Ep 197: Gopher Football Preview

Carver and Jackson link up to discuss the prospects of Gopher sports and yap about the weather.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Between Lines podcast. I am one of your two hosts tonight, creator and founder of the King Report, Carver King. And joining me as always, or just tonight. My good friend Jackson. Jackson, how are you doing on a uh a very pleasant uh evening here in Bloomington, Minnesota? Doing well. Not to mean the docs.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

You're all good, man. Doing well. Happy to be back on the podcast. Um, I will say my address does also route through Minneapolis. Um fair. Even though it is technically in Bloomington, I I do uh I've had it auto-corrected to Minneapolis before when I punched it in. So I I guess if you want to call it Minneapolis and just kind of like a vague post about it, you can. Just kind of speak around it. But no, I'm doing well. The the temperatures here this week after a really hot summer have really kind of cooled off, gotten a little bit more mild, a lot more temperate. So it's kind of stuff I can deal with. I remember walking out of work today, I was like, damn, what a nice day. Just high 70s, like maybe low 80s. Yeah, I think the high was 81. Just a slight breeze, sun's out. Man, it was just gorgeous today. Kind of stuff that, like, I don't know. It's so annoying earlier on in the year when we had all those really hot days, and it's like we suffer through these Minnesota winters and this lack of daylight um for like these ex prolonged periods of time in in the winter months, just so that we can enjoy our summers. And the summer has been um a little tumultuous weather-wise, and so yeah, it's been a rough summer in my opinion. I feel like it we're kind of getting robbed of what um is supposed to be the best part of the year um for us uh northern or for us uh northern dwellers, I guess. I was gonna say northern Minnesota, but we're actually in southern Minnesota. But um no, it's uh beautiful today. Hopefully that hopefully it maintains.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Yeah, um, hopefully it maintains. Today was uh maybe with the sun kind of going down earlier as the sun is setting here uh around eight. Fall vibes are starting to creep up. I know some some people say don't fall my summer, and I get that uh is what I've seen. Um, you know, especially with August. It is a summer month, um, a full summer month. So I do give it the respect, but today kind of felt like a fall day. Not not not quite, but it's I can feel football coming closer. Even when I came over, I was talking about the gopher game that we're gonna go to. Yeah. I was just like thinking about it because I'm like, oh, it's it's coming up. Like we're we have the opportunity to go to football here soon.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

I mean, I've been in full football zone. I mean, I've just been pounding college football podcasts like left and right. Um, and I mean also some NFL content, but NFL content's kind of weird because I feel like you can do like a podcast or two and just be caught up. Yeah. The only like I guess you can try to find some camp buzz like here and there, but at the end of the end of the day, it's like a lot of the same cast and characters, and like even like if they're on different teams, like you can still kind of like you still know who they are. And I can transpire or I could transpose this forward, even if they're on like a different uh team or it's like a new coach somewhere else. It's like, well, I can kind of like understand or at least imagine what this is looking like and like what this is. But with college, there's like a it's a whole new cast to learn every single year with different team dynamics, and it's been really interesting because like the AP poll uh dropped this last week, and we're gonna have a fun kind of segment uh running season long uh game that we're gonna do with that. Not tonight, but I I'm looking forward to that because I have some really good picks for it, I think, um for this season. So uh excited for excited for football. Um it's really been a lot of college for me, but um still just super excited.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

I mean, I think with the college game, I mean what 136, I mean, to total, right? 136 teams and yeah, in the FPS.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Yeah, there's a lot to uh I think we I think we added more this year because we added uh NBSU is uh got the call-up, SAC State got the call-up. Yes. Sack State's a Mac team now.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

They are. Um it's kind of interesting. Obviously, SAC State's an interesting story because they got a bunch of money from boosters and donors contingent on them becoming a Pac-12 team.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Yeah, they are not a Pac-12 team.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Although they did revitalize the Pac-12 this year. That is also true. They the Pac-12 is back. I think I'm a San Diego State guy. Um I'm a Texas State guy. Actually, though, am I am I wrong in thinking No? Because the WAC is still not the WAC.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

No. I mean, the WAC isn't basketball.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

The Mountain West, I'm I apologize.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

The Mountain West conference is still a it's wild because the Mountain West still exists, but they poached uh Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State from the Mountain West.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Yeah, see, I'm a New Mexico guy though, so I like New Mexico State. So I'm not sure. But New Mexico State isn't in the conference. I know.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

That's why I'm staying loyal to the Mountain West. Oh, okay. See, my favorite Mountain West team was San Diego State. So that's why I feel a little pressure here. But my favorite Sunbelt team was Texas State.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Yeah. So I mean they're a Pac-12 team now.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

I I'm a little conflicted whether of whether it's San Diego State or Texas State for me, but um I it's Texas State.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

You gotta rob with Texas State.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Shout out San Marcos. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Right down 35, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Right down 35, yeah. Right down 35. I'm curious, I don't I haven't looked at their schedule yet. I don't know if they'll continue the I-35 rivalry with uh um what is it? Is it UT UTSA?

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Or no, yeah, UT UT San Antonio.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Yep. It's uh the the them and UTSA, I believe, have the um the the I-35 rivalry, which is pretty elite rivalry. Um I kind of wish we had one here, but but maybe the gophers can uh start playing St. Thomas and have the the 94 rivalry.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Um it's kind of funny you bring that up because and welcome to episode 190 what seven of the Between Lives Podcast. Be a little bit of a rip tonight, me and Jackson. But um it's funny you bring that up because I was reading an article on ESPN today. Uh I'm trying to find it, but essentially talking about how to maximize being a fan of college football, which I thought was kind of interesting because you know, there's a lot of levels to college football.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

I'd be interested to see what the tips are for college football maxing because I feel like I've been practicing that.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Um as I pull up the uh as I pull up the list or the article, I apologize, but one of them was liking a uh group of five or enjoying watching smart football. Like, yeah, obviously they talk about you know, obviously maxing is kind of the cream of the crop of mid-major football. But do you have a Mac team? Do I have a Mac team?

SPEAKER_00 6:42

It's interesting you say that too, because I don't think the Mac the Mac is not the cream of the crop of the of the it's actually called the Group of Six now. Yes, group of six. Um because the Pac-12 has joined it. Um but it it's it's called the Group of Six now. And the Mac is probably one of the weaker group of six conferences, if not the weakest, but it is they they have a claim to fame because they have Maction in October slash November, where they just play in the middle of the week and their games are crazy.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Well, I imagine the Mac has gotten worse too, because I mean they lost Northern Illinois, who has been good in that conference. Yep, not sure how they've been recently, but I know they added UMac or UMass who is like consistently, and I even saw a bottom 10 list. You know, you I talking about the layers of college football, I love a bottom 10 list. You know, seeing who the worst teams in college football are. A lot of people think UMass is going to be the worst team in college football again. So they added literally the worst, essentially three years or four years running the worst team in college football.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Yeah, and I mean there's always one other Mac team, like whether it's like Kent State or like Akron, to just come in and just bottoms out.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Because it that's the thing with the Mac, when you bottom out, you bottom the fuck out.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

No, like you are one of the worst FPS teams in the coach is probably getting fired.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Your your coach probably doesn't know shit. He was probably at some high school or like a coordinator at some other random Mac school. Yeah. And uh he's probably in over skis.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

It's tough. I I could not imagine the chaos of of uh a bottom tier Mac school.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

But yeah, so one of the one of the points was liking a small, you know, smaller team or a you know group of six team as you were talking about, or even going deeper, D3, D2, um, as the article mentions, which I do have a D3 team, obviously. Um but it's funny you bring that up because you're you so you like Texas State and the Pac-12. I I like I like New Mexico State. I'm declaring I was there last year, I visited.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Well the Pac-12 is new, but so like I have to declare a team now.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

I'm almost San Diego State.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Okay. I like Texas State, just in general. Um Texas State is a team that um in the group of six, like I have no there's no reason why they shouldn't be better. Um, I think they just haven't really hit on a coach recently, but um, hopefully soon. I mean that they they get decent talent there. I think the issue with the group of six now is that it's starting to get poached harder than it was originally during the transfer portal era. Like when the transfer portal first opened up, it was a lot of these, like a lot of the buzz was for these highly recruited or like high star guys from high school that like went to an SEC school, and it's like, oh, we got like an Auburn transfer, or we have a Georgia transfer, or like, oh, there's a Clemson transfer. And I think people have got because of like India Indiana's success, people have gotten more wary on some of those players that started to target some of these um these group of six standouts a little bit more. And I think that's I mean, I think one that was the right move because there's a lot of talent in the group of six, but now unfortunately it's got to leave in the group of six void of talent, which sucks. But um a team that'll be interesting to watch this year out of the group of six, um, with some uh interesting quarterback stuff going on is was it is it Fresno State, I think, with Dan Mullen.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Um then they have he's at UNLV, isn't he?

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Oh, UNLV, my bad, my bad. It's it's uh I knew it was a it was a Nevada school.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Um but they all are red and yeah, right. I guess.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

But no, they're they're uh they have a quarterback battle going on right now. Do you uh do you know who the quarterbacks are?

SPEAKER_01 9:58

Um I uh UNLV? Yep. Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Both uh both from premier programs.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

I do not know, but speaking of UNLV, not to get too off topic, I know AJ Store just committed to UNLV.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Oh good for him. His sixth school? Yes. Good for good for AJ Store uh no, it's Alec Orgy.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Oh, and Orgy Party.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Orgy in the end zone and Jackson Arnold.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Oh, Jackson Arnold, the uh yes. Oklahoma former five-star, Oklahoma to Auburn, benched at Auburn. And now as at UNLW with bench at OU. And is now with uh Dan Mullen.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

That's a good fit. I mean it's just funny because it's two quarterbacks that played at like, I would argue, like five-star like blue blood teams like with Oklahoma and Michigan, and somehow now find their way to UNLV to battle it out to see who's gonna, and apparently they don't have like the there's talks is gonna be a two-quarterback system there, and some would argue it might be a two-running back system.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

I was gonna say, this two that's I mean, Orgy might yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Um so But I'm keeping my eye on him, it could be fun.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

A few notes from this. I I got this article. It's it's titled Shout out Bill Connolly, friend of the show, uh, from ESPN. But it's how to uh get the most fun out of the season 2026 call show. Okay. So the first one is watch the big game. So kind of goes through and you know, goes through all the it's actually a useful guide, goes through all the weeks and highlights the big games. Uh week one climbs into LSU, week two, Ohio State, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan. I'm curious, etc.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

I'm curious for week three, like week three do they have I think week three is Old Miss LSU.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Uh yes, old miss at LSU. I've been. So LSU at Old Miss, I apologize. Uh, they also have Florida at Auburn, SMU at Louisville. But um it has like highlights, so right, it has Lane Kiffin versus Old Miss. Um, it's something to look for this season. Uh it highlights week 10. Week 10 is almost too much, and week four is pretty spectacular too. So, you know, people always make those jokes, right? The weddings, the the days to take the photos, the apple orchard days. Maybe you avoid week 10, maybe you wait avoid week four of the college football season. Um and then another one I thought was interesting, which I you know, college football is ever changing, which I didn't quite realize is and in the the headline for this is still in the weirdest of week zeros before they take it away from us. That week zero, as they've considered scheduling changes, is on the chopping block, which week zero gives us some good moments. Um and uh so yeah, I know week zero is what two weeks away, so three weeks away, so who knows? Maybe we were in the final years of watching week zero games as well as college or uh conference championship games, which might be on their way out as well.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

I would be shocked if week zero goes away. I just don't know how many good games we'll get going forward. I mean, we can argue probably about how good the games are this year. I don't think there's just a maybe we'll get some D2 teams in there. Yeah. But I I think there will always be some week zero games played because they college football loves to monetize, and it's a great opportunity for them to get some eyes on their game when people are itching for football and there's no NFL back. So especially with the NFL doing away with the fourth week of preseason. Um, so there's no like there's not even any preseason NFL. It's not like the week four of preseason ever had much buzz anyway, because that's usually just all backups trying to figure out who's gonna make the roster and who's not. But with that not now no longer even being there or being present, I think week zero well, week zero is the week before that, though, because week one of college football is would be week four. Yes, it is so never mind them. No, I guess maybe week zero is more on the chopping block than I'd uh previously anticipated.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

If they're trying to do their done before, they're trying to move the schedule up, the end of the schedule up.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Um, because December and January obviously. Well, that's always the college football season.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

That's been a gripe that I've had for a while with the college football season, is just how late the national championship game is compared to when the season's played. Like all of my buzz is kind of dead for college football by the time the championship game is played, and that kind of sucks. Anything that they can do to rectify that, I think would be would be wise. Uh, you mentioned earlier around weekends to not playing your wedding around, and I'd like to give a quick shout out to Sad Producer Rurb. Yes. Friend of the sh friend of the program, friend of the show. Um, probably isn't gonna be able to listen to this episode.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Probably not gonna listen to this one.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

Yeah, yeah, he's he's busy this week. He is getting married on Friday. So um shout out to Sad Producer Verb for um the next time we record uh having typically tied the knot. Yeah, presumably.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

If everyone's gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

I guess we'll have an L podcast to do if he doesn't.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

Yes, it would be it would, it would, he'd have to come on, right? I think he'd have to give us a give us the first kind of breakdown, but no, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

It would feel rude to do the podcast without him, actually, if if it doesn't go through.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

Shout out to Verb 197 the Verb episode. Yeah. Getting married. Um, yes. And uh 97 kid. He has a 97 kid, yeah. He has a 97 kid.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Um so yeah, congrats to Ryan and Anna. Uh yes, Ryan and Anna. Takes two to get married ahead of time. Takes two to get married. It does take two to get married. People, people, people forget about that.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Uh, the last point I wanted to bring up from this article was uh this point. It's called the training wheels are off the quarterback. And uh what kind of stood out to me was the first paragraph. Last year, seven of the top ten teams in the AP preseason poll had a new starting quarterback, obviously NIL. And the three teams that didn't, Penn State, obviously with Drew Aller, Clemson with Kate Klubnick, and LSU with Garrett Uksmeyer. Yep, pretty quickly disappeared out of that top ten, if you do not remember, or if you remember how their seasons ended last year. Um James Franklin fired, obviously Clemson, another disappointment, and then LSU, Brian Kelly fired last year. Yeah, Brian Kelly got fired. Fired in season. Yeah, in season. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

So yeah, two of those teams fired their coach in season. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

So now this year, um, eight of the top ten teams uh in the coach's poll return their starters, and the two that don't are Indiana with Josh Hoover from TCU and Miami with Darien Menzo, with some people think he might go 1-1, might be the best quarterback in college football this year, potentially. Stats, you know, stats-wise, like putting it all together. I mean, it's nice to play an ACC schedule. Exactly. Um, so it'll be see, it'll be interesting to see uh how that trend uh holds up in uh I guess not year two, but the year after.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Yeah. It will be. I mean, I don't think uh I don't think we'll have eight of those teams falling out. No, no, no. That'll be crazy.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

That'll be a crazy year college football.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Something tells me Ohio State, Oregon, they might be okay. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I am.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

I'm sure Oregon's okay with their guy coming back.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

I'm interested to see how this college football season goes since we're kind of walking through it now because last year's was so tumultuous. Like it was so up and down, and we ended with like one of the crazy I mean, with Indiana winning the national title and going undefeated and running the table. The the first team to run the table in the uh uh what the 12-team playoff era. So really impressive stuff. Um they lose Fernando Mendoza going number one overall. So it's it's weird because I don't want to be like, oh, Indiana's gonna regress because uh everyone loves to doubt Indiana. Indiana fans are upset. They they hang that shit on their wall and use it as motivation for the entire season. I I can't believe the AP poll put him at six. I'm like, like they needed a fire under their ass.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

Yeah, seriously.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

I mean, they're loud about it. It's it's nuts. I'm like, what way to just give them material so they can just burn us again? Um, but and this year they're actually on the gopher schedule, which sucks. Unfortunately, we have to go there as well. Yeah, two trips to Indiana this year for the Gophers. Yes. Um But I think it's interesting. Um because any time like I think back about a quarterback going one-one, the team that they left always just has a hole. And I've and it's the first time, like really in the transfer portal era that we've had a quarterback go one-one. Um, where there's like you could argue maybe there's not a hole. Um, I guess like I think about Caleb Williams going one-one, but then I believe it went straight to Jordan Maiava right after that. Or who did it?

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Uh yes, Jade Maiava then came. Yes, it went to uh Miller Moss, um and then quickly they just they brought in Jade Maiava, but they gave Miller Moss the job and then quickly learned that Miller Moss is not very good.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

So same deal there where that there was quite the hole left behind. Um, and this is the first time that you I mean, I think Josh Hoover's pretty like capable. Uh TCU is a really for people not familiar with TCU football, like they like Sonny Dykes likes to air it out. So I've that he's got the ability to throw and run a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

I watched him a decent amount. He's you watched him if you watched that Colorado uh TCU game two years ago. Josh Hoover was the quarterback of that game.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

Oh yeah. Uh it's so it's kind of interesting because I think I mean Indiana was still really good with Curtis Rourke, but Curtis Rourke was a pretty mid-tier quarterback. Um I I mean he's clearly above average in the grand landscape of college football, but no Fernando Mendoza. I think Josh Hoover is much closer to Fernando Mendoza though than he is to Curtis Rourke. Uh so I I'm interested to see how that all kind of turns out and transpires because I feel like it could work out pretty well for them. And I have them circled as a team that I think is a little underrated going in. It's weird because they had the third most first place votes, but then they still ended at sixth. So there must have been some people rate rating them very much.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Um my guess is that, and I don't know exactly how the the I mean it's the AP voters, but I know that they are spread out throughout the country. Yes. My guess is that the SEC outside of the Big Ten country that they got no love is my guess. If if I was looking at the data. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Um go first, receive uh five votes. I think that's a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

And I was happy you we we texted about this. I think that's a big deal. As somebody I know I'm critical of PJ and just in general, but I I I'd like to think that I'm I'm unbiased. I I give my opinions and and I have benchmarks, and I think that's a I think that's a big deal in progression for kind of a slowly progressing uh program, I think.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Yeah, I mean I think the I thought the biggest deal for the gophers this offseason, if we're talking about, I mean, because we're doing an off-season victory segment right now because we haven't played any games yet. Yeah, exactly. And we're trying to give them some action, we're trying to give them some praise. I thought the biggest like bump for them um this offseason, I guess, or like going in like this preseason, like giving preseason awards was Anthony Smith being named the preseason uh defensive player of the year in the Big Ten. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

Uh uh preseason All American as well.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Preseason All American, uh preseason defensive player of the year in the Big Ten. For a player of the year, uh whether it's offensive or defensive, like any player of the year being at Minnesota um in this crazy transfer portal NIL era where you have a lot of these smaller teams um and like teams with less budget, um, or like not even less budget, but like just don't have like a top 10 budget that then complain about losing their guys and their guys getting poached for the gophers to still be able to hold on to a guy like Anthony Smith, I think speaks volumes about what PJ Fleck football is and like what gopher football is uh under him. So I think I think that's really cool. And uh I'd appreciate that. And you know, who knows what this year is gonna look like. I really hope it's a good year, and I would honestly advise other teams and fan bases um that might not root for the gophers, um that do root though for kind of some of these underfunded programs to root for an Anthony Smith because it's important for guys to be able to see that they can stay at their program and still find success. And if for whatever reason this ends up hurting his draft stock or hurting him long term or hurting his production, um, or even just the way people perceive him and his ability to get paid going forward, uh, that's just a detriment to larger programs where then it's a lot easier to make the argument that if you want to maximize your talent and um maximize your potential. Income going forward, then you need to be able to jump to one of these more premier programs to be able to do so. And it would be awesome if Anthony Smith this season can prove that. So um just maybe giving some uh Iowa fans listen to this podcast, some Wisconsin fans that listen to this podcast, some Iowa State fans, I don't know, Nebraska fans, any random fan base out there that might not be inclined to cheer for the Gophers. I think this is one that they can maybe get behind as other programs that don't want to see their best players playing somewhere else within the conference.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Yeah. Um obviously he needs to win the award, but the winner of the award, pretty good stretch. I mean, Caleb Downs won it last year. Pretty good. Abdul Carter, Jazon Newton, who's been all right in the NFL, uh, Jack Campbell, who's just got a new contract, Aiden Hutchinson, Davion Nixon from Iowa hasn't been great, but was a good player in college. Chase Brown, Devon or Devin Bush, Josie Jewell, Jabrell Peppers, Carl Nassiff, Joey Bosa. So guys you've heard of uh winning this award. So definitely, even in fact, obviously he hasn't won it, but the fact that he's considered to be in this tier player tier point is a big deal, especially for school. That isn't uh isn't a big isn't the biggest club, I guess if you want to call it, you know, bring us to to to Prem League talking.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Definitely not the biggest club. Because of the new regulations with uh NIL, when they were actually able to open the books on what teams are spending on their on their football budget. There was an article that was put out about it. Um I guess Northwestern doesn't have to still because they're a private institution, but we we can assume. Um Minnesota, I believe, has spends the third least, fourth least in in Big Ten football, which is it I interesting because I mean what do they spend it all on Anthony Smith and Darius Taylor?

SPEAKER_01 23:43

Drake Lindsey. They return, they they definitely spend a lot on retention, which I think maybe is the not as much as you'd think, though.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

I I think it speaks again more to the right, but I think they a lot of it is on keeping their good players. It speaks to what gopher fans know, but maybe like nationally people don't understand that like and also maybe casual gopher fans don't understand that maybe aren't as big a fans of PJ Fleck. That the PJ Fleck uh model is built for smaller school, like to be able to retain talent of a smaller school because uh although it is a little culty for sure, um the fleck stuff gets guys to stay here. Um like what whatever it is, like the fleck isms, like the way that he speaks to the guys, the way that he gets them fired up to play games, the way he the way he gets them um motivated through offseason workouts and whatever what have you. Um whatever whatever you call the PJ Fleck uh system in the program, it's very effective at getting dudes to stay here and play, um, regardless of what other opportunities may lie elsewhere. So I don't know. I I I'm excited for GoFootball this year. Um, do we want to maybe get into it a little bit more? Yeah, go ahead. Sweet, let's do it. Um well I I'm pretty stoked because I we bring back a lot of talent in the wide receiver room. I I think the big headline is Drake Lindsay. What can Drake Lindsay be? What can Drake Lindsay do? He looked the part of a real quarterback last year. Uh honestly, like he looked the part of the best quarterback I've seen put on a gopher uniform in my in my time watching them. So pretty excited to see what this next step of the offense could look like. And he's got some he's got some weapons. I mean, Jalen Smith, um, in maybe not as much uh usage as I would have liked to see him have last year, looked really good. Uh Javon Tracy, really solid. Uh, they bring in Perry Thompson out of uh Auburn. This is kind of one of those guys that we mentioned earlier where the old Auburn guy that was a four-star recruit, and so we're all excited to land him, but I'm not sure if that's gonna translate right away. I mean, he's gotta work out, yeah. I've heard some stuff out of camp that the route tree on him might be a little uh a little rigid, um, but but might be more like a like a cornstalk. But it's unfortunate. But I everybody has a role. Yeah, I mean, you don't you don't need uh every single guy to be um I don't know, Danny Amendola. But sure. Um I I've heard some good things about Noah Jennings. Uh PJ this last week kind of compared his frame and his like kind of playstyle and type to like Rashad Bateman, which is a very high praise um for a guy that's not super high in the depth chart, but a transfer um coming into his senior season here. So maybe another guy to keep an eye on, even though he's not slotted to be in the top three here. Uh, but also really excited about Greg Johnson. Greg Johnson's getting some uh some draft buzz as a potential second round pick, maybe even like a end of first round, but hard to take a guard there. So probably more of a second round pick. But that him and um him and Ashton Beers, I think, uh being um true seniors. I guess I see Greg Johnson is senior, he started four years. Ashton, Ashton Beers, um uh redshirt senior, started the last three years. I think that's really gonna bolster the interior of the offensive line and lead for a lot of runway for one Darius Taylor who's Greg Johnson uh AP second team All-American. There we go. Yeah, Greg Johnson should be a stud. And I I'm excited to see the offensive line look a little bit better because in the past few years we've just been a little young there, and it felt like we just weren't quite clicking at the line of scrimmage. And we had a tough time running the ball last year. Uh, and I don't really think that was a Darius Taylor problem. I think it was a line of scrimmage problem. And I don't I don't see us having those same issues this year, which I'm excited about. Uh I think that'll open up a lot of things then for the passing game. But the defense is where um I'm a little more skeptical, I guess. Um, but I I I think that they've built up enough of a rep, um, at least the defensive backfield, right? Because we lost Koi Peric, but they bring in um Aiden West and Parker Knudsen, it looks like, uh, at the depth chart I'm looking at um in the defensive backfield. And then John Nestor's returning, which is awesome. Carry Brown's returning, Aiden Goosby's returning. Yep. So a lot of uh returning experience there, and then some uh fun kind of transfers in that I think can really bolster what the back end of this defense looks like. And again, I I think they've just built up enough equity there uh with their ability to develop uh corners and safeties that I'm not super worried about that position group as much. Um I'm worried more about the interior. Um I don't know, I don't know anything about Zion Chapman, but he's listed to be the starting defensive tackle. I don't know anything about uh Naquan Crowder. He's listed to be the starting nose tackle. Um I know something about Riley Someram. Um I believe he's out of North Dakota, uh, four-star recruit, redshirt sophomore. I really would like to see him take a step, but not sure what that's gonna look like in the interior, but we know what the edge looks like, man. Anthony Smith, preseason uh defensive player of the year in the Big Ten. Uh they also brought in TJ Bush. I don't know if you remember him from the Cal game, but he was wrecking our shit. I do not know in the Cal game uh when we played them and we got him to transfer in from Cal. Kind of funny. I mean, I wonder how much tape they really watched on it.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Yeah, unless we're like, we need this guy.

SPEAKER_00 28:48

Right. I'm like, well, we played him and he cooked us. So let's um let's get him in here. I like that.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Let's bring him in.

SPEAKER_00 28:55

Former uh LSU edge rusher, uh Minnesota guy, Jackson Howard, still also on the roster as a redshirt junior. Developing. Yep. So I'm I'd I'm interested to see what that what it's all gonna look like. Um, also I want to keep an eye on Emmanuel Carmo, um, another guy from Minnesota, I believe, is he from Prior Lake? Maybe not. I I I don't have it off the top of my head right now. But he he was a big get for them, I know, on the recruiting trail um two years ago. He's a sophomore now. And I'm interested to see, like, I mean, I think they'll just have some options on those third and longs to bring in for pass rush. And I I think it like the pass rush could be fun. What I'm worried about is that defensive interior um and stopping the rush. You struggled last year, which also struggled last year. Um, the one bright spot is we are returning Maverick Baronowski, had a hundred tackles last year at middle linebacker, so that'll hopefully help plug some holes. But I mean, if the whole interior is getting just blown back, it doesn't it doesn't really matter. Um middle linebackers aren't built to go one-on-one with guards every play. So I'm I I think the gophers kryptonite can be running the ball and they can be run on, which sucks playing in the Big Ten because if we played in a more aired-out league, I'd be like, man, we can we can rush the passer and our defensive backfield looks good. Like let's let's just sell out. And I I think this team can be can be pretty solid if we just play a really aggressive style of defense. But that aggressive style of defense didn't get you burned in the run game. So I am a little worried about their ability to stop the run. Uh and I don't know. I I just I imagine Wisconsin's gonna try to run the ball a little bit more this year. It seems like they're um gearing more to like a power run scheme. Um and then Iowa always runs the ball really well. Um Indiana, I think, will run the ball really well this year because their front seven's really solid. We play Michigan, who's gonna again try to run the ball. If you know anything about Kyle Whittingham teams, they just man you up in the line of the team. Tough teams, tough teams. Those are all teams on our schedule, and it's gonna be interesting. I I think we get I wish we got Penn State at home instead of on the road. Because I think Penn State, the way that they're built interesting. I mean, the way that Penn State's built a team that I think if we brought them here, we could get them. Going there makes me a little nervous.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

Yeah, I mean, winning on the road, obviously. I mean, 18 to 22 year olds is always tough to win on the road, but Penn State's gonna be a place where obviously no matter what the state of the program is, that's a tough place to get a win. And who knows, November 21st, that could be a depending on the momentum the Gophers have, that could be a night game. Um, but yeah, looking more I I great points, they're all on the Gophers. And I think the big thing for me is are we gonna see improvements in the passing game and the running game, which is like, oh, well, obviously, but both of those things were good at times and showed flashes last year, um, but obviously we're not consistent enough to make the gophers' offense, I would say, dangerous necessarily last year. They showed flashes. So if they can put both of those together on a more consistent basis, obviously that'll be exciting. And then yeah, keep up that amazing pass rush that has kind of become our identity over the last few years. But looking at the schedule, I mean, obviously, you start off the month of September. Uh I mean, every month is huge in college football, but obviously, right, it's a three-month uh schedule. So obviously you start off with eastern Illinois uh at home, at home versus Mississippi State, at home versus Akron, then you go to Washington. So obviously, I mean you know, you never take anything for granted, but you would imagine that Akron and Eastern Illinois are two wins. The game versus Mississippi State is kind of obviously the first test. Um one of, I believe, four or five um Big Ten versus uh SEC battles. So it'll definitely I think it'll definitely draw some uh attention. It's on CBS, it'll definitely draw some media attention, I think, kind of uh nationally uh just for this Big Ten uh SEC rivalry that's picked up, and it's it's a big opportunity for the Gophers to to pick up a team, uh win against uh an improving team uh obviously from the SEC.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

Yeah. I have the Mississippi State game I have circled uh because I I'm I'll be interested to see if we can run the ball against Mississippi State. If we have the ability, because they they got some hosses up front. Um that's usually kind of the identity of their defenses. The back end's a little shaky, but they play really aggressively up front. So um I I think it'll be interesting to monitor just how well the run game and the push is on the line of scrimmage there for us. Because if if we can get the push, then I feel a lot better going into Big Ten play. If we can't, it could get a little sketchy. Um one thing I will circle too that's been an issue for the gophers in the past is dual threat quarterbacks. Dual threat quarterbacks have presented a unique challenge for the gophers uh in the past with the more conventional pocket passers we've been able to really get after, but guys that can really scramble have really given uh the PJ Fleck gophers issues. And there's a lot of guys like that on the on the on the schedule. Uh Mississippi State brings in Camario Taylor, that dude can run. Uh Bryce Underwood from Michigan, um Damon Williams out in Washington, uh shooting even like Nico Nico Illy Mile.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

Yeah, EMI Oliva. EMI Oliva out of UCLA. We need to hear a call a few times.

SPEAKER_00 34:00

He he can scoot a bit. Oh yeah. No, he's athletic. Josh Hoover can run a little bit. So I mean I I'm a little I'm a little nervous about how some of these games will shake out where the gophers have to play a quarterback that's a little bit more mobile. But I don't know. I the win total is five and a half that I got, and I nailed that over. I think it's up to six and a half now because I that line was just too short. Um the gophers go bowling. That's just a PJ Fleck thing. I don't I can't tell you where all the wins are specifically in the schedule. There's probably gonna be some that I there's probably gonna be some that we should win that we won't win, but there's also gonna be a couple that we shouldn't win that we will.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

I look at it this way, right? So after that first month, and Washington is a question mark. They they are ranked 17th, and obviously I'm not super plugged in. I think that's a good one. I think Washington's gonna be good. I was a little surprised. I mean, not I shouldn't be surprised, I know they have Devon Williams, who's a good quarterback. Um, but I was a little surprised just because I just don't know what's going on with Washington still. I don't know if Jed Fish, right, is the guy there. I know they're a solid a program that for the last 20 years, maybe not 20 years, last 15 years has had a very high floor. Yep. Um so I expect, and again, that's a game that's on the road. I'd feel better. It's hard to win at Husky Stadium. Um I would feel better if that game was there, but yeah, I mean looking at it, September obviously is when this or October is when it picks up. You go to or I guess then you go to Washington October 3rd, you're at home versus Michigan, which the last time these two teams squared off, it was competitive. If you remember the onside kick that was missed um in the big house as well. So this game in Michigan, I think to me, is the game I have circled as upset potential. I think new head coach, I know Michigan ha Michigan has I hate to bring it to you, I know not to you, but to people listening, Michigan has better players than us. I'm aware of that, even with a Kyle Whittingham coming in and kind of picking up the scraps from the uh turmoil that uh their former head coach left them with, but obviously their their their caliber of player is still incredibly high. Yeah. But I think that's a game on October 3rd sandwich in between Washington before you go to Purdue. I think that's a game I could see the gophers pulling off as the upset.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

I I look at it this way, um trying to stack the wins. Like I mean, you gotta the two cupcakes gotta have those. Yes, you have to.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

I mean, if if we don't have those, then they can throw away everything we've tried.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

Right. Everything that comes after not everything, but you know, everything that comes after this when I talk about what are our wins are all negligible if we don't get one of if we don't get those two. Yes. Um I like our chances against Mississippi State. Um that that feels more in the win, especially at home. 60 to 70 percent chance, and then I think vice versa, 30% chance to win at Washington. So I think that's a the that's a win you can throw on the scout on the on the schedule. Uh that gets us to three. Um I think between Michigan and Iowa, the two uh the two top twenty-five teams that we get at home this year, uh, I think we get one of them. So I have to get one of them, I think. I I I think we do get one of them. Yes. So that gets us to four wins. I think we we gotta go to Purdue and win. I think we have to. If we can't get it done in Les Lafayette, also probably throw the south.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

If you win at Michigan, maybe you have a little you drop a dud, but you have the bye. I guess there's a game before the bye, but maybe that is before you throw the dud before Iowa. But yes, I agree. You gotta you gotta win it pretty much, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

We have a buy going into Iowa, which I think is gonna be huge for getting the guys prepared um coming off the Purdue game. That that's what makes the Purdue game kind of scary to me, though, is that we play them sandwiched in between Michigan and then the buy. That is tough.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

That is that that that is scary me as well.

SPEAKER_00 37:30

That's exactly where Barry Odom and the squad want to find you. Yeah. So little worried about that. Indiana just crossed that out. Um UCLA, I I think we beat UCLA at home. Um, especially it's a November 7th game. Getting UCLA out here might be a little chilly by November 7th. Uh, bringing the the LA team to play outside in the elements at Huntington Bank Stadium. I think that's one we get. So that'll get us to five wins, and then we just gotta beat one of Penn State and Northwestern at home or Wisconsin on the road to get to six. I think we I mean, I think we I think we beat Northwestern at home. Yeah, I think we get them back. So that gets us to six, and then I think we can beat Wisconsin. I think we can beat Wisconsin. They're really gonna want it this year. I I think between Wisconsin and Penn State that there's a win in there.

SPEAKER_01 38:18

I think this is the scariest Wisconsin not scariest, but this is probably the most competitive Wisconsin's probably been since they've beaten us last.

SPEAKER_00 38:24

Well, what's interesting is that I think this team is about as good as last year's team when they were fully healthy. Like, I mean, the quarterback thing kind of went off the rails towards the end of the year. And they had such a hard schedule last year that everything kind of fell off. They just got boomed up. I think this team, like coming into the season, is about as talented as last year's team was, but they have a significantly easier schedule. So I think morale is gonna be higher when we get them, and that's gonna make it a little bit different. And also we go on the road to play them. So I I I think between Penn State and Wisconsin, we can get a dub there, and that would get us to seven. And I feel pretty good about seven.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

Seven and five or seven and uh seven wins in the regular season. That would put you at seven and what four?

SPEAKER_00 39:04

Uh seven and five.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

And then you play a bowl game, maybe you get to eight and five, maybe you get two.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

Um PJ Fleck never lost a bowl game. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:13

That is true.

SPEAKER_00 39:13

Mr. never lost a bowl game.

SPEAKER_01 39:16

Uh no, yeah, it'll be an interesting season.

SPEAKER_00 39:18

If Drake Lindsay really puts it together, though, like some of these coin flips, like I mean, if Drake Lindsay really puts it together, um, also I I will note Minnesota didn't lose at home last year. No, I mean, if you just go down the list and you say every home game is a win, hold serve, that's one, two, three, four, five, what, six, seven wins right there. And then we just got to win one on the road against uh Purdue, Indiana, Penn State, Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_01 39:43

Maybe you flip one road game for one home game, right? You maybe you drop one at home that you lose should win, then you steal one on the road.

SPEAKER_00 39:49

Yep. But then honestly, I think we we I think we get two on the road uh because I think we'll get Purdue at the time.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

Did we win on the road at all last year?

SPEAKER_00 39:55

I know we were bad on the road. There's a real world, I mean, it really just comes down to what Drake Lindsey looks like.

SPEAKER_01 40:00

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

I mean, and just health, I I I think is is gonna be a big deal. But there's a thing that's been going on in the Fleck tenure too about odd number and even number running back years. Um even number years, the running backs stay healthy. Odd number years, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:14

The government did not want to be on the road last year. So we'll go into this year with a at least a one.

SPEAKER_00 40:21

They're seven and five, right?

SPEAKER_01 40:22

Three, four, at least a four-game low row row losing streak. So our first chance to break that will be at Washington.

SPEAKER_00 40:29

And I don't think they'll get it done there.

SPEAKER_01 40:31

Money, money, Vegas would tell you they would not. Um, I'll be damned if we can't get Purdue. Yep. Last time we won on the road, or last time we went on the road was in 2024, a game I was at. Actually, I was not at this game. You and me watched this game. What is uh Michigan? We beat no Wisconsin to end the season.

SPEAKER_00 40:50

Oh, yeah. I I should have I should have got that.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

That was our last road win, yes. Well, because you said Rosemore.

SPEAKER_00 40:54

Well, I would say you said last road win, and so like I I should have known that Wisconsin being the last game of the year was probably the last road win.

SPEAKER_01 41:01

We beat Wisconsin to cap the year off. We lost the game before that. That was uh we lost to Athan, unfortunately. That was that was a tough one.

SPEAKER_00 41:08

Yeah. I mean, I will say um to the defense of the PJ Fleck haters, if we can't get Iowa like this year, I at what point does it start getting ridiculous that you can't get Iowa?

SPEAKER_01 41:18

Am I crazy? I agree. Um am I crazy? And I you're a little more plugged in than me, obviously. And I know Iowa is always a good team, and they usually always end up with a number by their name, but I was a little surprised to see them in the preseason ranking, considering Kirk Farrell still doesn't know who the quarterback is, according to him.

SPEAKER_00 41:35

I think they do know who the quarterback is based on what what what I've seen out of the practice. It's the dude with the long last name that I don't want to try to pronounce.

SPEAKER_01 41:42

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:42

Help help Hex. Yeah, yeah. It starts with an H.

SPEAKER_01 41:46

It's like a I was just looking at our uh roster, I was looking at Shechinjinsky, but no, it's not. It's uh they have uh the H guy.

SPEAKER_00 41:52

Yep. Um I'm not gonna try right now, and I don't have it on top of my dome. But um, from what I've been seeing on X.com, it seems like all signs are pointing to him. But I'm a little worried, like I think this just bent credit, and then dude, people are really high on this Tony Diaz guy, man. Yeah. Like I think he's gonna be a stud. So I I'm a little worried about to see what Iowa even looks like with a receiver. Uh we never really had to deal with that. Um I I don't even think like the last good Iowa receiver was what Amir Smith Marsett? Um did they have a Marvin McNutt? I remember back in the day. Oh yeah, but I'm saying like Mira Smith Marset was after Marvin McNutt. Um they had the one dude from Purdue, Charlie Jones.

SPEAKER_01 42:33

Yeah, he ended up in the NFL because he was a yeah, because he was like a return guy, essentially.

SPEAKER_00 42:38

Caden Wheat uh Caden Wheaton.

SPEAKER_01 42:40

He's been good. He's in the NFL too. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:43

He's a wide receiver. Not uh not a premier wide receiver. Um I really like Kamari Moulton. He's a stud. Yeah, he's good.

SPEAKER_01 42:53

I mean, Iowa always has a uh obviously a high floor.

SPEAKER_00 42:56

I I think the high floor is just baked in with this Iowa team, um, it would would be my guess. Uh and then Kamari Moulton I think is good, and I I think that they're excited enough about the talent that they have there on the perimeter to kind of prop them up to uh to to uh a preseason ranking. I don't know. I I think the Gophers can win eight games.

SPEAKER_01 43:20

I mean, I hope so. I I I think so too. I mean, I think the progression path is clear, right? We've talked about it with the quarterback, obviously, with the run game, hopefully improving. I would say receiver play, which I think contributed to maybe I know Drake Lindsay had a good year, but why maybe some people are like, oh I think the receiver play wasn't great last year. Yeah. Um, but I think that a guy like Javon Tracy coming back and having a second year, like he made plays late in the year. Like, I think he needs to get comfortable. I'm expecting him to prove like positively regress.

SPEAKER_00 43:54

It felt like more of a uh line of scrimmage issue to me. Like, I I mean, I I I don't I think a bunch of guys that didn't play with it. Other two. To your point, like the receivers didn't feel like they were open, but also I felt like they weren't given a chance to uh like we didn't have any guys that were gonna beat the shit out of you off the line of scrimmage, and there were when we played better teams, you did not have very long to be open.

SPEAKER_01 44:13

Yeah, I mean, if you can't run the ball in the Big Ten, you become your offense becomes very stale very fast.

SPEAKER_00 44:18

Yes, they they were very one-dimensional and I think teams could really pin their ears back and just get after us. And I'm hoping that that is not the case this year, but it's it's a tough schedule. I mean, it's not there there's not a lot of free wins early on. Like we actually we don't have the three free this year. Could we actually have a real out-of-conference opponent? Um two years ago, it depends how real you think Mississippi State is. But I I I can I'm bullish on Mississippi State relative to their win total. So we'll see.

SPEAKER_01 44:51

Um I guess anything else you want to talk about?

SPEAKER_00 44:54

Um I mean, that's it for Go for Football.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:57

I'm wrapped. Um, I will say I'm excited um if we're gonna continue talking about Go for sports and the changing of the changing of the guard at the basketball program, hand up. I I did love Ben Johnson.

SPEAKER_01 45:08

But you were you were a big Ben, you were a Big Ben believer. Ben Johnson wasn't bringing in uh BB uh A Believer, BBB, big Ben believer.

SPEAKER_00 45:18

I was a Big Ben believer, but unfortunately, um he was not bringing in two four-star guard recruits, one of them, Akeem Elijuan's son, um on fall visits. Uh on the same fall visit, mind you. Um that that that's that's the type of recruiting we're doing now in the uh the Nico Medvet area, which has me really excited about what uh Go for Basketball's gonna look like in the future.

SPEAKER_01 45:37

Definitely you can tell that there's just I mean, I can tell there's been a level up in the uh in the way the program's acting.

SPEAKER_00 45:44

If if there was a way to just like buy stock and invest in in sports programs and like sports franchises or whatever, maybe one day. I I would be like, I mean, I'm sure like Kal Champali market have like a similar stuff. But like I I just want to buy like a I want to buy shares of gopher basketball stock and just ride them out. Because I'd gopher basketball is about to turn. I I I cannot like you know what I'm on here and I'm probably getting a little homerish saying that I think the gopher's gonna win eight games. That's a bit subjective, um, maybe a little bit obtuse, but I'm pretty confident in what gopher basketball is gonna be in the next five years. I think there'll be a I mean, there'll be a perennial top ten program. Top ten. In the big ten.

SPEAKER_01 46:33

Okay, actually, that's that'd be hard. That means a lot of money to be a national top ten program.

SPEAKER_00 46:39

That means perennially like in the Big Ten top twenty-five teams.

SPEAKER_01 46:44

Yeah. That means you're probably like 13 to 25 range.

SPEAKER_00 46:47

You you go to the tournament as an at-large every year?

SPEAKER_01 46:49

Yeah, you kind of comfortably have a number by your numb name. If not, you're in that 25-30, you're in that 26 to 36 range.

SPEAKER_00 46:59

Basically, it puts you on the tier that Wisconsin's on, where like you can pencil them in for anywhere from a six seed to a three seed every year.

SPEAKER_01 47:07

Baylor.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

Yeah, I mean, up and down now.

SPEAKER_01 47:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:12

But yeah. I'm thinking like maybe try to get me an outside of the Big Ten comparison. TCU. Um Yeah, TCU's a good one. I'd like to be a little bit ahead of T T.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

Any Jamie Dixon team.

SPEAKER_00 47:23

Yeah, I'd like to be a little bit ahead of TCU. Maybe more like a Tennessee.

SPEAKER_01 47:28

Okay. You're saying they're like a per when I think of Tennessee, I think of three-seed. Like they're like a perennial three-seed.

SPEAKER_00 47:36

I think the gophers can get there.

SPEAKER_01 47:37

Wow. I don't I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, but that's that's lofty.

SPEAKER_00 47:42

I just I think what I'm really trying to get behind too is that it felt like if the gophers were ever good at basketball in my lifetime, it was always like the stars finally aligned, like we finally got some guys and like the um the classes like aligned that we were able to actually like break through and then it would always fall short. But I don't see that being the case anymore. Um, especially with the way this team matches up with good teams, like the way that they move the ball um with such fluidity, I think, makes them a really big problem night in and night out um against some of the like the more talented top-end teams because super talented teams don't want to guard like that. Um they want they want to guard you man to man, they don't want to guard you off the ball.

SPEAKER_01 48:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:23

And I think that's where the gophers um and Nico have been really solid in implementing offense is moving off the ball. So um, because of just the way that they play and their ability to kind of hang with really tough teams, and last year they were hanging really tough teams with no talent and no depth. Um, so I I'm excited as the talent continues to grow, and we hopefully I mean, we can't be any more injured than we were last year. It's it's damn near impossible. I mean, we had there was a point that we had seven scholarship guys left. So uh it it's it's gonna be really hard to be any more injured than we were last year. Uh not trying to jinx it, but it's it's just a fact.

SPEAKER_01 48:56

No, no, uh, it is. I mean, or I wouldn't say that you're trying to jinx it, but yes, I think I mean there's a few, yeah, exactly. With with the lack of scholarship players, we had some of those games that felt like damn near you feel like the game needed to be canceled sometimes. Yeah, it's like I, you know, kind of throw harken back to COVID days.

SPEAKER_00 49:14

Seriously. I'm like, do we have the guys to field this roster or to field a roster? Hard to say.

SPEAKER_01 49:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:20

But I don't know. I I I could really see them turning a corner, and I'm very bullish on Go for Basketball. And the uh I had recently seen on X.com that they were bringing um two four-star guards in for recruiting visits and also I both out of state too. So I'm like, that's again, it felt like the only four stars we'd ever really go after previously were any guys that we could probably just find in our lap somewhere like locally recruiting, whether it's in Minnesota, Fortnite, four stars, Iowa, like Wisconsin, like whatever. But Illinois. But no, we're we're branching out. Um, I believe the one kid's from California, the other one's from Texas. So yeah, I'm bullish on go for basketball.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

I am too. I am too. I mean, I I I think we have the right guy in charge, and I think that the investments have been made, and I think Mark Coyle and just the administration in general realized that they realize how bad it can get if you truly neglect basketball.

SPEAKER_00 50:22

Also, I think they realize how good it can be if the team's actually good. Like the the thing that the Gophers have always struggled with is that there are major there are pro sports teams and they're just not like the main attraction in town. But if they're good, people will show up. And I I like to phrase it like this um Minnesota's the state of hockey, but if we've noticed anything with the Wolves, it's that Minneapolis is a basketball town. It is. And I think if you put a good product on the floor in Minneapolis, you're gonna you're gonna put asses in seats and you're gonna get attention and you're gonna get the money you're looking for.

SPEAKER_01 50:52

Especially the barn, you know. Everybody, it's our one, I would say. I mean, we have a US Bank stadium still, but I would say the barn is which I'm not a lover of the barn. I like watching games there, but I am a person who thinks that it might hold the franchise or the program back a little bit. It is still a destination for Minnesotans at least growing up, right? You're you know, you're always gonna have that crowd bringing their kid to the barn for the first time or bringing somebody to the barn for the first time. So it'll always, if it becomes we've talked about it before, if it becomes, if the team becomes relevant enough, they don't have to become the best team in the big ten. But if they become competitive enough where, you know, they're winning 23, 24, 25 games a year, that place will definitely fell out. So that's the concern with the building. It hasn't, it's not necessarily the fact that the building is so in disrepair. That's not why people aren't showing up, it's just the team hasn't been. Relevant essentially since like 2011.

SPEAKER_00 51:50

The argument that there's an issue with the building and that's why people aren't coming, I think is just kind of foolish. Like, I mean, Wrigley Field's a dump, but they sell that shit out all the time.

SPEAKER_01 51:57

There's novelty and old shit, people do love it. There is. I go into with higher expectations with both of the programs than I've had. Football is a little different because they've they've been at this new kind of level they've been at for probably like three years. Basketball, obviously, I'm expecting more than you know they've shown. And I think last year they did show that. Obviously, you like you talked about with the injuries, made it impossible for them to really break through. But yeah, football, I think, and that's why people keep talking about the schedule with football. And I it you know, there's a lot of teams with numbers on there, and there's a lot of tough road games, don't get me wrong, but to me, I just look at it as the perfect schedule for opportunity, right? You're not last year you had Oregon, last year you had Ohio State, like those are games that you know as much as I like to admit it, you know, we're not gonna be competitive with those teams, especially going there. Like, yeah. I mean when you're that's the simple fact. When you're a team with like Minnesota where we might not be competitive going to Penn State, and that might not even be that good.

SPEAKER_00 53:11

In the PJ Fleck era, we've we've markedly raised the floor of what gopher football is, and that floor is seven wins. Yes. Um, which which is awesome. We do we we rarely do we actually eclipse it, sure. But we we get there unless like the season it totally falls off the rails with injuries and whatnot what have you. But for the most part, like that there is a true floor to what this team is, and it and it it's a lot higher than it used to be. But what I like about it when you're a team like Minnesota that's penciled in for about seven wins every single year, is you don't want to see games that you can't win at home. Like if we hosted Indiana or we hosted Ohio State or we hosted Oregon, that's just a game on the schedule that's gonna be really hard for us to win. That's a wasted opportunity to win a game. To win a game, yeah. Like I love that we're going to Indiana, you know? Like I I love that um like if our home game, like if we flipped a home game with UCLA and if we flipped Washington and UCLA for home and away, I would be like, well, that sucks because now there's two games on the schedule that I think we could really lose, but instead now we got one that I think that we can we should be able to win. Um I I I like that like we're gonna have some ranked teams at home with Michigan and Iowa, but I think that those are teams that we can beat potentially.

SPEAKER_01 54:26

Yeah, I mean they're they're at the back half of the rankings, they might not have a number by their name by the time we play them. You know, probably they will, but I also what's excited about we don't want to just play cupcakes, you know, you don't want to be Notre Dame and play cupcakes and not be tested until November.

SPEAKER_00 54:39

Exactly. Because there's nothing that would hurt more than just being a paper tiger. Like, I mean, you wanna you wanna win on merit.

SPEAKER_01 54:47

Yeah. You wanna, I mean, as much as we love the playoffs, as much as we love the national title game, college football is really truly a regular season sport. It's about the moments in September, it's about the moments in October, it's about the moments in November. And capital, yeah, you gotta find ways to capitalize. And I think being a gopher fan, you and you both watch F1, right? Like an F1, when you root for a team or you root for a driver, you know they're not gonna win every race. You know, all out of side outside of certain years, right? You have a Max Verstappen dominating year in 23 or 22. But now being, you know, in kind of F1 now, where it's kind of more middle of the pack, where you know, any, you know, driver, it's more driver skill and it's more based off of tracks and opportunities. To your point, with like the schedule, I don't think there's any shame in being like, okay, I'm happy we play Indiana on the road because we're gonna lose Indiana. It's picking annoying your spots, and I think that's why I was I like PJ because I think he's like fully aware of like the things you might not want to admit, like the re like he he lives in his own real like he paints his own kind of reality, right? We call him the cultists, blah blah blah. But he is like actually super aware of like their actual standing and just act what's realistic. But that's why, like, I mean, he's you know, he knows that he's prepared to win at Purdue, right? Because he knows he needs that W. Yeah, he's prepared to win against Mississippi State because he knows, like, hey, third week of October, we have a game in Bloomington. Well, I love it. Probably gonna drop that. I'm probably gonna get ripped.

SPEAKER_00 56:30

I think what you're trying to say, I think what you're trying to say is he doesn't take his eye off the ball and he makes sure the guys don't either.

SPEAKER_01 56:34

Yeah, yeah. Like, and I know maybe people think that, and I get why people be like, oh, well, why don't you aim for the stars? Like, why would you ever sell yourself short? I don't think it's selling yourself short, but the main thing you keep the main thing the main thing, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:48

Um, one final note, I think and then we can wrap it on Go for Football. Uh, all four trophy games are uh are up for grabs this year. So uh let's fill the trophy case this year, boys.

SPEAKER_01 56:59

Yeah, I mean that'll that'll be definitely the probably second biggest record that matters uh after just the general uh win-loss. How you doing those four bouts?

SPEAKER_00 57:09

Let's keep the trophy case full this year, huh? Battle for the block M, Governor's Victory Bell, the axe and the pig.

SPEAKER_01 57:16

See how many we can see at the state fair next year.

SPEAKER_00 57:18

Yeah. I'm hoping to max that out.

SPEAKER_01 57:20

Yeah, that would be great. We can get uh we can add some more photos to the uh I love the uh I guess we we we won it, you know, we we we need to beat Penn State in what? 19, so it's there in 20, but state fair didn't happen in 20. Nope. And then I don't know. I don't know if it was ever here. I don't know. I don't know if the governor's victory bell was ever here.

SPEAKER_00 57:39

I don't know either. I guess I never uh went and checked it out.

SPEAKER_01 57:41

If it was I mean, but it was on the field. I'm guessing it was on the field.

SPEAKER_00 57:44

I touched it in person.

SPEAKER_01 57:45

Yeah, so I mean I can't imagine it left after that.

SPEAKER_00 57:49

Yeah, I don't know where it was.

SPEAKER_01 57:50

I don't know. I'd have to I'd have to look back up on that, but let's just hope the trophy case is full at the end of the year.

SPEAKER_00 57:54

Exactly, exactly. I want them to have to build like a new like uh like case for it because like we never anticipated being able to have a couple of years. Exactly. Like we only anticipated ever really having like two at a time, maybe like max. And now that we have four, I don't really know what to do.

SPEAKER_01 58:10

I consider I know it's not official, but let's make it official. Nebraska, the broken five, five, five bucks in a broken chair, bit, what is it, five bits in a broken chair?

SPEAKER_00 58:19

I mean, it's real to me, especially because of how aggressive Nebraska fans are.

SPEAKER_01 58:23

Like that that's a real rivalry to me, but it's just not really the it's gotta be Nebraska fans like second most traveled game, I imagine, on the schedule every year. Oh, yeah. I mean that's like a that's like a goddamn vacation. You go downtown, you see all the Nebraska.

SPEAKER_00 58:36

If anything, I think we're watching the rivalry like build in real time because Nebraska fans love to say they're back, and then every single year they can't beat Minnesota, and it's like the Minnesota game. I would have to imagine for Nebraska fans uh for the last decade as like whenever they've played has to be like the staple of oh shit, maybe we're not back. Yeah. Because they inevitably lose to Minnesota and they look around and they're like, Well, damn, I guess uh we can't be back and be losing to Minnesota, which is like true. Like you just can't be back and losing the Minnesota.

SPEAKER_01 59:03

You really cannot. I mean, it's it's it's a much the the the college football world is a much bigger world than just the gopher, so yes, you can't you can't until we do a little bit more, you cannot can be considered a uh back. Yeah, and I mean until you and when you're losing the team with the uh big smiling gopher.

SPEAKER_00 59:20

Yeah, I mean, and to that extent, I I think that the a rivalry has developed in the last few years just because of us like perennially kicking their ass. Yeah. But no Nebraska on the schedule this year.

SPEAKER_01 59:32

No, which is kind of sad. Feels it feels empty. Feels like there's a hole about it for sure. There's a missing win. Yeah, exactly. Missing big win. A missing, a missing big win. Well, thank you for joining us on uh a Midsummer's Riff, episode 197 of the Between Lines podcast. Go for preview. That's one double, double, double trouble on that one. I enjoyed it. Um thanks for joining us tonight. Hope you enjoyed it. Share it with a friend as we get closer to the start of the football sports calendar as we enter our new year. Stay with us.