Judges Need to Stay Out of College Football + 1 on 1 with Sean McDonough | The BFW Show 8.20.26

What's up Brandon Walker College Football Show fans? You can find every episode of the Brandon Walker College Football Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Listen up here, my wife and I are always getting 10k steps a day, and what do I need? Bombas. Summer's here and we're living for all the outdoors, from runs in the park to beach days, backyard barbecues, even my walks every single day. Bombas makes your comfiest summer staples so you can make the most out of all your summer plans. They've got a whole line of pro-level, sports-specific socks for golf, yoga, the gym, and socks for every kind of runner. What I love about Bombas is not only do they keep my legs feeling fresh after a long flight when I go to Italy, even on my honeymoon, they also look amazing and come in vibrant summer colors. Then there's the best base layers you'll ever own. Bombas underwear and t-shirts, breathable, flexible, really soft. 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Event trading offered by DraftKings Predictions, a CFTC-registered introducing broker. Trading involves risk of loss. Market availability varies. Eligibility restrictions apply. $50 every seven days via click-to-claim issued in non-withdrawable prediction dollars that expire in one year. Terms, DKNG.co slash predictions promo. Nationwide based on Sportsbook predictions and free-to-play sports contest availability varies by state. For more information, visit DraftKings.com. It's the Brandon Walker College Football Show. I am Brandon Walker. Liam Blutman is alongside me. Lukey Blutman's on the ones and twos. Hello, here we go. College football. We're going to talk about it. I was just thinking, Liam, before we get started, I have several things to say before we get started. First of all, chat, fill in here. Podcast listeners, thank you. Everybody, please like the YouTube stream and please subscribe if I can have, let's see, if I can have, I need 100,000 subscribers by like week three. How about that? We've added about 20,000 in the last couple of weeks. So we need to get to 100. I'm thinking maybe, Liam, of a marathon unblocking stream where I just unblock 18,000 people and I do all 18,000, but you guys got to subscribe during the stream. That could take a while. I don't know. That's just something I'm throwing around in my mind. Do you even know, not to question your ball knowledge, because you're young, but the young kids now, do you even know what the Big 8 Conference was? Of course I know what the Big 8 Conference was, but I wasn't hip to it. Like, I wasn't watching it. It's a great logo. So you're aware. You just, yeah. Yeah, it's like the Pac-12. Like, the kids these days don't know. Well, we had two conferences. We had the Big 8 and the Southwest Conference, and then they kind of merged, kind of, and became the Big 12. That's what we had. The Big 8. The Big 8 was the ones, the north half of the Big 12. Like, the Southwest Conference was all the Texas schools and Arkansas. Not all the Texas schools. Like, TCU wasn't there. But hold on. All right, hold on. Southwest Conference was Oklahoma, Texas. Wait, no. Hold on. Hold on. Everybody calm down. Big 8. Kansas, Kansas State. Iowa State, Nebraska. Missouri. Colorado. I'll work on it later. Anyway, God bless the Big 8, and God bless college football. We got several things to talk about. First of all, I'm very angry at Liam. Liam has a YouTube channel you should go subscribe to, and he has an interview he did with Drew Mestemaker that you should go watch, and you can go watch it after this, or you could have watched it before. I don't know. It was a good interview. Liam, thoughts? My thoughts are you should subscribe to Liam Blutman's channel. Drew Mestemaker is incredible. Great, young, humble kid. Heck of an arm. He's got a little bit of fineness. He needs to come out of his shell a bit more, but that happens with time, and he's going to compete for the Heisman this year. Checking in from Hickory, Mississippi, Newton County. Thank you, chat. Best Mexican restaurant I've ever ate at was in Newton County. It's called Mexico Lindo. I think it's gone. Yeah, it's crazy, but it was. It was great. It was phenomenal. I'm not one to tip off and let you go watch the conference. The competition, but I believe, I don't know when his show is. I think it's at 7. Josh Pate has a show, too, and I'm on it tonight. I went there yesterday. I went to Nashville. Stayed there about an hour and a half and was there for, you know, we did 90 minutes of good interviews, saw a lot of people, and check it out. I think it was very, very fun, and out of respect for his channel and his show, and if you guys like me like this, I didn't cuss. I think I said bullshit one time. Didn't really. So it's a cleaner version of Brandon. Walker. Lastly, before we go on, I got to thank everybody. When people want to send me stuff for the background, I let them send it, and shout out to the college football playoff. I got a letter from the college football playoff today, and they sent me a miniature trophy. So there you go. I got that right there. How about that? That's pretty cool. Yeah, that is pretty cool, and what you can't tell is there's a density to it, like a heft, and I know you don't really understand, but there's a weight. There's a weight. There's a weight to it. There's something. Yeah, there's something to it. I got this book. What book? Part of my book. Oh, it's okay. What book is it? Pardon me. It's called Part of My Book. I think you're in it. I don't think I am. At least I haven't found myself. Bristol, Wisconsin. Shit, you're right across the road from me. All right. Hello. What do we got? So I have three things, voicemails, and tonight, a happy, fun thing for me. Sean McDonough's on the show. He has trouble with the snap, Sean McDonough. Sean McDonough. Bring him slides. He is safe. Sean McDonough. 40 years he's been doing this crap, man. 44 years he's been doing this. Unbelievable. We talked to Sean McDonough about the big games he's had, about his partnership with McElroy, about all these great things. Sean fucking McDonough's on the show tonight, and that'll be the interview at the end. All right. Here we go. I got three things, and then we'll get to – here's my three things. I'm going to talk about the judges in college football. I'm going to talk about the top five teams. But the more I think about, the more I think I'm a little low on them. The more I think about, they're going to be pretty good. I start to turn the corner on these five teams. I'll get to those in a minute. And then I have kept myself away from this. But, Blutman, going to do some uniform reveals. That's going to be a big deal. We talked earlier before you left, made sure you didn't see a few. Okay. Okay. I'm excited for it. I just want to warn the audience. I've officially gotten to the point where I don't need glasses. So that might happen. Get yourself used to it. Get yourself ready. Now, now I can't see the screen, but I can see the words down here. So deal with this. Make whatever peace with whatever God you've got to make peace with whatever. Just do it. Just know that. this might happen. That's all. All right. Number one, get these judges out of college football. I have done a good job of focusing most of my passions in college football on the things I'm passionate about. I don't say much about valuations. I don't talk about NIL that much. I don't really get into the collectives and all that stuff. I just focus on what I see on the field, judging it, and all that stuff. As such, whenever there's a ruling where you can have five years to play, I just go on about my business. Once they took all the regional conferences away from me, and once they took all the college football I knew, I just decided I would focus on the field. I'm not going to be a guy who gets into the minutia. Ross Ellinger is incredible at it. All these guys are incredible at it. I'm not somebody who's going to get the minutia of it. I just want to say this. Over the last 24 to 48 hours, another ruling has been handed down to me. I'm not somebody who gets handed down by another judge. Every couple of weeks, we have a judge dabbling in college football. Now we have players who have graduated or finished in college football. They've gone on to training camps. Now those guys see the money back in college football. They realize they're fighting for scraps. They are fighting for absolute scraps in the NFL. They're hoping to make a roster, hoping to make the league minimum this year. Over here, over my shoulder, there's $1.5 million to go play one more year at Ole Miss or LSU. I'm just using those as an example. There's a lot of money back here, and it's real hard to get it up here. And so a judge in Louisiana said, guess what, guys? Go for it. Transfer portal has to open because I say it has to open. Everybody likes to complain that the NCAA is toothless. Everybody likes to complain the NCAA can't do anything. Everybody likes to complain. that the NCAA is powerless and they don't matter. And everyone during the transfer portal and the NIL rollout is begging for someone, an authority figure, to step up and put the kibosh on things, to step up and say this is how the rule of law is going to be. Everybody wants that. I just broke my wrist on my microphone. Everybody wants that until it can affect your team, until you can see an advantage. Texas Tech wants the rule of law until they need Brendan Sorsby to play. Now, they've since washed their hands of it. It's all good. I'm just using that as an example. Ole Miss went and got a judge in Calhoun County, one county over from Lafayette County, to say, hey, Trinidad Chambliss can play. Texas Tech had a judge. Now a Louisiana judge has said these players can do this. Everybody wants the rule of law until they find a little bit of wiggle room, they get their judge to say this, and it just makes me ashamed. It makes me ashamed that our legal system has guys, that because of where they went to school, will sit on a bench, do a check mark, and say my school can do whatever they want. It's fucking sickening. It's fucking crazy. I can't believe we're letting the judicial system and college football mesh like this, where if your program wants to skirt some rules, all they got to do is find a friendly judge. Is that not fucking blowing y'all's mind? Fucking stop. That's crazy. College football is very important to me. It ain't judge important. Fuck. That's all I have to say about that. Plus, and I'll let Liam talk to this. At some point, guys, at some point, eligibility, time, all of it has to matter. These guys that are going to the NFL and seeing that they're not going to make a team and turn around and going right back to college football, it's over. You've already cashed some checks. You put on the helmets. You put on the uniforms. Liam, I know you're passionate about this. Go for it. Yeah. I feel like a decade ago, I'd have actually had a pit in my stomach reading all this news of guys entering the portal, going back to college after they've played preseason games, had two sacks, been on, currently on an active Cleveland Browns roster. Like, I'm numb to it now. This has been happening far too long. Let's not kid ourselves. College sports has always been the Wild West with under-the-table payments, money in hand. It's always been suspect. But when you're bringing the judicial branch, I can't say that word, just learn that, wow, judicial branch into things, and you're bending all these rules, and you're creating all these loopholes where we talk about mostly today, LeBron James, what's to say, like, legitimately, what is to say he can't be like, hey, I haven't used any college eligibility. I'm 50 years old. Maybe I want to play at Akron and try and bring them to the final four. Well, you'd probably win. You'd probably win the national championship at Akron and LeBron. But, like, that stuff is so crazy to me. We have, we live in a world now where your actions no longer have consequences somehow, some way. Brian Walker, if I'm a 12, if I was 12 years old, when I was 12 years old, and I said, hey, mom, dad, I want to play for this baseball team that has more of my friends on it, well, that's what I'm going to go and do. And guess what happens? If we're a bad team and I'm not having a fun summer, whatever, that's on me. Blood's on my hands. I deal with it. I made the decision. I end up not getting playing time or whatever, where I could have been on a better team, got more playing time. You live with the decision. So I don't know what's going on where there's this flip flop in where we're saying, hey, these guys are grown men. They're adults. And then we're also coddling them and being like, let's let them make sure every decision they make is correct. Where is the translation gang lost? I'm very confused. Yeah. And it makes me go cross-eyed, man. I'm just so damn tired of every time you turn around, somebody is looking for an avenue to skirt the system and to say, oh, there are no rules. Well, yeah, but maybe if we acted like there were rules, it would be better, right? Maybe if we acted like there was authority, maybe if we acted like we held ourselves to some standard of decorum and integrity, maybe then this shit wouldn't be going crazy every fucking week. Is that enough to ask? Is that too much to ask to say, hey, everybody act with integrity and decorum and everything like this, act like you've got some sense? No? Just go get a judge? All right, cheat all you want then. It's just, it's bullshit. Okay. I have multiple, multiple, multiple things to tell you about this sponsor over my shoulder. I'll talk about the best teams in the country, but there's no doubt the best candy in the country is right here. It is Reese's, of course. Reese's, the official candy partner of Barstool Sports. I'm about to get into my five teams that I'm turning the corner on that I originally was too low on, and now I'm getting higher and higher as we get close. But I've always been high on Reese's. Nothing better than the old school peanut butter cup. I like the likes and the hearts in the chat for Reese's right now. Thank you very much. Nobody, nobody dislikes Reese's. It is the absolute best. You can get it wherever you shop right now. Go get Reese's wherever you shop. All right, five teams. Five teams. We got Sean McDonough coming up. I'm going to kind of go through these pretty fast because I want to just be respectful to everybody's time here. Five teams that I. Lukey. Can I ask you a question? Yeah. Do you think. Do you think it was wise to put the five teams on the screen before I have unveiled any of the five teams? Yeah, I'm just asking. I'm just asking as the producer of the show and I've not given you, you know, I've kind of let you do your own. I've kind of let you do your own thing. Do you think it was wise when I said I'm going to roll out my five teams that you put all five on the bottom of the screen? What five teams? Also. All right. And it kind of ruins the surprise. Kind of ruins the surprise of the first one. Because this fan base, there's just a bunch of babies and they think, oh, I'm so mean to them. I'm so this. No, I tell the truth. I tell the truth at all times. Sometimes the truth is favorable to a team. Sometimes it's unfavorable to a team, but I'm going to tell the truth now. I think I've been too negative about Michigan coming into the season. And I don't remember who it was. Was it, uh, was it McShay or no, it was, uh, who was the guy before McShay? Staples. Yeah, it was Staples. I think it was Staples when Staples said Michigan might make the playoff. And I thought to myself, what in the world, what in the hell is wrong with you, dude? What in the world are you talking about? And then he's like, you know, they went nine and three last year. And I got to thinking, I got to looking, I got to thinking, I got to looking. So I ordered to myself to go back and really look at Michigan. Now, last year they went nine and three with a, with a empty coaching staff because their schedule was so damn easy. And the schedule is tougher this year. But one of the principles that I live by and I tried people over is we have forgotten to let quarterbacks develop. We have acted like the first thing we ever see about a quarterback is the thing he's going to be for the rest of his career. And that's not true. And with Bryce Underwood, there's two things here. Number one, last year, he was a true freshman thrown into the mix in a very tough conference and he was, it was sink or swim and he mostly sank. He wasn't good. He wasn't that good. But the number two thing is he had less than zero coaching last year. He had negative coaching. He had a coach who had no idea what he was doing. He had a coach who was only. He was only there because he was a scapegoat for the last group. That's the only reason he ever got the job. They left him holding the bag. He was never qualified to be the head coach of Michigan. And then we found out later, we see how it ended. Like he threw Bryce Underwood out there without any thought to building the game plan around Bryce Underwood skill set at that point in his career. He simply just threw him out there. Now you get one of the better coaching coaches and coaching staffs in the country. Now they got a real coach with a real coaching staff. The schedule is tougher. That is make no mistake about it, but the defense will be solid. I need the running game. It looks like they got some weapons. Receivers got at least one or two nice weapons. And then if the quarterback takes a step forward, like Michigan can be in the mix. Michigan, Michigan can absolutely be in the mix. So I've been too low on Michigan. Number three, number two, excuse me, the Washington Huskies. I know we're staying in the big 10, but so much attention. Is on Indiana, Oregon, Ohio state at the top. Those next three or four in the big 10 are kind of fascinating to the Michigan. Penn state, Washington, Iowa. Like they've all got something about them. That is pretty damn good with Washington is two things that I see. It's the quarterback. Now I have kind of slow played them because DeMond Williams to me doesn't even want to be there. Like he wanted to transfer. He wanted to go to LSU for the money, but let's just say, that the money's gotten right at Washington or the situation's gotten right, right. And he feels fine. He's good. He's happy. He's, he's, he's good to be there. He's gotten over the little thing where LSU offered him all the money in the world. And now he's happy back at Washington. If he's happy. Now they have a schedule. They're going to have a lot to say about the big 10 race. They have, I got it right here. They're going to start four. No, the first four games are very, very easy. They have Iowa, Penn state, Indiana, all at home. These are three of the top six teams in the Big Ten. their toughest road games are at Oregon at USC they could go 10-2 if they were to sweep those home games they'd go 10-2 they'd go 9-3 they could be very much in the mix I like Washington number three is Tennessee Tennessee has everything but the quarterback I believe the five-star freshman oh let me stop you there let me stop there Michigan and Washington I was too low on them now I'm turning around what do you think Blutman oh hey Brown Walker sorry I forgot you were there no no it's okay Washington the kid Roebuck at wide receiver I would really keep an eye on their high and they are starting a true freshman at left tackle Cody Green monster but you know again like you said with quarterback play early evaluation if it doesn't start hot like give them time Michigan I'm not meshing with you on okay so you're you're not turning the corner on Michigan no I I'm trusting I'm giving Underwood time but I am trusting I really didn't like what I saw with them and again I know that I know I like the staff I know you like the staff that Oklahoma game if that defense is as good as you think they are that shatters a man's confidence early in the year does it not it does but what if they beat Oklahoma 13 to 10 that does a lot for a man's confidence right like that what if he doesn't there's no guarantee John Mateer and that offense is going to Michigan scoring a lot of points 100 so so like yeah I don't think Underwood's going to torch the Oklahoma defense but I have no guarantee and I think Oklahoma's going to win that game but like it's 60 40 maybe 55 45 that they go win that game to me yeah I have Michigan as like my I guess complete wild card team like I think they'd be my number one wild card in the country I'll know what to make of them number three team is Tennessee I'll get to Tennessee now uh everything but the quarterback and they got a freshman quarterback Faison Brandon that eventually will be the guy um will he be the guy and good in the SEC in 2026 I I imagine we're going to find out but I think you know the running back I like I like the uh make sure I got it right Bishop kid right um they they they got that they got uh great they got some good receivers defense they got some puzzle pieces to put together um but uh if I've got a freshman quarterback and I got weapons all over the field there's probably about four or five coaches I really trust with a quarterback to to get the most out of him and I think hypo is on that list hypo after what he did with Hendon Hooker and even last year what he did with uh come on help me Aguilar Aguilar thank you very much I I think what he did with the last couple of quarterbacks outside of Joe Milton I think he's been he's been really good and I trust that Tennessee is gonna gonna be able to do something their schedule is not the toughest thing in the SEC it's tough but they're all tough in the SEC so I I like I like Tennessee I like Tennessee a lot and I know it kind of went sideways but Jim Knowles is their defensive coordinator is he not yes kind of a redemption arc for him well not really a redemption I mean the guy guy won a national championship but like pretty good defensive coordinator at times in his career um lastly I'll go through these very quickly uh two teams I've kind of turned the corner on which Virginia uh I just I'm almost kicking myself that I haven't been more on them this year they won 11 games last year Bo Pribula I think has a chance to be pretty good I don't know if it fit at Missouri but they didn't exactly try to make it fit they just kind of let him turn and hand it off bro that coaching staff has done some pretty good things over at Virginia with some transfer quarterbacks with Chandler Morris and now I think they got a chance and not only him they got the kid backing him up uh they're I don't know have they just have they named a starter yet uh I assume it's going to be a W I think they've named it but the backup Holstein yeah Holstein from Pitt um so I like Virginia uh it's a wide open conference where you win nine games um and I I think people have just kind of ignored the fact that they they played for the uh big uh the ACC championship last year and then lastly Minnesota uh it's the PJ Fleck baseline plus Drake Lindsey Drake Lindsey uh sneaky really good over there as a freshman I think they're going to be solid you know I hate that uh two of the teams I'm kind of high on here late in the process South Carolina and uh Minnesota two of the teams my team plays in the first week the first couple weeks of the season both on the road uh but yeah Minnesota I I think they're very quiet in the big Big Ten there's a couple of teams that aren't expected to have much there's a lot of teams in Big Ten they're expected to have a little or to have a lot and then right in the middle is like Minnesota right in the middle they're not Purdue bad they're not anybody bad maybe Nebraska's in the middle with them maybe Maryland no Maryland's at the bottom who's in the middle Wisconsin Maryland no Wisconsin Minnesota Michigan State maybe hopes to hopes they're in the middle but anyway I like Minnesota out of that group and those are my five teams that I have uh I'm starting to turn around and uh and believe in a little bit more as we go uh further somebody says Houston feels very dangerous well I've had them as a as a surprise team all year I have them as a French playoff team in the Big 12. I think they're probably the second or third best team in that conference I think they're really good um perbula is cheeks Brando and it's that kind of high level analysis that qualifies you to be a fan um he's not cheeks he started off pretty good last year I'm not sure the coaching he got was great I think perbula can be salvaged in in that conference in the ACC uh you got any teams that come to mind when this subject is brought up I fully disagree with you on Minnesota I think Minnesota takes a step back this year from God I hope so yeah I think they're looking at maybe a five six win season I think it's going to be bleak for them I feel like this is a fool's gold I don't know dude teams like I completely agree Washington's always scary but to me Washington hasn't been able to take that next step and beat that top tier team in the last few years and get that true signature win to show that they are a power that they are I think they're they're two and nine on the road in the Big Ten that I think could have got it no that's not good no I the more I think about the more I think about Kentucky I get really excited about that Louisville Kentucky hatred at the end of the season maybe Kentucky is flirting with being a top 25 team I'm very excited for that but I've been shouting out Kentucky a lot like that offensive rebuild offensive line that they put together of some really good transfers the quarterback I think is very possibly going to get one of Alabama or LSU in September anyway uh let me do a couple of ads and then we'll uh then we'll move on to our voicemails or no we'll move on to the uniform reveals yeah thank hey hey hey hey just relax just relax uh this episode is sponsored by bluechew guys what do women want and need I don't know but when the vibe is right a good consensual dick appointment never hurt wow they're sponsoring this podcast and sponsoring your bedroom performance and with their new arousal boosting formula you're getting turned on mentally and hard physically blue chew gold is better sex than a tablet they combine four ingredients into one powerful solution two ingredients get you hard physically and to support arousal and desire in the brain it works fast and at last guys have a complete experience in the bedroom with blue chew gold there's a reason blue chew is the number one brand for better sex experience it yourself at bluechew.com we've got a special deal for our listeners right now when you buy two months of blue chew gold you get the third free with promo code Walker that's promo code Walker you'll receive an additional 10 off and a free overnight shipping on your first order visit bluechew.com for more details and important safety information we thank bluechew for sponsoring the pod and the bedroom all right um so I have not paid attention to any uniform drops of this week uh for because uh Blutman wants to surprise me with some I know we had a couple today uh let's see David oh David says what kind of things are you going to be doing what kind of world am I out is my internet out he's back I hear you now I think mine had froze too all right we're back okay um all right let's do some more more new uniforms here Lukey what you got more uniform reveals all right so clean see these in action get the Troy Centennial celebration package this is Missouri I believe this is our Century uh uniforms um yeah those are those are pretty solid um pretty pretty standard uh what am I missing is there something on the helmet there that are great the block M on the side I think it's really good okay yeah it looks a bit Vanderbilt-y now that I see this picture yeah all of all the pictures he has are facing me so I don't even see the blocking I'm on the side and once again just just anything they got anything that can turn the head to the side anything that can turn the head to the side would be would do wonders here let me find if they got better I see it right there block him on the side how many more how many uh how many other ones we got uh Navy has the best uniforms in the country says Austin grebe uh Austin grebe I appreciate you being here shut the up about Navy football every single thing you've said is about Navy Navy Navy Navy don't show up in the chat whining about attention please I talk about everybody eventually you just showed up like please but Navy is this Navy has the best stadium maybe as the best this God bless the Navy God bless Army God bless Air Force God bless them all don't be in the chat being like please talk about me uh Now, what do we got? Now, now we got something. Utah State football, a blast to the past, bringing our 1992-95 logo for homecoming on September 26th. And that's a cow running through the U? Yeah, that's a cow running through the U. Look at this guy blowing smoke. That's good. That's a good logo. Have you done any work to try to get me that helmet? No, not yet. All right. You could have just said, yeah. Could have just said, yeah. Yeah, could have just said, could have just said, uh-huh, I'll get on it. Nope, you're like, what's a children's book? The cow jumping over the moon. I think that's just, that's what it is. That's just an old fable, I believe. I don't know if it's a book. Oh, it's a book. Is it a book? Yeah, I remember that. It's just some sort of allegory or fable. I could picture it. Hold on. It's just, is that Aesop? Is Aesop on that shit? Oh, he might be. Oh, it's Hey Diddle Diddle. Ah, the cat and the fiddle. No diddy. I also, I accidentally Googled a cow humping over the moon. I put agents that shake. Do you have any more? Do you have any more on Uniform Reel? Texas Tech, the Patrick Mahomes Let's Ride uniform debuting 9-18-26. All right, got a little red there. You know, Dylan Marial is kicking himself right now that he can't. Oh, that's pretty sick. That's pretty good. Pretty slick, Texas Tech. Shout out to Texas Tech. I was getting some heat on the Twitters earlier because the Mahomes on the front of the helmet, I was like, that's kind of crazy. I mean, if you got a Mahomes in your bag, why not use him, you know? I guess. I guess I'm in the camp of I ain't wearing another man's name on my helmet like that, but, you know. Why not? I don't know. I don't know, man. I think the jersey's great. I love the carbon fiber. What about Mr. Riddell? Oh, that's so different. Nuh-uh. You don't think that's different? George, let's see. What do you think about, we're going to get to voicemails in a second. What do you think about Alabama and Tennessee announcing they're both going to wear their home uniforms? I'm so happy. They want to be in orange. Okay, I'm a little bit of Jeff Goldblum from Jurassic Park right now where I'm like, you know, we got caught up in thinking that we can do this without thinking, should we do this? It works for Alabama and Tennessee. It works for the Crimson. It works for the orange. We just got to monitor this power going forward. If now the dam has burst, now, like, I'm trying to think of two teams that will, like, Nebraska and Wisconsin can't do it. We can't just have red everywhere. No, of course not. So, we can't have Florida and Auburn playing each other like this. We got to have certain guidelines here. The colors have to be different enough, and Alabama and Tennessee are that, so they're fine. But, like, red against maroon? Yeah, we can't do, like, it all depends on school and matchup. We can't use this for Rutgers-Iowa on a Friday night. Yeah, agreed. Agreed. All right, so just maybe we'll let, like, five or six rivalries do this if they want to, but not everybody can do this. So, we'll all come up with them? Somebody says NC State and UNC need to. Now, that looks good. That, okay, who can do it? Who should be able to do it? Because NC State, UNC, yes. Duke, UNC, no. Duke, UNC, maybe. I think Duke, UNC is a maybe, too. Yeah, I do, too. Washington, Oregon is a hard yes. Oregon, Oregon State is a yes, as well. Okay, this is weird, because it's very close. Is Texas, Oklahoma a yes or a no? I think Texas, Oklahoma has to be a no, because Texas' orange isn't bright enough. I just think it's because it's such a classic uniform matchup when they're home road either way. You can't mess with that. Kentucky, Louisville. That's a yes. I will allow it. All right, now we're playing some ball here. Yes, the Bloods, Crips nature of it all works every time. UCLA, USC, it works. Yes, I get that you grew up in Los Angeles. Just shut up about it. I was there for like four years. Auburn, Alabama. Don't mess with it. Don't mess with it. Okay, okay, all right. Florida, Miami, no. Florida, Florida State. Florida, Florida State is a maybe. Miami, Florida State. I go no. I go no, too. It's the orange and the scarlet. What do they call it? Scarlet? It's too close. Iowa State? Yes. Although, Iowa's one of those rare teams. I think their better look are the white uniforms. I don't know if you agree with that. I just think both are terrific looks. I can't hate either way. I think there's certain uniforms that look better, which I know is sacrilege, because they got black uniforms, but something about that white uniform popping with the – anyway. Ohio State, Michigan. Who? Blue against gray? That's never worked out for me. Dude, scarlet. Yeah. Oh, sorry. I was thinking about something else. All right. We can play with that all day long. Let me read another ad. It's called Rocket Money. 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Join at rocketmoney.com slash Brandon. That's rocketmoney.com slash Brandon. rocketmoney.com slash Brandon. BYU, Utah. Yeah. When they've done that, I think they did it last year. It's terrific. Yeah. Did you see that? Did you see the Boise State helmet? Oh, UCLA, USC. I mentioned that. I didn't hear you. Oh, okay. It was during the Blood Crips talk. Okay. No, I didn't see the Boise State helmet. Do they have a Boise State helmet? Yeah, this one, I'm very curious to see how you feel. Oh, dear Lord, that's a lot. Hold on. Hold on. I have not seen that. My first gut reaction. Okay. 40 on that side. Let me go back to the other one. Okay. Okay. I think I love it. No, I know I love it. Okay. Especially that side. I don't know if I love the 40 on the other side, if I just love the blue turf. This is a blue turf thing, right? Yeah, 40 years of blue turf, hand-painted helmet. I think Utah started the hand-painted trend. You know what? I fucking love it. I fucking love it. Hand-painted helmet. It looks like a piece of art. It looks like something that. That somebody won a contest to do, and I do. I love it. I fucking love that helmet. Okay. Get me that helmet. Okay. What, man? Get me that helmet. I got. Listen, I got. Right now, we got Reese's over here, but I got an Iowa State helmet. I got helmets. I want this whole fucking thing filled with helmets. All right. Who's the one we had the other day that I'm working on? Was it UTSA? No, it wasn't UTSA. Is it? Yeah. Who do we like? I thought it was UTSA. Was it UTSA? Okay. I thought. I didn't remember. I got work on Youngstown State, too. What are we doing with Youngstown State? I just love penguins. Yeah, I love penguins, too. They're a solid bird, man. All right. Las Vegas tourism. How many voicemails you got there, Lukey? Twelve. We can do however many you want. We're not doing 12. I can tell you that much. And listen, I'll give the chat credit where it's due. Sometimes when I see a good line, I'm just going to read it. Mitch Chapman. Mitch Chat. Michigan Chat, it looks like. 40 years of turf also describes Brandon's facial hair. That's just well done. That's well done. Oh, Tulane's the helmet that we've got on the way, I believe. That Mardi Gras helmet. Oh. Mitch Chat, that's just well done. The road to Vegas. The college football national championship is in Vegas for the first time. Where is it? Bing. Did you hear that? Bing. No better place to watch college football all season long. You want a pool party? A rooftop bar. The best sports books in the world. Unreal food. The best entertainment. It's all in Vegas. You know it's in Vegas. Game day hits different in Vegas. The whole city turns into one giant viewing party. Electric. Whether it's week one, week two, or the national championship game. Make it the trip. Grab your crew. Post up for the weekend. Watch your team somewhere that matches the moment. Vegas will be the center of college football all season long. There's no better place to spend your Saturdays or to be there for the CFP national championship. For more information or hotel deals, visit, visit, visit lasvegas.com. Go to visitlasvegas.com. All right. Here we go. Voicemail time. I don't know. I thought last time was a little bit better. You guys had some serious voicemails in there for me. So give it to me right now. Voicemail number one. 312-685-1889 is the number. Here you go. Give it to me. Hey, Brandon Walker. This is Gino calling from Pine City, New York. My question is, out of your top seven championships, the championship contenders, who is the most most likely to miss the playoff. Okay, so let's go through that. It is the top seven championship contenders that I've had are Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, Georgia, Miami, Notre Dame. I think Notre Dame is almost a lock with that schedule. I think Miami is relatively close to a lock. I think Georgia I feel very good about. You asked me which of the top seven I see the highest probability of missing the playoff entirely. I think it's the Texas Longhorns. I think the Texas Longhorns are a boom or bust team. The boom could be the national championship, but the bust is it's a very tough schedule. It's a very tough schedule. Oklahoma. Hold on. I need Texas' schedule. Ohio State early. If they lose that Ohio State game, the margin of error is gone for the season, and Arch's confidence is pretty. I think it's probably shot. I think it's I think it's Texas. Indiana's also got a tough schedule in Ohio State has a tough schedule. So so I don't think Ohio State's a lock. I don't think Texas is a lock. I don't think Indiana's a lock. Oregon's close to a lock. Notre Dame is a lock. I I would go Texas. There's so much boom and bust potential. There's so much bust potential in that schedule. That's that's all I would have to say. What about you, Liam? Of those seven teams, who do you think you could see missing the playoff? I mean, I've been saying Texas. Two, three weeks now, I'm leaning well, well more towards missing the playoff than making it to like the final four. Yeah, let me just let's read it because I forgot what my producer is. A high probability that they win eight games and Sarkis and coaching there next year on his own accord. I don't know about high probability, but it is not. It is not an impossibility. I'll give that to you. They open with Texas State. Then they got Ohio State at home UTSA. They're at Tennessee. There's nothing nice. It's about going to Neyland Stadium. Um, they got Oklahoma and the neutral site game in Dallas, Florida at home. Ole Miss at home, Mississippi State at home at Missouri at LSU. So at A&M at LSU, Oklahoma neutral site at Tennessee, Ohio State at home. That's fucking nasty. And think about, think about the pressure on these. I was going to call them kids, but like, they're not kids anymore. Think about the pressure in those final two games, man, with your fighting for a playoff spot. And that's what you've got to go and face on the road. You're at A&M. You're at a team. That's going to absolutely kill themselves to beat you. Yeah, you're right. Uh, voicemail number two. Lookie. Hey, Brandon, this is Patty from Naples, Florida. Colin. Um, as a Notre Dame fan, not different about them. Just wondering your thoughts on, uh, South Carolina situation, probably the best team out there. That's when total is only six and a half. And does that say more about the talent that they have or Shane Beamer as a whole? And if they fail to make a bowl game, how hot would Shane Beamer's seat be? If you go to the job, thanks. If Shane Beamer doesn't make a bowl game, he doesn't have a seat anymore. His seat is taken. His C they, they would come into his office, grab his seat and he walks in. He is seatless. That is it. They have to make a ball game. Did he say as a Notre Dame fan? Uh, I I'm asking about South Carolina. Is that, did I hear that right? Yes. Um, there are five or six or seven bonafide national title contenders in the sec. There's two or three teams that just are a couple of years away from doing anything. Well, and then there's a middle class in the sec. That's just looking around, wondering what are we going to be? And I think South Carolina is a major, major one. I can see them winning eight games. I can see them winning nine. I can see them winning five games. It's all about the new offensive coaching and coaching philosophy. And do they unlock Lenore sellers? If they do, they're winning eight games. If they don't, they're winning five games and it ends very poorly and Shane Beamer's out. So I put them at number 24 cause I am banking on Lenore sellers, having a huge bounce back campaign and becoming the guy everybody thought he would. All right. Voicemail. Number three. Hey, Brandon. I'm interested to know if you think James. Franklin at Virginia tech or John Summerall of Florida will have more success in the next five years. Thanks. Great question. I think the answer is James Franklin. It is proven. James Franklin can have success at this level. He's done it. He did it at Vanderbilt. Then he did it at Penn state and people said, Oh, it can't be Ohio state. It can't be Michigan. Doesn't mean he didn't have success winning 10 games every year. It's success. Going to the final four, two years ago is success. It all fell apart. Sure. But over the next five years, you've got a now scorned and hungry James Franklin, a guy who knows how to build it out. A guy who knows how to recruit at the highest level. John, when John Summerall got to lane, he was inheriting a program that Willie Fritz left in phenomenal shape, phenomenal shape. Now he gets to a Florida team that the program is not in great shape, but the roster is pretty good. But can he program build the way James Franklin can? Is he going to get the four and five star kids that James Franklin is going to get? I mean, Florida is naturally going to get some, but I don't know. I I'm betting on the proven commodity and that's James Franklin. Doesn't mean John Summerall can't be great, but Florida ever since Urban Meyer has hung out a help wanted sign five times and they've never gotten it right. Why would we just assume they've got it right this time? Next voicemail, please. There's been a lot of very proud SEC programs that have been absolutely embarrassed by, uh, inadequate coaches. Um, so I want you to, uh, rank, uh, these four coaches on which had the most embarrassing tenure at their program. Uh, Brian Kelly, LSU Jimbo Fisher at a and M you freeze at Auburn and Billy nature at Florida. Thanks, Brandon. It's not even close. It's not even, not even fucking close. Um, freeze far and away. The most embarrassing of those four Napier was just never the guy in Florida was wrong to think he was the guy Napier did well at a lesser level. They brought him up and he's just not a coach. He's, he's not a vision, uh, an sec football coach. He's not a power five football coach and that's okay. It didn't work. And they got him out of there. You know, sometimes a guy is, is, is a coordinator. Sometimes he's a lower level coach. Sometimes he's a mid-level coach. Sometimes he's an upper tier coach. Napier wasn't and that's fine. Kelly was, was embarrassing with the family stuff and everything. Fisher turned out embarrassing, but Fisher had what didn't they finish top five one year? I believe it was, it was in COVID 2020 or 2021. I can't remember that. I think they ended up like top five, uh, right outside that just missed the playoff. Um, so he had some success there. Freeze got to Auburn and was garbage. And not only was garbage was garbage. But the one thing he's supposed to be good at, he w he goes out and gets Jackson Arnold, gets his quarterbacks, gets his offense, gets cam Coleman, and they can't, they couldn't score on anybody. The defense was good. Their offense was refrigerated dog shit. It was terrible. So I think far and away freeze of these four, Brian Kelly, Jimbo Fisher, Hugh freeze, Billy Napier, Napier being last most embarrassing freeze. The most embarrassing Kelly's second, most embarrassing Fisher, third, most embarrassing Fisher had. A couple of good runs. Kelly never did. Kelly never fit, but freeze was embarrassing. And I wanted to bring this to you guys. I don't know what to say. Hugh freeze is currently in my Instagram DM sending me Christian music videos. And I, I don't know. I don't know what to do with them. I don't know. He hasn't said anything. He simply sends me. He simply DMs me on Instagram, a Christian music video. I don't like you. Hugh freeze. I don't, I think you're full of shit. Hugh freeze. I don't know that I want to be friends with you. Hugh freeze. But if you want to keep sending me Chris music videos, they kind of make me smile. They kind of brighten my day a little bit every now and then my morning workout music is, is Christian and all that. So I like that a lot, but why am I DMS dude? I'm not Casey. She's gone. Hold on. Let me, let me say the last thing. The last thing, uh, Hugh freeze sent me, sent me on Instagram. How many, how many straight is this? Like how many, how many consecutive has he sent you without you replying? I don't know. The number could be anywhere from like four to 18. You know, I don't. Where'd it go? I'm no good. God damn. It's just two. Okay. Yeah. That's just two. Yeah. Does he follow you? I don't, I don't fucking know what's going on. Is he trying to get on your good side? I don't, I don't, I don't know. I'm talking you through it. All right. Uh, I'm a big Notre Dame fan from Canada. And I don't think they'd ever join a. conference, but if they did, would you rather see them join The Big Ten or the ACC? Interested to hear your thoughts. That's not even close. Like, Notre Dame fans will see this and say, oh, Brendan, we're never joining a conference. No, the premise of the question is this. The question is, if Notre Dame ever joins a conference, should it be the Big Ten or the ACC? If they join the ACC, it's the biggest fart in the wind in the history of college football. Notre Dame should be in the Big Ten. They are a Big Ten school. They should be rubbing elbows and bumping heads and noses with Michigan State, with Notre Dame. They should be in the Big Ten just absolutely having wars with these teams instead of doing this punk-ass shit they do where they get all the money and everything. And you'd do it if you could. Yeah, I probably would. But still, I can dream of a world where Notre Dame is in the Big Ten. That is where they belong. That is where they should be. Them playing Wake Forest and Georgia Tech? No. That's what I say to that. Hey, Brandon. This is Chayton out of Tallahassee, Florida. I'm just curious. If you had full autonomy, full decision on what to do with Florida State and how you would fix it, what would BFW do? Thank you. I would go back 12 months and I'd probably fire Norvell before last. Last year. And then I would, I don't know who I would hire, though. I think I'd probably try to get in the Lane Kiffin sweepstakes. Don't know you would have got him. But, like, Florida State's a big-time program that should be acting a lot bigger time than they have been the last couple of years. Who is a coach that's coming up that would make a lot of sense for them? I don't know. But you start over. You get Norvell out of there. He's not a guy that belongs at the Florida State level. He had the one great year. And it's. It's unfortunate and a shame what happened that year. But he is just not somebody that should be Florida State's coach. Just go out and get a coach worthy of Florida State's job and then you're doing it. Next voicemail. BWOC. It is Brock from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Just got done reading Swing Your Sword by Mike Leach. I see it on your bookshelf as well. I'm curious to what your favorite football book is. My favorite football book and my favorite college football book. My favorite college football book and my copy is worn out here. But it is called Rammer Jammer Yellowhammer by Warren St. John. And in 1999. And in 1999. Here you go. I got it for Chris. Merry Christmas in 2004. Dear Brandon, Merry Christmas, Love Mom, 2004. It's called Rammer Jammer Yellowhammer. What Warren St. John did in 1999, the year that Alabama won the SEC, he got lucky with that. He bought an RV and he got in with the Alabama RV crowd and he went week by week, step by step, through the Alabama season following the RV crowd. And if you've never familiarized yourself with the RV crowd at a Southeastern Conference school or at your school, they are absolutely batshit insane, crazy people. They are incredible motherfuckers. An Alabama book, you know, it's a college football book. Alabama is the subject matter and he is an Alabama fan. But in this book is the most college football you've ever seen. It's passionate. It's everything. This is the best book ever written about college football. Can you read a sentence or two? I'm curious. You know. You know what you're asking me to do. I'm curious. I'm curious. I'm curious. I didn't even think of that. Yep, there it is, Ms. Fowler. We go to Alabama games out our ass, Jackie tells me. Horton and Dwight nod. A few years ago, there's a rumor, there's a rumor we was going to play Notre Dame in Russia and the next day I was on the phone with a travel agent and I done sat through two fucking tornado warnings at Alabama-Auburn games. So what's going to happen tomorrow morning when they start selling permits, I asked. The three men exchanged rueful glances. In the military, Dwight says, they call it a clusterfuck. And scene. That's actually crazy. Like that long ago and they're stressing over two prominent programs playing a game in Russia and now we just deal with these games in Ireland. Ireland every year, that's kind of nuts. So yeah, that's my favorite college football book. A lot of guys have written college football books where they go from campus to campus during the season. All those usually suck because they just do the same old tired ass shit that everybody else does. I really, I'd like a book where somebody goes and just does the real, like gets into the real shit. Talks to the fucking crazies. Not just goes to Alabama and goes to the Chimes or goes to Auburn and sits at Toomer's Corner. Just fucking. All right, next voicemail, please. Brandon, this is Ronan from Ohio. I'm curious, man. What the heck happened to Vanderbilt? Last year, you know, their up-and-coming team. This year, nothing about them. They got Jared Curtis. He's a dog, I think. Why is no one talking about Vanderbilt? Is it just because the SEC is too dense? Love to hear your thoughts. Well, what happened to Vanderbilt is they are Vanderbilt. They're never going to be Georgia. They're never going to have a roster that goes, um, national title good from year to year to year. What you hope to have at Vanderbilt is you, you get in the right transfers, the right freshmen, the right mix of everything. And every couple of years have a chance to do something special. They did something special last year. And it's hard at a non-traditional school. It has some limitations like Vanderbilt, but they have the right coach. Now I think they have the right quarterback going forward. And the SEC is just tough. What I mentioned, seven or eight teams that think they can win the national title. And then four or five more that are hoping to get there. Like it's just, it's tough out here. And Vanderbilt is going to pull back a little bit. Probably. I don't know, six and six, five and seven, seven and five. And then hopefully be ready for the next, uh, big season in a couple of years. That's what I think. Um, what else we got? Uh, next voicemail. BFW Mason Dallas. My question is how many wins does Dave Aranda need to have at Baylor to save his job? I know that the team lives or dies based on the success of DJ Wagway. But I also know that Baylor is the type of place that would keep a coach around if he wins consistently seven, eight games. I'd love to hear your answer. Thanks. So I think, I think that's exactly where I am. I think you take these lottery tickets like TJ Lagway, you bring them in and hope you, you, you, you, you know, you rub the lamp and hope 10 wins pop out of it. Um, I think seven wins a year, you're safe at Baylor. Um, I don't think they're building statues of you or anything. And I know Baylor is probably capable of a little bit more. I think Baylor has got some money, but, uh, no, I think seven wins for Dave Aranda is, is safe territory. Five wins is probably fire territory. Six. They're having a discussion, but seven, seven is definitely safe, safe ground. Um, and I, I, you know, I still have a little bit of hope Lagway can turn into something. And if he does, you know, you turn the corner a little bit of Baylor. Let's do one more voicemail. Then we'll, uh, read an ad and then we'll get to Sean McDonough. Hey, Brandon. First of all, I would like you to name the all time face of every conference, every major conference, including the PAC 12. Thanks. All right. Does he mean one player or one coach? I think either or. All right. So PAC 12, I, I, I think of multiple people. I just think of USC running backs. I think of OJ Simpson to Marcus Allen to Reggie Bush. Reggie Bush is a good one to land on, but I, I just, I just think of USC running back striding through, uh, striding through the defensive backfield and just absolutely wrecking teams with the SEC. My mind goes to Tebow, but all time. I. Still think it might be bear Bryant. I think the legacy of bear Bryant and the way he accumulated acquired teams still reverberates to this day in the sec. Plus you've got the hat plus you've got, we're what, 44 years since he died. Alabama fans are still wearing houndstooth and still, that's still a recognizable. You've got to, you know, how good a coach has to be for his hat to be recognizable 45 years after his death. Um, the big 10. Yeah. The other day, somebody asked me who the face of all time college football was, I had Ohio state fans saying Archie Griffin, nobody in 20, 26, no fans are under the age of 40 know what Archie Griffin looks like they don't, they don't know. They couldn't pick Archie Griffin out of a lineup to be the face of college football. You have to be instantly recognized. So when thinking about the face of the Big Ten, I'd really have to work on that one. I'd really have to work on that one. It might be like a coach, like Schimbechler. Not Schimbechler, but like a – I'd work on the Big Ten. Big 12 on New York Conference. I think I'm just going to give that to Vince Young and keep on moving. That's the last team to win a national championship for the Big 12, right? Am I missing one? Yeah, Oklahoma didn't win it. It's a good question, good question. Now we're going to get to Sean McDonough. After I tell you about Reese's one more time, once again, you see it right here. If you're riding down the road, you need a road trip snack, stop and get you a Reese's peanut butter cup. They have all variety of candy. They're all fantastic. Good stuff. Just check out Reese's. You get it at the grocery store, the drugstore, wherever you go. You know there's always a Reese's around. Nothing is – it's just – it's comfort food. It's comforting. It's everything. It reminds me of my childhood. It reminds me of my adulthood. It's just always been there. Reese's peanut butter cup's the best. Reese's, go get it wherever you shop. The official candy partner of Barstool Sports, and thank you to them for sponsoring this podcast. All right, Big Ten has to be Jim Trestle, right? Some of you just – I want to put on a class, a college football class that you guys have to go through. Here we go. What I'm going to end with tonight is a special thrill for me. In 1992, I'm an Atlanta Braves fan. I was in my single-wide trailer in West Point, Mississippi. It was October night. I was in the – 92, I would have been in the eighth grade. It's 2-0 going into the ninth inning against the Pirates in Game 7 of the NLCS. Doug Drabeck throwing a gem. Braves load the bases, score a run on a Ron Gansack fly. It's 2-0. It's 2-1, down to two outs. Francisco Cabrera steps up. Line drive into left field. Line drive, left field. Justice scores. Here comes Bream. Sean McDonough was on the call. It's one of the iconic calls of my life. Flash forward to 2015, Michigan and Michigan State. He has trouble with the snap. Jalen Watts-Jackson, and he scores on the last play of the game. And it's the surrender Cobras. This guy, Sean McDonough, is one of the all-time greats. I don't think he's going to make it. I don't think he gets the credit he deserves. Whether it's college football, hockey, baseball, college basketball, the man has done all of these things. Sean McDonough is one of the greats, and I got to talk to him for this show. Blutman, before I go to him, anything else before we get out of here? We're a second closer to college football back in our lives. Enjoy this interview. Here's my interview with Sean McDonough. Okay. So this is a particular thrill of mine. We've interviewed a lot of guys here about college football. We've interviewed some beat reporters. We've interviewed some national reporters. We haven't yet interviewed one of the great play-by-play guys yet. And here we go right now. And the 13-year-old Braves fan from 1992 is in hog heaven right now. Because I just see Sid Bream rounding third base. I just see Francisco Cabrera hitting that ball into left field. And I just hear him. I just hear this man's voice. I think it's one of the great announcers of all time is what I'm going to say right now. He probably won't like that, but I'm going to say it anyway. It is Sean McDonough of ESPN. Sean McDonough is joining us now. Sean, thank you very much for making time to be here. Oh, my pleasure. I'm glad you're not a Pittsburgh Pirate fan, or that introduction probably wouldn't have been as kind as it was. But that was a great memory. You know, I tell the Pirate fans, please don't kill the messenger. But I'm glad the Braves fans remember. I remember that fondly. It's hard to believe how long ago that was now. But that was certainly one of the great games in the history of Major League Baseball. You know, I'm going to get into a lot of things. I'm going to get into college football. But there are so many iconic calls in the history of sports, so many iconic plays in the history of sports. I'm going to say that one, that Francisco Cabrera play, is one of the rare calls, one of the rare plays that has multiple iconic calls attached to it. Because yours is incredible. And Skip carries from the Atlanta. I guess it was Atlanta Radio. Like, every time I watch it, it comes up on, like, Twitter or TikTok. And I watch him round in third. I'm like, I'm going to click on it and see which call it is. I like them both. But sometimes it's Skip. Sometimes it's you. You rarely see that. But it's just so awesome. And it speaks to you. Because let me tell you guys this. When I was prepping for this interview, I went to YouTube and I said, I wonder if there's any compilations of Sean McDonough. There's a Sean McDonough's best college football calls compilation. It is 57 minutes and 32 seconds. So, that's how long this guy has been doing it. And that's how good he is at it. You do all four major sports. But I know right now we're in August and college football is coming up. What's that ramp-up process for you like? Yeah, really just getting started. And I would want to echo what you said about Skip Carey. That was, his was a great call. And the fun part about those moments, right, is you only get to do it once. And you hope that you nailed it. And I remember that was the first of my, that I can remember, my infamous voice cracks. I was 30 years old doing the World Series. Oh my gosh, that's the biggest play I've ever called and maybe ever will call. And my voice cracked. And when I left the booth, I was kind of distraught. And then when I got to the truck, people were running up and hugging me and telling me that was awesome. And that matched the moment. That's going to live forever. So, I said, oh, maybe it's not so bad. But to answer your question, I'm just now sort of ramping up. You know, I go pretty much 10 months between college football, usually starting around late. And that'll be the case for our group again this weekend. We're on the Sunday night of Labor Day weekend with Louisville and Ole Miss. And then, you know, I go right through the hockey playoffs. This year, we had the Stanley Cup final. We alternate with TNT with that. So, we went to about mid-June. So, I basically have two months to try to rest and relax and have fun and enjoy the summer. So, that's what I've been doing. But starting to get the itch to get back at it. Starting to pay more attention. You know, I follow it. You know, I read the stuff daily. But now, I'm going to do it. But now, I'm really just now starting to ramp back up into college football mode. So, you mentioned the voice crack on the Braves one. Obviously, you know, I think your most iconic college football call ever is, and you might disagree. You might have a couple that you think are better. But the trouble with the snap is the one that I always go back to. That has just a great voice crack at the end. At what point did you accept the voice crack? You were like, okay, well now, that's kind of something that's going to happen. Because you said you were distraught. I don't know why you'd be distraught. It's an amazing thing. It's an amazing thing to happen. Well, you know, I think, first of all, you know, it's involuntary, obviously. Yeah, yeah. But, and so, but I don't know. I guess it was just kind of embarrassing at the beginning. You know, you think your voice isn't really supposed to do that. And then, you know, I think, if anything, it helps maybe punctuate some of those big moments. You know, I think this was the 10-year anniversary last fall of that Michigan-Michigan State game, and particularly the ending that everybody remembers. And several outlets did a long piece about it. The Athletic did. And, you know, they had the perspective of people who were involved in the play on both sides. Coaches, players, announcers, and other people. And Mark D'Antonio said, the Michigan State coach at the time, he thinks the reason it's remembered as much as it is, is the call and the voice crack and the surrender Cobra guy in the Michigan student section. So, that's probably when I stopped being embarrassed about it. You know? If it helps people remember those plays, if it makes it seem, you know, as big as it was, because that's still one of the most memorable endings in the history of college football, then so be it. You know what I love about that call? I feel like professionals like you go into a play or a game and they have an idea of what might happen, what might unfold. When that ball clanks off the punter's hands and just falls haphazardly into the Michigan State guy's hand, I can just tell you had, you in a million years, couldn't have fathomed. That sequence of events, and you were just as wowed as anybody else. I think that's what makes a call really special, because you were just as caught up as the viewer. Yeah, I think that's it, right? It was so shocking, and hopefully my call reflected that I was in shock, too. I mean, Chris Spielman did a great job of setting it up before the snap about, you know, catch the snap, one step, and kick it. Because there was nobody back for Michigan State. You know, they were going all out on the block. And, you know, if they had it to do over again, I think Michigan just would have instructed all their guys, just tackle. Everybody hold everybody who's rushing, and if we get a holding penalty, we'll punt again. But, so, yeah, I think that's a part of it. You know, it was a shocking ending, and I think when I said, unbelievable, you know, I'm the last player in the game. You know, because it was unbelievable, and it was the last player. You remember looking up at the clock? The game's over. You know, they're not going to kick off, and Jalen Watts Jackson is a Michigan State legend forever. Yes, he is. And, by the way, every time. Every time I watched that, because I think they were down by two or three points. I don't remember exactly what it was. I'm just, every time I watch it, I'm like, get down, Jalen Watts Jackson. Just settle for the field goal. But every time he scores, every single time he scores. Yeah, he had to weave around a little bit. And then, you know, there was so much that went into that, including the fact that he either dislocated or fractured his hip. Yeah. If you remember, and you do, because you've obviously watched it several times. There was a huge pile on top of him, obviously, and he was trying to push people off because he was an expert. excruciating pain. I mean, they took him to the hospital from the end zone. the rest of them celebrated so yeah he was kind of an unheard of player at that time as a backup defensive back and I always give my spotter Zach or Pat his own great credit for how quickly he identified Jalen Watts Jackson because in a play like that especially in college football with double numbers you know you always want to make sure you have the right guy and then there might be two number 24 so Zach was pointing so emphatically on our spotting chart in front of me that I knew we had the right guy you know when Zach doesn't he's not really sure he doesn't do that so I give Zach a lot of credit for the call too because he identified Jalen Watts Jackson incredibly fast um you didn't grow I don't you know researching you didn't grow up in a college football hotbed you know like I grew up in Mississippi in the SEC I grew up and it was all anybody ever knew we didn't have pro sports you know we didn't have all that we just had your local college team uh but you've been doing college football for so long and so well at the top of the game uh was college football an adjustment to you to fall in love with it or were you always a growing up where you grew up yeah I wasn't a huge college football fan you know I've grown up here in Boston you know we had Boston College now uh you know around the time that I was in college Doug Flutie you know that BC had some of their their great years and really as we're seeing in a lot of colleges and universities change the trajectory of the college you know the uh applications went way up at BC because of the success and the publicity of the Flutie and the Heisman and you so and we're seeing that now happen at a lot of other places you know University of Georgia applications up Alabama over the last decade Indiana Indiana the most recent example Gonzaga I remember one of the uh friend of mine Jack McCann was on the board of trustees at Gonzaga told me basketball saved the school you know they were talking about maybe shutting it down and then they had that run to the elite eight and next thing you know it's a trendy school and here we go and now it's a thriving university so uh but when I got to Syracuse Syracuse Brandon I had a chance to work for the late great Dick McPherson you know I was a work study uh student in our football office uh he became the football coach at the end of the first fall my freshman year our football coach was Frank Maloney uh he got relieved and then Coach Mac came in and I started working as a gopher for Coach Mac and the football staff and worked uh for him for three and a half years and that's really when I got immersed in college football he had a great staff I mean he had some got Jim Trestle was on his first year of college and he was a great staff back then as a young assistant uh Randy Edsel obviously became a successful head coach George O'Leary uh there are several others and he had a great knack for identifying really good assistant coaches so learned a great deal about football learned how to prepare for a football game you know I try to prepare for it like a coach would in terms of you know what you're looking at and what the teams are trying to do and just the the effort that you put into it and uh but that's really where my love for college football started I want you to take me inside the the booth in the press box of college football stadiums around the country I've been to a lot but I haven't been to as many as you I'm sure um which schools which stadiums have the best point of view for you which is like the best that you think of a press box that puts you right in the action and this is perfect this is a perfect seat and then I'm going to ask you the worst one too um but but if I say the worst the the best point of view the best spot to watch a football game which school comes to mind um it's a great question um I want to think about I'm biased for Syracuse because it's uh the the booth is so low I mean you're you're almost too close to the field if that's possible uh it's not great for the tv cameras because I think the directors wish the cameras a little higher um you know Alabama's great it's uh you're at the 50 yard line you're at a good you know distance from the field good angle uh the booth's big there's a bathroom in the booth those that's really important yeah um the uh I'm trying to think of a good one I think what are the other uh best ones you know most of them are at least pretty decent uh I like when we have a game in these NFL stadiums you know like we go do a bowl game at the Fiesta Bowl when we were in the Arizona Cardinals I'm going to give you a bad answer because it's not a college football stadium but most of these you know newer NFL Jerry World is the best and that's the best um in uh in Arlington Texas uh Alabama for sure uh where else do we love going to Alabama for sure uh where else do we love going to Alabama for sure because it's a great but I would say that's the best it's easier to name the worst because what yeah well there you go what's the worst miss yes thank you uh-huh yeah sorry I know you're I don't know if you're an Ole Miss guy or you've said you're from Mississippi but uh I'm a Mississippi State guy so that sounded wonderful to me uh the booth is tiny to the point where and it used to be bigger but the athletic department took away seats um to the point where our stats guy has to be behind us which is because there's it's not wide enough for myself to be behind me the spot more than Greg McElroy Zach our spotter and me there can't be a fourth person because it's not wide enough uh you're a little to the left of the 50-yard line but we have a lot of those noon eastern starts there which are 11 central and the sun is hitting you right in the face I don't like to wear sunglasses on TV because you you know you look like you're being a Hollywood shot but uh but you almost have to there when the game starts because you're just getting blasted in the face um so it's just a really uncomfortable place to do a game I know it's a you know the the team's been excellent in recent years obviously the town is great it's one of the great college towns in America sorry to say nice things about it yeah I was I was gonna stop you there just let's we don't have to Auburn's not great Auburn you're way down on about the 20-yard line not the same thing I like the town you know like the people it's the the booth isn't isn't awesome I didn't realize you were at the 20-yard line at Auburn I never yeah we're pretty far to the our left if you're looking at it from the TV camera we're probably on the left 20 okay see that's because I have no idea the answer I think that's a that's at least good I mean we go to the same places now over and over again so um you know I'm not giving you the greatest answer I apologize no that was that was a perfect answer I I'd never I never knew Alabama was considered that I it's very good it's huge it's at a bathroom it's on the 50 it's a nice height it's it's really good I didn't think of that bathroom thing either because I the one uh you know announcer story I have from my time covering college football I was at Mississippi State for Mississippi State and uh Texas A&M I believe no it might not have been A&M might have been uh Auburn it was Auburn um Mississippi State Auburn 2014 and CBS is just about to go live and I guess Vern Vern Lundquist had to go and Vern Vern right before the game starts he goes out to the bathroom when he was walking back um this this this young man probably about 11 years old is just says Vern will you please take a picture will you talk to me and the CBS producers are saying get in there Vern get in there get in there he grabs him he puts his arm around him takes a picture talks to him walks him to the door of the booth at the same time kind of turns goes in the booth puts headphones on starts to broadcast it was the most impressive thing I've ever seen oh he's the best if you said Vern blew the kid off I was going to say there's no way that's a true story because he's just the nicest man alive no I I wasn't going to say that it was the complete opposite like the producers are going crazy get in there I'd rather be late being on the air than he would be mean or snappish or you know and he would have been rude it would be totally understandable if he was running by but he's the last guy in the world who would do that it was one of the nicest things I've ever seen a famous he's just he's nice every day he's a wonderful human being in addition to being one of the all-time great broadcasters what's the uh what's the greatest college football game you've ever you've ever seen live I know that uh you know I know that Michigan Michigan State game we talked about was uh was was great finish but I remember being kind of an ugly game and but what's the what's the one game that sticks out in your minds like I was lucky to be there wow the most recent one was the I hate to bring it up again the Ole Miss Georgia game in the great game great game unbelievable game you know back and forth comebacks guys making huge plays uh on both sides you know and then all the you know the drama that went into with Lane having left and Pete being the coach and there was talk Lane was going to come to the game because obviously LSU was not far down the road and uh thankfully he did not come but uh that would be one uh recently we did I did I was on radio ESPN radio I did a Rose Bowl where and people probably remember it's less your Texas or Michigan person but uh Texas and Michigan played in the Rose Bowl and I think it was 37 35 in the game it was the Vince Young coming out party it was the year before the year before yeah I mean there were great players on both teams that was back and forth and I think Phil Dawson I don't my memory's not so great uh kicked a field goal like with no no time left that uh and I hope that's accurate um you know there have been so many of them the the Clint Sterner way back in the day he stumbles and fumbles that was probably Tennessee Arkansas Tennessee year uh you know Tennessee probably should have lost that game probably wouldn't have won the national championship um you know Sterner pulling away from center tripped I think over his own guard yeah put the ball down on the ground to kind of brace himself and lost the ball Tennessee fumbled and went down um we did a Florida Florida State game back at CBS in the late 90s with the late great Terry Donahue Jacquez Green had a huge game had a big catch and ran through the middle of the field uh late you know that's back when that rivalry was incredible and they were you know both national championship contenders I'm probably forgetting a few but um well I'll put you on that 57-minute uh I just wonder when when I know - I don't know. that those kinds of things is it who took the time to put together sean's top calls of college football i mean i'm flattered i guess i should be well i don't know who does that or why so so i see that you're not as vain as i am because i google myself all the time but uh if you go to youtube search sean mcdonough you're going to get a couple of compilations that are all sports you know that cover everything you'll have the baseball calls in there you have a lot of hockey of course because you're such a great hockey announcer uh but then there was this one just sticking out there that was all college football and it was 57 minutes and and i gotta tell you you've done more clemson games than any human being i've ever seen in my life you've been to clemson a lot clemson games there's a million memorable clemson games there probably if i watched that tape it would probably jog my memory um no there's we've had a lot of games there uh for sure that you know the uh virginia tech played nebraska i went at domic and sue was you know a dominant player i think i might have voted for him for the heisman that year you should have and he kind of i did i think and uh i know i did actually i voted for him one year that would have been there so uh he was just totally blowing up the game and then it was tyrod taylor deep one down the sideline of danny cole that was a voice crack he got tackled on about the three yard line and then they're running out of time and tyrod's rolling around he can't find anybody i think it was matt millen you could hear on the tape throw it away they've frozen direl roberts and the i guarantee you that one's on the 57 minute tape oh that one's that was in the first two minutes was it really yeah it's it's very early i saw it this morning because the guy is the long throw and you think he's gonna score and it gets they they knock him out at the three and it does that that was an unbelievable that was an unbelievable game too really because nebraska i mean if if ever a defensive lineman could dominate a game throughout he did and then they hit the one long pass and you know cashed it in there's also a great and i don't remember this play or this game there's a great one on there of texas nebraska where uh texas has the lead late and they're lining up for a field goal and justin tucker pooch punts it instead and nebraska takes it back like 90 yards and and you begin because it's like a two touchdown game and you begin the call being like well this is an interesting wow okay they're doing this and then you ramp up and you ramp up and you ramp up and all of a sudden all hell breaks loose anyway 57 minute compilation sean if you don't have anything to do if you don't have a tea time this afternoon go check yourself out it's pretty good i do have a tea time but i'm going to try to find it nonetheless if anything you know when i do pop into somebody sends me a tape or we do a game and there's a flashback or something it is a reminder really of how blessed we are to do this right i mean because you even forget some of these great games and then you know when you reflect back you're like oh gosh how blessed i have been able to do this for as long as i have um are there any other questions any uh throughout your entire career and this is you know i'm asking a lot because you what you started in syracuse 182 so yes minor league baseball quite the uh distinguished career but um any fan bases that have ever you think there's any fan bases out there like i hate that sean mcdonough or you ever you ever got sideways the reasons i don't do social media or i've never had a twitter account and that's basically to protect me against myself because i'd be the one who would oh yeah really you know how's life in your mother your mother's basement you know one of those kind of things so um yeah i just don't do it i i i know a lot of people in our business who you know search their name during the games and then they're horrified that uh that they're getting negative i don't know why they're surprised i mean did you go there to think the whole world was going to tell you how wonderful you are so um you know i'm not aware of it uh in real time you know one of the things that is funny is zach who i mentioned a few times my spotter uh sometimes on the flight back to boston after a game in the fall i'll say because he's a social media person i'll say okay read me the three or four meanest funniest ones and some of them are pretty funny but the other one year i think it was florida state clemson speaking of clemson um he said he started laughing he said i'm going to read you like five or six in a row and i'm not editing this he said why does shawn mcdonough hate clemson shawn mcdonough is blatantly rooting for clemson why does shawn mcdonough hate florida state shawn mcdonough has pom-poms out for florida you know so when it's like that why pay any attention to it right yeah you're you're exactly right um now you say you're ramping up for the year uh you've had several color commentators over the years uh but you you know uh when you when you get a new assignment or a new partner how long does it take to get that uh chemistry or or sometimes as an instant to get that chemistry and you know you know you got something uh sometimes it's instant sometimes it takes a little time uh you know i've been really lucky i care more you know you obviously want to work with people who are really good or great at what they do and i've been blessed uh throughout almost all my time in college football i mean i'm with greg mcelroy now i think we're starting our fourth year it was todd blackledge before that who i think is as good as anybody in any sport i was just with todd last week he was nice enough to come up for my uh charity competition and i'm a golf tournament that we had here in boston a week and a half ago uh i mean he's as good as it gets there's no flaws i mean um chris fielman before him and what i really the more important thing is they're all unbelievably great people you know family guys people of faith uh treat everybody well they're unselfish teammates and uh but you know with greg it just took a little while longer because his his style is different than todd's you know he has different things that he thinks are important or interesting uh than todd did you know some things so it took a little while but um i say this a lot you know i get asked a lot like a college class is people who want to be play-by-play people you know how do you build chemistry and i think the most important thing is spend as much time as you can together off the air you know go to dinner when you get into town thursday night or friday night or go to lunch after the meetings with teams on you know it's it's really cool in these towns like we talk about oxford tuscaloosa you know you get done meeting with the coach you know you get to the and some of the players don't go back to the hotel go into the town see what the town's like you know look at the places that you've heard people talk about so i think the time spent off the air is really important because when you know their personality and you just sit there and talk about the game right okay i know greg thinks this cornerback isn't very good or this offensive coordinator isn't very good so you know there are a lot of things that are helpful to know that may you may not have known if you didn't spend time off the air did you study or emulate somebody for college football or did you just go out and blaze your own trail and say i'm gonna just i'm just gonna be me i'm not gonna consider how anybody else does this well it's interesting it's great question and uh the i tried not to and i say that all the time when i do speak to classes like be yourself we used to joke when i was at syracuse on the student radio station you could tell those of us who were from boston because it sounded like we were imitating one of the boston announcers you could tell who was from philly if they're doing a baseball game everybody wanted to be harry callas or whatever you know the guys from new york were all marv albert so you don't want to do that you know when i go back and look at some of the baseball tapes from 1992 or 1993 you know um people told me you sounded like bob costas and bob was he and vin scully were kind of the top national baseball guys back then and when i look at i think you know i kind of did a little bit it wasn't conscious but maybe the pacing or whatever and i guess it's a compliment because you know bob was one he's in the baseball hall of fame deservedly so so um i think my voice has changed a lot over the years which i guess is natural i think my cadence is a lot different uh than it was back then i was when i watched some of the tapes from you know when in the late 90s when i was at cbs to me it almost sounds a little bit robotic which i don't think i have that anymore hopefully i'm less monotone than i used to be um you know sometimes you can't do anything about that your your voice is your voice but um i appreciate what you said about that i think it was a texas nebraska game because you should build up to the big moments you know one of the critiques i would have of some other people is when you come on the air and you yell from the minute you come on the air from the first play of the game there's nowhere to go when it really is important you know it's the same way in hockey if every shot on goal you're screaming and yelling when the goal goes in to take the lead in the stanley cup final it sounds like the rest of the game and it shouldn't anyway sorry for the tangent no that's a great tangent uh do you um you mentioned your spotter like several times do you have the same spotter in college football and hockey do you have your own guy or do you have different we have no spotters in hockey uh in for the most you do that by yourself oh yeah it goes too fast that's why i think you're awesome by the time you look down at a chart or at somebody you know the puck has gone on to three more people it's just way too fast um it didn't used to be that way you know we we espn we were out of the nhl for 16 or 17 years you know nbc had it and then we got we got it back and i hadn't done you know an nhl game in 16 or 17 years i remember opening night we were in tampa bay because they were flying their stanley cup banner from the season before and you talk about bad boots that was a hard place to start because it's high and far back and you know i'm not i was nowhere near as familiar with the lee and you tried and you memorized the names and numbers but i remember looking down like looking at the number though where's my story about that guy and then look i'm like where the heck is the puck i'm like where the heck is the puck you know oh there's a penalty i didn't see it i was looking at my notes So I learned very quickly, you can't take your eyes off the ice. So no spotters. You really have to memorize the names and numbers. And then sometimes that isn't even good enough, Brandon, because the, you know, the 15 looks like 16 and you're not sure. So then you, well, which line is out there? You know, they're not on the same line together. He's out there. Then it has to be things like he's a left shot. He's a right shot. So it has to be number 16, not number 15. You know, you have to have other clues and cues to help you identify. And the other part of it, which no one cares about, most of these booths are dangling. Like I said, in Tampa, you're in the highest place in the arena. You're the farthest back you can be. My buddies go to Boston Bruins games here. I say, Hey, when you go to the game, look as high, look at the worst seat you could buy and then look higher and further back. That's where I'll be trying to see a puck. That's as big as your fist from. I didn't realize that. Yeah, I never, I never, there's certain ones. Like you. You asked me, which booths do you like in college football is hard. Cause they're mostly all the same. There's some, you know, some are great. Some are me. Most of them are medium and some are awful, but the, uh, the booths and hockey Vegas. Fantastic. You know, you're between the blue line, the red line, about 20 rows off the ice. You're actually kind of in, well, I think it's the captain Morgan club or Pittsburgh. Same thing. New Jersey, Dallas is really good. So we're not allowed to cheer for anybody. I don't. But when some of those teams advance in the playoffs, I'm at least partially happy because you have a chance of seeing the puck. When, when you get into like October, November, you know, you get in the, the meat of college football and then hockey starts up. Are you just the busiest man in America? How do you, how do you maintain that schedule? Uh, there is some overlap. Uh, the powers that be at ESPN are really nice to me. They don't push me too hard at the beginning of the hockey season. You know, a lot of them are weeknight games. Um, and, uh, so I'll do opening night. I do that every year. We usually have a triple header. And then, um, I may not do more than another game or two until January. So they kind of give me November and December. We don't have a lot of hockey on, you know, October, November, December, because you have college football going on. The NBA is starting up college basketball, starting up. The NFL is still going, obviously. So, uh, it's a pretty crowded calendar. So most of my stuff, most of my hockey starts in January. And then, you know, we have the ABC Saturday game of the week, basically, uh, every Saturday starting in January. And then it's when we get to the playoffs that it's really about a two month grind. I know your, uh, your time is valuable. And I thank you for this time. I got plenty of time for you, my friend. Well, I know you gotta be on the driving range soon. So I do, I'm taking a lesson because I'm so bad. I don't remember the last time I took a golf lesson, but, uh, heading to heading to take a lesson. You, uh, you, you seem like a guy who's not going to really care about this. If this happened to me, it would be the biggest thing that ever happened to me. You won the, uh, 2025 broadcaster of the year. And I, I, I got this. I think it's a national association. I don't have the exact association. You won the national broadcaster of the year last year in 2025. I don't know if it's your first, but now as you know, you're, you've been doing this 30 years. Are you in the recognition? I feel like is, is, is justly coming your way. Uh, as, as we go down the road here, does that mean anything to you? Do you, do you, do you swell with pride? How, how do you take an award like that? Uh, it does mean a lot. You know, we mentioned the old miss Georgia game in the sugar bowl, in the college football playoff. The, the morning of that game, Greg McElroy, you know, usually the producer Brian rider, when we're in our meeting room, uh, he says a couple of things, he hands it off to me. And I just kind of give the group what I think are the storylines in the game, what the coaches said, what we think is important, what we all need to be paying particular attention to a little, you know, tidbit stories about players or coaches that we want to get to. Let's make sure we find Trinidad Chambliss his parents before the game. Got to be a story about that, whatever it is. So when Brian yielded to Greg McElroy, I thought, Oh, that's a little odd. And then he walked up behind me and he started talking about how excited he was. And when he started talking about, Oh my gosh, I think he's going to say, cause I knew I was one of the finalists. I think he's going to say you won the national sports cast or the award for the national sports media association. And the, you know, the video circulated online. I was a little suspicious because Sam Venoni, who's a wonderful person who's a very important part of every aspect of our college football at ESPN and ABC. She had her camera pointed at me and I thought I could tell she was recording. I'm like, why is she recording this? So it's super meaningful. You know, I'm, I was 63 at the time. I'm 64. Now I've been doing this. Yeah. I've been on at ESPN since 1989. I think I left for four years to go to CBS full-time and came back. I was working for both of them in the nineties. And I've never won this, you know, and I was never that upset about it to be honest because you know, when it's the finalists are Joe Buck and Mike Tirico and, and Jim Nance and Ian Eagle and Kevin Harlan and Kirk Herbstreet and Charles Barkley, you know, there's, I think 10 finals every year. Like how can you feel? I get that ballot every year. I'm like, I don't know who to vote for. Cause I can vote for any one of these people. So that's why it was so meaningful to me. I have so much respect for the men and women who do this. There are so many great sports broadcasters out there. Mike Breen, I'm leaving people out, you know, who, and then when you look at who's won it in the past, it was super meaningful. I try not to get, you know, my dad was a very, you know, he reminded us constantly to stay humble. And I think that's a quality we should have, but I'd be lying if I said that didn't mean a ton, especially at this stage in my life. I mean, to have people think you're still doing great work at this point in my career is a super meaningful. Well, Sean, we got about, I guess what three weeks now you'll be in, you'll be in Nashville for Ole Miss Louisville. And then we'll be right down the road with this thing. I don't, I don't really, I know, you said you're ramping up. So I want to ask you like a national champion pick, but you can ask me whatever you want. I'll make it up. If I don't know, I look at this season. I just, I get excited about some teams that have never broken through like Oregon and Texas and Notre Dame. And we're one year removed from Indiana being, you know, the worst program in the history of the sport and they win it. It's a wide open season this year. I guess I'm going to ask you who your national champion is. Cause there it is. Yeah. You know, it's funny. The first three you mentioned, Texas, Oregon and Notre Dame are, you know, teams that I will be interested to see, you know, I think if Texas is ever going to take that really big step, you know, they made the playoff a couple of times. I know it's about time Sark won something. I think they were in the playoff. They were in the four team playoff. They made the final four. They lost to Washington. Then they made the final four of the first 12 team playoff. Yeah. So, you know, I would, I would lighten up on that a little bit, but I do think arch, you know, we had their game against Texas A&M at the end of last year. The Thanksgiving weekend game when, you know, arch kind of was the arch. I think people were maybe unrealistically expecting. He was going to be at the start of the year, but I would expect that, you know, he's going to keep taking that forward. You obviously Oregon got the quarterback back who, you know, some were, we were talking when we did the Oregon, Indiana game in our setup, you know, this might be about not only to see, you know, who's going to advance in the playoff, but you know, which guy's going to be the first pick in the draft. And then the Oregon, your quarterback didn't even go in the draft. So, and you can do that in this day and age of NIL, where you're well compensated to stay and play another year of college football. And I think Notre Dame, you know, they, I saw a note the other day, I think they have more of their production back than just about a team. I would, we did CJ, we did their opener last year against Miami. I was really impressed by CJ car who had barely played. And, you know, I think he's a legitimate Heisman candidate. Obviously their schedule is general. Really pretty favorable. And I felt bad. They didn't make it into the playoff last year. Cause I think they would have been dangerous if they made, I think Texas would have been too. That's why I think 16 would be great. I know we didn't get to that. I I'm I'm I hate 24. I think that's ridiculous, but but 16 would be pretty good. We're in lockstep there. I think 16 is the right number. I also think, you know, every sport in America goes in like increments of eight, like eight, 16, 32, 64, you know, stuff like that. And all in, in college football just came out, it was 12. And then they won't go to 24. Like what? Just 16, 16 sounds about right. Well, it's funny. The big 10 was pushing for that obvious and everybody else kind of being, and then all of a sudden, some of the other conferences and I'm sorry, but you know, I think the other conferences it's, if you're a coach in the SEC or an AD or the big 12, whatever the ACC, Hmm, wait a minute. If there's 24, we have a better chance of getting in, you know, maybe one year or two years we make it. And I saved my job. The AD saves his job. People give more money. Cause everybody's hopped that we made the playoff. So, you know, a lot of these people who are within the sport, who are saying 24 is the right number for all these reasons, 24 is the right number because I may benefit from it. If my team makes the playoff. I mean, that that's the reality that I think 16 is plenty, you know, last year you make the argument, Oh, how could they leave out Notre Dame, Texas. Be like, whoever the hell stay left out. But, but I'm sorry if you're number 17, I mean, there is a certain point like the college basketball tournament, 68 teams get into what an outrage. They left this team out. Really? Yeah. Sorry. Be better. Do better. Yeah. I do think you're probably at a pretty good number. If you are leaving out like one or two teams that you think could really make a run. That's when it really becomes elite and exclusive, but 16 is the right 16. Yeah. I mean, 16. I mean, we, we last year was 12, right? We just named three or four. Okay. Vanderbilt. I don't want to leave them out. You know, they have really good team, but, but yeah, I don't, 20, 24, you know, and it, believe me, it has nothing to do with ESPN or the kind of, even know the variables. I don't, I paper, very probably less attention than i should to the business you might be able to cash an extra check in the 24 well maybe i don't get paid by the game if i did i'd be like those coaches okay there are more teams more games fair enough checks listen man this was an absolute delight to me i really appreciate this uh you know i'm 47 years old i remember i was a braves fan 30 in 1992 so many shawn mcdonough calls over the years i think you were truly one of the greats in the history of broadcasting and i appreciate you giving me your time for the brandon walker college football show thank you for joining me oh my pleasure really thanks for having me on i really appreciate those kind words thank you