Heisman Picks, Breakout Coaches, and AP Poll Takeaways With Stanford Steve

[MUSIC] Stanford Steve is our guy and we got an awesome hour lined up for you here. So let's just get right to it. 253 days until the NFL draft. Met you good? I'm great, man, roll that thing, tuck. [MUSIC] As promised, it feels like a lifelong friend. 25 years I've either worked for as a producer, worked with as a cohort at ESPN or worked around, let's say, in the game of football, Steve Cochlan, also a man who is on a three-person text thread, including myself and Mench, that if we just aired it out year round, we would have a seven-figure podcast, right? We also would have a lot of enemies and we would probably in a few years have to move out of the country. This episode is brought to you by Nintendo. When you've got different ages, different interests, and a busy schedule, finding something everyone can enjoy is a win. Boy do I know that. The Nintendo Switch 2 system gives you options with games like Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bonanza, and EA Sports FC 26. Two controllers are included so you can start playing together right away, and many existing Nintendo Switch games also work on Nintendo Switch 2. Learn more at Nintendo.com/Nintendo Switch 2. Players and systems sold separately. Some Nintendo Switch games may not be supported or fully compatible with Nintendo Switch 2. Games rated E to E10+. But we'll try to keep it as clean as possible while still entertaining, but this is Stanford. Steve, as you all know him, and what's up, man? It's good to see you. Great to see you guys, man. I'm trying to keep tabs on you. Listen, as much as I can, I'm sure we'll get to it because you asked me what I was going to maybe, you know, something I wanted to get to. It's definitely a reaction to what I've heard you guys talk about, and here we go. But no, I'm pumped. I'm pumped to see what you guys are doing. It's great. I appreciate what you guys have done forever and to give people a look into, like, you know, you say you have meetings. You say you're diving in a tape. You say, you know, I'm going to do a deep dive here. I know what the McShade deep dive is. And I appreciate you not letting the people behind what comes with the deep dive, just giving them the after effects of the deep dive. If that makes sense, because it gets a little messy here, you know, some times, but I just look around. I've got this disaster. I can only imagine you've got a nice tan going, too, brother. I mean, I'm just going to go to Italy and Montana, man, she's been on Montana for two weeks that we know about maybe a month and look at you rolling in here. All right. Let's do it. First and foremost, the AP poll comes out. The coach's poll comes out and it's like there's so many things that you can, I just, I've never been a huge fan of the coach's poll for obvious reasons. We don't have to sit here and bang the AP poll. It is what it is. There's no perfect poll in the preseason, but it's definitely fun fodder, if you will. Ohio State in both polls, number one, overall, then followed by Oregon at two, Georgia at three, Notre Dame at four, Texas at five, then Indiana, Miami, A&M, Ole Miss and Oklahoma rounding out the top 10. And some more notables, like 11 is LSU, Texas Tech at 12, Alabama down at 13, BYU, sitting at 14, and somehow USC is tied at 14 with BYU. So that's the top 15 right there with teams like Michigan, Washington, Penn State, all in the outside looking in. You see this come up. I'm certain you looked at it. It's all over social media and everyone's talking about it. What were your first reactions? Oh, Indiana is too low. Yeah. I look at them. Yeah. I just. Like, when are we going to learn, kind of? Yeah, I just think, again, I think I'm going to say a lot of times, whether we're talking polls or teams and feels like it's a combination of stuff. You know, when you look at what they lost and you guys documented the whole draft, and hey, there's another Indiana guy and this guy's going to be a third runner and this guy's going to be a fourth runner, I look at what they replaced them with. And then with this new five or five rule, like every single coach in the country, all the way. If you ask one thing, what do you want? Depth on defensive line. Guess what? Indiana has. Guess what Indiana has on the offensive line. Guess who they pluck from other schools that's going to solidify. Guess what they already have coming back at that. So when I look at the lines of scrimmage and, you know, I think we could get into this, but talking to coaches and going to practices, it's really interesting to hear the difference of the preference. Do you want continuity or do you want depth? That's like a real conversation. I feel like that's going on around the sport and I feel like, you know, some people with the situations that they're in and money and, you know, how that's a factor now, just had to go a certain way that was going to go as to, you know, as opposed to these old SEC teams that would just stockpile, you know, five star, five star, four star, five star. So I think the, um, the aisle that you decide to go on and, and constructing a roster is very important, but I just look at what Indiana has, like Nick Marsh is as good a player as Cam Coleman, in my opinion, I, I think that, I mean, what he did at Michigan State with the cornerbacks that he was playing for, I think he's an absolute stud. So like, I get it Cooper was an absolute dog and everything you want in a wide receiver position where he's going to block and run every route and, you know, get more targets when guys are injured and stuff like that. I think Charlie Becker is going to take another step, you know, probably lose a little bit in the tight end room, running back. I'm not really going to worry about running back. Yeah. I hate this. And that's, I mean, we're going to get to Ohio State. We're going to get to Alabama. We're going to get to Notre Dame. Like, I'm not really that worried about running back at those schools. Like, I trust they're going to get, um, they're going to hit on that position, if you will. So in the in a, uh, too low, I think Notre Dame, I have Notre Dame one and I have in the attitude just to give you some, I don't have an SEC team in my top five. Uh, I have Georgia in Texas right outside the top five. I have Miami ahead of those teams. Then it's basically all SEC, uh, until USC, uh, because the other factor, I think, which makes it great, which nobody will ever answer when you talk about this, Scott, or Todd with the, with the fodder is, how are you doing your ranking? Are you ranking what they are in your opinion right now? Are you forecasting what the season is going to portray? Because I'm in the, in the mindset of, this is what I like right now. And this is what I have for these teams right now. And I tend to side with continuity in this day and age. I'll also preface it with this. I had Clemson and Penn State playing in a national championship game last year. Not, not, not the pinstripe ball. Okay. They played a pinstripe ball. I had him playing after New Year's Day. Um, so, you know, and then I started looking at, uh, you know, reading about the AP pool in the history because there's always that top 10 team that doesn't fall out, but like, this is the first, that last year was the first time I think in 20 years where a top five team finished unranked and you had two of them. So, yeah. Is that an anomaly? I don't know. It's, you don't know how to forecast because there's so much change in turnover, which we'll talk about. But that was what stuck out to me. I, I believe those, those five teams are a step ahead. The lot there, man, my head spinning. Yeah. No, so there's a couple teams, right? Mm-hmm. Where you look at the schedule versus, um, let's go polar opposites here. The schedule, which, like, please don't include in your, in your preseason rankings. What the, like you just said, the forecasted with a schedule, what you think they could be, because Penn State, you could maybe put in the top 10 and feel good about it because they're schedule. Um, I look at Texas Tech, and I think it is at 64 or 68, I think it's 68 power four teams, right? Yes, 68. Well, for depending on how much stock you put in the, in the preseason strength of schedule, Texas Tech with Will Hammond coming back, a guy that, that, both mentioned I really like, and I know the source be stuff, excuse me, but I, I get this feeling in Texas Tech, after all the source be stuff, they're, they're the pariah of college football. They're what's wrong with college football, right? As if we don't have a lot of other things that are, that are currently wrong with the, the state of college football, but kind of make it a beautiful thing. Um, but we know the talent level. We know the El Matador club and, and, and what its capabilities are, we saw, we got a firsthand glimpse of that last year. And then you look at that schedule, I guess it's 68 out of 68 teams in the power four. So they based off of the preseason analytics have the, the easiest ride, if you will, then you've got a Texas team, which they, they're right here at five. You have them out of the top five. I think a lot of people are hesitant after last year. I think a lot of people are hesitant with, uh, with Sark, and can he kind of take that next step and I want to get to some of those kind of coaches but you get to teams in the state of Texas, where it's very clear to me, Texas has the better, the better talent level. And quite honestly, you can argue top three in the country from a talent standpoint, returning talent standpoint. Then you get Texas tech with all the key losses from a year ago, but key, key players coming in and this schedule that looks easy. Like, how are you balancing those two teams in the state of Texas? With Texas tech, I, I, you know, after going there and the last time being there was with you in '08, Michael Crabtree. Yeah. I've gotten to, to know people there and, and Joey McGuire's one of them, like just, just how matter of fact he is. And I just thought it was a brutal situation because you're, yeah, you're going to back a kid that you're invested in. And then, yeah, you're going to try and get back what you lost because of something yet you didn't know. But in that whole deal, he's a smart enough dude. He's a people guy. Like he's going to have his guy. Yeah. Like everybody's pointing at us. But like, I kind of probably would have done the same thing as he did and they did, you know, when, you know, so I think they have their, you know, there's, there's extra, there's motivation that you could build off. Like every coach is looking for motivation and how, how I could, how I could piece together. But with Texas tech, I look at what they lost and I look at it differently than the other top teams. And I get it. They got the spending power in the Matador club and everything. But like, I went and watched the dolphins practice against the commanders the other day. And I'm like, Caleb Douglas is going to play in his league, man. He like, he was phenomenal. And I'm like, he was like the seventh guy. I'm thinking about the Texas tech lost. So when I look at what they brought in, I don't think it matches to that level. And then you have this idea of, you mentioned it, the schedule. And the big 12 of coached changes, a team, you know, that's right behind him with a quarterback that has a year under his belt that got thrown, you know, to the fire and bear Bachmire. It's just something about me says that Texas tech, it's not going to be that easy this year. It's not. And everybody has them undefeated in the playoff, undefeated in the playoff. Look at the schedule. And I just have this thing in the back of my head where I'm like, I don't know if it's going to be that easy. I'm with you. I like Will Hyman. I met Will Hammond after he tore his ACL. I, he was in, you know, mind spinning, trying to ruffer a team, figuring out what his future was going to be. But I think they're in, they're in very good hands. But I just wonder if it's, if it's, it's, I just, it's not going to be that easy. And then with Texas, yeah, I, I think a lot of people are hesitant because and I was not, I was not one of these because I wanted to see it. But I think a lot of people put their, their mouth in front of their feet and got punched in the face because of a quarterback's last name. And now they're hesitant. And you go back and you watch Texas and you're like, what is, why is Sark so basic here? How many? I mean, another screen, the offensive line didn't get figured out like, and I'm like, well, they had a young quarterback that was getting his brains beat in the first, whatever it was, five weeks. And this is a method. These guys get paid to figure out how we're going to go about things offensively. So I'm there with Texas. It sounds like it's good news with the Gooseby and it's a bumble. I mean, that's, that's the last tackle. Yep. Because they had a guy that, you know, you know, the guy feeling as he is, is he a legit swing tackle or is he a kid that hasn't played? And he was a right tackle. You know, like that stuff at that level, that's what I try and look at. But it sounds like he'll be fine, at least for Ohio State game. But they surrounded Arch with plenty of toys, man. I mean, they got too many toys to play with. But I still want the run game. Like it was so much side to side. And what Sark does with creating matchups and getting guys in space, like they just didn't have those guys that he felt like major miss a lot last year. And they, you know, they stayed with it. You know, Arch got better, played his best at against A&M and Michigan in the bowl games and they're off and running. So they have plenty to prove to me in week two. And I think that's what everyone's waiting to see. And with Ohio State, you, you just look like, why do I have a Ohio State ahead of them kind of the same deal, but Ohio State off a national championship replaced what eight starters on defense. Yeah. 25, although drafted from the last two years. Okay. But that's I mean, you know, they can maintain, but that, but feels a lot like last year, last year, they bump it up in the defense is better. And they have three of the top 11 selected on that side of the ball. So I'm going to trust the Ryan Day has some, you know, the stable, there's some guys in the stable that are that are ready to, they're ready to let loose, including some transfers from Alabama that I think will really help them, you know, with fresh phrase in a new place. So that's why I give benefits to the doubt to Ohio State over Texas. And I hope I explain Texas tech. One last thing real quickly. I haven't released my top, my preseason top 10. I think we're going to do it next week. I'm going Miami number one overall. Here we go. Darryen Mensa, I think, is going to alert the world that may, maybe there's not as big a difference between me and Dante Moore as everyone wants to say. Yeah, maybe he's a little bit more advanced, but I'm one of the best peer pastors in the country. Oh, and by the way, I'm a little bit more mobile. And now I've got weapons at Miami. And I've got, I've got Malachite Tony and I've got Fletcher in the backfield. And we know this offensive line is always going to be really good with crystal ball. So I'm just excited to figure out the offensive line. They'll figure out yeah. And I just there's something about Miami. Yeah. And there's something about Miami with the resource. I think we're over because of Alice you and Kiffin and Texas and all the movement there. We got Ohio State. I think everyone's kind of overlooking Miami for some reason. Yeah, see, I am not. And I was slow to go with Miami, which I'm really happy I was when everyone was jumping like they used back this year to use back this year. And I'm like, that a crystal ball knows how to get guys. He knows where they are. Yes. In that state. Yes. And he knows how to develop. And he's not in a Pacific Northwest where he's just bringing in every single guy. He's going to, he's going to get to know these guys. I love the idea hearing about this can't well, kid. True freshmen. They're going to start and just, and just play them. Maribol. I, I mean, you guys, there's Todd. You see like try and explain Alex Maribol as the smallest person ever on a coaching stuff. And he's the baddest dude on that staff in charge of the offensive line. Like that dynamic is seeing him. And like, I mean, he's, who is the old line coach of Florida state? It reminds me of that. Oh, shoot. Oh, trick it. Yes. Yeah. Trick it. Yeah. He's back by the way. Is he? Yeah. He's with Detroit. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But when you see Maribol, it's like, it's like your kids staring up at Shaq on the sidelines. Like with, with five offensive linemen, after it's like, yeah, everything's yes. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Oh, God. And it's to a T. Now, I will say, they were very, very fortunate to stay healthy amongst that group last year. Because I don't know what they had behind it. You know, so, and you had, you didn't have a mobile quarterback. So I'm with you on, on Mensa getting his, his security blanket in, uh, in, in, in Barcai to come with him. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And Malachi, I will touch on later. Cause I see him doing some things that, um, that is just going to. He's different. He's going to be able to do things that other people aren't. I'll just say that. Yeah. So we're just going to continue to disrespect Oregon. That's just what we do in the show. That's what you two guys do. Uh, defensive line in the country. Maybe the best quarterback in the country. Decorium more star wide receivers. Second year are going to be better. Get Evan Stewart back. I think they're pretty good on the back end on defense, too. What, uh, what am I missing with Oregon? You talk about continuity. You got it at key spots there, man. I still have a horrible taste of my mouth from what they look like. I really, I really do. I was on that side. They, and I know Indiana did it to other teams. But when I dive in here, meant to answer your question, and I went back and forth with this a ton. I think the double corner interchange is huge. I really do. And how fast now landing made that thing fast, uh, you know, with just promoting from within where those are two. I mean, look at the names that had those jobs and look where, you know, look where they are. Like Kenny, I knew what he was doing. And I thought, I thought Will Stein stepped into one of the toughest deals in a top program. Cause like Kenny Dilly am just had bone x play his best football. He's ever played. And now Dilly am leaves. Nick's is still there. Will stop. Like, what do I do? Do I bring my own offense or am I adapting to what made this kid great? You know, so I think it's a manager, you know, or mayor, or call plays at Rutgers. I think it's a different level. Um, listen, if he has his toys to play with, they're going to put up numbers. Uh, but I still want to see the offensive line. I, I think they lost a lot. I mean, go through the draft. You guys did it. I mean, all those guys, uh, we're, we're damn good. And when I watch Dante, he gets spooked easier than any other quarterback to me. All right. Yeah. Oh, go, go, go, go. I'm telling the first series at, uh, against Indiana last year at home. And I'm, I'm in the end zone. I want to see how this because I still wonder about his height. I, and I get it. Oregon has monsters on the offensive But I always go the idea of seeing a quarterback in a huddle. And does it look right or does he look like that's where I judge height. But when I see the skittish feet right off of a first third down of a game, having a true hour, his first time on the road at Columbus. I remember it like I like to this day. And I just like, Oh, man, he, whoa, they got him. They got him. And then the slowness to react. And then that's where I realize, holy cow, this bones, Jones and this Aiden Fisher, they can run. And I mean, they were, I mean, and so it was like all this thing. And I'm like, man, he's not figuring it out. He's, he's not feeling like they, they got him. And now I put Brian Haynes at the top of any list there is, it's figuring to talk unbelievable, unbelievable. And it's adaptability to that, including losing guys in the playoff run. Like, that's a whole nother conversation. But I want to see more from Dante and I get it. I was there for the Penn State game, but there were chances to lock down that game and he didn't do it. The Iowa game, he finally made throws on that last drive to do it. And when I watch, listen to you guys, and I think I texted you, when I listen to you guys with these quarterbacks in the breakdowns and it's awesome. You're going through game through game and situation and third down situation. Like, do you have a criteria for playing on the road like in like late game situation? Like, is there a, is there a, is there a, a, an aisle position specific trait? Yeah. Yeah. Like is there a check or you're checking? No, or yes on, you know, presence on the road or kuy on the road. You know, like onions, onions, as we call it here. Like I just, because I've, I've get like, you know, chip got Dante as, as the freshman and, you know, you, you, you, you talked to him about, you know, early on, he's like, all right, we're going to give him the, give him the deal and poof, it's over. And he's going to Oregon and he sits. I just, I just want more from him that, that, that's what it is for me. And I wonder about that with two, two coordinator changes and an old line that really has some holes to fill. And on the other side bench, yes, the front four, everyone knows their names on the defensive line. But when you go through it, the guys they all rotated last year, they're gone. Yeah, they did lose depth. Yeah. They're got Notre Dame. They're Ole Miss. They're at Georgia. I think Alabama got like, they're gone. So, you know, in big 10, like if it was the Pac-12, I wouldn't worry about it. But now that you're in the big 10, like you got to mount up and do it again. So that's why I have those teams ahead of Oregon. It is fascinating. And it's why it's why Dante more is back. And I've talked to people in the league with the Raiders. Like it was legitimately, you know, going through their due diligence mid season going on in the road and watching it, like it was going to be a Mendoza versus more. And there were some people in the more camp and some people in the Mendoza camp. But, but credit to Dante more realizing I'm not there yet. So I do think there's this feeling nationally. Like he's been crowned and it like is Arch going to be, is Arch going to maybe be able to push him for QB1. But I think when you talk to people around the league, it's like this thinks, if Dante does what we hope he does and what we've seen from other quarterbacks, we're really talented kind of in that third year starter. Like then yeah, it's his to take is the number one overall pick next year, right? But it's not a given with this this quarterback class that includes, includes Arch, includes CJ Carr, includes Mensa, as we talked about, include like the list goes out. There's, we got to through 14 guys. And then we're all like first, first day, second day guys and 11 guys. We have I think going into the into our preseason top 50 that will release it right before the, the start of the NFL season. Okay. So, so it's a huge year for Dante. It's not just show up, stay healthy and everything's going to be fine. I do want to transition to this because because we are coming off of Dan landing in the organ ducts mentioned I were talking yesterday. And we want to, we want to kind of get your feeling here because we, you know, for a long time, it was like urban, urban is going to win and or if it's not, urban, it's Sabin. And maybe Harbaugh was steel one and Kirby is a Sabin disciple and like it's kind of all the same names winning the national champion. Davos in there for a couple of them. You know, so, but now we've got signety kind of breaking through last year. And you're looking at this field and a lot of these teams that we're talking about in the top 10, top 15, they've got coaches. It's like, can they break through? I think in the back of all of our minds, the AP voters, the coaching pool, like all of us were like, and I want to list these names for you. Steve Sarkiesian, Dan Lanning, Marcus Freeman, Mario Cristobal, Lane Kiffin. If you had to pick the one you think that's ready to break through this year, Marcus Freeman, you're going to say Marcus Freeman. Now we got no day one. I mean, yeah. Now I want to make it harder on you. Okay. Rank them. Who I would want. If I had a team to play in a national championship, who I want to coach them. Yes. Yeah. Yes. What are you think is going to break through? Rank your confidence level in their ability to break through. So starting with Marcus Freeman, obviously. And then after that, Sarkiesian, Lanning, Cristobal, Kiffin, those four. How would you rank them in terms of your confidence? Lanning, Cristobal, Sark, Lane. Wow. Surprise. I didn't know that you'd have Lanning is too. Yeah. Well, I mean, there's also this side, guys, that you want to talk resources and like, I don't know when the last time you were out there, I'm just going to tell you, it's totally different. It's brand new in Eugene, like it didn't, it didn't even need to be. I know. It's insane. Like the whole off of the football office, the new state of the art with the waterfalls in the office and the elevator and the coaches. Like that's where they built the practice field now. You still got the musk or not. Yeah. I think that's the money indoor facility, but they just build a whole new indoor. Like it, it's on top of all that. And, you know, it's funny because I look at Lanning and, you know, he comes on game day, he's tremendous. Like he, you know, access here, come on in, whatever you need. And I watch Big Ten media day this year and the second question, the second question to him is, coach, what are you going to do in the playoff if you get another rematch? Because it hasn't worked out for you. And just like, I'm like, well, you know, see, I have also a different opinion of Oregon, like having to play against them. When I played, like, that's like, we got there right after the rich books. I had to play against Killy Smith. Like it was, it was going. And it was like, oh, man, we got to go to Eugene. Those people are crazy. Like, so I've seen this ascension firsthand and then working, you know, and covering their things. They have everything. They have everything they need. They got to do it. So I believe the time is now I'm not saying they can't. I believe they could win a national championship. I would throw money on them. But when you, when you do this deal and those names are awesome because you talk about a window, right? Then Mario, Mrs. Window last year, like how many times are you going to get back to that point? And with landing, all right, I got all this and I have Dante more for this year. So the Dante window, it's closing, you know, so you got a strike while it's hot. And I think Sargs in that conversation with Arch, like how much better? How much better? Like I haven't seen Roger Bell's kid play. Everybody talks about him. I'm like, I guess he's the next guy. But this is the art. Like you brought our chair to win a national championship. Not a question came to Oregon to win a national championship. So it's, it's a great question. But that's the way I would rank. Why if in last, why kiffin last too much too soon. Now it's specifically this. Yeah. Yeah. Like now, if there's a guy that could cool, what if I said to you in the next in the next three years? I probably take LSU. I probably take kiffin. Uh, you know, I don't know if you guys saw the, did you see the bid at the press commerce the other day with the green dot? The question else. No, I missed it. Somebody dug the numbers up on him and Charlie Weiss since the green dot came in effect. Number one in points, number one in your ass, number one, like it's college football. I'm like, right in this doubt. I'm like, this is a topic. Like we need to talk about this. Yeah. Because that's an awesome, like, and then immediately some, but some of other SEC coaches has obviously about it. And he pointed right at Indiana. And he's like, look how late Indiana comes out of the huddle. You can't, you can't, like you want to try and do that on defense. You can. Yeah. Like, you know, when it shuts off, Indiana comes out of the huddle at 15. It's shut. You know, so like this, that whole, I'm like, oh, my God, I haven't thought about, I was so mad. I hadn't thought about it. But I'm like to look at this, like, change in rosters and then I yell and transfer portal. And I'm like, the green dot, the green because you talked to defensive guys. They'll put it on, you know, the quarterback of defense or they'll put it a guy where they want to line up all over the place. Yeah. So it's, uh, they're, there's, there's plenty of fascinating. Yeah. All right. Listen, the more, the more conversation in the coach conversation has me thinking about, I mean, that Indiana team was loaded last year. I don't know. We didn't realize how good they were until the end. 20 and the preseason match, 20 defense was insane, insane, right? So all that said, you still needed Mendoza, like, like, make some magic happening. You know, at Iowa Penn State, he had to make, he had to, like, put his balls on the table and make a play, right? Well, I'll say, we think Josh Hoover's doing that. That's that's my problem. Who's the quarterback that you most think can have the Mendoza moments this year? The guy that can do that when it's all in the line. Is it arch? I don't know. I would. I mean, here's the other problem. How many situations is CJ Carr going to be? Right. Because of the schedule you're saying, right? You know, like that. And you go back into not a ton, but I wouldn't mind him. I know who mentioned, I know who mentioned, say, who would I. He won't either, right? Because they won't, they won't be, they'll, they'll get eaten up. I don't think they're going to be good enough to, to put them in. See, I look at that as what, what are the doctor? What did you need ordered right there to doctor ordered a new OC and a new align coach? Yes. Yes. I love you. I think so. The sneak. They're just like that tackle. They got a peak. That tackle to carry is peak. He could blame. They get five. I went through. I'd be better on 15 preseason. And for people who say it doesn't correlate it. Well, that's NFL process. I think every year, except for Cam Newton, since I've been doing this, every year, since Cam Newton, that team had Cam and Nick Farley, the defensive tackle. Fairly, yeah. And, and like, I remember being at the pro day. I'm like, all right, guys, pack up the cameras. Cam, Cam and Nick are gone. Nothing to see. Yeah. But other than that, every year, it's like top three or four. And, and, and Niana was, was like tied for fourth, I think, with eight pros, eight players drafted from last year's group. So every year, there's a, there's a strong correlation. You better have top five NFL draft because not only is it the talent, but that means you've got experience talent. You know, guys that are, that are about to move on and get drafted. So there's a correlation there. And I'm not saying South Carolina depth or top to bottom, but they got five dudes, which would put them at second most in our top one, 15. You know, so, so that part is interesting to me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They're going to be. He's he's going to be better. Missouri two years ago. I mean, he, that game, it was the back and forth. Luther Burden was making plays late from Missouri. That was just, to me, that was, I call them Superman after that game because he just put South Carolina on his back and said, we're not, we're just not losing this game. And then, then I, then I think about, you know, A&M last year and Bama the year before, like, you got to close those games. Got to close them. It's true. Got to close them. I'll make excuses, but you're right. Todd, to go back to your thing, I would say, Mensa. Yeah, really? I think now their schedule might be easier than Notre Names. Yeah, it's the same neighborhood. I mean, they just tag. I don't see anyone. If they, if they don't win the ACC this year, they shouldn't be allowed in the playoff. Yeah, they haven't won it since they, we've done this. This episode is brought to you by Zippercruiter. It's the little things that make a huge difference. Like, why is Ohio State wide receiver you? Yeah, they're talented. They've got JSN and Jeremiah Smith. And in between them, you've got Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave and all these other stars. But you know what they all do? They block. They get in position. They fight for their teammates. They do all the little things. And that's what's important when you look at what we're talking about here today, when you want people who will go that extra mile, use Zippercruiter. Try it free at zippercruiter.com/michet. It uses powerful matching technology and a feature that shows you the most interested candidates first. Try Zippercruiter and meet great candidates who will go the extra step for your job. Four out of five employers who post on Zippercruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Try it for free today at zippercruiter.com/michet. That's zippercruiter.com/michet. Zippercruiter. Meet your match on Zippercruiter. We're a fan dual group. They keep the lights on. Best partners in the world, man. We appreciate everything they do for this show. So let's work off of their odds. We've got the 2026 college football futures from fan dual provided. The odds are here to win the national championship and kind of in line with some of the AP and coaches, polls Ohio States of one Notre Dame is at two plus 600 Ohio States of plus 550. Then you've got Oregon at three plus 750. And then everyone beyond this point is plus 800 or more. Georgia at four, Texas at five, Indiana is plus 900 sitting at six. And then everyone beyond this spot seven down to 12 are all plus 1000. And really, it's just Miami's plus 1100. Then everyone else beyond that is plus 2000 or more. So Texas, tech Oklahoma, Ole Miss, LSU and Alabama round out the top 12, all 2000 plus odds, right? What jumps out of you? Indiana nine to one down there. Ole Miss is, I worry it's getting too hot and heavy with the love that finally people are realizing. I look at that. I mean, you guys watched it. I mean, you dove in on that. I was at the Georgia game last year, the first one in Georgia where there was basically three third downs. He didn't convert, right? In the fourth quarter. And they lose the game. I think it's by eight. I think it was a bad beat in there. But when I watched the next week and going to Norman, Oklahoma, being up 22 to 10 at halftime and blowing the lead in the third quarter and then coming back in that place against that defense, against that coaching staff, like, it was just like, oh, yeah, Lane Kiffin won a road game. I'm like, hold on a second here. Like, no, teams don't do that. Yes. Teams don't collapse one week and then collapse in 30 minutes of football and come back and play their best when they need to. And it was crappy conditions. Rain, you know, rain jackets on the coaches and stuff like that. And I just, and I, you know, as it went on, I'm like, well, they're going to get in the playoff, okay? And put no one. And then you have the fiasco where everyone's talking about the other side. Everyone's talking about Lane going to LSU. And here's Paul. He's just getting his guys ready. Knowing that they got a chance that we go to the playoff. And then we get to the fiesta bowl to play Miami and you're talking to fans and it's like, man, they are, they're good to go. Like, they got their guy. They got like, they were so tired. And I'm like, wow, this is like a breath of fresh air, man. Like, we didn't, I didn't even consider this side of the story, you know? So when you, and then, you know, everybody's going to their interviews with them now and golding does this thing at media day, which is, I mean, he's going to, by the way, by the way, two throws from Chambliss against Miami, right? That was the two throws 40 yards. You give him 20, 25 more seconds on that clock. Yep. That's a whole different story now. Yeah. It's, it's the last series where they, you know, they wanted the, uh, the, the, the P.I. in the last play. Look what it did. Those two plays. Like, that's team tape for two minute and, and dire straits, um, you know, football at the end of a game where you need to, like, it was unbelievable. Kind of reminded me what the chiefs did with Kelsey to beat Josh Alan, where it's like, yes. If we get down to him, like, Kelsey, we could, we could kill the clock. If we could, give me a few seconds. I'm good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The middle. And so I look at that in those circumstances. And, you know, he had some struggles. They were on the ropes against Washington State. I think that was the week after the LSU game. You know, so I look at what they been through. But I also just look at a locker room now that is behind the guy, like 100%. You know, Golding has the, the buy-in. What do you, what do you mean though? He's going to get caught. Are you going to say something? I want to know what you're saying. Golding's going to get caught using too many cuss words. He's a like guy. He got to be where the. Oh, buddy. He is. I mean, unfiltered. Yeah. So, and there's also this aspect of he has to handle this now for a year. He was a genius in doing it for what? Four weeks. Yeah. And, you know, hear him talk at media days. He's like, you know, they had those God awful ice storms after the Super Bowl. I want to say midfibre. Yeah, remember that? And he was like, that was the first time I got to sit down and like it sank in. Yeah, I'm like, man, that's like two, three months into the job where he's just going, going, going, going. They're trying to take our players. Where this and that. I don't know. I got to hire an OC now. And all this is, like, I really don't know who's going to be on my staff. And to hear him, like come to fruition there, I thought was was really good. But they're, they're a wild card. Because the other thing, their schedule is tougher this year. Yeah, you know, it is. And you know, you think back, like I would imagine the year before the Jackson Dart year, they had more players drafted than it did last year, right? Like that, that was supposed to be the team. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, like, yes, you talk about, you know, the big detackle and there was receiver, whatever playing in. Yeah. It was a two years ago. Two years ago. That was the team. You know, that was supposed to go and they will lose the Kentucky and think it was Florida at the end. Yeah, Florida. Florida game is. tough brutal as Jackson starts to work again, worse finish. As a draft guy, by the way, the defensive tackle Ole Miss Will Eccles is a dude. I was thinking of Walter Nolan. That's what I was thinking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Will Eccles have this year. Yeah. 52. Dude. Yup. And there's a lot of guys that are back that made names for themselves in that playoff run. So that's a wild card to me. If they take the next step, I do wonder, you mentioned straddling. I think he's a huge loss for what he did. And being a guy that, like, you guys do the receivers, but like, I love guys that run everything. Like I'm watching Jackson Smith a jig, but on hard knocks, it's like, oh, God, man, there's nothing he can't do. No. Right. And then when you meet him, he's like, six, one, maybe, buddy. Maybe the most unassuming superstar in professional sports. Yeah, those guys. So I wonder, but, you know, you have your quarterback back. Lacey's a game breaker. Love it. So I would look at those numbers, Ole Miss, and the one. Well, you know what's interesting with Ole Miss and Oklahoma. They're both plus and A&M. The Oklahoma and Ole Miss are plus 180 to even make the college football playoff. Which feels like, like, one of them is gone. And the name is plus 190. The SEC is tricky, right? Because it's the big 10s, the dominant conference. We all agree. It's been three years. Haven't been in the SEC hasn't even been in the national championship. We get that, but the, but part of the problem, and I'm not excusing anything is the cannibalization of its own conference. How many good team? We're talking about South Carolina. It might be what, like the ninth round coming into the year, but they're like, talk about a brutal out and could go, could surprise people and go win eight, nine, ten games. So it's tricky in the SEC. Like, you got a riff from a, from a wagering standpoint. You got a really like target. Okay, these are the three teams that I'm riding with three or 14. I'm riding within the SEC. If you're going to try to get, get some money back. Yeah. And also on the other side, you mentioned a big 10. That's probably the most interesting tear to me is when you mentioned the big three in Ohio State, Oregon, and Indiana. Next, you got Washington, Michigan, Penn State, USC. One of those teams is definitely going. I'm starting to think that two are, I think, and what's key about that tear, I just said, they all play each other. And I mean, you want to talk quarterbacks there. You got every range of quarterback there is. Yeah, Rocco doing his thing, you know, and then you have the ultimate former five star, you know, does he change with, with Jason Becht, the new offense coordinator, and you saw what, what Becht did with, with damn peer at Utah. Now, I just want to warn people when they mentioned Jason Beck and what he did at Utah. He did have to what top 12 tackles. Yeah. Yes. Like, yes. Please, it's just like Georgia, like, uh, Georgia flaming out into playoff two years in a row. Like they lost their quarterback in the SEC championship game. Like no name beat them when they had Gunner Stockton as first start ever. Like you need to throw something out there for that. But that when I mentioned these big 10 teams, the one thing that kills me is I didn't even mention Iowa. And I know what I was just going to ask you, can I was speaking to this thing? Can I will make some noise? No, they realized that they were good last year, man. Every, like, they lost by five, three, like, it was nothing more than five, man. They played Indiana's tough as anyone good. They played Oregon. And then you see on the ropes, and then they put one off. Yep. They had the brutal loss that I was state early. That was tough in the Indian and Oregon. In those games. Yeah. The Oriental like Dante made every throw of four for four on the last drive. They were like, it was cooked. I thought Mendoza was cooked in that game. And I think I was talent levels actually better this year than it was last year, too. And I love that scary. Cain Piper at guard. They look like guard. Unbelievable. They're those, give me those two guys. And then like it's, that they get an opportunities too. Like they, they get Ohio State to come to them. They get and no, they go to Michigan. Yeah. That's, that's the thing right there, right? It starts at the end of September at Michigan. Then they go, they host Ohio State. They go to Washington. Yeah. I think they can get Michigan depending on how, how with development, we see a quarterback for Michigan. We'll see they might be able to get Michigan and they might be able to get Washington. That's going to be a tough game on the road. They figure it out. The rest of the season's manageable. Yeah. For sure. And Washington's very interesting to me because they get Iowa and Penn State to come to them. You got to win those games. You have to win those games. Yes. Uh, I'm done. You're going to launch tape. Ben, Bench doesn't like Dimon. I know you. I can hold no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, last podcast. There's plenty to revisit. Don't do what? Order back versus NFL prospect. Check the tape. Love. Dimon Williams is a college quarterback. See the problem now is I'm going to have to triple down on the line. I'm on top 10 soon. Like I just, all right. So you're, you're tripling down him and love it, right? Oh, man, I love, I love me some love it. Steve, what do you think I love it? Well, this is my favorite part of it. Two ass clowns, right? I get you two ass clowns with your thumbs going, right? And we go, how many, how many stars does he have, Todd? I haven't heard that once this summer. Well, yeah, not this summer because I shut you up and Carson Beck in Miami, make a run. I mean, I'm a man. You guys the playbook. I wasn't going to ask him how he snaps today. I did. It's on the checklist to get to how many snaps Levit had. What do you think about Levit? Steve, he's, he's definitely going to win the Heisman this year, right? I am not there yet, but every single person I talked to down there said he's grasping it as good as can be. Really? Yeah. That's good. And you know, going back and watching him, that was, that was like a nervous laughter from Mention. Do you hear that? Oh, that's good. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, it's good. Yeah, that you also have to realize like what? Like, didn't you guys claim to be the lane podcast last year? Like, there is a buyer. Okay, hey, where it's going to be like lane. I'm all in boom. Go on. Wait. I would say I was drinking. I have been told on social that if I mentioned lane's name again, they're unsubscribing. I was working. The lane kiffin is a reformed human being. We're doing hot yoga. He's a much better, you know, he's in a much better spot overall in his life. I was drinking the cool aid and that kind of, I mean, that fell apart at the end for me. I don't care about any of that. I just, I know it doesn't matter. He developed and what needs to be developed and what tools he has with Levit. I think it's going to, I think everyone's going to be like, how did we, like, how do we not foresee this? I think he's, I think Levit's going to have a fucking monster year this year for LSU. And I can't wait for it because I'm going to have, I'm going to have you back on the show in like mid October. Here's my problems. Here's my problem. When I watch Levit last year and the little, you know, take compared, it looks like a kid that got paid handsomely and said, I'm good. That's what it looks like. I hear that, that isn't easy to make to be stayed. Oh my god. That's the first fact. I'm like, now, do you think maybe we're refocused? Do you think maybe we're kind of reenergized? No, that's absolutely possible. Do you think maybe some of the, like, the, the, the, let's play on schedule? Let's play within the confines of the offense. Let's, let's, I'm going to know where my eyes need to go and let's run this thing. And then I can take off and run if, if I'm not operating with what Lane wants. Do you think maybe we get, we get the, the, the Gargrills and place for him to, to take that like, take a, yeah, it's fixed. It's all done. You're good. You're all, you're all set. I'm not saying it's fixed. I'm saying wait for it. We'll see. So you trust him. Who's approached do you take? Who's approached do you trust more? Lane with Levit or Shanahan with Hoover? Oh, you're a jerk. Yeah, there's no dits and no, he's like, you just don't even. Well, moving, removing NFL, because Hoover's not. Yeah, no, for this year, for this year, college football, absolutely Shanahan's dignity, that, that just Mac truck rolling down the highway. I, I saw with Mendoza, after watching his tape at Cal, I was like, this guy's the first round talent, but my god, like the turnover worthy play is like, and, and, and all be it, he had to try to take some chances. Yeah. Al roster and supporting cast, but I, but like, if, if signety and Shanahan can like, can get him to play on schedule, understand where to go with the ball, understand when to take these chances versus the, and there were even times, like the reason he had to be awesome against Iowa and the late in the game was because he, he mucked it up. The reason he had to be awesome late in the game against Oregon is because it didn't play really great and he had that with the pick six, right? The reason he had to be great in the late fourth quarter against Penn State is that another interception. So it's still in his DNA every once in a while, but my gosh, was there a more efficient guy in the red zone, third downs, fourth downs, late, like, like final five, seven minutes, whatever analytics you want to do in the fourth quarter, he was, he was literally, he now is the poster child for what it needs to look like to be a number one overall pick in the NFL or to be a very high draft pick in the NFL. That's what it looks like when, as you said, onions on the table, like those are the Mendoza moments, right? And so, and just, just pummeling teams with fade stops, like just accurate and as hard as you on the road, like watch serratly in that game, like the Oregon play. It's going mental that place and it's just dot, dot, dot, yeah, make sure you're the biggest politician that I've ever seen in my life, dude. We just asked you to do a conversation about Mendoza. You went on three minutes about Mendoza instead of just saying, uh, Shanahan Hoover, like Shanahan. That process probably Shanahan. I'll probably trust that more. But it doesn't seem like it's said it was Mendoza from Cal and he's doing this and he's doing that. And no, just say it. You know it's true for, for the college football purposes, you trust Shanahan getting Hoover to play within the structure more than Lane with, with, let it not, but not, not by much. I just watched it. I watched Ferris Ferris state 240, never say die. And I L transfer, our transfer portal guy, that nobody else in the country wanted. That's the point. Not even the starter coming in. That's a good point. Yes. And now I'm, now we're all talking about him because he deserves to be as a first round draft pick and like, and maybe in one of like the two or three faces of college football this year. We're talking about Jackson Dart, who was a linebacker playing quarterback and the development that we saw. There we go. Three years. So, yeah, take your fucking Joshua and go and go with it. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm retracting Hoover and I'm going with Sam Levin. Like question is the problem. What do you want to do, October? Look at this, look at the schedule for, uh, for LSU. What do you tell me what week you want to come back on, Steve, so we can revisit this? I'll, I'll take a look right now. We'll, we'll do it. Yeah. I'm not, we're just, we're going to tell, we're going to tell, we're going to tell, talk to you. I just appreciate it. We're talking right now. We're going to rack it for a month, for a, a Monday afternoon and after that week, we'll have Steve back on. I thought if he's got time, LSU could be one in, one in four and I'll still bring him back on and I'll just sit here and I'll go, I'll just take it. No, but I got to feel and I'm going to be delivering some blows. No, you won't. I love it. I love it. Steve took a drink of his coffee after he asked the question. Yes. I noticed that. I'll, I'll, I'll just hang up. I noticed that. I'll hang up and listen. All right, but where would this go? Firework in here. If you haven't gotten to it already, what are you hot on? Anything? Another question for you guys. Yep. And we're, we're throwing this around. This makes me nervous. And I think, I think we touched on it a bunch here actually. If you were going to pick a quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy, and if you were going to pick a quarterback to be the number, the, or the first quarterback taken, would you be confident in taking one guy? No. I, I'm a lot higher on more than you are. And I think that the, I like, I'm a, or, I like, I like his premise. Let's, let's do it. Yeah. It is. It's great questions. Right. If he had that good of a year, that, because it's not going to be a quarterback, I don't think it's going to be a quarterback. That's not like, if Arch is the Heisman Trophy winner, he's coming out and he might, he's probably the first overall pick. Correct. If Dante does same thing, Mensa, if Mensa, I get what you're saying now, car, car, car does lock it. Yeah. It's your thing. The field is so competitive that you can't, you can't go in it. All right. Okay. Probably not. No, he can't. You go first. That's what I'm saying. Like, so that's where. Yeah. But. That can. It's actually a good question. And I, at first, I was, I was, I was, here we go, the, these are courtesy of Fandals Sports Book. CJ Car is plus 700. And I'm telling you right now, that son of a gun wins the Heisman, I'd have to believe that we're, we're talking about at least a really big debate in the war room of the team that's drafting number one overall, that CJ Car's there with, with maybe a guy like Arch Manning, who's at number two. Darian Mensa is the interesting one. Julian Sain would be the one where I'd say no. Okay. And I see he's in the tier with me with Mensa because I want, like obviously, why are you saying Sain because of Jeremiah Smith? He's going to tell you it's, it's the old Ohio State quarterback with Ohio State receivers and like, when they had Zeke Elliott and those other guy, like everybody was taking votes away from each other, right? Car is not going to have that. And so is Sain. Yep. You know? So that's what makes me wonder about those two. And that's why if I did take one, I should, but it won't take care. Arch should, but it won't matter. You know what I mean? Like Arch should have, if he goes and wins, if he's right, if they're, they're at the end, making a run to the national championship and he's there for the Heisman, it's probably, it probably means that Wingo caught the ball a little bit more consistently. Cam Coleman was absolutely awesome, you know, but but it won't matter. Mm-hmm. Fair or not? That's a fascinating question. What I was going to tell you guys is you guys do this quarterback and it's awesome. Everyone loves talking about quarterbacks because it hits both platforms at NFL and college, but you guys should have Fandall weekly post odds on who the first quarterback drafted is going to be and see how it changes. We will actually be awesome. We will do the cause. You know what we're doing there for the first time ever. Like every week do it before the season race, especially because this year demands it with this correct. I mean, there's a weekly quarterback stockwatch top 10 guys guys moving in, moving out, moving up, moving down in some weeks, maybe they don't move at all and that's content too. And we will actually a Tucker put it on the to-do list, my, my man, but let's, let's reach out to our folks at Fandall. I think that that would be an awesome compliment to that stockwatch every week. It's just a great go for us. Hey, put the producer at once in a while. Yeah. Yeah. So you do my, I still love that he did this man is sitting in the middle of the screen was and we were all like in our 20s was the was my boss, our producer and was trying to mean what a terrible terrible trying to get me trying to get me in red car to draw the places on time to even more like maybe hung over on the Saturday, like maybe or, but I on the, I on the prize Saturday night, but to get us to like come in and out of breaks on time, not to be out like talking to seven hours, every seven hours he had to, like we're out of Montana, like trying to like shepherd the herd, you know, yes. And I will say Tucker and the guys behind the scenes and the ladies behind the scenes, you have it so much easier because Mick Shea is only wearing a hoodie, imagine him with a button down shirt and like Todd, you might want to do a couple more buttons, maybe just a couple, just I'm like, nobody will never forget Lee, nobody wants to see those four chest hairs hanging out. Lee, Lee fitting sending me out a couple like game day features and like, bro, you're doing great in the content, everything. But like, why is it, why is it every time I get, get sent back these awesome interviews and everything's like perfectly done. But I look over and there you are with like some, like you're going up to a nightclub with your shirt. Like what's going on? Oh, man, we have, I think we've grown up a little bit in some ways. All right. Love you, man. This is, this is awesome. Like this is the best. I'm pumped for you to see is the S V pod, we got in your name on that thing yet. No. No. I mean, Scotty, I mean, he, he, he, you don't always carry, but there are times. And it wouldn't be the thing without you. So let's get the S V pod with, with a, with a 82, right? I, I enjoy the amusement park ride discussion that goes back between Guardians of the Galaxy, one episode, Hershey Park, another, by the way, you're a madman. I don't know how you get on those things. I wanted to bet. I wanted to, because McShay with this Sam Levitt, this point, like I'm going to be 50 January first. And I dusted off the roll. Like, I was worried last time I went and I was like, I don't feel good. And then, you know, my, my youngest is older and like, we did them all this year. And I'm like, McShay definitely still loves roller coasters, because he wants to go on and ride like Sam Levitt. Yeah. I do. I do. I love this ride. You're on. I can't do it. They're incredible, man. If you get a chance, but the roller coasters all day long, they're awesome, man. Awesome. My grandfather built the cedar point, the largest wooden roller coaster in the world at the time. He's part of the team that built that. So I've been doing, I've been rocking roller coasters story, but everything, dude, well, I'm just trying to fit in. He's already traveled out. No one else went from Italy to Montana. Cedar Point, Sam Levitt, with a life, this is very good. You can get them on the FB pod college game day and one more before I go. So you have LSU in the playoff? Yeah. Okay. I knew. It's a good bet. It's a good bet. It really is. You're going to know talent. You're going to know quick too. Very. They could bring it together. That's awesome. Very talented. Yeah. Very. Yeah, I'm going to ride her down. I mean, I can't come this far and then just like, yeah, I'm not going to jump off Cliff with it. So fine. Let's go. All right. All right. We'll talk to you soon. Hope we pick a date. What date is he coming back on mentioned after what day and his September early October, the old miss. I'll be flying to L.A. from Monday night. Fly in a Monday night football Sunday. Here you go, McShay. 5 a.m. from Memphis to L.A.X. after lane in Oxford. After that. Okay. It's a date and a long shot for you to land. Long shot. Malchite. Tony. He has been trophy. What is his? What's his number? Throw that on the board. So he's going back to our guys are going to take away like they're going to they're going to bury teams and he's going to be throwing touchdown passes. He's going to be running him. He'll put them back for pot returns. He's going to so he can be like plus he can be 30 to one or more. And Leonard Moore is the best player in college football. Here we go. You might not be wrong. Oh, just you could say I'm right. There's the better ways to say that. You're right. Thank you. Here's the producer. Let's go. 30. Oh, oh, Dan just threw it. There you go. 30. 35 to one for Tony. You better bang that quick before this before this. I'm going to hit that. A little sharing. Sharing in a couple of hours. Throw some money on there. Let's be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas star casino or 18 plus and present in DC. Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem call 1 800 gambler or 1 800 my reset call 1 8 8 8 7 8 9 7 7 7 7 7 7 or visit cc pg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit md gambling help.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling help line ma.org or call 1 800 327 5050 for 24 seven support in Massachusetts or call 1 8 7 7 8 hope and why or text hope and why in New York for Louisiana call 1 8 7 7 7 7 7 7 0 7 8 6 7 (upbeat music)