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Bill Belichick to the University of North Carolina?
4 Plays5 days ago
Don and Russ talk about the UNC hiring of Bill Belichick and the annual Illinois vs Missouri Bragin Rights game, the CFP and more!
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Transcript
Introduction to NCAA Report by Fuel Sports Network
00:00:00
Speaker
This is the Fuel Sports Network. Ladies and gentlemen, I've got a couple questions for you. Do you love college sports as much as I do? Are you always wondering where you can find the latest NCAA reports? Well, you've come to the right place. Welcome, sports fans, to Fuel Sports Presents, the NCAA report with Don and Russ. You've got to get it done.
00:00:50
Speaker
Look at the air, look at the hang time, look at the flying motion. Look at his head above the rim.
00:01:19
Speaker
I need to win the game!
00:02:15
Speaker
confident young man, a superb athlete.
00:02:27
Speaker
You're caught on the field stands, touchdown. The moment you've all been waiting for, here they are, your favorite host, Don Glenn.
00:02:45
Speaker
and Russ Robinson.
00:02:50
Speaker
My thanks to Devin Tynan for that wonderful introduction as always. This is the NCAA report presented by the Fuel Sports Network and I am Don Glenn, your host for this evening's festivities. You can check out
Rumors of Belichick Coaching at UNC
00:03:08
Speaker
the Fuel Sports Network for your articles and podcasts with me tonight as always is my compadre from missouri mr russ robinson how you doing russ well good afternoon or good evening don i guess yeah i've been fine thank you here all right no problem yeah um we uh
00:03:31
Speaker
We definitely got some things to tell you the last couple of weeks. There's been a lot of activity in the NCAA world, if you will. Um, I think one of the biggest is probably, uh, there are the most talked about right now is, um, Bill Belichick being the next head coach at North Carolina university or university of North Carolina. Let me get that correct.
00:04:01
Speaker
Um, exactly. Yeah. What do you make of that? Um, check the hints double A. Um, I gotta tell you, I was trying to make sense of it because they had Mac Brown who they, you know, the word was, they thought he was just too old to, to keep, to keep things going a lot the way they want, you know, with, uh, old school with, you know, he probably wasn't used to NILs in the,
00:04:28
Speaker
and the active transport for a portal and things like that. His first time through North Carolina, you know, that was all different than why he was at Texas. It wasn't anything he had to face, anything like that. but f And so I was little as I say, would go with Belichick, but then I so heard something and one of the talk shows it made kind of sense. Is Belichick, you know, the this theory is that Belichick comes in,
00:04:53
Speaker
with his background, with a lot of contacts, and a lot of the NIL program might be kind of weak. He's bringing corporate dollars with him. you know yeah
Belichick's Potential Impact on College Recruiting
00:05:02
Speaker
that's that's definitely ah but ah yeah Yeah, ah he probably, I mean, he knows how to coach. We know that. But can he coach college players and can he recruit college players and things like that? And how does he handle the the transfer portal? But it might be that he, he with his contacts, he can bring in i to their a lot of money to their collective. And that might have been why they jumped on him, you know.
00:05:26
Speaker
I mean, plus the name. You also think about that he can sell his NFL experience to recruits into the players are coming into North Carolina transfer portal and things like that. He says, I know how to coach you up for the NFL. That could be a selling point. That might be a selling point too.
00:05:43
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, yeah like you said, not only does that does he have the corporate connections, he does have you know ah a ton of NFL connections. I mean, look at all the ah coaches off the Belichick tree, if you will, that are all over the NFL.
00:05:57
Speaker
ah So there is that, you know, I, I don't know. I mean, I was kind of curious about it when you look at the guys that, you know, that in the last few years have left NCAA. Uh, you know, there's been a a number of them. And of course the latest one, um, um, Oh shoot, not as drew blank. Um,
00:06:28
Speaker
former Alabama coach. like Oh, Nick Saban. Saban. Thank God. yeah i think His name. Anyway, yeah. ah You know, with Nick Saban, just ah you leaving Alabama and you've had, you know, a couple others have dropped out and it just, you know, like you said, the it's not like there have not been NFL coaches in the, in the NCAA. I mean, you got Harbaugh, you lovey Smith at Illinois was a, you know, um,
00:06:54
Speaker
And, you know, you've had, uh, jeans, I think it was, uh, was a Stalin's a coach. Yeah. He was a coach at at Alabama and in the NFL. Um, you know, so you've had it before, uh, but, you know, someone though, uh, Bella check stature. I mean, yeah. Levy Smith had a super bowl under his belt and, you know, Harbaugh had some good times, but, you know, Bella checks out multiple super bells, super bowl belt, you know, coach some of the.
00:07:23
Speaker
the biggest pro names you've you can see and you know I don't know I I just uh it's kind of funny to me I mean one thing I've been looking at a USA Today article that uh they were getting tens of millions in NIL money this is the University of Carolina this writer's tell it saying um I'm trying to get the guy's name here that wrote this uh Matt Hayes from USA Today. um He said, look at the strictness standpoint of eliminating all other inconsequential noise. North Carolina hired a legendary former NFL nfl coach whose resume comes into question or came into question once he was no longer had the greatest player in history and quarterback. Well, and that's somewhat true, I guess. I mean, they did kind of fall off the fall off the pace there after Brady left.
00:08:17
Speaker
but they look at it and it goes down further to say that after north North Carolina chancellor Lee Roberts, steered this hail Mary of a quick fix and promised tens of millions in NIL money to kickstart change. In addition to a large portion of revenue sharing pool of $20.5 million dollars beginning in 2025. So it's, I mean, wow. yeah it's I mean, money's a big deal now. Yeah. I mean, um, um,
00:08:47
Speaker
um Alumni contributions has always been big in college football, but you know, I also brought in just a whole new, a whole new, a whole new ball game on this. It is. I mean, boosters have always been part of college sports, but you know, now with the NIL and I'm finishing up my three-part series on the NIL for,
00:09:11
Speaker
fuel fuel network there yeah yeah ah but But yeah, I mean, it's become a deal that, you know, I don't think anybody envisioned when they first started getting into this. I mean, wow you know, I don't think anybody envisioned it going this fast. I think, you know, a lot of people were thinking, okay, yeah, maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars here and there and da, da, da.
00:09:32
Speaker
you know, but we're talking guys getting well over so and three quarters of a million dollars, you know, play college football and then go or basketball, whichever the case may be. And, you know, then they're free to transfer to another school who's going to offer me more maybe. So I don't
College Sports Finances: NIL and Alumni Contributions
00:09:50
Speaker
know. I mean, you know, like you said, Belichick being from the um You know, being used to probably the demands of of ah ah the monetary demands of players. ah And, you know, if I don't if I don't get to play, I want to trade, you know, type thing, which is essentially the transform pool transfer transfer portal is.
00:10:13
Speaker
Uh, you can request the trade. You just don't, they just don't get anything in return unless they go after somebody, you know, so maybe they're thinking he might be able to be better suited, but you make a good point. I don't know if he's ever coached in college. I'm assuming he's probably spent some time as a coach, but and probably i'm yeah, I see my, there was an assistant gig somewhere. He was, but, uh, you know, he, uh, you know, run yeah.
00:10:38
Speaker
I think it's about NIL. It's about selling something to recruits and the transfers and things like that. So I think that's part of it. I also understand that he has a son that's an offensive coordinator in the NFL. That will probably come with him. And be the heir apparent to that job, because after all Bill checks 75 Michael go say that's the other thing too. I was looking at his he's he's in his 70s, you know, and I just don't know how how much.
00:11:07
Speaker
how much time he wants to spend as a college coach. Right, right. and It may not be that long. Maybe just enough to get things kind of up and going and and turn it over to the to his son and which I understand the son or they expect the son to come with him. You know, right? Something like that. yeah yeah I think the sun was the sun was an offensive court. I want to say Washington State, but I may have that wrong. You know, I might have that wrong. It's going to be interesting to. It's going to be very interesting to watch this and see how how it does progress. I mean, it's going to be kind of fun. um
00:11:40
Speaker
we Well, we'll see like the how long he lasts. Cause you know, like I said, the, when the Illinois hired lovey Smith, you know, he was in his ah late sixties and you know, he's still in the NFL. He went back to the NFL. I know ro here's the college. So yeah, he tries to college. bit Yeah. Yeah. So the NFL is a better fit for him. Yeah. Oh yeah. For sure. For sure. I think so. I mean, uh, yeah, I mean, I think that was definitely college football was, was.
00:12:10
Speaker
more are pro football was more ah fitting to Lovey's coaching style. Like I said, we'll just have to see how this all plays out. Exactly. Right. Right. Yeah, I think i think so. I mean, you know, time will tell, but it'll be an interesting story to follow.
00:12:29
Speaker
You know, yeah, no doubt. No
Concept of a College Football NIT Tournament
00:12:31
Speaker
doubt. or rock no doubt One other thing I noticed, I, I, I, it's come up in the last couple of weeks with all this talk about the college football playoffs. And we'll get into those a little bit later. Um, there was, there's been a couple of articles now that I've found that are imagining now a college football in it. Yeah.
00:12:57
Speaker
Yeah, ah had not seen but yeah yeah you and I talked the last time about, you know, the, with all the grumblings about how quick expansion is going to come to ah to the CFP. Um, you know, this is a whole new ball of wax here. I mean, uh, there's a ah a report by BVM sports.
00:13:16
Speaker
There's another one, I think Yahoo sports has a, or had something on it or no, it wasn't Yahoo sports. It's had something about it as well. Um, New York times. Uh, I mean, there's have been, it's been kind of just filtered around, so to speak. Uh, and then there's also the sports illustrated articles saying that the group of five is exploring its own NIT of football.
00:13:44
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Yeah. You know, which I can actually, I could see that happening more than I can see anybody performing an NCAA or a power five so-called version or power four so-called version of an NIT. Well, what do you think about something? yeah I guess I shouldn't be say surprised me when you told me about it before we started, ah because I hadn't heard anything, but I guess maybe it's shouldn't. You know, there are teams that are complaining about not getting and involved in the in the college football playoff, we already know that. And there's probably the the group of five schools feel like they're left out a lot of ways. I mean, they did get, a I guess Boise State's in, anyway. You know, they probably feel like they they could do something like that. I wonder how that would affect bowl games, but anyway, you know, it would be, I guess if they could come up with the money for it, if someone was, it might work. You're kind of cutting in and out on me there a little bit, Russ, so. Well, maybe I had my head, you hear me now? Yeah. You hear me okay?
00:14:43
Speaker
I guess I got ahead. OK, but yeah, I mean, is they've got a ah thing about would have looked like it. Of course, it just wait. it it It's kind of who really knows how big they would make it. But they've got Alabama, Miami, Ole Miss, South Carolina would be the hazard. They have those as the top four seeds and recipients of a two week buy. Then they see the number five through eight as BYU, Iowa State, Missouri and Illinois.
00:15:11
Speaker
Uh, then the five, so it's a 14 team playoff. Uh, the five remaining teams would have been Syracuse army, Colorado, and UNLV. Okay.
00:15:23
Speaker
or then a week one playing game between Memphis and Las Vegas. So I guess technically 16 team. I don't think that's a single screw to me, but that's just someone. Don, of course, you never know something like that happens. Yeah, I mean, it's a it's an interesting thought. I mean, you know, that's that may be one way. I mean, the NIT will actually the end of the basketball and it actually predates the NCAA play a lot.
00:15:53
Speaker
so but mean it's ah it's become the um What do you want to call it? The next best for those who didn't make the big dance, so to speak. Um, you know, so, you know, if maybe to keep teams happy and I'm not sure you're going to be able to convince the fans that, uh, Alabama or Tennessee or Ohio state or places like that, that, uh, if you don't make the 12 team playoff, we've got another playoff for you. I'm not sure you're going to convince them that that's really a great idea.
00:16:28
Speaker
Well, you know, I'm not sure it is either, but if it did work and there was money in it, then that might force the NCAA to expand their 12-team course season. You know, that's kind of what happened to the NCAA tournament. When I was a kid, Don, it was 12 teams. It was 12 teams, and the NIT was very prestigious. I mean, it was really a good deal to get invited to the NIT. Good teams went to the NIT back when the NCAA was just 12.
00:16:57
Speaker
12 teams and so as NCAA expanded tournament, expand the NIT became became kind of a ah a has. I don't wanna say has been. That's not the word I'm looking for, but just kind of became a have not have not. Yeah, basically one of these or something. Yeah, I mean if you can't make the what is it? The 64 teams or whatever it is now 68. I guess 68 now you have the four playing games.
00:17:25
Speaker
Yeah, if you can't make the 68th, that doesn't leave you much left over, you know, so. Yeah. Well, and, you know, I guess football may be a little different in the sense that, um, you know, the, the, the, the group of five is not quite as strong in football as they are in basketball in many cases.
Prospects of NCAA Adopting a Football NIT
00:17:46
Speaker
um you know, but I can, I can see as an, a, a version of football version of the NIT. Um, cause you could still use up a lot of those, um, bowl games that they have, um, you know, pre the, the late December bowl games that don't make the, uh, my camera's just going all sorts of nuts here. Uh, don't make that don't make the, um,
00:18:16
Speaker
don't make the big the big time. if you If you had them focused in an NIT type tournament, then maybe you could see, you know, they would see a little bit more viewership. They could pick up some revenue. Like I said, I think if if the NCAA smells money out of this, I think they'll make it happen. I think they they will, if they can, if they can smell money, I think they'll they'll say, well, you know, this isn't a bad idea. But we'll have to see how that runs.
00:18:45
Speaker
One other quick note before we get along to a couple of the couple main topics we'll we'll want to cover tonight. And we talked about this last last time. I've still been trying to figure out what the big 10 and the SEC were meeting about that whole thing. And man, everybody's tight lipped about that thing, about that. They keep wanting to say it's all it's about scheduling and getting more, which leads me into the next thing, which is this whole thing about Alabama not making the the college football playoff. And I don't know who it was. Was it Saban or somebody that made the comment of
00:19:26
Speaker
Um, what good does it do to schedule challenge, challenging teams in the, in the non-conference schedule. And I had to laugh. I can't remember who made that comment, but I had to laugh at it because I looked at the, I mean, they're calling Western Kentucky, Florida international and Wisconsin, uh, tough, uh, tough ah and Mercer, a tough non-conference schedule.
00:19:50
Speaker
Is that Alabama who, who you talking about? Somebody, somebody was trying to defend Alabama with the, uh, with that, you know, that they should have made the, and it's like, okay, well, that still doesn't, it still doesn't, um, factor in that your, two of your three losses were to Oklahoma.
00:20:08
Speaker
who was five and five and Vanderbilt who was unranked and six and six, they ended up seeing it. I mean, the whole, the whole thought, and now du you've got so many people I've been seeing on message boards.
00:20:24
Speaker
well i'll just schedule who you who cares who you schedule in the non-conference anymore if it's if it's if it's doesn't get help you nobody made a mention of their non-conference schedule uh per se i mean they did have what i mean they'll say they had a week but then again like you you and i have talked before your big 10 the scc even acc and big 12 they don't schedule really challenging games in non-conference. You make it work. You know, like I said, Illinois this year, they played Northern, um Kansas, and I for forget who the other one was. um You know, you got Ohio State played Marshall and Ohio.
00:21:12
Speaker
um You know, like I said, you can go up and pick a team. And their non-conference schedule is not that tough. So why why are we why are we focusing on the non-conference when the biggest thing is, if you want to get into playoffs, win your conference or be yeah in the top of your conference? Now, what did Alabama in was Oklahoma, losing to Oklahoma. yeah That's what did them
Alabama Fans' Disappointment and Blame Game
00:21:37
Speaker
in. And you know, Don, of course, I'm on X, like you are. And I have a lot of college football fans that I follow that follow me.
00:21:46
Speaker
And a lot of them are and there's a few of them are Alabama fans and I didn't see one of them. Put anything up on X that said we got ripped off what they said we should have won. We should have won. We should have won more games and we'd be in. Yeah, um you know, so it's our fault and they were not blaming the the the college playoff committee. They were blaming their coach. Yeah, oh yeah, there's a. i hate Yeah, I've seen yeah most of the stuff I've been following has been on Facebook stuff. So, you know, maybe it's a two different two different worlds there, Facebook versus, you know, ah but yeah, there I have seen a fair amount of that too, of of people, you know, they're already.
00:22:31
Speaker
trying to figure out who they're going to get to replace the boar now, you know, the bo yeah you know because they they they want him fired. Yeah. No, they, they're the feeling is that if Alabama, you know, was, shouldn't have been nine and three, they were better than that. They should have won at least two games and they're they're blaming the coaching or whatever. Uh, you know, and I think Greg Sankey, I think the sec in general is, is embarrassed.
00:23:00
Speaker
They only got three teams in, the big 10 got four. And I don't think they're pointing fingers at the select, some people are pointing fingers at the selection committee. I just don't, you know, I think they said, we just gotta go out and, you know, Ole Miss lost the game, they shouldn't have lost. Missouri lost to South Carolina. They felt like they they had won and lost in the last few seconds of the game. And, i you know, and there was, who's the other team that went nine to three in the SEC? Mississippi, Missouri.
00:23:29
Speaker
South of Alabama, Alabama, South Carolina, and a lot of people thought South Carolina might slip in because they were playing so well, but yeah, you know they they you know. Well, I think I think what ultimately did that that group of nine and three teams in was Clemson winning the ACC that that hurt one of them. I think I think if Clemson had not won the ACC. ah Then you would have seen one of those nine and three teams and more than likely would have been Alabama. Yeah, could have been. Yeah, it would have been Alabama. maybe Yeah. And, uh, uh, so I don't, uh, I think the SEC is embarrassed by that. They thought, you know, they consider themselves, you know, they should have get at least as many teams in as the big 10, but they just didn't have the 10 win teams.
00:24:15
Speaker
yeah well as that's thing You're not going to, and that's one thing I don't think I've seen. And obviously not before they expanded, but since the expansion, I don't think I've seen that many 10 win teams in the big 10 ever. Yeah. And if you look at it, Illinois was nine and three, they were just, they were just a couple of, uh, there were one game away basically, or actually you know one of the, they were just a couple of plays away from being 10 and 10 and two. Um.
00:24:47
Speaker
And you had a couple other teams that were that would have right in that aisle was another one. um So, you know. I guess. Like I said, I don't know. I mean, if you look at Indiana schedule, they didn't play anybody that tough other than Ohio State Penn State. They all they played was Ohio State. um You know, I guess you could say Ohio State had a tough because they had to take on Penn State, Indiana and Oregon. um You look at Oregon schedule, I mean,
00:25:16
Speaker
They're two toughest games were probably are two toughest opponents. I should say, we're probably Illinois and, and Ohio state, the only two ranked ones they played anyway. Um, Michigan for all high hopes, they were just a debacle. Uh, so to me, yeah, it was very surprising that the big 10 got four teams in. I did.
00:25:35
Speaker
I thought they probably would just because of the record, you know, when they started playing the, the whole of, well, if Clemson does this and you get Arizona state in here and you get this team in here and that, ah you know, I thought maybe one of the big 10 teams, probably Indiana would have been eliminated. Yeah. Well, Indiana, that was, they were the, I guess the wildcard of the team that maybe probably kept Kept some teams out, they thought, because no one expected Indiana to go 11 and one this year. No, I mean, it really did' there's absolutely no no expectation. And so, you know, when you were picking teams out of the Big 10, who, who was going to get in Indiana never came up in anybody's conversation. And so oh no they're unexpectedly good here through, through someone out. And it could have been a big, another Big 10 team, or it could have been the SEC team. I mean, you know, you just, uh,
00:26:27
Speaker
That's ah never yeah you just you just don't know at that point yeah okay well we're gonna take a quick break here never gonna come back we're gonna talk a little bit about the this the college football playoffs who's who's playing who and when and where and then we're gonna talk a little.
00:26:43
Speaker
Might squeeze in some bragging rights talk, you know? Yeah. but got Well, you're, i yeah I'm Illinois, you're Missouri. We got, yeah it's coming up here pretty quick. So we got to get doing it. So, all right, we'll be back ah right after this. You know, normally I'm talking sports, but today I want to talk dehydration. Did you know that our bodies are made up of 50 to 70% water? Now the average loss of water due to dehydration is about three to 5% per day.
00:27:14
Speaker
Now, obviously, the more activity you do, the higher the level of dehydration. Now, if dehydration gets around eight to nine percent, it starts to affect your body. If you feel thirsty, you start feeling tired, and maybe a little cranky. You know, these are all symptoms of dehydration, and they increase the more you dehydrate. Losing 15% of your body's water is enough to put you in the hospital. Folks, I'm gonna tell you, I've been there. It's not fun.
00:27:41
Speaker
So hydration is a serious issue and water alone sometimes isn't enough. yeah Most people only drink about 50% of the recommended amount of water for proper hydration and good health anyway. One solution is hydration multiplication from liquid IV. Liquid IV is one of the most popular sports drinks in America today.
00:27:59
Speaker
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00:28:21
Speaker
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00:28:50
Speaker
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00:29:18
Speaker
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00:29:42
Speaker
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00:30:08
Speaker
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00:30:32
Speaker
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00:30:53
Speaker
And we're back.
Analysis of College Football Playoff Rankings
00:30:54
Speaker
This is the NCAA report presented by the Fuel Sports Network and I am Don Glenn and accompanied by my broadcast partner Russ Robinson. We're going to talk a little college football playoff schedule here. The teams have been decided. ah It is the rankings came out as Oregon number one, Georgia two,
00:31:15
Speaker
Boise State was 3, Arizona 4, Texas 5, Penn State 6, Notre Dame 7, Ohio 8, Tennessee was 9, Indiana 10, SMU 11, and Clemson number 12. We kind of went over a little bit of how everything shuffled. but A couple things that people have been talking about is the how somebody, how white certain teams dropped and certain teams didn't or didn't drop that far. I mean, SMU, they only dropped four spots. ah Penn State only dropped a couple spots, ah but Ohio State dropped like five spots after that loss to Michigan.
00:31:57
Speaker
oh You know, but I think that the the committee was very solid when they said if you were playing for a conference championship and you were already in the rankings, you would not be penalized, meaning basically to me, they were not going to kick you out of the rankings, losing your conference championship. Right. Right. So, you know, there is that. All right. So let's look kind of look at this first game is going to be Friday. This Friday, as a matter of fact, the 20th, number 10, Indiana.
00:32:25
Speaker
at number seven Notre Dame. So how do you see that one running? Well, i would just yeah I'll pick Notre Dame to win. oh ah just ah just As we were talking about scheduling a while ago, I just said don't see Indiana. um you know I think they were a benefit of having a Notre Dame. And this Notre Dame team looks like they're pretty good. I mean, I know a lot of people complain that Notre Dame doesn't play a a tough conference schedule like you, like, you know, you wouldn't know if they were a member of the big 10 or the SEC, but still, yeah, this team looks like it's pretty good and it's gotten better as it's gone, on as the years gone on. So I just expect Notre Dame to win. And that's being played at Notre Dame too, I think. and Yes, that's going to be played at Notre Dame under, under touchdown Jesus' glaze or gaze, I should say. Right now, and the line is Notre Dame is favored by seven.
00:33:17
Speaker
Um, with the over under set at 52 points. Hmm. Okay. I'm going to, I'm going to play the, if I'm playing anything on that game, I'm playing the over, uh, cause I think both those teams can, can score and score, uh, in big numbers. Uh, can Notre Dame keep them outside of seven points? I'm not so sure.
00:33:47
Speaker
This could indicate a nail biter. Oh, you did. I think Notre Dame will cover that seven. You think they'll cover the seven? Yeah. And um I'll bet if I had to bet, I would bet that they would cover the seven. Now, as far as the over and under on the total of points, I'm not sure about that, how that would be, but I i would suspect Notre Dame. I would bet Notre Dame covers the seven. So, you know, there you go.
00:34:10
Speaker
Right, right. OK, then the next game is let's see. That'll be Saturday at noon. us Penn State versus South Southern Methodist University. I'm going through that. Oh yeah, yeah, OK. And right now Penn State is an eight and a half point favorite with the over under set at 54 and a half. Yeah, and that's going to be. ah At Happy Valley.
00:34:40
Speaker
I'm happy about such a lovely place to play. Yeah, and you know. ah Gee. You know, I don't know. Penn State sure has struggled. I mean, they've got a good record and they struggled, but they seem out to me they struggled to win some games that. Should have won fairly easily. I mean, it seemed like they were in a lot of close games at the in their schedule in their schedule.
00:35:07
Speaker
And SMU, I gotta say, I haven't really watched them play that much, but the fact they did play Clemson to the very end, yeah that might be a fun that might be a fun game to watch. I don't know. you know um what was the What was the spread on that game? Eight nine ah eight the half eight and a half. Yeah, I'm not just for the fun of it, I might give the eight and a half and take SMU or something. you know i mean take SMU on that. I don't know you in the points. Yeah. Yeah. I think I'm going to agree with you on there. As far as the over under, I don't know. I mean, Penn state, they can score points, but generally they only get maybe about 20 to 25 a game. Um, I don't, I, I'm like you, I haven't seen much of SMU. I haven really follow their scores. I would say.
00:36:03
Speaker
I would grudgingly bet the over if I had a gun put to my head. the Okay. You know, on that one. Yeah. Yeah. So, all right. So the next game will be at four o'clock on Saturday, Clemson versus Texas. Yeah. Oh, let's see. Why are they giving a Texas? They're giving Texas Texas.
00:36:31
Speaker
Huh? Yeah, I don't know. You know, that's the thing. I don't know. And Clemson, it's kind of surprised people that they got to the ACC championship game. They weren't playing well at the first of the year, but it seemed like they gained momentum. But they'll be playing down in Austin. Yeah. I don't know. The 12 points? Yeah, 12 points. Texas is a 12-point favorite. Yeah, I'm not sure I'd go with that.
00:37:01
Speaker
You know, I might let, them um, I might go with Clemson, you know, give them, you know, take the points and take Clemson and the points. Yeah. am but Definitely agree with you there. and And I'll tell you what, it would not surprise. I probably wouldn't bet it this way, but it would not surprise me if Clemson wins that game outright. Yeah. I don't know that it's a sure thing for Texas. You know, that doesn't, I guess at this level, they're already sure. No, when you get to the playoffs, there's probably nothing sure or bad. Yeah. Yeah.
00:37:31
Speaker
yeah Um, the over under is 50, 51 and a half. Hmm. Yeah. You know, Texas has a pretty good ah offense. Uh, it depends how they're, how they're functioning. right Um, but you know, they are beatable. So I mean, yeah, it's, yeah. So I don't know. They're just, you know, who, who was, uh, who was there two losses to, uh,
00:38:02
Speaker
Well, you wouldn't ask me that. I know. I did. I so i screwed up and ask you the tough question. Let me go over here and see, pull up their schedule real quick. I'm on the ESPN side dog. Yeah. I'm on CBS sports. So I'm pulling up to Texas. Uh, okay. schedule So they lost to Georgia. I forgot about that.
00:38:27
Speaker
Georgia had beat them handedly. Yeah. And then they lost to Georgia in the championship game. So in a close two law, okay. it Twice to Georgia. Twice to Georgia. Yeah. I'm looking through some of their scores because, you know, there were some games that used to impress people. ah You know, they barely beat Vanderbilt.
00:38:48
Speaker
Right. um but Three points, three points a game. That game was only like 24 21 or something like that. Yeah. Arkansas hung in there with them. They lost. They beat Arkansas 20 to 10 and Texas A&M hung in there with them. There's a 17 to seven game. So, you know, you know, if if Vanderbilt and Arkansas can hang in there with you, you know, that means that means you're not saying much for you. Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:13
Speaker
not Not a lot anyway. right Then the final game on Saturday is Tennessee at Columbus facing off against Ohio State. OK,
Ohio State vs. Tennessee Game Preview
00:39:27
Speaker
now that will be interesting that I think was going to be. I think that's of the three games that day. I think that's going to be the best game.
00:39:34
Speaker
Yeah. And those two teams are probably both a little disappointed. They are where they ended up at. I think there was expectations by both teams that they would be an accomplished championship games. So here they are right having to play, uh, play each other in the first round.
00:39:51
Speaker
and uh let's see that is uh that's gonna be at columbus at columbus and you know all people said something about the weather but the tennessee and knoxville tennessee at this time of the year it's not very warm i mean so i don't think they'll be impacted that much by the weather no i i mean we're talking a geographic of tennessee to ohio i mean they're they're pretty much you know that that's almost the same I won't say the exact same geographic region, but it's it's not that far off where it's going to make a huge difference. Like if if it were, say, Florida State or Miami playing in in in Columbus, something like that. Well, they say that. You know, it says the seven and a half point favorite for Ohio State. I think that's it. I think that truly is a toss up game, God. You know.
00:40:39
Speaker
I think so too, and and I tell you, seeing some of the Ohio State games that I've seen and and watching them basically implode against Oregon, against Michigan. ah Now the Oregon, yeah, that that's that I guess you could say is acceptable, but, you know, because it was ah early in the season, it was a freshman, you know, okay, fine, I'll give you that.
00:41:06
Speaker
But how they played at Michigan just I still don't understand um Ryan Day in his philosophy in that Michigan game. I I've looked at that and I just don't understand what the hell he thought he was doing. Yeah, and Tennessee is going to be a heck of a lot more challenging. I I think than even Oregon. Was well, you know, Tennessee should give him as much as a big of a challenge as anyone they face this. I agree and.
00:41:36
Speaker
Uh, so, you know, I don't, uh, like I said, I think that's a true tossup game. Uh, you know, I don't know about Ryan day, you know, if your team's coming up against your rival and you know, you lose like you did to him. I mean, and he's had a hard time beating anyone, you know, I mean, he said a hard time beating Michigan. He just, he just hasn't been able to do it. You were thought this year would have been a year, right but yeah I was looking at Tennessee's schedule. They did lose to Arkansas.
00:42:06
Speaker
Uh, they were at Arkansas and they lost to a Georgia, which not surprising. Right. That's was no shame in there. No 31 to 17, you know, but, uh, you know, they, uh, uh, you know, I do think it's a toss up game. Yeah. All done all for these games. I'm really looking forward to, because I think oh yeah there's something there for all of them to be interesting for all those. oh No doubt. Definitely for sure. I think if I had to go with this one, I'm going to go.
00:42:38
Speaker
I'm going to take Tennessee in the points. Okay. And then the over under is 46 and a half. And I think that's probably accurate. So I would go pretty much the under on this game. Cause I think defense is going to be pretty big in this one. I don't think the offenses are going to shine that much.
00:42:55
Speaker
Yeah, Tennessee has a good defense and so does, you know, how state. So I think it could be a defensive game. So yeah. Yeah. Okay. So then that leaves us if we, if if everything goes right, that we just said that would leave us with, um, uh, let's see, whether the, the Clemsis Texas winter takes on Arizona state SMU Penn state winter takes on Boise.
00:43:19
Speaker
Tennessee, Ohio State gets Oregon and Notre Dame, Indiana gets Georgia. So, by what we're talking about, Notre Dame would be taking on Georgia, Tennessee on ah would we get Oregon, ah the toss-up game, cle is it clemse us and Clemson in Texas, one of them gets ohio or Arizona State, and then ah the toss-up, I'm going to call SMU PSU a toss-up, they would get Boise State.
00:43:46
Speaker
Do you think any of one of those four buys survive their first game? Well, that was as you read, as you read those off, I was trying to think if there's any of them that just seem. Wow, they they're they're they're gunning for the finals for sure, or the semi finals for sure. I don't feel that way about any of those teams. You those four those four buys you mentioned on that they're just heading shoulders above the.
00:44:15
Speaker
the people they might, the teams they could be facing. but The only one, the only one that comes to mind to me is I do think Georgia probably gets past either Notre Dame or Indiana. who I think that I think I'm not saying that's a given. I'm not saying I bet that either way, but I do think that just the way I've talked about it before, the way Georgia plays, the they may get behind, but then this all of a sudden they find that next gear.
00:44:43
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And then, and then it's all over, but the shout. Yeah. Kirby's smart. Kirby's part may be the best college coach right now. I mean, white' since stephen would ah yeah now since they've been retired, it's probably then, you know, I guess you and I, I said, watch that eight overtime game against Georgia tech, obviously a, uh, you know, Georgia tech didn't have to studs. Georgia did.
00:45:07
Speaker
But you know they willed, joe Kirby Smart willed their team to win that game. you know It looked like, yeah, I mean, you know so um yeah I would go with Georgia. you know Notre Dame, and Georgia, I would go with Georgia still on that. But man, I wouldn't be surprised if Notre Dame pulled off something on that game. right Well, like they could. They very well could.
00:45:32
Speaker
um Uh, you know, either Tennessee or Ohio state against Oregon, I mean, Ohio state would have a revenge motive in that game. So you can't count that out. But then again, I'm not sure Oregon has run into a defense like Tennessee either.
00:45:51
Speaker
So there's that one Clemson, Texas against Arizona state. I'm going to have to say this. I, I, as, as much as I don't think E I, I'm not sure about either team, either Clemson or Texas.
00:46:07
Speaker
Um, I'm ah almost as unsure about Arizona state. I am too. Yeah. Yeah. I think if Texas, certainly Texas gets to that game, I would expect them to beat Arizona state, but you know, yeah Arizona state won the big, the big 12. Right.
00:46:25
Speaker
Oh, uh, and they kind of came out of nowhere this year. They're one of those teams like SMU that came out of nowhere. Yeah. Well, uh, you know what we we may not, they may have something we don't know about, you know, right? Exactly. So then we got SMU Penn state versus one of those two versus Boise. Um, I think, I think for me, if and Boise plays SMU, I think Boise wins. but Okay. I think if they play Penn state, they lose.
00:46:54
Speaker
and Okay. um Okay. Yeah. i just just' Just off the top of my head, I think that now I could be totally, totally completely wrong about that. And again, let like of the the disclaimer, when we do all this, ah please do not count on us for your betting lines and how you want to play bets because we don't know what we're talking about.
00:47:17
Speaker
yeah When it comes to betting, okay. Uh, we have our opinions and yours may differ. Yeah. right What it was it? The old tar commercials. You say your mileage may vary. yeah ah There you go. That about that. All right. Well, and then of course, then after that, we don't know what's going to have. So, but, uh, our next show will be when we have the final four available to us. So right we'll be able to figure that one out. So next up, uh, like I said, we are going to have to deal with this because we're on opposite sides of this, of this game. Uh, the bragging rights, the McBride.
00:47:55
Speaker
bragging rights game, McBride Holmes bragging rights game. Okay. That's the annual game between the fighting Illini of Illinois and the tigers of Missouri. Um, it's going to be at the, you see where at the enterprise center on December 22nd. Um, this, this Sunday, I'll let you start off, uh,
00:48:23
Speaker
What does Missouri bring into this game, my friend? Death. um he's ah Dennis Gates, after last year's debacle, O and 18 debacle, in the conference, he went out and had another good recruiting class. he That's his back-to-back good freshman recruiting class. But he hit appears he's hit the he hit the transfer reporter a lot better than he did last year.
00:48:48
Speaker
And he's got something like, I forgot what, 15 scholarship guys on the on the um the team. And he's playing them all. And he runs a lot of people in and out of it. And a lot of us thought,
00:49:00
Speaker
when the season started, that this is us this is what he'll do until he gets into the meat of the schedule. And then he'll whittle it down to seven or eight. But he says he's not going to do that. He's going to keep running, playing a lot of people. Because he's a big analytics guy, Don. He keeps talking about that. And he's a young guy, you know early 40s. He believes in that. And he believes what he's doing is right. And he recruits players to do and tells them this is what he's going to do. So he's going to play a lot of guys.
00:49:28
Speaker
Last year he didn't have much. Hoss under the under the basket this year he does, ah so he's corrected that he's got some consistent three point shooters. He's got some guys who can drive the basket. He's got it. He's got it pretty well. He's got it pretty well well balanced and the Kansas game was really impressive when they beat Kansas ah the way they handled Kansas. They just and then last night.
00:49:57
Speaker
They played Jacksonville State. And that was a kind of a tough game for a while, but he kept he found his he kept throwing people in and out of there. Finally just wore down Jacksonville State and they won the game by 11 points. It wasn't an impressive a victory, but they did what they had to do to win. And that's the way this this season is gone. They're only lost this year's opening game to Memphis at Memphis, and they've won everything else.
Illinois' New Recruits and Potential Impact
00:50:23
Speaker
They beat Cal California. I don't know how good they are, but They were down 20 points in the second half and they came back and won that game. So this is a better team than last year. I expect ah I haven't been following Illinois as close as you have, but I would expect that this is going to be a real knockout drag out. Unlike last year's, you know.
00:50:44
Speaker
Oh yeah, yeah it's going, it's going to be a dog fight. I got this feeling because Illinois you' kind of been in the same boat, uh, Underwood was as, as, uh, Gates was this year. And, uh, you know, he, he, we had the elite eight run last year. And, you know, we knew we were going to lose most of their transfers that came in because they were all either graduate guys or 50 years or something like that.
00:51:07
Speaker
ah But then Coleman Hawkins left and Dane danger left and Luke Goody left and you know a couple other guys here and there and then we had an assistant coach leave two guys followed him. We were left with two scholarship players.
00:51:24
Speaker
Yeah. um Underwood, to his credit, went out and brought back um Orlando Antigua as ah as a an assistant coach or associate associate head coach. And they went to work on the transfer portal, ah not just and not just picking up transfers, but they also went international. And Antigua's been known for that. He's known for being having this this ability to to find these
00:51:55
Speaker
international guys. And they went to Lithuania and picked up a kid by the name of Kasparis Jacosonis. I mean, i so i'm that this this this lineup almost kind of reads like the UN n for Illinois.
00:52:12
Speaker
ah but They've got, ah like I said, this, that this, this, uh, Kasparis Jakisonis, uh, who's from Lithuania. Uh, he came in as a freshman and then they picked up also, uh, internationally, a Tomislav Ivicich.
00:52:30
Speaker
who's a sophomore. ah He came from Croatia and the interesting thing about that is his he's got a brother that plays ah for one of that was playing for one of Illinois opponents this year and I can't remember which one it was right now at the top of my head. The last game that I want to once they might have been tennis either Tennessee or Wisconsin. One of the two had his brother plays for them, but then they went and picked up. ah transfers ah from I see transfer Kerry Booth. He came from Notre Dame. Kyle and Boswell who came from Arizona and now there's anything about Boswell. He was from Champaign, Illinois. And then opted for somewhere else. I think Memphis and then played their year went to Arizona and now he's back in Champaign. Then they also picked up. Transfer Jake Davis out of.
00:53:28
Speaker
uh, Mercer, uh, Trey white from Louisville. Uh, then they had another freshman. And again, and you can consider him an international, I guess in Will Riley. He was a late, uh, late, uh, addition to the team. Uh, as far as picking him up as goes, he's a freshman from Ontario, Canada. Uh, and he's already projected close to a lottery pick in the NBA. Mm-hmm.
00:53:58
Speaker
ah They're already talking about him being a lottery pick. ah Another transfer I missed here was Ben Humrick House from Evansville. yeah And this team, yeah yeah we all wondered, and when he brought all these guys together, just how is this going to fit? Because as soon as he got the team assembled and they lost to Ole Miss in the um scrimmage game, if you will, or preseason scrimmage game,
00:54:25
Speaker
you had Ty Rogers, junior 6'6, junior forward opted to red shirt, which nobody expected. um So, and then you've got a couple of the freshmen that have come in and mores Johnson, Jr. Who is from what little I've seen of him play so far. This kid is a load. um He is 6'9, 255 pounds.
00:54:55
Speaker
And he just plays like it. I mean, he's he's just a big body in the middle. He's really good on the defensive boards. um they We're a little taller this year than last year. We've got that Ivicic from Croatia, he's 7'1", 255.
00:55:16
Speaker
Most of our forwards are in either 6-6 to 6-10 give or take. Kyle and Boswell, the is is he's probably the shortest guy on the team, I think, if I'm looking right. Yeah, he's he's the shortest guy on the team at 6-2. No, I take it that Gibbs Lawhorn is at 6-1. But one guy that's taken over the team,
00:55:40
Speaker
And um you'll see when you, when the game goes on, is this jack of sonas, a freshman from Lithuania. um He's also being considered as a possible first round NBA pick. oh If he decides to go that route, he can hit a three, he can go inside, he can drive.
00:56:02
Speaker
Uh, he can handle the ball. mar I think he leads the team and assist if I am not mistaken. Let me look that up real quick here. Uh, individual cysts. He, yeah. Yes. He leads his team and assist with 56. The next closest guy is point guard Island Boswell at 34.
00:56:28
Speaker
and So this kid, he can handle the ball. He's very, very good. Uh, he's right now he's averaging about 16 points a game and six rebounds. Um, the big guy in the middle is, uh, which again, um, you know, after Kofi left, we were kind of struggling in the middle between, um, Dane danger last year and, uh, Coleman Hawkins, but, um,
00:56:53
Speaker
you know, this Ivica, which is kind of settled that he's rebounding about 9.7 rebounds a game on the inside. And most of those are defensive rebounds. um So, you know, he's, he's doing a pretty good job in that respect. ah Boswell, he was having kind of a, I think a little bit of hard time adjusting, but a couple games ago,
00:57:17
Speaker
Underwood challenge teams that look we need people start stepping up, but let's get it going and he's he's hit fire since then. um So I think we've they've got a really good mix of of of players now as far as what's happened this year. Playing against Missouri is going to be. I think it's going to be somewhat of a of a of a not just a normal bragging rights um motivation, but we lost to Tennessee.
00:57:45
Speaker
We lost to Ole Miss. We lost to Alabama. We've lost to three SEC teams. And I don't think Underwood likes that idea. you know He wants to kind of get that record a little more even if he can. yeah ah So, you know, losing the Tennessee in Alabama is nothing to be ashamed of. I saw that too ah Tennessee game, what what was that ah over the weekend? Yeah, that was, let's see, that was last Saturday, yeah.
00:58:17
Speaker
Yeah, that was a really good game. I mean, that's some game to watch. Well, they had their chance. Yeah, two teams 20, but Tennessee is really good in Alabama is really good this year. So if he goes in the non conference schedule and to those losses or to Tennessee and.
00:58:33
Speaker
Alabama, it's truly nothing to be ashamed of this early in the season. and I'm not really sure how good old miss was supposed to be this year, but they may be pretty good. I wouldn't. Well, that was, that was the next, that was an exhibition game. And you know, those games are not worried about the score. You're worried about getting guys playing time.
00:58:48
Speaker
Right. To see what they've got, you know. ah Now the Alabama game, they did lose by 13 to Alabama. Arkansas, they did win. They won by 13 against Arkansas. um but the And the Tennessee game was a heartbreaker. I mean, they they had that game. My point was a couple of people and I've talked about it.
Illinois' Performance Issues in Recent Games
00:59:10
Speaker
They had three different plays after a timeout coming out of bounds and on two of those plays, Tennessee ended up with a turnover and a score. Yeah. And you just can't have that. You can't have that if you're going to be a top team. Yeah. You know, so, uh, so this, I think it's going to be a fun game to watch. Um, unfortunately I will probably be, well, yeah, I think I'm going to be working at the time they're on. So I have to follow it via my telephone. Yeah.
00:59:39
Speaker
Yeah, but I think it's going to be a fun. I think the fans on both sides are going to come away very, very, very happy with this game. now I think no matter who wins, well, maybe not, but but you know, the fans fans are fans, you know, absolutely but I think it's going to be a close game. I, of course, my heart tells me I'm going to take Illinois.
01:00:00
Speaker
I know you're going to take Missouri, so we'll just leave it at that. Um, but I think it's going to be a fun game to watch. rather due too Yeah, no doubt. All right. Well, my friend, um, we've pretty much used up almost all of our bra a lot of time. Um,
Promotion of Fuel Sports Network Shows
01:00:16
Speaker
One thing I want to tell people is that ah if you like this show again, as we talked last time, ah please let us know you can you know. We'll give you all our contact information here in a minute. and Or you can go to fuelsports dot.com. You can look at it there, because at the fuelsportsnetwork dot.com, you can find not just this podcast. You can find my podcast, Talking Sports on the Bleachers. You can find the two for three with the Mighty Moose Michaels. You can look up.
01:00:45
Speaker
the team of rivals with Ron, Ron Nuttle, uh, Pete Getty's and Elliot Dewey. You can also see or listen to Ron talk about city soccer on at the park. And you can always follow the a train and his musings about football and wrestling. And then of course, there's the Derek King show with the one and only Derek King. Check it out at the fuel sports network.
01:01:08
Speaker
ah com
01:01:11
Speaker
All right, Russ, let them know where they can find you if they want to talk to you. Well, I'm at a Uncle Frank at FR Robinson, 1-9-5-7 on X. I'm at Blue Sky. I'm Russ 57 at Blue Sky, and I'm working on, it and I think I talked about this last time, I'm working on putting together a sub-stack page. So there there'll be more on that later on. so Okay. ban I'm experimenting with it. So anyway, that's where I'm at. Okay. And you can find me, oh I can always find either one of us at the fuel sports network.com. You can hook on, look at the podcast and you can leave comments there. Or you can ah find me at on X at TSOTB GCS.
01:02:00
Speaker
You can email the show at tsotb.gcs at gmail dot.com and you can always find this program on Spotify. I'm working on Apple tunes and maybe eventually you might see us. We might actually try YouTube one of these days here in the upcoming year.
01:02:20
Speaker
Um, we'll probably have to hire some professional makeup artists to make us look better, but hey, you know, it is what it is. ah So anyway. All right. So from my broadcast partner, Russ Robinson, this is Don Glenn telling you, this is the NCAA report. And we will see you again when we're talking the NCAA report. And until then have fun. Stay safe. We'll talk to you soon. Good night, everybody.