Mike McDermott: Hello and welcome to Hashmarks and Working Tools. My name is Mike McDermott. I'm your host today and my co-host sitting right here in his Piqua Indians garb, Joel K.
Joel Cade: And working tools. My name is Mike McDermott. I'm your host today and my co host sitting right here in his Pikqua Indians garb. Let's go blue. Joel King. Welcome, Howdy. So yeah, I've
Mike McDermott: Howdy.
Joel Cade: got the the Pickwa shirt that we talked about in the last episode that you got from the Pickwa game. I'm wearing that now. You
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm. I caught it.
Joel Cade: caught it. Caught it from the the shirt gun. I'm now wearing
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: this because it's a big week in Pickwa football. I've got my Cleveland Indians Chief Otewa, Chief Chief Wahoo is what the India the pet the Cleveland Indians call him Chi Wahoo. We called him Chief Otewa but Chief Otewa hat on here and Pikwa's playing Troy this week so I gotta show my my my
Mike McDermott: Ooh.
Joel Cade: Piqua spirit, you know.
Mike McDermott: Yeah, for folks that are not indoctrinated in our local high school lore, the Piqua Troy rivalry is quite big. It's mm hmm.
Joel Cade: Yeah, it's like the oldest in the st what's the longest played in the state.
Mike McDermott: Longest played in the state.
Joel Cade: And it's like the fourth or fifth longest played in east of the Mississippi River. I mean it it is a huge thing. And I can give you a little background on it if you want. I mean it all started over you know, the county seat in the courthouse wars and you know, Troy got the courthouse and and the state kinda realized that, you know, maybe they screwed up and they paid for a hotel that went into Piqua and now that hotel is the Piqua Library. if you go into the Pickqua Library it's absolutely gorgeous. But that was kinda like the you know the constellation prize it it's just it would be kinda like the referees saying, Yeah, we actually screwed that up at the end of the Michigan game and we're gonna like make it up to you, you know, kind of situation. So it's been there's been bad blood between the two towns for a long time. when Troy built the courthouse, they put Lady Justice on top of it and purposely put her rear end facing Piqua. so there's there's a lot of bad blood between the two towns. I think it was actually I can't prove this, but I had heard from a lawyer in town that Bickwa and Troy were officially at war with each other up until the early two thousands. So it it's it's that kind of situation. And you know, when two team when two towns are very similar and a lot of people who grew up in Pickwa live in Troy, Troy then Piqua, I mean it it it's it's like twins fighting each other, you know. They're they're brothers but they hate each other. You know, kinda thing. So you brought up the Michigan one second deal.
Mike McDermott: So you brought up the Michigan one second deal. let's
Joel Cade: Let's let's spend a couple of minutes diving into
Mike McDermott: let's spend a couple of minutes diving into that one.
Joel Cade: we're gonna spend more than a couple minutes because I'm sure we're gonna get into a long debate over this, but I'm gonna let you have your spill first, man. Just go for it before I have a whole diatribe. Yeah, so no, I mean week one of the NCAA football games did not disappoint. we ended up with some excellent games to watch. of course
Mike McDermott: So yeah, so I mean week one of the NCAA football games did not disappoint. we ended up with some excellent games to watch. of course, usually the first game of the season is is you know kind of like the powder puff kind of game where you've got you've got a a a big team versus a very, very small team.
Joel Cade: Usually the first game of the season is is, you know, kind of like the powder puff kind of game where you've got you've got a a a a big team versus a very, very small team.
Mike McDermott: And in exchange for playing that game, the small team gets to walk away with a check for $1.5 million. Okay. So
Joel Cade: And in exchange for playing that game, the small team gets to walk away with a check for one point five million dollars. Okay, so
Mike McDermott: in this example we are talking about with Michigan, yeah, Michigan plays Western Michigan. And because of everyone watching on television and all of the advertisers and stuff like that,
Joel Cade: In this example we are talking about with Michigan, you know, Michigan plays western Michigan and because of everyone watching on television and all of the advertisers and stuff like that
Mike McDermott: there's a lot of money going around watch for advertisers in that game. So the the take home bag for Western Michigan is one point
Joel Cade: Michigan is
Mike McDermott: five mil. Okay. So the expectation is is that a much, much smaller team, a Mac team, is going to lose to a Big Ten team, right? That's the expectation. And that nearly didn't happen.
Joel Cade: The expectation is is that a much, much smaller team, a Mac team, is going to lose to a big ten team. Right? That's the expectation. And that nearly didn't happen. Right. This is like the the preseason for college football. Week zero and week
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: one are like the preseason for college football. So you line up a powder you a powder puff girl or something, you put her out there and you you
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: beat the crap out of her and and you get your preseason in, you get your work done. Of course, you know the film's famous upset is the two thousand seven Appalachian State beating Michigan. that's that's
Mike McDermott: Yes. Again, yeah.
Joel Cade: that's one of the big big upsets. so every once in a while this kind of thing happens. But I'm gonna let you continue narrating. So yeah it's preseason. Go ahead. It you know it happens usually to to to Michigan
Mike McDermott: Yeah. It you know, it happens usually to to to Michigan.
Joel Cade: So you know, just to walk through what happened here, just so that anybody's not figured out what's happening before like I go into this long discussion about what they should have done. what what happened was this. Western Michigan kicks field goal, goes up by five, kicks the ball off, Michigan gets the ball to twenty five with about I mean, I've got it pulled up, so it's about thirty seconds left, thirty five seconds left. I'll get the exact number. Thirty five seconds left. Confirming. Yes, thirty-five seconds left in twenty-five. They kind of drive fifteen yards to the fifty yard line. The the officials call a timeout because the game of the game clock read eight seconds. They moved it up to nine seconds. Okay. Then they ran a play, and this quarterback underwood, like an idiot, ran around for s seven seconds, then threw the ball, and threw the ball like an idiot out the back of the end zone anyway. And Incomplete, game over, Western Michigan wins. but then the Big Ten officials say, Not so fast, my friend. They pull out the the replay and then claim that the game I mean there's all kinds of stuff out there. The game clock was different from the official clock, even though they had just reset it before the play. Yep. Right before the play. Yep. Right before the play. So they corrected it.
Mike McDermott: They did. Yeah. They did touch the they touched the clock and they advanced it by one second. They moved it from eight seconds to nine seconds. Yeah, the game clock. Right before the play. Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: right before the play. And they claim that the Western Michigan defender jumped from out of bounds so that when he catches the where he touches the ball, that's when the the clock has to stop. Okay? And they claim, against all video evidence, that this guy touched the ball at one second. Therefore, they put a second back on the clock. Michigan comes out from the fifty, throws the sail Mary, and they Catch the Hail Mary and they win the game and the Michigan crowd storms the field like they'd just cheated themselves to another national championship. I mean, like it was it was insane. It was like a stupid scene. Like it was dumb. It was dumb. I was embarrassed for them.
Mike McDermott: It was. It was embarrassing. I was embarrassed for them.
Joel Cade: It was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. So so Mike, I want your thoughts on this 'cause I have a lot of thoughts, but my thoughts are more like strategic and clock management and how Western Michigan kinda made at least two fatal errors that caused this to happen, but they could have made more, but they didn't. But
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: they made two fatal errors in this situation that could have won them the game. But I'm gonna let you have your piece before I go off on a diatribe here.
Mike McDermott: Well, yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, I mean I I think, you know, as a I'm I'm more of an NFL guy, so I follow the rules more closely on NFL than I do college football. So like, you know, there may be gaps in my understanding what's going on here. And I think a lot of people feel that way. I think a lot of people are in that situation where, you know, they they they saw what happened with their eyes. You know, I'm watching the ball come down and I see the clock click zero.
Joel Cade: think a lot of people feel that way. I think a lot of people are in that situation where, you know, they they they saw what happened with their eyes. You know, I'm watching the ball come down and I see the clock click zero,
Mike McDermott: The guy it bounces off of his hand and it lands on the ground. And I'm like, game over. Done. The game is over. Right. And it's very, very clear, you know, whether you're an
Joel Cade: the guy it bounces off of his hand and it lands on the ground and I'm like, game over. The game is over, right? And it's very, very clear, you know, whether you're
Mike McDermott: experienced football watcher or a non-experienced football watcher, that game ended. It said final at the bottom, right? You know, they put the put the final on there, right? And but, you know, then of course they went back.
Joel Cade: an experienced football watcher or a non experienced football watcher, that game ended. Right. They said final at the bottom, right? You know, put the put the final on there, right? And but, you know, then of course they went back,
Mike McDermott: You know, and did this replay thing, which is new to, you know, which is really new to college football, right? It started out in the NFL.
Joel Cade: you know, and did this replay thing, which is new to you know, which is really new to college football, right? It started out in the NFL.
Mike McDermott: but this whole replay thing, I I guess, I mean, end of the game forces a re forces a replay, and then they go back and they look at this clock situation. And so the clocks on on the entire field, all the clocks are at zero, except for one clock, apparently one that we don't get to see, that had
Joel Cade: This whole replay thing, I I guess I mean end of the game forces forces a replay, and then they go back and they look at this clock situation. And so the clocks on on the entire field, all the clocks are at zero, except for one clock, apparently one that we don't get to see, that had,
Mike McDermott: you know, a tenth of a second or something something like that.
Joel Cade: you know, a tenth of a second or something something. No, they said it was one second. Like did you see the video the Big Ten put out? It had one second on their video, so it it it was as if it didn't even tick off. But as you're watching
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah. But but as you but as you're watching the video, Joel, the ball's coming in and it's at one second. And it's at one second. And it's it's still at one second. And then it touches his hand and it's still at one second. And then one second again. I'm like, I'm like, wait a second here. Like.
Joel Cade: It's at one second and it's at one second and it's at still at one second and then it touches his hand and it's still at one second and then one second again. I'm like I'm like, wait a second here. Yeah, on the repo video, right? The one that in the Big Ten put out. Yeah. You're like, What what is this? That is the longest one second I have ever seen. Like, did it ever change to zero? Like the
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah. That is the longest one second I have ever seen. Like, did it ever change to zero? Like d d do you have footage of it actually going to zero, you know?
Joel Cade: Do you have footage of it actually going wondering if they just like paused that 'cause it's like a side like if you haven't seen it, it's a side by side video, right? So you have video on one side and audio of the game. So the audio being the officials discussing it. And they're discussing the the visual thing. On the other kind of split screen is the clock. So you're you're assuming that the clock and this video are synced. Okay, the two videos side by side are synced. I'm not sure they are. I think you just got a picture of a zero colon or some zero colon zero one, which means it's one second. They're not playing tenths of seconds. They're playing the seconds, the the whole second, right? And
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: then they got these people talking. I'm not sure that that video is is moving. Right. Yeah. It looked like it was very steady.
Mike McDermott: Right. Yeah. It looked like it was very static. And there I and I what I was expecting was them to come out with some sort of video like there's a tenth of a second or a hundredth of a second and that they that they're like, Okay, so there's still a fraction of a section second going on there, you know?
Joel Cade: was them to come out with some sort of video like there's a tenth of a second, a hundredth of a second, and that they that they're like, okay, so there's still a fraction of a section second going on there, you know. So how this works, by the way, with fractions of seconds,
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: is that like when you start a quarter, okay, they will start that quarter at like fifteen minutes point nine tenths of a second. So they'll run off the tenths of a second at the start of the quarter so that when you get to fifteen minutes you've run off the tenths. Right? And then you just run off whole seconds. You're
Mike McDermott: All of the f yes, ran the tents off, yeah. Yes.
Joel Cade: not running off tenths of seconds. Just
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: just in case anybody was wondering how that actually works. That's how that works. You actually play a fifteen minute point nine second quarter. And it's because they run that point nine tenths of a second off at the start of the game, start of the quarter, all that kind of stuff.
Mike McDermott: Right. So you don't it so y it doesn't come down to this one second plus a few milliseconds right afterwards. It does not ever come down to that.
Joel Cade: So y it doesn't come down to this one second plus a few milliseconds. Correct. It does not ever come down to that. Yeah, there's no like, okay, we've kit to zero, but then we've got like nine tenths of a second to run off. They ran that nine tenths of a second off at the start of the quarter.
Mike McDermott: Correct. Yeah. So some of the prognostication early was that there was some sort of tenth of a second clock that people were looking at in the in the booth and that was what was occurring there. You know, and th there's no such thing, right? Literally in the, you know, in the rules, right, in NCA rules, there is no tenth of a second, right? There's no i and NFL is the same, right? So you so say say when you when you spike the ball.
Joel Cade: No such thing, right? Literally, in the you know, in the rules, right, in NCA rules, there is no tenth of a second, right? There's no i and NFL is the same, right? So you so say say when you when you spike the ball,
Mike McDermott: Right. When you're when you when the offense comes up to spike the ball to stop the clock, right? The the clock starts, the quarterback has the ball in his hand, he throws it down on the ground real fast. Right.
Joel Cade: right? When you're when you when the offense comes up to spike the ball to stop the clock, right? The the clock starts, the quarterback has the ball in his hand, he throws it down on the ground real fast.
Mike McDermott: When you spike the ball, you don't actually expend an entire second, but you do on the clock. You do on the clock. The clock advances automatically by one second because it has to demonstrate that time was expired. Right. More time than what was.
Joel Cade: Right, when you spike the ball, you don't actually expend an entire second. Correct. What you do on the clock. Correct. What you do on the clock. The clock advances automatically by one second because it has to demonstrate that time was expired. By more time than what was,
Mike McDermott: There was a play that occurred and time happened and it happens to be one second, right?
Joel Cade: there was a play that occurred, and time happened and it happens to be one second. Right?
Mike McDermott: And so, you know, we don't have, we don't ever get into these situations when you have a tenth of a second or a partial second left, right? At the end of a game or after a spike and stuff like that, and go, hey, no clock. It's like they didn't even start the clock, right? One second is the the smallest enumeration of time that you can have, right?
Joel Cade: And so, you know, we don't have we don't ever get into these situations when you have a tenth of a second or a partial second left. Correct at the end of a game or after a spike and stuff like that and go, Hey, no clock it's like they didn't even start the clock, right? One second is the the s the smallest enumeration of time that you can have, right?
Mike McDermott: And the NCAs and Big Ten, right, put out videos and that were the same video and and explaining that there was still one second on there. But it was the the video clip that they that they advanced for us didn't actually show the football touching his hand. Like this it doesn't actually show that because they it cut off the top, right? So
Joel Cade: And the NCAAs a and Big Ten, right, put out videos and that were the same video and and explaining that there was still one second on there. But it was the the video clip that they that they advanced for us didn't actually show the football touching his hand. Like this it doesn't actually show that because they can cut off. Right. Well they also show the end zone view behind the end zone from the ground, which makes
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: it difficult 'cause the 'cause the footb football isn't in the screen. Correct. And so they're
Mike McDermott: Correct. Right.
Joel Cade: like, he touches the football. Well how do you know that? The football's not even in the screen. Right?
Mike McDermott: It's cropped. Yeah.
Joel Cade: So what they needed and I and I know they couldn't come out with this because it wouldn't prove their point, what they needed was the the broadcast angle that clearly shows the football in the air. I it it's it's insane the stupidity
Mike McDermott: Still in the air. Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: that we're looking at at this game. But I don't know, I guess from a Steeler perspective, it might be
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: interesting for someone to go ask Will Howard about this, because if you remember correctly, Will Howard my Ohio State quarterback against Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, slides
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: and then the clock expires. And by the way, his butt was down. It was a first down and his butt was down. There was a second on the clock, then it expires and they called the game for Oregon. Ohio State could have I don't know the details of that game, but they could have kicked a field goal, they could have ran another play,
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: they could have all kinds of stuff. Where was the tenths of the seconds at that point? Right. Right. So it would be interesting
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah.
Joel Cade: to get Will Howard's take on this, just from anybody who's an Ohio State fan and a Steelers fan because somebody
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: could somet maybe maybe somebody if you're you're following the Steelers press conferences, maybe somebody asks him 'cause they should ask him. I think somebody should ask Dylan
Mike McDermott: They should have, yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: Gabriel because he was the other quarterback in that scenario. I mean, what do you feel about that? You know, just see what Dylan Gabriel says over in over in Cleveland. Anyway, I'll go I'll start on my my thought on this this whole situation. Western Michigan made two fatal mistakes. One, they assumed that the officials were neutral. You cannot do that in a game, and that's part of the whole Piqua Troy thing that I'm I'm pimping out today. Because, you know, the game this year is in Piqua but when the game is in Troy every year there's a bad call. There's always a bad call. It always favors Troy. The Pickwa coaches know it and I've coached for Troy and the Cro Troy coaches know it. It's a real thing. And the reason it's a real thing is because almost every official that officiates games in Miami County, Ohio, live in Troy. I mean, that's kinda how it is. So you know if the game's in Troy there's gonna be a bad call. And I learned very early in high school that the officials are not a neutral party in this situation. They have a vested interest in something. Either it being like the Vegas numbers, being they're being paid off, being something. They have an agenda in this game, some way, shape, or form. And in this game it's pretty easy to see what it is. They're Big Ten officials. There's a Big Ten team going on. They want to protect the integrity of the Big Ten, at least in terms of like Michigan winning, so that they're not eliminated from, you know, whatever contention they're in by losing to Western Michigan. So you can never assume the officials are a neutral party. And there's so many people that complain about officials, but like Y they're never and they're never neutral. If you want to comment on that, I'm gonna give you that first shot on this. Yeah, yeah.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah. No, I I agree. When when you when tip plays the the tip plays Troy, right, it the same thing happens, right? No, I mean you're I'm I'm sitting there or well at first as a coach, right, I've seen it on the field, right? Where the the refs are high
Joel Cade: Troy, right. It the same thing happens, right? No, I mean you're I'm I'm sitting there or well, at first as a coach, right, I've seen it on the field, right, where the the refs are
Mike McDermott: fiving the Troy players and stuff on the field during the during the game, right? High fiving them
Joel Cade: It goes on.
Mike McDermott: and stuff like that, fist bumping them. I'm like, like,
Joel Cade: Yep.
Mike McDermott: wow. Ha, okay. I see how that goes.
Joel Cade: Okay. I mean true story, I I mean I we've we've talked about the book that I'm writing on Pickle Football. I got thrown out of a Pickle Troy game because we had the basically what was happening was like Troy had scored a touchdown to tie the game. We had gone in, we had blocked the extra point. Okay? And I was in position to run in and jump on the ball to make sure that like, you know, at that point we couldn't advance it, they couldn't advance it, but you wanna just jump on the ball and get it handled, right? So I I got the ball. I never have the ball, right? The official comes in from the opposite sideline, you know, the one who's supposed to like keep the the mark. Yeah, mine.
Mike McDermott: Yeah, line shot.
Joel Cade: He he's he's running in. Toss me the ball, throw me the ball, throw me the ball. So I'm like, okay, here you go. Chuck him the ball. The ball hits him square in his stomach and then falls to the ground. Okay? He throws a flag and tosses me from the game. I'm like What what the hell's going I'm I'm trying not to hurt my team, right?
Mike McDermott: ha
Joel Cade: Trying not to hurt my team. So I just run to the silent and I tell Coach Nees, Hey, I just got tossed because he claimed I threw the ball at him. And I detail this in my book, right? Like
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: and it's all about this discussion right here, which officials are not neutral people. you know and then as I'm running off, I'm hearing this official talk to the head official, like, so are we gonna redo the kick? Because when Troy misses the kick They're up by six and not seven. So if we go down the field, score, and score a touchdown and an extra point, we're now winning the game. So hi the attempt was to redo the kick. So if we call this of the penalty, blah blah blah, we'll give them another shot at the kick. Or we put them closer to the end zone and they can like do a two point conversion. The head official said, no, it's a dead ball foul, and this official got this angry look on his face and like turned off, turned around and stormed off. Like I knew what this was about. Like when it happened.
Mike McDermott: Yeah, that's a dead ball foul. If it was a foul, right? You know, you chucked it at the ref's nuts, is what I heard.
Joel Cade: I mean like the rest who tot him right in his I was right there, man. It hit him right in his stomach. He's got his hands out. Hits
Mike McDermott: Uh-huh.
Joel Cade: him right in his stomach, right where his hands were, and he the ball just fell to the ground. And he's yelling at me, toss me the ball, toss me the ball.
Mike McDermott: Uh-huh.
Joel Cade: So I tossed him the ball and from that moment forward I always handed the official the ball. I don't care if he's yelling at me, throw it at me from fifty yards away. I'm running fifty yards and I am handing him the
Mike McDermott: Yeah. No. Correct, correct.
Joel Cade: football.
Mike McDermott: Correct.
Joel Cade: Because you can't throw me out for hitting you the football.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. If you're if you're not a okay, so Joel, let me give you a little coach tip here. So like if you're not a quarterback or a receiver, you don't ever throw the ball at a ref. You don't. You don't. Yeah, you don't ever, yeah. You hand it to them like this. You go, you
Joel Cade: I'm a stupid lineman, man. I mean it to you guys. I'm a stupid lineman.
Mike McDermott: go like this. You go, here, this is the ball, right? That's what you do as a lineman, right? Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: But he's yelling at me, toss me the ball, toss me the ball. So I'm like, Okay, here you go, you know? Yeah. But anyway, part of that
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah, he
Joel Cade: part of that kind of funny story, we're playing Saint Xavier, which is kind of what this book is about. We play Saint Xavier. You can see where I recover a fumble in the film and I run fifteen yards to hand the ball. Like I run up the line
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: and hand the ball to the official. Like I'm just laughing as I'm watching it, like
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: that's funny, you're not throwing me out for this. I've played this game before.
Mike McDermott: Yeah, you learned. You learn what happens. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're not.
Joel Cade: So anyway, officials are not neutral. They are not neutral parties out there and you have to play or I my famous statement is you have to beat the officials along with the other team. So you can't give the officials something to to call. Now this is not Western Michigan's fault, but they also can't rely on, you know, the officials to do the right thing here. you just you just can't. Like so if you're upset about that you can't
Mike McDermott: Well, yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: The officials did give a first down earlier in that drive. I think it was earlier in that drive or the previous drive, where like
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: that was not a first down. And they ended up getting a first
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: down out of it, and I'm like, holy crap. Like Michigan got screwed on that one. But they ended up giving a first down on it. Like, okay. So the second fatal flaw that Western Michigan had is they failed to play to win the game. Okay? Now this is where everyone's going to look at me like I'm insane. They should not have kicked that field goal. Okay? Fourth and two on the Michigan,
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: I'm going to get the execs. I think it was the fourteen. Yeah, fourth and four on the Michigan 14 with 35 seconds left.
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: You go for that.
Mike McDermott: Yeah, that's yeah, they should have went for the fourth down, that would've expired the clock. Yeah.
Joel Cade: Yeah, like if you go for that, maybe you run six seconds, six, seven seconds
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: off the clock, then what? You don't get it. Let's say you don't get it. You're still up by two. Michigan's getting the ball on the fourteen, right? They still have to go fifty yards, maybe even sixty yards, before they can kick a field goal to beat you. You failed to play to win the game. They kick a field goal, right? There's no good outcome from kicking a field goal. First of all, I hate kickers. Don't throw them on the field. Second of all, there's no good outcome from kicking a field goal. If you let's say you kick the field goal and you go up by five, then what? They score six and you lose. So what's the difference between them kicking a field goal and you losing and them scoring a touchdown and you losing? Except you're thinking, well, they gotta go travel farther. But
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: as we're about to see, because they kick the field goal, right? And they go up by five, they now have to kick off and give Michigan the ball back. If you go for that and you get that, you don't give Michigan the ball back. They don't have the ball at all, right? So
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: he chose, okay, we're gonna play to not lose the game by kicking the field goal, then we're gonna let our defense go out there and not lose the game. No, you play to win the game, Herm Edwards said.
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: Go out there, go for it on fourth down. What's the worst case scenario, right? You you don't get the fourth down, they get the ball first and ten on their fourteen. But but because you kick the field goal and you're up by five, then you kick it off, right? And you kick it in the back of the end zone, right? So now Michigan's starting first and ten on the twenty five. Simply by kicking the field goal you gave them eleven yards of field position. And the ball.
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: Why would you do that? You gave him the ball and eleven yards. Yeah. So
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. That was a co that was a coaching error on that. Like that was yeah, that was that was a coach that was relying on his defense, which was stout. Like Western Michigan's defense was stout the whole game. You could tell by the score, right? You know, they were they they saw they saw what they they had on the field and their they felt like
Joel Cade: saw they saw what they they had on the field and they're they
Mike McDermott: that their defense was going to be stronger and help them win the game versus their offense, right? So that's why they didn't go
Joel Cade: game versus their offense, right?
Mike McDermott: for fourth down. Right. I I felt like they should have gone for fourth down. They went for the field goal.
Joel Cade: Like they should have went for fourth down, they went to the
Mike McDermott: I'm like, guys, right. And yeah, it it was a yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep.
Joel Cade: Play to win the game, right? Don't play to not lose. Play to win. Go out there on fourth and four from the fourteen and do what you
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: got. And the worst case scenario is they are backed up inside their twenty and they have to go another eleven yards. You put another eleven yards on that drive, they're sitting at their
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: own forty, maybe they're thirty nine, trying to throw a Hay Mary. That's different from throwing it at the fifty.
Mike McDermott: Right.
Joel Cade: So that's the biggest mistake is they gave the ball back and In case anybody wants to say this is I'm just insane, let me give you an example that I saw in real life. The Browns are up by seven with a minute thirty to go against the Jets week one, I'm not sure the exact year. All they have to do is get a first down and they win the game. Nick Chubb
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: breaks a long run and runs into the end zone, scores a touchdown, the Browns go up fourteen. Right? So then they kick the ball off to the Jets who tick who get the ball back at the forty because of penalties and all this stupidity. Go down and score a touchdown. Get a two point conversion, come back, do a do an onside kick, get the ball, score a nut touchdown, and in a minute thirty six score fifteen points and win the game. If Nick Chubb runs out of bounds or falls over before he gets into the end zone, Browns win the game. Do not give the ball back to your opponent.
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: Just don't do it. Okay? So then you go into this drive, I mean I get what they're doing. They're trying to keep the ball in bounds, so they're letting them throw the ball over the middle 'cause there's only thirty five seconds. Right? So Michigan's throwing the ball over the middle. Okay, make run up there. College football has that like stop the clock for a first down situation. So as long as they can like throw the ball over the middle and get a first down, they've got a built in three or four seconds before everybody can get in place. At least by everybody I mean the officials, who I'm sure are like going slow to give Michigan a chance to run up there. Right?
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: Okay, I I get that strategy. I do. Right. And I understand what Michigan's trying to do. They're just trying to get chunks to get up. to the point where you can either kick to to throw a Hail Mary. They throw the first Hail Mary, which I think they do a pretty good job of of of defending. But this second one was awful. Have you seen the video on this? Like Western Michigan
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: must just be like like walk into the end zone. Yeah.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah, they left their best receiver with a fully wide open shot to catch that ball. Like that was that wasn't great.
Joel Cade: I don't I don't know if you have the ability or if I have the ability to show a screenshot on this. I've got a second screen over here with the problem and I'll point it out to you exactly as it goes on. Is this it right here? I don't know. Anyway, I'll j I'll just walk you through it because I don't not sure how I'm gonna make that happen. Michigan runs three wide receivers like a it's like a screen pass. One one behind,
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: three on the line or two on the line. They run down the field. The two in the front get into the end zone and p start blocking. They're just blocking. That's all they're doing. They've got these Western Michigan defenders, they've grabbed them, they're holding on to them. There is a good two yards between the trailing receiver and the current receiver are the blocking receivers. And they're in the end zone grabbing their like basketball blocking out kind of thing. And Western Michigan's got one guy on between the receiver and the end zone. Which means this receiver has an easy like just jump up and catch it. It's ridiculous. You have to block that guy out. You have to have two people between the ball and the receivers And two people between the receivers and the end zone.
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: There's no reason to be even in the end zone at that point. You have to be
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: preventing them from getting the end zone. This is like a a case study in like Rob Gronkowski out there trying to defend a Hail Mayor. Just like Well and the whole did you see the whole?
Mike McDermott: Well well and the whole did you see the hold? Did you see that? So it was not only the reception, right, but on that hail that that second Hail Mary pass, the hold that the Michigan guy had on the Western Michigan guy's jersey, he was dragging him. He was holding so bad. There's Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah.
Joel Cade: So it was not only the reception, right, but on that hail that that second Hail Mary pass, the hold that the Michigan guy had on the western Michigan guy's jersey, he was dragging him. He was holding so bad. Like all like it's like the whole play was we'll send three people down the field to just grab and hold people and then we'll send one guy who's our guy we're actually trying to throw it to, and the other three people are simply there to keep all the res all the defenders away from the guy we're throwing it to.
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: And it works. And and you know the officials don't want to call a penalty under two minutes because that's a well documented situation. Like nobody wants officials calling penalties under two minutes because they don't want the officials to be at the center of the controversy. So they're not throwing flags. They don't care. Like two minutes if you see stuff going on in two minutes, it is like a
Mike McDermott: It's so bad. It was so bad.
Joel Cade: free for all. Whatever games you're in, if it's two minutes before half and two minutes before the end of the game, y I I promise you nobody is following the rules and nobody's getting called for it.
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: This was terrible. Western Michigan did a terrible job of defending this situation. And Michigan went out there and just like basically held and grabbed and all this kind of stuff. And the Big Ten officials just let do it. It it's it's insane.
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: So you're two big problems. You you thought the in the officials were neutral and they're not. And two, you you did you didn't play to win the game. You played to not lose.
Mike McDermott: Mm.
Joel Cade: And you can't play that way. You need to go for that on fourth down. And if you don't if you don't get it, they still have to go another eleven yards. You move this thing out eleven yards. They're catching that ball at like the eleven, trying to get in the end zone. I don't know
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: if Underwood has the arm to throw it. Because let's say you're on the thirty nine. You gotta drop back seven yards. I think he was five or six yards behind the line of scrimmage when he threw it. So you're talking about throwing it from your thirty, seventy yards down the field.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: I don't even think he can throw it that far. So Western I mean Western Michigan did a lot to not help themselves. On the other hand, Big Ten screwed over Western Michigan. That's ridiculous.
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: That's some of the stupidest stuff I've ever seen. Like the we're were side by side thing which was clearly rigged, the we put one second on the clock situation that was terrible. I mean welcome to Betting in sports, people. Well, yeah. I mean just yeah, you you s
Mike McDermott: Well, yeah. No, I mean just yeah, you you s you you just brought up my next topic was bet you know, sports betting and stuff like that. No, you know, you if you are if you're an avid sports better and you watched that game, Michigan versus
Joel Cade: Game.
Mike McDermott: Western Michigan, like you better be really careful with what you do from now on. Like, no, I mean either that or do you're just bone you're just boneheaded because you know, your your money is not safe.
Joel Cade: really careful with what you do from now on. Like no I mean either that or do you're just bone you're just boneheaded. Because you know, your your money is not safe.
Mike McDermott: Your bet is not safe. You think that team's gonna win, right?
Joel Cade: Your bet is not safe. You think that team's gonna win, right?
Mike McDermott: you know, it's you just saw the Big Ten cheat Western Michigan out of a win.
Joel Cade: It's you just saw the Big Ten cheat Western Michigan out of it. Yeah, I I just looked up on what is this? Google AI, whatever they call it, and
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: it says the clawback, I'm guessing this is how much money was not paid out, was eighteen point six million dollars was not paid out because Michigan beat Western Michigan. Had Western Michigan won, somebody would have to have paid out eighteen point six million dollars collectively through all the bets over that game. Yeah, I had an argument over the weekend with
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah. I had an argument over the weekend with a sports better, right? He w because he because he bet he he bets spreads, right? He b he bets spreads, he doesn't bet the win, right? So he was like, you know, it does it didn't really matter to Vegas. I was like, no, it absolutely meant to Vegas. It was super important that Michigan win that game, right? Super important. And like you said
Joel Cade: Yeah, he w because he because he bet he he bet spreads, right? He b he bet spreads, he doesn't bet the win, right? So He was like, you know, it do it didn't really matter to Vegas. I was like, no, it absolutely meant to Vegas. It was super important that Michigan win that game. Right? Super important. Eighteen point six million
Mike McDermott: eighteen point six million reasons
Joel Cade: reasons. Eighteen point six million reasons. Mhm.
Mike McDermott: to cheat on that game.
Joel Cade: I mean so yeah, anymore with with as prominent and as involved as betting is anymore, you have to understand what that situ this is why
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: and I know we're getting ready, I wanna talk a little bit about like our lodge is doing a pick league and I refuse to put money in situations like that. So
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: we have this like league where we're going to just pick games against the spread and whoever gets the most points wins. We're not gonna play for money, we're not gonna play for We're just gonna play for fun, right? It's a pick'em league at a Masonic Lodge. We're not gonna do anything stupid, we're not gonna besides the the money part creates resentment, and I don't want involved in that. But yeah, like I was reading up on okay, how do you pick against the spread? And the whole idea of the spread is simply for some place like Vegas or some betting institution to get you to take the underdog That's the whole point.
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: Like, they know this one team's gonna win. That's why they put the points on
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: So that's why they don't ever do this like straight pick If you don't do straight pick you just you just like pick the favorites. Because that's who Vegas thinks is gonna win. That's where the refs are gonna be, that's where the that's where the money's gonna be. And they're gonna do everything they can to stop these underdogs from winning. Right? And the whole point of the spread is to get you to pick the underdog. Like, I don't know if they can win by that much. Yeah.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: You know, it's it's to get you to take these underdogs 'cause that's how they make money, is people taking those underdogs.
Mike McDermott: Right. Yeah. No, I mean just just look at the the spread for the Browns, right? we've it's a seven seven point five point spread, right? So if you're a Browns fan, you know, you can still honestly go into that situation and go, I don't think I I I think we may we may lose by a touchdown, but we'll not lose
Joel Cade: look at the the spread for the Browns, right? we've it's a seven seven point five point spread, right? So if you're a Browns fan, you know, you can still honestly go into that situation and go, I don't think I I I think we may we may lose by a touchdown, but we'll not
Mike McDermott: by a touchdown and an extra point, right? You know, that's that's that's basically what you're saying there is, you know, I think
Joel Cade: That's that's that's basically what you're saying there. Yeah is you know We're not gonna lose by eight. Yeah. We're not gonna lose by eight. We're gonna you know, we could but we could lose by seven. I'm still putting my money down on the Browns, right? So do I think I still got a chance. Right. I think I still got a chance here. So you're saying there's a chance? Yeah. So you're saying there's a chance?
Mike McDermott: Yeah, we're not gonna lose by eight. We're gonna you know, we could but we could lose by seven. I'm still putting my money down on the Browns, right? So do I think I still got a chance. I think I still got a chance here. And so Yeah. You so you're saying there's a chance, yes. So, you know, and the same thing, what is it? the Steelers are a three point favorite over the Atlanta Falcons, right? So,
Joel Cade: You know, and the same thing, what is it? the Steelers are a three point favorite over the Atlanta Falcons, right? So
Mike McDermott: you know you know, if you're a Steelers fan, you know, you can you can bet money on that. Atlanta, you know, if you're if you're super hype for Tua Tonga Via Loa,
Joel Cade: Steelers fan, you know, you can you can bet money on that. Atlanta, you know, if you're if if you're super hype for Tua Tongamaya Lo Loa, I have a friend who's a Falcons fan, right? guy who's you know formerly a pickle football player. He's a Falcons fan and
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: He he like Stefansky left the Browns, he went to Atlanta, he's like so pretty excited about this Kevin Stefansky thing, so you're pretty excited about going like, you know, four and thirteen next year? I I don't know what you're excited about.
Mike McDermott: Yeah, right.
Joel Cade: He's like, yeah, there's a two time coach of the year. You mean like the two times he had winning records, he got coach of the year? I mean I I I don't I'm not high on Stefansky. I haven't been
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: for a long time. I think he needs to you know, run the damn football, which he doesn't. He he his default is just to throw his quarterback into a shotgun set to set situation and just pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass.
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: And it puts it it gets him in trouble. It gets him in trouble. So I c I can't imagine if you're this week this week you're setting on a on a starting quarterback with an offensive coordinator that likes to just throw the ball. And you got Bijan Robinson. So so maybe they're just going to be under center, you know, 'cause you know the Browns offense is so predictable, you know, so he's gonna take that same offense to to to Atlanta. So every time they're under center, it's either going to be an outside zone or a fake outside zone and a rollout. I mean it's it's not that hard.
Mike McDermott: Do you think he do you think he's gonna have that much of a impact on on the playmaking and stuff like that? On on the plays that are called? Yeah.
Joel Cade: Stefansky? Yeah. I think he's playing I think he's calling the plays. Okay.
Mike McDermott: Okay.
Joel Cade: Like that was his thing. He's calling plays. He's not gonna
Mike McDermott: Okay.
Joel Cade: let anybody else call plays. I
Mike McDermott: Okay. Well
Joel Cade: think it was one of these things the Browns hired him before he was ready to be a head coach. Like I think they were afraid. That was back in the day when you're trying to get like the young hot coordinator, and
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: Stefansky wasn't quite yet that young hot coordinator, but he was ascending to be that young hot coordinator. So they wanted to like jump that early. And I don't think he was ready to be done being an offensive coordinator. So he would spend all of his time on the offensive side of the ball when he's in Cleveland and then just hire somebody to run the defense and not even get involved. Like he was like an
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: offensive coordinator who just happened to be the head coach. Like that's always been my take on him. And whenever the Browns have had good defenses, it's been very strong personalities like Greg Williams, the guy who just threw the fit and stormed off in Cleveland, I can't think of his name, we just had Very strong, very strong personalities that will take charge of that side of the ball and handle it. Because
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: he didn't manage that side of the ball. Right. You know, it was he was just all about the offense. And then he was
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: bad at it. Like I mean he's he's not a good call player. Play caller. But anyway. So yeah, I think I'm I'm expecting Pittsburgh to just run in and just roll over Atlanta. I unless they unless they just sit there and say, Okay, we have to run the football because we can't we don't have a quarterback who's practiced enough to throw it, then they might get somewhere. Then they might get somewhere. But like
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: if Stefanski's allowed to sit there and throw it fifty times at the game in like thirty mile an hour wins with twenty bel twenty below windshow like they did against the Saints one year, if he's allowed to do that, like
Mike McDermott: Right.
Joel Cade: this is gonna be an easy win for Pittsburgh. I
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: just I can't see this being anything but that if Stefansky's out there calling plays.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. No, I mean it's you know, it it it should it I I wouldn't say any win for the Steelers this year is gonna be easy. I think ev everything's gonna take take significant
Joel Cade: Take take.
Mike McDermott: effort. and and if they don't, those are gonna gonna be the games they drop. No, I mean statistically we should beat Atlanta. You know, the ser you know, for the series we're sixteen two and one. we've we've won the last five meetings and Atlanta hasn't beat Pittsburgh since two thousand and six. So
Joel Cade: don't those are gonna be the games they drop. No, I mean statistically we should be Atlanta. You know, the ser you know, for the series we're sixteen two and one. we've we won the last five meetings and Atlanta hasn't beat Pittsburgh since two thousand and six. So Well I will say this when I say it should be an easy win it's if you come out and play Pittsburgh football. If you come out hyped,
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: prepared, ready, taking your opponent seriously and coming out to beat
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: in some heads, then then you'll win that football game. I
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: mean, if it's like, we'll walk in and beat this team, that's that's how teams like the Browns beat you, you know. Yeah. Well I think what Stefansi's gonna be up against is is up against a a force that he doesn't really understand right now or that doesn't respect, which is the Steeler running game. you know, Jalen Warren is a beast.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Well, I think what Stefansi's gonna be up against is is up against a a a force that he doesn't really understand right now and and doesn't respect, which is the Steeler running game. you know, Jalen Warren is a beast. you know, he's he's not an all pro beast, but he's definitely a beast, right? And so we're just gonna we're just gonna run it right down their throat. I believe. Yeah. I I think the running game is going to be leading us, right? And it's gonna open up opportunities for Aaron Rodgers to air it out. So
Joel Cade: You know, he's he's not an all pro beast, but he's definitely a beast, right? And so we're just gonna we're just gonna run it right down their throat, I believe. Yeah. I I think the running game is going to be leading us, right? And it's gonna open up opportunities for Aaron Rodgers to air it out. So
Mike McDermott: I I I think that's that's the that's the part of the game that that's that's gonna happen there is that you're gonna be surprised at how many how many rushing yards we pick up in the first half and then that's gonna allow us to air it out in the second half. So
Joel Cade: I I I think that's that's the that's the part of the game that that that's gonna happen there is that you're gonna be surprised at how many how many rushing yards we pick up in the first half and then that's gonna allow us to air it out in the second half.
Mike McDermott: I believe that's the way the game's gonna go. So
Joel Cade: I believe that's the way the game's it would make sense, right? You got a new coach, got a new system, the easiest thing to do is run the football. And even
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm. Right.
Joel Cade: though like blocking schemes are pretty I mean running schemes are running schemes. So once you
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: learn the running schemes it's like defensive backs saying coverages are coverages. I mean they just
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: are. The issue with offenses are the passing game. And the nuance
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: between communication, when you're gonna hit this route, when you're gonna do that, in terms of what you want to attack defenses with. So it would make sense for Pittsburgh to come out and run the football and then try to open up the passing game. At least
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: early, like the first four or five games to try to run it that way. It would make sense for the Browns to do that, but you know they're not going to. They're gonna come out and try to like show off Deshaun Watson's arm or something. I don't know. We're gonna do something dumb. I know we are. Like I was excited to watch that.
Mike McDermott: I'm excited to watch that game.
Joel Cade: The the Cleveland game? Yeah. my gosh,
Mike McDermott: I am. The Browns game. Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: that's gonna be like that's gonna be a nightmare. I mean it'll be like a typical Browns game, right? So they'll probably be in it toward halftime.
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: The defense will probably be on the field a lot because the offense sucks. And then the second half, the th about the middle of the third quarter, th through the fourth quarter, it'll all fall apart and turn into a blowout. That's probably what it's gonna be. Like it's gonna be close at halftime. Ooh, the Browns are in it. And then like middle of the third quarter, so the defense has been on the field for three quarters of the game, it's it's gonna just fall apart. That's like what happened to the Super Bowl, like right? That's what happened to the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Their offense couldn't do anything, and then eventually the third quarter hit and they just fell apart. Speaking of which, as Keith and May is not aware, football starts on Wednesday this year. I mean, I've been kind of texting people in our pick'em league, be aware we're starting on Wednesday this year. trying to get people to get their picks in. you know, we're gonna rematch that game. What do you think of that?
Mike McDermott: Yeah. I don't like that. I don't like that at all. I don't like the Wednesday start.
Joel Cade: No, I think the NFL's gonna tick an end I mean like I don't know what they're trying to accomplish
Mike McDermott: my god.
Joel Cade: with that, but I don't think they're gonna do this again. I mean I don't know if it's Yeah, you know how how many people will go through the entire day of Wednesday without even
Mike McDermott: I think that's you know, you know how how many people will go through the entire day of Wednesday without even knowing that there's a football game on.
Joel Cade: Right. That that I'm trying to get the word out, like, hey, by the way, the season starts on Wednesday.
Mike McDermott: You're like, what are you talking about Wednesday football? Come
Joel Cade: I think they're trying to protect that Australia game. The Rams forty Niners in Australia. Which I
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: think will be taking place technically. No. Nope, I'm wrong. 'Cause they're a day ahead in Australia, right? Yes. Okay. They're in the future. Okay.
Mike McDermott: Yes. They're in the future. Mm-hmm. That's right, the game takes place in the future.
Joel Cade: I I joke with my daughter who's in in that part of the world, like,
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: Hey, you know, it's tomorrow over there. Tell me who wins the Browns game. She's like, It doesn't work like that, Dad. I'm like, Are you sure? Why not?
Mike McDermott: Why not?
Joel Cade: You're in the future, like this this happened yesterday according to your time. So like tell me who wins the Browns game.
Mike McDermott: Right.
Joel Cade: Tell me who I'm supposed to pick. Tell me who picked.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. my gosh. So we're gonna be starting a regular season. So our we'll do a our next podcast will be we'll publish that. We'll record and publish out on Tuesday. So we're gonna just gonna get ready for the we're we'll have all of the updates from the prior week,
Joel Cade: So we're gonna be starting regular season, so our we'll do a our next podcast will be we'll publish that. We'll record and publish that on Tuesday, so we're gonna just gonna get ready for the we'll we'll have all of the updates from the prior
Mike McDermott: right? So we'll be able to cover the Wednesday, the Thursday game, the Sunday game, and the Monday game. Four days of football, and then we play that we do that for the next seventeen weeks. So
Joel Cade: game, the Sunday game and the Monday game. Mhm. Four days of football and then we play that we do that for the next seventeen weeks. So Right. Amazing, right? Even when there's bye weeks. You're like, Hey, we didn't lose this week.
Mike McDermott: Amazing, right? Even yeah, your record takes a t uptick, injured people come off the IR. It's a it's
Joel Cade: Yeah, your record takes a t uptick, injured people come off the IR. It's a
Mike McDermott: an amazing time of the time of the season, right?
Joel Cade: So I think the the time will also give us a chance to start a preview of the next week. At least kinda this is the opponent, these are some initial thoughts
Mike McDermott: Hm. Yeah.
Joel Cade: as well. I I may try to in the future go over our pick league at the lodge, in case anybody from the lodge is listening.
Mike McDermott: Sure. Yeah, absolutely. How many p how many people do you want to have in there? Like you ten, twelve, thirteen?
Joel Cade: I had like a minimum of six.
Mike McDermott: Six. Okay.
Joel Cade: at least a minimum of six to make it interesting. I'm gonna look up real quick how many we got, but I keep sending this this invitation out from different email addresses thinking like, okay, maybe it's because it's all getting blocked or whatever. But
Mike McDermott: Right.
Joel Cade: we currently have Seven in the league. seven.
Mike McDermott: Seven. All right. That'll be good.
Joel Cade: So if we can get at least five of to be committed, we're gonna have a good league. I mean I expect somebody to just be like, you know Me.
Mike McDermott: Meh.
Joel Cade: Yeah, I don't I don't know, or forget and then they feel like they're not gonna be able to catch up and then they
Mike McDermott: Right.
Joel Cade: end up quitting. I actually set the league so that if you forget to put in your picks you actually get one point less than the last place person to try to keep people in the league.
Mike McDermott: Okay.
Joel Cade: keep moving. But yeah, big game for the the Browns. I don't expect that to go well for Cleveland and neither does anybody else. And I think the the Steelers start off pretty good against the the Falcons. I can't imagine Stefancy's gonna have that offense rolling. Yeah, it's it's still pretty early in the season for any team that's got new new stuff going on. I don't I don't have as much worry about Mike McCarthy.
Mike McDermott: Yeah, it's it's still pretty early in the season for any team that's got new new stuff going on. I don't I don't have as much worry about Mike McCarthy and his execution and because he's been he's been doing this for a long time. he's got the coaching staff in in place that he's trusting to get this work done and he's got the players that are committed and ready to go out there and do things. So
Joel Cade: and his execution and because he's been he's been doing this for a long time. he's got the coaching staff in in place that he's trusting to get this work done and he's got the players that are committed and ready to go out there and do things so Yeah, it's just gonna be Aaron Rodgers getting all the receivers on the same page. And that'll that'll take a game or two. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, look for a lot of running and yeah
Mike McDermott: Right. Yeah. Yep. So yeah, look for a lot of running and yeah, I'm hyped for this weekend, Joel.
Joel Cade: this weekend Joel. Alright. Go pick one. Beat Troy. Yes, exactly. Beat Troy. And we play I think Tip plays Stebbins this week. Stebbins, okay. Yes. So yeah, so that will be that'll be an exciting game as well. What's
Mike McDermott: Yes, exactly. Beat Troy. And I think we play I think Tip plays Stubbins this week. So yes. So yeah, so that will be that'll be an exciting game as well. So
Joel Cade: what's their mascot down there at Stebbins?
Mike McDermott: shoot. I think it's an Indian two, possibly.
Joel Cade: Indian two possibly. Okay. A lot of Indians in this area given the you know, the all the Native
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: American tribes that were there. There's like a lot of Indians and Indian related Yeah, there's Scarlet and Gray.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah, they're scarlet and gray and they're yeah, their mascot is an Indian. So yep. There you go. Awesome. Well, this was another great show of hash marks and working tools. Joel, thank you so much for the updates. And man, that was I love how you break that broke down the the Michigan Western Michigan game. Thank you for that.
Joel Cade: Okay. All right. Awesome. Well, this is another great show of hash marks and working tools. Joel, thank you so much for the updates. And man, that was I love how you break that broke down the the Michigan, Western Michigan game. Thank you for that. Play to win the game. Play to win the game. That's the word of the day. Thanks everybody.
Mike McDermott: Play to win the game. That's the word of the day. Thanks everybody. Bye.
Joel Cade: Bye.
Joel Cade: And working tools. My name is Mike McDermott. I'm your host today and my co host sitting right here in his Pikqua Indians garb. Let's go blue. Joel King. Welcome, Howdy. So yeah, I've
Mike McDermott: Howdy.
Joel Cade: got the the Pickwa shirt that we talked about in the last episode that you got from the Pickwa game. I'm wearing that now. You
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm. I caught it.
Joel Cade: caught it. Caught it from the the shirt gun. I'm now wearing
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: this because it's a big week in Pickwa football. I've got my Cleveland Indians Chief Otewa, Chief Chief Wahoo is what the India the pet the Cleveland Indians call him Chi Wahoo. We called him Chief Otewa but Chief Otewa hat on here and Pikwa's playing Troy this week so I gotta show my my my
Mike McDermott: Ooh.
Joel Cade: Piqua spirit, you know.
Mike McDermott: Yeah, for folks that are not indoctrinated in our local high school lore, the Piqua Troy rivalry is quite big. It's mm hmm.
Joel Cade: Yeah, it's like the oldest in the st what's the longest played in the state.
Mike McDermott: Longest played in the state.
Joel Cade: And it's like the fourth or fifth longest played in east of the Mississippi River. I mean it it is a huge thing. And I can give you a little background on it if you want. I mean it all started over you know, the county seat in the courthouse wars and you know, Troy got the courthouse and and the state kinda realized that, you know, maybe they screwed up and they paid for a hotel that went into Piqua and now that hotel is the Piqua Library. if you go into the Pickqua Library it's absolutely gorgeous. But that was kinda like the you know the constellation prize it it's just it would be kinda like the referees saying, Yeah, we actually screwed that up at the end of the Michigan game and we're gonna like make it up to you, you know, kind of situation. So it's been there's been bad blood between the two towns for a long time. when Troy built the courthouse, they put Lady Justice on top of it and purposely put her rear end facing Piqua. so there's there's a lot of bad blood between the two towns. I think it was actually I can't prove this, but I had heard from a lawyer in town that Bickwa and Troy were officially at war with each other up until the early two thousands. So it it's it's that kind of situation. And you know, when two team when two towns are very similar and a lot of people who grew up in Pickwa live in Troy, Troy then Piqua, I mean it it it's it's like twins fighting each other, you know. They're they're brothers but they hate each other. You know, kinda thing. So you brought up the Michigan one second deal.
Mike McDermott: So you brought up the Michigan one second deal. let's
Joel Cade: Let's let's spend a couple of minutes diving into
Mike McDermott: let's spend a couple of minutes diving into that one.
Joel Cade: we're gonna spend more than a couple minutes because I'm sure we're gonna get into a long debate over this, but I'm gonna let you have your spill first, man. Just go for it before I have a whole diatribe. Yeah, so no, I mean week one of the NCAA football games did not disappoint. we ended up with some excellent games to watch. of course
Mike McDermott: So yeah, so I mean week one of the NCAA football games did not disappoint. we ended up with some excellent games to watch. of course, usually the first game of the season is is you know kind of like the powder puff kind of game where you've got you've got a a a big team versus a very, very small team.
Joel Cade: Usually the first game of the season is is, you know, kind of like the powder puff kind of game where you've got you've got a a a a big team versus a very, very small team.
Mike McDermott: And in exchange for playing that game, the small team gets to walk away with a check for $1.5 million. Okay. So
Joel Cade: And in exchange for playing that game, the small team gets to walk away with a check for one point five million dollars. Okay, so
Mike McDermott: in this example we are talking about with Michigan, yeah, Michigan plays Western Michigan. And because of everyone watching on television and all of the advertisers and stuff like that,
Joel Cade: In this example we are talking about with Michigan, you know, Michigan plays western Michigan and because of everyone watching on television and all of the advertisers and stuff like that
Mike McDermott: there's a lot of money going around watch for advertisers in that game. So the the take home bag for Western Michigan is one point
Joel Cade: Michigan is
Mike McDermott: five mil. Okay. So the expectation is is that a much, much smaller team, a Mac team, is going to lose to a Big Ten team, right? That's the expectation. And that nearly didn't happen.
Joel Cade: The expectation is is that a much, much smaller team, a Mac team, is going to lose to a big ten team. Right? That's the expectation. And that nearly didn't happen. Right. This is like the the preseason for college football. Week zero and week
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: one are like the preseason for college football. So you line up a powder you a powder puff girl or something, you put her out there and you you
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: beat the crap out of her and and you get your preseason in, you get your work done. Of course, you know the film's famous upset is the two thousand seven Appalachian State beating Michigan. that's that's
Mike McDermott: Yes. Again, yeah.
Joel Cade: that's one of the big big upsets. so every once in a while this kind of thing happens. But I'm gonna let you continue narrating. So yeah it's preseason. Go ahead. It you know it happens usually to to to Michigan
Mike McDermott: Yeah. It you know, it happens usually to to to Michigan.
Joel Cade: So you know, just to walk through what happened here, just so that anybody's not figured out what's happening before like I go into this long discussion about what they should have done. what what happened was this. Western Michigan kicks field goal, goes up by five, kicks the ball off, Michigan gets the ball to twenty five with about I mean, I've got it pulled up, so it's about thirty seconds left, thirty five seconds left. I'll get the exact number. Thirty five seconds left. Confirming. Yes, thirty-five seconds left in twenty-five. They kind of drive fifteen yards to the fifty yard line. The the officials call a timeout because the game of the game clock read eight seconds. They moved it up to nine seconds. Okay. Then they ran a play, and this quarterback underwood, like an idiot, ran around for s seven seconds, then threw the ball, and threw the ball like an idiot out the back of the end zone anyway. And Incomplete, game over, Western Michigan wins. but then the Big Ten officials say, Not so fast, my friend. They pull out the the replay and then claim that the game I mean there's all kinds of stuff out there. The game clock was different from the official clock, even though they had just reset it before the play. Yep. Right before the play. Yep. Right before the play. So they corrected it.
Mike McDermott: They did. Yeah. They did touch the they touched the clock and they advanced it by one second. They moved it from eight seconds to nine seconds. Yeah, the game clock. Right before the play. Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: right before the play. And they claim that the Western Michigan defender jumped from out of bounds so that when he catches the where he touches the ball, that's when the the clock has to stop. Okay? And they claim, against all video evidence, that this guy touched the ball at one second. Therefore, they put a second back on the clock. Michigan comes out from the fifty, throws the sail Mary, and they Catch the Hail Mary and they win the game and the Michigan crowd storms the field like they'd just cheated themselves to another national championship. I mean, like it was it was insane. It was like a stupid scene. Like it was dumb. It was dumb. I was embarrassed for them.
Mike McDermott: It was. It was embarrassing. I was embarrassed for them.
Joel Cade: It was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. So so Mike, I want your thoughts on this 'cause I have a lot of thoughts, but my thoughts are more like strategic and clock management and how Western Michigan kinda made at least two fatal errors that caused this to happen, but they could have made more, but they didn't. But
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: they made two fatal errors in this situation that could have won them the game. But I'm gonna let you have your piece before I go off on a diatribe here.
Mike McDermott: Well, yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, I mean I I think, you know, as a I'm I'm more of an NFL guy, so I follow the rules more closely on NFL than I do college football. So like, you know, there may be gaps in my understanding what's going on here. And I think a lot of people feel that way. I think a lot of people are in that situation where, you know, they they they saw what happened with their eyes. You know, I'm watching the ball come down and I see the clock click zero.
Joel Cade: think a lot of people feel that way. I think a lot of people are in that situation where, you know, they they they saw what happened with their eyes. You know, I'm watching the ball come down and I see the clock click zero,
Mike McDermott: The guy it bounces off of his hand and it lands on the ground. And I'm like, game over. Done. The game is over. Right. And it's very, very clear, you know, whether you're an
Joel Cade: the guy it bounces off of his hand and it lands on the ground and I'm like, game over. The game is over, right? And it's very, very clear, you know, whether you're
Mike McDermott: experienced football watcher or a non-experienced football watcher, that game ended. It said final at the bottom, right? You know, they put the put the final on there, right? And but, you know, then of course they went back.
Joel Cade: an experienced football watcher or a non experienced football watcher, that game ended. Right. They said final at the bottom, right? You know, put the put the final on there, right? And but, you know, then of course they went back,
Mike McDermott: You know, and did this replay thing, which is new to, you know, which is really new to college football, right? It started out in the NFL.
Joel Cade: you know, and did this replay thing, which is new to you know, which is really new to college football, right? It started out in the NFL.
Mike McDermott: but this whole replay thing, I I guess, I mean, end of the game forces a re forces a replay, and then they go back and they look at this clock situation. And so the clocks on on the entire field, all the clocks are at zero, except for one clock, apparently one that we don't get to see, that had
Joel Cade: This whole replay thing, I I guess I mean end of the game forces forces a replay, and then they go back and they look at this clock situation. And so the clocks on on the entire field, all the clocks are at zero, except for one clock, apparently one that we don't get to see, that had,
Mike McDermott: you know, a tenth of a second or something something like that.
Joel Cade: you know, a tenth of a second or something something. No, they said it was one second. Like did you see the video the Big Ten put out? It had one second on their video, so it it it was as if it didn't even tick off. But as you're watching
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah. But but as you but as you're watching the video, Joel, the ball's coming in and it's at one second. And it's at one second. And it's it's still at one second. And then it touches his hand and it's still at one second. And then one second again. I'm like, I'm like, wait a second here. Like.
Joel Cade: It's at one second and it's at one second and it's at still at one second and then it touches his hand and it's still at one second and then one second again. I'm like I'm like, wait a second here. Yeah, on the repo video, right? The one that in the Big Ten put out. Yeah. You're like, What what is this? That is the longest one second I have ever seen. Like, did it ever change to zero? Like the
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah. That is the longest one second I have ever seen. Like, did it ever change to zero? Like d d do you have footage of it actually going to zero, you know?
Joel Cade: Do you have footage of it actually going wondering if they just like paused that 'cause it's like a side like if you haven't seen it, it's a side by side video, right? So you have video on one side and audio of the game. So the audio being the officials discussing it. And they're discussing the the visual thing. On the other kind of split screen is the clock. So you're you're assuming that the clock and this video are synced. Okay, the two videos side by side are synced. I'm not sure they are. I think you just got a picture of a zero colon or some zero colon zero one, which means it's one second. They're not playing tenths of seconds. They're playing the seconds, the the whole second, right? And
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: then they got these people talking. I'm not sure that that video is is moving. Right. Yeah. It looked like it was very steady.
Mike McDermott: Right. Yeah. It looked like it was very static. And there I and I what I was expecting was them to come out with some sort of video like there's a tenth of a second or a hundredth of a second and that they that they're like, Okay, so there's still a fraction of a section second going on there, you know?
Joel Cade: was them to come out with some sort of video like there's a tenth of a second, a hundredth of a second, and that they that they're like, okay, so there's still a fraction of a section second going on there, you know. So how this works, by the way, with fractions of seconds,
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: is that like when you start a quarter, okay, they will start that quarter at like fifteen minutes point nine tenths of a second. So they'll run off the tenths of a second at the start of the quarter so that when you get to fifteen minutes you've run off the tenths. Right? And then you just run off whole seconds. You're
Mike McDermott: All of the f yes, ran the tents off, yeah. Yes.
Joel Cade: not running off tenths of seconds. Just
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: just in case anybody was wondering how that actually works. That's how that works. You actually play a fifteen minute point nine second quarter. And it's because they run that point nine tenths of a second off at the start of the game, start of the quarter, all that kind of stuff.
Mike McDermott: Right. So you don't it so y it doesn't come down to this one second plus a few milliseconds right afterwards. It does not ever come down to that.
Joel Cade: So y it doesn't come down to this one second plus a few milliseconds. Correct. It does not ever come down to that. Yeah, there's no like, okay, we've kit to zero, but then we've got like nine tenths of a second to run off. They ran that nine tenths of a second off at the start of the quarter.
Mike McDermott: Correct. Yeah. So some of the prognostication early was that there was some sort of tenth of a second clock that people were looking at in the in the booth and that was what was occurring there. You know, and th there's no such thing, right? Literally in the, you know, in the rules, right, in NCA rules, there is no tenth of a second, right? There's no i and NFL is the same, right? So you so say say when you when you spike the ball.
Joel Cade: No such thing, right? Literally, in the you know, in the rules, right, in NCA rules, there is no tenth of a second, right? There's no i and NFL is the same, right? So you so say say when you when you spike the ball,
Mike McDermott: Right. When you're when you when the offense comes up to spike the ball to stop the clock, right? The the clock starts, the quarterback has the ball in his hand, he throws it down on the ground real fast. Right.
Joel Cade: right? When you're when you when the offense comes up to spike the ball to stop the clock, right? The the clock starts, the quarterback has the ball in his hand, he throws it down on the ground real fast.
Mike McDermott: When you spike the ball, you don't actually expend an entire second, but you do on the clock. You do on the clock. The clock advances automatically by one second because it has to demonstrate that time was expired. Right. More time than what was.
Joel Cade: Right, when you spike the ball, you don't actually expend an entire second. Correct. What you do on the clock. Correct. What you do on the clock. The clock advances automatically by one second because it has to demonstrate that time was expired. By more time than what was,
Mike McDermott: There was a play that occurred and time happened and it happens to be one second, right?
Joel Cade: there was a play that occurred, and time happened and it happens to be one second. Right?
Mike McDermott: And so, you know, we don't have, we don't ever get into these situations when you have a tenth of a second or a partial second left, right? At the end of a game or after a spike and stuff like that, and go, hey, no clock. It's like they didn't even start the clock, right? One second is the the smallest enumeration of time that you can have, right?
Joel Cade: And so, you know, we don't have we don't ever get into these situations when you have a tenth of a second or a partial second left. Correct at the end of a game or after a spike and stuff like that and go, Hey, no clock it's like they didn't even start the clock, right? One second is the the s the smallest enumeration of time that you can have, right?
Mike McDermott: And the NCAs and Big Ten, right, put out videos and that were the same video and and explaining that there was still one second on there. But it was the the video clip that they that they advanced for us didn't actually show the football touching his hand. Like this it doesn't actually show that because they it cut off the top, right? So
Joel Cade: And the NCAAs a and Big Ten, right, put out videos and that were the same video and and explaining that there was still one second on there. But it was the the video clip that they that they advanced for us didn't actually show the football touching his hand. Like this it doesn't actually show that because they can cut off. Right. Well they also show the end zone view behind the end zone from the ground, which makes
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: it difficult 'cause the 'cause the footb football isn't in the screen. Correct. And so they're
Mike McDermott: Correct. Right.
Joel Cade: like, he touches the football. Well how do you know that? The football's not even in the screen. Right?
Mike McDermott: It's cropped. Yeah.
Joel Cade: So what they needed and I and I know they couldn't come out with this because it wouldn't prove their point, what they needed was the the broadcast angle that clearly shows the football in the air. I it it's it's insane the stupidity
Mike McDermott: Still in the air. Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: that we're looking at at this game. But I don't know, I guess from a Steeler perspective, it might be
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: interesting for someone to go ask Will Howard about this, because if you remember correctly, Will Howard my Ohio State quarterback against Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, slides
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: and then the clock expires. And by the way, his butt was down. It was a first down and his butt was down. There was a second on the clock, then it expires and they called the game for Oregon. Ohio State could have I don't know the details of that game, but they could have kicked a field goal, they could have ran another play,
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: they could have all kinds of stuff. Where was the tenths of the seconds at that point? Right. Right. So it would be interesting
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah.
Joel Cade: to get Will Howard's take on this, just from anybody who's an Ohio State fan and a Steelers fan because somebody
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: could somet maybe maybe somebody if you're you're following the Steelers press conferences, maybe somebody asks him 'cause they should ask him. I think somebody should ask Dylan
Mike McDermott: They should have, yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: Gabriel because he was the other quarterback in that scenario. I mean, what do you feel about that? You know, just see what Dylan Gabriel says over in over in Cleveland. Anyway, I'll go I'll start on my my thought on this this whole situation. Western Michigan made two fatal mistakes. One, they assumed that the officials were neutral. You cannot do that in a game, and that's part of the whole Piqua Troy thing that I'm I'm pimping out today. Because, you know, the game this year is in Piqua but when the game is in Troy every year there's a bad call. There's always a bad call. It always favors Troy. The Pickwa coaches know it and I've coached for Troy and the Cro Troy coaches know it. It's a real thing. And the reason it's a real thing is because almost every official that officiates games in Miami County, Ohio, live in Troy. I mean, that's kinda how it is. So you know if the game's in Troy there's gonna be a bad call. And I learned very early in high school that the officials are not a neutral party in this situation. They have a vested interest in something. Either it being like the Vegas numbers, being they're being paid off, being something. They have an agenda in this game, some way, shape, or form. And in this game it's pretty easy to see what it is. They're Big Ten officials. There's a Big Ten team going on. They want to protect the integrity of the Big Ten, at least in terms of like Michigan winning, so that they're not eliminated from, you know, whatever contention they're in by losing to Western Michigan. So you can never assume the officials are a neutral party. And there's so many people that complain about officials, but like Y they're never and they're never neutral. If you want to comment on that, I'm gonna give you that first shot on this. Yeah, yeah.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah. No, I I agree. When when you when tip plays the the tip plays Troy, right, it the same thing happens, right? No, I mean you're I'm I'm sitting there or well at first as a coach, right, I've seen it on the field, right? Where the the refs are high
Joel Cade: Troy, right. It the same thing happens, right? No, I mean you're I'm I'm sitting there or well, at first as a coach, right, I've seen it on the field, right, where the the refs are
Mike McDermott: fiving the Troy players and stuff on the field during the during the game, right? High fiving them
Joel Cade: It goes on.
Mike McDermott: and stuff like that, fist bumping them. I'm like, like,
Joel Cade: Yep.
Mike McDermott: wow. Ha, okay. I see how that goes.
Joel Cade: Okay. I mean true story, I I mean I we've we've talked about the book that I'm writing on Pickle Football. I got thrown out of a Pickle Troy game because we had the basically what was happening was like Troy had scored a touchdown to tie the game. We had gone in, we had blocked the extra point. Okay? And I was in position to run in and jump on the ball to make sure that like, you know, at that point we couldn't advance it, they couldn't advance it, but you wanna just jump on the ball and get it handled, right? So I I got the ball. I never have the ball, right? The official comes in from the opposite sideline, you know, the one who's supposed to like keep the the mark. Yeah, mine.
Mike McDermott: Yeah, line shot.
Joel Cade: He he's he's running in. Toss me the ball, throw me the ball, throw me the ball. So I'm like, okay, here you go. Chuck him the ball. The ball hits him square in his stomach and then falls to the ground. Okay? He throws a flag and tosses me from the game. I'm like What what the hell's going I'm I'm trying not to hurt my team, right?
Mike McDermott: ha
Joel Cade: Trying not to hurt my team. So I just run to the silent and I tell Coach Nees, Hey, I just got tossed because he claimed I threw the ball at him. And I detail this in my book, right? Like
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: and it's all about this discussion right here, which officials are not neutral people. you know and then as I'm running off, I'm hearing this official talk to the head official, like, so are we gonna redo the kick? Because when Troy misses the kick They're up by six and not seven. So if we go down the field, score, and score a touchdown and an extra point, we're now winning the game. So hi the attempt was to redo the kick. So if we call this of the penalty, blah blah blah, we'll give them another shot at the kick. Or we put them closer to the end zone and they can like do a two point conversion. The head official said, no, it's a dead ball foul, and this official got this angry look on his face and like turned off, turned around and stormed off. Like I knew what this was about. Like when it happened.
Mike McDermott: Yeah, that's a dead ball foul. If it was a foul, right? You know, you chucked it at the ref's nuts, is what I heard.
Joel Cade: I mean like the rest who tot him right in his I was right there, man. It hit him right in his stomach. He's got his hands out. Hits
Mike McDermott: Uh-huh.
Joel Cade: him right in his stomach, right where his hands were, and he the ball just fell to the ground. And he's yelling at me, toss me the ball, toss me the ball.
Mike McDermott: Uh-huh.
Joel Cade: So I tossed him the ball and from that moment forward I always handed the official the ball. I don't care if he's yelling at me, throw it at me from fifty yards away. I'm running fifty yards and I am handing him the
Mike McDermott: Yeah. No. Correct, correct.
Joel Cade: football.
Mike McDermott: Correct.
Joel Cade: Because you can't throw me out for hitting you the football.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. If you're if you're not a okay, so Joel, let me give you a little coach tip here. So like if you're not a quarterback or a receiver, you don't ever throw the ball at a ref. You don't. You don't. Yeah, you don't ever, yeah. You hand it to them like this. You go, you
Joel Cade: I'm a stupid lineman, man. I mean it to you guys. I'm a stupid lineman.
Mike McDermott: go like this. You go, here, this is the ball, right? That's what you do as a lineman, right? Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: But he's yelling at me, toss me the ball, toss me the ball. So I'm like, Okay, here you go, you know? Yeah. But anyway, part of that
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah, he
Joel Cade: part of that kind of funny story, we're playing Saint Xavier, which is kind of what this book is about. We play Saint Xavier. You can see where I recover a fumble in the film and I run fifteen yards to hand the ball. Like I run up the line
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: and hand the ball to the official. Like I'm just laughing as I'm watching it, like
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: that's funny, you're not throwing me out for this. I've played this game before.
Mike McDermott: Yeah, you learned. You learn what happens. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're not.
Joel Cade: So anyway, officials are not neutral. They are not neutral parties out there and you have to play or I my famous statement is you have to beat the officials along with the other team. So you can't give the officials something to to call. Now this is not Western Michigan's fault, but they also can't rely on, you know, the officials to do the right thing here. you just you just can't. Like so if you're upset about that you can't
Mike McDermott: Well, yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: The officials did give a first down earlier in that drive. I think it was earlier in that drive or the previous drive, where like
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: that was not a first down. And they ended up getting a first
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: down out of it, and I'm like, holy crap. Like Michigan got screwed on that one. But they ended up giving a first down on it. Like, okay. So the second fatal flaw that Western Michigan had is they failed to play to win the game. Okay? Now this is where everyone's going to look at me like I'm insane. They should not have kicked that field goal. Okay? Fourth and two on the Michigan,
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: I'm going to get the execs. I think it was the fourteen. Yeah, fourth and four on the Michigan 14 with 35 seconds left.
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: You go for that.
Mike McDermott: Yeah, that's yeah, they should have went for the fourth down, that would've expired the clock. Yeah.
Joel Cade: Yeah, like if you go for that, maybe you run six seconds, six, seven seconds
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: off the clock, then what? You don't get it. Let's say you don't get it. You're still up by two. Michigan's getting the ball on the fourteen, right? They still have to go fifty yards, maybe even sixty yards, before they can kick a field goal to beat you. You failed to play to win the game. They kick a field goal, right? There's no good outcome from kicking a field goal. First of all, I hate kickers. Don't throw them on the field. Second of all, there's no good outcome from kicking a field goal. If you let's say you kick the field goal and you go up by five, then what? They score six and you lose. So what's the difference between them kicking a field goal and you losing and them scoring a touchdown and you losing? Except you're thinking, well, they gotta go travel farther. But
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: as we're about to see, because they kick the field goal, right? And they go up by five, they now have to kick off and give Michigan the ball back. If you go for that and you get that, you don't give Michigan the ball back. They don't have the ball at all, right? So
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: he chose, okay, we're gonna play to not lose the game by kicking the field goal, then we're gonna let our defense go out there and not lose the game. No, you play to win the game, Herm Edwards said.
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: Go out there, go for it on fourth down. What's the worst case scenario, right? You you don't get the fourth down, they get the ball first and ten on their fourteen. But but because you kick the field goal and you're up by five, then you kick it off, right? And you kick it in the back of the end zone, right? So now Michigan's starting first and ten on the twenty five. Simply by kicking the field goal you gave them eleven yards of field position. And the ball.
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: Why would you do that? You gave him the ball and eleven yards. Yeah. So
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. That was a co that was a coaching error on that. Like that was yeah, that was that was a coach that was relying on his defense, which was stout. Like Western Michigan's defense was stout the whole game. You could tell by the score, right? You know, they were they they saw they saw what they they had on the field and their they felt like
Joel Cade: saw they saw what they they had on the field and they're they
Mike McDermott: that their defense was going to be stronger and help them win the game versus their offense, right? So that's why they didn't go
Joel Cade: game versus their offense, right?
Mike McDermott: for fourth down. Right. I I felt like they should have gone for fourth down. They went for the field goal.
Joel Cade: Like they should have went for fourth down, they went to the
Mike McDermott: I'm like, guys, right. And yeah, it it was a yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep.
Joel Cade: Play to win the game, right? Don't play to not lose. Play to win. Go out there on fourth and four from the fourteen and do what you
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: got. And the worst case scenario is they are backed up inside their twenty and they have to go another eleven yards. You put another eleven yards on that drive, they're sitting at their
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: own forty, maybe they're thirty nine, trying to throw a Hay Mary. That's different from throwing it at the fifty.
Mike McDermott: Right.
Joel Cade: So that's the biggest mistake is they gave the ball back and In case anybody wants to say this is I'm just insane, let me give you an example that I saw in real life. The Browns are up by seven with a minute thirty to go against the Jets week one, I'm not sure the exact year. All they have to do is get a first down and they win the game. Nick Chubb
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: breaks a long run and runs into the end zone, scores a touchdown, the Browns go up fourteen. Right? So then they kick the ball off to the Jets who tick who get the ball back at the forty because of penalties and all this stupidity. Go down and score a touchdown. Get a two point conversion, come back, do a do an onside kick, get the ball, score a nut touchdown, and in a minute thirty six score fifteen points and win the game. If Nick Chubb runs out of bounds or falls over before he gets into the end zone, Browns win the game. Do not give the ball back to your opponent.
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: Just don't do it. Okay? So then you go into this drive, I mean I get what they're doing. They're trying to keep the ball in bounds, so they're letting them throw the ball over the middle 'cause there's only thirty five seconds. Right? So Michigan's throwing the ball over the middle. Okay, make run up there. College football has that like stop the clock for a first down situation. So as long as they can like throw the ball over the middle and get a first down, they've got a built in three or four seconds before everybody can get in place. At least by everybody I mean the officials, who I'm sure are like going slow to give Michigan a chance to run up there. Right?
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: Okay, I I get that strategy. I do. Right. And I understand what Michigan's trying to do. They're just trying to get chunks to get up. to the point where you can either kick to to throw a Hail Mary. They throw the first Hail Mary, which I think they do a pretty good job of of of defending. But this second one was awful. Have you seen the video on this? Like Western Michigan
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: must just be like like walk into the end zone. Yeah.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah, they left their best receiver with a fully wide open shot to catch that ball. Like that was that wasn't great.
Joel Cade: I don't I don't know if you have the ability or if I have the ability to show a screenshot on this. I've got a second screen over here with the problem and I'll point it out to you exactly as it goes on. Is this it right here? I don't know. Anyway, I'll j I'll just walk you through it because I don't not sure how I'm gonna make that happen. Michigan runs three wide receivers like a it's like a screen pass. One one behind,
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: three on the line or two on the line. They run down the field. The two in the front get into the end zone and p start blocking. They're just blocking. That's all they're doing. They've got these Western Michigan defenders, they've grabbed them, they're holding on to them. There is a good two yards between the trailing receiver and the current receiver are the blocking receivers. And they're in the end zone grabbing their like basketball blocking out kind of thing. And Western Michigan's got one guy on between the receiver and the end zone. Which means this receiver has an easy like just jump up and catch it. It's ridiculous. You have to block that guy out. You have to have two people between the ball and the receivers And two people between the receivers and the end zone.
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: There's no reason to be even in the end zone at that point. You have to be
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: preventing them from getting the end zone. This is like a a case study in like Rob Gronkowski out there trying to defend a Hail Mayor. Just like Well and the whole did you see the whole?
Mike McDermott: Well well and the whole did you see the hold? Did you see that? So it was not only the reception, right, but on that hail that that second Hail Mary pass, the hold that the Michigan guy had on the Western Michigan guy's jersey, he was dragging him. He was holding so bad. There's Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah.
Joel Cade: So it was not only the reception, right, but on that hail that that second Hail Mary pass, the hold that the Michigan guy had on the western Michigan guy's jersey, he was dragging him. He was holding so bad. Like all like it's like the whole play was we'll send three people down the field to just grab and hold people and then we'll send one guy who's our guy we're actually trying to throw it to, and the other three people are simply there to keep all the res all the defenders away from the guy we're throwing it to.
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: And it works. And and you know the officials don't want to call a penalty under two minutes because that's a well documented situation. Like nobody wants officials calling penalties under two minutes because they don't want the officials to be at the center of the controversy. So they're not throwing flags. They don't care. Like two minutes if you see stuff going on in two minutes, it is like a
Mike McDermott: It's so bad. It was so bad.
Joel Cade: free for all. Whatever games you're in, if it's two minutes before half and two minutes before the end of the game, y I I promise you nobody is following the rules and nobody's getting called for it.
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: This was terrible. Western Michigan did a terrible job of defending this situation. And Michigan went out there and just like basically held and grabbed and all this kind of stuff. And the Big Ten officials just let do it. It it's it's insane.
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: So you're two big problems. You you thought the in the officials were neutral and they're not. And two, you you did you didn't play to win the game. You played to not lose.
Mike McDermott: Mm.
Joel Cade: And you can't play that way. You need to go for that on fourth down. And if you don't if you don't get it, they still have to go another eleven yards. You move this thing out eleven yards. They're catching that ball at like the eleven, trying to get in the end zone. I don't know
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: if Underwood has the arm to throw it. Because let's say you're on the thirty nine. You gotta drop back seven yards. I think he was five or six yards behind the line of scrimmage when he threw it. So you're talking about throwing it from your thirty, seventy yards down the field.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: I don't even think he can throw it that far. So Western I mean Western Michigan did a lot to not help themselves. On the other hand, Big Ten screwed over Western Michigan. That's ridiculous.
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: That's some of the stupidest stuff I've ever seen. Like the we're were side by side thing which was clearly rigged, the we put one second on the clock situation that was terrible. I mean welcome to Betting in sports, people. Well, yeah. I mean just yeah, you you s
Mike McDermott: Well, yeah. No, I mean just yeah, you you s you you just brought up my next topic was bet you know, sports betting and stuff like that. No, you know, you if you are if you're an avid sports better and you watched that game, Michigan versus
Joel Cade: Game.
Mike McDermott: Western Michigan, like you better be really careful with what you do from now on. Like, no, I mean either that or do you're just bone you're just boneheaded because you know, your your money is not safe.
Joel Cade: really careful with what you do from now on. Like no I mean either that or do you're just bone you're just boneheaded. Because you know, your your money is not safe.
Mike McDermott: Your bet is not safe. You think that team's gonna win, right?
Joel Cade: Your bet is not safe. You think that team's gonna win, right?
Mike McDermott: you know, it's you just saw the Big Ten cheat Western Michigan out of a win.
Joel Cade: It's you just saw the Big Ten cheat Western Michigan out of it. Yeah, I I just looked up on what is this? Google AI, whatever they call it, and
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: it says the clawback, I'm guessing this is how much money was not paid out, was eighteen point six million dollars was not paid out because Michigan beat Western Michigan. Had Western Michigan won, somebody would have to have paid out eighteen point six million dollars collectively through all the bets over that game. Yeah, I had an argument over the weekend with
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah. I had an argument over the weekend with a sports better, right? He w because he because he bet he he bets spreads, right? He b he bets spreads, he doesn't bet the win, right? So he was like, you know, it does it didn't really matter to Vegas. I was like, no, it absolutely meant to Vegas. It was super important that Michigan win that game, right? Super important. And like you said
Joel Cade: Yeah, he w because he because he bet he he bet spreads, right? He b he bet spreads, he doesn't bet the win, right? So He was like, you know, it do it didn't really matter to Vegas. I was like, no, it absolutely meant to Vegas. It was super important that Michigan win that game. Right? Super important. Eighteen point six million
Mike McDermott: eighteen point six million reasons
Joel Cade: reasons. Eighteen point six million reasons. Mhm.
Mike McDermott: to cheat on that game.
Joel Cade: I mean so yeah, anymore with with as prominent and as involved as betting is anymore, you have to understand what that situ this is why
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: and I know we're getting ready, I wanna talk a little bit about like our lodge is doing a pick league and I refuse to put money in situations like that. So
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: we have this like league where we're going to just pick games against the spread and whoever gets the most points wins. We're not gonna play for money, we're not gonna play for We're just gonna play for fun, right? It's a pick'em league at a Masonic Lodge. We're not gonna do anything stupid, we're not gonna besides the the money part creates resentment, and I don't want involved in that. But yeah, like I was reading up on okay, how do you pick against the spread? And the whole idea of the spread is simply for some place like Vegas or some betting institution to get you to take the underdog That's the whole point.
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: Like, they know this one team's gonna win. That's why they put the points on
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: So that's why they don't ever do this like straight pick If you don't do straight pick you just you just like pick the favorites. Because that's who Vegas thinks is gonna win. That's where the refs are gonna be, that's where the that's where the money's gonna be. And they're gonna do everything they can to stop these underdogs from winning. Right? And the whole point of the spread is to get you to pick the underdog. Like, I don't know if they can win by that much. Yeah.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: You know, it's it's to get you to take these underdogs 'cause that's how they make money, is people taking those underdogs.
Mike McDermott: Right. Yeah. No, I mean just just look at the the spread for the Browns, right? we've it's a seven seven point five point spread, right? So if you're a Browns fan, you know, you can still honestly go into that situation and go, I don't think I I I think we may we may lose by a touchdown, but we'll not lose
Joel Cade: look at the the spread for the Browns, right? we've it's a seven seven point five point spread, right? So if you're a Browns fan, you know, you can still honestly go into that situation and go, I don't think I I I think we may we may lose by a touchdown, but we'll not
Mike McDermott: by a touchdown and an extra point, right? You know, that's that's that's basically what you're saying there is, you know, I think
Joel Cade: That's that's that's basically what you're saying there. Yeah is you know We're not gonna lose by eight. Yeah. We're not gonna lose by eight. We're gonna you know, we could but we could lose by seven. I'm still putting my money down on the Browns, right? So do I think I still got a chance. Right. I think I still got a chance here. So you're saying there's a chance? Yeah. So you're saying there's a chance?
Mike McDermott: Yeah, we're not gonna lose by eight. We're gonna you know, we could but we could lose by seven. I'm still putting my money down on the Browns, right? So do I think I still got a chance. I think I still got a chance here. And so Yeah. You so you're saying there's a chance, yes. So, you know, and the same thing, what is it? the Steelers are a three point favorite over the Atlanta Falcons, right? So,
Joel Cade: You know, and the same thing, what is it? the Steelers are a three point favorite over the Atlanta Falcons, right? So
Mike McDermott: you know you know, if you're a Steelers fan, you know, you can you can bet money on that. Atlanta, you know, if you're if you're super hype for Tua Tonga Via Loa,
Joel Cade: Steelers fan, you know, you can you can bet money on that. Atlanta, you know, if you're if if you're super hype for Tua Tongamaya Lo Loa, I have a friend who's a Falcons fan, right? guy who's you know formerly a pickle football player. He's a Falcons fan and
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: He he like Stefansky left the Browns, he went to Atlanta, he's like so pretty excited about this Kevin Stefansky thing, so you're pretty excited about going like, you know, four and thirteen next year? I I don't know what you're excited about.
Mike McDermott: Yeah, right.
Joel Cade: He's like, yeah, there's a two time coach of the year. You mean like the two times he had winning records, he got coach of the year? I mean I I I don't I'm not high on Stefansky. I haven't been
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: for a long time. I think he needs to you know, run the damn football, which he doesn't. He he his default is just to throw his quarterback into a shotgun set to set situation and just pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass.
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: And it puts it it gets him in trouble. It gets him in trouble. So I c I can't imagine if you're this week this week you're setting on a on a starting quarterback with an offensive coordinator that likes to just throw the ball. And you got Bijan Robinson. So so maybe they're just going to be under center, you know, 'cause you know the Browns offense is so predictable, you know, so he's gonna take that same offense to to to Atlanta. So every time they're under center, it's either going to be an outside zone or a fake outside zone and a rollout. I mean it's it's not that hard.
Mike McDermott: Do you think he do you think he's gonna have that much of a impact on on the playmaking and stuff like that? On on the plays that are called? Yeah.
Joel Cade: Stefansky? Yeah. I think he's playing I think he's calling the plays. Okay.
Mike McDermott: Okay.
Joel Cade: Like that was his thing. He's calling plays. He's not gonna
Mike McDermott: Okay.
Joel Cade: let anybody else call plays. I
Mike McDermott: Okay. Well
Joel Cade: think it was one of these things the Browns hired him before he was ready to be a head coach. Like I think they were afraid. That was back in the day when you're trying to get like the young hot coordinator, and
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: Stefansky wasn't quite yet that young hot coordinator, but he was ascending to be that young hot coordinator. So they wanted to like jump that early. And I don't think he was ready to be done being an offensive coordinator. So he would spend all of his time on the offensive side of the ball when he's in Cleveland and then just hire somebody to run the defense and not even get involved. Like he was like an
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: offensive coordinator who just happened to be the head coach. Like that's always been my take on him. And whenever the Browns have had good defenses, it's been very strong personalities like Greg Williams, the guy who just threw the fit and stormed off in Cleveland, I can't think of his name, we just had Very strong, very strong personalities that will take charge of that side of the ball and handle it. Because
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: he didn't manage that side of the ball. Right. You know, it was he was just all about the offense. And then he was
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: bad at it. Like I mean he's he's not a good call player. Play caller. But anyway. So yeah, I think I'm I'm expecting Pittsburgh to just run in and just roll over Atlanta. I unless they unless they just sit there and say, Okay, we have to run the football because we can't we don't have a quarterback who's practiced enough to throw it, then they might get somewhere. Then they might get somewhere. But like
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: if Stefanski's allowed to sit there and throw it fifty times at the game in like thirty mile an hour wins with twenty bel twenty below windshow like they did against the Saints one year, if he's allowed to do that, like
Mike McDermott: Right.
Joel Cade: this is gonna be an easy win for Pittsburgh. I
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: just I can't see this being anything but that if Stefansky's out there calling plays.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. No, I mean it's you know, it it it should it I I wouldn't say any win for the Steelers this year is gonna be easy. I think ev everything's gonna take take significant
Joel Cade: Take take.
Mike McDermott: effort. and and if they don't, those are gonna gonna be the games they drop. No, I mean statistically we should beat Atlanta. You know, the ser you know, for the series we're sixteen two and one. we've we've won the last five meetings and Atlanta hasn't beat Pittsburgh since two thousand and six. So
Joel Cade: don't those are gonna be the games they drop. No, I mean statistically we should be Atlanta. You know, the ser you know, for the series we're sixteen two and one. we've we won the last five meetings and Atlanta hasn't beat Pittsburgh since two thousand and six. So Well I will say this when I say it should be an easy win it's if you come out and play Pittsburgh football. If you come out hyped,
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: prepared, ready, taking your opponent seriously and coming out to beat
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: in some heads, then then you'll win that football game. I
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: mean, if it's like, we'll walk in and beat this team, that's that's how teams like the Browns beat you, you know. Yeah. Well I think what Stefansi's gonna be up against is is up against a a force that he doesn't really understand right now or that doesn't respect, which is the Steeler running game. you know, Jalen Warren is a beast.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Well, I think what Stefansi's gonna be up against is is up against a a a force that he doesn't really understand right now and and doesn't respect, which is the Steeler running game. you know, Jalen Warren is a beast. you know, he's he's not an all pro beast, but he's definitely a beast, right? And so we're just gonna we're just gonna run it right down their throat. I believe. Yeah. I I think the running game is going to be leading us, right? And it's gonna open up opportunities for Aaron Rodgers to air it out. So
Joel Cade: You know, he's he's not an all pro beast, but he's definitely a beast, right? And so we're just gonna we're just gonna run it right down their throat, I believe. Yeah. I I think the running game is going to be leading us, right? And it's gonna open up opportunities for Aaron Rodgers to air it out. So
Mike McDermott: I I I think that's that's the that's the part of the game that that's that's gonna happen there is that you're gonna be surprised at how many how many rushing yards we pick up in the first half and then that's gonna allow us to air it out in the second half. So
Joel Cade: I I I think that's that's the that's the part of the game that that that's gonna happen there is that you're gonna be surprised at how many how many rushing yards we pick up in the first half and then that's gonna allow us to air it out in the second half.
Mike McDermott: I believe that's the way the game's gonna go. So
Joel Cade: I believe that's the way the game's it would make sense, right? You got a new coach, got a new system, the easiest thing to do is run the football. And even
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm. Right.
Joel Cade: though like blocking schemes are pretty I mean running schemes are running schemes. So once you
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: learn the running schemes it's like defensive backs saying coverages are coverages. I mean they just
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: are. The issue with offenses are the passing game. And the nuance
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: between communication, when you're gonna hit this route, when you're gonna do that, in terms of what you want to attack defenses with. So it would make sense for Pittsburgh to come out and run the football and then try to open up the passing game. At least
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: early, like the first four or five games to try to run it that way. It would make sense for the Browns to do that, but you know they're not going to. They're gonna come out and try to like show off Deshaun Watson's arm or something. I don't know. We're gonna do something dumb. I know we are. Like I was excited to watch that.
Mike McDermott: I'm excited to watch that game.
Joel Cade: The the Cleveland game? Yeah. my gosh,
Mike McDermott: I am. The Browns game. Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: that's gonna be like that's gonna be a nightmare. I mean it'll be like a typical Browns game, right? So they'll probably be in it toward halftime.
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: The defense will probably be on the field a lot because the offense sucks. And then the second half, the th about the middle of the third quarter, th through the fourth quarter, it'll all fall apart and turn into a blowout. That's probably what it's gonna be. Like it's gonna be close at halftime. Ooh, the Browns are in it. And then like middle of the third quarter, so the defense has been on the field for three quarters of the game, it's it's gonna just fall apart. That's like what happened to the Super Bowl, like right? That's what happened to the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Their offense couldn't do anything, and then eventually the third quarter hit and they just fell apart. Speaking of which, as Keith and May is not aware, football starts on Wednesday this year. I mean, I've been kind of texting people in our pick'em league, be aware we're starting on Wednesday this year. trying to get people to get their picks in. you know, we're gonna rematch that game. What do you think of that?
Mike McDermott: Yeah. I don't like that. I don't like that at all. I don't like the Wednesday start.
Joel Cade: No, I think the NFL's gonna tick an end I mean like I don't know what they're trying to accomplish
Mike McDermott: my god.
Joel Cade: with that, but I don't think they're gonna do this again. I mean I don't know if it's Yeah, you know how how many people will go through the entire day of Wednesday without even
Mike McDermott: I think that's you know, you know how how many people will go through the entire day of Wednesday without even knowing that there's a football game on.
Joel Cade: Right. That that I'm trying to get the word out, like, hey, by the way, the season starts on Wednesday.
Mike McDermott: You're like, what are you talking about Wednesday football? Come
Joel Cade: I think they're trying to protect that Australia game. The Rams forty Niners in Australia. Which I
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah.
Joel Cade: think will be taking place technically. No. Nope, I'm wrong. 'Cause they're a day ahead in Australia, right? Yes. Okay. They're in the future. Okay.
Mike McDermott: Yes. They're in the future. Mm-hmm. That's right, the game takes place in the future.
Joel Cade: I I joke with my daughter who's in in that part of the world, like,
Mike McDermott: Mm-hmm.
Joel Cade: Hey, you know, it's tomorrow over there. Tell me who wins the Browns game. She's like, It doesn't work like that, Dad. I'm like, Are you sure? Why not?
Mike McDermott: Why not?
Joel Cade: You're in the future, like this this happened yesterday according to your time. So like tell me who wins the Browns game.
Mike McDermott: Right.
Joel Cade: Tell me who I'm supposed to pick. Tell me who picked.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. my gosh. So we're gonna be starting a regular season. So our we'll do a our next podcast will be we'll publish that. We'll record and publish out on Tuesday. So we're gonna just gonna get ready for the we're we'll have all of the updates from the prior week,
Joel Cade: So we're gonna be starting regular season, so our we'll do a our next podcast will be we'll publish that. We'll record and publish that on Tuesday, so we're gonna just gonna get ready for the we'll we'll have all of the updates from the prior
Mike McDermott: right? So we'll be able to cover the Wednesday, the Thursday game, the Sunday game, and the Monday game. Four days of football, and then we play that we do that for the next seventeen weeks. So
Joel Cade: game, the Sunday game and the Monday game. Mhm. Four days of football and then we play that we do that for the next seventeen weeks. So Right. Amazing, right? Even when there's bye weeks. You're like, Hey, we didn't lose this week.
Mike McDermott: Amazing, right? Even yeah, your record takes a t uptick, injured people come off the IR. It's a it's
Joel Cade: Yeah, your record takes a t uptick, injured people come off the IR. It's a
Mike McDermott: an amazing time of the time of the season, right?
Joel Cade: So I think the the time will also give us a chance to start a preview of the next week. At least kinda this is the opponent, these are some initial thoughts
Mike McDermott: Hm. Yeah.
Joel Cade: as well. I I may try to in the future go over our pick league at the lodge, in case anybody from the lodge is listening.
Mike McDermott: Sure. Yeah, absolutely. How many p how many people do you want to have in there? Like you ten, twelve, thirteen?
Joel Cade: I had like a minimum of six.
Mike McDermott: Six. Okay.
Joel Cade: at least a minimum of six to make it interesting. I'm gonna look up real quick how many we got, but I keep sending this this invitation out from different email addresses thinking like, okay, maybe it's because it's all getting blocked or whatever. But
Mike McDermott: Right.
Joel Cade: we currently have Seven in the league. seven.
Mike McDermott: Seven. All right. That'll be good.
Joel Cade: So if we can get at least five of to be committed, we're gonna have a good league. I mean I expect somebody to just be like, you know Me.
Mike McDermott: Meh.
Joel Cade: Yeah, I don't I don't know, or forget and then they feel like they're not gonna be able to catch up and then they
Mike McDermott: Right.
Joel Cade: end up quitting. I actually set the league so that if you forget to put in your picks you actually get one point less than the last place person to try to keep people in the league.
Mike McDermott: Okay.
Joel Cade: keep moving. But yeah, big game for the the Browns. I don't expect that to go well for Cleveland and neither does anybody else. And I think the the Steelers start off pretty good against the the Falcons. I can't imagine Stefancy's gonna have that offense rolling. Yeah, it's it's still pretty early in the season for any team that's got new new stuff going on. I don't I don't have as much worry about Mike McCarthy.
Mike McDermott: Yeah, it's it's still pretty early in the season for any team that's got new new stuff going on. I don't I don't have as much worry about Mike McCarthy and his execution and because he's been he's been doing this for a long time. he's got the coaching staff in in place that he's trusting to get this work done and he's got the players that are committed and ready to go out there and do things. So
Joel Cade: and his execution and because he's been he's been doing this for a long time. he's got the coaching staff in in place that he's trusting to get this work done and he's got the players that are committed and ready to go out there and do things so Yeah, it's just gonna be Aaron Rodgers getting all the receivers on the same page. And that'll that'll take a game or two. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, look for a lot of running and yeah
Mike McDermott: Right. Yeah. Yep. So yeah, look for a lot of running and yeah, I'm hyped for this weekend, Joel.
Joel Cade: this weekend Joel. Alright. Go pick one. Beat Troy. Yes, exactly. Beat Troy. And we play I think Tip plays Stebbins this week. Stebbins, okay. Yes. So yeah, so that will be that'll be an exciting game as well. What's
Mike McDermott: Yes, exactly. Beat Troy. And I think we play I think Tip plays Stubbins this week. So yes. So yeah, so that will be that'll be an exciting game as well. So
Joel Cade: what's their mascot down there at Stebbins?
Mike McDermott: shoot. I think it's an Indian two, possibly.
Joel Cade: Indian two possibly. Okay. A lot of Indians in this area given the you know, the all the Native
Mike McDermott: Yeah.
Joel Cade: American tribes that were there. There's like a lot of Indians and Indian related Yeah, there's Scarlet and Gray.
Mike McDermott: Yeah. Yeah, they're scarlet and gray and they're yeah, their mascot is an Indian. So yep. There you go. Awesome. Well, this was another great show of hash marks and working tools. Joel, thank you so much for the updates. And man, that was I love how you break that broke down the the Michigan Western Michigan game. Thank you for that.
Joel Cade: Okay. All right. Awesome. Well, this is another great show of hash marks and working tools. Joel, thank you so much for the updates. And man, that was I love how you break that broke down the the Michigan, Western Michigan game. Thank you for that. Play to win the game. Play to win the game. That's the word of the day. Thanks everybody.
Mike McDermott: Play to win the game. That's the word of the day. Thanks everybody. Bye.
Joel Cade: Bye.
