7-18-24 McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning Hour 2: SEC Media Days - Day 3: Commissioner Greg Sankey, Roman Harper, Brett McMurphy
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Welcome back in. McElroy and Kubrick in the morning, 8 a.m. Thursday, July 18th. Commissioner Sankey with us on Radio Road. Do you have the same, I call it media day's brain fog, where the day it is, what you have in front of you, what you've already done, who you talk to, when you talk to them, all just, it's kind of one big glob. There's a couple pieces. One is I have commissioner brain fog because every day runs together. You have to really go deep to figure out what day it is. The second...

My first year, I would go from station to station. Cole, you may have been a part of this. I was trying to say something original. Then I realized, well, I was just in Chattanooga. Now I'm in Miami. I'm going to be in Little Rock. Then it's Baton Rouge. You can just say the same thing. Exactly. I get through that brain fog by, not that I have a set of talking points, but you get a lot of consistent questions. I will say this is the day. This is day four.

Day one, didn't have a lot of throat irritation at the end of the day. Day two, my throat was irritated at the end of the day. Yesterday, by noon, my throat was irritated. This morning, I woke up and my throat's irritated. It becomes a thing. That's why this right here, Singer Spray. It's good stuff. I had some of that that Joan Cronin, the former director of women's athletics, gave me from Tennessee. So Singers is the brand? Singers Spray, yes. And it's...

Non-alcohol soothing throat spray. There's a point in this week where I want the alcoholic soothing. Well, I don't know. I will tell you, the taste is medicinal. The taste is rough. It's not fun. It doesn't taste good. It's not something that you'll enjoy. It works, though. It does. It's very effective. I think it is. I had some, and I left it at a media day a couple years ago, and my voice has never been the same.

I feel like media days in Dallas has worked so far. We didn't really know what to expect, what might be different, good or bad, but I feel like it's been smooth. I feel like there's more people here. There's been great coverage. How have you felt just about having it in Dallas so far? And there's sunshine on Radio Row. You're not like...

Thankfully, we haven't been blinded by that. It's nice to see outside every so often. That is fair. I think it's been successful. The commissioner comes up with his ideas and people look at me and are like, what are you thinking? And then the credit to our staff and everybody who came together, the people in Dallas, Cotton Bowl, to make this happen. We tried around 2018.

To be here, I had the idea that moving around was something we needed to initiate. It ended up being Atlanta, which was really the right first move. It was kind of a toe in the water.

college football hall of fame atmosphere. Those who typically travel didn't have that much further distance. Some had shorter, some had longer. And then Nashville was a success. And as we moved toward the expansion, I was of the view that we needed to be in Texas more.

really either Houston or Dallas whenever the final date for Oklahoma and Texas joining was known. So here we are. We had an uptick in registrations. I think we've seen people flow in and out maybe a little bit more around teams. But you've got a lot of our traditional stations and media like you guys and then we've drawn in Texas, Oklahoma, a few more Arkansas, Louisiana outlets than we've had before. I think it's been a real success. It's

It does feel different, though, with just the sheer size. It just feels like there's more people. And there's a lot of people I don't know, like you said. So I think it's been a terrific move. And moving it around, I know that there's bidding process and

And I know that, look, where we live, a lot of people want to see it back in Hoover and things like that. But what is the process to get media days? What is that like? We go through a proposal process and try to scout venues. We have at least one colleague conference that goes to a stadium. You know, we've thought about that. But this is really a nice footprint here. You've got a couple big rooms. You're not trying to traipse.

from one end of a stadium to another. I hate empty seats in the background. When I was Southland Conference Commissioner, we'd have pictures of players and games, and you'd have empty seats in the background. So I think we can create the look and feel that we want. In this venue, the College Football Hall of Fame is great. You have a football feel, but it's really tight.

And so we, cost is part of it. I think we'll continue to update our requests for proposals. I have a notebook from Houston sitting in my office right now that they sent right after Destin about hosting next available. I know Nashville's interested. And we actually have some cities that we've not visited previously that have come to us now and said, hey, we're interested. So we're going to think about how we seek input for these events. We've always tried to figure out

How can you bring fans in while still allowing the media to do their work? We haven't figured out the balance. This is not the NFL draft. This is something different. And last year we were going to have a concert on Broadway and lightning struck. I remember that. And so we had to shut that down. So we'll keep thinking creatively.

We want to create momentum heading into a season. I think we've done that here, but we can always adapt and work to build our event. Commissioner, I wanted to go a little bit bigger picture with you. One thing that I heard you say when you addressed the big room on Monday, you referenced finish lines and...

I liked how you kind of downplayed it as to we might not always need an exact finish line to get to to say that we accomplished something or this is the end or this is where we have to be. Because as we talk about college football, I've referenced it sometimes, I don't know when we're going to be able to just exhale and say,

This is what it is as far as teams, conferences, rules, playoffs, divisions, not divisions. It feels like moving forward, it's going to be ever-changing for quite some time. Do we need those landmarks in our sport? Do we need sort of finish lines that you referenced and maybe even other finish lines moving forward? We're in a time of uncertainty, and I think that's big picture culturally, politically,

societally. We're also at a time of uncertainty and change in college sports, college football for our purpose. And when you have those uncertain moments,

One of the lessons I learned, and it was from a guy who leads a church in Atlanta, Andy Stanley. This was during COVID. In times of uncertainty, what people need is clarity. Not that you can answer every question, but where you can provide answers you do and where you are not able to, you're honest about it and say we have to keep working on that. So I think we're in a moment where there is a lot of change. It is the metaphor of a marathon. There is a finish line out there. It's 26 miles away, and so you're going to go mile by mile.

and you're going to set yourself up psychologically to walk through the difficulty here. It's the difficulty of change, and in a marathon it's the difficulty of discomfort. And where we can provide clarity, we will, and that's where issues around legal settlement, how do we interact with state legislators, how do we interact with congressional members of Congress, House and Senate members, is really important. Not that...

There's some magic bill that will come out of D.C. and solve every problem because that's not really the way it works at all at many levels. But we have a responsibility to work. And where we can control decision, let's do that. And where we have to have others participate, let's continue to bring them into those solutions. I'm really interested in...

What the process will be like in the next couple of years as we evaluate the 12-team playoff and what is all on the table. I know we've seen the proposals about a potential 14-team playoff that's been floated that there will be no more automatic qualifiers, things of that nature.

So how deliberate will you and your fellow commissioners be in the next two years in evaluating the current model and then potentially adjusting that model in 2026? A couple factors. One, I think one of the big misses in the college football playoff was basically an 18-month delay after a report was given to fulfill an assignment to say, here's the 60-plus models we've looked at. Twelve is the recommendation.

Obviously, we expanded, and then things just ground to a halt, and we lost time for media considerations. We lost time to address some of the front-line issues and think through the big-picture issues. We will not recover that time. That created an accelerated timeline, one that was not envisioned by the working group that introduced 12-team playoffs.

During that time, there's been a lot of change among leaders and conferences. And one of the lessons about the stop was rather than organizations driving the thinking, like each conference came and said we either needed to expand or not, it became personality driven, in my view, where people brought opinions in. So we have new opinions. We have new leaders.

We've said let's stop this 14 idea that bubbled up right around the first of this year for the initial time. Let's look at 12 meet its expectations. I'm most curious this year to think through the selection process. So we have criteria. Some of that's been adjusted. But teams 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 are critical, not 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

It's a little bit different. Conference champions are accommodated, so there's no automatic bids, but there is this acknowledgment that conference champions were a priority, and so there are five of those. Last year, the best conference champion, not in the A5 at the time, now it's the big four, the power four, as people will say, was, I think, 23rd ranked. Liberty. And then SMU. Right. That's barely in.

If that continues at that level, or those teams are not ranked that are conference champions, I think that's going to be problematic to sustain the conference champion allocation. Because we're going to be displacing the 12th best team in the ranking with somebody...

ranked 24, 25 or outside. Now, not everybody likes to hear that. That means there's discussion. I think that's part of the review. The 14 is an idea that's on hold. We'll see what that means. The automatic bid issue was, again, populated as people's thinking have changed and as people have changed. Do we allocate certain numbers to certain conferences? Well, you look at our league,

our current makeup would have had six teams in the mix, five teams in. Sure. So do you want to take, like, three guarantees? No. Or do you want to take five? Because you're probably not going to win the room at five. Being honest, like, why is...

I'd rather have it all open. I'll say it. Why is the Big 12 getting two? I mean, just personal opinion. You're not saying it. That's me. Greg McIlroy is saying that. I don't think they should be one less than an SEC or even a Big 10 that is considerably deeper and stronger at the top. So I think there are some problems with the automatic allocation. Totally. I've been one who said, hey, I would have just done an 18 playoff if it's the best eight, period. Yeah. Unequivocal. Yeah.

You got my attention. If it's the best 12, I'm still fine with that. But we all have to contribute. We have to compromise a little. What I said at times late last year and early this year as we were coming to a finish line is we've given all we can give. And I quantified...

all of the gives that over time to create this effort, the Southeastern Conference has contributed. And so some would posture me as having been a bit of a bully in some of those conversations. But really it's look at the arc of what we've contributed, whether it's teams in the four-team playoff or the bowl games that we had long-time affiliations with that were changing the nature of those relationships.

um the way the the finances flowed versus participation and consumption of the games um so i think we came to a reasonable outcome at this time and we'll see how the 12 team playoff works this this initial time through we all acknowledge the importance of bowl games and uh in particular the new year's six or the the bcs or whatever the big bowl games are that occupy the quarterfinal and the

I personally am really looking forward to those home playoff games in the first round. How closely will we be evaluating those home playoff games and whether or not they're deemed, quote, effective? Or I know we're going to continue to have bowl games exist within the structure and the confines of the college football playoff, but would there ever be an appetite potentially for a home playoff game in the second round?

The early expansion, so understand the CFP existed based on a set of contracts that were 12 years in length. This is year 11, next year is year 12. That included agreements with bowl games. So to expand early, the bowl games had to be a part of that format.

So that's factual. Opinion is, I think that history of bowl games remains an important cultural issue for college football. The ability to plan, to go to a neutral site, to be in regions where football matters and you can attract local fans, I think is a big deal. If people talked about more than the first round they have, that's not gained traction.

I'll just observe since we're beaming back primarily to Alabama. How will it be viewed? One time I traveled to Montana with Troy for a 1AA playoff game where it was in the teens. That's a tough deal. Yeah.

I went with Mac Neese at Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston to Montana. If you get those teams in your home stadium from the north that time of year, that was a good thing. So that's part of the flavor that's now been brought, and I've lived it before at a different level. We'll evaluate attendance. You know, it's different, so I'm sure there'll be what I'll call complaints, but people are used to playing in on-campus stadiums. And...

I think what you heard from Rich Clark yesterday is his task is to make sure this is operated at the highest level to make sure implementation is an across-the-board success. Commissioner Greg Sankey with us on Radio Row, SEC Media Days, Day 4. With everything that was just said, I'd love to hear you describe your level of concern or any concerns that you have now or may be moving forward with

This is going to sound a little bit crazy, the importance of the SEC championship game. When we talk about multiple teams getting in or where certain levels of buys are, once you were to get in, how you get those buys, have you had any real concern about keeping that game as important as it has been? You guys remember all those folks who said, we need to determine champions on the field. They may have participated in that conversation. So we determine a champion on the field unapologetically.

I think ours has a level of importance compared to others that is head and shoulders above. But you need to determine a champion somehow. That has meaning. And I think it can remain. When it was implemented, we heard all of these horror stories about what it would do and teams won't be able to play for a national championship. And you look back over the last, what, 30 years and how that played

you know, doom and gloom prediction worked out. So I think the championship games can absolutely remain. I think they're a platform for the game of college football across the nation. I think they're a platform for the conference. And I hope that myself, my colleagues with whom I work in the conference, and our colleagues across the nation will retain that commitment as a priority.

The nine-game schedule is something that everybody's continued to talk about. The SEC has fared very well in the era in which they've implemented an eight-game schedule. In the event in which you start to move in that nine-game direction, what are the challenges that you have to consider when...

potentially implementing that in the future. To compete for the championship, just to extend the last question, you're playing a nine-game conference schedule against the toughest competition. No doubt. We have that for two teams. Of course. I take that as a pat on the back. We'll look at this year, our first as a single division. We'll look at the eight-game format this year. We'll look at how the College Football Playoff Selection Committee evaluates our league.

I think as we go into the first quarter of next year, the focus will be on making that decision. There are a lot of factors involved. One of, and this is not embedded in your question, but it was just a piece of it, I enjoy people on the outside who say, well, the SEC has this success because they only play an eight-game schedule and we play nine. If...

People in other circumstances want to believe that's why we're successful. I think that's awesome for us. I think that sets us up for more success because our success is not predicated on an eight-game schedule.

There's a foundation and then a house, if you will, a structure on top of that foundation. And sure, the number of games in the manner in which we schedule is a piece of it, but I think you can change that and still have high-level success. I want to leave you with this. Greg and I were talking about this yesterday. I feel like over the last maybe four or five years, the head football coaches in this league have gone from these sort of

Psychotic trained killers, like super organized, dialed in, almost unapproachable figures to now we have this almost lovable cast of coaches that you just want to go hang out with.

Does that impact you or affect you, or do you see or feel that at all? That description's weak to weak. Yeah, that's it. Depending on how the ball is shot. The lovable nature. You know, one of the benefits, in fact, one of the people asked me, what do you love about your job, what do you not like about your job? And one of the things I love about the job is the people.

and the ability to come to know people that most see from a distance, sitting in stands in a stadium or watching on TV. And you get to watch them work. You get to know them. You know, you heard Steve Sarkeesian talk about the impact Nick Saban had on his life. Last year in Tuscaloosa, 30 minutes before kickoff, it was probably an hour before kickoff, Steve was just kind of pouring that out to me about how Nick impacted him.

Where do you get that experience but in this role with those people? So I have a little bit of an inside view that you come to know folks. You don't get to know them all really, really well. It kind of depends on circumstance. I enjoy working with the 16 now. I spent a couple days in Austin, so I spent a little bit more time around SARC than I might have otherwise gotten to know.

Brent, and we've got a couple new coaches you're coming to know. I knew Jeff a little bit when he was Ole Miss. And, you know, Mike is here today, so he's new to me. So I think part of...

what college football needs to keep in mind is to be approachable, to be a part of a community. And I think what you described is that maybe Mike Leach was the turning point that all of a sudden, you know, Mike, you know, people got to know and you could be a human every so often. And I think you've seen some of that this week, actually, that you've seen coaches, you know,

Lane talking about his dad and he and I backstage he said I don't want to do a press conference about my dad because that's going to be hard for me

And you've watched the coaches then respect Monty. That's not planned. Right. I think that's part of what you're describing is the human side. And if I may, in every sport, I think it's easy for fans to miss that these are human beings. They're in high visibility, highly supported, highly compensated, high expectation jobs. But they are human beings. They have strengths and they have frailties.

They have the ability to cast a vision. And then they have those moments where, no doubt, there's introspection and self-doubt. But I think overall they represent things very well.

Thank you so much for the time. We appreciate it. Appreciate you having us here as well and everything you do for us. And I look forward to catching up soon. Thanks for being here. Appreciate the interaction and the opportunity. Greg Sankey, Commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, joining us on Radio Row. Back with more McElroy and Kublik in the morning right after this. 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 Gap or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in. Michael Roy and Cuba Lake in the morning. Live on Radio Row, SEC Media Days, Day 4. Roman Harper joining us now. What do you need? Volume up? Down? Volume down? And your mic's not on? Is my mic not on? Your mic is now on. Yes, correct. Okay.

Great job, Greg. Just finishing up with Commissioner Sankey, who went a little bit long for us, so we'll back some things up. Brett McMurphy will be with us after Roman Harper. How's your week been so far? It's been good, man. Suits have been clean. Got to work with some talent like Greg McElroy. You have had good suits. I know I gave you a hard time yesterday with the pink. It was aggressive, but you have looked good. It's disappointing, though, because he had that sitting there, and he chose to go with something else when we dressed up as Crockett and Tubbs for Halloween, and that was all he needed.

Just the one you had yesterday. It was already there. You had it. I did. But you did go double-breasted for the costume, which was probably appropriate. So, yeah. Yeah, it was more the look. And it's fine. You know what I mean? But, hey, we're never perfect, Cole. It's okay. We're all trying to get there. We're just trying to get there. We're never perfect and we're never impressed, right? Yes, exactly. Have you been impressed by anything this week? Honestly, no.

No. No. I haven't at all. I've just continued to just form my own opinions about Leo. Just no. We were on set the other day, and Dusty and I are kind of talking offensive line, and Roman says...

Yeah, that all sounds really good, but I've got to be honest. I just don't care. Well said. Well said. He said, not only do I not know what you're talking about, I don't care what you're talking about. It's bad because I'm so just biased versus, like, center guard, center. Like, I just hardly ever give those guys credit. They've got to be so dang good. Or bad. Or bad. And it's like, but it is so funny. But I love a left. I love a tackle. But a center guard, center, I'm just like, mm.

Guard to guard. Yeah, guard to guard. And they're so important. Anyone can play that. At least you can admit that now. They are important. We're making progress. They are important. Making some progress. I mean, there are more important positions. There's no doubt. 22 of them. Outside of kicker and putter, you're pretty close to the bottom. There you go.

We asked this question yesterday. Can't win without them, though. Because we were talking about the differences in some of the offenses and quarterbacks who may be great, some that we know are going to be great. And then we started talking defenses. And you heard me talking to Dusty about the other day. I don't know if you're with me. We're used to having these monsters on the defensive line in this league. It just doesn't feel like there's a ton of them. Agreed. Are we going to have...

one or multiple great defenses in this league this year. Great defenses. That's the problem when people throw around the word great way too often. They just throw it out there like, oh, we're great. I mean, you're decent. You're decent. You got a couple dudes.

But that's all it is. Me and Cole have already decided it's not good anymore. Everything's either great or trash. Yeah. I'm sure your kids are the same way. Greg's are probably a little bit young, but my son, my 7-year-old, you're either the best or the worst. And he comes and tells me who his friends try to tell him are trash.

It's like he came home the other day. Babe Ruth is trash. One of his friends told him that. One of his friends legitimately told him that. Babe Ruth is trash. I said, first off, has he seen the tape? Ask him that. Ask him if he saw the tape. Because none of us have. No, my kids, they are pretty bad or aggressive about that. But then it's also anybody that they see on YouTube.

or whoever they have this huge dream of, that is the best player ever. My son still thinks Odell Beckham's the top three receiver in the league. Is he in the league? It only tries to do one-hand catches. Who does he play for? It only tries to do one-hand catches. And I like Odell. I know him. I get that. Yeah, but he's not a top three guy anymore. It's fine. But my son, top three. And he's also like, Dad, where's your... Tyreek and...

I don't even think he's... No, Justin J. Jetta. Tyreek Hill's big with the kids, though. Yeah, yeah. He's big with the kids. But the kids all like Justin Jefferson, too, because he dances and he's flashy. Like, that's what they see on YouTube. My son has posters in his room.

And it's hilarious who he wanted. We got him. All right, buddy, you have eight posters. You can pick whatever sports guys you want, or you can put in Chase from Paw Patrol. None of us care. Whatever you want. You got eight. You got eight. There's room for eight. You just tell us which ones you want. Justin Jefferson, Tom Brady, Kelsey, of course, Mahomes, of course, Steph Curry, LeBron James, and Joe Namath.

Let's go. How random is that? It's a random list. What are we doing? Also, how much my kids wanted the Lakers to draft Bronny James really ticked me off because I'm a true Lakers fan. I'm not a LeBron fan. Like, I've been on the Lakers bus since I was like five, six. And so...

Now we have this thing called LeBron in our area, in our realm, and they wanted Bronny, and it really ticked me off. I yelled at my kids. Anyways. Did you hear him after the game last night? No. He had like 12 points. He had a decent game. He sounds exactly like his dad. Really? Exactly like his dad. I mean...

I was listening to it thinking, is that LeBron talking about Bronny? I mean, it's odd how much he sounds like his dad. It is. It is crazy. But we were at the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame banquet a couple weeks ago, and he says, Dad, is this the best Hall of Fame or the worst Hall of Fame? And I said, son...

There is no worse Hall of Fame. I haven't heard of that. They're Hall of Fames because they were good at whatever it is. It could be the Hall of Fame of sewing. They were great sewers. He's like, well, I just wondered if it's the best one or the worst one. And I'm like, we've got to get away from this whole best-est-worst. You can be really good and not the best ever. It's okay. I want to know you guys' opinion on Arkansas. Are you allowed to have a real opinion on Arkansas based on the things that we don't know? I feel the same way about Mississippi State. The only thing we know is that Jeff Lebby is going to call some plays.

And you like the quarterback too, right? He's going to be solid. Yeah, because he's actually played some games. He's got some stripes on the wall, and he's won some games. We try not to put too much into the spring game, but, man.

Mississippi State looked good offensively. I want to know about Arkansas. Like Kelly Akari and some of their receivers, it's not at high-profile places, but they've done it. They've been good players. I think the offensive line has got a chance to be pretty good for what he needs. He needs the tight end room to be good, and they've got some talented tight ends. So I feel pretty good about the offensive shape and stays healthy. Now, defense for State? They've got some problems. I just don't know. They're not very heavy, which is... They've got some problems. The other thing about Arkansas, though, I think...

Heaven forbid you say this. Like, oh my God, I can't believe you don't say this and kiss the ring. I think they upgraded quarterback significantly. I was not a KJ Jefferson guy. I'm just not. I don't think he's quick twitch. I don't think he's very accurate. I think he's super streaky.

When he gets going, he's a monster. Yeah. But I'll tell you what, dude. He might look like Cam in the first half and Jeremy Johnson in the second. Like, it ain't good. That's the third Jeremy Johnson reference you've made this week. What are you doing? It's a media day. Ten years ago, it was the greatest...

There's no doubt they had crowned him. There's no doubt they crowned him. I'm higher on KJ than that, but I thought the offensive play called it. I do too. He's big. He's tall. He can run. He can roll left. He's getting to the most important thing when it comes to playing quarterback. He can roll left and still throw the football.

Okay, because the throwing part is what I was waiting for you to talk about. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he can do that. I've seen some that are not. Yeah, he definitely can do all those things. It'll be interesting because Bobby Petrino will be calling the plays, and so we'll hear a lot about that too. I think Arkansas is a team that could possibly be better than what people think. Like they could be that team that knocks a couple teams off. That's why I'm telling you. And be a four-win team.

I think five wins. But I'm saying four, five, six wins and be better than that, and people are still going to say that's a crummy team, but Arkansas. Oh, I thought you were talking about State for a second. I got sidetracked because I just read that the painter at the 50-yard line at the South Carolina Gamecocks, he died. He's been painting since 1983. Sorry. Damn. If Arkansas wins six...

And it depends a little bit on who it's against. That's a hell of a year. Yes. Seriously. If they get Texas at home or whatever in November, that would flip the switch tremendously for Sam, I think. I think Sam is really well liked there, and I think they want to keep him. The problem is his expertise...

is the offensive line, and their offensive line has been really bad. It's actually fair. And that, I think, is what has... Talking to my people at Arkansas, that's a real holdup for them. They're like, hang on a second. The thing that you're best at has been one of our biggest problems, and that is a hard thing to kind of... That's kind of killing them. So I do think Taylor Greene can help them with that a little bit, but if they can win six, there's no way you can let them go. And Greg, the other thing for me is that he had...

a tumultuous offensive coordinator hired last year they hired his boy that it when it was it was bad bad early they never got on track and they would look so much more explosive so much so much they played so much faster under kendall brows and then you go to that it just was not good and it got really bad uh like early and never got ever ever ever on track and so i think if they just get those things right i think they will be better defensively like they at least looked

like they had a scheme defensively that I could know. When I saw it, I knew what I was looking at. And so I just think Arkansas. I'm rooting for Arkansas because Sam Pittman is such a great fit for the SEC. He's such a great fit for Arkansas. And I just like marriages to work. Ole Miss is a team that I feel like is fading a little bit with getting a lot of conversation. They've had a lot of pieces defensively. Can that defense be –

I'm not going to say great. Can they be real this year? I think they can be real. I just, I don't think it's going to be about the players. Like, the players are going to have to make the plays, yes. But you know me, Cole, what I feel about Ole Miss' defense. May or may not have led you down that path. My question mark is always going to come back to my boy Petey, Pete Golden. And he's got to be able to call it right.

I don't need the weird stunts stunting me out of run gaps. I don't need it in the red zone. I don't need it. I don't need this bionic stunt up front in the low red zone and the quarterback just turns his head to the running back and the D-line is just gone. I'm like, I don't need it. And we have seen that multiple times in multiple years. And so...

It's all about Havoc Rate. You just need Havoc Rate. Whatever the Havoc Rate is, I don't need it. Don't chase it. Don't chase the Havoc Rate. Roman, great stuff, man. Thanks for hopping on with us. Good to see you, bro. Yeah, we'll be hanging out a little bit later. All right, baby. I'll see y'all, boys. Thanks for having me. Roman Harper with the SEC Network joining us live on radio. We'll be right back with Brett McMurphy next on Jocks 94.5. The capital of the sports talk nation. This is Jocks 94.5 and jocksfm.com. Hurry and...

All right, welcome back in. Mackle Roy and Kubelik in the morning. Appreciate you guys tuning in. Jocks 94.5, SEC Media Days, Radio Row, Day 4. Brett McMurphy going to hop on here in just a second. First, going to tell you about Royal Bedding. You guys know that I sleep on a mattress from Royal Bedding each and every night. Now, not only do I, my 4-year-old and my father sleep on mattresses from Royal Bedding. They're made right there in Pelham.

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Brett McMurphy, joining us now live from Radio Row. Brett, first, I apologize for some of the scheduling conflicts we've had. I've been a little discombobulated with you, but you've made it happen, and I appreciate that. Cole, no need to apologize. Discombobulated is my middle name, not yours. I always love coming on with you guys. Good to see you in person. I feel like media days almost forces discombobulation. You can't avoid it.

That and no sleep, but I agree totally. That's kind of our own fault, too, to an extent, when it comes to the no sleep stuff. Like, every night I'm like, this is the night I'm going to go to bed early.

And then I see you walking to the elevator at 2 a.m. I understand. Quite badly. That would be a tough lift today if it was 2 a.m. But, yeah, I mean, it's always later than it should be. That's for sure. All right, Brett, I want to go outside the SEC for just a moment because we've heard a lot of different people this week with quasi-rumors or conversation or definitive things that have or have not happened behind the scenes. Where are we right now with Florida State and Clemson and the ACC?

There's rumors out there about Florida State? Come on, man. Everything's out there 100% verified. Come on, there's no rumors out there. Yeah, so I reported a couple of days ago that basically Florida State and Clemson, they don't have a home pretty much. The SEC doesn't want them. That's not a surprise to you guys. You guys know the league as well as anyone. The Big Ten doesn't want them.

I think the perception, Cole, you're talking about the rumors, is that they were locked to the Big Ten. I talked to over a dozen folks at the commissioner level, university presidents, conference personnel, ADs, et cetera. Nothing against coaches. I didn't talk to any coaches. And guys that wouldn't...

85 or 90%. It was 100% of the people I talked to said the Big Ten doesn't want them. And there's a number of reasons. They don't bring value. I know that seems weird because they're such a big brand. But they're already at 18 schools. So you bring them in. You bring in maybe Clemson as a 20th. The pie doesn't get that much bigger. But the slices of the pie get smaller. And they mentioned how they brought in Oregon and Washington for 50 cents on the dollar. Yeah.

There also is no appetite for expansion with everything going on with NIL, with the house settlement, with revenue sharing with players. The last thing the SEC or the Big Ten wants to do is expand.

unless Notre Dame suddenly says, hey guys, we'll come. They're the only ones left. And the last thing, which actually surprised me some, is the university presidents really have a bad taste in their mouth about Florida State for the way they've handled getting out of the ACC. They feel like they were quoted their disruptive partner. They would be a bad partner. They don't feel like they can trust Florida State. If they're going to do all this stuff that they're doing with the ACC, how do they know they wouldn't do that when they got into their conference? So

I wanted, you know...

Put the asterisk with everything I said is if the ACC implodes and there is no ACC, a judge rules, the grant of rights is invalid, you can walk out the door for free, then there's a conga line out the door. Then the SEC adds North Carolina and Virginia. Then the Big Ten goes and maybe gets Florida State or Clemson. If the SEC gets up to 20, the Big Ten gets to 20, the Big 12 gets to 20. That's the only way Florida State and Clemson end up in a Power 2 conference. If they're the only two to get out,

The SEC doesn't want him. The Big Ten doesn't want him. And, guys, I'm an Oklahoma State guy. You know that. Florida State's not spending hundreds of millions of dollars to go to the Big 12. So I don't know what in the world is going to happen. All right, so because you brought up Notre Dame there, Brad McMurphy with us on Radio Row, I have sort of just thrown this out in the last couple of weeks just to kind of see what people even think about it. And I know it's going to sound a little bit crazy at first, and I know it might just be ludicrous.

Is independence at all a possibility down the road for a team like Florida State? Yeah, it is, Cole, because the challenge for that is, though, no ACC team is going to play them. Yeah, who's going to play them? So who are you going to schedule? It's similar to like BYU scheduling. BYU would play three or four Group 5 teams, but they could actually get teams to come to Provo.

There aren't any SEC teams other than Florida that are going to come to Tallahassee. Right. So all of your Power 5 games are going to have to be on the road. How are you going to get 12 games? And let's say, great, you can find 12 games. Okay. Is ESPN or Fox going to pay $4?

Florida State, more money for their TV schedule as an independent. They have no leverage. Then they got in the ACC? Yeah. No, because ESPN and Fox don't have any more money to spend on college football. Now, ESPN can find a billion dollars to pay Stephen A. Smith, more power to him. But for college football rights, guys, they're tapped out. And by the way, the networks don't want to expand anymore. There's enough chaos. They're like, we need to settle this down. So...

That's an option. It could be an option, but it's not a great option. The only way I see it possible is if that's the avenue that one of the streaming services wanted to get in on and they say, you're our team.

We'll help you find games. And if we need to pony up a little extra money to get those games, then you can watch Florida State football on Netflix or Florida State football on Hulu, whatever that is. But the thing about Florida State, and they're a big brand. I'm not denying that. But they're not like – They're not that brand. I totally agree. They're not Texas. They're not Notre Dame. They just don't have the sheer size of a – they don't have a million living alumni like Ohio State does, like Texas has. All I'm saying is that could be an entryway in for –

Amazon to get into college football. You know you have X amount of games every year now because you've got Florida State football. Right. Like Greg said, but what leverage do they have? I mean, everyone thought, well, the Pac-12 is going to do a deal with Amazon or Apple because they're going to do it. And then ultimately, those guys, they didn't want those teams. So, again, never say never. What does the ACC think of Florida State right now?

Do they want them? Is this a family program? We would prefer the expletives to try and not be present. Yeah, it is family. I can't answer that. Yeah, they're not happy. I mean, guys, they're basically suing the conference. What does North Carolina think? I know what Jim Phillips thinks. North Carolina is off to the side playing it cool. But believe me, if there's a way to get out of the league...

That's not hundreds of millions of dollars. North Carolina will be at SEC media days in the next three years. Why would North Carolina not consider the Big Ten? Don't get me wrong. The SEC to me is the premier conference college. I want to stress this. This has nothing to do with the results on the field. It's about the university. It's about the footprint. It's about the academic status. North Carolina and Virginia...

with the exception of Notre Dame, are the top two picks. The Big Ten and the SEC will fight over them. And that's what happens if the ACC splinters and they can get out. But right now, they're fine with the ACC. They can sit there. They can make it work. They can do what they need to do. And basically, everybody in the ACC is waiting to see what happens with Florida State. Florida State's the first one over the wall. They're taking all the bullets.

Can Florida State get out for $400 million, or is it going to be $40 million? If it's $40 million, you're going to see everyone, you know, third base coach waving everybody home to get the hell out of there. But if it's $400 million, nobody else is going to pay that. To me, I think North Carolina feels like a Big Ten fit, but it doesn't sound like that's the case. North Carolina and Virginia feel very Big Ten-y to me.

You don't think they feel SEC-wise? I think they do to it. Yeah. I mean, I think the SEC, if I could join any league, I personally would like to join the SEC if I were North Carolina. Right. No doubt. It's continuous. You're a part of the footprint. You're already in the Southeast. Going to Champaign, Illinois is going to do nothing for my fan base. Going to Eugene, Oregon. Exactly. So, like, I think going and playing against Georgia...

four hours away in the car makes a lot more sense. I agree. So I would definitely join the SEC. And I think with where the SEC's gone in basketball, I think it's a great fit. I know these decisions are made based on football. I get that. But I just think North Carolina fits. Uh,

Culturally. They would be both. I mean, it would be fascinating. Where would they end up, seriously? I don't know. Whoever offers the better deal. We've never had really a conference. A lot of things are happening that has never happened before. Florida, there's been 16 teams that have changed, moved into Power 5 conferences or changed Power 5 conferences in the last year.

12 to 15 years. Florida State's the first one to sue to get out and go through this process. The other thing is, if North Carolina and Virginia are able to get out, we've never had two teams that have been fought over by two conferences. Usually a conference knows where they're going. Texas OU to the SEC. USC, UCLA. It wasn't like SEC was trying to get USC, UCLA. There was a bidding war. North Carolina and Virginia will be the first teams.

two schools where there really will be two conferences that really desperately want them because they both see the value of those two universities. Brett, when we talk about this league and the things that are changing, Oklahoma, Texas coming in, obviously no more divisions, and then put on top of that the 12-team playoff, what

What sort of intrigues you most about this upcoming season with the Southeastern Conference? Well, it's like I mentioned, 16 schools that have changed conferences in the last dozen or so years. Trivia question here. Of those 16 schools, how many had a winning conference record their first year in their new conference? Cole? I can tell you the three who won their conference moving to a Power 5 conference in their first year, but I can't tell you that. The last one to do it was Virginia Tech in 2004. I'll say...

Not the name of the teams, but of 16. Of 16. Winning record? The first year. Three. Cole, you're right. Only three. So I'm not saying Texas is going four and five and Oklahoma's going four and five, but...

You guys know the SEC. I'm a Big 12 guy. The difference between a Big 12 and the SEC is light years away. And I think they're going to struggle. I really do. I think both teams are going to struggle. I think the week-to-week SEC competition is going to wear on them. I think actually overall in the SEC and the Big 10, nobody's going undefeated. I don't care how good Georgia is. I don't care about Ohio State. Nobody's going undefeated. These bloated conferences...

Yeah. Yeah.

more competitive games, you're playing your starters longer. Yeah. More injuries, more fatigue. And then the next week, there's a huge letdown and then somebody comes in and knocks you off. I think...

the winner of the sec will have two losses i think the winner of the big 10 will have two losses i think fan bases will have to adjust to their favorite teams no longer going undefeated that's going to be awkward good news is hopefully the playoff doesn't screw it up and gets in all the three lost sec teams in the playoff you make a great point greg and i've talked about it multiple times on the show the teams to the big 12 last year we thought ucf was gonna be a lot better we thought byu is gonna be a lot better and look at that jump dude they were all that jump from

that conference to this conference. Since he was 1-8, BYU two wins. Since he had a couple good players. I remember watching him early against Pitt. They've got a couple guys. It's different. Again, Texas and Oklahoma moving from a Power 5 to another Power 5, but I think there's going to be a big difference. A lot of people love Texas. I know Nick Saban's picking Texas to go to the title game. Guys, I don't see it.

Brett, thanks for hopping on with us, man. Great stuff. Really appreciate your patience with me getting on, and we love catching up with you. So thank you. You got it. Thanks, guys. All right, Brett McMurphy joining us live here from Radio Rose. Some interesting stuff on the ACC, the SEC, just all of college football's movement. We'll be back with more next on McIlroy and Kubelik in the morning. Catch up with all things McIlroy and Kubelik 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 here. McIlroy and Kubelik in the morning. Sam Pittman going to be calling in at 9 a.m. just on the other side of our next break. We will call the hogs with him.

Before we get to Sam Pittman, tell you more about here live, being on Radio Row at SEC Media Days. I'll tell you about your CBD store, Broad Spectrum Mango CBD Gummies, delivering an uplifting effect to your day. If you need a better night's sleep, if you have arthritis, anxiety, you or your pet, your CBD store can help. Also, trimmed by SunMed for weight loss on the shelves now at the largest brick-and-mortar CBD retailer on planet Earth. First company to have USDA-certified organic oil supplements that have the stamp seal on their products.

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On the phone, not from Radio Row, but get us set for his visit to SEC Media Days and talk a little Arkansas football. A couple intriguing players that I feel like they're going to have this upcoming season. So we'll do that and more next right here on JOX 94.5. Keep it locked for SEC Media Day coverage all day long at joxfm.com. The app is in your app store, iPhone, Android. You can always go download that for free. Tweet in at Mac and Cube if you want to be a part of the show there. Get to some of those on the other side with

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