Pick Six Podcast | Bowling Green MMQB

0:00Flip is your home to win this football season. Think your QB is drawing for 300 yards? Flip right he is. Running back, finding the end zone? Flip yeah. Pick two or more players and go over under on their stats. Passing yards, rushing yards, catches, touchdowns. However, you football, there's a way to flip it. New customers get a deposit match up to $250, plus bonus catch on every flip and deposit. Damload flip, use promo code steel. Must be 18 plus, no purchase necessary void where prohibited, restrictions applied, play responsibly, see getflift.com for eligibility terms and full promotion rules. It's a special pick six new addition to the pick six family. It's called the Monday after, as we're welcome in, Evan Blan, I'm Gary Sharp. After what we saw on Saturday night, 56, 7, what you wrote about, anything change on what you perceived and what you think about after the game? You know, Gary, I was talking with Sam McEwan about this on Saturday night.

1:01I feel like through the years, these kind of games that Nebraska play, I just forget about in a couple of years or whether they're playing U-TEP, Houston, Christian, Akron, but what I took away from the game that I feel like could be memorable and has sort of endured at least in the day or two after has been, I thought Anthony Kalandry looked really impressive. And sometimes guys can put up big numbers against struggling defenses or whatever, but I thought Kalandry, just a lot of the things that he showed will translate into the big 10, whether that was his awareness of pressure, that little step up he had on the play action, throw to Jacori Barney. Like that was, he sensed that. I feel like that's something that can carry over that. Four yard out to quasi-yomer for a touchdown where Gilmer dives and keeps a foot in. Like that could happen against anyone in the big 10.

2:02And that was just a precision throw that was made. And he picked his spots to run. So to me, that was what I took away. Like the defense, I thought looked better, but bowling green's not a jug or not on that side of the ball. The running game looked good, but kind of the same thing. The defense gave him some things there. I just thought Kalandry, the traits that he showed and the explosiveness that the receivers flashed as well. Those are the things that can translate to the big 10. So maybe that's the takeaway that I'll have. We'll see if that endures, but right now that feels like something maybe that can last for a couple more months. And I think bowling green is the worst team that a brass school play all year. North Dakota is 3-0. They're coming to town on Saturday night. They're average in nearly 51 a game. I just think Eddie George is trying to figure out that roster. But I think last night was kind of a little bit about what you said about Kalandry. And we'll dive into the vibe is different. And the vibe feels genuine with Kalandria and his teammates

3:05is this was about Nebraska to me last night. And it was, it was curious to hear, hear players and even the head coach talk after the game. They expected, you know, everybody knows what the spread is. They're 30 and a half point favorites. They expected to win big and outside of not really having the ball at all in the third quarter. The score to eight touchdowns. They had five in the first half, three in the second half, all three in the fourth quarter. But I think it's at least a step in the right direction for an older team, Evan, that they expected to win like that against an inferior opponent and then went out and did it. And we heard it in the interviews afterward too. I mean, Donovan Jones, he wasn't ready to talk about his pick. He was the first thing he said was, man, he should have had two. And Matt Rulke comes in there and says, look, I apologize to our guys for not getting to our second and third units sooner than we did. And he said, yeah, the sideline was kind of pissed when they gave up the touchdown and lost the shutout. So like that's kind of the goal is, especially in this era

4:07when you're given, you know, revenue sharing and the facilities and everything. Like how do you stay hungry and how do you stay unsatisfied? And they showed that I thought through that Akron game and you look around the big 10, a lot of other teams would have been happy to be in Nebraska's position in that game where Nebraska is able to pull away. So yeah, I think that's, that is a sign of maturity, right? Like if you're a freshman man, you probably revel in the night and you're talking about the light show and let's get on to the next one. It did seem like a group that, and I think the great teams have this. Like they don't measure themselves against the scoreboard or even their opponent. It's all about like the standard that they're trying to live up to. And the best, you know, the best that do it never live up to that standard. So even if Nebraska's winning going away and things look crisper and they made improvements from game one to game two, like it's, I think it's a good sign of where this team is internally

5:07with its, you know, just how it's motivated that even in a win like that, they came away hungry and feeling like they've lost some things on the team. Yeah, and we, we do this because every game, especially at a place like Nebraska's a referendum on the season. And they're 2 and 0 against two Mac schools. So they're going to be invited to Detroit in December. If they don't go to Indianapolis, they're going to be invited to Detroit to play in the Mac Championship game. So we're going to judge them. But, you know, I think we're smart enough to go. Okay, that opportunity to take that next step and really to see where you're at is probably about three games away when Indiana comes to town. But one thing I sense and just watching the first two games is you know how you can be a good team, but there's a big gap between being a great team. I think what these guys have said to us, because we all made our prediction six, seven, eight wins, is we don't know what our ceiling is. And it's a long season. I got 10 more football games.

6:07But back to the maturity part. And let's bring Calandria back into this discussion. You know, the vibe is different. The way they operate, the offense for two games runs smoothly. It makes sense is it, it, it, it seems like guys are having fun. And you have fun when you have two big wins, but it doesn't seem forced, Evan, to me. It seems like it's genuine that you've got a quarterback out there that is loving, playing football. And it also helps that he's a little bit older guy that he can get on the older guys that are his same age or even some of the younger guys when he sees something he doesn't, and they don't get offended. You know, and it kind of seems like it's all connected right now. I'm with you on that. The way that I kind of view it is, I didn't, I don't get the sense that anybody feels the weight of the program right now. The way that I kind of felt like people did in past years. It last year, really the first three years of the rule era, you could kind of point to guys who are like, man, they really want to win for Nebraska,

7:08because they know what the fans have been through and they know that it's been down and they're just burning to get it back. And it feels like this is a group that doesn't have that as much. Maybe that's some of that's the fact that their portal transfers a lot of them, and they don't carry that. Whatever it is, it just, it does. It feels like they're just having fun playing football. And I think that's something that Nebraska's been missing at times because there has been sort of almost a, like a moral burden that a lot of these guys have been carrying like, man, we got to get Nebraska back to what it was. These guys are just saying, let's go out and have some fun. Let's be explosive with our receivers. If we have an online, let's get a great push up front and do what Jeep Wade's telling us to do in practice. Or if you're, you know, on Shameless, you're just happy to be back out on the field and healthy with your guys. So it does. It feels like there's a lightness and emotional lightness and in some way, maybe that translates over into a physical explosiveness with some of the things

8:08that they're doing and like they walked the line well because I think they were upset. Maybe that they felt like they left some things on the table, but it wasn't, it wasn't a reflection of who they are or their bad people or anything like that. Like they're, it's a healthy striving to reach a standard that they haven't hit yet. And so I'm with you. It feels like we have another week of this with North Dakota and we'll see you on Michigan State. You know, they'll see how, how ready they are to roll in East Lansing in a couple of weeks. But the external sort of litmus test is coming up but it feels like this is a team with so many new starters, new staffers on the coaching side that's still kind of figuring out what it has. And I don't feel like we've seen anything close to what the ceiling can be with this team just yet. I think one thing, you know, we looked at Kalander's legs in his arm and he's dazzled. I mean, they went over 260 and passing 260 in rushing last night and, you know, all three running backs, the top three running backs all had eight carries,

9:09rule got tightened up so it didn't play much in the second half. I am really impressed and then this comes with playing a lot of football and Nebraska's made that transition from being one of the younger teams of college football to being one of the older ones. The between Kalander is Ears, Evan. I think that's what's one of the bigger things that stood out to me the first two weeks. He had a play last night where he actually threw a touchdown pass where in real time, he picked up a coverage and he also picked up a blitzer. He just, it's almost like he can see the whole field. And I know it's Ohio and Boling Green, but it's still, you have to go out there and perform. It just having the maturity of an older quarterback that's been through it, I think has been super beneficial to this entire team, whether he's throwing to a guy in Gilmer that has played a lot of college football or he's throwing to a guy like Quinn Clark or he's handing off to rule in the backfield. I think we're seeing the elder statesman at quarterback and the amount of snaps he's had whether it Virginia, UNLV is immensely benefiting.

10:12Not only his football team, but I think it's also benefiting his offense or coordinator in the variety of things that they're running in the first two weeks. I like to look at his background too as someone who was not highly recruited at a high school out of the state of Florida. He was told always that he was a little bit too short. It was told that he couldn't do things and then starts off at Virginia, goes to the Mountain West. And even there, it's like, hey, great job, but it was the Mountain West. You do it on a big stage. So I think he has an appropriate grounding to his football background to where there's still a chip on his shoulder. He was never really given anything as a football player. He had to prove it every step of the way. And so he's a guy I think if you just were watching his film, you'd say super athletic, he has a big arm. But Nebraska coaches have said this too, like the thing that they've been the most pleased with him about his understanding of the system and grasping it well and knowing what everybody else

11:14is supposed to do. And then by the way, he has that fire and that sort of intangible fortitude to call out a receiver for a drama or whatever it might be. So he's not, you don't get the sense that he's in this for himself or for any kind of personal branding opportunities. Like he's one of the guys he likes to play football. I think he understands that his profile might not be an NFL guy someday. So he's enjoying this. He kind of strikes me as a guy. It could be a coach down the line, kind of just a football lifer and grinder type. So I mean, it's just, it's refreshing. Nebraska's had athletes at quarterback quite a few of them, really in the last decade, but not a lot of guys who have that physical ability paired with some of the mental stuff that they do. He does seem to have a deep understanding of what defenses can do and kind of like anything. You know, when those DCs start making seven figures when the big 10 games roll around, you know, we'll see how that goes.

12:15But I don't even feel like he's relied that much on his mobility to this point. I mean, he's kind of picked a couple of moments to run every game, but it hasn't been overdone by any means. So it does feel like he has some tricks in the bag even that he hasn't shown you. And he hasn't thrown in it. Not that I can think about top my head. He hasn't thrown any ball where you go, whoa, what are you doing? Now his completion percentage went up last night. He had, he has the zip on the ball. And I hope he continues to throw it like that. You can tell that he likes himself, some Gilmer, who is really a good route runner and has got good hands. He likes some Barney. We haven't dove deep into the offensive line. Tackleplay was okay last night, but you can tell that guard center guard, they're very athletic. Anything in the first two weeks that of all the talk about Kalandria and what we just discussed, anything that you're like, okay, I haven't seen this yet. I know we still maybe be a few weeks away, but man, I'm going to hone more in on this next Saturday night

13:15against North Dakota on offense. Well, I think it would just be kind of the conversation we had last week where how do they continue to spread around the touches and the opportunities? Because, and as they are hunter, I thought, looked again incredibly explosive like he did in the opener. Like that's a guy, I think if you're the coaching staff watching that back, you're like, we've got to find a way to get him to ball more. I mean, what did he have just a couple of targets? Like you can't tell me that he wasn't open on a few more of those opportunities. And to take nothing away from Gilmer and Barney and what they did. But how do you get him a little bit more involved? Quinn Clark brings a different sort of dimension. Like I kind of feel like his size could come into play more in the big 10s. So can you get him going a little bit more leading up to that Michigan State, Maryland opening stretch? And then the running back situation, I think they're probably going to continue to go with the committee approach like we've seen. But the thing that kind of stands out, Matt Rool made sure to mention this again Saturday night,

14:20when he was asked about the position group, he said, like, look good, but it's not the big 10 yet. And so I think like the staff has been constantly confident about what that group can be. But they haven't taken these first two weeks to sort of take a victory lap just yet. I think they realize that that level is going to move up a little bit still. So the O-line had its moments, but we saw Gunner Gatula flip over to the left side and Elijah Pritchett came out for a little bit. Tree Bob Lade was in, right, tackle. So I don't know if that was just kind of giving him a look. We didn't ask Rool about that after the game. But I don't know whether you want to say it's unsettled, but it's a line that you kind of felt was going to be an obvious strength. And to this point, it's been maybe good, but not overwhelmingly dominant. So I think that's another thing you'd love to continue to see that group coalesce. And maybe that's the group, again, with multiple new starters that need a few games to play together in a live setting to really play as one unit.

15:23So we'll see how that shakes out as well. So sticking with that theme, let's go over to the other side of the football. And McDougall played really, really well last night. It was good to have Chameless back on the field. You can tell he's a very cerebral football player. He was in the right spot at the right time. Got his feet wet. Now the usage will go up as long as he stays healthy. I think the whole season will be about, man, what about that defensive line? And they have played everybody, I think, that is eligible to play defensive line, except you, me, and Sam. They played a lot of guys. Granted, last night, you were able to play more, but it's a concerted effort. Guys aren't like getting 60 plus snaps. It more seems situational. But there's going to be the discussion of, can you get home? How do you find a pass rush where you can do it Russian for or whatever you have to do? Any change there after last night and after the first two games about what you've written about and thought about the defensive line? Yeah, I thought it was a little bit better, unsaturday.

16:26I don't know if that was a reflection of them showing improvement or if that was just bowling greens situation. But, you know, Williams-Woneri had his moment there with the bad-ed pass that led to the interception. I think just here, Wittington has been who we thought he could be. A little bit shorter, disruptive, quick, twitch sort of player on the interior, which is a little bit unique. You know, Owen Stautamire had his moments who've seen Anthony Jones do what he does or probably been poppels rotated in. So I think the unit, the rotation has been about what you would expect. But I mean, Rob Orch is going to have a decision to make. Like, obviously in an ideal world, you rush for and somebody gets home and that's how you create turnovers and stops. But if that's not the case, then you have to start picking your poison and say, are you going to allow that quarterback to sit back there a little bit and you keep your defensive backs and your secondary back? Or do you bring pressure from somewhere and hope that it gets home before the opponents

17:28able to exploit that situation? So again, I don't know that we're going to find an answer to that in North Dakota this week, but I think we will, again, when you start getting into a big 10 play a little bit there. So, you know, maybe some of those guys continue to come along. I continue to think when Erie's a guy who just is physically gifted in a way that not a lot of guys on this roster are. So can you continue to put him in a spot where he can be disruptive? I think that's some of these questions they're going to have to answer. And I think another question that I have and we really haven't seen it. So you're waiting in a conference where the tight ends are so important. And, you know, I think bowling green has a really good tight end who is going to be an NFL guy last that played last night is those leaky tight ends and those running backs out of the backfield where they put Nebraska defenders in a one-on-one situation in space. We saw the week before with a mobile quarterback. That's the one thing I'm still waiting to see and that I have to see to grasp this defense, which I think this defense last night did some things.

18:29I don't know that they have a ton of guys that are going to be individually making plays on their own that are just dudes and you're like, wow, that guy. I think last night it showed you they swarmed to the ball. They're going to need a lot of hats to the ball and they were able to do that last night. And that might be the way their defense goes. But part of that defense that we don't even, we don't even really have to bring up as a concern. How has Andrew Marshall made this jump? Don't you think Andrew Marshall Evan is making himself some money as every week goes along during the 26 season? So far so good through two weeks. He had what the six targets know catches against him and the opener and I thought he kind of laid the wood a little bit more in game two. He was embracing the physicality coming up. I think it was Donovan Jones or I forget who it was afterwards said like it's not usually the corner that's setting the tone for physicality but Marshall was that guy and bowling green tested him too. So like both of these right away. Right away. Yeah, I mean they were they were going after him. So he was obviously a rep for Nebraska Big 10 media days.

19:32He's a single digit for a reason, player leader. And so I think that's a mark of a healthy team is when the guys that your team identifies the leaders and the standard bearers actually go out then and translate that into production on the football field. You know, he's a great example of that. And you know, you think about his background too guy who comes over from Idaho and was lightly recruited out of high school in Nebraska saw something in him in the portal. And so you know good on him for coming. I remember he told me in Chicago like he had thought about going pro last off season and NFL scouts told him we needed to be faster. And we need to be around the ball more. And he said at the time he's like, I'm going to be around the ball all the time. And through two weeks man, he's been as good as his word knocking down passes laying down hits and he's been fun for sure. Special teams, Archie Wilson got the night off. He was able to have a good seat for the drone and firework show Kyle Kananon.

20:34Tempted his first field goal was short from 55 yards, but the snap the hold the kick on PATs were perfect. The returns are kind of interesting. The stuff that goes on during the returns is kind of interesting. Too soon on special teams or something that we should pay attention to after a week one compared to what we saw last night. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't have the look of last year's unit right now. I mean, the returns haven't been particularly dynamic. I think the verdict isn't in yet on the specialist. Like you said, we didn't see Archie Wilson punt at all. The only kick we've seen from Kyle Kananon was way deep and it almost felt like they just wanted to give him a chance in that moment. So I thought maybe the most interesting thing was what Matt rules said afterward about the penalties as it relates to special teams. He had the two off sides in week one and then he had, I think, was a couple holding calls on the return game this time.

21:35And he said it was he thought that the referees have been tighter with those, with some of those things and Nebraska plays that aggressively. And so they might have to adjust some of that. So, you know, again, it's like it's it's it's better that unit is better than what we've seen from Nebraska three, four years ago when snaps were a disaster and they're giving up bigger turns and losing games that way. But I think you get a taste last year of how much that unit can help flip field position and give you just a little bit of a shot in the arm when you need it. I don't know that this this group is that, you know, we're still just two games in, but you would think like if these guys are going to be difference makers, these are some weeks for you to to show that. But then on the other hand, you've got two new co coordinators and and a lot of new personnel that are still settling into. So, feels sort of incomplete, but I don't know just from what we've seen through two games of the ceilings quite as high as what Mike Ecclerc crew brought out there last year. Let's have some penalties real quick.

22:37The penalties from week one to week two were a little bit different. There were week one. There were more pre snap Nebraska in two weeks is have this pension for if you're going to commit a penalty, it's going to erase an exciting fan friendly play. But but I'm watching so watching around college football the first two weeks and I don't have a chart in front of me. It seems like there is and this is a college basketball term point of emphasis. It seems like in college football, there are certain things that have become a point of emphasis around the game in the first couple of weeks is we're going to call it and you guys have to adjust kind of feels that way with some of the stuff we saw last night, whether it be, you know, a couple of questionable ones on special teams, but it just seems like maybe that's what we're going through in terms of the amount of flags that have been thrown, whether they be in Memorial Stadium or elsewhere around the game. Yeah, it does seem a little bit more. I think you're Corey Barney again has to go up there and say, yeah, I apologize to my guys for for costing a touchdown and he felt like even in the moment like, hey, I just, I was just blocking man and you know, this one wasn't behind the ball like the screen

23:43was a week ago, but yeah, it does. It kind of feels like guys are maybe having to adjust and we're a little bit surprised and saying, hey, I'm just trying to be physical and do what I've been coached up to do. And so yeah, a little bit of adjustment there. It's like in baseball, if you know, if you're not getting that outside corner as a pitcher, like you got to adjust, you got to move it in a little bit. So I think there's some of that probably going on with Nebraska. And again, it's a luxury to be able to work through this when you're at home, when you're playing teams that you're you're outmaning from a talent perspective. So you know, they didn't have to go to Minnesota to start the year this year. They're not going, they didn't go to Ireland. So I do think like it's a luxury where you're able to sort of nitpick a little bit and dive deeper on some of these issues that could crop up and make a difference later. It does seem like we talked about their standard and earlier, like I think they're acutely aware of it. I don't think it's a situation where they're like, yeah, well, we just won by 49. So like penalties or whatever, like I think they do take it seriously that the margins

24:48are going to be so thin moving forward that you got to iron this stuff out now. And I do think they have that that sense of urgency and emphasis on cleaning that up against North Dakota before you get into leap play. I've made this case to friends of mine that, you know, because everybody is like, oh, she's the NIL, the game has changed. And I said, well, if you if you're patient enough, once we get to the start of the season, it could make it really interesting, especially at the beginning of the year, we're all of these rosters are trying to figure each other out. And you have a lot of more movement now with coordinators that go and get head coaching jobs or you fire coordinators quicker. We're now two weeks in. We've looked at the big 10. We've looked at the college landscape where last night, Texas rallies to be Ohio state, what happened in still water. Has it become more chaotic? Has it become more interesting? What's your read on how kind of wonky college football has been for the first two weeks, but also, you know where I'm going here, Evan, that big 10 angle where we're going. Wow, that team is not as good as I thought when we were making predictions back in mid-August.

25:52Yeah, the parody seems like it continues to spread. The Oklahoma State went over Oregon was notable to me because I've kept this chat, this chart bookmarked since the preseason about the most experienced teams in FBS football this year. The state was number two or three. And so I kind of just put a pin in that. I was like, you know what, this is a roster that has a ton of new guys, new head coach, new schemes, all that, but he imports a lot of his players over from his previous stop and these are older guys. And what do they do? They beat an Oregon team that has that's still relatively young, that has new coordinators. And honestly, it was not a fluke. I mean, they gave up in pick six. They still won the game. That's a result that I look at and say it really feels like experience. It waits heavier now in the current portal era than it did before. Continuity, nobody really has a lot of that. Like a good luck trying to keep it as it's probably not going to have it to the degree

26:56that you did before. Can you have older guys that are professionals that can learn the schemes quickly that are confident in their own techniques that don't need a ton of in-season development? And so like Nebraska's kind of fits that bill a little bit. We talked about the drier. You know, the lines are older. The skill guys have been around, at least in terms of the receivers and the tight end. And so like, you just kind of wonder, like, what's the value of that going to be moving forward? And like the big 10 is shown, like it's there to be had. Like I'm not saying Nebraska is going to finish on the top two. Like that middle class that we've talked about for a while is looking, you know, like they maybe took a pay cut in some of their neighborhoods recently. You know, I was looking a little shaky Illinois. Maybe it is looking a little shaky. You know, USC has been winning, but you can kind of see some things there. So like it does feel and again, Nebraska hasn't been challenged with competition to the

27:58degree that some of these schools have, but it does feel like finally, after the first time in what, probably four years Nebraska is actually an older veteran roster. It's just going to be fascinating to see how that translates onto the field in some of these close games against teams they haven't been able to get past in recent years. I can't wait for the transit of property. You're really, really good football team when Tulsa and Western Michigan play each other. As we wrap up this Monday morning after Nebraska defeats bowling green 56 seven. They got North Dakota coming up at six o'clock on Saturday night. North Dakota is three and oh, they're averaging really 51 points a game. If you remember back the last time they were in Memorial Stadium, it was 17 17 at one point before Nebraska pulled away to win 38 17. It's a good FCS football team that finds themselves into the postseason while plenty to talk about and write about all week long leading up to the game against the fighting hawks. So let's finish here with after two weeks, two truths and a lie.

29:00If you want to go first with the two truths and then I'll sneak in a lie and then we'll swap. Hmm. Okay. Well, I'm going back to I think Anthony Kalandria is the guy like I think the throws that he made will be throws that will work in the big 10. I think the mobility piece, especially I would say his discernment on when to run if that carries over into the big 10 you feel better about his health about the exposure to potential turnovers. I just I've been very impressed by what he's done regardless of the competition. I think that's a truth and a game that translates my other truth. I'm going to go back to special teams. I just I don't know that I've seen a lot in these first two games that we tell you that that's going to be a unit that's going to be a major asset to win games for Nebraska. I think it can avoid being a liability, but I don't know that it's going to be a group that's going to win a bunch of games just from from what I've seen from the the kicking

30:01piece, the return piece. You haven't seen anybody necessarily emerge individually in terms of of coverage guys or tacklers just yet. So I kind of my sense is what we've seen is kind of what we're going to get this year on that group. My lie will be what happened in Austin because everybody said well Texas is back. Texas is always back and that game to me more was Ohio State opened up the door. You get Ryan Day in a one score game where he's got to rely on a kicker and you know what happens when it comes to Ohio State. My lie is I'm still not sold on Steve Sarkisian as being a top level coach. I think their approach when they were down 20 didn't make a lot of sense, but Ohio State kept him in the game and then they took advantage of that. So Texas has plenty of road ahead of them in that conference and their schedule that I could change that right now for people that are saying, oh my gosh, Sarkisian put him there with Kirby. No, Georgia to me is the number one team in the country, not Texas.

31:02That would be my lie that Texas with Sarkisian is back. I will wait on that. Do you have a lie through the first two weeks or what you've around college football or what you've seen in Memorial Stadium? My lie is that the big 10 is dead. The big 10 is not dead despite some of the results that we've seen the first two weeks. Here's why I say that because you look at a team like Minnesota, do you want to play Minnesota in early September or do you want to play Minnesota in November? You want to catch them. That's a good point. You want to play. They got to win every year. I was another great example. They barely hold on to beat Iowa State. If that game's played in November, Iowa wins by double digits. I think that's just how they are. They settle in. They figure out their roles. That's a trait that you see in the big 10. I think if Illinois played Duke in November in the cold, Illinois probably wins that game. That's to say nothing of the top of the league. Ohio State blew a lead to Texas.

32:02Ohio State is not going anywhere. They're going to be a CFP team. Indiana, they're not going to get tested here for at least another few weeks. They may well be the national title favorite again based on what they're showing right now. I'm not I'm not ready to throw dirt on the big 10 just yet. I think there's a lot of depth there. Yeah. The coaches are too good. The players are too good for that for what we've seen through two weeks to hold. I think that's a group and a league that's going to continue to get better as the weather gets colder. Wild to say and please, Indiana, place somebody during the non conference. Please give us that as college football fans is that they may not be tested until they come to Lincoln on the October 10th. That's right. And Nebraska, well, I'm not going to say that'll be Nebraska's first test. They got a road trip to Michigan State and a Maryland team that's got my interest after what they did yesterday. My truth would be I'm absolutely with you. I think the vibe around Calandria is real. It feels genuine. It's not forced. It's not scripted. It seems like guys are having fun being around him.

33:04He enjoys playing with the other guys and the way they talk about him doesn't seem like oh, we have to say something about him because he's the quarterback. So I believe that's a truth and I think that truth will carry over. And then I think the other truth is Nebraska, you know, they're going to win some NIL battles and they're going to lose some NIL battles. But one of the biggest things to me to move the program forward is can they retain guys and the and you laid out the story after talking to Andrew Marshall and Chicago Evan. I think the truth of them being able to retain Andrew Marshall that he came back for another year. They got him out of the portal out of Idaho. But he's a guy that as weeks go by, he's going to continue to make money. And that's such a luxury in this conference. If you have a legit cornerback that everybody is going to avoid and it makes the field one sided. I mean, that's you are you are a step ahead when you're calling defenses. If you have that luxury. So that's a truth that I think Andrew Marshall is legit and now people are going to realize

34:08that as we get closer into the conference season and go through the conference season. Totally. Two truths. A lie. North Dakota. You want to guess the spread? I don't think it's going to be. I have a look. I okay. All right. Yeah. No, I don't. I think I think Bowling Green is going to be the worst of the three non conference teams Nebraska plays like I mean, it'll probably in the upper 20s. But the thing about North Dakota that I think is ideal for Nebraska is that they might not be stuffed with talent necessarily. But that's a team that's going to be fundamentally sound that's not going to beat itself. Like the guys are going to be in position. So I think this is a week where Nebraska just used to play sound fundamental football. And you know, they're not a big 10 team clearly. But I think their their ethos is sort of in that mold of a big 10 team. Certainly they're cold weather program and have had some success in the past. So it's like if you talk about wins above replacement, it kind of feels like North Dakota's, you

35:11know, right, right at that mid level. And so it's not it's a great opportunity. I think for Nebraska to show how much above that line, it can be here just ahead of league play. I love that you're a war guy because we're both Cubs fans and P. Cron strong is chasing Sammy Soci for one of the top wars of all time of the Cubs. I love that. Um, final thought, uh, Cole Swindell, you have a favorite song or know who Cole, Cole Swindell is because a lot of people don't, but he's going to be performing after the game on Saturday night. I googled his name two weeks ago because I couldn't remember which non conference weekend had the concert. And no, I'm not a big country guy necessarily. I love how they're utilizing the stadium. And I know a lot of people are going to show up. They had another country, uh, concert out there a few weeks ago. And I just, I remember driving down. I think there was like, I don't remember why I was down there. But like people were wearing cowboy boots and like, okay, well, this is a clearly another another country deal. So it's very popular. I'm sure he's great.

36:12I'm sure he's super talented, but I did have to look him up. I don't, I'm not familiar with his full catalog. Uh, I, I know a couple of his songs. I also know that he's a Georgia Southern guy. So you remember that you remember what happened when Georgia Southern was last playing in Memorial Stadium. Oh, yeah. We were busy on a Sunday afternoon. And Coleswindale was pretty happy. He was very happy when they won that. He was probably pretty happy. That's good to know. Okay. Coleswindale Georgia Southern. Uh, I appreciate it. In business, there's no room for guesswork. Every shipment matters. Every deadline counts when you're trying to keep operations running smoothly. The last thing you need is uncertainty. That's why reliability is at the core of USPS ground advantage. From the moment your package is first scanned in, it moves through a secure nationwide network aiding in a timely and accurate delivery. You get near real time tracking so you can keep up with your shipments and with affordable upfront pricing, there are no hidden fees or surprise surcharges to throw off your

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