'The trenches will win it': Marty Smith previews top-20 clash at Kyle Field

I am wonderful I hope you're great your new studio looks awesome I always appreciate spending time with you brother how you doing I'm great hey and I got an idea for you just you want to run this up the flag pole whenever you want to broadcast Marty McGee maybe you guys can come hang out here and do the show I think that sounds great uh maybe we should uh when we're down in Aggy land just come by there and do Marty and just I mean our Saturday Morning Show if we could get all those people in can we like you know when we're we're when we're in the shadow of field is pretty awesome but I don't know if it's we'd have better lighting probably in there well we're still in the shadow here um hey Marty before we get into some football questions tell us a little bit about game change and and how you're involved and how it's kind of helping revolutionize nil yeah I'll be quick uh I appreciate you brother asking yeah Game Change is a a brand new initiative you go to gogame change.com you input whatever credit or debit card you so choose and then you know how you go to the grocery store these days and they ask you do you want to round up right if you do if you go to gogame change.com and input your credit or debit card of choice you also choose your school of choice and every purchase with that card automatically rounds up the change to your athletic department of choice so all of the Aggies out there you may not have the money to put your name on a building well a lot of guys down there do but you may not have that kind of money but you can do this you can go to gogame change.com input your credit or debit card and that money goes right to the athletic department overall and then the athletic department chooses where they disperse that money it is a charitable donation so it is a write-off and it's just a cool cool new way for people to support um financially the teams and the initiatives that they love within their their college passions I like it man I like it I'm glad glad you're involved and glad you're here with us here on the program it's the first week for us week one for college football just uh your thoughts on this A&M Notre Dame game it's a heater man I mean I love the fact that we were talking to Mike Elco uh at SEC media days Ryan McGee and I were for for our our show when we have the blessing of sitting the coaches down I didn't realize that he had never run out of the tunnel before because as DC he was always in the box so this is going to be an amazing moment for him to run out of the tunnel with his guys in a new era that has so much promise for Texas A&M Aggie football against it ain't even a marquee opponent it's like the opponent and and then to close the season re re reigniting a rivalry that it's it's ridiculous that that rivalry was dormant for some time but if I were you guys man I would be I would be at a fever pitch because I feel like you can feel the culture shift which is very hard to do uh from what happened with Jimbo to what is now happening under coach Elco and I would have very high expectations for this year's team now the SEC is an SOB buddy it is you look at the talent you look at the depth of Talent on these rosters and you look at the schedules that that depth of talent and these coaching staffs have to negotiate and it ain't fair but it's why it's the best league in the world and I would if I were you guys man I would be thrilled for the challenge ahead well there's a lot of excitement no doubt about it so and Aggies are always optimistic I'm I'm curious from uh you know from from your perspective what uh what do you think the prospects are of Mike Elco running out of that or running back up that tunnel uh having a a successful debut as Texas A&M's coach I think I think it there's a good chance uh look Notre Dame's going to be a good team uh a lot of people really like what they have they have a stud behind Center and Riley Leonard who uh coach Elco obviously knows well um but I really like the roster that he has um he inherited a lot of talent despite the frustrations of the past couple years and that starts with with the quarterback position you got a guy who has a lot of experience and had he not gotten hurt last year I don't know that we would have had the same narrative about last season and so um I think there's a really good chance that they beat Notre Dame Marty I think when you look at Notre Dame for different reasons similar kind of situation right underperformed A&M much more underperformed than Notre Dame but my point is they have not reached that potential that they expected you know with Brian Kelly they they got close but right now they they still seem like they're a step away new wide receivers quarterback coming into the program that's coming off an injury a defense that's supposed to be one of the best in the country I see a lot of similarities in this in this matchup I do too but I I I think that that Leonard is a really good player dude um what he did at Duke was special and I I mean you I don't know the last time 1990 when Steve Spurrier was a Duke I don't know the last time that they really had an an offensive weapon and that kind of potency so now he has really good weapons uh on the outside a good offensive line they always have a good offensive line at Notre Dame and to your point of great defense so it's a formidable opponent I do see the similarities your you're talking about um it's going to be very physical The Trenches will win it uh it's going to be loud it's going to be emotional and so how does coach Elco get those guys as as they get started like you got to start fast and so to have the emotional composure to make sure that you do that because that's hard to do when you're at home in uh on National Television against a team that has that kind of tradition and pedigree it's going to be all the juice I mean y'all Y this this is a serious matchup Marty with the time you spent with Mike Elco uh and opportunities you've had to interview him and whatnot what what impression do you do you get his composure his even kill approach he doesn't seem to ride a whole lot of emotional waves he seems to have a great perspective on a lot of guys say it a lot guys say we're focused on the next play he genuinely seems to be and he has a culture that is No Nonsense no BS you don't see a lot of Primadonna stuff and in a nil era where guys um where where money is so prevalent and so important if you can be someone that Kirby Smart does this better than anybody in my opinion I I think he's able to in an era where guy's reassessment is how much you going to pay me versus how can you develop me he's still able to promote G over everything in an amazing way I talked to some of his Players yesterday I've been all over creation this week I was in Baton Rouge Louisiana with Brian Kelly and Mason Taylor Monday I was in Athens with Carson Beck and Kirby all day yesterday had a 30 minute conversation with Billy Napier last night cuz that's the game have this weekend and the ability to do that to make sure that the culture and the expectation within that culture is upheld in this era is a unique talent and I see Mike having that talent because he's just not he doesn't seem beholden to now y'all got a lot of money down there and as a result of that he has a lot of financial resources at his disposal that's a blessing but when you get between the lines that doesn't matter man can you put a hat on a hat can you block tackle care love do and that's what I see from him now we'll see what happens on Saturday and and moving forward but he was able to do that at Duke so I have high expectations for him gentlemen Marty Before I Let You Go I woke up this morning to a story from Max Olson talking about the ncaa's proposing to eliminate the spring transfer window I don't know how you feel about it I I'm like just keep the spring and maybe maybe get rid of the I don't know just can we just get some uniform rules and keep it going I just look it's bigger than that like it's just right now there has to be some uniformity that is established across the country that gives everybody the same parameters in which to work and everybody will be happy because right now man it's there's so much recruiting there's so much portaling there's so much money um infusion and that's fine but like what do you think's going to happen now that there's going to be Revenue sharing at the player level okay let's have that discussion quickly I think okay cool I think that the players um deserve that but I also believe within that maybe it's time for players to sign three-year contract with the University where okay cool you're going to get this money now but you're going to be held to different more stringent standards where if you decide to jump in that portal and Just Bounce there's going to be a buyout from the school you choose or you're going to have to give money back to a collective something along those lines but I don't know I'm just like I just want to see some uniformity Marty you're the best man love talking to you on the show are you going to be in town this weekend or what's your assignment this weekend I have Miami at Florida that's why I'm have those helmets behind me right now that game is as important a game as there is in the country just like yours is you got two coaches who not only need special Seasons they need a win on Saturday so it's got a lot of juice we appreciate you man and uh the website is gogame change.com to sign up and uh get that started it's a cool initiative man go on there put your credit or debit card in gogame change.com and you can instantly start supporting the athletic department for the teams you love I just thought it was a really neat initiative I'm grateful to be involved and I'm grateful to you guys for having me on to discuss it brother let's talk soon man thank you so much [Music] n