Former Purdue and NFL quarterback Drew Brees knows the value of a two-point conversion.
On Feb. 7, 2010, Brees produced one of the most famous two-point plays in the history of football—a pass to wide receiver Lance Moore that staked his New Orleans Saints to a seven-point lead with 5:42 left in Super Bowl XLIV against the Indianapolis Colts.
It’s appropriate, then, that Brees would collaborate with Dos Equis on its “Go for Dos” campaign—a campaign that “[encourages] college football teams to take the bold route of going for two-point conversions.”
On Thursday morning, Brees discussed that and other bold innovations in college football with SI—namely, the advent of the 12-team College Football Playoff and player-movement liberalization
“It’s awesome,” Brees said of the expanded CFP. “It kind of makes you wonder why we didn’t do it sooner, you know?… In the previous format [finalists Ohio State and Notre Dame] wouldn’t even have made it in, right? By giving more teams opportunities, by rewarding the champions of all the major conferences by giving them byes? Man, it just builds a level of excitement.”
Brees’s endorsement of byes for conference champions may come as a surprise, given their apparent lack of popularity with both decision-makers and the wider public.
However, Brees insists the format is fine just the way it is.
“Now you can have teams, in theory, with three losses getting into the top 12, just because of their strength of schedule,” he said. “I just think it’s good for college football.”
The ex-Boilermaker also discussed the relative states of the Big Ten and SEC at length, a hot topic around college football after the former league appeared to outclass the latter in bowl season. Though he was lukewarm on the 2020s’ sharp increase in player movement—saying “college football is free agency, it’s like the NFL, until they put some real guardrails and restrictions”—he suggested that the Big Ten’s ascendance was also a net positive for the game.
“I’m a Big Ten guy, through and through, going to Purdue,” Brees said. “I just like seeing parity. I like seeing really competitive games back and forth between these conferences. I think the banter is healthy.”
Since his departure from the Boilermakers in 2000 as one of their all-time great players, Brees has remained close to the program. He even spent time as an interim assistant coach ahead of Purdue’s Citrus Bowl matchup with LSU in Jan. 2023.
With the Boilermakers coming off a 1–11 season, Brees expressed optimism around the program’s new coach—ex-UNLV boss Barry Odom. To the two-time Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, building a culture is a must for Odom to succeed.
“We’re gonna start playing a different brand of defense here, that’s gonna start knocking some people around,” Brees said, imitating how he believed Odom would react to Purdue’s traditional offensive-minded pedigree. “What we’re excited about is the attractiveness to come to a place like Purdue, where you’re gonna get a first-class education.
“I think that’s what it’s all about, and in a lot of ways, I think that’s kind of what’s being forgotten about when it comes to this NIL and transfer portal with guys just bouncing around.”
Looking ahead to Monday’s national championship, Brees—ever a champion of the underdog, and briefly the a color commentator on the Fighting Irish’s NBC broadcasts in 2021—cited Notre Dame’s team mindset as a potential difference-maker.
“I had a chance to be around (coach) Marcus Freeman quite a bit,” Brees said. “You see why guys play so hard for him, and why they value the opportunity to be a part of that team. They know they’re gonna get developed—their character, their leadership… You just begin to feel like this is where you belong, that you’re a team of destiny.”
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