Transcript
Cody Atkinson: Hello and welcome to the Coastal Lop Sports Talk. I'm Cody coming to you from the bayous of Houston, Texas.
justin_daulton: And I'm Justin coming to you from the magic of Orlando, Florida.
Cody Atkinson: And today we will be your destination for the SEC. That's right. We have finally reached the end of our college football conference previews and just in time as we are only six days away from the kickoff of week zero. That means the next time. you hear from us we will officially have actual college football games to discuss and even more games to preview what a time to be alive we have survived
Cody Atkinson: the long dreaded off season. So. With our trajectory set, it's time to sit back. lock in and get started with the rundown This is the Coastal Launch. and we are ready for liftoff here on episode 29.
justin_daulton: You say just in time, Cody. It's almost like we planned playing this thing out the right way. you know we're um Yeah, man, excited to finally get to the SEC preview.
Cody Atkinson: almost almost
justin_daulton: But first, we have a good good run ah rundown to talk about this week.
Cody Atkinson: I wouldn't call it good.
justin_daulton: And.
Cody Atkinson: that None of the news in here is good.
justin_daulton: No, none of the news is good.
Cody Atkinson: Not a single of one of these topics is good news.
justin_daulton: but
justin_daulton: um uh to keep with trend this summer man let's talk about college football transfer portal. ah But this time, NFL players returning to college football, which is something that has never happened before.
justin_daulton: um So something that kind of kicked off over the last week is. Players suing within this new five for five rule that's been now proposed and going it through in college football is players suing for their fifth year of eligibility.
justin_daulton: And returning from. pro -level football. They couldn't make it, so they're getting cut. suing sitting out i guess this year tentatively for some players. or for some players and then entering the next transfer portal window.
justin_daulton: is kind of what i'm reading cody you can correct me if i'm wrong on any of that but That's kind of the the whole MO. Today, I didn't write down the player's name, but I think you did. The Browns player. got cut today or over the weekend.
Cody Atkinson: Mm hmm.
justin_daulton: If he... If he clears waivers. and does not get picked up by an NFL team. He is set to return to college football this season. and play for the LSU Tigers.
justin_daulton: Which is... insane to me obviously these other players would yeah before we hit record we were talking about like Diego Pavia is a name that's been swirling around that is currently not on roster by any team.
justin_daulton: potentially could be suing for his fifth year of eligibility who did not play five years in the top level of college football. He obviously played in Juco level. or Division II, whichever one it was. and then now is going to come back for a fifth year.
justin_daulton: presumably at a high performing school i don't think he goes back to vanderbilt but he comes back into the transfer portal and potentially You know, you can look for a Texas Tech type of team that would buy a quarterback for a rental period.
Cody Atkinson: That would be disgusting.
justin_daulton: But is it again, you you correct me if I'm wrong.
Cody Atkinson: No, it makes it makes so much sense, actually. like I hadn't thought of that yet. Like my, in my mind, it's like, yeah, dude, he just goes back to Vanderbilt. That's his like.
Cody Atkinson: that's his home, but the, yeah, the team that. Has dumb money and really needs it like that would be a match made in in in hell but like i guess heaven for them
justin_daulton: Yeah. So, yeah, but I mean, it's it's crazy to me that this is a reality that we're going to live in now where. players are just going to, like we've talked about all summer, right? is players suing for eligibility, players you know doing whatever they can to not be.
justin_daulton: penalized by the system so they can play college football. You know, we talked about Brandon Swords being all offseason long. That was a whole new wrinkle to this whole thing of suing while you're an NFL player. coming back to play college football.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, it's it's disgusting, right? We we started this conversation. in the early episodes of this pod when it was uh i think betty yaka was his name was the
justin_daulton: No, no.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: the the Alabama basketball player that that went to the G League came back. And when we were trying to describe. how outrageous it was to non -basketball fans. This is what we talked about. We were like, just imagine.
Cody Atkinson: The NFL, a guy goes to training camp, can't make it, comes back. like But we were really exaggerating when we were saying that. It's not something that, at least for me, like I didn't think that it would actually happen because I was like, the NFL.
justin_daulton: right
Cody Atkinson: like like I was like, the NFL wouldn't really let it. College football wouldn't really let it. These are leagues that have more power. than It didn't say college basketball. and And so it's something that you used as like an exaggeration to describe how bad it could get.
Cody Atkinson: And now it's actually happening and it's disgusting. And really the only thing. I can think of. I keep thinking back to the English Super League.
Cody Atkinson: that like was gonna happen and then like soccer fans just just said no and And it got canceled. And I just keep wondering. If. American sports fans.
Cody Atkinson: have enough power among them to do something about anything. And if we will ever cross a line where they collectively think that we should, like, is there anything that would ever cause us to organize and shut it down?
Cody Atkinson: for the betterment of a sport in the way that that did not that You know, not not that the English soccer fan is is the the perfect example of a fan or anything, but like... they did a thing that we that that seems unimaginable here and i just keep wondering if that will ever happen and i think the answer is no because This seems like.
Cody Atkinson: the easiest thing for us all to stand up agree to and like find a way to shut down and and it's not we're just going to watch these guys play football and be miserable
justin_daulton: yeah i mean ultimately the lead is going to get buried here, right? where the Players are, yes, are going to go at the Colts football and play. ah Until you get... a diego pavia that comes back it's not going to enrage people This player that was on the Browns, and you have the name, I'm sure.
justin_daulton: Like he...
Cody Atkinson: Daquan Wright.
justin_daulton: And he's a...
Cody Atkinson: is dreadful.
justin_daulton: offense alignment. Tight end.
Cody Atkinson: Nice title.
justin_daulton: um So he.
Cody Atkinson: Playing for LSU, went to the Browns, isn't going to make it. If he gets cleared for waivers, he's going to go to LSU.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: like He didn't even play his four years at LSU. He played at Ole Miss. a competitor to lsu and now he's gonna like leave come back and go to lsu which is even stupider in my opinion like if you're gonna if you're gonna do it at least go back to your alma mater and like be a hero
justin_daulton: right
justin_daulton: Yeah, correct it's like A tight end coming back isn't going to enrage people enough for you to to get that driving force that you saw with the English Super League.
Cody Atkinson: yeah
justin_daulton: when you see big names. like think about you know flash it back to what uh almost 10 years ago now Johnny Manziel goes, washes out from Cleveland. He sues, comes back to A and &M.
justin_daulton: that's that's the type of stuff that would start to enrage people, these these bigger names that aren't going to quite make it.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: Think about like... Think about Trinidad Chambliss, right? If he would have went to... preseason get cut and they come back to Ole Miss. Those are names that would be like, wait a minute, hang on. run -of -the -mill tight end that isn't going to make a difference for LSU this season.
justin_daulton: that's not enough for us to be like wait a minute hold on it's gonna be the bigger names that really drive people to be like, no, let's get the pitchforks out and march to... Greg Sankey's desk, like, what are you going to do about this?
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. Yeah. I think you're right in that it's just kind of a disappointment because like. we shouldn't have We shouldn't have to wait for that. This is bad enough. like What we're seeing right now is bad enough.
Cody Atkinson: that we we should stop it because this just isn't the spike. We're just no longer watching the sport that we grew up watching. It's not the same sport in any way, shape. The only thing that resembles the sport we grew up with is the logos on the helmet.
Cody Atkinson: that's it other than that we're watching yeah
justin_daulton: and even those even And even those are changing.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, it's but like other than that, like we're just watching. like I don't really know what we're watching anymore because the transfer portal is new, and that's something that we've all had to adjust to, and I think it's good for the quality of the sport.
Cody Atkinson: And it's good that players don't get, you know. is They don't make a decision at 18 that they can't undo.
justin_daulton: Right.
Cody Atkinson: But obviously we still need to reign that into a degree. Because we're we're looking we're we're watching completely different rosters every year. And now you now you can't even see a guy go off to the NFL and like take a deep sigh of relief. that like ah You're done watching him play on Saturdays. Now, if he doesn't make it, he can come back.
Cody Atkinson: And it's wild.
justin_daulton: Yeah, like you know you know who I don't want to play in the SEC?
Cody Atkinson: Go to the XF file.
justin_daulton: I don't want to play Diego Pavia again. like I don't want to see him march onto a college football field.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: But we're going to see that because he can't make it in the NFL.
Cody Atkinson: what And it's not even it's not even that I don't want to see it. It's that we shouldn't see it. like like i don't He can come back.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: I don't think he's going to win. anything.
justin_daulton: No.
Cody Atkinson: like like i don't think it's I don't think it's a matter of the... the you know, legitimacy of the championship this year. I don't think he factors into it wherever he lands. I just don't think we should have to watch it because the dude's played six seasons.
justin_daulton: Yes.
Cody Atkinson: that two of them were junior college and they're gonna tell us those don't count and he gets one more. That's stupid. He's played six seasons. like he's He's 25 or something.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: like it' it's He's done. It's it's over.
justin_daulton: it wrote It reminds me of the Georgia quarterback. Drake himself out of the league a couple years ago and in the NFL, right?
Cody Atkinson: Stetson.
justin_daulton: Stetson, yeah. an end.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, he's still he's still on the ramps, I think.
justin_daulton: I think he's on the Pup List or he's been on the Pup List for the last like two years or so.
Cody Atkinson: Well, he put stats up in the preseason this year.
justin_daulton: Oh, did he? Is he back?
Cody Atkinson: i was like yeah i was I was looking to see how Ty Simpson did, and I was like, oh, Stetson Bennett's still there?
justin_daulton: Good for him. oh
justin_daulton: not Good for him.
Cody Atkinson: WP Potato.
justin_daulton: I didn't know he was back.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: Good friend. But same thing, like he played. he played until what he was like 27 28 with georgia so like
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: It's the same principle. like We don't need to see these guys play until they're in their... prime of their career already.
Cody Atkinson: No. That's what the uf that's what the you are the UFL now, right? That's what the UFL is for.
justin_daulton: Yeah. Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: Go. Go play there if you need a proving ground because the NFL is not ready for you yet.
justin_daulton: Unless you're a Swordsman and they're not letting you.
Cody Atkinson: Yep. or go help them launch. NFL Europe or whatever they're trying to do.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: like Go do that.
justin_daulton: whenever that happens.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. It's fine. Go play in Latvia.
justin_daulton: No.
Cody Atkinson: that's from from New Girl, isn't that where Winston played basketball?
justin_daulton: I thought you were going to go a live, Barry. I was like, oh, yeah, Dr. Doom. He's got a football team now.
Cody Atkinson: No.
justin_daulton: Good for him. Hehehehe.
Cody Atkinson: That's funny. You watch New Girl? You're well done.
justin_daulton: I've seen episodes here and there, yeah.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, he played in like the...
justin_daulton: you get me You get me cookie, I got you cookie.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, I think he played on like the uphill lotmi in basketball. something Yeah.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: with that.
justin_daulton: ah All this, I mean, obviously we don't need to rehash everything we spoke about this summer, but like this is this is stupid, man.
Cody Atkinson: Later.
justin_daulton: but like It's going to take big names coming back to to call us a ball to really. enraged college football fans enough to be like, hang on, like we need to do something. Obviously, things need to change. regardless of the situation Like we need to figure out like.
justin_daulton: rules and stipulations to these things and in figuring out, like we we talked about also, there needs to be a new governing body. Someone needs to step in charge of this and then not be the NCAA that is powerless in this situation. so However that looks, I still think we're a full team ahead to something like that. I just don't know what it looks like or who it's going to be.
justin_daulton: in the long run.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. i I still think the answer is CBA. I think I still, I know. protect college sports is. pushed forward we did our piece on that but i still think the stanford guys i think that's the answer because that's How you avoid getting sued is it's you saw that you have a document that was collected.
justin_daulton: Yeah, you signed it.
Cody Atkinson: All right. and signed.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: And it says you can't sue, and that's how we avoid this.
justin_daulton: Yeah. We'll see. We'll see what it ends up being. but Obviously, we won't see the only ramification we're going to see is this Naquan guy. You know, if he comes back and actually she plays meaningful snaps with the with the Tigers or not, that'll be the first kind of test to it.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: but We won't see a Diego Potti or something like that until... next season because the next transfer portal is... right as the CFP happens. So that's not until like December or January or something like that.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. head
justin_daulton: so Obviously none of these go.
Cody Atkinson: It'll be like January 2nd or something like that.
justin_daulton: Yeah, so none of these guys are going to be on college rosters until spring ball anyway. so We'll see what the landscape of college football looks like next year when we get to it.
Cody Atkinson: But. i mean technically though like we can move on we don't we're just this like 15 minute topic we didn't plan on this but like technically the five and five rule is is that you have five years to play up to five seasons so if they wait a year
justin_daulton: Mm -hmm
Cody Atkinson: for the legal to run its course, they would now be outside of their five and five window. So that'll be interesting to see, right? like
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: you The five and five says if you miss a season. we don't care there's the because this is where the red shirting and the gray shirting and the yada yada medicals like it's gotten too out of control where a guy plays three seasons in eight years and they're like look this is not what we intended to do so you have five years you can play all five you can play one but you got five years.
justin_daulton: yeah
Cody Atkinson: And so that'll be interesting because if they have to wait a year to get a ruling, technically. They are now outside of their five -year window. So if you say, yeah, you you qualify for the five and five and be like, and, and that means you can't play anymore.
Cody Atkinson: Like...
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: mean It could be interesting.
justin_daulton: We'll see.
Cody Atkinson: i i hope they I hope they fix it. It's disgusting.
justin_daulton: Not yet. um Let's move on from one somber topic to another somber topic, and then we'll go to the last somber topic of this pod. Um... We're going to talk about the –
Cody Atkinson: It feels like sports today, i man. I was thinking about it today.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: I was like, I am turning into a sports doomer. And like this topic list is, is like such a. Such an example of that, like in every aspect of like sports is is just never going to be what we grew up with again.
justin_daulton: and maybe you know We're about to get some fun topics over the over the next couple of months because we have college football and NFL football. As long as... Our teams win.
Cody Atkinson: I'll tell you what, i'll i'll be I'll be ready for your weekly Daquan Wright stats update.
justin_daulton: We'll see.
justin_daulton: We'll replace the home run crown topic with Daegwan stat updates.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. with the dick on right. Yeah, stat tracker.
justin_daulton: But let's move into the Dodgers scandal, man, that broke. towards the ah later half of last week. so We're probably going to do an awful job of explaining this, Cody, um as you and I have had an awful time of explaining it to each other over the last couple of days.
justin_daulton: um but the Majority.
Cody Atkinson: It's tough.
justin_daulton: The majority owner of the Dodgers, Mark Walters. has basically been found to be using insurance bond money from multiple of ah of his subsidiaries. throughout the world.
justin_daulton: to funnel money into the Dodgers organization to pay for all of this deferred money contract situation. On top of love. you know everything else that the Dodgers are doing. There's money tied into the the the marketing deals. and ah with the media rights and all this other stuff that has really come to to to fruition over the last couple of days.
justin_daulton: basically saying that Mark Walter is... is broke. and doesn't have money. um And he what he's been doing is very illegal. and that he shouldn't be taking people's money and investing it basically into...
justin_daulton: basically giving players loans and deferring money and all these other things that are very... slimy and and disgusting um in the Dodgers organization. um I really wanted to put this in here because I saw so it started to get some traction online.
justin_daulton: um i'm more online than you are with social media and it really started getting traction that um And it's going to hit home for you. is that the Astros are no longer the bad guys of Major League Baseball. The Dodgers are 100 % now with this scandal and the way that they've treated baseball over the last couple of years, they are now the true.
justin_daulton: bad guys of Major League Baseball.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, I mean it feels like they've been trending that way for for a little bit now just from the money standpoint But now that you find out that it's funny money it's It's making it even worse. But you say Houston's no longer the bad guy. And I just, so I'm reading a. the Los Angeles Times while you talk, trying to make sure I remembered.
Cody Atkinson: the facts of the of the case. And they they say that this is very reminiscent of Enron. So Houston is still involved in in some way, shape or form.
justin_daulton: Jeez.
Cody Atkinson: So here's here's my and my understanding of it is the the Dodgers, like one point I think it's a $1 .4 billion dollar payroll. is is largely funded.
Cody Atkinson: by their TV deal. Everyone knows this. The daughters have a massive TV deal. That he.
justin_daulton: And even that's not good either.
Cody Atkinson: deal.
justin_daulton: Like the TV deal that they have is also kind of slimy.
Cody Atkinson: Well, that's what I'm saying. The TV deal is slimy because i guess the owner of the the media rights company that that is leasing them this t or that's paying them this tv deal is one of the owners in the Dodgers consortium of owners.
justin_daulton: Mm hmm.
Cody Atkinson: which makes that. that a big issue because now we have no we have no guarantee that this is actually market value. that's being paid here, right? like do this this could be a significant overpay in order to fund.
Cody Atkinson: the the roster because that's the that is both the desire of the dodgers is to fund the roster and the owner of this media company is to fund the dodgers roster because he also owns that The other thing... is that a lot of this financing That.
Cody Atkinson: The financing. of him acquiring the Dodgers in 2012 was backed by insurance. So, you know, these these large purchases, this and this is where I don't fully understand it, these large purchases.
Cody Atkinson: require require backing right the typically that's going to come from a bank
justin_daulton: Mm -hmm.
Cody Atkinson: He got this backing from insurance companies. who are owned by other owners of the Dodgers. And so that's where it's this funny money circle where like he pays. them.
Cody Atkinson: So that they can pay him So that. Ultimately, all of this money that they have within the insurance companies, within the media companies, and with the Dodgers just stays in the circle. going back and forth, so they're never paying any third parties.
Cody Atkinson: um And because of this, they've been able to find it too. I've read a few things. about this like Part of it. Obviously, there's the deferred contracts. You have to put money in escrow to pay for these players' contracts. When you're able to defer them that far out, you just have to put less money in escrow so you have more money to spend today.
Cody Atkinson: That's not anything bad. That's just them using a bad set of rules to their advantage. but But then the other thing I was reading is, so there's some mechanism. where the Dodgers and other teams have to pay into a pot.
Cody Atkinson: these like local earnings. And that gets distributed among the league. It's not a perfect system like we see in other sports. but they have And aspect of it. And the Dodgers.
Cody Atkinson: By paying... high interest rates to the insurance companies reduce their burden to pay into the the league -wide sharing because you're you're able to deduct your interest payments from it. So they're reducing their payment that that gets split among the rest of the teams.
Cody Atkinson: by paying this interest and this interest It's not a market rate interest because the interest is getting paid back to the Dodgers owners. It's like... so so and this is where this is i guess where i i kind of focus if A slight peek behind the curtain, a lot of what I do for work is...
Cody Atkinson: analysis of related party transactions. And so that's where I find this really interesting. Um, I don't have the full details. I'm just getting these off the articles. But but it's it from, you know.
Cody Atkinson: what I am do for a living my understanding of these transactions it is not difficult for me to understand how this is a massive benefit for them to be paying the interest rates they're paying to be keeping the money in the system to be doing all this.
Cody Atkinson: Um, You were coming at it from a different angle. your Your takeaway and what you were reading a lot is that just that he's broke. I wasn't seeing that. But even if he is broke, that's crazy.
justin_daulton: yeah
Cody Atkinson: Even if he's not, if the FBI finds anything, he's going to be forced to sell. He's already sold the Lakers. And I think he's already sold or is trying to sell his shares in Chelsea.
justin_daulton: yeah
Cody Atkinson: You're...
justin_daulton: Yeah, that that hasn't happened yet because of... the ramifications of everything that's come to light. um But yeah, everything that I've been reading is talking about how. He doesn't have the money to back what he's done with the insurance companies and the commitment to.
justin_daulton: the Dodgers. So like he has to sell. the stocks that he has and everything else. And I've heard that there's a potential he has to sell his majority stock in the Dodgers. to make sure that it goes to people and there's money to be given.
justin_daulton: back into either a of the insurance companies or b back to the dodgers themselves because there is no liquid money that need that is there because you're basing it off of insurance claims. and there's that there's no insurance money, there's no money in escrow.
justin_daulton: Regardless if it's a million dollars a year or not, that's still a million dollars that you don't have in escrow because it's tied up in. an insurance money as you just talked to about like it's ah It's an endless loop of where this where is the money, where and if you don't actually have money.
justin_daulton: Then the other... Part of the circle also doesn't have money So that's where I was reading a lot of like, he he's got to sell his stocks in. And Chelsea, he has stuff tied up with F1. Obviously, the Dodgers, he just sold it with the Lakers. The Bust family we also selling their stock and from the Lakers as well is coming up too. so like There's so much going on around this guy of like.
justin_daulton: He's going to have to liquidate just to put money back into this infinite loop that he's had. So it's, it's just, it's messy. I can see where it's in rolling. I can see where you can compare it to like.
justin_daulton: big short with like the housing market and you're just waiting for bubbles to pop like you're just waiting for this insurance bubble to pop and now you have you him as the as the sole proprietor of this is like you're gonna win because you bet on these people to not make their insurance. you know, they're going to have to cash out on insurance, which means. you're going to have the money for it. So like there's that give and take within it also.
justin_daulton: And it's making messy, and I don't think we've seen the end of this story for quite some time, regardless of what the... FBI's finding is. like I think we're going at to have to see. You know, I think he is going to step out of Chelsea. I think he is going to have to step out of the Dodgers organization. so it's It's going to be messy for a while around the Dodgers. and depending on what happens with this lockout next year. like You may also be talking about like, it doesn't matter what he comes up with. You're going to have to offload players too.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, yeah, we'll see the the lockout has its own its own ramifications on this history it's really unfortunate for the for the dodgers to be dealing with with this and the potential loss of the owner who's funded your buying of championships because like you know like you said not not only you have the you have Consequences of money leaving the Dodgers system. How does that impact your ability to make good? on the contracts you've signed.
Cody Atkinson: You have. um Any new ownership that comes in, are they going to come in with the same desire to pay as much as? as he's been paying for championships, because if they want to make money.
Cody Atkinson: you know They certainly make a lot more money by not spending. you know. what is it like 200 million in in taxes alone?
justin_daulton: Mm -hmm.
Cody Atkinson: It like over it or whatever and so So certainly they might not have the same appetite for that. And then with the lockout, is the league in general going to have an appetite for letting you keep these contracts for any extended period of time? Or are you going to be forced to offload them to get within any sort of cap in?
Cody Atkinson: you know. a preset timely manner there's there's a lot In the air right now, I don't think something like this. is is beneficial at all in helping us to end the lockout sooner.
justin_daulton: No.
Cody Atkinson: like this is and anybody This is just another...
justin_daulton: No.
Cody Atkinson: something else to lob into the stack of of discussion for the lockout and and keep us. away from games for another month or whatever.
justin_daulton: All season. I don't think we get baseball at all next year.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if we get a partial season. If we get like a COVID season, a 60 game season, I wouldn't be surprised. But I'm not surprised if we don't.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: get any at all either. The most surprised to I could possibly be is if we start on time and get a full season.
justin_daulton: Yeah, even if we start before the all -star break, I'd be surprised.
Cody Atkinson: done.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: Bye.
Cody Atkinson: It's just a mess, right? And it's something like this just is not going to help.
justin_daulton: Oh yeah.
Cody Atkinson: this idea that neither side trusts each other.
justin_daulton: It cracks. i mean in our lives like we've dealt with multiple nfl lockouts and everything like that so like it's at least with the nfl i never felt like there was they were far off mlb it feels like they are not even reading the same book.
Cody Atkinson: pass them It's an absolute chasm between the two of them.
justin_daulton: so Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: And honestly, something like this, like we'll see because like you have the... You have the the NBA with the... Steve Ballmer stuff going on with the Capsule Convention.
justin_daulton: mm -hmm Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: and there doesn't seem to be at least publicly there's no infighting between the owners but if you get if this kind of ah financial nonsense that that Mark Walter is doing, if that creates any infighting within the owners.
Cody Atkinson: Now, not only are the owners fighting the players, but they're fighting themselves, and it's going to take forever to find common ground.
justin_daulton: Yep.
Cody Atkinson: So.
justin_daulton: No one's going to agree on anything, which means that we don't get baseball. We get we go even longer without baseball.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, unless this is just commonplace. like you never he might like The fact that he's doing this, he he funded his acquisition of the Dodgers in 2012. with insurance this was known back then
justin_daulton: Mm -hmm
Cody Atkinson: and was not caught by the MLB. or the fbi or anybody else back then and now it's to being caught now so who knows what who else might be. funding.
Cody Atkinson: their payroll in very similar ways across sports.
justin_daulton: Learn. Let's move off of that. I don't want to talk about the Dodgers anymore. Amen. Sad topic here. we we We threw around the idea of trying to get an emergency pod off last like Thursday, Cody. Wednesday or Thursday. And it just didn't really work out with our schedules to get ah an emergency pod.
justin_daulton: um Jaden Higgins, second -year wide receiver for the Houston Texans. Went down with a non -contact injury last week. um walked off on his under under his own power we really thought he was gonna be good everything i was reading online saying hey he's good like he walked off on his own power he's good um News broke the next day from Adam Schefter that Jaden Higgins has torn his ACL. And it's all for this season.
justin_daulton: um You and I immediately wanted to hit the emergency button. like You just lost what looked like the clear number two wide receiver for the organization. Uh, for the whole season now you're left with a very thin wide receiver room of Nico Collins.
justin_daulton: a recovering tank Dell. Jalen Newell, who severely underperformed. And Xavier Hutchinson, who is, I think, not even in the top wide receiver 50. for in the nfl So you're left with a very thin wide receiver room. So the idea for the emergency pod Cody was.
justin_daulton: What do the Texans do? um The Texans, in a way, answered this question over the last couple of days. ah They brought in veteran wide receivers Zae Flowers and Sterling Shepherd. um Two guys that I i don't expect to be.
justin_daulton: an actual wide receiver too for this team. um But they are at least bodies who have played in the NFL long enough to actually do something. um as opposed to Jalen Noel, who didn't do anything last year, and Xavier Hutchinson, who has.
justin_daulton: I think two or three good games under his belt in his entire career with the Texans. So... This sucks like we You saw chemistry last year, Cody, with... with Jaden and Stroud when when Niko went out for his his hamstring injury last year.
justin_daulton: So it just sucks to see. Jay didn't go down with any... everything that I've been reading about camp this year. And I know that you listen to 610 whenever you can out there. Like it sounded like Higgins had made.
justin_daulton: marketable improvements. over this offseason and go into this training camp and that he looked like he was going to be And NFL. wide receiver two. Um... and potentially challenging for wide receiver one with Nico Collins this season.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, did you say Zay Flowers?
justin_daulton: I think it would say flowers.
Cody Atkinson: I think it's Zay Jones.
justin_daulton: Right?
justin_daulton: Was it Zay Jones? I thought it was Zay Flowers.
Cody Atkinson: is it say I think safe flowers. i was I was looking at it because I was like, no way that we're running safe flowers. That's a legitimate. answer.
justin_daulton: i might have mixed I might have mixed the name up, but I thought it was Zay Flowers.
Cody Atkinson: it's You had that. I think Zay Flowers, um it looks like Zay Flowers is still with the Ravens.
justin_daulton: Okay, so then say jobs, okay
Cody Atkinson: I think we're looking at Zay Jones. um Yeah, its it's tough, man. I texted you my immediate text to you was I don't want to see the Texans. ah fill this in house because Like to your point, there's not enough depth.
Cody Atkinson: In the receiver room. currently there wasn't enough depth. It felt like in a lot of ways, you're like, I'm not sure if there's enough depth. While Higgins was healthy because you have no you have Niko Collins Star.
Cody Atkinson: You had jadeden Jaden Higgins really counting on... you know a year two breakout he had a fine year one but nothing crazy you really needed him to step up
justin_daulton: Yeah. He was an 800 -yard but wide receiver in year one.
Cody Atkinson: You do know what?
justin_daulton: like that was Pretty good for a rookie.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. Yeah, but you were you were definitely coming into this year counting on... an improvement you're like let's That was year one. I want a bigger year two. If we get a bigger year two, this could be a good wide receiver room.
Cody Atkinson: You needed a ah true breakout from Jalen Noel, who didn't really get the opportunity to do much of anything last year. and And then you have the question mark of, you know, is Tank Dell really going to be ready to go?
Cody Atkinson: We haven't.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: Steam. it at full speed full contact or you know uncertain, we hopeful. hopeful for sure, but uncertain. Because we haven't seen it in a year and a half.
Cody Atkinson: Or however long it's been. It's definitely too thin. of a wide receiver room now. I like Zay Jones has had his impact, you know, from a fantasy perspective. It's a name I reckon.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: You guys? What was the other name you said? I got so distracted.
justin_daulton: Sterling Shepard from the Giants.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. Yeah, so Sterling... Two. Solid depth piece names definitely can make an impact.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: but The thing that I keep coming back to is this is the year. that I want to see the Texans give everything they have to win a Super Bowl. Because if CJ Stroud is the quarterback that the Texans think he can be.
Cody Atkinson: You're going to have to pay him 60 -something million next year.
justin_daulton: right
Cody Atkinson: <unk>s gonna that's going to affect your ability to to field the team around him that you're fielding this year. If he's not the guy. You still might pay him 60 and we're all gonna just jump off a bridge or you you don't pay him anything and and you have a question mark your quarterback next year.
Cody Atkinson: Um, Maybe you're paying up for a guy like Baker. Maybe we're back to year one on a rookie. i Don't know it's but but but you certainly will have a question mark at at the position next year.
Cody Atkinson: So this is the year to go do it. This is the year. to get the most out of cj because you' you're not paying him yet and you're paying everybody else you're paying columns you're paying Well, I understand. You're playing paying Daniil Hunter. Now it's a Davian Clowney.
Cody Atkinson: uh the derek's
justin_daulton: know Sting.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, Petrie.
justin_daulton: Aziz. Ciao ciao.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, you're you're you're paying these guys because youre could because you're not paying CJ yet. So go go win it now. and And you asked me, who do you go get? I don't know. this I haven't paid that close of attention. Maybe maybe the answer truly is there's nobody.
Cody Atkinson: um And that would be unfortunate, but if there's anybody you can go get go get that make a trade for a wide receiver to really double down on this being Super Bowl or bust. Because look at the Lions last year.
Cody Atkinson: And like this year and. though. They're still competitive, but their year to win was two years ago.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: When they looked like they were going to, the defense had too many injuries and they got beat by Jaden Daniels. And then last year they they missed the playoffs entirely, I believe. And now David Montgomery's gone. And and in the O -line's not what it was.
Cody Atkinson: uh the the oc is gone and yeah
justin_daulton: goth is getting older
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. And you can see the same thing in Houston if you're not careful. You could look up two years from now and you could say the pieces.
justin_daulton: Yeah
Cody Atkinson: that That mattered that maybe we didn't know how important they are or gone and And it's just not the same. So let's capitalize on this year. where Let's not backfill. Let's mortgage the future if we have to to make it and get the one because we don't have one yet.
Cody Atkinson: That's...
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: That's what I want to see them do. um But we we we shall see. I don't expect them to do that.
justin_daulton: Yeah, I was thinking, and I was going to come on the pod and talk about. You know, who do you go get, right? and And I don't think any team is going to trade, right? So I don't think you're not going to get a wide receiver one or two. from a team that's good, right? so I was thinking, do you go out and get...
justin_daulton: DeAndre Hopkins, who is not on the team currently. who is the same type of build as Jaden Higgins. Probably doesn't have as many miles left on him as you would want there to be, but your Sterling Shepard has probably just been in in the league as long as DeAndre Hopkins.
justin_daulton: So like. DeAndre Hopkins at least gives you... some consistency at the position where he's been that good he's just been on bad teams recently like He's at least that good of a receiver that he at least elevates the room.
justin_daulton: So I don't even know if the phone. call happened but like that was where my brain went it's like let's go ahead and just call deandre and cp it's down to do one you know one year and the same type of thing with clowning and i was like Cool, like let's let's ride for one year and let's go see if we can win a Super Bowl.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, I mean, yeah yeah, like you said, you brought Clowney back. Why not bring... DeAndre back and just get the whole gang back together.
justin_daulton: Go ahead and call JJ up while we're at it.
Cody Atkinson: um Yeah. Yeah, that that or you just have to find a guy who... was drafted to be somebody that they haven't been.
justin_daulton: Sure.
Cody Atkinson: and you buy low and hope you can get it out of them. I was just looking at. I tried to Google it while you were talking. and ah Gemini. The Google AI at the top of your Google results and says Keishon Butte, which isn't going to happen because he.
justin_daulton: Mm -hmm
justin_daulton: Mm. Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: He was playing really well for the for New England. He was, in my opinion, crucial to that. uh now for run they had i don't see that uh rashad bateman was the other one thrown out
justin_daulton: Yes.
Cody Atkinson: So a guy that's gotten passed up by many. at Baltimore, but was, ah I believe, a first -round pick at one point. so like Dark Throne. Type, wouldn't hate that. um be I would like them to aim bigger than that. To to your point, i don't it doesn't look like they necessarily can.
Cody Atkinson: It doesn't look like that there's really anyone out there. right now.
justin_daulton: maybe closer Maybe closer to the trade deadline if you can get some teams to to really to realize that, hey, we are done.
Cody Atkinson: part of them too.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: Maybe that's where you can call you know a Detroit if they are kind of falling of downlight falling apart. Maybe you do call Detroit back. and see what their wider super room looks like i don't know what it looks like outside of almond raw I...
Cody Atkinson: I have Jamison Williams. You could possibly go that route.
justin_daulton: Yeah, something mean you you look at those teams.
Cody Atkinson: You have... ah The Browns drafted two wide receivers top last year, Casey Concepcion and... a dude out of Washington, maybe you could, I don't like him, but you could get like a Jerry Judy.
Cody Atkinson: I think he's overrated but like...
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: I think.
justin_daulton: You don't need them to be a 1.
Cody Atkinson: feels better.
justin_daulton: You just need them to be a 2.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: Yeah, so I mean, there might be options as the season goes on and kind of figure out exactly what works. Obviously, Jaden's going to be back, so i I'm hesitant to get anyone that's outside of ah outside of a loaner.
justin_daulton: type of player, I'd be i'd be a little hesitant on that because...
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: Jaden's coming back, and i that's Jaden's spot as long as he comes back. and in physical form to do it next year. So.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, I guess unless you get a guy who's here for a while but has a different skill set right if you get a speedster
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: And then, you know, Jaden Higgins can be a big body and they can compliment each other. but
justin_daulton: Do we pick up the phone and call the Dolphins? Or where did Tyreek end up at?
Cody Atkinson: I don't think he's anywhere right now.
justin_daulton: Maybe you call Tyreek?
Cody Atkinson: native power
justin_daulton: like I know he's i use a locker room cancer, but like... he's still a pretty good wide receiver.
Cody Atkinson: Is he anywhere right now?
justin_daulton: I didn't think he left Miami, did he?
Cody Atkinson: I'm pretty sure he did.
justin_daulton: Did he get released? There's no way they would just outright release them.
Cody Atkinson: It looks like he's a free agent right now.
justin_daulton: Why not call him? Call DeAndre. Call Tyreek and see what they got. and see what they got going on.
Cody Atkinson: I mean, shoot, I saw somebody picked up Keenan Allen a couple days ago. That would have been a sick one, too.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: He's washed.
justin_daulton: Yeah, we were a couple of Yeah, he I don't trust him.
Cody Atkinson: but he's
justin_daulton: He's injury prone too.
Cody Atkinson: i At least he's a better guy.
justin_daulton: But we'll see. We'll see how the season runs out, man.
Cody Atkinson: Reportedly.
justin_daulton: But, yeah, it's going to be an interesting one. like this is going to be, and and we saw last year, this is going to need to be a run heavy. offense, like especially with Demo and and Woody Marks. Woody Marks has looked great in preseason football.
justin_daulton: ah this I guess this is my mini tangent on Texans for you this week. but Like... Woody Marsh looked really...
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. I'll stop if you go too long.
justin_daulton: He looked really good the other night.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: I got to watch the first offensive series where Woody Marks looked really good. He looked good in pass pro. He got a good big run. He got the touchdown. CJ looked good. the The one pass that he missed on the drive was... Not his fault. Xavier Hutchinson was late on his route and didn't get to the ball.
justin_daulton: But CJ put it to where only Xavier could get the ball. So, like... The offense looked better, and that was with Rutledge playing guard and not center. So like we, you got to see him cause last week he played center for the game. So this week we got to see him play guard.
justin_daulton: He looked good. He blocked really well on the on the touchdown run. so like It's me. It's there. we We got to see what everything else plays out. Stroud looking better, looking more precise, looks good. like So granted.
justin_daulton: It's a defense for the Raiders that isn't good, especially without Matt Crosby playing in the game. But at least you can see. the bones of what we need to be successful is there.
justin_daulton: So obviously we'll see you come week one, week one, we have the real test with the bills coming. Are we go, do we go to the bills? No, they come to us. um week one so like that's a big test right off the bat to see what we can do against against Josh Allen. and A defense that is also... really good in Buffalo, then and you just gotta Kind of figure out, that can CJ do it for four quarters and be consistent? Because last time we played the Bills, it wasn't the CJ Stroud.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. I mean, that's what I'll take to see. I think the the big takeaway here is. Even though Jaden Higgins may be not a league wide. no name and even though he's only wide receiver two this is a massive loss because you didn't have
justin_daulton: Mm -hmm.
Cody Atkinson: a lot of depth behind him.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: And you have. He was, he was... central to making sure your big question marks. Word. had the best chance to succeed, right? Like him being there is CJ Stroud's best chance to have the year you need from CJ Stroud. It's Nick Cain's best chance.
Cody Atkinson: to have the play calling year you need from him. but it it you know It helps the offensive line. it was He was central to just making sure the passing game. ran.
Cody Atkinson: so that you can do the other things you want to do. I'm with you. It looks like Woody Marks and David Montgomery could be Sonic and Knuckles, just like you saw with Gibson.
justin_daulton: yeah
Cody Atkinson: In Detroit, at you could have way better rushing attack than you saw last year. And it's it's crucial that they find a way to replace Jaden Higgins so that the passing game... doesn't become the thing that holds everything else back.
Cody Atkinson: Because it will everything else is looking pretty good.
justin_daulton: yeah yeah Well, that's all I got for this week, man. Next week we get Jersey to talk with the NFL. So I'm very excited to talk to Jersey with you next week where we will break down.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: um what this Texans alternate jersey is going to look like because we've we've seen a lot the last couple of days. So we'll see what the... what it actually looks like but I'm going to talk to Anthony Reyes if you're okay with that.
Cody Atkinson: Let's do it man. Let's get the let's uh, let's do wrap up here. Let's do raise Let's do Astros and then we got like we gotta get to some previews
justin_daulton: Yeah, so Rays had another tough week. on the a As I talked about last week, the Achilles heel for this team is... playing the Baltimore Orioles. We've gone 2 -4 this week. A lot of those losses to the Baltimore Orioles.
justin_daulton: ah We did drop the series to Toronto as well over the week. um One to two. So like that's also not great. um But we still have a three -game lead on the Yankees. That lead is Shrake by half. We were up six last time we talked.
justin_daulton: um The Yankees still also not playing good baseball, so it's not bad that we're having a cold stretch right now while the Yankees are also. playing 500 ball. Um. I wanted to make a note that Peralta is looking better game to game. He's still not looking like...
justin_daulton: all -star Peralta from last year that we saw ah but you are seeing improvement from lead from game to game to game to game, like we talked about last week. game one mile high gets beat up with home runs but that's mile high Game two is in a triple -A baseball field for for the athletics.
justin_daulton: didn't look terrible but gave up like i think what ah what i say like four runs over like three and a half innings or something like that so not great
Cody Atkinson: Mm hmm.
justin_daulton: Comes back to the drop, only gives up two over five. So that's much better. And then the start last week, I think, was also another, you know, two or three, but one was unearned. So like he's getting better game to game and you're seeing the improvements. So I wanted to make a note that Peralta is getting better.
justin_daulton: Because a lot of the national media around it is that the Rays busted on that one, that that is the worst trade that they made. i say I think the long -term with Peralta is better because... a I think we can afford Peralta in the state that he's in next year.
justin_daulton: Um, And then there's upside over a training camp with this pitching staff. with Peralta getting back to form and then you have the next type of Glassnell, Snell, Archer type of guy.
justin_daulton: that you can anchor around brass mutes and mcclanahan uh fortes martinez like all those names gavin mucks when when everyone's healthy like you now have that one two three Sometimes four. four -headed monster in this rotation so i did want to make that note before i moved on um but The real reason why this team has been struggling is that the pitching staff as a whole.
justin_daulton: has just been in a funk. like Most starting pitchers getting beat up, bullpen, no consistency. So it's really just been. bad pitching performance after bad pitching performance because we're putting up runs. and A lot of these games against Baltimore was like...
justin_daulton: Six to five. There was like a nine to seven. like we're we're losing it in the later halves like the back half of the bullpen isn't doing its job so very anti -raised baseball.
justin_daulton: But I think as we kind of settle back down, we as I noted the last two weeks, we're in this really bad stretch where we're playing 13 straight days. I guess false word. Toronto. And then a third team, was I think it was the Tigers, were mixing. They were like, this is a really rough stretch of baseball.
justin_daulton: but once i knew that once we came out of this we got some rest You get into a really favorable stretch where most of September. is either Yankees. Astros. And then...
justin_daulton: I think there's another, there was a middle league team that like not. nothing to really write a poem about. Slate. there's I think there's an Astro series in there. winnable series in there
Cody Atkinson: Cheers.
justin_daulton: there's It's a very winnable month as long as we just get back to... what race baseball is. so Once again. I'm not concerned. This is still a team that I believe in. I still think this is a team that can go a really long way in the playoffs.
justin_daulton: They just need to calm down, get out of this really rough stretch of baseball that we're playing, and we're going to be fine.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. um i It's... It's surprising to me to hear that people are already circling the wagons on the the Peralta trade, right? Like, the Razor shoe -ins. for the playoffs.
Cody Atkinson: the the gap between the raise and in the final wild card spot could not be any more drastic so whatever he does come playoff time is the only indicator of whether or not this was a good trade if he's good to go and competes and and pitches well in the playoffs it does not matter that he got off to a slow start If he...
Cody Atkinson: If he just is god -awful of garbage in the playoffs, then it will be remembered as a bad trade. It's that simple. It's going to come down to that. If you're circling the wagons already, that's crazy. Just give the guy some time and see what he does when.
Cody Atkinson: When it matters most. I will say I was bummed I was driving in the... in the car today and and I heard that the Rays lead over the Yankees had dropped to three games and it was it was previously five and I was like man the Rays gotta They got to get it together.
Cody Atkinson: so
justin_daulton: hey
Cody Atkinson: Hopefully they don't play the Orioles for a bit and you can try to put some.
justin_daulton: No, we're done.
Cody Atkinson: them
justin_daulton: We're done. We're done with the Orioles.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: We're done with the Blue Jays. So like, we're good.
Cody Atkinson: There you go. So it's time time to go on a run. I will warn you that the the Yankees play the Astros this week, so you're going to you're gonna need a really good week to keep up with the Yankees because they are going to win that series.
Cody Atkinson: And I say that. As we transition here, because the Astros suck.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: The Astros had a nine. I told you an not last episode, but the one before, I think. I said the Astros are going on a nine -game homestand. All nine are against. Uh, division opponents you have the mariners you have the angels you have the a's it was very important that the estrus dominated that stretch so that they could One, they have the chance to bury the Mariners. We talked about this.
Cody Atkinson: Then you have the chance to really just cruise through the Angels and the A's. and then you can give yourself a sizable comfortable lead Instead, they lost two of three of the Mariners. uh not only not burying the man mariners but politely inviting them in closer That's how the math works there. Then they lose two out of three to the Angels.
Cody Atkinson: And then they cap it off by losing two out of three to the A's. today. losing a six -run lead. to lose 7 -6. The Astros are up 6 -0 today.
Cody Atkinson: And they lost 7 -6 to lose the series to the A's.
justin_daulton: damn
Cody Atkinson: The only series the Astros have won. since the the trade deadline remains the series against the San Francisco Giants, one of the worst teams in baseball. I won't, I'm not going to spend long on the Astros. They technically are still in the playoffs because they're tied with the Rangers for the division and they own the tiebreaker.
Cody Atkinson: I do not expect the Astros to make the playoffs. I really do still think that the Mariners are going to make a comeback because they're three games back right now. I still think they're the best team. They make a run.
Cody Atkinson: and and And I don't think the Astros or the Rangers have any ability to string. consecutive. Positive. outcomes together um i think it's over dude like they they made they went on a crazy run right up to the trade deadline and then they had just a wet fart of a trade deadline and the team has played like a wet fart since then This was my theory last week, I think it was.
Cody Atkinson: um i said that the rays had a good trade deadline they came out of the deadline playing good baseball because they were hyped up by the moves their front office made.
justin_daulton: you
Cody Atkinson: i said the astros had a bad trade deadline and you watched them go from a team making a run to a team. with the runs. and And that's because...
Cody Atkinson: they It's because these players know. They know that they made a run. and that they needed help from the front office to put it together, and they didn't get the help, and suddenly they don't have the then suddenly they can't play good baseball.
Cody Atkinson: I don't think they forgot how to play good baseball. I think they got the energy drained out of them because They did all that for nothing and now they got to keep doing it. without any support And I think that's what you're seeing. i think You're seeing a team that's just flat.
Cody Atkinson: And the one guy they did go get is hitting like 130 or something stupid like that. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it. We can move on. I think this is what you're going to get from me every week until the end of the season. I'm going to give you like two minutes.
Cody Atkinson: of me yelling at clouds. and then we're just going to move on because the astros don't deserve that much screen time
justin_daulton: enough Well... With that, I'm going to – oh, I have – I have one more topic, I guess, before we, yeah.
Cody Atkinson: before you go home run update real quick uh
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: That's the other thing. Is it because they got no... and support. Nobody pitches to Jordan, and he's not going to win the Triple Crown because he can't freaking register a bat anymore, dude.
justin_daulton: yeah
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: He's not hitting home runs because he's getting five at -bats today, three intentional. walls Hit a single. a line out in three intentional walks today. He he can't win he can't win the the triple crown at this rate.
Cody Atkinson: like He's not going to get enough of the bats. to keep up with Caminero and the likes.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
justin_daulton: Yeah, I mean, that's what we talked about right there with getting Liam Hicks from the Marlins. Like you put Liam Hicks in front of Caminero. You can't walk hicks to get to caminero because hicks is also dangerous you can't you know or caminero is dangerous You can't pitch to him and then walk Caminero because then you're going to have... two or two plus.
justin_daulton: runners on base, which the rest of this lineup is also good. So you're protecting the lineup. so the actual is not putting protection around your line doesn't help the doesn't help your case
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, they try this don't really have any.
justin_daulton: Yeah. but All right, let's move over to the home run race. As I told you got Cody last week and everyone listening, that I'm going to do an update on this each week because this race is really, really fun. um This week there is a two.
justin_daulton: or there's a tie. um for fifth place. with Goodman and Rice, both at 34. Home runs, I don't think if there's any movement on Rice. I think he was also 34 last week. um Then we go into Matt Olson, or sorry, Kevin Arrow at 35.
justin_daulton: paul Sorry, Olsen at 36. um Alvarez at 36 as well. And then Schwarber at 39. So Schwerber.
Cody Atkinson: Man, he's good.
justin_daulton: Sorry.
Cody Atkinson: Schwarber's pulling away.
justin_daulton: Schroeder is pulling away. but It's important to note that Cam Nero has not hit a home run in the last nine games for the race, so that's also not helpful. so but The Rays team goes, obviously, with pitching.
justin_daulton: But then it goes with Aranda and Caminero in the lineup. And neither one of them has been performing recently. So, obviously, Kevin Rosenberg is stalling out. is indicative as to why so there's a direct correlation to raise losing.
justin_daulton: camera not performing. Ciao.
Cody Atkinson: Mm hmm.
justin_daulton: That's what you're seeing. Camino can go on a run here. We saw literally last month where he can go. Six straight games. with home runs and some of those being a multi -home run game. So, yeah, Schwarber's pulling away, but he's only four ahead of Caminero.
justin_daulton: so We'll see.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, a bigger gap than we saw last week, though. So Schwarber.
justin_daulton: Yes.
Cody Atkinson: I think was in the lead or was tied for the lead last week and had the best home run week out of the contenders.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: so
justin_daulton: Yep.
Cody Atkinson: um good Good for him, but definitely. uh as a as a a florida texas pod we want to see caminero and jordan I get the streak going again. We need them to catch fire.
justin_daulton: Yeah, we got a month left in the season, so we'll see we'll see where these numbers go over the last month of the season.
Cody Atkinson: And these numbers will live with you for... Two years, probably, until we get baseball again.
justin_daulton: 7. But let's talk about some fun stuff, man.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: let's good The floor is yours, man. Let's talk some college football.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, this sucks for college football. We promised an SEC preview. I'm going to give you the what's new on the SEC preview. And then we can take a we can take a quick tea after that, a quick timeout.
justin_daulton: mean
Cody Atkinson: to talk A and &M before we get into the rest of the SEC. uh just because I personally, I don't think I'm going to put A &M in any of these categories other than most excited.
Cody Atkinson: And if we did that, there's no point to the category. so
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: we'll get We'll get A and &M out of the way, and then we'll'll we'll talk to the others, and we'll try not to dive too too too deep into A and &M. i I personally haven't paid attention to anything since the transfer portal closed. So I can't tell you whose women jobs are looking good in the fall. So we're not here to do that, but we'll we'll give you a little bit of what we're hoping to see. So what's new in the SEC? Six new.
Cody Atkinson: head coaches to the SEC. That's a lot. We have Lane Kiffin. Former head coach of Ole Miss, now at LSU. What? drama filled experience that was.
justin_daulton: yeah
Cody Atkinson: Alex Golish from South Florida, your neck of the woods. to Auburn. We've got John Sumrall from Tulane.
justin_daulton: Yep.
Cody Atkinson: to Florida.
justin_daulton: Mm -hmm
Cody Atkinson: Awesome. guess you're neck of the woods kind of but south floor is closer Pete Golding now the head coach at Ole Miss was the former defensive coordinator Ole Miss he did coach Ole Miss through the playoffs as well.
Cody Atkinson: You have Ryan Silverfield from Memphis to Arkansas. And probably, I guess the most interesting of these hires, in my opinion, the one that could be the most exciting is Will Stein.
justin_daulton: he
Cody Atkinson: Oregon offensive coordinator to Kentucky if he really is the magic behind the quarterbacks they've been pushing out. then then there's a lot to get excited for there. New quarterbacks. Again, this is transfer quarterbacks only.
Cody Atkinson: I avoided quarterbacks that have waited their turn on the wings and are just getting the opportunity. because I just don't know who they are and I don't have opinions on them. New quarterback, Aaron Filo. was the backup to Haynes King at Georgia Tech last year. He left with the offensive coordinator to go to Florida.
Cody Atkinson: So John Summerall pulled the OC from Georgia Tech and their backup quarterback to to lead his first year at Florida. Austin Simmons was the backup to Trinidad Chambliss last year.
Cody Atkinson: the projected starter Get to beat out by Trinidad Chambliss. The world understands that one. he going from He's going from Ole Miss to Missouri. With Kenny Minchey. the backup to cj carr at notre dame last year understandable not winning that job he's going to kentucky hand selected by the quarterback whisperer will stein so definite intrigue there Byron Brown, I think is probably the one that that people are getting the most excited for. He was electric.
Cody Atkinson: at South Florida last year, follows his head coach from South Florida to Auburn. And then. maybe the most dramatic, Sam Levitt. uh former Arizona State quarterback took them to the playoffs two years ago.
Cody Atkinson: A little bit injured last year, he joins Lane Kiffin. at lsu so A lot going on there. I'll give you a chance if there's anything you wanted to shout from that list before we dive into an A &M, a quick A &M preview here.
justin_daulton: Yeah, I got a couple notes. um Sam Levitt, not first choice for Lane Kiffin. I don't remember who the first choice was. They were very closely.
Cody Atkinson: Williams.
justin_daulton: There you go.
Cody Atkinson: You're thinking of the guy that was supposed to leave Washington and then.
justin_daulton: Thank you
justin_daulton: Yeah, yes, thank you
Cody Atkinson: uh they threatened to sue and he came back yeah
justin_daulton: Yeah, so not first choice, same levy. um So very interesting to see. I think that LSU team is going to... live and die by Sam Levitt as most often with most of the conversations we have that it's going to live and die by the quarterback.
justin_daulton: um Obviously, Lane Kippen is an amazing coach and ah and an offensive player. mastermind. Seeing what he did with Trinidad Chambliss last year is no short of a miracle.
justin_daulton: I'm going to talk about Trinidad Chambliss a lot in this breakdown.
Cody Atkinson: mm -hmm
justin_daulton: I have Ole Miss on my list here to talk about. But it's going to be interesting. Yeah. I don't know if an Arizona State transfer is enough to get me excited for LSU.
justin_daulton: um But it's going to be interesting to watch. um And then something else that I wanted to point out. This Will Stein guy. Great at Oregon. yeah Obviously, Oregon is what it is with on the offensive side of the ball.
justin_daulton: ah But he's getting direct comparisons to Kurt Cignetti. I don't know if you've heard a lot about this conversation.
Cody Atkinson: I haven't heard that. That's crazy
justin_daulton: not Not in the performance, but in the way that he talks. So I guess at SEC.
Cody Atkinson: Is it because...
justin_daulton: the quoted SEC media days.
Cody Atkinson: yeah Yeah, you're gonna say, yeah.
justin_daulton: Yeah, I don't have the direct quote, but basically in a way, in the same way that Signetti was like, you know, why why why you for Indiana? He's like, go ahead and Google me. I win. And Stein, in a way, basically says the same thing.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: He's like, you want to look at the success and look at what I did at Oregon. look at what i've done with these quarterbacks so in the same type of vein That's where the correlation between him and Cignetti is. So. It's interesting to see this kind of and Moxie, I guess is a word to use. um in Kentucky where that doesn't usually happen.
justin_daulton: um in in a place like that so obviously coming off of a really bad time with Mark Stoops, which is almost A and &M's future. um At one point in time. Shout out to A and &M Twitter doing what it does.
justin_daulton: uh best
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: um But, yeah, it's going to be interesting to see what Will Stein does. And i I like that quarterback coming in. from what I understand from Notre Dame fans that I've seen online. is that It was really a close race between him and CJ Carr.
justin_daulton: Last year. And it just really came down to. CJ Carr just looked a little bit better.
Cody Atkinson: Mm hmm.
justin_daulton: So like if that is the quarterback for them. It's going to be really interesting. They had a really good transfer portal class. They brought in a lot of good guys around them. It's going to be an interesting time up there in Kentucky to see what they're able to pull off. like I don't think they're...
justin_daulton: I don't need their top tier, but like... that might be where I talked about like UCF type of team where. This is a team that can jump up into a different... tier. this season and become competitive based off of what they've done.
Cody Atkinson: Yep. They will be one of the most more intriguing. uh teams in the SEC for sure. whether it'll work or not. unclear, but um There's a lot of reason to want to watch it.
Cody Atkinson: to find out if it works, which is more than you can say for Kentucky most years. so before we Before we dive in, let' let's do a little bit of an A &M preview.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: This was kind of your idea to throw this in here. um I don't know how we want to structure this. because we have not previewed an individual team yet. We've been doing conferences.
Cody Atkinson: What is it that you want to say about A and &M?
justin_daulton: I just want to see what do we think is the expectation for this team? Because obviously last year, first time in the CFP. a weird game at Kyle Field against Miami where it was like 100 mile an hour wins inside of Kyle Field.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. What we need to do first off this year is get the wind under control.
justin_daulton: So.
Cody Atkinson: because Because the wind almost ruined Marcel at South Carolina, and then it did ruin him at Miami.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: We've got to figure the wind out.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: And then we can figure the team out after that. butll Get this wind out of here.
justin_daulton: Dude. Do you think we have enough time to call the boosters for a couple million dollars to put a dome on Kyle Field?
Cody Atkinson: this is in team
Cody Atkinson: Dude, just put a really big wall up on Saturdays.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: just like you know or like just like a tarp like a massive tarp that blocks the wind for four hours and then you like take it down and put it back up in a week
justin_daulton: Correct, yeah, so something like that. but Ultimately, I just want to see what what are we thinking. Because you and I, we drink the maroon Kool -Aid year in, year out. We always say by the time that August gets here, we're we're all in.
Cody Atkinson: If you...
justin_daulton: A &M's going to win it all.
Cody Atkinson: If you don't drink the Kool -Aid for your team, You're doing college football wrong.
justin_daulton: Correct.
Cody Atkinson: Simply put. so people will tell like i i mean i have buddies that root for different schools and they're like don't don't get caught up in it and i'm like but Why? Why else? participate then they get caught up in it all right as long as you don't get so caught up that it like ruins your day when it doesn't come true but like
justin_daulton: Correct.
Cody Atkinson: What's the fun of not? believing.
justin_daulton: right So ultimately, yeah, expectations. I don't know if you want to pull the schedule real quick and do we can do a quick wins -loss if you want to do something like that just to get a quick little preview in there. um But ultimately... I want to talk Marcel Reed.
justin_daulton: Because... I think this team... is hindered, but also amplifying by Marcel Reed so often. You talked about South Carolina already. He talked about you know being affected by...
justin_daulton: outside forces against Miami. Miami also just was a better football team. They obviously go on a great run, gets a national championship game. going to be in the same position this year, I would imagine. um But what do we think, man?
Cody Atkinson: We...
justin_daulton: Do we have an 11 -1 in us again? do we have Are we 10 -2? Do we finally beat Texas? Oklahoma's on the schedule. like This year has a lot of a lot more question marks than last year did.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, there's a ton of question marks. This is the one thing I thought. I'll try to rattle this really quickly because, like I said, the last time I paid attention was the end of the portal window, so and I know vaguely who he brought in and stuff. There's a question mark everywhere.
Cody Atkinson: like I think the offensive line, and I forget if it's three or if it's four that you're replacing.
justin_daulton: Yeah
justin_daulton: It's forward. forward.
Cody Atkinson: You went and got five, I believe. SEC. starters in the portal years i know there's a wilkin form b
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: from bama there's an lsu guy or two there's a south carolina guy in there You went and got dudes. Will it gel? Because it's it's them, and it's also that you have, like, five four and five stars waiting their turns in the ways Willa Joe.
justin_daulton: right
Cody Atkinson: you have to replace Casey Concepcion on a receiver. But you also...
justin_daulton: and returning.
Cody Atkinson: bring you You bring back Mario k Craver. and a year older, a year wiser.
justin_daulton: Yep.
Cody Atkinson: Ashton Bethel -Roman, a year older, a year wiser. You have, ah I've seen multiple five -star receivers freshman this year. that people believe can make an immediate impact In the same way Malachi Tony did, it can be done.
justin_daulton: right
Cody Atkinson: Will it be done? We'll see. But you also went and got Horton from Alabama.
justin_daulton: right
Cody Atkinson: But it's still a question. who Is that enough to replace KC and go a little higher? Running back, you lose Le 'Veon Moss. You didn't really bring anything in, but you do still have Owens and Morrow.
Cody Atkinson: So. those guys were great but can they fill in. for moss because you always saw the offense slip when moss was down And he was always down.
justin_daulton: right
Cody Atkinson: Defense, you brought in a bunch of linemen, but you did lose, like, the Cassius Howells of the world, and I think, like, two.
justin_daulton: will be.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, yeah. Will Lee, two defensive tackles, Torrey and York. You have guys that you have to replace, but you brought dudes in. like You have to replace Torrey in York, but you brought in a guy from Tulsa who led the country in tackle.
Cody Atkinson: Maybe that's good enough. you know. ah uh cassius howell's out the door but you brought in a dude from northwestern that. that all he does is get sacks. And Cassius Howell was a guy who didn't break out until year two. And you have transfers you brought in last year that didn't break out. Well, they break out this year.
Cody Atkinson: you know, there's there's There's a reason to be excited at every single position and there's a reason to be hesitant. and i think the way you talk about Marcel encapsulates his whole team, because in a lot of ways, his whole team is going to rely on.
Cody Atkinson: Did Marcel get better as a passer? since the last time we saw him. If he did... Sky's the limit. you could be youre You could be a national championship contender if Marcel Reed is both dynamic as a runner.
Cody Atkinson: and knows how to pass within the the the plans of the offense. He never threw anything on schedule last year.
justin_daulton: right
Cody Atkinson: e gee if you If there's a hitch route. He waited two minutes to throw it.
justin_daulton: Okay.
Cody Atkinson: after he had gotten the quarterback to bite on the fact that he might run. like Like, he didn't throw timing patterns. He didn't do these things. and he he didn't run the offense the way it was designed to be run if he could do that Sky's the limit if he still can't do that Probably taking a step back because Casey Concepcion and Le 'Veon Moss were units.
justin_daulton: right
Cody Atkinson: that that then are going to be really hard to replace. The offensive line. up until the very end right they had a bad game against texas the offensive line bad game
justin_daulton: right
Cody Atkinson: Bad game against Miami, but Miami put three rushers into the league this year.
justin_daulton: yep
Cody Atkinson: like I don't know, you could get, but. The schedule got harder this year too. you have and Arizona State. You have Kentucky. We just talked about why Kentucky might be good this year. You have LSU.
Cody Atkinson: You have Alabama. Let's see. you South Carolina's tripped us up every year. You have Oklahoma. You have Texas, like... It's going to be crazy. You could be a better team and you could have a worse record than last year.
justin_daulton: right i guess I guess my question for you is, and then we can we can jump into this. into the schedule. I guess I have two questions. is... is tending to... acceptable.
justin_daulton: Because 10 -2 might get you into the playoffs. Is 10 -2 acceptable or do you still need to do 11 -1? go to Atlanta. Because I don't think anyone in the SEC goes perfect.
Cody Atkinson: Good fight. Define acceptable.
justin_daulton: and I want to get that out there.
justin_daulton: I mean, what is your expectation?
Cody Atkinson: Like for me, is it like...
justin_daulton: because if your art expensive
Cody Atkinson: like like do you Are you saying it's 10 and 2 enough to get you in? Or are you saying it's 10 -2 enough for me to think that it was a good season?
justin_daulton: for you to think it's a good season
Cody Atkinson: 10 and 2 is more than enough. we've only been to the play like In my mind, we've only been to the playoff once.
justin_daulton: Okay.
justin_daulton: Sure, we should have been in there when Trevor Knight was here, but that didn't happen.
Cody Atkinson: Right? Yeah, and if the schedule was – the playoffs were expanded, we would have been in there with Johnny too, right? Like we've had some chances.
justin_daulton: right correct Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: But. Or like, the honestly, we should have been in there with the Kellermond year, didn't we? to put in frigging Ohio State who put six games all year.
justin_daulton: Yes.
Cody Atkinson: But. League. We've only been in once. For me to say that the only way for this year to be successful is to get in again, I think is is is too much arrogance for me.
Cody Atkinson: to to be behind that, especially when this is the very first year that we're seeing a nine game SEC schedule. This is going to be the toughest. schedule we have ever watched A &M play.
Cody Atkinson: If they can go 8 -4, I think this is a disappointment.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: If they go 9 -3... I think this is a success that you can continue to build off of. If they go 10 -2 or 11 -1. then I think Mike Elko is the dude that's going to bring us to the promised land finally.
justin_daulton: sure So my follow up for that before we dive into the schedule. Marcel Reed for Heisman.
Cody Atkinson: I hope so. I think it goes back to what I said earlier, right? If he learned... if if he become If he enters the season as more of a true passer than he was last year, then yes.
Cody Atkinson: If he enters this season. and shows that last year was the ceiling, then no, because he's gonna it' if you're going to get the same Marcel against tougher competition. And it's going to not look as good as it did last year. And last year wasn't good enough.
Cody Atkinson: But if he if if he improved as a pastor, which he... you know, improved from year one to two. and all that.
justin_daulton: right
Cody Atkinson: If he just continues progression, then then yeah, I don't see why not. he's every He has every bit the ceiling. that these other guys have. He just... has looked the worst at the worst times and people gave up on him.
justin_daulton: All right, let's talk schedule. Run me through the schedule. We'll do a quick wins and loss.
Cody Atkinson: All right wins and losses Peace. opener at home against Missouri State.
justin_daulton: win.
Cody Atkinson: Win. Agreed. See the week to also at home against Arizona State
justin_daulton: When?
Cody Atkinson: also been agreed. Week three? Also at home against Kentucky.
justin_daulton: when it's too early for for Stein to make a difference.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, Wynn, I think it's really good that you get them early in the season.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: Who knows what they'll be able to develop. It's way too many question marks for me to think they go on the road and win.
justin_daulton: Yep.
Cody Atkinson: See you. can't imagine anything confident.
justin_daulton: correct
Cody Atkinson: Um, week. four This is your first road test. You leave. the the the comfort of Kyle Field, and you go to LSU. Two years in a row playing at Death Valley.
Cody Atkinson: And I'm at LSU week four.
justin_daulton: I think it's a win. I don't buy Sam Levitt. but I think it's a lot closer than last year's game.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, i I agree. A lot of people are talking this up as a loss. A lot of people are in on the LSU bandwagon this year. I don't see it year one necessarily. um I do think this was an overrated transfer QB class.
Cody Atkinson: and And I think predictions show that people buy it. Like, they got Sam Lovett. He was number two. in the portal inside here. Him and Swords be they're like fine
justin_daulton: Yeah, him and Swordsby are the only names, yeah.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, it doesn't mean they're good. Anywho, so we got 4 -0. Week five. Back at home. Arkansas.
justin_daulton: win. Arkansas is going to have a really rough year.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, make it easy this sort
justin_daulton: yeah
Cody Atkinson: guitar If it was on the road, I would i would i would say maybe, but but at home... Come on. you uh weak Six. At Missouri. I believe this would be two years in a row playing at Missouri as well.
justin_daulton: Missouri always gives us a tough time, but new head coach, new quarterback, I don't i don't see us losing to Missouri this year.
Cody Atkinson: Good.
Cody Atkinson: No, i don't I don't see it. I i just don't. Um, but Bye week. We play the Citadel at home.
justin_daulton: ah When?
Cody Atkinson: Go ahead.
justin_daulton: marcel Marcel shouldn't even be going out in the second half.
Cody Atkinson: uh
Cody Atkinson: All right, here's where I get. This is this is how I think the the season goes, right? We're at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 0. and then the season. really is going. You have at Alabama.
justin_daulton: i'll say real I'll say real quick, 7 with a 50 -50 shot on LSU. So either 7 -0 or 6 -1. We're looking for the bye week.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: We're out there at Citadel.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, for sure. But like... at Point being, I think it's very possible you get to 7 -0 and the season really starts because I think every game from here on out.
Cody Atkinson: Is the toughest game you've played largely.
justin_daulton: Hey.
Cody Atkinson: So you, you are at Alabama week eight.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
justin_daulton: Oof. By that point, we're going to know what this, what the what is it, Nelson or Nielsen, whatever his name is, what we're going to know what he what he's about. um by this point in the season. I just don't buy DeBoer. I don't think DeBoer is the guy like coming off of Saban.
justin_daulton: This is a 50 -50. I think we win, but it' if this is a game that if Nielsen, or however you pronounce his name, if he's good... By that point, and we know he's good, like that might be ah that might be the first loss. But I think knowing we know now, how I'm going to take.
justin_daulton: what we know in Marcel Reed outside of a true freshman. starting at quarterback for Alabama.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, you're thinking of Keelan Russell. I think you might be mixing his name to Megan Nielsen and Keelan Russell.
justin_daulton: Russell. Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: I also think this is when people are not talking about how... devastated Alabama was from the portal. I mean, two of our bigger portal gets were from Alabama, Alabama, I think signed.
Cody Atkinson: the The running back out of NC State, that was a huge get, and then they lost him to Texas like two days later. Like, they had a really bad port.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: we'll get to that later um so it's eight no on the road south carolina off of Bye week. this Sounds familiar.
justin_daulton: It sounds real familiar. Um... I like this South Carolina team a lot. yeah yeah I'm going to talk about them later on in this list. I think we still win. But man, Sellers is going to be real good this season.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. Uh... i I'm going to say. Actually, I think this, i honestly, I can't get. it out of my head.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: i think this I think there's a chance this is a loss.
justin_daulton: I wouldn't dispute it.
Cody Atkinson: And it will. It would irritate me beyond. End. if it was because it i don't think it should be i don't i think you're gonna be the better team than them
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: but yeah we we cannot figure out. Lenore Sellers for full four quarters.
justin_daulton: I also like that coach.
Cody Atkinson: and the last time we played them in South Carolina.
justin_daulton: That coach that coach is good too. Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: He's good only when he coaches against us. He sucks against everyone else. But he knows how to coach against us.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: um Yeah I have a fear of this game. I think this is an L. so Coming off of that, we get to go back home against Tennessee.
justin_daulton: okay
justin_daulton: It's a win. I like Tennessee. I think they're going to be better than where they were at last year. But I think they're just short of the playoffs, just short of the SEC championship game. And I think it's because of games like this. that they lose to us.
Cody Atkinson: I'm going to take that as a win. as well maybe if it was on the road it would be different but at home i'm giving up the win for that at oklahoma
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: a week later.
justin_daulton: I think we lose at Oklahoma.
Cody Atkinson: It's on the road. It's a tough one. That defense is, that d at least last year, that defense was was legit. a year a second year of Matier in the same system. I think this Oklahoma team is going to be real. I'm also going to take the L on that one.
justin_daulton: Yeah, I think Mateer being healthy where he wasn't he got rushed back last year, I think that that was detrimental to that team.
Cody Atkinson: And then we...
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: I think Mateer being healthy. And you're playing in Norman. It's going to be, I think that's in November. That's a cold game. like that's That's going to be a rough game for us.
Cody Atkinson: Now... if Meteor proves that. that he just struggles to stay healthy. That could change a lot. So, see.
justin_daulton: Yeah, for sure. In the same way that we talked about Russell. like if That's what it's going to really come down to these games.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. Yeah, and then we wrap it up at home. With a chance to to end the misery and finally beat Texas for the first time and I don't want to talk about how long
justin_daulton: Yeah. I did. I wouldn't be a Texas A &M Aggie if I'm not going to say that we're going to beat Texas.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, it is.
justin_daulton: Like...
Cody Atkinson: it's You can't do it, dude.
justin_daulton: I can't do it
Cody Atkinson: It's a win. It just is a win.
justin_daulton: It's a win.
Cody Atkinson: it We're due. We're due. They have no depth. There it is.
Cody Atkinson: they're They're gonna have some injuries by then and they're gonna realize that they paid superstars and they got nothing behind them And and we can just run them over because we're a team that has an identity and physicality. And gosh, dang it, Marcel Reed's not going to do it at again.
justin_daulton: I'm also not convinced that... that Manning can play a whole season because he's never done it. like He's never played a full 12 -game season. like He's always been... really flat coming out or had a weird stretch in the middle. Like it's just.
justin_daulton: It's weird. I don't know. like I don't buy. I've yet to buy in on Arch Manning. I don't think he's a first -round product of what he's bought out on. On tape. And it could just be the Aggie in me and just I just can't buy in on anything that happens in Austin, Texas. but like I'm not sold on, on Arch Manning in the long, on the long term. So I think there's a lot left off out there for, for us to take care of against Texas.
Cody Atkinson: Yep. So i'm if I'm not mistaken, I wasn't counting. I think you have them at 11 and one.
justin_daulton: Yeah, I had the only loss to Oklahoma.
Cody Atkinson: was the only boss on the road to Oklahoma. I have a slipping up once. And then losing. On the road to Oklahoma. So I have 10 -2. You have 11 -1. Both of us will have them go into the playoffs.
Cody Atkinson: um
justin_daulton: both of the playoffs and potentially Atlanta, depending on tiebreakers.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. So. a lot at stake but but this is where i say like this is the prediction but if you told me the same thing happens but maybe they beat south carolina but they trip up at alabama at Oklahoma.
justin_daulton: right
Cody Atkinson: home to Texas, like nine and three is not bad because you would still have a win over Tennessee.
justin_daulton: Correct.
Cody Atkinson: you would still have a win over LSU. It's still the win over Arizona State, Kentucky, South Carolina.
justin_daulton: South Carolina.
Cody Atkinson: Missouri. like You can lose three games and still end up with really quality wins that make you feel good about where this team's headed.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: Um. I don't think this is how affiliations work, but If they're just on the outside looking in. Pop -Tart bowl. Maybe.
justin_daulton: hey hey The first ever live show from the Pop Star Bowl.
Cody Atkinson: i Dude, people's national champion?
justin_daulton: Hey, I'll reach out to the pod.
Cody Atkinson: I don't hate it.
justin_daulton: I'll reach out to Podtar right now.
Cody Atkinson: Thank you.
justin_daulton: I'll reach out to catalogs like, hey.
Cody Atkinson: Dude.
justin_daulton: can we do our Can we do a podcast there?
Cody Atkinson: Do what you got to do. um All right, that's going to wrap it up for A &M. We spent enough time on them. We got a little bit of the other SEC. I think we can kind of try to fly through this a little bit.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: um Obviously, we're at an hour 15 already. um favorite who So, I think there's probably two favorites. nationally to win. the SEC.
justin_daulton: mm -hmm
Cody Atkinson: I'm curious if you're in line with that. Who do you think, who do you have as a favorite to win it?
justin_daulton: I am, but I have four names on here. So I do have the two that's on the national radar. it it Obviously, the national radar is Georgia and Texas, which I understand why. I don't agree with it but it's there.
justin_daulton: um But I also have A &M and Bama on this list because it's... It's tough to not, while why and up I don't necessarily believe in DeBoer. I still think the pieces are there for Bama and it's still Bama at the end of the day.
justin_daulton: So like it. It's going to be a cold day in hell. before you roll out rule Bama out of anything in the SEC for some time to come. Um, But I think it is those.
Cody Atkinson: watch me
justin_daulton: It is those 14s to me. Um... I will say, and I want to put this out here. I saw some some things on Twitter last night. about that Sark is losing control in the locker room in Texas.
justin_daulton: um A player's dad was on Twitter basically saying that like... This isn't what they agreed to. There's a lot of like. weird decisions happening behind the scenes. Obviously not being concrete or...
justin_daulton: evidence to prove that Sark has lost the locker room or the players. um But if that's true and we're coming into a time where Texas doesn't have it. it's going to open up the SEC even more than what it is. but If I have to pick one to win the SEC, gun to my head, I'm going to say Georgia wins the SEC because it's...
justin_daulton: ah you I can't bet against Georgia in the long run.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, I'm going to say Georgia as well. and For me, it's simple. I do think the two favorites are are Texas and Georgia. And for me, it comes down to the last. Two times I watched Texas play Georgia, and Georgia was the clearly better team.
justin_daulton: Mm -hmm
Cody Atkinson: And Texas has not found a way to solve Georgia yet.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: and so give me, that if I happen to be a betting man in this scenario. just give me the team that has two recent national championships and has looked like the more complete team for the last two to three years since Texas joined the SEC. I think it is Georgia.
Cody Atkinson: Who? Who do you think? Nobody's talking about in the SEC that has a run who's the sleeper that you think makes could could make some magic.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
justin_daulton: I like two. I like two guys. It's a cop -out. I know. South Carolina and Florida, I think, are the ones that no one's really talking about.
Cody Atkinson: Look out.
justin_daulton: um I think Lenore Sellers is an underrated type of Heisman quality guy. going into this season. Like, he's someone that... I could see very well getting votes at the end of the season because he's just that good.
justin_daulton: I think there's something to be said in the same way about Marcel Reed, about like... guys who stay with programs and get better year in and year out and show that commitment to to their programs. Um, uh I'm blanking on the coach's name, but he he's also proven year in and year out to get better.
justin_daulton: um
Cody Atkinson: Beemer.
justin_daulton: beamer Thank you.
Cody Atkinson: Shane Bean.
justin_daulton: uh Shane Beamer. Yeah. um He's proven to get better year in and year out. So I really like what this this South Carolina team. hass They return a lot of production. They brought some guys in on the portal.
justin_daulton: Bye. There's no reason for them to take a step. back So I think this is a team. Do I think they go out and win the SEC? No. but I think you can talk about this the same way we just talked about what on the A and &M schedule.
justin_daulton: that's a 50 -50 game. And if you're in a 50 -50 game with a team that won 11 -1 last year, and has the potential of going 11 -1, 10 -2 this season. That's pretty damn good. So like, obviously you have to win these 50 -50 games, you know, the one score games down the stretch.
justin_daulton: But I think South Carolina has it. We'll see where the ceiling is. I don't know their schedule that well. But I think there's a chance, you know, you do end the season with Clemson. So, like, what does that look like? Bye -bye.
justin_daulton: Hey, I think there's something to be said about the South Carolina team returning a lot of production. And then Florida. Granted, I don't think Florida wins anything this year of note. But this coach feels different.
justin_daulton: um From Memphis, correctly.
Cody Atkinson: He does.
justin_daulton: Right, Memphis?
Cody Atkinson: No, no, the Florida coach is the one from Tulane. Summerall.
justin_daulton: Too late. Um... I don't know if you saw. there's ah I'm getting a lot of my information from Twitter, so take a lot of it with a grain of salt. but they put up a picture of Billy Napier's team last year.
justin_daulton: And they put a picture of Summerall's team this year. And just the look. of the team And the way that he has the thing structured, you tell there's some organization to it where Napier, it felt like they were just kind of.
justin_daulton: Players just did whatever they wanted. The staff didn't look good. like This year, Summerall looks like he... has the the team. looking better, more professional, more organized.
justin_daulton: um They bring in a lot of talent from the portal as well. that's going to make a huge difference on where they were at last year with with lagway and all that so like team. It's going to be a really interesting team to watch.
justin_daulton: um Like I said, i don't the same way with South Carolina. Do they win the SEC? No. But I think they won more 50 -50 games than they did last year.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. I mean, you you would think so, right? They do bring sellers back. Obviously, he didn't have the year he expected to last year, but this is a guy that will constantly be talked about as an NFL pick because he's got that. ability to throw, ability to run, hard to tar to tackle.
Cody Atkinson: Um... and And if you look at Florida. you You are talking about a program.
justin_daulton: mm -hmm
Cody Atkinson: with a history, a program that wins and just hasn't had the right coach. And I think we both believe that John Summerall is the right coach. I don't know if this year. It shows itself or not. but But I think that was a really good hire by them, and I i do expect them to be back in the running.
Cody Atkinson: sooner rather than later. for For me I'll say two that I don't think count because I don't think they're far enough out. I'm obviously Oklahoma. starting the season in the top 10. i think is too close to the top to really be a sleeper but i really do like what they have there
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: And I'll say Ole Miss, I also think too close to the top. to be considered a sleeper but some people won't believe in them because lane kiffin left but if you give me trinidad chali I'm going to say you have a chance. He's a stud.
Cody Atkinson: And you have a defensive -minded coach that can get the defense right. chambliss and uh q1 lacy back at running back and There's a lot going on there. for For me, I don't really think that we will see a winner.
Cody Atkinson: from the SEC That comes from the depths where nobody was talking about them because every team in the SEC is getting talked about. other than like Mississippi State, who I'm not going to pick. But I do think if there's a team that shocks and is way better than expected, I do think Kentucky so is a good pick.
justin_daulton: Hmm?
Cody Atkinson: because Will Stein, if he is the dude that he says he is, if he does get Kenny Minchie right at quarterback, I think you could easily see. the best Kentucky we've ever seen because they don't really have quarterbacks that come through there. like the Kentucky so starved for quarterback, will lo Will Levis went through there and looked half alive and they gave him a second round pick.
Cody Atkinson: It's crazy.
justin_daulton: Yeah. Put mayonnaise in his coffee.
Cody Atkinson: And so it's... and and ate bananas with the peel on or something weird like that. like The dude had a screw loose. And he's the best that Kentucky's seen for a long time. and so if If Will Stein can get the quarterback right, I think you could be really surprised by what... Kentucky can do year one. I just don't think it's going to be enough to like really matter.
Cody Atkinson: but it'll be enough to be impressive. very akin to uh like the oklahoma state guys that we talked about mess to maker and morris like i think you could You could see something.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: something similar here on the flip side Who is everyone talking about that's going to be awful this year?
justin_daulton: ah You already mentioned them, and I've only mentioned them once. I think Ole Miss falls apart. man I'm not saying that.
Cody Atkinson: Ow, we're on the flip side there.
justin_daulton: Yeah, we're on the flip side of it i I agree with you. Chambliss is a dog. K1 Lacey is is a great running back. Both of them are going to be NFL pros next year. and the very top end picks.
justin_daulton: I did I think Lane Kiffin was the engine that made this thing go. I know that the coach that they that that is there now. was the one that was the interim coach that led them through the playoffs. We had a great run. They lose so much talent to LSU, though.
justin_daulton: And I. I don't think that's been talked about enough. this sli What was it? Eight out of the 22 starters went to LSU, some of them from the offensive line. Some of them from the back end of the defense, the ones that didn't go to the NFL.
justin_daulton: Bye. There's so many pieces gone. that I don't even think Trinidad Chambliss and Kawan Lacey being dogs enough to send them. back to where they were And so many people are coming in here and being like, Ole Miss is FCC.
justin_daulton: championship quality team. And like I just don't see it. Like, I don't think this is very much a team that I can see outside the top 25. by the halfway point of the season.
Cody Atkinson: I think it's fair. it's It's a completely fair statement to say there's a lot of question mark in there. in Which direction does it go? um You're not going to catch me saying anything bad about Trinidad Chambliss or any team he plays for. it I just believe in the dude. But but yeah, there's...
Cody Atkinson: There's every chance that they don't have enough around them to to to keep it going. and This is, again, I keep coming back to it, nine game. conference season for the first time. du There's teams that aren't going to be ready for it. There just simply are.
Cody Atkinson: And we don't know who those are going to be, but there's going to be teams that think they're going to be at the top of the league. that completely fall off and if you if if you told me that 100 % guaranteed i've been front I'm back from the future.
Cody Atkinson: and Ole Miss was that team. i would see I would understand the reasons why. I'm not predicting it, but I would understand the reasons why, but I am predicting it. is that Alabama.
justin_daulton: o
Cody Atkinson: Done for this season. I am a huge Caitlyn DeBoer fan.
justin_daulton: Okay.
Cody Atkinson: he His time at Washington was electric. he too he was dirt that year That last year. At Washington, he was 2 -0 against Dan Lanning, 1 -0 against Steve Sarkeesian. He is that dude. This is a terrible fit, though.
Cody Atkinson: he does not fit
justin_daulton: is this Was that Penix? That was at that year, Pennix.
Cody Atkinson: That was Penix, yeah. That was Penix, that was Roma, Dunzay, Jalen McMillan, and Jalen Polk, I think think.
justin_daulton: Yeah. Okay.
Cody Atkinson: Three receivers all drafted in the top of three rounds. He put something magic together there. But it is an awful fit at at Alabama.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: He does not fit the culture. They do not like him. they it is It is a bad fit. And Alabama is behind the times when it comes to NIL, it seems. They are not. at the level that that their competition in the SEC is at. And you're really seeing it take a hit. Like I said, two.
Cody Atkinson: of the of the better A and &M. Transfer portal targets both came from Bama. I used to... i Three months ago, I could have rattled off a few more that Alabama lost, but Alabama had a terrible portal.
Cody Atkinson: they they They were in on trying to get Cam Coleman. He ended up at Texas. They were in on trying to get Hollywood Smothers. He ended up at Texas. They lost an offensive lineman and then a wide receiver to us. They lost a couple guys to other teams. like They had a bad portal.
Cody Atkinson: And I think we're all just pretending like because it's Alabama. that they have enough. In the... in the In the stockpile to fill in what left and I don't know that they are that team anymore I don't know that they are that organization. I don't know that they can just fill in and honestly We're talking about nine -game schedule. Somebody's not going to be ready for it.
Cody Atkinson: If there's any team. Towards the top of the SEC that has looked s of t SOFT soft For the last couple years, it's been Alabama under Kalen DeBoer.
Cody Atkinson: Not looking like they're cut out for it. They couldn't beat friggin' Tommy at Florida State. Ran all over him.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: and and started the season off rough last year. This is a team that I could see falling off. I love Kalen DeBoer. I don't think he fits in the South. unfortunately it's a weird thing because like if you win you should be able to win anywhere But it's a bad fit if he went back to the Big 12, if he went back to the Big 10.
justin_daulton: her
Cody Atkinson: anywhere I think he could have success again, but at Alabama. They don't have the patience for it, and I don't think they understand unique and creative offenses enough to let him do it. So that's my class.
justin_daulton: it's It's... It's very possible. like it's It's a boom or bust year. They have the talent to win. So like... It falls on DeBoer at this point to to make it happen. So we'll see.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: Get your popcorn ready.
Cody Atkinson: gett pop It's going to be an interesting year in the SEC. Who are you most excited to watch outside of A and &M? in the end.
justin_daulton: Yeah, we we made that we made the rule. We can't say A &M. um This is purely from like a cinema perspective and just get my popcorn ready every week because it's either going to be a dumpster fire or it's going to be really electric to watch. Give me LSU in this spot.
justin_daulton: Like... I think Lane Kiffin is a... is a great coach. He's got a lot of drama around him. He's called he's going to go to hot yoga every Tuesday. um out there in LSU and have a great time.
justin_daulton: But man, it's either going to be really good. or it's going to be really bad and it's going to be fun watching it because it's LSU. And everyone thinks that LSU is back because they had Lane Kiffin. and they Get a quarterback in the portal. Bring back these guys. They they do everything that Lane Kiffin does.
justin_daulton: But that doesn't always mean wins. So it's getting like I said. There is opposite ends of extremes here You are either really good or you are really bad. There is no in between. There is no six you know six and six for this team that is either.
justin_daulton: This LSU team wins four games or they win 10 games. And that is just... where it is for this team, but it's going to be. Very exciting to watch because you can either look at it at the end of the season and be like,
justin_daulton: That was. hilarious to watch or that was really impressive that link if it was able to turn around what Brian Kelly could not do. with unlimited budget.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. and They're definitely, if you're talking. Intrigue watching. I think that's a great selection. I'm going to ask you if this is... I'm going to tell you my answer and you tell me if this is allowed.
Cody Atkinson: Because the answer. is absolutely nobody. I hate. every single team in this conference that isn't A and &M, and I don't want any one of them to have any ounce of success.
Cody Atkinson: I want A and &M to go undefeated, and I want every other team in this conference to go 0 -12, because screw them all. They all suck, and I hate them.
justin_daulton: Heh heh. I eat out.
Cody Atkinson: Is this allowed or do I have to pick somebody?
justin_daulton: Hey it's our podcast. I'll will allow it.
Cody Atkinson: Alright.
justin_daulton: hey
Cody Atkinson: That's my answer. I will not root for a single other team. I hate this hole. rooting for the conference nonsense that has sprung up for
justin_daulton: oh no yeah i don't yeah
Cody Atkinson: The SEC shots SEC. If an SEC team wins, the other teams act like they won because they have the best conference now, and the Big Ten's starting to do it too. were they're They're throwing out these trifecta t -shirts, three -peat, with three different teams' logo on it. Like, anybody's buying that garbage.
Cody Atkinson: like you think You think a Michigan fan is buying that when a Ohio State is dead center on it?
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: You think Ohio State fans are buying it?
justin_daulton: No.
Cody Atkinson: michigan like No, this is stupid. Ridiculous. Get it out of here. They're nothing but rivals. I hate them all. I hope they lose every single game. and And I hope they cease to be universities. at the end of the season
justin_daulton: all right
Cody Atkinson: moved teens or schools and make them all go away. like i did I want the worst for you in every way, shape or form.
justin_daulton: this is
Cody Atkinson: And so.
justin_daulton: Hey, that's fair
Cody Atkinson: That's what I'm excited to watch is everybody else to burn. while we have a successful season. That's what I want.
justin_daulton: Fair enough. Well, Cody, I have one last thing for you because we we're wrapping up our college football previews. We wanted to initially do a full CFP prediction. We don't have time to do that. um Give me your Nashville championship game.
Cody Atkinson: forgot we were going to do that.
justin_daulton: Yeah, same.
Cody Atkinson: So. take the thing
justin_daulton: ah Give me your national championship game.
Cody Atkinson: Oh, the the whole game, huh?
justin_daulton: Yeah, the game. Yeah
Cody Atkinson: Do you have yours ready? You you want to go first?
justin_daulton: I do have mine
Cody Atkinson: Are you ever?
justin_daulton: It's going to be a little chalky, but um it's fine. um I have Miami and Ohio State.
Cody Atkinson: Okay. I have Miami on somebody. I don't know who yet. I'm trying to think. who all um to be different to be different. I'll say Miami and Oregon.
Cody Atkinson: unfortunate I want to see. I would love to see an SEC team make it. Right now, I don't know which one of them to pick. If it was going to be one, it would be Georgia. I'm not the biggest Gunner Stockton guy, so it's hard for me to pick them.
Cody Atkinson: I do think Miami is. I do think it's Miami's year this year. I think Miami wins it. I could also see like a Miami Notre Dame. I like CJ Carr.
justin_daulton: Mm -hmm.
Cody Atkinson: but But I can see Miami, Oregon, because the only the only knock on Oregon right now is they haven't done it yet. And you just haven't done it until you do it, and then you do it. And then you've done it
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: so but But I do think it's Miami. I think Miami was... Miami was every bit as good as anybody else in the league last year, and I think they got better at at quarterback. And uh...
justin_daulton: They were one pass away. We talked about it last week.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: They were one pass away from from winning a national championship last year. So.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: no No reason to think that they're not back there and have a chance to win at all.
Cody Atkinson: have Do you have Miami over Ohio State, probably?
justin_daulton: I do, yeah. I don't think Ohio State has enough to get there. I don't think they have enough to win it.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. but
justin_daulton: So.
Cody Atkinson: That's pretty crazy.
justin_daulton: See ya.
Cody Atkinson: we'd both think but I didn't think you were going the same direction. It's not a, it's not a. an out on a limb pick but i also didn't think we would both pick the same thing so
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: Interesting to see there.
justin_daulton: We'll see. But, yeah, we'll definitely do some CFP predictions as we get closer. with The beauty of us recording this pod on Monday is that we're going to be able to predict. what the CFP looks like whenever we get to that. I think it's like week seven or eight, I think is when they started.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
justin_daulton: so It's going to be to me fun content for us here once we get to that point around mid -October.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And and and maybe... I don't know, maybe next week if we if we end up with a lighter show, we can we can toss in our full predictions. but um I did forget to do that, so it's a good thing we didn't have time.
justin_daulton: Well, next week, before you sign us off, is we officially kick off our NFL previews, Cody. We're going to do the NFC. next week next week and talk about ah Who's going to come out of the NFC? We talked a little bit about that in the very first pod, and so we'll see. if we're still singing the same tune with with the Seahawks in. the Rams coming out of the NFC, but.
justin_daulton: that's ah That's what we get to look forward to next week.
Cody Atkinson: Yep. So next week, NFC the following week. AFC Texans. So we did times this perfectly. We're done with college football in time for week zero. We will be done with the NFL the Monday before.
Cody Atkinson: thursday or actually i guess it's wednesday night kickoff this year and So we will be done a couple days before.
justin_daulton: Wednesday. Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: the season starts when we preview the afc we will also pause and do a texans preview same as we did with A &M here, so. So tune in for that. we are We are changing gears. But as you all know, we have a rundown to go with a breakdown. So do not fear. We will be previewing the NFC, but we will be talking.
Cody Atkinson: Week zero, we will be talking. Bill Belichick and the dumpster fire of UNC against TCU. We will be talking about North Dakota State's debut.
Cody Atkinson: as an FBS team um I think Hawaii plays. Maybe UNLV? If I'm not mistaken, something along those lines.
justin_daulton: Nice.
Cody Atkinson: there's There's a few things we can talk about. That's that's ah col colloquially. I'm not saying that. I'm not even going to try again. It is known as the ninth island showdown. no I can't say that word. I tried.
Cody Atkinson: It didn't work.
justin_daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: anywho with that being said it is time to go to bed we have work in the morning So thank you for joining us. We hope to see you back again next week. Peace.
justin_daulton: Peace.
