Epic Debacles in Ann Arbor & Columbus

[00:00:00] It was very disappointing after we had played pretty effectively last week. And there's nothing productive about this game, zero. It's not one step back, it's three steps back. The following is a presentation of Hobson Media. Woohoo! Alright, what's up? I'm not really an opening statement guy, but I will open with this statement. I'm fired up to be here. This is Church Pew Sports.

[00:00:27] Where we connect sports to life and faith. Could you repeat that first part? Take a knee. Absolutely glorious. Lend an ear. I believe it's going to be for the best. Then get ready to laugh, listen and learn. How about you announce that you're getting better? No matter your team, your favorite sport. Bowling. Bowling's insane! Bowling is crazy time!

[00:00:55] We cover it all here on Church Pew Sports. And we want the pop you on. Gentlemen, start your engines, brothers! The engines are started and so is this episode of Church Pew Sports. Hello friends. Welcome in to this combination and celebration of sports and life and faith. As we gather together tonight, every time I hear in that opening now, Coach Harbaugh yelling, who's got it better than us?

[00:01:23] I think the collective answer might be pretty much everybody. Whether you're in Ann Arbor or San Diego or LA or wherever the Chargers are these days. Good to have you along. Bill Hobson here along with the people's champ, David Collins. And all the way from the hallowed halls of academia, Duke University.

[00:01:44] We bring in for the first time in a while, Josh Gilmer coming in as the GOAT as we try to figure out what in the world is going on in Ann Arbor and Columbus and really the entire college football world. So let me begin first of all with David Collins. And is there anything, D, that you would like to begin the show with just getting off your chest?

[00:02:16] I mean, the unfortunate thing was coming into this is you sent the topics out and like most of my holy discontent and all that stuff was based on specific topics that we were going to talk about in the show. So I had to come up with all new stuff. But I mean, honestly, there's so many places I'd go with this. Whittingham at Michigan has just been, I mean, has anyone ever looked more clueless on the sidelines?

[00:02:44] We're Lions fans. All right. We've seen clueless on the sidelines. I mean, it's absurd what's going on there. I don't understand how you constantly like Michigan can only do one thing. Run the ball and play defense. Like that's all they do. They can't ever have a good passing offense. Like it's just like, and then every year you watch these Oregon's and Ohio State's and these other teams,

[00:03:12] they load up good receivers, all this stuff. And then they they're consistently decent offensive team. Like I don't understand. So I guess to get it off my chest, I don't know what's going on. Whittingham's not the answer here clearly. And they're going to have to go somewhere else. I'm hoping that the Chargers keep losing and then Harbaugh comes back. How about that? I would love for the show cause to be, he just sits it out and then he comes on back.

[00:03:36] Josh Gilmer, as you watch all of this from afar, but still as a Michigan fan, when they're not playing Duke, do you have any answers? Cause we're all kind of just coming up empty. I do not have any answers. I texted my dad after that Michigan State game that I got a little bit confused when I was watching the game cause I thought I was watching football, but really just felt like I was watching a comedy show and that's kind of how it feels.

[00:04:01] Yeah. Well, for those of you who are not Michigan centric, we also have on the other side of a conversational coin, uh, equal, I think, alarm taking place in Columbus, Ohio, is these traditional big 10 powers are both just going through it. Now, David, I could make the case that I'm not, I'm not shocked that Michigan lost to Michigan State, because we we've just been horrendous on offense all year.

[00:04:30] And you can only ask so much of your defense. I mean, if they're on the field for 52 minutes a game, they're going to give up a point at some juncture along the way. I think in, in Columbus, they might actually be more shocked, more surprised and more angry. I don't know about more angry, but certainly more surprised than what we're seeing in Wolverine circles, uh, because they were, I think, widely predicted to be in the, in contention for a national championship.

[00:05:00] And here now is a team. I don't know if people have been keeping track over the course of a couple seasons, Ohio State six and five in their last 11 games, but that's unusual for them. So where's the bigger mess right now? Which program is a bigger surprise to you? I mean, Ohio is the bigger surprise. Um, I think with Michigan, I mean, you bring it in, everything's brand new.

[00:05:26] You came off one of the weirdest, worst off seasons ever with the Sharon Moore stuff. And I think that if you went into the season thinking Michigan might struggle, that would make total sense to me. But what's truly shocking is like I was saying earlier, it just, it, it never seems to end with Ohio State. They're just always good at offense. They always have the next great receiver. They always have, look what they're doing in the pros with Jackson Smith and Jigba and all these guys.

[00:05:55] Like, and then now you've got, you know, Smith is like one of like, he's one of the most generational wide receiver talents ever. And yet somehow they're coming out in these games and they're blowing it. I don't even, I can't really grasp it because my entire worldview is always Ohio State's like a S tier, a tier every single year. And Michigan's usually like C tier.

[00:06:22] And then they just, every once in a while will pop up and win a national title in 2023. But other than that, it's like Michigan's like just so down and Ohio State's so up. So for it to be so weirdly like out of balance right now is kind of a, it's a fascinating thing with the, with the big 10 and with Ohio State and Michigan. Yeah. So Josh, as you, as you look at just kind of the college football landscape, which would be a bigger surprise in your world?

[00:06:49] Are we, are we just stunned by what's happening Columbus and the calls for Ryan Day's scalp or is Michigan still going to lead the, lead the category in, I cannot believe what's happening. I think, I think, I think I'm with David. I think Ohio State is definitely more surprising. Like I think Michigan is obviously undoubtedly in a much worse state. And I don't think that we thought it would be as bad as it is. But with that being said, and I'm a lot, I'm a lot younger.

[00:07:17] So I have never seen Ohio State be bad ever. And so, yeah, that is definitely a big surprise to me. I don't really know what's going on. As somebody older than you and as Bill, who's much older than you. Hey, wait a second. I just want you to know, like, even in our ages, we've never seen Ohio State be bad. Yes. Playing football. It's like, so this is just a totally, you see Penn State, this happens to Penn State.

[00:07:45] They lose games, they should win, et cetera, et cetera. That's, that's a Penn State thing. Ohio State, they don't do this. So it's just, it's a very weird situation right now. And I think they're, they've been looking for an excuse to get rid of Ryan Day, Ryan Day for a while. So to me, this is kind of, this is, this is setting up for them to be able to move in another direction. And they're going to get anybody they want. And he's going to go anywhere he wants. Ryan Day is still a really good football coach.

[00:08:12] I don't, you know, I can't begin to explain why they're having a tough season this season, except that they lost their potential Heisman winning quarterback to a, to an injury. And at the same time, as I look up in Ann Arbor, you can't say the same thing about Coach Winningham being highly desirable and on everybody's list of, oh, if he's ever freed up, we can't wait to come and get him.

[00:08:33] And about five minutes before we began in our recording tonight, I was on the phone with my friend, Brian Taylor, who is a, the University of Utah. He's one of their football color commentators. And he had called to talk to me about some golf stuff because he works in that space as well. And he said, man, he says, I cannot figure out what has happened to Kyle Whittingham. When he was here, he was energetic. He's in the weight room. He's with the guys.

[00:09:03] He's lifting with them. He's one of the guys, even though he's obviously quite a bit older. He said he seems to have somehow aged considerably as he moved across country. And it just looks like he doesn't have it at all. Now, we can bear witness to that theory every time this gentleman opens his mouth in front of a microphone.

[00:09:30] Here's Kyle Whittingham after Michigan State when he's being asked about whether or not he can rally the troops. Sure is. Yep. You mentioned not quitting and giving up on the season. But, again, how do you keep your guys motivated with three games left to go? Well, they're competitive. And if you're a competitive guy, then you want to continue to compete and be a part of it. And finish out. And so, you know, the players that we have in this program are very prideful. They're hurt right now.

[00:09:57] And that's my job as a coach to rally them back up and get them ready to, you know, compete for these last three games. And I don't know. Is there any more trophies in these last three games? I don't think there's any more trophies. But anyway. Are there any more trophies in those last three games? I don't know. Well, anyway. Okay. I can just picture the guys just running through the wall. Running through a brick wall for that. You're so fired up at that point. Yeah.

[00:10:24] Your coach is just going like, hey, you know, whatever happens, happens. Who knows what's going on? I don't care. Dude, I'm fired up. Let's go. Let's play some ball. Here he is on another one talking right after the game about the direction of the program. Seems to be. What do you do? It was very disappointing after we had played pretty effectively last week. And there's nothing productive about this game. Zero. It's not one step back. It's three steps back. And couldn't run the ball. Didn't throw the ball worth a darn. Turned it over four times.

[00:10:54] Couldn't make first downs. Couldn't make any third down conversion. I think we were two of ten. I got the quarterback sacked five times. And really, I can't come up with one positive offensively in this game. So we're right back to the drawing board. And obviously got to figure out our issues. Falls on me. I'm not hiding from that at all. Anything that happens has got my name on it.

[00:11:23] Now, I want to make sure you guys both understand, David and Josh, that was not a clip from Bo Schembechler. That was Kyle Whittingham. I just don't want you to be kind of misled because they would certainly both give almost the same answer in the wake of a debacle of a loss to a really, really bad Michigan State team. Right? So, Josh, I have a question for you. Who do you think at this point regrets the hiring decision more?

[00:11:52] Kyle Whittingham or the University of Michigan? I think it has to be Michigan. I mean, Kyle's been doing this for so long. He definitely doesn't need the money. I mean, there's a part of me that just says he does seem to be externally. He doesn't seem like he wants to be in it. That's rather apparent. But there's nothing stopping him from quitting. I think there is maybe some little piece of him that does at least want to turn something around.

[00:12:23] I went into this season, going back to the point about being surprised, I went into this season fully expecting that Michigan would at least have a shot at the playoff, knowing who Kyle Whittingham was, knowing the roster that we had. And that's not what we signed up for. So, yeah, I think it has for Michigan. The live chat's always open during our live stream. John Fitzsimmons says maybe he should worry about just winning games and not trophies. He's 0-2 in trophy games this year.

[00:12:51] Well, Johnny, you're not wrong. And the fact that he doesn't know if there are any more trophy games left is probably a sign that he's not going to worry too much about the trophies. David, do you think that Kyle regrets taking the gig? I mean, I know the paycheck's beautiful, but... Yeah, I mean, I would say the opposite. I believe that he regrets it more than Michigan does hiring him. I think it was in the moment the right hire. He just doesn't have the energy for it.

[00:13:21] He was already kind of on the outs at Utah. He wasn't certain he was going to even keep coaching, all this stuff. Took this opportunity because it was there. But, I mean, you have to understand what he was trying to clean up from the Sharon Moore era. And he was coming in with not empty shelves because, obviously, you know, Bryce Underwood and some different things. But Bryce Underwood hasn't developed. All these different things. I think at this point, Whittingham is so done with this. And I think he wishes he wouldn't have done it.

[00:13:52] So, I don't know. He... I just can't... He looks so lost every time they show him on camera on the sidelines. He's just, like, staring with this, like, dead-eyed glare. And it's like, bro, like, you're in charge of this. Like, you should not have this look. Like, you have no concept of why your team is playing the way they are. You did this! Like, I'm... It's incredibly frustrating. I think at the time, it seemed like the right hire.

[00:14:21] And I agree. Like, I felt like it was a good hire in the moment. I think Whittingham was a guy that a lot of Michigan fans wanted pre-Harbaugh. Like, he was a guy that we kind of looked at. So, it's like when we finally got him, it felt like it was kind of full circle and all that. But it ended up being a total disaster. And I can't figure it out. I can't figure out why a Michigan team can't just offense. Yeah. Just offense the ball.

[00:14:47] Well, you'll be pleased to know that in the firing of offensive coordinator Jason Beck, Kyle chose as the interim offensive coordinator the coach of the offensive line, which I think most everybody would agree has been the reason the offense has been so terrible. That guy just got a promotion. So, if... Okay, I'm going to say this, and it's not intended to be a political statement.

[00:15:16] So, just take it for what it is. All of the memes that I see that take Kyle Whittingham and put him into the role of Joe Biden feel very on target. It feels like he has hit a spot where he's... He just does not have it anymore. And it's not just because they're not playing well.

[00:15:39] I would offer the theory that the hiring decisions that he's making would be another indicator that something's not right. Because if you take your O-line coach, I understand it's for three games. I know it's not going to change the world. But you're saying to these kids who have just seen themselves get ripped to shreds, and now you've seen that the least productive unit on your team, the offensive line, that coach is now going to get promoted to the O.C.

[00:16:09] Josh, I don't know. I would have to think that inside the locker room, and we're going to switch to Ohio State here in a minute, but inside the locker room, I would have to think there's a number of players wondering when that portal thing opens up and when they might be able to do a little shopping of their own talents because it kind of feels like the ship is sinking under this particular captain.

[00:16:35] Yeah, to your point about the memes, my mom sent me a meme after the Michigan State game that was comparing Kyle Whittingham to Bernie from Weekend at Bernie's, and you're familiar with that movie. But it seems like a decision that Bernie would have made because I just don't see how... I mean, even in the decision, it sounded like he was completely hands-off. It was more like, okay, I don't want to do this. I'll give it to someone else. But he's not even paying attention to who would she go to. It's just a mess.

[00:17:04] Okay, so down in Columbus. First of all, one more question for both of you. Does Michigan win another game this season? They have Oregon, UCLA, Ohio State. And they have five wins, so currently not really bowl eligible since the Motor City Bowl went away. Do they have another win in them? And keep in mind, two of those games are on the road.

[00:17:31] Can I get juice on this somehow, like one way or the other? We will get you a juice box if you get it right. It's 50-50, right? Like, it's literally 50-50. I mean, I know there's three games, so the math doesn't add up at 50-50. But I'm simply saying, like, I could see them easily winning one or not winning. Like, it's the same exact percentage chance in my head. They could beat Oregon. They could beat UCLA. I mean, who knows what happens with the Ohio game. So, I don't know.

[00:18:01] It's a complete toss-up if they win another one. And that's the mind-blowing part of this, because as much of a debacle as the offense have been, they've lost every game by one possession. If they had scored 21 points a game, they'd be undefeated. So, Josh, do they win one more game? I wish that I could say yes. I don't think they do. I don't think they beat UCLA. I don't think they beat Oregon. I think, yes, Ohio State's a rivalry game.

[00:18:31] Anything can happen. Ohio State probably should have lost Indiana. We probably could have beat Indiana. I don't think it's out of the question. But, also, I don't know how much Whittingham has the rivalry thing going. You know, so, I don't know. I don't think they do. Backup quarterback is the only thing that you can really say is, like, Ohio State doesn't have a quarterback. Although, Michigan doesn't have any quarterbacks, so I guess it's not really that big of a deal.

[00:18:58] Yeah, so is Bryce Underwood being scapegoated? Or, I kind of thought we might see him in the second half of the State game. Because it really looks like, even though he did make some very poor reads and decisions, the line is so bad that I'm not sure which quarterback could have succeeded behind that line and that protection. So, yeah. Yeah, I don't think Bryce is leaps and bounds better than Tommy Carr by any means.

[00:19:28] I do think that he is the better between the two of them. I also don't think that it is his fault. I think he absolutely has been the scapegoat. And I feel very, very badly for him these days. Because, now granted, I was not a big Bryce Underwood fan coming in because I wasn't a big fan of the fact that we had to pay him to get him to come home. But, with that being said, I do feel badly for him at the moment. I think he's definitely getting an unfair shake. I wonder where he will be next year.

[00:19:55] So, from Ann Arbor, we drive a few hours down to Columbus, Ohio. David, I know that you're a big fan of politics, and so you're always up for some political humor. Here's the Vice President of the United States with a little political humor on behalf of the State of Ohio. Before I get into the meat of my remarks, I wanted to talk, of course, about the devastating loss last week. And just a little bit about that. You know, of course, there are a lot of people, I think,

[00:20:24] unfairly criticizing the leader of the team, despite leading us to a great victory two years ago. A lot of people criticizing unfairly the leader of the team. There are a lot of staff infighting and questions about reshuffling. And, of course, there's a conversation about whether the number two has what it takes to ultimately lead the team. I'm talking, of course, about the Ohio State Buckeyes. And... Huh? Huh? You never saw that coming, did you? Yeah, I saw that coming about a syllable into his first word that he was saying.

[00:20:55] That was the worst setup for a joke I've ever heard in my entire life. Until I heard the joke. Until you got... Which is about worse than the setup. Until you got all the way home to the joke. Okay, so it begs this question. And I'll ask this to the two of you, and then we'll stop beating the debacles dead. Which school is more likely to have a new head coach next year? Michigan or Ohio State? Josh Gilmer.

[00:21:23] I think it's got to be Michigan. I don't think that they necessarily should. But I don't... I realize that they won't Ryan Day's head, but realistically, he's lost his quarterback. I don't know. It's a tough question, though. It really is. So you think Kyle's one and done? I don't think that either of them will be fired, if I'm being honest. But if you're asking me which one I think would be more likely to be fired, I think it would be Kyle. David? He's so smart.

[00:21:52] That Duke education over there, like, just... No, no, I'm going to break down the argument. I do agree with him, though, 100%. I think if one was going to be, it would be Whittingham, because I could just see him deciding that this isn't the thing he wants to do. But the worst part about that is, I think the difficulty is, like, with Michigan's front office situation, and we're not certain who's calling shots for what's going on.

[00:22:20] I mean, neither of those situations, like, lends itself for either of those coaches to stay. But at the same time, it's really hard to fire a coach when they have these massive buyouts. Well, is there a situation, is there a place at which Kyle says, you know what, I'm clearly not the right man for this job. Let's work a settlement out, and I'm going to step down so that you don't have to pay him out the whole $29 million.

[00:22:46] Or do they just call up, you know, another major donor, Ellison, and say, hey, I know you bought us a quarterback that we benched, but would you buy us a coach that's no longer going to work here? I mean, this money's got to come from somewhere. Well, but then you also have to ask, like, who are you looking for? Who is, like, what's the game plan here? Like, it doesn't seem like there's any, like, real plan for what to do going forward.

[00:23:16] Like, we don't know what's going on. We don't know Ward and all this. The whole thing is an absolute mess, which is why I think, like, if Whittingham stays, it's literally probably because of the mess. Yeah. Like, you can't sort it out enough to just, okay, now we're going to do a head coaching search. So, I mean, I don't know. But I think both of them are in trouble. But I agree with Josh. Josh, I don't think either of them are going to be fired. I also think, like, yes, Whittingham hasn't done well.

[00:23:46] Defense has still looked great. Understandable. Like, and Jason Beck's gone. I don't think we'll be much better. But I don't really know how you can get worse. Okay. So, here's one of my major issues with Michigan, with Kyle Whittingham, with the offense, with everything they're doing. And I think I mentioned this on a different episode of this. But we changed our entire run game to a zone-blocking scheme where the quarterback's always in shotgun

[00:24:12] and they hand off to the running back who will dance once or twice before picking a hole to go. That's the entire concept of the zone-run scheme. Works great when you have Terrell Davis and you're the Denver Broncos, you know, in the early 2000s, late 90s. But it's different when you have a team that for many years, especially under Harbaugh, they ran the ball very differently. They ran the ball as an X's and O's type double team, drop off the double team to pin a linebacker, create space.

[00:24:39] But a lot of that was done under center and a lot of that was downhill running. Whatever reason, they've changed the entire running scheme to let's hand the ball to a guy and have him dance for two or three steps and then go. It's not working. It's just not working. And so I'm just baffled by how I'm not getting paid millions to do this, but I could look at that and go, hey, this running scheme is not the way that this team works. And they've tried to change the whole identity and it's backfired completely.

[00:25:10] And let's keep bringing a rhino in so that we have an extra lineman on obvious passing downs and that'll give us one less eligible receiver. None of it makes sense. And it's probably what led to Jason Beck sitting on the beach with 10 million extra dollars in his pocket. Who's the best football team in college right now? Josh Gilmer? I don't think there's a clear, clear runaway. I should probably say Utah. They're undefeated. They look a little bit better than UCLA.

[00:25:39] I think not by much, but I might even think I'll go with Georgia. Maybe I have an SEC bias, even though I don't even like the SEC. But I really don't think there's a clear runaway. Is Georgia your one, D? No. I mean, despite the loss to Notre Dame, I still think Miami's the best team in the country. The one issue with Miami right now is Malachi Tony's injury. And that happened early on in that Notre Dame game.

[00:26:04] Like, if he can't come back, I mean, he was a Heisman frontrunner, you know, one of the top three for the Heisman. So he's very important to that team. But as far as just pure roster construction and talent, five-star talent top to bottom, I still think Miami's the most talented team in the country, despite the loss to Notre Dame. I should have prefaced my response by saying that I choose to block Miami from my memory because I just can't.

[00:26:33] So, like, I just forget they even exist. Here I was trying to be an ally and bring up an ACC team for you Duke guy who won. Yeah, no. Won the conference last year at eight and five? Won. Oh, man. So, partway through the day today, as we record on Monday, November 9th, this announcement comes out.

[00:26:55] The CFP and ESPN have agreed on a five-year, nearly $1.7 billion deal that will expand the field to 24 teams in 2027, with ESPN as its continued broadcast partner. A source has told ESPN, a seismic move that also, this is the key headline to this headline, a seismic move that also eliminates the lucrative power for conference championship games.

[00:27:25] There's a lot of people that are feigning to be outraged by this. I've hated the conference game since they were first created. But it does bring to mind the fact that with ESPN as the driving force behind all this, how do you guys see a path for the SEC to get 24 teams into the 2014 playoff? Can either of you map out how that's going to happen? Because we know that's the idea.

[00:27:54] Well, 23 plus Notre Dame. Yeah. I don't know. This was my holy discontent, though, for sure. I am upset with this whole thing. I hate it. I'm not anti the conference championships game. I'm sad to see those go as well. I didn't like that they would always affect the playoff and penalize people for that. But just the game itself, I was a fan of.

[00:28:21] With that aside, 24 teams is ridiculous. I just, I hate it all. So, yeah. Did either of you ever, I mean, do you like the conference championship games? I never really have, even when we were in them and winning them. I'm not trying to be the guy on the bandwagon. I just always thought they were obviously a revenue grab. And I wasn't sad to see them going away. But understand, they go away because they're still going to add extra games onto the schedule. So, I don't know.

[00:28:49] Dee, did you have a special place in your heart for conference championship games? No, I couldn't have cared less about them outside of when the playoff actually came and the 14 playoff happened. Then conference championship games were important because you saw teams that didn't have conference championship games get left out of the 14 playoff because they didn't play that extra game and beat a good team, etc., etc. So, I didn't mind when they introduced them because it made sense for the format.

[00:29:19] The problem right now is the format itself. The reality is, and the bigger picture of this whole discussion, is that two conferences, the Big Ten and the SEC, have completely hijacked college football. All the decisions that are being made are two conferences making those decisions. Now, they're doing it, quote-unquote, independently, but you can see that the decisions they both independently make seem to constantly work hand-in-hand together towards an ultimate goal.

[00:29:47] The reality is, the only reason we have a 2014 playoff is because ESPN has a deal with the SEC. The SEC wants more teams in the playoff, and so ESPN now has exclusive rights to it, and ESPN is also the one who airs and hosts many of the people that make the decisions who gets into said playoff.

[00:30:10] So, it's like I'm looking at it saying it's very clearly a money grab, and it's very clearly another way, and I go back to this all the time. It's another way that the powers that be are trying to hold certain people down and let other people get and gain and get more, etc., etc.

[00:30:30] Because what's going on right now, the only reason this is going on is because coaches went to their schools, and they complained, and they said, this is unfair, we don't like this, we want our money, whatever, etc., etc. And then they decided, okay, well, let's just see if we can talk someone into making this thing bigger, and that way we can get you into the playoff, and that way you'll make up for revenue, etc.

[00:30:52] This entire thing is a ridiculously stupid money grab by the people that are already in power trying to maintain power, and that's just what college football is at this point. There was a statement that came out today from one of the decision-making committee members, and I would gladly quote it to you, but I lost track of the actual quote.

[00:31:11] But in essence, it said, we surveyed college football fans, and we know that they are not in favor of what is happening here, but in order to better serve the game, we're going to move forward with it and know that those fans will be with us. In other words, we don't really care. We don't really care what anybody wants.

[00:31:31] Bill, when Comerica Park was bought out by Fifth Third, and then they interviewed the CEO of Fifth Third, and he said, That's what people were telling us. Yep, we asked all sorts of people, we had surveys, etc., and it came back that everyone wanted it named Fifth Third Park. That's exactly what's going on here. Nobody wanted this playoff, nobody wanted Fifth Third Park, nobody wanted any of this stuff, but the people in charge go,

[00:31:58] This is what the people wanted, so I guess we're just going to do it, and then tell you that that's what you decided. It's like, I didn't decide that. What are you talking about? If you're looking for a real-life example of gaslighting in sports, the Comerica Park statement and the one from the committee member would be exhibits A and B. Josh, do you feel gaslit? I mean, at the end of the day, we're still going to watch. Even though we hate it, we're still going to watch.

[00:32:28] And so they have all the power, and they can just take more, because we're still going to watch. So, yeah, hate it, but what can you do? David, is there a point at which you won't watch? I mean, my fandom has changed so much throughout the years. You know, I used to get emotional, and whatever happened in every game, and I watched every college game day. I don't do any of that. I have not watched a pregame sports show in a decade.

[00:32:57] Like, I know more about what's going on than the people that are talking about it, so I don't need to hear them tell me the things I already know. So it's like, I don't know. For me, my college football fandom has become whatever happens with Michigan, and then I'll catch a game or a big game or two throughout the year, and then we'll watch the playoffs. That's why it's, like, weird for me, because college football is so tribal.

[00:33:26] It's so, like, you get your crew together, and you wear your coat. It's like, I've just never resonated with that. I love it. I love Michigan football, and I love it as much or more than anybody I know. But that's why the NFL, to me, is still king, because I will sit and watch Red Zone for an entire day. I will put on what I'm watching right now, Monday night, Bill's Vikings. I will watch. I don't care if it's Titans versus Browns on a Thursday night. I will watch.

[00:33:54] I just, to me, the NFL is king. I love college football, but the reality is it's like I've just, there's so much in college football. I've kind of just narrowed my focus and said, you know what? If it happens to Michigan, I'm cool. Otherwise, I'll just catch the fun stuff. Yeah, so Josh, watch Lane Kiffin. Josh, given all that you have going on in your life, he was up until, like, five in the morning writing a paper, and he's got stuff going. He's married. He's got stuff going on in your life.

[00:34:20] Is there anything that has you stop watching college football? Well, besides school. Also, I'm usually the type of person that needs to have some sort of emotional investment to watch. So, right now, with Michigan being as bad as they are, my emotion is not quite there. So, the inclination to watch is not quite as strong.

[00:34:49] Now, I will still also hate watch. It goes both ways. So, I will watch Ohio State games. Like, that still will be a thing. I will say, though, as another counter to my point, though, I do think that I've been watching. Now, granted, it could be a factor of other things, but I have watched the playoffs less since going to 12th than I did when it was 4th. And so, I could only see myself maybe doing that more. Now, obviously, I'm still going to care. I still care about my teams. That's not going to change.

[00:35:16] But I think each game means a little bit less now. I think that's the biggest part of all this. Like, what are we gaining from a 2014? What's the one thing we gain? The only thing we gain is that the Oklahomas of the world and the, you know, Cals of the world and the West Virginias of the world can get into a playoff. That's the only reason they're doing this,

[00:35:44] because these are semi-big market teams that are spread around that never get the spotlight. That's the only reason this is happening. And that the SEC, like Bill said earlier, literally wants 24 teams, all SEC, in the playoffs. All they have to do is absorb the ACC. It'll be a done deal. And we'll just have our own little conference championship in the Big Ten and have our own 2014 playoff when we get down to just two conferences left. I'll answer my own question of what could get me to stop watching.

[00:36:13] First, it would start with when your own favorite team is just really, really bad. And you're at least, you may still watch, but you're not going to clear your schedule to do it. But I think that's a difference. You know, you're not, I can't go to that wedding. I can't do this thing. Honey, we can't go out to dinner. We got the game. Now it's like, okay, I'm recording it. If I can somehow manage the phone media blackout, I can watch it at home without any commercials,

[00:36:39] which is another issue entirely with watching college football live. It's just brutal. But at the same time, I do grow weary of every single conversation about college football centering around the revenue. And this announcement that came out today, you know, the lead to it is $1.7 billion. It's expansion, it's broadcast partners, and it's all of that.

[00:37:08] I'm old enough to appreciate when a school has a kid come in as a freshman and finish as a senior, and you got to get to know him a little bit over the years, and you got to see him develop. And that's why I will continue to say that I think Michigan won the last true natty before all the junk got thrown into the way of it. And many would say, well, that's because you cheated. That's another episode altogether. But it was. You don't care. Stop it. We don't care. We don't care because we didn't do it. So you just stop it, mister.

[00:37:39] So that's what could get me to stop is just if the headlines always continue around dollar signs, that's not what I signed up for. I can get that in the NFL. And we accept it there because that's how it's always been. All right, let's get into our holy discontent. It's time to blow off some steam. Get it off your chest. Rant about what's most bothering you. I got a lot of problems with you people. Now you're going to hear about it.

[00:38:09] It's time for holy discontent. David Collins, lead us off. Well, as Josh was saying earlier, my holy discontent was going to be the college football playoff in the whole system. So now I have to pivot from that. So I'm just going to go back to the one I've been leaning on. Somebody beat an NFC North team that's not named the Lions. They're not going to do it. One team.

[00:38:33] What was it I sent you that the NFC North is 20 and three against anyone that's not also in the NFC North. The only teams that beat the NFC North are them. Fortunately, the Lions are 2-0 against the NFC North. But why can't one of these teams win one of these stupid games? I mean, I can't. It's so frustrating. I'm watching Jordan Love yesterday.

[00:38:59] He takes three steps and just throws it as far as he can every play. And they've got guys running wide open underneath it scoring touchdowns. I'm like, just don't let him beat you over the top. That's all they can do. They can't run the ball. Like, what are you doing? Anyways. The NFC North is 6-1, 7-2, 6-2, and 6-3. The NFC South is 3-5, 3-5, 3-6, 3-6. And one of those NFC North teams is going to have to go on the road to one of those NFC South teams.

[00:39:29] Yep. And it makes no sense. They need to seed them. Listen, you can still give the division champions a playoff spot, but seed the home games by conference. Yeah, you're right, D. And it could end up going in any direction because nobody will help the Lions in any way, shape, or form. And it's maddening. Josh Gilmer, your holy discontent.

[00:39:58] Yeah, mine was also the 2014 playoff. I think also having to pivot, first thing that comes to mind. I'm so mad that we lost to the Panthers. I'm just going to be mad about that all season. But what it is. Yeah, it is what it is. Brutal game. My holy discontent takes us to Oklahoma, where three high school teams were locked in a tiebreaker, season record tiebreaker, to determine two playoff spots. And do we know how they decided this?

[00:40:28] They went to a nearby catfish restaurant and gave each coach a coin. Two of those coins would come out with the same heads or tails, and then one of them would not. I guess all three could have come up the same, but that was how they were going to break it. They went into a parking lot to flip coins. I'm leaving on the ground. The odd man out will be the one that's out. The odd man out will be the one that's out. The third and fourth place position will go back to head-to-head competition.

[00:40:59] In the event that all three land on heads or all three lands on tails, we will continue to flip front. We'll continue to flop. So this is what happens. There's three grown adult men coaches. I'll count you down. Three, two, one. Flip them and let them line and they'll identify them. Three, two, one. And that's how the playoff futures of these high school students was determined. My holy discontent is you've got to come up with a better way.

[00:41:27] Or, or, hear me out, just expand your playoff bracket and put another team in there. These guys, can you imagine being the senior who busted his tail and had the same record as the other? You lose to a coin toss. No, no, not happening. Not right. What a crazy way to do it. I'd never seen anything like that before until, until tonight in Oklahoma. I think they need to implement last year's ACC tiebreaker rules.

[00:41:57] Get the real best team in the championship game. I think that would have fixed all the problems. I don't know how they don't have you on retainer for things like this, Josh. That would be a good call. All right, time for that guy. Right now, this minute, today, this week, I am. All right, David, we're going to let you lead us off here as well.

[00:42:20] Yeah, so my, that guy this week, and hang on, I just had it up and I closed it out because I'm dumb. Here we go again. Let me give you these numbers. This infielder led all of the American League with a 7.1 war and is the first rookie to post at least 97 runs, 28 doubles, 18 home runs, 72 RBIs, and 95 walks since Ted Williams in 1939.

[00:42:49] Your American League Rookie of the Year, Kevin McGonigal from your Detroit Tigers. Let's go, boys. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go. Man, he's so good. So good. Love that. Josh Gilmer, you're that guy. I think first thing that comes to mind, I'll give it to Bryson Wood. I'm just happy with how he has been supporting Tommy. I think, like I said, I think he's a scapegoat. I think he should be playing. I don't think he's amazing.

[00:43:18] I think he should be playing. I at least appreciate the way he's handled this whole thing. We do see him on the sidelines. He's not moping. He's not off in the distance. He doesn't have a towel over his head. On the rarest of occasions when there is something for the offense to celebrate, he's running out there and being one of the first ones out there. So, yeah, good call on your part and whatever team has him next year will be better for it, especially if he has coaching.

[00:43:47] My, that guy is connected to the final announcement of the demise of Live Golf. The funding partners, the venture capital firm that was rumored to be interested in acquiring that league, which nobody actually thought was truly going to happen, and it didn't. They backed out. So Live went dead.

[00:44:10] I recorded on my Michigan Golf Live channels an actual eulogy video where I spent some time paying tribute to the dearly departed Live Golf. But very few people are better with words on live TV than Golf Channel's Brandel Shambly. Here are a few seconds of Brandel's live eulogy.

[00:44:34] You know, when you think about what the Saudis were paying these players, in essence, I'd call it hazard pay because they knew that they were going to take on reputational damage. They knew that it was going to be disrupted. They probably also knew that it was going to be disruptive for their careers. So when you start to look at, you know, the players wanting to take debt for equity, speculative ownership, you know, they were going to have 52.5% from what I've read ownership going forward of the product.

[00:45:00] And the fact that they were unwilling to take on that ownership tells you that they didn't even have any belief that they, as a group of players, could make this work. But again, their entitled belief is what they work. It's like they all thought that they were like beachfront property in Malibu. And the market was telling them, no, your timeshare's in Toledo. And maybe, finally, they've got a slap in the face of reality. They thought they were beachfront property in Malibu, and instead it was a timeshare in Toledo.

[00:45:31] I wish I'd have had that turn of phrase. And with that, we bid a fond farewell to Live Golf. Time for our three-minute message to close things out. David Collins. Homer, I'd like you to remember Matthew 7, 26. The foolish man who built his house on sand. And you remember Matthew 21, 17. And he left them and went out of the city into Bethany, and he lodged there.

[00:46:01] Yeah. Think about it. Think about it. Take it away, D. Yeah, so my holy discontent, I'm locked in. My three-minute message is actually not going to be about sports. It's going to be what Bill brought up earlier about politics. And I just want to say, no matter where you fall on the political spectrum, I am not somebody who has a political party. I don't judge those who do, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:46:26] But I just know that the rhetoric that surrounds things like what happened on Tuesday is insanity to me. You have people that are freaking out and saying America's lost its way, and then you have other people saying America finally found its way. And the reality is no one's ever going to find consensus on any of this stuff. But I think what's important to me is, and I want to read this from Matthew 22, starting at verse 36. It says, Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?

[00:46:56] And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. And I wanted to bring that up because I just, I want everybody to remember wherever you fall in your faith, in your journey in life, the reality is that the most important thing is being others centered.

[00:47:23] This whole thing is the first commandment he said was love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. That's not you. That's love God. And then it says the second commandment is love your neighbor as yourself. The assumption is that you're going to love yourself to a certain degree. But the reality here is that if you are focused on other people, caring for them, helping them, that's what's going to make us as a society, as a faith, as a brotherhood, that's what's going to make us thrive.

[00:47:51] And as much as the media, as much as politicians, as much as your uncle on Facebook want to drive division into who we are and what we're doing, just remember what matters to Christ in the book of Matthew. What matters was loving others the way you love yourself and with loving God above all else. So to me, that is my charge for you. Don't seek to divide. Don't seek to start arguments. Don't seek to tell everyone what they're wrong. And you're right.

[00:48:21] Love each other. Show grace to one another. Care for each other. And I think we're going to be just fine. That's a good message, my friend. Well said and timely, to say the very least. Thank you for doing it. Josh, thank you for taking a break from writing 2,000 word papers at 5 a.m. to talk some sports.

[00:48:43] Hopefully it did your brain some good to kind of recalculate and focus on things that in the end really do matter, which is like head coaching decisions and things that we have a very direct say in. So we will look forward to connecting with you all next time on Church Pew Sports. Check us out at churchpewsports.com. Thanks for being here. See ya.