7-16-24 McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning Hour 2: SEC Media Days - Day 2: Jordan Rodgers, Kris Budden, Ralph Russo, Challengers to Georgia
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This Jock's 94.5 podcast is brought to you by Millennium Satellite and Video. Log on to msbnow.com. TV excellence everywhere. That's Millennium. McElroy and Kubrick in the morning starts now. Welcome back. McElroy, Kubrick in the morning. Jock's 94.5, 8 a.m. here in Dallas, Texas. Live on the scene for SEC Media Day is the Omni Hotel in downtown. For those that are familiar with Dallas, we're kind of in the reunion section.

of downtown. The ball probably not but two, three blocks away in Reunion Arena, the former home of the Dallas Stars and the Dallas Mavericks. A few blocks away as well. Jordan Rodgers has been on the show for about the last half hour talking through his top eight quarterbacks in the SEC here in 2024. But I'll tell you about the top eight GMC dealerships in the United States. It's not close. We have the number one

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Off I-65, exit 310 at Bill Smith Buick GMC. You can also shop online. Have it delivered right to your driveway at billsmithbuickgmc.com. All right, Jordan Rodgers sitting with us, SEC Media Days, finishing up your top eight quarterbacks in the SEC. This is one that's been fun to talk about, and we mentioned a little bit before the break. Graham Mertz, you say you have some scientific knowledge

calculus data on Graham Mertz and how good he is, how much better he is than people think. Yeah, I did my PhD on Graham Mertz tape. I love Graham. I think he's wildly underrated. I think you were right. You said something like if he was on 80% of other rosters, he'd have a chance to take them at 10 wins, whatever it is. I

I think what gets scoffed at and overlooked a lot, and, GMac, I don't know if you agree with this, when you evaluate quarterbacks is when you talk about completion percentage and accuracy, I feel like a lot of times to the casual fan, you get kind of like an eye roll, like, who cares?

And so I just kind of went down that rabbit hole on our True Media website and was like, okay, let's look at this. And so if you take the top 20 completion percentages in college football last year in the Power Five, it coincidentally happens to be the cutoff of 65%. So if you were a quarterback that had 65% or better completion percentage last year, the average win percentage for those teams was 75%, which correlates to just under 10 wins a season. So I'm like, okay, that's great. Kind of expected that.

And then you go to, okay, what's above average or an average quarterback? If you go above average, so the top 60 to 40, so 40 to 60, the highest completion percentage, which is above average, right, 130 teams in the NCAA, that equates to about 57 to 62%. So if you're an average or above average completion percentage, that win percentage on average is .48%.

So you go from a 5-6 win team to a 9-10 win team by being an efficient quarterback. Now, the outliers are Florida, USC last year, the outliers of that completion percentage. But the fact is, if you're an efficient quarterback, you put your team in a better situation to win games. You extend drives. You score more points. You're in better third down situations. So I think he is...

on the cusp of really helping this Florida team take the next step. Now their schedule is brutal, as always. But I love Graham. I think he's one of the most accurate, one of the best decision makers in the conference. And I think he's underrated because no one likes to just say, oh, well, yeah, you're efficient. They like to see the home run balls. And, yeah, they could hit a few more of those. But I really like his game. He's an example, too, of a guy that people have just made their mind up about. Yes.

change. Totally. And that to me is a little irritating because if you see how many guys that have progressed over the course of their career, and I'll use a recent example, I mean, Bo Nix, everyone and their brother, you know, had him as a failure and a guy that can't play and a guy that's never going to get better and a guy that just, he's got to go out west and play against more manageable offenses to be, or defenses to be able to have success. It's like, no, no, no, hang on a second. Sometimes guys get better. Like,

Like, guess what? Starting as a true freshman is really hard. Playing as a true sophomore is really hard. And I'll tell you who the next guy is going to be, potentially, if he turns it around. I think that might have something to do with it. Cade Klubnick. He'll be the next guy. Like, everyone has already painted him as this guy that just can't play. The guy started 13 games. I'm not saying he's going to be the next Joe Namath. I'm just saying maybe, maybe, over the course of his career, he progresses. And I think Graham Mertz has. I just think he's a victim of people rushing to judge.

Came in with unrealistic expectations of Wisconsin. That's not an offense that's exactly quarterback friendly. And now he's in an offense that is, and yet people just refuse to give him credit for anything. I love the Namath comparison. I don't know why he was on top of my head. Probably because they talked about him in the movie last night. When I think modern-day quarterbacks, I think it'd just be more like Namath.

Broadway Joe. Well, anybody. Joe Burrow, then. Who cares? I mean, there's no telling. My whole point is guys can get better, and we won't allow them to because we've already decided that they stink or that they're great. If you're not good in your first three or four games, you're awful. It's totally fair. It's crazy. I think it actually goes back to the spring game two years ago.

When they had three offensive, four offensive linemen out, and Austin had just come in, and Austin's like, I'm going to throw every blitz at them. They can't protect it. And he's sitting there throwing it away, throwing it away, taking sacks, taking sacks. I think everybody said right there, this guy, this is it. He's awful. He can't play. And then no one's appreciated anything even halfway decent that he's done since. And so it's just kind of where we are. All right, Jordan Rodgers with us. Day two, SEC Media Days. Nussmeyer at eight. Greg loves him. The sample size concerns me just a little bit.

I guess the mindset of thinking that he can fit any ball in anywhere, anytime. I actually asked him about that yesterday, and he said...

He's like, listen, I've got to have a little bit of confidence too, right? I've got to believe that I can get it in there. He said, but it's something we've talked about this offseason and not being as much of a risk taker and kind of dialing it down at times. But, I mean, you also want a guy to go get it. I mean, I don't want a guy who's going to sit there and wait. You know what's great about that too? Kind of to Greg's point about quarterbacks and anybody can get better and we kind of refuse to think that. You take a guy with that mentality, a gunslinger mentality and the arm talent that Nussmeyer has and you make him start as a true freshman, that can break a kid.

Because he'll go out there and try to fit it in windows that he can't. He's not ready. He's not seeing things the way he should. You go out there and just have a terrible season, throw too many turnovers, throw too many interceptions. That can break a kid. But the fact that he has that kind of skill set and mentality, he got to sit and watch and learn and develop and get big moments in the SEC Championship where it wasn't perfect but made some big plays against Georgia when he came in for an injured Jaden Daniels. Had a balled out in the bowl game last year.

So I think he is poised to have a big year because of the offensive line that returns. Yes, do they have the firepower receiver that they had last year? Maybe not, but they got some dudes still. Kyron Lacy's a dude. Chris Hilton can absolutely fly. CJ Dano's kid from Liberty can play. Yes. Taylor at tight end. They're going to be fine. They have weapons. They got weapons. I'm not worried about that. Yeah, they don't have three first-round draft picks, but that's okay. So I love him. I think the most controversial part of this list, at least per X last night, was...

Leaving Nico Yamileava off the list. How would we know that? Exactly. And they're like, well, you know, the ball game and the four touchdowns. I get it. Like, he played good. As a passer, he was efficient. As a runner, he made a couple plays. You know, in the goal line, had the three touchdowns. Let's change your list to top eight SEC quarterbacks at end of season. Right. I love Nico. I really do. I actually think he's a great fit for the offense. I think he's fundamentally sound. I think he's super athletic.

accurate, especially outside the numbers. We just don't know yet. We just don't know yet. And him and Jackson Arnold are kind of in that same bunch for me as two kids that are very similar, so talented, huge upside, and just we don't know yet. Right. I want to get your thoughts on just sort of big picture because... But you also have to take it with a grain of salt, too. I mean, Tennessee fans are feeling it. They love their team. I get it, but

Since when do we now use bowl games as an exclusive indicator of future success? I just don't, like, are we just...

And it's not knock on Tennessee. I think we could make the same argument for Nussmeyer, frankly. We could make the same argument for a few guys that have gone out and just scored. Joe Milton. Yeah, Joe Milton. We went score-surf after an Orange Bowl performance last year, and it's like, dude, the bowl game does not necessarily mean that you're going to be great the following year. Like, a lot of teams that you're playing against have mailed it in. Like, let's just be real. Yeah.

We shouldn't use bowl games as an indicator of what's coming, I think. Jordan Rogers with us on Radio Row, SEC Media Days Day 2. Just big picture. I think Tier 1 is just Georgia. I think you could shape up a bigger Tier 2 or a smaller Tier 2 and a bigger Tier 3. But either way, if you wanted to put Bama, Texas next to Georgia, whatever that is, it feels like the middle of the league is log jammed with a lot of teams that could be in the playoff mix, could end up in the SEC Championship game.

or if a couple things don't go their way, maybe take a bit of a dip. I'm interested in you and just kind of where you are in the contenders of the league. Like who's maybe that much further ahead of everybody else, and who actually can go win this league or make the playoff? I'm putting Ole Miss in the Tier 1, especially –

With the pieces that they added and Jackson Dart's development, the talent that they have. I remember we've had this conversation with Pete Golding a number of times over the years, last couple years at Ole Miss, is that this is the first year that he has the size, the speed. My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big ROAS man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend.

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Call 1-800-GRANGER, click granger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. Size, the length is kind of what I meant to say. Actually, at each position that he needs.

I mean, getting Trey Amos, Brandon Turnage, this guy may not have a huge impact, but he knows the system on the back end. He's got the length and size that Pete needs at those positions. This defense is going to be really improved. I think that's scary because there's no way the offense doesn't get better with some of the pieces that they added. So I think there, especially with how their schedule lays out, I really struggle not giving them 10 wins when I look at that schedule.

Oh, yeah. And that's saying they're going to lose to Georgia and they play Bama? No. No, they play LSU. It's like, oh, if they lose to LSU or... Here's the problem, though. I think in talking to Coach about this yesterday, Coach Saban on the set, I could see a scenario for sure where it is used against them, their non-conference. Their non-conference is so laughably bad.

And frankly, when we fast forward to the end of the year, let's say LSU is an 8-4 football team, top 25 win. But maybe LSU loses a couple that we don't expect. I think LSU's going to be really good. I'm super bullish. But we start looking at their wins, and their best win is against an 8-4 Oklahoma. That's not going to be very good for their resume when measured against other teams that are potentially at-large teams. So...

I don't think the 10-2 with that schedule is a bona fide lock. That might affect their seed a little bit, but I don't think it keeps – it's not going to go to the extent that it keeps them out. I don't think it's a bona fide lock is what I'm saying. Yeah, because I think we could – Yeah, I agree. Like, if they go 9-3 and their resume is meh, then that's – so the margin for error for them is very small. Because the Georgia one you could throw out. Yeah. That one doesn't even really matter. Yeah, you lose that one. It is what it is to an extent. So what, you lose to Oklahoma or LSU? What about the optics of last year's loss?

I mean, you get blasted like that. I mean, that's going to be tough on the stomach. And I just think, too, like we're thinking about this right now in the 14 playoff era. Like we're not even having this conversation if you're 10-2 back then. But now I look at it and you might have a –

Utah, that's 11-2. Their only loss came against Kansas State, but they beat Oklahoma State. They beat a couple other teams in the top 20, and they lost in the conference championship game. You taking that team that lost in the conference championship game or a 10-2 Ole Miss team that played no one in the non-conference? I just don't think we're going to have eight of those teams that were... We might not. I'm just suggesting I think their schedule is so manageable that it's the one where I can say I could see people pushing back

on the possibility of them being a no-doubter at 10-2. I don't hate that. I think that's feasible. Let's get to the next tier. Who do you think is going to be real, and who do you have concerns about? The A&Ms, the Oklahomas, the Tennessees, the teams that if everything comes together, yeah, they could be in the playoff.

But I have my doubts as to why. Because I'm with you on Ole Miss, and Greg and I talked about it yesterday, Jordan. Sit there and try to go poke holes in that roster. It's really hard. Because they bring in Koleppo and Diego Pounce on the offensive line, all of a sudden they look different there. They're as different on the defensive line as they've ever been that I can remember. We tried to talk about how you're going to stop the offense yesterday.

I mean, they can add an in-line tight end. They can be physical. They have a run dynamic at quarterback. Multiple weapons at receiver. They're deep at tail. Yeah, it's unfair. They can go tempo. They push the ball down the field. They got quick game. Everything has a read to it. They're going to make you wrong. Conflict defenders, I don't know.

It's going to be tough. I mean, I think the only question mark for me in Ole Miss is honestly physicality and personality of the team. Yeah. And that can get you at times, but they're going to have enough talent to where, like Greg said, against that schedule, the talent's going to be enough in, what, nine of them at least? Ten. Ten.

I don't know if just the town beats Oklahoma, LSU, and Georgia. And they're at Florida late. I think the Florida game is a tough game. If I'm Florida, I'd rather have Ole Miss on November 23rd than October 3rd. No. Yeah. What about the other teams, though? Obviously. I think two are interesting to me. I think Tennessee is interesting because I do think they're going to be better on offense. I think Nico is a heck of a player.

What I think we forget is they were the fourth best defense in the SEC last year. Their defense kept them in a lot of games because their offense took such a big step back.

And they lose everybody in the secondary. And that was probably the one Achilles heel of that team the last couple years, even when their defense has been better than what we expected Tennessee. So Tim Banks in that defense, I think, has got to come along. Because they've got a guy like James Pierce that can get after the quarterback. But you've got to be able to cover on the back end. And then Missouri as well for the same reason. You lose your defensive coordinator, and you lose three draft picks in the secondary. Like Missouri at times last year...

Impress me because they would just man press you across the board and come after you. They were a scary defense because they had the dudes on the outside that could play some tight coverage and Blake Baker would just bring it. The other part about that Missouri defense following up with what you're saying that I noticed last year, those DBs could tackle. Yes.

They gave up. They were physical. There were so many explosive plays that could have been that weren't because a guy had a one-on-one and he got him to the ground. And I'm talking like corners and safeties, not linebackers, obviously. And you'll love this, too. I think Cody Schrader, losing him is as much just the production, the yards, as it is an identity.

I mean, how much they use that outside zone and everything bases around it. You don't just plug in and fit that type of run game. Like, you have a knack for it or you don't. And they brought in some experienced guys through the portal, but how different does the identity of this team look because of Cody Schrader's absence? Well, we appreciate you hanging out, Jordan. It's been a while. We kept you on for a long time. We could do it all day, but we'll let you go do other important things. Talk ball.

Talk ball? I've got a coffee in hand, so we're good. We're rolling now. We've got to get to a break. Chris Button is going to join us on the other side. We'll let Jordan go do other radio interviews. Hopefully your handler is not here, so you won't get how I'm running away from Radio Row right now. You guys are the last stop. Absolutely. First, I'll tell you about game day men's health. If you have a lack of energy, if you're getting poor sleep, feeling on edge,

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Game Day Men's Health can do, and they're going to be able to help you, similar to how they've helped me, GameDayMensHealth.com. Chris Button joins us live from Radio Road. Day 2 of SEC Media Day is next on McElroy and Kublik in the Morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kublik in the Morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than...

A player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Cup or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in. SEC Media Days, day two. McElroy and Kubrick in the morning. Jocks, 94.5. It's 8.20, Tuesday, July 16th. We're live in Dallas in a bit of a home game here for Chris Budden of ESPN who joins us now. First off, contrast for us the difference in vibe between Big 12 Media Day that you covered and now SEC Media Days that you're here with.

Four times the amount of media. It's just different. You know, the Big 12, I will commend them for bringing it to Vegas and bringing a different kind of vibe. And that was very cool for the student-athletes who had never been there. And they say at the Bellagio and you're looking at the fountains. But they jam-packed eight teams into each day. So it was two days.

And it was at Allegiant, but in terms of the media coverage, there's not nearly as big of a radio row. There's not nearly the local media that comes. Because for a lot of these smaller local stations, something like Vegas is hard to get to. And you're only going out for two days versus being able to sit here on radio row and get your money's worth for four days. Did you creep over to the Pac-12 media desk?

I did not, although I heard there was an open bar. Which will get people's attention. Had I known that, I might have made a different decision. That will get people's attention. When you look at, you're from Dallas.

This is not – I don't know if you're from Dallas. I moved here in 93. Okay, so you've been here for literally 31 years. All right, long enough. Long enough to claim it. How did you do that math that fast? God, that's impressive. Because I moved here in 98. If we moved here around the same time, I could probably add up. It would have taken me four minutes just to figure that out. All right, long story short, you've been here a long time. This has never been – as my hometown, it's never felt like SEC country. Yeah.

It's always felt like Big 12, and it's kind of strange now to see the SEC encroach on this market, but what's the temperature like in Dallas for the SEC and this new brand of football? Yeah, you know, since you've moved away, Texas A&M has joined in Missouri, so I do feel like

There has been a pull towards the SEC. And then this thing, you know, got announced two years ago. I do think it's the perfect mesh. Like, those two fan bases, like when you look at an SEC stadium and you go into Neyland or Alabama or Athens, that's exactly what they're doing.

Yeah.

Chris Button joining us live on Radio Row at SEC Media Days. If you had to pick one of the two over the next three years, who do you think has the most success? Is it Texas or Oklahoma? I mean, certainly this year, I don't know who in Austin paid off Greg Sankey because that schedule compared to Oklahoma is a lot easier. I would say Texas, and I think for this reason, A, there's the money there, the NIL component, but I think also if you have immediate success this year,

that could be kind of detrimental to the recruiting of being able in this state to keep this talent going to Austin instead of going to A&M. So to me, that's why I think long-term Texas is set up for success. It's hard not to see Texas having success long-term for sure. I do think Oklahoma is going to be better than people realize. Like you said, the schedule, really, really challenging. We have Tennessee here today. We have Oklahoma here today. Yeah.

We have a bunch of other teams coming the next couple days, but is there a team that you feel like is not getting enough attention?

heading into whatever time slot they're afforded here at SEC Media Days. Yeah, and I don't say this as the Missouri grad because I have been burned too many times to really have a lot of faith. But when you look at their schedule, their schedule pans out nice for them, and they're favored in 11 of their games. And, you know, they surprised everyone last year with what they have coming back with Luther Burden and Brady Cook. And I also think, like, what Drink has done to get a guy like Luther to stay.

You know, like what that means for that state. There's a heck of a lot of talent in Kansas City and St. Louis. And if you can kind of start to build those walls and get people like, hey, the cool thing to do is to go to Mizzou. And, you know, it was a little bit like that when I was there and Chase Daniel came up here from Dallas. And Mizzou was kind of cool. And Brad Smith was there. And I...

Drink has gotten that for Mizzou, and I also just think the way that the schedule pans out, they could be a sleeper to end up in Atlanta at the end. Where are you on the loss of Blake Baker? I think it's big. I think he's awesome. But I think there's enough left up front to where, and then obviously...

You were involved in that defense last year. You know what it's supposed to look like. I think the offense can just overcome a lot of that. Yeah, it's a little bit of the LSU factor, right? If your offense is good enough, I don't think they're going to sit here and have a major drop-off. I believe they were around fourth in almost every category with Baker there. I do think it's a huge loss, but I think what they have offensively...

you know, is it going to be a thing where you got to put up 30 to 40 points every time? I don't think it will be a dramatic drop off when you already had the system running in place. How would you assess kind of the bottom half of the SEC? Like yesterday, Shane Beamer came out, kind of went scorched earth. Like, Hey, you guys think we stink, whatever. Um,

The thing about it is I don't necessarily disagree with them, but I also can't really justify moving them ahead of a lot of the teams in front of them. So how do you assess kind of the bottom half of the league and how much noise they might be able to potentially make? I think there's a drop-off, right? I was going through some of the ESPN analytics, and there's eight teams with a 10% chance.

to make it to Atlanta. And that didn't even include Ole Miss. So really, there's nine teams and then there's the rest.

And, you know, Vanderbilt will be Vanderbilt. But, like, someone's got to take the losses. Like, for all these teams, they're going to end up with eight, nine wins. That means someone else is going to take the losses. And Shane Beamer is going to get his guys. Like, there's a viral video going around where, you know, at the end of last season, he says, shut the cameras off. And the audio keeps rolling. Meanwhile, the camera is still rolling. It's still rolling. It's like, if you're satisfied with 5-7.

Get the hell out of here. You know, that's a little bit of him. But, like, they got a ways to go. And maybe that offensive line will be much improved and, you know, have some depth where they sustain injuries. They're not going to have what they have last season. But in this conference, if you're going to have teams that have 11 and 10 wins, there's going to be teams that have started racking up some losses. Chris Budden of ESPN joining us live on Radio Road Day 2. McIlroy and Kubelik in the morning.

You brought up Ole Miss a moment ago, some of the odds. We talked about it with Jordan a few minutes ago. It feels very difficult to find holes just in the roster, personnel-wise. You've had Ole Miss the last couple of years more than once. You understand Lane and how he operates, and you know what the roster is. What should the expectation be? Should it be playoff or bus? Can they win a national championship? I don't know.

So twofold on that, I think it's playoff or bust. I mean, if the playoff was expanded two out of the last three years, they would have been in. They went out and got five guys in the transfer portal that were top 50. They lost pieces, but they also kept a lot.

And so I think the expectation for Lane is play off our bust. And they're one of those teams, you throw them and Penn State and Utah, of programs that had this thing been expanded, they would have been in there. And to me, this is the year where you have the talent. And I don't know, however ESPN Analytics comes up, that they're not one of the eight teams. Because by Vegas odds, they're like the third best team.

Especially with that schedule. You've got to love the analytics. Come on. You've got to lean in. I trust Vegas. They took all my money last week, so I trust them more than ESPN analytics. Lastly, as far as odds, Georgia's the big favorite. I don't know anybody that's really going to push back on it, frankly, but I feel like we're kind of ignoring a conversation that might need to be had, given the way they looked against Bama in the SEC championship game. They got mowed off the ball in that game.

Are we just anointing them unjustifiably, or is their reign as the top dog in the conference and really the sport, is it justified? Would there be a bigger conversation if Saban was still there? I just think Saban wasn't playing right guard. Yeah, but he was 1-5 against them.

I agree. For the first three matchups or so, it was very much, you know, knives in one hand and guns in the other. Like, it was not necessarily an apples-to-apples comparison with where the programs were at.

But I would say in some cases, Georgia surpassed them in the last three years, and yet Bama's still 2-1. I'm not saying Texas is better than Georgia. I'm not saying Bama's better than Georgia. I'm not saying either of those teams are. But the perceived gap that exists between Georgia and everybody else appears huge. Should it be? Yeah. I think roster-wise, yes. I think last year, I think Georgia...

I think they come in really hungry. Last year they were great defensively, but they weren't what they were two years ago. And whatever it is, he didn't have any bulletin board material last year that said they doubted us. But every year he comes in with something. I remember when he came in last year at SEC Media Days, and he had said he had done like a four-week deep dive of the New Zealand All Black.

of figuring out how to sustain success. I find him fascinating. I remember interviewing Dana Holgerson one time, and he said he went and stayed and did like a two-week basically camp out during their fall camp, and he was mesmerized. He's like, I learn more than I have ever have in all my years coaching, just being around Kirby's program. And so I thought that that stood out.

I think roster-wise, I think with Kirby being, you know, the best coach in this league right now, they deserve that conversation. I do wonder, though, if Saban was still here, would we be talking about that large of a gap? I don't think that we would. Just remember the stories about, like...

sleeping on Leach's couch and Kingsbury having another room in there. So that group of coaches, and then he goes to hang out with the main guy from the Saban tree, and he has this eye-opening experience. I don't think there were probably as many six-packs and pizza around a couch as there probably was in that Leach coaching tree. Probably not. Or Red Bull. Yeah, of course not. Unbelievable.

We appreciate you joining us. Before we go, I wanted to ask you just nationally, sort of big picture. You've been to some other media days as well. Georgia on a national scale, how many teams outside of the SEC do you have sort of classified in their grouping? I'll tell you what I thought was really interesting that I learned at Big 12 Media Days because Chris Kleiman had never really said this before. But, like, we put Georgia and then we put Ohio State because of everything that Ohio State got. And at quarterback...

Will Howard was going to be a backup this year at Kansas State. He didn't leave because Ohio State poached him. Like Chris Kleiman said, Avery Johnson was going to beat him out. And that's a true sophomore. You can say that now. I mean, it's.

Yeah, but the guy also scored five touchdowns in the bowl game and had started to take some of his snaps away. But everybody and their brother was going after Will Howard. Like, everybody. SC, Ohio State, like, everybody. Because at that time, how many Will Howards were there in the portal? I do think he's good. I just think it's, you know, it's a little bit low-hanging fruit. I love Kleiman. No one loves Kleiman as much as I do. I think he's awesome. But, like, it is a bit of low-hanging fruit that...

Oh, yeah. You know, he left, but he wasn't going to be our guy anyways. I understand what you mean. It just tempered my expectations of what Ohio State has on that roster. I will say to that point, if you're, for me...

I think Ohio State and Georgia talent-wise are probably ahead of everybody else. Having the same coordinator and having the same quarterback, that's the big differential for me between those two teams. Like, Ohio State's up the ante on talent, but you've got Bobo and Beck back together. And I love Chip. Greg would say I love Chip Kelly's offense. It's incredible. I love it. But you have a new quarterback in a new offense for all the guys around him, and they haven't done it together yet.

It doesn't matter how much talent you have. It's going to take some time to come together. So I'll lean Georgia mainly from that perspective. The only other reason why I find the Will Howard conversation interesting is because Ryan Day had told our guys that covered the Cotton Bowl, I'm not looking for a quarterback. We have a quarterback on our roster, and the Cotton Bowl went the way that the Cotton Bowl did. Come on. It's a good performance. For Missouri, yeah.

Chris, thanks so much for hanging out with us. We appreciate it. It's a very watchable game. Very extremely watchable. Good stuff. Chris Button coming off a big 12 media days in Vegas, now hanging out here at SEC Media Days in Dallas. We'll be back with more live on Radio Row from day two of SEC Media Days next on Jocks 94.5. The capital of the sports talk nation. This is Jocks 94.5 and jocksfm.com.

All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kublik in the morning. Radio Row, day two, SEC Media Days. Coming up today, Tennessee, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma.

We'll be right back.

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and Highway 31 in Vestavia. Get started with a free no-obligation quote in person, over the phone, or online at royalautomotive.net. Greg, we were talking a moment ago about challengers for Georgia in the Southeastern Conference. And Chris kind of brought up Ole Miss. Why do they not have better odds to win the SEC, make the playoff, or win the playoff? And I was actually asked this question this morning about who is the biggest challenger to Georgia this year in the SEC. The team you would throw out first would be?

You had Alabama and Texas in the SEC championship game yesterday? Yeah. So I kind of thought about Ole Miss. I thought about Texas. I thought about a couple other teams. And then I came to this note that I'll drop on you quickly. Oh, boy. How many days do you believe it has been since a team not named Alabama, Southeastern Conference team, beat the Georgia Bulldogs? How many days? Correct. 1,300. 1,407 days. 1,407 days.

It's actually a pretty good guess by you. Well, I know it's 2020. We talked about it in 2020 Florida. Yeah, I just... Do you know the last non-SEC team that beat Georgia? I would say... Before July 1st, by the way. Before July 1st. Oh. Would it be Oklahoma in the bowl game? Texas in the 2019 Sugar Bowl. Oh, yeah. That's who it was. Yeah. We're back. That's when Texas was back. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. And so...

I kind of came full circle and I thought to myself, physicality, how many other teams can match them as well as Bama can, and then...

History is on your side if you want to go Alabama right there. They are probably the team that has the best chance to prevent Georgia from winning an SEC championship this year. Love it. Just kind of something to think about, something to talk about there. And we'll get a little bigger picture of it with Ralph Russo from the Associated Press. On the other side, right here, day two from Radio Row, SEC Media Days in Dallas. Catch up with all things McIlroy and Kubrick in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than...

A player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Tap or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in. Michael Roy and Kublik in the morning. Going to welcome in Ralph Russo of the Associated Press right here on Radio Row, day two, SEC Media Days.

Ralph, you good? I can't be better. I'm with you guys. SEC Media Day. You could be on a beach somewhere. You could be better. Let's say you could be with better people. We could all be better. We are the bottom of the barrel. I literally came off of vacation to SEC Media Days. But that's good because if you take a long vacation and you're really relaxed, you've got to jump right into the deep end. There's no easing yourself back into work after several weeks off.

And, man, the season's here. That's it. Like, summer's over. Season's here. Don't say that yet. There's still going to be a couple days of downtime that we need, I have to have. You guys were just talking during the break. Just an interesting conversation. LSU versus Ole Miss.

We've had multiple conversations already this morning about Ole Miss, Ralph, and how difficult it is to sort of poke holes in the roster, just the talent overall. But we have seen aspects of how the program's managed, let them down just a little bit. But we've also seen them exceed some expectations in other areas. LSU loses a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, two first-round receivers. I think three of their best four players on defense are gone from last year. But you get Blake Baker in as your defensive coordinator. You get Bo Davis as your D-line coach.

If we're on the scale of truth, Ole Miss, LSU, which way are you leaning? I think I look at this from this picture of sort of like expectations, and I just see it as Ole Miss is coming in with a lot of expectations, a lot of hype because of the great transfer portal class. And, by the way, deservedly so. They should be a top 10-ish team to start the season.

But then I also look at what's happened with LSU the last couple of years where you kind of exceed expectations in year one because you beat Alabama. And then I think that they were essentially overrated going into last year. Like, I didn't think that was a number five team in the country. I thought, well, I think we still need a couple of years of recruiting to get a roster that Brian Kelly took over with 39 scholarship players up to SEC speed.

So when I, I think the general consensus on LSU is, oh, they were disappointing last year. The defense fell apart and the defense was really bad. But I think that like if you look at, take the bigger picture, look at them and think of what a normal build looks like. Three straight top 10 recruiting classes. Brian Kelly says he's got the deepest team he's ever had. I kind of believe that.

I just think the reality of what we perceive Ole Miss to be, a much-hyped team that's getting a lot of playoff buzz, and LSU, a team coming off a quote-unquote disappointing year, the perception doesn't match the reality. I look at those two teams and think, those are pretty similar teams that I think have a chance to have similar seasons. So...

You throw in a little volatility. You throw in some good coaching by Brian Kelly. That's not a knock at Lane Kiffin. And I just think that I could see a scenario where we're sitting back going, like, boy, Ole Miss had all the hype, but LSU had something going on there. I think they're far more similar teams than...

What's the perception? So, Greg, maybe October 12th, Tiger Stadium, Ole Miss at LSU now becomes bigger than some people are talking about. I think it's a huge game. I mean, let's think about this last year's game. And I know, look, I know Jay Daniels. I know the two first-round wideouts. I know four players off defense. I get all that. I understand that. They had 600-plus yards and scored 49 points and lost. You know how hard that is to do?

Doesn't happen a lot. It's almost impossible to do. On the road, mind you. So I think taking that into account, I think they match up pretty well. I think that game's going to be fascinating. My biggest question isn't so much about Ole Miss. I think Ole Miss is very real.

But I think Ole Miss is one of those teams that is not going to be afforded the benefit of the doubt at season's end if they have multiple losses. You look at their non-conference, and I think it's really, really, really underwhelming. That's not their fault. You schedule these things a long time in advance, and frankly, we're a couple years removed from Wake Forest being pretty good. They're no longer. I think you look at Ole Miss, and they are the one team in the SEC that if they're 10-2,

I cannot guarantee them a playoff spot. I cannot guarantee them one at 10-2. At 9-3, I don't think they have a shot. But at 10-2, I don't know, man. Everyone else, though, with their schedules and the wins that they might have, I think they're in at 10-2. And I do think you talk about the way this

The schedules are going to determine so much in this new SEC. No question. And we talk about, I know there's been a lot of talk about, well, how do we compare an ACC team with an SEC team and a Big Ten team with a Big 12 team? I think we're all missing the boat on that. I think what's going to be the more interesting conversation is comparing the teams within the conferences because the conferences are so big that

your SEC schedule, Ole Miss, is going to look a lot different than Oklahoma's SEC schedule or Texas's. And you could have a pretty severe imbalance in the schedules within the conference. So those, as you said, those 10 and 2s aren't going to match up. And I think the conversations about conference schedules and strength of schedules are going to be even more interesting than the

comparing teams from outside of conference. And Ole Miss, of all the SEC contenders, nobody's got an easy schedule in the SEC, but I think that they have probably a little more manageable than some of their peers. Well, I also look at two, and that's part of the reason why I'm not willing to bet my life on Georgia being in the SEC championship game. How many teams would survive...

a three-game gauntlet in which you have to win two out of three at Bama, at Texas, at Ole Miss. You have to win two out of three to be in the SEC Championship game. Not to mention the games that you have at Kentucky, other places throughout the schedule. I mean, Georgia is...

10-2 is possible. It's absolutely possible. And 10-2 does not guarantee them a... They're in the playoff, I think, at 10-2. But I don't know if they are necessarily in the SEC championship game at 10-2. One game at home in September for Georgia. One. But they'll have a good non-conference win against Clemson in that scenario. And they do get their last three games at home. So you close out at home. That's good for Georgia. But the schedule, Ralph, we've talked about it a ton of times.

If that's 100 other teams in college football, we're talking about the way we talk about Florida's schedule. Yeah, I think Georgia's the one team. They're still, to me, the one place where I feel like, okay, they've separated them. So for obvious reasons, right? They've built an amazing roster. Kirby's good. They've got the stability there. I think the interesting part about the SEC this year is there's enough uncertainty in all other aspects to wonder, okay, who's after Georgia?

Texas is really loaded again. I think there's an element of I'd like to see them continue doing it as opposed to thinking... I think the line I had about Texas is this is the season where Texas proves it's really back because it shows that last year wasn't just...

a one-off. Last year was a starting point. For Texas, last year needs to be the new normal. We're going to find out what that looks like this year. The turnover in coaching at Alabama, it's a really good roster. I love Kalen DeBoer as a coach, but the fact of the matter is, it's a new situation.

And a coaching change creates a little volatility. We talk about Ole Miss and the way they build, I think, creates a little volatility when you bring it. Lane Kiffin even talked about this yesterday. We have a lot of work to do, and it's not just on the field. We have to make sure this thing comes together. He talked literally about...

You see a lot of pro teams, they bring in some free agents and the talent looks good and it doesn't work. So he is very aware of that dynamic on his team. We talked about LSU and their uncertainty. Tennessee, new quarterback, they fell off a little bit last year. So I just think it's such an interesting year because in other years we would easily pencil in Alabama.

as at least one of the top two teams. And when you sort of take that away and sprinkle in some uncertainty, then you sprinkle in two new good teams, I think you find yourself with Georgia I feel comfortable with, but the rest...

I'm not really sure how that works out. What does two through six look like? Yeah, I laughed yesterday. I was on set with Coach Saban, and he kind of laughed at me when I said, I think nine teams can make the SEC championship game. And then I listed them, and he goes, in the next segment, he goes, yeah, I think eight or nine teams could probably make it. Which I thought was, I'm not saying I convinced him of that. I think he had the same idea, but it's hard to think that way because it feels like so many teams

But with the new era of divisions being gone and things like that, I just think it's different. How many teams do you think have a legitimate chance to make it to Atlanta for the SEC title?

I'm going to go. As soon as you said that. I'm not saying win it, but like. Yeah, as soon as you said that, you start going through that process. And, again, I would put LSU on that list. So you're LSU Ole Miss. LSU Ole Miss, Bama, Georgia, Texas. That's five. That's five. I'd be tempted to put Tennessee on there. Because of that defense and what I think Nico could be. I'd be a little more leery to put Oklahoma on there. I'm not putting Florida. I don't know.

I'm not as... Missouri? So, okay, that was literally the next thing I was going to mention. I don't know if I'm as high on Missouri as the preseason rankings will be. Now, this is going to be... It might not be the best reason, right? But I just look at schools like that when they have that sort of special season...

you tend not to sustain it to make it two in a row. Yeah. They had a lot of close wins last year. I just think that things regressed to the mean a little bit, and all of a sudden that's a 9-3-ish team, maybe with an 8-4 floor as opposed to a real 10 or 11 win team. So if I'm eliminating them and I'm not as high on Oklahoma... A&M?

A&M is a pretty interesting wild card to me. Very much. Yeah, that's another one of those teams I think I'm going to be higher on. But now, listen, nobody's been more wrong about A&M the last couple of years than me. Get in line. I am the Michael Jordan of being wrong about A&M. So...

But I do look at, try to sum this up relatively quickly, I think Mike Elko bringing a little stability and normalcy to the program. There's still a fair amount of talent there. I'm really high on Conor Wegman, but we don't know what that really is.

That's a theme with a lot of SEC quarterbacks. Like, oh, Nussmeier, that looks like a pretty good player, but small sample size. And I haven't really seen much of Nico. And we haven't seen much of Jackson Arnold. But there's some very high ceiling quarterbacks, which also, by the way, I think adds to the volatility. Because if Jackson Arnold goes nuclear...

now all of a sudden, well, maybe Oklahoma is a legitimate contender in the SEC. But that could happen. That's what I'm saying. That's the thing. It's not a... And I think the same with A&M. And frankly, it's crazy. I think it's the same with Missouri. So we are at nine if you include A&M and Missouri. That's crazy to think about that. LSU, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Missouri would give you six. Ole Miss, Oklahoma would give you eight. And then if

you wanted to go A&M, that would give you nine. I think you're pushing the envelope, but I'd also think that if we just talked it out, I could figure out a way to buy into all those teams. You start going through the destinations and stuff. It's like, okay, hang on a second. Texas would maybe be... Let's say Georgia locks down a spot. Texas would be my second team. They're at A&M. A&M could have the head-to-head. If they win that, and then you kind of start piecing it together, it's like there's a bunch of teams and a bunch of games that are going to factor into these conference championship races, and

ultimately home field is going to be really valuable. And then we go back to that scheduling component, and all of a sudden you go, oh, that team got to...

7-1 because maybe, hey, they caught a little break. Maybe Jackson Arnold didn't turn out to be that good and Oklahoma was on a down year. Again, you're literally talking about one or two games are going to separate these teams. That's why they're having a lot of talk about tiebreaker situations. You talked about, Ralph, and what Greg just brought up, it's one or two players from a lot of teams. It's either a guy or two in the portal. If he is what some people think they're going to be, that team is going to be really different.

Connor Wigman is healthy the whole season and is what a lot of people think. A&M is in that race. They're in the mix. The offensive line's got to be okay at least. But, yeah, it's just it's – the thing that I like about Oklahoma is the potential star power. Like you said, Jackson Arnold could go off like Billy Bowman can go off. Danny Sussman can go off. You've got a wide receiver that could be –

Bill Beatenboe could go off as the offensive line coach. Could be the best in the SEC, honestly. You've got legit star power potential at Oklahoma that some teams don't have. They don't have the depth and they don't have the talent everywhere maybe, and the schedule's a little tougher. They've got some takeover guys, though. About 30 seconds, Ralph.

What Greg was talking about with Ole Miss having to weigh their schedule, when we're talking about the bottom of the playoff, teams getting in, what's the group of teams we're talking about there? How many are we talking about? Oh, I think I could make a good argument that you're looking at maybe a 20-team race. If it's that, it's going to be a lot of fun. In November, if it's 20 teams. It's going to be awesome. Yeah.

Maybe even more than that. I'm buying college football. And the upside of a value of our sport, if we've got 20 teams in it, we're in good shape. All right. There you go. Ralph, great stuff, man. Thanks for hopping on with us. Kirby Smart live at the podium next, day two, SEC Media Days, jocks, 94.5. At your job, do you ever have to deal with a nose roller? How about a snub pulley?

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