The Pac-12 is dead, but College Football lives on. George Wrighster and Ralph Amsden are back, resurrecting their podcast for the fifth year, but this time, they're taking the show national! That's right, welcome to the College Football Apostles!
On this week's episode, the guys discuss Jim Harbaugh's public denial of having anything to do with Michigan's litany of NCAA issues, and get into how the NCAA's penalties might affect Sherrone Moore's ability to be successful.
George and Ralph also break down their preseason Top 25- who might be underrated, and who might end the season with a losing record?
Also, which coaches are under the most pressure this season? And finally, with Pitbull buying the naming rights to FIU's stadium, which celebrities should follw suit and try to get some naming rights of their own?
I'm George Reister. He's Ralph Amsen, and this is the College Football Apostles where we love college football and we know that you do too, if you are here with us. We used to be the Pac twelve Apostles, but PAC twelve's dead when we are very much alive, and we are going to keep bringing the heat all the time. I'm George Reister, former NFL player seven years in the league, played at the University of Oregon. He is Ralph Amerson. Tell tell the folks who Ralph Empton.
Is reserve linebacker Chandler High School in Chandler, Arizona. I love college football, cover college football. I'm from Wyoming, Wyoming fan, Arizona State alum. Cover the PAC twelve with you for the last five years, and now I'm out here living in acc SEC country.
Well acc country that extends all the way to the West coast, mean that every single team touches the Atlantic Ocean except I.
Guess we're all acc country now, aren't we?
Yes, except for Cale, Stanford and SMU, which we conveniently have to stop forgetting about. Yeah, so obviously we love college football. We know that you guys do too, and we are going to bring things simply, honestly and bring that heat every week, so there will be college football talk. Go to The Unafraid Show on YouTube. If you're listening to this on audio. Most importantly, share with a friend. Tell a friend about this show. You will absolutely enjoy it and get a chance to enjoy us as you know, part of your college football experience and family. Today, we got a bunch of things up for you guys. So Jim Harbaugh, yes, sir, ree, he is going to serve as the honorary captain for Michigan's season Oh weather home opener. Are you kidding me? Dude? They are just rubbing this in everybody's face. And we got to talk about the whole shooting match, about what's going on there at Michigan and the pushback from Michigan fans. All right, the coaches are under pressure in the world of college football. Everybody wants to give you the hot seat. We're not gonna talk about the hot sea. We are gonna talk about the coaches that are actually under the most pressure in this twenty twenty four to twenty five season. And after that it is The Unafraid Show Top twenty five. We are officially putting that out in the world. It will be there every single week for you guys. And the SEC is considering an injury report, which is something to college football coaches. Oh yeah, they like to keep things secret. Not anymore. And we're gonna play a game called next Man Up. And what happens when you have enough money to buy the naming rights to a stadium. I think that Pitt Bull has showed us he will be the first of many more to do it. So we got to start though with Jim Harbaugh and Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines. He has gotten a four year show caused penalty, one year's suspension if he ever returns to the world of college football, So essentially there is no penalty for Jim Harbaugh and Sharon Moore, who deleted fifty two text messages to Connor Stallions and helped recruit players as well. He is, you know, facing some potential sanctions, so are other coaches who I think what five coaches have Level two and some Level one recruiting violations. And Michigan fans think that this is over cheeseburger. Is not over cheeburger. This has been This is significantly bigger than this. But Ralph, Michigan fans think that this is a big witch hunt. It's obviously not. But I want to start first.
With I have to ask you a question. Yea, because which hunts happen? Which hunts absolutely happen?
Yes?
And uh, but what happens when a witch walks into a witch hunter's office and says I'm a witch?
That Hey, that's exactly what Michigan did. Okay, yes, it is a witch hunt. But you walked in and said, hey, I'm a witch, I'm a witch. If you're looking for witches, I'm here.
They said, come on, man.
So and so people have asked me on Twitter because I've seen Michigan fans and I do not expect Michigan fans to have any rational conversation about this, because they have said that this is no big deal, that the signs still in Connor Stallion is no big deal. But the truth is, I've tried to explain to people as a former professional athlete, if you can, and I asked NFL scouts about it, because people like the rule is dumb anyway. Well, the difference is is that NFL scouts, Yes, they do Advanced Scout they can pull anything off the TV copy, which is fair game, but you cannot be videotaping the sideline or videotaping anything. This is why the Patriots have gotten in trouble. Other teams have gotten in trouble, lost draft picks, million dollar finds, everything else. So this is a big deal. But the bigger part of it is is what Jim Harbaugh got up there and said in his press conference since he's been with the Chargers.
Yeah, I do have a comment on that. Never lie, never cheat, never steal. I was raised with that lesson. I have raised my family on that lesson.
I have preached that.
Lesson to the teams that I've coached. No one's perfect. If you stumble, you apologize, and you make it right. Today, I do not apologize. I did not participate, was not aware nor complicit in those set allegations. So for me, it's back to work and attacking with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.
So Ralph, when I first heard that, and after I sat down digested it for a minute, waited a few hours because you know, because sometimes you have an initial reaction and then you gotta process it through. It's like having a conversation with your wife or your family, and you're like, I want to go here. Let me sit back and think about it for a second. And where I've landed is because I have respect for Jim Harbaugh as a head coach, but giving us the integrity speech while all of this happened under your watch. So you are either an unwitting idiot, right, or you're a liar. I mean, there's not a lot of room in between those two things. So you're in either well three three options. You're an unwitting idiot, which I cannot believe because college football coaches are notoriously adamant about knowing everything that's going on in their program when it comes to recruiting, when it comes to practices, and if you're preaching to your staff don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal, then you're gonna be any you know, reference of that or anything like that. You are gonna put the cabash on it. He hired Connor Stallions an analyst. Why it's not like he's a former football guy or something like that, so he was bringing some value. So either he's an unwitting idiot or he whenever something was going on, he was like no, no, no, no, la la la la la, I'm walking out the room. I'm walking out the room. I don't want to hear it. Or he's a liar Ralph? Is there any other And then just to be like I didn't participate, it didn't have anything to do with it. Even if you were an unwitting idiot, you should not be in charge of an organization if the people because that means the people that you hired don't respect you. That means that they were like, man, if what Jim said about this, no, lie, don't tip. We do what we want to do around here.
Man, I don't think everything can be known. I think at some point we have to have a conversation on whether whether it's even possible to know everybody's intentions. Everybody's hard, what everybody's up to. You do have the ability to set the tone. So if you say I was unwitting that, I think the ultimate emission is that you're you were not enough to inspire the uh the integrity that you said that you set out to in your program. And I think if you're a Chargers fan, you got to be looking at that like, oh, is he all that he was cracked? Up to me. We just gave this man eighty million dollars to come in and be a leader to inspire others. And I don't you know, and if you're saying that, like I couldn't even inspire my coaches to follow the rules, and you got they had they had a So here's what it went down with Michigan. Because it wasn't just you know, the the whole cheeseburger thing, the whole COVID contact thing. You know, there was the Connor Stallions thing. But they also had a coach fired where like the FBI came and raided offices and they are something like that, and they they've not talked about that yet. They also had a coach at the lower lower level, like an analyst or whatever it, get busted for soliciting minors, you know, And and we know you and I know that Michigan wasn't clean. Nobody's clean clean, ye, But if somebody at my level can call you and say, hey, George, Michigan's about to get this player that's on another roster because they're illegally in contact with him now, and then a week later that player enters the transfer portal and announces for that school. How should somebody at my level know that Michigan is doing stuff they're not supposed to and that happened like that is a literal thing that happened.
So and you know, that sort of thing doesn't bother me at all, like the like the recruiting and the still.
People think any of this stuff should bother anyone. It's maybe that's what Michigan fans are stuck on, is that, hey, this isn't a big deal. And if you're a Michigan fan and you can come to me and say that I rode hard for Jim Tressel when he got in trouble and I had Mel Tucker's back, then maybe I'll listen to you. But if you're just a fan being a fan, I don't want to hear it. Because I cover Arizona State and then I'm Arizona State fan. You know, after I left covering them professionally, you know, I watched Arizona State go through very similar covidvice restrictions, and I watched them try to use the excuse that they didn't know what was going on. When I knew that was a lie. I knew that that was set from the top down, so you know, I want.
Other people's I think it's the lie that bothers people the most because I remember around the worst trouble I ever got. I got the worst whooping ever. I was in fifth grade. I was going to Mosquite Elementary and my dad previously had bought us some tennis balls, so we used to play baseball out in the street. We then hit the balls all over the place. Can't find the tennis balls. I'm in charge of the shed at school. I see some extra tennis balls. I'm like, damn, we out of tennis balls. I'm gonna grab a couple of these joints. And I made the mistake of well, in addition to stealing some tennis balls, I made the mistake of telling somebody, and that person told the teacher. Teacher called my dad in. Dad says, George, did you steal the tennis balls? No, George, if you stole the tennis boss, just just tell me, you know, like we'll be all right. No, Dad, I didn't steal the tennis balls. My dad goes in there riding for me. My son is still these damn tennis balls. I just bought him tennis boss, which was which was true? I just bought them tennis balls. And then she was like, well, these these balls that were in his backpack, they have their special market on me. You can't buy them from the store. You can only order them, like schools only are allowed to order them. Blah blah. She shoot them in the map magazine. I got home, got my ass whooked. My dad was like, listen, I'm like your your lawyer. You don't lie to me. And he was more upset that I lied to him about it and made him look stupid in the process than the fact that I actually took the tennis balls, which he would have been upset about too, but had I just fessed up, because it's the arrogant that makes people upset, which is you got the audacity to do it and then sit up there and lie on my face like I'm stupid. I think that that, and then that makes people want to dig into it even more, as opposed to if Jim Harball just said, look, yes, yes I did it. I mean I'm not coming back to college football anyway. Yes, yes we did it. This was a stupid rule. We shouldn't have done it. This, this, this, and just be like, hey, yo, I take responsibility for it, because if he just took responsibility for it instead of letting it land at other people's feet and being like, Okay, well I'm going I had nothing nothing to do with it. That's the issue. And I think that he is not going to look good in that Netflix documentary because something's in that Netflix documentary because the NCAA started releasing more and more information real quick.
Yeah, some of the stuff that's out there, I don't think we should know, right what do you mean, like some of the stuff that is being released, I don't I mean through Pete Dammel or other sources. I don't think that was for us to know yet. No, So the fact that the NC double A is on the offensive, you know that this could certainly, this could certainly get ugly. But I mean, he's not the only NFL head coach that refused to participate with an nc DOUBLEA investigation. We got Antonio Pierce too, and they're not going after him the way they're going after Jim Harbaugh. So I don't know what he did to piss them off. I instinctially, I always wanted to fend Jim Harbaugh. I wrote that man a letter when I was a kid, he sent me an autograph back that you made an impression on me when I was eight nine years old. That like, I'm like, oh, I love this dude. So I like and he seems like a great guy. He seems like he gets the most out of people. We watched him turn the forty nine ers into winners. We watched him turn Stanford into winners. He was a killer at University of San Diego. Like, I love the dude. I think he's a fantastic football coach. And if the way to win is to find ways around the rules, then I you know, I don't think there's any shame in that and saying like hey, I'm out of that game now, I'm never going back. They can hit you with a fifty year show cause for a like here, the fact of the matter is I didn't agree with the rules. I was a conscientious objector on some of that stuff. We got the hard way to prove it.
And that's where things get tricky because the ncublea and this is why college football needs a commissioner. Is there needed to be swift action on this. And because Michigan won the national championship, you can vacate a win all you want to, but we saw it happen, just like Reggie Bush's heisman, just like USC winning the National Championship, beating the hell out of Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. We saw it. You can't undo it. We saw Memphis play Kansas in the National Championship game. Even though Memphis has no winst that year. We saw it. You can't make us unsee something. So and Michigan won the championship in the College Football Playoff. Regardless of what you think they did prior. They were fair and square after that. So you can't discount what they did on the field, but you can say that the sign stealing had an impact on wins and losses because you don't have to get all the plays right. You just have to get some crucial plays right. And if Michigan, if it was having no benefit, why on earth would the defensive coordinator and the oppositive coordinator be having Connor Stallions standing right next to them feeding them information. Because oppositive defensive coordinators are very busy during the game. They don't, you know, powow with everybody, So why would they be listening to other people? If I mean this low level analyst who means nothing if it holds no value.
Do you think a scenario exists in which Connor Stallions lied about his sources and the source of his information and just tried to paint himself as an indispensable genius. Do you think do you think he would have provided that own that cover to inflate his own importance in the in the program obviously important, but like for for them to think like, oh that this man is just like John Boy media with the lip reading, like he's just that good. Uh, Like, do you think he would let people believe that to to inflate himself or do you think, okay, so on that. Then you can let some people off the hook for for that, because I'll take whatever advantage comes my way if I don't know that it's being obtained illegally.
Oh no, no, no, no, no no no. See See, coaches have been doing this for a very long time. They either thought that this dude was some rain man genius, which they didn't. They just weren't gonna ask questions, but they knew something like you know when something's up, because it doesn't make sense. Nobody else has this sort of information readily available on the sidelines, and all of this stuff, so they knew he was getting it from from somewhere. But and here's the truth about Connor Stallions. Connor Stallions is like a is like a stalker. Connor Stallions is like a stalker for a celebrity. He wanted it, and Michigan football was his celebrity. He wanted to make himself like it's like watching the Bodyguard or somebody they like. They think that you're in love with them too, so he wanted to cuddle up and nestle in there like he was like a tapeworm. He was burrowing himself further into the university and into the football program to make himself indispensable because he just wanted to be part of the program. He loved Michigan football. This is an obsession. This is an obsessed person who was willing to do anything. So, yes, this is Connor Stallion's fault, but this is also Michigan's fault for allowing this because there's no way that nobody knew that this was going on. And there are also some other allegations that have not come out yet about information that Michigan had access to, and if that turns out to be true, they are gonna get hit with. I mean like that, that would be probably one of the more damning things that I've ever heard of, of, like a data breach when it comes to college football, and it's the one thing that college coaches are most terrified about.
I think, I don't know. Do you think this will change college football? You think people are gonna go around, try to get a handle on their staff, try to clean house, try to cover up whatever they can. Yes, because of Connor stallions, Yes.
What you you can't. You must tie up all loose ends because at some point in time, somebody is gonna get to get to yapping and you do not want that. So you gotta tie like you. You gotta button up all and sweep out your dusty corners. So you gotta pay off who you need to pay off to go away. You gotta make it before something comes comes out, because you gotta remember.
That.
Through the course of this Michigan investigation, it's just like the the Hugh Freeze phone or the book Richard Senate at Arizona and the NCAA investigation that was over a dude named Marty Blazer in Atlanta, a financial advisor who got in trouble and then he was like, I know something over here. So a lot of these investigations don't even start at the place that you thought they were, and then you end up with people's phone wreckers and everything else and it goes absolutely sideways. But Sharon Moore, Michigan's new head coach, Ralph, he's under a lot of pressure this year. He is under a lot of pressure. And we have a video on on a FRAID show coming out about the coaches, the ten coaches who are under the most pressure in the world of college football this season. So we kind of wanted to go over some of the highlights of that and the coaches, because pressure doesn't always look like a coach is gonna get fired, because sometimes there's pressure to just make the playoff, when your conference, have a winning season, all sorts of things in between. And Sharon Moore, obviously, because of like, he's not gonna get fired unless there's crazy allegations that come out about him and what they were doing in Michigan, has to clean house. But there is a situation Ralph where he is like, we didn't think that he was one of the under the most pressure, one of the ten coaches under the most pressure when we made the video. But now, Ralph, do you think he is one of the coaches under the most pressure.
Yeah, I think. I think Michigan fans in the Michigan program has thought a lot of itself over the last twenty to twenty five years. They never accepted that they were. They went from great to good. They never accepted that, you know, through money at Rich ra, through money at Jim Harbaugh, doing you know, doing whatever they can to get back to where they believe they belong. And they finally pulled it off, back to that college football playoff appearances and the champion. Yeah, at no point when they were down and out, believed they were anything less than blue blood and one of the greatest programs in the country. And the reason I'm bringing.
That up is Bogo tickets to the Big House.
Exactly. And so they they they never believe and some might believe that that level of delusion is help is what helped bring them back like it. However, however, because they have that level of like, you know, we don't surrender one inch an inch, right, the idea that keeping Sharon more around could cause distractions or be frustrated when they don't really have the same allegiance to him that they had to Jim Harbaugh. They might say that they do, but at the same time, he wasn't the head man when they got a championship, and I don't think it's worth it for them to be picked at by every other team in the conference saying, oh, you still got a you know, a cheater in charge or whatever. I think they'd be more than happy to move on from him if they believe that they're going to maintain the level that they're at and they can rid themselves of some of the distractions provided by keeping him on when he's implicated in multiple situations and so you know, or maybe they do have that same energy to just close ranks and defend all Michigan men at all costs, but I don't believe that to be the case. I think that they're gonna want to move on from this in some some substantive way. And I don't know what happens when when a coach that is still employed gets hit with the show cause I don't know what happens. So Michigan's options are defiance or it doesn't matter who's in charge more Michigan, and I could easily see them going in a either direction.
Yeah, So here are some of the coaches that we looked at and we're like, yo, this is this is gonna be a pressure cooker of a season for them, even though that they may not be on the verge of getting fired. And and Ryan Day is one of those coaches because he has to walk a tight rope at Ohio State this season. Ohio State has a Obviously, they have a tough schedule. They have Oregon, they have Michigan, and when you have that alone on your schedule, Bro, you are like, that's major, that's significant. But they do have an incredible roster. And when you have an incredible roster, incredible, you know people are going to want incredible results. So I was trying to think like, he's so he hired Chip Kelly to be his offensive coordinator, But what does a record like does eleven and one even without a national championship suffice And I don't think so, Ralph. I think that it is championship or bust. Beat Michigan or bust. And even if he goes to College Football Playoff and loses to Oregon and Michigan this year, it's gonna be a problem. Ralph.
Yeah, And if Kyle McCord throws forty touchdowns for Syracuse. Let's say that Kyle McCord is a Heisman contender. Let's say that Ohio State is eight and oh eight and oh Michigan game coming up in a month, but Kyle McCord is a Heisman contender. I can foresee Ohio State fans calling for Ryan Day's job while they're undefeated before the Michigan game. Well, that's how thin the ice is.
Oh yeah, because if Will Howard is just okay, that's gonna be a problem.
Because, yeah, if Will Howard looks like Kyle McCord did last year, which was adequate, colle McCord was.
See. I think that that, see, Ralph, I think that that's where the rub is right, is that Ryan Day has not lost very many games. Like, coaches don't get fired generally for doing what Ryan Day has done in terms of a win loss record. Coaches don't get fired for that. But at Ohio State, when they put so much nil money into building up this roster, I don't know how anything besides even a loss in the National Championship Game is going to be acceptable.
A one second, I'm gonna switch to a different internet. I don't know what's happening.
So Ryan Days's situation is tough, dude, I mean, you don't have that sort of record and get fired. But at Michigan, I mean, at Ohio State, the way their roster is set up and everything else, like a championship is the goal. The next one that we want to highlight from the video is Billy Napier down there at Florida ralph I just don't He's a good coach, and I think that that's how people are gonna start sentences. He's a good coach. But at the end of the day, winning matters and regardless and there are and you're not gonna get a lot of excuses, especially not at the University of Florida. So and people talk about their schedule this year, which is tough. They got Miami, then they play Sanford, Texas A and m Mississippi State, UCF, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Texas, LSU, oh Miss and Florida State. That's a hell of a schedule. I respect this schedule. This is a this is what a college football schedule is supposed to look like. Lincoln Riley trying to run from playing LSU run from Notre Dame don't do it. But Billy Napier Ralph, I'm not sure if they're I know their fans know the schedule is tough and they're hoping for the best, but they're over under is like five wins, So if they get to seven, Florida fans should actually be happy, right, But I don't think that they're gonna be okay with seven wins if he can get.
To that, I think that Florida fans, you know, we just called Michigan fans a level of delusional. That may have helped the program come back. Florida fans I don't. I don't get that sense from them, but I tell you that doc documentary coming out last year didn't help. Yeah, that might have been the worst possible thing for Napier because you just reminded Florida that at one point it was Alabama, right, Like, at what point Florida was Georgia? Yes, and everybody wants to believe that. You know, once you're on the ride, it's never gonna end. But things change, especially when you get good. Everybody's gonna want your staff members. And that's on field coaches, off field coaches, you know, everybody's gonna come up off that stuff, and at the end of the day, it's really just you having to reset the culture over and over and over again. It's hard to stay good forever, but you do have to be You do have to let somebody cook. And I don't know, you know, I'm not mad about the direction of college football. I'm really not. And I will argue with people on the internet about you know, it's ruined because the players get to make money in the transfer portal and everything. However, Billy Napier is the kind of football coach to I'm not sure this environment serves. You know. Maybe he'd be great in the NFL. Maybe he would never lose a game at the high school level, maybe he would be a ten time in a row FCS champion. But we're talking about the SEC. When Missouri just hired a GM. Yeah, like they hired a G and like outside the program as part of the NI But that's what it is, you know. And so you know, it's like going from somebody's campaign manager to their super pac manager when the super PACs actually not allowed to communicate with the campaign.
We all know when you served them both roles all you.
Got to do is communicate with yourself, right, So that's what Missouri's doing. You know, Florida needs to acquire the type of players that it's going to take to win, and they're gonna have to hold on to guys. And they're still recruiting at a very high level out there. But if they don't, if they don't have a winning record when the season ends, I'm not even counting bowls or anything like that. I don't I don't know if there's going to be an appetite in Gainesville to have him return. And that sucks because I think maybe they're probably about a year away. But they start this season off staring down cam Ward, right, Yes, that's how they start the year. I don't know, man, I want to say that, like, maybe the biggest surprise in the world to me would be Florida with eight wins. Florida with eight wins, to me, that's a monster season given the schedule, they have, the level of talent they're currently at. I'm you know, I'm not sure about them at quarterback.
Yeah, yep, at least for this year because they got the the who's that Underwood coming in next year? Oh no, Well, he's a freshman this year, so yeah, that's very interesting. The last one that we want to talk about is Deon Sanders over at Colorado. Deon Sanders is not in jeopardy of getting fired. I just wonder if, like he needs to win to keep up the way he wants to do things to keep I think, to keep the love for doing this because he's not recruiting high school at a high level and people trying to exist out of the transfer portal. It doesn't work. It's like trying to build a champion through only free agency in the NFL or in the MLB, it doesn't work. Like, yeah, you can put together some good teams sometimes, but particularly on the offensive and defensive line, Like you have to have continuity, particularly on the offensive line, because when they look at the best offensive lines and the guys that perform every year the best, it's usually the ones that have the most starts together. And he is an entirely different offensive line than last year, which was bad last year. And instead of developing some of those players and keeping them around and then saying all right, cool, we got to pitch and patch. So now you've got dudes that haven't played together expecting them to play well together when your skill positions are they have one of the best skill position groups on the office of and the defensive side in the entire nation. Like they're one of the better skill groups between quarterbacks, wide receivers, tight end dB. You know, like they are excellent and they're in the upper you know, fifteen twenty in the league, in all the college football in that area. But Ralph, I just don't think that Dion Sanders is going to be able to last in Colorado because he's not going to be able to accumulate the talent that he wants to because he does not prioritize high school recruiting.
Yeah, so I have a question for you, George, how much in your third year to Oregon, how much were you getting treatment stretching before games stuff like that, Like, how how much did you put into the off the field preparation that didn't have anything to do with practice or natural athletics?
A lot more than I did as a freshman.
You know what, what about year five in the NFL? Oh?
Oh what one percent? Yeah? It was. It was a good level because I've been hurt a couple of times and I was like, oh, I have to do all of this stuff to be able to be ready to play.
Did you ever run into anybody who lost interest when that became the requirement, when when they more went into preparation than practice, Yes.
And then they were like, I don't want to do this anymore.
Yeah. So that that's what I think about with Dion is some of this stuff has been easy, too easy. He has been the one of the most famous people on earth my entire life, my entire life, and the attention that he brings, in the excitement that he brings, in the stage that he allows his players to compete on all great things. I think he's been a shot in the arm for college football. I love having him around, even his weird o fans that have nothing to do with the University of Colorado that have made life on the internet miserable for everyone. I like them too. Uh, it's all been fun for me. But you look at the fact that, like you're not recruiting the high school level, you are one year away from not having, as you always put it, your three sons on the team anymore.
Yes, should and Travis Hunter.
I fear that he runs a risk of losing interest in the process when he's not surrounded by his people when the grind of the job, when when the inevitability of the grind of the job comes comes to really take hold.
Yeah, and he don't want to get on recruiting. He doesn't want you.
And you talked about like this man will turn in his luggage. He's done it twice. Right, he said, I'm bringing Louis And then I don't know what's about Louis because I have Columbia bags from the outlet mall. But I don't know what's above Louis. But he traded up again, right, However, what else did he do last year? George? He didn't just blame that offensive line for everything that was happening to Shadur and the fact that they lost seven straight after beating Arizona State. He also blamed Sean Lewis took his play calling duties away, when everyone in the country knows Sean Lewis is the man. How many offensive coordinators have been relieved of their duties only to get a head coaching job at a very good football stad just a couple of months later.
Oh yeah, a head coaching job. No, but I was going to say Minnesota's officer coordinator getting hired by got by Carl Derrell.
Oh yeah, I think your boy Jake Spavital had his his duties ranked yanked.
At col last year. Yep, and now he's an office coordinator.
Yes, but head coach Like that just goes to show you, like the entire country was like, Okay, Dion, Yeah, Sean Lewis is your problem on offense. And you know that Dion wasn't even all about that, because then all the offensive lineman gotta go at the end of the year, whose fault is it? Really? Everyone but yours. That's got to get exhausting, and it's gonna be tough to keep players around and have some consistency.
And when when you don't have I can't just say every year, man, these dudes don't want it bad enough. I got to find some guys who really want it bad enough. Know what you need to do is recruit the high school, develop your players, fill spots with transfer portal players, and do that for like three years, and then you can have a really really good football team.
Yeah, and I worry. I worry. We have Jordan's situation, like Michael Jordan draft Kwame Brown and wonders why he's not as good as as good as Charles Oakley on day one. People have to develop. Not everyone is born for this. A lot of people have to be made. Is Deon a maker now? At the same time, the Colorado Colorado is dealing with a lot of nonsense outside noise, stuff people kind of making up stuff about the program. That gets old too. That gets old because you don't deserve to have people lying about you.
You don't, Yes, that's a fact.
And they push back everything, and that's got to get tiring when you always are out there having a SmackDown rumors instead of focus on football. Why wouldn't you want Why wouldn't you just say, all right, y'all, don't appreciate me. Peace. See if you can do this without me? And they can't. That Colorado knows it can't. So Colorado's gonna do everything they can to circle the wagons and defend him. Yes, but these college football fans and media members that are trying to chase him out of the game because they don't like the way that he does things, Your life without him is not going to be as good. I promise you that, yep.
So yeah, So you should actually be hoping that he does have success, and you guys may make sure that you guys go check out the video on YouTube out the college football coaches that are under the most pressure right now. But now, speaking of pressure, ha, we were under a lot of pressure because we had to put together the top twenty five for this season. This is a collaborative effort, and uh yeah, we'll just show you what the top twenty five in the preseason looks like coming in here for Unafraid Shoke. So, Ralph, here's what we got. We got Georgia one, Oregon two, Ohio State, Texas, Ole, Miss, Notre Dame, Alabama, Utah, Penn State, Florida State round out the top ten. And are there any of these, Ralph that we put up that is going to draw that people are going to be upset about.
I think it's a really solid top ten. I don't anticipate anybody being all that mad. I will say this, I believe Ohio State is the best team in the country. However, I have much more faith in Oregon's quarterback situation, and I have much more faith in Kirby Smart and and and the two most important things you can have in college football as your head coach and your quarterback. I believe that to be true. If you if you take those two things out of the equation, I think Ohio State is far and away number one, and so that that that to me is it's a really bizarre situation to be in. When I look at especially in Ohio State's receiving room and their defense, the whole defense, I'm in awe of what they've built out there, and I but at the same time, what it's gonna come down to Will Howard or Devin Brown and if Ryan Day can motivate this team to not just eke buy in some games where they should go in and blow an opponent out, So that that would be the one where I would say, I wonder if anybody in this country is brave enough to put Ohio State at number one, knowing the level of talent they have. I think it's all an indictment on Ryan Day.
Really, dang, that is a very very fair point, Ralph, because their their talent level does probably dictate they should be number one or could be number one. But like the Georgia brand has built up so much, you know, equity right now, and they only lost one game last year, and that was the SEC championship game. And you know, do.
You trust Kirby Smart? Do you trust Kirby Smart? And do you trust Carson? You know what he gave you last year? Do you trust him?
Yeah? I trust him to be bet right that that's yes. I trust that Georgia is the mountain right now that they are that you put them in a big game, they probably coming up aces and.
They start with a big game off the bat.
Yeah, and they started in their level of physicality and they're so deep because after they won the national championship with one of the best defenses that we've ever seen, they came right back and just kick people in the teeth even worse. So it's one of those It took me a long time to buy into the Alabama thing, and I was like, yes, they're winning, but at some point time it's got a stop. No, bro, it doesn't have to. And it was funny, Ralph. Last night, I was on my radio show and I was watching the twenty twelve. It popped up on YouTube on the TV Oregon versus Oregon versus USC twenty twelve. Matt Barkley was the quarterback and I was like, I'm watching the game Oregon blitz Marcus Mariod as a freshman. They're blitzing them like ship. Kelly's offense could not be stopped at that point in time. But I'm watching Oregon's defense. The defense was ass and I could not do Marquis least seventy five yard bomb nos and Aguilar a big play. The tackling was shitty. It was I was watching that like, good God, how do you win football games like this? And I remember when Oregon played Auburn in the National Championship in twenty ten season, couldn't block Nick Fairley? Could? I mean, granted they were the second best team in the country, they only lost by three points and couldn't compete on the offensive and defensive line at the level that you need to. And then same thing happened when they played in the National Championship against Ohio State, except for their defense was good that year. But when you look at Oregon's defense now and what understanding what defense is so posed to look like in college football and not just say okay, yeah, these these yards. And I do believe that when you were running up tempo offenses and teams get more possessions, they're gonna rack up more yards and all of those things, but they don't have to rack up more points. And you say, oh, that gave them points up against the backups. Probably seven years ago I stopped with that. I was like, listen, it doesn't matter because the backups are going to have to play when somebody gets hurt, and those are your future players. So no, there are no excuses. And that's the difference is that these top teams they look the part on both sides. Now, Utah is not necessarily as talented as some of these other teams, but they just play good football. They're well coached, these are old players, they're gonna be good, and they have a good quarterback situation. There's a couple spots that stick out to me, Ralph. That's Penn State at number nine, because their entire season hedges on Drew Allard. They're gonna put a competent defense out. Their offense was it was it was like a step up from Iowa last year in terms of watchability. It was gross.
I know, I know you men, you spent most of the last year mad at that kid.
I wasn't mad.
It was just I think part of the reason. Part of the reason is he is enormous and he does not play like he's a six five two and forty pound athlete.
Yeah, correct, he does not.
And that's bad.
Yeah, because I didn't realize he was that big until the end of when you mentioned it last season, I was like, he's that big.
No, he's out there kind of looking like Drew Pine a little bit to where like, you know, obviously he's he Obviously he's good enough to be out there, But is he good enough to justify Like Penn State had something like forced eight top ten classes at one point. They have to capitalize on that.
Yep. Yeah, because you can only be if you build.
The third Everyone's gonna ask when you're gonna be second. Everybody's gonna ask when you're finally gonna be first. It's natural and and and state like, if that's if this is the cap, if third place is the cap, then you know, I don't know how much James Franklin lasts, especially when we watched last year James Franklin's agents making sure that his name is thrown into coaching conversations and stuff like that. Are there cracks in the foundation of this team? And I could I you and I disagree on some stuff. I've never agreed with you more than like Drew Allor it could be the difference between James Franklin not working there next year and Penn State winning a national championship.
Yep. Uh. There are a couple other teams that I think are very interesting. Miami at twelve with Mario Cristobal that he's under a line of pressure, he's got to perform this year. He's got the quarterback.
Uh.
The the excuses for Tyler van that Tyler Van Dyke was overrated and all that that those things are out of the window because you got a guy who has put up major stats in college football and Camp Moore. I'm interested to see how Clemson and Oklahoma are gonna do because Kate Klubnick at Clemson is in a Drew Aller type situation. And can I say something about Dabbo real quick? I appreciate that I have appreciated Daboswingy that much more and his comments about the transfer portal and how Clemson is not participating in the transfer portal the way other people are. That's the definition of standing on business to me, because he's like he's putting the onus on his coaches evaluate and we're not just gonna throw money at the problem and fix the problem. No, you go out and evaluate and recruit properly, and we're gonna develop our guys. I do think he needs to dabble into transfer a portal, but I do love the fact that he stands there and is like, no, no, no, we gonna develop our guys and we're gonna win with the people that we recruit, because coaches get lazy sometimes in recruiting when they know that they can just hit the portal sometimes.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, and I know that you here's the thing about Dabbo, and we're gonna talk about it all year long. What is happening is inevitable, and this stance he's taking against it is entertaining to watch. Right.
Yes, but you remember that in the opposite of Dion.
Yes, yeah. I think they've taken one transfer ever, and it was to be a player coach, like third string quarterback player coach.
Yeah.
I think it's Paul Tyson that was out Alabama and Arizona State. Other than that, they haven't taken anybody. And it reminds me. You remember that story, the old folk tale in elementary school, John Henry. Yep, Like the Industrial Revolution brings in like this machine that could lay the railroad tracks, and they know that's going to take away a lot of jobs. So John Henry is the champion of like the workers and the working man. He goes out there and he takes on the machine and he beats it, but in the process exhausts himself and he dies. Right like Dabbo. What I'm worried about is Dabo could take this team to the to the college football playoffs this year. I have no doubt in my mind to that. I think they're the class of the acc However, however, I think he's going to crash out in the process and he might take this program with him.
Damn. I respect it.
I respect it, but like this is inevitable. It is.
Yeah, And there is one program, well there's two program ms, and I'm actually excited about and to see how they do too. That's Tennessee at seventeen because Nico e Amaalava, if he plays really well, they're gonna be in a They're gonna have a chance to make the College Football Playoff. LSU their defense, and I'm also Washington and Arizona. Washington Arizona and USC. Those of those three teamsknown, one of one of those.
Three teams is going to be a team that at the end of the year we're like, why did we have them in here?
Yes?
One of those.
Yeah, they're gonna be staring at five losses right in right in the face. One of those?
Which one, I'm We'll put you on the spot. We have them ranked at their potential.
So so so Arizona is getting the credit for having their quarterback and a first round why wide receiver, That's what they're getting a lot of credit for. We're in a good tight end and been at and yeah, obviously they have no ed quarterback. McMillan at wide receiver is gonna be a first rounder, but they lost a lot.
So is a monster. Yes, I they might be a top twelve team to me if he didn't go to Washington.
Yep. And then you got Washington obviously, who really good coaching staff. They're in a much better position than they were when they got to Arizona, but competitions a little bit tougher than initially, even though the Pac twelve ended up crazy tough last year. And then there's USC because Lincoln Riley has hired so many great the defensive hires, but the question is does he have the talent to execute it? Because the defense is going to be better just because they're gonna be competent. Yeah, but it's due they have the horses to get it done. And how good is Miller Moss really because or Jayden my Via whoever ends up starting, it'll probably be Miller, But who is going to be Like is this offense going to be special like it was under Caleb Williams, Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts. Is it going to be that type of special? Because if it's not in your defense is mad? You could be staring at five losses even though their schedule is not, you know, the toughest thing in the Big Ten this year.
Yeah, they're USC's offense obviously can get cute, right, but it's like a it's like a platypus, right, It's like it's cute, but I think it's poisonous. I think it's deadly. You don't want to handle it if you can avoid it, right, Like, there are teams in the Big Ten that are not going to respect well.
Speaking of platypuses, how Big do you think a platypus.
Is Aren't they like like a chihuahua? Do you think? Yes?
They are extremely small. Yeah, they're like smaller than into chihuahua. Bro, They're they're like toy dog.
What'd you think they were? Like sea lions out there? And I get I thought they were humongous. Saw them at the San Diego Zoo, what at the wild Animal Park because they have two from Australia. It was the crazy dude, They're like, I was extremely surprised.
But that's a whole other Yeah, but I just like small, cuddly but dangerous, right, Like that's I look at this USC offense and I don't think they're gonna get a lot of respect going into the into the Big Ten because so many of these teams pride themselves on their defense, especially Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, right Wisconsin being up there too. Yeah, but but I don't I don't think you could take them lightly that. I mean, they've they they've made all our teams look stupid over the like, you know, we know what USC, we know what Lincoln Riley can do. And if I had told you before the season that, hey, there's a team out there that added both de'anton lynn and Matt Enttz to their defensive staff. Oh, you'd have been like, oh, that team's gonna win when I told you, But that team was USC You're like, oh, I wonder if Lincoln Riley's gonna ruin this.
Like that's such a wild because because even though you hired these defensive guys, you have to change your entire mentality and philosophy on how you practice. Like for instance, last year when us He played Oregon, Oregon went live during practice that week live. The only people that were not eligible to be hit were Bucky Irving because they kept him out of the drill because he was kind of hurt at that point in time, and they kept then you obviously you can never touch the quarterback. Whereas circle that with Dion Sanders and he's telling like everybody's you know, we're hitting, do not touch the quarterback. Well, of course, don't touch the quarterback that like you bet not that that goes on everywhere, but do not He also so do not touch the wide receivers, Like what, don't touch the wide outs? Come on, man? And so uh and don't touch Travis all right, bro?
Like what like yeah, I don't. I don't know. I it's easy to imagine USC going seven and five because they did it last year. It's easy for me to see Arizona take a step back. They Yeah, Arizona could regress to the mean. I think Brent Brennan's a great coach, but that's a whole new coaching staff. And Raymond Pallito is their best offensive lineman. He's not even gonna play this year. So one of these teams is gonna fall off really, really, really hard, I think. And there are teams in the teams they are every year. There are teams we have in the in the teams that don't even finish with a winning record. But that grouping of three, that's the one I'm looking at right now to say like, oh, this this is the team that could fall off the hardest. And I worry that it could be Arizona. But but you know, their their quarterback receiver tandem. If those two are healthy and t Mac hasn't been healthy, he's getting there. I don't know if you could stop it, because they've been playing together forever. You watch them out there at the high school level. Now they're doing it at the college level. I'm imagining a day someday soon where you have Fafita and TMAC at the NFL level doing the same thing because those deep ends and the high point stuff, I just don't know if it could be stopped. So I could see Arizona scoring a lot of points, but maybe Washington. Maybe it's Washington. It's gonna fall off because what do they have, like two starters from last year's team. One? Ooh, that's not good.
That's it all right. Next thing up, speaking of injuries, the SEC is flirting with a putting out an injury report, and this flies in the face of what college football coaches have done forever forever.
Why lie? Yes, yes, well that's how I thought. Jim Harbaugh said, don't lie. You know he lies about it. They all lie about injuries.
Yeah, yeah, because it's a competitive advand but the NFL doesn't. And this honestly has nothing to do with football. This has everything to do with money. This has to do with gambling setting lines because those people want the numbers to be able to be able to handicap things better and not have bookies or whoever would inside information connected the programs that they don't have, and they want it earlier because they do get information because they're bookies. But I mean, but.
Yeah, do you think it will be a welcome change? Oh?
I think it'll be welcome for fans and for coaches. They're gonna cry and complain about it and everything else. So they are going to bitch and moan about it until the cows come home. But the coaches who just embrace it and just say, Okay, these are the new rules, they're gonna be better off. It's like complaining about the transfer portal, complaining about this. No, just adapt, just adapt and guess what. Transparency won't kill you.
So what if it was just limited to like did they practice today or did they not practice today? I mean a lot of that comes out in reports anyway. But one of the things I've noticed, especially in the Pact twelve when it was around, is reporters who are supposed to just tell you what is happening are threatened with their access to the program. If they say X didn't practice today on their own message board, they can't even tell their own subscribers.
Oh I do think that they're Oh okay. So if you limit it to did a player practice like is he or or is he just an injury designation as in doubtful questionable.
Yeah, well, well.
They they eliminated the probable in the NFL, so it's either out, questionable or or full participant. So yeah, those are reasonable expectations because remember we're all slaves to the bread.
Yeah, yeah, all right, I wonder if they do like an injury report for grades. That's what I want.
Hey, hey what what whatever? A yo, he's he's out because he had to study. Yeah, all right. Speaking of money though, Pitt Bull Stadium, Ralph Pitt Bull Stadium. When they say the man's got his own money, the man has got his own money. Look you put Bull right there over there with the with FIU's coach. He has missed worldwide and he's like, I want everybody to know that Pitt Bull Stadium. I mean, and FIU is not even big enough that that's going to be broadcast a ton. You know, it's not It's not like turning Kneeland Stadium in Tennessee into Pitt Bull Stadium or turning you know, the the Crypto which was the Staple Center into into Pitt Bull Stadium. But these people now have so much money in terms of entertainers and people in business individual wealth that you know, I'm not sure what the advantage is for him, but yeah, it's a big deal, you guys. So we were thinking about some people that we want to name have naming rights to things, and one of them, I think that there there has to be a Taylor Swift Stadium, like where she just like and might be Arrowhead changed the name the Arrowhead to Taylor Swift Stadium.
She would definitely have the bread to get whatever naming rights she wanted. For sure. Your boy Luke Combs, you know he went to app State m.
I want to see how people act if like if like Trump got the naming rights to a stadium, or Leron got the naming rights to a stadium, or Elon Musk. I want to see or Joe Biden got people who never stept footing that damn stadium who would be.
Most open to naming their football stadium after Trump? And you can't say liberty, damn it.
That was the first thing that was coming out of my mouth. Uh, Baylor, or it's it's some some school in Texas, Baylor s m U. Yeah, one of.
Them, it's yeah, maybe maybe, Uh God, TCU, it's gotta be it's it's for sure, probably got to be in the South. I don't think he's gonna be able to do it at sam in New York.
Yeah, yeah, Samford out in Birmingham some something like that.
I would love to see. Uh. I would love to see like cal have a K Dot Stadium or something like that. Get Kendrick Maar in there reping col The Pitbull thing is so funny though, because Mike McIntyre, you and I remember him from his years at Colorado, and every single year they would put out a list of head coach's favorite songs and you know it would get to Mike McIntyre and it would always be Stephen Curtis Chapman or Michael W. Smith. Just you hear on k love for the for the Christians that were raised in the eighties. You know the fact that he's the one that was dapping up Pitbull after that yesterday was so funny to me.
I know, I know that's like asking me like Helen Baylor Larnell, but the C. C.
Winnan's Stadium or yes, yes, a one swift.
But you guys though, that's unafraid Joe College Football apostles. You guys thanks for showing up, peace out, catch you guys later.