• last year
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Welcome to Sunday Morning Quarterback
00:12 with Jay Stockwell and Bob Frady.
00:14 - Your sun is bright in the back.
00:16 - It is bright.
00:17 You know what it is, Jay Stockwell?
00:18 It's the glow of a four and three record in late October.
00:23 I've tried everything that I can to correct the situation,
00:26 but the heavens above are like,
00:28 Nebraska has a winning record on October 22nd.
00:31 (both laughing)
00:35 - Well, having just returned from the big red
00:41 with a new piece of camouflage cover here.
00:44 - Did you buy that from the wrestling team?
00:46 Because that looks like one of those shirts
00:48 you wear to sweat off your weight and make weight.
00:51 - I walked like 30,000 steps this weekend,
00:54 so I probably sweated off a little weight anyway.
00:56 So what we did, George and I flew down there
00:58 and got there-- - George is your son?
01:00 - My son, yeah, George, he was off school,
01:02 so it was his idea, it was kind of last minute.
01:05 And the concept was, let's go to a football game
01:08 and then let's go to a volleyball game.
01:09 I'm like, whoa!
01:10 So I started working the connections on the volleyball.
01:13 Turns out volleyball is a way harder ticket
01:15 than football in Lake and Nebraska.
01:17 - It was apparently $1,000 a ticket
01:19 for court side tickets on the secondary ticket.
01:22 - Exactly, and I'm new to volleyball,
01:25 so I'm not yet a passionate about--
01:28 - I'm not sure why you didn't spend the money.
01:30 - Standing room only tickets were 250,
01:33 which is like nosebleed, you're standing, okay?
01:35 - Yeah, no.
01:36 - So I'm like, George, we're gonna go down
01:38 to a nice restaurant.
01:39 So we scoped out a nice restaurant with a good bar setup
01:42 so we could watch the game, so that was really cool.
01:44 - The Marriott in downtown Lincoln
01:46 has an excellent setup for watching volleyball.
01:48 There's a bar, they always show volleyball,
01:51 and then you can get drinks and not have to drive anywhere,
01:55 which is always lovely.
01:56 - We went to this Italian restaurant
01:57 called Napoleon Q Street, and it was great.
02:00 But we're getting ahead of ourselves,
02:01 that's late in the evening.
02:03 - Okay, so let's rewind.
02:05 You were at the game.
02:07 - And I gotta tell you, for both days,
02:10 on Friday we played golf with Pat and Vern.
02:14 - Oh, nice.
02:15 - So two famous, famous guys from Cedar County
02:18 and Knox County, Hardington and Crofton.
02:21 - Being famous in Hardington is like being
02:23 375,000th on the list in Omaha.
02:27 - By the way, Bob, I got a text from Chris Miller
02:30 of Don Miller Land Company that's named after his dad.
02:34 And he apparently heard you complaining
02:36 about the price of the $600,000 house.
02:38 And so what's he do?
02:39 He goes full salesman mode.
02:40 He's like, "No, Jay, we've got a $600,000 house
02:44 "right across the street.
02:45 "We've got a 750.
02:46 "We'll sell them both to you and Bob,
02:48 "and you're welcome down here at any time."
02:50 - Yeah, yeah, thank you.
02:53 Yeah, people like to think that farmers are dumb,
02:56 and like, no.
02:57 (laughing)
02:58 No, farmers have been dealing with varmints far too long,
03:01 and you're just another varmint, and they can handle you.
03:03 - So I said, "Talk to me in six months.
03:06 "Things are looking up for my company.
03:08 "So talk to me in six months."
03:10 And then he goes, "Well, just buy it this year
03:13 "and close next year."
03:14 So he's like really breasting the sale, you know?
03:16 And I'm like, I admire the--
03:19 - He's got a fish on the line.
03:20 He's trying to reel that in.
03:21 - And I wrote back, "I like being married this time."
03:26 (laughing)
03:28 Yeah, there's certain points where it's like,
03:31 I'm just gonna leave right now.
03:35 Unlike you, I was in Las Vegas yesterday.
03:38 - Oh, what?
03:39 Oh, yeah, what was going on?
03:41 - I had an event I had to go to,
03:43 and the event finished around nine o'clock,
03:45 and it was a Saturday night in Vegas
03:47 at the Cosmopolitan Hotel, and it was just crazy town.
03:50 And I'm like, "I'm gonna leave here right now."
03:53 I sat in the lobby for like 20 minutes.
03:55 I'm like, "Let's just go to the airport
03:56 "with the rest of the people who are really unhappy
03:59 "about leaving Vegas at 12.45 in the morning."
04:02 So I get out.
04:04 - Did you sleep okay on the plane?
04:05 - I got a couple hours, but it's not a very long flight.
04:08 - What time did you land?
04:11 - About 5.15 this morning.
04:12 - Oh, boy, oh, boy.
04:14 - Yeah, yeah, it's been--
04:16 - What I like doing at the Cosmo,
04:17 and that's where we always do our CES event,
04:19 we're going again this year, is the sports book.
04:23 I like to, did you bet on any games or anything?
04:26 - Yes, as a matter of fact, I did.
04:28 Nebraska, you've got $100 of bright lights
04:33 coming the way of Las Vegas,
04:34 because I took the under, which I was very confident in,
04:38 and I took the points, which I wasn't very confident in.
04:41 I'm like, "I should have taken Northwestern and the points,"
04:45 and I thought about doing it.
04:46 I'm like, "I can't be disloyal.
04:47 "I run the fifth most popular podcast
04:49 "for Nebraska football.
04:50 "I can't be betting against Nebraska."
04:53 (laughing)
04:55 Yeah, so--
04:55 - And then they kicked that field goal,
04:58 and Nebraska did nothing else,
05:00 and I was like, "Nothin'."
05:02 Concern it, but it was fun, it was fun.
05:05 - Yeah, I started talking about the weather.
05:06 The weather was perfection.
05:08 75 sunny, no wind on Sunday.
05:11 We played field club in Omaha.
05:13 George shot a 35 on the back nine, okay?
05:17 - Wow.
05:18 - And 11 putts.
05:19 This kid's 15 years old, okay?
05:21 - Wow.
05:22 - So he lifted $200 off his dad.
05:26 (laughing)
05:28 - Did you keep pressing him?
05:29 - Yeah, I did, I did.
05:31 And I wasn't getting any better.
05:33 And so he's walking around in a new pair
05:36 of Adidas Cornhusker shoes, which were $209.
05:41 - Was it $200 of store credit,
05:44 or was it actual $200 in cash?
05:46 - It was actual $200 in cash.
05:48 - Oh, nice.
05:49 Well, good for him.
05:50 - And then Wampus took 75 off me.
05:53 So I was handed out money like candy.
05:55 - I missed the tour.
05:57 - I did not play well.
05:58 I drove the ball well, but my short game was terrible.
06:01 And they had just punched the greens,
06:02 and so they were kind of nasty.
06:04 But the weather was sick.
06:07 I mean, it felt so good to be outside in October,
06:10 you know, October 20th, 75 degrees in Omaha.
06:13 And then we go down to Lincoln.
06:15 We had dinner with Dimo at the Lincoln Country Club.
06:18 Des Moines Adams, who is the CEO of Teammates,
06:21 our favorite charity that supports Big Red.
06:25 - On Friday, we got our Tom Osborne interview posted,
06:27 so that was good.
06:29 - Yep.
06:29 - I thought that turned out really well.
06:31 Anyway, then we get into game day.
06:34 And so we, you know, George is like on me.
06:37 He's like, "Hey, I got my store credit.
06:39 I get to go spend my $200."
06:41 So we go over to the Pinnacle Bank Arena fan shop,
06:46 which is, I think, one of the better ones in town.
06:48 I don't know them all, but-
06:50 - We've shopped at that one so many times,
06:51 I think they should put a wing up there for us.
06:54 - So we got some gear.
06:55 We went to the tailgate at Embassy Suites,
06:58 that a good band, a really good band,
07:00 and we probably stayed there for a half an hour.
07:02 And then we walked down to Mike Wortman's spot.
07:05 - Nice.
07:06 - And George got to meet Tommy Frazier.
07:09 - Yeah, he sent you a picture.
07:11 Did you get him on the podcast as a guest?
07:13 - No, I didn't.
07:14 I chose not to kind of go at him at that moment on that.
07:19 He didn't respond to my initial request,
07:21 but maybe he'll see this.
07:22 - Maybe you're just, maybe you were just butthurt.
07:26 Like, you didn't respond the first time.
07:27 I'm not gonna, on the second time.
07:29 - He was super funny and very kind
07:31 and allowed George to sit down and take a photo with him.
07:34 - That's nice.
07:35 - And that was a big thrill for George,
07:36 'cause, I mean, touchdown,
07:37 Tommy Frazier was a legendary figure in the Oscar game.
07:42 Then we go to the Champions Club.
07:43 You gotta hear about the experience, man.
07:45 Come on.
07:46 - Okay, all right, fine.
07:46 - We go to the Champions Club.
07:48 That was really--
07:49 - You know, it's Derpians Club.
07:50 (laughing)
07:52 - Typical, typical Champions Club.
07:55 But then we did something we've never done before.
07:57 Last several times we've been down there,
07:59 it's all been on the west side of the stadium.
08:01 We went to the east side club,
08:03 which I think it seems like is a little newer
08:05 and a little more comfortable
08:06 than where we were on the Georgia southern side last year.
08:10 And that was just absolutely beautiful.
08:13 I'll show you one more little photo from that.
08:16 And very, very comfortable.
08:18 We sat next to some folks from Battle Creek, population 1,000
08:22 and they were--
08:24 - Battle Creek, Nebraska or Michigan?
08:26 - No, Battle Creek, Nebraska.
08:28 - Okay.
08:29 - And they were super cool.
08:31 - Did you give them the URL for the podcast?
08:34 - Oh, I did, yeah, yeah, yeah, I did.
08:36 And that was where we were sitting.
08:38 - Nice.
08:39 - Inside or outside?
08:42 - Yeah, it was outside, but you walk inside
08:44 and there was a nice bathroom and concession stand there
08:47 and stuff like that, it wasn't too crowded.
08:49 - And the place was a reasonable knee room, very nice.
08:52 - It was cool, it was cool.
08:54 But then, so then we get to the game.
08:56 And first thing, right out of the gates,
09:01 Heiner Carver goes back to pass and throws an interception.
09:04 - First play, first play.
09:08 - The collective groan from the crowd was just like,
09:11 oh my God, why are we doing that?
09:13 Can't we just run the ball?
09:16 - I think it's a good thing that Nebraska fans are nice
09:19 and don't carry pitchforks and knives.
09:21 Well, at least not on them.
09:22 They might be in the truck out in the parking lot,
09:24 but they're not on them.
09:25 Because Satterfield, I was like, what did you just do?
09:30 And the thing about the pick is that Fedoni was wide open.
09:33 If he'd have hit him in stride,
09:34 he'd have run for 30 or 40 more yards.
09:37 He was wide open, he just threw behind it.
09:39 - Yeah, Fedoni had, you know, kind of not his best day.
09:44 He dropped a pass and it was, I think, on the second.
09:47 - They weren't, those were balls that weren't exactly on him.
09:51 They were not pinpoint throws.
09:55 - This is the story of the steak.
09:56 So what happens next is, like the defense, man.
09:59 The defense comes out and is stout, right?
10:02 - Yeah, defense is great.
10:04 I read a stat this afternoon on the flight home
10:08 that Tony White has improved Nebraska's efficiency
10:13 on defense by, guess what's the percentage, Bob?
10:16 - Oh, I would, well, it can't be greater than 100,
10:20 so I'm gonna say it's 78%.
10:23 - Jesus, you are good at these little guesses.
10:24 It's 77%.
10:26 (laughing)
10:27 You know?
10:28 - I, let it go.
10:29 - Yeah, yeah.
10:30 So 77%.
10:32 And what's, here's the thing that's,
10:34 two things emerged for me.
10:35 Number one, what's different this year
10:38 is like when you make a mistake,
10:41 there's not this like impending doom of panic that sets in.
10:45 You know?
10:45 I think Ruhle has changed the mindset here.
10:49 Ruhle even said in the post game that he would,
10:52 you know, this is a game he probably would've lost
10:54 earlier in the year.
10:55 Yet, but he's got the guys in a good headspace now
10:59 and the defense was frickin' impressive,
11:02 holding them again to like 81 yards,
11:04 rushing their fourth ranked in the country
11:08 against the rush 20th overall.
11:10 And the defense just stepped up big time.
11:16 - Well, Vince Ferragamo said it in our first episode
11:19 with him is that they can cover.
11:22 And when you can cover, you can get a lot of coverage sacks.
11:25 And they did, I thought, a remarkable job defensively.
11:30 - Yeah, yeah.
11:31 But it was funny, I didn't watch the game live yesterday
11:33 'cause I was tied up during the actual game.
11:37 So I watched it this morning
11:38 after flying in all night from Las Vegas.
11:41 - Right.
11:42 - And I'm watching the game, I see that first pick
11:44 and I'm like, oh boy.
11:45 And then I see the second pick, I'm like, this is Simsian.
11:49 And then he drops one on the snap.
11:54 And it's like, this is just a coach
11:57 who doesn't necessarily know what his strengths are.
12:00 And I get the fact that you wanna throw the ball.
12:02 But my biggest thought was,
12:06 what was the collective panic like inside the stadium?
12:09 Because it must have been,
12:10 and it was 33 after the first quarter,
12:11 it must have been enormous.
12:12 - Right, the way the defense was performing,
12:15 no one was in a panic mode.
12:16 And then we'll talk about that.
12:17 No one was like freaked out and panicked at all.
12:20 - Oh, I don't mean the players, I mean the fans.
12:23 - Yeah, no, no, no.
12:24 But even what I'm reporting to you is that
12:27 even with as good as the defense was playing,
12:30 there was less of an, oh my God, this is over,
12:33 kind of thing, we're gonna lose this game.
12:35 It was 'cause the defense was playing so good.
12:37 You hit on a key stat,
12:38 and I just pulled up the Husker Max stats here.
12:40 Eight sacks for 51 yards, eight.
12:44 - The polar bear is great.
12:45 He's probably, and Luke Reimer came back
12:48 and a lot of good things happened.
12:50 But Tony's defense, he was great at Syracuse last year.
12:55 And so it's a great and confusing defense
12:58 for teams that have trouble struggling
13:01 with an offensive identity.
13:03 Michigan didn't have so much of a problem with it,
13:05 probably because they knew their signs, but.
13:08 - Yeah, yeah.
13:09 Another factor, well, let's back to defense for seconds.
13:12 Ruel talked about this in the post-game too,
13:15 that they came up with some very unique schemes
13:18 for these guys.
13:19 They put some five down packages,
13:20 five linemen, moved some people up,
13:23 put some pressure on the quarterback,
13:25 which led to the eight sacks.
13:27 Another thing we did really well in terms of penalties,
13:31 we only had three penalties for 30 yards
13:34 versus eight for 75, so our penalties were improved.
13:38 - Quarterback for Northwestern reminded me
13:41 a little bit of Fred Flintstone.
13:43 'Cause you understand when he starts his car,
13:46 his little feet move like this,
13:47 and then it takes a little while,
13:48 and then the car takes off.
13:49 It's kinda like that when he was running.
13:50 It's like-- - Yeah.
13:51 - Running is, he's running and going nowhere.
13:54 It was a great defensive.
13:57 - I saw some social media, and it was a split screen
14:00 between what Tony White was saying to the team
14:03 and what Marcus Satterfield was saying to the team.
14:06 And Tony White was talking about being
14:09 at maximum impact when you make the hit.
14:12 Like, it was like some really precise language.
14:16 And when you juxtapose that and contrasted that
14:20 with what Satterfield was saying to the team,
14:22 it was just not as precise and as relevant, I thought.
14:27 And so I'm trying to figure out,
14:28 how can one guy with the same talent,
14:32 offense and defense, how can one side of the ball
14:35 be playing so well and the other side of the ball
14:37 not be playing so well?
14:38 Now, it obviously comes down to quarterback at some level.
14:41 I do think there's an emerging big difference
14:45 between the offensive coordinator
14:46 and the defensive coordinator, and that kinda stood out.
14:49 - I think it's maybe like the football equivalent
14:52 of a corn fungus.
14:53 Like, all the states that grow a lot of corn
14:56 have the same offensive fungus.
14:58 Like, Iowa's got a terrible offense,
15:00 Indiana's got a terrible offense,
15:02 Nebraska's got a terrible offense.
15:04 Who are the other states?
15:06 Minnesota's got a terrible offense.
15:09 So it's a fungus that's going around the Big Ten West.
15:12 And maybe if you put a little Neats oil on it
15:14 or something, we can get rid of it, I don't know.
15:17 - What a great year to have a great defense, though, right?
15:19 - Yeah, what a great year for your offense
15:22 not to matter that much.
15:23 So it's, listen, I don't know what goes on in these rooms.
15:28 You can only guess, and people who try to pretend
15:32 that like, "This is really, really good,"
15:34 I say, "Shut up."
15:35 It's like, listen, the offense is not as good
15:38 as the defense.
15:39 And there were years in the last couple of years
15:42 where the defense was not as good as the offense,
15:45 and it just happens, it just happens.
15:47 - So where we have to go next is we gotta talk
15:49 about Malachi Coleman.
15:50 So they got the ball, they got the win back
15:53 in the fourth quarter, and that was another thing
15:54 about being there, you could, the win was a factor, right?
15:57 - Yeah.
15:58 - And it was their fault.
15:59 - That's why it shocked me that they threw
16:01 on the first play.
16:02 It's like, "They're going into the win, what are you doing?"
16:04 - Right.
16:05 - And it's like, all right.
16:06 And it's funny, Tom, Dr. Osborne, coach,
16:10 told us in our last podcast, "Well, when you're
16:13 "in Nebraska, you're gonna have to deal
16:14 "with that wind a little bit."
16:16 It's like.
16:18 - So they got the win in the fourth quarter,
16:20 and they ran a play called the belly option.
16:23 And as they came up to the line, I said to George,
16:27 "I bet they're gonna air it out here."
16:29 Because they were in an I formation, they had the win,
16:32 they were at midfield, and--
16:35 - And they had just gotten the ball up, too.
16:37 - And Malachi Coleman, that kid can run 10-3, right?
16:41 The guy was four or five yards away from him.
16:44 And you gotta give Heinrich credit,
16:46 that ball was on the money.
16:47 - It was right on it, yep.
16:48 - It was just such a great call.
16:51 - My favorite thing about that catch is that he caught it
16:54 with his hands.
16:55 So caught it out here, rather than, you know,
16:59 it comes into your body, can bounce off your pads.
17:01 And I was super pumped for him and for the team to score.
17:06 He's huge, he's 6'4" and he's that fast.
17:10 It's like, good golly, that's an asset that--
17:13 - This guy has NFL written all over him.
17:15 I just hope we can keep him there, get his degree,
17:18 and keep him playing and dump a bunch of NIL money on him
17:21 and keep going, 'cause that was impressive.
17:24 Now let's talk about Michigan for a second.
17:25 So have you read the stories?
17:28 So apparently Harbaugh has this guy who's a former Marine
17:32 that he sent around the league to try to--
17:35 - Military. - Observe practice.
17:38 I try to observe practice. - Military.
17:41 - Yeah. (laughs)
17:42 So what are you making of it?
17:44 Is this a real story or is this--
17:46 - Oh, of course it's a real story.
17:47 It's like, people try to steal signs all the time.
17:50 It's as old as the game.
17:52 And the NCAA passed a rule that said
17:55 you can't do it in person.
17:57 And Michigan decided to ignore that rule.
17:59 And usually when you willfully ignore NCAA rules,
18:04 there comes a cost.
18:05 And the cost will be that, I think within a year,
18:08 if not more, if not less, Harbaugh's back in the NFL.
18:12 - Wow.
18:14 You think it's that serious?
18:15 This is gonna be a penalty kind of situation?
18:17 - I don't think it's a big thing,
18:19 but given the other stuff that's happened in Michigan
18:22 and their sort of, what do they call it,
18:25 lack of institutional control?
18:27 And again, I don't know.
18:28 I just know what I read.
18:29 I don't know.
18:30 - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - It just seems like
18:31 there's a lot of little events
18:33 that maybe add up to something big.
18:35 And the NCAA frowns on that.
18:38 And so if I'm Harbaugh,
18:41 especially if they win the Natty this year,
18:44 then go back to the pros and make more money.
18:47 So, and not have to deal with all this nonsense.
18:51 - So my observation coming out of there,
18:52 I think we're witnessing a transition here.
18:56 I think that game would have been lost,
18:58 A, earlier in the year,
18:59 and B, certainly under Scott Frost.
19:01 And Matt is, you know, he's kind of focused on
19:04 let's go 1-0 this week.
19:05 Let's get 1% better every day.
19:07 And he's got him not worrying about the next play
19:09 or the scoreboard or anything.
19:11 Let's just go out and win the down, you know?
19:14 - I have a theory about that.
19:16 The games are so freaking long
19:19 because of all the TV,
19:20 because of genuflecting at the altar of television money.
19:25 - Yeah. - That defenses don't get tired
19:27 the way they used to.
19:28 It's like, all right,
19:29 here's a break for two and a half minutes,
19:30 you know, get your energy back.
19:32 - The one thing I hate the most about being there in person
19:35 is that there's so much standing around and waiting.
19:38 - Awful.
19:39 They are ruining the product.
19:40 And listen, I love college football,
19:43 but what it's becoming is the seed of its own destruction.
19:47 And I don't want to sound like a nattering nabob
19:51 of negativity, but I'm really shocked that these guys,
19:56 I mean, I guess you want to chase as much money,
19:58 universities are in the business of making money
20:01 and they use education as a tool for making money.
20:03 We can learn a lot from what baseball did this year,
20:06 Major League Baseball, speed up the game.
20:09 - The only way to speed up the game, Jay,
20:13 is to eliminate the commercials.
20:14 Every time there's a break, it's two and a half minutes.
20:16 - I don't think you have to eliminate them,
20:17 but make them shorter breaks, you know?
20:20 Just jack up the prices and make them for 30 seconds,
20:23 you know?
20:24 - But these networks have paid a lot of money
20:26 for this product and they need to make their money.
20:30 Listen, whenever somebody buys you,
20:33 there's a price to pay.
20:34 - Yeah, yeah.
20:35 - And you know, college football's been bought
20:37 and there's a price to pay.
20:38 And the price is a game that used to take three hours,
20:41 now it takes four.
20:42 - Although I do have to agree with Colin Coward
20:46 on conference realignment and nil are going to do two.
20:50 I mean, look, people are going to stay around longer.
20:52 Caleb Williams has thought about staying around
20:54 because he can make more as a college senior
20:56 than he can as a pro with nil.
20:58 And it allows people like Deion Sanders
21:00 to come in and turn around programs faster
21:02 and ratings are at an all time high.
21:04 So it's not that college sports are dead,
21:09 it's just that we got to be really clear and honest
21:12 about who the man is.
21:14 And the man is the television contracts, you know?
21:17 And, or the woman, you know, the man or the woman.
21:19 But the point is that--
21:21 - It's not dead.
21:22 But it has swallowed a poison that could kill it
21:26 if they don't take steps to remediate that poison.
21:31 - And the poison is the excessive length.
21:33 I mean, I think it changed seasons during the game
21:35 there in Nebraska.
21:36 I watched it, it was like beautiful and sunny
21:39 and I see that at the end is dark.
21:40 I think there was, you know, I don't know what happened,
21:43 but it was like, you went from a nice fall to winter
21:48 in the space of a game.
21:50 So it's way too long.
21:52 It makes it a miserable viewing experience live.
21:55 At home, who cares?
21:56 You're in your rocker, you know, you're doing whatever.
21:59 But, and I just did say rocker because every y'all.
22:02 - Let's move off football and just congratulate
22:04 Matt Ruhle and the team.
22:05 They're four and three now.
22:07 They've got Purdue at home and then Michigan State.
22:10 Within two weeks, we could literally be bowl eligible.
22:13 - Did, did, did, did, did.
22:16 Why don't we get a time?
22:17 Why don't we get a time?
22:19 Matt Ruhle would probably tell you to wash your mouth out
22:22 with soap for thinking so far ahead.
22:25 But listen, every game on the rest of their calendar
22:28 is winnable.
22:29 Every game is losable, but every game is possible.
22:32 So, and I do think that we will at some point
22:35 see a return of Jeff Sims
22:36 because he can throw the ball a little bit more
22:40 and it won't come, it'll come if they lose another game,
22:43 then we'll see Sims or if a Heinrich gets injured.
22:47 In my opinion, I don't know,
22:49 because he's got a better arm and.
22:51 - Yeah, well, he also, he also turns the ball over
22:54 more than Heinrich does, so.
22:55 - Two turnovers to Naples and almost turnovers.
22:57 So it was.
22:58 - Yeah, but the second, the second one was on Jonathan
23:02 or Fedoni.
23:02 - Oh, you know what?
23:04 Yeah, that was, that ball was not on point.
23:08 Yeah, it could, would have been a good catch, sure.
23:11 Should he have caught it?
23:12 Probably, but was it a good throw?
23:14 - He does, he does tend to throw short passes
23:17 a little hard without touch.
23:19 - He also brings his arm down.
23:21 - Yeah.
23:22 - And kind of slings it like a baseball player
23:23 and it's like.
23:24 - Yeah.
23:25 - Ah, anyway, he says, listen, they won.
23:27 I'm happy, I was happy.
23:28 Even though I lost, even though I lost my bet, I was happy.
23:33 - Let's shift to something a little more beautiful
23:35 and innocent, and that's volleyball.
23:38 Then, then the, then the, you know,
23:39 paid out college football.
23:41 Volleyball was incredibly impressive.
23:45 We looked at tickets, as we said up front,
23:46 they were super expensive.
23:47 So we just staked out a restaurant,
23:49 went there, watched the game.
23:50 - It's a good thing UB wasn't in town
23:52 because George and I would be on the floor
23:53 and you'd be out having dinner somewhere.
23:55 (laughing)
23:58 - I'll tell you what, the restaurant,
24:02 the entire restaurant was hanging out in every shot.
24:04 - Oh yeah.
24:05 - And there was probably 300 people in there
24:08 and a place called Napoli on Q Street.
24:10 And we had secured sort of bar seats.
24:12 There was two big TVs right up there.
24:14 So it was a great place to watch the game,
24:15 talking to people, it was really fun.
24:18 And the athletic demonstration by these women
24:22 that, I mean, as high as they're jumping
24:25 and they're just pounding the balls like straight down,
24:29 the six foot eight woman from Wisconsin, six foot eight.
24:33 - I was thinking about that a little bit yesterday, Jay.
24:36 You know, if you're a guy and you're six eight,
24:38 there's a lot of other guys who are six eight.
24:39 Like if you're a six two or higher,
24:42 you are taller than 94% of the population.
24:46 And if you're six eight or higher,
24:48 you're taller than like 95 and a half percent.
24:51 But there's still a good chunk.
24:52 But if you're a woman and you're six eight, gosh,
24:55 there aren't a lot of people around who are your height.
24:58 - But she was athletic in fact too.
25:00 She could move really well.
25:01 She could jump.
25:03 - Regardless of athleticism, just sort of pure height.
25:07 There just aren't a lot of people.
25:08 And I wonder how, like I'm a big reader of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
25:13 He talks about how he was so out of place physically
25:18 because he was so much taller than other people.
25:20 And I just wonder, you know,
25:22 absent the sort of the thrill of the volleyball,
25:26 how do you deal with that?
25:27 That's like, that's gonna be challenging.
25:30 But it was a great match.
25:32 And of course, good won over evil.
25:36 So, you know.
25:37 - So we watched the first two games at the restaurant
25:39 and we transitioned back to the hotel,
25:40 which is just a couple blocks away.
25:42 George and I, we basically ran back over there
25:46 and so that we wouldn't miss anything.
25:47 Got in the room and watched.
25:49 And we were just jumping with joy at the end.
25:52 It was really cool.
25:53 So it was like 10 hours of Husker stuff.
25:57 - Husker mania.
25:58 - Yeah.
25:59 - Was there like a Husker E-gaming convention
26:02 or something after that you watched at midnight?
26:04 Or you all maxed out on your Huskers after football?
26:08 - No, we were pretty tired at the end
26:10 by the time the game was over.
26:11 So we slept probably eight or nine hours.
26:13 And then we got up this morning
26:14 and we went out and had breakfast with Aunt Jane
26:16 and Julie, Bernie, my first cousin.
26:19 - Nice.
26:19 - And Ross' kids.
26:21 Ross had recently had a surgery, so he was not there.
26:24 So, but that was a really nice visit as well.
26:27 And then we--
26:28 - I also have to give you a congratulations.
26:31 - Yeah, for what?
26:32 - Because you have finally attended a game
26:34 where Nebraska actually won.
26:35 - I know.
26:36 We were talking about--
26:37 - You were on the Schneid for a long time.
26:39 I think the last one that we went to,
26:41 I know the last one we went to together
26:43 was the Holiday Bowl when they beat Arizona.
26:46 - Yeah.
26:47 - And we almost got kicked out
26:48 because of your Bover Starling chance,
26:50 which was pretty--
26:51 - As you know, we went to Europe last year
26:53 to watch them in the Dublin Bowl
26:57 with against the very same team, Northwestern.
26:59 And that was a very disappointing game
27:01 where, again, we were up by 11 in the third quarter
27:03 and Mr. Frost goes for a onside kick
27:06 and just completely changes the complexion of the game.
27:09 - I love the fact that this is a better fourth quarter team
27:11 with the notable exception of the Minnesota game.
27:14 The fourth quarter of Minnesota was a mess
27:16 for a whole bunch of other reasons,
27:17 none of which had to do with football
27:19 and more about the Minnesota crowd.
27:20 So let's not talk about them.
27:22 - Yeah, I'm seeing definite,
27:23 like this team has character.
27:26 Did you see the feeds on TikTok and Reels
27:29 about Ruel doing the body surfing in the locker room?
27:32 - I did, yeah.
27:33 - Just go to those and go see it.
27:35 - I don't have the tickety rock.
27:37 I don't do that thing.
27:38 It's like, tickety-tock, what's the clock?
27:40 I don't know.
27:42 - Short form video, Bob, we do short form video
27:44 as a podcast. - You do it
27:46 and my face is on there, but I don't,
27:48 if you asked me to sign into TikTok, I'd be like,
27:51 am I going to a watch shop or what's going on?
27:54 So I think that we say congratulations to Nebraska,
27:58 congratulations to the fans.
28:00 It was a very tense victory.
28:02 This was not a laugher.
28:05 There was no easy breathing in this thing
28:07 for the entire game until there were about 30 seconds left.
28:11 And I felt the tension through the television screen.
28:15 And despite all the tomfoolery in the first quarter,
28:20 the team rallied well and performed and got the win.
28:23 - And by the way, I didn't know this,
28:25 but Matt Ruel said that he and John Cook
28:28 are getting very close as coaches.
28:31 And I think that's wonderful for Ruel
28:33 'cause John Cook is a phenomenal coach.
28:36 - 24 years at Nebraska.
28:37 - Started in California, started in California.
28:40 - People who start in California
28:41 and then choose to become part of the Nebraska network
28:44 are some of the best people on the entire planet.
28:47 - Including none other than Bob Fraley.
28:51 - Just saying. - Bob Fraley,
28:52 Nebraska donor.
28:54 - Not just the most handsome man on this podcast, but.
28:57 - All right, let's wrap it up.
29:03 And we're going to have to make a visit to Hardington
29:06 to look at the two houses
29:07 that Don Milley Land Company wants to sell us.
29:09 - I'm going to buy the town of Hardington
29:11 for the price he wants to charge for those two houses.
29:13 Okay, we have to stop.
29:14 - Matt, listen, they've gone four and one
29:16 in their last five games,
29:17 all of which coincided with ending our podcast with.
29:22 - Go Big Red!
29:26 - Coming!