Go back

Brandon Reveals His Top 25 + Todd McShay Takes Us on a QB Deep Dive | The BFW Show 8.17.26

102m 18s

Brandon Reveals His Top 25 + Todd McShay Takes Us on a QB Deep Dive | The BFW Show 8.17.26

Brandon Walker opens his show by unveiling his preseason top 25, arguing that the top seven teams—Oregon, Texas, Ohio State, Georgia, Indiana, Miami, and Notre Dame—are the clear elites with championship potential, while teams ranked 8-16 have more bust risk, and the rest are interchangeable. He dismisses the AP poll as guesswork, asserting that fans can rank teams equally well. Walker then criticizes Ryan Day for moving Ohio State's senior day to the season's start to avoid distractions before Michigan, calling it cowardly. He also praises Kurt Signetti as the best coach but slams his soft non-conference schedule, noting Indiana's future opponents like North Texas and Western Kentucky, while Signetti mocks Notre Dame and the SEC. The show includes voicemails on topics like ACC vs. Big 12 playoff odds, breakout players, SEC hot seats, and Mississippi State's Mount Rushmore. In a lengthy interview, Todd McShay discusses the quarterback class, ranking Dante Moore, LaNorris Sellers, CJ Carr, and Arch Manning, while highlighting Sam Levitt and Gary Mensa as underrated stars. McShay also praises Camario Taylor's immense potential despite Mississippi State's limitations. Walker concludes with commentary on Texas A&M's uniforms and sponsor reads, blending humor, hot takes, and football analysis as the season approaches.

Transcription

20188 Words, 106711 Characters

English
What's up Brandon Walker College football show fans, you can find every episode of the Brandon Walker College football show on Apple podcast, Spotify or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon music. What happens when you lock 18 coworkers in an office for one week to compete for a quarter million dollars of cash. This is surviving bar stool season five presented by rumble premium, where each episode releases three hours early, so get it ad free before anybody else only when you join rumble premium. New episodes of surviving bar stool will be released every Sunday and Wednesday, leading up to the Labor Day finale on September 7th. You can watch surviving bar stool at 5 p.m. on rumble premium and everywhere else at 8 p.m. Eastern. Stowe Blue coffee is more than just great coffee. It's coffee with a purpose, introducing we brew to rescue. A nationwide campaign using proceeds from our new ready-to-drink cans to help fund 1,000 pet adoptions this year. Every can you crack open helps a real pet find a real home. Simple as that, made with 100% Colombian coffee, each 11 ounce can delivers smooth, drinkable energy with a boost of protein, available in espresso cafe mocha and espresso sweet cream. Built for mornings, long days and everything in between. Make Stowe Blue fuel your day and help save a pet's life. You can follow our progress in real time throughout the campaign by watching the adoption tracker on our site. Grab yours now at stowebluecoffee.com, Amazon and select Retailers nationwide. Yeah, hey, it's the Brandon Walker calls for a ball show, I am Brandon Walker sponsored by, let's see, the smoke stack, West Point, Mississippi, home of the Brandon Walker, smoking lounge, right there, turn left on Main Street if you're coming south into Hollywood. Turn left on Main Street, cross railroad tracks, band, there's the Franks package in the smoke stack. Check them out. Go see Phil, he's got the best selection of beer in the state of Mississippi. All right, hello, it is the Brandon Walker calls for ball show, what's up everybody. I don't have the Chicago thing, Panda here, look, yeah, I got to do that. We're kind of flying by the seat of our pants here, take you behind the curtain, boy, my face age rough. Anyway, take you behind the curtain, we did a second yak today, so I didn't leave until like 4, 15, 4, 30, I got home like 15 minutes ago, but now we're, we're getting here, we're getting there, and I got Liam Blutman over there, hey, Liam, hey, Brandon, Walker, how are you doing? Am I, is Katie Stats back there watching Katie Stats is watching in the recording first time for her? Wow, welcome, Katie Stats, welcome, thank you for watching. I appreciate that. I don't know why she works on the show, I'm not sure why I'm thanking her at all. Just down from Anthony's food market, yes, you're right, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, Anthony's is the best. So anyway, we've got a lot tonight, Tom McShay coming up at the bottom of the hour. Me and Todd talked about quarterbacks, we talked about his process, we talked about Trinidad Chamblis, we talked about Arch Manning, Dante Moore, and we got even further, we talked about guys off the beaten path that he likes, why he likes certain teams, why he respects some teams doing more than others, if you're an Oklahoma fan, you'll want to stick around for that, he gave me some great insight into the sooner program, give me some great insight into the Manning Passing Academy, all that stuff, Tom McShay is very professional, I don't know why he stopped by this show, but he is, he's one of the best. So Tom McShay coming up at the bottom of the hour, we've also got a couple things I want to talk about Ryan Day and Kurt Signetti, but first today, the AP Associated Press top 25 poll was released. Now I'm not going to discuss it or talk about it because the AP Top 25 poll is full of underpaid and overwork sports writers that are just trying to get a practice story done somewhere in Clemson, South Carolina, or Boone, North Carolina, or you know, Stillwater, Oklahoma, they don't see every team, they just blindly guess. And I saw something yesterday where a fan was like, didn't like my rankings, he's like dude, you realize any, any fan of college football can do these rankings just as good as you guys can. That's been my point the whole fucking time. Anybody that watches football can put together a ranking system. Sports writers don't know any more than you do. I don't know more in any more than you do. Nobody really knows any more than you do Liam Blutman, number one ball watcher in America. His top 25 could just be just as accurate as, you know, Yipsel, Annie, Joe's in downtown Yipsel, Annie, Michigan, you just, you just never know. Anyway, I've got my top 25 coming up and we'll start that right now because I'm not going to talk about the AP top 25, I'm going to talk about my top 25 mine, Brandon Walker, my top 25. Wow. Okay, give it away pretty, pretty quickly. Just go ahead and go and give the whole goddamn thing away as fast as you possibly humanly can. Lukey, if you can just, you should have just sent a homing pigeon earlier today to just fly the goddamn thing to everybody who's watching and everybody who's, who's, who's been attention. All right, yes, agreed Kyle lives. I went to the doctor and my face AIDS has gotten worse. I don't know what to do. I think I went to a quack doctor. I think I knew as soon as I walked in and it was a woman doctor, I was in trouble. Shout out Katie stance. So here we go. My top 25. Just bring that back up because I want to talk about it someplace as Clemson. There are three lines, there are three lines in this top 25 or two lines that need to be drawn. Okay? And I'll just, I'll just give you this right now. You can bring up the number one through four. You don't have to do a long roll out here. Bring up one through four. That's what I want to see right now. That's one, two, three, four and five. I believe we're going to be the most, the most talented team in this country. That's a crazy picture of Dan landing. Is Dan landing, is Dan landing fat? What is that picture of Dan landing? Is this, what man did you do that? No, dude, it's just a little rainy at the odds and even though it never rains there, he's got to make sure he's cool, cozy and comfortable. All right. So this is my top five and I think there are two lines to draw on any top 25 this year. I think the top seven are the top seven. I don't think there should be any, any team in the top seven except these seven teams. It's Oregon. Ohio State Georgia, Indiana, Notre Dame and who's my odd men out Miami. Those are your top seven teams. I believe I got Miami at six Notre Dame at seven, but those are the seven. You draw a line right there, a hard line. Anybody in this seven can win the national championship. I don't think Oregon, Ohio State, Georgia, Indiana, I don't think there's much difference in any of these teams. I think the top seven is clearly the upper echelon, the elites of college football this year. As we get further along in the top 25, I'll go ahead and tell you some more things that I think about teams. I think there are three distinct tears in the top 25 starting with the top seven. Now you can bring up the whole thing. The next line you draw after seven, and that's Miami Notre Dame. The next line you draw on top of Oklahoma and down to say 16, 8 to 60, actually I might include 16, 16, 8 to 16, and these are teams that are all super talented teams that will probably be in the mix all year, but there is a lot more bus potential in this group. I don't think there's any bus potential in the first seven. I think in this group, you have a lot of bus potential with Texas Tech, a lot of quarterback drama in the off season with LSU, new coach, new roster. It's got to fit together fast. Ole Miss, new coach, great quarterback, great running back, new coach. Alabama, I don't totally believe in the coaching staff. USC, it's still Lincoln Riley. Texas A&M, I don't think Marseille reads that good and they replace so much on the line to scrimmage. Michigan, I respect the coach a lot. I think he's got to get a lot of rod out of the program, and BYU got drilled both times they played the conference champ last year. But I think those teams are all your secondary teams this year. They're not in the upper echelon, but they're better than everybody else in college football. And some of these buss, yeah, Texas A&M could bust, Ole Miss could bust, Texas Tech could bust, and Oklahoma could bust. I personally think Oklahoma's a national title at the end of it, but whatever. That's your second tier of teams. Your third tier of teams starts at 17. And this tier is called Everybody Elts in the goddamn country. Because you can look at this, and you can see South Carolina there, Utah there, you see there. Why isn't my team there? Why isn't Iowa there? Why isn't Florida there? I would legitimately think. I think it's 17. There's probably 25 teams that will spend some time in the top 25. There's probably Florida, Auburn, UNLV, like there's teams all over this country, Oklahoma State, Iowa. There's teams that are all in this tier, but you can't really fit them in a top 25. So I just picked these because I like certain elements of these teams, and I got one fuck yet team. I got one team I'm just taking a shot at. So Washington with Demon Williams, I think they're super talented. He's very good. I'm just not sure he wants to be there. They're 17. 18. I got Louisville, easy schedule. I think they got a very good coach. If the quarterback's good, look out. Penn State in 19, very, very reliable team, very reliable coach coming over from Iowa State, easy schedule. But I can't shake the cobwebs of Penn State. SMU, easy schedule in the ACC. Here goes the voice. Houston, I love them a lot. I really think Willie Fritz has been building something over there. I like them a lot. Tennessee, if they got a quarterback, look out because they're talented everywhere else. Utah, South Carolina in Clemson. South Carolina is my fuck it team. I was thinking everybody in top seven has a quarterback that they believe can be a top quarterback in the country, can be a top ten quarterback. Every single one of them, Dante Moore, Archmaning, Julian Saiyan, CJ Carr, all these guys, Josh Hoover, they all have a quarterback. They think can be the best quarterback in the country. So when I'm filling out the back half of this, when I'm filling out the very end, I'm thinking who has a quarterback that legitimately could if things break right end up in the top five of quarterbacks in the country. South Carolina has one. They have one. Things have to turn around. He has to get better coaching, but he is a dude. And I'm starting to believe the smell of the farts coming out of South Carolina that this year, Lenora sellers could leave them to big things. They have a lot of dudes, man. So that's why I put South Carolina there. Iowa is not there. They'll be in top 25 at some point. Florida is not there. I think with their schedule early, they'll be in top 25 at some point. That's my top 25. I got Oregon number one. I got to see it again. I got Texas two. I got Ohio State three, Georgia four, Indiana five, Miami six, Notre Dame seven. Wine, top seven is the top seven. They're the elites of the elites. All of them throw them in a bag, the elite back eight through 16, throw them in a bag. The very good, not quite elite tier. And then the rest of the country is after 17. And I picked those to be in the top 25. The chat says waffle says Lenora sellers sucks. If that's the level of discourse you want in college football, enjoy it, buddy. He very much does not suck. He has number one pick potential in his body, whether they get it out of him, we'll see, but he does not suck. Somebody says UVA should be top 25. I think I agree with that. I would have them like 26 or 27. I think UVA is somebody that could be in the top 25. Really, this year, I feel like we should do a preseason top 15 because everybody outside of the 15 is right there, you know, jumbled together. Plus with the transfer portal, we don't know, but then your thoughts on my list. I'm actually very happy use brought up. Maybe we should do a top 15, takes them back to my time doing rankings for years ago, where I just wouldn't rank like 20 through 25 because I didn't feel like enough teams were worthy of the ranking. If we want to go ahead and do that this year, I'm all for it. I disagree with South Carolina. By understanding you have in there, like I do think you're right. I think there's a bunch of teams that are on the outside looking in that are very well deserving of being in South Carolina. Lost two starting wider sewers this week for a season. Not a great start. I only agree with Clemson. All the talent they had in their roster last year. All those guys went to the NFL, got drafted and they got seven wins out of it. And now we don't even know if the quarterback has a first name last name or not. I'm not down on Clemson at all. But I don't like I'm taking the first two or three weeks to really evaluate, analyze, look at teams before I make rankings. This is all hoopla for what's worth. Right? Like, yeah, it is. But that's what's fun about it. When people say that we shouldn't even have preseason rankings. We should wait till week three. Well, what the fucking fun is that? Who wants to wait until week three? Who wants to be measured about this? Who wants to be mature about this? Now, we want to throw stuff out there. You do, but fine. But, but like, no, we got to have something to argue about. We got to have something to yell about. We got to have Iowa fans sitting here and I say they're number 27 team in the country and they're like, you fucking ass. Oh, we're number 23. Like what in the hell? It wasn't matter. Wasn't matter. We got to have that because that's this sport. I've said it before I'll say it again. It's where passion overwhelms intelligence. It's where I can sit here and look you on the face. Say, I think you're number 26 team and you want to choke me for not being 25. 25 is a magic number. Like I think Virginia, I thought about Virginia and Clemson for a long time. I just, I don't know if I'll ever quit dabbo as far as believing in his ability to have a good team, even though he is really ringing out the sponge as far as the believability of that actually happening. It's, it's, he's not giving us anything to, to hang on to as far as present day, but I still have the memories, man. I still have the memories and I still have to believe it's in there somewhere. But yeah, that's my top 25 chance going crazy right now. I enjoyed. Thank you guys. Hot take Kentucky will finish last in the SEC says King Eve and these Ebenezer. I disagree with that one too. I think Arkansas finished last. I think Kentucky. Can I say a hot take? Kentucky host LSU and Alabama in September or at least by our lot of October. And I think they get one of them. And, and, and if they didn't Alabama and week two is very interesting. Last year, Alabama wasn't ready to start the season in Florida State popped them. Kentucky might be that team. Kentucky is going to be as good as Florida State was last year. That's all I'll say. That's all I'll say. Fuck your top 25. Thank you for being here, Thomas Mac, I appreciate it. I'm going with a face turn now. I'm not going to freak out. I'm not cussing anybody. It's a face turn. You can listen to this show with your kids. Please listen to the show podcast right now. We're just kind of finishing out the last bit of all season content we have. We got the top 25. We'll do the playoff teams later. We're just getting through the next two weeks. And then when the season comes, we go. It's a full long go. Let's get a G six power ranking from Blutman. Blutman, you don't have to give a full G six power ranking right now. But if you had to say the top three teams in the group of six, what would you do? Boise State, Memphis, UNOV. Again, I stand by Memphis, probably being the most talented group of five, six team wherever you want to say schedules just so difficult. Honourable mention would be Texas State and James Madison. Yeah, I just I don't know if I'm if I have the bandwidth and the acumen to predict what a Memphis team will do is talented as they are with the new coaching staff. Like I just don't I like Charles Huff. And I think he's a he's a roster put together in the first year. I'm not I'm not real sure. But but we'll put together this entire roster. All brand new. Yeah. Yeah. He's a I got a cousin on on this team this year. Really? Yeah. Well, kind of a cousin. I'm average, but transferred from Mississippi State started to Kentucky. Now he's at now he's at Memphis. I don't know if he's going to starting center or not, but maybe, maybe. All right. I got to read an ad and then you can you can read an ad a minute. But body armor flash IV. I have it right here. Body armor flash IV. This episode brought to you by body armor flash IV. I really enjoy these. I use them for my outings on the golf course. I don't do do well in the sun. Obviously. But I do enjoy playing golf and I drink one of these at the beginning of the round, one of these at the end of the round. And I get the electrolytes I need to really stay on my feet and and be able to have the energy and do things. So this episode brought to you by them. Flash IV is pack of electrolytes delivering faster, longer lasting hydration without any artificial dyes, flavors or sweeteners, whether you're training traveling or just feeling heat or cheering on your team work hard and hydrate hard with body armor flash IV. Grab it at 7 11. So I appreciate that. Let's see. What are you guys? Kind of a cousin, Brandon Walker on Southern Family Dynamics. No, you fucking idiot. My uncle married a woman. It's her. It's her nephew. So there's something in there somewhere. There's a cousin in there somewhere. But it's not one of those things. Fucking moron. I'll see. I won't be cussing. I won't be. I won't be doing that. I'm face term. I'm doing a face turn. That's what I'm doing. Also on Wednesday, I am flying to Nashville to repair the home and home with Josh Pate. He was kind enough to help me start this show. Show up as the first guest. But I will be going to Nashville. I'll be doing a show with him on Wednesday. I don't know if he wanted that to be a surprise face. Yeah, you're right. I don't know what to do about it. I don't know. I don't know. But it is what it is. It is what it is. So anyway, that's my top 25. Put on the screen one more time so everybody can enjoy it, please. And if you're listening, I guess I'll go through the whole thing. If you're listening on the podcast, cause I do want you guys to listen. I'll just go through it one more time. Oregon number one, Texas number two, Ohio State number three, Georgia number four, Indiana five, Miami six, Notre Dame seven, big gap, Oklahoma eight, Texas tech nine, LSU 10, Ole Miss 11, Alabama 12, USC 13, Texas A&M 14, 15 is Michigan 16 is BYU, gap, 17 is Washington, 18 is Louisville, 19 is Penn State, 20 is SMU, 21 is Houston 22 Tennessee, 23 Utah, 24 South Carolina and 25 Clemson. And I do kind of wish 25 was Virginia at this point, but that's that's just whatever. I won't talk Ryan Day real quick before we get to Todd McShay in a minute. Ryan Day is incapable, even when he has the high ground, even when he has the National Championship in recent years, even when he beat Michigan last year, he is incapable of not seeming like a fucking not seeming even when Ryan Day has the high around even when you have as the latest victory over Michigan, even when he has the recent national title, he is incapable of not seeming like a doofus when it comes to the Ohio State Michigan rivalry. No matter what he does, he is just a doofus when this subject comes up. He's a doofus when he lost to a Michigan team. He had no business losing two the other year, a couple of years ago. He's a doofus when he lost as many games in a row as he has. He's a doofus when he just absolutely, at that moment, put more into it than it looked like he was capable of. But now, after winning it and winning the national title, Ryan Day comes out and announces, and I still wait to see if I'm getting ball sack. Ryan Day still comes out and he says, by the way, we're moving senior day to the beginning of the year so we don't have a distraction for Michigan. And I think that is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard in my entire life. Senior day is about that moment. Senior day is about that full stadium for the last time. Senior day is about getting to the end of a long four-year journey, five years in some cases. A long journey of sacrifice from not only you, but from your family. And then right there on the cold, gray morning, we're getting ready for the biggest game of the season. Your mom is standing at the 50-yard line with roses and you go hugger and you kisser and you shake your dad's hand and then you go beat the crap out of Michigan or you go just fight a war. But it is not to be confused with the first game of the season when everything is hopeful, everything is exciting. What are you celebrating as a senior at the beginning of the season? You still have 12 games to go. This is a crazy thing that you're so worried about distractions against Michigan. He can't honor seniors. How much time was that taking you? That is a crazy, crazy, crazy thing. And only the twisted, warp, mine, and Ryan Day could come up with it. You wouldn't lose to Michigan those years because you were honoring your seniors. You lost to them because you didn't know how to prepare your team for it and you tried to beat Michigan a prideful way instead of the way you're supposed to beat them by out-athletes and them and out-scheming them. You tried to out-tuff them and they were tougher than you. You know how I know they're tougher than you? They're not moving their damn senior day to make their self feel better. That's what I think about Ryan Day. Faults Liam. And for Pound, the biggest coward in college football, whether he wins or not, he's a coward. The next guy is giving him a run for his money, buddy. That's all the reaction you have. I said, "Mm, and I thought you were going to speak and then you took a severe drink and we had an awkward stare." Coach Juara says, "Who cares about senior day?" Ultimately, nobody. It doesn't matter in a grand scheme of things. That's why to cite it as a distraction, to cite it as a problem when you're losing to Michigan and then move it to the beginning of the season just to assuage your ego is the height of ridiculousness in college football. Get to the end of a long season and honor these players, honors the sacrifice they had. Don't do it at the beginning just because you're too chicken shit to get your team ready to play at the end. What the fuck is that take? I'm sorry, I can't make you smart enough to understand it. If you're in this chat and you're like, "Who, who's he talking about?" I, listen, wake up Nancy's tomorrow morning. Go, go, go away. Face turned. I appreciate you all being here. I thank you for it. Thank you guys. I love college football and I love that you're here. It's so beautiful to see you. Thanks guys. You guys are the best. I love college football. William, reading that, I need throw code. While you go and get that brown walker, I am going to read that freeing and know what? We got a big day coming up. How about that, brown walker? September 2nd, something big is coming. Draft King's Game Day arrives with massive deals, exclusive offers and an all day celebration built just for us sports fans, Brandon. The countdown has begun and all roads lead to game day. The Draft King sports app is now live in all 50 states. That means from Texas to California to Florida. Every fan is in on the excitement. That's one app, every sport in all 50 states. Draft King's Game Day is yours. Remember that date, Brandon. What was that date? September 2nd. Draft King's Game Day is the kickoff of a new season, a new era and the biggest day in sports history. Get pumped, get ready to celebrate new Draft King's customer sign with code rough. That's code rough R-O-U-G-H. Spend five bucks to get 150 and rewards within 14 days for all markets. That's code rough and partnership with Draft King's. The crown is yours. Bet with DK Sportsbook, gambling problem called 1-800-GAMBLER. 1-800-Myreset, Connecticut called 888-7897777, or visit ccpg.org. On behalf of Boothill Casino and Kansas, that tax pass through may apply in Illinois. 21 and over, void in Canada. A bank contract trading with Draft King's predictions involves risk of loss, availability varies. Predictions offer void in New York. Bet to get bonus bets that expire in seven days. Trade to get predictions dollars that expire in one year. $50 and rewards issued every seven days via click to claim for 14 days. One non-withdrawable reward redeemable. Nationwide based on sportsbook predictions and free-to-play sports contest availability. Fairies by state terms at DKNG.co/offer limited time offer. - Who is this in the mostly sports group chat? Getting me a golf match against Brandon Jennings. - Did you not have that number saved? - No, it's just a photo. It's just a, okay. So now, are they talking shit to Brandon Jennings on my behalf? - Yeah, that's Cody. - Bro, I'm about to get him out of here. He's losing his membership in the course after I win. I don't, I don't wanna play for my membership. I don't wanna do that. Now, you mentioned something a second ago. You said I'm gonna lean back 'cause I'm tired of my face looking as bad. You said Ryan Day is the biggest coward in college football. Despite all the winning despite him being such a good coach. I'm gonna counter with the best coach in college football right now. Kurt Signetti. Kurt Signetti is the best coach in college football. He has built Indiana from nothing. He is the envy of everybody in America. He is the best coach in college football. He's the best program builder. He's the best team builder. He is the guy. He is sitting on top of this sport. I'd give anything for him to coach my team. That is how good he is. He is the best coach in this sport. Which is why I think it is unfortunate. How big of a coward he is when it comes to scheduling. Not a coward when it comes to showing up on Saturday. I have that take room. He knows how to show up on Saturday. But last year, somebody asked him about his scheduling in Big 10 media days and he turned it into a shot at the SEC. He said, "Well, the SEC schedule is like that." Now the SEC has nine conference games. Texas play in Ohio, state, Oklahoma, play in Michigan. A lot of good scheduling in the SEC. Ten power five teams for most of them. But the Big 10 media all clapped and cheered. Oh my God, he's taking shots of the SEC. Now, after the series with Notre Dame is canceled, he comes out with this quote. And he says this about Notre Dame. They all to come to our place twice and we'll go there once since they're not in a conference. And that's funny. And it gets all the Indiana media heads and all the fans to clap like seals and say, "Man, I love saying he tells it like it is." But it belies the fact that his scheduling philosophy for whatever reason is the most scared scheduling philosophy I've ever seen. He takes whatever Big 10 schedules handed to him. He attacks it. A couple of years ago it was very easy. Last year it was more difficult. This year even more difficult. But in the non-conference, I wrote down, I wrote down Indiana's next five years of non-conference opponents, okay. And this is the guy who's making fun of Notre Dame for not being in a conference. It's the guy who makes fun of the SEC for scheduling the way they do. Here's Indiana's next five years. It's this year they're playing North Texas, Howard and Western Kentucky. Now I'm not just talking about the Indiana Hoosers. I'm talking about the defending national champions. With Ohio State going to Texas this year, with Oregon having played so many good teams over the years. With Alabama having played so many good teams over the year with Georgia having opened the season with so many good teams over the year. LSU's open Florida State in Clemson, or Florida State's a bad example right now. But you see what I'm saying. All these top 10 programs have been trying to play Big Time programs. In 2027, Kennesaw State, Indiana State UMass. In 2028, Indiana's non-conference schedule, Boston PE Eastern Michigan Miami, Ohio. In 2029, Ball State, Eastern Illinois and Western Kentucky, and in 2030, signed so far, Indiana State and Delaware. This is a program that is now on top of the sport and playing with the big boys, peeing with the big dogs off the side of the porch. They're up there with Ohio State. They're up there with Texas, they're up there with Oregon. The only difference is, when it comes to scheduling non-conference, Texas, Oregon, Ohio State, all those teams act like it. And Signati takes shots at Notre Dame, takes shots at the SEC while hiding behind the most cowardly non-conference schedule of all time. Why won't someone in Big 10 media? Why won't someone out there say, Coach, I know this is funny, but what about your schedule? He's a great coach, phenomenal coach. They gotta grow the fuck up with this. They gotta grow up with this schedule. This is ridiculous. Thoughts lay 'em. - Well, let's give Krat where Krat is due. they are returning the Indiana at Western Kentucky game from 2021, where they won 33 at 31. So let's be kind there. It's going to be a tough rematch for Indiana brown. Let me, let me, let me just say what the, how, how dumb the chat is. You guys are smart. This guy says, Sig is king and minute be walk. Did you not watch the segment I just did where I said he's the best coach in college football? Where I said, he's the man. I said it. You Indian fans don't have the, the bandwidth to sit here and say, well, maybe he's got a point because you just hear Indiana bad for out of my mouth. He's the best coach. They're the best team. I like it is what I'm saying. Go. Yeah. I just think he's a troll. I just think he's a want to be wrestler, kind of WWE like hits like that's what I have thought he's been doing for two, three years now. That's why I think he's going to continue to do the schedule doesn't, the schedule annoys me because I want to see a top tier program, especially a top tier program. That's why I want to see, but the schedule when you look at it rationally as man, there's no point in even risking it. There's no point in dropping a non-conference game and having that stain on your resume. But why do you look at it like you're going to drop it? You're Indiana, you're the best team issue. That's the, that's an issue in itself. Right. You're, you're the best you're going to go into with that 100%. Why do you assume you're going to drop it? You're Indiana. You're the best program right now. You're the best team. You have the best coach. Go win them. Don't, don't run high behind Eastern Illinois and Western Kentucky. Well, do you want to bring up the other problem in all this? Can we stop scheduling games 14 years down the line? You shouldn't have to read who they're playing in 2032. I do not care. Schedule a game like college basketball. College basketball could do it all the time. You know what we could go step further. Coastal Carolina and BYU scheduled a game the week that it got played during COVID. That's right. We could do all that in the months leading up to it. Man, Indiana is going to be a top 10 team this year. Hmm, Brandon. Well, if they play, what they play the French top 25 Clemson team. That's an exciting week one week two game. Well, if they win and they played, I don't know, name a team Brandon Utah, a little Indiana Utah action. That's exciting. Sell those tickets, build up the hype in that off season in that off season. Announce. Yo, look, we're Indiana and we're going to play Mrs. Mississippi State. Mississippi State. That gets 12 people fired up, but imagine if they did Indiana, can I talk to a guy Scott? He says, thank you, Blutman. Indiana sick didn't schedule these teams. You morons. No, he probably didn't schedule all these teams. Well, I tell you what he did do. He did cancel the scheduling of other teams. He did cancel the Virginia schedule game. He did. He did make sure they got out of some games. Okay. So let's be honest if we're going to be honest with each other. Yeah, we're always going to keep it a buck. I got nothing to say further, other than I wish that we adopted more of that on the fly scheduling system. If Indiana has a game scheduled with Cincinnati five years from now and Cincinnati gets things going and they're like a top 20 team. Well, they're going to cancel it the year prior. That's that's that's so much of the issue that we're running into. It's not just Indiana. It's across the country. Penn State schedules are soft as Charmin too. We can bring that up and discuss it. There are other right Texas tech was Texas tech schedule. Yeah, you're right. You're right. It's it's bad. Indiana is not the only one. They're not the only one. But when sick points at Notre Dame and pokes them with a stick and says you should join a conference and you got to play us twice and like he's poking them with a stick while hiding behind a schedule that is nothing. So so like if you want to poke everybody with a stick, turn the stick around start beating good teams with it. That's what I say. Um, one one one last thought brand. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In the in college basketball, you have the the big 10 ACC challenge or whatever the the SEC, you know, they have those challenges. I'm blanking out what exactly they are right now. Big 10 ACC. Yeah. Yeah. Why why don't we maybe adopt something like that in college football and have have a reward or some sort of NIL prize for the winning conference. Well, Pawn Willie says Brandon refuses to acknowledge anything in the big 10 being good just an SEC shell like paid. Does anybody listen? No. I did. I've been calling the big 10 the best conference for three years now. I've said they're going to win the national title again this year. There are so I would like to back and forth with you guys. I would like to be able to I throw it here. You hit it back. You say something interesting. I would keep going. But when you just say Brandon just doesn't say the big 10 is good. He's just in the SEC. She'll you're just stupid. You're just you're just that's not that's not reality. I have said what I have said the big 10 is the best conference or going to win the national title this year. That's what I think. Anyway, uh, Bowling branch. I'd be better if I slept in some good bowling branch sheets tonight. If you notice your sheet slipping off the corners lately or maybe your pillows don't just feel just don't feel supportive anymore. Most people actually keep their bedding way longer than they should. I forgot to print out the ads and bring them home. So I'm reading them off my phone. I apologize. It slowly wears down and you don't realize how much is affecting your sleep until you finally replace it. The truth is, most people think they need a new mattress, but the biggest difference usually comes from replacing what touches you every night, not my wife. That's why we upgraded our bed with bowl and branch. They make everything your bed needs. They're signature organic cotton sheets, pillows, blankets and comforters are all designed to be breathable and credibly soft and get better over time. That's the key right there. Most people start with the signature sheets and a lot of customers buy two sets so they can rotate them. We also added the waffle blanket. Now the whole bed just feels amazing. The moment you get into bed, you notice the difference. Discover a softness beyond your wildest dreams of bowling branch. Get 15% off your first order plus free shipping and returns at bowlingbranch.com/ruff. All right. Still got to work on that. Uh, Bowling Branch B-O-L-L-A-N-D branch.com/ruff to take 15% off exclusions apply. All right. So we got voicemails coming up. Oh, oh, oh, let's just, you want to shut down Texas A&M's uniforms? I don't get them. I think last week we had a generational run of uniforms. I'm, I'm usually not a, I'm not a uniforms guy, but last week Florida released the Spurrier Throwbacks from 1966. They were immaculate, amazing. Tulane released maybe the best off to the unit unit of all time. The Marty girl with the beads on the element, unbelievable, amazing. Um, I'm missing one. Arizona State. I believe some 80s throwbacks. Yeah. Rose. Unbelievable. And while all this is happening and schools are just doing incredible, incredible, incredible uniforms, Texas A&M takes to Twitter and puts this out. This is this digital came over my 2012 with Maroon pants. This is one of the worst looks I've ever seen in my entire life. Right now you've got all the, look at this. You've got all these other teams with beautiful, beautiful, beautiful uniforms and they're dropping this out of the sky. This amiss, a miss and listen, Adidas. I know Texas A&M is a, is a Maroon SEC school. So are we. We're good. We're good over here. Please, please don't bring that to us. Uh, that's just, that's just not good. And, and, and I know they have a military history and they have all that, but I think if you asked the military, they'd be like, ah, not those, man, not, not, not those, those, ah, we got other military stuff you can do. This is like exactly what I would expect from Texas A&M too. Like if Mississippi State put this, I'd be like, no way. There, there's no way they're doing this. Uh, this kind of just fits A&M to it. This is so dorky. Yeah, it's bad. That's, uh, it's an absolutely bad uniform. And like, uh, they'll be bad with camo pants, but at least they'd probably be fine. The, the, the maroon there's insane. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, lookie, you get one last chance until Thursday, then you get another last chance. How many voicemails you got tonight? Nine. No, ain't no, ain't no way, ain't no fucking way. We don't have to do all of them. I just didn't know if you wanted to be out there a little. So three one, two, six, eight, five, 18, 89. We continue to, uh, build the show out. Thank you for subscribe. Please subscribe by the way. We're at 69. I'd like to be at 70 by the end of the night. Um, the more subscribers we get, the better things are around here. Uh, we're building and we're building and we're building and we're ready to launch really hardcore once college football season gets here. And we're going to have the Monday shows to react everything. The Thursday shows to preview everything. And the Saturday night show where everything goes fucking crazy. Um, so we got voicemails right now. Subscribe, like, please. Here we go. Three, one, two, six, eight, five, 18, 89. I will do it. I will do these voicemails until I get tired of doing these voicemails tonight. Voicemail number one, please. Dave Brandon, big fan. Teddy Hayes from Ohio. Who do you think is a better chance to get in two teams in this year's playoffs? The ACC or big 12. I don't see any world where they both get to. Oh, go box. Yeah. That's a good question. All right. Let's go. Let's walk through it. Texas Tech being the favorite in the big 12. Miami being the favorite in the ACC. The second favorite in the ACC, you're going to have Louisville and then Louisville and SMU, correct? SMU, both of those have remarkably easy schedules outside of each other. So I, and then the big 12, who would I get? Yes, BYU is the second best team. And then who would you say the second best team or is the third best team? Arizona, Utah, Houston, who's that third best team? Houston, I'm gonna die on the hill for Oklahoma State win the law of games this year. So I'd probably have them for and Utah fight. Utah just really disappointed me when they went up against the physicality attack. So BYU has the game against Notre Dame at home this year. That's a huge opportunity for them. Losing that does take away your margin for error inside that conference. I think it's the ACC. I think it's the ACC comfortably. I think Miami is far and away the best team. I think they're one of the seven best teams in the country. I think they're a slam dunk playoff caliber team. And then I believe either the winner of Louisville SMU I think has a big leg up in early September of going to the playoff. So I would say the ACC has a better chance this year than the big 12. Just off the rip. I think there's a clear delineation of power. There's a clear delineation's not the word. There's a clear balance of power, hierarchy in the ACC. That makes a lot of sense. Whereas once you get past Texas Tech and BYU the big 12 is a jumbled mess. And I don't know how I think it's gonna be a lot of cannibalization there. That's my statement about that. All right, voicemail number two. Come in. Brandon, do you have any surprise players that no one is talking about that should be on the radar for the upcoming season? Personally, I like Harlem Berry running back out of LSU. Who else you got? That's great. That's a great question. I really want to think about this. I really, I really want to give it some thought. I mean, I like Kenny Minchi. I think some people are talking about him. I think he's going to have the opportunity to play for a great offensive mind, behind a very good offensive line, a revamped offensive line. I like Minchi. I would be remiss if I didn't say Camario Taylor. Although I think the words out on him now. Bloodman's probably way, way, way better at answering this question than I am. 'Cause he is so deep in the players in the players and who they are across the country. What do you think about this question, Bloodman? I think it's a good question. One guy that I think is going to really break out, lazy pick because where he plays, Georgia, Elijah Griffin on the interior defensive line, I think is really gonna open up things for their past rushing off the edge. And Alex Robinson, I love the corner there. Cooper Barcai, we actually mentioned him on the web today. Cooper Barcai is going to get so much more love now that he's at the U and not Duke. This was a do-it-all receiver now. He's sticking with medicine. Now he's the two next to Tony. He's gonna get so many dialed up, open looks. He could do it all. I love Cooper Barcai. And then probably just one of JKS's receivers at Cal, whichever one he picks and chooses to be his star. And then Brian Roach. How about Brian Roach? Brian Roach, you see a Li-Wider receiver and Kelly Jones corner in Mississippi state and he needs way more love. He's top two, three corner in the country. He's like before long, laky, sticky, stokes. Yeah, you like him? What about stokes? What do you like him as a breakout player? The Memphis quarterback? Yeah, the Memphis quarterback. I thought you were trying to-- You're supposed to know these names. Why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, did you just break your jokes? I thought you were trying to hit me with like a stroke's joke. Why did that break your system down so much? You've been about Memphis. I thought you were trying to hit me with like a ball sack joker. Your entire car just broke down on the highway. You were driving down the highway. Yeah, I say stokes and you're like you hit a rock. How can you not see my dilemma here where it's like, hey, hey, hey, you like stokes? Like you do that bit on mostly all the time. Yes, I like Marcus Stokes as long as he-- You thought that was a nut joke. You thought that was a nut joke. A hundred percent undoubtedly, because guess what? I know you, Brad Walker. I spent a lot of time with you in the office. That is something you would have done right there. Marcus Stokes will throw for a lot of yards to see her if he wants to give me one jump. You thought Stokes was addicted. Yeah, I did. It's close to stokes. Boys, male number three, please. Hey, Brandon. This is Jack from Oak Ridge, Tennessee. She's had a quick question for you. Do you think there's any shout out that Josh Hegel is on the hot seat this year? Feels like he had the hand in hook here here. And it hasn't been a long since then. We love your talks. Thank you. A big time again, long time again. Thank you. I-- a lot depends on the quarterback there, right? If it's if it's based on Brandon or whatever, if they're able to get a lot out of the quarterback. Because when he has a good quarterback, he's very good. I think the team has pretty loaded it outside of that. Here is the issue with Josh Hegel could have ended up on the hot seat. My gut reaction is no. I think he's too good of a coach to let that happen. But in the SEC, one, two, maybe three coaches are going to go from completely safe right now to on the hot seat at the end of the year. I'm not sure everybody's prepared for an SEC where they play nine conference games, where there's not an easy win there for a lot of these teams to prop themselves up. I'm not sure they're prepared for an SEC where how many teams think they're going to win 10 games. I want to be honest, how many teams in the SEC believe they're going to win 10 games? Because it's Texas, Georgia, Ole Miss, LSU, Alabama, help me out. A&M, that's six. That's six that believe they're going to win 10 games. Then you've got, and I know a missing one up there, you've got Florida that believes they're capable of breaking through. Now Tennessee that believes they're capable of breaking through, that middle group is all fighting each other to get up there. Guess what, out of those six teams, and then the next four or five, not everybody can win nine games. Not everybody can win eight games. Somebody's going to be holding the six and six bags at the end of the season. Now, if somebody like Mike Elko went to the playoff last year, if he's six and six, he's not on the hot seat. But if it's somebody like Josh Hypo, who's a couple of years removed, and he goes six and six, he is on the hot seat. So there's going to be a lot of unexpected hot seat out of the SEC this year. Somebody's going to get left holding a bag, and I don't know who it is, but I don't think it'll be Hypo because I think he's too good. Voice mail, number three, please. Hey, Brandon, big suitors, fan here. You have OU picked as one of your eight teams that can win the National Championship. But for the last several years, you have said that Brent Vennibles is a sorry ass coach, and will never get Oklahoma to the level they need to be at. Just wondering what's changed. I just sometimes wish I could really dive into the sentimentality and the emotionality of college football fans that will watch you praise their team, their roster, and their coach, and say, no, wait a minute, three years ago, you didn't say this. What changed? Every fucking thing changed. Everything changed. They went on the road and beat Alabama last year. They went 10 and 2. I didn't think with his offense, and the lack of offense he's had over the years, he was going to be able to build Oklahoma up enough to get to the playoff and get to the national championship level. But last year, he proved it. I saw it on the field. I know it can happen. John Mateer was hurt for the last half of the season. They still went to the playoff. So I don't think Brent Vennibles is one of the top 10 coaches in the country, but I think he's got Oklahoma prime this year with this roster and this season to be very, very, very, very good. I think Oklahoma should be able to name their coach. I think they're top five program in college football history and should be able to name their coach. I was shocked when they did Brent Vennibles. I think two of his first four years, he won six games or less. So let's not act like Brent Vennibles walked into Oklahoma and immediately started doing it and doing it big time. I think with Mateer, with Satania, with this defense, they're going to be in every single game, and I think they have the capability to be last year's Miami, who was an elite defense and when they got to the playoff at 10 and 2, they started reckoning teams. I think Oklahoma, if they're scheduled, the best case is 10 and 2, but if they got to the playoff with that defense, they'd start reckoning teams. So when I say, I think your national title contender and your emotional response is to say, "But you didn't like us three years ago." What kind of crybaby shit is that? What is that? Can't you just fill in the contest clues that over those three years and over the last year, I have amended my thoughts. I have seen and been impressed with something. Why do you have to go like, "Oh, I just, you know, you're being nice now, but you were mean that one time. I don't know how to get over it." Everybody grow up. Grow up. Opinions are opinions. Sometimes they evolve, sometimes they change. Thoughts what, man? I would highlight Trial Harris and Parker Livingstone, the wide receiver room. Those, this is. John Matier got to figure out how to throw football, man. Yeah. Like, they could be so good. Yeah, no, I got to know what to say. And they run the program so well. Like, give a lot of credit to Jim Nagy coming in as General Manter over from the senior bull and run things so well there. Have you, have you listened to the Misha interview? No, I have not, I listen live following the show. Well, I have an interview with Misha coming up in about five minutes, maybe 10 minutes. He takes about five minutes to say exactly that. He shouts out Jim Nagy. He shouts out the way they run things. It's a fascinating view into how programs are run Voice is starting to go, but let's see if we can do this right now blue chew This episode sponsor about blue chew guys what the women won't need they need stability reliability be her rock with blue chew They're sponsoring this podcast and sponsoring your bedroom performance Blue chew gold is better sex and a tablet. They combine four ingredients into one powerful solution Two ingredients get you hard physically and two support arousal and desire in the brain It works fast and at last guys have a complete experience in the bedroom with blue chew gold There's a reason blue chew is the number one brand for better sex Experience it yourself at blue chew.com. We've got a special deal for our listeners right now when you buy two months of blue chew gold You get the third free with promo code walker that's promo code walker You'll receive an additional 10% off free over and plus free overnight shipping on your first order visit blue chew.com for more details An important safety information. We thank blue chew for sponsoring this podcast All right. We got one more. We'll do it in a minute All right, looky voicemail number five or six or four. I don't know. Yo, Brandon. This is Isaac from Texas You have the absolute best show and all of the college football landscape. My question is for you is who is on your mount rush more Of Mississippi state athletes if you had to pick the four Who would you go with who's your writer die? Brandon F and Walker the best of all time. Thank you What Wow, I don't care. I don't think most of you care about this answer, but I'll go through a quick Deck press got is on the Mount Rushmore Mississippi state athletes Will Clark is on the Mount Rushmore Mississippi state athletes There's an old basketball Hall of Famer play for the Celtics in the 60s you guys probably don't know Bailey how He's on their Mount Rushmore Mississippi state athletes, which leaves me one spot and there are some great great great athletes through the years No, Raphael Palmero as far as baseball goes Jeffrey Simmons Chris Jones Fletcher Cox there are some all-time football players over the last 10 years that have called Mississippi State home darius slay Montez sweat Oh no, no, no, we have a lot of great players. I'm gonna go will Clark Raphael Palmero deck press got Bailey how that is my four those are my four Apologies to Chris Jones Fletcher Cox Jeffrey Simmons those are all great players and even back in the day. There's there's some there's some more great players, but That's Mississippi State 85 baseball 1985 team really supplanted and put Mississippi State on the map even more than they already were so Fred smooth great great player Thank you Eric molds great player These are all great player Auburn's Mount Rushmore clears everyone I don't know if they clear everyone They clear a lot of teams. Let's see Bo Jackson Frank Thomas Charles Barkley and Tim Hudson Oh, I don't know who the fourth one would be UCLA's you UCLA's Mount Rushmore is hard to beat You're talking about Kareem and Bill Jabbar Bill Walton Jackie Robinson Garrett Cole I let you can go you can go 30 deep probably UCLA's got a very very hard one to beat Trying to thank who else Mississippi State Jake Mangum though Shout out Jake Mangum, but I think even Jake Mangum would tell you tell you oh, oh LSU by the way LSU has a great one to shack Pete Marevich Chris Jackson The ironic thing is when did you talked about talking about LSU with Joe burrow to and you know Even who's the old old old guy will I buy a title but but like LSU has a great one? Their weakest part is baseball, which is crazy because their baseball program is the best in the country by a mile But they don't have that one star. I guess schemes is on track to be it. So maybe check back Well, maybe was on track it was on track. Yeah, um, but I love I love I love these Mount Rushmore's Let's say Florida you're talking who would the basketball player be Horford maybe Horford T-Bo Spurrier I don't know the I don't know their I don't know their baseball program. I'll leave the killers off Yeah, boy next voicemail, please Luki Hey, Brandon Troy here I just want to know who your favorite non-quarterback highs and favorites are Maybe even excluding halfbacks. I know you already kind of talked about a mod hearty and to want you on lazy So are you feeling more like a Jeremiah Smith Malachite Tony or maybe even a defensive player? Thanks So you named you I do think there's a defensive player that that I would probably put on the list this year Oh, but you name the two receivers. I think it's Malachite Tony It's Jeremiah Smith and I guess if you just wanted to say who are the receivers who could win it bro Cam Coleman in there because I they're gonna lean on them a lot defensive player. I got one name that stands out above the rest for me If I had to say I got one name Liam defensively for high-spin. Who would you think that is? Collins Simmons. I was gonna go with Leonard Moore Okay, I'm gonna go with the best corner back in the country You know the the last time you know Charles Woodson defensive player won the highs. I know you had a little bit of offense But I think Leonard Moore when they have big games if he has a big game I like Leonard Moore as somebody who could do it. I think he's probably the best player in the country Collins Simmons is a good one Otherwise, I you know these top level teams. Do they have a defensive player that just stands out above the rest? I mean If Oregon were to give Koi Parrish a bunch of touches offensively and he turned back the clock to I wasn't his freshman season. It sure wasn't that a sophomore year Yeah, a lot of people are saying running backs. I've already done the running backs But I'm hardy to me as the best candidate as a as a running back I think he has a chance if he plays the whole season to be great He is the best running back in the country, plus he would have an amazing story So I'm on already would be my running back favorite Jeremiah Smith. We're gonna receive her favorite Quarterback, you know, you got five or six guys defensive favorite Leonard Moore that so that's what I would do Would you rather live in Eugene, Oregon or Winston Salem, North Carolina? I would imagine both are awesome I never been to Eugene, Oregon seems cool. I've been to Winston, Salem, North Carolina. That's a terrific town That whole area of North Carolina Winston, Salem, Greensboro on over really really good part of the world But I don't know Eugene, Oregon never never really been there Let me read the last ad. How many voicemails we got left for? Three three all right, well, I don't even have to read that here because it's Reese's it's Reese's peanut butter cups You know Reese's I don't have I'm not telling you anything. This is the official candy partner of bar stool sports Go get Reese's wherever your shop if you're riding down the road you need a quick snack get you Or Reese's peanut butter cup get you the PB and J get you the strawberry. It just gets you all the varieties They have so many varieties of candies with Reese's, but I love the good old-fashioned peanut butter cup Whether you're going to the drug store whether you're going to the grocery store. You're going to the gas station the movie theater You can't go wrong with the Reese's peanut butter cup once again the official candy partner of bar stool sports shout out Reese's get them wherever you shop All right, let's go with another one Another voicemail Let's have one more one branded motherfucking Walgreens. This is Austin Grace You spend rough one and brothers fucking studs Brandon if you had a pick right now three seasons What is your predictive game of the year? I want to know the best match up of the year and preseason right now. Appreciate it It's impossible to do this without being a basic bitch, right? But like How would it not be LSU against Ole Miss with the drama that's going to be around it? I hate both teams But it's early. It's it's gonna be awesome It's it's it's a new coach in a new place. It's the old team facing the new coach It's one of the best quarterbacks in the country like it has everything you need Texas Ohio State's early. It's also awesome That Ohio State Indiana game. I feel like it's flying under the radar That which is crazy and wild, but Ohio State has traveled Indiana this year folks, and that's a big fucking deal I would love I Those are my top three, but there's so many there's so many Miami Notre Dame. Thank you very much chat Miami Notre Dame excellent game. The only problem there is they might be in a situation where it doesn't matter who wins or loses Like the winner might go 12 and oh the loser might go 11 and 1 like they they might be in a situation Where it doesn't matter at all who wins and loses that game. All right, next one smell, please Hey, Brandon thanks for the one greeting on your voicemail I just wanted to see what is the best road venue to visit on a big A&N fan and I have never been anywhere other than Kyle Field And I'd like to go somewhere You seem like you traveled a lot and I'd like to hear your opinion. Thanks So many great places to travel in this country Notre Dame's a great place to travel Wisconsin's great place to travel Anywhere that has big time college football's a great place to travel don't believe the haters Let's say oh this town sucks this stadium sucks is if you're in major power five football It's a great place the one that stands above them all the one that is better than everybody else the one that does the Game day the best the one does the tailgating the best the one that does it in stadium the best is Tiger Stadium at LSU It's a different level of football down there It's a different level of loud. It's a different level of exciting if you've ever been there you know what I'm talking about if you've never been there You won't believe it. It's the only place in 30 years of doing this. 20 years of doing this, my ears hurt from how loud it was. My ears absolutely hurt from how loud it was. I just remember thinking this is bad. That's LSU. LSU is the number one place in the world. Zero atmosphere at Wisconsin, spoken by somebody who's never been anywhere in his life. Wisconsin is a great place to watch football game. A great place. And if you just want to hate, you can hate. Let's go with one more voicemail, then we'll get to our interview with Todd McShay. Hey, Brandon. This is Buster from Gamesville. I just want to say I think you're doing a great job, but I got to tell you what, man, these AP preseason polls pissing me off. You telling me the Florida Gators aren't at top 25 team in the country. Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it. That's a, that's a fake voice. He's using a fake accent. That's a fake call. It's a fake fan. I can sniff him out from a million miles away. That's not a Florida fan. That's that's a fake fan. He's doing a fake voice. I know Southern accents. That wasn't one. That sucked. So yeah, I'm not going to even answer that shit. There was a fake accent. There was somebody trying to be funny, trying to act like I'm going to say something like this. That was fake. And you guys need to be able to sniff it out because that was a bullshit. And I'm not even, I'm not even getting that job time today. What do you think? What do you think, Loki? That was Nicky smokes. Was it? Yeah. Okay. I didn't even realize that. But I knew it was fake. I knew it was fake. Those times did that right away. Yeah. I didn't, I didn't put together. It was him. I just could tell that was fucking ridiculous. Yeah. You're like, I saw your like, I start perk enough on thinking you might, you might recognize this as smokes. He did go full in. I know it's a, it's a new day and I'm doing a face turn. I will say this to Lukey and Liam. If you ever let a call from Nicky smokes, ever get on the show again, I'm firing every fucking guy behind the scenes. Katie stance. If you had part of that, you're out to, you're all fucking done. If I find out who let Nicky smokes on the show. That was that one. For you left the office, Nicky smokes just said, Hey, what's the number I want to call it? And I need, I need these calls to be good. It seems he failed. All right. Here go. I talked to Andy, not not Andy's. I talked to Andy Staples last week. I talked to Todd McShay, draft expert, better around this game for a long time. Knows what he's talking about. He knows quarterbacks. He knows players. He knows teams. He knows everything. He knows the structure. He knows the organization. He knows football. He is a respected voice. Everybody knows Todd McShay. Host of the McShay show. You know who he is. He's awesome. He's great. And he gave me 40 minutes of his time. We're going to end the show tonight about playing that interview. He really, really got into some quarterbacks and really got in some football here. It's a fantastic peek into college football. Shout out to Todd McShay. I thank him for that right now. Go ahead and watch that interview. And then that'll be it. Here's the interview with Todd McShay. All right. Interview time. We're talking to everybody that knows college football that knows anything about college football that is big in the space and who's bigger in the space of football over the last couple of decades in this guy. It is Todd McShay of the McShay show. I, whenever I introduce somebody, I'm just so awkward with it because everybody, everybody who knows who I am, knows who you are, knows who everybody I bring on is. But anyway, very successful. The ringer, Todd McShay, the McShay show. Here he is. What's up, Todd McShay? Walker, how you doing, man? I'm, I'm, I've, I've checked it on the show a couple of times. I've watched, I've actually listened to. I haven't watched. Yeah. Well, that's what I, that's what I like to tell people to listen to it on your car on the way to work and whatever. You know, I like it to be a podcast and a YouTube show. You can take it in however you want to take it in. But I can imagine you being the professional buttoned up guy that you are and very respected, listening to my cousin ask has to get a little confusing sometimes. I grew up in Massachusetts. Yeah, fair enough. I grew up, I grew up with Fortnite. Like, I don't, our, our kids unfortunately are saying words that, that I, you know, that, that I didn't expect to hear out of their mouth. So their teen ages and they're like 10 and 11. So that it's, it's, it's our culture. So I'm comfortable with it. Maybe today is not the day and right now is not the time. But I would like to hear some stories of how big of a piece of shit Dave Portnoy really is because I feel like I'm the only one who bars those ports who can accurately look at and diagnose the fact that Dave Portnoy is just a piece of shit. Um, you and I could have some really good, good conversations. That's what I like to hear. We can, we can dive into it. Yeah, today's not the day, but we, there's some, there's some fun stuff and he, hey, he's got some shit on me too. So, so it goes both ways. But yeah, we can, we could definitely do a whole show on it. Maybe I'll talk to him about that. All right. So let's dive into it. Let's dive into college football. We're less than two weeks away or right at two weeks away from week zero or whatever they call that stupid ass shit they do the week before the season actually starts as a quarterback guy, McShay, as somebody who's made a great living doing this and studying these quarterbacks. This has to be a very exciting year. You not only have great guys at the top, but it's, there's a lot of meat on this bone as far as quarterbacks. This is a very exciting quarterback here. Is it not most exciting? I've ever seen and people have been bitching in me already about, um, we said last year was going to be a really good class. And yeah, I mean, I didn't know Nusmeyer is going to get injured in the preseason and Clemson as an entire team was going to fall apart. And, but we still had Carson back do what he did. We still had a lot of young quarterbacks using last year's kind of a bridge to this year. We, so mention I've spent this off season just studying tape on the top 100 players. Um, 11 of which are at the quarterback position in our top 50. That's Walker. That's unprecedented. Like that doesn't happen. Okay. And I'll read it through Dante more organ, highest grade of this class, just coming into the season where they are right now. After that, Lenora sellers might surprise some people number two quarterback. Um, he's closer as a passer than people want to give him credit for my gosh, no, no, none of these quarterbacks had to overcome the lack of supporting cast around them that that sellers did last year. I think with, with briles there this year in that system, another year of experience. I think he's going to have a monster year. Number three, I, I've got CJ car from Notre Dame. Number four, archmaning, and archmaning is the one guy you look at and say, well, the flashes the second half of the year, if he bottles that up, more consistency with his eyes, more consistency with his footwork, it's there. But it's not there consistently enough for me to give him a grade that the higher than sellers or even car at this point. But I recognize like six, six, four and change to 30 mobility instincts, playmaking ability. Like that, you can't coach a lot of the stuff he has. He's kind of like the antithesis of what you would think a manning would be, right? And like, obviously Cooper's son and mom's a good athlete, but, um, but you would think the refinement and, and, and the deed, you know, like attention to detail in the mechanics would all be perfected by the time he gets to Texas. It's not the case. Some view that as a negative. I actually view it as a positive. It's like with the support that he has around him at Texas, his family, and et cetera. Like this guy, if he puts it together this year, or maybe next year, no one's talking about that. I, I spent a lot of time with Archie Cooper, spent time down on the, the, um, to be able to Louisiana talking to the manning family. Like 2027 NFL draft is not by any stretch, a guarantee that Archie's going to be in it. So that'll be an interesting storyline. You know the guy that's going to, that's going to absolutely shock people this year. Give it to me. There's two of them, but I'll start with Sam Levit, LSU. Okay. All right. I'm glad you brought him up. I, I don't want to cut you off there. I just want to discuss. Let's go. I want to discuss it as, as you bring him up. Last night, I did my top 10 portal quarterbacks, and I put him at like six or seven just because I wanted to talk about him. I think he's going to have elite players around him. He's going to have an elite coach, an elite game plan. He's going to have everything in life he needs to succeed. But I saw him a couple of years ago. They went to the playoff when he had scataboe, a great running back in the ad Jordan Tyson, an elite receiver. And last year, he only had the elite receiver and he took a big step back. He was dealing with some injury concerns, but I don't know if I believe in him at the top level. You've got him at number five in the country. Why is that Brandon? Like he was a true freshman or he was a freshman at that point. That's fair. It was his first year starting. Look at the experience of what it's done for some of these quarterbacks. Look what Cam Ward was in Carnot word, Washington state Miami. Look at what Jayden Daniel was, Arizona state, his first year at LSU and then that Heisman year. Look at what Fernando Mendoza was at Cal. And then it gets one year with Kirk Signetti and Shanahan, those guys. Also, let's look at Lane Kiffin for a second. You say whatever you want about social media and now he's off social media, he bails on Ole Miss all that nonsense, right? Yeah. My man can coach quarterbacks. I go, oh my gosh, back to USC days, right? Where was Jackson Dart? Jackson Dart was a fun player. He was kind of, you know, he was a hunter and from California, it didn't make sense. He's grinding it out. He's like a linebacker playing quarterback. He developed into a first round draft picket quarterback. Let me turn it ad chambles. Division two Ferris state comes in and everyone's like, well, he's just so talented. That wasn't Lane, really? Well, first of all, Lane identified him. It's like the 246 by one rank. 246 quarterback. Transfer portal. And he's like, I want that guy, brings him in. It wasn't supposed to be the starter. Austin Simmons goes down. And now we're talking about chambles as a first round pick. And we can get to him in a minute too. So you combine those two things. Like Levitt, Levitt has this dynamic suddenness, Explosive nail. The biggest thing with him is like what kind of raining in some of the decisions. But now you put him an LSU where he has weapons and he has a coach who's going to like channel all the best qualities of him, but get him to play on schedule and put within the confinement of the offense. I think everyone nationally is missing the biggest story coming into the year. Okay. And it's Lane Kiffin and what he can potentially do with Sam Levitt, who is one of the most talented quarterbacks in this unbelievable quarterback class. Do you think Levitt has already demanded to have his jersey retired? No, but it would be pretty cool if you went in and asked for number nine, just to mess around. It really would be. Before I cut you off there, like an unprofessional dipshit, who was the second quarterback? Because you said these are the two guys. You said Sam Levitt. Gary and Mensa. Gary and Mensa. Yes. Now I agree with this one wholeheartedly. And you talk to NFL scouts too. I got done with his tape and I asked myself this question. How big of a difference is there between Dante, Moore and Mensa? Truly. Because both are absolute assassins from the pocket. Smart process, ball out on time, catchable ball, layer the football, lead receivers to yards after. Like they do all the little things at the position. And I'm watching one guy duke with those weapons, do what he did. And another guy at Oregon with those weapons, and I granted Young, and they had the injury to Evan Stewart last year and all that, but it's still Oregon. And they got guys, and they got a first round tight end, and they got a freshman, like all American. So I just, I'm curious to see what, and also look at what I just mentioned, came Ward before, one year in Miami, Carson Beck, one year in Miami, right? Now Mensa gets his shot with that kind of talent around him, starting with Malakitoni and offensive lines going to protect him better, a run game with Fletcher in the backfield. I think Mensa is going to be, those are the two stories that are kind of going overlooked right now, because everyone, listen, Trinidad Chamblis might be the face of college football this year. I'm down to the Manning Passing Academy, and there's some assholes in the stands who are actually booing arch. And I'm, meanwhile, the Manning Family has invited you in to, you know, one of 1400 campers to come in, and we got a group of like 15 kids who are booing him, but everyone in the crowd, I've never seen anything like it, man. Everyone in the crowd is just, they're in love with Trinidad Chamblis. His tape against Georgia was the best tape outside of Mendoza versus Ohio State that I saw all last year from a quarterback. So Chamblis is definitely going to be the face coming in, and there's a lot of great storylines and signetti trying to, you know, run it back and can sark yet over the hump, can, can free him and get over the hump in Notre Dame. They've finally got the teams. They're ready to go. Yeah. I think Chamblis is going to be the face, but I think two of the biggest stories in the first month, month and a half of college football will be in Baton Rouge and will be in South Florida with Levitt and Mensa, and what they're able to do in different environments this year. I think they're going to be two of the best quarterbacks in the country. Well, with Levitt and LSU, especially, I mean, they start off so hot with that schedule. They start off with Clemson, and then they got Ole Miss in week three, like they're going to tell the story of their season very, very, very, very quickly before we get to more guys, because I got a bone to pick, not a bone to pick, but I got a question about Dante Moore. Before we get to that, I want to ask you a couple of questions about your process. Okay. Because you mentioned LaNora Sellers, and I think you're probably the only guy who's smart enough right now to have LaNora Sellers as high as you do. A lot of us look at the team's success last year and the lack of it and say, "Well, he was really disappointed. We put him on this pedestal and he failed." So now we've got to slot him down here, and maybe that's not the right way. How much do you weigh a quarterback's supporting cast and his coaching staff that he has around him when you're evaluating a guy, when you're evaluating an individual, how much and how what goes into evaluating his supporting cast, evaluating that coaching staff, evaluating everything that goes around him in his orbit? I've grown to love adversity. I think quarterbacks that have, if you really go and study the NFL draft, if we're talking about the draft itself, quarterbacks that come in the league who have faced adversity, Sam Darnell didn't face much adversity. He did early in his career in an iron, sharpened iron, then he gets in the right opportunity in Minnesota and then obviously in Seattle, and we've seen that growth. I like to see guys with 40 plus starts if the opportunities there who have faced some adversity. Like Dante Moore, that pick six, the way he played in that game in a couple other games last year, now how does he bounce back from that? So, I hear what you're saying, and with every position you do it, a running back, they're not blocking for him, but look at the skill set, look at what he can be, look at what he has an opportunity. Look who he can, the guys he can make miss. Quarterbacks is the same thing. What do they do with the talent around them? It makes it actually harder to evaluate guys in the Ohio State system when you got Jeremiah Smith and Colonel Tate and the Mecca Obuca, and you go back to Crystal Lave and Garrett Wilson. Those guys become more challenging because then you have to do the mental exercise of, well, what if we drop that guy into South Carolina, you know what I mean? Yeah. You kind of inadvertently answered my next question because I did want to get into Dante Moore a little bit. Dante Moore, you've got as the number one guy and a lot of people do, and I think he's a very good player, but I, in my mind when I'm laying out this college football season, I have a hard time justifying his performance against elite defenses. You know, Oregon has a talent advantage over most teams that they play. When that talent advantage went away, I thought he was just okay against Penn State, although he was just okay against Iowa on the road, which, you know, that's tough. It's a tough environment. I'm saying he's a, he's a bad person because of it. I'm just saying when, and then when he played Indiana twice, there were two of his worst games, including the picks six to start the playoff game. So like, I'm having a hard time thinking about the number one quarterback struggling that much when the teams on the other side got elite. You know, Julian Saiyan's kind of the same way his, his stock went, or his style of play or his quality of play went down when they played better defenses. That's a nature of playing better, better defense as I understand that. But with Dante more specifically, you don't worry about that as much. I want to see it this year. That's why I was thrilled when he made the decision to come back. I get news for you. Like the Raiders, the Raiders were going through their process in the middle of the year. They knew exactly not maybe they were going to be in the top five picking. They knew they needed a future quarterback. They knew they knew with Tom Brady as part of the organization that they were going to give that rookie quarterback an opportunity to sit and watch whether it's one game, six games, an entire rookie season. So they were, they were doing their due diligence, scouts, GMs out on the road watching both of those guys. It was Dante Moore and Mendoza and from my intel, they hadn't made a decision. It was going to be a very difficult one because Mendoza was more ready now. Dante Moore's ceiling was higher. Okay. So and listen, Oregon is loaded talent wise and I actually think, you know, certain way that they're, they're going, they're even more loaded this year. But when you lose Evan Stewart right before the season and he's a first round talent, now there's some, some stuff that comes there, but he's a first round talent. Your best receivers are true freshmen. I mean, he's a pup, you know, more and then glory more and then and and your best receivers at tight end who by the way had to have a fire lit under his ass because he was, he was a great worker and a great player when he was a number two tight end. He got elevated number one. He was the star coming in the year and it wasn't until about mid October when he finally started to kind of, you know, show that in practice and then, you know, resulting in what you saw on Saturday. So and the running, they had like 19 running backs, but they didn't have one. So like the talent around Dante wasn't as good as everyone wants to say it was. So now you come back. It's a new coordinator. I want to see how he handles that. I think that they're better suited at running back. I think that they're a little bit more veteran and talented. Maybe at wide receiver. So this is going to be a huge year for Dante. I'm telling you right now, man, Dante goes in as the number one guy. Yeah. Dante might have been, had he elected to come out, the number one quarterback taken ahead of Fernando Mendoza, but nothing is handed to you here because you got sellers nipping at you. I'm telling you, Levitt's going to have a big year. You've got arch nipping at you if he decides to come out and has the year that everyone kind of hopes he does. And then you got a handful of other guys like and CJ car and I've like, I spent some time around him at a manning passing academy. I've been going down there a couple of years. I don't know that I've ever seen a quarterback who understands the game at his age, the way that car does. And obviously grandson of Lloyd car and has been around ball his whole life. But yeah, I mean, it's going to be a fascinating year. And I think you can't overhype it because even if Julian say and goes back to school and has just has a good year, but wants to go back to school for another year, even if CJ car goes back to school for another year. And Archman goes back to school for another year. We still have Dante more. We still have Lenora sellers. We still have Mensa. We still have Niko Yamaliyaba. We still have Chamblis. We still have Sores B, who's got going to play this fall, but he's a super talented guy. We still have my Ava from USC. [BLANK_AUDIO] We still have mature, we still have Drew Mastemaker. It's, we're entering into what should be the greatest, what four or five months of quarterback play in college football in a single season that we've ever, at least in my lifetime, have ever seen. And I think those guys behind those guys that are getting ready to be the next wave, like next year, like, I'm going to ask a very selfish question because I know you've, you've said you were at the Manning Passing Academy. Mario Taylor from Mississippi State was also at the Manning Passing Academy. Oh my gosh. And I want to take 30 seconds. You don't have to take long. This is a selfish question for me. But that Knoxby County is, it's one county below where I grew up. It's, it's a great football factory. He is, he seems like an awesome, awesome kid and six four can run. Please, I will allow you to talk about Camarillo Taylor from Mississippi State right now. Is it Williams from, from Maryland? Is that the, the young guy? Those two guys walking out of the facility, they're at Nichols State. Sure. I legitimately wondered to my, because they don't have like a lot of gear on there. We're like an MPAT shirt and stuff. When you first see him walk out, I, I'm looking at like Cooper and Archie and like, did you guys bring in some like first round tight ends? Like who's, are these guys catching the ball? Yeah. Because they like, they can't be because I mean, outside of like, I don't know, maybe like a ham. Yeah. Like, I guess you could look at, you could look at, I don't know, there's only been like a handful that you see walk out of a locker room and you're like, wait a second. That's a quarterback. And so Mississippi State, I think, has one of the most, maybe raw, but one of the most town. And then they start throwing the ball and, and especially Taylor, like the deep ball, like, it's certain times it looks like a punt, you know, like the, the arch and like, 60 yards in the air beautifully drop. It's going to be fun. There's going to be ups and downs. Obviously Mississippi State doesn't have the, the cast around them, but, but he's going to keep them, he's going to keep them in games that the rest of that roster has no business being in. Because he's a special talent. You didn't have to add that last part. I mean, that last part seems like it was spiking the football a little bit, but that's, you know, I, I, I, I thought it was, I thought it was kind. And fair. Yeah. Fair, fair. Yes. Kind. We'll see. Um, I had the weirdest experience, not a weird experience with him, but when I met him, I was there in May, um, to do some stupid stuff. And I was, I was there. I'd never talked to him. I never met him. I haven't been around start of all in 10 years. So we've never been in the same room. Um, I've only seen his head shot and, you know, him and shoulder pads and a helmet. So I'm walking down the street and he stomps me and he says, what's up, man? And I looked at him and I'm, he said, you know who I am? I said, I know exactly who you are. Never met him. Didn't really know his face, but he was six foot four. He was, you know, you could tell, this is the guy. This is the fucking dude. And that's, uh, that's the experience I have with him. Um, try to get that chambles is, is somebody that is unique in the fact that he's older than everybody, you know, he's, uh, he's had a different road than everybody. He's, he made a splash last year when he wasn't expected to. He isn't like Archman who he knew since he was, what, 15 years old. He isn't like all these other guys. But some NFL team could be in the middle or the late first round and get somebody who has lit college football on fire, talk to me, uh, talk me through trying to add chambles. Um, I, I mentioned that Georgia game, right? Yeah. He was absolutely special. Um, I, I saw him grow up, you know, sometimes you can watch a quarterback throughout the year. And I remember, I think it was like the third or fourth game. Maybe it was Florida. I forget who it was, it was against. And I remember coming away watching that tape, trying to figure out who is the guy because now we'll miss us starting to win games. Yeah. And I get to figure out who we, so I go sit down as if he's a draft prospect and I'm, I'm really studying him. And I'm like, I, I would draft this guy and I was shocked because I thought it was just going to be like, you know, he's mobile. He's got it. He's got a strong arm. Everything's on the line. I don't like it is the touch there. And as the season progressed and his confidence was gained and his eyes were where they were supposed to be, you could literally see the growth almost on a weekend, week out basis. He had that meltdown against Georgia the first time in the fourth quarter. And I was like, okay, here it comes. Here, you can see, like Ferris State doesn't have that kind of crowd now. The expected meltdown in a big moment, you know, with adversity and a crowd and all that that he's not used to. You're on the road. Yeah. Yeah. On the road. Now we see what the, what the ceiling is, the limitation. And the fact that he immediately bounced back from that and had the balls to do it, because listen, very few know the SEC landscape like you do, right? Thank you. It's a, it is, like sharks in the water. It's rough out there. It's rough. You have a fourth quarter like that between the hedges. Yeah. And like, it's easy for guys to go in the tank. And he picked right back up next week and got better and better and better, like his ability to drill the ball into tight spots down the field and to do it with confidence. And then you start to see some of the creative stuff where like in the, the, the second Georgia game and, and, you know, leading up to the playoff and in the playoff, some of the, the ability to create. And then everyone's like, yeah, but what about Miami, that great defense? I went back and watched that tape. It wasn't him, man. He played pretty well and he kept him in late. And then all of a sudden they get the ball back to like 17 seconds or 31 seconds, whatever it was, and it's a two throws, 40 yards, gets right down the field, right? So I love the guy and the nation seems to love this guy and it's going to be fun to watch without lane. You know, we saw it in a kind of a small sample size, but now a whole off season opposing coordinators have time to study his tendencies. What do they bring out with, with Chambles this year and can he have that kind of year? They'll go way down the board with me, maybe not off the board, but, and maybe not even worried about their NFL future. But if we're, if we're thinking about a Heisman trophy this year, if we're thinking about the best player in college football, who could come from nowhere, who, who's passed these guys, like, like pass the top 10 in quarterbacks, that you think has a potential to, at the end of the season, we're talking about that guy, like we're talking about Trinidad, Chambles now. What about John Mateer? I mean, I've got him at like 13 in the, in the, in the rankings. I, what Jim Nagy is doing for that program, right, is the general manager. And I, I started my career in 1999 in New York City. We were sitting in an office, me, Gary Horton and Jim Nagy were, were crammed into a tiny little office and, and Gary and I were doing the scouting stuff and Jim was helping out with that, but also was working at the agency there. It was like, pro serve and then, and then SFX, and then Jim wound up coming on full time. He had already done an internship with Green Bay, was, with Brett Farve and those guys. And then he wound up leaving our, our group and going to the, it was the New England Patriots and then like the chiefs and the Seahawks. And then took over the senior ball and then from there got an opportunity to, to kind of pave the way with some, some, some good guidance of some really smart people out there, Jake Rosenberg being one of them former Eagles director. They have built the, it Oklahoma, they have built the model. I can tell you now, because I'm dealing with a lot of these GM's in college. That front office for the, for the Oklahoma Sooners is the model that everyone's chasing right now. I don't know that I've, I've really heard this or heard anybody dive into it like that, but, but, but, so what are they doing that's so, so advanced and so far above everybody else? Well, they, they understand a salary cap. Everything that was pitched from Mike Lombardi and Bill Bella, check about the 33rd NFL team. Yeah. It's what's actually going on in Norman. You know what I mean? So no girl, no girlfriend issues over there. Right. And some of the other issues that, that I'm sure will, will come out, um, leave it at that. Salary cap, positional value, recruiting the right players, time spent, this is, this is the thing that gets lost and ironically, Bella check was one of the best in the NFL. That time spent with the guys who were going out and evaluating players of this is what we need from this specific position. These are the things that we need. He may be a third rounder on, on some team's board, but we've got him as a first rounder because he does exactly what we need, right? So, and, and also a belief from the head coach that, hey, I can take a step back and really focus on this defense and also leading this, this football team. And I brought in our buckle from Washington State with mature, he can run the offense. Everyone in that organization efficiently is doing the job that they are best suited to do without having to worry about all the other nonsense that can come with the coaching college football these days, right? That's why it's the model. Yeah. So I feel really good about that because, you know, a couple of weeks ago I started my show, Clad had gone on PMT and he said there's seven teams that go in the national championship and they're the seven teams everybody has. And I just thought to myself, I really think Oklahoma. I mature for the first six weeks of last season before the injury kind of overwhelmed him. Was a high-spin favorite. He was very, very good. The defense is elite. I think Oklahoma can be a team that goes, remember how my enemy went 10 and 2 last year? Yes. They sneak into the playoff and it's a 10 and 2 team that's just kind of laying there and all of a sudden they just start wrecking everybody with that defense. They just start wrecking offensive lines. They just start destroying people at the line of the stream as they destroy the A&M line of the line of the stream as they destroy the Ohio State at the line of the stream. I think Oklahoma fits that model, you know, they don't tell me and it did it. Let's not lie to ourselves and you're exactly right. Rosa was great in the moments he needed to be great and you can't replace that and that's hard to find and I'm not taking anything away from him. But at the end of the day, if you're dropped on this planet and you just wanna, and you have to evaluate, how is it that Indiana did what it did? The number one thing you walk away from is just like, they absolutely suffocated every offense and they did it with discipline, they did it with being in the right spots, with confusion and coverage and they made quarterbacks go dizzy. And Oklahoma's, Oklahoma last year was able to do that and that's why I said Oklahoma, you asked me about a quarterback who could come out of nowhere and be in the Heisman running late in the year. When you have that kind of defense and now his thumb is better, he's, I watch him in Manning and Passing Academy. The biggest thing with mater was, I don't know how this human being fits balls into tight spots the way he does when his mechanics are an absolute disaster. And then I watch him come out at Manning Passing Academy and listen until bullets fly, I'm not convinced. But if he's able to with bullets flying during the season have the same condensed, balanced, driving the ball, hip rotation like everyone at every quarterback campus teaching these days, I saw a different version of him and it's a much more reliable consistent, trustworthy stroke and delivery and process for him. I don't know, I was so hyped about mater last year after studying his tape at Washington State and been thinking about what he could be with Oklahoma. And then the thumb injury happens and he literally was just grinding it out. He couldn't even throw the ball beyond 15 yards and they still wound up in the playoff. They, you know what I mean? So I think now, if he's right, the way he looked like down in Tibido, I think that Oklahoma could be a dark horse and I think mater could be the guy that really surprises people this season. - I'll just give a, you know, I'll just throw a couple of guys out speaking on whichever one you want. Byron Brown's coming from South Florida going there to Auburn, you know, you've got Marcel Reed at Texas A&M who I think people are very split on him. He's got the athletic ability to change games and sometimes he keeps the opponent in it by throwing too many picks. Just any other quarterback like that that we haven't really discussed yet that we can just at the end here get into a little bit. - Reed's an interesting one. I was all out on Marcel Reed last year, all out. Wonderful human being competes, does everything right? - Yeah. - Not dissimilar from like Tim Tibo, my stance on Tibo, like maybe the best college quarterback I had ever seen, but I just don't see it as a passer. I'm not saying Reed's the best quote, but I'm saying in scale. - Sure. The guy who's a phenomenal human being, you love him as the leader of your organization, does everything the right way, unbelievable athlete, creative, can do things that a lot of other guys can't, but also when the chips were all in and it was that moment, you can't trust him as a passer. And then I watched him and I talked to some people about like his process in the off season and the growth that they've seen and then I want to see with my own two eyes. And again, we're talking about throwing you know, sometimes to golf carts going across the field and hitting a different torque. But like in the, some of the drills throwing the receivers, some of the timing in the placement was very different than what I saw on tape last year. So put it in the category of mature, like there was growth that I saw from both of those guys as a passer that I never really saw on tape last year. I want to see it to, you know, when we kick things off in just a few short weeks, but I get a sense that Marcel Reed has really developed some of his passing skills. And if he is, if he advances in that regard, I think we'd be, we'd be ignorant to kind of overlook Texas A&M because if he's even an average passer, yeah, he could be pretty special. So yeah, if he's, if he's come along 30% then they're national title contenter. I just, I just don't know if I see it. Let me ask you a basic bitch question on the way out. I don't know if anybody. Do you have, I get one for you too, but you got a question or a, no, I'm gonna bang on it. So like I've loved your show. Thank you. You'll learn how to clear your throat. You'll learn how to hydrate and all that. I've read some of the comments. I think you're in the right place, you're ripping through. The thing though that gets frustrating, like, and listen, Josh Payett has created his own stratosphere. I don't like the way he called you out, but I know you guys are friends. But, but with some of these guests and I'm not like, I'm not bringing the attention back to me, but I will anyway, like, I think we got enough commissioners. I think we got enough like NIL and transfer portal stuff. I want to remind everyone like the 2026 draft, right? I want to list off these teams that had the most players drafted. Ohio State 11, Alabama 10, A&M 10. Clemson 9 and they were an absolute outlier for all the reasons that we kind of now know. Miami 9, Texas Tech 9, Georgia 8, Indiana 8, Oklahoma and Oregon 7. And even the two like Texas and Notre Dame were at 7 as well. Sure. Every single year, and you look back, but every single year in 26 years of doing this, the national champion team has been in the top three or four in terms of NFL draft prospects taking that next year. Except one, Auburn with Cam Newton. And he was just superman on the heat. And they had a farly the defensive tackle draft in the first round. Those were the only two. And I think the next guy drafted was a six round. They're the outlier in 26 years. So you can kind of throw that out. We're so caught up in college football these days. It's kind of hard to watch all these shows. And about like the coaches and the programs and signetti who's able to do it and they don't have all that talent. I get it, but they had what, maybe six guys drafted the year before is like the most they had had in a couple of decades. And now they have, they're up there with, what did I say, eight, right? So that increase in talent, and I'm not taking anything away from signetti. But we always talk about, you know, like there's dabbo at Clemson, Pete Carroll at USC, it was Tressel, then it was Urban, and now it's Ryan Day at Ohio State, Sabin at Alabama. Like we always, we focus so much on all these coaches and the Kirby takes over Georgia and they're brilliant. But part of their brilliance, let's not forget, is the fact that they're bringing in the best talent. - Okay. - You know, like the old X's and O's versus Jimmy and Joe's. So, and that's why I attacked Pete the other day on X. - Okay. - That was your bud. But like, you can't throw out a top 10 quarterback list and have Eamaliava at 10 and have, and have underwood it five or six. - Yeah, no, I agree. - So like, so I get it and it's hard, it's hard when you're running for a commissioner, which is a position that doesn't exist in college football and you got your state and your name dropping all over the place. It's hard to balance all the, and you're launching a new show. But then don't just don't come out with the top 10 list. - Yeah, I agree. There is no rule that says we have to come up with top 10 list and I do it to death. As far as this show, I can't tell if you're telling me my best strategy would be to shut the fuck up. - No. - Or fly high, even fly or you precious bird. - Fly high, even higher. But make sure, make sure, if you want to complete your process, let's make sure that we're, as we get closer to the season now, and we can kind of get, like, let's put the politics aside, let's put the NIL and the transfer portal and all the bitching about college football. Let's focus on like, the teams that are gonna be there at the end, I just listed all those teams that had eight or more draft prospects, seven or more. It was every team except JMU that was in the college football playoff. And then you want another equation, I'm gonna help you out here. What it used to be that one quarterback who go in one game in the first system, two games in the second system. If a quarterback got hot and had a certain level of talent, Cam Newton was the perfect example, right? - Yeah, yeah. - But now that you got to win multiple games, you got to win three, four games, right? Look back the last two years. Draft prospects on both sides of the ball, plus experience at the quarterback position. So as we're starting to look forward to this year, right? And I'm starting to put together this list of, all right, I have a top 115 right now. Who are the teams with the most talent, and like Riley Leonard and Will Howard two years ago, National Championship game, sure. This past year, I had Miami going to the semi-final. I shouldn't have bailed. I should have had him go into the National Championship game because it's this combination of talent that Miami had and experience at quarterback, right? And so Will Howard and Riley-- - Talent throughout the roster is what you're saying. - The roster, yeah, plus an experienced quarterback 'cause it's no longer just win one game or win two games. You gotta go on a run and you gotta each week then reset and re-figure out who the opponent is. And now we gotta, I've gotta charge this quarterback with a lot on his plate mentally, right? - Talent throughout the roster is the way you avoid slumps and the way you avoid bad games too, right? It can't be all on the quarterback every single time. - Absolutely, that's what I'm saying. So Notre Dame two years ago, Ohio State two years ago, loaded with talent, but their quarterback was talented enough but loaded with experience, right? - Sure. - So as we go through this process and then last year, obviously you get Carson Beck and Fernando Mendoza, they started around 30 plus games. - Yeah. Because we keep that in mind, this year going in. There are one, two, three, four, five teams right now with six players in my top one 15. Okay. I guess I'm, I guess. Yeah, yeah. Go ahead. If you can get, if you can get four of them, we'll call it a win. Oregon, Texas, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas. Nope. Where did I go wrong? Oregon's right. Right. You had Oregon in Texas. Ohio State. Ohio State. Yeah. Georgia. LSU. LSU. Okay. Okay. With a third year starting quarterback. Yeah. Okay. All right. And we're all looking overlooking LSU. Okay. And you know, you want to know the, the, the, the 15 surprisingly. Yeah, give it to me. Is Alabama? SCC team that you wouldn't guess. All right. Time out. Hold on. Yep. Take it. Take it. That you wouldn't guess. Is it South Carolina? Yep. Yeah. Yeah. They got some dudes, man. They got some to the Dylan Stewart and them that, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They got Dylan's, Dylan Stewart, Lenora Sellers, Vicarie Swayne, Jicarious, uh, Jicarious Pete get offensive tackle and, uh, Nick Harbor and I'm missing one here, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So they're on that list. Then, then there's two teams in tier two, five, five, uh, but let's go back to those six. Yeah. Texas, now an experienced quarterback, Ohio State, now an experienced quarterback, LSU, an experienced court, South Carolina experienced court, Oregon experienced quarterback, all five of those teams that have top top, top tier prospects experienced quarterback. Then Notre Dame and Clemson are the next two with five. I was actually surprised Clemson sitting there with five. And then there's a group with four of Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Ole Miss and Miami. And that's top 115 players coming into this season. Correct. All right. Correct. Well, it makes me feel bad. I mean, I am inadvertently leaning on your system to pick my national champion. I do think it's Oregon this year and I know I had the questions about Dante Moore, but you know, questions about his, I'm a little bit with you. He struggled with elite teams last year, which means he now has that experience against elite teams going forward. And there's just so much talent out there to schedule favorable and everything. I'm a big schedule guy when it comes to this stuff. I probably lean too much towards schedule because I think the 12 team playoff has given us a lot of teams that got there solely because of their schedule. And it's hard to identify that. I think Penn State's a schedule team this year, but I like Oregon. That's my pick for national champ and they do fit your system. So that works. You know, I think could win it all. Miami. Mississippi. Oh, yeah. Same Mississippi state. Miami. I think they're, I think they're getting overlooked. And I think Mensa, as I said, I don't know if there's a, there's a massive gap between Dante Moore and Mensa. I think with, with Fletcher in the backfield, we know that offensive line is going to be good. We got Malachi Tony. We got other weapons that defense is going to have to re-rack. There's no question. Defensive line. I mean, there's just so much talent left. I know they brought some in. I know they brought a lot talent in, but boy, by the end of the year, they were a defensive line lead team. And when you got to win more schedule, you're better, you're better, you're better the schedule is than me, but I think I peeked at it and I think that they have a very clear path, right? Well, I mean, they're just far in a way better than anybody in the ACC. They play mostly, obviously in the ACC, they don't even have that type of schedule. And then they have the road trip to Notre Dame, which is good. I think that's really good for them to have in middle of the season to where they can go up there and try to prove it. So they got a very, very, very manageable schedule. Anything less than 10 and 2 would be an absolute shock. Agreed. Agreed. So anyway, I know your time's valuable. I appreciate you. And maybe put in a word with Netflix for me or something. Maybe they could put my show on Netflix. Who knows? I don't know. Whatever. I mean, I think your guy, Port's going to be the one to talk to you there, right? Yeah. We don't actually talk, though. So anyway, that's not what I hear. Okay. Hey, don't give away the storylines, man. Keep KFA, please. Somebody's a big fan of Brandon Walker. All right. Keep going. Hey. Just a little less. You're one of those, I think you're one of those class pets that, um, that likes to, the like stop. Never mind the secrets. They like some bitch and moan about, about how everyone's kind of working against you. All right. That's McShay. Obviously, the McShay show on the ringer Netflix. Check them out. Great talk. I appreciate it. That's, uh, the Brandon Walker calls for a ball show.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Brandon Walker presents his preseason top 25, dividing teams into three tiers
  2. He criticizes the AP poll as uninformed and emphasizes that fans can rank teams just as well as sportswriters.
  3. Walker attacks Ryan Day for moving Ohio State's senior day to the start of the season to avoid distractions before the Michigan game, calling it cowardly and ridiculous.
  4. He praises Kurt Signetti as the best coach in college football but condemns his non-conference scheduling (e.g., North Texas, Howard, Western Kentucky) as cowardly, especially while Signetti mocks Notre Dame and the SEC.
  5. Walker discusses voicemails, including ACC vs. Big 12 playoff chances (favoring ACC), breakout players (e.g., Harlem Berry, Cooper Barcai), SEC coaching hot seats (e.g., Josh Heupel), and his Mount Rushmore of Mississippi State athletes (Deck Pressgot, Will Clark, Bailey How, Rafael Palmeiro).
  6. He interviews Todd McShay, who ranks quarterbacks like Dante Moore, LaNorris Sellers, CJ Carr, and Arch Manning, highlighting Sam Levitt and Gary Mensa as overlooked breakout stars.
  7. McShay notes the unprecedented depth of quarterback talent this season and praises Camario Taylor of Mississippi State as a raw but special talent.
  8. Walker also mocks Texas A&M's new maroon uniforms and promotes sponsors like BodyArmor, Boll & Branch, and Blue Chew.

Summary:

Brandon Walker opens his show by unveiling his preseason top 25, arguing that the top seven teams—Oregon, Texas, Ohio State, Georgia, Indiana, Miami, and Notre Dame—are the clear elites with championship potential, while teams ranked 8-16 have more bust risk, and the rest are interchangeable. He dismisses the AP poll as guesswork, asserting that fans can rank teams equally well. Walker then criticizes Ryan Day for moving Ohio State's senior day to the season's start to avoid distractions before Michigan, calling it cowardly.

He also praises Kurt Signetti as the best coach but slams his soft non-conference schedule, noting Indiana's future opponents like North Texas and Western Kentucky, while Signetti mocks Notre Dame and the SEC. The show includes voicemails on topics like ACC vs. Big 12 playoff odds, breakout players, SEC hot seats, and Mississippi State's Mount Rushmore.

In a lengthy interview, Todd McShay discusses the quarterback class, ranking Dante Moore, LaNorris Sellers, CJ Carr, and Arch Manning, while highlighting Sam Levitt and Gary Mensa as underrated stars. McShay also praises Camario Taylor's immense potential despite Mississippi State's limitations. Walker concludes with commentary on Texas A&M's uniforms and sponsor reads, blending humor, hot takes, and football analysis as the season approaches.

FAQs

You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can also listen ad-free on Amazon Music.

His top 25 is: 1 Oregon, 2 Texas, 3 Ohio State, 4 Georgia, 5 Indiana, 6 Miami, 7 Notre Dame, 8 Oklahoma, 9 Texas Tech, 10 LSU, 11 Ole Miss, 12 Alabama, 13 USC, 14 Texas A&M, 15 Michigan, 16 BYU, 17 Washington, 18 Louisville, 19 Penn State, 20 SMU, 21 Houston, 22 Tennessee, 23 Utah, 24 South Carolina, 25 Clemson.

He called it one of the dumbest things he's ever heard, saying Senior Day should honor seniors at the end of their journey, not be moved to avoid distractions before the Michigan game. He believes it shows cowardice.

He thinks Signetti is the best coach in college football but criticizes his non-conference scheduling as cowardly, pointing to weak opponents like North Texas, Howard, and Western Kentucky, while Signetti mocks other teams' schedules.

McShay ranks Dante Moore as number one, followed by LaNorris Sellers, CJ Carr, and Arch Manning. He also highlighted Sam Levitt and Gary and Mensa as players who could surprise people this year.

He dismisses it, saying sports writers are underpaid and overworked and don't see every team, so their rankings are just blind guesses. He believes any college football fan could do rankings just as well.

Chat with AI

Loading...

Pro features

Go deeper with this episode

Unlock creator-grade tools that turn any transcript into show notes and subtitle files.