BRANDON WALKER AND KAYCE SMITH DELIVER A THROWBACK EPISODE

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If you've been with us for six years since our seven years now since 2019 this is how the majority of the shows went early and then middle and then whatever but it is me and Casey Smith just the two of us back together again for this episode nothing drunk I just I was just like let's just do an old school and let's just do me and you yeah you you said we haven't done one just the two of us in a while by the way I'm going to say this multiple times my voice has still not returned from San Fran San Francisco excuse me I know that that's a very offensive to say San Fran I've learned so you're going to actually you joke about having to carry these podcasts are going to actually have to do that. But yeah, this is an old school mom and dad episode I feel like the newer listeners or watchers viewers whatever the word is of this podcast don't realize that we did this for years and Jack Mac would be on the side so this is this is throwing it back I like to throw back you know I do indeed you to so that's a word around San Francisco anyway. So what happens in California stays in California Brandon not to some people OK, so we've got I have an announcement off the rip well actually have two announcements off the rip number one is this our this is our last episode before our break we're going to take a break and we'll be back in the summer. We will be back when the college football starts to stir again. We will start to stir again. So this our last episode for a while and number two announcement is you know. One of the reasons this podcast is so special as it has the beautiful and talented Casey Smith thank you. But up until yesterday it had the 2023 number one college for all media personality in the world according to big game boomer. And I would like to update everybody maybe you've seen it. Maybe you haven't I haven't talked to Casey about it, but. Ladies and gentlemen, the 2025 number one calls for all media personality in the world. It's once again Brandon Walker as evidenced by this banner right here and as declared by James James has declared me the number one. Cause we're already calls football media personality in the world. Thank you to James. Thank you to big game boomer. RIP wherever you are. So we got that going from the Casey. The so I did I responded to it on Twitter and I just said, you know, much deserved because it is much deserved. Sure. But what's so funny is that there are probably so many people seeing that on Twitter that don't necessarily live in the bar. So world or know the law that probably don't have a clue what big customer means and that made me giggle because of course we know and stooly's no, but there's a college football fan out there that like has to say what the fuck is big customer. Well, if you're watching this and you only know us from college football, big customer isn't it name I got because I ordered chick filet every single day at the New York City office. And I got to ordering us so much the security guys who stand at the door and let the food in would grab my food and quietly write these affirmative quotes that I thought that we're coming from the chick filet number one customer huge customer big customer. And I just it made me feel so good every day because this one place order lunch from was noticing me and I didn't find out till months later after I moved to Chicago that the security guys were doing it themselves. So big customer is a good nickname though. It is it's great the fact that I believed at the whole time because obviously when you were in New York we were together every day we would eat lunch a lot together I thought there's just no way that in New York City. They are acknowledging one guy but they must be because who would be making this up so I was bamboozled to and so I didn't I Santa Claus wasn't real that day we found out with when Pat and Mike were doing that to you is just isn't mean it was hateful. But it was so much funnier. So much funnier than I am. Did anybody I never figured this out that only they know like did they keep it that secret to do because no because I found out the spider told me. Oh well one spider find out something I mean everybody knows like that spider new brother but he's the worst kept secret guy spider new and Ebony knew because I think when they weren't there they had Ebony to do it like they had a network of people that if we're not here you do it. And so Ebony not Ebony not snitching makes sense like if there was a person at barsel sports that I needed to keep a secret from or keep a secret with is you and it's Ebony. If the opposite I love spider but I would not want him to know something I didn't want anybody else to know so as I assume as soon as he found out you found out. I believe so I believe I believe so. All right we got you got five questions for me and that's your segment and my segment is going to be this a real quick before I do that segment a little quick mini segment. I don't know if you saw but RIP James Vanderbake James Vanderbake from Dawson's Creek and varsity blues died at 48 today so he is he is now gone. But is is is James Vanderbake does he qualify as a football legend because he obviously is not a football player is an actor but he was the quarterback. In a very similar football movie I think he would be a football legend what do you think I don't know if I would use legend Dawson first you Dawson first when you think of him Brandon I have never seen an episode of Dawson's Creek so I know who he is because obviously at that time I don't even remember when Dawson's Creek hit its peak I feel like I may have been a little too young like 98.3 is what I'm thinking okay so that would have been I mean. I guess I had girlfriends that like had posters of him on on their walls I was never a big Dawson's Creek I would know him from varsity blues more but it was like a one off like would you call Taylor Kitch because of Tim Riggins a football legend. I think I would you would like like the like like the court like like the defensive lineman Gary Bertier remember the Titans football legend right when he dies that's a football loss I don't know that's true that's true okay also. I mean I know I'm sounding ignorant did they they was he sick yeah I believe I believe I can't so yeah it's awful R.I.P. Oh my god I was a great time for that sneeze um no but it's it's just classically you yeah all right here's my thing I got and you told me you didn't see this on Twitter and I'm actually glad you didn't see it I hold in my hand I believe this was a college football report on Twitter you know just one of those college those Twitter accounts that love college football and do some aggregation and do some lists. Everything and I love them so much but yesterday they dropped the top 50 head coaches in college football following the 2025 season now anybody can make a list and and I'm not going to say here and say his list is any more credence in my list or your list but it does open up a question I'm going to read you to the top 10 and then I'm going to ask you the question. So the number one coach in college football following the 2025 season Indiana coach Kurt Signetti number one number two Kirby smart number three Ryan day number four Dan landing number five Marcus Freeman number six Lane Kiffon seven Steve Sarcusian from Texas number eight Davos Swinney from Clemson number nine Kalen De Boer from Alabama and number 10 James Franklin of Virginia Tech just missing the cut link and rally US C. Mario Crystal ball number 12 at Miami Kyle winning him at Michigan number 13 Mike Elco number 14 at Kalani Sataki at BYU number 15. So my question is this I have multiple questions the first one is two years in is it correct or premature to anoint Kurt Signetti who has now got two seasons at this level to play off gain to play off teams one national championship is it premature or correct to call him. The best coach in America not only do I think it's correct I think it's number one with a bullet in fact like I was you know my facial expressions if you're watching on YouTube I think probably gave away a lot of my takes here but like that one is the only one I think that you could make the argument that is the absolute correct position I think you could debate a lot of the other ones there are some in the top 10 that I think are baffling. But everything we talked about before they won the national championship everything we said for the last couple of seasons you have to put him there right like he not only took the worst college football program of all time to an national championship he did it in two years by just being the best. that this new evolution in coach football. He did it decisively. He did it in the first year by going 11 and one, getting to the playoff, you know, having a talent discrepancy and losing, fixing the discrepancy, coming back and beating everybody. It is correct. He is the absolute best coach in college football. It's just a phenomenal thing. When you think two years ago, he was coaching at James Madison University. He's already in his 60s, like it's not a young man, but he right now is the crem de la crem top of the heap in college football. I think that one's a slam dunk, and I think Kirby Smart Number Two is probably also a slam dunk. Then you do get into some questionable ones, but like, it's a top 50 list. Nobody's gonna get every, nobody's gonna agree with everybody's top 50, and nobody's gonna agree with everybody's top 10. But I think universally, if you watch college football and make a living talking about it, if you do not have Kurt Signetti Number One, you're either lying or just trying to get clicks. - That's a range base. - And I do both, I do both all the time, but I'm not gonna do it here. - You love that, but this is one that is an obvious range base. Like sometimes it's like you can range bait, and you can still make the argument. Like you can't, I would agree with Kirby Smart. I guess you could, there's not really anybody else I would slide above him. I would put him there. James Franklin being in the top 10 is baffling to me. And I understand that in the past, we've always put him up there when he was at Penn State, and I was like, okay, he just can't get over the hump. Like he got fired mid-season. I'm not saying he's gonna be a bad coach by any stretch of the imagination, but to rank that as a top 10 coach after this season is kind of crazy. - Am I wrong? - No, no, no, no, no. I think James Franklin is already benefiting from the new coach bounce. Like we're looking at James Franklin and Virginia Tech, and we're saying, wow, what a great get for Virginia Tech to get a guy like James Franklin, and we're remembering the coach that he was, and forgetting that the last version of James Franklin we saw was terrible. I don't believe he should have been fired that fast to Penn State, I think they should have gave him a year to correct it, but he did get fired 'cause they were terrible in the year. They thought they were gonna win a national title, so I think, but that's not the one I have the biggest problem with at the top 10. Caleb DeBourre being number nine is crazy. Caleb DeBourre was handed the best roster in America, and he turned it into missing the playoff at nine and three, sneaking into the playoff at 10 and two, and then getting his fucking doors blown off by Indiana. So like I don't, if you go to Alabama and that's your results, you're not a top 10 coach, you're just not. I think Crystal Ball, I think holding Crystal Ball out of the top 10 at this point is just holding on to either grudges or judgments you made three or four years ago and is ignoring what he is right now, and that's one of the elite coaches in the country. And also, and I'm just gonna say it, Casey, as much as I ran in with your people and everything, and as much as I said, I don't know if it's a national title team when they were still undefeated, Mike Elko at 14's a little ridiculous. I think he's better than Lincoln Riley ahead of him. I think he's better than James Franklin at this point ahead of him. And I would, yeah, I would move him up. - I agree, and I mean, that's not a bias take when you look at, obviously Kurt Signetti is the top of the top when you've had a couple of years at school, but what Mike Elko did to turn A&M around from what Jim, I mean, the dumpster fire that Jim Bo Fisher was, but Mario Crystal Ball not being in it. Like at one point, I think you got to eight or nine, and I legitimately had to think, is it the cold medicine I'm on or is it my blonde hair? Did he not say Mario Crystal Ball yet? Because this man had them obviously playing for a national title, and a couple of years ago, it was like, you know, the Christopher odds all of that, and he definitely wasn't perfect, but to keep him out, and I mean, again, Lane Kiffin's the hottest name in the world. What's Lane Kiffin one? Why is Lane Kiffin above Mario Crystal Ball? - Okay, so here's, I go the other way on that one. I'd rather have Lane Kiffin than Marcus Freeman or Dan Lanning. Is that crazy? - No, I mean, listen, I love Dan Lanning. I ride hard for Dan Lanning every single year. I probably should stop doing that next season. Lane's name is the hot name, and he obviously every single time there was a job opening, it's like Lane is there because he rebuilds these teams and where he had Ole Miss, but he still hasn't won anything. Like, yes, his team got to the playoff, but then they won in the playoff without him. I don't know, I would keep him there. I'm not saying I would take him out of the top 10, but Mario Crystal Ball being in the national championship should absolutely have him higher up than that. I agree, Mike Elko. James Franklin shouldn't be anywhere near the top 10 in my opinion. - If you consider that Mario Crystal Ball play for a national title this year, and he's 12, and then Marcus Freeman played for national title last year, and he surrounds that by not a very good season before that, and then this year, missing the playoff, like, why is Marcus Freeman and Mario Crystal Ball separated by seven spots? They have the exact same peak, and Crystal Ball's done it longer. - This is a semantics question, but is the list going into this season like, or is it coming off of the last season? - It says, top 50 head coaches in College of Ball following the 2025 season. Yeah, see, that's where you lose all credibility to me, because you're going to put Mario Crystal Ball outside of the top 10 following the season. He played the national championship and other guys who didn't even, some of them didn't even sniff the playoff. I mean, I guess Marcus Freeman did, but they still were left out. I don't know. That's interesting, but, Brandon, as I always say, and I know it's a little early to say list season, but this is why College of Ball is so great, because you can throw these lists out on social media, and we're going to sit and we're going to talk about it, and we're going to get excited on February the 11th to talk about the next season. Just one more I wanted to say. He's got Vanderbilt's Clark Lee outside the top 25. He's got Vanderbilt's Clark Lee behind guys, like Print Vennables, and ON and ON and ON, and Clark Lee's pretty goddamn good coach. He went 10 and 2 at Vanderbilt. All right. - You should be able to wait really quickly, really quickly though. Where would you put Davo now? Because we've said in the past-- - I think he hates about it. - Davo obviously winning multiple national titles, but Crimson was God awful. - I think he hates about right. I might jump him up just in case he gets all missing trouble for this tampering shit, so he might go up to number one if all missed gets in real trouble. I doubt they will because the NCAA is toothless, but if Davo could pull that off, I'm going to be a Davo writer for the rest of my life. - Hi Roughnecks, we'll be right back after this word from our sponsor. - Football is back, and with Draft King Sportsbook, September comes with a boost. All September long, opt in and get a 50% profit boost every game day with the Draft King's game day boost pass. New Draft King Sportsbook customers sign up with a code BSS and get 50% profit boost every game day. That's code BSS and partnership with Draft Kings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER. 1-800-MyReset, Connecticut call 888-789-7777. Visit ccpg.org. On behalf of Boothill Casino in Kansas, Wagertax pass through may apply in Illinois, 21+ in most states, void in Canada, one football boost per customer, maximum bet limits and wagering restrictions apply. Tokens are single use and expire at the end of the final select game each day win offered. Terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com/promos. - And now back to the episode. - Hey Brandon, speaking of refresh, have I told you what I'm refreshing? - No, what? I'll text you. - Oh boy, what's that? What could, what could-- - Yeah, I'm gonna text you right now. - It's just gonna be nasty when I want to see refresh. - Well, it's not nasty, but-- - Your phone list, your contacts, why would you be refreshing? - Not the roster. - Okay, 'cause that roster-- - Look, I just text you. - No, it's not. - Oh God, you did tell me that. You did tell me that. All right, well, you know, I think Dolly gets it done once every couple of years, so why not you? - Every 10 years, you gotta get a refresh. - You gotta get 'em, you know? It's gotta go get the tires rotated. - It's a scientific scientific. - Do they rotate 'em? - Medical. - Do they rotate 'em or do they? - No, it honestly, it's a great question. It's, but it really is, it's every 10 years and this current tire set is 16 years. - It's got a lot of wear and tear. A lot of wear and tear on them. Those things are run and bald. Anyway, I didn't tell you this. I, last week, I went to a party on Thursday, not after the dozen. Thursday, by the way, all time day for me. I woke up and did my shows and then I got to go to the Gaffee Airy Show and all that. And Thursday night, I went to a dinner that my agency was hosting and there were a lot of college football legends there. And I met Fernando Mendoza that night. - You did tell me that. - And I walked up to him, I did it. - Yeah, he texted me that. - I walked up to him and I was like, "Yeah, what's up, man?" And I was like, "You know, 'cause I'll be saying some shit." And I was like, he's like, "Hey!" And then he's nicest guy. He's just like, just like he is on TV. He was like that. And he's like, "What's up?" And I said, "Hey, man, just in case, I'm sorry." I said, "If I said anything." And he goes, "Oh, I know what you said, but you were mostly talking about Indiana. You never said anything bad about me." And I was like, "Damn it, you're right." I never did say anything bad about you. I just badmouthed your coach before the year started, so. - That's okay. He seems like he would be the guy that even if he knew you had said like the most heinous shit ever. He would still, he would be like, "You know what? God forgives you." - No. - That feels like. - My meaning, Eli Manning, didn't go quite as well. Anyway, Brandon, can I tell you Mike Catech? So Fernando followed me on Instagram. And obviously I'm like 45 years older than Fernando Mendoza, but I made the joke to Catech. I said, "Is he into older women?" And usually Catech will play along with my jokes, my antics, he said, "You leave that angel alone." And I was like, "I agree with him. You stay away from our sweet baby boy." - Of course, he's a child. He's a child. I cannot. But like I just wanted to make the joke. And Catech was very, he was not playing around. 'Cause like he, Brandon and Mendoza, just, every time you see him, he's just the happiest guy. And I have a question about him later in the video. and this because there's some discourse around him that I am not a fan of, Brandon, but we'll get to it. - Well, it's your turn to ask questions of me. - Well, I will. So first and foremost, I know the guys did an episode last week I believe on Monday. I know you and I were in California, but on Tuesday, we're all hanging out. You know, we're focusing on the NFL and the College Football Playoff Management Committee, which by the way, adding management and it just makes it sound even worse and dorkier, but they come out and obviously this is like a week old at this point, but we have not talked about it personally together. They come out with one of the worst moves I've seen in College Football for a long time. So if you're listening or watching this, you probably know, but just as a refresh, playoffs gonna remain 12 teams. They're gonna, instead of having it nears, even nears, day, they're gonna have one game on the 30th to not interfere with the NFL on Thursday, but then the big one, two weeks between the quarter finals and the semi-finals, then the championship game will be on the 25th. So Brandon from start to finish of the College Football Playoff, not just next season, the season after, will be 38 days from the first kickoff to the last kickoff. And if you are sitting at home doing that math, not only is it 38 days, the end of the regular season to crowning a national champion of just 12 teams in the playoff is two months. And I know that I immediately went on a rant, put it on Instagram, Twitter, everybody. Brandon, my question to you is, did you first person foremost, so that's twice? Did you see anybody defending this at all? Because I did not. - No, and it's one of those things that College Football has changed so much over the last five years. And sometimes, I'll say this about Roger Cadelny and a Phil, Rob Manfer and Baseball, maybe less about Adam Silver and the NBA, but maybe, but these professional sports leagues when they put out something that is unpopular. They do a good job of usually listening to the pushback and listening to what they're saying. And if they don't change it, at least they acknowledge things like, okay, yeah, but baseball will change, football will change sometimes. They'll tighten some things up. But College Football, the big problem we all had, and this was a great playoff, the only problem most people have with this playoff is it took forever. It took absolutely forever. And we all turned to College Football and said, "Hey guys, great playoff, make it shorter." And they looked at us and said, "Hmm, what? "What, what, longer? "You want to make it longer?" You ever seen the movie The Great Outdoors? - Oh yeah. - John Candy is on the pier, and he's teaching his son how to hold the rope to ski, and they're like, they're in the boat, Dan Accroyd's in the boat, and he looks back and he's like, "You ready to go?" And John Candy just says, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, "One minute." And they take that to mean I'm gonna drive the boat as fast as possible across the lake. And John Candy's calling him a bastard, and he thinks he's saying, "Go faster." That's what College Football is right now. College Football is in a boat speeding across the lake, and we're saying, "You bastards!" And they're like, "Oh, faster, faster, "you want to go deeper in the January." It's unbelievable. The one thing we had a problem with the playoff, they just refused to fix, and they're gonna make it much, much, much, much, much worse. Indiana and Miami are two great teams. That championship game lost so much momentum from the playoffs, because you had two full weekends of NFL playoff action in between the semis and the finals. It did it to the service to Indiana, to the service to Miami, and instead of fixing it, they're making it worse, it's bullshit. - That analogy is perfect, because I just cannot imagine sitting in this College Football Management Committee boardroom or Zoom or whatever they're doing, and being like, "You know what? "Every single person that's involved in College Football, "not just the fans, because yes, "like at the end of the day, you and I work in this industry, "but we're also fans, not just the fans. "You've got head coaches, head coaches, "like Dan Lanning, who's in the playoff. "You've got players talking about it. "Like, this is not even just from an entertainment standpoint. "Players shouldn't have to wait all this time "to play these games, the coaching carousel, "the transfer portal, all these things. "They're sitting in that boardroom, "and they're like, "Oh, we don't care about any of that. "We're just gonna make it worse. "We're not gonna make it better. "We're gonna make it worse, "and the fact that there are two full weeks "between the semis and the quarters, "like that not only loses steam, "that just can't be good for the teams "that are playing physically. "It just can't be. "There's just no rationale that makes sense. "Like, I don't know if it's a money thing. "I know they're trying to avoid the NFL, "but that makes no sense. "There's no way they're making more money from this. "So my question to you, Brandon, is, "what is it gonna take to actually fix it? "Because I said, and we said, and everybody said, "sitting up in front of God and everybody, "we can't just bitch and moan about this. "We have to fix it. "There is a major problem. "Now it's worse. "What's it gonna take? "Because I don't know. "They didn't want to listen now. "When are they ever gonna listen?" - Casey, it's not gonna get fixed until it starts costing them money. It probably will never cost them money, so it probably will never get fixed. It's probably just something they're gonna have to do and live with. It reminds me, have you ever seen the movie, "The Great Outdoors" with John Candy? (laughing) It reminds me of a scene later in that movie where they go to a steakhouse and they got the old 96re, right? This gigantic steak that's hanging on a hook in the back and nobody can eat it. If you eat it, you get your whole meal for free. And the NCAA is John Candy and they're sitting there and they're eating it and they're cutting it up, they're cutting it up. And they eat the steak and they get to the end and it's like, there's nothing on that plate but gristle and fat and then they still gotta eat it. They still gotta eat it and they still gotta ruin what's left of their meal. That's what it reminds me of, Casey. - I haven't seen that movie in years. It's one of my dad's favorites. I feel like I'm gonna have to watch that. So before I move on to the next topic and I know that there's not a solid answer on this but right now sitting where we are with knowing what they're doing with the playoff, they said they're not gonna expand it. They said it's gonna be 12 for right now. Do you, is 12 just the answer for right now? Do you think it's 14? Do you think it's 16? - I think there is no perfect answer. So 12's as good as any. 16 is probably where we're headed eventually. I think we'll end up landing at 16 and that's a good solid number. It gets rid of the buy problem. The other problem that everybody had with this current iteration outside of the timing is the fact that the buy teams are now one in seven, I believe, in these games. So like 16 would solve the buy problem. Just let everybody play. Let everybody play the same amount of games. That would fix that problem. But there is no perfect number. Some years like last year, we didn't have 12 deserving teams. This year we probably had 15. So if there's no, there's no perfect number. So don't get your head caught in perfect number. Find a number that's fair for the teams that are in it that year. And I think 16 is probably that answer where you don't have a buy week where you accumulate more rust. And you know what, to be honest, if they fix a calendar, the buy week would be a little bit better 'cause the buy week means you got to wait five weeks for the play, four weeks to play. If you had everybody play on two weeks or three weeks, that buy week's not as big a deal. But it reminds me. - Well, that's my. - Don't hug. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. - No, I'll save it. I'll save it. - No, I. - You're gonna have to do an ad. - I do, I do. My answer to that is if they're gonna keep fucking up the calendar, don't add any more teams because at this rate, if they wanna add more teams, we'll be playing and they'll fucking. Yeah, like the Super Bowl will happen and they'll be like, well, wait a minute. We've got the semi-finals of the college for ball playoff coming. So that would be a disaster. - Hi, Roughnecks. We'll be right back after this word from our sponsor. - It's Fran from Chicks in the Office. The weather is getting cooler and Abercrombie's fall drop has everything I need for the season. The best-selling A&F Sloan Taylor pant is a closet staple for me. I'm always wearing it to work events, happy hour, anytime I want to be a bit more dressed up. And the viral Dillon dress is easy, one and done perfection. But my fall uniform will always be denom pair with a Henley sweater, a bra-free top. It's comfortable, effortless. It just never fails. Find your fall capsule at Abercrombie. Shop in the app online and in stores. - And now, back to the episode. - Can't stop, won't stop. Thank you, go stop. - Hey, go stop. - Yeah. What you got? - You know, remember we used to be able to sing songs without getting in trouble on YouTube? - Yes. - I think we used to have like full karaoke's on these episodes. We'd have full karaoke sessions. - I was hanging with the fellas. So I was new. - So I don't even know my friend of mine. - My voice is so bad right now that I can't even, I can't even join you but you know. - But it's all good. - Yes, if we did, if we had like a memory on like, you know, on the phone or whatever could go back to, what song do you think you and Brandon have sang together the most over the last eight years? It has to be that one. - Yeah, and that's not even, that's not even a hit song by them. That's just like an album cut, right? - Right. - It makes me ill by in sync. - Makes me ill, see you again. Okay, anyways, I can't, I want to fuck up my voice even more. Okay, so, so we're talking about the culture of all playoff. The national championship game was awesome. It was awesome. It lost a lot of steam because of the calendar. - It was good. - And it, if you and I were regular fans of just sports, it would have been a lot more devastating but because we do this. Now, I realized what I'm about to say, Brandon is gonna sound asinine to the normal sports fan. - Not a first time. - But the people that are listening and watching, yeah, well, that's kind of my entire life. I just spew asinine shit all the time. - Sure. - The NFL will always be king. Always, always, always. There's no doubt about that, we know that. After the absolutely future display of a Super Bowl the other day, which I said was the most non-super Bowl feeling, Super Bowl of all time. If you go look at the NFL's social media right now, whether it's Instagram, TikTok or whatever, the clips from the game are amassing like 100 to 200,000 views, where bad bunny is amassing, 150 million views. So that, you know, obviously, what was popular? Is this the closest? Again, I know it's still a major gap, but is this the closest that college football in the NFL from a popularity standpoint can ever get? It feels like that to me, but I know I'm biased because I'm a college football. Can't can never get? No, I mean, I don't rule anything out in the future. I think college football's future is very, very bright. I think I think you're I think that's a good question. I do think you're asking the wrong question in this sense. Okay. Is it the closest it's ever been? No, no, no, no. The question I think that should be asking is, and I know I try to answer that one because it's not a bad question. But NFL is number one, number one of the bullet, unassailable. It is far and away. The number one American sport is college football firmly entrenched at number two now. Has it reached number two? Is it solidly number two? Is it? Is it has it surpassed the NBA? Because certainly as far as word of mouth as far as, you know, excitement about postseason everything, I think it is at least caught the NBA. It's at least caught baseball. It's past hockey. Is it number two? Now, maybe people think about this and say, oh, you're crazy. MLB is number two. NBA is number two because NBA still does huge numbers as far as social following and all that. But is this the closest cost ball we'll ever get to pro football? I can't say that. Is this the closest it's ever been? I say no to that too because I feel like college football in my lifetime peaked when you had the marketable stars of, and this is not to take a shot at Mendoza. This is not to take a shot at guys we've had recently, but those mid 2000s, you had Reggie Bush and Vince Young and a national title together with Matt Liner there too. Yeah, Tim Tebow coming. You had like mid 2000s, particularly that USC, that USC Texas National title game, I think is the peak of American college football. And while ratings might be even higher back then, Vince Young, Reggie Bush were global superstars before they ever played a national football league game. And I don't think Fernando Mendoza is. Is that fair to say? I think it's fair. And so I'm going to go back to your your amendment on my question. I've thought college football is second for a while now. And that's why I guess that's why I didn't even think is it second because to me it has been. And again, I have to take my college football fan and my college football career brain off. It's like when I talk to people, you know, just on day to day that are big NBA fans, they say the same thing. I don't watch the regular season. I watch when the NBA playoffs come around. Yeah. Obviously the NHL playoffs are awesome. You love that. But as far as just the the viral miss, if that's even a word of the sports, I do feel like college football is the biggest it's ever been because all those things you just mentioned are true. The early 2000s and you look at those guys. The big key is there wasn't social media. If you had social media back when those guys were playing, I can't even imagine. But now with how easily digestible these sports are. And when you look at Fernando Mendoza, when you look at guys over the last few years, I think that that popularity has taken off to where if you were at college football fan in the early 2000s or even when I was in school when Johnny was playing, you knew everything that was going on. Now you just are a sports fan. And you know exactly who Fernando Mendoza is. You're watching Indiana. You're doing those things. I don't believe it will ever catch the NFL. But I think it's I think that it is is rising. And when you look at ratings, it has to be number two. So I'm going to read that. I got one more take on that. A few years ago at bar stool, we had like say five years ago, six years ago, and LSU won a national title in the Alabama one national title in Georgia won a couple. We would have like all the highlights will go out on bar stool or whatever we'd have clips go. And then we would have co-workers from New York that don't really watch college football and be like, they'd be like, yeah, I check in on college championship game. It's the same teams every time. It's just not it's a boring product when I watch it is this and that it doesn't grab me. That was a 2021-22. I don't feel like that happens anymore. I feel like the play the playoff and in the legitimacy and that I think it is now. If it's not Super Bowl level, it is the second biggest thing towards Super Bowl level. And people don't do that shit anymore. They don't say that dumb shit as much as they used to. All right. Well, it also helps that the game isn't a blowout. I mean, I know it has been in the past, but like having a good game helps that. But that's where whether you wanted the 12 team playoff or not, it makes it more fun for this regular sports fan to watch because it's an actual playoff. It reminds me of the movie The Great Outdoors with John Candy where they go out riding horses and they're they're they're riding horses down the path and Dan Ackroyd and the whole family are on nice fast horses. And then John Candy is on this slow horse that doesn't even want to walk because he's really fat. He ends up getting off the horse to try to try to make it be nicer and the horse runs off. And the horse that runs off as the NFL and John Candy eventually catches it, but it does take him a while and he's college football. Beautiful. Guys, if your hair isn't playing like it did in your 20s, by the way, if you like that bit or hate that bit, buckle up because. Oh, Hi, Roughnecks. Being lucky, you should be meet the new lucky one sweet tea from Miss Peaches, the vodka drink that's positively doing good, made with real tea and real vodka, non-carbonated, the 100 calories. And here's the scoop. Their new sweet tea is the only Vodka-based sweet tea on the market, simple ingredients in a smooth full flavor that makes it taste just like the real sweet tea. Best part, every can helps rescue dogs find their forever homes as they work to a goal of donating $1 million to dog rescues in 2026. So if you love true sweet tea, this one's a no-brainer. Pick up a lucky one sweet tea today and give back one can at a time. And now back to the episode. Brandon speaking of hair, it's really quickly and before we get back to college football, I know you talked about it on the yak because I had to watch the yak today for your take on this. You know that the bald stool is happening right now. Yeah. Yeah. You've been saying for a long time, you've been you've been ringing the mincey bell for a long time. I have known this man for however many years he's been working at bar stool. The photo of him today on that airplane, I audibly gasped. I still was so shocked and nothing shocks me with him anymore. What? How did that man not die on that airplane? Somebody like I would have killed him. I would have killed him. I, Casey. In fact, it's so funny you're saying that I literally just got a text from somebody. I don't even know the number. It sent me the tweet and said, this is it. This is the one that sent me off. This is the one that turned me and I said to him and I'll say to you, been telling everybody for years. I've been beating the mincey drum. Mincey's an asshole for years and years and nobody believed me. And finally, you guys see what I've been saying. Listen, I've been, you know, mince and I have a good rapport. You know, he follows me around the office wants to talk about laying a lot. This one was, this one was truly shocking because and I, by the way, squarely on your side, and you said it on the act, I don't think you should ever recline your seat. I don't care. You paid for your seat. The amount of recline that you get does not come anywhere near to the amount of an asshole. It makes you like you're not reclining fully back. If you want to recline fully back, pay for an upgrade. And I also was on, I, I will pay whatever for an upgrade. If I, if I know that it's going to be that comfortable, like I say, whatever, within reason, been mince treating that like, you know, no free ads, but treating that like jet blue mint or Delta one in coach with a co-worker is baffling to me. It's baffling. So he is. So he is. All right. What else you got for college football? Okay. So Fernando Mendozo, we've talked about him a lot in this episode. Sure. So so now that the Super Bowl is over, you know, we're all going to turn our attention to the draft, turn our attention to who's going to be the number one overall pick. The Raiders have the number one overall pick. And Clint Kubiak now, I would like this on record that I don't think at any point, especially a new head coach getting in front of the media is ever going to like tip his cap and be like, this is what we're doing. You're not going to show you our hand. But there's a lot of discourse right now on social media because he made the comment when asking, when been asked about who the number one pick is going to be. He said he has to watch a lot more film to be able to make that decision. Yeah. And now everyone's out there, you know, oh my god, is he non-committal to Fernando Mendozo. So I love Colin Coward. He's a great guy. Watch the show today. And he said he doubled down. And he said, listen, I believe he should be the number one pick. But apparently now, there is a lot of talk inside circles that he's getting a lot of pushback that Fernando Mendozo should not be the number one overall pick that Indiana success this year was solely based on Kurt Signetti. And Colin said the last time he got this much pushback when he felt a certain type of way was Sam Donald. Now we see what Sam Donald just did. So obviously these things can come full circle. But my question to you, you and I both talked about Fernando Mendoza all year. Even before you believed in Indiana, you believed in Fernando Mendoza, is there a world that you could see Fernando Mendoza and maybe not going number one overall if somebody wants to take a non-quarterback? Yeah. Is there a world at all where you see that that would he would should not be the number one quarterback taken off the board? No, he's number one pick. I don't care what the writers are saying. I don't care what Colin Coward is saying. Every single one of our degrees with you, by the way, he's saying every every single year, whoever has the number one pick, when asked by a reporter or a month or two in advance, by the way, they know they were picking him a month ago, too much go. Every time they're asked about the number one pick that is obvious, they're like, yeah, well, it could be anybody. And they're just fishing to see if there's a team in like two through eight, who is so quarterback needy, they'll make a Godfather offer to come up at to number one. They don't want to take the Godfather offer, but they want to see if they can get the Godfather offer. Somebody offered him three first round picks, three second round picks on a star, they're going to do it. And they're just slow playing, they're just saying, yeah, I know I have a royal flush here, but I might not even play it. They're going to play it. Yeah, you never don't play it, he's going to end, and furthermore, this notion that it was, it was all signetti and zero percent Mendoza. Well, signetti was there last year, and they got their ass kicked twice against good teams. They upgraded the quarterback, all of a sudden they're kicking everybody's ass. That didn't just happen. That happened because he went out and got the right quarterback. Not to say Curtis Rort was a bad quarterback, he just wasn't going to be Ohio State Notre Dame, Mendoza did, and thirdly, what's the alternative? Number one pick, what's it going to be? Arvel Reese is going to be, is it going to be David Bailey? Is it going to be Carnell Tateley? Who's going to be Spencer for now? These are all good players. These are all sunny styles, Ruben Bain, Jeremiah Love. None of them are going before the fucking best quarterback in the draft, and further, there's not another quarterback to be picked there. Dante Moore went back to school, Carson Beck's not going to be number one pick, Trinidad Chamberson is trying to go back to school. Who would it be? It's the easiest number one pick we've had in the long time. Yeah, the only way he would not go number one is if somehow a team that already has a solid quarterback. Or if he kills somebody. If he kills somebody between now and then, he's not going number one. What, what, what was it, the gas mask? What year was that? That was like the 16 year. My army tundle. Yeah, like you want to talk about melting down. Can you imagine, which now, I mean, weeds legal in most parts of the country, but can you imagine if Fernando Mendoza, just all of a sudden, had like some like crazy skeletons in the closet come out, like we would all melt down. But could you imagine if he did get caught with the gas mask and the Las Vegas Raiders of all teams were like, no, we're not picking him because of weed. Oh, come on. Vegas is the one team Vegas and Denver and Seattle. They get all get away with it in New York. Well, I mean, I sat in the, you know, we sat in the studio after, after the National Championship and did the recap podcast. And I said, I doubt I see Fernando, you know, spraying champagne all over 11 tonight and Liam was like, well, you might, we didn't even see that. The kid was just hand with a nice, just big smile and a beer. But yes, I agree. I, you know, it's again, it's the discourse that's around it. But the drugs, the Casey, the drugs he offered me on Thursday were incredible. You would not have believed the amount of drugs that he offered me. What'd you hallucinate? It reminds me of the John Candy movie, The Great Outdoors. All right, I'm done with that. Okay, fine, fine, fine. Hi, Roughnecks will be right back after this word from our sponsor. On Game Day gets substacked high at Jersey Mike's, like the number 13 original Italian loaded with meats, cheese and toppings or the number 56 big kahuna cheese steak with grilled steak, peppers, onions and mushrooms topped with jalapenos and melty cheese. Get your subfix on Game Day in order in store or the Jersey Mike's app. I just like to show you it was, in fact, in red. I just wore, I read it poorly. It's okay. Brandon, you know what? You know where I'm hoping that game time can send me? To a playoff game that A&M actually scores a touchdown in, that was. See, that was hateful for fucking what I'm at. Can you imagine, you know, and that leads me into my next question, that leads me to my next question, by the way, sniffing the playoff. I can't stop listening to bad, Bonnie Brandon. I've been speaking in Spanish, you know, my, so my son, by the way, turns three yesterday, which it's crazy. No, he didn't. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. Okay. He turns three yesterday, wild, but my nanny, she only speaks Spanish. She came in the other day to help me get the, you know, the house ready for his birthday, and I was blaring bad, and she just looked at me just like, well, what's going on here? I'm like, I think I'm Puerto Rican now. I love it. You're Puerto Rican. So much. Well, good for you. Yeah, I think so. I think I'm going to just start, I mean, I speak Spanish. Like, I think I'm just going to, like, get, you know, like, really lean into this. Like, you know, I've got, I don't have a Latina ass, but, you know, maybe I can shake it a little bit, and I just, I'm going to go find bad bunny. That's who I'm going to marry. Bad bunny. Wow. Yeah. Well, good luck with that. That's now, that's now my new, my new thing. I, I've got my son dancing around to, to bad bunny music. I mean, he doesn't know if he's swearing or not. Well, I guess he probably doesn't speak Spanish, but it's either point, game time. That and Cardi B, because Cardi B is, we're having, we're having a moment over here. And everybody needs goals, Casey. It's my, my off-season goal is to marry bad bunny, me and probably a hundred million other white girls in America right now. You know, it's, it's a, there's a lot going on. Okay. Um, you mentioned tickets to an A&M Playoff game. Now, this is kind of inside bar soul, but it's a bigger question. And again, I never watched the act not because I don't love you, but I normally doing other things. I had it on today. And you guys were talking about our friend Fisoli. Yeah. Now, in this, in this world right now, if you're not familiar, basically Dave Hortonoi took all the Boston based Patriots fans, the guys who grew up loving the Patriots, got them in a bus, a suite, the whole thing to the Super Bowl. They got to live out of dream that they would never get to live out without Dave, Dave being super rich. This is amazing. All these things. And about the Patriots go and get their absolute dicks kicked in as we all saw. We have a guy named Fisoli who hours and hours and hours before the game was filmed crying before the game. Now other people in the company have made fun of that and said they think it's lame and weak and whatever. Brandon, my question to you is, you and I have been very blessed to go to, I mean, I would say hundreds, at least over 100 games of Mississippi, stay or A&M football over the years. That's our number one teams with the bullets. I still get emotional when I go to an A&M game in person and see everything around me, especially when I went to the playoff game this year. Can you imagine if the first time you had ever seen Mississippi State play a real football game in person was at the national championship in a suite? You're telling me you wouldn't cry or be emotional over that? Why are we making fun of this kid? Well, I'll tell you why, Casey, I'll tell you why, okay? And this is, you need to wake up, you need to wake the fuck up. No. You do. And I'll tell you why, he was right to cry. I would cry in the situation, but we work at a company full of assholes. We are assholes ourselves. We are nothing if not ballbusters of every single person that works here. If I go stand on the sideline and watch Mississippi State lose to Texas and over time, it becomes a running joke for a week where everybody gets their jolly's up because that's sometimes, sometimes you are the shit and sometimes you eat shit. And even though he has a great back story and even though he was right to cry and even though it was emotional and even though everything was correct, you still have to, you're still going to get your balls busted here at barstool sports. That's just what the company is. That's fine. I will, and you're 100% correct, especially old school barstool and you know, I know Kevin saying, I hashtag not my barstool and all that and I get that. I'm not taking away the entertainment value of that. But to the people online that are like, we're coddling a loser, we're coddling this. I just can't, like if you don't love sports, just come out and say it. And I actually was texting with Vasoli and I was like, I know if I come out and defend you, which I have, it's gonna be like, well, you're a chick, of course you cry, girls cry over everything. Also true. But there is something that is so magical about your favorite team. I just can't, like if I could take every single game away from Kyle Field and I knew that I was watching them play in the national championship, I don't care. It's a neutral site. I'd be bawling my eyes out. Let me stop you there. Fine. I want you to imagine the Jets made the Super Bowl. I want you to imagine Kevin Clancy, Kevin Clancy in a suite looking down at the Jets logo on the Super Bowl field. I want you to imagine tears falling down his eyes. I want you to imagine the Jets losing that Super Bowl and I want you to tell me what Dave Portnoy and 15 to 20 others would have tweeted after that happened, after the video of him crying came out. I, well, I know what would happen because I know this company. First of all, I don't think that he would cry, but that's, that's a whole different issue that we have here. I don't think that he would. I think that it doesn't, I'm taking the team out of it. Yeah. I don't know, I'm just saying, anybody who is saying, oh, well, you shouldn't be crying. Like, that to me is what makes these, like, these events in the sport so cool. I mean, I'm taking it from a college football standpoint, I get that. But I just was sitting there and I was thinking, I just, I, I mean, I literally teared up on the field at the A&M playoff game, standing there with my dad, like, holy shit, we made it to a playoff game in my lifetime. That's crazy. I don't know. I feel for Pissoli. I'm like, yeah, cry, cry, King. It's sports. I'm emotional over sports. It's what we get the most emotional about. Like, we're not rational people and we talk about sports. Yeah. Think about on this podcast over the last eight years, how many times you and I have gotten a fight over football. That's crazy. Yeah. You got another ad? I do. Hi, Roughnecks. Hey, Alabama. Still blue. Coffee's new canned lattes are here and in a store near you, crafted with 100% Colombian coffee. canned is a good source of protein and comes in two smooth flavors espresso cafe mocha and espresso sweet cream, whether you're braving, your morning commute or chasing your pup, still blue cans are for those always on the go and for those who care. Still blue is more than just great coffee. It's about giving back. I named the brand after my rescue dog, Stella, who inspired our mission to help more dogs find their forever homes. Every purchase supports animal rescue organizations. So when you drink Stella blue, you're not just fueling your day. You're saving a dog's life. Try the new cans today. Head to our store locator on Stella blue. and sign up to redeem a buy one, get one free offer. - All right, so as you mentioned Brandon, this is the last thing, where we go. In the past, we've done your round podcast. We are gonna take a break until the summer. So by the time we come back on these airwaves, it'll be preview time, right? It's preview time we're buckling in. So before we go Brandon, I have a way too soon rapid fire list and I didn't wanna send you the list 'cause I want your off the cuff answers on February 11th. Way too soon, in 2026, your way too soon national championship prediction is. - God. - Off the cuff, it's supposed to be off the cuff. - Yeah, well I'm just thinking, I think Georgia gets back. I think Georgia was young this year. - I think I'm gonna go, I think I'm gonna go, I want to go one big time school that's there a lot and one off the cuff school because listen, over the last few years, well this year, I guess you had two off the cuff schools in Indiana, Miami, but like TCU's play for national title, Washington's play for national title. So give me the Georgia Bulldogs and the Texas Tech Red Raiders. And that's a team that keeps adding in the transfer portal. They went out and got a quarterback. You know, when they got to the playoff this year, they were outmatched on offense and I think they have fixed that. Again, I think Ohio State's taking a step back. Indiana's, Indiana's the question mark. Do they just keep rolling? I hate to rule them out, but I'll just for right now, say Georgia and Texas Tech, even though God, I like Texas this year too. I'm gonna say Georgia and Texas Tech, just that's off the top of my tongue. - Okay, my voice is on its way out. You're way too early 2026 favorite storyline that you wanna pay attention to. I think it might be Lane Kiffin in the SEC with a better program. I think it's Lane Kiffin having done all he could at a program that just isn't that great historically. Now he's at a place with resources and he's placed with everything. He's gonna have to go back to Oxford. He's gonna have to play a lot. He's talked a big game and now he's gonna have to play a lot of teams in the SEC that are already there. He went out and had the number one. The number, this year the storyline was, is he going to leave while he did leave? Now's the storyline is, all right, you're there. What are you gonna do with it? - Yeah, I can't wait for the LSU Ole Miss game. I think that like that right now, if you're not circling that as a college football fan, like that's by far gonna be the most anticipated. And lastly, which I know you love to hate a little bit, you know, you're a little bit of a hater. - Can I, can I, can I amend that last answer? - Sure. - I think a better answer, now I thought I'd think about it is, what is Indiana doing out there on top? - Indiana went to the top of the sport in record fashion and as quick as possible. Now they are the hunted. Now they are the, the top of the mountain. I think Ohio State takes a step back. The Big Ten's gonna look a little different on top and Indiana is absolutely there. What does Indiana do for an on-course? Probably storyline number one. All right, continue. - But you know what? The petty storyline is, is Lane Kiffin. - Yeah, agree. - The rational college football storyline is absolutely that. Okay, so the last one, Brandon, I know you love to beef with college football fans. Your 2026 way too early fan base, you were gonna hate the most this season. - That's a phenomenal question. (laughs) - Uh, right now it might be Indiana because no matter how many times I say I was wrong in the amount of times I say, cursing is the best coach in the country, no matter how many times I think that's an all-time great team, they will clip something from two years ago and be like, "Yeah, but you didn't believe in us then." Yeah, I still don't believe in your team as it was then, but I believe in them now. So anyway, Indiana, you know, I think it might be greatest hits. I think Oklahoma is one that there's always there, South Carolina is always there. I'm trying to think of a new team that I'm going to clash with. - I mean, you've covered a bunch over the years. I mean, you even got into it with my fan base. - I'm gonna do it. - I'm gonna, I ain't scared of the smoke with anybody. I'm trying to think of a team that has been down that will be up. It's probably just gonna go the greatest hits, but right now, that's a good question. I don't have an answer for you. I gotta think about that one. - Well, stay tuned because you always, and I do the same thing. I mean, remember in like, what was it? 29- - You really never know, though, okay? You never know who it's gonna be. - You never know. - Yeah. - I mean, Florida State and I went back and forth forever. I don't even, I think it was like over like, Kindle Briles or something. Like, you know, these, that's what makes Call of Football so great. - Hi, Roughnecks. Stell Blue Coffee's new can lattes are here. Crafted with 100% Colombian coffee. Each can is a good source of protein and comes in two smooth flavors. Espresso Cafe Mocha and Espresso Sweet Cream. And whether you're braving your morning commute or chasing your pup, Stell Blue cans are for those always on the go. And for those who care. Stell Blue is more than just great coffee. So when you drink Stella Blue, you're not just fueling your day, you're saving a dog's life. Try the new cans today, taste the difference and make a difference. All new Stella Blue Coffee cans lattes now available at stellbluecoffee.com or subscribe on Amazon for 10% off. - All right, next time you see us will be in the summer. I will be many pounds lighter. KC will have the tires rotated. So. - All of it, if they follow me on Instagram, they're gonna know. - They're gonna know. - There will be signs. - All right, thank you, KC. Thank you, Lukey. - Thank you, Brandon. - We'll be back in a few months. That's it, that's unnecessary reference. - Brandon, smile. (whooshing)