Welcome to the solid verbal home that for me. I'm a man, I'm for it.
I've heard so many players say, well, I want to be happy. You want to be happy for a day? Edith state is that woo woom?
And Dan and Tye welcome back to the solid verbal boys and girls. My name is ty Hildebrandt, joining me as always way over there, though not as far as before. The one and only Dan Rubinstein, sir, how you doing? Man?
Good?
I am unsure about when I will actually have all of my normal goods and wares because I have now been away from Brooklyn for going on almost four months. But no, I am now on Central time. I am now on Central time. We have made our way to the suburbs of Chicago. Would not have gotten on a plane if there weren't family circumstances to attend to. So
everything is cool. I will just say we're out here and we're comfortable, and everybody's good, and I would say we'll be here for Do you know what a ray is? In geometry?
Tie? Hooray.
I've heard ray, but geometry was not my strongest. Strongest math line is point to point, ray is open ended point to something else. So not exactly sure how long we'll be in the suburbs of Chicago, but here we are, and everybody's cool. So I'm dealing with some family circumstances that you know, everybody, everybody deals with.
It's not uncommon. Hopefully everything turns out all right. But this is where I and Jody with and I and the solid toddler are now residing tie. So what better day, what better change, than to hop on a show to discuss north central Indiana private parochial football, Right.
I believe that's correct.
So, as you might have gathered from the title of the show, we are talking a little bit of Notre Dame with our good friend Pete Sampson, longtime friend of the show.
Yeah, gold standard, best of the best, love Pete.
Pete's over at the Athletic. He does a great job keeping track of the Irish or read him all the time, and he actually, as luck would have it, you know, like this week where we're having news breaking, important news breaking.
Right before we hit record, right before I connect it up with Pete, he drops an article a one on one interview he did with Brian Kelly, so we had a chance to get into that talk about some of the scheduling conundrum, stuff going on with Notre Dame, and more specifically the internet memes about Notre Dame being canceled this coming fall semester. So we'll get into all that and much much more in the meantime.
Daniel, it is good to hear your voice. I hope all this well.
Thank you so much for hopping on with me to help lay the groundwork for the show with Pete. If you like the show, don't forget to subscribe. You can find us out there on Apple Podcasts, on Google Podcasts, and of course on Spotify. There are also plenty of other ways that you can get in touch and follow along with our madness. Chief among those is our Instagram feed, as well as Twitter and Facebook, as well as soliverble
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to spam me. It's just going to be the newsletter of intent pending some you know, some things on our end that we're still working through.
And also we should mention if if you think Tai is a good guy, you're you're totally wrong.
He's a great guy.
If you send him one hundred dollars, he's going to send you back two hundred dollars via bitcoin.
Is that correct? That's exactly correct?
Is that what happened yesterday? I was traveling and I saw that Twitter was shut down or not Twitter, but I guess confirmed verified accounts because they were hacked and asked people to send them bitcoin. Is that what happened?
That is what happened.
Yeah, Oh god, the world's ending. Okay, the world is ending. It's possible. It is possible. It's always possible. Don' want to rule anything out? Shall we get to news I would love to.
Break? I guess it's not so breaking news yes time.
Oh god, not that voice again, davorit. It killed me, killed me on the last show.
Okay.
The NCAA has issued extended guidelines to help navigate the return to fall sports amid the pandemic. The guidelines released on Thursday, testing strategies for all athletics activities including preseason, regular season, and postseason, along with daily self health checks, the use of phase coverings, and social distancing during training, competition, and outside of athletics. Mark Emmert releases that document, but at the same time acknowledges that the virus is trending
in the wrong direction. Some of the data points we've seen, especially in some of our most football crazed states, they're having a hard time with it right now. So nice of the NCAA to send this out. No doubt, there are still many challenges ahead.
Yeah, we've talked about the fact that they're just we need to get as close to universal protocols as possible, be it on the conference level, be it on some sort of Power five agreement level FBS agreement level NCAA which does not necessarily govern competition with FBS football. Rather than enforce some basic rules, there needs to be some sort of protocol guidance. The problem, as always is nobody
fully knows what's best. So it's good that the nc DOUBLEA is sort of figuring out the best they can do, and the best that they can think of that makes sense for their member institutions. But at the same time, everything needs to be taken with a bit of a shrug because every day we learn more and have to adjust to different things. So good to hear. I remain confident that this season is not going to be anything if at all. If it happens, but it's not gonna
be anything like we're used to. If it's even attempted.
There will be a huge quirk, as we said time and again, and furthermore, if and when this system changes, at least if it's you know, if only for one season, It's not going to be the NCUBLEA that decides to change it. It's going to be the member institutions. It's going to be the challenges that local municipalities are facing. It's going to be driven by local, state and our leadership at the federal level. That's what it's going to
amount to. So a lot remains to be seen. It is nice, as you said, that they took the step, but I think there are huge challenges ahead. I did see that the AAC, the American Athletic Conference, they're going to require mandatory coronavirus testing for all football teams at least seventy two hours before each game. They also announced that on Thursday you go on to read the article here their commissioner basically saying, we know this is coming. We want to try and get out in front of
the power five before maybe they make similar announcements. We sort of want to be on the level and establish that protocol. The protocol, as we'll talk about in my interview with Pete a little bit later, and as we've alluded to time and again on this show, that protocol.
The closer we can get to some standardized version of that, there's never going to be a bubble like there is in the NBA in college football, but if we can get some standard guys protocol related to testing, that would that that would solve at least a long way some of the problem.
Right, sure?
Can I can I put you totally on the spot for a question that you there is no right answer that you're definitely not gonna be able to answer correctly, but I'm still gonna ask it, please, Okay. One of the terms you mentioned was it's not going to come down to like the NCAA mandating yes or no. It's going to be sort of a member institution than conference. It's going to be on a bunch of different levels that that's going to affect change.
Is there a.
Specific school or a level of school in terms of college football hierarchy if that matters, or importance or cachet whatever. Is there a school that if they say, we're just not doing this, like we had the Ivy League, we had the Patriot League. I know you're gonna mention that. I think it's the MEAC, the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference. We've had conferences sort of cancel fall sports and say, well, see what happens in the spring. We'll see what the
world looks like in the spring. Is there a level of school that's that if they say, you know, this testing that we're doing, it's just not enough. We're not getting good results. We're not putting our student athletes, you know, at risk because we know we can't really control things to a level that we can. Is it is it Texas saying it? Or Georgia saying or Alabama or USC is it? You know if a is it Houston? Is it Memphis? Is it Boise State? If Boise State says
this ain't it? This just ain't it we're not it's not worth the risk. What level of school carries that weight that you're going to see immediate dominoes across the sport.
Well, Benny, what's interesting about this is that I think there's both a trickle down and trickle up effect. We talked about the trickle up effect with the IVY League, and as the IVY League made some of its announcements, as Nicole and Bruce and others at the Athletic wisely noted there there were dominoes that fell after that IVY League announcement.
So one thing that we brought up in the.
Interview, and we'll talk about this more with with Pete Sampson again from the Athletic, But.
That's dominoes of non conference dominoes a non conference, but just dominoes in general. Right for sure.
You know, Pete and I talk about the size of Notre Dame and Notre Dame by comparisons a small school. If they can't do it, clearly they are a notable institution, a blue blood institution, and if they're unable to get it controlled within their smaller space, that that could be a harbinger of things to come for bigger schools. Totally to your direct question, though, I think if an Ohio state or Texas rule it out, that's a big deal. Those are very very rich athletic.
Because they have but they have the resources, is what you're saying. They have the resources, yeah, right to enact harsh safety protocols. They can basically afford to do whatever they want. And if they can't get it under control at bigger state institutions, that's a problem.
That's a problem. I think that would be the worst sign that this is not going to go off, either in the fall or in the spring whenever. I you know, I don't know, but certainly a school of that magnitude that has deep pockets, if they can't pull it off, there's a real problem.
What about And I know that they're sort of in the news as well. The American Conference, the AAC says, we don't have a unifying confidence that we can get things together to keep our kids safe enough. We know we're going to take an enormous financial hit, but morally we just we can't do it. We just can't do it. And you know, all the ads and whoever else presidents of these schools all agree. What does that do you
don't have a correct answer, because nobody does. But do you think that it obviously has to carry significantly more weight than the IVY or Patriot League share Patriot League, who we love. I think it's probably inevitable at this point. I think they're trying to put it off as long as they can m M. And I do think it would have an effect. These are more games that teams who haven't already called off non conference games can't play, right, So eventually you run out of teams.
Yeah, and if the challenges are just too great to overcome, and if you're stuck playing your own conference, not always bad thing.
Stuck Wow. I don't know who that comment was directed at.
Okay, but LIKECC, that's a significant challenge, especially if you have schools within your conference that may be unable to field a team for one reason or another. So I just for sure the pool of available teams is growing shallow we'er by the second and the more announcements that come out. Now the AAC is not there yet, they could get there soon. For now, it's just a mandatory
seventy two hour testing protocol. But now I think each one of these contributes and eventually will probably get to a point where someone serves as a strawbreaking the Campbell's back.
Yeah.
Oh man, I can't even Oh, I can't even imagine what sort of that that scenario playing out looks like. You know, I'm thinking about college football teams in a bubble like what the NBA MLS to a lesser degree, MLB is doing. Yeah, how much it must cost to put one hundred, one hundred and twenty one hundred and fifty people in a bubble, even if they're a few
read different regional bubbles. The NBA is spending what one hundred and fifty million or something crazy like that in Orlando, and there they have positive tests and complications things like that. I couldn't even imagine what it would cost to do that with football, and I don't I don't know. Does the NFL's not doing that right? No, they're just already hoping for the best. That's their best mechanism. Yeah, I
there's just there's no good answer. As much as member institutions and the NCAA and conferences are trying, I feel for them, and I feel for you Ti.
Thanks. Yeah.
The Mid Eastern Athletic Conference has suspended all fall sports indefinitely because of the pandemic. They have yet to determine whether or not they're going to try and move the season to the twenty twenty one spring semester.
That's the MEAC.
That's teams like North Carolina A and T. Bethune, Cookman Florida A, and M. Howard Morgan State. There's a whole bunch of historically black institutions part of the BAX, So hopefully they get to play football at some point in the academic year. Would love to see them play in the spring if at all possible, but for now they've made the decision that not going to try and give it a go in the fall.
Yeah, always crazy bum to hear about things like this, but glad they're enough out in front of this that hopefully they're figuring out contingency plans for a potential delayed season in late winter spring with with safety protocols in place. If the world and the country isn't a better place.
Other news here, Dan, Perhaps we should have expected this, but the NCAA has ruled that Bowl eligibility for this season only can be a little bit different. They approved a blanket waiver request for only this season. It allows all FBS teams to count two games, count them one two against FCS opponents that average at least eighty percent of the maximum amount of football scholarships during a two year periods.
There's a lot of words there.
All you need to know is that previously they only allowed FBS teams to count one game against an FCS opponent, and that opponent had to average ninety percent of the maximum allowable football scholarships during a two year span. So again, more words, but one versus two and eighty percent versus ninety percent.
All I need to know.
I'm not right now in mid July anticipating a twenty twenty Mayo Bowl.
I'm not the male bull takes the brunt man. They are taking the brunt here on this show.
Well for a season, hopeful for some sort of season whatever it looks like. Not anticipating a male Bowl.
Finally, the Senate Judiciary Committee going to hold a hearing on Wednesday to focus on integrity of college sports and athletes. Nil rights, nil of course standing for a name, image, and likeness.
It's been in the news.
We haven't had a lot to talk about around that topic, simply because the news has been so inundated with coronavirus and pandemic stuff.
But this is a big deal.
This is a huge.
Red blinking light staring down the NCAA, staring down college athletics as we know it. At some point we'll probably put a show together and talk a lot more about it with people who actually know the subject matter through and through. But for the time being, this is definitely
going to get some prominence on the federal level. It will not be the last that you hear of it, as some states like Florida and California have already passed legislation that would allow college athletes to profit off of their likeness as early as next summer in some cases. So keep your eyes on this subject. It is not going away, and it's a big deal.
Ty.
I just have a few words for any student athlete potentially trying to monetize his or her name, image, or likeness, and that is stay away from our sweet, sweet bombus sock cash.
Those are all ours, all hours, All the socks belong to us.
Don't you touch it. Don't touch it.
That's all we got for news today. We'll be back again next week and talk about anything that happens over the weekend. If there is anything pertinent, please feel free again to send it to us out there on email soliverble at email dot com, or any one of the social channels I mentioned at the top of the show. Okay, So I did an interview while you were in transit yesterday with our good friend Pete Sampson. As I said at the top, he had just conducted an interview with
Brian Kelly. Really good interview with Brian Kelly covered a lot of ground. It was good to catch up and talk Notre Dame. How Notre Dame fits into this current jigsaw puzzle we find ourselves in trying to understand how college football may work this fall and beyond.
And you counted down all of your favorite Notre Dame playoff touchdowns, right.
I did all of them.
Okay, oh, I can't wait.
All right, joining us now.
It's been a while since we talked to him, but always a pleasure to welcome back Pete Sampson, the Notre Dame beat writer for the Athletic. Back to the show, mister Sampson, how you doing.
I'm doing great, Like everyone else, just sort of hoping and praying the college football actually happens.
What's your level of confidence that it does happen.
This fall? Really low? This fall? Yeah? Yeah, I think that it's going to be a spring season. And you know, I understand if you're a head coach that you're not talking up that possibility. I mean, you may say, yeah, we can make it work, but if you've got a roster that's training and working out, I don't think your first move is going to be like, yeah, guys, let's keep working hard. So we played this game in March, so you know, I get that, and I get if
you're an ad you're not pushing for it. But man, it just you read sort of the Peak Family column from earlier this week, and that's it just seems like it once you get people to tell the truth, it gets pretty dark pretty fast.
We've seen this very pessimistic shift in mindset over the last couple of weeks. And you know, like just a month ago, Dan and I were game planning how we were going to do our conference previews this year, and now I'm not sure if we're going to.
Do them at all.
I don't don't we don't know if it makes any danse to do them. I know you talked to Brian Kelly earlier today, and we'll get into that, I'm sure, But I know you also talked to a lot of folks around the Notre Dame program in college football, just being at the athletic But like, are you detecting any kind of optimistic swing in the other direction.
I haven't heard it. And I think it's interesting because if you look at Notre Dame, and Notre Dame's not alone in this, but they've done about two hundred and fifty COVID nineteen tests and they've had one positive. Like, if that was this, if that was sort of the normal everywhere, I think we'd have college football for sure. But it's not. And that doesn't even get to students getting it back on campus and what that's going to look like. So I everyone that sort of talks to
you on background you feel that pessimism. There's a little bit more optimism when people are on the record and have their name attached to the quote. But I do think that there's a movement. Brian Kelly, I touched on this with him when I talked to him, is just like season, how would it work? And he talked about how in the ACC it's like Dave class and a wake for us was somehow in charge of modeling what a spring schedule was.
How did Dave Cossa get that job.
I don't know. I mean a pretty smart guy. I mean, I guess I don't And Kelly was like, yeah, I like it. I can see how this could work, you know. I talked to Chuck Martin. He was at Notre Dame a while ago. It was at Miami, Ohio now, and he was he was just, I want to play in the spring. It was almost like, I don't want to play in the fall at all because things are so uncertain.
So I think it would definitely work. And I think my sense is we're getting to the point where the question is becoming less do you want to play in the fall or do you want to play in the spring, and more, do you want to play in the spring or do you not want to play at all? In that scenario, you know everyone's going to choose spring conferences.
Don't want to over commit and say that they are going to play in the spring, because if they make a commitment to playing in the spring and then there's no season and they feel like maybe they left a little meat on the bone. Like maybe they could have gotten a few games in in the fall and instead of pushing it off to spring so early, there there was still a chance. I mean, like, how do you
feel about the spring season? You talk to a lot of these guys, Dan and I we've been talking about that possibility for months, and certainly from a fans perspective, it's unique, it's interesting. It probably means a lot of downloads for us, Like I want this to be conducted responsibly and safely, mind you, but it's interesting. I haven't read much of anyone, maybe outside of Lincoln Riley, and you know, a couple anecdotal quotes here and there from
people who seem to be embracing the idea. Where where do you come down on it?
Yeah, I mean we all would prefer the fall, right, but I don't think that's a as realistic an option as people want to make it out to be. You know, the spring drawback is the drawbacks that are advertised by people who don't want it, is you're going to have a bunch of players go pro I think that's just a cost of doing business in a spring season. That's you know, you're making the best of a bad situation.
But I don't. I'm not in line at all with this notion that, oh, the players can't play two seasons in one calendar year, because I mean, we're talking about what a nine to ten game schedule. Is there really going to be two Duke's Male Bowls and one calendar year? Probably not? Yeah.
And by the way, since when do the ones and needs of the player really matter in the college.
Football There's that too, right, I mean, suddenly it's very important. Yeah.
I mean not to be overly skeptical here, but since when is that a thing?
Yeah? I just think that the players want to play. If you're playing twenty five games in a calendar year, you know, maybe you can do that. These guys ultimately are going to go pro and play twenty games, twenty four games in one fall. So to me, I feel like it's realistic that you could play a two thirds three quarter season in the spring in a full regular season in the fall and not come. Ay, think in
ban we really grown those players into the ground. Especially you know, if you've got your early en rollies, you maybe you get some relief on that in the spring season where you're going to have seven eight extra players on your roster. The n CAA gives you some leeway on the eighty five man limbit. I just think there's a lot of ways to work around it if that's your only option.
I saw our friend Bruce Fellman wrote about the possibility of guys sitting out of spring season for fear of hurting their draft stock, and I know you've written about it too. Now you use ian Book as an example, which we could talk about that later, but it's a valid point, and from the Notre Dame perspective, I know there are a lot of guys, especially along the lines where I think you discussed the potential issue for the Irish, But how do you see it affecting a team like Notre Dame.
You know, think it would be a negative most games, but a positive in games against Clemson or USC if you got to play that one. You know, the idea of Ian Book not playing would be pretty devastating. Whether you think he's a fifth round pick or a first round pick or an undrafted free agent. But that has more to do with what's not behind him. Would Leam Mikenberg their left tackle, or Robert Haynesy the right tackle
not play? I don't know. That's that's kind of a that's a question I would like to ask them, but I don't. I don't think like not Rames roster as it's currently engineered, is it does not have a lot of high draft picks on it after this After this year, you know, if this was a year from now, woul Kyle Hamilton play, absolutely not. But he's got two years Togo. So your Notre Dame is their names stuck with him?
Does he in book think he's higher than like a fifth round pick.
That's a good question. I I don't think. I think that he does. That doesn't mean that he will be. You know, It's like his decision to come back was roughly forty eight hours after the bowl game last year. So it's not a situation where I think that he sweated it out and was waiting on draft feedback. I mean, he's got to get a lot better. So he's one of those guys where playing and showing that you've improved as a quarterback I think would be worth significant dollars to him to come back.
Shortly before we connected up, you did post a one on one interview with Brian Kelly out on the Athletic A really wide ranging interview. You covered a lot of ground, from testing protocols to flex scheduling to this notion of spring football, et cetera, et cetera. I'm most encouraged by what seems like an upbeat tone there. Now you touched on that a little bit. Was that palpable that upbeat tone? Or was I reading a little too much into it?
Do you think it was real? Is it just because his name was associated with these quotes like where what?
Where's your BS meter? On? That? He is? He is an optimist in PR terms in most of those media settings, So I think you adjust the dial a little bit on that. However, if they've done two hundred and fifty tests and had one positive, I think they do the next round. Their next round of results probably will come out this weekend. If they're still sitting there at one or two positives and they survived the July fourth weekend, when players maybe are getting a little bit more loose,
I think they'll fill rocop it. Then you just got to survive what happens when students come back, and you know how Notre name manages that. I mean, overall, if Notre Dame can't manage it, this I don't think anybody can manage it because we're talking about a campus of twelve thousand, not fifty thousand. I think as Notreame's administration would help, likeme's doing spying by and large, with their
their Catholic up bringing, they follow the rules. So if they, if Notreame cannot make this work, it's uh, we're in dire streets. I think on a national level.
Were there any surprises for you in talking to Brian Kelly, any of his answers surprise you.
I don't know if anything really took me back. Just based on having covered him for now going on eleven years, I thought that he is one to put himself out there, like I didn't think that he's necessarly going to tell me about the acc Springs scheduling model. I sort of floated the idea of Notarame playing Alabama somehow, and his
eyes got real big when I said that. But I do think that, you know, his quote about our phones ringing off the hook with scheduling was significant because that was that was one of those storylines as soon as the PAC twelve and Big ten one conference, only who's gonna play? They're gonna get left out. I think they would. They could find thirty teams to play them and not
break a sweat. So I don't think that that that fear that a lot of interne fans had maybe a week ago, is all that justified or has a whole lot of weight to it.
Well, that that was actually gonna be my next question. So we're recording this, it's mid July. As of now, the games against Wisconsin, Stanford, and USC have been canceled, and it does seem like a bit of a foregone conclusion that other conferences are going to go the same direction. The internet has had a lot of fun with this,
right and you've seen the memes. I appreciate the what is it the confused John travolt To meme around Notre Dame and they're gonna be left out and the season is going to be canceled for them and all that. But you seem to indicate, and I'm with you, that this is not at all grounded in reality. It's a fun internet storyline. Ultimately, if they've got to fill out a schedule, they're going to find a way to figure out a schedule.
Yeah, at the end, for how much posturing there is in college football, and we love that the dramatic effect that the ads and coaches have. There's a lot of money to be made off Notre Dame if you're playing them, and right now, you really want to make that money. So I just think that, you know, whether it's an ACC or it's another SEC school, or maybe it's a Big twelve school, they're going to find a way to get Notre Dame in there, and because it just is
good for their bottom line. I think if Notre Dame is if Notre Dame gets word from the ACC, is that says, hey, we're going to give you Miami Florida State and let's start Boston College in there for a filled your COVID narrative story. Yeah, let's do it. Not name, it's just going to be like, okay, cool, we'll take those extra three. We've still got Arkansas, Navy, and Western Michigan. That's our schedule. Let's let's make it work. So I
ain't going to names in a fine spot. But yeah, it's when those Pack twelve and the Big ten start pulling out like, oh, who are you going to play? It's like, oh right, everyone wants to play Notre Dame.
Sure, Yeah, is there like a target that they've got in mind, like ten games and that that would be okay financially, or is it six games just an acc schedule? Is it as many as possible because this is football and obviously, like, where have you heard any numbers like that thrown out?
I believe the target's going to be something closer to ten. I don't think that they have any intention to play twelve because whether it's conference only or they're mixing and matching, the same principles apply that are working with the Big, the Big ten, the PAC twelve is you want some flexibility, I have to start and stop that the entire season doesn't get wrecked by that. So I my hunches they're shooting for about a ten game schedule based on people I've talked to.
One interesting angle that Dan and I have talked about on the show is it would seemingly benefit a situation like Notre Dame has, frankly, where you've got a lot of veteran leadership, and I wonder if you've had a chance to talk to Brian Kelly or anyone around the program around how Notre Dame might come out of this if they do end up playing any football. Do you think there is any kind of tangible benefit just with the way the roster is constructed, knowing they've got that leadership.
Yeah, it's there could be a lot worse situations than the one Notre Dame is in. You got five starters back on your offensive line, third year starting quarterback, defensive coordinator in year three Reese Tommy Reese the new OC but has been here for a while, knows the personnel. You know on Brian Kelly the year eleven. It's I'm sure there are some teams that have come out better than this. Like I would prefer to be Clemson because
you'd have Trevor Lawrence. But maybe yeah, just I'm gonna say definitely, ty Okay, I just think that if you're Notre Dame, you feel like, all right, we've got a puncher's chance in this, Like we don't have a major hurdle to overcome it. I mean, even the starters that they're replacing on defense, there's a good chance they're going to replace them with two grad transfers, one from Menci State,
one from Ohio State. So if you're plugging in new starters who actually have started twenty thirty games, somewhere else. That's not a bad place to be either. So I think Notre Dame's roster is very, very old, and it's coaching staff is stable. That would be good any season, but particularly with this offseason.
Two the areas that I know I've looked at, just in checking out the roster and the way it's constructed and certainly reading smart people such as yourself. The secondary is a bit of a concern. Kyle Hamilton can't play all the positions, so that's top of mind, and also the skill positions. They lose a lot at the receiving position. A little bit of question around who's running the rock this year. What does Reese do on offense that looks different, if at all, from what we saw under chip Long.
I don't think it's going to be all that different. I do think Chip Loong's offense was a lot more boom or bust like they and he was sort of content to take stuffs, you know, get the read option stuff, and it's Tony Jones for one yard, Jeff Armstrong for two yards, and then it would be Brad Lindsay for fifty yards on a jet sweep. So they're I think they need to be a lot more consistent than that. How Reese manages that, you know, does he do less
read option stuff or is it? Is it different? I'm not really sure because we've only seen one game of it. But you can have your line back and your quarterback back. But I think they're running back talent is pretty low compared to other playoff contenders, and they turn over basically their entire receiver depth chart, so's there's a bit of rebuilding on the outside. How that impacts how we judge
him Book, I don't know. I could see im Book being an improved player, but the statistics taking a step back because he's got receivers who have never really played before.
Did it surprise you that they decided to ultimately go with Tommy Reese as offensive coordinator because there was a lot of scuttle butt there, there were names thrown about. Ultimately he was the guy. It felt a little bit like they were afraid of losing him. What's your sense there, Pete.
It wasn't that surprised about it. I'm not sure I would describe the higher as like all that inspired. It was kind of much more comfortable with Reese. I mean, Kelly coached him he's been on staff for a couple of years. The roster loves him, and I do think he's going to prove to be a good higher. But his personality is so different from Chip Long. I mean, Chiplong was sort of Brian Kelly circa twenty eleven in
terms of the way he dealt with players. Reese is a lot more even keel about it, and he has no real experience calling plays other than the Camping World Bowl. I think it was kind of one of those hires where I don't know if the player. I would say the players had a say in it, but the players definitely would have voted for recently if they did.
As we wind this down here, Pete, let's circle back to the top. Give me, on a scale of one to ten, your level of confidence that we're going to see more than six games.
In the fall, like three? Pretty low?
Yeah, okay, And your level of optimism just personally around going to Notre Dame Stadium maybe for a game in April.
I'll go seven and a half. It's a little warmer, right, Yeah. Sometimes I've covered spring games and blizzards before here. I just think that the spring makes too much sense, and you know, I guess I sort of view it as the national trend lines is Jack Swarbrick and Greg Sank and all the commissioners they seem to be pointing out now are like, are not good to give yourself another
six months to turn this around? I think guy, and I've sort of said to other people, it's like, if things aren't in a better spot six months from now than they are today, Like whether college football is being played or not, is maybe the least of our work. Yeah, I mean we're all dead at that point. Yes, Like, let's I'd be happy to cover Notre Dame Clemson on April seventh or whatever day of the week that would be.
That would be fine, And I think you'd say, hey, sign this piece of paper, you will be guaranteed a spring football season. I would do it. Yeah. I think the sport can manage it, and it would give us something to look forward to.
Well, we'll see, you know, whatever happens, it will. It will absolutely be fascinating and interesting to watch, not as people who cover, but as people who watch the sport and appreciate it as well. Come back soon, Pete. We need to talk more about Notre Dame and obviously once we get this whole scheduling thing figured out and know if we're going to play football or not, we'll have to talk more. But hope you're doing well out there and we'll talk soon.
All right, Thanks, I appreciate it. All right, Dan again.
Pete Sampson the Athletic check him out. One of my favorite Notre Dame be writers. There are many, yeah, there are many, but Pete's been in front of the show for a long time. Good catch up with him. The most interesting thing that he said in that interview talk about Brian Kelly and his media chops.
I tend to think optimism publicly is real. I don't think people are sort of scripting what they're saying as much as people think. I know a lot of people are under the impression that college football coaches are full of I don't know if we have families listening to this,
but full of crap kind of stuff. But I imagine you have to be able to get to a point as a college football coach where you're projecting positive energy and optimism because so much of the secret sauce of college football is culture and buy in, where I think you have to rewire your brain to project that sort of positivity even somebody who appears to be sort of
a downer, I guess like Nick Saban. Nick Saban might sort of appear like a downer, but he has earned the benefit of the doubt with the results of both his players individually and with team success that there is a certain amount of positivity just wrapped up in the Alabama program. And even if Nick Saban specifically isn't coming off as warm and cheery, I think he rubs his
players in a pretty positive way. And that's unfortunate framing and praising as I just hear myself say it out loud, But no, that's all a long winded way of saying I think on a very real level, it's genuine.
Well, that's why I asked him about it. I thought it was an interesting tidbit that I took away from his interview going out to the athletic and read it.
Is that a dog barking?
I hear he's a dog barking in the background.
Is she happy? Is she hungry? What does she she's angry about?
She's angry that neither Kate nor I are downstairs with her at the moment.
Bitches be wanting attention ty.
Yeah, I know.
I've always been saying that I have some sweet potatoes to take out of the oven myself, so we can we can wrap this up if you'd like.
Let's wrap this up.
I gotta go see what's going on downstairs.
Mm hmm.
For that guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein, for myself, Tie Hildebrand. Big thanks to our guest of honor today, our good friend Pete Sampson from the Athletic. We'll be back in about a week. Hope everyone enjoys their weekends. Stay safe, stay solid in the meantime.
No wait, I screwed that up.
I screwed up my own outroup. Now I'll just leave this in here.
Peace.