Mind Games with Guerin Emig

With the transfer portal on overdrive, how have Brent Venables and Mike Gundy responded? Pretty well, according to 247Sports national college football writer Chris Hummer. He joins Mind Games on the Sellout Crowd network to talk Venables’ success taking transfers who strengthen OU for the SEC, and Gundy’s success keeping key Cowboys from transferring out. Hummer considers whether Dillon Gabriel’s departure and Jackson Arnold’s entrenchment become a win/win for OU and Oregon, and whether Spencer Sanders is forever stamped a portal cautionary tale. From the portal it’s on to name, image and likeness, and Hummer’s recent 247 story in which 5-star high school recruits separated fact from fiction when it comes to their NIL earnings. 

Episode highlights:
4:30: Venables has helped prep OU for the SEC via the transfer portal
8:30: Mike Gundy’s biggest portal victory this year has been keeping key players out of it
11:05: Spencer Sanders as transfer portal cautionary tale
13:30: Dillon Gabriel transfers to Oregon, Jackson Arnold is entrenched as OU QB1 and everybody wins
17:00: Fact or fiction: Everyone transfers with NIL $$$ in mind 
20:10: High school five-stars set the record straight regarding their NIL offers

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane
Social media: Bobby Howard
Director of Content: Mike Sherman

Nothing is calm, or feels normal, around college football. Coaching changes are wild, player movement is rampant, conference realignment is ongoing, and often it seems the sport’s future is being decided in a courtroom as much as on a field. Ralph Russo has been the Associated Press’ national college football writer for 20 years. He drops by the latest episode of Mind Games to lend his insight on the chaos, and discuss the ripple effects at OU and OSU. 

Episode highlights:
02:25: Does college football have a coach retention problem?
05:20: OSU fans should appreciate what they have in Mike Gundy
09:40: Brent Venables has steadied the Sooners, but now comes the SEC
17:50: Is the SEC-Big Ten joint advisory committee a warning shot for the Big 12?
26:50: College football is headed uncomfortable directions, but everything is going to be OK as long we have fall Saturdays

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane
Social media: Bobby Howard
Director of Content: Mike Sherman

Subscribe on Youtube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music

Toby Keith touched many more lives than we can imagine. Among them: 21 elementary school-aged boys in Norman who played on Toby’s Mud Dogs football team. Sam Hutchens wrote the story for Sellout Crowd after Toby’s passing. Here, he comes on Mind Games to reflect on how the story came together, something that began with a call to Mud Dogs team member Joe Castiglione, Jr, and how Toby’s influence on those kids resonates to this day. 

Episode highlights

03:25: If Toby Keith was going to coach a youth football team, well then he was going to draw up plays and run drills.
07:15: Mud Dog players included Toby’s son and Joe Castiglione, Jr. 
10:15: Postgame pizza at Cici’s 
12:15: Did Toby’s Mud Dogs invent the Tush Push 20 years before the Eagles? 
15:00: The night the Mud Dogs reunited at a Toby Keith benefit 

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane
Social media: Bobby Howard
Director of Content: Mike Sherman

Subscribe on Youtube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music

Blake Bell's unique football journey finds him in Las Vegas this week for Super Bowl LVIII with the Chiefs. Who better than his father, Mark, to detail the twists and turns on the latest episode of Mind Games with Guerin Emig. From the Belldozer package to Bedlam and Notre Dame glory at quarterback to a position switch in pre-dawn workouts at OU… From a Kenny Chesney announcement on NFL Draft night to a hop from the 49ers to the Vikings to the Jaguars to the Chiefs to the Cowboys and back to Kansas City… To living the dream with Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift…The Bells are the picture of perseverance and proof that football can bring multiple happy endings.  

Episode highlights:
06:30 Kenny Chesney brought Blake Bell into the NFL  
07:55 A Sellout Crowd prop bet: Bell catches the first TD pass of Super Bowl LVIII
11:05 The connection between the Bell family and Taylor Swift is a tight one
14:05 Joe Jon Finley’s role in Bell’s OU position change 
17:48 Would Bell have stuck it out at OU in the transfer portal era?
18:30 The Belldozer might have broken John Deere’s bank with NIL money
20:25 The secret of The Belldozer gets out at K-State
22:35 Does the Bell family scrapbook begin with the 2013 game-winning TD pass at OSU?

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane
Social media: Bobby Howard
Director of Content: Mike Sherman

Youtube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music

Harold Kuntz once covered Bob Stoops and Mike Gundy with KOTV in Tulsa. He’s moved on to Fox 4 in Kansas City, which means he has moved up to covering Patrick Mahomes, Taylor Swift and multiple Super Bowl runs by the Chiefs. Harold details life inside Chiefs Kingdom on this episode of Mind Games, starting with how the world’s biggest pop star has made this Super Bowl run the most interesting. Is it the most tiresome run for neutral fans? Harold comes to terms with that fact, though it has more to do with Mahomes and the Chiefs’ sustained excellence than a Swift effect that gets a bad rap. Before leaving, Harold tells listeners why the Chiefs should win another title next week, why the Jayhawks might just win the Big 12… in football!... next year, and where barbecue connoisseurs must eat in KC. 

Episode highlights:

2:20: The Belldozer enters the Taylor Swift discussion… That is, his wife does

5:55: Proof that Taylor Swift has provided the NFL a lot of new fans

8:30: “Chiefs fatigue” has less to do with Taylor Swift than Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid

18:00: Why the Chiefs are the pick over the 49ers.

31:20: The shock of Kansas as a potential Big 12 football favorite 

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane

Subscribe on Youtube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music

Jerry Ostroski, a Bills offensive lineman through the 1990s, knows Buffalo heartbreak well, something he makes painfully clear on the latest episode of Mind Games. Jerry O is just as familiar with Buffalo resilience. That is reflected in the Bills’ franchise, and that becomes a light in the darkness from the Bills’ latest playoff loss to Kansas City. From Buffalo’s elimination it’s on to conference championship Sunday. Ostroski gives the underdog Lions a real shot against San Francisco, and feels this might be Lamar Jackson’s time. The show’s home stretch is a fun ride. Jerry O tells Howie Long and Thurman Thomas stories about Buffalo’s notorious cold, admits he’s too old to eat Buffalo’s famous wings for the spice, and lauds a Dallas Cowboy with Bills history as the toughest defensive lineman he ever faced. 

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane

Subscribe on Youtube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music

The chaos of portal season has almost passed, but not before it stirred up a storm across college football. The coaching carousel was just as wild thanks to Nick Saban’s retirement from Alabama. Sellout Crowd OU beat writer Eli Lederman joins me to consider the fallout for the Sooners and other national powers on this episode of Mind Games. From football it’s on to basketball as Eli details his experience covering the emotional celebration of life for the late Ryan Minor. We close with a topic we haven’t covered since Sellout’s launch early last fall – the beautiful game. 

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane

Subscribe on Youtube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music

Before we put away college football until spring scrimmages, a review of the 2023 bowl season seems in order. It wasn’t great due to the number of transfers, opt-outs and other distractions that made for matchups like Georgia 63, Florida State 3 in the Orange Bowl. Bowl Season executive director Nick Carparelli joins me on this episode of Mind Games to talk about whether the bowls face a crisis moving forward (his answer: no), and what might be done to help the product (two Carparellis suggestions: opening the possibility of player compensation for bowl participation, and the elimination of the December transfer portal window). 

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane

Subscribe on YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music

Ian Maule photographs the Las Vegas Raiders and Golden Knights currently, but from 2015-22 he covered OU football with me for the Tulsa World. In this episode of Mind Games, Ian relives several of his most memorable moments from that remarkable period. He captured Baker Mayfield from the high of the Ohio State flag-plant (24:30) to the low of losing the Rose Bowl (4:12). He went from shooting Mayfield to Kyler Murray (8:30) to Jalen Hurts (9:55). He had sideline brushes with NFL greatness featuring J.J. Watt (31:40) and Antonio Brown (32:25). He was charmed by Matthew McConaughey at the un-charming OU-Texas rout of ‘22 (33:00). He explains his fondness for former OU defensive end Isaiah Thomas (14:20) and OU’s near-disaster at Kansas in 2021 (23:10). Ian mixes in some memories of shooting the 2022 PGA Championship at Tulsa’s Southern Hills (36:00) before revealing the best sports photograph he ever shot – OU’s Kelsey Arnold scoring on a squeeze bunt during the 2016 WCWS (41:40). 

Check out my columns and insight at selloutcrowd.com and guerinemig.com.
Sign up for my newsletter, which arrives in your inbox on Thursdays.
Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane
Subscribe on Youtube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music

With Jackson Arnold poised to make his starting debut as Oklahoma quarterback, I thought it a good idea to bring onto Mind Games a man who knows more about Arnold than the rest of us put together. Rodney Webb coached Arnold to five-star status at Guyer High School in Denton, Texas. He digs into Arnold’s personality and how that translates to OU (3:30) and lists Arnold’s multiple football gifts (9:30). Webb comments on Arnold’s second-half save at BYU Nov. 18 (11:15), on the first time he knew Arnold was a special quarterback (15:00) and on Arnold’s handling of a tumultuous December including Dillon Gabriel’s and Jeff Lebby’s departures (20:00). We turn to Peyton Bowen, the OU safety Webb also coached at Guyer (21:50) before finishing with conversation about Texas high school football and Santa Claus. 

Check out Guerin’s columns and insight at selloutcrowd.com and guerinemig.com.

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane

Subscribe on Youtube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music