FiredUp Network
Friday, September 13: College GridIron
Welcome into time out here on the fires up network. It's week two of the national football league. Join by Alex Campbell as usual and looking into it and man the the NFL week one didn't disappoint. You had some really close games. You had some breaking news on the game day. Both in a an absolutely crazy story that's disturbing in a way. Yeah, in Miami and deck Prescott is now the highest paid player in the national football league. I don't know what ESPN is going to talk about now because I can't talk about deck Prescott getting signed or not. He's got his contract. Yeah, good for that signed days after ESPN spent 30 minutes talking about hey Matt Stafford reworked his contract. That's so Stafford can leave and they can bring deck Prescott in. Not happening. No, not at all. Not at all. Not at all. No. And I believe deck would have been a very hot commodity on the market had they not signed him. You know, like we saw, you know, I've always compared deck Prescott and Kirk cousins. I think they're more similar than a lot of fans like to admit, especially in Dallas. But, you know, I think that would have had probably two times as many suitors as cousins did last year, because, and while I like cousins a lot and he's a great leader in the locker room. And all I've ever heard about deck is that is his best quintessential skill set that he is such a great leader in the locker room and all the players just love him so much that like, to me, he might be the best quarterback in the NFL on from that standpoint. Just basically out of. Yeah, even coming out of college. That was the thing that people said, Hey, the stats aren't there yet. But man, this guy is a leader. He's a gamer. He's a fighter. Yeah. And for whatever reason the Cowboys haven't gotten it done in the playoffs. It's not for lack of spending money. They, they throw the money around. They throw the money around. I think, you know, for all of the criticism of Jerry Jones, you look at his draft picks. He actually has done a very good job. A very good job. Now, do I believe him that he's the only guy that could be the GM of the Cowboys and win games? No, not for a second. I don't. There's a lot of really talented GMs out there in the league. A lot of talented personnel guys that are still on scout teams and not GMs yet. And the league survives on that. Right. That's what they expect. Jerry Jones, though, you got to give him his flowers in a way because not only has he drafted really well, he's found a way to retain guys in a situation where they haven't always been elite in the win column, which is actually pretty hard to do. You know what I mean? Especially Dallas is not necessarily a destination city either. I mean, you know what I mean? Not like a lot of these franchises have suffered from, you know, so kudos to kudos to Jones in a way. And he's also never been afraid to take a risk on guys like, you know, member Pac Man Jones. You know what I mean? Like he's never afraid to do on Sanders if you go back far enough. He's never been afraid to take a risk on a really talented guy either. So you got to kind of give your flowers to Jones. Although I think that his meddling, especially in the coach's office, is probably the reason they haven't won big because the greatest coach he ever had. He chased him right out of town because he couldn't agree with him. Now, I do think they made a good move in bringing Mike Zimmer in to run the defense because, granted, they're playing against what's left of the Sean Watson, who's really, really bad. But the Cowboys defense looked terrific. Yeah, exactly. They had it dialed in. They absolutely dominated that game against the Browns. The score wasn't even as lopsided as the game was. Yeah. Yeah, they really ran away with it. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, they got, and really that you're right, that defense got so many pressures on. Watson was running for his life. And I know that like it's, it's not the same to Sean Watson as we saw in Houston. But like, again, there's no quarterback in the league that's going to succeed when you have that much pressure on him like Dallas had on Sunday. You know, and some credit, although goes to a shuffling of the offensive line in Cleveland. They've got some injuries and don't tell her still out like they've got some injuries on that offensive line and they're shuffling things around. And, you know, if they just weren't really ready up front for week one, and it kind of showed. I do think that the Browns will get better and better as the season goes on. I think they have a very talented coaching staff, although, let's face it, the news that broke what in the last 24 hours about Sean Watson is not a welcoming thing. Or Watson. Well, actually, if you're the Browns, maybe it is kind of a welcoming thing. Maybe you'll get out of it. Yeah. It looks like the one out you might have to what you still owe, which is $92 million to let's face it a mediocre and not an all-star quarterback. Well, here you're being generous with saying mediocre. These are his projected stats. If you take week one and stretch it out over the season. How do you like these numbers? How about 408 out of 765? That's a 53% completion percentage. 2,600 sorry 2,800 yards, a 3.8 yards per attempt, 17 TDs and 34 interceptions with a rating of 51.1. And honestly, that's not far off from his tenure with the Browns. If you're a Browns fan, you had to be utterly disgusted with the games on Sunday. Baker Mayfield went out for for 289 yards and four touchdowns. Since they've parted ways and traded quarterbacks, if you take Baker Mayfield's stats across the Panthers, the Rams and the Buccaneers and compared to Deshaun Watson. I mean, if you're out touched down to him, 44 to 11. Insane. Insane. What? I mean, you can't see that decision and the wrath that it created more clearly than of how they've just played out in reality. I mean, a lot of times when teams make bad decisions, they can hide them and cover them up. This is not one. And we said this last year, I remember, like, when you missed this big and spend that much money and give up that many assets, it's going to show and it's going to hurt. Now, they were able to still make the playoffs with Joe Flacco. And that's why I say they have a very talented coaching staff. Yeah. You know what I mean? I don't doubt for a second the Browns could still get back to the playoffs with the team they have, even with Watson at quarterback. But like, at the same time, you're right. Baker Mayfield. I mean, this has to be frustrating if you're if you're Jimmy Haslam, the owner, if you're the front office, like this has to be frustrating. Mayfield was fantastic. The Bucks scored against the commanders on seven of eight of their first drives. They dominated that game. And I know he just got there, but Dan Quinn is a highly respected guy in the NFL. So when you're torching a Dan Quinn defense, that says something. Well, and here the Browns are going to be sitting at 0 and 2. They do have James Winston on the roster, a guy who has flacco like arm skills, right? I mean, he's a big. I mean, actually, they're very similar quarterbacks. James Winston. It's not moving anywhere. He's a big strong armed gun the ball. He's going to throw some interceptions, but man, he's going to throw some bombs. He's also matter of time before he gets in there. 100% and and James has also shown the ability to stay healthy and take hits at the same time, which is something that because of his size, because of his sheer size, reminds me of like a cam Newton that doesn't run more like a bill, like a like a Ben Routhus bird in his career where like he can just take the hits. He breaks some sacks in the backfield too, because he's so big. He just people off. He just shrugs people off takes the hits and keeps rolling. You know, it's a guy like another guy like Don of McNabb late in his career. I think a lot of the same stuff, a bigger guy, you know, that was able to shirk off a lot of those sacks. And I think with the offensive line, because they're not going to be healthy probably until mid season on that old line, not full. And even if they are, as you know, we both been watching football for a long, long time, even when they are healthy, there's some new pieces and it takes some time to gel on an offensive line. So they may, they may not be truly right up front until three fours of the way through the season. And I still think they could be a playoff team, but like, James is fully capable. I think if you can keep him under control. Bruce Arians was the absolute worst coach to put him with risk it for the biscuit. You don't want to give a guy that has that much like Matt Stafford would have done the same thing as James Winston. I think Winston has been maligned in the NFL because if you put Stafford behind Arians in the risk for the biscuit offense, Stafford would have thrown just as many interceptions. You look at how he played, Stafford played in Detroit under Scott Lenahan, for instance, when it was, or, or marks when it was stretched the field like crazy. It was pick city. You know what I mean? It was just like Winston and same kind of thing. Real cocky strong arm, bit of a statue in the pocket. Stafford probably moved a little better. But Stafford was more 37. That's true. Well, speaking of Stafford, wow, I thought he looked great against Detroit. I thought he looked great. Kudos to him for taking the take in the contract reduction, trying to make the team better. I didn't think that was going to happen seemed like he was pretty inflexible that early on. But, you know, kudos to Stafford for playing that well. What a cool game that was to see him against the Lions to see golfers Stafford, of course, in the limelight of that trade. And, you know, hats off. I thought they played pretty well. McVay, Cup, Stafford, that whole offense, you know, they played pretty well. The Lions are just better. The Lions played a bad game. They give up 340 yards passing with a secondary that was supposed to be vastly improved. Part of that is going against Stafford, McVay, I think, and Kirk up. You know what I mean? But, like, I thought the Rams played great. You know what I mean? And I think they're going to challenge for that division. Well, let's take a look at a few of the matchups here. We'll start with the team that we talked about. The Browns, you know, playoff team last year. They're sitting at 0-1 and I see him going 0-2. They travel to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars. Jaguars lose a close game against Miami. They had it and kind of had it in their hands. They fumble on what would have been a go-ahead drive to put him up to 24. But they come in against the Browns. I think the Jaguars win this game at home and we see the continued collapse of Deshawn Watson. Yeah, I like the Jaguars to win at home too. Let's be honest, Watson collapsed from a mental standpoint and like this most recent allegation can't help. You know, I thought it'd be tough from the beginning. You got, you know, imagine what the players are saying on defense when you're lining up. Just imagine the heckling you're getting from the defense. It's got to be like crazy, you know what I mean? Like, because they got all this fodder. Like, they're coming right after him. Imagine the things they're saying. It's got to be so hard to play. You know, I liken a lot to Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods was the most dominant golfer, way better golfer than Deshawn Watson was at Deshawn Watson. It has been a quarterback and completely fell apart in a similar, although actually more innocent type of scandal where everything was consensual with Woods, you know what I mean? And he completely fell apart mentally and look what it did to his golf game for six years. Watson is no different. In fact, he's not even close to elite like Woods wasn't golf and took two years off of football and had a psyche ruined and it's never coming back. Yeah. Well, add in the element too. If you've been in, and I understand a lot of people get the opportunity to spend a lot of time in professional sport locker rooms, but when you do, you realize that it's really not that different than any workplace. Um, players complain about the coaches just like salespeople complain about the managers. The employees complain, Hey, this isn't set up right. If I was in charge, I'd do something different. That happens and gets magnified to this massive level inside and that's where it's super important for a coach to be able to tamp it down. But if you are committed to the guy that's causing all your problems, there really isn't any choice. I mean, they're at the kind of decision like, and we'll see if it was right for the Broncos. We finally decided, okay, Russell Wilson go, and we're going to be 84 million. Yeah, and this is where they're at because this is worse than Russell Wilson Russell Wilson actually played decent for the Broncos. He just couldn't get along with the head coach. And he wasn't an off the field issue. They just weren't sinking together Russell Wilson and Sean Payton. They just weren't going to go together. So they finally said, okay, it's you or me. That's the same kind of dynamic that you may see at your job. That's what happens in locker rooms. And when that's bouncing around, these guys aren't able to concentrate. They're not able to lock in. And that's how you see some unexpected losses and performances like you saw where they just got rolled in their home opener. Well, until your point, if you don't go into an NFL game locked in, you're going to get rolled. I mean, like, we probably did. And I would have bet most of the people watching played high school football. And if you go to a high school football game, not locked in, you typically get rolled. I mean, that's that's high school. It's got to be magnified in the NFL. Unless there's enough talent that you just utterly out physical a team, but that doesn't happen much in the NFL. Well, they're pretty close. It's salary cap week, right? I mean, that's that's why most games are decided by three points or less historical over the last 10 years because it's pretty darn close. I mean, we had a lot of close games on Sunday, too, like you talked about at the beginning here. Sure. Let's look at another team that is staring, staring at the preface. The Brian Dave Ball era may be coming to an edge here pretty soon. NFL network. The NFL's fully owned propaganda channel, basically. They were calling for jurilock to start already. Daniel Jones comes back from his injury, 186 yards passing two interceptions, just offered nothing. It was the giant 70th anniversary and the bloom was off the rose, really after the first quarter. They take on the Washington commanders in Landover, Maryland, the commanders. New coach Dan Quinn, they didn't look great, but I think Daniel Daniels looked pretty good. I mean, he's the best of the rookie quarterbacks in terms of stats. They, they should go to one and one. I think the Giants follow and two. I don't see the Giants pulling out of this anytime soon. Yeah, neither do I ever buy a point and a half. Yeah, neither do I. I actually like the commanders a lot going forward. I think, I think, you know, Jalen is, I think he probably has him or Bo Nix probably has the best year for rookie quarterbacks. He saw Caleb Williams just straight up struggling that bears off. But again, we sat here last week and like both you and I agreed. I think he will. I think it's going to be more of a struggle than a lot of people imagine. You know what I mean? But for that reason, you know, I think they're going to be finally scored twice on the ground. He ran in touchdowns. He didn't turn the ball over, which I mean, if you've got a, if you've got a rookie quarterback that's not turning the ball over and running for a hundred plus on the ground score two touchdowns and throwing for a buck 86 in the air or whatever it was with a pretty clean, I think it was like 68% or so. And that is pretty darn good for a day one starting rookie. Totally. You know, and the sky's really the limit. I mean, you know, I feel like the commanders acquitted themselves quite well. I didn't think they were going to even, you know, contend for that game and they didn't. But like, that's, you know, the bucks are a pretty good team. I got the bucks is definitely a top 10 team in the league right now. I really, I really like, you know, Baker and that roster, those two receivers, you know, Evans and Godwin and they play fantastic in that game. They're going to be incredibly hard to stop. So, so I, but I like the commanders a lot. I like, and the new ownership, I think breeds life into that organization that they haven't had in years. Absolutely. Go to the other side of New York, the J. E. T. S. Jets, Jets, Jets, they welcome back Aaron Rodgers. Game two went a lot better than game one. They almost finished the game. They pulled him and put Tyrod Taylor in for the last drive after the game was iced away by the Niners. Jets fall to 0 and 1. They travel to Nissan Stadium to take on the Tennessee Titans. This is this is going to be a rough game. Will Levis, second year starting quarterback. He got a new head coach. They're still going to be kind of a run heavy team. The Jets kind of reeling. This is a, I mean, it's early. It's week two, but this is absolutely a must win game. They're fancy in themselves as Super Bowl contenders and they just got smoked. And even worse, it makes sense that Aaron Rodgers struggle a little bit coming off the injury. Salah's defense though shouldn't have gotten roasted by the Niners. If he knows any team, he should know the Niners. Well, that's where he came from. Yeah, exactly. He should know the Niners. Well, that's where he came from. Not much has changed defensively there. And they, I mean, seriously, they've really, really struggled on defense. It's supposed to be the strong point of their team. This is what I meant. Like last week, when I said, like, offenses travel year to year, you can carry an offense through the offseason. You can have the same players on defense and it can not look the same the next year. And I think that's what the, you saw that with the Jets. Do they get it together? I think they probably do a little because if you look at their schedule, it's pretty light. Here's the quarterbacks they're going to face in the next few weeks. You mentioned it. Will Levis, and then Bonix, and then Jacobi Percet, and then Sam Darnold all in a row. Yeah. The defense should rebound a little. Not a bad stretch. You know, should rebound a little. But the Jets, look, here's the one key stat for the Jets that I think is deeply troubling. Okay. They had, they held the ball. They had 21 minutes of time of possession in that game. And Aaron Rodgers entire career. That's the lowest time of possession total he's ever had. Ever. He thrives just like Dak when they can run the ball a little bit. So, I mean, this is Aaron Rodgers, who's 40, two years removed from what looked like a declining last year in Green Bay. He's coming off an Achilles injury. He's got a so, so offensive line. Let's be honest, athletically, he's closer. I would say to Kurt Cousins right now than he is Pat Mahomes. And athleticism was a key to his game as early on was that strong arm athleticism. He's got an offensive coordinator that's over his head, a so, so offensive line, one elite receiver, no production from the tight end room. And now the defense is struggling, you know. And so, I just don't, I don't see how this is even a playoff team. I don't think so. I mean, there, there are one injury away to if Garrett Wilson goes down, there's, there's no offense. No offense. They scored 13 points in that game, 13 points. And really, they only had one legitimate drive. They had one. They scored on a free free, you know, off-sides penalty. Yeah, the defense is off-side bomb. They'll, they'll do better. I think they beat Titans. I think they'll get into the 20s. It's an over under 40 and a half. The Jets are favored by three and a half points. I think that cover and heck, they may go under because the Titans offense is just awful. Just awful. Yeah. Just devoid of playmakers. I was thinking. But yeah, the best offensive weapon is in the backfield for Baltimore right now. A couple of good offenses based off of week one, the Saints, just now they were going up against Carolina. They absolutely pummeled them. They take on the Cowboys. It's at Texas Stadium. I don't think the Saints offense is that good. I think Carolina is that bad. It's with their defense. They should, they should handle this. They're six and a half point favorites. It's an over under a 46 and a half. I think you're going to go way over. And Dallas wins. Yeah, I think you go way over. Dallas wins. They're going to pummel. They're going to pummel the Saints. I had Dennis Allen as my first, like I got my preseason predictions. I thought Dennis Allen was going to be the first coach fired this year, mid-season. But I don't think you can take much from that game. I just don't think you could take much from that game. Carolina is, is the most. Disfunctional franchise in the NFL. Look no further than Nebraska and how good that rules doing there. You know what I mean? Carolina is the most dysfunctional organization. And it starts with Tupper, the owner who has been a chaotic owner in MLS. He's been a chaotic owner in the Premier League and soccer. And he's a chaotic owner in the NFL. I don't know. I don't know why. It's just sheer dollars that basically allowed him to buy that team. I don't believe that the rest of the owners group really wanted that kind of, you know, quick, fast decision run a team into the ground, which is all he's done in soccer. Is run teams into the ground and he's doing the same thing with Carolina. So unfortunately, that is a that is a brutal team and easily, easily, the biggest draft mistake in years. And let's hear. Let's take a look at that game. A team that seems to be built and the transition to the Michigan style of football, in effect already for San Diego, L.A. Chargers. They played a road game at Sophia Stadium against the Raiders. And they get the win road game at their home stadium because the LA fans still see him as the San Diego Chargers. And then maybe Jim Harbaugh gets rolling. They start winning. That'll turn a little bit. They go to 1 and 0. They take on the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. This isn't going to be a good game. This is going to be just a just a horrendous team. Bryce Yock 13 of 30 43.3. Two interceptions, a 32.8 quarterback ranking. That is just brutal. He projects to 2,700 yards and 34 interceptions. If you'd rather later that over. Granted, it's a little bit early to do a season long projection, but safe to say massive mistake. One of the biggest bus draft picks ever. Yeah. To be fair to Carolina, somebody was going to take him in the first round. But it does show that you're playing on a team in Alabama that had such a physical dominance against most of their opponents, not named Georgia, that he was throwing to guys who were high school open had all the time in the world because of the offensive line dominance. And it masked all the problems in his game. The limitations of his arm strength, the judgment, the ability to force them all into a tight window. All the stuff you need to do in the NFL to be successful. And he just can't do it. And this is with Dave Canellas as the head coach, the guy who is credited with turning Baker Mayfield around into a pro baller again. Yeah, exactly. I just don't think young has it. The trouble I see is that all of the problems that kind of the pre draft pundits talked about that he may face, he's failed all of them. He's literally like, that's where his career has gone so far. It's gone to the negative on every single column. And it's been even, you know, even last year when he had a veteran receiver who was at least a former pro baller who had secure hands. It's like, we could still just couldn't get first downs. Couldn't get past the 50 for three and a half quarters in many of these games like it was bad, bad, bad, and they don't look improved. Actually, defensively they look worse. Well, and the worst thing about it is, it's not that Bryce Jones is not working. It's not that he's not a good guy. It's not that he's not trying to listen. He's not Ryan Lee. He's not your Marcus Russell. No, he physically just can't do it. It's a different level. It reminds me of a former Alabama quarterback, who was a physically superior athlete. He's going to be Croyo in training camp for the Chiefs. When her mad words was the coach. I mean, my God, you go watch the training camp. You would think, we got it. This guy's this guy's going to be the next right quarterback. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Danny near throwing darts all over the field. This is incredible. Yeah. Except when he had a defense going against him as soon as somebody hit him, he's done. And he's a trail, a terrific human being. He runs a charity ranch for disabled kids in Alabama. He does a ton of charity work with Alabama. I mean, he's just a legitimately great person. He just couldn't play in the NFL. It just wasn't there. He made it to where he got to because he was surrounded by such amazing athletes in Alabama. His weaknesses were never exposed. Right. Right. I think it's the same thing. Yeah. I mean, so do I. I just don't think, you know, like you said, like his weaknesses were ever exposed. You're playing with five star recruits across the board, especially in the positions you need them as a quarterback. Your O line. I had that O line had one four star on it and four five stars. That receiving core had three five stars in the starting lineup. The tight end was a five star recruit. The running back was a five star recruit. You had two Heisman hopefuls by the by the 10th week in the season on the same team. Yeah. Yeah. Another, another old Chiefs quarterback, Lenny Dawson, he used to say all the time. I could still play. This is when he was like 65. I could still play a half of NFL football as long as I never got hit. I could throw 10 yard swings, 15 yard outs, and I'd be good to throw one or two deep passes. Yeah. I believe that if you don't get hit and you have no concern about being hit. Okay. It's a hell of a lot easier. Look at Joe Flacko last year. He's able to get the ball out quickly. He's got a really strong arm. And that's pretty much all it took behind a pretty good offensive line with mediocre weapons. You know what I mean? Outside of the outside of a great running back they had. You know what I mean? Like so. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's possible. You know, you look at guys that always had stronger. Like, I think John Elway could play a half of NFL football right now. Sure. If you could just keep him upright. Peyton Manning. I'm not so sure because of the injuries that eventually broke down his neck and his shoulder. But like, he's another guy Tom Brady, I think could jump in the NFL. That's obvious. Like, like, jump in and play in a complete game and probably beat most teams. You know what I mean? So, and he's older than Aaron Rodgers. So, you know. But like, to give back to the Chargers real quick, because I thought what I saw with, with, with the Chargers was really special. And it's what I thought I would saw and why I regard Jim Harbaugh as the best complete football coach in the world. And I, and that sounds crazy on the surface. But can one cross the lines between offense and defense and cross the lines between the NFL and college like he has and does and wanted all levels. Has anybody ever really done that in a complete and total sense like he has. Nick Saban, but not as good in the NFL. Not as good in the NFL. Right. Exactly. And if you're comparing him to maybe Nick Saban except for this one thing. That's pretty high. I can't take anybody else. And for me, the craziest thing, not really the craziest, it was the most, it was, it makes sense, but it was wild how fast it happened is for one, they were one of the least penalized teams in the NFL last week in week one. They went, they were one of the most penalized under Staley. That's the same change that Brady made when he went to Tampa. You get that strong personality in the room that really locks the nonsense down and that was Harbaugh. And the other thing I noticed is they ran for more yards than they threw. Yeah. That, if that's not Michigan football in the NFL, I don't know what is. And look out, they're talented at all the right spots. Biggest addition, a healthy JK Davens former Ohio State Buckeye hurt the Ravens a lot last year when he got hurt. 10, 35 yards. Terrific. You got Justin Herbert, where if you need to turn it on, which is here, this is the template for Michigan in the last few years. You had an NFL ready quarterback, JJ McCarthy. He didn't do a whole lot most games, but when they needed him to turn it on, let's go, let's air it out. Let's make the run. It's absolutely do that with Herbert. It's boring, but it works, right? You play good defense, you hand the ball off, you beat them up in the run game and when they, when they drop the safeties down into the box, you run a play action and throw it over their head. I mean, it is the most simple formula, but when you've got the right guys to run it, it is so hard to stop. I mean, that's the thing is that when the end that he, and that's why he went to the Chargers. It is a ready made roster that has guys at all the right spots for him to win and win right now. Like, it took some time in San Francisco. It's not going to take much time here in LA. You got a better team plant, Vlad McConkey. His first game leads the team in receptions, five catches, only 39 yards, but he did score touchdown. He's going to be a good player. You just see all the pieces come together and they're going to play complimentary football. They're going to go to two and no, they're going to be. I think you can call the division right now. The Chiefs are going to win the division. The Chargers are going to be second and the Broncos and the Raiders are going to be bad and they're going to battle it out for last place. I completely agree. And I think it's, I think it's next season is the season when the Chargers start to challenge the Chiefs. I believe. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, could be anybody's ballgame because it's not like they're going to go backwards. This is their, this will be their down year. And I can tell you what's going to happen. They're going to get another another good running back. So they're going to have a two back system just like they did at Michigan, which is going to be hard to stop. They're going to improve on the offensive line in the off season, even though they're young and really good on the O line now. They're going to get the right attitudes on defense, not the right players, the right attitudes to fit the Harbaugh system on defense. Mentor is a heck of a defensive coordinator. I brought this coordinator with him for Michigan. Jesse Mentor is Mike McDonald West. You know what I mean? Just this and then they massively cut their salary structure down. So they're going to have room to add people. Right. Right. So I'm way high on the Chargers going forward. Let's go to a battle of one and one teams, the Minnesota Vikings take on the 49ers US Bank Stadium in Minnesota. Niners look really good. Brock Purdy is in a contract year. The Vikings behind Sam Darnold. Sam Darnold look pretty good too. Yeah. This should be a tight matchup. The Niners are favored by almost a touchdown. They're favored by six on the road. I think the Niners win. I don't think they cover 46 and a half point spread or 46 and a half point over under. Probably goes over. Yeah. Yeah. No, I agree. I agree. And I think Purdy already in week one is starting to answer those questions about whether or not they should extend him and keep him around. You know, in thinking about it further, I just think he fits almost perfectly in that Shanahan system. He is basically, you know, you have chefs and you have prep cooks and they can both make good food. He's a prep cook. He's he's all preparation. He's way ahead. He's the postman who's never sick and is always there and delivers the package on time and it's never pretty, but it's always there. He finds the guy open. He hits the open receiver. He finds a way to get it to his playmakers in space. He runs the offense and look, they drafted a quarterback third overall run that offense that couldn't. I would argue that Jimmy G if you watch the rest of his career and how it played out also couldn't play this good in that offense. Yeah. So we talked about this last week. What is a quarterback's job outside of managing the game? Right. And I think Purdy is perfect at that. I just think he he processes the defense. You know, Tom Brady was, you know, on a lot of telecast this last Sunday. One thing is he said, I think tied right into what I think about Brock Purdy. And he said something that like young quarterbacks, the very first thing that I think they need is the mental acuity to outsmart the defense before any talent before any arm talent, physical talent. You've got to work on that first because I think that's something that a lot of guys are behind in day one. That's what Purdy was ahead in day one. Yeah, make a quick decision. And he's, you know, whatever it's, it's, it's one, two, three, get the ball out, make the right choice. That's not easy to do. I think, you know, that's the, if it were easy to do, you'd see a lot more Brock Purdy's in the league. And I think that's the one criticism that gets missed is like, oh, you know, if anybody could work in that offense. Well, they didn't. Yeah. Yeah. And you know what? He's athletic enough. He's fast enough. He can run some. And he did the same thing in college. He was a lovely regarded recruit at Iowa State. And he took Iowa State up to a nationally prominent role with mostly be, you know, three star, two star recruits, and I look at it, rounded by talent. And here, no team has walked on their quarterback. I mean, they just haven't. You look at quarterback that's come up this cycle, Trevor Lawrence, race side. Jordan Love, race side. Prescott, race side. Everybody's getting resigned. Nobody's willing to take the gamble. Especially the high draft. I go, I'm going to get somebody else because if that somebody else is bad, you just torch your team for four years. Yeah. When you've got a guy who started for three, four years and they, and you got to that you got to title games and the Super Bowls and stuff like you're not getting rid of that guy. No, you're not getting rid of that guy. Let's go to see at all the Seahawks take on the surprising new England Patriots. I still think they're the least talented team in the league. We've got to win Jermaine put it together, capitalized on the bad start to bangle seasons one and one in 10, I believe, over the last few years in their first two games. So they continue that stretch. Patriots in the Seahawks. It's at Fox, bro. The Seahawks are three and a half point favorites over under 37 and a half. Definitely go with the under because this is going to be played in the mud, I think. And I'd imagine the Seahawks win. I don't see the Patriots get into two. No. Yeah, I would imagine the Seahawks win too. But like, there's a scenario where I could see, you know, because Brissette, I felt one thing that's missed in that whole stat line is Brissette's ability to move. And I think that's one reason why you're not seeing Drake May and you won't for probably the entire season. Brissette still got a little wiggle in his game. And he was able to on third down advanced the ball like without Brissette's running ability, they would not have won that game because he extended so many drives, especially there. They're two scoring drives that were key to that win. He extended both of them on third down with scrambling. I felt like he was really good in the pocket, felt pressure really well. That's how he was able to scramble. Romandé Stevenson, for me, is the most underrated running back in the league. Look at this crazy stat line. The Patriots were dead last in rushing yards before contact. And third in rushing yards in week one. Well, what does that tell you? That tells you that Stevenson just broke tackles at the line of scrimmage. You know, and he ran for like 170 yards or so. He just broke tackles the line of scrimmage and kept going. I mean, that is not on the O line. That's him making plays. And I'll tell you what Gibson had a bit of a resurgence too. You can see did the same thing. That's on that whole offense. And that O line is the worst O line in football. They literally don't have a tackle. They don't have a tackle. And their benefit, they do have an incredibly low salary this year so they can build. And the one thing I'll say is that it looks right now like they made the right choice and moving on from Belichick because it is another another thing that if you didn't watch the game in total, you didn't really see this. If you're just watching on Red Zone, like you didn't just see this. They were so, I would say like buddy buddy with Gerard Mayo in a way that like you're never going to see a player after he makes a play run to the sideline and chest bump bill Belichick. That will never happen. He is so much more of a players coach. And I think that, you know, the crafts like I mean I live in Boston and I hear a lot of criticism of the crafts of Belichick, you know, and why, for instance, why didn't they interview anyone? Why did they just promote Mayo who a lot of people think was a year ahead? Like he didn't deserve that position yet and probably needed to be a coordinator first. Because he was not an actually the defensive coordinator. And so, you know, I think that now there's a little shine on that. Were they great? No, but they did. Like, you look at that roster. There's not another game plan they could have operated. It was just play a good defense and run the ball. There was not another way to go with that. And they did exactly what they had to do. The Bengals had to know what they were going to try to do. And they couldn't, they couldn't win the game and say what you want about how the Bengals start but that's a much better roster than the Patriots have. They were at home and they should have won. Absolutely. Yeah, no, it's a huge loss. Couple of a couple of games that should be fairly one sided. Just take them at take them together. The Ravens hosts. The Las Vegas race. Oh, oh, and one. Oh, and one. The Ravens nine and a half point favorites of 41 and a half point over under. I think the Ravens cover and a blow tie the over. I think they're going to absolutely pummel the Raiders. I think it's a three score game. That's where I put it. I put it like 18 and a half or so if you were going to have me handicap it like because it's a three score game in my opinion. Yeah, because the Ravens have to be disgusted without the win against the Chiefs. I mean, they lost by that much. Yeah, an inch, an inch, and they didn't play well. I felt like the Ravens didn't even play all that well and they still they still almost won the game. They're just so talented. And this is another team that's talented at all the right spots. You look, I love the ownership group. You know how much I like owners. I love the ownership group in Baltimore. I think they're some of the best in the week. The coach is phenomenal. They got one of the best coaches. They're great at quarterback. They're great on the edge on defense. They're great in the middle of field on defense. They got, they just have the right 2024 skill set of players. And now that they've got Lamar under contract, there's not the distraction. Hopefully he can stay healthy. I like the Ravens a lot. Unfortunately, Lamar just plays at the same time as Pat Mahomes. You know, I look at it like golf again, like Phil Mickelson would have won a lot more majors if not for Tiger Woods. Sure. Sure. Absolutely. But Pat Mahomes is Tiger Woods. Without Mahomes, Jackson probably has a Super Bowl. Borough probably has a Super Bowl. Alan probably has a Super Bowl. You would expect, but like he's the best. He's the best. And let's be honest about Mahomes. Like, I don't, I don't think anyone's even close. I don't think anyone's really all that close. And he's got some extra weapons here. We'll get to the Chiefs there in a bit. Cardinals. They take on the Rams. The Rams looked really good against Lions. I think they beat down Arizona. Arizona surprisingly is a one point favorite. 48 and a half points the over underline. I think the Rams win straight up. And I think they cover. Yeah, I like the Rams to win straight up to like I've always liked Kyler Murray, but it just seems like he's never really put it all together. And at this point, will he? That's my question. And I just, you know, I doubt it. Let's go to the AFC. The Steelers coming off of a one and O start Justin Fields. Running the ball some making a couple and playing Steelers football, right? Out of the ball a ton. Gain a few yards. Hit a couple of bombs to George Pickens. Steelers win. They upset the Falcons and Kirk Cousins return game. They take on the Denver Broncos and Bownecks. I don't think Bownecks is going to do well against the Steelers defense. Pittsburgh's a three point favorite. 36 and a half points as you're over under Steelers win. And I would hammer the under. Oh, take the under Steelers win. Yeah, 100%. 100%. It's a road game. They are going to empower field at mile high. But I don't think it matters. That's not going to match up for Bownecks. He struggled in week one. He's going to really struggle in this game. Well, the defense travels. You know what I mean? That's that's the other thing too is the defense travels. It just does. So yeah, I'll take the Steelers. The Steelers are very talented. They just, you know, I think it's a typical Steelers team. But yeah. Buccaneers against Lions match up of one in O teams both. Yeah, both played really well. Lions a tight game. They had to go to OT. But that was a good back and forth game against the Rams and the Buccaneers just just rolled Detroit. A touchdown favorite at home. 51 and a half point over under. I guess the Lions. I don't think they cover. I think the game easily goes over. I take the Lions in the money line. I wouldn't touch the over under because you just never know to me. That's a high point title. When you're getting around 30 points per team, I tend to back off. You know what I mean? Because you just not like it. A slow start out of one team can disrupt that. You know what I mean? And that's the problem I have with the high overs. But yeah, I think that the Bucks can like pose a real problem. The Lions are the better team. The Bucks can pose real problems for the Lions. I wouldn't shock that this one goes into overtime as well because it's just look at Detroit games. They'd always come down to the fourth quarter, especially under Campbell. You know, it was even true when Stafford was here, but that was more because the defense was just so god awful. He had to, you know what I mean? But yeah, like Mayfield is just playing, you know, that almost, I would say he's like MVP level if you combine last year and his start this year. And again, like that Bucks team is better than a lot of people think. Now, the Lions have the best offensive line in the league. And when you look at what they did in the overtime with the Rams, it was very reminiscent of Michigan against Penn State last year. You can load the box, you can drop the safeties, it Montgomery's coming right down your throat. And it won't matter. It won't. And it didn't. And that's why that's why the Rams lost that game. And ultimately, I think that's why the Bucks lose because I just, that Lions running game is with Gibbs and Montgomery is too much for, I would say, any NFL team right now. I think to a, to a point, the defensive lineman were all gassed. I mean, Chris Jones at the end of the Chiefs game against the Ravens looked like he needed an oxygen tank. He was still out of breath and looked exhausted at the post game press conference. I'll play a clip here. So, you know, I think there's a little bit of everybody was worn out. Whoever got that ball in overtime, you were probably ended in the game. Yeah, yeah, there's a little bit of that. Yeah, they definitely, they looked good. The Bears and the Texans Sunday night football, the number one pick from this draft going up against the number two pick. The guy who should have been the number one pick from last year's draft CJ Stroud. Houston's a six point favorite. I think they win it. I do think the Bears will be a lot better this year. It's going to take a little while to get the offense clicking though. Yeah, yeah, I think the Texans pretty easily win it. I mean, I can't recall a time where I thought a franchise was as desolate as Houston was to get to where they are now, which I believe is like a top five, maybe even like a top three team, which is crazy. But look at how much better that offense was with just the addition of digs, you know what I mean? Like, wow, like Stroud is just so much better than even the highest hopes thought he was coming into the draft. To me, this is really, really interesting. I always compared Stroud and fields when he was in Chicago because I thought the situations were pretty similar. You came to a team that was pretty much in shambles with a battle line, weird ownership group, strange decisions in the GM office and the front office in the last couple years have kind of hamstrung the franchise. It was a very similar situation and you saw one succeed and one fail. Sure. So, yeah, and I think fields is going to do a lot better with Pittsburgh. I think Mike Tomlin's going to be a good move and a calf injury to Russell Wilson may have been the best thing that could happen to the Steelers. 100% forces their hand. Let's go to the last game we're talking about on Sunday. The Chiefs taken on the bangles, the slow starting bangles, they come to what they called burrow had. I don't think this one's going to end well for the bangles. Casey, a six point favorite, 47 and a half points for the over under. I think the Chiefs keep the bangles losing and I think you're going to see that that offense start to click because I was really impressed with Xavier Worthy and what he was able to do. Here's a comment he made after the game. He actually called his touchdown on the half back draw or the wide receiver draw. Man, it was crazy. We ran that in the preseason. I fumbled. So, I be sure it was kind of bad, but just being willing for them to have that trust in me and I told Coach Nege, I think this plays the score and it happened. So, it was just an amazing moment. Just my first touch being a touchdown in the field. When did you tell him that? I talked to him, but we had to walk through this morning. I told him this morning to walk through. So, that's Nate, that's showing some confidence and then Patrick Mahomes talked to post game about building the offense and utilizing these new weapons. I think it's just, I think everybody except everybody in this offense and they learned so much from Trav. They picked his brain and they listened to him talk to me and we build all throughout the year and you can see Rashid just kind of picked up right where he left off last year. Xavier made some big plays and so it's just, we're going to continue to build and building and hopefully get Hollywood back and see what this offense can really be. They do get Hollywood Brownback. He should be playing this way. Xavier Worthy had the best game of the rookie wide receivers getting two touchdowns on three touches and the Chiefs offense seems to be more like what you'd expect it to be. I mean, there were really a couple of plays away from punching it up to about 34 points. Jim Smith-Shuster had a drop near the goal line. P. Ryan dropped what would have been a big game on a swing pass and to be fair to P. Ryan, he just got there. So, they were just like a step out and then Isaiah Pacheco, who's getting more involved in the passing game, he misconnected on a halfback wheel route that would have been about a 30 yard game. So, they were real close to blowing it open. And I think that the Bengals still scuffling Burrow still not looking healthy. This should be a fairly easy Chiefs win against the team that you think as the season gets going, the Bengals will be at least a contender for winning their division. Yeah, you'd like to think, right? At some point, I do wonder with Burrow, do the injuries add up because it's been like at this point, we're getting to what is fourth or fifth now that's taken some serious time. Yeah, when you're not counting his injuries in college too. I mean, he missed a year in college. Right, right. And so, and again, like since that has started in the NFL, you've also noticed, especially in early in season. And last year, he never really got it back. You know what I mean, where it's kind of been a bit of a struggle. And if this year ends up looking like last year, it could get really interesting and Cincinnati because I'm not really sure what they do after they've already resigned him for as much as they have. I'm not saying that Burrow isn't going to be a Pro Bowl level quarterback. I don't really know to be honest. I'm just saying I wouldn't be shocked if he wasn't. Yeah, I mean, injuries do add up. I mean, yeah, I can tell you, I mean, from all the sports injuries I have, it takes me about 20 minutes to just start moving in the morning. Obviously, Joe Burrow is in his 20 still, but every time you have a major surgery, I mean, it hits, it stays with you. I thought cover, but you don't recover back to what you were previously. You lose a little bit. If you go back in time and you look at some missteps that I believe the Bengals made, I just think they waited way too long. And this is a common sentiment, but like they waited way too long to work on the O line. I think you chase receivers so high in the draft, especially because it's the quarterback's friend from college. That is a, I love chase. He's fantastic, but that's a mistake and a half. You should have drafted a tackle. You should have worked harder that first year in free agency when Burrow was a rookie to sign a bigger name free agents on the O line. You should have done more early because now you've got, like you said, a quarterback that struggled a little with injuries in college coming into a team that like can't protect him on day one. And again, like I always look at ownership in the front office and the Bengals, if you notice, typically get almost there, but never fully there. They're very much like Viking South, where they're, they're a good ownership group and that makes mostly good decisions, but tends to be pretty cheap. I mean, you look at how long Zach Taylor's been there. You look at how long Marv Lewis was there. Some of the contracts, you know what I mean, they tend to be pretty cheap. And that I think hampers them. They've showed a reticence to really go for it in the moment when the window's been open. I think this window is closing. Well, and to put something on Burrow too, sacks aren't just a measure of the offensive line. They're also a measure of the quarterback. Correct. Rid of the damn ball. Get rid of it. Throw it. Well, running backs, pitch it to them. You don't have to hold it forever because every hit counts. I mean, yeah, here, crossing sports pro wrestlers. They'll say, Hey, I've got a bump card. What they're talking about is I can only take so many of those finishing moves. Yeah. We can do arm drags. We can do takedowns. There's only so many finishing moves I could take. I could only take so many brain buster superlaxes in a match. And then I'm toast. Well, quarterbacks have a bump card too, and Joe Burrows is filled up. Yeah, I get rid of the ball. I can't keep getting hit all the time. And I think they're trying to make that change. In fact, if you look at that game against the Patriots, like they did not stretch the field. You know what I mean? And that's people around here want to credit the Patriots secondary. I think that they're trying to kind of reshape how he, how quickly he gets rid of the ball for that exact reason. And that's why over the last two years, I think he struggled a little bit beyond just the injuries. There's an actual mechanic and footwork change that's happening behind the scenes that no one is talking about because they think burrow is this world beater, which like he has the talent level to be. It reminds me of kind of like a younger Matt Stafford, but Stafford, though, was far more durable, you know, far more durable in Detroit than then burrows been Cincinnati. Well, in here, let's reference back to what we were talking about with Bryce John. I mean, when Joe Burrow was at LSU, he did have an offensive line that's almost all in the NFL. He had a running back who's a terrific receiving running back and caught Clyde Edwards E layer. He had Jamar Chase. He had Justin Jefferson. He was getting hit. You can't blitz everybody when you have three NFL first round draft pick targets surrounded by an NFL first round draft pick offensive line. Yeah, a little bit easier. Well, and you know how it goes in college. Nobody has a secondary to cover anymore. Like nobody, like any quality quarterback one. Yeah, one guy. You got to get to the quarterback. Yeah, you got you got to have an edge that gets to the quarterback or else. And even if you do sometimes, like there are teams like, you know, Ohio State can hang basically 60 on anyone. It seems, you know what I mean? Because they can. And that's with Will Howard. You don't know anything. Thank you. When they had Stroud. Oh, my goodness. Could they? Could they play? You know, and it's the same thing. Like, well, and by the way, that's the team that that, you know, he would that Burrow would have played for was that Ohio State team, which is at a similar spot to LSU. Basically, you know what I mean? It would actually almost equally good receiving core. Probably the only other school that hasn't equally good receiving core at the time. No, you would have been just fine. It's just like, I mean, I think some of those habits develop there, though, because he never had to worry about getting rid of the ball at LSU because never going to get touched. Take all the time in the world. It doesn't matter. And those two guys were always open. I mean, you can't come across one passing play with Jefferson and Chase in college against college secondaries against 18, 19 year olds in some cases that are playing safety in corner. You're not going to find one pass play that one of them is not wide open. Well, and if they weren't open, Clyde Edwards E. Lair, who played his way into a first round draft pick was wide open five yards in front of you. Bingo. Hey, right? Yeah. Yeah. So it's the same kind of thing. But Burrow took off fast in the NFL. You got to give him credit for that. It's just, I just think physically, it's just tough. It's just tough. Like you said, his bump card is full. Yeah. He's too young for that to be the case. Yeah, because I mean, you can only get hit so many times. There's only so many injuries. And he was he was actually noticeably shaking his wrist throughout. And there's a crazy video if you find it. Just look up Burrow and Gatorade. And he was struggling to lift his Gatorade squeeze bottle in game. So it makes sense. Probably the hands is a little sore. I mean, he's coming off of major injury. Yeah. Monday Night Football wrap up the week of the NFL, the Atlanta Falcons, Kirk Cousins, trying to shake that rust off. They go in at 0 and 1 against a Philadelphia Eagles team that has to be feeling pretty good. Say, come on, Barkley had a great game in Brazil. They make the long flight back, the Lincoln financial field. Barkley 24 carries 109 yards, two touchdowns. Over, come a couple of turnovers. Take out the Green Bay Packers. The Eagles were a team in disarray, right? Supposedly, next Ariane was almost fired in the off season. Six and a half point favorites, 47 and a half point over under. You got to think the Eagles win this and cover and you probably do it fairly easily. Yeah, I just don't. The playmakers, the Eagles have on offense combined with the speed they have on defense. I know they're not. They're going to take a step back defensively, but they are still young and really fast, especially in the linebacker positions, which I think if you look around the league is the name of the game right now, every one is trying to get linebackers that are safety speed right now. That is, that is the hidden thing on the rosters. You're seeing a lot of linebacker movement. Guys, it's going the Michigan direction where you're literally seeing three, four guys in the depth chart at your outside linebacker, your middle linebacker positions rotating in all game long to keep fresh legs because there's so many of these creative passing schemes, especially receivers coming out of the slot. A lot of teams like San Francisco, for instance, they're going to put Debo Samuel in the slot. They're going to line him up against an linebacker or a safety in your defense, maybe at best a nickel corner. And again, you have to have as like for those short drag routes those zig routes, you have to have speedy linebackers. And I think that that's, that's where a lot of it's going and Eagles have speed in spades on defense. They are so athletic on defense. Yeah, and a good defensive scheme too. I think they, I think they win that one. That wraps up the weekend in the NFL. Download that true TV plus app. You can get the fired up network right there for free anywhere you go. You can also see wrestling spotlight on there. A lot of other great channels will be back with more sports and entertainment right here on the fired up network. Alex, thanks for stepping in should be a good week too. Absolutely. And take a little break. And then let's look at. Let me get a different graphic here. Socks is sleeping away behind me. Nice. I got a beagle on the bed behind me. So I get it. Should I change my background? No, that's fine. I just have the Chiefs up there. So let's get a little. There you go. That's interesting. Jared Allen, 10 and 2 against the Dolphins, Nisker. Should switch. Okay. There we go. Welcome in to fired up network. This is an abbreviated timeout. We're taking a look at Thursday night football. It's a divisional match up for week two. Get it on Amazon prime video. And you can also download if you're on Amazon, you can download true TV plus so you can have all of our channels available right on your smart device or TV. Really free. Join by Alex Campbell and Alex, we've got an NFC, sorry, an AFC battle to start. AFC East, the Buffalo Bills taken on the Miami Dolphins. Couple of a couple of probable playoff teams, right? With a super early consequential divisional matchup. Yeah, a couple of playoff teams, certainly the class of the division here, you know, a couple of division rivals and certainly the class of that division, you know, square and off. It's a great early game. I would say, yeah, both teams are. They're only two playoff teams from that division. Yeah. And yeah, you know, ultimately I like, I like the Dolphins. You know, to be honest, I think that there are two franchises going in somewhat separate directions. Alan and the Bills, I think they're getting back to an area where it's, let's ask Alan to do too much. You know what I mean? You lose a playmaker like Diggs. You don't do much to replace him. The struggle to build a run game over the entire, over his entire career, the offensive line's likely going to take a step back. And the biggest thing for me is the defense is also likely to take a step back this year. I think the Bills are a playoff team, but more of a wild car team and I, and I honestly think the Dolphins are the class of the division and I think they win this one. Now, the Bills did acquire Marquez Valdez, gambling. I don't think they did nothing. I mean, they got a Super Bowl champion on their team. That's right, MBS. How could I forget? To show how close this game is going to be statistically, you don't play the games on paper, you play them on the field, but ESPN played it on the computer 100 times. And the results were the Bills winning 50.6% of the time, the Dolphins winning 49% of the time and 4/10 of the time they came up in a tie. So that's about as close as you're going to get when they do that. Yeah, pretty hard to tie in Madden too. That's pretty, you know what I mean? Like that almost never happens. Yeah, no, it's going to be pretty close. No, I agree. But you look at how well Miami played with the massive distraction they had before the game. Like, I just think McDaniel's is so loose as a coach. He is almost the quintessential perfect modern NFL coach in my way, because in my opinion, because you have to be able to speak to the players and you have, I think you have to be a players coach. And like to, you know, played great, expectedly. I really like to a lot more than the average person, you know, to and of course their weapons are just like to a has exactly what Josh Allen wishes he had. He wishes he had a great offensive mind as a said coach. He wishes he had to elite wide receivers. He wishes he had a speed demonet running back. He wishes he had a better offensive line. And Miami literally has all of that. Well, and Josh Allen has the wrong chief's former speed receiver. The Dolphins got Tyree Kill and the Bills got MBS. Yeah. And hey, credit, credit to Tyree Kill to a way to put a game on after what has unquestionably been shown to be just rampantly horrendous over the top. Oh, over the top, like just real quick opinion on it. Look, he should have rolled the window down, but like the cop doesn't need to go full aggro on him if he doesn't. And you got to know the situation a little bit cop. Like you're in Miami. It's it's literally a couple hours before the game. You're 15 minutes from the stadium. I know you didn't know who he was, but when he handed you the license and registration, you've got to as a cop in Miami have enough cultural awareness. I don't care if you're a football fan or not of who you're talking to. And what it's going to look like if you drag him out of the car like that, you should be dragging anyone out of the car like that. No, and you did. But, but what a horrendous look that it was Tyree Kill, you know, and to me like to not put two and two together you got Elias Campbell in the passenger seat. How often do you see a six foot eight 315 pound man. You have to mean seriously, if you don't know what you're dealing with at that point, bro, you need a class in Miami optics in Miami and like, you know, Miami, you know, social life before you become a police officer. Well, and there was a lot of jumping to conclusion because it similarly happened in Kansas City with Tyree Kill. And as it turns out, the tape that everybody was freaking out about in Kansas City, completely excited him. And he did absolutely. I mean, really did nothing wrong and I think it's presented himself incredibly well and it had a great game. Seven catches 133 hundred bird yards and a touchdown. Yeah, I think the dolphins get this w this is dolphins weather too. It's going to be 87 degrees sunny and he can run it and got it. He's the best receiver in the last in this generation of football. He just, you know, and he's proven it time and time again and waddle on the other side. I just don't like it's going to be a close game and Alan's going to pull some of his heroics. He always does. You know what I mean? So he's going to keep it close. He's going to pull some heroics. But at the end of the day, like they just have way more weapons and way more playmakers. And to is not that far off of Alan, not as far as everybody thinks he is from an arm talent perspective. You know, to a throws an incredibly accurate default. Does he throw it 75 yards in the default? No, but he throws an incredibly accurate default him and Jared golf, I think, have the two most underrated arms in the NFL. Well, and this got a lot of media attention when Tyree kill said it last year. He did say that he thinks too is more accurate than Patrick Mahomes. Then say he throws it harder than they throws it stronger, but he's more accurate. I kind of agree with Tyree kill and Jalen waddle. If you're accurate, they're going to create place. They may end up evening up that record a little bit. If you look behind me, Josh Allen, 10 and two in his career against the dolphins. I think that goes to 10 and three. And the dolphins pick up this win to start off the week in the NFL. And then that'll lead into a packed week. And you can hear the whole rest of the schedule right here on timeout on the fired up network to stay tuned to catch that. You can watch us on the fired up network. You can get it on sports.tv on carbon TV. And you can download that true TV plus app wherever you get your apps to get all of the channels available on true TV. Alex, thanks for stepping in here and getting the preview done for Thursday night football anytime man. Okay, now we'll change the switch over to college. There you go. All right, you got it. Let me do my switch to have this NFL background of you anymore. Plus, plus, plus. Let me do it. Yeah, because there was a, there was an audio tape that was going to come out and they were freaking out in Kansas City that Tyree kill is going to get suspended. He's going to be out for the season. I'll never play again. And then it turns out it was, it was the, the girlfriend saying that, Hey, you know, I know you didn't do anything and you took the heat for it to make it go away. But that was just wild. Again, like to not know the situation at hand as the cop. What? I mean, he sounded like he was maybe foreign and I, maybe he's like, you know, and I don't want to make an assumptions. Maybe he's a big soccer fan or something. I don't really know. My point is like you're a police officer in Miami Dade County. Like you have to know, you know what I mean? Like you have to like that. Yeah. Oh, here we go. Welcome into college gridiron on the fired up network. We're stepping into week three of the college football season. Already an eventful week. Check out the graphic behind me. Those are some of the teams with wins against a ranked opponent. And yes, that is the logo for the pride of Chicago's Northland, the Northern Illinois University Huskies of DeKalb, Illinois. They were the champions of the week. Early preview got the wrestling spotlight championship belts here. They beat Notre Dame. You're on the fired up network. You can download that true TV plus app and see us on sports.tv. Alex, what were your surface takeaways from week two of college football? It was certainly an NIU versus Notre Dame jumps right off the page, right? I mean, just right off the page. What a job by the NIU defense and like that's what they're known for. They challenged in the Mac last year. They have two really strong running backs, a strong offensive line. As a shock, they were able to get it down against Notre Dame and Notre Dame to put up zero offensive production in the fourth quarter was just unreal. Well, and here Notre Dame dropped a lot of money, a lot of NIL money to bring Riley Leonard over from Duke. And he responded with one of the worst games of a quarterback in the NIL era. He had a QBR rating down in the low thirties. And this is coming after a high Notre Dame with the surprising win against Texas A&M. Riley Leonard getting a win against his old coach, like Alco, who left Duke to take on the Texas A&M jump. All the talk going into week two was how the playoff systems already screwed up. Look at this. Notre Dame's not even going to have to win another quality game. But if they lose to USC, they're going to get in with one loss. Yeah. Well, they threw that away. Immediately, too. And now every game, I think, is a question mark if you struggled against NIU. Yeah, yeah. Immediately, right? Immediately. Because now the blood's in the water. Like they've got the script on how to beat you. And it's just ball control off. It's literally, it's like what we talked about, you know, an hour ago, like it's ball control office. You know, play a defense, run the ball and you can take on Notre Dame, basically. Yeah, I mean, that's got to be the biggest story of the way. Yeah. Epic meltdown. Shades of Michigan losing Appalachian State years ago. Similar. Just a huge upset. That's a max school. I mean, max schools don't be, especially in the Midwest. Like occasionally you'll see it. You'll see like, I mean, it reminds me, actually what it reminds me of years ago. When Central Michigan went to East Lansing against a ranked Michigan State team in beat Michigan State Week, too. I think that, you know what I mean? Like it's very reminiscent of that where it's just a complete shocker right in the middle of the Dantonio area. Just just a complete shocker. Well, I'm here and to put it into perspective, Northern Illinois and Notre Dame are both Chicago land area schools. Notre Dame's are really, really close to Chicago. It's just across state line. It's like 40 minutes away. They're about the same distance from the main city. Both right on the lake. Yeah, it would be like Ohio State, the Ohio State losing to one of the multiple chump schools they play for Ohio every year in the pre-conference season. Like Ohio State losing to the Akron zips or Ohio State losing to the Youngstown State Penguins. It's that level of an upset. Yeah, most of the Mac actually is in Ohio. If you look at the amount of teams they have in Ohio, Miami, Akron, Toledo, pick any of those teams beating Ohio State, that's what this was. Yeah, and that ever happened. Whoever the Ohio State coaches is fired immediately. I remember years ago in during the Richrod era for Michigan, I believe it was 2008 Toledo came to the big house and beat Michigan. It happens occasionally, but, but Michigan never has a time for the team that loses. Well, no, but at the time Michigan also wasn't even ranked let alone top five. Yeah. It's a it's a rough start. Well, kicking off the week, we get Arizona State, a new big 12 school. They are marching into their regular season portion of the schedule, taking on the Texas State Bobcats Bobcats. Yeah, good job. Not a lot of excitement in the game. And amazingly, it's being played at Bobcats Stadium in San Marcos, Texas. You can get in for 31 bucks. Arizona State's probably going to. They got to win this game big. I believe Texas State is a one and a half point favorite. That doesn't bode well for the big 12 season doesn't know like what Texas State has gone backwards since her med words left right like they just pretty much got there. They've been a little bit of a rebound right but this move into the big 12. They had to do it right the pack 12 is dissolving. This is a tough game. This is a home and home they have with Texas State. They'll, they'll plan again next year at Arizona in Sun Devil Stadium and that game I think they'll win. And I think they struggle here. Texas State is very good. Texas State is very good, especially at offense. They have one of these speed demon quarterbacks and two really fast receivers as well as an extremely athletic young running back in a good offensive line. I like Texas State in this game to win it outright. There you go. No boats well for Texas State poorly for the big 12. There's Arizona State's going to be stepping up in the level of competition going from the pack 12 deaths rose to the big 12 this year. It's going to be a long year for the Sun Devils. Another team that may be having a longer year than anticipated. I'm going to go to this game. I'm running Rebels of UNLV travel from Las Vegas to take on the KU Jayhawks in a game played at Children's Mercy Stadium, Sporting Kansas City's home field. Kansas is a seven point favorite against Barry Odom. Yeah, coming back to his old area where he was the Missouri head coach taking on a long time rival I mean it's a long time Missouri Tiger guy. Taking on his rival the Jayhawks. KU is a seven point favorite. They could easily lose this game if they don't play a whole lot better than they did against Illinois UNLV is not bad. They're one of the better teams in the Mountain West. They were a ball team last year and Barry Odom is a legitimate head coach. He's been a successful head coach at a couple of places. Yeah, Odin's been a successful head coach in the power five, you know what I mean? So like it's it's hard not to imagine, you know, the building off the success they had last year. They were really able to get after the passer against Michigan. And that was one of the, like Michigan has a very good it's it's mostly an experience but a very good offensive line. And I'm telling you if if they can get in the backfield against a big 10 school they're going to be able to create pressure and get in the backfield against Kansas and that is what Illinois has really thrived on in champagne last week against Kansas. I think they're you're right. It spells trouble for Kansas in a way. I don't think they covered but I think they went. I think the Jayhawks find a way in the end, but it it's going to be a field goal type game UNLV is that good. They can play four quarters. A lot of these, a lot of these, you know, group of five teams they can play for two and a half quarters. But you know the talent eventually wears out there's they're very, very solid in the front seven they've got a few former power five transfers they've got one tackle on the team that was originally a four star that transferred in a couple years ago so like they, they're they're a lot more talented than people give them credit for and I think they're going to challenge for the Mountain West again this year. I think they go to an oh in the big 12 to they beat the University of Houston already to kick off their season 27 to 7. The Jayhawks didn't look ready against Illinois. I think a quarterback who's played three games in two years is going to need a little bit of time to get his legs underneath them and his arm behind them. Yeah, I think they lose this one. I think they go down to Owen to but like the defense in the game plan itself. I just had higher hopes for under Leopold than what we saw in Illinois. You know what I mean like I got my heart goes out to the Kansas fan base because going into this season you had to kind of feel like with the new reshape big 12 like oh my gosh. You know we're actually one of the preeminent teams potentially if we can just put together multiple 10 win seasons. After that one game if you lose this one that is deeply already. Here we are three weeks into the next season after that realignment and that's deeply in question if you lose this game. Yeah, well a lot of it's going to be on Jalen Daniels who was talked about as even being a Heisman contender for interceptions to start. That's not a good sign and I think they've nothing else they have to run the ball a whole lot more. Yeah, you got Devin Neil who is a impact running back just just keep feeding him the ball and try to simplify it and we'll we'll see if they can get it pulled around and get get on the winning side of a game. Yeah, but it's going to be a challenge they they definitely need a little bit of help. Arizona big 12 matchup historic big 12 matchup right Arizona taken on K state that's another Friday game. K state struggling against Tulane both to an O. K state a seven and a half point favorites practically big spread it's a home game in Manhattan. I'd imagine K state wins but I don't think they're covering by a touchdown and plus. I don't either know if a feed of the Arizona quarterback I like a lot, a lot. I think he's, he's, you know, more accurate than people give him credit for this guy. I like Noah to probably play in the NFL in a few years that's how much I like the kid and they got some playmakers on offense. You know there's a reason Arizona's ranked came into the season ranked. But Kansas state is is a better team and they are playing at home, which I think helps. I agree with you. I think they win but don't cover. Big game Saturday morning Alabama Christmas time to know new era the Dibor era for Alabama. They go to Wisconsin Wisconsin also to an O. Camp Randall Stadium Alabama, a 16 point favorite. Yeah, SEC big 10. It could get ugly Wisconsin is not very good. This isn't this isn't this isn't Barry Alvarez Wisconsin team. They're to an O but they're to an O against pretty, pretty willful opponents and they're outmatched in this game. That said, this is a massive opportunity for Wisconsin at home. You get to play jump around that stadium can be very loud. And if the defense can play to their potential and limit Alabama now divorce tough and I don't think Wisconsin has the secondary compete with the Dibor offense. That's one thing that I think Alabama fans are going to be pleasantly surprised by in the weeks and years to come with Kalin Dibor is he's basically playing Madden on offense. Like he's going out there like they call the play and then they hot route three receivers to different routes basically based on what that plate what the coverage looks like. So he's got these zany routes run all over the field. That's what they did it was Wisconsin. He's got an O line. It's better than one or sorry Washington. He's got an O line. It's better than one he had Washington. So I really like where I think they're going to miss saving is on defense and this is not a team. You have to worry about that against Wisconsin is going to line up and try to run the ball there or Wisconsin offense. Just imagine playing Iowa but slightly better. You know what I mean on offense but then slightly worse on defense. So that's basically what Wisconsin is and I don't think the secondary can cover the receivers of Alabama the Dibor system. I like Alabama to win and probably cover because they're that good offensively. But Wisconsin huge opportunity at home. I wouldn't be entirely shocked if the Badgers pull it out because they can't that stadium. Much like Kyle Kyle Field and the 12th man. I think Camp Randall is one of the most underrated home environments in the country. Well, they did do the analytics matchup. They played it a hundred times for ESPN Alabama 192.1 of them Wisconsin 7.9. Jill and Miller Oh, he's got 394 yards passing so far five touchdowns and Alabama scored 105 points in two games. So, yeah, I think the Crimson Tide is going to roll here Wisconsin does have former Miami a Florida quarterback Tyler Van Dyke starting for himself. And he got a quarterback. And his 12th year in college. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It already qualified for University of Miami public employee retirement system. But tell me like what the difference is between him and Graham Mertz. You know what I mean? Like from a talent like I just who was at Wisconsin. I just don't see. Great. You know what I mean? Like to me, it's a lot like Will Howard at Ohio State. Like you got a quarterback. Is he a good quarterback? I don't know. You got a body. You know what I mean? Like there's a guy there. You did what Michigan didn't do. You know what I mean? Like to credit those to credit with Scots or to credit Florida to credit Wisconsin to credit Ohio State, Michigan knew they had a problem and didn't address it. And now you see the result. How did it's going to be interesting because I think the better thing to do is to develop somebody so you actually have a quarterback and you can build. I mean, it's kind of crazy that you're talking about college football now. And when you talk about Georgia, you can say, well, hey, they have a homegrown quarterback and Carson back. You look at the teams that have a home. USC has a homegrown. Georgia has a homegrown. LSU has a homegrown. There aren't many. Let's talk about LSU. Another game. Same time LSU travels to South Carolina. That is the early game for ESPN. That's where game day is going to be. The game Cox 2 and 0. Kind of surprising LSU number 16 in the country. They're one in one. Game Cox are seven point home dogs with an over under a 50 and a half. I think LSU wins this one. I think they just out talents out Carolina, but good start for South Carolina. Yeah, you know, good start for South Carolina. Of course, you know, their power five program played against lesser opponents and everything that they would, but still good start. I expected them to honestly drop one of those first two games. I'm surprised they didn't. I think this is the worst team in the FCC. I think they're worse than Vanderbilt. So. I, you know, I can't imagine a scenario where they win this game. Especially especially with the fire. You know, Brian Kelly is undefeated coming off of a power five loss in his career. He's actually undefeated coming off of power five losses in his career. He's certainly undefeated if that's the case coming against ranked opponents in his career. And they just barely lost to. I mean, it was an overtime loss. It was actually a really good game. It was. Michigan, they get to bounce back. They take our knock and saw state Michigan wins this game. Yeah, Michigan wins. Probably covers. I think they're frustrated. I think you see a lot more of Alex Orgy in this game. Davis Warren has just been an absolute dumpster fire. Um, I just to your to what exactly what you just said. I don't know how I don't care that he can't throw the ball. I don't know how they don't start Alex Orgy over Davis Warren. I just don't at this point. They get an offensive line that could literally run. You could run it 55 times against Arkansas state, not throw the ball and still win by 21. So it's time to start. It's time to start orgy and see what the kids got. They got to buy a week, basically, so try some stuff out. Illinois in all probability moves to 3 and 0. They're the early game on Peacock. It's a home game. They're coming off a big win. Taking on the central Michigan chip was there. They're going to win 20 point favorites and they'll run the ball into the ground and just see what happens. Yeah. Yeah. Illinois. Very good. I, you know, I like their talent level. Illinois's been good for a few years and nobody's really noticed. They were really good with Chase Brown at running back. One thing is that they've been really good at gobbling up quarterbacks that haven't worked out elsewhere in the Midwest. They stole one from Michigan a few years ago. Just like Notre Dame stole CJ Carr from Michigan. Lloyd Carr's grandson went to Notre Dame. Insane legacy. He could have just he could have just walked. He's a five star recruit. He could have walked right into the program. He didn't want to play in his dad's shadow or his grandpa shadow. Crazy. But yeah, yeah. I don't think there's any way that that they lose. Illinois wins this one. They're they're the big surprise in the Big Ten this year. Them and them and Rutgers are the two two big stories in the Big Ten at the end of the year. How about Florida State? Felt like they got shorted out of making it into the final four last year. They respond by opening the season 0 and 2. They aren't taking on Memphis. The Tigers are 2 and 0 Florida State 0 and 2. They are favored by six and a half points, but this is anybody's ballgame. Oh, absolutely. I would think that Memphis might actually be one of the best teams they've played in the top three. Memphis might be the best team they'll play in the first three games. You know what I mean? Memphis is that good. Like Memphis, what they win 9 or 10 games last year. Memphis is really good. Got to a major ballgame. You know, it's one of these teams that's probably, you know, that's looking forward to being an actual power five school. You know what I mean? Instead of G5, which they haven't for a long time. I like Memphis in this game. Normal is lost and he has lost the locker room. I think that's obvious. When, you know, when they went against Georgia Tech, I watched that game and I'm not saying Memphis is, you know, better on paper necessarily than Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech is a very talented team. But Memphis is really good. Got a lot of playmakers in the skill positions. But the part that they really struggled with was tackling. And I said to myself, like, I don't think you stop losing at that point. Like, if you can't tackle, I don't think you stop losing. I've seen this before in power five football. If you can't wrap up and tackle and, you know, you've missed that many in a game, like you're going to lose a lot of games. And that's where Florida State is right now. I don't think normal makes it, you know, to next season. No, I don't think so. And the programs made a lot of news because they've been challenging to get out to the ACC. They've been saying we need to get more money. We're the dominant program. You need to take care of us. Take a look at this. This is Memphis's last five games that they've played that have counted. A 38-34 loss. A 45-21 win. A 36-26 win. That's over Iowa State. A 40-0 win and a 38-17 win over Troy, who's always a tough competitor. Whereas on the flip side, Florida State, 24-15, they beat the Gators. That's where you lose your quarterback. Sixteen to six, they beat Louisville in a game that set offensive football back a decade and then proceeded to get bludgeoned by Georgia, 63-3. Georgia Tech beat them to start season 24-21 and Boston College, 28-13. I think Memphis wins. I think Memphis wins. Again, I think the locker room is completely lost. I think they better off to make a change mid-season, but I don't think they will. You've got to have a different voice in the locker room. Some of the best coaches of all time are now gone out of NFL and out of college, and that's for a reason. It's because things have changed, and the mindset of the young players has changed, and you've got to be able to talk to them in a way. He's got to transfer quarterback from Oregon State, and it's not looking too good so far. DJ had a bit of a bounce back year last year under John Smith at Oregon State. That's the reason he was a somewhat hot commodity when he transferred. I know Florida State wasn't their first choice. They had their eye on a couple of other transfer quarterbacks that they missed out on. DJ, that was kind of their backup, to be honest, but you know what I mean? He's still an original five-star quarterback. He had a great touchdown interception ratio last year at Oregon State, a team that doesn't really even throw the ball all that much. Now he comes to what we thought was a very talented Florida State team, but DJ's struggled, the defensive struggled, the receivers have struggled. I don't know if there's a unit on that team that hasn't struggled so far, and that, to me, points directly to coaching. Well, in the administration's kind of lost, too, but again, they got a journey. It's crazy. You got to journey him in quarterback and college. He's on his 13th. Yeah, isn't that wild? Tough 25 match-ups in Columbia, University of Missouri, number six in the country there, 2-0. Take on Bill look Ryan in the Boston College Eagles also at 2-0. It's a 17-point line for Missouri over under 53.5. I think Missouri wins. I don't think they cover it, though. I don't think there's any chance they cover. Boston College is very, very good. Like, it's one of the more underrated teams in the country. I mean, they beat Florida State was in the trenches with smaller, weaker, and slower athletes. Again, coaching. You know what I mean? They're so well coached. They're talented at the skilled positions. They're faster than you think they are on defense. I like BC to cover. Mizu is a juggernaut, though, on offense. I mean, they're just so talented between Cook and Burden and the running backs and the offensive line. You know, drink is a hell of a coach. Talk about a great coach. Drink has been nothing but successful at Missouri. Yeah, I like Mizu to win just like you, but not to cover. That's a big spread for a great team. And they got a home ground quarterback, Brady Cook. Yeah, yeah. Well, last year he dreamed about being M.U.'s quarterback. And he's M.U.'s quarterback in what may be their best season as a program that they keep winning. Yeah, I mean, I'm probably getting ahead of myself. But like, when you look at teams in the future who have a chance at winning this all, most of them have a transfer quarterback. And there's never been a national title won by a transfer quarterback in his first year. Never. It has never happened. There's only one transfer quarterback. Every one in that in recent history. And that's Burrow in his second year. With it, again, we just talked about it. A loaded roster. So I don't know. Like, I really like back a lot. And Georgia to me has to be the odds on favorite for that region because they have a home grown and they have an elite roster. Yeah. And that may end up being the matchup for the SEC, Missouri against Georgia, looking way ahead. Really? Oregon State takes on Oregon, the Ducks win. Beavers and the Ducks both 2-0. It's going to be at Corvallis. But Oregon wins this one relatively easily. I think they do too, but they've got to figure it out. They've got to figure it out. Landing is a hell of a coach. They've got to figure it out. And this is another team where they just got five and four stars everywhere and they cannot play down to their opponents. And that's what they've done in the first two weeks. They cannot continue to do that and expect to win in the Big Ten this year. Which is surprising because I thought that of the Pac-12 teams, they were going to make the easiest transition to the Big Ten. So I'm pretty surprised that what they've done so far this year, Oregon State's in a rough spot. And they just hired a new coach. They lost a lot of players in the portal last year. Most of their key guys. Oregon is miles better than Oregon State and they should run away with this game. But they should have done the same thing in the last two games and didn't. The Beavers got a bad shake in the Pac-12, breaking up. Miami of Florida, they're going to roll against Ball State. They're going forward and another transfer quarterback. Gators take over Hard Rock Stadium. They're 36 and a half point favorites. Oklahoma taken on a surprising Tulane team. Tulane gave K-State everything they wanted. Oklahoma 2-0. S-E-C. Now Tulane 1-1. I'd imagine Oklahoma wins this one. But this may be a pretty close game. Oklahoma's 13 and a half point favorite. They may not cover it. Yeah, I don't think they do either. I think this looks almost identical to the K-State game because the reason is because Oklahoma is basically a direct copy of K-State, but better. And so I agree. I think it's maybe a one score game in the end. I'd give it maybe seven and a half, six and a half, something like that. Notre Dame looking to bounce back. They're one at one. They take on the Purdue Boilermakers. This is a traditional rival for Notre Dame. Another couple of teams that are in that relative Chicago land area. How do you feel about that matchup? I like Notre Dame to bounce back here against Purdue. Purdue is on the come up, but I think they're going to have... It's just going to be real rough this year for Purdue because they're young in a lot of key spots. They're young at quarterback. They're young at the skill positions. They're young on offensive line. They're young up the middle on defense. And I think that that sets them back a little bit. They're pretty talented. I like their running back group, though. They're young, but they're very talented. Notre Dame is definitely... That was one where you have a young head coach and a transfer quarterback, and the two don't know how to handle a big win together. That's what I think you saw against NIU. Is that Texas A&M was big? It was emotional. And when your head coach is that young and that inexperienced... Young teams tend to get caught up in those emotions and have let down games. I think the coach had a let down game. And I don't know... I like Notre Dame in this game, but I'm really interested to see how he bounces back against another opponent that they should be in a game they're favored in. But honestly, it's better than NIU, and that's not even debatable. Yeah, no, they're absolutely a better team. And then Notre Dame gets a easier week against Miami of Ohio and other max school. Then Louisville. Then Stanford. Georgia Tech. I mean, any of these games, honestly, could be maybe Nate. But, you know, Navy's even tough. Really Notre Dame after losing NIU, any game is a question mark. I mean, there's no guaranteed wins. And you start to look at that Texas A&M game differently, don't you? Like, now after losing NIU, let's re-examine the Texas A&M game, right? It's a 6-6 game going into halftime, totally a defensive struggle. You've got maybe the best secondary in the country at Notre Dame, and that's why Weidman couldn't find any space to throw the ball, because they can come right at you with a five-man blitz and cover everyone and man and lock it all up. They're one of the only teams that can truly do that, because they're so good in the secondary. So they can do that same thing to Purdue. But again, I don't know how, I almost have never seen a coach, you know what I mean, struggle like that. We're so good in one game, and how they won that Texas A&M game was basically Leonard running the ball. You know, that's really what those drives the end of the game were. Like, basically, we're going to make the quarterback run, who's a big bruising Tim Tebow kind of kid. Basically, we win the blocking advantage because we're running with the quarterback, and we're going to pick up first downs that way, and that's how they won the game. They made, like, what, two-key throws down the stretch, but that was it. Mostly, it was just running by Riley. And now, that looks like maybe it wasn't a huge win, because there were no real fireworks by your offense, and then you go out and put it up, you know, what, a 13-point showing against NIU offense, horrendous on offense. Well, and then here, let's look at, let's take that segue as we roll through here. SEC Conference game, Texas A&M, taking on the Gators. It's a 230 start on ABC. Listen, look at this matchup, because if you think, hey, Texas A&M Florida, man, these are a couple of good teams, right? Texas A&M in their last five games, they're two and three. Florida, in their last five games, they're one and four, with losses of 52, 35, 30, 31, 24, 15, and 41, 17. These are a couple of teams that are really struggling. If you take the names off the front of the jerseys, and you look at it, it's a terrible game. I think it's anybody's ballgame. I think they're both kind of battling for the bottom of the SEC this year. Yeah, I mean, I'm similar. I just, I also think they're moving in different directions. I really like Elko. I think he's a common sense, straightforward kind of guy and not a big ritzy name, like Texas A&M has tended to chase. I think he's a real stable hire, and I think he's going to get that thing moving in the right direction. I really like what he did, you know, coming in. And Napier is very similar to Norville has completely lost the locker room. He's gone. I mean, Napier's been on the hot speed since last year. Absolutely not. His future is in the past. So give me A&M in this one. They're the better team. They're the better coach team. And when you've lost the locker room, there's just no help for you. Now, and I mean, they have a transfer quarterback who's from the area here is from Kansas City, where I'm at and just hasn't been good. He hasn't really been good anywhere and lived up to potential. Yeah, Mertz is, you know, Mertz is like, he has, he has quarters. He doesn't have full games. You know what I mean? Like Graham Mertz is one of those guys like he has, he'll have a dazzling third quarter where it's just like, wow, this guy's like nine of nine for like three touchdowns in this quarter. He looks like he looks incredible. He can be incredibly accurate, but he can also make like Ted scratching decisions sometimes. You know, that I just, I don't see it. I don't see it. And then wrap it up here. Your prime time games on Saturday night. You have all missed schedule to beat down Wake Forest. That's on the CW. They're 24 point favorites. Don't see anything changing there. That's going to be a big one. It's a road. Say that was in the CW network. It's on the CW. Yeah. That's the first time I've ever heard that about a football game. I didn't even know that. They're doing a lot of sports, the CW. They got to NXT now. They got a little WWE. They got NASCAR. They got USA wrestling. And they got some college football and good morning football on the CW. Amazing. Amazing. It's some sports over the air. Who knew the land of the Flash and One Tree Hill would come to college. Superman and Lois last season. Oh, okay. Texas, the Longhorns taking on University of Texas San Antonio, the road runners meet me. Texas goes to three and oh, I'm sure they'll do better against the road runners and Wiley Coyote ever did. It's 35 point favorites, 54 and a half point spread. They'll cover and they'll probably go over. They won't even do it with Acme brand rocket propelled roller skates like Wiley Coyote would use to beat the road runners. Yeah, exactly. And this isn't because UTSA is some terrible little program. I agree with you. And it's not because you're bad. UTSA is actually really good. I think they actually might win their conference this year. They're very, very good and they're fast and they call a ton of plays. And I think that's what hurts them because they're not going to be able to move the ball against this Texas offense. And Adam, you know this. Any kind of chip Kelly type offense that calls 85 plus plays in a game. If you can slow them down and stop them from moving the chains, it completely slams the brakes on everything. And that's where Texas says you look at how they man handled Michigan at the point of attack. Tell you what, that is not easy to do to go up. But you take any of the elite big, big 10 schools, and I don't care if they're in an up year, a down year, a mediocre year. The offensive line is a hog Mollie fold out. Like you go to Wisconsin in a year, Michigan in a year, Ohio State, Illinois, Iowa any year, and they're going to be stout on the O line. If you can man handle them like Texas man handled Michigan. The sky's the limit for this Texas team. Yours is another guy who's a home grown who's been there forever. You know, and I think they're an honest national title contender year one in the SEC. Yeah. Yeah, it's there. They're definitely built to built to run. They remind me a lot of where Michigan was last year, where it's just you've got 20 plus kids, a little more explosive. So they're a little more offensive than than defensive Michigan was a little more defensive than offensive. Right? So I think there's a, there's that dichotomy, right? They're going to give up a few more points, but they're also going to put up more points than Michigan did. I think, but the similarity is you've got 20 plus kids that are drafted in the NFL in the next two years, and that's exactly where Michigan was and propelled in the national title. And I really like the spot that Texas is in right now. I just think that, you know, ultimately Georgia could probably stop that from happening. And then finally your prime time game on ABC, Aga, University of Georgia, number one with the bullet, they're going to go three and they're taking on the University of Kentucky team that just looked horrendous offensively. Yeah. Kentucky's lost without Alco, you know, especially year one. They're in a year zero build with a worse coach. I mean, you can't really put it worse than that against the number one team. Again, this is another team with 20, 25 kids are going to be playing the NFL in the next couple of years. Like, so, yeah, and a homegrown talent in fact, that's a easy Heisman, you know, candidate. So, you know, Georgia is going to roll in this game. I don't know what was the, what was the number? Did you say? It's a 24 point line. 45 point five is your over under. I think Georgia wins covers and I think they get the over under themselves. Yeah, wins covers and goes over and I don't think it matters how much Kentucky scores. Yeah, 100 percent, 100 percent. Georgia, I thought, might take a small step back in their offensive line and especially in their front seven because they're so young in those spots. But just like those old, he is, he has built something similar to what Saban built at Alabama, where it's like, when I, when I expect them to take a step back because they've lost so much to the NFL, every single time. I just see a new kid that I've never seen before that I'm like, Oh, okay, they reloaded. And that's just what they do. It's plus 1500 on the money line for Kentucky. If you want to take a flyer, but probably worth money. Let me throw five bucks out of who knows. The simulator. The simulator for ESPN had Georgia winning 92.4% of the time, amazingly Kentucky got a win 7.6% of the time. Well, there's a chance. I'm shocked because I would give Wisconsin a far greater chance at beginning Alabama than I would give Kentucky at beating Georgia. Like, like great, like way better, like four or five times better odds than, than, than, than Kentucky beating. Or just Kentucky beating Georgia. Yeah, it's not going to happen. Well, as we wrap it up here, let's go to wrestling spotlight presents weekly champions. Hey, what's up guys? This is Tybell. Pula went along that and you are watching wrestling. Got the championship belt here. Who's your champion of the week, Alex? My champion of the week has to be the NIU team, the entire thing for putting on that performance. It gets another day, like no question. The Huskies. Yeah, I'm giving it to the Huskies too, because having lived in Chicago, living in the North Shore area of Chicago. I mean, I was like, I don't know, a half hour away from NIU. I can tell you with complete confidence, nobody cares about NIU in Chicago. Absolutely no one. So, huge win. That's great for the program. I mean, really, they don't even care about Illinois in Chicago. It's all Notre Dame. North Western, it looked like, I don't know, ten minutes away from Northwestern. Nobody cared about Northwestern. Which is crazy. Only school that anybody cared about in that area was Notre Dame and NIU beating them. That's huge. It's unimaginably huge for the guys playing for NIU, because I'm sure they hear all the Notre Dame. Yeah. If we could real quick take a bit of a big picture step back and look at kind of conference realignment in regards to Notre Dame. I mean, after this year especially, when they've lost to NIU, like you said, everybody thought that, okay, the playoffs already kind of messed up, because Notre Dame is going to be able to easily see my dog in the background there. Notre Dame is going to easily be able to cruise to, you know, a playoff playoff, you know. I mean, spot. Sure. Yeah, exactly. But clearly, that's not the case. And maybe now they start to realize, hey, maybe we need that championship game. You know, maybe we maybe we need, you know, that extra game at the end of the year because for this exact reason. Keep in mind, though, they are in a position that's unique to anybody else in college football. When you're at those committee meetings or near at those meetings for setting up the playoffs, there's the president of the big four conferences now. There's somebody representing the other five conferences and then there's Notre Dame. That's Jack Swarber. The president of Notre Dame is equal to the power for conferences and the group of five conferences together. And they still have their own TV contract. Right. And they're on a, they're on a different plane. They can just load up the schedule with even a higher, even a lower grade level of chumps and still walk their way in. If they can just pull it together and win two big games. They can. Right. They can. But when, like the reason Brian Kelly left is because it's hard with our academic standards to recruit the elite, elite athletes, especially on defense. And I just, to me, they're at such a natural fit in the big 10. And if you, if you, if you also look at the TV money and why all of the conference realignment happened, yes, they have the TV contract. Yeah. Right. They're also in a unique position that they're the only team in the country that could get over a hundred million dollars annually from their TV contract by moving into the big 10 because NBC is also part of the big 10s TV deal. And as I already said, we'll keep our agreement with you if you move into the big 10 and they get the big 10 money, which means they'll be, they'll be well north of a hundred million, 120, 130. They would have the upper hand in NIL. They would have the upper hand in facilities. They immediately would be probably the favorites right next to Ohio State and Michigan in the big 10. I know they flirted with the SEC with the ACC. I think it's pretty clear. The ACC is the next one to crumble behind the Pac 12 based on the whisperings. I don't know. I mean, yes, they're in an unique position, but like not only do they need the conference game, but like what you talk about TV deal like they could double their TV money if they just joined the big 10. And it's going to be an ongoing story throughout the whole year. I mean, you're going to see it because the conference realignment isn't over yet because the ACC, the clock is ticking on the ACC. You only feeling good right now. If you're the big 12, the SEC or the big 10. Everybody else is still scrambling. Correct. Yeah. The big 12 maybe on the precipice of live golf. It sounds like they're in pretty deep talks with the with the Saudis and there could be a lot of money flowing into the big 12. I don't know if if Emmer and the NCAA does what the PGA tour does, you know, did. But it's huge. It was 50 50 coming down to opening day that the team was going to the conference was going to be called the all state 12 that they were going to sell the name and rights to the conference and it was going to be the all state 12 or the big all state. And when it comes this close to getting it done, when it comes, they'll get it done next year. I believe so too. And when it comes to that Saudi money, like you got to imagine the people that watch golf are a different demographic and the people that watch football. And if anyone was going to care about the politics of it, it was going to be the golf watchers. You know what I mean, the football watchers are just going to see good football. You know what I mean, and it ties it back into the CW because the home of the live golf tour on TV. The CW, they got work TV money. It's in a fractured media landscape. The CW has something unique to offer anybody. Every TV in the country, literally every TV for free gets the CW and it'd be the revenge of the over the air network. We'll talk about that later, we'll wrap it up for now on the network. Thanks for joining us here. Enjoy the week of college football. Stay tuned for timeout as we break down the NFL. In timeout, Casey, we talked about soccer looked at sporting and the Kansas City current as they continue their season. The current playing a revenge game to get back on top of the NWSL and sporting getting ready for that final in the US Open Cup. So definitely a little competition going on on the pitch in Kansas City as well for Alex and Gerald Bentley. Thanks for joining us here at the fired up network. See you.