Speaker 1: You are now listening to the Big Ten Paradigm podcast
here on the College Gridiron Coast to Coast Podcast Network.
Please welcome in Noah Drury's We covered the Big Ten
throughout this whole entire twenty twenty five college football.
Speaker 2: Season, and welcome in to the Big Ten Paradigm here.
Week three has concluded, and guess what, we already had
a coach firing in the Big Ten as well, so
we'll get more into the details of the firing of
Deshaun Foster out at UCLA after fifteen games. But the
Week three of the college football twenty twenty five season,
specifically in the Big Ten, Wow, it was chaotic to
say the least, and other conferences kind of stayed on
the lighter end in terms of Big Ten play. We're
gonna go down the list of games. Also joining us
Connor Happer of sixteen twenty the Zone out Nebraska while
doing other various duties. Don't be immature. He's going to
be joining us here later on in the show, talking
about Nebraska's expectations going into their conference playing they have
a big game versus Michigan. Will also preview Week four
coming up, but for now, the games that happen. On Friday,
Indiana beat Indiana State seventy three to nothing. Classic Kirk Signetti,
you know, just beating the breaks off the opponent what
you want to see out of him? And yeah, they
should be. They have a big test next week as well.
They got to play Illinois, two teams that had high
preseason expectations. More Illinois than Indiana, I would say, but regardless,
two very good teams playing each other next week. Indiana
take care of business. Ucla versus New Mexico. I thought
that fifteen and a half point spread like I saw
New Mexico co covering it. I mean they've only played
Michigan is seventeen. You could argue, well, Michigan should have
won buy more in that game. They they took care
of business. Damon Bankston ran all over that USC or
not UCLA defense. They averaged six point five yards per
carry on the ground with three hundred yards on the ground.
It's not like they were killing them through the air
jack lane. I mean twelve sixteen, nine point five yards
per attempt in two touchdowns. But the moral of the
story is, you are UCLA. You're supposed to be a
Big ten school and UCLA has just not found a
way to fit into that Big Ten identity ever since
stepping into the conference. And you can say the same
thing about USC This is something that they've struggled with
so far being in the Big Ten and just their
whole program identity is they don't have these bruisers in
the front seven. UCLA has had them in the past,
like I mean late too Late two was a very
good player. They've had other linebackers and NFL draft picks
on that defense, you know that are really studs, honestly,
and with the Sean Foster in this team, they just
haven't been able to really do anything. It's a collective
on the defensive side, it's collective with the offensive side.
Nico Amalalayeva has not been good and we see the smoke.
Like Joey Aguilar, I don't think is a great quarterback.
I don't know if he would have done necessarily better
than Nico in this system, but he provides a little
bit more consistency and whilst trying to play hero ball,
he hit some nice plays yesterday. That first Brasle touchdown
or no, it was the second one, the one in
the middle of the field that he was on Ellis Robinson.
I know this is Tennessee, Georgia. I'm not really supposed
to talk about this, but I'm just trying to put
in comparison, Like I just think Aguilar fits the hypeol
system more. And I don't know if Nico, like he's
got obviously arms talent, but we've seen it with prospects
like Joe Milton, We've seen it with Anthony Richardson, like
these guys have flashy tools that are eye candy for
a lot of scouts and a lot of fans like, oh,
we need these guys to play well. We just haven't
seen it from Nico yet. And losing to New Mexico
thirty five to ten, and then to have to say,
there's this reddit college football page. On Twitter, they were
like they're looking to join the Big Sky Conference and
then the Big Sky Conference the official Twitter account said
no things. So they are the laughing stock of Twitter
on the college football side, along with Virginia Tech. But
that that will be our All Day acc podcast, which
you can check out them in the rest of the
college gridiron Coast to Coast Network podcasts here, and if
you want to hear Matt Zemic. Will talk a little
bit more about this situation on Get Off My Pylon,
Please feel free to do so. Matt does a really
great job of covering the sport and the rest of
our crew here on the College Gridiron Coast to Coast
network as well. Other than that, like Saturday was a
pretty slow day in terms of games. Like I'll say
this USC that one did have my attention. It was
a very delayed start. It was delayed three hours. It
was supposed to be a three thirty kickoff ended up
being six forty five in USC. While I don't think
you would like to see them play better against Purdue
per se, not that I think Purdue's a bad team.
One thing I will say is that while Purdue tried
to air it out, they did a really good job
of stopping the run. And I thought Macoby was going
to be able to, you know, run it all over
this team early on after the first couple of plays.
But I mean, they did a really good job of
just trying to halt this team. Jade Mayeva continues to
look good over ten yards per attempt. He didn't throw
for a touchdown, he did ran run for one. But
I think like when you think about a lot of
these quarterbacks and we haven't seen them play with a
lot of these teams, like legit competition against the defense
that's not gonna be able to force stops, force pressure,
be able to actually cover downfield. We haven't seen that yet.
USC hasn't played that type of team. But you got
a nice feeling for him, and I really think like
Lincoln Riley's really developed this kid into being a great player.
He came from UNLV, was the Mount and West Conference
freshman of the year. He comes over, he sits behind
Miller Moss for most of the season, starts the second half.
He shows flashes, especially in that Notre Dame game. I
was very impressed with MYEVA early on and then yeah,
maybe some mistakes later, but I think he's actually a
pretty solid quarterback. I really like this receiver room. They
definitely made the right choices, you know, kind of feeding
out the older receivers that they didn't really think we're
going to be a part of the plans. And Zachariah
Branch and Kyron Hudson, who and are now both at SEE.
Zach Branch is at Georgia and Hudson's at Penn State.
And look, I really like this USC team this season
on the offensive side. Their defense has to really show me.
And maybe we'll see it versus Michigan State next week,
and we'll talk about that game because I did watch it. Yeah,
we'll get into that later. That might be like, yeah,
we'll save it for the end because I think there's
more important, irrelevant topics at hand. But yeah, USC takes
care of business Minnesota, California. This is not a result
I expected. But hey, man, Cal, they might actually cause
some trouble in the ACC. I don't think they're particularly good.
Keep in mind, Minnesota's without Darius Taylor, who is one
of the most electric running backs in the Big Ten
last season. I think he'll be at that point again
when he does return. If he returns, I haven't heard
any news in terms of what his health is looking like.
Drake Lindsay he had an okay game. He didn't play
necessarily great. He didn't play the worst football I've ever seen,
But yeah, I mean to be to give all the
credit in the world. Uh Sague Patelle the freshman quarterbacks,
So here's his story, right commits to Oregon, signs with Oregon,
practices the practice practices with them through the spring transfers
out goes to cal is going to start as a freshman,
beat Devin Brown, the former Ohio State quarterback out which
Devin Brown's That is the biggest miss I've had on
a prospect and quite some time. But this kid goes
out there beats a decent Big Ten team, Like I
think Minnesota's pretty decent. I PJ. Fleck that was his
one hundredth game at Minnesota coaching, like he's been around
for a long time. Minnesota has had great season. They
up also had not so great seasons, but they have
been like a relatively decent Big Ten team, and California
to be able to beat them by two scores like
acc watch out, Hey, they might take Clemson spot and
where they're supposed to be. Who knows. Yeah, I really
like that Sago Patella kid, And I think when it
comes into the transfer portal window, things could get interesting there.
Some team's gonna want to bid for him, and he's
already transferred once and there's no limit on how many
times you can transfer, so it'll be interesting to see.
I wonder if he does end up on a Big
Ten team. I wonder if he ends up maybe on
like a not maybe not Oregon unless Dante goes to
the draft and they also, like Austin Dova said, as
they're back up over there, maybe no Washington has Deman
William usc. I don't know if Mayeva is a pro
player just yet. We'll have to wait and see. So
if not, where does he go to? Is per Se?
And he might just stay at Cal too. I thought
Cal was gonna be a dumpster fire coming into the season. Hey,
they're three and zero, so what do I know? Obviously
a decent amount to be here. But and then I
mean other than that, like Oregon took care of business
versus Northwestern. Northwestern scored fourteen back door points. You know,
people that took the organ spread were mad, and I
know that was my suggestion of the week, and I
really thought they were gonna try and pour it on.
But like Dante Moore, while he did throw an interception
in this game, he's special, man. He is really good.
He was someone that I was kind of iffy about
him coming out of Martin Luther King and then he
went to he was committed to UCLA and then he
made this or he was committed to Oregon flipped to UCLA.
Played at UCLA's freshman season. I didn't think he was
that bad, wasn't particularly great. He looked like a freshman
in just the maturity. And I've talked about this on
a previous episode, so I'm not gonna go two into detail,
but I think Dante more just the mature approach. He
just handles himself like a professional. He's humble, he's vulnerable,
he does all the right things, and I think that,
you know, this Orgon team can do some damage this year.
Malik Benson to Corey and Moore, Like, I think those
two guys, you know, are really gonna step up. Which
how about Malik Benson in the career he's had, There's
also other guys. I wish they had Evan Stewart obviously
out for the whole season. It sucks, but I think
the one more big game and then I'll run down
the other scores because everything's kind of out of relevance
after that point. We'll talk about Misi Good State here
in a second, but I wanted to talk about Wisconsin Alabama.
Alabama I think played a really good team Week one,
and honestly didn't expect to play a good team week one.
I think that they're still going to be a team
that competes for the SEC championship. I think just like
week one games, like even with the Lions today, like
they beat the brakes off the Bears, and people are like, oh,
we're gonna go maybe one in five. Like there's just
so much you flip your expectations, slash your view on
a team just because of one result. And if you
were to do that with any survey or anything you
know that collects data points, you're just not gonna have
good results. So Alabama two and one, well, I don't
think Wisconsin's great playing with the backup QB were not
able to run the ball. They barely were able to
throw it, didn't really do an anything you know, productive
on the defensive side. And ty Simpson just looks like that, man, Yeah,
they they looked pretty good. They weren't able to run
the ball, which I think is concerning. But I think
if Wisconsin recruits anything decently, well, it's players in the
front sevens, you know, playing within the tackles, linebacker, defensive line,
maybe some offensive linemen. But they got torched. Ryan Williams
had himself to day, Jimmy Bernard. I think he's going
to be a really good player. They have Isaiah Horton
as well. There's a lot of guys on this Alabama
team where if the if Ty Simpson can get that
cleanly of looks and be able to go through his
progressions and reads, it's going to be dangerous. Not like
Russell Wilson, but yeah, AnyWho, last team I want to
talk about, and then we'll go over to this course
Michigan State. This game should not have been close. If
you think Michigan's it's a great team. And while a
lot of people don't have that expectation their when total
is at five and a half going into the season
at a lot of markets. Their offense, which Brandon or
Makai Frasier went down with an injury in this game,
and Brandon Tolas I wish you would have gotten a
little bit more touches, like they were able to run
the football, but they didn't spam it. They wanted to
continue attacking through the air with Chiles. Chiles threw a
bad interception in this game, but he has really progressed
since last year and he had a decent ending to
last season as well. But I think he's really, you know,
stepping into that like he might be in that top half,
maybe top third quarterbacks in the Big Ten. Obviously, I
want to see him play. Wow. Don't get me wrong.
Boston College not a bad team, even though they just
did lose to Stanford, and you shouldn't lose to Stanford
in twenty twenty five when they have an interim head
coach that sounds like he doesn't really even want to
be there. Yeah, I think Chiles. I think Child's could
be up there. I think we're gonna learn a lot
when they play USC maybe not a ton, just because
of the circumstances of that game. You know, it's at
eleven o'clock, and then they played Nebraska the following week.
So I think these next two weeks or I guess
they have a bye and then they played Nebraska. I
think the next two games that they play, I think
we're gonna learn a lot and where this team can finish.
I think UCLA is gonna be a free win, so
they'll at least get to four. And I think you
could beat Maryland too. Although Malik Washington, we haven't talked
about him too much on this show. He's been he's
been a force there at the Helm calling the shots
for Maryland. Now, grant, they played FAYU Northern in Illinois
and Towson, but they play Wisconsin, then they'll play Washington
then Nebraska, like they're gonna face their legit opponents. And
while I just I don't know where this Michigan State
team's at. It really concerns me on the defensive side
when we cannot cover anything like they did it okay
versus the ground, but through the air. While they didn't
look spectacular in the Penguins, but I mean bo Bergnard
like he was able to run a round back there.
We didn't really force that much pressure, not then not
consistent pressure, like we got two sacks and six TFLs.
That is a type of game where if you're a
good defense, you get four or five sacks on your
defensive line, anywhere from like eight to twelve TFLs. Like
we weren't able to take them out of this game,
and they hung around, and that is something that is concerning.
We kind of did the same thing versus Western Michigan,
but I think Western Michigan's just super limited on offense.
They just got shut out by Illinois, So yeah, I
don't know. I don't know what to think of this team.
I know we've had some injuries and have had to
make different changes on the defensive side. So maybe everyone's
just trying to play weather as a group. But you
gotta get it together for next week. USC's looking to
be pretty good this year. Yeah, we're gonna talk to
Connor Happer coming up on the other side of this break,
and yeah, we will catch you there. You're listening to
the Big Ten Paradigm here. Make sure you subscribe to
the college Gridirn Coast to Coast network and also follow
all the socials at Gridiron Coast and then also follow
my Twitter handle in whatever social media platform you prefer
at Drury Noah, But yeah, let's go have a conversation
with mister Happer and welcome Connor Happer onto the Big
Ten Paradigm. Connor, I want to start off the show
with who are you, what do you do and why
do you love doing it?
Speaker 3: Wow? Great questions. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
So are you.
Speaker 4: My name's Connor Happright do a daily radio show in Omaha.
Speaker 3: It's sixteen twenty the Zone midday show.
Speaker 4: I've been doing that for uh four years now, and
before that I did basically the same job in Lincoln.
So I've been doing a daily talk show in Nebraska
for a decade now and and then a variety of
other other things like working with our local sports teams
around here and you know, getting get involved with that
stuff and whatever they need to do, whether it be
the fan experience or or a PA guy or whatever
they might need. So that's been awesome. It's been cool
to be involved with uh with some of those teams.
Why do I love doing it Because it's pretty simple.
I just like sports, you know, it's I can't imagine
my life without it. So it's fun to talk to
people and get to know them and get to know
what they care about. You get to I get a
feeling about your man basis that you're involved with.
Speaker 3: So it's great, no complaints at all.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I covered some universities that are at a smaller level,
like the D two, n ai Is even a Juco,
and like still getting to even know like the people,
the parents, the fans that you know live local and
still come to the games.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: It's definitely very They're still all very excited and like
passionately follow it. I'm hoping to get to that level
one day. But uh, we're here to talk about the
Big Ten in Nebraska, and I want to start off
with my first question. Dylan Riola has looked like he's
been showing improvement in the non conference season. I wanted
to ask covering this team through the offseason the first
three games, what has impressed you the most with the
Nebraska QB.
Speaker 4: I think he's I think he's taken a real command
of the locker room.
Speaker 3: You know, people look to him now.
Speaker 4: Last year, they put a lot on his shoulders just
as far as the on the field stuff, and he
had to he had to carry that, but he also
still had to figure out how to be a color quarterback.
And you know, he's a freshman in the locker room
and all those things as well. So it's just there's
just a learning process for freshman quarterbacks. And the offense
kind of went off the rails a little bit last
year as well. So Dana Holderson has come in and
he's and he studied that out a little bit and
and and Dylan has absolutely reaped the benefits of that.
I mean, he's been everything they've needed him to be
this year on the field, But I think what impresses me,
you know, is his how much they put on his
shoulders still. I mean, Matt Rule always talks about how
much they put on him and and and how he's
always getting them into the right play and the right
look and rarely puts the ball in harm's way. And
he has thrown an interception this year, and he's got
eight touchdowns, So he's done a really.
Speaker 3: Nice job of that.
Speaker 4: Obviously, it gets a little bit different this upcoming week
and the remainder of the season, but so far he's
checked just about every box.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I know a lot of people media wise
love talking about oh love it was still act like
Paatrick Mahomes. Oh he likes doing this and that and
the other things like getting really nitpicky, And that's typically
what happened with like a lot of these blue chip
prospects and just high end talents, with Kayleb Williams, Travvis Hunter,
like a lot of these guys are just you know,
there's always a camera in their face and every single
movie that they do. Even with Bryce Underwood and as
a freshman through his first two games, he's kind of
been put under a microscope, but Braill he was someone
that even impressed me last year. I just think without
Holgerson and they didn't really have a lot of the
offensive weapons other than really I'm at Johnson last year
on that squad, So I think with him having Cologerson
and then weapons like Zane Key as well, I think
it's really like transcended this team to go into a
different old offensively.
Speaker 4: Yeah, wide receivers are definitely a step better than they
were last year, so that's that's helped them. And he's
got a pretty stead running back behind him, Amima Johnson. Yeah,
if I mean, they sport sixty eight points again against
Achron backups only had a couple of those touchdown They
obviously Acron is not good at all, but it was
it was really smooth, and they only played half the
game against Houston Christians. So they've done everything that they've
they've been been asked to so far. And the Cincinnati
game was sort of an interesting type of struggle. They
they really kind of shelled them in and didn't allow
Nebraska to take deep shots, which is something I know
they want to do. They want want to try to
take the top off of defenses and Cincinnati.
Speaker 3: They just wouldn't sort of allow it and doing right.
Speaker 4: I just kept taking layup after layup after layup after
a layup, and I think it got frustrating and annoying
at times, but I thought it showed some real like
emotional maturity to to just do it kind of over
and over and over again. So that was that was
a unique one for Nebraska. But they got through it
with the win. So yeah, now now they got confidence
and they got a little bit of juice behind them,
and I think they're ready for this one.
Speaker 2: Yes. Uh. They was a lot of speculation about the
defense heading into the offseason after Tony Whitett left for
Florida State. So far, they've been right on par without him.
I wanted to ask what has kept this defense so
strong even without the defensive coordinator that a lot of
people thought, you know, he's one of the best DC's
in the country and Nebraska is gonna be screwed. Like
these are all stories that I'm someone that listens to
like a million different college football podcasts, and they were like, oh,
Nebraska's defense might not be the same. What do you
think has kept this group so strong?
Speaker 4: I'd say I'd start with defensive back play. I mean,
it's hard to argue with so far this year, they've
they've allowed I think less than seventy passing yards in
each of their games so far. I mean, they they
knew that they were going to be pretty good there.
They like some of the guys that they have had
coming back who've been around for a long time, like
the Sean Singleton and Malcolm Hertzog. But now they have
this sort of influx of young guys and some transfers
as well. See, youre right came in last year from
USC and Andrew Marshall came in this summer from Idaho,
and they really like him on the opposite side of right.
So they love what they have in the defensive backfield.
They've been awesome so far. The stats back that up.
And that's a great place to start. You know, if
you have one level of your defense that you could
just kind of, you know, say all right, you guys,
go do your thing and you could cover all day long,
then you're probably going to be You're just working from
a good starting point. The defensive front, I think for
Nebraska is a little bit of a work in progress.
They're still trying to figure out what they're going to
be and who they are. The idea is that they're
trying to be a little bit more movement and explosive upfront.
They're certainly not as big and physical as they were
last year, losing Ty Robinson and Nash up Maker up front.
So it's a different It's not a different style, but
it's it's a little bit of a different attitude I
guess on defense, but it fits the personnel of what
they have right now. So Butler's done a really nice
with that. But I rule Matt Rule.
Speaker 3: Nebraska's coach.
Speaker 4: He always talks about how, hey, as long as I'm
the coach here, just trust me, I We're always going
to have a good defense.
Speaker 3: And so far, that's uh, that's run pretty true.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say more of you describing it, I'd
say it would be very I don't know if they
necessarily play it, because Nebraska doesn't play a four two five,
right they play more is more three five? Yeah? Three
three five, Okay, I know there was at least three linebackers.
But I'd say, like in terms of like talent and
how the defenses are built, I think Ohio State Nebraska's
defense are both built in the secondary, and they might
be the two big best Big Ten defenses other than
maybe Penn State.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I think, you you know, with what
they've shown over the last couple of years and certainly
what they've shown so far this year, I think you'd
have to put them close to in that category. We'll see,
you know that they've been They've been really good defensively
from a statistical standpoint over the last couple of years,
in part because they're offense has been so bad. You know,
they they wanted to win games defensively. So now the
offense they feel like can score some points. And so
we'll see how they sort of play it and and
how that what they feel like their formula is to
win games. But yeah, they feel like they have the
personnel to be able to win it with some defenders
as well.
Speaker 2: Where do you think Nebraska will finish in the Big
Ten this season? And do you think corn Huskers fans
should expect to be buying college football playoff tickets in December?
Speaker 4: I think that I think that Saturday is a big
game to try and figure that out. Nebraska brings in
Michigan on Saturday, and you know, it's it's going to
be there's Nebraska is going to throw a lot into it,
and the fan base is ready for it. They've been
they've been waiting for for it for a little while.
I mean, certainly it's been a long wait to start
this year Nebraska fans had they had Kansas City and
went down there for the Cincinnati game and everybody loved it,
and now it's just kind of been a waiting period
ever since.
Speaker 3: So like, Nebraska's ready for that game.
Speaker 4: If they win it, then I think you can really
start that conversation right now. It's just we're watching at least.
This is what I feel from maybe a more national perspective.
If you look if you're looking at Nebraska, like, I
don't know if you can put them in that conversation
quite yet, but if they went on Saturday, everything changes.
Speaker 3: And then you.
Speaker 4: Start to look at the rest of their schedule too,
and it's relatively manageable and if they can keep up
some of the things they're doing, obviously they would trip
to Penn State later on in the season, USC comes
to town, Iowa comes to town this year.
Speaker 3: So they can they can manage some things.
Speaker 4: Not to say that they can't lose any of those
other games because they're certainly capable. But you know, if
they're able to beat Michigan, I do think that conversation
will fire up and hurry expect to buy college football
playoff tickets probably probably not quite yet, but talk to
me in a week, all right.
Speaker 2: And then I was just gonna ask, did you have
any any other analysis or keys to the games for
the first conference game that they host Michigan.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it'll be it'll be fascinating to see how they
play Bryce Underwood. You know, he's shown a lot of
different stuff in the first couple weeks of the season here,
it'll be it'll be fascinating to see how they you know,
how they play them, right?
Speaker 3: Do you want to do? You want to keep them
in the pocket?
Speaker 4: Last this past weekend in Central Michigan, he got running
quite a bit. That was something they hadn't really shown
quite yet. So where do they decide his strength is?
Where did they decide that they that he can hurt
them the most? And then it'll be really interesting to
see Nebraska's defensive front against an always strong Michigan front.
So I think Nebraska has an opportunity to sort of
control the game there and you know, to flip it
over to the other side, Nebraska is offense against Michigan's defense.
I mean, those are two units that have been really
good so far this year as well. So yeah, there's
this will be one of the I don't know, this
will be a big game around here, and you know Nebraska,
it's gonna be loud in there, and and we'll see
how Michigan handles that piece of it as well. They
don't They're not going to have Sharon More for the game.
So uh, there's there's a lot to look forward to.
Speaker 2: I feel like everyone that's from Michigan in the media industry,
in the state of Michigan, there's very few Spartans fan
I'm a Spartans fan myself, but a lot of them
are Michigan fans and all I there's this one guy
that I work with at the local radio station I
cover high school sports at and he's always like he's
at every single tailgate, has had his family's had season
tickets for like fifty years, and he just loves talking
about Michigan, Michigan and Michigan and then anytime they lose,
zero silence from them. And one of our state guy
is actually from Omaha, Nebraska and a huge corn Huskers fan,
so they always banter back and forth. And I've been
talking this game up for a few weeks now, and
I was really excited about Nebraska personally going into the season.
In the preseason, I really liked the transfer acquisitions. I
thought Royolo was going to take a big step. I
think Holgerson would. I thought Holgerson was going to have,
you know, a lot more just play calling ability and
be able to stretch the field a lot more with
this Nebraska team. And my only concern was defense, and
so far they've been able to show up. And I
think for my point in this game is the big
difference is if you can keep those Michigan receivers quiet,
and if Klein is playing, if you can keep him manageable.
There's only so much Justice Haines can do in a
seven to eight man box, and you just take him
out of this game defensively and you'll find a way
to get points with field position. I think that's I
think that's the my key to victory for Nebraska.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I can't wait to see how it plays out.
Speaker 4: I mean, like like I said, I like what they
have in the defensive backfield, so maybe that's a maybe
that's a plus matchup there for Nebraska.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean can't wait to see.
Speaker 4: I mean, ultimately, for them, it's it's gonna be about
winning some of these close games, and this one's gonna
be a close one. It'll be a good one, and
it's a hump that Nebraska hasn't gotten over in the
last several years, so they got to do it on Saturday.
Speaker 2: Yes, they do. Thank you for joining us, Connoro. Is
a pleasure to have you on the show. And if
we need more Nebraska talk, you guys win a huge game,
maybe even this weekend, might have to have you on again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks, no, appreciate it anytime.
Speaker 2: This episode of The Big Ten Paradigm is sponsored in
part by Ticketmaster. The twenty twenty five college football season
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LWOS two zero. Think Smarter, ticket Smarter, and I want
to say thank you to counter Happer for Joeing joining
the show. Sorry a little bit about the you know,
audio recording. I was at a different location than I
am now recording this, and I don't think the Wi
Fi connection was necessarily the most steady, so I do
apologize for that. But Week four is upon us next
week before that, de Sean Foster gets fired at UCLA
fifteen games into his tenure only like a six million
dollar buyout, so it doesn't cost the university necessarily that much,
and he was a late hire coming in to this
process for UCLA. Chip Kelly left to go be the
offensive coordinator or at Ohio State, which they won a
national championship with him calling the plays, and now Ryan
Day's back taking over that duty. And I really don't
know where this year UCLA team has has like where
they go. It was a little concerning when they made
an in house hire, like obviously you don't want a guys,
a bunch of guys departing into the transfer portal, which
you might see now, especially maybe Nico, because they have
thirty days to enter the transfer portal and have an
extra year of eligibility because they haven't played four games,
so you know they could still red shirt if they
have that available to them. And I think that UCLA
as an athletics just in general, I mean, they've been
on the decline. It's something that's been publicly acknowledged about
this team. And I just I don't know the direction
that you really go in in terms of head coaching,
Like I'm trying to find stuff and I'm just not
I don't know. I don't know who would be on
their hot seat or their hot board in terms of
who they want to hire. Like I think Virginia Tech's
a way more attractable job than you see LA And
I think that, you know, it's a tough place to
coach at in this time and age, and we didn't
always used to say that about UCLA. And I think that,
you know, I think to Shaun's a good guy, a
good character. You know, he stepped up for a program
that he used to play for, he went to having
successful NFL career, and he goes back into coaching as
a running backs coach. And he'll probably get hired somewhere
else to do that. I don't know where that will
necessarily be. But I just think him at the head
position was just something he was not ready for or
maybe he's not cut out to be. He did it
an honor is stepping up for a school, and you
got to give him credit for that because you know
a lot of probably a lot of people wouldn't do that,
and he stepped up in place. And yeah, he he's fired,
and that's gonna be the end of it. I don't
know if he's gonna ever get a head coaching job
ever again, just because I don't know what value he
really has as an offensive coordinator, especially with how UCLA's
past two seasons gone with him at the head coaching level.
And yeah, it's it's just a mess, all right. AnyWho,
Next week, the Big Ten Conference play actually starts. Yay,
we get to be excited for it. I didn't need
to do it like that.
Speaker 4: But.
Speaker 2: I'm very excited. I am very excited. Iowa Rutgers plays
on Friday. Iowa's favorite at one and a half. Rutgers
is a team that continues to impress me with how
much steps they've taken offensively. Granted they're playing MAC opponents
and then they just played Norfolk Stake last week, but
I'm very excited to see how they do look playing
against his Iowa defense and what Iowa does as well,
because they had a nice bounce back game versus UMass
after taking the Syhawk loss, they looked like they could
throw it her out a little bit with Mark Ronowski.
It'll be a fun Friday night matchup. That is something
that I will be tuned into. And that kickoff will
be eight o'clock and you can find that on Fox. Saturday,
September twentieth, noonslate. You have Maryland versus Wisconsin, and that
should be a fun game. Wisconsin's favorite at seven and
a half. You know, they're in Madison. These two teams.
While I think right now in terms of just where
their programs are at, like Wisconsin all time very good program,
Marily not so much. Mike Loxley versus Luke Fickle. You know,
are they both going to be head coaches next season?
That's TBD, But I think like both of these teams
can have success in this game. Like I said, Malik Washington,
you know, he's had a very nice start to his season,
almost eight hundred passing yards on sixty two completion percentage,
six touchdowns to one interception. Wisconsin's been having Danny O'Neil
at the helm and while he's been mediocre, I guess
it's concerning that they haven't been able to run the ball,
and I think this game could go one side in
one way or another. I also think it could be
very low scoring as well, So it'll be interesting to
see over under on that game. Forty three and a half,
so the betting market thinks so as well. Oregon plays
Oregon State organ favored by thirty four and a half.
I'm not gonna tell you to take an Oregon spread again. Yeah,
that's just bride out a good move. Michigan plays Nebraska.
We already broke that down with Happer, and like I
mentioned in our interview, in our great conversation that we
had earlier, it's gonna come down to can Michigan's receivers
really do anything against this Nebraska secondary? And can Nebraska
force pressure on Bryce Underwood and get them flustered? Matt rule,
you know your three, Matt Ruhle, That's what we've seen.
We've seen it at Temple, we've seen it at Baylor.
Wasn't necessarily successful in the NFL, but college and NFL
are two different beasts. Just go ask Bill Belichick, which, Hey,
the tar Heels are two and one now, but they've
also played Charlotte and Richmond, so we'll see who. We'll
see how they shape out next week and how it
continues to go in ACC play. They do have a
very easy schedule. Purdue plays Notre Dame, and I wanted
to talk about Notre Dame. Oh, I completely missed that
in putting it together in my show prep. I watched
that Notre Dame text A and M game, and look,
Notre Dame's lost to two teams that could be very
well in the College Football Playoff and competing for their
conference championships. Right, you still have to win at least
one of those games. And with Notre Dame schedule throughout
the rest of the season, I mean, they don't play
anyone too crazy. Of note, like they do play USC
which that could end up being a pretty good game.
But like other than that, like Pitt and they lost
in the backyard brawl NC State and they're kind of shaky.
Arkansas is not a bad SEC team per se, but
they just lost to Old Miss and they had Trinidadd
Chambers starting, which shout out him former Fair State Bulldog. Yeah,
Boise State's not the team that we thought they were, like,
they're gonna have no wins on their resume. All they're
gonna have is two three point or less losses to
teams that are good, so they would really have to dominate,
and then that would have to start with Purdue, which
I don't think Purdue is a half bad team. You
see USC only beating my sixteen weird circumstances, cam perdue
give this Notre Dame team trouble because if they do,
I don't think this Notre Dame team they're rinked twenty
four right now. I don't know if they belong in
the top twenty five or not, being completely honest, So
it'll be interesting to see Notre Dame is still favored
by twenty six and a half. I I don't know.
I wouldn't touch the spread on that game over under
a fifty three and a half. Not that many games
in the Big Ten next week, and a lot of
them are at three thirty and seven thirty, which works
out great for me because I have to call a
game at one o'clock soccer wise on Saturday, UH Illinois
in Indiana. This is a huge game. This is two
teams that like while they're time in the Big Ten,
they haven't really been all that successful, and now that
we mere to eighteen teams, we don't have divisions anymore.
Both these teams are starting to really find levels of
success and it's quite amazing to see. You got Kurt
Signetti and Indiana. You got Brett Bilima at Illinois spread
a four and a half favored to the home team
in Bloomingson that would be Indiana Hoosiers. I've been impressed
with how Illinois looked so far this season. That win
versus Duke. I was like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Now, granted Duke had five turnovers in that game, but
they just took care of business. And I think defensively
their sound, they're gonna give Indiana some trouble. I think
Indiana decent in the secondary. I like Fernando Mendoza. We
haven't really seen them play an opponent of too much caliber.
I think in the backfield you got Bebe Junior, you
got Kaylon Black. I like Omar Cooper and sarat at
the receiver position. And I really want to see if
this Indiana team is going to get pressure on Luke Altmeyer.
I think that's going to be the key to this game.
Indiana does a really good job of finding ways to win.
They did it last season, and if they could get
this win, this could be a huge win on the
resume and going back to another college football playoff cause,
I mean, the rest of the season, I think they
play a decent schedule. They still have Oregon left on
the schedule and Penn State. But if you're able to
pick up a win versus Illinois, take a loss to
Oregon and Penn State like ten and two, with a
nice win on the resume, and you complete Big Ten play,
you'd get a decent win versus Iowa too. You would
probably be able to beat Michigan State UCLA. They might
go twelve this year. I hate to say it. I
hate to be so mean to the Bruins and the
Bruins fans that watched this podcast, and oh man, I
do feel for you guys. I look, we were in
the same position Michigan State wise when mel Tucker, Yeah,
had that whole situation. Melt Tucker mentioned in five. I'm
pretty sure he was mentioned on Big Noon two or
something of that nature. I don't know. I saw something
about that on Twitter. Yeah, But regardless, this could be
a huge game for both of these teams. Illinois their
rest of their schedule. Look, they got to play USC still,
they still got to play Ohio State, but that's it.
They could go eleven and one if they do win
this game. Now it's about winning this game, right, and
if you're Illinois, you want to do that. You have
a nice non conference winning duke. The path gets really
easy for Illinois if they win this game and well
over under fifty two and a half, it could really
go either way, depending on how these defenses look. I
would lead towards the under just because I think both
of these defenses are actually good units. I think it's
gonna come down to turnover margin and who can get
it going in the ground game. I think those are
the really two key points for both of these squads.
And look, they got Vegan in the backfield at Illinois.
He is their best carries back. They also got Hank
Betty on the outside. And defensively, I mean they got Jackis,
who's one of the best linebackers in the country. You
got Scotty, got Bailey. I think they're gonna be able
to force turnovers. I think whoever's able to force turnovers
and force other quarterbacks, which both of them have a
defic amount of experience, are gonna come out victors in
this game, and then the Apple Cup will take place
between Washington State and Washington. Washington State just took fifty
nine lost in North Texas. My goodness, I didn't even
see this pop up on my radar. I think Washington
should be able to take care of business. They're favored
by twenty and a half points off of bye week
and not play last week. Demon Williams one of the
best quarterbacks in the Big Ten in my opinion. Something
I've said in the preseason, I don't care that he's
barely played football. He's young, I get it, but he's
also pretty good. Second leading rusher on their team. Jonah
Colebyn's a nice running back as well. And I think
they should be able to take care of business. And
that's it. Oh, we also have Michigan State USC at
eleven o'clock one. I think it's kind of unfair. You
know these East Coast teams, Well, this is what happens
when you agree to let West coast chams and obviously
a big change in time difference and long distance travel.
This is what's gonna happen? Right? Keys to that game?
Oh Man, USC is favored by fifteen and a half
over under a fifty six and a half. Look, I
think Michigan State could cover it, right, Like I think
their offense is good. Just how good is it? Because
we've like Boston College just gave up thirty to Stanford,
and we played Youngstown State and Western Michigan held us
to twenty three. Right, I think in Giles it's gonna
take a big game from him. I think the ground
game is really gonna have to come in for auition
this game. And we've kind of been using three different
running backs. How's that gonna look on the USC side? Look,
Tesla's Michigan Site State secondary. You have the receivers on
the outside to get big plays and as long as
Maeva is not really getting pressured which Michigan State doesn't
really ton to do on the quarterback anyways, like Loner
getting looked like a Heisman candidate versus. I don't know
if Michigan State's really that good a team. And obviously
it'll be a testament to both to see where they're at.
Because I that Purdue game is a little weird for USC.
But yeah, I think, like all in all, I think
USC's gonna come out the victor. Well, they covered spread, honestly,
I think so. Being one hundred percent transparent here, I
no bias, no nothing, I think USC comes out victors
and they probably should cover as well if their defense
is really gonna take that uptick and be you know,
actually good and this team can actually, you know, maybe
compete for the College Football Playoff. They gotta do it obviously.
But yeah, and I'm pretty sure USC from what I saw,
they have a decently hard schedule. Yeah, they got Illinois, Michigan,
Notre Dame, Nebraska, and Oregon, so they got a long road.
It could be a Nate and for a season it
could be ten and two, eleven and one. Who knows
what the ceiling is. But yeah, I think I think
USC is actually a pretty pretty Legit may be Purdue, Georgia,
Southern Missouri State look had comfortable leads and all of
them in USC actually was ranked this week top twenty five.
I don't know if they. I think it should have
happened last week. And we'll take a look at the
Apeo pole see where these Big ten teams are ranked.
Just to end the show, and then I don't have
anything else to talk about. We're doing pretty good on time.
Not a lot of content in these last couple of weeks.
I'm someone that does like to ramble on and go
on tangents and stuff. No really reason too honestly, so
far through this season, so far and what's happened, and
obviously things will continue to get bigger. We'll see coaches fired,
We'll have a bunch of drama as the season continues on.
Because I mean we're only three weeks in. We got
week four coming up upon us. It's take a look
at the ap top twenty five and then we'll skidaddle
out of here. Ohio State at number one, fifty five
first place votes, pretty pretty usual, Penn State at two,
five first place votes. We're going at six with one
first place vote, and then we continue to go down
the list. Illinois is at nine, and you know what,
four big ten teams and that's top ten, how about it?
And then you kind of go continue to go down
the list. You see Indiana is at nineteen, Michigan's at
twenty one, which they picked up a nice victory over
Central Michigan looked dominant in doing so, Notre Dame at
twenty four. I know they're not in the big ten,
but they're Big ten. Come on, I know they actually
technically they're proably acc with most of the teams that
they play. But and then USC's at twenty five. Yeah,
they gave it looked good and look a lot of
things happened in this first week of or are going
to happen in this first week a conference play, and
we're gonna learn a lot after this weekend. I will
have my notebook, I will have my laptop, I will
have my quad Box, because if you're not watching on
quad Box and the Big twenty five one, you should
if you want to see the most amount of games.
A lot of people might just like rooting for their
team and watching the big games. And I completely get
it from that perspective too. Like when it came to
that uh Georgia Tennessee game, I had that on a
big screen because I'm like, oh man, this is a
huge game. Or even it's gonna probably be eleven o'clock
next week and I'm probably just gonna have Michigan State
solo on the screen. But AnyWho, regardless, I'm not telling
you how I watch college football or not, I think
that just quad box is the best method if you
do want to take in a lot of the games.
But AnyWho, anyway possible, make sure, once again, follow everything
you can. I've already mentioned it, but grid Iron Coast
on X for me at DRIGA. Make sure you listen
to all the podcasts on this feed. And because i mean, look,
if you love college football, you're obviously listening to the show,
so why not know all of it? And yeah, AnyWho,
I'm gonna take off. Thank you everyone for tuning into
this edition of The Big Ten Paradigm. If we will
catch you next week right here for another episode. Take
care of everyone,