Which College Team Should I Cheer For?

SPEAKER_00 0:01

All right. Ladies and gentlemen, we are back. We we know it's it's always great having having this man on the podcast because his nickname was appointed on this podcast. His um you know, his presence on this podcast has been felt because we've gotten so many people that have come up to us and been like, hey, I started taking college football seriously this year because of the prodigy. And we've even had some people come up to be like come up in our inbox and be like, hey, we're coming from Joel's show. Did you guys really name him? And we said yes, we did. And we're honored to be joined today by the prodigy of college football himself, Joel Norris. How are you doing, Joel?

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Man, that is a that's a good introduction. That's probably the one of the most humbling introductions I have seen since I've been on a show. So I'm appreciative, man. I'm I'm I'm honored. I'm glad that people are watching both of our respective shows, man. And the Red Zone Blitz is awesome. I promote Red Zone Blitz.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Oh, we hear you. We love you, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

And I and I'm thankful that uh I'm the prodigy of college football because it's yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

And we need some merch. We need some merch. The folks need merch. That's what we we do. We need we need some crossover merch where it's the prodigy of college football being appointed his crown. We're gonna have like Nick Saban animated doing it. It can be it can be cool, it can be a nice little thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Or like all of us, like like prodigy like in the middle, and everybody else with the red zone blitz beside us, kind of like kind of deal. That would be pretty cool too. A little crossover, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

We can do a little jersey swap when we meet up this year. We can just do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

100%.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

A little jersey swap between the red zone blitz and uh and then pigskin frenzy. Um, how you been, man? How how are things? Uh it is April. Uh, not a whole lot going on, obviously, in the college football world.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Besides spring, besides spring football, besides spring football. Other than that, man, it's just been really just diving into spring football. I'm doing my spring results right now. So my first phase was spring outlooks, did all that, and now I'm entering my last phase, which is spring results. So I'm evaluating these teams, giving them my honest like grade per se on these teams. Um, I think the best team that I've seen right now uh is probably pre-spoiler, maybe. Is this kind of kind of crazy for a lot of people? If y'all want to cover y'all's ears, y'all can. Uh, if y'all, it's fine, turn away, whatever. Notre Dame. I I think Notre Dame is probably so far probably one of the best I've seen right now on terms of roster because uh they're they're loaded this year, man. And I know their schedule's probably not like probably not it could be it's it's half tough, half not, if that makes sense. There's a lot of tough games on their schedule, and I think SMU, highlighted by SMU, highlighted by Miami, and highlighted by BYU, those three games are tough, but Notre Dame's got the roster that could potentially make that redemption tour a little bit more nice for them.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Who is the guy to watch at running back for him? Because I know they're losing both their both their guys to the draft this year. Who's the who's the guy coming in?

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Uh Anyas Williams. He was there backing both of them up. Uh, he was like RB3. I'm pretty sure he's gonna be RB1 now. Um, he's he's carrying the rock for him, and he's gonna lead that running back room. A lot of people are gonna say, oh, he's not gonna be Jeremiah Love. I don't think anybody's gonna be Jeremiah Love. Just before one of one. Just be one of exactly. Just be just be Anias Williams. That's all you gotta be.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

It's it's tough being the one of one Jeremiah Love. It's tough.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

And and this is also, I know we're not talking about it, but Jeremiah Love is my favorite player in this draft, uh, hands down.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

And the guy that was brought us here today, KK, also his favorite player in the draft. I think if KK couldn't if he he had if he's I think there's a world where he thinks that the the Raiders are gonna take him and just they're just gonna say, you know what, Genty and Love, let's go. Um, but in all seriousness, I agree with you. Jeremiah Love is might be the most talented player in this in this draft.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Honestly, and this is just my take. I don't think the Raiders really need him. I think Genty's good for him. I just think they just need to keep pushing Genty a little bit. They they what they need is an offensive line, a better offensive line and quarterback play. Uh, whether that's with I know Cousins is there now.

SPEAKER_03 4:13

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

But I grew up a Kirk Cousins guy, so I love Kirk Cousins. And then potentially the number one pick will probably be Fernando Mendoza. Oh. So if you if you draft those two guys, that's probably gonna be the future at quarterback. I think just better offensive line play, feeding the ball to Genty Moore and keep getting him going. I think he'll be fine. I think honestly, the Titans, even though they have Pollard and uh Spears still, I believe, right? Titans do. Uh I think the Titans may get him, honestly, and this is an unpopular opinion. A lot of people are gonna, and I know we're not talking about this, but we got into this, but unpopular opinion here. I believe, and this is just me, I believe that if the the Giants take him, he starts over Scataboo.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Oh, a hundred percent. I don't think you're I don't think you're as it's as unpopular as you think it is.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

But it's a popularity contest because everybody loves Cam Scatabo, and I do too. I'm a big Cam Scadaboo guy. Yeah, but I'm gonna tell you this, man. If if it was between Jeremiah Love and Cam Scataboo, I had both of them and I'm looking at both of them. I'm starting Love. Love is more of that superstar, primed, ready running back. Cam Scadaboo is a good back, but I don't know if he is a longevity-wise, a starting NFL running back in terms of just a pure starter, like Jeremiah.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Just the way he runs and the way he the amount of violence he runs with. There are some serious question marks of longevity when it comes to Cam Scattaboo. Which, hey, Giants fans love him. They love the guy, they love Jackson Dart. Both those guys might be out of the league in three years with the way they run with the football.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

So yeah, and and look, I don't like I don't I don't have anything against Cam Scattaboo. I loved him when he was at Arizona State. I still want to see him play and get a lot of of like the the touches with New York this year. I still want him to run the ball well. I just think if you want to talk about a starter primary back, it's Jeremiah Love's there at five. If you're the Giants, there's no way I'm passing up on that. There's no way.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

No, I and I and I agree. I think there's that that's you can't you can't pass up on uh on generational talents like Jeremiah Love. Um bringing you in, and I know people are probably reading this. Um this this is one of those videos and pieces of content I wanted to create that could last a while. So I wanted this to be on the internet in the in the depths of it for a few years, and I want someone to you know look up this video or listen to this podcast on you know auditory platforms and listen to it, fall in love with the college football prodigy, and then go find Pigskin Frenzy. Where can they find your podcast, Joel? Give a let's give a little plug before we dive into the episode.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Man, I'm about to hype it up too, so bear with me on this. Um, yes, sir. Man, all audio platforms Pie Beans, Spotify, Apple. You can sell Amazon Alexa, sorry if it went off in your house. You can just say, hey, Alexa, again, sorry if it went off. Play Pig Skin Frenzy, you know, and it will play the latest episode of Pig Skin Frenzy or any episode of Pig Skin Frenzy for that matter. It's on all audio platforms. Uh, YouTube has been a big focus. Uh, a lot of people that I will admit as a show host, it's like, okay, okay, it's YouTube. No, I'm bringing, I am putting some more emphasis on YouTube. I've been working really hard at that uh and just promoting my YouTube a lot better. The subscriber counts going up. We have a hundred now, now a hundred thousand views on YouTube. And we're so thankful for that. Like I said, grateful for the Lord. We give him all the praise on the show. We give him all the praise on this show and any other show because without him, I wouldn't be doing this. So I'm so thankful for him, and I'm so thankful for those 100,000 views because of him. And not only that, man, we're there. We're on True Voice Digital now, which is a new uh streaming platform uh for inspired faith-based content like myself and for college football. Uh, we're on there, we're also uh we're also on, I believe, because there's a lot of platforms, we're also on uh Samsung devices as well. So you if you have a Samsung device, like there's a Samsung podcast out there, okay, yeah. On there as well. So also, funny thing is, uh, due to the red zone blitz, we're kind of a hit in Canada. So we're a top 100 podcast on the charts in Canada now, which is crazy. So there you go. I just discovered that due to the red zone blitz. So shout out to the red zone blitz and golf platforms.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

No, the north, the north loves you. The north loves you, man.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

The north, it's for the north, uh, like the Toronto Raptors would say. And uh not only that, we're also in the honorable mentions list, still working hard on at the charts, but on the honorable mentions list in the charts in the United States. So that is pretty impressive as well. So we're we're growing, man. And I I'm thankful for it.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

And it's huge, man. I think uh our from our first conversation we ever had to the recording we're doing today, like it's it's insane the growth that both of our like podcasts have seen. And I think it's just uh to creators out there, I think there's gonna be a lot of people that probably listening or a lot of people that are disgruntled or discouraged about like, hey, I don't know if I want to keep going. I'm not getting the views, I'm not getting the likes, you know. And trust me, there will be times where you will think you dropped one of the most fire episodes of all time, and you're like, here we go, ESPN. Um tomorrow morning, it's gonna be the I'm gonna get clipped, and you get like nothing. There's no attraction. And I think in in anything in life, I feel like when you get met with some sort of adversity, it's important to keep going.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Oh, 100%. And and the thing is with show, with just in college football media, like I'm like my me, it's I'm not an overnight success. I don't think anybody's an overnight success. Josh Pate was an overnight success, right? Um, a lot of people are doing the model that he's doing, like me. I'm you know, I'm kind of following the YouTube model as well and following the audio platform betting on myself model, and it's growing and growing and growing with faith and hard work. And I think that is how you do it, and you just keep going. I know it sucks because a lot of people are like this, like you said, discouraged. And you're sitting there and you're like, man, this is just it's not working out, dude. You're also 20 episodes in. You're not gonna be noticed after 20 episodes, yeah. You keep going. Yeah, uh, I'm just now finally getting noticed at, you know, or getting more noticed, right? At around I was around 250. I mean, I'm at 313 now, but yeah, um, 314 will be Tuesday. But I'm just now getting noticed, you know, I got it started getting noticed more around 250. And I started bringing a lot of people on. And I was like around that mark, that's when I finally started getting noticed more. So it's just it's a yes, it could be a discouraging thing, but at the same time, you just gotta keep believing yourself, keep pushing, and just have that faith that it'll work out.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

So a hundred percent, a hundred percent. Now we're gonna dive into. I know people probably like, all right, guys, tell us let us know why we're here. Like, let's go. We're here for a reason. So if you've read the title of this episode, you probably already know. We're gonna help you pick a college football team if you don't already have one. And I you know what, we have a guy on our podcast, KK. He doesn't have a college football team, he doesn't have any allegiances. He's been to a TCU hornfrog game, um, but he has no allegiances to anybody. And we're gonna do a bit on our show, which will come come out in in a little while, where he goes down and does a bracket and does everything. And then I went to searching on the internet and I ran and I found out there's actually a lot of people in that boat that A live somewhere where there's no college football and are big fans of it, um, or big fans of sorry, the NFL, but live somewhere where there's no college football or no football presence, and they want to follow a team and they're unsure of like, hey, which team's the best for me? Um, some people find it very daunting because there are there are so many teams and so many different conferences. And so I was like, you know, why not bring in the prodigy? And why not bring in the prodigy to help us kind of not maybe pick a team, but kind of look at the different things you could look for. Um, I think first and foremost, what makes college football fandom Joel so much more different than NFL fandom?

SPEAKER_02 12:24

I'm gonna do it the best way, I'm gonna explain it the best way I can explain it. I think because NFL fandom is pretty good, right? But I don't know, there's just something different about the atmosphere being on a college campus with a bunch of, and it sounds weird to say this, but like 18 to 24-year-old student section just screaming uh for their schools, right? Their respective schools, being excited, the passion level for it because there's so much passion. Used to be, because now it's more because you have NIL now and everything going on there. But back in the day, especially when I was growing up watching it, it was just straight passion, man. Just passion for the game. NFL was okay, we're gonna go get paid to play, and you know, it's professional football. And it's still there's still an excitement level to watch it. But with college, there's a lot of passion behind it because a lot of these players, I mean, they were probably were getting paid, but paid under the rug. But most of them were not getting paid. They were, it was it's like college basketball a little bit. Like uh, you know, there's some going to the NBA, but there's some seniors who are playing college basketball for their last time, and then they're gonna go get a job somewhere, right? Yeah, it was that was what college football was growing up for me. Like a lot of these guys probably wasn't gonna make it to the NFL, but they were on their last leg in college football, but yeah, they were gonna go out there and make the most of it. And that's why fans appreciated it so much growing up. The passion and the excitement level of it. Um, there's just nothing really to me like college football. I think that that's what made college football a little bit different from the NFL back in the day. Now, today it could be a little bit different. The passion level's still there, but it's still kind of on an equal level playing field now, or a little bit more of an equal level playing field with the NFL now in terms of fandom. But it it's but at least growing up for me, it was the passion level was just off the charts. The excitement was off the charts, man. Watching watching the game of the century in 2011. I and I remember talking to my dad about it because my dad's an Alabama fan. Oh, it was between by late September where LSU was uh undefeated, Alabama was defeated. And we look at that and you're like, okay, uh by the way their schedules are looking up, early November is gonna be a showdown. Like one versus two. These are the two best teams in college football right now. They're on a collision course, and no one is going to beat these teams up until they play each other. And everybody, they were hyping that game up for two months, a month and a half, two months. That's insane. That's that's what college football is all about. Bob and they were they would talk about it on every sports center, every college football final or college football live show. They're like, uh, we're counting down the days. Alabama and LSU are gonna play each other, it's gonna be a collection course. And it was, it was a nine to six game in favor of LSU, but you look at you look at that stuff right there, it's like, yeah, the NFL does some of that stuff with the Super Bowl, but regular season games, college.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

You don't rarely you get it. Yeah, you rarely get a you rarely get a matchup where you're like, okay, this is must watch television.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

Exactly. And college football has the had those type of games. And I think that's another reason why fandom is is different as well, because the fans would hype it up a little bit more. Yeah. I just think that that's what makes it a little bit different from the NFL from that perspective. Now, I think it is a little bit more kind of like the NFL now in terms of fandom now, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Yeah, no, that that's fair. And I think you described that really well. Now, going into it, we're gonna dive in. Um some feelings are gonna get hurt today. There are gonna be some people that listen to this that are gonna come back and say, you know what, how dare the prodigy do this to my to my team? And and that's gonna be okay because the he is the prodigy for a reason. He's the man of the people, but he's also a man of college football. Um let's start with the Big Ten, Joel.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Ohio State, you're gonna see tons and tons of players this year in the draft, especially the first round. Um, you're gonna see a lot of that logo everywhere on the draft board. Uh, Indiana just won the national championship. You got some powerhouses in Michigan and Penn State. From a pure fan experience perspective, which Big Ten school do you think gives you the absolute best ride when it comes to fandom going forward? And listen, you can go, you can go back and you can say, well, you know what, there was a storied history here. Um, so there is history to the program. But if you were to hop onto this program 2026, April 10th, data recording, which program right now is gonna give you the best ride from from a point of like, hey, you go to that home stadium, you're gonna witness something special, and B, that roster is gonna show you a good time in terms of like your mental health will be your mental health will be kept in check.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

Oh, Ohio State. That's the that's the that's probably the easiest answer right there, Ohio State. I mean, at least in the modern era, I mean, they have nine national championships, claimed national championships, a lot of them claim stuff, right? But I think undisputed national championships, they have nine in program history. Uh their program has always been historic uh in terms of winning. Um they've had historical coaches like a Woody Hayes, like an Urban Meyer, now like a Ryan Day. Um, but and not only that, they're just consistent winners. They have the best recruiting classes, it seems like uh top 10, top five recruiting classes each and every year. Yeah. A lot of Big Ten titles, um, a lot of playoff appearances. They uh kind of just rule. I mean, they kind of I would say I'm not gonna sit that they're gonna sit there and say they dominate the Big Ten every year. I mean, they they kind of do, but like in a lot of ways, they kind of just are at the top every year, and they're in it every year. Like you can't really get rid of Ohio State.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

They are flashy. They've got football. The people love watching offense, they love watching their playmakers. You look at their look at their wide receiver factory.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

And defensively, they're gonna reload this year. So they're gonna lose Sonny Styles, they're gonna lose Arvell Reese, they're gonna lose Caleb Downs. Uh, guess what? There's gonna be more of those guys there coming up. Yeah. So it's it's it, I mean, honestly, if you want a consistent, okay, we're fine. Now, in terms of rivalry weekend, your mental health can immediately just go down uh with with Michigan, because it seems like besides last year, Michigan has been giving them some problems. So, um, but I think all consistently throughout the whole schedule, Ohio State's probably the obvious answer, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Damn. Okay. Well, so sorry, Dave Portnoy. Um you heard it here first.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Um I was gonna say, I think Michigan's up there too. I really do. I think so. I hey I think I think Michigan's up there too. I think if you uh I think three more, if I can name three more, I'm gonna go to the Michigan, Michigan, Oregon, and USC are good ones. I mean, I I just went over that on this past Thursday's episode for spring results, but I think those three teams are also in terms of fandom are pretty good. Now, Oregon has yet to win a national title. Obviously.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

But from New Jersey perspective, Oregon is Oregon cooks.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

If you want a uh if you want to, if you want an apparel monster, if you want a uh regular season juggernaut, a team that uh could get you fired up under a head coach like Dan Lanning, Oregon's your Oregon's your team.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

Yeah, no, I I agree with you. I think those are there's no bad choices in what you mentioned. Not a lot of love for uh for Penn State, the the wide out.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

I like I mean in terms of atmosphere, Penn State's really good. I think in terms of consistently winning 10 plus games, it's it's good to be a Penn State fan. But if you're looking for a okay, we want to win national championships every you know, be in contention for a national title every single year, you're probably gonna have to go to point at one of those other schools.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Oh, I love it. I love I love getting a unfiltered reaction out of you that's gonna really rage bait um 50% of the internet. It's actually fantastic. I I love it.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

And then people are gonna say, well, Penn State, well, okay, they went to the semifinal in 2024. Yeah, they did. Uh, what happened in 2023? In 22, 21, in 2020. They weren't even in his COVID year in 2019. We all know what happened in 2019. LSD was the best team that year, but yeah, 2018, you know what I mean? Like it just keeps going on and on and on. 2016 is when they should have been in the playoff with Saquon Barkley and Trace McSorley. I'm surprised Ohio State got in that year. And I will defend Penn State on that one because I think they should have gotten in that year, honestly. Would they have won? I don't know, but they should have gotten in that year. Uh, they played USC in the Rose Bowl and against Sam Darnold to be in fact. Seattle's Super Bowl champion. Sam Darnold, Super Bowl champion, Sam Darnold. So um, yeah. So I mean, I think Penn State's a good consistent winner. Now, different time now. Uh, we're gonna see how Matt Campbell does now, but under James Franklin, they were a consistent winner.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

So no, that's that's awesome. That's awesome. There's your there's your Big Ten. Now, Big 12 and ACC. Now, this will be interesting because this is a little bit tip like you're getting away from your typical conferences, and that's why I there is one of them I'm gonna save till the end. But um when it comes to the ACC, Big 12, who would you who would you put your vote in?

SPEAKER_02 22:00

For the Big 12, it's very interesting only because of uh Texas and Oklahoma had a lot of five had a lot of power there. I mean a lot of fan power, and then it all went to the SEC. And you're thinking, now what? You know, who's gonna be that that go-to team, right? Obviously, the go-to team right now, if you want to talk about right currently, Texas Tech, if you want to look at that. Uh if I love them.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

They are they are one scandal away from ruining ruining what they got going on.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

And Joey McGuire, very good coach, very good recruiter. Uh, that NIL money is insane. Yes. The talent level there right now is insane because of that NIL money, yes. But if you want to talk about uh prestige in terms of like they won their first B12 title this year, if you're talking about program prestige, you're kind of like, I mean, what have they really done, right? They have won big games in the past. If you want to go back to when I was literally eight years old watching Colt McCoy and Michael Crabtree go up against each other, Graham Harrell at Texas Tech.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Those are some names.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

Yeah, Mike Leach was the head coach there. I mean, Rip Mike Leach, one of the greatest, I mean, all honestly, one of the most entertaining coaches of all time. Yeah. Um, he uh was the head coach with the Red Raiders. They upset Texas, tech like the number one Texas Longhorns in Big 12 country with an air ray pass to Michael Crabtree. I mean, amazing stuff like that happened. It was a hype game, too, because Texas Tech was actually pretty good in 08. Games like that were fun. But if you're talking about like program history in terms of titles and all that, I mean it's a little bit, it's a little bit iffy. But if you're talking about a for current fandom and what and with the trajectory that Texas Tech's going now, uh they won't they just got done winning the Big 12 title, their first Big 12 title. They're bringing in recruits to the nines, they are bringing in a lot of talent, they're upgrading their facilities now to the nines as well. Their facilities, their facility upgrades are getting, I mean, right? So they're they're going, they're getting along with the time. So if you're talking about current fandom now, I think Texas Tech is your best bet right now. Um, in the Big 12, I can I mean Utah's a pretty consistent one as well. BYU's getting pretty good in in that. Probably not in terms of facilities like Texas Tech and stadiums like Texas Tech, but I would say in terms of just true die hard, like cult-like fandom, I think BYU's an interesting one as well. Now, if you want flashiness and celebrity pool, right? You're gonna go with Colorado. Yeah, with Deion Sanders.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

Um now don't expect sounds really harsh to say this. Don't expect a consistent, if you want an up and down, if you're gonna say, okay, we want to win some football games, we want to be a championship level. I wouldn't expect that right off the bat. Um, but if you're talking about like celebrity flashiness, you know, type of celebrity type pull color.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

They're gonna get great content, they're gonna get great behind-the-scenes content of what's going on behind the scenes. Lots of they have a great media team. They love pump, and speaking of another team with good gear, they've got nice apparel choices.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

Yeah, and their facilities are kind of underrated as well. So yeah, you're gonna get some nice. Uh, if you're talking about fandom-wise, you're gonna get some nice, you know, behind the scenes celebrity type stuff. And uh in winning the in winning in terms of games, you may win you, you can win some few a few games, may go to a bowl game. But if you're talking about like championship prestige back in the day, huh? Yeah, they made it to the Big 12 championship before, like way back then. Pac-12 title way back then as well.

SPEAKER_03 25:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Not like if you're talking about consistent winner like a Texas Tech right now, I think they're in different different leagues in the same conference. Yeah, absolutely. And you mentioned ACC, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:49

Yes. I wanted to get to the lovely ACC with, of course, Clemson, Miami, and you got your Florida state in there.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

Yeah, Clemson. Um, if you're talking about just modern history, like modern 2010's upward till now history, probably Clemson. I mean, I think that's really the go-to, honestly. Uh, Clemson, Miami is kind of making a reinsurgence. I think if you're talking about historical-wise, Miami's the Miami's the one, especially winning those titles. And they've never won an ACC title. Uh all everyone's gonna sit there and say, wait, what are you talking about? They won national titles and all that. Yeah, they were in the big east. You remember, you know what I mean? They were a big east team. They weren't in the in the ACC yet. Just like Virginia Tag. Virginia Tag was like in the in the the Big East and the whack and all that, they weren't in the ACC yet. That was way back then. Um now they're in the ACC. Um, but if you're talking about historical-wise, Miami's one. If you're talking about up-to-date modern, Clemson would be one. I think another historical one would be Florida State.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

Yeah. Good old seminals.

SPEAKER_02 26:49

I think if you're talking about uh just pure fandom and pure passion and uh talking about atmosphere for game day, Florida State takes the charts. I want to go to a Florida State game just to look at uh thing everybody did the tomahawk shop, just to the whole stadium go crazy for the when the when the knolls come out, right? I want to see all that when the chief plants the the spear in midfield, I want to see that. Like I want to see that live. I can't I'm planning on going to a Florida State game very soon. Right now, does everything look kind of dicey? Sure, it does. In terms of football, yeah, 100%. But if you're talking about pure historical game day type atmosphere, you're gonna pick Florida State. If you're talking about a historical championship pedigree, you're gonna pick Miami. If you're talking about modern championship pedigree and modern day recruits, you're gonna pick Clemson.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

No, that's fair. That's fair. And I saved them for the last. And I know this is the behemoth is the SEC. Where are you? I honestly you could pick almost any team of the SEC right now. It would be you could you could find, you could make a case. But if you had to pick three teams, Joel. Three teams, SEC, you can like you gotta vouch for like if you're a new fan, these are the three teams you should be cheering for. Um not all at once, but you can have an array to pick from. Which three would it be?

SPEAKER_02 28:18

Three to pick from from right now.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Yeah, right now going into next season.

SPEAKER_02 28:23

Can I break it down into terms, like categories?

SPEAKER_00 28:26

Sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

In terms of championships, probably Alabama, Georgia, and LSU.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Sorry. Probably do it to championship winning like per like chances to win the next one.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

Chances to win the next one?

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Chances to win the next national. Like who's closest to the next national championship?

SPEAKER_02 28:48

Probably out of the three, probably Texas, Georgia, and LSU.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

Okay. Texas, Georgia, LSU, gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

For the for the next one. But if you're talking about historically, probably Alabama, Georgia, maybe LSU. And maybe Texas a little bit on the back end, but maybe probably Georgia, Alabama, LSU, most likely. Uh for sure, Alabama, if you're talking about a historical perspective. If you're talking about game day experiences, LSU's definitely up there. In terms of fandom, that's just uh Tiger Stadium's an electric atmosphere. Death Valley is just insane. It's something else. Um Kyle Field is also something else in terms of the atmosphere in game day, Texas AM. You want to if you want to go to a uh be a fan, like a true fan, and if you're just for a pure game day experience, I think AM's up there. Um I think under I think Nealand Stadium's also up there for Tennessee.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

Yeah, Tennessee. Not a bad place to not a bad bad place to visit.

SPEAKER_02 29:43

And Tailgate, uh Donstall's a beautiful town, I heard. So uh I I would say Tennessee is one of them. Um if you're talking about uh from a give me a recruiting or like player, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:57

Like which new recruits are new, like obviously you got Arch in Texas. That's a that's an easy one. Um but like which new guys are are coming in? You got uh that are coming in or that people would know that are gonna be big household names eventually.

SPEAKER_02 30:12

You're talking about who's gonna be big household names eventually, like player-wise? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Like who's right now, like if you were to pick a team in the SEC and you're like, hey, uh this cat on LSU is gonna be insane, or this guy on Alabama is gonna be absolutely nuts.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

I think in a lot of I don't think Alabama I'm kind of iffy about Alabama going into this year. I think they're a top 25 team entering the year, but are they a playoff team yet? I'm not sure. I will say that I have a good feeling about Keelan Russell being their quarterback and being the next superstar Alabama quarterback. I really do. I I I have a good feeling about him. Um, if you're talking about from a player, oh well do you want to talk? Are you talking about new players? Keelan Russell counts as a new player. Yeah, or are you playing a reoccurring player, like returning player?

SPEAKER_00 31:06

You could have a returning. Uh I'll leave it, I'll leave the floor open to you. The the cast is is wide open.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

I would say new player, Al uh Keelan Russell, even though he was on the team last year, he didn't play. Yeah, um, I'd probably say Keelan Russell for Alabama. I would say returning player. Uh Amod Hardy from Missouri is an absolute stud in the SEC, dude. He's the best, I think he's the best running back coming back, not just in SEC, but in college football.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

I really see Heisman.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

Probably not. Oh, okay. I I gotta I have an early pick for Heisman right now. Yeah. Um that's different, but I think that uh I think Doug Walker potentially uh Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

Okay, gotcha. No, that's solid. Now, who's the dark horse that whose name has not come up and who you're like, you know, like this would be I'm and don't say Notre Dame, because you can build we're gonna build up Notre Dame individually, because that's how they like to be built up. They don't like to be they they love to be independent. We'll build them up uh but outside of Notre Dame, outside of any of the teams you've mentioned, is there a dark horse where you're like, you know what, these poor guys don't get a lot of love, and I think they they deserve a little bit more love from the Prodigy Now's your time to go through and see how many fan bases you upset this season and and then and make uh make do with uh make do with the spec.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Man.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

I think Auburn doesn't get a lot of love.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

I think Auburn's a good I think Auburn's a very unique unique area, uh historical pageantry type program. I think they should get a little bit more love, especially with Alex Golish coming in. I mean, they've had some good players there. They've contended for SEC titles and won SEC championships and uh one national title with uh Cam Newton, right? Yeah, they made it to the national title against uh Jameis Winston in Florida State. They lost that one, but they made it there. That was the last BCS national title.

SPEAKER_03 33:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

Um I think Noder, I think Auburn is one. I think Auburn's one.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

I think Florida gets the Gators didn't get it.

SPEAKER_02 33:19

I think Florida gets love, but not a lot of love. I think Florida needs to get more love, and I think that will come eventually because of who's their head coach now, John Summerall. I think John Summerall's a fantastic coach. So uh if you want to kind of get into the revival mode aspect, I think Florida's gonna be one of them.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

For the SEC at least. I think for the the Big Ten who doesn't get enough love. Um it's Big Ten's kind of hard because top to bottom, top-wise, they're phenomenal. Bottom-wise, they're like, okay, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:56

There's a steep fall-off from the top to bottom.

SPEAKER_02 33:59

Yeah, from the compared to the Big Ten and SEC. And that's why the debate for the SEC and Big Ten come in, because you're sitting there and you're like, oh, I mean, uh the Big Ten's winning national titles. Yeah, but top to bottom, who's really better, right?

SPEAKER_00 34:12

Yeah.

unknown 34:14

Illinois.

SPEAKER_02 34:15

I'm surprised.

SPEAKER_00 34:16

I'm surprised you didn't say Indiana.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

Indiana's are Indiana's are are emerging now. And I think Indiana deserves a little bit more love, especially after their national title run. I think Illinois's another one. I think Illinois's been kind of consistently, okay, a little bit better as the years have gone on. Um, as far as the Big 12, I think Kansas State's very interesting as far as the Big 12. Kansas State needs to get a little bit more love as well, especially with Bill Snyder. Um, I I like Baylor a lot too in that as well.

SPEAKER_00 34:45

I think I loved their quarterback this past year. I think he was a Sawyer Robertson.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

Sawyer Robertson was really good. Just a G.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

Like G hocking that thing.

SPEAKER_02 34:55

Cannot wait to see what DJ Lagway does. The transfer uh coming in from Florida to Baylor, cannot wait to see what he does. He's rediscovering his love for football again, as he said during his interviews. Um, we'll see what happens there with DJ Lagway. For the ACC, finally, um, I think Virginia Tech's gonna re-emerge. So I would get ready for that.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

Possibly one of the greatest entrances in all of sports.

SPEAKER_02 35:16

Oh, that's another Lane Stadium is another atmosphere I look forward to going to as well. I can't wait to go there. Um with Inner Sandman, and then when I think they're gonna be real uh probably a problem because I think James Franklin's gonna recruit a lot better next year as well. And they're gonna be a problem as long as he's there, I think. So I think Virginia Tech's won. Um not a lot of love. If they keep going in the right trajectory, I think Virginia's won.

unknown 35:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 35:43

I know I know not historically great, but if they keep going in the modern trajectory, I think you can jump on that. It sounds like a bandwagon statement here, but you can jump on that that bandwagon a little bit and be like, okay, Virginia's kind of you know emerging.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

Yeah. So no, that that's that that's uh that's I I don't uh I I don't have any I don't have any complaints with your picks. I think they're all solved.

SPEAKER_02 36:08

I have one more in the ACC. I think I I do like NC State. I think NC State's a if you're talking about loyal fandom, is NC State. NC State has probably one of the most loyal fan bases out there, I think. I think they they love some they will they love the Wolfpack.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

So this is getting clipped, and we're gonna we're gonna target at this and in North Carolina and all North Carolina state fans. It's gonna be a great time.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Yeah, shout out to Savannah 2J as well. She's uh there you go. Wolfpack nation for her as well. I think they have some some of the most loyal fan fandom out there and just a very loyal fan base. So in terms of loyalty, just straight up loyalty, you want to be loyal to your team. NC State is up there.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

No, that's that's amazing. And no complaints there with any of your picks. And once again, um, if you guys disagree with us or you disagree with the placement of some of these schools, hit us up at Red Zone Blitz Redzone Blitz Pod on the socials, x, Instagram, TikTok. You can email us redzone blitzpodcast at gmail.com. We'll bring Joel back and we'll do a press conference. We'll take all your questions for the prodigy.

SPEAKER_03 37:11

So if you got anything, let us know.

SPEAKER_00 37:13

Now, Joel, I would be possibly uh maybe exiled, maybe I would be egged in public. I would probably be tackled in Pittsburgh if I did not mention the fighting Irish. Joel, please make your case as a former Fighting Irish fan. I come to you, make your case on why, if you're picking up college football for the very first time, why you should go down to South Bend or why you should go and buy that Notre Dame merch and sit down and watch your NBC home games, because that's they stream on NBC every single home game. Um, this upcoming year. And and Peacock, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:56

As well as Peacock.

SPEAKER_00 37:57

Uh so I'll let you make the case for for the for Notre Dame.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

Well, if you want a historical program, a historically old type school, old school type program, Notre Dame's it. If you want a school that has the national championship prestige, Notre Dame is it. They have 11 claimed national titles. If you want uh the atmosphere of looking at it and seeing touchdown Jesus like this, as I lean back in my chair, like that, uh, and overlooking the stadium, and you look at the stadium, and there it is right there, uh, and you want a prestigious type, old school type feel of a game day tradition, you're gonna want to choose Notre Dame. You like the color green and gold and navy, you're gonna want to choose Notre Dame. If you uh want consistent winner, a lot of people are gonna be like, are you kidding me right now? Consistent winner, you're gonna want Notre Dame. I think by I think now they haven't won a national title in since 1988. I get it. Rip Lou Holtz. Lou Holtz was uh guy I loved growing up. He was their head coach. I would be not I would be remiss if I was not acknowledging him because he is awesome. He is great. So Rip Lou Holtz, he's amazing, phenomenal head coach. Um, and uh, one of the reasons why I wanted to do this as well, so because he was a great on uh in the TV studio. So uh amazing. Uh Notre Dame. Uh they haven't won one since the 88s, since 1988, late the late 80s. They made their first national title since then it wasn't the 2024 season going into 2025.

SPEAKER_00 39:36

Against Ohio State.

SPEAKER_02 39:39

Did they lose? Yeah, they lost. Guess what? They made it though, and they did something that uh the previous Marcus Freeman did something that the previous coach did not do, and that's make it through the playoff. So, one, you have the head coach now to to to build a to build a class up because they had a really good recruiting class this year. Yeah. Top five, I believe, recruiting class. Um, portal class was good as well. So not only are they stacking it up and making academics still a priority, they are making uh recruiting more of a priority as well. Marcus Freeman's a good recruiter, man. Yeah, he's he's he's a and I can go over, and I don't know if a lot of people have seen my top five list because I got a lot of flight for that. Uh I put Marcus Freeman at five. Um, and he is to me is a top five head coach. But Joel, he didn't win a national championship yet. He did he make it there? Yeah, he made it there. Why is it Mario Cristobal on there? He beat, he beat Marcus Freeman. Yes, he did. He made it to the national title. He's number six. I will tell you why he's number six. Because, and this is just a because on this one, I think Marcus Freeman recruits just a tiny bit better than Mario Crystal Ball. Just a tiny bit better. I think Mario Crystal Ball is a good head coach and he recruits phenomenally. He's a top 10 head coach, top six head coach. I think that if you stack up the resumes, they're very similar. I just think there Marcus Freeman has one little tiny edge besides game-wise, recruiting wise, over Mario Cristobal. Miami fans can cover your ears on that one. You can hate me if you I don't care. Um, but Marcus Freeman's a top five head coach in this sport. That's another one. That's another reason why you want to be another dame fan. And how it is right now with a roster, it is right now, loaded roster. Um, and a lot of people are gonna say, dude, uh the scheduling is a little bit easier. Yeah, that's honestly why you would want to be a fan.

SPEAKER_03 41:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:40

You want to win, right? You want to be a consistent winner, you want to win, be a part of a team that wins, and Notre Dame's gonna win. They have three games that are very tough on their schedule. They have a couple of sneaky ones as well, but they have three games you point at SMU, BYU, and Miami on their schedule. That's pretty tough. That could probably knock them out of the playoff if they lose all three. Um, but if they win and maybe drop one of those games or drive even drop two, if they finish in the top 12 because they have that agreement, they're in the playoffs still. So you're gonna want to be a fan of that as well. It sounds kind of in wrestling terms, pro-wrestling terms, kind of heelish to say that. Like, oh, we lost those two games, we're gonna, you know, kind of sneak and chicken our way in the playoff. Sounds kind of heelish, maybe, but what would you rather do? You know, like, oh, I'm gonna, you know, be the honorable fan of the integrity. If we, you know, we go down, we go down. Yeah, you go down, you lose, that's fine, you lose. But let's be honest, you want to be you want to compete for a national title. And a lot of people want to compete for a national title. So you're gonna want to join that as well. Notre Dame has all that, and they have freedom with their schedule a little bit. They have uh a scheduling alignment and agreement with the ACC, and partially with the Big Ten, but mainly with the ACC. Um, and they have their own little network with the NBC deal, with N the Peacock streaming. The Big Ten has an NBC deal as well, but Notre Dame mainly has that deal, also that meteorites deal. So yeah, it's all that wrapped up into one is why you would want to be a Notre Dame fan. The pageantry, the game day tradition, the the modern kind of feel right now, and how they're how well they are right now. Yeah modern-wise, yeah, you would want to be a part of that, what's going on at Notre Dame. So that's how I can hype the best I can do to hype up Notre Dame as of right now. A lot of people are gonna say, dude, you kind of suck. I'm sorry, but I'm you you wanna I'm keeping it at about fifty with you guys, man. Um being honest is how Notre Dame.

SPEAKER_00 43:43

No, man. I think uh I don't think there's I don't think there's gonna be a better uh better hype man for Notre Dame than uh than what I just saw there. I was being those.

SPEAKER_02 43:53

I think honestly, out of all the teams I've seen this spring, a lot of people are okay. I can cover y'all's ears again. I think right now of Evaluation-wise, I'm still evaluating. This may change, but right now Notre Dame has it. They really do. They have it. There you go. And they're going to be pissed because they're they're going off of a uh they're they're in a redemption tour kind of right now. They got stuff for the playoff after that one loss to Miami. And now it's like, oh crap, you know, now we gotta go out and you know handle business now. We gotta go prove to everybody and leave no doubt that we should have been in last year, now we're gonna go good in this year.

SPEAKER_00 44:30

So Yeah. No, not as solid. Now we're almost up of time, and I'm gonna I'm gonna let you go because I know you're super busy, Joel. But last question for you. If the college football prodigy had to start over and pick a college football team today, no prior allegiances, which program do you pick and why?

SPEAKER_01 44:51

I grew up an LSU guy. Um watching LSU have the talent that they had was incredible. Um and it and it was awesome. Um I think obviously you would want to jump the bandwagon and go with Bama.

SPEAKER_02 45:12

I mean it's gonna be hateful words coming from the LSU faithful there, but at the same time it's like you would want to grow up and be a part of that. What Nick Saban did was incredible. They have 18 now, they have the most national championships out of ever out of every major D1 school out there. 18 national titles. Majority of those, seven out of those eighteen were from Nick Saban. Insane. Like insane. I mean and he could he was a consistent player in this for years and years and years, recruiting to the nines. Yeah, like if you had to start over um and you were like a kid again and trying to grow up and like be a fan of college football, Bama would be that school. Now, if you're talking about like nowadays, you can be an LSU fan, a Texas fan, because Texas is doing really good. Ohio State is another one. Um, I think Ohio State's consistently in it as well. So you got to give it credit for that. But um, if you're talking about a loyal diehard type of fandom, you can go with your Indianas. You can go with your NC states, like I just mentioned. Yeah. You can uh go with uh I would say if you're talking about loyal diehards, you can go with the schools like a uh TCU, right? Like uh under the radar, under the you know, flying under the radar type schools that don't get really enough love, but are but are loyal to their school, right?

SPEAKER_00 46:45

Yeah, well TCU, I would just want to say, like it's it's easy to get to, guys. It's in that Fort Worth area. Yeah, you know, you fly in, it's easy to get to. Uh right there. And great food. Um some of the absolute um greatest times of my life were had in that Dallas Fort Worth area. So huge shout out to the TCU Hornfrogs. I was I forgot to mention them earlier. I apologize.

SPEAKER_02 47:09

And and Indiana's a a faithful fan base too, because they've been waiting. They've been waiting, Indiana has for that national title. They've been waiting and waiting and waiting, patiently waiting. Um, another team would be uh a passionate fan base and faithful fan base is Ole Miss. Ole Miss has been was waiting for a playoff run like that. They didn't go to the national title, but they came very close. So they they were waiting and they were faithful. So that's a faithful fan base as well.

SPEAKER_00 47:34

Yeah, no, they were poor guys with their with their coach. Uh it's uh it's a tough one.

SPEAKER_02 47:39

But if you want another one, their rival, Mississippi State. That's another faithful fan base as well.

SPEAKER_00 47:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:43

Um, it's just a bunch, man. If you're talking about the under the radar, like just to be a faithful fan. But if you want to be a part of like a uh at the top of the food chain consistent winner right now, Oregon, Ohio State, Bama, is it still there for now? Yeah. Um, Georgia, Texas, LSU.

SPEAKER_00 48:00

No, that's that's solid. That's solid. Um, once again, before we wrap up, Joel, give it to me. Where where can people find you? Where can people find the prodigy of college football?

SPEAKER_02 48:11

Man, if you want my socials, x, Instagram, and TikTok is at pixit underscore frenzy. You can follow along there. You're gonna get wild takes from the prodigy himself. Um, there's also YouTube, Pi Bean, Spotify, Apple, uh, Amazon as well. Uh all platforms. Just follow and subscribe on all platforms, and especially on YouTube. Follow and subscribe on YouTube. I want you to keep on watching me on there as the views go up, as the subscribers go up, keep on watching me there. Um, we can find catch us on True Voice Digital as well. That's our new uh, you know, we're kind of like placed there as well on their site. So follow there as well for uh inspiring faith-based content and unfiltered analysis there. So that's where you can find Figskin Frenzy.

SPEAKER_00 48:53

Amazing, amazing. And Joel, I just want to appreciate uh appreciate you for uh for hopping on and helping us with this little project that we have. And you know what? Hopefully it it helps someone that's out there that's maybe living in Australia or you know, Ireland or places in South America or Canada, any place and like I think the US is covered. I think a lot of US listeners are gonna listen to this and be like, what the hell do you mean? Pick a college football team. I'm born into this. Like, what the hell what do you mean pick like pick off the fandom or the apparel? And you know what? It's it's different. Like you just don't understand how big college football is until you truly go to a game in the United States, until you breathe the the breathe the game in person.

SPEAKER_02 49:37

It's the greatest sport on earth. It really is. To me, there's nothing like it. If look, if you're talking about like, okay, dude, you bear calm down saying this, but man, it's literally like it's it's a it's it's a love. Like it's a it's a literally like a love, like it's a love story. I love it, you know? And it's like a romantic love story when people get caught up in their soap opera. I I I make a joke on X and I said that college, so everyone has the young and restless as their soap opera. Everybody has General Hospital. College football is my soap opera, all right, y'all. Yeah, college football is my soap opera where I get into what I am passionate about and hooked on. Like, I want to see what's gonna happen next. If they win that game, they're in and they maneuver, and it's just a bunch of fun stuff that you look at and you're like, this is wild and crazy. Like you're you you love this because of the amount of passion that people bring into this.

SPEAKER_00 50:28

And it's and it's crazy because you see all those guys that have played for four years, three years, um, you know, like some of them have only played two years that they've declared for the draft. Um, and you see all of that passion and all that love for the game that's kind of come out on that stage in Pittsburgh in April, and um, and then that's what they're working hard for. And I think you see like a lot of the differences between the NFL, and I think this is the big one, is is you can hold on to a player for his whole career in the NFL. Yeah, you can you can have a guy go in and play 18, 15, 10, even if he plays three years of his career, all be with one team. It'll work like that with college, especially not with the transfer portal now. But I think mo now more than ever is um you see guys like that play there for four years, you that guy could be the best guy ever. You gotta say bye to him. Yeah, like you gotta be like, hey man, thanks for thanks for everything. See ya, like it was good. And then you gotta wait until the next recruit comes in and then you fall in love all over again. It's kind of it's a beautiful cycle.

SPEAKER_02 51:33

Yeah, 100%. And uh it's it's it's one of those things where you get attached to that player and you're like, man, I don't want them to go to the NFL. I want them to, you know, at least have a stay here one more year.

SPEAKER_00 51:43

Like the QB and Ole Miss this year. He just wanted one more year, one more ride.

SPEAKER_02 51:47

Just one more year. Uh LSU is another perfect example for this, by the way. Um, the 2019 year. Oh. Uh they had Joe Burrow in 2018, and they had him in 2019. They're like, Can we just like, can you not go to the NFL yet? Can you run this back and uh try to go out again? Um it it was just phen a phenomenal football team, and you just don't want it to end. You know what I mean? And then you get new guys and you get reattached to new people. Um that's with every college football team, and you're like, I don't want this story to end. But it has to. Every story has to end eventually. But uh that's what's the beauty of a college football is it's like you watch magic unfold in front of your very eyes and you're like, I don't want this to end. But sometimes it does end, and then you're like, okay, now we're back to where we were. But there's also sometimes in this, there's okay, I don't want this story to end, but it's got to, and it it ends, but then there's another chapter in it, which is also a good thing about college football as well.

SPEAKER_00 52:44

No, it's it's a beautiful sport, and uh you know what? They're college football is fortunate to have the voice of Joel Norris covering it. Um we I thank you again, Joel. Appreciate you once again. Joel Norris, Pigskin Frenzy. Go follow him on the on the socials, go follow him on the YouTube. Um, hit him up on Alexa, on Samsung, um, everywhere where podcasts are streamed, you can find this guy. Um, and then let us know as well. Uh Redzone Blitzpod on all the socials. Um, we'll we're on YouTube as well. Give us a follow there. This will be going up on YouTube. We're dipping into the video scene a little bit more now. We're we're transitioning into an audio and video podcast. Um, so there'll be more content coming. I want to thank you again, Joel, and we'll we'll talk soon.

SPEAKER_02 53:26

Absolutely, man. Can't wait to be back on.

SPEAKER_00 53:28

Awesome, man. Appreciate you.