Check it out college football on the West Coast. This is Get Off My
Pylon, a look at the PAC twelve and more, part of the College
Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network. Here's your host, Matt Zimmon. Welcome
to the latest edition of Get Off My Pilon College football podcast. This is
your host, Matt Zemk, part of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast
network, focusing on western college football in the United States. So here we've
arrived Conference Championship week, also the final week in the Heisman Trophy race,
since you know Army Navy is not gonna have any Heisman implications this year,
and you did have Keenan Reynolds several years ago being part of the Heisman discussion.
And a side note, you know Yards and Stripes is the College Gridiron
Coast to Coast podcast for the Service Academy, So you want to listen to
that podcast if you want Army Navy Air Force content. But we're Folcus on
the West. We've arrived at Conference Championship Week. The appetizer in the Mountain
West Boise State and UNLV San Jose State beats UNLV to create a three way
tie. The computers computer rankings decided the three way tie and Boise State got
in ahead of San Jose State. Boise State did beat San Jose State head
to head, so you know that makes sense as well. And you know
air Force and Fresno State in command of the conference through November fourth, but
they both fell off the map these last few weeks. And so it's Boise
State against UNLV. Boise State when an interim head coach might be made the
permanent head coach, we shall see about that. Against Barry Odom and the
UNLV running Rebels. What a story those guys have fashioned. And you know
UNLV had its foot in the door for this conference championship game. So the
idea that UNLV had to pull out all the stops against San Jose State,
No, it didn't like San Jose State was playing for much higher stakes in
that game against UNLV. So I wouldn't necessarily say that because UNLV didn't play
well against San Jose State that the Rebels are going to get rolled by Boise
State. I don't think you can glean too much from that game heading into
the Mountain West championship game, but this much can be said. You know,
Boise State kicked air Force up and down the field for most of that
game in Boise It's hard to bet against the Broncos with pedigree that they have.
They have Andy Avolos out of there. Seems as though that's a very
unified, cohesive team right now, I would not bet against Boise State.
But of course that's not the main reason you came to get off my pylon.
We're focused on the Pac twelve, the big throwdown Las Vegas, Friday
Night, December first, Oregon Washington. The rematch. The winner very if
Washington wins, a lock for the College Football Playoffs. If Oregon wins,
the Ducks are very likely in We will see if there's a plot twist in
the SEC championship game between Georgia and Alabama. But you know that's for Saturday
Friday Night. It's all about Oregon and Washington, these bitter rivals in a
rematch. The Ducks get this on neutral ground in Vegas. They don't have
to go up to Seattle and Husky Stadium, where the Huskies want to thirty
six thirty three thrower the first time out. So let's just pick apart this
game. At the end of the Pac twelve season, and I know that
we have coaching carousel items. We can get to those at another point in
time. We can mention Chip Kelly being retained by UCLA. We don't have
any news yet as we're recording this podcast on whether USC has hired a defensive
coordinator like that hasn't happened just yet. We have Jonathan Smith leaving Oregon State
to go to Michigan State. That is directly a result of the PAC twelve
dying. You know PAC twelve was staying intact. Jonathan Smith probably doesn't leave
Port Vallas since he did like it there, but now that job's being downgraded,
so Jonathan Smith goes to Michigan State. Arizona finishes its regular season nine
to three, scores fifty nine against Arizona State, playing some of the best
football in the country. Twenty twenty three Arizona is basically twenty sixteen USC Noah
Fafita and Sam Darnold. You can draw a very clear cut comparison between those
two players today and seven years ago for the Trojans. Very similar stories,
very similar developmental arcs for those two teams. You know, the coaches didn't
identify the right starting quarterback on Day one, but as soon as they made
the switch, and of course, in Arizona's case it was because of an
injury. USC's case of just Clay Helton didn't choose the right guy and he
corrected his mistake just in time. But with Arizona, it was Jayden de
Laura getting injured which opened the door for Noah Fafita. Arizona became a completely
different team after he took over. And Arizona is nine to three. So
those are the interesting stories in the Pac twelve. But they're all sidebars and
they come second to Oregon Washington bow Knicks versus Michael Pennix. With the Heisman
Trophy very much in the balance with Jaden Daniels the other main candidate, this
could be a Heisman Trophy playoff game as well as a college football playoff play
in game. You know, winner gets in. So like you have everything
going on in this game, everything on the line in this game. Oregon
installed as a nine point favorite. Now that's an eye opening line. You
know, Washington's the unbeaten team. Oregon's getting nine is minus nine, so
giving nine not at Wattson Stadium, you know, in Las Vegas, on
a neutral field, definitely a line that has caught the attention of a lot
of people. And yet, and yet, does that line really seem unreasonable
as a measurement of what might happen in this game, because Oregon has been
significantly better than Washington over the past several weeks since their meeting on October fourteenth,
Oregon has been dominated. Oregon cleaned up Oregon State like it was just
no problem. It was a walk in the park. And Oregon, similarly,
you know, handled usc very easily. I know, the final margin
there was only nine thirty six twenty seven, but Oregon led twenty nine to
seven in that game, was up twenty two, just kind of cruised in
to the harbor, didn't play its best, but was never remotely threatened in
that game. Oregon's been applying beatdowns and Washington has been skating by. The
Huskies barely win the Apple Cup on a medium length field goal at the gun.
You know, in Washington State is not going to a bowl game,
Washington State finishing five and seven. Washington beat a five and seven team by
a field goal at the very end of the game. Washington has been playing
very sloppy, very uneven football. Beat Oregon State by only two on a
night when Oregon State was extremely sloppy. So like Washington is getting here's the
thing with Washington. Washington is getting the best effort from its opponents, but
Washington is not getting the best performances from its opponents. Like Oregon State left
points in the field, Washington State left points on the field. Arizona State
from several weeks ago left points on the field. Arizona State missed multiple field
goals in that fifteen to seven game. You know, Washington's offense did not
score a single touchdown in that game against Arizona State. If the Sun Devils
just make field goals, they might have won that game. So Washington is
struggling to win against opponents who are also making mistakes. That Utah game that
Washington won thirty five twenty eight, Utah made a lot of big mistakes in
that game. You know, there was there was that almost pick six where
Washington, you know, going into the end zone, drops the ball on
the two yard line. But Utah was on the verge of taking the lead
and Bryson Barnes, you know, the not the QB one for Utah.
That's what should have been came rising Bryson Barnes throws an awful interception, but
Utah was on the verge of taking the lead midway through the second half before
that play. So Washington has just been living on the edge week after week,
and so that nine point line for Oregon it might seem unreasonable, but
there is that sense that after Washington has been cheating the odds week after week,
you know, just been living on the right side of the tracks,
getting the ball to bounce its way, and a lot of fifty to fifty
situations, it could all just cave in on the Huskies here in Oregon,
which has been the more consistent team over the course of twelve full games.
Oregon's just gonna apply the SmackDown. You also have the reality that you know
Oregon is going to be the team seeking revenge. It's easier for the team
that lost the first meeting when you have a reunion. It's easier for the
team that lost game one to be hungry for game two. In a way
that you know Washington badly wants to win this game. You know the Huskies
are going to try their hardest, but Oregon's just gonna have a natural built
in advantage just because of the situation, just because the way this game sets
up for Oregon. So when you think about all those things, and when
you think about the idea that you know, Washington's luck might run out out,
you know, talking about like regression to the mean or the odds evening
out. Maybe that's why Vegas has Oregon is a nine point favorite. It's
not nearly as wild as you might first think. You know, maybe you
look at that line initially and you're blown away, You're caught way off guard.
But then you think about it for a minute, and then for two
minutes, and then for three minutes. Huh, you know what, Actually
that might make some sense. And so when we when we get down to
brass tacks in this game, there are a few things to consider. One
is, both Washington's and Oregon's field goal kickers have been struggling. Now,
Washington won the Apple Cup over Wazoo on a on a walk off field goal
at the end, but mister shorty earlier in that game, and Washington's kicker
had missed three straight you know before coming through in the clutch at the very
end. And Oregon's kicker also missed a missed a relatively short field goal in
the Civil War game against Oregon State last Friday. And of course, how
did the Oregon Washington game on October fourteenth end. It ended with Oregon missing
a field goal, So, you know, and what do we remember from
that first Oregon Washington game. We remember Dan Lanning going for a fourth and
three, fourth and four, you know, not just fourth and inches,
but like fourth and three, fourth and four instead of taking field goals.
Well, if Oregon's field goal kicker is struggling to this extent, we're going
to see a number of coaches in this game, Lanning and Kayleeb de Boer
going for it on fourth and three and fourth and four, and it's going
to be harder to criticize them because they're seeing their kickers struggle to such a
significant extent. There's gonna be a lot of fourth down aggression in this game,
and or at least we certainly need to be prepared for that. And
the idea that hey, take the three points, take the field goal,
play it safe. Well, if your field goal kicker is not someone you
can trust, is it playing it safe to kick like a forty yard field
goal or even a thirty five yard field goal on fourth and three or do
you give the ball to Michael Pennix. Do you give the ball to bow
Nicks and trust that they're going to be able to get three yards. It's
gonna be fascinating to see, situationally, how the coaches handle high leverage situations,
how they handle fourth down situations. That's gonna be an obvious point of
interest in this game. Moving beyond that, moving beyond the kicking game and
the fourth downs is the reality that you know, Michael Pennix has looked ragged.
He has not been a smooth, polished quarterback for much of the past
month. I mean, these last two games against Oregon State and Washington State,
they have been bumpy rides. And one of the things that you know,
if you talk to Washington fans, if you talk to people who follow
the Huskies, one of the things that they're going to say is, you
know, why is offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb throwing the ball well down the field
all the time? You know, you don't have to get twenty yards on
every play. You can actually run the ball, like, it's okay to
run the ball. It's okay to to be a little bit more conservative,
it's okay to you know, go for shorter gains, move the chains,
you know, be a little bit more high percentage, and and how you
approach things. Michael Pennox loves to push the ball down the field, but
that has to be balanced with a running game. It had that Washington has
to be more variable, more versatile on offense. It needs to show Oregon
different identities, different tendencies instead of just trying to, you know, sling
the ball around the yard. So that that's going to be something to look
for when Washington has the ball and Oregon is on defense. And you know,
it's interesting that, you know, Oregon State just played Oregon and the
week before played Washington. So these two PAC twelve Championship game teams, they
both played Oregon State very recently, and looking at this game, you know,
through a defensive lens, you know, dj Uiyangalaway had a decent season
for Oregon State. But we all knew that the Washington game a week ago
and then this more recent Oregon game, those were going to be the two
most defining games of uyangalawa a season at Oregon State. We got to see
him go up against the Huskies and then the Ducks wasn't very impressive, you
know, Uyangalaway, you know, first off wasn't fundamentally accurate to begin with.
But even on some passes that he completed, he had guys running open
in space and he was not able to hit them in stride. He would
throw the ball a little bit off the targets that even though a catch was
made, the receiver had to leave his feet, you know, kind of
bend or twist a little bit. Instead of just keeping a smooth progression running
forward or running in stride side to side, the receiver had to kind of
bend, twist, turn such that he would lose his balance, couldn't stay
upright. And so what could have been or should have been a thirty yard
play like a fifteen yard pass and then fifteen yards run after the catch,
what could have been and should have been a thirty yard pass was instead just
a fifteen yard pass, just a ten yard pass. So while you know,
Washington limited Oregon State to twenty points and then or you know, Oregon
was able to limit Oregon State to just seven points, you know, and
you know, solid defensive performances. To be sure, we also have to
realize dj Riangol did not play well. He did not test the Washington or
Oregon defenses in the ways that other better quarterbacks would have done. Like Caleb
Williams was able to make some big plays against both Oregon's defense and Washington's defense.
Like that's that's what we what you know, a really good quarterback can
do, particularly against Washington, like Washington has not set the bar nearly as
high as Oregon. You know, So Washington gave up forty two to USC,
Oregon gave up twenty seven to USC. So Oregon was definitely better.
But like a good quarterback can make good plays, big plays against these defenses.
We saw a lot of big plays in that thirty six thirty three game
for mid October in Seattle. But I think all of the things I've been
talking about the last two to three minutes, it goes to the point that,
you know, if you get Bo Nicks and Michael Pennix on their game,
if you have them precise, if you have them locked in, you
know, then this could be a shootout. And we shouldn't necessarily say that
Oregon's defense is great and wonderful and outstanding based on how it played against DJA,
who you know, really fell short, came up small in the biggest
games of Oregon State seasons. And and and while Washington, you know,
is doing what it absolutely needs to do in terms of winning games each week,
let's not be too complementary of Washington's defense based on what it did against
Oregon State and la Ah over a week ago. You know, Oregon State
made a lot of sloppy plays, had a winnable game slipped through its fingers.
Now Washington did finish off the win. Credit to the Huskies for that,
and and and let's be clear, you know, Washington isn't really passing
the eye test, but in terms of overall resume, in terms of the
quality of wins on the schedule with Oregon State, you know, at USC
you know, beating Utah as well, the two time defending uh Pacquilt champion,
beating Poise State earlier in the season, Boise State in the Mountain West
title game. You know, Washington has collected a lot of really good wins.
The winning on the road at Arizona like that results really good or Oregon
The Ducks didn't play Arizona this season. So like Washington has the better resume
than Oregon, Washington has a better resume than Florida State, does you know,
because Clemson didn't turn out to be a really good team in the a
c C washing like Washington has better results. But the eye test is very
different because Washington has just been skating by scraping by two, three points here,
one score there, uh, you know, winning, winning a lot
of close games, getting some fortuitous bounces. But the the caliber of teams
that Washington has been beating been very good. So there's a real split in
terms of how Washington's resume looks on paper. Huskies really should be ranked no
lower than number two in the country, and you can make a case that
they should be ranked number one, especially since Ohio State lost to Michigan.
Ohio State had the wins over Notre Dame and Penn State, but now losing
to Michigan. Michigan didn't play anyone out of conference, So really Washington should
be ranked no lower than number two going into conference championship Friday. But in
terms of the eye test, like Oregon's been miles better, miles better than
the Huskies in the month and a half since that October fourteen game in Seattle,
So is Washington going to be able to achieve a mental reset in this
game and go back to October fourteenth and play a much more like the way
it did that day. Like that was an elite game and an elite performance
from Washington. But we haven't seen the Huskies played at that level since then.
But and yet Oregon turned that loss into fuel. Like Dan Lanning,
to his great credit, you know, he used that game to tell his
players, Hey, we're not as good as we think we are. We
need to set the bar higher. And Oregon has definitely set the bar a
lot higher than Washington has over the past week and a half. So those
are just some of the storylines and some of the topping points that are worth
considering when we look at that Oregon Washington pac twelve Chamgion game on Friday.
It's going to be a fabulous fight in Vegas. All right. Here at
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with ticket Smarter. All right. So the other really big storyline attached to
Oregon Washington, this massive, massive game on Friday night is of course the
Heisman Trophy. So Michael Pennix, with another rough outing against Washington State bow
Knicks, looked very smooth, very good. Made that amazing crossfield running throw
late in the first half against Oregon State. I think it's fair to say,
now, you know, in previous weeks, I said, you know,
Pennix had the head to head win. Pennix made the bigger plays head
to head against bow Knicks, and I thought Penix deserved to have the lead,
the clubhouse lead, if you will. Going into this Friday, December
first game. But I would say that bo Nix just continues to stack really
good performances one after the other, while Pennix continues to struggle. I think
it's reasonable to say that, you know, all things considered, bon Nicks
it is and should be ahead of Michael Pennix in the heisand race. You
just you can't continue to be as inconsistent as Michael Pennix has been to just
say well, but he but he won on October fourteen. You know,
that begins to turn the Heisman into a one game referendum, and we don't
want to do that, and it shouldn't be. You know this, this
should be a full season award. So you know, if two to three
weeks ago I felt that Pennix was still ahead of Knicks, I don't think
that's any longer the case. I think I think bo Nicks now now leads
Pennix head to head. And then you know, with Jayden Daniels, what
have I been saying. I've said that, you know, hey, let's
not give the guy a parade for lighting up a bad Florida defense. Let's
not give the guy, you know, the Heisman based on what he's doing
against you know, medium tier SEC teams. On that point, I'm still
going to stay in my ground. I'm gonna, you know, entrench myself
and reiterate what I've been saying. Now, is Jaden Daniels the most fun
player in college football this year? Yes, he is. There's no more
exciting, dazzling, popcorn type player than Jayden Daniels. You know, bo
Knicks has the seventy eight percent completion rate, but like so, you know,
and he makes a few wow plays every now and then, But most
of the time, Bo Nicks has a very clean pocket, his receivers are
getting wide open down the field. He has a really strong offensive line in
front of him, and he has a good defense as well. And Jaden
Daniels is having to do pretty much everything himself, and most of the time
he's able to do things by himself. Forty nine yard touchdown scramble, eighty
five yard touchdown scramble. Yes, Jaden Daniels has had to do so many
things by himself. And that's the obvious and reasonable argument that LSU fans are
making about his heisman Cannon to see totally get it. And you know,
I talked a few weeks ago on this same podcast about how you know,
when Robert Griffin the Third won the Heisman, you know, like he was
doing that kind of stuff with Baylor. You know that Baylor didn't have the
national reputation and like RG three, like he he was the guy lifting that
Baylor program to prominence, and there was a sense of like he was doing
so much of the work by himself, all right, and so that doing
things by himself element in that sense, Jayden Daniels is like the new representation
of what Robert Griffin the third was for Baylor when he won the twenty eleven
Heisman. But there's a difference that Baylor was Baylor. Baylor had not become,
you know, a regular power. It was beginning to become a big
deal under Art Briles twelve years ago, but it hadn't a been an established
presence. So like the fact that RG three was lifting Baylor out of relative
obscurity, that was a big part of why his season resonated so much in
twenty eleven. With Jaden Daniels, it's not the same thing. You know,
LSU was supposed to be a playoff contender, and obviously, like you
don't need to tell me, LSU has an abysmal defense and atrocious defense.
It feeds into why, you know, Jaden Daniels has been uh, you
know, kind of basically trying to roll a boulder up a hill like Sisyphus
He's had. He's been handicapped by his defense. But it remains that he
was not the best quarterback on the field against Jordan Travis in Florida State.
He was not the best quarterback on the field against Jalen Noroe and Alabama,
all right, And so you don't want to you don't want to turn the
Heisman into a one game referendum relative to what I've been saying about bow Next
versus Michael Pennix in that Oregon Washington game. But while you don't want to
turn it into a one game referendum, you also have to admit that,
you know, if LSU being nine to three, that's not the same as
Baylor being nine and three twelve years ago that this was supposed to be a
national championship contender. So like, I'm not going to reward Jayden Daniels too
much for not being the best quarterback on the field in multiple games, multiple
high profile games against high profile opponents. You know that that still limits the
way I see him, the way I see his season, the way I
see his Heisman candidacy. I think, you know, if everything that Jayden
Daniels was doing was happening in a situation much more akin to Baylor two thousand
eleven than LSU twenty twenty three, I think that matters. You know,
if this was happening at let's say Kansas, or if it was happening at
at Oregon State, or if it was happening, you know, at another
program of that nature. It's like Syracuse, you know, Wisconsin, you
know, programs of that to nature, not one of the superpowers such as
LSU that would have that would affect my perception, all right, But I'm
not I am not there in terms of giving the Heisman Trophy UH to Jayden
Daniels simply because he is the most fun player. I think that, you
know, he has been the most entertaining player, and that's certainly a testament
to his magnificent athletic ability. But I would say that bo Nicks is answering
the bell every week as a as a quarterback, as a performer in ways
that are lifting his team and are helping his team achieve at a higher level,
and I think, you know, team achievement should be built into this
to a certain point. You know, like there are situations where the Heisman
Trophy can come across as being like a most valuable player, and it gets
into that familiar discussion where you know, like there was a Major League Baseball
MVP debate in nineteen eighty seven where Andre Dawson of the Chicago Cubs won the
award even though the Cubs were a last place team. Now, you know,
so the Cubs were bad in nineteen eighty seven, but Andre Dawson was
absolutely ridiculous. It was absolutely magnificent. And so like, you know,
what would the Cubs have been without Andrey Dawson. They would have been nothing.
But you know, they weren't a good team. And I struggle with
that that, you know, if you're producing amazing numbers but on a team
that struggles, of course you're the most valuable player for that team. But
did your value translate into wins? Did it translate into achievement? You know,
I want to see a most valuable player that translates into the team doing
well. So it's not just value in and of itself, it's value translated
into what a team does. So, you know, Jaden Daniels, he
has the best numbers, but Bo Knicks has numbers with value, and that
touches on something that we've been discussing in terms of the Heisman race is that,
you know, Marvin Harrison Junior of Ohio State, he's a better NFL
draft prospect than Jaden Daniels or Bo Nicks. But you have to have a
certain amount of numbers, right. We did talk about that that you do
have to have some statistical heft along with just the fact that you're the best
player on the field. Like Marvin Harrison Junior passes the eye test for a
college football player, Like you could say very credibly that he is the most
outstanding player in college football, even more so than Jayden Daniels. Now you
could you could say that Jayden Daniels might be the most outstanding player. Where
I come down is that Jaden Daniels is the most fun and entertaining player.
But I think in terms of like just you know, how good are you
at the sport of football, I think Marvin Harrison Junior sets the bar pretty
much higher than anyone else. That he's regularly the best player on the field
in any game he's in, you know, like and Jaden Daniels wasn't against
Alabama and Florida State. So like, that's that's exactly where and how Marvin
Harrison Junior rises above Jaden Daniels in terms of that outstanding player. But it's
an outstanding player designation in terms of the eye test. And we keep running
into this split between the eye test and what the numbers show us. Right.
We so often have this debate in college football, not just in terms
of ranking teams, but also in terms of voting on awards with players.
This is another classic case. So bo Nix and Jaden Daniels both supremely valuable
to their teams, but bo Knicks's value has translated into higher achievement, uh
than what we've seen at LSU. So that that is all a longer way
of saying through through a multi pronged analysis that right now bo Nix would be
my vote for Heisman Trophy winner. But of course, you know, with
and with Jaden Daniels season over at LSU gets the final say, he has
the final chance to state his case against Michael Pennix in Washington. And let's
say Let's say that Pennix plays an absolutely outstanding game he outplays bo Nicks a
second time. That would create a very very complicated Heisman scenario such that like
you could, you could flip a coin. I don't coin has only two
sides, but you could basically flip a coin in terms of you know,
it would be a jump ball involving Pennix, Knicks, and Jayden Daniels.
But if bo Nicks cleanly outplays Michael Pennix and leads Oregon to the PAC twelfth
title to the College Football Playoff, to me, to me, that would
merit the Heisman Trophy for bow Knicks. He could do what Marcus Mariota did
for the Ducks in two thousand four team. So right now, if I
had to vote, I would say bo Nicks one, Jaden Daniels a very
close second, Michael Pennix a competitive third, still in the conversation, but
obviously needing to be at his very best to grab this thing back from Bonnicks,
from Jayden Daniels uh in the Heisman Trophy race. So I think it's
I don't think anything's been decided. I do think bo Nicks has the lead.
I do think we shouldn't give Jayden Daniels too much credit for putting up
video game numbers against ordinary SEC defenses in a year when you know the SEC
has been down. The PAC twelve has been better than the SEC, certainly
at the in the top end of the conference. You know, Tennessee not
being very good, Kentucky not being very good, Florida struggling, Texas A
and m struggling, LSU struggling. You know, it's basically been Georgia and
Alabama at the top of the SEC. I mean, ole Miss has had
a good season, but let's not say that ole Miss has been spectacular.
Given what we've seen at the top end of the PAC twelve with Oregon and
Washington, you could make a case that was that is still the game of
the year, the best game of the year. Heading into commerce Championship weekend,
I do think that it should be Bo Nicks in the lead. Not
the race isn't over, but Bo Nicks should be in the lead over Jayden
Daniels and Michael Pennox. But we'll see what happens on Friday. One more
very big chapter in what will be the last PAC twelve conference football game.
Maybe in human history, maybe for like fifteen years, and maybe in the
year twenty thirty eight, everyone's going to say, you know what, enough
at this cross country travel, let's reconvene the old PAC twelve. Let's let's
bringing the band back together. But we don't know if that's going to happen.
It's going to be the last PAC twelve game for quite a while,
and we will see if the PAC twelve gets that very special send off with
a team back in the college football playoff Friday night in Las Vegas, it
could be quite a show. So that's it for this week's edition of Get
Off My Pylon college football podcast. We're part of the College Gridiron Coast to
Coast podcast network. Look for your favorite College grid Iron Coast to Coast podcasts
on Apple Podcasts or the other places that you look for your podcasts, and
we will have a ton to talk about next week. This is Matt Zemak
Joy Conference Championship weekend here at Get Off My Pile.