[00:00:00] Speaker A: Nothing going on in college football this week.
We thought he'd stop by and just shoot this, shoot the crap for a little while. Almost at the other word, y' all said it almost messed up. Hey, Protect College Sports Act.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:00:14] Speaker A: Passed the Senate a couple of nights ago.
It still feels like this has got a long way to go to pass the House. Probably won't pass the House before the midterm elections. Like, where do we stand with the Protect College Sports Act?
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Yeah. So, yes, I mean, that happened two days ago. Yesterday I spoke to Senator Ted Cruz, co author of the bill. He obviously is just very positive and like, hey, we're going to get this done and everything. And even if it's after midterms, it's going to happen before this session of Congress is over with. Because here's the thing, when the new Congress is sworn in January 3rd, everything starts over. So that bill's dead if you don't have it passed in the House by then. So they're trying their best to push us across.
Senator Cruz told me that he spoke to President Trump after the bill was passed in the Senate that night, late that night.
He still is trying to urge the President is to get the House of Reps to get back into Washington and to listen to this bill. Now, obviously there's a lot of stuff going on in the country right now, a lot of other bills that are like, people are really wanting to push across.
I guess I'll simplify it to this too. One, it's a time crunch they're facing that that's the biggest battle. Two, the House of Representatives haven't, especially in this session, been very eye to eye with the Senate.
Even within the own same parties. You've got some House Republicans who do not agree with what Ted Cruz and folks have been pushing across in the Senate when it comes to this bill.
And then the Democrats, a lot of them are against it anyway because of it goes against some of their baseline beliefs about not allowing the players to maybe unionize at all this point. Some of them want that in the bill.
And then also, even if the House of Reps does take this up to discuss before or after the midterm elections, they will probably have their own changes they want to make to it. And any changes that the House makes to this has to go back to the Senate.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Right.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: So that's a lot of stuff to figure out.
But Ted Cruz, he told me that he's convinced that, hey, listen, we're gonna get this done, get it pushed across the finish line, and it'll be interesting to see how much urging we hear from President Trump here over the next couple of weeks, because as of right now, the House of Representatives is not scheduled to come back until November 9th.
[00:02:40] Speaker A: Could it pass after the midterm elections?
[00:02:43] Speaker B: I still find it very hard to believe because there's so much separation there. You also have to consider, you know, the House of representatives is 200 something folks. I believe the Congressional Black Caucus has come out completely against this, and they make up, I believe, about 10% of the house of Representatives. So put them down his nose, in addition to everybody else that was kind of waffling on it and the others who are against it.
It's kind of very difficult to maybe see. Having said that, you're already seeing some letters from NCAA leaders, other reps, for that matter, either urging their colleagues to like, hey, let's hear. Let's hear this out. Let's pass it, or here are some suggestions. We want to see change to the bill that would maybe get us on board or others on board. So at the very least, there is discussion right now, other than the House of Representatives just completely shutting it out and going, we're not even gonna pay it. We're not gonna act like that exists right now.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: 435 members of the House Representatives.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: Yeah, okay. Yeah.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: I was gonna say it's a simple majority. That would have to.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: I believe so, yes. So, like, in the Senate, it's, you know, it's 100 folks.
Very. I say it's very easy. It's not easy. In fact, that the thing that happened the other night was six hours long. A lot of us thought it was gonna be 90 minutes. And, you know, as a sports writer, I've been dealing with this a lot. But sitting in front of TV and talking on the phone with people and aides, Senator Cory Booker called me. The Democrat who is against it called me while the votes were still going on.
It was just a wild evening that everybody expected to pass.
And even so, right now, a lot of people don't expect this to even make it through the House at this point.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: I think it was Booker who tried to put an amendment into it that would cap coaching. And I was surprised to see that that was as tight. Yeah. Was it 51 to 46?
[00:04:43] Speaker B: I think it was very close. And I believe I might be mistaken that a couple of folks voted in the affirmative and then shifted back. They changed their vote on the floor.
So that was, like you said, it was much closer than I thought.
Having said that, good luck finding a Way to. To not get sued to high heaven somehow, some way, if you were to put that in the bill. But at the very least, I'll say Cory Booker had two amendments in there and both got a lot more play than a lot of people were expecting.
[00:05:16] Speaker A: The coach pay, it feels like that is the thing that is going to have to really be addressed with college sports moving forward. Because in every professional league, the players are the ones who are paid the most.
And that. That. That's something's going to have to change to where I feel like it's going to have to change. Maybe I'm wrong, but at some point down the road, they're going to have to address coach pay.
[00:05:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:41] Speaker A: Where you've got coaches making 12, 13 million, and it doesn't seem like that number is ever really going to get capped at any. At any time.
Like, that's one of the big battles, I think, that's coming for college football. They got to get a lot of other stuff figured out in the short term, but, like, out off into the distance, that's one of the things that I think they're going to have to really figure out how to tackle. And I don't know how you do it, to be honest with you.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: I think coach pay, and you're exactly right. Coach pay is like a microcosm or however you want. I don't know the term for it. That just kind of shows you what college sports is now. I did a story last year right after James Franklin was fired because he had the huge buyout at the time. And they ended up negotiating that down because, frankly, James Franklin's like a different type of coach. He's like, sure, you don't have to pay me all that. I'm gonna get another job.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: I'm fine.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: But these ads I spoke to who. A lot of them wanted to be anonymous because they wanted to say what they felt instead of what they have to show publicly. And practically all of them were like, it's stupid what we're doing, and I'm the problem.
And the reason. The reasons given to me is we all have board of trustees and regents to answer to. Most of the time it's them going, we can't lose this guy. Do whatever you got to do to keep him. And. And then they go, here's our limit. And it's not ran like a business. It's ran like everybody's running off emotion.
But a lot of these ads who have business sense sit there and go, what are we doing we shouldn't be doing this. The agents have all the power. The coaches have all the power. We got to stop this. But until you stop having so many cooks in the kitchen, it's going to continue.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: Yeah, I've had a discussion with the coach before who said that, you know, agents take ads to the cleaners because the agents, this is their. Like, this is their field, right? Ads. It's not necessarily their field, but to another point that you made where it's not run like a normal business, you know, in the corporate world, people move on. That's what happens. There is such a fear of losing a coach in college sports, not just football, like every sport, that people just don't think rationally whenever the contracts are made.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: And you look back, like, for example here a few years back, Sam Pittman wins nine games. It's like, let's give him a big pay bump. Why? Where's he going?
[00:07:59] Speaker A: Nobody was coming after.
[00:08:00] Speaker B: No one's coming after him. Brent Venables at OU this past year finally gets the play. I mean, finally gets the playoff, and no one's coming after him. And yet they give him a new contract right before the season because there was pressure to do that, even though no one's coming for him. And now they're in a bad spot because what if OU has a bad season, which maybe they're going to this year? They're handcuffed, man. They can't fire the guy because it's way too much money.
[00:08:23] Speaker A: You can give them more money without giving them a new contract. That's the thing that I feel like always gets lost in this, is give
[00:08:29] Speaker B: them a bonus year. Hey, man, thanks. You did a great job.
You're still under contract. Here's an extra $2 million.
[00:08:35] Speaker A: Here's another year, or.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: Yeah, just roll it over a year.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Yeah, but it doesn't have to be five years with a promise to pay 70% of.
[00:08:43] Speaker B: I'm telling you, man, Jimmy Sexton has the best job in the world. He really does. I mean, you watch this guy work, like, he's rarely in public. You see him in public, but, like, at spring meetings, the sec, he's obviously not allowed in there, but he sits out right outside those meetings in a restaurant, in the hotel lobby. And he's like the Godfather. He sits there, and all the coaches make sure to come by and kiss the ring and chat with them. And some of the ads as well. It's wild.
[00:09:08] Speaker A: Last time I saw Jimmy Sexton was at an Arkansas Tennessee super regional. And it's because he represented both of the head coaches.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:09:15] Speaker A: And it's like. And that kind of shows you his influence. What was just once college football is now across the sphere of whoever the successful coaches are in their respective sports are going to him and being represented
[00:09:27] Speaker B: by him for the most part. Now there's another guy out there that's kind of chipping away at him. And it's funny behind the scenes, being at games and stuff, for example, kind of watching them maneuver around, it's like, oh, I've got one of your guys. You used to have and Clint Dowdle, but used to be on Sexton's team, and now he's starting to get the bigger guys. In fact, he's getting the guys that were coming up that he identified that are now like big time coaches. And so you're starting to see just a little bit like an inch being taken away from Jimmy Sexton.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: Like the protege.
[00:10:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:01] Speaker A: Going after the mentor. I want to tell you that we're brought to you by Eglin's Best. Arkansas greatness starts early, before the pads go on, before the crowd roars, the day begins at the breakfast table. Eglin's Best delivers superior nutrition with more vitamin D and less saturated fat than ordinary eggs, and starts strong with Eglins Best. Better taste, better nutrition, and better eggs. Also brought to you by Bentonville Glass. They've been serving their community since 1971. Committed, professional and versatile. If you're looking for a quality leader in northwest Arkansas or for skilled craftsmanship, look no further than Bentonville Glass for all your glass market needs with the highest quality products. You can come by and see them. 507 South Main in Bentonville or
[email protected] Appreciate you being with us. Hope that you'll subscribe or like our video or our audio wherever you are, whether that's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, just search whole Hog Sports to find our podcasts there. Who's Don Julio and why did this story blow up this week?
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Because it's the sec. It's college football. It's the greatest, dumbest sport in America and in the world.
You know, we got word from it. I think I actually first saw the police report stuff reported by Football Scoop, and it was very much like bare bones. The information that was known at the time, like, this guy got arrested and the police report was coming from an address that matches the athletics department. What's going on here? So I did some digging. Obviously still got a lot of connections at Auburn, and it was amazing how fast people got back with me because they're like, you got to hear this.
So this has been like known for a few months.
This is all from my sourcing, so I can't name certain people, but this is what I understand.
So just put it that way.
So a former staffer, very low level staffer on the Auburn football program, from my understanding, may have actually been on Hugh Freeze's coaching staff. What do you want to call it? Personnel staff. He was kept over on Alex Golis staff more or less to see like, hey, we need some consistency here. Let's have him try out, so to speak. You know, he's a part time guy and he was in charge of like he's like on the fifth or sixth rung, you know, student assistant, helping out with recruiting stuff.
And one day he like called in sick.
Totals, bosses, whoever, I'm sick. Well, problem was that night he got caught on TV at the Auburn super regional.
So it's like, that guy's not sick, he need to be working today. So they fired him, they got rid of him. And my understanding from talking to folks down there is like he got mad. And apparently the allegedly, I'm trying to pick words here, allegedly then created an email address and a pseudonym called Don Julio and took documents from Auburn involving recruits.
So my understanding is like scouting reports and information on players they were targeting and not targeting for 20, 27, 28 and 29.
He also sent out allegedly Auburn's personnel recruiting manual, which I actually saw last night. My colleague Richard Johnson found out that this manual had been sent out to about 85 people. And it almost become like a joke in the industry here in recent weeks because everybody's like, who the heck's sending this? And for that matter, why do they think this is a big deal? Because it's. There's really no proprietary information in it.
But apparently the issue is the other stuff which we don't have a whole got a hold of. And I can tell you like last night I got a call from someone going hey, what info? What do you have? And are you don't share with anybody? Like I'm a reporter, I'm not gonna be like, hey, you could have it, you could have it. And I said we don't have anything like that either anyway. But you can understand any football staff, you just don't want your trade secrets, which is what they've charged him with here out there, even every little bit of information. So that is why I think this is a big deal to them.
But it crosses the line into absurd because this person allegedly call himself Don Julio and I had one person tell me that they believe that he was calling the Auburn athletics department or someone there and would just whisper don Julio and then hang up.
And so they got a pretty good idea of who it was, got the police involved, and the police ended up tracing it back to this individual.
[00:14:29] Speaker A: I'm having a hard time understanding how it's a criminal case because, you know, everybody.
We see contracts all the time, and there's a. In Arkansas's contracts, for example, there's a covenant not to disclose trade secrets. So, you know, if you.
In my opinion, if you disclose trade secrets, that's a lawsuit, it's not a criminal complaint. Explain why the criminal element here.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: Apparently it looks like he went into Auburn's computer systems after not being employed.
[00:15:01] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:15:03] Speaker B: At least that's the way the charges read to me.
But, yeah, that's.
[00:15:06] Speaker A: This is not something that he had in his possession.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: Now, that's possible. And I'm sure maybe that's something he argues in court potentially, but that's certainly, like, I didn't report that or put that out there. But that certainly looks like what this is. This is if there's an investigation for at least two months, I'm told that's what it appears to be.
[00:15:25] Speaker A: Okay. Very interesting. Very interesting.
[00:15:27] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, it's a funny. It's Auburn. It's a funny story for a couple days, but it was made very clear to me by the Auburn folks. It's like this kid says he's a Tennessee student, but they couldn't find any record of him actually being a student at Tennessee.
[00:15:42] Speaker A: Now, what was his major at Tennessee?
[00:15:44] Speaker B: Like sports analytics and AI or something like that.
[00:15:48] Speaker A: Applied analytics and AI.
[00:15:49] Speaker B: Yeah. So. And so everybody immediately goes, oh, man, Auburn plays Tennessee this week. Did he have game plans to give to him? And I'm told that there was nothing of the sort like that. So they're not even worried about that. They were just actually trying to get this ramped up and done before Tennessee week, before people go after the fact. Let's say Tennessee beats Auburn, which they're favor to do. And then two weeks later, this comes out. Tennessee student was giving away trade secrets. You know, so anyway, somehow I feel
[00:16:16] Speaker A: like this is a very Auburn thing to happen. Yeah. You spent a lot of time there.
[00:16:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Listen, like.
[00:16:22] Speaker A: Like when it comes to the absurd stuff in the sec, it feels like Auburn's kind of at the epicenter.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, that place, it's like cold war there. No, I'm being serious, like, and I'm not making fun of it. It's like cold war there, because the Alabama being in that state and you got Georgia just across the border, pretty much you're sandwiched between two huge powers, and you always feel like they're out to get you.
And they're not paranoid.
They act paranoid, but they're not paranoid because they've got so much working against them. And I think a lot of folks who say, hey, I'm an Auburn person, they go in there wanting to help, and then when they're slighted, some of them maybe go crazy.
And it's.
I really enjoyed covering that place because there was always something going on.
It literally hurt my health.
Like, I had to take a week off because I had a health crisis because I was working so much. But it's. It's. It's an amazing place. I always call it. I call it the most magical place in the SEC because they can do the most amazing stuff there and win and do all this stuff. But also they could. It could be the weirdest, most downtrodden situation, and then, like, two months later, they're on top of the world. Like, there's. I don't think there's any place in the SEC like that.
[00:17:36] Speaker A: Speaking of sec, Arkansas plays at A and M this week. A and M is an interesting team.
I think they were number eight in the preseason in the AP poll.
Boy, they don't look like a new real. Like it. Something looks really off there. They lost Colin Klein last year. He went to be the head coach at Kansas State. And it feels like Marcel Reed without Colin Klein, there's just some. There's something that's off with that offense and, and as a result, with that team. And their defense is not as good as it was last year.
[00:18:06] Speaker B: They also. They awesome guys, too, offensively and defensively going into the season.
Myself and my colleague at CBS Sports, we agreed that A and M was the most overrated team in the SEC going into the year because we feared they just lost too much. And we thought Colin Klein was very much the magic straw, stirring things there for the offense. And Marcel Reed, we've never considered, like, a great, great quarterback. He tends to be very up and
[00:18:33] Speaker A: down, like high highs and low lows.
[00:18:35] Speaker B: And his highest high last year was going on the road at Notre Dame and willing them to win. It was great stuff. But then there'd be other moments, even against lesser competition. And these last three, two weeks, he has gone down that road of, man, this guy is not good. Like, you're saying that, like he's not good. He's telegraphing passes. Kentucky game, his two interceptions.
It sounds like a fan. The stand. He threw it right to him. He threw it right to Kentucky. Like, what are you doing?
Yeah, they're in trouble this year.
Their fan base is hardy, like rebelling. They've lost four of their last five games against power opponents. Now, a lot of them have been ranked in the playoffs, of course, Texas last year in the, in the regular season finale, but still losing four or five against opponents that you should be at least going.500 against, even if they're in the top 10 or top 15. A program like A and M with one of the richest rosters in America, there's some issues there. There's. You see some very prominent A and M folks like going, oh man, what are we doing? We don't trust the staff right now. Now that might be emotional, the motion speaking in the moment, but it's not a good scene right now in College Station.
[00:19:47] Speaker A: Could Arkansas go in there and pick them off this weekend? You don't think so?
[00:19:50] Speaker B: I hate saying it, but it's just, you know, I said last week here or at the Hog Sports, Hogs Illustrated Sports Club luncheon that Arkansas would beat Tulsa by two touchdowns. And I had some people go, oh, really? It's like, dude, come on. The talent disparity is pretty wide. The talent disparity is still wide between A and M and Arkansas. Arkansas would need to force like three turnovers. Be like plus three turnover margin. I think they have a chance. But this, this is a game A and M should win, like the whole game with Arkansas by two touchdowns.
[00:20:22] Speaker A: What would Arkansas like? Is it just turnovers? You feel turnovers. And then this way. Is it possible because you mentioned Marcel Reeds had some turnover problems. Is it possible?
[00:20:31] Speaker B: And I just don't pick.
He can fumble it, man.
[00:20:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:35] Speaker B: Oh, it's possible. Yeah. Arkansas's defense is pretty good.
[00:20:37] Speaker A: There's some talk that it's going to be a rain game in College Station, like across the south this weekend. I don't know. If you look at the forecast, you know, like Alabama plays Mississippi State and Starkville, I think they're talking about, oh
[00:20:48] Speaker B: man, that's going to be a gully
[00:20:49] Speaker A: washer for that one, you know, and that can, I feel like that can level the playing field quite a bit. Whenever you got rain as a possibility. I think it'll be difficult for Arkansas to go in and win. Yeah, that's right. I think it'll be difficult for Arkansas to go in there and Win too. And I'll tell you the thing that I think works against Arkansas this week is that A and M's lost two in a row and they've, they've been embarrassed, I think the last two weeks. Like you only lose by 10 to Kentucky, but losing to Kentucky, period on your home field and not really being competitive in the fourth quarter, I feel like that was embarrassing to them. And then, man, they were just totally flat last week against on their own Baton Rouge.
[00:21:22] Speaker B: And also let's. I mean, I know LSU lost Ole Miss, but LSU is like legitimate. They're good be a top five team at the end of the year.
So this is like a very much like the bounce back game for A
[00:21:32] Speaker A: and M. I feel like if LSU were to play Ole Miss. Tell me if you think I'm wrong. If they were to play Ole Miss 10 times. I think LSU went seven games.
[00:21:39] Speaker B: I think they went seven of the 10 something.
[00:21:41] Speaker A: Their defense is really good. They just had a bad night when they, you know, you just, they caught, they caught Ole Miss in the perfect storm.
[00:21:48] Speaker B: I felt like, oh yeah, you know, watch out for Blake Baker, the defensive coordinator there. He could be a head coach next year.
[00:21:54] Speaker A: Yeah, a lot of people like him.
Quarterbacks in the sec.
It feels like the best quarterbacks are not necessarily the ones who had the highest profile coming into the year. And I think in Starkville is a perfect example of this. This weekend we've got Keelan Russell from Alabama playing against Camario Taylor at Mississippi State like this. This may be the quarterback matchup of the year in the SEC in terms of what they're actually producing on the field. Maybe not in name appeal, but what they're actually doing to this point in the season. This is a great matchup if.
[00:22:26] Speaker B: Put it all in context here.
If Jeremiah Smith and Malachi Tony just have so. So games. The two receivers, Ohio State, Miami. This weekend, the winner of the game between Alabama and Mississippi State, that quarterback will be number two in the Heisman odds.
[00:22:43] Speaker A: That's behind.
[00:22:44] Speaker B: Behind.
Why am I completely.
Darian Mensah, Miami and Miami quarterback.
That's my belief also. I think that Darian Mensah and Malachi Tony are going to eat away at each other.
So I think the quarterback here is very much going to be a guy that's probably in New York City at the end of the year. Keelan Russell's put up some great numbers the last two games, but Camario Taylor, I think he's won them like two games that they probably shouldn't have won even The South Carolina game. And that's just a testament to his talent.
They're really going to get punched in the mouth Saturday by Alabama. And as you said, if it's raining, I mean, before the year, go back and look at this. I said Mississippi State was going to upset Alabama.
I still feel that way. But if it's raining, that concerns me because, yeah, that's not good.
[00:23:44] Speaker A: What's Mississippi State done to play it at such a high level? Because, you know, I mean, I think there were people ready to run Jeff Levy out of town after last season, and then they were picked to finish 15th in the SEC this year.
[00:23:56] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't think I did. I know that they've recruited very well, contextually. I always say that when we put in context, you look at their numbers, like it's in the 30s or whatever. They're recruiting, but, like, they're getting the guys that they want.
And then you see them on the field, even last year and the year before that, you're going, man, that guy's just speedy and shifty. He's a little undersized. But, like, that's what fits this offense.
And then you watch them this year, it's pretty much not necessarily the same pieces, but it looks the same.
But you just got this elite quarterback now, and the defense has improved from since last season.
You bring in Zach Arnett. The staff there is exceptional.
And, you know, you could always sense maybe a little bit of hesitation from Jeff Levy when you've talked to him about the team, but not this preseason and even in the spring, which was one of the reasons why I picked them to upset Alabama the preseason. But at media days, I was off the side with Jeff Lebby, with some other reporters. He was like.
Because no one was paying attention to miss him, state of these things, he was maybe the most confident coach at media days was just like, this is going to be our breakout year. It's going to be our breakthrough year. He knew what. He knows what he has.
And I'll tell you what, if Camariel Taylor returns next year, which I completely expect him to, at Mississippi State, they've
[00:25:17] Speaker A: got money, big Mississippi State fans.
[00:25:19] Speaker B: That's the other thing. Like in this world nil and transfer portal, we talk about loyalty. Like, that's the thing. Like, you can easily root around because the kids, like, I freaking love this place. Why would I want to leave? I don't care if they're offering me 10 million bucks. I don't care. I want to be here.
And they could build around that Even further in the transfer portal.
I mean, if they have success in this year, which it looks like they're going to, and next year could be one of those like Dak Prescott type teams at Mississippi State. We're talking about maybe being a top
[00:25:45] Speaker A: five team where you kind of like push in all your chips. In terms of the fan base, hey, you know, we need 10 million extra in nil.
[00:25:53] Speaker B: And they've got money.
I always say, I talk to friends and I go, because I cover Mississippi State for a few years, I'm like, have they talked to the coast guys yet for the money?
They've got the potential there.
[00:26:04] Speaker A: South Carolina and Shane Beamer, what's going on there and how hot is his
[00:26:08] Speaker B: seat ticking time bomb? A lot of the industry believes it's just a matter of time.
He just had this first game of I think four or five straight against ranked opponents against Alabama.
And I spoke to someone, I said this on our college football insiders show Monday, spoke to someone there. We saw Dylan Stewart, their top player, defensive end, pass rusher, I should say, refuse to come off the field and then ignore Shane Bieber going on the sideline. And I had someone out there just tell me, not surprising and not necessarily just because of Dylan, but the locker room that they kind of got that sense even last year there.
And if you lose the locker room in this era, as I've mentioned, nil, and you're losing and you're. What, I don't know, what season is this for him?
[00:26:56] Speaker A: 6.
[00:26:57] Speaker B: And you got to have relatively new AD as your boss there.
It's. It's a matter of time. I put him on there on the same, like, kind of level almost as Mike Loxley at Maryland. About, like, it's almost a foregone conclusion at this point.
[00:27:10] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, like South Carolina, they've got a good roster, but they come to Arkansas in a month and a half and I wonder, like, what is the psyche of that team? Yeah, when they get to favor, like when you're. When you're talking about Arkansas and the teams that they might be able to circle, that is one, I think Vanderbilt's one. Certainly here in a couple of weeks.
[00:27:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:27] Speaker A: Real quick, before we get out of here, Florida. How good do you think they are?
They look really good to me.
[00:27:32] Speaker B: They're top five team. I put in my top five this week.
Most physical team, I think, in the sec, maybe the country.
What they do offensively is so fun to watch. They might have the best offensive line, they might have the best receiver or two.
They've got the best running back in Jaden Ball. They might have the best running back stable with Ball and Clark. They also have a quarterback who just knows the system previously under Buster Faulkner at Georgia Tech. And the stuff they do pre snap, the eye candy, the motions. They're lining up in 22 personnel shifting into a two by two stack orbit motion for a simple inside zone run. But it gets the defense completely off their kilter and that's what a lot of ways by Ole Miss was just so bad defensively at times in that game.
Florida to me right now, the way they're playing, they're a legitimate like playoff team and maybe a threat to get to the SEC championship game.
[00:28:28] Speaker A: Is there concern about their defense though? Because the defense has been, has been kind of leaky.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: But I think some of that also has to do with the May they trust their offense way too much.
They're going to trip. They might trip up this weekend at Mizzou, which. But I don't know. Eli, I love Eli but just can't beat ranked teams. For that matter, he can't beat teams that finish above.500 in the SEC.
Things like 0 and 16 at this point and we'll see if it might be 0 and 17 or more.
[00:28:55] Speaker A: They've lost nine straight to ranked teams in rank on ranked games.
[00:28:58] Speaker B: So.
But they get them at home. Their stadium just got renovated. It's going to be a little bit louder but I believe it's a day games too though. So it doesn't. But it's supposed to rain up there.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: I don't think it's going to rain there.
[00:29:13] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:29:13] Speaker A: I don't think so. I haven't looked at the Columbia weather
[00:29:15] Speaker B: plus they're actually, they don't have a mod Hardy, he's still out and they don't know when he's going to get. They're going to get him back.
[00:29:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
In our efficiency ratings it says that there's going to be a lot of possessions in that game and it feels like that favors Florida. The more, the more chances their offense gets to score. It just feels like like, like you got to play them in a game where you can lower, you know, keep them to 8, 9 possessions if at all possible because if they get up in that 12 and 13 possession range, I feel like it's going to be really hard to beat them or at least really hard to, you know, you're going to have to outscore them so to speak. You have to beat them in like a 40 to high 30 type game.
[00:29:50] Speaker B: I was really impressed this weekend with them, the way they responded, because you knew Ole Miss was going to fire back at some point. But the way they responded after that, that was like championship type stuff, man.
[00:29:58] Speaker A: Like every time Ole Miss had a punch, Florida had one right back.
[00:30:01] Speaker B: Never let like, I mean, that's John Sumrall, man. He just knows how to get a team together and win championships. He's done. He's played for a conference championship, I think every year as a head coach. Wow. It's insane.
[00:30:11] Speaker A: Brandon, good to have you in here again. We'll see you next week. Hope that we see you at our website, whole hogsports.com we'll be at the Hogs Illustrated Sports Club tomorrow. We'll have Scott Bull, the Razorback, great quarterback there, have a Q and A with him. Hope to see you then.
