Broken Clipboard Episode 7

The hosts of the podcast, "The Broken Clipboard," are back after a two-week break. They discuss the use of music and visualization as part of their pre-game routines in sports. They mention specific songs that pump them up and get them in the right mindset. They also talk about a motivational book they read every morning. The conversation then shifts to whether Dak Prescott is a legitimate MVP candidate in the NFL. One host argues that he is not based on his past performance and the overall success of the Dallas Cowboys. They compare him to other quarterbacks who are considered stronger contenders for the MVP title. The discussion concludes with a comparison between Dak Prescott and Joe Flacco. Welcome back, everybody, to the Broken Clipboard with Nolan and Ashby. Sorry for not being on the last couple of weeks. Me and Ashby have been extremely busy the last two weeks, but we're back, and we're going to be greater than ever. I think we're going to start off with some, we're going to talk about some NFL college football and some UFC and probably some other shit that we come up with along the way. The first thing off is, Ashby, I was on the drive down to Butte, and we were playing a football game, and I'm sitting there with my headphones, and I'm thinking, man, I got this music that I played in my ears, and I'm like, this is like a tradition for me. I'm going to play certain songs. Do you have, Ashby, songs that you have to listen to or something like a genre or something you have to listen to before your athletic events that you've played in your life? I remember when I was younger, when I was younger, I definitely did. Going, thinking about it now, not nearly as much. I know a lot of people, it's a mentality thing, and they use music to get into that right mind space, but mine is just, it's a visualization exercise. I mainly, when I step on the field and I'm ready, you're going over what's going to make you successful. Going through and saying, okay, this is what I have to do, and in order for me to do that, to be the best that I can, I have to go through my mechanics. When I was playing lacrosse, that was when you were getting into your drills, that's when you're starting to do your breakdowns, that's when you're starting to work on your passing, your long toss, everything like that, and then just lock in. Right now, no, but if I had to pick a song that would pump me up, Down With The Sickness was a big song for me, just to get the blood flowing. That's a great song. I would say that's probably one of my honorable mention songs. I don't know. I have this tradition, kind of like you, the mentality thing. The way I get into my mentality is like, I mean, I don't know. My mentality is like, okay, we're getting, I'm already ready, there's not much I got to worry about. I just got to be me a little bit. I know that if I, you know, that the past week I prepared a ton for this game, or however long I've been preparing for that game. It's more of my time, I think, I'm a thinker, and then I'm like, I'm listening to music, and I just, I visualize a little bit, but then I also like, the music kind of gets me into that headspace where I'm like, dude, I got some big dick energy right now. Like, I'm going to walk off this bus, like, I'm ready to roll, like, my nuts are dragging on the goddamn pavement when I get off this bus. So like, I don't know. But my three songs I have to listen to before every game, or anything I've ever like done I listen to Childish Gambino's Bonfire. Then I go to DMX's I Just Don't Give It To Ya. And then some Rihanna, and I think it's Jay-Z, Run This Town. Like, I don't know, it was a pretty awesome feeling riding into Butte on this past Thursday, and we're pulling in, and I'm playing Run This Town in my earbuds. I'm like, fuck, I'm ready to roll. I'm ready to go deliver some pain, man. I mean, yeah, all those songs are really good, too. I just, yeah, I guess a lot of it is depending on how you visualize stuff. And for some people it's music, some people it's... I've heard of people doing motivational speeches. That's something that I've heard. Then some people, you know, they just get there and they walk in right away. So, I mean... Yeah, you know, one thing I do every morning, regardless if it's a game day or not, is I have this book, and it's by Lewis Corrales, I think his last name is. I kind of think that off the top of my head. But it literally is like 365 days of motivation, and he was a strength and conditioning coach at Georgia Tech. And everybody that's listening has probably seen at some point him speaking to players on ESPN, because they've definitely posted it. He's super great at motivational stuff like that when it comes to coaches, players, and leaders. And every morning I read the little excerpt that he puts together in his book. So, if anyone out there is interested in a decent motivational book or a really good one, I would recommend that. It's called Firelighters. But on to the next segment. Zach Prescott, is he a legitimate MVP candidate, Ashby? In my eyes, I say wholeheartedly, absolutely not. No. No way in my mind do I see him. We're talking about a guy that last season had a career high in interceptions, and overall watching him, he struggled as a whole with completing passes. I mean, obviously you're playing against the best defenses to play the game, but there's 31 other starting quarterbacks that didn't have that problem. Zach Prescott did not look good last year. And with him coming out and saying, oh, everything's changed, I'm not going to throw as many interceptions, and I'm going to be the best version of myself, and I think I'm going to have an MVP campaign, and then everybody else being like, oh yeah, Zach Prescott's really going to show the world this year. There's not too many guys that can make a turnaround like that. And just looking over Zach Prescott's career, to me he doesn't strike me as that kind of guy. I mean, if we were talking about a type of player, like if Josh Allen or Joe Burrow or Patrick Mahomes had their worst season, and they ended up throwing as many interceptions, I would think, oh yeah, those are the types of guys that could automatically turn it around next season. But in Dak's case, yeah, he threw a couple more interceptions than he had in the past, but he's never really stood out as a Joe Burrow or a Josh Allen type quarterback, if we're talking about this era. Or even if you want to go about it as guys in the past, he's never been a guy like a Drew Brees or a Brett Favre or anything like that, where even with a season of struggling, they've always been able to bounce back. I think the big thing we have to remember, too, is he plays for the fucking Cowboys, and one of the Cowboys won anything lately. It's been like 30 years since they've won a Super Bowl. I think that's important to note. Yeah, it's important to note that, because you look at the roster the last 20, 30 years, how many of those, on paper, those teams look insane. You've got insane players across the board. You have 22 dudes that are considered probably top 15 in their positions that they play across the board. There's a lot of dudes. I think Dak, when he's been really good, has benefited a lot from those guys being really, really good. I also think, though, that... I mean... A good majority of Dak's career, he's played in the NFC league. Only the last... I mean, there's been two years, a couple years, where the Eagles have been really, really good, leaps and bounds better than the Cowboys. The year that they won the fucking Super Bowl and last year, not for the Eagles. Every other year of Dak's career, the Cowboys were the best team in the NFC East and didn't get it done. They didn't win the division, or they lost in the last game and didn't make the playoffs. And if I remember correctly, even if they made the playoffs, it was an early exit. Exactly. They haven't... So, with that being said, I don't consider Dak an MVP candidate because, A, I think that he struggles to put... You have to be a good team. You look at teams or guys that have won the MVP in recent years, and you're like, OK, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, yada, yada, yada. All these guys that, in the last couple years, that have had MVP light seasons are guys that have also had 11, 12-plus win seasons. I just don't see the Cowboys winning more than 11 games this year. I really don't. They haven't done it in the past, or in the last 10 years. I think they did it a few years ago. But, I mean, I just don't think this team is as talented as that team that did win 13 games or whatever it was a couple years ago. And I think they've had an overhaul. They don't have Zeke anymore. They have Pollard. Pollard's been hurt. They have Hughes Vaughn now. He's a rookie. You never know how rookies are going to pan out. They still have their, you know, one of the best offensive linemen in the league is holding out. Obviously, you have Dax. We'll get into it a little bit later. They kind of created probably a little bit of a quarterback controversy as well. Their defense is really good. The best part of the Cowboys right now is their defense. It's about the only way they win games right now because Dad Prescott is not that good of a quarterback, and I think he's an overrated quarterback. Like, I mean, the one thing that really gets the Cowboys in trouble is, like, is that, like, it doesn't seem like their offense can score enough to help out the defense. Yeah. And in big games. Now, like, you're talking, like, division games, they definitely do it because they're playing the fucking Giants and the Commanders, and neither of those teams are super great. And honestly, with the NFC being the way it is, they probably should make the playoffs. Will they? I don't know. But I don't think he's an MVP candidate. The other part of that, too, is you're going to put him over Joe Burrow. You're going to put him over Aaron Rodgers. You're going to put him over Patrick McCombs. You're going to put him over Josh Allen. You're going to put him over... I mean, there's a ton of guys you could put ahead of him, and you won't get a... Like, nobody's going to fight you on it. If you put Aaron Rodgers ahead of Dak Prescott in the MVP race, nobody's going to fight you about it. Same with Joe Burrow, same with Josh Allen, same with Patrick Rodgers. So, no. Short answer, no. He's not an MVP candidate. Sticking with the NFL, though... Can I throw something out before we transition? For sure. You know, Dak Prescott really reminds me of Joe Flacco. And Joe Flacco, yes, he has a Super Bowl, but you've got to take a look. That team that the Ravens have when they won a Super Bowl, Joe Flacco wasn't the main piece there. That defense was stellar, and he had a lot of tools around him. The way that I see that is, like, you talk about that era of quarterbacks, back when Joe Flacco was in his prime, you're talking Phillip Rivers, Aaron Rodgers, you're talking Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees. Did I say Joe Flacco as being one of the top elite guys there? No. I think that's a solid point. I think if you're... In my brain, I think that if you were to take the two eras of quarterbacks, the one now and then the one that Flacco played in, I think that Flacco is better than what Dak was. And I actually would... The only reason I think that is because you mentioned that Super Bowl run for the Ravens. If you go back and look, the defense gave up 20-plus points in almost every one of their playoff games for the Ravens that year, and Joe Flacco was able to outscore them all with subpar weapons. So you don't see Dak doing that. I was going to... When you started down that road, before you said Joe Flacco, I was going to actually compare him to another Cowboys quarterback in Tony Romo. That too, I mean... And Tony Romo never won a Super Bowl and never had any playoff success in big games. So I think it's more... In my opinion, I think he's more of a Tom... Tony Romo role than he is a Joe Flacco, but I mean, they're close. Well, I was kind of just thinking more along the lines of how much hype... I remember growing up, and Joe Flacco had quite a bit of hype, especially after that Super Bowl. And in my opinion, he never really... I don't think Joe Flacco was an elite quarterback, though. Huh? Joe Flacco's never been an elite quarterback. He's been a... He's one of those quarterbacks you say, like, you can win with that quarterback, but you can't be your best player. It's the same thing with Dak. I think we're saying the same thing. Yeah, I... Yeah, that's exactly what we are. We're on the same page. And ultimately, like Joe Flacco, I don't see Dak Prescott being an MVP. No. Moving on, though, to... We're going to stay in the NFL. We're going to talk about Jonathan Taylor and a little bit of Chris Jones. There's a little bit of overlap, but... But Jonathan Taylor is on the puff list now. They were... He requested a trade from the Colts, and now... And we've talked in previous episodes about Jonathan Taylor's whole thing, but it came out that it's probably not... The trade is not going to happen because, A, the Colts asked way too much, and now he's on the puff list. He's going to miss at least the first four games. What does the future for Jonathan Taylor hold, and what does the future, I guess, for the Colts hold a little bit? Well, so when I was watching Good Morning Football and some of ESPN First Take, earlier this week, they had given Jonathan Taylor 48 hours to go find a team. So they opened up, allowed him to go call around, see if anybody wants him, which I'm sure there was... They had, what'd they say, four offers, and one trade that tried to go through but got denied by the Colts kind of like you were saying, the Colts want a lot for him. But ultimately, I don't know that there's going to be a deal made. I think, in the grand scheme of things, I don't think Jonathan Taylor will play very much if he plays at all for the Colts this season. I don't know. It's one of those things where I know we've talked about it in the past, but even though Jonathan Taylor's young, he's at a position that you can be replaced. I mean, it's always the next guy up. And, you know, who's to say that one of their other running backs that they have right now doesn't end up rushing for, you know, I won't say a thousand yards because that's a tough task, but anywhere between 850 and 950, you know? Yeah, 850. I mean, anything over 700 in the NFL is fucking good, though. And, I mean, honestly, I couldn't name you who the fuck they're going to play because I know Naeem Haq... Naeem Haq. No, he plays for the Bills. My bad. The Moss kid, Zach Moss, got hurt. I don't know if he's back quite yet. So I don't know. They might be down to their third string running back at least for the first four games or so. And, like, I don't know. I mean, I couldn't tell you who their third string dude is, and honestly, like... I don't think I'm agreeing with you. I don't think that there's going to be a deal done. I think they asked way too much. I think that if I'm Miami and I get off and they wanted Jalen Waddell in return for fucking Jonathan Taylor, I'm packing up my suitcase and walking out that goddamn room so I'm not handing over Jalen Waddell for a running back because, obviously, receivers have a little bit longer shelf life than running backs do. And, like, I don't know. Like, the one thing that, like, you and me have talked about in regards to, like, Dalvin's hook is that, you know, when he was on the field, he was fucking insane. Yeah. But he was injury-prone at times. And, I mean, that's the same thing with Jonathan Taylor. Do you think back on the couple years that Jonathan Taylor's played in the league? Like, when he's been on the field, he's been pretty fucking good. When he hasn't been because he's been hurt? Well, obviously, he hasn't been there. And he didn't play a good portion of last season because he was hurt. So, A, you play a position that is very, you know, you're a very replaceable commodity, but also, at the same time, like, you can't stay on the fucking field. Yeah. So, I mean, so, essentially, you got two minuses on you already. Like, there's two strikes, like, I mean, one more strike, you're out, man. Yeah. So, I mean, I think that a deal doesn't get done, which doesn't surprise me, wouldn't surprise me at all. And, honestly, I think this is a rebuilding year anyway for the fucking Colts because they're going to be bad. I mean, honestly, kind of like we talked about a few weeks ago, I think the only plus side about the Colts, at least in my opinion, I think Anthony Richardson and hopefully building off of him will be a plus side in my eyes. But, obviously, you have another opinion about that, but that's my take anyway. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to move on, though, to talk about Chris Jones from the Chiefs. You know, I'm a sucker for trenches play. You know, my guy's a D lineman for the Chiefs. I hate the fucking Chiefs with a burning passion. I'm not super a big Chris Jones fan. But, I mean, he's made plays and he's helped them win Super Bowls and he's probably been that best player on their defense for at least the last couple of years. So, I mean, I think he's worth the money he's asking for. He plays a position that, like, he isn't playing a fucking running back. I think that he should get his money. The main reason they can't pay him is because, obviously, they have to find weapons to put around Mahomes and re-sign Kelsey and, you know, have to keep kicking the can down the road a little bit with Mahomes' salary. But, I mean, he deserves his money and, honestly, if the Chiefs don't give it to him, then he should go find somewhere else to play. And he did say that, at this point, he's willing to hold out until the later weeks of the season. Like, anywhere between 8 to 10. Like, he wants to work out a deal, because he wants to stay in Kansas City, but I agree with you. If they aren't going to pay you and, you know, it's that late in the season, I'd go look. Yeah, I mean, that's the kind of stuff, like, that and Jonathan Taylor is kind of stuff that, like, is really toxic for locker rooms. Like, I mean, you even look back, or you look in, like, the NBA last season, with, you know, the Warriors and Jordan Poole and Draymond, and there was beef over fucking contracts in the locker room, and they did not look very good last year. I mean, that's just stuff that's toxic and ruins locker rooms and, you know, essentially brings teams down and doesn't bring them to their top level. Chiefs are a great team, regardless of what I think of them. But, I mean, honestly, like, I don't – and this is the other thing, too, is if I am Chris Jones, I don't want to sit out. It's one of those things, like, how many players off the top of your head can you think have sat out and been a really good player after that? Not many. I don't even know if there is one, if I can think of. And I know a lot of football. I don't know. I'm not a big fan of players holding out, but I also am a big fan of – but I am also a big fan that players need to get their mind at their work because, like, I mean, they play a game that's one of the most violent games, you know, to play in the world. There's a few that rival it, but there's very few that are obviously more violent than it. And, like, I don't know. You're not guaranteed the next day in the sport. So you should definitely – so, like, you need your money. If you want those guarantees, like, you're going to get paid because, who knows, you might end up, you know, one play, you step wrong, you fall down, and you take a shot to the back, and you can't walk ever again. Like, that's a – like, and then you can't – and then you're going to have a hard time finding a job because a lot of – it's going to require you to be on your feet. And, I mean, then you're going to struggle, and you have all these medical bills to pay for. So, like, it's really important that players get their money because it's – you know, they need to. And it's also – I just want to see Chris Jones play. He's a fucking great player. Yeah. I mean, I don't really have anything else on it. I hope that he figures it out. He deserves to be paid. He has been a staple on that defense, like you said. So, I don't know. I hope that he can get the deal done. The Chiefs can figure it out. Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm going to move on to our next topic. And, you know, it's a sad day for a bunch of NFL players this past Tuesday. It was cut day. They cut down – NFL teams cut their rosters down from, like, 90 dudes to 53. So, you think about that. There's 32 teams that – in the NFL, and they cut about 40-ish players, give or take. That's almost 120-something players that are either unemployed now or, you know, or signing practice squad deals and not getting an opportunity to play a game in the NFL. They make a living. So, you know, we're going to talk about some surprising cuts that happened. I have really one for me. I'm not – I wasn't super, you know, super informed on the cuts. But one that I thought, you know, relating to the Bengals was Trent Taylor, who led the league last year in, like, the most 20-yard, like, punt and kick returns and actually was a pretty decent, like, other option at receiver for the Bengals. Obviously, he wasn't a big name, but kind of sad to see him go. They didn't – weren't able to bring him back on a practice squad. But they got some other rookies that are going to be decent. So, but I'll miss Trent. I love playing with Trent and Matt, too. So, I'll miss Trent. That was kind of my surprising one. I didn't think you'd pick that, though. Yeah. I have five, all which signed to either their practice squad or to another practice squad. But one of the big ones that stood out to me has got to be Bailey Zappi not making the final roster for the Patriots. He signed to the practice squad. I mean, he's still in that vicinity, still with the Patriots. But him not making the active roster kind of shocked me a little bit. Another one, Melvin Gordon got cut from the Ravens. Kind of one of those things where, you know, good guy in college, then he came to the league and he kind of been average, bounced around from team to team, turned into kind of a journeyman running back. Dwayne McBride, with the depth that the Vikings have at running back, they ended up cutting him, but they signed him back to the practice squad, which is good. And then focusing on the Rams a little bit, and as you guys know, us being from Montana, and me personally going to Montana State, followed some of those guys. But Daniel Hardy and Lance McCutcheon also got cut from the Rams. Daniel Hardy had a good, I would say an overall pretty good preseason, but ultimately they have depth at end, the Rams do. So he ended up getting the boot, but he signed with the Bears practice squad. Then Lance McCutcheon kind of shocked me a little bit, seeing as last year, not last year, but between last preseason and this preseason, he became one of their preseason leaders all time in reception yards and touchdowns in the preseason. Which, I mean, as a team you're hoping that that converts over to the regular season if you keep him on, but they ended up cutting him and the Texans picked him up on their practice squad. So those are my five surprise cuts in my eyes. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I don't really, the Bailey Zappi one's kind of interesting because I was, once he brought it up, I was like, oh yeah, light bulb kind of moment, like, oh yeah, I forgot about that. But the interesting about the Zappi situation is, like, they also cut the Malik Cunningham kid that they also drafted that played receiver and quarterback, or running back and quarterback for him. I forget what his second position was. They played him at, like, two different spots this preseason. When they cut Bailey Zappi and him, they had one quarterback in the foster, and it was Mack Jones. I'm like, I don't know if that's safe. You better hope that Bailey Zappi doesn't go claimed. Because, I mean, he started a few games last season for the Patriots. So interesting move. I kind of was like, what the fuck is Bill Belichick doing a little bit when that happened? But, obviously, they brought Zappi back on their practice squad, so that's good. So, speaking of surprise cuts, Joe Burrow – oh, wait, no, Joe Burrow didn't get cut. Total joke. Joe Burrow returned to the Bengals' practice this week, and without a calf sleeve. So, I'm excited as a Bengals fan that Joe Burrow is back out there. He gets about a week and a half to prepare, get some chemistry with the newer receivers, and kind of regain some chemistry a little bit with the guys that have been there for the last couple years. I'm excited for this season, man. It's going to be a good season. We're going to need him right away, though, because they play two hard divisional opponents right away in the Ravens and the Browns. So, yeah, I'm excited to see it, though. Yeah, glad to see he's back and in the facility working again. But, you know, after hearing about how severe it was when he went down before preseason started, I kind of knew that he'd be pretty close, if not 100 percent, by week one. So, glad to see that he's back. Even though I'm a Vikings fan, I always root for the Bengals and really am a huge Joe Burrow fan. Yes. Yeah, it's really good that he's back. So, yeah, I mean, there's not much to really hit on that. But, I mean, I wanted to make sure that everybody knew that, listen, Joe Burrow is fucking back. So we're going to move on to some college football now. We're going to talk some games first, big games at the FBS level, and then we'll kind of just work our way down. So, Ashby, give us a rundown on the Minnesota versus Nebraska game. So, Matt Rule, the new head coach of Nebraska, had his first game against Minnesota. Minnesota going into that game had won five of the last six years that they played in TCF Bank. Glad to see that, as a Gophers fan, that the Gophers end up coming out on top. The final was 13-10. And Nebraska led that game all the way into late in the fourth quarter. Minnesota ended up scoring a touchdown, which was insane. There was two opportunities for the wide receiver that ended up making the catch. Two opportunities that he had. And the first one, he didn't have possession while his feet were down and was completely parallel with the ground, like three feet off the ground, when he finally had control. Ended up getting overturned. It was out of bounds. And then the next play on fourth and 10, they decided to go deep again. That time he kept his toe down. Tied the game late in the fourth. And then Nebraska had, I don't know what they were doing, but ended up turning the ball over. Minnesota walked down and three seconds left. Their kicker nailed a 47-yarder, I think, or 57-yarder, something like that. Ended up winning the game. One of those games where it's definitely week one. We'll just put it that way. Both teams, it's definitely week one. A lot of mistakes. But don't count Nebraska out, I think. Overall, Nebraska is going to be a team to watch this season in the Big Ten. They're kind of going to be a little bit of a sleeper. And I really like the way that Matt Rule runs his program. He's definitely a motivational guy. And he pushes his guys to work harder. And they all want to be there. They want to be in that type of environment, which is cool to see. But I think Nebraska can definitely be a team that they may not win at all, but they could definitely be a team that gives Penn State or Ohio State a jab. You know, late season, as everybody's trying to push for the playoffs, Nebraska could be that team to pull the rug out from somebody. Yeah. Matt, I'm a big Matt Rule fan. He was a shitty coach in the NFL, but you look at his track record at the college level with Temple and Baylor. I mean, he turned those programs around into decent winning programs while he was there. I don't think it's going to be this first year that he's going to do it at Nebraska. But I do think that Matt Rule will be the guy that gets – if Nebraska comes back and is kind of back on the national scene, it's going to be because of Matt Rule, I think. Like you were saying, Matt Rule is a very motivational coach. If any of our listeners are interested in Matt Rule, I think you should go look up some of his coaching clinic talks and or there was a practice where he had like the starting offense go up and was like, okay, if you're a senior this year, walk off the field. And there was like four dudes that were left on the field. And he's like – and he stops and tells everybody else, like, hey, there's seven positions open. You might not play right now, like right this season. But next season, man, this could be your spot. So what you do in practice is like today matters for next season when you push for that starting spot or even later in the year. So I'm a big Matt Rule fan. I think that he'll be good though. Nebraska, I don't know, I always like watching Minnesota play because they always have interesting helmets and interesting uniforms. I never thought that, you know, kind of that maroonish red color and yellow would look good together. But it does when they do it. And, I mean, Minnesota has been good for a decent year, a couple of decent years recently. They've been relevant in the Big Ten with P.J. Fleck. And it was a decent game. And like you said, it was week one. That's what the thing is, is that you'll find out, like everybody that's listening will know, will figure it out, that week one is so shitty football. Like it's so bad. It's so bad. Week one football is rough, even in the NFL. You watch a year like this, it's kind of fucking hard to watch, mainly because you're still kind of trying to iron out some chemistry and some kinks. A lot of week one is bad football. And that will apply to something we talk about later a little bit. But, yeah, that's kind of my two cents on it. I didn't watch the game. No, I think you did. Yeah, I got to watch the fourth quarter. I played Thursday, so I was a little preoccupied with my own stuff going on, which we'll also talk about later. But, yeah, I mean, it's always good to watch Big Ten football. I mean, it's one of my favorite things to do. But moving on to our next game that has not yet been played at the FBS level, is actually the next two, is Colorado TCU and then LSU Florida State tomorrow Sunday. So the Colorado TCU game is going on currently as we're speaking. It is 11.30 in Montana. So that game is going on currently. We'll see how Deion Sanders' coaching style does at the FBS level here today, especially going up against a team that, even though they got blown out in the championship, is a championship-caliber team. I know they lost a few guys to the NFL this year, but, I mean, you know how they say iron sharpens iron. Yeah, and they're currently winning right now, too. It's 14-7 with about five minutes left in the second. So, yeah, we'll see how that game goes. I think, let me look at my notes. I think I have TCU winning that game, but the points margin is not going to be a blow. I think it will be close, within three to seven points, I think. Yeah, I honestly, after looking at the score, I think that I've kind of swayed my mind a little bit. I honestly thought that TCU was going to probably beat them by two or so touchdowns. I honestly think that Colorado is going to win right now. I don't know. I just have this kind of feeling in my gut. I also, I don't know, I'm kind of impressed right now also with Colorado because I was like, I remember talking with some other guys the other day, and I was like, we were talking about Colorado, and I was like, honestly, I see them going four and eight. They've got a tough schedule this year. I don't know if they'll win this TCU game or the USC or Utah or Oregon. I mean, just going down the list, I mean, they have a really hard schedule. But, I don't know, I'm a big fan of Deion Sanders as a coach. I probably like him just as or maybe even more than Matt Rule. You look at Deion Sanders, like when he's been coaching, he's been really, really good. His teams have been really good. They've been really disciplined. And Deion Sanders is one of those coaches that, like, he's going to call it like he sees it. He's going to tell you. He's one of the most probably outstanding coaches out there because he's going to tell you what he's doing, and he's truthful about it. Like, when there was everything that was going on with, like, the transfer portal and, you know, guys leaving, he literally told them at the beginning when he first got introduced to the team, like, I'm bringing my own team. So, if you want to play here, you're going to have to show me some shit. And so, I mean, I think that's really admirable on a coach that he's like, hey, I'm going to be up front with you guys. Like, I mean, we still want you here, but, like, at the same time, like, you've got to earn it. And he's really that old school kind of coach. So, I'm a big fan of Deion Sanders. I hope he does really, really well at Colorado. I also think that if he does well at Colorado, I think some of the bigger schools are going to call him in. But I think that Deion does better at, you know, I think Deion's going to be a really good coach for training programs. That's the kind of guy. I don't know if he'll ever win anything big, but he'll definitely have teams that are going to be there each week. And I hope he beats DCU there. Yeah. I also think DCU's a little gutted from last year's National Championship run. Now they just don't have Duggan or that receiver anymore. And they don't have, like, Tomlinson-Hodges anymore either. Like, I don't know. I mean, we'll see. Maybe after this podcast, we'll turn on the game and take a little look-see. Then we have LSU, FSU. So, Florida State and LSU. That game's tomorrow, you said? Yeah, that's on. I have LSU winning that game. And I think they'll win by at least 14. Yeah. LSU's going to be good. I don't know. It's kind of weird, because, like, all last season, LSU, I don't know, for me, was under the radar. Like, they got to, like, I think number six in the final poll. And I was like, what the fuck? Like, I didn't even know that they were even that good this year. And honestly, they have Brian Kelly. Brian Kelly's a pretty damn good coach. So, I'm interested to see how they do. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. So, I'm interested to see how they do. I really hope that – I would imagine that LSU wins, just because, you know, I tend to play favorites when – depending on which conference you play in. Like, I will probably always say an SEC team will always beat any – probably any other conference. And then I'll be wrong, because, you know, obviously nobody – you know, it's not just, like, you know, a consistent thing that, you know, an SEC team beats, you know, a Big Ten team. And Big Ten's a little bit different. I think those are more closer. But, like, SEC-Big Ten, like, I'm like, there's a good chance that if you gave me, like – if you said Alabama and Oregon, like, who's going to win? I'm probably going to say Alabama. And that's, you know – or LSU-Oregon. I'll probably go LSU. Like, most of the times you give me an SEC school in another conference that isn't the Big Ten, I'm probably going to say the SEC wins. Fair enough. A couple other notable games in FBS. Boise State-Washington seems like it would be a good game. Personally, I have Washington winning that game as much as I like Boise State. I don't know what you have for that guy. I think Boise State pulls out a win. Next game, which was the Home Depot College Game Day location this week, North Carolina-South Carolina, who you got? Ah, fuck. I know who I want to pick and I know who I should pick. I fucking love what South Carolina does with their fucking hype and media team. I'm going to fucking say South Carolina because I want to see some more Beamer ball, baby. But I know that probably North Carolina is going to win. I like North Carolina in that game. But overall, that's going to be such a tough game. Like, that'll be a fun game to watch. Rivalry game, always going to be butt and heads. Hopefully tensions don't boil over, but who knows. And then another game that kind of I would say under the radar unless you follow either of the teams, Penn State-West Virginia. Honestly, I think Penn State wins by, like, three touchdowns. But, like, there's a fucking alternate universe, or maybe it's this universe, where fucking West Virginia, you know, somehow figures it out. Because every few years, West Virginia has a year where they're like, what the fuck is going on in the Big 12 of West Virginia? And they're scoring a fuck ton. And so, I mean, West Virginia might sneak up, could sneak up and bite them, but I think that it's more realistic that fucking Penn State beats them by three touchdowns. Fair enough. I want West Virginia to win that game just because it is Penn State. But, overall, I bet you Penn State wins, and it's probably two or three touchdowns. Yeah. Yeah, I would agree with that one. Any other big notable games this weekend that you remember off the top of your head or that you have in your notes? Not in FBS, but I think we'll jump into FCS, but more notably, Big Sky Conference, because we follow that one a little bit more, you and I. So, just going to roll through the list of games in the FCS. Start with the games that have already been played. Yeah, so Sacramento State played Nichols State. Sac State won 38-24. UC Davis played Texas A&M Commerce, won 48-10. Idaho played Lamar, 42-17 for their win. Northern Colorado actually lost to Abilene Christian, and they got bodied, 31-11. Then we go to Weber State versus Central Washington. Weber State won 35-10. And then upcoming games today, we have my school, Montana State, playing Utah Tech in our Gold Rush game. We have Butler, Montana at Montana. Portland State versus Oregon. Eastern Washington versus NDSU. Cal Poly versus San Diego. Northern Arizona versus Arizona. And Idaho State versus San Diego State. Kind of go through game by game here of the games that are yet to be played and just see who we think we pick. So, let's go Montana State, Utah Tech. Well, I mean, Montana State's the number three team ranked in the country. They returned a decent amount of players from last year's team. Have a game. Both, they're really good quarterbacks left. I think I'd be a fucking fool not to pick fucking Montana State, especially in Bozeman. So, I think I'm going to go both. I miss you on that one. Like I said, I go to school there, and I will be at that game tonight at 6 o'clock. So, if I don't pick Montana State, then I'm crazy. But in my mind, Montana State by 21 or more. I think Montana State wins that one pretty handily. Yeah, I'm going to go. I was thinking probably 28 or so. But, yeah, I think we're in the same ballpark on that one. Butler, Montana at Montana. Personally, I think Montana wins that game. Montana State played Butler last year and beat them pretty handily. I don't think there was too much turnover for them. And Montana, it'll depend on their quarterback situation. But, ultimately, I think Montana wins that game. I mean, I talked about how the SEC, I would pick a majority of teams, or a majority of their games to go their way. I think Big Sky is pretty similar in the SEC, maybe outside of, you know, we'll get to one game where I don't know if you can say that, but I think it's the Missouri Valley Conference they play in. A majority of those, but the majority of the Big Sky games, you would assume go the way the Big Sky school. Montana is a fucking blue blood, essentially, in FCS football. They're going to be good. I mean, they're always really good. Montana should probably win that game. And, honestly, I think it's going to be 30-plus points they win by. Yeah. Rolling right along, we got Portland State versus the University of Oregon. Things might get better. I'm just kidding. Obviously, Oregon there. I think this is the dial-up game for Oregon, that they're paying Portland State to go over there. Yeah. I mean, Portland State's not a super big – Oregon State – not Oregon State. Portland State is, like, not very good in the Big Sky. Nope. Oregon is really good in the FCS. But that's – fuck. We all know Oregon's going to win that game. It's going to be – I honestly think that might be, like, 49-nothing, 56-nothing. That's going to be 40-plus points. Yeah. I think – so for our next game, eastern Washington, North Dakota State, I think this will be a good game, but I'm going to have to go with the reigning national champs. I got to NDSU. Well – It pains me to say it, too. They're not the reigning champs. That was South Dakota State, by the way. No, I'm talking about the last – they've won – let's see here. They won it, like, two years ago, yes. Two years ago, three years ago. One of the powerhouses of FCS. Yeah. Shit. Fuck. I'm going to go eastern Washington. Really? Okay. I don't know. I mean, really good. But I wish all my – I wish the best to all the eastern Washington guys that I know. So I'm going to go eastern Washington. Next game we've got Cal Poly San Diego. It's going to be a close game, I think. I think Cal Poly wins, but, yeah, I agree, close game. Yeah, I think Cal Poly scrapes a win. Northern Arizona versus Arizona. Arizona is going to win that game again. How good is Northern Arizona this year? That's the real question. If Northern Arizona is good this year, I could totally see Northern Arizona win this fucking game. Like, honestly, like, Arizona has not been good at the FCS level the last couple years. Like, fuck. I mean, I could see Northern Arizona beat – if there is one game that's like FCS versus FBS, like, that the FCS team wins this year or this week, my pick would be the Northern Arizona over Arizona game. I'm going to go Northern Arizona over Arizona this week. Okay. I talked myself into it. So our last game from the Big Sky Conference, Idaho State, San Diego State. San Diego State, 100%. Yeah, I'm taking San Diego State there as well. That's pretty – I think it will be a pretty handled situation over there. Yeah, it should be a – that will be a – I'm actually looking forward to this evening turning on the Cats and the Utah Tech game. For anyone who doesn't know, Utah Tech used to be Dixie State. Now it's Utah Tech. But, yeah, I think that's going to be a fun game to watch. I love watching football, especially Montana football. So any football in the state of Montana I like to watch. So I'm excited to watch that game. I know some players on Montana State's roster. I also know some players on Montana's roster. I probably helped recruit a few – try and help recruit a few of them, but I've never ever probably succeeded with those guys. But, yeah, so that will be a fun one to watch, though. And I'll probably turn on the Montana game too at some point today. Also talking about watching Montana games, we'll go to a Montana heavy conference at NAIA. Let's talk a little frontier action, shall we? Yes, we shall. So for our listeners who don't know, I am a – I am on the staff at Carroll College, which is in Helena, Montana. So I am very well familiar with the state of Montana when it comes to football. I am also very heavily entrenched in the Frontier Conference. I've been there for six years now. So I know some shit about the Frontier Conference. But I will keep my takes fairly not hot and try and provide no bulletin board material. So let's get into it. So first things first, I see congratulations is in order for your team. Carroll beat Tech on Thursday, 21-19, which I did watch online. And might I say, that was a nail-biter. That one came down right to the end, like those games should. And remind me, that was the preseason 15 versus 16 seed in the nation? Yeah, Carroll was 15, Frank, and Tech was 16. So that ended up being a good game. Like I said, Carroll came out on top, 21-19, and that was Thursday. Upcoming games for today, we have Southern Oregon versus College of Idaho. Rocky versus Northern. And Western versus Eastern Oregon. And Arizona Christian has a bye this weekend. Yeah, yeah. Great, man. It's fun to watch some of this football that's played in the Frontier Conference. I mean, it's also a ton of fun. You look at, like, you look at what teams are in this conference. You have, let's see, there's one, two, three, four, five that play in the state of Montana of the nine that are in this conference. And then there's, you know, two in Oregon and one in Idaho. And then we recently just added one from Arizona. And, I mean, it just adds to the cachet of the conference of adding Arizona Christian. They won their division last year. They made the playoff last year, played the number one team in the country in Hortonside, and played them pretty tough down in Sioux City, Iowa. They're pretty damn good. It's going to be a fun one. We're excited to have them coming up to Helena this year. And they should just help out or make the conference even better than it already is. It's a great conference. Great, great, great college football conference. It's one of the most historic conferences in NAIA. I believe there are seven national championships amongst the nine teams. To be fair, though, six of those have been won by one school and the other by Southern Oregon. If you don't know who's won the six, it's Carroll College. I mean, let's be honest that overall the Frontier Conference is pretty much like a Big Sky or an SEC-type caliber conference in NAIA football. It's really competitive top to bottom, and it's always fun to watch. Yes, it is. And the one thing that now we're going away from it this season, but in the last five years that I've been here is that what they do is they have two sides to the conference. Obviously, you have your College of Idaho, your Southern, and your Eastern side. And then you have, obviously, there's five teams in Montana. So you have to balance it out so that essentially it's four and four. So every year before this year, because it's changed, one of the five Montana teams would end up being switched out into the Eastern, Southern, and College of Idaho pod. And you would end up playing those teams twice a season while the other side played the other three teams that are those teams play each other twice. And, man, it's hard when you play a team twice, like just once. When you play three teams twice in this conference, man, you beat the piss out of each other. We always say, oh, man, it's hard to beat someone a second time, like I just said, but try it three times. It's fucking even more difficult. It's hard. And kind of going back to the heck carol game from Thursday, I mean, with the new schedule, Arizona Christian coming in, every team but Arizona Christian will place one of the other teams in the conference twice. So Arizona Christian doesn't do it. We're looking to add more teams, though, to the frontier, which I don't know anything about that. I've heard other stories, rumors. But, like, Carol, for example, plays Tech twice. One counts as a non-conference game, which was this past Thursday, and the other counts as a conference game. Like Rocky will play Northern twice, and I would assume that all these games that are being played right now would be the team that they play twice. So I think Western plays EOU twice, and Southern plays College of Idaho twice. But that's the only time you'd play someone twice. Now you just play them once a season. But going back to that Carol game, I guess I was going to, since we played Tech twice, I mean, it's going to be in Helena, like, the second week of November. And if you've ever been to a Tech-Carol game, I mean, it isn't a cat-griz game, but it's a fucking pretty similar atmosphere, man. 5,000 fans for NAIA football is already close to the equivalent of 27 fans for 1,000 fans for the fucking cat-griz game. It's fucking wild, man, especially down in Butte. Great atmosphere, man. It's one of the funnest atmospheres you'll ever experience in a Tech-Carol game, Carol-Tech game. I've been fortunate to have seen five of them. We didn't play them in the spring season, but we're playing the sixth time in November, and I'm looking forward to it. It'll be a fun one. It'll be an awesome atmosphere as well there, too. But great teams all across the conference. Tech's a great team. Everybody's great. Absolutely. Just as a courtesy, we probably won't go through wins and losses for the frontier just because we have to keep biased, especially with a coach on the podcast. So, overall, tough conference. It's going to be fun to watch this year, especially outside looking in. But we'll move on. I know... I'm going to add one more thing, too, to that. Go ahead. This conference also has three ranked teams nationally, and two of them also receiving votes. So, College of Idaho was 12, Carol was 15, and Tech was 16. So, it's a pretty tough conference, like you were just saying. But we'll move on to the next segment of our show. So, three weeks ago, when we had our last podcast, we had to talk about a certain UFC fight that was going to happen that weekend. And we were talking about a certain somebody who is also from Montana. And Nolan is in Helena, like we said. And I ventured my way over to Helena, and we went and watched the Sean O'Malley versus Aljermaine Sterling fight in Sean's hometown of Helena, Montana. Man, that was crazy. That place almost erupted. Almost erupted. It erupted. It wasn't an almost. It was an eruption. Let's just say Sean O'Malley won via knockout second round, right? In a five-round fight for the title in the Bantamweight division. That place was not quiet at all. It almost sucked. It's one thing to win if it's all five rounds and become out victorious, whether it's unanimous or split. But it's another thing to win via knockout. And Sean... Early in the fight, too. Early in the fight. And Sean, he capitalized on his opportunity. Excuse me. I appreciated how humble Aljermaine Sterling was after the fight. I have a suspicion that we'll see that fight again. Oh, yeah. I see Aljermaine using the champion rematch, and we're going to see Aljermaine Sterling versus Sean O'Malley, too. But ultimately, Aljermaine Sterling, he openly said, he was like, you know, I made a mistake. I decided to be a little too aggressive. I lunged in, tried to take a shot, and Sean O'Malley slipped it, caught him with a right. I stumbled and fell, and, you know. He also said that, in his opinion, it maybe was called a little early, but it wasn't. I mean, if you went back and watched the fight, he was down and his head was bouncing off the mat quite a few times, and Sean O'Malley had full control. And ultimately, Aljermaine said, he's like, I'm not going to make any excuses because I got caught. I was not in the right head space. I lunged. He caught me. Sean O'Malley is a champion now, first one from Montana. And it was a fight to watch in my book. And like you were saying, it's definitely going to be a part two in my eyes. Yeah. I mean, the cool thing about that fight is, like you said, we were both, you know, you ventured up here. We went out. We watched the fight. When Sterling fell, man, oh, baby, did that place erupt. Everybody was standing up. You're hearing, no, no, let's go. Like, just, it was flipping out. Like, everybody knew. Everybody knew that that was, as soon as Sterling fell to the mat, uh-oh, this is over. This is not going to last. Sean O'Malley is the champion. Everyone knew as soon as he fell, it was match, it was fight over. And I just want to point out, neither one of those guys came out cut up or any big bruises, anything like that. Both guys came out. It was a good fight, and it ultimately came down to one guy being too eager to try and get something going and one guy with a perfect counter strike that led to him winning. So, congrats to Sean, if you're listening. But excited for you. Man, I would have paid the pay-per-view to watch that fight. And just in, like, 20-20 hindsight, I would have paid however much the pay-per-view was for it. But as we both know, you and me have a track record of when we buy fucking pay-per-views and work together, the fight lasts like 10 seconds. Yeah, I've done that one too many times where an $80, $90 pay-per-view is over half the time because everybody else. What was kind of interesting is the rest of that card, they all went deep into theirs, too. The only two true finishes were Whaley in the fight before who completely had control. That was insane. Personally, the only time that I've ever seen multiple, if not just one, a true 10-8 round in MMA history, in my eyes. I mean, you talk about a 10-8 decision in a round, and that's, you're talking about somebody that absolutely controlled every inch of the round and was on top and basically everything but a knockout. Whaley did that. Round one and two, there was no give. Yeah, that was also a really good fight. I mean, not from the sense that all fighters were fucking just kicking the shit out of each other. No, it was just fucking complete dominance. That is one of the most dominant performances I've ever seen in any sport, regardless of what the sport was. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that was impressive. But, yeah, that was insane. Shit, that was a fun time getting to watch those fights. I cannot wait for the Sean O'Malley Sterling to fight. That'd be good. That'd be a good fight. Oh, yeah. I think we're going to hit our last topic for the day, which we've kind of started to make a staple when we were wrapping up. Let's hit our Get Better for the week. Nolan, do you want to start us off? Yeah. So, as we all know around here, for the listeners, I fucking have a thing for offensive lines on my Get Better segment. Well, I'm not doing it this week. I'm not doing it this week. Blindside me, okay. But my Get Better is the fucking person that's interrupted the Ted Carroll game who was flying a fucking drone overhead. The rest of the fucking game to get the person that was flying the drone to watch the game to stop flying the drone. Fuck, just pay for a fucking ticket. It's $15 fucking dollars. Jesus Christ, get fucking better. We waited for 15 minutes for him to fucking clear the drone out. That's my Get Better. So, my Get Better, well, first off, I've got to touch on yours. That's insane. I know I've been hurt for cash in the past and I've wanted to watch a game, but it's never been that bad. I was sitting there. I was like, what the fuck is going on? And the rep's like, yeah, that's a fucking drone. That's good. Frontier conference rules. I was like, well, I didn't. First off, I'm a blind motherfucker who cannot see shit, and drones are very small and they look like fucking little specks flying in the sky and I can't see them. I had no idea there was a drone up there, and I was like, what the fuck is going on? Why aren't we playing? There's no time-outs. There's no media time-outs. What the fuck is going on? And the rep's like, oh, yeah, there's a drone and all that. And I was like, oh, shit. So, I'm thinking, well, the reason we can't use our drones when we film practice, because we've tried to film games with our drones that we have at Carroll, but the conference won't let us. So, I knew that rule. I just didn't know there was a fucking drone that was flying around. So, crazy shit, man. I, fuck. Literally, like, just pay the fucking $15 or just have said in the tailgate. Is it really that hard? So, my get better is the only touchdown that Nebraska scored against Minnesota. So, your average play is, what, six or seven seconds? I mean, it's six seconds. You would hope it's six seconds. Yeah. This play was, like, 20 seconds long. And Minnesota's defense is my get better. Because they collapsed and left one guy wide open for a lateral. And then, because he was still behind the line, he was able to get the throwoff. And it was a wide open throw. The receiver was wide open in the end zone. And Minnesota was like, oh, we forgot how to play football. And I was like, come on. So, Minnesota's defense, if a play lasts longer than six seconds, get better. Please. That hurt me. Yeah. Fuck. That's bad. Oh, shit. Well, thank you all for listening. Again, hit us up on social media, Twitter, Instagram. Our e-mail is on, I believe, both of those. If you have anything that you would love us to talk about or try and BS our way through, you know, e-mail us. We will hit it in our next episode after you e-mail us. Again, thank you for listening. And we apologize for not being dropped in the episode the last two weeks. But we will be better and we will be back. Yeah, that's the get better for us. Get better, Ashby. Get better, Nolan. Fuck. Yeah. First week of school, first week of games, everything was really crazy. I'm back to working again, finally. So that's on us. We will work on getting better, getting back to some normalcy. And, yeah, thank you guys for listening. This was episode seven of the Broken Clipboard.