REShow: Ben Troupe - Hour 1 (7-8-2022)

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We absolutely don't want to hear complaints. The Rich Eisen Show with guest host, Dan Schwartzman. And now, sitting in for Rich. Hit the drop! It's Dan Schwartzman.

Ah, that is correct. A beautiful Friday here. Dan Schwartzman in for Rich Eisen. We have so much to get into today. Oh my goodness.

Art Martinez on the other side of the glass as always. I am loaded with junk food here. The wife, of course, does not follow me into the studio.

She has no idea what I imbibe in while I am behind these locked doors, Art. So, not gummy worms, not gummy bears, gummy butterflies. Not because I cared about butterflies, but they didn't have bears and worms.

They had butterflies. Did you get a deal on those? Did I get a deal on them? I'm a bad shopper. I don't look at prices. Especially stuff that I really want. Like junk food, I never look at the prices. Oh, okay. Because if you look at prices, it may actually stop you from buying stuff, right? Yeah, absolutely. So I'm like, if I want gummy something, I'm gonna buy gummy something.

Regardless if it's $3 or $6. If Dan wants gummy something, Dan's buying gummy something. And the gummy something happened to be gummy butterflies. So, old me bought gummy butterflies. And then I hide them in the cabinet in the kitchen and the wife has no idea. Like, no clue they're there.

I had chocolate wafers as well, which I love. And I finished that over the course of a few days. She had no idea. And now I'm gonna down the gummy butterflies through the course of the next three hours and she will have no idea.

And then she wonders, you know, you haven't lost any weight. Honey, I don't know. I'm trying.

Even at the old college try. And no, nothing. You know why? Because I sneak gummy butterflies and chocolate wafers and anything else with high calories that I can here in studio because she has no idea. That's clever, isn't it? That's what I call a covert operation. No, you know what I call that? Marriage. That's called marriage.

Guy's like, yeah, you know, I like this Dan guy. He gets it. Sneaking that candy.

You know how to do it. That's like the last ounce of freedom you have. Sneak the candy all you can when the wife has no idea. Because she's like a health nut. Like, the wife is a health nut. Oh, salad this. Oh my goodness, I put on a pound. I'm like, a pound?

I looked at that donut at Dunkin' and I put on three pounds. Alright, enough of my food problems. Although I love him. Although, Art, you're like a big biker and all this and, you know, I mean, come on.

You know, I think you overdo it a little bit sometimes too. You're too into this health stuff these days. Well, no, I had tacos last night.

I had some really good tacos. Yeah, but you probably had like turkey meat in there, right? Yeah, I did. You did, really? Yeah.

There you go. I mean, that's the problem. See, why would you do tacos with turkey meat? It's like getting low calorie, you know, sour cream. Like, why would you do something like that? Fat-free this, low calorie that, come on, man.

You gotta do tacos, you gotta use ground beef. Unbelievable. I've lost full respect for you, man. A little bit of respect is lost. Just so you know. Just so you know, I've lost a little bit of respect for you on that one. Do better next time, alright? Promise me you'll do better next time.

Will do. I'll have a carne asada burrito tonight. Oh my goodness, now you're making me so hungry. Oh, you're making me so hungry, man.

I love carne asada burritos. Sorry, enough of food, because I'm getting hungry and I won't be able to make it three hours if I keep thinking about food, besides gummy butterflies. Alright, this college football landscape, I do have to get into this, because EDI's just out of control. The latest news coming out over the last day or two is the SEC potentially expanding, right?

Their tentacles will be possibly climbing a little bit more around that southeast. They are the most powerful conference in collegiate sports. No offense to the Big Ten, but they're better. The Big Ten is adding USC and UCLA.

Why? Because it's a natural reaction to the SEC adding Oklahoma and Texas. USC is going to be a powerhouse with Lincoln Riley. They will, okay? They're going to be back to winning championships and being in playoffs. UCLA though, I'm not sure what they are moving forward, okay? I don't know what UCLA is, except a beautiful campus and a great part of Los Angeles, okay?

That's all. But Oklahoma and Texas is a step better than USC and UCLA. So the Big Ten had to react. So now the SEC's looking around saying, okay, I see what you're doing and I'm going to call you and I'm going to actually do more. So the next thing that we are reading is that Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina, and Virginia will potentially be joining the SEC from the ACC.

This is a no-brainer. The only question was what teams from the ACC would try to get themselves into the SEC. Now some reports are saying that there are negotiations with those four schools trying to get in. Others are now saying that's not true, there is no negotiations with those schools. But here's the big thing. It makes sense for ACC schools to try to defect to the SEC.

Why? The SEC, you make more money. The revenue that the SEC and the Big Ten bring in is way more than the Big 12, Pac-12, and the ACC.

It's not even close. In fact, by the end of this decade, they will make double what the other conferences make. That's why the USCs and the UCLAs of the world, the Oklahoma and the Texases of the world, want to come into the big conferences. If you're Clemson, you're sitting there looking at yourself in the ACC saying, yeah, we can win the ACC pretty much every year, but so what?

So what? It's not hurt recruiting to say we're in the ACC when a lot of these kids, they want to go play with the big boys, and that's the SEC or Big Ten. But if you're the SEC and you're looking to see what schools are out there that potentially can be flipped to your conference, the school that comes to mind first and foremost as the biggest, let's call it, free agent is Clemson. Great football program, Dabo Swinney wins. Great recruiter, you know, they recruit top talent. It's a school that's going to be in that national championship convo for years upon years.

It makes sense. Now, North Carolina, football-wise, okay, maybe North Carolina and Virginia are thought of as, you know, raising the academic standards of the SEC. It's not just going to be on Vanderbilt to kind of keep the standards high. You can add North Carolina and Virginia, decent football programs, nothing spectacular, decent programs. You know, Mac Brown's bringing North Carolina back and now, you know, Bronco Mendenhall leaving Virginia.

And now you have, what's his name, Elliott from former Clemson offensive coordinator, assistant head coach. He's at Virginia. There's a spark there now in terms of where that Cavaliers program's going. And Florida State at some point you have to believe, and maybe it's now, they are recruiting better, Florida State at some point could possibly get back to being that powerhouse it once was.

So it's understandable. But what about Miami, right? What about the University of Miami? Is there pushback from Florida about bringing in Miami as some reportedly believe? From all indications, Tennessee doesn't want North Carolina. Kentucky doesn't want Louisville if they were one of the schools. So the reality is you're going to have holdups from existing SEC schools that don't want to share territory, revenue, recruiting bases. They don't want to do that. But in the end, if the SEC wants something, the SEC gets that, okay? That's how it works.

But I don't know if this is healthy. The problem for me is, is this healthy for collegiate football to have two uber dominant conferences and everybody else? See, I went to the Mid-American Conference. I went to Ohio University, the Bobcats. And when I was there, they had Jim Grob as the head coach and he went on to Wake Forest and had success at Wake Forest. And when Baylor had their mess, he's the one that took over the program for one year and righted the ship and brought some respectability back to the program because he's a very respected guy.

So, from our briles and that nonsense. So the fact is, Ohio U could compete in the Mid-American Conference and had success after really with Frank Solich. He came in and really did a great job over his 15 or so year run.

He left, but now, you know, he did a nice job there, won a bunch of games and they won eight games every year. They played in a bunch of bowl games and it was great, you know? But now you have more schools kind of turning into the Mid-American Conference type of conferences, right? Like, I mean, let's face it, the Big East used to be something. The Big East is nothing, football-wise. Conference USA is, if you even want to call it a step above the Mid-American Conference, by all means, go ahead. When you look at the breakdown of that Big 12 Conference, especially with Texas and Oklahoma gone in a couple of years, it's really no better than a mid-major, right? They have a couple of teams like Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, maybe? I mean, for the most part, it's a mid-major conference. The Pac-12 outside of Oregon and I guess Washington, maybe Washington State, Cal?

I mean, it's a step above a mid-major, but it's certainly not a powerhouse. And if the ACC loses Clemson, North Carolina, Florida State, and Virginia, at some point Miami's going to have to go somewhere. They're not going to want to be stuck there. Virginia Tech's not going to want to be stuck there. Is there a natural move of Virginia Tech and Miami maybe to the Big 10 then? Because geography means nothing anymore, right? If you want to count USC and UCLA into the Big 10, geography's out the window. Oklahoma and Texas are branching farther out west than Arkansas, and a lot of people thought Arkansas was too far west when they joined the SEC. Texas A&M, too far west, right? So the reality is, it doesn't matter anymore.

It doesn't matter where you are. You could have a West Coast team now in the SEC. You could have, obviously, a West Coast team in the Big 10 because it's going to happen next year. All I'm saying is, what is the endgame in college football, and this shows, obviously, the weakness of the NCAA.

They are a feckless organization, spineless, with no power, to where you have to now wonder, what is the endgame? You're going to have two mega-conferences, and it's going to be fun to watch, don't get me wrong. I love college football. I used to always tell friends of mine, ex-NFL guys, I used to say, listen guys, Saturdays are better than Sundays. No, you're crazy.

What are you talking about? I'm like, listen guys, Saturdays are better than Sundays. And I feel vindicated because it used to be that college programs would see what the NFL is doing and then try to mimic that.

And then it really changed. And then you have guys like Mike Leach, right, with these air raid type offenses. And what do you see in the NFL today?

Air raid offenses, right? Everybody's throwing for 4,000 yards. You have multiple guys throwing for 5,000 yards a season. Wide receivers are making a boat ton of money.

Why? Because it's a passing league. College, they were passing, right? And the NFL was running for a long time. And people looked at those gimmicky offenses and said, ha ha ha, that'll never work.

Well guess what, it's working. Because the NFL is all about that now. Five receiver sets, things like that.

Well, I saw that in college first. So I just, I mean, if you're a recruit now with these two mega conferences with the NIL deals, you're not going to get top recruits going to Jackson State every year anymore the way that Deion Sanders got that top kid out of, I think Florida, right? The number one recruit in the nation according to rivals, he went to Jackson State.

A lot of people wondering why, is it because he loves Deion or some people thought there was a big NIL deal involved? My whole point is, you know, if you're not going to be a part of a mega conference, good luck recruiting five star players. You're not going to get them.

You're not. Unless that kid has some sort of a family allegiance to that school, you're not going there. You're not going to make the money. The revenue's not going to be there. All right, if you have a chance to go play for Alabama in the SEC and NIL money there or the, you know, you're going to go play for a Pac-12 team after USC and UCLA are gone, I will venture to guess you'll make more money as a college kid playing in Alabama because it's a bigger conference, more exposure, more money.

Boosters are going to be more ready to spend the money because it's going to mean something more because you're actually playing for something. You're not going to get national championship caliber teams coming out of the other conferences outside of the Big Ten and the SEC. You might as well call it the SEC Big Ten Challenge, right, like they have in college basketball. You really think, okay, and then look, the ultimate test is Notre Dame. From all indications, Big Ten are just waiting to hear from Notre Dame if they want to join.

Geographically, it makes sense, but again, geography's out the window. If the SEC hops in and says, hey, Notre Dame, come play for us, it would be a great tug of war, right? How fun would that be?

Imagine, Art, if you are the provost at Notre Dame, they have the letter director of Notre Dame, and you're getting a call from the SEC and the Big Ten every day saying, hey, man, what are you going to do? Come on, pick one of us, right? First of all, I'd have to pray about it.

Yes, you would, of course, and they would as well. There's no question about it. But the fact is, I mean, that's what we're coming to, right, is Notre Dame going to finally give up their autonomy as an independent, because they have their own TV deal with NBC, by the way.

Are they going to finally just give it all up and say, all right, guess what? We are going to join a conference. They joined the ACC for every other sport except football. And then due to COVID and the travel restrictions and things like that, they played ACC schedules the last couple of years. But the ACC's getting rid of its divisions, right?

It's that whole free-for-all type of setup now. You have your rivalry games, and then you have other games, and, you know, it's not the Coastal and the whatever the other division is in the ACC. So there's so much upheaval, there's so much turmoil, it is utterly insane what we are seeing in college football. We're going to actually talk with a good buddy of mine, former Florida All-American tight end, played with the Titans as a second-round pick, currently co-host of three and out on ESPN.

Troop's going to join us, break it down for us a bit more. What's he hearing when it comes to Carolina, Virginia, Florida State, and Clemson potentially moving on to the SEC from the ACC? And also, is this good for college football?

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Find out which Chrome Soft is right for you at CallawayGolf.com slash Chrome Soft. Ben Troop's going to join us next, break down a little college football talk. Conferences, alignment, and what does it all mean? It's next, Dan Schwartzman on a Friday in for Rich Eisen right here on the Rich Eisen Show.

21 past the hour it is, Dan Schwartzman in for Rich Eisen on this Friday. College football, the realignments continue, the arms race between the Big Ten and the SEC may never end. Poaching teams from this conference, that conference, and everybody's left to pick up the pieces. Big 12 looking to try to get as many of the Pac-12 teams that remain to possibly join them. You hear about these potential partnerships, the ACC and the Pac-12 making a partnership potentially. Will the ACC potentially be losing teams to the SEC?

What is going on? Is this really healthy for college football? Ben Troop, former Florida tight end, All-American, second round pick of the Titans, now co-host of three and out on ESPN, an author as well joining us. And, Ben, look, you're an SEC guy, all right? You understand what's going on with this.

But what is the latest you're hearing? Because there's a lot of reports, pro and con, yes, it's true, it's not true, of Clemson, Florida State, Virginia, North Carolina potentially jumping from the ACC to the SEC. Do you see it happening?

I definitely see it happening. I think sometimes it might be you don't want to be the last team standing. When it comes to these brands, Ben, I think a lot of these teams really thought they was a bigger brand than they thought. And I think teams like Clemson, North Carolina, Miami, Florida State, they might want to get in while they can right now. Because Greg Sankey is the most powerful man in college football right now. I think the biggest domino effect is going to be Notre Dame. Because I do think what them reportedly telling the Big Ten no, I think if Greg Sankey calls Notre Dame, if Notre Dame says yes to the SEC, I don't think anybody else they call has the leverage to say no. But everybody thought it was going to be the transfer portal, NIL, whoever thought the, quote, you know, changes in college football would be college realignment. You know, Ben, I try to think I love college football, man. I mean, we've sat there and talked college football. My thing is I can't figure out how this is actually good for college football. Where you're going to have two mega conferences, Big Ten and the SEC, and everybody else becomes pretty much a mid-major or slightly better than a mid-major. Is there any reason for me to think that this is actually healthy for college football? What's going on?

It's definitely not healthy. It's just at the sound of the times. Because of the Collins football playoff, it made an entire, you know, part of the country obsolete. I mean, once you really got past what Ohio State, Michigan, you really didn't worry about no other teams. Even though – because in the Pac-12, I mean, Utah has won the Pac-12. Obviously Lincoln Riley is coming to the Big Ten with Chip Kelly in UCLA.

A certain part of the country, it really didn't matter. So they're saying why are we placing so much interest in the entirety of college football when we understand outside of the Midwest and the Southeast, that's where the bulk of the listenership. This is about viewership. This is about who's going to get the best games.

So if you got two major conferences to pick from, who are you going to pick when you're talking about 95 potential games on a Saturday afternoon? This is about greed. And then you know just like I know, nobody's going to feel bad for the middle man or the guy left out. They care.

This is about looking out for self. And right now, you know, Kevin Warren and Greg Sankey, they are the two top dogs right now. Yeah, no question about it. Ben Troop co-hosted three and out on ESPN, former Florida All-American tight end and former Tennessee Titan as well. Joining us here, Dan Schwartzman, in for Rich Eisen on this Friday. You know, Ben, though, look, I love to see great matchups, all right? Everybody loves to see marquee matchups. You love it in other sports.

Heck, we love it in wrestling. And we certainly love to see a great matchup on a Saturday evening or a 12 o'clock game on college football Saturdays. But the fact is, if you're going to make 80 college football teams really, you know, playing for what? Nothing, because they're not going to be playing for national championships. Can we expect to potentially see schools actually just fold their college football programs because their chances of making even, you know, breaking even revenue-wise are going to be lessened because their conference is going to be worthless compared to what they are right now?

Dang it, I look forward to do that. Oh, Dan, you know, before the preseason rankings come out, it can't be, what, eight, nine teams got a shot to legitimately even make the college football playoff right now. What happened was Greg Sankey went to the college football playoff committee and said they wanted to expand the playoffs.

And Mr. Hancock said no, so he goes, okay. That's when you go see that, you know, the Oklahoma Tech is coming to the SEC. Most teams are obsolete. Like most teams in college football, they're just something to watch. And they understand that the fandom in college is much greater than that in pro sports because you got ties to that school.

So you're going to still watch. But some of these schools might have to fold. If they get rid of some of these football programs, it means your athletic department is sunk, you might not be able to have a school, let alone athletics. So I don't see them getting rid of the football program. You're just going to have to rethink how you go about your football team because if you're not in the SEC, if you're not Clemson, if you're not Ohio State or Michigan or even an outlier like Cincinnati, you don't have a shot to even get in as a currently constituted.

You can't get in now either way. I think this comes down to, hey, how can we get in the biggest conferences right now to make sure – because Texas is not going to win the SEC. They're not going to go to the national championship. They can't even win the Big 12, but they are a huge brand.

So this is about branding, tying yourself with a big brand. But like I said, college athletics is all about greed because for every archman there is that's going to get big money when he goes to Texas. There are a gazillion quarterbacks that won't make a dime no matter what college they go to. If the NCAA, Ben, had a spine or had a backbone, would we be here right now?

Absolutely not. Mark Emmer might be the worst. Because what happened was is Mark Emmert has never had power. All he's ever done is handed out sanctions or when players get in trouble. It was all about the players, players, players. But no one seems to have a problem with coaches going from 1 million, 2 million, 3 million, 10 million. We aren't that many years away from having a $20 million a year head coach and no one's going to bat an eye. For those people thinking it ain't about the money, University of Texas a couple of years ago had $240 million in revenue from the athletic department.

60% of that went to scholarships, 38% went to coaches. So most of the money is not going to the players anyway. So for everybody saying, oh, I'm going to miss my tradition. You're still going to have the Red River rivalry. You're still going to have certain games.

But you might as well, if you are in love with these conferences, get used to watching some of these old videos because it's about to change up dramatically. Honestly, I think college programs will pay better than the NFL. Did you see Lincoln Riley's deal at USC? He bought a $17 million house in L.A.

I mean, he's not hurting, I'll tell you that. Private jets, I mean, $11 million a year, I mean, guaranteed money, you know, boosters, this and that. Lincoln Riley didn't leave Oklahoma for nothing. I mean, he got an NFL type deal and probably better. He'd be one of the highest paid coaches in the NFL right now.

But Ben, here's the thing, though. You were a highly recruited kid coming out of Georgia, right, when you were obviously coming out of high school. Today with the NIL situation, today with guys wanting to go to the NFL, if you are a five-star or a high four-star recruit, are you even considering a school outside of the Big Ten and the SEC when you know that's the fastest path to the NFL and money? It's going to be hard to look past them because look at the NFL draft. I mean, who's going to have the most player drafts in the SEC?

Now with the Big Ten doing what they're doing, they're going to definitely be a very, very close second. And these players, they understand. Everybody, it's only 250-some slots going to be in the draft unless you've got leverage to be able to generate any type of money when you're in school. And if you don't play the quarterback position, it's going to be even harder. But yes, outside of leaving the Midwest and the Southeast, it's going to be harder to get these guys. Even Lincoln Riley, while he's in USC, he's playing in the middle of the country, you know, having his game because he understands I want to generate the best talent. But yeah, it's going to be crazy.

It's going to get even crazier. Recruiting, college football is not about the national championship. It's about recruiting.

It's about national standard day. It's about the combine and it's about the draft. And if you can win those areas, you've got a shot to be a big program, a big brand for a long time. Let me ask you, Ben, if you're a top, you know, Arch Manning, you know, Arch Manning doesn't need the money, right?

He comes from the Manning clan. They got money. But if you're a kid coming out of an inner city or from a rural area and you're a five-star recruit, Ben, and I don't know if you know the answer to this question, and you have schools now literally financially negotiating for you, right, with NIL deals, which by the way is dirtier than dirty right now the way that's heading, how much are we talking a kid can make potentially going to play college football for three years or four years? I mean, are we talking tens of millions now?

Depends on who he is, yes. And that's before he even gets on the field because what people don't get is if I get, you know, I'm kid X coming from an inner city and I got a $5 million bill to go to, just say Oklahoma. That's before I get there. If I go there within a year, I'm a Heisman, I'm going to renegotiate what I got, which makes the NFL I still want to go. But at the end of the day, Ben, it's about how much money you can get, how many members you can create in a short amount of time. If I got money coming out of college, I look at the NFL different. I still want to go, but at the same time, just because I go to a big time program, the most famous, most players ever going to be is when they at these colleges and they don't tell you that you can make a bunch of money in the NFL. But caliber is never going to be as big as he was in Oklahoma. Baker Mayfield can't even stay with the Cleveland Browns. These boys are more famous at Oklahoma than they are in the league because unless you a top tier quarterback that's going to the playoffs, no one cares about what you do. Kirk Cousins made more money than anybody.

And he's with Minnesota, so I do think it's about leverage. You better use it while you got it because I think that the college experience is about as overrated as it gets. If I'm walking out with 401Ks, IRAs, and money in my pocket, hey man, I'm going to love whatever college or university I went to. Ben Troop co-hosted three and out on ESPN, former Florida All-American tight end and Tennessee Titan. Joining us here, Dan Schwartzman in for Rich Eisen, the Rich Eisen show on a Friday. You know, you played at Florida, you're an All-American. I couldn't imagine what life is like on campus in Gainesville being a Florida Gator and a really good one with an NFL future. I probably would have wanted to be you for about a week, Ben. Was it worth it? It was, it was. I mean, it took me four years.

I ain't going to lie, it was. Because at the end of the day, college worked for me. And I tell me this all the time, hey man, I'm a student athlete. If I was here for my athletics, I mean, academics, I wouldn't be here on an athletic scholarship. I got to see what it feels like to really be like a poster boy for a year in my senior year. I enjoyed it and I never had to leave a stop.

Grew up in Georgia College in Florida, drafted by Tennessee. I couldn't imagine if I would have came up there where you was, Dan. If I would have came to the big city of NYC, I don't know if it would have been the same result. But it did work out for me. But for every success story like myself, there are guys that went to my school that hate the decision because it didn't work out for them. You know, Ben, we use that term student athlete and I laugh at it, right?

Should we laugh even more now? Because look, it's one thing when boosters are handing envelopes out with a couple of hundred bucks, a thousand dollars after wins. But now we're talking multi-million dollar NIL deals. You mentioned five million bucks before you even step foot on campus or even play a game. What is the incentive academically?

I mean, can we stop with this nonsense of student athletes? These kids aren't going to class. They'll somehow pass courses. The school will make sure of that. But when you got that kind of money in your pocket, what's the incentive to get your education?

There's none. The only incentive is to stay eligible. That is your incentive.

I got it. The same thing I did in high school. I'm going to stay eligible to make sure that I get a chance to go to college.

It's what I'm going to do when I go to college. Just say I am an academic All-American, but I'm okay on the field. Coach don't care.

I want you to be an All-American on the field. Lincoln Riley and the, you know, and the Dan and, you know, the Billy Napiers of the world and the Nick Sables. They're not making millions of dollars because they're coaching amateurs.

I've never understood. So let me get this straight. I'm an amateur, but my coach is what? My coach is what? A pro?

Because he's making more money than some of these pro coaches. So it's always been a joke. It don't always be a joke. Amateurism and that word has always bothered me. There's no way you're going to fly hundreds of thousands of miles to come see me to get me to come to your school. But I'm an amateur.

No, you might, I might not get paid, but I'm far from an amateur. And let's face it. If you're a five-star kid, you will somehow stay eligible, right?

I'm not saying, you know, the different tax that schools will take to ensure that. But the chances are, if you're a five-star top recruit, somehow you will have the GPA necessary to be on the field. Right, Ben? Come on.

Absolutely. Listen, Roy Williams and North Carolina, they've made up a class. They've made up a class in North Carolina. They won the national championship and nothing ever happened.

Nothing. Like, people act like that didn't happen. Roy Williams, one of the greatest coaches in North Carolina basketball history, they made up a class, got caught, went to the NCAA tournament, won it, and did the batter eye.

Don't you know those are, if you are an academic advisor at these major universities and institutions, you better not fail nobody, because they're going to remember you. You're going to be the difference. Jameis Winston had all kind of allegations against him, still won the Heisman, still won the national championship, and was still the number one overall pick.

It's all about who you are and how you do what you do to determine how people treat you. Actually, that's a great point. And by the way, Roy Williams is going into the Hall of Fame this year, so it didn't hurt him. And I remember that whole scandal. And the worst part about it is some African-American course, right? Wasn't it like an African-American studies course?

It's called African-American studies, yes. And I'm thinking to myself, what an absolute disgrace to take something like that and to make a joke out of it, right? I remember no one brought that up. I'm like, what an absolute terrible thing to do to make it an African-American studies course that you're using, literally making it up, so kids can stay eligible. I mean, that was awful. And you're right, Roy Williams coached, and he's a Hall of Famer.

And he's one of the greatest of all time. And people kind of forget about that whole scandal at North Carolina that happened because of it. But Ben, man, I'm telling you, man, the dirtiness of college athletics is incredible.

It's on full display right now. If you were a betting man, my friends, is Notre Dame in the SEC and is Clemson in the SEC in the next few months potentially? I would go, I would wait on the Notre Dame, but I would say definitely yes for Clemson because the thing about Notre Dame, they're just the biggest brand of college football.

People don't got to like it because they rode to the beat of their own drum. You're going to have to make it very, very enticing for Notre Dame to pick your car. The money is good, but Notre Dame don't lack funds. They want to be a, how can we still be the creme de la creme in an SEC that's going to be very, very loaded? But if they're going to say yes to anybody that's going to be the SEC, Clemson, they better say yes because the ACC is probably going to get this mantle.

You're going to want to be on that SEC train. I know it's going to be hard to win it, but this is about dollars. Because these TV deals, if you think they big now, wait till they get this conference together. Guys, these teams are going to be getting roughly $100 million a year before they ever play it down.

You know what's incredible? If you're Notre Dame, what you have to weigh is this. You go to the SEC, you're probably a fourth or fifth place team.

Like your brand will take a hit, right? Because you're just not going to win as many games. Like think about the fact that they are not going to win enough games probably in the SEC where they're not going to be beating Alabama. They're not going to be beating a Clemson if they're in the SEC, right?

They're not going to be beating these teams. Like they will literally be a four loss team every single year in the SEC and it's like, okay, what was the point of that? And I think you actually hurt your brand because it's too good of a conference for a Notre Dame. Because Notre Dame has these recruiting restrictions because of the academics. And the fact is, I think maybe they're better off in the Big Ten. It's an easier conference.

It might be. I mean, I'm not saying that Kevin Warren won't end up having a team like Notre Dame in it. And they might have to move some things around to get Notre Dame in it if they have already told them no.

But Notre Dame, what has worked for them in the past is this. What if I say no to the Big Ten? What if I say no to the SEC? And I've got to rely on my schedule. And I'm paying the ACC or the Big 12 or what's left of the Pac-12.

You're not going to have a strong enough resume to even still get in. And then once they go to 12 and you still can't get in, that's what I think they'll win. But hey, Brian Kelly did not leave Notre Dame for LSU because he thought the Notre Dame was going to be in the running to go to these conferences. We'll see what happens. But Notre Dame is the biggest question mark, the biggest domino in college football.

Yeah, going to be fun to watch, man. The train wreck that we all stop and watch upon us and it's called college football. Ben Troop, former Florida All-American tight end, Tennessee tight end, the co-host of three and out on ESPN and author as well. Ben, appreciate it, my friend. Have a great weekend. Appreciate it.

Awesome time, as always, chatting with Ben Troop. There you have it. Alright, imagine being a top recruit, an All-American candidate in a college town. I mean, now with an NIL deal making millions of dollars, not only do you have the NFL ahead of you, not only do you have the aura of being a star athlete, now you got millions of dollars in your pocket. Life's got to be unbelievably good for these kids on campus, right? Like, I couldn't imagine. Just stay healthy and stay out of trouble. I mean, I remember when I was 18, 19, 20 years old, I mean, trouble kind of finds you, right?

I don't mean like the criminal trouble. Yeah, it does. No, that too. That too, but I'm thinking more like go to the party, beautiful co-eds, things like that, you know?

Yeah, yeah, that too. I couldn't imagine. What a lifestyle in college. You're driving like a Ferrari in college. You have the nicest apartment off campus because you're a college athlete making like five million bucks a year in name, image and likeness deals. And by the way, you have millions of dollars waiting for you in the NFL. Stay healthy and stay out of trouble.

And stay eligible, right? Unbelievable. What a lifestyle, man. I wish I was a little taller.

I wish I was a baller. My goodness, those guys get it. I mean, that's unbelievable.

What a mess. An absolute train hook when you think about what college athletics has become. All right, Major League Baseball has made a decision on the All-Star Game. Two big names are getting in. The question is, should we be nostalgic?

Is that the point of the All-Star Game? Who holds Cabrera? They're in. Why?

What's next? Dan Schwartzman on a Friday. In for Rich. It's the Rich Eisen Show. Dan Schwartzman in for Rich Eisen on a Friday.

The Rich Eisen Show. Baseball All-Star Game stuff coming out. This Tony Gonsolin guy right now, he's gotten two of the three Triple Crown statistics as a pitcher. Leads baseball in ERA with 1.62. He's also 11-0. Doesn't strike out a lot of guys, by the way.

But still, I mean, what a job he's done. As he starts the All-Star Game, 11-0, a 1.62 ERA with 80 strikeouts. He's only pitched 88 in two-thirds innings.

I'll take him and I'll raise you Sandy Alcantara from the Miami Marlins. I know he's a Marlin, but he's 9-3 on the Marlins. He's got a 1.82 ERA. He's doing 123 in the third innings. He's got 107 strikeouts. Only allowed 82 hits.

You can make the argument for him, too. The Dodgers are really careful with Gonsolin. Plus, it's also the game's in LA, so that probably plays a role as well in terms of deciding who's going to be the starting pitcher.

But I don't know, man. Hard to pick against Sandy Alcantara, what he's done as well. And that's going to be an interesting case. And then the American League, look, you got a couple of options here in the American League. Shane McClanahan of Tampa Bay has been ridiculous. He's 9-3, 1-7 for ERA. Check this statistic out.

Are you ready for this? 98 in the third innings, 133 strikeouts, man. And his whip is.81..81. 63 hits, 17 walks in 98 in the third innings. He's been ridiculous. That's awesome.

But you're in LA, right? So, I mean, Justin Verlander's been great. 11-3, 2 ERA. But how about this name, okay? So if you go with Tony Gonsolin as the starting pitcher for the National League.

And again, I have no problems with that. I think that's well-deserved, as good as Alcantara's been. Can you make the argument to start Shohei Ohtani for the American League?

Right? I think he's got the best in terms of being a starting pitcher, a full-time starting pitcher. He may have the best strikeout to walk, or excuse me, strikeout to inning ratio of Ks per 9 of any starting pitcher. 12.3 strikeouts per 9 innings. That's better than Shane McClanahan's at 12.2. Better than Garrett Cole.

I guess Dylan Cease is a little bit better. I mean, he can be the starter as well. Shohei Ohtani right now is 8-4, 244 ERA, 111 strikeouts. He's 8th in baseball in strikeouts, and he's only thrown 81 innings, obviously. He's not a full-time pitcher.

He's a 6-day rotation guy. ERA-wise, Shohei Ohtani is, I mean, his ERA is right there. I mean, he's about number 8 or 9 in terms of ERA. In fact, he's not even showing up on the ERA thing here because he may not have enough innings. But he would be right around 8th or 9th in baseball in terms of ERA. All of baseball, by the way. Imagine if you have an all-LA starting pitching in the All-Star game. You can make the argument, Art.

You know, Gonsolin versus Shohei Ohtani. That would be awesome. Yeah. But you're not going out of your way, right? It's not like, oh my goodness, that's so ridiculous.

Like, how can you make that pick? No way that guy deserves it. No, dude. Both of these guys are legitimate. Right. So that brings up the argument here of Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera will both participate in the All-Star game, according to Rob Manfred, making an announcement earlier today. Obviously, Pujols and Cabrera are future first ballot Hall of Famers. They are the only players in MLB history outside of Hank Aaron to register 3,000 hits, 500 home runs, and 600 doubles. Pujols and Miguel Cabrera have never been linked to steroids, right? The only question with Pujols has been, is he really his age?

That's been a legitimate question people have asked. But that's about it. No real scandals when it comes to those two guys. And seemingly great citizens of baseball. Now, Pujols has been a 10-time All-Star. Cabrera has been, I think, an 11- or 12-time All-Star. He's been an 11-time All-Star.

Here in America, I think we have a problem. And Jurgen Klinsmann, who was the great German soccer player who coached the U.S. national team for a while, brought this up once. And he used the late Kobe Bryant as an example. He said that here in America, we pay people for past performance.

And he's right. When the Lakers gave Kobe that last, what was it, three-year deal? Remember, that was like three years and like 60 million, when 20 million was a lot of money a year. And Kobe kind of broke down the last couple years of that deal, right? Because Kobe had started at 17.

So at 35, he'd already been playing, you know, a lot of basketball. So he got that big contract, and Klinsmann's like, hey, we're just paying for past performance. You're paying Kobe for what he did, not what you really think he's going to do the next three years. Maybe it was two years, 50 million. I think maybe that was the deal. You remember that deal that Kobe got at the end of his career?

Of course, yeah. Yeah, I think it was two years, 49 million or something like that. A lot of money. And Klinsmann was right. I mean, they were paying Kobe for what he had done and meant previously, not do we think he's going to be as productive these next two years when we are paying him $25 million a year. In other sports, they don't do that. In Europe, they don't really do that, right? They don't say, okay, like Leo Messi, thank you so much, you've been great. Although we think your skills are going to diminish, we still are going to pay you 50 million euros a year. They're not going to do that because they don't think you're going to be as productive on the pitch.

They're not going to pay you that. And what we're doing here is we're celebrating two guys who, by the way, have been celebrated plenty. Pool Holes has been in 10 All-Star games. Cabrera has been in 11 All-Star games.

Yeah, maybe this is the last time we'll see them in an All-Star game, but frankly, who cares? So if you're going to put Pool Holes there, you're going to put Cabrera there, aren't you possibly taking two slots away from others who are more deserving? Nothing against Albert Pool Holes, but Albert Pool Holes on this season is hitting 200 with four home runs and 18 RBIs. Hardly an All-Star, right? He's played in 45 games. He's played in about half the games. All we're seeing is a diminished Albert Pool Holes, who was one of the great players of our generation.

Miguel Cabrera, yeah, he's hitting.308, so you can maybe justify it a bit more, but he's got three home runs and 31 RBIs in 70 games. Hardly an All-Star. I mean, what I'm trying to say here is, okay, you want to give something and say these guys were great players, so let's prop them up here in this All-Star game so I guess people can say goodbye.

All right, but they're going to do a stadium tour anyway, right? Like Albert Pool Holes is going to get cheered at stadiums around the country, especially if he says he's going to retire at the end of the year, whatever it may be. We saw that with Mariano Rivera. We saw it with Derek Jeter, really, right? I mean, David Ortiz, same thing. Do I need to see Albert Pool Holes in his 200 average or Miguel Cabrera in his three home runs in a final All-Star game at Dodger Stadium? Does that mean anything?

It doesn't to me. I think it was Joe DiMaggio who once, I think, told a young Mickey Mantle, I think it was, maybe it wasn't Mantle, but somebody asked him, hey, Joe, why do you play so hard at like 37? And DiMaggio was reported to have said it's because there's a kid coming to watch his first game and watch me for the first time, and I don't want him to think of me any other way. Like, no offense to Albert Pool Holes, I wonder, has he played the last few years to keep collecting that paycheck in the last couple years of his contract, right? Because Albert Pool Holes hasn't been good in a long time, I hate to say it. I love Albert Pool Holes, one of the great players. But Albert Pool Holes has not been really any good in, what, five years? No joke, right?

Been about five years. I'm just not a fan of that, like, hey, let's pat him on the back. Hey, thanks for what you've done, you've had an incredible 21-year career, we're going to put you on an All-Star team when you're not deserving. And maybe those guys should say, hey, you know what, I appreciate the gesture, but let the next generation in, right?

Let those guys get and get that on, I've been there, done that, this doesn't do anything for me. Maybe they need to do that because they are certainly not deserving of being All-Stars. Just my two cents, maybe I'm a curmudgeon, you might think, oh my goodness, how can you say that, they're two all-time greats, I get that. NFL, the latest news coming out of that league, Dan Schwartzman on a Friday in for Rich.

It's the Rich Eisen Show. For the real story behind some of wrestling's biggest moments, it's something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson, too. All-time Hogan opponents, Macho Man's got to be in the conversation. Where's Andre for you? I've always said Andre was number one. Because even going back before Hulk Hogan was a babyface, Hulk and Andre were able to go in and headline at the New Orleans Superdome, at Shea Stadium in Japan, wherever they went, that was an attraction. Something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.