Announcer: Welcome to Not Your Father’s Data Center Podcast, brought to you by Compass Data Centers. We build for what’s next. Now here’s your host, Raymond Hawkins.
Raymond Hawkins: All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another edition of Not Your Father’s Data Center. As you know, we are very serious about all things data centers, all things technical. We’ll spend a good bit of time tonight talking about heat rejection, talking about ESG, talking about staffing challenges, talking about how we can make data centers more efficient, and we’ll slip in a little college football today.
Raymond Hawkins: We got lots of guests with us today. We are recording on Monday, August 22nd, even though my podcast team hates when I tell you the dates. But since this one’s coming out the week before college football starts, we’re giving you the dates, Monday night, August 22nd. We’re going to go around the horn. Starting on my screen clockwise, we got Elias Ellefsen, who is the senior digital media strategist for MarketScale here in Dallas, Texas, also happens to have a little bit of college football in his background. Elias, tell us a little bit about your college football background.
Elias Ellefsen: I was a college strength coach for about nine years. Was at Baylor for about three years, spent a year up at Kent State, and then made my way back to Texas. I was at SMU for about the last four and a half years.
Raymond Hawkins: Excellent. So you and you and Nick Saban have Kent in your background so I can see where you come from, the Saban coaching tree. I got it. All right next, as we go clockwise on my screen, Steve Sykes from Salute, all things sales, executive vice president of sales and marketing, I think, in Louisville, Kentucky, if I’ve got that right. I know it’s mostly a basketball state. Steve, talk to us a little bit about where you’re coming from and your history with college basketball and college.
Steve Sykes: So I’m actually excommunicated from Louisville and I’m in Nashville, Tennessee [inaudible 00:01:59].
Raymond Hawkins: Nashville now.
Steve Sykes: But long family history of big basketball fans and football fans, so we’ll see how today goes. You guys be a little bit lenient on me.
Raymond Hawkins: Nashville. You’re representing Vanderbilt. That’s a tough role.
Steve Sykes: I’m a Titans fan. I’m a glutton for punishment.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah, I get it. I get it. All right. He needs no introduction. Going all the way back to Tip City, you guys have seen him on the podcast before. I mean, he wins more money for his charities on this podcast than any other guest. I think at last tally, it was $19,442, had gone to Baudendistel’s charities as a result of his picks. Back by popular demand, I think he holds 19 or 20 different Cornell quarterbacking records in the Ivy League. Mike Baudendistel with Equinix, tell us a little bit about your background.
Mike Baudendiste…: I appreciate that, Raymond, but I’m going to have to correct you right now before anyone does a stat check on the old Google. Did not hold any records at Cornell. Did play all four years there, barely played, but I was on the team, but no records.
Raymond Hawkins: I was close.
Mike Baudendiste…: Yeah. I got to be honest. I can’t have people Googling that. Really Googled me wrong on that. Nope.
Raymond Hawkins: Did I have the wrong Baudendistel?
Mike Baudendiste…: Yeah. You had the wrong one. That’s the other guy. Yeah, but appreciate you on the podcast. Love doing this. Yeah. I played football 14 years, so I know a little bit, but definitely a little behind this year on the college game so I can do all kinds of cramming today.
Raymond Hawkins: Good job.
Mike Baudendiste…: Hopefully I’ll figure it out in the next hour.
Raymond Hawkins: Awesome. Ty Miller, can you give us a little Natty? Did you wear it today? You got to show the bling. Come on, now.
Ty Miller: No. And besides for the audience out there, I played world football, not American football. And so take my opinions with a grain salt though, I was a collegiate athlete back in the day. I’ll be covering everything Pac-12, realignment, UCLA, et cetera, today and I’m really excited to be here with such a great group
Raymond Hawkins: And quickly, you’re tied to the data center business, because we’re going to spend most of our time on data centers, you’re tied to the data center business.
Ty Miller: Yeah. I’m the head of sales, chief revenue officer at Stack Infrastructure.
Raymond Hawkins: Baudendistel, you did not mention Equinix once. You’re still citing all your records, so please get back to that.
Mike Baudendiste…: I appreciate it. Yeah. I am with Equinix out here in Los Angeles. I’m a senior director of sales and been here for 16 years.
Raymond Hawkins: Awesome. Love to hear that. All right. Now to round out our SCC crew, out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, one of Baton Rouge’s favorite sons, Kenny Nguyen, one of my dearest friends. Light it up for LSU. What do you got?
Kenny Nguyen: Man, it feels like in this room here, I didn’t even finish college, y’all. And here y’all like quarterbacking, being in a collegiate team, so I got to rep for my Fighting Tigers down here in Baton Rouge. Grew up here, proud Cajun Asian. I run a creative agency called ThreeSixtyEight. Just happy to be here and talk some sports. I am big college football fan, so excited to get into it.
Raymond Hawkins: I’m getting me a shirt right now that says Cajun Asian. I got to get one of those. I got to get one. I got to get one. I love that, Kenny. Kenny, thank you so much for joining us, a die hard football guy. We’re so glad you’re with us. So guys, we’re going to talk all things NCAA football. We’re probably not going to get to say that for too much longer because I think the football schools are going to tell the NCAA to pound sand. That’s another show, but for now, we’ll talk NCAA football. Let’s jump right in. Let’s start with realignment. It is a big thing in college football today, right? The latest news is USC and UCLA are bolting to the Big 10. We know Texas and Oklahoma have already pulled their ticket for the SCC, but they don’t move for a couple of years. Talk a little bit about realignment. What do you think about it? What do you think about the USC UCLA move and who might be next? Elias hit first for us.
Elias Ellefsen: I love the move for UCLA and USC going to the Big 10. I think it might cause some issues travel wise. When you look at Maryland, you start looking at Rutgers, they’re going to have to go across the country as well as USC and UCLA, but I’m a big fan of the big time conferences. Bring them, throw Notre Dame in the Big 10. Bring them all. I want to see it.
Raymond Hawkins: Love it. More big football. I question how the women’s cross country team is going to afford to fly across the country, but I love it from a football perspective, no question. Steve, your thoughts on realignment.
Steve Sykes: I thought it was an interesting move. I think typically, when I think West Coast football, I think at hot paste and when I think of other parts of the country, I think of beef, so I think the combination of those two is going to be a little bit interesting from my perspective.
Raymond Hawkins: You can say they don’t play defense on the West. It’s okay. The two guys on the West Coast know they don’t play any D out there.
Ty Miller: Just keep snapping.
Raymond Hawkins: How many plays can we get in, baby? All right, so Steve good or good move for USC, UCLA? You like the move?
Steve Sykes: Yeah, I think it’s a good move for them. I think it’s going to be interesting. As I said, I always think about beef during that, being from the Midwest, we are in the trenches football, so I think it’ll be bringing a little interesting dynamic to the league.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah, it’ll take them a while to adjust upfront. I a hundred percent agree with that Baudendistel, realignment as a whole.
Mike Baudendiste…: I don’t know. I mean, you look at USC, UCLA, I think for the Big 10, it’s going to improve the basketball quality and probably dilute the football quality. I mean, they’re both basketball schools anyway, so I don’t think it’s going to really help.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. Look at that. All right. Ty Miller, basketball school, John Wooden, the pyramid of success, defend the move.
Ty Miller: Listen, there’s going to be plenty of travel money for the ladies cross country runners because the average school is going to be dropping 85 million to $100 million a year. The travel thing’s overblown. By the way, where are my points? I’m supposed to be getting points from you, like Woody Paige or something right now.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ll get to that.
Ty Miller: Thank you. Look, what’s happening here is that USC and UCLA are going to make the Big 10 the conference of champions because we’re going to bring our 235 championships to the Big 10. And listen, for all those beef road eater guys, road graders that are in Madison, Wisconsin, or Des Moines, Iowa freezing their asses off all year, now they can stay in the same conference. They don’t have to deal with that winter shit. You come out to LA. It’s sun, it’s beach, it’s ladies. You still get to go play in the big house in the horseshoe. You can get a white out twice in your career. Who cares? I’m telling you, this is a huge move for USC, huge move for UCLA. The Big 10’s going to be better for it. And I’ll point out UCLA has more basketball titles than the entirety of the Big 10 conference in their history.
Raymond Hawkins: Whoa, somebody looked that stat up pre-show. Look at that.
Ty Miller: Delicious drop that down. Go Bruins.
Raymond Hawkins: Look at that. Okay. Duck, Kentucky and Ohio. He was coming in hot. Kenny, those of us in the SCC, we frankly don’t really care what all the junior conferences do, but we at least opine on it a little bit.
Kenny Nguyen: It’s cute for sure. With the move though, I got to say here is, I think this is the beginning of something because just today I heard Oregon is looking to be the next one to move. And I’m just thinking, “Look at this shift, y’all, happening.” Money talks. We all know, but I’m thinking if Oregon is leaving, this is going to get interesting, y’all. We’re only just seeing the beginning of a college football changing like the seismic shift right now.
Raymond Hawkins: All right, Kenny, stick with us. We’re going to stick with the conference realignment. You bring up Oregon talking about leaving. Which of the conferences is most vulnerable to get completely gutted by the big boys? Is it the Big 12, the Pac-12, or maybe even the ACC? Which conferences is set to blow up because we’re not going to continue with five power five conferences forever. Kenny, who’s on the verge of implosion, league wise?
Kenny Nguyen: Man, I think it’s Pac-12 right now. That, to me, just feels like it’s bleeding a little bit. I mean, if Washington and Oregon you know dip, I mean, what do you got, honestly?
Raymond Hawkins: Come on. Who doesn’t want to see Utah beat Oregon State? That’ll drive dozens of eyeballs.
Ty Miller: But the whole point of this shift, Hawk, is the fact that no one ever saw Utah beat Oregon State because it was on at 2:00 in the morning on the East Coast. This is the whole point of television revenue. Look, the Pac-12 is vulnerable. Washington, you got to think about it as media markets, not sports brands. Big 10 picked up Rutgers in New York and picked up Maryland in DC because the TV markets, the eyeballs, where the alumni are. It’s not about Oregon’s football brand. Nike U is fine, but it’s in Eugene, Oregon and it’s not a major television market. Washington football and basketball, not as good frankly in the last 20 years as Oregon, is a more coveted pickup for the Big 10. If you want to create a West Coast pod …
Raymond Hawkins: Is LA much of a TV market, Ty? I’m not sure.
Ty Miller: Well, after Baywatch, everything went down, but it’s still pretty strong,
Raymond Hawkins: Still pretty good TV market? Okay.
Ty Miller: Yeah. But look, you got to create West Coast pods, I think, in these national super conferences. So Stanford and Cal, which are somewhat indifferent to sports or they’re different types of places, the Bay Area in Northern California is a rich TV market. They have to both be looking at it. Stanford wants to be prideful and be part of the West Coast Ivy Conference. They may wind up in the Ivy league, honestly. Cal’s a second sister to UCLA. It’s always been that way since we broke away and became the number two, number one school in California, but you got to look at Cal and UDub and Oregon as potential departures. I think the grant of rights is a problem for the ACC. They had a long term contract there, but the Big 12 has a lot of similarities with the four corner schools in the Pac-12. You pick up Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Arizona State, those schools feel a lot like Stillwater and Lubbock, so I think the Big 12 is actually in a pretty good position. Pac-12’s weak right now.
Mike Baudendiste…: So Raymond.
Raymond Hawkins: Yep. Go ahead, Mike.
Mike Baudendiste…: My question is all these conferences that have numbers in them. When are they going to stop? When’s the Big 10 going to stop being the Big 10? The Big 12 has 10 teams. The Big 10 has 14.
Kenny Nguyen: 14 teams.
Mike Baudendiste…: At what point are they going to have to stop using these names, because it’s getting silly.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. The numbers are a little confusing and a little silly. And the other one, not just what you call the leagues, but how big can a league get? Right? I mean, is 16 the max? I was one that, three or four years ago, I thought we’d end up with four 16-team leagues and we’d end up with 64 of the premium football brands, but I think the UCLA USC move throws a monkey wrench in that. Right? I think that you start to struggle with that. It looked to me like that was happening with the Oklahoma Texas move to the SCC and that got them to 16, but I think you could end up seeing two or three leagues instead of four 16-team leagues. Elias, who do you think’s the most vulnerable, as far as leagues out there today, to implode?
Elias Ellefsen: I’m going to agree and say the Pac-12. I mean, if you look at schools to add, I mean, the Big 12 got BYU. That’s Pac-12 area. Who else do they add to their conference at this point? I mean, Oregon’s a huge loss if they lose them. Washington, they want out, but geographically, what teams can you add that will add value to that conference? I don’t see there being any around that area.
Raymond Hawkins: I’ll tell you. Utah State’s feeling overlooked right now, Elias. Just saying.
Ty Miller: San Diego State’s on the West Coast Pac-12 radar San Diego’s a good TV market, SoCal lifestyle, all that stuff, but I agree with you. I think there’s almost uniform belief that the Pac-12’s the most vulnerable.
Kenny Nguyen: I love Raymond’s questions though, about how big can a league really get because just today, the Big 10 Commissioner Kevin Warren talked about he envisions the Big 10 could be a 20-team league. That’s huge, y’all.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. Unbelievable.
Kenny Nguyen: That’s unbelievable.
Raymond Hawkins: I’m going to throw a curve ball into the which league could be in the most trouble. I think we all agree with USC and UCLA leaving. We see the Pac-12 struggling. How about the ACC? If you yank Clemson and Florida State and Miami out of the ACC.
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Raymond Hawkins: If you yank Clemson and Florida State and Miami out of the ACC, granted, they’re basketball programs, but if you yank those three football schools out, I don’t know what the ACC does during the fall. There’s not much depth there, so we’ll see. It’ll be interesting to see.
Steve Sykes: Where would they go?
Raymond Hawkins: The big 30, I think, is where we’re headed in the north. I think it’s-
Ty Miller: Yeah, look Hawk, you bring up a good point from a basketball perspective and the so-called universities in the Big 10 that believe that they’re superior academically to the SCC. I’m not making that charge, I’m just going to let the obvious facts state for themselves. Sorry, Kenny, but you look at University of Virginia, you look at Duke, you look at North Carolina, and those are potential Big 10 or SCC pickups, candidly. But the schools that feel more like the SCC to me are Florida State, Miami, Clemson. The schools that feel a little more Big 10 are Virginia and North Carolina, and maybe Duke too.
Raymond Hawkins: Georgia Tech?
Ty Miller: Just don’t know. But what happens, right? I think we’re headed towards two super leagues and that’s it, ultimately. There’s going to be a third for a while, but I think if you project out 15 years from now, I bet you got two super leagues.
Raymond Hawkins: So it’s interesting. You talk about TV and eyeballs, the Big 10 TV deal, I think makes me think more and more that it’s going to end up two leagues, two giant leagues with massive $9, $10, $12 billion TV contracts that are bundled up to three or four properties. Just to tie it back into the data center business, because everything leads back to data centers, I think that our customers are going to get in the live sports broadcasting of college football and you’re going to see a package that includes Amazon Prime football. You’re going to see a package that’s Apple Plus. I think those guys are going to get into buying rights when we get to this next round of college football TV money.
Mike Baudendiste…: Raymond [inaudible 00:17:04] point real quick.
Raymond Hawkins: Hold on Mike. Steve, go ahead.
Steve Sykes: Yeah, one question. The Big 12, didn’t I see something about Oklahoma and Texas not renewing their TV rights after 2025 or something?
Raymond Hawkins: So the league is struggling with their TV package because Texas and Oklahoma are gone. They’re going to the SCC in 2024.
Steve Sykes: Okay.
Raymond Hawkins: So they’ve already announced their bolting. Yeah. Yep. So which to me, leads me back to the two big leagues, two huge TV contract thought. Yeah, go ahead Mike.
Mike Baudendiste…: But when you do two big leagues like that, I mean at a certain point you’re not even playing each other. I mean, there’s only so many games in the conference you can play. There’s many teams you don’t play for years, and then you have the one league final. It just seems like it’s going to be where you’re all in the same league, but you haven’t played each other in three years.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. I think it’s more about bundled up TV packages and it might be called a league and you end up having an 18 bracket from one league and an 18 bracket from the other. And that feeds into a final four playoff. Who knows. Gone are the days where we worried about who was going to the Rose Bowl. Those days are behind us. New Year’s Day does not mean what it did in our childhood, that’s for sure.
Raymond Hawkins: All right. Let’s get into the actual season as we switch out of realignment and the ever shifting landscape. Let’s stick with the Big 10. Let’s run down the conferences and tell me who’s winning each conference. Let’s go in order. Big 10. Elias, who do you got in the Big 10 to win it all?
Elias Ellefsen: I got the Ohio State University.
Raymond Hawkins: The Ohio State University. Steve, who you got in the Big 10?
Steve Sykes: I have to say-
Raymond Hawkins: Mike?
Mike Baudendiste…: You do have to ask.
Raymond Hawkins: Okay. Yeah, I got it. Ohio Northern Bobcats. Gotcha. Check. Miller, who you got-
Mike Baudendiste…: Harvard of the Midwest.
Raymond Hawkins: The Harvard and the Midwest. Who do you got, Ty?
Ty Miller: Well, I’d love to be contrarian, but there’s really four or five programs that have separated themselves from everybody else, and Ohio State’s one of those elite four or five programs. Frankly, there’s really only four.
Raymond Hawkins: I couldn’t believe I checked out a few publications and people picked Michigan. I was like, what football team have you been watching the last five years? How do you pick Michigan in the Big 10. Kenny, who do you got? Can you make that-
Kenny Nguyen: I got Ohio State. Ohio State, unfortunately. It’s a sweep.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. Six for six. I’m with you. It’s the Buckeyes. I think it’s the Buckeyes fairly easily. I think their talent is just so much deeper than everybody else’s in the league. All right. Let’s go back to the other direction while we’re we’re talking about the PAC 12. Kenny, start us off. Go backwards. PAC 12. Who’s winning out there when all the rest of us are in bed?
Kenny Nguyen: I’m going to give, yeah, Utah. I’m going to give them the love they need and they should have. I think Utah’s going to take it.
Raymond Hawkins: All right, Utah in the PAC 12. Ty?
Ty Miller: Yeah. There’s a surprisingly good program there. No one’s seen them west of the Appalachian mountains, but they’re very good. And I think ultimately they’re more consistent than the other top tier programs. So I’m with the Utes. Good pick, Kenny.
Raymond Hawkins: Kenny, I think you’re onto something there. Elias, who you got out there in the PAC 12?
Elias Ellefsen: Three for three. I’m going with Utah as well. I think the PAC 12 is going to have it down year. It’s going to take Lincoln a year to figure it out over at USC, and I think it’s theirs for the taking this year.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. It’s interesting you bring up USC. That’s another pick I saw a lot. I just don’t think Lincoln gets it all put together in one off season. Steve, who you got out there in the PAC 12?
Steve Sykes: In Tennessee, we didn’t even realize Utah had a football team because they never broadcast yet. So I had to go with Oregon.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah, right?
Steve Sykes: Not being very intelligent about that.
Raymond Hawkins: All right, Mike, we got three Utah’s we got one Oregon. Who do you got out there on the west coast?
Mike Baudendiste…: I hate being a fan favorite, but got to go with Utah.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah, guys. I want to try to break it up and pick somebody else. But I think the Utes win handily. I think they run away with the league. They got the softest schedule you can imagine. I think they play two football games all season and I think they roll out west. All right.
Ty Miller: Can I give you a little sleeper comment on the pack?
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah.
Ty Miller: Watch week six.
Raymond Hawkins: Are we going to get the Bruins?
Ty Miller: Well, watch week six when UCLA rolls to play Utah. They’re both going to be six and oh. It’s going to be at the Rose Bowl. It’ll be a decent game. Let me tell you something. UCLA has two games against the state of Alabama this year in the non conference. Neither one of them is against the Crimson Tide or the Tigers. We’re going to whip up on Alabama State and South Alabama in the preseason.
Raymond Hawkins: You had the Cougars on the slate.
Ty Miller: Along with Bowling Green. So I’m telling you that UCLA is going to wind up giving some false expectation. You’re going to see them rise in the polls. Got an awesome running back, Zach Charbonnet, transfer from Michigan, second year player for UCLA. You got a fifth year returning quarterback who is on the most swagger team list. Dorian Thompson Robinson. You may have missed this, but that guy actually hurdled a dude, hurdled SC in a game, landed in the touchdown, ran over and signed the fan’s hat with a Sharpie. He’s going to put up big numbers, but it’s going to be false promise for UCLA and my Bruins. They’re going to finish, I don’t know, nine and three. They could even get 10 and two, but they’re going to probably get smoked in a good bowl game. That’s my prediction.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. I think your Bruins are a lot.
Elias Ellefsen: And they’re going to go to the Big 10.
Raymond Hawkins: And they’re going to go to the Big 10 and raise the Big 10. I got to tell you, Ty, I think your early season six and oh Bruins are going to be a lot like my second wife’s engagement ring. It was a diamondique. You know, looked nice, but when it got right down to it, there wasn’t much there.
Ty Miller: Good call, Hawk.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah, wasn’t a lot there. All right. We’re switching. Hey, did we get everybody on the PAC 12? I think we got five Utes and one Oregon. Is that right? All right. Let’s roll down to the ACC. My dark horse pick for a league that could implode at any minute. I hate it because I don’t think that there’s much competition down there on football Saturdays. So I’m going to hit lead off and go with Clemson. Elias, who do you got in the ACC?
Elias Ellefsen: It’s hard to say anybody else besides Clemson. If their quarterback play can just be average, that defense is going to take them all the way through their schedule.
Raymond Hawkins: Here, here. Steve?
Steve Sykes: I had the Tigers also.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah, I think it’s easy. Mike, who you got?
Steve Sykes: You ready for this, Hawk?
Raymond Hawkins: Look out Wake Forest.
Steve Sykes: Pittsburgh.
Raymond Hawkins: Pittsburgh, really?
Steve Sykes: Yeah.
Raymond Hawkins: Look at you Pittsburgh. There you go. I like somebody mixing it up.
Ty Miller: You got to do homework. You got to do kind of homework on you.
Raymond Hawkins: Somebody got deep. Somebody did a little [inaudible 00:23:50] today. Ty, who do you got? ACC champ?
Ty Miller: Yeah. You can’t pick against Clemson, but I don’t know, I’ll throw up North Carolina State out there for fun.
Raymond Hawkins: I can see Wake Forest upsetting a few people, but I have a hard time believing anybody but Clemson. Kenny, who do you got in the ACC?
Kenny Nguyen: Say Clemson. Very hard to beat.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. And to the point, that defense is so good. They could win 17 to nothing eight times this year. They really could. All right. Let’s go with the Big 12. Who do you got? As you go through the Big 12, I look through and it’s the big two and the little 10 this league. I will preview it now. My most overrated football team in the country comes out of this league. That’s just a quick sneak peek, little cliff hanger for you. Kenny, coming out of the Big 12, who do you got is league champ coming out of the Big 12?
Kenny Nguyen: Man. I am torn between University of Oklahoma at maybe UT, but I’m going to go with Oklahoma this one.
Raymond Hawkins: All right, Boomer Sooner. Let’s go. Ty, who do you got coming out of the Big 12?
Ty Miller: I don’t know. I think in the era of NIL and ATM machines that I’m going to go with the, oh, are the Aggies in the SCC? They are, aren’t they. Forget that. I don’t even know who’s in the Big 12. Can I pick-
Raymond Hawkins: It’s hard to keep track. There’s Oklahoma who Kenny just picked is going to the SCC. Can you take Houston?
Kenny Nguyen: The other one was SCC too, UT.
Raymond Hawkins: That’s right.
Ty Miller: Anyway, it’s all very confusing. I’ll pick the Cougars, just because. I don’t know anybody else will, but they’re pretty good team. I feel like 10 and two every year.
Raymond Hawkins: I was going to say, the Cougars can play football. There’s no question. All right, Mike, who do you got coming out of the Big 12 which, to your point, has 10 teams?
Mike Baudendiste…: Yeah. Going to have to go to Oklahoma. They’re due.
Raymond Hawkins: All right. Even with the coaching change?
Mike Baudendiste…: Yeah.
Raymond Hawkins: Steve? Big 12.
Steve Sykes: Voting emotion this time. So who I want to be there versus who I think will be there. I’m with Baylor.
Raymond Hawkins: Baylor. All right. I was going to be the lone wolf taken Baylor, but you got a friend in me, Steve. That’s all I’ll say. Elias?
Elias Ellefsen: The three Amigos. I got Baylor as well.
Raymond Hawkins: Hey, [inaudible 00:26:09] top of the board.
Elias Ellefsen: That first year change for Oklahoma, I think it’s just going to be too much coming from another school. I think Oklahoma State’s going to give them the most run for their money this year, but I got Baylor on top.
Raymond Hawkins: All right. So I’m going Baylor too. Not because I think Texas is going to beat OU, but because I think OU with enough changes with Lincoln leaving town, a lot of talent left town when Lincoln left town. I think AU is a better program, but I think this year they stumble. I’ll take Baylor with the consistency down there in Waco.
Raymond Hawkins: So, all right. Let’s get to the only league that really matters. As much as it pains me to admit that my archival dominates the league. Elias, let’s start with the SCC. Who comes out of the SCC? And I know you coached with Saban at Kent, so if you go with your heart as part of the Saban coaching tree, we understand.
Elias Ellefsen: Yeah. I’m going to keep it in the Kent State blood line. I’m going to have to go with Nick Saban and Alabama. I think Jim [inaudible 00:27:08] rattled the hornets nest this year and I think it’s going to be Alabama.
Raymond Hawkins: Steve?
Steve Sykes: I’m right there with Elias.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. Mike, who do you got coming out of the SCC?
Mike Baudendiste…: I mean you got to go Alabama. I don’t see anybody else.
Raymond Hawkins: Man, this is too easy. Ty?
Ty Miller: Heck I’ll pick the NIL ATM money. Let’s go.
Raymond Hawkins: Give me the Texas A and M?
Ty Miller: Sure, why not.
Raymond Hawkins: Give me [inaudible 00:27:35] Fisher?
Ty Miller: We’re not going to win, but this is a boring podcast if we all say Alabama.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah, if we all say the same thing?
Ty Miller: That’s right. I can go Auburn. Hawk, who you going to pick?
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. Just like the commercial says, this is going to get tens of views, Ty. You don’t want to disappoint the viewers. Kenny, out of the SCC. You and I both SCC west guys. It’s brutal. Give me who you think’s going to win. And then give me who you want to win.
Kenny Nguyen: We have a common enemy here with Nick Saban, right?
Raymond Hawkins: That’s right.
Kenny Nguyen: Nothing more would we love to see that team lose. Obviously I wish my LSU tigers will win, but I don’t think they’re going to. I don’t know if they’re going to turn around in the first year or so with Brian Kelly.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah, Brian Kelly. If I remember right, didn’t he come out of South Louisiana. Where’s he from? What parish did he grow up in?
Kenny Nguyen: If you could tell from his accent-
Raymond Hawkins: Sounded down by the Bayou from the accent if I had to guess. Yeah, that man’s had a lot of [inaudible 00:28:29] in his life. There’s no question. All right. So we got four Alabamas, we got one Texas A and M, so I cannot pick that school from the other side of the state. So I am going to go with the Georgia Bulldogs. Now that being said, that’s only because I can’t pick that school from the other side of the state. But Jimbo Fisher didn’t give him some locker room material, he gave him a season’s worth of locker room material with the way he raised cane. I think that those guys are going to come out with their hair on fire. And the last thing we need from an army of five star players is first for their coach to be pissed off. But I think their coach is pissed off. I wish Jimbo hadn’t said it, I’ll just say that.
Kenny Nguyen: Yeah. Everyone there too, by the way, everyone’s like, come on man.
Raymond Hawkins: Jim, buddy, did you have to stir him up? Come on. All right. We’re going to pay a little bit-
Ty Miller: I got a question on the conference. Arkansas. I’m doing my research and I’m deep into the Butkus award nominees, and I come across James Bumper Pool for Arkansas. Legally changed his name to Bumper.
Raymond Hawkins: Actually change his name to Bumper Pool. That’s right.
Ty Miller: Yeah. And I just think that’s got to strike fear into the hearts of running backs everywhere. Shit, I don’t want go up against Bumper Pool. I get through that gap and then boom, there he is.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah, I got to tell you, I think next year we’re going to have to do a whole show just on the all name team. Everybody’s responsible for showing up with three all name team players, right? But Bumper Pool’s got to make the list.
PART 2 OF 4 ENDS [00:30:04]
Raymond Hawkins: Going up with three all named team players, right? But Bumper Pool’s got to make the list.
Elias Ellefsen: Decoldest.
Raymond Hawkins: That’s another good one. Hey, what’s our wide receiver? Is it Decoldest? Is that right? Decoldest?
Elias Ellefsen: Decoldest Crawford.
Raymond Hawkins: Out of Nebraska. Did you anybody see his NIL deal? Tinny sent it to me. It was awesome. He did a local HVAC contractor in Omaha or in Lincoln. And his name is D-E apostrophe, C-O-L-D-E-S-T. And of course the contractor was always de-coldest vendor in town. It was awesome.
Ty Miller: This NIL era is great.
Elias Ellefsen: It’s got like 6 million views right now.
Ty Miller: This NIL era is great for the players. You guys that played a long time ago had a lot of really impoverished teammates, and the NCAAs, frankly, a criminal organization or racket my view.
Raymond Hawkins: 100%.
Ty Miller: My boy, Ed O’Bannon got the ball rolling at UCLA.
Raymond Hawkins: He started it out, that’s right. That’s rights.
Ty Miller: This isn’t fair.
Raymond Hawkins: Mike, think about this. If they had had NIL when Ty was in school, he’d have quit working 10 years ago. He’d already be retired.
Mike Baudendiste…: I know.
Raymond Hawkins: It’s unbelievable.
Mike Baudendiste…: It’s just kind of weird that there’s backup quarterbacks W2 and more.
Raymond Hawkins: That’s a little bit of a problem. Isn’t it?
Mike Baudendiste…: What’s going on?
Raymond Hawkins: Did you guys see the offensive lineman package deals that got done today? So eight different schools got signed up to do, it was a wings place.
Mike Baudendiste…: Hooters.
Raymond Hawkins: Hooters, that’s it? Hooters signed up five offensive linemen from eight different schools today to do packaged NIL deals for the whole offensive line. You got to love that.
Mike Baudendiste…: Very underrated wings by the way. Very good.
Raymond Hawkins: Look at you. We’ll do a wings show. That’s that’s worthy of a show. We’ll do an all wings, maybe just for the Superbowl. All right. Sounds good. All right. Let’s go to the group of five in honor of Elias’ time in the group of five, we’re going to let him hit lead off. The group of five school that is the most likely to be the fly in the ointment. The most likely to upset the apple cart. What other analogies can I use to sound like a real broadcaster? Who could it be in the group of five?
Elias Ellefsen: I’m going to be a homer. I’m going with the pony express 2.0, the first school to start paying players. Now it’s legal.
Raymond Hawkins: Rhett Lashlee.
Elias Ellefsen: Yeah. He’s back as the head coach. There’s a lot of bad blood there. The way things everybody left this last year. They got Tanner Mordecai as quarterback, Rashee Rice coming back. They got a bunch of transfers. Camar Wheaton from Alabama. They got a couple guys from Texas. They’re going to have a great team. And I see them beating TCU and Maryland this year for their out of conference games.
Raymond Hawkins: And they’re going to throw the ball all over the yard down there. Love it. Love it in Highland Park, Dallas, Texas, in front of 11,000 people. It’s going to be awesome. All right. Steve, who do you got out of the group of five, the most likely to be the fly in the ointment.
Steve Sykes: Depends. Which group of five? You’re speaking about
Raymond Hawkins: Anybody that’s not in the five conferences we just covered. Yeah.
Steve Sykes: Where is Cincinnati these days?
Raymond Hawkins: There you go there. I think you’re onto something there.
Steve Sykes: So I have to go with the Bearcats only because I know last year being the former collegiate athlete myself, even though I was a soccer player, once you get a little bit of taste of success, Cincinnati’s been a lot of fun to watch the last couple of years for me personally.
Raymond Hawkins: I completely agree. Yep.
Ty Miller: They got a great coach, Luke Fickell.
Raymond Hawkins: They do. Yep. Luke knows what he is doing.
Ty Miller: Very good coach.
Raymond Hawkins: All right, Mike. Group of five. We got Cincinnati. We got SMU. And I know you had multiple high performance compute systems working on this question today. Tell me what the analytics say.
Mike Baudendiste…: Well, my computer crashed while I was doing this.
Raymond Hawkins: I can understand. Look into commercial cooling for that, might help in the future.
Mike Baudendiste…: I think I do need a water cooling system. I’m going to throw one out at you that you’re not going to believe. I’m going MAC. The MAC conference is going to upset them.
Raymond Hawkins: You’re just taking the MAC. Just give me the MAC.
Mike Baudendiste…: The whole conference.
Raymond Hawkins: It could be Western Michigan. It could be Northern Iowa. It could be anybody.
Mike Baudendiste…: Odds ae on Toledo. I don’t want to give too much away here. I usually charge for this.
Raymond Hawkins: That’s fair. That’s fair. Are you planning to put your 800 number up for your tout line at the end of the show? You can read it one time.
Mike Baudendiste…: I got to check and see if that’s legal. I don’t the rules. I’m in California now. I don’t know what the rules are.
Raymond Hawkins: That’s fair. The Baudendistel tout line will be up. I think it comes online Friday at five. All right, Miller. We got MAC. We got Cincinnati. We got SMU. Group of five, fly in the ointment.
Ty Miller: Well, look, first, I got to give a shout out to Mike B for just picking the field. That was a strong, strong play.
Raymond Hawkins: Give me the MAC.
Ty Miller: I figure that since I erroneously earlier put Houston into the big 12 slash 14 or 10 or whatever.
Raymond Hawkins: I thought you jumped rails there.
Ty Miller: But I’m such a Houston fan, obviously, that I’m going to go with them.
Raymond Hawkins: You’re going to make this pick as well? Okay.
Ty Miller: There you go. There you go. I’m sticking with the cougars.
Raymond Hawkins: Sticking with the cougars, you don’t care what conference they’re in.
Ty Miller: Phi Slama Jama.
Raymond Hawkins: That’s right. Phi Slama Jama. Hakeem Olajuwon is coming back, playing tight end.
Ty Miller: Drexler.
Raymond Hawkins: You got the cougars. We’re dating ourselves.
Ty Miller: Elias is dropping Craig James references. Unbelievable.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. Kenny has no idea what we’re talking about when we say Phi Slama Jama. All right, Kenny. Group of five.
Kenny Nguyen: That sounds like a great bunch of Hooters wings. Is that what we’re talking about?
Raymond Hawkins: t’s a level of hot, Phi Slama Jama is one below volcano. That’s right.
Kenny Nguyen: You know, Ty, I’m going to agree with you on this one. I think Houston comes back man, 12/two last year. They lost at Texas Tech, but then like the AAC title game, I think Houston’s going to bring it back, man.
Raymond Hawkins: Two Houston picks. All right, guys, everybody grab your pen. Because this is the one. This is your money maker. Take Central Florida as the group of five club to rock everybody’s world. Gus Malzahn, his crazy high school offense has not been figured out down there yet. And he’s going to upset that conference and going to be the best group of five team in 2022.
Ty Miller: Did he get that good transfer? Or did he lose a good transfer quarterback? That Dillon Gabriel guy. Did he bail?
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. Gabriel left.
Ty Miller: Okay. He’s gone?
Raymond Hawkins: Gabriel left. Yeah.
Ty Miller: Whole system is busted, Hawk. I don’t think that’s the money maker.
Raymond Hawkins: You got Central Florida, you heard it here first. All right, we’re moving on. We’re going to get into some players now. We’re going to talk about top defensive players. You guys, if you don’t have three, just give me your top defensive player. Let’s roll through this one. Elias, top defensive player or two or three if you got honorable mentions.
Elias Ellefsen: I got Will Anderson, Jr., the outside linebacker from Alabama. He had 17-1/2 sacks last year, 34-1/2 tackles for a loss. I’m going to throw the big guy from Georgia in there as well, Jalen Carter. He was behind three first-round draft picks, still found his way onto the field. And I’m going to throw a Derick Hall in there as well from Auburn. Make it up his senior year, first-round draft pick. That’s my picks.
Raymond Hawkins: Look at that, defensive linemen out the SEC. I love it. Great picks. Steve, defenders that you think are going to get in the conversation for the Heisman this year.
Steve Sykes: So I was with Elis on Jalen Carter, so I won’t jump on that band wagon too hard. But also I had Will Anderson, Jr., being a Titans fan and having to freak with us for so many years. Anybody that’s 6-4, 240 earns a little bit of respect. And then also Colby Wooden from Auburn. Six-five, 280.
Raymond Hawkins: That’s a big rush end. There’s no question. Look at the Auburn guys, making it out. You guys know where this big podcast is getting paid from. I love it. Good work, good work. All right. Baudendistel, defensive players that stand out to you out there on the West Coast. And I know by the way, that’s when your team doesn’t have the ball, for you and Ty, that’s called defense. I know you guys don’t, yeah.
Mike Baudendiste…: That’s the problem. Hawk. I tried to do homework on this one. I don’t get it. Don’t follow defense. The idea is to outscore the other guy.
Raymond Hawkins: You’re not even sure.
Mike Baudendiste…: It doesn’t really matter, but not really. When I looked it up, the one name that kept coming up over and over is the big dude from Alabama. I think you guys already said it, Anderson. He just kept coming up in every single article I went to.
Raymond Hawkins: Let’s just say now, if Anderson was in the NFL, he’d already be the best defender on whatever NFL team he played on, except for the Rams. That’s the only NFL team he wouldn’t be the best defender on the field. And how in the world he’s still in college to beyond me. All right. Ty, who do you got, defensive player?
Ty Miller: I’m kind of mashing up this category with both names and great players. So Will Anderson seems to be the only Heisman hopeful. So that’s been said plenty of times. I like on the most swagger team an Auburn player. Owen Pappoe.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah.
Ty Miller: Or Pappoe, whatever his name is. He’s a player. And then all seriousness, Bumper Pool is quite a player, but I got to tell you, I like this kid coming out of a North Carolina, Storm Duck. And I think that Storm Duck is a potential NIL transfer pickup Oregon in the off season. So you can see where Dakota made all his money. Storm Duck goes to Eugene. NIL’s flowing. He’s an awesome corner. I mean there’s a lot of synergy here.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. Storm Duck is making the all name team, hands down. It’s not even a contest. All right, Kenny, we’re doing all defensive players. We got a couple of outliers that we got called out. Love it. Love the Owen Pappoe pick. I’m going to drop a quick piece of Auburn knowledge. Three years in a row, Auburn linebackers have led the conference in tackles, three years in a row they didn’t get picked first team SEC. Owen Pappoe will change that stat this year. Led the league in tackles and not picked for first team SEC three years in a row. All three of those linebackers are in the league. Owen Pappoe will follow them. Hurt all last year, didn’t play. He will be the fourth Auburn linebacker to lead the league in tackles. But will make first team SEC. Go ahead, Kenny.
Raymond Hawkins: Here, here. Yeah. That Alabama defense could be phenomenal. And when I think about Saban being angry, which I think Jimbo kicked the bear and shouldn’t have done that, I could see Alabama shutting six or seven teams out this year. All right. Well everybody said Anderson. He was my number one pick. I loved Elias called out Jalen Carter. Jalen Carter I think might be better than the two defensive linemen that got drafted last year and he was just a kid. I think he’s going to blow it up, but I’ll give you the off the board pick, James Williams, the safety out of Miami, I think you could see make some noise in the defensive circles this year. So there’s our defensive players. Let’s shift gears and go to the Heisman. Not particularly, not exclusively an offensive award, but boy, it’s certainly been owned by the offense. Let’s go back around from the top. Elias, who you thinking goes to New York? Give us three Heisman names for New York.
Elias Ellefsen: My Heisman list is Bryce Young, you got CJ Stroud, and I’m going to throw Caleb Williams out of USC in there.
Raymond Hawkins: There you go.
Elias Ellefsen: And Addison from PIT, I think he’s going to get some weapons and he’s my dark horse for the Heisman race.
Raymond Hawkins: I love that pick with Lincoln Riley, throwing the ball around the yard too, down there. That’s a good one. All right, Steve, Heisman picks, guys that go to New York.
Steve Sykes: Kind of repeat CJ, Bryce Young and Will Anderson.
Raymond Hawkins: All right.
Steve Sykes: Got to have got to have somebody on the defense there.
Raymond Hawkins: I like that. Kenny? Yeah. Caleb Williams. Yeah. I think Caleb Williams could put up huge numbers this year. Ty, who you got?
Ty Miller: Look, the guys who go to New York are always the signal callers from your powerhouse programs that are just putting up stupid video game numbers, right? So you can’t go against Stroud or Bryce Young. I’ll give you a dark horse candidate. Specifically, I referenced the ridiculously high school JB level schedule that the UCLA Bruins are going to play. Look for either, I’m going to put two names in the hat, either Dorian Thompson-Robinson, or Zach Charbonnet.
Raymond Hawkins: Your tailback.
Ty Miller: to put up enormous numbers in the first three or four games of this year, and they’re going to get a bunch of hype. And then most of my UCLA last 20 years, it will fizzle. So look for the Bruin dark horses.
Raymond Hawkins: I like it.
Ty Miller: I think the hardware goes to Stroud or Young, honestly.
Raymond Hawkins: All right. My trip to New York, it’s going to sound similar. I think Anderson makes the trip. I don’t think he wins. I think Stroud makes the trip. I think he probably wins, but my dark horse to make the trip, because he’s going to have video game numbers playing for Josh Heupel at Tennessee is Hendon Hooker. I think he ends up with massive numbers playing quarterback at Tennessee. They play nobody. They have two football games this year, and then they have 10 easy games. I think he could score 50 seven or eight times this year playing with Heupel’s offense. So his numbers are going to be ungodly. So Hendon Hooker, my dark horse to go to New York.
Mike Baudendiste…: So I’d like to go back to Ty again if I could, Raymond. I want to explain that logic of UCLA playing [inaudible 00:44:57]
Ty Miller: The dream scenario for UCLA is they go 10 and two.
PART 3 OF 4 ENDS [00:45:04]
Ty Miller: So, the dream scenario for UCLA is they go 10 and 2, Chip Kelly leaves, they get a real coach, and can get ready for the Big 10.
Raymond Hawkins: There you go. Chip Kelly gets hired away. Steve, what do you got?
Steve Sykes: No, I was just going to ask a question, since we are here talking business. If Dakota just goes and wins the Heisman what’s that return on investment?
Raymond Hawkins: Oh, no kidding. That’s a good one. You got to know that Dakota’s deal with a local HVAC was cheap, right? 10 grand, something like that. He ends up going to New York, holy cow, how about that ROI? Somebody in marketing in Lincoln HVAC is going to get a raise, I’ll say that.
Steve Sykes: Going to get a promotion.
Raymond Hawkins: All right, this next category you’re going to have really had to have done your homework. We’re getting right down to it, we’re going to go through most overrated, the three worst teams in the country, and then we’re going to get into the college football playoff, that’s how we’re going to wrap this thing up. So, there’s 131 teams in Division 1 Football, I want you to give me your bottom three dogs, the worst teams in Division 1 Football, and give me color on why. Ty, we’ll start with you, your three worst teams in Division 1?
Ty Miller: Yeah. And this bleeds into the over 80 category as well. I’m going to go with USC, USC and USC. I know that one of our 10 potential viewers, maybe my buddy, Dave Bell, who’s just joining Stack as senior vice president of construction, and he’s a loyal Trojan.
Raymond Hawkins: He doesn’t happen to be a Trojan, does he?
Ty Miller: And he wore his SC hat over the weekend at our charity event and ticked me off. So, the Trojans are all going down. Caleb is over hyped, he’s no good, and Lincoln Riley is a fluke. There you go.
Raymond Hawkins: There you go, Ty Miller with 131, 130 and number 129, all the USC Trojans across the board. All right, Baudendistel, so give us your three worst clubs in D1 Football.
Mike Baudendiste…: All right. The reason I picked them is because I honestly did not know their mascot when I looked it up, I had to look it up.
Raymond Hawkins: Hold on. So, let’s test the crew, give us the school, we’ll see if any of us know the mascot.
Mike Baudendiste…: First one is Charlotte.
Raymond Hawkins: Hold on, Charlotte. Anybody know this?
Mike Baudendiste…: Conference USA.
Raymond Hawkins: Charlotte, they play Division 1 Football?
Mike Baudendiste…: They do. They rank last in the Conference USA.
Raymond Hawkins: I’m just going to guess the Charlotte Knights, I have no idea. It’s not the Knights, not the Hornets. Anybody got a guess?
Steve Sykes: No clue.
Mike Baudendiste…: They’re the 49ers.
Raymond Hawkins: Oh, wait. The 49ers.
Mike Baudendiste…: Yes. The 49ers. Very nice.
Raymond Hawkins: Ah, came to me.
Mike Baudendiste…: I think you’re Googling back there in the background, Hawk.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah, I wish I was that fast.
Mike Baudendiste…: All right. My second team, we’re going to get on the line, James Madison.
Raymond Hawkins: Are they D1?
Mike Baudendiste…: Oh, yeah.
Steve Sykes: JMU. Okay.
Raymond Hawkins: I thought JMU was playing in the Championship subdivision?
Mike Baudendiste…: Ranked a 120th.
Raymond Hawkins: Oh, my goodness. That’s a fair pick.
Mike Baudendiste…: Anybody know the mascot?
Raymond Hawkins: James Madison Patriots?
Mike Baudendiste…: Nope. It’s the Dukes.
Raymond Hawkins: The Dukes? I’m over for two.
Mike Baudendiste…: And my last pick, and you should know this one, so Raymond you have to stay out of this one, Akron.
Raymond Hawkins: Oh, yeah. I gotcha.
Steve Sykes: The Zips.
Mike Baudendiste…: There you go.
Steve Sykes: Let’s go.
Mike Baudendiste…: Very nice.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah, there you go. All right, let’s go Zips. All right. Steve, your bottom three, so remember we’re college football, so you can’t talk about any of the Titans opponents.
Steve Sykes: Oh, well then I have to redo my list.
Raymond Hawkins: Redo your list. Okay. We’ll give you a minute, we’ll come back to you.
Steve Sykes: No, I was going to say Akron as well because it’s the only school that I could think of near Kentucky that-
Raymond Hawkins: Is terrible.
Steve Sykes: … I thought was Division 1, but I wasn’t sure if they still had a football team.
Raymond Hawkins: The Zips make it.
Steve Sykes: I only had two, so I started thinking about large schools that I think are overrated, so I was with Kenny on that one, in Duke.
Raymond Hawkins: Notre Dame, excuse me, sorry.
Steve Sykes: Only because being from Kentucky, we like to see them lose at basketball all the time, so I have to pick on their football team.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. Sorry, give us those again. Kentucky?
Steve Sykes: No, Akron and Duke.
Raymond Hawkins: Duke? Okay. Gotcha. Duke’s terrible. All right. Elias, give us your bottom three worst teams in Division 1 Football.
Elias Ellefsen: In no particular order, I got UMass, Yukon and New Mexico State.
Raymond Hawkins: No way, dude. That’s exactly my three, word for word Yukon, UMass, New Mexico State. I picked up 131, 131 29. And I had an honorable mention list, because they’re so terrible I had Akron make my honorable mention, FIU, make my honorable mention and Louisiana- Monroe. Those are all bad. Between those six clubs we’ll come back, we’ll check this recording in December, we’re going to come back. Those six clubs won’t win 12 football games between them. FIU, Akron, Louisiana-Monroe, my honorable mentions, my absolute dogs, Yukon, UMass, and New Mexico State. I think the bottom three, they might not win three football games between.
Mike Baudendiste…: Wow, is that a prop bet?
Raymond Hawkins: I’ve got it up on RHawkbets.com. You can get three to one on that.
Mike Baudendiste…: I tried, but my company’s blocking all gambling websites, which made this very difficult chore today, when you’re trying to look up odds.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah, some of your homework was tough?
Mike Baudendiste…: Yeah, it was a little bit difficult.
Raymond Hawkins: You got to figure out how to punch through, you got to do a tunnel under the firewall.
Mike Baudendiste…: I don’t understand all that, that’s way over my head.
Raymond Hawkins: You got to get the right port to get out on that.
Mike Baudendiste…: VPN, something.
Raymond Hawkins: Before we get into the playoffs, this is not the same category, but the most overrated high profile club in the country. I think Ty’s already answered, I think he’s not a USC fan, but we’ll go back to Ty, most overrated program in D one football? I’m dating myself, calling it D1, aren’t I, Baudendistel?
Mike Baudendiste…: Yes.
Ty Miller: Over hyped for this year, but not for next year, I do believe Lincoln Riley and Caleb Williams are going to be very potent at USC. Remember that the S in USC has a line down the middle. In the era of NIL they’re going to be paying big time, they’re going to be in very formidable shape. But I think they’re a little over hyped this year, just on the Riley, Caleb Williams nexus. And so, that’s kind of where I am, I couldn’t get to three because my other computer wasn’t able to look at the Google, Mike.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah, definitely. The Trojans make the list. Baudendistel, who you got for most overrated, heading in to 2022?
Mike Baudendiste…: Hate to say this, but Notre Dame’s in the top 10 every single year, always.
Raymond Hawkins: Amen.
Mike Baudendiste…: I don’t get it.
Raymond Hawkins: Number five, man.
Mike Baudendiste…: Michigan’s the same way, like it’s mandatory to put those two in the top 10 every year.
Raymond Hawkins: I don’t understand it. So, you’re going to give them both? Okay.
Mike Baudendiste…: Oh, yeah.
Raymond Hawkins: Notre Dame and Michigan. Kenny?
Kenny Nguyen: A&M. I think A&M is overrated.
Raymond Hawkins: A&M? Whoa, that’s a good pick. All right. That’s said like a true SCC West guy, I like it.
Kenny Nguyen: With a bitter hate.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. So here’s the thing, Kenny, I’ve now heard for 10 years, 11 years, every year I’ve heard how they’re going to dominate the SCC and they have yet to even win the division, so I think that’s a fair pick. All right, Steve, we know you’re not taking Notre Dame, who is your most overrated pick for 2022?
Steve Sykes: I would say Michigan as well.
Raymond Hawkins: Michigan. All right. Elias, who do you got most overrated program headed into 2022?
Elias Ellefsen: It’s Texas, it’s the same thing every year, they always flop.
Raymond Hawkins: Like all of Texas? I’m just joking. Texas football in general. Well, we know he’s on the pony, so he doesn’t hate Texas football. All right. So, I like the USC pick, I like the Aggie pick, I love the Michigan and Notre Dame. I just think you could start every year with a show and say, look, Notre Dame and Michigan are overrated. I think you could start every year right there, but I’m going to have to give Texas the nod. Yes, I live in Dallas and yes, I hear, “Sarkisian? Why are you so crazy about Sarkisian?” And I’m sorry, just newsflash-
Ty Miller: He’s sober now.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. Well, just one quick newsflash, Manning is a high school senior. Talking to me about Arch Manning doesn’t do anything for your club this year. Texas will lose five football games and they’re preseason five or six? It’s ridiculous. All right. We got that off our chest. All right. College football playoffs, you get four teams. We want your four teams and your ultimate year champ. Elias we’ll start with you, give us the four that are getting in and who’s winning it all?
Elias Ellefsen: Seen these four before. I got Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia. I got Ohio State winning it all this year.
Raymond Hawkins: Wow. Buckeye’s winning it all. That’s a CJ. Stroud vote right there. All right, Steve, give us your four and who’s winning it all?
Steve Sykes: I have the same as Elias, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson. But I think they just piss off Alabama too much and I think they’re going to probably [inaudible 00:54:34] whoever gets in their way.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. They’re going to be angry. All right. Kenny?
Kenny Nguyen: Same. Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, and Clemson. I think Georgia’s going to take it.
Raymond Hawkins: You think Georgia wins it again?
Kenny Nguyen: I think Georgia’s going to take it.
Raymond Hawkins: Wow. Okay. That’s an upset pick. Mike?
Mike Baudendiste…: I’m going to pick the three obvious, Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia. And I’m going to throw Utah in there as the wildcard.
Raymond Hawkins: There you go.
Mike Baudendiste…: They’re going to throw a bone out here.
Raymond Hawkins: Oh, I see. You see the Miller reaction, there’s a West Coast guy.
Mike Baudendiste…: They’re throwing a bone.
Ty Miller: East Coast. Let’s go.
Raymond Hawkins: Let’s go West Side. All right.
Mike Baudendiste…: I’m not saying they going to win, I’m saying they’re going to get blown out.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. They are going to get beat by four touchdowns in the first round, but they’re going to make it.
Mike Baudendiste…: Yeah, that’s going to hopefully keep the pack 12 together with all that bull money but the Buckeyes win.
Raymond Hawkins: The Buckeyes win it. All right. Two Alabama’s, two Ohio States. Ty?
Ty Miller: Yeah. I’m actually with Mike, although I’ll tell you that Utah gets beat by 40 in the semifinal.
Raymond Hawkins: Ty’s saying 28, you’re saying 40. Yeah. They’re getting beat by a bunch.
Ty Miller: Right now.
Raymond Hawkins: Yeah. They’re playing either Georgia, Alabama and they’re getting beat by a bunch.
Ty Miller: Yeah. And I’m going to tell you that I like the Buckeyes.
Raymond Hawkins: Wow.
Ty Miller: So look, Big 10, Conference champions, we talked about realignment to open the show, I’m coming back around, rooting for my future Conference. Anything to break the hammer lock of the SCC on the title game is good for college football.
Raymond Hawkins: Yep. All right. I love it all. So, we got one Georgia, two Alabama’s, two Ohio States, right? Do I have that right? Kenny got Georgia. Steve and you got Alabama, elias, you got Alabama. Mike and Ty you both got Ohio State. So, we got three Ohio states, one Alabama? Wow. All right.
Raymond Hawkins: I’m with you, I did not put Clemson in the group because I think Clemson’s struggling from a trajectory perspective on the offensive side of the football. I think they lose two football games, I don’t think they get in. Alabama, Ohio State get there in cruise control mode. Georgia loses to Alabama in the SCC championship game and still gets in. My wild card pick, Oklahoma because you look at their schedule, they only have two football games, all they got to do is win one of the two and they’ll make the playoffs. Oklahoma gets in, they get beat by 35 in the semi- final game, but they get in the playoff. They unfortunately get lined up as the number four club having to play Alabama. Alabama’s playing their second stringers by halfway through the third quarter, beats them by 35, Alabama plays angry, shuts out seven football teams and wins the national championship.
Kenny Nguyen: Wow. This is the year where they really pissed off Saban.
Raymond Hawkins: And Nick retires.
Kenny Nguyen: Yeah, and then he retires.
Raymond Hawkins: Nick retires. There’s a hot take. Nick retires because he doesn’t want this NIL BS, he doesn’t want to deal with it, he likes walking into living rooms and going, “Hey, do you want to play with the best program in the country?” And this whole NIL thing is changing everything. I think he wins it all, wins it in fine fashion, goes 14 and 0, and hangs him up with seven or eight shutouts for the year.
Kenny Nguyen: Hmm.
Raymond Hawkins: All right guys. That’s your college football preview for 2022. If there’s anything us guys in the data center business know about, it’s college football. I think that’s clearly evidenced by the brilliant analysis of this crew. Just remember that when you or your kids or your wife are on their phone, all that’s happening in one of our buildings, we power digital transformation. And if you don’t know about that, trust me, Kenny will help you find out about it because he gets our message out there.
Raymond Hawkins: Guys, I appreciate everybody getting on and having fun with us and talking football. My favorite time of the year, I love when we head into football season, only because it helps me get over the fact that my Braves are going to lose to Ty’s Dodgers this time of year, and I can focus on football. Guys, thank you so much. Have a great 2022.
