7-29-24 McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning Hour 2: Why Missouri can(not) make the CFP; Andy Staples talks NCAA settlement; who challenges the KC Chiefs
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McElroy and Kubelik in the morning starts now. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning, 8 a.m. Hour number two underway Monday, July 29th right here on Jocks 94.5. Later this hour, we're going to do this with a different team every day leading up to kickoff. Today will be Missouri. Why Missouri will make the college football playoff. We give our case and

and go through the reasons that an individual college football team can or will make the college football playoff each day right here on McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Listen online, jocksfm.com. Tell your home smart speaker to enable the jock skill. You can always listen to us that way.

Before we move on, and Andy Staples will be with us in 20 minutes, GMAC, tell our listeners how Iconic Carts can help them. Iconic Carts will let you rent before you buy. That's one thing that makes me feel real good. If I'm going to spend a lot of money on a brand-new golf cart for my home, whether it's around the neighborhood or if it's at the beach, at the lake, what have you,

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So go check them out in one of their two locations, downtown and in Chelsea, or you can always go online. Figure out exactly what they got by going to iconiccarts.com. I did want to get to some NFL notes because we mentioned that Thursday night we get Texans at Bears in the Hall of Fame game, 7 p.m. on ESPN from Canton, Ohio. Cowboys pass rusher Sam Williams tore an ACL GMAC. Not great to have this happen this early in camp or any time in camp, I guess, but

But Dallas' ability to get to the quarterback may take a little bit of a hit heading into this season. Especially with kind of Mike Zimmer coming in, like those end men, they better be able to breathe fire. So obviously they still have one of the best in Micah Parsons, but you always want to have more with the end of the line. He played Ole Miss, didn't he? Yes. Yeah.

Christian Barmore diagnosed with blood clots, former Alabama defensive tackle, now with the New England Patriots. So he's going to miss some time. Hate to see this. But getting the treatment now that he needs and hopefully makes it for recovery and can get back to playing some NFL football. I absolutely hate this. I mean, he did, in fairness, just get rewarded $84 million, though. So there's some peace of mind in knowing that

hopefully, um, you're set up financially, but just hate this. I mean, prime of your career coming into your year 25, I believe he turns 25 this year. Um,

Just hate that you're having to deal with this. Just a huge setback after a breakthrough opportunity last year. We haven't had a chance to talk about Tua's deal. Gets his contract from the Dolphins four years, 212.4 mil. There's no doubt whether he deserves it, GMAC. I mean, I think a lot of people almost looking at this like, hey, it's about time. The money that they feel like he should get. The health has been better. The availability has been better as his career has gone on.

And he's one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. So I don't think anybody would look at this and say that it's a bad move or a move that shouldn't have happened from Miami. I saw a lot of people being super critical of it, saying he's the 13th best quarterback in the NFL and he's getting top three money. This is what the market dictates. Who's more deserving of a big payday?

Trevor Lawrence or Tua Tungabailoa? I'm not saying that Tua is better than Trevor. I'm not making any prognostications. All I'm saying is he deserves his money. And I think he's got an appropriate and fair number. I think the biggest question I would have if I were negotiating against Tua would be, hey, how much of it's going to be guaranteed?

for injury because there have been situations in which he's dealt with some injury stuff in the past. So that number, I believe, was like 167 is guaranteed, which is awesome. I feel like that's a great number for Tua. I feel like his side definitely won the deal. But I do think there's going to come a time where, and I'm not sure it's going to be long,

where owners will opt to just draft guys as opposed to paying their starting quarterbacks. Because this number, and sure, the cap might get up to $300 million here sooner than later, but this number for quarterbacks now is getting bigger.

crazy high. I mean, to where it's very prohibitive to be able to sign other guys. Well, it wasn't just Tua. It was Jordan Love. Four years, $220 million for those that were mad about Tua. So here are your highest paid quarterbacks in the NFL on a per year basis.

Jalen Hurts at 51. Lamar at 52. Herbert, 52.5. Goff, 53. Chua, 53.1. Burrow, 55. Lawrence, 55. Jordan Love, 55. That's on an annual basis. Think about that. $75 million signing bonus for Jordan Love. The best part is he was making good money before that. My buddy texted me and goes, he went from like...

being a guy that was in the upper class to a guy that's uber rich, all because of the signing bonus. Because he was making good money. He was 28th pick in the draft of whatever it was a couple years ago, making great money or whatever. But not like generational, my great-grandchildren will be rich. And then all in one day. Whew.

Let me get that direct deposit, home dog, for 47 right in the account. That's a pretty good deal there. So happy for him. He's a good player. I think he looks like he's going to be a great player, but it's one year, man. We've seen a lot of guys look good in one year. They didn't have a choice, but goodness gracious. So two of 53.1, to put it in perspective, Dan Marino made 51. Entire career. Total. Yeah.

All of it. How mad is Dan when Tua walks into the country club that they're both members at? I think Dan's okay. Oh, he ain't hurting. No, he's not struggling. He's got that Ace Ventura money. Yeah, the royalties on Ace. Got to be big.

Lions also agreed to a new deal with tackle Taylor Decker, so they're going to re-sign him. Good money? Three-year, $60 million extension. Is that the going rate? I don't even know. It's about there, yeah. I think it's good money. What do tackles make now? How are receivers making $10 million more a year than tackles? Hey, hey, hey.

If you're selfish, you've got to get paid more because you've got to, you know, look out for yourself. I'm just being real. Like, that just seems crazy to me. I mean, tackling me feels like a pretty important position. Absolutely. You are what your organization is willing to pay you. He puts his career earnings over 140 with that deal, so I think he's doing okay also. But it is an important position. So it's what the market – Can't wait for my career earnings to get over 140. I just need those six numbers to hit. Yeah.

See those six numbers, baby. And we've gotten close. I've gotten one out of six before. There we go. You'll be getting close there soon. Yeah. You're on your way. If I get the two out of six, I'm going to get $3. That's another ticket. Yeah. I get the next one free. It's a lot. But it was an interesting thought that you just brought up about quarterbacks down the road, and now Dak sits and waits with all those numbers in front of him.

And the productivity is not far off from a lot of guys on that list. But it's an interesting thought to say, okay, we'll just go draft and pay, what, a third, a fourth of that money for your guy for four years? And just stockpile the talent around him. Because you look at a lot of these guys, and a lot of these guys are pretty dang good. Yeah, but not easy to hit that reset button every four years. I agree. I think it's a lunatic argument to be made. Yeah.

Bird in the hand is better than the bird in the bush. These guys are billionaires for a reason. Like, okay, they'll roll the dice some, but they're not going to roll the dice that much. You've got to have a guy you can win with. And, I mean, if you have a guy that's just good enough, like the argument against Tua was he's just good enough to get to the playoffs. He might even just be good enough to get to the second round, but he's probably not good enough to get you to the Super Bowl. I was like, how do you know? How do you view that Dolphins team right now when it comes to making a deep playoff run? The thing that irritates me, though, sometimes, it's like,

We draw conclusions on guys early in their careers. Like, John Elway wasn't good enough to get you a Super Bowl until, like, year 16. Winning a Super Bowl is really freaking hard to do it. Lamar Jackson's got multiple MVPs. Hadn't even sniffed a Super Bowl run. I mean, these things are hard, man. These things are hard to win. Well, a lot of times it's, you know, who you're running into. I mean, how much more could have Rodgers done or Roethlisberger done or Rivers done if there was no Brady?

Right now they're going to run into it with Mahomes. I'm talking about getting Super Bowls. Some of those guys you mentioned, Boomer, Sison, John Elway, they're running into 49ers. And you're running into Dallas after that run. And Troy Aikman. It also depends on who's there. I don't want to say stealing them from you, but basically has that fortress built around the Lombardi Trophy of not only are we one of the best quarterbacks in the league, but I got the best cast.

Yeah, but there's also a place for that, though. Like, okay, you've got to have a quarterback to win. Great. Like, the best example in the modern day was in 2015. Cam Newton's coming off his MVP run. The Panthers, I was living in Charlotte at the time, they were incredible to watch. They were so much fun to watch. They were good on both sides of the ball. When they met Denver, it was a beatdown of epic proportion. And then prior to that...

And I know people say, well, let's score more. Dude, it never felt like the Panthers were going to get a first down, let alone score. Then the last time before that was when Seattle went and took it to Denver three years earlier. It's not unthinkable now that you can put together an all-star team

around a quarterback that's not crazy good and still win the title. Nick Foles, great example. How many examples in the last decade have we looked at, hey, yeah, all right, it's great to have a quarterback. I'd love to have a franchise guy that can beat Mahomes toe-to-toe. But there's only one Mahomes. There's only one.

Go and fortify your pass rush. Go and fortify your offensive line. Go and find capable wide receivers that can catch and run and break the game open. Have an elite lockdown corner as opposed to going and just paying your quarterback $55 million and think the only way you can win is by having a guy that is the quarterback.

equivalent of Josh Allen or Mahomes or Lamar. It's not true. The problem with that is that list is growing now. It's not just Mahomes. The list is getting longer of guys that are getting paid that money, so you almost are going to have to maneuver it that way because there are not a lot of other teams that are saying, oh, we're not going to go that route. They're saying, oh, our quarterback might be B+, but guess what? We want to hang on to him, so we are going to pay him that money or something close to it. And also the whole...

highest paid top three highest paid that's going to change based on whose deals coming up i mean that's just that that's going to be it every time because the money is different now than it was five years ago right it's not it's just about timing exactly 100 so the people who get mad about that it's um i don't know what you want folks to do it's just a typical talk radio fodder like i've

I think people don't, people don't see the highlight reel plays it to a makes cause he gets the ball out in about 1.7 seconds and is so accurate that it's just looks easy. He's not running and jumping, hurtling over defenders and doing spin moves and,

you know, front somersaults into the end zone, so he must not be any good. Well, let me ask you this, because they're not going to... I think Tua's really good, by the way. I think most of us agree that he is. I think the only concern has been health, and if he's in the game, he's going to be great, and they've done a great job building that cast around him of guys who can flourish with what he flourishes with, and that is getting it out quick and being super accurate with it, because they have multiple catch-and-run guys that are some of the best in the NFL. We're not going to say they're the favorite in the AFC, right?

Because we just talked about Mahomes. Are they the favorite right this second in their division? No. Buffalo. Still Buffalo. Still Buffalo? Yeah. Okay. And Kansas City's going to keep them out of the Super Bowl? No. Not necessarily. Dude, Kansas City's, I mean, like, they haven't had an incredible run. But, like, just the fact that, okay, you can have the field or Kansas City. Who are you taking for the Super Bowl? I'll go ahead and take the field. What part of the field are you most confident in? Philadelphia? Yeah.

Buffalo? Yeah, I mean, if I had to have – no, I don't trust Philly anymore. San Francisco? I think they've kind of figured Jalen out a little bit. Like last year was a really disappointing year for Philly, especially with what they had. Like they got good personnel. Like they had the offensive line aged a little bit, but not that bad. There's only so many times you can just do the tush push and gain three yards a pop. It would be different now without that angle. Okay, I'll see, man. Yeah, but I look at – I think Buffalo's probably better this year.

They had a couple nice additions in the draft, Keon Coleman being one of them. I think in the NFC, Packers are going to be a problem for a while. Don't sleep on the Jets now. I was just thinking about quarterbacks in the AFC right now. I know Rodgers is older, and I know he didn't play last year. You give him the middle finger.

syrup where he can we just talked about everybody josh allen lamar jackson joe burrow deshaun watson is still out there i mean you got a super bowl winning quarterback in pittsburgh now i don't know how it's going to work out i'm not super confident but he's done it um what cj stroud has already done in houston you know we know what my homes is in kansas city justin herbert in san diego los angeles sorry um

I mean, the AFC from a quarterback perspective is loaded. Yeah. I mean, the depth may be as good as we've seen in one conference in a long time. Maybe not as top-heavy as it was at one point, but, man, you're talking about the depth of the talent and the experience and the wins.

that the AFC has right now, I mean, it's as good as it's been in a while. And maybe that means more upsets in the playoffs. Maybe that means somebody can make a run that we're not really talking about being able to make that run right now. Yeah. You know, I don't think it's going to work out as well as some people do in Indianapolis with AR-15. Highlight reel, dude. He must be good. But he'll make that. But we do think that Trevor Lawrence can get something going in Jacksonville. But if you're just talking about talent overall, I mean, again, those two are there. What about C.J. Stroud?

I'm getting another team in the AFC South, too. Will Levis. Yeah, I think Levis has talent. He's just coach. We've seen some flashes of him being a good... Bill? Yeah. Brian. Yeah, Brian. But Bill's on the coaching staff. He's on the staff. Got Calvin Ridley. Traylon Burks, eventually he'll get to the gutter. Still got DeHop. The pieces are there. We'll make it interesting. The division, maybe.

All right. When we come back, Andy Staples is going to talk NCAA settlement with us. Also, we'll ask him our Missouri question for the day. Damian, tell our folks where they need to go if they have any realty questions in Birmingham. That'd be my buddy Ben, heading of the Beham Realty Group. All you got to do is give them a call at 205.

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From what we know now about this NCAA settlement, is it going to work? And we'll ask Andy Staples how Missouri makes the playoffs this year. That's next on Jocks 94.5. 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 Cap or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in. Michael Rowan, Cuba Lake in the morning, 820 a.m. Monday, July 29th, right here on Jocks 94.5. Appreciate you tuning in. Listen online, jocksfm.com. App is in your app store, iPhone, Android. You can download that for free. Get to Andy Staples here in just a moment. For

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Why Missouri will or will not make the college football playoff this year? Where are you on Missouri? And give us the reasons you think that Eli Drinkwich could take his team to this year's college football playoff. So the reasons they could is that offense is going to be humming because Brady Cook is a very capable quarterback. Luther Burden is one of the best receivers in the country. The offensive line comes back mostly intact. And then they do add Caden Green from Oklahoma, uh,

They've got a couple of transfer running backs. They've got Marcus Carroll from Georgia State. They've got Noel from Appalachian State. Cody Schrader gave them so much, but I think those guys that once you punch, they're going to be able to run the ball really well this year, too.

Why they might not make it is look at all they lost on defense. I mean, Darius Robinson, first-round edge guy. Tyron Hopper, tackling machine in the middle. Ennis Raikstra, Chris Avens drain, NFL high-round draft pick corners.

That's a lot to lose, and you lost your defensive coordinator, Blake Baker, and you lost staff members who follow Blake Baker at LSU. So that's the tricky part is can they be as good defensively as they were last year? I don't think they have to be quite as good as they were, but I do think they're going to have to be pretty good because they're losing so much, and it's going to be quite a lot to overcome.

What about just the schedule? And I know a lot of people have pointed to, well, it's easy, it's manageable. Well, here's the problem with the schedule, Andy, is that it might be easy, it might be manageable, but they don't have a lot of margin for error. And if they're being measured against teams from the Big Ten that played a quality non-conference opponent or that have the same amount of losses in the loss column, but maybe a better win or two than what you've experienced...

then Missouri might be on the outside looking in because their schedule strength won't hold up. So when you look at the schedule, let's assume they lose to Bama. Let's say they go on and lose at A&M. Are they going to have enough meat on the bone for the playoff committee to put them in?

That's a great question, Greg, and it's something I'm wondering about because I don't know that we know this yet. I want the committee to reward the teams that played harder schedules. I want Texas or Michigan to get the benefit of the doubt for playing one another or for the team that won that game to be rewarded for playing that game. And the teams that don't schedule like that, I feel like they should be the ones that get punished.

for not playing those games. So the best non-conference game on Missouri's schedule is Boston College. We'll see with Bill O'Brien how good they are, but I would imagine we're talking about probably middle of the pack ACC team. That's not the kind of challenge you want. And you talk about the margin for error.

Missouri did get one of the better schedule draws in the SEC, but when you look at it, it's still not easy. It's still very hard. Let's say they lose to Alabama. That means if we're saying you're going to make it at 10-2, and I do think an SEC team at 10-2 is probably going to make it, probably. But let's say you do that. That means you have to win. You have to go 2-1 against Texas A&M, Auburn, and Oklahoma. That's not easy.

Not at all. Andy Staples of the On3 Sports Network with us. Kind of random just staying with the playoff because you said there's going to be some unknowns. When we enter November, how many teams realistically do you believe will be in the conversation vying for a playoff berth?

Well, because the Big 12 is going to be so competitive and their champion's definitely in, we don't know yet if they'll have an at-large team possibly in there. I mean, we could be talking about like 25 teams still being in the mix. And then we also don't know exactly how many –

group of five teams we're going to be talking about at that point because we don't know like there may be somebody who's just really good and there you know there's a Sunbelt team that just runs away and is undefeated but probably more likely we're kind of parsing between one loss conference champs in those leagues and so there's going to be a bunch of those teams that we're still talking about so it might even be more than 25 what there's no way it's going to be 25

Going into November? Yeah, they can realistically make the playoffs. I don't see it. I would love it if you're right. If there's six teams within two games of the Big 12 lead, then they're all in it. Because remember, you don't have to finish first. You can finish second, make the championship game, win that, and you're in. How many teams do you think will ultimately get in from the Power 4 leagues? I mean, what...

Say, for instance, three in the SEC, three in the Big Ten. How many for each league do you think when we fast-forward to the end? I predicted five from the SEC because I did my post-spring top 25, and I had five SEC teams in my top 11. But I don't think that's a sure thing. I think there will be bounces of the ball between one Big Ten team and one SEC team to change that. But I think if there's going to be – I think the Big 12 probably only gets one

I think the ACC can get two depending on how things go. I think it's possible the ACC has two 11-1 teams playing in the conference championship game and they both get in. But they're going to need somebody else besides Florida State to be really good. And maybe that's Miami. Maybe that's NC State. Maybe that's Clemson. But somebody needs to do that. Because I think if you're 11-1 against 10-2,

in the ACC, in the championship game, might just be the winner getting that. And in the Big Ten, I think you feel comfortable about three, but if you don't get the at-larges from the Big 12 or the ACC, then you're slipping into another Big Ten team.

Andy Staples of the On3 Sports Network joining us now on the Bioshock Hotline at Andy underscore Staples. Follow him on Twitter. Details from the House settlement and the NCAA are beginning to emerge. Boosters apparently going to be prohibited from entering into NIL deal with athletes. Going to have to compare rates. Similarly situated individuals with comparable NIL deals, which...

If it's not another college football player, not really sure how it could be comparable. Also, we're looking at NIL deals of 600 or more being approved by a clearinghouse, a word that was very popular when you and I played college football and a lot of folks haven't heard about in a while. How is this really going to work if this actually ends up being what's pushed through?

I don't know if this is actually going to get through because it's still a bunch of competitors colluding to unilaterally put a wage cap on somebody.

You can't do that. It's illegal. And what they're saying is, oh, but the people are opting into the settlement, so they're agreeing to this. So by taking the money from the schools, the revenue-sharing money, they're agreeing to this. It's just sort of they're trying to sneak around having to collectively bargain it. But the problem is they're not taking into account everybody's not bound by this settlement.

So what happens when you've got a star player who gets their deal, their NIL deal invalidated by this clearinghouse, and the state attorney general in that kid's state goes, nope, this is illegal, we're suing you. Well, guess what? When it goes to court again, they're going to lose. Because you cannot do that in America. Like, you just can't. And they keep bumping up against the same thing. So I'll be curious, because the judge has to approve this statement.

for it to even start. So will Claudia Wilkin, who's the judge who's presided over this case and she presided over the O'Bannon case and she's presided over a bunch of these NCAA cases, will she even approve this or will she say, hey guys, this is just going to be a problem down the road so you may want to go back and fix this?

What is the next step, though, in the event in which it doesn't get pushed through? Obviously, their whole goal is to eliminate rogue boosters and to create transparency in the salary cap. That, to me, is not a bad thing.

You can't stop worrying about it and let the market take care of it like it already has. Because it's created an unequal playing field. That, I think, is what concerns people. Greg, is it more unequal now or less unequal than it was 10 years ago? Because it seems to me like more teams can compete now. I think that it's definitely a situation where more teams can compete.

Did Washington?

and got blown out and didn't appear anywhere near it otherwise. So it seems to me like Oregon, now they're getting players that Alabama and Ohio State would have gotten. Tennessee is getting those players. Missouri is getting those players. I fail to see the argument that it's a less level playing field. It seems like

This unregulated NIL has actually made it more level, which is what the economists told us would happen. Well, I do think, though, we're operating on the assumption that people are going to continue to be as generous towards NIL as they've been to this point, which every other economist, if you will, says that donor fatigue is real and the next generation is really not going to be contributing. Those that are inheriting their parents' wealth are not going to be contributing the same way that their parents did.

They're definitely not going to be, and the donor fatigue thing is absolutely real. And so it's going to be interesting to see because you're going to have the money that the schools can pay, and then who kicks in additional. I think you'll still see the ones that want to join the club, the exclusive club. They're going to have some donors that are willing to kick in more. But the donors are tired of being asked for more money for NIL.

I'm with that, but they're not going to have to give as much to be competitive now. I think you use that road share money, and then there's going to be some supplemental donor money, and if you use it wisely, you're going to be really good. If you're not a good evaluator, not a good developer, you're going to be screwed, and you're going to be wasting your school's money and your donor's money. But I don't think it's going to change. ADs I've talked to, for the most part, think differently.

It's going to operate similar to how it operates now, where the collectives are going to kick in more. And again, they can want the NCAA to have all this power. If it's still a violation of the Sherman Act, it's not going to happen. Like, I don't know how many times they're going to have to be whacked on the nose in the newspaper before they figure out, if we don't collectively bargain this, we can't have rules.

Hey, Andy, I'm just curious because you brought up Oregon and getting players before you let you run. Why do you think so many people are so consumed with talking about their NIL situation? Because they don't get all the players. It's so funny, Cole. People beat them out for some guys. Yeah, and it's been the thing for years. Remember 10 years ago when all of this stuff was just like pie in the sky thinking we thought it would never get to this point. And everybody was like, what if Phil Knight just bought a team?

And you're like, okay, well, he could try, but there are other rich people who also like their teams. So I don't know if he could do that. And that's exactly what happened. Like, I'll give you an example.

We all assumed DJ Pickett, the corner from Zephyrhills, Florida, was going to commit to Oregon. And it would be just a phenomenal DB haul in this class because there's a thought that they're going to get a couple other really big-time DBs in this class. And he wanted to commit to LSU. Like, they don't get everybody. But they're the lightning rod. And it's funny because –

The same people who say that, who are like, Oregon's just buying a team, they're also the same people who are like, well, I'm tired of Alabama and Ohio State and Georgia winning everything. Well, what do you want? Do you want somebody else to join the club, or do you want the same teams to keep winning? That's a great question. Andy, we always appreciate the time. Great stuff. I look forward to catching up with you again soon.

Thank you, gentlemen. Appreciate it. Yes, sir. There you go. Andy Staples of the On3 Sports Network, talking a little bit of house settlement, a little bit of Missouri. Something that we said we were going to discuss. We're going to do a different college football team every day. Why they will make the college football playoff. Kind of a series leading us up to kickoff. Missouri will be that team today. We'll begin to discuss them next, but...

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All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Appreciate you guys tuning in. We'll open up the phones, 800-239-9569 if you want to get in and talk Missouri to the college football playoff. Again, it's going to be every day, one team that we are going to discuss whether or not they can get into the college football playoff. 800-239-9569, 800-239-WJOX. Tweet into the show, at McElroy. Always a great way to communicate with us there.

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Will they make the college football playoff? Missouri, day one. They start practice today, by the way. 11-2 last year, 6-2 in the SEC. Knocked off Ohio State 14-3 in the Cotton Bowl. Finished eighth in the Associated Press Top 25. Cody Schrader going to be gone. Led the SEC in rushing single-season school records, 1,627 yards, 14 touchdowns.

Darius Robinson, Tyron Hopper, amongst others. Caden Green comes in at tackle, starter for Oklahoma. Drew Pines in to back up at quarterback out of Arizona State and Notre Dame. But you got Brady Cook back, Luther Burden back, Theo Weiss is back, Mookie Cooper back at wide receiver, Marquise Johnson back at wide receiver. Added a couple of running backs as well. When we discuss Missouri GMAC, let's get to the good first. Why will this team make the college football playoff?

Well, they have great offense. They have a lot of continuity with what they bring back on offense. Experienced quarterback, great weapons on the perimeter, and a favorable schedule. Those are the reasons why. I think schedule main one. I think one thing that maybe you didn't miss there but you'd be in agreement with was you get your offensive coordinator back.

And one that with Brady, we talked about the steps that Brady Cook took last year. Wasn't necessarily the lockdown starter at quarterback until a couple of games in. Took some massive leaps. Now maybe best receiver in the league back in Luther Burden. The tight end position, offensive line going to be solid. Love Nate Noel running the stretch play.

and you get another tailback with a little bit more oomph from Georgia State that I think is going to give you a nice one-two punch. Defensively, yeah, it's going to be different. I think the offense can probably extend just a little bit more than the defense might move backwards. Blake Baker is a big loss at defensive coordinator. I get it. But Murray State, Buffalo, Boston College, Vanderbilt, week off to start the season. So you're on cruise control until October the 5th, but you travel to Texas A&M there.

How much of that game is dependent on how the early A&M schedule goes for you? I think a pretty decent amount. An A&M game is, I think, a pivotal game for them, obviously. But it feels like that game could be so different based on what happens early with A&M because their schedule is much trickier than what you're going to get from Missouri. Obviously, Notre Dame Week 1, Kyle Field. At Florida Week 3, Ben Hill, Griffith Stadium, Steve Spurrier, Field.

Bit of a mouthful. Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with Steve Spurrier press box. I know it's something. Bowling Green, then Arkansas. So a bigger part of the equation is what is A&M when Missouri gets them? They drop the Notre Dame game, drop the Florida game, don't look great against Arkansas. All of a sudden, it's a very different game. But either way, after that, you're at UMass. Weird back-to-back road trips, no doubt about that. Auburn at home.

At Alabama. But you get a week off after Alabama and you have to play Oklahoma at home. We know that one's going to have a lot of meaning. It'll be different for a lot of reasons. At South Carolina, at Mississippi State, then Arkansas. The close is not terrible either. No, not terrible at all. But as we discussed, 10-2 comparatively might not be enough for this Missouri football team. That's right. I love the way the schedule plays out. You said this at media days. It does feel like a bit of a two-game season. Definitely. Probably Alabama-Oklahoma. Yeah.

You could throw A&M in there too. And if you were to drop two of those three and some of the other teams extended, 10-2 might be enough. I don't think 10-2 is enough if you lose two of those three. You're going to need an Auburn. You're going to need a Boston College or a South Carolina or Mississippi State to really extend Arkansas. And it just doesn't feel like there are great possibilities with a lot of those. I just think the number next to the name is going to matter. And if A&M is 7-5...

which is around their expectation level. If Auburn's 7-5, which is slightly below their expectation level, 7.5 is their win total. A&M is about the same. A&M might be 8.5. Either way, if those two teams are middling and not in the top 25, if Oklahoma is 7-5, which, by the way, is definitely possible, their win total, I believe, is 7.5, and Alabama is, say, 9-3, their win total is 9.5,

And where is your statement victory if you're Missouri? I think they are the only team in the country that is more dependent on the teams they play than what they actually do themselves. Like, if they go out and beat everybody by 40, sure. All right, yeah, then it doesn't matter who you play. But that ain't going to happen. You and I both know this is not going to happen. They're 4-0 one-score games last year. They did have a tendency at times to play at the level of the competition. Like, I don't know. I...

Maybe I'm just totally nuts, but I think they have to go 11-1 or better to guarantee a spot. It doesn't sound like you think Missouri is going to be in the playoff this year. I'm feeling a little worse about it than I was maybe a little while back. It doesn't mean they can't get there. It just means I don't like the whole, oh, well, look at their schedule. They'll get in. That to me is a – I would like to think that the committee will look at it a little deeper than that. But they didn't. Look at Liberty. They got in last year.

But Florida State didn't. So it does give me some hope that they are evaluating what teams are actually doing from a performance standpoint. Of the games that were tight that you feel like they probably, I hate saying should have, but realistically should have lost. I mean, what, Florida? I mean, obviously we know it was 4th and 16, whatever it was. Yeah. All right, so that one, I mean, I...

I mean, the Kentucky thing, they were just flat on the road, but pretty good play call, and you were able to go get that win. Memphis was early. K-State was early. K-State was a good football team. I mean, you beat a good football team, it was close. I'm not going to be mad at a team for that. No. I mean, that was a good win. I don't think you have anything to apologize for there. Memphis won. We can probably talk a little bit more about that one. Yeah, even though some were tight, I just –

I mean, you could say the same thing about maybe the LSU game. Like, that could have gone the other direction. Georgia was, I mean, played Georgia tighter than most people. For sure. So you think the reasons they won't make the playoff. Too much turnover on defense.

lose a couple of dynamic corners, lose a great pass rusher, lose your defensive coordinator. All the balls seemingly bounce your way. It felt like at times last year those things have a tendency to come back to earth. I don't know why that is, but it does. So those would kind of be the main reasons. And schedule not hard enough. You lose the wrong game at the wrong time to the wrong team.

You might not have enough meat on the bone to get back in the conversation. You're not going to have much leeway to drop a couple of games. I would definitely agree with that. But go get Toriano Pride from Clemson, who folks at Clemson told me that they love the kid. They think he can play. You're bringing Chris McClellan from Florida inside. Zion Young out on the edge from Michigan State, who I think is solid. You've got Johnny Walker back up front and Christian Williams, who are both really good inside and off the edge. So...

I think they have enough to be able to offset it. Now, how's it going to look? How's it going to be called? That's fair. That can be really different. Right. Bring in a couple veteran linebackers that I think could help you out some. I just don't think the defense is a complete 180 from what it was a year ago. And then on top of that, I think the offense has a chance to be a little bit better. Sure. I mean, Brett Norfleet, grinder at tight end. You guys know how I feel about Armand Mimbu at right tackle. Right.

Cameron Johnson, I thought, was really good at guard. Connor Towson's a good center. And you get Caden Greeden that started at Oklahoma, and you even go get a Marcus Bryant from SMU that could be able to help you on that offensive line. So the system's in place. Kirby Moore does an amazing job with it. I think right now, if you're asking me, Missouri's in. And I think, yes, the schedule is going to aid them, but I'm not saying they're in because of the schedule. I think they're in because of what they're going to have as a football team. How many teams do you have from the SEC in?

I think it's either four or five. Probably five. It's a lot. It is. Don't love a lot of other teams, though. It's a problem.

We'll continue that conversation. A little bit more to discuss. Get to your feedback on it. Hear what Sabre has to say next right here on McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubelik 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 Cup or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Appreciate you tuning in. Talking Missouri.

Will they make the college football playoff? Going to do this with an individual team each and every day leading up to the season. Missouri not going to play a road game until October the 5th. That's at Texas A&M. First time Tigers won't play a road game in August or September since 2017. Now Missouri won just one of four September home games in that year to finish 7-6.

Missouri, Oklahoma, obviously conference rivals once again. Tigers are 2-8 against the Sooners when both are in the Big 12. But Oklahoma goes to Columbia this year for the first time since 2010. So a lot of different things about the schedule that are intriguing, like the fact that they played three road games in October for the first time since 2017. Second visit to Alabama as a conference rival, first since 2018. That one didn't go well, 39-10.

And then, of course, eliminating divisions will keep Missouri from playing certain teams that they have been the last couple of years. Eleven games a year ago, fourth time that they've had 11 wins in school history. Can they keep the momentum going? Can they keep sort of making a playoff push this year, similar to what they would have last year if the 12-team playoff were intact? We talked a little bit about Brady Cook before GMAC and GMAC.

How much more can he grow? How much more improvement is there left in his game? The decision-making was something that I saw come a long way from two years ago, where he seemed to be a little bit more comfortable with when to get the ball out, not holding onto it as long, more decisive when leading the pocket, which I thought was massive for him because the dancing around, running backwards, running in circles was something that got that offense in trouble two years ago, and he seemed to get better with it last year. Can he

where do you see the ability for him to still make some pretty big strides in his game? Well, I think, I think he's kind of tapped out if I'm going to be honest. Um,

I don't think he's the type that's going to just all of a sudden develop into Joe Burrow. That's okay. He kind of is who he is at this point of his career. I think he can maybe get a little bit better in some areas, but they're kind of splitting hairs. I think he just continued understanding of how to play some football, where to play some football. He doesn't have an insanely high ceiling like some of these guys. You look at his ceiling against that of a Nico Yamaleava guy,

or his ceiling against the likes of a Jalen Milrow or something like that, he can't reach that point. But he can be rock solid for you. He can fall out quick. He can be accurate, good decisions. All the same old stuff are areas that I'd like to see him continue to grow. I thought he did a great job last year. But I think him playing as well as he did last year at times is only going to continue to be –

accentuated because he now has all the starter reps going into this upcoming year there's really not a whole lot to be worried about all right uh two quarterbacks in the sec have thrown for 6 000 yards in the last two years jackson dart brady cook that's it only one receiver returning to the sec that had over a thousand yards receiving last year luther burton so there's a lot to like and it does feel like so much of the emphasis keeps going back to defense gone defense gone but

There's a lot back on offense. I think there's a little more in the tank defensively than some people think. John, Missouri make the playoff, yes or no? Ultimately, no. I don't think so. You think they're out? Correct. Biggest reason why they don't? Schedule. Damien? No. They'll make it. They'll make an example of them. If they go 10-2, they'll make an example of them. Hey, you've got to schedule better non-conference games. They'll show them. Point the finger. Wag the finger at them. Shame on you, Missouri. We'll show you. I think they're in. I think Missouri makes the playoff.

All right, so fun conversation there. Recruiting is going to be a little bit more of our conversation next when we come back on Jocks 94.5. This is McElroy and Cubelik in the morning.

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For the ones who get it done.

Watch the quarterbacks and his ADP. I think he has massive high-end upside.

Get expert analysis on player rankings. Wide receiver 22 in fantasy Cecil Shorts. That kid can run, so I'm thinking he can have a breakout season this year. And you can too by searching the Believe Fantasy Football Show. That's B-L-E-A-V wherever you listen.