2024 Week 15 Review: Mayo Bowl! Portal Talk, Corey Heatherman, CFP

Chip Scoggins, Ryan Burns and Justin Gaard discuss the Duke's Mayo Bowl bid for the Gophers, some early Transfer Portal discussion, Corey Heatherman is staying at the U and a lot of talk about the College Football Playoffs

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Glenn Mason said 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. It is time for another edition of
the Parent a Spare Podcast. I'm justin Guard from Kfan.
We've got Ryan Burns from Gopher Illustrated dot Com and
from Football across Minnesota. He is Chip Scoggins. We are
here thanks to our great partners at Jack's Cafe. I'll
tell you a little bit about it during the commercial Guys,
Breakfast with Santa. Unbelievable, unbelievable Breakfast with Santa. Yeah, the

(00:27):
family made it to Breakfast with Santa on Saturday. I'll
tell you a little bit about that later. That to tease,
it was great to see Bill. Great to see someone
in the buffet line walk up to me and say
good recommendation. Guardsy love par and a spare. Say excuse me,
I'm gonna take that last eggs Benedict. Okay, we'll talk
about it later.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
They're gonna bring out another tray. All right, here we go.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
We got a lot to discuss, and mister Projects has
a heart out, so we're gonna have to get the
We're gonna have to get Chip going on his next
secret project.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
I remember.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
If you have ideas for Chip to write about, please
hit him on Twitter at Chip Scoggins or find his email.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
It's archibute.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
It'll be hard to top the last one.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah, that's a tough one. That's a that's a tough one.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
Bars high. The bar is high right now.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
A spiritual leader. And couldn't we all use one of those?
I know, I know I certainly could. Yes, Yes, all right,
Burnsy got his wish. We're gonna start with Gophers and
then move on to transfer portal stuff as well as
college football playoff now that that bracket is out. But
Burnsy got his wish. And it has been confirmed that
if the Gophers do knock off Virginia Tech on Friday,

(01:30):
January third, a Friday night game in Charlotte, North Carolina,
PJ Fleck has agreed to participate in the dumping of
the mayonnaise on him from the Gatorade bath. So what
do we think about this bowl opportunity, this bowl matchup
and Burnsy something that you've been thinking about for the
last month, PJ Fleck bathing in mayonnaise.

Speaker 5 (01:51):
Well, that's where I'm just excited to not go to Detroit,
which is why, for those of you not watching on YouTube,
I'm wearing a Hawaiian shirt today because anything further south
to detri is gonna fel near tropical.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Tropical rum Runners and Charlotte. I'm sure they haven't even
heard of them.

Speaker 5 (02:06):
Yeah, we'll figure it out at the GOP get together
the night before. I'll see if I can't convince a
bartender to add something to the menu there. But this
had been the bowl game they had been i'd say
standing for kind of trying to bang the table for
for a long time. When you look at the options
between the guaranteed rate, the pinstripe. Nashville was also one

(02:27):
they wanted to go to. But once Michigan upset Ohio State,
it kind of threw a wrench into everything. And that's
where Michigan ends up going from maybe not even getting
to one of the upper tier bowl games. Now they're
in Tampa. Everybody else has to slide around. Everybody else
is trying to figure out where they were gonna go.
But Minnesota wanted to go to Charlotte, and so that's
where they're gonna take on Virginia Tech. To your point,

(02:49):
they are going to be able to dump Mayo on PJ. Fleck.
We asked him about them on Sunday. He confirmed it
and he said, heck double it, which absolutely. Now I'm
gonna tell you, I'm gonna get some great vis deal
of that for everybody to watch, considering Minnesota's one five
straight under Fleck, seven straight bowl games overall, and seemingly
half of Virginia Tech starting Foster has either hit the

(03:10):
portal or is going to be taking on some senior
Bowl games, so I we will have a lot of
time to preview that game. I'll just tell you this,
I don't know who the heck's gonna be playing for
both of these teams besides Max Brosmer and Quinn Carroll
at this point. But the Gophers get to go to
Charlotte and they get to spend Christmas at home with
their families, which I know is something that we're certainly

(03:32):
looking forward to.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Chip.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, I mean it's when you look at the idea
of going places you haven't been before, I mean that
should be the Gopher.

Speaker 4 (03:43):
Any team.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
I think Nashville would have been probably preferable obviously for
a lot of people.

Speaker 4 (03:50):
But are you that group, Chipper, I would not have made.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
Either one, so it doesn't affect me. The charge's a
great town. I lived worked in North Carolina for a
couple of years, and I love Charlotte, so Gopher fans,
I have a.

Speaker 4 (04:03):
Good time there. And yeah, I love Bowl games.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
But they've become weird because of the portal and opt
outs and you just don't know, honestly, who's going to play,
what you're going to see.

Speaker 4 (04:15):
But they're exhibitions, and if you get to.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
See some young guys that are going to be full
time starters next year, all the better. You know, I
don't get worked up over now. I would have a
problem if I was in the playoff or you know,
one of these big bull particularly a playoff, if guys
are often now that that's that's a whole different story.
But when you're in these other balls that are exhibitions,
if guys don't want to play for whatever reason, or
if they hit the portal and you have to play

(04:40):
a bunch of young guys that you know don't have experience,
who cares. It's good for him, it's a good it's
a good thing, gets a sneak peak for next year.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
And if you're a die hard and We've seen the
Gopher fans travel really well the last handful of years,
really since Orlando. But even in Phoenix, I thought they
traveled well. In New York, I thought they traveled well.
It's an opportunity, it is, it's an exhibition for and
it's a complete gong show now with who's playing, who's
not playing. We all remember, you know Coleman Bryson's you know,
pick six to knock off Syracuse, Right, it took two

(05:10):
years for us to see him again. Like that's just
and that's not a knock on him, that was just
the reality of what was going on. And so yeah,
I love how the Big ten now has has done it.
I think a pretty good job of mixing it around
and making sure that you get to go to different spots.
And I would have been fine with Phoenix even though
that date wasn'n L because it's a day after Christmas. Obviously,

(05:30):
Nashville we're just never going to go there again. So
I think everybody just you need to.

Speaker 5 (05:34):
Stop telling your favorite Bowl guy that Minnesota's been there.
I put all of the blame squarely on those blue
minnetaka shoulders of yours.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah, yeah, maybe I'll have to shoulder some of it.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
I put it on Glenn Mason because he must not
have treated anybody well and the three times that they went.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
There should bring that up with him this week, I have,
I have. He's like, you're wrong. They loved me, you know.

Speaker 5 (05:54):
Of course, of course, of course they loved him.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
But yeah, the Michigan thing, I just Chip skogin did
hear coffee? The Michigan thing really did throw a wrench
because Michigan was a lock for the pin stripe, Like
that was all I was hearing, you know, the last
week or so, because they were never gonna be involved
in the pin stripe historically, right, They're typically not in
that group. And then beating Ohio State completely threw a

(06:18):
wrench in the whole thing. And I was going to Nashville,
you've got the pinstripe? Is Nebraska, right? I think so?
Their first bowl game? And but yeah, it's it's just
an opportunity to watch your team play, go on a
nice trip, and see a city that you don't get
to see very often. I can't say Charlotte has been
on my bucket list, but and it doesn't conflict with
women's basketball or anything like that. So for me, I'm

(06:39):
very selfish and very spoilt about that whole thing. So
when you're going down, Burns, you got out, you got
the two four seven sports budget ready to go.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
What's the the Ryan Burns plan.

Speaker 5 (06:48):
Yeah, we're gonna be going down. I've been trying to
correspond with the Star Tribune's Randy Johnson about what it's
gonna look like. We still don't really know if we're
gonna have a ton of availability before or what it
looks like. I know we'll certainly be there the day before.
I think what time do you guys get in?

Speaker 1 (07:05):
We get in like noon the day before, is what
I was what I've been told.

Speaker 5 (07:09):
Well, I'm going to tell everybody, for you and for I,
I think we'll probably got what is it called.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
The Soda Social.

Speaker 5 (07:15):
We'll be at the Soda Social wherever the heck that
is in Charlotte the night before. So yes, hang out,
come say hi, come enjoy the New Year with us.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
Maybe we'll try to FaceTime Chip from somewhere. We'll try
to face time Chip. Maybe there's the Soda Social can
have the technical capabilities and we'll bring in Chipper.

Speaker 5 (07:31):
I don't try to you know, how to FaceTime. Have
we got over this?

Speaker 4 (07:35):
Yes, I can FaceTime.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
These kids will be back for Christmas.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
So that's that's a Friday night. Maybe I should do
another one of those beautiful things.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
I was thinking about it while I was at Jack's cafe.
I was thinking about it. We were in the room
where you guys did the viewing party. That was where
the yeah, which was awesome. So I was thinking about that.
So maybe we'll work with Bill and we'll get that
done and get that.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
It's uh, you know, at least for the Gophers. The
good news is mac Broswber's always said he's gonna play.
So if you have your quarterback, that's you know, a
lot of these teams get down to their say either
you know, portal or whatever. They're wondering who the heck's
going to play quarterback for covers Evan. So the ones
we know, John Joyner erth three.

Speaker 5 (08:18):
Uh, I don't expect well, Cody still hasn't announced what
he's doing. I don't expect him to go. I'd be
surprised that Daniel Jackson goes.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (08:28):
He's been battling injuries now for a couple of years.
So yeah, there'll be a lot of time to kind
of figure all that out. I'm sure as these guys announced,
But I think Virginia Tech is supposed to be on
like their quarterback three potentially, Yeah, between injuries and the portal,
I mean, we'll see what kind of happens there. It's
just it's gonna be a war of attrition for these

(08:49):
non college football playoffs. That's why I love the bull
streak that the Gophers keep up. I know it's champion
and you know, it's like, that's great. I love it.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
You gotta do what you gotta do, right, But one
of them includes the APR Bowl against Bowling Green and
no one, you know, remember the Syracuse game the Pinstripe Bowl,
didn't they lose like all their coordinators, like they had nobody. Yes, now, fairness,
the Gophers lost their starting quarterback because the Ethon got hurt,
and then Tanner Morgan had to come in, you know,

(09:18):
for one final ride.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
It's great. I love it.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Well, it's mad and and everybody's leaning into the mayonnaise
like that has to be the focus.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Like I can't wait.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
I don't like taking pictures, as you guys know, I
can't wait to take a picture with the mayonnaise guy
with the with the mascot for my kids, they're gonna
love it.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
I used to say bowl the secondary or third tier,
however you won, writing bulls came down to who cares more.
Now it's I mean, guys, you have left after the
portal and opt out so and who cares more?

Speaker 4 (09:47):
But I'm not I hate mayonnaise?

Speaker 2 (09:51):
Do you really?

Speaker 4 (09:52):
I I'm not a mayonnaise guy at all. Man, it's weird.
I like, I like I eat potato sal with mayonnaise
in it. I do that. I love potato salad. But
it just like when somebody makes a you know, my
wife will make like.

Speaker 5 (10:05):
A you can't hate sandwich.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
Did you forget we're doing a podcast right now because
you're just like you feel like an old guy at
a diner right now?

Speaker 2 (10:15):
Did you forget we're doing well?

Speaker 4 (10:18):
You're talking about everybody's excited about the mayonnaise. I'm like,
I don't like mannaise.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
All right, we'll cross a mustard guy.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
I'm a mustard guy. I just can't have mayonnaise on
the sandwich. But it's weird, like potato salad. Like my
wife tells me, she's like, you like manaise, because it's
potato potato salad.

Speaker 4 (10:33):
But I love potato salad, but it's gotta be the
right kind of potato. Sound like the mustard eat you know.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
Okay, maybe Jacks can whippy some up on Friday to
watch part Well. No, I like salsa, but I don't
like tomatoes. If there's a tomato on the sandwich, I
go insane. I hate tomatoes.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
It's like the texture or the the juices they get
on the bread. There's aroma, I don't, but salsa. I
could eat salsa for breakfast. So that's weird, Like that's stupid,
and I like that.

Speaker 4 (11:02):
I think yours is a little more out there than mine.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
Well put it in the comments. Everybody on the YouTube
channel who's weird for food? A version my mayonnaise or
my tomatoes or chips mayonnaise, and Burnsy just shakes his head.

Speaker 5 (11:15):
You just love the random tangent ten minutes about youtwo
and mayonnaise and tomatoes. For the recordguards damn with you.
I do not like if a slice of tomato, absolutely not.
But if you put salt in front of me, I
will crush in exponential amount.

Speaker 4 (11:30):
So you don't like bealtes.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
No, I like lts, no bls. I like bls with
mayonnaise bacon. I mean, well, what what what does the
tomato add The tomato barely adds anything. I like Brishetta too,
That's another thing. I like Brishetta. There's tomatoes and brishetta.

Speaker 5 (11:52):
Yeah, so you're very straight. We'll get into a food
podcast here at something.

Speaker 4 (11:57):
Yeah, a food podcast.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
The other thing we talk about before.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
But you mentioned, you know, Coy Parritch and Darius Taylor,
who's gonna play who's not gonna play? No surprise that,
at least for me, that they both made quote unquote
announcements that they're coming back I think over the weekend
or late last week, whatever it was, and now they're
jumping in with I think this is the I read
about this dude like a month ago the roy at
Burnsey where this dude's trying to like, you know, nil

(12:23):
himself to to everybody where you can basically like pay
the players directly.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
And it's an interesting idea.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
I'm guessing it's not like the greatest thing ever that
Dinky Town athletes doesn't love it. I haven't talked to
anybody about it, but this guy seems like a disruptor.
But which is fine. I'm all for, you know, letting
these guys do whatever they want to do. But is
that am I remembering the same thing? Is that what
Coy and Darius were talking about when they made their
announcements what within the last couple of days.

Speaker 5 (12:49):
Yeah, I'm a little bit unclear of why they tweeted
that out because then I was like behind the scenes
talking to some people at Minnesota, talking to some people
with NIL, talking to some agents about Okay, does this
mean they've signed? And the response I got back, But
when they tweeted that out was they had not signed
their rev share stuff yet. So I'm I'm very unclear

(13:09):
of why they tweeted that out. If now I will
say this, I have every indication I've heard since the
end of the season as those two are going to
be coming back, and so it's great that they tweeted
that out, I would say, I'm not I'm not going
to slander the roy app. I would just tell you
I think we've seen a lot of these type of
NIL companies come and go. Maybe this one has some

(13:33):
staying power, but it is good news that Coy and
Darius have at least said publicly on social media that
they plan on plan on coming back. I would just
say the Hay is not in the barn yet as
far as I've been told. Okay, so it's a that
was a very interesting I think it was on a Tuesday.
They tweeted that out.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
So is that what it was? Yeah, I get my
days all confused. And Coy Perrish, obviously as we tape
this on a Tuesday, it was announced that he was
first Team All Big Ten voted on by the media,
as was our Ariante Urser and Cody Lindenberg was second
a team All Big Ten. But you make a couple
of high profile splash plays early in the season, you
have a bunch of interceptions like Coy Perrich did have

(14:13):
a nice kick punt return at Michigan, and that's all
it takes, right, I mean, a great season, you get
on people's radar, and he carried that thing through. Obviously,
burns a U talk last week about how great he
was in the run game the last couple of weeks
and making tackles and playing fast. But hard to ask
for a better start from as you like to say,
the kid from Esco.

Speaker 5 (14:32):
Yeah, I mean that had to have been a ninety
ninth percentile outcome season for him, where when he arrives
in June, he's injured, doesn't get fully healthy until till July,
takes fall camp by storm, ends up getting a ton
of snaps starting in late September, and ends up finding
away into a first team All Big Ten list as.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
A pretty wild It's pretty wild.

Speaker 5 (14:54):
I mean, you can't ask for a better start to
a career with all that. And yeah, I think the
best part was and ship it and guards him alluded
to it. It was in October. It was all the
playmaking interceptions and some of them, I mean they're thrown
right to him with some pressure, but it's his evolution
to that. In November, I thought he became one of
Minnesota's best players in the run game. So yeah, for sure,

(15:15):
I'll deserve for Koy.

Speaker 4 (15:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:17):
And and the think about it was, I'm sure he
didn't play perfect.

Speaker 4 (15:22):
I thought he only had one tough game and it
was Rutgers. That's the one where it stood out.

Speaker 3 (15:26):
I was like, you know, that was a tough game
for him missing other than that, Yeah, But other than that, obviously,
the early on in the splash plays and the highlight stuff,
but I go back to I think we talked about
last week. He made a couple of in the run
game just coming off the edge like he'd been shot

(15:47):
out of the Camon tackles at Wisconsin. I mean, he
was a really I thought in the run game showed
up as much as he did, you know with his
interceptions there late. I mean, he just became a good tackler.
He play make her that way, so you know I
said from day one, I'd make him the kick returner.
I didn't know he'd have this kind of impact defensively

(16:07):
right away.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Right.

Speaker 4 (16:09):
But I also think.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
You have to give Danny Collins a lot of credit
as a coach. I mean, this has become the place
if you're if you're a safety, if you play safety
in high school, and you're looking around this, look at
the track record of the way they developed guys, and
I think Danny Collins deserves a lot of credit for.

Speaker 4 (16:32):
His teaching development, whatever he does, because they've got a
pretty good.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
Line going right now, guys that are top notch safeties
and going on to the NFL.

Speaker 5 (16:43):
Or even you just look at what's coming back next
year with Coroy carry Brown, Hayden Gooseby, still got if
Coleman Bryson Penstrap Bowl MVP, Coleman Bryson is your safety four.
I think you're in a pretty dang good spot with
where things are going in the next year. But or
even Ariante being named Big Ten Offensive Linemen of the Year,

(17:03):
how about that.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah I didn't mention that. Yeah I did. I kind
of glossed over that. That's that's big stuff, man, that's
hetty stuff.

Speaker 5 (17:09):
I just I feel for Daniel Jackson and all this
where Daniel Jackson somehow fails to make. I know, there's
a ton of great receivers in the Big Ten, especially
with four new teams, but no with Daniel Jackson on
any of the all Big ten teams, both media and
coaches shocked me.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
Yeah, well we kind of talked about it. It's a
deep position and then it's one of those that you
love narrative Street Burnsy, I blame you for this. People
get people get lazy in there. Well, we're just Ohio
State's got guys, Oregon's got guys, right, obviously Indiana's gonna
have guys like because of how they play, they you
get you know, it's hard to watch all eighteen teams.

(17:49):
It just is We kind of talked about this last
week with the Heisman stuff, and you really have to
be a sicko to go inside that, you know. I
remember voting on the AP stuff. I don't do it
anymore because I said, I can't in good conscience give
you the second team right guard. I just can't do
it like I'd love to. Maybe people will chargue that
I could, but I can't do that. And it's not

(18:11):
fair to just go, oh Ohio State and Michigan run
the ball really well, let's give it to Chips Goggins
the right guard second team. So I think people do that.
Daniel Jackson isn't flashy, like that's the thing. He's just
a professional tactician, make everything every catch that's thrown his way.
He had so many huge catches, but it was almost like, yeah,

(18:31):
good catch, here's the ball, move on to the next one.
Like there weren't like the there were the highlight reel plays.
So I'm not saying that there weren't, but do you
give what I mean? There's like a distinction between like
the flashy wide receiver that gets all the headlines, that
comes in with the hype, and then the dude that
just produces for five years and especially the last two,
and I think they just exactly exactly Bateman or even Tyler,

(18:54):
you know had a lot of deep shots and you
know had it. So it's just I think he's just
a byproducts of he's just too solid. He's just like
too normal, Like I don't know. That's the only explanation
I can come up with. Because you look at the
production and the importance that he had to this team,
it's pretty ridiculous that he's not on all Big ten team.

Speaker 5 (19:13):
I think the most wild part about all of it, though,
is Daniel Jackson ends up honorable mention. He's on the
same honorable mention list as Mark Crawford, which peace and
love to my favorite Australian thirty year old man. But
how are those two after the twenty twenty four seasons
the same?

Speaker 2 (19:28):
They get the same certificate.

Speaker 4 (19:32):
There's like four hundred honorable mentions on it.

Speaker 5 (19:34):
Yeah, in minnesotat like thirteen I think it was thirteen
is what they ended up having to honable mentions. I
think Darius Taylor also had a case. Now there's a
ton of tremendously talented running back from the Big Ten.
I think because so much of his production came through
the air. I think that probably played a mind in
a lot of the voter's minds. But Cody Lindenberg making

(19:55):
first team coaches, second team media doesn't shock me.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yep, nice feather for him.

Speaker 5 (20:00):
Yeah, but so many And that's where those lists come out,
and immediately it goes to, well, look at all the
talent that Minnesota had, they should have won more games.
If we're already playing the should have, could have would
as boys. I just it's gonna be a long offseason.
I'll tell you that much.

Speaker 4 (20:17):
Well, every team does that every year.

Speaker 3 (20:21):
At the end of the year, you look back and
if there's any close games, and heck, they had seven
of them, your natural thing is I mean, I got
a couple of textes like man then made that feel
go with North Carolina or if they did this or
do that. It's like, yeah, but you could do that
till eternity. And guess what if Coy didn't make that
amazing catch against USC and the.

Speaker 4 (20:38):
U c l A guy gets one more yard, they're
gonna lose that game.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yeah you can.

Speaker 4 (20:43):
You can do that all day.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
I've also fatigued from that, like everybody can have their
own right to what they how they thought the season went.
I thought it was a good season. I mean, I
thought it was a good, solid season. I think it
was a season they needed to kind of bounce back
and show that they're, you know, going to be a factor,
just to finish in the top half of the new
Big Ten, you know, close to the top third. I
think was I think that was great, especially coming off

(21:08):
what they did a year ago.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
You know, they really bound to back.

Speaker 4 (21:11):
It's interesting.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
I mean, it's you know, nuance doesn't exist in social
media world, but right.

Speaker 4 (21:20):
I thought it was the most entertaining go for season
I've seen in a while.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
Yeah, I thought it.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
Was important in terms of PJ altering his philosophy, But
I don't know that they squeezed everything out of this
team that they.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
Could probably not. And the North Carolina game is the
one that's going to really bother me forever. And again,
you can excuse that one away too, because it's the
first game. You don't know what you have, you don't
know how Max is going to play. At that point,
you think that North Carolina might be good. It still
bothers me that the mentality of that game was first
one to twenty because we don't necessarily need that, and

(21:57):
all of a sudden done if Dragon makes the kick,
win it, and all of a sudden, you're eight and four.
Well that one bugs me.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
I think about three North Carolina, they were just sloppy,
sloppy tackling obvious a kicker, I mean.

Speaker 4 (22:11):
Just just sloppy, just is like, what is this?

Speaker 3 (22:14):
I still for the life and you can't understand what
they all happened. The second half of Iowa, I don't
know what happened there. And then Rutgers I just thought
was a no show.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
Mm hmm, yeah, well weird in the first half. That
just put him in, yeah, in a game, and then
you had multiple opportunities to just extend it and you didn't.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
And then a.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
Turnover you know, you live in the margins, It turnover
kills you. Yeah, those three I think are the ones.
And Michigan even just respecting Michigan too much in the
first half, you know, like just and making huge cataclysmic
airs in an eight minute stretch that changes the whole game.
But that game also I think unlocked the Brozemer experience,
like at a high level, you know, because in the

(22:52):
second half, they just had to let him go and
he almost brought him back, and then we saw how
well he played the rest of the season, pretty much
for the entire stretch. So yeah, we could do that
for five hours. But you want to say more, Burnsey, Well.

Speaker 5 (23:06):
I was going to say, speaking to Rutgers. Now, Corey
Heatherman can thank Rutgers for getting him a brand new.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
Deal where I was going next, Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 5 (23:14):
Take it away, then, mister guard.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
Well, no, give us the details, because nobody loves assistant
coach salary pools more than you, So I want to
give you your time to shine here. Did he get
the bump as you like to say that he needed?
And what do we know about this contract?

Speaker 2 (23:25):
H We don't know the.

Speaker 5 (23:26):
Details yet, which I don't imagine we're going to know
them for a few more weeks until the FOIA requests
come in and everybody gets everything signed and dotted and whatnot.
But when Joe Harris Simiak, former Gopher coach, took the
U Mass job, which I forgot that U Mass is
going to be a part of the MAC next year,
which I would imagine was a huge part of the
selling point to Harris Simak, and I've heard he's got

(23:49):
an outstanding assistant Pool, he's got some of the best
nil now in the in the mac as well. But
when he left, because Greg Ciano and PJ. Fleck only
love to take coaches from one another, that's where Corey
Heatherman's name got brought up. And from the sounds of it,
I think Corey Heathman's going to be to go on
from about eight hundred and fifty nine hundred k to

(24:09):
now north of one point one million, So a nice
little two hundred thousand dollars bump there and again for
what he did in his first year in the power
for and the big ten call in plays with the
personnel that he had Chip, it's tough to argue with
the results of that.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
Yeah, No, I mean you got to give him a raise.
I mean he didn't really outstanding jobs for year. So
two years does that take him through twenty six or
was he had one year left?

Speaker 5 (24:34):
Yeah, so it's essentially a new deal through twenty twenty
six and we'll get the details about it now. The
thing that made it interesting even with Rutgers was of
Heatherman's buyout, which Fleck was tired of being burned from
other coordinators taking jobs. So what he had written into
Heatherman's initial deal was Rutgers would had to buy out
the remaining salary, which would have been somewhere around plus

(24:56):
or minus, say nine hundred thousand, uh somewhere around there,
which Rossi left for three hundred and thirty k. Shiraka
and Harris Simeak left for less than that, but from
the sounds of it, Rutgers was going to be willing
to pay that. I think heather Man wanted to stay here.
They're able to work it out.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
But I'm just.

Speaker 5 (25:16):
Glad that PJ Fleck and Greg Ciano for at least
it looks like one offseason, don't have to steal coaches
from one another.

Speaker 3 (25:22):
Yeah, well, I thought, you know, losing Rossie last year
I thought was a big deal because you know, I
think we all had a ton of have a ton
of respect for him. But PJ did he found a
great replacement. I mean, I think Heatherman in his first
year in a different way than what than Rossie does it.
But I like the way his defense plays. I like

(25:44):
that kind of the I don't know controlled chaos is
the right word, but just really creating turnovers through pressure
and a loud guys to kind of fly around. I
thought really fit the skill set. So I'm yeah, me
only turning over coordinators every other year, so it's good
that they're able to have some continuity there.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
It's a fun way to play defense. You mentioned the
entertainment value of the seasonship. A lot of it was
the defense was great. I mean it was so fun
to watch. The pressure is, the explosive plays, the turnovers,
the sacks, the negative plays, all of that.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
It was great.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
Yeah, and this is well deserved by Corey Heatherman was
coming into it. I mean, that was a huge hire
for PJ. It was a massive higher when Rossi left
after the November a year ago and how bad the
defense was and where's this thing going and who's the
quarterback going to be? He had to get that one right,
like he had to when he elevated Rossi after Rob
Smith in year two. He had to get it right
and he did. I mean, the guy knows what he's doing.

(26:40):
The guy's a stud. And I thought his mentality just
being around him on the field, like he's an aggressive guy. Aggressive.
Beard also has very cool Jordan's that he wears. So
that the nineties child in me. I saw him before
one of the press conference, I'm like, dude, those are
the sickest shoes I've ever seen. Like, that's my dream
as my fourteen year old guards you, which is I
could just wear those every day. I can't. I'm not

(27:01):
cool enough. But his mentality, I thought, just permeated throughout
the team. And yeah, well done by him, and good job.
You know, whether the Rutgers steam was legit or not,
just don't mess around. Just reward the guy for doing
a good job and keep him here for as long
as you can. I know they like Danny Collins and
he might be the heir apparent if and win anything.
Heatherman does, go do something. But I think it's great

(27:23):
to keep keep Danny Collins where he is, letting him
be continue to grow, do his thing.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
Winston, same thing with.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yep, and and they're putting They've got a nice defensive
staff here put together, and that's important because we know
PJ likes to do his thing on the offensive side.
He's not going to meddle too much. So you got
to have somebody who can trust over there. And he
found another one because I think I mean to have
a top ten defense again with a new coordinator, with
all those new dudes.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
A good job by him.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
Uh, do you want to talk portal real quick before
we break Burnsy and talk college football playoff? It's about
thirty hours old. I was worried about you yesterday, Chip
responded to to me right away when we were kind
of setting this thing, and burn he was just I
figured he just went into the portal and got lost
and was never to be heard from again. So what
do we need to know? What are the high level
highlights of who's leading, but also who they're targeting because

(28:11):
we know they're going to be targeting a lot of positions.
PJ said, I think last week ten to fifteen players.
So what do we know so far in the early
stages of portal season.

Speaker 5 (28:20):
Yeah, I think a lot of people are surprised that
I said I should say a lot of fans are
surprised that there's not more bigger names from the Gopher
side of things in the portal yet. I would say
two things about that. One, if you're a younger player
in n out on the portal, why, well, because you
look at competition across the board for the spring, I

(28:41):
mean pick a position, quarterback, running back not named Darius Taylor,
receivers wide open, tight end, offensive line, defensive line, linebacker,
corner like you all have an opportunity if you stay,
to compete for playing time, and I think that's a
big part of it. But even some of the best
players on the roster for twenty five that Koy pit
Rich is Darius Taylor's Anthony Smiths of the world per se.

(29:04):
Minnesota is competitive in NIL now, and I can assure
you they have made them very competitive offers between NIL
and revenue sharing, which will be introduced on July first.
I think between the two of those, you haven't seen
a lot of attrition. I think the biggest thing you've
seen is Jordan Nuban is in the portal, Minnesota's third
down back. Who can forever forget the Jordan Nuban game

(29:25):
against Michigan State where he carries the ball forty times
for two hundred and four yards Big Ten Player of
the Week. They ran outside zone thirty nine of the
forty plays, pretty sure and Michigan State couldn't stop it.
Cie Bengua is also in the portal. Someone in Minnesota
picked up from Ohio last year didn't really play much.
So other than that, I mean, we haven't seen a

(29:47):
lot going out, I would say coming in. They're hoping
to get some things going here this weekend. Their first
bull practice, I believe, since the portal opens is Wednesday,
and then they'll have another Bowl practice this weekend, which
people have to remember. They do get fifteen of them,
but because the bowl game is so far out yet,
you kind of want to spread them out, be able
to get more top heavy towards the latter half, towards

(30:10):
that Christmas time. And I still think thats flex said
they're going to bring in ten to fifteen guys people.
I think the other only other thing I want to
say about it is the number one question I get
is well, we haven't seen a lot of guys go
so they can't bring in ten to fifteen guys. Like
PJ said, that's not true. They don't have to be
underneath one oh five until August, so they can still

(30:31):
go out and grab ten to fifteen guys in this
transfer portal window, because you'll still have one after springball
to really make sure that you can get the roster
beneath that. But I think there's a lot of things
that are going to be happening here between this podcast
the next time we record anything from around the conference
that has caught your eye so far.

Speaker 1 (30:51):
When it comes to people leaving or are people coming?
Mostly people leaving at this point, it's still a little
early to be committed somewhere else. I know offers are
flying all over the place, but anything catch your eye
from anything else Big ten related that that should.

Speaker 5 (31:04):
Interest us produced lost essentially their entire roster because of
the coaching change.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
Barry Alham their new coach. Unlb's own good coach. He
is good, stolid coach, so hopefully you can stabilize things
for them a little bit.

Speaker 5 (31:17):
But essentially anyone who is anywhere close to all Big
ten has now left, including their best player Dylan Thyneman,
who was a freshman All American. Wisconsin has seen a
lot of attrition, which they've lost some bigger names too,
and that's where Chips got. Who is the quarterback that
you love so much that played against the Gophers, Chip,

(31:38):
what's his name? Brandon Locke, the one that they just had.
He's now in the portal. They got to figure out
what they're going to do with Vandyke. Wisconsin also hired
Jeff Grimes as their offensive coordinator from Kansas, which that
was an interesting reaction between Kansas fans being elated and
Wisconsin fans being very sad about it.

Speaker 4 (31:58):
Guy Jimmy's at Rowski give him a shout out.

Speaker 5 (32:00):
Woodbury's own right there. Yeah, he's now the offensive coordinator
of Kansas. And then I would say Nebraska too.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
The way Vandyke is also in the portal. You mentioned
what are they going to do with Tyler van Dyke.
He's in the portal too. I had to double check that.
Or he's leaving.

Speaker 5 (32:15):
Which that's where Kansas locked up Jaden Daniels to a
new deal. So whoever the Wisconsin quarterback is going to
be is not currently on the roster. But Nebraska has
seen a lot of attrition too. They lost their defensive coordinator,
they lost their defensive line coach, and some of their
best players have hit the portal. I don't know, it's
it's been a very odd first week, which maybe that's

(32:38):
just the way college football is going. But Minnesota hasn't
seen a lot of it yet. But I think as
we continue to move forward, you're going to see more
and more.

Speaker 4 (32:47):
Just made me laugh it sounds like we're talking about
NFL free agencies. They locked him up to a new deal.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
It's crazy. You're gonna chip.

Speaker 1 (32:56):
You're gonna start having to go to Manny's forring for
Gopher football. Yeah, like you used to have to do,
you know, when you were checking out TJ. Hushman, Zada
and Bernard Berry.

Speaker 4 (33:06):
And it's just so funny.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
It's just like rolls off to tell He's like, yeah,
Kansas locked him up to a new deal.

Speaker 5 (33:12):
Well, until we get the CBA going in like twenty eight.
This is the way the role.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
All right, So keep it at Gopher Illustrated dot com
for all your portal news at Ryan Burns MN on
Twitter Burns and you can handle all of that.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
I'm I'm gonna stay out of that one.

Speaker 5 (33:28):
I don't wait until the portal closes you yeh Yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
I read the daily notes that Burnsy puts on the
message boards and I glance at him and I do
all of that. But we'll we'll let you handle all
of that, buddy, because nobody does a better than you.
All right, let's pause here. We're going to talk college
football playoff. When we come back, the list is official,
The games are official. It's really exciting time. I'm looking
forward to it. We've got to talk about our friends,
our great partner at Jack's Cafe Jaxcafe dot com. Since

(33:54):
nineteen thirty three, right here in Minneapolis, Jack's Cafe has
been providing great food, great experience. It's his first class
every step of the way. And we did do breakfast
with Santa on Saturday. We knocked out the first one.
I will say this, They've got two left, the fourteenth
and the twenty first seatings at nine, ten and eleven.
Jackscafe dot com for information there. My son Grayson, my

(34:15):
eight year old, I texted Bill about this was a
walking billboard for Jack's Cafe. The rest of the weekend
we went to the nine o'clock seating Eggs, benedict, gingerbread, pancakes,
cheesy hash browns, all kinds of pastries, you know, fruit, sausage, bacon,
little waffles, ridiculous. Right, it's upstairs at Jack's. You walk in,

(34:38):
you go up the stairs right by the bar. It's
one of the rooms that they have there. They've got
balloons for the kids. Amazing Santa amazing, although Santa almost
blew it because Santa recognized me and he's like, I
recognize you. I'm like, yeah, I'm on the Naughty List,
you know. I'm like, I recognize you too, right, it's like.

Speaker 5 (34:55):
To be a celebrity.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
Well, it's like, hey, can we recognize Santa? We ease
up here, Sanna. Yeah, I was on the Natty List
for a decade. That's why, you know, geez, we're trying
to keep the magic alive here. But my eight year
old was a walking billboard. Because they have face painting
in two different locations and not just like hey, we're
gonna put a candy cane on your cheek or whatever.
My son, I should have brought the picture up basically

(35:19):
had a full Santa face on. He had the beard.
It was the all white beard with the red and
the hat. And everywhere he went people asked him where
did you get that face paint? And we got to
tell him. Breakfast was Santa Jack's Cafe. Food is great,
vibe was great. They had Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
playing on the projection screens. It was our first time

(35:39):
doing it. I can't say enough good things. If you
have kids, the vibes are high and the vibes are great,
and you're gonna have an awesome time. Our kids absolutely
had a great time. It's totally worth it Jackscafe dot
com if you want to do breakfast with Santa, but
if you just want to have a great date night,
burnsy or just you know, go hang out at the bar.
They've got something for everybody at Jack's.

Speaker 5 (35:58):
Yeah, my reservation's next week and I can't wait to
go have that delectable steak. But I look, I don't
even have children, and you make me want to go
to breakfast with Santa because energy there sounds incredible.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
Yeah, my daughter got a little my daughter got some
type of like missiletoe on the side of her face,
like with some bells and stuff that.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
I mean, they're pros. Jackson.

Speaker 1 (36:20):
My oldest had a basketball game like an hour later,
so we didn't think showing up. One kid had the Grinch.
He was full Grinch. It was incredible, So we didn't
think full Grinch would be good, you know for the
Edon Prairie four Sea Traveling basketball tournament.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
Yeah, but.

Speaker 3 (36:34):
What it sounds like to me, and it reminds me
of one of my best my favorite things about Jack's
and just holiday season in general, like when you're driving around.
Everybody's on the roads right, everybody's out shoping. It just
drives me crazy, like you can't get from one into
town to park anywhere.

Speaker 4 (36:50):
And then like you're telling me about Santa Breakfast, was
saying it that sounds like a lot of people.

Speaker 3 (36:55):
But you know what, you don't have to drive around
the parking lot forty five times waiting for a spot.
Get the best parking lot of any restaurant. I mean
that thing you can see for a mile. There's so
many spots there. Like that's a big deal for me,
Like I don't like driving around look for a parking
and I love that Bill has that big parking lot.

Speaker 4 (37:12):
You know you're in a gift spot.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
It was awesome.

Speaker 1 (37:15):
It was awesome, and we had a lot of multi
generational Like it was just our family that went, my
immediate family, just my wife and my kids, but we
had grandparents there. You got the babies running around, kids
are in they're Santa Jammi's. It's the best ever. So yeah,
vibes are high. So if I can't recommend it highly enough.
Jaxcafe dot Com thanks to Jacks for everything. And I

(37:35):
was great to see Bill as well. And make your
reservations at Jack's Cafe, jackscafe dot com. We're finally here
the twelve team playoff. It's official, and I know Chip
has eyes on Columbus, Ohia December twenty first, when his
volunteers head up to take on the buck guys. But
let me just run it down in case people don't know.

(37:55):
The four buys Oregon number one, Georgia number two, Boise State,
the Mountain West Champs, third, Arizona State Big twelve Champs, fourth,
then five to twelve, Texas, Clemson eight nine, O Highest State,
Tennessee six ' eleven, Penn State SMU. How about this
in state game number seven, Notre Dame hosting tenth rated Indiana.

Speaker 5 (38:16):
Did you see the get in price as we sit
there on Tuesday for that game?

Speaker 1 (38:21):
I bet it's absurd thousand dollars.

Speaker 5 (38:23):
It is one thousand dollars to go just to get
into the stadium. Now, I was told last year at
this time, nobody would care about first round games, or
nobody would care about the regular season, nobody would care
about the on campus experience. Yet guards we got one
thousand dollars get in in Indiana of all places.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
Yeah, I like I remember writing to call him about
this later today. I love that they put SMU in
over Alabama. Yes, Alabama strength to schedules tougher, but they
had bad losses.

Speaker 4 (38:53):
They lost to six and six Oklahoma, right, Bad's that
three touchdowns?

Speaker 5 (38:59):
It wasn't the twenty four three play mercer the week before.

Speaker 4 (39:02):
Yeah, and they lost blown.

Speaker 5 (39:04):
Out by three touchdowns against a bad Oklahoma team.

Speaker 3 (39:07):
And lost to Vandy obviously lost to the balls. So
I appreciate that. The thing I think they need to
tweet that is, uh, you look at Oregon's draw.

Speaker 4 (39:17):
I don't, I don't, I know. I think the five
conference winners should get in because you should be rewarded
for win your conference, right, yep.

Speaker 3 (39:27):
But to see them just because the top four get
an automatic buying the seed boise I'm looking at now
they have them ranked ninth, but they got a third
seed right that.

Speaker 4 (39:39):
That doesn't make sense to me. I think they should
just get to put the five conference.

Speaker 3 (39:43):
Winners in and then get to twelve and then just
rank it, like how does it college basketball?

Speaker 4 (39:48):
One play sixteen two place fifteen three point and then.

Speaker 5 (39:50):
Yeah, they don't do the automatic buy seed.

Speaker 3 (39:53):
The automatic bye, so it just common sense, It doesn't
you know where Oregon has to play the winner of
Ohio State, Like, because Michigan's not in here.

Speaker 4 (40:03):
Would you be surprised if Ohio State got hot in
won of damn thing. I wouldn't.

Speaker 3 (40:07):
No, I think Oregon's If I sat here today, I'd
probably pick Oregon to win it. But they have to
they have a tough you know, you have to play
the winner of Tennessee Ohio State.

Speaker 4 (40:15):
Then you have to go to the Rose Bowl and
play probably Texas. So if I think the tweets they
need to do is they need to just rank, you know,
go by your.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
Rankings and not have the automatic buy where a ninth
seed is getting your three seat or you're a ninth
in your poles getting the third seed.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
Yeah, go ahead, Burns.

Speaker 5 (40:34):
Well that's where it's a They almost rewarded Penn State
for losing, right because that Ohio State draw or excuse me,
the Oregon draw is you look at all the first
round games. I mean, if it is Ohio State that
does win, okay, then Oregon's got to play them at
the Rose Bowl. Then it only gets tougher for Oregon
from there because they would have to go then play

(40:54):
probably Texas. You know where the Cotton Bowl is, Texas.
It's a road gamesventually, and then if they get to
the National Championship, it's in Atlanta against potentially Georgia, which goodness.

Speaker 1 (41:07):
You know who doesn't care. My guy Dan Lanning, he'll
have those got up.

Speaker 2 (41:12):
I want that.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
I'm pulling for Oregon just because of that, because I
want to see the hype videos of Dan Lanning making
everything you just said burns one thousand percent right, and
my guy Lanning ain't gonna care.

Speaker 5 (41:22):
He's That's where with Penn State they get a heck
of a draw in my mind, where they get SMU
at home in the cold, and then they'll get to
play Boise State, which look, we all love and they're
very good, but there's a real scenario in which they,
I mean, look at that walk to the final four
versus having to play potentially again Ohio State or Tennessee.

(41:45):
So yeah, I think we all see it the same.
By the way, that none of us are outraged about
Bama not getting in, even though I think my favorite
part of the whole deal Guardsy because I don't think
Chip knows what community notes are on X did you
you see Alabama's athletic director get community noted, which I
thought was the funniest thing in the world.

Speaker 4 (42:06):
Yeah, after, what does that mean? I don't know what
that means.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
Well, community notes, like people, you can add context or basically,
when it's like fake news, you can if somebody tweets
something out, they add a community note like this isn't true,
or well, actually you know.

Speaker 4 (42:19):
Blah blah blahbut rebuttal.

Speaker 5 (42:21):
Yeah, well, it's like adding more facts to the situation.
Alabama's athletic directors tweet getting fact checked on a social
media platform for everybody to see. Is so college football team.

Speaker 4 (42:34):
I mean, the thing is is like we want to
look at the good wins, but you got to get
the bad losses too, right, you can't ignore those.

Speaker 2 (42:42):
Well, and the whole thing go ahead, And I like the.

Speaker 4 (42:46):
Whole idea of twelve teams was more representation.

Speaker 2 (42:49):
Correct correct if you want.

Speaker 1 (42:51):
And I think the SEC, I think just wants to
have their own twelve team tournaments. And because they're the
greatest and you've got you know, the mos NFL players
and the most tradition, we get it. You're very special.
The SEC is so special. It means it means more.
It just means more. We get all of that, and
college football wouldn't exist without you. We all understand how

(43:12):
important you are to the continuum. But for the rest
of the country to care and for you to get
all this money that you're going to get, you have
to have other teams. You have to have a country
to play, you have to have other teams to play against.
But if you want to just take your ball, like
Lane Kiffen was basically your guy, Lane, you know, talking about,
well there's the NFL, then there's the SEC, and then

(43:33):
there's a little bit of the Big Ten, and then
there's everybody else. Well great, but you still have to
play like those teams are playing too. And I had
no problem with it if they put Alabama and that
would have been ridiculous. I we talked about it a
year ago with the Florida State snub and that was
a community note, right that they jumped Florida State a
year ago, which we.

Speaker 5 (43:50):
Almost got there. If Texas doesn't screw up that Georgia
game this weekend, would what would the committee have done?
Because it doesn't sound like.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
Their quarterback.

Speaker 5 (44:01):
Yeah, I'm trying. His name escapes me right now.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
Carson Beck.

Speaker 5 (44:04):
Yeah, it doesn't sound like he's going to be able
to go. What would the committee have done totally if
Texas doesn't screw up that game?

Speaker 1 (44:12):
Yeah, Well, and the other thing is, yes, and their
problem and my guy Dan Wetzel wrote about this the
other problem. And I don't know how they fixed this
because they put themselves in all these different boxes as
you go.

Speaker 2 (44:24):
It's it's very fun for six weeks to do.

Speaker 4 (44:26):
The rankingshou't do they shouldn't do that, but.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
I don't know if they're I think they're going to
keep doing it. But they they put themselves in boxes of, well,
this team's ahead of this team now. And with the
SMU Alabama thing last week, they were rated ahead of them, right,
SMU and Alabama. So you put yourself in the corner of, well,
if SMU loses, we can't in good conscience just bump
Alabama because SMU had to play another game and Alabama

(44:50):
didn't earn that opportunity. Like, they put themselves in all
these corners, and that Florida State one would have been
an epic example when their whole their whole point last
year was well, we saw what kind of team they
were without their QB by the way, they were right.
They were right, but it doesn't matter. But with Georgia Burns,
you it's the first thing I thought when he went out,
I'm like, oh man, what do they do if he's

(45:12):
got a bad injury because they literally did this a
year ago and left an undefeated team out.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
Well, they are creating by having the weekly build up
to this. I understand what you're doing. It gives us
all content to talk about for the week in college footballs.
You know, we can debate where these guys were on
a weekly basis, but.

Speaker 4 (45:32):
They make their they make it a lot harder themselves.

Speaker 3 (45:34):
If they just rolled out the last week and said
here's here's what it is, you don't know what we
were thinking all the way through. And you know, it's
it's hard because all conferences are not created equal, right
but even within each conference, all schedules are not created equal,
and so you're judging. I look at Indiana who they

(45:55):
had to play versus you know, someone else, and uh,
you know in the in the Big ten, where playing
more of the top ten.

Speaker 4 (46:01):
So it's it's hard.

Speaker 3 (46:02):
There's always going to be some subjectivity to this when
it's humans ranking teams and trying to figure out, you
know what is two losses in this conference versus one
loss in that conference. But I think, to me, I
think that the step that they have to do is

(46:23):
do away with the automatic buys and just and just
ranking one through twelve ye one plays, you know, and
then you then you figure out your buyers, because you
know what, you could have a a second place team
in a conference still going to buy you think, you
know what, you think they're the fourth best team right now,
versus putting the team up there that you know you

(46:46):
have ninth or tenth in your rankings and giving them
an automatic buyers like, well, you think they're the ninth.

Speaker 4 (46:51):
And best team, where are they?

Speaker 3 (46:52):
You know?

Speaker 4 (46:53):
I think that's a flawed premise.

Speaker 5 (46:54):
Yeah, I think that's an adjustment they should make before
next year. Is the Clemsons of the world get in
or the Arizona States or whoever it is, but they
just don't get the automatic buyes. I would also say
I'd be curious if the College Football Playoff Committee next
year doesn't release rankings after the final regular season week
like they did this year to kind of then box

(47:15):
themselves in. Plus Warren manuals said some things that he
shouldn't have said, which boxed himself more into a corner.
Leave that ambiguity open for more interpretation to be able
to move things around. I'd also say super special SEC
maybe go to nine conference games like the Big Ten does,

(47:35):
and then we can kind of go back and forth
there a little bit more too. But yeah, I just
for so much of this angst about it. I mean,
I'm excited to see what players like Ashton Genty and
camp Scatibo, who is absolutely incredible to watch the bowling
ball that he is. But I think there may be

(47:57):
not a more fascinating team in the college Football off
then the team that Chips volunteers are going to go against.

Speaker 4 (48:03):
I agree, because.

Speaker 5 (48:05):
Ohio State has enough talent to win it all. Ohio
State has enough talent to lose. And if they lose
immediately to the balls at all, Ryan Day's.

Speaker 4 (48:13):
Out, Ryan Days, He'll be gone in like that.

Speaker 5 (48:16):
Game like everybody like uh my wife loves to watch
like a show called Below Deck, which is just some
weird boat drama stuff, which okay for men, or at
least for me. I love the drama of knowing that
guy's job is on the line. Like there is drama

(48:36):
within all of this or even just the way it
kind of played out on Sunday, which can we also
talk about how it took twenty five minutes to get
to the bracket?

Speaker 2 (48:44):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (48:45):
Can we do like we do want selection Sunday where
we just go bing bang boom.

Speaker 2 (48:49):
No, they got a drama out.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
That's what's happening when you get sixty eighteens versus twelve.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
I mean you got to fill an hour or however
the thing was.

Speaker 5 (48:57):
But we're having conversations that you myself guards you have
had now for weeks and months on end, and I
understand trying to draw it out for commercials and whatever.

Speaker 4 (49:06):
How long before we're at sixteen teams and no buys?

Speaker 1 (49:09):
I bet within the next couple of years after this
TV contract runs out.

Speaker 4 (49:13):
I went twelve. But I'm enough? Is it ever enough?
In anything?

Speaker 3 (49:20):
Like?

Speaker 4 (49:20):
When is Everybody's like, ah, this is good enough?

Speaker 3 (49:22):
Now, it's always gonna be more because guess what these
TV executives are going to see. It wouldn't be any
more games because you're gonna have to win four, like
some are gonna have to win four.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
To win it, right, win three? But actually for four teams. Yep.

Speaker 3 (49:35):
Yeah, but they're gonna look at those tv rangs which
are going to be massive, and heay, is that four
more of these?

Speaker 4 (49:43):
You know?

Speaker 2 (49:44):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (49:44):
I can't wait. I'm so excited that it's here. I
love the conversation that it's that it's driven all year long.
I love that there's always gonna be somebody whining, right,
the SEC was whining this year, and when they do them, Bama, Yeah,
Bama's ad. It's just hilarious, just absolute no self awareness
or even on the selection show, which I love.

Speaker 5 (50:04):
Yeah, but goodness, But.

Speaker 3 (50:06):
I was thinking about this driving in and think about
my columns, like we talked about how college football's changed
this year in his office axis and that committee put
SMU over Alabama in the playoff.

Speaker 4 (50:19):
Just think about that.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
Yeah, how wild that is that SMU is over Alabama
with all their bustle and might and history and all
that they put.

Speaker 2 (50:28):
It's great.

Speaker 4 (50:29):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (50:30):
It's tremendous and I can't wait to watch the games.
I just cannot wait to watch the games. It's gonna
be fun. We'll talk more about those because it's not
till December twentieth and December twenty first the first round games.
But let's quickly mention the Heisman finalists because they have
been announced. The trophy will be awarded Saturday. Travis Hunter,
Ashton Gent, Dylan Gabriel, cam Ward. Seems pretty shocky. It

(50:52):
seemed like you look at all the betting nods and
everything leading up, really no surprises there, right, I think, yeah,
the first two in particular Hunter and Genty, it's pretty obvious.
It seems like it's coming down to those two with
just how people are kind of talking about it, but
no real surprises there.

Speaker 2 (51:08):
I don't think, what do you guys make of it?

Speaker 3 (51:10):
No, everybody who got I thought that would be the finalist,
and I think everybody knows who's going to be one
and two, and it just.

Speaker 4 (51:17):
Depends on what the order is.

Speaker 5 (51:19):
I don't think you could, like I think there's some
years where it's a clear one, and I think Genty
and Hunter. It's going to be very interesting to see
kind of the split that it ends up being with
voted first versus second, because again, all three of us
are Heisman voters. Are good for us, but you know
what the language is about what you're supposed to be

(51:39):
voting for. But it's always interpreted differently by different media members.
And you take Genty off of Boise State, Boise State
is probably not in the playoff. But if you take
Hunter off of Colorado, they're not in the position that
they are in either. Plus he's doing things. I mean,
I think he's almost the Shoheo Tani of what college
football was. Now he's doing things that haven't been done

(52:00):
since Dion the gent is, I mean, one of the
most dynamic running backs, and especially in a day and
age too, where he stayed at Boise State his entire career.
He could have gone back to Texas and gotten two
million dollars from the Longhorns or pick Texas A and
M or whatever he stated out there at Boise State.

(52:20):
Now they're in the playoff because of it. So I
think I'm going with the rest of America decided. Boys,
I'm very curious.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
I don't think there's a wrong pick.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
I'm curious to see how much Saturday Night impacted it.
Now we'll never know, you know, we'll never know. But
because Genty obviously had the whole eyes on him and
was spectacular against unlv right and for some people that
might have been the first time they really sat down
and watched a Boise State game. They're like, oh, yeah,
I get it. This guy's different. Vote vote, vote vote,

(52:51):
I mean, who knows he could have swayed some people.
That that's why you know they have people. You know,
you have the deadline of Monday after to vote for
it so that people can. I don't know if there's
a late push or not, but we'll see. I'm curious
to see the breakdown too.

Speaker 4 (53:03):
You would hope if you've had a Heisman vote you've
seen before.

Speaker 2 (53:07):
There's nine hundred voters right.

Speaker 3 (53:11):
Maybe I don't know, but I would hope, yeah, you
would know how great this guy is.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
Lastly, real quick because mister Projects has a heart out.
Saturday is Army Navy. I'm just telling everybody watch. If
you can't watch it, watch the Open on CBS because
the Open is always epic.

Speaker 2 (53:30):
They always do something.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
A lot of times it's you know, it's either the
parents talking about their kids that are serving the country.
I've been I don't know how many times, a lot
I wish I was going this week here's my scarf,
but I got replaced by John Krisol, the war veteran.
That's great, you know, guy loses his legs in an
ied explosion, and now he takes my spot.

Speaker 5 (53:52):
It's like, whatever, okay, let's compare you, mister. I get
identified by Santa Jack's cafe or that, I don't know
what's more important.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
Yeah, I know. So I'm bummed and I can't go
because it is it was.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
It's so much fun and the open of it and
if you if you haven't ever gone. People say it's cliche,
bucket list blah blah blah, it absolutely should be, and
just for the whole weekend, especially when it's in Philly.
I don't know about in DC, but Philly, it just
takes over the town. There's people that you know, you
see class reunions and people that serve together. And just

(54:24):
as a civilians, as Crisol calls me as one of
Crisol's I always tell a chriesas all proud I am
to be one of his civilian friends, because there's different, right,
there's the guys you served with and then there's your
civilian friends.

Speaker 2 (54:37):
It's so great.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
It's just and both teams are good this year, and
it's always going to be like sixteen thirteen. It's a
triple option forever. If you have time take watch it,
because the best way to describe it is or that
it's been described as everybody on that field has signed
up to die.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
For everybody that's watching. They don't.

Speaker 1 (54:56):
They don't want to, they obviously don't want to, but
that's the commitment in the pledge that they've made and
it's incredible. I mean I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
So watch the open if nothing else, just to feel
that emotion.

Speaker 3 (55:08):
I'm inbc you because as you know, that's my number
one bucket list in college football and I will get
there someday.

Speaker 1 (55:13):
Let's get it done. Parentispare boots. Next year we'll go.

Speaker 3 (55:16):
Maybe I'll make it a point to go next year
because it's it is number one and not a close second.

Speaker 1 (55:22):
Is they're boxing the Friday night before, which I've gone to,
where cadets and midshipman are fighting in like a conference room.

Speaker 2 (55:28):
It's epic.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
I mean, it's just you feel better. You do feel
better about America. And I'm not being hyperbolic. You really
do you feel like we're gonna be okay? Yeah, it
might be a complete gong show sometimes, but we're gonna
be okay because these people are working for us.

Speaker 4 (55:44):
But when you watch it on TV, the visuals are
striking too.

Speaker 2 (55:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (55:48):
I can only imagine what it's like in person. I'm
just imagining you walking out of the stadium after that game,
guards ye, and all you see is four hundred bald
eagles flying around, screeching America.

Speaker 1 (55:59):
With how proud Yep. I'm listening to Lee Greenwood the
entire flight home. Yeah, all right, everybody, Chip's gotta go.
Mister Projects has a heart out, He's gonna go. Thanks
everybody for listening to the Pair and a Spare Podcast.
Make your holiday dining reservations at Jack'scafe, Jaxcafe dot com
Breakfast with Santa. There's still two more left on the
fourteenth and the twenty first. We will talk to you
next week on The Pair and a Spare Podcast