00:00:00
Speaker 1: You know, it could be Derek Dooley law, but it's Clay Travis law. Accidents, they don't wait for perfect timing. One bad moment, a wreck, a fall, a doctor who wasn't paying attention. Suddenly, you are fighting an insurance company that does this every single day. And that's why Clay started Clay Travis Law. He's a Vanderbilt Law grad. He built a firm around an idea that people deserve someone willing to pay attention, ask the hard questions, push back when things don't add up. experienced trial attorneys who bring the fight to corporations and insurers based in Nashville. And Chad, trusted across the country.
00:00:35
Speaker 2: That's right, Hutton. Car and truck wrecks, rideshare accidents, medical malpractice, premises liability, product liability. If you were wrong, they want to hear about it. Here's what they promise. Honesty. They don't sugarcoat your case. You'll hear what it's actually worth, not what you want to hear. And the case evaluation is free. No charge, no pressure, no hassle. Just tell them your story. Go to claytravislaw.com or call 877- 222-4444. That's claytravislaw.com. No case is too big or too small. Maybe it could be Travis Dooley and Associates. It could be a collaboration. Would it be Travis and Dooley or would it be Dooley and Travis? Who would get the higher mark on the marquee? That's the question.
00:01:17
Speaker 3: Is this a real thing, by the way, this Clay Travis Law?
00:01:20
Speaker 1: It's real.
00:01:21
Speaker 3: I mean, it's the first I've heard about it.
00:01:24
Speaker 4: On one hand, I'm sitting there, and my first thought was, this has got to be malpractice.
00:01:28
Speaker 3: Right out of the gate.
00:01:29
Speaker 4: But then I started thinking, you know, who better in front of a jury than the great Clay Travis? And then I'm really getting my feelings hurt that he didn't call me to see if I could come join the firm.
00:01:41
Speaker 3: I'm looking for a job right now anyway.
00:01:44
Speaker 1: Here's your invitation right there. The SEC could call both of you guys, right?
00:01:51
Speaker 4: Well, they could, but I don't think they have any interest because we would probably solve the problem too easily.
00:01:56
Speaker 2: Why don't you make them all that, man?
00:01:59
Speaker 1: Like the craziness of what Kiffin and LSU and just the back and forth of the fact that we normally don't see the SEC fight each other the way we.
00:02:08
Speaker 2: Just saw this.
00:02:10
Speaker 1: And we saw it happen, play out in real time right before the season.
00:02:14
Speaker 4: Well, I have so many thoughts just on that subject. My opening thought is it's that old line. It's easy to protest when somebody else is paying the price.
00:02:25
Speaker 3: And kudos to the SEC.
00:02:28
Speaker 4: For drawing the line in the sand and, you know, really playing chicken with LSU on that. It reminded me a little bit back in 1964. I don't know if you guys know this, but Georgia Tech was in the SEC, and they were kind of getting a little big for their britches, Bobby Dodd flexing their muscles, and they didn't like a rule the SEC passed. And they left the SEC and it really, you know, absolutely changed the whole trajectory of that program. And so I know LSU wasn't willing to pay that price over two tight ends or whatever it is. But, you know, the bigger issue is it's just another piece of frustration that I've had in what's going on in college athletics. And at some level, I was hoping it would play out because we need enough friction to to make a change. And it's been my frustration with Congress. You know, you guys know I ran for Senate last year, and that was one of the things that motivated me, because I've always felt like Congress just needs to do one simple thing, allow the NCAA to make and enforce rules without the fear of lawsuit and that preempt other state laws.
00:03:43
Speaker 3: That's it. All right. And That's all they need.
00:03:47
Speaker 4: And what I always said was the NCAA should have gone in and said, look, give.
00:03:52
Speaker 3: Us two years of protection to get our house in order. Two years.
00:03:56
Speaker 4: All we want is a little protection. We'll guarantee we're going to protect women's sports. We're going to protect the student athletes. And in two years, if we don't live up to that, you can take it away. And that's all they needed to ask for. But like everything else, these bills get come up. Everybody wants, well, put this in, put this in. Every time you put something in a bill, you're just asking for more opposition. And so that's why we're here where we are. It just doesn't make any sense to me. It's not a hard problem. Let the NCAA fix itself. But they can't do it until there's not this constant lawsuit going over and over and over every time they try to enforce something.
00:04:36
Speaker 2: Were you surprised? Because every SEC program is kind of its own bubble. And every town and every state has a little bit of its own bubble. But I was shocked at the level and the depths that LSU and the state government and everyone was willing to go to war for Lane Kiffin for so long. The answer seemed to me to be obvious the whole time. The reward is not worth the risk here for the players they're trying to bring in with all the lawsuit threats and they're going to kick you out. And it finally took the report being leaked that, hey, this is happening. They're going to vote on Thursday to remove LSU. And then all of a sudden an email and a letter is sent from Wade Roos, the president of LSU, to Greg Sankey saying, we consider this a moot point. All right, guys, you win. We filled out our roster. It's not going to be them. Were you surprised it took that long to get to that point, knowing what you know about LSU?
00:05:32
Speaker 3: I wasn't.
00:05:33
Speaker 4: And first of all, knowing what I know about Lane Kiffin and knowing what I know about LSU, if you guys recall, I spent five years there with Nick Saban back in 2000. And listen, it was one of the most fun five years of my coach. I absolutely love LSU. I love the people down there. But the level of passion that they have is it's pretty high on one end. But also what they're willing to do. I mean, these guys don't mind living in the gray area. I mean, all you got to do is look at the history of Louisiana politics. And, you know, they live in the gray. They're not afraid to be different. Um, they're proud of it as part of their culture. But like I said, it's easy to sit there and protest, but until you got to pay a price for it. And just like you said, it wasn't worth that. And so I wasn't surprised at both. I wasn't surprised at the fight, but I also wasn't surprised that eventually they were going to back down because they, uh, you know, the voice of reason sort of played out.
00:06:37
Speaker 2: You know, at one point, go ahead, hon. Oh yeah, I got, yeah. At one point you took over. For Lane Kiffin in Knoxville to be the head coach of Tennessee. So you saw kind of the aftermath of a Lane Kiffin coach program at that point. Do you buy into that he wants this to be happening? That any talk is good talk about his program and that? This is sort of a, hey, I'm happy about this. You know, that halftime speech was leaked about it's us against the world. Everybody hates you. They don't want us to succeed, all of that. Is this all good for Lane Kiffin? Or do you think that maybe he stepped in a little bit here and he didn't want it to go this far?
00:07:16
Speaker 3: Well, I can't speak for Lane. So I don't want to do it.
00:07:20
Speaker 4: But the one thing, you know, everybody talks about change and how much he– Lane has really not changed. He's kind of had his formula everywhere he's been, and he's mastered this era of social media, if we're just being honest.
00:07:36
Speaker 3: He really has. It was something I never embraced.
00:07:39
Speaker 4: I didn't like it, but he really owned it, and he's become really popular. I mean, he's a celebrity in a lot of ways. His popularity gets people excited, and when he went to Ole Miss and started winning, That was, you know, he parlayed that into this great job and a lot of money.
00:08:00
Speaker 3: And so he's mastered that social media.
00:08:04
Speaker 4: And outrage a little bit in ways, you know, I was at the Cowboys for five years, as you know, and there was no such thing as bad press in the eyes of Jerry Jones. I mean, he was the master at building excitement and enthusiasm around a program that And Lane's done the same thing, just in a different way.
00:08:24
Speaker 3: And so who am I to criticize? He's had tremendous success.
00:08:28
Speaker 4: He keeps, he got a lot of second and third and fourth chances in his coaching career. And a lot of that had to do with, you know, sort of his popularity and the brand he's created.
00:08:40
Speaker 1: Why do you think college game day is so nice to him? Instead of bringing up this topic of what went on and what we're all talking about, They're kind of, you know, they're talking about, like, welcome to LSU and it's all about football or whatever. And I'm thinking, man, what is the background of this whenever everyone is vitriol about this guy? He left his team and still wanted to coach. And there's people on game day saying, yeah, he should be able to. I don't understand that at all.
00:09:12
Speaker 4: You guys in the media ought to understand it better than anybody.
00:09:16
Speaker 3: I can't get it.
00:09:16
Speaker 4: You love guys that give you stories every day. So why would they want Lane Kiffin to go away?
00:09:22
Speaker 1: Because he's going to deliver.
00:09:24
Speaker 3: The goods every day. Give me some.
00:09:27
Speaker 4: Boy, it's getting boring here in college athletics. What's Lane going to say that I can write about? And so I've seen that in politics. I've seen that across the board. You know, the media loves these controversial figures. Because it gives them material, gives them clicks, and that's the world we're in right now.
00:09:45
Speaker 1: Hey, did you ever have a halftime speech like Kiffin delivered?
00:09:49
Speaker 3: Well, I'm just glad a lot of my stuff wasn't recorded.
00:09:52
Speaker 4: I'm not proud of a lot of things I said in the locker room.
00:09:57
Speaker 3: And I don't think any coach really wants it.
00:09:59
Speaker 2: No.
00:09:59
Speaker 3: But, you know, I mean, listen, I mean, Lane.
00:10:02
Speaker 4: Was getting his guys going. I mean, I give him, you know, you got to have a little chip on your shoulder. And most teams that win typically have some chip on their shoulder.
00:10:13
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:10:14
Speaker 3: And he's created that. He's created that. The world hates us. It's us against them.
00:10:19
Speaker 4: And that kind of mentality can really bring a team together and motivate them.
00:10:25
Speaker 3: And it certainly did that in game one.
00:10:27
Speaker 4: And so that part, you know, I think he's done a fabulous job of it. You know, the team wasn't distracted. They're focused. They're playing together. And they got a little rallying cry. And, you know, that's what you try to do every year as a coach. Bring your team together. Give them a little edge. Give them something to fight for. And he's created that.
00:10:46
Speaker 2: He's been great at it. We got to get into the clock situation. Oh, yeah. Michigan and Western Michigan, because I'm watching this and I recall sitting in what is now Nissan Stadium at the Music City Bowl between Tennessee and North Carolina. a game where you were the head coach, and celebrating my alma mater, Tennessee, what I thought was a win, only to see it later it wasn't a win, and leaving that stadium so pissed off about what I had just witnessed and not understanding fully what happened. And that sparked not one but two rule changes that moment. So you know a thing or two about clock issues at the end of a football game, right?
00:11:28
Speaker 4: Well, I've got to tell you, you know, there's– not many coaches who can truly relate to what he went through. But when I was watching that, I got a pit in my stomach. I hurt so bad for him because you're right. The music city bowl, we were playing North Carolina. I'll never forget it. And of course we had a game earlier in the year where it ended and we got called back. But of course we made a lot of mistakes in that one, but this one was egregious. And as you said, They had like 18 men on the field that clocked the ball. Two rules came out of it. The 10 second runoff in college football, which we didn't have at the time. And the clock rule where you have to have three seconds to clock it. If either one of those would have been implemented, which they should have been, we would have won the game. But I got to I got to say, you know, and listen, don't forget, I was a part of the Dez catch.
00:12:23
Speaker 3: I was coaching Dez.
00:12:24
Speaker 4: And then Blandino was defending this rule, and then all of a sudden the NFL changed it. So I've been a part of a lot of rule changes as a result of some tough losses. What I will tell you is I give that coach, Lance Taylor, just unbelievable, his press conference. And he took full responsibility, took accountability. He was proud of his team, did not complain about one time It motivated me, guys. I went back and watched my press conference. Because I watched his press conference. I said, man, that was incredible. And I would like my son to play for a guy like that. That's how you teach young people. I went back and watched mine. It wasn't as good as his. And, you know, I was young and had a lot of piss and vinegar. And I took responsibility. I said we could check. But, you know, I just couldn't let go. I was really angry. It affected me, and, you know, so I give him a lot of props. That's what great leadership looks like.
00:13:28
Speaker 2: Well, and you talked about the rules then, but also the difference in response now with immediately in the aftermath, it was you got the president of Western Michigan up there. You got Lance Taylor, the coach, and they're like, hey, we talked to him. They were transparent. We talked to Tony Petitti in the Big Ten. They showed us what happened. We buy what they're saying. We're okay with it. It's unfortunate. but we understand what they're saying. And then a couple of days later, coach, they come back and say, after further investigation, we don't buy their explanation. They didn't do the right thing by using a clock that wasn't the clock, which we all know there's a clock, not two clocks in a sporting contest. And they went off some other clock and saying that now they're going to fight it with the NCAA. They're going to fight it with a college football playoff committee. What do you think about the two responses? The initial one, followed by the follow-up once we start to get some more information about these two clocks?
00:14:26
Speaker 4: Well, when I heard about the initial one, I thought they had jumped the gun, to be frank with you.
00:14:33
Speaker 3: And look, I want to put this in two buckets.
00:14:36
Speaker 4: The coach, Coach Taylor, he needs to stay focused on, we take full responsibility and they got to get their eyes full. But as an administrator and an AD, You need to figure out, number one, if there was some funny business going on. And then number two, we got to make sure this never happens again. Now, the number two part, it seems, has already been corrected. The NCAA put out, you know, an issue. And listen, I've always said this, too, about instant replay and all this other crap. It drives fans nuts. And I said, you know what we need? We need a drunk fan standard. If a drunk fan at the bar can look at the replay and and make an easy decision, and they're all in agreement, that's what the decision should be. They get in all these technicalities and all this crap, and nobody buys all that. But I would make sure from an administrative standpoint, I would like to see fully transparent how that process went about. And they need to prove what went wrong and how it went wrong. But look, I'm going to take them for their word until something else comes out. I think the most important thing through it all is this won't happen again because the NCAA issued the rule, which should have been in place from the beginning, that we're going to lean on what the fans are seeing. And, you know, the last point on this is one of my frustrations with college football so much.
00:16:04
Speaker 3: Is we have all these rules. What should we do here? What should we do here? But then what?
00:16:10
Speaker 4: Over in this bucket, we have the NFL, who has pumped billions of dollars into creating the greatest product in all of sports. And you can learn from what they do. They've done all the research. They've done all this. And it's just so easy to adopt what they do. And the NFL already had that rule in place, and college didn't.
00:16:34
Speaker 1: Oh, by the way, the drunk fan. Are we talking blackout drunk like LSU or Kentucky?
00:16:39
Speaker 3: The reasonably drunk fan.
00:16:41
Speaker 4: You know, maybe four or five beers in you or something.
00:16:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, you and I could play that role.
00:16:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, you've got to be conscious. Like, you can't be passed out. But you've got to be able to. Your eyes, both eyes are open, and you've got a little buzz going and you're watching the game. I like the drunk fan standard.
00:16:57
Speaker 4: Or, you know, I used to have this. My wife, Allison, I would call it the Allison rule. You know, she would just look at it and go, well, that's a catch. She doesn't know all the technicality. And, you know, when you peel back, I'm like, she's right. I mean, what are we doing?
00:17:13
Speaker 2: And I heard the different media members and people defending it. Heather Denich at ESPN, I'm watching the next morning saying, hey, I talked to the Big Ten, and it's perfectly reasonable. Their clock showed this, and I'm thinking, I go back to A Few Good Men where he asked them, Tom Cruise asked Jack Nicholson, why the two orders? I'm thinking, why the two clocks? How are we talking about two clocks? How are we seeing something totally different? NBC's explaining it, that we are synced up with the stadium, the stadium clock in Ann Arbor, and somehow they're seeing a different clock. I'm with you in that it's so obvious that it should have been done immediately. Now, let me ask you this moving forward. Is there any chance in your mind, because you've been an AD before also, that anything actually comes of this in terms of that game being overturned in any way, and Michigan getting a loss and Western Michigan getting the win? Because the Big Ten's basically admitted fault now by saying they're going to show their replay system to everyone moving forward.
00:18:14
Speaker 4: Look, that's where I think we have to be careful how we go forward on this. I do not believe that they will be given the win. I mean, they're not the first or last team who's been screwed. I mean, think about the fifth down. I could go all through college football history. I think the more important thing that they need to do is figure out if something went wrong, and there needs to be accountability for those people that did something wrong.
00:18:42
Speaker 3: But as far as getting that win.
00:18:43
Speaker 4: Back, I mean– Hey, listen, you know, one of the hardest things we have in society now is bad things happen. Sometimes things aren't fair and you got to learn to move on and deal with it.
00:18:56
Speaker 3: You know, that's sort of how my generation grew up.
00:18:59
Speaker 4: Nowadays, we have a generation when anything seems unfair, you know.
00:19:04
Speaker 3: We got to get something back in return.
00:19:06
Speaker 4: And it's like, I think the most important thing is the consequences for the people who ever did anything wrong, if they did something wrong in the first place. But as far as getting the win back, I just don't see that happening. You talk about a slippery slope. Here we go. I mean, there may be lawsuits retroactive now, getting wins.
00:19:26
Speaker 1: So, I don't know, is LSU your top team right now in the SEC? And what happens to that ranking if Texas beats Ohio State? Georgia, of course, right there. How do you kind of tier this as we go into the heart of the season?
00:19:39
Speaker 4: I still have concerns about LSU. And look, first of all, I'm a homer, man. I'm all in for the dogs. I'm all in for Kirby.
00:19:47
Speaker 3: I think Gunner, you know, when you watch Georgia, first game, now look, they didn't play anybody. I acknowledge that.
00:19:53
Speaker 4: But it was about as clean a two quarters as I've ever seen any team Kirby's.
00:19:58
Speaker 3: Put out there. It was unbelievable.
00:20:00
Speaker 4: And Gunner, Gunner, I think, is the most underrated quarterback in college football. You know, everybody looks because he's got great character and he's six feet tall. They just assume he's just a gritty guy and that's it. What's underrated are two things to me. I think he's the most accurate passer in the SEC. Pure accuracy. And go watch the tape. And the second thing is, look at his clutch production.
00:20:25
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:20:26
Speaker 3: He plays better the more important the down is.
00:20:30
Speaker 2: All right.
00:20:30
Speaker 4: It's like that old saying, you got to play your best when your best is needed. Nobody did that better in Gunner Stockton last season. And just look at the games when it was all on the line. You guys remember the Tennessee one.
00:20:43
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:20:44
Speaker 4: And he's the only quarterback, by the way, that's won an SEC championship. So let's don't forget that. So I'm high on the dogs. Now, you look at the three most talented rosters, in my opinion. Georgia, Texas, LSU. Talented across the board. So then you go, well, who are the quarterbacks? Arch, we all know he's super talented. I think the two things Arch has to prove this year is, one, his accuracy.
00:21:12
Speaker 3: It's been inconsistent.
00:21:13
Speaker 4: But the bigger issue is, in the biggest games against the most elite defenses, when the pressure's coming, how are you going to perform?
00:21:22
Speaker 3: And that's the big hurdle he's got to clear.
00:21:24
Speaker 4: I mean, you look at Just last year, I think Ohio State seven points, Georgia 10 points. They played OU. I think he only had about 160 yards passing. You know, so that's going to be the key for Arch. Now, you look at LSU's Sam Leavitt. I got real concerns about his accuracy. And you saw it in the first drive. A pick happens. And more importantly, when he's under pressure, what happens? But what he's done in the.
00:21:51
Speaker 3: Past is his legs have bailed him out.
00:21:54
Speaker 4: And so the team that can apply pressure but keep him in the pocket and force him to make throws, I think that's going to be their Achilles heel. But time will tell. Listen, week one, one thing I learned. You never judge anything by week one. It's even more prevalent in today's environment because these rosters are all new. Hell, I'm going around going, where was he last year? It's so hard the first week, all these quarterbacks. Wait, I remember seeing this guy. Wasn't he on that team?
00:22:26
Speaker 2: Chad, this has been awesome. It's been great. I got one more for you because I was reminded of your press conferences in listening to Brent Key at Georgia Tech this week because– You know, they were talking about the Tennessee matchup this week with Georgia Tech. And a reporter said, hey, Josh Heupel was talking. He said he expects a really physical game. And Brent Key jumped in and said, oh, he did. He's like, was that before or after our last game? And he said it was after the last game. And he said, well, then Josh is being nice because we were soft. in our first game of the year. So if he thinks it's going to be physical, then he's just being nice to us because we weren't physical at all. And I'm like, I like that bit of honesty from Brent Key, a guy who has built that program around toughness and running the football, right? What do you think about that and that level of transparency and honesty? But also, like you mentioned earlier, probably a way to motivate his football team to not look the way they did on that Thursday night game against Colorado.
00:23:23
Speaker 4: Well, I'm a big fan of Brent Key, but I can't say I'm a fan of Tapp being a Georgia guy. But, you know, I was probably too honest, Chad. I think there's probably a balance of honesty and transparency, but, you know, you can.
00:23:36
Speaker 3: Also affect your team by being too honest.
00:23:39
Speaker 4: You know, you got to get a player to believe he can do things that he doesn't think he can believe. And I look back and that might have been one of many faults that I had as a coach. Man, I'd call it like it was and maybe that wasn't the best motivating.
00:23:54
Speaker 3: Tactic for some of our players.
00:23:55
Speaker 4: You know, the great coaches really I've been around have an element of brainwashing their players into thinking there's something they're not.
00:24:03
Speaker 3: And so I think it was a great line.
00:24:06
Speaker 4: I love Brent, but I'm pretty confident he's going to rally after that first game. That was a tough loss for him. So that'll be an interesting one. And, you know, look, the other interesting game for me this week is Oklahoma, Michigan.
00:24:19
Speaker 2: Yep.
00:24:20
Speaker 4: And, you know, I think Oklahoma better be careful because, you know, it's easy to sit there and say Michigan's no good after that first one. Man, you talk about backs against the wall, hungry to prove something. And it might have been even more so had they lost. So that'll be a big test. And, you know, I'm kind of hoping selfishly Oklahoma wins so we can get a 330 kick in Athens instead of a night game.
00:24:47
Speaker 1: I won't be too honest, by the way. The honesty, I think it's happening in Indiana. It's happening in Oregon. It's happening in Michigan this week with their quarterback and head coach. And it works. It works with those programs.
00:25:01
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:25:02
Speaker 3: Well, hey, listen, it's great to be here, man.
00:25:05
Speaker 4: I talked about state for the last year when I lost my mind and went to politics.
00:25:11
Speaker 3: It's good to get back.
00:25:12
Speaker 4: In the sport mode. And so I appreciate you guys having me on. And I hope to be back.
00:25:18
Speaker 2: We are two guys that are way more in sport mode than state mode also. So we appreciate you joining us. Thanks for the intro to the show too, Coach. Really appreciate it. We'll get you on again soon to talk some ball. Thank you so much.
00:25:29
Speaker 1: PlayTravisLaw.com if you need a job.
00:25:32
Speaker 2: PlayTravisLaw.com, Coach. That's right. Thank you. Thank you, bud.
00:25:37
Speaker 1: He's awesome, man. I love Dooley so much.
00:25:41
Speaker 2: He's also great because he has a reference to everything. Absolutely. He was an athletic director at Louisiana Tech and a head coach. He's been a head coach in the SEC at Tennessee. He's been a coordinator in the SEC at Missouri. He worked for Nick Saban for years. He coached for Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys. In the NFL, he's been a lawyer like Clay and has that legal background too. So that will not be the last time you see Derek Dooley on this show.
00:26:08
Speaker 3: Love that one.
00:26:09
Speaker 2: I would say this too. You don't learn how to do this.
00:26:12
Speaker 1: This is a gift. You're able to speak to somebody for five minutes and you feel like you've known them for five years. That's Derek Dooley because he has a reference to everything that he can, and a scope that's a lot of fun. We need to get the historical references going too, some history lessons, Chad.
00:26:30
Speaker 2: The drunk fan standard. I'll remember that now.
00:26:32
Speaker 1: The drunk fan standard is.
00:26:33
Speaker 2: Drunk fan standard for replay is perfect.
00:26:36
Speaker 1: I mean, he's the commissioner of that league right there.
00:26:40
Speaker 2: Hey, Hutton, you mentioned it. I want to get into it in the next segment. Bryce Underwood.
00:26:44
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
00:26:45
Speaker 2: A budding rivalry between head coach and quarterback. We've got to discuss.
00:26:49
Speaker 1: And there's a new standard in Michigan with that, too. But it's being said. It's Hutton Withrow here at Sporting State. David Crockett, a volunteer. Davy Crockett and Crockett Coffee. Started by Clay Travis, Buck Sexton, and Buck's brother, Mason. Named after Davy Crockett, the hunter, storyteller, patriot, backwoods legend. Look at the logo. It tells you all about the attitude here. 100% pure Arabica. High altitude beans. Small batch roasted right here in America. Tennessee, the heart of the country. It ships fresh roasted. It's not sitting on a warehouse shelf for six months. And you can get the light, medium, dark roast. The dark roast called King Mountain Roast. decaf, organic, even a mushroom blend, whole bean ground or K-cups, however you make it in the morning.
00:27:36
Speaker 2: However you want it. However you want it with your subscription also. You can set up that subscription, shows up on your schedule, change or cancel at any time as the free market intended. Free shipping on orders of $ 59 or more. And there's a discount for veterans. And Crockett partners with Tunnels to Towers, building mortgage-free homes for the families of fallen service members and for catastrophically injured veterans. And first responders, good coffee, made in America, doing some good, CrockettCoffee.com. That's Crockett, C-R-O-C-K-E-T-T, coffee.com. Hutton, I've got to raise something here before we get into Michigan and Bryce Underwood. Okay. Just talk to Derek Dooley about the whole issue at LSU versus the SEC and them eventually relenting. The amount of LSU fans, I am all for you defending your school, okay? But the amount of fans, not just fans, Glenn Gilbo, a guy that we worked with, who's written a column about this and continues to tweet me about it, acting like LSU won something in this, that they exposed the SEC. How? I do not understand this, okay? Philip writes, I'm going to read this tweet and then explain. This is like our old mashed carrots back in the day. I don't see it that way. I see is LSU exposed the weakness in the rules from the NCAA and the SEC. Rules sometimes don't get solidified until challenged. That's how most of the rules of law are created. Rule or non-defined rules have to be challenged to get the final rule or law. If you are arguing this, you are arguing that LSU did this in order to implement a rule that wasn't on the books, which it was, by the way, about playing people who had signed pro contracts, It's against the rules. There's just been separate people who have filed motions in courts to say that it's not against the rules. But if you're arguing that you're acting like LSU was this white knight who had to challenge the system in order to define a rule, when in fact you are arguing, well, they exposed the weakness of the SEC. The weakness of the SEC that was exposed... when you submitted to the rule of the SEC. In the end of all this, this thing ended when LSU bowed down and sent a letter to the commissioner saying, hey, we're all on the same team here. We agree. This issue is now moot. We've fully rostered non-NFL players on our roster as you wished and as SEC rules allow. We're living in a fantasy land here, if you think it's anything other than that.
00:30:10
Speaker 1: This is no different, I think, than the major college football towns where you're in your own bubble and it's an echo chamber.
00:30:17
Speaker 2: Oh, sure.
00:30:18
Speaker 1: Where you have the Attorney General saying they're going to take all measures. It's headline news more than it is sports. The governor, again, and Dooley pointed out the history of the Louisiana government getting involved in athletics, but even the Attorney General's commenting that Sankey got up there and refused to answer questions, acting like he didn't know answers to certain rules. And that's where they're trying to say they exposed. Well, again, it's stupid, but that's the echo. They're repeating what they're hearing in their reports.
00:30:55
Speaker 2: We're going to tie this back to Michigan and Western Michigan. There are times where there's not a clear-cut winner and loser. That is an example. Western Michigan should have won that game. They didn't. Michigan got the extra play. There's some gray area there. You're really searching for the gray area to not see what everyone else, everyone that's not associated with the state of Louisiana or LSU sees this very clearly. You are the exception. You are the problem. If you do not understand that the way this thing ended was you tried to do something The SEC said, don't do it. You continue to try to do it. The SEC threatened you with expulsion. You continue to act like you were going to do it. And finally, the day before the vote was going to happen or two days before, you relented and you said, you're right. You're our daddy. We won't do it. And that is a loss for you. That's clear cut. Now, if you want to get into the real losers here or the players that got duped into leaving and trying to get cut from their NFL team or wanting to do this other than that, that's a separate issue. I'm going to tell you the true loser in this, Hutton. If they sue LSU and it goes to discovery and they have to start to show text and and calls that were made from Lane Kiffin's staff to these players to get them to violate an NFL contract. LSU's already a loser in this. You could be a true loser if it comes to that point, and you're found to have been tampering with NFL contracts or players that were currently on an NFL roster at that point. That's neither here nor there. We're shutting the book on that for now. Bryce Underwood in Michigan.
00:32:35
Speaker 1: I just want to add in, that would also be tied to Rosenhaus. Instead of just the team or the player, it would be Rosenhouse Sports who's really pumping it from the player's perspective.
00:32:48
Speaker 2: He's representing the player.
00:32:49
Speaker 1: And I think the reaction from the fans specifically, the average drunk fan, as Dooley said, I would say this reaction would have happened at the major level of college programs at Ole Miss last year if Kiffin had stayed. the fan base would be up in arms over this. Same thing at Texas. The list goes on and on. Certainly at Ohio State, we would be seeing the same reaction in that area. I don't know about from the government perspective, but from the fan base perspective on socials, for sure. They act like they're good enough.
00:33:26
Speaker 3: They're good as it is.
00:33:28
Speaker 1: I don't think one of the players would have even started. I think he was a third stringer.
00:33:32
Speaker 2: We know how fans react to things, so I'm not shocked or surprised at By that, you're just really reaching if it's like we're exposing something here. Your goal was to play those players. Just a week ago, all LSU fans were arguing how they should be allowed to play. And Clay wrote about this, I think, really well. Same LSU fans who are bitching about Charles Bediako playing at Alabama are now okay with it when it's happening for their school.
00:33:58
Speaker 3: Right, right, right. Exactly.
00:34:00
Speaker 2: I bet I can go back and find an article from Glenn Gilbo that's bemoaning Alabama playing Charles Badiaco at some point, and now it's like, oh, we're exposing the ills of the SEC and the NCAA. Give me a break. Come on.
00:34:12
Speaker 1: Jet, I've got a side issue with the whole Bryce Underwood presser. I want to let you set this up, though, for your reaction because mine's going to be different, I think.
00:34:26
Speaker 2: So Bryce Underwood, highly paid quarterback at Michigan. Yes. Not a good first year. He's regressed, it looked like, before game one. Kyle Whittingham was asked about it the day before we're going to play this clip, and he was asked about his quarterback situation. He said, look, it's not an infinite thing. He's got to be better. He's our quarterback right now, but that could change. The opposite of what we would call a vote of confidence, a true vote of confidence from the head coach, was the answer that Kyle Whittingham gave. So now we're going to show you Bryce Underwood when a reporter brought up what Kyle Whittingham said. This is Bryce Underwood's response.
00:35:02
Speaker 3: Your reaction to McCutcheon's comments about how your job isn't permanent?
00:35:08
Speaker 2: It was comments about that?
00:35:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, he said that your job isn't infinite. You know, that's the starter. That's cool.
00:35:17
Speaker 2: I see that.
00:35:19
Speaker 3: What's your reaction? It's cool.
00:35:22
Speaker 2: It's cool. Cool. That's cool. That's cool. That was the response from Bison Underwood. Hutton, your response to that?
00:35:34
Speaker 1: How does the media relations department not prep him for this? How's that possible? You know you're going to be asked about it. It happened yesterday. Good point.
00:35:44
Speaker 2: 24 hours later.
00:35:47
Speaker 1: He looks just nonchalant and carefree about this way too much. But the response by Michigan's SIDs were even worse. They didn't prep him for the question that would have you banned if you were in Nashville.
00:36:06
Speaker 2: That's a great angle I was not thinking about, but you're right. That would have gotten that reporter banned in Nashville and a terrible job by the Media Relations Department of Michigan. Here's what I saw with Bryce Underwood. He looks like a dude who got paid a ton of money who doesn't really care. That's how he comes across when he gives that response. He's got zero enthusiasm about him. He's not going to follow up with any explanation as to how he's the leader of the team. And he wants to prove that. There seems to be very little motivation. I'm just judging this based on his body language.
00:36:35
Speaker 3: Right, I agree.
00:36:36
Speaker 2: And now he answered with coo, coo. That's coo. He sounds like a guy who's also like, you know what? If they bench me, fine. I believe so much in myself and my value, even though the value has diminished since his time at Michigan, that I can just go in the transfer portal and go somewhere else and get paid a ton of money again to go somewhere else. He would get paid to go somewhere else. I don't think it's as much as he's getting paid right now. If he ends up benched at Michigan, it's going to be a lot less. It's going to be a bargain basement discount deal. But you still could leave and go get paid and go start somewhere if you're Bryce Underwood because he's such a highly thought-of talent that will be given another chance. But that, to me, it struck me as a guy who is unmotivated, who got fat and happy with his paychecks, who thinks that he is entitled– to the starting job at Michigan, who probably isn't getting along with his head coach, who's a bit more of a hard-ass than what he's been accustomed to. I see big problems at Michigan, and not just because of their play in that first game. I see big problems with Bryce Underwood and his head coach.
00:37:42
Speaker 1: But Michigan has a skill, just briefly, they have a skill of turning a problem into a solution somehow. because they fall forward whenever they fall. They hire the coach who is, at my perception of this, and again, we don't know, maybe they did prep him for these questions and that was his response. That's even worse.
00:38:05
Speaker 2: I don't know.
00:38:06
Speaker 1: But they fall forward when they need a coach who came in late to the process because he was available. with everything going down in Michigan, and he ends up being the perfect coach, which we pointed out during the time, he's the perfect guy to come in and recreate the brand and the standard of what it means to play for the Wolverines. And he's shooting people straight. You can tell by his answer about the quarterback who's getting paid a lot. He's not putting up with the same stuff that was there, that brought Underwood there to begin with. That's great for Michigan, even though right now things don't look that great. They get an extra play, and somehow they complete a Hail Mary. I mean, that's what the quarterback– I'm just thinking, like, they fall, but they fall forward. It works out generally in their– it normally goes in their favor, despite the bad press that they have.
00:38:55
Speaker 2: They didn't have– they won the championship. Yeah, all the stuff with Jim Harbaugh, they still win the national title that year. The Jawan Howard punching staff members eventually getting fired and hitting rock bottom, and that leads them to Dusty May, who quickly turns it around and wins the national title. for Michigan. Sharone Moore, I do believe there's some program rot from Sharone Moore with that team, and I think we saw that in the first game. I think Bryce Underwood is a symptom of that, honestly. That's a guy who committed to play for Sharone Moore. He got paid a ton of money to go do it, and he ain't the guy. I think Michigan fans, if they're being honest, with themselves right now, they know he ain't the guy.
00:39:32
Speaker 1: And he didn't have the spring portal. He didn't have the spring portal. Nope. Chad, coming up, we've got some lots to get to and much more here on Putney Withrow. We are presented by Hard Rock Bet.
00:39:48
Speaker 3: It's hardrock.bet.com.
00:39:50
Speaker 2: It is Huntley Withrum.
00:39:51
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00:40:27
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00:40:51
Speaker 1: Chad, it is time for our Hard Rock Bet Lock of the Week. And we'll see who's going to ride with us and see who's going to follow and win with us.
00:41:04
Speaker 2: How about that? Who are you going with on your lock? So Hutton, here's what I know about James Franklin. We have a history with James Franklin. This is our parlay from yesterday. So I'll go ahead and tell you the one that we're going to get to. James Franklin of Virginia Tech, I think this is a perfect marriage of coach and job. James Franklin, he performs well in games against inferior competition where you're going to get some excitement going. Where James Franklin falters, we saw at Penn State, is against teams that are as good as his team or better. And most teams falter against better teams. Old Dominion is not a better team than Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech and James Franklin will continue to build the energy train moving forward and get this team where they need to go with their fan base. They are going to blow the doors off of Old Dominion. Virginia Tech, 11 a.m. Central kickoff at Lane Stadium. I think they're a 20.5-point favorite in this game. Strike up the band. Virginia Tech's going to win by way more than that.
00:42:09
Speaker 3: You know what?
00:42:09
Speaker 1: I know it was yesterday's parlay we saw. I think you will combine with me. I'll take yours and I'll raise you one. Give me Western Michigan minus 27.5. Strike up the band at minus 105. 1-800-ASSWIP after what happened last week, Chad. I'm with Coach Dooley. They've handled everything properly. They've handled it the right way. They have leadership and they have a standard that the players... I've responded with as well. I think they're mature. I think they know how to handle the week. And they'll let the business be handled by the business leaders. I think they handle business on Saturday. Give me Western Michigan to be 2-0 going into Sunday.
00:42:55
Speaker 2: I love how we're not pussyfooting around here on this show. We're going right in. We're going for big lines. We're not taking the 1.5 points, bro. You're going 27.5. I'm going 20.5. Let's take those big numbers. I'll also find, and maybe this is just psychological with me, I have way more success at 11 a.m. kickoffs and late, late night games than I do throughout the day. When I'm betting with Hard Rock Bet throughout a college football Saturday, like this past weekend, my successful parlays, the morning parlay, the 11 a.m. games, and the late games. So when I started looking for the lock this week, I was looking at 11 a.m. Central kickoff, 12 p.m. Eastern at Virginia Tech. And that's why I'm taking James Franklin in the Hokies. I also think that James Franklin will do a good job this week, next week against East Carolina, and then against James Madison. He's got an opportunity here to really get something going for Virginia Tech, at least early in their season. Sorry, it's at Maryland next week, at Boston College, as they get into a Big Ten game and then ACC play. I think he's going to get off to a hot start at Virginia Tech and get people talking about that program.
00:44:04
Speaker 1: I'm logging right now with the Hard Rock Bet Sportsbook app right now. I've got my authentication code going. I'm going to talk a little bit about the game tonight with the spread there. Well, there's plenty of rewards. I love the rewards, by the way, how things are easy to find on the app. And we've partnered with Hard Rock Bet all season here at Sport and State. They're bringing us the odds, the lines, plus insights, analysis, and content all year long. And I love this promotion, this ability. Chad, because normally it's for new users. This is for all customers. Come one, come all. Bet five, get 100 in bonus bets. That's the way it should be. Reward the customers that are there and the new customers.
00:44:44
Speaker 2: I haven't even done this yet, but I need to. As an existing customer of Hard Rock Bet, that's right. Use that promo, Clay. HardRock.bet slash Clay. Also, Florida listeners, get in on the NFL Survivor Contest. Pick one team to win each week. Last survivor standing, split $ 2 million. Sign up and get all the details at hardrock.bet.com. That's hardrock.bet.com. Again, I have the three-leg parlay going for the bundle. I've got Memphis, Tennessee, and Marshall. Memphis, I'm getting 10.5 on that. I teased some of the lines out. I took Tennessee, Chad, at minus 9.5. I love that.
00:45:20
Speaker 1: I love that based on the 12.5. And Marshall against my alma mater, MTSU. I teased that down by two points, but... they'll probably double the spread in that. Tonight, I'm going anytime touchdown. I mean, I would combine. It's like minus 125, I think, for Christian McCaffrey. That means he's scoring.
00:45:42
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:45:43
Speaker 1: Vegas always knows. The guy gets to the end zone. And hopefully just for a good game. Right now, it's the 49ers favored. Excuse me, getting four points. Rams on a quick turn. Favored by four points in this one.
00:45:58
Speaker 2: Even though I lost out picking the underdog to win outright last night with the Patriots, should have been, would have, could have, should have in that game for the Patriots and for me with my bet. I think I'd probably go back to the well, and I'm going with a team that's embedded in the country for longer. I think the 49ers win outright tonight on the money line against the Rams. I think the Rams are going to be fine. The Rams are still my Super Bowl pick from the NFC, but I think the 49ers get it done tonight.
00:46:27
Speaker 1: You've got a bonus bet as well available for odds boost in the NFL. You do that on a four-leg parlay tonight for Hard Rock.
00:46:38
Speaker 2: You got Tennessee minus nine and a half. Is that right? Yes. Very interested in what this last 10 days has been like for Georgia Tech. Based on Brent Key telling everyone in the media that his team is soft. They didn't play physical. They got whipped. I'm thinking it has been a physical rough night. Ten days getting ready for this Tennessee game for Georgia Tech after the way they looked against Colorado. I expect to see a different Georgia Tech team. Also, based on what I saw, Tennessee's a more talented team. I mean, and they play really well against an inferior opponent. So I don't mind your bet, Hutton, is what I'm saying for Tennessee and Georgia Tech. Tennessee should be able to run the football, especially if Faison Brandon's legs are involved in the run game. And Tennessee's got some really good receivers, too, as Mike Matthews showed off in that first week. So it feels like a good week for Tennessee.
00:47:29
Speaker 1: I would say this about the matchup. Georgia Tech, very well coached. Same as Michigan. But at Georgia Tech, those are his dudes. They will listen to his message and his coaching, right? Michigan's going to have to prove it against Oklahoma. Looking forward to tomorrow. We'll get you into the weekend, talking some ball. Enjoy the entire slate of shows right here at Sporting State.
Speaker 1: You know, it could be Derek Dooley law, but it's Clay Travis law. Accidents, they don't wait for perfect timing. One bad moment, a wreck, a fall, a doctor who wasn't paying attention. Suddenly, you are fighting an insurance company that does this every single day. And that's why Clay started Clay Travis Law. He's a Vanderbilt Law grad. He built a firm around an idea that people deserve someone willing to pay attention, ask the hard questions, push back when things don't add up. experienced trial attorneys who bring the fight to corporations and insurers based in Nashville. And Chad, trusted across the country.
00:00:35
Speaker 2: That's right, Hutton. Car and truck wrecks, rideshare accidents, medical malpractice, premises liability, product liability. If you were wrong, they want to hear about it. Here's what they promise. Honesty. They don't sugarcoat your case. You'll hear what it's actually worth, not what you want to hear. And the case evaluation is free. No charge, no pressure, no hassle. Just tell them your story. Go to claytravislaw.com or call 877- 222-4444. That's claytravislaw.com. No case is too big or too small. Maybe it could be Travis Dooley and Associates. It could be a collaboration. Would it be Travis and Dooley or would it be Dooley and Travis? Who would get the higher mark on the marquee? That's the question.
00:01:17
Speaker 3: Is this a real thing, by the way, this Clay Travis Law?
00:01:20
Speaker 1: It's real.
00:01:21
Speaker 3: I mean, it's the first I've heard about it.
00:01:24
Speaker 4: On one hand, I'm sitting there, and my first thought was, this has got to be malpractice.
00:01:28
Speaker 3: Right out of the gate.
00:01:29
Speaker 4: But then I started thinking, you know, who better in front of a jury than the great Clay Travis? And then I'm really getting my feelings hurt that he didn't call me to see if I could come join the firm.
00:01:41
Speaker 3: I'm looking for a job right now anyway.
00:01:44
Speaker 1: Here's your invitation right there. The SEC could call both of you guys, right?
00:01:51
Speaker 4: Well, they could, but I don't think they have any interest because we would probably solve the problem too easily.
00:01:56
Speaker 2: Why don't you make them all that, man?
00:01:59
Speaker 1: Like the craziness of what Kiffin and LSU and just the back and forth of the fact that we normally don't see the SEC fight each other the way we.
00:02:08
Speaker 2: Just saw this.
00:02:10
Speaker 1: And we saw it happen, play out in real time right before the season.
00:02:14
Speaker 4: Well, I have so many thoughts just on that subject. My opening thought is it's that old line. It's easy to protest when somebody else is paying the price.
00:02:25
Speaker 3: And kudos to the SEC.
00:02:28
Speaker 4: For drawing the line in the sand and, you know, really playing chicken with LSU on that. It reminded me a little bit back in 1964. I don't know if you guys know this, but Georgia Tech was in the SEC, and they were kind of getting a little big for their britches, Bobby Dodd flexing their muscles, and they didn't like a rule the SEC passed. And they left the SEC and it really, you know, absolutely changed the whole trajectory of that program. And so I know LSU wasn't willing to pay that price over two tight ends or whatever it is. But, you know, the bigger issue is it's just another piece of frustration that I've had in what's going on in college athletics. And at some level, I was hoping it would play out because we need enough friction to to make a change. And it's been my frustration with Congress. You know, you guys know I ran for Senate last year, and that was one of the things that motivated me, because I've always felt like Congress just needs to do one simple thing, allow the NCAA to make and enforce rules without the fear of lawsuit and that preempt other state laws.
00:03:43
Speaker 3: That's it. All right. And That's all they need.
00:03:47
Speaker 4: And what I always said was the NCAA should have gone in and said, look, give.
00:03:52
Speaker 3: Us two years of protection to get our house in order. Two years.
00:03:56
Speaker 4: All we want is a little protection. We'll guarantee we're going to protect women's sports. We're going to protect the student athletes. And in two years, if we don't live up to that, you can take it away. And that's all they needed to ask for. But like everything else, these bills get come up. Everybody wants, well, put this in, put this in. Every time you put something in a bill, you're just asking for more opposition. And so that's why we're here where we are. It just doesn't make any sense to me. It's not a hard problem. Let the NCAA fix itself. But they can't do it until there's not this constant lawsuit going over and over and over every time they try to enforce something.
00:04:36
Speaker 2: Were you surprised? Because every SEC program is kind of its own bubble. And every town and every state has a little bit of its own bubble. But I was shocked at the level and the depths that LSU and the state government and everyone was willing to go to war for Lane Kiffin for so long. The answer seemed to me to be obvious the whole time. The reward is not worth the risk here for the players they're trying to bring in with all the lawsuit threats and they're going to kick you out. And it finally took the report being leaked that, hey, this is happening. They're going to vote on Thursday to remove LSU. And then all of a sudden an email and a letter is sent from Wade Roos, the president of LSU, to Greg Sankey saying, we consider this a moot point. All right, guys, you win. We filled out our roster. It's not going to be them. Were you surprised it took that long to get to that point, knowing what you know about LSU?
00:05:32
Speaker 3: I wasn't.
00:05:33
Speaker 4: And first of all, knowing what I know about Lane Kiffin and knowing what I know about LSU, if you guys recall, I spent five years there with Nick Saban back in 2000. And listen, it was one of the most fun five years of my coach. I absolutely love LSU. I love the people down there. But the level of passion that they have is it's pretty high on one end. But also what they're willing to do. I mean, these guys don't mind living in the gray area. I mean, all you got to do is look at the history of Louisiana politics. And, you know, they live in the gray. They're not afraid to be different. Um, they're proud of it as part of their culture. But like I said, it's easy to sit there and protest, but until you got to pay a price for it. And just like you said, it wasn't worth that. And so I wasn't surprised at both. I wasn't surprised at the fight, but I also wasn't surprised that eventually they were going to back down because they, uh, you know, the voice of reason sort of played out.
00:06:37
Speaker 2: You know, at one point, go ahead, hon. Oh yeah, I got, yeah. At one point you took over. For Lane Kiffin in Knoxville to be the head coach of Tennessee. So you saw kind of the aftermath of a Lane Kiffin coach program at that point. Do you buy into that he wants this to be happening? That any talk is good talk about his program and that? This is sort of a, hey, I'm happy about this. You know, that halftime speech was leaked about it's us against the world. Everybody hates you. They don't want us to succeed, all of that. Is this all good for Lane Kiffin? Or do you think that maybe he stepped in a little bit here and he didn't want it to go this far?
00:07:16
Speaker 3: Well, I can't speak for Lane. So I don't want to do it.
00:07:20
Speaker 4: But the one thing, you know, everybody talks about change and how much he– Lane has really not changed. He's kind of had his formula everywhere he's been, and he's mastered this era of social media, if we're just being honest.
00:07:36
Speaker 3: He really has. It was something I never embraced.
00:07:39
Speaker 4: I didn't like it, but he really owned it, and he's become really popular. I mean, he's a celebrity in a lot of ways. His popularity gets people excited, and when he went to Ole Miss and started winning, That was, you know, he parlayed that into this great job and a lot of money.
00:08:00
Speaker 3: And so he's mastered that social media.
00:08:04
Speaker 4: And outrage a little bit in ways, you know, I was at the Cowboys for five years, as you know, and there was no such thing as bad press in the eyes of Jerry Jones. I mean, he was the master at building excitement and enthusiasm around a program that And Lane's done the same thing, just in a different way.
00:08:24
Speaker 3: And so who am I to criticize? He's had tremendous success.
00:08:28
Speaker 4: He keeps, he got a lot of second and third and fourth chances in his coaching career. And a lot of that had to do with, you know, sort of his popularity and the brand he's created.
00:08:40
Speaker 1: Why do you think college game day is so nice to him? Instead of bringing up this topic of what went on and what we're all talking about, They're kind of, you know, they're talking about, like, welcome to LSU and it's all about football or whatever. And I'm thinking, man, what is the background of this whenever everyone is vitriol about this guy? He left his team and still wanted to coach. And there's people on game day saying, yeah, he should be able to. I don't understand that at all.
00:09:12
Speaker 4: You guys in the media ought to understand it better than anybody.
00:09:16
Speaker 3: I can't get it.
00:09:16
Speaker 4: You love guys that give you stories every day. So why would they want Lane Kiffin to go away?
00:09:22
Speaker 1: Because he's going to deliver.
00:09:24
Speaker 3: The goods every day. Give me some.
00:09:27
Speaker 4: Boy, it's getting boring here in college athletics. What's Lane going to say that I can write about? And so I've seen that in politics. I've seen that across the board. You know, the media loves these controversial figures. Because it gives them material, gives them clicks, and that's the world we're in right now.
00:09:45
Speaker 1: Hey, did you ever have a halftime speech like Kiffin delivered?
00:09:49
Speaker 3: Well, I'm just glad a lot of my stuff wasn't recorded.
00:09:52
Speaker 4: I'm not proud of a lot of things I said in the locker room.
00:09:57
Speaker 3: And I don't think any coach really wants it.
00:09:59
Speaker 2: No.
00:09:59
Speaker 3: But, you know, I mean, listen, I mean, Lane.
00:10:02
Speaker 4: Was getting his guys going. I mean, I give him, you know, you got to have a little chip on your shoulder. And most teams that win typically have some chip on their shoulder.
00:10:13
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:10:14
Speaker 3: And he's created that. He's created that. The world hates us. It's us against them.
00:10:19
Speaker 4: And that kind of mentality can really bring a team together and motivate them.
00:10:25
Speaker 3: And it certainly did that in game one.
00:10:27
Speaker 4: And so that part, you know, I think he's done a fabulous job of it. You know, the team wasn't distracted. They're focused. They're playing together. And they got a little rallying cry. And, you know, that's what you try to do every year as a coach. Bring your team together. Give them a little edge. Give them something to fight for. And he's created that.
00:10:46
Speaker 2: He's been great at it. We got to get into the clock situation. Oh, yeah. Michigan and Western Michigan, because I'm watching this and I recall sitting in what is now Nissan Stadium at the Music City Bowl between Tennessee and North Carolina. a game where you were the head coach, and celebrating my alma mater, Tennessee, what I thought was a win, only to see it later it wasn't a win, and leaving that stadium so pissed off about what I had just witnessed and not understanding fully what happened. And that sparked not one but two rule changes that moment. So you know a thing or two about clock issues at the end of a football game, right?
00:11:28
Speaker 4: Well, I've got to tell you, you know, there's– not many coaches who can truly relate to what he went through. But when I was watching that, I got a pit in my stomach. I hurt so bad for him because you're right. The music city bowl, we were playing North Carolina. I'll never forget it. And of course we had a game earlier in the year where it ended and we got called back. But of course we made a lot of mistakes in that one, but this one was egregious. And as you said, They had like 18 men on the field that clocked the ball. Two rules came out of it. The 10 second runoff in college football, which we didn't have at the time. And the clock rule where you have to have three seconds to clock it. If either one of those would have been implemented, which they should have been, we would have won the game. But I got to I got to say, you know, and listen, don't forget, I was a part of the Dez catch.
00:12:23
Speaker 3: I was coaching Dez.
00:12:24
Speaker 4: And then Blandino was defending this rule, and then all of a sudden the NFL changed it. So I've been a part of a lot of rule changes as a result of some tough losses. What I will tell you is I give that coach, Lance Taylor, just unbelievable, his press conference. And he took full responsibility, took accountability. He was proud of his team, did not complain about one time It motivated me, guys. I went back and watched my press conference. Because I watched his press conference. I said, man, that was incredible. And I would like my son to play for a guy like that. That's how you teach young people. I went back and watched mine. It wasn't as good as his. And, you know, I was young and had a lot of piss and vinegar. And I took responsibility. I said we could check. But, you know, I just couldn't let go. I was really angry. It affected me, and, you know, so I give him a lot of props. That's what great leadership looks like.
00:13:28
Speaker 2: Well, and you talked about the rules then, but also the difference in response now with immediately in the aftermath, it was you got the president of Western Michigan up there. You got Lance Taylor, the coach, and they're like, hey, we talked to him. They were transparent. We talked to Tony Petitti in the Big Ten. They showed us what happened. We buy what they're saying. We're okay with it. It's unfortunate. but we understand what they're saying. And then a couple of days later, coach, they come back and say, after further investigation, we don't buy their explanation. They didn't do the right thing by using a clock that wasn't the clock, which we all know there's a clock, not two clocks in a sporting contest. And they went off some other clock and saying that now they're going to fight it with the NCAA. They're going to fight it with a college football playoff committee. What do you think about the two responses? The initial one, followed by the follow-up once we start to get some more information about these two clocks?
00:14:26
Speaker 4: Well, when I heard about the initial one, I thought they had jumped the gun, to be frank with you.
00:14:33
Speaker 3: And look, I want to put this in two buckets.
00:14:36
Speaker 4: The coach, Coach Taylor, he needs to stay focused on, we take full responsibility and they got to get their eyes full. But as an administrator and an AD, You need to figure out, number one, if there was some funny business going on. And then number two, we got to make sure this never happens again. Now, the number two part, it seems, has already been corrected. The NCAA put out, you know, an issue. And listen, I've always said this, too, about instant replay and all this other crap. It drives fans nuts. And I said, you know what we need? We need a drunk fan standard. If a drunk fan at the bar can look at the replay and and make an easy decision, and they're all in agreement, that's what the decision should be. They get in all these technicalities and all this crap, and nobody buys all that. But I would make sure from an administrative standpoint, I would like to see fully transparent how that process went about. And they need to prove what went wrong and how it went wrong. But look, I'm going to take them for their word until something else comes out. I think the most important thing through it all is this won't happen again because the NCAA issued the rule, which should have been in place from the beginning, that we're going to lean on what the fans are seeing. And, you know, the last point on this is one of my frustrations with college football so much.
00:16:04
Speaker 3: Is we have all these rules. What should we do here? What should we do here? But then what?
00:16:10
Speaker 4: Over in this bucket, we have the NFL, who has pumped billions of dollars into creating the greatest product in all of sports. And you can learn from what they do. They've done all the research. They've done all this. And it's just so easy to adopt what they do. And the NFL already had that rule in place, and college didn't.
00:16:34
Speaker 1: Oh, by the way, the drunk fan. Are we talking blackout drunk like LSU or Kentucky?
00:16:39
Speaker 3: The reasonably drunk fan.
00:16:41
Speaker 4: You know, maybe four or five beers in you or something.
00:16:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, you and I could play that role.
00:16:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, you've got to be conscious. Like, you can't be passed out. But you've got to be able to. Your eyes, both eyes are open, and you've got a little buzz going and you're watching the game. I like the drunk fan standard.
00:16:57
Speaker 4: Or, you know, I used to have this. My wife, Allison, I would call it the Allison rule. You know, she would just look at it and go, well, that's a catch. She doesn't know all the technicality. And, you know, when you peel back, I'm like, she's right. I mean, what are we doing?
00:17:13
Speaker 2: And I heard the different media members and people defending it. Heather Denich at ESPN, I'm watching the next morning saying, hey, I talked to the Big Ten, and it's perfectly reasonable. Their clock showed this, and I'm thinking, I go back to A Few Good Men where he asked them, Tom Cruise asked Jack Nicholson, why the two orders? I'm thinking, why the two clocks? How are we talking about two clocks? How are we seeing something totally different? NBC's explaining it, that we are synced up with the stadium, the stadium clock in Ann Arbor, and somehow they're seeing a different clock. I'm with you in that it's so obvious that it should have been done immediately. Now, let me ask you this moving forward. Is there any chance in your mind, because you've been an AD before also, that anything actually comes of this in terms of that game being overturned in any way, and Michigan getting a loss and Western Michigan getting the win? Because the Big Ten's basically admitted fault now by saying they're going to show their replay system to everyone moving forward.
00:18:14
Speaker 4: Look, that's where I think we have to be careful how we go forward on this. I do not believe that they will be given the win. I mean, they're not the first or last team who's been screwed. I mean, think about the fifth down. I could go all through college football history. I think the more important thing that they need to do is figure out if something went wrong, and there needs to be accountability for those people that did something wrong.
00:18:42
Speaker 3: But as far as getting that win.
00:18:43
Speaker 4: Back, I mean– Hey, listen, you know, one of the hardest things we have in society now is bad things happen. Sometimes things aren't fair and you got to learn to move on and deal with it.
00:18:56
Speaker 3: You know, that's sort of how my generation grew up.
00:18:59
Speaker 4: Nowadays, we have a generation when anything seems unfair, you know.
00:19:04
Speaker 3: We got to get something back in return.
00:19:06
Speaker 4: And it's like, I think the most important thing is the consequences for the people who ever did anything wrong, if they did something wrong in the first place. But as far as getting the win back, I just don't see that happening. You talk about a slippery slope. Here we go. I mean, there may be lawsuits retroactive now, getting wins.
00:19:26
Speaker 1: So, I don't know, is LSU your top team right now in the SEC? And what happens to that ranking if Texas beats Ohio State? Georgia, of course, right there. How do you kind of tier this as we go into the heart of the season?
00:19:39
Speaker 4: I still have concerns about LSU. And look, first of all, I'm a homer, man. I'm all in for the dogs. I'm all in for Kirby.
00:19:47
Speaker 3: I think Gunner, you know, when you watch Georgia, first game, now look, they didn't play anybody. I acknowledge that.
00:19:53
Speaker 4: But it was about as clean a two quarters as I've ever seen any team Kirby's.
00:19:58
Speaker 3: Put out there. It was unbelievable.
00:20:00
Speaker 4: And Gunner, Gunner, I think, is the most underrated quarterback in college football. You know, everybody looks because he's got great character and he's six feet tall. They just assume he's just a gritty guy and that's it. What's underrated are two things to me. I think he's the most accurate passer in the SEC. Pure accuracy. And go watch the tape. And the second thing is, look at his clutch production.
00:20:25
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:20:26
Speaker 3: He plays better the more important the down is.
00:20:30
Speaker 2: All right.
00:20:30
Speaker 4: It's like that old saying, you got to play your best when your best is needed. Nobody did that better in Gunner Stockton last season. And just look at the games when it was all on the line. You guys remember the Tennessee one.
00:20:43
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:20:44
Speaker 4: And he's the only quarterback, by the way, that's won an SEC championship. So let's don't forget that. So I'm high on the dogs. Now, you look at the three most talented rosters, in my opinion. Georgia, Texas, LSU. Talented across the board. So then you go, well, who are the quarterbacks? Arch, we all know he's super talented. I think the two things Arch has to prove this year is, one, his accuracy.
00:21:12
Speaker 3: It's been inconsistent.
00:21:13
Speaker 4: But the bigger issue is, in the biggest games against the most elite defenses, when the pressure's coming, how are you going to perform?
00:21:22
Speaker 3: And that's the big hurdle he's got to clear.
00:21:24
Speaker 4: I mean, you look at Just last year, I think Ohio State seven points, Georgia 10 points. They played OU. I think he only had about 160 yards passing. You know, so that's going to be the key for Arch. Now, you look at LSU's Sam Leavitt. I got real concerns about his accuracy. And you saw it in the first drive. A pick happens. And more importantly, when he's under pressure, what happens? But what he's done in the.
00:21:51
Speaker 3: Past is his legs have bailed him out.
00:21:54
Speaker 4: And so the team that can apply pressure but keep him in the pocket and force him to make throws, I think that's going to be their Achilles heel. But time will tell. Listen, week one, one thing I learned. You never judge anything by week one. It's even more prevalent in today's environment because these rosters are all new. Hell, I'm going around going, where was he last year? It's so hard the first week, all these quarterbacks. Wait, I remember seeing this guy. Wasn't he on that team?
00:22:26
Speaker 2: Chad, this has been awesome. It's been great. I got one more for you because I was reminded of your press conferences in listening to Brent Key at Georgia Tech this week because– You know, they were talking about the Tennessee matchup this week with Georgia Tech. And a reporter said, hey, Josh Heupel was talking. He said he expects a really physical game. And Brent Key jumped in and said, oh, he did. He's like, was that before or after our last game? And he said it was after the last game. And he said, well, then Josh is being nice because we were soft. in our first game of the year. So if he thinks it's going to be physical, then he's just being nice to us because we weren't physical at all. And I'm like, I like that bit of honesty from Brent Key, a guy who has built that program around toughness and running the football, right? What do you think about that and that level of transparency and honesty? But also, like you mentioned earlier, probably a way to motivate his football team to not look the way they did on that Thursday night game against Colorado.
00:23:23
Speaker 4: Well, I'm a big fan of Brent Key, but I can't say I'm a fan of Tapp being a Georgia guy. But, you know, I was probably too honest, Chad. I think there's probably a balance of honesty and transparency, but, you know, you can.
00:23:36
Speaker 3: Also affect your team by being too honest.
00:23:39
Speaker 4: You know, you got to get a player to believe he can do things that he doesn't think he can believe. And I look back and that might have been one of many faults that I had as a coach. Man, I'd call it like it was and maybe that wasn't the best motivating.
00:23:54
Speaker 3: Tactic for some of our players.
00:23:55
Speaker 4: You know, the great coaches really I've been around have an element of brainwashing their players into thinking there's something they're not.
00:24:03
Speaker 3: And so I think it was a great line.
00:24:06
Speaker 4: I love Brent, but I'm pretty confident he's going to rally after that first game. That was a tough loss for him. So that'll be an interesting one. And, you know, look, the other interesting game for me this week is Oklahoma, Michigan.
00:24:19
Speaker 2: Yep.
00:24:20
Speaker 4: And, you know, I think Oklahoma better be careful because, you know, it's easy to sit there and say Michigan's no good after that first one. Man, you talk about backs against the wall, hungry to prove something. And it might have been even more so had they lost. So that'll be a big test. And, you know, I'm kind of hoping selfishly Oklahoma wins so we can get a 330 kick in Athens instead of a night game.
00:24:47
Speaker 1: I won't be too honest, by the way. The honesty, I think it's happening in Indiana. It's happening in Oregon. It's happening in Michigan this week with their quarterback and head coach. And it works. It works with those programs.
00:25:01
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:25:02
Speaker 3: Well, hey, listen, it's great to be here, man.
00:25:05
Speaker 4: I talked about state for the last year when I lost my mind and went to politics.
00:25:11
Speaker 3: It's good to get back.
00:25:12
Speaker 4: In the sport mode. And so I appreciate you guys having me on. And I hope to be back.
00:25:18
Speaker 2: We are two guys that are way more in sport mode than state mode also. So we appreciate you joining us. Thanks for the intro to the show too, Coach. Really appreciate it. We'll get you on again soon to talk some ball. Thank you so much.
00:25:29
Speaker 1: PlayTravisLaw.com if you need a job.
00:25:32
Speaker 2: PlayTravisLaw.com, Coach. That's right. Thank you. Thank you, bud.
00:25:37
Speaker 1: He's awesome, man. I love Dooley so much.
00:25:41
Speaker 2: He's also great because he has a reference to everything. Absolutely. He was an athletic director at Louisiana Tech and a head coach. He's been a head coach in the SEC at Tennessee. He's been a coordinator in the SEC at Missouri. He worked for Nick Saban for years. He coached for Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys. In the NFL, he's been a lawyer like Clay and has that legal background too. So that will not be the last time you see Derek Dooley on this show.
00:26:08
Speaker 3: Love that one.
00:26:09
Speaker 2: I would say this too. You don't learn how to do this.
00:26:12
Speaker 1: This is a gift. You're able to speak to somebody for five minutes and you feel like you've known them for five years. That's Derek Dooley because he has a reference to everything that he can, and a scope that's a lot of fun. We need to get the historical references going too, some history lessons, Chad.
00:26:30
Speaker 2: The drunk fan standard. I'll remember that now.
00:26:32
Speaker 1: The drunk fan standard is.
00:26:33
Speaker 2: Drunk fan standard for replay is perfect.
00:26:36
Speaker 1: I mean, he's the commissioner of that league right there.
00:26:40
Speaker 2: Hey, Hutton, you mentioned it. I want to get into it in the next segment. Bryce Underwood.
00:26:44
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
00:26:45
Speaker 2: A budding rivalry between head coach and quarterback. We've got to discuss.
00:26:49
Speaker 1: And there's a new standard in Michigan with that, too. But it's being said. It's Hutton Withrow here at Sporting State. David Crockett, a volunteer. Davy Crockett and Crockett Coffee. Started by Clay Travis, Buck Sexton, and Buck's brother, Mason. Named after Davy Crockett, the hunter, storyteller, patriot, backwoods legend. Look at the logo. It tells you all about the attitude here. 100% pure Arabica. High altitude beans. Small batch roasted right here in America. Tennessee, the heart of the country. It ships fresh roasted. It's not sitting on a warehouse shelf for six months. And you can get the light, medium, dark roast. The dark roast called King Mountain Roast. decaf, organic, even a mushroom blend, whole bean ground or K-cups, however you make it in the morning.
00:27:36
Speaker 2: However you want it. However you want it with your subscription also. You can set up that subscription, shows up on your schedule, change or cancel at any time as the free market intended. Free shipping on orders of $ 59 or more. And there's a discount for veterans. And Crockett partners with Tunnels to Towers, building mortgage-free homes for the families of fallen service members and for catastrophically injured veterans. And first responders, good coffee, made in America, doing some good, CrockettCoffee.com. That's Crockett, C-R-O-C-K-E-T-T, coffee.com. Hutton, I've got to raise something here before we get into Michigan and Bryce Underwood. Okay. Just talk to Derek Dooley about the whole issue at LSU versus the SEC and them eventually relenting. The amount of LSU fans, I am all for you defending your school, okay? But the amount of fans, not just fans, Glenn Gilbo, a guy that we worked with, who's written a column about this and continues to tweet me about it, acting like LSU won something in this, that they exposed the SEC. How? I do not understand this, okay? Philip writes, I'm going to read this tweet and then explain. This is like our old mashed carrots back in the day. I don't see it that way. I see is LSU exposed the weakness in the rules from the NCAA and the SEC. Rules sometimes don't get solidified until challenged. That's how most of the rules of law are created. Rule or non-defined rules have to be challenged to get the final rule or law. If you are arguing this, you are arguing that LSU did this in order to implement a rule that wasn't on the books, which it was, by the way, about playing people who had signed pro contracts, It's against the rules. There's just been separate people who have filed motions in courts to say that it's not against the rules. But if you're arguing that you're acting like LSU was this white knight who had to challenge the system in order to define a rule, when in fact you are arguing, well, they exposed the weakness of the SEC. The weakness of the SEC that was exposed... when you submitted to the rule of the SEC. In the end of all this, this thing ended when LSU bowed down and sent a letter to the commissioner saying, hey, we're all on the same team here. We agree. This issue is now moot. We've fully rostered non-NFL players on our roster as you wished and as SEC rules allow. We're living in a fantasy land here, if you think it's anything other than that.
00:30:10
Speaker 1: This is no different, I think, than the major college football towns where you're in your own bubble and it's an echo chamber.
00:30:17
Speaker 2: Oh, sure.
00:30:18
Speaker 1: Where you have the Attorney General saying they're going to take all measures. It's headline news more than it is sports. The governor, again, and Dooley pointed out the history of the Louisiana government getting involved in athletics, but even the Attorney General's commenting that Sankey got up there and refused to answer questions, acting like he didn't know answers to certain rules. And that's where they're trying to say they exposed. Well, again, it's stupid, but that's the echo. They're repeating what they're hearing in their reports.
00:30:55
Speaker 2: We're going to tie this back to Michigan and Western Michigan. There are times where there's not a clear-cut winner and loser. That is an example. Western Michigan should have won that game. They didn't. Michigan got the extra play. There's some gray area there. You're really searching for the gray area to not see what everyone else, everyone that's not associated with the state of Louisiana or LSU sees this very clearly. You are the exception. You are the problem. If you do not understand that the way this thing ended was you tried to do something The SEC said, don't do it. You continue to try to do it. The SEC threatened you with expulsion. You continue to act like you were going to do it. And finally, the day before the vote was going to happen or two days before, you relented and you said, you're right. You're our daddy. We won't do it. And that is a loss for you. That's clear cut. Now, if you want to get into the real losers here or the players that got duped into leaving and trying to get cut from their NFL team or wanting to do this other than that, that's a separate issue. I'm going to tell you the true loser in this, Hutton. If they sue LSU and it goes to discovery and they have to start to show text and and calls that were made from Lane Kiffin's staff to these players to get them to violate an NFL contract. LSU's already a loser in this. You could be a true loser if it comes to that point, and you're found to have been tampering with NFL contracts or players that were currently on an NFL roster at that point. That's neither here nor there. We're shutting the book on that for now. Bryce Underwood in Michigan.
00:32:35
Speaker 1: I just want to add in, that would also be tied to Rosenhaus. Instead of just the team or the player, it would be Rosenhouse Sports who's really pumping it from the player's perspective.
00:32:48
Speaker 2: He's representing the player.
00:32:49
Speaker 1: And I think the reaction from the fans specifically, the average drunk fan, as Dooley said, I would say this reaction would have happened at the major level of college programs at Ole Miss last year if Kiffin had stayed. the fan base would be up in arms over this. Same thing at Texas. The list goes on and on. Certainly at Ohio State, we would be seeing the same reaction in that area. I don't know about from the government perspective, but from the fan base perspective on socials, for sure. They act like they're good enough.
00:33:26
Speaker 3: They're good as it is.
00:33:28
Speaker 1: I don't think one of the players would have even started. I think he was a third stringer.
00:33:32
Speaker 2: We know how fans react to things, so I'm not shocked or surprised at By that, you're just really reaching if it's like we're exposing something here. Your goal was to play those players. Just a week ago, all LSU fans were arguing how they should be allowed to play. And Clay wrote about this, I think, really well. Same LSU fans who are bitching about Charles Bediako playing at Alabama are now okay with it when it's happening for their school.
00:33:58
Speaker 3: Right, right, right. Exactly.
00:34:00
Speaker 2: I bet I can go back and find an article from Glenn Gilbo that's bemoaning Alabama playing Charles Badiaco at some point, and now it's like, oh, we're exposing the ills of the SEC and the NCAA. Give me a break. Come on.
00:34:12
Speaker 1: Jet, I've got a side issue with the whole Bryce Underwood presser. I want to let you set this up, though, for your reaction because mine's going to be different, I think.
00:34:26
Speaker 2: So Bryce Underwood, highly paid quarterback at Michigan. Yes. Not a good first year. He's regressed, it looked like, before game one. Kyle Whittingham was asked about it the day before we're going to play this clip, and he was asked about his quarterback situation. He said, look, it's not an infinite thing. He's got to be better. He's our quarterback right now, but that could change. The opposite of what we would call a vote of confidence, a true vote of confidence from the head coach, was the answer that Kyle Whittingham gave. So now we're going to show you Bryce Underwood when a reporter brought up what Kyle Whittingham said. This is Bryce Underwood's response.
00:35:02
Speaker 3: Your reaction to McCutcheon's comments about how your job isn't permanent?
00:35:08
Speaker 2: It was comments about that?
00:35:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, he said that your job isn't infinite. You know, that's the starter. That's cool.
00:35:17
Speaker 2: I see that.
00:35:19
Speaker 3: What's your reaction? It's cool.
00:35:22
Speaker 2: It's cool. Cool. That's cool. That's cool. That was the response from Bison Underwood. Hutton, your response to that?
00:35:34
Speaker 1: How does the media relations department not prep him for this? How's that possible? You know you're going to be asked about it. It happened yesterday. Good point.
00:35:44
Speaker 2: 24 hours later.
00:35:47
Speaker 1: He looks just nonchalant and carefree about this way too much. But the response by Michigan's SIDs were even worse. They didn't prep him for the question that would have you banned if you were in Nashville.
00:36:06
Speaker 2: That's a great angle I was not thinking about, but you're right. That would have gotten that reporter banned in Nashville and a terrible job by the Media Relations Department of Michigan. Here's what I saw with Bryce Underwood. He looks like a dude who got paid a ton of money who doesn't really care. That's how he comes across when he gives that response. He's got zero enthusiasm about him. He's not going to follow up with any explanation as to how he's the leader of the team. And he wants to prove that. There seems to be very little motivation. I'm just judging this based on his body language.
00:36:35
Speaker 3: Right, I agree.
00:36:36
Speaker 2: And now he answered with coo, coo. That's coo. He sounds like a guy who's also like, you know what? If they bench me, fine. I believe so much in myself and my value, even though the value has diminished since his time at Michigan, that I can just go in the transfer portal and go somewhere else and get paid a ton of money again to go somewhere else. He would get paid to go somewhere else. I don't think it's as much as he's getting paid right now. If he ends up benched at Michigan, it's going to be a lot less. It's going to be a bargain basement discount deal. But you still could leave and go get paid and go start somewhere if you're Bryce Underwood because he's such a highly thought-of talent that will be given another chance. But that, to me, it struck me as a guy who is unmotivated, who got fat and happy with his paychecks, who thinks that he is entitled– to the starting job at Michigan, who probably isn't getting along with his head coach, who's a bit more of a hard-ass than what he's been accustomed to. I see big problems at Michigan, and not just because of their play in that first game. I see big problems with Bryce Underwood and his head coach.
00:37:42
Speaker 1: But Michigan has a skill, just briefly, they have a skill of turning a problem into a solution somehow. because they fall forward whenever they fall. They hire the coach who is, at my perception of this, and again, we don't know, maybe they did prep him for these questions and that was his response. That's even worse.
00:38:05
Speaker 2: I don't know.
00:38:06
Speaker 1: But they fall forward when they need a coach who came in late to the process because he was available. with everything going down in Michigan, and he ends up being the perfect coach, which we pointed out during the time, he's the perfect guy to come in and recreate the brand and the standard of what it means to play for the Wolverines. And he's shooting people straight. You can tell by his answer about the quarterback who's getting paid a lot. He's not putting up with the same stuff that was there, that brought Underwood there to begin with. That's great for Michigan, even though right now things don't look that great. They get an extra play, and somehow they complete a Hail Mary. I mean, that's what the quarterback– I'm just thinking, like, they fall, but they fall forward. It works out generally in their– it normally goes in their favor, despite the bad press that they have.
00:38:55
Speaker 2: They didn't have– they won the championship. Yeah, all the stuff with Jim Harbaugh, they still win the national title that year. The Jawan Howard punching staff members eventually getting fired and hitting rock bottom, and that leads them to Dusty May, who quickly turns it around and wins the national title. for Michigan. Sharone Moore, I do believe there's some program rot from Sharone Moore with that team, and I think we saw that in the first game. I think Bryce Underwood is a symptom of that, honestly. That's a guy who committed to play for Sharone Moore. He got paid a ton of money to go do it, and he ain't the guy. I think Michigan fans, if they're being honest, with themselves right now, they know he ain't the guy.
00:39:32
Speaker 1: And he didn't have the spring portal. He didn't have the spring portal. Nope. Chad, coming up, we've got some lots to get to and much more here on Putney Withrow. We are presented by Hard Rock Bet.
00:39:48
Speaker 3: It's hardrock.bet.com.
00:39:50
Speaker 2: It is Huntley Withrum.
00:39:51
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00:40:27
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00:40:51
Speaker 1: Chad, it is time for our Hard Rock Bet Lock of the Week. And we'll see who's going to ride with us and see who's going to follow and win with us.
00:41:04
Speaker 2: How about that? Who are you going with on your lock? So Hutton, here's what I know about James Franklin. We have a history with James Franklin. This is our parlay from yesterday. So I'll go ahead and tell you the one that we're going to get to. James Franklin of Virginia Tech, I think this is a perfect marriage of coach and job. James Franklin, he performs well in games against inferior competition where you're going to get some excitement going. Where James Franklin falters, we saw at Penn State, is against teams that are as good as his team or better. And most teams falter against better teams. Old Dominion is not a better team than Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech and James Franklin will continue to build the energy train moving forward and get this team where they need to go with their fan base. They are going to blow the doors off of Old Dominion. Virginia Tech, 11 a.m. Central kickoff at Lane Stadium. I think they're a 20.5-point favorite in this game. Strike up the band. Virginia Tech's going to win by way more than that.
00:42:09
Speaker 3: You know what?
00:42:09
Speaker 1: I know it was yesterday's parlay we saw. I think you will combine with me. I'll take yours and I'll raise you one. Give me Western Michigan minus 27.5. Strike up the band at minus 105. 1-800-ASSWIP after what happened last week, Chad. I'm with Coach Dooley. They've handled everything properly. They've handled it the right way. They have leadership and they have a standard that the players... I've responded with as well. I think they're mature. I think they know how to handle the week. And they'll let the business be handled by the business leaders. I think they handle business on Saturday. Give me Western Michigan to be 2-0 going into Sunday.
00:42:55
Speaker 2: I love how we're not pussyfooting around here on this show. We're going right in. We're going for big lines. We're not taking the 1.5 points, bro. You're going 27.5. I'm going 20.5. Let's take those big numbers. I'll also find, and maybe this is just psychological with me, I have way more success at 11 a.m. kickoffs and late, late night games than I do throughout the day. When I'm betting with Hard Rock Bet throughout a college football Saturday, like this past weekend, my successful parlays, the morning parlay, the 11 a.m. games, and the late games. So when I started looking for the lock this week, I was looking at 11 a.m. Central kickoff, 12 p.m. Eastern at Virginia Tech. And that's why I'm taking James Franklin in the Hokies. I also think that James Franklin will do a good job this week, next week against East Carolina, and then against James Madison. He's got an opportunity here to really get something going for Virginia Tech, at least early in their season. Sorry, it's at Maryland next week, at Boston College, as they get into a Big Ten game and then ACC play. I think he's going to get off to a hot start at Virginia Tech and get people talking about that program.
00:44:04
Speaker 1: I'm logging right now with the Hard Rock Bet Sportsbook app right now. I've got my authentication code going. I'm going to talk a little bit about the game tonight with the spread there. Well, there's plenty of rewards. I love the rewards, by the way, how things are easy to find on the app. And we've partnered with Hard Rock Bet all season here at Sport and State. They're bringing us the odds, the lines, plus insights, analysis, and content all year long. And I love this promotion, this ability. Chad, because normally it's for new users. This is for all customers. Come one, come all. Bet five, get 100 in bonus bets. That's the way it should be. Reward the customers that are there and the new customers.
00:44:44
Speaker 2: I haven't even done this yet, but I need to. As an existing customer of Hard Rock Bet, that's right. Use that promo, Clay. HardRock.bet slash Clay. Also, Florida listeners, get in on the NFL Survivor Contest. Pick one team to win each week. Last survivor standing, split $ 2 million. Sign up and get all the details at hardrock.bet.com. That's hardrock.bet.com. Again, I have the three-leg parlay going for the bundle. I've got Memphis, Tennessee, and Marshall. Memphis, I'm getting 10.5 on that. I teased some of the lines out. I took Tennessee, Chad, at minus 9.5. I love that.
00:45:20
Speaker 1: I love that based on the 12.5. And Marshall against my alma mater, MTSU. I teased that down by two points, but... they'll probably double the spread in that. Tonight, I'm going anytime touchdown. I mean, I would combine. It's like minus 125, I think, for Christian McCaffrey. That means he's scoring.
00:45:42
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:45:43
Speaker 1: Vegas always knows. The guy gets to the end zone. And hopefully just for a good game. Right now, it's the 49ers favored. Excuse me, getting four points. Rams on a quick turn. Favored by four points in this one.
00:45:58
Speaker 2: Even though I lost out picking the underdog to win outright last night with the Patriots, should have been, would have, could have, should have in that game for the Patriots and for me with my bet. I think I'd probably go back to the well, and I'm going with a team that's embedded in the country for longer. I think the 49ers win outright tonight on the money line against the Rams. I think the Rams are going to be fine. The Rams are still my Super Bowl pick from the NFC, but I think the 49ers get it done tonight.
00:46:27
Speaker 1: You've got a bonus bet as well available for odds boost in the NFL. You do that on a four-leg parlay tonight for Hard Rock.
00:46:38
Speaker 2: You got Tennessee minus nine and a half. Is that right? Yes. Very interested in what this last 10 days has been like for Georgia Tech. Based on Brent Key telling everyone in the media that his team is soft. They didn't play physical. They got whipped. I'm thinking it has been a physical rough night. Ten days getting ready for this Tennessee game for Georgia Tech after the way they looked against Colorado. I expect to see a different Georgia Tech team. Also, based on what I saw, Tennessee's a more talented team. I mean, and they play really well against an inferior opponent. So I don't mind your bet, Hutton, is what I'm saying for Tennessee and Georgia Tech. Tennessee should be able to run the football, especially if Faison Brandon's legs are involved in the run game. And Tennessee's got some really good receivers, too, as Mike Matthews showed off in that first week. So it feels like a good week for Tennessee.
00:47:29
Speaker 1: I would say this about the matchup. Georgia Tech, very well coached. Same as Michigan. But at Georgia Tech, those are his dudes. They will listen to his message and his coaching, right? Michigan's going to have to prove it against Oklahoma. Looking forward to tomorrow. We'll get you into the weekend, talking some ball. Enjoy the entire slate of shows right here at Sporting State.
