also a good show if you love college football so there's your plug John um uh maybe a month and a half ago John was on my show and we actually talked about that and I'm going to tell you I am rooting for USC to beat LSU in that game one because because I will never ever ever ever ever root for an SEC team never I won't do it that's number one and number two um the better USC is the better it is for Notre Dame at the end of the season when they go out to LA and so know I'm looking for that absolutely I I I actually agree I'm gonna be rooting for USB and I know as Notre fans people are probably like crossing their wrong with you what's going on but I agree I want the Notre I want the Notre Dame USC game matter I always do I hope they're undefeated that's right can you imagine going out there to finish the season with you know Notre Dame and USC undefeated that'd be fantastic and realistically whoever loses that game they're probably still in yep that's true nah Notre Dame is not trying to go to the SEC it's just not a cultural fit that's not GNA happen and I don't I don't know that the SEC has too much interest in Notre Dame anyway better fit and it's eventually gonna happen is the Big 10 I think geographically if if SEC is going to try to expand I think they're going to look at Clemson Florida State geic it just more sense yes it absolutely does and obviously if the Big 10 could snag Notre Dame they would yes I have some thoughts on that I just we're seeing less conferences because Bruce I know you've heard it I've heard it when is Notre Dame gonna have to join a conference and I've always said when it becomes a financial issue or or an access to the playoff issue it's those two things and frankly with the NBC contract and that money keep pumping that's right there's no way that they're going to be able to force Notre Dame because with that NBC money teams are still gonna schedule them correct teams are gonna want to play Notre Dame the NBC money I understand the Big 10 has now a contract with them but if Notre Dame has their own broadcast their own contract it just doesn't make and we're seeing less conferen it was always you have to have you have to have that conference well now we're seeing conferences diminish and to be honest with you I would not be surprised if we saw the ACC dissolve here in the next three to five years potentially depending on how things shake out you know and and and it depending on again I know this sounds like a like an old man take an old traditional take but how is the Big 12 going to survive how long is it going to last without the brand Tex in Oklahoma I'm sorry that's a factor you're right but I think what's going to happen the key with the big 12 is can can Colorado be a good team and pump some life in there and can Utah which is a very good team and has one of the best coaches in the country can they bring some life into yeah yeah absolutely so those two teams yeah if those two teams can bring some life into the conference I think that'll be a difference Arizona I believe is also going there so so there's that I am glad I'm glad you brought this up bro this is I have to get your thought yeah yeah what do you think deon's going to stay at Colorado long enough for this to be a longterm impact for the Big 12 as an acquisition I don't know but this is this is something that I said from last year I believe that Colorado has a legitimate opportunity I may sound crazy here I think they have a legit opportunity to play for the Big 12 Championship this year I do now I I had said that I thought that I saw them as the favorite with Oklahoma and Texas leaving and you know Dion is is building that team in his Dion way all they have to do is they've got to keep Shakur sand shadur Sanders excuse me they need to do a better job of keeping him upright because he's one of the best quarterbacks in the country right so if they're able to do that and they have skill on the outside this can be a dangerous dangerous team and they did they did a lot of work upgrading that um offensive line in the off season getting guys in the trenches so I believe that they can be dangerous now when I predicted them possibly winning the Big 12 I totally forgot about Utah so I gotta I got to give Utah their due respect I think they're now the best team in the Big 12 but um to your question I don't know what Dion does when shadur is gone I don't know because what if what if the Cowboys move up to draft shadur Sanders and Jerry Jones says come be my coach like H can you say no to that say that before and that's an interesting tap I don't think that's crazy I mean we know Jerry right Jerry's gonna do whatever br brings attention to Dallas yeah Jerry's GNA Jerry right yep amen amen I just this is how I was thinking of I agree with you Colorado has a chance in the Big 12 I'm surprised they're not preseason top 25 given that they arguably have two two first round draft yes two of the best players in college football absolutely yeah and that's what kind of shocked me where I thought D you know uh I know last year was four games it was a four- win season yeah you could say it was a disappointment it was Improv mov depending on how you look at yeah um but I think undoubtedly they have two of the most talented players correct coming back in a conference that this is a big turnover for them and they're losing two Blue Bloods so the doors open yes you know what I mean and I and I would also say this with the big 12 I think Colorado has a chance legitimately I think there's about five teams in the Big 12 that have a chance they G to be parody in that conference and I I it sounds crazy butas I do think Utah would probably be like the slight favorite you could throw Colorado in there I think you could throw Kansas State in there I think Oklahoma state has a legi I've even heard a lot of noise coming from Central Florida I heard UTF is gonna have a squad this year they always have talent yeah they have one of the best running back rooms in the country now they they have a lot of talent yeah it'll be a fun year especially in that conference it's going to be a fantastic year I'm so so excited for college football to be back I really am two weeks it can't get here it can get here soon enough bro right absolutely absolutely it cannot get here soon enough what else you got well the last thing I was thinking I know this is a bit of a biased one I'm sure people don't want to hear is just talk about that thing what do you honestly feel where do you see where do you see the schedule going where do you do you think we legit could run the table at 12 11 one 10 and two where do you think that one is man um it's going to be one of the three big ones right it's it's that A&M USC or Florida State I do believe they beat Florida State I don't think they smoke them I think they beat them um that that weather is going to play a role and I believe last time last time they came to South Ben they got handled pretty well um yeah it was a smoke show last time in South B yeah it was um was that I'm pretty sure that's when was a freshman okay and uh no no no tyon yeah he ran all over them that's right and Chris Tyrie were like the tandem yep and uh they smoked them I don't know if Travis was there it might have been somebody else it was Travis it was it wasn't Travis yet yeah it was somebody else and then we played them at Florida State I want to say either the year before or the year right after it was with Cohen the quarterback transfer from Wisconsin we opened up yeah Jack that's right and we were we were dominated and then Florida State came all the way back and put it into overtime that'll be I'll be honest with you Bruce I'd love to stay 12 and0 I can't I can't I don't I don't think they're good enough yet there's gonna be yeah there's a slip somewhere in there I I just can't do it and I hate to say it I hope this isn't the game Mike Elco scares me Bruce he's really good and and you're right because look at the defense that he was able to play with Duke and now he's at amm and so at the talent look at that talent in the front seven and this is where I'm scared brother that young offensive line at Kyle stadium and that environment at night with some NFL defensive lineman that's right that's just a bad recipe I mean I I surely hope they team some certain thing yeah yeah to get Leonard on the move let him be an athlete don't let him stand back there and let those guys just come guns of Blade they well that's where I where I think a lot of people are forgetting Mike Elco knows everything that Riley Leonard wants to do right that was his quarterback so there's that but on the flip side Riley Leonard is also coaching his coaches at Notre Dame now on how Mike Elco wants to run defense so there's that true you know so this is this is truly a chess match Mike Elco and Mike Den Brock it's really a chess match looking forward to it and and let's not forget Notre Dame is um I I saw a meme on uh was Instagram earlier and they were saying that I think it was PFF one of the PFF analysts was saying that Notre Dame goes into the season with a top three defense and they wouldn't be surprised if they ended up end of the year as the number one defense in the country I did see that I did think about this we know you're gonna when when was the last time and and we're g to move off of this before we bunch people like oh my God Notre Dame talk but when was the last time you saw Notre Dame with a secondary that made you not be afraid of elite passing teams for the first time in a long time the Irish have that I was gonna say not since H there you go not since L right I mean we did not have back end I mean we've had our Kyle Hamilton we've had a player here there but collectively I agree we've never had a unit where it's like man we we can't really test certain guys I really expect now given his health which I'm hearing everything's in the clear and things are good for Benji yep so hope hopefully Ben is healthy and I think I think he is a legit I mean look at the some of the guy pe's face I mean he made Marvin Harrison look human yes he did very hard thing very difficult to do very hard thing to do so like if you have that type of ability that can take away half the field you have his age want that's right and I like our options on the other boundary with Christian Gray and Nikki I think we got some guys that are like man and and I'm hearing some good thing out of the young guys the guys who are just stepping on I was about to say the last thing I'm going to say on that is Benjamin Morrison says that it might sound crazy but he thinks that can't remember his name this uh freshman corner on the other side is it Leonard Moore yes that's what it is yes he says he thinks this guy's gonna be better than him so that says a lot that's what I heard too man I mean obviously as we never get Corners like this right right never had Corners like that yeah yeah but uh yeah I'm going to I'm going to let it I'm going to let it go here man we could do this all night but uh we got to move on and I'm sure the non Notre Dame people are like okay moving along moving along so yeah Steve get off here right right I appreciate you Bruce I'm watching brother hey thanks for the call Steve I appreciate you man byebye all right