7-12-24 McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning Hour 2: Can Notre Dame remain independent; Ross Dellenger talks realignment; Jake Rowe recaps Big 12 Media Days
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All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. We are going to try to move away from our food discussion, although I did recall the PB&J item that I had had previously. It wasn't wings. It was a sushi roll. I remember it now. And it was incredible. I don't remember the place. I believe it was in North Alabama. And it was awesome. Not surprised. Just throwing that out there. Just letting you know that that was a real thing. And it was incredible.

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All right, Jake Rowe covers the Georgia Bulldogs. He joins us now on the Buyer's Right Hotline to discuss this football team. Jake, am I to understand correctly that there was actually a speaker in-house this week to discuss some of these things and how to handle some of these things from a driving perspective before these issues took place this week?

Absolutely. Yeah, there were, I think, multiple times. It actually, they spoke to these guys about these things and

Man, it's, you know, I don't envy, and I'm not trying to say, well, this is not me being like, well, there's another team to deal with this, but, I mean, Tennessee had four of them, too, and I don't envy anybody trying to, like, get this message across to these young men because I drove like an absolute maniac at that age, so I get it, but at some point, like, I understand where Georgia fans are coming from, too, and they're just shaking their head and

Georgia, I mean, these players and all this stuff, they kind of deserve the ridicule that's flying their way over it because it's not like anybody's just sitting on their hands saying, hey, we're not going to do anything about it. It's just that, you know, guys are being guys and they're

They're just not really taking care of business off the field and behaving and comporting themselves like they should. And that continues to be a black eye for Georgia, you know, in that regard. Yeah, and I think the real surprising one was Smile Munden.

who has played, who has been a big part of that defense, a leader on this team returning this season, and someone that you would just assume would know better, who lost it. He was a part of the football team, lost a teammate a couple of years ago to similar actions. And that was one, I think, Jake, when we saw that one, you're kind of like, come on now. Like that's it just shouldn't be taking place.

Yeah, 100%. And, you know, I do push back a little bit on all of the parallels with the Willett tragedy, just a little, because, I mean, I think we can all agree that, you know, somebody being behind the wheel, you know, two and a half times the legal limit and driving 104 in a 35 and all that stuff, I mean, that is above and beyond kind of what we've seen. But ultimately, it's still in the same vein. You're still in the same zip code here with –

hey, just drive like you've got some sense. And, you know, the Athens-Clarke County Police, man, they just do not play. And when it comes to those sorts of things, like they're going to, you know, they're going to take you and book you and all of that stuff, even if it's only on, you know, $25 bond, they're going to do that. And then it's going to, and ultimately it's just up to the players to, hey, listen, don't race.

Don't drive like you stole it. Just act like you've got some sense and everything will be okay. I do hope at some point, not at some point, I just hope that this gets reined in

to a large extent before maybe there's another accident and somebody else does get hurt. Jake Rowe joining us on the Buyers Right Hotline talking Georgia Bulldogs. He covers Georgia. Is this going to affect any playing time this upcoming season, do you think, for any of these guys, ATN, Smile Monday, any of them?

Well, I mean, okay, so you have the ETN situation and the DUI charge less safe, which means there was no, from what I understand, means there was no breathalyzer or any real proof. He just kind of admitted to having something to drink and wasn't 21. That charge got dropped, which kind of takes the thing out of the student handbooks, the Georgia student athlete handbooks handbooks.

uh, uh, you know, I guess jurisdiction and really kind of puts it in Kirby smarts court where, you know, I, I don't know. You mean I, you, you played ball. I don't know how much trouble you got into. Maybe some, maybe none, but, um, ultimately I think, you know, the, this, the, the in-house discipline there is going to be pretty miserable. And so I tend to think that if he completes all of that and does that, like you're supposed to, then he's going to be fine. Um,

Small London, first time he's ever had an issue with anything off the field since being at Georgia. I tend to think that, you know, he's going to have some of the same thing. May not start, maybe a quarter against Clemson. I don't think he's going to get suspended for a whole game. You know, we still don't know anything about Bill Hughley. He's not really going to be a big-time contributor or is not expected to, especially after that off-season labrum surgery. So I would expect that, you know, we won't even know whether it impacts him or not. All right.

All right, Jake Rhodes joining us, talking Georgia Bulldogs. Let's focus in on this football team heading into this season. I feel like the pass catchers on this team are being slept on. And it's not that people say they're not good or they're not great, but I feel like it should be discussed as the best group in the nation because of the depth and because of the proven commodities that they have. Even though they haven't all done it at Georgia, they've done it against high-level competition. How good do you believe this group of receivers that Carson Beck is going to be thrown to this year is or can be?

I think it's going to be really good. And then I'm going to go back to a guy that's general manager at Vanderbilt right now, Barton Simmons, a guy when he comes to talking about players, Barton Simmons, a guy I worked with for several years, is one of the best. And Barton told me a long time ago, I think we were up in Nashville for an event, he said, I don't think it's as important to have a

to have a one receiver. You want to get this guy, but it's tough to find this guy, that one receiver who checks off every box. And he said, I don't think it's as important to do that as it is to get a receiving core that puts multiple checks in all the boxes. And that has kind of stuck with me over the years, and I think Georgia has that with this group. You know, you've got size and go-get-it ability with guys like Rara Thomas and Colby Young.

You've got explosive separators, you know, with Dominic Lovett and Dylan Bell. Even Raul Rafaes there, too. I mean, I think that's the guy that even Georgia fans don't really understand how they think about him in that building up there because he's the guy they really wanted out of the portal when he got in, and he's the guy they really believe is a Sunday football player.

But, yeah, I mean, you move on. I mean, you've got guys that can be physical. You've got speedsters who can get behind the defense. You're really good in the slot and deep in the slot. And on top of it all, you've got route runners. And I really like the versatility of the group. I think it's very difficult with a veteran quarterback, and this is all part of the equation here. It's very difficult with a veteran quarterback to be like, all right, well, we're going to take this away from Georgia.

and it's going to hamper them. I think now you're looking at a spot where, hey, listen, if you've got a couple really good outside corners but you struggle at safety or if you're a little bit more susceptible down the seams, Georgia can hurt you. Or if you're struggling a little bit on the outside and you've got a corner back down, Georgia can hurt you. I don't know...

that they are the best in the country. I agree with you. I think it should probably, there's a case to be made, but I do think that it is one of the most diverse and talented experience groups that you'll find in the entire country and definitely one of the best in the SEC.

Talking with Jake Rowe, discussing the Georgia Bulldogs. Let's go to the other side of the football. Defensively, it's unfair and kind of similar to what we saw during Saban's tenure in Alabama. We're going to compare it to guys who had been there. The front is not near what it was three, four years ago, but that doesn't mean that it can't be really good or great defensively.

So where do you sort of grade, view, rank the Georgia front? Defensive line, including the edge defenders, as far as what they can be, what they have the potential to be, how problematic can that group be this season?

You know, first I'll say, Cole, I can't wait to see if a team can put together one of those 2021 Georgia defensive lines or one of those, you know, kind of Nick Saban-era Alabama defensive lines in the transfer portal era. Like, I mean, I think that those may be gone. Those may be extinct. I think it's really tough to stack those.

that talent on top of each other. But in terms of the Georgia D line, everybody had this kind of notion that Georgia was going to get into the portal and they were going to try and get some difference making defensive linemen in the portal. There may have been one or two in the portal, period. My contention all along from the very jump was, listen, Georgia can go in the portal. They can get it. They got a good player in Xavier McLeod, a guy they recruited really hard out of high school. And I think

he's going to be able to help them at multiple positions. But my contention from the jump was that Georgia's defensive line, on the year older, year better progression from Jordan Hall, a former five-star prospect out of Jacksonville, Florida, who flashed a little bit last year, but wasn't Jalen Carter as a freshman, and very few guys are. And the progression of Christian Miller, who jumped into the –

and now some tensions to jump into the transfer portal for about 18 hours before deciding not to get into the portal and return to Georgia. Those two, I believe, are the most dynamic guys that Georgia has up front in terms of experience. They're really powerful at the point of attack. They're 300-pounders, which is something you hear Kirby bring up a lot. They can penetrate, redirect, make plays. And I think that is where Georgia can really improve. That and the fact that Nazeer Stackhouse,

was fantastic in 2002 and didn't really have that. There is a reason he's back, and it's because he didn't have the 2023 he wanted. The same thing with Warren Brinson. So I think when you put those four together, there's a core there. Keeping Tyree and Ingram Dawkins healthy is massive. You saw the impact he made as soon as he came back from injury last year against Florida. Gabe Harris is an up-and-comer, a kid out of IMG Academy, who kind of came in as like an edge prospect that has grown into a defensive end. And I'll give you a name.

Freshman class this year, Joseph Jonah Johnye. He is a 6'4", 265, 270-pound freshman out of Houston, Texas, or the Houston area. Cole, he doesn't turn 18 until November, right?

but there has been no shortage of folks that will tell you, like, this kid's the real deal. He's just got some stuff he can't teach, and I think he's going to be a factor at some point during the season as well. Jake, we saw kind of a new wave of linebackers sort of start to take over last year. Like, we knew who the guys were going to be, and then –

All of a sudden, Smile Mundin comes in there. C.J. Allen's getting more snaps. Could we see something similar with, like, Raylon Wilson and Jalen Walker? Because what I hear about those two is that they could soon be the stars of the Georgia defenses of the future.

Yeah, and that's one of the reasons, Cole, I expect there to be a very – I think Georgia had a good run defense last year. It wasn't great. I mean, you look – if you go back and you watch some of the things, the defensive line kind of catches to me, and you study it more than I do, I feel like they catch a little shrapnel that they don't deserve off of the run defense discussion. You go back and you watch that first play where they give up the 75-yard touchdown to Tennessee on the first play of the game.

C.J. Allen just kind of runs himself into a wrong gap. He kind of just runs into a block. And that he's trying to go after, he's trying to play the quarterback when Mike Hill Williams is playing the quarterback. So I feel like the youth really hurt Georgia last year. But as we all know, last year's, you know, growing pains become kind of this year's strengths in a lot of instances. And I think that C.J. Allen and Raylan Wilson and Jalen Walker, with Jalen Walker actually becoming a factored inside linebacker instead of kind of having to help out on the edge,

I think that's a really good young trio. I also love Troy Bowles. I mean, I've heard some really good things about him, too. I think he might be able to carve out a role for himself in some passing down situations. But, you know, when you put those guys with Smile Monday, who's healthy now, that was, you know, Smile Monday at the end of 2022 was playing some of

some of the best football you've seen from a Georgia linebacker under Kirby Smart, and that's saying something because those guys have played really well. And then last year was definitely a step back. I didn't think he was going to be available until the middle of the season. Then all of a sudden you started to hear late in camp, dude's going to be ready to give it a go. So I think having him healthy plus those next three guys being a year older, it's incredible. And I don't know if folks understand that,

Georgia has dudes stacked up behind them that are just absolute free shows as well. That's a very strong position for Georgia. Jake, we really appreciate the time, man. Great stuff as always. Look forward to catching up with you again soon. Thanks for hopping on. We'll see you next week at Media Days.

Actually, I'm not going. We'll send Palmer Tom's this year. I'm going to cover it from home. But always an honor to come on the show, man. I really appreciate you and respect everything you do. You do a fantastic job, buddy. Appreciate that. Thank you, Jake. We'll catch up soon. Bye, bud. Jake Rowe, at Jake M. Rowe, R-O-W-E. Follow him on Twitter. Find his work at the On3 Sports Network covering the Georgia Bulldogs. Does a great job there. And great stuff with us just now. So, I mean, listen, there's...

There are people that are going to feel strongly about some of the things that have taken place, being upset about it. It's dumb. I'll say that. It is. It's just in continuing to make the same mistake over and over. I know it's not the same individuals, but same teammates. It's there's no excuse for it. But at the same time, you're dealing with young people. Young people oftentimes make dumb mistakes. And I think there's a lot of things important to it as well. NIL is allowing access to different vehicles, different cars, different things.

That gives you more potential to have more issues. Just part of it. But for somehow, someway, Kirby Smart and his staff have got to find a way to start to negate some of this because the continuing aspect of it has to be frustrating for a lot of people. I understand that. All right, we'll get to a break. On the other side, Ross Dellinger is going to be with us. We'll talk to him about the latest on Florida State and Clemson. Are they in?

Are they out of the ACC? We'll discuss it next on Mac and Cube in the morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kublik in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than a player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Cap or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in. McElroy and Kublik in the morning, 819 a.m., Friday, July 12th on Jocks 94.5. Going to go right to the buyer's right hotline. Welcome in Ross Dellinger.

as he's been making the rounds on media days, I assume since there were three right there in Las Vegas, you hit all three just back to back to back? Pretty much, yeah. I spent a little time with each. So, yeah, it was convenient to go to Big 12 for a couple days. And then day two of the Big 12, the –

Pac-2 had not really a full media day. There was only two teams. Well, Cocktail Hour. We had kind of a Cocktail Hour. Yeah, it was really good. It was good. It was a good idea by them. And then Mountain West was also there. I'm interested just in the Pac-12, Pac-2 media session. Like, what's...

We heard, obviously, the commissioner make a couple of jokes. What's the vibe of the future? Is there positivity? Is there hope? Is it kind of we're hanging on by a thread here? What's just the feel of what's happening right now? It's very uncertain. They're in a kind of limbo. And I think that we might not know the answer to their future for long.

you know, maybe another year. Um, you know, they, they get two years of grace period at the NCAA considers them still a conference. They get two years, uh, uh, by 2027, they'll have to build, build up to, uh, eight teams again to remain a conference and FBS conference. So they've got some time. Um,

But it is very uncertain, and I think really they're watching and patiently waiting on the landscape of college athletics, specifically with an eye, of course, on the ACC, about how any movement or next realignment wave could maybe impact them positively, where they could find a home or create or rebuild in some way.

Ross Dellinger joining us, Yahoo Sports. At Ross Dellinger, you can follow him on Twitter. Some of the news that you shared during these media days this past week was that there have been some preliminary conversations with a couple of ACC schools and potentially the Big 12. Florida State, Clemson specifically, what's realistically happening right now as it pertains to what future conference they will live in?

Yeah, Cole, I had quite a rough morning yesterday. I landed at 7 a.m. from a red-eye flight to a bunch of aggregated headlines from a radio interview I did on the final day of Big 12 Media Day where a five-second clip was

of a 15-minute interview is kind of blown up into fun realignment headlines. Look, when I talk about realignment, and I don't do this often, I don't speculate often, but when you talk about realignment,

You kind of have to speculate because there's no other way really to talk about it if you're going to talk about it. And so I just speculated on what the possibilities would be for the ACC's future. That's all I did. And I think, obviously, you asked about Florida State and Clemson, and those are the two everybody's watching. They're trying to exit the league in some way. They've followed –

lawsuits against the league to get out of the grant of rights. So what are their options? And that's basically what I laid out. And option one is going, probably this is their priority, is going to the SEC or the Big Ten. If there's no interest there and if you believe that

folks over the last year or two, there's not a lot of interest there. That could change, right? An example is the Big Ten, which didn't have a lot of interest in Washington and Oregon, and then Fox gave them more money, and all of a sudden they're members, right? So things can change.

Option two for Florida State Clemson would be probably reforming the ACC, which I've talked about for a long time. A year ago, seven of them got together, seven ACC schools. They met independently and were thinking about

Basically blowing up the league and forming a smaller conference where they could divvy up money to fewer members. Option three is pretty obvious. It's the Big 12. It's the only other power conference left. We know that Brett Yolmark is very aggressive. He said it at Media Day on Tuesday in his opening address.

is the Big 12 is still open for business. The issue is finding the money, enough money to make it worthwhile for Florida State and Clemson to leave the ACC. Ross Dellinger of Yahoo Sports joining us on the Buyer's Right Hotline is...

How feasible would the Southeastern Conference or the Big Ten be for those schools? I've heard a lot of people essentially alluding to the fact that it's just not going to happen, that there's just there's not room. There's not the desire. The money's not going to increase to the point where it would make sense. How real would you say those statements are?

Well, let's take one each. So the Big Ten, you'll remember their presence. First of all, they're at 18 members, which is pretty large. At some point, you go from a conference to an association. I don't know when that happens, but we're pretty close to that happening. So are they already big enough? Again, their membership vote originally voted down.

Washington and Oregon. And then Fox came back with more money, which tells you they don't want to dilution in their shares, their distribution, their TV money. So you add two more, you have to distribute if you're going to have the same

cut of distribution, you'd have to take a dilution. So you need more money from Fox or one of their other networks. And Fox is already, again, ponying up for Washington and Oregon. So will they give more money? And then there's the academic component. We know that the Big Ten is certainly

uh, leans on its, uh, academic prowess kind of, and, and it's been picky, uh, when it comes to expansion, uh, they look at academics and the, the AAU status of universities, probably a little more heavily than, than other, uh, leagues when they look at expansion. Um, and in the SEC, you know, the SEC already has schools in the States of Florida and South Carolina. They wouldn't,

open up new markets. And if you open up new markets, you get new TV revenue, right? So that, um, you know, it just doesn't make a ton of sense there. Um, but you know, could it be, could the sec be in, get more interested as a defensive maneuver if the big 10, uh, is interested, uh, maybe I guess, but for at least right now, um,

There's not a sense that either league is that interested. Again, these things can change on a dime. I mean, again, we saw the Big Ten change on a dime. But the bottom line is nobody, even in the Big 12, is going to take a dilution in their distribution shares, their money,

to add more teams. They're not going to do it, especially in a revenue sharing with revenue sharing coming up for athletes. So you've got to find more money, and whether that's private equity, like Brad Yormark is looking into, or that's more money from their networks, like in the SEC, ESPN would have to give more money, or Fox, CBS, NBC would have to give more money to the Big Ten,

in order to add these schools in the network's

have shown that in the age of this evolution that we're in with streaming, that they don't just have an enormous amount of wealth right now. So it's all a tricky situation. But, you know, Florida State and Clemson got to have a place to go. You know, if they get out within the next year or two, they got to have somewhere to go. So you look around at these options and you wonder how this is all going to work. And there's a lot of uncertainty.

It feels like a stupid question, Ross, but I was doing some research on a couple of different things yesterday and was talking about all these schools that people think can win a championship in their new conferences like Oregon and Texas and Oklahoma, and only three schools have done that ever in a Power Five conference. Virginia Tech in 2004 did it. Florida State did it in 1992. Michigan State in 1953. Florida State did it going as an independent to the ACC. Right.

Is independence a real option for any of these schools that we're talking about that are dying to get to a new conference? Highly, highly unlikely. Notre Dame is an outlier. Their brand is so big and their alumni base is so broad across the country that they are valuable enough to get students

$50, $60, $70 million a year from an independent TV network deal. And I don't know that anybody outside of Ohio State, Alabama, and Texas, I would say those three,

would have enough value to a TV network to get the kind of money or more that Notre Dame gets in an independent deal. And keep in mind,

Notre Dame plays five ACC teams. They have a contract with the ACC, a scheduling alliance with the ACC. And so they've had to kind of lean on that to schedule games because it's difficult being independent. So Florida State and Clemson, while they are valuable, and Florida State's brand is certainly, I would guess, when you talk to –

People who know these things about brands and their rankings nationally are probably in the top ten, but they're not in the top two or three. And that's really what it takes to go independent. So that would really surprise me. That would be the fourth option, certainly, that I didn't list earlier, but one that would probably not happen.

Like I said, it felt like a dumb question, but it also feels like every option is on the table now moving forward if you can find the right financing to be able to go and get what you need. Finally, you brought up Brett Yormark a moment ago. I don't know the man. I haven't met him. I haven't spoken to him. He feels like an absolute killer. How would you describe Brett Yormark?

Well, I think Deion Sanders got up there on the stage at Media Day and described Yomar as a baller, shot caller, and a boss, which was an interesting way to describe a commissioner. You know, Yomar is different than...

probably anybody else in college athletics that I've ever, um, ever interacted with. Uh, he, he comes in, um, with a, um, as a kind of a big deal maker. That's, that's what he did, uh, as in working for the entertainment agency world. That's, uh, you know, in the, in the NBA executive world, that's, that's the world he comes from. And he looks at everything as, um,

as a deal, right, and looks at everything in a way that others don't in college athletics. He is always looking to increase revenue and value for his product, which in this case is the Big 12. And he's brought them in the membership a lot of ideas, as I wrote about earlier this week. Some of those ideas have been embraced and have been approved or on the way to being approved.

Others have failed and will fail in the future because I think a lot of his membership thinks they're maybe not what they need and are a little too eccentric. But he was hired.

kind of to make, make deals and to generate more revenue and value for the big 12. And you have to say that he's done a lot of that. Um, you know, they added the four teams. They're about to do this naming rights deal for with more money. Um, you know, he's, he's done some other, other things, um, promotional marketing with the, with the brand of the big 12, um, or soon maybe the all state 12. Uh, so, you know,

You know, he's done a lot of those things. But he's certainly different than anybody in college athletics. Ross, we really appreciate the time. I know it's been a busy week for you and obviously a hectic week, like you said, because some of the things may be being a little bit misconstrued. But glad you spent some time with us this morning. Thank you. Thanks, Paul. Ross Dellinger of Yahoo Sports joining us on the Buyer's Right Hotline. For all your insurance needs, look to Buyer's Right Insurance, a member of the WRM group where relationships matter. Listen, I know the independent thing sounds nutty.

But wasn't it Florida State that we initially heard about looking into private equity first? So if you're Florida State and you have that money and you can find that money and they can float you, there are a lot of people that would want you on their schedule. Greg made a great point about Florida State to the Big 12 yesterday, saying, let's look at some of the games. Show me the games of importance. I don't see a ton of.

Now, show me the games of importance in the ACC. There are many. I would imagine if Florida State were to say, hey, we have a deal for enterprises, since Trent's the first one that put us on this private equity thing. I'll give him credit for that. They want to give us half a billion dollars to float us for the next 10 years, and they were to go independent, bet they could play Notre Dame every year. Bet that could happen. You think Florida wants to keep that on the schedule? Yeah, probably. Probably.

I think both those schools are probably interested in keeping that game. A couple other schools in the state of Florida want to keep that thing going. Central Florida, South Florida, Miami, FIU, FAU. I bet they'd probably sign up for that one. Regardless of what the conference has said about it. You can tailor make the schedule however you want. So the Big Ten, they might not want Florida State, might not have room for Florida State.

Probably a couple schools in that conference that wouldn't mind playing him every year. Again, I'm admitting it personally that it sounds insane. It sounds crazy. But if Brett Yormark's having to go get private equity money to force a way for Florida State to potentially move in, and there's not enough money to go around for Florida State to get to the Big Ten, maybe the SEC just doesn't see room.

If you can individually find a way to show enough brand value to get the private equity money yourself, is it even feasible is the question. Because if it's only one school, how much do you really need to keep up with everybody else? Oh, and by the way, if we're all going to all these conference rules and the conferences are going to govern down the road and that's where we're headed, how much more value does independence then have? We're capping our NIL here. You can only have this many scholarships. The roster size is going to be this.

Whoops. We don't have that. We do whatever we want. Now, you better swing a big stick if you're going to try to play out on that island. You better have a lot of resources, a lot of canned goods. You have a lot of matches out on that island. Save up your bottle of water. You better have a big Swiss Army knife, a good hatchet. But all I'm saying is it doesn't feel like anything should be ruled out right now because it's just so crazy with the things that you hear that are happening behind the scenes.

We'll discuss that a little bit more right after this on McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. The capital of the sports talk nation. This is Jocks 94.5 and jocksfm.com. Hurry and... All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. 800-239-9569 if you want to get in. 800-239-WJOX. Tweet into the show as well. At McElroy and Kubelik if you want to be a part of the show there.

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Got a thought on this. Maybe you can explain it to me. I don't understand why the college athletic world allows Notre Dame to still do what they're doing, being independent. And let me explain it. Like, I understand the value of Notre Dame. I understand why Notre Dame wants to do it. They can do it in football, and they've got a brand so big that it can generate – they've got the NBC TV deal on their own. Yeah.

But they've still got to play girls' basketball, men's baseball. So the ATC, or at least they did, they were, lets them in, lets them off the hook, lets them come and get one foot in the door and participate in the league and all the non-revenue sports, and then lets them out the door on the football side and out.

Can someone explain to me why anyone is letting anybody do that? It seems to me now, in this new climate, SEC, Big Ten, ACC, everybody would just say, Notre Dame, we're not going to play you in anything. You can be independent and you can have this great brand, but

There's still got to be some other team on the field across from you for this whole thing to work, and we're not going to play you unless you get in a conference. Well, you're seeing them be squeezed just a little bit with the ramifications of the playoff and what they can and cannot get as it pertains to buys and things of that nature.

The scheduling aspect of it, I thought the exact same thing, AJ. Like, why would you not just go to them and say, we're not playing you anymore? However, what comes with the basketball allegiance in the ACC also gives the ACC inventory with football. So there are multiple games that are scheduled with that conference every year. And when the ACC has those as home games, which they can present to a network, that offers a lot of value.

So I don't think it's just that they're trying to play nice because they want to give somebody Notre Dame, somebody having the other side of the field. They could make a lot of money on having Notre Dame on the other side of the field when they're playing at home.

Okay. How close are we to somebody? Because the ACC is losing its value anyway. I don't know. But the SEC would make this deal. I know that. How close are we to Notre Dame being pushed where somebody says, you know, hey. Yeah, the SEC doesn't have to make that deal. I think that's the big difference. But I think that there are a lot of folks that probably would like for that to happen and would like for that to continue to go down that road.

But Notre Dame still offers a lot of value in a lot of different ways. So like USC coming into Big Ten, you think that they're going to let the Big Ten tell them they're not playing Notre Dame anymore?

It's not going to happen. It could. It definitely could, but USC also carries a little bit of weight. And I can imagine that's one thing that they said, listen, we're playing Notre Dame every year. Sorry. It must be really good. Notre Dame money must. I mean, just like you said, being able to go to Clemson, at Clemson, and have Clemson be able to put that on TV, or I guess it wouldn't be Clemson, it would be ABC, whatever. That must still be so good that it's worth the, you know,

It's kind of like being in a relationship where the other person gets to cheat on you. I mean, that's kind of what it is. You know, it just must be so good that we're going to let it happen. But I don't know. I'm hoping there comes a point where everybody calls BS on this Notre Dame, you know, we're going to have our cake and eat it too business model that they have enjoyed.

since, well, the beginning of college football. But anyway, that's all I got. I'll let you go. Great show. Yeah, appreciate it. It's a good call and it's a good thought. And I do think that there are a lot of people, a lot of power brokers in college football that think that certain way. But their main mistake is a ton of value that comes with Notre Dame. And they've been independent for a long time. So they know how to make that work. And they're going to continue to try to do that. Just go look at the new NBC deal. It's coming. I mean, it's...

If you're wondering if there is a an end of the road for that, the money that they just got would say if there is, it's not where we can see it. It's going to take a long time to get there.

because financially it is very sound for Notre Dame to be doing what they're doing right now. All right, we'll get to our top three next right here on McElroy and Kubrick in the morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubrick in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than a player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Tap or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubrick in the morning.

Appreciate you guys tuning in. 848 AM, Friday, July 12th. JocksFM.com where you can listen online. Take your home smart speaker to enable the jock skill. Get to our top three here in just a moment. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's bad. Most of the time it's completely useless. One thing that's not useless though, Ox Foundation Solutions.

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For all your foundation repair and waterproofing needs, call 205-236-9500 or visit OxStrong.com. What do you have on tap for our top three today, Damien? It's crazy to believe that we went that whole hour in the first hour just talking about food. Yeah. But when you look at what days are for July the 12th, you've got National Eat Your Jell-O Day. I haven't had Jell-O in a long time, I will admit. Couldn't it just be National Jell-O Day? It's got to be Eat Your Jell-O? Eat Your Jell-O.

Oh, you have Jell-O Wrestling. Oh, that's true. I don't know. Other uses, maybe? Hey, if you hadn't seen that, Mark, we'll go down that road. Excuse me? We'll go down that road another day. Okay. I have no idea what you're talking about. There's a margarita story that happened over the Fourth of July holidays. I'm not familiar with that. All right.

We'll see if we have time at the end for that. Tennessee chugging might be back. It's a little crazy. National French Friday as well. Can't hate that. Last but not least is National Pecan Pie Day. And speaking with our food theme, what are your top three overrated desserts? Pecan pie is solid. I'm not going to say that it would be my first go-to right out of the gate, but

Not bad either. Get a little vanilla ice cream with that thing, and you're going to be good to go. Overrated desserts. Not going to be ice cream. No, not at all. I might go chocolate cake just because I'd rather have strawberry or other cakes. Okay. Are we counting cotton candy in this? Does that count as a dessert? That's overrated. Cotton candy? I just don't need it. Me either. Okay.

John, what's the French toast-like dessert that we got in Louisiana? They try to make it out of donuts now? Beignets? Beignets? No. I was going to say. They try to make it out of Krispy Kreme. Krispy Kreme. It's like a French toast slash cake slash thing. Bread pudding? Yeah, bread pudding is overrated. Sorry. Okay. It is. It's just not great. That would be number two for me. Number three, maybe a cannoli. Cannoli. Yeah, it's –

It's just not. No. Tiramisu in there also. Don't need it. Just don't need it. What happened to your culture class? We didn't have tiramisu. You didn't have that there? Impropriety. Questioning that class more and more every time you bring it up. It was only a month long. He was the TA, too. It was only a month long. It was during Jan's time. All right, John. Overrated desserts for you. Number three for me is a baked Alaska. I've only had it once, and I'm just, I guess I get why it could be good because it's,

Ice cream baked into something else, but the problem is it leaks, and you don't get to enjoy it. So you just have a pool of ice cream around it. So you know what? I'm just going to pass. Number two is a banana split.

I do like ice cream, but I don't eat fruit with it. Now, that said, I like strawberry ice cream, but I don't need all that banana just taking up all that space. It's a lot, too. Right. I just feel like you've got a lot of different food groups going, a lot of different flavors going. Doing all this in there, and it's inevitably going to fall off and fall apart. And number one. You can eat banana pudding, by the way, if we're just going to do that. Correct, right. Absolutely. Number one, red velvet anything.

I'm going to disagree with you there. I've had some red velvet cake. Pretty legit. That's a hot take right there. I'm not a fan of – You've got buttercream icing on some red velvet cake? I'm not a fan of cream cheese icing. What? Yeah. I prefer buttercream. Cream cheese is fine. In a pinch, if I have to, fine. Okay.

Number three for me is key lime pie. I think key lime pie is absolutely atrocious. I think it's absolutely atrocious. There's something about the smell. It feels like something a kid would say. Key lime pie is absolutely atrocious. I don't like pickles, but yeah. Give me a juice box. You get that graham cracker crust. It's so good. You're good. I am. It is. It is good. Number two, and this is kind of, it's mostly just a flavor, but anything butter pecan.

I don't like anything put in a recliner. As far as, like, ice cream, one of my old friends, she wore it out. And I just could not stand the smell, couldn't stand anything about it. It's just not for me. And number one is cheesecake. French vanilla, butter pecan, chocolate deluxe. You're not with that? Cheesecake? Cheesecake. Yes. It's a texture thing, man. It's a texture thing. It's not for me. It's not for me. So you...

You may have had some people on your side with the boneless things, and you just lost them all with everything you rattled off. That's fine. I'm a mean man. But no, like, key lime pie is one thing. It's just, I don't see how people get it. So you just hate green food because you hate pickles, you hate limes? I've never said I hate limes. It's like that Haagen-Dazs butter pecan ice cream. You've never had that? You've never had that? What? The Haagen-Dazs butter pecan ice cream. No. Wouldn't try it. Yeah, why would we try something amazing? Correct. Ridiculous.

So all cheesecakes, you're out. All of it. That's just a dumb take. Yeah. No. Bluebell literally brought us cookies and cream cheesecake ice cream yesterday. I didn't have any. It shows, right? It's a disappointing top three again. Oh, it wasn't? It was. It was disappointing because of my answer, but y'all were locked in. You got to think about it.

You're just upset with my answer. First off, I don't like picking bad desserts because there's so many good desserts. Why would I want to focus my time? It's like I told you my seven-year-old asked me what the worst Hall of Fame is. The Hall of Fame is like they're all good. I didn't dislike your answers. I just think it perpetuates how dumb you are. That's the difference. Damn. I'm a big cheesecake fan. It's pretty legit. Key lime pie, I can see the texture thing being the same there and –

I just feel like somebody got you off on the wrong foot with butter pecan. No, man. He said a former friend, so that makes sense. Smells all over the place. Sounds like you have your feelings into some of these decisions. Drake and desserts, okay. No, it's not for me. Okay. Not for me. All right, when we come back, Robert Allen recaps Big 12 Media Days next. This is McElroy and Cubelik in the morning.

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