From Radio Row, Day 2: Peter Burns, Connor O'Gara and Tony Barnhart

Tuesday morning's edition of TexAgs Radio emanated live from the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, GA, the site of SEC Media Days 2022. Today's special guests included Peter Burns, Connor O'Gara and Tony Barnhart.

Key notes from Peter Burns interview (Recorded Monday)

• It warmed my heart when I heard you were going to TexAgs, David. Whenever it’s something related to Texas A&M or someone is from College Station, the first thing that is asked is, “Do you follow TexAgs, or do you know Billy Liucci?”

• Commissioner Greg Sankey just spoke earlier. The SEC is in a position of power. All these other conferences are making moves to get to the point of the SEC. One Big Ten team has won a championship since 1997. We have had three different teams in this conference win the last three years. So, even the Big Ten, as great as they are, are trying to make moves to compete with the SEC. Frankly, I love it because it means you’re doing something right as a conference.

• The idea of grabbing teams from other conferences, why? That’s one of the things I really like about Greg Sankey is I don't feel like he makes reactive decisions. He’s very calm and collected. When the UCLA and USC announcement of joining the Big Ten came out, he purposely waited six days to call all of his athletic directors. He said, “I knew what was going to happen. If I got everybody on a conference call the next day, it would be this news story that Sankey was freaking out.” He goes, “We don't have to make moves. We can let the dust settle and let things play out. As opposed to other conferences having to be aggressive to get to an SEC level.”
   
• I used to live, breathe, eat, sleep, everything LSU. I was on a message board, talking to neighbors about LSU, recruiting classes of 8th graders, and I was all in. The more you cover a sport, the more you take a step back and realize the storylines. I used to hate every school that wasn’t LSU. I married an Alabama girl, then I spent time with the TexAgs family and you go to Florida with Chris Doering and the boys. You meet the coaches and players, and say, “Wait a minute, I grew up thinking this person was the worst human in the world.” You realize you do pull for storylines. 
   
• Brian Kelly’s ride at LSU will be a long ride because it will be a successful one. When you talk to Brian Kelly, he has this thing about him. When Nick Saban walks into a room, you know it. Brian Kelly has that, too. Despite Les Miles’ and Ed Orgeron’s situations, they still won national championships. What if you can have that amount of talent combined with a guy that has a CFB Hall of Fame track record, that’s going to work. LSU fans will lose their mind in the Superdome if they lose their opener to Florida State. It very well could happen. 
   
• We had a knockdown, drag-out conversation last night and I said, “Give me the third best team in this conference.” One person said Kentucky, one said Tennesee, one said A&M, one said LSU, and what about Mississippi State. We went around, and it sounded like the NFL. Because of the salary cap, everyone is the next 9-8 team. That's happening because of two signing days and the transfer portal. You shouldn't be horrifically weak in any kind of category, which leads to a lot of parity. 
   
• For A&M, you may be the third-best team in this conference this year, but by 2023, A&M is going to put itself in the echelon as a national title-contending team. 
   
• I don’t know what Clemson is bringing back. Ohio State should be pretty good. It’s not out of the question that A&M could be a top-6 team. There’s so much outside noise that this recruiting class is going to happen right here, right now when you know this one year is a lot about growth for those young guys to get ready for 2023.
   
• If Texas A&M can get 10-2 this year, you take it and then, by 2023, hold the phone. It’s done. That team will be a title contender.

Key notes from Connor O’Gara

• Nick Saban didn’t get asked a single question about Jimbo Fisher. Everyone knows that he wasn’t going to answer. The fact he was able to avoid that in a 30-45 minutes interview was impressive. He didn't say anything too groundbreaking. It was pouring when he took the podium, then it stopped and Bob Holt asked if he could control the weather.
   
• I think Fisher will get asked about Saban. There’s a different level of respect for Saban in the SEC, but what are you going to hear that you haven't already? He won’t rehash those details, and everything that has been said is on record.
   
• I think they both made mistakes in what they did, and that’s why Greg Sankey reprimanded both. They both got real personal. If Fisher could change things, the way he called out Saban, did he need to do that? Saban made a very atypical mistake. He didn’t have to call out a specific program. I didn’t think it was the smartest move by him.
   
• I think A&M is the most overrated team to come into this season. I’m not an A&M hater, even Liucci said preseason number four was too high. A&M lost a lot of guys, and they’re so unknown. I gave Arkansas more love because of what Sam Pittman has done in two years and they have returners. They got over the A&M hump. That was huge for that program. The SEC West is all over the place. There could be four teams in the west competing for NY6 bowls.
   
• I think Zach Calzada was good against Alabama. I think A&M’s defense in 2021 was underappreciated. We assume quarterback play will be better. Fisher hasn’t had a top-30 passing offense since Jameis Winston, and that has to change. Last year, A&M had Isaiah Spiller, Devon Achane and a good backfield, and the offense still struggled. 
   
• National media is comfortable with Max Johnson because we’ve seen him. But do we really know what he is? We saw what he tried to do at LSU. I say that Haynes King is my preferred choice. You want to see that through. With his potential and athleticism; I want to see him be that game-changing guy. 
   
• My colleague Matt Hayes said the SEC East is the better conference, and I disagree. There’s too much imbalance. It will change when Texas and Oklahoma come. The quarterback play may be better in the east. 

Key notes from Tony Barnhart

• The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award keeps Bobby Dodd’s memory alive. He was the head coach for 22 years at Georgia Tech. He is known as one of the great strategy people and had a high premium on education. We look at so many spreadsheets when voting for the winner in December. It’s an impressive list of coaches. We present the award on that coach's campus. That’s a neat thing. 
   
• When we found out Texas and Oklahoma were coming to the SEC, no one thought something that crazy had happened, but I’ve been at Media Days a million times. One year, Nick Saban and Mrs. Terry brought their dog, and the maid let his dog out of the hotel room. The dog found Saban at media days. Phillip Fulmer tried not to get a subpoena, so he talked on speaker phone. The next year, he was here, and someone handed him a subpoena.
   
• Sankey was going to say two things yesterday: “Conference expansion? Nah, we're good,” and “It feels good to be us.”
   
• The only way the SEC makes moves is if Notre Dame goes to Big Ten. The SEC doesn't need to get more schools. The Big 12 and the Pac-12 are not doing any alliance. If I am the Pac-12, I am watching my flank cause the Big 12 is coming for my teams. 
   
• I’m not surprised Nick didn’t get asked about Fisher. It came to an end in Destin. I found out that they are good. I think Jimbo will get asked because he was not pleased. They have a fraternity thing, fight like brothers, and then they are fine.
   
• The A&M-Alabama game is not going to be a blowout. A&M is too good defensively. They need good quarterback play. They aren’t better than Alabama, but they are a 10-win team.
   
• Stetson Bennett is an elite quarterback. You have to have guys that make plays when needed. If you are a four-star out of high school, people think you can’t be a good player. Just about every starting quarterback in this league has experience somewhere.