Pac-12 adding 4 Mountain West teams; Week 3 previews | Rushing the Field | NBC Sports (FULL EPISODE)

hello and welcome in to rushing the field he's Joshua Perry I'm Nicole arbach we talk about college football from a national stpoint every single week if you like us please subscribe rate and review Us in Joshua there is no better place to start than with actual breaking news that is breaking like as we are starting to record this which is that the Pack 12 is no longer going to be just the pack two they have added four schools for 2026 they're raiding the Mountain West they are adding Boise State San State Fresno State and Colorado State so Joshua this brings them up to six they eventually need to get up to eight by 2026 but big moves from the packed 12 this is huge right we got a six pack of schools now uh which is important they got to get up to eight though we'll we'll get into that a little bit later I I actually think that you know you start to look at the quality of this and say this can be competitive here we saw what Boise State did last week against Oregon they've been a team that's been prominent over a couple of decades as one of the smaller schools and college football so you certainly love that um Colorado State certainly has a ways to go I think that they can capitalize off of momentum though they get um to an expanded conference it's going to have some more eyeballs a little bit more pull and uh the Colorado population just as a whole is blowing up and I kind of look at that as maybe the high school quality gets better the instate recruiting can be better for the Colorado schools San Diego State again has played good ball and then we we see Fresno State as one of those teams that's really competitive too so I think this is is actually a great place to start it's also really interesting you got all the the state schools that are in the Pack 12 now so um maybe as they look to to add to to get to at least eight they start to find the trend there as well yeah it is easy to remember every single school has state in their name so that is easy to remember with the new six um it's also a couple other details worth pointing out so they will join July 1st 2026 this was just announced by the league and about by all the schools so all the applications have been approved this is how it's going to work um and that the six of these schools are going to figure out those final two or more members together um there's no real Rush on that now that they have the six it is going to cost Joshua $110 million for these schools to get out of the Mountain West and for the Pack 12 to pay the Mountain West because if you remember they had this agreement a scheduling agreement for one year it had all sorts of financial penalties to try to avoid honestly this exact situation from happening it would have been a lot cheaper if the Pack 12 just absorbed the entire Mountain West but they didn't want to do that they wanted to add the four most valuable schools and then decide on the rest later if they want to add a UNLV or Air Force or somebody else later of course they're going to want to come because clearly this is the league that you want to be in this is going to be a lot more valuable than the Mountain West so the Pack 12 has been like hoarding its resources it has you know its War chest from settlement with the outgoing 10 schools um contracts like the Rose Bowl the cfp Teresa gold fought for more money in the new expanded cfp deal so there were a lot of reasons why the Pack 12 was trying to see how valuable it was how much money it had and one of those things was to potentially be able to pay for something like this yeah and and it was really smart and I know that there were a lot of jokes made about the pack two uh throughout the off season and and kind of getting left behind but the idea that they were able to stack resources and and have a war chest available for this exact thing is big and to your point it makes sense to not absorb all of those teams right like you're trying to build the highest quality conference because you want to be able to go to networks and say on a game by game basis we're actually GNA have a product that people are going to want to watch week in and week out they're not going to be a bunch of Duds that you have to consume just to get some of the top matchups to the conference so I think it's really good and now to your point they are going to be in a a a choosing scenario moving forward for those last couple of schools which I think really sets up for them where would you go would you go with other pack uh Mountain West schools or would you maybe go for like take shots at the AAC you could go for like UTSA or north Texas Tain you could go for Memphis like how would you approach this if you're trying to fill those those last spots no I think going for some of the AAC schools would be a really good move you mentioned uh UTSA I think they would be a really good one I think the arrows pointing up on them same thing like Tain and Memphis have been schools that have done a really good job there North Texas is a school that's made some noise in the last couple years I think those would all be great moves I think UNLV is one that makes a ton of sense there and again just kind of looking at um you know demographics population shifts Etc people like Nevada because of the low taxes and so I think the high school football there um you've got Gorman a lot of those guys are National recruits but you start to look at the quality of high school football and potentially recruiting grounds and building programs I think that can make sense down the line the other one that that has popped into my head and just don't know because they just made a move but like Ken Stanford you could stay on the west coast it' be a lot easier travel-wise like I know that um for for those schools they probably want to be around more prominent Brands and and especially for uh some of the the non-revenue sports I think being in the the ACC makes more sense to them but um it's expensive that is an expensive Endeavor that they got into with all the travel that's required and I think um you know a hard push at those two schools make a lot of sense yeah I mean I think with that you probably are just monitoring because of contractual agreements I'm sure it would be very difficult for them to get out of the ACC but listen part of the pack 12's pack 2's plan here was to wait this out see what the landscape looks like see what changes and it's very possible maybe even after one year maybe you're hoping that Sanford and Cal realize with their reduced shares in the ACC all the travel costs that it's just not worth it and you want to come home back with two of the members of the Pack 12 that you were just with with this more Regional league and we're thinking about a world where I know we don't talk you know in the weeds all the time but like the house settlement is going to be very expensive people are going to be spending you know they can spend up to $23 million paying players directly year-over year you're going to have to find ways to save money and Regional scheduling is one of the ways to do that so I actually really like that this is going to this is a league right now again you could add to Lan or Memphis and that kind of throws a little wrench into this but it it does have some you know Regional ties and relationships and things that make a lot of sense from a college conference standpoint that we honestly don't always see these days because we have now have these Coast to Coast leagues I wanted to ask you a question now um if you know say Pack 12 they get their eight teams are they will they be a power conference or or would they be like the group of six now uh as a as the pack the new packed Club yeah it's a great question um so basically there's two different ways that you would identify a league so the eight minimum members is an NCAA thing so part of what started like power conferences in the first place was NCAA governance reasons like autonomy when you hear people talk about that that's what they're talking about um so the Pack 12 did lose autonomy status and is not being treated as the same as the Big 10 SEC ACC and the Pack 12 and then we just went through negotiations for the expanded college football playoff the new contract that starts in 26 they are not being treated the same as the big boys we also know that the SEC and the Big 10 are going to be taking more money than even ACC and uh Big 12 but they're also not in the same category as the group of five conferences because again they were two members um and they were fighting for more because they were originally being treated you know more towards like what an independent with like a UMass Yukon situation um so now maybe you adjust some of that I mean I think there is um you know there there's going to be a push for this but honestly I think the way that you look at it is like it probably be treated similarly to how they are at the Mountain West um where you're kind of fighting for that group of five spot um which I again I think makes a lot of sense and obviously they're going to want to push for more respect and more governance power and things like that but you know you can only do what you can do at this point you're a smaller league and it is predominantly Mountain West teams right now so we we'll have to see we'll see what they what they do but listen they were they thought it was really really important to keep the Pack 12 brand to keep the assets but the name like the the respect and all the things that come with that I think is is is going to help them as they try to continue to gain respect and not just be considered you know a Mountain West like reverse merger one other thing I'll say Joshua because we've got the apple cup on peacock you've got the apple cup this weekend you've got Oregon Oregon State this weekend I don't think the timing of this announcement is an accident two days before you have these games where the entire narrative would have been oh poor Oregon State poor Washington State left behind by their instate Rivals and now you have this entirely new Narrative of them being aggressive um poaching big brands from from the Mountain West a and look at the like the future is brighter than it's been at any point in the last year and and I still think going into this weekend they get to leverage the idea that they were left behind too so they get the best of both worlds right like there's a reality now that this is a uh a situation that looks more and more viable by the day which is huge for them but um as they their teams prepare to play in these games they get to be like oh man they you know they disrespected us they don't like us they left us behind and frankly um you know Oregon looks more Gable than you thought that they would Washington I think has played some good Ball but like we're still trying to figure out what their transition from kin de boor to Jed fish is and roster turnover and all that kind of stuff like it's a it's a it feels like a little bit of spooky season as we head into these big rivalry games that used to be like the conference match up in their not yeah and listen playing a Coralis is difficult there is going to be a lot of extra emotion in these games like it is a fascinating week to have these matchups so early in the season but we're going to learn some things and again there's this whole different narrative as a backdrop for these games now that the pack two is turning into the six-pack I would just like to say what I would do is definitely handicap the AAC that would be my strategy yes um I would try to because if you handicap the AAC a this is all about Supremacy conference Supremacy so you want to be the premier group of five program you want to be above everyone else but you also like what if the ACC needs to back fill what if they lose some Schools they're going to be looking at teams like in the AAC so you're essentially like preemptively guarding against that as well so that's the strategy I would take although again you're if sford and Cal become available become interested like yes you reite you try to do something like that but um that's what I would do and so this is going to be really fascinating they have a lot of time they just have to do this by July 2026 um and again everyone in the Mountain West is going to want to come they're all going to be making calls trying to get into this new pack 12 um but again I think they're going to have some options and we'll see what the media value is who's interested you've got new players like the CW like ion like TNT Sports getting in the mix already for college football rights so we'll continue to track on all of that um it was breaking news this just became official on Thursday morning as we were recording so we wanted to make sure uh that we started with that for the ticket stub which is our point of entry into the Pod um but let's you know we were just talking about these these really interesting rivalry games we're going to see this weekend let's talk some real football let's transition into our stock up stock down segment um where we are still learning about these teams we still only have two weeks of data but Joshua through two weeks the Texas Longhorns man they look like a national title Contender they are fantastic and I've been so trepidacious about like going all in on Texas because they just haven't been able to get right and I think last year was the point where it's like okay there is confidence they made it to four team playoff like this is It's a program that we we've all wanted them to be they just hadn't been and uh you play Michigan coming off a national title certainly a different Michigan team than they were last year um Texas beat them badly right like they controlled that game from the very beginning and I like what what Steve sarkeesian did offensively certainly we look at him as one of the great offensive Minds he created any matchup that he wanted to against this Michigan defense that I do think is extremely talented wink Martell very veteran coordinator like it wasn't an easy task for him to do that um and defensively they shut down a Michigan offense as been anemic but the thing that became apparent to me throughout that game in the leadup a lot of analysts were talking about Michigan you know they can grind it out and like Texas is good but do do they have it up front do can they match the toughness Texas started to play Michigan's game and took that to them that's the biggest thing that stood out to me we know in the SEC it's big boy ball I think they're prepared for it but that was an eye- openening performance from the Longhorns yeah absolutely I think right now coming out of week two into week three there are three teams that I put in that National Championship caliber level right in that in that upper echelon you've got Georgia you've got Ohio State and now you've got Texas I think Oregon has some work to we've talked about this on air we've talked about on this podcast like some real concerns with that offensive line with how Dylan Gabriel is kind of like meshing into his new team um they got some work to do I I I think they can do it but right now they're not in that grouping there's three teams and it's because you've got a high and trophy caliber quarterback you're good in the trenches on both sides um and they've got just incredible skill Talent uh so they've lost running backs they've had that some injuries in the leadup to the season it hasn't looked like it affected them much JP the running back one is a really interesting point I'm glad you took it there because that was one of the biggest questions like we know you can throw the ball but can you have balance to your offense and their line did a great job of opening up some seams so they could run the ball um effectively but I also love the way that they utilize running backs in the past game and I talked about creating matchups with SAR um they isolated the Michigan linebackers in a lot of situations where there was a ton of space for the running backs and playing linebacker it's just it's a difficult spot to be in like you've got to make an open field tackle oneon-one and a lot of times like you're at a disadvantage in that situation and so uh the the scheme at that point can kind of overcome some of the Personnel difficulties when you got a guy like Sark and I I think that's a really big Point here is even with a thinner running back room they found answers to keep this offense going absolutely and again you look at their schedule we know that the top teams can lose a game they're still going to be fine it's 12 team college football playoffs so you got to feel really good about the Longhorns not making last year a fluke they are building off of what they have they are going to be a national championship Contender here's a team that I don't know if we talked about as like a cfp contender as much as we probably should have um they've looked really good they had a really emphatic win over NC State a team that supposed to be pretty good in the ACC they absolutely crushed them 5110 and that's the Tennessee Volunteers um Nico IAM malava is so good that we've all had to practice pronouncing his name this past week because we gotta say it because he could stay in the Heisman conversation like this is an offense with Josh hyp that is a josh hyp offense this is what henden hooker looked like in this offense not Joe Milton this is a team that has really sound I think really good defensively that was something we weren't really focus focus on until what we saw against NC State but I mean I feel like we're starting to believe in Tennessee and looking at that schedule feels fairly manageable I mean I think this is a team that's going to be in the mix here kind of in that that maybe second tier in the SEC all right let me get my practice in uh I leava no I malava I malava all right there you go there you go so I'm G just call him big Nico for for the second we could just say Nico Nico is a great name yeah easy easy um he is he is fantastic we expected him to be able to spin the rock I think where he's been really good is the chances to run the football right and like looking at the the last couple of Tennessee quarterbacks Joe Milton was more of the pocket passer type hen and hooker I love the way that he uh threw the football but like now you're looking at a guy who's got real juice with his legs and again coming from a defens standpoint it's much harder when you have to account for the quarterback or when you can't just put your best pass rush move because you know the quarterback can escape the pocket and so he's given them a really good layer with his ability to do that but the thing that you mentioned that I think is the big thing that people need to watch out for and Josh hyper was emphatic about this when he talked about his team after that win against NC State he said we are a program that values defense we want to play great defense like that is the standard for Tennessee football it hadn't been the standard right like if we're being completely honest the standard was our offense is going to run up the scoreboard and we'll be able to figure out how to to get enough stops to be able to win not full Lincoln Riley Alex Grinch but it was pretty damn close when you start to boil it down and now they're like no like we have put together a defense we feel really good about and the defense is what's going to make them more competitive this year if that's what the case is going to be um and so I love that and now we're starting to to really feel what a Josh Hyo program actually looks like not Josh hypo offensive team a Josh hypo program where you have a defense that can come to play and I love that our last team for stock up it's the obvious team that has a stock up we've been talking about them all week they were the story last Saturday and it's NIU Northern Illinois pulls off the upset of Notre Dame in South Bend the very first top 10 win for a Mac team uh they win 16 to1 16 to 14 the nation falls in love with Thomas hammock I mean incredible interview with zor Stevenson on the field and then he's gone on a media blitz all week we've learned so much about NIU and we learned about this during the broadcast but this is such a cool tradition for when Northern Illinois beats a power a power five team this is what they do major programs I guess is how they've defined it because it's different eras before the power five era they keep a bone this is the Boneyard these are the teams that they have uh taken down over the years and and listen Notre Dame is uh is joining the Boneyard this is their collection because they they have been known to pull off upsets over the history of their program but still nothing quite like what they did against Notre Dame no it was impressive for sure and uh Thomas hammock as you mentioned right like he is um he's a story that I think a lot of people love about college football he is a guy who played for that program um he wants to be there he knows he's coaching an underdog when he's in these big games and you can tell not only from his emotion um in that post game but like also the the contrast between that level of emotion and the calm demeer that he had on the sidelines all game long that he was that it meant that much to him like he he called the risky plays when it was necessary he had a really good game plan um then he put his players in a really good spot but just the idea of going to your alma mater and being able to and he he's talked about it right like he wants to elevate he knows what kind of a place it is but he wants that people to to recognize Northern Illinois football um they're certainly getting their recognition right now Okay so we've been texting about this but I want to get your actual thoughts so he has said that he offered to Marcus Freeman like yes hey here's how we beat you like here are your weaknesses do you want to chat and Marcus said yes that's so interesting to me I mean maybe this happens more often than we we hear about but what do you make of that Dynamic well I know that a lot of coaches on Sundays they have calls and and they'll call uh you know friends in the industry of opponents that they're getting ready to play teams that they've played in the past to do self Scout like that I do think it's rare that you would get a situation where a coach calls you and just offers up information and in particular it feels real weird when it's Northern Illinois like hey you want to know the the keys to Victory like here's the Playbook to beat you guys like it's definitely tough Marcus Freeman 100% has to take that call and he should take that information it's a great great thing to know um I also think just to to extrapolate this out into a bigger picture the coaching fraternity is really small and these guys all know each other and there are certainly rivalries and I love the pettiness that comes with some of it but a lot of these guys um professionally they respect one another and and they want to be in a place where um they get along I think in particular for black coaches it's it's a bigger deal because it's it's it's almost like people will use any anything that happens as a an indictment on or as like the rule for these coaches and so I think for Thomas hammock he's like here's Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame certainly a great job the guy has not been a head coach for very long how can I help him along his path and and be almost a mentor in that situation so from that perspective I see the big picture and I love it too yeah and like he knows he's in a tough spot now at Notre Dame because he's had losses like this um plus I mean again we're we're early in the season we've been talking about the playoff because it's going to be a different world with the 12 team playoff but if you are Northern Illinois and now the door is open to get there you want Notre Dame to win games you know like they're sitting in that spot right now you know right job yeah now you're rooting now you root for Notre Dame the rest of the way that's how this works it's a it's a it's a fun sport in that way so let's start with the Irish for stock down because again Marcus Freeman has now had a few of Marshall a lot of people have been bringing up the Stanford loss when there was no reason to lose to Stanford like some of these Clunkers that you would think Notre Dame would be passed with a thirdy year head coach where do the Irish go from here and are there Signs of Life with this offense and Riley Leonard like can they turn this around and become an offense that can sustain drives actually score touchdowns actually throw touchdowns yeah I I'll start with this point and um I'll throw Penn State in this category as well for their performance over over the weekend but I do think that there's this this idea that happens where you go on the road for your first game and it's a big game and you end up winning and you come back to campus where everything is now comfortable and everybody's telling you you've got it figured out you're making the college football playoff you're a national championship Contender they're kissing your butt as you're walking around campus you know coaching doesn't feel like it's as hard but you don't have to be as hard on your team because you know that they can get the big win and you have an opponent that's coming in that you think is there just to collect the check you don't actually believe that they're there to try to win a football game and they smack you in the mouth and I think that is a part of what happened for Notre Dame this weekend but there are bigger issues here as I started to watch the tape back and I felt this way on Saturday but the further I've gotten away from that game the more I believe this there were a lot of people like oh Notre Dame defense they gave up too many big plays whatever dog like if if if you can hold a team to 16 points and in particular a ma team to 16 points you're going to win the football game you should be able to win the football game right I don't think defense played that bad the one big pass that went for a touchdown was actually a broken play on the offense and it's not something you can really anticipate or account for defensively the Run game there were some issues it was mostly guys jumping in and out of gaps it's not like they were getting blown off of the ball and bullied around I thought the defense played fine this offense is a real issue Riley Leonard struggles to throw the football particularly down the field it is a problem that they have to get figured out because they need to stretch a field at some point but the biggest issue offensively to me is they don't have enough Concepts in the pass game that are run game influence what I'm talking about play action passing you've got two really good backs in love and price you have to make sure that they are always a threat to the defense in rpos with Riley Leonard is a guy who is mobile you can they can really triple option from the quarterback position we saw Ohio State do it over the weekend but what I'm talking about is you have the Run option then you put your quarterback on the move and he can either keep the ball or he can throw it out into the flats throw the hitch whatever the case is they need to make that a part of their offense because Riley Leonard is most dangerous when his legs are at play but I don't think it should be quarterback Powers because the Dude is injury-prone he's dealing with the shoulder injury right now right you need to have it as a he can be an option to run but his legs need to be a threat to the defense in the pass game as well okay so so like do you believe that they can do this is this something that we need to see this week I mean there's already the fan base calling for a quarterback change or at least something different but Marcus fre everyone's been adamant Riley Leonard's the quarterback but I do think we needed to see some of those those changes those adjustments the emphasis on the Run game and the threat of the Run game to make this look different if if they wanted Angeli to be the quarterback they wouldn't have paid a million dollars to a guy in the transfer portal so let's be perfectly clear about that and I also think politics come into play as well when you did pay a guy that much he kind of has to be your quarterback until it is like fully apparent that he's not yes it's something they can do I just need to see them do it right and these are adjustments they'll have to make if it's not already in the game plan but I think the the best thing to help this offense is rpos and play actions yeah absolutely another team that is really reeling also needs to uh show some signs of Life offensively and show that the quarterback play the offensive line play that these things can improve over the course of the season I don't know do they have the personality do it we'll see is Michigan Michigan is coming off of a loss to Texas that again I think a lot of us thought they would lose to the Longhorns I do think we thought even with all the Personnel losses and the coaches loss coaching losses that they would have a great defense and they' be able to run the ball now they are struggling with the new offensive line they are struggling with the quarterback they're struggling to run the ball or sustain drives which means that your great defensive players are on the field a long time um also maybe there's not as many as that them on the field at once as there have been in years past but again like they're on the field all the time so so you just got some some issues for Michigan where I don't know from a Personnel standpoint if they're gonna be able to fix them entirely in season but I do think this this loss the way that it was the way that it basically was in a game very early became very apparent which team was controlling the game which wasn't at the line of scrimmage I think what it does is you're looking at like a a four loss Michigan team I think it completely changes is the outlook for all of those challenging games that Michigan has on their schedule the rest of the way yeah it's it's an interesting thing too like I think the the biggest positive for Michigan is all of their pimples were revealed in that game because you can go through some of these games as well where you know Texas plays real sloppy and they play below what they actually are and and the score is much closer um than what the teams actually are in their distance and it allows you to to to maybe mask some some of your issues all their issues were exposed um I am a Davis Warren Defender I'll start right there and the more that I've watched that game tape the more I think that he is he's dealing with a lot of issues that aren't his own um especially when they had to get into pass mode toward the you know when the game the margin started blowing out um I like the way he navigated the pocket I actually think he's got a pretty talented arm the issue is the offensive line is atrocious at this point the center position is a real problem and they've they've been blessed with really good centers over the last couple years like guys who were some of the best in the country and the right tackle position is a real problem like those two guys stand out as soon as you watch the tape and so he's dealing with that the other part is they don't have wide receivers that get open so even if he's got a clean pocket who's he throwing the ball to it's probably covered and that's a real issue as well but I start to look at this defense and I do think it's it's got a chance to be good still and I think that they're extremely talented wink marale I don't think made the adjustments that he needed to make and part of that is you're a coordinator for so long especially at the highest level you are who you are you don't want to change and I get that the other part of it is college offenses do a lot of stuff that you never see in the NFL and he was probably sitting there like what the hell am I looking at like this is not something that is even structurally sound from an offensive standpoint in Texas does it they got to get that figured out and then for all the guys that they have on the D line that I think are really great players some of those guys are up there trying to throw their best pass rush move when Texas is running the football and that is not good team defense that's something you can fix pretty easily so they've got issues but the best thing about this is they should know what all of their issues are right now because they were revealed and now it's just about finding a plan to make them better and the last team for stock down is a team that I don't know if they can get that much better this was one of the most painful losses we saw recent memory honestly even compared to like some of the upsets just the way that Arkansas lost this game to Oklahoma State they nearly doubled them in in yards of offense there were so many different mistakes so many different moments they could have won this game um I saw somebody compare it to like this is what maybe an Arkansas booster fever dream would be if you really want Bobby patrino to take over as the interim head coach or maybe like the full-time head coach you drop a game like this where the offense did lots of things so many yards of offense almost 700 yards of offense and then you lose this game in in like just hilariously terrible fashion um it definitely is not what you want for a hot seat coach in Sam Pitman Oklahoma State really did not deserve to win this game um it was quite telling about a big 12 Contender but yeah it was just it was brutal so they're in stock down because this is just one of the worst losses that I have seen in recent memory because of how much they outplayed Oklahoma State for so much of that game it's it's kind of inexplicable well Nicole I mean we were sitting there watching that game and we're kind of preparing our remarks for the Arkansas win because they were in control of that football game like like that was a game that they should have won um and this is also what happens when you let a team that has a player as good as Oli Gordon hang around right like he's the one who put the game away when you have the opportunities you got to Snuff it out but I think that's that's where that's where I kind of ask the question have have we reached the potential of the Sam Pitman era is when you're in control of a football game and you let go of the Rope that's really difficult to overcome yeah and again everyone's been waiting for this for the off season like the fact that Bobby patrino is back at Arkansas still mindboggling but everyone wondered hey are you hiring your replacement are you hiring the potential interim head coach like that's where the conversation was the second Bobby patrino got hired and we are getting closer and closer to that is this is one of the hottest seats in the country alongside Florida with Billy Napier all right we talked about the Boneyard that uh the Boneyard wins not Northern Illinois collects this was a huge huge upset so it got us thinking we should power rank the biggest upsets in college football history these are our power rankings presented by City Bank and listen there's only one option for number one AB over Michigan you could not Joshua could not have responded faster in the group chat being like yes we need to talk about Michigan losing to App State uh I mean you you were at the game well first off it's it's actually hilarious um I was at a a rest stop in the middle of Indiana when that text came through and so of course I'm like oh perfect timing I pull it over like let's go um so yes um you were at this game so I want to get your perspective of like the range of emotions as you're watching that yeah so this is unreal so um I'll start off by saying I grew up in Central Jersey entirely Pro Sports area Pro Sports market like we were unfortunately Jets fans um but you know Yankees like we were we only cared about Pro Sports they grew up 20 minutes from Ruckers and I never went to a Ruckers game until I was covering college football like professionally um so I end up going to Michigan and it's mostly because I get guilted there because my aunt and uncle live in an arbor I was the oldest of my family we never visited them why didn't Nicole why don't you apply and come to Michigan it's great blah blah blah so I end up there and this is my first game as a freshman so it is not just my first Michigan college football game this is my first college football game ever because I grew up going to NFL games so I am all excited Michigan's number five in the country you had Chad Henny come back Mike Hart come back Jake Long come back everyone comes back trying to win a National Championship I missed the onew game the Michigan Ohio State game Mr Rose bow like but everyone's like all right this is the year we're coming all the way back to win a National Title and then you go to this game first of all I'm also not prepared for it's like you know 90 something degrees it's super humid you're in a student section where you have to stand the whole time which didn't know because again first college game and I'm like dehydrated I'm a little faint I'm watching a game that I'm like this is not how it's supposed to go um with people I don't know because it's a sign seating and it's just so quiet like that is the thing that I remember so much about you know during the game as you're kind of like wait this can't really be happening can it you know then you have some hope okay they're gonna avoid it nope they don't game is over and it is silent there was like a 30 minute walk back up through campus in the sea of maze fans back to my dorm room and it was hot and silent and like that's I just remember the silence most of all and it was stunning and then of course like I'm you know the only person who went to Michigan out of like all of my friends so then the phone is blowing up everyone's texting you it's historic you're seeing videos of like the reaction of Penn State fans Ohio State fans like at their games um but it was it was just unreal and then you know the immediate first thing I did was like I was so excited to have a student season ticket like t-shirt but then I was like I can't wear this ever again it says App State right on the top of the back of the shirt I had to burn it I had to get rid of it oh man man what a time to be alive um I will say this about the big house is um it's not even in the best environments it's not the loudest place in the world because it's shallow um just the build of the stadium but I've played there in a blowout where my team was winning that place gets real quiet like it is it does it's it's an interesting thing I I just I remember the reactions off of this game as well um and the video still holds up to this day of the way the end of that game went like it was phenomenal um but like certainly one of the most memorable upsets in any sport for me yes so that's number one for our list um I'll just list off the rest in case you're not watching on YouTube um but number two we got Stanford over USC in 2007 USC heavy heavy favorites in that game that was a stunner 2017 Howard defeating UNLV this was the largest point spread upset in college football history 45 Point uh underdogs and Howard pulls it off this was actually the first time I talked to Brennan Maran and that go- go offense that he runs um which is you know he is now um you know he has taken that to a number of different schools and is at unlb of all places right now helping to rebuild there number four JMU beating Virginia Tech all the way back in 2010 so this was like JMU is a power but they're still at a lower level they're not quite like the household name that they are now where we expect that kind of football success from them and then Joshua this one is for you number five we put Purdue beating number two Ohio State in 2018 now this might not be on everyone's like alltime upset list but the like the way that that game felt and the way that it happened at Purdue like this was in the era where Ohio State sometimes did this and you know and you go into an environment like a Purdue environment all the narratives coming into this game and that happened it was it was a stunner it was try Tyler Trent game correct as well Y and so like that's that's why I pushed for this one at the end first off for all the Ryan Day can't win the big one talk like Urban had some real nasty losses in terms of upsets there um but this was the number two team in the country they weren't favored by a ton like I think it was a a two touchdown favorite in this game but they end up losing the game by a bunch of points um was it 29 Point loss or whatever it was there uh they forced Dwayne Haskins into to throw in the ball like 70 times in that game because they were playing catch up from the jump but it was the the Tyler Trent thing that really made this feel like it was a destiny victory for Purdue where you've got one of their their biggest super fans um who is going through some some real medical issues who is at that game and it felt like everything was destined for Purdue to be able to muster up not just an upset but like one in very dominant fashion and so I wanted to put that up there um the other one I want to talk about real quick is this uh Stanford USC in ' 07 um it's Pete Carroll and this is kind of like the the end of the USC run is one of the national powers and you've got this guy named Jim Harbaugh who's there at Stanford and you know he's former College NFL quarterback he was at uh San Diego kind of small school coach what's he going to do with Stanford and this was really when Stanford started their run of being a team that was nationally prominent playing in Rose Bowls in uh um that situation kind of in their new era of success and so I think the contrasting trajectories of those schools intrigues me the JMU one Virginia Tech was one of those schools back in the day that was like hey man this this is going to be a nationally relevant program and it kind of started the beginning of the end for them too so some of these upsets almost like Mark changes and eras for for some of the schools yeah that's a really good point and that for Michigan definitely did they lost to Oregon the next week that convinced the powers at be you've got to go get a spread offense coach they hire richrod that was my era at Michigan it was started with Abate and it ended with the Brady hire like those remind that's a tough era Jes it is the losingest stretch of Michigan football history either you would be so we can attribute that to you then yeah I might not have been I might not have been great luck for Michigan uh but I was pres at the national championship game last year and they still won that so maybe it's turned around all right let's do uh some week three preview and picks um we pick three games each week to give a little uh extra attention to and this slate is a little light overall um which makes me think either we're going to get a lot of Duds or we're going to get some crazy upsets that we're not even seeing on the board right now because sometimes that's how these weeks go but let's start with some of the big name matchups this week Alabama goes Camp Randall plays Wisconsin they're favored by 16 and a half points they are top five in the country they struggled against USF for like three quarters and then pulled away late but Wisconsin also not super impressive through two games so far this season uh a I love that this game is happening love that we're getting a game on campus like this we we've seen some big games so far this season a lot at neutral sites it's awesome to see Alabama come to Madison but I also think that the tide are going to roll I mean this is a this is a Wisconsin team that I still think is trying to figure out who they are and an Alabama team that despite the USF struggles um is still extremely talented you still have Jaylen milro I trust kayin dbor I think they're going to have a really good first year under him and I think they're going to win and and cover in Madison I agree with you on that it's hard for me to find a an angle in this game where I think Wisconsin has a true Edge even with the environment of Kent Randall which I do think is phenomenal I've played there and I've covered games there it's it's going to be difficult for them and um even sloppy uh play from Alabama they they still have the weapons on the outside that can change the game in a minute you mentioned Jaylen milro and what he can do and I think that they're they're pretty tough defensively still as well so for Wisconsin I think this is going to be real toughy but 16 and a half feels like feels like it might not be enough at this point yeah I I completely agree and like that game looked great on the schedule might not be great in actuality um so let's talk about a game that I don't know if anyone would have circled three weeks ago but I can't wait to watch and this is number 24 Boston College at number six Missouri listen the tigers are favored by 17 points I think that's because you've got BC going to an SEC School Missouri has um arguably the best receiver room in the country and like they're really fun they had a breakthrough season last year they're going to be they they're a team I've got in the mix for the cfp absolutely but Boston College is a surprise team already this season what they did to Florida State um they're two and 0 Bill O'Brien really does feel like he could be the guy that gets BC into a I don't know if we're talking like ACC Contender but like a respectable Boston College program um I think we've already seen improvements on the offensive and defensive line under him so I like this game I think this is a fascinating game and like this will tell us a lot about you know to Thomas castalano company for BC but also for missou like if they are really going to contend or be in the mix in the SEC contend for one of those last cfp spots we'll see a lot of that against a I think a quality opponent in BC yeah I'm I'm with you there uh castalano is an interesting one for me I love the way that that he can run the football I think he's got some work to do in terms of just straight drop back and uh Missouri is a team that is not only really well coached but I think they're more talented than people want to give them credit for um BC as tough as they are and the improvements that they've made I still think that Missouri can roll in this one I'm struggling to figure out if I I wanna I want to take Missouri in the 17 BC is tough but Missouri I feel like they're on a little bit of a war path right now then in any game like this that's a rank match up I think they do have to make some noise so I'm going to trust them to cover the 17 all right I'll take BC and the points just to keep it interesting we can't all always make the same picks so I'll Trust boob and uh and the Eagles all right third game want to hit on is Oregon Oregon State another big spread this is 16 and a half points but the game is a Corvalis Oregon has some questions they need to answer especially in the offensive line finally not playing a team from the state of Idaho I think we can all agree that that was not good they struggle with Idaho they uh go toe-to-toe with Boise State need a field goal at the end to beat them um what do you make of this game what do you make of this match up Oregon Oregon state was a team that was left behind coach leaves some of their best players leave in the portal as well but like man if you are an Oregon State fan or player coach whatever like this is your Super Bowl going against Oregon it is and it's hard for me to it's hard for me to figure out Oregon like it it stinks for them because the first three games of their season have really been like super bowl games you got the fs team coming into town it's like oh you know they they play them really tough then you've got the the group of five team who is actually like a team that has a chance of making it to the playoff with one of the best players in the country in Ashton jenty and it's like all right well you know that's a tough one Oregon State their roster as you mentioned not what it was a year ago um but they're they're in Corvalis Oregon has some real issues right now you mentioned the offensive line and I know we only have a small sample size here statistically we're looking at the worst defense in the Big 10 as well like points per game they have not been very good and I think Oregon state is going to be extremely fired up for this one I don't feel like I'm gonna take Oregon State and the points at this juncture because I have too many questions about Oregon and I think they got to get right in this game like I think this is the game where Oregon's got to play some good football I'm going to take Oregon because I think they're going to get all of those frustrations out I mean Dan Lanning has not been happy at the end of either of these first two games and I think like they will finally put it together and make a statement for all the people saying hey I thought you were going to contend in the Big 10 and year one hey I thought you were going to be a cfp favorite I think they're going to show us that in this game in cor valis all right let's go to some you want real quick let me let me give a stat here Dan Landing one and four against Rivals a lot of those are Washington yeah right well there's a there's a there's an Oregon State in there as well okay all right we'll we'll track that one that one's going to be fun um as well as the apple cup I mean listen it's weird that these games are in September because of realignment and the fact that Washington and Oregon are now going to end their Seasons against each other which I love but uh yeah this is going to be fun I I love getting rivalry games whenever we get them there are also some really interesting potential upsets that are on the schedule a lot of like really there's a lot of like two three fourpoint spread games um but there's also some that I think you and I are both willing to pick an underdog pick this is rushing the field after all so the one I'm picking would not necessarily Rush the field because they are on the road but I am picking Memphis plus six and a half over Florida State now I I think I'm gonna pick him to win it just this is a Florida State team yes come on yes Joshua is nodding in case you can't see this I'm nodding hard okay djele not it not capable of winning a game for Florida State like when the game is on the line stepping up um huge drop off uh defensively at multiple levels of the defense for Florida State um and listen they have look they have not looked good against either of the teams that played in Georgia Tech and BC now they finally got a break but like there is clearly a formula for how to beat and how to play Florida State Memphis is one of the top group of five teams they're contending for the group of five spot in the cfp huge game huge huge game for them and Florida state is just Reeling I just don't think that they have the right players this season like this is normal it's normal to rebuild after you have all these star guys that come together for a special season that guys came back for it's normal that there's a drop off this drop off is really significant and I think obviously the message boards everyone will be in freef Fall if they start the season 0 and three but I am going to take Memphis to do it I think that they are going to uh make some is going to be a huge feather in the cap for a cfp spot I agree I'm with you uh a lot of people picked Memphis to be the group of five representative in the college football playoff this year it's a good football team Florida State as of right now very bad football team everything you said defensively they're not what they were supposed to be we heard people talking about best defensive line in the country they look like a high school defensive line right now and I'm trying to be kind as I say this um dju my favorite part of watching the games is when they put the graphics up and it's like dju was four of five for passes behind the line of scrimmage and he's 0 of seven for passes that traveled more than five yards down the field like it is real bad right now so I'm there with you uh I'm gonna give my pick but I'm also Pat myself on the back real quick my pick from last week actually did Rush the field I had Illinois beating Kansas that was a a good game there so um hopefully I can keep my streak going here we've got LSU they're at South Carolina South Carolina six and a half Point underdog I'm going with the Gamecocks in this one um LSU didn't necessarily look great in week two I think they were playing MCN they gave up a ton of points in that game I'm looking at South Carolina who's playing at home it's going to be a nationally prominent game they've got college game day there it's going to feel different for the players and for Shane Beamer I think he's got to get a big win like there's a lot of pressure for him to get a big win more so than there is for uh LSU to beat South Carolina and so I just I like the Dynamics that play into this one um I I certainly think it is going to be close but I like South Carolina to pull off the upset I was so close to picking this one too because Shane Beamer's South Carolina teams have done this right like when when there's really no great reason to believe that they have momentum or like gonna have a shot against like a top 10 team they do it so I thought about that as well um also don't trust LSU that was a close close game for far too long I don't TR and when Brian Kelly is like having meltdowns in year one week one and he's banging the table and the water bottles flying like just not yeah not a great not a great vibe to start the season so uh I think that's also a great pick and yes shout out to Illinois for uh promoting the Pod by rushing the field for them as well we love that it was a very gentle rush though a lot of people theour you know walking down the stairs to get there yeah I I didn't realize was that the only way to go or it was just like kind of a casual rush but still really good win over Kansas Kansas fans are not happy about playing Illinois in general but also that they lost that game um speaking of rushing the field RTF our pod it is time for WTF on RTF we find something ridiculous every single week that we need to show you and this week was a really good one we appreciate pton Thorne for having a really good sense of humor and like a I think a healthy approach to criticism he threw four interceptions Auburn loses to Cal and he goes and does an interview um with the next round to talk about fans reactions to a lost Cal and the four interceptions thrown by him he says he's been getting venmo requests from fans coming after your venmo Payton like explain that one to me I've never heard that like they send you cash no no they're definitely not sending cash you know it's it's funny when they lose money they they want the money back but when they win money on a barlay no one's ever any money so so first of all shout out to pton Thorne I don't think I would be able to joke about this coming off of a loss like that um but also like this is actually a really interesting look into sports gambling and college sports right now and and all levels of sports like the fans are taking it out on the players like we hear this with fantasy football too like you're getting nasty messages from these fans which is ridiculous like these are human beings um but again shouts to pton Thorne for like laughing It Off yeah no he took it in stride um I guess we got to do the whole PSA thing fans don't do this like it's it's not an appropriate thing to do it's not really funny um and also this is what you get for betting on college quarterbacks like I I would never this this is not something that that it's not like I'm allowed to but like if I could I wouldn't do it like the college kids absolutely not um I will say this though the VMO requests from fans probably not a great thing not good feeling the message boards have the people who donated to collectives asking if they can get a refund and that is a real tough spot wow well okay so like that's I feel like actually worth a conversation of like if these are the people you're basically having pay salaries because you don't pay salaries directly yep interesting questions but yeah don't vend Mo request players please don't get in their mentions after they have a bad game they already know that they did they already know that they did and they're also not going to give you any money but points for creativity never do it again to this and to all fan bases please and oh yes please be careful if you're betting on college quarterbacks or college kickers Joshua's really down on specialist I'm out I'm out I mean Notre Dame how about that right block kicks yeah multiple block kicks there were actually some game-winning field