The Drive with Jack
*Chase Michaelson, Circa Resort & Casino
(upbeat music) - Jack, I believe you're my good friend, Matt Sloatt, grab a Volcomist, lots of excitement at the two dealerships. What's new with Chevy and Nissan? - Well, Jack, great question. At Nissan, everybody seems to be talking about interest rates. We're offering 0% financing on new vehicles, and we have the all new completely redesigned 2025 kicks on the lot and ready for delivery. It is fantastic. At Chevy, same thing. People are talking about interest rates. Guess what? We have 0% financing on new, and as low as 1.99 used. You got to come check it out. - Great time to get a car and great place to do it. Grab a Volcomist. (upbeat music) - Well, welcome back. It is a drive with Jack. Spotlight radio network. I want to welcome in Chase, Michelson from circa in downtown Las Vegas. Chase, happy new year. - Happy new year, Jack. I'm just trying to get out of the garage tonight. (laughing) I'm just gonna start. - Lots of road closures. - Oh, all right. Well, Alabama's trying to get out of the garage right now. And after a 1913 loss to Michigan, Wolverines have got this down to a science. They gained 234 yards in some albedo aisle state. Today, they won gaining 190. - Yeah, I wanted to ask you or talk about this a little bit. Sharon Moore has been heavily criticized this year. - Yeah. - And clearly Michigan took a step back, particularly on the offensive end. They didn't have really a big 10 level quarterback made out of first round pick last season. But they're gonna end this season with wins over Michigan State, Ohio State, and Alabama. And next year, they're getting Bryce under wood. - Uh-huh. - So... - Well, it'd be the first of his three Heisman Trophy seasons next year. And I think having a win over Michigan State right now would not be something they'd be bragging about. - I understand, but I'm saying they're winning the game's, they're winning the rivalry games, at my point. They won the rivalry game and they beat Alabama. I understand Michigan State's not a great team. I understand that, but I'm saying they, if you look start the season, you said it's gonna be a disaster season for Michigan. You know, they're gonna look like they're not, they haven't embraced the forward pass, which was legalized in 1906. But they're still gonna go to an own rivalry games and beat Alabama. - Yeah. - I think they would take that. And I think that the way, and I think that the way that Sherrod Moore has been talked about this season, and I wanna go too far outside of football or whatever, but like, I've been very surprising, and I think pretty unfair. For, I understand he was taking over a team that wore the same jerseys as the team that won the National Championship last season, but it was not the same team, was never going to be the same team. And considering that, I think that Michigan fans can live with us. - Yeah, because it's what happens last, what you remember, and they don't all count one, as you say, a win in a rivalry game beating Ohio State, beating Alabama, or I should say, not losing to Ohio State and Alabama. I think they had a lot of help. In both cases, I think if you look at Sherrod Moore and really put a magnifying glass on it, he has had so many coaching blunders, including a timeout at the end of the first half today, which handed Alabama what looked like a critical three points. But, you know, you can go back to the way that they handled the quarterback situation coming in. Why did they not get a quarterback out of the portal? Why did they have a team that has four or five first round draft choices, and might have five first round draft choices and five losses? I don't think you see that very often. So, congratulations to Michigan and Sherrod Moore for holding it together. And you would think that it's going to be brighter future there, recruiting is picked up now. I think that the landscape of college football, with the money that's being thrown around, can only help Michigan. But I think if you look at what the Wolverines did, if you had asked any Michigan fan going into this season, how'd you like to finish with five losses and be playing in Tampa? They would have considered that to be an abject failure. - That's fine, and I don't disagree with that, but I think that expectations change. And I also think that you're right, there were mistakes made in the off season, in game situations, I'm not denying any of that. But what I'm saying is when you have a first year head coach, as far as I know, does not have a previous head coach experience, is that correct? - That's correct. - At any follow-up level? Okay, so you're hiring a young guy, you're probably not paying him what you would have if you would gone out and tried to hire Kayla Dibour, for example, and you're trying to, I'm serious, you're trying to concentrate on that. - Yeah, right, right. - In the new college football, you're trying to concentrate your resources less on the coaching staff. I think we saw what Mike Norval did at Florida State, for people that are unaware. He essentially gave back a portion of the huge extension he got last year, to basically help pay the players, which, whether you think that's right or wrong, or whatever, is the reality. And so, I'm not saying that Sherrod Moore's a perfect coach, or that he even did an amazing job this season. What I'm saying is, I think that the criticism and the like, oh, this is it, that Michigan, this is the act, that never be able to get back, because as long as this guy's in charge, like, I don't get the Brady Hoke feeling. - Yeah, I would never say Michigan is down for the count, because it's down for a minute. And I would expect Michigan football to be back. It has too many things going for it. And I've said many times that a trained chimp could win eight games coaching the Michigan Wolverines. So, in terms of where we are with a game like this, this was a 16 and a half point spread coming in, is that right? - Yeah, it kept going up, because Michigan was having lots of hopped out, and it looked like Alabama was going more full strike, which makes this, you know, from the Alabama perspective. - Yeah. - Yes, it's a bowl game, and yes, their exhibition game, but Alabama was relatively, relatively full strike, and Michigan was not. And that's how you had, you know, a pretty significant point spread there. So, yes, in a vacuum losing this game, I don't think it's a big deal for Alabama, but along with everything else, going on with Alabama this year, and the expectations that they have, and Kaylin DeBore struggling, in year one, struggling away from Bryan Denny Stadium, in particular. It's, I'll just say this, he could have stayed in Seattle. (laughing) - Because I promise you, I promise you, that this kind of sees it in Seattle coming off of the National Championship appearance would not be viewed the same way it'd be viewed at Tuscaloosa. I promise you that. - Rob, these are the kinds of questions that I would have given Chase Michelson when he was a terrific intern for us, and a lead researcher. Do you think Jalen Milro is the first quarterback from a non-conference team to lose to Michigan twice in one calendar year? And can you imagine another head coach losing to the Wolverines twice in 2024, with two different schools? - It's a good question. The different schools thing has to be, right? 'Cause you had to have somebody jump from the back to the big 10 or something. - Yeah. So that probably has happened. The quarterback thing that's probably less likely. You threw in the calendar year. That's not fair. (laughing) It's a very tight window. - That's right. - I'm on your circuit. - Four days. - Start on January 1st, and you end on December 31st, so. - Yeah, I got it, I got it. - I know how that goes. I remember when... - I remember when it was the goal line. (laughing) - I remember when Rodney Pete lost to Michigan State twice in three months. That was tough to do, but USC managed to do that. All right, let's talk a little bit more about the reaction now to the college football playoff and chase when these teams were seated. There was a predictable fear error. You knew someone was gonna be unhappy. And a lot of people saying that there was anti-SCC bias first time I've heard that one. And that the big schools were not getting the fair shake. And Lane Kiffin was going on and on about this when Indiana lost the Notre Dame and SMU lost to Penn State in pretty non-competitive games. But since Tennessee lost in Columbus and with Alabama's loss today, can we put this idea to rest? - Yeah, I do think that the NCC had a bit of a down season this year. I was just talking to somebody about this briefly before I came on the show. I do agree with that. I don't really wanna re-litigate who should have it in again. I'll just say this from our perspective, in the sports book, obviously we're rooting for the bigger programs to be it. And we're rooting for the bigger programs to play each other. You're gonna have closer point spreads. Lesser point spreads mean more two-way action. - Right. - Tonight we're gonna have to root for Penn State, even though it means we're gonna lose today, because the alternative is Boise State getting closer to the Tuesday scenario that we don't want. - Yeah. - So it's not a good situation for us really, when these teams get in and certainly when they have buys and when they only need to bring. - You know, I care about your wellbeing, but you know, I'm also rooting for a Boise State, Arizona State Championship game. - Of course, that would be not good for circus sports, but it'd be good for you. (laughing) - All right, what do you make of the games, the quarter finals? Are we gonna see an upset? - Well, when you say upset, are you referring to, like, I mean, Oregon is an underdog. So like, of course, Oregon could win that game. - That's a toss-up game, right? - What is the number on that right now? That's a toss-up. - Two and a half. - Yeah, anything, three points are under, I don't consider being upset. I'm talking about something. - So you're asking Texas, Arizona State, you're asking, can Arizona State be Texas, or can Boise State be fed state? - Yeah, basically. What do you think? - Probably not. I think Boise has a better chance than Arizona State does. I think Texas is better than Penn State. So I think, even though I think Arizona State's probably a little bit better than Boise, I think, yeah. - And what's the line on Notre Dame and Georgia right now? - It's two, Georgia two. - So, that's not really an upset even. Okay, so, what a tough minute. - There's a lot of people who think Notre Dame could be favored back in. - Yeah, yeah, I mean, one of them, in fact. When you think about what the Detroit Lions did last night, and there were a lot of people who were upset with Dan Campbell for playing all of his guys and saying this is just like another game, we're gonna go out there, we're gonna play to win. And it's kind of like the Lions mindset all year long. So they were gonna deviate, they were gonna take their foot off the gas. And they trailed, much of the game, but came from behind, got it done, and here they are. Chase, we're gonna see a 14-win team as a five seed. - Yeah, that is, that is... (both laughing) Yeah. - They've never had a 14-in-three team, they've never had a team with 14 wins, not host a playoff game. - Yeah, it's a different era. We're gonna have to get used to it. I don't really know what the other... - Well, here's what I don't understand with this, Chase. You know, there's so much now about, they gotta redo the college football playoff so that the conference champions can get in, but they don't get a first round buy. They can't be the three seed or the four seed. They're gonna have to be the 11 or the 12, wherever they are, are slotted in this. Isn't the same thing true with the National Football League? I mean, you could have division champs and weak divisions and they get home games. - For sure, and that's how it's always been in the NFL. So, you know, I understand that argument, if you're gonna go with this sort of professionalization of college football, the difference is that in the NFL, all the teams are theoretically equal. Like, obviously, you have bigger markets, but like when the, you know, Carolina Panthers have two Super Bowl appearances, I'm sure that those games were heavily, heavily watched. - Right. - And, you know, the NFL kind of is its own thing. The teams that are playing is less important than the product itself. That is not the case for college football. It is not an even playing field. And what the SEC wants and what the Big Ten wants is what's the line from Animal Farm? You know, like, there's equal, but then there's more equal. So, Arizona State and Boise State, wow, they've had great seasons, and look, they're in the situation they're in, and they're played by the current rules. What I'm saying is when the rules don't suit the power players, the rules change. We've seen this before. The whole idea of the expansion of the playoff in the first place was to make sure that teams like, for example, Ohio State that lost to Michigan at the end of the season, it's okay if they'll get it, it's fine, right? You had four Big Ten teams at three other C-teeps, and that was the goal. I think the goal was more as you see, I think the goal was probably four, and they said-- Originally, I think their goal was five, right? They wanted five, the Big Ten would have four, and then the other conferences could fool around with the other three. Yeah, sure, but they said you guys can have your little first round by, it's fine, and then they saw what the CD actually looked like this year, and then like it. And again, the SEC and the Big Ten, they have their voice travels. It matters more than others. And so I think that this will change. I think eventually you will have it closer to the basketball model where it's very simple. The highest seeds get the seeds, and that's how it is. I think there's a chance, a chance, that we could go to a on-campus model for the second round. I'm not sure about that, but I think that that's possible, particularly if the playoff expands to 14 or 16, I think you could see that. But basically, people are not happy. They're not happy that Ohio State and Texas didn't get by, and Arizona State and Boise State did. And that's really what it comes down to. And Ohio State and Texas, could you think of two programs with more money than Ohio State and Texas? No, no. Could they want that? That's how it is. Yeah, yeah. And I think it's great that we're going to get that Ohio State Oregon rematch. I thought we were going to get it in Indianapolis, in the Big Ten Championship game, but we'll have to wait a few more weeks. And we're going to get it here. Do you think the Rose Bowl will be any different than the game in Seattle? I'd rather, in Austin City. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, I mean, I think that-- I think the teams are in different places than they were at that point. I think Oregon was still figuring things out on the offensive line at that point. I don't think Oregon was as good as they are now. Yeah. Obviously, what Ohio State showed last week against Tennessee, terrifying. But if they play like that, they'll win. There's nothing Oregon could do if Ohio State plays like that. I don't necessarily think they will. But no disrespect to Lucas Oil Stadium, but I think I'd rather have this rematch in the Rose Bowl. Right. Well, it would have been possible for these teams to play three times, right? Yeah, yeah, it's possible. Probably not this early. That may be out of the eyes. It'd be probably not because I think Ohio State. It seems like the one thing they didn't do was punish teams for losing in the Copper Championship game. So I think if Ohio State had made it, it would have probably been the five or the six. Would have ended up probably meeting next week instead of this one, but it doesn't matter. This is a game that is massive. We will have tremendous right on this game. We have tremendous two-way on this game. I can't tell you who we're rooting for yet, because the big bets haven't come in yet. But they will. I know that there's liability on Oregon. We took a really big Oregon national championship bet in the recent weeks. So that changed our position to where-- What do you think is what? What do you consider really big when you throw that term around? It means that we're losing a lot more money than I make in a year at Oregon with the championship. OK. Like several times. Gotcha. So at this point, I think we are rooting for not Oregon. We're really rooting for not boys at their Arizona State. But then behind that, we're rooting for not Oregon. So as usual, the sports picks are rooting for the boring outcome that no one wants to see. Chase, is that also true in the NFL playoffs? The teams that would be popular-- I think Kansas City is usually popular, right? I got to say Detroit is probably popular now. For sure. For sure. Would you say that that's a bad outcome for the books? I know Kansas City is not good. We've had an exact fall year where you can bet this team to beat this team. So I know Chiefs Packers Super Bowl would be really bad. Like, really, really bad. So we don't want that. But yeah, in the NFL, people bet favorites. And look, I mean, not just on the Monday line, the favorites are on an incredible streak against the spread in the last two months. Really, that we haven't seen. That's I bet is a sound that I don't think in a long time before that either. So that's bad for us and good for the betters. And they will be emboldened by that, continue to bet favorites, I'm sure. So we'll need some upset in the NFL playoffs, I'm sure. We'll be rooting for probably basically every road team, I would imagine, except for, I guess, in the first round, like the loser of that Minnesota Detroit game, whether they're playing in. It sounds like it'll be LA, right? The Rams are tried to lose this week, they don't care. So the loser of that game, we'll probably play the Rams. I imagine it will be the Rams that game. But other than that, it's going to be, yeah. It's just underdogs. We need underdogs to get there in the playoffs. And then as a Super Bowl, a lot of times, it's the perfect situation is the underdog covers that doesn't win, because people either bet the favorite on the spread or the underdog on the money line. I'm going to have a couple of underdogs for you. How about the Broncos and the Sun Devils? They're underdogs, right? They're underdogs. And, but that's, again, technically just today, for December 31, 2024 result. It would be better for Boise State to win this game, I'm sure. But if you look at it in the long term, I think we'll we're OK with just taking a loss today. Penn State winning, getting Boise State out of there. Is this also true, Chase, with the NCAA tournament, then you have first round upsets, and that's cute? But when you move on, you don't want Kentucky out of the tournament, right? No, the first round upsets are great. The first round upsets in basketball are good for the house, because it breaks up all the parlays, because people just go down the board. They've been every favorite on the Thursday and Friday. So that's good. But for the championship pool, it's, you know, yeah, we're typically rooting for the better teams, although it's a little bit different because people don't have time really to bet the St. Peter's of the world. Like, nobody's betting St. Peter's took me in the championship before they beat Kentucky. You know what I'm saying? So like, it's a little bit different, whereas Boise's been in this position all year, so people have been betting them even at high odds. All right, the last thing for you, individual bets. And I don't know if you could have gotten a bet on Cam Ward getting the touchdown pass record. Was that something that was out there you could bet on? I'm sure it was offered. We didn't offer any props on any non-playoff game, because we didn't want to deal with this foolishness. Try to think of a guy playing the first half. Yeah, play the first half, and I say thank you. I'm-- enjoy the rest of the game, guys. I mean, it's a little odd, but at the same time, if you take the standpoint that it's somewhat of an exhibition game, then it is what it is. I do think it's funny that people think this will have a negative effect on Cam Ward's draft stock. That's definitely not true. The NFL does not care at all. If you play in one quarter, two quarters, three quarters, the pop-tark fall, I know what would have a negative effect on Cam Ward's draft stock. Getting injured, for sure. That would hurt. Like Carson Beck's draft stock, lower than it was three weeks ago. Well, speaking of-- For a reason, you take every time, I understand that. But I don't have a huge problem with it. It is odd. We needed Iowa State massive in that game. So when they showed him warming up before the-- when there was a minute left, we're like, if you're going to come back in the game, and, you know, F.S. over, we were getting a little concerned. So we were glad to see Emory Williams go out there. Good luck, Emory Williams, next year. When you talk about injuries, Nick Sirianni said that he doesn't know what he's going to do. They're locked in-- I don't believe it. Two-spot, you think he does know? Well, I don't know what he's going to do, but what do you mean he doesn't know? He's just going to like-- He said he doesn't know. He's going to talk to the team, and he's going to-- yeah. He's going to kind of take a poll, it sounds like. He said he's got to talk to a lot of people. He makes up his mind on whether he's going to play Saequan Barkley. Saequan's going for this rushing record, which would be important. And it's against the New York Giants, a team that he would love to stick it down their throat. I understand all of that, but I don't know what they're going to do. I truly don't know. But this idea is that they don't know, I don't buy that. Like, what do you mean they don't know? They're game-planning this week to beat the Giants, and they're like, we don't know who's going to play what, but they're like, it didn't matter. And I was like, go out there with whoever. Like, that's the point that Jim Campbell was making about why they went full strength last night was they prepared all week with the starters, and then Minnesota wins. And they say, oh, well, this game doesn't matter. But it's like, you couldn't know that going in. So you can't have a one-day install for Hendon Hooker. That's not realistic. So I don't think the Eagles don't know what they're going to do. They may play Saequan for a portion of the game or whatever, but they know what they're going to-- I don't buy that. OK. Do you think he'll play the whole game if it's competitive? No. Do you think they'll try to get that rushing record for him? I don't think he'll play. But if he does play, it will be to try to get the rushing record. And that's the only difference. That's all I think. 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