Y-Option: College Football with Yogi Roth

“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 and watch QBs like Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, Penn S...

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 alongside one of the most positive, optimistic and ta...

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 that conference only had 12 teams, how about that!...

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 than not, the ones who are leading athletic departmen...

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 factors go into winning the Heisman, I believe tha...

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 the Heisman meant to him and what it’s like playing...

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 Beavs and Cougs on the field, their stories will ins...

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, until now. Mike, Ashley, Jim Thornby and myself lis...

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 we all got there and some of the joys, and strugg...

“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. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.y-option.com/subscribe

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. and Yogi reminisce on the past 3 years of "The It F...

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 his thoughts on the Pac-12 conference. Plus he tell...

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 basketball grow over the years, what her first 60 day...

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 Musketeers. Jason also gives his thoughts on the new...

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 Josh going forward. 'The Afterglow' discusses afte...

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 including the expanded playoff, NIL and a preview...

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 discover Coach Dickert and the Cougs' 'it factor' on "...

A new era has begun in Westwood and 'The It Factory' wanted to find out all about it. This week Yogi chats with UCLA's new head coach, DeShaun Foster. Coach talks about how he got into the coaching profession, when he found out he would be offered the head coaching job, how he sees UCLA right now and his vision for the team. 'The Afterglow' discusses after the interview, including thoughts on the...

Yogi chats with the new head coach at Arizona, Brent Brennan. Coach Brennan talks about his deep rooted connections to Arizona, his journey to becoming the head coach at Arizona, the decision from some of Arizona's key players to return and what he sees for the team this year. Plus he tells stories about his coaching tour of some of the great coaches in sports. 'The Afterglow' discusses after the...

Yogi chats with new Oregon State head coach, Trent Bray. Trent goes through his coaching journey to becoming the head coach for the beavers, he talks about the new look of college football next season and he shares his thoughts for his team next season. Plus, Trent tells the story of being banned from tackling when he played football. 'The Afterglow' dives in more after the interview. Come discove...

Yogi is joined by the Reese's Senior Bowl Executive Director, Jim Nagy, fresh off of the 2024 Senior Bowl. Jim talks about his journey to becoming the Executive Director of the Senior bowl, how the college landscape has shifted and its impact on the Senior Bowl and he recaps some Pac-12 players that stood out this year. The Afterglow discusses further after the interview. Come discover the 'it fac...

Yogi talks with former collegiate football player, current private wealth advisor and managing partner at Roseville Wealth Management Group, Dane Burkholder to discuss "The Financial Athlete." Dane gives his thoughts on how to handle NIL, why athletes should look at other factors outside of NIL, ways to invest, while still in college, for one's future, leveraging more than just money from a school...

The It Factory taps into the Pac-12 alumni base as former Washington quarterback, and current radio host and college football analyst, Brock Huard, joins the show. Brock shares his thoughts on the recent changes in Seattle, talks about how he started in broadcast and the philosophy he embodied when he began and he and Yogi reminisce on the first time they met. Only a few questions are asked in thi...

Yogi talks with the first strength and conditioning coach to join the show. Yogi sat down with Ron McKeefery, in Seattle, prior to the season. He also caught up with him at the National Championship. Although there have been changes with the staff up at Washington, Ron's story of how he got to where he's at, how he approaches each athlete differently and the growth he saw in Michael Penix Jr were...

Yogi takes on a new role at The it Factory this week. Producer T.J. Brassil joins the show, and Yogi takes the interviewee's seat, as they discuss the 2023 Pac-12 Football season. Yogi talks about his overall thoughts on the season, gives some added insight to Washington's National Championship Game performance and he talks about what he sees for the future of college football and all of the Pac-1...