Mm-hmm

... expect, averaging just barely five penalties per, per game.

Top 30 in the country in college football.

They committed 10 against Boise State in the season opener, seven today against the Pokes, who had more turnovers than Oregon and yet still put up more than 550 yards of total offense to knock off the Ducks.

Shout out to Eric Morris.

This is a guy that led UNT, of course, last year to 12 wins, basically brought the entirety of the Mean Green with him to Stillwater, including that outstanding quarterback in Drew Mestemaker, who despite throwing two interceptions, bounced back with two touchdowns, 317 passing yards, more than 100 on the ground and four total touchdown, or three total touchdowns in the game.

Shout out to Oklahoma State for what they were able to do and to cover as more than a three-touchdown fav- or underdog, I should say.

What are you liking this one?

country.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

Keelan Russell.

Yes.

I trust in Kane Womack defensively.

I think what Kane Womack does defensively with this stack team, especially up front for Alabama, is going to be exciting.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah

... at Big Ten media days told you that, "We are going to offer this up for you.

We are going to shove it down your throats, and you are going to say, 'Yes, please, may I have some more?'" He believes that they can fill out stadiums.

He's correct.

He believes the TV watching audience is going to be 13, 14 million people.

He is correct with the additional inventory in college football playoff games.

But that's not why we do things.

Yeah.

How much of that is baked into your analysis on UCLA? You have them over 6.5 wins at plus 110.

Yeah, Brandon, it's a huge component of it, and not just for the talent that Niko Iamaleava is, but for Niko Iamaleava staying in Westwood under a first-year head coach in Bob Chesney, what it says about his ability not just to bring newcomers from James Madison and elsewhere in the sport of college football, but to retain some of the best talent from a Bruins team that frankly was disappointing and had a very chaotic 2025, despite that magical run of three consecutive wins in late September, early October.

But we saw some of the brilliance of Niko Iamaleava in those upsets under Gerry Neuheisel as the offensive coordinator, but the athleticism with the cannon arm.

And when you look around the country and you try to spot that next Kurt Signetti, who can have the next revolution like we have seen in Bloomington? I believe that Signetti is the anomaly and not the standard.

But if you were building an archetype of a head coach to rival that level of success, winning at the lower levels, proving your winning ways carry regardless of what division or conference you are in in college football, to me it's Bob Chesney.

16 years as a head coach collegiately.

He has a win percentage overall of 71.7%.

What's the breakdown on why the Wildcats are getting to five wins again?

Break down, Ben, for us, how you feel about the top of the conference, which there's good teams below them, but these three are the monsters at the top.

Yeah, no doubt about it, Julian.

And I think that is going to be the story once again.

The three teams out of the Big Ten that reached the college football playoff last year are going to be the three teams that I would feel almost not at a guarantee necessarily, but are the most likely to make the college football playoff out of this league once again in 2026.

We'll start with the reigning national champs in Indiana.

In fact, I think Indiana is being slightly undervalued with how good Kurt Cignetti is as a coach and what he has built in his program nationally.

in Bloomington.

So people are betting that schedule to kind of let them into the mix.

Mm.

Over six and a half wins with some plus money, might I add.

I am a big believer in Bob Chesney.

We have all asked the question the last few years in college football, who is the next Kurt Signetti? I believe that Sig is the anomaly and not the standard.

However, if you were to craft an archetype of a college football head coach that looks a lot like Kurt Signetti, who has had to prove it at the lower levels of the sport, that has won consistently regardless of program level or conference, and literally coached at James Madison before his first power conference job was in the Big Ten for a team that only won three games the year prior, that would be Bob Chesney in Westwood.

42 newcomers for this UCLA squad, including 10 guys that follow from Harrisonburg for James Madison, now to UCLA, including the All-American returner, who is an outstanding all-purpose player at the running back spot in Wayne Knight.

We heard from Niko Iaeleava this week in Chicago at Big Ten media days.

Do you factor that in? Is this a problem? Is this a trend? And just an overall thought or two here in the last couple minutes on the Ducks.

Yeah.

For one, sometimes, and again, I'm an accountability guy through and through, and I try to be able to walk the line of accountability without shame and accountability without accusation.

But I have had people go like, I've tried Cairo.

And I go, who? Because I will know most people in my town.

Okay, how many times did you see them and what did they do? And I want to explore that.

And I'll find out they went to see that person two times or three times.

They never really gave the process a chance to actually get better.

I have to get someone done in four sessions, but also for them because they have time to navigate things hurdles that inevitably, you know, pop up in their chair and stuff like that and guide them longer than somewhat typical.

W- what do I do?" Like what do you tell someone in that situation?

I mean, I'm just gonna say it again, it's a communication thing most of the time.

With that being said, humans are humans.

You know? You can't pretend that you're gonna get the same outcome 100% of the time, um, because that's just not how it works.

It's a communication thing.

So I think the most uncomfortable and most meaningful thing that the vast, vast majority of clinicians could do is they could go study what they've already done.

And that's, it's very almost heartbreaking a lot of the time.

Like, where do you see the disconnect between, like, the high-level clinician that's got all the skills, but the communication that needs to happen in the, in the practice?