Mike Elko and Mike Golic Jr? | 08/30/24 | God Bless Football | The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

[Music] God bless football Billy Gil God bless football mike y God bless football mike gock Jr God bless football stugots thank you Gojo we needed to get younger I mean that's really what Happ is that really what happened not what happen you don't have to lie to me at this point it's a combination uh when when me and your dad started to become friends we realized we were both very unorganized we have no idea what our schedules are and so me trying to book your dad on this show um has become a ridiculous task for me because I don't know where I'm going to be in 5 minutes and he has no idea where he's going to be in five minutes you know well that's because he's outsourced his entire life to my mom he doesn't know where he's going to be because he's waiting for her to tell him where he's going to be the best part about working on the show with my dad now every morning is sometimes we'll tape guests after the show and when we mention a time that's around noon cuz that's usually when they go and like work out and do an orange theory class or something the deep sigh that my Dad gives knowing he's going to have to move his workout class to come do this is just incredible uh Mike Elco is going to join us the head coach at Texas A&M so it's the mere picking up of the phone to reschedule the class that that b yeah no one wants to do that especially as you get older and you know him my dad's a creature of habit he gets up and eats the same thing every day him and my mom have a very specific routine with the dogs so when you've got to break him out of his routine all of a sudden he gets a little fussy right fussy word that Billy like he's like he's like a baby you got burp him a little bit you rock him and I'll get back it's be give him a little bottle yeah it's okay loves a good Bob Jones my dad would be the most uncomfortable person to rock at this point he's so like tall and lanky and skinny now it's too bony but if I were a baby if I were a baby Billy do you agree with this I would want my goic to be the one rocking me you know what I'm saying gock seems comfortable I mean would I agree with that know if I would agree with that he was a great swaddler that was his claim to fame great he ask him about it he'll tell you all day swaddling down cold when you say if you were a baby you'd want him to rock you do you mean like in your present body or in a baby's body no like in a baby a baby's body not my present body a baby body can't say I thought about this too much I would say if I were a b if I were a baby in a baby's body and I could think I would be thinking to myself wow that man looks comfortable I want him to rock me you know what I'm saying yeah go Bobby Bowen I mean one of those baby stugots is a great character I want to explore just St got's head in Consciousness on a Baby Gaga goooo how about that baby gots baby let's work on that uh before we uh Bobby Bowen Bobby Bowen is the guy in sports I would most want to be my grandfather I mean he just looks like he's a great guy nice guy I've gotten the no Bobby he's a super guy thoughtful um but Bobby Bowen just seems like he would be a great grandfather I mean Gojo does he not what what in your mind makes a great grandfather's to that's what I want to know like what are the characteristics you associate with a good grandfather uh a guy who when I see him for the two-hour window that I see him is going to spoil the hell out of me he is going to give me whatever the hell I want in terms of food he's got tickets to the game he's going to take great care of me then hand me back to the parents in worse shape than I was before I got to Grandpa that's all you know what I'm saying I uh suat I have some sad news to tell you your grandfather died uh three years ago Bobby Bowen is no longer with us I know I need a new one okay so I don't think he's gonna ever be your grand power condolences to you I I st got I feel like you're going to have good grandfather energy though cuz I like a grandfather who's a little mischievous like I was lucky my mom's dad my late uh Grand father Ken Hansen my dad told the story the other day on Gojo and gock when my dad was in his second year with the Houston Oilers he wasn't sure if he was going to make the team or not and you don't you get a call when you get cut but you don't necessarily get a call when you make the squad and so my grandfather my dad's father-in-law called the Houston uh Oilers office and talked to a secretary and posed as a media member who was on a deadline and got them to tell him the cutdown list and was able to call in tell my dad that he made the team because he lied and got them to give him that information that seems right up your L yes ites I GNA be a great grandpa I I'll talk Billy just get me to Sweet level for the Kansas City game I will get us into that Swift uh sweet who was it someone told us uh or I read an article I don't remember who it was it was like a famous is person who was saying that like they used to go to every big game in Madison Square Garden because their dad uh it was like a scan that they would run where the dad would lie to security and say that they were there and would fill out like fake credentials and say that they were uh that the son was a reporter for Sports Illustrated for kids and no one ever checked this and they would go in and the dad would like take a fake camera and the kid would go in and they would have access to all the players and teams cuz no one was verifying who the reporter for Sports Illustrated for Kids was I need to look up who this is before this episode's done but I remember reading it like that is the strangest con ever and I can't believe they did it and I think for whatever reason they would always change the names slightly I don't who was it I I'm I'm someone who joined us or something that you read I don't remember I think it's something that I read I'm looking this up all right it seems like something shf would do honestly it seems like something more of us should be doing kids are already such a great loophole in sports for getting hard questions asked and answered so us them for entry and exit into events does seem like SMART Bus you are right well and and then by the way they would use this access to get a bunch of autographs and stuff so it's like definitely not Sports Illustrated for Kids Behavior Uh you were mentioning Tom Brady before Gojo joined us here on the zoom well yes so Tom Brady uh there's reports now that there will be restrictions for him if his ownership stake in the Raiders goes through he will face restrictions as a minority owner terms of broadcasting uh and on the front end it sounds like wow this is not great for Tom Brady but it actually sounds pretty awesome because here's the thing Tom Brady if he becomes a minority owner in the Raiders is now G to have certain restrictions that he won't be able to do certain things that announcers have to do like for example Tom Brady will not be allowed to witness practice in person for other teams so now Tom Brady doesn't have to go to the practices that he doesn't want to go to Tom Brady won't have access to certain C members certain players and coaches he won't have to sit through he won't be allowed to I should say sit through some of the production meetings where he meets with the broadcast crew and they sit down with the players and coaches Tom Brady's not going to be allowed in certain practice facilities and other meetings so it seems like Tom Brady now is going to be able to get paid the $375 million or whatever it was to broadcast for Fox but won't be allowed to do a lot of the job he should be doing in order to broadcast the game also Tom Brady can't be overly critical of officials and he might not be overly he not might not be allowed to be overly critical of players on other teams so it seems like if Tom Brady wants to still be a minority owner in the Raiders all he can do is show up and call the game and he can't really be that critical of players or he may face uh sanctions I guess or whatever fines so he gets $375 million for just showing up on Sundays and calling a game with minimal preparation um I love this is headed uh he could still come back to the NFL if he wants he has an ownership State uh in the Las Vegas Raiders as well Greg olon somewhere is seething I mean yeah I mean Greg olon was kind of at the heart of this because remember these were a lot of rules they put in place when he called the game as an active player he was injured and he called the game against the Vikings and everyone was like how are we doing this so Greg olssen in a weird way tied in with this right uh so also over we're also skimming over one of the best parts about all this he has a built-in excuse to be bad yes he hey I would have been better but they they keep no one's the meting to the coach right I can't criticize a ref I mean what do you want me to do I would have said great things here I'm not allowed the stug gots is strong in Tom Brady it's that's the only logical conclusion for this is that Tom Brady spent the last year not studying other broadcasters not meticulously taking notes in the side of these booths but just figuring out the parts of the process that he didn't actually want to have to go through and then going and using this as the final boss to get out of them I'm proud of him yeah imagine him welcome to the Tom I imagine him going into the meetings and they're like Tom we have to have a talk sit down and they go over these whole things and he goes I accept these conditions and just gets up and he goes on to play golf or whatever check doesn't change right check doesn't change you guys have my direct deposit info all right yeah if it has to be this way I suppose Tom you can't criticize refs okay Tom you can't meet with the coaches before the game okay Tom you just have to show up at 12:55 you can leave at 4:15 okay I mean I love this guy what a g it's great I mean it does give him the opportunity to do my favorite thing that Tony Romo does in the booth with Jim Nance which is because again like the normal EB and flow of the broadcast Booth it's like you're supposed to be watching the game Through The analyst's Eyes the play-by-play is there to set up big moments and all that stuff but you're you're the analyst is there to show people the game through their lens with all that experience that you get from a Brady and a Romo and stuff like that and so you get to these critical moments where it's hey was this guy in bounds was a penalty like this happened and Tony Romo routinely flips the script to where he'll be going like to break and he'll be looking at Jim like I don't know Jim what do you think about this one in this play and I'm like that's your job Tony this is incredible he's asking Nance yeah he's like n what do you think on this one should they call draw on Third and long or what you think Nance is ever like you think he's processing that like hey Tony you're not supposed to ask me like I mean I feel like if anyone and like I I love Jim ny's way but I feel like if anyone would like to get their own opinion on it in there wouldn't mind getting involved in that Jim Nance is probably in that group he probably thinks he's got some things to say yeah uh Gojo me and Billy are already down in the college football season because you can no longer say hey if you're going to lose lose early I mean you can't do it now it's you can lose whatever the hell you want just don't lose more than two or three times you know yeah listen might I invite you guys to Notre aim football I think if you still want to look at some of those last vestages there Notre Dame football without a conference Championship to get them in there needing to be one of those other at large teams I'm already looking at Notre Dame season now the Florida state law certainly changes some of that but Georgia Tech on Notre Dame schedule can't sleep on them anymore but for Notre Dame like if I was going to draw up a loss for this team to say hey go 11 and one and still make the postseason losing on the road in a close game to a Texas A&M team that I think is going to be better than expected this year with Mike Elco well I'm not just buttering him up because he's coming on your podcast but I do think he's the right coach for Texas A&M right now with all the talent they've got especially defensively where if Notre Dame dropped that one in a close one and then the o line gets better and they start rattling off and burping the ACC the rest of the season could be the team that still fits that Paradigm that you like that's cute they Shing that Notre Dame isn't automatically getting into the top 12 get out of here but Notre Dame this was designed for Notre Dame to get in every year like a 12 team playoff Notre Dame would have been in the last 10 playoffs I mean they're going to be in the next 10 it doesn't matter what their record is this was designed so Notre Dame gets in people are gonna figure it out if you say it too loud Billy shut the hell up Gojo I do I was almost beside myself listening to Andy Staples the other day talk about how the five seed if your Notre Dame is actually like the sweetest spot in the sport because you go through as the five seed then like you're going to likely pay the four seed who's probably going to be you know a team that gets in on the like lower end of the spectrum there like a lower ranked conference champion of the groups up top maybe like you know the big 12's conference champion in a down year or something like that so you get that you get to host a home playoff game you don't have to play in a conference Championship game it's great business for us so Billy in the AP poll last year Notre Dame finished uh 14th they had three losses are you are you saying that gets them in this year no I'm saying had they been top 12 they would have finished 12th they would have been the 12 te I think even if they finished you know 14th according to the AP the committee still would have put them in you know well no the top 12 teams get in what I'm saying is they would the well well no that like well and Billy the interesting part too in the source of consternation this year and the thing that's going to be fun to watch is it's not the top 12 teams that get in it's the top 12 team it's the top 12 teams if they're there but really the top 11 teams plus whoever the highest ranked group of five Champion is so we're going to see a team that's sitting there in the top 12 get bumped because you know this year if you've got Boise State in the Mountain West that potentially gets in or you know app state in the Sun Belt like you're going to have one of those teams potentially be like the 20th ranked team in the country win their conference and be the highest ranked group of five and then knock off like Old Miss or Miami or someone like that uh Congratulations by the way Notre Dame I mean you're third quarterback in three years I it's not name like quietly right now the most quarterback depth they've had probably since I was in school there when you look like uh Lloyd Carr's I think CJ's his grandson CJ Carr who's on their staff is the one that like is a freshman right now and if you're looking for Notre nam's next multi-year starter they seem to think that he's the guy there so you've got simultaneously like depth in that room Steve Angeli was the backup last year and start of the bowl game in there and then Riley up top there like it if you're looking for the area where Marcus Freeman and this regime have had the biggest impact so far it's in the portal era which is really difficult having quarterback depth there but I have enjoyed this week Riley and Mike Elco both publicly doing the like no I'm not going to hang up first you hang up first of like who has the edge and knowledge in this situation of the other going into this matchup it's very cute yeah it's very funny we have uh I'm very big on there are three levels to a college football Saturday in terms of times right 12 30 uh 12 3:30 7:30 and this weekend opening weekend really uh they nailed it I mean you have Georgia Clemson as the noon game you have Florida and Miami at 3:30 and of course uh your Notre Dame Fighting Irish and and Texas A&M coming up uh at night but let's start with that first game like Georgia Clemson uh because the whole day is covered like sit on your ass sit on your couch enjoy 15 hours of college football on Saturday but Georgia CL Mike your thoughts there because I think Georgia if you ask me Georgia or the field to win the national championship I would take Georgia yeah I'd probably go with the field just because that field includes an Ohio State roster that we now know publicly is worth $20 million like that that team is a death star in the Big 10 Oregon's froggy too like there's enough teams where I would go the field but this Georgia team is going to be incredible they bring back you know the easy stuff to look for at the start of every season who brings back a ton of like good offensive line starts like the George offensive line was a good unit last year they return a bunch of starters off that group now you've got the quarterback back and Carson back the defense is blue chip stock it's all going to be there and I'm with you stugots they are the favorite rightly going into this season and I think in this game they're almost the two touchdown favorites they're hurt 13 and a half Point favorite as of right now when we're recording and I get it now what I will say is this game does have Rock fight potential to an extent it's week one offenses are usually always behind anyway although you get Carson back there this Clemson defense is gonna be really [ __ ] good really like there are oh yeah stugots up and down this roster Clemson's got a bunch of future like the dline guys that you've got on this team already are going to be incredible Peter Woods at defensive tackle as a sophomore and was routinely putting guys on their ass last year Barrett Carter back at linebacker TJ Parker on that defensive front like that you go back and look at last year Clemson's problems didn't have anything to do with the defense like they managed to hit the Dismount from Brent venables one of the best coordinators in the country going to coach Oklahoma and still have a unit that looks like a top five unit both talent-wise and execution wise so I don't worry about that side of the ball it's just can Kade Club Nick turn into something closer to resembling those old Clemson quarterbacks in year two with Garrett Riley all right uh um Mike a lot of people are high on them Mike Ryan has convinced me have an unreasonable amount of money on this game I took the uh the canes minus 2 and a half on the road at the swamp on Florida what a great game 3:30 uh on Saturday uh what are your thoughts there man I I think the kanes I don't I don't want to say this I'm going to say it the Gaines are a playoff team how about that they need like let's put it this way they need to be like if you talk about season expectations with what you've done recruiting in the portal getting cam Ward to come over and come back from you know potentially putting his name in the NFL this off season Mario's built up the lines of scrimmage that's what you expected when he came over here now it's can he do the thing that a lot of people critic ized him forward Oregon can you maximize the quarterback we don't feel like we got the best of Justin Herbert out of those Oregon teams there was a reason that you know might tannin bomb got to look really smart after that draft because he was the one going no this guy this guy's really good he's got all the gifts we just didn't get to see it there are they going to cut cam Ward fully loose can he be a program changer there for them at the helm of that offense you know Damen Martinez at running back too and so I I just think yeah this should be their time and this Florida team is talented and you are going on the Road and I I heard Mike Ryan on a podcast the other day I think he was on with zazow talking about hey Utah was supposed to be a playoff team two years ago and they went into the swamp and got beat week one like it's still an SEC Road game against a team with a ton of talent but Miami should win this game Miami should be a team vying for winning the ACC this year and they absolutely should be a playoff team with this Talent on this roster it's going to come down to the coaching staff uh Napier's job's in Jeopardy huh yeah I feel like both of I mean whoever loses this game and we talked J yes we're going to we're going to be having hot seat conversations about them after it like whether or not either of them should actually lose their job at this point that's going to be the reaction based on where both teams are uh Billy you would love a game for your job no that would be well I mean the thing is is that like um can't afford to fire Mario crisal and pay him his remaining salary they signed him to a 10-year deal like 8 million a year or something they owe him so much money that I don't think they can afford to fire him it needs to work out for him because it needs to work out for him I don't think there's another option Billy to that point and we always discount this because college football seems to be this place with limited financials but you look at Florida State in the state like I think a couple years ago if Florida state had more money behind them Mike Norvell might not have gotten to last season to get to where he got you know I called 2021 they lost to like Louisville at home and started 0 and4 for the first time since the 70s and I'm like this I don't know if they're going to have this kind of patience just financially they could not afford to fire him and so you stick around long enough to where he gets this old roster of the guys that he's brought in there and gets that success so it might honestly be a good thing because it forces you to do what more programs probably need to do which is sit and be a little bit patient even in an era where it seems like you can microwave success all right thing with with Mario and un though that that's like interesting and it's kind of like the problem is so he says this is his class right like we finally got all our guys but he's like recruiting has never been his issue it's been his game management it's been his in-game coaching so that's not going to change theoretically you know I mean hopefully he learned for their sake for his sake sometimes the talent is so good Billy he can overcome his bad coaching you know yeah I mean yes but that's what you kind of have to hope for right you saw what happened with Georgia te last year where he refused to take a knee they end up blowing that game like hopefully you learn from that situation and that's a change in coaching but yeah like I it's not this isn't a talent issue with the Hurricanes that's the problem with crystal ball at moment and you can also like afford to like make normal mistakes in coaching like timeout usage at the end of half stuff like that like you got to just Nicks the big stuff like you know I mean listen I I I root for an alma Moder where we had 10 guys on the field for a critical play last year that's something that Marcus Freeman is going to have to wear going into this season as people talk about that you know talk about our program there in a way I'm confident he's going to be able to address you know the the way that they've structured their coaching staff now but for Mario it's just like hey yeah just just banging on a knee when you got the lead and let's ride off and take this dub uh college football is back I am so excited but 7:30 ABC uh Texas A&M taking on Notre Dame coach you're jumping right into it man I mean this is amazing going right into it with Notre Dame huh yeah for sure nothing like putting a little bit more into the first game right we got game day we got Notre Dame we got a top 20 matchup you know we're just going to We come running out of the tunnel ready to roll for sure uh congratulations to you by the way very rude of me congratulations on gig yeah I appreciate it I appreciate it it's obviously it's a great great to be back here and this is a special place for sure uh do you prefer so do you prefer jumping right into it with a game against Notre Dame or do you prefer to kind of ease into it with a couple of I don't want to say easy games but easier games yeah I I think it goes both ways I I think the benefit of this one is is we have our kids attention for the eight months in the offseason you know I think once this game becomes game number one on the schedule I think all of our players are pretty locked into okay we've got to be focused to come out of the block the right way and so um that's the benefit of having this one in the opener coach this is a tricky situation because we may have a double triple Revenge game situation here so you used to be a DC at Notre Dame but more interestingly and more importantly you have a game against your for former quarterback Riley Leonard coming up this week and here's what I've learned he is on the short list to win the Heisman this year now he's an offensive guy you're a defensive guy who has the leg up in this battle and also are you coming for blood are you trying to end his Heisman campaign week one I I am not coming for blood a weird thing to come for Billy I got an unbelievable amount of respect for Riley and who he is what he did for us at Duke uh you know I think I I said this in the presser earlier in the week I do think he has the leg up because I think the amount of snaps he's taken against this defensive structure uh you know you talk about every day at practice for two years um I think there's some built-in knowledge of what we do that we're going to have to be really careful how we present things to them do you have to change like formations names anything because you know he's GNA be standing next to Freeman chirping the entire time yeah for sure I think all that stuff I think all that stuff I I think you got to be really conscious about what he knows and make sure that that you do things the right way have you given your def defensive line or your linebackers anything to say to Riley like hey if you say this you're really going to get under his skin you have you given him a little bit of a little hint like hey Mikey this is a good man Mike ELO what are you doing this is a man that wants to win yeah no I I haven't we haven't gotten down into the down and dirty although I think they can go on Instagram these days and kind of dig up their own talk trashing material but um no I I think obviously we're you know we understand him we understand his strengths we understand the challenge that he presents and I think it's just making sure our kids are on par with all of that coach how does it work when you're going against your former quarterback uh you're playing Notre Dame like are you guys still communicating have you not like turned it all off for the week like how does that work yeah we we talked kind of towards the end of the summer before football started and um I shot him a text congratulating him on being named captain but um outside of that I don't think you know you're not having a ton of conversation it's just kind of um you'll get through this opener and then you know hopefully he'll continue to root for me I know I'll continue to root for him and get on with the rest of our Seasons uh coach I'm wondering are you more surprised the big news in the off season was Nick Sabin I think leaving I mean you went to you know Texas A&M and you had to board leave Washington and he goes takes over for Nick Sabin are you more surprised that Nick Sabin left college football or that he joined Sports media uh probably neither to be honest with you I I think game has changed so much now and and I think everybody kind of saw where this thing was going for the guys who been you know coaches coaches kind of achieved everything you could ever achieve in college football and um it's a new day it's a new era there's a lot of newness going on and um could certainly understand why at this time he decided to step away and be part of his family and then uh he has such a strong knowledge about the game of college football it certainly doesn't surprise me that someone was able to convince him to to spend his Saturday mornings talking about college football you know seems like such an easy way to continue staying involved in the game um you know doing it in a different way a little less stressful way I'm sure you mentioned the new college football and it is I mean we're starting essentially we're starting from scratch this year it's a new playoff system there are new rules uh is there anything about it that concerns you some of the new stuff no I don't know that it concerns me and I'm fortunate because I became a head coach with it all you know so I I became a head coach three years ago for the first time at Duke and and the portal was live and nil was live and everything that we were going through in today's world of this was live and so I don't know any other way I just know how to try to make it work with with the rules and restrictions we have now um so I don't know that there's anything on my end that I'm concerned about or or um I just think it's different for sure you can't you can't run away from the fact that it's different I think Mike would have made a lot of money playing at Notre Dame these days he well listen he's doing just fine okay yeah all right I mean listen the guy went down radio row he was promoting diabetes medication that was one side of radio row then he turned around did the other side of radio row he was promoting beef jerky I mean there you go he's doing okay does your approach change at all coach because it's a 12 team playoff meaning maybe there's not so much emphasis on a single game or perhaps you'll rest a guy that's a little bit banged up because you could afford to lose two times maybe three who knows to get into the playoffs yeah I don't think so I think people are kind of thinking about this more like uh the NFL but I don't think in the college world we we think of it like that I think the competition to get to two wins at the end of the year is is so challenging uh and if you look back through it over the years you know it's it's it's a race to get yourself into position and so um yeah I don't think anybody certainly from the beginning is is thinking that way now maybe if you get to the end uh at 11-0 or or or 10-0 maybe you start having some different conversations but you also got to remember too that a lot of these teams have these huge rivalry games week 12 and right there's not a lot of people that are going to be real excited if we lose our thanksgiv given weekend rivalry game even if we make playoffs and so uh I just think college sets up a little bit differently than the pros when it comes to those types of things uh Mike Elco is with us he's the head coach at Texas A&M they take on Notre Dame at 7:30 on Saturday night listen at least you know you won't win the you know you might win the game but you're not going to win best looking coach okay like you know that right what what are you talking about what is what is that question the guy from Guy the sil mik I thought that competition was still wide open I happen to find coach ELO to be very attractive very attractive man to but Marcus Freeman is the best looking person I've ever seen period all right now this is getting really uncomfortable don't worry coach coach Freeman can blow an easy game we've seen that over the years oh jeez and Go's playing like a coward today he should be here right now uh coach was it was it odd for you to replace Jimbo fiser a guy who hired you to be is defensive coordinator yeah I mean I I've got so much respect for Jimbo and and I certainly am not here if he didn't bring me down here to be the defensive coordinator what is it six years ago now I guess and um you know obviously we did some really good things here together I think we were 34 and 14 in our four years here together and so um you know coach is a great coach I got a lot of respect for him but um you I think when you come in you just kind of spend all of your time um talking about your branding your messaging how you want your program to look and certainly not having any conversations about what used to happen or how things used to be has uh has much changed since you left Texas A&M and now you're back yeah I think so I I think so I think I think you know the the world of college football now is evolving so quickly and then from a facility standpoint we've actually built quite a bit since I left in the two years we were gone we built a 160 yard indoor we built a brand new Nutrition Center that's opening on Monday and so I think we continue to invest into this football program uh to try to elevate it and and make it what we all want it to be come are your kids at a point where they're just dying to play a game like are they like you just you came from practice they're tired of you aren't they sure they don't get to see anybody else you know we don't get to do the closed practice scrimmages we don't get to bring other teams in um there's literally nothing else we get to do and so yeah I think you get to this part and it's just trying to stay consistent trying to still have good practices knowing that this things right around the corner and uh you guys are certainly ready for it uh how's that work for the coaching staff Sam uh probably although you know we we still find things to do and find ways to about it but I've had some people ask me like oh you must be really busy I'm like actually this week is probably the one week you know I don't think for the last six months I've been watching film I don't know that there's anything I haven't watched 10 12 15 times already and so um you know again I think probably the same you know we're just ready to kick it off and get ready to play the game the expectations they're different here obviously where you know you can win eight games last year or seven game whatever it was at Duke and you have that season at Texas A&M and fans are going to get on you and media might get on you um did you think about that when you made the move does it bother you even no I I mean to me to me that's that's what we all want right I want to be at a place where we have expectations I want to be at a place where fans demand success I want to be at a place where we have the ability to win a National Championship and and you know in this day and age there's certain things that come with that and and that's part of the game and we got a lot of confidence in what we do we got a lot of confidence in our process how run a program and so uh you know we're here to build this thing and everything it should be coach I want to ask you about your quarterback because uh I was looking at a mock draft because I'm a sicko Jets fan and it had him going to the Jets in the first round and I just want to know what your impressions are of the kid and what you've seen from him so far what he's saying coach is he doesn't really care what your respon he only cares as it relates to the Jets I mean it's very selfish question I'm a Northeast guy so we can talk um no I mean he's got he's got a great release and he's got tremendous armed talent I think he's uh in a small sample size been extremely successful in this conference which uh I think speaks volumes for what he's capable of I've known him for a while because I watched him as a high school kid and uh he actually was a really talented baseball player so he played baseball with my son back when I was here as a d coordinator so I've known Conor for a really long time and he's healthy now and I know he's really excited to lead this team this year wait coach did you was there a conversation did you try to get Riley to come to Texas A&M with you well we knew we had Connor and so it wasn't really um Connor was kind of locked in as the Texas A&M guy and so um you know we didn't really see the the want to bring in a guy from a competition standpoint uh Mikey how do you feel about his analysis of his quarterback only as it relates to the Jets like what do you think I'm just waiting on a hand size measurement and then I'm all in a wonderlick test a wonderlick will do it coach are you a Jets or a Giants fan you're from I grew up a Cowboys fan I grew up in Central Jersey as like the only cowboy fan in the area so I I just kind of escaped I'm Yankees I'm Devils I was Nets growing up and and then for some reason from a football standpoint just got drawn to the Cowboys if Aaron judge was doing this in the 90s he'd be our biggest sports star right now there's no doubt he of the year that that I still keep an eye on from AF also guys in the 90s they ruined baseball coach I mean they like they saved it at the time but they ruined it moving forward because judge is doing something so impressive and no one's impressed there's no doubt there's no doubt what are you proud of stuff convenient back in Texas now you're a Cowboys fan and not a Giants fan coach no that's always been the case that's always the case we got a lot more Super Bowl rings oh okay do you believe in Dak W uh yeah I do I actually played against Dak I was the defensive coordinator of Bowling Green when he was at Mississippi State and so we went down and played him in his early years and um yeah I think dak's a heck of a quarterback when you were coaching against him do you think he did you think at the professional level that he would turn into this so we actually played him in his first start so I didn't get to yeah um but he took off for about a 75 yard touchdown run on us I do remember that vividly and so yeah you certainly saw the talent for sure how do coaches remember all this [ __ ] man like you you don't remember any of the good you remember all the bad though all the bad stuff every single bad play that's ever happened to me throughout the years seven of 11 with one interception that game but he did have that long run 75 y two touchdowns 139 one yeah his long with 75 yard had 15 carries 139 rushing yards and two touchdowns for the day yeah yeah he was dead right on the yards I mean cuz he cuz he has nightmares about every single one of those yards he's Breezy if that goal line wasn't there probably would have gone for 200 yards I'm guessing he would have ran as long as he wanted exactly right uh coach we're gonna get you out of here in a second what are you proudest of high school hall of fame degree from the University of Pennsylvania or being the head coach of Texas A&M uh High School proud I'm proudest probably of the degree from the University of Pennsylvan as you should be that that took that took a significant amount of work on my with my IQ to actually get that done but uh no I I think I think the journey through coaching from you know Stony Brook to the United States Merchant Marine Academy to wind up sitting in this office as the head coach at Texas A&M uh I think certainly extremely proud of everything we've done and everything we've done along the way uh where like where were you headed if it wasn't coaching like where where what were you going to do with that pen degree so I had no idea like I I did one class in Wharton and realized that wasn't I wasn't getting out of pen if I tried to do that um I looked into Communications a little bit I was a huge Mike in the Mad Dog fan growing up as a kid and um you know maybe that was something because I was a huge sports fan and maybe that was something I would do and um but just football was always kind of what what I gravitated to and so when I got out I said you know we'll give this thing a try and see where it goes and and it's kind of done well for me were you more a mik guy or a man dog guy uh I was probably more of a mic guy but but I both I did I loved them I thought they were such a great compliment and then I was probably more of a fan of the call-in but you kind of related more to the call-in people too over the years and the guys consistently call into that show like Jerome on a car phone right from the Bronx that's amazing he's a famous caller into a radio station is the Doris Doris from the me I love that they still said car phones even years after there were no more car phones they kept saying car phone uh coach all right good luck against Notre Dame listen here's the rule if you win you got to come back okay but you get to come back and you get to make fun of gool for 15 minutes and he can't respond to you at all we'll mute him okay yes to I want to hear you say I'm a prettier football there you go I offended you I'm sorry I just meant standing next to Mike Freeman that's all I me is you're standing next to me you win okay he does I appreciate you guys thanks for having me on all right coach good luck man we appreciate it thanks thanks coach gigum you look happy Coach appreciate you guys uh Billy it's going to be a hell of a weekend huh I mean we have massive games we have UF in Miami we have Notre Dame and we have Texas A&M we have Clemson in Georgia Georgia might have some guys suspended for that game that line is shrinking a little bit uh is there a game you're looking most forward to for me it's um UF only to see um lose that's it I mean I mean if that happens they're if it happens if that happens but to your point that you for what do you mean like I I I realize that like Billy went fi the success the S the success of Miami is kind of a big deal but at the same time is it almost better to like see the the the pain in in certain members of your your crew's eyes just name names Mike I mean yeah of course oh no I mean I have friends and family that like you well right I barely consider them family at this point because of their allegiance to a school they never went to but that's a story for another day but yeah no i' love to see them lose it's hilarious the best but Mikey here's a problem that we realized um and I'm kind of wondering what your opinion is on because we discussed this earlier in the week uh stas kind of made this astute observation and it's something that we've been discussing all week the early loss doesn't matter anymore doesn't matter if you win or lose before you say if you're going to lose lose early now it doesn't matter doesn't matter if you lose early doesn't matter if you lose late doesn't matter if you lose two times just don't lose more than two times yeah you might get in with three if if you're in Alabama you might get in with three losses all you need to be is in the top 12 yeah everyone's allowed one boo boo yeah and I think that was well the other loss I feel like has to be a okay you lost to top four top five ranked team on the road and you're you know like I I feel like that gets overlooked but everybody's allowed one boo boo and I I don't I don't think you want to get yours out of the I want I think you want that in your back pocket going into the season want later I you want to save your boo boo I'm looking at the uh at the rankings from last year the 11th ranked team in the country was 10 and three that was Arizona the 12th ranked team in the country was LSU uh they also three losses then it was Penn State and Notre Dame also with three losses you're G have three lost teams get into the playoff Billy more than one boooo it seems yeah but also remember one of those group of five teams has to be in too so yeah that's true going down so Mikey here's another thing that is uh breaking news we haven't we haven't we haven't said this out loud yet but uh the BCS committee has gotten together already and uh there may be some sweeping changes in the BCS this year we'll get to that when we get to that we're not going to get to it this episode but there is important news in the world of the BCS that if you're a loyal listener of God bless football you might be interested in checking out so we're going to get to that at some point in the coming weeks soon hopefully yes we have to change it around I mean everything Chang and we got to change we got to roll with the times you know exactly right I'm excited we were the first one to expand our playoff and now we have some more changes because now you know we're going to shrink it cuz they expanded it we're Pion man we're always on the Forefront you know we'll get to it when we get to [Laughter] it we'll get it might be a year from now but we'll get to it we'll get to it I was gonna say we'll get to it next week but next week if you're a fan of the show we're gonna be in Kansas City come on by check us out say hello our hands we'll be hanging out with the gox we'll have Trey Wingo out there we got a lot of stuff going on next week in Kansas City my mission Billy and this is the only Mission okay is somehow wind up in the Kelsey Suite how about that okay so I'm working on it I may be able to get us closer to that reality really yes now not to the point of getting there but I may be getting us closer to that reality here's here's what I think I might be able to do I might be able to in a baseball analogy get us through the eighth inning and then you're gonna have to kind of come in and close out the game to got like we're going to need you for the save but I think I can get us through the eighth because I had a fan of the show reach out to me and invite us to his suite for this game oh my God so I can possibly get us to the Sweet level okay so we get to Sweet level where is this person sweet in relation to the big sweet well I don't know but sweet level I don't know the inner workings of this Stadium but I imagine a lot get me to the Sweet level Billy I think the sweet I think the sweet well that's that's kind of a followup I need to have because yeah come on buy our sweet and it's like well that's not exactly how this works I can't just walk not inviting you to the suite that's inviting you assuming you're on the Suite level to stop by their s Billy tell them we want tickets in the suite with sweet passes or there is no stopping by because we won't be able to get up there okay so here here's uh I'll be I'll be there I hope you guys can join us in and then the sweet number we're a good group of chiefs fans and big fans of the show we have food and Booze too so this is an invitation into the suite that's all right that sounds they have food and booze they have tickets though I mean that should be the natural followup well we've been invited be like hey you know I can't eat their food from the 100 level you okay so like all right all right we we got to get in the stadium I could then I think we can get into the sweet level and then we may be in a situation where we have to very politely blow them off and say hey thanks so much we love this but we're going over to the Kelsey Suite now I'm certain they'll understand they might understand but we need you to kind of get us into that sweet now St got you know what I will listen you get me to the Sweet level and I will get you in said sweet I promise you that well you can't make that promise that's an impossible you can't I can't make that promise guys this the hurdle is not us getting to the Sweet level like that's that's not the hurdle in this scenario that's a big part I was concerned about that part I got to be honest sweet passes are very tough to come by I'm I'm not joking but the sweet pass that you want is the toughest to come by so it's not just getting to that level because again also I don't know the way the stadium works I don't know if there's multiple levels I don't know how this is going but I imagine security is very tight also and I'm going to wear a Taylor Swift shirt I mean I don't think that's gonna security be like well you may be problems but you're you're Swifty so come on in you're the only Taylor Swift fan here come on in we've never seen one of these exactly right tlor this terrible idea it's the worst idea I've ever had don't do that yeah I almost feel like and I could be crazy I almost feel like the play is and and a very stupid play the play is you get into the Kelsey suite and you're just not interested in the Taylor aspect of it at all you know what I mean you're like oh okay cool I'm here watching football Excuse Me Miss could you than I'd rather talk to Donna about the game to be perfectly I'm only here for Donna that's exactly right yeah or Ed D's name's Ed right you know Donna's getting tired of it Donna and Ed they're like hey no one used to come by the suite before now everyone wants in the suite and I just want to hang out with Donna and Ed because they have the stores of this whole thing right that's that's yeah so that's what I'm thinking just get me there Billy all right well I'm I'm going to make an effort but also and here's here's another things to gods and Mikey that we need to uh figure out is I I'm I think that this is and I'm not 100% certain I think this is a scenario where they will take your phone away from you like it's like come in and we take all of your like electronic devices like you're not going to be bothering anyone right so I think that you want to go in because you want to have that moment and you want to have like capture this you want to tell the story but if you can't capture it do you still want to do this as my question 100% yep easily because I will make up the better story than what will actually happen but if no one believes that it happened then that's their problem okay we'll get proof I mean have Donna on respectfully you have a history of stretching the truth from time to time so like if you say hey I did this thing people going be like no you didn't right then what you need what you need to do is you need to be having the conversation at the exact perfect moment where the camera like sees like right when Travis catches a big pass they see on on they're on you know like they go to the booth to check in and then like someone's like stat is in there like that can't be right that can't be can't be I'm going to tell you the one thing I am going to bring to this whole scenario because I'm not getting us on the sweet level or in there yeah but if they flash up to that sweet on TV yeah you're not missing me oh set picks and box people out okay that's what you need to do so me and Billy can get right up there we also and this is this is kind of this is the ugly part of this scenario this is the the mean part but coming close this is time where you know this is time where tough decisions may have to be made here so like I already know where you're going if they say like hey four of you can go who are the four cuz we have to cut out some people and then if they're like three people people can go then what do we do and then if it's two people what do we do you know what I mean like what what do we do here how do we manage this situation properly this is alarmingly close to my face I'm very uncomfortable but I'm in yeah I'm in what do you mean you're in but what I'm saying is we may it' be a scenario where one of the three of us is out you might not be in right let's have an alliance who wants to form an alliance who wants to form an alliance with me a form an alliance with anyone still got you do we take out Mikey Mikey don't look at my mouth do we take out Mikey I'm not looking do we take out Mikey to gots can you hear me here you death What's Happening Here I hear you bil we may have to take out St gots we get the invite Mikey then we take out STS on the way in plant something on him what can I plan on him that he won't already have on him really godess football it's presented by smaroff we do game days please drink responsibly the smaroff company New York New York uh building college football it's here it's stting here I know people like listen I know it started last week it's a weird week one they're not calling it week zero but this really feels like when you talk about all the games that we have this weekend uh and I what I love about this weekend no NFL that starts next week we'll be out in Kansas City for the Chiefs of the Bengals we'll be out there live and I'm very much looking forward to that but what you have this week is have games that start uh well they've already started right they started last night but you have games that continue all day on Saturday then you get a couple of games on Sunday and then you get that Monday night game on Labor Day which I love and so college football um it felt a little empty last week but it will not feel empty this week I have a bone to pick oh I like it all right yeah I have a bone to pick with the Big 10 Network okay yeah go ahead the Big 10 Network is uh so this this week my University's team Florida International University is playing Indiana and the game is supposed to be on the Big 10 Network now I went to look here on my uh my provider for television and games and such and the Big 10 Network has northwestern's game scheduled to be broadcast at that time now I'm hoping that this is just an error in terms of what's being shown on my schedule but the idea that I have to watch Northwestern football is insane and I understand what you're thinking Billy you're asking to watch Indiana football yes I am I would like to watch Indiana football against FIU and not Northwestern so Big 10 Network I have a bone to pick with you that's that's it that's the debut of I have a bone to pick with you well well done by you my daughter goes to Northwestern though you realize yeah so I don't give a [ __ ] respectfully I don't care she she on the football team I don't care no but respectfully but her boyfriend might be I mean okay great well uh listen I'm I'm with you I'd rather watch you the FIU as well but I did take Northwestern okay I am pounding Northwestern this weekend and by the way if we're gonna talk about this if you're out there you want to sponsor I have a bone to pick with you chewy or Petco or any of those out there feel free because I I I assure you every week we have bones that could be picked here okay