00:00Looking at the teams, was there a noticeable difference size-wise?
00:03I mean, we talked about how the Miami's O-line was so big,
00:06how they have these big-time recruits,
00:08and Indiana was a little bit of like the old Hickory Indiana Hoosiers
00:11out there getting it done.
00:13Did it have that feel to it when you're on the field with them?
00:16Well, I mean, yes and no.
00:18I think the offensive line and defensive line, yes.
00:22I mean, Miami's massive offensive line.
00:24You know, Francis Malagoa, Markel Brown, these huge tackles,
00:29and Indiana was able to fill the gaps on defense despite all that.
00:33And then, you know, Reuben Bain is superhuman.
00:37I thought in most of the spots you just kind of caught yourself watching him
00:40and how he disrupted plays and, again, set up the big run by Mendoza
00:45where, you know, Mesador and Bain kind of overran the play a little bit
00:49or by design, and that happened.
00:52But, you know, Indiana's defensive backs did not allow much separation
00:56throughout much of the night other than a couple plays to Malachi Toney.
01:00They made the play.
01:00Their receivers made big plays.
01:02Charlie Becker in the clutch.
01:04So it did have a little bit of that feel size-wise,
01:07but execution-wise, Indiana did what they did all season,
01:11and they made the big plays in the big moments.
01:13And Kurt Cignetti, got to give him credit for this team.
01:17It was unbelievable.
01:17I mean, Bill, he did something that no one's ever seen done really before.
01:23I know it's new rules.
01:24There's a lot of things we'll get into about how that all looks.
01:27Is this a template?
01:29Do you think this can be replicated at other places?
01:32I'm not sure because I think Cignetti's the center of it
01:35in his talent evaluation.
01:37Like you can say, we'll do what Indiana did, but do you have Kurt Cignetti?
01:41Do you have that guy that was able to get all the James Madison guys
01:45and work a roster full where the starting lineup averaged 2.5 stars
01:51and 4.3 years of experience?
01:53Yes, that experience mattered, but I think other teams will try.
01:57You've seen TCU work the portal and get to the championship a couple years ago.
02:01I don't think it's an overall threat to the usual suspects, though.
02:05When you look at early top 25 lists, Ohio State, Texas, and Georgia
02:10are pretty much 1, 2, 3.
02:12Notre Dame and Oregon not far behind.
02:14So I think it's a lot of Cignetti that's responsible for this turnaround
02:20and happen to have really good quarterback play from Fernando Mendoza,
02:24and they'll probably have good quarterback play from Josh Hoover next year.
02:27So I don't think Indiana's going away,
02:29but I don't think it's easy to replicate what they're doing.
02:31So one of the interesting things when we go from this 4-team to a 12-team,
02:37get more teams in, flatten the field a little bit,
02:40more pathways to a national championship.
02:42It should help disperse the talent.
02:43Then you add NIL and transfer portal in there with it.
02:47So you saw teams like Ole Miss, first-time team get in.
02:49Miami had never been in, and part of that's due to their ascension.
02:53Ascension, Indiana had never gotten in before.
02:57I mean, Oregon was the only team in the Final Four
02:58that had been in the playoff before and had some measure of success,
03:02and then obviously the group of five teams that got in there
03:05with some of the usual suspects from the Big Ten and SEC.
03:11And Texas Tech obviously got in who had never been in before.
03:15And so we see this.
03:16Do you think that this actually broadened it,
03:19where there'll be more of an NFL-style rotation of teams ultimately getting in,
03:24or does it seem like maybe it broadened it and the rules have changed,
03:27and maybe you get the Indiana's, the Texas Tech's, maybe a Vanderbilt arises,
03:31but it'll kind of be the same pool of like maybe 18 to 20 teams
03:36that you're picking from for the 12 or 16 or whatever it looks like.
03:40Yeah, and if we did Tony Petiti's 2014 model, which I don't want to go to,
03:45Iowa would be a playoff team, for example.
03:48So I don't know if we need to go that deep.
03:49I think we can go between 12 and 16, and then you get that mix of new blood
03:54like Texas Tech, who I also don't think is going away,
03:57and schools like Miami out of the ACC.
04:00But you'll have those usual suspects like Georgia, Ohio State, Notre Dame
04:05will make the field more often than not.
04:07And I do think, Bobby, that we need to go to 16.
04:11It's just logical to me that we go to 16.
04:14That's the final number.
04:16We don't need to go to 24.
04:17Then you get everybody who theoretically should be in will get in.
04:22Will number 17 complain?
04:23Sure.
04:24But then we can have four rounds.
04:26We don't have that layoff.
04:27I think that's one of the biggest hitches in this model right now
04:30is that teams one through four are one and seven in the first two years of it.
04:35Indiana obviously won the national championship,
04:37but even they were rusty in the first quarter against Alabama.
04:40So I do think we need to eliminate that huge layoff between games
04:45for the teams that get the top four seeds.
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