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July 22, 2024 - Doug Collins Podcast
42:28
A Peak Behind The College Football Curtain
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You want to listen to a podcast?
By who?
Georgia GOP Congressman Doug Collins.
How is it?
The greatest thing I have ever heard in my whole life.
I could not believe my ears.
In this house, wherever the rules are disregarded, chaos and mob rule.
It has been said today, where is bravery?
I'll tell you where bravery is found and courage is found.
It's found in this minority who has lived through the last year of nothing but rules being broken, people being put down, questions not being answered, and this majority say, be damned with anything else.
We're going to impeach and do whatever we want to do.
Why?
Because we won an election.
I guarantee you, one day you'll be back in the minority and it ain't gonna be that fun.
All right, folks.
Welcome back to the Ducons Podcast.
Let's start the week off differently.
And that is, look, we got a lot of politics to talk about.
We've talked about a lot of it last week, the RNC, Donald Trump, J.D. Vance.
Got a lot left to go.
We'll be going in, but we're less...
Here's the...
For those of us who are political, yes, we're almost at 100 days before the vote in November.
16 weeks, however you want to call it.
But there's even more special numbers for those of us here on the podcast.
And you know, I've got coming up Michael Waddell.
The Bone Collector is going to be on.
We're going to talk fall hunting.
We're going to talk spring hunting.
We have Michelle Tafoya.
She's coming up.
You know, we've got a lot going on.
But we're going to be bringing out our buddy Chan Gailey in.
Coach Gailey is here with us today on this Monday to get us started because we're less than 30, almost 30 days for high school football here in the state of Georgia.
We're about 40-something days away from week zero and a little bit more than that for the first kickoff in some of the SEC tournaments, so in games.
And of course, another couple weeks, you got the NFL. So lots going on here.
We wanted to get an early start.
And of course, it's always great to have our friend, Coach Galeon.
So right after the break, we're going to be right back and we're going to dive right in.
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All right, Coach.
It's good to see you, buddy.
It's great to be with you again, Doug.
Always a fun time of year, isn't it?
It's exciting.
We were out on...
Lisa and I were working at the house the other day.
We got back in and we were sort of taking a break.
We got into the cleaning up and doing some flyer bed cleaning, but Lisa doesn't do well with poison ivy.
We've been dealing with that.
So on Saturday and Sunday, we didn't get...
She's not...
She's dealing with some of that.
So we didn't have to work out in the yard as much.
So we were just piddling around.
But I got there and I said, there's nothing to watch.
So I mean, I'm just...
I went down to the dock and did some dock suspicion.
But there was nothing on.
But then it reminded me, we're almost there, Coach.
Just a few more weeks.
We're almost there.
It was so bad that a week ago, I actually watched an Alabama-Penn State game from 85. Okay?
That's how bad it was.
You know, back when they were...
What was his name?
He retired a few years ago.
Keith...
Okay, he did all the ABC stuff.
Keith...
Jackson.
Keith Jackson.
I mean, it was back when Keith was still young.
I mean, let's give it the grip here.
But we're back.
How is it, though, because we're now in the media days.
Last week, SEC media days.
Before that, the Big 12 media days.
Pac-12 showed up and had a bar party, but that was it.
There was two of them showed up.
They all got it.
Big Ten media days, I think, is this week, actually, are coming up.
But anyway, describe, go back to your college days here for a little bit.
Media days are so different than the pro level.
What is it about that we who look at it can take away from media days that maybe, what is it for y'all putting into it, the kids putting into it, that kind of thing?
Well, you're trying to say, you're trying to talk a lot and not say anything.
You know, it's one of those deals.
Wow, it's a podcast!
Yeah, well, the thing when you get to with the media is they've got a job to do too, and you've got to recognize that.
So you've got to give them enough where they've got soundbites, they've got things they can play, they've got things they can use, but you're trying not to give anything away for the season.
So it's a game you play sort of with the media and you sit down with your media person before you go to it and you say, okay, what are they going to ask?
Because they've got the year.
Your media person at your school has the year of what's going to be asked.
So you go in there, okay, what's going to be asked?
How do we want to talk about this?
How do we want to talk about that?
And just make sure you are not getting caught off guard, really.
I see.
I was watching, last week I watched the SEC media days and I caught, I think it was Hyples, I think from Tennessee.
I was eating lunch or something and he was on and it was after Kirby.
Kirby's gotten by the way.
Kirby has gotten I mean, he's elite now at doing these interviews.
I mean, he knows how to do it.
He puts the work in, you can tell.
But I was just watching the Tennessee and Hyples do this.
What made me coach was, they were like a room of like a hundred I mean, I'm sure back in the day you still had all your reporters, but nowadays, you know, hi, I'm Doug Collins from Memphis.
We run the blog, SEC Nation, and I have a question.
It's like, where do all these people come from?
I mean, there's just like everybody and their brother.
Well, you know, it is not the national game for no reason.
Now that you have all these ways to get information out, they all want to have the so-called inside scoop.
And they think they've got the best question, and they think they've got the inside answers, and they want to be able to give opinions.
They want to give their opinion, and then they need some kind of sound bite to back it up.
I love it.
Well, hey, we can't get away from this.
We're going to get back to media days here in just a second, but we had to do the funny.
Your friend, your buddy, by the way, now that he's retired, we need to get him to come on with you on the podcast.
We got to get Saban on the podcast.
This would be hilarious.
But Saban now doing his job with ESPN. Pulled a rookie.
Supposedly last week at the SEC Media Days and the ESPN reporters gave, he showed up without his credentials.
I mean, can you think of a more Saban-esque thing to do on his first SEC Media Days, not as the king of the SEC Media Days?
Well, what you can't believe is that somebody actually stopped him.
That's what you can't believe.
That guy must be living under a rock somewhere, not to know who Nick Saban is.
He doesn't watch AFLAC commercials or anything.
He must be kin to the police officer in Louisville that didn't know who Scotty Scheffler was.
As we go.
For the kids who go to media days, just a question here, because I mean, I know you had to pick out some kids to go to media days and that's kind of, is that something I know you typically bring your stars or whatever, but is that something also that you sort of prepare them for as well?
No question about it.
You have them sit down, but we usually did it as a freshman.
We kind of had a little class about that, you know, how to handle media, how to do that, but you give them When they're going to the media days, you give them a lot of extra special prep, and they sit down and they talk how you dress, how you want to look, how you want to say things, you know, what to stay away from, all that kind of stuff.
So there's a lot of prep that goes into that.
It's not like a full-blown practice, but it's close.
You give them a couple hours worth.
Oh, wow.
Well, in looking at that, all right, let's sort of take a step back.
We're getting into what, I mean, I'm not a personal fan of this.
I know we've talked about it a lot.
We're going into the first year of the 12 in the playoff cycle.
We're going into, you know, just what we've seen change with the scheduling, I think, the last year, especially for Georgia fans and for a lot of fans.
Florida State, you can look at it however you want to.
The 12 couldn't get here fast enough.
But looking at that, I heard Kirby was asked a question, and he made an interesting answer, and I'd love to get your take on this.
He was talking about, you know, because Georgia literally has not lost to anybody that's not named Alabama since 2020. I mean, you can think about that.
They have two losses in three years.
Yeah.
And that one loss last year, I think, deprived them of probably a three-peat.
I think if they got in, they would have probably won the title, but it lost.
He was asked about the 12 team, and he said, does it change?
And he made a comment, and he said something to the effect of this, that We have to change how we look at the season because the one or for possible two loss is not the end of the season.
He said it's a mindset change.
How do you take that, Coach?
Well, first of all, when you're in the NFL, you're in that mindset all the time.
Right.
Because the key is to get in.
Right.
And so you don't get too bent out of shape.
Now, I'll be honest with you, if Georgia loses the game, You're not going to be too bent out of shape now.
Last year, you would have worried if Kentucky would come in and won.
Oh, yeah.
Definitely.
Everybody would have worried about that.
Now, it's okay.
You can still get in.
The key is to get in and be healthy when you get in.
That's the key.
Do you think that helps someone like a Kalen DeBoer, first year in Alabama, this new setup, help him?
No question about it.
Because you all of a sudden go there and you don't get into the Final Four, ooh, that's tough.
But if you get in and you win one or two but lose what would have been the semifinal, everybody says, great job.
Yeah.
It's going to be interesting.
I was a little bit...
Amazed at, and I'd love to hear yours.
I think it's some hype.
I think they've got good athletes, and I think Sarkeesian has done really good with his second chance, if you would, at Texas.
But I'm also wondering, is Texas Oklahoma You know, a little bit different.
Is there a little bit of previous year height?
And also, is there a difference?
And I'm maybe answering this question myself.
For Texas and Oklahoma, who played only two or three of their games before crowds of 80 or 90, 100,000, the rest of their games were played much smaller crowds, especially if they went somewhere.
And even some of the students now in the Big 12, is that going to make that big of a difference now that they're actually having to do an SEC season?
Well, the crowds won't be that big a deal, Doug.
The competition will.
I'm telling you now, the defense in the Big 12 has been suspect for quite a while.
So you're now getting ready to face defenses that are really, really good.
And that's going to be, the competition level is going to be the key for them now.
I don't think crowds, you know, you play before 90,000, you play before 45,000.
That's a big difference, but it doesn't make a difference about how you play the game.
You know the game's a big game, so you're going to go play your butt off no matter what.
Now, the noise factor, will that be an issue on away games?
Yes, they'll have to handle the noise factor better than they've ever had to handle it before, and I think they know that.
Yeah, I think consistency here, Coach, and I think you hit on it, that you're going to do this, and it's something I've sort of said for a long time, and again, everybody, you know, again, you and I both coming from the SEC, the South, we...
Everybody just say we're homers for this area, and I get it, but The level of play has always been, for the top half at least, or a little better, has always been a little bit higher in the SEC than if you compare to the top halves in other conferences, including the Big Ten.
And I think that's why many times you see Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and Michigan State on occasion pulling in there, and only occasionally do you see the Iowa bump up or whatever.
But it's that consistency week after week to, you know, you go from an Alabama to an Ole Miss to a Tennessee to an Arkansas to a Georgia.
That's a different way to have to think about playing ball.
Well, you talked about the top half of the league.
To me, the top half of the SEC, where people are going to get fooled is the lower half of the SEC. It's a fight every week.
There's only one team in the SEC that Is kind of below the mark, so to speak.
God bless Vanderbilt.
Yeah, I know.
I wasn't going to call any names, but you went right out there.
You know?
We've got to keep the GPA up.
Yeah, but the rest of them, now I'm going to tell you, If you don't realize it, you go into Starkville, Mississippi, you better buckle up, baby.
You go into, and we didn't even mention LSU, but you go down there, holy camoly, you're in for a shot when you walk in there.
Hey, I have never asked you this.
Did you play or coach in Death Valley on a night game?
Oh, yes.
Tell us about that, Coach.
Well, I played there and you drive into the stadium and They've got the grills going and it smells like you're in some foreign country because of what they cook.
And then on top of that, everybody's saluting you with one finger and beating on the bus.
I mean, because they get in the middle of the road to slow the bus down so they can beat on the bus.
Oh wow.
And then when you get off the bus, Mike the Tiger is sitting right there by your dressing room.
He's sitting right there, and they're in the back poking him, so he roars.
I mean, it was intimidating for a little junior to go in there and play college football.
I've never had to go there and coach, but I've played there.
Look, it's just a different atmosphere.
It is.
I don't care how you cut it.
I mean, look, going into Arkansas, I mean, again, I think it's that level.
I do have an interesting question for you, though, and I'm going to go back on history a little bit.
When Missouri, it was Missouri-Arkansas came in, back in, but Missouri had a couple of years, the first couple of years they came back in, they had success.
Was it because, and I'm curious now, because that was been the early, that was 2012, 2013 timeframe, 14. Was it because They were just unique or was it maybe because the SEC East was just weak at that point?
I think both and.
I think they had a lot better players than people expected.
I think they slipped up on a lot of people and the East wasn't nearly as strong back in those days as it is now.
I mean, you used to line up and play Florida, and you were trembling every time you went down there and played.
It's not that way anymore as bad.
So, you know, you end up...
I think it was they had much better players.
People didn't kind of realize how good they might be, and the East was not as strong.
I think it was a combination of all of that.
And again, we're a little bit too early in the season to talk specific players and others.
I think it is interesting to me that Beck, who was basically ignored by most of the college writers last year because you had the Caleb Williams, you had the others all out there, is now early, early season, which I don't put, but I mean, let's just use it for talking purposes, at the top of the Heisman kind of look.
How do you just judge early season?
I mean, Georgia's...
I mean, look, as a Georgia fan, I mean, look, it's very well known.
I'm a Georgia-Alabama fan.
Georgia first.
Alabama, if they're not playing each other, because of my granddaddy.
But Georgia's...
I mean, I'm looking at this, and I'm channeling Vince Dooley a little bit here.
There's a...
I mean, that is a...
We got a schedule that...
You know, it's different than we've had.
I mean, you added a couple of games, but you added Clemson to start the year again.
You got Texas on the road.
That's going to be a huge game.
Yeah.
And you got Alabama on the road, too, I think.
I have to go back and check that.
How do you see Georgia preparing for this?
And, you know, Kirby has always that mindset, we're an underdog.
And I think he got his soundbite from, again, our friend Saban, who said he didn't think that they were prohibitive favorites for the SEC. So I think he got his soundbite to tell the team.
Where do you see that happening right now?
Well, they're going to be good.
I tell you, every team, like Texas, like a bunch of them, that have a returning quarterback that was successful is going to be hard.
They're going to be tough to beat.
I don't care who you are.
That returning good quarterback makes all the difference in the world.
And he is...
I think everybody thinks he's going to be really good, but he's going to have to prove it early.
He doesn't get any kind of, you know, let's get warmed up, let's get into the flow.
There's none of that anymore.
You've got to go get ready from day one, and it'll be interesting to see how he handles those first few games.
Yeah.
I also noticed in media days last week, I almost didn't recognize him.
He looked like he had put on some muscle.
Oh, really?
Yes.
I was watching.
There was a picture of him getting on the plane and, you know, him and Kirby and everybody getting on the plane, but he was in shorts.
And he looked bigger than he looked on the field last year.
So that will be interesting to see.
Yeah.
I mean, can he carry that weight?
Can he handle it?
That's the thing you worry about when you try to get guys bigger and stronger.
Some guys can carry it, some guys can't.
Off the cuff question here.
Just pure off the cuff.
That's what you have normally, to be honest with you.
Yeah, well, I try this.
I don't send them to you in advance so you can call on me.
Hey, I read an article and it made me think when we're talking about Beck and Milrow and everybody else.
A big discussion going around, does Stetson Bennett deserve to be in the College Football Hall of Fame?
Oh, that's a hard one for me.
I don't know.
I can see yes because of back-to-back, you know, you can see that.
Boy, that's a horrible one.
I don't know.
I don't know.
What's their criteria?
Do you even know what the criteria is?
I don't know.
I think that's the question.
But I mean, he had, I mean, look, you look at his mile.
I mean, look at his yardage.
I mean, he's passed the TD reception.
But what, okay, then your answer sort of led me to the next question.
Why is it that a quarterback, I mean, if this was anybody, I mean, I could think of a name, just fill in the blank with a name.
To me, it would be, and I'm not advocating for this.
I just think it's an interesting point.
Almost any other quarterback in the last 10 years has been drafted.
I'll just put it that way.
If they had back-to-back national titles, had stats that were 2,000 and 3,000 yards passing, they'd be a no-brainer.
Why is it that Stetson breeds this, I don't know, I think there's a couple things.
One, because, and this is wrong, he wasn't a high, top-rated recruit.
I think that's part of it.
And I think that because he played two years, not three or four, I think that probably has something to do with it.
I said for years to be careful of Alabama quarterbacks.
Because I could go play quarterback at Alabama.
You got first-round running backs, first-round receivers, first-round offensive linemen.
First-round tight ends, it's not hard to go play there.
You've got a great defense that gets you the ball a lot.
You've got to be careful with those guys.
I think that's what a lot of people are saying.
Look at all the people he had around him.
He was a two-year quarterback and not a highly touted guy to start with, so he wasn't on the radar.
Probably all of that kind of stuff.
I get it.
You just brought up an interesting point about Alabama quarterbacks, and we're going to jump out of the college for a second and go to pro, and that's Bryce Young at Carolina.
Is this a major, and I hate to say it in this way, it's his second year, but did Bryce suffer from that?
I think so.
I think he did.
And he ran around and made a lot of plays and all of a sudden everybody can run in the NFL and he can't outrun as many people and the coverage is a little tighter.
So it's harder for him.
It really is.
Well, the only, and I'm wrong here, and our producer James, he'll jump in if I'm wrong, or you as well.
Tua is the only, well, you guys gotta have Hurts.
Hurts and Tua coming out of Alabama, but they've struggled at times.
Yeah.
I mean, it's not like they're clear-cut, you know, really, really good long-term quarterbacks' answers at their respective places.
They play good, and you've got to give them credit for that, but, you know, time will tell on the other part.
We've sort of mentioned this name before and we went back and forth.
But either Harbaugh has to be one of the smartest individuals that there are or the luckiest or the best time because the latest look at Michigan was Vegas is putting Michigan at over under I think it's seven wins.
Oh, that's tough.
That is tough.
They lost a lot of good football players though.
I mean a lot of good football players.
It's hard to replace that crew.
And I'm going to tell you right now, Harbaugh's smart.
He's smart.
He knows what he's doing.
Yes.
That's for sure.
Looking at football as we go forward, The one thing I'm going to give, and this will be my only give on this playoff system, and again, I guess maybe I'm just too old school and I get it, but, you know, the best part about this new playoff system, the more I've started to think about it, is I think now we're going to see better games in this regular season.
Because, I think as you said earlier, Georgia playing Clemson week one, that used to be, you lose, you're done.
You know, you're out.
Now it's not.
Which brings us to Clemson.
I mean, I mentioned that I'm old school.
I mean, Dabo has almost made a cottage industry now about being an 80s coach in a 2024 year.
I mean, again, is this a make or break year for Dabo?
Is he going to be up there playing golf with you guys on the lake?
No, it's not.
I mean, the guy's won two national championships.
He can recruit with the best of them.
Who's going to go to Clemson that's better than him?
But arguably, I'll play my reporter role here, which I don't play very well at all.
But arguably, though, he won those in the non-Portal, non-NIL era.
Right.
And he suffered in the true portal in NIL era, which he's, you know, they're doing NIL. Ungolay was one of the first to sign with Dr. Pepper.
But the portal issue, I mean, I think Heupel's described it now as basically you're recruiting all high school and all others is like recruiting junior college players.
I mean, you're recruiting people all there.
Oh, shoot.
Everybody's recruiting.
You're recruiting your own team, you're recruiting somebody else's team, and you're recruiting high school players.
I mean, you're doing it all, and you hope your high school players come in and stay, but you don't know that.
But getting back to Dabo, Dabo is who he is.
Do we all have to adjust?
Yes.
I think he has and will even more so.
He has adjusted a little.
I think he will continue to adjust as need be.
He was probably thinking maybe we'd get this under control a little bit quicker than we have.
But he will...
He's a survivor.
You look at his whole career.
He is a survivor, and he will make it.
I really believe he's the right kind of guy for Clemson.
Everybody I've ever talked to, everybody I've ever heard talk about Dabo, just he's top-notch.
I mean, he's the guy you want to go hang out with, kind of thing.
Speaking of, do you think And again, I love having you on because we get into the mindset of the coaches a lot and also players from your perspective and teams.
Is the chaos that is surrounding the ACC right now with Florida State and Clemson, how does that play on a head coach?
Well, are you talking about the other head coaches or those two head coaches?
Well, these two that are there, I mean, it's got to play with the others saying, you don't want to play ball with us because you don't think we're any good.
It's got to play in the ACC pickup and saying, look, we're trying to leave the ACC. But the programs, I mean, if you think about it, they're having to think, as you said, coach internally, recruit internally, recruit externally, and you've got this sort of turmoil going with basically your own conference.
Well, what you're going to get, more than likely, you're going to get everybody's best game.
Because we're going to show you, you're not better than the ACC. So every ACC game you play, you're going to get...
Because that coach and coaches at Virginia Tech and Virginia and Georgia Tech and everywhere else, they're saying, these guys think they're better than you.
Let's go out and prove that they're not.
They're going to say that every week.
They're going to get the best game every week.
Now, they normally do anyway because they're at the top of the heap, but they're going to get even more so for a different reason.
And it's going to come out in some press conference when Clemson or Florida State gets beat by an ACC team.
It'll be said, I guess we're pretty good in the ACC, too, that there's more than two good teams.
Okay, this is a question.
Florida State and Bobby Bowden's own words went to the ACC and chose it because they could be good there.
Okay?
It was his own words years and years and years ago.
Clemson, you know, they sort of just grew up there.
There was a time.
And what got me thinking about this was Texas, Oklahoma.
We'll see how that happens this year going to the SEC. But let's just say Sankey decides to match the Big Ten or whatever they are now with 18 instead of 16 teams.
And they say, okay, we'll bring in Florida State and Clemson.
Or they go to, you know, make the bigger Big Ten.
Interesting question.
Do you think it would be harder for Clemson and Florida State to deal with an environment of a very competitive conference than it is for Oklahoma and Texas to deal coming into the SEC? I think you're talking about the same thing.
You're talking oranges and oranges, not apples and oranges.
I think it's the same pressure, same mindset, same everything.
Because Clemson and Florida State are the best.
Texas and Oklahoma were the best.
That's what happens.
And I think that if they came in, it would be exactly the same thing.
And the good thing for Texas and Oklahoma, if that happened, is they wouldn't be talking about the newcomers, Texas and Oklahoma.
They'd be talking about the newcomers, Clemson and Florida State.
Clemson, Florida State coming to the SEC is, frankly, the most logical.
And Sankey even said this last week.
He said, we're the only true conference that actually represents, through its name, who we are.
Yes, that is true.
So, Texas, I mean, Clemson and Florida State going to a Big Ten just doesn't fit.
And so I think Sankey's keeping it close to the best on this.
If they do come in, do you believe it will be to the SEC? No question.
I think that's exactly what'll happen.
And it would be great for the SEC. There's no reason for the Big Ten to take them.
They don't give them TV. They don't give them exposure.
They don't give them anything.
But they give the SEC a lot.
The travel expenses are down, everything.
It gives the SEC a ton.
Well, and also, they don't have to go to the Big Ten.
And this guy pointed out the other day, Coach, and I know as an athletic director or not, maybe as a head football coach, you have to deal with this.
Big Ten offers a lot more sports per school because of the inside aspect than the SEC does.
I mean, through wrestling and other stuff, which there is no Division I wrestling program in the Southeastern Conference.
No.
And it's huge up there.
Yeah, and you don't want to have to go compete.
I mean, just think of the travel expenses, if nothing else.
Clemson can get to, what, six SEC schools in less than four hours?
Oh, in a month, yeah.
Yeah.
So it makes complete sense.
Now, Florida probably doesn't want Florida State to come in.
South Carolina doesn't want Clemson to come in.
They'll vote against it, but everybody else will probably vote for it.
Well, yeah, we found out how that looks in the Texas A&M pouting session.
Yes.
The way that comes.
Hey, another question coming in from a perspective of that.
Let's take it out west because we no longer have the Pac-12.
It's gone.
And Washington, Oregon, in particular, is Washington, Oregon, SoCal, and Southern Cal, and UCLA all to the Big Ten.
Yes.
I think my personal think is Oregon will compete for a little while.
Washington will have a terrible year.
UCLA and USC. Lincoln Riley has seen his last year at USC after this year.
Oh, you think that?
I just don't think they're going to be able to compete.
They were so used to playing each other out there in scrimmages, it seems like, that when they get up, you know, again, whether I like them or not, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, where you just got beef, I mean, and you got power, and you got hard football.
That's just not what they play.
No, and I think this will be a very interesting year because I'm in your corner.
I don't think they can compete, but they get a chance to prove it and see if they can.
But I'm not one that thinks there's going to be a surge from the West Coast to take over the Big Ten or to even compete way up there.
Yeah.
All right.
We've got a couple more things here we'll hit on before we get going.
The Big 12 had their media days, had all the new faces in, everything else, their commissioner, who seems like to be, as I've heard him described, sort of a Ringling Brothers, Barnum& Bailey kind of guy.
You know, talking about all this stuff, hyping his conference, which you'd expect him to do.
Is there really, and this is just you from that perspective, do they have to do that because the Big Ten and SEC are just so dominant?
Yes.
I mean, you have to do that.
If you don't try to sell your product, you're wrong.
You're not doing the job of service.
You're not doing the Big 12 of service.
You've got to try to sell what you've got.
Now, and there's probably going to be a Big 12 representative in the 12, you know, playoff system.
There'll be one.
You know, there might be two, but I doubt it.
But we'll see.
And it's...
It's an interesting situation with the ACC and the Big 12 right now trying to compete against the Big SEC and the Big 10. I think this is going to be a super interesting college football season.
Last question before I get a prediction out of it.
Colorado, does Deion Sanders right the ship this year?
No.
No.
I like Deion.
I get Deion, but I think there's a lot of rhetoric and hype and not much substance to their football team.
I don't think they've got the strong enough football team to go out there and win consistently.
Will he stay long enough to build it?
I don't know.
That's an interesting question for me, too.
I'm curious, yeah.
Yeah, I know.
I think that he does not like to quit.
I know that.
He does not like to quit.
He's a competitor and a big competitor, but when his kid's gone, how does that affect him?
That'll be interesting to see.
Here's sort of the prediction question.
At the end of the year, when we're getting ready for the playoffs, what's a wild card that nobody's talking about that will be in the 12, if you think?
Good gracious.
Just a possibility.
When you asked me about this last year, about who's going to be in the Final Four, who would be a wild card, now it's got the 12 and you want me to pick a wild card.
Just pick a wild one out there.
Maybe the non-power five.
I'm going to tell you a coach that I really respect that I think has a tough football team every year is Utah.
I think they're tough as nails and you don't like to play Utah.
You do not like to play Utah.
They are tough at home.
They're tough away.
They're just a tough football team.
And they're going to a conference in which they're going to be right at the top of you.
They'll be the toughest team in that conference.
I can see that.
I can see that.
All right.
Well, we didn't get to the NFL. We're going to get to that probably next month.
We'll do this again with Coach Gailey because we'll get a little bit closer.
By the time we meet again in about a month, we'll have the...
Almost ready for college.
We'll be having the pros in their camps and preseason going on.
But this gives us a sort of behind-the-scenes look.
Gets a little taste wet, so to speak, for what's going on in these media days and the hype on the college campuses.
And it's really an amazing thing to see.
Coach, it's always great to have you on.
Great to be with you, Doug.
Take care, buddy.
All right.
Folks, next time on the Doug Collins Podcast, be with us.
We'll be ready for some stuff.
Go to the DougCollinsPodcast.com.
Make sure you hit that email button if you've got any questions.
Maybe if you've got a question for Coach Gailey, when he comes back on, let us have it.
We'll be ready the next time we see it.
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