7-23-24 McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning Hour 1: Better conference - Big 12 of the ACC; Ben Hartsock talks Big Ten Media Days; best new ballpark food
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Welcome in McElroy and Kubrick in the morning, Tuesday, July 3rd, 7 a.m. right here on jocks. Ninety four five media days in full swing. Yes, SEC media days has completed, but obviously the

We've got American Media Days today. You will hear from Trent Dilfer as he takes the podium today. Sunbelt Media Days get going today. Big Ten Media Days start today. ACC Media Days got going yesterday. We got a lot of quotes from that. There was some noise that was made. It was a little bit of controversy floating around ACC Media Days yesterday. GMAC, a little controversy.

A couple of people maybe a little bit uncomfortable with how some of the things were happening there yesterday. I didn't feel like it was as bad as it could have been. I mean, there was obviously always going to be some unwritten hostilities with what's going on with the league. But I felt like it was, for the most part, pretty cordial.

Well, there's the fact that Jim Phillips stood at the podium and sounded to me like maybe took a couple of shots or at least just didn't didn't mince his words as far as some of the other schools in his conference. Right before some of those teams were to take the podium, that part, I feel like probably had a couple of people squirming in their seats just a little bit. Or maybe Florida State folks just don't care anymore.

And they know what people are doing. They know that everybody knows what's on their mind and what they're trying to do, what they're trying to accomplish. And they just, you know, hey. Give it up. Stop caring. I'm only here so I won't get fined, so to speak, if you're Florida State, I guess. This is a little bit long, but this was Jim Phillips yesterday. Keep in mind, Florida State was present yesterday.

So this is prior to Mike Norvell having to take the podium and Florida State players having to make the rounds. This is Jim Phillips, ACC commissioner yesterday, as he addressed the media in his opening comments. We will fight.

to protect the ACC and our members for as long as it takes. We are confident in this league and that it will remain a premier conference in college athletics for the long-term future. These disputes continue to be extremely damaging, disruptive, and incredibly harmful to the league. Forceful moments deserve forceful support and leadership.

I don't know that I've changed at all other than I stand by everything I've said. And either you believe in what's been signed or you don't. This thing doesn't have to be evil. This thing doesn't have to be about hatred and all the other things that I think we all see kind of just free-flowing in our societies. It's important, and we've taken our stance, and we'll stay on that stance, but we'll do it in a very respectful way.

So there you go, Greg. Jim Phillips discussing Florida State and Clemson, how he's going to protect the conference. He would go on to say this conference, no one team is bigger than this conference. All that being said, I thought maybe the most interesting thing that I saw yesterday from ACC Media Days, and don't know if you guys saw the photograph of this or not, but there's kind of a banner when I guess you walked in or something.

somewhere in the lobby somewhere around ACC media days. And, I mean, it was – I guess you would call it a graphic because they made it and they had it up there. And it says – has ACC logo, all the different schools logo, and says toughest non-conference schedule in the country. Oh, really? I liked it. Good flex. Really? Yeah. Yeah.

You're propping up teams in other leagues at your media days. Yes. Got it. Noted. That's the way it's supposed to be done. Write that down for future strategy. Nothing better than acknowledging the importance and the quality. Got it. Yeah, make the quality in other places look better than it's supposed to be. Got that. What more could you ask for? Especially when you're trying to keep your teams from going to said leagues. It's unbelievable. That's what I said yesterday when asked about it was, dude,

This is a little bit like the graphic that Penn State would send out every single Super Bowl Sunday. Penn State has played in every Super Bowl except for seven since the beginning. What are we doing? Every single one. All you're doing is saying how great the SEC is considering you play so many against them. And Notre Dame, the four games you get against them prop you up as well.

And then you have a couple games that are one-offs, like Minnesota, North Carolina, and Cal, Auburn, and a few others. It's like, goodness gracious, man, you're just basically kissing the rings of other leagues. Well-intended, though. I mean, when there's not that much to celebrate from top to bottom, you have some good stuff at the top. You do. Their top three are as good as anybody's top three, I believe. I think they're pretty dang sporty. But all the way through, 1 through 18, yeesh.

Not great. Just felt like a weird celebratory banner that they made that they're going to fly. You got Georgia in there, too. You get Florida twice. So, I mean, it is a strong non-con. They got Vandy. You forgot to mention them. Don't forget about that. Ole Miss. Tennessee. So, I guess, you know, that's BYU. Northwestern. There it is. I think. Rutgers.

It is worth celebrating now that we take a deeper dive into it. There is a Northwestern. You're right. Duke is at Northwestern Friday, September the 6th. Boom. Battle of the Brains. Oh, yeah.

Now, if they had the exact potato trophy from yesterday that we saw, the Battle of Idaho, except the big wooden potato was a big wooden brain, now we're talking. We got action now. That's it. That's the trinket for me. Y'all just going to sleep on Middle Tennessee? No. Derek Mason's ready to get that thing going. Best coach since Rick Stock still. I mean, I'm definitely not sleeping on them. You definitely don't.

Clemson's got Stanford. Oh, wait, wait. Sorry. That counts. Never mind. San Diego State's on there. Got a new offense going. I don't know why you got to dog the all-coast conference so much. Can you call it that anymore? All-coast? SMU on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Lake Island. Okay. Noted. On the coast of Fresno Hollow. It's a weird situation. Let's just be honest. They did the best with what they had. They didn't have a choice.

I think adding SMU is pretty good. Cal and Stanford don't do anything for me. But there's a superiority complex amongst the academia and the ACC. That adds a coast. So let's play this game. If you were named commissioner of the ACC today, how would you market your league? You can't. It's not true. We're still together. Still standing? Yeah. This prenup has you all stuck. We need the Pac-12.

I have to say, there are worse situations. More than two? There are worse situations out there as far as conference alignment. I think the ACC has done an adequate job. I did hear some folks yesterday, Greg, saying that kind of when all this was going on with the ACC and talking about it, I actually heard a couple of people say this. I can't remember who it was, but maybe it was a podcast I was listening to when I was walking yesterday, that the ACC is definitely the worst power four league. And I was like, hold on, what? No.

Excuse me? Miami should be pretty sporty. Clemson is not going to be mid-Dabo Clemson, but they should be pretty good. Florida State has a lot of talent. Louisville has made some big additions in the portal. Could be pretty good. We've talked about SMU. Even though that grind, they might not be ready for that. They're going to be a team that can get some folks, and they're going to be a pretty good football team. Virginia Tech feels like they're ready to take a step forward.

Big 12 or ACC today? ACC. Not even close. Okay. Look, with all due respect to the Big 12, they have a lot of good teams. They have few elite teams. And very few teams with the ceiling of being elite. Which the ACC does have. Which the ACC has. Miami can elevate up with anybody, as can Florida State, as can Clemson. All three have won national championships in our lifetime. I don't think there's a team...

In the Big 12, that's won a title in our lifetime outside of Colorado, which, let's be real, unless you're 32 or younger, you've seen one, but that's it. I don't believe there's another one off the top of my head. Oklahoma State in 11, people think they would have beat LSU. I strongly disagree with that. UCF won a couple years ago. That doesn't count. Any others? I'm out. Yeah. BYU in, what, 84? Yeah.

I wasn't alive for that. You missed the Detmer days, huh? Missed them. They were rolling. But I look at the rest of them. I mean, Kansas State, solid program. Kansas, solid program. Oklahoma State, solid program. TCU, solid program. These are all very solid programs. You can acknowledge that they are very solid, and yet none have championship aspirations.

Big 12 maybe deeper this year? Deeper, yes. Teams that can potentially win it, absolutely. It's just not the top-end talent. But not the top-tier, elevate, hey, I'm going to make a run in the playoff type of talent. TCU beating Michigan two years ago was one of the biggest flukes in the history of college football. It really was.

It doesn't mean it wasn't a good team that year. They had plenty of guys that went to the NFL, and I don't know what they'll do from this point forward, but they had plenty of really talented guys. But that should have never happened. I mean, if Michigan calls a game that didn't stink to heaven, that offensive plan should be in the Smithsonian for the worst offensive plan ever. It really was. It was just atrocious. If they would have just done what they do, it's probably not a super competitive game. And we all saw what happened to TCU a week later.

So, I don't know. It's just, it's kind of mind-boggling to me. But at the same time, I don't know how anyone can really make that argument right now. But everyone interprets quality differently. I interpret quality as you can play with the best. How many of your teams can play with the best? Some might interpret quality as there's a lot of parity in the league, which is perfectly okay if that's how they interpret it.

When I go through the Big 12, and if you want to be a part of this conversation, 800-239-9569, 800-239-WJOX, if you want to be a part of the show. You can tweet in at Mac and Cube. You can also text in 205-834-9450. Big 12 versus ACC. We talk about teams like Ole Miss, or we talk about maybe a Penn State.

The teams that are maybe not what we feel like are locks to be in the playoff, but should be in the playoff if they play the way that they're supposed to play. When you look at the Big 12 Conference, what teams do you look at and say, they should be in the playoff? Regardless of schedule or any of that, just like the team that they have, you say, oh, that's a playoff team. If there's no automatic qualifier. Correct. We are removing the automatic qualifier. There's not one.

Not even Oklahoma State? On paper, no. There's not. I don't think Oklahoma State was a top 12 team last year. I think they were really good and they bring back a lot of good players. I think they'll be really good again. Anyone that gets beat by four touchdowns in South Alabama is just not, to me, ever going to be considered top 12. And you can tell me, well, they got better from that point forward. I agree. I watched them. Called their game. Followed them closely. A ton of respect for Mike Gundy. A ton of respect for their offensive identity shift. But defensively, they lack the dudes.

That is a problem. Now, I think their dudes can win in the Big 12, but I don't think their dudes can be super competitive against the likes of the teams that will ultimately be competing for the national championship. What about Utah? That would be the other team that I would throw out to at least have a discussion about. I think you can make a case for Utah, but I'm not 100% convinced that Cam Rising just comes back and is God's gift to football again. We had this conversation with Rocket Sanders yesterday. Rocket Sanders...

Two years ago was great. Got hurt, missed a year. Pretty the most part. And he's not all SEC. He was also a rotational guy when he was playing. He wasn't even the guy all the time. But we're also looking to Cam Rice. He's just going to come in and take the world by storm. I love Cam Rice. He's one of my favorite players in the country. I love how he demonstrates toughness and is willing to lower his shoulder and is pretty accurate. I think he's the heart and soul of that football team. No doubt about it. But I have my doubts about

Him being able to elevate all the players around him to the point in which they are untouchable. If you were to ask me two years ago, Camry is the top six, seven quarterback in the league. Right now, or in the country. I don't know if I'd have him in the top ten right now because there's just too many question marks surrounding him. Totally fair. No question marks on your CBD store. You need to lose weight. The trim by SunMed is in stock now. You can go check it out at one of their four locations. Also, if you need a better night's sleep.

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One through four, how do we rank them? Next on Mac and Cube 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 Gap or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kublik in the morning, Tuesday, July 23rd, 718 a.m. right here on Jock's 94.5.

Ranking the Power 4 conferences, is it as easy as you may think? If you actually take a look at the depth, go down through the different teams, how would we play it out? We'll get to that in just a moment. First, G-Mag, tell our listeners how B-Dry can help them around their homes. Well, G-Mag, B-Dry has been serving Alabama and homeowners here across Birmingham for more than 60 years. They're a trusted solution for stopping water entering your foundation or crawl space and

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Get B-Dry out to your home at 942-1976. Know that you're getting 12 months interest-free and no payments for 12 months. Get the job done right, strongest warranty, and the best price at 942-1976 or visit BDryAlabama.com. All right, so is the Southeastern Conference easily number one when we have this practice? We're ranking the Power Four conferences? Easily? No.

It's not easily number one. It's number one, but Big Ten's pretty good too, I think, at least on the top half. I think Big Ten's solid. I think they're fine. I just – when you're going top to bottom, is it really debatable between one and two? I don't think we're going to debate anybody else at two, but we know that Ohio State and Georgia are about even. You put an Oregon up there with either Texas, Bama, whoever's next. You put Penn State there next with the other one, and then –

Do you have another real playoff contender from the Big Ten in your mind? Would you take Michigan against Ole Miss? I think that's a pretty good fight. It's a real good battle. Matchup-wise, yeah. That's a great battle.

Would you take, I mean, last year, obviously Washington's probably going to fall off a cliff. I don't, I don't think they're going to be very good this year. Uh, but Iowa traditionally has been pretty sporty, has played pretty well against sec teams. When given the opportunity, Wisconsin's played sec teams pretty well. We'll find out pretty quickly, uh, in week three, when they play Bama, you know, just how they stack up. I don't think many people anticipate them winning that game, but if they're competitive, that would be a belt, you know, that would be a feather in the cap. Um,

I think the Big Ten's pretty good. I'm not one of those that's like, oh, SEC and everybody else stinks. No, I think the SEC's really good, but I think the Big Ten's really good too. And I think with the additions that they've made, I have a chance to be better.

with SC and Oregon and Washington, obviously, depending on what they bring back. No, I think the Big Ten is solid. And I think if you're talking about teams that can make the playoff, Penn State, Oregon, Ohio State, I think Michigan's a little bit of a longer shot in my mind. We've talked about why. But I am interested in Iowa and the offense and kind of where it goes because I do still think stylistically they can be a handful. No question.

Yeah. If you wanted to extend a little further and say, you know, USC is, is maybe sort of, I mean, do you throw USC and kind of like the, the, the Texas A&M range, or maybe a little bit further up like the Missouri, uh, Tennessee range when you're comparing the two leagues? Yeah. I mean, I think that would be in that range. Um, probably it's, it's a little bit matchup dependent, but if you just go kind of size them up, here's the problem with the big tent is that they get bad fast. Uh,

SEC, I feel like, is a little bit more gradual decline. But you look at the Indianas of the world, and look, I think Kurt Cignetti will do a nice job there. Northwestern had a great year last year, but that will come back to earth in a hurry this year. I would anticipate Purdue, not good. Right now, lost some of their best players, so they're probably the bottom three. I think all three would probably beat Vandy.

But it's kind of up in the air. I don't think any of the three would beat the next worst team in the conference. So I think they'd drop off a cliff pretty quickly. And you have a bunch of teams that are pretty average. The Maryland's, the Michigan State's, the Nebraska's, the Minnesota's. I mean, you have a bunch of six and seven win football teams. The Rutgers, Rutgers is going to win six or seven. People will roll their eyes at that, but that's probably about where they'll end up.

UCLA is a team that no one really knows how to pinpoint, but it's probably going to be in that bottom, bottom tier. So all things considered, you look at it, and I'm not super optimistic about the Big Ten as a whole, but I do think their top half is pretty dang competitive. Okay. So discussing the bottom of the league, is there a bad-ass Vandy in the Big Ten? No. No.

Is the entire Big Ten better than what you perceive Mississippi State to be this year? No, I just said that. I don't think any of the bottom three would beat Mississippi State or South Carolina, but I think all of the bottom three would beat Vandy. So it's a little bit kind of give and take, back and forth. So maybe a little closer than some people would believe, but you would still have the SEC won. Yes, SEC's won, but I don't think it's like the SEC's running laps around them. Right. You know, like that. I think the SEC's definitely got better quality. Yeah.

And in head-to-head matchups that mattered, that weren't bowl games, I would think the SEC would fare pretty well. But I also think when you have the defending national champion and they're coming in at fourth for most people, it tells you the depth of the league. It's pretty dang good.

I don't think there's any doubt. And then we kind of just discussed it. So Big Ten would fall at two and then you would go ACC three, where some people are saying that the Big 12 would be three. Yeah, ACC would definitely be three. How close is that one for you? I just kind of like the way that we described it before. I think there are some teams that could maybe even should be in the college football playoff this year. There aren't many in the Big 12 that we would describe that way. Maybe the depth in the Big 12 a little bit better would

But also the depth in the ACC. I don't think it's that bad. NC State could still be a strong team. You've talked about Georgia Tech and how they could be better this year. Let's keep in mind, I know it's a new coaching staff, but Duke's been a pretty good football team the last two, three years. Yeah.

Syracuse has vastly improved in their schedule. Yeah, I don't feel like... Louisville. Excuse me. I don't feel like Virginia's ready to make a big jump. No. Bottom of the league is in no particular order. Wake Forest, Stanford, Virginia...

Boston College? I think BC will be okay. They weren't bad last year. They really weren't. They were a little inconsistent, but they weren't bad last year. That Castellanos, the quarterback, can make a lot of plays. He's a runner, but he can make a lot of plays. Last year, Pitt was one of the worst. I don't think they'll be that bad again, but they were terrible last year. They won three games, thereabouts. So that's kind of the bottom of the league. But the middle tier is pretty sporty. I think Cal is...

near the bottom of the middle tier um i think north carolina's middle bottom tier uh i think duke's a lot right there alongside him i would have north carolina better than duke but either way um that remains to be seen but i think the top of the league is quite good by the way pitt defeated wofford louisville and bc last year yeah i'm not sure i recall it being that bad

Just didn't... Oh, it wasn't good. Hadn't really spent a lot of time thinking about it. It wasn't good. But yeah, it was not... The reason why you don't recall it is because you don't have to watch it. So why would you? Not in the repertoire. And I promise you...

Be glad you didn't watch it. It was tough sledding. The league that we ranked second, the Big Ten, begins their media days today. Ben Hartsock is going to preview that with us on the other side. Tell our listeners about ABS Systems. ABS Business Systems is always going to put the customer first. They've been doing so for 30 years, continuing to find ways to make things better for their customers. And they just added ABS Pure Water, which is a division of ABS Business Systems, the best-in-class water.

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The capital of the sports talk nation. This is jocks 94.5 and jocksfm.com. Hurry hand. All right, welcome back in. Mack O'Roy and Kubelik in the morning. 731 a.m. right here on jocks 94.5. Going to get to Ben Hartsock here. Talk Big Ten Media Days in just a moment.

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phone and call the bear. It's 205-497-BEAR. It's 497-BEAR. All right, Ben Hartsock, former Ohio State tight end, joins us now on the Buyer's Right Hotline to preview Big Ten Media Days. Ben, we were kind of talking the depth of some of these leagues and talking sort of playoff...

not contenders, teams that maybe could, but teams that you kind of view them right now and say they should be in the college football playoff this year. Going to 12 teams, they have the bodies, they have the players. When I see that team, that's a playoff team. How many of those do you see in the Big Ten right now?

Yeah, I think four. I think four. It's going to be Ohio State. It's going to be Oregon. It's going to be Penn State. And then after that, it's a wild card. You don't have to squint too hard. Michigan, if they can figure out replacing all their losses a year ago, they could be in. Maybe Wisconsin figures things out. Maybe Iowa with their new offensive coordinator figure things out. But I think that it's going to be four spots for the Big Ten this year.

You look at the top, it feels pretty chalky. The middle is where I think things become a little bit more challenging as you assess the middle of the league. Who do you think has an advantage? It comes down to quarterback play. It comes down to continuity. That's a good question, Greg. After the chalk, it's kind of been my conclusion about this new iteration of the Big 12 is –

I just did a segment over with Dusty and Danny, and they were asking about Wisconsin. And I said, you know what? I think about Wisconsin, who was kind of one of those solid, good programs, but never a great program. For two reasons, they're now pushed down a little bit further into working class status.

they're pushed down for two reasons. One, they used to own the West when Big Ten had divisions, which the divisions are going away. So now instead of going to be one or two in the West, now you're fourth or third in the best. You're after Ohio State. You're after Penn State. You're after Michigan. And then on top of that, Oregon comes in, and they're probably the second-best contender in the entire conference. So teams like Iowa, teams like Wisconsin,

Maybe Nebraska tries to push itself up into that discussion if it gets hot this year. To me, the middle ground is more purgatory than it's ever been.

It's kind of a funny – one of the biggest things of the 12-team playoffs is what is success. We have to recalibrate what is success. Iowa didn't get itself worked too much into college football playoffs when it was four teams. Wisconsin didn't either. Ole Miss didn't at times as well. Like, it was just, hey, let's go do well.

Let's get a New Year's Six bowl game, and let's get 10 wins, hopefully, and maybe we'll get a shot to be in the Big Ten championship game. Well, now all you are is you're the same team pushed a little further down, and you're going to be more off than not on the outside looking in in a college football playoff that you didn't use.

to be that focused on. Now it's just right there and you can taste it, but you still can't find a way to punch through. Ben Hartsock, former Ohio State tight end, does Big Ten Radio on Sirius XM, joining us now on the Buyer's Right Hotline. When you think this Ohio State football team, there are a lot of strengths. There are a lot of portions of it that you look at and say they're going to be dominant, they're going to be elite. Where are your concerns with this Ohio State team before we enter fall practice?

Yeah, they graduated some linebackers, so you've got to wonder what's going on there. But the defense, honestly, guys, as I've gotten ready for media days, I've gotten more bullish on Ohio State. We've kind of settled in to say that it's Georgia's championship to lose this year. And when you look out...

Position by position, really, Georgia's got the quarterback advantage. You know, everybody recognizes that. But outside of that, you know, maybe Georgia's offensive line I would take. Outside of that, I don't know that there's a position group that I would take from Georgia over Ohio State. So that then it comes down to quarterback play. I just feel bullish about Ohio State because –

They've done the thing that no blue blood has done. They have all the culture. They've got all the success. They've got all the infrastructure. And they pushed in this year, and they went and got Caleb Downs. You know, they built a super team. They went and got Caleb Downs from Alabama. Guy's going to be a top ten, top five pick in two drafts. They went and got the all-SEC running back in Quinshaw Judkins. And you paid –

to keep the NFL-caliber defense, you kept every one of those guys back. I mean, that D-line guy, Jack Sawyer, J.T. Tulliamolo, Al-Talik Williams, those guys are all Sunday dudes. Denzel Burke is a late first-round kind of guy. Igben Usum is a first, second-round guy. Caleb Downs is a top-ten guy. Everywhere you look, and this is what Urban Meyer –

and Jim Trestle, two Ohio State coaches, have said they've never seen the concentration of talent that is currently residing in the Woody Hayes locker room. What do you make of the quarterback situation? I mean, everyone just assumes that Will Howard's going to step right in. I think he's a good player. Some people aren't as sold as I am. But I'm curious, I mean, how will he compare to some of the quarterbacks that they've had in the past? Yeah, it's...

It's been perplexing to me since the very beginning because hearing Chris Kleiman at Big 12 Media Days, he said it out loud. Chris Kleiman said, Will Howard came and had a conversation with me after the season, and they both had the understanding, Will, you're not going to be the starter at Kansas State next year. And so he puts his name in the portal. And I just can't wrap my head around how the guy that can't be the starter at Kansas State is the right guy for Ohio State.

that's just a riddle to me. Especially with what Kyle McCord did last year, who's now at Syracuse. It doesn't make sense other than there's two things. One, Will Howard's got a tremendous amount of experience, and two, Will Howard brings a mobility aspect that Kyle McCord didn't, and that's that I think Ryan Day and Chip Kelly, who's going to be calling the plays now, really wants that last

You're not Kyler Murray, but we need a viable run threat from the quarterback position, and that's what Will Howard brings. And so I expect Will Howard to improve because I don't want to disrespect Kansas State, but the level of players around Will Howard, Ohio State, will be significantly higher, and so you expect an improvement from that. But I

I don't know how much of a leash Will Howard has. There's not much of a test in the non-conference. So, I mean, we're talking about Akron, Western Michigan, Marshall in your non-conference for Iowa State, and then Michigan State, new coach, they're pushed way down. Your first real challenge is October 5th when you host Iowa.

So I don't expect Will Howard to have a lot of struggles early in the season, and hopefully he'll come up to speed. But if for whatever reason there are struggles or he doesn't look like he's the guy, if he doesn't look like the guy, then you've got tons of talent behind him. Devin Brown has been the backup, but he's dealt with injuries. And then after that, you've got Julian Sand, who was the guy that got out of the letter of intent from Alabama. Yeah.

And then Aaron Olin is another talented guy, young guy coming out of high school from the state of Georgia. So there's a huge amount of talent waiting in that room, but it certainly feels like Will Howard is the guy. It comes down to how much leash does he have. All right, Ben, you talked about the playoff contenders, teams that you view from the Big Ten that you feel like should be in the playoff. Michigan, one of those teams. I love the D-line. I don't think the offensive line is going away. Tight end group, fantastic. Solid at running back.

I just have so many questions about finding some real balance inside that offense. And then obviously the turnover just from not only players, but the coaching staff. I'm just interested why you're not as concerned as I am about the potential of Michigan making this year's college football playoff. Yeah, I mean, and to add on top of that, Cole, is, I mean, they've got Texas week two.

They just have Texas to win for week two. But outside of that, they've got Oregon, they've got Ohio State, and so they've got real challenges there. My thought on four teams from the Big Ten is it just comes down to

the playoff committee this year has some big precedents that they're going to set in year one. Remember how comfortable we got over the 10 years of the 14 playoff of what's

We didn't know with certainty, but we had precedents that had been set. Now, those precedents all got blown out of the water with what happened to Florida State last year being undefeated and still being kicked out. I just think that the precedent and the caliber, the national perception of –

of the Big Ten is going to be such that there will be four teams that get in there. Getting Michigan in there as one of the four is a challenge because losses to Texas is not outside. You don't have to squint for that to be a reality. Oregon is one that, I mean, Michigan might be an underdog in that game and then obviously the game against Ohio State at the end of the season. If you don't win

If you lose all three of those games, yeah, you're not going to the playoff. I don't care whether you're the Maize and Blue or not. When we fast forward to the end of the year, and let's just assume, it's definitely a possibility, let's just assume that Ohio State doesn't win the national championship, what will be the reaction, not just amongst the Buckeye fans, but all the fans at the Big Ten?

Losing the national championship but beating Michigan at the end of the season is a significantly different outcome. If you lose to Michigan and also don't go to the national championship, that's

worst-case scenario. There's three potential outcomes. There's the rivalry game at the end of the season, there's the Big Ten championship, and then there's the playoff, which includes the national championship. You've got a kind of obviously worst-case scenario. You lose to Michigan.

you don't even make it to the Big Ten championship and then either flame out early in the playoff or don't even make it at all. That's worst-case scenario. That's where people will say, is Ryan Day the right guy or not? I don't expect that to be. Your scenario is probably most likely. It's really hard to win a national championship. I don't care who you are. Even with those expectations, it's challenging.

If they lose the national championship but beat Michigan at the end of the season, and then whoever shakes out in maybe a rubber match or a repeat in the Big Ten championship against Michigan, it'll be interesting to see how that's perceived. But I will say this. Lose the national championship but have a win against Michigan softens everything for Ryan Day.

Ben, great stuff, man. Thanks for joining us. Do you expect any fireworks, any drama from Big Ten Media Days? No, I really don't. I'll be interested to see how Tony Petitti, the commissioner, presents the West Coast teams. You've got to remember, the Big Ten Media Days, one of my yearly things I enjoy checking in on before Media Days is which Iowa offensive lineman won the hay bale tossing contest at the Beach Days in Solon.

Now we're rolling in West Coast teams. So how is the new marketing of the conference with, hey, we're the most lucrative in college football. Hey, we're the West Coast to East Coast. We're the nationwide conference. I expect that kind of stuff.

But this has been historically a Midwestern feel. And here we sit right in the heartland in Indianapolis. It'll be interesting to see how Tony Petitti kind of massages that perception. But I don't expect big fireworks. It's more marketing is what I'm interested to see. There you go. Ben, great stuff. Thanks for hopping on, man. Really appreciate the time.

Yeah. Enjoy it, guys. See you. All right. Ben Hartsock, former Ohio State tight end, joining us on the Buyer's Right Hotline there. For all your insurance needs, look to Buyer's Right Insurance, a member of the WRM group where relationships matter.

Talking a little Big Ten, doesn't sound like he expects a ton of noise to be made around what's going to happen at Big Ten media days. So we'll discuss the Big Ten just a little bit further. Maybe some teams that we feel like will or will not be in the college football playoff next right here 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 in McElroy and Kubrick in the morning 7 48 a.m Tuesday July 23rd right here on jocks 94.5 we're gonna move along to our top three as we do at this time most every day sometimes it's good sometimes it's terrible most times it's useless

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Oh, he's not here today. I know he's hard to see, but no, he's not here today. Do we at least have the music today? All right. Got that going for us today. Stay hot. Stay hot, Damien. Today, by the way, National Lemon Day. Okay. Because he usually gives us these things. Do you actually eat a lemon on its own? Not usually. Been a long... No, I don't think ever. Okay.

National Vanilla Ice Cream Day. Okay, that should have buried the lead. Ice cream is pretty legit. This is National Day Calendar dot com. I just read the things, okay? Okay, that's fine. Today is National Gorgeous Grandma Day. Okay. Every grandma is gorgeous in their own way. So, happy day to you, Grandma, out there in Columbia, South Carolina. Gorgeous Grandma. 100 years old.

Keep it rolling. Keeping it rolling. Thinking about you. Okay. So that being said...

I don't necessarily have a top three for you guys, but since Damien often does go with food-related items. Of course. I've seen a couple of new food-related items here recently that have been introduced at a couple of different ballparks, and I just want to know if you guys are – You need to buy the ticket to go out and try it. Yeah. Are you in or are you out? Because most times I think a lot of people would just say, yeah, whatever it is, I'll take it. The Royals have unveiled –

The taste of the K taco. This is a hot dog wrapped in a, stay with me here, cheeseburger quesadilla topped with barbecue brisket, fries, lettuce, pickled onion, sriracha, Cracker Jacks, and barbecue sauce.

One more time. I got it. I'm not sure you had to say it again. Hot dog wrapped in cheeseburger quesadilla, topped with barbecue brisket, then fries, lettuce, pickled onions, sriracha, Cracker Jacks, and barbecue sauce.

I'm fully aware I heard it the first time and gained weight the second time you said it. I could have a taste without gaining weight, but now I'm touched. I think I'm in, but it can't be at the seat. I'll have to miss some of the game because I'm going to be at a table or something. You need a giant bowl with this, too, as it falls apart. It needs to be in maybe a helmet or something. I kind of feel like what's the point of even the hot dog? Are you ever even going to taste the hot dog? I don't even know if you're ever going to actually get that part of this.

Greg, you in? I would be down. It's just a little bit too extreme. Everything from Cracker Jacks to a hot dog to me and everything in between, for the most part, is a bit aggressive. It's a potpourri of fat. It does feel like there's a lot of add-ons there. There's a lot of add-ons that don't really make sense. They don't coincide. I mean, I'm all for, like, for instance, I'm all for, like, a good...

Like a Brunswick stew or whatever, but sometimes it's just over the top with some of the additions. Chili's kind of the same way. It's like some people are adding some stuff to the chili that just doesn't need to be that way. To be noted, it's Sriracha Cracker Jacks. Well, I didn't even know what that is. Oh, so it's not Sriracha and Cracker Jacks. It's all... I think it, yeah. I didn't know. I'm sorry. I'm not up to date, up to speed on the Cracker Jack flavors that we have rolling around now. I wasn't aware of that. Well, that's the only other... I guess there's two to me, so...

I sometimes these ballpark foods like this type of a deal. I feel like it's looking around them, everything that's left.

What do we need to get rid of? Oh, yeah. Nobody's ordering those sriracha Cracker Jacks. Okay, cool. Those cheeseburger quesadillas did not do well. All right, well, we got the stuff. Let's just roll. We got plenty of hot dogs, right, because we ordered millions of those. Let's just roll a thing in a hot dog and throw some Cracker Jacks on there. Well, we know we got extra fries. We'll put those in there, too. We're good. Have you sold any of the pickled onions? Well, no. I got you. What's the point of the lettuce, by the way, there?

Is that doing anything for that? Virtue signaling. Is it doing a single thing for that? Yeah. Giving you vitamin K or whatever. It's not holding it together. It's not keeping it from falling apart. Virtue signaling. I mean, I just... That's your Mercer. I guess every team needs to have one. I don't know. You get a vegetable in there. Actually, two with the pickled onions. Okay. That counts. So, taste of the K...

Taco, do we call that? Taste of the K taco? I don't know if it's a taco. It's quesadilla. I don't know what it is. I feel like a taco can't have a hot dog in it, but okay. The Rockies have debuted polar pasta. Okay. This could go a lot of different ways here. Vanilla ice cream with donut holes, strawberry syrup with mint. So you have vanilla ice cream. Your donut holes are kind of like your meatballs. Strawberry syrup would be your marinara. Okay. Okay.

Take the mint out of there, I'm in. It's not as wild. I don't need the mint, but yeah. Why? Do you think the mint would kind of ruin it for you? Mint and ice cream don't go together. None? I wouldn't mind it. It looks pretty good, by the way. I'd probably be on board with it. I'd eat it quick, though. The Rangers have debuted the All-Star game, and they're going to keep it going. The Graham Slam Burger.

Not grand. Gram. Gram. Two all-beef patties. Special sauce. No. No lettuce cheese either. Not there. Nice try. Topped with smoked brisket, caramelized onions, American cheese, and ranch aioli.

You got my attention. Oh, you're in on that. Yeah, that one. I mean, any burger. It feels like a simple burger more or less for ballpark food. It doesn't feel like anything too aggressive. And I think I can get probably on board with that one. Is brisket kind of the new bacon? Like, I feel like we're trying to throw brisket on everything now. I'm not against it. Bacon is tough to screw up. Brisket, easily screwed up. But both of those were in Texas, so that makes sense. They got brisket everywhere. Yeah, brisket. We're about that brisket life.

The Pirates have also debuted the Renegade Dog, a foot-long hot dog with, I don't even know how you do this, pot roast, mini pierogies, and pickle slices. Okay. Only $15. That actually feels like a steal. Mini pierogies. It does feel like actually a pretty good deal compared to ballpark prices. It doesn't feel that bad at all.

My only thing is the pot roast on there. I can understand if it's just the meat from the pot roast, but everything else, yeah, that's a lot. Too much. All right. This is McElroy and Cubelik in the morning. At your job, do you ever have to deal with a nose roller? How about a snub pulley?

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