00:00But also from a national championship perspective, it's a very deep field, I believe.
00:05I think you look at the top choices and you have, at the moment, six teams under 10-1.
00:15You've got a seventh in Miami at 12-1.
00:18Even if you say, okay, it has to be one of those seven, seven real contenders,
00:24I mean, that's more than half the potential field.
00:26Ohio State brings back Julian Sayan, and maybe more notably, Jeremiah Smith for his third season
00:32before he goes as probably the first non-quarterback off the board next April.
00:38Notre Dame bring back CJ Carr.
00:41They feel like they were the ones spurned, left out of the dance.
00:45They thought they were maybe the best team in the country and didn't get to play in the playoff.
00:50Oregon brings back Dante Moore.
00:53Texas brings back Arch Manning.
00:57Georgia brings back a starting quarterback.
00:59So that's one of the other really big aspects of this college football season, Craig,
01:05is, and it impacts the Heisman Trophy race, this familiarity with the quarterback position
01:11where I think a lot of people, and I'm not knocking it,
01:16but I think a lot of people are looking for a quarterback they know,
01:20probably with a little bit of draft staying power, if you will.
01:25Oh, this guy's going to be a first-rounder?
01:26They're leaning on that heading into the college football season as to who they trust at the top.
01:32Yeah, I think, Kevin, more than ever before, we've reached a point in college football
01:37where it essentially has become the premier program to get you to the NFL.
01:43I mean, minor league football, I mean, I don't know that we necessarily would call it that,
01:48but it wasn't always like this, Kevin, but you're right,
01:51because now when you're looking to preview a game and do things like we are doing here,
01:55the first question is, who is the quarterback at this college?
01:58The second question is, who is the coach at this university?
02:03You know, honestly, Kevin, that wasn't always the case.
02:05It was what kind of offense do they run?
02:07You know, how many talented players do they have?
02:10How many seniors are they bringing back?
02:12You don't hear those conversations as often just because the quarterback position
02:16has just become so important there.
02:19The other thing that I would add, too, is certainly we showed the odds to win the national championship,
02:24and I do think talent-wise that is fair.
02:26But the new dynamic of college football is as follows.
02:29Indiana last year broke the mold.
02:31Let's just call it what it is.
02:33The Indiana did not start off the season as the team that you thought that was going to win the
02:37national championship.
02:38That never has happened in college football.
02:41It is rare to have a team so far on the outside to think that they could beat these behemoths.
02:47And now, me being an SEC guy, I've always thought the SEC was the best conference.
02:52You've got to call it as you see it.
02:54The Big Ten is certainly right there.
02:56And there are going to be a lot of conferences.
02:57I think that talent-wise, they get transfers and the portal and the amount of money that's given out.
03:02It's just not as simple as predicting as it was maybe five, ten years ago.
03:08And that's kind of where I'm headed with it this year, Kevin.
03:11I think it will be another season of Expect the Unexpected.
03:14I don't think that necessarily, even though Ohio State is the most talented team in the country,
03:19I think Oregon is certainly right there.
03:22But to just blanket throw Texas into the mix because they have Arch Manning and they play in the SEC,
03:28I don't know.
03:28Like, I just kind of think that look out, look out for some other teams that we may not have
03:34in the top 10, top 15.
03:35Is BYU a legitimate contender?
03:38You have so many teams, I think, that can do it.
03:41And I think that going back to Fernando Mendoza's run and Kurt Cignetti's run with Indiana,
03:48I just don't think you can just simply look and say, SEC is the best conference,
03:52going to be Alabama, LSU, Georgia at the end.
03:55I think those days are done.
03:56I think everybody has a shot now.
03:59Now, again, if they expand this, Kevin, I don't know how great I'm going to feel about this conversation.
04:04I may have to change my conversation going next year.
04:06You're talking about teams having buys and having off and playing maybe in their home stadiums in the college football
04:11playoff.
04:11But for now, that's the landscape that I see.
