All the juiciest college football gossip you need before Week 1 with Jessica Smetana and Lucy Rohden

testing testing testing testing oh jess is putting on her makeup look at that i'm looking a little dead in this lighting corpse like oh i think you look great i think you look great lucy thanks lucy you look great thank you jess is that like what's the the golf club is that golf clubs behind you those are golf clubs my dad's office respect oh yeah respect all right let's see women in sports women in sports let's see how that sounded hi charlotte hello madeline we're back with another episode of the sports gossip show yay yay yay are you looking at the screen or the camera yeah me too yeah all right good you know well sometimes during when we have guests which will tell you who our guests are in a moment if you didn't read the description uh sometimes one of us i realized we didn't say it before i started were you looking at the camera and then i was like i'll look down i was just looking at the screen the whole time you'll see that in a moment we'll figure out we'll figure it out someday um you're gonna hear the whole intro we're so psyched to have jessica smitana and lucy rodine on the show today two of our dear friends i've known jess for 10 years lucy and jess and i work together metal arc madeline is a part of we're all we're all we're all ladies in stem as you'll hear soon um you'll get what that means soon yeah and it's just so cool they've started their own show uh college football happy hour also doing it themselves and we just think that rocks we think it rocks so much and we hope you enjoy our conversation with them all right folks i look not to toot all of our own horns here i think they're going to be some people who are really excited about what we've got in store for you all today we have jessica smitana and lucy rodine on the show today two of our dear friends smitana lucy rodine the host of the new amazing show college football happy hour and our dear friends we all go way back thank you both so much for being here thank you for having us i'm so so excited that we're here we're honored truly and you're a repeat guest jess that's true and i would like to pat take the second pat all of us on the back because we are four women in stem who have figured out how to make our lives better and i'm so excited to be here with jessica smitana and lucy video podcasts on our own sports talent entertainment media the new acronym there you go i i do find it it's just it's just so interesting that that we all had to just go outside the system to make the thing we wanted to make isn't it yeah classic classic we started our own things ourselves we did true and here we are you guys are crushing um talk to us about how you started this i mean obviously lucy you are you i was also just like lucy knows the internet jess knows the internet you both know college football this feels like it makes so much sense and the response seems like it's just been amazing yeah it started on a carrot express and yeah it did what a carrot express you guys know that restaurant no what is that what you drive it okay do you know puravita yeah like the miami okay carrot express is sort of like a pared down puravita they have like chicken caesar wraps they're next to each other in soho yes what really good wait by the this bowl i don't know where that is there's a puravita right next to a this bowl in soho then probably yeah i'm like have i been missing another like fast casual healthy chain i'm picturing a jamba juice but i feel like i'm way off there i mean aesthetically pretty similar i would say but bigger menu i don't recall there being a lot of carrots i think that's just the name okay you know that's true actually okay so you guys were lucy sorry i interrupted you you were at a carrot express we were so jess had the fantastic idea and came up with the name and was like what if we did a college football pod so we sat at a carrot express and we just kind of like did the math of would this work would this not and we were like okay we'll do this jess is like a fantastic illustrator so she had these cool little yes you are don't even be rude but you're amazing so wait so do you oh my god she had all these little like like drawings that i just was like oh this seems like a great idea and then we went to a cupcake place after true we went to the little cup cock cupcake cup cock oh my god cupcake bake shop oh my god i combined cupcake and shop women in sports oh no this is why i was a stem major not an english major god no i'm just kidding i was i was a television major um yeah we went to the little cupcake shop in soho also lucy got a key lime tart it was like right he was so cute i think i got i think i got a cupcake and uh yeah so we basically just had a had a real new york afternoon and uh made a show i love it that's kind of how you do it that's exactly that's how we did it i mean charlotte and i just got on a phone call and that by the end of the day we were like oh my god we're gonna do this we're gonna do this we're gonna end of it i was like uh do you want to do this podcast someone's gonna steal this idea so will you do it with me before someone steals it and i said i'd be so pissed if i saw anybody else doing this with you and and here we are i love that also though this just is the most natural thing in the world like i feel like people have been begging you to to do a college football podcast i mean i'm one of them i've been like well when are you going to do it because i'd like to listen to it um and it's just it's phenomenal so i was really excited when you texted me how do you record in the same room as another person and i said it's shockingly harder than you think it was so challenging when we did it really because you paved the way for us to do it we pulled it off it took us an hour to figure out which chords went where yep it only took you an hour well that's because charlotte made it easy charlotte made it easy for us that's very kind of you to say the first time we tried to record it took us six hours and by the time we got it we were so dead that we were like we'll do it tomorrow no literally six hours no no not kidding six hours which part was we were dehydrated it was it was we could not we were faded yeah we needed we needed a carrot we need carrot express asap um okay so first of all we have a lot of questions for you guys about college football we need to be brought up to speed um where are each of you spending week one lucy where are you headed i am going to mizzou for their season opener on thursday it is not the most exciting game in the world against arkansas pine bluff but they have been playing in an active construction zone for years now and like truly you it's you would watch a game and you're like there if if that guy runs too far he's going to end up like with a hard hat on like that's not a football helmet because they were playing in an active construction zone for the last few years it was every time i was on tv you're like how is this going to end up like with a hard hat on like that's not a football helmet allowed to happen this is the first game that they're not playing in an active construction zone so they're unveiling their new stadium and most exciting of all cheryl crow is singing the national anthem and i don't know if they mean national anthem as in like the usa song or her song with kid rock picture the usa song yeah so like i've always sorry i'm always not the first time this has happened no no no sorry wait lucy sorry we so you don't know if she's singing the usa song or what picture with kid rock you guys know that song i put you a picture of the other national anthem that's what i would assume they mean by national anthem that's what i'm hoping is cheryl where is cheryl is she from did she go to mizzou yeah she's a mizzou grad so it like makes sense but i'm like okay this is awesome that she's singing the national anthem i'm gonna be so pissed if she doesn't sing something else like it seems like a waste for her to just be there for the national anthem in respect to the zoo marching band i don't want to hear you at halftime i want to hear cheryl crow so we'll see what national anthem she really sings but that's what i'm super excited about but that's just my thursday saturday i'll be on my couch yeah fair enough okay god i love oh cheryl crow one of the ghosts she's the best you know what we need from her is her side of the story about lance armstrong oh my god so true we never really heard her i don't think yeah that falls that falls under the umbrella for sure that's absolutely true absolutely sports gossip just saying where's that story wow you think she burned her livestrong bracelets i hope so they're kind of impossible to burn they're just like plastic no it's a good point just melting them melt melting them up um jess where are you spending week one i will also be watching football all day saturday because notre dame's playing sunday night at lambeau field so i'll be in green bay which is wow never been who are they playing wisconsin people from illinois some of them are from wisconsin some of them are from wisconsin some of them are from wisconsin they say west wisconsin that's like a regional accent thing have you heard that before lucy i've heard like wisconsin but i've never heard like when i was when i was little my mom used to be like well then where's east constant she'd like get really mad when people say west wisconsin okay mom jesus christ i'm very excited for that it's gonna be amazing we'll be following along with all of your hashtag content so much content well speaking of content we do need to talk about a figure we talk a lot about on the show mr bill belichick who was a head coach at unc unc flew across the pond to the land of the irish luck of the irish and played tcu in dublin and unc won which is that surprising you could tell us i you know more than me um but there seems to be a lot of drama within the unc program michael mbarty is on hr lee like leave i don't know the gm of the team personal leave administrative leave his son has been away from the team since early august steve belichick is away on medical leave indefinitely um so yeah obviously we've talked about jordan hudson bill belichick's girlfriend the all that whole thing but what is interesting about unc now and was it surprising that they want like what's going on here essentially lucy do you want to go first it's it's one of those things that you just look at you're like organizationally how does this fly and i look at carolina specifically a school that very much holds themselves to a higher standard than most they consider themselves like maybe i don't know if necessarily a public iv but in that conversation with it this is a school that really really values its reputation i know that because they denied me and they were like we don't want you to go there um that's how i know that they really value it and so it just every day it seems to get more and more chaotic i watch this tcu game fully expecting carolina to lose and for it not to be a close game i have been very cautious about making any sort of statements about what carolina football might actually look like post tcu game because we've talked about this actually on our show it has never ever been harder to evaluate teams in the off season because there's so many transfer movements and like maybe nfl athletes on teams it's very very hard to know what exactly a team's going to look like their offense did look better the like farthest i'm willing to go is like a lot of the things that i know is to say that carolina scout that carolina is not awful but i don't want to go any further than that and it's kind of one of those things where we're like man they you know their offense look really improved they scored 15 points so like that's that that tells you where the bar was for carolina right i'm not i am not saying that i think they're a good football team i'm not saying that they're trash i think six and six seems more possible now than it seemed a week ago yeah yeah i think mike lombardi not being there is probably a net positive for everyone if i'm being honest i also there was a distinct lack of jordan hudson on screen yes in dublin too which i noticed but i think the real thing here that lucy touched on is yeah the offense looked better and that may be because bill hired the one and only bobby petrino as his offensive coordinator who is right one of the like original i would say sports gossip characters in the college football universe because of the difference between the defense and the defense and the defense and the motorcycle crash that he was a part of when he was the head coach at arkansas so he is considered a offensive mastermind of sorts whose reputation uh for off the field things does precede him but i think yeah they they just looked much more competent and they had a quarterback who was able to actually play um like not make a ton of mistakes when they had a lead which kind of was the thing like north carolina's defense i thought was really the star of the game they were able to hold tcu to only hold tcu to only 10 points in the game and so when you have a quarterback that's able to just like keep the keep the rails on and like not go crazy in the second half like you can grind out a 15 to 10 win and maybe it doesn't mean that you're gonna be awesome this year but like it wins a win that was the best win of bill's north carolina career so far which is not a crazy statement because he's only won four games and they were against four pretty bad teams last year syracuse stanford charlotte and richmond so this is definitely a big one for him you know whenever i hear bobby petrino i think of lucy because of when you dressed up as bobby petrino went with his neck brace and bloody from his motorcycle when did you dress up as him and this was like three years ago i will say that i looked back like later and i was like i think i had the neck brace on backwards i don't think i had it on the proper the proper way at all it was not comfortable but it was an honor to pay my respects and my tribute to bobby he is awesome that's awesome that's awesome thank you that's did you do this like an awful way this was for the punishment for the levitard show and but now not but it was not a punishment it was a gift people from work came in that day and were like lucy are you okay like they thought you actually got into an accident no a friend of mine texted me and was like hey my friend like that doesn't have instagram and she was like hey a buddy of mine just sent me your post are you okay what happened and i was like it's a costume i didn't like they the show posted it before i wanted to because i had like some context with it but they just posted it no context so several people reached out to me and was like oh my god what happened and i did respond motorcycle accident to most of them and so anybody who like just didn't do the math and like look it up thinks that i got in a pretty nasty motorcycle accident oh my god i do i i actually do have some jordan hudson i had a recent jordan hudson sighting that i haven't said on the show yet that was saving for you guys temple barn exclusive exclusive the cliffs yes she's not here at unc that's where she got the cup um a friend of mine was on nantucket in the neighborhood where bill and now jordan spent the summer and was at a restaurant with some friends and bill and jordan walked in and were sat directly next to them and it's mostly jordan's outfit that i think that she reported back to me um which was dark uh skinny jeans a navy um sweater with a lobster knit onto it a lobster belt buckle oh commit to the bit a lobster clutch meanwhile it's it's almost 85 degrees out and a beige felt fedora a fedora yeah yeah okay we're doing fedoras again well larry fedora used to be the coach at carolina oh never forget wait maybe it was an easter egg maybe it was we do know from jordan she loves an easter egg so maybe this was all an easter egg for larry fedora jordan hudson if you're listening to this i have a lobster necklace i'll sell it to you for a thousand dollars hit me up perfect that's a steal perfect i love it it's betsy johnson oh lucy's wife spencer betsy johnson yeah jordan thousand dollars so you have 24 hours to respond hurry we'll send we'll send a note um okay so we gotta just play the hits guys sorry before before we record this i was like are these dumb that feels like just the main characters that we've been rotating through with college football on the sports gossip show last year but lane kiffin um okay charlotte no but go no for further because i had this conversation last night with some of my friends that are college football fans and like i'm glad lane exists because he's like a good like for people who are not like gonna watch every game and they're not like super locked in like he's a great character to have just like doing whatever he's doing over there for people just to pay attention to and then like not have to you don't have to like talk about anything else like it's just like a good conversation starter it's like what the hell's lane up to and i think that that's fine thank you and that's what we need here on the sports gossip show um so lane i mean there he's lsu now he left old miss can can one of you just give a quick summary actually you'll do a better job he so lane kiffin has one of the most fascinating kind of like coaching like i guess careers out of anybody i'll give if you want the full one how he got started coaching was like awesome he was at obviously he's like his dad very famous coach he was at frozen state as a like a third string quarterback or something and he just like was not having a good time and so he showed up and he was like i'm just gonna be coached now and they were like no you're on the team and he was like no i'm literally just gonna be a coach now and that's how his career started he very famously like his like real sec start was at tennessee that's why his son's name is knox after knoxville he left after a year that's why every time he goes back they throw mustard and golf balls at him and other things too like they love to throw stuff at him he goes to usc does not have a great time gets fired on tarmac left at the airport then finally he fights his way back into coaching he's a offensive coordinator at bama head coach fiu then fau and then he goes to ole miss where that is a program that people don't realize because of what lane has done is a historically really tough program to win at hugh freeze was really the only guy before to do that and then he called escorts and he couldn't do that anymore and so that's the sec for you another great guy for sports gossip and college football and so he like built up ole miss like his dog became like an honorary mascot we don't know if his dog is his now that's kind of been part of the weird thing of him going to lsu and so it was always known that like every year lane kiffin's name was in the hiring cycle for a new job and it was only a matter of time before he left and so he was choosing basically between auburn florida and lsu he leaves for lsu and is like but i want to coach in the playoff and they're like no you're leaving and you're going to take a lot of our coaches and players with you you're not going to coach in the playoff and he was like okay but i want to and they're like yeah like no but you can't allow you to do that and he was like are you serious like i just like want to and then then they were like no and so he went to lsu and was like not happy that he couldn't coach in that game and then weirdly became like they're like a social justice warrior for like a week this summer oh my god i forgot about that whole storyline yeah he was like it was hard to recruit players to mississippi because of like the racism yeah and it's like well this doesn't seem to be like something that you care deeply about before this moment where it now sort of benefits you to say it even if it is true right yeah right it's not he he hasn't been known for his activism he kept posting trump hats didn't he or like made by rouge great again hat he's known for his hot pilates i think first and foremost he's definitely not a menace according to everyone i would also add yes and he had a famous uh dust up with al davis when he was the head coach at the raiders in 2008 for like one year in which al davis called him a liar and there was like a whole it was a whole thing before he went back to college so like he's he's burned a lot of bridges at the places he's left but one thing to note that i think is part of all of this is that when he was deciding between staying at ole miss or going to lsu espn did like a 24-hour candlelight vigil during a college football saturday where they were basically on like lane watch like the way that you would have a candlelight vigil and you would have a candlelight vigil and you would have reporters at the vatican waiting for smoke to come out of the chimney to see if they've elected a pope like they have reporters on lane watch on a on a football saturday just to be like yeah he's he's still here nothing's happened like for a full day that was the coverage that he was getting about this decision wait would they cut back to them i feel like i remember this they would like cut back to them throughout the day at at ole miss and they'd be like still don't know yeah you would think that for someone who seems to be a very confrontational person and really likes the drama that he would have taken a lesson from all the hot yoga he does which is a very zen workout it's all about breathing no but i think it's pilates no pilates he did yoga no he did both and after he left ole miss a lot of the like women who teach or take those classes came out and were like y'all he was the devil in those classes he would walk in turn up the heat like like change the music like he just walked i was like this is my class now but you guys i know you i know you're online like i'm online there are historically some very famous main characters on and around pilates stand-up that do crazy things pilates does i think and i say this as someone who does pilates every single day we're crazy we love pilates it's not yeah it's not yoga it's pilates no it's different yeah no they're very different you got to get that c curve going right but even so like even if he just took like if most of what he was doing with hot pilates okay yeah but even if he's doing a little bit of hot yoga i'm like yeah where is a little bit of the zen message you maybe take ebs it's a hard workout but i'm like sir you're you're trying to run the class also you're rich get your own hot yoga home studio and just hire a teacher yeah i'm like i don't know it's like the girlies yeah he loves his girl time yeah he does love his girl time that's true he really the most just a great example of male entitlement you know where he's like i want to coach all miss in the playoffs and all miss is like well he went to lsu and he's like okay but and then he's like i'm gonna turn the heat up and then he he really is he he behaves with such um impunity like he he's so untouchable in his own mind that there's almost a purity to it where it is so non-existent and he's like i'm gonna turn the heat up and then he he really is he he behaves with such impunity that there's almost a purity to it where it is so non-existent and he he behaves an act that you're just like let's see let's see what he does next yeah lucy you well you guys were locked in on the dog situation right yeah yeah i remember i remember that okay we don't need to rehash that his daughter his daughter dating an lsu player while she still went to old miss we were like is it a sigh up who's to say maybe she played more of a role in his getting the job than we think i like to think so all like when people ask me about lane kiffin and how he the answer i've been giving the last few weeks is almost had the fbi come in and search for bucks that he would have left to brett brett mcmurphy reported this that almost literally had people come in and check for recording devices because they thought he left them like that in his office the entire football facility that is the most like lane and he did it credit to lane that we know of it's a win but yeah he learned from his hot yoga he took a lesson he's good now and so he also got off the field and he's like oh my god i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so sorry social media and so yeah he operates the way he wants to operate and it's one of those things where like overall do i think you're probably bad for college football especially right now yeah do i really appreciate you and want you around as long as possible of course more than anything of course yeah i'm glad you're the head coach of my football team because like the shenanigans do get old but yeah i think you know this is this is an entertainment product and he is entertaining and we need characters it's like that uh usa network commercial you guys know what i'm talking about characters welcome characters welcome like that's how i feel about college football coaches because i'm like wow i hate some of you guys but yeah we do we do need our villains and our heroes we do unfortunately it's wow it's so true it's so true um okay so here's arch manning period anything interesting there um because arch manning is the son of cooper manning who is the forgotten third manning brother of peyton and eli who actually probably speaking of omis he went to omis he actually probably would have been the best manning right but he got sick when he was at omis i mean maybe not who's to say that we don't have a time machine but his son has been like the second coming of the manning um the family at texas he's he's played well and at times but also it's like what's up i don't know he's not he hasn't like lit things on fire i i don't know talk talk to us he he had it was a it was a touch touch and go last year to start the season like he started out okay and then it was things were pretty bad but their line was also pretty bad they didn't have a great run game so it wasn't all on him but then towards the end of the season he was playing a lot better i think he had the best qbr in uh college football the month of november but they missed the playoff because they lost one too many games so we didn't get to see him like in the postseason at all and so now the hype machine is revving back up again for this season and that will be the question charlotte is he is he as good as he was in november did texas fix the stuff around him or is he just like fine is he just like a good college quarterback yeah yeah texas went and got a ton in the portal so like i do think they're going to be improved i got my favorite wide receiver cam coleman from two best running backs available in the portal they're going to be a much better team when it comes to gossip wise i think he's like kind of dull respectfully like the only thing he's really done was that he lost a student id the first week on campus and that was it we all and people were just posting they're like archman i have your id like can you come get this please and outside of that he's like very chill he has this like little tiktok sound going viral right now he's like i'm a simple guy just love football hanging out with my friends and my family yeah there is a sort of training that players like him have because he grew up with the most famous uncles in the sport and famous grandfather in the sport of football so yeah he doesn't provide a lot in terms of like off the cuff humor or remarks but i do think as a central figure in the what could be like top three quarterback race of next year's nfl draft very intriguing yeah it feels like in some ways maybe he has some of the media training that for now i don't think so i don't think so i don't think so i don't think so i don't think so i don't think so even though fernando mendoza was not a nepo baby quarterback in the same way that arch manning is but i do feel like there's a hint of it in some of arch manning's answers it's like you to your point jess it's like you don't get anything from him it's like go girl give us nothing yeah yeah he's he's also uh remarkably brand safe which is why he i think i mean well obviously it would have so many nil deals no matter what yeah what was the one he did one that he he it was like i should have looked this up before this but it was like he looked like a dad camping it was like a it was the most it was the most like middle-aged i i don't know and i don't know what that is but i like it i don't either i believe you you know spiritually spiritually even if that's not true but i think it is maybe he was right he if he if it wasn't yeti it should have been yeti and yeti should call him you know weren't they founded in austin i don't know yeah i think so or somewhere in texas yeah i'll ask my mom she lives in austin yeah have her go scout it out for us oh my god well um let's talk about your schools because i'd like to know what's going on there so jess you went to notre dame lucy you went to iowa if i'm not mistaken yep how are you both yeah go what are they go hot yeah hawks hawks hawks hawks how are you both feeling about your programs what are the biggest storylines in general that you guys are consumed by besides the fact that marcus freeman is a very good looking gentleman Jess, I know you know him, so not to put you in a weird spot, but he does have a beautiful jawline. You did. Lucy, does Iowa have a quarterback yet? Pass. Oh, no. No, no, you don't get to pass. They don't have a quarterback? What? Pass. No. It's cool. What do you mean? It's, what's today? Tuesday, four days before they kick off, and they have not named a quarterback. And we're choosing between a guy named Hank Brown, who personally, no. And another guy who looks just like Morgan Wallen. So, like, am I? Also, no. But here's the thing. But maybe? Those are terrible options. He kind of means everything to me. He's 5'10". He looks like Morgan Wallen. I think he's a little bit odd. What's his name? Jeremy Heklinski. I call him The Heck. Great name. What the heck? He could, like, fix me, maybe. But he came out. He came out in, Iowa does, like, one open sort of, like, fall scrimmage in Kids Day. And they had both of them take, like, the same number of snaps and was, like, a million times better. And then BTN, like, a week later, Big Ten Network, went to Iowa's, you know, fall practice. And they were like, yeah, The Heck is bad. The Heck. And Hank Brown is much better. But he also still looked really bad. So, right now, Iowa has said they will be sharing snaps on Saturday. They released the depth chart. And it says quarterback Jeremy Heklinski or Hank Brown or Jimmy Sullivan. And I could projectile vomit at any minute. So, they're just pulling it out. They're with Northern Illinois, who's terrible. They're very, very bad. But I don't like that my sweet The Heck. I don't like that he needs to be let loose. You got to let The Heck run free, you know? And now he's going to go out there and he's like, what if I don't? Oh, I lose snaps to Hank Brown because I take a risk. And so, Iowa, for the first time ever, has a receiver that I'm excited about for the first time in, like, six years. His nickname's The Boogeyman. Ooh. The Heck to The Boogeyman. But, yeah, we don't really have a quarterback. And I don't mean to be dramatic, but, like, I'm not doing well. Like, just, like, pick somebody and please let it be The Heck. You just, you got to let him throw The Heck out of the ball. Yeah, just, like, let The Heck be The Heck because Hank Brown, no disrespect to him, he played, like, a little bit last season and he lost. Iowa was one first down away from beating Indiana. We were so close and Hank messed it up. And The Heck would have never done that. Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so Lucy's going through it. Jess, Notre Dame. I don't have any good gossip on this current team because they are very, things are very buttoned up around this team at the moment in a good way. Yeah. Professional way. However, I do have some, like, Notre Dame adjacent good goss involving USC, who I'm not sure if you guys have seen, did not have very many people at their opening game on Saturday. I only saw that because of your guys. Lucy, did you do a reel there? Yes, Lucy did a video on it. It was great. She, okay, let me start here. So Notre Dame and USC have been playing each other for, like, 100 years. The only times they didn't play were, World War II and COVID. But two years ago, Lincoln Riley was like, this game's hard and I keep losing and I'm scared. We want to move it or we want to get it off the schedule. And then eventually they were like, we want to move it to, like, week one. And Notre Dame was like, no, we don't want to do that. And then they were about to announce an extension because normally the game's played October, November. They were about to announce an extension in December. And USC was like, we're not doing this. Like, we don't want to play you guys next year. So they are not playing this year. They're on a four-year, They did recently announce that they're going to pick up the series again in 2030. But in the meantime, this is a very heated rivalry. Well, not that kind of heated rivalry. Maybe. We don't know. There is a personal element of this where two years ago, Notre Dame's GM, Chad Bowden, left for USC. They hired him, paid him a million dollars. He was, he had Marcus Freeman in his wedding when he was at Notre Dame. So they were, like, pretty close. But USC offered him the GM job and it was a little bit of a promotion also. And I don't think Notre Dame was like, we like you, but we don't want to pay you that much money. So they, he, he left and he's just like, yeah, USC is so much better, blah, blah, blah. So he's like been taking jabs at Notre Dame. He does actually follow me on Instagram, Lucy. So when I reposted that video about the attendance, he probably saw it, which is kind of funny. But long story short, USC had a, they had a hole on their calendar this year. They needed to schedule a game. So they scheduled San Jose State, who is one of the worst teams in FBS football. And they scheduled them for week zero, which was last weekend, the last weekend of August, a historically hot and steamy time of year. Also, ironically, the week that they were saying they wanted to play Notre Dame in. So fast forward to this past weekend, they have San Jose State at home on their schedule instead of a, you know, assured sellout Notre Dame game later this year. And no one comes because it's hot as balls outside in LA right now. They were in the middle of a heat wave. And so all these photos, those of the attendance went sort of nuclear on social media because it was genuinely so pitiful. There was no one there. Understandably, because of the heat, like I could see why you wouldn't want to go to it. And it's San Jose State. Okay. Right. But the takes that have come since this have been, I think some of the most impressive I've seen in my life. Like this discourse has legs. I'm telling you guys, I think this will carry over for the rest, for the rest of the season, because not only is it now West coast elitism versus fly over States and like the sec and the Southeast conference, but we've also just got like all the like heat discourse. We've got like, oh, there's nothing to do in Bumble F Athens, Georgia. Of course they're all going to the Georgia game. Like we got stuff like that going on. People calling them like liberals and soy boys in LA. Like it's getting nasty. It's really, really something else. And I, there's media. Members beefing over this. Like last night I saw media people like CBS reporter and an ESPN reporter beefing on Twitter over the attendance at this game. Like it's, it's nasty. That is honestly, that's a beautiful thing because I think sometimes in the year of our Lord, 2026, I was going to say the same thing. Were you, I just, I feel like we're getting away from our principles as a sports media community, which is fight over the dumbest possible thing imaginable. And mean it. And I feel like, you know, Twitter's lost some oomph. Everything feels a little bit wishy-washy. Like this feels a little bit like a 2018 discourse. Do you know what I mean? Complement. Yeah, no, a hundred percent. Lucy, am I missing anything? Like it's, it's gotten like the, the head coach at Texas tech yesterday was like, we're going to sell out our game this week because people want to come. And then like the LA people were like, well, yeah, everyone in Lubbock, like, that's the kind of like we got going on right now, where it's just like getting real nasty and real personal. Oh my God. The coastal elitism discourse. It's everything. It's everything. Wow. Yeah. Oh my God, Lucy. That's, that's crazy. That's crazy. Well, let's talk about some other weird storylines. What is the weirdest storyline besides that one potentially that you both are thinking about or can't stop thinking about as it relates to college football? Hmm. The NFL player, one's a tough one, a really tough one right now. Yeah, I can that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So basically the NCAA ruled that they are starting this season with a five for five eligibility model, which means the second that you graduate high school or you turn 19, you got five years and that's all you got. It doesn't matter what happens. It's a much needed thing because you have a lot of, there are players that have been in college for like seven, eight years at this point. And like respect to you, you're not going to catch me. You know, I would do that if the option was given to me, I would. And so basically a bunch of athletes who were, who had graduated this year were like, well, you guys didn't tell me about this. And so I have, I should have been alerted that I would have another year of eligibility, which like is the NCAA's fault a little bit for doing it over the summer. Like, what did you expect was going to happen here? And so these athletes have gone to like local courts and been like, Hey, I wasn't told that I had five years and now I want my year back. And they got like a temporary restraining order that allowed that to happen. And several of these players had already gone and they had played in the NFL, whether that's in a training camp or a preseason game or whatnot, they got waved. And they're like, well now I'm coming back to college because I can make more money and I want my extra year of eligibility. Obviously people are not happy about this. So a lot of conferences have come out and they have said, you will not, you will not allow professional athletes to play in our conference. And the, the school that's doing this the most naturally LSU Texas is doing it as well. So like, I don't want to put all of this on LSU, but it is LSU and they're doing it like across sports. They have like women's soccer players that were playing professionally that had come back and they have already played in an LSU game. So it is not something that is just happening in football, but it's happening at LSU more than anyone else. Their men's basketball coach, will Wade a sports gossip figure of his own also doing that. He's he's like, I want a full professional team. He's basically like, I'd like the Lakers teaching to play for Alistair. And so it's granny goes to LSU, like literally crazy. It's caused this, like, like major debate where even today LSU and Clemson play this weekend Dabo came out and was like you know I think it's a cheap move I think as people try and like Dabo's Dabo whatever but this whole thing has been just very very crazy and then yesterday Ross Dellinger who has been covering the hell out of this story reported that some of the higher-ups at the LSU and the SEC are like we'll kick LSU out of the conference at this point like we really don't care yeah so they are saying that they are figuring out how are they going to punish LSU and it's a lot of these higher-ups saying we will not play them we will boycott games and we will kick them out of the conference if we have to and another like anonymous SEC executive came out was like I could know I can name plenty of teams that would want this spot so like legitimately there is conversation happening I don't think it's going to happen about kicking LSU out of the SEC because although Texas does have a guy on his on their team who you know went and played professionally came back LSU is doing it more than anybody louder than anybody and it's always LSU they're always doing stuff like this and so I don't think they're going to get kicked out of the conference but they play a game in four days and we don't know who's suiting up and they are they've already violated the SEC rule by having the women's soccer players who came back professionally and played so LSU is on one right now oh my god that's crazy yeah it it feels like sort of old-fashioned Louisiana corruption do you know what I mean like like it also feels when I think south yeah yeah yeah you know and like when I think about the um the way college football is governed it feels like maybe the early American government where it's just a bunch of guys talking to each other getting mad at other guys being like well that's not a state anymore and everyone's like well I think it is you know what I mean it just there it it's a very American yeah thing I don't know if I'm reaching is because this all start stems from like the amateur air quotes model of football in NCAA sports that was never really amateur but especially over the last 40 years as the television deals have gotten more lucrative and the coaches have gotten paid more now we finally have players who are able to partake in some of the earnings and it's there's mass panic about it and the model itself was never gonna end up working as long as it as it has I guess really hasn't but here we are now and it's very very uh we all saw this coming kind of uh hot dog it's like Tim Robinson in the hot dog suit like the NCAA is like we're trying to find the guys who did this and it's like oh my God everyone who has been a fan of the sport for years has been saying like this is not gonna end well this does not seem sustainable and sure enough it's not no Jess is there any other storyline that you've been thinking about besides the empty stadium there's two things I want to hear Lucy's other Iowa gossip that she has but I do have that before we get to that I will say one thing that I'm monitoring right now and this came to a head a little bit yesterday at UCLA when they fired their athletic director who um they they one of the reasons they gave was that they were just tremendous amounts of debt higher education especially big schools with big athletic departments right now many of them are in lots and lots of debt like tens of millions of dollars of dollars in debt there's also like a sort of separate but just as like connected academic and higher ed like situation happening with enrollment that like I'm not really an expert in so I can't really go there but like in terms of football specifically especially because of conference realignment and how expensive it is to have a football team with a hundred or so players on it and traveling cross country a few times a year and like all the expenses that go into it is very very high and a lot of these schools like UCLA they blew up their previous conference alignment there's a lot of smaller schools that are also doing the same thing because they're trying to chase bigger checks Sacramento State is an example of this that moved up a level because they're hoping they can just spend money to make money and like maybe it will pay off in 10 years because they'll get increased revenue from going up a level in football from television deals but um it kind of remains to be seen like there's other schools like Louisville who have been like yeah we're just like gonna keep getting the money on our football roster because we think if we make the playoff like at least one time we'll get some money out of that and it'll help but it's like you guys have spent like a lot of money at this point it does not seem like you'll get it back but they're kind of hoping they'll get some sort of like legislative bailout someday or some private equity bailout or something because everything costs a lot of money go figure it's cost more when you're traveling farther more often and there's not really a spending cap there's like a sort of a um you know NIL or not NIL a rev share cap on football and other sports but like schools are obviously spending above and beyond that and there's separate NIL deals and all that so I am just monitoring that situation because I don't know what it's going to look like in five or ten years and look I'm a I'm a girl in stem but not the math part okay just the technology part from starting the podcast but it seems like there's going to be big issues down the road and a lot of these schools are just kind of like hoping it goes away and they're just going to keep spending they're saying things are pretty good I would say the college football um business is going the way of the U.S economy which is like we'll just keep spending the money and stacking it up and money's not real anyway so it doesn't really matter like climate change right it's never better nothing to see here nothing to see here folks um wait Lucy oh my God you guys want my Iowa gossip okay if you're if you're willing to give that to us we're willing to accept it cradle it open arms I'm excited for it so first this is not football Iowa football Kirk Ferens has been the head coach there for 28 years his there's no gossip there one time he had to go to court because like his neighbor was mad that he like paved over his driveway or something like that's that's the conference extent of gossip but the Iowa men's basketball team there was some gossip this summer that took place in the Iowa community that I find fascinating so Fran McCaffrey he was the head coach for 15 years and he is Iowa's all-time winningest head coach however Fran McCaffrey at Iowa had won four NCAA tournament games and was ejected five times so more ejections than NCAA tournament wins and his last game at Iowa he was ejected he is a bit of a hot head and people knew that about him and what's him kind of like the national relevance to this is one the story I'm gonna tell you is crazy his son Connor McCaffrey is Caitlin Clark's boyfriend so um so over the summer there was this local Iowa beat reporter his name is Keith Murphy he works for a station in Des Moines Keith I have spent some time with delightful person I believe my aunt is his dentist he is love that shout out Tracy and he's wonderful he's like one of those people that everyone has a wonderful story about and he was doing a podcast over the summer with his co-host and Fran McCaffrey was fired last season and Iowa hired Ben McCollum who took Iowa to the Elite Eight this year and that's my dog Ben if you ever leave don't just don't that's a threat I love him so much so Keith Murphy's doing this podcast and his coast is his co-host is like hey it's time for you to talk about it and so over the summer in Iowa they always do a coaches versus cancer like event where they invite the UNI Iowa State Iowa coach and they do a you can buy a table whatever and all the money goes to coaches versus cancer Fran McCaffrey Keith Murphy the first time he hosted this was this summer and he had been banned from coaches versus cancer because friend McCaffrey got a band the Iowa head coach went to coaches versus cancer and said Keith Murphy cannot be the the MC for this what and yes because Fran McCaffrey probably I was in college at the time so it was like 2017 Iowa had a terrible season and Fran McCaffrey got an extension under the table that someone was able to like Foyer and find out and Keith Murphy came out and he made a video that was not disrespectful to Fran whatsoever but was like hey um I don't think that Iowa should be fighting who when they're giving an extension if you're giving an extension you should be proud of it why are you keeping this from your fans your fans are smarter does their form very like well around to take so that year at the coaches versus cancer event he gets up on stage friend McCaffrey won't shake his hand and Fran McCaffrey's wife starts heckling Keith Murphy from the craft at a cancer fundraiser and his wife Margaret was actually a Notre Dame basketball player she is heckling him as he's as he's raising money for cancer research no yeah from like yelling at him from the crowd and a lot of people after this podcast came out came like they were like yeah I was at this it was the most uncomfortable event of my life because at a cancer fundraiser she was heckling him she's like you tried to get my husband fired which he did not do he did not do so then Fran and Margaret went to coaches versus cancer and they said Keith Murphy will not be the MC anymore and they went to Keith Murphy and they said hey we're sorry we can't lose the Iowa head coach at an Iowa basketball coaching event so he was not welcome and then the second friend McCaffrey got fired then McCollum was brought in and Keith Murphy was allowed to be the MC again and what like makes this kind of like cherry on top at the time that McCaffrey's kid had cancer Connor or Patrick They're one of their sons had cancer. So they knew like the toll that cancer can take on a family and they banned Keith Murphy from this event. And so then it was crazy. And so I had covered Fred in my time at Iowa. And as a student reporter, I was too scared to ever ask him a question, but he like very notoriously didn't like the media, which is funny because his brother is a sports writer. So you're like, man, this guy just is like very back and forth. And so then after this story comes out, Scott Docterman, who's actually the college football national reporter for The Athletic, who does a fantastic job, came out and was like, oh yeah, I have some stories about these two. Scott Docterman is a great reporter. I remember like being like in awe of him and these press conferences. And he told this story and I actually kind of remembered it happening because I was in the press conference where it happened, where he like asked Fran McCaffrey, like, do you feel like your job is in jeopardy after a really bad season? And Fran was like, I don't know. They're you. And he was like, yeah, I do. Fran would do that in press conferences all the time. And so then he would do that to all the reporters. He'd be like, oh, you're not, you, did you go to, did you go to Penn? Are you, because Fran graduated from Penn. Like he would ask questions like that. And there was one press conference, which I was in. Margaret, it was very funny for me being like a sports media student. I did not realize until post-grad that wives were not in every press conference because she was always there. And she's like six feet tall. Like she's tall. She's a, she's like a really like overpowering woman. She would sit behind Scott Docterman in the press conferences and he would be like, so Fran, like, what did the defense look like today? And she'd be like, okay. And she would stand behind him and do that in the press conference. And I was in those. And so he came out and started sharing his stories and all these other people came out and were like, we're done with Fran McCaffrey. Like he lived in Iowa for years. He actually, and so it was like this crazy and everyone loves the new coach, but people were like, wow, Fran, Fran. Was very notorious for like, not really wanting to be a part of the community. He like wouldn't talk to like fans and stuff. And so on top of that, Connor McCaffrey, his son is dating Caitlin Clark. Connor, when Fran got fired, which deservingly so in one year of without Fran McCaffrey, I was made a farther than they had the entire time that he was there for 15 years. He like came out and was like, screw Iowa. I, I hate them. Connor was there when I was there and he was a dual sport. He's an athlete at Iowa. He played basketball, football, or not football, baseball, and was there for a year. So it was like, Hey man, okay, cool. And his whole family came out and was like, we hate Iowa, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then people would see him and he was, you know, a starting player on the Iowa basketball team for a long time. And there are rumors now that like Margaret was very like active and making sure her kids got playing time. Obviously, you know, that's the dad, whatever. I mean, this is like casual stuff. And he came out and he tweeted Iowa fans. Don't come up to me and say, go Iowa or go Hawks. I hate them. I only say go Butler or go Pacers or go fever to me. Don't say that. And people were responding and they were like, Hey, you went there for a couple of years. Like, sorry, we just wanted to like say thanks for your contribution to the basketball team. He ended up deleting the tweet after Iowa basketball lost to Iowa state this year, he retweeted the Iowa state victory announcement. And yeah. And so, and there's this concern within the Iowa fan community that Connor, is like potentially pushing Caitlin away from Iowa because at this point, the way the McCaffrey family has behaved, they will never get invited back. The coaches versus Kansas job was kind of like the final straw. Cause it was like, what, what are we doing here? But Connor, I don't think would ever go back to Iowa city. And it's, he lived there most of his life. And so people were concerned that Caitlin is going to get kind of pushed away from the university of Iowa, which obviously she's our most famous alum. We're lucky to have her. Um, but there were nervous that like Connor is going to ruin her relationship because a big kind of talking point of Iowa fans and, and this March madness run was that Caitlin never said anything about the Iowa March madness run. Kate Martin did. And Connor unfollowed her on Instagram the next day. And so there are rumors that are going around that, that, and I think another reporter said this, that they would reach out to former Iowa players who played on her friend McCaffrey that went to the Iowa, like March madness run and be like, don't support them. Don't support the Iowa basketball team. You shouldn't be there cheering on the Iowa basketball team. And they're like, what are you talking about? Like, this is our, we graduated from here. Like I was doing great. We should want to support. And so basically the McCaffrey's have burnt their bridge with Iowa. And, and the crazy thing is, is I think everybody's better off now. Iowa hired a head coach that we love that has brought us as far as we could have hoped in his first year and friends back at his alma mater at Penn in Philly, where he's from. And so they have just destroyed their relationship with Iowa, with the men's basketball program, a lot of former players. And we don't know where Caitlin factors into that because obviously she's dating Connor, but like, you know, we would love for her to be as a part of the university of Iowa as ever. And from my experience at Iowa, everything that I've heard anybody say, I'm like, Oh, I believe that's true. I remember I was sitting one game where Margaret McCaffrey sat across, she wasn't behind the bench. She sat on the other side. I saw her during a media timeout, run onto the court and just like berate a sideline reporter for getting too close to the Iowa huddle. And that was like her, she was like my dad's friend from work. His kid was on the same travel baseball team as the McCaffrey's and she got banned from games because she was so, she was so intense at these high school baseball games. And so it is just, they have, they basically, when that coaches versus cancer story came out, it kind of gave everyone the leeway to come out and be like, Oh yeah, they were, they were menaces. They were terrorizing like the Iowa city community. And they haven't responded. They haven't said anything about it since, but that was like the hot drama from the, the off season for Iowa basketball. And let me just emphasize this again, being McCallum, I love you so much. And you've changed my life. And I literally, I would die for him. Like if he asked me, I would let Ben take some snaps. Oh my God, the layers of that, I, that, that might be, that might go down in history as one of the craziest sports gossip stories of all time. No, I may have to say, yeah, it's just cause it's Iowa basketball. People like, weren't really talking like the Iowa community was nuts. Like my, it was funny. Like my dad, lifelong Iowa fan actually has met for a McCaffrey. I mean, I think everybody's met for a McCaffrey, but he texted me and like, this is an Iowa guy who like loves everything Iowa and was like, I will never root for him again. Like I hate him. And that's like the app, like everyone really, really is angry at Connor and Fran and his wife. And it's just, it's nuts. And I implore everybody who like wants to learn more, you should go look it up and listen to legend and listeners with Chad Lysakow and Scott Dockerman. Scott talks about his experience and Scott was someone that Fran, from what I remember, did not like at all. Like I, I remember being in those press conferences, very scared to ask questions because of how Fran would treat Scott. And then on the flip side, listen to, I think it's called Murph and Andy with, um, Keith Murphy, where he talks about getting banned and just how, how devastating that was for him. And he was so nice and so uncomfortable that whole conversation. Cause he didn't want to say anything bad about the McCaffreys, but like they got him banned from a cancer fundraiser event. Yeah. Imagine what they'll do next when they're kids. Well, I hope this doesn't impact Caitlin's relationship with Iowa. Think about if they're still together in many years, maybe they're married or who knows, and her Jersey's getting retired at Iowa. Like, well, is he going to go, you know, I can't imagine he would ever go. And I, I can't like genuinely, I don't think Iowans are mean people, but like people are not going to welcome him back with open arms. They've, they've been really nasty to the university since they've left. And like, apparently while they were there too, there was also, um, Dave Portnoy beef, embedded in the larger March madness beef with them from what I recall. So apparently Connor or one of the McCaffrey brothers, they have four kids. One of the McCaffrey brothers called a barstool guy during Iowa's March madness run and was like, stop praising Ben McCollum. Like, stop it. Like, no, like, no, we got to keep it like Iowa messed up by firing Fran. Like, don't, don't, you know, say anything nice about Ben McCollum. And that guy went to Portnoy and was like, Hey, the McCaffrey's want us to stop praising this hire that Iowa made. And Portnoy brought, obviously like you're telling Portnoy stuff. You're telling barstool people stuff. What did you think was going to happen? Portnoy comes out and is like, why were, why did this kid asked me to stop talking about how successful Ben McCollum has been? And it's just a crazy thing because my dad who very, very loyal to Iowa was like, he had no problem taking all this money, but now he just wants to, to all over this university. It is, it was really, it was a really fun summer on the Iowa internet. It feels very much like the way the mob operates, which is like, you're either with us or you're against us. And you know, it's, it's also just like the lamest. It's like when one of your friends has a falling out with another friend and then just goes like completely scorched earth. And you're like, I just don't feel like this matters. Like I'm not, I'm not, you know, I think it's this demand of fealty that is very strong. concerning not just for like caitlin clark's relationship with iowa but it's like this is the family that you are like they post about each other all the time on instagram like seems all in and you're like your father-in-law maybe yeah that's the thing it's like iowa won the breakup with fran mccaffrey and he's having a really hard time accepting that it's yeah oh my god like he was he's the winningest head coach in iowa basketball he has won more games than anybody there and he will never have the chance to go back and get recognized for that he was there 15 years that's a really long time and just they they threw it away and it's just crazy because i really do think everybody's better off he's at his alma mater he made it to the ncaa tournament this year fran mccaffrey never made it past the first weekend while he was at iowa like this is one of those things that it's just everyone's better off but eventually like i kind of knew this once he got fired that his behavior would come to light just because i got to see it close up i've seen him yell at many reporters time and time again and the the overall consensus is that he is like a saint compared to the way that his wife margaret acts because she's very loud and very intense and so yeah it was just this crazy sort of moment and they haven't responded to it i think that we are like the kind of what people assume is that caitlin c must have told connor to like knock it off because every time that he has posted something about um iowa or whatever he's taking it down almost immediately just because it's been really nasty sort of backlash and people are constantly tracking the instagram follows because he unfollowed kate martin he unfollowed a lot of his teammates at iowa who went to the game it's just super insane behavior from this entire family like and if you look at like the daughter's posts like she graduated from iowa that year and the caption was thanks for nothing like they're very angry oh my god and it's crazy because like they like you didn't have any problem taking millions from iowa you have generational wealth because of this school and this is a community that like is a community this is iowa this is like a small midwest area like we want everyone to succeed and be happy and so it has just been you know it's i'm i think most of it's over but it was a funny off season but i do feel bad for keith murphy he rocks and i'm glad that he gets to host this event again because it's so important to him i mean wow well thank you for sharing this story that i mean that really i think goes down the sports gossip yeah show hall of fame stories of all time that's i mean where do we even go from there lucy thank you thank you thank you thank you so much jess i mean i think we've already asked you a lot of questions about what's your favorite sports gossip story your favorite college football story and you know if you have one you want to toss out there go for it otherwise it's not going to be lucy's i'll tell you that much we can ride off into this sunset everyone's listening wow we really have to think about that like yeah unpack wow we're gonna be talking about this for that's crazy weeks now that's crazy oh my god um well listen thank you both so much what an absolute joy to have you let's do this let's do this more often yeah let's do a you know not to invite ourselves over to your house hey do a home and home let's do it and tell your fans subscribe to our yes youtube college direct to camera subscribe right now college football happy hour well cfb happy hour doesn't matter college football happy hour jessica smitana lucy rodine two goats don't miss it bye and the four of us we gotta we should we should just come up with some stuff up our sleeves let's do something let's do it you should do something yeah let's do it well all right new york yeah we'll see yeah we'll make it work i have a group text text us when you're home thank you both so much thank you guys bye that story no i'm stunned that isn't even a college football story college basketball story that lucy told about iowa is um like peeling back an onion no truly so many layers truly every every other thing i was we were like both of our jaws just kept dropping that was crazy also lucy and jess have forgotten more about college football than i will ever know yeah like they are such experts it is so fun to listen to them like the fact that they can both just rattle off like every coach's history from deep in the archive yeah is it's just why they're why they're the best of what they do so yeah thrilled to have them on we got to do more stuff with them and um go subscribe go subscribe and speaking of subscribing please rate review like subscribe it makes a huge huge difference and you can follow us on instagram at sports gossip and tiktok at sports gossip show and you can subscribe to our sub stack at sports gossip show.substack.com boom okay okay bye