Are roadrunners good at football? Jace and JP head to San Antonio to find out. Jeremy Kunchandy of Meep Meep Nation - home to all things UTSA Football - joins as a special guest on this bonus episode.
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#collegefootball #ohiostate #big10 #michigan #michiganstate #rutgers #pennstate
Are roadrunners good at football? Jace and JP head to San Antonio to find out. Jeremy Kunchandy of Meep Meep Nation - home to all things UTSA Football - joins as a special guest on this bonus episode.
Check Out MeepMeep Nation on all socials @MeepMeepNation
Follow us everywhere @RivalPod
Big thanks to our sponsors for their generous support:
Elevated Integrity: http://www.elevatedintegrity.com/
The JAE Company: https://thejaecompany.com/
Become a Patron: https://patreon.com/therivalry
Want more shows like this one? Visit https://riverradio.com
#collegefootball #ohiostate #big10 #michigan #michiganstate #rutgers #pennstate
It's the arrival. I came in a league. We're straight for the title Touchdown.
Speaker 2:Marvin Harrison Jr.
Speaker 1:Marvelous Catch pass ransom Down. It Edwards Touchdown the down.
Speaker 3:There's nothing quite like the game Michigan versus Ohio State. This is the Rivalry sponsored by Elevated Integrity Construction. This is the Rivalry Podcast. This is Jase JP, your garbage free college football podcast focused on the Ohio State Michigan Rivalry brought to you by our friends at Elevated Integrity Construction. And we have got a really special guest with us today. It's our boy, jeremy, from Meep Meep Nation, utsa Road Runner Account. Jeremy, thanks for making time to hang out with us today. Man, appreciate it. Man, thanks for the invite. So let's start with this. So it's kind of a weird marriage here the Ohio State, michigan and UTSA. Just tell me a little bit about yourself, jeremy, and how you became a Road Runner fan.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man. So my following of UTSA football kind of happened during our conception so around 2013,. I was a freshman at UTSA. Before coming to UTSA I wasn't really a huge college football fan, I mostly just watched the NFL. And coming here to UTSA and even though we were such an early program, being the Alamedone, experiencing that kind of atmosphere and just being a college student in general, being on campus, you kind of just get sucked into this very different culture that I think if you're just a fan of professional football team but you've never been sort of fan of a college or university you went to, it's kind of hard to describe and so when you're in that kind of environment for four years, you kind of end up getting sucked into the team and following them long term. And, coincidentally, the launch of the football team around 2010,. 2011 was also around the time when we launched Meet Meem Nation. So 2013,.
Speaker 1:Initially we were called UTSA memes. It was literally just like tongue in cheek throwing memes out there. This was back during like the, I guess the first sort of conception of memes into mainstream. So before that wasn't a huge thing. And then, going into 2010, 11, 12, 13, a lot of people start creating meme page accounts and so just started a page just like kind of poke fun at things that people were experiencing at college, and over time it kind of became more focused on the football program. And then Caleb Hawkins, the other co-founder he, came in, helped with the whole rebranding effort and we went from UTSA memes to Meet Meem Nation where we started to sort of follow and interact all the sports that UTSA is involved in. So I guess right now, almost a decade later, I'm sort of like conjoined with the football team unofficially, where it almost feels like the success that they have is like I feel like I have some success from it. But no, it's been a long journey and I think it's been really rewarding though.
Speaker 3:I love Kirk Herbshire was talking about after the Washington Oregon game on Saturday, about how he does you know Thursday night football. You kind of reference pro versus college. How he does Thursday night football, I was like and that's awesome and I love it, but you only get this on Saturday night in college. You know it is. It's a completely different animal and I think that's why you know why both the rivalry and meet me nation, why we love college football so much as it is. It's just a. The emotion of is just completely different.
Speaker 1:It really is.
Speaker 3:Let's? Let's assume for a second that, because there's probably not a ton of crossover audience here, let's assume that most of our at least the folks here at the rivalry let's assume we've watched all of 30 seconds of UTSA football this year. What is about the midseason mark now, like what's one or two things, that somebody listening to the podcast that goes, okay, cool, I'll check out the game you guys play FAU this weekend. What's, what's something that you could give them to kind of catch them up to speed on what the season's been like so far for the road runners?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think the huge question I realized, yeah, and I appreciate you giving me a bit of a heads up, I could really really think over that. Because I mean, again, you know we're a 10 year old program, right, that's a good joke. Compared to some of these programs such as y'all's, been around for a hundred plus years, we're barely a baby and so, contextually, you know, I'm really in a lot of fans are viewing this season really through the lens of trailer coming in. So we've gone through three head coaches. Right now the guy who started it was Larry Koker, so you know, former Miami National Champ, and so he did a really great job taking us off and sort of building the program.
Speaker 1:And then, as we went from FCS to FBS, you know, we kind of started to struggle a bit more, and a lot of that had to do with the rosters we were bringing in. We were struggling to find a QB, struggling to find a lot of the position players we needed, and so I ended up replacing Koker with a guy from LSU, the top recruiter, frank Wilson, and he did a really, really good job of bringing in some, some top talent. And you know we were, we were doing OK there and then, I think, still struggling not getting to where we wanted to be as far as being conference contenders within Conference USA. And so trailer comes in, you know, right before the pandemic, I think a year before that, and you know, first year with him in was kind of lackluster, not a whole lot of noise. And then 2021, we really kind of exploded on the stage. So we started to go undefeated I think we're six or seven or no before we ended up getting ranked.
Speaker 1:And then, you know, to be a 10 year old cultural program and to be ranked and hear your name, you know, on all the main broadcasts was like mind blowing for all the fans and everyone involved. And you know people were talking about the NY six will potential and it was just, you know, a lot of, a lot of momentum going there and there was a contingent of the fan base that was like OK, this is a Cinderella story, it's going to end really quickly. You know the characters going to turn into a pumpkin and then we're going to be back to a known and a known and FBS school really quickly. But you know we were able to do really really well Go into the American Conference Championship, win that 2020 or the Conference USA Championship win that 2021. And then 2022, you know people were like, ok, are we going to do this again? We had most of our same roster. We have pretty much all of our staff. You know it was OK, there should be nothing to stop us. And, lo and behold, we would do it again. Right, we get to end up getting ranked again. We end up winning back to back conference championships and now we're just spoils. Right, you're like a live and 12 year old program. You're winning back to back championships, you're showing up as ranked on all these, on all these CDs and bowls, and it's just like you know, going into this season, that's the context. So, going to the season, the sky's the limit. Like, this is the first season we're going in where you've got people, big names on TV, talking heads, saying you could say it could be ranked the first game or the second game, and so there was just ridiculously high expectations and why six was really a big focus for us. So I think between us and Tulane, we were sort of the front runners in that, in that conversation.
Speaker 1:And then you know the Houston game happens and you know that kind of kicked us down a notch really quickly and that one hurt quite a bit because if anyone's not familiar, you should say, as in San Antonio, we're a stone, there is a way from Houston, and so, in a lot of ways, loose for football. We kind of view them as, I guess, like an unsanctioned rival, and there's a few reasons for that. When, when you age, launch their stadium, td C and Houston, you just say, play them back in 2014. This is back during the Lyre Co-Cera and we actually beat them and so we kind of like jokingly call it TV TSA stadium, having, like you know, messed up their inaugural game. And then, coming into last year, there was a triple overtime game against Houston where they beat us in the Albedon but I think, like a field goal and that was really holding pretty heavy on us. And so, coming into this season, you know we're like this is a revenge game. Not only are we going to basically take back what you guys took for most last season, but we're also going to spoil, hopefully, your inaugural game in the Big 12. And so you know we're really heavy, really high, and everything that could go wrong went wrong, like we weren't the team we thought we were Lots of interceptions, a lot of blown coverage. It was just a really messy game. I think it humbled us quite a bit, took a lot of air out of our out of our, you know, out of our lungs.
Speaker 1:And then as we progressed from the season, you know, we played Army and then we played Tencent, we played Tennessee and I think if you asked anyone in the preseason how we would look this season, most people, even casual fans, would have said maybe the one two lost team. Right, you're playing Tennessee. You know in Knoxville you're going to lose that most likely. So there's one loss there and then maybe just one throw in loss. And if you're somebody like me who drinks Kool-Aid every season, you're going to be like you're going to go undefeated, you know. So you know, after losing to Houston, we ended up losing to Army at home. Army just has this really good, wonder-mouthed football where they'll just do the same play, literally like running it right up the middle. And what was disappointing is like we just had no answer to that and it was at home and it was just. That was really.
Speaker 1:At that point we realized, ok, something's off, something's wrong and contextually, you guys should know like the biggest change is, you should say, has had is really just we lost our host to your offensive coordinator, will Stein ended up going to Oregon and you guys have seen how well he's doing there. And then we lost to Card Franklin, our number two or number three wide receiver, and he ended up going to Ole Miss. But we're still a stacked team. We have most of our vets, frank Harris, who's been here for like 50 years now. He's still playing QB and you know we've got trailer, we've got a lot of really good staff, and so it was kind of confusing going to the season. You know what exactly was going wrong.
Speaker 1:But I think, contextually, if you kind of view each of here right now through that lens, so this is a team that is one to conference championships back to back. They've been ranked for two seasons and they've kind of just had a rough start. Right now you might have a good idea of what can happen, because I think right now, from what I've seen, especially the past two games against Temple, against UAB, you know the big issue really has just been with Frank Harris. He went through multiple surgeries in the off season, so coming into this season he was really rusty and dealing with a new offensive coordinator, obviously that's always going to be kind of kind of iffy.
Speaker 1:And then when you got a genius like Will Stein, who I genuinely believe is going to be a head coach within the next four or five years, that's a pretty big hit when it comes to trying to remanuever your, your offense and your strategy. But if you watch the UAB game, the Temple game, the past two games, I think you'll finally start to see glimmers of the team that used to say was the past two games. And I think right now you know if you want to get in on a level where there's not a whole lot of fanfare and nobody is going to accuse you of being a bandwagoner once we win the American, you know now's the time to get in. But yeah, that's just a little bit of a long winded but contextual, I guess run down of our short history.
Speaker 3:Well, and the schedule is pretty favorable, moving forward for you guys too. I mean, you're through, you're obviously through the Tennessee game and I think you know, at least from an outside perspective, obviously every game on the schedule remaining is winnable and I would say you're probably favored in all of them, except maybe Tulane at the end of the year, which you know, depending on how things fall. You know you could still be talking about a New Year 6 or something of that nature, depending on what happens with teams like Air Force and all that sort of thing too. And you know, for the UTSA audience here and kind of the cross-motion like what's something to kind of position folks for what Ohio State has looked like this year, like if people are just jumping in here pre-Penn State Week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, if you're jumping in pre-Penn State Week. I mean, the biggest question for Ohio State has been record and been injuries for us. So I think, going into this week, you got to have Ameca Abuka. You got to have him healthy. You have to have Travion healthy. Mccord has to have another solid performance like at Notre Dame no turnovers. He's got to have a clean game. But it's going to be interesting. I mean, if you're unfamiliar with Ohio State, penn State's going to be a good game to give you a glimpse at who they are. So I think that's solid. Jerry, you talked about how UTSA is a relatively new program. In your time since being a fan, what is one win that, as a fan like you, at lunchtime you're going and watching replays of that? Jason, I both do this during our lunch break.
Speaker 3:We're very lonely.
Speaker 2:I'm also a Rutgers fan. I only have like five games to choose from, so we will go back and watch like monuments, like I've already watched the Notre Dame game from this season I couldn't even tell you how many times. What game is that for a UTSA fan?
Speaker 1:There you go. Yeah, not a whole lot of film footage to look back on, but you know, I think the games that really stick out are really mostly in the trailer era. So the one that hits me right on the nose is UAB 2021 season, sort of our first breakthrough season, first week's team win season. We're going to UB or UB is coming into the Alamedom pack crowd for us, you know, 45 something thousand people and basically UAB is winning the game with less than a minute under the clock. They're up by one possession and this is a heartbreaker for us Because at this point in the season we're ranked, I think, number 22. Everyone's talking about you know, ny 6 full. What ball we're going to. You know these are the next UCF, whatever, you know.
Speaker 1:And so UAB now, like this unranked you know, technically known team but they are, you know, they are a really, really good team Historically comes in is our house and they're beating us and we only got, like you know, 30 seconds in the clock and, historically, the four tree letter. You know we did not do a good job winning those type of matchups. If you saw, you know, a league going into the fourth quarter that wasn't ours, we're probably lose that game. And so it was. It was. It was really stressful. People were like, hey, you know they're hearing the clock toll and it was just like, hey, this is it.
Speaker 1:And so it goes to the point where there's four seconds in the clock. Frank Carrister QB has gotten us into the red zone and we've got like enough time for one play. That's it. And Frank Frank runs back, just lobs the ball just like real slow lob. It bounces off one of the UAB defenders hands, he doesn't grab onto it, goes up five feet in the air and there are 250 pound tight end Oscar garden is somehow managed to just turn his whole body, grab that ball and just protect it like it's his first child and like he lands on the floor and you know, we end up winning by possession.
Speaker 1:And it was just like. You know my hair hair, my back still when I think about that, and if you watch the YouTube replays, I guess the announcer of the broadcaster he sounds exactly like Ed Orgeron, so it's like it adds a little bit of extra to it. Probably one of the most, I guess, emotionally broadcasted games I've ever heard. And I don't think he had anything to do with any connection with our program outside of just like being a broadcaster. So highly highly recommend watching those. That's really really good sound.
Speaker 3:JP, I'm going to ask you the same question, then I'll answer it too, just again for some context for the UTSA audience. What is one of the most elating wins is in Ohio State fan, and I understand it's going to come at my expense, but just go ahead, it's fine, because my answer is going to come at your expense here in a second. That's fine.
Speaker 2:That's fine. I know your answer already. Mine, oh man. There's just so many. It's different because we've been blessed to be able to go to a couple of games recently, like we were at Notre Dame this past, this past season, like this season, where the final seconds we, everybody in that stadium, thought Ohio State was going to lose. And I'm trying to control myself as a media person on the opposite, on the end zone, right where it's about to happen, and all these Notre Dame fans are screaming celebrating. I'm going for, like super mad, that we've just lost this game. I'm going to have to drive home in a car with stupid Jace and a smile and and then we go in and we pull it out. Like it is hard to top that because I was there. But I will say I remember exactly where I was when it was number one Ohio State in number two Michigan. I remember specific plays. We just got done, actually last week, filming an episode with Roy Hall called a touchdown at pass in that game, because I would have been 2006, 2006.
Speaker 2:Chris Beanie Wells. I remember the run right up the gut, 52 yards to the house, just everything about that game, the hype behind it. I'd grown up obviously hating Michigan, knowing the rivalry, knowing how fierce it was, but that was the first time that I could actively remember both teams being unbelievably good at the same time, so there was extra hype all around it. I will never forget exactly where I was. I was at my friend Catherine's house sitting on the living room and she was watching it with her dad saying the whole time when was she? Her and literally all of my other friends were gone, like in some other room hanging out and doing stuff. I was the only kid that like had wanted nothing to do with that and I was all football. It was just amazing. I was playing it there.
Speaker 3:I mean you you already probably know my answer, I know, just after after so much suffering in Ann Arbor but I mean 2021 has to be the kind of your experience with Notre Dame, like my brother and I like he had, he had been a couple years prior had been diagnosed with late stage cancer and he, he had beat it and he's he's doing well now. But it was kind of one of those things where he and I have both like both my dad's a huge Michigan fan. So we both grew up with that and we had decided it was like after the Rutgers game in 21, which Michigan didn't even look that good, and we said, you know, we've never been to a Michigan Ohio State game Like, let's just buy tickets. We got them for a couple hundred bucks, which for Michigan Ohio State is dirt. She, we said, yeah, why not? Who knows, let's just do it. And of course Michigan ends up winning that game, kind of getting the monkey off their back. It's snowing, crowds rushing the field, we're rushing the field.
Speaker 3:There's pictures of me just kind of on my back in the end zone, the happiest I've ever been. I mean it's. It's hard to get better than that for that. Again, it kind of comes back to the reason why we love college ball. Right, it's the emotion of the thing. There's just nothing quite like beating your biggest rival or getting that last second touchdown. Like there is there, just it is, it's. It's one of those things that I, you know, you watch that replay again and again and again. On the flip side of that, there are also those deflating losses that you just cannot get out of your head. And, jeremy, I'll start with you Like what's, what's? One of the ones that just sticks out to you. Like if I could, if I could, change just one game, this would be the one.
Speaker 1:You picked a good season to ask that question. I would say it's. It's a Houston game. This season.
Speaker 1:We were man, we were, you know, five thousand feet high going into this season. I mean, this is the first season where it was just like nobody had anything bad to say about us, like the worst thing anyone could say was you lost the car. You do, you know Ole Miss, or you know you lost your office coordinator. But the main guys, you know trailer. Every season it's always like is he going to leave? Is he going to leave? Right? You know, last season it was like, oh, the previous season before last, texas Tech is coming, previous season before that, you know, you have other P5 schools coming and so far he hasn't left. And so you know, when you have that kind of commitment from your head coach, and then you're doing so on the past few seasons you're just running high.
Speaker 1:And so this season losing to Houston was just a huge come down, realizing that, hey, we've still got some work to do, we're not invincible and the Houston game really just hurt a lot just because, as I mentioned previously, they had come into our dome and they beat us into triple overtime and, secondly, the Houston basically contract was signed way back in, I think, 2011 or 2012. So this is back when Houston kind of viewed us as like a cupcake easy win program, scheduled them, we'll promote you, you got money, and then you go home. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And so with the games that we've played so far, you know, I think the contract ended this season and so I don't know if that being the new 12, if they're ever going to be interested in signing another contract, which really sucks, because I feel like there's really a really nice rivalry that's organically grown from us.
Speaker 1:So that part also hurts is like you're never going to be able to get vengeance from that game. And then, obviously, you know, potentially losing your NY6 game or NY6 bid and all All that stuff just really hurt. And I think, I think it really did weigh on our team going into army and up until at least I would say, temple. You should kind of see that there was just this level of like man we've got to, not our chest, so we're not playing with like I guess the swagger that we were playing with you know previously and I think we're slowly starting to build it up again. But yeah, in our short history I guess that's not too bad of a loss to say you had, but it's definitely the worst one that I can remember personally.
Speaker 3:JP, dive deep into the pain, my friend, please.
Speaker 2:See it doesn't even take me that long Like, obviously the Michigan losses hurt. The most devastating one was Georgia last year in the college football playoffs. Of going up against the team that I feel like nobody gave Ohio State a chance. You're going into that game fully expecting to lose but knowing you have the talent to pull it out and win, you go in there. Cj goes out and plays a heck of a game, probably, I would say confidently, the best game of his Ohio State career. I'd agree with that. Absolutely plays dominant. You have a chance to win it.
Speaker 2:I felt like there were certain things that we had talked about it on the podcast. There were certain coaching decisions in that game that I thought were huge mistakes that cost them that game. And you still had a chance to win it in the final seconds on a field goal to go to a championship where honestly I strongly believe if Ohio State wins that game, we're walking away national champs, we're beating TCU and we're walking away with the championship. So, coming that close, doing everything you can, you're in control for a majority of the game and you lose it on a heartbreaker field goal in the last second. I think about that game all the time and what should have been, and I think that's what hurts the most. If it was a regular season game, it would still suck, but the fact that it was in the college football playoffs we're in Atlanta, we're on their home field, we're a field goal away from essentially winning a championship and we missed it by just a little bit Just keeps me up at night. I hate it.
Speaker 3:Yes, very sad, very sad. Anyway, no, I will go, I will go with you and go outside of the rivalry for this one. And again, this is probably it's probably prisoner of the moment of recency, bias, like I kind of part of me doubts that Georgia is actually the most devastating loss of experience, but it's probably the most recent. Yeah, and I would say it was up there, purdue's up there for, yeah, I would say for me, it's probably like, I feel like a lot of people assume that I'll say like Appalachian state, but the reality is that, like, even at that point, like, because that would have been what 2007, 2008, somewhere in there Like I, like I would have been in this will date myself, like I would have been late high school. But I there's a difference between being late high school and like being your 30s right, we're like actively following every game.
Speaker 3:I don't even think I was watching that particular game. It's like it didn't hurt me as much. Michigan State 2021, I think is the most recent one that I'm like, ooh, like right in the gut because obviously like and this makes a lot sense waiting into playing Michigan State this weekend. Michigan State is is just has so much hatred from me Lots of hate in my heart. There's plenty for you two, jp, but like they want to pay to my heart for Michigan State and being being in East Lansing and Michigan, being up by 15 in that game and then blowing the lead in the second half in just a phenomenal performance by Kenneth Walker, so good that he made Mel Tucker look like a good football coach, which is really like one of the greatest years I've ever been in.
Speaker 2:You imagine signing that coach to a 10 year $95 million contract.
Speaker 3:I hope he's. I hope he's paying Ken Walker like he deserves it. But like the other piece of that game too and I don't know if you guys would remember this, the way that it keeps me up at night is Michigan had to play at the end of the first half where Aiden Hutchinson sacked Payton Thorn and stripped the ball out and David Jabbo fell on in the end zone for a touchdown and they rolled it a touchdown on the field. It actually may have been the other way, it may have been a job who stripped in in Hutch who fell on it. But either way, stripped the ball out, fell on in the end zone, really would have solved that game away pretty early. They went back and determined that it was indisputable that Payton Thorn's shin was down. They overturned the touchdown and Michigan of course ends up losing that game by like three or four points.
Speaker 3:There is no way in heck I have watched that replay a thousand times there's no way that is indisputable to reverse the call. I thought it was a phenomenal call Well, I'm sure you do, and it's a great one in a long history of very questionable time clock refereeing decisions that have come out of East Lansing, and so I have no idea what to expect this weekend. I'm sure something stupid will happen and I'll tweet about it angrily at rifle pod, but that's one that really grinds my gears for sure, sure.
Speaker 2:Also, and so now we're A good chunk of the way through the season. At this point, what are some expectations like when you look at where you guys thought you would be at the start of the season to where you are now? Have you guys exceeded those expectations? What are? What are the? Is the fan base of the Roadrunners feeling right now?
Speaker 1:We're holding our breath. I think most of us are. You know, right now, the team we've seen, especially during the UAV game. That's a team that definitely can compete with with everybody in our conference right now. Like one of you mentioned, we're favored right now to win every game. However, there's a big ask for there, because just because you're favored by 56% does not mean you have overwhelming odds.
Speaker 1:And I think this season has just been so weird, even outside of the American, where you have a lot of teams that you know historically have been really good, or maybe they even had some really big wins, but then they have some big losses that get thrown in as well. And so what you see is here right now. You obviously we have FAU coming up and historically, fau, who's FAU? What are they doing? But they're a good team. They beat USF by, you know, 56 to 14. And USF, by the way, was neck and neck with Dama up until like the second or third quarters. So these are like you know, these are. I'm like you know, I'm not a magician when it comes to stats, but when I see numbers on the TV, I'm like, okay, something is nearing up here. And so you know a lot of these teams that you're seeing in the American, like even Rice. Right, rice is another team that historically no one wants to get beaten by a food and historically very few people have. And the reality is Rice did this season what we couldn't do they beat Houston and that's, that's saying something. And so there's literally nobody in our conference schedule right now who can really underestimate. You know, maybe you know Eastern East Carolina. They're kind of stroking a little bit right now, but historically, you know, they've also been a really good team. And so I think it's going to be something where I think Coach Raylor had an interview earlier this week where he's like, you know, I don't like being too happy anymore, like I want to be mad, I want to be angry, and so I think we're kind of like coming out right now Dark Knight Rises mode, where it's like, hey, where we've gotten humbled, we get some, we got a lot of, you know, a lot of little sticks in our shoulders and grants us in our throat and we're just trying to like crawl our way back. And I think, with a team like UTSA, where historically, you know, we've always been underdog, we kind of thrive off that energy. And so I definitely think you know, talent was, skill was. We have what it takes to be competitive. We've lost very few people, thankfully.
Speaker 1:When it comes to injuries, you know Frank Harris was out for a while but he came back. The only guy who's kind of questionable is one of our top receivers, clark Declore. And Clark, he got a little bit of injury and I think right now the way it looks is coaches probably going to register him so he has a better chance next year to, you know, make an impact with NFL recruiters and whatnot. But we still have Cephas. We've got a, I think, a six five receiver and Taiki O'Helog, and you know we got a guy like Frank, who's had, who has like essentially decades now of experience in college football. Like that's not saying nothing, and so I think we have the ability to compete with everyone. And then I think Tulane is really going to be the ball of the giants where you know, if we are we say we are we'll have to beat them there.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I think you know, if you're a fan who's been following Yichitse, don't get too down. I think you know we're just getting sort of some of the knots out and I think right now the season is still ahead of us. However, at the same time, if you're a Yichitse fan, don't get too high, I think, outside of maybe Eastern Carolina, you know, if we play the way we played against Houston, if we play the way we played against Army, it's very possible that we literally only win one game. And so I think it's really, game by game, if we can just stay healthy, we can still just like have that chip on our shoulder when we play. And then there's, you know, keep doing what we're doing. In the past, few games will be okay, but yeah, it's maybe not the most you know clear answer, but I think right now it's just sort of like anything's possible. We just got to. We just got to keep grinding it out.
Speaker 3:Well, that's, that's some of the beauty of, again, some of the beauty of college football is, you know when, for guys like the three of us who, who try to analyze this in our you know when we're not doing our day jobs, you know it's, it's fun because at the end of the day, you know we can analyze the death. But it's also 18 to 22 year old college students who are playing football in between exams. You know, and you think it happened, and I think you know, even on the outside of the conferences, on a national stage this year, this is as wide open a race for national title for New Year Six for some of these big bowl games as I can remember in a while. You know there's, you know on the national stage there's, I would say, seven, if not eight, teams that all have a legitimate chance of winning a national title this year. You know, and and you know for for both JP and I, obviously being Michigan Ohio State guys you know that's that's kind of where the bar, where the bar is at right now, is that's the expectation in Columbus and in Ann Arbor, is that's great that you, you know it is.
Speaker 3:It's very much you mentioned kind of being spoiled. It's the spoil mentality of like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we won double digit wins, that's great. Have you won a national title this decade? Yeah, well, and on the Michigan side too, you know it's. It's even stupider because I look back and I go. You guys realize that, like 10 years ago, michigan was going like three and nine and five and seven. You guys remember the Brady Hoke, richard years, because I certainly do, but that's, that's what makes it fun. So, jeremy, last question for you, and this is this is a tough one right now and again, we're recording this on the week leading into FAU, the week leading into Michigan State, the week leading into Penn State. Right now, the four best teams in college football.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So if anybody is like a pro analyst and they're, like you know, listening to me, speak, believe me, when I'm everything I'm saying here it's full of bias, it's full of gut feelings, it's full of glancing at the score half-heartedly while I'm eating sandwich. So don't, don't take it too seriously, don't bet the house on it. But there you go, there you go, and then for you guys it's going to be a very, I guess, unorthodox answer. So I totally forgot that you guys are Michigan and in Buckeye fans before I made this list. But the top two on my list right now are Michigan and Ohio State. So, uh, neck and neck, michigan has the slide edge right now. Like you said, you're an expert. So there you go, there you go. I'm completely basing my opinion on AP polls. Not that most AP polls probably do a lot of research to begin with, but you know the fact that they have them ranked a little bit higher. I'm giving them a bit of an edge, but neck and neck with Michigan and Ohio State.
Speaker 1:You might be asking why not Georgia? Why don't you have them at number one? Uh, going to the preseason? Obviously, yeah, you're the champ, you're coming in, your number one, but I think Georgia is still very much benefiting from recency bias, from a lot of pollsters Um the human per-licab individual. You just can't watch every single game and do a breakdown of this and so, yeah, that's a lot of times while you walk you'll see a lot of these polls, you'll see who's voting for which team.
Speaker 1:Some of these things don't make sense. It's like why, why would you do this? And so recency bias plays as a big role and so preseason I can understand. You know you come in as a champ, you should be number one. That's fine. But I think it should be just as much weighted when it comes to expectations going into the season. And with Georgia, you know, if you actually look at the scores, even though they're undefeated, there's some really sketchy short scores. Uav, for example, who used to say just B. You know they only. They only beat them 49 and 21 after the fourth. But if you actually watch the game I think it was up until the third quarter almost you know like neck and neck, and so you can't be the number one team and be doing that. No offense, uav, they're in a conference but they literally just left conference USA. Like you can't, you can't do that.
Speaker 3:And number one well, they did the same thing with South Carolina. Now South Carolina is in a different tier, but they did the same thing with South Carolina. And even this past weekend the way that they beat Vanderbilt Vanderbilt was in that game. You know it's not, you know they're not and again, I know I'm biased, but you know they're not steamrolling teams 52 to seven, like Michigan is right now, or beating up on Purdue, the way Ohio State is. There, there's met, there's playing with your food for a quarter and a half, and then there's oh my gosh, we might lose to Auburn. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one touchdown win with Auburn. You're, like you know, barely beating, you know, vanderbilt, but two touchdowns and so that kind of thing, that kind of inconsistency, like everyone's got a bad game occasionally, but that's just not as usual. That's as usual to me. And so I think you know well, at the end of the day, if you're on defeated, you're undefeated. I think they're, you know, a top four team, but by top four I mean their fourth place. They're not, they're not, they're not anywhere in the top three.
Speaker 1:Third place I'm given to Washington, and this is where a little more of my bias might come in. The reason I give it to Washington is really from outside, the fact they're undefeated. They beat Oregon and Oregon, you know, obviously they have Will Sine X, utsa. But if you actually look at Oregon, you look at their, their, their stats, like they're beating these teams like four to five possessions. I think it was only Texas Tech that they beat them by, I think like one touchdown. But the rest of these teams, they're absolutely steamrolling them.
Speaker 1:And if you're trying to go into playoff contention, and you know, and you're, you're, you know, high level P5 team, that's the kind of effort, that's the kind of score that I'm expecting to see. If you want to be in that top three, you know, or top one, kind of talk, and you know, if Oregon had and lost to Washington, I'd probably have them, you know, hire up the list as well. But Washington beating, beating a really, really good Oregon team, um, have them. Take the third spot for me. So it's Michigan, ohio State, washington and then Georgia.
Speaker 3:I think that's really solid. I think the other interesting piece about uh with Georgia too is I saw today, uh, you know Brock Bowers is going to be out for, I think, four to six weeks. He's having the tightrope surgery for that ankle. I mean, will he be back in time for a playoff run? It seems like the answer to that is yes. What happens in the interim if you're scraping? Maybe not scraping, scraping by, but if it, if you're kind of just getting by and now suddenly the one of the most dynamic players in the nation is sidelined for the back half of your season. I'm not a betting man, but if I were a betting man I would say is probably not holding on to that spot for terribly long. But I think that's really good. And, jp, I don't know like I, I like Jeremy's answer. Would you? Would you differ at all there?
Speaker 2:Um no, I mean, I agree with him. I agree 100% on Georgia, I think until they lose, you just can't take them out of that. But I agree They've been shaky. To me Carson Beck has been all right, but Brock Bowers to me is that team, so I'm curious what they're going to look like with him out. I can't take it away from him. I think I would like to put somebody else there. I just don't know. I don't know who.
Speaker 3:I would put over them. Right now I could see maybe an argument for Oklahoma, but I, I also. I also don't know how you, you know, oklahoma over Texas is one thing, but I think, I think we all would agree that Washington, oregon is probably the winner of that game, is probably the team that deserves to be. Yeah, 100%, at least. Final thing, gentlemen again, it's a UTSA and FAU, it's Ohio State, penn State, it's Michigan, michigan State. One thing, jp, I'm looking at you. One thing that your team has to do to win this weekend. And JP, go ahead and you start, you start, I'll go. Then we'll finish with Jeremy.
Speaker 2:Okay, Be healthy. I think you got to have a Bucca back. You got to have Trayvion Henderson back. I think having that on your on the offensive side of the ball is going to be a huge help. You're going to need every piece of offensive firepower. You have to beat that defense and luckily for Ohio State they've had a luxury of great wide receiver. So if a Bucca is out, you've got Julian Fleming, you have Brandon Ennis, you have Carnell Tate, Cade Stover, you have the best wide receiver in the nation to Marvin Harrison Jr. They're still good. But you've got to be healthy. You can't have two of your most dynamic offensive players out.
Speaker 3:I'm going to ignore you. I've been here since the best I know. I heard you. He is. I'm going to ignore you.
Speaker 2:Raman Wilson is a good receiver. He's not number one.
Speaker 3:Sorry For Michigan. I mean massive favorites over Michigan State right now. But Michigan State, you are always going to get their absolute best and there's no doubt Michigan's locked in on this game. But you also have to know Michigan State is to for Michigan. It's really simple Don't turn the ball over the way that you lose games like this or let me kind of flip it like the key recipe for success in pulling a monumental upset is you have to create turnovers, you have to win the turnover margin, you have to win it big.
Speaker 3:Michigan has done a good job with the bowling green game as the exception. Michigan has done a phenomenal job of just they don't make mistakes, they don't turn the ball over. They are, I think with Air Force because God bless America the least penalized team in the nation If Michigan starts. You know, if we, I'm not concerned if the game is semi-close at half because Michigan's that boa constrictor that just sits on you and then they just have their way. I'm not concerned about that, but I am concerned if we've. We had half time in Michigan's getting penalized. They've got a couple turnovers already. That's the way you lose the game. You play good, clean football Shouldn't be an issue at all. That's the key for us, jeremy. What about for you guys?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would say just don't play cute. Work with what works. You've got a stacked running back room. You've got a stacked receiving room. You've got a veteran to be barring any crazy injuries. You know, go with that. Just try to run the score as much as you can If something is not working. If the running backs are working, just receivers, if receivers are working, and just running back. But don't play cute. I think you know at least the past two wins that we've had, while they've been good wins, there were a couple of moments where we did unnecessary plays, unnecessary trick plays, didn't lean on things that were obviously our strengths when we should have, and just over complicated it. You're playing right now with a team that's very veteran. We played with a lot of teams. We play with Tennessee and Oxford. They can handle. You know what's left right now on the schedule. Just keep them healthy. You know, don't play cute and just try to focus on taking one game it's on and then come up with the win.
Speaker 3:Jeremy, we appreciate your time. You guys are at MeepMeepNation.
Speaker 1:Cross social media platforms yes, yeah, you got it, meepmeepnation is our main and then mine is MeepMeepGermy, but if you want to follow just each of this stuff, I'm usually tweeting that on MeepMeepNation and we're on Facebook, youtube, most other platforms as well.
Speaker 3:So rivalry fam, go ahead and give them a follow. And then for the UTSA folks at RivalPod, twitter, youtube, instagram we've got our personal stuff there too that we reach from time to time because we're selfish like that. So you'll find it. But, jeremy, thanks for the time and good luck to you guys this weekend.
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