Check out Today’s Show Pony Live featuring ESPN’s Matt Barrie. Matt shared his experiences from the Red River Rivalry and provided great insights on the SEC.
Before we get into today’s free Pony Ponderings, a little love for the sponsors who help make this possible—and whose products are very much part of my everyday life.
Fall football on the deck with 4Topps
I love my 4Topps AIRdirondack chair. Absolutely love it. Why wouldn’t I? It’s made by 4Topps. I bet you already love 4 Topps and don’t even know it. Why? They make the premium mesh seats at college stadiums all over the country like the University of Texas, pictured below. Now you can bring the same style and comort home! Shop the 4Topps Airdirondack chair now.
Last night, I had the TV out on the deck, Sunday football on, and my ass parked in that chair. Fall weather. Football. My own little spot to relax.
Amazing.
Sometimes you don’t need to make life any more complicated than that. A comfortable chair and a football game on a beautiful fall night will do the trick.
If you’re looking to make your deck or patio a place you actually want to spend time, check out the 4Topps AIRdirondack. Mine is getting plenty of use.
And, yes, I was eating AR’s Hot Honey
Truth be told, I was also eating AR’s Hot Honey last night. Because I eat AR’s every day.
Last night’s pairing? Fried Chicken Wings.
I’m telling you guys: this isn’t just any hot honey. It’s different. It’s so much better.
Owner Ames Russell even puts it to the test. At the Columbus pizza convention that just wrapped up, he was letting people taste the nation’s leading brand next to his.
He told me even representatives from the other guys came over and tried it—and you could tell they were impressed.
The difference, as Ames explains it? The competing product uses vinegar and additives. His is honey and peppers. The real deal. And, to my taste, the perfect blend.
This isn’t hyperbole. I think it’s perfect. There’s a reason I keep putting it on my food every single day.
Try it yourself at ARsHotHoney.com and use SHOWPONY15. Or find ARs Hot Honey near you by using their store locator.
Now, let’s ponder.
Pulling the plug on Shane Beamer would have been pure stupidity.
Chris Doering and I talked about this.
Moving on from Shane Beamer would have been insanely dumb for South Carolina. When you have a team that’s bought in, you don’t pull the plug. You keep grinding until you learn how to win.
That’s the painful part. Being close doesn’t feel particularly good when you keep blowing leads and leaving games you should have won on the table.
But look at what South Carolina did to Florida last week after that string of blown-lead losses. That matters. Those kids kept responding.
Beamer is the kind of guy you want to root for. He’s a good human who was raised right. I love his mom, Cheryl, a loyal Full Ride listener.
He knows what matters in coaching. He understands the people part of it. And I think that’s why his kids respond to him.
You can be frustrated with the losses. Of course you can. But when the players are still fighting for their coach, there’s something there worth building on.
Don’t sleep on them.
Go back to the tape: I saw the Cignetti vibes in Will Stein.
Seriously. Ask Full Ride producer Allie to get the tape.
When Kentucky hired Will Stein, I said I had a feeling this guy had the stuff. There was something about him that gave me Curt Cignetti vibes.
First of all, his Oregon offenses were brilliant. Look at how different Bo Nix was after leaving Auburn. Stein helped turn him into the NFL quarterback we’re watching with the Broncos.
But it was also the attitude.
Stein came into Kentucky with that Cignetti confidence. At media days, his answer about why he would win amounted to: because of me.
I’m paraphrasing, but you get the point.
He’s got that I don’t give a shit. I’m going to do this vibe.
A bit odd in the real world? Maybe. But in the college football world, that kind of conviction can be brilliant and effective. Especially if you can actually coach.
And what a win over LSU.
Kentucky, keep the big wins coming. The Cardiac Cats. The overtime kids.
Go get the tape, Allie. I said it.
The Arch Manning argument has it backward.
Sark said today that if Arch weren’t a Manning, the public would be praising him.
Bullshit.
Rick and I were talking about this today, too. If his name were Arch Davis, would we be talking about him in anything resembling the same vein?
I don’t think so.
The name brings scrutiny. Absolutely. But it also brought enormous expectations and attention before he had done much of anything at this level.
You can’t pretend only one side of that exists.
People are wondering whether Arch will stay in school and forgo the NFL after this year. But here’s the question underneath that question: deep down, does Sark want him to stay?
Is Manning what he thought he was going to be?
Rick said it today on the show: he has the panic reflex.
Not quite Will Levis, shit-your-pants-when-the-pocket-collapses bad. But he definitely panics and tries to force things. That’s when the mistakes happen.
Maybe Arch becomes the NFL star everyone hoped he would be. Maybe he adds another great chapter to the Manning legacy.
I’m rooting for him.
But I certainly wouldn’t bet on it right now.
Not yet. Not even close.
Joe brought a bag. We ended up on television.
I went to the Titans game yesterday with my pal Joe, whom I know through my wife.
Joe has great season tickets. Premium seats he’s had for decades. We were in the front row behind the Titans’ bench, and I had a blast.
Then, in the fourth quarter, Joe put a bag over his head.
Written on it: “0–17?” With a sad face.
And apparently, that was our ticket to national television.
I’ve seen us in highlights on all kinds of shows, including Football Night in America.
Joe loves the Titans. He was having some fun, but he’s also legitimately bummed that his team isn’t more competitive. At 0–5, I understand it.
I’ve been on plenty of sidelines working in the media. But it was cool to sit there as a fan, right behind the bench, and just root for the Titans.
Even though they played horribly.
Around here, everybody is restless and pissed. The Titans media have ripped the CEO and the owner. There’s a lot of frustration, and I get why.
But I don’t know. I still have this feeling that the dawn is coming.
Maybe not anytime soon.
I just feel like everything about this franchise will feel different when they move into that new stadium next door. Almost like a baptism into the big time. A cleansing of the mediocrity that has come to hang over old Nissan Stadium.
Obviously, a building doesn’t fix bad football. They still have to get the football right.
But the current stadium can’t be knocked down soon enough. It’s like going to a game at the Oakland Coliseum.
Woof.
The new place, though?
Wow.
Maybe I’m getting carried away. Maybe sitting that close and rooting for the home team made me a little more hopeful.
But I had fun. Joe had a bag. And somewhere beyond all this losing, I still think there’s a better day coming.
🐎