SEC Puts LSU on Notice & Week 2 Preview: Will SEC Stuff Big Ten in Locker?

Hey, folks, welcome in the latest episode of That SEC Podcast. Shout out to Jesse for changing the schedule up. I appreciate you for taking the time, man. Yeah, man, we got plenty to talk about. We certainly do, Jesse, and before we get into that, again, got to remind the folks, we are brought to you this football season by Omaha Steaks. I might have to send some to Bat Rouge because Lane Kiffin might be sitting his ass on the sidelines, and he'll need something to cheer him up, and Omaha Steaks will get it done with that promo code SEC. Save you $35 over at Omaha Steaks. Shout out Omaha. So, Jesse, I mean, I thought this was kind of grandstanding, so to speak, and I have checked with a number of people and this all seems legitimate. The SEC is willing to flex its muscles and let LSU know that these shenanigans shall not be tolerated. What's your reaction to all this? So, when this broke earlier, about an hour ago, a little more than an hour ago, honestly, my initial reaction was, are you a Game of Thrones fan? Yeah, for sure. So, you know, no spoilers, but spoilers here. It's been out for a decade now. So, you know, if you haven't caught up, I'm sorry. But, honestly, my initial reaction was, to the point that, man, is this more saber-rattling? Is this just crazy? But then, like you said, I mean, you check on some stuff, you see some of these other reports, and while everyone, from Pete Famel to Ross Dellinger and the likes, have kind of all said, they're not planning on taking a vote, but... To me, I immediately went to Game of Thrones, and I was like, this feels like Cersei blowing up the set of Baylor and, you know, just wiping out the Tyrells and wiping out, you know, the rest of the kingdoms and the faith militant and all that. And it's like, you win the battle on that day. If the SEC somehow actually went through with this, they may win the battle on that day. And yet that one decision ended up basically ending the Lannister Line. I mean, it was like it just didn't happen yet. It didn't happen the next day. But, I mean, this is it's just, it seems insane that the SEC would literally, if they went through with this, it would be like mutually assured destruction, because there's no way that LSU would not burn the house down. And LSU fans already are going to have two fingers up, and they're going to say, you know, to hell with y'all and we'll go, we'll go, you know, be an independent or we'll go, you know, join in the Big Ten. So they'll land on their feet if this somehow, you know, came to fruition, but I just can't believe that the SEC would be willing to actually hit the nuclear button that could then kind of blow up everything. This is why Mike Slive got the guys to stop snitching on each other 25 years ago. And I was told this, Jesse, just a moment ago, I mean, how real is this? What would have to happen for LSU to legitimately get kicked out of this conference? And I was told by someone that would know, they play these players, they're getting kicked out. Do you buy that? The NFL players? I mean, it seems like that, that's what otherwise, why would, because right now LSU complied. They did not, you know, they could have, they rostered them or they could have rostered them on Friday night and they chose not to. And it seems to be because they were gonna see if there was any more legal wrangling that could come down, whether it's this week or next week or whatever. So the fact that they have complied, it's just the stuff around LSU, they already have kind of an us against the world mentality and this is gonna make it, you know, pound their chest even more. I mean, it's been kind of an insane 48 hours since that, since they just, you know, bodied Clemson or, you know, two days or whatever, because that couldn't have been a more perfect storm in terms of that performance, having, you know, 60 some odd new guys on the roster and for them to look so connected and to be so organized. It was just an insanely impressive performance and the kind of everything that's come out after that has only, I think, made them even more audacious. So I don't know why they would need to, you know, for what we saw, why do they need a backup tight end and a third string defensive line? I said that last week. It makes no sense to me. Especially if, again, if it means that both them and the SEC are willing to kind of hit the button. I mean, look out. These fireworks and popcorn before, but this is something all different. Yeah, and I've even heard from multiple people that anticipate Lane Kiffin will be suspended. Not if he plays these guys, but just flat out, suspension is coming for Lane Kiffin. I don't know that for a fact at this point in time, but would that surprise you if the Southeastern Conference suspends Lane Kiffin for any amount of time? Well, and because it seems like they empowered Sankey with whatever clause to make that plausible. Again, the SEC has opened themselves up to something that you can't turn it off. Once you turn that faucet on, the toothpaste is out of the tube. Whatever metaphor you want to use, it's out. And does Greg Sankey, who just sat in a Louisiana courtroom for three hours and got questioned about taking a private jet and how much money he makes and some other stuff, does he really want to sit in a bunch of different courtrooms moving forward where we're talking about actual discovery? Again, like the LSU knows where plenty of bodies are buried. The jokes happen and they've been robbing Peter to pay Paul from Louisiana hospitals for years. So it's an ugly situation. So what merit would they have to suspend Lane? I would ask that question. Him being a jackass doesn't qualify as earning a suspension. If they don't play the players, him trying to roster them, but if they don't actually play the players, then I'm not really sure what grounds the SEC has to stand on other than that Lane is a giant pain in the ass. Yeah, I don't know for certain myself, but I would believe it was because Kiffin had these guys initiate this lawsuit in Baton Rouge, reaching out to NFL players to, again, these guys didn't come up with this by themselves. This court case is not in Baton Rouge by accident. This is all calculated, and this is according to the SEC, this is a federal lawsuit now. Just fascinating to see where this is all at. And, yeah, I mean, I think we're far, far from over. And this was in everybody's, the back of everybody's mind after they whooped Clemson's ass, and now here we go. And how about the, Ross Dellinger has also reported, Jesse, I don't know if you've seen this yet, but, and he didn't say who he was speaking to, but I think it was like an SEC president, he said, where the Ole Miss LSU game could be a non-conference game if they kick LSU out. I mean, imagine that. I've added that to all of it. I don't even understand. I did actually, I saw that tweet right before you and I got on. And again, that just confused me because, so if LSU gets kicked out of the league, why would they even have a season? Why would the RS of the SEC, I mean, is that because the media, and this is where the machinations around like, you have the school presidents and you have the, but the media rights folks are the true power brokers behind the scenes. And this is why I just, it would stun me if this actually played out as such, because in what world would ESPN want to, and Disney want to lose the viewership of LSU. You know, to lose that bit, one of the biggest brands in the SEC. I just, again, this seems like, this seems like some Clanga level cowbell saber rattling, where it's gotten super loud. But sometimes, you know, they don't let the away fans actually take the bells, you know, into the whatever stadium, into the opposing stadium. Maybe they just need to set the bells down and let some cooler heads prevail. And hey, Mizzou fan says that the AD should be fired to spend Kiffin. Here's the problem. And again, I think that is something that could happen, the AD get fired. But the whole reason this is a damn trainwreck of an issue is because the AD is kind of like a puppet. The AD is the governor. Well, and one of Ross's other tweets, I believe it was Ross, but that basically what this all stems from, it was literally in the SEC's explanation effectively, is that they don't believe that the athletics director or school president or LSU has any control over Lane Kiffin, that he really is just a wild dog out there doing his own thing. I mean, evidence does back that up. I mean, it certainly seems like he's running the ship, and they are not actually in control. But this is also what happens when you hand a coach a blank check. And we said this last week, he's only been told no a couple of times, and he's rarely suffered any sort of repercussions. This entire thing's been crazy, Mike. I think you might have seen it. It was Sunday, I think. I think it was Sunday. It might have been Sunday or yesterday. But the myth making around Lane Kiffin, now we're already like, LSU fans, they need to keep their hands out of their pants a little bit, I think, because it's getting crazy in terms of suddenly this guy, what has been disrespected his entire life and not being one of the most insane NEPO babies you've ever seen. That does not discount that he's a hell of a football coach. But for a guy that coached the Oakland Raiders, USC and Tennessee all before the age of 35, I think he was doing okay. He's gotten a lot of second chances. And it looks like he may have a national title team, but we'll see how this all plays out. They certainly, I'll say this, I did not think that they were going to be distracted. I thought that they would beat Clemson handedly. I didn't think we witnessed a murder, but I thought they would beat Clemson handily. And they did just that. I mean, they look like a really, really formidable football team. Yeah. Well, let's transition as best we can to your week one thoughts. So, you kind of already hit on it. And I'll credit you, Jesse, because you were quite possibly the only one that I heard saying that you believed LSU could be dynamic on offense immediately. I thought it would take quite a while. Now, I did think their defense was going to dominate Sorry Ass Dabo and his offense. And that certainly held true. But yeah, there's nothing but, despite all the shenanigans, I mean, you could make the case LSU is the most impressive team after one week of the season. No, certainly, certainly. No one had a better week one performance than LSU. Now, I do think if you're going to toss a little cold water on the game, one, you would say that Clemson is terrible. Clemson at like, this was a team that went seven and six a year ago and had nine guys get drafted. And maybe everyone should have finally taken Dabo at his word when he said all summer. Now, he was being sarcastic. When he said all summer, we're a bunch of nobodies. Clemson is a bunch of nobodies. So LSU beat the hell out of a bunch of nobodies. Having said that, again, for 60 some odd guys on the roster, they look so buttoned up. They look so organized. I don't believe the fake, not fake, but I don't believe, it's a fake tough guy. Again, it's more of Lane Kiffin playing the cosplaying the villain thing that I joked about last week. The leaking of his halftime speech, like listen to that and then go listen to one of Kirby's and tell me which one actually sounds like a guy who's speaking with his chest and which sounds like a guy who's kind of like putting on a performance. But the guys did clearly play pissed the entire time. And I believe that offense is, add water, go. You know, it boils immediately and he got them cooking. I mean, this is a team that could not run the ball the last three years. They rushed for over 300 yards. The Wisconsin transfer looked fantastic. I am a little concerned if they feel like they need to run Sam Levitt all the time this season because we saw two years ago, he's got a lot of Jackson Dart in him. And we saw two years ago, Jackson Dart got banged up. They didn't, LSU did not make the playoffs because by the end of the season, Dart wasn't healthy and he had that horrible performance against Florida and they don't make the playoffs. So Levitt looked fantastic in this offense, but the fact that he has some prior health issues, that would be kind of my only real concern. Blake Baker with these dudes coming off the edge, they have, I think it looks like DBU may be back at LSU. Love that defense, what weeks was healthy, so it was fun to kind of watch him run around. LSU's got a lot of really good players. This is what happens, you have a $50 million roster, Clemson's got a $25 million roster and the difference was a 40 point ass-whipping. Right, and I think they're a huge beneficiary of keeping Blake Baker in years past. The traditional route is you're good as a coordinator, you get a head coaching role. Well, the way college athletics is run now, I think he's probably in a better, not only financially, but just all the way around. Blake Baker's better suited to be a defensive coordinator at LSU than he is head coach at Tulane, which he probably could have gotten that job. So again, at LSU, ahead of the curve there, they look like a million bucks on both sides of the football. But yeah, I mean, that's why, again, not to completely go off the rails here with all the nonsense, but man, just put that behind you. This, you got a team that can win it all. Let's not screw it up. Yeah, yeah. Again, what are both sides willing to test? Because it sure looks like we're marching towards mutually assured destruction if the SEC saber rattling is actually real. And to further Clemson being a joke, Dabo's going viral today for getting questioned about his roster, construction strategy, what have you. And he just kind of went off on a reporter basically saying, did you play football? And just like, buddy, my grandma could see, you don't know what the hell you're doing anymore. Your days are behind you. This was new school against old school and you just can't run your organization like you could five, 10 years ago. Yeah. I mean, Dabo's dunzo. We've kind of written the O bit multiple times for him. And perhaps previously it was premature. It's not. I mean, this is a team, Clemson was a team that ranked in the top five, I think like seven years in a row until the COVID year. And in the last five years, it's just been a precipitous decline. They were bad in ACC play a year ago. They've been horrible in all these openers. You know, Georgia beat the brakes off them two years, three years ago. The LSU game, and this is why if you're an LSU fan, I would say you look fantastic, but you know, at least be a little cautious. Remember what a lot of the takes were coming out this game a year ago. Now, obviously it was not as dominating a performance, but because Clemson was perceived as being this top five team, LSU goes in there, wins 17 to 10, and everyone's talking about, man, you know, it looks like LSU's offensive line is fixed, and Blake Baker has that defense humming on game one. It wasn't exactly like that the rest of the season, which is why Brian Kelly ultimately got fired. So I don't think LSU is going to, you know, recede into the middle like they did last season, but maybe they're not actually, you know, don't crown them the national champions today. What about, well, certainly someone we're not crowning today, Jesse would be Auburn after their one-point win over Baylor there in Atlanta, what would have finished this was a lot of the game was pretty ugly. What was your, what's your read on Auburn after the nail biter there against Baylor? I think I nailed this one too, Mike. I think I, you know, said last week, I was concerned at the idea that Auburn could basically just Monopoly House. You know, I joked in my Surrender Cobra thing in a column on Monday that it was almost like you're driving down the highway and you see those tractor trailers that are moving those like a giant house when they're surrounded by like three or four other cars that are like guiding them, you know, across this foot, they're taking up every lane and it's stopping and it's like, what are we doing here? And everyone's trying to get around them. That's what Auburn basically did with their offense. They took that house that was in South Florida that had all the coaches, the quarterback, the receivers, the offensive line, and they just up and moved it and just put it on the planes. And I said last week, I'm skeptical that that's going to work in the SEC. We don't know if it's going to work in the SEC yet, but it sure as hell didn't look good against a Big 12 defense that was Cheeks a year ago. Baylor had 12 sacks all of last season, Mike, they had six on Saturday. They hounded Byron Brown for all the stuff about his throwing motion or whatever. He also just doesn't see the field particularly well. He was indecisive. He had three interceptions. The offensive line did poor. Jeremiah Cobb, who I do like, had one really good drive. Other than that, it was a struggle. Auburn won the game. Credit to them, they were able to find Gus's rabbit foot. Gus Malzahn had that rabbit foot for years, and then I guess Auburn lost it somewhere, or it got buried in Toombs Corner. They found it because they finally won a one score game, and credit to just a textbook, picture perfect, tackle on the goal line there for a big win. But that looks like a team that's gonna struggle to get to a bowl game. That looks like a team that it's six and six is probably gonna be about as good as they can do. We both said that that week three game against Florida could kind of determine both of those teams over-unders. Well, the Gators look fantastic, albeit against much weaker competition, obviously, but did not like a lot of what I saw from Auburn offensively at all. And my skepticism, I think, was fairly warranted. So who would you favor then? But again, maybe things can change in different teams week three than week one. But like you said, Florida won 66-21 over FAU. Would you favor Florida to go on the road and beat Auburn today? Or are you not ready to say that? No, I'm riding with some role and the Gators. I mean, that was some fun and gun stuff. You don't punt once, you score 66 points. Jaden Ball, I've said this all off season, Mike. I think Jaden Ball is the best running back in the SEC. And to me, that's not disrespecting Kiwan Lacy. That's not disrespecting Hardy, if he's able to come back and play for Missouri. I just think the skill set that Jaden Ball has, it's elite and they're clearly going to force feed him. I mean, he had 160 yards, three touchdowns, looked fantastic. VB3 was great in that game. I mean, Wilson. And then a guy who I thought was going to be kind of an integral part of that offense, Eric Singleton, didn't even have a target. You know, this is a guy who two years ago at Auburn or two years ago, excuse me, at Georgia Tech was kind of the guy in Buster Faulkner's offense. So if they get him going, you have to like that. There were some defensive warts and I, but there's some young promising pass rushers there. You know, LJs want to, but they got plenty of guys, you know, Woods. I mean, Florida has some guys on defense that if they figure that out, especially if you're a believer in the, you know, the former Kentucky DC there, I certainly would give the edge to Florida. I mean, they are, they kind of have some walking explosives that I just didn't see it from USS, or excuse me, Auburn's wide receivers. How about the Sunday night game? What was your takeaways from Ole Miss of a wild game against Louisville? Both teams looked kind of inept on offense in the first half. Both teams looked inept on defense in the second half. I've seen a lot of Ole Miss fans, Jesse, saying, well, this is the toughest matchup. Of course, we were going to struggle, but Trinidad got it in the end. Are you selling any stock in Ole Miss, or are you buying that they did have a really tough game? So, I'm concerned. Now, I wasn't sure if, I did not have Ole Miss, ultimately, in my final playoff prediction, 12-team playoff prediction. I kind of thought that they were an 8-4, maybe a 9-3 type team. Schedule's not daunting, but still some potholes there. I think they, here, I said this, and I have a column at Surrender Cobra, I called it the Monday morning take back, where it's, I kind of go through some takes from the previous week, and I like kind of audit them, you know, what do I get right, what do I get wrong? Here's what I said, I said I was wrong about LSU from the terms of, I was high on them in that individual game against Clemson, but I thought they were gonna be a very high-variance team all season. I thought that they could be as good as 12-0, and maybe as bad as like 7-5, 6-6. I don't believe that anymore. I think I'm wrong about that. I think their floor is probably 9-3. I think Ole Miss has 6-6 variance. I think there's real 6-6 possibility with this team because of kind of its twofold. Trinidad Chambliss might be the best quarterback in the SEC, but the problem is that they're asking him to be Superman every game, and I'm not the biggest Marvel or whatever, comic fan, whatever. Superman at least got to be Clark Kent on some days. He got to go into the office and be Clark Kent. Trinidad can't take off the cape. They need him to be amazing all the time, and I'm not even talking about with Lacey getting dinged up. Even when Lacey was in the game, they needed Chambliss to be that guy. So when you have that, and then the fact that Pete Golding's defense was Swiss cheese in the secondary and didn't look like they tackled off all fall camp, that's concerning to me. Ole Miss, or I think, yeah, Louisville, a guy's basically starting his first career game, you know, in terms of, you know, and so you didn't, maybe there was some surprise, whatever. Certainly didn't seem like Louisville knew how to use Keane Holtz for a half the game. And yet they still ended up with nine plays over 20 yards, five, Mike, five explosive plays over 30 yards. That's just not going to cut it. That's just not going to cut it. I like some of Ole Miss' pass rushers with Echols and Perkins and those guys, but if the secondary can't cover anybody and can't tackle anybody, that's a huge concern. So this is my favorite question I'm going to ask everybody just because it's so much fun and there's no wrong answer. But now that we've seen each LSU and Ole Miss take the field once, what would be your projected point spread, LSU, assuming they're in the SEC, LSU at Ole Miss here in a couple weeks? I think it's got to be somewhere, it's got to be north of four, right? Yeah, we had Nick Roush yesterday, he said LSU seven and a half. I think it's closer to, I said nine and a half. Is there an early line yet? I mean, there probably is, but I have not checked it myself. The fact that the, maybe I actually, I probably am too short because the metrics, I will say this, the metrics, Bill Conley, FPI, some of that stuff, they were not as high on Ole Miss being a top eight to ten team as being a like thirteen to twenty team. And so that was before they just had this, you know, barn burner, highly entertaining, obviously, second half, a barn burner win against Louisville. So you readjust those metrics that would, that would, to your point, Groush is probably, probably closer that it may, it may be at least a touchdown. Now, how much are they going to factor in the Hornets' nest, the emotional baggage on both sides there? Both teams certainly are going to get, you know, kind of a reprieve this weekend. Ole Miss, they should, they should not play Lacey on Saturday. You know, let that, let him rest up, put him in a hyperbaric chamber and, and, you know, grease him up because they're going to need everything they can get from him and Chambliss on Saturday. I think Cousins Shane said it best. Jesse, we did a live watch party with the Cousins. He said, good thing Ole Miss is getting familiar with the Music City Bowl because they're going to be back here. That's, that's what it looked like on Sunday. Yeah. Hey, welcome back to Nashville. Book a hotel for sometime in mid-December. Hey, anything, before we switch gears to week two, any other like things that really caught your attention on week one in the Southeastern Conference? So yeah, I kind of wondered because you're kind of the big Kalen DeBoer hater, debater, Kalen debater. Four Lost DeBoer. Four Lost DeBoer. There you go. I couldn't remember what the tagline was on that. Here's my thought about Alabama. I think that there's, and this may get clipped, and some Alabama fans may get pretty chapped at this, but I like Keelan Russell a lot. I had never seen him play. I said last week I was excited to kind of see him for the first time in live bullets. There, he is not, I'm not Brooks Austin, who's great at breaking this stuff down. I'm not, Coach Casey on Twitter, who's fantastic. These guys that dissect all this stuff. But I watch and I do think there is a big difference when you see Alabama between a highlight and watching the game like plays in succession. And when you see a highlight of Keelan Russell from Saturday, you're like, holy shit. Like that dude might be one of the best players in America come the end of the season. I mean, spin it, run it, throw it, you know, all that. But then you watch a bunch of plays in a row, and there's a lot more cause for like, I don't know if this is going to work. Like, and that it's, it's not, he is not Anthony Richardson. I'm not comparing him either schematically or like, but there was kind of a similar deal with rich Anthony Richardson a couple of years ago, where it's like, oh my God, this spin move jump pass touchdown. Oh my God. Did you see this? 75-yard, Joe Milton, same thing. You see this 75-yard, you know, missile that he threw for a touchdown, but then you watch five plays in a row and it's like, man, he would have gotten lit up. And so there was concern. And then you look at the stats and he's over here, has like a sub 45%, you know, passing success rate. I just think if you see the game, there was a lot of plays that just were not in rhythm or on time where he's back there holding the ball for five, six, seven seconds. And then, and this is not even like Ryan Williams drops and that kind of stuff. It was just, I kind of want to see more because I was because of his ceiling, I was someone that I have Alabama in my preseason playoff projections. I think Crowell looked good. I will say that the offensive line didn't look demonstratively better to me. It didn't look worse, but it didn't look like it wasn't a world beater against an ECU defense that was nothing. So I want to see more from Russell because he seemed to be like the highlight hero, where if you watch Sports Center, that was not exactly the experience that I had when you go back and rewatch. I'm going to rewatch 12 plays in a row. Yeah, he ran for 30 yards on a hot, but in the SEC, that's a sack. And so I just want to see more there. Well, if I may be a Bama defender, maybe because I don't disagree with anything you just said, but it's also first game as a starting quarterback, like maybe this is just the maturation of a redshirt freshman at this level. I mean, that he'll get better and better, right? Yeah. But at the same time, sure. And again, I think I have him on my kind of like fall quarterback ceiling team, where I do think that he just raises the ceiling of Alabama. I think Camario Taylor is the same way at Mississippi State. Faison Brandon is the same way at Tennessee. These guys, because of their prolific possibilities, they give their teams a greater variance of ceiling than I think the guys that could be playing elsewhere. And I will say another, like last week one quick hitter, kudos, you know, I've been a scout, South Carolina skeptic, kudos to, you know, Brials and those boys. I mean, they put it on. If I'm Shane Beamer, you know, I don't know if I'm going crazy in the locker room the way he did, but he's got me. He said it, we've got an offense, at least for week one, they definitely did. And sellers look great and they got some weapons and the offensive line, you know, wasn't a turn style. So I'll eat some crow there. South Carolina, that game in a couple weeks against Bama, because Bama does have a defense. There's Pierre and some of those guys off the edge. The secondary is really good. That'll be a fun game at the end of September. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what a time. I mean, this is the time to be a game cock, right after week one. I think it's the first time Shane Beamer's had a team that looked good week one. For whatever reason, they always stubbed their toe. Even if they win, they look ugly, but not this year. We got an offense, Mike. Well, you know, one thing that I know Shane Beamer's a big fan of, Jesse, and that's Omaha Steak. So don't forget to check out omahasteak.com promo code SEC to save you 35 bucks off your order. Those Gamecocks, I think as part of their offensive mastery was that they ordered Omaha Steaks. They loaded up on some lean protein, chicken, steak, pork, seafood, fixin's, dessert. Jesse, they even got lasagna, I found out, over at Omaha Steaks. So whatever you're into, they got you covered. Go check them out, presenting sponsor. Really appreciate you Omaha Steaks this football season. Insurance isn't one size fits all. That's why drivers have enjoyed Progressive's Name Your Price Tool for years now. With the Name Your Price Tool, you tell them what you want to pay and they'll show you options that fit your budget. So, whether you're picking out your first policy or just looking for something that works better for you and your family, they make it easy to see your options. Visit progressive.com, find a rate that works for you with the Name Your Price Tool. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, Price and Coverage Match, Limited by State. Well, they flat, they flat. I'll say this, South Carolina flashed those gold, those Kent State Golden Flashes. You know, they, they, they sizzled them pretty good. 57 some odd points. I would, I would love to shift gears, Jesse, to week two because I mean, we got some monster, monster showdowns. I'd love to get your thoughts on, in particularly, I guess we got to start with Ohio State, Texas, in Austin, of course, number one, number five. That may have actually changed because the AP poll just came out, but thoughts on, on Ohio State, Texas. Yeah, if not now, when for Sark, this is, let's see it. You have among the most expensive rosters in the country. Obviously, Ohio State's right there with you, but Arch, he's been in the system long enough now. He looked really good last week. Cam Coleman looked fantastic. Let's, this is, you got all the toys. Now, go out and do something with it. And so, Arch, this is, they will forever be linked, Mike, I think, because of the way that decision came to go to Texas, over Georgia, over some other opportunities, and kind of pair and marry that with Sark. Let's see it, you know, this is, Julian Sand has not been historically very good in these kind of, you know, big power on power matchups, struggled last year, even in the win. Granted, first career start against Texas, but wasn't great against Indiana, certainly struggled against Miami. If Texas has these dudes on defense, Collin Simmons, Biles, you know, let's see it, let's see him get after an Ohio State offensive line that's still kind of putting some pieces together. So I think this is a game Texas needs to win. And I think it's a game that Texas will win. Well, how about this, Jesse? And again, I'm like double checking myself as I'm speaking here because I want to make sure that I have this right. Cause it kind of blew me away here. Yeah, Texas. Now again, one game, what does this really mean? Let me ask you after facing Texas State, Texas is 131st in the country in third down defense. Can they get that fixed against Ohio State? I mean, they better damn well get it fixed, don't you think? Well, this leads to someone in the chat said hiring Will Muschamp is the equivalent of Davo hiring Chad Morris. I don't think it's that, it's not, Chad Morris got run out of Texas high school football a couple of years ago. He'd been out at the lake. Will hadn't been off the sidelines like that. I mean, he was part of the Georgia Brain Trust that won two national championships. He just, as we discussed last week, wasn't the primary play caller, and so I think there probably is some, there's going to be a little bit learning, growing pains there, or it's a guy sitting in the hot seat again for the first time. Since way back when he was coaching Auburn, and so, again, he's working with a bunch of new pieces. Texas is trying to fit in some new guys. There's not any time now. You made the mistakes last week. You can't afford to let Jeremiah Smith and those, the Henry and these receivers that Ohio State's got, the other transfer looked fantastic for them. I forget where they got him from, looked really good. And so, that issue needs to be corrected immediately, obviously. And this goes to, it's been third down sometimes, or it's been, and this is another thing, they better get right. They did great in week one, but you cannot keep kicking field goals in the red zone. It's somehow Steve Sarkeesian can be the best play caller in the country from the 20 to 20, but in the last couple of years with all these toys, he can't seem to kind of punch it in. They got to punch in the opportunities when they get inside the 20 yard line. And let me ask you this, because again, it's been a little bit of an issue running the football, at least to a level that you would anticipate from a team of this caliber. It certainly wasn't in the opener. If they're able to run, let's just say at will, at on Ohio State, what would that, how would that change the perception of Texas? You think would they, could they be the favorite to win at all if they can run at will on Ohio State? Yeah, and they weren't actually that overly, that efficient in the opener. Relique Brown, you know, I think he averaged like less than like right around like three yards of carry. They'd have a couple of touchdowns, but Hollywood Smothers is really good. This is why they outpaid Alabama for that kid. You know, that kid was awesome last year at NC State, and if they can just run it down Ohio State's throat, that would certainly portend some very, you know, some orange, blood orange optimism for what they could do in SEC play. Because, Mike, we eluded this. The teams last year, and it's amazing, some of the worst rushing teams in the country last year were all these SEC contenders. It was Alabama, it was Texas, it was Oklahoma, and LSU was actually the worst. They just weren't an SEC contender, but they thought they were going to be. LSU certainly answered the bell in week one. Alabama looked better with kind of the combo of Russell, Crowell and those guys. Texas looked pretty good, but they've paid a premium for the two-headed tandem of Smothers and Relique Brown. So if that's the strategy they go with, and it is successful against Ohio State, again, a defense that's replacing a lot of pros, but still, Kenyatta and some of those guys did come back. That would be impressive. How about Oklahoma going on the road to Michigan, where I think Oklahoma is America's team, after that debacle last weekend? Does Michigan stand a chance? I mean, if they play like they did in their opener, I don't think they do, but, of course, maybe they'll look a lot better. I mean, I think that at minimum, let's say Michigan's defense does play better, because they actually didn't play that poorly against Western Michigan. They gave up like three and a half yards of play, I think. They had the one horrible drive. Well, to your point about Texas on third down, Michigan couldn't get off the field on that one drive that seemed to last damn near a whole quarter. But they didn't really give up explosives. And so, if you could say that they're kind of the wounded animal and they're going to back into a corner, this team is going to come out. That Oklahoma defense is going to put Bryce Underwood through a wood chipper. Bryce Underwood against a, yes, against a Western Michigan team that returned a lot of players. They don't have all the pros, they don't have Stone and these pass rushers that Oklahoma's got. I mean, Bryce Underwood's out here, dirt and throws, he's out here, air mailing throws, he just looked broken. And against Oklahoma's defense, there is absolutely nothing. I'm going to believe what my eyes have told me. I was skeptical about Bryce Underwood after last season. I like the offense, the Jason Beck offense that Kyle Winningham had at Utah. If he could have brought Devon Dampier, I think he probably would have, because what they got from Bryce Underwood and what they're paying for him is not worth it. I think OU, even if Oklahoma, someone's saying, OU overrated, even if maybe they're not a top 10 team, I think they can put the screws on a Michigan team that just does not look buttoned up at all. Could you imagine a scenario where Oklahoma loses this game if John Matier doesn't turn the ball over? I mean, is there a path for Michigan? No, no, I think you're right. I mean, I think that Michigan is going, based on what you saw offensively from that. I mean, they couldn't, here's the thing too, Mike. It would be one thing if it was just a Bryce Underwood problem. I joked again in my column, Michigan's not, they got 99 problems, but a win ain't one. They got a win, however you want to say, hose, screw job, whatever. They got a win, but they got a bunch of problems because it's not just a quarterback. The offensive line, which was built, is supposed to be one of the better in the Big Ten. The bullies, the coaching staff from Utah, they couldn't move a Western Michigan front. The supposedly two-headed running back tandem they got did not do anything. Savion Hiller, it was a five-star and one of the biggest players in the 2027 class. I certainly believe in his talent, but he didn't have any room to operate. So if they struggle, again, I think Oklahoma's going to have to really step on the rake for Michigan to stay in that game. I said, just not stay in the game. It's a five-and-a-half points for it to win the game. Right, and then after months and months and months of just hearing about how the SEC is dead in the water, Big Ten has surpassed them. It's been, now again, most of the SEC games have been not even supposed to be competitive, but it's been a rough outing for the Big Ten. If the SEC wins these games this weekend, does that do anything to that narrative, or is it still all about, gotta win a championship? The song burns, I'm gonna stop singing, Mike, until the SEC does at least get back to the national championship. It would be one thing if they were just, if they had lost in the Natty a couple of times, but to be left out and have the Big Ten run three in a row, I think that song is gonna keep singing, but it may not be, it will not be as loud. The jukebox won't be as loud if the SEC, particularly if Texas makes a statement. And if Oklahoma goes up and kind of really puts the screws to a Michigan team that everyone believes that they screwed over Western Michigan a week ago, I think certainly some SEC fanboys will start chirping a little louder. Like me. All right. How about the first conference game of the season? Jesse, Alabama on the road at Kentucky. I thought I had no clue what to make at Kentucky. And it was against Youngstown, but I thought they looked really efficient. I think they looked pretty good. And again, I don't know if I'd call this a toss up, but I thought Kentucky had no shot in this game. I'm starting to believe they have a shot now. Yeah, I mean, it's again, it's you know, we've kind of dissected Keelan Russell a bit earlier in the episode, but you know, if he isn't as consistent in his performance, then that certainly opens up the door for a Kentucky upset. This is a big, big opportunity for Will Stein to get Alabama this early. I think you certainly would rather see them now than you would in a month when Russell's gotten, you know, a lot of runway under his feet. So for an offensive line that's still trying to build some cohesion, for a running back room, you know, Crowell's just a freshman, so you got a freshman at running back, a redshirt freshman at quarterback. It certainly seems like Ryan Williams has got the yips. I know he had a nice second half, and you know, he's electric with the ball in his hands. There's no doubt about that. But the fact, you know, when your chest passing catches, and then you're literally dropping a jet sweep, it's just, I don't know, something's up there. So, and Alabama just didn't look, you know, the final score looked really good, but they were sloppy early with penalties. You know, they came out and had a penalty on the first play of the game. It's just, they can't afford those sorts of mistakes on the road in the first SEC game with a Kentucky team that has absolutely nothing to lose. You know, if Will Stein goes out there and Alabama does win by 17 points, no one's gonna hang that on Will Stein. But if it's a three-point game going on in the fourth quarter, suddenly the Kroger lines may be empty, but Kroger Field might be loud as hell, and it could be looking dicey for Bama. One more thing on the Big Ten versus SEC. If Taylor and Mississippi State goes up and beats a Minnesota team that had, I think, like an eight-win over-under, and Mississippi State, for a lot of folks, preseason rankings was somewhere near the SEC seller, that would be another statement. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I think you're 100% right. And it was so easy for Mississippi State in the opener against ULM, not that that's a good team by any means, but it's not going to be as easy going on the road. I think it's going to come down to the fourth quarter, a final-type possession, and we'll see if Jeff Levy can get it done, but that's going to be a big one. What about Tennessee, Georgia Tech? Tech lost to Colorado, last-second field goal. Tennessee looked good. Of course, they were playing a Furman-type team, but what's your expectation for this one? This was not a good week for the Brent Key, was not a Haynes King plus Buster Faulkner merchant. If you're a Tech fan or even a Brent Key believer, and I'm not saying that Brent Key can't get it turned around at Tech, but Haynes King and Buster Faulkner were carrying a lot of weight there because Tech looked terrible against a Colorado team, who I don't think is very good either. That was an ugly football game. And I know the game is in Atlanta, but I would expect a lot of orange and white in the stands there at Bobby Dodd. And so I don't think Faison Brandon is going to go out and do Cam Newton again and have five touchdowns in his debut like Cam. But I think that they're going to run the ball straight. If Colorado could run for 184 yards, I think Tennessee with the wide hashes and Bishop and those guys, I think I said last week or a couple weeks ago on the show, I think you're in agreement. I think Tennessee might have the best or maybe after Georgia, the second best offensive line in the SEC. I think Tennessee handles their business. Hey, how about Friday night action? It's weird that we're in week two and we're already got Friday night. But Kansas, Little K Kansas hosting Missouri. Drinks come out today and gave a promising update on Kaden Green, the outstanding left tackle. He's back at practice. They're still monitoring him. So not yet a full go, but honestly, I'd be surprised if he's not there. And then Mod Hardy is still not practicing. So he's not going to be playing. But what's your thoughts on Missouri Kansas here? You know, I said last week about Missouri, I said, how many, how many carries is Jamal going to get? And I pegged that number. I said, if it's less than 15, that does not give me a lot of faith that Hardy is going to be back anytime soon. I think Mikey had 13. I think he had 13. I think it was just short of that. I think they kind of run wild. If you're a Missouri fan, you have to say, hey, maybe we finally got a quarterback. It's been a while since Drew Locker. Maybe we finally got a quarterback. Simmons looked great. And he's going to have, I think, some games where he turns the ball over because he is kind of a shot guy in trying to go for that home run. But in week one, he looked good. And so you got to say, hey, I know it's a big rivalry game, but this is a game that Missouri, if they are the program that all these Tiger fans continue, you know, they like to crawl and kind of say, let's see it, roar about it, I guess you should say. How about, ooh, Arkansas at Utah. I don't know if you saw this, Jesse, but Silverfield came out yesterday and said, hey, man, what was it exactly? It was like the sky's not falling, the season's not over. I'm like, buddy, you won. It didn't sound right from a literally first game on the job. He's already trying to caution the fans that they'll get it corrected. It did not look good. It also, they were kind of, I think, I would say Arkansas, Auburn, Oklahoma State. I'm missing one. There were several of these programs that basically did what I talked about, doing the monopoly, move the house to just a different neighborhood. It didn't work. Arkansas won the game, Auburn won the game. But there's some real concerns there. I did not see those comments from Silverfield. That is funny. But KJ Jack, it was much more of a struggle than I thought. I thought that I was skeptical about Auburn's offense, but I said last week, I said, Camario Taylor and KJ would be two quarterback you could get for cheap on your prize picks, daily fantasy games. Camario hit, that was a good one, but I was one for one there because Arkansas's offense did not look good. That seems like a tough match up because again, you're doing the transitive property theory. It certainly looks like Utah, based on one game, made the correct decision and saying, hey, we were ready for the Kyle Whittingham era to expire, so we pushed him out, promoted Morgan Scali. They look great. Again, they played your favorite cupcake, favorite bakery's cupcake, but let's see. I think this is a tough start for Arkansas when you say, at Utah, noon against Georgia, I think the next week, and then you're even playing a Tulsa team that looked pretty darn feisty again against an Oklahoma State opponent that a lot of folks had a lot of expectations on this year. Yeah, somehow this schedule that many had pegged is the toughest out there. It got a lot tougher with Tulsa looking a lot better. So yeah, I don't know, man. I hope I'm wrong about them. But after one week, and what they have been pointing to is the defense looks really good. But if you will watch that game, North Alabama, I mean, they're like starting a guy that was defensive back at Kentucky as quarterback. I mean, it's kind of is what it is. Is what it is. That might be the epitaph of Arkansas football. It just it is what it is. How about Arizona State at A&M? A&M is a big favorite. Our our former Kentucky quarterback, Cutter Bowley is down there at Arizona State. He apparently threw six. He was good, man. He looked good. I just saw the high. I did not see any of that game. They were playing again, whatever your favorite directional school. But he looked good. I know the Texas A&M game might have been the most fake score game of the entire weekend. I think that the fact that they if you if you they won that game 50 to nothing, Mike. That game was 19 to 0 at half time. They look that offensive line with four new starters looked bad. Now they got it together in the second half. You finish with nearly 250 on the ground. I am not the biggest Marcel Reed fan, but this was more of the guys in front of him than his own doing. He got sacked multiple times. There was way too many TFLs allowed. I don't know a ton about Arizona State's defense because they've had so many different moving parts there during the Kenny Dillingham era. But if I'm just talking about this in terms of the future for SEC play, that was a no take back for me. I was a little concerned about A&M's offensive line coming in to the season and nothing in that game kind of assuaged that notion. Interesting. Do you think we will see more signs of life from Auburn? I mean, heck, we better. A 31-point spread against Southern Miss. Our buddy Stephen was on last night. I was unaware. I don't know how closely you follow Southern Miss, Jesse. But basically, he said, Charles, this was Huff's team and he took the team with him to Memphis. So what will be the concern, I guess, if Auburn looks kind of bad against this team? Well, I mean, I don't know if it's like a five alarm fire, but I think that if you're struck, Southern Miss was awful last two years ago when Huff got that job. And then, you know, he turned a 111 team, I think one went seven and five to parlay that into Memphis. And I think he did take like 10 guys with them. So yeah, Auburn needs to... Byron Brown's been great against these American teams. He has struggled historically, and the numbers are grisly when he's played against Power Four competition. And that was why I had my concerns coming in. When he's played the Alabama's floor, even the win against Florida, he wasn't great. He played against Miami, and then what we saw against the Baylor defense again, that was terrible, you know, if they can't score a bunch of points against a tomato can, that's going to be a real, real alarming deal when you're talking about, you know, who they have in SEC play. Yeah. And then again, I know it's early. Usually we have you on a little bit later, so you got more time to dissect all this, but I'm just wondering, and if you don't, that's fine too, but do you have any strong leans this early? Like are there any of these games that you'd be willing to predict out right here on Tuesday? Yeah. I mean, I'll go with the biggest one. I mean, I have been critical of Sark, but I think that if the stars are aligned, they win, you know, whether it's 28, 25 or whatever, I think they win the game and cover the one and a half. So I think that the second half of what you saw from Arch last season was real. And so I'm a believer in that. And now he has AJ Green 2.0 at his disposal, and Cam Coleman, Ryan Wingo looked better, you know. So I'm a believer. And so I think that that's real. And I think they beat Ohio State on Saturday. Interesting. Anything, and again, maybe it's always a mistake to have kind of like big proclamations after one week of football, particularly when 13 of the games were not competitive. But after one week, do you, are you buying into the narrative that the SEC is completely wide open? Or do you think maybe that there's just three or four teams that could realistically win it? Well, I said I picked Georgia to win the league, and they played a horrible FCS team, but they beat the brakes off of them. And they looked like they got some guys, playmakers that were teased. They were a team, Mike, that I said had kind of been, I don't know if they were underrated, but they were under discussed compared to the other big boys, not even just in the SEC, but nationally. Oregon, Texas, LSU, Ohio State, those Miami, those teams got way more shine than a Georgia team that brought back as much production as any team in the country. The youngest team still in the country. But they paid for that roster for a good reason. Jaden Riddell, who no one had heard about really before, he was a like spring all-star. Nate Frazier is healthy. I think that, I still think that Georgia, if I'm picking today, I would go with Georgia, but I said that they were going to play Texas, and I would slide LSU into that group of being one of those three teams. It would be my pick to win the SEC, as we sit here going into week two. Okay. Well, hey, Jesse, before you take off, can you tell the Cousins where to follow you and where to find all your work? Yeah, Cousins, come on over to Surrender Cobra. It's a sub stack. You can help keep the lights on there. You can find the link at Jesse RE. Simonton on X or Twitter. I got a weekly feature, Monday morning take back, the Friday walkthrough kind of recaps everything, sets up the weekend, and lots of good stuff in between. So come on over. Yeah, and thank you, Lane Kiffin, for giving us all this content to discuss. There's going to be a lot more to be coming, so stay locked in to the channel. Stay locked in to the Surrender Cobra. Jesse, we appreciate you. We look forward to having you back next week. Normal time next week. We'll be back on Thursday. Yeah. Enjoy the weekend, man. Appreciate it. Thanks, Mike.