🚨 2 BIG CONFERENCES?! 🚨 Close to an ‘UPRISING’ in College Football? 🤯 | The Matt Barrie Show

it is another edition of the Matt Berry show here on the ESPN college football YouTube channel hope everyone had a good weekend hope everyone's having a good start to their week I I'm particularly excited about today's show for a couple of reasons one reunited with a great Paul Finebaum which was going to make everybody happy part two as we sit here August 2nd it is officially the month where college football begins and we are a month away to the day from the First full Saturday of the college football season so we continue to count down and get closer so let's bring in Paul feinbaum a month away from the start of the Season Paul I hate wishing away summer but man here we are yeah you start to to dread it at one point but Matt now now that we're here uh I'm not wishing it away anymore in fact I wish it was already here coming this weekend but we can we can survive three more weeks three more weeks until basically our weekends go away to the greatest sport on the planet I want to start with one of the major story lines uh in the college football world today just when you thought realignment was over realignment rears its ugly head again last week Colorado who did virtually nothing in the Pac-12 has decided to leave the Pac-12 in just about a decade after they left the Big 12 to return to that League and Paul now what you have is we've seen it look we know how this is going to end up there's a trickle down effect when one team leaves another team gets interested said team will have to be connected to their state school a la USC UCLA TV rights deal isn't exactly the greatest deal on on the books and now who knows what's going to happen in this conference with this latest news yeah and and Matt I mean but before we even finished uh doing this it something could change so we say that at the front end but it's easy to pile on the pactful well for all the mistakes that Larry Scott made prior and and looks like George clear conference making now but it doesn't you know there just simply doesn't appear to be a path for them to to be relevant in the way that they have been or probably will be this year when when they're still at full strengths and I I just kind of had to laugh yesterday when I heard that the best they could do was Apple which by the way there's nothing to sneeze at with apple however the idea that you're going to your Presidents and saying listen here's what we have but if we get a bunch of people signed up you'll get that that's not how you sell extremely intelligent people especially uh you know many of them in their 50s 60s even 70s who don't really understand uh you know what Apple TV and streaming is all about even though they can have it explained a thousand times these are people that walk in their house flip on their cable and expect to see their school on ESPN or Fox and when that doesn't happen they they get nervous and that's why Colorado is gone and that's why we may see more yeah and that's just it I think you hit on it there perfectly because linear TV is still a thing regardless of what suits at every television network are telling you linear TV is still a thing now I'm not saying clay of cough hasn't looked ahead to where it's eventually probably headed and he might be a few years ahead of something that's brilliant but as of right now the age group that you just mentioned with these League presidents and what you and I do for a living and what we know sells during the college football season it's flipping on linear TV to watch college football you can't you can't sit to these PR by the way you've already lost it's a USC League it always has been it always will be you've already lost that so to come to the room with something that might be five years early is not the way to go about this I think this Spooks too many people where I would be stunned if Arizona Arizona State and Utah didn't find their way out over the big 12. those three schools should leave they should leave immediately Matt because trusting this plan is foolhardy and and by the way uh this is this is not something that they came up with over the weekend uh this is something this guy has been working on for months and then and and then telling people hey it's going to get better well nothing he has said has has come out true and by the way I'm not blaming him entirely no uh Larry Scott the previous commissioner turned down a deal with ESPN that would look very good right now but it didn't look good to him at the time because he he was thinking big things uh so he's got I mean clayakov can only do uh he can only get partners that agree and and the big networks have already moved on um and that's why I I agree with you completely Matt and if these three don't move on quickly they're making a big mistake what what else is there to hear I mean they waited uh for weeks now while Colorado finally decided they couldn't wait any longer to hear this presentation and we both know because you've got far closer and better sources to these schools right now than I do that it didn't go over very well and it shouldn't have gone over very well and and I happen to know a lot about Apple uh I have interviewed and spent time uh considerable time with with Tim Cook who was the CEO and chairman of Apple who happens to be an Auburn fan right and graduate and a big football fan and he's not somebody you you sneeze at he's the most powerful uh CEO probably in the whole world right now but that doesn't make it this plan any better uh it's this would be a good second or third tier plan but not a primary plan and when you look at and here's where I think the biggest problem for the Pac-12 is first of all it's a conference it's been around since 1900 the Pacific Coast Conference has been such a good conference for sports throughout time be it in football most notably basketball Olympic sports it dominates in Olympic sports and oh by the way academically it's a pretty damn good conference problem is now when you're trying to sell this neighborhood of properties your most valuable football property has moved to another neighborhood USC you can't you can't sell the Pacific Coast Conference without USC they're your most valuable entity and I know Oregon's flashy and they're with Nike and they've got a good thing going and it's all Grandeur up there in Eugene they're not a USC brand Washington's not a brand Washington's good they're not a USC they're not a UCLA and so trying to sell a network with what's left over of your property without USC and UCLA is going to be difficult that's part one part two if you're Arizona State Arizona Utah and you're looking around it's like well wait a second do I still want to hang around for San Diego State Boise State or whoever would be a glorified Mountain West Arizona as much as I dislike Arizona because of that helmet right there Arizona is a power in college basketball and you put them in the Big 12 with Baylor in Kansas everybody in between that's a good League Arizona state has always been a good baseball program and as a football team that can I mean this is Utah's the defend two-time defending Pac-12 champion I mean the big 12 overnight if they grabbed these three schools would be you could argue maybe a step ahead of the ACC and John we're taping this one at 1006 a.m on Wednesday this could up all be irrelevant by Friday and Matt what you just said there is striking because even without those three but with those three the ACC is suddenly the conference in trouble and you know we can talk about that in a minute but because I have some pretty strong opinions about where they are and how they got there but it doesn't make sense for these three I mean and by the way Utah Arizona and Arizona state they're not as big it's not that big of a stretch for them to be in the in the in the big 12. uh they're I mean they're not exactly neighbors but it's it's not like USC and Rutgers uh it's not that big a deal I mean it's in at least it's in this that part of the country right I mean they're they're they're not three time zones away and those are all quality uh even in football you you're not going to sneeze at Utah coming to your place or or even the other two have have had enough moments and the pressure then on Oregon Washington would be immense because that's not a league they want to get stuck in either and I I don't think they have too many options unless the Big Ten just says you know what we're going to uh We're Going For Broke here we're bringing in a couple of more and then hope to keep uh the pressure everywhere else but we are we are at a Tipping Point in call college football today uh that we haven't seen in a long time we've seen we've seen incremental change incremental I mean come on Oklahoma Texas USC UCLA but this this is this is even uh this isn't bigger in splashner but it could be more important because this is literally burying a league uh I I don't I I know people say okay enough of the hyperbole I said the other day the big with you that the the Pac-12 is is is dead it's you know give it last right I'm not kidding uh I mean that's not an exaggeration I say things sometimes for shock for fun that that is the truth I mean this league is is dying uh and anyone who wants to hang around for the funeral good luck but uh you're not going to have any word nobody's going to be seeing you in the future if you want to stay there no and it's the conference that I grew up in I grew up in Arizona this is the league that I grew up watching and loving it really is sad when you see what's coming but it isn't hard it's not hard we're not capologist here in football realignment doctors what we are is realists and we've seen where this sport is headed to see this league little by little get pecked away where it's going to be to the point where it's absolutely nothing is certainly on the horizon which is why I believe the ACC needs to be careful because as we sit here today Paul I am convinced of it I don't know anything I haven't talked to anybody I just know how this stuff has gone over the past five years there's a team in a school like Florida State who would be really really entertained by Ace or SEC expansion or leaving the conference to form their Florida State to me is one of the teams that host schools that holds the cards to the future of the ACC now I believe there are at least four schools in the ACC who have had conversations serious extensive conversations going okay what is the bottom line number it would it will take us to get out of here that I believe at least four maybe more want out of the ACC today and there's nothing left for the ACC to do they are stuck in a long-term deal it's with ESPN it's the deal they wanted to have their own conference Network and I'm so happy that the ACC network is alive and well we're all cheering for it however uh it is not was it worth uh mortgaging the League's future until the 20th the mid-2030s and and right now uh we're talking about massive numbers 100 million plus but I but I think there's I think some of those schools are looking around and going you know what it doesn't matter we have to find a way out and why do they want out is it money it is money on one hand but it's also recruiting uh ACC coaches are having to recruit against the SEC right now and they're losing uh even the even the best and I'm not talking about you can you can throw up hey where they got this guy or that great I'm talking about day in day out they're eating and they have no chance and and they're hearing it from players players want to be and here you know people say well here it goes qualify involvement what no players want to be in the big leagues the big tension is a super conference the the SEC is a super conference and if you're looking at North Carolina or Florida State or Clemson or Miami and you have the choice uh and the money isn't that is the money's not going to stop you you're probably going to want to play in the SEC over the ACC you are definitely going to want to and and Clemson wants out you know that Matt uh I I think North Carolina wants out uh Miami probably is looking elsewhere and the SEC is not the only place uh the big tens of factor here too especially for a school like North Carolina yeah and and you know academics with North Carolina Miami certainly an academic institution it's a private school uh but when you look at when you look at the big picture Florida State Long dominated that League forever under Bobby Bowden Miami we know the U that's a football power Clemson's this decades football power in the ACC and when you start coming for a school's money well when you start coming for the one money revenue generated the school has and it's starting to be attacked which football conferences are what is the first thing those School presidents are going to do well wait a second Mike Clemson football team makes this school a hell of a lot of money Miami football whether the academics want to admit it or not the U is known for football we've already touched on Florida State North Carolina dual branded with Jordan Brandon and basketball has certainly been their calling carpet Mack Brown at least has the football program with the pulse when you start coming after those Revenue centers people are gonna freak out and they're going to start looking to protect themselves and that's why you could go back Paul to probably a show we did last year a sports center that we did over the last few years what have we long said college football is headed for two two big conferences maybe with the big 12-3 talk about 60 schools overall that are going to compete and break away from the NCAA and do their own thing and as each day passes in each rumor and each Board of Regents meeting goes we are one day closer to this becoming a reality yeah and and listen personal feelings aside Jim Phillips is in a real pickle he's a commissioner of of the ACC and you know he can say he said what you have to say but I'm not sure how much credibility he he had last week at the ACC meetings Matt uh or two weeks ago when when he's when he tried to calm the waters down I mean he's being attacked on two fronts he was the at Northwestern as well and you know he is close to an uprising uh there and I mean he nearly had it at the spring meetings and then he got he got everybody in a room and they saw him come by ah and but nobody believes it nobody believes that that league is is heading in the right direction and I don't have the solution and by the way it's not my problem uh but there are a lot of factors involved here and you know don't be surprised one day to to read that okay you know X school has figured out it will cost 143 million dollars to get out and they're willing they're willing to do it and you know litigation could follow a million things could follow but at some point uh there are you know Clemson and Florida State are very valuable Commodities uh North Carolina and Miami very valuable Commodities uh I asked an ACC Insider the other day so assuming they lost someone or even if they don't where do they go to expand you've heard the names West Virginia that's a school that they passed on 10 12 years ago yeah I mean I'm not I'm not looking for anybody to to you know to get mad at me in in West Virginia but what do they offer uh the SEC said no to West Virginia and and the problem is you know the ACC schools don't want to be in the same room with West Virginia from an academic standpoint yeah and look in West Virginia had to grab onto what they could they grabbed onto the Big 12 which if you talk to anybody within the Big 12 or at West Virginia the travel is hell for them based on where they are in West Virginia relative to some of the schools they have to play in the Big 12 and I think travel concerns went out the window when you we we joke around the big UCLA Rutgers and big USC Rutgers game in the Big Ten but it's where we are in in the state of college football that's off the field on the field August 2nd as I mentioned one month to the First full Saturday of college football but one day to the day August 2nd Alabama reports to Camp Auburn reports to Camp Texas A M reports to Camp I believe LSU's August 3rd so Paul let's start with auburn I want to start with with Hugh freeze year one at Auburn they report to camp today give me one big storyline as it relates to Auburn as they embark on he frees his first Camp well the quarterback race is interesting but to me Matt the quarter uh the biggest storyline has been off the field and last week and I hate to be that guy to talk recruiting I know you don't want to hear it either but it's a fact that they flip two five stars yeah one from Georgia one from Alabama uh that's a big deal Auburn hasn't flipped a player from those two schools away from those two schools in a long time and they not only have a pulse I mean they have a heartbeat and they have momentum and and Hugh freeze is out there now and and he's he's he he's creating a lot of issues for schools and you know what what is what is it going to look like on the field I don't think it's going to be great I mean why should it be uh he inherited a pretty bad mess he's gotten some good transfers in there Peyton's storm comes over from what Michigan Bobby Ashford uh is that oh those two quarterbacks are going to get anyone excited probably not but uh he's got an option at least uh and you know in the SEC as in another number of leagues Matt you have three or four games that are 50 50 jump balls and if you you might steal one you might not but if you steal one or two suddenly you look like you're having a good record and what what he freeze has done is create momentum and that's the most important thing that's it what do I say all the time about college football one of the biggest uh keys to success within the sport is belief and if you have something or someone that makes your school your alumni and your team believe well you're on your way and that's what Hugh does he does that in the fact that he didn't he did get the guys to flip which is a huge get for Auburn because recruiting is where college football fans live and breathe because they know that's the future but the other thing Paul he's one of the rare Commodities in the league that has beaten Nick Saban and he beat him twice and so when you just put that belief in your head coach's office like that guy beat Nick Saban at Ole Miss two years in a row he can't help but come back to a league where he left in shame and he'll admit that but he can't help but come back to a league to a school and say you know what not only have I beat Nick Saban but I'm coming to the other half of the Iron Bowl with facilities with resources and with the belief that we can take down a guy who let's be honest is probably at the tail end of his career and and that's a reality um and yeah I hate to wax poetic but I remember at the beginning of my career uh another Auburn coach flipped a player away from Bear Bryant and suddenly we started going I wonder is this a moment in time that we're going to go back to and to me that's what last week reminded me of uh Saban is is on short time I mean come on uh he Nick it came out in a publication today in in Palm Beach Matt Nick Saban spent 17.5 million dollars buying a home on Jupiter Island his neighbors Tiger Woods oh yeah I'm familiar with the area you know you know the dream we got a place in West Palm I know exactly where they're at so I mean I'm I'm just asking my my friends in Alabama if your head coach just dropped 17 and a half mil for that's not is that a weekend home Matt I don't think so uh he's by the way he's already got a a weekend home uh in Florida uh on the other on the other coast he's got a uh lake house in Georgia I mean that to me sounds like a retirement home I don't know am I crazy I don't I don't have a home in Florida do you understand that a little Cal but that that's what it sounds like to me um and and maybe 17 and a half million is not a lot of money to Nick Saban but that that really is is pretty remarkable uh and I I think you know he is I don't know when he's we're going to retire but uh he'll if you freeze will be in Auburn after Nick Saban's at Alabama I can Mark I can mark that one down pretty easily you know and when it comes to Nick and you know you talk to him at SEC media days I had him on SportsCenter with me and you know I had asked him how his off-season life work work life balance has changed throughout the years and he got into that about how he understands now it's important for his coach and staff to be around his family which I think is all well and good because he has learned that you can still win by not putting in 24 7 and burning out your entire coaching staff but for me for Saban and I want to get into the story lines going into Alabama's camp in just a minute but when you look at Nick Saban holistically and how college football and I want to bring in college basketball for this conversation has changed coaches because the legends of the game Roy Williams Jim behind uh even our guy at Villanova Jay Wright these are Coach K these are coaches that were legends that outwardly said Paul man I can't keep up nowadays I can't keep up with the portal and the nil and everything that goes into being a successful college coach I'm not saying Nick Saban doesn't have the resources the brain and the want to to deal with all the portal and everything in between but this is not Nick Saban's college football from a decade ago no and and the signs are there uh you know I have Alabama friends who who never criticize Nick Saban but they say the reason we meaning Alabama didn't win the last two years and and by the way they came in second and fifth or coaching uh and all the criticism goes to the coordinators Bill O'Brien and Pete Golding but he he had an offensive line coach he used to be a head coach in the NFL who uh he got rid of last year and uh yeah there there's so much blame to go around uh and you want you just have to wonder uh I mean I I don't know Matt I mean we all see things differently but you know he's he's going to Italy he's getting he's partaking in a Ferrari dealership he's buying a uh nearly a 20 million dollar uh beach home I mean these sounds like it's not like a guy who may have discovered life after all these years and and uh you know maybe the most important thing isn't winning his eighth National Championship yeah and look when we were on SportsCenter we were looking at his golf swing and he was mad that we were showing the video of how bad his golf swing was at the time I'll tell you what investing 18 million dollars in a home near Tiger Woods Justin Thomas Dustin Johnson Brooks kepca Donald your golf swing in a minute when you sit next to those guys but story lines coming into Alabama's camera look last year going into the into the season will Anderson Jr Bryce young noted as the two best players with their respective positions in college football couldn't get it done big picture National Championship I believe Alabama has a number of story lines coming into this Camp most notably in a long time quarterback I thought Jalen milro was a creative player type player who was physically imposed I mean you just look at him like that kid plays quarterback I still believe there's a place for him in the offense but you know that they had a transfer come in from Notre Dame along with Tommy Reese to me Tyler Buckner Jim and milro Tommy Reese is the biggest storyline for Alabama as they start camp today on August 2nd it has to be and you know we'll try not to use too much deductive logic here but Nick Saban hires Tommy Reese first thing Tommy Reese does he brings along his quarterback Tyler Buckner who by the way loses the job to Sam Hartman but I'm not sure that's any shame I mean Apartments record Setter right uh so I I have I have people that argue uh Ty Simpson Buckner Buckner seems more likely uh and what you said about Mill Road is 100 correct he will maybe start the first game but but I think I think I think Alabama looked at him as somebody who can be situational and and be a factor uh he's a phenomenal athlete he can do a lot of things uh you know is he is he a starting quarterback I doubt it yeah and and we like talking transfer portal here um and Nick Saban has done it the past couple of years within the transfer portal Jamir Gibbs transfer Porter from Georgia Tech ended up being a first round pick in the NFL uh Burton the receiver from Georgia transferred in didn't quite do as much to think Alabama fans at hopes but here we go Paul another year in the transfer portal and Tyler Buckner could be the key to Alabama's postseason success so Saban using the portal to bring in who could be his starting quarterback which you know five years ago that would seem hilarious based on the lineage of quarterbacks he's trotted through there from to uh I know Jalen hurt started his career they ended up transferring to Oklahoma Mac Jones in history and this was a guy who was prideful on building from within with his recruits and now we're seeing for a second consecutive year someone in the portal coming in having a big say in what goes on there yeah and some people I'm sure saying how did Saban end up with this and the problem was that he had you know he had so many great quarterbacks in a row and and Bryce young uh you know could have stayed another year of course we all laugh um but he he he went out and recruited a couple of guys and you know they didn't quite pan out and then he went out and got a five star in Ty Simpson and he's a freshman uh so he really got caught uh you know what what does it cost him this year it could uh but he's got a lot of debt but one thing about Alabama though uh it's an interesting schedule but there's enormous Talent on this team yes and that you know we don't don't read too much into what they lost uh if they can figure out the quarterback situation quickly and I mean like immediately then they they need to they they have a favorable home schedule they have a favorable schedule with their two toughest games excuse me there are three toughest games at home Texas LSU and Tennessee and here's what we know when it comes down to coaching Alabama's going to find their way into this one uh as they always do the Texas one for me that's to me Alabama Texas if you look at all the games across the schedule this year Paul Alabama Texas week two week two is that correct is my in my schedule memorization week two Alabama Texas that's the biggest game on the college football slate and it's not even close because for me it's a Tipping Point game for Alabama with what do they have coming back and it sure as hell is a Tipping Point for Steve sarkeesian in Texas because they have been picked to win the Big 12 they have the talent coming back and if they can get by that one with a win you seriously have to consider Texas a college football playoff Contender for me that's the game of the season and it's not even close yeah and some would argue hey well did you did you miss LSU Florida State no we didn't miss that game but both those schools have other problems ahead that's right Florida state has Clemson very quickly LSU has has a monster schedule uh including a road game in Alabama at Mississippi State very early on games that people go really but the SEC on the road in this is is a precarious play so I I agree with you on that Matt and if Texas wins an Alabama quarterbacks don't play well then you have a problem because you can't fix a quarterback situation in the middle of the season the only problem we have currently is we are still a month away from the start of the season but Camp starting today uh we're a month away from the first college football Saturday so we are getting close as we get you revved up for the 2023 college football season of all time wow I just butchered a name at the end for Paul feinbaum I'm Matt Berry thanks for watching the Matt Berry show here on the ESPN college football YouTube channel thanks for watching ESPN on YouTube for live streaming Sports and premium content subscribe to ESPN Plus

Channel: ESPN College Football

Views: 70,275

Keywords: college football espn, espn college football, college football, college football on espn, espn, cfb, college football 2023, the matt barrie show, matt barrie show, pac-12, big ten, sec, SEC football, uga football, alabama crimson tide, alabama football, nick saban, hugh freeze, acc, clemson football, paul finebaum, matt barrie espn, matt barrie and paul finebaum, matt barrie paul finebaum, finebaum, alabama nick saban, nick saban speech, Pac-12, transfer portal

Id: UV7qOHYH7Ao

Length: 29min 33sec (1773 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 02 2023