2024: Post Duke's Mayo Bowl!

Chip Scoggins, Ryan Burns and Justin Gaard usher in the New Year with a recap from Charlotte and the Duke's Mayo Bowl festivities. They also discuss generally the solid ground they feel the Gopher program is on right now as they look ahead to 2025. Plenty of College Football Playoff conversation as well with the semifinals coming up this week!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Glenn Mason sent a long time ago at the University
of Minnesota, you need.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
A Pair and a Spare.

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Thank you PJ at his time for another edition of
the Pair and a Spare podcast. I'm justin guard from
the fan, Ryan Burns from Gopher Illustrated dot com, Chipskoggins
from Football Across Minnesota, and the Star Tribune. We are
presented as always by our great partners at Jack's Cafe.
Make your reservations at Jaxcafe dot com. We just did
a good twenty five minute go for Basketball podcast that

(00:24):
will never see the light of day. As we are
a little I think Red Eyed burnszy from staying up
late last night to watch the double overtime thriller. Chip
was at Target Center to watch that thriller. Another great
Anthony Edwards game. But the oars are going to be
in the water today because I think we're all kind
of sleep deprived from what was a very eventful night
in basketball.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Good morning, Ryan, Yeah, good morning.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
And that's where I think we could solve the world's
problems in some of these pre production meetings. But I
feel for the people that stayed until eleven pm last
night in Dicky Town. The hundreds of people that were
there to watch that one, just an appol the backle
of a final hour of real time.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yeah, my wife this morning, when I was telling my
son that they lost in double overtime, first of all,
he assumed the Wolves lost. He's just completely given up
on them. He just him, Yeah, the ten year old
is locked in. I said, Jax, guess what happened in
basketball last night? And he said, well, the Wolves lost.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
I know that.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
I said, no, no, come on, stay positive. I played
well and had a good game. Mike Conley came off
the bench, Jaden McDaniels hit a three. Be still my
beating heart in the corner, a big one from the corner.
Said the Gophers lost in double overtime. And my wife said,
is that why you just never came to bed last night?
And I said yes, basically because I was watching that

(01:41):
game and both teams were in the bonus for the
last ten minutes of regulation. Took forever, and then I
was so annoyed that they lost. That's one where you
just can't sleep, like, you can't just go double overtime lost.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
I guess I'll turn in.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
I sit there and you know, just fester about it
and go gosh, how did they how do they let
that one go? But then I listened to Go for
Gridiron Radio and fell asleep within like five minutes.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
So well, that's how it goes. Not many people say that.
I'm getting a lot of our listeners that showed up
there to the Soda social.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, I threw that in the air pods and I was.
I slept like a baby about six thirty in the morning.
But you guys were bringing down the Duke's mail bull
and why wouldn't you We were both there, Burnsy, Chip,
I know you were there in spirit.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
I know.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
I'm sure Fomo, you had the luxury of watching what
I heard was an electric TV broadcast.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Well we'll let you go first, Chip. It was there
take us through the night on Friday watching the Duke.

Speaker 4 (02:38):
I wonder who who was the sponsor of that game.
I never get the sense of that watching night game.
I mean, could they go five seconds without talking about mayonnaise?
And we discussed my hatred of mayonnaise?

Speaker 2 (02:48):
That's true. Previous episode forgot about that.

Speaker 4 (02:52):
I don't know that Duke's marketing people envisioned a picture
of giving us food to the uh, play by play
in color guy and having him barf on TV. He
literally what was he put the mayonnaise on? Was it
a donut or oh? No, the yeah they had they

(03:14):
put the mannis on the dilly bar. The guy immediately
takes it by, grabs a trash can and spits in
and then you can hear him dry.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
I'd love that so much, and he's like.

Speaker 4 (03:25):
This is terrible. It was. I understand that Duke's probably
paid a lot of money to sponsor that ball, but
at some point, come on, uh, it can't be a
How that game lasts four hours? I don't know. It
felt like forty hours of NonStop mannise talk. It was absurd.

(03:47):
It just I don't I'm not one of those people
that turns the TV off and turns the radio on
because it's it doesn't match up.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
You know, yeah, we know.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
We wouldn't even think that you could match it up
and understand that I wouldn't. I would you would know, pabilities,
We wouldn't ask you to do that. It's actually pretty easy.
I can show you sometime, but yeah, I would you
to have to do it.

Speaker 4 (04:06):
I couldn't do that. I don't say it ruined it
but it was just it became annoying. It was so much.
It was just so over the top. But but I watched.
I stayed till the end, and and I even stayed
for the postgame Gator Gate ring bath. Well he did
get a Gator rye bath too, right, he got both,
yeah and the man's bath.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
I think before we continue with that, I do want
to say, Chip, we did have somebody Justin and I
come up to us at the Soda social and I
believe he ripped off his sweatshirt to show us that
he was wearing your T shirt.

Speaker 4 (04:43):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
We weren't even there to commend him.

Speaker 4 (04:46):
Well, I did get a I'm sitting at home. What
day of the week was that? Was that? As a game?

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Social was Thursday? The game was Friday.

Speaker 4 (04:54):
Yeah, so Thursday night I got a call Mitch browning
your reformer offer coordinatia.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
He was in the house. Yeah, I got.

Speaker 4 (05:02):
I haven't talked and I you know, I know Mitch
for a long time and used to talk all the time,
and I hadn't talked to him in years. I'm like,
why is Mitch Brown calling? And uh? And then I
get a uh, I was in a mill or something.
Then I get a text and it's Mitch Browning Rebubba Brinkhouse.
It's in a picture of all the former guys there,
and it's cool that a lot of UH players went

(05:23):
back and Mitch. I called Mitch back and he's like here,
talk to mass Faith. Mass Faith is there, you know.
So it sounds like a big alumni crew. Guys that
played in kind of that air UH just on a
whim decided to go down and hang out and have
a good time in Charlotte. So that was that was
cool to kind of those guys.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
I ended up seeing Tony Saturday afternoon at a traveling
basketball tournament he was on. He was on the six
am flight out of Charlotte. I came back with the
team land at about six a m. Let's just say burns.
Tony stayed out later than I did, so I know.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Exactly who he was hanging out. Yeah, they were the
same people trying to get me drinks there towards the
end of the soda social there, including a couple of
our listeners who would just walk up with shots trying
to get Guardsey to join in.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Well, thankfully, no, no one wants anything to do with me.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
It's great. I can just talk to who I want
to talk to. Burnsy can't go anywhere without at ASDA
Social Rights. Somebody grabbing him and it was like three
point fifty seven pm Eastern Standard time, and Burnsy comes
over and says, you have to take the next shot
three o'clock. I said, First of all, I'm forty two
years old. I'm not I'm not taking shots at four o'clock.

(06:40):
I'm not taking shots ever, but I'm not taking them
at four o'clock. I'm cool with my cores light. Somebody
did bring me an ipa, which was nice, but Burnsy's
just lining them up like he's at someone's bachelor party
or his own rehearsal dinner, running into a surfa.

Speaker 4 (06:54):
We run into a serfboard there.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
But it was it was great because everybody wants to
buy Burnsy drinks and I just get to stand there
and just you know, go at my own pace and
just chill.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
It's wonderful.

Speaker 4 (07:04):
So a good turnout, Charlott, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
It was packed. It was packed again, right, Burns.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
I mean they had to open up the second area
almost immediately it was we.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
Did. Yeah, I mean, and I would say for the
bowl game attendance. I know it is one of the
lower ones for the Dukes. Man, I know everybody's obsessed
with things like that. There was probably like sixty five
thirty five Virginia Tech.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
Yeah, their side was completely full. Their side was and
to see the enter.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
City a half hour driver is.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah if that yeah, and a lot of them, as
their play by play guy was telling us a lot
of that. It's not like most of their fans live
in Blacksburg, you know what I mean, their fans. It's
like state College. Their fans live all over the place.
So there a lot of them live in Charlotte, A
lot of them live around the South, like and once
you get as you guys know, East South, everything's close. Yeah,

(07:54):
it's not like driving from here to you know wherever.
Once the Western expansion started, all these cities are tightly packed.
So but it was yeah, Westworld Expansion, Yeah, manifest destiny,
it was the gold Rush. I'm trying to think up
there's other headlines for my history classes thirty years ago.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
So yeah, that sounds about right.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
But I thought it was a good Honestly, I think
I think anything over you know, five four or five
thousand for a bowl game nowadays.

Speaker 4 (08:21):
Yeah, it's not a little one.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
It's a good crowd.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, let alone the fact that it was thirty two
degrees and I was freezing my ass off on the
sideline the whole game. Yeah, considering using mayonnaise just to
keep myself warm, you know, just having some kind of
base layer. But yeah, people seem to have a great time.
I mean we've talked about it for years now, the
last couple of years. People like going to the Bowl games.
Even if Virginia Tech's gonna have fourteen starters missing, and

(08:44):
even if Minnesota's gonna have seven starters missing, whatever that
number ended up being, they like to go. They like
to socialize, They like to have fun in the new city.
They like to go check out a new stadium, and
they like to I'll say it again, they like to
socialize and have fun. And that's what Bowl games are
supposed to be at their core. And I think golfer
fans are really getting into that whole bit.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
Well.

Speaker 4 (09:03):
I think my experience is I remember the soda social
at the Citrus Bowl. Now that's you know, that was
a different circumstance, but in some ways that game is there.
That day with the soda social and all that. I
think fans probably get into that as much as even
you know what happens the next day at the game.
I think it's just being around each other and you know.

(09:23):
So I think they do their marketing people and events
people do a really good job of I mean, I
go back to I think about when we're at UCLA
this year. That party they threw off put on at
the golf course back there was spectacular. I mean, just
the setup and everything about it. So they've done a
good job in terms of cultivating that group that likes

(09:47):
to travel and putting on a good party for him
whenever the destination is.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
And I just think especially because you'll have the older
fans travel, but I think it's the forty five and
undercrowd that since that Citrus Pool I think guards were
we talking about Where were we talking about this recently?

Speaker 1 (10:06):
Probably at the soda social because I was talking I
was talking to people on my plane. Yeah, that they
started going to bowl games and they were a little
bit older, they were probably fifty five sixty, but they
started going to bowl games with that Citrus Bowl experience yeap,
when they were forty five, you know, and had a
great time, and they've been to basically, you know, the

(10:27):
majority of the Bowl games ever since. I'm not saying
they're locked in, you know, with you the night before
the Christmas night in a Greek town Detroit casino, but
you know they're in Tampa, they were in Phoenix, they're
obviously in Charlotte.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah. The Citrus Bowl changed everything, it really did.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah, and then it you know, to have another New
Year's Day bawl just a few years later. You just
got people. It becomes a thing that people kind of
plan for and kind of think about doing. And we've
seen this too with the Vikings. I know there's been
stories written about it's never been easier to get tickets
places right opposing venues, things like that. It's you know, travelbviously, Minneapolis,
it's easy to get around and you got to you

(11:02):
can you can go the Delta route if you make
Burns you money. You can go the sun Country route
if you make guards you money, and like that's you
can get there. So it's it's been a cool thing
to see just kind of become its own little thing
the last five, six, seven, eight, going all the way
back to the citruspol ten.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
Years well, I don't have sky club money like some
of us in the West on the Metro over there
when I flew American out. But it's just being able
to see this fan base kind of just revitalize itself,
I think has been one of the main I think
things that have made me hopeful about just the way
that this fan because again, this is an old fan base,

(11:39):
but the way it just continues to get younger and
younger younger. Where you look at the tailgating lots five
ten years ago, like they aren't anywhere near what they
were this year. I mean, if you were to walk
any of the lots and to see some of the
younger faces, the forty and underfaces that I mean I
was talking about that with you of an official up
there in the press box, was they have done a

(12:01):
really good job of cultivating the millennial I think generation
that hadn't. And then you know, it comes back to
the on campus stadium. I think that played a big
part in it. But also being able to point to
some bigger wins throughout kind of the Fleck tenure here
or even Jerry Kill getting this thing back on track.
I think it goes a long way for a lot

(12:22):
of different people chip.

Speaker 4 (12:24):
Yeah, well, it's been a series of things. I think
the Citrus Boy year was that a memory fifteen yeah,
and then ten years ago yeah, And then like you said,
twenty nineteen obviously made more people take notice and kind
of invest in the program. I think, I mean, I

(12:44):
think that was a very important year for them now.
I think it also changed fans expectations in terms of
there's frustration now when they're you know, when you haven't
lost or you know loss that you feel like you
that sets you back, or you don't get to the
Big ten West title game, which in some ways that's

(13:08):
probably good, right. It shows that you that you you
care about the program, that you expect you know, a
certain standard of it now. And so to me, I
just get since there's a different perception or feel about
where the program is now. And and I remember PJ

(13:29):
after that Penn State game twenty nineteen said we're not
going back, and I think a lot of us took
that to mean we're not going back to having you know,
bad losses or here we go again, or that type
of thing, And maybe there is some of that, but
I also think it's to me that's like we need
to raise the floor on what the expectations of this

(13:50):
program should be, and I think they've done that. I
think you're seeing that with the collective the ni L
and PJ talked about that before the game, because you
see it now all the time, like when everyon lose,
Well they can't, they can't compete with these teams in NIL. Well,
yes they can, and they are. Like you may say
that in Gover basketball, but Gopher football is competing in

(14:11):
the NIL world, not with Alabama, not with Texas A
and M, but with their peers, the people that are
similar to them. So we can't. That's not an excuse anymore.
It could always be better. But to say, oh, they
can't compete with these teams in n OIL, that's just
not true at all. So I think there's I think
there's the standards have raised in different ways in terms
of what we expected this program, the talent they're bringing

(14:34):
in n I L, all those things, fan travel mean
that that's you know, that's part of the experience. And
I think when PJ said at the Bowl game, I
think it was it to you, Guarzy that the program
is in a good spot say that after the game.
I tend to agree with him. I think he's right.

Speaker 3 (14:54):
I think that's where I don't. I mean, we're not
going back. I almost think that saying that and then
looking at it through the lens now would be we're
not going back. I think to the floor now for
this program is a bowl game, which if you're a
newer fan, that may seem like a low bar. But
if you've followed this program for forty fifty years, like

(15:15):
making a bowl game every year, especially for I mean,
again I don't have to tell you guys, is not
I mean, making a bowl game every year is not
something that has happened consistently for this program, and now
there's six to zero bowl games under PJ. I mean
I would say this about nil Chip. I think we
viewed it a little bit differently. Would be nil in

(15:36):
money or just money in general. With revenue sharing coming
in the summer, it's not a crutch anymore where you
can walk on your own but you're not running. I mean,
you can't use it as an excuse, but you can't
use it as something that I would deem as an asset.
They've come a long way, and I think Dickytown athletes
and Derek Burns and their supporters deserve a lot of

(15:58):
credit for that, if you. I know, everybody gets frustrated
when they don't know the dollar amounts and everything, But
just look at the retention that they've had now in
back to back years. I will tell you what they
were able to do in the transfer portal here in
the last four or five weeks. That doesn't happen without
financial support. But I mean, yes, I think generally I
agree Chip that you can't use money as an excuse

(16:20):
anymore any I think Fleck phrased it to me down
in Charlotte, like everybody's gonna want more money, and everybody
could use more money. But we've come a long way
in that department, in that where. I mean, you even
see some of their rivals even last night, going on
social media begging for more money to try and close
some deals here in the transfer portal, which is wild.

Speaker 4 (16:43):
Yeah, I don't know they're ever gonna you know, I
guess you say never, But I don't know they're ever
gonna be a spot where they're gonna go out and
spend five million dollars on a quarterback like some.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
I would never, under any circumstances want them to, right, Yeah,
that'd be a horrible decision.

Speaker 4 (16:59):
But we all remember them losing Bucky Irby, and you
think about keeping Darius Taylor and Corey Parritch and Anthony
Smith and all these guys who I'm sure had plenty
of big time offers out there, and look at what
they're doing in the portal. So I just think it's

(17:20):
become kind of a blank excuse with Minnesota and what
all sports whenever they don't do good, well, how they're
going to compete in n AL. Well, they are, they are.
Don't mean that you can't just arbitrarily throw that out. Well,
they don't have the money in NIL, That's not true
at all. They're able to retain their star players because
people have stepped up and made up miles. I mean,
they were probably behind early on, but what Derek and

(17:44):
Dinky Town and Rob had done, I mean, it's just
it's it's caught him up to the pack.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
Yeah, it's it's even just like to look forward to
the twenty twenty five schedule. You're gonna hear me, we
have so much time to talk about it, but it's like, Okay,
the twenty twenty five schedule is a lot like the
twenty twenty four one, You've got two games that you
thought you were probably gonna lose with your on the
road at Oregon, on the road at Ohio State. You
got two that you're gonna be double digit point favorites

(18:11):
in and Chip's second alma mater, Northwestern State Demons, and
then the Buffalo Bulls to start off. And then you've
got eight games in which probably going to be plus
or minus a touchdown. And if as Fleck would tell you,
what were they in one possession games? I believe they
were three and five.

Speaker 4 (18:27):
Three and four or three or five. Yeah. But you
know what, how many Big ten schools or fan bases
they're sitting here having that same conversation.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
Well all of them, that's my point, Like six through
sixteen probably, yeah, yeah, five through sixteen.

Speaker 4 (18:41):
Everybody's doing that. It is funny because it has become
the standard, which is, you know, for the expectations where
you feel about your own program, like God, they should
win that game, that they shouldn't lose it. Those well,
those teams are turn around saying the same thing about you, right.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
I mean it's like Illinois had a great season, and
I keep going back to Illinois, Like Illinois they're saying
the same things right now that Mark and PJ said
in twenty nineteen. Their ad and Belima like, we're not
going back, right. They just won I think ten games.
They just won the Citrus Bowler. Wherever they played, they
beat an SEC team, Beatlam got into it with the
opposing head coach drama that's still going on.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
A week later.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
But they lost to Minnesota at home, right, it was
their only home loss of the season when they had
a great season that they're marking as this is us now,
this is who we are. And the Gophers beat them
at home. And by the way, it's a pretty authoritative victory.
I know it was one possession, but the Gophers kind
of controlled that for most of it and we're in
a good position for most of the game. So there,

(19:42):
that's me, is my example. It's like everyone's talking about
Illinois and what a great year they had. The Gophers
beat them in Champagne and it wasn't like a fluky deal.
It was just that's college football. That's a college that's
the way it is now, and buckle up. It's fun.
We're all exhausted from it. Burns you, I know you
were exhausted from the season. It's you know, ups and
downs and ebbs and flows and peaks and valleys, and then.

Speaker 3 (20:06):
Every single game was an emotional game outside of like
the two non conference ones in between the North Carolina
and the Iowa game, where it was every single game
you were in it into the fourth quarter and then
either you won or you lost it, and it's just
seemingly I mean, there was never outside of maybe the
Maryland game, right, it's just like you never had a

(20:26):
chance to really catch your breath because you knew, you know.
I love to make the comparison about every NBA game
is the same. It doesn't matter until like five minutes
most quarter. It like truly doesn't matter, and that never
happens in college football. But that's the way that it
felt like for every Minnesota game this year, whatever whatever
it looked like in the first and second quarter, just

(20:48):
wait until the fourth quarter to see how this thing went.
And I think that took a toll on myself, you
the fans. Just every single game was emotional, really outside
of even the bowl game here where they don't they
don't start well and then they start out in the
second quarter and then it's just kind of coasting to
the finish line. Just a lot of emotion in this
twenty twenty four season.

Speaker 4 (21:09):
Well, I think expansion the conferences, the Super Conference has
had a part of that, but I think moan anything
the portal has made. I think it's going to be
this way for now because of the portal, because you're probably,
I mean, Gofer is going to be in this spot
a little bit next year obviously with the unproven quarterback.

(21:30):
But so many people just go out and get veteran
quarterbacks and plug holes that you can fix your deficiencies
a lot quicker than you could through Okay, we're gonna
plug in some young guys here and just let them
learn and then a couple of years are gonna be good. No,
I just think I think the playing field has leveled
so much for everybody because of the portal and your
ability to fix problems or plug in veterans.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
So before we do some college football playoff talk, burns
the anything on or off the field, ye from Charlotte
that we haven't covered that you want to cover the game?
Do we need to talk about the game?

Speaker 2 (22:05):
Munch?

Speaker 1 (22:05):
It was you know it's a bowl game. There's you know,
they were emptying the clip in the first half with
trick plays that I think you know allowed the.

Speaker 3 (22:13):
Does Max Rosmer hate Drake Lindsay for not.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
M Yeah, that's where he was throwing it.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
He did not but anything in the game or postgame
or pregame or soda social. I know you don't remember
much of Thursday night because we've so many shots with
Gopher illustrated members. But what else do we need to
cover from Charlotte?

Speaker 3 (22:33):
I do want to touch on the MVP from that game.
You know Elijah Spencer. I thought it was a cool
homecoming moment for him from Irma, South Carolina played at
the University of Charlotte, was a forty nine er before
transferring up to Minnesota, and the way that he got
rewarded I think for sticking it out at Minnesota is
something that is becoming more and more rare in the

(22:56):
day and age of the transfer portal where he transfers in.
Prior to the twenty twenty three season, it doesn't go
well for him. He catches nine passes after catching over
one hundred and a Charlotte career in his first two seasons.
He could have blamed everybody else and said it's their fault,
I'm gonna go try again elsewhere and guess what, he
stuck it out. He put his head down and he

(23:17):
got better, and he ends up catching over fifty passes,
has a couple of touchdowns in the bowl game, and
I just it's a story like that where it's the
Elijah Spencer story where he stuck it out, or which
is to me similar to what Terrell Smith kind of
went through.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah, back in the.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
Early days of PJ. Fleck where plays a lot as
a true freshman, has some not so good moments, could
have blamed everybody else, but he put his head down,
got better, ended up being an NFL draft pick. So
I just want to commend Elijah Spencer because it had
been so easy to just leave and go back to
Charlotte or go somewhere else and say it's their fault
for why it didn't work out, and he ends up

(23:56):
being one of three Gophers to catch over fifty passes
this season, which that's the first time in Gopher football
history Minnesota's had three different pass catchers catch over fifty
balls they'd had. According to the Great Carl Anderson of
the Gopher sid department, Minnesota has never had three different
pass catchers catch forty or more. So Harbo's offense gets

(24:18):
three to fifty or more with Elijah Spencer, Darius Taylor,
who breaks the Little Canada legend Chuck Rios's record there,
plus Daniel Jackson. So I do I mean, I mean,
outside of that, you had Harbo emptying the clip with
every single thing. I mean, that's what a bowl game
should be. Half back passes, double reverse end rounds to

(24:39):
Drake Lindsay throwing passes ye, but then it ultimately swung
back to Corey Heathman's defense. It's a turnover on downs
near the red zone and then they finally get their
first takeaway in about fourteen quarters. But the Elijah Spencers think,
for me is something I will certainly remember from this one.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
Great way for him to finish, and you could tell
it meant a lot to him as well. Yeah, he
was pumped, which and they were pumped for him, which
is cool.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah, it was cool. You know, I'm glad Quinn Carroll
played another game.

Speaker 4 (25:06):
You know.

Speaker 1 (25:07):
Yeah, that was you know, for you talk about another
guy who probably did everything but what he really wanted
to do at the University of Minnesota and.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
Play you know, guard right.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
Because they I mean I listened to Ggi Burns as
you know, and every and I read you every year
during the spring you were talking about where they had
Queen Carroll and where they were hoping to play him,
and then that Thursday night before the State Fair, You're right,
tackle is Quinn Carroll from me, not in Minnesota, transferring
from Notre Dame, like and then he finally gets to
play guard a little bit, then he doesn't. Then he's
got to play left tackle like just on a team

(25:41):
of selfless guys. That's what I like about covering this
team is they've got you know, it does get cliche,
but I think the Vikings are like this too. It's
a fun team to cover because they're just they're just
good dudes. They get along, they're selfless, they're about the team.
There's not a lot of drama, there's not a lot
of bs. It's just about, you know, whatever we need
to do to help the team. And Quinn Carroll to
me personified that. Obviously. You go all the way back

(26:03):
to when he was recruited, you know, the first time
around and ended up going to Notre Dame. The infamous
helicopter where PJ. And Matt Simon got zero of the
two players they were targeting, And even Quinn was joking
with him. You know, we brought it up on the
TV show this year and Quinn's like, you know, I'm
not about that stuff. If you would have known me
at that point, you never would have done that. Yeah,

(26:25):
he's probably right. Pj's like, it's pretty good though. Yeah,
we had his jersey. I mean, we played the hits
and but for him to come here after, you know,
graduating in Notre Dame and then playing however many years
he did three right and just never missing a game
thirty nine games, and that's good on him, man. I mean,
as a legacy Gopher, it clearly meant a lot to
him and his family. So I want to give him

(26:46):
a shout out too, because that that's a hell of
a career.

Speaker 4 (26:50):
Yeah, from my perspective, I'll steal Brero's line. It was
clear even though overs had a coverage buster early, it
was clear after about two series that that was going
to be loser proof.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
I mean, yeah, Uh, Minnesota's defensive line was just yea.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
Virginia Tech was their backup scout team center during the.

Speaker 4 (27:09):
Now they had so many young guys they were. They
were overmatching.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
Not everybody else, Matt Leidner and just lose. Never start
the party game at center in the Holiday Bowl and
help lead your team to victory. Not everybody's as gutty
as Matt Little Known Matt er Mitch.

Speaker 4 (27:26):
At one point it felt kind of like a springball
scrimmage because they just had so many That's what it
felt like. They were so overmatched and that they were
not gonna be able to really function on offense. But
and I never I never falls a player for sitting out, uh,
you know, to protect himself for the draft, workouts, stuff,
because that's such an important thing. And these Bowl games
are kind of their exhibitions and they're you know what

(27:48):
they are what they are. But I do give Brozmer
and Queen Carroll, you know, a lot of credit for playing.
I thought that was a cool thing for them to
get to finish up set a record for Brosmer. We
wanted him a lot on a recent but what he
did was amazing. What he did for the coaching staff
I think was amazing in terms of giving them an

(28:09):
opportunity to kind of stretch their legs and be different.
I think that defense has some really really good young
guys coming back. I think that defense now they got
to plug some holes, obviously, but if you're starting with
Anthony Smith and Corey Parrots, you're starting in a pretty
good spot.

Speaker 3 (28:26):
What did Carrie Brown do to you?

Speaker 4 (28:29):
Yeah, Kerry Brown, Yeah, I'm just talking about to too, Halo,
you can go down the lift. I think their line
has a chance to be really good, their secondary, their
safety crew. They've got some playmakers back there, So I
fully expect that you're gonna see a lot of turnovers
again next year because I just think they have some

(28:50):
ballhawks back there, and they get some guys and head
of them. And I'm glad that they stepped up and
gave him a contract extension and some money because I
liked what he he brought this year, and I just
think they get he has some pieces to work with
on that side of the ball next year. I'm excited
to see what that group looks like.

Speaker 3 (29:09):
I think the most intriguing thing for me is now
that Corey Heathman is number one locked up, because I
believe Coyle said with you Guardsy, that it wasn't just
Rutgers that was coming after him.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
Yep, all I do is get nuggets out of the
A D you guys say.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
Well, you like to tell us how much you guys
talking more than people. Now, all I do is I
give you guys blogs every week. It's like, Guard, you're welcome.
I get nothing out of it, you know, I get
no clicks. I get no clicks, I get no engagement.

Speaker 3 (29:36):
It's just because your shoulder hurt.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
Yet from Patty he's a little bit I mean, but
everyone says, oh, Mark Coyle.

Speaker 2 (29:41):
He never says, like, listen to the seven minute pregame interview.
I do them. He's got. He gives me a quote
every week that you guys steal. So there you go.
You're welcome your capes.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
And that's the justin Guard saying. So I will say
this with Corey Heatherman, I am incredibly curious to see,
now that he knows his peronel and he's not going
in blind, what he changes around in terms of does
he move guys like Coleman Bryson down a level the linebacker,
How does he choose to deploy some of his best

(30:13):
assets coming back? Because I think Cooy and Carry are
two really good run blitzers. They're also very instinctual in
past coverage, how do they continue to move around Anthony Smith,
I think I am fascinated to see for a defense
that performed as well as it did in year one
with Corey Heatherman, what changes do they try to make
for the better here this offseason.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
It's gonna be fun to watch. And we lauded him
throughout the season. I mean that was a year ago.
At this time, we're all going, what are.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
They going to do?

Speaker 1 (30:44):
Definitively the guy who helped turn the program around? Joe
Rossi's now in East lanceein minnesot I mean a year ago.
We I probably should have gone back and listened to
some of our our Skaldy hot takes from a year
from a year ago at this time coming out of Detroit.
Maybe I'll do that for next week's episode, because it
was it was a very different conversation on a lot
of different levels coming off the season that they came
off of a year ago. You had no idea who

(31:06):
the quarterback was, You had no idea who the defensive
coordinator was. They have just imploded for an entire month
with you know, defensive injuries. There were just so many unknowns,
uncertainties and now it just to circle it back to
what you said, Chip, what PJ said on the field.
Just feels like they're in a good spot right now.
You know from last January, now, what he did in
the portal a year ago, what obviously they've done with

(31:28):
high school recruiting with Heatherman with the portal. Now now
this cycle, it just seems like everything is on very
solid ground.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
Looking to twenty twenty five, which.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
For a college football podcast centered on the gofers, we
appreciate and Burnsey for a guy who runs a college
football website, you appreciate.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
I would imagine I do, and I.

Speaker 3 (31:47):
Do want you to know it is two hundred and
ninety eight days until Narrative Street returns to town. When
Joe Rossi comes back to an bank Michigan.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
State, there we go, great, that's great?

Speaker 1 (31:58):
Is Mike Is Mike Sandford coming to do the ceremonial
coin toss because they had such a rivalry. I mean,
anything you want to say about the Mayo bath, Burnsy,
because you I know you were looking forward to You've
been trying to speak it into existence for six weeks.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
What did you think about that whole scene and vibe?

Speaker 3 (32:16):
It was a vibe as the kids would say, the
way he changed ties from his normal tie into a
Mayo tie, which with a little assist.

Speaker 2 (32:25):
There from his lovely wife so perfect.

Speaker 3 (32:27):
Then what other sport in the world, And I know
this comes goes back to what we started with, but
what other sport in the world can this sentence be
true in which Flavor Flave, dressed as the duke's Mayo mascot,
gets revealed to then dump Mayo on PJ. Fleck's bald head.
I mean, that's the absurdity of college football. It's a

(32:49):
January meaningless like January meaningless bowl game, embrace the chaos.
I will say this that mayonnaise stunk.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
Yeah, that was That's what you did think about.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
There were multiple people that almost threw up by being
in too close of a proximity to the head coach.

Speaker 4 (33:08):
For sure.

Speaker 3 (33:09):
FLEX comment that will stick with me is we asked
them about it afterwards, the hard hitting questions from US
media jackals as usual, and he was like, I thought
it would slide more, it didn't. And I'm just thinking
to myself, if you like imagine it was some dude
with hair like that would be in your scalp for

(33:29):
week My wife wouldn't even be in the same room
with me until I went and got like a professional
scalp massage from somewhere in Minnetonka.

Speaker 1 (33:37):
You have to do like when your dog runs into
a skunk, you know, you gotta do like tomato juice
or whatever it is. Yeah, a bath or some there's
some remedy for that. Yeah, that was a scene. And
Flavor Flave too, of course, like what and PJ right
on cue with the yeah, boy, you know, just going
right into it, like you.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
Couldn't have there was.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
There's not a better head coach in the country to
have been face to face with flame of a Flave
correct on the fly, with the clock and with the
mendallions and the whole bit. And yeah, it was I'll
say this, It lived up to the expectation, like I thought, Okay,
is it really as funny?

Speaker 2 (34:12):
Is it really? Yeah? It's funny. And the players, Anthony
Smith's face.

Speaker 3 (34:17):
They couldn't have been more invested in that, Like.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
They were up on the riser where I was standing,
like the media riser. Mo Ibraham was standing up there,
Elijah Spencer was standing up there. Everybody wanted to get
a look at it. It was, but I think I
don't know if you saw him as he was walking
in the tunnel, Burnssey like he kind of looked at
me when he was going into the locker room.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
I don't think he even saw me.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
I think he was just in such shock that I'm
still covered in Okay, now that's over, and like, now
what have I done?

Speaker 2 (34:44):
Like this is horrendous and horrific.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
Like the look on his face underneath the stadium as
he was going into the locker room was like, I
need a shower as quickly as possible.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
I need help, I need help.

Speaker 4 (34:55):
I would take an hour shower. I would just like
sit in there until that stitch was off me. Oh yeah,
I'm not the gag thinking about it.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
Yeah, it was a little bit rough.

Speaker 3 (35:04):
I was a little bit disappointed.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
It wasn't the spicy hobb and Arrow, which, by the way,
is not bad. I did try that. My ten year
old really wanted to try the mail on Sunday night
after the women's basketball games, So Bill Taste tests with
the male. The spicy Habernio lives up to the name.
It's spicy for old Minnesota mouth over here. Yeah, I
can imagine it's definitely spicy. So I don't know. Yeah,

(35:26):
at some point we'll have the empty I should have had.
I should have had one of the jars behind me,
but I did not think that clearly. Next week, maybe
I'll have one of the jars behind me. But yeah,
it was it was a scene. It was a Vibe
and Chip. Once again, we missed you man. Everybody wanted
to know.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
Where you were. Everybody wanted to know what your phone
was at.

Speaker 4 (35:44):
I was on the couch. Fortune. I enjoyed it well,
except for the NonStop infomercial about the mayonnaise, which, yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
I texted you. You would have been appalled by the
charging situation.

Speaker 4 (35:57):
I can't believe it.

Speaker 1 (35:58):
Like the Charlotte First of all, we had no TVs
on the flight. I thought we had it perfect. I'm
like Texas and Boise State, you know, second half right
into the Rose Bowl from my flight to Charlotte and nothing,
no TVs.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
Go to charge my phone. Nothing.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
I'm on like four percent when I when I plugged
it in, Chip, it was actually at two percent. Like
you would never even get that far right you.

Speaker 3 (36:21):
Back out chance, Oh, you wouldn't even left to go
to the airport. He had to stay home to make
sure that his phone had enough charge if he misses
his flight. He misses his flight, right, Chip.

Speaker 4 (36:31):
Yeah, I couldn't.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
It was two by the time.

Speaker 4 (36:37):
It's like the end of civilization.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
But you know what I made it. I got it charged,
I got where I needed to be, and I was.
I was no worse for the wear. All right, anything
else Burnsy from Charlotte, any other conversations that stood out
to you any I will talk about the future stuff
like Drake Lindsay he wrote a great piece. I was
sitting there while you were asking Max Brozmaner about Drake.
I thought he gave you some great answers and anecdotes.

(37:01):
People can read it. Go for Illustrated dot com if
they want to. You also had some great stuff with
Darius Taylor and PJ obviously talked for a long time too.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
It's nice. I love those Bowl media days because they're it's.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
Like they let their guard down a little bit after
a long season.

Speaker 1 (37:15):
It felt like, yeah, and there's no where they can go,
there's no one going, you know, time for two more,
you know, none of that. It's there there for an
hour and they and I don't I think there's a
few more college football media members at the college football
playoff games than there are.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
At the Duke's Mail Bowl.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
So you get whatever I mean, You get ten to
fifteen minutes with each guy really by yourself if you
want to. It's very big ten media day like so,
but it was great and you know, to talk to
Max and to Darius and obviously Danny and Jalen. It
was it was good. So there you wrote a lot
of good stuff. Was the point of that whole thing,
and I'd encourage people to read it that go for
Illustrated dot Com.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
Well, I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
I think.

Speaker 3 (37:52):
The only other thing I want to say before we
move on is, you know, when I did get to
talk to PJ, and it goes back to when I
was sitting next to Chip in Wisconsin and if you
asked PJ, you know, like what did you learn like
from the season do you think you've changed? And that's
that was kind of the theme that I wanted to
bring it back to to see if you would expand
on it. And it was interesting to hear him say

(38:13):
because I asked them, well, how do you think he
changed the most this year? Going back to again what
you said after Wisconsin and to hear a head coach
in college football talk about how you can't control everything.
Like he was talking about how the night before in
Charlotte they went out as a staff and he looked
around and that he said, there was one hundred people,

(38:33):
and he had the realization, as he's had I think
for most of the season, you can't control all one
hundred people in this day and age. And he goes
as a young head coach, I thought I could, But
the older I get, the more I learned that there's
no way to do that, and you just have to
kind of empower everybody and trust them, which I mean
that's going to be for me. The theme is that

(38:53):
Max Brosmer and Greg Harbow got him to trust the
passing game again, which in their biggest moments they had
to go to against say UCLA and a lot of
these wins this season where in previous years they would
have been stubborn and Hi Pleck would have stuck with
the run. But the way that Fleck actually changed a

(39:14):
little bit and and kind of just said I can't
control everything. I hope is something that carries year over year.
Now we'll see if it does. We got nine months
to figure it out, but I think it was it
was a moment of oh, I do I want to
say for him, he was vulnerable, which you don't often
see for me in my in our line of work here,

(39:36):
like a head coach be as vulnerable to say something
like that.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
But I applaud him for it made a difference.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
I mean the whole season.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
It made a difference because it was it was a
completely changed offense, it was a completely changed mentality. They
were aggressive at points where they've never been aggressive before,
trying to score before the half, you know, and sometimes
it didn't work out, but that's all right. You know,
you gotta you gotta try stuff every once while. Yeah, definitely,
we'll see if it was a one off. Because Max
Brozemer is about his trustworthy of guys, you can get

(40:05):
what a total stud I mean, just a total stud
in every aspect. There's people in the athletic department that'll
come up to me and go, you really like the
quarterback man?

Speaker 2 (40:13):
Gee, I'm like, well, yeah, you should do.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
I'm not saying that they don't, but I'm like yeah,
because the guy gets it and he's a winner, and
he completely changed everything that this program was about. Philosophically
for the most part. And so yeah, of course I
like him. It was great and he's a good interview
so I like that too.

Speaker 4 (40:32):
And he's a good Dude's dude.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
Yeah, he's obviously a good guy. You can tell.

Speaker 1 (40:36):
I mean, Daniel Jackson even said he goes when he
got here right away and maybe on his visit he goes.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
I knew he was a good guy.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
I was bought in when he was really polite to
the waiter and waitress at the restaurant we went to,
And I'm like, yeah, that's cool. But what about when
you realized he could throw you the ball? Then you
were probably all bought it. That's the kind of guy
he is.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
So yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
Anyway, speaking of restaurants, let's pause quickly here before we
talk college football playoff to talk about a great partners
at Jack's Cafe jax dot com in Minneapolis, a Minneapolis
institution started small and has expanded. The original Jack's Cafe owner,
the original Koslak, basically bought up the whole building. What
was it a laundry mat? There was like something else

(41:16):
that was there, But I just asked Bill. At Christmas,
was Santa Breakfast with Santa. What everything was you told
my kid? Now, of course I've forgotten. But the point is,
you've got a bar, you've got a restaurant, you've got
party rooms, you've got banquet rooms, you've got room for
fifteen to four hundred and Burnsey. The food. Let's not
forget about the food. Why people go to a restaurant
is without peer and without beyond reproach.

Speaker 3 (41:38):
Yeah. I just went there before the Bowl game. I
will continue to say this, and I know that I
had some people come up to me here in the
last couple of weeks since I've said it. I think
it's the best steak in town. And as someone who
just went back to try and see if that opinion
remains true, it does you pair that with you some
hashed potatoes or some hash browns, and boy, oh boy,
are you going to sleep like a baby that night?

(41:59):
So I will die on the hill. That's the best
stick in town.

Speaker 4 (42:03):
I know.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
I had a couple of people actually come up to
me at the Social Guards and tell me because they listen,
they have some reservations here for the month of January.
So when you do, when you do, go say hi
to Bill for us jib.

Speaker 4 (42:14):
Yeah, and the best primber late in town. I know
that for sure. I think I'm going to stop by
this week. I haven't been in a while, and I'm
going to stop by for a drink. And if you
just if you're just out and about, you know, doing
errands or whatever, and you don't have time for dinner
or lunch or brunch or whatever, that bar area is
cool because they have so much history and nostalgia and
it's almost pictures on the wall. It's a great place

(42:36):
to just pop in and have a drink. If you're
out and you know downtown or whatever, zip over there,
get a drink and head home. But I do appreciate
all that Bill has done for you know, our listeners
in terms of the season tickets. I mean, how many
people got to go to games this year because Bill
deves and tickets and parking passes?

Speaker 2 (42:56):
I mean six, six or seven?

Speaker 4 (42:58):
Yeah, I mean how many sponsors are going to do that? Right?

Speaker 2 (43:01):
An?

Speaker 4 (43:01):
I mean it's a cool gesture that he does and
shows how much he he loves this podcast and loves
go for sports and football, and so can't thank him
enough for all he's done for is this four years now?
On three years?

Speaker 2 (43:14):
I think it's three.

Speaker 4 (43:15):
Yeah, just a great partner of ours and love everything
that he stands for.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
We do and you can see it on the scroll
if you're watching on the YouTube channel Jackscafe dot com
Jaxcafe dot com. Support those that support us. Nobody supported
us more than Bill, and like Chip said, nobody cares
more about the parents spare audience than Bill and the
people at Jack's Cafe. So make your reservations. We've got
Valentine's Day coming up, believe it or not, now that
it's twenty twenty five, what a perfect spot to, you know,

(43:41):
take your wife, your girlfriend or both to Jack's Cafe
and a ax caf lost Bernsy, I only did that
because I saw Burnsey taking a drink.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
Don't do that. We don't promote infidelity.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
With Jack's Cafe Jaxcafe dot com.

Speaker 2 (43:58):
All right, let's bring it back.

Speaker 1 (44:00):
Let Burnsy collect himself and got the STEMIs coming up
a little bit later this week, Thursday and Friday. We've
got Ohio State and Texas that's Friday night, and then
we've got Penn State and Notre Dame. I'll open the
floor to you, guys, which game are you most curious about?
Or just however you want to start talking about this playoff,

(44:20):
what we've seen so far and what's coming up here
this weekend.

Speaker 4 (44:24):
Well, I will say I think Ohio State and Texas
I'm most interested in going into it. We said, you know,
Ohio State, what are they going to be? How are
they going to react or they're going to be a hangover.
But I think we all said at their best, I
think they have the most talent, Like, would we be
surprised that they got hot and went won the national title? No,

(44:47):
I mean if you look at their talent, it's just
ob scene. And we've seen at the first two games.
I mean they blew my balls off the field. They
blew Oregon off the field. I mean, they have some
serious firepower and they've got their swagger back after whatever
happened with Michigan. And I said the other game, Notre Dame.

(45:08):
I didn't get to see them a lot this year,
and you know, I looked at their schedule and I
didn't think it was all that difficult. I wonder how
good they were the lost in Northern Illinois. They're impressive.
I think their defense is really good, and so I
think they win. I think Ohio State wins. I think
that's gonna be a hell of a national championship game.

Speaker 3 (45:25):
I think the best thing that happened to Ohio State
was losing to Michigan.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
They got an edge, possibly they got an edge after it.

Speaker 3 (45:35):
I truly believe that moment. Then heading into the playoff,
that coaching staff went, we have literally nothing to lose
because if we do lose, we're going to get fired,
so we might.

Speaker 4 (45:46):
Lose our job.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
They just they've left everything out on the field and
they're going scorched to earth on everyone. I mean, you
look at what they did to Oregon, which every single
team that was on a bye I believe lost, didn't they.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
Yes, yes, yeah, I wanted to talk about that, but
go ahead.

Speaker 3 (46:04):
So I just think that that Ohio State team. Here's
what I think is going to happen in that game.
Texas seemingly has a great script opening script, first fifteen plays.
They'll probably be up at the end of the first quarter,
but then I think Ohio State dumps it on them,
and then I'm going to be very curious to see
in that second game how much further. I mean, you

(46:25):
look at those two teams, you have Notre Dame who's
I guess more reliant on the run game than say
what Penn State is with Tyler Warren and Drew Raler.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
I mean, which one of those defenses? To me, I
think it's I think both games.

Speaker 3 (46:37):
Now, historic history would tell you that one, if not both,
are going to be blowouts, because seemingly every college football
playoff game continues to be so.

Speaker 1 (46:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (46:47):
Now if you look at the Vegas spreads on both
of these games, they're within a touchdown, but only one
SEC team makes it to the final four, and of
all of them, Yeah, Texas, Texas to just got Colley
that that whole that game against Arizona State. I was
watching that on the plane. I mean, yeah, that was

(47:11):
the most Let me say this, I don't often watch
games on TV because of our profession or just like
with the sound on the announcers for that Texas and
Arizona State game, I was losing my mind on the
plane because camp Scatbo is obviously fighting something in the
second half, he's puking and they're like, well, he's not

(47:32):
in shape. He doesn't play it into the fourth quarter,
and I'm I'm losing my mind on the plane going
he's got twenty five touches through like two and a
half quarters. Then he throws for one, has a seventy
yard catch, wills them back into it ends up with
like thirty nine touches like they had Arizona State had
that game one. Yeah, and they go with a cover

(47:53):
zero blitz on fourth and whatever to allow of the
tame fourth and thirteen.

Speaker 4 (48:01):
Well, and how about the the most egregious non targeting
penalty that you've ever seen. I don't know what targeting is.
I as the god, I don't know targeting. I thought
that was textbook targeting.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
You are not alone.

Speaker 3 (48:14):
Most people are thinking that. Yeah, the other two on
the show with you doo too.

Speaker 4 (48:19):
How that wasn't targeting? I just I clearly don't know
the rule. But yeah, on fourth and thirteen you can't
you can't get an all outlift and you can't get
beat over the top. I just I mean that one
will haunt.

Speaker 3 (48:31):
Them for if you beat you with his legs on
fourth and thirteen, that's the way I want to go down.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
That's right with that?

Speaker 4 (48:38):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (48:39):
Right, yeah, you just cover everybody and just say this
is what we're doing.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
Don't give him anywhere to go. You're right, Burnsy.

Speaker 1 (48:44):
Yeah, that's when you think about forever, because as much
as we love the Arizona State story and we love
the accessibility of it, let's be honest. I mean, especially
if this thing keeps going, there's gonna be two or three.
It's gonna be an Arizona State, a Boise State, maybe an SMU.
But it's gonna be Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, Clemston. You know,
it's gonna be the blue bloods, right, Notre Dame. That's

(49:08):
just how it's gonna go. It's gonna it's everybody has
a path now of the playoffs, but not everybody has
the built in path that all these blue bloods still have.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
They're still have.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
So like, that was an unbelievable season for Arizona State.
They'll remember it forever, but who knows what could have
been had they just played a little bit better defense
on that one play after they came all the way back.
I couldn't believe when I went to see you, when
I met you that night, Burns, I'm like, that.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
Game went double.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
Ot said, Texas had that thing handled, And then you
guys kind of walked me through everything that had happened
there pretty wild when when you go back and watch it.

Speaker 3 (49:41):
Yeah, I was sitting there with some Gopher fans on
the plane. We all had it up because on the
American play you could get like free TV on your phone.
When we're in that's where they came in. We're about
to approach to Charlotte and they're like, well, we got
to make a couple more laps, and it just got
to the first time we all each other. Yeah, let's
h keep going a little bit here. But yeah, so

(50:01):
what do you make of the whole Every single team
that had the extra week lost.

Speaker 2 (50:09):
I think playing matters, I do, I really do. Now.
Part of it is the seeding.

Speaker 4 (50:13):
Sea like you're giving you're giving seats to the teams.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
That, yes, you know, but that doesn't explain Oregon and
getting run off the field, right. Yeah, So I don't
know if a week if Oregon playing a week before
would have mattered. Ohio State might have just been so
much better because everybody thinks they are talent wise, But yeah,
I think the thing we've seen is, yeah, the two
seeds for sure, Arizona State and Boise State. You know,

(50:39):
that's different if they played the first weekend. Who knows
if they even get out right, and so there's there's
there's part of that. But I do think playing though
does matter. I mean I really do. I think, you know,
being off that long with the team that's had to
reach that playoff level and intensity and vibe and all
of that for a week, I do think that does
matter some.

Speaker 4 (50:59):
Yeah, I think it's I think it's, you know, the
whole rest versus rust type thing. I think it's the seating.
You're overseating teams that you know because of the rules
that you have, and you can also talk about I mean,
Georgia was down to their backup quarterback who had never started,
and there's different factors. I don't think it's just one thing.

(51:23):
And Ohio State's I think the best team when they
I think they have the highest sealing when they play
at their peak, they're the best team. And so you
could sort of explain all of those. It'll be interesting
to see next year. Well, I think they're gonna change
the rules, right. I don't think they're gonna come back
with the same rules next year.

Speaker 3 (51:40):
It's not guaranteed, but yeah, I mean I think they
should change the seating, and then I think that second
round should be on campus. Can you imagine how different
the game would have been for if that game would
have been played in Boise, Idaho.

Speaker 4 (51:52):
Yeah, yeah, I think I would love it because I
love the first round. But good luck telling the Rose
Bull that.

Speaker 1 (51:58):
When they have all representatives waiting in the wings on
these Canadiates to officially invite the winning head coach of
the first round games to their ball, I think that
tells you everything you need to know that they're not
eager to get rid of the ball system. So yeah,
and I'm curious to see what happens with these balls
that the Gophers played in this year, right because I
know they want.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
To keep them.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
I'm assuming SEC and Big Ten just do some type
of alliance and find a way to pay players to
continue to play in them.

Speaker 2 (52:26):
That's my gut.

Speaker 1 (52:28):
So there's not as many opt outs, and it's a
little bit more it's a little bit more of a
of a real thing as opposed to it always just
a Duke's Male Bawl infomercial for Chip.

Speaker 4 (52:38):
Yeah. I think you just have to go in with
eyes wide open. What these Bowl games now are? You
know you're gonna see a lot of young players. You
know it's you see like Virginia Tech, who's just playing
guys that haven't played. They're overmatched. If you're going in
with great expectations, you're probably gonna be disappointed because it's
not they're exhibitions. They're spring football playing in January and December.

(53:01):
That's what they are. So but again back to our
regional point. To me, these are about fans getting to
go someplace and hang out together and experience a vacation.
I mean that what happens.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
It was, and watch your team on TV. If you
can't go like you yeah right.

Speaker 4 (53:19):
More more than what yeah, more than what happens on
the field. Like if you're looking for you know, ultra
serious competitive you know, oh my gosh, we gotta I mean, yeah,
the win lose. Who really cares. Yeah, it's great that
Govers can say they won eight in a row. But
it's like, to me, it's just about the experience and
seeing some young guys play. So if you go in

(53:40):
with that mindset, I don't think you have to take
it ultra serious about how are we going to fix
this with these opt outs and stuff, because it's that
that person not changing.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
Just go have fun, Go have fun in Charlotte go
have fun in Phoenix.

Speaker 4 (53:53):
Go have fun, drink shots, have shots.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
With yeah, By Burns, shots By Burns, the shots. Yuh,
get that man a shot? All right, Well, we'll go
next week and we'll maybe talk some portal stuff because
I know there's still a few portal things to clean up.

Speaker 2 (54:08):
I know they've had some visitors.

Speaker 1 (54:09):
I know they've been on the road for twenty twenty
six recruiting Burnsy, So maybe we can clean that up
and talk about that next week, and we'll preview a
national championship game as well next week.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
That sound good with everybody?

Speaker 4 (54:18):
Perfect?

Speaker 3 (54:19):
All right?

Speaker 1 (54:20):
Good luck to you Burnsey on the message boards. Good
luck mister Projects with whatever you're working on. I'm sure
it's good. Remember, if you have a football across Minnesota
story to pitch Chip, just hit him on Twitter at
Chips Goggins. Let him know the stories around Minnesota that
you think he should be interested in.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
Jack's Cafe is our great partner.

Speaker 1 (54:36):
Make your reservations, including for Valentine's Day, at Jackscafe dot
com Jaxcafe dot com, and we'll talk to you next
week on the parentis Bear podcast.

Speaker 2 (54:44):
Bye, everybody,