The CFP bracket is set. Some are thrilled, some are frustrated and a few are still politicking. Those of us on the West Coast are pretty happy, and rightfully so with Oregon, ASU and Boise State all receiving first round byes. The Heisman finalists are also set and prior to departing for NYC, we had 1997 Heisman Trophy finalist Ryan Leaf join Y-Opt…

Championship week is upon us, Early Signing Period is underway and Heisman voters have their ballots. Welcome back to Y-Option, where we bring you college football content through the lens of the West Coast! Today, Jim Thornby and I break down the state of the most recent College Football Playoff rankings and how the dominos could impact the West C…

Championship Week is upon us, as is Early Signing Day, as is the coaching carousel, as is the offseason for some. Not here at Y-Option. We are going for it! And when it’s 77 degrees out West, we are doing it with board shorts on. Thanks to our founding partner 76, today we welcome in Doug Lesmerises, creator and host of Kings of the North, the lead…

Happy Thanksgiving Week! It’s a week full of rivalry games, College Football Playoff implications and most importantly Turkey Bowl games in your backyard. Anyone else already claim “all-time QB”? With that said, we bring you a special Thanksgiving episode of Y-Option, thanks to our founding partner 76, with a unique guest in Big Sky commissioner To…

It’s Rivalry Week out West and we have you covered at Y-Option. USC visits the Rose Bowl for an iconic game in Los Angeles against the Bruins with stakes locally, and the postseason for both teams is on the line. Stanford heads across the Bay to visit Cal in The Big Game in what should be a packed house at Memorial Stadium as the Bears hope to clin…

Every week from the West Coast we hope to bring you thoughtful conversations, insight and analysis in college football. Thanks to our founding partner 76, today we welcome a repeat guest in Oregon State head coach Trent Bray. In a season full of injuries and adversity, the Beavers head coach continues to lead his program with an optimistic and dete…

Week 12 is upon us and while it may be hard to predict who will make the inaugural College Football Playoff, one thing that is relatively certain is that UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger will find his way to another double digit tackle game. The former walk-on is leading the Big Ten Conference in tackles per game and is leading the Bruins on a re…

4 teams remain unbeaten and none reside in the south. So this week, Y-Option went down south to talk to an expert in all things college football, Andy Staples. Andy is the host of Andy & Ari On3, a daily college football podcast covering every major story. He joined us to dive into the CFP, how many teams should make the expanded playoff from the S…

Preseason polls mean absolute squat. Ok, that may be a bit harsh but today’s guest on Y-Option, thanks to our founding partner 76, is Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham. His Sun Devils were picked to finish last in the new look Big 12 in the preseason and as we enter November, his squad is in the thick of the Big 12 race. This week, they wel…

I feel like the luckiest broadcaster in college football. Every Saturday I get to stand at the 50-yard line and celebrate the greatest game on earth and attempt to coach the viewer. Those two thoughts have been at the core of my career. But to have any success at anything one must be taught, guided and mentored. Thankfully for me the men I’ve stood…

Every quarterback dreams of leading their team to the College Football Playoff, but only few get the opportunity. As we enter November in college football, just over 20 teams are still in the mix for the expanded CFP and John Mateer of Washington State is currently the quarterback of one of them. This WSU signal caller joined the Y-Option podcast, …

“The games they remember are in November.” With Week 9 in the rearview mirror, I'm reminded of a quote from good friend Rick Neuheisel and with the nation's top team, Oregon, heading to The Big House to face defending National Champion Michigan this weekend that is easily true. Today’s Y-Option podcast, fueled by our founding partner 76, features a…

Week 9 arrives as does ESPN’s College GameDay into Bloomington, Indiana. Last week it was Big Noon Kickoff at IU and this Saturday comes another party, as undefeated #13 Indiana hosts Washington on the Big Ten Network. I’ll be on the call alongside Guy Haberman, Rhett Lewis and our incredible crew. In today’s episode we welcome Washington head coac…

Week 8 has come and gone and college football is delivering in every imaginable and unimaginable way. 2024 has delivered epic wins, a new number one team in the land, wild finishes and sadly, now some coaching changes. Today’s podcast highlights the Y-Option Go Go Go award winners from this past weekend, a deep dive into the Oregon Ducks, Utah Utes…

Week 8 has arrived and Y-Option has you covered with college football through the lens of the West Coast along with special guest Max Browne. To kick things off, we think Saturday has the best individual matchup of the season with Travis Hunter of Colorado facing Tetairoa McMillan of Arizona. Last year, I was able to call that game and it came down…

Week 7 is in the books and it was one we will be talking about for the rest of the season. As the CFP conversation begins to heat up, this past Friday and Saturday’s games will serve as a weekend full of data that will be re-visited time and time again in the first year of the 12-team playoff system. The Ducks took down Ohio State in an instant cla…

It’s finally here, Ohio State at Oregon. The game we have all been talking about and with both teams ranked #2 and #3 respectively in the AP Poll, its the first ever AP Top 5 matchup at Autzen Stadium. ESPN College GameDay is en route to Eugene (a 2nd straight week on the West Coast!) for 2 teams that mirror one another AND with Chip Kelly returnin…

It’s a week of firsts! ESPN College GameDay is coming to Berkeley for the first time ever. I’m off to call a game at Minnesota for the first time ever. And Cal Head Coach Justin Wilcox was a guest on a podcast for the first time EVER! Thankfully it was here at Y-Option. I’ve known Coach Wilcox for almost 20 years and while he is gifted as a coach, …

Week 6 is here and Bruce Feldman joined Y-Option to break it all down. Bruce was a student reporter at “The U”, as in Miami, and the West Coast is abuzz as College GameDay heads to Berkeley for the first time EVER! He offers insight and analysis into Mario Cristobal’s team, which Bruce thinks is their most talented team in 20 years. Having played o…

Week 5 has arrived and in some ways things have changed in college football and in other respects, it has stayed the same. Arizona heads to Utah on Friday night in a Big 12 clash and while the starting QB for the Utes is not solidified, we do know that the depth, talent and coaching acumen at Utah remains elite. And I highly doubt they have forgott…

I never got into House of Cards on Netflix. Was late to the party and there were so many episodes that it seemed a little intimidating, as I never felt I’d finish the entire series. But after living through realignment over the past few years, I wonder if that series would have benefitted me in some way. Regardless, here we sit with news out of the…

The Pac-12 has owned the airwaves this week. It began by adding 4 new schools last Thursday morning and continued with Washington State’s epic win in the Apple Cup on a 4th down stop that will be talked about for decades. While Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould did not call a play last Saturday in college football, she did create the playbook that a…

Late last week news broke that the Pac-12 was taking its next step toward rebuilding by adding four new schools: Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State and Colorado State. As we spoke to a variety of people involved in the expansion, as well as coaches around college football, one thing was clear – there was excitement about the historic confer…

While late November of 2021 may seem like decades ago for Jake Dickert, it was one of the most transformational moments in his coaching life and he can recall every moment. Then the interim head coach at Washington State, he led the Cougars into Seattle to face the Washington Huskies in the Apple Cup which the Cougs won 40-13. That next day, he wou…

It’s Rivalry Week! No, that is not a typo and yes, it’s Rivalry Week in the Pacific Northwest and in the Pac-12 Conference. For the first time ever, these 2 games will be played in September. The Oregon State Beavers host the Oregon Ducks in the 128th meeting of the game formerly known as the Civil War. This is the 7th most played match-up in colle…

It's Week 2! There are so many games of note that will impact the landscape of college football, the power struggle at the top, and factor into teams’ College Football Playoff arguments. We were able to talk to Colorado beat writer Brian Howell, from Buffzone and the Daily Camera, who knows the Buffaloes better than anyone in the nation. The Buffs,…

Week 1 was here and it delivered in a brilliant way. The USC Trojans met the moment, beating ranked LSU behind a Miller Moss performance that had the college football community buzzing, tweeting & reshuffling their Top 25. The Ducks final score wasn't what most predicted, but the talent in Eugene remains and as expected, America’s Teams won both of…

Bill Walton would often state that he was the luckiest man in the world. Every time he would say that with his infectious energy I’d smile, and I bet you would too. He looked at life through an incredible lens and one that was optimistic and oftentimes inspiring. Heading into my 16th year of putting a headset on as a broadcaster, I too feel like Bi…

Pete Carroll changed my life. I can vividly recall calling a few of my teammates at Pitt during my first week on the job as a member of the USC Football staff in the winter of 2005. “Guys, I wish you could have been coached by Pete Carroll and this staff. It’s incredible!” My former teammates would often ask why and while I couldn't nail the answer…

There is an on-going conversation around being a multi-sport athlete versus being singularly focused. Being the parent of a 9-year-old, I see these things becoming more and more of a discussion. Sport specific, playing one sport year round, paying thousands of dollars on private coaches or club teams and more. It’s a hard lane to navigate as a pare…

Football can change your life. I’ve shared this story a few times but it’s worth repeating. Years ago, I was in Northern California visiting San Jose State and Stanford. I was expected to fly home after practice on a Wednesday but was convinced by both Brent Brennan and Mike Bloomgren to stay in NorCal for one more night. I obliged and had a blast.…

“Patiently impatient.” That’s my new favorite phrase when it comes to being a backup QB, or really anything where you may not be in the position you desire. This past summer I sat down with former college and NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky. Myself and Elite 11 head coach Jake Heaps had a conversation with the former UConn star around the QB position …

There is something special about coming home. For the recently hired Arizona State Athletics Director, Graham Rossini, home has always been the ASU community. Last training camp I found myself at Camp Tontozona, or as Sun Devil fans called it Camp T. On the sideline was a tall, sharply dressed man in an ASU polo. I’d always known of Graham, but had…

“The only thing that is guaranteed in college is that your career will NOT go exactly as you imagined.” A year ago, the legendary coach, Chris Petersen shared that line with the best high school quarterbacks in the nation at the Elite 11 Finals in Los Angeles and I watched it land like a Simone Biles gold medal routine. As I criss-cross the nation …

From 2011 to 2016 I would often find myself in Corvallis, Oregon. I’d fall in love with the fall foliage, the beautiful dimes from Sean Mannion, the crisp routes by Brandin Cooks and the production meetings with Mike Riley. But above all of that, what I enjoyed the most were Friday afternoons. Post meetings and post practice I would find myself alo…

Jerrod Johnson and I met in 2009. I was working for Fox College Sports and broadcasting Big-12 games each week. He was the starting quarterback at Texas A&M. To make you smirk, that season the Big-12 had two divisions, the North and South. The respective champion of each division was Nebraska and Texas. Missouri and Colorado were in the league and …

Mark Harlan is impacting college sports at an elite level. As the athletics director at Utah, he has also served in the Football Oversight Committee and has been in the room during CFP deliberations. To say he ‘gets it’ is a true understatement. Often times, college sports are seen as a business and I get it, it is HUGE business. But more often tha…

In my time working on the USC staff, one thing became clear – when a quarterback signs his letter of intent at USC he becomes a household name. When he starts, he becomes a Heisman Candidate. Calling games for the past 17 seasons has only proven that theory I learned while on Pete Carroll’s staff. And for Miller Moss, that’s also true. While many f…

Meet Dillon Gabriel. A one-time Army commit who would thrive at Central Florida before balling out at Oklahoma and is now in his final collegiate season as the starting quarterback for the Oregon Ducks. We sat down at the Elite 11 finals this summer and discussed his It Factor, why he chose Oregon for his final season, what Marcus Mariota winning t…

In today's Y-Option podcast, you'll hear from head coaches Jake Dickert and Trent Bray, as they share how their respective teams have 'met the moment' all off-season in anticipation of their new schedule in the Pac-12. Jaden Robinson, Jermaine Terry II, Kyle Williams and Kyle Thornton also joined me on stage and while all four are stars for the Bea…

As the founding faces of the Pac-12 Network, Mike Yam and Ashley Adamson carried the reputation of the league for over a decade but in 2020, amid a global pandemic, Mike learned he would not return to the network he helped build. The three of us never spoke about that day, or the fact that Mike would not return to the place we had such pride in, un…

Mike Yam and Ashley Adamson were the foundation of the Pac-12 Networks and the first two faces to grace the airwaves of that network. In the inaugural episode of Y-Option there was truly no other option--we had to have these two on to go down memory lane with us. And we do just that. We dive into the origin story of the once promising Network, how …

“So Yogi, what are you going to do now?” Introducing our re-imagined podcast "Y-Option" where we examine the college football landscape through the lens of the West Coast. Get full access to Y-Option: College Football with Yogi Roth at www.y-option.com/subscribeDoor Yogi Roth

The time has finally come. The series finale of "The It Factory" is here. Before we go any further, rest assured this podcast is not going anywhere. It may look a bit different come football season, but it will stay up and running! That being said, in this final episode of this iteration, Producer T.J. Brassil joins the show to say farewell. T.J. a…

Draft week is here and in order to celebrate we had to bring on a guest that not only knows the Pac-12 inside and out, but the NFL draft as well. Former Stanford head coach, David Shaw joins the show. He talks about how he views college football and college athletics right now, his take on some of the top quarterbacks in this year's NFL Draft and h…

Even with only a few episodes left of The It Factory, it's never to late to have an It Factory first. This week we welcome our first commissioner as Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould joins the show. The first female commissioner of a Power-5 Conference talks about her passion for athletics, her time in the Pac-12 and watching sports like women's bas…

The It Factory goes to Europe this week... kind of. Yogi talks with former Arizona quarterback and current part owner of the Paris Musketeers, Jason Johnson. They talk about Jason's playing career including his family's football history, how his Arizona career played out, his time playing in Europe and how that led to the formation of the Paris Mus…

The It Factory is visited by its first comedian as actor/comedian Josh Mancuso joins the show. Yogi and Josh discuss how Josh found his niche in sports comedy videos, what his journey has been like to this point and the concept of chasing your dreams regardless of where you are at in life, how he creates his content and what people can expect from …

Welcome back! We took a week off as March Madness got going, but return with a new episode as we are in the home stretch of Season 3 at the It Factory. This week Producer T.J. Brassil joins Yogi Roth as we have our first "Ask Me Anything" episode. You wrote in with questions and now we are here to answer them. We discuss all things college football…

Yogi flies north for the ninth straight year as he hosts "Night with Cougar Athletics" for Washington State and sits down with head coach Jake Dickert. Coach talks about the tumultuous 2023 season, where the team stands now and what he sees for the future of Washington State. 'The Afterglow' continues the conversation after the interview. Come disc…