THE OFFSEASON IS HERE, MIKE KATIC TALKS NEW ERA OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL, & IS ALABAMA A TOP 5 SEC JOB?

Hey Unnecessary Roughness listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. What's going on, y'all? Welcome in. Unnecessary Roughness presented by our friends at Twisted Tea. We got a motley crew today. Casey and Brandon are out there in San Francisco for the Super Bowl, the big game. So today, I'll be running point. We got T. Bob Aver. We got our guy Liam Blutman. We got Big Ev up in here. And we've got national champion Michael Kadik on the couch today. Boys, what's going on? How's everybody feeling today? Good. Feel ready to roll? Yeah. Hell yeah, dude. Okay, we've got a lot to get to today. So we'll kind of wrap up the season with Mikey. We'll get into some schedule stuff for next year. It looks like an even later national championship next year. Gus Malzahn retires. We've got some portal combat updates. And the Big Ten schedule has been released. And there's some highlights that we should get to there. as we already prepare to navigate this long dark of the offseason by fantasizing about the games that will be. But first, Super Bowl 60 deserves a sportsbook built for the moment. That's DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of Super Bowl 60 because it puts you right in the center of the biggest games of the years. And check it out, guys, we know this. Anything can happen during the Super Bowl. DraftKings, they know this. They have your back with early exit. If your player goes down in the first half, you still get paid in cash when your bet settles. No bonus bets, no waiting. While other sportsbooks don't offer injury protection, DraftKings covers the entire first half, even the second quarter. And Early Exit works on live bets as well. Shout out LiveBetLabs. Pre-game or in-game, DraftKings has you covered. New to DraftKings, new customer bet, just $5. You get $300 in bonus bets. $300 in bonus bets if your bet wins. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now and use code ROUGH. That's code ROUGH to turn $5 into $300 in bonus bets If your bet wins in partnership with DraftKings, the crown is yours. minute time offer big ev how are we handling the offseason thus far how have you been filling your time are you okay what's been going on yeah this is you know this is start getting into college basketball a little bit gotta find something to gamble on but um it's all right you know we've congrats indiana they deserved it it definitely is another as i've had some time to reflect on the year it does i do sit here feeling which is kind of this like i don't want to say bitter but It's kind of like even the press might be strong, but it's kind of sad in the feeling that it's another team that I feel that Orion Day had the potential to win it all and just didn't get it done, and I think that's the sad part. And I truly don't mean that it's not Indiana. They clearly deserved it. They beat us. They were better. But it's one of those where I feel like the rosters constructed had what it took to get it done and did not get it done. And I feel like there's been a couple of these in the Ryan Day tenure, even though I still think he's a great coach, but it's a tough pill to swallow. That's what I would say. I think that's fair. And, Mikey, some of the reason why they didn't get it done, main reason why, you're Indiana Hoosiers, man. So as Ed enters this season a bit on the sadder side, I mean, here you are, babe. You've arrived. Mission complete somehow. Yeah, and I was talking to some of my boys yesterday about how we were more shocked and more surprised about the Big Ten championship outcome. We thought that was the national championship for us. Because after that, I knew that we could win it all after beating Ohio State. So I feel like that was more so the national championship in our eyes. But no, obviously it's an amazing season. Incredible. Wait, so in classic Dave Portnoy fashion, Y'all did this. Y'all won the championship for Ohio State. You wanted to make them feel better about losing to Indiana. That's not what I'm saying at all. Ev, do you feel better? You helped put Mikey over. You put the Hoosiers over. Congratulations. That is that what I'm saying at all. Ev, you played a key role in this natty run. Fuck you, T-Vo. Listen, I will say this. I mean, there is a – those saying, oh, the Big Ten's not deep, this and that, some of the SEC propaganda eaters. Yeah. I mean, it's now three natties in a row for the Big Ten, three different schools. yeah um the ssv was just battered all bowl season by big 10 teams just demolished embarrassed and i think now there's no anyone who's really been watching paying attention you understand that it's the big 10's throne 100 and that's indespeatable right now liam do you agree yeah and i again i thank you mike kadik for winning this for the big 10 and paving a path for the next JMU Big Ten school to get it done. The offseason, like you said, T-Bob, Big Ev, it's grueling, a bit depressing at times. There's other things to get you over. There's speeches to get you over. Maybe the head coach of a program guaranteeing a Big Ten championship is coming to that program soon. Might I add, while they were playing Indiana. And definitely. So you are referencing something. I was just generally saying that. No, no, no. The Bob Chesney halftime of the UCLA. Bob Chesney took a page out of the Signetti playbook. Oh, wait. So he tried to do the full Signetti. Not the full Signetti because he was said we're going to be. He didn't say fuck. Yeah, he didn't do it. He guaranteed a Big Ten championship is coming. Wait, hold on. Next year. No, no. Tell me about it. Tell me about it. Well, maybe not next year. He just said it's coming. That's what it sounded like. But that's actually crazier than the full Signetti. because all Signetti said was Purdue sucks, but guess what? Michigan and Ohio State suck too. So he was just kind of taking a shot. We already got Chesney out here doing Big Ten championship guarantees. And he played under. He played under, or he coached under Sig too, I believe, right? No, he came from Holy Cross. But yeah, he guaranteed the Big Ten championship. And like Mikey said, there was an Indiana conglomerate in the arena at Poly that booed yeah he got booed on his own home court that was tough but but they're in here making changes and i i'm so happy to be sitting at the the big boys table i know we're not the house of prime rib but one day we'll be there soon and we're gonna win the big 10 championship i'll be there with you guys yeah i get it like it like coaches need to do that like he saw like sig coming to indiana and saying that like yeah it rough it ruffled some feathers but that's what we needed we needed a kick in the ass and UCLA needs the same thing so I mean I don't blame Chesney at all for saying that like that UCLA needs a kick in the ass they need to change some shit and you know that's what Sid came in and did and and he can't he didn't guarantee a Big Ten championship but he did ruffle some feathers and that's what we needed and I think UCLA is in the same boat one thing I'm going to be fascinated to see is going to be Indiana and and you could say this to the benefit of hindsight but i'm actually on record saying this kind of during the very beginning of the sig era is that indiana had sleeping giant potential in that uh you know massive alumni base a lot of money up for grabs but but mainly a a sports rabid fan base that's the big question to me liam with ucla oh we got money boy i i know you got money everybody everybody but i'm saying but like do you have a fan base that all they give a fuck about is sports because Los Angeles gets the reputation of that not being the case. I could say Bob Chesney walked in UCLA after 15, 20 minutes being there was like, okay, I see why the fans have been checked out. Yeah, I know we said that. The last two establishments were utter disasters in every sense of the word. It's a complete makeover of what UCLA football has been in the last decade. It's the fans will be out there and joke. People forget when Jim Mora had UCLA. We were like preseason top 10 for a little bit. Put some of the nastiest linebackers into the league. You look at Anthony Barr, Eric Kendricks. Long, great careers. Rose Bowl was popping. Every single Saturday, Rose Bowl was popping. And we'll get that back there soon. That's a Liam Blubman guarantee. There you go. Sounds like the Chesney era off to a rousing start. All right, let's dive into some of these Big Ten games that are here. But first, the GameTime app gives the advantage back to fans. It's a hack for unlocking amazing tickets and experiences just a few taps. It's incredibly easy to use. The GameTime guarantee means you'll get 100% authentic tickets on time and at the best price. Plus, fees are always included, so what you see is what you pay. That's big. And now, with the big game coming up, there's no better way to buy tickets than through the GameTime app. You can save even more when you choose a section, and then you let GameTime choose the seats. So, take the guesswork out of buying NFL tickets with GameTime, download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code ROUGH for $20 off your first purchase. terms apply again create an account redeem code rough r-o-u-g-h for 20 off download the game time app today they are uh the absolute best all right ev uh boys let's go through some of these big 10 games big 10 schedule release and uh well how about this right there smack dab in the middle of the year october 17th ohio state at indiana on the same day where we'll get penn state at Michigan and Nebraska at Oregon. Yeah. Big time day in the big 10 there, October 17th. But Ev, how are we feeling about traveling to Bloomington? It's going to be a great game. We got a tough schedule. I don't know if you've seen the rest of our schedule, T-Bob. We got, we have Texas week, I believe two got at Indiana, obviously Michigan. Always we get, we got Oregon this year. We got USC this year. Yeah. Tough schedule. And you're on the road at USC. You're on the road at Iowa, uh, On the road at Indiana. Yeah, y'all are okay. We're going to see. Tough schedule. Texas at a conference, tough schedule. Very tough schedule. We got like a get in the playoff schedule. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. That's going to be a tough schedule to try to run the table. Tough schedule. I'll put this to the room. So we're done. Indiana is now done with winning over the hearts and the minds of the neutral fan, right? They're the bad guys now. Maybe not the bad guys, but you're no longer cute, Mikey. No, for sure. And I hate that. How does that feel? It was nice being like an underdog every week, proving people wrong, and now we won a national championship. So big target on our backs now. Everyone's going to try to come after Sig. Everyone's going to try to come after the boys. But I think we've done a good job in the portal so far, getting the pieces that we need, a good quarterback. Who, who, who, who, who? We're returning four out of the five starting alignments, so that's big. We got one in the portal. Bob Bostad's always crafting. But, yeah, no, I'm feeling good. Wide receiving core is looking fantastic. But, yeah, so we'll see. Liam, what – I've got to be honest. I didn't even think of the hoo-hoo-hoo-hoover. I didn't either. That's crazy. Oh, my God. How did we not – I thought you were just saying hoo-hoo-hoo-hoosers. Oh, wow. I've done this around the office. No, you've never done it around me. Oh, yes, me and Doug have. Not around me. I've done this for two months. Wow, who, who, who, Hoover? I love that. I didn't even know. We got to sell the shirts. Yeah, I didn't even. Wow. It's incredible. Liam, is there a Big Ten team besides UCLA that you're buying stock in? I mean, if you look at some of the games that are highlighted, I'm seeing Minnesota getting some run in a couple of these games. What's Washington going to be like with Jed Fish? come everyone not with jet fish but after all the drama of demon williams leaving staying uh who is there anybody kind of under because we know about the big dogs is there anybody you're buying second are you back in on penn state now oh i was never in on penn state so can i be in on penn state who's to say i don't know because if i'm in on penn state i'm loving iowa state pretty much to win the big 10 yeah i don't really know if i want to do that quite yet uh i don't i'm dead honest i'm an honest guy t-bop the blood model is asleep and hibernating right now it doesn't have too much the blood model doesn't know where anyone plays anymore mike katik do you know where anyone plays anymore no they all transferred yeah 99 of the i'm more so just making a joke i don't know uh i'm biasly thinking ucla could win eight games minimum so that's making a bit of noise in the big 10 minimum this man took the 8th mini in an uber competitive Big Ten I like our schedule man sleeper team I really don't know dude I don't know no that's okay yeah look it's very early on here I think Wisconsin I just don't trust Fickle still yeah I like Colton Joseph a lot I like Colton Joseph I like Joseph and I like nate palmer that they bring in too and then they brought in that kid um the d3 transfer i'm blanking on his name i think his first name is liam though that's like a uber world-class track and field athlete that they got playing edge rusher t let me ask when you say surprising like what is that like i know I mean not the Indiana level of surprise No of course but are you saying 8 wins Let's say when I look at the Big Ten, and Liam Danitz, I think is who you're talking about there. Liam, I think 15 sacks in 2025. 6-5, 2-3. He's sick. I'm mad about that one. No, I think this. I think right now we look at the Big Ten, and, Ev, would you say there's a Big Three or a Big Four? I mean, definitely Ohio State, Michigan, Indiana. Or, no, sorry, Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana. And then, so is it, like, does Michigan still get in that crew? Does Penn State still get in that crew? I think they have to earn their way back in. Yeah, I agree. Okay, so we have... I think they both have played themselves out of it, I would say. I mean, Penn State, we just have to see. I mean, I guess they both have new coaches. So, I mean, but he had them. And then obviously, like, USC's been kind of right there. And Illinois's been solid, but still clearly on the outside. So, if we have that, like. Iowa's got the same thing. Even a little closer, probably, than Illinois. Yeah, Iowa very close this last season. Kind of shockingly close just when you look back. So, you have your Tier 1, Big 3. And then you have the Tier 2 teams, kind of all the ones you just mentioned. I guess I'm wondering, is there going to be a Big 10 team that kind of joins that Tier 2? and is that going to be Wisconsin Minnesota something like that it's still early yeah it's still early on we'll see uh but my god that that October uh that October 17th weekend looks like the premier Big Ten weekend it's gonna be awesome office will be buzzing I almost hesitate to bring it up again because I think it's kind of a dead horse topic in some ways but I think I have a couple numbers that will blow your mind uh how did y'all feel about how late this year's national championship was. Oh, terrible. Not the best, right? What was it last year? Not the best. Well, what was the date this year? I think last year was the 20th, 19th, or 20th. And what was this year, the 19th? Well, it's usually, what, with the usual playoff, it's what, the 11th, usually? Like the 9th? I don't know exactly how calendars work. I just know the games are getting later every single year. And it looks like that's not changing. Next year's national championship is not till January 25th. That's great. January 25th. Yeah. And again, the only reason I really bring this story up is for this. If you were to do Indiana's path next season, you win your conference, you get the buy. And let's say you go on to win the natty. You will play three games in 51 days. The final two games will be spread out over 23 days. three games in 51 days guys was that a game a month a game and a half a month that's what the fuck are we doing is that so are they doing the super bowl thing where they play the semis and then two weeks well i mean i guess in this scenario you would play your uh how many games indiana had to win it's 16 total 16 total i'm trying to think so i'm trying to i was just trying to figure out if they were including the conference championship with the conference championship so yeah so let's say you win your conference championship then you have the buy so you have what a a few weeks off yeah until new year's right yeah december we played on december 6th we didn't play again till the first then you're probably gonna have like a 10 12 day gap because new year's could fall anywhere and then you're gonna be back on the weekend then you would have an extended break because it's a national championship they spread that out all the way to a Monday, three games in 51 days. That's brutal. They need to do a few things. They need to move. With them adding all these games out of the playoff, they need to make week zero, week one. And if they want to do a week zero, then that just needs to get bumped up a week. I like that. All respect to the troops. I think that game can't have its own week anymore. No calendar. I agree. Obviously play the game, but I think it can't be a standalone anymore. It can be a standalone time slot, but I think it can't be a standalone day. It's just wasting a week that's pushing this thing back so far. And then we don't need this like three week gap between conference title game and first playoff. Like the first playoff game should be like a week, week and a half. December 12th. They should be December 12th. Like immediately, immediately after the conference championships. And I understand that'll be tough because people will say, Oh, like to the loser, they have no break. But I mean, I don't know. We got to play these games. We're having these huge breaks. It actually is taking away from the pop of the sport. Like, you felt a little bit. There was the – and I genuinely think Oregon-Indiana being such a blowout played, like, a small factor into it that it was such a blowout so fast it felt like that game didn't even happen. Yeah. Like, we needed to, like, enjoy on the edge of our seats a football game because it was such a blowout. And then we had 10 days in between. And then it kind of was like – and the National Championship game obviously was an incredible game. And I'm sure a ton of people still watched it. but it just feels like it loses that, like it loses a little bit of the juice. Like by the time the game gets there, you're mostly like, oh, like, all right, now it's happening. Well, yeah. And hardcore fans are like, we're going to be jazzed up for it no matter what. But I think you want to get all the fans that you possibly can. You just got to shorten it up. It's just more digestible that way. It's the thing Brandon was saying where there were 10 NFL games played in between the semis of the college football playoff and the national championship. So, yeah, you're losing the pop and the luster of the national championship because we're prioritizing the national football league and what's going on there but when we're prioritizing that that's where all our brain power is going towards like we're just we're literally not putting anything into thought of college football because we're waiting so long and it's not there for us that's a problem t-bob well if you do if you do a this is maybe a bit of a egocentric take in that it's very tied to our own experience but like let's say you do a but but it is representative of the larger conversation it's like let's say you do a monday sports talk show you're breaking down the nfl playoffs that just happened yeah you're not previewing the monday night national championship and so on the day of your final game you're losing all of that advertising and and that's what this is like when we talk why do you think schools like indiana you see all this massive out-of-state tuition spikes and why alabama got so rich in their saving air and why tuscaloosa looks like a different city is because it's advertising think about how much money you pay for commercial in one of these games and then think about when you play in the game and you're just being talked about constantly so it's it's crazy to give that real estate up um and what's even wilder is the viewership number was still great i was shocked to read this the national championship this year uh was the most viewed non-nfl sporting event since the 2016 Cubs Game 7 World Series. That needed one of the most famous franchise Chicago Cubs with 100 years of pain and everything else. It needed the ultimate storyline for that to be the last thing to bet this year's Natty. So even with all that negative scheduling, you're still putting up a big number, but it could be better, it could be bigger, and it could be more enjoyable. And the fix is easy. Yeah, a couple things. One, I think going off the most viewed thing, I think it's because it's like a fresh two teams. Like Indiana had this story. They had the Heisman. They had all this like built up to the national championship. You had Miami, who's a 10 seed, coming in, beating Ohio State, beating who else they beat? Ole Miss. And then like coming into the national championship, there was all this built up tension and ready to go. I think that's why it was such highly viewed. And then back to Ev's point about like the pop of college football and losing that. My thing is you have this feeling of bowl season. From the end of the championship weekend to the national championship, you have this window of bowl season where it gives you the bowl feel. Every day there's a bowl on, like the New Year's Six bowls. And then you don't play the national championship until the 20th or the 25th. There's that gap there where you're not in a bowl season, but you're in playoff season. but I want it to all feel the same. Does that make any sense? I can't fathom what it's like to be a player. It must suck. The boys were so – I mean, these guys were two weeks in a school in the next year. Indiana school started, I think, on the 11th or something. Yeah, it doesn't make any sense. So then these guys are already taking classes for the next year while still being on last year's season. It's just like – Well, and it's a credit to Sig and the boys and Miami because everybody looked locked in. But to maintain that level of focus for these long extended breaks, that's a, I mean, that's a, that's, that's almost like mental torture. Yeah. Like, like there's one thing about that week to week rhythm that is so nice because it doesn't allow you to, to kind of get restless. Like you, so everything has to move so fast. Whereas now you're just stuck in some almost like purgatory waiting for the next, like the next time that you're going to throw your entire life on the lines. That's what every one of these big games feels like. it's everything that you've worked for your whole life on the line in that 60 minutes at three and a half hours and granted six practices are short and they're not as you know bad on the body as like i was listening to like miami like they their practices are very intense and yeah crystal ball gets those boys like i couldn't imagine that many practices then again miami didn't have like the long bye but i mean those practices you you start to get into a dark place yes you start you start You start entering a dark realm of, oh, my God, why am I waking up today? Like, wow, I got to go put on full pads and run inside run, run pods, do one-on-ones, do team run, do team pass. Like, this is a dark time. Shit, they might still be conditioning at the end. You don't know, dude. He might have running perfect sprints out there. I mean, even on the other end, think of it from a coach's perspective. Think about if, I don't know, Kirby Smart in Georgia had this long of breaks ahead of their national championship run next season. That's a lot of car keys Kirby's going to need to take away. Yeah, it's a lot of downtime. That's a lot of stressing out on something else. Tough. You know what else it is? It's a lot of eating. And, well, I mean, if you're like me, now I'm from Louisiana. That's where I was going with that earlier. And I fucking love Tony Satchett. I know you're not. I'm sure Pittsburgh food is delicious but you sent me a couple plates of some food that I know tasted good but it looked like you could use a little kick. When I was at home? 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You can find it at your local H-E-B, Rouse's, Associated grosses associated wholesale grocers and amazon so uh again right now cajun kick is currently only available in select stores in louisiana texas and mississippi but if you're listening to this from anywhere you go to amazon you get all new tony's cajun kick turn up the heat turn up the flavor cajun kick brings bold spicy zesty garlic and just the right burn to wake up anything on your plate Shop now at CajunKick.com slash Barstool. I put on a turkey sandwich the other day. Absolutely delicious. All right, guys. It's time to say happy trails to a legend of the game. Gus Malzahn retiring after 35 years of coaching football. That's right. Now, Liam, I know you probably – Mikey, what's your knowledge of Gus Malzahn? Not much. You would have been a young man in kind of, I feel like, the Malzahn prime. Yeah. Do you have any memories of him? I know Auburn. Yeah. I know UCF. I know, was he at Missouri? Do you have any memories of that Cam Newton-Auburn national championship team? He was the OC on that team. Okay. And then later, after Chizik gets fired, he gets to be the head coach, and he goes back to a national championship against Florida State, which is crazy to think about. that here Gus was with Nick Marshall, a cornerback, as his quarterback, won the SEC, went to the natty, and was 13 seconds away from winning it, if not for Jameis and Kelvin Benjamin getting it done. Arguably the greatest natty of all time. Yeah, it was fucking awesome, dude. Just a hell of a game. That Florida State team had not been tested once all year. Yep. All year. Every game they won easily. And that game, the backs against the wall a few times. They had the Kermit Whitfield, the kick return in the second half for a touchdown. You have the Trey Mason hitting the Heisman pose. And then the insane drive, the final touchdown to Benjamin. I mean, Florida State was down big at half, I remember correctly, or at least decent margin. Incredible game. But that, I mean, that also, that was the miracle run. I mean, that was the Auburn-Malzahn, like insane, the kick six and the Georgia touchdown. That one of the more to me legendary years of college football Yeah what do they call that The something at Jordan Hare against Georgia I I I I a scare I can remember I can remember The scare at Jordan Hare I mean, that would have been, though, Liam, that, that, that, that maybe would have been one of the more, if not the most unlikely national champion that we've ever seen in our lifetime. I mean, I guess until Indiana, but Indiana was dominant on the field. But they were dominant on the field the whole time. Auburn, like, to Ev's point, wasn't dominant that year. but Malzahn just had some sort of magic. He had a horseshoe up there. Yeah. Shoved up his ass. I respect the career that he built, and I respect, you know, 60's not exactly the oldest in the sporting coaching world. Like, he still probably had some years left to give, but I respect him kind of acknowledging maybe the game's passing me up a bit and get up on out there. I respect it. Does this mean anything for Florida State? Of course, he was the OC at Florida State this last year. I just think they were going to be kind of mid regardless. I don't know. I just don't really understand what they're doing. I don't think Norvell's the guy. Maybe Norvell was the guy, but I've said this since it happened. Florida State getting held out of that playoff and Travis breaking his ankle, how all that went down, that is a grievous wound that you just can't recover from. That's the type of wound that goes gangrenous, that becomes infected and there's no antibiotics in the world that can stop it from eventually killing you. And I kind of saw it firsthand. Like, Les Miles' time at LSU got ruined by getting his ass kicked in that national championship. Everybody transferred out. LSU stayed relevant kind of a couple more years, but it was all downhill from there. And at least that happened on the field. Like, Florida State basically, they got wounded in a boardroom. They were just told, sorry about it. You, everything you did, you won your conference undefeated. We don't care. You don't get to play for a championship. And you saw what happened. No, see, I think everything you said is true, but I also, and I've said this before, I do truly believe that he caught lightning in a bottle one season with some phenomenal talent that he had. And you see that every Sunday you watch. I mean, the Rams, the Rams elite defensive line was his defensive line at Florida state. Yeah. And they had great players all in place. Even Keon Coleman, who hasn't worked out in the league, but he's still the talents there all these high draft picks i feel i really feel like that year he just caught insane lightning in a bottle had a super talented roster he brought in and they just haven't really been good outside of that like every other year he's been there they've been pretty mediocre besides that one year they were incredible and it's a shame it turned out that way but i think it is partly what you're saying that also partly like he just kind of he just hasn't had it outside of that year yeah that's fair he got lucky that year with the talent he brought in and credit to him for that season but god brutal i don't think he's a guy like i think i think he should have been fired this year i think he's gonna get fired after next year at some point next season he's just he's it's funny like brandon always makes the same now like he had made the same before this season how venables wasn't good enough to be oklahoma's head coach yeah that's how i feel like novella ford is he is not good enough to be the head coach of the florida state seminoles they're too good for mike norbell well and one kind of interesting thing is about Florida State as we talk this out loud is like they were traditionally god-awful but then Bobby Bowden made them this perennial contender out of nowhere and then Jimbo looked like he had them like Florida State's got something to prove on this next coaching hire because right now they've almost got a lot more bad tape out there than than than good in their school history and so they got something to prove Gus Malzahn's got nothing less for he's retired My favorite Gus Malzahn memory will be him going out, dancing in the locker room right before he gets fired to the tune of getting paid $21 million. May we all get fired while we're at our happiness. Like he went out a winner dancing with the boys, and then they paid him $21 million not to work. That's so sick. Yeah. Sounds sick. That's the dream, dude. That's so sick. Gus Malzahn had the dream. if you had that much money you probably wouldn't need this but if you're like most of us and with inflation and everything you probably feel like you need some help getting your finances under control well Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions monitors your spending, helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings Rocket Money tracks subscriptions and has the ability to cancel within the app within a few taps it saves you time and avoids charges the app consolidates checking, savings, loans and investments into a single dashboard to give users a clear view of their financial picture. You can set budgets and goals, get personalized insights, regular reports, receive real-time alerts for large transactions, upcoming bills, refunds, and low balances. I've actually been using this, and it's been awesome. I even put in, like, you can set it up to where you save, I want to save X amount, and it takes it out of your account in, like, small amounts automatically so you don't even notice. Like a little sandwich taken out here or there grows over time. I canceled the hundreds of dollars of subscriptions. It's really helping me and my family get our money under control when we need it. So if you want to reach your financial goals faster, join rocketmoney.com slash rough. Rocketmoney.com slash rough. Rocketmoney.com slash rough. Speaking of money, Transfer Portal, Liam. Portal combat. It's been going on. Winners and losers. Liam, who's your biggest winner thus far in the Transfer Portal? Or biggest loser. You can start wherever. I mean, LSU and Miami have done otherworldly things in the portal. I think those two are winners. I genuinely believe Indiana is a big winner with Hoover and Marsh coming in is significant. Yeah, like Indiana did a terrific job. Owen Long. No, Owen Long went to ASU, my bad. But like they, Indiana, Signet and his staff just do such a good job at identifying guys for their, their schemes, their cultures, et cetera. They're not just chasing the big time names, big time targets, whatever, Indiana, LSU, Miami, big time loser. I mean it has to be Washington in some way with the DeMond thing and how that ends up fizzling out where DeMond is now going to play for a team that he was about to leave and had left and like how is that going to work and then it's it's poor old D word it's Duke I was about to say you got to talk about your Blue Devils. Duke got done it's hard to say done dirty when they stole Mensa from Tulane in a fairly similar fashion, but they had locked up Mensa to a contract where the wording was like, you're with us. Like, you can't leave. And that doesn't even matter. And then so many guys came back to play for Duke because they wanted to play with Mensa for that final season. And then you leave them cold blood. That's tough. Mensa will cook at Miami. Sorry, another winner is Texas. Texas is frightening. Yeah, I mean, the way the form of it in Texas, ended the season on. Now you team up Cam Coleman with Ryan Wingo. You take Hollywood Smothers away from Alabama. Now he was at NC State, but he was committed to Alabama. He flips to Texas. That stuff's crazy. Do you have some insight on the Hollywood stuff? Yeah. Texas just pays them more money. All these guys just find out what you're making and then say, oh, here's more money. Portal flips is nasty business. Is there any easier job in the world than being an agent of a high-profile portal target. Yeah, being the best friend of a really good college football player. And then you become an agent that way. That's the best job. It's so easy because you don't even have to negotiate. You just say, hey, this is what they're offered him. The other people offer more, and then you go back, hey, this is what they're offered him. The portal's got a figure. Like the NCAA. What are you talking about? You're the big beneficiary of the portal. Why? Indiana. What do you mean? I thought you were talking about me personally. No, no, no, sorry. Indiana. Wait, bro, I've never entered the portal? Shut the hell up, all right? No, no, Indiana. Okay, but yes. But they have to figure out these damn windows, man, that the portal opens up. It sucks. These kids, like, if you go on a long run, these coaches have to recruit while coaching for a national championship, while coaching for a Rose Bowl, while coaching for all that shit, and then you have players on the team of the national championship that has to leave the team because the portal only opens up for so long. You have to leave the team that's about to go to the national championship. It sucks for them. You know what is crazy? I mean, yes, they're still going to get a ring. They're still going to do all that stuff. But fuck, they can't go and party and celebrate with the team because they have to go worry about where they're going next. It fucking sucks. I hate it. Yeah. And I don't think there's a spring portal window this time around, right? I don't think. But you know what is crazy that we don't talk about often, though, is like in the age of the portal is recruiting easier because it's just money. Yeah. Like the position coach. They got to do what they got to do. But isn't it really just the GM saying, hey, here's the offer. It's literally money. Right. Like, no, no, no. You're 100% right. But I also I think the big thing of this and I think and I think you're seeing I've seen like Indiana's definitely tapped into it. I've noticed the last couple of years, and especially this offseason, Ohio State has two, where the high school recruiting is going to take such a massive hit. It already has. I think it's going to continue to. Because I think people hyper-focus too much on this Indiana team being so old. Miami was basically just as old. I think that definitely helped, but it's not like Indiana had a bunch of 26-year-olds out there. They were all 22-year-old guys, kind of like the rest of college football now that's winning. but I think you're seeing it where why would we pay some high profile kid all this money at a high school if he's not going to play right away when I can allocate those funds to someone who's already produced in the big 10 or at an elite lower level. You know what I'm saying? Like, why would you invest all this money? Literally unless they're Jeremiah Smith and they're going to walk on the field right away and start. Correct. And then, and then why not, why not just go get that high school kid? if he produces at another school just go get him in the portal the next year after someone it just doesn't make like there's no high school class coming up through the ranks together which i hate like yes i i do hate that that is lost that's true i benefited from nil and i and i love it but there's no fucking like class that you come up with like with your boys like the same class you come in freshman year is going to look completely different come senior year if you stay at the same school like there's only going to be three or four you guys like yeah my like by my senior year like yes i came through like through my junior year with the same class and then after that people were picked apart by the end of my career yes i did play six fucking years a long time but even after my fifth year there was only three or four guys from my class that i came in with it sucks but like that's the day and age we're in now yeah it used to be like a war of attrition where like some guy would maybe he'd get medical then his career was over or some guy just he wanted to quit or a guy transfers and then he's dead to you like when a guy transferred our class we could go from being best friends to never talking to that human being again for the rest of our lives and so yeah that that class identity is lost but this prove it before you get paid i do find to be more understandable yes and more logical than paying for the high school kid who hasn't proven anything 100 like i would like i like a society where you work you prove yourself and then you get your big payday 100 agree which is fair and valid but like what a kick in the gut for let's say oklahoma state finds like a really good three-star player develops him he's a nasty wide receiver here comes Ohio State Miami Texas LSU uh USC etc etc here's four million you're coming play with us now all that work Oklahoma State did with you finding you in the middle of nowhere recruiting you on long nights out recruiting like several FCS schools or whatever you were and nobody that doesn't matter anymore now after two years we're poaching you like that stinks yeah that all it yeah I don't know it's but then Oklahoma State will go and they'll poach the g6 exactly it's a never it's a whole roster is gonna be north texas yeah like it's the way of life yeah yeah it's it's the way of life that it is in you know it's animalistic and in the jungle right like the little bugs are getting eaten by yeah what like it's an ecosystem exactly it's an ecosystem and that's the word food chain you're talking about food chain that's the word i knew i should have graduated from junior college and the laws of the jungle baby class that's exactly what it is a food chain and for better there there's positives there's negatives just like life in every single facet but yeah i i that's guys transferring out guys transferring to the rival with no emotional feeling is such a stab in the heart to me I do hate that. Yeah, I do hate that. An Indiana player transferring to Purdue and just not having the care in the world for it is insane. If my roommate that, you know, came in with me, we were boys for three years. Got hit by a car that one time. Yeah, that, yeah. If he transfers to Purdue I am he is dead Yeah I will I will I will block him on everything I will delete his number I will never speak to that pussy again And that goes for any like rival. Like imagine if like Ev, like if your boy transferred to Michigan dead. Yeah, he's dead. We had it on the basketball team. It was crazy. Like Roddy Gale used to play for us. He played for Ohio State for two years. So this is second year in Michigan. It's fantastic. kate kate grotesque is a great word for it kate is the last of a dying breed yeah he really is staying out of school yeah yeah staying out of school yeah you are you are you got to experience old school college i say old school was not that long ago and the new school at the nil and the portal and everything and you you stick true to your guns with your heart of transfer to rio blah blah all that stuff having an emotional attachment to your school so many of these kids don't have that aim and that's that's another thing that that pisses me off and i took it to heart when i was at indiana of like nowadays like there are some kids on the team that that um take pride in like the rivalry and things like that but the rivalries in college football have also taken a dive because no one like like going back to the classes like no one comes up and learns the traditions and learns the rivalries and learns to hate your rivals like i'm like michigan ohio state's different because that like you come in and you know already but like if you come into indiana from florida or something you don't know that their rival is purdue like you don't know like give a shit so you just like you come in and it's another game but like to people that grew up in indiana and grew up like a like a Hoosier fan they hate Purdue and like so like I made it my mission like I was like boys like three weeks before the game I'm like listen these motherfuckers do you gotta educate you gotta educate them and and and thankfully like there's some guys on the team this past year that would educate the boys on Purdue but I could still sense there just isn't that there isn't that hatred anymore LSU and Ole Miss are just trading coaches and rosters yeah like straight up just insanity just uh just a video game uniform swap a palette change that's insane um fellas you already know what time it is it's time to level up and blue true just dropped something crazy i'm talking next level championship belt gold plated energy blue true gold is the newest innovation from the number one chewable ed brand this ain't your grandpa's little blue pill it's the four in one beast that's setting the gold standard for performance we're talking two ingredients for blood flow to keep that rocket pumping mixed with ampomorphine and oxytocin to turn up the arousal and connection in your brain and body bluetooth gold dissolves under your tongue and works as little as 15 minutes that means you can get it on quicker stay in the game longer it's elevation without hesitation this is peak passion and peak performance in a single tablet hey check this out if your bed could talk after this your bed would be asking for a break mikey make life easier by getting harder and discover your options at bluechew.com. We've got a special deal for our listeners. Get 10% off your first month of Blue Chew Gold with code ROUGHNESS. That's promo code ROUGHNESS. You know, what you're going to do to your bed. You get 10% off their first month of Blue Chew Gold. Visit bluechew.com for more details and important safety information. We thank Blue Chew for sponsoring this podcast. I have a question for you boys. We're talking winners, losers of the portal. I have a couple questions. One has to do with LSU. We'll get there in a minute. But one of the losers I think right now is Alabama. You've lost 22 players now in the portal. It's the last of the Saban recruits. Isaiah Horton's gone. Formby, your starting tackle's gone. James Smith, your D-tackle, heading to Ohio State. Like we said, you lose out on Hollywood Smothers. You already haven't had good years by your standards at all. Are we witnessing the true end? Not just of the Alabama cryptid tie. Like clearly they're never going to be where they were under Saban, but like is DeBoer cooked? You Alabama losing guys like from their school to other schools in a portal find Weber. It happens, but you are right on the fact that the luster that Alabama has had that stranglehold that they've had in the sport. It doesn't resonate with these kids. So they don't feel the magic of Alabama. Mikey knows it as a player. and just knowing it from other players. He's already spoken to it extensively with rivalries. The players, exactly, they don't have that same – what's the word I'm looking for? They don't understand the culture of Alabama football. Exactly. They don't have that fear, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fear they instilled they no longer have. The mystique is gone. The mystique is gone. So Alabama throwing a few dollar bills, it's going to hit the same when another school is offering the same amount of dollar bills. They're like, do I want to live in Tuscaloosa or do I want to live in Athens, Georgia? And I'm getting paid the same amount, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's like, yeah, Alabama is dwindling. Well, and again, it's with Kalen DeBoer firmly in the crosshairs. He's got a little bit of Kelly to him where he's been much more successful than Brian Kelly was, but there were fit questions. and at least I don't give a shit about cultural fit as much but philosophically that's where I would be most disappointed as an Alabama fan the last couple years. You can't run the ball. You can't fucking run the ball. You had a pretty good team last year that's entire identity was throwing it with Ty Simpson and that was it. You couldn't do anything else. So big. Big for nothing. Big pussies. It's just like an RD line. I know I keep bringing up Indiana but in the Rose Bowl, RD line It's tiny, man. Tiny, tiny. But they just destroyed Alabama's front the whole game. And I just like, and I go back to Coach DeBoer, and he was my offensive coordinator my freshman year, did a great job. But he walked into an absolute impossible job. Yep. Like how, like, and I'm sure he knew that, and I'm sure he uses that, but you walk into an impossible job like that, taking over the legend of the game. Some people will say that, what are you talking about? Look at the roster he took over. But again, yes, he walked into a good roster, but he walked into a good roster at a time when it's never been easier for a roster to fall apart. Correct. He walked into a roster at a time when all the advantages they had are gone because everybody else just has as much money now, and he walks into a roster that has an impossible level of expectation. Correct. So, like, I disagree with the notion this was some great job to take over. Oh, it's such a hard thing to do, but, you know, I don't know. And those fans are so spoiled and so that they just, any season under 11 wins, they're like, can everything. Yeah. Fuck this shit. And, like, do we see it getting better next year? I mean, Ev, is DeBoer cooked here? Yeah, I just, it's a tough act to follow, kind of, you said. It's like, it's like sipping on the stage after, like, Prime Chappelle. Yeah. whoever your favorite comedian is like fill in the blank like trying to follow up that guy after he's got like a standing ovation what do you got for us now because if it's not an undefeated national championship it's not shit yeah and he's not even close that he's it's it feels like uh he's only getting further away and i think you saw that indian in the indiana game like that was clearly indiana was the standard this year and you weren't even close you were never in the game for second you got demolished on both sides of the ball you scored three points they could have scored 50 if they wanted to like you're just they were so far away and it feels like they're only getting further and knowing what you said in the beginning i think it's correct too i think you came in at a time where now they were the only guys paying people in town now everyone's paying people in town it's a free market and they don't have more they have the same amount of money as all the big dogs so they've got to do something to separate themselves and maybe saban would have been that but DeBoer's not that guy. He's a great coach, but he's just not the GOAT. I don't know where you're going. Mike said, too, where the offensive line's big, but they're not good. Proctor's going to go in the first round, probably. But they still couldn't block anyone up front. Do I think he's cooked? Long way to say, yeah, kind, I think I do. Unless the standard will just be like 9-10 wins, which is good for most programs, but not Alabama. the problem is I think you still have a disconnect in the fans minds behind what Alabama realistically represents in the current era versus what they think they should represent yeah and that disconnects that's going to take years and years of of rewiring to to to finally make peace with that and when you go there and I'm T-Bob you've probably been there a lot more than I have I've I've only been to Tuscaloosa once, I believe. But I was there for the Texas game. We did a college football show there. It was the year when they lost as favorites, too. And even being there, like, there is a weird energy when you're at Brian Denny where, like, they're not rowdy. Like, they're not, like, there's just this, like, entitlement of, like, they just expect to be great. Yeah. When they're not, they're kind of just, like, they get mad, but they don't even, I don't know, it's weird. It was so weird to be in a football school like that that's so passionate and had so much success. And they kind of were just very like they don't stand at all during the game, really. It was kind of bizarre to take it in. They take it for granted. And it was early in season still. It was Texas coming to town. It was a huge game. And they got their ass kicked. There's an old historical saying, wooden clogs on the way up, silk slippers on the way down, right? Like you kind of, you earn your way up with this grit, but then you spend too much time at the top, you become fat and happy and spoiled and you become soft. And that's what happened to the Alabama crowd. Liam, you want to make a point out of that? Yeah, Big T's just never been more correct about where, about anything than where he ranked Alabama in desirable head coaching jobs back in like, I don't know, he's been doing that for a few years. But I think he sat on WUB in what, like October? Yeah. And he's never been more right. What do you have him at? I want to say I'm like four or five or something. I think five. Like pretty, pretty just like kind of run of the mill, like a good job, but not like the job. And it's like immediate backlash for it. But if you sit back, take it in. He's more than right. Like, look at the SEC programs right now. Where would you have Alabama as a desirable job? It might be five or six. Yeah. I mean, Texas is probably one. Georgia is still right there with Texas. um a&m a&m has so much money and so much emotional buy-in like eventually a&m's got to fucking do it like somebody's got to find a fucking way eventually uh lsu has more money than anything right now that they have the governor turning his entire political weight behind creating money for the program yeah it's florida it's tough it's tough i still florida has more natural talent within the state because that's another thing alabama is a rich state per capita, but not a very populous state. So it's interesting, man. Are we seeing the, and I kind of love too, that Alabama tried to convince themselves their basketball school. Now they're kind of sucking there too. The Betty Yoko thing and the, and the nausea thing at Baylor and the fact that you could just have guys who played in a professional sport, got drafted and come back to college is a really, really bad thing. And it's the first time it happens in college football. We need to start a nuclear war to make sure it doesn't happen again. Amari Bailey was on campus at UCLA this weekend. He was there. It was an alumni day. He's trying to come back to play in college basketball. That can't happen. Oh, man. Okay, look, we'll end the show there today. Quick one today. Shout out DraftKings, though. Again, Super Bowl 60 deserves a sportsbook built for the moment. And DraftKings Sportsbook is the official sports betting partner of Super Bowl 60. They're going to put you right in the center stage of the biggest game of the year. Remember, anything can happen in the Super Bowl. Dave was talking about this morning on WUB. And DraftKings, we have your back with early exit. Let's say your player goes down in the first half. You still get paid in cash when your bet settles. No bonus bets, no waiting. While other sportsbooks don't offer injury protection, DraftKings covers the entire first half. That's right, even the second quarter. 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Subscribe. Share it. All that good stuff. And we'll see you next time here on Nessie Ruffins. Could you imagine if KDIC just said, like, in two years, Yeah, I'm going to go back to college. I'm going to go play college football again. Seventh year. That'd be terrible.