ITG 146 - Portal Pickups, CFP Update + New Unis?
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:05 In the gun episode 146, I'm Skylar Callahan, that is the signal color,
00:10 Jed Drenning.
00:11 And we've got a lot of stuff to talk about today,
00:14 not a whole lot going on at this portion of the offseason.
00:16 But we do have some topics that we wanna discuss, including uniforms,
00:20 a new college football format, and yeah, a couple of new guys in town or
00:25 new cats, if you will, a couple of transfers from Northwest.
00:28 We're gonna get to all that here in just a second.
00:30 But first, as always, this episode of ITG is brought to you by Bet Online,
00:34 your number one source for all your betting needs.
00:37 Bet Online, where the game starts, and also a shout out to our guys
00:41 at Toothman Ford.
00:42 We all know cars cost less in Grafton.
00:45 So Jed, let's start here with some designing, some fashion.
00:50 There's been some rumors out there that West Virginia could be getting
00:55 a set of black uniforms.
00:58 The rumor is that they will unleash these things for the home opener,
01:02 the season opener against Penn State.
01:05 Very non-traditional against a very traditional team.
01:07 What's your feelings on this?
01:10 Because I wanna see blue, blue, gold for that Penn State game.
01:15 But I don't mind the black uniforms,
01:17 I think it's just a matter of when you actually use them.
01:21 I'm not a fan for it in the Penn State game, but I don't know, we'll see.
01:25 What do you think?
01:27 I am for anything that benefits the program.
01:30 The benefits can come in multiple forms,
01:33 whether it's you sell additional jerseys to raise money,
01:35 whether it's more sizzle and appeal to recruits.
01:40 I quite frankly don't care.
01:41 We placed the poll on, let me pull that up,
01:45 we placed the poll on our Twitter account.
01:48 And the results on the Twitter account were overwhelmingly in favor
01:53 of black uniforms.
01:54 It was just divided among the answers.
01:56 We had four possible answers in the poll.
01:59 Yes, the kids love it.
02:01 That's 30%, so 30% agreed because the kids love it.
02:06 I had a no, get off my lawn answer.
02:08 >> [LAUGH] >> 10% went with that.
02:11 >> We know who you are.
02:12 >> Yes, yeah, and then I had a yes, but with gold and blue trim.
02:17 In other words, some people want the old gold and
02:19 blue to be present within the black uniform design.
02:23 And that actually won, that was 34% of the answers.
02:26 And then some people, 26% said no, just it's a bad look.
02:31 So what you're looking at is 64% said yes, we like it in some form.
02:36 36% went against it.
02:39 And then there was an answer in the comments, and I kind of agree with this.
02:44 Mickey Motown said, you forgot one,
02:48 I don't care what the uniforms are if we are winning.
02:50 And that's kind of where I come down with it.
02:52 I really don't care.
02:54 It's like a lot of people will say, well, it's not West Virginia football.
03:00 It's not the old gold and blue.
03:02 And people don't recognize us because our uniforms have changed too much.
03:06 When Don Nealon came to town, he wanted to make sure that we put a uniform design in
03:10 that when you watch this on TV, you'd know who we are.
03:13 Well, that's true.
03:14 But at the same time, Don Nealon came to town from Michigan.
03:17 And there's still times that I have kids even watching a Mountaineer game and
03:22 they told me they thought Michigan was playing.
03:23 It wasn't West Virginia because West Virginia looks so much like Michigan.
03:27 So I'm for anything that helps the program.
03:32 Now, I do if I had my druthers, yeah, I'd probably prefer the traditional old gold
03:36 and blue, but it's not a deal breaker for me.
03:39 It's really not.
03:40 I'm not a fan of some of the looks, but I don't care.
03:46 >> Right, and I mean,
03:47 the other thing is the way you help change that narrative is to win.
03:50 If you start winning enough games, people will look at you and think,
03:53 that's West Virginia playing.
03:55 Wait, no, that is actually Michigan.
03:57 But I mean, I'm there with you on the praise.
03:59 >> And the other part of it is, Skyler, people say, well,
04:02 Penn State doesn't do it, Texas doesn't do it.
04:05 Yeah, and if we had their pedigree, maybe we could get away with that too.
04:08 Notre Dame does it, Ohio State does it.
04:12 Come on, I mean, who do we think we are?
04:15 That again, I get it, in a perfect world, I'd rather see us in their traditional
04:19 blue helmet, blue jersey, gold pants.
04:22 But it's not a deal breaker to me.
04:25 I'm not that wrapped up in it.
04:27 If it helps the program on any level, if there's just enough sizzle to get another
04:31 recruiter to, or enough appeal, or curb appeal to help us there,
04:36 because the kids think it's cool.
04:37 If you sell an extra couple jerseys to put money in the coffers,
04:41 whatever helps the program, that's what I'm for.
04:44 I'm not tied up in what you come out wearing when you play Team X,
04:48 Team Y, or Team Z.
04:50 But that's kind of where I land on it, right?
04:53 >> Yeah, you look good in everything when you win, right?
04:55 So I don't care if it's blue, gold, white, black, gray.
05:00 I mean, now I will say, and I've said this before, I'm not a huge fan of the grays.
05:04 I think we all on this show have kind of felt that sort of way.
05:08 I would prefer the black over the gray.
05:11 >> I've said many times, I'm not a fan of the gray.
05:16 But here's one way you can make me a fan.
05:19 If you wanna have an all gray uniform at the home game scheduled closest
05:25 to September 11th, and make it a Chris Gray out, sign me up.
05:30 I am absolutely all for it.
05:32 Outside of that, not a fan of the gray look.
05:35 But yeah, I agree with you.
05:38 >> Well, speaking of those uniforms, it got me wondering because if you've been in
05:42 the news recently or watching the social media channels,
05:46 EA Sports is bringing back college football.
05:49 I'm for one gonna be thrilled for this, my wife not so much because she's not gonna
05:52 see me a whole lot in the summer, cuz I'm gonna be cooped up in my bed playing.
05:57 But anyways, the new college football game is coming out this summer.
06:02 They announced earlier this week that they're gonna have all 134 FBS schools
06:07 in the game.
06:08 However, those uniforms that we just talked about,
06:11 whether it's the black or potentially an all new set of West Virginia uniforms,
06:15 they may not be in the game because of the timing that they're gonna get released.
06:20 But it's pretty cool though that EA Sports is coming back.
06:24 We've got a game back for the first time in over a decade.
06:27 I've been waiting for this for so long.
06:30 I'm okay with Madden, it is what it is.
06:33 But I love to be able to use West Virginia, get them to the national
06:36 championship, become the next Bama, be unrealistic.
06:40 It's a lot of fun.
06:41 >> It is a lot of fun.
06:43 And we talked about the timing of the uniform release.
06:48 We don't know what will happen because these games are more nimble than they once
06:53 were, with the uploads that are available and things of that nature, who knows.
06:58 But yeah, we're all excited about it.
07:01 And I saw one Twitter account that has a pretty significant following post,
07:06 their top 25 players to play with on the new game.
07:10 And number four was Jaheim White.
07:13 So Jaheim White, the jitterbug,
07:15 I imagine Jaheim will be fun to play with on the new game.
07:17 Are you telling me Garrett Green won't be fun to play with on the new game?
07:20 >> Exactly.
07:21 >> And then the interesting part is I understand that they sent out
07:26 the solicitation for NIL offers, EA Sports did.
07:30 And unless I'm mistaken, they were offering, if you take part in this,
07:33 you get $600 cash and a free copy of the game.
07:38 And if you're not going to take part in it, you'll kind of just be a blank player,
07:43 whatever the case might be.
07:44 We've seen those types of things in these games in the past.
07:46 But by and large, you're probably gonna see actual names on the uniforms,
07:50 which makes it kind of cool as well.
07:52 So yeah, it's gonna be fun to play with Jaheim.
07:54 It's gonna be fun to play with Garrett Green.
07:57 Whatever you guys wanna do, and if you wanna jump into Dynasty mode,
08:01 that used to be my favorite back in the days when I was playing these games.
08:04 But cuz I wouldn't actually play the game, I would kind of just,
08:07 the geek in me would let the system play the game as I was building a team.
08:10 But they're talking about the dimension that name image likeness will play,
08:16 the dimension that the portal will play.
08:18 So there's gonna be different challenges.
08:20 They're gonna try and keep it as similar to the actual new version of college
08:25 football as you can.
08:26 But yeah, it's exciting times.
08:29 I mean, it's exciting news.
08:31 A lot of that was tabled back when you had the first round of lawsuits
08:36 that led to name image likeness before the Austin case, with the kid from UCLA.
08:43 But it's good to see it coming back around, and
08:45 it's good to see the kids will be benefiting from it.
08:48 But exciting times, it was a fan favorite, and I'm sure it will be again.
08:53 And who knows, maybe if some upload will be available to whenever
08:58 the West Virginia black uniforms, whatever they might look like, are announced.
09:03 Those will be made available in the game as well, who knows?
09:07 >> I mean, I've got all sorts of ideas of what EA should include.
09:10 I did an article last week about the five things that they should do WVU related.
09:15 My number one thing is they've got to get the first down chant in there.
09:18 I think that would be so cool to be able to hear that,
09:21 the first down WVU clap, move along.
09:24 And I think too, and it's a long stretch, there's no way in hell that they're gonna
09:28 ever be able to do this because of the licensing situation.
09:31 But man, how cool would it be to just sit there at the end of a game after you just
09:35 beat Pitt 214 to nothing on freshman mode to hear Country Roads playing?
09:40 I mean, that would be so freaking cool.
09:41 >> That would be perfect.
09:42 >> But I understand it's not gonna happen.
09:45 But anyways, we're gonna go and take a quick break.
09:48 When we come back on both side, we're gonna talk college football playoff format,
09:52 which has been expanded to 12 teams along with the two new guys that West Virginia
09:56 picked up in the transfer portal.
09:58 We'll get to that here in just a second.
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10:32 >> For more West Virginia Mountaineer football content,
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12:41 So Jed, we go from 4 to 12, that was announced earlier this week,
12:46 that the new format and how it's gonna work, we'll get into that.
12:49 But this is the new timeline, so this is how crazy this is gonna be.
12:54 When you had the 14 playoff, it already seemed so super crunch when you have
12:59 recruiting the high school kids, you've got the transfer portal,
13:02 you got signing day, all that stuff.
13:04 Now it's gonna be even more crazy, more hectic, because the quarterfinals
13:10 will now start on December 31st and January 1st, around New Year's.
13:15 Semi-finals, January 9th and 10th,
13:18 the national championship, Jed, is not even until January 20th.
13:22 So this thing is really gonna get pulled out, it's gonna be a long process.
13:27 I'm all here for it, because that means it shrinks the offseason, but
13:30 I'm not sure the coaches love the fact that they've got all that stuff going on,
13:34 in that short time frame.
13:35 Something's gotta change with the recruiting windows, but
13:37 I don't know how they go about that.
13:39 >> It's already, as you touched on, Skylar, very crazy, very hectic,
13:43 everything jammed into December the way that it is.
13:47 It used to be, at least you had a wider berth and some breathing room,
13:51 with National Signing Day being in early February.
13:54 But with that thing being pushed back into December for a number of reasons,
13:58 it's made it even crazier.
14:00 So I would imagine there's more change coming on the calendar front, but
14:05 we don't know what that's gonna look like.
14:07 There's no perfect way to lay all this out,
14:10 with all these different things that have to be done at various times.
14:15 You just touched on the portal, we talk about recruiting,
14:19 where's the best place to have your early enrollment period?
14:23 We haven't settled on anything yet that makes perfect sense.
14:26 But when you're looking at this, first of all, the four team playoff format,
14:32 I would argue it didn't work out the way they thought it might.
14:37 Because one of the notions behind it, at least in spirit,
14:42 was to allow more teams in or more teams to have access to provide for
14:47 more meaningful games being played in November.
14:51 >> That didn't happen.
14:52 >> And that's, I mean, what's happened instead is it's created a safety net for
14:57 the top six or seven teams, that's really what it's done.
15:01 >> Right.
15:02 >> So the margin for error for those top six or
15:05 seven blue bloods has increased.
15:08 And the haves have increased even more over the have-nots.
15:12 And it's, outside of a couple of exceptions, hurt access.
15:17 Because it's fostered for the first time in the history of the game,
15:22 super teams, where you had this situation, this is pre-Portal, pre-NIL.
15:28 You had this situation where, I mean,
15:30 you had four first round receivers on one roster at Alabama.
15:33 You had three first round quarterbacks on one roster at Alabama.
15:37 Well, that's what the 14 playoffs did.
15:41 For those teams, they gobbled up all the recruits.
15:43 They were the most coveted destination, because they had the access to the
15:47 playoffs and all these prize recruits wanna play on the biggest stage for
15:51 the biggest prizes.
15:52 Well, now NIL has changed that.
15:55 Now the Portal has changed that.
15:57 So you already see, we talked about how disrupted even Alabama was last year
16:02 by losing four coveted recruits in one Portal cycle,
16:06 which is why their offensive line struggled, and a lot of the most sacks in
16:09 the SEC, and they won despite of it, not because of it.
16:12 But even the Blue Bloods are being impacted by NIL and
16:17 by the Portal in different ways than the non-Blue Bloods.
16:21 But now here comes the expanded playoff to 12 teams.
16:24 So I would argue this is very good for the sport at large,
16:29 because now you're going to have, we've said often,
16:33 CJ Stroud, who was a standout at Ohio State, Bryce Young,
16:36 who was a standout at Alabama.
16:38 These are both California kids.
16:39 They traveled all the way across the country to play for those two brands,
16:42 because they thought that was the only chance they had to compete in a playoff
16:46 game. Well, now kids like that will stay closer to home from a regional standpoint.
16:51 So it's good for the game.
16:54 The talent will be spread a little bit more across the country, and
16:58 maybe you'll be a little bit more enticed to stay home regionally.
17:01 Now, that doesn't mean the Blue Bloods won't still be the Blue Bloods.
17:04 Of course, they will.
17:06 But it's going to change the dynamic at least a little bit by granting more access.
17:10 The best thing about it, it makes the regular season more meaningful than it's
17:15 ever been.
17:16 This argument against, well, the regular season,
17:18 none of your meaning anything anymore.
17:19 Are you kidding me?
17:21 We would play 60 games in late November, and three of them mattered.
17:24 And you're talking about the most meaningful regular season,
17:27 with 55 to 57 regular season games not mattering much on the national landscape.
17:33 Well, now teams are going to be jockeying for home field,
17:36 jockeying for a top four spot to get the buy.
17:39 So you're going to have meaningful football all the way down through November
17:43 with more teams playing more meaningful games than you've ever seen because of
17:47 this. When you're allowing 12 teams in, four automatic buys for
17:51 the highest ranked conference champions one through four, five automatic qualifiers
17:56 for the five highest ranked conference champs, and then seven at large.
18:00 They call it the five plus seven format for that reason.
18:03 Five AQs, automatic qualifiers as conference champs, and then seven at large.
18:08 There's going to be teams battling for those spots all the way through November.
18:13 So 12 spots could mean that 25 or
18:16 30 teams are still playing meaningful football the last couple weeks in November.
18:20 I think it's great for the regular season.
18:22 It's great for the sport.
18:24 And these teams, these fans that would sometimes argue, well,
18:27 now if you lose, it doesn't matter.
18:29 What you don't want, depending on what the logo on your helmet was,
18:32 there were times in the past if you lost, it didn't matter.
18:35 >> Yeah. >> I mean,
18:36 we saw teams lose their last game of the year and make the playoffs.
18:40 So at least now this is somewhat of an equalizer.
18:44 Because anything that moves away from the Olympic figure skating approach,
18:50 just by a bunch of judges in a committee room deciding, and
18:53 at least let you settle a little bit more of it on the football field.
18:57 Which no, it absolutely was not,
18:59 because you weren't treating these games on the field the same.
19:02 So stop saying you were.
19:04 So if you can put them in a tournament and let them settle it on the field, and
19:08 you know what, if there's blowouts in the first round, so be it.
19:11 That will work itself out over time as more access is granted to more programs,
19:16 and they use that to recruit with.
19:18 But not only Skyler, when these CFP leaders met in Dallas, of course,
19:22 that was representatives from the major conferences,
19:26 the group of five conferences and Notre Dame.
19:28 Not only did they talk about the dates that you just mentioned in the five plus
19:33 seven, 12 team format, which begins this year.
19:36 But they even tinkered with the possibility by as early as 2026,
19:40 adding two more teams to go to 14.
19:44 They threw around different possibilities of what that might look like.
19:50 There were multiple iterations discussed.
19:52 Ross Dellinger from Yahoo Sports, our buddy Ross Dellinger,
19:55 did a great job breaking this down.
19:57 There were varying numbers of auto bids within those 14 teams.
20:02 As many as 12 automatic qualifiers in some of the discussions.
20:07 Really what it would land if you had 14 teams,
20:11 what they discussed was a buy for teams one and two.
20:15 Now here's how this would work.
20:16 Let's jump back to the 12 team format, which we start with this year.
20:20 Here's how this is gonna work.
20:22 The 12 team format is a five plus seven.
20:26 So you have the top four teams getting a buy in the first round.
20:30 They are the top four, excuse me,
20:33 the highest four ranked conference champions.
20:36 They're all gonna get a buy.
20:37 But you're allowing in the five highest ranked conference champions.
20:41 Well, don't look now, but the PAC 12 has dissolved.
20:44 So it's no longer P5, it's P4.
20:47 So what that means, in effect and in reality,
20:50 the four P4 conference champs will get in.
20:55 Because they'll most likely be the four highest ranked conference champs.
20:58 That's not etched in stone, but most likely.
21:00 We've seen exceptions in the past.
21:02 Cincinnati when they made the playoffs being one of them, but
21:04 that means that the highest ranked group of five conference champ will get in as well.
21:09 Now let's walk through what that looks like.
21:12 That doesn't mean they'll be ranked number five in the 12 team playoff format.
21:15 What it means is, for instance, last year Tulane.
21:20 Tulane would have qualified and made the playoffs because they would have been
21:24 the fifth highest ranked conference champion.
21:27 But they were ranked, I think, in the last ranking by the committee going
21:32 into the playoffs, 17 or 18.
21:35 So what this would mean is Tulane would have catapulted up to number 12,
21:40 the number 12 spot in the playoffs.
21:42 Yes, they get in as the fifth highest ranked conference champ, but
21:45 they would play that opening round game on the road.
21:48 Because remember the format, one through four get the buy,
21:52 five through 12 don't get the buy.
21:55 They play an opening round game on campus site.
21:57 So five through eight hosting nine through 12 tournament style.
22:02 So Tulane would have been on the road as the number 12 seed, but
22:07 they would have gotten in because they would have been the fifth highest ranked
22:11 conference champion.
22:12 So I appreciate the expansion.
22:15 I appreciate more access.
22:16 At least we get to stop pretending that the regular season matters.
22:22 >> Yeah. >> As much as people like to pretend,
22:24 and I can't use the word pretend enough, because it absolutely has not.
22:30 If you lost a game that mattered for some teams, but
22:32 it didn't matter for other teams.
22:34 So stop pretending like it mattered for all teams.
22:37 It didn't.
22:38 So yeah, I think it's gonna create some interesting matchups.
22:43 I'm all for seeing Southern teams go north in December for an on campus game.
22:49 I think that's terribly exciting.
22:51 That might be, I've said many times, my favorite part of this new format,
22:56 or these on campus games in the opening round.
22:59 I think that's gonna be awesome before you get into the bowl system starting in
23:02 round two and moving on with those dates you talked about.
23:06 But yeah, I like it.
23:08 I think it's good for the game.
23:09 And not only that, but the estimated value for
23:12 ESPN of a 12 team format, Skyler, $1.3 billion with a B, billion dollars.
23:19 So I think that's one of the reasons it's great, because it's a $700 million raise
23:25 for those involved, the schools, the teams, the conferences.
23:28 So we've said this in the past, the NFL, and I'll tell you who does a great job
23:34 of discussing this all the time is Rurik Neuheisel.
23:38 The NFL is sitting there with a market value,
23:41 they have about a $10 billion market with 32 teams.
23:45 And Roger Goodell, the commissioner, has said, look,
23:48 they wanna get to 25 billion by 2027.
23:50 No, I'm not betting against him.
23:52 So they're at $10 billion in the money they generate,
23:55 the revenue they generate with 32 teams.
23:57 College football sitting here with 130 plus FBS teams, 60 plus Power 4 teams.
24:04 College football generates, I use this term loosely, only $3.5 billion.
24:11 So I do see potential to close that gap.
24:14 You're never gonna catch the NFL, nor should that be what you aspire to do.
24:18 But I don't think you're maximizing the dollar and
24:21 making the most of the opportunity, unless you close that gap.
24:25 And we're already seeing, even with a 12 team format, that gap being closed.
24:29 Are you telling me you can't get to six or
24:31 seven billion instead of three and a half billion?
24:33 What that would mean to the schools, what that would mean to the players,
24:36 what that would mean across the board of the conferences?
24:39 I think you absolutely can.
24:41 And I think this 12 team format is a major step in that direction.
24:45 >> Yeah, I mean, and two, there's all these fans out here that say, well,
24:48 you're just diluting it.
24:50 It's not gonna, these teams in the back end of the playoff are never gonna make
24:53 any noise.
24:53 Well, let's see, right?
24:55 I mean, how many years have this in this college football playoff format where you
24:58 have the four teams, have there been blowouts?
25:01 Even going back to the BCS, where it was just the top two,
25:04 there have been some one-sided championship games where it was just the top two.
25:08 So no matter what, there's always that possibility.
25:10 But you're not just going to take that chance away from all these other kids,
25:15 just because you're afraid that something might happen.
25:17 Kind of like the situation with Florida State,
25:20 all they're worried about them getting waxed in the first round.
25:24 Who knows?
25:25 Let them go out there and play.
25:26 If that's what happens, it's what happens.
25:27 They deserve to be there.
25:28 They won with their freaking third string quarterback, for crying out loud.
25:32 Who's to say Tulane can't go in and pull a crazy upset?
25:36 Cincinnati or somebody in years past that was.
25:40 You never know.
25:40 I mean, look at college basketball.
25:42 It happens every single year.
25:43 We have a Cinderella that makes some sort of run.
25:46 And I'm never advocating for football to go to a deep playoff like that.
25:50 But I think the more teams you give the opportunity,
25:54 the more crazier things can happen.
25:56 And look how successful March Madness has been.
25:59 I mean, if you can kind of replicate that to a smaller degree,
26:03 I think it's only going to be good for the game.
26:04 And like you said, it gives more teams chances.
26:07 You don't feel like you have to go to those three or four or
26:09 five schools to get that opportunity.
26:11 You can do it.
26:13 If lightning strikes once in a year at West Virginia, it could happen.
26:17 So I love it.
26:18 I think it's great.
26:20 If you're a worthy champion,
26:22 this shouldn't prevent you from running the table and winning the championship.
26:25 >> Exactly, yes.
26:27 >> If you're a worthy champion, blow the teams out.
26:30 Fine, do it.
26:31 Let's see it.
26:32 Do it every year.
26:33 Do it consistently without exception.
26:35 If you're a worthy champion, allow that to happen.
26:38 And it's just, anything that gets you further away from less conversations and
26:43 more football, I'm all for.
26:45 You'll still have conversations.
26:48 You'll still have debates.
26:49 There'll be heated debates about who's 12 versus who's 13.
26:52 Good, I love that part of it.
26:55 But let's at least mitigate it and marginalize to some extent the power
27:00 that these committees have in turning this into figure skating.
27:03 The East German judge gives you a 9.2.
27:05 Play it on the field and know the regular season is not playing it on the field
27:10 because you don't treat the games the same.
27:13 >> Yeah. >> For instance,
27:14 here's one of many examples of people talking out of their mouths.
27:17 They're now upset that in a 12 team format, a 9 and
27:21 3 LSU team would get in as one of the lower seats.
27:24 Let's say last year, okay?
27:26 But these same people who are complaining that a 9 and
27:29 3 LSU team because they were 2 and 3 against ranked teams.
27:33 Well, the same people complaining about that are building Alabama's resume
27:38 in part because they beat that LSU team.
27:40 >> Yeah.
27:42 >> One of the reasons you're telling me Alabama was worthy of the playoffs, well,
27:45 look, they went through the SEC and had these wins, they beat LSU.
27:48 Well, no, wait a minute.
27:49 You were just telling me how LSU is not very good and shouldn't be in here.
27:52 So why are you using the win over LSU as a reason to put out, stop it.
27:56 Let's just determine these things.
27:57 You know what?
27:58 And Alabama did beat LSU.
28:01 And if Alabama is truly better than LSU, then I would like to think if it comes
28:05 down to it, LSU going into Tuscaloosa, Alabama,
28:08 as a worthy champion should be able to beat them again.
28:11 I have no problem with this, with rematches.
28:14 No problem with it.
28:16 It's fascinating.
28:17 It adds nuance.
28:19 It adds things to the game that we heretofore haven't seen.
28:22 I am all for it because at least we can pretend a little less that
28:27 the regular season is where you play it out on the field,
28:31 when the regular season games are not remotely treated as the same.
28:35 >> Yeah. >> Some teams are allowed to lose,
28:37 some teams are not.
28:38 This is a step in the right direction.
28:41 Now, you're never gonna have a full tournament style, let everybody in and
28:44 play it out on the field.
28:45 No, I agree, nor should you.
28:47 But you have to mitigate the power of the committee and
28:50 the Olympic figure skating model to some extent.
28:53 I'm happy with this as at least a middle of the road resolution.
28:57 >> Yeah, cuz I mean, if you're West Virginia, I mean, you lose that first game
29:01 and you're like, all right, well, if we wanna make a run,
29:04 we've pretty much gotta run the table now.
29:06 As soon as you lose that second game, you're screwed.
29:09 You're not getting in over a two loss SEC team, or maybe even a three loss.
29:14 >> You just hit on it, Skyler.
29:15 You just hit on it.
29:15 There are people out there listening to what you just said and say, good,
29:19 you should think like that.
29:20 Well, okay, my problem is you're not thinking like that if you're in the SEC,
29:24 only if you're in West Virginia.
29:25 >> Right.
29:27 >> Because you can go on the road and beat this LSU team that we're all here and
29:30 is not that good and shouldn't be in the playoffs and
29:32 get a bunch of credit for beating them.
29:33 >> But it's not the same somewhere else.
29:36 >> Yes, in other words, the people that are sitting there saying, good,
29:40 West Virginia should be thinking like that.
29:42 Yes, so should the rest of the country, but the rest of the country's not.
29:45 Because the rest of the country, depending on if you're in the Big Ten or
29:48 the SEC, recognizes that their margin for
29:50 error is much different than the other teams.
29:53 Sometimes that's because of a tougher schedule, sometimes it's not.
29:56 But the brand matters.
29:58 This helps resolve that.
30:00 >> Yeah, and two, the other part of this is, look,
30:04 we're shifting closer and closer to an NFL model with the NIL, all that stuff.
30:09 >> Yeah, constantly.
30:10 >> And if these kids want to play at the next level,
30:13 they're gonna have to play 17 games in just the regular season.
30:17 That's not counting the three preseason games, that's 20.
30:20 Not counting the playoffs, which might be 23 or 24.
30:24 So don't complain about, you're making them play more games.
30:29 If that's what they wanna do at the next level,
30:30 they're gonna have to play a lot more.
30:32 So get used to it.
30:33 And plus, they're getting paid now.
30:35 So I don't know, but let's- >> It's one of the only levels that
30:39 doesn't do that.
30:40 I mean, Mike Leach talked about that for years, the late Mike Leach.
30:43 >> Yeah.
30:44 >> This is the only level that we don't do that.
30:46 >> Half of the NFL gets into the playoffs.
30:48 Half of the NBA gets into the playoffs.
30:50 I'm not saying that we should get half of the college football into the playoffs,
30:53 but come on, more than four.
30:55 >> Yeah, I would say the NHL,
30:57 you don't wanna reach a point where the NHL and NBA have reached.
31:00 Where you play the regular season not to determine who goes to the playoffs,
31:06 but to determine who doesn't.
31:08 >> Yeah, exactly.
31:09 >> You don't wanna reach that point, and we're far from that.
31:12 But there's 130 some odd teams.
31:14 The fact that you're letting 12 in now, the conversation about 14,
31:18 much different animal.
31:19 You still have, without question, the most valuable and coveted regular season.
31:25 This will create a much longer list of games that matter in November.
31:31 And I think that's exciting.
31:33 >> Absolutely, absolutely.
31:34 You hit the nail right on the head there.
31:37 And let's go ahead and transfer into our last segment here.
31:42 And that is the transfer pickups, Jaheim Joseph and
31:47 Garnett Hollis Jr., lost the name for a minute.
31:51 These two kids from Northwestern, I think are very underrated, very overlooked.
31:57 A lot of really good potential from both of them.
32:00 Joseph kind of, there's a little bit of a late bloomer there at Northwestern.
32:04 But man, he's one of the top rated safeties according to Pro Football Focus.
32:09 And Hollis, I mean, this kid, I'm excited about.
32:12 He's got a lot of length, 6'2", 200 plus pounds.
32:17 I think he could be one of the biggest impact transfers in this class.
32:20 >> He could be, I like the combination.
32:26 Yeah, Jaheim Joseph brings a lot of value.
32:28 He's gonna be a back end player.
32:30 He can play either free safety or cat safety.
32:34 He's been productive.
32:35 He's played a lot of football at Northwestern,
32:37 missed a significant portion of one of his four seasons with injury.
32:41 But this is a kid that's gonna bring immediate value.
32:44 He's gonna battle to play.
32:45 He's gonna battle to start.
32:46 He's gonna push the others on that back end and that safety group.
32:50 So Jaheim Joseph, yes, when he was on the field at Northwestern,
32:55 he was productive.
32:56 And Pro Football Focus, I think, had him as the fourth highest ranked safety
33:00 out of all the safety transfers.
33:02 And there's a ton of safety transfers.
33:04 So you're in high cotton right there.
33:07 And Garnett Hollis, that's the key.
33:09 This kid is productive.
33:11 He has ball skills.
33:13 You talked about the length.
33:15 He's coming in at 6'2".
33:17 Scholar, it's been a long time now that since we've had that kind of length,
33:22 the corner, you almost have to go back.
33:24 I think of Russell.
33:25 >> Yep.
33:26 >> Russell Douglas had that kind of length.
33:29 And he was a ball hawk.
33:30 He had a nose for things.
33:32 I'm not making a comp here.
33:34 I'm just saying that kind of length matters.
33:36 6'2", 200 plus pounds.
33:39 He has the build, the skill sets there, the traits are there.
33:42 He's gonna push to start.
33:44 He's gonna push to play at the next level.
33:46 Potentially, if things break for both these kids,
33:48 they both could push to play at the next level.
33:50 Joseph has two years left.
33:53 Hollis, a one year player.
33:54 So yeah, I'm terribly excited.
33:57 Are we gonna see a situation?
33:58 Maybe.
33:59 This is even pre-Portal.
34:01 It's back when it wasn't really as in vogue to see transfers in the early days
34:05 of grad transfers first starting to make a splash or an impact.
34:09 Remember what Ryan Mundy did when Rich was here, when he transferred in from
34:13 Michigan as a grad transfer for that one year?
34:16 I mean, you could maybe see Hollis have that kind of impact, but
34:21 at corner instead of safety.
34:23 And think about it.
34:24 We're now building a room, fostering competition at that corner spot.
34:29 And in the back end in general with those safeties,
34:33 where you have TJ Crandall who was already in addition from Colorado State.
34:38 He's a physical kid who's somewhat long as well.
34:41 He's a 6'1" kid.
34:43 So when you're looking at what you return in these spots,
34:47 you brought in more length than what you had.
34:49 So I think it says a lot for the potential of what we could have.
34:53 Both kids are gonna push the start.
34:55 And guess what?
34:57 These kids that we're bringing in will all push the start.
35:00 And if they don't start, they're gonna be quality depth,
35:03 which is something we've lacked in recent history.
35:06 So if you can build a defense that has true depth,
35:10 which is what we're working towards, I think you're onto something.
35:14 And I think that both these kids can contribute right away,
35:20 potentially even start right away, depending on how things break.
35:23 But you know what?
35:24 In the ever evolving landscape of this new age of the portal,
35:28 the next window opens April 15th.
35:31 >> And ain't over yet.
35:32 >> America's gonna continue to make moves.
35:33 Yeah, every team in America is gonna continue to make moves.
35:36 So the pieces are falling into place.
35:40 And these two kids are the types of players that they can help a lot
35:44 of teams defensively.
35:47 So you gotta think maybe what's gaining purchase now with some of these kids is
35:52 we had on a couple weeks ago, Drew Favianich is the first GM in the history
35:57 of West Virginia football.
35:58 What Drew offers is from a developmental standpoint, a guy with the eye to tell
36:04 you the areas that you need to enhance if you wanna play at the next level.
36:08 I mean, he has this long history in the NFL as a scout.
36:11 And he's able to tell the kids as he brings them in, look,
36:15 I wanna help develop you to prepare you to play at the next level.
36:19 If that's truly the brass ring you seek to capture,
36:22 your best opportunity might be here with me.
36:24 First, you're putting a lot of stuff on tape.
36:27 Second, I have an eye to tell you what you need to work on,
36:30 what you need to enhance.
36:32 So you're satisfying a lot of things and
36:34 check a lot of boxes if you end up playing for West Virginia.
36:38 And I can't help but think that maybe that's part of the conversation with some
36:41 of these kids as well.
36:42 So, and you gotta like the fact that we haven't mentioned this.
36:47 When you think Northwestern, look,
36:49 these aren't a bunch of dumb-dumbs coming in here, right?
36:52 So, you know they're gonna be functionally intelligent kids, that matters too.
36:57 It especially matters if you wanna learn a playbook in one short off season and
37:01 try and impact things right away on the fly.
37:04 So they're gonna be two smart kids, two high IQ kids.
37:08 So I think that they're great additions to the team, great additions to the defense,
37:11 and great additions to the locker room.
37:13 >> Yeah, and really too, I think what a lot of people are forgetting here,
37:17 we're getting also in depth with all these newcomers.
37:20 And this is a good thing, right?
37:22 We're not even talking about Jacoby Spells or some of these freshmen that are about
37:26 to come in, or if Montre Miller is able to get a waiver and
37:30 he's able to come back for one more year.
37:32 Like, there's actual depth there, and
37:34 that's something that has not existed there for the last few years.
37:37 When you have more tools in the toolbox.
37:40 Yeah, safety.
37:41 >> Marcus Floyd, Anthony Wilson, Aubrey Burks.
37:43 I mean, we got a lot of names that have played a lot of football.
37:45 You're right, Scott.
37:46 >> Yeah, so I mean, depth is a huge part of it.
37:48 When you get to November and December,
37:50 you wanna play that meaningful football that we just talked about.
37:52 You've gotta have guys two and three deep,
37:54 because at some point it's the inevitable.
37:57 You're gonna have injuries on your roster.
37:59 And last year when Aubrey Burks went down, it was noticeable.
38:02 Even when he came back, it took him a little while to get back to form.
38:06 So now that you have those pieces in place, it gives you a better chance to
38:10 kinda keep things afloat instead of sinking, as you will.
38:14 So- >> You wanna think depth doesn't matter?
38:17 Well, what was the single most damaging play last year?
38:23 >> Duh, yeah.
38:24 >> And who wasn't on the field for it?
38:28 No, no, no, Houston.
38:29 >> Yeah, yeah, yeah.
38:30 >> Hail Mary Houston.
38:32 Aubrey Burks not on the field.
38:34 >> Yeah. >> So we had guys rushing into duty.
38:37 So yeah, if you can fortify yourself, your roster with some quality depth,
38:41 it's gonna matter on both little things, big things.
38:46 Garnett Hollis, if you wanna see his ball skills,
38:49 I would encourage people to do this.
38:50 Track down that interception that he made in the red zone,
38:53 the end zone against Duke.
38:55 And you'll see what kind of ball skills he has.
38:57 >> Yeah, that was insane.
38:59 And two, Joseph, he ended his career at Northwestern with two picks in
39:04 the bowl game against Utah.
39:05 >> He had three picks in the last two games.
39:08 Yeah, so you're talking about finishing hot.
39:10 There you go. >> Exactly.
39:10 >> That's how you increase your transfer portal stock right there.
39:13 So- >> Absolutely.
39:14 >> So anyways, that'll do it for us here today on IndyGun.
39:17 Make sure you hit that subscribe button on YouTube at IndyGunPodcast and
39:21 make sure you follow us at that same handle on X.
39:24 And we'll be back next week.
39:26 I believe we'll try to get Wes and Big O back.
39:28 I'll get back into my behind the camera duties as that's probably where I'm
39:32 better served.
39:32 So we'll get those guys back next week.
39:35 And as always, being here and
39:36 telling here about your favorite WV football podcast, you've been in the gun.
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