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00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid.
00:06I'm so excited that the college football season is coming up.
00:09Just about two weeks away, there are four games on August the 24th, and it's always
00:14exciting to have Bill Bender of Sporting News coming up because his coverage of Sporting
00:17News is great.
00:18And by the way, Bill is like one of these guys, this rare day and age where we're talking
00:23sports that actually like goes to games and covers games.
00:27So this is why we love having Bill on the show, a traditional reporter who also has
00:31an opinion on games.
00:33Bill, you know, it's great to have you back here.
00:35I'm looking forward to reviewing actual games with you next week.
00:37I guess today we'll talk about some of the other stories in college football.
00:41Thanks again for coming on.
00:42Well, Craig, it's that time and, you know, every day we'll have something at Sporting
00:46News getting us ready for college football.
00:48When you said Florida State, Georgia Tech in a few weeks, my head starts spinning.
00:53I'm getting there.
00:54I'm ready to go.
00:55Yeah.
00:57By next week, Bill, we're going to need an opinion on that game.
00:59It's too soon.
01:00All right.
01:01So let's do some season win totals here, though, today, because I think that that's the hot
01:04topic.
01:05We'll start off with the conference that you have an eye on always.
01:08It's the Big Ten.
01:09A different look to the Big Tens, and it takes some getting used to, and, you know, scheduling
01:12is definitely a big part of this.
01:14But the latest in this news with the University of Michigan that Sharon Moore may allegedly
01:18have been involved in some of these allegations, you know, that happened in the offseason,
01:23of several staffers involved in some text messages, etc.
01:27And you know, certainly he just wants his opportunity to coach the team with Jim Harbaugh
01:30being gone.
01:31You know, I don't know.
01:32I felt like if something was going to happen already to this guy, it would have.
01:35But I'll ask you, their total is eight and a half wins, which is a heavy lean toward
01:40the over here, which would be nine wins for them.
01:42They walked through that number last season.
01:44The under is plus 132.
01:46So I think you and I are sort of in lockstep here, where I don't want to diminish the idea
01:52of what Michigan did last season, but why would Sharon Moore be paying for that this
01:57year?
01:58It doesn't add up to me.
01:59Tell me why.
02:00Well, I mean, we've got a long way to go in terms of the NCAA violations with Conor Stallions
02:05and what's going to come out.
02:07It's timing is everything, and all of this is starting to come out and trickle out before
02:12the Conor Stallions Netflix special, which I promise will be one-sided.
02:15I mean, he's not going to throw Michigan under the bus.
02:18As far as this win total, I like the over.
02:22Here's the thing with Michigan.
02:23What they've been able to do the last couple of years, right or wrong, is they don't lose
02:27games they're not supposed to lose.
02:29So okay, how many games could they actually lose this year?
02:33And you look at that and you say, Texas, USC, and Oregon, all three of those games at home,
02:38by the way, where Michigan hasn't lost a game in the last three years.
02:42And then they play Ohio State at the end of the road.
02:45Even if you think the Buckeyes and Oregon are going to beat them, I think they steal
02:48a couple in there, and they end up going 9-3 or 10-2, maybe even getting the college football
02:54playoff.
02:55And I don't think these reports are going to, unless those texts to Sharone Moore from
03:02Conor Stallions reveal something really incriminating, I don't know that any of this touches the
03:07football team this year.
03:08Yeah, I don't think so either.
03:10But the future, you never know, but I don't know how it just would affect him now.
03:14You're right.
03:15The timing of this is so odd with that special coming out.
03:17Michigan is not as talented going into the season as Ohio State.
03:20That I know.
03:21But the fascinating part of the Big Ten this year is not only that Oregon is in it, but
03:25they're also one of the favorites to win the conference.
03:28You know, Bill, they're supposed to be really good this year.
03:31I don't know.
03:32It's not that I question that, but I always wonder, like, with this massive change going
03:36on with the travel and everything else that's involved, can Oregon, in their first year,
03:41win the Big Ten?
03:42They're plus 250, second best odds to win this conference, followed by Penn State.
03:47For those wondering, Nittany Lions supposed to be very good this season, followed by Michigan
03:52and then USC.
03:54So I would ask you, Bill, is Oregon a tad overrated going into their first year in the
04:00Big Ten?
04:01I know they have a Heisman candidate as well.
04:02Hey, they caught my attention by being number three in the coaches' pool.
04:06I thought that might be a Texas or an Alabama or somebody else out of the SEC.
04:11So the faith is in there, and Dan Lanning, very aggressive, very, as he said at Big Ten
04:17Media Day, they're bringing something different to the conference, and that is swag and those
04:22uniforms and all those things, the buttoned-up Big Ten that people like me grew up with aren't
04:26used to.
04:27So I have October 12th circled.
04:30Ohio State goes out there.
04:32This Oregon team has both of their offensive tackles, has Dylan Gabriel, has played a ton
04:36of football, brought in Evan Stewart out of the transfer portal.
04:39They're going to be very exciting on the offensive side of the ball, and I want to
04:43see if they can handle this Ohio State machine at home.
04:47If they can't, you got to figure they might play in a rematch, they might play in the
04:51playoff.
04:52I still think Ohio State's the team to beat in the Big Ten, and I'm going to trust that.
04:56I want to see if Oregon can actually make this something other than Ohio State versus
05:01Michigan, which it's been the last three years.
05:03Yeah.
05:04And for anybody complaining about this conference realignment, Bill just gave you a small little
05:09nugget.
05:10Ohio State at Oregon on September the 12th, I mean, the season is going to be incredible
05:14coming up.
05:15I mean, and that's one of like a million insane matchups.
05:18Kalen DeBoer takes over at Alabama, Nick Saban likable all of a sudden, doing broadcast,
05:22doing hard knocks, doing everything else.
05:24Their twin total is nine and a half.
05:26Some people feel like there's a step back coming for the Crimson Tide this season.
05:29I know you've talked about this quite a bit, Bill.
05:32Do you think that is the case?
05:33I'm coming around the other way.
05:35I still think they could be a playoff caliber team.
05:37I remind people that Kalen DeBoer took Washington to a national championship game in two years
05:42and had a first round quarterback in an All-NFL receiving corps while he was there.
05:47You know, they played Georgia and Wisconsin in September.
05:49Those are going to be tough games.
05:50I'm more interested to see how he handles the road games at Tennessee at LSU.
05:56By the way, in the college football playoff era last 10 years, Alabama was 17 and three
06:01against LSU in Tennessee.
06:02Saban took care of business in those games.
06:04The three loss was by a combined total of nine points.
06:07And then they have a road trip to Oklahoma.
06:09So those road games are going to determine where this goes with Kalen DeBoer.
06:13I don't think he has to be Nick Saban.
06:15I don't think he can be Nick Saban.
06:17He just has to be himself in year one.
06:20Fan duels oddsmakers, Bill, are yelling at each other all day long because they have
06:24no idea who to make the favorite for the Heisman Trophy award.
06:27We have no idea either.
06:28Look at these odds.
06:29No one is a favorite.
06:31Seven to one, all long shot odds for everybody to win the Heisman, which tells me maybe there's
06:36somebody not even on this board, Bill, that can win the Heisman Trophy award this season.
06:40You kidding me?
06:41Seven to one is the shortest odds going into a college football season?
06:44Yeah, it's tough.
06:46If it's not Dylan Gabriel or Carson Beck, my advice would be take a flyer on a big 12
06:51quarterback.
06:52The one you like.
06:53I like Jalen Daniels.
06:54If he stays healthy at Kansas, could be a long shot.
06:56If not him, Cam Rising, Noah Fafita, Avery Marshall, Kansas State quarterback, had a
07:01great bowl game.
07:02You know they're going to put up numbers in that conference, so maybe take a shot on one
07:05of those guys.
07:06Yeah, Daniels healthy is going to put up some of the biggest numbers in college football.
07:10Thanks again, Bill, for coming on the show.
07:12Appreciate it.
07:13Hey, thank you.