Why Texas Proves That Texas Tech Can Win a National Title + Big 12 Post Spring Power Rankings

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Steve Sarkisian came after Texas Tech — and accidentally made the strongest case that the Red Raiders are a legitimate national title threat. When the Texas head coach feels the need to talk about you, you've arrived.

In this video, we break down exactly what Sarkisian said, why it tells you everything about where Texas Tech football stands heading into 2025, and what it means for the Big 12 conference race.

- Why Sarkisian's comments are a massive compliment in disguise
- Texas Tech's spring numbers — and why they're being slept on nationally
- How the Red Raiders stack up against the rest of the Big 12 right now
- What a Texas Tech national title run would actually look like
- The Red Raiders don't need national media respect. They just got it from the one place that matters most — their biggest rival.

Transcript

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Well, it's been uh quite a news cycle for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, thanks to one Steve Sarkeesian, who you might have heard of. He's the head coach of the Texas Longhorns. Uh, hopefully, you guys saw my video earlier this week about what it was that Steve Sarkeesian had to say about uh Texas Tech. I was gonna say rival, but really it's a former rival because Texas won't play Texas Tech. I digress. I'm not the only one saying this, guys, but the takeaway for me in the aftermath of this has been if you are a tech fan, you have to love this. I know that everyone was rushing to the defense of tech in the Big 12 world, and even a lot of folks nationally pointing out like, hey, Steve, you may not be the right guy to deliver this message, but tech fans, you know what this means? It means Texas views you as a threat. Steve Sarkeesian views you as a threat. We're gonna dive into that. I would think if you're a tech fan hoping to win a national championship in this era, this current Wild West era of the sport where Indiana just won one running away. It was a good week for it, my friends. We're gonna talk about that. Uh, I've also got some Big 12 post-spring power rankings for you today because I decided that uh I have not been yelled at enough lately, so I'm gonna make everybody upset. I will personally disrespect your favorite team, your school, today with the post-spring Big 12 power rankings. And uh there was another jarring quote from a long-tenured legendary Big 12 head coach about the financial struggles at his school. So we do need to talk about that as well. It is the Open for Business Big 12 podcast. I am your host, John Kurtz. I hope you're having a lovely Memorial Day weekend. Thank you for joining me here on this Sunday evening. This, of course, is where the Big 12 just means more. Please do like the video and subscribe to the channel while you were here. A bunch of you watch, but don't subscribe. It does help me out a lot if you click that subscribe button. It is totally free. Fill up the chat tonight. Great to see everybody. Kim, DMGel, Pace and Cougar fan, David. Thank you all for being here. Keep the chat lively. If you want to guarantee that your question or comment makes it on the show tonight, you can click the dollar sign below the chat box. If you're not watching live and you still want to submit a super chat, you can do that on Venmo at John-Kurt 4. Leave me a question or comment with your donation. I'll kick off the next show with it so you can still be a part of the action. Uh okay. Open for business Big 12 newsletter. Also, OFBnews.com. You can sign up for that. Join 6,300 plus other Big 12 fans who do. Uh, or just click the link in the description of this video. Lots of ways to do that. Uh, we're gonna start. I know I've got my my outlines a little off here. Those of you that are listening on audio, doesn't matter. Keep trucking. And by the way, thank you, those of you listening on audio. Make sure and go subscribe. Even if you watch on YouTube, go subscribe on Spotify, go subscribe on Apple Podcasts, give me a play there. All that stuff helps. Let's, you know, let's game the system a little bit here, ladies and gentlemen. Another free way to help. Uh, but seriously, thank you. We are growing like crazy on the audio platforms. Thank you to everybody who is listening out there. I have my outline a little bit screwed up here. We're gonna do power rankings second, okay? We're gonna do power rankings second. We're gonna start with this. I like I said, I already did a video this week. It was on the audio feed, too, of an immediate reaction to Steve Sarkeesian's comments, directed toward Texas Tech and really the Big 12 almost more so than Texas Tech. But having some time to sit and marinate on it and think about it. Truly a crazy world that we are living in, where the head coach at Texas spent time in May going out of his way to talk about Texas Tech and the importance of where these comments came is something else I've not uh dived into. So let's talk about it. If you're a Texas Tech fan, Steve Sarkeesian taking the shot that he took at your Red Raiders is a wonderful sign. You should be thrilled, not angry, but absolutely thrilled. It is a great thing for Texas Tech and by proxy, then the Big 12. Let me explain uh here in this video. Okay. So, yes, I did a video earlier this week with the instant reaction to Steve Sarkeesian at Texas Tech taking yet another shot. Uh, he has been a guy delivering a bunch of shots this offseason. He already sideswiped Ole Miss by saying all you have to do to be eligible at Old Miss is go take underwater basket weaving. Went to one of the very old tropes. Very, very like boomer diss there from Steve Sarkeesian. That's definitely like an okay boomer moment with Sark. Um, but he decided Texas Tech would be next on the list. Uh for whatever reason, Sark is feeling very, very feisty this offseason. And these shots, I'm telling you, I know Texas Tech fans and Big 12 fans, even myself, I jumped on it on Twitter and defended the honor of tech at the Big 12. Our reaction is to be very uh protective of our school, of our conference, because we're constantly getting picked on. It's hard out here in these streets, man. It's hard out here in these Twitter streets. So I understand if your initial reaction was to be tweaked and angry and say, hey, we got to come out and do something here. Once you let it simmer, it's glorious. It's glorious. This is a a tremendous sign. When I say it's glorious, obviously that's a little more internet coded, a little more twinged in like, oh, yes, it's glorious. Give me the tears of my rival, kind of thing. But beyond even just that, we don't have to be like two online internet kind of thing. It's what does that say? It speaks volumes about Texas Tech's program that these comments happened, okay? If you're sitting here saying, hey, John, what did Steve Sarkeesian actually say? All right, yeah, fair enough. Well, I will rehash the comments here. Remember, this is a Steve Sarkeesian who is very upset. He's still smarting from being left out of the college football playoff this past year. When his team finished 9-3, they did lose to a horrible Florida team, by the way, remind you of that. But the point that he makes, and it is a fair one, is hey, we played at Ohio State the first game of the season. Had we not done that and we rolled out Sam Houston to just get drilled, we may have made the playoff at 10-2. Instead, we weren't even really a part of the conversation, not a serious one anyway, at nine and three. So why should we be playing tough non-conference games in this in this playoff era? That's the point of Steve Sarkeesian. He's been ruminating on that all offseason. We know the SEC has spent multiple years now pushing that like any SEC team that wins nine games should absolutely be in the playoff ahead of you know virtually anybody else in contention. So with that in mind, here is what Steve Sarkeesian said. Uh Steve Sarkeesian said, quote, there's a team in our state that plays in another conference that has a schedule that I would argue if I played with our twos and our threes, we could go undefeated. And they'll probably make the college football playoff this year, referring to, of course, Texas Tech. So it's a pretty wild shot that he's taking there. And I said, look, the the location of these comments, where he is making these comments, really matters. Houston touchdown club. So he's talking to a bunch of people in one of the most talent-rich cities for football in the entire country, and obviously one that's local where he would be conceivably competing a lot with Texas Tech. That is a very important thing to remember here. So, does he actually have a point though? There's some things we need to address here. Does Sark have a point? Uh, and and why, are you asking why should tech fans actually be happy about this? We're gonna address all that. Please do subscribe to the channel, by the way. It is totally free. One click helps a bunch. If you are a consistent watcher of the channel, it really does help me if you click subscribe. Thank you, everybody. Uh, does Sark have a point here? Actually, yes. Uh, yes. Look, Texas Tech schedule is a bit soft. And I know there have been some circumstances around this. Oregon State was scheduled when they were still in the in the Pac-12. Well, when they were in the Pac-12 that we all know and love. Okay. Nothing against the new Pac-12. But they have Oregon State, Sam Houston, and Abilene Christian in the non-con. It's just so worked out that BYU looks like the second best team in the league, or the team certainly closest in the tier of Texas Tech right now, and they missed them. Tech does on the schedule this year. Meanwhile, Texas has Ohio State. They're at Tennessee, Oklahoma, they have Ole Miss, they're at LSU, they're at Texas AM. It's a pretty tough schedule, as you might expect, with life in the SEC for uh Texas here. But before we get to why this is so great for Tech, let's just say, once again, I'll reiterate Steve Sarkeesian, not the best messenger. Texas, not the best messenger to be taking shots at Tech's week schedule and lamenting the fact that Tech can just coast through what they perceive to be a bad conference and make it to the playoff, because one, Texas left that conference voluntarily. So if tech or if Texas wanted to just skate through this conference, they could have stayed and done it. That's the best route to the playoff, and that's what you're worried about, Sark. If you can't do well enough, you can't hack it in the SEC, you could have stayed in the Big 12, but we also have evidence that that wouldn't have worked either because Steve Sarkeesian lost 10 games in the conference in three years. 10 Big 12 games in three years, right? One of those was to Texas Tech. And Texas went 13 years without winning the league. Texas was 60 and 61 in the Big 12 from 2010 to 2022. One game under 500. That's over a decade's worth of time. So flawed messenger here is the point. Okay. Flawed messenger. But we know how big Texas's brand power is on the national scene. Texas, uh, Texas Tech should be celebrating the fact that Texas's head coach on well, when were they like May 20th, whatever, in May, Texas's head coach in May is sitting here thinking about Texas Tech, bothered enough to the point where he is speaking publicly about it and taking shots. Because look, I've been around this league long enough to know how I mean Texas didn't pay Texas Tech any mind for a very long time. Like it's not comments like this would say, I mean, Texas would have been basically beneath them at other points, whether or not it was really fair from a competitive standpoint, uh, because Texas again had all those down years, it just wasn't something like Texas was not worrying themselves with that. And now, when Texas is preparing to play Ohio State, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, LSU, and Texas AM this season, what is Steve Sarkeesian, the head coach of the Longhorns, thinking about in May? He's thinking about Tech. He's thinking about Joey Maguire, he's thinking about James Blanchard, who was doing yeoman's work on Twitter, by the way, uh coming back at Texas over all of this. Yeah, that's what's worrying Sark right now, man. It's crazy. It's crazy to be taking up mental space, taking up headspace of the head coach of the Longhorns. That is as big a testament to what Tech has built as almost anything. Almost more so than that Big 12 championship trophy that is sitting in Lubbock right now in that beautiful new facility that they have. It's the fact that Sark is sitting here in May talking about it. Ari Wasserman wrote a really good column for on three, and he used the old adage a lion doesn't concern himself with the opinion of sheep. And the reason he says that is not that he's calling Texas Tech a sheep. He's saying this is proof that tech is a lion, right? Like it or not, whether it's justified or not on the field, Texas is a lion in the college football world because of the brand power, the revenue, all of that. Love it or hate it, we all have to admit it and live with it. This is an admission from Sark that Texas Tech is a lion. Texas Tech is a lion, my friends, or else Texas wouldn't be worried about this. Texas wouldn't be thinking about this. Now, you might say, well, John, they're not in the same conference anymore. So what why are they why are they worried? Why does this matter? There is a very big reason that this matters, and it's in large part the whole why is Sark saying it here question that needs to be answered to get the answer for that question. Okay. So this comment came while he was talking to the Houston Touchdown Club. So it's a bunch of potentially influential people, fans, boosters, whoever, in in Houston, which is not only in you know a major hub in the most talent-rich state in the country, but it's also, I mean, arguably like the most talent-rich metro area. And if you go look at in-state recruiting in Texas right now, Texas Tech's doing a better job than the Longhorns in this class. Depending on where you look, I know like I think it was Dave Campbell had tech with five of the top 15 in the state right now. It's at least like five of the top 20 or 25. Texas Tech is killing it in high school recruiting. Texas Tech has a better high school class right now in 2027 than Texas does. So that's got, I mean, that's upsetting the Apple cart. That's not something Texas is used to. I mean, they're used to having to fend off Texas AM, sure, right? They're not used to having to fend off Texas Tech for local kids in state. Like, what is this? This is a legitimate annoyance and something that is bothering Steve Sarkeesian. It puts Texas at a competitive disadvantage. The tech has now turned into what it is. And yes, all this criticism, I can hear it right now, people typing furiously from SEC country or at Austin, Texas. Well, it's just the Cody Campbell money. Did we not see Sark outside with like Lambos with the suicide doors that were pulled up and like, you know, like it was a car show, like it was a fast and the furious movie. We saw that video within the last year or two at Texas. Like, we think Texas doesn't have any money out here. I just I'm not here for any whining about that. Like, Texas Tech has showed up, they put together a really competent organization because, as Jerome Tang has shown, you can have a bunch of money and be pretty incompetent with it. Texas Tech is not that at all. They're very effective. The the Blanchard Maguire operation is going really well. So Tech has done a lot of things very well, and it's now created a legitimate threat to Steve Sarkeesian in Texas, particularly in recruiting right now. And so now he's feeling the need like, hey, here I am at the Houston Touchdown Club, man. I got to get my shots off here. I got to make a case for us. Like, hey, this is ridiculous. Don't go play for the school that has just a soft schedule where you can just roll into the playoff every year. Come here, well, we'll go play. But also, I would almost argue, as I'm listening to myself there, like subliminally, subliminally, Sark is like sending the message like, hey, yeah, you know, go there because we may lose to Ohio State. We may lose to Florida. We may lose three times, and then you're not going to be able to make the playoff here at Texas. You know, sidebar nationally, I have seen the sentiment. And I think it's true. Like, I think Sark is a good coach, but I also don't know that he's one at a level that is commiserate with making these types of comments about like every school this offseason. I'm sure he's very confident about this roster. People will tell you Texas is as deep as anybody in the country this year. Um, maybe they'll go out and prove it this fall, but even if that happens, you will know then, Texas Tech fans, that the future national championship head coach was so worried in May about your program that that's what he was talking about. So the other thing I find hilarious about this is look at what's going on at tech right now. Tech is having to deal with the Brendan Soresby situation, like major story, not just in Lubbock, but across college football. Kind of a black guy. I mean, it certainly is not a great story. That's not what we file under positive publicity. And Steve Sarkeesian just gave Joey Maguire and Texas Tech a gift. Like nobody's talking about Soresby, at least for a little while, gave gave Tech a break from the negative news cycle by putting himself as the center of attention and everybody being like, hey, wait, what? Maybe you shouldn't be saying that for a number of different reasons. And maybe this actually is just justifying Texas Tech as having arrived. Okay. So when I say, like in the title of this video, like Texas proves Texas Tech can win a national title, I mean, I think we all consider Texas to be a national championship contender this year. They basically are going to be every year with the money that they have in the conference that they're in, as long as Steve Sarkeesian continues doing what he's doing. Like they'll be in the conversation. And now it is quite clear that they consider Texas Tech to be a part of that conversation as well, or there would not be any talk about the Red Raiders. If this were seriously just a oh, silly, cute little Texas Tech over here, then one, Texas would probably be more willing to play them. They know there's a very real risk of losing that game and a massive recruiting downside if you do lose that game when you're already getting your butt kicked by Texas Tech on the local high school recruiting trail. Right? Like I just so much of this, so much of this is so validating, so validating to the Red Raiders and everything that they are trying to do right now. Now, if you want a little bit more, okay, of the details on why Sark is such a poor messenger for this, click here. That's for those who are watching the clip version, everybody hanging out live. Thank you for being here. Looks like I've got a bunch of uh bunch of super chats to get to. I appreciate everybody uh who is here. Let's get to uh Pacific Northwest Ute, by the way. Click the dollar sign below the chat box if you want to be a part of the chat tonight via the super chat. Uh Pacific Northwest Ute says, so start worrying when they stop dissing. Sarcasm. Oh it's a good one, Pacific Northwest Ute. Put that one on the uh on the Hall of Fame list. That's a good one. Hashtag sarcasm uh is very good. Yes, exactly. Worry when they don't say anything. Worry when they're not paying attention to you. I mean, remember, I mean, like 2021, when this first happened, I remember a little bit of discussion about you know people being like, wait, so are they gonna stop playing tech? And like it just, I mean, I Texas didn't seem to take that conversation seriously at all. Now it's like you've got, I mean, Andy Staples has been out there from on three this week saying, like, yeah, you guys need to play. Like, that has actually pushed this conversation forward. That's another thing Sark has inadvertently done is create more attention of people being like, well, hey, if you're gonna talk, then go play them. That'd be a great game. We'd love to see that right now. Texas, Texas Tech would draw a big audience. People would watch the hell out of that this year. Um now you you've actually made that become a real, real conversation in a very short period of time. Uh, Darius Rucker, what's up, Darius? Good to see you, my friend. Uh, Darius says, good for Big 12 Tech stays in the headlines. Is there another Big 12 school producing this attention? I was told the league would be irrelevant post Oklahoma and Texas. Well, there's really not. I mean, the closest, you know, to answer your question, it's like Kenny Dillingham was a huge story when they got Cam Scataboo and Sam Levitt to the Peach Bowl and damn near beat Texas, speaking of the Longhorns. But what Arizona State did not have was the narrative, and I know this drives us all insane, but it's the narrative about the money. Texas Tech has this, it's not just what they're doing on the field, it is everything that comes with it, which is this narrative that has followed them like, look at these guys just throwing a bunch of money and making it work. Texas Tech has like narratively become the poster child for this era of college sports because it's a school that has really ascended through the use of NIL. Never mind that Indiana just won a national championship when Mark Cuban paid for their quarterback. Okay. Uh, but Texas Tech gets labeled as the poster child of it. And that generates a whole round of discussion and intrigue that comes along with it. And I'm with you. I think that that actually is good for the conference. As annoying as it is, because it feels like it's a backhanded compliment every time Texas uh Texas Tech does anything, it's it is good for the league because it's generated more discussion than like Arizona State did. You know, I'd be interested if Dillingham wins the league again this year. If that were to happen, like how much spotlight would be on him versus how much has been on tech here this year? Because then we'd be looking at like a real trend. Like, hey, if they stay relatively healthy, Kenny Dillingham looks like he's that guy. Would they get anywhere near the same level of attention that tech has got? I think the answer is still no. Uh, even off just this one season where tech rose up the way that they did. And and you're so true. I mean, about the league being more relevant, it helps. Not not just the winning, but having a real storyline that people care about. Like, you need storylines, like, right? Like you watch, watch wrestling. I I'm not like my my relationship with wrestling is very weird. I never had any interest in it at all growing up. I then started to work in radio around guys who like were obsessed with wrestling, and by osmosis, I got some of it, and I started to really enjoy actually the narratives and the storylines around it. I just hate the actual wrestling part, but the rest of it, they're so good at like creating storylines and like making you care. It's just then once they get out there, I'm like, I don't know. I don't really care about you guys throwing each other around. But that's you need that stuff. Like the football's great, but you need villains and you need people to have reasons to. Care in Texas Tech has given people a reason to care, even within the Big 12. Villains are good. Villains are good for the league. Like, I'm sure it's annoying. I know it's annoying for a lot of the other fan bases, but it's good. It's good for the league that this has happened. So, Darius, that's a long answer to your question, but I think you hit on a really um a really valuable and salient point there. TM Gell, what's up, TMGel? TM Gell says, uh Tech softball ranked number one nationally all season. Committee then punishes them with an 11 seed in the tournament. Texas Tech has to go to Florida and proceeds to run rule them to the Women's College World Series. The SEC bias is absurd. I will admit, TMGel, this is just I will admit my ignorance here. I don't know. I have paid no real attention to the softball regular season. So I can't speak to the ranked number one national league committee punishing them part of it. I did see the no handshake thing at the end of the game. I saw that there was a lot of jawing going on in the stands, speaking of being villains, right? I saw that there was certainly no love loss between Florida and Texas Tech and that Tech pummeled them. Uh so congrats to the Red Raiders, man. I mean, uh Texas Tech has ponied up the resources there in that sport, and they are obviously awesome. And that's another example of what I'm talking about, right? Poster Child, everybody hates it. We saw when Tech landed all those players in the portal over a year ago now that the SEC collectively lost its mind, and you know, it's like Oklahoma lost its birthright as the team that was supposed to be able to do this all the time and really ruffled some feathers. Really ruffled some feathers. But congratulations, TMGL and company to the Red Raiders uh for what happened today. Darius said, uh, Darius chimes in again. Times change quickly. Last year the media was Texas Tech needs to prove it on the field. Uh, then Tech Softball showed our model work, and then football followed. It's crazy how fast it's changed. I mean, the the preseason gambling gauchos media poll, you know, the one hosted by the Texas Tech guys, right? I mean, tech tech like fourth or fifth last year in that thing. Uh, and now it's everybody just assuming, even without Brendan Soresby. We'll see, you'll see in my post-spring power rankings coming up in a moment where I have them. But when I was going through and reading a bunch today and looking around, most people still have Texas Tech at number one, even after losing star quarterback in the transfer portal, because everybody's just assumed. All right, we've seen proof of concept that dumping the resources in that way to get the talent again with the infrastructure that Texas Tech has is a great combination. So yeah, it's changed real, real fast. And Kim, what's up, Kim? Uh Kim says, Oh, in honor of my 50 plus year friendship with Philip Hayes, aka the judge. Love that. Look at that, guys. We've got personal relationships here with the judge who was gonna be on the Brendan Soresby case. Now he has recused himself after the picture surfaced of him with uh Raider Red flashing the guns up. That's that's honestly, that's legitimately awesome, Kim. Uh, thank you for telling me that. Good stuff. We've we've got an insider here, ladies and gentlemen. So everybody be nice to Kim in the chat. He's he's got the insight. Uh thank you. Thank you for that. That's that's that's great, man. That is great. Okay. Uh this is this is the part where I I promise I will I will just I will make you upset. I'm gonna I'm gonna make you upset because I won't put your team where you want them to be. It is Big 12 power rankings time. Okay, let's let's reset. Well, actually, let me tell you too. Sign up for the open for business big 12 newsletter at OFBnews.com. Like and subscribe if you're here, and you can drop a super chat by clicking the dollar sign below the chat box or hit me up on Venmo at John-Gurtz-4. It is time for Big 12 post-spring power rankings. Okay, I have not done power rankings in a long time. I felt like I've not been yelled at enough lately. So let's make some people frustrated. I'm deliberately going out of my way to hate your team. Of course, I'm kidding, but I know many will feel that way. Let me know in the comments where I'm wrong on this, guys. The big question, of course, is Texas Tech still going to be number one with the Brendan Soresby situation hanging over them. And I tell you what, in going through this, interesting stuff at the bottom of the league. There are just so many teams. The middle and bottom is really, really tricky because you have a you have like four or five teams here that are doing just massive roster overhauls, couple with new coaches, one on a second year coach. And it's just like, how exactly do you sort this through? Power rankings are much tougher because I know you all care about the difficulty of media talking heads jobs these days, but it's much more difficult in this era of college sports new power rankings. Let's start at number 16. Colorado. I've got Colorado at 16. And I admit, like, I say that out loud, I look at it, I'm like, I know they have some real talent there. I know Julian Lewis. Like, I know they got a lot of talent and athleticism in the portal. And, you know, they according to Bill Connolly of SP Plus, they were one of his like top 10 favorite portal classes. I get all that. I just stacking them up against every other Big 12 team. I don't, they were three and nine last year. They turned over the rock. They have 43 new players again this year. We still haven't seen Julian Lewis take really a step forward, and they're still they're still trying to solve the offensive line and running game. We're four years into this, and and the same main issues are there. They had the one season where with Shador and Travis Hunter, it masked enough of those issues, and they did start to the defense, they did start to play a little better there. But basically, they've been chasing after offensive line and defense the entire time, and I still don't see evidence that they have someone that's going to rescue them from where basically they were at last year. So maybe a bit disrespectful to the Buffaloes, but I don't I'm putting them at 16. I've got Iowa State at 15, which maybe is just some respect for the residual effects of the culture that Matt Campbell built as Jimmy Rogers steps in. It's another one where like we could be all way off on Iowa State. They could be pretty competitive this year if a lot of guys hit. But man, it just when you lose 50 plus in the portal, you brought in 48 new players, and then you've got a couple of key season-ending injuries this spring. Braden all is a safety, uh, Saladina Allah, running back. It's I just I feel like there have been a lot of it's it's just a lot to overcome for Iowa State. So right now, I think the safe move is to keep them pretty low at 15. Uh UCF at 14, this this could be a lot different. I mean, if if Alonza Barnett is as advertised, maybe he could be a real force multiplier for Scott Frost and they and they get a lot better. And UCF was pretty feisty at times last year. Um I that that's one I another one kind of like Colorado as I was putting it in. I'm like, I don't really feel great about this. I thought Scott Frost showed me a little bit more than I thought he would in year one. But when I started holding them up and comparing them to everybody, I just couldn't couldn't bring myself to put them higher. Although I'm now reading Baylor at 13, and maybe that was a mistake because I don't Baylor, I just, I don't, I don't believe in this. And I love Joe Klanderman, who's the defensive coordinator now at Baylor coming from K-State. I think he's a very solid defensive coordinator. Definitely gives you a pretty high floor. It sounds like they're giving him a lot of autonomy over the defense. This is a move for Dave Aranda. Like he knows he's got to save his job, right? You're not bringing in just some placeholder defensive coordinator here. They're taking a big swing on DJ Lagway at quarterback. I get that I, you know, I've read about all the injury stuff. Some of it went unreported last year at Florida, what he was playing through, but man, I just I have not seen the consistency with him. I have not seen the consistency from a rando with the program. I'm not feeling great about this being the year that Baylor suddenly turns it around. Cincinnati at 12. Little, little, little bit blah here. Uh, you know, more optimism for Scott Satterfield after last season than I did the season before, but back-to-back years now where you lose the last five games. JC French steps in for Brendan Soresby at quarterback, could be great. But do I do I trust Satfield? Nah. Cincinnati with Scott Satterfield. And look, Cincy fans, I love you. Maybe I'll be totally proven wrong. I was I felt like midway through last year. I was pretty silly for the Satterfield opinion. But it feels to me right now like the Larry David GIF. If you just go to whatever you use for gifts and type in Larry David, you'll see a GIF where he's kind of like, mmm, eh, eh. That's that's kind of what I feel about where Cincinnati's at right now with uh with Scott Satterfield. Uh, I've got Kansas at 11. Andy Kodelnicki is the X Factor here. You got a quarterback uh competition at Kansas. I will say, I mean, Cole Ballard and Isaiah Marshall is not a sexy quarterback battle, but if somebody can figure this out, I think it would be Andy Kodelnicki. I have a very high opinion of him. And he worked some real magic with Cole Ballard a couple of years ago when they had to play him when Jason Bean and Jalen Daniels were hurt. He had to play Cole Ballard against K-State and damn near won the game. If Rich Miller didn't drop a pick six that Will Howard threw him, Kansas might have won that game by like three touchdowns with Cole Ballard playing at quarterback. So I think the offense can be better, but is there enough of an infusion of talent right now at Kansas to elevate the program from back to back five and seven seasons and losing Jalen Daniels, who say what you will about him was a paradigm shifting quarterback for that program. I I have my doubts, but you know, I think they can be a six or a seven-win team for sure. West Virginia, I've got at 10. Now, this is one that's going to probably turn some heads. That's I'm starting to buy in on West Virginia. All right. I know that there's been a considerable amount of resources spent there, and I know they turned over the roster like crazy again. This is another one where an Iowa State fan might say, hey man, they they turned their roster over almost as much as we did. There are 69 new players. But the the data here, if you buy into those who rank the talent, is showing that this is a much more talented roster. I also just think Rich Rod year two with a much more talented, well, I think there's higher potential at the quarterback position. We saw some flashes from Scotty Fox, man. He's back, but then they have Michael Hawkins, who feels like stylistically a really good fit with Rich Rod. Cam Cook coming in from Jacksonville State, uh highly, highly productive player, could be someone to build the offense around. I like what West Virginia is doing with the offense. The defense is a massive work in progress, but I think West Virginia could make a jump up to being a lot more competitive this year. Oklahoma State at nine. This was this is one I have circled that like could look the stupidest at the end of the year. I mean, we all know the story with Oklahoma State. It's just like how insanely tough read. Like, how do you we're not used to evaluating situations like this? When I say the job of doing power rankings is difficult in this era, this is exactly why. Oklahoma State did not win a Big 12 game the last two years. They want to combine four games the last two seasons, and then brought in a new coach with a top 15 portal class with the continuity of 20 players following him from the previous stop. All told, we're talking about a team with 85 new players this year, okay, but a top 15 portal class and continuity from North Texas. I don't know. They're betting huge on experience with these guys, too. 495 career starts. I was reading about Eric Morris, how much he preferred, even at North Texas, to go with proven production from like the D2 level versus uh guys that were former blue chippers who flamed out at their first stop. That's what Oklahoma State is betting on here. I think the offense is going to be great. I mean, Drew Mestemaker, Wyatt Young, Caleb Hawkins, Chris Barnes, who's kind of that's one of my favorite guys from spring, watching some highlights of spring ball. Uh, I I like the Oklahoma State offense a ton. I just too much variance there for me to go any higher than this right now, but I acknowledge it could look totally different and stupid by the end of the year. K-State's in a similar boat at number eight. K-State's in a similar boat, turning over a lot of the roster. They lost some really talented transfers. Uh, their top two pass rushers are at Indiana, their best linebackers at Texas Tech, the best receiver from last year, Chase Brown's at LSU. Lost a lot of talent. Still have Avery Johnson, but there's big question marks there. There, there are big question marks there. How much can Colin Klein elevate his play? I'm definitely optimistic about it, but it's going to have to be a lot if K-State's going to be in the top four or five of the league where I think most of the fans want them to go. And but I was going to say, also with the schedule this year, I this is a power ranking. So I'm not taking the schedule into account in these rankings, by the way. I should have said that off the rip. Not taking the schedule into account. Just how good I think these teams are in a vacuum. All right. But with K-State, it's like I don't, the offensive line's a big question mark. It wasn't very good last year. They have uh a lot of spots to fill there. You've got a new offensive line coach in Mike Schmidt. Um I love the portal class on defense, but once again, you've lost the biggest playmakers for the most part from last year, um, outside of maybe really a couple guys in the secondary. I like Jordan Peterson as the defensive coordinator, but there will just be a lot of things to fit in. And you've got a first-time head coach who's basically my age. And I love Colin Klein. I think he might be a grand slam out of the park home run. I think he has that potential, but he's he's a first-time head coach. So there may be some growing pains this year. I've got K-State at eight. Arizona State's at seven, another one that I cringe. I feel like should probably be higher. I hate doing it to my guy, Kenny D. I think he's the best coach in the league. I seriously considered putting them as high as like five, but just there's so many gaps to fill. There's so many gaps to fill. Uh, you lost Jordan Tyson, you lost Raleigh Brown, you lost Sam Levitt, you lost a first round offensive tackle. The quarterback situation coming out of spring, uh, you know, Cutter Bowley didn't, it sounds like completely win the job over, and it's it's still a little bit up in the air with like Mikey Keene in the mix. I know that there's a really talented freshman that Arizona State likes a lot as well. It's just it once again, I feel like I'm repeating a question mark here. There, there's there's a lot of turnover there and a lot of things that need to be figured out. Having said that, things went pretty well last year, even with Jeff Sims at quarterback. So I do believe in Dillingham's ability to take one of these guys and make them uh make them pretty effective. I was looking at SP Plus too here. Arizona State was 42nd in SP Plus, you know, which in the Big 12 put them at number nine. So it's like, you know, SP Plus takes into account a lot of different things. It's it's recruiting, it's returning production, it's recent history. That's that's what dropped Arizona State to seven. But I gotta be honest, like Arizona's at six for me, and I I I seriously debated putting them below Arizona. I the Arizona fans I know are just gonna absolutely hate me. I I was not a believer last year, you know, until like the bitter, bitter end on that. Uh Arizona's got a stud at quarterback returning in Noah Fafita with a ton of experience, a rarity in in today's game in college football. Uh, they have a stud defensive coordinator who did an excellent job last year. I just, with Brent Brennan and the overall operation, I know Arizona fans, you'll hate me. I just I need I need to see it another year. I gotta, I'm still a bit skeptical here, particularly when I mean that Arizona secondary was so damn good last year, and and they lost four draftees, right, out of the secondary. Nobody had more defensive backs drafted last year than Arizona. I love Danny Gonzalez. He's back. The coaching staff continuity talking point, I think, is is legit. It's a good one. There has not been much of that at Arizona, and everybody is back. I understand the the high points here, the selling points, but um I want to see it again. I want to say I'm gonna make you do it again. I'm gonna make you do it again. That first year was so bad for Brent Brennan that it really rocked what my opinion was of him, and right or wrong, fair or unfair. We as humans have a hard time letting go of our preconceived notions sometimes. And I think that's some of what I'm struggling with in not putting Arizona any higher here than number six. Number five, this is more of like a program respect play. Like, how do you differentiate between TCU and Arizona? I'm going TCU at five. I I respect Sonny Dykes a bit more there. Not it's not just the national championship appearance from a couple of years ago, but it's you know, back-to-back nine-win seasons the last two years. I I also really like what Sonny Dykes is doing. One of my it just drove me nuts, it was the lack of a running game for TCU under Dykes, and just they didn't seem like tough, gritty, consistent, and it would lead to wild fluctuations in performance. And I think I'm particularly in tune with this as a K-State guy who watched it seemed like so many of their performances against K-State were just, I mean, it would be Josh Hoover just turning it over five times, you know. I mean, just these WTF performances that you would get out of TCU from time to time. And Sonny Dykes has brought in Gordon Samus as offensive coordinator, a guy who is definitely trying to be more physical, tough, balanced, running game, tight end, a much different offense than what we saw with Josh Hoover. I like that move. I do. I think TCU still has a solid amount of talent across the board. They typically do have one of the most talented rosters in the Big 12, according to the talent composite. Skill positions seem pretty solid. Jordan Dwyer, Jeremy Payne. You know, I mean, I think there's some strength there. And I actually like what TCU has in the offensive and defensive line. So I'm going with them at number five. Utah, speaking of program faith at number four here, I'm putting some faith in the what's been built over the last two decades at Utah. Morgan Scally with two returning quarterbacks. And yes, a slew of coaches gone. Definitely some high-end talent gone. But Kevin McGivin, the offensive coordinator, who comes in from Utah State, he does run a similar system to what was already there that I think will be advantageous with Bird Ficklin and Devin Dampier. I mean, Way Sean Parker's back. He was a really good back. Couple of stud transfer receivers. You know, I mean, if you're looking at the the rankings, the portal rankings, it seems like receiver is about as successful a position as Utah had in the portal. You do have to replace the entire starting offensive line. And there are some definite question marks on defense. I'm just granting a lot of latitude to Scally and what he does there. But this is an offense that put up elite numbers last year, brings the quarterbacks back, brings the running back back. I'm putting some faith in what Utah has built over the last two decades there to keep them at number four. Houston is number three. This is no surprise to anyone that's been watching the channel uh the channel lately. You saw my interview with Parker Ainsworth from Locked On Coughts. Uh, great quarterback and head coach combo. They returned the head coach, both coordinators, a starting quarterback. It's a really great start. Um, uh a stud receiver, some great portal help at offensive line. That's where they did most of their damage. And then I still I think Mikai Hughes could be a total star next year in the Big 12. Um, another transfer portal edition. That's that's a name to remember. And hey, maybe a little bit of fun here. Keyshawn Henderson and Paris Melvin Jr. Could be some really fun true freshmen to throw into the mix. Keyshawn Henderson, five-star quarterback, uh, by the way, for the uninitiated there. So that's Houston at number three. Now we come to number two and number one. This this is the question here. Does Texas Tech stay at number one after having to replace, well, potentially having to replace Brandon Soresby at quarterback. I am keeping BYU at number two for now. I'm keeping BYU at number two for now. Definitely had to consider them at number one. I I will say I'm getting I'm getting a bit concerned about receiver now. I mean, I saw Cody Hagen medically retired. Getting a little bit it's like, man, if not for the Parker Kingston thing, if BYU could have just had a more calm offseason, obviously Jay Hill is a huge question mark too, losing the defensive coordinator who had been very, very successful uh over his three-year stint in Provo. But man, you've got so many of those studs on defense back. You kept all the the main contributors that could have hit the portal, in essence. Bear Bachmeyer actually getting a spring under his belt after a great season last year. The offensive player of the year in the conference is back at running back. Um, I mean, you got K D Ulawabe in the in the transfer portal to go along with Glasker and Satuala on that defense. Like there's a ton to like here about BYU. They've been rock solid the last two years. I I feel like BYU is is a solid number two there, and I wouldn't I would not argue with somebody putting them at number one right now, just almost on stabilities for stability purposes over Texas Tech. But the thing is, I got tech at one. The gap was so wide last year, guys, and that was with an extremely limited Texas Tech offense ceiling wise because of Barron Morton at quarterback. It just I can't I mean I need to be proven that that gap has has really significantly closed, especially as Tech still had a great portal class, a great portal class. Class. I don't think the defense will be like transcendently good. I don't think they'll be uh historically good like they were last year. I think if you if you look at you know, like defensive line and linebacker is like the perfect way to look at that there. I just I don't think that there's a David Bailey, but you know, AJ Holmes, Mattini Baragua, like they're Trey White, Adam Trick, like these guys are still very good, very talented. There's a lot of depth there. I would also say, like at linebacker, I mean, hey, Ben Roberts, I think is really good. Austin Romain, I think is really good. I don't know that they're top five Heisman good. And that's what Jacob Rodriguez was last year. So that's the difference that we're talking about on defense. And um look, I gotta ride with Will Hammond. You guys know I've written a lot of checks in the past about Will Hammond. I gotta hope those cash, I gotta hope hope those cash. So why not ride with uh Texas Tech at uh at number one there? But hey, it helps when you got Jacoby Williams, Cameron Dickey, Quentin Joyner, you know, back in the backfield. It's a loaded, loaded backfield. And if tech has to just go bully ball again and be that type of a team, I think they could still be the best team in the Big 12. So there you have it. My Big 12 post-spring power rankings. Let me know what you think in the comments. Where'd I get it wrong? I'm sure plenty of people will disagree, but that's that's totally fine. That's that's what we're here for. Uh, let's go check in with some super chats. Actually, by the way, let me say, if click here to see my Big 12 program rankings right now, different than just this year's team. My Big 12 program rankings are right here. That's for everybody watching the clip version. Those of you hanging out here live, I appreciate you, my friends. Uh TMGL. TMGL popping in again. Uh, back to the Texas Tech story. Another angle is that Andy Staples and Billy Lucci say Texas Tech needs to increase their non-con schedule, but they forget to mention that Sankey is making SEC teams cancel their non-con games with the Big 12. Yeah, this is a I, you know, Billy Lucci, who has done Texags runs the biggest uh Texas AM fan site out there. I mean, it's one of the most successful fan sites in the nation. Legendary site's been around for a while. Uh, I I respect Billy Lucci. I do think that's a fair thing to point out. Like, it's not easy. I mean, Alabama just dropped Oklahoma State within the last two weeks. Um, it's you can't just snap your fingers and go out and schedule somebody like that. Like, that's we're all treating this BYU Notre Dame series as a very big deal because it is. And it took USC and Notre Dame clashing to make it happen, where suddenly Notre Dame was scrambling and needed a good opponent. Um it's tough to do in this 12-team era right now. I mean, Steve Sarkeesian is literally making this whole play because he's basically saying, yeah, it makes no sense to play non uh non-conference games like this. Okay, so good, yeah, good luck going and finding that right now. It's not easy. It's not easy. Um, so that that is, I think, a fair point. Now, I'm sure you could do, I think Texas Tech could do better than Oregon State. Okay, and I know circumstantially maybe it wouldn't have really worked out to change that on a whim this year, but I think Texas Tech could do better than that. What could they get Texas? Could they get Notre Dame? Could they get like Oregon who's playing Oklahoma State? Could they get Bama who just dropped a I don't know. I don't know the answer to that, but I would like to see Texas Tech uh challenge themselves more. Uh the problem is uh what I'm seeing in my head is I'm like, oh it's gonna wind up with Texas Tech playing somebody in like the it's not the Georgia dome anymore. Mercedes-Benz Stadium, right? They're gonna play someone in Atlanta on a neutral field in early September. Like, just the play make it a home and home. Kirby Hokott, home and home, please. Home and home against someone from the SEC or or Big Ten. Uh Allen, what's up, Alan? Allen says, uh, John, Texas win the Big 12 with their second team. Sark must have forgotten 2021 when Texas lost to Kansas's walk-on squad, 57-56, when walk-on Jared Casey caught the winning extra point. Go Big 12. Rock chalk Jayhawk Allen. Allen from the top rope, man. Sark isn't even safe from Allen. Allen's coming after him. I love it, Alan. Uh, I will never forget where I was watching that game. That this is uh maybe this is just us as dorky college football fans, but I remember that for so many games, like where I was watching it. I was at a friend's house uh watching the end of that game, all of us with our jobs on the floor as that was happening. And then Jared Casey, he got like an Applebee's commercial. I think he he got a couple of commercial deals after that happened, which is good for him, man. Go get the bag. Yeah, crazy game, crazy win. And yes, that was the peak of the guys. Do we remember Texas lost to Kansas in football? That era. The Texas lost to Kansas in football meme. That was a good era of interneting uh for college football at large. Thank you for being here, Alan. Thank you for your support. Same to you, Zach. Thank you for your support. Zach says, stopping in to say, I love this show and go BYU. Zach, thank you very much, my friend. Don't be a stranger and uh spread the word. Appreciate you being here. All right, I've got uh oh, TMGel, Mississippi State canceled on tech too. What can we do? There you go. There you go. Oh, or Oregon and NC State canceled on tech. All right, all right. Um yeah. Somebody play Texas Tech. Do we need to do we need to get uh everybody mobilized on Big 12 Twitter to fire something up here? Like, what do we need to do? Get somebody to play tech. Everybody wants to talk about them, and everybody wants to talk about the non-con schedule being too easy.

SPEAKER_01 49:43

Nobody wants to play him. Nobody wants to play him.

SPEAKER_02 49:47

Okay, please do like the video, subscribe to the channel, sign up for the Open for Business Big 12 newsletter, OFBnews.com. I've got one more story for you here uh tonight. One of the wildest quotes of the Big 12 season is back. Uh, one Big 12 school apparently is still totally poor. And that's according to its legendary head coach. Uh, it sure sounds like that anyway, if you listen to him, doubling down on a very memorable soundbite from earlier this year. And I would tell you, he's he's not the only Big 12 coach that needs to be taking this type of uh of strategy in fundraising. Okay. Uh we'll mention another specific school later on in this video. I think this uh an appropriate jumping off point to this story is we all know by now, if you've paid any attention to this channel, like the Big 12, nobody has taken the $30 million in private capital money that basically alone, a $30 million loan that was offered to the Big 12 from Redbird Capital in the Red Bird deal. Now, that deal was about much more than that $30 million, but that was a perk of it. Like, hey, you can borrow this 30 million at 10%. Most of the schools have now come out and said if we really wanted money to that degree, we could get it from the university at a better rate. So we're not going to do that. One of the schools I thought might take it because of the financial situation it's in, and what we have heard from its legendary men's basketball coach is Houston. I thought, hey, Houston might be one of these school uh a school that's you know, the original reports were two to six schools might be interested in taking it. Well, I Houston was what came to mind first to me, and a lot of that is because after a February win over UCF, okay, so you know, hey, nice win. UCF, solid tournament team this year. No celebration for Kelvin Sampson. Uh, this was his quote from after the game. He said, quote, we have a very poor athletic department. We're poor. We were poor when I got here, and we're still poor. So, in case you didn't catch that, he used the word poor uh four different times, all right, for emphasis there. He wants you to know Houston is and was poor. Uh, quote, we probably have the lowest budget of anybody in power four. The way our recruiting is going, we have to stop at some point because we don't have the money to keep bringing in many good players, and that's not easy for us to do. Once again, this is after a win. This is after a win the year after they played for a national championship. We're in the national championship game. Well, Kelvin Sampson is back at it again. We had more quotes to this degree, okay, about the financial situation that Houston is in. And I do, I think this is I'm gonna react to this, and I think it's an important thing to talk about for Big 12 fans because many schools they may not be totally poor, right? Like there may be a little bit of exaggeration going on here. But there are schools, like this is now or never time for anybody in the Big 12. You want to make the cut for whatever is going to be next, whether it's the Big 12 sticking around, whether it's a super league, whether it's AFC, NFC, Big Ten, SEC, it now is the you gotta fundraise, you gotta be all in now. If you care about your school, the existential stakes are there. Uh, so I think Kelvin Sampson totally realizes that. Um, this first clip, I first clip I want to point out because I did think this is where if you want to say, like, hey, Kelvin, you're maybe exaggerating a little bit too much here. Um you'll see what I mean. This this is he's talking to a group of of Houston fans and donors.

SPEAKER_00 53:27

It was 1984. We wrote the national map. So you think about the generation that went from 1985 to 2017. Think about all the graduates of all classes we had during that time period. None of them had a habit of supporting our athletic department financing.

SPEAKER_02 53:56

All right, so the beginning of that, Kelvin Sampson says the last time we had a year where we were nationally relevant in basketball was 1984. I appreciate what Kelvin Sampson is doing here. I think it's great. I think overall this is a good thing to do. Kelvin, you just played in the national championship game last season. You, you, not your school, you, you did personally, you were there, you coached, and you damn near won the thing. Probably should have won the game. That that happened. Houston has been relevant nationally for a while now. But the point that he goes on to make is like there was not an established culture of supporting the school financially from donors, and so that it's kind of a cultural problem that Houston has, where people have just not been trained to do this, and now he's trying to get them really, really on board to do that, which okay. So, like, I I understand, and I I do see, I do see here. I think he just meant before his tenure. That that probably that probably is what he means, right? Here is another clip though where he's gonna go on about get into a little bit more of the granular details about where where things are financially and where they started when he got there, which is again when he's really driving home this point. Like, hey, we we don't have a ton of money, guys.

SPEAKER_00 55:19

Yeah, nobody everybody gets made up here. We can be supported in the higher level.

SPEAKER_02 55:56

I mean, those comments sound very, very similar to what I what I read you. Let's go back to the quote that I read you from February against UCF. We have a very poor athletic department, we're poor, we were poor when I got here, and we're still poor. That quote is basically doing the same thing. And you may be saying, like, hey, why is Kelvin Sampson beating this drum? Is this not a little bit counterproductive? Is this not a bad look? I mean, this one is now surfaced on Twitter, though we're poor. That was like at a press conference that generated headlines everywhere. Isn't this a bad look for Houston? I mean, I so yes, maybe, but it doesn't matter. Like what you need is you need to get money in the door. Uh, you need to get money to make it happen. I think Kelvin Sampson could do so much good for Houston in this moment by getting them to realize that you've got to meet the moment with the proper financial support right now to give yourself a fighting chance. And not just that, it's not just because there's this underlying existential threat all the time of what can happen to you if you don't, you know, you could be Washington State or Oregon State, or you could survive and continue to grow and grow and grow and see what happens. You know, I mean your football program could turn into Utah or something, for instance, like make that type of run over the next 20 years. This is the difference between that right now providing the right level of financial support. But Kelvin Sampson is also saying, like, hey, it's not just that, it's that you have a real opportunity here because look at who your coaches are. You know, I mean, he's being pretty humble about himself, but it's like, dog, I'm Kelvin Sampson. Like, I am that guy. I I took us to the national championship game last year. Like, my son is the head coach in waiting. Clearly, he believes in his son. So isn't it like look at the coaching that you have here? Plus, oh yeah, your football coach is Willie Fritz, right? Willie Fritz. He just went from four wins to 10 wins last year, brought everybody back. I think he has a stronger roster this year. Yeah, you guys need to support him. Like, if not now, then when? When would you ever support if you're not going to do it now when you have Kelvin Sampson and Willie Fritz as your two coaches pushing the chips into the center of the table right now? So I think it's a really smart thing that Kelvin is doing here, and it's a providing a huge service to Houston. And to me, it's very similar to the other school that I was bringing up. And by the way, guys, please do subscribe to the channel. Uh, very easy, just takes one click and uh really, really helps me out pushing toward 35k subs. Another guy, I think, is doing a similar thing, though in a much more behind-the-scenes fashion. He's not coming out with eye-popping quotes like this, but I think it's Colin Klein at K-State. I don't think K-State, I mean K-State's in a totally different spot. Kelvin, in this clip that I pulled from there, he goes on to say, like, hey, when when I started, we were really like horizon league level. We were just in the American conference. Like, we've had to come a long way. That's not been K-State's experience. Since Bill Snyder got there and started winning a ton of games in the 90s, you know, there has been support. But I do think K-State's been dragging its feet on getting into what it takes to win overall in terms of just infrastructure, I'll call it, in the athletic department, what it takes to win in this new era of college sports. And I think Colin Klein has been vital, vital in pushing the athletic department forward through that and saying, hey guys, you better do it now because I'm an elite head coach. You know, obviously he's going to believe in himself. So that's a part of the message. Like, I'm an awesome head coach, get me the resources I need, but also like we have to do it right now. Do you want to be Washington State or Oregon State? Because um I got news for you. You are not respected as much as you should be nationally, and that could very easily happen to you. Like, I think these it is it is on some of these coaches to do this right now for their schools and their athletic departments andor fan bases if people are not on board. And uh I think it's especially when you have a guy like Kelvin Samson, totally different scenario, kind of, with Colin Klein being a first-year head coach, though Klein does have a ton of clout at K-State because of his playing career. But Samson's a guy in a position like he joked about, he cracked that joke. Hey, I I don't have many days left, so I can do this. But I mean, he's right. Like he has so much tenure and so much experience and clout built up there that, like, yeah, he's in a unique position to demand that. You know, Willie Fritz could do it, but he doesn't have well, he's been great, he's uh got a lot of goodwill there. It's not quite the the level of what Samson has. Uh so he's he's the type of guy that can, should, and obviously, uh obviously will speak up about all this. So this is a gift, this is a gift that Kelvin Sampson can give Houston that's way beyond even just making a Final Four and making a national championship game like he did last year. And hopefully you've got more change agents like this across the conference if there are schools that are dragging their feet or donors that are dragging their feet because love it or hate it, love it or hate it. I'm not saying you have to like it. This is what it takes in college sports these days, whatever, but I do think I do think it's the reality. Now, if you want to hear more about what Samson said the first time, more details on his original comments about Houston being poor, click here. That's for everybody watching the clip version. Everybody hanging out live. Thank you for being here, my friends. Uh let's let's shut it down. I hope you have a great memorial day tomorrow. Hope you don't have to work, hope you get to chill, grill out, hang out with your family. Um, and thank you for being supporters of the show. I see just call Jim Nance. That's a that's a funny comment. Yes, that's right. Houston grad Jim Dance. He's got plenty of cash. He's got that house with like a replica pebble beach hole, right? Um, I think he's got he's probably got a little extra loose change rolling around there. Uh like the video, subscribe, sign up for the open for business big twelve newsletter at OFBnews.com on your way out tonight. Appreciate all you guys. Um, take care. I will talk to you all very soon.