Speaker 1: Star Toyota presents Off the Bench with Jacob Hester and
Matt Flynn.
Speaker 2: Let's go.
Speaker 1: Let's go from a championship backfield to your morning drive.
Speaker 3: Hansday, Hester and Hester got it?
Speaker 4: Fiveta Pa.
Speaker 3: You're locked in to Off the Bench to troll the.
Speaker 1: Live from the Mercedes Benz of Baton Rouge Studio. Here's
Jacob Hester and Matt Flynn.
Speaker 2: You welcome in oh TV Right Friday, Friday one four
five ESPN, Baton Rouge.
Speaker 4: Jay Flynn, a Laundra Tata, The Gang's all here with you.
We are Football Friday. Let me count, let me use
the fingers and toe. We are twenty nine No.
Speaker 2: Twenty eight, now twenty eight hours away from college football
starting in Dublin, Ireland.
Speaker 4: In Dublin Farmageddon, Farmageddon. I'm excited. So what do we decide?
It's at eleven tomorrow right neon Eastern Yep.
Speaker 2: I keep I have to think in Eastern time, and
I have to remind myself that no wrong, God's time
or Elvis time.
Speaker 4: I believe that would be.
Speaker 5: I think I'm not mistaken. I think there's a six
hour time difference from here and there, so it would
be five pm Ireland time.
Speaker 6: Yes, let's get sat on the internet yesterday.
Speaker 4: I don't even care what time the game is. I'm there.
Speaker 2: It's football, it's real, it counts. It's between two good teams.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 5: They tell me no real plans for the weekend, which
is incredible. So good to get a chance for just
concentrating on the TV standing up thirteen inches fourteen to
twenty five inches away.
Speaker 2: If it's not an LSU, you can stand back and yeah,
I don't have to move back quite as much, but yeah,
I do.
Speaker 4: You know, you get it.
Speaker 5: I like to stand right next to it. So I
moved my head around like back and forth, like it's tennis.
Speaker 4: Yep. How are we doing everything? Good? Everybody good?
Speaker 3: Good night?
Speaker 4: Is laundro overachieving? Running in the rain miserable? Why did
you do it?
Speaker 6: Because I was already.
Speaker 4: No, I was grip the rain doesn't wash away, grip.
Speaker 1: Bro.
Speaker 6: It was a mile and a half away from my house.
Speaker 7: I had to Okay, So that was that was in
your neighborhood.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's the best.
Speaker 2: Like my dad, like when we used to run sometimes,
like he drops off away from the house and drive off.
Speaker 4: You got one way to get home. Both working out
that picture.
Speaker 7: It's raining. I'm here, I'm looking out the window. I'm like,
where is she? It was it wasn't raining, neighbor, Yeah,
right in here?
Speaker 4: I had nothing, no rain really, Yeah, well that's what
I was.
Speaker 7: I was looking. I was like, where is she? I
was like, drops avoid that area.
Speaker 4: I did see some.
Speaker 5: I mean, it's it's that time of year where there's
gonna be some dark clouds rolling in every single as
it was.
Speaker 4: It was thundering here, but there was I saw some
in the distance, but we didn't catch any. This little sunshiny,
I mean.
Speaker 6: It was very hot and sunny whenever I left for
the run.
Speaker 4: So run faster, yeah, I do. We missed it. How
far did you run?
Speaker 6: I was, so's three point four something miles because I
was already a mile and a half out five Yeah.
Speaker 4: So you're getting ready for one, right, half marathon?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Thirteen thirteen points something?
Speaker 6: Thirteen point something.
Speaker 4: Yeah. The bumper stickers you see them all around town?
Thirteen point something. I can't remember. That sounds like a
super fun, voluntary thing to do to yourself.
Speaker 6: It's not, but that's the point, completely voluntary.
Speaker 4: What's it?
Speaker 8: Uh?
Speaker 4: What's it for? Which one is it.
Speaker 6: It's the Louisiana Marathon in January.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, we got some time.
Speaker 6: Yeah yeah, I gave myself time. I cannot just get
up and go do a half.
Speaker 2: If we're already hitting like a good pace a little
bit over three miles and we're in August, you're you're good?
Speaker 4: Yeah? What do you think? Can we get a get
you like my high sponsored shirt to do this running?
How we feeling?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Doing sponsorship?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Can we get our girl a hat? She wants one.
I mean she's at your baseball hat, your baseball I
love a baseball. She sent the pictures running in a
hat yesterday.
Speaker 5: But this isn't a running hair like runners like to have,
like those little short ones. I don't care what like
the volleyball.
Speaker 6: Oh, I actually don't like.
Speaker 2: That, like uh Wesley Snipes and white Man King John. Yes,
exactly that kind of that's kind of exactly you get it.
Speaker 4: No, I'm where one. I wear this hat to run in.
Speaker 2: You're supposed to be able to wear melons and they're
you know, you're supposed to be able to sweat in them,
wash them, clean them.
Speaker 4: The best way to wash your hat throat in the dishwasher.
Really absolutely, no idea. It'll sparkle kind of hat you wearing,
sparkly ones, sounds like it. That really works. The dishwasher, Yeah,
it does what I do with mine. I actually have
like these things.
Speaker 5: You don't have to buy these, and I've never had one,
but I seen like the infomercials, the former, Yeah, the former, like.
Speaker 4: The shade it. Yeah, and that's why you just buy
a melon hat. You can, they say you can just
clean it. You're good.
Speaker 7: Dallas cowboys had got some dirt spots on. I've been
trying to get out, so I'm gonna have to dishwashers.
Speaker 4: That's do doo.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you got some spots on the organization right now too.
And ain't pret your guy, man, he just keeps digging
himself a hole.
Speaker 6: Does something else happened?
Speaker 7: I gotta tell you, Matt little offended that you said,
my guy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you guy.
Speaker 5: It is your guy, the guy I'm stuck with. No, no, no, no,
You've been stuck with him for your whole life.
Speaker 4: So and you chose this.
Speaker 7: Pass to your choice about decisions. To your point though
about like him digging a deeper hole. He said, well, guys,
this is the exact same as the Dak Prescott situation, Like,
what's the problem by freaking out? I'm like, Yeah, you
paid Dak the highest paid player in the league, which
he didn't deserve. Like, you're costing yourself more money in
the long run, contracts ain't going down.
Speaker 5: And this feels a little bit different, doesn't it. Like
I kind of feel like Michael Parsons might just say,
you know what, Bud, you can hold my shoulder pads
during the first game because I'm not wearing them.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's kind of how it feels. Like it's what's
gonna happen.
Speaker 7: And like you're gonna get the deal done with your
quarterback always. The quarterback's always going to get the deal done.
Speaker 4: This is different.
Speaker 7: Plus, I mean, Michah deserves it more than Dak. The
team in the NFL Michael Persons wouldn't start for.
Speaker 5: And then I guess, I guess Jerry's trying to sell
his documentary right now because he like who asked him
to say these things? He just came out and said,
like the agent said some very disrespectful things to him
about this contract negotiation. All right, why would you put
that out there? And then he keeps saying you guys
get it.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 7: He keeps saying, if y'all saw what I offered Michael Parsons,
all right, show us would you give him? Keep saying that,
and he's like, this is going to work out in
the long run. I'm like, it's good for the Dallas
Cowboys because you run it like it's a soap opera.
It's not good for them from a football standpoint, but
he doesn't care about that.
Speaker 5: I was reading recently that Michael Parsons has the same
agent as I believe Jalen Ramsey, and a couple of
years ago, he was in a similar situation and he
set out games to Stronghold and he got a deal done.
Speaker 4: I can't remember.
Speaker 5: I don't remember what team it was, but he set
out games, games, and so same agent, so I might
have a similar playbook.
Speaker 4: It's gonna be fun to watch. It's gonna be fun
to watch just.
Speaker 7: The super Bowl hopes for this season.
Speaker 4: There it is. They're all down the drain. I love so.
Speaker 5: One of my favorite parts about the beginning a football
season is after the first game to see all the
eliminated posts. Yeah, team eliminated from playoffs.
Speaker 6: I love the ones that are like ass.
Speaker 4: Especially when they got like a tear system.
Speaker 8: Yeah, oh my gosh, he has The tier list that
they did last season was so funny. I remember we
were like regularly sending it to each other.
Speaker 6: Was so funny.
Speaker 4: Quarterback tier lists like that are fantastic.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and the Saints were always like super mega ass Yes,
oh we.
Speaker 4: Laugh because that's how we don't cry. We'll get to
the pain.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll get to some Saints quarterback news. Who they're
going to start in their final preseason game. We certainly
got to get to some SEC scheduling news. Herb Vincent
out of the SEC office is going to join us
at nine to forty am to kind of go over it.
How it all kind of came together certainly was a
talking point at spring meetings in Destin this year. You
had a lot of people that wanted you had a
lot of people that did not want it. There was
not an agreement there by any means, So how did
that agreement happen? So looking forward to catching up with
Herb at nine forty We'll go ahead, listen, We're gonna
take a break on time.
Speaker 4: What this isn't even on top this is early.
Speaker 2: It's actually like a minute and a half early because
I do want to get into the scheduling model.
Speaker 4: Also, I put it out there to the people who
did they.
Speaker 2: Want to see LSU's three permanent opponents, be like if
you could pick one, like who would that be? And
I put the four teams that I think would be
most people's choice for LSU. You probably know that we're
gonna have a little bit different opinion here on this
show than you've probably heard on other shows, and so
we'll give.
Speaker 4: You that opinion, wouldn't we come back here.
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Have them come out, look at your space, tell you
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Speaker 5: Yeah, I think we're about a little over a week
away from Labor Day, and I think that traditionally that
is when public pools, your private community pools, whatever it is,
they start closing down. Well, if you get your own
custom pool from Russell, you can get a how about
a pool heater, never close that pulled down swim year round,
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Speaker 3: Wouldn't be good. I'm losing, wouldn't.
Speaker 7: So good?
Speaker 3: So good.
Speaker 1: From Flares to Legends, Hester and Flynn breakdown l s
U Football like only champions can.
Speaker 3: Sugar Sue.
Speaker 4: Monky Friday, Fun Friday. I can't wait to slam dunket
later in the show. That's called Lady. That's gonna be
maybe even at the very end.
Speaker 5: So listen to find out three hours all three hours,
when are we going to play slam Dunk the funk.
Speaker 4: They're giving more and more way about your teas. He's
just supposed to be a teaser. R. Maybe we just
throwed in there randomly throughout the show.
Speaker 2: All Right, we got news out of the SEC, and
it broke yesterday around I'm excited about this.
Speaker 4: I don't know four thirty or so. I know I
was still on air whenever it broke.
Speaker 2: But the SEC something we've long talked about, talked about
it for a lot of years.
Speaker 4: It was the main.
Speaker 2: I would say, the main conversation it was there was
like three or four because college football is college football now,
but probably the main conversation down in Destin for spring meetings.
And they are now going to implement a nine game
conference schedule in twenty twenty six. So this will continue
with a single standings, non divisional structure. Each school will
play three annual opponents, focused on maintaining many traditional rivalry games.
Each team's remaining six games will rotate among the remaining
conference schools. Each team will face every other SEC program
at least once every two years in every opponent home
and away in four years. So you won't have the
situation where we played at Kentucky in two thousand and
seven and you didn't play at Kentucky again until twenty
twenty one.
Speaker 4: Like, you won't have those situations anymore. This is a
big deal.
Speaker 2: This is something that you know people outside of the
SEC wanted the SEC to you know, to take part
him because the Big Ten, Big twelve, that's what they had.
So now the ACC is the only one that still
has eight games. The Big Ten remember, like the last
two national champions they didn't play another power for opponent
in non conference and their argument well as they had
nine conference games. And so now i SEC also has
the nine conference games that the Big Ten and the
Big twelve have always talked about.
Speaker 5: So look here here's I got a question just before
we kind of get into who at the three yearly
opponents should be is what what game is going to
be excluded going forward? Like when when people start getting
used to this and start planning their non conference schedules.
Speaker 4: Is it the big.
Speaker 5: Is it the bigger games out of conference games or
is it gonna be the rental win games? Which game
are people going to drop?
Speaker 4: Do you think?
Speaker 2: So when you got these contracts like these, you know,
these primetime opponents, they usually are the ones that get
picked up by TV partners and they get put in
you know, sometimes in a neutral site location and they'll
be in Mercedes Benz in Atlanta.
Speaker 5: So I would just like, like from an LSU standpoint,
like if you know you're playing one extra SEC game
the year, are you scheduling Clemson anymore? Or are you
still going to schedule Clemson and not schedule Lois in attack?
Speaker 2: Well, the SEC still have the rule in fact, where
you have to play a power for non conference opponent.
That's gonna be the question too, I hope.
Speaker 4: So I like to see it. I want a game
that matters every single week, and that's that's like it.
Speaker 2: That's where we're gonna start our conversation. I put it
out there last night to a vote. Pull out these
numbers here, three hundred votes, so appreciate the interaction there
as always. And I asked, I asked the people, like,
who do you most want to see as a permanent
opponent for LSU? Because you're gonna play three, You're gonna
have three every year. Those three stay on your schedule.
The other six just rotate around it, okay. And I
put the four teams that I believe the most that
LSU fans would want to see at least one of those.
I put Alabama, I put Auburn, I put miss and
I put Florida three times.
Speaker 4: Times. Three times would probably be my answer.
Speaker 2: So with thirty five point four percent of the vote,
Alabama with twelve point nine percent of the vote, Auburn
with thirty three percent of the vote, Old miss in
Florida three times eighteen point seven percent of the vote.
So so we're joking with the Florida part. But I'm
not joking when I put those four teams. If you
want to play in your three permanent opponents Mississippi State, Kentucky,
and Vanderbilt and be serious about it, that is your opinion.
You're entitled to that opinion. We are just wired differently.
We think about things in a different way. Because when
I think of Mississippi State, when I think of Kentucky,
and when I think of Vanderbilt, nothing jumps into my brain.
You could go a bluegrass miracle, cool moment on Jefferson Pilot.
Sports was the breakfast game. Those teams don't create any
emotion for me. Zero I played against those teams. I
played against Mississippi State every year. Hell, we had a
great game with Kentucky where we lost in triple overtime.
Speaker 4: Good game. What's the end of that game? Like when
people were finishing up their lunch.
Speaker 2: But Vanderbilt, like we played against Vanderbilt when Vanderbilt was
one of their better teams.
Speaker 4: With bad body language Jay at quarterback does nothing for me.
Speaker 2: College football is about looking forward to every single Saturday
and looking forward to tailgating all day with your people
and having this anticipation in this.
Speaker 4: Build up that you can't even turn it off.
Speaker 2: You just you're giddy all day long because you're like,
it's LSU Alabama, it's LSU Ole Miss, It's LSU Florida.
Speaker 4: I love the Auburn series. I wish that came back,
like those are the memories.
Speaker 2: Immediately Auburn, Blenda Bird, Alabama, Jayden Hitt and Mason for
a two point conversion Florida. I can give you ninety
seven of them. I can give you nineteen ninety seven.
I can give you oh seven. I can give you
fake field goals that bounced up and a kicker caught it.
Speaker 4: I can give you.
Speaker 2: I can give you a guy that throws a cleat
that gets a fifteen yarder and LSU hits a fifty
plus yard field goal in the fog you can't even
see it go through in a night where LSU was
a twenty one point underdog.
Speaker 4: Ole Miss last year.
Speaker 2: I can give you moments immediately, and every single Tiger
fan is going to know exactly where they were when
those moments happened. And you want to take that away
because it's easy. Life ain't easy. Easy, ain't fun, you say, ah,
But winning is. Yeah, winning those games is real fun.
Winning those games that are memories forever. That's what's fun.
Beating the teams that you hate, that's what's fun. Beating
the teams that when you see your their colors, it
makes you want to punch them right in the chest.
Speaker 4: That's what's fun. I getting three teams that create no emotion.
What does that do for fans that spend their hard
earned money to go into Tiger Stadium to see the
team that they just very much dislike and for LSU
to go out there and beat that team. Mississippi State,
Kentucky and Bandy. If that happens to be on the rotation,
we'll play them. But every year.
Speaker 2: That that that doesn't create the emotions that I'm looking for.
In college football, the people that.
Speaker 5: Get assigned to your three yearly opponents by default become
your three rivals. And I don't want a rival to
be either one of those schools. But I guess the
counter argument would be, yeah, win of those games is fun.
To win in championships is more fun, well unless just
won three and not too long of a time frame here,
playing those playing that schedule, playing those teams, playing those big,
big games, And it's more meaningful that way when it
happens that way, when you have to go through the
hearts of light.
Speaker 4: But that's why people go to the SEC.
Speaker 5: That's why players choose to put on an LSU hat
when they're sitting in front of their family and their
friends and they're making a decision for the next four
or five.
Speaker 4: It is those big games.
Speaker 5: So when we look back, when I look back at
the time playing like I, you know, I think about
the Ohio State National Championship game, sure, but I probably
think about playing Florida more. I probably think about playing
aub Or more just because of the games and what
it means, like playing in Tiger Stadium, playing in front
of your home fans, and like, you know, that was
how electric the atmosphere is, and you're going to take
that electric electricity way down, like if you if you
get that and that's not what you know, SEC Foo,
if you want to kind of do that and choose
your own schedule, like an easy schedule. Just drop out
of the SEC, become independent. How about that Notre Dame.
Make your own schedule.
Speaker 4: I think they won one back in the set. Yeah. Probably. Hey,
yeah you can schedule.
Speaker 2: You can go play Stanford, you can play cal Yeah,
you can play maybe Pitt one year, so Michigan State
on the rotation.
Speaker 4: Then when you finally play a real team, you're not
ready for it.
Speaker 2: No, because you're not callous. You got punch right in
the mouth and you're like, oh, wait a minute, this
is different. This punch is a little bit harder than
I'm used to.
Speaker 4: At.
Speaker 2: Like the emotions that those teams create in players and
coaches during that week, you can't explain it. Like when
you're playing against Mississippi State, you think I'm doing everything
I possibly can to get ready for this game. You
truly do, and you're like, I'm gonna go about my business.
I'm gonna do my work. I'm gonna make sure that
I watched that tape and you maybe you get your
work done, You're ready for the game. When you play Florida, Hey, Matt,
let's stay, like, let's stay like seven minutes after real
quick like, let's, uh, let's work on this one, will route. Hey,
let's work on this option that we put in this week.
I don't I don't feel one hundred percent about it
right now. Hey, let's go Hey, real quick, real quick,
let's go watch some of that extra protection tape that
we had there. Because the last thing that you want
to do is lose to the jort wearing Florida Gators.
You want every like, with all of your being, you
want to go out there and you want to be
victorious against that team.
Speaker 4: Help.
Speaker 2: We came back from the NFL one year, me and
Flynn had the same bye week, okay, and so we
come back to y I had been in the NFL
for two years, both of us.
Speaker 4: We're supposed to be like professionals. All right.
Speaker 2: We're playing against the Florida Gators and those front running
sobs are jumping on the eye of the tiger. I'm
on the sideline. I feel somebody tugging at my belt.
I look back and it's Flynn because my ass is
at the hash Mark trying to fight college kids. Okay,
because that's what kind of emotion Florida brings out in me.
Speaker 4: And it's not just them.
Speaker 2: It could be the Auburn Tigers, it can be Alabama,
Ole Miss not as much, but I know there's a
lot there because those are the teams that create those emotions,
not Mississippi State. Like Kentucky and Vanderbilt. It's nothing against
those programs. Nothing against this again, Kentucky beat us Vanderbilt.
It has nothing to do with them, but it's like, no, no, no, no, no.
These are the opponents that create what we love about
college football.
Speaker 5: Hey, can you imagine hosting the top recruits, the top
recruits in the country, and bring them to a game
and it's a home game versus Vanderbilt or Mississippi State,
and that's like the big one.
Speaker 4: You bring him to you and you think the crowd
would be.
Speaker 2: Doing like they did the gator chomp in twenty nineteen,
and the whole crowd, you think they'd be doing that.
Speaker 5: When you're when you're hosting these genuinely wholeheartedly ultra competitive people,
ultra athletic people. You bring them to the games and
you want them to be in a crowd that you're
seeing people gator chomping. I don't care if it's left over, right,
right over, left, whatever it is you want to see
him against Alabama at night because they want to see
the best on the best, and that is what college
football they got. College fans want to see. And like
in this like day and age where you know you're
kind of starting to stray away from a lot of tradition,
at least the least you can hope for is good
competitive games every single week. That's why I want the
I want the rent and win out of the schedule completely. Yeah,
I wish every single game was competitive.
Speaker 3: Ye.
Speaker 4: Hey, hey, FCS schools, I love you. I got to
place in my heart right.
Speaker 2: Uh, there's there's hall of famers that were much better
football players and both of us sitting up here right
now that played at FCS schools, a lot of them.
All right, this isn't a slide at you. So there's
different there, there's levels to this thing, okay. And in
the springtime, I would love to set up something where
FCS schools had a chance to come over to FBS
schools and you had fans in the stadium and it
was a spring scrimmage and hey, you get paid money
to come over here, you will give you the entire game.
Twenty thousand people might show up and you get all
of it all right, But I don't need to ever
see that again in Tiger Stadium.
Speaker 4: I just don't need to see it.
Speaker 2: I want the games that create the emotions that we're
talking about here on the sideline, in the stands, in
the booth, all over the stadium. And so there's maybe
there's a place for those games. Maybe it's a springtime.
Speaker 4: I don't know. But it's not our job to care.
It's just not.
Speaker 2: That's harsh, but it's not. It's not the fbs's job,
it's not LSU's job to take care of the now
called group of six are the FCS level.
Speaker 4: It's just not.
Speaker 5: And again, like if you get those teams on a rotation, great,
like your strength to schedule it worked out in your
favor whatever for that season, but like to say year
and year out that you're like, you'd rather position yourself
to like get in or have a chance to get
in by default because the schedules easy, Like that is
the most that's that's Notre Dame energy right there. In
my opinion, I keep coming back to that because Notre
Dame pisses me off all the time, like getting the schedule,
getting the conference and I'll respect you, but I don't
respect you until you do that. I don't care who
you schedule because I know what your schedule is gonna
be every year. I know you're gonna schedule with the
best possibility to get yourself in a game that you're
gonna lose.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and when they play that game every single time,
and you and I have been a part of one
of those games when they play somebody that you know
has gone through the fire, somebody that is calloused and
came out on the other side.
Speaker 5: Now, our stats look great at the end of the year,
and they just don't have like what memories of their
fan base have.
Speaker 4: Nothing.
Speaker 2: I mean two thousand and six Notre Dame Sugar Bowls
probably like one of the easiest games.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they got Rudy. We don't want to only have
Rudy in forty years.
Speaker 2: No, h Inside the Balue four chat, people talking about
the you know, the stands in some of these games
being completely empty by halftime, and hey, that was a
point of conversation again. Down spring meetings, that's where everything
kind of gets handled. That's why they have those meetings,
and they're there and they're in those boardrooms for you know,
twelve hours a day.
Speaker 4: And the athletic directors that I talked with.
Speaker 2: And we talked to thirteen of the sixteen on air,
they said, we don't want our stadiums looking half empty
on TV ever again. And they point that's why they
wanted to add this ninth game. Like it's going to
bring in revenue. Obviously, look we're not, you know, we're
not going to pretend that it doesn't. But also you're
going to have more competitive games. You're gonna have people
actually stay for the entire game instead of when Oklahoma
plays Bethune Cookman and you got, you know, twenty thousand
people in the stands. And so like athletic directors noticed it.
They notice and they understand that it's now easy to
sit at your house and watch the game. They're trying
to create that environment that we're talking about, the environment
that I could go across every LSU fan and say, hey,
give me the moment in Tiger Stadium, and every single
one of you's gonna have one ready to go. You're
gonna have it ready. It's gonna be the first thing
that popps into your brain is gonna come out. So
as like five seconds into it. You're gonna explain why
you fell in love with LSU and why you fell
in love with Tiger Stadium, and you're gonna have that
right there ready to go. And you know who, It's
not going to be Mississippi State, Kentucky or Vanderbilt, not
one of y'all.
Speaker 5: Nothing like mentioned like the economic benefit that we get
from the big games and the lack of like the
effect that that'll have. Like we can let the Pro League,
we can let Brian Holding talk about the economic impact,
but like those big games have a huge impact on
the state and the city and just every in small
business all around. But like as a competitor, you want
to go to a place and you want weekend. You
want to face the best. You want to play people
you hate. You want to play people that create emotion,
that stir you emotionally. And as a fan base, you
want that too. Like in the in the middle of
the season, like you're worried about the big picture. You
want to win a national championship. We're not taking that
away again. You could do that, and it means we've
won three in the last what twenty years, less than
twenty years, we've won three. No twenty five year old
whatever world. I can't I can't keep count his old brain.
But the blueprint is there. You could do it, you
just and you can't manufacture it with a schedule. You
have to play the best. You have to play those
teams at callous. You have to play those teams that
as a competitor, you want that.
Speaker 3: Like.
Speaker 4: I hate it. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't stand
the games we were supposed to win. Let's go out
here and play Fresno State this week.
Speaker 5: That I didn't even I mean, I hated eleven o'clock
Mississippi State games at the time. I know Missippi State's
a lot better than they were then, but you know,
not by a ton, Yeah, not by a lot.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I hated playing Anderbilt.
Speaker 2: Yep, I'm right there with you. I mean I had
same It's I'll give you an example of kind of
just from our experience. When we played Miami in a
top ten matchup in the Peach Bowl, beat the hell
out of them. When we played Notre Dame in a
top I think it was top five, top five matchup
in the Sugar Bowl, beat the hell out of them.
When we played Ohio State and National championship game, even
though they got out to a ten to nothing lead,
we beat the hell out of them. We were so
callous and so ready for those games because what we
had gone through in the sec the teams that we
had played to get to that point, and once we
played somebody outside of our conference that had not done those.
Speaker 4: Things, it was easy. Games were easy.
Speaker 2: They quit all three of those teams, quit all three
of them, And I think that's because of what we
had gone through to get to that point.
Speaker 4: Of those ended in a national championship. Six was very
close to ending in a national championship.
Speaker 5: So you know what, But I get and I get
there's probably people out there like going through the seasons,
be like and creating counter arguments, Well, what about this
year you lost?
Speaker 4: You what about this year you lost? They had a
weaker schedule, and they.
Speaker 2: Did tell us that we need to go watch the
nineteen eighties LSU Florida series, like Florida all ten all
ten games that they played there.
Speaker 5: Yeah, now, and I'm not even talking about that. I'm
just talking about, like, well, here's the here's the counterpoint
to the argument. This is, like, you had a strong
strength of schedule, you played a weaker strength to schedule
opponent and they beat you.
Speaker 2: They were less count the way strength to schedule metric
is in play. Now we'll talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 5: But like I get there, you know, I can understand
everybody's counterpoint. But at the end of the day, it's
just soft. Really like play the best. It's LSU. They'll
play the best, want to play the best, look forward
to it. They'll put somebody in the mouth.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when you have those three letters and you're representing
those three letters, those three letters are not soft. Those
three letters want all to smoke. Those three letters should
strike fear in people. Those three letters shouldn't look for
the easy way out. Those three letters are champions. Those
three letters have some of the best to ever do it.
Those three letters don't need to be grouped with Mississippi State,
with Vanderbilt and with Kentucky.
Speaker 4: Not every year.
Speaker 2: We'll take a break and when we come back, we'll
tell you who we want to see. Everybody's gonna go
around the room.
Speaker 4: Let's go.
Speaker 2: You get to pick one team. Who do you want
LSU to play. The one that cannot go away no
matter what happens, it can't go away. And we'll tell
you why, and we'll do it when we come back
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Speaker 3: Com, Tigers Turn Talkers. This is off the bench.
Speaker 4: Last night. Yeah, the scheduling talks got me through that funk?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Oh, how are the cartoons last night? Wild? Wild? Unreal?
All right, I'm the top recruit.
Speaker 5: Oh my god, just witness y'all destroy Vanderbilt fifty to
nothing at two thirty?
Speaker 4: Where getting two thirty? Yeah? Okay, I about to say
that starting at noon? Did y'all see that? Did y'all
see that? Eight thousand people in the crowd? Wild? Why
where do I sign? Wow? Can I come? Now? M
this is purple and golds for me? Destroyed them?
Speaker 2: You could make the argument I get it, like I
want the easiest path to the playoff. But now strength
to schedule is a metric that they're going to use
like it's going to mean something. So we'll get to
that point a little bit later on. And look, I
am a self described meathead. I know I'm a meathead.
Like I don't want things easy. Some people do, and
that's great. Life's about choices and decisions. We talked about
that often. But I can't tell you, like how how
much pride I had in NFL locker rooms. When I
could hear a Florida guy yapping and just yapping, I'm like, yeah,
we went three and one against you, Bud. When I
heard a Bama guy just yapping, yapping, Hey, we went
four to oh against you, matt went five and oh
against you just constant yap, and it's like they're like,
there's this pride and there's this yeah because we went
to LSU, all right.
Speaker 4: I don't really care where you went. We went to LSU,
all right.
Speaker 2: We went to the place, you know that's had some
of the best college football players of all time. We
went to the place that Right now, we're in this
NFL locker room, and y'all know, y'are all huddled around
this TV. You know who you're huddled around this TV
even though we're pros to watch the Honey Badger, every
single one of y'all.
Speaker 4: That's what y'all. Y'all are watching Tyron Matthew right now.
Speaker 2: Because he goes to LSU and he's special and he
strikes fear in everybody. So you can call it whatever
you want. LSU's an alpha. They're not They're not a beta.
They're just that's what it is. LSU's a big dog.
They they they want to play the best. So if
if you don't have that again, that's that's fine. I'm
not I'm we're wired differently and that's okay. But l
s U and that helmet sits in front of us.
That's an alpha. And if you don't want to play
the best of the best, I got nothing for you. So, Matt,
who do you want to play?
Speaker 4: It's taken a lot. It's like mental fortitude for me,
say I say.
Speaker 2: It just means it's taking me a lot not to say,
not to say bad words and that and try to maintain.
Speaker 5: What we got journalistic integrity on this show. Buddy, I'm
just just surprised. I'll say that I was surprised with
some of the reactions. Go ahead, Oh well, the answer
is really easy for me. I will be very upset
if we do not play Florida every single year. I
hate Florida, but it's like, uh, I love to hate
him like I love it. I love that passion, I
love that rivalry.
Speaker 4: I love that game.
Speaker 5: I love the emotions it brings out. I love the
games being in the stadium for that one. I love feeling.
I love feeling a game like. It's just a weird
feeling that when you go into those types of games,
the air feels different, it smells different, like I don't
know if it's barometric pressure. I have no idea. We
have all been there, old fashion. You can't explain it,
but it feels different.
Speaker 4: And I love it. And I hate them, and I
love that I hate them, and I love that they
hate us. I do too, Yes, And.
Speaker 5: You know, for the players I played with a bunch,
loved having cold pops with them, love talking about it.
Speaker 2: One of my best friends in this world is a Gator.
But guess what that's still telling them how much I
hate them. When we talk about the games, we both
get mad at each other. We both want to fight
each other. Yes, we both talk that ish to each other.
And it's great. And that's what college football is. Don't
take that away. Leave that in college football when a
lot of other stuff is getting taken away with transfers
and nils and paying people and like pseudo professional players.
Speaker 4: I get it.
Speaker 5: There's a lot of like old heads, and I'm like, oh,
that's taking the spirit away from college football with the
amateurism and all that stuff.
Speaker 4: Don't take the rivalries away.
Speaker 2: They've played every year since nineteen seventy one as well.
I don't know if people realize that. And I mean
there was only a gap because they played, you know
before that. I mean they played every year. There's like
a five or six year gap. But I mean this
is a true rival. This is somebody that you played
every single year. And by the way, what is our
guy Handy talking about? Nineteen eighties and we got to
sit down and watch it LSU one, one, two, three four.
They won four times against Florida in the eighties and
tied one or four to four and one.
Speaker 4: There we go. I think, let me see eighty nine,
oh eighty nine went their way. Sorry, so five four
or four, five and one? That bad Handy terrible, too bad?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 4: So yeah, Florida. No surprise at your answer, Alandra.
Speaker 8: So I have two that I feel very adamant about.
But I'll go to the obvious answer here and say
Texas A and M. Because of how competitive that's that
always is, like it we go back and forth with
them pretty much every year, like the home team usually wins,
and I feel like there's juice to that game and
it's usually I feel like.
Speaker 4: A night game and then it's only been a day
game that I can remember. Once in Jaden's senior year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well yeah, yeah, when I had my my boys there,
Flynn brought his his crew there, Flint sat behind us,
and every time Matt House gave up a touchdown, I
remember Matt coming upstairs.
Speaker 4: Like what coverage? What are we doing? What we play
it here? Quarters? Yeah?
Speaker 2: You knew the rhetorical you knew the car Yeah, yes, yes,
rhetorical question Farley.
Speaker 4: All right, text A and M.
Speaker 6: Yeah, And I feel like there's like a genuine hate
between the.
Speaker 4: Two seven overtime game. Did that?
Speaker 2: Yeah it wasn't before then, but that that game certainly
did it. Yeah, all right, Texas A and M.
Speaker 7: I mean, you know, one of the answers is Florida,
but y'all already did that. So I'll go to Auburn
because I'm upset l issues not playing Auburn this year.
Speaker 4: Like growing up here, I agree with that.
Speaker 7: You know, back when you guys played, the two big
games of the year were always Florida and Auburn. And
the thing I loved about him the most was they
were always home the same year it was the odd
years like oh seven. Like I was telling you guys,
like I can remember the exact spot that I was
sitting in when you hit Burd in the end zone.
It was a section three or one or thirty four.
If anybody's wondering, which is the Auburn game like something
out of the ordinary always seemed to happen, Like the
play at the last second LSU coming back at that
scorchy eleven AM game from twenty to nothing, the four
net game when he throws a guy over his shoulder
and you go back to the earthquake game, Like to
me outside of Florida, the Auburn game, like, at least
for me growing up, you know, early two thousands, really
getting into LSU football, that game always meant something and
something crazy always happened. So like Auburn's an easy answer
for me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm right there with you all. Florida and Auburn
probably would be my choices as well.
Speaker 5: Wow, when when we were getting recruited at our at
our age, that was Auburn was the rival like we
like LSU has like this the rivalry that kind of
shifts and changes with the tide. But that was, you know,
coming off of the cigar game. That was coming off
of all different like the like all sorts of things
happening in pregames and post games. And I just remember
being recruited at the time, seeing the seeing the highlight
film that they show the recruits with Phil Collins in
the air tonight. Yeah, And I could see it coming
in the air tonight and they're smoking cigars in Tiger Stadium.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 7: And look go back to a couple of years ago.
Bone Digs gets pulled out of the game from TJ.
Finley comes back in. It's one of the greatest plays
I've seen in Tiger Stadium. Home more away on that
fourth down where he throws a touchdown pass. Like Auburn
was dead in the water. They came back and won
that game. And like my dad raised me to hate
Auburn because of the cigar gave me's like Tyler that
got down, there's Tommy Tupperville and that sob was smoking
cigars on our field and like so like growing up,
Auburn was like the team I hate it all.
Speaker 2: Right, we got to take a break more Auburn hate
when we come back here on HOTV.
Speaker 3: Off the bench.
Speaker 4: See these are the emotions.
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Speaker 1: Two thousand and seven, shamps Purple and Gold to the Core.
This is Off the Bench with Hester and Flynn, Baton
Rougees go to for all things Louisiana Sports.
Speaker 4: What movie does this friend you have?
Speaker 5: I don't know, budd can you tell me the water Boy?
He's at a frat party and talking. They're like, have
you seen anybody?
Speaker 4: Yeah, Bobby Bouchet's see a lot of see a lot
of girls. Yeah, see a lot of guys. Due what
was mama doing?
Speaker 5: I don't know, cooking a snake. I hadn't seen the
water Boy in all minute. I probably need to go
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Speaker 2: I don't know if we've had time, but uh K
broughtup a good one of LSU Auburn during the break
twenty eighteen LSU at Auburn Cole Tracy at the end
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Speaker 4: I lost my mind on the sideline watching that game.
I had never been in that building and experience in
LSU victory.
Speaker 2: We lost both times as a player, once because they
called Ronnie Prude for landing on top of another player
on a miss extra point game. Another opportunity and the
game would have been tied, and they made it.
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