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Sunday Morning Quarterback: Episode 1
Transcript
00:00 Welcome to Sunday Morning Quarterback with Jay Stockwell and Bob Frady.
00:07 All right.
00:08 So we're back.
00:09 Uncle Bob, UB, we'll call you UB.
00:11 Let's talk about the agenda today.
00:12 So I'll talk a little bit about who we are.
00:15 People need to know that.
00:16 They don't know who we are, but there's a reason we're here and it's pretty specific.
00:21 Number two, I'm going to start then in the preseason episode with Collin Coward came
00:26 out and said Nebraska will never be good 10 days ago.
00:28 I completely disagree with that and I have a thesis as to why that is a falsity.
00:33 But once I make that thesis, I want to help everyone manage expectations for this year
00:40 because I think the worst thing we can do as Nebraska fans, we've been doing it for
00:43 20 years, is get out and get over our skis with enthusiasm, even though I love everything
00:48 I'm seeing from Matt Ruhle.
00:49 Okay, you need to stop right there, Stockwell.
00:52 You need to stop right there.
00:54 Everyone, get over your ski tips.
00:55 It's time.
00:56 We've been this excited since Scott Frost became coach.
00:59 Let's go.
01:00 So I'm going to elicit my thesis, coach everyone to manage expectations.
01:07 Bob has a different point of view, but then Bob's going to talk conference realignment
01:12 and we'll both talk about the future conference schedule, which is going to be amazing.
01:18 Then I'll go into recruiting summary.
01:20 We're going to talk about Nebraska running the ball and then we're going to get into
01:23 predictions.
01:24 But this podcast is sponsored by David Max.
01:28 Everyone from Nebraska has been touched by David Max.
01:30 He is the founder of huskermax.com.
01:33 He's going to be our season long sponsor and our first guest today.
01:36 So really excited to have David on here in about 20 minutes.
01:40 Okay, Stockwell, you should change that sentence to everyone has been touched by David Max
01:44 at work because I'm pretty sure that David Max reaching out and touching everybody is
01:49 not necessarily welcome paid.
01:51 You know what you need?
01:53 You need some sensitivity and bias training, I think.
01:55 I think you should talk to your HR folks and say, "Hey, listen, I need some training here."
02:00 Especially during COVID, right?
02:01 But we're out of COVID.
02:03 Back to who we are.
02:04 So the first point of the agenda.
02:05 And by the way, any questions about the agenda, Uncle Bob?
02:08 Any of you?
02:09 You be.
02:10 Listen, I'm just following along.
02:12 So I want to get to the predictions first.
02:15 I can't wait for the predictions.
02:16 I'm ready.
02:17 But until then, we'll go through the rest of the agenda.
02:20 All right.
02:21 So first, who are we?
02:23 So Bob and I, 17 years ago, did a podcast called Man Island Radio, 70 episodes.
02:28 It's still available on iTunes.
02:31 And we concluded at that point that there was no future in podcasting.
02:35 And so-
02:36 It's real smart.
02:37 I'm smart.
02:39 And despite that inability to predict the future, we managed to go off and both have
02:43 somewhat successful business careers.
02:46 And at the time, we were both doing standup comedy because we were both going through
02:50 a divorce and the comedy thing was just an outlet for me and it was awesome.
02:54 That's how I met Bob.
02:55 Go ahead, Bob.
02:56 I want you to think about something though with that statement.
02:59 When you think about five tool athletes, there aren't very many five tool athletes.
03:04 People say that they are, but they're not.
03:06 People give you really good at one thing and kind of stink at the other.
03:10 No, five tools, forget about it.
03:12 There's no five tool athletes.
03:14 Everybody stinks at something.
03:15 Ours isn't predicting the future of podcasts.
03:17 So there we go.
03:20 Let's just be clear about something relative to being comedians.
03:23 There's only one comedian on this podcast that ever opened on the weekend.
03:27 Ever opened on the weekend.
03:30 Hey, listen, only one of us was ready.
03:32 And it wasn't the guy who did it.
03:37 Because I was there and boy, I'm still scarred from that.
03:42 So were-
03:43 Because I wrote most of it, I feel bad.
03:44 I'm like, "You did that set.
03:46 I wrote most of it."
03:47 It's like, "These jokes are really funny.
03:49 Why are people laughing?"
03:50 I'm like, "That's because maybe the jokes aren't that funny."
03:53 Plus I gave Robert Hartman a discount on some work I was doing for him as a marketing firm.
03:57 But anyway, do that as you may.
04:00 So what else qualifies us?
04:01 Well, really nothing.
04:02 We are fans.
04:03 Bob hasn't become a fan.
04:06 I'm a lifelong Nebraska guy.
04:09 But the other thing is-
04:10 Or you're raised in?
04:11 Yeah, yeah.
04:12 Hardington, Cedar County, County 13, Cedar County, 1,857 people.
04:16 Home of Russ Hochstein, probably puts us on the map from a Nebraska football standpoint.
04:22 Really fun place to grow up.
04:23 We'll talk more about Hardington in a future episode.
04:26 My wife doesn't really like it though, ever since we went there and found out that Casey's
04:29 General Store was the number one rated restaurant on TripAdvisor.
04:31 So-
04:32 Hey, it's good.
04:33 It's good.
04:34 You're hungry.
04:35 Casey's is right there.
04:36 Casey's always impresses me.
04:37 I love Casey's.
04:38 Slim Jims, sunflower seeds, that's all you need.
04:39 But Bob and I are also donors at Nebraska.
04:40 If you're not a donor yet, I encourage it because it is fun.
04:50 These people have a lot of resources at their fingertips to entertain donors.
04:55 And boy oh boy, do you get some great access.
04:56 And it's just a tremendous amount of fun to be a part of.
04:59 And the money's going to good things.
05:01 So I highly, highly encourage any listeners of means to get involved in the program at
05:06 Nebraska.
05:07 We can introduce you if you need be.
05:09 We are not experts, but boy are we loaded with opinion.
05:13 So that's the background.
05:15 That's anything else to add to that, Bob?
05:17 No, we're just two old guys talking about college football.
05:20 Talk about, I think Glory Days should be our theme song.
05:23 "And it was best you by Glory Days."
05:26 Let's talk about it.
05:27 Let's have a podcast about college football, about 19 year olds.
05:31 Bob Frady making big-
05:32 I have a 19 year old.
05:33 Bob Frady making big contributions already.
05:35 All right.
05:36 So moving on from who are we?
05:39 So the other day I was listening to, I've watched The Hurt all the time.
05:42 I'm a big fan of Colin Cowart.
05:44 But I was just sitting there and he was talking about the conference expansion and he just
05:49 blurted out without really thinking about it, "Nebraska will never be good again."
05:53 And I beg to differ.
05:55 And here's the reason why.
05:58 I would love to see this analysis done and put Nebraska leadership up against any other
06:06 leadership in the United States for all Power Five conferences.
06:09 Let me just kind of go down the list.
06:12 First of all, Tom Osborne is still alive, 86 years old.
06:15 Listen to this.
06:16 255, 49, and 3, 15 conference championships, three national championships.
06:22 He was a member of the Congress of the United States.
06:26 Just an incredible run.
06:27 And unfortunately for all of us that grew up with that, we've all been trying to relive
06:32 that for the last 20 years and really got excited when Scott Frost came in.
06:37 We're not going to go into bashing Scott Frost, but Tom Osborne really set the standard nationally
06:43 as one of the all-time greats, Hall of Fame coach.
06:45 Okay.
06:46 Still alive, still involved.
06:48 Matt Rule looks up to him.
06:49 Number two, Ted Carter, the president of the university system.
06:53 This guy literally, so I'm a retired Naval officer.
06:56 I taught at the Naval Academy.
06:57 He was superintendent at the Naval Academy.
06:58 He's a top gun graduate.
07:00 125 combat mission, 2,000 carrier landings on 19 aircraft carriers.
07:06 They just don't hand the superintendent of the Naval Academy job to anybody.
07:10 He's the president of the Nebraska system.
07:12 This was in part what helped attract Matt Rule to Nebraska because when Rule was coach
07:17 of Temple, he played Navy when Ted Carter was superintendent.
07:23 So you got the combination of Tom Osborne and Ted Carter both having a tremendous amount
07:28 of influence.
07:29 And then I think we have the best athletic director in the Big Ten.
07:32 And I mean, how many guys are come out of the ... He's a player, a Ditt-Butkus Award
07:39 winner, jacked Lambert Trophy Consensus All-American 1993 as his jersey retired.
07:45 And then he had 12 years of experience in the athletic director role at UNO.
07:50 And I think the best evidence I can present to you of how skilled he is, is the hiring
07:54 of Matt Rule.
07:55 I think Rule is absolutely perfect.
07:59 And I think Matt Rule is ... I don't think he's going to hop again like he did at Baylor
08:03 to the pros.
08:04 He's been to the pros.
08:05 That didn't go so well.
08:06 He's now back in college where he's comfortable.
08:08 He's a rebuilder.
08:09 He's going to rebuild.
08:12 So I think Matt Rule has the chance to become Tom Osborne great over time.
08:17 And I think Trev Alberts as his boss is going to stick with him and give him the time to
08:22 rebuild.
08:23 And in business, where Bob and I've spent the majority of our time the last 20 years,
08:29 leadership matters.
08:30 Leadership is everything.
08:31 And I think we've got the best leadership maybe in the nation.
08:35 And I'd love to see that analysis.
08:37 I haven't obviously done it even for the Big Ten, let alone nationally.
08:41 But I just think we've got a really good situation here.
08:44 Plus, we have facilities that are absolutely second to none, especially with the Go Big
08:50 Project that's opening this year.
08:53 Bob, any comments on that?
08:56 That is why, by the way, that is why Colin Cowart is wrong.
08:59 And I'm going to make sure he gets this clip and he hears my rationale.
09:03 It may take some years.
09:04 It's going to take some years probably.
09:06 But I think we've got the ability to make that happen.
09:09 What are your thoughts, Bob?
09:11 Here's the thing.
09:12 All the leadership structures die.
09:13 It comes down to winning.
09:15 If you have a good coach and you win, you'll become relevant again.
09:17 It's as simple as that.
09:19 Alabama, not very good between the Bear Bryant years and the ... I had some down years, I
09:25 should say, in Nick Saban coming to town.
09:27 Nick Saban turned them into a machine.
09:29 Because he's a great coach and great coaches who develop players who go to the pros, become
09:34 better recruiters because they can say, "Hey, you want to go pro?
09:37 Come with me."
09:38 Now, Matt Rule sent a few people to the pros.
09:40 He's doing pretty good with that.
09:42 So if he gets the right kids, he puts them in the right system, coaches them up well
09:46 enough, anybody can be relevant again.
09:48 But when you have someone with the facilities of Nebraska, then you've got just as much
09:54 of a shot as anybody else at becoming relevant.
09:57 Now, yeah, there aren't as many 300-pounders walking around the streets of Nebraska as
10:02 there are in some places with more population.
10:04 But that doesn't matter a whole hill of beans.
10:07 What's the kid from Bryce Young?
10:10 He's from California.
10:12 Goes to Alabama because he gets the best shot at going to the pros.
10:16 So that's the whole deal.
10:18 Anybody can become relevant if you can get guys to the major leagues.
10:22 And he's got just as good a shot.
10:25 Since you bring it up, let's talk recruiting right now.
10:29 He finished in the 2024 class I'm talking right now, out of the gates, fifth in the
10:35 Big 10, behind the biggest programs, and 15th overall for 2024.
10:42 So the guy can recruit.
10:44 He's doing some smart things in Texas with camps.
10:47 He's recruiting the state.
10:48 And he's just got relationships all over the place because of the previous coaching jobs
10:52 he's had in the geographic.
10:54 He's down in Texas for a long time, out on the East Coast.
10:57 So this guy can recruit.
10:59 His staff can recruit.
11:01 So that kind of brings me back to managing expectations for this year.
11:06 I think, and we'll get into predictions here in a minute, but I think six and six in a
11:10 bowl game would be a huge first step for Matt Ruhle.
11:14 Remember, we did not go to a bowl game in the entire Scott Frost era.
11:20 So and here's why I think this would be very good.
11:24 I'd listened to a lot of the Husker podcast too that I really like, by the way.
11:28 Nick Ba, B-A-H-E, and Husker Doc, Rob Zadica, and I think his name is Travis Justice, I
11:37 think is the other guy.
11:39 Nick Ba pointed something out that I think is really good.
11:42 You know a lot about fantasy football.
11:43 You've probably heard of Pro Football Focus, right Bob?
11:46 Oh, sure.
11:47 Yep.
11:48 Yeah.
11:49 So they did their preseason for the Power Five Conference for the preseason all conference
11:55 teams, did three teams for the Big Ten.
11:58 So this group analyzes talent for fantasy football, knows a lot about who's going to
12:04 the pros and not.
12:05 There's not one Nebraska player on any of the preseason Pro Football Focus teams.
12:11 This is what Nick Ba put out.
12:13 Not one Nebraska player on three teams.
12:17 So that's often.
12:18 To which I say, what?
12:19 Big freaking deal.
12:20 People don't even know what they're having for lunch tomorrow and they're going to try
12:27 to tell you who's going to the pros?
12:28 Like come on.
12:29 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
12:30 I don't think that's going to be the way it ends up because I think Matt Rule and team
12:35 are going to have the opportunity to coach them.
12:37 But it just is one little data point that I think is really important to look at as
12:43 Matt Rule comes in.
12:44 So he's been dealt a hand.
12:46 We don't know how good that hand is, but I think he's well known as a developer.
12:52 And from what I could tell, he's listening to Osborne in terms of the way he organizes
12:56 his practices.
12:57 It's way different than Scott Frost.
13:00 Much more activity, much more reps for all groups.
13:02 People are going to develop in that program.
13:04 So really excited about it.
13:06 Go ahead.
13:07 I think the previous coach should be like Voldemort.
13:09 Just don't say his name.
13:10 Or like Beetlejuice.
13:11 If you say his name three times, he's just going to show up on the podcast.
13:15 Don't say it.
13:16 We'll just call him the former coach and we wish him the best.
13:19 That's it.
13:20 He's out.
13:21 He's done.
13:22 Stop giving him so much heat.
13:23 Just leave him alone.
13:24 He's out.
13:25 The other big concern I have, and this may be related to why they're talking about running
13:29 the ball.
13:30 First of all, this Jeff Sims is a beast.
13:32 The guy is six foot four, around 200 pounds, physical specimen.
13:39 But in 25 games at Georgia Tech, according to sportsreference.com, he had 23 interceptions.
13:46 And according to BTN, which I watched their trip to Lincoln for camp, that is the most
13:53 of any active FBS quarterback.
13:55 Most turnovers.
13:56 Now, again, it's going to be under Matt Rule.
13:59 They're obviously aware of this problem.
14:01 They're going to be coached very well.
14:03 And he's got a stable of running backs to hand the ball off to.
14:06 And then I think he can run a couple of times a quarter.
14:08 So we'll see how that goes.
14:11 But that's a big concern.
14:12 So that could cost us some games.
14:15 And we all saw how the turnover bug bit us in the context of the Scott Frost years.
14:22 Oops, there I am again, Mr. Voldemort.
14:24 Beetlejuice.
14:25 So those are my ... The talent level and the level of turnovers coming in for incoming
14:32 quarterback are concerning.
14:35 So that's why I think six and six is potentially a very good outcome for this year and a bowl
14:41 game.
14:42 You know what?
14:43 You're just lying to yourself because you're afraid to be optimistic.
14:48 I've been ... Bob.
14:50 What's wrong with you, Stockwell?
14:51 Was this like some sales thing?
14:53 You know, we're only going to sell $2 worth of our product next year.
14:57 And you know you're going to sell like 20.
14:59 It's like, "It's just two.
15:01 We're young.
15:02 We haven't been coached up."
15:03 It's like, "Come on.
15:04 Have some faith."
15:06 It's the art of low expectations, right?
15:08 No.
15:09 You have to have high expectations.
15:10 That way, if you fall short, then you still do pretty good.
15:14 All right.
15:15 All right.
15:16 Six and six in a bowl game.
15:17 Yeah.
15:18 It's like the Bucky Beaver Bowl or whatever.
15:22 Whatever is crazy name.
15:23 The roof condition bowl or some weird ... The Alka-Seltzer Bowl.
15:31 I don't even know what the bowl names are anymore.
15:33 All these crazy names come in and go out.
15:35 You don't want to go to that bowl.
15:36 You want to go to a good bowl.
15:38 Six and six would be a huge step forward.
15:40 That's all I'm saying.
15:41 We'll get there when we get to the projection.
15:44 All right.
15:46 Also, Bob, some pretty big news in conference realignment.
15:50 This was assigned to you in the pre-podcast planning.
15:54 Talk to me.
15:55 What do you-
15:56 I hate it.
15:57 I hate it.
15:58 I hate it.
15:59 You hate it?
16:00 With the heat of a thousand suns.
16:01 I hate it.
16:02 You know how hard it is to get to Lincoln?
16:03 You know how hard it is to get to Lincoln or for Lincoln people to get anywhere else?
16:06 Yeah.
16:07 There's not even a nonstop to LA right now.
16:09 Then you're going to try to put 3,000 people on it, going to LA for a weekend.
16:15 It's a terrible idea.
16:18 Nebraskans will go anywhere for any-
16:21 Here's the thing.
16:22 I'm not concerned.
16:23 Listen, I'm not concerned about the football team.
16:25 They get a charter jet.
16:26 They just fly here.
16:27 They fly there everywhere they go.
16:29 There's a couple of things.
16:31 It's the non-football sports that really are going to suffer.
16:36 If you play field hockey and you have to go to Rutgers and then take all your exams and
16:42 go, there are no pros, maybe there's some, but there's no big money payday for those
16:46 athletes.
16:47 They're the ones who get hosed in this whole thing.
16:50 It's just a big money grab.
16:52 Where's the regional ... Who would you rather face?
16:55 USC or Oklahoma every year.
16:58 It's like, you want to face Oklahoma.
17:00 There's a regional rivalry there.
17:01 You want to face Texas.
17:02 You want to face the old Big Eight opponent.
17:05 There's a reason-
17:08 All those are going to be maintained, Bob.
17:10 Here's the thing.
17:12 This is where I agree with Colin Cowher.
17:13 This is what I like, one of the segments he does where Colin was right, where Colin was
17:17 wrong.
17:18 What it's going to create is more big games, and that I absolutely love.
17:22 Think about the Nebraska UCLA, Nebraska USC, Nebraska Washington.
17:28 This is going to be Oregon.
17:29 This is going to be fun games on top of everything that's already-
17:34 Think about Rutgers versus Maryland.
17:36 Think about Penn State versus Slippery Rock, because you're going to get beat up in the
17:45 division.
17:46 You're going to beat the hell out of each other.
17:50 If they expand the qualification for a football playoff, then that makes sense.
17:54 But otherwise, it's just dumb.
17:57 It makes sense economically, but that's the only way that it makes sense.
18:00 When you make decisions just for money, you will come to regret those at some point.
18:06 This is a money grab.
18:08 You know what?
18:09 God bless them.
18:10 I hope it works out.
18:11 I don't think it will.
18:13 Here's the other thing.
18:14 One of the reasons-
18:15 Why don't you just shut up?
18:16 Why won't it work?
18:17 Because how many times has Nick Saban, Alabama team, played in the Pacific time zone since
18:24 1991?
18:25 I don't know.
18:26 That would be zero.
18:28 They don't travel, because all that travel adds up on a body.
18:33 You and I travel for a living, and you know you come home after a three-day trip, you're
18:37 exhausted.
18:38 Now you have to do that eight times in 24 weeks?
18:42 It's like, holy cow.
18:44 The physical toll that it will take on these athletes is not being accounted for.
18:49 It is enormous, and it will cost them, especially the ones that have to fly east to west, the
18:55 ones that stay in the middle.
18:56 What I think will happen long-term is there'll be enough teams for three divisions, where
19:00 you'll have a western, central, and eastern division, and you pick two from each of the
19:06 other divisions, and off you go.
19:10 That's the only way that it works for me long-term.
19:12 I don't see it working out short-term from a health of the athlete standpoint, and from
19:18 the fact that ... Listen, one of the reasons why the Pac-10 couldn't put anybody in the
19:22 playoffs is because they beat the hell out of each other, and they travel a lot.
19:25 It's far.
19:26 From Oregon to LA, that's far.
19:30 Alabama to Georgia is a bus ride.
19:33 It's not far.
19:34 Alabama to Auburn, I think you could walk between the two if you really wanted to.
19:41 The SEC has a built-in advantage in that you have a lot of schools close together, and
19:49 a lot of rivalries already built up.
19:52 Now, trying to replicate that artificially across the country, it's a recipe for failure.
19:59 This only plays into the SEC's hands even more, because they can just focus on keeping
20:04 concentrated.
20:05 They're not going after Boston College and Penn.
20:08 They're not going after Oregon State and Washington State, or Cal, and none of those.
20:14 They're not going after them because they know the secret, and the secret is you keep
20:18 the geographic footprint as small as possible to limit the amount of damage that happens
20:22 from travel.
20:24 That's how they end up so fresh at the end of the season to roll over everybody.
20:28 So I think it's a disaster waiting to happen, but we'll see in a couple years.
20:34 You have to agree to disagree on this one, Uncle Bob, because you're just plain wrong
20:39 about that.
20:40 Like I'm buying a house at a diner?
20:41 Yeah, I know.
20:42 Got you.
20:43 And like predicting the podcasting was not-
20:45 Yeah, podcasting future, yeah.
20:47 No future in this.
20:48 All right, so that's a good segue into predictions.
20:52 And so the way I'm going to do this, I'm going to go first, okay?
20:55 Okay.
20:56 The way I'm going to do it is group the wins and losses, and then I'll talk about one little
21:03 caveat at the end.
21:04 So I think both the schedule and the home roster of teams is very much in our favor.
21:17 So I think literally those are the six wins that you can sort of take to the bank, okay?
21:23 Northern Illinois, Louisiana Tech, Northwestern, Purdue, although Maryland could be tough,
21:32 and I think we can beat Iowa at home, okay?
21:35 Now let's take a look at all the other games.
21:38 So Minnesota, Colorado, Michigan, Illinois, Michigan State, and Wisconsin, all road games,
21:45 all tough games.
21:47 I think we're going to get one of those, okay?
21:50 So I think Matt Rule ends up in his first season.
21:54 Now as we get to see other teams play, I reserve the right to change this forecast, but I think
22:03 seven and five is the number for me, and I think they go to a decent ball game, something
22:07 that you're going to be proud of and recognize.
22:12 You know, you just felt more optimistic during the quarter.
22:16 You said six and six like five minutes ago, and now you're at seven and five.
22:18 I'm going to give you another hour, and you're going to be at eight and four.
22:22 Now six and six is like, I'm just setting that bar as being, that would be a good accomplishment.
22:28 My prediction is seven and five.
22:30 I think we're going to win all the home games and one of the away games, and I will refine
22:34 that as we go once we get to see.
22:36 For example, we're going to learn a ton about Colorado when they play TCU in the first week,
22:41 right?
22:42 It may be very obvious that Colorado doesn't have his game together yet.
22:48 Minnesota though, boy, they've got a lot of talent.
22:51 P.J.
22:52 Flex running these guys, making them do great things, performing well over the last few
22:56 years.
22:57 I think that's going to be a very, very tough go in the first game.
23:01 So seven and five, Bob.
23:02 That's my ... What are you saying?
23:04 I look at it a little differently.
23:07 There's some big question marks with this team.
23:09 The biggest question mark is how well they adapt to Matt Ruhle's system.
23:13 Jury's out.
23:15 Nobody knows.
23:16 All we have is hope right now, and hope is not a strategy.
23:20 But I'm sure that Matt's got his team lined up to play good ball.
23:23 We just haven't seen it on the field yet, so we don't know what it's going to be like.
23:27 That's concern number one.
23:28 Number two is they're young.
23:32 Most of this roster is freshmen and sophomores, so there's not a lot of experience and depth
23:38 at ... Well, not depth, but there's not a lot of experience at some of their key positions.
23:43 So those are my concerns.
23:45 Now, on the good side, it seems like folks have taken their strength and conditioning
23:50 work a little bit more seriously than maybe in the past, and the players have come back
23:54 in much better shape, at least from what I'm reading and hearing, than maybe they have
23:59 in the past.
24:00 I would agree with that.
24:01 Listen, when you're playing in Nebraska in the middle of December or middle of November,
24:05 it's cold.
24:06 You've got to be tough, and you've got to keep the meat suit nice and packed on there
24:10 because it's a tough game.
24:14 And I don't think they were taking it seriously enough.
24:17 And it's because the coaching staff didn't seem to take it seriously.
24:20 And I may be wrong.
24:21 I don't know.
24:22 I'm not in the locker room.
24:23 It just seemed that way.
24:24 And last year, who would have thought we'd have lost to Georgia Southern or to Northwestern?
24:31 It's like ...
24:32 That was literally ... Remember this?
24:34 That was the day we met Trev Alberts, and 18 hours later, Scott Frost got fired.
24:39 Yeah.
24:40 It was like, "Huh?
24:41 Yeah.
24:42 I'd have fired him too."
24:45 It's all about the results on the field.
24:48 Look at Rutgers.
24:49 Rutgers is terrible.
24:50 They have the worst record in the Big Ten since they joined.
24:53 The Big Ten hasn't worked out very well for Rutgers.
24:54 They shouldn't be in the conference, but they are.
24:57 And now they bring back Rick Shiano, and maybe they'll do a little bit better.
25:01 And we'll see.
25:02 But it's like-
25:03 Send me your TV market, though, bro.
25:05 That's what's driving me.
25:07 Somebody's got to lose a lot of games.
25:09 Somebody's got to be the ... Who's going to be the new Rutgers?
25:13 And that's the big concern that you have with having such a packed schedule.
25:16 So let's go through this game by game.
25:19 Let's put your stake in the ground game by game.
25:23 Minnesota, a game that we will be at.
25:25 Yes.
25:26 What are you thinking?
25:27 I think it's a tough one.
25:28 I think we'd probably lose this one 21 to 17 in a low scoring affair.
25:31 It's going to be a defensive struggle.
25:33 Try to run the ball.
25:35 I think they have just a better alignment on both sides of the ball.
25:39 Now I'm hopeful, as you said, I've heard every blind man's above 300 pounds.
25:45 But we've had the worst set of tackles in the league for the last couple of years.
25:50 So if Matt and team can make progress there, then we've got a shot.
25:57 But I think it's going to be a struggle.
25:58 I think we lose the game.
25:59 I think we probably have a turnover or two.
26:01 I think we lose the game in a low scoring game.
26:04 Now again-
26:05 I'm taking Nebraska.
26:06 Okay.
26:07 You know why?
26:08 Why?
26:09 No Mo.
26:10 No Mo in Minnesota.
26:14 Mo Ibrahim was fantastic for them.
26:17 Oh, you remember-
26:18 An incredible ball player.
26:19 He's gone.
26:20 You remember-
26:21 Yeah.
26:22 And he turned a lot of average plays into not average plays because he was just a beast.
26:25 Gone.
26:26 Now I don't know who they have to replace him.
26:28 I would imagine that if they had somebody good that it would have played last year a
26:31 little bit.
26:32 And I don't think that ... I think they're going to regress to the mean and they're going
26:36 to go take a step backwards this year.
26:38 And so I'm picking Nebraska at a huge upset because I'm not wearing no Nebraska shirt
26:43 in Minnesota without them winning the game.
26:45 So I think one and O.
26:49 All right.
26:50 So going to Colorado.
26:51 Are we going by the way?
26:52 I've got the hotel rooms.
26:53 I don't know.
26:54 I don't know.
26:55 That'll be a good-
26:57 Ask me next week.
26:58 Okay.
26:59 All right.
27:00 Well, it depends on how they do the first week I suppose.
27:01 If they win then we have to go.
27:03 If they don't then it's optional.
27:05 That's it.
27:06 When we're going.
27:07 Let's put it that way.
27:08 I would say that tickets to the Deon Bowl are going for like 500 bucks a whack.
27:13 So people are getting a little carried away.
27:16 When you take out two thirds of a roster and you glue back in new guys, it takes a little
27:21 while to set the edge.
27:24 He's got some really talented players.
27:25 He's a good coach, great ball player, a good recruiter.
27:30 So I think that they'll be a little bit better than people are thinking, but I don't think
27:34 that they're quite there yet in terms of being able to step up and play Power Five football.
27:41 So I would say that Nebraska wins, but the game is going to be much closer.
27:46 And if Nebraska wins against Minnesota and loses against Colorado, then half the state
27:52 is just going to have to lie down for an entire day and not say anything because they'll be
27:57 very upset.
27:58 But my guess is they're coming out of this, they're coming home 2-0.
28:02 That's my call.
28:04 And I'm being much more realistic saying 0-2, but still very optimistic for the year because
28:08 again I'm suggesting we're going to finish 7-5.
28:10 Wait, you think they're going to lose to Colorado?
28:14 I do.
28:15 I do.
28:16 I think-
28:17 Colorado was horrible last year.
28:18 Yeah.
28:19 Yeah.
28:20 Well, but Deion Sanders has done some great things in the areas that the coaching situations
28:23 he's been in.
28:24 We'll know a lot in the first week.
28:25 I hope I'm wrong about this.
28:27 I'm just a big game on the road, lots of hype.
28:30 They're going to be hyped.
28:31 Oh, he's cool.
28:32 He's got a system.
28:33 Yeah.
28:34 He's saying they're going to finish 7-5.
28:35 Now, if you're winning those two games, Bob, you're going to be 9-3.
28:44 And that just doesn't seem-
28:49 From reading everything that we've read, and again, we're not out of the field, we're not
28:53 out of the practices, so we don't know.
28:54 Presumably, you're going to say Northern Illinois and Louisiana Tech are wins as well.
28:59 So you're 4-0.
29:00 I would think we're 4-0 through that spread, Michigan coming into town.
29:07 Just imagine if Nebraska's 4-0 and Michigan's 4-0 coming into that game, holy cow, that's
29:13 going to be a real barn burner.
29:15 4-0 going into Michigan, that's your prediction?
29:18 That's my prediction.
29:19 Have you just had a ketamine treatment or something?
29:23 You know what?
29:24 I call this the storehouse of useless information.
29:28 I'm spitting it out there.
29:29 I'm not afraid.
29:30 Because, hey, listen, if Nebraska goes 4-0 or if Nebraska goes 0-4, what difference does
29:37 it make to me?
29:38 It's a thing that I enjoy.
29:39 I like it.
29:40 I love it.
29:41 But, you know, I don't have to pay a tax if they lose games.
29:45 I don't get paid a bonus if they win.
29:48 So if you're going to be on the team, be optimistic.
29:52 Because listen, like Matt Rule said, you fight for the guy next to you, you fight for the
29:56 team.
29:57 If you're fighting for the team, Mr. Owen Ford, then maybe we need a new co-op.
30:00 No, no.
30:01 Look, dude, dude.
30:02 Fight for the team.
30:03 I said at the outset that I think Matt Rule can be, historically, a Tom Osborne-like figure.
30:14 Because of the leadership that we have here, they're going to sustain it.
30:16 He's bought in.
30:17 Part of the reason he came here was Ted Carter.
30:21 Long term, I think this is a huge move for Nebraska.
30:24 We're talking about the first time out, and I want you to witness the Baylor first season
30:30 and the Temple first season.
30:32 Between them, I think there were five wins.
30:33 Okay?
30:34 Yeah, but they were traditionally bad programs.
30:37 Listen, Nebraska's always recruited some talent.
30:40 Cam Taylor Britt's proven that right.
30:42 Look, Dave, Nebraska, .36% of their games, 36% of their games in the last five years,
30:47 we are not good coming into this.
30:50 But they were all close games that they lost.
30:51 It was chucklehead losses half the time.
30:53 Tom Osborne did say Scott Frost would have had good record if the games ended in the
30:58 third quarter.
30:59 Ow.
31:00 I think that comes down as a slap from Dr. Osborne.
31:09 That's about as ornery as he'll get in public.
31:11 All right, we got to get our guests on here.
31:14 So Michigan-
31:15 All right, so lose to Michigan.
31:19 I think Illinois is a loss.
31:22 I really like what Brett's doing down there.
31:25 Northwestern is a win.
31:26 Purdue is a win.
31:28 So I'm at one, two, three, four, two, six, and two.
31:32 What are the other games here?
31:34 Yep, none of you have missed-
31:35 Michigan State, and then they split the last four.
31:38 So what's that?
31:39 Eight and four.
31:40 Eight and four is what I'm going with.
31:44 Michigan State's a loss.
31:45 Okay.
31:46 I don't know.
31:48 I think they're a bit of a paper tiger, but we'll see.
31:52 Maryland is a win.
31:54 Wisconsin's always tough.
31:55 And Iowa, I think they pull it out.
31:58 All right, so I've got you one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
32:04 Eight and four.
32:05 Eight and four.
32:06 And I'm at seven and five.
32:07 So we're not that different.
32:08 We're not that different.
32:10 The difference is-
32:11 Yeah.
32:12 Do we get a win-
32:13 I do it optimistically.
32:14 You do it pessimistically.
32:15 No, no.
32:16 You're like, "You're at seven and five.
32:17 Bring it to a seven."
32:18 No, no.
32:19 We're not that different.
32:20 We're not that different.
32:21 We're not that different.
32:22 We got no one-
32:23 I don't want to get-
32:24 We got no player on our preseason Iowa conference team, and we got an incoming quarterback who
32:26 everybody's excited about, but that turns the ball over more than any other player in
32:30 all of FQ.
32:31 You know what you are?
32:32 You know what you are?
32:33 You're that boyfriend who's like, "Please don't hurt me.
32:34 Please don't damage so many times in the past.
32:35 Please don't hurt me."
32:36 Why?
32:37 "Please don't hurt me.
32:38 Be more resilient, Stockwell.
32:39 Get out there and do some pushups."
32:40 Eight and four.
32:41 Okay.
32:42 I'm going to text our guest here to have him dial in.
32:47 And while we're doing that, I'm going to talk about game week festivities.
32:53 So Bob, you will be there.
32:55 We are hosting the Dean of Nebraska Business, Kathy Farrell, at the United Country Club
32:59 for a luncheon on 1110.
33:01 Andrew Bunderman is going to be the speaker.
33:04 Andrew was prominently featured in the movie, The Outpost.
33:07 He's a Minnesota grad, ROTC guy, works for Honeywell here in town, and received the Distinguished
33:13 Service Cross for Extraordinary Heroism in the Battle of Kamdash in 2009 in Afghanistan.
33:19 The most decorated battle since World War II.
33:23 Two living Medal of Honor winners coming out of that.
33:26 Is he bringing the medal with him?
33:28 No, I don't think so.
33:30 But I highly, highly recommend the movie.
33:33 It's based on a book written by Jake Tapper.
33:39 And here comes our friend, David Maxx.
33:43 Hey, we made it.
33:44 We're going to have to do a James' Favorite War Movies episode.
33:47 It might take three or four days for us to get through all of them, because Mr. Stockwell
33:52 has a problem where he's addicted to war movies.
33:55 Even though his service in the military, thank you for your service, Mr. Stockwell, in that
34:00 hotel in Italy.
34:01 It was wonderful work.
34:04 Wow.
34:06 So David, meet Bob Frady.
34:10 I talked about you earlier in the podcast.
34:12 You are, I said, Bob made a joke.
34:16 I said, you have touched more Nebraska people than probably anybody through Husker Maxx.
34:22 And your viewership during the season is about, what, 1.5 million unique visitors per month.
34:29 Is that right?
34:30 Sometime along those lines, yes.
34:31 Yeah.
34:32 That's crazy.
34:33 That is enormous.
34:34 Good stuff.
34:35 Yeah, that is an enormous accomplishment.
34:39 And David has graciously agreed to be our season-long sponsor.
34:43 So I mentioned that up front, this is the Sunday Morning Quarterback Nebraska Edition
34:49 sponsored by Husker Maxx.
34:51 And also Husker Maxx property Fanalytics, which I'm sure David will talk about a little
34:57 bit.
34:58 But David, let's just start at the beginning.
35:03 You live in California.
35:04 You live in Orinda.
35:05 Is that correct?
35:07 We live outside of Elk Grove, California, which is kind of a suburb of Sacramento, but
35:12 I actually live out in the country.
35:14 Got it.
35:16 Five miles outside of Elk Grove in a small town called Wilton, which is about the same
35:19 size as my hometown of Page, Nebraska, with less than 200 people.
35:26 So you've got family in Iowa too, don't you?
35:31 Do you have roots in Iowa?
35:32 Yes.
35:33 My brother still lives in Shenandoah, Iowa.
35:36 And I have a sister that lives up in Lake Mills, Iowa.
35:40 And then my other sister lives in Lincoln.
35:47 So we met in Southern California when I was living in California.
35:51 Probably we think it was at a Husker watch party.
35:55 And at the time, the site was called Huskerpedia.
35:58 And ultimately, David acquired the property.
36:01 You don't have to go into that long story, David, but rebranded Husker Max.
36:05 And for me, it's been literally the go-to site for 20 years for me on game day.
36:12 I especially love the game day recap, the game page.
36:16 You can literally go in there and get everything you need from the game, including I think
36:21 a Fanlitics summary now too, right?
36:24 Right.
36:25 And that is done by my partner, Joe Hudson.
36:28 So I can't take credit for the game page because he is a former copy editor for the Denver
36:34 Post and a Nebraska Lincoln journalism graduate.
36:38 So he's like my wife.
36:40 He can spot the misspelled word from across the street.
36:47 So just tell us how, David, how did you get started with your love for Nebraska?
36:53 And I know it goes all the way back to the Devaney era and all that.
36:57 But orient the group there and then how you really got involved in all these different
37:01 things and properties that you're involved with.
37:05 You're kind of a bit of an empire in my mind.
37:07 Well, you know, my involvement with Nebraska football, like I said, my first strong recollection
37:15 was when Bob Devaney's first year as coach in 1962.
37:19 And that's what I based my book that I wrote 11 years ago now, about 50 years of Husker
37:25 memories.
37:26 My Husker memories go back 61 years now.
37:30 And wow, my first game was 1963 against Air Force, which we actually lost the game when
37:38 we were heavily favored.
37:39 So that was my first introduction.
37:42 But my dad bought tickets to the South End zone when it was built in 1964.
37:47 And I've been sitting in those seats ever since.
37:50 That's the year I was born.
37:51 Wow.
37:52 How old were you that year, David?
37:53 I'm 72.
37:54 Ten.
37:58 So maybe you can answer a question for me.
38:02 Nebraskans, because they work a lot of farming communities, are not necessarily the smallest
38:06 people in the world.
38:07 Yet the seats in the South End zone are perhaps the tiniest seats in professional college
38:12 football.
38:14 Why is that?
38:15 Well, I get a stadium seat every time I go in, so I can at least map out that area, the
38:21 width of the stadium seat.
38:22 It's not good if we rent from the university.
38:26 But yeah, they are somewhat tight.
38:30 They're a little tiny.
38:32 But that's okay.
38:33 It makes everybody stand up the entire game.
38:34 Watching Stockwell get into one of those seats is always fun.
38:37 Always fun.
38:38 Always fun.
38:39 David, have you ever been to Hardington?
38:41 Yes, I have.
38:42 As a matter of fact, I used to date a girl from Hardington.
38:46 Oh my God.
38:47 Yeah.
38:48 I might have dated her too.
38:49 What was her name?
38:50 Her name was, if I remember, Lynn Chalupka.
38:56 I would have remembered that name.
38:58 Yeah.
38:59 Yeah.
39:00 Oh, that's what it's from Hardington?
39:01 Her dad was a mechanic in town.
39:05 And when I went there one weekend and my fuel pump developed a leak, and I just barely made
39:12 it into town, and her dad actually fixed it for me so I could get home or back to Conyer.
39:17 I was going to school at Conyer at the time.
39:19 That would have been like early '70s?
39:22 Yes.
39:23 Oh, that's cool.
39:24 I was there.
39:25 I was probably seven years old, seven, eight years old at the time.
39:27 Well, that's cool.
39:28 That's awesome.
39:29 So, talk about getting started with Husker Max.
39:33 How did this all come about?
39:35 Well, it started out ... I got involved with the internet way back when with the software
39:43 company that blocked access to pornography on the internet.
39:46 And I started creating a website in 1998 with all of my passions.
39:51 And one of those passions was Nebraska football.
39:54 And I got invited because of that small page to participate in what they called the fans
40:00 network, which was like Husker fans, Sooner fans, and all of those.
40:04 So I became Husker fans.
40:06 And then that evolved into Huskerpedia, and now it's Husker Max.
40:11 Awesome.
40:12 A total of about how many years?
40:15 Well, we launched Husker Max in September of 1999.
40:20 Huskerpedia, I'm sorry.
40:23 And at that time, I was looking for content for the website, and I came across what Jill
40:31 Hudson had on the GeoCities free website with all of the games back to 1890.
40:37 So I asked him, "What would you charge me to put that on my website?"
40:40 And he said, "Well, because you're a Nebraska fan, there's no charge.
40:43 Everybody else just steals it."
40:45 So I said, "Well, this is a good guy."
40:47 So I approached him about creating a partnership, and we actually signed paperwork before we
40:53 ever met in person for the first time, which was at the Colorado game in 1999.
40:58 So David, in this process, you've met probably because you've run tailgates and parties and
41:06 bowl games.
41:08 You've met basically every personality from player to coach to politician ever involved
41:18 in Husker sports in any way.
41:21 Is that an overstatement?
41:22 No, I think it's accurate.
41:26 So who's your favorite person, personality that you've encountered?
41:32 Probably there might be multiple.
41:33 Just talk to me about that.
41:34 It's hard to pick one, but if I had to pick a single one, I think it would be Dave Hulme.
41:40 Really?
41:41 And Dave Hulme was a quarterback in the '73-'75 range and went on to be drafted by the Raiders
41:54 and made a career as a backup quarterback, Kenny Stabler and others.
41:58 And he developed multiple sclerosis after his playing career, and he never complained.
42:08 And so we were doing a fundraiser to raise money to buy a fire truck for Western Nebraska,
42:16 which is actually the eastern part of the state.
42:19 And to draw attention to it, I started doing a series of interviews with different people.
42:24 So I got Dave's phone number and called him and told him, "I was going to be in Las Vegas
42:31 anyway for an event, and I could just come over the house and do it."
42:35 And he said, "Oh, no, no."
42:37 Because at that point in time, he didn't want people to see him in a wheelchair, because
42:43 it was multiple sclerosis.
42:45 So we did it over the phone.
42:47 And then over time, we just kind of developed a relationship, and we would talk frequently.
42:53 And he would talk to my mom when she was still alive, and they would talk football and life
42:58 in general and whatever.
43:00 And he was just so kind to her.
43:02 And so later on, I found out that he had been in the hospital for like a month.
43:08 And so I called him up and I said, "Dave, how are you doing financially?
43:15 I mean, with all your medical bills and everything."
43:18 And he said, "Well, he's afraid he's going to lose his house."
43:21 And so I said, "Well, let me just put a link up for a PayPal link, and we'll get you some
43:27 funds."
43:28 And he said, "No, he's too proud to do that."
43:29 So I said, "Well, why don't we do something like Mike Ditka's Gridiron Grades Foundation
43:35 for former athletes with medical bills?"
43:37 And he said, "Okay, I'll do that."
43:40 So I hung up the phone with him, and I called Jerry Murtaugh and said, "This is what we
43:43 want to do."
43:44 And that's how Husker Grades got started, Nebraska Grades.
43:48 That's a great story.
43:49 Dave was the first recipient.
43:52 So yeah, his outlook on life, no matter how bad things were, was what impressed me the
44:01 most.
44:02 And so then I said, "Well, I want to get some signed footballs.
44:05 We'll get you and Vince Ferrabalbo to sign them, and we'll donate them to alumni chapters
44:12 for their fundraisers or whatever."
44:14 And so I said, "Do you want me to have them shipped to your house?"
44:18 He said, "Well, just come on over."
44:19 And I thought, "I just got invited to the Queen of England, you know, to come to his
44:22 house."
44:23 And so Don and I drove over.
44:27 We made a round trip to Vegas, which is a four-hour one-way, and spent the afternoon
44:32 with him, and he signed a bunch of footballs for us.
44:37 And we've had two or three other in-person get-togethers after that, you know.
44:44 So he would be my most inspirational Husker ever.
44:49 By the way, I have one of those footballs on my mantel downstairs, so that's a great
44:53 story.
44:54 And when did he pass?
44:59 It's been a couple of years now, and I'm still in touch with his daughter, Courtney, you
45:04 know, because he did everything for her.
45:06 I mean, I'd write him a check for the footballs, and he'd give it to his daughter.
45:10 That's just the kind of guy he was.
45:14 And she is now involved with a nonprofit that helps underprivileged kids get to football
45:22 camps.
45:23 And they've got a basis out here in Sacramento, and they also do some camps in Omaha.
45:29 Well, that is a fantastic story.
45:32 And he was the quarterback for '70-'71, right, both national championships under Devan.
45:36 No, no.
45:37 He was after Taggy and Bronson.
45:41 As a matter of fact, Taggy --
45:43 That's right.
45:44 Taggy was the quarterback.
45:45 So Taggy and Bronson were the quarterbacks for the '70-'71 teams, and he, I think it
45:50 was like '73, '75, and then Vince Farragall after that.
45:55 Oh, that's cool.
45:57 And you're close with Mr. Farragallo as well, yeah?
46:00 He actually sold my house in Irvine.
46:02 Oh, neat.
46:05 He has residential real estate in Anaheim.
46:09 And when we decided to move up here, because our daughter and her husband bought a house
46:16 in Elk Grove, and so we figured they'd settle in.
46:19 And we had just finished remodeling and wasn't even thinking about it.
46:23 And they kept sending us things of properties up here, so we finally found one that we liked.
46:29 And so Vince -- But it was contingent on selling our house quickly.
46:34 So I went to Vince, and we listed it on Friday, had an open house on Sunday, and got an overpriced
46:41 offer on Monday.
46:42 That's awesome.
46:43 Yeah.
46:44 Nice.
46:45 Very nice.
46:46 Well, I think he might be a great candidate for our next guest after the Minnesota game.
46:54 Well, that's what I was going to recommend, because from X's and O's perspective, he knows
47:03 everything and being a quarterback.
47:05 And I can remember he was at the -- When we had a tailgate at the Fresno State game a
47:09 few years ago, we sat with him at the game, and he would sit there and actually accurately
47:16 predict a lot of the upcoming plays.
47:19 Oh, that's wild.
47:22 That's wild.
47:23 That's great.
47:24 How are you feeling about this season?
47:28 How are you feeling about the season?
47:30 Jay and I are on opposite sides.
47:32 Well, I want to be cautiously optimistic.
47:35 First year, but with the way things have gone so far, with the way recruiting and the transfer
47:41 portal and everything, I would go with a season prediction of somewhere around seven and five.
47:49 I think we're going to make it to a goal game.
47:52 I think eight and four would be great.
47:55 But that's kind of where I'm at.
47:58 David, you're kind of a genius, because Bob and I just went through this, and I'm exactly
48:02 at seven and five.
48:03 Really?
48:04 And Bob thinks we're going to be -- He started out at six and six, so it took him a little
48:10 convincing.
48:11 No, no, no.
48:12 No, no.
48:13 A little arm twisting to get him seven and five.
48:14 I think six and six would be, in a bowl game, would be a tremendous accomplishment for Matt
48:19 Ruhle his first year.
48:20 Remember -- Well, if you go six and six, that means we lose the bowl game.
48:24 No, no, because there's 12 games in the -- Can you have qualifying with six wins to get a
48:28 bowl, and then if you end up six and six -- That's right.
48:31 I need you to lose the bowl game.
48:32 I want to win the bowl game.
48:33 Yeah, okay.
48:34 But I'm talking -- We're just talking regular season schedule for now.
48:37 So six and six would -- Remember, his first year at both Baylor and Temple, I think --
48:45 Oh, I know.
48:46 One, one, two.
48:47 Yeah.
48:48 One, one, three.
48:49 So we've got to be really, really careful not to get over our skis here, I think, and
48:54 we've got to manage expectations.
48:55 And I think six and six in a bowl game would be huge.
48:59 But as we went through the games, I think it's realistic that we could get to seven
49:03 and five.
49:04 Now, Bob was way over his skis coming out saying we'd be four and O going into Michigan,
49:09 right?
49:10 So let's just go through those -- Coming in hot.
49:11 One at a time.
49:12 Coming in hot.
49:13 David, what do you think about Minnesota?
49:16 Do we have a chance to beat Minnesota?
49:17 I think we have a chance.
49:18 I really do.
49:19 I mean, I'm favored by like seven, and it's a road game.
49:25 They've had some of their off-season problems of their own, so I don't know if that's a
49:28 distraction that's enough or not.
49:30 But I think we'll play them tough.
49:34 I think Colorado's a win.
49:37 I just think things are -- We've had too much flux for D.N.
49:41 Sanders' first year, and as a non-conference game, if we lose that one, we're in trouble.
49:50 Yeah.
49:51 I'm even going to tell you what bowl game we're going to.
49:55 You want to know?
49:56 Okay.
49:57 They're going to the Holiday Bowl.
49:58 They're going to the Holiday Bowl, and they're going to play UCLA.
50:03 It's going to be a harbinger of things to come.
50:06 Lots of good press.
50:07 You know why?
50:08 Because every Nebraska bowl game I've been to happens to have been the Holiday Bowl.
50:13 They went like three times in five years.
50:15 It's like, "Well, we're going to the Holiday Bowl again."
50:17 Right.
50:18 Because I live in Orange County, so it's right down the street.
50:20 So we're three and one going into Michigan.
50:23 Three and one going into Michigan is what you're saying.
50:25 Three and one or four or go.
50:27 I mean, I'll go along with four and one going into Michigan.
50:30 Wow.
50:31 I mean, like I said, the one would be Minnesota.
50:34 I mean, if we're going to lose any of the first four games, it would be Minnesota.
50:38 Yeah, yeah.
50:39 Yeah.
50:40 Okay.
50:41 I think we could win that one.
50:42 How pumped will the people of Nebraska be if four and oh with Michigan coming to town?
50:48 Old boy, people will be pumped for that.
50:51 Yeah.
50:52 I agree.
50:53 It's a possibility, but-
50:54 Michigan would be a tough hill to climb.
51:02 You mentioned Fataletics earlier, and I did some research with it last year, and I came
51:07 up with three criteria.
51:11 It was time of possession, drives over 50 yards, and turnovers.
51:16 So if Nebraska would win two out of three of those categories, they would win the game.
51:23 So if they hold onto the ball and get a couple of sustained drives, we'll be in good shape.
51:31 So there's two data points that I shared earlier, David, before you got on.
51:34 Pro Football Focus, who predicts preseason all-conference teams for the Big Ten, this
51:39 is basically a company that feeds fantasy predictions, and so they have a really good
51:45 idea on pro talent, right?
51:49 There's not a single Nebraska player on their prediction for preseason on the first three
51:53 teams for the Big Ten all-conference teams.
51:57 Not one player.
51:59 So this is a group that analyzes talent, right?
52:01 So that's a concern for me.
52:03 And that was actually called out by Nick Ma on his podcast.
52:09 This is where we differ, Stockwell.
52:11 You and I both know you can make Data sing any kind of song you want to.
52:15 You come in with a bias, then guess what?
52:19 You're going to ... And it's because so much is unknown.
52:21 But I'm with David.
52:23 You're going to the max with the Huskers.
52:25 All right.
52:26 Husker Max.
52:27 Yeah.
52:28 I love it.
52:29 I love it.
52:30 Eight-four, Holiday Bowl against UCLA.
52:31 Mark my words.
52:32 All right.
52:33 You're going to play this back at six bucks, and you're going to be like, "That guy is
52:37 scary."
52:39 We are writing that down, Bob.
52:41 The other data point, David, that is concerning is that Jeff Sims, who's apparently this physical
52:47 specimen, Matt Rule says he has pro potential, which is great.
52:53 But in 25 games as a quarterback, he had 23 interceptions and has the most turnovers of
52:59 any current FBS quarterback.
53:03 So that issue has to be solved.
53:07 And that's, I think, why they're talking about running the ball.
53:09 We've got a great stable of running backs, and this guy's a running quarterback.
53:12 So let's run the ball and win games that way without turning it over.
53:16 So we've got to be really, really careful in that dimension.
53:20 I think also Georgia Tech didn't have a very good offensive line, and we need to improve.
53:26 It's always one in the trenches, offensive, defensive line.
53:30 If you don't have that, then it doesn't matter how good a quarter or how bad he is.
53:34 If he doesn't have time to throw, he's going to throw interceptions.
53:37 That is exactly right.
53:38 That is exactly right.
53:39 All right, guys.
53:40 Well, I think that ... David, any final thoughts from you?
53:43 I think that wraps us up on our planned agenda here.
53:45 No, I think that's great.
53:47 Thanks for having me on.
53:48 I'm looking forward to ... We're going to follow up with you on Vince
53:51 Ferragamo.
53:53 Our next podcast will be the day after the Minnesota game.
53:56 So if you'll make that introduction, we'll get that arranged, and that'll be really fun.
54:00 Be happy to.
54:02 Awesome.
54:03 Well, thank you guys very much for participating in the inaugural episode of Sunday Morning
54:07 Quarterback Nebraska Edition, sponsored by OscarMax and Fanalytics.
54:11 Cheers.
54:12 OscarMax.com.