Be following is a presentation of play Fly Sports properties. So they're going to
go for this. On fourth and fifteen, Kenneth Walker off the left shoulder,
Peyton Thwart now Connor Heyward starts in motion left, snap back to Pete.
Here's the throw to the end zone. Single come ratch he come my
goodness, touchdown by Jayden Range. Jayden Reach made some sensational plays this year.
Penn State with a gutty gutty drive bringing it within three points. So
here comes an on site kick try and falling on the ball is Jayden Reed.
Here is the greatest play in football, the Spartan's taking knee and the
Spartan to win the ball game. Snow Angels all around, the snow Angels
here to celebrate hard fought game. Well, welcome to the show. This
is Spartan. I'm your host, Jason Strayhorn along with my co host Otis
Wiley. Today today is a great day. Otis. Get the Socials right
follow us, click on the Lincoln the bye oh anywhere, Facebook, Instagram,
YouTube, Twitter, even TikTok. Go to that link tree and you
can find us where we can get tickets in hand. I know it's hot
now for the basketball season. Everybody wants to be inside, stay out of
that cold weather and getting that Breslin follow us and we'll get those tickets to
you. We've got a lot of good things to cover today, man,
and we have some very special guests. One very very very special guest that
we're going to get to right now. We're talking about a Super Bowl champion
winner from Michigan State Rose Bowl champion. Benny Fowler joins, this is Sparta.
How you doing, Benny. I'm good, I'm good. Appreciate you
guys for having me, Man. It's always good to see you talk about
a school that we love, the school that we love so much, and
you know, it's just good to you know, be here with you guys
and sharing in this good conversation. And so I appreciate you guys for having
me on the show. Yeah, Manny, how's the feeling if people introduce
you every time with Rose Bowl champ and Super Bowl champ, Like, does
it get older? You still kind of get like little little goosebumps when they
do the intro. I do get I do get a lot of goosebumps when
I hear the intro, just because it is such a It shows the blessings
that I had in terms of the teams that I was on, the teammates
that I had, uh, the incredible moments that I was a part of
as a player. So no, I get goosebumps every time. I mean,
that's an incredible feat. Man. I don't know how many Spartans that
we know that that in history have both the Rose Bowl championship and a Super
Bowl championship. They can't be that many. I'm not sure one Andre Rising.
I believe these highlights right here, Baby, that boy getting it run
to get him last game as a Spartan. Man, it's you know,
it's incredible these moments right here. I mean, good quarterbacks, great defenses.
Both the teams I won championships had the best the best defenses in the
country or league that year. Yeah, and we let's let's talk about like
you caught the last touchdown pass of a Hall of Famer in Peyton Manning.
Man, Like let's talk about also, we're gonna we're gonna talk about that
dance too. But let's talk about, man, just your your relationship with
the quarterbacks you know in college, but then getting into the pros and you
played with some great quarterbacks. We'll talk about Peyton Manning himself and just the
pro he was, but also a great standout guy that we all know and
love. You know what he's doing now, But just talk about your relationship
with Peyton Manning. Man Peyton is just one of the most incredible people that
I've ever been around, one of the most incredible people teammates that you can
have. I actually just saw him last Thursday. He was speaking at a
YPO event at the Stadium and I was at that event, and it was
just good to when I'm in the same room as him that you know,
not only that he acknowledges me, but he also acknowledges that I caught his
last pass and that, you know, we had an incredible relationship as teammates.
And you know, Peyton's sixteen years older than I am, so it
was incredible to play with a guy like that. And I'll never forget the
first time that I actually walked into the facility after the draft and as an
undrafted free agent. You know, we're all we all got there on the
same day, and he came up and he introduced himself. I was like,
Hey, my name is Peyton. You know I'm super happy to have
you here and you know, looking forward to working with you. I'm like,
this guy is introducing himself, but that's how humble he is. Like
obviously I knew who he was, and everybody knows who he is if you're
walking into an NFL locker room, but that just spoke to him as a
person and how he was raising the guy that in the teammate that he was,
and best quarterback of one of the best quarterbacks of all time, best
quarterback that I definitely got a chance to see, and I've seen and played
with a lot of them, so it was incredible to be around it.
You know. It was crazy, you know, because you've got a chance
to grow up and watch guys like that, and then you go out there
and you're playing with them. You just never you just get a front row
seat to it every day. Talk about that a little bit, Benny,
when you talk about Peyton Manny and his practices, those are legendary around the
league and the circles of people who've played with him. You know, how
was it on a normal daily like just a normal routine, weekly practice with
Peyton Manning running things? Yeah, it was. It was a lot different
compared to Well, I had Peyton my first couple of years in the league,
and then when he left, and then I played I played with Eli
Manning for two years and then Drew Brees, so I've gotten a chance to
see all of those quarterbacks and how they prepare. Peyton's practices are a little
bit different because of how detailed and his preparation is just like on another level,
I would say Drew is the same way Eli. Definitely his preparation was
up there. But I think, you know, Payton was such a stickler
on just like super super small details and before practice we would have a walk
through, and when I was playing with Payton, we would have a walk
through before the walkthrough, and that was what it would like to play with
him. He was always on board. He was always talking about things and
making sure people were up to speed. We had code words for cold words
just because of the TV copies. People would pick up the TV copy because
the quarterbacks had their the mics on and people would try to pick up the
cold words. So we had code words for those code words to confuse the
defense. But his preparation level and just is competitiveness in practice and then in
games was just was crazy to see and it was cool to be a part
of. I'm gonna ask what everybody probably wondered right now. I don't know
if you're allowed to divulge this, Benny, but what the hill is Omaha
Omaha Omaha Omaha means it's we're getting ready to audible. So like, hey,
Omaha, the defense has changed, say either the safeties have rotated or
they've split, whatever it may be. But Omaha like, okay, we're
audible ing. And then the other omaha omaha Omaha said hut means, Okay,
the play clock is getting ready to run down. We're about to hike
the ball. So omaha was an audible check. But then also, hey,
it's signaling to everybody else the play clock is running down and we have
to snap the ball. Oh So it wasn't a specific play, no,
no, no, it was. It was it was like our ice cream
cadence. So we we would line up, we got omaha Omaha said hut.
The defense would actually show what they're getting ready to be in blitchers would
kind of show, and then we'd twitch the play or we'd keep the same
play or keep the same play on and then we hiked the ball and then
the next omaha was Okay, we're getting ready to snap the ball. So
so what you're saying is we need to we need to instill that omaha right
now the current current team right now. You know, it's one of those
it's one of those unique things is that you know, it's easier said than
done. Like Peyton's knowledge of the game was so crazy that like you can
do that, and you you always wonder why, like other teams didn't do
that. Like he's really the only quarterback who would kind of go no huddle
and he we had we had a success, We had a lot of success,
and he had a tremendous amount of success as a quarterback in going no
huddle. Most qbs and in the NFL don't do no huddle unless they're in
a two minute situation. You know, Peyton was pretty much always no huddle
at least when I played with him, and we never switched sides and that
made it super unique and then we always got to see what the defense was
going to be in you know, so it was it was very beneficial for
us. Yeah, so we know we have another uh, you know,
stud receiver who played with Peyton, Manny and Blair White, you know,
before when you were drafted with there any conversation with Blair, you know,
to kind of prep you prepare you for how to handle Peyton, because I
know when Blair was playing there have been times where it's caught on screen where
on TV on the game that Peyton's Peyton's ripping Blair or a new one right,
like he's going after him. But it almost felt like he demanded excellence,
and hey, you need to know what you're supposed to be doing.
But like, was there any conversation pre context before you truly like stepped foot
into playing with Bayden. No, I've never reached out to Blair about it,
you know, I think it was a totally different situation in scenario.
You know, even just knowing Peyton now and hearing him talk about the person
and leader he was in Indianapolis is totally different than the guy that I saw
in Denver. And I never reached out to Blair about it because I got
the chance to see it like live and in person, like literally from day
one, the first meeting that we actually had as a team, we were
rewatching the first half in the first quarter of the Seattle Game, which is
the Super Bowl that got blown out in So I came following that year and
that's the first actual meeting we had, and I got to see him interact
with people right then and there, like Hey, what's the protection here?
And nobody answered him and he's like, hey, what is the protection here?
And I the only idiot who messed this up? And I was like,
Oh, is this the league? This is the NFL now? And
I was like, okay, like now like we are we are, we
are up and running. So that was like the first time I actually got
a chance to see that. So I never reached out to Blair because I
was like super nervous after that. I was scared to like didn't do anything.
Yeah, go ahead, sir, No, I'll be just I'm listening.
No, go ahead, I mean, let's listen. I mean you're
you're ah your your state Michigan, Michigan born, born and raised guy,
right state of Michigan. Uh. You went to the luxury I would say,
luxurious Detroit Country Day because y'all had y'all had it all. Man,
you had it all. But obviously guys that came out of that that that
that the school you know, people forget you was also all state hooper like
people forget Man. You know, to my opinion, you could hoop better
than what you can do a receiver. But you might say something different.
But you know, talk about when you're you're recruiting process with you know,
Coach D coming and coming and recruiting you and then you making that that decision
to go to the Green and White. I'm sure you had other choices to
go to as well, but you know, talk about your process and you
know why you chose Michigan State coming out of Detroit Country Day and you know
what you put on the board and a high school career leading into college Man,
I chose Michigan State because it aligned with who coach d. Their staff,
aligned their values, aligned with my family's value in terms of discipline the
jerseys earned Coach Manny, coach Treadwell at the time, and then it eventually
Coach Samuel later on in my career. Those are people like who pushed me
to be a better person, be a better man, and helped me understand
and navigate life. And I think, you know, as I was coming
out of Country Day, that's what my parents were looking for, and that's
what I was looking for, Where's a place that I can succeed and why
Michigan State. Mandy Chandler always asked me there says that when I when I
do come back to Michigan State, she said, I asked her that on
my visit. I was like, why should I come here? And you
know, she gave me an incredible answer. And I think it's just who
coach d was, you know, And that's one of the most important things
is he was authentic. He wasn't hiding anything. He never promised me anything.
He did say, this is gonna be your class, is going to
be the class that takes us to the Rose Bowl. But he never promised
me playing time, and he never promised me. You know, you'll get
this, you'll get that. And I appreciated that, like you're gonna come
here and you're gonna have to work in order to get on this field.
And you know, it just speaks to who he was as a leader.
The staff he put together and the continuity and the staff and it was it
was off and running from there. You know. I think that's just one
of the most important things coming out of out of Detroit Country Day. You
do have your options in terms of academics. I was a three sport athlete.
I didn't have that many offers in basketball, but coaches he talked about
the opportunity to play in front of seventy five thousand people every Saturday, and
you know, I couldn't pass that up. And then I also had Chris
Rucker and Andre Bufort, who were Country Day grads already on the team.
So it was cool, cool to have people that I had, you know,
relationships with in high school, you know, speak very highly of the
program and what was going on there. So it was one of the most
incredible things that ever happened to me. And I wanted to beat the school
down the road with the way they treated me in the recruiting process, and
you know that happened in my time there. Four and one against them,
so and then two and one against Ohio State. I think, beat every
team in the Big Ten, or have a winning record against every Big Ten
team, and able to dominate h as a team my entire tenure there.
He said, He said, he said that, He said that, so
so humbly about you know, beating a team down the road an Ohio State,
because not that many few of us in Spartany in our Spartans career can
can say that, right, and so, uh, you know that's good
man. As you know, I know Chris Ruckman a little ruck ruck got
after that. But I want to know about the recruiting process. What happened
with Michigan down the road? Would they do? Uh? They? Uh?
So I went to I came to Michigan State camp and ran a forty
and Coach d said, uh, you know, he was gonna call me
tomorrow. I told him that I was visiting the school down the road and
he's gonna call me in the morning. I ran a super fast forty.
He offered Dana Dixon that day. Do work Dana Doword Dixon. He offered
Dana that day. And then he said he was gonna call me tomorrow and
he's gonna offer me a scholarship. And he offered me a scholarship when I
was on the way up there, and he said, hey, you know,
take your time. He definitely didn't want me to commit there, but
I was going on the visit there and this is the way they were just
uh kind of treat me on the visit in terms of, you know,
if you don't come here to be a mistake and you know, our alumni
base and what we can do for you life after football, as if I
didn't have my own connections or personal network, as if I needed a handout
or something from them to like be successful. So I committed to and the
shoot right after that, like leaving the canvas. It's like, yeah,
so you know, it's just crazy. So arrogance and recruiting is what you're
saying A little bit sounds a lot. Yeah, it was just it was
crazy, and you know, like they were going to give me a platform
to be successful, as if my parents didn't already give me that, you
know, and as if I as if you can't build that, Uh,
regardless of where you go to school, it's more about who you are as
a person that you're actual where they say you went to school. So yeah,
it makes a lot of sense. You're talking about Detroit Country Day.
You know Jayu, who's our co host, who's not with us today.
You know he's a Buffalo Bill alumni. They were in town on Sunday.
They have a game on Thursday today, and he said that they couldn't find
an indoor facility to practice that I said he needed to call Benny. You
could have hooked him up with Detroit Country Day. Maybe y'all got the indoor
facilities over there. He just yeah, we did. He could have They
could have stayed in town. They have to go back and forth and rack
up those airline miles. But you know, talking about there's a rumor about
you benning around campus after your your Rose Bowl season that when rings were distributed
that there was one teammate of yours that did not have a ring. Is
this true that that you gave up your ring? Uh? I believe it
was John Jacoby. Jacoby, John Jacoby, It wasn't. It wasn't it
was Uh it was out back, either his out back or yeah, it
was out back. You got a lot of rings, which ring, and
he didn't. He didn't get one, And you know, they're just one
of those things with those transfer rum So I wanted to give him mine,
and and he deserved that, you know, for all the hard work that
he had put in. And I was hurt that year and didn't do it
much playing or practicing, And I think John deserved it with the work that
he put in and giving an incredible look and just who he was as a
person. So he just he deserved that. So I gave him my ring
because he deserved it. I want him to feel a part of the team.
And that's who we are a Michigan State. So you know, that's
that's what a team is all about, and helping people feel a part of
the team. Yeah, that speaks a lot to your character, Benny.
I mean that, that's that's incredible. You know, that's a selfless act.
A lot of guys you know that are in the same position, I'm
sure would pass up on a situation like that, and it really speaks to
your character. I want to talk about the background of where you are right
now. I see a nice little Lombardi trophy behind you, and yes,
sir, hey look we we had Drew standing on here. He brought out
the ring. We gotta see the trophy up close. Can you just hold
the trophy? Is that possible? Oh yeah, I can grab it real
quick. I like that. I can grab it just real quick. Look
at that and then man, it's incredible. Man, that's a picture perfect
that never that age as well, doesn't it? It does? It does.
One of the best, one of the best trophies in sports. I
remember holding it on the way back from UH from San Francisco and just crying.
You know, I couldn't start crying because it's like, you know,
people, as an undrafted player, you read the articles of why you weren't
draft or things that people said about your even some of the struggles that I
had at Michigan State and catching passage and dropping balls and you know, in
some big moments and sometimes not playing at the best of my ability, and
people would have never thought that I would have got there, you know,
And to hold on to that thing and then catch Peyton's last pass and like,
you know, you don't just get that, like you have to work
for all of that, and to achieve that was incredible. Oh, there's
no question you gotta work for. So that happy dance when you caught that
pass is that? Is that? What that was? That was like a
mixture of the roll that was actually that was actually planned out so as you
could see, mostly everybody on the field has a little bit of blue in
their shoes. It has blue soots on. I have on white socks.
I'm the only person with all white socks on. I took the fine,
but I wanted to do the billy white shoes Johnson dance. That's something that
I saw on the on the Cosby Show, and I know he was a
great receiver. So I wore I wore all white. Everybody else had all
on blue stocks, and I wore all white socks just to kind of stand
out. You know, you're playing in the Super Bowl, so I wore
all white everything. And that's why I did that. Dad Man's love.
That's the mastermind of the signs behind you. Man, I see people,
you know that one the young boys see that's what the for the old Billy
White Hughes Johnson deal right there. I respect, I respect the game,
and I respect everybody and always stood out. Shout out to my dad for
sure. It's Billy Fallas Sr. Right, Junior. I'm the third leg,
so I think so this would be my last like little thought question for
you mind man. But uh, when we I was on the sideline broadcasting
on the radio for the Rose Ball, straight was obviously color played by play
up there in the in the in the in the booth, and uh be
on that sideline was I was in a different light because clearly I was this
close to being a Rose Bowl like playing in the Rose Bowl and then fast
forward. I remember that year where Coach d took that trip out there and
it was a siphist or, it was vacation, but he wanted to go
visit the Granddaddy of Lama in the stadium in Pasadenia. He and he did
that video and it was you will be the ones, right and so like
we talked about this earlier in our podcast early in the season about I guess
speaking it into fruition, into existence and like the mastermind of Coach D of
like he honestly and truly believed that you will be the ones. Playing in
the hundredth anniversary in that Rose Bowl in that season was like miraculous, right,
Like we had some struggles and quarterback and that was Connor Cook's a little
kind of coming out year right and gun slinging it. But the amount of
joy and amount of like feelings that came about in myself when we won that
game in that fashion, that fourth to one, but also seeing you take
it to their secondary in the Stanford and just grinding it out and you see
those two highlights, so you just that beautiful catch and also running at I
thought she was gonna score on that that one where you trucking everybody, but
like beautiful hand down there, cashing in this one too, where you know
you take it past there. I thought you was gone, man, but
I was. I was running with you though, right on that fourth and
one stop, Bennie, like and we knew we were winning the game.
I remember after the game just running around trying to interview as many guys as
I could, but like kind of take us behind the scenes of like that
was thing for not only for yourself and the team, but spartan nation is
like putting football on the map and where we already knew where we belonged,
but we always are that. You were always took us against the world type
of team, but we finally sold against everybody watching eyes that where we belong
here. But talk about just you and that journey ending it, ending it
at the hundredth year anniversary winning the Rose Bowl Championship, because I know I
have my own feelings, so talk about yours and how it propelled you for
the for the league. Man. Man, it was one of the most
incredible days, perfect day in terms of weather, most perfect grass you could
ever play on. For people who were down there and walking on it,
I mean the grass was just incredible. But I think it was just say
there is no substitute for experience. You know, I was the first time,
really a first time starter. The year before, we were having some
struggles with Maxwelle, Like QB Le'Veon was incredible and Dion Sims was incredible that
year. But we gained a lot by losing those guys to the NFL because
we had to figure out our own identity and then you have a Jeremy Langford.
We're trying to figure out the running back position at the beginning of the
season. Jeremy Langford comes out of that, Connor Cut comes out as a
QB. And as we hit our big ten stride after Youngstown State and a
tough close loss to Another Day in which you know, we won't talk about
those pass interference calls that were insane, you know, you you we started
to gain our rhythm at Iowa and that is really where I had a conversation
with Coach d and Coach Deal was like, man, this is this is
your last year. Seniors have to have your best year, have to have
their best year. And he's like, you need to go out there and
cut loose because I was playing super uptight. I was having these incredible training
camps and then I would come into the season and I would trade, I
would try to play perfect games, and he was like, there is no
perfect game, Like just be yourself, Like go out there, have fun
and have joy. And you can see myself in the Iowa game for the
first time, really letting my personality out in terms of who I am all
the time, like off the field and practicing in different environments and situations.
But that our defense is the one who really gave us a lot of confidence.
We knew they were gonna close people out or hold people to a certain
amount of points, so we could go out there we were gonna have plenty
of opportunities to score. And Connor was just such an incredible you need a
quarterback like that, who was just like, you know, Connor really didn't
care, like you know, like, okay, you know, if Connor
sees cover one, he's he's checking the play and you don't have many quarterbacks.
Who are you know, you have a quarterback you know who's gonna do
it things by the book. But Connor's like, oh, cover one,
like I'm throwing it up, like or I'm gonna run or I'm gonna throw
this, like, you know, look at this play right here against Leinois
where he rolls out. Oh, you gotta make a play, you know,
not necessarily the right throw. But you know, we had a lot
of luck on our side. And if I'm if I'm correct, this is
the most dominant team in Big ten history in terms of winning every Big ten
game by ten or more points. I mean, we won every Big Ten
game by double digits. So I think you know, that's what that spoke
to. And you could see us all having fun and handshakes and different things,
and Coach Alaen probably telling kind of like, hey, like what was
that right? I mean it too, like think about that, Like that
was Coach d talking about we will be the ones. I think that was
incredible. We lost a lot of close games. We weren't a bad team,
but we lost a lot of close games. The year before. You
have to go through those tough times and sometimes, you know, those beautiful
things grow in the dark. And we had a lot of tough conversations and
we had to do a lot of work personally on ourselves and then as a
team and caught that rhythm and that propelled Tony Lippett. You know, we
went from having I don't know how many drops a year before to win the
Rose Bowl, and then Tony Lippitt wins Big tim Receiver the Year, and
then Aaron Burber's written Big Cham Receiver the Year. Those are the same people
that were being questioned in terms of including myself of like Ken, these guys
really play and we all go to the NFL so more than you know,
right up there with those Ohio State guys. Know they were first round picks,
but we're all still in the league. And you know that speaks to
who we were as people in our team. Talk about that Notre Dame game
when you said that we won't talk about the calls to me and a lot
of people watching, I know that that team was good enough should have been
the national championship team for Michigan State when you look at the overall body of
work in twenty thirteen going into that fourteen Rose Bowl if there was a playoff,
which there was not at that time, I like the odds that you
guys had against Florida State team led by Jameis Winston. I think it was
a freshman at that time, right, yeah, Jamis, I think won
the Heisman that year, and Jamis is one of my quarterbacks in New Orleans
when I played, and we talk about that, and with the way our
defense stacked up and then the way and the rhythm that we had on offense,
I think we would have won. I think we would have won the
national championship that year. But at the same time saying that like it would
have been perfect for the college football playoffs, I don't think. I don't
think if we needed the Notre Dame game to bring us together so like we
needed the loss, I won't say that we didn't need a loss, because
that that brought a lot a lot of tough conversations and who we needed to
be offensively in our offensive scheme and our identity. So we needed that loss.
I think that helped propelled us forward. But if it's a college football
playoff, I definitely think we come out as number one. Yeah, definitely
gonna be in the top four in that situation. Man, we had a
lot of fun. People love to hear from you, Benny, and have
a lot of the knowledge and experience Michigan State all way into the NFL,
especially when the Super Bowl with Peyton Manny, you know, right now,
what we need to do is break down the Penn State game that's coming up.
You have time to help us out with that. Take a look at
this, you know. And what we're gonna do is also bring on our
resident expert for Penn State and Pete. How you doing, pet I'm doing
great. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, what last three years over
in Happy Valley? Yeah, for sure, a great experience over there.
Yeah, A little no fact that you know, what you see in our
shows and our content and our creations and creative has been led by h.
Pete himself, man, and so you know, we want to give him
some time to you know, he's already signing behind the scenes, but this
is his name, you with us and discussing, you know, insider look
of the Nitney Lions, and we've all had a pleasure of playing against the
against that team. And you know, people don't know about this rivalry that
you know, it is a trophy rivalry game when we call it the Land
Grant Trophy. And here's some facts man about you know, the trophy itself.
So Penn State joined the Big Ten in nineteen ninety three, so you
always probably think that Penn State has always been in the Big Ten, but
that has not been the case, and when they did join it was an
immediate rivalry. And only because there's weird there's only two land grant universities at
the time in the Big Ten, where the oldest land great agriculture schools in
the nation, So why not make it a rivalry trophy from a university standpoint.
So on the grid iron, George perlis actually, late great George Perliss
designed this trophy so little no fact. I don't know if you knew that
stray, but oh, I know, you know, I mean coach perlis
Man. He was a man of many, many talents. But he talk
about talk about obviously being there at Penn State, Happy Valley is one of
the best venues to play, and we're always playing when it's either blizzard freezing
coat freezer is never such side both sides when they come to East Lansing as
well, but talk about just the full atmosphere Penn State and what that football
environment does for opposing fans and teams coming in there. Yeah. Thanks,
So I think you hit the nail on the head with with the environment.
You know, if it's not the best, it's one of the best in
the country, and the white Out game especially is one that is on a
lot of sports fans bucket list for a reason. It's one of the best
shows in college sports and that you know that reputation is well deserved after having
seen that for a couple of years over the past few and you know,
I think a lot of that that fan base is due to its location in
the state. It's centered between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and it provides a big
area for fans to be able to go get there and have a great experience.
The Tailgates scene is incredible as well, and they know how to do
college football, that's for sure, and it makes a tough environment for teams
to travel to it sure does you know what you know? I know you
know a lot of these players very well since you were running the marketing department
there just a year ago. And what we want to do is show some
highlights and stuff and see get Benny's opinion on these players that we're going to
be facing in a few days when the Spartans traveled a Happy Valley College station
in Pennsylvania, and so we're going to break down the game day summary with
statistics brought to you by eye hop twas a wintry day and at I hop
quite soon hot cinnamon apples would be coached with a spoon on the fluffiest French
toast with red curtains on top. We wish you a happy holiday only at
I Hop new Ginger's nat Apple for part of our new holiday menu. Try
all three flavors. But yeah, for Penn State, let's start on the
offensive side. They've got a lot of great skill players at the quarterback position.
They start Sean Clifford, who's a sixth year senior. This is actually,
yeah, unbelievable pre COVID. You can't say that very often anymore.
This is actually his fourth year starting. He's holding off a true freshman quarterback,
Drew Aller, who was one of the top QB recruits coming out of
Ohio last year. Penn State was able to get him over Ohio State.
He'll be someone to look out for. Hopefully not in this game in terms
of what I hope that we don't have to see him, but we'll definitely
be seeing him over the next few years. But as well, at the
running back position, they are trotting out to stud freshman running backs, so
they have Nick Singleton and k Tron Allen, which I'll show you guys a
few highlights of that. Actually, Nick Singleton last week had a kickoff return
touchdown against Rutgers, someone that has incredible speed coming out as a as a
true freshman. I don't think you would typically expect to see this, but
he put on the burners in this one. He reminds me, you returned
some kicks, Benny, And what what do you think about this speed right
here? I think that's incredible speed. I didn't break away and score any
you know, so No, I think, uh, you know, if
you can return kicks in college consistently, that's definitely a short way to get
into to play at the next level when fill position is going to be key
in this game. Yeah, and you look at I mean, he's a
true freshman with the vision playing at that level, running fearlessly right. But
kind of reminds you that that running back that playing for the Giants right now?
Man, what y'all think about that? That comparison? Well, I
won't, I wouldn't. I won't. I won't go there. You won't
go there yet yet. I played with I played with like I got some
juice he ain't strong as Satan, but I mean he's running like with that
aggressive abandon man, give him, give him a couple of years hit the
ground running well. And it's not only just just Nick Singleton too. They've
also got k Tron Allen, who's another freshman running back. You know,
I wanted to show one of the highlights of him last week against Rutgers as
well, someone that can not only has the speed and burst, but pushes
the pile I mean getting into the end zone on this one. Pretty incredible
power from the freshman as well. Mm. Yeah, like how they play
in the cold in the state college man. Like. One thing, one
thing that we talked about, uh, you know, as we were preparing
for this was his state historically always has a stud tight end committee. Like
these guys always have guys that can run routes. They kind of give you
that that uh mismatch exposure on the slot side. Uh, they also block
man like look, I mean, and then we talked about this and Pete
brought it up like this is the same player that you saw the Spartans try
to do against Michigan, but then check to it. Then we try to
do it against the following the following game of playing against them, and we
missed that target with with Peyton Thorn. But like, these guys look like
they can go play defensive end linebacker as well, and they always are nasty,
you know, Stray, I mean you played against some studs on the
bit Penn State Penn State side as well. I mean talk about your experience
when you played against the Nidney Lions. Well, you know, I have
two experiences with the Nindney Lions. One, they were fourth ranked, come
in the Spartan Stadium undefeated, and we had an up and down season that
year, and that's the year that we put it all them. Man,
we hit them. I think forty nine to fourteen had two running backs over
two hundred yards. That's still an NCAA record for an offensive line because we
take credit for that, but it just says two running backs over two hundred
yards, Mark Ronade, Sedar Kurban both. We just we tossed him around
that day. And then the next year they had guys by the name of
LeVar Arrington and Fortney. Yeah, you know they had some guys, okay
some I think they had like three players drafted in the top five. It
was ridiculous, a lot of talent. We go down to college station at
our state college, excuse me, and they handed they returned the favor for
us. Right. It wasn't good. It wasn't good. So they always
they always have athletes, man, you know they do. But it's been
pretty even when you look at the series right now, it's eighteen seventeen and
one for the thirty seven years. This is the thirty seventh game from Michigan
State Penn State, and Michigan State holds a slight edge eighteen wins, seventeen
losses in one tie. So this is this one of those pivotal games right
here. A year ago we had our way in East Lansing against Penn State
in the snow. You know, Jadeen Reid had a big day, back
shoulder throws, you know, doing what he normally does. But he's gonna
have to have a monumental feat just like that. And then some you need
a lot of players from Kean Comb and all the receivers a step up,
Trey Moseley, a guy who did decide to come back for his another senior
year. We're gonna see a lot of that do this COVID era guys coming
back, and you know, we just need to be able to run the
ball. As we said before, it's got to be a complimentary game.
We cannot have what happened in Indiana happened again. I think to Benny's point,
sometimes losing can bring you together, misiters. Stint's had some losses and
you just had a really bad loss a week ago against Indiana. So we
look forward to them having a more complimentary football where offense and defense come hines
with special teams in this one, because you're gonna need all three phases to
come out of there with a W. Yeah, I'm interested being needs breakdown
on the receivering corp Uh. You know, I know you're watching, and
I know you're seeing it, but like talk talk to us, man about
what you're seeing out there on the field with those guys, and you know,
what is it going to take for us to go to state college and
get a dub Because clearly we want to go to bowl game, we want
to get the postseasons. What it's about, what's really what's about you know,
having these guys and enjoy those experiences, but talk about what do you
think we need to do or to go to State College and win this game.
I think we need to play complementary football. I think we need to
I think our receivers need to be special, which they have the talent to
be. Kean Coleman, Jayden Reid, Trade Mosley incredible talent. Trade Moseley
reminds me a lot of DJ Cuttingham in terms of, like, you know,
he's not dropping any any passes, just super strong hands and super consistent.
Jade Reed, you know, she gotta gotta be you know who we
know he can be, which is the leader of this team. So taking
taking taking some of the plays that you don't think are going to go uh
seventy eighty yards, making those big special plays. You know, players in
this type of game, you gotta be special. You know. I think
about the last time that you know, I played at UH State College and
we played Pissate. You know, b J. Cunningham had two touchdowns in
that game. He was special. Like Kirk Cousins hit him on a it
was a corner blitz. Kirk Cousins hit him on a check and for a
touchdown. And then we ran double posts and kirk Cousins hit him around the
money for a touchdown. So you know, we're gonna have to have those
type of special plays. You have to have complimentary football. I'm gonna have
to run the ball up. It always starts up front, you know.
And you know that's one of the things that you guys were just talking about,
is that. Yeah, because they always does have some players and they
do for their tight ends. They're going for their linebackers, you know.
So we're gonna have to make some plays and we're gonna have to be special,
especially if we want to play in the postseason and get to a bowl
game. Yeah, talk about those big plays like then, he had a
bunch of those. We had a lot of plays over twenty yards in your
career at Michigan State. I don't know, I think you had like twenty
plus catches for over twenty yards. I mean you were a big play man.
Yeah, you gotta make plays, and I mean, shout out to
my quarterbacks for making that making that happen. But yeah, that's what We're
gonna need some of that this Saturday, and that's that's gonna be important.
But you know, they should go enjoy that if they haven't played there.
It's one of the best stadiums in the Big ten. It's like one of
the first times that I actually got a chance to experience. From the outside,
it looks like a pro stadium, how big it is. You know,
you don't you have the typical big ten stadiums, which are you know,
more vertical, like you know, similar to ours, But that actually
looks like a pro stadium from the outside. And then when you're in there
on the inside. So got to go out there, got to play together.
You don't point the finger and just take it one play at the time.
But you know, what do you want to be known for these seniors
is don't let this be your last game. That's right there, you go,
don't let us. I think we have a couple of highlights on the
defense, Yeah absolutely. I mean they had a couple of big plays in
this past game against Rutgers. The first one, uh with a Fumbel recovery
for a touchdown, and then we'll get to see one of their defensive playmakers
in the next one as well. Man just scoop and score touchdown there after
the big hit man. Poor Rutgers man. They compete man that first quarter
and then it just falls apart. But you know, look at that pressure
man like, that's what that's what I won't say fear. But for us
in our offensive line, you know, you see Jahiel Brown safety who is
their their main playmaker on the defensive side. But also they got they got
a guy who's a legacy in Joey Porter, Junie Year, you know,
are great Pittsburgh Hall of Famer Joey Porter linebacker slash d n you know,
you know he's probably it's in his DNA. Just seaball eatball, right,
seaballaball. But I wanted I wanted Pete to play. Well, everybody knows
when we go to State college and they play this sound every chance, oh
man man always the first down, so it's the third down. If it's
a turnover, it goes like dreing time. It's just so much. They
love that. They love that, right, they love that. They love
it. Contract incentives for how many times you play it as a market number,
you know, tell us the truth, Pete, that's that's really what's
going No. I bet I bet they average you know, fifty line wars
that football something like that. You know what that equivalent to whim We used
to do the Spartan three hundred. You know what is your profession. Yeah,
yeah, I had a bad We had a bad experience at State College.
Man. This is before the Big Ten Championship was created, where you
go down in Indianapolis and play, and you know, we were this is
coach D's second year, so like after your first year coming and taking over
a program, we become BO eligible. We beat Penn State to win to
go to the Champs Bowl. Fast forward the next year, we're in the
same position, but actually in better position where if we do win this game,
which was the Big Ten Championship with US and Penn State, uh that
that winner goes to the Rose Bowl. And we've never been in that place,
never been in that situation. And you know, I look back on
it as like we we fumbled that, right, We fumbled that opportunity,
but never knew how to really understand the opportunity unless you went and go and
went through it. I remember it was the blizzard, it was snowing.
Pregame. You had all the people with the leaf blowers blowing the lines on
the field and see them make sure like people the rest can see and spot
the ball. And I remember I remember the first play or even the second
series, man, where we got gassed on obviously being on the defensive side,
got gassed for like a streak. And I remember Johnny Adams and us
going on the sideline with those warm benches and it was just like, br
it is extremely cold. Like we were we were thinking about the wrong things,
the elements right. It was like I can't feel my toes, I
can't fill my hands, and nothing was going for us. Man, we
weren't playing complimentary football. To Ben these point is you gotta go in there
and play complimentary football and mistake free football in order to even have a shot
to play in because the atmosphere in itself is a disadvantage because I them,
they're gonna go all white out. You're gonna see all the terrible tiles going,
You're gonna see that mascot running up and down the field. The whole
engagement of the atmosphere really is could be really scared. You could be scared
when you run on that field. And so I think the opportunity for us
is, let's play ball, Let's have fun. It's the last one win
or lose. You know, we need to go out and give it our
best. When we walk off the field, there's no there's no regrets and
then we can go and get ready for all season, even if that's going
to a bowl game or turn the page for for next season. Yeah,
well said there you know otis? You know, and while you were on
your your your your soap box that we did get breaking news that there has
been seven players now charged in the tunnel incident at the University of Michigan,
the game that happened a few weeks ago. It looks like prosecutors have charged
seven players, including Kobe Winman, with like a felonious aggravated assault. We'll
get more details to you. I know there's a tweet that has been sent
out that we may be able to insert here to discuss this, you know
further, you know, we have to be able to digest it. But
we just want to make sure that everyone knows that the seven of the eight
players have now been charged, two of them with a felonious level and then
five more of the miss demeter level of assault for Michigan State. So that's
been a question for everyone wants everyone wants to know what's gonna happen with those
eight players and how are we going to move forward? And well, now,
guys, we have something from the prosecutor that says, I mean on
the eve of Thanksgiving, mind you, Uh, this is coming out.
Uh so there's tough times for those for those players. Yeah, man,
I think all I can once you told that news is I immediately just are
praying for those guys, man, more so because you just you know the
emotional rollercoaster that comes after the act and you can play this thing over and
over again, and you know, you just just praying for the mental state
and their health of just battling through because obviously it's a mistake that I'm pretty
sure that they would would love to take back and not happened. And so
praying for man, because yeah, right now, I probably can feel that
they can feel at the lowest right now, and so you know, let's
wrap our arms around them and supporting them and and getting them back to uh
to the good graces. But you know, that's all I can really respond
to when you said there was the news where one it all could have been
avoided by operations and facilities. As you know, I'm very gun hole on
and understanding that this could have been stopped right there, but our guys did
it. And now it's the effect of the post effect, and so you
know, obviously we'd like to turn the page on. I think the guys
internally and the team has jailed together to kind of think I said, man
next, man up mentality, and they would like to get over this now.
But it's just it's disheartening, man to understand, like these guys now,
you know, have a record because of stuff that truly could all been
avoided in my opinion, well, definitely don't have a record yet. They
haven't been convicted, but definitely charge is where they are right now, so
there's more potentially my bad potentially charge yea, potentially have a record for this.
This is it is heartbreaking to see it go to this level. And
you you know that these young men were still everyone's still in uniform, crying
out loud, everybody was still in uniform. This isn't a street fight.
Uh this wasn't anything that you know, We've talked about this a lot.
Obviously, mistakes were made on both sides. Uh So now it is in
the hands of the authorities, and this is going to set president going forward
for any other fights that happened in the course of a football game or in
a basketball game. Then they have to have the same energy the sets precedent.
You know, no one charged uh Juwan Howard a year ago with assault,
which that was clearly assault, but now you know Washington County is doing
that very thing. So this is where we are now. Guys, once
that Pandora's box is opened, you cannot close it and go back. So
sad day for for athletics in general, especially at the amateur level. Uh
for for college football as a whole. Definitely. Well, I want to
transition to a good note to end on. I have nothing that well,
you know our guy, you know we always talk about when we bring guests
on Benny former players, is letting spartanation know you know what you're currently doing
now. And also we want to highlight your book that you have released as
Silver Spoon and just kind of talk through that. But more so like lets
Spartan Nation know and all the viewers what you're currently doing now and you know
about the book and release. Yeah, I've released my book in twenty twenty,
silver Spoon, The Imperfect Guy to Success. You know, I wanted
to share I don't have the typical athlete story that we always hear, and
I grew up in the suburbs and went to private school, but that doesn't
mean I was going to get me given the scholarship to Michigan Stage or have
a chance to play in the NFL. And I wanted to share my success
principles that I thought led me to that moment or led me to the moments
that I've had in my life in my career, but then also the stories
of the Dark Wiz, the Draymond Greens, the friends that I have who
didn't grow up like me but have reached incredible heights in people that I learned
and what they and how they see success. So I wanted to write that
book and currently right now advising entrepreneurs and C suite executives in terms of their
leadership and then also how they show up in the world and plugging the gaps
and creating the ecosystem for them to be successful. So advising business owners,
advising entrepreneurs, and looking to be more involved in Michigan State and Michigan State
Athletics and helping that program grow grow as well, because they Michigan State Athletics
helped me grown into the person I am today, and my purpose is to
help people live and lead into their full potential. Man. Yeah, hey,
we got to ask you. How's day they doing. I know you
have a great friendship with How's he doing? He just got elected into the
Hall of Fame at Michigan State, came back and gave a beautiful speech,
actually named you in the speech. Uh so, how are thingsful? Him?
Things are good? You know when you're you're a four time NBA champion
and doing incredible things, things are good. So he's good. We're actually
just talking maybe thinking about flying out to l A and doing Thanksgiving with him
at his house and uh in l A. But us he's good. You
know, he's in a really good place in terms of his leadership and trying
to lead this team to a fifth championship, which is crazy to say,
but trying to lead a team to his fifth NBA their fifth NBA championship,
So you know, it's it's a big feat this year. But you know
I'm there to support him and he's he's doing good. Yeah that's and then
I know we are coming up on our time here real quick. But uh,
you know with n I L. Benny, and you know most of
our players and student athletes are I mean they considered entrepreneurs when you know they're
getting deals, but they may have their own businesses or own brands that they're
trying to push out. You know, have you came across any student athletes
that may need some help in coaching, you know through the NIL space or
how they get their brand and become you know, a true entrepreneur wants the
cleats or the jersey's hung and they're done. Yeah, I think I haven't
talked to any current student athletes about it, but I know they definitely will
need help. I know people who have been in business for twenty five years
who still need help. We all need help, So I don't think that
ever stops. And you know I heard Peyton Ever actually say that last week
and the keynote that he was given, he said, the moment you stop
getting coaches in most of the moment you stop getting better. He still has
a coach when he was in the league, and even in eighteen years in
the league, you know, he went back to the same coach and somebody
who keeps you honest, keep you and guide you in the right direction.
You know, they're not coaches, you know, aren't always telling you what
to do, but they're just guiding you in the right direction. So I
think people always need coaches around, whether it's financial planning, whether it's your
brand, whether it's just navigating a new business. You have to have those
coaches and advisors and create that for yourself. Absolutely. Man. Well,
look we can talk for for for a long time. From a standpoint.
We carved out some time for us, man, and I greatly appreciate you,
know, you showing showing us what two spartans are about. You know
what's we're hanging up the cleats and and get out to the community and become
productive citizens, right And I always have my respect for my brother. Appreciate
there. Just know, man, I always talk trash. Man, I'll
take you off the line at right now. You can't you can't hit what
you can't see. See we can still we can still get out there.
That that would have been a lot of fun that had been. But no,
I always always love to love talking joking with you, and we always
we always joked about him when every was like, hey man, let's go
line them up, let's go I get open in the phone book. I
love it. No, appreciate the time, Benny, really do. Thank
you for joining us. Man, I mean, yeah, this is an
incredible story. Everybody's parting Nations is super proud of you. We are definitely
proud of you. Keep doing what you're doing. And hey, man,
I'm gonna have to talk to you about that Thanksgiving dinner. You're gonna be
on my way. Yeah, well we'll wake up, no man. Appreciate
your talk to you. You guys all right, Otis well, man,
Hey, that wraps that something. It all up and a great great spartan
right there. And Benny Fowler special thanks to him. Very hard goes out
to the seven players who've been charged for this tunnel incident. Obviously, but
hey, now we know what the facts are. We have to deal with
it as it comes and move forward. That's the only thing we can do.
Also special thanks to Pete Minez Okay, given his ampertise. Appreciate that,
Pete, I think I think that's a regular segment. Now I'm moving
forward, man, you got it doing it. Appreciate the time again,
Otis, I know you've milked this thing pretty dry. As far as where
we are with Penn State, we know what needs to be done. Five
and six right now, need one more win in order to be Bowl eligible.
Got to get there right, got to make it happen. Absolutely,
got to make it happen. And even if even if it doesn't happen,
right, we got to play these guys tough because there's still potential opportunities to
get a bowl invite from some of these committees, right because of our strength
of schedules. So, I mean there's some things out there right that you
know, you see the numbers, and we had a tough schedule. Man,
we had a gauntlet of the schedule. So but we also didn't win
the ones we were supposed to win. So yeah, that's the tough part.
But you know, want to plug our men's and women's basketball team who
are at the PK Tournament in Oregon. You'll see the men's basketball night Invitational
Night Invitational. So we played late. If you're on the Eastern inner time,
we play at ten thirty on Thursday tomorrow. It's not actually it'll be
tonight after this show, so get you know you're waking up from your your
food coma right about now. You know you just watched straight and Otis and
Benny Fowler a legend with Pete Manez making his debut. Now was time to
get some leftovers, you know, co beverage. Right of your be respons
responsible, no drinking and driving. We'll talk about those lines another time.
All right, all right, that'll put a ball on this show for otis
Wili. I'm Jason Strayhorn. This is Sparta. Have a good night,
God bless him. Go green, Go right,