(upbeat music) - Hey, what's going on? This is the Saturday on South podcast. I am, I don't care. No will today, so be a little bit shorter. Will is actually in Indianapolis for his day job doing WNBA work. He is in Indy for the Caitlin Clark Show, so he will not be joining us. He will be back next week. Great show coming up. Great, great show. We have RJ Young joining us in a bit to discuss his ranking of all 134 FBS teams. And then I've got some fall wedding thoughts because for whatever reason, there's still somehow discourse about that. And we haven't come up with the definitive guidelines, or at least in my opinion, the definitive guidelines are a little bit too black and white. But first, a question. Am I a Jackson Dart hater? I'm gonna call myself out of it. I've realized as the off-season has progressed that I believe I'm still not as bullish as the consensus opinion on Jackson Dart. And I'm asking myself why that's the case. I'm legitimately wondering out loud, why am I not willing to just jump on board with some of these takes that I've heard about him? Or at the very least, I think that whenever someone I respect in this industry speaks about Jackson Dart, I'm the one who's usually pulling back a little bit. We said our QB draft will got him. I didn't get him. I was a pick away from getting him. I went back and I saw him at six on my big board. So probably not the best look that I didn't end up with him. But I am still saying, at least I was saying then, I think he's the number six quarterback in the sport. But maybe I'm not even high enough. Maybe I should be even higher on him. I said only positive things if you go back and listen to the draft episode that we did. And I talked about the 180 that I've done. But whenever someone gives me a bull take about Jackson Dart, I just have this urge to resist. When Jordan Rogers said on these airwaves that he was picking Jackson Dart to win the Heisman, you can see my reaction. If you watch on YouTube, if you saw the clip, I was sort of taking it back, even though he's fifth in the odds. It's not really that bold of a prediction. I mean, I guess a tiny bit more pulled than me saying that Shayla Milro's gonna win the Heisman that's fourth in the odds or whatever the case may be. But when my guy Brad Crawford told me at ICC Media Days, he's like, hey, I'm about to publish my post media days quarterback rankings. I'm gonna move Jackson Dart up to number one. And I talked to him about it. He's like, yeah, I mean, it's like the more I thought about it, the more I kind of like looked around at the rest of the quarterbacks. And as deep as it feels like quarterback is in the ICC, I just feel like this is a guy who is just poised to thrive with his surroundings. Not a crazy take, but I don't know. Maybe I'm the one who's crazy for only having him as the number four quarterback in the SEC. And look, maybe I'm the one that needs to go back and find my biases, which I talked about on this show on a different episode. And maybe I need to dig in to see if there's something that's just holding me back from being in the dark crowd. And I'm pretty sure that Dart's only is already taken if we're trying to come up with a Jackson Dart fan club. But maybe he needs more support from people like me who have been critical of him so far throughout his career. What's been a really successful career, not a whole lot of people can say that they let Ole Miss to an 11 win season. Oh yeah, nobody can say that. Jackson Dart's the only one that can say that. Is there some world in which I am maybe still holding out hope that Dart is just a middle of the pack quarterback in the SEC so I can turn around and say, see, told you so, he's not that guy. I would like to say that's an emphatic no. I really would, but let's dig into this so that any sort of anti-Dart stance can be handled before the season. We can get all this out there. When Dart hit the portal after the 2021 season, I sort of did an eye roll because I remembered thinking that his list of potential suitors was pretty lofty for someone who was decorated recruit, but still not necessarily like this no doubt or five star recruit that he was close to, I think, like 24/7 had him just outside of the top 100. He could pause it, had him as like 65th or something like that. But I wondered, is this just overrating a guy because he was a confident kid who played in a handful of games for USC? Are we looking at uniform, we're looking at hair? Like, what are we doing here? So when Lane is busting out the Aston Martin during his recruiting visit and he commits, I saw all the hype. Oh, this guy's gonna be Matt Corral 2.0. And I pushed back on that for a few reasons. One of which was because I thought Corral was one of the better ICC quarterbacks to the playoff era in the 2021 season. At least before he got hurt, before he got hurt in the, what was it? In the Auburn game he got hurt, got banged up a little bit against Tennessee too. And then of course, he was out after the, essentially the first quarter of that bowl game against Baylor. But I also knew after talking with him how long it took Matt Corral to master the Kiffin offense. And we in the public often assume that just because you're working with an elite offensive mind, it means that everything is going to be easy for the people that are within that system. And that's not necessarily the case, especially for a quarterback. If you master it, yes, you can reap the benefits of that. But if it were easy to master, it would probably also be easy to stop, at least I would think so. So my respect for Corral and this assumption that his season could be repeated with an unproofed guy who came from USC was why I came out with a bit of a bold take a couple of years ago. I said, even though Dart flashed a lot of potential, I guess as a true freshman at USC, I was skeptical that he would step in and master the concepts of the link if an offense. When you kind of look back at like his two games against top 40 defenses were both really subpar and he struggled mightily in those contests. One of which I think was against Arizona State and it was just not there and he was not particularly good. So I predicted that Luke Altmeyer, not Jackson Dart, would win the Ole Miss starting job going in at 2022. Was I wrong on that? Absolutely, no doubt about it. In fact, I'm actually pretty bad at predicting lanes starting quarterbacks. I predicted John Rice Plumlee would beat Matt Corral for that first QB one spot in 2020. Dead wrong about that. I was wrong two years later saying that Altmeyer's experience in the system would allow him to be able to beat out Jackson Dart despite the Aston Martin, despite what people were saying about him. And I was just not really on board yet. So was that my resistance with Dart? At least initially, it probably was. If I took some truth serum back then, I'd probably admit there was part of me that wanted to sound smart for the Altmeyer prediction and that if Dart got benched, it would allow me to feel better about my initial prediction. Is that messed up to think that way? Yeah, it kind of is. It kind of is. I'd like to think that I got over that. I would really like to think that. For those who listen to the show, you know that I don't have a dog in the fight, but if I'm going to bang the drum for you, it's because I became really impressed with what you did on the field. And you showed something, me sitting on my butt at home, watching in a given fall Saturday, that made me say, whoa, that's super impressive. And I thought in 2022, which was Dart's first season as a starter, the Ole Miss offense was limited. It was limited against the league competition. And I just always felt like there was something missing from the Ole Miss passing offense. I said to anyone that would listen, that Lane didn't trust Jackson Dart to take downfield shots against those better teams. And I do actually have a stat that backed it up because that was not something I actually had numbers, but it was just kind of a sense that I got watching them against these better teams. Ole Miss played in seven games that year against FBS teams who finished with a winning record. And they had just one pass of 40 yards completed from Jackson Dart. Dart attempted 209 passes against FBS teams who finished with a winning record. And just one of them was a 40 yard completion. I am such a sicko that I actually went back and I watched this. It was at Arkansas, super, super cold night, I remember. And it was actually a pretty important moment in the game Arkansas got out to this 14 to nothing lead. Crowd is really into it. First play from scrimmage on that next drive for Ole Miss. And he gets Malik Heath downfield. He's got a step in man coverage. And Dart actually under throws him a touch, but better than overthrowing him and not being able to complete it all because they eventually keep makes a nice play, kind of stops a little bit. Or at least slows down the route, catches it. Ole Miss kicks a field goal. Ends up being kind of important play in a game in which Ole Miss ends up winning on the road. It wasn't the most confident throw. And mind you, at that point, Jackson Dart is nearly a full season of reps in this link if an offense because it's a November game. And by the way, he was facing the worst passing defense in America. That's what Arkansas was in 2022. But that was his lone completion against the FBS teams with a winning record. So for me, that fueled why I didn't want to put Jackson Dart in the preseason, all ICC discussion going into last year. Okay. And a lot of people did like at quarterbacks down. Why not somebody like Jackson Dart? I just hated those numbers against FBS teams who finished with a winning record. They were not good. Quarterback rating, 126.7. Seven to seven TDD and T ratio, 7.3 yards per attempt. He always got to talk about rushing with the dual threat guys. Can't just throw out the quarterback stats, the quarterback rating stats and just ignore that. But 228 rushing yards, 3.2 yards per carry. One rushing score in those games. And as the OG listeners of this show know, one rushing score was his total for the entire season. And it came in the bowl game lost at Texas Tech. I felt somewhat justified after 2022 that Dart wasn't Crowl 2.0 and many underestimated how difficult it was to step into Lincoln's offense and just figure things out from the jump. Jalen Hertz did it, not everyone's Jalen Hertz. Matt Crowl did it, not everyone's Matt Crowl. And I'd argue Matt Crowl definitely had his growing pains in 2020, despite the fact that he did more good things than bad. That's the other thing that might have impacted how I felt about Dart. I thought at times he was trying to do a Matt Crowl imitation instead of being himself. Like every time he ran, he didn't want to slide because he wanted to show that he was just as tough as Crowl, at least that's how I interpreted that. I get that Jackson Dart won number two at USC. But honestly, if I were him, and maybe this is why I'm not an elite level college quarterback, but if I were him, I would have picked a new number at Ole Miss. I wouldn't have just wanted to take the same number that Matt Crowl had. He didn't want to do that. He didn't, he had the headband like Crowl, he had the eye back like the eye black like Crowl, which I realized were both things that he was doing at USC. So I'm not saying that he just started doing these things because Matt Crowl was at Ole Miss. But I just felt like Dart was trying too hard to become the second version or the second coming, I guess if you will, of Matt Crowl before he could become the first version of himself. I have such a random reference that maybe five people listening to this will understand, but just stick with me. I remember as a kid watching a Cubs Red's game one time, and it was probably like 2000 or something like that, and they get to the number eight hitter. And I'm like, wait a minute, is Griffey hitting in the eight hole? Shout out Ken Griffey Jr. Repping him today. Oh, no, it's not Ken Griffey Jr. hitting in the eight hole, but man, it looks like him. Oh, it's actually Michael Tucker, but it looks like he literally copied Griffey's swing, and even how he walks after he hits a homerun, like the same fall through like everything. Like, I didn't always think that about Michael Tucker. This is back in the day when I had opinions about baseball and guys like Michael Tucker. I don't know why that bothered 10 year old Connor as much as it did, but I always thought to myself, Michael Tucker, just do your own thing. I understand he's Griffey. I'm literally wearing this guy on my shirt right now because of how great I think he is, but do your own thing, be your own player. That's how deep into this we're getting, with Jackson Dart, okay? So back to him. Going into last year, I was in wait and see mode, and I felt that it was okay to temper expectations. And then last year, what happened? He looked a whole lot more like Matt Corral 2.0 than I could have ever expected. And maybe just shy of that level, just shy of Pete Corral, who in my opinion, would have gotten to New York easily in 2021 had he not gotten hurt. But man, Dart checked so many of those boxes. You saw the confidence that he had stepping into those throws, especially downfield. I remember how I said that in 2022, Dart had one 40 yard completion in 209 pass attempts against FBS teams that finished with a winning record. 2023, he had eight of those. That was as many as Jane Daniels, one fewer than Michael Pennics. Speaking of Pennics, Pennics was the only player in America who had more completions of 20 yards against FBS teams with a winning record than Dart had. Dart had 39 of those. He had eight total rushing scores, five of which came against FBS teams with a winning record, which was as many as Jane Daniels had and was tied for fourth in the SEC. On top of that, quarterback rating, okay? That is important. quarterback rating gets those teams with a winning record at season 10. It was 160.8. That was good for eighth in America. He averaged 9.7 yards per attempt in those games, which was good for fourth in America. He was a different guy, period. I mean, he just was. He did everything that I wanted to do, except for maybe like shave the mustache. Mustache was pretty bad, it was a tough look. So is there something calling me back? Is there a reason why I'm not feeding the bold takes for Dart? And why haven't really been someone that has gone to bat for him? I don't think I could love the surroundings more other than if Jugkinson had decided to stay. But again, I would trust a link if an offense to be able to find a way to run the football. I even love the in-helmet communication and how that's probably gonna benefit someone like Jackson Dart. And being able to have someone like Lane or Charlie West Jr. in his year, that could give him even more knowledge in an uptempo system in which they're seeing things that maybe he isn't. If you saw Dart talk about that at media days, by the way, you saw a little smile, like he's excited for that in the advantage that it could give this Ole Miss offense. You can tell he's very confident in everything that he does at this point. I don't really blame him. I would be really confident if I were Jackson Dart as well. Is that maybe the thing that I'm not as crazy about? The extreme physical confidence? Maybe that's part of it. Ole Miss, that when he took that hit against Georgia last year in the middle of that blowout loss, I thought to myself, that sucks. But until he changes his approach with that, that can happen to him in any given play. Got to learn how to get out of balance. Got to learn how to slide. Got to learn just not necessarily how to be what the mannings would do with the self-sack, but there's some sort of middle ground there that Jackson Dart needs to find. At the same time, why then do I criticize him for that? When I am a fan of guys like Jim McMahon, or if you want a modern example, I love Cam Rising, and I go to bad for guys like him, I mean, countless times when Matt Corral would get up from those runs, I would say to Lauren or no one in particular in the room watching these games with me, he's built like a piece of iron. He just is. Is it because I don't feel like Dart is as durable as he thinks he is? Maybe, but even Matt Corral got hurt two times, at least, two or three times he got banged up in that 21 season, and that was him being the best version of himself. So why do I feel like Dart has a different standard? Here's the best answer that I can come up with for why I perhaps have not been the biggest Dart guy, maybe why I've been a little bit of a hater in the past, why I'm admitting that now. I think subconsciously, I am unfairly viewing him like he's the kid that always had it easy. He gets to play right away at USC, not right away, but they have an injury, I think it was slow, but he got hurt that year that he's able to step in and get some legitimate reps that a lot of guys in his position don't necessarily get. And people kind of pat him on the back, even though he's making some pretty critical mistakes that are losing games that USC doesn't lose to, but because they fired Clay Helton, it's kind of like, yeah, well, whatever, at least Jackson Dart is doing some promising things. And his coach gets fired, whatever, no big deal. Link Kiffin's gonna pick up Jackson Dart in an Aston Martin and roll out the red carpet to be able to just kind of woo him and just take him under his wing. And then he gets praise for Ole Miss's awesome start to 2022, even though it's Quench on Jugkins in that offensive line that's really doing a lot of the heavy lifting. And against the lesser teams, he gets all of these guys that are kind of schemed open where it looks like if you're a quarterback in that Ole Miss offense at times, you're throwing the ball into the ocean, okay? Like there's just such a high floor and he doesn't gel that well with the Ole Miss pass catcher. So no biggie. Lane's just gonna hop in the portal mobile and he's gonna find guys like Trey Harris and Caden Priest corner who are gonna step in and do great things. Oh, you know, he doesn't have enough toys to play with. No worries, Lane's just gonna go out and find him a Juice Wells or something like that. It's a new era of the SEC and it's this gauntlet that's gonna wait Ole Miss. And don't worry about it, Jackson Dart is just gonna only have to face three teams that won eight games last year, two of which are at home. I continue to think that everything Dart is being praised for has to do with his surroundings. And that's not entirely fair. He's a darn good football player and I really did do a 180, okay? I did. I shouldn't resist when anyone suggests that he could be the best player in the sport because you know what? Here's what I need to admit. That guy has worked and worked and worked to get better. Guys have also praised how he is super active when transfer portal guys come on visits and how, you know, Prince Luman Mielin talked about how atypical that was to be able to kind of get that type of treatment from the quarterback when he's playing on the defensive side of the ball and how involved he was with that. And look, I need to admit this. If Lane is willing to say yes to you and is willing to show up in an Aston Martin to be able to greet you and take you around and show you the town, do whatever Lane Kiffin does on portal visits, chances are you're good enough to play quarterback in his offense. And something tells me that it's probably because Jackson Dart checked all the boxes that Lane was looking for to be able to build his offense around. So I'm going to do this. I am going to vow to no longer be a Jackson Dart hater. And if I'm doing it, it's probably a bit subconscious. And I am not actively trying to do this. And I need to recognize just how good he's become. All right, let's kick to RJ. Great stuff from him discussing this massive ranking a bit just beyond the A people reaction that we had the other day. So here's RJ. I'm now excited to be joined by a very special guess. It is Fox Sports's RJ Young. RJ, you're ranking of all 134 FBS teams. It is officially out on Fox Sports.com. If you want to follow along with this conversation, you're listening to it, you're watching us on YouTube. First of all, thank you. But the Fox Sports College Football Twitter has it as the pin tweets. You can see it there. I got a ton that I want to get to with you. But let's start with the obvious here. It's the thing that when you agreed to come onto this particular show, it's probably the thing that you knew I was going to ask about. Akron's only at number 132. Like, do you not have any faith in Joe Morehead? What's up? Look here, I'll put it this way. The first time that somebody comes to me about Akron, I will let you know, Connor. I will let you know. It just did. Well, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're coming to me. Somebody else out in the wilderness. In the wilderness, like I get in the wilderness, I get, I get squirrellies, right? I've got Nevada. I've got New Mexico State. I've got Liberty. I've got Jacksonville State. But nobody's had a damn thing to say to me about Akron until right now. So, I mean, if you want to turn this Joe into an Akron podcast, we can do it. But I would just start with this. Joe needs a quarterback. We can keep going, but I'm not, I don't look. It's August. I try to give people hope. And you already hear got me talking about what I'm worried about with Akron, with Akron zips. - RJ, you're good. RJ, you're good. I think even Joe would admit, he's a very honest person. I think even he would admit he doesn't have a top 130 team yet in FBS. So, we're good there. We can boot past that. Okay, so here's your top 10. You have Missouri 10, Alabama at nine, Michigan at eight, LSU at seven, Ole Miss at six, Florida State five, Oregon four, Texas three, Georgia two, and Ohio State at one. Before someone says that you are anti-SEC for just the Ohio State, Georgia thing with one two. You do have Oklahoma at 11, Tennessee at 13, which means that you have half of the SEC in your top 13. But explain your rationale for the decision to have Ohio State at one instead of Georgia. - So we start this thing because it lives, it breathes, it's fluid, right? I don't believe in predicting a finish with a preseason ranking. That's ridiculous. - Amen. - So it's just stupid. I don't know what we're doing with that. So what we start with is who do I think has the best opportunity to win the national championship in 2024, and then we work down, okay? The reason that I got Ohio State at one is they still got one hole to feel on the offensive line, and everybody else I feel good about, I really do. And they've gone all in on this season. It feels like it all has to come together for Ryan Day. With a level of urgency, I just don't feel anywhere else in the sport, and that includes the SEC. They gotta have it. It's not just because they spent all this money on players, it's not just because this roster is ridiculous, or you added Chip Kelly to the staff, or Carlos Lockman, for that matter, it is because you lost Michigan for three years in a row, okay? And frankly, I'm not in an alternate universe, like we're in Earth 616, right? Let's take it to 934, let's make it, let's do the one where Robert Downey Jr. actually is doomed. I'm gonna tell you, dog, Jim Harbaugh plays that game in 2020, we're not talking about this. We're just not, right? But he ate that contract, and he turned Michigan into the standard bear in the Big Ten in Ohio State, you just can't have that. You just can't have that. So they're all in on that. And as far as the rest of the league, right? I think you were talking about a two-team league, and that's one of the reasons I think you're gonna see so many SEC teams and so many Big Ten teams, not just in my ranking, but all over, right? We all feel very strongly about the quality of football at the top in the Big Ten, the SEC, where we get to be fun, right? Is once we get past those teams, they're more or less predicting right now to be in the conference championships, right? Now, we probably need to touch on this, see, and as it just happened, but when I did these rankings, right? CJ Baxter had gone down, but I still felt good about the running back room. Now, we've got Christian Clark going down, and that might be an air raid offense if they can't pass pro. But I mean, I'm getting ahead of myself here. - From your lips to God's ears, because I've been preaching that as well about Texas. And that is a real thing, especially if they're gonna play as many games as a lot of people, myself included, think that they're capable of this year. Let's talk about LSU at seven. You have some serious faith in Garrett Nussmeyer, if you're putting the Bayou Bengals, that higher. - I do. I have some serious faith in path-protecting him too. He's got two of the best offensive tackles in all the football, full stop. Like I was doing the list, like where I'm working on another list, and like ranking is the thing that I do at Fox. So I'm working on the top 100. And I'm telling you, Will Campbell and Emery Jones are right there. I just got to figure out where the hell it is that I'm gonna put them. Outside of that, you're talking about perhaps Kelvin Banks or Jonah, Arizona. There's a couple of other guys that I really like at that position, but he's got both, he's got two of them on either side. And if they're able to run the ball even a little bit, and Kyrie Lacey is half as good as Malik neighbors or Brian Thomas Jr. was, I know that Nuss is gonna sling it. You know what I'm saying? Like I have faith in that. And plus, I've known Garrett Nussmeyer since he was in high school. He did the show before I got to Fox. And that was the one thing. It's like, no, I wanna throw a deep. And then what'd you see against Wisconsin? He threw a deep and he led them to a win against the incredible Big Ten team. I also think that their schedule is one in which we're gonna get to see Garrett Nussmeyer shine because if they go and give the what for in the how now to SC and he puts up Lincoln Rodney quarterback numbers, everybody else is gonna be on board with me too. - I think that's fair. And I'm not as high, quite as high in LSU, but I do think that there is a path for them to be just as good as they were last year, obviously the defensive side level. - Just put a lid on defense, right? Put a lid on the defense. That's, yeah, put a lid on the defense. It's something that I think LSU fans said on a weekly basis last year. Maybe the first part of this year to be determined on that. Alabama at nine, only one AP voter had been a lower than that and it was 10th. What gives you the most concern about this team? - It ain't Nick Saban. You know, like that's in our sport, college football head coaches are the stars because we have so much turnover and change in this era. And while everybody else is clutching their pearls, I love chaos 'cause I get to work in chaos, but people wanna be anchored, right? And the thing that I said about the AP having them at number five is are y'all giving this team the Nick Saban bounce? Because if you're looking at the roster, I don't think that that's a top five roster. And I don't know that anybody would really disagree with me on that. I think you got Jalen Milro who has the highest ceiling, I think of any quarterback in all the college football, but it is still a guy that wants to throw the ball to the other team and it's still a guy that doesn't wanna throw an intermediate pass or one that we trust him to throw. And then you're gonna have to run the ball with somebody new. I get you getting Kayden Proctor back, but I'm also looking at two new coordinators. You know, Kay and Will Mac, we know about, Nick's sharing we know about, but you're really just betting on Kaylin DeBore, which is, that's okay, right? That's a man that's won 104 games, he lost 12. But everybody wants to tell me as an Oklahoma guy, it's the SEC, right? And the SEC is different. So why are we treating Kaylin DeBore like he's coached there for rather than the guy they're gonna rename the field after retired and I want you to act like that happened. That's nine, that's not five, right? But that's also not out of the top 25, that's not out of the top 15. I don't really think it's that big of an overreaction, it's just going, I don't wanna see it, I would like to see it. Go beat Wisconsin to Camp Randall, take your bye week, beat Georgia and then we can talk. Until then, just show me something. - I admit my faith in Alabama, having them at six in my preseason top 25, is very much baked in faith in Kaylin DeBore and Jalen Milro that they're just gonna figure it out together. And you're right, I think you could look at the roster, you could find the holes in the defense. Saban himself has talked about the potential issues in the secondary and why he can't even put Bama in the SEC Championship going into the season. But yeah, there's clearly some concerns, there'll be plenty of people that are a bit in wait and see mode with Alabama. So those are kind of the main things that we actually disagree on, I guess. But I gotta say RJ, I look at this list and I feel like you and I aligned very strongly on the teams that I, I guess, feel strongest about. I thought I was gonna be highest on FSU by having them at seven, you have them at five. I thought I was gonna be highest on Oklahoma by having them at 12, you have them at 11. I thought I was gonna be lowest on Penn State by having them at 14, you also have them at 14. I thought I was gonna be lowest on Clemson by having them at 20, you have them at 19 and then I thought I was gonna be lowest on Miami by having them at 19 and you have them at 26. Pick any one of those teams, that's five teams right there, FSU, Oklahoma, Penn State, Clemson, Miami, kind of polarizing teams in their own unique way heading into the seasonbook. Pick any one of those teams and sort of explain why you kind of zag from the consensus. - It's easy for me to go to Oklahoma, so I'm gonna do that quickly, right? - Why is it easy for you to go to Oklahoma, RJ? - Look here now, look here now. For the folks that do not know, I am from the state of Oklahoma and I went to grad school at the University of Oklahoma and I went to undergrad at the University of Tulsa, but Oklahoma is the protein and that is how I got into this business. Like I, I mean, covering college football half my life, my first full-time beat writer job was covering that team and getting it know recruiting and they got to be deeper than it'd be in my team. It got to be a bunch of kiddos that I know. And then from eighth grade, all of a sudden, they're all juniors and seniors in college and 2017 happens and I'm doing this, but I talk a bunch about the Sooners because that's my squad and I love them so much. That said, it's getting under my skin in a way that I didn't expect it to, just how people want to talk about Oklahoma having to play in the SEC as opposed to the SEC having to play Oklahoma. As if, I don't know, this is Central Florida or this is UTSA, you know, there's some legacy here and we got a history of beating up on SEC teams. Now, I know they're all in three in the college football playoff, but we beat Tennessee, we beat Auburn and Sugar Bowl, we beat Nick Stadium in Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, right, we can keep going down the list on this one. So that's one, but it's also more about Brent Venables and what he has done with that staff and what he's done with that roster. He came to Oklahoma thinking he could do it the Clemson way. Turns out, Dabo Sweeney is the only person who can still do it the Clemson way, right? So he went to the portal and he came out with some dudes, he took control of the defense, we go for six to seven, 10 wins and regular seats, okay? That's one. The second thing is it ain't as if Brent came to Oklahoma to not win and certainly he ain't come to be eight and four he ain't come to be eight, excuse me, seven and five. He came to win, right? Now he's, people are going, he's severe and I'm going, you don't know severe yet. That's a man that still wakes up in the morning to go run stadium stairs at Memorial Stadium at his age doing his job. I have tremendous faith in the offensive line because of the offensive line coach, Bill Beatenbo just puts first round picks into the NFL. They're gonna be deep at wide receiver if not great. They're good enough at tailback and then Jackson Arnold can develop into the kind of prospect we think he is. You're gonna be fine and then I love that defense, man. I love Billy Bowman. I love Peyton Bowen. I know Ethan Downs, Danny Stutzman. There's a squad there. So that's why I got him at 11. The other one that I think I'm getting a lot of help for, well, maybe not help. People just want to know. Florida State of five. Connor, I got here 'cause I'm equally balanced. I got chips on both shoulders, you know? And I can't think of a reason to be more aggrieved and to be more pissed than if I'm a Florida State football player because you lied to me. You told me that if I won every game I played in a power conference, I'm playing in the college football playoff and you took that from me. You took that from me because you didn't like the look of the roster, not what we did on a football field. And then Mike Norville, who had to tell his kids that, goes into the portal says, you know what? Let me go get enough of these dudes so we can leave no doubt. I'm gonna turn DJ Uyonglele into a player. That, by the way, goodness me, if that dude can be the guy we thought he was gonna be there in high cotton over there. I get that they're changing over the offense. I get that the defense isn't got Jerry verse on it, but it's got Patrick Payton. And anybody who's seen him play knows what you're doing here. Same thing with Fentrell Cypress. I can make an argument that they get past SMU, right? They're expected to beat him, but SMU is a good football team. You get to Notre Dame on November 9th. You know, that's a play in game. And they can afford to lose one and still make the 12 team playoff, right? It's not the four anymore. I like them at five. I think they're the best team in the ACC. We know that that's an automatic qualifying spot, which means they'll probably be one of the highest ranked teams as a group power four champion. I just don't think that Miami or Clemson at this moment has what it takes to go knock him off and get him into that playoff and then let him cook. - You made the exact case that I feel like I've been making throughout the off season with Florida State and they're a team that I admittedly have done a 180 on because of specifically what Norvell has done in the portal. There are certain coaches that deserve blind faith. There are certain coaches who need to earn that blind faith. And I think Norvell has already earned that blind faith with what he's been able to do. You go back to the Venables thing. I actually had someone tell me about a month ago that they were at Clemson and they're like, who is that guy over there? And they're like, oh my God, that's Brent Venables running stadiums back at Clemson. Like that's just the way that he's wired. And he is, I think very unique in how long he waited for this opportunity. And there are people in the SEC who looked at that initial contract extension and rightfully kind of had an eyebrow raised to it being like, well, wait a minute, you haven't lived up to the pre, I guess the first 20 years of the 21st century Oklahoma standard, whatever you want to call that, whatever you think that is, he hasn't necessarily earned that just yet. But where are you at with him overall as a guy that could take that next step? Maybe that's a guy that we're not talking about enough as being someone that can put it all together because the range of outcomes that I see with him feels like it's all over the place. - A couple of things. The first is when Lincoln Riley said he was going to USC, the first tweet I said it was, Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables, okay? That man not only knows Oklahoma, but he went to Clemson, beat the hell out of us, won two national championships. And all we're going is, ah! 'Cause we wanted, you know, we love an offense but everybody loves a defense. Football is about being tough and defense is tough. There's that. The second part of that is, you know Kirby Smart was waiting on one job to open up for him. - It's a good point. - You know? - It's a good point. - And it was the one place he wanted to go home to and he got an early extension. People forget about that. And he hadn't won a national championship. Look, I think the same trajectory is where Brent Venables had headed. I think he's about to go into one of the coolest parts of his coaching career. And that contract extensions about stability as much as anything else. But I think that Oklahoma looked at him the way that Georgia looks at Kirby Smart. Now, when we get the same returns, we'll see, right? But right now, it's really difficult to feel bad about Oklahoma and not feel like you're about to walk into a league where if you go beat people, that will be respected. And that's what Brent Venables is also chasing. 'Cause even at Clemson, we would say ACC, y'all are going to beat up on the ACC and then they go and beat the brakes off of Bama 44-16. And we get to start thinking about them like an SEC program, right? Oklahoma gets skipped that step 'cause they're already in the SEC. Or at least that's how I see it. - How would Deon feel about Colorado being ranked number 41 by you? - Probably say I'm not there. You know, that's probably what he would say because hell, 99% of us aren't there. But if you're looking at that and you're expecting me to tell you that they are an upper echelon, big 12 team, I can get to five, I can get to five, right? But the teams in front of them are all really, really good. And that's a really, really deep league. I also think that it's room for them to grow, right? Like I was way ahead on them last year, okay? By the time they got to the conference play, you got two things. One, you don't have depth on defense and defensive line. And two, you don't have an offensive line, but they were able to make that work for four games, give or take, right? 'Cause depending on how you want to feel about SC 'cause I thought that they actually played pretty well in that game, they just, they got outclassed. If the offensive line is what they're claiming it's gonna be, they'll move up. But I've been down this before. And one of the things that I don't do is act like last year doesn't matter. When I was picking them, Jackson State was where they were coming from. And I saw the portal and going, okay, I like some of this. I didn't know anything about the offensive line. Nobody really did. Now we know more about what that program is about. And we know who the stars are. They're not sneaking up on anybody this year. So I think they're in a good spot. I think I've got them behind Memphis at 40. And Memphis, that's a damn good football team. Like if you put Memphis up against Colorado, who's gonna win? I would flip a coin. I really would, you know? That's how I feel about him. So how would, how would Prime feel? Maybe Prime thinks they're a top 25 team. I don't know. I know he's got two players that are gonna get drafted in the first round. And usually we expect that program to be a top 25 team. We'll see if they can get there. - RJ, you have no idea, but I was actually just about to ask you about Memphis. And about the group of five as a whole, which is kind of crazy. I'm like, wait a minute. He just brought up Memphis as the team that we're talking about side by side with Colorado. As a fan of this sport, I find myself worried about the future of the group of five because I think you could look at rankings all over the place. Your rankings reflect that. The AP poll reflects that. I remember looking at Schleibaugh's rankings on ESPN.com post spring. They didn't have any group of five teams in there, but Memphis is your highest ranked group of five team at 37. And that's behind 10 big 10 teams and 11 SEC teams. And I think Memphis is gonna get the group of five bid to get into the 12 team playoff. So I would agree with you that I think they are the best of the group of five. But man, I feel like the group of five desperately needs to pull off a miracle and win a playoff game in the first or second year. Otherwise, this disrespect that they get perceived disrespect, whatever you wanna call it, but it's not gonna get any better. And it's gonna keep getting tougher and tougher to make the case for teams like this. How difficult was it to finally get to that first one? We're like, all right, I mean, 37. I gotta put a group of five team in here eventually. - Well, actually, it wasn't that difficult because that didn't figure into the philosophy, right? What figured in was national championships, conference championships, roster management, how your administration figures into what you're doing. Like Troy Dannon not being at Washington, being at Nebraska figures into both of those for me, right? I'm also looking at this from the standpoint of which one of these G5 programs doesn't act like one. And when you get $25 million from FedEx, just to go pay players, you're not acting like a group of five programs. Matter of fact, now that I'm thinking about it, the one that I circled on Florida State was Memphis. Like that's the game. That's the one that they ought to be really loaded up for 'cause that's a great trap game for Memphis. Like they're gonna have the-- - It's the more valuable. Yeah, I mean, the reunion. - And Silverfield knows, I mean, that was his defensive coordinator, right? Ryan Silverfield. And I've been out to Memphis a couple times the last two years and I gotta tell you, they love that program too, right? They're proud of it. That figures, right? If SMU was still in the group of five, they'd probably be in that spot. But I actually, I went through Memphis, I went through Appalachian State, I went through UTSA, and I went through Texas State. And I had to do some shuffling when we're talking about those programs. But again, I went to undergrad at a group of five program. And when I was in school, you know, 2006 to 2010, we were damn good. We were damn good. And you know, we weren't ever thinking about, man, making a playoff or even win a national championship. We wanna respect. And I think if that's what you're chasing as an athletic program, this isn't gonna get under your skin. You're not gonna get worried about this. It's gonna fall where it falls. But if you want to be all in on football, nobody's gonna stop you. And that's where I'm at. And I'm like, put it another way. In the state of Tennessee, there is one program that doesn't act like they wanna do this at all, okay? That's Vanderbilt. Why do we keep talking about Memphis and the group of five? When we need to be talking about places like Vanderbilt and go, do you wanna play football? Because if you don't, there's a lot of people that do. So let's spread the wealth just a little bit differently. And that's one of the other reasons I really like name, image and likenesses. You get these donors that went to schools like mine and went to schools like Memphis, go hell with it then. Let's go, let's get it. 'Cause I think that right now is a really interesting time. Connor, you might be paying attention to this like I am. Which program have their NIO collectives, under thumb and under manners and in control? Missouri, holy smokes. What do we think about Missouri? That's a damn good football team. Ohio State, damn good football team. Georgia, damn good football team. You keep going down the line, it lines up right where you think it should based on who wants to be all in on football. And now you've given people like myself a market inefficiency to exploit. And that's what they're doing. They said, hey Fred, we got a chance here. We got a chance to go make some noise. Here's $25 million. What? You know, you try doing that anywhere else even at a power four school, you're gonna get pushback. You really are. Like I'm thinking, okay Louisville, what's your excuse? Okay Virginia, what's your excuse? Wait, what would Thomas Jefferson say if y'all can't win no football games? But if that's not where your brain is, then that's how I'm gonna rank you too. You know, like I wanna be about football players and football coaches that wanna go win. And I think Memphis and a few of these other group of five programs that I mentioned, they measure up, they really do. Alignment is everything, especially the group of five. It's so, so unbelievably important. And if you don't have it, man, just forget about it. In this day and age, it is just so difficult. It's going to be moving forward to be able to win football games. Who did you get maybe the most pushback on? Maybe a team that we haven't talked about yet, a team that like their fans really kind of chirped you. They saw the ranks. I don't know if you read, they got like 350 comments or something like that on the, I mean, initial tweet. So I'm sure there were plenty that were limiting your mentions. Maybe somebody like sent you a note saying like RJ, what are we doing here, man? Let's make sure that we get right and let's make sure that you're noticing us. - Well, one, I'm gonna, I'm going to respond to a few of these. So please, send me what you think. But I say this to anybody. I've gone back to my radio days in Tulsa where I was doing nine to 11. The show was called Fight Me, right? 'Cause I'm backgrounds in rhetoric, right? My background's in debate and dialogue. But it is, build an argument. This ain't your daddy's Facebook page, okay? I don't wanna hear what my team is better than this. Tell me why. Give me the why. Or when you tell me somebody's gonna go 11 and two, tell me who the losses are. You know, you're gonna go nine and four, or nine and four. Tell me which bowl game they lost in, you know? Or what four losses they got. So when I look at this, I'm always curious about who builds an argument and who doesn't. But who I've heard the loudest from is actually Washington fans. And they're, like a few of them are a despondent and I'm going, yeah, I kind of would be too because it's not every day that, I mean, I say not every day. That's becoming the norm, I think. That's the new normal we're gonna have to get used to. We're gonna see a Texas Christian or Washington get to a national championship game and not be the same next year. Because somebody's gonna raid them or some coach is gonna take another job. But I think we're gonna see more stories like Texas Christian and more stories like Washington. And now if you're smart about this, meaning athletic departments and name image and likeness, you start locking up people in October. When you get the bowl eligibility in October, you need to make sure that 2025 is still the same damn team that you got now, right? I think that part is gonna change. But Washington lost damn near everybody on that football team and the athletic director. Like, I've never seen that before. I've never seen an athletic director, a head coach, star players all leave to go do something in college, right? Like, I mean, we could talk a little bit about how Kaitlyn Dubor worked out, right, at Alabama and who's gonna say no to that. But the rest of this is you went and hired a guy that also just got done telling everybody he's not going anywhere, so what are we to believe on this? And we wanna let it go when coaches tell us, well, you know, I'm not going anywhere and then they go somewhere, but we wanna hold it against kids. I think that stuff translates. I think if you can't put down roots anywhere, why would I trust you to put down roots at this place and turn it into a winner? You know, you got Will Rogers, I like Will Rogers, but I know Will Rogers from having all that time in Mississippi State, you know, not that time at Washington. And you're gonna start, I think, I think they got two returning starters on the roster, but only one of them is gonna start. So they're gonna be 21 across the board. And you hired Brendan Carroll, who I think has earned his reputation honestly, what he did with Arizona's ridiculous, Noah Fafita, oh my God, man, and McMillan, that studs. But yeah, hired a Bella check that you still gotta convince people about. Not, I would say you hired the other Bella check, right? And if it works out, it works out. But if you're selling the NFL, kinda who the hell in college football ain't selling the NFL. Like when you tell me, we built just like an NFL franchise. So, you know, who doesn't do that? And you're going into a conference that is top to bottom, damn good. Like you'll notice, I got Rutgers way out in front of Washington because we know what Rutgers is about. And by the way, Greg Shiano got up there, started talking about, I came to win championships. I would love to hear that from Washington in year one, but I don't. So I'm asking Washington fans, if you got something that I don't know about, tell me what it is. - I think that this is probably the first time anybody has dropped a team that was just playing a national championship as far off in the, whatever the conversation is next year, and the way that Washington has been dropped off. 'Cause you have them in 83 in your rankings. And I looked at that, I'm like, yeah, that feels low, but then you kinda look at all the different, all the different new pieces. You're like, it's just, it's different even last year when TCU, I felt like I was banging the drum that TCU needed to be ranked higher. They needed to start off from like the top. I think I had them at like 16 or 17. Everybody's telling me all what they lost. They didn't have the coaching changes nearly at the level that Washington is dealing with. And when you have that, and then you combine it with the 30-day window and all these other things, and the fact that like all these guys were waiting to go to the NFL. Yeah, I mean, it's kinda hard to take anything from last year into that preseason ranking. So yeah, it's probably, it's lower than what, where I would have had him, just 'cause I like jet fish, and I think he's awesome, but at the same time, man. Like, I can't sit here and even make the case for it. And that's the good point is like, pitch me. Give me why your team is that much better. People probably can't really do that with that team. And I don't really expect anybody to do it, but when you do say something to me, I'm gonna take you at your word, right? And to the point about Washington also, I got Jacksonville State as an example ranked ahead of them. If they play head up, Washington probably wins, but they don't play head up. And who's gonna finish ahead of each other, right? Like Jacksonville State's got a better shot to win their conference championship than Washington, which means that Jacksonville State has a better opportunity to win the national championship than Washington 'cause they'll qualify for the playoff and Washington won't. If you don't see the logic in that, I can't help you, right? That's how I put these things together, not for nothing. You're going, you haven't seen anybody drop 'em that low. I'm like, who ranks 134 teams and writes something by each and every one of 'em, dog? Like, just say it, like, give me some credit on that? - Yeah, no, you deserve it. You deserve it 'cause there's a lot of work that goes into this. I stopped at 25, I'm like, hey, you know, maybe I'll throw in like another receiving votes thing, but yeah, I'm good, let's cut it off there. Let's close with just your fire off-season take. Me, the boldest prediction that you've had can be something that we've already talked about in this interview, but the thing that you feel like is the spiciest thing that's been on your mind, a prediction for the upcoming season. The spiciest thing that is on my mind. We're not gonna stop at 12 teams. We're going to 16. We're gonna see 'em at 12 teams. - That's not spicy. That's what we get there. We get there so soon. - It's not, okay, well, I get, okay, let me walk that out. Maybe it's because whenever I say 16 teams, all anybody wants to yell back is, it's too many. Six, 12, whatever, right? 14 was even a thought. So, all right, I'll put that one down because I love that one. - Yeah. - Ryan Day wins a national championship and it's not sitting on third base. - I don't think that's spicy either. Is it, I mean, is that spicy? Oh, okay, here's one. Here's one. Texas is gonna make the playoff, knowing that their running back room is still not what their running back room was gonna be going in the season and Michigan will not. Right, how about that? I mean, talking about national championships, I'm thinking about this. And again, hope, I really wanna lean into saying something positive about people, but all the things going on around Michigan, the turnover at that program, I wanna see if it's just something they got because every time I think that it should affect them, whatever's going on off the field, the kids just don't care. But I don't think this is the year that they make the playoff given everything that's going on around them and the roster, right? Would you expect a defending national champion who ran the table, who hadn't lost at home since 2020, to not make a 12 team playoff plan in the Big Ten with the background of a Michigan? I don't think so, right? But that's what I'm doing here 'cause I really can't make that work. 'Cause you put Ohio State Oregon in there and then who's your 13th? That's the question. Who's your 13th in the Big Ten? - Iowa. - Iowa. - That's my fire take, probably. (laughing) - What do you know about the offense? Like that's... - It just can't be worse, man. It just can't be worse. - I saw the scrimmage numbers, I saw the scrimmage numbers. I dry heaped a little bit. I told myself, Connor, you're gonna look like the biggest idiot in the world. But the team last year won 10 games with an offense that just was so historically bad. Out of two in the country, it just has to be better. - I was curious about this because I wrote about them that I have them as a top 25 team, right? You know this, and I'm going just put an offense out there that doesn't embarrass your fans. That's it. 'Cause Phil Parker and that defense, they're gonna make it happen. Like that's been one of the coolest coaching stories of the last three years for me. And when that dude won the Royals award, I get to vote on the Royals award, and that's really cool to me, right? 'Cause there's only about, I wanna say 24 of us. But I was stomping on the table for two years going, when we're gonna give this trophy to Phil Parker. And I think it worked out last year because Michigan and the sign ceiling and stuff, and people felt some kind of way. But even so, I was like, you do what he did and put that entire team on your back. 'Cause that's what they did. You deserve to be the top assistant coach in all the football. But the way I get at this is, Kurt Farance, January hired Tim Lester. And we're asking about the offense. People ask about the offense throwing the ball, modernizing the offense, is what they say. You know, this thing called the forward pass. - Kurt. - Right, and Kurt says, you know, I know a little bit about coach football, won a bunch of games, and he's right. You know, he's, when we're talking about guys that are gonna get you eight, nine wins every year, he's there, that's him. He also said, we got away from, you know, taking care of the football, running the football, and I think it was 2009. But we're not doing that ever again. I went and go look this team up. It's got Ricky Stansy as the quarterback, and that was the best damn Iowa team not to win. - Tony Mowiecki was on that team. - And I'll go with it. Okay, Kurt, that's just who you are, doc. Okay, if you're gonna be that way full-time, then I'm just gonna let it go. Because you're bringing up a guy that threw, I think he threw something like 12 picks, and I'm sure that drove Kurt crazy. But they were really good, and they were really fun. And I don't think he wants to live that way. I think he wants to put the ball and say, I would rather put the ball away than risk it, throw in the biscuit. We could be here talking about that all day, I swear. It's one of my funny and favorite stories. It's just how Iowa remains Iowa, despite all this other change. - Ricky Stansy, America, love it or leave it. He famously said, who could ever forget it? All-time quote, all-time quote in a post-kit. On Fox's airwaves, I believe that was. Perfect way to be able to have Chris Myers on the podium with him. Yeah, who could forget it? Classic orange ball moment. RJ, this has been a lot of fun, man. Like I said before, foxboards.com, check out all RJ's rings. With explanations as well for these teams, he makes the case or just getting his mentions, tweet at him, do whatever you can to maybe be able to make your case while your team is underrated. We'll do this again soon, man. Really appreciate it. - Thanks, Connor. Appreciate you having me. (dramatic music) - All right, let's close with something that has gone re-viral. And it's a subject that we talk about frequently, periodically, I think, at least on this show. We talked about it a little over a month ago when we did our non-negotiables for the 2024 season. And number one on that list was no fall weddings, but, but, but, but, there are exceptions to the rule. And we don't have to be so black and white with this, because even as someone that is outlining how much that is just a bummer to be able to not have that fall Saturday, that, obviously, all of us listening to this want to be able to have and going to a wedding is not exactly what would be our first choice. We have to make some sort of exceptions to this. And this doesn't have to be the most black and white thing in the world. Or if you just say, oh, I just, I won't do it. I absolutely can't go to any of these things whatsoever. And it's worth ruining friendships, doing all that stuff. Let's find some nuance, okay? And it does make you a casual if you find nuance to this. And I realize that there are certain days that are different than other days. Ben Stevens, my guy, a tweet that went very, very viral about that slate, October 12th. Everybody's talking about it. I mean, pull it up right now if you have it. We've got Ohio State, Oregon. We've got Texas, Oklahoma, and the Red River rivalry. We've got Ole Miss and LSU, Penn State and USC. In the game that everybody's going to be talking about, the Ryan Bamford Bowl, of course, Mizzou at UMass. Look, I'm not sitting here telling you that if you get a wedding invite for your college friend for October 12th, that you need to be there with bells on and you need to be there in full support of this. Yeah, it's a situation like that. Send them a nice gift. They don't care as much as you think they care that you're not there. I can promise you that. Send them a nice gift. Enjoy your fall Saturday. Do what you can. But here's why I bring this up. And I'm sure plenty of people are in this spot as well. And yeah, you might feel like you want to have that black and white approach to this. But I'm telling you, you don't. I have a buddy that is very likely going to be married next year. My buddy, Anthony Gloria, so one of my best friends, one of my three best friends in this world. And I'm not missing that wedding, okay? I'm not missing that wedding. I'll tell my bosses, I'm not missing it. I haven't missed a wedding, or I haven't missed like fall Saturdays outside of maybe two, I think in the 10 years, this will be doing this job. So in my 11th year, I guess maybe there's a chance I will miss my first real fall Saturday because the only other two fall weddings that I have had to go to, like without a doubt, my buddy, Bronson, I told this before, and my good friend, Emily, they both got married during cupcake week. I can guarantee you that was 0.000000% of their thought of when to be able to get married. My buddy, Bronson, big time Iowa fan. Yeah, but he wasn't really considering that that wasn't part of it. You don't have to ruin friendships over this. If you're gonna be in that wedding, in that fall wedding, I'm telling you right now, you gotta be there. You gotta be there. And I know that that sucks, and you might disagree with that. But if someone is saying to you, we want you to stand in our wedding, you need to be there, but as I said with the non-negotiables, be there with a plan. In today's day and age, you don't have to be as stranded as you think you are. And I understand certain weddings are middle of nowhere, a reception is great, YouTube TV. How many apps are there? Spectrum, you got cable, whatever. You watch this stuff on your phone. You could be able to watch it during the entire time. Let's say you got a four o'clock wedding, right? No, you have to necessarily walk out until 3.45 or something like that. And even if you're in this wedding, and you're doing the thing where you're getting ready, maybe you're having a drink to kind of calm the nerves, whatever the case may be, you have your phone out. Who cares? One of my buddies had busted out a phone during the middle of this and wanted to watch the Iowa game or wanted to be able to watch whatever big-time game was on. I think what was it? It was LSU and Wisconsin were playing at Lambo that day. If one of my buddies wanted to be able to bust that out and watch that, all right, I would have been fine. And by the way, that actually wasn't on my wedding day. Now that I think about that, because that was Saturday, we got married Sunday. And so there was only the one game going on. I've mentioned this before. It was Notre Dame in Texas. We're back, folks, who could forget it. But here's the thing, have a plan. Go in there knowing you're not going to be able to see all of this game. Part of that plan can be recording this game. If it's out of town, record it on YouTube TV. If it's a game in which your team wins and you're still able to kind of watch and follow along and you maybe get 15, 20 minutes in, because I mean, the wedding is not going to collapse if you don't do the cha-cha slide. I can promise you, if you're not out there for the wobble and if you're at your table watching 10 minutes of your team, the world will move on, I promise. But at the same time, have a plan. Know that that plan might have a couple of the kinks in it. Know that it's not going to be your typical college wall Saturday and that's okay. And that's okay, guys. Like it is perfectly fine to be able to say, my best friend is getting married, I need to be there. I just need to be there. And chances are your team's game isn't quite as important as you thought it was, or you're going to have a lot more access to it than you probably are thinking because think of the moments in which you absolutely 100% cannot be on your phone. That's ceremony. All right, at most an hour, at most. And then that's probably, yeah, you got some speeches and stuff like that. You're not just going to probably have it sitting there at dinner. But more times than not, you can find a way to be able to follow your team. And if they lose, you're going to want to watch, or you're going to want to rewatch that game, probably not. Best friends in the wedding, be there, just be there. Okay, it doesn't have to be this big thing. And I realize October 12th is what it is. Not every Saturday is going to be October 12th. And I say that as someone that is not going to miss a Saturday this season. I say that as someone that has kind of veered away from going to games because I don't like missing other games. And I get that all the time. I'm like, oh, so you go to a game every single Saturday? It's like, no, I actually don't because I want to be able to watch all of it. So trust me, I understand the need that many of you have listening to this who want to be able to soak all of it in. And as I said during the non-negotiable spot, there are only a certain amount of false Saturdays that we get in this lifetime. No bad Saturdays. We want to enjoy every single one of them. And it's frustrating when we get that wedding invitation we realize it's smack dab in the middle of cultural policies. And maybe it's in the midst of a big headliner game. Make those rules. The rules don't have to be as black and white. Again, it was number one on non-negotiables. So I'm not sitting here acting like, oh my gosh, you just need to go to every fall wedding and suck it up and just, you know, stop being so immature about it. I'm saying, best friends go. Go to that wedding. Everybody else, eh, a lot more room for interpretation. Send a nice gift. Trust me, they'll get over it. They will. All right. If you have not, leave us a five star review. Subscribe to our YouTube channel where you can watch every single episode of the Saturday on South podcast, follow us on Twitter at the STSPod, @setdownsouth, @sijogear, Echo so hard. Thanks guys. Talk soon. (upbeat music) You
It's a semi-solo pod, but a loaded one nonetheless. Connor asks a question that's been lingering throughout the offseason. Is he a Jaxson Dart hater (0:30)? FOX Sports' RJ Young joins the show to discuss his ranking of all 134 FBS teams, with thoughts on the Ohio State-Georgia debate, not buying Miami, Brent Venables and the future of Group of 5 football (19:00). Connor closes with a rant on fall weddings (52:00).
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