(upbeat music) - Hey, what's going on? This is the Saturday on South podcast. I am Connor Algarra. Will, it is good to be back. Another mini break. By the time people are listening to this 4th of July, we'll be over, but we're still doing some American things today, as well as some Texas Oklahoma things with them officially joining the SEC. Thank you to Pitbull for announcing that. We have, great show lineup. No interview today, but we're gonna start by drafting America's team for 2024, and then we're doing Pitch Me. Will Texas or Oklahoma be better in the SEC? Two things that I feel like can go all over the place, and I'm here for it. So this is officially, we're gonna call this, can this still be a holiday edition of the Saturday on South podcast? Despite the fact that this is coming out a day after 4th of July? Listen, man, any day can be a holiday in your mind. We can use the British version of holiday. I'm on holiday right now, Doug. Love it, love it. I think we need to actually adopt that into the American vernacular. It's so much better to say I'm on holiday as opposed to I'm on vacation. I think I'm fully behind it. Yeah, I think once you get a little bit too, we went to Britain over the last year, and it was pretty funny because I just kind of kept looking around and I was like, how was this the pre-minute empire in the world? Like, love these people, they're super cool, but some of the stuff they say is so silly, I'm just like, oh. (laughs) It's how we escaped, how we escaped and did the whole 1776 thing. And that's what this holiday is about, my brother, now we're back to it. Exactly, exactly. Okay, so we're gonna draft America's team for 2024. I know I had said that we were originally gonna delay the draft because we usually do a discussion about who is America's team for this upcoming season, but they're like, okay, well, let's just combine them. So that's exactly what we're going to do. This is the first year that we're doing a draft of America's team, but this is the third year in which we've talked about someone having the America's team title. So if you're a new listener or something like that, you need a little bit of a refresher. Here's kind of the justification for this or how we would describe America's team, which by the way, it was held by Arkansas two years ago, and then Utah had it last year, but it was revoked mid-season after the cam rising injury, all that day-ness. We instead awarded it to Washington, who was fantastic as America's team and getting to the national championship last year. So let's explain how this works. If we were actually doing America's team, I am well aware that this would be service academies going at the top of this draft because they are America's team each and every year, even if they do a shift in their offensive approach and they don't want to necessarily run the triple option in its traditional form, they are the real winners. They are America's team each and every year. I am not arguing that. I am, however, saying that it's better for a content-based discussion if we exclude the service academies because it's just a little bit too obvious. So please do not tell us in the comments, why didn't you draft Army, Navy, or Air Force? They are America's team. They win by default. I get that. They would always be the first-- I would be the first inspector argument. You'd be like, where's the Coast Guard at? And then we're doing that, you know? Yeah, look, we get it. We're fully aware of that. I have a different definition of America's team for this discussion. It is, in my mind, a team that anybody from anywhere in the country can adopt as their own if their team blows chunks or they just want to have another team to root for, you know, transition years happen, whatever. But this team, America's team, isn't nationally polarizing with people who hate them no matter what. I think that's a big part of this, because you'd say, like, oh, why isn't Notre Dame America's team or why isn't Michigan America's team? I think that a team cannot have that America's team distinction if they've had some run of national titles that make them too good. But at the same time, I don't think you could be talking about America's team as someone that's, like, four and eight. So Arkansas probably not going to be getting that title back for the second time in three years. America likes an underdog, not a doormat, I think. America's team, like, it's hard to just say it's a vibe, but it kind of is, in many ways. It's a fun team to watch in a given week because maybe they've gotten an electric offense, an unbelievable quarterback, maybe it's an elite defense. That's an appointment viewing. It can be a variety of things. It doesn't just have to be a team that puts up 50 points a game. It doesn't necessarily have to be the most likeable coach in America. But I do believe there's a certain threshold to meet for the head coach of America's team, just in terms of likeability. I think an unlikable coach can significantly hurt a program's chances of being America's team, because if you are flipping on America's team, you do not want to be disgusted with the head coach. And maybe that eliminates a certain team that one of us roots for. Maybe it does. I'm just saying. Maybe it does. I don't know. Well, I think it goes back to your point about like, okay, so teams, 'cause I was thinking about like 2019 LSU or like somebody like, even last year's LSU team could be seen as America's team because you have to have some struggle in there, right? Like it can't be in Alabama or Georgia. You gotta have remembered no quarterback. You gotta have remembered horrible defense. You gotta have that humility that makes you excited to play football, right? 'Cause like there is nothing like we always joke about joyless motorball with Alabama. That can't be America's team because the expectation is so hot. But part of the America's thing, like Monica or America's team is to overcome that adversity. You feel me? So like that's kind of the fringe of the best team that could be America's team in my mind. 'Cause like one of those teams that like, and I know I'm just using it as an example, you can even use Oklahoma like somebody older, once is this team with a horrible defense. They're overcoming themselves, right? Like you know they're not the number one team, they're not a wagon, they're not cooking everybody all year. Watching them is fun because you're rooting for them. It's not like, oh, they're blowing everybody up by 40. I don't think Georgia fans who have an argument for America's team for the point that we'll just mentioned. Okay? Yeah. You can be your own team and you know, maybe once upon a time you were, I don't think those days are current in which you can be your team. You can't be the evil empire and the plucky underdog. I think Georgia still might be a little bit in that transition. Once you won the second one in the row, guys, you're not the plucky underdog anymore, right? Agreed. You have earned, you have graduated out of that, okay? Yeah. It's a badge of honor to no longer be part of that, and you could still have a national fan base, but it just doesn't necessarily qualify for that. I think hatable fan bases can hurt you in the America's team discussion. I respect what Michigan is about, right? I can respect Michigan as a football program, but last year made Michigan fans go from probably about a nine in terms of annoyance level with me to about a 15. I mean, just-- Yeah. --in stufferable. You can't see eye-to-eye with that team's fan base. I don't know that they should be eligible to be America's team. And speaking of-- You know what's funny about them, though? They have almost tried, because I was looking at the list. I was like, do they kind of have an argument? The answer is no. But if you think about it, the way that they did the internal hire with more, the way that it's like they created a controversy and then used the controversy as if the man made it up. So that's going to be their vibe internally this year, for sure. It's like, nobody believed in us last year. We got this internal hire. So some of it is PR to a degree, but I think we're just not buying Michigan's pre-hour. Jim Harbaugh thought Michigan was America's team last year. Right. And everybody else is like, yeah, no, that's not really how this works, guy. Like, you're under investigation for a massive cheating scandal. We've consumed cheating. Trust me, like, there is nothing that captivates an American audience more than deceit. But at the same time, I don't know that that makes you-- We're approached deceit society if you deal that way. We very much are. We do, trust me. We love a good cheating scandal. But yeah, I don't think Michigan, being at the center of a national cheating scandal, made them America's team. And just any team that's kind of been engulfed in scandal in recent memory, probably is going to take you out of the America's team discussion. Don't exactly think Penn State in the early 2010s had a good case to be America's team. Probably going to be some pushback. Yeah. Some might argue that's a little bit of a preventative factor in your likability. I would argue James Franklin is a preventative factor with Penn State being America's team. But that's way, way different than what we're talking about. I also think that America's team should be one that Americans can watch on a given college football Saturday and not need to be on ESPN+ or finding that alternative CBS sports channel that shows the Mountain West. And you really have to know your way around your YouTube TV cable package or something like that. So that probably favors the core floor more than the group of five. So that's probably something that needs to be considered. But I do believe, at the same time, that there have been years in which Boise State has had a really strong argument to be America's team 2020 Coastal Carolina by the end of that season. I think they were America's team. They captivated the nation with a very uniquely prolific offense, which was Service Academy at Jason's. But they did it with mullets. And they did it with their own unique style. Like they were America's team in 2020. So that's the beauty of this discussion, Will. And it's kind of vague, kind of up for interpretation. I have the beholder. The vibe that you read from a team can make or break their status. And maybe part of this is a bit pitch me-ish, right? We're trying to make the case. And that won't always come out in the graphic. And when we do the votes and stuff, by the way, you dominated that last vote with best SEC teams of the 21st century. You absolutely destroyed me. So good on you for taking- I'm a bit of a homer. I go with what I know. OK, I love that tad. All right. Well, I knew I was cooked. I knew I was cooked from the moment we got passed round two. And you had taken, you had taken 2008 Florida. Yeah. Yeah, I was done zone. That was not going to be a victory free boy. But yeah, anything that we need to add to the qualifiers for who can be America's team? No, yeah, I think that's pretty much, you know, the feeling I imagine is like you cut on the game. You don't have to have like a jet flyover. You think it can be a small team. But you just kind of see the crowd and you're like, this is it. This is why we pay taxes. This is why we deal with our political race we're seeing right now. This is what being America. This is why we're sticking around. It could be a team in which you want to close your eyes and just transport yourself into that student section, that that crowd and a given college football Saturday. And you're like, man, I just want to soak that in. OK, that's that man. That's that can be so many teams across college football. I'm just now realizing where I just had like 10 teams under my mind that I don't even have on my list in which I would make that case. Will, would you like first pick for second two? As funny as it is with this one, I think I'm going to take number one. Oh, I am very, very surprised. OK, I definitely thought you're going to take second two, because I don't know that there's a clear number one. At least there wasn't for me. Maybe there will be for you. What do you want to start with? Oh, I think there's number one with the bullet. This is the old most rebels. Oh, OK, did not have old misses this in this on my big board at all, which just goes to tell you how all over the place this is going to be. Wow, OK, though. Yeah, so maybe tack clear here. But to me, this stands out just so far above. They represent everything. And again, we can talk. I'm just going to make a little caveat about the mascot. I've talked about the mascot that definitely for segment America, I'd get it if you don't order it for the Ole Miss Rebels. So I get it. Land Shark Tony. What's wrong with Land Shark Tony? Land Shark Tony, but point being, you know, like, that's the caveat. But if you think about what game day is, exactly what I just described, they're going to have the jet flight, right? Ole Miss is like, you know, buying Bitcoin in 2010 or something, because they have the facilities, they have the coach, they have the athletes. You know, they have the stadium, they have the tradition, they have all the things in place to be this amazing atmosphere ready to erupt. They're coming off of their best season ever. And like we just talked about, it's 11 wins. So no, they're not this national title contender every single year. They're a bit of an underdog story. In terms of the SEC, they had to go outside of their own state's laws to even pay their head coach. This has kind of been, you know, an underdog story throughout. When you think about Lane Kiffin being lured away by Auburn and staying put, we're deciding he was for the boys. You think about how he runs this, like a wholesome version of the Deon Show, where his kids are running around everywhere with teas and dogs, and they're dunking random footballs. It's a great time. So yeah, I think that if you imagine, like, if I were to go take a Dutch person and I were to say, hey, I got one Saturday to show you college football, I think the Ole Miss Rebels are exactly what I put them on the sideline. Next to Lane Kiffin, he'd be throwing clipboards. He would have a new gimmick every game. He might pick up dipping or something. It'd just be spitting that out while he's beating somebody by 20. I think Jackson Dart looks like the guy you would cast to play a college football quarterback in a movie. I think he's running back like, like, I want to do last chance, you, but with Ole Miss. I want to have all these guys from all over the country they've run through the portal. The portal video is sick. Their video team is sick. Have you seen the fire they're putting out from their video team right now? It's very good. And I think that's part of it, like, just how you're viewed in that sort of way with, like, everything that Lane does looks bigger than life right now and there are so few instances at Ole Miss, like, you know, Matt Lucara, in which I've thought to myself that program is bigger than life and Lane has elevated it to that status. I didn't include Ole Miss on my big board will because I thought Lane was too polarizing and I thought maybe he's a little bit too hateful, but at the same time, does Lane has a positive approval rating? He probably is more people that like him that hate him, I would say. I mean, I'm a hater. I'm an LSU fan. I used to hate him. I mean, I didn't really hate him. I disrespected him. I was like, hey, this guy's never going to win anything. I think after last year he's kind of gotten that off his back. And like we joked about with the bully graduating, same is not there anymore, you know? So at the end of the day, it's really kind of in terms of the top top of the SEC. It's kind of him and Kirby for who has been around, which is a crazy thought. So yeah, I mean, I used to, because here's the deal, like we've always said, this is my governing principle. If you're winning, that type of stuff is cool. He was not winning enough before, right? It's like through reverse Dabo. It's like you tolerate it when you're winning. For him, you think it's cooler when he's winning. He gets going, whereas when he's losing, the haters are louder. It's a good argument. It really is. And I'm now regretting not having Ole Miss on my board. I think I overthought that. I definitely think I overthought that. They have too many elements that are likable. And the title of America's team should probably go to someone that embraces the portal in this day and age. In 2024, that is definitely Ole Miss through. That's a really good start, Will, and I am now post-second round SEC 21st century team levels of concern with my big board here. Okay, we're in charge. Just when you make the graphic, don't put Ole Miss Rebels, please. That's all I ask you. Ole Miss Landsharks. Landsharks. That's what we're going to call them to be back to you. Definitely. All right. Let's-- I got two here. I'm going to go with Kansas. I'm going to go with Kansas. That's a good one. And it's not just the colors, although it definitely helps that you could probably just wear red, white, and blue, same with Ole Miss as well. And you kind of already look like America's team, you have America colors. Lance Leipel as America's coach just kind of feels right, because this man has taken Kansas to places that I didn't even think were possible. Top 25 finish last year, he's got a Buffalo in Kansas, a top 25 finish, which is just a remarkable feat. He denied interest in other jobs like Washington, and then instead of pulling the old Jim Schloss Nagle, he decides to actually stay true to his word and stays pulled with the old Jim Schloss Nagle. He's lost it. That's probably-- He's lost it up, man. Yeah. He did not schloss it up at all. And that's not to say that he's going to be at Kansas forever, because with all due respect to that program, and I know they have plans to be able to expand that stadium and do big things to it. But he's going to be a candidate at every major opening in the near future until proven otherwise, unless it's a Matt Campbell situation. He kind of fades into oblivion or something like that. But I think Lance Leipel just wired a little bit differently with his background. And again, this is for 2024, and Lance Leipel is on board for this upcoming season. Kansas is likely going to be a preseason top 25 team, Dark Horse candidate to win America's conference, the Big 12, Jalen Daniels, not Jaden Daniels, very fun quarterback to root for. He is a guy that, like, when I close my eyes and think about him, I think about that Liberty Bowl with he and KJ just going back and forth, and that game was incredible. One of the best non-New Year 6 Bowls, probably recent members just in terms of entertainment value, even if that was just a totally bogus targeting call at the end of regulation there to extend that game. That's neither here nor there. Last year, well, Kansas was 60 second in the country in talent composite. And Jalen Daniels goes down in September, season adding entry, right? That is not the ingredients for a breakthrough season. And instead, Kansas wins nine games. They beat Oklahoma, ended an 18-year losing streak against the Sooners. That was a huge, huge deal. They rushed the field, you can picture Kansas as this likable team that, yes, even though they have the basketball fans, and there's probably a lot of people listening to this saying, you have to talk about the basketball fans in the overlap there. Maybe that hurts Kentucky in this argument as well as people think, oh, it's the Kentucky fan base. They're kind of all the same. But I love Kansas as America's team, just because they kind of check every one of those boxes that I would look for. You got a silly little mascot and made up. Like if you're going to make up an animal, that's such a wild place to start. Yeah, no, I fully, I had them third. I fully agree with you. I think they are just a every time I've watched them play, it's been electric. Like I feel like that Oklahoma game was nuts. I feel like Kansas has found a way to kind of beat like Texas and Oklahoma on the way out. They've been this little like plucky underdog, but to your point, they found kind of their guy. You got to deal with that every year as far as the coaching searches. But that's just how the sport goes when you're winning and you're that type of market. That's what it is. But yeah, I think that's honestly the only thing quote unquote going against them is the permanence of it. But it could just be a situation where live pole loves it there. They hang out in the big 12. They compete for it every year. That would be the dream. That's what college football starting to kind of lose. So yeah, I think that that's a good example of just watch a random game there. They're a good game to watch. Overcoming adversity Kansas football through and through don't have to make the case for it. Okay. The last mile survivors. Yeah, very much so and bro, the recent scandal doesn't apply to Kansas football. Not in a traditional sense. There was a whole buyout thing before that before Lance or before a less mile showed up, but the less mile stuff was always you related so we can we have set. Okay. Do I go with man, this is tough. Do I go with team that I just don't want to leave without or do I go with a team that might be a little bit more polarizing for this discussion? All right, I'm going to go with the team that's a little bit more polarizing calling a little bit of an audible. I'm going to go with Oregon. I'm going to go with Oregon here and I think there are different iterations of Oregon that might make the the person listening to this podcast pushback any sort of skeptic about Oregon is the third overall pick. My second pick would probably point to a couple of things, one of which being dummy. This is a preseason top 10 team. We're talking about trying to root for an underdog of sorts. They recruit exceptionally well under Dan Lanning. They spend on NIL, they spend in the transfer portal, they've got the Nike backing. Nobody looks at Oregon anymore and thinks underdog. They actually haven't spent on coaches the way that one would think, which always surprises people. Dan Lanning got a raise to get to seven million bucks to not go to Bama. Allegedly didn't get offered that Bama job making that. That's almost pretty. No, Benables money. Hold on. Exactly. He's essentially on the Brent Venables contract. All right. Which, look, if you're asking me who would I take, I'm taking Dan Lanning over Brent Venables, with all due respect to Brent Venables, and the thing about Oregon, perhaps more than any of these schools that we're going to discuss today, it has a national brand in large part because of the uniforms and the Chip Kelly era. But think about this, the biggest pushback probably to Oregon as America's team has been the resistance to the uniforms. It's not traditionalists. If you are someone that loves Alabama and Penn State and Michigan uniforms, you probably don't like Oregon. But that concept of changing uniforms all the time, doing different things, it's not new anymore. See, so many teams do that. So where Oregon is kind of more of the trendsetter to where it's not as hateable, maybe as it once was, where it felt so unique and so different compared to the rest of the country. So I don't really know that you can be like, "Oh, well, they come out in a chrome helmet. They don't have a single piece of green or yellow on their jerseys. I can't root for that team." I think that's just a little bit different now compared to what it was 10-15 years ago. And I think the other pushback for the casual fan, a traditionalist, would have been, "Well, the Chip Kelly offense, they're all about speed and it's more of like a finesse team." Dan Lanning's teams are not that. They will punch you in the mouth. They will play exceptional defense. At least they did last year. They didn't really as much in your one. But I understand some of those Pac-12 teams still hate Oregon. Okay, I'm not denying that. They have teams that hate them for sure. But only three of those Pac-12 teams are with them in the Big Ten now. And there's almost like a new group of teams that will maybe learn to hate them but haven't learned to hate them just yet. If you want to root for a team with a legitimate chance to win it all, but you can't stomach the idea of rooting for Ohio State or Georgia or Texas or even like a Bama or somebody like that, Oregon is America's team for that because they've never won it all and they haven't made the playoff in a decade, which is kind of weird to think about. You always think like they've been in that discussion, they haven't made the playoffs since that first year, of course, Marcus Mario to they made it to National Championship Lost Ohio State. And I'd argue the Dylan Gabriel angle of this, even though you're more of a Dylan Gabriel guy than I am, he's a guy that's trying to end this prolific college career with a national title. And if he does that, like, I think there'll be a lot of people that are really on board with seeing that kind of play out. So I think that kind of adds to the America's team discussion. Maybe a controversial pick, a bit of a role the dice here for me to go with Oregon, but I feel like they are worthy of this discussion despite the fact that they're going to be really, really good this year. So I got it. If this were pitch me, I would have to declare this because I've always hated Oregon. And it's not because of their uniforms. I hate how new money they are. I hate that like Oregon, like there's a stat. I don't want to like look it up necessarily right now because it's not what this is about, but they had more 10 win seasons after Chip Kelly got higher than before it. And I feel like Oregon has gassed that everyone into thinking that they were like this historical power for at least like in the conversation with Washington, USC, UCLA. And I think what gets me about them is that they, like I said, it's the way they've moved lately. It's like you got your Phil Knight money. So they have kind of like, like I said, gastulous and then not thinking they're underdogs. Now there's lots of like, I liked, they turned it on board next last year. I like doing Gabriel. He's a little bit more polarizing to your point. I think Dan Lange is really like, well, that's the thing is that I think that Chip Kelly was super dooperatable. And that's why I was like kind of anti them. I respected him at the time, not so much anymore. But I, I think that like to your point, it's like you almost have to watch modern Oregon play football to get it because they have actually rebranded themselves. But because they're national brand is such that it's always about like the new thing, trend setter, they're really not like people don't process that. Oh, wow. No, this is actually a very old school team when you watch them play. So on that side of it, I'm open to giving Oregon another chance and being like, this is a Dan Lanning team. This is just a Kirby smart team junior. If this wasn't Dan Lanning, I don't think I'd be making the case for Oregon. But I think the average fan can look at what they've done the last couple of years and be unbelievably impressed. So again, it's a little bit different than like the plucky eight and four nine and three type team. Maybe it's 10 and two sneak into the 12 team playoff. It's probably going to be considered different than a lot of these other teams that might be the true outlier on this list. But I do think that there are so many likable pieces of Dan Lanning's version of Oregon. Mm hmm. We got well. Cool, man. Okay, so I'm going to get one more kind of a good team and then we're going straight to chaos. Okay. And you've heard me talk about kind of both of these teams. I'm happy that I ended up with both of them. The other was in the zoo tigers, man. I had him. I had him at fourth on my board. That's a good pick. Yep. So and I mean, we've talked about him at nauseam. I know drink his name by this cup of tea. So that's almost started. I'm going to declare this stuff people don't like, right? So I know, you know, they've had some rivalries, like within the SEC, every SEC team is pretty hard to be like, you know, another fan base's favorite because you're directly competing with them. But I truly think that both Ole Miss and Mizzou succeeding are kind of independent of everyone else. Like they're really not like if you're Georgia or if you're an LSU, if you can't beat these teams, getting portal guys, you need to reevaluate yourself, right? And that's the thing that's been so cool about how drink has built this team is he's built it the right way. We've talked about it. You know, good guys like Schrader, good guys like Berden, Brady Cook, who could forget that the Van Wilder of our time has been college forever. And so I think that like their kind of leadership, the way that they have had, you know, losing the army, again, they're all time true perspectives. Like having the place where drink was this guy that was definitely from the outside looking into the SEC. He was not part of the cool club. Yeah, he beat Dan Mullen, but again, welcome to it. And then suddenly last year, they have these just amazing way, they just want to get to Tennessee. They just want to get to Ohio State. It just keeps going. And you look up and down this roster and it's not these, you know, five star guys. They have a couple for sure. They've picked it up with the portal and, you know, they've wore wis and recruiting and the way they've done their team building as well as their coordinators. I mean, having Blake Baker turn around their defense, having more like turn around their offense, I think that it's been a real like adapter die thing. And the thing about drink, like if you were to criticize him, it would be the fact that like, like the concept, like he's kind of like unaware, right? Well, in reality, how he's built this team is the exact opposite of that, right? It's the fact that he's looked himself in the mirror and said, Hey, maybe you're not Mr. do it all. Maybe you're not a dude who can recruit and coach and be a coordinator. Maybe you need to step back and do more recruiting. Maybe you need to step back and be in charge of kind of the big picture stuff and that's personal growth. I want to see that here. So I think that we, we kind of love to have a equal and diverse SEC as far as it doesn't need to be one team at the top that we've seen. And I think that Mizzou is a really good example of that because again, a lot of the rivals like Kansas is not an SEC team. Like if you're, if you're a Mizzou fan, you were banging like, we all like Kansas, well, that's kind of like your own thing. We don't really care about that to be honest with you. So there's not really like maybe Florida doesn't like them, but that's again, that's your own fault. You shouldn't have lost to them. Like that's, that's the main thing. So a game this year, the game was right there. Yeah. Point being, I think they're not hatable almost at all. They're kind of quirky and fun and the things that are lovable are a lot to love. I agree. And I was hoping to be able to get them with like my third pick, but I think that you, you hit on a lot of the key points there. You might think that drink doesn't necessarily meet that threshold of like ability. I would ask why do you think he has false confidence because some of that is kind of the American way. Is it not? A little bit of that bravado, he certainly has that and has that a lot more as we talked about with his two seconds of fringe, but you're right, America's team should have an element to it that makes you want to tune in. And there's no question that that offense with Luther Burden, Brady Cook coming back for his 18th year, like there is just a lot to like with what you can see from a zoo in a given Saturday. And it's the fact that they haven't necessarily dominated and who knows, maybe if they had been the team that got to a national championship in 2007 and somehow won it or something like that, if they hadn't blown it, then we'd be talking about them in a different way. Maybe that would have impacted them differently getting into the SEC, but you know, I think you could make the case that this team should be very likable and very fun to watch with the fact that Kirby Moore is their brother of former America's quarterback, Kellen Moore as well. Come on. So you got some America's team ties there. This is a really good pick and your draft is fantastic so far. I hate you. They're going to be goofy after this. I promise. I had to get the good teams fairs because people know about them. All right. Let's get weird then. I'm going with Arizona. I couldn't leave this draft couldn't leave this draft without Arizona. Different shade of red, white and blue, some would say you got to stick in America's conference for me. And I'm glad that I at least have two teams from America's conference so far. There's more to come. America's quarterback is no, it just is. There's no need to add to that discussion for me. You know about that. America's duo is Fafita and TMac, shout out Island time. You know that this team is one that I love watching on Gibbons ball Saturday. The fact that they have this underdog angle now going to the big 12 and understanding that it wasn't necessarily leaving in the same way that Oklahoma and Texas left the big 12 for the SEC. They kind of were more of the proactive but not necessarily the instigators with realignment discussion because remember Washington and Oregon left the Pac 12 and then it set off the chain of events where Arizona and Arizona State were right after that going to the big 12. So I don't really know that they have that like oh you're the reason college football is such a mess and why we can't figure out what realignment is. I don't know that they get dragged for that discussion but I love Arizona as America's team in addition to the underdog angle for going into a new conference. You have a coach that just left you. Judge Fish is off to Washington, at least for a bigger and better job. Brent Brennan steps in as someone that I think Arizona fans are really excited to be able to kind of see what it's going to look like somebody that has had kind of a long name. It is an alternative one. First cousin of Colt Brennan who, yeah, the late Colt Brennan, once upon a time, America's quarterback don't dig in too much to his personal life just more so the offense that he played the way that this team could operate could be very similar to Mizzou where I think they're going to put up a ton of points on a weekly basis might be frustrating on the defensive side of the ball with the pieces that they have to replace but you could probably tune in to Arizona see B roll of a beautiful campus that just always looks unbelievably well manicured and stuff like that. You can watch a fun back and forth game that goes down to the wire, a little bit of that packed well after dark feel and unless you're a friend of the program, Matt Barry, notable Arizona state grad, do you really dislike Arizona football? I don't think so. I think they're a worthy third pick for me fifth pick overall. Yeah, one of my coworkers went to Arizona and I didn't realize how wild of a place Arizona is. They have a T-Rex at their own campus McDonald's Connor. When you say they have a T-Rex, dinosaurs have been extinct for a couple of years. Yeah. A T-Rex that is one that stands next to the structure of the McDonald's on the outside that looks like a real T-Rex. Okay. Yes, I think it was related to like a promotion, maybe with Jurassic Park but like they just have a giant T-Rex, they are such a funny, funny institution that we really do not talk about enough. All the like, just like the scandals corner of what Arizona has had are just very stupid basic like B and C double A stupid type scandals and like it feels like about every year something actually kind of happens when Arizona but we don't really put them all together and as I like talk to my coworker about this, I'm like, this place is crazy. This like no repeat is a great example like the guy like every once in a while they will have actually pretty much every year. They have a player that you're just like, huh, this guy is super duper fun. So yeah, I think especially like, oh man, RIP Pac-12 after dark, but they'll be playing after dark because that's how time zones work. So it's always nice to have one of these like night cat games, which is like a chaotic school like that. I think that's cool. And you could have Gronk on the sideline just being Gronk in an unscripted setting in which he's not going to be hopefully miked up in saying something that is just so frustratingly awful and I'm not a Gronk guy. I'm actually not. That probably hurts him in this discussion. I just think that all of his commercials are terrible. I think he's like the worst actor in human history, but people are just like, oh, he's Gronk. He's so fun. To me, he's like, the USA A commercials with Gronk, I mute them every single time. Like he is terrible at this. He's good at being an entertainer, being funny, but yeah, just throw Gronk on the sideline with like an Arizona basketball jersey and just flexing into the camera and something like that. That's all we need. Okay. Scooby. Come on now. Good point. Good point. Notable nickname. Nick Foles. Look that one. We're done. All right. Who's your third pick? Well, so this was like I said, it's completely off the board, but I think it deserves it. The Texas State Bobcats. Okay. Okay. Look, I'm a big Texas State guy this year, Jordan Cloud, JG Kinney, gosh, I didn't think that they would get picked here because I included them in our who they'd be best to start a dynasty with, but that's wow. Okay. I did not expect you to go in that direction. Texas State. Yes. So Texas State is kind of like if AI generated a college football team, right? So I'm a little bit biased. My girlfriend did go there and I've been to their campus and it's a very, it's a surprisingly beautiful campus. They have what UCF has been trying to get for years, a lazy river, they have like, it's a very sick, like, like the university students just like get on tubes and they like float down this little place at San Marcos. Super cool. In terms of their vibe, like they have like that Texas star that we all used to draw on our notebooks. That's like their logo and their bobcat is just a silly little guy, like their social media teams. Very funny. And like to your point, like JJ, yeah, JJ Kinney is like a former UCF slash Eagles guy who has like really got them on the right track. He obviously could have taken a bigger job after the season and the great things they were able to do. But of course he did. Whatever one does when they get serious in college football, bring in TJ family. And that that to be makes this incredibly funny because I want to see that dude in like year, what do this be like five just in the middle of nowhere in Texas, riding a lazy river. I want to see like because there's something about football in Texas, you know, and the Longhorns will never be America's team because they're way too polarizing. But I think you got to encapsulate some of that like Friday night lights vibe of like, you know, when the sun starts setting in the Texas sky as George Strait once said, you know, and you can go take in a game, you can go be part of this like new kind of like atmosphere. Yeah, like a lot is made about, you know, a team like we talked about like old myths or like one of the older teams where it's cool to see everyone when you're in a stadium like this or a place like this, everybody there wants to be there. It's not like their grandma went there. It's not like, you know, whatever pop pop went there. So I think they're going to be a super duper fun watch from your couch for sure. And like I said, they play in a beautiful place. I think they're coach like it's going, their coach for sure is going to be a guy that we look back in five or six years ago, wow, like that, like this, I wish we could have watched more of a Texas state, you know, GJ Kinney, somebody that I suggested for as a potential Arkansas candidate, I'm not trying to dunk on your pick here because I'm a Texas state. I don't want to say apologists of a Texas state supporter. I'll say that. But, okay, would it change your pick knowing that TJ Finley is no longer there any transfer to Western Kentucky? Dang it. He sure did. Well, I said they went on got him. That's what you do. So this is a job because he stinks. But yeah, I think it was good last year. He was great last year. And then he transferred to Western Kentucky, he's playing in another prolific offense. Yes. No, they got the guy from James mess. They got your own cloud. I said draw him a cloud. There we go. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, and that's the thing, like they're using the portal consistently. You know, my Texas state depth is not that deep, but I do know those couple of guys as far as that's what you got to do, you know, especially if you want to be an offensive team that makes a splash, you got to go get these guys that have a story that everybody can rally behind. So yeah, I think I think it's super cool. All right. Texas state, the diehards will know the diehards will know that might help you on in the poll. All right. Okay. Where do I go? Do I go with one that's obvious? These are so similar. All right. I'm going to go with Utah. I'm going to go with Utah. I feel like I've taken Utah every single year in some, well, I've at least suggested them because we've obviously never done a draft for America's team, but I've always mentioned them in the discussion for America's team last year's original winners of America's team. Look, as long as Kyle Cunningham is there, they're going to be a candidate. And I realized the day they named their coach in waiting to see Morgan Scali, very unique to have a situation like that, where you can actually name coach in waiting. I know Kentucky did that a little bit ago. Other programs have tried. It doesn't always end up well. I don't know that that makes him more or less likable, but it's just a reminder that Kyle Cunningham has been there for a ridiculously long time. A healthy Cam rising has the ability. Again, it just has the ability. I'm not saying that he's going to outright win this title, but Cam rising can be America's quarterback if no fafita for whatever reason doesn't pan out, you know, transition into the new offense is a little bit different. But I do think that Cam rising being healthy for a full season is something that anybody can get on board with didn't really like the shadiness last year with the fully reconstructed me, you know, talked about that before, we were led to believe that he could possibly play against Florida, he ends up redshirting and missing the entire season. He's never playing. That's actually, I started to pick this up the other day. That's actually a great amount of gamesmanship that we were really up in the air by like, well, rising plays, if he doesn't play, that changes my pick, like hold on. And then I was like, he just never played. Yeah. Cause I mean, we didn't know that he, like you think it was just torn ACL and then, oh, we know he just needed to replace his entire knee. Right. Yeah. If we had known that we would have kind of been like, yeah, I'm not gonna go come back. But yeah, the, hopefully the health of the knee is able to hold up. I think if he's back, he's a modern A version of another legend in the state of Utah, certain Jim McMahon, very similar style who by the way, I didn't tell you this, I'm 90% sure I saw Jim McMahon at O'Hare the other day and didn't say, bro. Yeah. I didn't say anything though. I thought about going up to him, but I was, it was the pre boarding. I just need to like, go and get like a water or something like that type of, you know, just something to be able to have on the plane. And so I really was caught off guard for it. I was looking for a Gatorade zero, very unsuccessful and finding one. And I passed by and it was a flight to Wyoming and I'm almost like, I almost went up to him. And then I realized I didn't have a line ready to go. I would have just said, Jim, is that you? And that would have felt really, really weird. Unfortunately did not turn into a Brian McCann situation where he engaged me and we became buddies. Those situations are one of one. But anyways, Cam rising, he plays the game like your dad thinks quarterbacks should play the quarterback position. It's tough as nails. If you hate the Caleb Williams style of the Gen Z quarterback, Cam rising is your guy. Okay. And the fact that those two guys kind of butted heads very notably after that packed whole championship a couple years ago, that kind of speaks to that. And also kind of winning him is probably your guy. If you're more of the, of the, the purest, I want to see college football played in the trenches, none of these spread it out. Type offenses. No, we want to run the football. We want to play defense. He's a top 10 coach in the sport. That's why he was drafted so high and our non SEC coach drafts. He's going to retire there. You can turn on a Utah game and see one of the most scenic, beautiful venues in all of college football. And like our guy Derek Peterson said, probably the only knock against them is how confident their fans are that they're just going to step into the big 12 and run things. So that's why I didn't take them even earlier. But chances are like, I don't know about you. I'm not seeing a bunch of Utah fans in my local grocery store, Publix. Not exactly crawl with Utah fans are probably not interacting them with them as much. So yeah, they are favorites to win America's conference. I think they can regain their title of America's team. Gosh, I have one that like, I'm thinking first off, first off, first off, yes, I fully agree with you there. Like Utah, I think it goes to kind of the point earlier of like, we're a CC fans, whatever Utah fans have going on, they're not talking to us, like just to be honest with you, it's like there's some element of like, oh, you got to really each other, people? Not really. So yeah, I've not had any bad experience with their fans. I think that their brand is super cool. I remember watching them be in Alabama. I have only positive thoughts around the Utah youth. I'm actually, I think we both were like, we were like trying to like size each other up. And like, this pick was right there. This is a really good one. This probably put you ahead. So like, yeah, I think, I think they're super fun to root for again, they have a consistent brand despite all the conference realignment and yeah, it seemed like they just kind of, they seem to just kind of does things the right way, like they just kind of build internally and they don't like get frustrated. Yeah, they are, you know what, no, I'm not going to say this because I don't want to tip a pick. They could be, they could be selected here with one of our last few picks. I won't, I won't tip a pick. Who is your fourth pick? So you, you have two picks left to make. Oh, man, you're going to, you're going to tear you up for this one, but I actually, so this is off the board for sure, but I actually love this team, right? Because our burnt Bila moose, Illinois fighting a lion eye. Oh, okay. Okay. You tell. So let me tell you why. This team has been an absolute just like enigma since he took over, right? When you talk about like that weird like 10 over time game, they had to get to Penn State. We talk about having, you know, Tommy DeVito and I don't know, I just realized this reading this hand up. They had the number one scoring defense in America in 2022. Yeah, their, their list of offenses that they faced weren't particularly good. They did. Right. Like really, really close to winning up in Ann Arbor that season, but 2022, I saw them play their last game of the year, because I was at that whole game and gets Mississippi State up to a live quest bowl first game without leech. And that game without Chase Brown for Illinois was, it was excruciating to watch. Yeah. And the offense there was so unbelievably bad in Mississippi State, like didn't score a touchdown. Still like two minutes left in the fourth quarter or something like that. And it was just a true grind. It felt like a big 10 game that missed to be state one. Yeah. And like I'll say this, like here's what's beautiful about them is they have that amazing shocking season in 2022. And then last year, you know, they pick up Altmire, they go five and seven. This year could really be anything in between. And that's why I love this team because the breath be able to experience at this point, who's to say we know they got to carry Franklin. We know they got like some dudes, but that's the thing they talk about Chase Brown. They're also a team that's always kind of found the guy. So like I personally like, I obviously have no connection to Illinois. You're close to it that I am. But every time I've turned this team on, I have either been laughing or cheering over the last two years, and I'm really fascinated by what they're going to put on the field this year. Because truly it's like, what are the expectations of this job? What are the expectations of the appeal of where the expectations of the defense at this point? Because they were so good and then they fell to 96 last year. So yeah, I mean, I think that like, if you look at it, they've actually been like shockingly pretty good in the portal. They've been able to like kind of get some guys, like a Terry's Brooks from Texas. Yeah. So I'm, I'm just fascinated to see what this tape, this team is it's definitely I could have gotten them later. It's a wait and see, but I wanted to kind of run you through why I will be tweeting into Illinois this year. That Bila my coaching America's team makes perfect sense, very much so extremely relatable dude. I don't know how many dudes his size are just rocking to that much orange on a weekly basis. But it's so funny, man, it is a great site. It is. And even seeing Brett like at that post game press conference a couple of years ago was just like, Oh man, I miss this guy in the SEC, I really do. Yeah. Illinois is one of the most forgotten about teams and all of college football, all of college football. And that's probably because as we mentioned, uh, with JD Pecal when he came on with the juice Williams reference, their best season was that 2007 season and then they, or they beat Ohio State and then they lose in the Rose Bowl to USC. But I am someone who is 34 years old. I am the son of an Illinois graduate. My brother was supposed to go to Illinois and like summer before he was about to start college, he ends up getting a scholarship offer to play baseball about bereso. So it's like how I'm going to do that instead. That's a sure thing. So I have consumed Illinois football from a distance, but also with people that have like a rooting interest. And it's so unnoteworthy. It's almost more likeable because of that, you know what I mean? Like there is an element here that similar to Kansas in which it is a basketball school through and through and when they are bad, it feels so bad. It feels so unbelievably bad, lowest of low core four type program. But the fact that they actually have an identity right now that's kind of fun to be able to turn tune into on a weekly basis. And they're the type of team where if they're playing in a dog fight against Michigan, like they were a couple years ago, you're tuning into that game and you're like, let's go. Let's pull off a miracle. Let's see what you can do. So I like that pick. You talked me into it. I don't think that's going to get pushed back. I like Illinois here. It's the all time sickos team. I feel like I had to have like one sickos team that was like, Hey, I got the big brands. I got all that. Now, here's the team I'm going to be daddled into that I won't be able to talk to anyone about because to your point, not people, but more people should be watching them because it truly is a box of chocolates. Like I said, I've seen right below, but in specifically a fighting ally, and I uniform, go through every Rachel motion over the last two years. And I truly, like I said, I feel like, yeah, there have been mission game pinstake. You're like, they've kind of been right there in some of these games. And yet, you know, we really don't know how to handicap this season going in. We don't know if 22 was a fluke. We don't know if 23 was regular. So yeah, I feel like at least for first couple of weeks of the season, if they do turn out to be bad, then maybe I won't turn it on because to your point, it's not an offensive team. But watching a bad offense with Brett Bealeva in the big 10, pretty fun, in my opinion. Actually, I think it's so funny that it's worth it to be 14 to seven game. We have fewer and fewer of these gems and Illinois truly embraces that. Okay, let me end my draft with another team that embraces that. Maybe the team that embraces that more than anybody in human history will, I'm many of my draft with Iowa. Perfect. Correct. Americans love farmers. Americans love the wave. Americans love elite defense. Americans hate Brian Farance and now he's gone. So that's good. Do I need to say anymore? Because Iowa has been at the forefront of the America's team discussion for the last 15 years. Iowa has been a candidate for this since Ricky Stansy stepped off that orange bull podium. Because if you know what I'm talking about, it's a YouTube clip. You can go watch it. It's about 35 seconds. But when Ricky Stansy is asked one of the most awkward questions in human history for that setting, he made himself probably a lot of money with just the state of Iowa in general. But he made Iowa a yearly candidate to be America's team. So if you don't know what I'm talking about, Chris Myers, after Iowa wins the Rose Bowl, beats Georgia Tech. He asked the question to Iowa's starting quarterback, that's what Ricky Stansy was. He says, "I know you're from middle America. Do you feel like sometimes you're representing more than just a school or a conference, but maybe an entire group of American citizens out there?" Which Ricky Stansy to his credit said, "Well, of course. I mean, there's nothing better than being American. So this is the greatest feeling. If you don't love it, leave it. USA number one." Look, we probably interpret that differently. We interpret that differently in 2009 than 2024 just probably. The fact that that is just always part of Iowa's identity, even when they insist on producing the single most maddening offense that one can imagine at the core four level, that is still, in my opinion, what I close my eyes and think of Iowa football. Again, I've mentioned this before, but the fact that I have two buddies, two of my best friends, went to Iowa and root for Iowa still, I still feel like I am very much locked in to what they're doing on a weekly basis. I do think that they'll be better on the offensive side of the ball, so they're not going to make you totally pull out your hair and say, "Why would you make me root for this team?" I think that Iowa with Tim Lester, who did decent things at Western Michigan, as we mentioned with the playoff prediction pod. I do think this offense will be better. The only way to go is up, even if Iowa doesn't punt at an all-world level this year in a post-Tory Taylor universe, I still think Iowa can be America's team. Yeah, this is one I definitely left out there, and I think it's destiny for you to choose them. I think last year they pretty much, I mean, I actually think last year probably they finished out as America's team. When you really like start, I think that it was fun to watch, but then as the weeks kind of went on in the days when I was like, "Oh my God, can I keep doing this?" And then we were all just locked in. And that's the beautiful thing to your point, is they really can't get worse at offense. So they're going to be, I think, fundamentally, the inverse LSU. It's like, "Well, if you're right, a hundred, you're completely in a better place than you were last year." Even if you're defensive and however you measure it, top five, top ten, again, the offense is not as great they played, but they won the games they needed to win. And I think that's super, super cool, and I think that they've punched him up the weight class pretty much our entire lives. And they've gotten like, you know, a couple of the better recruits lately, but I wouldn't call it a trend necessarily. So yeah, I think Iowa is right there. They're definitely like an STR team that we probably like slide a little bit. Yeah, I think with them in Utah, you're definitely picking it up here. tight end university, that is Iowa, I think the offense being one that is very blue collar, not getting those elite recruits, but the caden proctor saga makes some more blue collar than ever, losing that battle in the way that everything played out. I do think that Iowa is a team that even if they aren't necessarily quite as sickos committee as they were last year, can still be very much in the running for a team that anybody can turn on on a weekly basis. And if that's your brand of football, they're like, sign me up. Let's go win a game 14 to 10 in 30 degree weather, you know, in Lincoln or something like that. Okay. Well, Rhonda, sorry, so this one might win you the draft, but I just have to include them. Do you see F nights really? Okay. Okay. I understand. I understand there are fans are annoying. I have best friends with one of them. He's one of the most annoying people I've ever met. I get it. What people don't understand about this team and this is my very simple pitch to all of you. We are in year four and this fan base still has an opportunity to be educated about Gus Mauson and it's the funniest, most rewarding thing you'll ever see in your life. These fans will get on Twitter legitimately confused at Gus Mauson being Gus Mauson because their education of college football started like 10, 15 years ago. And I'm sitting here going, guys, yes, of course, you beat your biggest rival. You'd show back them in the middle of the year. You look like a top five team for a day. You shut down Ollie Gordon. You did all this stuff. Yeah, they played over really well down to the wire. Yes. They almost beat Oklahoma. Yes. But then you have, you know, the Baylor game. Then you have the Baylor game. And so I think all of everyone like we have the Scott Frost UCF, Josh Hypog, UCF in our minds. What we need to understand is that UCF fans have signed up for a horror, like, picture show that they don't fully understand yet. And that makes this team incredibly fun because you know what's going to happen better than everyone in the stadium is the best way I could describe it to you. This is a team that, like I said, on a given week, imagine Gus Mauson and Auburn. Okay. Now, imagine the team that he like chokes against is Navy, which is a real thing that's happened numerous times. Imagine instead of, okay, he's going to go beat Alabama. He's going to derail Ollie Gordon's eyes with campaign. They're now playing an America's conference, the big 12. Oh, he's going to save Devoranda's job at Baylor. Like the every week is an experience at UCF. You can get there. Like you can get in that stadium for you know, I'm saying like 20 bucks or Lando some sets beautiful. The bounce house is really cool. It's like a good, like, and I'm not saying this is a good small stadium. Like they know exactly what they are. The fact that the, the, the stands bounce up and down is super duper cool. KJ Jeffersons over there. Everybody even mentioned KJ Jeffers. Only the lead on that one was waiting forever for you to mention that. Goodness. Well, KJ Jeffersons was sculpted out of clay for Gus Mauson. He is the guy that he thought Jeremy Johnson was like KJ Jeffersons. You got to warn Auburn fans before you bring that name up. Come on, man. That was, he is, he is like obviously cab dudes, cab dude, but outside of that, there's never been a quarter record. It's just, well, come on, what do we talk about with Gary Danielson of comparing KJ Jeffersons to Cam Newton? Even, I'm saying there's, because here's the deal, Cam Newton is a cheat code. Okay. KJ Jeffersons also has Gus Mauson's flaws. So I'm not, I'm not saying he would ever like, I'm not comparing with you. I'm just saying that, like, Cam Newton is Cam Newton, but this is the quarterback who is most fitting to Gus Mauson because Cam Newton was so good. He could mask the flaws. KJ has not been. Okay. You were going to get some games at the KJ that he looks like a Heisman candidate probably. You're also going to get some games just like you did just like you have over the last couple of years where it's just like, this team probably can't throw the ball. I don't understand what's happening today. Oh, they're going to run for the 300 yards. Like, that's the crazy thing is that this team evolved like an amoeba and then they just save over their game the next week. Some weeks they're throwing for like 300 yards. Some weeks they can't throw forward pass. And that was like, that was last year too. So I don't know. I'm fast. They also got a Jai Hall like the fact that Gus Mauson has found a way to, um, you know, like, dude, their DC is Ted roof. He's brought him in the fact that he has built like this Gus Mauson light team. And again, like the thing was always, Oh, well, he's going to adapt. No, he isn't. I'm here to tell you right now Gus Mauson will never adapt. He's going to hire Ted roof again. He's going to bring in like four quarter racks that are your OC and not give him really any power. The fact that you can just, even as Auburn fans go watch Auburn from like two thousand, you know, 15 or 16 just loose in the wild in the big 12 is my favorite thing in the world because like I said, just the, it's America's conference and they could very well win it. Connor, that's the other part of it is that the defense that he has built, the recruiting he has done. Nobody talks about their defense. It's awesome. The, like the way that they have kind of built like these guys and they lost their DC to Arkansas. Like, like he has built this pipeline on defense, but everyone's fascinated with the Gus offense. So yeah, I think that's, that's the, the, the cool draw about UCF. Again, I know their fans are not great on Twitter, but their team is awesome. The vibes in the stadium are great. Orlando's a really cool city. I think that watching this team is going to be, I know I've gone for entertainment after I got my safe ones, but like watching this team is going to be like, like the inverse of why I picked Illinois, they're chaotic, good in a way. Like they, like when, when Bert is bad, it's like very stuffy. When Gus is bad, it is like a supernova, but when he's good, it changes college football and Gus is like top five and guys, the change college football since we've been watching. And now you can just watch him smoke whoever in the big 12. It's amazing, dude. It's a good pitch. I do think there are a little bit more sicko's committee than America's team. I'll say that, but America's team making the transition of John Rice Plumlee to KJ Jefferson is something I can get on board with 100%. The volatility is always going to be just as Gus Staple and I'm here. Yes. I'm absolutely here for that. The entertainment value is, is unbelievably good. The fans on Twitter, man, they're, they're still Beetlejuice. They really are like they are, they are out there. I swear and this was before bots became such a big deal with transition with Twitter and all that stuff, but I swear there are UCF fans that just search UCF all day. Yep. And they will respond no matter what you say about them, they are going to have an opinion. Your opinion is probably wrong. You're probably disrespecting them. They are as loud as they come. If you write anything related to UCF, even if it's like a down the middle take, they will find a way to come out and attack whatever you're saying and probably ratio you to death, even if it doesn't want it. But that's the best part is like I said, they are still not coming to grips with the fact because, because they have been put in this very interesting crossroads here, which is that to acknowledge that Gus Malzon is horrible in bowl games, a weird preparer doesn't change his game. That takes away the magic of that 2017 win. So what they can't do is be real about what Gus is, because then we start going, how have you lost a Duke twice at UCF in bowl games? Like then, so like that's the funny thing is that it used to be under Scott Frost and Josh Hyple that they kind of had a point now it's like, oh man, if I really get into an argument with you guys, I know it's coming next and you don't. And that's the most fun part of this whole thing is like, wait till next week, dude, like they were in 2022, they were like in pole position to win their conference and they just lost to Navy and then, and then to lane and it was like the fact that they were that they were like, they beat Cincinnati and it's just, it's, you guys have all seen it. You get it at this point, but it's the fact of like, every game is a chance to win, every game is a chance to lose. I love it so much, man. Okay. Yeah. I think that, gosh, I'm surprised some of these didn't get picked, I'll be honest. But at same time, I got, so I got six, my, I got five of my top six on my, on my big board here. The only one I didn't get was Mizzou. I had, so let's do, let's do some honorable mention here. I had Virginia Tech as well, not just because of Under Sandman, which is incredible. And if you're going to be America's team, you should probably have just this unbelievable entrance, but should be a really solid, like on the rise team under Brent Pry, kind of run by, you know, run in a different way than I think, like, you know, I think we, we think of Virginia Tech in a very specific way under Frank Beemer and like, you know, what they were in the early 2000s with Michael Vick when they very much were America's team and, and much, much different program now and the hurdles that they're facing, plus their OC is Tyler Bowen, 34 year old Joe Morehead disciple. That doesn't hurt. Of course. Rutgers as well. Um, outside of Tennessee fans, how many people hate Greg Shano? You know, James Gandolfini thing, they are the Italian American team of college football. No doubt. Wait, what is the James Gandolfini thing? Hold on. James Gandolfini is, uh, first of all Rutgers grad class of 83, shout out. They used to do, they used to do commercials with James Gandolfini, the late James Gandolfini. Yeah. And where they would be like, there's like a commercial with Greg Shiano, first run at Rutgers with James Gandolfini sitting down at a table and a fan comes up and is like, Oh, I'm such a big fan of your work. Like, can I get your autograph and everybody seems for James Gandolfini and then they like pan to a younger Greg Shano, who looks like he's 25 and this and he's like, Oh yeah, happy to help. And that was probably, it, that probably came out late 2000s. I would have met like, I mean, there were 2000, 2007 that was of course when they got up to number two in the country or whatever that was. And that's, that's, there's something that's always likable about the Greg Shiano version of Rutgers. I don't know why it feels very blue collar. If you're looking for an East coast team, which those seem to be dwindling for whatever reason in that region of the country, probably a team that people can get on board with and just they've been an underdog for, for so unbelievably long. I mean, they just had their first winning season in 10, in nine years since like 2014. So it should be better this year. Don't necessarily have like those big headliner matchups, unfortunately, with like Penn State and Ohio State and Michigan, they miss all of them. So you can't really do like the, Oh, they're going to knock off a big power and big 10 or something like that. I don't know why Rutgers is, is worthy of that discussion that people just kind of like rooting for Shiano. And then who else I have, I had two lane as well, I'm trying to say two lane better because Hester says it two lane and I want to say it, like how Louisiana and say it. And I don't think I do because I say, I usually just say two lane, but I should say two lane. I just always just say like a two lane highway. Yeah. It's, it's okay. Two lanes cool. You know, like it's like like lately they've gotten a lot of buzz is the way I put it. Like they look very, very, very cool down when I was here, like where we were talking about two later ton, but I will say their branding is by your, it's like kind of the best in the country. Best uniforms in the sport. If you're buying a random team from home field shot, home field, you're probably buying something too late and related. And they've been really good and got a new coach, obviously, with John Summerall after Willie Fritz kind of finally gets that core for a job going off to Houston, could be a fun team to root for with Ty Thompson, quarterback finally getting a chance after transfer from Oregon. So want to include them. And then I included SMU in this. Okay. The teams that can inspire some nostalgia, I think, with a different generation. That's my type of nostalgia right there. Yeah. Like the, obviously, you know, the Pony Express teams, like we, if you haven't seen the 30 for 30, what are you doing? What are you watching? Just right now, like pause this podcast and go watch it. It's that good. It's the best 30 for 30 that's ever been made. I think that the, the transition that they're having to the ACC, some might look at that as like, oh, that's kind of weird. They're not as likable in this new conference, new identity, but the, if like, if they're good, which people are expecting them to be, and we all of a sudden get the talks of the return to the Pony Express days down the road now that they have, you know, the funding to finally be in a core for conference, that could be part of the discussion. People also just love Rhett Lashley. Do you ever notice that people love Rhett Lashley? If you suggest someone, like, if you make a list, I remember, like, I made a list of candidates for Arkansas. I was like, why didn't you put Rhett Lashley on there? It's like, well, I didn't do that because he's now at, you know, a, now, now he's no longer in the group of five. So it's a little bit different, but he was just really liked that dude and we'll go to that forum. So, um, included SMU here, also red, white and blue. And then George's attack was the only one I had, the only other one that I had because Haines King, that's, I just love Haines King, I'll never not love Haines King. And probably a little bit more sick of his committee quarterback than America's quarterback, but just a fun dude to watch. And also, if you want to watch a team pull off one of those big time upsets and you're like, oh, this team is up against the ropes. Like they play FSU and Dublin to open the season week zero, Miami, could they, like, quiet the Miami noise just like they did last year with that wild sequence where Miami should have kneeled it and they didn't. And then, you know, they played Notre Dame, they played Georgia. So they have those opportunities there, opportunity to kind of be that up and coming under dog, create chaos sort of team, um, George's attack. Anybody else that I should have included in this? See, I love Jeff's like this because yeah, our listeners are completely different. I didn't go, oh, this definitely makes sense. And like, that's like, you'll be a little bit more like down in the college football, as far as like the like the transfers and stuff like that, like those are all good points. For me, um, yeah, I think Duke is a pretty interesting one. Um, many Diaz, uh, Murphy, I think is going to be a very cool. The thing is like many Diaz, I've always said, there's like a victim of Miami. Like I think that he, I'd never hated him. I never reasonated him. He was a great recruiter. He's a cool guy. Um, I just, I, he kind of got redemption at Penn State's coming back at Duke. I think that's pretty cool. Um, I was either going to obviously pick this team or UCF had to pick one USF. I think with our boy, Alice Golish is going to be super fun there. The reason I went UCF is they're going to be a little bit harder to watch to your point. Like I already had Texas State. I had one too, like off the board ones, but I think that we already saw the coming out party against a very good offensive coordinator, Tommy Reese last year. So I think they're like, you know, it was a, they're, they're already kind of here, but I do, we have, that's, that's really a saving situation. Whatever AD is doing there with basketball, football, even though baseball team has been pretty solid, it's really underrated, like how their renaissance has happened. Um, and then finally Wisconsin, man, we haven't even brought up Wisconsin. Yeah. I thought about that. I thought about. Yeah. We haven't even brought up Wisconsin. I, after having Mordecai, return Mordecai, like shred my team last year, I've just, that was a wild, wild offense to watch, especially against that defense. But yeah, I think that we're kind of still in that wait and see mode, right? You know, they worked great last year. Um, so watching like a bad area of offense is not fun at all because they just get off the field quickly. Um, but I think they're in like the, that next year of like, we'll look at them probably in 2025 when they can get their feet under them. But I think that like we, we talked about it a lot. The air raid and kind of like that longer style at Wisconsin with those fans would jump around. I think it's going to be massive, but maybe not quite this year, you know, I almost included them. And then I think my frustration of Tyler Van Dyke impacted that. Yeah. They really did. Everybody's just wanted him to be good for so long. And I still am like, eh, you're including him on these lists of like best quarterbacks in the country, top 15 quarterbacks, something I'm like, what are we doing? Yeah. Let's let's actually see it play out for an entire season here. Um, but Wisconsin's a great choice for this going camper and all. I always talk about it. It's one of my favorite venues in all of college football. Jump around is one of the coolest traditions that there is in all of college sports. It is fantastic. Don't get up there in late November. Get up there when it's like early October, you get that ball chill, the tailgating scene is, is second to none. So incredibly unique. Uh, I love Madison Madison's cool place. That's a, that's a glaring omission on my part. I'm kind of mad at myself. I'm mad at myself that I didn't include Wisconsin for the Tyler Van Dyke reason and I'm mad at myself for, for not including Ole Miss because of Lane being too, too polarizing in my mind. But I think you had a really, really good draft here. Um, gosh, I like a lot of the directions you want. So let me, let me recap this just to set the stage. You had Ole Miss, Mizzou, Texas State, Illinois and UCF. I had Kansas, Oregon, Arizona, Utah and Iowa, a lot of middle, middle America team. I didn't go too middle America heavy here. We got it on the coast a little bit. This is going to be a good, this is going to be a good one because there's reasons to hate like, like I said, I don't like Oregon. Most people don't like UCF. Like there are some teams in there that are very polarizing, same deal with Ole Miss. So I'm, I'm fascinated to see how this vote turns out. Yeah. We will have the poll out there on the Saturday, on South podcast Twitter account. So please vote, let us know of any teams that we forgot. All right. Let's take a quick break before pitch me and let me tell you about our YouTube channel. 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We have talked about so many different ICC storylines and have lots of great content with unique people in college football. So if you have not already, just click that subscribe button Saturday down South on YouTube. Go do it right now. Pitch me with Texas and Oklahoma coming to the SEC this week. Thought it would be a good time to ask the question that many are asking. Will Texas or Oklahoma be better in the SEC? And look, it's on a ways you can go with this, it's why it's kind of good for pitch me. It's obviously not something that has a very distinct answer as we sit here and talk about it entering their first full school years in the conference. And I left it open ended because even though this is a football show, I'm interested in kind of all the different arguments for it. And if somebody wants to make an argument related to non football sports, I will certainly hear it out. But I mean, it could be anything, it could be fan culture, it could be future success, it could be what have you done for me lately, whatever the best pitch is. I think there are a variety of ways in which you can make it will, when you see this discussion come up, who do you think is going to be better in the SEC? For me, it's hard not to go just look at what 2024 can hold, but do you have a lean with what you think the answer is long term? I think that we're just at two different points and two different guys coaching careers, right? Because Sarc, I mean, that's the thing is that we're not looking at all the other Sarc stuff right before this stop. It's the fact that he's kind of a veteran and that he's, we've seen what's right in front of us. Now, who's to say that preventables can't be that guy? I think is the thing, right? And we talked about that a little bit when we talked about his extension. I think pose pose for immediate success is going to be Texas for sure, just based on last year. But again, who won that game last year? So I think I think it's a really fair question. And basically, if you're a Texas fan, you're hoping that last year was not the peak of Sarc's career, which to this point, it's been. And if you're an Oklahoma fan, you're thinking, well, this certainly isn't the floor, Brett Viville's career, Brett Viville's career, because he's gotten better every year. So yeah, I think we're at a really interesting crossroads right now. We are. And I think it's okay to judge them with a different set of expectations for this year, just in terms of football, because of what Texas did last year and because of what Oklahoma is still trying to be able to get back to. And look, I think that while Oklahoma definitely has bragging rights over Texas, because when you win that game, that that that matters for 364 days. It truly does. But at the same time, Oklahoma's coming off of three consecutive seasons in which it didn't go to a New Year's six bowl. And we're asking these questions about, all right, well, how is this, this, and this going to translate? What's it going to look like for a team that's got a regular season over under seven and a half wins, as opposed to Texas, that is very much in the preseason national title discussion. These things can change. Maybe they will change. But it's interesting hearing the arguments from fans about which, which are more suited for it. Because if we had done this, well, after 2020, 2021, maybe even this time last year, I think Oklahoma kind of takes it in a bit of a landslide. And it's a little bit more of a fair fight now after what Texas just did by getting to the college football play off at least in that final year, the big 12. Yeah, I mean, it's the whole bit about Texas being back, but they might actually be. That's the funny part is that I've never believed it until kind of like now is the first time I've been open to considering. And of course, this is the time that matters the most of the last 20 years outside like the Mac Brown years, because it's like, yeah, if you're Charlie Strong right now, you would be in big trouble. Like you would really be like lots like it would be an embarrassment to the state of Texas where it's right now. It feels like, and I always change them. I think that's a pretty fair thing. They're the ones who have benefited probably the most in terms of, okay, we'll get into that. I'm not going to tip the hand too much. But yeah, it's very interesting for sure. Lamborghini is per capita. It's definitely changed them. There you go. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Let's start with this one from Paul Rake. This is from Saturday on South Instagram, by the way, you should go follow that right now. Paul Rake says, sure, Texas could easily turn into a dumpster fire, but do have some things going for them. One, Sark is a top three coach in the league from the outset. Two, Texas has outstanding recruiting base in the Dallas Fort Worth and Houston metro areas. Three, the quality of Texas high school football is as good as any state in the country. Like two and three are one of the same. That's okay. Four, Texas has one of the largest alumni bases in the country. Have Texas should have superior access to resources than any other SEC program because Austin has multiple varieties of super rich people, tech moguls, big shot real estate developers, traditional oil barons. I would include the comedy scene as well, a lot of people in that area, I don't know that they went to Texas, but that's certainly an area in which Texas has a lot of money coming in and out. Look, I think these are really good points. I think the only thing that I would question is, what does it look like if that's a little bit more relegated? If we do try and get to a place where it's not so much about just strictly NIL and unlimited salary cap, and then there is a little bit more regulation to that, does that neutralize a lot of the things that Texas has working in its favor? Some of those things definitely does, but what's not changing, the Texas recruiting is still such a high floor razor. It should be that that's why the decade that Texas had was so dumbfounding, but that's also kind of why it's not a guarantee that Texas is just set now during the 2020s is because you had that. You had those resources. It wasn't like those went away, but bad decision-making, bad evaluation of talent, lack of development can still hurt you in these areas and it hurts Texas, I thought at that time when Oklahoma was thriving. So, look, I think this is a really good pitch, but there is definitely a little bit of pushback on, okay, then why haven't you always been this? Why did it just take until 2023? Yeah, this is about as many words as a pitch could be without me being furious at something. So, credit to them for, yeah, I mean, to your point, yeah, the recruiting braces in high school football is kind of the same, but I do get the differentiation between, like basically, one of them is at every level, like 1-8-U-A-3-A-4-A. It's all really, really competitive and they're great players that come out of there, so I get that. Yeah, I think that Texas is always a talent, right? Now, we can talk about, you know, how they've done the draft and all that, but they've always done great in recruiting. I think it's just about leadership, right? Which half of that, or 60% of that, that never really gets talked about is, you know, Mac Brown did a great job with those Texas boosters and we saw, kind of, during 2020 with the eyes of Texas and all that, like, they have a booster group that really likes to be involved in Texas football and they've run into the ground before, kind of, the last couple of years. So, I think that when you have that leadership, that weirdly, Steve Sarkisian of all people is providing, you know, it really does matter. I think now that this, kind of, not a new generation, because boosters are pretty old, right? But this modern generation of boosters have gotten a taste of winning. It's just like Nick Saban in Alabama, in a way, right? Because that was seen as a job that was unfixable because the boosters were all over the place and there was expectation. Well, now that you've quieted those people, suddenly, like, you know, Bijon is a great player. You know, we can go back and look through the rosters and these great guys that they've had over the years you've been going back like an Earl Thomas or something, like every year, they seem to have not just like a fun guy, but like, they have dudes on this roster. And so, yeah, I think it's converting that talent into production. They have a good Exist knows coach who can do that. And if things are, if there's more regulations, I mean, number one, the cats out of the bag, number two, it's not going to stop them from cheating this Texas. True, true. Yeah. I mean, it won't necessarily be cheating in that sense if you're coming over the top with NIL, yeah, the Austin factor of having different varieties of, you know, revenue streams of different areas of wealth is probably a part of the self for Texas. It's probably a self for why they can not necessarily have to worry about Alabama coming in and poaching Sark. If he looks at all his surroundings and says, yeah, this is good. I've navigated kind of what this is like with the boosters, which is very, very unique. People always talk about that similarities that Nick Saban dealt with at Alabama when he stepped in there. And he pretty much had to look in that room and say, I'm running the show. Not you guys get out of my way. Difficult thing to navigate at Texas with that money. It doesn't always work in your favor. It can sometimes be a hindrance. I felt like it's been a hindrance at times. The leadership is everything I grew through there. So the first point that he made top, Sark is a top three coach in the league from the outset. Probably agree with that more than I disagree. So that's a that's a good pitch. That's a good start here. Let's get. I'll say really quick. I'll go ahead and tip to, you know, one thing that's really underrated about Ohio State is how massive of a city Columbus is. And if you look at what Georgia has done in approximately Atlanta and you look at what Texas has can do going forward with Austin, those are truly limitless places, right? That's why Ohio State is ourselves a little bit bigger than like an Arbor and Arbor is a college shop. Columbus is a city with an NHL team, you know what I'm saying? And they're all focused on Ohio State. They deal with Austin. Austin is a little bit more of like a hippie-dippy like, like they're not locked in the college football in that same way that Columbus is. But those are fair weather fans and you can turn those people on your side. And that's why the ceiling of a place like Austin is just always going to be, especially in the NHL level, higher than a place like Tuscaloosa outside of something with like Nick Saban. You know, in some ways, yes, they do push back on that to a certain extent of like some of these places that are in unbelievable markets, it's like, all right, then why aren't they awesome all the time? It's the USC and UCLA not being able to get people to their games because there's so many other things to be able to do in LA. You have the big market, Northwestern, same sort of deal with Chicago and it's like, I don't really like looking into that as like, oh, this is why you should be good because of this town and because people would rather be in this town than that town. But I do think that the Austin, like Austin feels like a very unique place in the college football landscape. It does not feel like typical small town college type vibe and it's got a lot more things working in its favor with the college part already kind of established in, you know, in that it's very much an identity, like a big part of the town's identity itself. Okay, the Oklahoma pushback, we knew we were going to have that as well. That's part of this. Be Horton 9, who says, Oh, you easily sarking it. So this regard, everything we just said. Okay. Nevermind. Brent Venables, we'll call it a poop sandwich at our guy, Horton says, to walk into and is only secured three top 10 recruiting cycles in a row is currently out recruiting Texas despite them going to the championship last year and had 10 wins in a second year as a head coach. He did better with worse in year one than Sark did year one. He did better than Sark did in year two. That's a good point. And he will do better in year three and on. Don't forget that Oh, you just beat Texas injuries have been the downfall of Oh, you the last two years point year one was, uh, was D G was dealing with your two. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I was trying to think of like other things. D G could be. Yeah. Dylan Gabriel makes a lot more sense here too. It was half of the defensive starters. Now, Venables has the depth to be able to overcome injuries. Oh, you has the much tougher schedule. You're one in the SEC. So we'll see how they do, but if they could sneak into the 12 team and beat Texas two years in a row, that would be a very elite year for them. Outside of my belief that Sark is it, the rest of this pitch is really good, in my opinion. Yeah, it is. There's something to be said for the point about, well, look what Venables did in year one and he still gets, I shouldn't say still get to six wins. Like if you compare the year one that Venables had to Sarks, year one, it was better. The year two. Yeah, it's, it's better. What's to say that year three won't be, you know, just as good, different making into the 14 playoff as opposed to the 12 team playoff, Oklahoma, and the year three schedule that Brent Venables has is even tougher than what Texas had last year, despite the fact that they had to go to Tuscaloosa. This is going to be fascinating to watch if that trend continues because the recruiting is such a big part of why Venables got this extension and the way that he has quickly been able to turn around the identity, even if the overall rankings don't reflect it. The point that you brought up about how those recruiting classes are built up and that they can go out and get the big time defensive lineman is different than what we have come to know during the Lincoln Riley era. And that is why Jokus Dignon was so willing to go out and make him move like that and then made his thoughts very, very well known about Lincoln Riley, not wanting to be at Oklahoma as it ushers in the SEC era and taking a nice dig at him. This is going to be so pivotal for this discussion though because all those points are really fair. And if you're telling me that Brent Venables can't be that guy, I would give you this pitch. I would say this is the argument though. And if we're talking about what are the things that gets you to that place, the place that Sartre got to last year, yeah, you've got to be really good schematically. You've got to have a guy at quarterback. Well, if Oklahoma has those things with Jackson Arnold, a guy that was also a five star coming up. And if you have that on the defensive side of the ball with a guy that schematically knows what he's doing, then that's kind of the recipe for success when you can recruit and actually do things in the portal as well. So this is a really, really good pitch. And for those that just kind of scoffed at Oklahoma, I would give you a lot of the things that were said there. Yeah, I mean, I guess I've never really thought about how these two teams currently are constructed with respect to one another. You know, the thing that made me fall in love of college football is kind of like the tri-wizard tournament from Harry Potter, right? Well, you have these, I'll put a fire. What up? Yes, yes. That's my favorite Harry Potter movie because you imagine, you know, you got the French Academy, you got the Russian Academy, they're pulling up and they have like the way they dress and the way they talk. And like Texas, and maybe you think about it, you have this guy, you know, Steve Sarkisians has been seen as this kind of like untapped potential. He's kind of like the OG Lane Kiffin, right? Where it's like, okay, you're Washington, you're at USC, you're Alabama, you're at the Falcons. Like you're always like, you're a smart guy. Everyone can acknowledge you're a smart guy, but it's about your composure, your temporal your temporal stuff. Well, Texas is like, let's go take a, let's write the check, let's take a risk on this guy, right? It's paid off for them. Oklahoma is the exact opposite. And of course, it's a defensive guy. That is Oklahoma through and through. This is his first head coaching job. He has not had those reps to kind of, I hate to say mess up, but that's what Sark did, right? He didn't have, he has no tape on him versus like bad tape that Sark brought into this job as far as his head coaching resume. So yeah, I, I bet these are the two most different coaches, honestly, in a rivalry. It's almost shades of like Saban and Gus, because it's like, what the minimums represents is blue collar, hardworking, no, you know, no glitz and glamour, no headlines, just put your head down, do your job. And Sark has always been a little bit of a, not, he's not a headline guy to the degree that Kiffin is, but he's more of like, you know, he's going to go recruit arch manning. He's going to go bring in these guys that he's receivers and stuff out of the transfer portal and just to kind of make a splash. Lamborghini is like, Brit Venables would look at a place in a Lamborghini. And I think that's why it fits these two places. So perfectly talk about Austin, big city, Texas money, Oklahoma, Norman Oklahoma, college town, kind of like middle America. So yeah, I, I love these two pitches back to back because it really shows why, you know, both sides are really committed to their guy. And from that standpoint, yeah, you've got to measure guys at their level, right? So what this is making me realize is that I think we should probably start measuring these two coaches against each other probably in 2025 as non fun as that is, unless we really see something surprising out of Oklahoma, because Texas is just a year ahead in their progression. And once you get to where you can, it's all about getting to where you can really open it up, you know, like, like Brian Kelly is still kind of getting to the point where we can open it up because the defense has been so bad and then build his own system. And now, you know, Texas last year was able to open it up. They had their guy. They had their system. They had their coaches. They had Vodavis. They had all this stuff. Now it looks like this will be the coming out party for Oklahoma and I'll be in the SEC as they noted with a hard schedule. So it's, it's kind of, they're kind of locked in to where Texas is going to be a little bit ahead of them because they have all this stuff in place. But at the same time, this picture right here is making me realize, wow, the recruiting is better than such a good point. We don't, we don't, we talk about the Lamborghini, we talk about such recruiting and archmending and all that, but the real grit and grind recruiting, as we talk about printables is doing that a little bit better. So when you can develop those guys over two and three years, now it starts to get scary. You know, it starts to be an equalizer, you know, the poop sandwich that these coaches inherited, which again, my words, not his, um, they're different for this element that needs to be remembered. And Sarc comes in after Tom Herman has actually kind of a decent season, 2020, but I think Texas just kind of got to that place where they felt like they saw the ceiling with him and it wasn't at the level that they wanted it to be yet. And so that made this desire to move on from him a little bit different. And I think with the situation that Sarc inherits, that's post 2020 at a time before the transfer restrictions are kind of dropped. And that was not until he's about to start his first year with the one time undergrad transfers, whereas Oklahoma with the transfers that they had to do with post 2021, that's what that established and that known that, Oh, if you're an undergrad, you're going to be able to get into the portal one time and then, you know, post Lincoln Riley, like they had to deal with that. So I do think that is a different situation to inherit the one that Brent Venables had just because of the timing of that rule. And while he had a really similar year one to the year one that Sarcad Sarc didn't get to the bowl game, Venables did it, we do probably not, we should probably take that into consideration more so and at least acknowledge that because I do think that's a different thing. I keep bringing that up over and over again with these teams that have the 30 day window now of what that's like to just have teams pick apart your roster and you can have a Caleb Downs that just leaves your team that would have never left the team 10 years ago, but that's just the way that this kind of all all breaks down. So important to remember that as well, but that's those are those are two good pitches to start and obviously very opposite ends of the spectrum. Well let's go to this one from JD Dale, Oklahoma, no, it's just JD Dale, just JD Dale, JD says Oklahoma, Oklahoma period, right, Oklahoma period, one double digit season by Sarcad as a head coach, not just at Texas, they haven't done much in 15 years doubt they start now. The counterpoint is what if they do, what if this is another playoff season then Texas is in the back, that's what we have declared. If Sarca reverts back to the guy that just can't do it with that talent, the guy that gets into his own way, and this is an eight and four season with that schedule, the 180 that we're going to do on him is going to be significant, it will be. I don't anticipate that because I believe in this Texas team, I believe in the way that he has built it, and I will always say, while I would always push back on the pre-emptive crowning of Texas, if they were going to truly be back, this is what it would look like. This is it right here, with the way that they have built it up, with the way that they have recruited and now finally found that right exes in those guy, this is kind of the model for them, it's always been the model, it's why they hired Tom Herman. This is what it was supposed to be, and so to say like they haven't done much in 15 years, yes, very, very true, and Oklahoma has undoubtedly been the more successful program and winning as many big 12 championships as they did during that stretch when Texas goes from in between the years 2009 and 2023 to not have won a big 12 championship is wild, okay? I don't know how much those 15 years matter anymore, I don't, I think it's a different set of circumstances that we're talking about, and if you're telling me, oh, well, if they had done this in 2012, that would change the discussion, I don't think it does. So the doubt they start now, they just started, they just started, unless this was a total one off, and this schedule will show us if Texas can handle the pre-season pressure and navigate a very favorable schedule and get to the playoff and be in this national championship discussion, I don't think you can keep saying that anymore if you're an Oklahoma fan of doubt they start now, I think that would be kind of proving that wrong. So this is a version of this pitch, so like if they made this pitch, they'll give it a specific example that I feel like they should have the Houston game protectors. So we really have not seen this team, I'm just playing the levels advocate here. They wouldn't invite me to beat Nick Saban, I fully get it, I've been on that page, like I get it. What I was going to say is, you know, I always make this joke about like, you know, even the worst SEC team, if you got to go play Arkansas, their stadium is full and their throw and stuff at you. And if that, if they played, you know, Arkansas instead of Houston, that week, they might have been in trouble. And so that's the only thing I would say about the one Iota of like, like the greatness all that I would put with Texas is that Big Ten schedule does allow you to take your feet off the brakes. Big 12 schedule. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. That was just two sentences that did make any sense back to back. Let me rewind that. That Big 12 schedule gives you a chance to like kind of rest on your laurels a little bit of this. He doesn't. And again, these, these two guys kind of very different schedules. So I'd be pretty frustrated if I was Oklahoma, but yeah, I think that even just having the trap game, right? Because when you lose a rivalry game, that's a rivalry game. There's really no coming like there's no saying we didn't care about that. There's no saying like you cared about that, but don't pretend you didn't. It's a big deal. So that does give you a little bit of pause. That's the biggest kind of like, well, wait and see, is that in their head to head, Oklahoma and there were moments for Texas, even against, you know, like TCU in 2022 where it's like, you guys just don't again, can't move the football. Like what's going on here? Cause we've seen the clips of Sark like when he was the OCD Alabama and it was like you did a running wide open. We haven't seen that as often. I feel it. Texas. I don't know exactly to why. Maybe that's being part of the bigger savings system and having other coaches around you. But I would say the ability to separate yourself from the average teams and do what Georgia has done and consistently just smack those teams is pretty hard to do. So yeah, I think the consistency is definitely a fair question for Texas. But to your point, they already proved the doubters wrong about like start now. You already started Texas beat big 12 teams by an average of 17 points last year. That's, that's what it's supposed to look like, man. Yeah. And I know you can make the case, oh, they're playing a dog fight against Wyoming. You can find these examples with the elite teams where you can kind of nitpick and not every single, not every single team is going to be out here at 2019 LSU, where it's just, you don't even have a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter against that. Right. But that's what I'm going to look like in the big 12. They were not beating teams by 17. They're being teams by 20. They're being teams by 30. Like the, the Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, those, those Oklahoma teams were smoking teams in that conference. Yeah. I think it's, we saw Oklahoma ceiling or felt that we did. And some would say, well, that was a Lincoln Riley thing. Well, we saw kind of at the end of the stoops era as well. And it felt like we, we saw their ceiling of, of what it could be. It's just stopped being the, the Oklahoma defense that could win a national championship. And that was obviously a hindrance. Whereas Texas, I think part of the entry is the feeling that you haven't seen the ceiling yet, in part because we haven't seen Sarc bust out the offense that looks like what he had at Alabama and what if he starts recruiting like that and he has a 2020 Alabama like offense at Texas. And that's why I think there's a little bit more of this like, well, you know, we don't feel like we, he has maxed that out yet. Whereas obviously Oklahoma fans would disagree and they would say it was just a one off. That was just a flukier word. All right. All right. Speaking of Alabama, got an Alabama fan, Alabama fan here from Evan Steiner who says, I think Texas will be more successful than Oklahoma. Favorite pockets go a long way. They just, they spend on other sports as well. The notion that they won't necessarily, like they, they won't necessarily be able to come over the top and spend an NIL stuff. I don't know, man. I put nose. Right? Dominic Williams, real well, yeah, I can't tell me, you know, you've had this. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know that the money so much is, it's something that's going to sway me just because there are counterpoints to that. White, I mean, if we want to really hit home here, Texas A&M is the ultimate. You can't just have money discussion. Money doesn't, you know, buy total happiness when it comes to college football. It just doesn't. So I don't know that the deeper pockets argument can be it for me. It certainly could be part of it. But if we're just talking about straight cash homie, I can't just say that Texas is, that gets said a lot in our house will, like a surprising amount and not just from me and not just from Rudy. But Lawrence has a fair amount as well. Straight cash homie is just a good way to end any sense. Yeah. That's facts. And I think we're kind of hitting on it too, which is that, yeah, money and I matters more than it ever has. But again, ask Miami and Texas A&M. You still got to run the plays and, you know, kneel the football. But I will say it comes out of leadership. And I think the ability to have the leadership who can activate that. So nothing new here. But I do think the money part of it is, I don't think to your point though, it's like if Oklahoma was really backed into a corner, like if Texas was just like, all right, we're going to pay for individuals $20 million to come be our DC, like I think they could find a way to figure it out, you know? The Schloss poaching certainly enhances the argument that Texas just has more money than God. Although you know what? It wasn't like they came over the top and made that crazy of an offer. That guy just did not want to be a Texas A&M. This is the story here. That's really what this comes down to more so than Texas is just going to write people blank checks and, you know, not have to worry about because their baseball stadium is not good. Like that's what goes underrated in this whole thing is like, it's kind of like AstroTurf. Yeah. So let's take one of the labor gains back to the dealership. Anyway. Yeah. Now that is a good point. Let's end with this one from Bob Ward, $7,000. Bob says Oklahoma's built for SEC football, Texas will get there eventually, but we'll have a couple of six, six and six seasons ahead of them. Buddy, if Texas goes six and six against this schedule with this proven talent, we're having wildly different discussions, wildly different discussions. The notion of Oklahoma being ready for SEC football is going to continue to be a thing until they eventually get to that place where they are in the preseason national championship discussion. I think Oklahoma fans would tell you they are not in the preseason national championship discussion. If you are ready for the SEC, you are ready to compete for a national championship. Those two things are synonymous with one another. And I know Oklahoma fans will push back on that question, but that is why it's being discussed that way and until you actually can emerge from the SEC, a conference that has produced, that has had its champion, the SEC champion, has played in a national championship game. What is it now? It's 2006. Let me do some quick math. Sixteen, now the last 18 seasons, that has happened until you can emerge and do that. That is why we will always relate those two things. We don't hate you, Oklahoma fans, but we just asked that question because you're not at that preseason national championship contender level just yet. Yeah. I think that it's interesting, right? Because as I start to think about this, it's like tenables does give me kind of like that almost like a and like hear me out here because I know the vibe on these guys isn't great now. But really think about what they did, like almost like a rich or like a like a early less miles where it's like, I feel like you're going to sit around nine or ten wins. But the years that you have it, like you really have it. You know what I'm saying? You're going to like the floor I feel is a little bit sounds insane to say this out. Wow. But with the way that especially like losing Bo Davis and like the ability to just turn anything into diamonds on the interior, I think that the brand of football, Oklahoma is building for could be more recession proof, like they could be less susceptible to a five and seven season going forward once they get their guys in just because so much of what Sarc does is based on, yeah, they're aligned, play their D line play, but the receivers, skill positions, quarterbacks, that type of stuff. And I mean, building gave you really great things last year or two, I'm not taking that away. But when you're a defensive head coach, you just don't take as many risks. And I think that that's something that pretty consistently like with these two, the variance is going to be a lot higher for Texas. And I think that if you're Oklahoma, yeah, you're used to winning 11 games a year and getting smacked by SEC teams in the title game. But what if you've been playing SEC teams the entire time? That's what you got to remember. So, yeah, it might be disappointing to think like, wow, you're winning percentages, you know, not even close to what stoops, you're right at least was. But I think the ability to just not embarrass yourself and be eight, nine, ten wins. And then when you have the magic, you can go out and win a playoff game. I can kind of see where they're going with there. I have these teams going are combined. Let me think. Let me do some quick math here 21 and three in the regular season. So I'm extremely high on both, okay? I am. I have Texas going 12 and O in the regular season, getting to the SEC championship. I have Oklahoma going nine and three and being part of that playoff discussion. So when we say which team is built now for it, I'd look at those two things and say, well, they're both kind of built for it. And if they do those things that I'm projecting, then both will live up to my expectations, both will exceed those expectations. It's going to be interesting beyond. And if we just looked at it for the rest of the decade, I'm sure this conversation could change two or three different times over the course of the next five years, where I feel like we have figured out and then they go in opposite directions, that stuff happens. It just kind of nuts. So I won't necessarily say that there is a definitive answer, even if I do think that Texas is more built for the SEC in year one, right? Do we like, and this discussion is for pitch me. So I think we have to decide between those first two pitches. I thought I was originally going to go with the first one, but I think outside of the SARC ain't it, apart from B1 and 9, I kind of think I like that pitch a little bit more up, the side by side, year one to year two comps, and remembering what Vanibals inherited and the recruiting stuff, there's a little bit more nuance to that with the exception of saying SARC ain't it. I fully agree with you. I came in thinking that number one was going to win in a runaway. But then I feel like I didn't, because we're splitting here, so we're both great pitches. But the first one, I feel like I didn't really learn anything necessarily, whereas the second I'm like, damn, this guy's actually really making, he really did kind of convince me. I'm like, wow, the recruiting has been better, the records have been better, head to head, okay, this is what a pitch is actually kind of supposed to look like. And he came in, I was joking about the amount of words without me being mad at something. He came in to offer it hot, just double on SARC, and the fact he was able to turn that around within the context of this pitch is actually really impressive. Yeah, you, you convinced a, a pro SARC guy that a pitch with the words SARC ain't it is our way. Oh, you easily. SARC ain't it. To come back from that is nuts, actually. Some would say that you started with a poop sandwich, turn it into the best, the best pitch that we heard today. All right. It's going to be your thing. I'll give it a straight cash, he'll be just like, got a straight poop sandwich. I don't know what's, what's going on, well, how's your day going? Well, you know, it started with the poop sandwich and just kind of had to work my way through it. You know what, just made the best of it. We're just like this pitch though, to your point, started with the poop sandwich ended up with gravy. Exactly. Exactly. We're going to have a lot of Texas and Oklahoma coverage from SEC media is that's what our guy Derek Peterson is going to be doing for us. So if you're looking for more of that, your Texas and Oklahoma fan, I always tell people just bookmarks Saturday down south.com, just add that to your rotation. And I promise you, you will not be disappointed. So much great coverage that we're going to be doing coming down the pipeline. Got some things, some potential things in the works for the season that we're figuring out that we're going to be doing with them. But if you're an SEC fan, you're kind of sick of talking about them. I would say just kind of embrace it, embrace the new, embrace this new world of college football that we are living in the SEC. If you have not leave suffice our view, subscribe to our YouTube channel, where you can watch every single episode of the started on South podcast, follow us on Twitter @VSCSPod at SetdownSouth @CZOvira at Go So Hard. Thanks guys. Talk soon. 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Happy Independence Day, America! In honor of the 4th of July, the guys drafted America's team (2:00). Who made the cut? Who did we leave out? And most importantly, who had the better draft? The guys close with Pitch Me: Will Texas or Oklahoma be better in the SEC (1:13:00)?
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