Big 12 Media Days 2024: Focus on Football and Controversies
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00:00I love when media days begins in college football. You have
00:08coaches and players we haven't heard from in many months. You
00:11have college football head coaches in front of a
00:14microphone for the first time in a while. It's like when you
00:17haven't seen anybody for a few days and you forget how to
00:21socialize. They try to put words together and it makes no
00:24sense. Enter Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy as big twelve media
00:28days began yesterday in Sin City in Las Vegas. DRS, it's a
00:33sign of the times in CFP entering 2024. The big twelve,
00:38a new look league, a realign conference. Now, sixteen teams
00:42as we get the four corner schools from the four-pack
00:45twelve. Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah now joining
00:50the fold but the focus yesterday on the pokes from
00:54Stillwater. Ollie Gordon II, the nation's leading rusher from
00:57a year ago. Back in Stillwater this year for the Cowboys. He
01:02was arrested on June 30th for a DUI. Blew a .10, had multiple
01:07bottles of liquor in his car. There was some speculation.
01:11Would he be suspended? Would he miss any games for 2024?
01:15Here's what Gundy had to say in terms of that for his All
01:18American running back yesterday. Quote, I'm going to
01:22do what we think is best for Oklahoma State football and I
01:25think it's best for Ollie to play. If there's any
01:28punishment, it's making him carry the ball 50 times in the
01:32first game. Bet the over on Ollie Gordon II's rushing
01:35yards. Game number one for Oklahoma State. Absolutely and
01:40it takes me back to the times where I used to love Bobby
01:42Bowden because one of the kids would get in trouble and be
01:44like, well, he's going to run some steps on Monday and we'll
01:47see him in the game next Saturday at this point here but
01:49also there are some other things that were said out here
01:52and I know we're going to get into just a few moments but
01:54before we get there, like we've outlived media day. Do
01:58you know what media day was supposed to be, Ben? Sixties,
02:00seventies, eighties. Everybody got on a plane because you had
02:03no access to the football programs. Only the local paper
02:06covered it and he said, oh, look at this. Here's your
02:08captains here. Let's talk them a little bit. Oh, coach, how do
02:11you think your off season went? In a social media day and age,
02:14we don't need media day because why? Every day is media day
02:19since we have social media and the charade here unless we just
02:22love these stupid highlights that we're getting and we're
02:25going to talk about right now. Yeah, I mean, that's exactly
02:29the point but how could we go without what was said yesterday
02:33in Las Vegas? The big twelve media days in Sin City. Here
02:37was Mike Gundy on his rationale behind his decision making
02:41after Ollie Gordon's DUI arrest. So, I looked it up on
02:45my phone. What would be the legal limit like in Oklahoma is
02:500.08 and Ollie was 0.1. So, I looked it up and it was based
02:58on body weight not to get into the legal side of it but I
03:01thought really two or three beers or four. I'm not just
03:05fine with what Ollie did. I'm telling you what decision I
03:07made. Well, I thought I've probably done that a thousand
03:10times in my life and and I'm, you know, it's just fine. So, I
03:14got lucky. People get lucky. Ollie made a decision that he
03:18wish he could have done better but when I talked to Ollie, I
03:23told him, I said, you're lucky you got out light. Two or
03:28three or maybe four. Mike Gundy explaining his rationale and
03:33saying I've done that a thousand times. There is no
03:36justification or rationale in a serious perspective for drunk
03:41driving. Anything under the influence should be forbidden
03:45but you can't not love media days when you hear a head
03:48college football coach try to justify why his star running
03:52back is not going to be suspended. Come on DRS for the
03:55price of admission alone. That's a beautiful thing. It's
03:59such an unbelievable statement by him because I preface this
04:02by saying we've all been there before. We've all may have
04:05learned lessons if you've had a DUI in the past. I certainly
04:08haven't had that but growing up, I've made some stupid
04:11decisions and it's okay for head coach to say, you know
04:13what? We've all made mistakes and we've learned from there.
04:16It's just wild for coach to basically say, yeah, I go out
04:19every third day and get hammered and drive home. So,
04:22we've all been. No, we haven't all been there before like you
04:24usually learn your lesson. I want to say this about Ollie
04:26Gordon. Sometimes it's great because he now knows right and
04:30wrong. Maybe I got away with it a time or two before I got
04:32caught. Now, I know I can't do that anymore and it's wrong for
04:35me to do. I learned my lesson and thank goodness nobody
04:37including myself got hurt from that but for your coach to
04:40basically say, you know what? It's not that big a deal. I've
04:42done it a thousand times and maybe if his body weight was up
04:45four or five pounds, he wouldn't actually, you know,
04:47hit that limit here. It's what I don't know what he was trying
04:49to rationalize. All he had to say was my player made a
04:52mistake. We'll handle it internally. He's a great kid. I
04:54know he made a mistake. He's remorseful. He's going to do
04:57community service and nobody would have an issue but the
04:59fact that your coach was like, what's the big deal? I do it
05:01thousands of times and he's going to be fine and he'll play
05:03game one. Just horrible messaging. The guy that once
05:07yelled, I'm a man. I'm forty. Direct your questions at me.
05:12Takes the onus in ways we could never expect. We'll have more
05:16from Las Vegas. Big twelve media days all around football.
05:19One hour or two starts in just a few moments. Welcome to our
05:24number two. Talking season has begun in college football with
05:28big twelve media days starting the first of the nine
05:32conference media days that we will see around the country
05:35this year at the FBS level in college football. A new
05:39landscape for CFB but head coaches up to their old tricks
05:43anytime they step in front of a microphone. He is DRS Donny
05:48right side. I am Ben Stevens. We are here together for the
05:51next two hours up until 11 AM Eastern time on this Wednesday
05:56on the early line. Some football news to get through
05:58here. Plenty more around baseball. A quintuple header.
06:02That's five games in the WNBA on this Wednesday starting
06:06bright and early. 11 AM Eastern time. We've got a
06:09matchup between the two top teams in the WNBA in
06:13Connecticut. The Sun host the Liberty. Both teams at seventeen
06:16and four. What more could you want on a Wednesday afternoon?
06:20I think we might have to take some time off here with an
06:22extended commercial break and watch Rubikina and Svitolina
06:25right now. Four to three in their first set of their match.
06:27So, I don't know how much longer I can go on and pay
06:29attention. This has got me absolutely enthralled watching
06:32this tournament right now. Yeah, Rubikina is what we're
06:35looking for here. No, it's not. No, that was fine. I did my
06:39research. Yeah. Depends. Depends on who you ask. You
06:42want pronunciation. Wait till we break down the Wednesday
06:45seventh final at Copa America night. Colombia and Uruguay as
06:49Donny would say. Colombia and Uruguay making their way
06:54tonight to try to face off against Argentina. We'll have
06:58soccer previews. It's a July on the early line but yesterday
07:02again, big twelve media days. Mike Gundy was the star of the
07:06show for ways you probably don't wanna be the star of the
07:10show explaining his rationale behind not suspending his star
07:14running back. Ollie Gordon the second. The nation's leading
07:16rusher a year ago. A unanimous preseason all big twelve
07:20selection. The offensive player of the year who was arrested
07:23for DUI just about a week and a half ago on June thirtieth.
07:28Mike Gundy saying two, three, maybe four beers. I've done
07:33that a thousand times. Mike Gundy then had to clarify his
07:37statements which is always a good thing immediately in the
07:41aftermath saying quote, my intended point today at big
07:45twelve media days was that we are all guilty of making bad
07:49decisions. It was not a reference to something
07:52specific and quote, despite immediately before uttering,
07:57I've probably done that a thousand times referencing
08:01blood alcohol level and what body weight does in construing
08:05that as you might potentially drunk drive. You know, the PR
08:10team for Oklahoma State was working overtime on her first
08:13day of the 2024 season yesterday in Sin City. Yeah,
08:17it's pretty crazy the way it goes over but again, media day
08:20sort of outlived it but I guess if we're just gonna get
08:22nonsense from coaches talking about also, I do remember some
08:26fun times. It wasn't was it Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher
08:28going at it and SEC, you know, and by the way, I don't even
08:31think it's media day there. It's like media week for the
08:33SEC. We've had some pretty good stuff come out at that point.
08:36Yeah, exactly. We've had some stuff come out of that which
08:38you can really sink your teeth into. So, I guess in the month
08:41of July when you're just grasping for stories, it's good
08:44to see that, you know, coaches get DUIs left and right. It's
08:46no big deal. My best player and granted, it would have been
08:49one of those like the Jimmy Johnson days back with the
08:51Dallas Cowboys. Hey, you know what? You fall asleep at my
08:53meeting. I'll cut you. Well, coach, what happens if it's
08:55Emmett Smith? No, I'll probably just lightly wake him up and
08:57give him a cup of coffee and say, please, you know, are you
08:59enjoying yourself at this point? But again, if Ollie
09:01Gordon was a six-string running back that was a walk-on, we are
09:04not gonna allow this in our program. We are gentlemen of
09:08this university and we should act accordingly but when you're
09:10a star player, you know, you get that treatment. Mike Gundy
09:14brought Ollie Gordon II to Las Vegas yesterday so that he
09:17could be held accountable, face the music so to speak and
09:20answer questions about his growth and development from
09:23that dumb mistake just about a week and a half ago. They
09:27tried to do that to be held accountable but didn't really
09:31have a plan. It would seem for what they would say elsewhere
09:35around big twelve media days. Again, part of the fun of media
09:37days this year is the fact that every league looks different at
09:42least at the power level. The big twelve ads, Arizona,
09:45Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah. Speaking of CU Pride
09:50today in Las Vegas, Deion Sanders will be at the mic.
09:54Brett, your mark though, the commissioner of the big twelve
09:57kicking things off yesterday and rousing some enthusiasm
10:01calling the big twelve quote, the deepest conference in
10:06America. I'm not sure it's the deepest but there's a lot of
10:09parody from a competitive balance standpoint, Donnie,
10:11when you look at the odds. Utah is the newcomer to the league
10:16and yet booked as the favorite at plus 310. Only 70 cents in
10:20front of K State at plus 380. On that board, eight teams,
10:26eight of the sixteen listed at a fifteen to one price or
10:29shorter to win the conference. It's the most teams at a fifteen
10:32to one number at the power conference level entering this
10:362024 campaign. I don't mind commissioners hyping up their
10:40league but as anybody can see on that graphic, that league
10:42absolutely stinks and outside of Utah, it's probably going to
10:44be a good football team. Some people are posting yesterday on
10:47Twitter about the schedule for Utah. Looks like they should be
10:49playing a high school schedule at this point and should easily
10:52be in the college football playoff next year. It is what
10:54it is at this point. Some some conferences get stronger. Some
10:58get weaker. This is a horrible, horrible conference. Come on
11:03man. We get the holy war back. The rivalry renewed. It should
11:06have renamed as the pack between BYU. It should have moved
11:08the pack. Utah. It shouldn't even be the should be the they
11:11should have renamed the pack twelve with that type of
11:13scheduling. I think the big twelve is a very compelling
11:16conference. Do not listen to college football casual. Donnie
11:19right side but it's a big couple of weeks in college
11:22football because next week, we've got the early release
11:25date of EA Sports CFB twenty-five. The full release
11:29date that's Friday, July 19th and although we thought maybe
11:33he was holding out, he's in the game. That's Arch Manning using
11:37his name and his prowess for a little bit of promotion
11:41yesterday with his uncle Eli in a commercial for EA Sports.
11:46Arch Manning has opted in. Donnie, you're going to break
11:49out the sticks and start playing EA Sports College
11:52football twenty-five next week. We used to love it back in the
11:55day and by the way, NCAA Game Breaker was the game we loved
11:58in the 1990s there for me. I believe it was EA Sports made
12:00that game was sensational like you're running like you know,
12:02Tommy Frazier out there running wild. It's a good game. Let me
12:05get let's get back to the point. Yeah, let's get back to
12:07the point here right now. My guy. Arch Manning like I see
12:11through things right away and it doesn't take me long to
12:14figure it out. Do you remember when we were thinking about
12:17this like you know what it's interesting Arch Manning hasn't
12:20opted in here to get a $600 and they said you know what he's
12:23focused on football. It's not focused on anything outside
12:25here. Let him focus on football at Texas only again. I don't
12:29have any inside information, but I know what happened here.
12:32This was just his people reaching out to EA going. He's
12:36not signing this for 600 bucks. You are going to pay him more
12:39money, but instead I have more like you know what sympathy for
12:43a player if he said you know what this is wild. He actually
12:45doesn't want the 600. He wants 50 grand, but you know what I
12:49respect it. He's trying to get as much money as he can, but to
12:51play it off as we're not really worried about this because he's
12:54focused on football. No, he wasn't focused on football. He
12:57was focused on getting more money out of EA just admit it.
13:00We will all think more highly of Arch Manning as opposed to
13:03oh, he doesn't care about anything but on the field.
13:06Meanwhile, his team is maximizing his profit while
13:09they're saying that just come out and admit it. I'm not
13:11signing for 600. I think I'm a star. I want 50 G's, but you
13:14know what I respect that I hate the way they go about business
13:17network. He's not worried about the money until he's worried
13:19about the money, which he only was worried about the money.
13:22How about that? I look like Joe easy doing impressions here.
13:25Oh, you're telling me it was a marketing ploy all along to
13:29make 50K. It's oh my God. I am so shocked my heart could stop
13:35no crap. Of course that is the case for somebody that just his
13:39name alone has the biggest star power in all of college
13:42football. We can live in reality and understand it. I
13:45get bodies. Is he starting to be done less as he's starting
13:48this year? What are we doing? And I will say we're paying
13:5050,000 to get in this game. Then how about that? What's
13:53wrong with this world? I will I will say what I have said if
13:56Arch Manning starts as I said last year if Arch Manning is
14:00the starting quarterback for Texas come the end of the
14:02season. That is bad for the Longhorns. That means Quinn
14:06Ewers has been struggling mightily and for a team that
14:10made the college football playoff last year in its first
14:13year in the SEC booked with the second best price to win the
14:17conference title. If it is Arch Manning at a certain point and
14:21not due to injury that is bad in Austin.