It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast. on the Infinity Sports Network. NFL training camps are underway. We ha we've had media days this week. With the ACC, the Big Ten.
The Big Ten is running around winning national championships. The ACC is like, hey, don't forget about us. We're here too to talk about what we've heard and. Just a lot. SEC talk talk about all things college football.
Is a national columnist who covers college football for USA Today. Right now, we're being joined by Dan Walkin. Dan, thank you for the time. Appreciate it. What's going on?
Hey, taking it easy, just trying to soak in everything that we've heard this week and And I'm really looking forward to football on the field. But wh Outside of the college football playoff and what everybody wants it to be, whether it's a your mark or any of the other commissioners. What has captured your attention the most over the past two weeks? Yeah, I mean, look, there's a lot going on in college sports right now. It's the playoff stuff.
It's what's going on with NIL and the house versus NCAA settlement. and how all of that is going to be litigated. Um Obviously, the season's about to start and that's exciting. But honestly, in college sports right now, The action is really more off the field than on the field.
So, in some ways, it's interesting. You have these media days, and people. You know, want to talk up their teams and they want to talk about the players. But that just takes a back seat to all of the political stuff that's going on within college sports. When you think about what the playoff might look like, that's probably the largest political issue.
At what point do you think things will change and or expand? What's going on right now is that. There's no deal on the format Starting in 2026. And The Big Ten and the SEC are the two conferences that will determine that, but right now, There are nods. The SEC wants a model of a 16-team playoff.
Five automatic conference champions. and 11 at-large teams and the big 10 advocating for this more convoluted Four automatic bids for the Big Ten and the SEC, two each for the ACC and the Big 12. And then Basically, you know, one for the small conferences, and the rest would be at large teams. And There's a lot of Contentiousness actually between the SEC and the Big Ten about which model is going to win out. And what's interesting is if they can't come to an agreement, on it then it just defaults back to the current 12 team model.
And I would argue. That's a better model anyway. The playoff does not really need to expand. There's no compelling reason. to make it 14 teams or 16 teams or whatever.
We only had one year of the 12-team playoff. We're going to have Again, this year, 12 teams. Give it some time to... Settle in to work. to see what it really looks like over the long haul.
It was fine. I think we all know that there's no team ranked 13 through 16. that has any chance of winning a national championship. And so a lot of this argument is is honestly for for very little reason. Dan Wilkin is joining us from USA today.
We know it's all about the cash, all about the money. If we got to think about the team that just won a national championship with the Ohio State University, we know that Will Howard is gone. Is Julian Staying in the lead to be the next QB up? What are they going to look like this upcoming season? And will they give Ryan Day a break?
Ha ha ha.
Well, uh the second part, no, they're not going to give Ryan Day a break. I mean, yes, he won a national title. And they're happy about that. But if they lose to Michigan this year, For a fifth straight time, it's gonna be tough. Look, I don't know what Ohio State is going to look like.
I don't know what any of these teams are going to look like. You're dealing with.
So many new players, so much transfer portal. Um these rosters get turned over.
So much every year. What I do know about Ohio State is they have a young man named Jeremiah Smith, and he's probably the best player in college football. And he's going to be there two more years. And You know, I think as long as he's on the field offensively, Ohio State's probably going to function pretty well. They can function well.
May not be a favorite to go back there and win a championship. Does this allow a team like Penn State to go ahead and take another step forward? They at least keep their quarterback. and Aller and then also James Franklin. Yeah, I mean, you look at what Penn State did last year, I think that was a bit of a breakthrough for them.
to make the playoff and they played a very good game. in in the semifinal, uh you know, coming up just short. Um look, I think Penn State to me uh is probably the favorite, maybe not by a lot, but But marginally the favorites. in the big 10 we'll see how that works out But defensively last year, they were very, very good. Um And I think they've got a lot of talent on that side of the ball.
The offense was a little sticky at times. I mean, let's be real. about it and and Drew Aller. Uh certainly You know, especially when they in that playoff game they lost to Notre Dame and made a pretty key mistake that. was the difference in that game.
I don't necessarily love him or or fully trust him. But again, these are college guys and they grow from year to year and certainly within their own possibility. that he's going to come back. this year as a as a much better player Um because that's what young guys do.
So um I like Penn State's team. I I've got them picked to win the Big Ten and to um reach the national championship game but as always we'll see Dan Woken is here with us from USA Today. You're talking about a Will C. And and speaking of things off the field. Michigan is still a little bit of a mess.
What can we expect from them? Is Jeron Moore going to get more or less of a punishment? Are they done with the punishments? Is it going to take another five to ten years? What's going on with Michigan?
Yeah, obviously that's hanging out there a bit. What happens with their NCAA Case I don't know how that's going to go. NCAA enforcement, especially these days, It's uh You know, I don't think you can expect anybody to get hammered. uh by penalties, but Shroan Moore may Yeah. I think he's going to probably miss some games.
We'll see, but. The way they played at the end of last season, beating Ohio State and really kind of turning around.
Well, it had been kind of a dud of a year. I'm sure that makes their people feel pretty good going into 2025 that they do have momentum. that they did figure some things out. But you know, I'm not going to sit here and make any grand predictions because this for most of last season Michigan was was pretty mediocre. And you very mediocre.
This year, I want to flip over to the ACC. We saw Carson back in his. Nice green jacket and his big chain. I'm Sure, he maybe he he he rode a Lamborghini all the way out west. What can we expect from Carson Beck now being in Miami?
Is he going to rebuild his draft stock or is this just a money grab?
Well, it could be a little bit of both. Look. Last year didn't go the way that anybody expected for Carson Beck? Uh but at the same time when you saw way George's offensive line played in that game against Notre Dame. There were a lot of holes there.
And so maybe... That had something to do with it as well. Um that's the beauty of football, right? It's not just one guy, it's it's kind of The entire team dynamic and Georgia's Offensive line was pretty disappointing, and maybe Carson Beck is going to be better moving into a new system, new style, new conference. Miami, though, does have a lot to prove.
Uh they were good last year with Cam Ward, a quarterback. But they lost the game that mattered at the end of the year that kept them out of the playoff. And it's been a pretty constant theme with Mario Crystal Ball. Who is one of the best coaches in the country Monday through Friday? But on Saturday, Often leaves a lot to be desired.
And That's tough when you're trying to Build enough of a resume to get into the college football playoff and to have a chance to win a national title, you can't lose games. That you're supposed to win. And they lose, it seems like a couple of them every year. And so You know, I I think Carson Beck's a good quarterback. I'm not sure he's going to be as good as Cam Ward was.
They've got a lot of talent at Miami. The ACC is there for the taking. Again, we'll see how it goes. Yeah, good luck to them on that one. Speaking of teams down in Florida, we got the Seminoles, and they have an interesting coach as well in Mike Norvell.
They also brought in a new quarterback from Boston College and Castellanos, who's He's over here talking smack to Alabama, right? Right out of the gate. When it comes down to the Florida schools, it seemed like they all disappointed last year. Is FSU going to turn around? Are the Gators on an upward trajectory?
What are your thoughts there? Yeah, well starting with Florida. They looked dead in the water last year. You know, midway through last season, I think a lot of people, including me, expected Billy Napier to be fired. They did show some signs of life.
Vapier kept his job. A DJ Lagway is A very interesting prospect.
So we'll see what he looks like with a little bit of experience under his belt and a summer of development. Florida's really an interesting team. Your guess is as good as mine. I mean, that was an epic disaster last year. Um Mike Dorvell is I think is a good coach.
But they got very heavy in the transfer portal. worked really, really well for them. in 2023, it blew up in their face in 2024. This is a year they they need to show something. uh because you you lose the way florida state lost last last season That's just unacceptable.
And they know that. Um and I'm as interested as anybody. to see what they've got from a talent perspective. Uh what the vibe looks like. You know, that that just was not a very Together team.
That was a very disjointed situation, starting with the fact that. You know, DJ Ungulale. Uh, was probably the wrong quarterback for them last year.
So this year. You you get a clean slate. This is now more of a year-to-year sport than ever. I wouldn't be shocked if Florida State turns it around and is really good. I also wouldn't be shocked if.
Dumb. Not very good and this is Norvell's last year there. Yeah, they don't got a lot of patience down in Tala, has he? You talk about so much talent. That's moved around.
We've seen so much talent move around. UCLA, Uy Maliava is now. Out there after leaving Tennessee. What are some other players that we should really pay attention to this upcoming season? Obviously, we have Arch Manning.
Yeah, I mean Look, right now, college football, I'm more interested in just sort of the overall picture here. There's a lot of interesting situations like Colorado, Deion Sanders. He's spent most of the year or most of the offseason. Dealing with a health issue, you've got a team that uh doesn't have Travis Hunter, doesn't have Shadrew Sanders. What have they got?
You know, the Big 12 was was sort of wide open. Um you know, Baylor, Arizona State. I'm just fascinated, like, because this is now such a year-to-year sport. It's so up and down. Um These rosters just dramatically change from from one year to the next.
Uh I you know, we're going to be talking about guys. Three weeks into the season, that honestly we've never heard of. That's just how it goes now. Yeah, well it's gonna be interesting to see if there's ever any uh A little bit more regulation. We've certainly stepped into the The wild, wild west of college football.
Dan, thank you so much for the time. Please tell everybody where they can follow you and your work with USA Today. Uh USA Today.com and at Dan Walkin on X. Thank you so much, Dan. We'll catch you down the line, okay?
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