00:00But after listening to that, and I don't know how closely you followed that, what were your kind of big
00:05takeaways from it?
00:06I tend to listen to Urban Meyer and Nick Saban. I think for most of the time that I've covered
00:12college football at Sporting News, those two have been not the loudest voices, but the most influential voices in the
00:19sport.
00:19I think that's one way to put it. Urban, you know, had some pointed comments on NIL, and I think
00:24he said what I thought it was going to be when it started.
00:27It was you go do a commercial for the local car dealership. You go, you know, do something for Chipotle
00:35and maybe get free burritos, that kind of thing.
00:37And not just free burritos, but you get compensated for it. It has become, as Urban said, pay to play.
00:44And that's what the sport is dealing with. It was like they made a rule, and this wasn't the intention
00:50of that rule, even if the intentions were good.
00:52Same with the transfer portal. I think Nick Saban talked a lot about the portal and NIL and how that's
00:58worked hand in hand, and you have inducements and those kind of things.
01:00And some college football fans might roll their eyes and say, well, what were you, you know, you just got
01:06out because you couldn't handle it with Nick Saban.
01:08But, I mean, like I said, those are the two voices in the sport that I've respected because they've won
01:13at a high level.
01:14They're both outstanding in the studio, and I think they have the right kind of ideas for the future of
01:19the sport.
01:19It's not like Urban Meyer. When's the last time he coached college football? It was when he left Ohio State.
01:24Yeah, that's wild. It's been – because this will be Ryan's eighth year.
01:28So, yeah, it'll be eight years since he has coached college football, which time goes really quickly.
01:32It's amazing that it has been that long, Bill.
01:35And so were you encouraged generally by that? I mean, people said, I think, all the right things.
01:40There was some agreement with it and agreeance with it, and it sounded like things were maybe pushing forward,
01:45that there might actually be some political intervention, which I think is what everybody was hoping for.
01:49Yeah, and I think there will on some level, and then you've got to get the four power conferences to
01:54come together
01:55and work together and not work – conferences are always going to work in their self-interest first.
02:00And then can we get that unified? We always hear about a college football commissioner.
02:04I'm not sure that's realistic, even though it's probably something they should do.
02:09And one of the other areas of concern I have for college sports, and it's timely because it's March,
02:14which is the gambling aspect of it.
02:16You know, at what point is that going to impact the game?
02:19You've had a couple scandals in the last couple years on the basketball end.
02:23You know, you wonder if there will be a couple on the football side.
02:25These are college kids, and that is a huge concern for me.
02:29You saw it with the Iowa and Iowa State players a few years ago.
02:32I mean, how do we legislate that?
02:34I mean, it can be legislated because these apps, they're on them.
02:37And if you're caught, you're caught.
02:39And that goes to integrity of the game.
02:41That's why the NFL and Major League Baseball, when they have a scandal like that,
02:45that's why the player gets such a harsh suspension because you don't want it to go to the integrity of
02:50the game.
02:51I do think that's a long-term concern for me.
02:53Yeah, I don't think – I can't really think of any off the top of my head.
02:56You said Iowa, Iowa State.
02:58I kind of remember that a little bit, but are there any other issues that you see down the line
03:03that can really impact this?
03:04Because right now it's sort of just random problems that are just popping up,
03:07and people are just now realizing that this is an issue that could go on for a long period of
03:11time.
03:12So is there anything else down the line that you could see impacting college sports like as a whole?
03:15Well, I mean, Steele, you obviously played college football not that long ago, and I think it's the calendar.
03:22I think it's the calendar.
03:23Like, at what point – and I think I've asked Bobby this one before – at what point did it
03:27feel like you guys were basically pros in college
03:29because of the demands of what you need to do to play football at a high level for a place
03:34like Ohio State or Alabama or Georgia?
03:37You know, the calendar, because it's become longer.
03:40You know, now I think it goes a little under the radar that a college football player starts whenever you
03:45guys start fall camp,
03:46and you could theoretically play through January 20th.
03:49You know, and that's not accounting the spring football.
03:52So it is a year-round job for student-athletes, and like I said, Steele, I think you were during
03:58the four-team era.
03:59Now, like, so it was wrapped up around, what, January 9th.
04:02Now you're tacking on two more weeks to that.
04:04You guys had to be tired by the end of the season.
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