Speaker 1: It is the Big twelve sec breakdown. Top of Jell
Tofts Bridge is here with you.
Speaker 2: As we give you a.
Speaker 1: Comprehensive look around at both the Big Twelve and Southeastern Conferences.
We begin each week as we do with our hot takes,
and tom all start. I know I'll always give you
a hard time about giving a hot take involving Oklahoma
State because sometimes it comes off that's like the only
team you know. But I'll say this, I'm actually gonna
get ahead on this. I'm gonna beat you to it.
I'm gonna go with a hot take involving Oklahoma State here.
Speaker 2: I think that.
Speaker 1: Utah is in for a rude awakening this weekend in
their first ever Big Twelve game. I don't think they're
ready for what's ahead of them. Cam Rising coming off
the injury. He's expected to play, but is he one
hundred percent healthy? That remains to be seen. I know
Utah is a slight favorite, but it's going to be
a hot, humid day in still Water.
Speaker 3: This is the game time at least.
Speaker 1: This is the biggest game of the year for Oklahoma State.
This is their Bedlham game essentially. Now they've been hearing
all the yapping about Utah and how Utah is supposed
to come in and win the Big Twelve and be
the team in Oklahoma State, historically speaking, has been the
best of the Big Twelve programs that remain right now.
Oklahoma State coming off a strong performance against Tulsa last week.
Alan Bowman looked really good, the offensive line looked good.
Speaker 2: Defense and everything.
Speaker 1: They had their emotional win in overtime against Arkansas a
couple weeks ago. I think the Pokes send a message
against Utah. I don't expect them to blow them out,
but I think for everything we've heard about Utah being
this physical football team and they were bringing physicality to
the Big Twelve, I think Oklahoma State's gonna punch him
in the mouth a little bit.
Speaker 2: I like OSU to win.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a blowout by any stretch, but
I think OSU makes a statement, delivers the statement win
against you, Utah.
Speaker 3: Here, I'm I'm interested in in your response there. And
Cam Rising, you know, they they didn't really Now I
know Cam Rising got hurt during the game, they didn't
really put the hurt on Baylor that I thought they
were going to uh And like I said again, I
knew that Cam Rising got hurt during that game. You
get Zach Wilson's brother in the game they have. I
wouldn't call it necessarily a scare, but I think Utah,
if you're a Utah fan, you were a little bit
more nervous than you should have been against Utah State.
And they they played a great game. Yeah, I just
got out Utah State. They did what they tried the
need to do and and they they had a great game. Yeah.
But in the same right, Cam Rising is gonna play
and Oshu, like you said, they had their they had
their emotional game. It's not like that coming off of
a hangover. They haven't left the state for a game yet.
They won't leave the state per game until the next
week against KSE State in Manhattan. That worries me, But
I think you're absolutely right. I don't think they're gonna
put a hurt on them. But for all the hype
that Utah had, I think I think in the first
three games, you don't look at one of those games
and say they're not beatable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Tom, where are you going with your hot tach
this week?
Speaker 3: You know you chose my team, Jones, I'm gonna choose
your team. A lot has been said about Jaylen Daniels,
Jeff Grimes and this KU team. They go to Morgantown
this weekend. That's not a that's not an easy task.
It never is. I don't care if Utah is the
shittiest in America. It's never an easy task to go
there and win. I don't know exactly what time that game.
Speaker 2: Is Central time, twelve Eastern in Morgantown.
Speaker 3: So earlier game you don't. You don't play nighttime in Morgantown,
which seemingly seems almost more difficult because all the fans
are moonshined up. This is where I think Jyalen Daniels
bounces back. I think this is the game. This is
the first conference game. You get those little shitty games
out of the way. I think, And to be fair,
I think after a one and two start, I'm not
so sure. I am not so sure that lance Lettvepold says,
you know what, Actually, I'm taking over the play Colin. Yeah,
I think this is where Ky goes. Huh huh. No,
if you focus in this game, Jeff Grimes, if you
fuck us in this game, we might be fucked. We
have the easier schedule. This is the year that we
can make Arlington. We're not We're not gonna let you decide,
and I'm gonna just I'm the head fucking Haunt show.
I'll take it over and and and then we'll see
if if Jeff you know, or not Jeff. If Lance
takes over and does well, then you have your answer.
I think at this point it's not a nine to
one one call four O k U, but it's at
least an eight one one call.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean think about this time.
Speaker 1: So I got some updates, uh, just today actually from
Mike Vernon, who does a really good job of getting
the scoops on everything going on. And you know, there
is there's a rift in side the program right now,
you know. So Jalen Daniels is making about a million
dollars in an nil money, which is a lot more
than everybody else, and that's not sitting well with the
rest of the team. I mean right now, he's really
rated as the third worst quarterback according to Pro Football
Focus among Power Conference qbs, and of one hundred and
thirty four teams, there have been just seven quarterbacks worse
than Daniels according to PFF, so far this year. That's
not good. Grimes is going to be moving to the
booth from the sideline trading spots with quarterbacks coach Jim
Zabrovski this week, and the idea is that it should
make Daniels more comfortable and allow Grimes a better vantage
point of the game.
Speaker 2: We'll see how it works.
Speaker 1: I think it's a must win game this week, and
if the offense sucks, then I think that the wouldn't
shock me, honestly if KU just fired Jeff Grimes after
this next week, if they say this is not working,
we got to do something different. We got to save
our season right now.
Speaker 3: I don't think they're going to Neil Brown. I think
he's and and to be fair, to be fair, I
think it's gonna be a close game. What we've seen
from in two weeks from Neil Brown, what we've seen
he can play close games against maybe a little bit
superior opponents. You it's up in the air if you
want to say that was superior. Yeah, I don't think
they played that horrible of a game considering the talent
level on pins State. I don't think it was. It
wasn't good, but it wasn't that bad. They should have
beaten Pitt and yep, they sure did. I think this
is a turning point for Neil Brown of like, Okay,
if you get b by Kansas like he had a
good year last year, at that point, you're not building
on anything, then what right?
Speaker 1: All right, Let's go through a couple of things real
quick before I take Neil. Well, let's go through a
couple of things real quick before we get to our
Big twelve and SEC game slates for this week.
Speaker 2: Conference expansion notes.
Speaker 1: Uh, you know, last week the PAC twelve added Boise State,
Colorado State, San Diego State, as well as Fresno State.
And in response, now we've seen Florida State and Clemson
get in a situation where the ACC that doesn't look
great for the Big twelve chances of landing them. According
to multiple reports, Clemson and Florida State are currently negotiating
with the ACC to drop their lawsuits in exchange for
increase EAS revenue based on ratings, TV ratings and brand value.
So that would be more money for Clemson in Florida State. Tom,
I'll say this, you know that's not good news for
the Big Twelve. But with that said, I don't think
it solves everything because North Carolina is still the biggest
piece to the AEC puzzle here, and that doesn't necessarily
help North Carolina in this sense.
Speaker 2: And then you.
Speaker 1: Factor in, you know, there's a lot of schools that
are unhappy right now. It's not just Florida State. It's
not just Clemson. It's not just North Carolina. Virginia is
not happy, Pit's not happy, Louisville. You know, you go
on down the line here. This might make the Big
twelve wait a little bit longer for the destruction of
the ACC, and it might close the door in Florida
State and Clemson for now, But I don't think it
closes the door in those schools long term.
Speaker 3: Now, how can you? Yeah, I don't. I don't think,
to be fair, I don't think you would ever be
able to close the door on those two ACC schools
long term. But you're not gonna be able to do it, yeah,
I think not long term. Maybe for the next three years,
but like other than that, like now, good good, good
fucking luck, Like you're not gonna be closing You're really
not gonna be closing nothing.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, it's a temporary solution to a long term problem. Yes,
another thing on the big twelve sec front. I gotta
ask you about Let's go to Austin real quick. When
you weres out he's injured. I told you it was
gonna happen. Arch looked phenomenal. Sounds like Quinn's gonna be
out the next two weeks, but Texas plays some bad teams.
Texas number one in the country. Tom Arch could look
incredible the next two weeks, but based on timing here,
I don't think there's anything he can do in these
two weeks to take the job away from Quinn. I
expect Quinn to be the starter when uh Texas.
Speaker 2: Plays Oh You at Red River in a few weeks.
Speaker 1: Here, I think it's a great opportunity for Arch, But
I would be surprised if we're talking about Arch Manning
taking this job away from Quinn.
Speaker 2: You weres here.
Speaker 3: I mean we talked about it before, and we literally
we've we've talked about this. If Quinn wants to get
injured and we know he had little he's not super
okay strain the bleak, could he could if they didn't
have Arch and they had you know, dog ship McGee
back there, could Arch play this week? Yeah? He could.
I really do believe he could, and I'm not convinced
that this isn't they don't.
Speaker 4: I don't think they want to force Arch out. Arch
is still a great quarterback. Third sorry, Quinn, it is
still a great quarterback. What sold me when Arch ran
over the middle for what sixty seven yards? Granted it
was against UTSA, Yeah, that was a Oh hey, I'm
pretty good too. Texas has the best quarterback situation maybe ever.
Speaker 2: It's good to be Texas. It's good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you have two Heisman odds, Like, look at the odds,
you know, Like I don't want to be ESPN talking
about odds, this odds, that pro gambling whatever. But look
what happened to the odds when Arch came in. They like,
if you would have put one hundred down on Arch
to win the Heisman before the season started, you would
have had like plus thirty seven hundred or something and
drop to like essentially as soon as we got.
Speaker 2: In the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it changed completely. We'll see what happens there
with Texas. One quick note then the Big twelve sec
slate for this week. Tennessee and Arkansas each making news
for their nil collectives. Tennessee adding a ten percent tax
next season on their home tickets. That's a talent fee
that goes back to the players. Arkansas is asking every
single one of their fans to give an extra one
hundred dollars for their NIL fund to help their football program. Tom,
I know it. It sucks for the fan. It is
not fun, but hey, this is the cost of doing
business for competing Arkansas at Tennessee. Those are those are
not blue blood programs. They're good football programs, but not great.
They're just trying to do what they can to compete.
I know it sucks with a fan, believe me, but
I don't I don't blame these programs for laying everything
out on the line to do what their fans want
them to do and compete for championships. You got to
spend to win these days.
Speaker 3: You know what I think about. At first I hated it,
which is like we spend twelve dollars of beer in
the stadium. I think what Arkansas did was cool because,
and the only reason I say this is because they
were transparent. I think transparency goes a long, long, long way,
and I think OSU is kind of on the cusp
of that transparency because they tried to do the QR.
I know you don't like DR code, but Oshu said, hey, listen,
we can only do so much. Here's here's what we
got right, here's the QR codes we've given them. We're
gonna give you every opportunity to to send money here.
Gandhi already talked about that. His ego is zeke Bo
Kid and said, and he said, we can only we
can only do so much. And the only reason why
we have this kid is because he was cheap.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and.
Speaker 3: Gandhi says a lot of crazy, wild stuff, but he
wasn't wrong about that. He just said, the only reason
why we got him because he's cheap. Yeah, he was
transparent about it.
Speaker 1: All right, Let's let's keep this under five minutes, real quick,
big twelve sec slate this week, rapid fire. We'll go
through these real fast. Houston Cincinnati this week. That game
in Cincinnati. I don't think either one of these teams
are very good. Cincinnati's at home. I think Cincinnati's gonna
be fine. Kansas, Kansas and West Virginia, we already talked
about that game earlier. We both feel like this is
a bounce back opportunity for Kansas must win games. Iowa
State should be fine against Arkansas State, the twenty two
point favorites. Then we have Texas Tech taking on Arizona State.
Texas Tech at home, Arizona State going to Lubbock for
the first time. Tom, I like Arizona State here, and
the reason why is I like Kenny Dillingham a whole
lot more than I do Joey McGuire. Arizona State's three
and zero. I think their first big twelve game, they
get a big twelve win here.
Speaker 3: I think so too, I take I take Dillingham over
McGuire any day.
Speaker 1: Utah Oklahoma State. We talked about that earlier. Both you
and I like Oklahoma State.
Speaker 2: There. TCU taking on SMU, TCU a three point favorite
on the road.
Speaker 1: I saw that SMU team first hand a couple of
weeks ago, Tom, that is not a very good team.
I know it's a rivalry game TCU. I like their offense.
Speaker 2: I like Hoover.
Speaker 1: I think TCU three points not enough. I like them
to win by a decent amount here.
Speaker 3: I mean for TCU, they summed a horrible loss last week.
They hadn't wrapped up against UCF. I think you either
get SMU coming out to bang on him or TCU
coming out to make a statement.
Speaker 1: Baylor taking on Colorado. Colorado gotta win last week against
Colorado State. Baylor's sitting at two and one this game
in Boulder, Tom. I don't feel great about either one
of these teams, but I think Colorado is going to
win some games like they did last week because they
just have way more talent than the team they're facing.
I think Colorado wins this one. I don't think it's pretty,
but Baylor just doesn't have the dogs to hang with
Shador and Travis Hunter and those guys I think.
Speaker 3: I don't think they have the talent. I think David
and is on a little comeback. I'm a savet Baylor.
Speaker 1: And then Case State takes on BYU. KSE State's first
ever trip to Provo A late kick. Case State coming
off a big win against Arizona last week.
Speaker 2: I expect KSE.
Speaker 1: State to win that game with these and have a
good showing there. Florida taking on Mississippi State. I think
this is it for Billy Napier.
Speaker 2: I don't think.
Speaker 1: Mississippi State's a very good team, but I don't see
Mississippi State losing at home. I think Mississippi State wins.
Billy Napier gets the pink slip. On Sunday, Kentucky should
take care of business against Ohio. LSU big favorites against UCLA.
LSU should beat the crap out of them. LSU didn't
look too great last week, but they had a nice
comeback win on the road there against South Carolina. Auburn
takes on Arkansas. I don't think either one of these
teams are that great. Auburn's at home looks better last
week against New Mexico. I like Auburn to win there.
Missoo taking on Vandy. Miszoo had a little bit of
a scare against BC. I think Miszoo twenty point favorites
should be able to kick the hell out of Vandy there.
Tennessee and Ou primetime game on ABC. I'm gonna be there.
College Game Day is gonna be there, Tom. Oklahoma is
not the team Tennessee is. This is a mismatch in
every way, offense, defense, probably even coaching. To be honest,
I'd take hype overfitables. I think that Oklahoma is going
to be playing off the energy. It's gonna be an
incredible environment for Josh Heipel's homecoming. But I think this
is one where Tennessee pulls away in the fourth quarter
here and they could win this one by ten or more.
Speaker 3: Ye have little no faith.
Speaker 2: I'm being honest. I'm being really fair.
Speaker 3: No, you and Jose will be at that game.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 3: One that I don't like. I think Baylor could surprise Colorado,
and I think Mississippi State does get the job done.
Other than that, I agree with you Texas Ay, Sorry, sorry,
I disagree with you on Mississippi State Florida. I think
that's Napier's only other win.
Speaker 1: Okay, Texas A and M taking on Bowling Green they
should be fine.
Speaker 2: South Carolina taking on Akron, they should be fine.
Speaker 1: Ole miss should beat the crap out of Georgia Southern,
and I think arch is gonna put on a show
on Saturday night against Fulm and get to win there.
Speaker 2: So there you have it. That is our big twelve
sec Breakdown four this week.
Speaker 1: Coming up next, Jonathan Hutton have OutKick joins us more
to come stay with.
Speaker 5: Us, join us now Jones Sport this week. Please do
welcome in from Outkicks Hot Bike. It is at Jonathan
Hutton who's back on the program once again? Hunton always
played here at the time we get chicks chat my friend,
how we doing.
Speaker 2: I'm wonderful. Always love coming on the Jones Report. I
appreciate the invite.
Speaker 1: Yes, Hunton, we are now officially SEC brethren. I guess
with Alma play their first SEC game this week against Tennessee.
Texas will play their first SEC game next week against
Mississippi State. Just from your vantage point, everything you've heard,
How's how real is the excitement right now about what's
happening in the SEC six teams the top seven first
time ever.
Speaker 2: Seems like that things are as good as ever right now. Yeah, man,
I mean I look, Texas is doing their part. Oklahoma
has a chance now to be a part of the conversation.
I felt like, I don't know if you agree. You
know the Texas Oklahoma comes in the SEC, it's been
more about Texas. I hear a lot about Texas, rightfully.
So they're a good team. Oklahoma's now taking center stage
at a national, national stage with a chance to take
out from their first SEC opponent, the Tennessee Volunteers. It'll
be a good game. It's gonna be fun in Norman
on Saturday. Those types of atmospheres play into what the
SEC is known for. The pageantry, right, like the true
college football game day experience, and all part of that
game day experience is the best football you're watching. Top
to bottom. The SEC is, I think is powerful in
terms of just talent and coaching and just overall depth
then we've seen in a while. I think the gap
is a bit wider this year with the SEC compared
to the other conferences. And I would say, you know,
Alabama goes on the road and beats Wisconsin. Wisconsin is
not a you know, the national power, but they're a
mid tier team that you could compare to. I don't
know in Arkansas. Is that a good comparison. They're certainly
they're certainly better than Florida. Point being, Alabama went on
the road in the Big Ten and did that. Meanwhile,
you got Texas doing that to Michigan. Yeah, I mean
it's it's impressive and we're just getting started with it.
As we get into the heart of SEC play, it's
gonna be a blast. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And when you look at this game Saturday for Oklahola BA, Yeah,
here is what would be a big deal anyway, playing
your first SEC game, Sure, but to do it against
this Tennessee team that looks so good right now, you
could argue that could be maybe the most complete team
in the country. And then the other factor of Josh
hipel making is long away to return to Norman here,
there's so many storylines win or lose.
Speaker 2: I've said this already. This is gonna be a game
that that OU fans.
Speaker 5: And Tennessee fans quite frankly, are gonna remember, I think
for a long time.
Speaker 2: Sure, And I mean you could make the argument that
the winner, if OU wins, their flip flop in some
maybe not all the way to number six, but close.
I mean, they're getting into the top ten with a win. Look,
Tennessee's on fire. They've outscored their opponents one hundred ninety
one to thirteen through three games. This is their first
true road game SEC debut for Oklahoma. To me, the
fire and the emotion and the crowd helps OU in this.
The Sooners, I know, are still trying to find their way,
you know, with Jackson Arnold and you know that things
have to come together quickly. But I look at this
as a possession type game. Valls are okay, with you know,
taking it down the field fast. Meanwhile, I think with ou, hey,
get ready to maybe still a possession or two on
side kick, get a turnover, figure out a way to
go down and score, get a quick early he could
be a field goal and get the ball back. And
then you start to to play with the leading You
can play your style of game. Can oh you do that?
You have to stay within reach because Tennessee if you
and oh he's been good about not turning the football.
If they do, Tennessee is going to to uh have
an opportunity for Hypel to to run up the scoreboard
a bit. And they're trying to act like there's no
big deal with this. Come on, uh, this this is uh,
this is impactful. This is uh. This is a memorable
chance to put your your your stamp on on your
on your time back as a head coach. Yeah, he
Hypel wants this one, and the players know it. I
think so.
Speaker 1: And we we know about the story of you know,
when he was oc in Oklahoma and you know treated
as the uh, the the guy that took the blame
ultimately got fired even though it wasn't necessaryil his fault.
Everything that went on and he's rebounded since it had
this successful co coaching career. And I think about this
Hunton that you know, Josh Hippel loves the fan base.
He's going to be embraced. I think I would expect
a standing ovation for him. But with everything that went
on behind the scenes, yes, and for.
Speaker 5: How he was treated there, I would expect that this
is personal for Josh Hippel, nothing against the fan base
at all, but to kind of kind of stick it
to Oklahoma of you know, hey, hey, Brent Vinnible's the
head coach right now that very well could have been
Josh Hippel there.
Speaker 2: Sure. I mean, and consider if they make the move
with Stoops's brother instead of Hypel. He's the air parent
to Bob Stoops and he's probably still coaching there. You know,
as good as things have been, you know, Vinibles was
the DC whenever he was the quarterback there. There's so
many connections here and you know there's still like there
he Hypel. I think he's been okay talking about it
this week. You know, Bob Stoops put out that statement
saying he wasn't going to take any to me. It's
there's still friction. You know, we had a guest on
this week who told us? And see if you agree,
like the relationship may may not be repaired, but it's
under construction. If that's true, If I'm if I'm Stoops
and that's that statement's true, do a few interviews and
put the guy over, you know, let let hypel hear you,
because you know that now the question is he's gonna
be down the field for this two thousand year, two
thousand team reunion. My guess is yes, and you better
believe the cameras are going to be on that that meeting.
Oh absolutely it will be.
Speaker 1: And Bob Stoops too, is the guy that does interviews
all the time, So that's god of character for him
not to write not to be talking about this situation
the Tennessee team. Like, I look at Nico and I
know that he's still what you know, red shirt freshman. Yeah,
looks so fantastic here, and you know he's obviously a
Heisman contender of the talent around him. I mean, for
this being what week four of the college football season,
Tennessee team looks like that they're ready to compete for
a title right now.
Speaker 2: This team already looks playoff ready. Tell me about Nico.
What he's done to this Oh, I mean, he's come
in and he's he's he's got the moxie, he's got
the arm strength and all that, but he has the
ability to anticipate certain throws and and throw guys open.
That to me is the big difference in what we've
seen there compared And I'm thinking about last year Tyler,
and I'm thinking, man, dude could have played last year, yeah,
you know, and and what he could have done. They
get the extra year by red trick whatever. He's he's
really good. He looks like a five star quarterback and
the stage so far has not been too big for him.
But again, first true road trip, and you know, he's
They blitz Craig NC State, who I didn't think was
that good. But the other two teams are kits State
and Chattanooga. There's a lot we don't know right now
about the college football landscape. Because of these early games.
We find out about Tennessee, we find out about go
on the road in a tough environment. And I would
also say we find out about this Tennessee defense because
that's also a part of the Nico success. The defense
gets the ball back and they're often running. There's a
pass rush. The number two d in the nation that
you know you've got in Tennessee and legit NFL talent,
and they're deep up front, they get the football. They
it's not like they get a turn of sacks. I
don't even know if they had a sack last week
against Kent State and what was a seventy one nothing
beat down. But Nico, you know, they put up a
ton of yards and a ton of points and he
knows the offense. It's not like they're they're you know,
they're slowly unveiling him and trying to bring him along
and install things throughout the season. It's not that this
dude's a legit starter. And if they go down and
play the way they did against NC State against Oklahoma,
he's going to have the same type of buzz nationally
that arch Manning had last week when he took the
stage and we saw the Heisman odds really change.
Speaker 5: Well, and I look at what's so interesting for me
with that quarterback group. Nico, Jackson Rrel came out the
same year Nico was highly doubted. Jackson Ole was the
Gamerbaye Player of the Year, and arch Manning also in
that same class as well, and we're gonna see Arch
get his first career start this weekend. I'm intrigued to
see kind of a measuring stick right now. Okay, how
does Jackson stack up to Nico? How far have they
each come along? And then Archs in that same sense too.
I feel like these three all have NFL aspirations. We're
going to be following them as a collective. It's a
trio for for a long time. Really kind of starts
this weekend here.
Speaker 2: And and the the evaluation of how these young these
young talents handle their opportunity under pressure, uh, literally and figuratively.
You know, there's always a weight on them anyway, with
expectation in IL money all that, uh, but the literal
pressure sure from Oklahoma's front. You know, like what six
takeaways against Temple, Yeah, two against Houston, two more against Tulane.
I believe the pressure upfronts where that starts. Nico is
going to face some heat. Can Oklahoma force him to
hurry a little bit? He hasn't been under that type
of duress, so you know when they've got a more
of a They have a young offensive line at certain spots,
but they do have veteran talent, you know, spread out
at some nice there's a nice balance there. Can Oklahoma
disrupt that. The Tennessee front has been good, but again,
it's tough to gauge, and I think it's tough to
gauge this Oklahoma team as well. And I think it's
a great balance to see where Oklahoma is and where
Tennessee is. Quite frankly, there have been years where they
look great and they stub their toe along the way.
You know, this is not new to the program. Twenty
twenty two was really good with Hinndon Hooker, but they
lose on the road at South Carolina and they lose
Hendon Hooker to an acl Josh Heipel's team here better.
It's better than twenty twenty two. Depth wise. This is
the deepest team I've seen in Tennessee in a long
time since probably Albert Hainsworth and John Henderson. We're playing,
you know, around that era. It's been a while. They
It starts up front of defense, and they have a
true talent at quarterback, as does Oklahoma. You know. The
benefit for Arnold gets to play at home. He gets
that juice of welcome to the SEC. I love it all.
Speaker 1: Right, do too, And speaking of this, welcome to the SEC,
Oklaholma in Texas. I don't know how you feel hot,
but with everything that's changed in college football when it
comes from all realignments, I feel like to this day
that Oklahoma and Texas are by far the best additions
than any one of these conferences and the only natural fits.
We'll see first Oklahoma hoasting an SEC game, what that's
like and everything, but I mean everything that's gone on
with the Big Ten and the ACC and now we
see what the Pac twelve is trying to rebuild and everything.
This is still to me, I know, you feel the
only one that even makes sense and it has some
real momental here.
Speaker 2: I feel like Oklahoma and Texas are natural with the SEC. Yeah,
it's it's a perfect match. And you're right, it's a
great point. I mean, uh, you've got the region, the
natural fits, yes, and it is. It is a mic
drop to add two. When you see the Big Ten
adding four, you see the ACC scrambling, you see the
Big twelve surviving in the PAC twelve collapsing. Because Greg
Saiki was like, no, we're good, We're good with what
we have. Just added two, you know, and that's that's
the two they needed, don't need anybody else. And this
was whenever Florida State was trying to move around, what
was gonna happen with Notre Dame all this talk, No,
we're good, we're not going to expand I didn't really
believe him at the time because everybody was moving. But
looking back on it, yeah, they're they're good. They're they're
controlling where we're headed across college football. And you got
the powers from the South, powers at Texas and Oklahoma
and the money programs across the SEC that continue to dominate.
Now you've got two other programs that had been there
and done that as well. Yeah, yeah, certainly so.
Speaker 5: And now going from here with with where these schools
stack up here the future of the SEC.
Speaker 2: You know, I expect there to be expansion eventually.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but this league has at such a position of
strength they don't have to add anybody. I'm very curious
when they do expand what's the strategy. Do you even
need any more football powers or are you going to start?
Speaker 2: But that's I think the next expansion is like a
super conference where you have divisions and you just kind
of merge everybody like sixty five teams or whatever, and
you have a super League, but it's still the SEC.
Like the value of the value of the programs they
have compared to like the ACC is just trying to
to to to hold on right Florida State wants to
abandon ship because monetarily they don't feel like they can
survive because well, the other powers are the two other conferences.
But top to bottom, like the depth of the quality
of play in the SEC, Like the middle program, whether
you want to call that Arkansas, Kentucky, uh in some
some some years it's l s U, some years it's
uh Ole Miss. Recently they're much better now, like they've
leveled up. There's a different shelf that those two programs
are on. But mid tier you know, should be Florida
it's not, and it should be Auburn it's not. But
that there's a there's a quality to those programs when
you start looking around in Yenna is on the hot streak, great,
but if you look at the Big ten, it's not
like you're scared to play Maryland, where you're scared to
go on the road against Minnesota, Like it's just a
different vibe there. That's why you have to add more programs.
You have to bring in USC and Oregon because you
need that stability, and it adds more programs to the
top shelf, which no other programs of the Big ten
were doing. We've seen other programs. You know, Alabama's trying
to keep their spot, Tennessee's leveling up, and you start
looking around, going ment Ole miss is really good. LSU
continues to find a way to win. South Carolina goes
on the road, beats Kentucky for a battle of the middle.
The good but not great. You've even got the Vandy.
I didn't see it coming, beating Virginia Tech early again.
The storylines always right themselves in the Southeastern Conference, it's
a blast, it is. How do you see this league
shaping out?
Speaker 5: Georgia was obviously the favorites and had a bit of
a scare last weekainst Kentucky.
Speaker 2: Are they still the team debater or is it someone else?
It's still Georgia top to bottom. I mean, the the
the number of four and five star talent there is insane.
They you know, it's just the expectation is different there,
and and you know every week is different. Like for
whatever reason, Mark Stoops has always defended Georgia really well. Mhm.
For whatever reason, Alabama has always recently struggled against South Florida.
You know, like there's a there's really no rhyme or
reason to it, but you always look for those upset moments.
I didn't think Kentucky was We're gonna do that. But
you know that Georgia survives because Mark stoops punts uh
down one in Georgia territory with three minutes to go.
I mean, I don't think they're giving him raises to
do that. That that was a godsend for for Georgia.
And by the way, it didn't save their season. There's
gonna be bumps along the way. But you can have
two or three losses and get into college football playoff.
Now in the Southeastern Conference, I don't know. I don't
think there's another conference where I can say a three
loss team making a legitimate case for being better than
the third best team in another conference.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you're absolutely right about that. One more
thing in the college football front. Then we'll move on
here with Tennessee. Make you some news this week about
the the added tax, if you will, on their fans,
a talent fee. What do you make of that news
and what's going on there with Tennessee next year?
Speaker 2: You know, it's it's where I mean, I give them
credit for being honest and upfront and blunt about what
they're doing. You know, the ten the ten percent talent tax,
so right there was already going to raise season ticket prices.
They were already going to do this by four percent.
They're adding ten percent more. So you know, Bass fans
are going to pay fourteen percent more at an increase
next season, uh for their season tickets. Look, the money
can come from elsewhere. They're there. This is this is
not just a Tennessee issue. But you know, Arkansas can't
go do this right now. They're not at the level
of where the fan base is like, oh yeah, well
we're all on board. Let's let's let's pony up. It's
time to tithe like we're going to you know, worship service.
Only certain programs can unveil it the way Tennessee did.
I think you can call it whatever you want to
call it. You know, to me, it's the the it's
the equivalent of the the QR code on the elements
that didn't pass. This is basically the same thing it's
just going to the fund through the university instead of
direct to a fund to that specific player. Uh, the
university continues to control the money. That's what they want
that collectives stay happy because the university is happy. Everybody gets,
you know, a piece of the pie. But you could
do things different. Stop giving all these heavy buyouts to
coaches who are paid to fail. Forty two to forty
five percent of the athletic budget, the average power for
conference right now goes to coaches, administrators and staff that
are no longer with the program paid to fail. You know,
Florida is about to pay billion Napier millions to leave
and it's ridiculous. That's where the that's where the money's going.
Like the average budget for the player is nine percent, right,
and so when you look at the forty two percent
of the budget being for coaches that are even there.
That's the issue is Jimmy Sex to negotiating these contracts
that are very friendly to the coach and the buyout
if if the coach were to leave in the case
of Ryan Day, it's like forty six million to fire him.
If he were to take another job, it's like a
five million dollar buyouts isn't. It's a huge lopsided deal
and it's only getting worse that. That's the huge glaring
weakness of where the money's going. But they're pointing to
nil because the money that was circulating through the university
and through the program the Eflectic Department, those are the
same donors and sponsors that are now doing this through
the collective. But the university wants to keep the money
flowing the same direction. They're able to do this by
putting the tax on there, and other other programs are
going to follow. But Tyler, they're not going to be
as it's not going to be a talent tax, right right,
They're going to come up with another way to uh
to put that on the on the bill. The word
it differently pr wise. I mean, it's the nature of
doing business. You can paid to win, Yeah, but at
some point, like what's the the consumer always ends up
paying for it, right right? You know it's uh, it's
not going to go down, but if it does, it
at some point the bubble bursts. But it's it's college
football that can put one hundred thousand butts in the
seats every Saturday. You know, that's that's the that's the
difference in the power of those programs and then everyone
else who relies on those programs to make budget and
to actually keep their athletic department funded by playing those teams. Yeah,
it's college football's version of inflation, is what it is.
That's it. Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Hunt and Plug Away. Tell people where they can
find you and all the stuff you do without kick Man.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Co host with Chad Withrow Hot, Mike with Hutton Withrow.
OutKick dot com slash watch is where we stream live
each and every day. We're on the other social media platforms.
Just search out OutKick. I'm on social you can chime
in and give your take with me, but certainly welcome that.
At Hunt and OutKick, we're live each and every day
four pm Eastern. Just search out Hot, Mic and OutKick,
and you can download the pop guests as well. Check
it out. We're sports but Tyler, as you know, it's
Chad and myself. We we more or less talk about
whatever we would talk about at the bar that day. Yeah,
and we do the show live from a bar, so
it's uh, it doesn't suck. I'm in the playground of life.
I love it. Hut and appreciate the time, my friend,
we'll talk end down the line. Thanks for joining us man,
Thank you appreciate it.