Speaker 1: Big twelve Football mischief. Got some new sheriffs in down,
but they better be careful. Some been around here for
a while and they might learn a thing or two.
You see that there's a storm fro. You're not scared,
are you? You're always ready, ready to go Big twelve football.
They don't get better than this.
Speaker 2: Well the Banka you sports one of three nine out
of your point three esp in the bank, it's some
Big twelve football talking new segment. Don't miss it with
the College Football the inside of Big twelve Insider Here
in your Utah ESPN Radio Network winners, the Big twelve
stead After all these bowl games played, how do they
compare to the other power conferences?
Speaker 3: And much more?
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Welcome into college football inside a big twelve inchsider. Schehan
Ja Rajah, National college football writer for CBS Sports.
Speaker 3: Schehan, how are you.
Speaker 4: I'm doing great? Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Hey, I appreciate you joining me. What's been keeping you
busy over the last week or so? What have you
been cooking up over at CBS Sports?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean a lot. You know, obviously there's been
a lot of the transfer portal movement, so I wrote
on Oklahoma State yesterday. I've got stories coming on Indiana
as well, and old Myth and then of course the
college football playoffs. You know, we're We're only a few
days away from the national semifinals and in a couple
of weeks I'll be going out to the national title
game as well, out in Miami. So it's a busy
finish to the season, but it's a good one.
Speaker 2: How do you feel about the final four in the
college football playoff?
Speaker 3: Did you see it coming? Shahan?
Speaker 4: Well, if you look at my bracket, I picked one
of the four correctly. That was the number one seed
Indiana and the other three to be frank not only
did I not see coming, I wouldn't have thought that
any of them had a chance. Oregon probably and I
probably could have seen that coming. But the other two
Miami and Ole Miss being in the national semi finals
over by the way, Ohio State in Georgia, That's not
something that I saw coming. You know, this has been
such a fascinating year. You know, obviously people are going
to talk about like the efficacy of the first round
by I mean, obviously this was just a situation where
those four teams or those three teams that beat the
first round by teams just went out and beat them
like we're just the better teams on that day. I
got to see that. With Miami playing against Ohio State
at AT and T Stadium, we got to see that.
Of course, with Trinidad Schamblis leading Ole Miss against Georgia,
Like it is just an unbelievable effort so far, and
really I think what everybody hope hoped from the college
football playoffs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, is there an issue with the buys? Do you
take issue with the buye? Do you take issue with
maybe the neutral site for those games? What do you,
what do you make of the lopsided record for those
teams that are having to take those buys or I mean,
initially you're excited about it, right, you get a buye,
you know, you survive in advance, but you're playing on
a neutral site.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I think that ultimately, like I think
that's a lot of the impact on National Playoff itself
is probably a little overstated. I don't necessarily know that
they would have changed the results of these games, but
I mean, here's the reality too, is that there's not
really many places in sports where you take twenty five
days off between games like that is a very long time,
even for a scene that is really good and really focused.
The other thing too, honestly, one of the bigger things
is that I think that like I think, if you're
one of those first round by teams, you're kind of
kicking yourself that you don't get a home playoff game.
Like Georgia has, of course won the SEC each of
the past two years, and so they've never hosted a
home playoff game, and they've lost their first round game
as well. I think that that's something that's going to
be not super palatable for them long term because they
want that opportunity to host a big game at Sanford Stadium. So,
you know, from a competitive perspective, I don't know how
much it necessarily mattered. But at the same time, I
think that when you combine the competitive issues that have
happened with of course the lack of a home game,
I would not be surprised at all to see us
move to a sixteen team playoff so that the first
group of teams gets a chance to get into rhythm
as well the.
Speaker 3: Final four teams.
Speaker 2: Right, Indiana, Oregon, olemess Miami has the new college fotball
landscape allowed the likes of Indiana a bottom dweller, the
likes of Ole Mesh a middling SEC program, and even
like Oregon Miami to get into the final four. I
don't know how many prognosticators experts out there in the
college football world early on in the season, mid season,
or even getting into their bracketology, predicted these four getting in.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I believe that. I believe that somebody put out
a suite that and they just tacked the ESPN that
you know, this isn't the shot of Esknos doing great job.
But like their writers, I think didn't get a single
one of the four final teams in their preseason twelve
Like none of them did. Like, that's how crazy a
year it's been, right, Like I mean, I know for me,
like I had LSU before the season as my national champion.
They end up firing their coach. Penn State was number
two in the country coming into the year they fire
their coach. I think that the big thing is obviously Indiana.
You know, they have like such a specific way that
they built with you know, half a roster coming over
from James Madison and being ready made and having some
good ideas and also I think having a roster left
behind by Tom Allen that was maybe a little better
than people realize. But you know, I think that when
you look at the others, Like the biggest thing that
it creates is that I don't necessarily know that it
just changes who the top teams are, but it changes
the level of instability. I guess you could call it, right,
the level of uncertainty in some of these games. There
was a time when the best team in college football
was like ten points better than the fifth team in
college football. Well now they're like five points better. Maybe
you know, maybe even less than that. In some cases,
that's the biggest thing that's changed, right, because I mean,
like George is still won the SEC Ohio State, still
played for a big ten championship, but the difference is
Miami as a ten seed was able to jump up
and punch them, and that's different than it's been in
previous years. So I think that when you look at
the level of coach and player movements, I think that
you're starting to see that the sport is just more
uncertain than it's been in previous years. There isn't really
an Alabama that can stand up and be head and
shoulders of everybody else. We kind of thought maybe George
would be that team. They're not, right like they've They've
been beat these past couple of years. So I think
that that's the biggest thing that's changed. And then I
think the other thing too, when you look at all
four of these teams, like these are teams that you know,
to a large extent, built keep hearts of themselves through
the transfer portal, and so I think that we are
in a you know, again, Alabama set the standard of
you recruit players and maybe you add one or two
guys to fill in a gap, but like you really
build your roster from the ground up. I think that
the days of that being the primary and maybe the
only thing that you do, I think even for the
Texases and Georgias and Ohio States, that's becoming harder to
pull off than ever before.
Speaker 2: Want to get your thoughts on the Bruce Feldman article.
I don't know if you've chimed in on this publicly,
but Bruce Feldman received anonymous quotes from Power Conference coaches
and one of the quotes is this hard to ignore
the fact that when everyone got to pay players, it
leveled the playing field immediately. They can deny all they want,
but that's a fact. And he's alluding to the SEC
paying players. You heard the Ed Ordron commentary about donors
going through the back door.
Speaker 3: Now they're going through the front door.
Speaker 2: If he gets back into coaching again, it's kind of
like this.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's a.
Speaker 2: Reality, right, Like we know people have been cheating for
a long time, building up their brands, building up the
equity of those brands producing NFL talent over the last
thirty years due to cheating and bagmen, and that's what
the brand was built on.
Speaker 3: Now it's all coming to light that.
Speaker 2: Look, everyone can do it now, and look what's happened
in to the SEC What do you make of it?
Speaker 3: How do you evaluate it, how do you process it?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think there are two pieces to this. I
think one is yes, from the pure player acquisition perspective,
I think that that's very legitimate, right. I mean you
see Michigan swoop in at the last minute and take
the number one recruit in the country Bryce Underwood from LSU,
because it's no longer blase to do it, Like you
just have the right to go out there and maximize
your money. And you know, one thing that I don't
think people take seriously enough is that there is a
lot more money in the urban centers in the Midwest
than there is in the rural South. Like there is
one total billionaire in the state of Alabama and he's
an Auburn fan, right, Like, it's it's just that, Like,
those are dynamics that are going to be hard to
parse for some of these programs. Also, by the way,
when you talk about other programs, that's also why the
schools in Texas are absolutely thriving right now because they
have so much access to capital available to them now.
Here's the other thing though, too that I feel like
has been a little less, you know, kind of discovered,
is yes, you know, the paying player's piece is a
huge part of the equation. I actually think though, that
the Big Tens, I guess you could call it coach
and roster culture is different than the secs. And what
I mean by that, you know, I remember talking to
a coach once before and he said he had coached
in the Big Ten, he had coached in the SEC,
had coached in the Big Twelve, he had coached in
the West Coast, all this sort of stuff. And one
thing that he said was that he didn't really enjoy
coaching in the SEC because the SEC is a player
acquisition league. The Big Ten is a developmental league. Now,
of course, the Big Ten is more player acquisitions driven
than it has been in the past. But I think
that what really has come through is that, like, if
you are a five star recruit and you go to
the Big Ten, you don't expect to be a starter
in week one. I think in the SEC you do.
And if you're not happy with your place, you know,
two thirds of the way through your freshman year, you're leaving.
And I think that that starts to really add up.
Where again, like obviously the SC then holds on to
the best of their guys, but the second tier of
guys are just shifting every single year. Well in the
Big Ten, like, yes, there are examples of that, but
like guys are staying at Ohio States, guys are staying
at Penn State, guys are staying at Michigan obviously, you
know Indiana. Of course, I think that the patience that
you have in the Big Ten versus the SEC is
actually a competitive advantage right now. And the other thing
that I'll say is that, yes, we can talk about
in the context of players, look at the level of
coaches that came into the Big Ten this year versus
the level that came into the SEC. The SEC, there
are some good coaches, like I really like some row Let's,
you know, but like as a whole to me, Ryan
Silverfields at Arkansas not a very inspired higher. Alex Golesh
at Auburn not a super inspired higher to me. In
the Big Ten, I think where again, where you have
patients but you still have money. Matt Campbell, I think
an incredible higher. Obviously, Kyle Whitningham going to Michigan really
really good higher even if you want to talk of
some of the ones in the past couple of years.
Matt Rule at Nebraska I think was a really good
higher like they have. I think that their patients in
both roster and coaching is paying off, and I think
that that's why you're starting to see some of these
programs really elevate above their sec counterparts.
Speaker 2: Crazy times, no doubt in the college football world. Shehanja
Raja here on your Utah ESPN Radio network talking some college.
Speaker 3: Football, Big twelve football, and.
Speaker 2: Right now I feel like the Big twelve is on
chalid footing. I think they've performed well in their bowl games.
What Texas Tech kind of flopped? Does the Texas Tech
loss undermine all of the good that maybe some of
these other Big twelve teams have been able to accomplish
in the ball season.
Speaker 4: The short answer is yes. I mean it is definitely
a damper. I think that it reinforces to a lot
of people the idea that you know, when Big twelve
teams get to the playoff, they get sixty five to
seven like TCU did. Now, I think that again, like
the game, obviously because of how good their defense was,
was frankly very close until the fourth quarter. I don't
think that by any means is you know, the level
of disaster of some of the ones that we've seen before,
even if you want to talk about, you know, in
the old Big twelve with Oklahoma against Joe Burrow getting
destroyed the way that they did. But I mean, I
do think that it is real. I think that there
is a perception that Big twelve teams cannot compete at
a championship level that they you know, again, we talked
about the idea of the gap between the number one
and number five team being smaller than ever before. I
think that people been in the case of a Tech
Tech this year, also in the case of the b YU,
also in the case of the Utah, also in the
case of you know, I mean Arizona State kind of
got closer last year. But like I think that people
view these as being a tier below even the Miamis
and you know, sort of the second tier Big tenant
a city teams. And now again I think that that
Tech was very unfortunate to get the matchup that they did.
I think that Oregon is just a team that's able
to really attack you in certain ways and kind of
maximize their their differential against you, I guess you could say,
but like the reality is like that doesn't matter, Like
it doesn't matter if goes on wins the national Championship,
you still lost that game that way. So I think that, yes,
it absolutely does hurt. I think that it's will hang
over this bullseason more than like you said, some of
the goods that happened with TC beating USC, with YU
beating Georgia Tech. But I do also think that, you know,
we also, especially in the big don't need to necessarily
make every single Bull season a referendum on the conference.
And I think that long term it's going to be Okay,
well what are we building towards, right, it's for BYU again,
like after the investment, you expect to step up with Tech.
I mean, they have another incredible portal class coming in
right now. They should continue to be at the highest level.
You know, people are really excited about the TC quarterbacks
coming in Jade and Craig. Arizona State's still in good shape.
Arizona's still in good shape. So like that's ultimately the
biggest thing at the end of the day is I
think keeping an eye on the trends. And even though
I think that Tech Tech really hurt themselves with the
way things finished, I do still think that the Big twelve,
like you said, is in very good shape.
Speaker 3: Let me ask you this.
Speaker 2: It's something I've been debating with friends, some contemporaries, some
colleagues of mine. We always talk about in college basketball,
get old stale, that's maybe being undermine now with the
college college you to transfer portal and now you can
bring in.
Speaker 3: Like G League players, two way players, your league players.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's getting pretty insane, the good old, the
get old, stay old mantra. I don't know if it's
going to be as impactful as it has been in
the NCAA basketball round. I wonder if it's transitioning over
to college football. Though you mentioned developmental, you mentioned Big
ten is still a developmental league or developmental conference.
Speaker 3: I think you said.
Speaker 2: I wonder if you know, you look at Indiana, like
their roster ranking was like seventy second, and I know
they went out and got some strategic additions, But did
they just get old staled and retain somewhat somewhat of
their roster?
Speaker 3: They build it off culture and development.
Speaker 2: BYU's football team retains a lot of their football players.
You're in and year out. They'll lose some, but not
nearly as many as others. They had the seventieth best
roster ranking, but they developed these guys through a system
and had continuity in structure and not a whole lot
of coaching staff attrition. Is that the way of the
future for college football and not necessarily building via the
transfer portal robustly? You know, you're talking thirty thirty five
plus acquisitions. It's more about retention and development this day
and age than than in other eras.
Speaker 4: Maybe, Yeah, so I think again, you know, it is
a huge I think inefficiency in college football right now
to have a roster for multiple years. And you know,
I would say last year winning eleven games, that was
also a version of it, right, I think the balance
that you need to sort of have there, right because look,
let's also be clear, like let's look at these four
teams that are that are in the college football Playoff
semi finals, Like they all have huge acquisitions through the
transfer portal this year. Yes, but I think that also
players who are able to stay for two or three years.
That's also a huge part of it. You know, to
go back to the college basketball comparison. I think about
a program like Yukon, you know, Huon obviously consecutive national championships,
and it wasn't that they portaled a team, It's that
they portaled a team, kept a lot of those guys,
and then the second year a lot of those guys
came together. I think that, like in college basketball, there's
sort of like a lot of conversation right now that
like the second year transfers are really the ones that
hit it big because like then they know the system,
then you know that you're building around them, et cetera,
et cetera. I think that's going to be the case
in college football as well, where you know, yes, there's
value to recruiting an eighteen year old and keeping them
to win their twenty three. I think there's always going
to be advantage to that. But I think that even
if you recruit a guy who's twenty and keep them
until he's twenty two, I think that there's advantage to
that as well. And so you know, because again like Indiana,
you know, again they've portled a lot of guys, a
lot of those guys that were part of that twenty
twenty four portal class, and they've been on campus for
two years and played two full seasons of football, So
I think it's going to be a balance. I don't
think certainly that it's going away. The biggest key, though,
especially and I'll say for Big twelve teams, is once
you develop those players, you have to find ways to
retain them, and I think the Big twelve did a
really good job of that last year. I think that
this year, for reasons that I think are more program
driven than necessarily situation driven, it's been less the case.
So I think that that's going to be long term
sort of. The big question is when you are able
to get these players, when you are able to develop
these players, when you have these players playing at a
high level, can you maximize by keeping them on campus
as well?
Speaker 3: Shehan?
Speaker 2: Best way to support you what you do, how you
do it for all of our listeners tuning it in today?
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can.
Speaker 4: Follow me on all social media at Shahanji Raja. You
can find all my work over at cbsports dot com,
and you can check out our podcast as well. The
college football Insiders.
Speaker 3: Love what you do.
Speaker 2: Always great commentary, always great content. Shan, We should loute
you man, Thanks so much, Enjoy the rest of your
evening and we'll chat with you again soon.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3: There you go.
Speaker 2: That is shay On Jay Rajah. Great content, great commentary,
and the segment was brought to you by Dental Pros
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Speaker 3: Let's take a brief time out, We'll be back.
Speaker 2: A little world of Boa sports, a little inside report
with Jared Bledshoe, former b YU wide receiver. What's going
on in the coaching staff room? Who is BYU retaining,
who are they acquiring? All that and more coming up next.
Jared Bledsoe This is Cougar Sports one of three nine
nine year point three ES