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Welcome Back to the COVID 3 podcast

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with your hosts, Chip Patterson, Tom Fornelli,

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Danny Cannell and Bud Elliott. It's your call for the best college

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football coverage from national signing day to the national championship and everything in between.

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CBS Sports presents the COVID 3 podcast.

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And welcome back to the COVID 3 podcast here on CBS Sports. That's Tom Fenelli, that's Danny Canal, that's Bud Elliott. I'm Chip Patterson coming to you live@YouTube.com cover3 and everywhere you get your podcast on demand. Thanks for hanging out. Smash that subscribe, smash that like and come and join us in the chat aka the COVID 3 tailgate where Dominic and Spencer and Scott and more are offering conversations to get us going on a Monday. Lots to get to SEC media days is underway in Tampa, Florida. Greg Sankey already at the mic, already starting to hear from Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky later to come. We'll look ahead to Tuesday's SEC media days. Georgia, Auburn, Vanderbilt and South Carolina Conference wide storylines, some ACC media day takeaways. You know, we still had left rest of Thursday and Friday. Plus we have I guess finality to the Ward manual. He will be stepping down at the end of the year. We, we'll, we'll address that and what might be ahead for Michigan in a little bit. But I do want to start, you know, in Tampa. It is the event that's going on right now. Lots of comments right now in the tailgate about what we saw. I mean Danny Canal just, I know you were up first thing this morning. I mean not and not just because of Dusty and Danny just said that you could like start pregaming, start your own tailgate for SEC media days especially. What we got to hear from Greg Sankey, one of your favorite weeks of the year. How are we doing dk?

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You know they, they let they know how big I feel about it because they actually give off the week on SiriusXM so I can just give full attention to SEC media days. And I did want to play a drinking game but I don't know if I would have made it past 9:15.

C

Okay.

A

Every time you heard strength of schedule you had to take a shot. I mean it, I would been hammered by 905. I mean it just, it is going to be an absolute onslaught of how tough the conference is all week long. Just brace yourselves for it because that's what's coming. And it started from the commissioner.

C

No, no one, no no one created weekly competition that exists in the Southeastern Conference. We just believe we're the best, you know Just, I mean, just all the way through it. Tom, Bud. Morning. Have you all gotten a chance to, to listen to Czar Sankey yet here on this fine Monday morning?

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I did because I, I was curious what he was going to talk about in the absence of having wins to talk about. Right. So we talked about pulling out the chopper.

C

Let's go.

B

No, I mean like I was legitimately curious because before Sankey's had it kind of on easy street. Right. Hey, we win all the games, we win all the titles, all that stuff. And now the SEC has not even had a team play for the national title in two seasons. And last year they didn't win a single playoff game against anybody who wasn't a G5 or also in the SEC. Like they were over against the other power conferences. So, you know, man, they definitely have really tough regular season schedules in the sec. But the playoff schedule has also been extremely challenging for the sec. I don't know why we're not talking about that more. Guys, can we talk about how hard the playoff schedule is for the sec? Lord, this is, this is a gauntlet. I, we knew this was going to happen. Like we talked about this last year when they decided to go to nine games. Like you watch come SCB today. I think you probably pulled a clip from back then. If I had had the mind to tech striker and pull it. They're going to talk about how this is tougher for everybody. And it's not like these new eight losses that are going to be, you know, distributed around the conference are not going to be distributed evenly. Like for Georgia, if you model it out, it's like a quarter of a loss extra. Right. Whereas like Kentucky, Mississippi State, Arkansas, it's like almost a full loss. Okay. It doesn't really impact everybody equally. If you're like legitimately a good SC team, you're not absorbing like an extra half loss, an extra three quarters of a loss compared to what you had in the eight game schedule. Like it's. I don't think it's that big of a deal for the top teams unless you are of the mind that these bottom SC teams are somehow magically all that good, which I don't buy, but I don't run fpi. So

D

yeah, I think part of the problem that the SEC has right now is that they're using the same messaging that they've always used. And it's like, listen, the SEC from top to bottom is the best league in the country. I felt that way for a while. I still feel that way and I think it's been the best league in the country for a very long time. But as we've discussed about on this show, the gap has closed considerably in recent years. But the SEC, when it comes to media days, is still talking about it as if the gap is huge, and the gap exists, and they are still dominating the sport, and they're just not. And, you know, you get to the playoff. I know Bud was mocking it, talking about the schedule, you know, the SOS and the playoff. But, like, the results are telling you something different. And I just don't think the SEC is changing their messaging, even though the reality is changing a bit. And again, still the best league in the country. But you look a little ridiculous when you go around saying all this stuff and you're just not getting the results anymore to back it up.

B

Agreed. Also, I would push back one thing on that. Tom, you said from top to bottom. I would say they're the best league from middle to bottom.

D

Okay. Yeah.

B

Are pretty clearly better than the top SEC teams.

D

I. I get what you're saying, but I'm just saying, if you take quote, unquote strength, they're the strongest conference.

B

It's the deepest. I also don't think it's the league where the guys play hardest for each other and care more about playing as a team and care about winning. Right. It's by far the league I hear the most about. Like, I can't believe this guy is going to this school and transferring out of us when we're offering him 630 and they're offering him 680. Like, he's trans, you know, like, not even a full 10 raise and he's gonna uproot himself. Even though he knows us, we like him. We clearly like him. We're paying him big money. Like, so, you know, how does. If I'm Sanki, not publicly messaged, like, internally, like, how do we get our guys to play together better? Right. How do we build our teams a little more? Like some of these Big Ten teams, where you get a couple guys who are a little more team guys and. And not so much me, me, me.

C

That seems to be one of the things that is the most interesting to me is the divide between the league's interest and the coach's interest, because the league has interest when it comes to College Football playoff, the structure of college sports, and it doesn't always fall in line with the coaches. I don't know if the coaches all want that ninth game. I don't know if the coaches want to be able to stay at 12 when there would be an option to go to 16 or 24. Greg Sankey had some comments on the 2014 playoff. He's, he's challenging the idea that there is a desire for the 2014 playoff. He's really pointing to the calendar and he's looking at sort of the way that a 2014 playoff could potentially be fielded. Did you, do you feel like you got any sense from Sankey's remarks about which way he's trying to push this thing in terms of any changes to the postseason?

B

Maybe you guys have something strong here. The only thing I really picked up was him saying that we have to listen to our fans as far as the postseason and SEC fans are largely going to take their talking points from SEC network. Right. Which is state media. We like people over there but like let's be real and the SEC does not want to go to 24. Right. They want to stay at 12 because it most benefits them right now with the way that teams are selected. So I think it's kind of a circular thing. Hey let's, let's listen to our fans who are going to get the talking points.

C

Oh yeah.

B

That we give them. VSC Network I here's I don't trust

C

anybody in this discussion about interest. Like and that includes pundits and media. And it's just I don't, I don't feel like I've got a good. I'm getting an honest report on what fans really want and it might be because your typical middle of the road fan is a little bit more like a player which is tell me when the game is and I'll watch it. Like there's no large, there's no thought of being applied to larger scale implications. That's why we would hope that leaders would be bold and brave and be able to have a little bit of vision. But I don't think any of the leadership that we have is bold enough or brave enough to be able to have some kind of vision. That's not going to be like a only looking at the short term returns

B

or pretending that the SEC cares about the good of the sport while everybody else is self interested. Like miss me with that. Come on.

C

Oh like that narrative that we're the heroes here.

B

Yeah. Come on.

D

I, I truly don't understand like if, if I'm an SEC fan and I genuinely believe my league is better than every other league, why don't I want more teams in the playoff? Because that means more of my teams are going to be in the playoff, which means my teams are going to win more national titles. So it's. It's one of those things that just doesn't, like, connect for me. Like, I can understand if Sankey's using it as a negotiation tactic with the Big Ten. He doesn't want to just give him what he. They want right away because there's still something he wants on his end of the deal, which I'm not 100 sure. Maybe that's just getting the Big Ten to add a 10th conference game or something. I don't know. But it's just these are. These are feelings that you hold that do not make sense to me. They conflict with one another. If I'm the best, give me more chances to put my teams in there. So that way I'm playing the much more difficult schedule. So it's much more difficult for me to get in. And if we expand, well, that increases my odds of getting in, which means my difficult schedule isn't as much of a punishment as it clearly is because it's the only thing I talk about.

C

What about the. What about the Take your ball and go home. Let me pull up this quote here from our. Our great. Our great friend and enemy, Brett McMurphy, providing this one. SEC's Greg Sankey asked if it's real about the SEC breaking away or just a negotiating quote. They're real. The frustrations parentheses for some, that bring them to a point of saying we should look at something significantly different. I got the sense that that response was, yeah, we do have some university presidents like Jared Morehead at Georgia and some. We do have some leaders that are out here presenting the nuclear option. I did not get the sense that the SEC as a league was anywhere close to that option. Still just remains a little bit of a threat. Is that a threat level Midnight. We feel like we're reading that one.

B

The question Sankey responded to here is really interesting. Said our conversations. Real.

C

Conversations are real.

B

Yeah. And I think this gave him an open to be like, yeah, like, yes, we are really having conversations about how this would look.

C

As in a president brought it up as a conversation.

B

Correct. Yeah. He wasn't asked, like, is the move real? Right. Like. Like the way this was phrased to me, I was like, oh, that's a. If that's not a plant, it should have been like that. That was perfect to tee him up for it, to allow him to opine on it, but also give him it out. If they're like, well, you said this. He's like, no, no, I said saber

C

rattling like so he got to plant the question so that he could get up there and be like, you're right, it is.

B

You know, we are. The conversations are real, y'. All. That was. Yeah, like that was for him. It probably wasn't a plant, but man, that was teed up nicely.

C

Any other Sanki or sort of conference wide related stuff and then we can just sort of do a quick run of the team questions, same as we've done for the other conferences in the media days. The more team specific stuff we want to learn, stuff we're interested in keeping tabs on. Anything else league wide stand out to you.

A

I thought it was interesting he brought up again the Destin meeting, what he said they were not thrilled with the strength of schedule conversation to their liking. I also think, I mean, I've said this on here before. I think Sankey's going to be in a really tough spot because his coaches want 16. So they get more teams in. They thought they were going to get 16 when they went to nine. They didn't. Which really gives Sankey a weak hand at the poker table if he's trying to negotiate against the Big Ten who wants 24 and his only leverage is what we're staying at 12. And his whole coaching, you know, coaching contingent is all saying, you told us we were expanding. Like, why aren't we getting more teams in? I think that puts Tank, you know, it's, it's kind of down the road. I think it gives him a weak position of strength from the negotiating table. But we'll see. Maybe they have a bunch of nine and three teams that get in the playoffs and it's not a big deal and coaches are happy. But I have a hunch they're going to have a lot of teams right from that 13, 14, 15, 16. They're going to be left out and they're going to be livid that they would have had a shot at the playoff.

C

I do think we mentioned Parker Fleming's chaos chart. Remember with all the power ratings where you can kind of see everybody stacked up against each other. I do think the fact that you've got those top three Big Ten teams at the top and then like eight SEC teams before you even get kind of get to the next one, just, it actually makes it a really fun conference to look at this year. There's. There are about six, seven, eight teams with not much separating each other. Like Oklahoma is one of those teams, Alabama is one of those teams. Ole Miss is one of those teams. Maybe you want to pull Tennessee up. You don't have to. I'm not going to make you do it. But no, there's a. There's a big contingent and yeah, someone's going to be left out. But I kind of think from a football fan perspective, the reason you're going to be left out is because you lost a game to another playoff team. They do have these nine game conference schedules. These guys are going to play against each other. I don't think you're going to have a huge strength to schedule argument with any Big Ten teams. I think that's going to be the bad news for a second Big 12 or a second ACC team that you're going to be fighting against. The nine and three strength of schedule war. That seems to be something that we could be headed for, but we saved those discussions for November.

B

Yeah. Anything else on the Big 12 specifically? There's a really good chance the Big 12 ends up with zero wins against teams that are ranked by the College Football Playoff from other leagues. Like, I've been modeling this out, like the Big 12 non conference schedule, they

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don't have many opportunities.

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It's very unlikely. And like, if BYU beats Notre Dame, that's probably their best shot at it. But, like, it's extremely unlikely that. That anybody from the Big 12 will hold a win come Selection Sunday over anybody else ranked by the committee from the power four leagues.

C

A non conference top 25 win, correct. Yeah.

B

Yeah. That's a much cleaner way to say that. Sorry.

C

It's okay. Yeah, I had to cut through it myself just to be able to understand.

B

Yeah.

C

Like, yeah, they're very unlikely these things out. A non Conference top 25 win. It is very possible that on selection Sunday, Big 12 has zero as a conference.

B

Yeah. Yeah.

C

Could be. Definitely be something that we'll be keeping our eye on. Let's see. You want to take this? Let's. Let's go. Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky. What have you heard or are you looking forward to hearing from Monday?

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Optimism, baby. It is. Everybody feels good about their roster. The veterans that we have, the young guys are looking better. And that's what always right at every media, not just sec. Everybody feels great about their roster. Everybody feels good.

C

You know, Brent Venables said it was hard to watch the tape of John Mattier playing with a jacked up hand.

D

Mm.

C

We had our criticisms, but that was also before the injury. You had criticisms, too. I thought that was an interesting way to package that, but, you know, that's added to the reasons to be hyped about Moneyline mater. You know, we're really selling the jacked up physique, really selling the. He's finally healthy and we'll see. Keep it. Keep an eye on the Sooners.

D

He also said that they need to get better at running the ball, which is a thousand percent true. But also John Mateer is part of that problem because every quarterback that's running reed options will make bad reads and incorrect reads just like they would with passes. John Mateer does not want to hand the ball off. He wants to run the ball, which is part of the reason he's hurt all the time. And there are I. You watch an Oklahoma game and there are a lot of times where he needs to give the ball up and he keeps it and goes nowhere. Whereas they might have gotten three or four yards if he just handed it off. So he needs to have a talk with his quarterback about that too.

B

Yeah, I think that offensive line will be way better. And John Mateer can also keep hits off John Mateer by doing what Tom said and by also just hitting his layups if he actually recognizes that the layups are there like early in the play. Not everything has to become a 7 second scramble hero ball thing if you hit your layups.

C

And that's. Yeah, windows just aren't there. He can't, he can't be taking those kinds of, taking those kinds of chances, not against the teams that they're playing. As I back up the SEC strength of schedule argument, Georgia, Auburn, Vanderbilt, South Carolina will be out on Tuesday. Before we are back with you on Wednesday's next show, what are you going to be looking for tomorrow from SEC media days as those four schools take to the microphone on day two?

B

Kirby's kind of the older statesman in this league. Right. So what, what kind of talking points is, is he going to carry into this thing? He's big on like, like the, you know, for the good of the game stuff. I don't, I mean obviously like he's self interested in Georgia, but like I, I'm not saying he's like totally, you know, not earnest in those concerns, but we'll see what he has to say. You know, Vanderbilt, I want to see how much Clark Lee hypes up Jared Curtis, their five star freshman quarterback that they took from Georgia. You know, like that. That's gonna be interesting.

A

Yeah.

C

Shane Beamer talking about hot seat pressure. You know, we had him as a, as one of the hottest hot seats in the country for the CBS Sports hot seat ratings. I think Brad Crawford is there in Tampa. Help Come on. Come on, Brad. I need you. I need you there. I need your front row. Brad Crawford, CBS Sports. Shane, you were a 4.9 or a 5. Was he a 4.9 or 5 points? It was 5.0. You were 5.0 on the hot seat scale. What's it feel like? How's that tushy? You know.

A

You know what he's gonna say though? He's gonna gave the line he gave from the documentaries. Like, when I took this job, I told my wife, it's not a matter of if I get fired, it's when I get fired. So I have to approach that every single. Like, he's going to give that line 100 guaranteed. And he's not wrong. It's just a way to deflect it. Like, you're always on the hot seat then. Hey, especially in this conference. You know, you coach in this conference, you're always on the hot seat in this conference.

C

He'll address it. I mean, he'll come out. He'll have something. He's. Shane. Yeah, he'll have a. He'll have a good talking point.

D

I just want to see Alex Goelish's SEC media days debut because he's the kind of coach that's willing to talk. I want to see what he says while he's on the mic.

C

Great call.

A

I want to see if he's chewing gum while he talks. He's known for sure. It definitely picks up every chew. It's even more entertaining.

C

I don't really play golf.

A

All right, Come on.

C

Yeah, I need one handicap and or golf tee time reference from Alex Golish and it would just. I mean, I'd be as happy as a Peach, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Auburn, rest of the teams. The other half of the conference will be able to get to that also on Wednesday. Do you actually. Let's save the protect college sports. Did y' all see the protect college sports reporting from Marcelo?

D

Yeah, most. Some of it.

C

Okay, let's save that for the other side. Coming up on the other side, we've got some finality in terms of Michigan's athletic director. We've got some movement with the protect college sports act as it. As it pertains to future conference realignment and more next. Look, we all know that winning a championship isn't about one game and building strength isn't about just one workout. Success comes from consistency, and consistency absolutely requires recovery. That is the real difference between a great workout and a great season. That's why Omega XL sport caught my attention from the makers of Omega XL, a brand trusted by millions with over 40,000Amazon reviews. And this is a premium extra strength recovery supplement powered by green lipped muscle oil extract, olive oil and vitamin e. Backed by 40 years of scientific research, it supports joint mobility, manages exercise related inflammation and reduces post workout muscle soreness. Best of all, it's NSF certified for sport, meaning it's tested for roughly 290 banned substances and trusted by major professional sports organizations. Less time feeling sore, more time doing what you love. Omega XL Sport Extra Strength Recovery if you're serious about performance training and recovery, check out Omega XL Sport today at gnc or gnc.com back here on the COVID 3 podcast. Little one last SEC question from the Tailgate question. This is from YouTube username 2008 Till Infinity. They say question, you're a hot assistant getting your first head coaching gig. And South Carolina, Kentucky, Arkansas and Mississippi State all offer you assuming money is equal, which do you take and which is the quickest? No,

A

I just thought instantly like recruiting coordinator, like she must be a 10 out of 10 assistant.

C

We, we a Sharon Moore. We are talking about the Sharon Moore scandal. So I understand why the mind might be.

A

Context matters.

C

Yeah. You're a rising assistant. How about that? You are a rising assistant in the industry.

A

Yeah, South Carolina, right.

C

I say Kentucky.

D

I feel like for me South Carolina and Kentucky are the most attractive because I think those are the two places I'd want to live the most. And then I think between those two, I think I'm shielded by Kentucky basketball better than I am South Carolina women's basketball. So I think I'm going to go Kentucky.

B

Part of it's like what you want out of the job right now it says assuming money's equal, like that's probably the first contract money, like what the odds of getting a second contract, I think vary, you know, quite a bit of these. Like, what are the expectations here? Like if you're trying to elevate, like I think all of these are like, if you're looking at them, they're all stepping stone jobs. Nobody's like, yeah, like I'm going to keep the South Carolina, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi State job forever. With all due respect to those coaches so that are currently there, like, where can I exceed expectations? You know, you'd think Kentucky, but in some ways and I think Mark Stoops did a great job relative to Kentucky, but like, man, there was also like some big time like schedule merchant stuff going on there, like with who they drew compared to what they're about to Draw now like Will Stein could have a much better team than most of the teams that Mark Stoops fielded there in terms of quality of play and go 5, 7.

C

You also had the down. Stoops's rise comes as Georgia is kind of going through transition. Florida went through multiple transitions. You know, Tennessee was lost for a little bit in the Derek Dooley era. There's a. There was a lot of capitalizing on good timing for his success in. In Lexington no doubt.

B

Are any of these more future proofed from like conference expansion than the others?

C

Kentucky

B

think so. And probably Arkansas. Like if I was thinking long term, like do you think the new super league needs two teams from the state of Mississippi?

C

Well, I was also think. I was also thinking that at while Kentucky might have a similar issue of not being the premier sport that Arkansas has, it does seem that overall the flagship, you know, the flagship university, the Bluegrass State, still wants to be competing in all of the upper leagues in all of the sports.

B

Agreed. This is tough.

D

I think ultimately I'd rather have a mid tier to upper tier big 12 or ACC job than any of these four.

C

I, I was talking to somebody said Blacksburg reminded them of Fayetteville. Who's been to Blacksburg and Fayetteville the most?

A

I think I've been to each like once.

C

Yeah, twice.

B

Yeah, I've been to Blackford twice.

A

Similar college town feels. Yeah, that's it was fan bases pretty good. Like home. Home crowds good.

C

And it was about a transfer from Rice who was saying that like man, like Houston, big city. I grew up in Fayetteville. When I got to Blacksburg I was like, okay, college town. You know, this little bit of a different vibe than you had at the smaller school in the big city that you had at Rice. But that probably a great place to live is the reason why I would say that I cannot speak to Fayetteville. But it does sound like it's a decent place to grow up. So I don't want to throw that to the wilderness. Arkansas would not be my quickest no. My quickest no would be Starkville. I'm sorry. Much love to all you people. You've got passion but that's the, that's the quickest no there.

D

Can you imagine like being the Mississippi State coach and having to deal with Brandon Walker wanting to talk to you all the time.

C

Oh, I even forgot about the Brandon side of this.

D

Yeah.

C

Oh, that's a tax. You know, that's a, that's a, that's a tax on the, on the overall.

B

Who else is he going to talk to now? I mean like you might get. You might be getting called every day.

C

Okay, a little bit of reporting here on a newsy Monday morning. Our own Brandon Marcelo, who is also on the scene in Tampa, reported decision makers and lawmakers are discussing edits to the Protect College Sports act that would cap conferences at 19 teams. So if you are, and if you are an autonomous four program, you know, in a power. Power four conference and you want to join a different power conference, you would have to go independent for at least five years, bud. They're trying to throw non compete clauses and team caps. I. Billable hours, bro. I don't, I don't see how this one holds up.

B

Yeah, it's questionable. A couple angles on this one. This again. If this thing gets passed, which I still don't think it's going to get passed in any form that resembles anything that's been proposed so far. But this would sort of fix the own goal that Cantwell and then put in there in their bill as far as being unable to like, we wouldn't allow G5 teams to move up. Right, Right. So it's sort of like a barbell approach. It really helps the little guys and it sort of helps to cement the current class Status among the P4 in some ways of keeping the SEC in the Big Ten there. I think the issue is like Cody Campbell okay with this? Like, we sure about this? Maybe he's okay with it if they put other protections or something to where like the Big Ten of the SEC can't break away. But like the money gap between the big two and the other two and the power four is not shrinking. So that would be interesting to me. It also harkens back to a conversation that I think we were all standing there. I know Danny and Tom were a couple years ago at one of the media days when it was explained to us, like how they would have to get Florida State out. Right. They'd have to go independent for a couple years to avoid lawsuits. It's kind of similar to that in some ways. I don't know about five, but five

C

is a, an eternity.

B

Would that also mean like that like any school leaving couldn't play a schedule involving those teams?

C

I don't know. I go back to the Tom Fornelli, why'd you make this so hard? Like, why. Why did you try so hard to overcomplicate this thing and, and solve all of the problems with one bill? I mean, this is.

B

This also feels like governance, not regulation.

D

Yeah, it's why are you trying so hard to fix everything instead of just fixing one thing at a time? That's your government pretty much. Well.

C

Well, you know what? That's not wrong. Yeah. The one government spending bill that has everything packed into it just to be able to get it across the line, to keep the lights on and keep TSA paid for another six months or whatever it's going to be. Did you make anything of 19 as the number?

D

Yeah. My takeaway from seeing that number is that we're all negotiating still, because 19 is a ridiculous number.

C

Ridiculous.

D

It's going to end up at 20, maybe 24, who knows? But right now it's at 19. And to me, I think the most people are like, 19. The Big Ten's got 18. Notre Dame. And I think maybe there's some of that to it, but I just.

C

Or that means that the SEC's got three more spots to fill.

D

Yeah.

C

I mean, I'll tell you what. Clemson. Clemson was like, excuse me, you know,

D

I don't think there's. If they do put a cap on it, I don't think it's going to be 19. I think it's going to be a minimum of 20.

B

Also, if you have to filter these guys through the independent status for five

A

years,

B

Notre Dame's the only one they would want.

D

Yeah.

B

Like, the SEC is not going to want Memphis or usf. Like,

C

and would Clemson or Florida State or Virginia or North Carolina want to stomach five years of independence before making a move?

B

That'd be a hell of a Netflix documentary. Hey, we're going independent, big time. Money from Netflix. We'll just, you know, insider access for five years.

C

I mean, I was talking about the, you know, leadership and bold and brave. It's because all these university presidents are just waiting for their next university president job. You're gonna get. You're gonna get. You're gonna get a crew of university presidents making a decision if this, you know, if they were to leave under this world, and then they would probably never be around to even see it through to the new conference. Right. I mean, I don't know. Wild. Wild stuff I did. I like that you said it's. It's still. Obviously, very obviously still negotiating. If this does go through, then I. The reason why Cody Campbell likes it is because it just gets the entire Big 12 into the club. You know, anything that. Anything that freezes the power structure, even if the financial difference is still there, if the power structure is frozen with the four power conferences and not having to worry about who's going to get poached or who's going to run off then? I don't know. That's. That's why Cody Campbell would like it, I think, is that it's good for the whole Big 12.

D

Yeah. But Cody Campbell strikes me as the type of person who's not just happy being the big dog in the Big 12,

C

maybe.

D

I think Cody Campbell wants to be the big dog in the big pond, which is weird because dogs don't really live in ponds, but I said it, so whatever.

C

Yeah, well, that's where he wants to build the new future. Right. Just to make sure that Texas Tech is in it as a as on the same level as all these other ones.

B

Yeah. Two pretty relevant injury updates from Missouri, by the way.

C

Ahmad Hardy.

B

Matt Hardy sounds like there's a chance he can play this season.

C

I know, it's amazing. It's awesome. For those who weren't aware, he suffered a gunshot wound in the leg, right?

B

Yeah.

C

I don't remember where. So he suffered a gunshot wound, I think around a concert.

B

He was at a concert in Louisiana.

C

Yeah, he was at a concert.

B

Yeah.

C

Straight. I don't know. Actually, I don't want to speak to the event. I'm not a cop, but suffered a gunshot wound. That sucks. We were worried if he was even going to be able to play, but things seem to be moving in a good direction. Positive update from Eli Drinkwitz here on

B

a Monday and then in May. This is from Power Mizzou like, which is like the absolute gold standard for Missouri reporting. So back in May, drink with said that transfer tackle Josh Atkins, who they need to start at right tackle, optimistic he's ahead of schedule but now he suffered a setback in his injury. Still attacking it, but it's not going to be as hopeful that he'll be back by mid season. We'll see how that goes. We had a little setback in early June that is absolutely prop. I mean Missouri's win total under has been pounded to the under since it opened.

C

Do you think?

B

I'm not. I'm not personally thinking. I'm not thinking of them as like the, you know, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Arkansas class, but their record could end up that way, at least in conference.

C

Oh, is that like a if?

D

I mean like. Yeah, like think about it like if Ahmad Hardy's back but he's not quite Ahmad Hardy anymore because he got shot and then you're missing your starting tackle. Like things could get tough for them. That offense might not be nearly as and Austin Simmons is still Mostly an unproven commodity.

B

Yeah.

C

So I do not have Missouri even like aside from this. I do not have Missouri as part of that group. I mentioned earlier how it feels like there's eight teams that are kind of all of a same quality and they're scrapping it out to see who ends up at the top of the pile. I do, I do not have Missouri in that group. Like you said, I'm not ready to bury them to the bottom. But I, I think that they're occupying a very, very defined middle tier of non playoff teams that might be playing in the Birmingham bowl or like you know, whatever, whatever that 6 and 6 sec bowl game ends up being. Feels like Missouri could end up being that and that might be a good season for them based on what they're looking at.

B

The saving grace of course they do have like everybody plays a Power 4 team now from the SEC in the non conference they got Missouri so that to me is a bottom 10 power four team. They get Troy and Arkansas Pine Bluff so you should still go 30 in the non con and they do draw Mississippi State, Arkansas and Kentucky, all three. So that's still really helpful for them.

C

Kurt signati saying still AP pole number 23 though.

A

God,

C

Missouri does have some number 23 in the preseason AP pole last sort of smell to him, right?

D

I mean they are. Yeah, they're in that spot where it's like I need another SEC team to throw on here and I've already put eight on. Who's the ninth?

C

Who's the ninth? Yeah, Missouri Tigers. That looks great. They finished around that area enough. Lots more of course, as that goes. And the the reporting also indicates that they're I think that we with the legislative calendar work has to be done. So the lawmakers, the decision makers, all the stakeholders who are involved in trying to do anything with this Protect College Sports act movement's got to happen right now. We'll be sure to keep our eyes on it if anything does end up happening that would indicate we might actually have a bill passed during this legislative session. Coming up on the other side, we do have an answer. Ward Manual will be stepping down at the end of the year. What does this mean? The investigation and more next. I am always on the lookout for clothing that seamlessly transitions throughout my day and I've officially found it with Fiori. I've been wearing their core short non stop lately because whether I'm heading out for an intense morning run, tackling a busy workday or winding down at home, it's incredibly versatile and designed to look great way beyond the gym. As the short that started it all for Vuori, it completely nails the idea of one short every sport. The soft lightweight four way performance stretch fabric means there's zero restriction when you move and the built in breathable boxer brief liner offers amazing comfort. Finding your style on their website is incredibly easy and they even offer three different inseam options for a perfect fit. Vuori is an investment in your happiness and for our listeners they are offering 20% off your first purchase. Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet@vuori.com cover three. That's V U O-R-I.com cover three the number three exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Get 20% off your first purchase at Vuori.com cover 3 and discover the versatility of Vuori clothing exclusion supply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Back here on the COVID 3 podcast yes, there was a meeting last week where the Michigan leadership was briefed on the findings of an extensive investigation, the likes of which have been reported to include an $11 million billable hours bill. That's overtime. That's burning the candle at both ends. Like burning all the candles. And what it produced, among other things, were some findings that included some criticism for Ward Manual at the Michigan athletic director. So we find out that he will be stepping down at the end of the year. We've got some official statements coming out of Michigan. This first one is from the University of Michigan. Quote, the Culture Review found that Ward Manual demonstrated important leadership strengths, particularly his commitment to student athletes. But at the same time it identified failures to quickly and effectively act on allegations of wrongdoing by athletic department employees. Now being the big public university, they have kept a lot of this stuff out of papers and unfo as a lot of oral reports were given to university leadership. There was a video that was sent to all the University of Michigan students. What's. What does this tell you about Michigan? Is there anything more to this? Is this the end of the story?

D

The end of the story? I doubt it.

C

Well, they need a new athletic director, but they've got, they've, they've changed over university presidents in the last couple years. They will be changing over athletic director. There could be more staff related changes as the findings are continued to be digested.

D

I would expect that we're going to see a large overturn of personnel, kind of like with a coaching change in the transfer portal in the Michigan Athletic Department over the next 12 to 18 months.

C

With DK. But any. Any thought here. Did you get a chance to get your eyes on any of the sort of process or reporting around this?

A

My initial hunch is like, man, it must be nice to have a report that clearly had some dirt on you. And they say, sure, we'll go ahead and let you call the shot. We'll let you finish out the year, and then you can step down, and we'll try to be as least humiliating as possible for you. And maybe that's favor for the two national championships in football and basketball.

B

I mean, they won two national titles in the two sports that matter. Yeah.

C

So he did his job, but, like,

B

would they sign up for the war manual experience again every single, single time? Absolutely.

C

Great call.

B

And do they probably need to fire him based on what's in the report?

C

Yes.

B

Yes. Yeah.

C

Yes. Yeah.

B

Like, it's like, you know what? Yes. Flags fly forever. We're gonna hang those banners. We wish it didn't happen this way, but we're damn glad that it did. Like the winning happened.

D

I. I ran a poll before the show, and it was Ward Manuel stepping down as Michigan's AD at the end of 2026. During his time at Michigan, he won a bunch of titles and had a bunch of scandals off the field. Would you take the same results for your school? Only about 800 votes so far, but 81.4% of respondents have said yes. 18.6% have said no. And I imagine a good portion of that 18.6% is lying to themselves.

C

Yeah, I was going to say 18.6% of your polls are liars.

D

Yeah.

C

Yeah, that's. I like, did he probably need to go based on what happened? Yes. But would it be considered an otherwise successful tenure? Absolutely. We've got here up on YouTube.com cover3 a little summary. You had two head coaches leave after winning a national title. I would say Dusty May and Jim Harbaugh, slightly different in terms of. Jim Harbaugh needed to go. Dusty May chose himself. You know, a little bit more ownership there. Two head coaches left after national NCAA tournament appearances. That would be, I believe, both men's and women's. And two head coaches fired after investigations. It has been a tumultuous time. Will things be quiet? I asked this, I guess, maybe two weeks ago. You know, we were talking about, does this apply more or less pressure to Kyle Whittingham? And we address that. But is this. They'll choose a new athletic director. That'll be a really good job for someone who's trying to Rise up in the industry. Yeah, it's one of the best athletic director jobs in America. You know what's. Is there anything more that's going to be coming out of this? Mike Boynton obviously signed a two year contract to be the new head coach in Batman's basketball. So he's got at least a year or two to go through the transition.

D

By the way, like why,

C

like, why

D

not hire who is competing for Mike Boynton right now? Why did you have to hand him a two year contract?

C

To make recruiting. Yeah, to make this season not total lame duck recruiting. Like, you don't recruiting your own roster

D

pay for your players.

A

I know, but you want to be able to lock them in. I think that's. I, that's why I'm saying I agree with you, but I think that's probably the reason it makes no sense.

C

Did Chris Partridge sue for wrongful termination? I forgot.

D

Yeah.

C

Yeah. Sounds like the termination process didn't go real well no matter when it happened. You know, probably could have lessened the liability, the legal liability in a couple different places.

D

I don't know who's going to be taking over in Ann Arbor, but I would, I would suspect that the next administration will be making fewer headlines off the field. Whether they want to make more on the field, that will be determined.

B

No.

C

Any. Any ACC media day leftovers that we, again, we had. We had our Show Thursday at 11am but then all of Thursday, all of Friday, any. Anything else jump out to y' all from the ongoings in Charlotte,

A

Give it up for Pat Arduzzi. I mean, every coach does it like, but why is he the one that gets called out? Because every coach is going to say, well, I've coached in all of them and this one the toughest. And yet everyone wants to bring out receipts on poor old Pat Narduzzi because

D

his record is very not supportive of what he was saying. And I, it's, it's like. But that is honestly one of my favorite things about media days is that These coaches spend 11 months of the year essentially talking to, you know, state media, like guys who are covering the teams who are going to give you more of a friendly kind of, you know, treatment, softer glove treatment than you're typically going to get. And then they come to the national media days where they start saying the same things they might say to the local beat reporter who's not going to push back. And then everybody who's seeing is like, wait, what? So it's like when he's, when he's talking to a pit reporter and says, yeah, I think the ACC is the best. That's really not going to go wide or when any coach says anything like that. But you show up the media days and you say the same thing everybody. Like, are you. Are you. What the hell are you talking about? You're one in six against those leagues.

C

Andrew Luck is the shadow coach and I'm here for it. Caught Davis Warren even calling him coach Luck. Tavita Pritchard. Yeah, Tavita Pritchard. Talk about how every day starts with just text back and forth. I just, I think, I think Andrew Luck is a lot more of the a co coach and that's how it was last year.

A

I mean every video that they put out, he's on the sidelines, he's interacting with the players. I mean he. That's not surprising at all.

C

I know. It's just, you know, just take a note like this, is this a. It's a cool story. I mean, you know, because Tavita and Andrew obviously both played at Stanford and are pouring their all into making it happen. The other thing on that sort of Stanford Cal is speaking to some people around Cal. That's like Bud, a comment that it was credited to you and if it was not credited to you, I apologize. But somebody said, you know, Bud said a couple years ago, do Stanford and Cal even want to be a part of this? And I'm sitting there speaking to the staffer and Jaron Chiave Saga Polytelli is right here. You know, Tosh is right here and he, and he points to jks and he goes keeping him here. And the recruiting success that he's having here, pointing to Tosh, especially with the 27 cycle. Cal does not want to take their ball and go home.

B

No, exactly. Very different right now.

C

Cal wants to be on. He said is if college football, if college is my words now, if college football splits Cal right now with the people that they have want to be on the side of whatever's big time college football. And that's. That's cool. I mean it's interesting. I would. I tell you what, it's more fun to talk about the school that wants it than the school that's apathetic about it. I mean that's just depressing. So Cal's. Cal's in. That was a. That was another one from the notepad that stuck out. Anything else? Oh, and no juice to Bill Belichick could not have been more different. I wasn't at last year's ACC football kickoff because it was at the same Time as Big Ten. But. But based on what I saw from the photos, what I saw from the conversations of that and what was happening on Friday afternoon, it was. It was the 4 and 8 coach,

A

you know, buried on Friday afternoon.

C

Yeah. 4 and 8 coach walk. There were more conversations with Duke people trying to follow up to Darian Mensah headlines than there were, like, trying to dig into a bunch of North Carolina stuff.

D

Was Jordan there?

C

Nope.

D

Were you disappointed?

C

I talked with Jordan Ship their wide receiver about it, and he's. He's like. He went on the front foot and he was saying, like, I. She is not a big of a factor in our world as it was made out to be. And I. I believe that he's not as big a factor. She's not as big a factor in his world. But I think those weren't the questions. Right.

D

I just meant for you personally, were you disappointed?

C

Oh, no. She's not my type.

A

It is kind of weird dynamic, though, because, like, I think about the relationships that I had with some of my coaches wise and they almost do take on the role of a surrogate mom.

B

Right.

A

You know, like Kathy, Rick, Mark, Rick's wife. I mean, she was always coming to practice after baking us cookies, inviting us over for Thanksgiving dinner. And that was. A lot of the coaches were wives, were kind of like that Max White.

C

The thing that is that people drew. Yeah. Sally. Sally would. Came to eat lunch with the players once a week.

B

Yeah.

C

There's. I just don't think you can be a team mom at the same age.

A

No.

C

I just don't think the dynamics there.

A

So could get dangerous.

C

It's a little bit. But lots of. Lots of fun. So. Fun story. I sit down for the opening.

A

Yeah.

C

The commissioner's forum, and Brett McMurphy's asking me about the ranch dressing or maybe the ketchup on the Mac and cheese. Right. He said, does Danny really doing the ketchup in the Mac and cheese? And then we're talking about the ranch dressing on the pasta. And then somebody who's right next to us starts bringing up like, here's what Danny should do. And sure enough, it is a member of the COVID 3 tailgate. That's, you know, been there. You might have heard from Dominic. His user. His YouTube username is Dominic the Blind. And he is. But he loves college football. He was passionate. He got credentialed for the event. He was there asking great questions, sat next to him a little bit. On day one, he was in the tailgate getting things started. And he suggested that an actual, like, smart way to pull this off? He said, if Danny's doing ranch on pasta, this is in the tailgate before we got started. 8:56am Dominic says you make olive oil garlic sauce, add the pasta, then drizzle the ranch over it in a frying pan. Will make it more like Alfredo and less like salad dressing. Has Dominic sold you on this decade?

A

I sounds like. I think I brought up Alfredo, like fettuccine Alfredo when we were talking ranch. Like it is a white, creamy based sauce. I think it makes a lot of sense. Try that tonight for dinner.

D

Dominic, are you blind or do you not have taste?

C

No, he has. Great. Yeah, listen, he was. He was. He was sharp. He was on it. He had the whole. The whole cooking preparation. It was. It was. It was fun. It was great to see Dominic, and it was great to see him being able to have the opportunity at that event, ask a lot of good questions in the. In the press conferences. Obviously, he is very excited about Special Olympics and trying to advocate for that. Know who else is Deuce Robinson? The Florida State wide receiver does a lot of work with Special Olympics. So I know Dominic was very excited to see that as well. So it was cool to see him. It was an ACC media days takeaway, and I. I think he's gonna continue to be looking for that. If you need somebody to. He's looking for work. If anybody needs someone to be able to do any writing, research things of that nature loves college football. It was. It was cool to be able to meet up with a very passionate member of the tailgate and see him in person at the event. Let's see. Any thoughts? This is from the tailgate as well. Any thoughts on Bo Prabula being named QB1 for Virginia?

D

No. I mean, he was at media days.

C

Would have been more concerned if he wasn't.

B

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

C

So it's. It was very, very good. All right. Do we have any book club? Yeah. All right, let's do it.

D

This is a timely one. There's. There's a movie in theaters right now that a lot of people are talking about. It's called the Odyssey. You can see why the movie's long because it's a very long book poem. It's a very interesting story. It is a story about a man who gets stuck in really bad traffic coming home from work, and it takes him forever to get there, and he has a whole lot of crazy adventures on the way. You've probably heard it. You've probably heard it retold in about A thousand different ways through a thousand different movies. But yeah, it's a very good book. So read it. And then you'll be like, hey, I know this story. This is like what you call. What's the one damn Coen brothers movie.

C

Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?

D

Yeah, this is. This is oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?

C

This is this movie.

D

This is that movie. It's all the same story, just told in different ways. But this one's the original and it's got monsters.

C

Have you, has anybody seen Shady Women?

D

Don't trust Them.

C

Tail as old as time.

A

Not seeing it. I've talked to a couple people. My one daughter saw it and then my nephew saw it and they both said it was awesome.

D

Yeah, Christopher Nolan's my favorite director.

A

Now I'm debating whether I make the drive. It's like a half hour to Fort Lauderdale where there's the IMAX where it's 70 millimeter. So now I'm debating that I've, I have also seen.

D

If you have not seen it yet, beware that it is extremely loud if you're seeing it in the imax. Like I said, like, I know people who are like, you know, like with your Apple watch who were getting like the warnings. Like, you know, this is like extreme. Yeah. Like this is, you know, this is prolonged exposure to very loud noises. This is not good for your hearing.

C

Good call. All right, we will be back on Wednesday. More of the SEC media days reaction, reporting from around the sport and so much more. We also reminder are going to be in Chicago for big ten media days. We're going to see Tom. We're very excited about it. We're all sleeping at his house. He doesn't know it yet. And room. Yeah, let's go.

D

It's just a commute. I mean, I'll happily stay here, but it's a hell of a commute.

C

Every morning I'll sleep outside with the deer. You know, we'll be able to keep, keep tight.

D

I don't know, like, I don't know how it is in North Carolina right now, but the Canadian wildfire smoke is probably making sleeping outside right now not the most ideal situation. But it should clear up by next week.

C

Should clear up by next week. So that means for you a little bit of a different schedule. But the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, we are going to be doing the full all out, lots of interviews. CBS Sports Network blocks. We'll have more information on that. We are about to find out more information on that. Also on Thursday afternoon. Go ahead and throw this one on your radar about 4pm Eastern Time or so, we're going to do a live mailbag. So it's just kind of a empty the notebook. We're recapping the event. So that'll be a YouTube hangout, similar to what we are able to do usually. So Thursday afternoons we'll do a YouTube live hangout to be able to talk to the tailgate, answer your questions and give you more that we weren't able to in the context of the television shows, interviews and videos on demand. And you can follow him on Twitter at Tom Pernell, you can follow him at Danny Cannell, you can follow him. But Elliott3, you can follow me at Chip Patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

D

Thank you.

A

See ya.

D

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